The Fire of One's Soul

[Qit'ria]

Timestamp: Vhalar 60, 718th Arc

Qit'ria sat atop her own building, the inn where she was temporarily staying in this blight upon Idalos. Of all the cities of Idalos, Qit'ria was sure this was by far the worst. The people here thought themselves so high and mighty over others, that any lesser person was not a savage, but worst. They were worms in the mud to the nobility, to the Mantis, to the king. These people thought their lives so important that others were less so. Lives discarded with no reason beyond fear. These were not "civilized" people as they claimed. They were heathens of the highest degree.

And they'd gone too far.

Charlie approached her side, "Qit'ria. There's something going on up the road away from the setting sun. A lot of people building something from wood, gathering about. They are excited about something."

Qit nodded, not saying anything, merely flicking her cat tail, and Charlie left her, probably to go be with his Natasha now that they were reunited. She wished she could be happy for them, especially since she was responsible for it. But she was numb. So numb. And she knew that was a good thing now. Slaying the Mantis while feeling like this would be so easy. The world had changed around Qit'ria, and she despised it. Friends were cruel, secrets revealed, and unknown dangers came forth.

Fine.

If the world could change against Qit's wishes, she could change it to how she wanted it too. It was time. Time to make a big change in this scum filled world called Andaris. There was no good here. There was nothing worth saving in this cesspool. It was a dead swamp. Filth, ichor, stench. Best to just remove it, to allow something else to exist in its place.

Qit'ria, in her pure white cat form, looked back over her shoulder at the many cats, male and female that awaited her command. She twitched an ear, and made her way across the rope to the opposite building across the road. And all the cats followed her. After all, she was the Queen now. She ran from rooftop to rooftop, heading westward, keeping an eye on the intersections below. If she'd learned anything about city dwellers, it was that they loved to hold big events at intersections. Probably so as to bother more people. Stupid. Qit would never set up a fur selling stand on a game trail.

Finally, she was able to see what was going on. Large logs and hay were being stacked in the center of a square. Several thick posts stood upright around the center of the pile, with chains hammered into them. People were gathering around them in curiosity. She didn't like the look of this. She knew a campfire when she saw one, and this was much, much bigger. Faith had said that Rynmere burns mages alive. It was simple to figure out.

Turning to the other cats at her beck and call, "Go. All through square. High and low. Watch only. I want know all who set up this. Follow after done. Where live. Who live with. Name. Go."

Qit'ria laid down low on the balcony of the roof. She wondered if Zipper was down there somewhere as the crowd began to grow. Only Zipper and Oonah knew her cat form. She watched as her cats spread through the crowd, moved along the rooftops, taking inauspicious positions. It might seem as though there was more cats than usual, but nothing special. After all, these cats were, in fact, normal ones.

It didn't take long until a man and woman in fancy garb dragged a bloodied and battered blonde woman through the crowd. She looked as though she'd been beaten over and over for many trials, and Qit knew that to be the Mantis style. She didn't recognize the two dragging her, but she watched them. They were being added to those she'd visit soon. They chained the blonde woman to one of the posts. Then a large man walked through the crowd, a bit fat in the face, thick in the chest, with ornate garb.

"Ladies and gentleman. It pains me to bring you here today for such a mournful occasion. For today, we remove another of our own, touched by the curse of magic. Her name is Kraylia Fieldson. Some of you know her as a seamstress, a mother of three. Her husband died many years back, defending our borders, slain by pirates." At this the woman shook at the chains. "But after her husband's death, Kraylia did not turn to the Seven, did not turn to her neighbors, to her family. No. She met a man, one from a foreign land. He is an interloper from abroad.

And that man was a mage.

A necromancer. This man could raise the bodies of the dead and bend them to his will. A blasphemer, a monster. And he infected poor Kraylia with his magic, on the promise that she could bring her husband back, the same husband she mourned for. And she did. She brought him back. And her husband turned on her. Ate her children, turned on her.

But luckily for Kraylia, one of our very own Mantis were nearby. And detected this monster. He rushed in an slew the creature. But once it was known that Kraylia was a necromancer, he had no choice but to arrest her! For she'd committed murder by magic! An offense of the highest order. She'd given her soul to defy the Seven! For what? The comfort of a lost lover? Everyone dies, but death is nothing to fear to true believers such as us! Her husband is in the Eternal Kingdom, waiting for her.

Kraylia will never arrive.

She sold her soul to magic. She will never know our paradise. She will know eternal torment and corruption at having desecrated that which is most holy, one's own soul.

But we can help her! We can purify her soul! To give her the forgiveness she needs to see her husband. We do this through baptism by fire. Her body will perish but her soul will be saved! She will be reunited with her husband, with her two daughters, with her sun, and they will be happy through Eternity. So do not mourn this woman, do not curse her. She made a mistake, just as all of us do. And we are here to help her fix it.

This is a celebration. A joyous occasion. We burn her body and give her absolution. She should be praised, for reaching the kingdom we all strive to see. When we get there, let us find Kraylia, let us embrace her, let us thank her for being the example we need. The example we need to know that magic is nothing but the highest form of evil. But all evil can be vanquished.

