It's a Loverly Spring, Charlie Brown! [Open]

[Luxon Cobrat]

Nei hugged Naira back happily, the affection Neithird felt for the half-dragon Reaver overpowering Neizaia's unfamiliarity.

Entropy, though?

She looked a bit perplexed for a moment. A lot of conflicting memories presented themselves at once, and she wasn't sure which ones to go by.

"I haven't seen Entropy in... a while," she cautiously answered.

Longer than she realized, in fact. The two-year time jump Neithird had undergone had seemed like the blink of an eye to her, and she was only aware of the time after it had happened.

But then Neizaia remembered something else.

"Overlord Entropy? The felcaeri leader?" she asked. "She's in the Garado System, about to ambush the Cobratian 53rd Assault Fleet. But how would you know about--"

Suddenly, her eyes went wide with a mix of suspicion and self-directed anger, like she had just realized she was leaking a huge secret to an enemy spy.

Then she squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head fairly hard. Naira wasn't a spy. Nei knew her. She wasn't...

But it was all just too weird. This other life in this "Deep Forest," like... something out of a fairy tale. It all felt so real, but it was just too hard to believe. Neizaia must have gotten captured somehow. She was undergoing some kind of Cobratian mind probe. That was the only thing that made sense.

Naira was Nei's friend, though. Nei trusted her. And Deep Forest wasn't some made-up mind probe world, it was real! Nei knew it was!

To the outside observer, Nei's freakout would look like a rather confused and frightened stare into space.

"I... I'm sorry," she choked as she started to come out of it, wiping some moisture from her eyes. "I'm really... confused right now..."

Then she looked up at the unicorn, feeling like she should address his concern.

"Well, it's not always intentional," she said, starting to get her composure back. Maybe something's causing you to astrally project."

Of course, even as she said it, she realized she might not actually be helping him to feel any better. And maybe she could use a puzzle to focus on.

"Here, let me... see..." she mumbled, starting to move towards the tree and focus her mind on the unicorn's physical body. Then she caught herself, and realized it might be... rude not to ask first. "Um... I can... psychically scan you and see if I can find anything, if... that's okay with you."

[Gaeva Winged Unicorn]

"Where are you right now? In the portal, I mean. Do you see anything on your side?" Naira asked. It still took him a moment to realize what she was asking him. He turned to look at the nearest white swirl, the one he'd poked his head into in the hopes of finding out what they were, if they did anything, if they were indeed some kind of portal. Nothing had happened though, his head gone right through, and Naira had been on the other side.

"I'm not...from the portal," he said to her, "At least, I don't think I am. I'm, I'm right here." He glanced at the green blur he knew was the tree, "Well, I thought I was here, but I guess I'm not." Looking down at himself, "And I have no idea why I'm like this either," he mumbled, not meaning to speak loudly enough to be heard, but accidentally doing so anyway. "I had no idea these things were portals, it didn't seem to do anything when I tried to touch it." With a tilt of his nose he indicated the nearest white portal. He truly had no idea. And what he didn't mention, but did truly worry about, was that he had no idea how he'd wound up in this spot either. He just suddenly seemed to wake up, as if from a daydream, to realize he was standing in this land of death, without any idea as to how he'd gotten there.

Jahran was feeling sick with a sense of dread, or nerves, something that was upsetting his stomach. Combined with his still fast heartbeat he simply felt like heaving, but tried to counter it with deep breaths. Deep, deep breaths. He hadn't quite rejected the idea of this just being a very odd dream yet, though once others had showed up here and started talking to him, that theory started to lose credibility. Still, it was an option.

Nei's behavior didn't completely register, the black unicorn was a little too preoccupied with his own thoughts and slight panic as his attention had once more been caught by the distant tree. Still, a movement of hers caught his attention, and he tore his gaze back to her, just in time to see her face change to something that made his skin crawl.

"I'm really... confused right now..."

He shuddered. It was recognition, he felt pretty much the same way. For a split moment he wondered if she was also somewhere else, hanging from another symbolic tree. He quickly gave his head a shake to banish the silly thought.

Nei's eyes were lifted to his own then and he shivered at the eye contact. But he clung to her words, using them to draw himself out of the pit he was starting to feel himself fall into, a distraction as much for her as it was for him. Maybe something was causing him to astrally project, an ability he as far as he knew did not posses. Maybe. Who knew? Maybe it was true. But then, where was he projecting from? Where was he? ... Oh right... Jahran lifted his eyes to once more look back at the tree he had been successfully ignoring just now. From over there.

"Um... I can... psychically scan you and see if I can find anything, if... that's okay with you."

Jahran backed his ears at this, he didn't really know what she meant by scanning. He also didn't want to appear rude or untrusting though.

"Eh, sure, I'll just, eh, come along then?" Whatever she was going to do, he really wanted to keep an eye on it. And as he seemed to have trouble seeing very far for some odd reason, that meant coming with her. Suddenly the idea of coming closer to the colored figures hanging around the tree made Jahran shudder. What if they were dead? Dead bodies? His ears drooped at the idea. He didn't want to find out his family was dead. And he definitely didn't want to find out he was dead either. With a mix of dread and a need to find out Jahran slowly started to walk over the tree.

[Brandr]

Aianna finally relaxed fully, letting her feathered wings droop and fold neatly to her sides, her long legs also folding as she half sat, half crouched. Attor seemed to have calmed down and relaxed too so she no longer thought of the situation as dangerous. The smaller male seemed nice enough.

After her words of praise to Simi, Attor somehow seemed to grow into a fouler mood. Aianna frowned at his tone, huffing indignantly at his manners. At least he was nice enough to thank the little hippogryph, but he could've been a lot nicer doing so! Definitely not a way to impress her!

She watched the little hippogryph's confused distress and huffed angrily. Her crests folded and unfolded a couple of times in rapid succession, the membrane in between the spikes slapping loudly. A clear sign of irritation. She left the crests in a flared position, lifting her head to catch some wind in an attempt to distract her irritation. The little breeze she caught was not comforting, the air and the skies were behaving oddly too. Her frown deepened.

"Land in turmoil is not something to mess with, if there indeed is magick behind this there isn't much I can do. Normal land-upheavings pass with time but I'm not too sure of magick-based ones. It could be bothersome."

