The Coming Catastrophe: The Search For The Guardians.(We were a bunch of idiots!

[Tristan Foxalot]

The fox knight continued to fight against his demon assailant as much as he could, being pushed back and back in the alley, but he all too quickly came to his limits. In a moment of exhaustion, Tristan failed to dodge or block an incoming swipe, the demon's claws shrieking against the steel plate of his chest and leaving behind scars, but the armour kept Tristan protected. However, the demon's swipe would come with tremendous force, throwing the vulpine from his feet and crashing him against the stone wall, knocking the wind out of him and dropping him to the ground.

The demon turned to Tristan with a vicious grin and, again, attempted to raise it's hand to summon it's powers. Tristan saw this and took his sword in hand before swinging a strike against the demon's rising hand, ripping a gash straight through the demon's clawed hand and prompting an unholy howl from the creature; a spray of unnatural blood flicking across the dirt ground as the demon looks to it's hand indignantly. In an expression sheer and intense fury, the demon uses it's other hand to grasp the vulpine knight by the throat, lifting him up high above it and holding him there to choke the life out of him. As he was pulled up, his sword would slip from his hand and clang onto the stony ground, leaving the vulpine with only his hands to defend himself. Though he would grasp onto the demon and struggle, it soon became all too clear that Tristan would die in the next few moments, desperate eyes looking down the alley for someone to save his life.

[Rayleonarde]

As Spyra charged forth, Ray faultered. The sword was now almost too heavy for the boy to wield, and he had never been in combat. But he watched Spyra engage the demons, and something changed inside him. He had all but written off his adoptive mother as dead, but his brain kicked over. His grip tightened on the broadsword. He wouldn’t lose his mother. No, not again. He charged forward, blade dragging the cobblestones. Ray’s eyes were filled with the light of hate and defiance, as the young lad bore down on an imp. The raccoon swung his sword, hard. The blade sunk into the demon’s calf, but could hardly be called lethal. The imp turned slightly and merely threw the child back, even as the blade flew with him. Ray landed on his back, skittering across the stones. A different tact was necessary. Ray altered his grip, his paws lower on the hilt. As long as he put forth the beginning of a swing, the sword would carry itself. Again the child charged, the blade sparking off the ground. Instead of swinging with his arms, Ray torqued his entire body, entering into some sort of bladed pinwheel. The sword met flesh and bit deep, nearly severing an arm. The demon, caught flatfooted by the attack, fell to the floor, as Ray again swung his blade in a glittering arc into the demon’s head.

[Alessia Starfurr]

As the she-wolf began to prepare something to assist the knight, Tristan, she spotted Ray out of the corner of her eye 'I thought it told that kid to stay inside.' She mentally sighed, eyes widening as she saw Ray get thrown back from the demon, whichconsequentially ignited a bit of her motherly instinct.

Though before she could attempt anything Ray had killed the demon on his own. The she-wolf let out a sigh of relief but still ran towards Ray smacking down and killing another imp  on the way that walked into her path scratching it  with her claws stepping on it, once it fell to the ground and putting it out of it's hell induced 'misery' with a crossbow bolt to the head, before she continued to Ray "Do I need to make the sword a little lighter?" She asked Ray as she got close enough for him to hear her.

[Sohdakin]

Jofan was fighting his way to the knight and by the desperation the knight was showing, he knew he had to get to him quickly or the knight would surely perish. Just that there seemed to be an never ending flow of imps to get in his way.  No matter how quickly he cut through the hellish spawn, more would take their place, clambering over their fallen brethren to get at the dragon and knight.  In an effort to thin the herd a bit, Jofan spun about in practiced ease his swords mowing down the imps, sending their blood to spray and soak the ground beneath the dragon's feet.  He would release one of his swords as he saw a Demon running towards the Knight, the heavy blade flew true, skewering several imps before taking the Demon along with it as it buried itself into a nearby wall by at least a foot.  "Stick around!" Jofan barked before he turned and charged towards the Knight, bowling over the rest of the imps as he saw the sword fall free from Tristan's grasp.

Sparks flew as the rocks beneath the Demon's feet were struck by the tip of an extremely large blade. The Demon's grasp on the Vulpine was soon released, the Demon made an inaudible gurgling sound as his two halves slowly slipped apart. Jofan had used the long reach he had with his sword to cleave the Demon from nose to crotch.

