Hope or Doom

[Voice of Deep Forest]

The only thing that betrayed the seemingly returned calmness to this destroyed area was a distant groaning, which could easily be mistaken for the sound of distant trees and branches moving in the wind. It was the also the only sound not being made by the ones walking about, making it even easier to overlook it, or overhear it in this case. But it was still there, a soft groaning moan, the sound usually made by trees and wooden structures no longer securely footed to the ground. This provided the background music for the conversation, threats and exclamations made.

Until suddenly, without warning, even this stopped. And before anyone would be able to do much more than look up and notice the absence of this hardly noticeable sound in the first place, the whole place erupted once more with a loud, deafening roar that did not die down when the bodies and debris hit the ground again…

Nor did it stop when without warning select areas seemed to erupt like miniature volcanoes or geysers, shooting up bright, thick, liquids not unlike lava, and spilling them in the formed craters and crevices all around the devastated area, creating miniature little rivers of this orangy, flowing substance. Any close to it would feel a warmth emanating from the thick liquid, but not enough as normally associated with actual lava. Any foolish enough to touch it, or not move out of it’s flow fast enough would learn that it was indeed warm to the touch, not hot at all, but also acidic in nature and able to eat through any object and texture exposed to it for more than a moment or two.

Only as the thick liquids stop shooting up from the earth and only bubble up from their respective sources does the deafening roar slowly quiet down, until eventually the only sounds left are those made by the ones present, and the occasional bursting bubble from the orangy substance now slowly flowing along various paths around the area. But that was not all. Though the environment seemed to settle down once more, looking more like an ominous warzone than it did before, the tree that had been spared still stood where it had before, apparently completely unaffected safe for a green leaf or so floating down, disturbed from their branches. Below the tree however a change was taking place simultaneously as the roar was dying down: the four bodies of the unconscious unicorns were floating upwards, and most definitely not through their own wingpower as said limbs hung uselessly by their sides. Up they went, and as the noise went silent at last, the unicorns stopped their ascend upwards to a height that would still be in reach of the average human being. Silently and unmoving the four unicorns hang limply in a circle around the last remaining tree in this completely destroyed area.

A heartbeat later a last surprise erupts all around the area in the form of swirling white energy, coming into existence at a few locations scattered about the entire destroyed area. With a soft whooshing sound each collection of white energy swirls into being, until they reach the form of an oval the size of a human being’s height. At this state they stop growing and changing shape, and simply slowly rotate their twirling white energy at a lazy pace.

Silence reigns once more, but an uncomfortable sense of foreboding can not be ignored by any still in the vicinity...

[forgerofsouls]

Lyrial's ears were not decoration, though no where near as good as others that were nearby perhaps, but still better than most. Thus when the noise level dropped Lyrial did show a little concern for the surrounding area. But before she could do anything, the noise that followed it surprised her. Looking around she watched as things just...exploded. Even when a geyser of the orange liquid suddenly erupted near her and sprayed her with the strange warm fluid, even then she still did not react. She surveyed the damage caused by the liquid to the few things laying on the ground that would dissolve to acidic materials. Her protective spell though was in place and no harm came to her, though she brushed off the liquid quickly.

Than the unicorns started to move. At first Lyrial thought they were waking up, but, instead, they floated into the air. Her protective spell was still in place though, so no harm was coming to the unicorns. Her healing spell had long ago finished up its job, any injuries still left would be minor injuries. Lyrial could feel in her bones that soon, very soon, things would be making sense.

Than, the white swirly thing appeared. Now, this she found interesting. "Oh! Whats that? Hm...don't recognize it from my books. I know, maybe I should capture it! Than I can study it later!" She said grinning. Than she started to walk towards it, but stopped after only a few steps. She wondered...did the air feel a little...foreboding? If that was even possible she wondered.

[Luxon Cobrat]

Rekka wasn't as worried about Lyrial's taunts as she might have thought. If she had the same teleportation and shape-shifting abilities that he did, she should have realized their danger. That she would brush them off as "parlor tricks" showed her to be a fool. At any other time, he would have tested her claims of power, but for now he had his curiosity about the disturbances to satisfy. Despite Lyrial's unimposing form and loud mouth, she might have turned out to be strong enough to be a problem, and the incubus didn't need any distractions. He would let her be. For now.

