Fantasy Skyheart (1 slot open)

[kase9187]

Aldaf heard it rather than saw it. A massive amount of roars and beating wings. A quick shot took down one of the monsters and Aldaf turned to see Matthias getting attacked.

"SPICA! SHRAPNEL!"

Aldaf conjured the wind around him as Spica threw scales and quills into the gust. Aldaf forced the wind forwards and up rather than keeping it suspended around him, taking the shrapnel and flinging it at Matthias' attackers. The scales and quills pelted the monsters relentlessly and the dust was falling like Matthias was generating the damn stuff. Aldaf kneeled and used his magic to keep Matthias and his beast from getting hit, sapping Aldaf of his strength. Spica defended both Aldaf and the others relentlessly, even taking a tail stab through her claw to protect the others.

Aldaf turned to the others nearby, his leg wound still bleeding quite hard.
"Come on! I can't do this on my own!"

Elenion Aura SilverFlight SleepyCreamy explosiveKitten YumenoTsukishiro AncientBird Lioness075 Naberius Saturn_moon

 

[explosiveKitten]

“THATS EASY FOR YOU TO SAY, YOU HAVE SOME COMBAT SKILLS!”

Katja shouted over the chaos, eyes squeezed shut as she clung to the leg of the table, teeth grinding to dust with her jaw clenched. She was petrified under this table. Like usual, Katja’s rabbit brain was telling her to find a burrow and hide.

She slowly opened her eyes and gazed out on the battlefield, watching the flurry of activity out there. She saw Skybeasts battling it out, people from all the clans running about trying to help others, fight back. With them and their skybeasts. She saw feathers flying, blood spilling, many nasty things happening all at once. She was preparing to just go back to cowering when her eyes met with a large feathery white bird that was flying around, smashing the brittle creatures to pieces with her powerful talons.

Barran was out there fighting. Why wasn’t she out there fighting? Gods, she was so useless. Couldn’t do anything right, a coward, just some little rabbit hiding in a hole, a kid under a table-

The sharp shriek of Barran caught her attention as Katja snapped her head up, finding the large owl bent over and looking in the crack of the table at her. Katja knew what the bird was trying to convey. Quit with the self-deprecating inner monologue and do something!

Katja looked back and forth between Caliban and Barran, whimpering like a puppy before she sighed deeply and began to crawl out from under the table, ignoring the searing pain shooting up her leg as she did. While she was busy trying to get her heart to stop pounding, she took this moment to assess the situation.

Aldaf. Bleeding leg wound, looks deep. High priority.
Spica the dragon thing - Bleeding foot. Probably okay for now. Lowish priority.
Zeke - Stabbed in the belly, currently bleeding out. Highest priority!
Volos the bear - Just some cuts. He’ll be fine. It’s a bear. Low priority.
Matthias - more cuts. Relatively fine. Low priority.
Gerel- Limping, though doesn’t appear to have surface injuries on that leg. Maybe something was pulled. Can’t do anything right now.

Katja’s eyes snapped over to Zeke and she started to scrabble over to him, trying to get a bead on his situation. It didn’t take long for her to realize that she was missing something very key.

“.... I... my supplies!” She cried, looking back over at the remains of the tent. “I don’t have anything to treat him with!”

Quickly she glanced up and started to look around at everyone. Somebody had to have something. Something to at least soak up the blood.

“Ah... GODS, DAMNIT somebody just GIVE ME SOMETHING!” Katja shouted over the chaos, one hand in the air while she focused on putting pressure on the wound, using her sleeve as a barrier, only to have it soak immediately with viscous red liquid, “A shirt, a cloak SOMETHING ABSORBANT!”

SilverFlight Naberius Saturn_moon YumenoTsukishiro Elenion Aura kase9187 SleepyCreamy AncientBird
Lioness075

 

[Saturn_moon]

Marylka kept a hand clutched to her side in an attempt to slow the bleeding as she pulled herself to her feet. She had left her pack behind in the tent and didn’t have any bandages on her so tending to the wound would have to wait - hopefully not for too long, she could already feel her focus waning from the blood loss. Archie came over and nudged her face gently with concern. She also sensed something else in his mannerisms… Embarrassment? Guilt? “Hey, it’s not your fault… I’m going to be okay. I promise.” She said, her voice coming out more ragged than she had hoped. “I am going to need some assistance getting on though.”

Archimedes settled down on the ground and the Northarian boy extended a hand to pull her up. Even with all their help, every movement wrecked her body with agonizing pain and it took her a moment to catch her breath before they could take flight again. “I saw a group of people escaping to a cave in the cliff wall, it’s likely we’ll find your parents there.”

When she arrived at the cave, a Northarian woman immediately rushed out crying. "Mama!" The boy shouted as he scrambled off Archimedes and ran into his relieved mother's embrace. From the cliff's ledge, Marylka could see the full extent of the destruction at the campsite. The market stalls which had been full of life just several hours ago had now been reduced to nothing but piles of splintered wood. Amidst the chaos, several tents had caught fire and were now burning like giant torches in the night. Despite all their efforts, there were still tens, if not hundreds, of the monsters running rampant and she wondered if they would ever be able to fight them all off.

"Child, you are badly hurt." The voice had come from a middle-aged woman who Marylka could have sworn she'd seen before. She tried to place where and realised it was the same woman she's seen at the stall Aldaf and Zeke had visited on that very first day before starting their journey. It was Aldaf's mother.

