The innkeeper and his maids were up first thing in the morning, cleaning up after last night, checking what was stocked up in the kitchens and behind the bars. None of them dared venture into the basement while that masked man was down there.

Morning was darker than usual for the past seven months. Mainly due to that huge hole in the sky looming over them. The only light came from around the Chaos Gate.

It seemed three people had choosen to either stay up the entire night, or sleep downstairs. One, the tall rogue Daermon, had drank himself to sleep and lay passed out on the table. Then there was Mephistoph, a half-dark elf sitting across from Daermon. In a far corner, the pale elf Orion. Not too far from the two at the table, sat Dralock the dwarf.

A haggard looking bar maid picked up Daermon's empty bottle and wiped down the table around his head. She heard last night the request from that dark elven woman that that others would gather at this table in the morning if they wanted to fight. Their cause, she greatly respected and cleaned the area spotless for them. She had many fears; fears that they wouldn't be able to beat that mage Vesper, that even if they did, what would be the cost? At other times, the fear of losing her job would seem great, but it was only a trivial concern with what faced them.

She went about her work quietly, so as not to wake the four sleeping in the common room. When she was done, she stood back to admire how spotless the common room was, then went off to do chores in other parts of the Inn before these new heroes woke.

* * *

Granite woke early after a night of hard-to-find sleep. She had barely slept more than three hours and gave up on sleeping any longer. The dwarven woman stretched her sore, tired body and rubbed at an ache in her lower back. With a yawn, she threw back the blankets, then scooted to the edge of the too-high human bed and eased herself to the floor.

She then shuffled over to the vanity across the cold hardwood floor and pulled herself up onto the high stool to look into the mirror. She groaned as she saw herself. There were dark circles under eyes, her black hair and beard were a mess and she still looked exhausted. But, she could fix it all. She pulled a little bag of cosmetics over to her and first went to work brushing the tangles out of her hair, then put it back in two braids as she usually wore it. Her hair was done and arranged nicely, so now she pulled over a pitcher of water and a basin with a cloth draped over the pitcher's hand. She poured the cool water into the basin and then soaked the cloth to wash her face. If only it were warm....but the cool did wake her up a bit more at least.

She dried her face, then pulled out a comb for her beard. Though dwarf women did grow beards, they were finer and softer than mens'. When the tangles were out of her jet-black beard, she put it in two braids as well, then she pulled out a small, flat container and popped it open to reveal a mixture of ingredients that matched her skin tone. With a piece of cloth, she rubbed it into her face, beneath her eyes. After that was done, she dug out a little pot of black wax, which she used to enhance her eye lashes. And as a final touch, she brushed on some pink lip paints.

She looked in the mirror and smiled. Perfect. She then changed into her dress and packed up everything again, just in case. She put on a belt and dropped her mace through a loop. Then with a few final touchs with jewelry and a spritz of perfume, she went downstairs.

Granite found the common room clean and four men sleeping around the table. One elf, a half-elf, a human and Dralock.

Orion looked around at the others who had stayed up over night with a far off gaze. Shaking himself roughly he awoke fully and streached as he stood up straight. A female dwarf had just entered the common room and she didn't seem to show any sign of weariness. The others in the room were a tall man, who at the moment lay passed out on the table, a half-dark elf sat across from him and there was another dwarf at a table. Orion sighed deeply and brushed his hair from his face. All he could do was wait for everyone to gather at the table and then he would now what path lay before him.

* * *

Alera stirred for only a moment before her eyes flickered open. Aiyanna was still fast asleep on Alera's bed. With a bit of discomfort from her back, she sat up, but did not move. She pushed quietly to one wall, and sat still. Aiyanna needed her rest, and Alera had no intention of taking it from her. The more sleep the more strength to stop that gate...

Aiyanna awoke with a start, because she was running throught he stars when the nightmare began something wasn't right. She saw her brother Erias all bloody and dead on pavement that rivers of blood ran she fell to her knees and in 13 years time she cried and her anger surged but could not see her enemy. She was about to release a dangerous spell when she woke up with a start. With some comfort she looked at the ring she wore, though not noticable because her bracers covered and protected top of her hands and partially covering her fingers. It was the ring Mellenroe gave her four years ago.

She greeted Alera whow as already and about and proceeded to clean herself up. And with renewed energy almost in a run , cheerfully went downstairs for she was a bit hungry from last night. And saw that several were already there. She wanted to be cheerful in what could be last of her days. But her nightmare sobered her up by the time she reached the bottom of the stairs. Erias was destined leave this plane of existance early.

Alera had nodded to Aiyanna as she left. Alera knew well of Aiyanna's nightmares. Many a moment Alera woke up that night, hearing her murmur and feeling her anguish. When she was out of the room, Alera stood and pulled the tome from her pack. Quickly, she flicked the pages, studying in on what was said, felt, and considered. This girl...If the Starwinds were alive...so were the Deathwinds. But Zodia was long gone, or so she thought. When Alera stopped her plan, Zodia had disappeared. She was injured, and if she was lucky, Zodia was dead. Her illusive husband, which was a rumor, might not have even existed. If there was a Starwind, there was always a Deathwind to feud with though. She couldn't take the chance. Aiyanna was a precious person she couldn't afford to lose.

* * *

When Sevrina woke, she only felt worse than she did the night before. Her stomach churned. She moaned, then went to turn on her side, then suddenly realized she had to vomit. Her arm darted beneath the bed to pull out the bed pan just in time for her to retch into it.

When finished, she rolled back into bed and curled up. "What the hell is going on?" she grumbled to herself.

Blade was mostly in shock from the strange wake-up call. Sevrina filling up the bed pan then curlign back into the bed. "Oh my..."

Sevrina heard Blade's voice and turned back around to face him. At least now she felt a little better. "I suppose you want me to see a doctor now?" she said in almost a croak.

"I would before the deadline. But..." Blade pushed himself off his bed and stretched loudly. "Would it do any good?" He slowly approached Sevrina's bed and leaned over to look at her face to face, examining her condition. "So, what do you want for breakfast?"

Sevrina wiped her mouth with her blanket, then looked up at Blade. "I don't think we have the time to call on a doctor. Hopefully some of our old friends will bring a priest with them," she replied. "I'm feeling a bit better anyway. And as for breakfast..." she stared with a smirk, "How about some blueberry pancakes, chicken...and some more mint tea. Gods, I am hungry!"

Sevrina got out of bed and took off her tunic. Completely nude, she didn't care what Blade saw as she picked up all her clothes. She dressed quickly, but of course, wearing such small clothes as she did, made the job easy. She quickly brushed her hair and splashed her face with water, then went downstairs.

* * *

Jinn had long since made his way down. Most of the early morning light consumed by the gate. A sigh escaped him as he rested his chin on his folded hands. "Two more days..."

Aiyanna noticed Jinn was already up and about. She strode over to him, sitting down across from him. "Good morning Jinn " Then she waved the maid over and ordered something fresh to drink. Alera should be down soon, she wanted to get things going up and fast, for time will not wait for them unless of course you happen to be a high elf. "Arghh ...what a nightmare..." Aiyanna muttered under her breath as she waited for the maid to bring her juice.

* * *

Rolling out of bed Edwin hit the floor rolling his eyes. "I hate nights like that.....what an odd dream, I am glad nothing like that chaos gate is real." He slowly got up and blinked looking out the window toward the chaos gate "Well I am wrong again, so it wasn't a dream."

Getting himself ready Edwin walked down states and nodded to himself as he noticed alot of the people that he meet the day before where already downstairs. Walking over to a table he was going to wait until it was time for this group to gather again.

* * *

Kitsa managed to make herself sleep through the night, despite the events of the night before. Her hurt ankle was still sore, but her hand didn't hurt anymore. She quickly rose and dressed, then went downstairs to meet the others.

Aiyanna, Jinn, Dralock and the dwarf woman were down there. There were two human men she saw yesterday, but didn't learn their names. Then a half-dark elf and a very pale light elf. No Terin or Sevrina.

Kitsa stood at the base of the stairs with her fists on her hips, looking concerned. "Where does Sevrina be?" she asked in her lilting accent.

Orion watched as others joined the group that had already formed downstairs. Ordering a glass of juice which he sipped at slowly and stared around pondering what could happen.

Nipa rolled out of his bed and moved downstairs and found a place to sit for a while. Unlike yesterday he was not as surprised to see the many different races, and unlike yesterday he did not bounce into the room. One thing he did notice though were the two dwarves, and at first glace he did not think anything of it until he noticed one was in a dress. "A female dwarf, I've seen a female dwarf..." he smiled and finding something to be happy about he moved over closer to her.

"Hello there!" He greeted her cheerily, "I am Nipa, at your service my lady." He smiled at her, "Back in my home town we have heard many things of the dwarves and even some of their wares, where might you be from?"

Orion watched as another came from upstairs and began to talk to the female dwarf. He watched curiously with a look of amusment on his face. Finished with his drink he passed the glass to a maid as she passed. Even with the little rest he got that night he felt as good as he could with that chaos gate hovering over the city. He felt there was hope, even in all the things that had come to pass. His attention was on all the races in the room, but not because they were all there together, because he didn't feel there was any prejudice going on and that was an encouraging thought. He sighed and hummed a soft tone to himself in a voice like a silverbell.

Granite smiled at the grassrunner. She liked their people, always so upbeat and they looked like children. "Hello Nipa," she replied. "I'm Granite. I'm from here in Raiden," she explained. "How long have you been in Lodoss?"

Nipa bowed at her, "Just a few days now, but they have been interesting days." He then looked around the room, "and I can say that things has not been boring around here." Looking back at her he grinned, "since you have lived here, what can you tell me about this place?"

Granite laughed heartily. "Oh, there is so much to Raiden, I don't think I could tell you. But this is known as the city of anarchy. There is no ruler of Raiden, but there are communities that have set up their own order and laws for where they live. Like the dwarven district." Granite explained.

"Ah I see," he said smiling. "Ah, I just remembered, do you think you could translate something for me? I've had this for some times and all I was told was that it has dwarven lettering, but I am not sure what it says."

Granite smiled. "Oh sure, what it is?" she asked.

Nipa was glad to finally get a translation for this. "This belt has been in my fathers items for a long time now, and neither of us knew enough to decipher it." He quickly unhooks a belt from around his waist and hands it to Granite. "It is still just a little bit big for me, but I liked the design."

