Everflame: The Shard

[tangletail]

Leo's eyes flicked to the side to watch the girl run off. His eye lids lowering into half open slits as he heaved out a lazy sigh. His lips pursed together as he mused viciously to himself, "I am going to hang my foot up that gir-" His thoughts were quickly ended as he heard the General's question. He hounestly had no clue either. And he could highly doubt that the girl even new where this murderous and possibly misinformed group of warshipers were. The feline even questioned the very possibility of reviving such a large creature with primitive technology.

By all mean's the cat didn't even bother to respond verbaly. Instead, he flet that a casual flick of his left hand, that had hanged by his side, outwards and away from his body was sucfficient enought to show he was just as clueless as Andreya. Watching her run off as well, he decided it was best to follow; chaseing after them in a jog as well.

[x]

"My name is Listy," the girl said without need for an invitation, stepping forward a pace. She had sensed the Queen was reffering to her, and as nervous and scared as she was she tried to look like she knew what she was doing, scanning with sightless eyes to try and locate the Queen's face, for she knew otherwise she might look odd...not looking her in the eyes. She finally settled on gazing upon a halfway mark betweeen the Queen's neck and jaw....Listy believed in her heart she was gazing in the right place, so it worked for her. "I've come to ask you for help. I need to find somebody."

[KittKat chunky~]

Imshi nodded a silent thanks to the old woman, sniffing back further tears as she walked through to the small bedroom, her head ducking below the arched door.


"Thank you." Yenchi spoke, back to his usual soft tones with the slight inflection common to the plains tribes. He felt along the cut in his chest, gingerly touching the dried blood. With a small sigh he nodded to the old woman, also turning to the archway, murmuring quietly "The wound has staunched quickly. But, if it alright I would like to rest a while as well."




Imshi sat in the center of the cramped room, sitting cross legged on the piles of cloth. Her wings spread out behind her. The white-tipped feathered brushed the dirt walls, and it was from carefully cleaning these feathers that Imshi looked up as Yenchi ducked in under the arch.


"What do you want, Yenchi?" She shifted where she sat and her wings complied, tucking up to her back with a flutter.
Yenchi whatched this flouncing and couldn't help but give the smallest of twitching smiles as he said "Your plait has come undone, miss." He kneeled beside her and set to work, fingers delicately plaiting the loose strands of chestnut hair. The small smile returning as a slight breathy sigh escaped Imshi's lips and her whole body relaxed.

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

"Don't fret, Entaru. In time you will become whole. You will become Him. I can only imagine how you will feel." Aman grinned. His eyes on a constant track over the body of such a creature. Fists clenched, while his tongue writhed in a slow drift in his open mouth. He couldn't stop his feet; their slow step forward. Reaching with his hand against the dark gem on Entaru's chest. He stroked it and continued to approach. Footsteps rushed in the back of his mind, the assistant and the meal. Aman shut his eyes, pressed himself to the spirit of Nero and stretched to its face, pressing lips to lips.
The door burst open.
"My lord!" Paws gripped Aman's robe and dragged him back as a servant cat was thrown into his place. Aman was in a daze while pulled from the room; the door shut and locked.




A squeak of a gasp leapt from Dim Lane as he stared dumbfounded at Aria.
"My god... you..." He glanced to Talin, then to his assistant and ran to her. Wings wrapped around her, holding her tight. "Oh my darling, how wonderful!" He pulled back and looked at her throat, then her mouth. "Say something, anything. Umm, tell me what your favourite colour is?"




Andreya rushed to catch up to the lizard and the girl.
"Excuse me, Little-Hands-"
"Yes Andreya?" the girl said with the brightest smile. It was truly genuine too. Andreya could almost feel the warmth on her face.
"Oh um, so where are we going?" she asked.
"To bad people." Little-Hands replied. Saviour huffed, almost like a stifled laugh. The girl patted his neck. "Shush, it's true. I don't know names or where they are, but Seeker knows. She points me where to go and we go," she said. Saviour shook his head and knocked Little-Hands a little. "Fine," she replied to him. "Seeker points Saviour to where we need to go and I ride Saviour. I would be nowhere without him." She leaned down on the lizard and kissed the top of his head. He seemed very proud of himself and Andreya looked back at Leo with a rather bemused expression at the communication with feral animals.
"Er, right. Thanks Little-Hands," she said and slowed down her walk to drop back to Leo. "Enjoying yourself?" she asked with a smirk on her face. "'cause this is flippin' weird."