And today is a victory!

So drink, celebrate, for we send one of our own to paradise!"

And with that, the man waved over a young acolyte, barely old enough to begin growing facial hair, who carried a torch. The fat jowled man gestured to the pyre, while Kraylia looked on the boy. There was a mother's pain in her eyes. Not because she was about to die, but because a boy so young was the one who would kill her. No child should commit such atrocities.

The torch touched the hay, and the fire began to spread.

"May we all be so lucky as to reach the Eternal Kingdom!"

[Sephira]

She hated this place.

It made her skin crawl. There were eyes everywhere and a desperate hated for her kind. Sephira hadn’t known what she was getting into when Kura briefed her, Rey’na and Maxine on a mission that would lead them to this horrible kingdom. The mage breathed in deeply and focused on her Attunement Spark as she began maintaining Static just before she attempted to recreate the effect that her mentor had instructed her on just before her departure. Her pitch black eyes would immediately give her away if any of these people got a good look at her. The Element pulled her hooded cloak tightly around her face as she clung to the side of the beautifully paved street. A thin, delicate tendril of ether was threaded into her Attunement Spark and the woman focused on the Spark itself, on coaxing it into something of a trance by way of it's Frequency. You couldn’t hope to completely snuff out the will of a Spark but you could ‘soothe it’ according to Elias.

Sparks were often aggressive entities, vying to possess more and more of the mage’s soul, but with Attunement she could better feel this connection that they shared, and negotiate more of a peaceful coexistence with the magical entities residing within her. Her Attunement Spark slowly began to calm and relax it’s grip on her soul and outwardly the mutation that clouded her eyes with a solid onyx hue began to fade. Sephira turned her gaze toward her reflection in a nearby shop window to see her old Biqaj eyes staring back at her. There was a strange sense of relief in that moment. She looked a little more human again, even if it was only while she was maintaining the slow trickle of ether that kept her Spark soothed.

The mage shifted from her position along the edge of the street, allowing her hood to fall down to her shoulders now that her mutation was aptly hidden. Beneath the cloak, the soldier was wearing a well tailored set of masterwork leather armor, with her black leather coat. Her saber, Wyvern along with a set of slender steel throwing blades were belted at her waist. The woman watched in silence as a crowd began to grow at the end of the road where it opened into one of the many town squares scattered around Andaris.

This city was consumed by a sickness, a madness that struck out at one singular minority;mages.

The Special Assistant inclined her head toward the crowd, gesturing for comrade, Rey’na to follow her at a distance. The Element made no attempt to give Maxine such orders. The stubborn woman did as she pleased and the mage knew that she had to choose her battles carefully when it came to her.

Breathing deeply the Element skirted around the edge of the crowd just as a woman horribly beaten was dragged through the crowd toward the center of the square where logs and kindling were being gathered in a pile. Sephira felt the back of her neck prickle uncomfortably.

Something terrible was about to happen. She could feel it in her bones.

Two individuals, a man and a women in lovely silken clothes held on to the arms of the woman before chaining her to the posts in the middle of the pile of wood.

At that moment a man with wobbly jowls and massive girth entered the square. He was bedecked in rich clothes befitting a noble and wore a plethora of rings on his fingers. Sephira found herself frowning deeply at the man. He looked just a little too happy to be doing what she suspected he was about to do.

Her hand wandered near to her saber before settling on the hilt. The mage tried to look aloof as she did so, but her eyes glittered with intensity as she stared at the massive man. His words struck her like a hot brand.

“For today, we remove another of our own, touched by the curse of magic. “

“A Necromancer...”

“But we can help her, we can purify her soul...”

All people, mages included had the potential to be both good and evil. While Necromancers were predisposed toward actions that society feared, it did not mean that this woman was deserving of such a painful or gruesome death.

But they had a mission, and Sephira was supposed to be leading her team, not sending them headlong into something that might compromise their goal of reclaiming the portal stone.

The Element turned back to face toward the rest of her companions She shook her head, clearly indicated that there were to do nothing. Their mission was the sole purpose for being here, they couldn’t forget that. Even if the Rupturer desperately wanted to skewer the fat man standing at the center of the adoring crowd.

Dialogue|Thoughts

[Max]

Maxine might've fallen under Special Assistant Blackwood's responsibility, but she was undoubtedly the most reluctant between the three allies from Scalvoris. History proved she was more apt to murder Elements than she was to assist them in their endeavors. She owed the people and the Council of Scalvoris neither her loyalty or service to their cause. The island's state of vulnerability so long as Rynmere held a portal stone was of no real concern to her. It could go up in flames and Maxine would dump her rum to knowingly raise the fire before she helped put it out. Rey'na and Sephira could play the part of devoted soldiers dedicated to their mission all trial long. Max, on the other hand, had agreed to join their task force for her own reasons. The main one was especially malevolent and dark. A head hunt for her own personal satisfaction. And she had come to collect.