She glanced at Marylka's ankle, the blood from earlier now dried and crusted, then to her hand clutching her side. Before she could protest, the woman gently pulled her hand away to look at the wound. She instantly grimaced. "You're not going to make it for much longer if you don't see to that soon. Get down, we have some supplies here that can fix you up."

The whole process took less than five minutes, and while everything still hurt like hell, Marylka was at least grateful she wasn't going to bleed out before making it back to the rest. "Tell Aldaf to stay safe, will you?" Aldaf's mother said. Marylka hesitated. If there was one thing she'd learn from the past four days was that there was nothing safe about what they were doing.

"We'll... do our best." She responded as honestly as she could before getting back on the hippogriff.

She found everyone else gathered back in front of the tent, or whatever was left of it, still fighting off a fair amount of the undead creatures, although Matthias and Volos in particular seemed to be getting swarmed. Without prompting, Archimedes rushed down and started to tear them apart with his talons and beak while Marylka tried to shoot a few of them back with her slingshot. "There's too many of them!" She shouted out to Matthias. "Where are they all coming fr-" before she could finish, a monster tackled Archimedes from the right, sending her flying off the beast. She landed on the side of her freshly banadaged wound and pain shot through her body with such intensity she was sure she was going to pass out. Gods damn. If they didn't come up with some sort of plan soon, there was a chance they weren't going to make it.

Elenion Aura kase9187 SilverFlight YumenoTsukishiro AncientBird explosiveKitten Naberius Lioness075 SleepyCreamy

 

[Naberius]

Caliban Lupei

Cal was at Katja's side, doing his best to try and help however he could. When she called for something to absorb blood, he instinctively removed his own shirt and handed it over. It was the only thing he had on him that was clean enough and readily available.

"This is the best I can do, there are too many of those things for me to go back and get your supplies right now. Do what you can, we can't stay here much longer. They'll surround us and we won't be able to escape."

He leapt back into the fighting, staying as close to her and the other wounded as he could and trying to cover them. Nerene was doing her part, picking up large rocks and dropping them on groups of the skeleton monsters. But it wasn't enough. There were far too many of the things and they came from every direction. Something had to give, had to change, or they wouldn't be surviving to see tomorrow.

Damn it. Not good. Well, this is either going to be really cool...Or a really dumb way to die...

He gathered up a long broken shaft of wood and tied some old tent fabric to it before sticking the end into a nearby fire, and turned back to Katja with a strange smile on his face.

"Good news and bad news. The good news is, I might be able to get your supplies. The bad news is I might not survive what I'm about to do long enough to bring them to you. But...Never know until I try right?"

With that, he waved his makeshift torch at the monsters, trying to clear a path. Most animals were afraid or at least startled by fire, so he figured he would give it a shot. He seized the opportunity and made his way through the group of monsters back towards the tent they had been staying in that night, where they had left their stuff. By the time he reached it, most of the monsters had already vacated. But many were also right on his heel. He ran through the tent flap and stopped. He didn't remember which bag belonged to Katja. He didn't have time to worry about it, so he grabbed what ever bag looked like it contained medical supplies of any kind and ran out the other side of the tent through the hole the monsters had cut in the side. He made his way back around and....directly into the path of the creatures that had followed him. Backing up and waving what remained of his torch, he held the bag close to his chest. He kept backing up but tripped backwards over fallen debris.....



SilverFlight explosiveKitten Saturn_moon YumenoTsukishiro Elenion Aura kase9187 SleepyCreamy AncientBird
Lioness075

 

[kase9187]

Aldaf saw Cal rush past.
"Spica! Help Cal!" He shouted, dropping the wind and pulling out his Quill darts.

Spica leapt at the beasts, bashing them out of the way. She covered Cal's body, sheltering him from the undead creatures.

Aldaf threw the darts with precision, nailing the orbs and breaking them apart.
"Come on! Come get me!"
Aldaf dodged sloppily, his leg slowing him down. One of the beasts stabbed at him with their tail, which he held up his arm to guard. The tail pierced through the fleshy part of his arm. A quick tug brought the core of the threat within stabbing range, and the tail turned to dust in his arm.

Spica roared at the beasts, noticing a few beasts flying somewhere else. She nailed them with her quills, the skeletons dissipating in view of Leandra and Gerel, whom Spica didn't know was there

Naberius Elenion Aura YumenoTsukishiro Lioness075 SilverFlight Saturn_moon explosiveKitten AncientBird SleepyCreamy

 

[YumenoTsukishiro]

By some stroke of fortune, the attacks lessened. Several of the dragons were drawn towards something, pulling away from him and flying towards whatever it was. And help finally came when arrows that weren't his shot down a number of the beasts.

"Hey there, you looked like you could use some help, yeah?"

Gerel recognized that voice. He grinned, finding renewed vigor in fending off the skeletal dragons. "Thank you for the assist," Gerel said. Turning swiftly he shot down a beast who was aiming for Leandra's head. But for every beast they killed, many more took their place. Even with Falarion's arrival, it wasn't enough to push back the tide.

"We're going to run out of arrows at this rate. Let's fall back and regroup with the others. We need to come up with a plan and quick."

Gerel began to step back, after picking up the wooden branch. But Gerel's ankle flared everytime he put weight on it. He was limping badly, and if not for Ventra's whispers guiding every swing of his makeshift wooden sword. He didn't notice two more dragons whipping their barbed tails at him. It was then that Jeff made his entrance, dropping from the sky and crushing the beasts in his hooves, before skewering another with his horn. He let out a wild neigh, pushing back the tide of dragons with wind from his wings.