Orion shifted his weight and stared around the room. Where's the one who told us to gather? Is she alright? Orion assumed she would come downsoon and began to watch the grassrunner agian with and amused smile on his face.

Kitsa sat down in chair in frustration when nobody answered her. She assumed Sevrina was just not downstairs yet, which was rather odd considering the fact that she asked everyone to gather here.

Jinn slowly truned his head towards the other foreigner. He heard the question but it took its time processing into his mind. "Sevrina?" He clarified. "Still upstairs... she may not be well." Jinn yawned loudly and slung his head back to the window.

Dralock woke far more quietly than he usually did. With his eyelids still closed he listened to the voices of the others in the common room, trying to mentaly match faces to the voices he heard. When he noticed Granites voice, he opened his eyes, and turned to look at her to say good morning. He never even finished turning around. As a barmaid passed by him, she reached out and shut his jaw for him. It made a noticeable sound as she did.

It was several long seconds before he was able to think. He had never seen such beauty, at least not from this close up. The maid passed by again, and he was able to snag an ale from her. He gulped the whole thing down without taking a breath. All he could do was stare, wondering how Granite was able to look like an angel after the night they had just been through.

Granite stared at the belt buckle for a moment. "Well, it's a house sigil from an old family in the Kingdom of Stone," she replied. "It was probably traded after the fall."

She realized Dralock was awake and turned to look at him. "Good morning," she said with a smile.

* * *

Done with her research, Alera took her tome and replaced it in the pack securely. She pulled her staff to her side, making sure the blade touched nothing. Alera took a quick step down the stairs and into the commons. She said nothing, but joined them at the table.

Aiyanna thanked the maid as her request was brought and smiled amusingly as she watched the proceedings around her. And she still haven't apologised to Terin for not introducing him when they met Alera for the first time, she had to thank Jinn still and awed a lot to Alera. Then she remembered that Alera never answered her question about Starwinds. She would ask after she came down, she looked at the silver ring, beautifully crafted to the finest way with silver.

Aiyanna smiled at Alera as she came down, " Ah! Alera you didn't tell me about my mother's family the Starwinds last night." Aiyanna was desperate really to grab any history about them, otherwise her power may just go out of control, for it was reacting to her emotions, if she gets angry, so will their voice and even getting upset got them upset too. What was the this terrible power from her mother's family? She looked at Alera again waiting for the answer. All she wanteed was to be united with her siblings and perhaps do her best to help Lodoss to keep the evil at bay.But that wasn't going well on the latter at any rate.

Aiyanna squashed the bloody image of her brother and the explosion of her power, working on it's own way, just like stars taking vegence on Vesper through her as a vessel.Though without her noticing her own eyes flared bright, her eyes were now like amber on fire.Her own magick was already responding to her sad thoughts and frustrations about the entire situation.

Alera had hoped that Aiyanna would have forgotten. "Aiyanna...You might want to have this discussion in private," she said in a near whisper, nodding her head to the others.

Aiyanna's eyes widened a little then nodded in agreement and got herself up and started to go towards the backyard of the inn, best place to discuss what ever Alera had to say about her mother's family.

Alera took the lead and opened a storage room door. The barkeep noticed, but with a single look of Alera, he let them be. She closed the door behind them and led her to sit on a crate.

"Aiyanna...you scared me when you said the name Starwind. Are you certain the name is Starwind?"

* * *

Daermon woke to the sound of people talking and chattering about the day to come. As he started to sit up, he realized he had a minor headache and felt slightly disoriented. Luckily, he quit drinking halfway through the bottle; otherwise, he would have had a bad hangover. "All right," Daermon said loudly, "What's going on?"

Mephistoph grumbles unintelligably in his sleep. He suddenly wakes up and yawns. He is startled by the group of people surrounding his table. He rubs his eyes sleepely and says, "Wha, why is everyone starin at me?" He looks around and sees a couple familiar faces, but still wonders why he is the center of attention.

Terin had been laying in bed for about an hour, waiting for the noise of everyone congregating downstairs. As he heard more and more people, he decided to get dressed and go down to join them. Downstairs, Terin saw Kitsa sitting in a chair looking a little frustrated, so he decided to sneak up behind her and surprise her by giving her a hug better than the one last night.

Kitsa turned to Daermon as he woke. "Good morning. If do recall, Sevrina asked us to meet down here? We're waiting on her," Kitsa explained to Daermon. "Who do you be?" she asked.

She was surpised when she felt someone hug her from behind. At first, she tensed,b ut realized it was Terin. With a smile, she said "Good morning" to him as well.

Nipa was glad to finally know what this meant. "Thank you," he said bowing to Granite. When he looked up to see the other dwarf he just grinned. "I always heard that dwarves preferred to travel with others of their kind." He then bowed to the other dwarf. "Good morning, I am Nipa of Alecrast."

As Sevrina came down, she found there was already a good number gathered. Aiyanna and Alera had disappeared into another room, Kitsa and Terin were there, Dralock and Granite, Nipa, Jinn, that Daermon boy, the human warrior who came in after the battle, a very tall half-dark elf and a pale common elf in the corner. "Mornin'" she said to all of them. She went to her former place at the table, which was currently occupied by the half-dark elf. "Excuse me, that would be my seat," she said sternly.

Nipa looked to see Servina as she entered, "Morning my lady," he said happily.

It wasn't untill Sevrina entered the room that Dralock could regain his senses. Even then, he had to gulp down another drink before he could talk again. "G-g-good morn-ning, Granite," was all he could manage to stammer out. He barely even noticed the grassrunner, though he was able to wave a hello.

Mephistoph looked up at Sevrina. The dark elf woman stood imposingly beside him and didn't look to be in a good mood. "Er...umm....heheh....I'll...umm...You look really pretty today mi'lady," he stammered, standing.

"Yeah, and I just puked up dinner and I'm bloody starving. Get out of my seat," she grumbled. "Oh, good morning Nipa."

Mephistoph jumped out of the chair and quickly pulled it back and offered it to Sevrina. "Can I get you anything ma'am?" he asked politely, looking to make amends. There was something about her that he sensed...

Of course, Sevrina had no problem with his offer. "Blue berry pancakes, some chicken and mint tea," she replied, watching him curiously just to see if this very tall half-elf would jump for her when she said frog.

"Yes ma'am," he replied. "How would you like your chicken prepared?"

Sevrina still watched the half-elf warily. "Roasted with rosemary and oregano."

Mephistoph bobbed his head. "I'll be back soon with your food," he said and turned to kitchen.

Sevrina grabbed his arm after he was out of reach. "What's your name half-elf?" she asked.

"Mephistoph," he replied and bowed as far as the group gathered would allow him. He straightened, then headed into the kitchen too make her breakfast by himself! Sevrina just shook her head.

"That was...not what I expected..." she mused.

Orion saw Sevrina come down and nodded a welcome in her direction saying "Hi." In an unusually joyful tone and moved closer to the table.

Nipa waved back at the Dwarf. "I see you're still kind of tired, It was a busy day yesterday." Nipa almost lost his smile thinking about yesterday and what could happen in two days. "I hope those sorceresses know of a good way to beat this guy... But I am not sure what is worse, that guy in the air, or the guy in the basement."

* * *

Aiyanna nodded, though starteed to get worried at the words. "My dream and visions are never wrong, and I realised why my mother wanted me to be a sorceress, instead of a priestess like my father wished.In my dream, when I fainted...it was back to the time when I was born, My grandmother said that it was great to have at least one of my mother's children have inherited the Starwind's abilities, considering my father isn't a Starwind or something to that effect. To think about it, my grandfather use to have a sword that matched pattern of this pendent."

Aiyanna took out her silver pendent and showed it to Alera, though without knowing, she was showing also the silver ring on her right hand side given to her by Mallenroe four years ago. "This was the family symbol you could say of the Starwinds with what I remember and what I have just put together now, please tell me it isn't so bad I really need to know how to control this power..I know I can listen to the voices of the stars and use a bit of their powers but I didn't know they could overwhelm me." Aiyanna looked pleadingly at Alera, hoping it wasn't so bad.

"No...it isnt so much bad now as it may be later..." Alera muttered. Alera wished she had her tome with her. It would have been so much easier. "I don't care what you choose to believe in what I say to you. What is known about that name is little to none to most all of Lodoss. The name, much like Karla herself, ranges back into Kastuul, the Ancient Kingdom of Sorcery. Your farthest recorded ancester was a man who studied the stars as a new form of magic. After eight years of speaking with the star spirits, they responded to him. A dramatic break through was it, and it began a series of magnificent break throughs in the world of magic. This man had two children, who inherited the magic now running through your veins as well as your ancestor's. It is here where the true legacy of the Starwinds comes to play. The daughter of the two children, as she grew up, prominently began her own deep studies. She soon realized that all this power was meaningless if it was never used. So she disappeared, and assumed a new name.The family branched some before it was finally discovered that the two families were connected. The sister family was named Deathwind. They began feuding furiously. Soon, right before the demise of Kastuul, each family disappeared, secluding themselves from the rest of the world. Each family has great innate powers. The last known Deathwind was named Zodia, and she disappeared when I was but 19 years of age. But if a Starwind has arisen, then it is by fate that so shall a Deathwind.

"I had suspected there was something special about you. Although our family lines are different, the actions of our own magics mirror one another. Which gives me all the more reason to request you stay by my side for some time. I would like to offer you a chance I never recieved. When I was young my powers were beyond control. But, in time, I learned to cope and hold a certain grasp on them. I can teach you the same, so you don't have to suffer as I have. Your Starwind heritage almost promises trouble in your future, and you may not be able to stop it without an abiding control..."

Aiyanna smiled genuinely. "I would like that very much, for the future of Lodoss I will like to take lessons from you. I am pretty sure my mentor would be pleased." Aiyanna's smile broadened, "I think we better head back in, Sevrina might be down." Aiyanna started to go back to the common room again, though her face turned back to slightly mysterious and non expressional again.

* * *

Two brothers stood outside the Inn well into a ritual of intense physical training, one Zatch never really agreed to but participated in none the less. Somehow Kai had become Zatch's mentor in learning swordplay, something that never came easily to Zatch but he had to admit it was an important skill to learn. Incantations take time, spell draw out resources, and some foes are better equipped to defend themselves against magic.

