Omega nodded her head. She had to go back to her house to pick up a few things before the group left. Jumping off of the table, and walking towards the door, she bumped into one of the guards. He looked at her strangely, and she slipped away before he could arrest her.

When she got out the door, she let her eyes adjust to the darkness. Being in the dark felt good. She ran through the streets, guessing which way her house was. She hadn't been there in almost two years, but she was hoping that the High Order had left the things that were in the house when he was arrested. "Evidence" they had called it, saying that he was going for questioning.

Somehow, Omega found herself at the old home. She walked in, breathing heavily. The house smelled musty, and there was a layer of dust on all the furniture. Omega lit a lamp, and walked into her room. She grabbed her bag from the dresser, and put her winter clothes and a hairbrush into it. She went to the kitchen and grabbed some herbal tea, some matches, bug repellent and candles, and a few bandages. Running to the storage room, she grabbed a sleeping mat and a blanket. She took some trail mix from a shelf, and a small jar of beef jerky. Omega also took a facecloth.

She closed the bag, blew out the lamp and ran out the door. She walked through the night, and slung the pack over her shoulder. She ran through the streets again, moving only a little slower than before. A homeless man called out to her, and she ignored him. Making her way to the docks, she walked to the west side. There was an old inn that had fallen into disrepair.

Omega looked around and, making sure that no one outside was watching, she went inside. "Hey, Malicat? You here?" she said softly, hoping that the man would hear her. She sat down at a grimy table to wait for the others.

"I'm not my father."

Sheza calmly stared at Cerie with lifeless eyes and merely said, "I never said you are."

The wolf man then turned his attention to Malicat, who instructed the others to go home, and later meet him at the west of the Docks.

Sheza's lips twitched in an irregular angle, making it quite indistinguishable whether he was trying to smile, frown, or both. 'Go home'? As if.

Several guards then came, and Sheza recognized one or two of them. Although he knew that they weren't after him, and that they probably won't recognize his current form, he is not willing to take the risk.

Moving his fingers, the shapeshifter created a realistic image of Malicat; near enough for the guards to see, but not too close that they become suspicious. When the guards turned back to chase the decoy, Sheza slipped out of the tavern and went towards the place Malicat had told the others to go. He arrived at the dilapidated inn shortly afterwards, and turned around to look for Malicat.

"Hey, Malicat? You here?"

Turning towards the voice, Sheza saw a girl approaching. He recognized her as one of the 'children', if he was not mistaken, she had introduced herself, quite confidently, as 'Omega'.

"I haven't seen him yet, if that's what you're asking," he told Omega, giving a small smile.

Eira frowned as the guards came into the tavern. She placed her hands into her lap and looked down at them, feeling glad the table was in shadows. When the guards finally left, she quickly finished the last of her drink. She stepped over to the bar, bringing her tankard with her.

Setting the tankard down behind the bar, she slipped the bartender a couple coins. "I'll be gone for a bit, I suspect." she said quietly.

"I'll sends people lookin' for ye elsewhere." He gathered the coins and slipped them in his pocket.

She nodded.

Walking out into the evening, she quickly made a list of things she would need. She wasn't sure she would be going, of course, but she would talk more to them before they left. If she decided to go then, she wanted to be ready.

Reaching her shop, she made her way upstairs to her living quarters. It wasn't fancy, but it was comfortable and had plenty of room. Taking a traveling bag out of the spare room she used for storage, she again ran through her list of items.

Eira packed quickly, placing spare clothing on the bottom, followed by some basic equipment for cartography (among other things). She dashed about, shoving in items as she ran down her mental checklist. Clothes, money, paper, ink, waterskin.... When she thought she had everything, she realized she had yet to change.

Quickly changing into her normal attire, she shoved her dress clothes into the top of her bag. Remembering something she had seen soldiers do, she tied a rolled up spare blanket to her pack. She shrugged. It didn't look quite right, but would do for now.

Spending time she saved while rushing packing, she penned a letter to her brother, telling him that she was leaving for a while, and not to worry. She left it propped on her table- he had a key; he would let himself in if he was wondering where she was.

After making sure everything was locked up tight, she headed back to the docks. There was a chill in the air now, and she walked faster to keep warm. She half wished she had not packed her cloak on the bottom of her pack, but there wasn't anything to be done about it at the moment.

Keeping to the alleys, she made good time, and was at the meeting point fairly quickly. Looking around, she saw no one outside, and stepped into the building.