"About time you got here. Do you always have to have a flashy entrance whenever you come to my help?"

He meant it as a joke, but the side glance Jeff gave him was nothing short of offended. "You're still amazing. Thanks," Gerel said, this time with genuine affection for the Kirin. Jeff merely huffed, placated for the moment.

The Kirin took one look at Gerel's limping form and lowered himself so that Gerel could mount him easier. Grirting his teeth, he powered through the pain and swung himself over and sat atop Jeff. At least the weight was off his ankle, and he could think more clearly without the pain.

A loud screech from the other side of the tent alerted him, followed by hurried voices and a loud commotion and several beasts crumbling to pieces. "Come on, Leandra! Something's happening over there!"

Quickly he rounded the ruined tent and saw Caliban lying on the ground with Spica and Aldaf defending him from the skeleton beasts. Fearing the worst, he shouted over his shoulder, "LEANDRA! CALIBAN NEEDS OUR HELP!"

With renewed vigor, he charged into the cloud of dragons surrounding down, swiping his branch at any beast he could reach. Jeff moved nimbly, kicking with his hooves and making skeleton skewers with his horn. As he did, one of the purple orbs came flying at Gerel. He caught it in his hand, considered it for the briefest of moments, then shoved it inside his sack. There would be time to look it over later.

He made his way to Aldaf, hoping that Caliban was only down or unconscious and not... he shook that thought out of his mind. Caliban wouldn't want him to think negatively. "What happened here? How are you holding up?" he asked Aldaf. "Where are the rest? Where's... Where's Kari?"

kase9187 Naberius Lioness075

 

[AncientBird]

Serik rested himself under the cover of Valkyrie. He intensely looked around to see if any of his teammates would appear. On one hand, he wished to know if they are still alright and any one’s appearance would be a welcomed sight, one another hand however, was that he noticed a rapid blink in his illusion forms that seemed to be expired soon. If more help hadn’t arrived, he would need to get back into the fight again.

Suddenly one of the false Serik distinguished, followed by one another and another. “Oh no, they will be heading our way soon.” Serik said and tried to get up, but his legs was wobbly and not working as he wanted. Valkyrie used her enormous head to help him stood.

Barran and Nerene were still fighting but the number of the monster kept increasing. Without Serik’s illusion to distract them, both skybeasts would soon be overrun.

Suddenly, loud roar could be heard. Matthias and his winged ursine charged out of nowhere, wielding his weapon and intercepted the monsters as they pouring toward the table.

In the sky, Kari and Aldaf with their skybeasts could be seen flying into the scene. Then came the sight Serik welcomed the most. Marylka and her hippogriff Archimedes arrived as well.

Serik smiled at the sight of his comrades suddenly appearing all over the place. The hope of getting out of there alive increased ten folds.

Caliban emerged with Katja who finally got the courage to look after Ezekiel. However, she was in need of more tools and medical supplies. Caliban volunteered to go retrieving it from the camp and rushed out with a torch toward the tent.

“Are you feeling better now?” Serik asked Valkyrie who seemed to be moving much more comfortable. “Lift me up on your back, please.” Serik asked.

Valkyrie was reluctant, she knew what Serik was about to do. “Oh come on now, almost all of our teammates are here. All of us together could deal with the monsters. They will be having our back.” Serik said, trying to persuade Valkyrie to battle. The stork drake stood still for a while then allowed Serik to climb on.

Suddenly, a skeletal dragon knocked into Archimedes and made Marylka fell off the beast’s back and to the ground. Serik’s eyes widened in terror. “Quick! Valkyrie go!” He shouted right into Valkyrie’s ears.

The stork drake startled from loud and sudden command, screeched loudly and charged through the battle field. They reached to Marylka. Serik pulled Valkyrie’s crests to make her stop on spot and slid down the skybeast. He rushed to Marylka and held on to her. “Are you hurt?” He asked. Serik then looked for Archimedes, to see if he’s any where near by to come pick Marylka up but instead, he saw a large horde of the skeletal monsters closing in from all side.

Valkyrie stood tall, covering the two youths under her body and made loud screech to intimidate the monsters (which obviously didn’t work).

“We need to get out of here... Can you stand up.” Serik asked Marylka.

Featuring: Saturn_moon Elenion Aura Naberius SilverFlight kase9187 explosiveKitten

 

[SilverFlight]

Kari


Kari's brow furrowed, she knew it was a hard decision, but Aldaf had asked Ferro to check on the merchants, they would go back together. She nodded, ready to follow her friend into the heart of the battle. The creatures were concentrating as their friends banded together. Most of the creatures turned and flew towards them, maws snapping.

Aldaf was off the ground before her and just as she settled back onto Zephyr's back someone grabbed her arm.
"Wait."
Kari turned in surprise, Ferro was still 20 paces away, and this voice was female. She was Westeros, gold tattoos twirled around the side of her face, glinting even in the dim light underneath her deep blue hood.
"I can help you. Take these."
She reached up and pressed two items into Kari's hand, the first was a tiny vial of clear liquid that shimmered when she turned it.
"Phoenix tears, for your friend's injuries." Kari's jaw dropped. They were extremely difficult to come by, and extrodinarily expensive when they could be found.
The second item was a small wooden stick, engraved with intricate spell lines, one line wasn't engraved, but painted, with an ink that looked like it would smudge if she touched it.
"Break that line, and the spell should act as a beacon to those creatures, they will follow anyone who holds that charm anywhere, and blindly. Now, listen carefully:"

In a fluid gesture the woman brought up a light illusion map of the area. "We are here, there is a cave to the west, here, large enough for skybeasts to fly through. My colleague is in that cave, lead the creatures through it, we will take care of the rest. You cannot do this alone the beasts will catch you, you'll have to toss the beacon back and forth with at least one other flyer...choose someone fast."

