Starr shoves through the hallways with her arms wraped around her form. This entire experience was putting so much strain on her very being that she just didn't know what to do anymore. The loss of her mother-- it /was/ unlikely knowing how old she really was. How could it be? Various questions fogged her mind, at least giving her brief breaks from her grief. After a while of walking she hears footsteps coming her way. "Darius..?" she whispers, making a complete stop

Jason walks through a different hallway, heading for where he knows the entrance to be. Hands in his pockets, narrowed eyes focused forward and down, his expression is taking on a now-familiar edge of anger and frustration, rather than the expected dullness of sorrow. Internally, he is very gradually calming down, but... he still feels like a caged animal. He needs some air. Even if there's water falling from it.

Darius pauses in front of Starr, feeling the pulses of sorrow washing over herself. The brief moment of surprise over her allowed him to interject at least to pull her from the moment. "Starr," he starts, smiling. However, his face then turns into concern. "Is... everything alright?"

Starr is about to speak but stops and looks down. "...No...things have just gotten so bad I just don't know what to think anymore.."

Darius sighs, nodding in agreement. "I understand. I..." Darius pauses. "So everyone else is here, right?" Darius shifts his stance, his mind wandering to possibilities of the two girls' locations.

Starr: *meanwhile outside of SoS HQ, the rainfall began to worsen as the skies darkened even worse than night. Under Oikeius' command and the wave of his sword, Ustream as a whole was sealed away in a veil of utter darkness. Anything outdoors would find it almost impossible to see ahead. At least...anything living, that is*

Jason: Mimring: *Raises his head from where he's landed and coiled in a small clearing, looking around at the sudden darkness. Scales bristling, he stays low to the ground, discharging another burst of electricity... this time intentionally, trying to use it to light up the area.*

Starr puts her hands in her pockets and nods. "Everyone's alright...sort of. Vale's the only one here who ended up majorly injured."

Jason steps outside... and immediately looks around in confusion. The rain is coming down far more heavily- not that he really cares right this moment- and it's nearly impossible to see more than a foot in front of him. He is forced to rely entirely on his sense of hearing and the familiar bond to navigate towards where he figured Mimring is- the darkness obviously obscures his vision, but what's worse is that the rain hinders his sense of smell.

Darius tilts his head in the direction of Vale's essence, taking a moment before nodding. "I'll go visit him," he replies. Darius starts forward only to stop by Starr and grabbing her shoulder gently. "Take it easy, Starr," he says with sincerity. "This is only one storm of many. We will get through this." Darius smiles warmly.

Starr silently nods and stumbles off to look for her children. Literally...they were the only blood she cared about now.

Jason: Mimring: /Jason, take caution. This darkness is as unnatural as the rain./ *There is a pause.* /It... would comfort me more to know you are still safe in the building. Even you may end up lost under these conditions./ *Jason seems to acknowledge, but otherwise ignore, Mimring's advice as he continues blindly through the rain.*

Darius watches Starr stumble off, feeling an immediate disturbance in the air. Oikeus' essence encompassed the general area, albeit only in a general sense. He turned his head toward Vale's essence and headed toward him. Approaching calmly, he slowed behind what he could see as Vale and another aiding him. "Vale," he greets, motioning to aid in carrying him.

Starr: Vale: *Slamming down a rifle to the ground as a crutch, his head slowly turns back at Darius. A brief moment of surprise fills his eyes before he nods politely with the remaining strength he had. He could feel Gaga's warm hold on him getting only stronger.* ..Darius. I didn't sense you coming over here.

Darius politely nods to Gaga, reaching under Vale's arm and gently lifting him. Vale's weight was nothing prior to this moment, but now Darius took a hesitant breath. "We have a lot to discuss," he replies, smiling and carrying the man forward. "Firstly, where are you headed?"

Starr: Gaga: *looks at Vale and gives him a look, then speaks up for the man as he lingers between the border of consciousness and unconsciousness* W-We were just heading on to his room...he..hes still not fully healed...something seems to be wrong with him, which is why I was planning to ease his physical pains... *she then proceeds to point to his bare back that was swollen and painted with purple and black marks*

Jason eventually reaches the clearing where Mimring rests, as he can somewhat smell the dragon from this close range, and approaches the dragon. He is stopped as Mimring's wings appear out of the darkness, beating powerfully to at least give him pause. /Do not... come any closer. I do not want to hurt you by accident./ Jason sighs, glancing down to see he's several inches from the edge of the scorched grass around Mimring. /... Yeah, alright then. I'll be right here./ The Shapeshifter settles against a tree, slumping down tiredly to sit at its base. While the tree offers minimal protection from the heavy rain, his clothes are already drenched too much for it to matter. He closes his eyes in exhaustion.

Bophez ) Soon after Jason seemed to have taken a nap, several black objects shot out from the darkness surrounding the pair in the forest clearing. An array of sharp, black blades rushed toward the Plated Firedrake, all of them aimed specifically to his shoulders.

Darius nods, motioning for Gaga to lead the way. "I may be able to assist with that." After a few moments, they did indeed reach a room. Darius helped Vale within, finding a place to set Vale down and leaning him down on his stomach instead of his mutilated backside. Darius gingerly released Vale entirely, standing erect and taking in a breath. "It isn't just damage to his body, as I can see." Darius frowns, folding his arms.

Jason had dozed off for a few minutes at most, listening to the cacophony that is the rain. With nothing else to do until the darkness lifts, he finds his mind wandering to the half-awake state that he usually takes in the late morning, resting after a hunt... but his slowly calming mind is torn from its reprieve as Mimring gives an extremely /loud/ roar in pain. Leaping to his feet but still unable to see anything, he can tell through the Familiar bond that whatever just happened, it was making Mimring's left shoulder hurt like /hell/. With a brief, instinctual warning from Mimring, Jason ducks befind a tree as a blast of electricity- released in pain and being startled- rocks the clearing. As if to hit whatever might have attacked him, his tail blade swipes at the air, with no success.

Starr: Gaga: *Blinks then crouches down and hovers her hands over Vale's back. The gunslinger groaned painfully as Gaga's palms engulfed into white flames. Since fighting was not her strongest point, along the way she had learned to better control her ability over fire and incorporate it as a healing agent. Sort...of. Slowly her hands waved from side to side, barely keeping the graceful white flames from coming into contact with the man. The beauty of the process was stunning at best, but there was still something wrong. Gaga slowed down until coming to a complete stop, giving Darius a worried look* I-Its barely working...why is he like this..? He was healed by dark to the point where he should at least be awake but...but hes barely responding...

Lord X-Giga-X ) Soon, the two of them heard a sinister laughter for several seconds before Lord X-Giga-X emerged from the surrounding darkness, surrounded by a barrier of telekinetic energy that dissipated away after its job seemed to have been done. "That was almost /too/ easy," he spoke with a grin on his face. Then again, not like either of them would be able to see that or the fact that he was completely soaked by the rain. But he could see them perfectly.

Darius furrows his brow. "It's on a higher plane than just physical injury. His soul has been completely disarrayed by that creature's release..." Darius takes a knee by Vale, looking closer at the gunslinger's essence. "He really tore through him to get out..." Darius mutters, reaching behind his head. Undoing his band, Darius gently pulls the band off and blinks quickly. Adjusting to the immense amount of spiritual stimuli, Darius takes a moment before hovering his hands over gently. /This being within him was eager to be free. I'm surprised Vale survived the emergence./

Jason and Mimring both immediately turn towards the direction of the voice, a snarl ripping out of Mimring's jaws, clenched with pain. Jason's hands shift into a dragon's claws and he steps toward where he thinks Giga is, hoping that it isn't immediately apparent that he can't see. "You want the cult to chase you off again, human?" He growls.

Starr: Gaga: *retreats back and bows her head. Within her mind she can faintly hear bits and pieces of speech-- only catching the words this and emergence-- which caused her to flinch and blink at Darius. She whispers at him* Do what you can, please...

Darius 's crystalline eyes narrowed as he focused onto Vale's essence. with gentle twitches of his fingers, Darius inserted strands of his own Spirit, wrapping around portions of Vale's soul and starting to alter them. From normal visual perception, Darius's fingers began to glow ever slightly as his Spirit pieces together broken strands and purges unstable and dangerous energy.

Lord X-Giga-X chuckled as Jason seemed to be stumbling through the darkness. "Not this time Jason. In fact really, you are in /no/ position to be fighting back." He paused for a moment, glancing back between the two of them. "It appears that right now, I have a greater advantage in this thick darkness anyway. And right now, I doubt Mimring will be flying anytime soon." He paused once again, slightly chuckling. "Any attempt to resist our deal is futile at this point."

Jason: Any semblance of a /deal/ we might have ever had was destroyed the moment you killed Storm. *He growls, extending the talons on his hands.* As far as I'm concerned, you're just another threat to the Cult now.

Lord X-Giga-X smirked. "Oh really now? If that's what you truly think, then..." He then extended his hand upward toward the pitch-black sky. "Let me give you both a taste... of what I put Stormshaper through the night that I killed him." As soon as he had finished speaking, numerous black tendrils shot out from the the surrounding darkness, all poised to ensnare both Jason and Mimring in tight grips. Some of these tendrils specifically attempted to wrap around the Plated Firedrake's mouth.

Starr: Vale: *After feeling the intense and somewhat relaxing heat of the fire, his body grew cold upon feeling Darius's spiritual intervention. Indeed like he had intended, the damage done to Vale's spirit began to mend slowly but surely. One cough of blood let out by the gunslinger signaled that the fix had done its work. Vale opened his scarlet eyes slowly*

Jason blinks, an odd sense of dread surfacing when Giga says this, but his eyes narrow again as Mimring seems to rise into a combat position, his left wing drooping at his side. The dragon gives a low warning growl, seeming to signal that Giga could probably get away with all of his limbs intact if he decides to leave /now/. "If you think that the Cult would just let yo--" He stops as he feels himself suddenly restrained by the tendrils, Mimring experiencing a similar effect, though the dragon's mouth is also clamped shut, presumably to keep him from breathing fire. A chill runs through Jason as he realizes what is very, /very/ close to happening, though it doesn't keep him from struggling against the tendrils in alarm and claustrophobic panic.

Darius pauses, smirking. "He's waking," he mentions to Gaga, gently lifting his hands. As he did so, an immense amount of excess energy from Oikeus' release suddenly purged from Vale's body in a wisp of red and black glow. He paused as his eyes shifted nearby. /What.../ he started, but quickly widened his eyes as his nerves suddenly turned on-end. "... excuse me," Darius spoke, standing up. "I'll be back to help Vale, but..." Darius stared at the essence of Giga, fists tightening. "It appears that I am needed." Taking a curt walk to the doorway, Darius then blurred down the hallway.