Jofan barely had time to check on whether or not the knight was still alive when a handful of imps jumped the dragon. Piling on his arms, legs, and back in an effort to encumber the dragon as they knew they had to not allow the battledragon freedom of movement if they wished to defeat him.  No matter how many the dragon crush in his talons or in his jaws, they kept coming and Jofan was close to becoming overwhelmed in the narrow alley.

[Romulan_Furry]

As the battle between the queen and Atauri heated up, neither showed signs of letting up, and it was anyone's match. Before anyone realized it, a crimson-armored warrior, somehow catapulting through the air, came down with a war cry and sent a slash across her face. She howled in pain as Viktor landed, then hopped about in a zigzag pattern away from her before stopping. "What's this?" Viktor taunted. "Big bad Demoness Queen can't take a little ice?" The queen glowered at Viktor, readying her whip with a sudden anger.

"Impudent mortal! I shall enjoy slaying you!" she shouted, her voice echoing.

"Mortal? HAH!" Viktor spat back. "How little you understand! For all your power, you lack a clarity of will! First rule of engagement: Know your enemy!"

"Pah! Such arrogance, mortal! Your pathetic Rule does not bode well even for you! You've not faced one as I!" the queen countered. In her rant, Viktor noticed something behind her. He would use it to his advantage.

"On the contrary!" Viktor responded. "I have faced demons countless times, across more worlds than this one! You are no different! And for the record, demon - I. Am. Not. JOORRE!!!" Viktor snarled, and went on the attack. The demon queen lashed her whip at him, but he twisted his body with unimaginable speed and dodged, and kept charging. The queen sent a flame surge at him, and he just powered through it, seemingly unstoppable. She started to back up, but as she lifted one foot, Viktor - for one reason or another - dashed beneath her foot, leapt, and slammed against the tower that had been behind her. The tower made a loud CRAACK! The queen smiled wickedly, took Viktor in her hand, and lifted him up, over her head, and threw him into the ground with a loud SLAM! that created a small crater. Amazingly, he still gripped his swords.

"Not so high-and-mighty now, are you, mortal? What a pathetic ruse... Your heroic charge had no effect on me!" The queen taunted.

Viktor chuckled with a blood-caked smile. "Wasn't meant to, dumb***..." Was all he told her. There was an even louder CRAAAACK! As the tower fell - right on top of the demon queen. Viktor quickly rolled backward, taking his blades, and when the Demon queen realized what Viktor actually planned, she was impacted with the tower. But it did not kill her - it created a mist of dust in the immediate area, and the Demon queen rose from the rubble, distilling pure indignation.

"WHERE ARE YOU, YOU FURRED, ALIEN--" She screamed. She never got to finish her sentence, as Viktor came in from nowhere, seemingly out of the mist, and in a flash, his blade lashed out, and severed the hand with the whip while she was still getting up. He then whirled around and took off the other hand. She screamed so loudly and shrill that it could be heard clear across the city. Viktor leapt, rebounded off a nearby wall fragment, and before coming down, roared that dragon roar, heard just as loud, and with that, came down with both blades on her neck, cleaving her head from her shoulders. It rolled a few feet away and stopped. Viktor scoffed, heading in Jofan and Atauri's direction, spitting,

"Rest in pieces, a*****e..." He didn't even look when the queen's body was suddenly engulfed in bright green flames, that seemed to dance like blowing, exaggerated smoke, and the body was consumed, then... gone.

[XIII]

Even though Atauri was capable to withstand the queen elemental pressure, the sunlight makes the purple-skinned female a little weaker. As she was from the land of eternal night, her vision is used to the moonlight so tight, that she was able to fight as a full-powered elementalist only during the night. And she felt it - while two girls tried to defeat each other, the queen' fire pressure slowly increases and it was only a matter of time when Xana finally will hit the elf with the fire, leaving scars for the rest of her life. But elf was smarter and using the airbending, performed a huge flip back behind her, and sending several ice shards into the demon queen by transforming water into ice. However, Viktor's appearance was a surprise and now the elf worried if her lovely wolf can deal with Xana alone. The only hope was is that what Atauri saw several moments ago. The night elf was glad, that the infernal lady hasn't used any of her dark spells as demons usually do it in a battle. And Katmai perfectly knew how horrible those spells have been. On her own skin.

But it was first Atauri fail for this battle - she miscalculated her jump and hit the wall of a house where she wanted to land with her back and fell to the ground from the height in the alley with Tristan and Jofan. Luckily, she was able to use the air magic and slow down her falling, so the falling wasn't as painful as falling from a three-story house on a road paved with rocks. It wasn't the best feeling Katmai ever had, but it was better than being dead. Moreover, once she stands, she spotted Tristan and Jofan, the last one had has a hard time fighting with infernal creatures as the sharp-eared noted. This scene quickly mobilized the elf as she forgot almost about any pain and discomfort she got caused by her falling. Jofan' life was way important.

