Little lost dragon and I

[little lost dragon]

Fren nodded as her and Guthrie where asked if they raised Alina. Though she wondered how Alina would be able to rectify what happened to her own kind. But if she could she would not stop her. She frowned though as Cadence spoke like nothing could really control her. But then Avira just got more angry and started to say things that had the result Fren thought would happen. the being lost her cool and then everything went to hell. for her the main fear that gripped her was when the ghoul was inside her. She used her tail to stay upright in the wind. She knew she was not infested which created confusion as the being told Avira and made threats and the such.

What did she do? Or her mate Guthrie? Or even Alina? Why lash out at them because Avira got mad? Guess Cadence did not give as much of a dam about Alina as they thought that's for sure. Vita just kept on building, being a robot more or less primal fears where about as much of a bug as a minor virus in his programming. HE knew a threat when he saw one, but that's as far as it went.

Thankfully though Bor showed up and the being stopped shortly afterwards. Fren right away grabbed Guthrie and went over to Alina to try and confert them both as Bor spoke with his sister. She shot a glare at Cadence for frightening her daughter and her husband. Thankfully it sounded like the being decided to help them after Bor asked. After she left Fren stood up and looked at Bor and Avira as he conferted her. "Well, while it was a lot more...... dramatized then needed, we got her help." she said with a sigh before looking at Alina and kneeling down again to hug her daughter gently stroking her back as her tail held Guthrie close for a few more moments before she got up again "Thanks for the save though Bor." she said with a small smile.

[Ryujin13]

"You're welcome Fren." Bor said, giving a smile back. "I'm sorry about what happened, I've never seen Cadence like that. She's always calm and collected, to see her explode..." He shook his head in a confused way. "She's the most level headed of us all and she lost control. That in of itself should show how much the natural order is going out of sync." Bor explained quietly.

The whole time he spoke his hand was gently petting the fur on Avira's back which seemed to calm her somewhat, albeit slowly.

To see her on the ground was to see her soul bared. Everything she feared, every terrible moment she had ever experienced had been shown to her, and to a lesser extent to the group. The violence she had experienced, the horror she had gone through, the terror of the world she was from. Every nightmare had been shown to her and the group, making everything so much worse.

Both Alina and Guthrie were hugging each other and Fren, a family together for comfort, but beyond their fear both Alina and Guthrie were obviously disgusted and appalled by what had been done to Avira, and what she had done in return to avoid pain. Neither could even look at Avira without seeing the images that had been shown to them, so instead they focused on holding onto each other. Finally Guthrie let go and forced himself to turn and look at Avira, his large eyes tracing over her small form. He couldn't believe what he knew now, how one being could experience such terrible things and still function.

"How is she still going?" He whispered to Fren. "After everything, how can she even get up in the morning?"

"She has a powerful will." Bor said, holding Avira's shoulder gently. "She has hope, and she has her friends. When she experienced all those things she kept going because she had to, because her friends needed her to keep going."

[little lost dragon]

Fren nodded "The will to remain with ones friend in there time of need can do many things, some of which, keep one going even when things seem hopeless, and sometimes even hold one together when everything tears them to shreds." she explained as she held Alina close to confert her. "Perhaps though this will show Cadence just how bad the situation is, she can't hide forever from it, and your all linked in some way shape or form. Once she collects her self and realizes what she did it should become clear to her then." she explained before a humm started up where Vita was working. "Just wish we had a way to break the spell on Jak, he's the head of her army, remove him from her control and she'd no longer have her prize peices." she said before looking back to Bor then to Avira and sighed.

 

Vita showed up "The base is almost online, what ever created the wind powered the wind torbine which supplied a lot of energy into the storages, as such, the base is not running on its own power. It will still take time but the army has started under construction. We can leave the base for now and teams of units will patrol the halls soon." he said before looking at Avira "Distressed, why?" he asked looking at the group then at Bor.

[Ryujin13]

"Avira... Angered my sister which I haven't seen done in a long time, and my sister turned her powers on Avira, forcing her to relive her worst memories, particularly the ones in Red Palace." Bor explained to Vita. "She's in a state of emotional shock for the moment, but she's recovering."

It was true that Avira seemed to be doing better already, her body was less tense and the tremors had stopped. She was still crying though and her breathing was ragged.

Bor continued to gently pet Alina's back, his presence helping to soothe her.

 

Guthrie shook his head quietly, trying to imagine living through what Avira had but failing. He had seen in his head what had happened to her, as had Alina and Fren, and he couldn't even begin to grasp at how terrible the experience had been. It was even harder for him to imagine because of how his culture viewed intimate acts and the like. Because of their long lives and open society Guthrie's people hadn't ever really had to deal with the concept of rape. That wasn't to say it hadn't happened, just that it was so rare that it happened only once every couple of decades or so, making the crime practically a non-matter. Knowing that Avira's planet had so many men and women who would pay to do that to living, thinking beings was horrifying and repulsive in equal measures.

"No wonder she's always so serious." Guthrie muttered to Fren. "If that's what humans do to their creations then I'm glad I wasn't alive when they came to my world."

He quickly went back to Alina though who was having a hard time understanding what she had seen, and was even now scared of what she had seen.