Kari absorbed the information, suppressing the growing number of questions she had. Who was this woman? What magic was she using? It wasn't any blessing given by the gods...this was different magic. Kari was intrigued, but there would be time for that later.

With the vial and the charm in hand she took off, leaving the mysterious woman behind.
Her friends were still fighting, but many were cut and bleeding. Zephyr snatched a creature out of the air, by now knowing that the orb in the chest needed to be dust for the prey to stop moving. He crushed it easily and landed, Kari swinging down from his back before he had. She rushed straight to Katja, her hand outstretched.
"Here! Phoenix tears! I have phoenix tears!" She yelled, pushing the vial into the healer's hand. They would speed the healing to the point of stopping blood loss, and it would only take a single drop. Kari only hoped that their unnatural abilities could do the rest.

Her first task done, she turned with a grim face, the other hand pressed hard against the charm, her thumb poised directly over the inked line on it.
"I need someone to fly with me! A fast skybeast! They have to be fast!"
The look in her eye was one of deadly conviction. She didn't know what would happen once they'd lead the monsters into the cave.
Kari jumped back on Zephyr and rose into the sky, waiting for the volunteer(s) that would go with her. She raised her hand, the wooden charm poised, and broke the line.
There was a sound like wind whistling, and the charm lit up in a violent purple glow. She had to shield her eyes from it and Zephyr snarled in surprise. A chorus of shrieks rose from all about the proving grounds as every single creature turned its ugly head to the beacon. It was fairly clear now what Karo intended to do.
In a cloud scores of the beasts took off and bee-lined for Kari. She made ready to toss the charm to another flyer, and the race would begin.


Lioness075 SleepyCreamy AncientBird kase9187 YumenoTsukishiro Naberius Elenion Aura explosiveKitten Saturn_moon

 

[kase9187]

Aldaf saw Spica return with Lea, Cal and Gerel. Gerel had asked him about Kari.
"She's doing alright, Gerel."
About that time, Kari came in with the beacon and asked for a fast rider. Aldaf hopped onto Spica, who looked at him worriedly.
"Kari! Here!" His cry carried over the roar of the beasts, his arm outstretched. He'd take the beacon and help Kari get these things out of here. People were hurt and getting the creatures out of commission was top priority.

SilverFlight Naberius SilverFlight Lioness075

 

[Lioness075]

Name: Leandra LaFrae	Nicknames: Lea, Firefly
Clan: Sudenta	Clan Job: Huntress
Equipment: Knapsack, Medicinal Pouch, Bow, Quiver (3/10), Twin Daggers

Spoiler: Momo's Appearance

Spoiler: Falarion's Appearance

(posted with YumenoTsukishiro's permission)

Just then, Caliban came charging through the throngs of gathering monsters and Leandra groaned out loud when she saw him wielding a makeshift torch, of all things. He waved it around like it would hold back the monsters and Leandra felt like they were more confused than concerned. Regardless of the fire, the stick itself could stick damage their brittle bones, so perhaps that was why they were wary of him waving it around.
Caliban disappeared around the other side of the tent and Leandra narrowly dodged another attack before she nocked an arrow and expertly shot it at the assaulting monster's orb. She was running out of arrows.

Then Gerel shouted for her to join him in heading over to where Caliban had just gone. Leandra nodded grimly and jumped up, mounting Falarion, who promptly took flight. In the brief moment they flew over to Caliban, Leandra could see the blood soaking Falarion's fur around his muzzle and shoulders. She winced in pain for him and sent feelings of comfort towards him, as it was all she could really do for now. He chuffed in response and Leandra hoped she had helped at least marginally.
They landed near Caliban and Leandra dismounted while Falarion charged into the fray once more with a roar. Ignoring everyone around her, Leandra beelined for Caliban and then held out a hand towards him.
"Come on, this really isn't the time to relax, yeah?"
Falarion roared again nearby and Leandra winced when she sensed him sustaining another minor wound.
Suddenly, Leandra's expression became grim and she added, "Hey, can you stop charging around recklessly on your own for five seconds? Most of us are fully capable of defending one another and you're needlessly risking your life."

Kari began shouting nearby and Leandra turned briefly to listen, as Kari shouted for volunteers to help rally the monsters and lead them to a cave system nearby. Leandra knew without a doubt that Caliban would volunteer for that.
Looking back down at him, Leandra said, "When you do volunteer, do not try and be a lone hero, okay? We do this together now."
And with that, Leandra looked back over at Kari and shouted, "I'll help, Kari! Falarion and I can fly fast when we put our mind to it!"
Just as she shouted this, Gerel nearby echoed her response, "Count Jeff and I in as well!"

Leandra's heart nearly stopped when she saw Kari and Zephyr taking to the air, using something that began to glow a bright purple. Almost immediately, monsters were taking flight and ignoring the rest of them, only seeing Kari. They needed to help her and sooner than later.