While Rey'na and Sephira were out doing whatever they were up to, the ex-convict had firmly settled into her trial's itinerary. For once it didn't include the bar. Not until a later break at the very least. Instead she chose to seat herself on an opened window sill on a building's second story with a joint in hand. She'd evidently chosen a fine spot to watch the scene unfolding below her come to ominous fruition. Puffing at her Ambrosia, Maxine watched as eager laborers hastily stacked the hay around the thick logs in the square. Indifference characterized her features. Once upon a time she experience a short stint at a Rynmerian orphanage. That's what she thought she remembered anyways. What memories she had of the kingdom were less than fond, but it wasn't a tumultuous childhood that drew forth her apathy. After what she'd seen, what she'd experience over the last arc? Well, to put it bluntly, it asphyxiated things like empathy right out of her system. These people were not her own. Whoever the locals planned on burning at the stake meant nothing to her. The concept of watching someone burn alive was anything but foreign to her. She'd seen plenty of that. Still she stayed. Maybe a sick part of her was drawn to the spectacle of the near future like everyone else. Her focused mind honed in on the opportunity it provided instead. The event was garnering public interest and drawing quite the crowd.

Perfect.

Maxine pulled the joint away from her lips as she surveyed the crowd. Her caramel eyes carefully bounced around from face to face, surveying the throats of the passerbys in particular as more curious bodies flocked to the scene. A steady, thin stream of white smoke wafted from her lips into the air. It didn't take long for the theatrics to begin. Men ornately garbed made their grand entrance with a brutalized blonde mage in tow. The former inmate scoffed nearly as soon as the speaker's speech started, her free hand forming a mocking mouth that followed the man's lips. She probably hated mages about as much as the people below her feared them. In prison they had routinely tried to kill her. Before that, they'd burned her, held her captive without shackles, kidnapped her, and wounded her body and mind. It was a wonder she didn't hop down to drop a torch on the hay pile herself. She extended a leg out, peered up at the window frame, and shook her head as she continued to listen. Crazy as one might've accused her to be, even this bullshit was too much for her entertain. Her gaze moved back out to the crowd. Back to business.

Aw, come on now, Francis! Don't you want to watch the mage burning? We both know how much you love a good show.

Focusing, Maxine toggled her enhanced vision to the forefront. The faces below became noticeably clearer as though their distance away had suddenly been greatly reduced. She moved systematically through the crowd, scanning each person before she moved on to study the next. Her frustration grew with each passing trill of failure. The extremism of the radical Mantis faction running the execution continued to assault her ears. In her searching, her head snapped to a pair of women in the crowd. Her eyes flickered between them and the hay as it began to catch. A realization struck her. Her brow rose and the foreign expression of worry spread across her face.

"Shit," Max murmured, taking a final, rushed drag to finish her joint before she pitched it, lowered herself on the ledge of the sill, and dropped the short distance to the ground below. Her knees bent low to help absorb the impact. Then she was gone, moving swiftly through the dense collection of bodies and toggling off her enhanced sense as she moved. She arrived beside Rey'na in time to watch the Special Assistant turn to shake her head. Max looked from the Elements to the Mantis representative standing, no, celebrating with sermon before the rising flames. Her hand discreetly shot forward to give Sephira's forearm a tug. Should the woman turn, she'd find a pair of dark, stern eyes boring into hers.

"You shouldn't be here," Max whispered harshly through grit teeth. She dropped her hand and furrowed her brow, consciously making the effort to wipe the ridiculous look of concern from her face as though it had never manifested at all. Her mind was suddenly more aware of the cat suit and the weight of her weapons beneath her own dark, hooded cloak. As belligerent as she was, even she could identify that this was a bad place for a fight. She looked to Rey'na in hopes her agreement might secure the ultimate decision to retreat from the very public, anti-mage event. "We need to go. Now."

[Rey'na]

60th Vhalar

Home.

That was what Rey'na had once called Rynmere. A place she lived, stayed and spent her life. Be it poisoning people, tricking people, lying, killing or trying to find her one way in life. These streets, these same streets, were the ones she had been before. In particular, she recalled this place. Within eyesight was the road where she had scammed a poor, drunk man. Aeon was his name, and she had taken his money - claiming to work for a charity and to be in dire need of the finance. Without much question, he'd handed her the gold and been on his way, even comforting her, caring for her when she 'needed' it most. His hug, the way he had spoken to her, all because she was in need.

Yet it was all a lie.

That was Rynmere, too. Rey'na had been a liar among a city of others that were just the same. Nobles that claimed to care for people while the girl had grown up on the streets, stealing half her meals and missing the rest. Whatever reason Lisirra had given her as a child to come to Andaris of all places, it wasn't worth it. If she hadn't come, the heartbreak she felt through those Arcs would never have happened. Denebah, leaving to a place she never knew, never knowing where he had gone until one day she'd been told. Suicide. To a place that Yludih went beyond the grave, a place where he could finally go home - just like he had always wanted. Then Fridgar, a man that claimed to love her only to shatter her heart before her own eyes, to tear what sanity she had left away and throw it to the floor with fake apologies and tears as if he hadn't known what his actions would do

As those thoughts ran through her head she felt an uncomfortable feeling in her gut. Cautiously following Sephira, the girl saw it. A woman being dragged along, beaten and abused. It couldn't be, the one thing she had feared seeing. The mage burnings. One of the few things about Rynmere she had no idea could have gotten worse, a place already torn with despair and pain brought to its knees in the name of purity. Yet despite the fear she felt in her heart, her eyes just couldn't stop following. With Windsong on her back and a Sunburst, her shield, on her back at all times - she found her hand twitching for it. Whatever this woman had done, she didn't care. She could end it right now. She could kill the men dragging her, end it all, stop her from going to the pyre that was being set up as she watched. She could make a change, make a stand. But she didn't.