Alina hadn't even gone through her form of puberty and boys might has well have been non-existent to her. Seeing men do that to Avira though, it scared her, especially with how much Avira had screamed and cried, begged and pleaded. Alina's thoughts even turned to the possibility of it happening to her. If something like that had made Avira, one of the toughest people she had ever met, act like that, then it must have been even worse then Alina imagined.

"Why would they do that? Why would they hurt her?" Alina whimpered, shutting her eyes and shaking her head, trying to dislodge the images that now plagued her.

 

[little lost dragon]

Fren shook her head "We can't dwell on such things though everyone, it may sound harsh but Avira has dealt with her experience once already, and she's recovering as well, it won't do her any good to focus on it." she said firmly her motherly tone coming into play. She agreed with Guthrie, though he was lucky in that manner, Fren lost her whole life due to the humans and had to rebuild, then again to adapt her self to life with Alina to not end up with a emotionless child like she had been.

She looked at Alina and stroked her back "Its something many races have the issue of, humans it seems to be the worst with based on what my people have learned. Only those with cruelty uncontrolled and heartless swine commit such acts." she said saying some of the words with disgust "However, the chances of it happening to one is low if they take care to not be around the wrong company, and take care of where they are." she said "Also, if one knows how to defend one's self the chances are low as well, rapists like easy prey." she explained before looking at Avira "In her case, humans deemed it legal for such acts on life forms deemed lower then them. No too different from my own universe." she said before closing her eye's and sighing "Not all of them are bad, but the older there race gets, the worse they seem to get as time goes on, there a race that needs guidance, yet refuse it." she said with a sigh before shaking her head

"Point is Alina, those that hurt Avira, won't get you. and the chances of those that may want to inflict the same to you, are low, very low." she assured her before looking at Bor "Changing subjects, hows things looking with you and Medad? Vita's gotten a slowly growing force started to aid us." she said

[Ryujin13]

"Medad's been in negotiations with the Ghal, and has already recruited 3000 from the temple of Hultin the wolf god. I've gotten ahold of a few of the forest dragons and they're on our side, as well as a mountain and even an ancient ocean dragon. Let's see, we've had three whole kingdoms of fey swear loyalty to us, which means we get their full military might as well as their resources and supply lines. That's about it for now. Before you ask, yes we've got some news on what Nuria's been up to and it's no good. Her forces have nearly doubled and while they don't hold the award for most disciplined lot they're also vicious and bloodthirsty to the individual. All she has to do is point and that army doesn't need discipline, just sheer numbers and brute force. As for actual forces she's managed to get a contingent of fire giants to join up, as well as an army of blood knights. Scores of random littler things that are following along in the hopes of easy violence and a quick way up in the world. That's just what we know about though, I'm sure she's got far worse then that on her side, just like we do." Bor said, looking down at Avira as the vixen wiped her face.

He reached down and gently picked the fox up, placing her on her feet and holding both shoulders comfortingly, his eyes kind as he looked into hers.

"You alright lass?"

Avira hiccuped but finally nodded, sniffing and wiping her face again.

"Good, Varren left you in charge and that means you have to be strong for your team alright? No time to dwell on bad memories."

Bor watched as Avira nodded a bit more forcefully before clapping her on the shoulder and standing again. It was only at that point that Avira truly became aware of how big the being before her truly was.

Avira wasn't exactly small, with a height just under six feet, but he was a good foot higher then her, and he was much broader and more muscular. Just one of his arms was as big around as her head, and that in of itself set Avira's mind at ease. If a being like this was on their side, then how could they lose?

Avira nodded again, this time with conviction and began to pull herself together by doing familiar things, checking her gear and weapons, her surroundings, and her team.

 

Bor watched this and smiled before turning to Bita and listening to the report with a faint grin. "That's good, more troops never hurt anything, just be careful about how many you release and what you do with them before this whole thing truly starts. The castle will respond it detects to many threats in one area, and if it finds a manufacture... Well it wouldn't be good that's for sure. Just be careful is all." Bor looked around suddenly like he was listening before nodding and giving a sigh. "I'm sorry but I have to go. Something needs to be attended to and I have to deal with it. I'll be talking to you all later alright? Be safe, Avira watch out for all of them." He gave a wave and disappeared in a green flash.

While this all was being said Guthrie had been talking to Alina to calm the young dragon down until they Bor disappeared. By then they were both calm and Alina seemed to have at least set aside the things she had seen, even if the concerns were still there.

"How long until we can begin producing troops enough to protect us Vita?" Avira asked, her voice still shaking somewhat. "We need to find those crypts to get the next key."

[little lost dragon]

Fren blinked and looked at Guthrie as Bor spoke about the prep Bor and Medad had been doing. Over 3000 troops? And Nurais had more still? would be like aught in a large facility as 2 sides duke it out. She was a spy, not a front liner.

she smiled and nodded as Avira checked the team before looking at Vita as he looked at Avira before he lifted a arm bent at the elbow before doing what Fren could only assume, was a fist pump..... with out the first. Then again he might be trying to encourage her..... and his head could not nod.