As it turned out, that Atauri can't use most of her elemental attacks as they all were mass destruction type. And if she cast it out any of them - the city would be damaged really bad. Maybe except fire but using fire against hellish abominations were useless as those creatures were made of the fire. If only Atauri would have the ability to control the light, the whole city would be already protected. But her answer was next to her. There was a church behind her with a water bowl near the entrance. Katmai knew, that humans and some of the furries have a habit to sanctify water, believing that it would help against dark creatures. Just like the imps attacking this city. The night elf never knew if the water really helps against demons, so today was her chance to discover it.

Using the water manipulation, Atauri lifted the water from the bowl and using her waterbending to make a water wave in a combination with holy water, she brought down on Jofan the wave of water, alongside demons on him. The effect was almost immediately - every imp who was on Jofan, has fallen to the ground screaming, twitching and having some sort of smoke. But it was pretty dense, that means that the holy water worked. That is why Atauri was still in search of a master who could teach her to control the darkness and light elements. But for now, Jofan was free. With no time, the elf reached the two.

"Sorry, that I made you wet, I had no other choice. You two are alright? I can heal you while other imps haven't arrived.". Said Atauri breathing hard. Her blood was still pulsing in her veins because she was trying to act as fast as she could, she was a bit exhausted. And it was nothing, compared to seeing Jofan alive. Still, she could feel a source of negative energy coming from somewhere, even though it was way lesser than before the battle and Demon Queen death, as Atauri heard the dragon roar and queen scream. Meaning, that the town had no more, but one bunch of imps, who now can be everywhere.

[Tristan Foxalot]

Much to Tristan's relief, someone did come to save him, and that someone was none other than the dragon. As the great beast sank his blade into the demon's foot, he would receive the full force of it's shriek in his face before he was dropped to the floor in a heap; the knight gasping and drinking down the air desperately, coughing and panting as he grasped his neck before looking to Jofan, finding him overwhelmed. The knight clawed for his blade, taking his sword in hand to struggle to his feet to help the dragon when a thud would catch the fox's attention, finding that a... strange girl had dropped into the alley. Is that... an elf? He's heard of them but never actually seen one, her immediate appearance distracting him for a moment. And that was when he witnessed her use of magic, taking the holy water from a church and throwing it onto Jofan's assailants, dissolving the hellish creatures and turning them into noxious smoke; a most impressive display of magic that most do not get to see very often.

Tristan turned back to Jofan, finding the dragon now released of his burden, stepping over to the dragon with the knight now recovered. "Thank you, Sir Dragon." Tristan would say, his voice a bit hoarse from his choking, "Are you alright?"

Then the knight would hear the elf, drawing his attention to her. She is a healer, is she? Good. If she can spare him the need to beseech the Divine to heal others, then all the better for it, Tristan thought. But the Divine has ways to draw those back into Her bosom; Tristan would hear a whine, a whine that would break his heart, and he looked down the alley to where his horse stood. Forgetting all else, Tristan would run to her, finding the proud beast with great gashes into her sides; flesh torn away her body, blood everywhere. Midnight would rear up at Tristan, forcing the knight to drop his weapon and holding out his hands. "It's alright, girl. It's alright. It's me. It's me." Tristan would say, the horse seeming to settle at hearing his voice, but she whined in sheer agony, "I know, girl. I know. I know. Just hold in there for me, alright? Just hold on."

The vulpine would draw himself to his horse's side, raising his right hand to stroke Midnight to give her some comfort, and his raised his left hand to the horse's grievous injuries. No normal healing spell could fix this; only one thing could. Tristan would sigh, close his eyes, and he gave his words.

“And so, the Divine decrees, ‘Bring me your injured, and I shall heal them. Bring me your sickened and envenomed and accursed, and I shall cure them. Bring me the broken of mind and lost in spirit, and I shall remake them. For I am the Divine, the first to Give Life, and I shall Give Life to those who need it, always.’”

With that, Tristan's left hand palm would glow with holy white light, hovering his hand over Midnight's wounds, which would capture the holy light and glow brightly themselves, fading a few moments later to reveal that the wound had completely healed; as if the wound was never there to begin with. Tristan did this with all of Midnight's wounds, healing his beloved horse and sparing her of further pain, and peace would return to the beast at last. Once Tristan was done, the light in his palm would fade away to nothing, and he would step over to Midnight's front; raising his hand to her nose to stroke her tentatively while a slight smile bloomed on his face. "There we are, girl. All better now, aren't we? All better now."