She watched as Simi neared the tree, preferring to stay a bit away from it, her mass could easily make the people gathered around it feel crowded. Instead, she settled on waiting where she sat, keeping her senses on the wind and the weather, completely ignoring Attor's existance in protest to his rudeness.

[Windra]

Ambushes? Fleets? Entropy? Naira somehow found herself doubting all of this, but the way Nei went on about it made the Reaver wonder if something hadn't happened to the succubus where she was out of reach. With teleportation no longer a lingering ability, Naira had no way of aiding her old ally. Worst yet was the look Nei threw off. Something about her eyes ... The Newman stiffened and clammed up. That ... was weird. She never knew Nei to be the rigid sort.

"How long ago did this happen?" Naira asked of her without much response except an apology and a declaration of confusion. On an ordinary day, this wouldn't make any sense. But realities were being altered ... Perhaps there was another version of Nei trying to surface and claim its 'rightful' place. Multiple Personality Disorders galore!

What a worrying thought, that. Scarlet was singing and chanting in the back of her head. Naira sorely hoped that Deep Forest wouldn't randomly decide to invert her, leaving the V-ACT 32 to run amock. She didn't even know if that would be possible, considering how her own species was not limited to one space-and-time-spectrum ... Reavers were exempt from time fluxes because they could bend to it at will. But how much of that universal rule mattered when all natural laws were being rewritten?

The ghostly Jahran agreed hesitantly to Nei's question of permission. Naira walked alongside them towards the tree, sighing. Maybe reconnecting the lost unisus to his half-sister's tree would rekindle a lost memory that would push them in the right direction of solving this whole mess. An annoying buzz of doubt would have to be ignored. It didn't take a whole lot of time for them to cross the barren landscape and catch up to Simi. Nightmare's looming form was only a hop-skip-and-a-jump away, its towering mast an eyesore in this already blighted scene.

"Maybe it's the tree?" she asked nobody. Pausing for a moment, she looked between the two Jahrans - one living and one, well ... not so much. "Doesn't, ah ... having two of the same being present in the same time and at the same place cause a paradox?"

Either way, she wasn't terribly comfortable with the situation and often brushed her hand against the scimitar's hilt as a way to ease her antsiness. It was a whole lot easier to solve a problem by cutting down a baddie. Too bad thins weren't so simple this time around.

--

OoC

Ack! You posted before meh!
Ah well, the next post I make with Attor is going to have to wait until tomorrow.

[Sky Lily]

"Maybe it's the tree?"

Simi hadn't even realized that the others were here until Naira's inquiry. She was a little startled by the sudden break in blurred white noise, but otherwise didn't react much more than to turn questioningly to the Soul-reaver and her friend. Oh... apparently this Jahran had followed them here? And it seemed as if they wanted to inspect his more limp body.

However, what Naira had asked about the tree suddenly made her stomach churn. There was indeed something very strange about it, if it remained so alive and vibrant while the surrounding vegetation wasn't nearly as lucky. Could it be the tree doing this, keeping the royal family... prisoners of a sort?

Oh.... oh, that'd be terrible. That couldn't be! How could a tree ever be evil?!

P-perhaps it was the thing keeping the family alive?

But that little thought of reassurance had arrived too late in her train of thoughts, and Simi was just about to ask of the tree herself when Naira spoke again.

"Doesn't, ah ... having two of the same being present in the same time and at the same place cause a paradox?" the Chimera said in response to Jahrans' split forms, one being his comatose shape at the tree and the other the... well... the... ghost--

No, not ghost. He couldn't be a ghost.

"I... I can't understand it, myself," she finally said as she shook her head, feeling rather lost and confused. "A-and w-why is this tree so strange? W-why is it alive when everything around it is dead? Y-you don't... really think..." ... Okay, that was it. Simi was tired of stuttering and being a stupid, stammering mess. She was going to force out a straight sentence if it was the last thing she did.

Clearing her throat, she repeated, more slowly, "You don't really think that the tree... could be hurting them...?"

There, one small accomplishment.

[Windra]

Attor wasn't dim-witted. He notice Aianna's protest: the flattening of her crests and the snort that showed annoyance. A deep rumble formed in his throat. The only thing to keep him from snapping at her was the chivalry he held close to his own heart. The dragon did well to keep his own nastiness from showing. There would be no proud display of wing-spreading for this female. The spines along his back would not quiver, begging for the release of venom to send the dragonette into allergic shock. But it was easy to tell that he was no longer content witht he situation presented with. Had it not been enough to grant Sim a show of gratitude, begrudging thought it might have been?

There was something of a buzz humming deep in his head. Somewhere within was that mirror-image, fighting tooth-and-claw for a way out. But Attor was stubborn and highly-resistant. He would fight the other-self from coming out, and he would keep it that way until he figured out just what in the blazes was going on.

" ... It could be bothersome."

Attor caught the trailing end of the feathered dragon's statement and snorted annoyance. "This whole Forest is bothersome," he mumbled ina grating tone, sluggishly lumbering his way to where the trees were still standing. He had no inclination of being here. How could he keep the Queen's egg safe when knee-deep in danger? Finding solace within the standing Forest was the only good thing he could think of. This wasn't his battle.

Only upon passing the first few trees did Attor stop to glance behind him. Red pupils settled on Simi's little form wandering away towards the big tree in the middle of that hell-hole, and he immediately felt a surge of regret that he could not - and would not - explain. Taken by the sensation of aching pain, the Yellow-Jacket Dragon voched to lay where he stood, carefully watching the group's antics from a relatively safe dstance.

[JunoZXV]

"Alright I think we FINALLY got the breaks finished. And-"

*Fwump*

"Didja hear that?"

"I taste that. It's like pure unrestrained... Joy."

There was a slight pause as the giddy feeling spread though out the ship. Things sempt more pleasant, relaxing. It was at this moment that Alex decided to pipe up and start talking-

"Juno, I never told you this, but I... love you man. You're great you really are- WHAT IS HAPPINING?"

"I...I think were being hit with a reality storm. Things are about to get really weird here."

"I know what you mean, If I had arms I would totally like a hug right no- OK KNOCK IT OFF! How come you're the one not being affected by this?"

"Because I'm grounded by the backpack."

"Can't you do anything about it? I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy inside, and as a demonic force of evil this is a very very good thing. Which of course is a very very bad thing for me."

"We'll have to go topside and try to eliminate the source of the pleasantry."

