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

[Rayleonarde]

Ray ran along as fast as his little legs would carry him, but he simply couldn’t keep pace with the adults. So, as the distance between them grew, the young raccoon slowed and studied the dead. He had known most of them in passing, known a few others as friends or impromptu guardians. The breadmaker’s son, Ray couldn’t remember his name. He’d run off Silus more than a few times, and even let Ray sleep by the ovens in the winter. But there he lay, apron smeared with the gore of those around him. The tailor Ray recognized next. She was kind enough, patched the young lad’s clothes from time to time. Shaking his head, Ray turned his attention to the group and tried to catch up.

[Alessia Starfurr]

Spyra turned around stopping to see Ray behind her, she turnd aroun and walked back to him. "Ray, mourning the dead will do little right now.." She said once she got into earshot. "We need to head to the ruins do you need some help?"

[Romulan_Furry]

"I don't know," Viktor whispered to Atauri. "But whatever it is, it..." He paused, then whispered in Dovahzul in Atauri's ear, "I feel like whoever this is, I have encountered them before." He continued along the path, his eyes fixed on the ruins ahead.

[XIII]

The thing Viktor has told her didn't ring a single bell. But even so, her personality won't allow the elf to worry. Instead, it allowed considering all possible enemies and find out actions Katmai should take. Course, there could be anyone, and the purple-skinned just hoped that those bandits merely nothing but a bunch of goblins with zero understanding of tactics. But it was an ideal scenario and assuming that it was the most unlikely to happen, Katmai decided to stay focus on whom the group could encounter in ruins.

"Then, we better needed to be prepared." The only thing Katmai said in common language, watching in the distance. She still can't sense anything and started to suspect, that whoever or whatever was in ruins is a spawn not from this dimension or it hides its presence.

[Alessia Starfurr]

By now Spyra had caught up with the rest, carrying Ray on her shoulders, something tell her that something big would happen at the ruins... she already felt a 'familiar presence there, as she continued with the group the  first part of the path through fields and forest were easy it's the mountain path with it's steeper slope and harsh terrain that would be hard , but through it all and through the trees the ruins of a once great stone building could be seen at the top of the mountain line, more or less a few pillars and what remained of one solid wall, it appeared there was either never a roof or possibly a hole in the roof either way the ceiling had collapsed on the ground and all that remained of the top sat on the pillars like the top stones of Stonehenge.

[Rayleonarde]

Ray took in the ruins from his elevated position with awe. He’d always watched the sun rise between the crumbling stone from the field he helped his father worked. It was an object of wonder for the young raccoon, awesome yet fearful.
“An old relic,” his father would dismiss. “A place for worship, but not for us. Ours need no temple for worship.”
 And Ray believed it such, even now. He kept his crossbow, oversized for his small paws, pointed at the ruins, the rubble mysterious and horrifying.

[Romulan_Furry]

Viktor kept his hands ready to draw his blades at a moment's notice on approaching the ruins. It was clear something had him on edge, and he kept muttering that same thing - Vulkest, though it was unclear what it was - or who. All that was clear was that he was actively looking for it. His head snapped around to look at anything that crumbled, cracked, or even made a sound. And he kept that same draconic growl, not at all like the wolf he appeared to be.

[XIII]

Before the company reached the ruins, Atauri had noticed an item, which was looking like a book. After a glance inspection and picking it up, it turned out that is was a diary of a person named Qwik. And so she started to read while walking to the ruins. And almost in no time the flashbacks, about the days in the Sanctuary, has returned. Such moments were impossible to forget and Atauri has to admit it. In the diary was stated, that older brother of the angel of death Malthael, named Kokabiel, is now on his way to Tammuz-an. One hundred years ago, in the Sanctuary, the Guardians were able to defeat Malthael who saw the only demonic part in every living creature. Luckily, his minions hadn't left the borders of the Sanctuary, so Tammuz-an has heard nothing more, but rumors and minor details only. Without the protection of the Guardians, Kokabiel will have almost no significant resistance in continuing the job of his younger, but dead, brother. Now it will be a matter of time when Reapers or how does Crusaders call them 'Devoured', will step on the surface of this land.

The night elf has hidden the diary inside internal pockets because right now there was no time to read the entire diary as more information would fill her mind with unnecessary thoughts and she might fail during a possible battle in the ruins. But now she won't be surprised that something that Viktor mentioned, will be no one, but Kokabiel. Because only angels of death can be worst than any undead, demon or akin to them enemies.