However, the demon did disappear one more time. Zom, underestimating his patience, looked for him to appear behind Lyrial and take a stab at her. But when he did return a few moments later, he was back under the tree again. His sword, however, was out and dripping blood. Before anyone else would have noticed, he stabbed it into the ground and pulled it back up clean, then returned it to its sheath.

Zom only looked at him quietly, clenching her fist a bit. It was pointless, but something sentient wouldn't be going home today. Lyrial couldn't have known what kind of spiteful brute she had been taunting, but there had been a price paid for it all the same.

Then Hell broke out one more time. Zom spun to face Lyrial, thinking that maybe she had noticed what Rekka had done after all even though she had been reciting the pirate's name at the time. But the destruction bursting forth was too severe and too reckless for that. Zom then rushed to join Rekka under the tree, as that was the only place that seemed somehow safe. Being blasted by one of the explosions wouldn't have finished the vampire, but it could have taken a while to recover from.

Once that all died down, the landscape had become decidedly more hellish than it had already been. Zom halfway expected to see a Final Boss hovering over her at this point, but that at least wasn't the case. Unless she wanted to consider the unicorns to be Final Bosses, anyway. And they didn't appear to be conscious at the moment, so that disqualified them.

The swirls of energy grabbed her attention as well, and she strolled up closer to one as Rekka teleported there. They seemed to be... just the right size and shape for someone to step through. She thought about that, but it was risky.

At this point, she gave Rekka the evil eye for fighting with the only full magic user present.

"This is becoming a rather noisy place," Rekka shrugged. "I wonder where our fearless Overlord is?"

[Myth]

"What the?!..." Growled Grimyth, in response to both the world-eater's previose Shout interrupting Grymyth's playful banter with Juno. Yet as soon as he turned his head, the Groaning and Vibrations shot up his claws by the sudden changed of the land he stood on, his ears soon flattened to the side of his head, trying his best to keep his ear drums intact from the loud sounds.

The old wolf still with in him reacted with a expression of shock from the event, but as soon as the his hell given eyes took in what was happening his mind shaped back, as he chuckled maniacally at the sight. Feeling almost giddy with the strong power of destruction sending his senses wild. He stopped his laughter when the odd sight of the unicorns began to rise followed by the sight of swirling white energy, unsure what was the cause of this magic, taking a few steps out of the way of the unusual liquid that had emerged from the ground.

not taking any more chances in the earth realm, he vanished, stepping into the shadow realm for safety. Here the swirling white energy still could be seen, but kept the dog from harming any of the physical contact with the outside world. He still searched through the land, wanting to find the grater evil that had unset the balance of this aria.

"come out, come out where ever you are..." he mentaly spoke into, hoping to connect telepathically to the source.
"Lord grimyth is please to sever such a master of evil!"

[JunoZXV]

"Just call me 'Juno' It's shorter and most of the locals do." Was Juno's reply to Lyrial, before the place went topsy turvy.

Following suit with the land and noise he was thrown about and down into the ground as the place rumbled and shook, and then... burbling and some semblance of quiet. Glancing upward he decided to get up and take a look.

"Oh hey, look. unnatural materialization of an unknown liquid in area, after loads of fanfaire." Juno replied as his own ears folded backwards from the noise. He then noticed the white spire's forming, to which he eyed up and down for a little while.

"Among other things, and..."

Suddenly a light went off in the back of his head. "Oh Wait I know you two! Or one. He vanished. Hey Lyrial! You're... You're distracted. Don't let me bother you then. I'll just be over here... messing around."

And by messing around... Juno could finally have some better semblance of physical description as to what he was wearing. IN this case his black bodysuit with red cybernetic detailing laced throughout. He tapped his collar twice, forming a thick black aerodynamic helmet over his cranium as he muttered to himself.

