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year 5, quarter 3
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She had just left the forest a week prior. Her experience with the damp forest was terrifying and that was simply in broad daylight. She woke up in the forest with fragmented memories. As if she could reach out to the images, but it was just beyond her grasp. She hallucinated men in suits not unlike her own. There was an eerie familiar vibe to them. But like her memories, they seem to vanish in a blink of an eye. It made her feel extremely alone. As if she had once had a pack, and now she was lost from them. It ate at her and she hated that feeling.
But she had little time to think on it between helping strangers and fighting the local wildlife. Keeping busy held those troublesome feelings at bay, so as soon as she reached Provo, she did what she could to orient herself to the new world. She took on odd jobs to help the locals gather resources and find missing items. But now, she came across a local notice to return to the…
Headstone Forest.
She felt a cold shock go down her spine. Every glance to those trees during her stay here seemed to beckon her sweetly to return. It was as if a piece of her still lied somewhere in the forest. Some lost piece of memory that needed to be retrieved. And this notice was a final taunt by the spirts that she was not to avoid them any longer. She gently touched the aged paper on the wooden board, hesitant and yet caressingly. “I understand…” She whispered to it, before taking the slip off the board and pressing it to a pocket inside her blazer. Perhaps the lost are destined to roam the woodlands with clipped wings, forever lost.
After talking to the person who initiated the request, Cissnei did what she does best. Follow the trail of rumormongers. The merchants were upset at loosing merchandise, but even more so, some were losing family. It appears some of the young women in their family, daughters mostly, seem to want to wander off the beaten path to some unheard call. Shortly after, the merchant’s carts are attacked by goblins and iron giants. Some merchants even claim wraiths come to frighten the horses to stop them completely. They barely make it out alive unless everything is abandoned. This all seemed to be happening when the sun starts to hit the horizon. When they speak of this, they eye Cissnei with doubt. What could this small young woman do about this whole mess? They wanted a warrior – large and muscular.
Cissnei brushed off their glances and wordlessly began to gather the bare essential supplies in a small pack to take with her. Heaving it over one shoulder, she turned to the exit Provo.
She started down the commonly used dirt path, but it also felt like the woods opened up to her. It eerily felt like it was alive and leading her where it wanted her to go. She could not tell if it was the wind through the trees or female ghosts humming a soft tune. Quietly she followed the trade route until she came to a sign of scuffles. She knelt beside the crime scene, eyeing the track marks. There were large foot prints embedded deeply in the dirt. Something too big and too deep for a human to make. The cart was torn apart and in wooden pieces on the ground. It seemed that smaller feet had circled the cart in a surprise attack. Even worse, their exit tracks suggested they left in all directions. The large foot prints, probably made by the iron giant, went in one direction. The merchants foot prints seemed to have made heavy footfalls straight to Provo.
The food and water in ruined cart seemed untouched. Cissnei stood up and dusted herself off for a moment, just pondering. What were the motives of these attackers? Obviously, they had no lack of resources if they were not taking the basics to survive. Cissnei cursed to herself quietly. She should have asked the merchants for an inventory sheet.
But just then, out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the black shoes and black dress pants. When she looked up fully, the black suited figure was already heading down the path that followed the iron giant tracks. “Wait!” Cissnei shouted, surprising herself at her response. “Who are…” She was already running in the figure’s direction, lest she lose this person. It could not just be a hallucination…could it? She ignored her clothes being snagged and the scratches etched onto her skin as she followed.
But it seemed no matter how fast she moved through the brush, the figure was always too far from her. She seemed almost in a trance following the figure that she almost did not see the attack coming upon her. A giant sword swung down, cutting through tree limbs and aiming directly for the top of Cissnei’s head. The sound of the splitting limbs seemed to wake her from her trance, but she just barely moved out of the way of the blade. The blow was so heavy it reverberated the ground and a shock wave caused Cissnei to lose her balance and collapse on the ground.
For a second, Cissnei simply laid there, before trying to shake off her stun. Her eyes raised and there it was. The iron giant rising just as high as the trees and glowing an eerie red in the setting sun. It was slow but raising its arm for another attack.