"Well could ja hurry? I really don't want to take an alignment penality for this. "

Juno climbed the ladder top side only to be midly surprised with two newcomers on the deck of his ship the angel initially appearing to be the source of the joy but then he looked straight up and at the portal above from where the two had landed.

"Yeah that'll do it."

It was a little hard for Juno to ignore a portal shooting rainbows and glitter all over his ship.

[Windra]

”You don’t really think that the tree … could be hurting them … ?” Simi stammered out. The hippogryph was in a strange place with strange people with strange things happening everywhere at any given time. Who could blame her for being freaked out?

Naira shrugged. ”I doubt hurting. I remember there being something about Gaeva being connected with the forest. Maybe the tree’s actually shielding them from something by locking them in that state.” You couldn’t help not liking the situation. ”I mean, despite everything that’s going on, not a hair on their manes have been harmed. Or at least that’s how it looks.”

Annnnd …

Craziness in 3 … 2 … 1 …

Somewhere in the sky was a giant ’CLUCK!’. A little white object fell from the heavens, landing roughly at Naira’s feet. This prompted some close inspection. An egg? How in the heck did it survive a fall like that without bursting into a hundred pieces, yolk scattered all over the ground? When the Reaver picked it up and turned it over, Naira received the answer in the form of a timer … counting down from 3 seconds.

She furrowed a brow. ”You’ve gotta be kidding m –“

BOOM!

The sudden explosion didn’t do any harm to those around her, unless you count being enveloped in clouds and dust deadly. As for the Reaver? Well … we’re relatively sure there wasn’t a chicken there before. There wasn’t one now at least, and that was only because it was propelled through the air with a loud, ”BUACKAW!”

The gray-and-red avian landed with a thud (a powerful word) on Nightmare, where it promptly began to run circles around them. ”Don’t kick the chicken!” It skidded to a halt next to Juno, ruffling its feathers and looking generally undignified. She got a good look at her body and huffed, ”This is just insulting … “

Good thing Juno had that backpack. Naira relished in its anti-anti-reality powers and poofed back to normal in no time at all. That didn’t rid her of the tickling sensation in her throat. A good smack to the back of the head cured that problem. Somewhat. Naira coughed, and a chicken came flying out. After that there was really nothing left to do but stare in dumbfounded awe as the perturbed poultry made its escape by flying awkwardly through the air, zipping above Silent –

DING!

- and dropping as a piping hot, freshly-roasted chicken. Right on the Leichter Wolf’s head.

Naira pointed, gawked, and finally sighed before jumping over Nightmare’s rails again.

This day can’t be over quick enough.

Just out of sight there was a slicing sound. And an, ”OH COME ON!”

She approached Simi, Nei, and Jahran with her tail between her legs – metaphorically – and her head under her arm – literally. The expression on her face was far from pleased. Good thing Reavers can heal. As she drew near, Naira plopped her head up on the stump between the shoulders and let the magick work as vessels and vertebrae reconnected.

”Where were bawk bawk!” Naira slapped herself across the face. The clucking stopped. "Where were we again?"

[Sky Lily]

OOC: That... was priceless. All of it. xD

BIC:

"I doubt hurting," Naira hadn't hesitated to say. "I remember there being something about Gaeva being connected with the forest. Maybe the tree’s actually shielding them from something by locking them in that state...

"I mean, despite everything that’s going on, not a hair on their manes have been harmed. Or at least that’s how it looks.”

"Y...yes, that's true, but..." Simi's eyes were shifting back and forth as she tried to make sense of the doubt in her mind.

.... Oh!

"But... we're just fine!" she blurted out with a swish of her tail, her voice not angry, but desperate to understand. "We've been awake this whole time. We haven't seen anything where sleep could have helped us at all, so why do they have to--"

Unless...

Simi's blood ran cold.

".... Unless something worse is coming..."

And it was just then that an egg fell out of the sky with a loud squawk. Quite unfitting, but great, great timing all the same!

"...You’ve gotta be kidding m –"

"Eeeeeeeeeep!"

The sudden explosion of dust in the air was like Simi's nightmares-come-true. The hippogryph was the first to duck and cover, pulling her fore-talons over her eyes as the aftermath clouds rolled over.

... It took several moments for her to realize that nothing was on fire.

Shakily, the shifter parted her "fingers" and opened her eyes to see not a scene of disaster, but a chicken squawking around with... Naira's voice?!

Oh... oh dear.

Thankfully, whatever had caused the change, it hadn't taken long for the poor Soul Reaver to turn back to her regular old self again. Eventually, a few more squawks and cries in the distance heralded Naira's return to the tree. At first glad to see her again, Simi paused as she realized that something seemed to be off with her-- HER HEAD WHAT HAPPENED TO HER HEAD?

Her mind was muddled with panic, confusion, and horror all at once. H-her head was sliced right off, that was instant death right there wasn't it? Then how was Naira still walking?! How was she still talking?! How the...

"Wh.... wha...... what now...?"

Her legs.... she couldn't feel them anymore.

Simi was just barely aware of herself swaying from one side to the other before collapsing onto the ground, legs scuffling underneath to bring her into an upright position. She hadn't fainted just yet.

Well, not quite, at least.

She rocked forward a few times, blinking rapidly at the sights before her as her blurred vision slowly began to clear, wondering just why everything was suddenly looking normal again. Naira's head was... just fine, sitting right between the shoulders as it should be. Everyone was in one piece. There wasn't a single chicken to be seen.

Was she seeing things?

".... I'm seeing things now," she finally croaked out, her voice shaky and petrified. She was going mad!

[Luxon Cobrat]

Nei took the ghostly unicorn's response as permission to do the scan, and proceeded to walk across the distance to where his physical body floated. She couldn't help but overhear all of the conversation going on around her, but she had to tune it all out and concentrate. Focusing her mind, she closed her eyes and reached out with her hand to touch the suspended body, reaching out with her mind to feel for any psychic energies she could find...

Boom!

Nei jumped with a start at the sudden noise and billowing cloud of white smoke. Immediately thinking that she had caused the explosion by trying to touch Jahran, she hastily staggered back to try and get away, but tripped over her heal and landed squarely on her rump.

Once the smoke cleared and she realized that she hadn't died, Nei glanced around sheepishly. Fortunately for her, the majority of the attention was probably somewhere else at the moment.