"I was hoping to test this in more... optimum conditions but hey no time like the present." He then shifted his hand to the side of the helm. There the inside illuminated with a simple HUD displaying his vitals and energy in the corner of his vision. The main reason he had this little feature put in was simple because 'adrenaline really makes it hard to pay attention to pain and fatigue.'

Taking a deep breath and fiddling with the body suit he had manage to manipulate it to make a thick tough suit able to withstand high temperatures and explosions. The upshot was that mobility was limited and mass was increased. Making it a bit tricky to move in. But given the circumstances it could be handy, granted it didn't help that he wasn't exactly enthuasitic about getting over to the tree with the... floating unicorn-things?

Strange stuff was afoot.

So heebie jeebies ready and waiting he began his venture. Remembering a series of vital warnings he had read during his ventures:

If physics do not apply, then god help you.
DON'T PANIC.
I must not fear.Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

With that pep talk out of the way Juno began his steps through the liquid labyrinth to get to it's center, and hopefully answers. Of course it also meant he would have to ask questions... and he didn't have much.
Well what do I ask when I get there? 'Hi! We're experiencing the end of the world here, mind explaining what this is all about? Why are you floating? You do realize you ARE naked, right? I just crossed a lake of orange stuff and floating white things, is this not noteworthy? Where are the bathrooms in this forest? I've been here for ages but I have yet to find a decent one! How do you sleep like that? You have wings, why are you not using them?'

Well not initially.

[Voice of Deep Forest]

Nothing changed. The orangy liquid made it's way through cracks newly appeared in the land, barely moving as at a certain point it had nowhere left to flow to. The white energy also spiraled around it's own core at a crawl, not emitting anything other than light, not even warmth or cold, no matter how close you got to them. The unicorns also did not move, not by themselves, nor through whatever force had lifted them up and was now keeping them suspended above the ground. Not even the occasional breeze of wind -which had been given free play without any trees to block it's path- could move so much as a feather or hair on the unicorns. Only the tree they hovered around moved without any noticable rythem as the wind brushed past it's branches and leaves.

Zom's movement closer to one of the energy spirals however did cause a small anomaly: a whispy tendril of white energy moved closer towards the vampire, as if attracted by a magnet, but before any physical contact could be made the tendril slowly disolved into thin air, leaving no evidence it had even happened. The energy spiral did not respond to her presence in any other way.

The acid simply flowed where it could, stopped where it could not, and bubbled up from the earth where space still allowed it to do so. The stream chosen by Juno wasn't particularly deep, but the neko was getting dangerously close to an unseen hole that would completely submerge him. And as it was acid that wasn't particularly hot and definitely not explosive, it was also happily biting away at his bodysuit with a soft hissing sound, small tendrils of smoke revealing the thickness of the suit might be changing sometime soon.

[forgerofsouls]

Lyrial watched the scene in front of her. The white wispy energy thing seemed to have reacted to Zom's presence. Lyrial thought about that for a few seconds. Than she got an idea. "Pink haired! I bet you are to scared to get closer to that!" Lyrial really did not understand why she thought up a dare on the spot. But if she was a friend of that demon, then she might not have responded well to her asking her to get closer. Speaking of demons...

Lyrial turned and looked at Rekka. "Mucus Membrane!" She said pointing to Rekka, giving him a name in place of the one he never gave. "That will be your name for a while!" She said before turning her back to him. If only Rekka would give any real thought to her lineage, than he might have realized that her magical abilities were far above his own. Basically she practiced a type of magic that is to normal magic as quantum physics is to science. Thus, many dangers (if not all) he would have had with teleportation and shape-shifting abilities, she did not suffer from. But with her current level of access to her own powers, they were still limited. Of course the demon did not know any of that. And of course the demon would have figure it would have been something like that if he even took in consideration what her lineage was. But alas, he did not take in consideration of anything about her.

The healing spell she had put up earlier had finished its work, all the wounds that anyone would have had that were near the tree had been healed. But it still looked like the unicorns were going to remain asleep. Now, if Lyrial was paying attention to this, she might have tried something else, but she was at the moment paying attention to a melting suit... "Juno! Get out of there! Your suit is melting on you!" She yelled.

