Everflame: The Shard

[Entaru]

His laughter dying down, Nero stretches his arms to the ceiling and lets them drop with a great sigh of relief.  "Oh yes...so wonderful to feel the air again."  Rolling his head around, popping his neck in the process, he finally looks down at Aman and smirks.  "Ah...my dear Aman.  Such a wonderful servant...I couldn't have asked for better."  Kneeling down in the pool of blood in front of Aman, the blood slowly began to move towards Nero and disappeared into his robes as it was absorbed.
 
"You have served me so well and so long, that your reward shall be exceeded only by my vessel's.  You will be my personal manservant...but before I bestow my gift, I must ask you to call a meeting of the town.  They should know that such a glorious day is here due to their efforts."  His irises glowed orange against the black background of his face and eyes as he stared into Aman's eyes.  Though he was looking at Aman, his mind was searching the sights and smells of the room. 
 
Despite unfamiliar surroundings, there was a familiar presence, and it was very close and getting closer.  How fortunate...the man who tricked me has come to pay his final respects.  Nero let his mind reach Leo's for only a moment, almost stabbing him with his thoughts, letting him know that he knew he was there before retracting his mind back.  He'd let the scientist live for now...if only to make things that much worse later.  His mind coming back to Aman, he smiled and kissed Aman gently on the lips for a few seconds before pulling back and whispering.  "Come...we have much work to do."

[Cifero Windtail]

Feuilly walked through the lower half of the town, heading for the palace. He carried a satchel, along with a few weapons, including a long, multi-curved dagger, which was in his hand. Behind him, however, a pair of black, feathery wings protruded from his back.
Perhaps I could find some information here, he thought, his wings fluttering behind him.

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Saviour scrambled to his feet with Little Hands still attached to his back. Andreya chased Leo down and practically punched into his back as she grabbed his top and yanked him back to her.
"Yes, I know," She screamed in his ear and pinned his arm behind his back, dragging him back up the stairs. "Now we're getting the hell out of here right?" She looked up at Little Hands. Saviour was already half way up the next set of stairs.
"We too late now," Little Hands said. Andreya raced up with Leo in tow and threw him against Saviour who hissed back.





Dim Lane covered his ears as the sound clawed out from within his head.He shut his eyes and swayed until it was too much. He fell and hit the ground with a thud. Once he opened his eyes, he looked up and spotted Aria climbing to the topmost branch. Once the laughter had died, he stood to his feet and leapt off the ground before flapping up to the tree top.
"What is it? What do you see?" he asked and looked toward the village as Aria was.






Neesa beamed with delight as Imshi backtracked.
"Oh really?" she asked with wide and eager eyes pointed right at Yenchi.
"Neesa, no." Her mother's voice was stern and Neesa pouted.
"Ugh, come on. Green light," she said and gestured to an imaginary light bulb above Yenchi. "We're adults, mama." She turned to the door and headed back out. "Now you two, follow me," she said and looked back over her shoulder at Yenchi with a sly smile on her face. Her hips swayed as she walked to the door and leaned against it, pushing it open. It was night and only moonlight glowed on the rooftops.





The weasel took Meredith's paw and with a nod to Siyan, he gestured for him to leave, while he led the girl away through a side door. The door led down natural stone steps that stood jagged from the floor and led deeper into the undercity. Torches led down and stretched seemingly forever. Each step was a drop for the young fox and the weasel offered no help. He was silent and as they went deeper, the stairway seemed to grow in heat.





"Roxy," Alex said, knelt at her side. "I'm going to have to go now. I hope you find what you're looking for and I hope you're a good girl for Chosen Akela, here okay?" he said. He furrowed his brow as she continued to gulp, near panic appearing on her face. "Roxy?" Chosen Akela put a hand on his shoulder and gestured for him to leave. It seemed all the Chosen wanted rid of him, even the very air in this temple. He sighed at Listy and stood up with a last pat on her shoulder before turning to leave. Akela looked down at the girl, a scowl etched on her.
"Can you feel that?" she asked.






Aman seemed shocked by Nero, in awe at him. When they kissed, he leaned into it, wanting more. At its break he fell forward and put his hand to splatter in the remains of the blood. he nodded at his master and a wide smile spread on his face. His lips tore a little at their edges. It was just a slight cut but the pain shivered through his body and he stood to his feet. His clothes were long since torn and discarded about the room, though nothing mattered. He headed to the door and opened it for his God while he adored the creature, watching with wide eyes. His long bloodsoaked tail swished and his ears pinned back on his head. His body seemed to almost shrink as he presented the exit to Nero.

[Grace.E]

"I don't see much but I have a feeling that the situation is going to reveal *cough* itself in *cough* moment"Aria rubbed her throat sightly. The pain reduced to a irritating sore throat and she stopped talking, she looked at her boss for a moment. "In reply about Talin, he is a mystery, he saved my life and I owe it to him" she coughed once more but gave Dim a look that she understood what he was talking about earlier.

[Entaru]

Nero strode out of the room, his tail sliding against Aman's neck and jaw as he went by.  There was much to be done and oh so much to destroy.  He had no doubt the town would follow him to the end...but he also knew that mortal emotion would reek havoc amidst his ranks.  The children were useless and troublesome for morale...they'd have to go.  The women were along the same lines as the children, except they made the men happy.  Unfortunately, that happiness usually would create more children...they'd have to be sterilized.  A simple enough feat for him.  He'd only need a few dozen though...the rest were expendable.  He grinned as he went over everything in his head.  It was perfect.  His own private playground and no Vuranin, Chronin, or Seeker could stop him from wallowing in his bloodshed...and once this world fell, he'd be strong enough to pull himself back together and take system after system, leaving only darkness in his wake once more.