The Queen knelt down and looked into Listy's eyes.
"And who's that my dear? It must be someone important to come all the way to me for."






There was a knock on the wall of the bedroom Imshi and Yenchi had retired to, and a bucket of water and a cloth were pushed through the door.
"Something to clean your cut with." Reeza said from behind the archway. "My mum says dinner will be ready soon."

[Entaru]

Entaru's hands spasmed as Aman touched him.  His eyes bulged in their sockets as his master drew closer and closer to him.  His mouth watered as he came ever closer to his face until finally their lips met.  Just as Aman was pulled out of the way, Entaru's eyes seemed to suck away all light in the room and his mouth opened to reveal hundreds of needle-like teeth...another mutation from the exposure.  His claws came down, tearing at Aman's robes and slashed at one of the arms pulling him away, severing it from its owner.  Entaru's claws were now sharper than razors, as the servant dragging Aman away didn't feel the loss of his arm.  The adreneline kept the owner from dropping until he made it out the door, as he quickly dropped to the ground and began seizing on the floor from shock.
 
Inside the room, the cat servant barely had time to register what was going on when Entaru's teeth clamped down on his throat.  The cat had one stroke of luck in him though...he died of a heart attack just before Entaru began tearing his body to shreds.
 
Died of fright...
 
Entaru devoured the cat's limp body, piece by piece.  Not even the bones were spared as they were crushed to dust in his claws and slurped up in the blood.  The ceiling was spattered with blood as the cat practically exploded from the attack, not a single drop hitting the pristine floor.  Soon there was nothing left of the body but the bloodstains on Entaru's entire body and the blood dripping from the ceiling, only now staining the floor crimson.
 
It felt good...the blood raining down on him.  His body felt exhilarated...he was in ecstacy.  He needed another one...he needed ten more....one hundred more...a thousand more!!  He needed more bodies to eat, more bodies to devour, more bodies to...enjoy.  He stood up straight and licked his claws clean, slicing open his tongue on the nails.  Looking up at the dripping ceiling, he pulled his hood back and let the blood fall onto his tongue like crimson snowflakes.
 
He felt....like a god.

[Grace.E]

Aria let out weird noises, but they were beautiful, her voice was if Seeker blocked her gift for a special reason. she moved her mouth to the word of her favorite color "J...k...g..g...green..Green!" she hugged her Boss, laughing with joy, she had never laughed before, it was warm, musical, a beautiful voice. now she understood why Seeker removed her voice... it was to beautiful to even exist. but she went to Talin, she didn't touch him, she looked at him tearfully as she did something she had never done before, she bowed, getting down on her knee's, going into child's pose, she bowed, in deep admiration and respect, this wasn't a regular bow, this was one she came up with on her own. before she rose and signed Thank you...thank you...

Walking over to Dim she signed Dim, teach me how to speak, for I am only beginner when it comes to speech. I want to learn

[tangletail]

        Leo had managed to catch up to the two, and slowed his pace down into a walk. He observed the two talk to each other before the general came back to him with a simple question. The cat returned the sly smirk to her as he turned his head to face her.  “You call this weird,” he questioned as he trys not to burst into complete laughter; although a few snirks could be heard from the back of the feline's throat. “We just past through a frigging Tardis into the future, which is a relic of the past. Now that's weird, thats a freaking time paradox for you.” His voice quickly changed back into the strange humorus tone he had developed over the night.

“Oh! But of course you do have the small issue that we barely escaped with our lives, now we have to kill the people who are trying to raise the very man who tried to kill us. Now that's irony,” he exclaimed as his body haunched over. He continued to slowly walk as he bellowed out in laughter at there strange situation. “Now we are being lead by a child, who follows a giant lizard, who follows the Seeker. Now why does this bring up some past literature from my childhood?!”