[kirchhoff42]

Slowly Ceriaos regained consciousness. What did knock him out in the first place. The last he remember was a roar. A high clear tone in his ears reminded him of that. He shook his head as the tone tinted out. He got up and he realized that something was missing. In his head. It was like a shadow that have surrounded his mind and keeping his memories. He finally realized that the shadow wasn't there or it wasn't as big a load on Ceriaos mind as he usually was. In his mind Ceriaos carefully reached into his memories. His head was flooded with the memories of his life. He bowed his head as his memories flashed by. He suddenly raised his head and looked blind into the air. He have caught a memory from the stream.

He was kneeling in front of a alter. In front of him stood Michelle. She was wearing a white dress. She pushed some of her hair behind her ear. She smiled to and said “look up my dear. Its not you who have done anything wrong.” he looked up at the friendly face. She put one hand on his head. “are you sure we should do this?” he said worried “it is against the law. But there is a good reason.” she answered “i wish you would give me the answer instead of talking cryptic.” she smiled and started talking in a strange language. Ceriaos felt how a light filled his body. She ended her speech with a kiss on Ceriaos forehead and helped him up on his feet. He looked long into Michelle’s sapphire colored eyes. A force full knock at the door called them back. “run while you still can. There is a secret exit in the back.” he said while he drew his sword. “what abo” “now!” he interrupted her “i will survive and I will find you afterward. You are our goddess last priestess. You MUST survive.” she nodded and ran. Ceriaos moved a little closer to the door ready for battle. The doors fell and in flew a dark blue lightning. It hit Ceriaos in the chest and he fell. He was unconscious before he hit the floor.

Ceriaos shacked his head he knew way to good what happened afterward. But something have awoken inside of him. Not the shadow but something lighter. He didn't fight it he embraced it. But at the same time the shadow woke up and started to fight the light. Ceriaos stood with closed eyes for a few minutes and them a wing started to appear on his right side of his back. “argh” the shadow shouted in his mind as he fell he was loosing control. He thought he was done. But instead of the felling of slowly being pushed out of existence he felt nothing. He fell how that unknown light was pulled away. He heard Ceriaos voice “there is room for you too friend.”
Ceriaos looked out over the landscape while a dark wing slowly appeared from his left side of his back. “what is this place?” he asked himself “i really do not know.” the shadow answered with a worried tone. Ceriaos slowly walked to wards one of the white ovals of energy. “I don't think you should go any closer.” the shadow commented. “you are probably right” he answered and sat down on a rock just astonished over what he saw.

[Myth]

Grimyth wondered through the ghostly blue shadow realm, the living and even the un-dead showed as bright glowing beats of light. Yet these swirling whirlpool like vapours glowed brighter still. His fur along his spine stood on end from the eerie scene of foreboding. For this young hellhoud he hardly knew what to do in this type of situation, since arriving into this place the sent of magic wafted into the dogs nostrils far more than the lands of humans and wizards.
The very land was alive with this power, perhaps it was this power that had drawn him across that baron no-mans land.

The doom-dog watched for a while, hidden under his cloak of inadvisability. "what have we here...Portals perhaps?...they look like portals. Nothing that iv seen before...yet what about this..tree...all this chaos yet this wretched looking tree still stands" he grumbled inside the netherspace. With the swirling whips already being tested, the Hound chose to take the second path and walk further towards the tree and the floating unicorns. Trying his best to resist temptation from sinking his long k9s into there huge flanks.
"gurr, i feel like a human kid who's stuck in a candy shop yet have no coin to get any...such a tease to see and not be able to touch without consequence...Im sure creatures like you would be worth a thousand souls in the underworld." he moaned again, licking the drool from his chops.

He sniffed the ground under the unicorns, trying to investigate what magic was causing them to levitate the way they were. Next he raised his paw high and with his claws attempted to see what this tree was made of, hoping to make his mark unpon its bark.
Would sparks fly like flit against stone, or perhaps his talons would sink into it like a knife through butter?

What power, if any, did this tree posses?