 

Fren nodded and Vita watched Bor as he spoke before Bor had to leave, Fren wished him well before turning to the group then looking right at Avira as she spoke. Vita had a green light turn on in the slit in his head giving him a look pf having an eye in there "Production has already started. Small teams will be sent out to avoid attracting too much attention however every other team will have a construction unit with them, this allows them to find a suitable location and make defence points and smaller bases." he explained as a constructor like the one before came up with a few other units that where around the same size. One have what looked to be 2 over sized cannons, another with missile pods and another with some kind of weapon arm. "Small but many teams, they are ordered to lead the janitors away from this area if one is located as well." he explained.

 

((So, any though on Avira's cursed arm?))

[Ryujin13]

(I didn't have anything planned for it I just assume the janitors got it.)

 

"Ok that's the plan then." Avira said as Vita explained the situation. "As soon as everyone's ready we'll head out."

She opened the journal again and focused I reading the last entry again before finally shutting the book and looking around.

She didn't talk about, or even mention what had happened, and ignored the looks that Guthrie gave her. Instead she went to the door and readied her gear.

When the group headed out the trip seemed to go much quicker then heading in. This time it only took an hour or so before they cleared the statues and re-entered the halls of the castle.

 

(I'm sorry for the short post I'm not feeling good and I couldn't come up with more. Sorry...)

[little lost dragon]

(Oh, well had the possibility of them running into a cursed Avira, like the mark on her arm used the castles energy and reformed a body for it to attach too, then it goes after Fren the one who removed it. give them a foe that may be around the next corner not entirely related to the castle or the siblings fight.

 

and np,)

 

Fren gently took Guthrie's hand as they went and moved her head to his ear "Its best not to keep staring. I know it was a shock, but staring won't help her. Only serve to remind her of it." she whispered gently.

As they went the trip seemed shorter due to all the activity that was now going on. Bots of many sizes went around spraying the sparkly green stuff on everything, or as Vita called it, nanos. And other bots came out of other odd looking structures before a pad began rotating again as the green stuff formed into another bot.

Once they finally left the room a small team exited behind them before heading off in the oppisite direction. the group moved down the halls, not much happened for the most part. Fren asked vita about the energy logs he had and if it where possible to show Guthrie as they went so he could start making the masking trinkets to hide them as other janitors to avoid attention from the castle.

[Ryujin13]

(Sure, sounds like fun, you're in charge of it though. )

 

Guthrie gave a small jump when Fren pointed out his staring and turned a shade greener from embarrassment. He hadn't meant to stare, and he certainly hadn't meant to make Avira feel bad, he had just never imagined the kind of torments the girl had gone through. Now that he knew it was hard not to stare.

With a focus of will though Guthrie managed to do just that however, and instead turned his focus to the sensor readings that Vita was showing him. The problem was the graphs and charts might has well have been a child's scribbles for all the sense they made to him.

"I don't understand this Fren." Guthrie said, twisting his hands together nervously. "If I had a source, or something mimicking a source I could copy it, but these aren't any of those things." He explained. "I can't... It's like a signature, or someone's voice. I can mimic it if I see or hear it, but these charts don't show me how the lines of magic are entwined, or how the chords between the powers are stretched. I can't copy magic without an actual sample. Maybe I could if I could see, but not like this."

 

(Again I'm sorry but I'm feeling terrible. I had a seizure on Wednesday night and I knocked my head around good enough to leave some blood and a nice bruise. I don't think I have a concussion, or at least I don't any more being two nights ago, but I've got a bad headache and my stomachs not feeling great. I'm going to bed, maybe I'll be able to write better tomorrow.)

[little lost dragon]

(Alrighty.

 

And ouch, no problem man, you get your rest alright? Though a seizure.... wanna take this to PM's or email?

 

anyway, I wish you well soon man. I gotta head for bed my self so I'll edit this post tomorrow morning.)

 

Fren nodded thinking before looking at Vita "Would you maybe possibly be able to make the energy visible? Not through graphs and data but as you scan it." Fren asked and Vita paused at this like he was processing the request before nodding "I could, but if its going to be the janitor version, we first need to find a Janitor." he said as they went "I don't produce the energy's, only read them." he admitted

Fren nodded and looked at the floor. "Guthrie.... you remember when the magic rejected you when you tried to remove the curse? Do you think you can replicate that signature?" she asked seeing as he got direct contact with it with his own magic.

Edited September 13, 2014 by little lost dragon

[Ryujin13]

(Nah it's all good, I'm not worried about people knowing. Why should I be embarrassed becaucause my brain spazzes out every once in awhile? Anyway I'm doing fine now, but thanks for the concern. This last one was just really really bad...)

 

Guthrie paused when he considered his previous attempts at dispelling the curse that had been lain on Avira. He had actually forgotten about that particular part of the experience so caught up was he in the anger and sadness that Avira had displayed. Now that he thought back though...

"I can try, but this won't be perfect. What we saw was a half-way point between a true part of the castle and um... And Avira. I can imitate what I remember but I will need a better sample eventually to perfect it." He explained, already coiling his body around Fren's tail so that he could focus. "I um, I don't use this kind of magic often, so please don't be alarmed." He said, his voice monotoned and flat as his eyes went dark and black energy began to collect around his fingers. He was speaking in a long low voice now not drawing breath like Fren and Alina had only seen him do a handful of times before. The air got noticeably colder around the party as Guthrie's hands began to move through intricate gestures, the darkness leaving trails behind them every time he moved.