Starr: Gaga: *Almost breaks out in a smile but is interrupted by Darius's departure.* -- thanks... *looking back at Vale, she sits on his bedside and grazes his injured back with her soft fingers* How are you holding up, V-Vale..? *the nervousness in her voice reflected her worry over him*

Lord X-Giga-X simply watched as Jason and Mimring were both successfully restrained by his dark mana tendrils. "You were saying?" He paused, allowing the tendrils to gradually tighten their grips on the two of them. "This is the point where you really should start to reconsider your options before you both join Stormshaper." He paused once again, his smirk vanishing. "And really Jason, while you may choose not to care about your own life, I'd think that after learning about David's death, the last thing you need right now is for Mimring of all people to end up on the slowly growing death list."

Starr: Vale: Mmrgh.. *with that grunt he twitched and gave a sigh* /The sheer thought of not being able to do much is making me lose it. I feel absolutely useless. I feel like a burden. I feel like I need to head on to Oikeus and slay him with my own bare hands. If...I am to do such thing,/ *Vale slowly turns his head slightly to catch a glimpse of Gaga* /I need to depart when she is not around./

Jason freezes. Giga's bluffing. He has to be. There is no way that the human can possibly think that he can get away with killing Mimring- and by inevitable extention, the Familiar's master. The Cult leader himself. Either fear, or the tendrils, or both, constrict Jason's breathing, the panic quickly reaching a fever pitch in his mind, the attempted comfort from an equally scared Mimring doing very little to calm him. Instinctively, an alarm jolts out to both Deathstorm and Fricai. Though in one case this alarm is useless- Deathstorm is much too far away to be of any help- Fricai raises his head in rarely-visible shock, his mane bristling as he sits up by Shadow, gaze focused in the general direction of his master. Jason looks from Mimring to Giga, the fear gradually becoming all too apparent on his face. Uncertainty prevents him from saying anything immediately other than "E-er..."

Darius appears in front of Giga in a burst of his own Spirit energy, extending his arm with deft accuracy to strike Giga's chest directly. The force of his palm rushing forward ripped the air as he made contact, flipping and blurring from view once more. He reappeared an instant later, bringing the heel of his foot down with Spirit at the head in a powerful downward smashing kick.

Starr: Gaga: I'm sorry to bug you with that...heheh... *with a soft smile she slowly leaned down and kissed Vale's back in an attempt to comfort him* ..I know you're upset...I can't help but feel that tension with you...but...if I can give you a word of advice. *she repeats her previous action again* From the mouth of someone who is always on the sidelines: Its...alright to hold back from battle. Theres no shame in it....none.

Lord X-Giga-X blinked as he was suddenly hit in his chest by Darius, sent flying back a few feet. However, a Darius seemed to have reappeared, a surge of telekinetic energy was sent from within the darkness toward Darius, attempting to send him flying. Despite the sudden loss in concentration, the tendrils continued to do their work.

Starr: Vale: I don't do this for glory or to heal a blow to my pride. You don't get it...I do this because of /responsibility/ *he gives a half-hearted smirk* To think....months ago I cared not about this group or this world. I cared about nobody. Not even myself....its almost a cruel fate that I've transformed into something like this...something so prone to vunerability when you or the others fall into danger...is this...what a normal human feels like?

Shadow glances at Fricai as he suddenly stops and turns to look... somewhere. "Huh?" He has been wandering around the building since the meeting had more or less involuntarily dissolved: if anything, familiarizing himself with the base's layout--which he finds almost intuitive in a sense, considering its similarities to HQ--would help him in relieving personal tension at everything that has been happening. Shadow ventures with another question, seeing Fricai's unusual focus over, seemingly, particularly nothing. "Is something wrong, Fricai?"

Jason blinks in surprise as... something... suddenly appears and tries to fight Giga, but it does nothing to ease the ever-tightening grip of the tendrils. By now Jason can barely breathe; he and Mimring are both becoming increasingly lightheaded from the lack of air. Panic quickly makes him give in as he realizes that nothing's going to save him here, except for one thing. "Wait, stop!" Jason manages to get out with what little air he has. Clenching his teeth and glaring at the ground, he says more quietly, "... Alright, Giga. Enough."

Jason: Fricai: *His tail lashes slightly in unease; he glances at Shadow, but returns his gaze to the south.* ... it would seem that the achlymperist has returned and is attempting to kill Jason and Mimring.

Shadow stops at this. All he can manage is a neutral, flat "...What." as he even knows that Fricai is serious.

Lord X-Giga-X slowly got back onto his feet, glancing back into the darkness, able to clearly see Grodisflare a few feet away from him. /Good thing you were really paranoid about this, I guess.../ He then turned toward Jason as he spoke out, appearing to have finally submitted. His smirk returned. "There, now was that so difficult?" With a wave of his right hand, the tendrils surrounding both Mimring and Jason dissipated into the surrounding darkness. "Though by all means, you ought to remember that I can do that at anytime."

Jason: Fricai: This is all I know. Unlike Mimring, I cannot automatically read Jason's mind, nor is he in much of a mindset to communicate the exact details.

Jason gives a faint growl as Mimring shuffles his wings- or attempts to, at least, before wincing at the pain in his shoulder and turning his head to sniff at it in concern. Shifting his claws back to hands, Jason automatically reaches up to rub his probably bruised neck. "Yeah, yeah," He mutters. /I swear I will fucking kill you./

Darius clashes his leg with a massive surge of telekinetic energy, a sudden blast equalizing the forces as both Spirit and telekinetic blast panned out from the impact. Darius forced his leg through the energy and landed, turning and facing both Mimring and Jason. With a swift movement of his palm, a sudden burst of Spirit surged over and around both of them, encompassing them in a protective swirling aura. Whatever darkness that lingered was suddenly purged violently. Darius turned on his heel and faced Giga, his eyes and expression now completely visible without his band. His furrowed brow and hardened gaze clearly portrayed his irritation. "This isn't the time for you to be here," Darius spoke, a loud assertiveness piercing the air. "Prior to this time I hadn't had much of an investment on yours and Jason's conflict, but with the circumstances we have now, everyone's lives are at stake with a much bigger threat than what you are bringing. Right now, you have no right to make the situation worse than it is." Darius turned his body to face Giga entirely. "I will make sure of it."

Starr: Gaga: *tenses up and struggles for a response* /what kind of answer would he want anyway..? Should I be honest?/ w-w-well....... I may not be the best person to ask... *she grows silent and hears a small portion of Vale's thoughts among other things. The gunslinger seemed frustrated* ..vale..? Remember how vulnerable I was back then...? When I was ...I.... You know...

Shadow hesitates. He glances towards where he believes the entrance is located, then back at the dragon. "Where are they?" he asks. On one hand, Jason and Mimring are probably fighting Giga, but on the other, there is the general sense of unease that the entire rainy atmosphere brings.

Jason: Fricai: In a clearing in the forest to the south. *He looks at Shadow shrewdly* ... You are not thinking of going to help them, are you? Even Jason cannot see in that.

Starr: Vale: I don't forget anything. Especially the way you were then. *he stares off into space*

Starr: Gaga: y-yeah, that's what I wanted to focus on. The fact being that I felt like I could not control my life or my emotions *she briefly looked at vale* I was at my most exposed, raw, and open form. I was...human....but you know, out of my experience I saw that others can help you find yourself in these types of situations. And... When you feel most vulnerable....feel like a human, I know deep down inside me that there will always be something or someone there to help you to undergo the best change. *after she stopped with the best attempt she made to sound wise, the woman laid down next to vale and smiled* I hope I'm clear with what I said...I don't want you to label this vulnerability as a threat to you. It's okay..

Shadow starts, "I just..." but then trails off as he notices a nearby window in the corner of his vision. Aside from the downpour that has been going nonstop since Oikeus was released, there is also the fact that, despite even the evening not being there quite yet, the sky had blackened as if they were in the middle of the night. He can barely see the rough shadows out of the surrounding scenery from this point. There is no way he will do anything of use, provided he finds them in first place. Looking back at Fricai, he asks, "...Do you know if they are fine?"

Jason: Fricai: *tilts his head as he prods the link. He gains an acknowledging, if iritated, reply.* ... They seem to be. I have to wonder what is happening.

Lord X-Giga-X glanced over to Darius as he spoke, an obvious uninterest present in his heterochromatic eyes. And to make it more obvious, he then let out a yawn after Darius had finished speaking. He then prodded his mind with Grodisflare. /Return to our temporary base for the time being./ That done, he then completely ignored Darius as he spoke directly to Jason. "So Durasken, huh? Definitely seems like it'll be a long trip. And looking at things, you seem to have difficulty seeing in this mess of darkness. Between the two of us, I'm the only one capable of seeing through this just fine." He smirked. "As much as you would hate to admit it, there's only one way to get to our destination. So for the sake of progress..."

Starr: Vale: *gives a light chuckle* Where did you learn all this? There's something quite different about you, madam. And it's not only my weak state, talking.

Jason warily looks in Giga's direction as he lowers his hand again. Ignoring the human for a moment, he glances towards where he'd heard Darius's voice. "... Darius, would you mind getting Mimring to the building? He can't see in this rain and darkness and his shoulder is injured." /And hopefully he won't electrify everything when he gets there./ With that thought eliciting a tired mental chuckle from Mimring himself, Jason sighs and returns his attention to Giga. "And your solution would be...?"

Lord X-Giga-X chuckled. "By all means, I'd have to personally guide you through this, but..." He the glanced to Darius. "Because you seem to have urgent things going on right now..." He glanced back to Jason. "We will need to make our trip fast... Which means I'm going to have to ride you."

Shadow blinks. "They are...?" he sighs, but not exactly in relief either. He walks towards the very same window, attempting to peer beyond it, but he fails to see anything else than rain, shadows and darkness. He just has to have faith at this point.

Darius pauses. With his eyes fully focused on the achlymperist, he took a moment to weight the outcome of his moving Mimring. He smirked, letting the Spirit just beneath Giga's form lessen- ever slightly, at least. Darius kept his glistening crystalline eyes on the man, nodding to Jason's request. "I'll be back in a moment, then." Turning, Darius approached the dragon with half of his focus parted. Raising a palm, Darius sent his Spirit flowing around the dragon's underside and slowly lifting the reptilian into the air. Taking sturdy strides, Darius pushed through the rain with Mimring in tow, calmly holding one of his hands in preparation.