It was dark in the building. Eira couldn't see much of anything. She stumbled forward, nearly falling. "That was close," she muttered to herself. There was really no point in blundering in the dark. As much as she disliked it, she needed light.

Taking a breath, she concentrated on bringing her light forth. In a moment, a small glowing ball of energy appeared beside her head, floating gently in the air. She kept the light dim, as not to attract attention.

Looking around, she saw two others had arrived already- Omega and the ring-man. They hadn't seemed to have a problem with the dark.

"Oh. Hello again." she said quietly.

Cerie glanced up at the guards and then shook her hair around her face, hoping they would not recognize her. This was not exactly a place for an Ambassador to be seen, and she didn't want any questions asked. She sighed as they left, then sneaked out the front door, pulling her cloak back around her as she did so. Then she slunk through the alleys by the docks until she reached one of the main thoroughfares. It was a dim sight: thin green trees reached towards the smoggy sky; mechanical carriages crawled across the streets; and the citizens hurried by quickly, wishing to get out of sight. Cerie called one of the carriages and slipped in, directing the driver towards her father's villa on the other end of the city.

It was an hour later when Cerie stepped out of the cab, handed the driver a few pennies, and walked up the steps into the house. The skies around the villa were entirely clear; Cerie's own spells had arranged a purifying shield around the villa allowing for a blue sky and healthy plants. The girl quickly traversed the front hall into the Lemon Courtyard, then slipped through the galleries towards her own suite by the Star Courtyard. She quickly gathered a variety of dresses from her closet and packed them neatly into a brown leather suitcase, then put in some casual clothes over the more formal wear.

Cerie stood by her safe, momentarily in a dilemma. Deciding, she opened the safe and took a white silk jewelry box from within. With less hesitation, she took forth a platinum lighter, flashlight, and radio, then went to her vanity stand and brought out her hairbrush, mirror, and makeup and deposited all of this in her backpack. Satisfied, she wrote up a note for her father explaining where she was going, and left the villa. She took another cab to the meeting place, and after a moment of trepidation, entered.

She obviously needed to get back to her house to tell Vena and Yani. Oh, Gods, they would be jealous.

Hurrying to her quaint little cottage, she quickly took her things and picked an ornate silver mirror off the table.

It was silver, with elaborate carvings on the sides and a sapphire encrusted handle, She smiled gently, and said, "Yani, Vena."

Immediately, a mist/fog swirled inside and after a few seconds, Yani's and Vena's faces were visible. Yani looked especially exhausted and Vena looked as if she were flying on Tsumetai, her dragon.

"Hey, what is it, I'm in a hurry," Vena languidly said, and Korin relayed the happening obediently.

"Wow...sooo jealous~~" Yani whined, and Korin smiled. "Sorry to cut you, but I gotta go," she said, and pressed the sapphire that was the biggest. The mirror went blank.

She stashed it in her bag and hurried out to the Inn that Malicat Minx was talking about. It wasn't very far, though some men did, stare at her with none-too-innocent looks in their eyes. She cursed not having her hood up, and quickly put it up.

By the time she reached the Inn, there was no one around, so she entered.
Only to see three figures illuminated by a ball of light.

She quailed, instantly, but soon realized they were her allies, and bowed, "I'm sorry to interrupt. And, good evening."

Malicat headed west towards the Inn he had told the others. It was still early in the afternoon so none had yet arrived. The Inn was a two story wooden building that was falling down from decay and abandonment. Staying inside it too long could represent a rather large danger. Malicat smiled, perfect cover up for a Pagan area entrance. He looked down at the old degraded carpet, if one looked with attention they could notice a tree carved on the carpet, he brushed the carpet away revealing a hatch and opened it.

He went down the stairs of the hatch to what seemed a mine tunnel. As he arrived at the end of the tunnel he saw the tunnel lead directly outside the city, to an abandoned mansion by the beach that had become a Pagan camp. That was the third area of Sultana with Pagans.

Wood beasts wondered around. He looked at the sky, it was still early, great. He walked down the path the wood beasts diverging their attention to him and running at him to do their duty, protect. He pulled of his staff and blue sparks flew of it, from the sky multiple lightning hit the wood beasts, breaking some in half, starting a fire on others, the ones in fire ran off to the murky waters of the beach. He got at the entrance of the manor, the warriors armed and ready for him.

“Who bes you?” They asked. Younglings he thought, they had no idea who he was.

“I’m looking for commander Wildborn.” He answered.

“You deadings our woodsie warriors! Who bes you thinking you are?” They asked and charged at him, he was ready to lift his staff and get rid of them when a clawed paw grasped the swords of the warriors behind.