[Sohdakin]

Blood soaked the ground beneath Jofan's feet as he continued to crush, pound and throw Imps as fast as he could.  He was fighting for his life, knowing full well he couldn't keep this up as those that remained attached were stabbing him repeatedly, looking for any kinks in his armor and exploiting those spots. Imp bodies began to pile up around the dragon by the time that Atauri suddenly dumped holy-water on him.  It was the last thing that he expected to happen so when the wave hit him, he thought he was dead and that this was his passage into the other side of life. 

It was that smell, the foul stench that emanated from the melting corpses of the imps as the holy water burned and boiled the foul creatures alive.  It was that smell that made Jofan realize that he was not, in fact, dead.  Now free from the horde of imps, the large armored battledragon stumbled into the next building, cracking wood planks along the wall as it was not designed to take such heavy weight.  Jofan coughed, a mixture of his blood, melting imp and water spewing from his maw "Dragon fine, not want do that again" he coughed again as he caught his breath all the while trying not to puke with the putrid smell of the melting imps that filled his lungs. Once he was able to catch his breath he looked over at the knight and nodded his broad muzzle. His attention then turned to Atauri as he smiled before standing back up and going to retrieve both his swords "What one do with Icewolf eh? Touched then froze, do magiks no?" he asked as he picked up one of his blades and flicked the blood off before sheathing it.  For now, it seemed the fighting had died down and while Jofan does enjoy a good fight, he learned early on to appreciate the breaks in fighting when he could.

Jofan's attention soon turned back to the knight as it was odd how the horse he was healing did not seem agitated by the presence of a dragon nearby.  Which meant that the horse was trained to not freak out whenever the smell of a dragon was near.  Dragons are natural predators so anytime animals, such as horses, were going to work in or around dragons they had to get proper training. He leaned towards Atauri, lowering his head down closer to her as he whispered "What one know about knight eh?"

[Rayleonarde]

Ray shook his head, though he couldn’t bring himself to speak as he caught his breath. The young raccoon shook, not from fear, but from weariness and anger. He hefted the blade onto his shoulder, taking the weight from his arms. He was pleased with himself, and hoped Spyra had been pleased with his actions. Though, upon scanning the battlefield, he felt fear begin to creep into himself. The sheer amount of demons tired the boy, his new style of combat wasn’t exactly easy. Ray watched as Gressin swung his hammer at a group of assailants, but his age was wearing on him. The demons stole away the smith’s hammer and tackled the old goat into the smithy, howling over the old man’s screams. Ray watched as winged beasts dragged Dyrin from her home, clasping and tearing at her as they bore her into the air. Higher and higher the old otter went, screams raising in volume and pitch. Twenty feet, then thirty feet. At forty feet, the winged monsters abandoned the old woman, who fell to the ground like a screaming comet. She landed with a thud like a bag of fertilizer, and didn’t move again.


Looking up at Spyra, Ray’s eyes filled with fear and sorrow.

[Alessia Starfurr]

SPyra sighed and set her hand to Ray's blade again, lightening it's weiht , she pulled her hand away, running to the old Otter on the ground, looking  a the old otter. 'I dunno if I can do something about this without revealing myself'' The she-wolf thought, when her head shot up hearing the sound of metal ping... She spotted the blacksmith and  ran to help  piercing a few demons with crossbow bolts as she ran to  the aid of the blacksmith.

[Romulan_Furry]

As though on cue, Viktor appeared on the scene. He was drenched in demon blood, and it dripped from his katanas. Evidently, he tracked it all the way here. He looked like he'd finished a battle with a platoon of demons alone. Amazingly, his face was not sullied by the demon blood. And with all of it, Viktor seemed not to notice. He looked to Tristan, his blue-glowing eyes - again, now with the dragon features - but never made a sound. His gaze shifted to Atauri and Jofan, and he actually spoke, "You two okay?"

[XIII]

Some break, at last. Now it might be a good time to think about things that happened and what to do next. And since Tristan and Jofan weren't physically harmed, everyone can participate in helping the city to recover from the demon attack. It was obvious that the attack was related toward the Guardians. She knew, that some of them have been securing the gates for years which led to the demon jailworld and since they attacked the city alongside with the queen, it was obvious, that the Guardian has gone. Or what could be worse, almost all of them are gone, a demon queen and akin for them high ranked demons were usually well-guarded by several powerful Guardians. So the world was about to collapse once more. And that little upset Atauri as it was only ten years since such event and now it happens again. Could this world live in peace for several ages at least?