Jason blinks at the idea; even Mimring snorts. "... What." A momentary distraction arises as Mimring is... lifted into the air... but it seems to be Darius doing it, so it's not as concerning as it would be otherwise. Jason grimaces slightly. /By Rae herself, I am NOT one of your dragons./ "... Can you think of another option?"

Starr: Gaga: Jude's words do sometimes leave an impression on people...*she giggles and sits up to scan around the room. Several beautiful paintings hung by white painted walls followed with a neat desk and a closet right across. Then from the corner of her eye she spots a blanket. The simple soft fabric sitting on top of the chair reminded her of a detail she had overlooked. * /vale once kept me warm...helped me...I can do the same now./ *slowly she rose from the bed and gently grabbed the blanket to set it upon the man. Though in reality being from Syelsumoia meant that the cold never bothered him anyway. It was technically a useless act, but a very appreciated kind and loving gesture by her part. Gaga sat on the chair and gave a sigh.* now rest, please..

Lord X-Giga-X shook his head. "None that doesn't eventually lead to us having to nagivate through this anyway." /That, and I definitely need to keep a closer eye on Jason now that he's alone... Who knows what he'll try.../

Jason sighs, making it fairly evident that he doesn't enjoy this. Smoothly shifting into his Darkwing Firedrake form, he fully extends his wings skyward, ignoring the rain cascading down the sharp-edged scales. As he glares down at Giga, he snarls. "I hope you fall off."

Lord X-Giga-X chuckled as he then leapt onto Jason's back after he had transformed into a Darkwing Firedrake. "We both know that's not going to happen anytime soon." He paused. "Now then, let's get going."

Jason growls again, crouching down in preparation to take flight. A thought flits across his mind. /... Maybe we can confirm that theory of yours,/ He thinks, hiding a grin. Without warning, he nearly rockets into the air, shooting almost straight up.

Lord X-Giga-X suddenly felt Jason rocketing into air, although he was surprisingly able to stay on the shapeshifter's back with not much of a problem. Another chuckle. "Like I said, not going to happen. Now stop messing around."

Jason roars in obvious defiance, angling downward and diving at just as steep an angle as he shoots upward. Several feet from hitting the ground, he swoops back upwards, nearly snapping a tree with his wing, corkscrewing as he soars high up towards the stormclouds.

Lord X-Giga-X ) Despite Jason's violent movement, Giga was able to keep a firm grip upon the shapeshifter's back. Although he was now slightly annoyed at the lack of actually getting anywhere. He sent a burst of dark mana into the side ofJason's snout, attempting to make him face northward. "Hey genius, if you're done with this bit of nonsense, you should try going that way."

Jason growls slightly at the dark mana burst, but levels out, glaring at the human on his back. "Excuse me for trying to entertain myself," He growls, what little sarcasm he has in his voice lost under the frustration and anger. Dipping in altitude so he's not so dangerously close to the stormclouds, he puffs out a bit of smoke and finally starts flying north.

Darius slows to a stop near the border of SoS, looking about with squinted eyes. He had conjured a form of protective barrier over Mimring to stop the rain from pelting him, but now his Spirit was faltering beneath- or rather his concentration. His arm was beginning to burn just being held in the same position. "Where would you like to be?" he asked, stretching his residual Spirit in order to visualize scenery around him entirely. He felt both Jason and Giga leave, but now his concentration was starting to turn. He couldn't keep his attention on the two anymore, making him bite his lip. /Mimring should be capable of telling me of something wrong,/ he thought.

Jason: Mimring: *Stops trying to get a decent look at his injured shoulder and turns to look towards Darius. He can tell the human is growing tired.* I am able to walk from here. No need to further exert yourself. /As long as I keep my weight off of my foreleg, I should be fine./ *He mentally notes, mostly for Jason's reassurance.*

Jason: Fricai: *Sniffs the air, then uses his forelegs to lean against the window.* ... At the very least, I believe Mimring is nearly here, so nothing truly terrible can be happening. *This is spoken with a fading interest, now that the conflict has lessened.*

Darius nods, graciously lowering his arm and Mimring with it until the dragon's feet caught on the earth beneath. The Spirit about Mimring faded as Darius retracted it, taking in a couple breaths. "If you need any assistance, just say," he replies. He hefts his other arm to rub his shoulder, looking down at where he knew the Geratium bars hugged against his skin. /This is harder than I remember... It will do me good to work more often in these weight- hopefully not enough to tear me apart, however./

Jason: Mimring: *Sniffs towards Darius, tilting his head as he begins to limp toward the building.* I hope carrying me here was not too difficult for you? I would hate for the feud between Giga and Jason to become even more of a burden to the Cultists. *Despite the roundabout words, Mimring's apologetic tone makes his meaning clear.*

Shadow lightly pushes himself away from the window, turning to the hallway. "I... guess so. But still..." his voice trails off as he shakes his head. But what about Jason? "I'm going to meet them in the main hall, at least." he says this with a small sigh and a glance towards Fricai before turning and heading off in that direction.

Darius shakes his head. "No, I am fine. My exhaustion is by my own doing," he affirms, smiling at the dragon. He lifts an arm, gripping his forearm with firmness. "I'm wearing training weights- Geratium. They're extremely dense. They'll be helping me in my usual training regiment." Darius takes a few steps, blinking suddenly as a water droplet manages to strike his eye. Rubbing it, he blinks a few more times before chuckling. "I haven't had that band off my eyes for quite a while now," he remarks, his crystalline eyes darting back to the dragon. "I might have to take a break from visual training. That band tends to become a detriment on occasion."

Jason: Mimring: *Gives Darius a curious look before managing to find the entrance, slipping in and being careful not to let his tail knock anything over. Immediately, he uses the light in the building to his advantage to turn and look at his shoulder- and hisses, nearly cringing. It looks like it's been mauled by some animal. The already-scarred skin is shredded, several scales appear to have been cracked, broken, or even completely ripped off, and brilliant crimson lines the gaps between the remaining metallic scales there. The dragon gives the injury a concerned lick before trying to fold his wing to cover it. After several painful seconds, he gives up.*

Jason: Fricai: *Shrugs his undersized wings and follows Shadow. After several feet, he picks up the sharp scent of blood. He says nothing, only giving a quiet, somewhat morbid chuckle.*

Darius stops by Mimring, seeing his clear irritation with his wound. He looked up to locate Gaga, seeing just where he had left her by Vale's side. Both were fine- in fact, whatever interaction they had had actually improved Vale's Spiritual healing process. "I could grab Miss Gaga for you," he says, "She has healing capabilities above my own."

Shadow makes his way to the building's main hall--similar in layout to the HQ's, actually, except for several hallways branching out to other areas. He gives a short wave to greet Mimring and Darius, increasing his pace slightly, about to start saying something when he notices the glint of red on Mimring's form. He blinks. A really vicious wound. "W-what happened?" he manages to utter.

Jason: Mimring: *Glances toward Shadow and Fricai as they approach; Fricai looks at Mimring's wound, an appraising look in his red eyes. Almost smug eyes. Mimring resists the urge to growl at Fricai, turning to address Shadow instead.* As I said the last time you asked this, Giga happened. *His voice is dry, perhaps irritated. He places his left foreclaw down as if to test it, only to hiss sharply and pull it back up a second later.*

Darius takes his eyes from Mimring as he finishes explaining, different colors of the spectrum reflecting off his irises as he did so. He focused his gaze on Shadow. "Giga came around and threatened Jason. Jason relented and now they are both gone, presumably to aid whatever Giga required of him." Darius frowned. /Should I have stopped him before they left?/ Darius paused, breaking from his thoughts on the previous situation. "Is everything holding well here for you, Shadow?" he inquires.

Jason idly notes the gradual lifting of the darkness as he exits Ustream and enters Durasken; as he finds he can see more clearly, he glances back at Giga, giving him a glare before focusing ahead again. Around them, the towering mountains of the Casrshai Range gain an increasingly snowy appearance the further north they go, signalling that winter is all too present in Durasken right now. A puff of steam and smoke emerges from Jason's jaws as he notes the declining temperature. "Hey, if you freeze to death, maybe you'll fall off after all," He remarks sarcastically.

Lord X-Giga-X , still able to keep himself from falling off Jason's back, chuckled as he then retorted. "Like I said, not going to happen." He then glanced around, observing the presence of snow in the surrounding area. Made sense as it was winter. /Seeing all of this, it's a good thing I had Grodis go back to base... I doubt he'd have gotten that far in this.../ He gave another glance around the area. "Still, I'm impressed with how fast we got to the border. Hopefully, this won't take that long, and you can get back to whatever seems to be so urgent."

Shadow stares at the wound for a couple of seconds, though in contrast to Fricai, he is more worried than anything else. Though what Darius just said barely even relieves him. "They're gone? How do we know that Giga won't attack him?" he glances back at Mimring, eyeing the wound cautiously for a second... he can pretty much guess what transpired there. His eyes meet Darius' once again. He is anything but "well" right now, at least as his mind his concerned... in fact, probably every Cultist is, at this point. "Yeah, I'm fine." he says somewhat tiredly.

Jason growls, beating his wings to maintain his altitude. Several ideas flit through his mind. He could go up... or he could go down. Glancing back at Giga, the Shapeshifter's eyes take on a more... dangerous light. "Sure you're not cold? Perhaps I could... warm you up." With a roar, he suddenly takes another steep dive... before breathing fire directly in his own path and flying into the blue flames, his own dragon form keeping him resistant to the heat.

Jason: Mimring: *Flinches slightly, but not in pain; he can sense Jason's actions.* ... In all honesty, Shadow, I feel that Jason is more likely to attack Giga. /In fact he is doing that right now. Just what do you hope to accomplish, Jason...? You know he will not let you kill him. Not yet, at least./

Dark catches the scent of blood in the air, being more sensitive to it as a vampire. But something seems off. Jason left a while ago, and he was probably right in assuming Mimring followed. They both hadn't come back yet, which led him to worry that something had happened. He pulled himself off the wall of one of the nearby secondary halls and looked around the corner. He immediately noticed Shadow and Fricai, who had passed by earlier, an exhausted-looking Darius and Mimring. Mimring, but no Jason. Then he heard what Darius had to say. /Of course./ He bolted down the hall towards them, almost catching his left wing on the corner leading in and falling on his ass.

