Broken Stars [ IC / PG-16 / Not Currently Accepting / Co-hosted by Kyng ]

[Astolfo]

OOC Link
 

Broken Stars

 

Chapter 1: Rebirth of the Starfell:
"GAHHK!" Cael yelled as the stubborn Skulvern slammed a heavy fist into his chest, literally sending him flying. He thudded into the sandy desert region of Temeris. This was one of the few areas both Theristes and Rebirth's army avoided. He had heard of a rumor of a great treasure or something of the like guarded by a unique watcher. He now understood. Towering much higher than the average Skulvern - which was about the size of a living room in a normal house in Teleia - was a gigantic one that was about the size of the house comparably.

He didn't understand why Teleians called it unique, but he realized when the massive entity opened its maw and shot out a burst of flame, nearly incinerating him, but he rolled away at the last second. What the hell?! Skulverns don't breathe flame! Cael thought, but when he analyzed the situation again, he thought dryly, Well, this one does apparently. Must've forgot the memo or something about not breathing fire. Compared with other fighters, Cael was not a strong person, but his creations and intellect mostly made up for it. He thought about abandoning this plan, but thinking of the rumor of the treasure, which could be something he desperately needs for a part of another creation or something, he continued fighting. Cael engaged his gauntlet-weapon instantly into style M1, and launched a quick 3 shots of pure energy, when he realized around 6 other people were charging at the dragon or him. Instantly, he realized his mistake, as his weapon style signified he was a Starfell, as no plain weapons can utilize that style of energy manipulation. Unable to think about it more, he dodged an immensely large wing arcing across towards his neck, and kept on fighting. He assumed the others were here for the rumored treasure as well…...

[hr]

Shhshshhshhsh….. A rattling whisper could be heard within the room of some unknown location. A cloaked figure whispers some words as he watches a screen of a person fighting a Skulvern, with around six others coming to fight or similar predictably. The words are snatched away partially by a sudden explosion sound as a person barges in through a door, but some words are heard. Star….. have come again….. I…. harness…. core unit… perfect…. The figure whips around to face the intruder. Dozens of incapacitated or dead guards can be seen twitching or still in the hall visible through the doorway.

"You will never succeed!" A loud voice filled with bravado echoes out through the room. It can be seen the person seems to be male and around 20. The person is garbed in a black tight-fitting garment overlaid by some leather armor of sorts. Loudly, he pronounces his name is [acronym=dez-ra-vyooSS]'Dezraveusz'[/acronym]. Yelling with spirit, he punches towards the man, with a now visible long, shiny, metal blade quickly sliding into place right above his wrist. It seems as if the man would get impaled, but at the last second, the blade stops right in mid-air, and though the man struggles to push the blade through, it is futile. A raspy, strange-sounding, malicious laugh can be heard. Quickly, the hooded figure rears back his fist before punching out. It seems normal, but the effects were visible. A rippling wave of some sort of energy smashed into the man, shattering his blade easily, and nearly breaking every single bone as he thudded into the wall. "You think you stood a chance against me? That is insulting… And you should know by now, I don't react to insults very well." A melodious voice marred with a horrible screeching sound, like sharp metal plates scraping each other, with an undertone like poisoned honey speaks out from under the hood. Walking over to the defeated man, he picks the person up and then bodily throws him high into the air. As the man falls back down, a sickening crack can be heard as the enrobed figure kicks with inhuman power. The man hits the ground again. The figure walks over to him and places a foot on his throat, before pulling out a blade, and driving it through the man's chest with enough power to crack the ground as the sword-like weapon drove through the man, out of the person, and through the floor. Ripping the weapon out, the figure flicks the blood off and watches impassively as Dezraveusz shakes uncontrollably before dying. He then snaps a finger and a hum is heard. The cloaked person simply says, "There's a mess around my room. Send the clean-up people please. This is a direct order from Rebirth!" The man walks back over to his computer of sorts and watches the screen as the fight on there unfolds, without showing any emotion as men come and remove the bodies and blood from his room and the hallways………

[encapturer]

(Using Invigorating Mist this post)
-------------------------------------------------
"This was *not* what I was expecting!"

Daena Lauzon fired a few more darts into the giant creature, but there seemed to be only a little effect. She began to see blood seep through the puncture holes some of her darts hit, but this thing was huge; she had no idea whether or not this would slow it down at all at this point. Without warning, the Skulvern's tail swiped in her general direction. She fell down on her behind as the tail swung safely overhead, leaving Daena to pick herself back up and move out of that range.

The battle had been going on for awhile now. Daena had been joined by six other people who more or less stumbled upon this location themselves. Daena herself was drawn here due to the fact that no one really knew what *was* here, besides the occasional rumor. Her sect would not meet for another 4 months, so she decided to do a little advance reconnaissance; Daena had nothing better to do, anyway.

This fire-breathing monstrosity was something else, though. Under any other circumstance, Daena would had fled. But the others here were fighting the thing. Daena's curiosity would not let her leave empty-handed since this may be her only chance. Seeing that brown-haired young man fire energy blasts at their foe gave her an idea.  Or rather, his reveal that he was a Starborn made it safer for her to reveal her own powers.

A thin mist began spreading from Daena's body, quickly filling the area around her. It settled low, only coming up to about her shins, but that was all that was needed. Since she saw the other six people as her allies here, they would be affected by her ability as well. Daena herself felt a second wind coming, as she ejected the now empty cartridge, and attach a new one filled with fresh Bloody Darts. After all, if the skulvern lost enough blood, perhaps the humans could gain the upper hand.

[a bad post]

Vana aimlessly stumbled around the battlefield, narrowly dodging the Skulvern’s attacks. Vana hit the deck as the beast swiped at her for the umpteenth time even though she was only trying to play with it. In all honesty the girl had no idea how she’d even got here; she had been playing with her (imaginary) friends, when suddenly this big Skulvern had tried to make her lunch. Vana continued dancing uselessly around the battlefield, not even attack the giant Skulvern, totally unaware of the very real danger she was in.

 

“Oh I know! We can play with these!” Vana cried out revealing three small marbles. Fitting them between her fingers, Vana began charging them with power, and when they were ready she tossed them up into the air, and they came crashing beck down cutting the Skulvern, although Vana was too far out to know she was hurting the beast. “Aren’t they pretty. Isn’t this fun, let’s do that again!” Vana said calling the marbles back to her.

 

Just as she did the Skulvern’s tail came around smacking her in the side sending her flying like a rag doll. Her R-Gen nanites already healing her injuries Vana leaned back on her elbows. The look in her eye had changed from playful, and benevolent to a dark, murderous look. “Playtime’s over! Now you die!” Vana screamed viciously, calling her marbles back to her, and charging them for another launch. The blunt force trauma of getting hit had caused Vana to enter one of her episodes, and she might as well not be in control of her own body.