SilverFlight Naberius YumenoTsukishiro

 

[Saturn_moon]

As Marylka pushed herself up, the first thing she saw was Valkyrie charging straight for her, which, to be perfectly honest, was almost as terrifying as waking up to find one of the skeletal creatures in her face. Thankfully, the stork drake skidded to a stop just in time. Serik slid off the beast's back and rushed to her side. "Are you hurt?" he asked with concern.

"Not going to lie, I have definitely been better." When she looked down to check on her wound, blood had already begun seeping through her bandages. She groaned knowing full well she was going to need stitches when this was over. Looking back up at Valkyrie she suddenly realised she hadn't seen Archimedes since she had been thrown off. "Archie?!" She shouted manically, while trying to get back up. "Archie!"

A little ways away, the hippogriff was busy trying fend off a small swarm of monsters on its own. Marylka half-limped half-ran over to her skybeast. "Leave him alone!" she screamed at the monsters as she fired several stones with her slingshot at them, each one hitting their chest with a resounding thwack before they crumbled into dust. Archimedes, once free from the swarm came bounding over to her and she threw her arms around his neck with relief. There was little time to celebrate though, for another swarm had started to approach. Damn, were they persistent.

Just as she braced herself for another attack, every single one of the creatures suddenly froze, their attention focused on something with lightning intensity. Wondering what could have caused this behaviour, she followed their gaze. There, in the sky, was Kari on the back of Zephyr, holding a sort of beacon in her hands. The moment she took off, all the monsters started to follow. She's luring them away.

Fueled by adrenaline, Marylka quickly climbed back on to Archie's back without much thought for her injuries and took to the skies. Streaking forward, she caught up with Kari and the rest. At this point, she was determined to finally put this nightmare to an end.

Elenion Aura kase9187 SilverFlight YumenoTsukishiro AncientBird explosiveKitten Naberius Lioness075 SleepyCreamy

 

[kase9187]

Aldaf and Spica took off, flying alongside Kari.
"What the hell is that stick and what is the plan?"
Spica launched quills, directed by Aldaf's magic, at the undead monsters, keeping them from attacking Kari while they flew.

SilverFlight Naberius Saturn_moon Lioness075 YumenoTsukishiro

 

[YumenoTsukishiro]

With Leandra watching over Caliban and Spica fending off the bulk of the swarm, they were able to make it back to where everyone was. Gerel's heart swelled when he saw Kari fly in atop Zephyr, holding a strange rod in her hand. But his face fell when he saw the injuries sported by the rest of their companions, most notably the bleeding wound on Ezekiel's chest. Thankfully, Kari brought in phoenix tears with her, one of the rarest and most potent of medicines in all the skylands. Before Gerel could ponder how she came across such a treasure, Kari shouted for someone with a fast skybeast. As if on cue, Jeff huffed and ruffled his wings.

Gerel was stuck between two things -- worry that Kari's recklessness might get her into harm's way once more, and admiration for the fire burning within her eyes. Trying to talk her out of it was out of the question unless he wanted a beating. So he did the only reasonable thing.

"Count Jeff and I in as well!"

He only hoped that Kari wouldn't notice the sprain on his foot, fearing that she'd make him stay behind to recover. No time to worry about that. The moment Kari did something with the strange rod, it glowed purple, and immediately all the dragons shot straight for her. Without delay, Gerel willed Jeff to fly as fast as he could towards Kari, pulling out his stone-carved knife in one hand. That rod seemed to attract all the skeletal beasts to it and its holder. If so, there was only one reasonable thing to do.

Make sure Kari wasn't the one holding it.

SilverFlight Naberius Saturn_moon Lioness075 YumenoTsukishiro

 

[SilverFlight]

The creatures came at her in a raging cloud and Kari and her team were off.
The creatures were gaining too quickly, Kari had seconds to explain.

"There's a wide cave on the other side of the lake, it's a tunnel, we need to lead the creatures there, but we have to toss the charm back and forth, the creatures are faster, but we can be smarter!"

By then the creatures had caught up. Zephyr dodged and wove with a speed that nearly threw Kari off his back. Teeth snapped inches from his wing and skeletal bodies streaked past, overtaking him even at this insane pace The moment Kari was forced to veer from her path she held up the charm.
"Aldaf! Catch!"
She threw it as hard as she could, hoping he was far enough away to give him an edge, he wouldn't make it to the cave before passing it, but if they played it right, they would succeed. The moment the charm left her hand the creatures followed it like moths to a flame, letting Zephyr recover some height and catch up, flying wide for a moment before arcing around to meet the pack.

kase9187 Saturn_moon Lioness075 YumenoTsukishiro

((You turn ends with throwing the charm to the next writer))

 

[kase9187]

Aldaf caught the beacon, flying for a little while. He turned towards the rest of the flyers, noticing Gerel.
"Gerel! Coming at ya!"
Aldaf flew straight up, chucking the beacon downwards at Gerel, allowing the speed of his throw and gravity to make the beacon fly faster than the monsters.

YumenoTsukishiro Saturn_moon SilverFlight Lioness075

 

[Elenion Aura]

Matthias ​

Matthias nodded grimly at the boy who’d helped him. Aldaf. This debt would not be forgotten. On the ground, like in the air, was chaos. There were simply too many of them. Matthias drew his sword and closed ranks with some of the others on the ground, Katja, and others. The Westerosi boy was badly injured. Matthias placed himself between them and the nearest threat. He swung at an approaching skeletal wyvern, lopping off its head. The creature scrambled, headless, as Matthias drove his blade through its neck to pierce the orb that was the source of its un-life.