Her gaze locked on to the horrific display she knew was coming, to the sights before her, but she hesitated. Not for her own sake, not for the woman's potential crimes or acts. But for the others. If she jeopardized this mission her time as an Element would end, and the bond she had with Sephira would fracture if not break. But a woman being burned for being a mage? What had been an inhumane city before had turned in to the hell she feared it always had been. But the Rey'na then didn't know the half of hell, not really. Losing Fridgar had hurt her, losing everyone had hurt her. But the real hell was the parts after - the choices. Did she let herself revert to old habits, did she force herself into new ones, or did she cower away to avoid that choice? Some days, she'd chosen all three.

When both Sephira and Maxine spoke to Rey'na, the girl looked to them both. Yet her eyes said the words that her mouth couldn't form. Pain, anger, hatred - a burning mix of the three. Rynmere had been bad enough, being in the place alone. But this entire situation blew the idea of being in Rynmere out of the water. Small tears formed in her eyes as she looked back to the woman that was already bursting into flame, the hay catching fire as it was intended. Yet her hand still twitched as it rested on her spear, shaking violently in a way that neither of the two had likely ever seen. Unmatched in anger, unmatched in rage, even when a woman called Raven had almost taken her life the Cycle prior. Vicious eyes turned to her team.

"Go. But I won't let myself be the monsters they say we are by letting the men that did this walk away" she snarled under her breath, trying to steady herself. As the young boy stood near the fire, Rey'na looked straight to him.

"He dies first."

[Qit'ria]

Timestamp

Qit'ria heard every word and while she didn't speak Common well enough to catch all of it, there was more than enough there for her to get a clear picture. These people were crazy. They weren't simply afraid, not simply dumb. They were crazy, point of fact. And she'd seen how they dealt with crazy people. She preferred her own method. She hopped down from the ledge, looking about, seeing no cats, and shifted back to her Sev'ryn form. She pulled three spears from her domain bag, setting one against the ledge, and walking away to the opposite side of the building.

This set off the traitorstone that dangle around the fat man's neck. But its chime grew fainter as Qit moved away. The fat man held up a fist, and every member of the mantis in the crowd, save for the two that accompanied him next to the fire began moving outward more aggressively, looking for any and all signs of magic use. Mutations, changes, unexpected phenomena. To anyone with moderately trained eyes, they'd see at least thirty Mantis members moving through the crowd. But more subtly one man was leaning against a building, obscured in the shadows, watching the men and women get to work. He too felt the chime, but had not yet decided to act. After all, this was not Rynmere's first mage burning, and wouldn't be the last to have a mage show up. Moths to a flame, the guy chuckled at his own jest.

Qit'ria reached the back of the building, and searched the area. She saw flags on buildings, clothes on lines, potted plants, all showing her the direction of the wind this high up. She had the sun at her back. That was helpful. She had a spear in each hand, adjusting her grip, taking in a deep breath. She thought back to what had happened in that warehouse. Thought back to her time in that small wood outside of town. Thought back to the daughter she had in a basket back at the inn. A cool and collected calm came over her, as her eyes slid open.

She did a triple skip and launched the first spear in a high arc, knowing it would be lost in the sun, likely unnoticed. And she continued to run forward with her momentum. She tossed the second spear to her better arm. As she neared the ledge, she hurled it over, remember just where the woman had been standing, sending it in a tight line. With the spin of her body from the throw, she grabbed the spear leaning against the roof's edge, and side armed it at the young boy. Not watching to see if her throws were successful, she sprinted off toward the east along the building's edge.

Her second spear thrown hit the woman straight in the chest, throwing her back several meters and pinning her into the wall behind. The third spear missed the boy, zipping past him uselessly. There was a shout and people pointed at her, and a scream was uttered. She quickly ran across a clothesline, just over top Sephira, Rey'na, and Maxine, finding it almost as easy as when she'd been a cat. Her hood was up and her bear cloak tightened, so as to further obscure her visage from her pursuers, not that she minded. She didn't walk around bearing this face anyways. And she wanted them to chase her. Identify as many of them as possible.

The third spear finally came down, and came straight down through the fat man's face, bending him backwards awkwardly, pinning him to the ground. And the Mantis members began shoving people in the crowd aside, so as to chase this cloaked assailant as she sprinted along the rooftops. Meanwhile, the specialist in the shadows just watched, not convinced this wasn't more than a distraction.

Qit'ria let loose a loud bear's roar. Let them chase her. While they did, her cats followed them. Moths to a flame indeed.

[Sephira]

The Element narrowed her eyes at her spear wielding subordinate when she neglected to heed her order. She hadn’t expected Rey’na to be the sort to break ranks at a time like this. Clearly she didn’t know everything about the young woman.