Moaning and even faint screams could be heard now as Guthrie's spell began to go faster, the light itself seeming to fade as black shapes, like the ghosts of the dead, began to appear around the group.

Avira's fur was standing on end and she was pointing her weapon at every new shape, but seemed to be frozen between pulling the trigger and running. Alina was against Fren, her eyes watching but fear still written across her face. She trusted Guthrie completely, but that didn't mean she liked this particular brand of spellcasting.

Still Guthrie's words spilled out faster and faster, black runes trailing from his fingertips as his hands wove symbols that hurt to look directly at.

With a howling crescendo the spell suddenly ended and everything vanished, light returned to the room and the figures were gone as though they had never been.

Guthrie sat panting on Fren's tail, his eyes slowly returning to normal as the blackness bled from them to be replaced by the glowing green.

"There." He said, finally getting enough breath to speak. "It's a very complex web that at least bears a passing resemblance to what I saw, but like I said, to make this work perfectly I need to be able to look over the real thing in much more detail. If I can do that then we have a perfect camouflage, which means the castle can't tell us between a brick."

[little lost dragon]

Fren nodded as she coiled around her tail and came to a pause as the group came to a stop to allow Guthrie to focus, not that trying to advance was a good idea for most of the group anyway with the results that was happening around them as Guthrie weaved the magic. She put a arm around Alina and held her close her own bright yellow eye's watching the figures, she disliked seeing contacts with her eye's but nothing on her chemical radar. She did not like magic too much, and this type was quickly turning into her least liked more so.

When Guthrie finally finished Fren relaxed and gave Alina a conferting squeeze. "Guess the next question will be, how to bring down one of the janitors, or at least disable one." she said thinking as the group began to move again.

 

"Modified EMP effect." Vita spoke up as they went "All energy can be dispersed through methods met for that effect on that energy. While I cannot produce the energy's the castle makes and uses in its janitors, I could, given time, have my base work on making a device to disable a janitor. They got one to disable Core's units for a few moments, and Core has been at war with my side since the dawn of humans extinction." he explained "Once its been finished I will get the instructions on how to make it my self so we don't need to wait for shipment. Once we disable a janitor, Guthrie can do his thing safely for a few moments at least." he explained.

 

 

 

Mean while in another part of the castle the flying drone Vita had first shown up with flew around trying to get back, then something came out of seemingly the wall and with enough weight sent into the wall sending it into a bit of tumble before it got control and went into a hover to see what it was, its weapon rack opened again. All it saw was a rather large brick. It looked around and saw nothing before resuming its course. A figure stepped out of the wall behind it and took aim with a weapon, then fired. The shot traveled through the air and struck the drones main drive and went up the port. If the weapon had not been castle enhanced it would have metled and been sent back out of the engine, however such was not the case. the Drone took the shot and a billow of smoke beltched out of its main drive as it went to its hover ones only now. It beeped in distress as it tried to get away, turning around to fire in the direction it had been shot from. Its pulse weapons fired rapidly. the figure moved around in ways that should have left it injured for sure, then a blade was flying at the drone and struck it in the sensor blinding it. It beeped in further distress now just spraying the shots everywhere before a weight landed on it. "Say good bye." a familer voice said before the blade was removed from its sensor and shoved into its armor and it went offline.

 

Vita paused and Fren looked at him puzzled. "Drone 296 is no longer responding....." he said before looking at Avira "Error, data does not match though...." he said. But he did not go into detail one why even when asked. But he did seem to be more on alert. his arm that held his weapons was raised and a red low came from his desintagration weapon.

 

((alrighty, well..... spazzing is nothing good and.... you mentioned them before but what's got me worried now is why this one was worse then the others. Glad your alright though now ))

[Ryujin13]

(Sorry for how long it took to reply I've been having stuff going, sorry... As I was saying though, my seizures aren't generally better or worse then each other physically, (at least I don't think), but what happens during is different. They only happen at night and while I don't remember them I think I try and get up or something because I end up in different places. This time I ended up in bed again but I hit my head against something hard enough to give myself a black eye. My ear is still sore too, so this time it's worse. The whole thing very rarely happens and when it does I'm out for at least a day, but after that I bounce back and it's all good. No need for worry in this case. )

 

"I need to see its energy though, not have it dispersed." Guthrie interjected. "I just need to be able to watch it for a few minutes so I can watch how the energy behaves in a fully functional form for the castle. One thing I'll point out, even if this works it's not like we're invisible. The... Things that live here can still see us as intruders, the intelligence just can't track us. It will register us as being one of its own, but to anything that actually sees us we will just be intruders." Guthrie was about to continue when Vita suddenly raised his gun and pointed it at Avira, the barrel glowing in preparation for firing.

 

Avira heard the whine of Vita's weapon powering, and she was already drawing Varren's weapon and turning to see the danger when her eyes locked onto the weapon now pointed at her head. Years of training screamed for her to dive or roll, but Avira managed to curb her instincts, knowing that any sudden moves might well result in her head being atomized.