Darius nods slowly. He could clearly see through Shadow's cover. However, he himself reciprocated the feeling. After a moment, he replies, "I'm sure things will be okay," he assures warmly. In the tone of his voice, he knew that Shadow would understand exactly what- or who- he was talking about. However, before he could say more, his eyes darted to Dark's form, which rushed toward them with a sudden burst of energy. Taken aback by the spontaneous move, Darius took a step back before the vampiric humanoid suddenly flopped under his own ecstatic burst, landing on his backside with a loud thud. The edge of Darius' mouth twitched before he let out a slight sigh. "Hello, Dark," he said with amusement, "I'm glad to see you too."

Lord X-Giga-X chuckled as he had continued to stay on Jason's back, creating a barrier of telekinetic energy around himself to protect him from the shapeshifter's flames. "No thanks, Jason," he replied. "Really Jason, you're getting yourself nowhere doing this. You might as well stop, especially with how close I am to your neck right now." He then focused telekinetic energy upon the shapeshifter's neck, applying a slight pressure to it to help make his point.

Jason almost immediately stops breathing fire and levels out upon feeling the pressure on his neck, giving Giga a death glare. The Shapeshifter rose back up to his former altitude, gradually rising higher as if to gain a better view of the landscape past the mountains. He feigns a sigh. "Yeah, yeah, you've made your point." He beats his wings, continuing to ascend.

Dark picks himself up off the floor slowly and walks toward Darius and the others. "You too, Darius." he said, catching the same red glint off Mimring that Shadow had mere seconds ago, "So that's what I could smell. From what I heard, there was a run-in with Giga, so that explains the why and the how." He tilts his head slightly. Less of a 'why would Giga do this' and more of a 'why right now.' He then looked to Mimring. "I take it some good old fashioned Spirit medicine would be welcome about now."

Lord X-Giga-X ) "Good." He then removed the telekinetic energy around himself and Jason's neck as the shapeshifter then continued on the path forward.

Shadow nods as Darius says this, understanding the intent of the warm tone he just used. He had intended to ask what happened to Valerie and Kayera, but this gradually fades as he understands from his words that he did not exactly know... nor it would be of any use to extensively worry about probabilities. He turns to Dark at his less-than-spectacular entrance, a small laugh escaping his lips in what seems to be forever. "Yes." he agrees, nodding to the Lycan, "Mimring's wound doesn't look good."

Jason glances back, then towards the ground as he continues to gain altitude. The cold is becoming more apparent, now that the two are so high up, and the ground is almost lost in the haze of the clouds. The dragon takes a deep breath, seeming to actually enjoy flying so high... of course, a dragon is built to take the thin atmosphere of great heights. A human, on the other hand...

Jason: Mimring: *Gives Dark a bored look at his entrance, but seems to brighten at the mention of healing it. Slowly- and with visible pain- Mimring extends his left wing, allowing Dark easier access to the wound.*

Darius nods to Dark. "Perhaps we could remedy Mimring's wound," he says, walking closer to inspect the area. As his Spirit swathed over the wound in order to allows his full visibility of the physical injury. Darius motioned for Dark to approach, holding out one hand. "It'll be quicker with both of us aiding the healing process," he suggests, awaiting Dark's action.

Lord X-Giga-X ) As Jason continued his ascent, Giga slowly began to find it somewhat difficult to breathe, a likely result of their altitude. "Ugh.. And while you're at..." he struggled to say, "try not to fly so high..." He slowly began to reapply telekinetic pressure to his neck, mainly to get Jason's attention in case he had attempted to ignore him.

Jason simply looks back at Giga coldly, his expression even more frigid than the decreasing temperature, as he continues to fly higher.

Dark nods is response, then walks over to Mimring. "Alright, I'll see what I can do." He inspected the wound for a bit, almost frowning for a second. It was deep. Very deep. He gulped nervously. "Whatever Giga's done here did quite a lot of damage, but if we're both at it..." he said, turning to Darius with a smile, "... then we'll probably be fine." He then shifted his hands over the wound in an interlocked pattern as he did with Vale, and shortly after the same pale red glow began to radiate from Mimring, but it would be especially visible around the outline of the deep gouge. Then, as with Vale, the wound started to close. He gestured for Darius to come over.

Lord X-Giga-X: ) /Oh, so that's how it is then.../ He began to increase the pressure on the shapeshifter's neck, now actually beginning to choke him as to force him to experience what he was currently going through.

Jason: Mimring: *Winces slighly; the wound is still obviously painful, and holding his wing out like he is definitely isn't helping matters. Instinctively he begins to fold his wing back against the wound, before he pulls away entirely, resisting the urge to knock something over with his tail. Looking at the gouge- which at least has had the skin healed, so he's stopped bleeding- he shakes his head almost apologetically.* ... I am sorry. The injury is still a little too fresh for me to be able to take the pain of extending my wing right now.

Jason grimaces, feeling the familiar sensation of being choked himself. Nevertheless, he continues to rise for several painful seconds for the both of them, before his common sense and survival instincts cooperate for once and take over, almost forcing him to descend to an altitude more reasonable for Giga. A small, harmless spurt of flame emerges from his jaws in an almost petulant gesture. At least he tried.

Darius recedes his hand with Dark's as Mimring recoils from the healing process. He pauses as the dragon apologizes. However, Darius wasn't entirely focused on Mimring's reaction so much as what he had sensed. He folded his arms, staring at what he knew was within the dragon's injury. "Dark," he says, "This is going to be harder than anticipated." Darius looked at Mimring, a frown appearing on his face.

Dark jerks his hands back, the aura almost... exploding in a small flash. He looked at Darius, seeing his concerned frown. "I figured. When does Giga ever make anything remotely close to easy?"

Jason: Mimring: *Looks from Darius to Dark, not quite understanding that either of them are talking about. He gives Dark a questioning look, but doesn't say anything, figuring that would prompt him enough to explain.*

Shadow has actually stepped back and around a bit to get a better angle of their work. He watches rather curiously as Darius and Dark cooperate at healing the wound. He can see and almost sense the strange energy--Spirit, as he had learned a while ago--reacting and seeping into the injury... for a bit, anyway, as both seem to stop. Though he is not aware of whatever intricacies there are to the wound, it seems to be something Giga did in particular.

Lord X-Giga-X continued to choke Jason until he finally descended, then took in a large breath of air. "Keep this up, and I might as well just decapitate you," he then muttered, aware that the shapeshifter would be able to hear him.

Jason glares back at the human. "Decapitate me and we /both/ die, so if that's what you really want..."

Darius lets out a grunt of disapproval. "Giga has made sure that he has insurance on Jason," he reluctantly replies, "Your wound is locked in a perpetual state. We can't heal it as I had thought we could do."

Lord X-Giga-X sighed. "Personally, I'd rather not have to resort to it." He paused. "Though considering how things have gone, you may eventually leave me no choice." He paused once again. "You also ought to remember that it wasn't my actions alone that led to this."

Jason snorts, seeming to catch sight of something mildly interesting on the ground and swooping slightly to get a look at it. "In retrospect, it /was/ you who took Deathstorm in the first place."

Shadow minutely frowns at this. ""Locked"...? What do you mean?"

Dark sighs in a sort of mixture of defeat and frustration. "Juuuust like with Zeph, althoough this is mechanically different."

Lord X-Giga-X sighed. "While that was true, let's not forget that you ignored my deal when I first offered it. Which, by the way, you should have gone through back then, because in all honesty..." He paused. "I would have just let you have him completely back had you done so."

Darius nods in confirmation. "The worse part-" he motions to the wound- "Is that not only has it locked the wound from healing, but it is actually going to kill the tissue from the healing prevention. If we aren't able to break whatever Giga had done, the tissue will start to die and get infected."

Jason gives Giga an irritated look, before sighing as well, his breath making steam in the frigid air. "You know me. Too stubborn to give in." His voice is mostly neutral, but with an edge of resignation to it.

Shadow narrows his eyes at this. Of course it was not going to be that easy... "And isn't there anything anyone else can do...?" he says out of concern, though from Darius and Dark's expressions, he can pretty much tell this is beyond their abilities.

Lord X-Giga-X ) "And look where it's gotten us..." He shook his head. "Well look at it this way... After this and a few unresolved matters, you'll soon have to deal with me no longer." He paused. "Still, as that guy put it, the cult apparently has something to deal with. The longer we continue messing around, the longer you are away from the cult. And considering things, you can't afford to be away from them much longer. So let me put it to you this way: the sooner you get me to where I need to go, the sooner you can go back and help your team."

Jason glances back at Giga, diving a bit more to scan the frozen forest below; they seem to be passing out of the mountains. In an extremely casual tone he /must/ have picked up from Fricai, he says, "I hope you realize one of these days I'm going to kill you."

Darius: *within the lobby, a sudden burst ripped the air nearby. The air shifted as suddenly a blue-haired girl appeared with her hands clasped onto impossible borders that seemed to exist in the very air. She had one eye closed in what appeared to be a lot of exerted effort, pulling whatever portal gap she had wider and wider. As this happened, another girl appeared- rushing more like- from the portal, bursting into the room and landing on the floor. Kayera stepped through slowly, looking down to watch her own steps until she had both feet in the room itself. Then, quickly, she retracted her hands, causing whatever rip she had opened to close instantly, a loud boom resounding as a small burst of energy collapsed on itself. Kayera's eyes stopped glowing as she panted, trying to regain her breath. Meanwhile, Valerie pulled herself to her feet slowly, legs wobbly*

Dark 's right ear twitched, then he almost jolted around at the sudden boom. His eyes met Valerie and Kayera. Relief. It wasn't Oikeus, at least. "Valerie, Kayera, you're safe!" He walked over and offered a hand to Valerie in a friendly gesture, going to help he to her feet.

Lord X-Giga-X simply smirked in response to what Jason had said. "If you say so." He then glanced down to the forest below them, as if trying to find something... Either something of interesting or whatever made Jason descend further toward the ground.

Jason: Mimring: *Snorts, moving aside to make room in the hall for the two new arrivals. The tip of his tail twitches in pain as he experimentally moves his wing.* It is good to know that at least most of the cult is safe and unharmed.

Jason skims the top of the treeline, his wingbeats bending back the branches and kicking up snow. A flash of movement below catches his eye and he immediately turns his head to look at it, hovering for an instant as it darts away from him, to his right. The dense treetops prevent a good look at it, however.