There was a process that was beginning to once again become standard procedure in the life of Caius. Either be hired, or take a notice board posting in order to be hired. Go to the thing. Do the thing. Come back from the thing. Get paid for the thing. Split a take of that thing with the guild reserves so that they might be able to continue to progress. Buy his supplies. Rest. And then Caius would repeat the entire cycle over again. Escorts, guarding, slaying monsters, taking on the baddest of the bad... That had become the life of one Caius Dragelion, mercenary belonging to the mighty Dragonblades. They weren't much of a faction right now, mind... Just Caius and Celes, and now a child named Rem. But they were a formidable force on their own, and had the potential to grow ever farther.
Caius was on his own today though, taking a posting and finding out that two others had also taken it. With arrangements made for him to meet them, he would make his way to a place that he had been to before, but had not been to for long - The Headstone Forest. The idea of going wasn't what alarmed Caius. It was the idea of staying there for an extended period. Rumour was the joint was haunted, and Caius had already had enough of haunted places for one lifetime after that whole ordeal with the haunted house. But the odds of finding an alter that took blood and replicated his likeness in an attempt to kill him in this forest were pretty slim, he hoped. So he decided to give it a go and perhaps put these rumours to rest. They wanted someone strong, imposing, someone who if there were bandits or something in the forest that were fueling said curse... To take them down. That, Caius could do.
All was still when he walked into the forest. He had seen no sign of the others who had taken the job, and thus had decided to just go it alone. It was far too quiet for his liking, he felt. But the sound of a large sword swinging got his attention. Taking off at startling speed for a man his size, Caius' sword was already in his hands by the time he glimpsed the iron giant about to attack it's prey. His eyes widening at seeing one of the things that had ransacked his world for so long, his surprise soon turned to anger as he would toss his blade upwards, Warping through the air to go for a hard strike to the back of it's head...
At times, Zack Fair needed someone there beside him to give him a good smack to the back of the head whenever he was intent on doing something that was boneheaded and dangerous. Something that he, as a typically somewhat intelligent man, should have picked up on as being a terrible decision and definitely something he should have simply walked away from rather than embracing.
Now, was one of those times.
Provo was crawling with people that needed help at all times, and it didn’t take the Soldier long to find a notice for some folks that needed a hand. As it turned out, there were merchants that had been experiencing some rather strange incidents near the Headstone Forest. Just the name, and the memories Zack had associated with it, initially sent a chill up his spine as he eyed the flier in his hand. After talking to some of those involved, he could see why they were so desperate for help.
People being attacked. Others disappearing into the night. Trade routes disrupted, people disturbed, children crying for parents who just hadn’t been the same since.
Apparently, he hadn’t been the first person to inquire about what was happening. Others had as well, but they hadn’t been heard back from yet. Zack asked about what relevant information he could -- what the monsters look like, what they took, what noises they heard, why they felt compelled to wander into that god awful place. Everyone’s account was different, though. Wraiths that spooked, and giants that clambered. Imps that poked and stabbed until everything was abandoned, and strange, whispering voices.
It wouldn’t be an easy job to investigate, but Fair wasn’t known for doing anything easy these days, it seemed. He gathered up a few supplies to help him survive in the forest, but from the sounds of it, some monster would just come along and attempt to steal it anyway. With his gear in tow, Zack gave the people a friendly and confident grin before starting his trek to the forest.
Which he, immediately, realized wasn’t the greatest idea.
As he approached the Headstone Forest, the sun’s dying light glinting through the tree branches, he recalled his first visit there. A long time ago, he’d run into the forest without knowing it was so chilling, meeting up with Celes and Rude, of all people. However, the forest forcibly separated them, and each of them experienced something different. Celes and Rude were unconscious when Zack managed to find them, both having been tortured by the trees and wind.
Right, he reminded himself sternly, I can’t get distracted by anything. It’s probably the forest playing a trick.