By the time Nei finished recovering from shock and reorienting herself, Naira was returning with her head tucked under her arm. This seemed to cause the small draconic creature nearby to become rather disconcerted, but it took a moment for Nei to realize the issue. Of course, living things weren't supposed to have their heads off, but Naira wasn't exactly alive, after all. She thought about explaining this, but... then reason caught up with her and she decided that might not be a good idea. At least the Reaver got her head back on without much fuss.

”Where were bawk bawk!”

"Bawk bawk?" Nei asked, just as Naira "corrected" herself. "Oh..."

She turned back to face Jahran's physical form again.

"Let's just get this started," she suggested quietly, to nobody in particular.

Closing her eyes again and reclaiming her concentration, she reached out once more to feel for any psychic or astral activity happening within the unicorn, searching for whatever she could find. If anything. It was always possible that whatever was happening would turn out to be something beyond her perception, or that his psychic energies might even simply resist her probing.

[Gaeva Winged Unicorn]

Jahran stuck close to Nei, staying right behind her so his head was above hers. It was an easy way to keep track of both her and their destination. Without realizing it however he held his breath as they came closer, his eyes widening as he couldn't deny he was really looking at his family, including himself. It was a very odd experience. Still walking over, tuning out what was being said around him, he looked at "himself". So is that what he looked like to others? Not usually around mirrors, nor around still, clear water, he hadn't really ever gotten a good look at himself. He was huge! He logically knew he was bigger than the rest of his family, but this was ridiculous!

Suddenly one of his ears flicked as his mind latched onto something being said by the small quadruped. "You don't really think that the tree... could be hurting them...?"

His breath left him in a rush as he whipped his head around to stare at her, shocked at the accusation against the tree, too shocked to form words. Instead Naira responded, and Jahran recollected himself, only now realizing he should take a new deep breath and just keep breathing again. He was about to return his attention to Nei, who by now was looking over his still form, when he felt compelled to add something to Naira's response and mumbled, "Aunt Gaeva isn't connected to this tree, my sister is." Suddenly he felt silly for no reason for having said this, as if it was his place to correct anyone while he was so clueless himself, and quickly turned his head back towards the tree to rejoin Nei, pretending he hadn't said anything, hopefully they hadn't heard.

The sound of the cluck tore his attention from Nei once more, but because of his position he never did spot the egg on the ground, nor see Naira pick it up as he looked in the opposite direction, still searching for the source of the sound. But he definitely noticed the boom that followed. Startled the large stallion reared halfway up, before regaining control of himself, half convinced that while he'd been trying to locate the source of the cluck, Nei had somehow blown up his physical body. A quick glance however told him otherwise, as the big black form was still hanging peacefully in the same spot, and Nei looked just as startled as he felt.

As his front hooves touched the ground again Jahran realized they were one short. Worried he looked around for Naira, "Where...?" Had they been attacked...? His ears flicked back in confusion, Jahran feeling more and more panicky, when his gaze fell on Simi, her swaying motion convincing him she had somehow been hit as well. Whatever had removed Naira must have hurt Simi as well! As shock started to set in however, he realized Simi was staring at something, and the transparant unicorn turned to look, fully expecting to discover their attacker. Instead he saw Naira, head under her arm. Reaching them she put it back on her shoulders.

Jahran had no idea how to process this. The option of this all being a dream was becoming more and more likely however. This thought calmed him down somewhat. "You just...you just...impossible..." was all he could utter as he stared at Naira. Needing to convince himself she was alright, even though she was looking just fine again, and except for an odd clucking coming from her mouth, seemed back to normal, he reached out with his nose with the intention of giving her head a gentle nudge. Just to see if it would stay on. Instead his nose went right through her. Blinking he jerked his head back. Maybe he could pretend that hadn't happened either. His transparent self had just passed through another being. That meant....he had no idea what that meant.

He opened his mouth to say something, when suddenly he felt a strange tingle go through him. He whipped his head back to Nei, he somehow knew it was her. Opening his mouth again to warn her of what he was feeling, he instead winked out of existence.

A small energy wave suddenly emanated from the tree towards the small group, and was just hard enough to nudge them all back.

[Windra]

"Wh .... wha ..... what now ... ?"

Oh dear.

Poor Simi looked about ready to faint. Naira paused for a moment to look at everybody else, wondering for a brief moment if something had happened in her short absence. Was tere a noxious gas making everybody sleepy? But there was nothing. Jahran definitely looked troubled, and Nei didn't seem upset about anything ... just intent on concentrating. Suddenly she knew why she was on the receiving end of so many odd looks. Being undead for so long, it was easy to forget how unsettled everybody could get when they witnessed you getting ripped to shreds, then get right back up again ... Naira grinned sheepishly whilst rubbing the back of her neck.

Simi's collapse prompted the Reaver to jump forward a couple of paces, suddenly terrified that she'd caused the hippogryph to have a heart attack. Maybe not, but certainly close to syncope. " ..... I'm seeing things now," Simi uttered shakily, obviously terrified.

"You're perfectly sane ... ," Naira tried explaining to the best of her abilities. Queasy ones were the worst. As funny as it was sometimes to see a person pass out from the sudden reveal, it made it that much harder to be honest without them freaking out. "I just, uh, don't die." After careful consideration, she added, "Not that easily, anyways. Stuff like this happens to me all the time, especially when Terry's ar - "

"You just ... you just ... impossible ..."

Naira didn't notice Jahran move closer until he was right in front of her. Concern lit up his eyes like a torch. He drew his muzzle close, aiming for her shoulder. Was he trying to nudge at her? If he was, the attempt was entirely unsuccesful ... and alarming for the Reaver at least. Ethereal beings like herself and Reapers could make physical contact with ghosts. The fact that Jahran was unable to do so meant that he wasn't, in fact ... dead. So maybe he really is astrally projecting. It was a bitter thought because it didn't answer anything, but at least there was comfort in knowing that the unicorns were definitely alive. Just not there in a sense.

Suddenly the unisus jerked his head back until his eyes were on par with Nei, still intent on her scanning. Jahran's jaw dropped open, throat tensing like he was about to shout something .. but before a sound could come out, he was gone. Just like that. Vanished.