Rey’na was moving, and Sephira could only watch in horror as her comrade ignored her orders and launched herself into the fray.

At that moment Max’s hand grasped the mage’s forearm and Sephira turned sharply toward the woman. Her lips were set in a grim line as she turned her head back toward where Rey’na was vanishing into the crowd.

“I know.” she replied firmly, her face hardening are she turned back toward Rey’na’s departing form.

There was conflict in her eyes, and fear that this mission was about to fall apart. She couldn’t lose control of this situation.

However, that was exactly what was about to happen.

A soft chiming began to reverberate around the square, coming from the neck of the man that had been addressing the crowd. His face turned into a scowl and he lifted his fist in a signal, spurring thirty men and women to began shifted through the crowd. Sephira felt her breath catch in her throat as she caught sight of the figures moving. They had to be the mage hunters that they had been warned about before coming here.

“Rey!” she shouted, the warning coming too late just projectiles descended on the crowd.

Spears came flying from the sky, the first that arrived impaling the woman who had been tying the necromancer to the pyre. The second flew wide, missing it’s target but the third came careening out of the glare of the sun and brutally impaled the fat man that had signalled his fellow mage hunters. Sephira found herself turning on her heel to look toward the direction that the spears had come from just in time to see a dark silhouette leaping over them, garbed in a bear-skin cloak.

The whole trial had gone to shit and chaos surrounded them as cries went out in the crowd that there were mages among them.

The soldier had a choice; to run, and leave Rey’na to her fate or reveal who they were and fight to get Rey’na back and possibly save the woman on the pyre.

“Fek.” she hissed just as she released the Soothing on her Attunement Spark and her eyes washed to a deep obsidian. Ether sailed into her Sparks like liquid silk, filling her with energy just as she reached into the fabric of reality just at the center of the crowd. She needed to quickly clear the civilians from the area.

The Rupturer clawed at the fabric of space, unleashing a Roaring. The air reverberated; warping violently as it screeched and boomed with the intensified sound of a portal.

Screams broke out, peppering the square as people ran from the scene, covering their ears in pain. However the majority of the Mantis Members remained,as many of them had seen the technique before.

Sephira reached out with her Celerion Mark, the golden band around her wrist flaring as she extended the Bond to Rey’na. Muted emotions spilled through the connection. There was anger there, anger at Rey’na walking away and endangering them all. She had acted like an utter fool. But there was also fear; fear that not all of them would make it out alive.

The mage glanced back at Max with glittering black eyes.

“I’m going to get her; keep our path of escape open, kill anyone that gets in your way.”

The words left her mouth and Sephira infused ether into the space to her right, tearing open a Blink with a thrumming boom and she leapt through. There was no way to know if Max would do as she asked but she trusted the woman all the same. For all her faults she had never lied to her. Sephira on the other hand had failed her in the one way that had counted, in being unable to apprehend Earth Mask.

Wrenching Wyvern out of its sheath she flew through the portal, her Egress opening just above and to the right of Rey’na. Adrenaline raced through her as she landed and use her momentum to send her toward the nearest mage hunter who was turning toward Rey’na in surprised that someone was headed in the direction of the pyre.

Her saber snapped out in a diagonal upward slice that tore open his back in a bloody gash. The man screamed before toppling over. Activating Omnivision, Sephira became keenly aware of her surroundings. She could “feel” every movement and individual person in a wide bubble around her.

Another mage hunter, a woman came from behind and the Rupturer reversed the direction of her blade and turned swiftly to thrust Wyvern into the hunter’s chest. Blood splashed onto the flagstones as Sephira wrenched her weapon out and turned toward the direction of her runaway comrade.

“We need to go, now Rey!” she said, swearing as another man came toward her. Sephira ducked under the blow of his wooden mace before skysteps alighted beneath her feet and she executed a quick elevated turn in the air before coming back toward toward him to impale the man through the back.

Havoc and violence was unleashed in that square and in that moment the fate of Scalvoris and the portal stones was in question. It was only a handful against dozens of hunters. Although in Max and Sephira's case, they had faced worse odds before. They had survived the Element's cult and with some luck they might survive this.

Off Topic

Going with the assumption that Rey has run into the square and is headed to the pyre after discussing with the player.

Dialogue|Thoughts

[Max]

The ex-convict had looked to the green Element to back up her firm suggestion they vacate the spectacle. She half expected Sephira to be the irrational one, diving head-first into danger to keep a fellow mage from being executed in such a barbaric way. Instead it was Rey'na flying off the logic handle, storming off to see through a self-righteous mission for the good of her mortal soul or something ridiculous of that nature. She wanted to shed the stigma that mages were monsters. In the same breath, she'd also claimed the young boy as hers to murder. Maxine would've rolled her eyes at the hypocrisy if the choice of the woman didn't carry such heavy consequences.