An eerie purple flash, and an accompanying howl that reminded Matthias of the winds over a frozen lake, drew his attention away from the encroaching skeletons. Kari, the fire mage, was wielding a beacon. To his shock, the skeletal wyverns immediately ignored Matthias and the others, their sole focus on the Eldritch totem in Kari’s hand. A group of them took to the sky before Matthias had a chance to protest. The creatures were too fast. They would be overtaken. Matthias looked to Volos, who looked back. They could not reach them now. There was little he could do. He approached those that remained.

”Katja, do you require assistance?”

Tags: SilverFlight Naberius Saturn_moon YumenoTsukishiro explosiveKitten kase9187 SleepyCreamy AncientBird
Lioness075
​

 

[explosiveKitten]

Katja looked up and took the shirt that was offered to her, looking up to thank whoever it was, but her eyes instead met Caliban...’s shirtlesssnessss.... holy gods.

She blinked and stared while talked to her, the words sounding like fuzz until he turned and ran off to go get her stuff. She watched him go in her daze, before suddenly her face lit up bright red and she quickly folded up the shirt and pressed it to Zeke’s wound. Gods, she hoped no one saw that.

She was busy applying pressure to the wound when Kari suddenly ran up and dropped a vial of some clear liquid into her hands, telling her it was-
“PHOENIX TEARS?! Where the hell did you get this?!” Katja cried, looking at the liquid swirling around in the glass, and while the others were discussing a plan, Katja uncorked the vial and, after she wiped her hands on Caliban’s shirt, she dipped the tip of her pinkie in there. And deciding to test if it was true on herself versus her patient, she wiped the stuff on her punctured thigh, watching in astonishment as the wound started to close up slowly. With only what was on her fingertip!

“Hooooo, buddy... that is crazy.” She mumbled, before looking back down at Zeke and starting to work. SHe was trying to be as sparing as she could- If she could hold on to as much of this as possible it would probably do wonders for the group. Slowly, dripping the tears from her fingertips, she managed to get the wound to mostly close up before she decided it was enough and she could handle the rest from there.

“Haaaa... not anymore I guess.” She said to Matthias, looking up at the large man with an almost disbelieving grin on her face.

Meanwhile, over by Caliban, a large owl swept by in a flurry of white feathers, knocking over the skeletal creatures that were near him, sending them sprawling all over and their brittle bones snapping from the impact.

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[AncientBird]

Just before the monsters could swarm Serik and Marylka, they suddenly were distracted by something and flew off, totally ignoring the two humans and a stork drake in front of them. Serik noticed that the monsters horde went toward a single direction, as if something was luring them away...

Turning back to Marylka. To Serik's surprise, the girl just brushed her injury off and got up just as quick as she fell down. She seemed hurry and quickly called down her skybeast and took off. The Estendorian girl went headed toward the same direction that the monsters horde were swarming. Serik was about to call her down when he noticed some of his other teammates also grouping up in the sky as well. The group led by Kari who started calling in any that wasn't injured. Serik couldn't tell from his distance what his teammates were doing. Marylka went to join them as well as the horde of skeletal monsters that were going right for them.

Serik was both confused and concerned about what his teammates were up to. It seemed as they were luring the monster off somewhere, away from the camp, something that sounded really dangerous if not planning well ahead... And then there was Marylka... Serik could see well in that split second she got up that the girl had a large wound that had just been dressed by her flank. She might seemed fine, but Serik felt that it's going to be painful for her, especially if she didn't stay put and rest... However she was gone and it was too late for him to prevent her. Valkyrie was injured and she probably couldn't keep up with the other skybeasts, not to mention that she was kind of a slow flyer in the first place.

"I hope you know what you are doing..." Serik whispered as he looked at the team luring the horde further away. At least here, he and the others that remained would be safe for the time being. Serik looked at his wounded arm and then at Katja. The owl masked lady, as usual was busy doing her stuff. As the healer of the band, she was always the one that got the most work to do when other teammates were injured. Seeing that she had full work in her hand, Serik decided to keep the wound to himself. The wound had already stopped bleeding, so there was no reason to be afraid... All he had to do was to endure the pain for a while.

"How are you? Let me see your wound." Serik turned to ask his skybeast for a check up. Valkyrie stood idly for a while and then proceeded to let Serik look at her scratch and slash wounds on her back. Valkyrie certainly still felt pain from them as she seemed much more careful when walking around, however they weren't anything severe for a stork drake, so Serik assumed that she didn't require any immediate care.

Returning to where the injured members stayed. Serik went toward Katja. "Katja, if you need any thing please tell me. The monsters are gone and I can go digging up more supplies for you if you are in need of something." He said.

Meanwhile, Valkyrie found the deer carcass that Barran, Katja's giant owl brought. It wasn't damaged by the fight, so the stork drake started to tear into it and began her feast.

Featuring: explosiveKitten Saturn_moon SilverFlight

 

[Naberius]

Caliban Lupei

Under Lea's verbal admonishment, Cal looked...ashamed. It wasn't a look he was used to wearing, but it was there nonetheless.

"Yeah...I hear you loud and clear. But I won't just sit to the side when someone is injured and needs help. I just act, you know? No time for talking when someone is bleeding out."

He took her hand, getting back on his feet. The monsters had been scattered. Barran, Spica, Gerel, Lea, Falarion, Jeff. He hadn't even considered asking for help and yet here they were. Damn it... He would have time to kick himself later, he needed to get the pack back to Katja before Zeke was too far gone.