"Jahran?" That came as a shock, but not one so debilitating. "Nei!" Naira called out, hoping the Newman would hear her beyond her own thoughts. Gaeva's young newphew had been ready to call out, hadn't he? Maybe not ... maybe it was a reflex to the scanning ... but either way, it was definitely worth noting. "Nei, come back!"

If Naira didn't get attention, what happened next was sure to. She felt something push against her. It was pushing against all of them, forcibly shoving them backwards with just enough strength, but not so much that it would send them flying. Trying to firmly plant herself in the ground didn't do anything to stall it. Alabaster claws raked through the dry topsoil, leaving deep grooves. When the sensation vanished they were left significantly further from where they had been.

"Something really doesn't want us getting close," Naira mumbled. She used a moment to take in the condition of everyone else, pausing when she looked at Simi. The hippogryph hadn't fainted before. She was worried this sudden event may have pushed her to do just that. "Are you okay?"

[Barbannis]

His eyes peered across as the others made their way, he had come to a stop, not far now, at least in small walking distance from the tree itself. His sights caught on the aparation that moved along with Naira and the others, not knowing the one himself, but knowing of him. Name escaping his thoughts. The Tyrai wolf stood quiet, almost feeling something collecting on the wind, the air still mixed with energy that confused him. He turned his gaze back to the tree as they closed in, waiting for them, his sword still slung over his shoulder quite casually.

It was only when the aparation of Jahran suddenly vanished in the blink of an eye that caught his attention back, his sights turned, boot dropping down from the small crest in the stone under his foot. He dropped down and slowly began to approach the others from where he stood.

Eyes flicked to the energy barrier that pulsed from the tree itself. He turned to meet it, crossing one arm over the other with his blade in front. It wasn't hard, didn't send his form into the air, but simply pushed him back, feet grinding into the hard ground as he tried to forcefully take a grip of the earth.

Within moments it was gone, but he, as the same as the others, had been pushed away from the nexus of the crater. The knights arms lowered, snuffling the air lightly as his tail flicked, brushing his arms, still feeling a sensation of energy riddling his form,

"Agreed" he added to Naira's words as he approached, slowly sliding his sword back into its place, eyes flickering lightly as he came to a pause, looking amongst the others that had joined in.. recongnizing Nei from the battlefront in the wastes. His armor was covered in the dust of the crater by now, silver mostly darkened and dim, ear flicking to the side as his sights returned to Naira, "But what happened?"

[Sky Lily]

"You're perfectly sane ..." the Chimera began to reassure her with what could have been a slightly humored tone of voice. "I just, uh, don't die."

She was still feeling queasy, and her headache was acting up again, but all the same, Naira's coaxing was gradually pulling Simi back to her senses. Her mind was still reeling over the fact that Naira had momentarily lost her head, however. And was still alive. But somehow that thought made Simi feel guilty, as if just feeling disturbed over that was akin to wishing that the soul reaver had died, which she didn't want at all!

So Simi just nodded, and tried to smile. "Th... that's good to know, at least... I just wish I'd known before," she said with a few nervous laughs.

"Not that easily, anyways. Stuff like this happens to me all the time, especially when Terry's ar - "

"You just ... you just ... impossible ..."

Naira was interrupted when Gaeva's nephew approached her, and Simi was a little glad to know that she hadn't been the only one taken by surprise with the Soul Reaver's undead performance. The big unicorn tried to touch his muzzle to Naira's shoulder, but the attempt was in vain. He'd gone right through.

This wasn't nearly as disturbing as Naira losing her head, but it was disconcerting all the same. Simi was reminded of the dire situation they were all in, with Deep Forest in turmoil and their leaders trapped in a slumber from which they could not wake. And, well... this. Why was Jahran like this, anyway? He clearly wasn't dead, so... if he wasn't a ghost...

What was he, really?

So immersed was she in her train of thoughts and ponderings that when Jahran jerked backward, she was nearly jumped out of her feathers. Simi looked up and opened her beak, about to directly address the pegacorn for the first time, to ignore her shyness and ask if everything was alright, when...

He vanished!

Simi's jaw paused in mid-word and simply dropped, as if she'd been planning it that way. "Wait, w-where did..." she turned to glance helplessly at Naira, who seemed anxious about something else.

Or rather, someone else. "Nei! Nei, come back!" she called out to the other humanoid who had remained at the tree.

Oh... oh no! Was something dangerous behind them? That girl, she could be in danger!

Simi shifted her legs underneath her, preparing to stand and possibly help Naira help this 'Nei' escape the grasp of whatever was approaching, but was shocked into stillness when something... shoved at her rump.

The hippogryph could only stare straight ahead with perked ears and perplexed alarm as she was pushed forward through the dirt, trying to make sense of this new and strange phenomenon, but just as quickly the force had come, it had vanished. She blinked rapidly as she looked around, trying to... well... make sense of what just happened.

What... did just happen, exactly?

"Something really doesn't want us getting close," Naira said quietly as if to answer her thoughts, and Simi glanced back behind her worriedly. Things only seemed to be getting worse; even if they could have possibly found out what was keeping the royal family like this, now the tree wouldn't even let them near enough to try!

What were they going to do now...?

"Are you okay?"

Once again, Naira proved to be a lifesaver of sorts, yanking Simi from the gut-gnawing worrying she had a tendency to dwell on too much. "O-oh, m... me? I'm... fine, actually... I think..." She slowly stood on all fours again, shaking her neck-feathers as well as her wings.

"J-... just fine," she reassured, and she realized then just how nice it felt for someone to be concerned about her. "But what about you? And everyone else?" Simi added as she turned to look behind her.

"Wh-what just... happened? He just disappeared and then... this? Why would the tree..." she sighed worriedly, briefly touching her wing wrist to her forehead.

"We're just trying to help... if only... w-well..."

This was going to sound silly, but she wanted to say it anyway. She was growing frustrated.

"If only there was a way we could talk to that tree!"

... It then occurred to Simi that someone had approached Naira in the midst of her ramblings. Right, he seemed to be someone of pretty big importance...

She decided to stay quiet again.

[The_Vizir]

Beyond the perceptions of all the mortals gathered around the prison, it hunted. Unseen, unheard, unknowable, it wove its way through the fractured world with inhuman deftness, conscious of little except its goal.

The intelligence was old, and it was vengeful. It had been wrought in another age by an angry race who wished to see the worlds of their enemies burn. With a single cold thought, entire civilizations could be extinguished leaving but their final screams echoing in the wind.