Shadow turns towards the source of the initial ripple almost instantly, watching with wide eyes as Kayera emerges from a literal opening in space, followed by Valerie. He flinches slightly at the resounding boom, but recovers immediately. He pretty much shares Dark's sentiment: he approaches the two along with the Lycan. "Hey! I was worried. Where did you go?" he says the first half with a smile towards the two, but the question is more directed towards the blue-haired girl for obvious reasons.

Darius: Valerie: *taking Dark's furred hand, she steadies herself before nodding to the lycan with a smile* We're glad to have made it! *she pauses and looks to Shadow, whom she smiles back at- that is, until his focus turns to Kayera. Her smile slowly fades as she turns to look at Kayera to allow her to explain- as Shadow seemed to want to hear it from her. She continues to catch her breath as she turns her eyes to the dragon in the room, noticing blood marks along gaps in the dragon's scales. She helps her nerves calm down as she furrows her brow* What happened?

Dark helps Valerie get steady on her feet before responding to her question regarding Mimring. "I'll spare him the effort and say Giga happened."

Darius: Kayera: *after taking a few breaths, she straightened and brushed her hair back in a soothing motion. She smiles, opening her brilliant azure gaze and looking at Shadow* Well, I grabbed Valerie and pulled us both out of your building before it collapsed on us. I thought it was something else, so I used the best method of escape I knew and got us out. The hard part was coming back- I was pretty exhausted casting the spell in the first place. *she paused* Forgive me for not coming back sooner on that account. It's not easy doing what I did.

Lord X-Giga-X glanced down as Jason seemed to have come to a stop above the forest, catching a glimpse of something down there moving to the shapeshifter's right. He then fired off several bursts of dark mana in that direction, hoping to catch its attention. It was several seconds of silence before something had finally happened. Whatever this thing was swooped up from out of the trees, revealing a bright, lime wyvern with wings of a contrasting red. On its head was a large, vibrant red crest which seemed to flash toward them in an attempt to warn them off. The sight of the creature succeeded in making the achlymperist blink as he immediately realized that this was exactly what he came here to find. Not far into Durasken, and they had already come into an encounter with an Illusionary Wyvern. "Well Jason, looks like we may be returning much sooner than I've anticipated."

Darius approaches Valerie with a sudden enthusiasm, a wide grin on his face. "I'm glad to see you didn't get yourself in too big of trouble," he muses. He curiously examined her, stopping his gaze by her leg. ". . . Were you planning on getting that fixed?"

Darius: Valerie: *looks at Dark with curiosity, but then looks at Darius with a giggle* I try not to get in trouble. *she then pauses as he points out something she surprisingly had forgotten about. She looked down at her own leg, pulling back fabric to reveal large gashes along her thigh and foreleg. She winced* Yeah, I was...

Shadow sighs in relief. At least, now, everyone is accounted for. He shortly glances at Valerie as Kayera pauses, noticing her minor wounds in that moment, though Darius seems to have that covered. He looks back towards the blue-haired girl. "I don't really think you should be apologizing there," he says, shaking his head, "What matters is that you two made it out when... well, /that/ happened." his eyes move to gaze beyond the entrance, an atmosphere which is pretty much proof of the entire situation at hand. He chooses to change the topic after a pause. "How can you do that, anyway? Moving between places in that way, I mean... Are those spells?"

Jason snorts in mild contempt, but not at the wyvern. He glances back at Giga, anger thinly veiled by boredom. "Tch. You're on your own with this one, human, I personally have no wish to get hit by that wyvern's venom." With this he looks toward the smaller dragon with a mix of neutrality and exasperation, willing it to fly away while it still has the chance. The last dragon that Giga had taken- the Shadowsong- had at least attempted to get away... not that that had turned out well. A brief thought flits through his mind about how to end this, but it would do no more good than Storm's attempt.

Darius: Kayera: *smiling at Shadow, she paused to think. After a slight hum, she let out a slight chuckle* Sorry, but that's a secret. *winking and sticking her tongue out momentarily, she glanced over at Valerie's wound. Darius' hand was hovering just above it, which seemed to be placing together the torn flesh and muscles. She considered a few things, a sly smirk coming over her face* maybe I'll tell you later. But first: what was it that destroyed your building?

Lord X-Giga-X ) "Fine by me," he retorted as he glanced down to the shapeshifter. "I expected as much anyway." His attention then returned to the Illusionary Wyvern as it let out a roar, leaving its mouth open as it then sprayed out a mist from its fangs toward the two of them. "Speaking of which..." He then leapt off of Jason's back and flew out of the way of the mist. He didn't give much of a glance to the shapeshifter, knowing fully well that he'd be able to avoid the attack.

Jason growls faintly, but an instant after Giga leaps off, the dragon's form drastically shrinks. In a flurry of feathers, the raven that takes its place quickly flies away from the mist, heading straight south without a backward glance at the fight between dragon and human. /I hope it bites you,/ He thinks acidly, despite the human not being able to hear him. Actually, a bite from the /very/ poisonous dragon might shut Giga up for a while. Or longer.

Jason: Mimring: *He has been mostly ignoring the conversation back at SoS base, but seems to breathe a sigh of relief once Jason manages to get away from Giga, the forced deal basically fulfilled. He glances back at the others.* Jason is returning, so at the very least, we know that everyone is safe.

Shadow momentarily tilts his head at this, though in reality he is mildly disappointed. Oh well. He sighs wearily at Kayera's question. "A... being that had been sealed inside Vale... until now, that is. I think people called it a deity of justice... or something." the mere of thought of something as powerful as that currently roaming Ustream is very, very unsettling. He scratches the back of his head as he pretty much runs out of useful things to tell her. "I'm really not the best person to ask about this... but we're planning to stop it."

Lord X-Giga-X: IW: *The Illusionary Wyvern continues spitting out its mist toward Giga, which only continues to missing its target, slowly sinking down into the forest below them as a result. It shows signs of frustration, then ceasing this method of attack as it then lunges toward Giga. However, it immediately comes to a stop just inches away from him, now showing sudden signs of struggling in response to a sudden invasion of the mind...*

Lord X-Giga-X ) /Frustrated, aren't you? Sorry, wyvern, but not getting me with that mist of yours anytime soon.../ Giga stared upon the Illusionary Wyvern, watching as it tried to fight him off. Obviously to little success. /Now then, why don't you just do youself a favor and stop resisting? We both know how this is going to end.../

Darius takes note of Shadow's explanation as he flows Spirit through Valerie's wound. Slowly, the blood-stained skin starts to heal, the muscle tissue growing and reforming back into original construction. He pauses as Valerie winces, then continues. "I suppose, then," he says aloud, "that we need to come up with a logical course of action. That is, if there haven't been any made already." Darius stands up and nods to Valerie upon completion. "If Jason is returning, then we can expect to begin planning when this day is through. There is, as it seems, a lot to mull through."

Lord X-Giga-X: IW: *Even after what Giga had "said" to it, the Illusionary Wyvern continued to resist him, and struggled to continue to move toward him in an attempt to bite him... However, it was seconds later that its eyes widened as it found itself completely unable to move at all. He stared upon the dracoimperist in front of it, mildly confused... Could he have been... It was obvious that this was a battle it would not be able to win at all, and it soon surrendered to the influence...*

Darius: Valerie: *seeing as her wound had healed, she pulls the ripped cloth of her skirt back down to cover her once-wounded thigh. She takes in a gulp of air at the chilling thought of a large being had could have just crushed her without the aid of Kayera* /I could have been dead already... I wasn't prepared at all. Could I have been?.../ *She brushed herself down, looking from Darius to Shadow* Are there any rooms that we're staying in? I'd like to go to a room right now... *Valerie felt a chill run through her, a shiver that caused her to physically display her frailty, if only for a moment, before she straightened. Her stressed eyes blinked several times as if to wash it out of her eyes*

Lord X-Giga-X , his eyes glowing a bright violet, felt the link having been formed, a sinister grin forming on his face. "And thus, I now have five dragons under my control." He backed away from the Illusionary Wyvern, and soon the glow of his eyes faded away and the wyvern was once again able to move.

Lord X-Giga-X: IW: *blinks as it finds itself able to move once more. He stares down at its... master... This is going to take some getting used to...* How... How did you...

Lord X-Giga-X chuckled. "All will be revealed soon enough." He then glanced around, noting Jason's absence. /Guess he must have run off.../ He shrugged. "Ah well, got my use out of him for now. Anyway, I probably should do the same." He then began to fly toward the south, signalling the Illusionary Wyvern to follow. Though as soon as they began to move, they came to a sudden stop...

Lord X-Giga-X: ???: *Giga and the Illusionary Wyvern glance down in response to a voice echoing from the very area* ACK, what- What is this stuff... Ugh, this stuff is horrible... *a brief pause, followed by* OH SHIT, WHAT ARE ALL OF THESE DRAGONS DOING HERE?! NO- NOOO, STAY BACK! S-STAY BACK.... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA​AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA​AAAAAA!!!!

Shadow looks at Darius, nodding. "There was a meeting earlier but... err, it didn't exactly go well." he leaves the details of why vague for now; these are rather sensitive topics that the man does not know about yet. As Valerie mentions a place to actually /stay/, the fact they have not even arranged that comes to mind. "...I don't know." he glances around the place. "I guess we were so worried about Oikeus that we didn't have time to find out where we're staying for the time being..."

Jason soon crosses into Ustream, only now remembering his very rarely-used bat form. Transforming into it, he finds the darkness easier to navigate, and the nighttime flying less arduous than it would be for a bird... though he still has to fly lower to the ground in order to use his form's echolocation to find his way back. In a way he's glad for the task to keep his mind off of the situations at hand, though he knows they'll simply come back to bite him on his return...

Lord X-Giga-X blinked as he listened to this seemingly panicked voice from the voice beneath them. /What the fuck.../ He continued to stare down to the forest as the screaming continued for several seconds before letting out an exasperated sigh. "Okay, let's see what the hell is going on here..." He then descended downward into the forest, immediately stopping just several feet above the ground as noticed the mist was present on the ground. Or at least some of it, and even then it was dissipating into the air. He then looked around, looking for the source of the scream, eventually looking upon a red-haired, goggled man running away from... nothing?! He narrowed his eyes and hovered toward the man as he then hid behind a tree. "Uh dude... What the fuck?"

Darius: Valerie: *folding her forearms and grabbing her arms, she shivers further* I-I feel cold... *taking a few steps from the group, she leans against the wall and starts to rub her skin in an attempt to warm herself*

Darius: Kayera: *frowning at the sudden realization of the temperature, she let out a slight growl.* Whatever that thing is that attacked us, it's making it so I can't work on my pod.