 

This many consecutive launches was starting to take its toll on Vana’s body, but she could hardly notice. As a result of the episode her whole body had gone numb, she fueled by and insatiable bloodlust, and wouldn’t stop until she had the Skulvern’s head. 

[Kyng's Old Account]

Sirius stood back as he watched the fray unfold before his eyes, silent, still. His eyes were watching from afar as his sword laid rest in the sandy ocean upon which they stood, his hand grasping it tightly. His eyes widened with shock as he saw the Skulvern, the skeletal lesser drake without arms yet the sheer size of this mighty beast did more than compensate for this absence in what would have appeared a vital tool of destruction.

Regarding, he took a deep and satisfying breath, watching a stranger contend with the drake. He knew little of him, however what he foresaw was, based on his motions, he was in trouble. This was soon later debated by Sirius as he watched the individual rapidly summon forth what appeared to be a Starfell weapon. He recognized the motion, he had seen but a few of them before but needed no other conviction.

The other individual unleashed a volley of darts to the gigantic Skulvern to no avail. With a prompt reload he assumed she'd prepare another volley, which all the more delayed his soon to be assault. Sirius let out a slight smirk from confidence, his hand tighter on Stjarna's hilt; he was confident that this dragon would hold nothing against the sheer might of the Starsteel: the precious, mighty metal which the blade was crafted of, as well as, Sirius assumed, the gun-like weapon the confirmed Starfell used.

He watched another girl attempt to contend with the great lesser drake. Sirius watched her attacks turn more and more feral with each passing second. He didn't condone this: after all, a lacking of sanity becomes a loss of self-restraint, which in turn leads to a vast increase in power. Sirius observed and spotted how her use of marbles would attempt to go for a very blunt but sharp attack of the Skulvern, which might not be effective on a usually scaled dragon, but this thing bore fur, and likely skin beneath.

This caused Sirius to understand something. "It has skin. Dense, maybe, but not as dense as Stjarna." he muttered to himself.

With all this said and done, he began to motion, and called out "Accelerate!" which immediately triggered his boots' rockets, granting him a rapid burst of speed which easily let him charge towards the feral creature. Even his jump was enhanced from the jets. Sirius made sure his trajectory was away from the marbles; he hoped those projectiles might distract the creature.

Sirius, in his momentum, would begin his descend upon what he perceived as a fleshy wing. This limb could be used for blocking. Thus, he took Stjarna in both hands and barked "Shield Breaker!" aloud, triggering his combination of attacks: with an upwards swing, followed by a downwards slash, and one last upper slash, he relief on the might of his blade as he was adamant on making this creature bleed out.

[Astolfo]

The Skulvern roared incredibly loud and angrily as the marbles cut into its hide and numerous darts attempted to pierce its skin. As it turned to face a faint whistling sound he heard, it saw a figure rocketing towards it with a blade, and attempted to dodge, but failed and screeched horrifyingly unpleasantly, forcing everyone nearby to their feet. The monster sceamed and yelled as the thick blade had cut deeply into its wing, almost severing it. The triple cut had hurt the monster severely, and inside of its dark heart, it sorely wished for a horrifying retaliation. It swung the other of its strong, but narrow wings towards the swordsman, knowing that the wing would essentially act like a blade. It had used it as such many times before, and it knew if it hit, it would easily decapitate or split the person into two.

 

As the wing arced towards the swordsman, the Skulvern opened its mouth to prepare to let out a gush of flame which would roast the unfortunate person who dared attack it. The Skulvern knew many knew of the treasure it was guarding, but no one could beat the powerful guardian, so it didn't care. Sometimes it received worse injuries than this one, but none ever came close to defeating the monster….

 

[hr]

 

Rebirth watched as the fight onscreen seemed to be becoming a bit well for the fighters, but he knew of the powerful guardian, and was curious how the fledgling Starfell would fare…..

[Nexev]

Toilet Mouth grimaced, no matter how powerful or not the foe is fighting was always such a pain in the [REDACTED]. Ugh [REDACTED] cut a whole in your [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]. This Skulvern was actually pretty cool, but noooo she had to try to beat it, gotta to get the ancient treasure of something something blah blah. Frankly she just wanted to see this little cutie  well technically that was a [REDACTED] understatement since it was the size of a house but that is so not the point. Either way blah blah people wanted to fight it, nasty little fight happens, and now it appears that you have to help these [REDACTED] or this beastie may kill them. She supposes this is just as well, her ability to befriend such a irritable guardian seemed doubtful to begin with. Oh well still worth a shot. Toliet thrusted her pole into the ground, using the steel rod as a focal point for her strength, thus with a quick thrust of her leg muscles combined with her pole she Jumped over the Skulvern, her black combat boots diging into, the flesh of the beast as she lands upon its incredibly large head. Using her pole to stabilize herself Toilet took a deep breath, this was her moment. 

 

"ATTENTION YOU [REDACTED] GUARDIAN OF SOME [REDACTED] POOR EXCUSE FOR A TREASURE. YOU ARE DEALING WITH THE [REDACTED] QUEEN OF BEASTS, METAL AND [REDACTED] YOUR [REDACTED]. YOU HAVE TWO OPTIONS, EITHER [REDACTED] DIE LIKE A [REDACTED] [REDACTED]  OR JOIN ME AND WE WILL [REDACTED] BE THE BEST OF [REDACTED] BUDS. ADMIT IT YOU WANT TO [REDACTED] SURRENDER DON'T YOU?"

 

Toilet's words bellowed throughout the room, her volume displaying the full extent of her nanites U-GRADE abilities  Peppered throughout her speech was the accursed word, a phrase which twists reality ever so lightly to the speakers proclamation of it.  Her threat was not without backing either but the offer was true, Toilet withheld from combat, waiting for the beast to make its choice.

[Astolfo]

Cael was in the midst of fighting, and had been struck with a claw shortly after dodging the wing slice, leaving a deep stab wound, and had fallen roughly, and had to recover as his R-Gen nanites repaired his broken organs and whatnot. His gauntlet recharge was almost over, and he was about to summon his sword when he heard a hideously loud voice yelling at the dragon with almost every other word an expletive. He turned to face…. A GIRL!?

The woman looked older than he was by maybe a few years, but he heard the brunt and influence behind each of those words as they were yelled at the dragon. Is she a Starfell? What kind of regular Teleian can have that kind of power??? It was something about persuading the dragon to calm down and join them or something. He winced. It was a bit late. He and a few others had injured and there forth, insulted the dragon basically. He however watched as the inevitable attack would come, preparing to distract the dragon when the strike would come.

[hr]

The Skulvern grinned craftily on the inside as it nodded with a poker face - a habit of nodding when people seemed to move their mouths. It had no ears but could guess from the Teleian's motions and movements. Within a split second, it swiped a massive claw almost the size of a large car at the woman, knowing it would bash her to pieces.