He repeated this mantra over and over, even as the wind began to pick up and rustle the trees. He didn’t have to go far to find the remnants of someone’s caravan -- carts busted and abandoned, but oddly, with their goods mostly intact, if not slightly disturbed by wildlife. Zack studied the area for a moment, his glowing eyes checking for any clues as to what had attacked. There were no bodies around, so the travelers either booked it out of the forest and towards Provo, or they were lost among the ghostly trees and fog. His gloved fingers ran over the splintered wood of the sturdy cart, studying it. Whatever had smashed through it, it was big, and it was strong.
Something bright caught Zack’s eye, his gaze moving past the broken cart and following a line of trees in front of him. There, caught between the branches, was a white feather. Tilting his head curiously, the Soldier moved forward to look at it, feeling something familiar tug at his heart. Another glint distracted him, as another feather fell further up on the path, tangling itself in the branches of the bushes.
“Angeal … ?” Zack mumbled curiously into the air, his boots moving through the thicket to follow the trail of falling feathers. He knew he shouldn’t -- every sane muscle in his body screamed to turn back -- yet, he persisted. Always in the back of his mind was the thought, the knowledge that in this world, it was possible for Angeal to be alive again, just like he was. It’s the forest, not him, his brain tried to tell him, tried to save him from wandering deeper after the breadcrumb trail of feathers, But, what if it is? argued his heart.
The darkness became thicker as the forest swallowed him, Zack obediently following the feathers he hoped had been left by his dearly departed friend. However, a noise snapped his out of his lost thoughts; something akin to metal grinding on metal. As he followed the noise, he nearly stumbled into a pit of earth -- a giant footprint of sorts. “What the…?”
As he rose to his feet, Zack was quickly knocked back down to the ground by a sudden vibration, and the sound of crashing trees and splitting earth.
On high alert, the Soldier scrambled up, unaware of where the immediate danger was, just that it was nearby. He followed the lingering trail of wind from the force of the devastating attack, before coming to a part of the forest that had been clearly demolished. He stared in shock at the splintered trees, blue eyes following the trail up to a giant iron beast of some sort. It looked like someone had taken a drawing from an old kids book and brought it to life, and made it … well, Giant! It glowed a threatening red, highlighted by the sun that was beyond the trees, raising its heavy arm and sword for another potential strike.
Zack’s slack jawed awe quickly vanished, as he identified the giant’s prey. On the ground nearby was a young woman, dressed in a suit, made only more visible by the vibrant color of her red hair. Seeing her on the ground tugged at something in the Soldier’s heart, but he didn’t have the time to consider it. Instead, he rushed forward as the slow beast’s arm began to descend, carrying with it its power.
Pulling forth the Buster Sword from his back, Zack dashed into place and met the ginormous blade with his own, tilted to force the monster’s blade to slide to the ground. The impact shook his teeth and strained his arms as the blade sank into the dirt beside the two, and the Soldier grunted as the impact left his hands shaking.
The iron giant was slow to move as it began to withdraw its blade from the soft earth, and Zack quickly grabbed at the girl’s waist, urging her to move, “Come on, we gotta get out of range!”
Another loud clang rang out into the sunset, and Zack turned to see what had caused it. High above the tree line was someone else, their weapon making contact with the giant’s head. All he could see from the distance was a few locks of shimmering blonde hair.
What? Is that … Celes? The thought barely mumbled in his mind with the iron giant temporarily distracted, as Zack pressed himself and the redhead in the suit into the safety of the trees. If it was Celes, she’d make herself known soon enough. Instead, the Soldier turned his attention to the woman he’d moved out of the path of destruction. She seemed … awfully familiar, in a way, and Zack almost felt like an idiot for whatever reason when he asked, “You alright?”
If it was up to me, I'd rewrite history, and change my destiny. One last time.
For a moment more, Cissnei stiffly sat, still stunned by the shockwave of the blow. Her head was in a fog and she stared dazedly up at the strange creature. That was when it happened. In a flash of light, there was a humanoid figure coming down on the giant from above. Before she could make sense of it there was suddenly a well-built man in front of her. There was the sound of exertion from the second blow…but the man did not fall. He had somehow parried the heavy blade away from them.
