As he was about to answer the girl, Elyan turned back and saw what Mathuriel had just done.

"Well...that works, I guess."

He turned back to the girl and replied.

"To answer your question, it's Elyan. Now that we've got that out of the way, could you hold on to this?"

He tosses her his bow so that he could pick up Mathuriel and carry him safely.

"Let's move! Reinforcements could be here any minute."

Not wanting to waste any time, he started running and signaled the others to follow. He led the group through a nearby forest that luckily had not been subjected to the recent deforestation efforts yet. He moved quickly but carefully, making full use of nearby trees and rocks for cover and checking for the king's army whenever he could. After traveling for some time, he stops on the edge of a river. The water was moving somewhat quickly and it didn't look entirely safe at first glance.

"Okay...you're probably not gonna like this, but it's too late now. Do you see that group of rocks over there, where the river ends? That's our destination. There's a big hole in the rocks that leads to an underground cavern. Don't worry; it's got another exit that we can get out of later. I've got some firewood stashed in there that we can make a fire out of, too."

He turned his head towards Mathuriel.

"And you...just make sure you hold your breath. I don't need you drowning on me after I went through all the trouble of carrying you here."

Saying this, he jumped into the river and swam towards the entrance.

Serena held tighter to Zenith.
"I can't swim..."

Zenith took a deep breath. She put Serena on her back.
"Hold on tight and hold your breath." She followed Elyan into the cave.

Ella dove into the river behind zenith and the other following behind them
'i hope this gets us away from those guards'
she thought to herself

Allora watched as everyone dove into the water. she looked at skye
"well it looks like your gonna have to find another way in, juse keep en eye out for movements in the rocks ok?"
she lifted her arm up allowing skye to take to the night sky. she then gripped spirits furr
"im ready when you are"
she lowered herself on spirits back and the both dove into the water. spirit guiding allora

MateusseDarkslight wrote:

"So."
Valan was inside a giant gilded bird cage.
It swung, lightly, as mocking laughter echoed around it's walls.
"People fled through your forest. Did you contact them at all?"

He slowly, though somewhat groggily, surveyed his surroundings.
'Why would I answer you, human?'

Mathuriel shivered and murmured in his sleep - and the air around them shimmered and flickered, changing from murky red to normal night.

"Good question."
The cage swung, to and fro like a pendulum, Valan rolling a little in it's wake.
"You don't have to. But you will stay in that cage until you go mad or starve. Those are your options. I'm just giving you a way out."

He stayed as low as possible, maintaining his balance with inhuman ease.
'They entered my forest. I told them to leave.'

There was a chuckle from the blackness, and then the entire cage swung so fiercely that it was upside-down for a few seconds.
"How very basic. Well, your forest is now dust. I have razed every tree to the ground and used them to construct my war machines, and to build a fortress where it once stood. All of the animals were captured, skinned, butchered -"
A pause.
"And then killed. They made a marvelous banquet. Fear makes for such a sweetener. So answer me this, wildman. If I were to release you, what would you do?"

He snarled slightly, before calming down.
'You let me out, I won't try to kill you.'
He walked across the cage, and gripped the bars. 'A quick death would be too good for the likes of you. You humans are the same. You act as though nature is yours to pervert and destroy. Mother Nature is vengeful, she is cruel. But above all...'
He started to pull the bars apart, bending them.
'She, is patient.'

"Please."
The bars parted in Valan's hands - to reveal that the cage he was breaking out of was, in fact, inside an even larger cage.
"Your beloved Mother Nature bows her head to lick my boot. She is my loyal courtesan and prostitute."
The mocking laughter returned again, the cage again rocking.
"But, I have no further use for you. And you pose no threat to me. So run along, puppy."
The larger cage door opened into blackness, with no way of knowing how far Valan was from the ground.
"I have no use for savage freaks. Begone."

When he finally made it to the cave, Elyan laid Mathuriel down on the cave floor and briefly checked to make sure that Mathuriel was still breathing normally. He was, even though it was somewhat ragged and Elyan could hear him mumbling in his sleep.

"He should be alright, he just needs some rest," Elyan thought to himself. That being the case, he wasted no time in getting a fire started, then he went back to the entrance to make sure everyone else made it in.