It had been forged in darkness and brilliant fire, and given one purpose - to bring dread to its enemies. Though its creators were long gone, it continued to perform its original mission, twisted towards its own unknowable ends.

The vast intelligence reached its mind, grasping through the shattered reality, hunting a suitable vessel.

Its search did not go unanswered.

And then the intelligence was. Incarnated in the world of Deep Forest, to bring drown its merciless fury upon the world.

With a single thought, the incomprehensible mind set reality and unreality crashing together. Destruction - an immeasurable burst of energy rippled out from the point, and an inhuman choir sung its praises. Shrill whistles, hums that formed without lips, screeches and groans from those without mouths and throats.

A horrible roar was heard as the laws of physics cried out in protest and were silenced. The temporal vessel ripped itself from the blasted ground as the earth itself rejected it. It rose in defiance of gravity, horrible and ominous - a body designed only for death.

At its heart, colours formed out of space as the essence of light was turned back upon itself. For it knew the secrets of light, and even light bows before those that know its ancient ways.

The intelligence's cold body moved slowly through the trees, burning the air and leaving a foul smell in its wake - the smell of a thunderstorm, of the oncoming, inescapable fury of nature.

Trees groaned and cracked beneath it, bowing away from the unstoppable thing. It knew where it had to go - the source of this reality's madness. It knew what it had to control.

The prison.

To those in the prison, locked up in the chaotic happenings, its approach would have barely been noticeable - a rumbling of thunder of the wind. But the sound did not warn of the intelligence's coming... no, it signaled its arrival. The alien mind moved faster than its angry cry...

And when it arrived, well... nobody could have ignored that. Where there was nothing before, above the trees, there it was. Wind and sound exploded outwards in a furious blast... it was here.

Its mark was instantly on each of those who found themselves in the blasted crater - a mark of red upon their chests.

Then came a sound. A horrible, screeching metallic sound as the intelligence readied its alien fire to rain down on those bearing its mark. A sound that was wholly unlike that of a cocking shotgun, but carried the exact same meaning...

"JUNO! WHAT THE FODDING HELLS DID YOU DO!"

The voice crackled forth from the loudspeaker of the Typhoon, its missiles locked onto each of the targets in the prison.

Norad was angry today...

[JunoZXV]

"You hear that?"

"I feel that. Get below the decks! NOW! That goes for all of ye! If you want to live, stay on the ship. Otherwise get off!"

Juno ducked below to the harder workings of his ship, sitting down at his captains desk and went about working the levers and gizmos as the BOOM proceeded the noise of reality crashing upon itself. Juno took off his backpack plugging it into his chair. as the aftershock rolled and hit his ship, causing it to tilt against the ground it was nestled in.

All hands on deck! Prepare for port side heavy manuevers!

There were a few clicks and clanks and then...

The jets fired up and the ship pitched back upright, this time hovering and heading straight up.

"JUNO! WHAT THE FODDING HELLS DID YOU DO!"

"Tell me what you think I did first! I can't answer the cause is without a definition of the res- oh right no intercom in this thing. Guy can't get a response even if he wanted to- PLAN Z."

Juno had considered his options since talking to the angry AI wasn't a viable option.
1. Blow up the missles on norad - No go. Norad's ship was hot and armed. blowing him up would kill every living thing in a 6 mile radius.

Or

2. Talk norad out of it. - Because that went SO well in the past.

Then he remembered the giggling portal.

The jets kicked harder as Juno pressed few more codes. Then fired up the pack.

A beam of light arched from the top of the ship shooting from the crows nest into the portal of sunshine and giggles where it flickered a few times and changed location. Revealing... a stone caved ceiling.

Juno, do you have any idea where you're going?

"It's a guess I've been working on. Just deal with it."

And up the Nightmare went, plunging into the portal topside, the very stabilization of it colapsing the portal behind it. Making the ship disappear, without a trace.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"So where are we?"

"The city under the forest, well what was. There's a huge explination for this gamble. And since I think we're safe I might have enough time to talk. Remember the map?"

"The one that you showed Naira and that wolf-thing?"

"Yeah, they all centered around that tree. But I realized that in actual observation and closing they were in a domed pattern and it was sunken into the ground. So, I realized that they were all angled to one central location. UNDER the tree. And that's were we are now. Give or take 500 feet. Problem is that were now at what's going to be ground zero in a matter of hours."

"So what's the plan?"

"Try and find the dohicky that's causing this and shut it off. Either with this-" Juno pointed to the backpack. "Or this." Juno pointed to his fists.

"I believe that if we hit the spell that's causing this with enough condensed reality, it should nulify the effects and shut off all the reality rips."

[Sky Lily]

... If Simi had thought she might finally, finally have the chance to take some deep breaths and treasure just a few moments void of heart-stopping excitement...

... That hope was dashed.

Something had brought itself upon them, and she wasn't sure what, but the swirling wind and thunderous noise and the menacing metal before them screamed danger, and the hippogryph sprang up, rearing as she fanned her wings and screeched both in terror and warning. Blue fire burst forth from her feathers, flaring wildy as the wind ruffled her plumage.

W-what was this?! What was this new monster?!

It was shining thin beams of red onto everyone around it, including her, as if marking them for death-- the thought made her choke and bring herself back on all fours in a half-crouch-- and there was this terrible, ear-splitting noise...

And then a voice...

"JUNO! WHAT THE FODDING HELLS DID YOU DO!"

Simi was not familiar with technology. She did not know of laser-beams. She did not know of missiles, or war machines or AI.

But she did know what it was to be aimed at.

It didn't matter that these were lights and metal-things instead of bows and arrows. She knew.

And Simi suddenly felt very helpless and subdued under Norad's fearsome presence.

Her beak clacked and quivered as the four legs beneath her began to tremble. For the first time today, she was seeing not an enemy, but something greater, and her eyes were wide with terror as she realized more and more that their lives depended soley on the newcomer's mercy.

Oh Juno, say the right thing, please...!

Juno's ship had begun to lift itself again, rising to meet the one who had called it...

... Only to disappear through the nearby portal.

.... Oh no.

Oh no.