Slowly Avira's fingers opened and the weapon she held tumbled to the ground with a clatter.

"What are you doing Vita?" Guthrie asked, moving towards the two. "Stop it, she's with us remember?"

Avira didn't even speak, her throat seemed to have clamped down from fear, and she didn't even seem to be breathing from fear of being shot.

[little lost dragon]

Vita looked at Guthrie then back to Avira "Unit 296 detected being before being destroid. readings match that of Avira. Avira now hostile. Data is not conclusive however with sensor data here. Analyzing." he said still pointing the weapon at Avira. Fren frowned "that's impossible, Avira's right here with us and hasn't left for anything." she said before he lowered his arm "Possible clone. Can't verify until visual." he said still looking at Avira though arm no longer aimed at her his weapons where still powered up "Avira status, yellow until more information can be gathered."

 

Fren went up to Avira and picked up her weapon as he lowered his arm and hand Varren's gun to her "Seems you may have a look alike." she said before looking at Guthrie "And alright, this place has janitors sweeping through the place regularly. Normally though, where in the way till we find a safe room." she pointed out.

 

(Alrighty, if you say so.)

[Ryujin13]

Avira carefully took the weapon back from Fren, her eyes never leaving Vita. The robot was a threat now, there was no way to get around that. He had threatened her and now he had practically informed her that a gun was poised to shoot at her if she did anything even remotely threatening.

"Even if I have a clone, which actually isn't completely impossible, why would you think that I have something to do with your drones death?" Avira asked, angry at this turn of events. "It's like Fren said, I've been with someone in this group since we left the gardens. If it is registering as me then... I guess maybe they made another me somehow? It shouldn't be possible to make an exact replica of a chimera, but maybe the company found a way. Even if that's the case the other one would have a different registration in its implant, and it wouldn't have this." Avira said, lifting her mechanical arm and moving its fingers. "Your logic is flawed and it sounds more like you're having a malfunction then anything."

 

Guthrie quickly got between Vita and Avira at this, his arms outstretched as he looked back and forth between both of them. "Ok, that's enough. We don't need infighting, especially if we plan on destroying this place. Vita, Fren and Avira are right, it doesn't make sense to blame Avira for something she couldn't have done. Avira, after what just happened a few minutes ago I can't believe you're picking a fight in exactly the same way as before. Last time was awful but Vita can kill you easily. There's no reason the insult him."

"Maybe he shouldn't threaten me because of asinine accusations if he doesn't want to be told the truth!" Avira spat angrily, her teeth flashing.

"And maybe you should learn from your mistakes instead of hiding behind your anger!" Guthrie roared, his father voice coming out. "I saw what happened to you, I watched all that suffering and I sympathize, but you are turning everything that happened into anger and hate and lashing out at anyone near you because you can't think of a better way!"

"Don't talk to me like a child! You don't know what it was like, you'll never know, and I don't need your sympathy so save it! Vita threatened me, I threatened back! Get over it! I don't need your help, I need someone who isn't scared out of his mind and can actually fight! You aren't that person, and you sure as hell aren't the person who I will speak to about the things he thought he saw! You will never speak of those images again! They were a fabrication and that's all! Now let's get moving, the sooner we blow this place up the sooner it won't have to look at you." Avira yelled back, her voice lowering to a dangerous tone as she turned and stormed off.

 

[little lost dragon]

(To be honest I had not mentioned he aimed his weapon at Avira, don't worry though decided to roll with it to see what would happen.)

 

Fren folded her arms and frowned as the 2 argued. And Vita seemed to be..... off, not powered down but not really listening, not really there. She looked at Alina and had her tail gently go along her daughters back to confert her. She looked at the 2 who where now getting louder before Avira started to storm off. "Avira. stop." she ordered and turned to face her. "Vita made a mistake, that mistake has been said, and he is no longer pointing his weapon at you. Is he? I'm sure you'd be confused as well if you worked like he did." she said calmly but firmly "Guthrie, I told you not to bring up what had been seen back there. Apologize." she said her stern motherly voice showing. Once he had she looked at Avira "Now your turn Avira. What you said was uncalled for. He only met well for you." she said her eye's looking right into Avira's. She then looked to Vita "Next time you think one of us did something to be a threat. You inform me, then we'll see what's going on. Now, your turn." she said nodding to Avira.

Vita looked at Avira before his weapons powered down "Apologizes. I was too hasty." he said and Fren nodded before looking at Avira "A leader needs to learn her team will make mistakes, a leader must learn to adapt, and not lose her temper." she said her voice never leaving the stern motherly tone she had just used with everyone besides Alina.

[Ryujin13]

Avira was livid as she turned back to face Guthrie, her arms crossing as she waited for an apology.

"I apologize Avira, I should not have brought up what happened, it was inappropriate." Guthrie said calmly. He seemed to mean it, which softened Avira's stance somewhat, although it was obvious she was still angry.

"Sorry for calling you a coward." She said shortly.

Avira chose not to respond to Fren's comment on leadership, instead opting to give a halfhearted affirmative before looking back the direction they had been going.