[hr]

As the massive paw swung over the dragon's own head, Cael embraced his lance-like weapon and calculated the trajectory and his speed of attack, and changed his path of his weapon as he struck. As the paw swiped, he struck it with the flat of his blade, pushing it, and then rotated his weapon to the sharper side, and cut down and back towards the Skulvern's neck, cutting deeply.

He breathed heavily. He tried to protect the woman, but everything comes at a cost. The fierce power of the magical attack - wait, magical? - crept down his blade, shocking, harming, destroying. No ordinary attack was like this, that much was obvious. The R-Gen nanites also refused to heal it, and started healing slowly as he tried to force it with his mind, but failed. He became worried. The nanites sensed his intention though, resulting in the slow healing. He was stunned by the titanic power behind the paw. It was like trying to throw an airplane for a regular Teleian. He had just barely managed to turn it aside.

Cael reanalyzed the circumstances and realized there was a powerful spell bound to the dragon, and as he looked deeper, because he had the strength to use even barely his mind, he saw a dark, virulent plague crawling over the dragon's heart, chanting an impulse to kill, guard, and torture, and enjoy inflicting that sadism on others. What on Teleia is this? So complicated of a spell… This is amazing, but its purpose is evil…. He felt nearly sorry for the dragon, but it was already too much infected, beyond hope of repair unless a powerful magician could undo the course and have another go through decades, maybe centuries of rehabilitation with this monstrous beast.

Inevitably, as the dragon jerked back at the touch of his blade, he was dragged along, flying as the blade retracted a couple of seconds later. Thudding hard into the ground, he hit badly, and was paralyzed temporarily, and watched helplessly as the dragon grinned sadistically as it rose its injured wing, which happened to have - unfortunately for him - a sharp spike almost two feet long. The Skulvern smashed the spike down towards him, blood spurting onto him, and he yelled as the acid-like blood of dragons burned him severely. In a haze, he could see the wing and its spike…. Is this how it all ends? I'm sorry…. Aiko…. I tried….. I'm sorry…. You won't see…. big brother again…..

He heard the wonderful, happy voice of his little sister in his mind though. "Don't give up onii-chan! Wafu!" As he heard that, he came back to sharp reality - including the pain, but he didn't mind it. He knew he had to survive, not for himself, but for his little sister who loved him, and was the bright point in his life. He rolled to the side roughly and stared briefly in shock at the spike that drove through solid rock, into the ground. Snarling, it pulled the talon out, and a thick hole was driven through the rock he had been lying a second ago.

He knew his limit was reaching its end, but with the Skulvern able to fly and kill from distances, as well as an ability to hide and burrow through the desert regions if it was not seen yet, and knew he had to keep fighting. Drawing upon the energy from within his very core and soul, he engaged the sword of gauntlet mode S2 again, and focused on keeping it out much longer than its limit, even as it physically drained his life supporting the massive power output. Slashing strikes were turned aside, hits were dodged, and he resumed his attack, and vaguely noticed his vision turning black and his legs starting to buckle. Out of his periphery, he noticed a few more people running towards him, but ignored them, and fought the deadly dance that seemed to result in an impasse as neither could gain an advantage.

He knew his limit was coming faster than the dragon's though, and focused on dodging powerful strikes now, hoping for some brilliant idea…….

[encapturer]

[i]That's... five... six more...[/I]

 

The Skulvern had amazing natural defenses; most of Daena's darts barely dug into its skin; some even just bouncing right off.  It started bleeding at only six more points; not enough at all, really.  Then the older woman spoke.

 

Her words threw Daena off guard, stunned at what she just heard.  There were something about those words, and not just the vulgar content, either.  What came after was more suprising, though, as the young man from earlier moved in and blocked... the fire breath that was aimed at the woman.  He didn't get off unscathed, and eventually took a direct hit from the Skulvern's talon, nailing him to the ground.

 

"No way..." Daena said.  Yet, the young man pulled the spike out and resumed fighting the titanic beast.  He was definitely having a hard time, the injury catching up to him.  Daena, figuring she had to do something, ejected the cartridge filled with darts, the container falling to the ground spilling the darts on the floor, and pulled a similar looking cartride from her bag.  It had two holes, one to connect to her dart-shooter, and another on the opposite side. As she ran towards the battle, she connected the 'cartridge', and the mist along the ground began to dissipate.  Now a good distance behind the young man, she aimed the dart-shooter at him, releasing a thick mist directly towards him.  His skin seemed to absorb most of it; Daena only hoped it could keep him up a bit longer.

 

Her efforts were merely a stopgap solution however.  She needed to get him to safety; and that would not happen as long as he was in the midst of combat like he was.  "Come on!" Daena called out while trying to keep up with the man's movements.  "We need to get this guy out of here!"

[a bad post]

Vana wiped the sweat from her brow, and dropped down to the ground panting heavily. She held herself up with one hand, while the other held her head as if it would somehow help the raging headache she had. The fatigue from using her powers so much and so quickly had taken her out of the episode returning to her usual meek self. Wretching Vana stood up slowly and shakily the Skulvern distracted by the others fighting it.

 

What really caught her attention was lady that jumped on its head and started saying weird words that Vana didn’t recognize. “Hahaha… funny, funny! Do more!” Vana laughed and clapped her hands at the woman’s strange language finding it absolutely hilarious. “&#@$... that sounds funny. What does it mean?”  Vana said repeating words the lady had used. She hardly even noticed when the Skulvern toke a swipe with its claw at the lady, and just continued off being quite ditzy actually forgetting about the battle.

 

It was the sound of Cael getting stabbed by the Skulvern that brought Vana back to reality, and in this moment she really seemed to comprehend what was happening. The boy… he was dying, and if she didn’t do something he would die. With the last ounces of her strength Vana stretched out her hand, and channeled it into a Blooming Grace surrounding Cael the tentacles going down to Cael’s injuries a green glow spreading from the healing Cael. Vana collapsed again fighting the blackness at the edge of her vision.

[ListenToLife]

"Goddammit. Stupid people, always getting themselves into trouble. And I have to clear up the mess."

 

Dr Nicholas Hawkson cursed his luck as he stumbled into the seemingly natural 'arena', the Skulvern impressively taking on all 5 of it's opponents, ignoring the multiple injuries it had taken and dealing some heavy damage in vengeance. Heavy damage that the Doctor was inclined to heal. He called it his misfortune, but in reality it was exactly why he had arrived at this place; it was in his nature to help others, and with such a treasure to be found, Nicholas had reckoned that people would go in search of it. Which would undoubtably lead to injuries. Injuries he needed to be there to heal.

 

He sighed and peaked out from behind a sand-dune, from which he had been watching the battle unfold. He was probably the least battle-ready of the group that had accumulated around the Skulvern, and his role was definitely not on the front lines of a battle, so he had decided to stay back and merely watch as the other took down the beast. But it wasn't happening, it was just too strong. So strong that it had already nearly killed one of the warriors. And now Nicholas was required to heal him, as the others didn't seem to be too concentrated on healing others, even if they had an ability to. He was the 'cleric' character, he guessed, so he rose from the dune and lifted his pistol, making sure that he moved as the Skulvern turned to deal with a different opponent.