For Kai the daily sparring session was little more than a warm up, once he was finished with the lession he would move on to his own much more advanced drills. But to Zatch, who was still unconditioned for such exertion, could almost consider himself in hell as he was drenched with sweat and had gone beyond exhaustion almost an hour ago.

After a short rest Zatch charged his brother once more with the elven rapiere. Techniques and stratigies were easy enough to learn but he still lacked Kai's speed, power, and precision, which could only be gained by thousands of hours of grueling training. Zatch's attack was countered by a vicious blow to his sword, knocking him back and leaving him wide open for Kai's mock kill. The process was long but both teacher and student were patient.

And thus two brothers continued the session as the morning sun had just finished peaking over the buildings scarred by rain.

* * *

Aiyanna carefully sat down at the table where they were suppose to gather. Her head was full of questions already. What was her purpose on Lodoss? Mallenroe once told her that stars are the ones that played chess with with their destiny. She remembered then, She looked at Jinn and smiled, a genuine smile it was. "Thank you for physically supporting me yesterday and watching my back...in return I could only give you this." She took out ring which was made in design of Starwind's symbol with a tiny blue gemstone mounted between two wings. "My graditude, it is a enchanted ring, I enchanted so it could be a light in your life when everything seems to darken."

Aiyanna was not someone he could rely on for any sort of physical fighting of sort to help him fight. So this was the only way she knew , through using her gift with the stars.When it seems that your life had no hope, with this ring...one would find hope again.It was her mother's ring but was not enchanted before. Though she was not still sure he would accept her gift.

Jinn blinked and delicately accepted the fit between his fingers. "Arr, are you sure? You don't need to be thanking me for anything..." Jinn examined the ring with his eyes, his hand still reached out, ready to return to it if she asked. "And this seems too... important."

"No, please keep it, I can not see others here die though one is already destined, so is another and I can't stop that because it is the will of the stars. I wouldn't want to see you die.." Aiyanna smiled again and reached out and folded the offering hand gently, slightly afraid of being kind to a stranger. "It's my mother's but she would have agreed with me definitly and would have done the same.So please keep it."

Jinn smiled awkwardly and made a fist around the ring. "Thank you Aiyanna." Mostly Jinn had a policy of not accepting gifts, especially for acts he expected himself to perfom. And from what he knew of Aiyanna in the short time they had known each other she wouldn't let him walk away without it once she had her mind on it. "Thank you." He repeated himself.

Edwin sat at the table being quiet since he didn't really know anyone as he sipped his water. It appeared that everyone was now downstairs or most of everyone. He was going to wait until one of the leaders of the group spoke about what needed to be done.

Sevrina had been waiting for Alera and Aiyanna to return, and if there was anyone else interested, for them to enter. Sevrina set aside her tea Mephistoph had brought during the wait and cleared her throat.

"I believe introductions are in order first. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Sevrina," she said, then looked around the group to see who would anounce themselves next.

Nipa stood up straight in his chair. "And I am Nipa of Alecrast."

After Nipa, Granite waved her hand to bring attention to her. "I'm Granite," the bearded dwarf female said in an obviously feminine voice. Anyone confused as to her gender would clearly see she was female now.

Aiyanna smiled, "I am Aiyanna Starwind from Valis." Aiyanna waited obviously for Alera to return to the table, obviously she was already in sight. Aiyanna sighed, life was never been felt so bleak, so far so good at least they haven't seen Cray yet. Thank goodness, she can see that innkeeper and the workers won't even dare to go down to the celler even if they needed to. She understood them very clearly. But much less Vesper the chaos general of air was like Cray, a man with deadly magickal abilities but still a man. She hope to find some way shield this place.

Kitsa waited through a few introductions before standing to introduce herself. "I am Kitsa Stormeyes," she said and gave a small bow, then sat down again. She nudged Terin with her elbow, expecting him to stand next.

Dralock sudenly became aware that the introductions had begun, so stood and spoke his peice, "I am Dralock Holderhek from the steel kingdom." Then he sat down to hear the rest of the introductions, though he couldn't help but glance at Granite every so often. By Myrii, he thought to himself, I could get lost in her eye's if I'm not more careful. Why did she have to come into my life now? I could never forgive myself if she got hurt.

Alera, up until just a second ago, was deeply thinking. A starwind would always have a Deathwind Nemesis to deal with...Strange...Would Zodia still be alive? Alera had doubted the fact that Zodia lived and even less so stayed in Lodoss. Where could someone like her, so oviously different from anyone else, hide? It didn't make sense. It just didn't make sense...

Alera felt eyes on her and suddenly felt a daunting waitingness from the others. Quickly she realized what was being said and regained her composure. "I am Alera Tai'var, a humble sorceress." She bowed her head to the others, remembering courtesy.

Orion awoke from his thoughts as he heard the introductions from the others and bowed slightly saying "Orion." he was slightly embarrassed at not noticing the intros but hid it quickly as he listened to see what would be said next.

Sevrina sipped her tea and nodded as each person introduced themself, locking the name away in her mind. Mephistoph, Nipa, Granite, Dralock, Aiyanna, Alera, Kitsa and that pale elf was Orion. After introductions, no doubt they wanted to know what was happening, so Sevrina would have to answer questions. Mephistoph returned during the introductions with a stack of pancakes. He even had several types of syrup for her. Sevrina was still wary and had him test it all. He had no problem with that, then when he was through, returned to the kitchen. Very odd...

Sevrina turned her ruby eyes to the next person to speak.

Edwin listened to everyone and nodded his head matching faces with names and smiled "I am Edwin Starym, a traveling swordsman" he felt alittle out of place since everyone else appear to be more important then himself but it didn't matter in the long run if the the isle of Lodoss was endanger.

Aiyanna smiled then concentrated on the introductions again. She may able to save some, but her biggest concern was how can she shield this place? What use was of winning this battle over Vesper if there was nothing left of Raiden? Life wasn't kind , not to her anyways, why she dragged herself to help out in this battle but stars have whispered for her to go and fight. So here she is, seeing even much dispised Cray with her own eyes, mentioning Cray again, she wodnered why he hasn't come up yet, maybe something happened and he died? though it would be very helpful to have him face Vesper, otherwise his sudden over night death would be very fine to anyone. Dream on, Aiyanna's mind whispered, someone like him isn't going to die easily.

Alera relaxed for a moment, cleared her head, then turned to the dark elven woman. "Well...we have a chaos gate, a chaos general, and about two and a half days to save this city. I think we should get right to saving this place. You are the one with experience with Chaos Gates," she said, nodding to the dark elf. "Any ideas?"

Aiyanna spoke up first, "First of all how do we spare Raiden? what use is it if Raiden was destroyed in the process? my abilities are limited when in comes to shielding area as large as Raiden." Aiyanna much as she has talent for shielding, she did not know of a way to cover an entire city state. Plus, most of them couldn't fight in the air anyways, so was there any other solution? of defending the buildings but also fight on the ground too.

Sevrina turned her fierce eyes to the two sorceresses. "Let me finish!" she snapped. "THEN we will discuss what to do," Sevrina turned away from the two women, then turned her eyes to Daermon who hadn't spoken up yet. "You, what is your name?"

Sevrina's mood had been given a sudden push into foul between the slow responses and interuption. She attributed her moodiness to her illness, but that couldn't have been enough...

Aiyanna merely raised her eyes, but nearly snapped at the dark elf herself. But it wasn't her nature to naturally threaten another person without much of a good reason to. But was it nacessary to snap at others in these days? Aiyanna's own eyes were slowly becoming color of hot coal, though she was vaguely aware of it. Things started the bad way. Unity is what they needed not fighting and snapping at each other. Her good mood was already going into frustration state.

Life was never fair was it? Then opened her half closed eyes and glared at the man who haven't introduced himself, which contributed to this foul mood as well. Her eyes were colors of burning coal with anger.

Alera held her tongue. It was obvious Sevrina was stressed out. With such violent reactions, how unclear could it be? Let her compose herself. In the small amount of time Alera had known the dark elf, she had never snapped so quickly at someone. So, she let it be. Better to keep a friend than make an enemy.

"Umm..." Daermon looked back and forth between the two women glaring at him with red eyes. "I'm Daermon," He quickly replied. Everyone else seemed to add a little title to their name so he blurted the first thing that came to mind. "Keeper of my pants," then inwardly kicked himself and shut up before he made an even bigger fool of himself.

Kitsa listened to the introductions, commiting each face to memory. The room felt crowded with all these people, but Kitsa enjoyed meeting all these people. This land was so diverse. Her eyes darted in surprise to Sevrina who suddenly snapped at the sorceresses. The dark elf was usually composed and indifferent. What caused the change? Last night, she noticed Sevrina stagger and how Blade quickly took her to her room. Was she ill? Kitsa began to worry now for the dark elf.

Just as Daermon introduced himself, she turned to look at him just as he blurted, "Keeper of my pants." Kitsa's orange eyes widened as she stared at him, trying to figure out if she heard the right word or not. Then, when she realized he really said pants, she covered her hand with her glove to stiffle a giggle.

Sevrina stared at Daermon for a long moment as she pondered that response. She caught the sound of Kitsa's stifled giggle to her right. "Well then," Sevrina said and broke her stare. "I think I've had enough of that. She looked at the people who still hadn't introduced themselves and decided to save them the trouble. "That's Terin," she said and pointed to the elven man with blue eyes, brown hair and half a right ear sitting next to Kitsa. "That is Blade," she pointed to the blonde swordsman. "That is Jinn," she then turned her head and gestured toward the white-haired young man standing beside Aiyanna.

"Now, let's hope I don't have to tell this story again," she said and cleared her throat. "That hole in the sky is a Chaos Gate. Anyone who heard Vesper, the one who opened it, and didn't hear me, the gate is NOT a gate to hell. It is an energy source for the Chaos General. It is still possible for him to open a gate to hell however. Vesper is the Chaos General of Air. He had three others who were his equals in other Elements. Cray was the General of Fire and destroyed Roid and the Mirror Forest. Xion was the General of Earth who destroyed Blade. The forth is Nalentha, General of Water. Now, Cray was caste out of their 'order' by the other three and he is now fighting on our side for as long as it takes him to take his vengence. I would not trust him if I were you. Vengence is his only goal, but he will be of use to us. And yes, Cray is the man in the basement. He knows much more about the Chaos Gates than I, obviously, so I will try to bring him upstairs to explain what we can do. We have about two and a half days until Vesper makes his move. Questions?"

