Kin Chronicles Realm: Betrayal of the Guardians

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Korius couldn't help but smirk a little for the first time in the last 3 days, and patted the kids head, "Already hustling people's money? Best keep you away from Drevo, or else you're going to become an alcoholic soon, too." He continued to survey the town, No sign of Elistro ever coming by here, or even passing by. That bastard must have turned off east or west away from here, but why? He's riding with a purpose, but he's not as direct this time. There must be an alternate objective. Off in the distance, near the horizon, he spotted a silhouette, gracefully seeming to float across the line. The Ki in his body seemed to pulse in his chest, his eyes pulsing the red glow, and his head seemed to sting, bringing in another vision from someone else's life. This time, it showed a clash between himself and a cloaked figure who wielded two enormous blades. After locking swords with the figure, the force blew the hood off, revealing a very sickly looking rabbit-Kin.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Kiana stood up when Talin did and shook her head at what he told her. "I don't understand what his problem is now. I mean, I know that he's having odd visions, but it's no reason to take out his frustration on us." She said as she looked toward the door of the Inn. "But I'm glad you're okay after that kind of a hit." She looked at Talin then toward the door again. "Well, I'm going to go back out and walk around." Walking to the door, she exited the Inn and started walking through the streets of the town.

[White Wolf Guardian]

*White stood there for a bit while Talin was talking about what happened and decided to take the opportunity to escape from being seen with his injury and decided to go do what he usually does when wanting to hide* "Time to find an alley to lay low in while Kiana is distracted with Talin and Korius. I can heal this hand of mine and then go browse about this place. Maybe I'll find something interesting for once like a knife shop... ohh I wonder if they have any of those cool throwing knives. A wolf can dream." *Absent-mindedly he clutched his injured paw with his other and screeched in pain under his breath* "Dammit I hate my own stupidity.

*The healer looked up to see a dark area inbetween two marketplace buildings with some wooden pallets and trash littering the ground after much walking along* "Oh good, I can finally get this hand taken care of." *He walked inside the shade and sat down on one of the wooden pallets while using some majicka on his hand with his other hand* "Crap I really am fragile, I did crack the bone all the way to the bottom of my pinkie. This is why I'm not a fighter." *He sighed as the bone formed back to one piece and he got up from his temporary seat to finally look from where he came, seeing a bunch of kids watching him from the entrance* "Uhh.. can I help you in some way?" *He looked puzzled at them and then as he took a step forward, they ran off quickly* "Well that was shortlived, I hope they won't cause trouble. Besides, who's going to believe a bunch of children that a man just stared at his hand until it was all better?" *White chuckled as he departed from the alley and back into the general marketplace*

[Srgntcuddles]

Having been cut off Drevo noticed a smaller alleyway to his left which was void of thugs wanting his blood. He bolted down the alleyway and came out into the marketplace, nearly bowling over White. "White! UHM...RUN!" he said as he bolted away from him. The thugs poured from the alleyway after him as he ran into another alleyway. He didn't want to cause too much of a mess. As he went into the alley he was cut off again, though this time he jumped up the walls onto a building. After barely making it to the top he mused at his ninja like moves and took another drink of his sake.

[KittKat chunky~]

Kitt grinned as Korius patted him on the head, looking up at him from under his hood with a strange sense of pride and belonging. The grin only grew wider as Drevo suddenly emerged from one alley, thuggish men close on his tail, and then disappeared into another alleyway. Kitt looked back up to Korius and smirked "Better keep me away from Drevo for more reasons than just the drinking."

He drew his sword and gave it a twirl and couple of slashes before running his thumb down the blade "Useful thing a Ranger blade... Never dulls, lightweight, and each one is made for one Ranger..." Glancing up at Korius a brief look of apprehension flashed through his eyes "Korius... The barman who was at the last town we visited, he was my Grandfater." He glanced over at White and then back to Korius "He told me to keep searching for my mother, his daughter, and gave me this..." With one hand he reached under his cloak and tunic, pulling out the small chain and clan Esha symbol "I probably should have told you then..."