[Sohdakin]

Out on the other side of the ruins, the trees began to rustle as the sounds of a battle suddenly filled the air, then came the mighty roar of a dragon.  As the group got further into the ruins the sounds of the battle grew as did the smell of burning wood and flesh.  Soon, a familiar voice was heard over the sounds of the battle as a few choice words were spoken in dragon tongue. 

Jofan stood on the edge of the forest, facing off two large Ogres, a third lay burnt and motionless on the ground near his feet.  Gone were his two swords as the Battledragon now wielding a great sword and a large shield, the large blade flashing through the air with the grace and precision of a skilled fighter.  Those with magic sense may feel or even hear an strange wail as the large sword, Jofan was wielding, arched through the air and cut into one of the ogres.  As the sword wielding ogre stumbled back, the ogre with the club charged in.  Jofan shifted his stance and turned to meet the charging ogre, who had its club raised high in hopes a heavy blow would overpower the dragon's defenses.  The large Battledragon ducked behind his shield as he lifted it up to slam it into the charging Ogre.  The foul beast grunted loudly with the impact and dropped its club as the wind was knocked out of its lungs.  Before the ogre could recover its breath, Jofan ended its life with two quick swings of his sword.  The sword wielding Ogre, seeing its brother fall to the dragons sword charged and quickly closed the distance as it swung its sword wildly, hoping to reach Jofan before the battledragon could recover in time. The Ogre stared wide eyed as the dragon's sword now stuck out from his throat as the dragon had pulled the sword from his fallen brother, flipped it around and ran it through the Ogre's throat, all without even a glance backwards.  Jofan shivered slightly as he could feel the great spirit that now resided in his sword was pleased to have vanquished evil creatures of the dark lords, it was something he was still growing accustomed to.

[Tristan Foxalot]

Tristan, the vulpine knight, stuck close to his beloved companion, Midnight, as they journeyed with the others toward the abandoned ruins, keeping a hawkish eye out for the dragon and making calculations in his mind regarding giving chase should the dragon had fled. He didn't have any particular interest in the ruins or this insane quest given to the others by the old bear, but if the dragon had made connection within this group, it only serves reason to expect he would return to them. And so, for now, he waits.

His patience does not go unrewarded. As the group approaches the ruins, there Tristan sees the dragon once again, and he grins as he spots the dragon in the middle of a battle. Not wasting a moment, Tristan climbs up onto his horse before sprinting out ahead of the group towards Jofan and his opponents, slowing down to a stop once he got close enough to observe clearly. Then, the vulpine turns to take out a leather-bound journal from the satchel at Midnight's side, the cover of the journal depicting two mirrored doves with their backs against one another, one as pure as fleshly fallen snow and the other as dark as the starless night. Tristan opens the journal, flips to a blank page, and begins to make notes with a pencil, observing Jofan closely as he does so. The knight does not interfere, and is at enough distance that he is safe from harm, staying nice and quiet as he takes notes right up until Jofan stands victorious over the slain monsters.

"Great show!" Tristan could call to the dragon before a laugh, closing the journal in his hands, "Taking down three ogres like that all on one's own is a feat for anyone, even for a dragon! You did remarkably well! You ought to be proud!"

[Alessia Starfurr]

"Hardly a challenge." Spyra spoke up to the knight, his current actions, upsetting her a bit, but instead of complaining about it or stopping she just continued by passing the knight as she headed towards the ruins, the little boy still on her shoulders.

[Rayleonarde]

Ray's head swiveled quickly from side to side as Spyra entered the ruins, his crossbow menacing anything that dared to appear. At least, that's what the little raccoon thought. Perhaps, at first glance, it would be considered a dangerous weapon. However, upon closer inspection, one would find the string drawn, yes, but no bolt sat in it's slot. Even then, the whole assembly looked ready to fall apart, the arms cracked and splintered. The stock had been wrapped in cloth, but even then it's splintering visage could not be hidden. The string, a mixture of horse-hair and Ray's mother's hair, was frayed and about to give. In all, it was almost certain the old weapon wouldn't survive a single attack. But still, Ray believed in the ancient thing, unaware of just how worn his weapon was.