She looked up at him as she finally came to enough of her senses as he grabbed at her waist. His sense of urgency tugged on her memories. He seemed terribly familiar. She thought back to the tavern and the story she told. Was that his face? Was that…
There was no time to dawdle now. She pulled herself to her feet. “Oh, how generous.” Cissnei said lightly giving him a soft smile and dusting herself off. “Out of range is not the place to be.” For a moment she touched her temple with the tip of her finger. The small gem on the bottom hem of her glove shined a bright green and channeled down her fingertip with a soft whispering. The knowledge of the Ancients flooded her brain and her eyes began to glow the same color as the materia. Suddenly she could understand the iron giant’s weaknesses and durability as the flood of information rushed through her mind.
At the same time, she bound forward, lightly jumping on top of the sword the Iron Giant was beginning to lift. Earth dripped from the blade, but Cissnei ran along the thick arm as if she were lighter than air. “Its weak to cold, light, and blunt force.” She shouted at the two men. She balanced delicately on the giant’s shoulder, trying to avoid the oncoming attack from Caius. It was odd, it did not sound hollow like a machine under her feet. Shuriken in hand, she edged under the helmet portion to look more deeply into the crack of the neck and perhaps wedge a deeper opening for Caius. No wires…it all seemed like sinew. Cissnei had never seen such a creature as this before. And worse, she could not disable it as she would a robot.
Cissnei felt the muscles ripple beneath her as the iron giant turned with his other palm raised at Zack. A dark orb erupted it from it, seemingly crushing the air and whatever brush was in the path of the gravity magic.
Looking down a moment as his blade would contact the head of the monster, Caius hoped he wasn't to late to save the woman. Noting she looked a bit familiar and that she had been saved by another stranger, Caius let out a sigh in relief that she was safe - meaning he could focus on the monster. Cissnei would call out that the monster was weak to cold, and Caius nodded his head, while he hung onto the head of the Iron Giant in hopes of keeping hold and continuing to be able to chain attacks.
Knowing just how dangerous this monster was, Caius would hold out his blade as it would begin to glow blue. He could feel the cold chill of Blizzard as it coated the blade, but it didn't bother him too much as he had grown used to it at this point. But for all of the cold surrounding him... Caius was all fire. This reminder of the ruined world he had left behind, what daemons like this had done to people... He couldn't help but unleash that fury as he would begin to tap more into the Power of Kings. Abilities such as the Armiger Unleashed weren't available to Caius, but the Glaive could certainly augment his speed if he focused more on his warping and blipping capabilities. The Iron Giant threw him off though, but Caius would kick off it's shoulder and immediately begin swinging rapidly, over and over at it's head. Strike after strike, as he would begin blipping to and fro in order to keep it from seeing where his attacks were coming. He wouldn't be able to keep this up forever of course, as before too long it would drain his reserves and he would find himself going into Stasis.
The monster would suddenly use a Gravity spell and Caius would be forced to break his power use in order to conserve strength. The Blizzard spell would disappear and he would begin to be pulled toward the hand. Driving his blade into it's back, Caius tried to use it as a means of holding on as long as possible...
Poor Zack just wants to beat up the big bad thing!
The redhead he’d rushed away from the immediate danger seemed to shake off her stun and confusion, turning to give him a small smile as she replied way too casually for a normal person. Zack blinked once, twice, before scratching the back of his head, bewildered. She barely seemed phased that she almost got crushed by a giant sword mere moments ago -- what the heck was up with that? Though, the longer the Soldier stared at her, the more he felt … Maybe it wasn’t as odd as he was making it out to be.
“Out of range is not the place to be.”
“Huh?” Zack replied with a not-so-manly crack in his voice, again smacked by the young woman’s brazen mentality. She raised a gloved hand to her head, her fingertip slipping just past her fiery locks. A green glow appeared, just barely casting a glow on her seemingly soft expression, and the pieces slid into place for Fair as he saw a familiar, glowing green orb attached to her glove, “Hey, that’s materia! Where’d you--!?”