Lord X-Giga-X: ???: *glances around the tree as he looks back in the direction he was running from. In his perspective, he sees a horde of dragons crawling toward him. The fact that he was being scared off by this was enough to make him jump at the sudden sound of Giga's voice* Ack! Don't do that! *pauses, then glances back around the tree. The dragons are closer* Nononono, they're getting closer... Damnit, if I run, I'm dead. If I fight, I'm dead... Shit, I'm screwed- *is suddenly punched in the back of his head by Giga, slamming the side of his head into the tree as a result. He glances back to Giga, rubbing the back of his head* DAMNIT, WHAT WAS THAT FOR- *blinks as he then realizes something, turning back to confirm what he was thinking: All of the dragons he had seen were now gone* Wait wha- But... wha- Where'd all of those dragons go?!

Lord X-Giga-X cracked his knuckles as he answered the man. "The dragons you thought you were seeing? Yeeeaaah, those were never there." He paused as the Illusionary Wyvern had landed next to him, giving the dragon a glance. "Do these freakouts happen frequently whenever you use that mist of yours?"

Lord X-Giga-X: IW: Usually not to this degree. *lets out somewhat of an amused snort* Though by all means, that was definitely an amusing way to cure someone of it.

Lord X-Giga-X: ???: ACK, ANOTHER ONE! *backs away from the Illusionary Wyvern* I already had a freakout because of what just happened! I'm just walking through here minding my own business, then this weird mist comes out of nowhere and suddenly dragons everywhere!

Jason soon arrives close enough to SoS base to echolocate it, and aligns himself in its direction before landing and shifting into human form. He approaches the building at a brisk pace, bristling with carefully-contained anger and frustration at what just happened and Giga's nerve in doing it /now/.

Shadow blinks. He had not realized it up to this point, but the temperature was dropping quickly for some reason, and unnaturally so. /This can't be natural, can it...?/ he lets the thought wander a bit as he looks around the building's main hall--particularly towards the entrance. No, definitely not. "We... should go further inside," he glances at everyone. As if to punctuate his statement, his next breath vaguely, but surely becomes visible in the cold air.

Darius fold his arm under his right elbow, right arm raises as he bites his nail in thought. "This deity... I can feel him. It's powerful, enough to stretch its power over this region. Whatever Vale had contained, it is beyond what I had anticipated..." Turning his attention to Kayera, he thought a little more. "... Unfortunately, I'd have to advise against you retrieving your equipment. It is probably already destroyed by whatever that monster is with the rest of headquarters. By all means, we should avoid notoriety until we form any sort of plan." Darius looked to Mimring, but quickly shifted his gaze outside. /And best to take a moment of clarity./ he thought, sensing Jason's irritation rising upon approaching SoS's HQ.

Lord X-Giga-X let out a slight chuckle. "Yeah, looks like you got caught up in the aftermath of our battle. My bad..." He paused. "Anyway, don't worry about this guy. He won't kill you." He gave the Illusionary Wyvern a glance. "At least, you better /not/ kill him."

Lord X-Giga-X: IW: *gives Giga a glance before glancing away somewhat irritatedly* Alright, fine.

Jason manages to find the entrance to the building easily enough, completely ignoring the falling temperature- it doesn't really bother him anyway. Mimring seems to flinch slightly at his master's raging thoughts as Jason walks in through the front door. The Shapeshifter wastes absolutely no time in declaring, "I'm going to /kill/ him." He does, however, walk over to Mimring, examining the partly healed wound. /Are you alright?/

Lord X-Giga-X: ???: *blinks, observing the exchange between the two before suddenly putting things together* Wait a minute... You're a dracoimperist, aren't you?

Lord X-Giga-X turned back to the man in response to his question. At first, he was about to give him a straight answer, but then he remembered that he was still in Durasken. And given what Aegis and Smeremus had said about this place... He definitely made a huge risk coming here.... "Well what if I am?" he eventually responded. "What are going to do, call a guard and have me arrested or something?"

Lord X-Giga-X: ???: *scoffs* As if. Even if I did, there's no guarantee that they'd even do what they seem to be paid to do. *grimaces* Plus really, if I did that, I have to deal with their shapeshifters again. And really, I'd rather not have to deal with those scum of Euthora anymore than I already have."

Darius watches Jason's enraged spirit enter the room, a surge of anger flowing from him as he speaks. Darius approaches Jason with a polite demeanor. "Jason," he starts, "As much as he has become a problem, we should not be focusing on Giga at this time. Rather, we haven't established living spaces here- and the temperature appears to be dropping rapidly."

Darius: And on top of that, the more pressing matter is looming over our heads.

Shadow catches sight of Jason in the corner of his vision--he turns just in time to see him say this, then almost immediately head towards Mimring. He opts not to openly ask what happened as Jason seems furious--plus Darius seems to be smoothly taking care of it anyway. He adds to statement about living spaces, instead, "Shouldn't we ask someone from SoS about this..? Wasn't Bophez the one in charge?"

Lord X-Giga-X managed to get a good chuckle out of the man's statement. With maybe two excepts, given what he had been dealing with lately, he could agree with him. "You know what, you're alright..." He paused. "So... who are you anyway? Some kind of explorer?"

Jason glares at Darius for a couple of seconds, before relaxing somewhat. "Right, yeah. Bophez was the leader, I'll go talk to him about it." He glances at Mimring, then to the dragon's wound, then to the ground briefly before looking up again. "... I'll also apologoze for leaving the meeting so suddenly. It was more than a little unprofessional." He looks outside, taking more notice of the falling temperature than he did before. "If Bophez'll allow it, their basement should be a decent place for those that can't take the cold. The walls will insulate and trap the heat. Do any of you know where he is?"

Lord X-Giga-X: ???: Well, something like that... I tend to come back to this forest a lot, though. *pauses* The name's Nit Toi.

Darius: Kayera: *pauses as she considers Darius' words, biting her lip in thought. Shaking her head, she sighed* I need my equipment. It couldn't have been destroyed. *looking about, she turns and looks to the nearby wall, already imagining her pod on the other side.* /I could manage to snag it while no one is looking... I can't allow it to be taken./

Lord X-Giga-X raised an eyebrow as the man gave him his name. "Alright... Nit. Pleasure to meet you." He paused. "My name's Lord X-Giga-X, but everyone I know usually just calls me Giga."

Lord X-Giga-X: Nit: Cool name. *glances over to the Illusionary Wyvern* And what about him?

Starr: Vale: *After a brief moment of sleep, the warm puff of air escaping his lips suddenly woke him upon melding with the chilling air. Something was not right. The scarlet gunslinger willed his body up to survey the area. After having a series of brief dreams, he looks at the unfamiliar room with slight confusion. Slowly he flicks away strands of blonde hair obstructing his view, momentarily glancing at the strands with disgust* /These changes are happening too fast. I can feel it....Ustream's being consumed at an alarming rate. The cold.../ Nrrgh. *he groans, crouching down with pain before composing himself. As his eyes dragged towards the sleeping Gaga, he gives a nod and then begins to stand up very slowly. It was obvious that he was struggling to arise, but his will overpowered the pain. From the confines of the room he could briefly sense something lurking around the area. It felt...familiar. Sighing, Vale went on forward to exit the room* I need to address this...to them

Lord X-Giga-X blinked, glancing to the Illusionary Wyvern as well. "Good question...." He then spoke directly to the Illusionary Wyvern. "Hey, what is your name?"

Lord X-Giga-X: IW: *gives the two of them glances. It's obvious to him that they're both humans, which would probably make it difficult for them to pronounce his name. Still, since it doesn't seem he has much of a choice, he then speaks* My name is... Izexn.

Lord X-Giga-X blinked upon hearing the dragon give them his name, at first glancing at Nit, who seemed equally as confused, before silently attempting to pronounce it himself... each time completely botching it before gave somewhat of a defeated sigh. "Man, that... That is some name..."

Lord X-Giga-X: Izexn: Well really, it is Drakine, so...

Darius shakes his head. "I don't believe I know this 'Bophez' to distinguish him that well. But I can sense those that I do not know around here. I could help find him for you."

Jason sighs. "He's the guy with the cane and the hat, if you can sense those at all."

Lord X-Giga-X sighed. "Of course it's Drakine. Makes so much sense..." /I really should get back to have Grodis help me with that.../ And as soon as that thought was finished, he had received a mental prod from the armored wyvern himself. A mental prod that resulted in a rather concerned look to appear on his face. "This, however, will have to wait. I need to get back to Ustream." He then walked over to Izexn, climbing onto his back.

Lord X-Giga-X: Nit: *walks over to Izexn as well* Hey wait, can I come with you, Giga?

Darius: Valerie: *crouching down while remaining against the wall, she lets out a breath into the chilling atmosphere, taking a sharp breath upon seeing her own cloud of breath rise into the air and dissipate. She felt goosebumps come up all over her skin* /I should be moving around.. or at least looking through the void./ *biting her lip, her attention suddenly focused on Kayera. They both suddenly shared a momentary glance, a moment of communication. Valerie stood up slowly, approaching Kayera slowly. She put her voice low* . . . What are you planning on doing?

Shadow glances back towards where he initially came from, then back at Darius and Jason. "Well... I can go look for him." he states, "Darius' never met him before, after all."

Lord X-Giga-X glanced down toward Nit as he requested to come along with him. He shrugged. "Eh, I don't see why not..." He then reached for Nit's arm, pulling him onto Izexn's back. "Welcome aboard." He then glanced toward the south. "Alright then, let's get going.

Jason: Fricai: *Unlike the others, who either seem uncomfortable or indifferent to the cold, the emaciated dragon almost seems to enjoy it. He sits near one of the windows, tail coiled around his forepaws and one side leaning against the wall. Eyes closed, he exhales a small puff of his ice breath, before flicking his eyes open at the conversation he'd been utterly ignoring.*

Darius pauses. "... Does he always have that sort of attire on?" he inquires. "I could use other descriptions to find physical signatures...." he looks to Shadow with an acknowledging gaze, but shakes his head. "I think Jason and I should attend to this. Jason is, respectably, negotiating our terms." He paused again. ". . . And I believe I've already found him."

Jason nods. "As far as I'm aware." He pauses briefly, giving Fricai a sort of "what are you doing?" look as Darius addresses Shadow. His ettention is recaptured as Darius seems to find Bophez. "Where is he?"