"How do we shield Raiden? My power isn't that extensive, unless others can think of something brilliant or more people arrive equipped with magick." Aiyanna was already rady to bolt fromt hat place incase something happens when Cray comes back up. Though she too felt the tension among the inn keeper and his crew at the mention of Cray.There had to be another way to do defeat Vesper and as Cray said last night it will be almost impossible for them to defeat unless they released him. She shuddered inside at even thinking of him being released from those chains.

* * *

The hooded man produced some parchment and ink, he hated writing on the side of his horse, but he wouldn't risk discovery inside the town itself. He felt very apprehensive about going back in, anyway. He dipped the quill into the ink well and began on the parchment, his writing was not the best it could be.

To her highness, Lady Shiris.
The reports are true. Several cities and even one elvin forest have fell. I believe the cities are Blade and Roid, but I couldn't be totally sure. The sources were terrified and could barely speak coherently. I am now stationed at a town that seems to be under attack as well. The elf forrest is Mirror forrest. But all is not lost, it seems. There is some type of resistance going against these creatures who call themselves Chaos Generals. I shall approach them and see if they are friendly to Moss forces. If this should be my last report, let it be known that I served Moss as my father before me, and his father before him.
Ever loyal,
Your Eyes beyond eyes.

He wrapped it up and put his wax sigil, a serpent dragon with a sword in its grip, to seal up the letter. He looked at the eight knights that had been sent with him. All seemed eager to get home, and he didn't blame them. His eyes stopped on the youngest two and he motioned them foward.

"You two. Calasir and Kajal. Deliver this to his and her majesty as soon as possible." He paused, looking up at the gate in the sky, then spoke again. "Be wary, the road is still dangerous. Do not fight any forces against you if you can help it."

The two nodded, taking the report and getting on horses. They were out of sight after a few minutes, and the hooded man sighed. "As for you all, please stay here. It would be better to only risk one life rather then all. If I do not return before that... thing begins to open, you are to return to Moss and report that the resistance is not
friendly, and that we should be wary of both Chaos generals and those who oppose them."

With that, he got on his horse, a dusk colored mare named Nightshade. It was his favorite horse, and he felt he could trust this with his life if need be. With a resigned sigh, he headed back into the town to search for the people he had seen confronting the chaos general.

* * *

"You mean to say that one of those four generals is with us? Is he on our side? And more importantly, whose to say he wouldn't betray us?" Alera said calmly. Hopefully in a way that she thought wouldn't offend. "Whose to say he isn't tricking us?"

Sevrina smirked a little and turned to Alera. "I know him well enough to tell you he wont try to betray us until he has taken his revenge. He wouldn't waste his time to trick us though, we wouldn't even be worthy of his deception if that's what he were trying to do. He has no reason to decieve us if he were still a general. When and if these generals are defeated, then you can stop trusting Cray entirely and keep your distance."

"As for how to shield Raiden, I'm no expert on magic Aiyanna," Sevrina said as she turned to Aiyanna. "But I know there are a number of shamans coming. Including one who can summon all four king spirits. I think the idea of finding a way to distract Vesper and make him think He's in Raiden while we're really elsewhere would be the best idea. But how can we do that? Is it even possible? Roid was lost with no warning, the Mirror Forest was lost, yet Cray was defeated as well. We can't have the same thing happen here that happened there."

"I doubt there is any way," Alera broke through Sevrina. "To sheild Raiden. And what good would it do? Anything that came out would pour out into the rest of the land, terrorizing everyone else." Alera shifted in her seat. "No...Shielding is a bad idea in my opinion. We either need to close it or redirect it to a place it can do no harm, ever."

Aiyanna felt her head droop, in disappoinment. "So how do we keep those innocent out of the fight and keep them safe, much as we can I think I might loose my control over my magick if I see another town laid to waste before my eyes because I could have done somthing yet failed to do so..." Aiyanna stashed the images of her home town burning, the screams and blood and death to back of her mind.She needed to practice more or use her innate magick to the fullest which is just as bad Vesper flattening Raiden off the map of Lodoss.

* * *

Each second ticked as slow as eternity. In a world of darkness and void. Cray had not moved since the previous night. He felt so weak and fragile with his powers supressed. It was as if his sight had been stolen from him. Cray was blind to the world except for one thing, the Chaos Gate. Its power permiated even intot he depths of the cellar, overrunning all over powers. But it was much worse than any gate Cray had created.

By the sacrifice of thousands, perhaps even reaching hundreds of thousands that gate had been created. It would be hard to place any exact number. Two methods could be used to attain such power. The first was to mature a gate, as was the gates Cray had embedded in his armor. The second was through a mass sacrifice.

"Chaos War Gate..."

She was coming.

* * *

"We just do out best." Jinn finally decided to throw in his own thoughts. "So close or redirect... We may have to opt for the redirection. It doesn't seem any of us here have enough in our reserve to fend off Vesper as well expend enough energy to cancel the gate. So?" Jinn swung his eyes towards the sorceress, Alera. "What was your plan again?"

Edwin was listening through he didn't fully understand magic or it's nature to make any comments that would not end up making him look like a fool for making them. Closing his eyes and sighed before opening his eyes, "Ok I will say this I have no clue what you all mean about this gate but in my opinion we really have only one option and that is redircting it from Raiden."

"I know I will sound like a fool but I see this gate like a river in a massive rain strom that will wash away a village, damming it will be very hard if one can do it and most likely will break quicky. To save the village you need to create a channel large enough to pull the water away toward a different directions. I just want to know is it possible to create something like a channel in the pathway of the gate's power and pull the power to another source" Edwin spoke and then blinked knowing it was just crazy talk "Umm sorry for sticking my nose into where it shouldn't I will be quiet now..."

Orion shifted uneasily as he listened to the Alera speak. He now knew the name of the strange man he had seen last night and was a little worried about seeing him agian. We don't have much time, he thought silently, we will need all the help we can get.

Aiyanna's head looked up again, "Channeling the energy though difficult as it maybe, could result better then closing it, look at Mirror Forest and Roid. Much as I hate to admit, Cray probably knows if there is any chance of doing such." Aiyanna mused at the thought and tried to get rid of constant complianing from the stars about the huge amountof chaos energy present.

"You are not a fool," Alera responded quickly," because you are exactly right." Alera leaned forward. "My plan was to nearly merge it with another portal. Aiyanna, your shielding talents will come in handy, and will be pivitol. Any creature coming out of the Chaos Gate would pour out, but wouldnt just fall into the portal we make. It would have to be forced in. So a shield connecting the two portals, creating a barrel like system should force them into the next portal. The problem with the plan is we don't know where to put them. We could place them even in another world, but it would have to be a place they could do no harm. Of such a world, I can't think of."

* * *

It took some time finding them. Most people he came across were screaming in terror, yelling about the apocalypse. The temples were jam packed, most of the people repenting anything they even thought of. Then, there were the people who just fled the city. He grimaced, more refugees to feed. Not that it mattered to much, but it seemed many had resorted to looting and becomming pick pockets, which made the knights have to watch the city outside as well as in.

Finally, he found some information, the people matching the description of the resistance against the chaos generals, he followed the directions, giving wary glances at the gate in the sky. He had no idea how long it would be before it opened. He had a feeling what came out would be more nightmarish then he could he possibly imagine. He dismounted his horse, putting it into the stables with great wariness. He wondered if his horse would be there when he returned. Brushing it off, he gently patted its muzzle. Then slowly walked inside.

That was them, and he came in right when the older woman was talking about sending the creatures somewhere else and under the hood a fanged grimice grew even wider. "So, you would damn someone else with this?" He had blurted out without even thinking. Even sending it to another place, they would still exsist. "I am sorry... I intrude."

Thorn pushed back the hood, revealing his long, dark hair, and a face that might have been handsome if not for the striking yellow eyes with vertical, black slits. "You are the resistance against the vile ones known as the Chaos Generals, yes?"

Alera was astounded, mid sentence. "You...know of them?" she asked, staring at him in amazement. She shook her head and put a game face on. "And who asks where the resistance is?" Alera stood before anyone could say anything. No spies would make it in their group, and she would see. Alera waved them all silent. "What are your intentions?" She smiled, focusing her aura to be constantly changing. That way, he couldn't tell which side she was on.

Thorn brushed some of his hair out of eyes, he wondered if he was seeing things, but, when things did not change, the realized it was trickery. The same he was studying, but he didn't know it. "Indeed I know of them. What they have done more then they. I only know the places they have destroyed according to rumour and refugee stories."

"I am Lord Thorn Gias, personal guard to lady Shiris, queen of Moss, and loyal servent to Lord Jester, King." He stated, holding his hand against his heart. The lord part was almost a joke. He was at best a lesser one, just shy of bieng a rich merchant. But among the houses, his was probably one of the weakest, if not the most. "My intentions are that of Moss."

"Now, who are you?"

Sevrina glanced from the table at the new comer with a raised brow. She studied him from head to toe. Most people were trustworthy in this time. Chaos Generals believed they were above inflitrators. Besides, this young man carried himself as a knight and a Lord. His voice even held a trace of the speech of the courts. She knew the name Gias as well. Not very powerful in standing, but they were of dragonic blood.

"We would be your 'resistance' Lord Gias," she replied. "And Alera, I thought I told you that no creatures would be coming through that gate. It's a power source, dear." Without skipping a beat, she motioned to an empty space between Granite and Edwin. "Come, sit, my lord."

Nipa stood up in his chair beside Granite and looked rather hurt. "I know I am small but please don't make him sit on me." He said from the chair beside Granite.

Aiyanna crinkled her nose a little, she didn't like the way Sevrina was talking to Alera. "Well in that case, still we need to find a way to redirect the energy some where else, far as I know even if we managed a way to cut if off, there is no way Raiden can take the blow, Only thing I could do is to make shield around the gate it self. Which I am not sure will able to hold the shield much in same fashion as the magickal net I used on Wyverns but a solid one this time and also enclosed like a
pouch." Aiyanna paused for a moment, "That is what I can do best, I am not versed in every magickal art on Lodoss, only other option is to cast a spell that is strong as the gate it self, darkness against light. Even in this darkness we have light, though I must say we have to find that light very soon.that is my suggestion..I hope that helps a little."