 

With his gun constantly pointed at the beast, he ran towards the wounded Cael, stumbling slightly on the shifting sands, but arriving none-the-less, appearing at the man's side as two others attempted to aid the healing. They were Starfell, obviously, and their abilities were able to help the injured man apparently, but neither would be as much help as Nicholas at the moment.

 

Nicholas grabbed the man and threw him to the ground as he attempted to make another barrage of attacks on the Skulvern, pinning him to the ground as he turned his head towards the two women attempting to help.

"You two focus on the beast; take his attention away!" He shouted at the others, pulling the backpack off of his bag and placing the pistol down at his side. "I'm a doctor, I can help him!" He added, turning his attention towards the injured man.

 

"You - You wont move. Try, and I'll shoot you. You'll be back out there soon enough though." He said, not even looking at the guy's face before pressing one hand against the large wound in the man's chest, the other pinning the guy at the shoulder. He reckoned that, even in this guy's condition, he'd probably be able to push Nicholas aside and continue fighting if he wanted to. But the doctor hoped that he'd see sense and stay where he was for the time being.

 

A green aura erupted from Nicholas' hand and the wound in Cael's chest started to form back together already, skin stitching up and blood forming in the wound seemingly of it's own accord. "See, it'll be over in a minute or two." Nicholas muttered, more to himself as he focussed on healing.

[Sweetie Belle]

"Alright, Visor, let's get this over with." Creed heard the giant Skulvern's cries from a mile away. He still kept his distance. He was close enough to see, but far enough away to remain unnoticed by anyone who wasn't looking for him. The Skulvern was facing to the side, more focused on the other combatants. Creed began to analyse the giant Skulvern, searching for a way to drive it off. "It may be six times its normal size, but it's still a Skulvern. Skulverns can be easily killed with something driven behind its skull plate into sensitive flesh, but its size alone would require me to use something longer than my sword. However, the area behind it is still extremely sensitive, and it would probably be able to drive it off. Now the challenge here would be getting on top of its head and staying there long enough to strike it."

Creed scanned the area, as well as the other Starfell that were fighting as well. "Visor, estimate the speed of its claw swipes." The visor monitored the Skulvern's motions and returned an approximate speed.

[On average, the mother Skulvern appears to be able to move its claws at approximately 72.375 miles per hour with a downward strike. I calculate an upward strike speed of approximately 59.725 miles per hour and a side swipe speed at 69.500 miles per hour.]

"Thank you. Now let's begin." Creed rushed quickly into the fray, quickly and undeterred by the sand. He arrived as the Skulvern raised its wing to strike someone else. "OI. OVER HERE." Creed let out a whistle, which, at the frequevcy he used, was known to annoy and distract Skulverns. It turned its head to face the sound, and upon noticing Creed, changed its target to the source of the sound. It swiped downwards at Creed, expecting to crush him. On contact, however, he sublimated into a smoke and rematerialised on top of the claw, which had been driven into the sand. The Skulvern reacted by bringing its claw back upwards, launching Creed into the air.

[Your current trajectory will cause you to land directly at the base of the neck. It is suggested that you sublimate to avoid fall damage and control your landing.]

"Thanks, Visor." Creed changed into a gas again, but what neither he nor Visor predicted, was that the Skulvern looked directly up at them, and fired flames out of its gaping maw. Creed was unable to compensate for the fire, and ignited. He immediately materialized to avoid burning away.

[It appears you are on fire. You can put yourself out using the sand.]

"Gee, thanks, Visor, I didn't realize. But that can wait." Creed managed to land on the base of the neck, as predicted, and in one quick motion, he unsheathed his sword and drove it underneath the Skulvern's skull plate. The Skulvern screeched loudly, and even louder as Creed pulled it back out. "Visor, what's it going to do next?"

[Sorry, this branch of Skulvern is not in my database. No information available.]

"Damnit, Visor, what would a normal Skulvern do?"

[With the current trauma inflicted such proximity of its brain stem, it is likely to flee.]

"Good, that's what I wanted to hear. Now time to go!" Creed dove off the flailing beast into the sand, covering his still burning self to suppress the flames. He stood back up and waited for the beast to scamper off.

[Astolfo]

As Cael observed the fight as he tried to regain strength, he was startled when a female with a youthful face - around 20 perhaps, given the height and build - aimed her crossbow at him. "Woah, woah, woah! WAIT A SECOND!" He calmed down when he realized there wasn't any vicious quarrels coming out, rather a thick mist. Upon coming into contact with it, he shied away, but started feeling stronger again, and realized the mist was giving him strength somehow.

After a while, he felt strong enough to fight again, but his wound was still painful, and moved to stand up when another female appeared that appeared slightly younger pointed her hand at him, and multicolored tentacles popped out from what seemed like a marble. What the hell? Girls are falling over me to help me. They don't even know who I am. Why would they waste their energy on an idiot who was in the wrong place at the wrong time? Not arguing more than that though, he realized something was strange, and saw that his wound had at least closed over on the surface. He was sure it was still damaged inside though, and with that came another revelation. His pain receptors seemed to have numbed! This was fantastic. He took a breath to prepare himself to fight again when another person started to run over to him. Are you seriously fragging kidding me? This is ridiculous.

This one was a man that seemed a couple of years older than the females - perhaps around 26? 28? The man appeared like a doctor almost with the trademark white lab coat of sorts and even thin glasses. Cael was a bit surprised when the man pulled out a gun and pointed it at the beast, but acknowledged it as necessary, but wondered why a doctor would come here. There seemed to be nothing for him to gain. Treasure? The man didn't appear like a greedy thief, but looks could be deceiving.

The man bent over him and pressed a hand against his wound, and he recoiled involuntarily before realizing the strange energy tentacles from the marble numbed his pain. When the man stated he wouldn't move and he would be shot if he tried, Cael snickered. You crouch over me, and clearly see that I have a massive wound. You seem like the doctor-ish sort who would try to heal me. What kind of doctor shoots his patients? Grimacing suddenly when the pain returned, he snapped his look to the second of the two girls he saw, and noticed she collapsed. He grew worried, but he couldn't do anything right now, and tried to go over to the girl, but the doctor motioned him to stay down. Does that doctor really think he could keep me down if he tried? I do need to get this wound fixed though. Guess I'll stay for a little. Hope the girl's okay till then. After a minute or two, the wound completely healed, and he ran over to the girl, concerned.

He checked for a pulse when a deafeningly loud scream tore through the air, and turned to see a guy in a crimson coat with light purplish hair drive a sword deep into the back of the Skulvern, rip out the blade, and jump into the sand to put out the flames he apparently was caught on. Wincing, he sighed in relief when he found a good pulse. She's probably just tired like I was. If the others had waited a minute, I could've used my nanites and powers on myself. Whatever. Cael wondered at the strange feeling that led him to be concerned to the girl. What was that? Love? Couldn't be. Probably some mild empathy….