[Self-sain]

"I'm not sure.." Meredith began, "it's like half of me is.. dead. Like an empty body tugs at me and tries to pull my mind into something that doesn't exist. As if the direction it pulls in, isn't actually a direction, it is fabricated, I don't know." Meredith ended.

[x]

"His name is Nero." Listy held her hands together behind her back and smiled. "He came to me a long time ago back when I was traveling. And I just know that if I was to find him, then he could make my eyes work. He's strong, and powerful, and wonderful, just like you!"

[Chrono Blackwyng]

If Talin had looked up at Aria, it might have lifted his mood to see her enjoying the ability to speak. However, he was too far in his own self-loathing to even attempt at entertaining the thought. To him, regardless of his intention, he had done something that was not only beyond his expectations but also an affront to the Seeker's plans.

If the Seeker gave her no voice, then who am I to give it to her? Maybe I should take it away before she gets too attached...

[KittKat chunky~]

Yenchi glanced up at the knock on the wall, fingers falling from were they twisted his braided tails of hair. He shifted into a half-standing crouch and padded quietly to the archway. His paws stepped carefully over the sleeping form of Imshi, curled up on the pile of rugs, tail twitching in her sleep.


"Give your mother my thanks again..." He muttered the words in his hushed way as he carried the water and cloth back into the bedroom.


A clank as Yenchi placed the bucket down onto the dirt floor was met with a sleepy stir of motion from the shadowed form of Imshi. Eyes flicked open, and from the pile of rugs she muttered "What're you doing... Yenchi?" Sleep hazed her voice and eyes as the girl pushed herself up with one arm.


"Cleaning the wound up." Yenchi barely glanced up to her, eyes turned to the cloth as he pressed it firmly to the deep cut across his chest. Blood soon blossomed on the cotton surface and each press of the cloth to flesh prompted another wince from Imshi. She watched in silence, shadows falling dark across the two of them in the confined little room and it was with a pang of guilt that she watched Yenchi quench the searing hot wound.

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Aman crumpled to the floor as his pool of red filled around him. He stared at the assistant, wide eyed and sporting a grin that faltered and failed as slipped unconscious. The woodpecker assistant pressed his hand to the wound and through the wall, Entaru could feel the flow of energy change as the gaping wound was sealed. The actual arm was now scattered about Entaru's body. It was lost to Aman. He was dragged away back through to his room while Entaru was locked in with the shard. The area was cordened off until Aman stirred from his sleep. His assistant was by his side.
"Regian," he said. "Where am I?"
"Your room, my lord." the woodpecker replied. He too was draped in white robes, freshly cleaned from the blood.
"How is Entaru? I... remember him being magnificent." Regian shifted uncomfortable in his seat.
"Yes my lord, he was and still is. He remains at the shard's side but his hunger for blood seems to simply deepen as he consumes."  A frown was on his face, while Aman was beaming with delight.
"Marvelous," he said.
"My lord, I have ordered the shard to be out of bounds. It is too dangerous to go down there," Regian said. Aman sprung to sit up.
"What did you do? He needs to feed. we should gather the people, this is our final task until our God is free," he said, gesturing with emphatic zeal in his one arm.
"Sir, he almost killed you. Look," he said, and gestured to the absence of a limb. "We can send in servants and townsfolk but we cannot lose anyone from this building. There is much work to be done." Aman looked into the woodpecker's eyes and sombred a little.
"You are right, key figures like myself must be kept away until the time is right. He still needs our help in the long run. Servants can fulfill his immediate concerns." He pulled off his covers, finding himself in fresh clothes. Regian raised a wing to stop him moving. Aman pushed him away. "You are wrong in one respect though. We do not have long to go. It's so close. So very close, until every world feels his cold embrace." Aman gripped at the absent space where his arm would be. "He was so cold. If only I could feel that once more." Again, Regian shuffled in his seat.

Soon the order was made, villagers were filed down through the Down at the shard, villagers were filed through the dome, down into the crater and the shard chamber, one every few hours.