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Korius snapped to just before Kitt started talking to him about the barkeep from two towns prior, "Yea, I know. He carried the seal of a Knight of Gaia Captain alongside the pendant of your clan. Your grandfather was the 2nd Ranger in history that had ever made the rank of Captain of the Knights of Gaia. Now if you'll excuse me." Korius was distracted and headed for the outskirts, "Let the others know we may be staying here for a while." Within seconds, he was out of the town and searching left and right, catching small glimpses of the shadow from time to time, and following it. Finally, as the sun slowly dropped under the horizon, the shadow stopped and formed a dark figure, Korius stopping right before it, holding onto Valia's handle. "Korius Lambent. Parentless child, raised in the Jiang Yung Monastery in southeastern Vorona. A martial arts prodigy and righteous man who gained the title of youngest Captain of the Knights of Gaia. 2 years later, became the youngest Guardian's Personal Guard to Lady Koara Uzima, the Wolf Guardian. After the Betrayal, you and your mentor, Valius Rampart, went your separate ways, but keeping Koara's last will in leading the destined Heroes of Fate to free Gaia from the vicegrip of the remaining Guardians. You may release your weapon, you will not be needing it." Korius let go of the handle, but kept himself fully alert. "You are Her, aren't you?" The figure took off its hood, revealing a very attractive-looking cat-Kin. "Indeed. I am Soria Daywind Xing. I have been waiting for you to arrive here, though I wish our meeting be of a less dire situation. I had not planned on coming before so early, but we are out of time. You must have noticed already, haven't you?" "Yes. No bounties for our heads, no hunters or guards or parties of any kind. Even Elistro is no longer on his post and rampaging throughout Celestia. Kyzen is up to something, but I can't figure out what." "There is something indeed happening. Have you heard of the legend of the Blood Circle?" Korius' face showed actual terror, "How can-?" "It's very much real, and by no means impossible. I've looked into it, and nearly got caught. Apparently, Kyzen chose his allies and gave them territories according to a plan that he hatched well before the Betrayal. He knew that someone would rise up against them eventually, and made it so that the power difference between Guardians were significant to measure. He knew of the Heroes of Fate, and he knew they would need to get stronger and had to kill them in a certain order to get stronger without dying. All the Guardians are just pawns to him. I will help restore your Ki, but to prevent the darkness from taking over, will put your life at risk. You may not be strong enough." Korius drew out Valia, "I'm strong enough to take YOU." Soria merely raised a hand and a flash came from it knocking Valia right out of Korius' hands, landing blade-down several feet behind him.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

While Kiana was roaming around, she spotted Korius heading out of the town. The urge to follow him was quite strong but she made herself resist, believing that whatever he was going to do he needed to do alone. She felt like she needed to sit alone for a while so she walked toward a building standing on the edge of town, not to find Korius but to find a good spot to think. Using her majicka, she lifted herself with the earth and jumped onto the roof as she had the section of ground go back to normal. She sat in the center of the flat roof, used her majicka to lift a section of stone to make a backrest, then adjusted her legs to sit Indian-style. Closing her eyes, she released the barriers in her mind and let all of her thoughts flow through. Along with those thoughts came several emotions and, as much as she wanted to, she didn't block the emotions from coming. It didn't take long for tears to start running out of her closed eyes, but she didn't make any sound or move, she just let them run and began to let it all go.

[White Wolf Guardian]

*White turned around at the sound of speeding footsteps just in time to see a blur of Drevo and then his words fading away in the distance* "White! UHM...RUN!" *He turned his head around again to see three large and one small rather unfavorable looking people running in his direction as well* "Oh shit! Drevo what the hell have you done this time?!" *The wolf tried to follow Drevo until he saw him jump onto the building ahead from the wall in the next alleyway* "Dammit I'm a healer, not a ninja!" *The wolf looked around and saw an unused stack of crates then climbed them with difficulty until managing to reach the rooftop* "I hate climbing." *He growled and looked behind him to see the four men gathering in the plaza and looking upwards at him, he also then looked down to finally notice how far he was from the ground* "Oh gaia! I'm afraid of heights, please don't let there be strong winds up here or badly placed shingles." *He looked towards at Drevo who was drinking sake further along the rooftop* "What the hell is going on? We better get moving because I'm sure they saw me climb up here, COME ON!" *He put his hand on the wolf's shoulder with a hidden grin*

"And just in case we're not fast enough together, I'll make it a lot harder for them to do much of anything when and if they manage to catch up to us. Hehehe." *The healer cast a camouflage appearance to make what is seen to mimic the background* "Our only appearance will be the sunlight reflecting on the top of this barrier, not to mention the shadow of the barrier being still evident." *Droplets of sweat began to form on his head as he thought about the last time he was almost captured by bounty hunters* "That's not about to happen again."