But, she’d already taken off, back toward the giant creature. Cursing with disbelief under his breath, Zack followed after her, keeping an eye on the suit as she easily made her way up the armored giant’s body; like an acrobat, graceful and smooth. The earth trembled under the Soldier’s boots as the giant lifted it’s blade out of the deep gash it had created in the earth, and Zack touched a gloved palm against the materia slotted in the Buster Sword.
“Its weak to cold, light, and blunt force.” He could hear the woman shout over the groaning of the giant’s armor clanking about as it moved, and it seemed the blonde person up by the head was already taking advantage of the knowledge. Zack activated the blizzard materia, holding out his hands to aim the shards of ice to land away from the other two attacking. He couldn’t use a lot of magic, it drained him pretty quickly these days, but it would be best to use it now when the giant was moving as much.
Though it’s sword was still lifting higher into the air, the giant’s other hand swung forward, palm outward, pointed towards the Soldier. A large, dark orb quickly appeared in its palm, and Zack’s eyes flew wide with a quick realization, A gravity spell!?
The force of the spell quickly threatened to pull his boots straight out from underneath of him, and Zack desperately planted the Buster Sword as deeply into the ground as he could. He turned his head, seeing the loose brush flying toward the center of the orb and getting crushed -- not terrifying at all! His hands clung to the handle of his trusted blade, but the longer the spell lasted, the more he could feel its effects coming closer. The Buster Sword was slowly moving, centimeters at a time, out of the ground, and the rest of his body was beginning to feel heavy as he desperately attempted to get his boots on the ground once more.
“A little help here!” Zack yelled over the sounds of the forested destruction around him, hissing as a loose branch cut across his bicep. He couldn’t focus on the other two for the time being, and could only hope they weren’t affected by the spell, or were also hanging on for dear life.
If it was up to me, I'd rewrite history, and change my destiny. One last time.
Cissnei felt a familiar amusement at Zack’s response. But the fact he recognized materia gave her a clue he was from her world. Perhaps he was… Was he the man she vaguely remembered in her story at the tavern? The dark-haired SOLDIER that she vaguely remembered, but could not clearly see the face of? Once they survived, they could talk it over more thoroughly.
Realizing it was not some mechanical built machine, Cissnei jumped backwards off the creature’s shoulders to give Cain more room for his attacks. She landed directly on a tree branch, which was plenty sturdy for now. Thank Minerva. Goosebumps fell over her flesh at the sudden drop in immediate temperature. Her eyes watched as Cain wielded his own magic and blade with all the skill of a proper fighter. Unfortunately, melee fighting was not Cissnei’s own forte, nor did she wield any of the giant’s weaknesses. She would need to be craftier.
While the two men fought, Cissnei studied the giant and its surroundings. Each blizzard attack the men used, the more the giant stiffened and weakened. Its joints began icing over and it slowed it further. But the moment the giant prepared for the gravity spell, Cissnei shifted her position around the tree so that her chest pressed against the truck. That way when the gravity pulled, she would have the trunk to make sure she was not pulled in. She thrust her shuriken into the tree trunk as an extra safety leverage to lean her weight. The trunk bent under the gravity's crushing force, and Cissnei thanked whatever luck she had that her tree did not break. “Working on it.” Cissnei shouted back at Zack.
Leaning hard into the tree trunk she edged to peak across from her. There was a tree bending hard at the pressure of gravity. It looked like with a bit of help it could snap and land on the giant. Cissnei thrust out a hand lined in soft dark, purple light, much like that of the iron giants. Sometimes one had to fight fire with fire. In this case, it was gravity with gravity. An inky orb coalesced beneath the bend of the tree. It generated enough force to finally bend and break the tree, as well as cause the ground nearest one of the iron giant’s leg to become unstable. Cissnei then quickly dispersed the gravity before it effected the others too much. “MAKE WAY!” She gave warning as the tree fell and broke across the giant’s head, forcing it to drop its spell. There was creaking as it stumbled with stiff icy joints and unstable ground. Stunned it sat unmoving on one knee for a moment, before trying to rise again.
However, Cissnei could hear conversation nearby in strange high-pitched voices. “Do you smell that? Humans!”
“Oh no. Not just any humans. Female too.”