"Do we have another choice?" Alera said. "I doubt this Vesper character Will let us close had we even known a way to do so! If we try and block creatures from coming out, they will probably bust it open. If you have a better idea, voice it. I'm open to suggestions," she said, falling back to her chair. She wouldn't even let her play the game to ensure he wasn't lying...Imagine...could even be a spy...

Sevrina nodded along with what Aiyanna had to say. Though in this room, she was the one with the best knowledge of Chaos Gates, she truely knew very little. Cray was the expert. She couldn't even be certain if they could direct the power the way Aiyanna was suggesting. Many of the people here would run for cover at the sight of him, but Sevrina was considering bringing Cray up. Alera popped in with another comment, and Sevrina caught the word creatures again.

She turned in her chair to face the sorceress. "No creatures," she said. "Not out of the Chaos Gates. Forget about the creatures," she turned back around in her chair to face the bulk of the group again. "We're talking about pure chaotic energy. But she is right, we cannot block it. And Aiyanna, we are not talking about battling Light against Darkness. It is not good against evil, Chaos and Order are much more primal powers, neither good nor evil. They are the driving forces of nature and humanity," she explained, then motioned for Blade to come to her side.

After hearing the part again about the creatures Nipa seemed relieved, especially since he was not in danger of being sat on again. Standing up in his chair he asked the question that weighed the heaviest on his mind. "If... If this is not a gate to hell as he said, then why is it here? My father always said that 'the best deals come from knowing what your customer wants most.' I don't see this as any different, for us to make the best deal or to deal with it the best we need to know what it does." Nipa then sat back down in his char, this time not covering himself in his cloak to make sure that people can still see him.

Edwin was glad he was thinking along the same path the others where through he wondered where was that guy with the chains, Cray, was since from what he hear last night and today he knew more about this then anyone else he could be a help. Turning his head to look at Nipa who was sitting next to him, edwin nodded it was a good question and he was going to ask something along the same lines.

Sevrina felt a little bad for not noticing the grass runner when she invited Thorn to sit. Strangly, she rarely felt anything remotely like guilt. She leaned over the table, propped up on her elbows. "The gate is what gives Vesper his power. He naturally has control over the element of Air, but this makes him much more powerful than he could ever be without it."

Orion remained silent tossing his shimmering white hair as he glared at the newcomer. His distrustful nature shone in his eyes, which glared on, as cold as ice. He listened, frozen like stone for the mans reply.

"It give him his power?" Nipa repeated as though it sounded impossible. "Well, if it does that... Then can we turn it off... Or disrupt the flow?" He asked while thinking about the elements. The element of Air he was taught could affect the other elements... Without air fire did not stand a chance, but the earth usually could withstand the air, but with the gate up so high that made the earth a bad counter for it. All that remained was water, but then again the gate was up too high for water to help much. Or at least he thought so.

Thorn stood, watching the grassrunner with his lips curled in a slight smile. He gave a slight bow with the words "Your pardon, sir" and still stood. He had been riding for some time, and he had no real to sit. Riding was exausting, and it left his rear a bit more sore then he would have liked. "Indeed, so this man controls the flows of air, does he?"

Thorn controled earth, but not to such a degree that he could create one of these chaos gates. That was his heritage, one of the few scripts he found about his ancestor was when Gias stamped the ground, whole cities would shake. But that was just a wild exaggeration of power, but then again, who knew the total power of dragons. "I somehow doubt this chaos gate has anything to do with shamanism or elementism beyond the fiend being fond of air."

He knew he had a spell book, he had brought it with him to study while he confirmed reports of several cities being destroyed. He dared not cast any of the spells, but he had been reading something about feedback, it was several chapters from where he was now, but he could remember it clearly. Feedback spells were especially dangerous, and weren't always totally effective. He didn't remember what it said, but he did knew that, like most spells, even not pronouncing one word right could lead to major desctruction. "Then may I recommend a feedback spell? Even if we cannot stop it, we might be able to... change the meaning a bit."

Nipa smiled at Thorn as he apologized, and then listened to the man speak. His words seemed true enough, though the idea of feedback was new. "What do
you mean, feedback? How would that change the gate?"

Aiyanna was trying to block out the stars voice again, they were complaining like bratty little children about the presence of the chaos gate. "We can use another primal power, though I think it is dangerous...since I am not sure if I could hold onto it, it nearly broke out of the Star circle yesterday, it strained the circle's power. But the stars are higher then air, their power is primal for they make our fate, if one was destined to die, it is so because stars destined that person to die. Well I do not have enough knowledge about full extend of their power but it could be helpful. They are already wanting to strike at the gate, they have been complaining non stop about it as well.Alera what do you think, you know about it more." She eyed everyone carefully, "Much as I hate to say this, everything virtually depends on how much Cray will help."

Thorn nodded thoughtfully at Nipa, scratching his ear slightly. It was a habit of his, a nervous one he picked up when discussing sorcery. He had asked advice of several sorcerers, and all said it was best to study sorcery before you actually casted it. And even then, maybe to light a lamp, or some other minut thing. Feedback was one of the most powerful, and dangerous, spells one could cast, and he was going to say something on it? "Well, Feedback is a little weird. It isn't a normal spell, like, say, lighting a torch, or tricking ones eye," He gave Alera a look that he meant her. "But has effects that do one of several things. It can rewrite the
meaning of the spell it is used on. If that were to work on the chaos gate, it would likely open up, then seek out this, Vesper, and hit him full on with its force. It also has the possibility of disenchanting the spell. If that were to work on the gate, it would simply open, and nothing would come out."

He paused at the next part, this was the bad part of it. And it was a possibility as much as the other to. "It can also make the attack two fold at the caster. If that were to happen, the gates would immediatly open up, and whoever cast the spell would take double hell, and the gate would probably do that much more damage to this city. There are other effects, another being the spell kills both caster and recipient, or simply doesn't work at all. But the boomerang, disenchantment, and backfire seem to be the most often effects."

"To cast the feedback spell will take total concentration, and will have to be performed by someone who has been adapt in sorcery for some time." He looked at the girl who spoke of stars. "I do not think that would be wise. I don't know much about primal things, but I doubt mixing fate with chaos would be a good thing. Imagine if Chaos seeped into the threads of fate. It might end the world, or we could all die, or end up as the chaos generals."

Kitsa played with an earring as she listened and watched. Thorn caught her eyes for a long moment as she tried to place what he was. He had short ears like her half-elf father, but strange reptilian eyes. She leaned over to Terin and whispered in his long ear. "What does he be?"

"I agree, I admit without shame that I do not have enough experience yet, nor am I adept at this gift of Starwinds to use it properly.I heartily agree to Lord Gias's suggestion, though we may not able to wait for others to be here, there over a dozen more to be here. I want everyone treasure yout time and those close to you." Aiyanna sadly thought but it was only way she could possibly think of people treasuring the time they have left together, including herself. Her brother was destined to die early, and when they meet again for the first time in 13 years, she will never leave his side.

Nipa looked aghast at the man when he mentioned them all becoming like these generals. "From what you say this spell could have worse effects than what it already will do!" He then shook his head as he tried to work things out, "As for fate... My fate is in the hands of Cha Za, and he's been merciful to me so far. My luck and fortune has been better than most, but to do as you suggest..." He thought then shook his head again. "I am not sure I would be willing to go along with such a thing, unless there are no other choices."

It was at times like this that Nipa wished he would have paid more attention to some of his studies when it came to magic. He knew enough to get by on and to protect himself, but nothing to this degree. He then looked to Aiyanna, "You speak as though we are already dead... Do not say such things, if the gods wish us dead then dead we will be... But I believe that the gods have other plans for us... Because I for one do not plan on letting myself die in this town."

Orion allowed himself to relax alittle but his shimmering blue eyes watched Lord Gias's every movement. He began to wonder if he would offend him by being so suspecious, but thought he wasn't the only one being weary of the newcomer. He wasn't going to let up until he felt comfortable. The others he had now met had given of a sense of trust and all seemed more then friendly, the sudden arrival of another threw him off gaurd.

Aiyanna's eyes flew open as her eyes glared directly at the grassrunner.And shouted at the grass runner. "What I see in my vision have never been wrong, what they destine for us to be then it shall be. I hate death or suffering of others because my parents died in hands of orcs being burnt alive and being hacked whilst at it. That is why I dedicated myself to study magick so another won't have to have a heartache like I did, ever again! That was my promise to myself 13 years ago, when I was 7..." Aiyanna came down a little but her eyes were burning in blazing amber, and forced the tears back.

"I promised for those who died innocent, others will never have to have such heart ache...yet I am not good enough to do that even..even after 13 years..." Aiyanna finally breathed in deeply and came down, "Only thing I could do is warn you because I already seen the deaths, including someone I hold dear with all my life...so treasure this every moment.And I apologise to everyone for shouting." Aiyanna dropped to her seat again and looked at the table instead.

Nipa looked surprised at Aiyanna for a moment unblinking. He was surprised by her and he felt bad for bringing back the bad memories she was obviously reliving. Reliving memories, especially bad ones were not what he had intended to provoke.

He listened to her story and he wanted to tell her a number of things. That is was not her fault and that she was stronger than she thought, but no words came to mind. For a moment he contemplated going under the table to speak to her privately about this. He finally decided to talk to her more in private about what he's said. "You have seen this? All of this?"

"Yes, I won't say who but we already seen one yesterday...that dark elf. But he isn't here yet and my brother who isn't here either," She spoke calmly as possible. "Nothing stops me from looking into the past or the future, nothing can stop it, not even Cray if I wish."

Blade approached Sevrina when he was finally beckoned, with his arms crossed over his chest. "Destiny is but the liklihood of a conclusion. Destiny is a possibility. After all... the Chaos Generals have been 'seen' to be victorious in this war and Cray and I to die in two days against Vesper. The gods have foreseen it."