When the Skulvern lifted its massive leathery wings and fled the area, he turned to see the huge cave. Motioning at the others, he yelled out in a loud voice. "What do you say? Want to see what treasures this guardian had protected?"

[hr]

Rebirth was a bit stunned when the group managed to drive away the Skulvern, but quickly got over it, and watched closely as the group seemed to be discussing something quickly….

 

Chapter 2: Roll the Paradice:

[encapturer]

Daena sighed in relief, collapsing to the ground.  Everyone survived the encounter; which was enough for her.  The group was probably exhaused, and who could blame them?  Daena herself was at the point where she almost forgot the reason she came here in the first place; at least until that previously injured boy started yelling to the group.

 

"What do you say? Want to see what treasures this guardian had protected?"

 

Daena lept to her feet, regaining her energy.  "After all that, do you have to ask?" she replied.  "Of course I'm curious as to what's hiding back there."  As she spoke, Daena pulled a notepad an a pen from her pack.  That Skulvern has gotta be a one-of-a-kind, she thought to herself as she scribbled some quick notes about the Skulvern they had fought, before putting the pad back into her bag.  "Anyone else coming?" Daena asked, before running forward towards the entrance of the cave.
 

There's sure to be something cool in there.... I can't wait!

[Nexev]

Ugh where that could have [redacted] gone better couldn't it? Toilet Mouth leaped off the Skulvern as it retreated, while the [redacted] was no longer of interest to Toliet if it wasn't after her the thing could go die in a [redacted]hole for all she cared. She had priorites. "Okay look bro thanks for keeping that [redacted] from trying to play edward [redacted] scissorhands on me. I could have handled that it though, just saying." Looker over Toilet cursed her luck, her pipe was misplaced on the beasts back, no doubt embedded within the beasts hide after the impact her Jump did. "Alright I need some new bling anyway I guess I will see what the big deal was about, maybe its edible, I worked up a appetite getting here."

[ListenToLife]

Cael's cocky smirk as Dr Nicholas threatened him was definitely annoying, as irritating an expression of over-confidence as any he had witnessed before. But alas, they were all like that, weren't they? Over confident, presumptuous, egotistic. They often had power, yes. But that power led them to believe they were indestructible, even after injuries like this one. As if a simple bullet was not enough to kill them, as if there was not a chance that a 'simple medic' could possibly know how to wield a gun.

 

Nicholas sighed as the man rushed past him, his injuries healed, though the Doctor would've liked him to have been treated longer.  No matter. He could do little about that now, instead focussing on other problems, such as the other girl unconsious at the scene. But she wasn't actually that injured; a quick glance told him that. She was merely tired, and so she should be. She was only a young girl, hardly enough energy in her to take on such a...to be brutally honest, a monster. And yet she had, impressively as well. He smirked slightly; at least she wasn't over confident. Such innocence on the face.

 

"Meh, I'm not too interested in treasure or glory, to be honest." Nicholas said, answering the question about entering the cave. I came to heal idiots like you who chased this fool's errand. I guess it's just luck that it's not so much a legend any more. He added, in his mind. He took a quick sigh and looked towards the cave, then looked back at Cael, who had asked the question. "But, I guess there's no harm in looing. Someone grab that girl over there and we can go take a look." He stated, lifting himself up from his seated position, grabbing his pistol and back pack; lifting the backpack over one shoulder, but keeping the pistol in his hand. Who knew what other beasts awaited them inside the cave.

[Astolfo]

That was a success. Creed heard his Visor speak and retorted, slightly annoyed by his Visor's all-too-obvious attitude at times. You don't say? Besides. I probably could've beat this Skulvern by myself. Those others are fools and got themselves almost killed. That nerdy looking pest looked like he would've died and only survived because like three other fools decided to help him. One of them even used up her energy on that idiot and fainted. What rag-tag team is this? Are they seriously the other Starfells? Man, we're screwed. Who made this judgement? Do they think they're gonna last a chance against Rebirth or the Theristes? The only one who looks actually worth it is that dude with like that ribbon around his huge sword. Pah!

 

Creed sneered slightly as he observed the others. As he watched that - freaking brainy - guy again, he heard him say that they should probably check out the treasures that guardian was supposed to be guarding. Oh, because we'd go through nearly killing it and just leave the treasures behind. Of course we'd look in there.

 

With a smirk, he charged into the cave with his sword loosely at his side, confident he could take any danger.

 

[hr]

 

Cael checked the unconscious Vana once more, sighing in some relief when he found that her pulse was strong. She's just tired. I'll carry her into the cave. Grabbing her by her two arms gently, he lifted her and carried her diagonally across his shoulder, his right hand pointed slightly towards the front in case of any other danger. He wondered about her switch between an apparently some sort of insane state, and a calmer naïve state that made her seem extremely innocent and child-like. Slightly worried, he carried her into the cave as the last two people, as the first of the swordsmen who had like this ribbon thing around his sword entered before him. He prepared for possibly horrifying sights and involuntarily glanced at the prone figure over his shoulder, but nothing could prepare him for the sight…

 

[hr]

 

A massive amount - no, even the word massive was too small. Huge mini-castles filled with tons of gold coins and jewels decorated the whole place. There were no bones inside, but Cael supposed no one even made it this far yet. He was breathless. He noticed diamond jewels and chandeliers, mountains of other precious stones, and strangely, around a dozen bags that seemed to be made of some sort of good quality leather and had some strange stamp with a weird symbol on it, but dismissed it. Who cares about some bags? Snapping out of his trance, he carefully set Vana down, and gently shook her to awake her.

 

[hr]

 

Rebirth froze when he saw them drive off the Skulvern. How?! I placed a special curse on it that forced it to fight and love it. WHY WOULD IT FLEE?! HOW WOULD THEY DEFEAT THAT ANYWAY?!

 

After the group entered the cave and he saw the leather bags, his jaw dropped open. Those bags…. The mark on them. Were they the actual Telespacia Bags? It couldn't be. Those had to be frauds. Rebirth thought a little harder and realized the bags went missing and a rumor of a lost treasure was guarded by the guardian he had placed there, but the actual bags?

 

Standing up quickly, he knocked over his chair, and a servant instantly rushed in and stood it back up and dashed back out. Sounding the intercom to his army, he spoke. Falcon Unit, report to Location Skull-Z! Bring back any leather bags you find! The Falcon Unit were one of his fastest moving, and with a light load, they were strong and fast, a deadly combination. Rebirth grinded his teeth. If I lose even one of the Telespacia Bags to those idiots…. ARGH! Yelling, he punched a nearby wall, and nearly the entire wall caved in on itself….

[encapturer]

"Whoa...."