[Luxon Cobrat]

As the tendril moved towards Zom, she thought of withdrawing, but held her ground. When the tendril disappeared, she thought to move closer. But Lyrial's taunt made her pause, thinking the mage might have known more than her about the anomaly and not inclined to trust anything she suggested after Rekka's open show of defiance and her less-than patient response to it.

"As you will have it, Termite," Rekka answered the name.

As for Lyrial’s lineage, there was no shortage of petty creatures proclaiming descent from gods. Most were tyrants whose only godlike traits were their egos that blinded them to their utter insignificance upon the cosmos. Such unproven claims meant little to the demon. And even if it were true, Rekka deemed her guileless, and that was enough of a weakness for him to pursue.

In any case, Wrathmont was well on his way to regaining the strength he once held. Once that happened, Rekka would see the increase of his own power...

"Regardless of the celestial's unfathomable motives," Rekka said, appearing beside Zom, "it may profit one of us to prod at that a bit more closely."

"Right..." Zom acknowledged reluctantly. "Whelp. You're better at coming back ta life than I am."

"You're more replaceable," Rekka answered.

"Indeed..." Zom grumbled. "Fine."

With that decided, the vampire took one reluctant step towards the swirl of energy, then abandoned caution and strode into it.

[JunoZXV]

"Thanks for stating the obvious!" Was Juno's irritated reply. He originally was trying to walk around the lava like stuff and treat them like a maze of rivers. Crossing at safe looking gaps. However this didn't work to well and caused him to walk along the shallows to make the first cross. Melting some of his suit.

"Frig." He replied getting out at the other end and continuing his venture on dry land, now knowing quite certain NOT to do that again. Unless absolutely necessary.

[Voice of Deep Forest]

Grimyth's approach to the only surviving tree in the area was not challenged in any way, nor was his less than gentle probing of it's bark. His claw encountered nothing bot ordinary bark, surrounding everyday wood. It's scent, when discernable from the fresh surrounding dirt and whatever smells drifted up from the newly opened ground, identified it as nothing else but a tree. Splinters fell where his claws raked the bark. The dark blue unicorn hovering directly above Grimyth also did not respond in any shape or form.

Zom's presence triggered the same response as he had gotten before, but as he came closer this time more than just one tendril drifted from the large swirling mass, and seemed to reach out for him. As he reached the energy, and stepped into it, he found himself walking right through it, possibly feeling a slight damp sensation on his skin as he did, without leaving any actual moist behind. The tendrils however did not fade away right away this time. As Zom now stood on the other side of the swirling energy, several whisps of energy slowly seemed to try to follow him, as if he had escaped their grasp. The perfect oval shape also seemed to subtly change form, as the outer edges slowly expanded, but faded away when half a foot removed from the main swirling mass.

Then even those whisps of energy reaching for Zom started to disolve one by one, the larger ones holding out longer than the smaller and thinner ones, and the main mass of energy regained it's perfect oval form once more.

[forgerofsouls]

Lyrial watched as Zom hesitated at first. The demon's name he gave her meant nothing to her. After all, it was in a demon's nature to be punks. Again, she recalled, how the god's told her she needs to calm down and do things. That she is to irrational. Lyrial guessed this situation proved them right. But she had other matters to attend to. Like figuring out what that thing is.

The conversation between demon and vampire got Pink Hair to finally walk through the...phenomenon. Which resulted in very much the same thing as before, but this time, she had walked clear through, resulting in her going out of range from the tendrils. What Lyrial really wanted to see was her stand still within the phenomenon. But, she guessed that was not going to happen any time soon.

What she needed was another way to bring the truth of the situation to light. Light? Hm....I wonder... Lyrial thought as she crossed her arms and looked at the phenomenon from where she stood. She then grinned and remembered that in her light spells she had a way of identifying and uncovering truths. With her current level of power due to the seal, however, she would at best figure out what the phenomenon is and how to either: contact it, or use it. But that is only if the phenomenon was anything useable or contactable.