"Come on, let's go." She said, heading off down the hall, her ears moving as they listened for danger, and her nose sniffing quietly at corners, trying to detect smells that might preclude something lurking nearby.

Hours of walking passed and Avira was feeling the aprehension that was always there before combat. It was her body tensing for action, winding itself like a spring for when danger presented itself.

Their walk finally ended when they found themselves facing a double door, it's marble face covered with another star and tree motif. This time however there was a red star above the tree, and below the trees roots two armies faced each other in front of a castle.

"Subtle." Avira said sarcastically, looking the door over for traps before pulling on one of the silver handles.

The door opened with ease, revealing a large square room about 100 feet long and wide, made completely of marble. Every surface in the room was covered with hundreds of different writings, even the floor and ceiling which was almost 20 feet straight up, all in different colors and hues, none readable.

In the center of the room was a stand not unlike the one on the elevator, with the dozens of dials and switches with an unknown purpose. Unlike the elevator however there was no ring denoting the sides of the platform. Indeed it seemed that nothing actually moved at all.

A loud boom announced the doors closing behind the group, leaving them with a seamless wall.

Avira tried to find the doors first, but as usual they refused to budge. After a few moments she turned and looked out at dial. She was hesitant to go out to the stand, but if there was one thing that she had inherited from her fox ancestry it was curiosity.

This won out after a few moments and she went out to the pedestal, cautiously approaching it and looking the thing over. She didn't touch it, she was curious not stupid, but the consol didn't even seem to be on except for one switch which glowed red.

"What is it?" She asked quizzically, looking at the group in the small hope that they might know.

 

(If you hit the switch it turns on. If you mess with the dials the room becomes like a window and shows different worlds and dimensions based on the button combination that is entered.)

[little lost dragon]

Fren nodded and sighed letting her arms go back to her sides and she gave Alina a quick hug before resuming with the group. Vita following behind taking rear guard.

As they went Fren was tense as well, being unarmed almost, and no protection she wanted to go into the shadows, not be in the open where the foe would spot her right away. She had given Guthrie the shield, and while that might be a bad move on her part, she hoped it raised his spirits. Which in the long run would pay off. what might of scared him stiff before he might still be able to fight now.

When they reached the doors at the end of the hall Fren would have raised her eye brows if she had any as she looked at the image of the red star at the top of a tree, and 2 armys fighting at its base. She heard Avira's comment "I get the feeling what where aiming to stop, has not been the first time." she said half to her self "Its either that, or the castle its self already knows of this conflict." she said again half to her self.

When they entered the room Fren looked around. The writings the marble "Reminds me of one of the cults chambers." she muttered her scar stinging a little at the memory. Then movement happened behind them, she spun as the loud boom sounded. The doors sealing shut. She rushed up to the door trying to feel for the indication where the doors would seperate, but even she found nothing. She looked at it for a bit longer till Avira asked her question.

She turned around and came over to look at it. "I'd have to say its some kind of activation switch seeing as the others lights are out." she commented as Vita moved towards the walls and seemed to be trying to find something he may reconize. Fren looked around "Not like we got much else to lose." she muttered and pressed the button before looking around as the other dials lights came on, though nothing else happened. She took hold of one and slowly turned it. she let go as soon as the walls changed, making it look like they where in some kind of observation room. She tried out a few other dials and the scenes changed dramatically with each click. "Avira, was there anything mentioning dials in that holo book? Hints at coordinets?" she asked

[Ryujin13]

Avira looked around the room as the walls and ceiling changed to match the land and sky of different places. One moment they stood on a barren red plane with a blue sun far overhead, the next they were standing on the coast, watching purple waves crash against a shore made of sparkling white sand. Avira quickly opened the book when prompted and flicked through the pages until she came to a few pages that had seemed odd to her. They had only listed numbers in very specific lists. Each of the different lists also had a small entry describing different things the author had seen. Above it all were simple instructions on how to enter the whole thing properly, but beyond that it had been ambiguous, at least until now.

After reading a couple of the entry's Avira finally walked up to the pedestal and looked at the book, reading the instructions.

First she pulled a lever towards her, which engaged with a clunk. Next she spun three dials that were covered in symbols around their edge until a certain combination was entered. Next she pushed the lever from before back into tell original spot before going to a number of other buttons and swtitches. These she hit slowly and surely, carefully reading each part from the book until finally she pulled a red lever.

Hidden machinery churned out of sight as room went dark. Next stars began to whip by in blurs of light until one appeared before them. The room seemed to zoom in on one planet until they were suddenly flying above land. Below the group they could see beings walking in the fields on tall stilted legs, their four hoofs leaving trails behind them as mechanical arms on their backs worked the equipment needed to farm. The room came to a halt over a city of the beings who were going about their business, oblivious to the group watching them from above.

"It's a watching post." Guthrie said quietly as though afraid of disturbing the people below them. "That's how the people who built this place found things to collect, they just used this to visit different places and find interesting things. I bet it can make broad searches for things like oceans, or search by spacial coordinate." Guthrie explained, wishing he knew how to work it. He would have liked to check on the kids, make sure they were ok.

Avira meanwhile was busy messing with the panel, tapping the different buttons and controls thoughtfully.