Daena stood in awe at the mass of wealth that stood before the group. It was so much; with just her share alone she'd probably could make enough money for herself and her mom and dad! She'd probably have to be careful how she sent the money back as to not arouse suspicion, but still! She would have money forever! At that moment, a few leather bags caught Daena's eye.

"Suspicious..."

Daena moved herself in front of the treasure pile and picked up one of the leather bags there. After examining it for a few moments, particularly its unique insignia, Daena picked up a diamond and dropped it into the bag. Then another. And then another. Followed by shaking the bag around a bit.

"Could it be...?"

She then removed the large tube from her back and began shoving it down into the bag. As expected, it seemed to readily accept the tube, as bizarre as it was.

"Hahahahaha!" Daena let out an excited laugh as she began to slowly push the tube further into the bag. "I can't believe this bag exists! This thing is amazing!"

[Kyng's Old Account]

Of course, what Daena had stumbled upon was one of the very treasured dimensional bags, also known as the Telespacia Bags. Sirius, though very lazy throughout the battle having only inflicted a single yet very notable wound on the Dragon, watched her carefully with a soft smile, indeed interested in what these little purses could do. He remained silent for the time being, as we had the camera pan out from the cave of wealth. It is obvious what they did with these bags, right? When you have a Bag of Holding, you're gonna shove whatever you damn well can into it. With the eight bags "filled" with treasure, as there was truly no real way to determine just how much these bags could store, we would simply see the Starfell making their move from the Desert. They had a ludicrous fortune on their hands.

And where on Teleia would they ever bring a fortune?

Well only THE Biggest jewel in the gambling world: Paradise Casino. Naming aside, this place was the shining beacon in terms of lights, games, and the down right dirty business. From high dime escorts to drug smuggles and the like, this place was nothing else than a Sin City. You might wonder why the hell they came to this place: they could get pickpocketed, etc. Well, these guys could easily overpower a crook with ease, and what is the easiest way to rapidly boost one's profits other than gambling? They could blow 1 of their eight bags of fortune, right?

Well, anyway, whoever won what, the Starfell retired to a bar. Waitresses with dice-hats and skimpy dressed and the like made it really seem like a house of debauchery, however of course just because a girl dresses in such wear doesn't mean she's wanting this kind of attention. It should be noted that this place, in fact the casin- ...no, the entire city itself was only standing due to its heavy ties with Rebirth business. Hence no real lawsuits against the waitress' outfits.

Again, I'll stress that women who wear revealing clothes do not necessarily want to be objectified, and these waitresses certainly didn't. Namely, we found bartender Namaë in a bit of a situation with a local loan shark, Shagrel Shaw. With Shagrel's hand around Namaë's arm he smirked and yanked her towards him, his wide thick jaw revealing his vicious teeth. "C'mon, Namaë, you know very well that you've got plenty of money behind that lil' cashier right there: just hand over your lot, and I won't my associates give you any interest this week."

She, in turn, spat back "You're not getting a damn dime, you piece of crap. Get your damn hands off of me!" as she struggled to get his hand from her wrists, scowling at Shagrel.

He pulled her right to the bar, grinning to her as he barked "Then, give me something more than the money; you've got a good pair of cans on you, and I think its high time I got a better glance than down your tube top: it leaves way to little to the imagination~"

Sirius himself heard none of it. He was eating his delicious potato salad. It was rather yummy.

[a bad post]

Vana awoke in the cave still slightly disoriented responded to the gentle shaking, but as soon as she regained her senses pulled away from Cael’s touch. If he looked closely Cael would see Vana was shivering unnaturally, though he may have been more distracted by Vana’s large eyes watching him silently studying him. Her eyes moved down to his chest to see his wound healed.

 

“No… hurt?” Vana paused in between words as though she struggled to form them. As if it was unreal she reached out to wear Cael’s wound had been, and touched it, but immediately retracted her hand. “No hurt… okay?” She seemed surprised to see Cael okay even though it was her who healed him, it seemed she didn’t even understand her own abilities.

 

“Help… you,” Vana said first pointing to herself then at Cael.