"I see you don't understand...enough about them...." Aiyanna silently spoke a spell which will connect Blade to her self thus hear the stars.Though they were angry right now, Blade did not undersand the nature of these things...Her lips moved silently and when she stretched across and gripped onto his arm the the spell was finally cast and the connection kicked in, stars roared across, beautiful but eerie voice of their anger rising up and down in beautiful crescendo of music. It was feeling of being free of this physical plane of existance, a million eyes to the night watching everything, a million ears hearing everything. Blade had to understand where everything was being played, fate was their act and destiny was their script. Aiyanna let go of Blade and looked at him again. "There is a million eyes to the night and a million ears to the heaven"

"I see..." Blade closed his eyes and smiled breifly. "So that's what it's like..." Slowly he reopned them, his smile not fading. He uncrossed his arms and held them loosely by his sides. "But you should know that my war is against fate... Actors can stray from the script. Men can slay gods. Fate can be defied. There is no absolute, as long as we don't let it exist." Blade stopped breifly and pulled a chair back for him to sit on between Aiyanna and Sevrina. "Well... either way. You shouldn't worry about the gate as much as you shoudl self-preservation. There is a plan, and it all depends on the will of one person."

Aiyanna smiled but that stopped when Blade said it depended on the will of one person, her face tookon a look of slight aghast. "You don't mean Sevrina or Cray right? May Falis help preserve us if Sevrina let go of those chains." She looked up at Blade, to tell them, all those gathered that, Sevrina will never do that.She could have found out but she rather did not want to do it that way. She felt smaller already then her height of 5'5", was this the something she didn't want to see? and refused to go further? she was running away from seeing what was to be and will happen again.Her own eyes were wide with fear ath the thought of Cray free of those chains. Aiyanna held onto her pendent for comfort, it was a habit she picked up readily from the past.She wished her mentor was there, or even Mellenroe or her brother. But it wasn't time yet for them to come.

"Indeed, sirs and ladies. The feedback spell is quite possibly more dangerous then the chaos gate." Throughout the entire conversation he had been scratching the back of his ear, it looked like he was trying to rip it off. Finally, he stopped, giving the woman talking about stars a side long gaze. "You speak as if fate is final, but surely, my lady, there are different strands that we may choose?" He gave a light sigh. Destiny and fate were far beyond his understanding. The stars controlling destiny, the chaos gates, it was just beyond what he could comprehend until he studied sorcery more.

"Sirs and ladies, if you'll excuse me. I believe I should inform my men of these events. I should warn them to see if they are not needed as much anymore." But he was staying. If he could see how to stop this chaos gate, he could keep it from happening in Moss. And if these people found a way, he would take them back to lady Shiris. Giving a slight bow, he exited. When he made it to the stables, he was slightly surprised his horse was still there. He mounted it, he would give his men a choice. A fair one since he learned more on the situation.

Orion was slightly stunned as Aiyanna shouted at Nipa, but understood. He shifted his weight uneasily as the strange man, Cray, was mentioned agian. He himself was not the most expierenced in magick and felt he should stay quiet rather then embaress himself. His eye shifted from person to person as the spoke and a chill went up his spine as cray was discussed agian.

Alera blinked awake, and was thinking hard about feedback. She looked to Thorn with a wondered grin. "My friend...you may have stumbled onto something far beyond the telling." Alera had ignored the personal bickering, except for the spell cast, to which all she could do was give a not so pleased look towards Aiyanna. Alera doubted that the girl noticed. Brash, as Alera was in her youth. Always willing to use the magic under her control for whatever it was.

"But with the feedback spell comes more. Sevrina said it was a power source, did you not? There is the possibility with a recent work I have been doing to actually use something like a feedback spell to harness power from a source and change it. It is a risky procedure, but as a last ditch effort, and if we run out of time, I may be able to redirect the power from the gate to another position and change it. Since it is raw power, which has been my specialty in the past, I maybe able to grab hold of it and turn it towards a different, harmless or harmful whim. Better yet, there is the possibility, with some study, to take it, change it, and use it against Vesper. He has left his power source, as far as I know, completely vunerable. All we would need to do is lure Vesper out to use it against...unless..."

Alera thought of yet another idea. Great mages throughout history have been able to form things out of magic. This was something that had captivated Alera, and she had spent quite a bit of time researching, but could never find material on, not even in her mother's tome. But...she had found a passage about one such act. Of forming a human out of magic. But it had no soul, and was just a body...It never said how they did it...Alera looked down at the globe around her neck, the brilliant blue...This held untold possibilities...and could do more good than anyone could imagine...Strange. Alera felt so hopeful, a feeling she had never had before. She almost let a tear drop, but held it in. She shook her head. Personal wishes couldn't get in the way of her duty.

"We could turn it into healing magic..." she said almost sorrowfully, rejecting her own hopes. "Anyone sick or in pain would be healed, no harm would be done, and hopefully the gate drained..."

"The risk..." Blade nudged his elbows on the table and folded his hands together, using it as a rest for his chin. "Is the amount of power flowing from the gate. It is a raw uncontrolled power. Right now it is dammed, by Vesper no doubt but we've already seen the effects on someone who is sensitive to the chaotic energy. Cray, the chaos gate destroyed his inhibition and only the wards we had placed on him him stable. To neutralize that get a great amount of magic would need to be converted at a rapid rate."

Sevrina dismissed her idea to bring Cray upstairs, what she had summoned Blade to her side to ask. She turned her eyes up to Aiyanna to add her own two cents. "Child, the fate you see is possible, but the future can never be perfectly fortold. If fate intended everyone to follow one set path, why would it allow seerers into the world? If you know what the future holds, you can change it. Your power doesn't exist to tell you what will happen, but what CAN happen. We are offered many paths and choices every day, the one you are wont to take is what you see. You still have a choice, you can still stray. There are millions of possibilities for one person, some are guided stronger to this fate than others."

She listened to the possiblities of the Feedback spell, but it sounded risky. "We should only turn to that as a last resort," she said softly, but just enough for everyone to hear. "We also need to think about ground forces. More than half the people here are not knowledgable about magic. What will they do? If Vesper brings back his wyverns, we may need to knock them out of the sky. As you all recall, they weren't that hard to bring down. Aiyanna, did you see any other minions of Vesper in your vision?"

Terin had been listening to almost every word that was said, just in case his sister's name had come up, except for a few minutes when he dozed off. "I'm up, I'm up," Terin said as he woke up when the wyverns were mentioned.

Aiyanna sighed, her eyes casting down. "No I need to do a further casting and I believe that he will chiefly use wyverns to attack any of us.Though I couldn't say that for sure yet." Aiyanna murmured something, then finally said again. "I will go and cast a vision, somewhere quiet. I apologise for acting so childishly. I need peace and quiet even if this place is saturated with chaos energy." Aiyanna got up with a bow to the rest and picked up her staff and almost ran from the table and up the stairs where it was quiet.

Kitsa glanced at Terin and nudged him with her elbow gently in the ribs as he jerked awake. "It makes little sense to me, with all this talk about magic. But do try to stay awake Terin. You might miss something important." Kitsa watched Aiyanna go upstairs, then turned to Sevrina, waiting to hear what she had to say.

"As I said, Sevrina, if anyone has any other ideas, I would love to hear them. But...if we can't beat Vesper...I might know a way to get someone who can..." Alera started fondling the blue globe around her neck. "I just need time..." she said, almost thoughtful. If that raw energy could be focused in one point which has what is needed, she could do it...she hoped. But it would be so strange...to see...



* * *

Aiyanna began her prepation and grounded a Star circle instead of standard one. She dropped a small droplet of a water and spread into a thin sheet in circular format. "May the wisdom that rests in the stars show me the path that this war may take..."

The water rippled and and First thing Aiyanna saw in the reflection from the water was fields of lilies, white lilies they were everywhere. It was so serene but it seemed like if..something was amiss. Then it rippled again showing Cray, Aiyanna nearly recoiled from her vision but stayed put and saw him covered in blood, it was every where but it seemed somehow even to disgust of her self natural part of the scene she was seeing, Next one the stars showed her was Kitsa, looking lightly grim but proud and well somehow empowered in a strange way, almost like if heavenly light have touched her core. She seemed to shine with odd yet beautiful aura. Aiyanna cocked her head to the side as she saw a sahdowed figure then saw Blade's face! but he was going, turning into thin air! Aiyanna almost screamed, somehow as if her scream to a vision can stop it...then finally it melted away to Sevrina her throwing her rapier on to the ground and walk away, not looking back. Like if Sevrina have given up being a fighter and lead more peaceful life.

Aiyanna jolted from her vision and vanished the circle. Some of them will die, and Blade have correct vision of his future, but how can someone fade away like that...she knew she could not save him..but she will try anyways even if it's reckless. Aiyanna was determined, she will fight to her best and will save many as she can and help defeat Vesper.

* * *

She sighed once more with more peaceful aura around her she came down stairs and sat next Alera again. Looking rather mournful, no matter how hard she tried to be non expressional. She looked at Blade in sad way then forced herself to put on a serene mask. "Vesper will not be attacking us using other minions..." Aiyanna bit her lips trying not to think about the vision she saw, but could not help look at Blade and remember the way he disappeared.

Blade flashed her a smile. "Told you." He teased. Blade stood slowly and streched his shoulders. "Even though we haven't quite decided on the exact plan we need to give ourselves roles in the fight. The sorceresses will obviously handle the magic solution but..." He peered the rest of the room slowly. "Need to split outselves up, a group to attack and a group to defend the magicians." He scratched his head. "I'm no leader and I'm not familiar with the rest of you so you need to choose for yourselves. But Cray and I will be in the attacking group."

"I will too." Jinn spoke up, his arms still crossed rtightly over his chest.

"No," Blade replied calmly. "Aeromancers should remain with the sorceresses. They would have the better ability to defend." Blade looked back up to the room. "Any other volunteers? And again, no one needs to stay and fight."

"I will leave the magic to the sorcerers, but I am not going to sit back and just watch." Nipa said adamantly, "I plan on being in the attack group as well."

Aiyanna smiled rather sadly, "You were right Blade, I saw that and more.There will be some more people, including high elves and a lot more elves, all of them have shamanism abilities , if Jinn truly wishes to be in the attack group it's fine with me.I won't restrain him...my magick what I have learned so far is mainly more for defense then attack."