"Thanks, Gods.". Said the night elf and hugged Jofan, being afraid for him since he and Viktor were two persons for whom Katmai was really didn't want to lose. Jofan was the first dragon Atauri met for the last ten years and Viktor... he was her fate, or rather to say - they both. They were now her sense of her life. That's why her response didn't sound upset. "Viktor you mean? I'm not sure if I can to tell everything I learned about him but he is a very special person. Aside he is pretty live for a death knight, he is a dragon-shifter. I can't remember if I have ever seen such guys like him. After what he survived, the pain he experienced, nothing has been really surprised me in his personality. I feel sorry for him".

And so the knight appeared, confirming Atauri thoughts about Horgus' draconical origin. But the way he looked made her a little alerted but then she figured, that he killed the demon queen as the time between Xana scream and Viktor appearance was short. And also giving a hint why his armor was crimson color. Indeed, he was a beast in all terms. Maybe in a bed as well. And the elf wanted to answer the wolf but she only able to nod as in the next second she heard a scream of Gressin and the next thing she spotted - a winged beast flying down right into Viktor.

"Viktor, look out!". The sharp-eared shouted and reflexively casted a huge rock behind Horgus' back, in which the creature smacked into with a sound. Then the purple-skinned female pushed the rock away from the wolf and ending the life of the beast, who attempted to assassinate her lovely beast, in case the winged demon was still alive. Unfortunately, the elf felt like her magical power started to exhaust her and so she needed to take some rest. All she could do now with the best - is to put out the fire on some house roofs, ignited by Xana' actions. "Damned demons don't want to fall back even after her queen death! Such annoying brats!".

[Tristan Foxalot]

Now with his treasured horse safe and well, Tristan's attentions turned back to the dragon and the elf, catching their chatter as faint whispers at this distance but able to hear what they say just fine. And at the mention of dragon-shifters, Tristan's senses turned sharp. He has heard of these fabled magicians that can transform their forms to resemble those of dragons, but, as he understands it, these transformations are mere apparitions and magic; dragon-shifters cannot become true dragons. Of course, he has never actually met one before, so the knight makes a note to inquire on that later.

As this point, Tristan heard someone coming, turning to catch sight of the dragon-shifter; stunning him in place. Tristan recognised the features of a dragon, and noticed that this one wears the same gear worn by the male wolf from earlier, even if they are soaked in Devoured blood, but Tristan would be overcome with a sense of apprehension at the mere sight of the dragon-shifter. It would take him a few moments to figure out what had him so spooked, besides the wolf knight's draconic appearance, but realisation would soon wash over the vulpine. The darkness. Tristan could sense the darkness on the dragon-shifter. And that could only mean one thing.

"Devoured." Tristan would quietly mutter under his breath, giving the draconic wolf a wary look, before an almost accusatory tone came into his next muttering, "He's Devoured."

The vulpine watches as the dragon-shifter turns to the others, and expresses, much to Tristan's surprise, concern for the others. A Devoured whose sanity has not yet been stolen by the Defiler. The Dragonslayer isn't certain if he ought to be relieved or further disturbed by this twist.

[Romulan_Furry]

Viktor caught Tristan's comment, but when Atauri saved his life, he immediately went to her side, embracing her for fear of her collapsing. "Easy, sweetheart... easy... I've got you. Just hold on to me." He once more turned to Tristan, and this time actually spoke to him. "And don't think I didn't catch what you said; I may have been cursed like this... but it was not my choice. Never was. Instead of slapping a label on someone, maybe try and ask about the circumstances that lead to it." He went to try and guide Atauri with him, so he could approach the knight, putting his nose within an inch of Tristan's face. "I've been labeled for the last three centuries by people unwilling to see beyond the surface. I got enough of that s*** on Azeroth; I don't need it from you. And if I really was as you say, we would not be having this conversation, and I would have let this place burn." He patted Atauri. "Thank her for that," was all he said before trying to look for a place to let her rest.

[Rayleonarde]

Reluctantly, Ray followed Spyra as she made for the blacksmith. However, as fast as she was, the demons had already maimed Gressin fatally. He lay in the shattered remains of his door, throat torn open from ear to ear. Glistening crimson painted the floor, as the old goat choked on his life. He reached out for help, though the gravity of his wounds didn’t elude him. With a final shudder, Gressin passed.