 

~~~~~

 

An unspecified time later Vana found herself at a Casino, hardly the place for a girl of her mental state, but apparently she was good at slots. Vana was having a field day with the Telespacia Bag. At the moment she was with Cael, whom she had somewhat latched onto. Vana looked only curiously at the man and the waitress, but instead of taking action she took out her camera and began taking pictures.

[encapturer]

"...And it looks like there will be no delays for the next expedition. Alec should be finished choosing the next site in the following weeks, so all that is left is to prep the equipment," a young man said to Daena. He was a bald man, wearing jeans and a jacket, but wore the same badge on the jacket that Daena wore herself.

"Thanks for the update, Paul" Daena replied.

"You know you're a hard woman to find sometimes," Paul said, shaking his head. "You kinda disappeared from the radar for awhile; if I didn't luck out and see you here, then I wouldn't know what I would do. Do me a favor and get yourself a proper mailing address at some point."

"Heh... Well, you know how I am," Daena replied, giving a small chuckle.

"True, true."

"Oh yeah," Daena said, pulling a small envelope out of her pocket and handing it to Paul. "Can you deliver this to the usual place?"

"Sure, I'm headed back there later this month, anyway." Paul said, putting the envelope in his pocket. "What kind of job did you do this time?"

"Nothing interesting," Daena replied, shrugging. "Just some personal investigative work. Might have a paper ready once we meet."

"If you say so..." As Paul spoke, Shagrel started the scene with the bartender. Daena couldn't see it, since it was happening behind her, but Paul could. "And with that, I should make my leave," Paul said before almost running out the front door. Daena herself raised an eyebrow before turning around to rejoin the other Starfell.

"Huh, that was strange..." Daena muttered to herself before resting her eyes on Shagrel, who was messing with Namaë, the bartender. The scene caused Daena to almost freeze up. She didn't remember seeing any security or bouncers in the bar, and while she had her dart-shooter with her, it'd probably cause more problems if she started waving that thing around, especially since she the only representative of her sect, with Paul making his hasty retreat. That was only her own reasoning, of course, but she found herself making her way slowly towards Shagrel, anyway...

[Sweetie Belle]

Creed didn't care much for anything else happening in the bar. He ignored the noise, the people, and the bartender. All he cared about at the moment was his food. Rich, fluffy pancakes drenched like a sponge with blueberry syrup, accompanied by a strawberry-lime soda. As well as the entire bowl of mints on the counter. It didn't really matter that it was 11 at night; pancakes are still pancakes, and Creed was eating them. However, fairly close to him was a small commotion between one of the other bartenders, Namaë and an inebriated patron, whose name turned out to be Shagrel. He was aggressively coming onto the bartender, whereas Namaë repeatedly rejected his advances. Creed continually averted his attention, focusing only on his food, but the two continued to inch closer. Namaë pushed Shagrel away from her, who ended up hitting the table. Creed's drink fell over, drenching his pancakes with soda and ice, and spilling the mints on the ground.

Quick-tempered Creed wasn't to thrilled that his meal was ruined. He stood up and faced Shagrel. Not saying a word, he angrily stared into Shagrel's eyes. Shagrel, however, laughed and turned back to Namaë. Well, tried to. Creed grabbed Shagrel by the collar, and pulled him to his face.

"My pancakes. You ruined them." He said in a low voice. Shagrel broke from his grip and laughed.

"What kid comes to a bar and orders pancakes at 11 at night?"

"I come to a bar and order pancakes at 11 at night. Pancakes that you ruined."

"So what? You gonna whine about it? Buy your own damn pancakes, kid, I'm kinda busy over here."

"I bought pancakes. You ruined my pancakes. Ergo, buy me new pancakes."

At this point, Shagrel was visibly annoyed. "Who do you think you are demanding pancakes from me?"

Creed only smirked. "Someone you'll regret meeting." Shagrel grabbed Creed by the throat and held him in the air.

"You really wanna play games with me, boy? How 'bout we see how long you can hold your breath?"

Disregarding the fact that he was in public, Creed sublimated, escaping Shagrel's grip and revealing his Starfell status. The entire bar stopped to look. Even the drunk chick doing karaoke. Creed materialized behind Shagrel and struck him on the back of the head with the hilt of his sword, knocking him to the ground. He stood on Shagrel and unsheathed his blade, holding the point right at his neck.

"All you had to do was buy me new pancakes. It was that easy." Creed began pressing the blade closer and closer, but not yet breaking the skin.

[Astolfo]

Cael was in the middle of the pretense reading a book - but actually watching carefully around him for anything important - when some drunk grabbed the purple-haired Starfell around the throat who seemed to be mad about pancakes or something. He sighed. I hope the drunk doesn't get killed. That would be awkward. He dropped his book though when the Starfell turned into a mist before reappearing behind the wasted boozer, knocking him down. That wasn't the important part though. Despite the fact Teleia had wondrous facts, normal Teleians just couldn't do such things. This had just revealed that the guy was a Starfell, who were wanted by Rebirth, with huge bounties over their head. He supposed the people hadn't moved yet to try to capture him, but then again, money doesn't mean anything if you're dead, and by the looks of the Starfell and his nice sharp sword, he could fight and kill.

 

Another one of the Starfell - Cael turned and saw it was the one who had cleaved Necrophe's wing almost completely off - shouted to him saying we need to get out of here, telling him to cause a distraction. He sighed. We were discovered to be Starfells over a fight about pancakes apparently. This is astoundingly idiotic. Eh, whatever. Flicking his arm to the side, his gauntlet transformed into M2. Quickly calculating the people and his fellow Starfell around him, he lashed around in a flurry of dextrous cuts, cleaving through the casino's marble walls and pillars like paper. Snapping his arm to the side, the dust and stone bits and pieces on the blade fell off neatly just as the blade retracted back. Panting slightly in tiredness from having to calculate everything so precisely, he watched as the pillars crumbled and smashed into the ground, with part of the roof soon falling afterwards, creating a half-decent makeshift wall between the Starfell and the others that had not hit anybody with the falling debris. Cael didn't want any innocents injured on his behalf because of the stupid Theristes and Rebirth. He jumped and smashed his palm into the alcoholic's face, who lied a few feet away, promptly knocking him out. No point in having someone bug them as they had to make their escape.

 

From the other side of the wall, he heard someone - presumably the bartender - contact someone high up in Rebirth's office apparently from the way he spoke formally. Listening closer, he started when he realized they were reporting them. Rebirth owned all of Teleia he controlled according to him, and his soldiers would be here in minutes. He shouted to the brown-haired swordsman urgently. "If we're going to get out, we'll have to do it quick! Rebirth's soldiers will be here any minute!"

 

[hr]

 

Rebirth was in a room which appeared somewhat like a giant cage. He examined its massive inhabitant as of now when one of his captains bursted into the room. Normally, Rebirth would've had him executed for disturbing him, but the man seemed desperate. As the man carried out the report of the Starfell at a nearby casino he controlled, his face became surprised. "Send out my Salvo Raiders! NOW!" Kicking the captain, he paced around the room anxiously. As he walked out of the room fast to go back to the control center, one last view of the cage's inhabitant could be seen. It had massive wings, but a distinctive, huge, loping scar could be seen bleeding slightly across one wing....

[Kyng's Old Account]

It was Sirius whom requested that Cael would create a distraction. Now, a distraction is something like barking to everyone to get to the ground at gunpoint. Imagine Sirius' reaction to Cael not only pulling out his weapons, but using them to more or less effectively split the entire bar in half? Well, in case you hadn't read Sirius' app, he kept himself cool in this situation. Somewhat awestruck, as he had already witnessed the power the Starfell had and he easily identified this prowess. Sirius was more so concerned for the safety and the wellbeing of the innocents on the otherside of the rubble.

 

As carpets and chairs from the room above rolled down and, by pure "coincidence" didn't touch a single Starfell, Sirius' eyes met the other of the group. "We're getting out of here." he subtly remarked, aware of the fact that such a loud noise was guaranteed to cause commotion and attract attention to them. In hindsight, maybe tearing the room into two was a very bad idea, but that wasn't on Sirius' shoulders. With this in mind, a survival instinct kicked in, which drew his eyes to the entrance of the Casino: he witnessed a series of Salvo Raiders making their stance.

 