Lord X-Giga-X: Izexn: Right. *lifts off of the ground and flies through the trees above them, flying toward the southeast*

Starr: Zaiek: *It bugged him like no tomorrow. Sitting on the edge of his seat, the scripter tinkered around with a portion of his Ustream map which was now engulfed with sidenotes.* just had to be unusual darkness, didn't it? The bastard god thing could have done something less dramatic. Tch, now I can tell apart things from the outside...every damn shadow is combined. *Suddenly, his fingers perked up and twitched. The man stood up and allowed the clear strands connecting to his fingertips to shoot down towards his own shadow* ..what the hell is that? I...I can barely feel it but its... *his eye narrrowed* ...damnit I can't really put my eye on it...its hard to see. *Knowing the habits of nature around the territory, it seemed unusual that the wildlife was fleeing from the area. And even worse that a "thing" was lurking nearby, evading detection from even the most attentive and observant of the group. Zaiek felt a chill up his spine as he attempted to identify the intruder lurking around, not having any luck.*

Bophez was still in the meeting room after everyone else besides Hobekitsu had left. He had been discussing something with him and Kenchoi, who had entered the room at some point after everyone else had left. His usual smile was gone. "So then, you two can see why this is very concerning."

Bophez: Kenchoi: Of course, Mr. Igneite. We'll do what we can regarding this.

Darius looks upward, visualizing the man's signature cane and hat exactly as Jason had vaguely described. Tracking his soul signature, he looked back to Jason. "He's in the meeting room. We should go talk with him now while he is still there."

Darius: Kayera: *staring at the wall with anticipation, she twiddled her fingers* When everyone's gone... I'm going for my equipment. I need them back, whether or not that thing knows about them. Once that happens, I can continue with repairing and getting ready for moving. *she looks to Valerie, a curious and yet challenging stare meeting with the girl's own curious hazel eyes* And I suppose you'll be staying here, right?

Shadow || "Ah. Alright, then." he says simply, as Darius also seems to have that covered. He ultimately decides to more or less fully leave these matters to the two: with the situation with Oikeus on the forefront, living arrangements now that their HQ is gone are far from a priority as things stand. Shadow gives Fricai a strange look. He seems to be rather fond of the cold.

Bophez: Hobekitsu: *nods* Is there anything else, sir?

Darius: Valerie: *shaking her head quickly, she replied hastily* heck no! I can't let you brave it alone. Not after you saved my skin back there. *she paused* . . . what exactly are we looking to grab in the first place?

Bophez ) "No, that'll be all." He then took a look out of the window, taking note of perpetual darkness outside and frost covering part of the window. "My, what a mess this is turning out to be."

Starr: Vale: *Tracking around the hallways, the man briskly made his way down to inform the cult about the unnatural darkness. He knew well what it was for. His dreams...those visions he had are confirmation of his suspicions. Oikeus intends to-- Vale pauses as he bumps into zaiek. By nature the gunman summons a pistol in his hand and points it at the scripter* Ah, you. *he stays quiet*

Bophez: Hobekitsu: You can say that again. *while he knows what Bophez is talking about, his tone suggests that means something else as well. He turns away, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a cigar as he exits the room.* Good night, Mr. Igneite.

Starr: Zaiek: *startled by the gun, his finger points at Vale. Somehow the tip of his nail grazes his neck...without truly and visibly being near it* Lower it will you? We're kinda working together and I need to get somewhere. Now.

Jason nods at Darius. "Thanks. Either of you are welcome to come along." With a concerned look at Mimring, Jason turns and begins to walk toward the stairs, and thus the meeting room.

Bophez turned away from the window and watched as Hobekitsu walked out of the room, blinking in response to what the man had said. "Oh uh... good night, Hobekitsu..."

Valerie: Darius: *smiles* I will accompany you gladly. *following suit with Jason as they head down the familiar pathway to their destination, he observes Jason's essence with a look of worried curiosity* /His spirit has been whittled down throughout these past days. I can see it. It's strange.../ *suddenly, his eyes sparked with interest. There was something there in Jason's essence, a moment of clarity amid the ruin of emotions... However, as Jason's focus seemed to direct toward him, he forced his own interested gaze with sudden awareness. He kept pace with the shapeshifter, remaining silent in thought*

Valerie: Kayera: I just need to grab my pods and my suit... *Kayera frowned at the realization of her suit's location* Well, maybe just the pods... I'll try to get my suit if possible. *she pauses, looking at Valerie once more, this time with a glance of concern* Are you sure you're coming along?...

Jason finally manages to filter the scents he's picking up, managing to find Bophez amid it all. Eventually he's really going to have to learn to recognize everyone's scent, but for now he's satisfied in just finding the more important person. Taking the opportunity to speed up slightly, he navigates his way closer to the meeting room.

Jason: Fricai: *Seems to be following everyone with his eyes, before flicking his gaze to Shadow as if acknowledging and challenging the boy's attention. A faint draconic version of a contented grin plays on his muzzle for once, briefly, before fading as he raises his head to actually look out the window.*

Bophez: Hobekitsu: *walks down the hallway on his way down to the basement. As he makes his trek, he passes by Jason and Darius. He says nothing to either of them, waiting until he's several feet away from them before letting out a puff of smoke.*

Starr: Vale: *narrowing his eyes, the gunslinger does not spare a second more to lower his weapon. * I need to as well. *he glanced at the blood scripter and turned his head back to survey the area* There's somewhere I need to go to... Information about this phenomena going around.

Shadow simply tilts his head at first, then shrugs and decides to leave Fricai be, if he is enjoying the cold that much. He gives Jason and Darius a glance as they head deeper inside, presumably upstairs, his gaze eventually landing on two girls. They seem to be up to something, but does not immediately give it too much thought. His eyes end up following Fricai's--looking out the window for what feels to be the tenth time.

Starr: Zaiek: ...Oh so you're just planning to zip on around the enemy base with vital info /after/ you had a chance to say it earlier? /my goodness he better have a good excuse/ *he crosses his arms* Well, If it's really that important you can always go to your leader about it. Or bophez if you feel up for it. *he gives a small sigh and within a blink of an eye he is now a few feet away from the gunman* By the look on your face I take it you'll need my help to get anywhere here, hm?

Jason: Mimring: *Snorts softly, before limping to a corner of the entryway and coiling up, sniffing at his wound with a degree of worry. He doesn't try to move the wing, though, for fear of injuring it further.*

Valerie smiles, along with a daring look gleaming across her eyes. It was hard to contain her excitement as she whispered, "I'm ready when you are."

Bophez: Kenchoi: *blinks as Hobekitsu leaves* /... Huh, wonder what's eating him.../ *sighs, then turns toward Bophez* Well uh.... I guess I'll be going as well. *gets up from his seat and starts to walk toward the door* Good night, Mr. Igneite.

Starr: Vale: *snorts * Just show me the way to Jason if you can-- anyone who can prevent others from heading on outdoors where they'll surely run into those....things

Jason nods to Hobekitsu and keeps walking, finally reaching the meeting room. Poking his head in through the door, he sees Bophez still in there- and immediately moves aside to make room for Kenchoi to walk through.

Starr: Zaiek: *stops cold in his tracks. The smirk parting his lips transformed into a slight frown* ....So you felt it too. So... You know what's lurking outside..?

Bophez glanced over to Kenchoi as he began to leave, his smile seeming to have returned. "Good night, Kenchoi." As he finished speaking, he watched as Kenchoi had opened the door, blinking as he then noticed Jason outside the meeting room. "Oh, good evening Jason." He then proceeded to gesture a hand to allow Jason to enter as soon as Kenchoi exited the room. "So Jason, anything I can do for you?"

Starr: Vale: let me just say that they /will/ be a problem...just like they have for generations back home. Now let's go, boy.

Jason enters the meeting room, nodding a greeting to Bophez. "Yeah... sorry I left so abruptly, though." His gaze seems to be fixed on the wall for a moment before returning to Bophez. "Things got to be... a bit much right there." He grins wryly, before seeming to relax a little. "Either way, it was pointed out to me that we actually need to arrange /where/ in your base the cult will be staying. There are extra rooms, I assume?"

Valerie: Darius: *follows Jason past one of the SoS members, keeping track of each new essence for remembrance. They are now just a few feet from the desired person, to which Jason proceed through the entrance into the meeting room. Another member walks straight out, allowing him to slip by with Jason into the room. He stops and slides to the side of the door, leaning back with a mental note of the man with the cane.* /He doesn't seem to have any real physical handicaps. The cane proves no real use... unless he beats people with it./ *Darius suddenly mused to the thought, smiling at a similar memory of CrazE doing that very thing.* /Strangeness spans worlds, I suppose./

Dark sort of waved after Jason as he rushed away upstairs. He then heard Valerie's proclamation to Kayera, and remembered something. Jack had asked him to try and ask her something. Turning to look back at the two of them, he spoke up. "Hey, Kayera?" he started, unsure of her reaction, "On the way here, Jack told me to tell you if he could ask you something. He didn't tell me exactly what, but he mentioned something about flying." He realised he had sort of gone off on a tangent. Correcting himself, he finished the thought; "Could you two wait until he gets here? He said it was important."

Starr: Zaiek: Alright, to your leader it is. Now, *seemingly out of nowhere, vale felt a hand grip his shoulder. Zaiek curled the fingers of his available hand inwards, causing the clear lines attatched to his fingertips to converge and turn black. He could feel the footsteps and vibrations nearby as he tried to track down the shadow castes by Jason himself. After a minute of identifying each unique shadowed shape, he smiles and sinks into the ground, taking the unsuspecting gunslinger with him*

Bophez ) "Oh, it's fine, Jason." He then listened to Jason as he then spoke. "Well of course, young man. We have several available rooms in the basement." He then glanced back to the window, once again observing the sudden cold climate outside. "The basement would be the best place to go for the night. What with how things currently are outdoors." He then turned back toward Jason. "So by all means, Jason."

Starr: Zaiek: *without a warning the blood scripter slowly emerged from the shadow that Jason had, melding and changing in shape before settling down. He casually dusts off his shirt and then pulls vale out soon after* We have some dire news to report

Valerie: kayera: *nods to Valerie with a reciprocative smirk. Then, suddenly, her gaze shifted in surprise to the lycan that had just approached them.* Jack? *the paused as she thought of whoever that could be. Then, at the mention of flying, she snapped her fingers* Oh! Well, I'm actually going outside for a breather. We just got back from a... strange place to get here. *she smiles* But tell him I'll come find him.