“Oh yes. Mistress will be pleased. We must bring to Mistress.”
As it grew darker, it grew harder to discern what they were, but they appeared very goblin. A swarm of five of them came bounding through the brush and Cissnei withdrew her shuriken and with a flourish of her arm sent Rekka flying. It hit its mark between the eyes of one goblin, and as she jumped out of the tree she landed on a second. “Finish the giant. I’ll do what I can to hold them off.” It sounded like more may be coming in the distance, so Cissnei would have to deal with the ones here now.
Caius was able to hold on just long enough for the yelling woman he didn’t recognize at first to enact her plan. A large tree would come hurtling at the Iron Giant as a result of it’s own spell. When it hit, the Gravity spell was released and Caius would be able to Warp Strike and go after it’s head again. After one strike, he could hear the sounds she made, indicating there were more but to focus on the Giant.
Looking toward them, Caius would swap out his sword as a short sword would appear in his hand. Pulling at it to form two daggers, he would toss them both with expert precision, nailing two of the Goblins in the face before they disappeared and his primary sword would re-appear once again. Caius would plunge it into the giant’s back to keep his leverage, hoisting himself upwards as he would seek to try and bring it down with constant blows to the head while it was still stunned. There was true fire in the mercenary’s eyes as he could only remember the days of old. Fighting for his life against daemons, barely scraping by, sometimes spending whole days just hobbling to safety after a close brush with death. These were things that Caius did not wish to re-live... But here they were.
With it prone and down on it’s knees as it was, Caius would let out a loud war cry as this blade would be imbued with Blizzard magic again and he would blip himself higher up, crashing down as he would bring his sword down on the back of the Iron Giant’s head with full intentions of finishing it off, and finishing it off for good this time.
This had to do it, he thought... He had used far too much mana. He wouldn’t hold out too much longer at the rate that he was fighting.
Zack couldn’t stifle the amused laughter that bubbled up from his stomach from the girl’s response, despite the fact that he was still hanging on for dear life not to get crushed by a giant armor’s magic spell. There was something about the seriousness of her, coupled with her lighthearted voice in her responses that warmed his spirits. However, it wasn’t something he could ponder on for long, as the Soldier kept his gloved grasp tight around the hilt of the Buster sword. The wind was still whipping past his ears, the sounds of destruction loud behind him as various bits and pieces of the forest were crushed into nothingness by the effects of the gravity spell.
That kind of gravity magic didn’t work that way on his world, and it was terrifying to think that there were different ways magic could be used to, y’know, crush you into oblivion depending on who or what you ran into.
Nearby was the sound of another groaning, angry tree. However, as Zack turned to make sure that it wasn’t going to directly knock his head from his shoulders, he saw a familiar, inky blackness by its roots. That was the kind of gravity spell he was used to seeing. “MAKE WAY!” The Soldier was thankfully tucked just out of the way of the massive tree, but as soon as he heard it make contact with the metal beast behind him, the pressure of the gravity spell finally let up. Zack took a breath as his feet finally touched the grass again, wiping away some of the dirt and debris from his head as he pulled the Buster sword from the earth, “Thanks, Turk girl!”
… Wait. How’d he know she was a Turk?
Zack rushed forward, quickly swinging his sword against the prone form of the Iron Giant. It was sluggish in its movements, its joints icy from their combined blizzard attacks earlier, and down on one knee, it hardly had the reaction time to move quickly. The blonde man above was quick to resume his own strikes as well, yelling with a fury as he attacked. The Soldier focused his own attacks on the elbow joint of the Giant’s right arm -- there was no way he was going through that crushing gravity experience again!
As the Buster sword crushed against the dark, muscle-like material under the armor’s joint, Zack could have sworn he heard voices. He saw the suited girl take off quickly toward the problem, which appeared to be a small group of Goblins. “Be careful over there!” he called out to her, and still a part of him felt silly for even suggesting that she needed to. After all, she’d been the most capable out of the three of them so far, or so it seemed. Still, a part of him was concerned about her.