She watched Rey'na maneuver through the crowd toward the Mantis gathering. They should've let the little idiot march off to her death. Kura likely expected a casualty or two. She was confident enough that she and Sephira could figure out a way to recover the portal stone themselves. They could be on their merry way after that sans one more headache. Duty-bound. That's what the Special Assistant had always been. There were always exceptions to the rule. Maxine knew well enough that the Special Assistant was too kind to let her insubordinate Element essentially go off herself. Her jaw tightened, and her darkened eyes shifted to find Sephira's glance.

If they don't kill her, I fucking will.

Trills later everything escalated with a speed that came with mental whiplash. The Mantis were on the move. Members shoved their way forcefully through the crowds with weapons ready. The closer they came toward her allies, the more Maxine's mood soured. What was done was done. There was no stopping what was to transpire next now that momentum had built. They were outnumbered in a battle that they had no business in waging, and worse, it was one that would only hinder their progress once the mages among them were discovered.

Part of Max had a thought to attack the Special Assistant, put her in a choke, and drag her out of the fray. The Mantis would have their mage. Eyes were be off them. She was debating the very merit of that plan when the spears started flying from a nimble mage sporting a bear cloak. Her eyes followed the hooded woman as she danced out of the reach of the Mantis below her, letting rip a bear's roar and hurling spears as she went with admirable precision. Max was caught appreciating the killing when portals began to wreak havoc in the crowd, encouraging them far from the violence. Anxiety filled her chest, and it hit a high note when she turned to find Sephira's black eyes trained upon hers. She was going to openly reveal herself.

"I thought you'd never fucking ask," Max replied darkly, fingers curling into fists at her sides. It was easy to pick out who was a mage hunter and who wasn't. Common citizens had the sense to sprint from the sound that assaulted their ears. Mantis members knew it was simply a clue that they had more quarry. They swam in the opposite direction of those that fled, and soon they'd collapse around the pair of Element mages once the obvious became known to them. Their work was cut out for them. Meanwhile, as she watched Sephira rush to save Rey'na, Maxine became acutely aware that she had an out.

The Mantis had three mages to occupy them. Max already scored her free ride to Rynmere to hunt her devil. Most pertinently, she wasn't cursed with a spark that made the Mantis her inherent enemy. Her allies didn't listen to her when she said they needed to go. Rey'na made their bed, and if Sephira wanted to get under the covers, they could both lie in it for all she cared. Nothing was stopping her from taking the exit for herself. She vowed a new attitude after her last visit from Chrien. Fuck Slags Deep. Fuck Scalvoris. Fuck the allies who had left her to rot. Now was as good a time to ghost as any other. She never had to return to that wretched island to face Kura's ire if she didn't want to. And yet a riddle, spoken in the eerie voice of a child, had been etched deep within her mind.

"For fuck's sake," the ex-convict hissed to herself before turning to spy a Mantis aiming his longbow at the mage racing along the rooftops. If the Mantis were now here enemy, the unknown spear-thrower might've just become a friend in this battle by default. She withdrew a dagger from her hip and quickly hurled it. It caught the man in the side of the rib cage just as he was loosing his arrow. His shot went wide as he crumpled in place. His hands hovered over the weapon lodged in his body, mind trying to conceive where it could've suddenly come from. Maxine continued on toward her distant allies in the midst of a heated fight. She drew her gladius from its sheath and set to her bloody work.

As soon as she punched her blade through the back of the first Mantis in her path, attention was drawn to her like the others. A pair of hunters turned on their heels at the sound of their brethren's cry of anguish. The ex-convict juked away from the polearm jabbed at her face and bobbed beneath the swing of a short sword as she engaged them. Coming back up to a stand, her blade slashed across the lower torso of the swordswoman in the space between her armor and her hips. Strings of organs slipped through the space while her comrade stood beside her, his face painted with horror and helplessness. It was the only bout of demoralizing she needed to give him deadly pause. When her sword returned, it passed his guard to drill into his chest. She planted a front kick to him to wrench her weapon free. Maxine's gaze searched the field to discover a row of archers emerging from an alleyway, hoping to catch the warring mages on the ground unaware from a distance.

"No!" came her defiant snarl, and a violent windstorm swept the city square in the same trill. Loosed arrows flew wantonly, their wielders unable to fix them to a target through the wild gale wind. Maxine's jet black hair whipped behind her. Accusations of Defiance were shouted in high pitch from the Mantis affiliates who remained. She rushed toward the backs of the hunters surrounding the Elements. Her hand reached out to peel a mage huntress's head back, and her sword raced across the windpipe mere moments afterward. She dropped the body, effectively cutting a hole in the formation of their enemies for them to escape through.

"Sephira!" Max shouted with wide, urgent eyes. "Now." A thick flood of storm clouds flowed out from Maxine to provide a cover for her allies to escape through should they choose. Only when, and if, she heard their foot steps entering her fog would she turn on her heels and sprint for the nearest alleyway.

[Rey'na]

60th Vhalar, 718

Everything went so quick.

As her mind had wandered, thinking about all the possible outcomes of today, she knew that none were likely to end well for her. It was her against a small army, after all. Yet something inside of her refused to stop walking as if she couldn't back down now. Whatever could happen, or did happen, there was no way she was backing down now.

But something about it felt wrong.

