Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ The Beginning of the End ❯ Travel, meet people, kill stuff ( Chapter 3 )

The Beginning of the End

Part 3

 

The sun had begun to rise on a new day, a day of new opportunities and new downfalls. As the sun rose, our adventurers awoke to new surroundings, not sure where they were or how they got there.

"Mahiko where are we?" asked Syriantus.

"You know I'm not too sure myself. I let Raryn take over when he had regained consciousness. You should be asking him," replies Mahiko.

 

 

"Crap...CRAP! Crap!" Sephiroth says as he runs through the woods. "Darn ogre's they don't listen! I tell them that I control him and what do they do? They start a war with my orcs! How freaking dare they! If my magic was not taken away from me I would roast them!"

An orc comes running up to Sephiroth. "Sir, sir! Watch your anger...Remember how your power got taken away?"

Sephiroth, furious at this response from his OWN minion says, "Fool! Do you not know who i am! I am your master. Do NOT try and correct me! Of course I do! That darn Sandaru! Freaking idiot took my powers and says, 'I don't think that a being like you can command this sort of power.' That idiot! He's lucky I did not take him and throw him in the dumpster."

"But sir you don-" the orc begins.

"I realize that! I did back then! I was saying IF I had my powers you idiot."

Sephiroth, in a sort of shock stops running and halts his orcs. "Wait! Don't go any further. I sense an enemy nearby......it's those idiots from the other day! Mahiko and his bunch! Those fools made my day hell the other day and put me in a bad mood! I should repay the favor. ORCS! How many do we have here!?"

"About a hundred here sir," the orc replies. "And over one million in the mountains! Do you wish for me to call the trolls? To come and attack them?"

"No, don't," Sephiroth says. "That would give away our position! Don't you ever think?"

"I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean to make me look like and idiot sir..." the orc says turning away with embarrassment.

"Just shut up idiot......Shit! Here they come! Damn it run away!"


Sephiroth and his orcs run but get caught by a trap and falls. Awakening to the next day Sephiroth is chained to a bed. "What the hell is this?! Let me go! NO!!!!!!"

 

 

Up on top of a nearby hill, Vannaka stands next to a tree with his sword unsheathed. "This looks like a good slaughter!" he says with a slight laugh while looking down at Mahiko and the others. "I shall enjoy this," He says while rubbing the beetle shape object on his neck with the initials RDF written on it.

 

 

"Hey guys, I just noticed something. Where is Ashura?" Mahiko asks.

 

 

~3 hours before~

After hearing that there was a battle and Ashura was not included. He decided to go for his morning blood meal.

"I can't believe those fools, keeping me from battle. Who do they think they are! Well either way, I'm gonna find me some opponents and kill them."

As he walks through the forest, he sees some orc's traveling with a black coated man. Ashura smiles and starts trailing them. He begins to pick off the stragglers. After killing ten of them, he overhears them talking about a million or so more on the mountain.

"Next stop mountain slaughter, he he."

Ashura goes to the mountain, and looks like the orc's were taking a break. The camp was sighted easily.

"Let's see how many fall under my hand."

Ashura, about a couple feet away, smiles. He charges up more then half of his total energy, and quickly unleashes it on the army of a million.

"Super Blast Wave!!"

Sending a huge energy filled blast through the camp, destroying a very small amount of it. Before the orcs notice what happened, Ashura uses his energy to travel quickly. He disappears and rushes toward his company. As he is about to reach them, he notices a man, laughing, and looking at his company down below. Ashura hides and waits for his big opportunity.

 

Vannaka starts to walk down the hill while spinning his sword in his hand. "Don't think you can surprise me, I already sensed you were there."

 

"That doesn't mean you can do anything about it" Ashura says as he quickly teleports, behind Vannaka, and knocks him unconscious. Ashura yells to Mahiko and they come to him.

"What happened?" Mahiko asks

"Seems our little friend is from the RDF. Interrogation time, but I'm gonna take a rest."

Ashura steps away and tries to fall asleep.

"By the way where did you go?" asks Mahiko once again.

"Just took a little stroll." he replies as he falls into oblivion.

 

 

Vannaka wakes up to find himself tied to a tree and wondering why he let himself get captured so easily. Annoyed he starts to speak. "Ah, so he has quite the skill of agility does he? Not a problem, I guess I could give you a few answers you seek, after all isn't that the honorable thing to do?" he says with an evil looking grin. As he speaks, the group of warriors are debating.

"How should we interrogate him?" asks Mahiko.

"I could make him confess using a rather horrid tune." replies Raryn.

"Raryn have you forgotten about the million orcs I found over the hill?" says Ashura.