Dim Lane beamed with joy at Aria and took her hand in his.
"My dear this is wonder, and yes I will teach you as best as I can. Sadly we have job to do and this cannot be forgotten," he said and gestured towards the village. He moved down the hill with her in tow. "In fact, you can lead us even better with a voice, and who knows what you'll learn to say from your own people." He hopped a little with a spry jolt in his gait as he pulled her close. "Maybe you can even sing one that. You have a beautiful voice already." He grinned back at her but it soon dropped. Behind her, up the hill was Talin. "Excuse me, Mr Miracle Worker," he said. "Come on, we can't dally. There's much work to be done."






Andreya rolled her eyes at Leo, and she couldn't help but smile.
"Yeah yeah okay so maybe weird is an understatement." She sighed and peered past the lizard across the field. Far in the distance was a small village, the only real visible section being a great white dome at its heart. "And no downtime since then and now," she said and stretched her arms behind her. "I need a break from this." She rolled her neck, catching the clouds in her eyes. "Well at least I've got company with me." She gave a sly grin at him. "I don't think picking a berry while we walk would count as taking you to dinner, would it? Because I still need to do that."






Chosen Akela smiled at the little white fox girl and took her hand.
"You're right, it's not pulling in a direction, but it's not fabricated. It's pulling in a place you can't feel the way you'd expect." She stood to her feet and watched the three figures shadowed in front of them. "I don't think they heard you. You have to make them hear." She moved forward and pulled Meredith with her, moving close the figures, frozen with their stare down at the girl. "Make them hear with more than just their ears," she said and pulled the girl's hand up to the knee of the centre figure. A grin on her face as Meredith's fingers stroked across the clothes. They were made of stone.






The Queen frowned at Listy and crouched with her eyes peering into the girl.
"Nero? Has he ever talked to you? Did he ever say what he was doing or where he was going?"





Reeza dropped himself in a cushion by the fire and looked up at his mother Ophelia.
"Do you think they'll go?" he asked. She looked down with a smile and shook her head.
"Not my place to say. All we can do is try to keep them safe," she replied. Reeza puffed a sigh.
"I dont think getting Tara to escort them is any safer," he said and ignited a laugh from his mother.

[tangletail]

    Leo returned a sly smile to the woman as he slowly turned his head to look to her. “Mm... yes quite true. I had quite an impressive diet over the past millennium, and I think now is the time to break out of that,” he joked as he took a quick glance behind himself to look over his shoulder briefly. Seeing that nothing was actually following them, he glanced back to Andrea and studied her appearance then little foot.

 
“Hm... and down time wise... I do believe we have met at a half and half point. Not quite worried about dying and in no real hurry at the moment... I mean... Nero is a massive creature. Who can possibly revive him without ripping apart an entire galaxy to find the energy to recreate him?” he questioned curiously as his gaze remained locked onto Little-foot, “So... tell me Little-Foot. Is this a wild goose chase, or has the cultist really found a means to do so?”

[Grace.E]

Aria turned her attention to the town, her home...but something was wrong as they ventured closer she felt a sudden coldness that felt odd and dangerous, she stopped in her own tracks, feeling something was undoubtedly wrong. "we...we..k..can't..s-stay..." her already bright green eyes turned dark. she turned to Talin be on your gaurd... you are not safe here.. she signed.


"Aria?"


Aria turned, what she saw made her pale. it was one of the old family friends, he looked at her quizzically "we didn't think you would return Aria!"


Aria couldn't say anything, she didn't want to, if they found out she could talk again, they would question her. the man hugged her "your family would be so delighted to see you again!"


no....no....they wouldn't....

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Talin had been fine as they reached the village, even though he still hated himself for letting his power loose on a girl he had promised to protect just a day ago. He nodded to Aria as she warned him, but when his gaze went to the white dome, he felt the sudden sickness return. He fought the urge to scream obscenities with his immediate question, and also did his best to maintain his composure.

"I'm sorry, but this is not the time for family reunions, we have just arrived after three days of constant travel and only had a loaf of bread to share amongst the three of us. Can you point us to a place with food, before we meet with Aria's family?"