“He is one of our Sumbras, a friend.” A voice answered behind and the warriors stepped away bowing. Commander Wildborn was an old lion humanoid, with already some grey hair but looking strong and buffed enough to take on an entire army. “So you are still alive, the time you were gone I though the High Order had captured you already.”

“Not that they haven’t tried.” Malicat replied. Wildborn nodded and placed his arm around Malicat’s shoulders, Wildborn was far larger and taller than Malicat. “I have heard of the temple in Glacia.”

“Oh yes, a terrible thing!” Wildborn said. “Even though it’s a peaceful temple, they even refused warriors or protection because they were a people of peace, the High Order didn’t think twice. They ransack the place, killed everyone they could catch. It was a massacre.”

“They brought a monk here for execution.” He pointed out. “Why didn’t they just execute him on the temple in Glacia?”

“Maybe they wanted information.” Wildborn answered giving Malicat a drink.

“Did anyone survive in Glacia?” Malicat asked, the other nodded. “I’ll need safe passage to Glacia with a couple of… brothers.” Wildborn lifted his eyebrow.

“Children of the Eye?” He asked, Malicat nodded. “I can grant you safety in our camps and passageways, you are a fellow Follower. I’ll instruct our other regions to open door for you and your… brothers. However they will not protect your brothers if they have not come with you, unless they are followers, then we shall protect them regardless. You want me to get you a carriage and some horses?”

“Yes. That will do just fine.” He answered. He got up. “I still have my chambers around here, right?”

“Sure. I always told you I would keep them for when you returned to fight the High Order.” He answered. “This is to stop the High Order, right?” Malicat nodded to the question. “Good.”

------

Malicat got to the patch finally. He should have guessed that going up the tunnel would be more tiring than going down. He got up the stairs and opened the patch. He noticed the others had arrived already.

“Hello all.” He greeted and left the patch. He brushed the dirt of his cloak. “I see you are all ready to go. I have gotten us the support of the Pagans. Is there anything you wish to discuss before going, or should we leave?” He pointed down at the hatch.

Omega turned in the darkness to see that someone was there. He looked a bit like Malicat, but not quite. She recognized his voice from the tavern, though. It was the man who had asked Cerie about her name. Omega asked him, "Hey, don't you look different normally?"

At that moment, she heard a sound and looked through one of the windows to see Eira coming towards the meeting place. "Hi there!" she said in reply.

After a longish while, Cerie came in, too. Omega greeted her and waited. Another woman entered the inn. She bowed, and said, "I'm sorry to interrupt. And, good evening."

Omega said happily, "Don't worry, you're not interrupting anything! Howdy! I can't wait to leave! But that's partly because I kind of want to kill some guards..." The last part she said in a creepy voice. Slapping her forehead after she realized what she had said, Omega blurted out, "Never mind that last part!"

Suddenly, she heard Malicat's voice, and looked at the floor to see him saying, “I see you are all ready to go. I have gotten us the support of the Pagans. Is there anything you wish to discuss before going, or should we leave?”

"Let's go!" Omega shouted, walking towards the hatch.

"Hey, don't you look different normally?"

Sheza stared at Omega for a while, still smiling, but his eyes were blank. "What are you talking about?" he asked absently.

But Omega's attentions were no longer on him, which Sheza was thankful for, as the others had arrived as well.

Malicat was the last to show up and the wolf man stared at him. As the former did so, his cerulean eyes flashed gold. "... the survivors, they are in a terrible state of shock and grief... they are not it the right condition to be informative..." Sheza whispered softly; he then spoke a few broken words which sounds suspiciously like "blood" and "massacre", before his eyes flashed back to normal.

Eira glanced sideways at the man who had been fiddling with his ring. Omega had already left, so Eira wasn't sure anyone else had noticed the mans odd behavior.

"Are you well?" She asked him, quietly. She wasn't sure of his name- she didn't think he had ever introduced himself.

As his irises turned from gold back to cerulean, Sheza quickly shook his head to rid himself of the visions he'd seen.

"Are you well?"

Slightly raising his head, Sheza saw that one of the women, Eira if he's not mistaken, addressing him.

"I am fine, thank you" he replied pleasantly, looking as though nothing had happened before.

Eira blinked, then nodded. Well, if he said he was fine, she supposed she would believe him for now. Perhaps whatever had just happened was normal for him.

"I suppose we should be going now," she said, mostly to herself. A more logical part of her knew she should be asking more questions about this endeavor, but a part of her had already decided to go. Shaking her head, she walked over to the hatch in the floor.