"Oh right.." says Raryn with a hint of lament.

"Let me do it." chided Syriantus.

"Oh just shut up all of you I'll do it." shouts Staim.

Staim walks over to his bag and grabs Nyxrith's bottle of whiskey.
He walks over to the man tied to the tree.

"What do you know!?" he demands.

The man just looks up and laughs. Staim grabs him by the mouth and begins to pour the potent liquor down until the man begins to choke.

"What do you know?"

The man laughs again Staim punches him in the face and draws his dagger to his throat.

"What do you know!?" he growls.

"Really, this man knows nothing, I just attached myself to him while he was asleep," the bug on his neck says while sitting there. Thinking for awhile he replies again. "Persuade me, and I might tell you something," the bug said.

 

"Um... can we squash it?" asks Mahiko.

 

"Oh you can't, but this man can, you see I am only vulnerable to my previous host, if you detach me then I can be killed by him...wait...CRAP! I just revealed my weakness!" the insect says in anger.

 

Syriantus walks over to the man and grabs at the bug and wretches it from his body, skin and all. "There it's detached."

 

"Hmm, Ok, now lift up the 'host's' foot and squash the bug underneath," Mahiko responds.

 

Vannaka's eyes change back from a pale color to their original dark blue. "Errmm, ah that was the most awful dream," Vannaka says as he looks up at the other people standing there. "Who are you guys and why am I tied to this tree?"

 

"Quickly! Host guy, squash the bug! Squash it! Yes, you!" Mahiko says getting exited for no reason to Vannaka.

 

"What's this about a bug?" he says while looking around to try and find it. "Ah, now that's a nasty little bugger," he says while stomping it. "Anyway, you still never really answered my questions, who are you guys and why am I tied to this tree!?" he says looking very annoyed now.

 

"Oh, sorry. I am Mahiko. This is Raryn, Ashura, Syriantus, Nyxrith, Akiru, Staim, and um, wait that's it," he says indicating each one of them. "You were under the control of that little bug, so we tied you up to the tree." Mahiko cuts the ropes binding Vannaka to the tree.

 

"Really now, no jokes.....wait...this could be a prank. How could a tiny bug control somebody? It doesn't make any sense, but, if it's true, I'll hear what's going on here, for example: why are you guys traveling together?" he said while grabbing his sword and sheathing it on his back.

 

"See the remains of that bug there," Raryn begins. "It has the initials RDF on its back. It is a creature of the Red Death Faction, or more commonly known as the cult of the Red Death. They are either trying to destroy the world, take over the world, kill everyone in the world, or are trying to take over the God's realm."

"And you know this how?" Vannaka says.

"Let's just say I'm very persuasive," Raryn says patting his guitar.

"You said that same exact thing and did that exact same thing when I asked you the same question earlier when we met," Syriantus exclaims.

"Is that so? Well, I need to come up with a better way to say things then."

 

"Ok that makes sense enough for me, I mean I've had my share in adventures, and didn't have anything planned when I came out here, so I guess I can help you guys out as much as I can."

 

 

While Ashura was asleep, more bugs continued to swarm, quietly and discreetly. He felt a prick on the back of his neck and entered a deep slumber. He soon woke to the sound of a broken glass. As he woke up hundreds of bugs were around Ashura trying to control him, He felt every part of his body move unwillingly. Soon after, he entered a deep slumber once again and his body moved on its own.

"So guy's what are we gonna........" the Avian says before Ashura knocked him out cold.

"What was that for!!?" Syriantus shouts. Ashura starts taking out all of them. In one fell swoop, most of the company was knocked out. Syriantus was the only one left. Ashura walks towards her, his eyes unopened. Syriantus notices this, but cannot think straight. Her spells faded, in time of great need, and all she could think about was crying. Ashura barely opened his eyes, and at the sign of Syriantus's first tear, Ashura opened his eyes wider. He stops and looks down at the bugs.

"I will not let myself get taken over!!" Ashura says.

At that Ashura powers up his body, attempting to over power the bugs. Nothing happens for the moment, Ashura tries raising his power little by little, while the bugs attempt to control him. Ashura quickly picks them off one by one, as he maintains his energy level and raising it constantly. after he picked off about a dozen, Ashura attempted to raise his power again. The energy swirls around, waking most of the company. At the sign of bugs around, Mahiko holds his sword but hesitates. Ashura powers up even greater, and most of the bugs, are full.

"Just a little....bit.....more..." stutters Ashura as he powers up. In one quick jolt powers he hits his maximum. Ascension to a greater power was at hand. But expending so much caused great exhaustion. The bugs were all destroyed, but Ashura was left unconscious. The ascension changed Ashura a bit, making his hair white. His pupils nowhere to be found and his body a little bit more buffed. Ashura was left on the floor once again, sleeping.