Lyrial uncrossed her hands and placed them before her. And as she started to weaves signs she spoke in that ancient language of the gods. And while there was no real flair or anything, at least noticeable to anyone else, there was in front of Lyrial, a distortion in the air. But while to anyone else, it was just a strange distortion, to Lyrial, it was like a television and telepathic gateway in one. It would show her the truth of the phenomenon, if any, and allow her to communicate with it or what ever generated it, if any. Now, it was time to figure this out. Now why had she not thought this up before? Oh, right, she was being distracted.

[Gaius]

And Lyrial was soon to be distracted again, in all likelihood.

It started shortly before she began her speech in that ancient tongue, as the winds on the outskirts of the area began to change. With the trees and other obstacles gone, the winds had been free to blow however they wished. But then some of them seemed to recall something they were supposed to do and, grudgingly, began to get to it. They began to swirl inward from the perimeter. The winds did this subtly; those assembled could notice it, but this was unlikely. Not until Lyrial's first syllables, anyway. At that point, noticing the flow of the wind transitioned from tricky to trivial.

As though a supervisor had stumbled onto their too-long lunch break and loudly said, "Ahem," the winds began to kick up. They whirled past everyone, tossing about fur, hair, and clothes alike -- without disturbing the suspended unicorns -- in their spiral inward, picking up speed as they went. Each oval reached out tendrils when the winds blew near it, but more tentatively, almost as if unsure of itself, though this uncertainty diminished, the swifter the winds became.

At last they coalesced in a single point, not far from where Lyrial stood finishing her spell. None were in any danger of being carried off, but any could be forgiven for losing their footing, as the wind reached a fever pitch. Then, like a proper fever, it broke. A thin ring of wind spread out from that central point, diminishing on the way out as it had grown on the way in, producing no effect from the white energy. This second gust had a more pleasant feel than the first, as though the winds were looking forward to a drink after a job well done.

More important to everyone in the fresh hellscape around the tree, however, were the fruits of that labor. Dirt, leaves, and other little debris thrown about by the winds had obscured them, but three new figures were plainly visible, with their backs to Lyrial and the tree. Aside from mode of transit, the trio had a few other things in common. These included very long ears, fur, muzzles, tails, bipedal stances, pants, and varying levels of confusion. The one with the least confusion (not much less) also had the greatest height (not much more), and the least clothing (so much less). These were unrelated. Probably.

As this tallest figure will be the only one to do anything in this post other than appear, he alone shall receive a fleshed-out description in it. And in his case, most of that flesh was covered in gray fur, with white fur socks, torso front, and facial marks. What little didn't had either brown hair (topping his head, spiking a mane down his neck, and tufting the tip of his tail) or hooves (four in all). Some of this fur was itself covered by a pair of denim pants, with a few stylistic patches.
... Or, to save a great deal of wordcount, one could imagine a gray donkey in pants, standing on his hind legs and sporting a brown mane (albeit with less equine-looking hair up top) and tail tuft, and pretty much have it. His eyes were gray, his muzzle shorter, and his looks were at worst 'aesthetically pleasing' (courtesy of a potent fey), but "upright donkey in pants" is what others would take away at a glance.

Well, they might also get that the donkey was... a little wobbly. "... Oye... Anyone else really, really dizzy?" he asked of the two who had arrived with him. He had one forehoof resting on each of their shoulders. When a tree had been hurtling toward them, there had been a very good reason he'd set those hooves there, but the reason he'd kept them there was 'help maintain balance.' "Er, and are you two okay?" He didn't seem to have noticed there were more than two to address. Or the nature of the new locale.

Around this time, Lyrial would likely finish her spell to call forth truth. Though the timing of spell, gale, and newcomers might suggest she had called forth something else entirely. These sorts of misleading contrivances just tend to happen when fey magic's in play. It's "fun" like that.

[Myth]

The hell-hound scoffed in disappointment to any reaction to his scratch along the tree, hoping that something different would happen. He sighed and turned his large head over to the group that had gathered round one of the swirling mist. He raised a brow when he saw the small tendrils reach out like those of a sea enemies, only to fade once there object of interest was beyond there reach.