Aiyanna's mind was rather confused lightly but she would not restrain Jinn as a Aeromancer to defending when his elemental abilities with air could be very useful. Things weighed in her mind heavily...when will they come?

"I will definitely be in the attacking group," Sevrina added. She glanced to Kitsa, Terin and Orion. "It may be a good idea for some of the shamans to guard the sorceresses with Air Elementals," she suggested. Her own ability in Air spirits was hardly useful. All her power was in her weapons and dark spirits. "We can't rule out the use of minions by Vesper, though Aiyanna didn't see them. It is possible there are no clear choices Vesper has chosen, or perhaps he won't. We can't be certain yet."

Granite sat up straight and tipped her chin up proudly. "I will be in the attacking group," she said confidently. She definately had to get her shot in at that Vesper for taking her brother's life!

Edwin thought for a moment before stating where he would be and then shooked his head "I will be on either group that needs me, I will be on the attacking group but I am sure there are better fighters in this group that would be better to have fighting then myself. Whereever you think is best for me just tell me ok"

Orion nodded in exceptince. Any job was important at a time like this. Besides Sevrina was right, there was no way to know for sure what Vesper was up to. Everyone would have a part to play, each one vital to success.

Kitsa agreed with Blade and Sevrina, and she was talented enough in Air to fend off any attacks on the sorceresses. "I will defend the sorceresses," she said and nodded.

Alera thought deeper. Imagine...What if that attacking party wasn't even needed. She shook her head. Forget that idea. It would be a one time shot, and catered too much to what Alera wanted. "I suggest you have less of a 'party' and more of a small grouping with that many people."

Daermon thought for a moment, "I will mainly be with the attacking group," he finally replied, "But if I am needed elsewhere, that is where I will be."

Terin looked at Alera, a little confused by what she said. He then looked at Sevrina. "I'll protect the sorceresses." He said, then turned to Kitsa and smiled.

Aiyanna nodded with Alera in agreement.She stretched then let her eyes wonder around the table, her eyes being back to normal warm amber loked rather calm, though her inside was troubled. What she really needed was meditation and gather her thought and prepare herself to cast any magick necessary. She had a dark cloud hanging over her head. She pushed away any dark thoughts, which stars wre complaining that Chaos energy was seeping in even more, like slime.

Aiyanna could not stand anymore though might be not much effective,silently cast a personal circle, a small magickal bubble and cast a shielding spell. And immediatly a thin silver energy washed over the walls, covering the entire inn."...Let the power of the stars awake from it's deep slumber, become a shield that will block the dark energy that invades this place..."

It as almost silent whisper, but anyone with good hearing, like elves should able to hear it faintly. Stars complained less, their voices were fading away.Some peace washed over herself in her mind. Her shield wasn't the strongest one she could cast but effective enoughto filter the chaos energy to a small amount. The silver glimmered then vanished and became a invisible shield.

Alera clearly felt magic at use. She turned to Aiyanna, knowing instantly who had done it. She brushed it off. Whatever reason the girl had for sheilding the place, she was sure it was well put.

Sevrina's eyes turned to Aiyanna when she heard the whisper. She was using magic, Sevrina decided. A shield passed over the inn and the tug of the Chaotic energy in Sevrina's mind lessened. All dark elves felt the pull of chaotic and evil forces that had been placed in them when their ancestors originally sold their souls to Falaris. Most dark elves kept it at bay subconsciously, but others lacked that ability. Mephistoph had returned to his seat and she was still waiting for a response from him about which group he'd be fighting in. "Mephistoph, where will you be?"

Thorn kept one hand on the reigns as he scratched the back of his ear fervently. He was going to tell the knights lady Shiris had sent with him to go home. He wanted them to stay, but would it be fair to risk their lives? No, he would let them decide what they wanted to do. When he found he was scratching his ear he put his hand on the reigns and gripped them. He had to stop doing that. He approached the clearing where they had camped, looking around. They were still there, some sitting in front of fires they had set up after Vesper had attacked, talking to eachother, and giving slight laughs. It was clear to tell they were nervous. None of them held any true combat experiance, most of them experiancing battles when they left with him, against the undead. They were made, but not tempered. Thats
what his father would have said. When they saw him some got up, some stayed seated watching Thorn tiredly. That was to be expected, they hadn't slept while not on a horse in several days. "I'll... make this quick. Time is not on our side."

"That thing up there is called a Chaos Gate, as I said before. And what will come out is... Hell. Plain and simple. Those resistance fighters are not evil, at least, they didn't show it while I spoke to them." He paused, rubbing a hand through his hair, mixing some sweat with it. "So, this is your choice. You may go back to Moss. I will not risk your lives in this, its likely anyone who stays will die."

The knights looked at him questioningly for several moments, finally one of the older ones, who had seven years experiance over him, stepped foward, a slight smirk on his face. "Kid, you keep doin' that and yer gonna take your ear off."

When Thorn realized he was scratching his ear he quickly lowered his hand. His cheeks were hot in embarassment. Anyone who knew him for a week knew that was his nervous habit. "Anyway, no real point in goin'. We ain't dead yet, lets just rely on luck to help us. 'sides, we might as well die protectin' civillians and stoppin' this thing from getting to Moss."

Thorn nodded, he found himself smiling. He had expected everyone to leave, but this was a surprise. "Thank you... OH, I guess we should go now. Mount up, we have to leave as soon as possible."

Aiyanna snapped her head towards the window, she surely even inside this light shield felt a large amount of magick being used outside. She shook her head lightly again and sent her magickal senses out and was hit with sorcery and shamanism at work in large amount outside, preferbly near the bay. "A number of people are using magick outside, I am not sure wether it is good or bad but there is sure use of magick and good large amount of it..." Aiyanna announced, though giving everyone a fleeting look before nodding to them and walked towards the window and flicked it open with her magick. Her eyes widened at a flaming figure near the Chaos Gate. Aiyanna exclaimed loudly, though did not mean to, "By Falis! what is that?!"

Alera dashed to the window, to look out the window. "By the spirits of Lodoss..." she says. She squinted her eyes, trying to use her powers to see his intentions and aura.

Sevrina leisurely rose to her feet and strode over to the wind to look out. A flaming figure rising to the the Chaos Gate couldn't have been a good sign, but it wasn't Vesper's doing. "Looks like a fire elemental. Couldn't be Phoenix...mostly likely a Efreeti. Well, what ever it is, it can't be good, but it's not Vesper's."

Sevrina turned away from the window to return to her table. It wasn't threatening them, and it was Raiden after all. Aiyanna and Alera definitely weren't the only sorcereses in the city.

"At least we know there are people fighting them but I hope this kind of thing doesn't happen often in Raiden," Aiyanna came down a bit knowing it's not Vesper, but her fascination of seeing alot of different races in Raiden was one good enough experience for her. From elemental spirits to grass runner...well they call this place City of Anarchy, Aiyanna guessed what they truly mean by it. "Sorry for alerting anyone, I trust Sevrina's words, it was just that I felt who ever is outside fighting it using large amount of magick.It must been quiet some distance away fromhere, but still it was large enough for us to be felt even a small presence of that
magick." Aiyanna briefly explained, then a question popped in the head, since she never really fight much, "Question of curiosity, does this Vesper ever fight on the ground?"

Thorn watched as his men got ready. They were all in garb similiar to his. Somewhat raggady, plain clothing, and the hilt of the sword worn with use, but nothing to replace the grip. It was the best thing to do when entering the city of anarchy. A lord and a band of knights would not attract nice attention, and very likely he would have got no information. The discuise was that they were a band of mercenaries who came in at the recent action, and the leader being successful or a murderer by the horse. He stroke Nightshade's neck before turning back toward the city, giving the gate in the sky a wary glance every now and then.

They approached the stables, dismounting, and putting their horses into the stable, two guards stayed outside and watched around warily, seemingly suspecting everyone who passed a horse theif. With they remaining 4, he entered the inn, giving a breif look at all who remained. There seemed to be two or three leaders to the group, the dark elf woman, the one they called Blade, and the sorceress. He didn't address anyone in particular when he spoke. "I am back, as you may see. Now, I have but one request. The knights and myself are not as I saw. We are mercenaries hired by you in order to gain an upper hand on this Chaos general. We cannot get Moss openly involved in this affair, so I may ask that you only call me by Dravin."

He heard a few objections behind him, most of which being 'Don't expect the kid to talk out of court'. He had to try, he couldn't say he was a lord of moss, it would be bad enough to get Moss involved, but likely put a target on himself and his men. "Are these acceptable terms?"

Alera turned immediately, clearly annoyed at Thorn. "Don't expect payment. Not from I. This is for the good of Riaden, not your money sacks. If you want money to save this place from a devestating attack, then I think you will find little. I pity those who need monetary value to save the lives on their hands." Alera turned to look back out the window at the strange male outside.

Jinn nodded thoughtfully, understand his words. "Understood Draven. We hired you as mercinaries to fend off the generals. And Moss is no way involved." Jinn folded his arms. "So, have you been filled in on our current situation yet?"

"Hmm, not entirely." Thorn tried his commen speech, it was somewhat broken, and it took effort not to put 'sir' at the end of it. Well, if he played the mercenary, he doubted he could play the noble as well. "I suppose there will be some plan of attack involving these mages and the shamanists."

He paused, rubbing his chin. "If you please, what is the current plan of attack? Or defence? Actually, if I may say, I still havn't the foggiest why they would attack Raiden." He gave a slight sigh as he realized he had broken from common speech and gone into court talk again. This was going to be harder then he thought.

Blade spoke up this time. "I don't beleive they fight for domination. Blade and the forest were attacked then left alone. Roid was destroyed and used as a place of summon but they neither made a move to rebuild or to camp. I suppose Raiden was just next down their list."

Jinn simpley nodded. "And for now... all we can really do is try and defend Raiden in two days. The only clues we have to the method is Aiyanna's vision."

Aiyanna felt a little depressed though she tried not to laugh at Lord Gias's hard try at to appear like a mercenary.Though her face already betrayed it, her lips wre lightly twitching and streched in to a slightest smile.