 

 

The next morning Nyxrith awoke to darkness. The sun had yet to rise.
As he looked around he noticed that the Avian was nowhere to be seen.

"Must be out takin a leak" he thought. Leaving his thoughts behind he began to start a fire for the morns breakfast.

A few minutes later the avian returned with a few dead rabbits.

"Out hunting eh?" asked Nyxrith

"Yes," responded the avian

"Well any good with that bow o' yer's?"

"Very," stated the Avian

"Well hit that tree over there."

"Fine," says Akiru as he fires an arrow straight into the tree.

"Good."

They both look to see a swarm of bugs crawl out of the trunk.

 

 

Vannaka lies there half asleep, and sits up at the smell of the dead rabbits. "Ah, this smell brings back a lot of memories of my days in training," he says with a grin. "Master would always cook them in stews." Just the thought of it made his mouth run with saliva.

"Did you take any special type of training?" asks Nyxrith.

"Oh not really, just enough agility to disappear and then reappear in another location and also read high speed weapon movement, and great training with the sword. If you would like, I would gladly spare with you sometime," he replies.

 

"Well, not a very useful technique in this situation," says Nyxrith.

"Why is that?' Vannaka asks.

"Because we're being over run by those god forsaken bugs again," Nyxrith shouts out as he uses a stout stick as a makeshift club to smash bugs. "Wake everyone!"

"What's all the shouting for?" Raryn asks as he drops out of a tree. "Oh those bugs again? One moment." He pulls out his guitar and begins a soft melody. The bugs start to forget the attack and start congregating around Raryn.

"What is he," Ashura starts. "The pied piper of Hamlin?"

"The what?" Syriantus says.

"The pied piper of..." Ashura starts.

"Shut up or you will disrupt the music!" Raryn shouts across the sea of insects.

 

 

Staim wakes up covered in bugs, only they seemed not at all interested in him. He began flinging them off when he noticed the bugs converging upon Raryn. "Raryn!" he shouts. "The bugs will get you!" As he rushes toward Raryn, he is stopped short by Akiru.

"Let the bard be with his craft," Akiru says. As the company waits on the far side of the sea of bugs. Raryn, in the direct center, begins to move toward a path leaving the forest.

"Where is he going?" Ashura asks.

"Be quiet and let the bard be with his craft," snaps Akiru.

 

"Well, we have to destroy them anyway. I know how. Hey Raryn, jump!!" Ashura fills his sweep kick with a blast wave, to create something short of a sonic boom. Destroying anything weak and small. Perfect for swarming bugs.

"I had to learn this move, due to that manifestation incident. He he," Ashura exclaims.

"Why you...I had the bugs where I wanted them!!" Raryn shouts at Ashura as he bashes Ashura's head with his many guitars.

"Ow, well you're not quick enough," says Ashura through the beginnings of a concussion.

"I'll show you quick," says Raryn, as he makes a vortex, and starts pummeling Ashura over the head.

~10 minutes later~

"I regret interfering," Ashura says, as he is all bandaged up.

 

"Well this looks like the time to use my secret weapon, sigh...I really wish I did not have to use this," he says as he took out an amulet out of his pocket. It was a hexagon with a center piece; each side had a different color according to a different element with light and dark in the center. "Ok, you took me over once, its not going to happen again," he says as all the sections of the amulet started glowing.

"What is tha-" Raryn starts.

BANG! An explosion flares out from nowhere, striking all the remaining bugs down in an instant, leaving only a crater behind. Vannaka looks unsurprised with a kind of serious face on him. "Elemental Blast, a spell I can only use once every two days, I thought I wouldn't have to use it again," Vannaka says as he puts the amulet away and collapses to the ground.

 

Lying behind Vannaka, Ashura begins to regain consciousness. "Nice move, I got a better one. Ha ha ha just kidding." Ashura says jokingly.

"Mine can actually go from inside out, even if the enemy notices me." Vannaka says while still unconcious. Ashura looks scared for a moment then falls back asleep.

 

"Well, that should serve us well where we are going," Mahiko states. "We have to go down there." The rest of the company follows where Mahiko is pointing and see the massive orc army congregating at the bottom of a valley between two mountains.

 

"If they are getting together, I can wipe them out, with a special move of mine. You guys know I can variate my energy attacks right? Well I can charge up a huge ball, and send it towards them, and meanwhile Vannaka can use his power a few times to keep them guessing. Or Syriantus can use her air magic and gather up more orcs. We can win anything if we put our minds to it," Ashura says in his sleep, and surprisingly walking too.