"This is getting monotonous. Not to mention working up a unwanted hunger with so much food hanging around. Surely the amount of bizarreness round here has to be created by something or for some purpose. Why have i not herd them call? Since arriving in this retched land i'v not herd the callings of my masters...So who or what ever is responsible... really knows how to pushing my buttons!" He muttered, almost silently to himself in thought.

Just as he took a few silent, sightless steps towards them, the gust of wind rushed past his fur and blew the flames upon his body to dance violently as they tried to cling to his fur. The Doom dog snarled, rising his own temper in order to keep the fire blazing in a fight.

"what the?!" The Dog growled, the leaves and dirt within the wind swirling around a open ground close by the worldeater. Was this her own magic? Some form of trickery? his mind questioned.

Then as the wind settled and eased, the expression upon the dog was in a state of bewilderment. If it wasn't for the fact he was invisible perhaps it would have been rather amusing to see such a confused look upon this big black beast.
He stared at the anthro donkey, unsure weather to question its existence or find out what human, donkey hybrid tastes like.

He sneaked round, lowering his body in a more stealthy fashion to get closer to the three new beings.

[The_Vizir]

A beat...

A second...

And then - FWOOM!

Leigh was again. Which makes a really odd sentence in the English language, despite how accurate it may be in this situation. Grasping ahold of Devon for dear life, the dark-furred experiment took several deep, long breaths in and out... before her mind caught up with her. Her long ears immediately perked up. She was alive. Not dead! A little worse for the wear - her red hair tossed into a wild mane, her cloths skewed slightly, looking like she had just come off some monstrous roller coaster ride - but still alive! That was the key part! Her muzzle broke into a grin and she squealed happily, turning her deathgrip on Devon into a more proper embrace. "Above and below, knew ya could do it, Dev!" she enthused, her voice that odd mixture of elation and utter weariness one has after completing a marathon. Indeed, with the adrenaline rush leaving her, right now Leigh would have liked nothing better then to fall to the ground and rest.

THUD.

Kinda like that. Though that wasn't her twin, not her. His hands braced before him, and his booted feet spread apart, Lev had appeared looking like he was trying to hold up some invisible wall. Of course, given the shear psionic effort he had thrown into maintaining the barrier that had contributed to saving the trio's life, that probably wasn't too far off the mark. Unfortunately, Lev had pushed himself a bit too hard, and the moment he felt the burden of the barrier lifted from his mind by Devon's teleportation spell... well, the THUD there was the result. Strength evaporated from his muscles, and many of his components which had been maxed out just decided to shut down.

The second after her brother had hit the ground, Leigh removed herself from Devon - probably giving the poor guy a chance to breath again, and knelt by her brother's side "LEV!"

"Leigh?" her twin said weakly, before rubbing his face tenderly with a hand "Let's... let's not go and do that again, alright?" the pale experiment groaned and opened his eyes... which were a solid dark green. "Aww... dangit. Leigh, can ya-"

Leigh nodded "Yeah, I can see. Looks like yer optical drivers shut down... and almost all your psionic ones. Not getting anything from any of yer emitters... no uplinks... nothin'. Yer a danged dead zone to me here... but, at least yer not dead, right?" she grinned, her ecstatic smile returning.

"This migraine's gonna make me wish I was..." Lev groaned, as Leigh helped him sit up. "Great... looks like I've lost all lower-body motor control as well. Holdin' that shield for that long there really did a number on my systems."

Leigh looked up at Devon and shrugged. Her brother's way of dealing with life-or-death situations... complain. Made him feel better... somehow. Lev sighed and shook his head, body slumping forward "Right, can I start me my reboot now?"

Leigh only now decided to take the time too look around... and... wow, okay. Well... this was... bad. Looks like they teleported right to the epicentre of the entire explosion. Right... so whatever caused this... Leigh started to look around... a tree. With dead unicorns? Weren't they the protectors of this place? Well... that really wasn't good. Really, really wasn't good. And... some... infernal looking humanoids over there... one of them tinged her memories, and in a very bad way. Something... from before she was brought online. One of her dad's records... of a great battle... people dying. That... man there. He... he was very bad. And as her eyes travelled further... it got even worse. "Oh... damn." her throat clenched and her eyes widened. Okay, the situation had gone from 'sneak away' to 'run really really fast. "Lev... Lev Lev Lev... uhh... initiate cascadin' restarts. We really don't have the time to-"

"What?" Lev's voice was tinged with no small amount of worry thanks to the fear in his sister's own voice.