Pier and Pre hadn't taught her this, Faith hadn't taught her this, Moseke hadn't taught her this - but Lisirra had. All of what she did now wasn't the Rey'na she'd spent the past Arc being, but the Rey'na she'd seen before. Yet as she looked on to the child she'd marked as the first target she saw something different. Something evil, but all too familiar. A young child, taken in and taught a dark and dangerous road, made to do vicious deeds on behalf of another. She saw herself, Arcs ago. A young girl with vibrant blue eyes, dagger strapped to her side as she stabbed a man to death, a vial of poison on the floor and a clear liquid coating the weapon. It had been a sloppy kill, but one of her first. Yet there was a key difference.

When Rey'na had committed that act the woman that corrupted her turned around and embraced her, gave her a loving hug to show how proud she was. This child had found no affection, nothing that showed any level of care. After a cold act of murder, the boy had just been left to stand, a javelin almost hitting him and taking his life away. Now a mage ran at him to take his life, for the purpose of showing him that his life was evil, twisted. Words from Moseke filled her mind and she thought back to the day she had been let go, given a new life, healed of her ills. How Moseke could have ended her, but instead saved her, albeit in a harsh and unforgiving way.

What was she doing? Taking a life to stop them from going corrupt? Qylios had blessed her for her bravery and kindness, Pier and Pre taking her in for her determination and bravery, her refusal to give in to the darkness that corrupted her. Moseke and Ymiden had granted her sanctuary away from the dangers she had faced. All of them had helped turn her to a force of good, determined to help save people.

She wouldn't throw that in their face now.

While she ran with her thoughts she heard Sephira slicing a man down. Immediately someone turned to her, seeing her drawn weapon and making a grab for her. Without hesitation, she swung the bladed edge towards him, Windsong cutting through the air and immediately taking out the man's throat. Panic was ensuing around them, the crowd running and a group of enemies clear. Whoever had arranged this burning probably expected such a reaction from the men and women around, or at least some of them. Protests, violent or otherwise, were bound to happen when you burned people in the streets.

Sephira suddenly appeared beside her, sword coated in blood from the people she'd killed, shouting that they had to leave. A small glance to the child made her heart pause, before finally looking to Sephira and nodding. Odds were, though, getting out of here wasn't going to be easy. "Alright" she muttered, not making eye contact with Sephira once. Lashing out wasn't often the reaction Rey'na gave, nor was it one Sephira had ever seen before. Yet here they stood.

Whether Sephira joined her or not, the girl finally ran towards Max. What happened after now would end poorly either way, but that didn't matter. As she sprinted a few men tried to cut them off, but the girl had no intention of letting them. Pushing off the ground with one foot, the girl propelled herself and raised her spear, driving it towards the man and through his chest and knocking him to the floor, Rey dropping to her knees from the momentum. Without pausing for a trill she swung herself around to hit a second man, the bladed weapon missing by a small margin and instead hitting him on the side of the head with the blunt of the weapon. Despite it, however, the metal laced shaft slammed in to his head and knocked him down.

Quickly, Rey'na ran into the fog in front of them, disappearing from the centre of the street.

[Qit'ria]

Timestamp

Qit'ria heard a loud sound, deafening, like standing next to a waterfall. She looked back toward the square, seeing some sort of strange phenomenon in the air, and could tell that was where the sound was coming from. It reminded her of the woman she'd "met" in a cave on Scalvoris. Turning back forward, she had more important concerns, running along the rooftop like a bread thief being chased by scimitar wielding guards.

The Mantis forces split as more mages and assailants had revealed themselves, and about half now were continuing their pursuit of Qit. More importantly, however, was that a horn blew over the area. It was not the deep boom of a hunter's horn, no. It was a shrill, screeching, penetrating sound, one that grated the very bones of those that heard it. The call to arms of all Mantis.

And with that alarm sounded, many more around Andaris began answering back, showing they'd heard the call. The entirety of Mantis was awakened, and by extension, the guards of Andaris as well. The horn continued to blow, pressed at the lips of the boy that Rey'na had allowed to live, marking where help was needed. Additionally, the specialist seemed to have disappeared from view, preferring a different tactic to his lessers that just ran at the scary "monsters".

Soldiers and Mantis alike began to pour into the streets, and Qit'ria saw them from above as she ran past them. The Mantis' who'd been chasing her couldn't get through the choked streets. She looked back behind her once more as she bounded from rooftop to rooftop, seeing several Mantis had decided to take her own path to freedom. Qit'ria crossed the mainroad across another rope, this one holding up some sort of banner. She then drew a javelin, and sidearmed it toward the last Mantis in the line, letting it roll off her fingers for a slight curve. It caught the man in the torso, and threw him backwards with a surprised screech, tossing him into the road below.

The other Mantis' saw this, and were now reconsidering crossing the same rope she had. Smart. She'd hoped to pick them off with ease that way. A twang of cords snapped, and Qit'ria instinctively dropped low. Several crossbow bolts passed by overhead, shot up from the road. It seemed they were acting with more coordination than she'd expected from them. She stayed in a low crouch, running toward the opposite side of the building, and leaping across a small alleyway.