"I wonder if it can let me see home." She said looking at the symbols critically. A small yellow switch lit up now, and almost without thinking she flicked it. What looked like a microphone came up from the control panel and positioned itself within easy access.

"Um, let me see my home, earth, Milky Way galaxy, birthplace of humans and chimera." She said hesitantly.

The dials suddenly spun away from their current setting as the room went dark again. Stars sped past once more as the dials continued to spin before coming to a sudden halt. The room was heading towards a familiar yellow star and more importantly the small blue orb third from the sun. Suddenly they were in earths atmosphere, speeding over the ocean until they reached a huge landmass. As they sped over the land mass it became obvious that it was populated by dozens of species of chimera, and though there were humans present they were a minority. The observatory came to a halt near a large house in the suburbs.

A few moments passed and out the back of the house stepped three foxes, all smiling at a joke. One was a silver-grey color, one was a beautiful and luscious black, and the third was closer to Avira, albeit with more black mixed in. Two men followed them and started up a BBQ as the three went further into the back yard. Near a gazebo they stopped and looked down at a large stone with Avira's name on it.

"I miss her." The smaller orange fox said quietly. "I wish we knew what happened to her."

"Yeah, me too." The silver one said back, holding a beer in one hand. "I wish we knew what actually happened more then anything. Hardly seems like it's been five years. She'd be proud of what we've accomplished though."

The other two nodded in agreement and stood quietly for a moment before finally walking back to the BBQ. Without saying a word they each grabbed their beverage of choice and lifted it, saying Avira's name before drinking. After that they all began to tell stories about Avira and the good times the had together. From the talk it didn't take much to deduce that these were Avira's team, the ones that she missed so dearly, who had apparently moved on with their lives and settled into a comfortable life with boyfriends and a future.

Avira was crying again as she shut off the machine, her hopes dying as she realized that she would probably never see her friends again. She had been gone for days and for them it was years. At that rate they would die of old age by the time she returned, if she returned. Without much she sort of just fell to a sitting position on the ground, her vision blurring again.

"I can get you back." Alina said quietly. "I can get you back to your friends when you just saw them. After we're done at least."

Avira's head snapped up at this and her eyes locked with Avira's yellow ones.

"You can?" She asked, hardly daring to believe it.

"Yeah, I promise. I'll get you back there at the moment we just saw." Alina said, stifling a gasp as Avira threw her arms around the dragon and hugged Alina tight, crying hard and sobbing thank you over and over again.

 

(It can take the group to see anyone or anything they can say into the mic.)

[little lost dragon]

Fren put a hand on Avira's shoulder as the fox lady cried. though smiled as Alina spoke up and nodded as Avira threw her self at Fren's daughter.

Fren turned to the mic and turned the device back on and sighed. "Status of conflict between Shatong and humans." she said into it and the view changed to show a galaxie like map. It showed Shatong territory in blue and the humans in red. It looked like it was favoring the Shatong. "Show progress since my disappearance." she said and the view changed suddenly to how it must of looked when she first vanished. then the human territory slowly began to shove the Shatong territory back. A single system shown brightly on either side, the home worlds of each side. It pushed right to the Shatong homeworld and then a yellow showed up splitting the 2 sides apart, then the humans territory rapidly began to retreat and the the yellow rapidly expanding out with the Shatong territory slowly engulfing it. Fren narrowed her eye's "In top right corner, show a image of a ship from the yellow side." she said and a image showed up, the sight though was repulsive.

It looked like a normal high tech human ship, but its hull was deformed in some area's and it looked like it had been infected and subverted into a monster. Fren gasped at its sight "close image." she ordered before it went blank. "Show..... current status of my kinds homeworld." she said quietly and the view light up again to show a desert land scape, many creators dotted the area. "Display the capital." she said but instantly regretted it, the area was covered in ashes, a great something still stood in the middle, but it had lost many of its branches and looked to be dead. The ashes..... Fren turned the thing off and went over to the doors and sat down holding her head like she did not want to beleive her eye's. The war had been severly costly for her people, and they where forced to use a weapon they swore to only use to stop from becoming killed off.

 

the only people she answered would be Alina and Guthrie, if any of them asked, she explained the ashes where the remains of her people, she explained how if her kind dies, there own nerves system turns them into ashes, instantly vaporizing them selfs. The large thing in the middle was a Shatong tree, a massive mansion to the Shatong, she described its functions, how it seemed to be almost mystical in some features, like cocooning there young that where born in it, and later releasing the young, healthy and with the know how to survive in the wild. Even fixing those born with deformity's and more. "My people never had a large military, the humans always did, that..... ship you saw, is a result of the firing of a weapon we reverse engineered that had catastrophic levels of destroction...... we built in a kill switch that the ships housing the weapon could use. We froze them on a isolated ice world, never to be brought out unless we where close to being killed off, the weapon, when fired, devours life...... all of it." she said in almost a whisper "There's..... only..... once again my people are endangered...." she whispered looking away eye's closed. "The mothers..... dead, homeworld, burns, and now another race, will be cleaned off the face of the galaxy." she whispered. she might be a trained killer, but her people, and her, did not want to kill life. And with the weapon now fired, all they could do is eventually contain the weapons effects, but long after it completely devours another species.