Get your feathery butt over here you big blue chicken!

Moments later the thundering clap of Nerene's wings sounded nearby and she came in for a landing feet away, looking mildly irritated at being referred to in such a way. But, she lowered herself down and allowed him to climb onto her back, and they took off back towards where the others were gathering.

They landed not far from where others where Katja and the others were but when he arrived, Zeke was already appearing a little better. He noticed the small vial and looked to the pack in his hand.

"Well, I got you this but apparently you don't really need it anymore."

He held it out for her, looking around the clearing. He heard Kari's plan and knew he should join in. He had to help everyone, that was what he did.

"Yeah. Nerene and I are going too."

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[YumenoTsukishiro]

Gerel decided to call their little flying formation Firebrands. Why? Because that was what his mother called young kids who always kicked a hornet's nest out of fun. This time, they kicked a little too hard and now swarms of thousands of skeletal dragons were on their tail. The objective was to reach the caves with the dragons in tow. The dragons were faster than any of them, so the only way to lure them was to pass the purplish rod back and forth to keep the dragons on their toes. Kari passed the baton to Aldaf, and now Aldaf was passing it on to Gerel.

He pushed Jeff onward, racing to catch the baton off the air. But apparently, ten other dragons had the same idea. With a roar, he swiped his knife at them, crashing through their fragile orbs, while Jeff simply mowed them over with his body. Finally he had the baton in his hands, and now the swarm was after him.

For a while, Gerel tried to outrun the swarm in hopes that only one of them had to go for the caves, but it was a vain attempt. The dragons were indeed too fast than any of them. So he pulled back and flew a few feet down to confuse the swarm. In the corner of his vision he saw Leandra, and with Ventra's whispers guiding his hand he threw it to the left side as hard as he could.

"Coming at you, Leandra!"

kase9187 Saturn_moon SilverFlight Lioness075

 

[Lioness075]

Name: Leandra LaFrae	Nicknames: Lea, Firefly
Clan: Sudenta	Clan Job: Huntress
Equipment: Knapsack, Medicinal Pouch, Bow, Quiver (3/10), Twin Daggers

Spoiler: Momo's Appearance

Spoiler: Falarion's Appearance

Seeing Caliban's ashamed look, Leandra almost felt bad for what she had said, but she knew he needed to hear it. They all had to learn how to work as a team here, whether or not they wanted to. Leandra still barely knew anyone except for Caliban, but she would not let any of them charge off on their own. They could not act like that anymore, especially when their lives were on the line nearly everyday now. The thought of this made Leandra feel weary briefly.

Sighing, Leandra said, "Just try and think before you act...for once." She felt disheartened even continuing the conversation, but it did not matter long, as the horde was on the move and there were more important matters to attend to.

Nerene landed nearby and Caliban was off, returning to Katja and the others gathered with her. Leandra glanced over in time to see Falarion huffing and making his way to her side. Despite the blood coating his fur, he still knelt down to allow her to mount him. Worried, Leandra reached her hand out as if to touch his wounds, but then stopped. Just as she could feel Falarion's determination, Leandra knew they had to put off taking care of themselves for a moment longer.

Finally airborne, Leandra and Falarion quickly caught up to Kari and the others trying to lead the horde away. Leandra caught the end of Kari's instructions and her confidence was bolstered, as Falarion surged with determination. Watching the beacon passed to Aldalf and then to Gerel, Leandra got ready to shout for Gerel to pass it to her, but he had the same idea and already was making his move. Falarion beat his wings hard and they flew up in time for Leandra to deftly catch the beacon. The race was on.

As she retrieved the beacon, Leandra glanced back in time to see one of the monsters lunging right at Falarion's tail. Barely stifling a scream, Leandra clung to Falarion's neck, as he dove once more to gain speed. The horde lurched in response, diving after the pair. A resounding wind clap could be heard, as Falarion spread his wings and they lurched up briefly while several of the horde were unable to stop their dive before they careened and crashed into the ground below.
The horde began to gain on them once more and Leandra gritted her teeth, seeking out someone else to pass the beacon over to. She caught sight of Marylka and Archimedes approaching the group and Falarion swerved to the side, making his way towards the pair.
Gathering her strength and mindfully using her non-bleeding arm, Leandra shouted as she threw the beacon towards Marylka, "Marylka, catch! Your turn!"

Leandra could only hope they were nearing the caves, as she and Falarion veered off from Maryla and Archimedes.

SilverFlight Naberius YumenoTsukishiro kase9187 Saturn_moon

 

[SleepyCreamy]

Ezekiel was almost on the verge of passing out as he felt a pool of blood, his blood, drenching his stomach area where he was pierced. He managed to get a few glimpses of Katja's owl mask and Caliban's blonde hair. However, he also found an odd sight of Caliban's upper body is bare and looking from the sidelines, Zeke could see Katja's reddening ear. Zeke, however, couldn't care less about the two lovebirds as he was literally dying in front of them. If he were to survive this fatal wound, then he'd just have to question Caliban about this... weird situation.

He tried to pry his eyes open, but he soon gave up and closed his eyes only to be dragged even deeper. His breathing suddenly stopped and his hands fell limp. Physically, he's unable to move, but his mind still continued to wonder. Images of his mother, father and everyone he ever truly loved flashed before him. From his first steps as a baby and from his last thieving session, everything flashed before him as if he was re-living everything he has been through. Then, it suddenly stopped at the memory of his first day of the Proving. Which makes sense as he didn't make many fond memories during those times. However, he was proven wrong when an image of a hand on top of his shoulder, in a comforting manner, flashed in his mind, however, the image stayed there for a moment, longer than any of his past memories. Zeke was confused by this, he was sure that he never grew too close to anyone during his time there, but apparently someone did.