Looking back, there were many, many more soldiers atop the roofs now, and she saw several kneel, readying crossbows. There was a chimney ahead, and she sprinted toward it, just as the synchronized twang fired once more. Bolts flew past, though one caught her in the bicep, spinning her around as she got into cover. It punched clean through, and had mildly pinned her arm to her torso. She snapped off the feathered end, tossing it away, pulling her arm along the shaft until it was free. She yanked the bolt free of her torso, only having penetrated enough to bury the head. Looking ahead, she saw many more soldiers on roofs.

Surrounded.

Or so they thought. Qit'ria reached up to the chimney's edge, and heaved herself over, and tumbled feet first down into it, holding her breath as she started to fall through the smoke and heat. She used her feet and hands to slow her descent just enough to not break her ankles. She stopped just above the fire, before dropping down into a ball, hitting the piled wood, and rolling out in a somersault, much to the surprise of the family there, who were staring out the window at the soldiers passing by. A husband, wife, and a small girl. Qit'ria quickly pulled another javelin out, and didn't think. She only reacted with her survival and revenge in mind.

The first throw struck the small girl in the heart, pinning her to the wall behind. Her parents looked on in shock, just what Qit'ria was hoping for. No risk for screaming now. She rushed the pair, no longer bothering to draw a weapon. The woman didn't even seem to notice, staring at the corpse of her child, and the father was slow to react, before Qit's claws tore open his throat. She left the man bleeding there as she stepped behind the shocked woman. There was no pity in Qit'ria in this moment. The Mantis had none for her or her family. None could be returned. This was war. Her claws raked across the woman's throat, putting her out of her misery.

Qit'ria knew she didn't have much longer until the soldiers pinpointed her position. She opened the door to the house slightly, and tapped into her cat form, slipping back out into the chaotic streets, darting between legs and such, making her way away from the house. Once a safe distance away, she hopped upon some crates, watching the soldiers and civilians running in opposite directions. But what she didn't see was the specialist, watching her from his own vantage point up the street. The man knew a becomer when he'd seen one, and the sight of her bear skin cloak earlier was enough to trigger his suspicions.

For now, he intended to watch, sure there was more to her plan, while the rest of this section of the city exploded into chaos.

Note

How about one more from everybody, and then we split off into Operation Blackhawk Down

[Sephira]

The scent of smoke filled the square as more violence broke out. There was a scant moment of relief when Rey’na turned , reversing her direction and turning toward Maxine. Her eyes were averted from Sephira’s own, and there was something there, a side of Rey’na that the mage had not seen until now. There was something dark in her, something dangerous that didn’t heed orders or respect the chain of command. The the first time since they left Scalvoris, the Flame Element suddenly felt her trust in the other woman wane. Even Max of all people had done as was needed, but Rey’na had recklessly rushed in, exposing them all.

“We will have words, if we make it out of this alive.” The Rupturer uttered coldly to the other woman as Rey'na turned and retreated. There was anger coursing through her, and worst of all...disappointment. The young recruit had held such promise, perhaps it was only a matter of time before her flaws were exposed.

The area around the mage snapped back into clarity once the other soldier had turned to head back toward Max who was covering their escape.

Just at that moment the sound of a horn blazed into existence, filling the square with sound. Sephira felt her stomach drop once she realized what it signified.

Reinforcements, they were calling for reinforcements.

Mantis members were already closing in again and the soldier felt herself becoming surrounded. They needed to retreat, and quickly.

Distracted by the horn call, Sephira was slow to react when a sword came slicing in toward her head. She felt the blade lance down the side of her face just as she dodged backwards, thrusting Wyvern outwards to impale her attacker through the chest. The young man’s face stared at her in shock as their eyes met. He was so young, no older than sixteen, and he already despised mages enough to hunt them.

Before she could even process killing the lad a woman came wildly swinging toward the mage with an axe. “We will rid this word of your filth.” she hissed as her eyes flared with revulsion.

The Rupturer didn’t even respond, her obsidian eyes only stared icily at the woman as she tore open a Blink that she side stepped through, to appear behind the woman. Her saber snapped out automatically in a precise slice that lashed across the woman’s exposed back. Her opponent pitched forward to the ground with a cry.

Wind tore through the area, and droplets of rain and mist careened through the air. Max was summoning a storm cloud to obscure them. In concert with her Sephira paused for a split trill, tearing open a crackling scarlet portal right in front of the pyre before executing a sharp Pull on the ether surrounding the rupture in space. As she did so Sephira shot toward Maxine, igniting skysteps into existence that carried her up and over the mass of Mantis soldiers just as the Pull took effect. Men and women cried in surprise as their feet were torn out from under them, and their bodies were wrenched toward the portal as if a sudden hurricane force wind had taken hold of them. Mantis soldiers were off their feet and thrown into disarray as the mage felt the welcome embrace of the storm clouds surround her.

“Move, now!” Sephira commanded once the entire team had made it under cover of the clouds.

The portal snapped shut once they were all clear and in full retreat toward the nearest alleyway.

So this was how their time in Rynmere had begun.

It couldn't have been any worse.

They were exposed, and on the run with their mission now in jeopardy.

Dialogue|Thoughts