 

((Her people are not war faring, thus such results even if in the name of survival, are devastating to them.))

[Ryujin13]

(The way I'm reading what you're saying is that the Shatong basically used weapons of mass destruction on their homeworld to drive the humans off, and are letting a 'super-virus' completely eradicate them and the humans. Is that right? It's fine if t is just need some clarification.)

 

Alina managed to stop crying shortly after her outburst, and instead sniffed as she rubbed the tears away to look at Alina.

"Thanks." She said, giving a large warm smile for the first time since the group had met her. "It means a lot that you'd help me."

Alina smiled back and moved back and forth in an embarrassed sort of way, but actually hugged Avira back as she hugged the dragon again.

When Avira stood up and looked around the room was already showing the war map. The squad leader inside her kicked in as she watched the ways the battlines interacted with each other, then frowned as a third party seemed to save Fren's people.

When the map zoomed in on the Shatong home world Avira was sure the room had made a mistake. Fren had always talked about living buildings and growing their homes around the worlds resources and such. Avira had always pictured a jungle world, full of water and lizards and such. Always seemed like the logical place for the shatog to be from.

What Avira was looking at instead was closer to pictures she had seen of mars, a dreary ball of dirt that blew in the wind that howled across its surface. Here and there structures could be seen where the dust had piled against them, but the only prominent thing was the tree.

 

Guthrie was at his wife's side within moments, curling around her carefully to hold her, just like he had done after rescuing her from the purists camp. He listened quietly to Fren's explanation and merely rubbed her back in response, even though his insides had frozen over. The thought that a weapon like that could exist anywhere was appalling to him. That anyone would obliterate all life on a planet to fight another was so horrible that he couldn't even grasp at the scope of destruction. What terrified him most was the thought that this sort of thing could happen to his planet, that the green forests with the animals and the spirits could all disappear with the press of a button...

Guthrie shook himself mentally and turned back torrent. It hadn't happened to him it had happened to her, and she was the most important thing in his life beside of the kids.

"Is there any chance your people survived on another world?" He asked quietly, remembering that Fren said that her people could travel between stars. "Or maybe that some survived on your homeworld?"

[little lost dragon]

(The 'super virus' the Shatong built in a kill switch that hte ships housing the weapon that fires the virus at the enemy. Once the signal is online it causes the infected ships and people to die on the spot, the Shatong can fire then turn on the signel to prevent the virus from coming at the remains of them.)

 

Fren nodded "There's..... a few coloine's left. but the bulk of the population was on the homeworld." she whispered and buried her head in his chest. "All that ash..... all the buildings just.... charred remains..... the tree, rare and strong...... it might be recoverable, but the amount of death......" she took a deep breath in "the humans forced our hand, we gave warnings, we always do, but they just pushed in further, so we used it, now they will be devoured........ there's just.... too few of us left though to save the innocent....." she shuddered.

"We did not create the weapon.... we captured it, and reverse engineered it from another race that put us to this level before...... when we fired it, we could not stop it then either...." she finished off saying. Like firing the weapon was committing a crime and created lots of guilt. Fren had vowed to turn her life around over 10 years ago when she accidentally killed a child, now that childs people, will be killed off in the next few months.

 

"There are no rules in combat, only to survive, your people did just that. the damages the humans caused can be repaired Fren." Vita said looking in there direction.

[Ryujin13]

Guthrie was appalled by what he was hearing, the destruction that he was seeing. He knew that Fren's people wouldn't use something like that unless faced with total annihilation, but still, the loss of so much life with one button push... He couldn't fathom anyone building such a thing for any reason. Still, why it was built or used wasn't the issue, what was were the repercussions, namely Fren's well being.

He didn't say anything, after all, how could he tell her it was alright when her homeworld was dead and her people had committed genocide. No matter the reasons none of that was alright, and he wouldn't lie to her. Still, there was one truth that could rekindle hope.

"Fren, when you were... When you were taken from me, I had to comfort Squer and Alina. Squer didn't understand, he was afraid, and sad, and sometimes angry. I always calmed him down by telling him a simple truth. Hope. I told him that the hope that we would see you again was so strong that nothing could stop it from becoming truth. There is hope for your planet and your people Fren. The magic of your world, the veins that fed life, they were still there, buried and burned, but there. The tree, a kernel of life was still there, and in time it will bloom into a new form. Nothing can bring back the lost, and nothing will make the use of the weapon right, but your race can recover, and we can hope that they will learn, and we can hope that they will destroy those weapons." Guthrie said, holding Fren tight and rocking her gently. Alina joined in the hug as well, her neck circling her parents to add support.

[little lost dragon]

Fren just hung on for a bit. Her family around and supporting her the best they knew how. After a bit though she eventually collected her self again and gave her family a hug each before standing up "We..... we need to figure out how to leave this room. We won't last long trapped her." she said

 

"Before we do." Vita started as he made his way to the controls "We have a achance to scout out the enemy forces we'll be soon meeting." he said before looking at the mic and turning the control on "Jak's army." he said and the view began to change.

 

((Short post, sorry, writers block))