After making sure that everyone in the group was accounted for and gathered around the fireplace, he spoke up.

"So, I guess this is the part where we're supposed to do introductions and all that. But first, I want answers."

He looked around the room.

"I want to know why the king is after you-- well, I guess us now. Our unconscious friend over there didn't give me much in the way of answers, but I get the feeling that it must be something big if the king is going through all this trouble."

He gave a slight smirk.

"So, what is it? Let me guess. You found some kind of ancient, forbidden magic with the power to wipe out entire armies? Or maybe one of you is a long-lost heir with a rightful claim to the king's throne? Or maybe you're the leaders of a rebellion that's waiting for the right time to strike back? Try me, I'll take just about anything at this point."

Ella shook her head
"none of those things"
she sighed
"I'm assuming you haven't heard much about the king."
she looked up at the man
"The king is very greedy, he wants to rule all. Somehow he was able to gain a great power allowing him to be even more powerful. Upon gaining that power he started taking over the land. One by one destroying small villages and towns. Killing those that fought back, recruiting those he was able manipulate into joining his army."
She closed her eyes
"I've seen what he is capable of/ His men would drag families out onto the street, they were given two choices, Join his army or die. Those that refused were forced to watch as they slaughter their families, but intstead of killing the men they dragged them off to who know where. "
She opened her eyes
"I've heard that some of them went crazy from all the torture they were put through and he set them loose on a killing spree, some managed to kill themselves before the craziness set in. While others had been convinced to join him."
She looked at the man
"The king wants everyone dead that is against him, so he has set out armies to hunt us down and destroy us. It doesnt matter who you are or what you did. You either join him or die"
Ella got up and walked over the Maturiel to check on him
"If it wasnt for Mathuriel here we probably would have been dead by now"
She knelt down next to him
"I hope he is ok, this is the third time this has happened"


Allora was sitting against spirit. While spirit licked the water of his fur. moments later sky appeared landing on her shoulder
"ah i see you managed to find us"
she patted sky on the head
"good girl"
spirit was keeping allora warm even tho her clothes were soaked
"How long do you think itll be before our clothes will be completely dry?"

Zenith tilted her head.
"As I said, I'm not sure what caused the initial attack. Though, I used to imagine that I was some sort of chosen hero as a child, since there were plenty of stories of children mysteriously appearing and rising to legend, but that's not real. I've learned my life is no wyvern tale. I was abandoned by my parents; that's it. The king doesn't need a reason."

He landed on all fours like a cat. He stared through he darkness.
'Your time will come, human. And I'll be the Harbinger of Her wrath.'

The king let out a groan of pleasure.
"You hear that, monkey man? That's the sound of your devoted Mother Nature sucking my -"

"Your majesty, what shall we do with the ape?"

The king's smirk was almost audible.
"Let's see if he can swim."

A chain fastened itself round Valen's neck and a light consumed him - only for him to regain his senses at the bottom of the moat with an iron ball fastened to his neck.

"Give me the scroll, Mathuriel."

NEVER!

"GIVE ME THE -"

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!" Mathuriel screamed into thin air, sitting bolt upright. As he did so, a gout of blood jettisoned from his nose and splatted against Ella's corset.
"Oh god I'm sorry..." he gasped, clutching his head and falling back.
As he did so, the air around them shifted, hard, and then reassembled itself back into it's old shape.
"I changed realities to get us out of there I took us to an uninhabited one are we safe now DEAR GOD THIS GODDAMN HURTS AAAAGHHH!" he roared, and he squeezed his head in his hands like he was trying to squeeze juice out of it.

Ella jumped when he sat straight up screaming. The blood splattered on her corset and she looked down at the blood splatter then back at Mathruiel.
"Its fine it'll wash off"
When he fell back and held his head Ella leaned over him
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
she thought for a moment then ripped a small piece of fabric off her dress, walked over to the water and wet the fabric. She then walked back to Mathuriel and placed the cool cloth on his head
"Here this should help a little"


Allora heard the scream and looked over at them but she noticed Ella handling it and decided not to bother them. She looked back into the fire
"Im just in search of my older brother, we were separated when i was just a baby. I was told I had a brother but was told he died. It was til recently i found out that he was in fact still alive"
She pet spirit
"I hope I can find him soon i have been searching everywhere for him since i found out he was still alive"

After hearing Ella's explanation, Elyan was lost in thought and he hardly noticed what was going on around him.