It looked dark down in the tunnel. Eira shivered. "Do you have torches or lanterns, or shall I keep my light out?"

((I was waiting for everyone to post, but they didn’t, so I’ll post now.))

Malicat eyed the wolfman with curiosity. A vision? He smiled, that would be useful, but he seemed to see the present and not the future. He walked away and jumped down the hatch, he looked up at the others.

“It will take a few days for us to get to Glacia. Maybe we’ll find some Pagan camps along the way.” He spoke. “The Glacian monks have a very large library, but apparently the High Order didn’t find the Book, otherwise they wouldn’t have brought the monk all the way here. The Book of Glyphs must have something about the Eye and the Red Eagle and the glacians protected it. We’ll need to find it if we wish to stop the High Order. So let’s go ask it from the survivers.”

"Do you have torches or lanterns, or shall I keep my light out?" Eira had asked. He eyed her.

“Keep the light out. Or the plants will eat you… literally. These are blood-roots, they’re deaf and don’t attack movements, but they attack light. If you smell like blood they’ll attack too. Don’t get attacked, this place is too small for me to do anything to help you out.” He said pointing to the vines on the walls of the tunnel. “Follow me, and keep close.” He said eyeing Omega who seemed ready to go.

That said he walked away down the tunnel till they got outside, near abandoned mansion. New Wood beasts had been raised, but these stopped at sight of Malicat. Didn’t seem like they would attack him or who he was with, that however didn’t stop them from growling at him.

Korin followed Malicat, pulling out her own energy for a light. So far, it was boring...

"Ah -" a root grabbed her ankle, and she shot a blast of ice at it.

"Dammit," she muttered, and followed Malicat closely to an abandoned mansion. A few Wood beasts growled at them, but made no move to attack.

"Excuse me, but, would you happen to know how many enemies we can kill?" she asked Malicat.

Following Malicat through the tunnels, Sheza noticed several wood beasts surrounding them- though not attacking- yet. The magic controlling the beasts felt familiar...

Suddenly, the shapeshifter stopped his tracks. Opening a small portal, he pulled out several pieces of metal which he transformed into a bladed whip. His actions seemed absurd but Sheza knew what he was doing; and sure enough, a split second later, a wood beast lunged at him.

Wasting no time, he flicked his weapon, cleanly slicing the beast into pieces. Eyes briefly flashing to gold, the wolf man attacked at more beasts and several roots, knowing that they would be attacking him in a moment- but have not done yet.

((Timere is the Fear Spell, if anyone was wondering. Also, I fixed the post... Sorry about that.))

Omega happily followed Malicat, making sure to stay close. She kept her scythe close to her body. The darkness gave the illusion of protection, but Omega knew that there were killer plants everywhere. She made sure not to trip and cut her hands- she did not need to be attacked here.

A light soon appeared at the end of the tunnel, and Omega could see a huge mansion. There were wood beasts there. They growled, and she got ready to fight. They hadn't attacked her yet, but she had no doubt that they wanted to.

Hearing a whip, and several thwacks, Omega spun around. The wolf guy was attacking the wood beasts! It was dead, almost instantly. More were approaching though, and they didn't look like they were going to stand by idly. Omega took a deep breath and shouted out, "Timere!"

Several roots backed away, and two of the six wood beasts stopped approaching. Getting ready to chop one to oblivion, Omega smiled and laughed menacingly.

((I'm really sorry, but I need a break for the final exams. The last time were just mid-term examinations. ^_^" I'll be back, though.))

Cerie silently watched as a few of the others slipped into the tunnel in the floor. She stood thinking for a minute, then took a stray piece of parchment from the floor and lit it with her lighter. It smoldered for a second and then burst fully into flames. Without looking she tossed it over her head and entered the tunnel, satisfied as she heard the house ignite. No one would be following them.

Cerie nervously continued down the tunnel, realizing that the walls and floor were covered in strange plants. With a breath of relief, she finally exited the enclosed space and the last rays of the dying day hit her. Ahead two of the others were fighting with wood beasts, and behind she hoped the others had not been caught in the fire.

One of the wood beasts sprang at the girl as she passed, and without even glancing she lifted her hand and incinerated it. They didn't have time for this.

((@Yuffie: Sheza is NOT under attack. The mosnters haven't got a chance to attack him yet, because he killed them first- but he knew they were going to attack because he has the power of Sight. You might want to edit your post on that))

((Okay diamondmist. Anyone else going to post anytime soon?))

((I think it's your turn now. ))