"Juno..." Leigh's voice almost cracked as she said the name, rising from Lev's side to stand.

"Oh..." said Lev matter-of-factly as a dull hum filled the air around his sister's fists, twin blades of shadow called into being. "Out of the fryin' pan..." he sighed.

"An' into the fire..." his sister finished, raising her mindblades into a defensive position.

[Luxon Cobrat]

Zom (who was, by the way, not a "he" at all) realized not long after she emerged from the other side of the energy swirl that she hadn't been transported away to some other place. She would have sighed, if she were still in the habit of breathing. But on the other hand, at least she hadn't been vaporized. It seemed that the anomaly would only react if she got close enough and stood still. Contrary to Lyrial's belief, however, she was prepared to do exactly that.

So, hoping the tendrils that had reached for her didn't decide to rip her to shreds after they latched on, she simply backpedaled into the swirl again made a point of stopping there this time.

Rekka, meanwhile, noticed the wind picking up, eventually having to brace himself against it. But just as he was starting to wonder if this was yet another symptom of the chaos breaking out around here, it ended with the arrival of three more creatures. For the sake of simplicity, he chalked that whole business up to some sort of teleportation ability used by one of the newcomers.

After watching them for long enough to decide that they hadn't come bearing any threatening intentions, he went back to observing Zom.

[JunoZXV]

"OK this is taking way too long..." Juno mumbled to himself as he continued to walk in his black safety suit. The words contained only for his ears thanks to the encasement of his helm "...All I wanted to do was just sit at home, mind my bar but nooooooooo~ Someone or something just has to go and ruin everything. I mean sure. I was curious at the start but hey... now this is just getting annoying. Lava that eats my outfit, choking smoke... and the forest is in a series of earth quakes. I don't even want to figure out what's creating this *censored* anymore. Now I just want to kick the *censored* out of the one responsible for this mess so no more messing around." Juno thwapped the breast plate of his out fit, causing it to light up with neon red streaks arching over his body. "I'm taking the direct route!"

Juno proceeded to crouch on his hands and legs, using the platform of land like a take off strip as he build up speed and bounded over the first stream of orange goop, then using his momentum to continue his rapid pace. Swerving and diving over the swirls of ghostly pillars as they sprang up. Booking it straight to the tree with the force and speed of a steam engine to which he arrived at in a matter of minutes.

"Woah too fast! Slow down! Slow do-"

A little overshoot on the calculation. Juno face planted With a nearby boulder*. After popping himself off the rock face he climed up to where the Uni-peg-things were.

"There..." He gasped as he looked up at the odd sight in front of him. Flying horses... you didn't see that everyda- ok here you did, but not like THAT. "Now lets see if I can get some answers. HEY! Guys!" He yelled to the bodies floating before him, flipping open his helmet. "What in deep forest is going on here? Don't make me use ice cubes! Cause I will!"

*this is why you wear a helmet folks!

[kirchhoff42]

Ceriaos stood up again. He looked around again. The other creatures was spread across area. He stretched out his wings. He took three fast steps and leaped. He gained surprisingly fast height. He spread out his wings and gliding slowly to the ground. He landed elegantly on his feet. Looking around he spotted someone nearby. He walked slowly closer. “What in deep forest is going on here? Don't make me use ice cubes! Cause I will!" Ceriaos walked a little closer and said “i have no idea.” he folded his wings behind his back and stopped.

[forgerofsouls]

Lyrial was so deep in concentration that she was taken by surprise, and not pleasant surprise, by the new arrivals. "Bah! I'm working here!" She yelled while not taking her attention off of her little project. Thus she never truly noticed the newcomers.

Nor did she notice how more of her hair turned white.

Nor would she have cared. She knew the risks involved with her magic.

And she knew what she was doing.

Thus all she could do for now, was wait.