"Well I need a total bloackade on the chaos energy that means a more powerful shield then the one I cast just few moments ago.Which I will readily cast, but the last vision casting was rather hmmmphh...okay maybe not on that but I will do another casting soon." Aiyanna have trailed off and nearly reminded herself that she
promised herself not to talk about that second vision not most of it, but blade knew one of the things she saw.Aiyanna sighed and looked out the window again at the gaping black hole in the sky. Aiyanna moved away from the table flickering her fingers, her small bottle with soft luminiscent liquid in it came to her hovering not far away from her hand.

She first cast a double standard circle, and dropped few drops from the bottle and the drops also hovered near her hand inside the circle. gently she spread the drops into a circular fomation around her, shilst whispered her spell. '...May your light protect us, shield us from the chaos and those who seek to harm and bring terror...' The drop burned with bright silver light then shot out in all direction now the magickal shield visible as it covered everything, of this inn, including the basement. Aiyanna smiled grimly as she held on to the spell, though casting this would drain her half way and rapidly cast the protective runes she knew and used quiet frequently.Though she hasn't fully mastered the runes, she learn the protective ones first.

Finally she stopped the spell and the silver network of magick also blended into the walls, floors etc. and finally ground the circles and Aiyanna sat down on the ground hard from tiredness but the entire flow of chaos energy to this inn was cut off. The walls seemed to still shimmer from the amount of magick on them.
"I think that would do for now..but I am half drained of my magick already..." Aiyanna looked at other from her sitting position on the ground.

Sevrina nodded as Thorn explained his plan, understanding his terms. Alera popped in with how she wouldn't pay him and Sevrina resisted the temptation to smack the sorceress upside the head. Single misplaced words had been enough to set Sevrina's mood swings off this morning. "Listen Alera!" she hissed at the sorceress, "He's not asking us to pay him!"

She turned back to Thorn, or Draven as she would be calling him from now on, amused by his attempts to speak the common tongue. He was undoubtedly nobility.

She watched as Aiyanna cast yet more spells. The girl was exhausting herself. "Aiyanna, save your magic. I don't plan to stay in this room all day after all."

"Raiden is a large city, and a home to many races, religions, and magic users," Sevrina explained. Some people seemed to have the idea that Raiden needed just their protection and would be helpless without it. "I suggest that we scour the city and enlist the aid of these people. Who here knows the city well? We need to split up and find the mages guild and visit temples to the gods of light."

Edwin was blinking at everything that was going on but understood the reason why Thorn needed to act differently. "Well Draven it is good to have you and your men at our side." turning to look at Aiyanna he was worring that she was going to over do it, she was going go be a very important player in the battle ahead.

Edwin nodded to Sevrina "Going out and seeing what we can find in the city will be good since it will give us an idea of what the city has to defend itself and what they can do to aid us in any plan we really use."

"Then he doesn't know the definition of the word 'hire', does he?" she asked back in sharp reply, not turning to look. Angry on the spot because of stress was one thing, but blaming her when he said they were hiring him was another thing.

Sevrina turned back around to glare at the sorceress. "He's not ASKING for us to HIRE him Alera!" she replied, still at a hissing whisper. "It's his COVER so he doesn't involve Moss in this conflict! We are not hiring him, just SAYING we did. Do you understand now?"

"What a..." Thorn paused, thinking of the correct words to say, commen tongue seemed like another language to him. "Uh... stupid! Yes, what a stupid thing to do! One would think that a major reason to destroying a city is that... err, is that you'd be able to take the country."

Well, not so bad... he would definatly need practice. When Alera told him he didn't know the word of hire, he scracthed the back of his ear. Not nervousness, more of an annoyance. Sevrina came out and said what he was thinking, and he choose to keep his mouth shut. "But... I agree. Raiden is indeed the city of anarchy, of lawlessness... Of freedom, but its never been taken. It is... its impossible to take it."

He then quoted something he read in a tactics book. "And... a wise general once said that its easier to defend something then to take it."

Alera whispered back. "And you expect me to know this from where? No one told me about any covers. Don't get mad because no one said anything about it until after I took my stand."

Sevrina's lip twitched as she continued to glare at the sorceress. "He said it in the first place!" she yelled at Alera this time. "Pay attention!"

Nipa watched the interaction and his head hurt from all the noise. "I May not know the city well, but If someone that knows the city comes with me I will try to find more help.

Thorn caught himself scratching behind his ear and abruptly stopped, replacing his hand to his side. That was starting to annoy him, especially since every now and then that area became raw. "Be civil, if you please. Fighting over my cover will not assist us."

Then he scratched his nose, figuiring out what a mercenary would say in comment tongue. "Aww, shaddap ya stupid whenches before I box both of yer ears!"

Before Alera had a chance to reply, Thorn, or Draven as he would be called, jumped in with a rough attempt at common speech that came out the wrong way intended.

He was pleased with himself, even if it was late, he said what a mercenary would say. At least, thats what he thought. "Anyway, me and my mercenary group... um... Dark Eyes? Yes, that is a fine name. I mean, yeah, thats a damn good name. Some of us will scout out the area, I have a fair- I mean, I have a knowledge of some of the districts. I'll look for anyone not ravin' around screaming the end is near. Will that suffice, err, I mean, i'm gone, alright?"

In an instant, the blade of Alera's staff was at his neck. She winked at him. "Watch your tongue, mercenary." If he was to play the part she would treat him as he plays. It would seem quite abnormal for someone of her status to be catering to a mercenary. Her staff dropped to her side. "Do what you wish."

Sevrina's rapier joined Alera's blade at Thorn's neck. "Watch your tongue half-breed...IF you're even that much dark elf," she growled. Satisied he got their point, Sevrina sheathed her sword and sat back down.

Aiyanna dropped her head at Sevrina's words. "I am not exhausting myself, I need total quietness, lately my mind has been very crowded with other presences and I need to do some meditation but I will come along too, though I am not of a fighter I can cast shield if necessary or move heavy things and debris out of the way." Aiyanna got herself up and flicked her fingers again letting her bag come to her and she did her bracers up and before it was covered her tatoo glowed lightly in silver blue then it was covered. " I will follow with who ever. "



"Best to only bring back those with magical talent." Blade smiled at their little display and Thorn's rather amusing attempt to be common, and the fun would only begin when the "mercenary" attempted to have the mannerisms of a commoner. "Weaker soldiers and other 'mercenaries' you should divert to help civilians find shelter. I appriciate their willingness to fight for such low pay but..." He lowered his head slightly, turning to his own thoughts. "There will only be a few of us engaging in direct combat."

"No, rest." Jinn smiled and patted her on a shoulder. "Alera too. We brutes will take care of the city, right?"

"Brute hm?" A strange smirk crossed Blade's face as he turned towards the door. "I suppose that's what we warriors are good for..."

"All right, Alera, do you know the mages guild here in Raiden? I'm going to search the city to see if some of my old friends have arrived Kai and Blade, I want you two to come with me. Zatch, you know the Academy of Rada, take a few friends and see if you can get the aid of the priests of Rada." Sevrina turned to the dwarves and it took a moment for her to pull up the female's name. "Granite, I'm sure you know where the temple of Marfa is, go and take Dralock and Nipa with you."

She looked over the gathered people again, trying to figure out who know Raiden best. Daermon and Mephistoph looked like they lived here, but Orion and Edwin were only travelers passing through. "Daermon and Mephistoph, take Edwin and Orion and go the Temple of Myrii and talk to the priests. Draven, you and your kni...mercenaries, go to the Temple of Falis. Avoid the Temples to the Gods of Darkness. I wouldn't be surprised if they would be willing to help, but at a price. I don't feel like sacrificing any of you."

Sevrina sat back and waited for the others to leave before she took Kai and Blade to the bayfront. Aiyanna said she saw some of Sevrina's companions in a vision. The bayfront was the most likely place to look, especially with that efreeti they saw.

Orion smiled briefly and walked over to stand by Mephistoph. He truly didn,t know anything about Raiden and was glad to be put with someone who did. He sighed lightly and waited to depart.

Zatch nodded at the request but was uncerain it could be carried out, Rada teaches total pacifism, even if he could convice some priests to go into battle they would know at best defensive spells. Still it was worth the effort.

"I should only need two people to come with me, any volunteers?" he stated to the crowd.

Kai raised his eyes from sharpening his weapons as Sevrina had just volunteered him and Blade to go with her.

"Got it." he replied simply before returning his attention back to the wetstone, ready to leave whenever she was.

Mephistoph looked to Orion, then said calmly, "Follow me." Although he didn't like to be ordered around,he figured he would listen this time.

Alera nodded to Sevrina. "I do know the mages guild. And we are truly lucky here. I have an old friend, a master high mage that could stand up to me in a fight of magic. He has many a friend as well that will lend hands to our cause." Alera turned quickly to Aiyanna. "You should come with me. This is our task. And your skills are just as invaluable as any other's. We shall gather those who shall put forth their minds and spirits to the cause," she said.

She smiled at Jinn's advice, "thanks but it's okay" and nodded at Alera, "I am ready when ever you are, though I wish my mentor came with me." Aiyanna was ready to go.

"Then lets be off,"Alera declared. She nodded to Sevrina. "We will not be long." Alera quickly led off the party of two from the inn.She stopped outside and looked around, trying to remember where she was. "It has been too long, Raiden,"she muttered. Alera had a vague idea,and led off to the right.

Orion nodded slightly and looked at Mephistoph, his blue eyes gleaming with thier normal shimmer. He sighed lightly "Well lets go." he wasn't even vaguley familiar with the city and was going to have to keep close to Mephistoph.

Edwin had seen enough of the city that he knew the locations of the temples but not which one was which. So he thought it was a good choice for him to follow Daermon and Mephistoph to the temple of Myrii. "I am ready to go" he stood up and bowed to the everyone as he turn to follow both Mephistoph and Daermon out.

Kitsa and Zatch had planned to go the academy yesterday morning, before the rain started. Now he finally had the chance and she jumped to go with him.

"I'll go with you Zatch," she said and stood. "Come on Terin. Come with us," she requested, her eyes were a reddish shade of amber and were begging him to come with her.

Sevrina waited for the others to file out before she left. She hurried to finish her rather large breakfast, which she didn't get the chance to finish before the others had left. She stood and fixed her cloak over her shoulders, then glanced to both Kai and Blade. "Lets see if we can find some old friends, hmm?" she said and headed to the door.

"Let's try." Blade grinned and was ready to follow Sevrina's lead. "Are we looking for anyone specific or wandering and hoping?"