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Talin had stayed inside the inn as everyone else had left, going back to the bartender and apologized for making a mess. The bartender only laughed and pointed to a mop and bucket. He was going to throw a punch before he saw Elistra flash before his eyes, sitting on a stool just next a few inches from where he planned to swing. He let out a rather audible sigh and went to go clean up 'his' mess. When he finished, a waitress came over with a meal of medium-rare meat with some fruit on the side, saying it was on the house. He thanked the waitress before putting the mop and bucket back where it was, then sat down to have his own private dinner.

[Srgntcuddles]

"Oh, hey, White." he said, surprised to see White get up there with him. "Relax, I can-...Okay. Let's go." He was about to say he could fight them but forgot his weapon was being worked on and not with him. The next thing he did not expect was to go invisible. "That makes things easier..." he said. As he finished a couple of the thugs burst through a door on the roof. Drevo gave White a piggy back ride and ran towards the next building. Running, he jumped onto the next roof. The thugs looked but were confused, passing it off as the wind. After a few more jumps across roofs he stopped and set white down and took another drink of his sake. "Phew...Coast looks clear. Good job!" he said with a pat on White's back.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Kitt looked confused as Korius left and the message he had to relay, "But wait, I-! Aww, darn it." Kitt sighed and walked back to the inn with his head in a slump, feeling like an errand boy. While he did, he played with Evellyn, stroking her head as he walked. At the inn, he found Talin sitting there and no one else, so he sat on a stool next to Talin and asked for some water. "So what happened to you?"

Korius growled and drew the katana, expelling some of his Ki and took powerful slashes. Soria merely dodged each one with ease, and hopped back. While she was in midair, Korius glowed, Killing Slash: Final Style- Soria then vanished just a split second before he executed the technique into black smoke and reappeared behind him. She placed a hand on his back, weaved right in-between his slashes that protected his rear and another flash of light sending him onto his face a few feet forward. "Now shut up and listen." Korius rose from his spot and sheathed the katana, tossing it aside, and removed the twin sai holster, laying it beside the sword. His fur stuck straight out as he allowed his full Ki to release, his eyes glowing the bloody, crimson red and bore his claws, which glowed a bright red. Korius then lunged right at Soria, slashing and kicking, each attack avoided or blocked. She still wasn't trying, and it just infuriated him more. Korius then sped up, near disappearing as he circled around her to attack, which she followed in kind. Finally, after a few more seconds of attacks from Korius, Soria finally got behind him and placed a hand on the back of his neck and rammed his face into the ground and another large flash of white light filled the immediate area and Korius was down for the count. "You men are really annoying."

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Kiana cried herself out on the roof of that building on the edge of town without making a single sound and just letting it run out through her tears. After she was done crying, she wiped her eyes and cheeks with the sleeve of her cloak. When her face was dried, she got up then climbed onto the backrest she had made. She then began practicing moves with her staff while balancing on the one foot long, two-inch wide backrest of stone, the top being three feet higher than the actual roof. Her movements were slow, smooth, and graceful like the crying had cleared out her mind and gave her better focus.

[White Wolf Guardian]

*White nearly wanted to scream when him and Drevo jumped across the rooftops and then they stopped eventually frowning upon the pat on the back and thanks of good work* "Why is it everytime I go to be in private in an alley, you show up somehow? More importantly, who the hell were those thugs and why are they chasing after you? What have you gotten yourself in to?" *He turned off the invisibility shield since he felt safe for the moment and wanted to conserve majicka* "I've been working on this shield idea for a long time, but it's still noticeable if you look hard enough, I'm trying to perfect it still in what free private moments I can find. I wish I knew how to jump like you do or run though unfortunately I take it that's part of the bag of ninja tricks though. Being the slowest runner on this team really sucks for things like this, I'm a walking kidnapping hazard!" *He then looked down at the sake in his companion's hands still, pointing at it questioningly* "...And how much of that have you had?"

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Talin looked up at Kitt as he wiped some fruit juice off his lips. "Tried to get Korius to open up with a pint, got a possible rib fracture. After that, I cleaned up his mess and was given a meal to compensate for the wasted drink and labor." He kept his eyes on Kitt, yet made sure that he was still eating enough food in case they did a three to four day travel.

[Srgntcuddles]

Drevo took another drink of sake before beginning to answer White's questions. "Dumb luck maybe. UHM...They were loan sharks. I got a carriage from them awhile back. When I met up with this...Motley crew of heroes...Valius kindly destroyed it for me. And I didn't exactly have it paid off. And now that I'm saving the world I don't exactly run into loads of money. Buuut even if I did have the money, I still think they want my head now. As for the sake...*Hicup* Not enough. I need to get more before we leave." he explained as he went to lie down. He did so right on the roof, not much caring where it was he laid down.