"I had no idea that it was this bad out here. What's worse, it sounds like these people don't have a plan to overthrow the king. I guess it can't be helped...I'll just stay with them for a while and see what happens."

After a few moments, he finally realized what was going on around him. He looks around the room, then he looks over in Mathuriel's direction.

"Well, that looks unpleasant. He should really get that checked out."

It was obvious from his tone of voice that he still held a grudge about their first meeting. Even so, he had a slight look of pity in his eyes as he turned back to Ella.

"So, uh...how long does this usually last?"

Ella looked back at Elyan
"Um I dont really know how long it lasts. I guess sometimes a few minutes maybe longer"
she looked back at Mathuriel
"Is this helping any?"

After about forty seconds of thrashing, Mathuriel hopped to his feet, ran off to a corner, and threw up.
Then he staggered back.
"I'm feeling ok... now..."
He shook himself.
"Everyone... here? We all ok?"

Ella walked over to Mathuriel
"We are fine, everyone but Carlyle is here"
She looked at him with concern
"Are you sure you are ok, you keep saying you are but you keep having these...whatever they are"
pointing at his nose and the fact he was staggering

Mathuriel closed his eyes.
His fists clenched.

"I'm. Fine." He stopped himself shivering and shaking through force of will and looked at Elyan, blanking Ella completely to ensure that the subject was closed.

"You followed us. Why?"

Ella having her question somewhat ignored by Mathuriel just simply sighed and walked back over to the fire and sat down. She brought her knees to her chest and hugged them in attempt to keep herself warm from her wet clothes. She was somewhat shivering. She decided to allow the men to talk. So she kept quiet


Allora curled up into a ball next to spirit and started drifting to sleep.
"When we are ready to leave just wake me. Im a bit tired so im gonna rest a bit"
she spoke to no one in particular

Elyan looked up to the ceiling and thought to himself for a moment about Mathuriel's question.

"Well...pretty much because I don't have much of a choice."

He looked over to Mathuriel.

"Don't get me wrong, this little band of renegades wouldn't have been my first choice, but...you're the first group of people I've met so far that's willing to even try to fight back against the king."

He sighed and looked into the fire.

"As some of you have probably noticed by now, I'm not from around here. To make a long story short, I've come a long way just for a chance to give "his royal highness" what's coming to him. I knew that things were rough out here but it's even worse than I imagined. I couldn't find any trace of any organized rebellion against him...everyone's too terrified to even try it."

He chuckled to himself and looked around the room.

"That's about it, really. Even if you-- I mean, we don't have much of a plan going for us right now, it's still better than nothing. So, if it's alright with everyone here, I'd like to keep traveling together and see what happens. Keeping in mind that I did just help you escape from the army."

Mathuriel wiped his nose again, and walked over to Ella. Taking off his robe, which had already mysteriously dried, he placed it over her as a blanket.
"Water-resistant robes, got to love them," he muttered.
Then he turned back to Elyan.

"I'm not against having new friends. And sorry about our hasty first meeting, was kind of worried you were a spy for the king."
He cricked his neck.
"And by the way, if you are a spy for the king, just be aware that I can send your genitals very far away from your body."
He looked around at the cave.
"And what we need to do now, is sleep. We haven't slept for ages. Once we wake up, we can do the unexpected - and take the fight to him."
He took off his tunic and folded it into a pillow, and promptly lay down and closed his eyes.
"You all sleep too. Tomorrow... we get payback."

Elyan scoffed at Mathuriel's threat.

"You know, I almost wish I was a spy just to piss him off."

He found a place to sleep, took off his equipment and laid down for the night. But just as he was doing so, he snapped his fingers as he remembered something.

"Hey, almost forgot."

He sat up and looked around the room.

"Introductions and all that fun stuff. My name's Elyan, I've already been...acquainted with Captain Castration over there."

He motions to Mathuriel, then he looks back to everyone else.

"So, how about all of you?"

Mathuriel opened one eye.
"Call me that again, and I will earn that title."
It was an idle threat, he was far too tired to carry it out.
He fell back, and went straight to sleep.