Jason nods at Bophez. "Pretty much what I was thinking. Insulation and all. Right, I'll let the others know." He pauses briefly. "What should--" He cuts off with a start, freezing for an instant before taking an instinctive step back... as Zaiek and Vale emerge from his shadow. "-- Gah, what the hell?" Trying to hide the startled and half embarassed look with a scowl, and failing, he raises an eyebrow expectantly as Zaiek reports that he has news.

Dark nods to Kayera. That worked out better than he had expected, although in a way he sort of expected this reaction. "Alright. He's probably camping out somewhere down here anyway." he said, "But you sure you're going to be safe out there? I don't like that rain one bit."

Bophez watched as Zaiek had entered the room through Jason's shadow, bring Vale into the room with him. "Oh Zaiek..." He then paused as Zaiek mentioned that the two of them had something important to report. "I see. Well then what is it?"

Starr: Vale: *stepping forward, his face grows concerned.* This entire region is growing more dangerous by the minute. As I see it, the temperature change and the darkness will undoubtedly lead to pave a certain environmental hazard as well as allow a certain kind of being to manifest itself here. *growing quiet, he exchanged a glance with zaiek briefly. The duo can very well sense something wrong*

Shadow blinks as he overhears Dark and Kayera. /...Outside?/ The fuck. He gives Fricai a short look before leaving him to his own devices for now. He approaches the three, adding to Dark's statement as he mentions the rain... or just the general state of things in what seems to be all Ustream. "Hey, wait... it's way too dangerous. I don't think anyone should be there for longer than..." he trails off as he notices the look on Valerie's eyes. "You two aren't planning on going there, are you?" he chooses to ask this instead.

Valerie: Darius: *Although he could feel an essence nearby, the sudden burst of a man from just behind shadow tensed him immediately for the worst. Lifting himself from the wall, he pulled his arms from a folded position. He paused, however, as suddenly he senses the very same essence that he was trying to repair earlier within the new being's arms. He stops himself from advancing further, merely looking over Vale's essence and the being himself. No hostility, to say the least. Darius takes a step back and leans against the wall once more, eyes expectant on hearing the man's voice once more with news he hoped hadn't had to do with Vale himself. However, he was surprised as Vale himself spoke up, almost as a coordinated explanation. Darius listens carefully, his closing his eyes very suddenly. Expanding his Spirit outward, the invisible force shot up into the atmosphere. There, Darius shuddered at the sudden contact with something... terrible. He could feel the pulsations of maligned intentions throughout this essence of darkness. It almost shrouded his senses entirely before he retracted his Spirit* That essence... it isn't going to relent easily. It has control over this area. And if I can presume, a lot more than we think.

Starr: Zaiek: Affirmative. As far as my range goes, I believe that such beings have already infiltrated our territory as of a few minutes ago. Though I can't...quite identify what they are...or if they are even material in nature

Dark is taken aback by Shadow's question. He knew exactly what he meant by it. "No, that's way too dangerous. Jude had us leave for a reason."

Valerie shifts her stance as Shadow suddenly approaches. Widening her eyes for just a moment at his sudden revelation, she quickly furrowed her brow. "We're just going outside and that's it. I don't know what you're talking about, but I can handle this weather just fine." She mutters under her breath, "It's not like I need protection from rain."

Jason: Fricai: *Looks over, speaking up for once* That rain will not be rain for much longer.

Bophez blinked as Vale, Darius and Zaiek discussed some sort of dangerous being that had apparently began to appear in Ustream. "Oh my, this sounds serious..." He then paused to think for a moment, then turned toward Jason. "Well, looks like now is definitely a dangerous time for anyone to be outside. You might want to go tell your friends to either stay inside or find a safe location to take refuge until this matter is settled." He then turned toward Zaiek, giving him a nod as if expecting him to do the same.

Valerie: Kayera: *smiling up at Shadow, it quickly fades at Shadow's quick revocation of their plan. As if it was apparent, his jump from the outside to guessing their exact intentions are immediately astounding. She hesitated as Valerie responded* /It couldn't have been that obvious, could it?... Should I bother lying to the group that's taking care of me?/

Jason nods, soon taking on the familiar half-distracted expression he adopts when talking to one of his dragons. /Mimring, tell the cultists around you not to go outside. We're not losing anyone ELSE./ Mimring sends back an affirmative, standing up and approaching the group.

Shadow glances at Fricai as he says this. He doesn't immediately register it, but it makes sense with the temperature falling this rapidly. He can even hear something small but solid pelt the window just then--the beginning of hail. He immediately shakes his head. "No, that's really out of the question. It doesn't look like it'll stop getting colder anytime soon, either."

Starr: Vale: Shelter might prove ineffective if they know we're here. They....what we back in the tundra call the Oriphyrins will stop at nothing to get to a living vessel to rip its soul away... They are slightly similar to what I used to do, however, they won't use any thought, just sheer killing instinct...

Starr: Zaiek: *widens his eye* Oriphyrins.... What kind of beasts are they? Why can't I really track them...?

Dark also takes note of the small clack of semifrozen rain hitting the window. As with Shadow, his immediate thought was hail. "I'm definitely not going out there. I sounds like hail is coming and that'd be suicide for me to try and fly around outside."

Valerie scowls. "I can find winter clothing in my void for both Kayera and I. she said she wanted a breather, so I'm going with her. It's not a big deal." Her defensiveness immediately sharpened as she directed a phrase directly at him. "Stop being a protector like you have to. I can take care of myself." For a moment as she said this, a split second in time, her eyes suddenly altered from anger to reveal a sort of wounded sadness just behind her hazel eyes. As soon as it had appeared, it was quickly gone as she turned her gaze away from him. "C'mon Kayera, let's go."

Starr: Vale: I never personally seen one up close....my dreams, no-- the dreams me and oikeus share show me that they are not any sort of mortal animal...they are spirits. Very warped and unpredictable corrupted spirits dawning black skull mask fragments surging with the essence of the spirits they once were. They thrive in the cold like this

Valerie: Darius: *leaning back against the wall, Darius folds his arms in a more frustrated, pondering manner as the news of potential threats are brought up. He listened silently, hearing the details of the threat by what Vale believes them to be.* ... Can we be sure of these beings being what you say they are? *He pauses as he leaves the question for a only a moment in the air* Can we stop them?

Jason: Mimring: *Reaches the group, attempting to appear less in pain than he must be. His head is held high, at least.* Jason has just given an order to remain inside. There is something far more dangerous than hail running around out there.

Bophez continued to listen to Zaiek and Vale as they continued discussing the situation, now going more into detail on the creatures they had mentioned were now present in the area. "Oriphyrins, huh? Sound like quite the pernicious creatures from what you've described..." Once again, he took the moment to think this situation over, an idea quickly forming. "Zaiek, could you go ask Mya if she could prepare some sort of defensive measure against these creatures?"

Dark: The thing is, though, it may be dangerous out there, but I know of at least two people including myself who need to go out there to hunt. This is a bit of a sticky situation.

Shadow grits his teeth. He is actually getting annoyed. He is about to begin saying something else but fortunately Mimring informs them of something cryptically dangerous wandering outside. He looks at Valerie again as some sort of wordless "see?", before replying to Mimring. "Something... aside from Oikeus, you mean?"

Valerie: Kayera: *feeling an immediate tension start to rise, she feels her decision beginning to lean.* Ok, hold on. *she takes in a deep inhale before sighing* Ok, I was planning on leaving. I need to go retrieve my pods... it's imperative that they remain intact. *She shakes her head* But if there's a threat, I guess we'll be needed here, instead. *She looks at Valerie with an almost apologetic gaze, raising the side of her lips in a half-defeated gesture.*

Valerie looks from Kayera to Mimring to Shadow, gaze resting on the matter-of-fact look that Shadow had splayed across his face. With cheeks turning red, she scowled at him before turning and walking off with a grunt of displeasure. Her enraged stomps approached a nearby wall where she slammed her back against its cold surface and slid down into a sitting position. Upon making contact with the wall, however, the force seemed to be amplified as the hard material cracked and broke at the sudden contact, leaving an oval-shaped crater. She pulled her knees up and rested her arms on top, looking away from the general group with immense irritation.

Dark thinks for a moment. Pretty much everyone was here except Jude, who was off in the Frost Realm, and the only way to get there was... /Of course./ He perked up a tad. "I think I might have a way to solve this." he said, turning to Kayera, "I know of two of us who can create portals to places. One of them is you, and the other is Jude. If either one would be able to, we could do that."

Jason: Mimring: *nods at Shadow, but is silent until Valerie walks away, creating a crater in the wall when she sits down. His tail twitches slighty.* Do try not to break anything, Valerie. We are guests here. *The words are harmless enough, but his tone is... unusually biting. Perhaps his shoulder is hurting more than he even let on at first. He looks at the others.* On that note, the cult is to reside in the empty rooms in the basement for now.

Starr: Vale: *he turns to Darius* These things are persistent. Nobody had ever found a way to eliminate them back home where they roam freely at night. They feed on spirit and negative emotions...where there is such source, *his eyes weakly narrow* they will find a way to keep themselves around no matter what *memories briefly flash before his very eyes. These wolf/deer like dark spirits were relentless and stalked the night without fail. Whiplashing their connectors onto the spines on people to extract their souls. Vale takes a breath and tries to calm down*

Starr: Zaiek: *nods and turns away* ...damn. What a fucked up thing to deal with. *after giving bophez a glance, he begins to sink into the shadows* I'll be sure to relay this to Mya ASAP. Until then, I better not sense any if you leaving this joint, do I make myself clear?

Dark: I'm not sure if Jude would want to, though it doesn't hurt to ask.

Valerie: Darius: *listens to Vale with an emotionless expression. He ponders further before suddenly pulling from the wall and taking steps forward* I suggest we find out what eliminates them, then. *His tone said it all as a smirk appears on his face.*

Jason: I think we all need to take a breather and a decent night's rest first. We're not going to get anything done if we're all exhausted from today.

Shadow initially feels relieved that Kayera changes her mind, but then watches as Valerie walks away. He cringes lightly at the impact... and for a moment, he feels like apologizing to her. He gives Mimring an absentminded nod, about to head over to the girl, but suddenly, he recalls something. He does not know whether it is the situation, this specific event, or the looming threat the have over themselves, but specific words cut through his mind, for the second time. Do not get too attached. He freezes in place. /It's... just like before./ the dull realization settles. The danger. The uncertainty. Espira's cold words. He shivers at this, and not because of the cold. /...Why?/