[XIII]

"Do you have any thoughts on what might be the Vulkest? I know you faced a lot of strong enemies in the past. But for me, it may be anything.". The night elf finally said, being a little worried about Viktor' constant muttering. It sounds whatever the Vulkets are going to be; it would be something hazardous. Otherwise, the wolf won't keep telling the same word again and again. But before she was able to receive any answer from the lovely wolf, Atauri heard the dragon' roar and then Tristan rushing into its direction. Naturally, after the warning of the dragon-shifter before. Her suspicions toward Tristan has just grown, and without any hesitation, the sorceress rushed after the vulpine knight with a speed of the wind. She was an elementalist after all. Course, the Tristan could be just a curious person, but in the case of Katmai, Tristan' words about the Guardians served as a solid foundation for treating the vulpine as a potential dragonslayer. "I don't know like you, but I guess this fox something doesn't tell us about him."

"What happened here?". Atauri asked after she had arrived on the battlefield where Jofan was standing. Yes, for creatures like Spyra or Jofan, ogres might not be a challenge. But for an average traveler with no magic skills, they might be a deadly foe. And how does the dragon had found them may be a whole another story because, after the vulpine speech, she looked on Tristan pretty serious. Just as her next sentence. The sorceress even has ignored the laugh of treasure goblins, whose laughter has echoed somewhere in ruins. As ogres a bigger version of goblins, the two kinds are always together. "And what's in it for you?"

[Alessia Starfurr]

 After some time hiking  the trail, Spyra stepped into the desecrated temple ,setting down the boy from  her shoulders and looking around,  as she took a step, she heard a crack almost like a stone cracking but it wasn't a stone.  The she-wolf lifted her foot to find  two pieces of egg below her foot, but not just any egg but the  emerald  like pieces of a dragon egg. Usually dragon's eggs were not this brittle but the fact that it was, told her one thing.

The egg had recently hatched, as that's the only time a dragon egg became brittle, dragon hunters were known to prize dragon eggs as both a hostage and as a shield  as a dragon eggs were known to be stronger than stone, iron and even steel, that was until a dragon hatched using it's  saliva to weaken the egg. and then becoming strong again long after the youngling had left it's egg, but hunters usually wanted a full egg for bait to lure in more dragons, and rarely used the fragments to piece together armor, though sometimes traders would try to fool people into buying dragon egg pieces as expensive gemstones, when in reality  they were worth more than that, and some traders would know and charge huge sums of money for them, which was another thing that indicated that this egg had recently hatched, considering the pieces were still laying around strewed about among the ruins.

The she-wolf continued to look around the ruins looking to the remaining intact wall, which had a glyph painstakingly chiseld into it, it depicted a bunch of people in  hooded robes, worshipping what appeared to be an egg, likely a dragon egg, the next picture depicited a dragon coming  holding th egg, and the priest bowing to the dragon. The she-wolf sighed and continued looking around starting to feel a familiar presence, but unable to pinpoint where it was coming from.

[Romulan_Furry]

It was in that moment that Spyra discovered the egg shells that, when Viktor brushed against one piece, he was hit with a vision - he would move around normally, but his mind would be whisked away:

Viktor stood in the ruins, and standing near him, looking out in the direction the team had come to get to the temple, was a great, blue-scaled dragon. Viktor looked in that direction and saw him and the others - walking in the direction of the temple. The dragon was clever - staying hidden in the brush, shrubbery, foliage and ruins of the temple. Then it spoke something Viktor never would have expected to hear:

"Viktor Torrence..." The dragon chuckled softly. "After all that's happened, still you live. You are difficult to kill. I wonder, did you come here, to me, for answers? There are none. The call of Tammuzan is strong, but it is the call of the dead. It is fitting you came here, old friend. But your companions... give me pause. You normally travel alone. If you want me - whether for answers, or for another reason - you must find me, first. And I will not make it easy on you. But I will give you a hint, for old times' sake - walk west, the Vulon Feykro, straight and true. Walk it until you see the mouth of fire. There, below the earth... I'll be waiting." After, the dragon spoke an ancient language, and vanished as he went airborne. No one would have seen him take off, as he was invisible almost the same instant his feet left the ground. But Viktor did catch which direction he went in...

... and woke from the vision looking that way. Before him lay a vast forest. "... Vulkest..." he said aloud. In an effort to get the attention of the others, he said to any who could hear him in the immediate vicinity, "He was here. And he knows we're looking for him."