[Cifero Windtail]

"Well," Feuilly said, looking up at the castle, "this appears to be the place."
(Will continue later.)

[Chrono Blackwyng]

He kept getting a nagging feeling that the roar was a reply to the laughter, and laughter of such volume was very unlikely to be from anything that did not having a connection to the Seeker or the other three gods. Since it originated from the city of the Shard, the most logical choice was Nero's resurrection. Talin looked out the window, then smacked the side of the wall to get their attention.

"I understand that the view is nice and all, but Aria, you still need your treatment before I go back to town to deal with Nero..."

[Grace.E]

Aria looked down at Talin as she sighed and went down the tree to the tree house. she walked through the opening and sat down in front of him, staring at him with his green eyes and then closed her eyes and readied herself for her treatment for the problem she now had.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Talin put his hands gently around her neck, and took some deep breaths as he healed the damages done. He could feel the nagging voice of his doctrine, telling him that he was cementing his sin against the Seeker. He shut the thought out by replying the counter that the Seeker made Chosen to help the less fortunate, and right now Aria is afflicted by his sin and suffering because of his negligence in the healing of the new muscles.

"Your vocal cords should be able to handle anything that a normal set would, though I think Tizz would kill to have a voice like yours." His eyes focused away from Aria and he seemed mildly shocked with his own wording.

"Can you just ignore that last comment?"

[tangletail]

 Leo had only just reached the final landing amidst the steps before feeling a sharp jab from behind, and himself being pulled back. He quickly snapped his head around, ready to throw an elbow into the woman's maw before disregarding the thought as he simply surrendered to her after a brief struggle and allowing her to drag him back to Savior.  The feline was still chuckling lightly to himself in a near demented manner as his thoughts had began to compress into one hectic mass. Each thought began to clash with every since of logic he had left, creating a nauseating  complexity that could only described by sheer madness that had consumed and devoured every bit of reason that fell within the event horizon.

 
The feline's eyes darted to the hallway once more as he felt the intrusion into his own mental singularity that taunted him with the very blood lust of Nero. His vision blurred into a darkened sepia as the voice ran through his head; pausing the chaos in his mind for only moment as the feline in turned quietly taunted him back just before the presence left allowing Leo to return to reality.

 
“I wonder,” he said quietly as his gaze remained lock on the hallway they were once heading to. His voice now returned back to it's usual, only a small spark of curiosity had came with it. “Or should I say did wonder. Now I am just curious...” he trailed off as his mind's chaos projected the hallucination of a large sphinx. The sphinx gave the man a sinister grin as it's voice mimicked his own. The imaginary creature began to finish his sentence to himself in a more or so encrypted way, while in reality he was reciting the sphinx himself, “a fly and a foot were to cross paths, then time can reverse.”

[Cifero Windtail]

h"Well," Feuilly said to himself as he walked down the road, "that was no help whatsoever."
 
The castle guards, upon seeing his wings, had captured him and launched him far away using a catapult.
 
"No need to get disheartened," he muttered to himself encouragingly. "There must be someone who you can talk to about the..."
 
He suddenly heard voices.
 
"What the..."
 
Looking up, Feuilly saw that he had unwittingly stumbled upon somebody's secret tree house.
 
Well, he thought,  it's a good a place as any to stop for the night.
 
Without another thought, he fluttered up to a branch next to the tree house and fell asleep.
 
(Well... I suppose that perhaps Talin could find me?)

[x]

Listy looked at Alex in terror as he left, though she could not tell what expression her face held. She hated being left alone again, even if she was not truly alone. Her body trembled, and she turned back to Akela and nodded. Risking opening her mouth, she answered: "Yes. I feel it. It is Nero." Her hands curled into fists and she felt the black slime drip down her chin. "Please. I need him. I need him. He'll make me see. He...he told me so. Please. You have to take me." Listy gripped Akela's forearms, and her grip was both cold and incredibly strong.

[Grace.E]

Aria blushed as she managed to turn her emerald gaze away and feel that he was being serious about her voice. she then gathered the courage to ask.

"Do you...Like my voice...Talin?" she blushed even further as she realized that he was suppose to ignore the comment, not bounce back to it.

[Cifero Windtail]

Feuilly flicked one ear in his sleep, tuning in to the noise inside the tree house.
Suddenly, he heard a lull in the conversation, and that caused him to wake up.
"Mzzzz... huh?" he murmured, opening his eyes slightly.
The feline moved forward...
And fell through the window into the tree house.

[KittKat chunky~]

Yenchi returned Neesa's smile, albeit uneasily, watching as she pushed open the doorway into the cool night air. His eyes flicked from her swaying hips, to Imshi's own rather more ample thighs and midriff and a small shiver ran down his tail at the collective sight. A hot flush spread through his cheeks and he averted his eyes back to head height.


After a confused double-take however, he noticed that Imshi's gaze lay where his own had been moments before; following the mesmerizing sway of Neesa's hips. For a moment Yenchi paused and glanced between the two, then a small grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.


One hand on the hilt of his hunting knife he slipped past Imshi, bringing his other hand to brush her arm as he said "Just follow close behind Neesa miss, we're not out of the fire yet." With almost twisted pleasure he watched as her gaze flicked quickly away from Neesa, wings fluttering as a pink flush rose up her white-furred cheeks. After a moment she nodded and followed Neesa out, hips brushing close to Yenchi as she slipped past.




In the shadows someone watched silently as the three clambered out of the underground dwelling and into the pale moonlight. The figure stirred, standing up with a stretch and audible yawn that was stifled far too late. From among Yenchi's fur above his belt Vin fluttered into activity, a bright blue flash of feathers in the dark that swooped around the three with a shrill cry.