[Windra]

There was no mistaking that whirring, technological monstrosity lingering in the air above them, presenting itself with an air of danger Naira hadn’t felt since the Hivemind’s presence in Lost Fields. Norad. A very, very angry Norad. Okay … so maybe the lasers pointed at them weren’t that surprising. She was pretty sure the airship was still pissed at her – and Juno, as it were – for past events. What came off as alarming was the fact that he wasn’t just aiming at them. Simi had one pinned on her. Barbannis, Nei, Aianna too … The only one who seemed to avoid being targeted was Attor, his thick and burly form hidden in dense shrubbery just out of their line of sight.

In fact, all the noise and confusion caught the dragon’s attention and her veered his vision upwards at the strange machination. Now he was unfamiliar with advanced technologies, and those red beams were strange, granting an ill-feeling in his gut. But Attor was well enough acquainted with wasps to know that that … thing was marking those in the prison. Just like the first yellow-jacket that stings, injecting a pheromone to attract others of its kind to attack … He rose onto all-fours, stinging with pain, uttering a low growl. Slowly, Attor pulled the satchel from around his neck and placed it on the ground, covering it with a dense layer of leaves and grasses.

Norad boomed out an accusation that caused Naira to glance quickly at the Nightmare. What did Juno have to do with any of this? She was relatively certain that this whole event was being pushed into motion by something within the Forest, not the pirate. Next to Simi, she muttered, ”That would be Norad. He’s an airship, controlled by a holographic captain. Erm … “ Stopping to stare at the hippogryph, she realized this might not be making any sense and tried to simplify everything. ”Basically a flying ship that’s controlled by a man that isn’t really a man. Either way, he’s generally a do-gooder. Irritable, but benevolent at heart.” That didn’t explain why he was targeting them all. Especially the innocents … And honestly, she couldn’t answer it herself. By this time Juno had shouted out his warning. ”We’d better go,” she said in a voice loud enough for everybody to hear, and proceeded to make a beeline for the ship.

Only upon noticing her footsteps were alone did Naira come screeching to a halt. Simi was frozen in place. Not by magick, but pure fear.

”Simi, c’mon!”

That didn’t work. She still didn’t budge. And Juno wasn’t waiting. The clicking and grinding of gears told her that Nightmare was on the move. Up, up … and by the time she looked, away. Its massive form vanished into the black hole swirling above it. Once the ship was through, the portal’s very essence gave in on itself and vanished into nothing, leaving not a trace that it had ever been there in the first place.

That was great. Just great.

Naira was quick on her feet, quickly rejoining Simi … but this time taking up a position in front of her as a sort of human shield. Gloved hands balled together as she worked up whatever energy she could, forcing air to form between clasped fingertips. Gradually, but fast, a sphere of turbulent wind pushed her palms apart. It grew roughly to the size of a basketball and floated there, not doing much else but kick up a small breeze about their huddled masses.

If Aianna and Klinge still lingered in the area, she called out to them. ”Get over here!” she yelled, voice barely making it over Norad’s loud engine. If the airship meant business – and judging from the lasers, this was surely the case – then there would be no survival and no mercy when he finally decided to unleash his assault. Perhaps he could be talked down? That … hadn’t worked so well in the past, but who knew how much had changed in these past dozen or so months … ”Norad, these guys had nothing to do with any of this!” She couldn’t wave a hand to include all those behind her due to the swirling mass of air magick currently circulating between her fingers, but Naira hoped the airship would know who she was talking about. ”Why would you fire at them?”

She braced herself for some sort of bruising remark. Because of course it would be a Norad thing to make you feel like crap for an impulsive and hastily-made personal decision years ago. Not that she regretted it. If presented with the same situation now, her actions would be the same as they were then. But she really had hoped the outcome would have been less ‘you’re my enemy now and I’ll kill you too grr!’ and more ‘alright, let’s figure this crap out together and stop trying to blow each other up’. It was never fun trying to remain on the fence despite everything. But damn it, at least she had tried!

But who could blame him for being downright infuriated? His children had suffered for past situations. It didn’t make sense that he would take his frustrations out on the innocents gathered in the area, though. That wasn’t something he would do –

Wait. That wasn’t something he would do.

Was that really Norad controlling his own actions? With all the chaos running rampant around them, Naira was eager to accept whatever theory she could think of. Had the airship been jacked by a virus? Had he short-circuited?

Her mind proposed that they should scatter and seek refuge in a place where Norad would not be able to reach them. The inn would not be the safest location, but the caves carving out the mountain behind it could be used as makeshift bunkers. Another even stranger perception wondered on why the airship had picked the prison in particular, raising the notion that perhaps he was set on somehow destroying the tree ... and that they should remain to protect it, just in case things went awry.

Because it was Deep Forest. And things went awry all the time here.

”I hope some of you know how to work up a barrier,” Naira said to Simi and the others (if they hadn’t gotten on the ship in time). Right now was a waiting game. When the first move was made, she could either cast the wind to form a shield … or twist it into a loose tornado. Whichever the situation called for. Harming Norad was something she didn't even want to consider (in the past, threats were verbal and not action-y). But if their hands were forced and they had no choice ... what else could they do?

Just out of vision, Attor was flexing his wings despite the bruises. He was waiting, too. But his plan of action was a little different.

[Sky Lily]

"That would be Norad," Naira had said, attaching a name to the terror. "He’s an airship, controlled by a holographic captain. Erm …"

"A-a-a Hollow Grafic what?!" Did that mean his soul was a hollow space, or something?!

"... Basically a flying ship that’s controlled by a man that isn’t really a man. Either way, he’s generally a do-gooder. Irritable, but benevolent at heart.”

"M... man... Man!" Simi's eyes widened at the knowledge. Of course, it would be man! It was man who had nearly wiped out her kind, destroyed her old forest...

...It would be man shining red upon them, now.

Benevolent at heart? The shiftergryph was inclined to believe otherwise. For all she knew, Norad could be here to wreak the destruction his kind so craved, and to finish what Simi's hunters had started.

"We'd better go!"
_____________________________

The ship in front of her was gone, and in its place the memories of a dying forest. She remembered how voices cursed with anger from the distance when their hounds could only stare at the unicorns in awe...

....and was the sound of engines so different?

She remembered how arrows whizzed through the air to do what the dogs could not. How spears were thrown into her brethren, dull thuds as bodies fell...

... could this red light be so different?