Bestirred at the thought that the Casino's security was more than willing to massacre the great number of wealthy people in the casino, especially in the monetary capital of the region, Sirius made his exit of the now ruined bar in hopes the other Starfell would pursue him to the safe house he was more than aware of within the region; and so, igniting his boots' jets, he made use of [Acceleration] and dashed out of the Casino, but not before a vicious knee to the skull of one of the Salvo Raiders.

 

As time passed, the remaining Starfell managed to escape the Casino in their own respective manners, before it was very recklessly brought to the ground, an unholy number of wealthy lives lost in the bombardment. A colder side of Sirius' mind said to him that they deserved to die, that to associate with fueling Rebirth by gambling money made one an enemy for investing in his opposition, and with this in his mind he easily brushed off the incident.

 

We place the Starfell now in an alleyway, still wedged in the city, yet in a trapdoor basement wedged between a block of buildings. This one trailing underneath a large corporal office, Sirius lead the Starfell down the stairs into a small little basement room, probably a boiler room or something. With a hit of the switch, a small dangling light bulb lit up the room dimly, revealing a number of desks around the room with some papers on them, a centre desk with a number of reports regarding Rebirth and their activity, and as anticipated, a boiler behind a steal cage for security reasons.

 

In the room also resides a man, not quite as pale as Sirius, however nonetheless with light skin. He was blonde, and bore white clothes. He was using a computer of the sorts, and upon spotting the Starfell he frowned. "How high does the giant fly?"

 

Sirius, identifying the security question, responded "Only as tall as the beanstalk goes."

 

"Alright then, so you're the Starfell then." the blonde individual responded. "My name is Luciano, I was contacted by the one from  the man from the Arctus: I'm here to help."

 

Sirius nodded, and looked to the other Starfell. "Luciano is an old contact of mine. He's going to help us get more dirt on at least one of the factions. Get comfortable for a while, it's time to plan a more stealthy approach."

[a bad post]

Vana was needless to say startled by the falling rubble of the pillars, and scampered off without a second thought returning her camera to the bag. Scared out of her wits the poor girl didn’t even look to see if the other Starfell were following her.  Using the makeshift barrier of the rubble from the bullets of the Salvo Raiders to make her escape. It seemed the brown haired swordsman had already made out as he was just delivering a swift knee to the face of one of the Salvo Raiders.

 

A bullet whizzed past Vana’s face in her distraction hitting one of the patrons of the casino, who were also scrambling trampling over each other to get out. Thankfully this added chaos provided even more cover for Vana’s escape unfortunately it was also causing the deaths of many bystanders. Yelping from the bullet that just whizzed by her face Vana wanted to run for cover, and just hide until it was all over, but something in her mind told her that was not an option. Her fight instinct taking over Vana removed one of the marbles from her small bag, which was not tied around her thigh, and surrounded it with a thin layer of energy and fired into the chest of the guard that had shot at her.

 

The marble imbedded itself in the guard’s chest, and he went down from the pain as the marble was rapidly pulled out with Vana’s psychic link. Hopping over him Vana rushed out into the Telian night behind Sirius. Vana couldn’t feel sorry for the people who had died in the casino, it wasn’t that she was cold, or didn’t have the emotional capacity to feel it, but the fact that she didn’t understand what had happened.

 

After all the Starfell had escaped they now followed Sirius to a trapdoor, which was located in an alleyway. As they descended Vana caught sight of a pale blonde man not unlike Sirius. She said nothing though only listening to the two men talk. 

[Astolfo]

Cael turned red slightly when he realized the distraction he had caused was a bit of overkill. As the Salvo Raiders barged in, Cael leapt over bits and pieces of rubble, making sure his fellow Starfell with him were all accounted for. A stray gun bullet whizzed by that marble-using Starfell girl. Getting worried suddenly, he slid towards the guard, moving to attack when a marble embedded in the guard's chest, knocking him unconscious. Sighing involuntarily in relief, he caught himself. [i]No… I don't care for her… It's just that I didn't want my friends to get hurt…. Am I telling her or myself this?[/i] There wasn't anymore time to think, and he spun around ducking as a blade swept over his head, then smashed a foot into the guard's jaw, sending him thudding to the ground. Turning and running, the Starfell made it out of there.

 

As they dashed to safe house apparently, he grimaced when he heard an unmistakable sound of a massive building being vaporized with the trademark Salvo Raider bomb. Rebirth cared nothing for his subjects. He felt saddened as he remembered Namaë and knew no one could possibly have survived. He turned and saw burning bits scattered everywhere. Seeing a glint a bit back, he dashed quickly and retrieved it. It was the small charm necklace Namaë had worn. Clenching his fist tightly, he held onto it mourning silently, before running back off to the safe house.

 

Upon meeting Luciano, he narrowed his eyes suspiciously before Sirius accounted for him. He relaxed a little but was still tense. [i]He knows about our existence, huh?[/i] After the initial suspicion, he realized the Starfell hadn't asked each other their names. "Oui, Starfells. Don't you all think we forgot something important? We didn't share our names!" Smiling good-naturedly though, this was gentle, and he started it off. "Well, I'm Cael and I'm the 17 year old brain. See this gauntlet right here? Made it myself with some resources, knowledge, some cooperation, and a laboratory. Did you all know the nanites can be considered half-conscious? I got the main chip component from my nanites after coercing them with different ways." Happy with his start, he realized he had gotten a lot more sociable then he had. But then again, with this situation and all, he didn't have many to talk to, and these Starfell seemed great enough. That marble-haired girl that couldn't have been more than 19 kept drawing his eyes, and he shook his head, annoyed. [i]This is a busy situation and I can't have my mind bothered with this strange feeling. What is it anyway?[/i] He sighed. Those purple eyes with a gradient of light to dark purple looked pretty fascinat-[i]Goddamnit. This is ridiculous.[/i] Intentionally turning so he didn't face the girl, he waited passively to hear the others' introductions for the first time.

 

[hr]

 

Rebirth gritted his teeth angrily. They had been that close and he had lost them. Closing his eyes from the sheer rush of emotions, he thought back suddenly to a time that seemed so far away now…

 

[hr]

 

"Hey Kira~" Turning around, Akira Kaneda turned around and turned bright red when his friend, Lily was leaning on him, her rather [i]largeness[/i] resting on his chest. "Lily! Stop! This is a public library you know. What do you want?"

 

Lily pouted, causing Akira to sigh. "I wanted to go to the movies with you." Akira froze. [i]What? Is she… oh.[/i] Smiling again, Akira nodded his acceptance, and Lily brightened up. Cheering loudly enough to draw some people's attention, they shushed her, but she didn't mind. Skipping out of the library hand in hand, they laughed before walking in to the theater and enjoying the movie…

 

[hr]

 

Shaking his head, Rebirth exited that memory and flicked into a different one.

 

[hr]

 

"LILY! STAY WITH ME!" He was cradling Lily, trying to stem the vicious knife wound in her chest. The hard rain concealed his tears, mixing right along. He raged. How could people be so avaricious? A thug had come up to them, and demanded money, then stabbed her afterwards because he was mad there wasn't enough money, then had escaped running when Akira started chasing him. Hugging her tightly, he gripped her hand when he froze when he heard her voice. "Ki… ra? Are you… there? Don't worry… A good hospital, and I'd be fine…." Kira had called the hospital just a minute ago, and they were coming, but he become anxious, wondering if she'd survive. [i]She has to! This isn't fair![/i] Kissing her, he heard a whisper from her lips. "Hey… Ki.. ra? Let's meet again… and have fun like we used to… like innocent children, happy… Last one… buys the ice cr-" Her head suddenly lolled over. He went into shock. Frozen, he looked for a pulse. He couldn't feel one. Looking for a heartbeat, there was none. "Lily! You're going to be fine! Don't say that kind of thing! Come on! Let's race, like old times!" There was no response. In the muted background, he heard the ambulance finally arrive. When he accepted what happened, a black anger like never before swept through him, and his hand clenched. "People…. of Teleia… cannot be trusted to control themselves… and I will control it for them! I shall be reborn anew, and take on a new persona as I conquer Teleia! I SHALL BE REBIRTH!" Giggling briefly with a laugh filled with insanity, he ran to somewhere the authorities couldn't find him, and they gave up on him… Unbeknownst to both parties, a world-shattering event would happen, and Rebirth would be one of the key players….

 

[hr]