Before the memory could disappear, he was suddenly brought back alive as the relieving feeling took hold of him, pulling him away from the memory, but before it did, he saw a glimpse of two green eyes looking back at him and when he was close enough, he could see a hint of blue swirling among the green. And Zeke only knew one person who has those pair of eyes.

When Zeke opened his eyes, he was greeted by Stitt nuzzling her face on his forehead. He was greeted at the sight of Katja and Azurine fighting off the last few of the horrid creatures. Zeke pulled himself up and felt his abdomen to be completely healed, he felt no sting of pain. Zeke was amazed at the sight of his clean flesh that was once a bloody wound. When Zeke looked at Katja, he noticed that Caliban was no longer with her. When Zeke looked around, he noticed a swarm of those bony creatures following a group of idiots. However, once he got a second and better look, he said to himself as he realized those people who he's been calling idiots are his companions.

They really are idiots. He clicked his tongue. Zeke looked back at Katja who was sitting by and spoke to her in a soft tone, almost apologetic. After all, she saved his life and surely enough, he won't be too rude about it. "Hey, listen. I suppose I owe you one after literally saving my life." Zeke brushed his hair off of his forehead.

Zeke however, noticed Serik and Matthias nearby, so he concluded that Kari, Leandra, Caliban, Marylka, Gerel and... Aldaf are the ones who were leading the swarm away. He has to admit that it was a pretty bold move, but he couldn't help but feel worried. After that vision they received where everyone was in the academy, he felt like he grew closer to the others.

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[Saturn_moon]

As the beacon left Leandra's hand, Marylka extended her own to catch it. Except, when she did, a sharp pain shot through her side causing her to fumble and the beacon slipped through her grasp. Crap!

Archimedes dropped into a dive so fast, Marylka momentarily lifted off from the hippogriff's back. She stretched her arm as far out as she could as Archie pushed himself to catch up with the glowing purple stick now falling through the air. The moment she felt her fingers make contact, she quickly wrapped her hand around the beacon and pulled Archie back up just as the ground was getting a little too close for comfort. "Archie, you amazing beast, you did it!" She exclaimed excitedly before remembering she now had an entire horde of undead dragons coming after them.

They kept the chase up for a couple of minutes but Marylka could feel her skybeast's energy quickly draining as his turns got clumsier and the beating of his wings start to slow. To her immense relief she saw Cal, although shirtless for some bizarre reason, fly up from behind. "Caliban, it's all on you now!" She shouted, gratefully tossing the beacon over just as the cave came into view.

SilverFlight Naberius Lioness075 YumenoTsukishiro kase9187

 

[SilverFlight]

Kari

The team raced across the plain, hugging the mountain's foot. One pass, two and they were over the lake, eating up the water at incredible speeds. The undead dragons kept pace with them, but could only just reach one flyer when the beacon changed hands. Kari hindered the horde as much as she could, sending spouts of flame to disorient some. Zephyr flew in close and beat his wings hard, spinning away and creating a downdraft that broke into their flight formation, scattering dozens.

Marylka was up when they hit the cave, half-submerged in the water, but with more than enough room for a skybeast to fly through. She fumbled the wand and Kari held her breath, but an expert dive from her beast saved it, and they carried on. Caliban had it next and Kari flew low, using gravity to gain speed. Zephyr skimmed the water, watching as Nerene wove and banked, avoiding teeth and tails. There was a flash of something just behind them and suddenly the light where they had flown through was gone. The cascading rocks chased them, and amongst them the squealing tail end of the horde of creatures, falling into the water as the rubble beat them down.
Dust and rocks began to rain down on the flyers too.
"Out of the cave! Now!" Kari called and and stayed in tight formation with her friends until the light of the stars came to greet them.
Now there were only a handful of creatures, and they were disoriented and frantic.
Zephyr angled to return to the others, and hopefully, a very decisive end to the evil magic that tried to kill them.
Saturn_moon Naberius YumenoTsukishiro Lioness075 kase9187

The beacon had been strong, but it hadn't been completely effective, the pull from these strange youths kept some grounded, advancing with gnashing teeth.
The hooded stranger Kari had met just moments before appeared in their midst, without a word, just as the relay team had landed.
She lifted her hands and whispered something inaudible. A strange purple light began to glow in her hands. She cast it out and it exploded in a planar wave, spilling over the creatures and when it touched them, the orbs in their chests began to flicker and the light faded. Soon nearly all of those that remained collapsed, the magic in them gone.
The stranger stood and turned, pulling back her hood.
"I've finally found you." She said with a triumphant smile.

Spoiler: Keshka

Lioness075 SleepyCreamy AncientBird kase9187 YumenoTsukishiro Naberius Elenion Aura explosiveKitten Saturn_moon

 

[kase9187]

Aldaf landed and watched the purple shockwave engulf the monsters and disable them. He hopped off of Spica and went to confront the woman.

"Okay, Ma'am, I have a few questions. Who are you, how did you do that, what are those things, and what is going to happen to the others?"

Spica eyed this lady suspiciously. She was using the same magic as the skeletons. She didn't seem evil, but Spica couldn't just trust her immediately.

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