No time to focus on that, though. Zack gathered his strength, planting his boots hard into the ground as he prepared to rocket himself up to deal as much damage as he could to the Giant’s vulnerable head. The blonde man had been putting all of his strikes there, so surely, if the two of them struck the same area together, it would be enough to take the creature down. The Soldier pushed off of the ground with a battle cry, swinging his heavy blade with precision, heavy blows tearing into armor and black sinew alike. A powerful strike followed by another battle cry came from above, as the blonde man came crashing down on the back of the Giant’s head.
The creature bellowed as Zack dropped back to the ground, rolling away as the armor began to collapse, and the creature began to evaporate slowly into a fine, dark mist. The forest seemed oddly still for just a few moments as the Iron Giant’s corpse continued to vanish, but Zack immediately began moving in the direction that he saw the red-head take off in. There were more little voices appearing in the dark now, and the Turk woman had been left to deal with them all just off in the distance.
“Come on,” the Soldier urged his fellow battle buddy, “Let’s go help her!” He picked up his speed, swinging the Buster sword over his back as his trudged into the bushes and loose foliage where the sounds were coming from, hoping that the red-head hadn’t met with much trouble.
If it was up to me, I'd rewrite history, and change my destiny. One last time.
As the iron giant evaporated into a fine black mist, a soft blue plume of smokey aether rose into the air. It illuminated the trees for a moment just hovering. It was almost the mist itself had a more viscous substance. A dainty, feminine laugh emanated from the colorful aura. It was cold, and mirthless. It stilled the forest around them, as if the laugh chilled the nocturnal creatures to the bone. Neigh, chilled the entire forest into standing still. Like a plume of smoke, it drifted northward on the wind before its aether particles fizzled out into the darkening forest.
As a result of the burst of ghostly aether, the pyreflies in the forest gathered. A soft light opened up from between the tree branches. Alabaster feathers floated gently down and there an ethereal figure looked down. His heavy build held firmly by a strong angel’s wing. His soft blue eyes looking down at Zack for a moment, softening slightly. “Zack… Angels dream of one thing…. To be human…” Angeal looked down at his gloved hands for a moment, before giving a piercing gaze to Zack. “Zack, Let me show you what I mean...” His words dispersed into the cold air. With that, his wing beat hard, but no air seemed to be stirred by it. The light dimmed and Angeal drifted away southwards into the forest, as the pyreflies dispersed into motes on the wind.
Simultaneous a second figure appeared on the ground behind Caius. Silent and serene, the soft glow of her skin and golden hair contrasted with the darkness. “Is that all you got?” She sounded a bit miffed about him taking a toll on himself, “We should regroup to the east, and re-gather our strengths. I have a camp already set up. There is more to come, I’m sure.” She then turned, her hair drifting on a non-existent wind. She looked over her shoulder, “Are you coming?” She faded into the brush in the eastward directions.
Cissnei felt the pierce of the laughter in her core, and as she side stepped the attack of one goblin. She felt stunned for a moment. She elbowed goblin two in the face, before flipping over her shuriken and tearing it from the goblin she killed. Before she could turn around, she heard another lunging at her. She spun and ground her heel into the side of its head knocking it hard into a nearby tree. She continued the momentum to drive her fist into his face, and it slid to the ground. It dissolved into mist, as if insects came and ate away at it in an instant. Cissnei shook the blood off her knuckles.
In that moment she heard a masculine voice, “Good work, Cissnei.” It paralyzed her though process for a moment. “Veld?” She whispered softly, her eyes trying to search for the source. She saw two suited figures moving northward into the shadows. However, the distraction was enough for the remaining two goblins to edge in on her. She was able to dodge the first attack, but the second goblin’s claws delved deep into her arm. The first one then came around and jumped up on her back and began strangling her from behind. Dropping her weapon, she tucked her chin and reached up. She grabbed the creature by the arms and pitched forward to flip it off her. It landed hard on some tree roots and seemed stunned for a moment.
She then stepped hard on the edge of her shuriken to bring it to her hand and let it fly into the throat of the one that clawed her. It too evaporated into the night. Cissnei caught her breath for a moment, before looking in the direction of where she heard the voice. She murmured something quietly to herself.