___________________________________
”Simi, c’mon!”
___________________________________

... How thickets were set on fire, driving old and young from their havens. How unicorns writhed into birds in mid leap, a mad dash to escape the onslaughts, only for half to fall from the skies. How all around, Shifters died with last, painful gasps of despair when they realized they'd failed to protect the forest...

And then the little forest creatures were gone...

The forest was only ashes...

The keepers lay where they'd fallen, their horns robbed.

All because of man.

It was going to happen again...

Death was going to happen again... all because of Norad.

... And this time, not just with unicorns.

Not just with unicorns...

And then suddenly, it wasn't unicorns lying on the ground. It was Aianna. It was Attor. It was Gaeva's family and Klinge, Lyrial, those with her in the Prison...

But my friends...

My friends...?

N-..no... That can't happen...

No!


_______________________
”Get over here!”
_______________________

Simi had been far too lost within her waking nightmare that the call from the real world was like a jolt of pure sound. Her eyes blinked rapidly as her heart raced and she heaved and willed herself to breathe, fighting against her locked limbs to try and pull herself from her frozen terror, to shift and turn despite the red dot steadily targeting her collarbone.

She needed to move, and she need to move fast. No matter what Naira said, Norad was no benevolent soul. She could see it in his churning machinery, in the glare of his red lines pin-pointing everyone around his ship. He was going to destroy Deep Forest before they could even have a chance to save it from itself, and then he was going to kill them all.

She needed to do something... she needed to do something! Before Gaeva's family was lost, before Attor and Aianna were hurt, before Naira, who was standing before her protectively, died for a stupid and cowardly hippogryph.

She had been shouting to her all along, hadn't she? Telling her to get onto Juno's ship before it disappeared... and then when Simi hadn't listened, when she'd been frozen in her frightening memories... Naira had stayed.

She owed it to her to move!

”Norad, these guys had nothing to do with any of this! Why would you fire at them?” the Soul Reaver now tried to reason with the man, and Simi finally found that she could lift her legs. She stumbled and swayed behind Naira, slowly but surely pulling her legs under her own command again.

"I hope some of you know how to work up a barrier,” Naira then called out above the whirrs of technology to whoever might still be with her, and Simi's ears went back as she opened her mouth and tried to speak.

She cursed herself, for she had no such power to lend the chimera.

But she had something else, and as long as it meant that the nightmarish vision in her mind wouldn't come true, she was willing to do it.

"I can... I can..." Simi started, taking one shaky step forward as she spread out her wings, wondering if she could use them to shield Naira while the soul reaver conjured her magic. "I can fly, Naira! I-I'm smaller than the dragons, a-and maybe... I can distract him!"

It was a rough and maybe even stupid idea, but experience told Simi that large, burly predators did not catch the small and fleet so easily. Maybe... maybe she could do this?

OOC: I hope she's not coming off as some drama overload ^^' Were it any of my other characters it wouldn't have been so bad.

[The_Vizir]

"JUNO!" Norad's voice roared over the speakers, cracking over the cacophony of the fighter jet's engines. "STOP YOUR TOMFOOLERY AT ONCE AND MAYBE NOBODY ELSE HERE WILL BE-"

But the blasted cat wasn't listening - he never did. Not that Norad was expecting him to, no... a set of cluster missiles rotated into place, primed and locked on the primordial being's infernal ship.

The jets of Juno's ship roared to life, and an arc of light blasted forth, striking one of the floating portals. Fod Norad swore inwardly, and immediately a stream of fire rocketed forward from the twin missile batteries of the Typhoon, screaming towards Juno's ship

- to be detonated mid-flight by a burst of wind, shrapnel blowing back away from tree at the crater's centre, and the many beings clustered around it.

"NO NO NO!" Norad shouted - his voice mixed fear and rage, as another set of missiles streaked forth. Too late... they ripped through the space that had seconds before been occupied by the portal Juno had rerouted, and sailed on to the far side of the crater, blasting up streams of dirt and ash as they exploded far from their intended targets. A wordless noise of anger, frustration, and defeat sounded from the fighter's speakers, as Norad's holographic self fell upon the controls - he had lost. Once again, he'd lost - he hadn't been fast enough, he hadn't been smart enough, he hadn't been good enough. The cat had won, and now other worlds would share Earth's fate.

A voice broke through Norad's self-loathing. Her.

The artificial intelligence quickly reassessed its priorities. Juno had escaped... but maybe they could seal up Deep Forest for a while so he couldn't come back. Juno had shattered the reality, Norad... would fix it.

"It's called security, Ashowan," Norad's voice snarled over the speakers. "I know ya could teleport right up here and destroy this ship, then teleport to my core and shut me offline before I could realign my guns. But ya couldn't save everyone here, could ya?"

A long sigh "Civilian casualties are a tragic outcome of a war, but they ain't necessary. So this is for my safety here, 'cause I ain't the slightest clue how many folks here y'done brainwashed to help Juno get control of the forest here...." He quickly performed a scan of those present - most he didn't know, but two - "Prince Klinge, well thank the heavens! I do hope by ya bein' here, an' the fact that Entropy ain't anywhere ta be seen done means that she's headin' back to my carapace with my kids and everyone else. Well, I hope she brought a boat... Juno somehow made the area around me into a great big salt lake. Rustin' away a lot of my lower decks... and he's reprogrammed all my nanobots so they won't listen to me anymore. So gonna need some major repairs once we fix this..."

His attention then turned to someone he hadn't seen in... well, seemed like ages "And Neithird! Long time, girl! No surprise findin' ya with Naira - Entropy was lookin' for ya for ages here... she'll be glad to hear your back - but I gotta warn ya, this ain't the half-dragon you're used to..."

The red dots that had been targeted on Nei and Klinge re-positioned themselves ontop of Naira. "She's been corrupted by Juno, somehow. She's supposed to be the protector of Earth. And yet she sat back as Juno conquered it, turning it into a police state with himself as its head - and putting a bounty on me. Why? Because Juno flashed his eyelashes at her or somethin'. And now, Juno's broken Deep Forest here to access all it's gooey-portal goodness to bring that same tyranny to all your worlds. Good job everyone - good going. You just let the tyrant get away so he can continue on his quest of multiversal domination..."

Norad's bitter voice took a dangerous edge "Anyone who wants to take the first swing at the traitor bitch, go right ahead. I won't stop ya."