The Search For Mana

[Vosur Aekira]

He stopped only to scoop up some of the sand in the hand that was not keeping the cross stable on his shoulders, applying some of it to the cuts on his face with a muffled growl as he tried to stifle it by grinding his teeth. "Ugh, salt-sand." he muttered as he applied it to the other cheek as well, giving another growl before he dropped the sand, his left hand loosely holding the handle of the cross to ensure stability. He wanted to ask Lazaryos on his actual experience in traveling, but felt it futile to keep on with it as his eyes darted around for obvious, or at least obvious to himself, signs of predatory action or traps. "As I said before, I just have to secure the Mana. The contract doesn't say how or who would be in possession of it, just as long as it is secured or destroyed." He spoke, his eyes catching a glimpse of something from the sand: movement. "Either I found our next meal, or we have company." he spoke, trying to hint to the others on what he could see since both of his hands were occupied with the weapon he was carrying.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos snorted at Chrono and especially at Vosur, "I don't remember starting any contracts with you, merc. It makes life a little easier with you around, but don't think for a minute I give a damn about you being with us. I've said it once and I'll say it again. Get in my way, and I'll kill you myself. As for the Mana flower, I won't allow its destruction, either. Mana will be necessary for life to continue out on this half of the world. Without the Mana, that river will cease to exist. Thus will start a chain reaction that will upset nature itself." Lazaryos opened one eye and turned his head to look in the direction of the disturbance. "You might have just found yourself a midnight snack with that salamander."

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember pretty much ignored the guys and what they were saying. She grabbed her sleeping mat off of her bag and laid it out on the ground. As she started to lay down on her back, she felt the pain in her shoulder again so she sat up again. She looked around her and then finally decided to lay down on her stomach. Digging through her bag, she found a roll and started to eat it as she laid there.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono snorted right back at Lazaryos, his a bit deeper since his snout was a tad bit longer. "Those words don't mean anything if your bother decides to take the Mana, or if my father drops the 'pomp and circumstance' and wants to take it personally. Lets also not forget that cursed weapon user that took on everyone with almost no effort!" The tattoo glow started to come back as he was yelling at Lazaryos, but faded away when he shut himself up and looked away with a gaze of annoyance.

[Vosur Aekira]

"Bleh... salamanders secrete a venom on their bodies similar to that of scorpions. Found that out the hard way. A numb tongue and a taste I couldn't get out of my mouth for hours was the result of that venture." he grumbled as he kept his eyes peeled for any other movement. "They'll do in a pinch, don't get me wrong, but I like the capability to be able to taste what I eat." he spoke as he set the cross down, using it to slightly prop himself as he pulled his shades down for a better look. "So how's the Padre holding up?"

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos chuckled at Vosur's expense and looked back up. "Kratos has no interest in the Mana. He's merely a hired hand. His home is out here in the desert. Kratos only believes in one thing, and that's money. After he leads your father and followers over to the other side, he'll make his way back here, though I've heard rumors that they've made an entire underground black-market." He sighed and closed his eyes. Yea, hopefully...

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember finally let out a growl after finishing her roll and looked over at Chrono. "If you're so damn worried about him killing you then I would think you'd back out of this group and go off on your own. So either do that or stop complaining because, seriously, it's getting old." She snapped then looked down at the sand and let out a sigh. "We all know that we're going to end up fighting each other for the Mana, so I don't see why it keeps getting brought up. It's inevitable." She rested her chin on her arms and continued to stare at the sand.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono only held a solemn face before flopping his back onto the sand and looking up at the sky. He kept staring blankly until his laughter broke the 'silence'. "If it wasn't for the fact that we'll be at one another's throats in almost a few days, we're almost exactly like the 'heros' in those old fables, still alive where others had perished. Then again, us being heros is less likely than splitting the Mana into more droplets!" His laughter died down to chuckles, then he went to sleep...

[Vosur Aekira]

Due to no one giving a response to his question, Vosur wandered over to where Dante was and knelt down to check to see if he was still alive at the least. "Still breathing, but that dagger's going to prove troublesome if he can't heal himself." he muttered as he took off his jacket-like overshirt, folding it length-wise into a thick make-shift bandage before starting to wrap it around the wound and around the dagger to prevent it from moving Dante were to shift in his sleep. "There, not exactly the best work I've done, but it'll hold for a while." he said to himself as he got up and ventured away to sit somewhat away from the group to prevent waking them as he gathered some thoughts together while finishing off the remaining parts of his smoked-owl. "He seems to take wounds left and right, then keeps pushing himself even it's near the cost of his own life when he should try to heal himself... or does he not realize the severity of his own wounds before it's too late?"

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos sighed and didn't even bother to answer Vosur's question on Dante, since he already stated his position on how he felt about them. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. In his dreams, Lazaryos was haunted again by his past. This time, it was times that he grew up with his brother. The days when, even though they spent their times on different things, he and Kratos had laughed and loved each other growing up together.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember continued to stare at the sand. "Wonder if a water mage has ever thought of that..." She thought after hearing Chrono's seemingly absurd idea. "I could only destroy the plant or make the drop evaporate." As she stared at the sand, her eyes slowly began to close and she fell asleep as soon as they were completely shut. Her dreams revolved around when the group would reach the Mana droplet thanks to Chrono talking about it. In each dream the ending was different. Someone different got the Mana each time and once nobody lived to get it.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono slept soundly, but it disguised the nightmare he was experiencing: when his uncle and father met for the first and last time since Chrono was born. Chrono couldn't tell what was being said, but both were constantly interrupting the other while both made gestures at him and him only. His father was the first to turn hostile as he sent his own brother flying into and through the closest wall, then his uncle came back covered in markings that glowed as white as the moon and stars. His uncle dodged the next few attacks before landing a punch on his father's jaw that almost made him spin on his heels.

The fight continued until Chrono's oldest sister pulled him away from the cross-fire, and his father nodded in her direction before holding his uncle in place. The markings grew brighter as his uncle started to make growling faces, but the image was replaced with his father raising his hand to the heavens and then bringing it down in his uncle's direction...

[Vosur Aekira]

During the night, he barely slept if he did at all. His eyes wandering around at the others as he quietly got up. To him, these people were getting close to "family"... or as close as total strangers could be in his mind. Dante's demeanor and appearance definitely made him think of a Father for a church, Chrono would be the closest thing to a law-enforcer for a small town, Ember resembled his dearly-departed Ruby though her appearance was a fair amount different, even Lazaryos almost seemed like an older-brother figure to himself. They probably just saw him as a wandering merc, but that didn't matter to him... he couldn't help but wonder how things were going to end when their alliance was no longer useful. Such thoughts were prevalent in his mind, so powerful that nothing he could do to rid himself of them to allow himself to sleep would work.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos woke up the next morning at the break of day with his head in a bit of a daze. He woke Ember and Chrono, "Come on, you two. We're already two days behind in making Blue Crimson. We're not supposed to be more than a week late, and..." Lazaryos stopped short as the scythe on his back vibrated violently and sparked. His arm grabbed the scythe on its own accord swung upward as a dark figure jumped out and swung down with a glowing sword, parrying the hit. The familiar figure landed a couple meters from them, lightning surrounding his sword. "You again...

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember groaned and opened one eye to look at Lazaryos. She opened the other and sat up, rolling up the mat and attaching it to her bag as Lazaryos was talking. When he stopped short, she was putting the bag on her shoulders and standing up. She turned her head just in time to see the first strike, groaning again at seeing the familiar chameleon wielding his Cursed weapon. She readied a fireball and flung it at the chameleon. "Can't you just die already..." She snapped.