 

"None of us have the kind of power that is needed to destroy an army this size," Akiru states.

 

Ashura wakes up, "Oh crap, that's a big army. What happened?"

Everyone smacks their forehead.

"Hey I think I can annihilate most of them, and then we can run away. Syriantus, do you have a teleportation spell?" asks a smiling Ashura.

 

 

Sephiroth awakens in a forest lying on an oak tree looking at his orc minions standing around him.

"Argh, what the hell happened minions?!"

"Sir, we saw as you collapsed on the ground and were speaking to yourself and making all of these weird noises," an orc soldier says.

"Freaking...this is the work of that Ashura character! I heard he could manipulate minds! Damn it all! If I had my power I would crush Ashura's puny mind into 10,000 pieces! Soldiers! Tell me were this being is!"

"Sir, we lost track of him while you collapsed and decided to make sure you were ok," says another orc soldier.

"YOU IDIOTS! FORGET ABOUT ME! USE YOUR FREAKING HEADS NEXT TIME!"

"Sir, we did not mean to upset you. We just tried to make it so-"

Sephiroth lifts his hand to punch his minion for such a comment. But gets stopped by another of his orcs.

"Stop this right now!" the orc says.

"Ah! A person wants to stand up against me? And which of you is it?"

The orc, having heard enough of this buffoon steps forward. As Sephiroth smirks at this orcs courage, he flashes behind it.

"So, your the one who thinks that my ways are wrong, yes?"

"I mean to say that your being to mean -"

"BEING TO MEAN!?! HA HA! Stupid orc. You have no reason to be thinking of such things."

 

 

"Wait!" Mahiko exclaims looking down at the orcs, "There seems to be some kind of uprising among the orcs."

 

"Hey Mahiko, it looks like someone's already there, you think he's with them?" Vannaka said as he pointed to Sephiroth.

 

Staim looks out at the army. "I don't know about you all but I would enjoy a little fight....after all they're only orcs," he says with a smirk. "What do you think Raryn?"

 

"Hey, it's that guy," Raryn exclaims. "You remember, the one who tried to kill us at master's house."

"So, he's evil then?" asks Vannaka.

"Yes, he allies himself with the orcs, which also means that he allies himself with the RDF!"

 

"Ok, since you fought with him before, how strong is this guy, I mean he doesn't look too hard to defeat.....right?" Vannaka asked.

The rest of the group just looked at each other for a moment. "Well don't misjudge him, our master tried to take him on and....." Raryn said while being interrupted.

"Well, sounds like a good fight then," Vannaka said as he began to unsheathe his sword. In an instant Vannaka disappeared with his agility and went to cross blade with Sephiroth.

"Looks like he enjoys fighting a lot, enough to not care about the odds of even winning."

 

"Death!" shouts Staim as he charges down the hill into a group of orcs, spilling guts and severing heads.

Staim continues to fight till the orcs make a circle around him.

"Come on! Come get me you bastards!" he screams at the orcs.

Rage filling his eyes his words filled with poison and hate, he continues to slaughter many orcs.

 

 

"God damn it........they found us," says Sephiroth.

"Orcs, deal with these fools, ATTACK!"

He sends the orcs to attack with bows and swords as Sephiroth runs away. For he knew he could do nothing to these guys in his current form.

 

 

"Argh, Syriantus, Mahiko, alert them and tell them to get back, when I say so!!" Ashura raises his arms, and pours his energy out into the sky, making a big ball forming. He calls out to his deity and is granted more power. The ball gets bigger and bigger. "I still got a long way to go, so keep them busy, and off of me. When I say so, get off the battle field. Alert everyone!! Syriantus if you have a teleportation spell, use it. Got it?" Ashura continues to pour out his energy into the ball. Making it bigger.

 

 

By this time Staim, Raryn and Nyxrith were all back to back and slaughtering hundreds of orcs.

An orc lunges at Staim; he parries the attack with his dagger and follows up the parry by impaling the orc through the chest with his sword then quickly dispatches another enemy.

Nyxrith slams his foot to the ground and howls a fierce growl. The orcs around him back away afraid of death. He then commences to the massacre, tearing through the orcs with Blauseurteil. He gets knocked down by a large orc and looses his grip on his sword. He swiftly grabs his axe and embeds it in the head of the orc so far that it cut to the teeth. With a yank and a sickening suction like crack, it was free. He grasped his blade and began killing once more.

Raryn was fighting too, with blade and guitar he leads the killing. He plays a tune to gain favor of orcs against orcs so they would quarrel amongst themselves. All the while laughing and killing any thing near him.

 

 

"Not much more to go," Ashura says as he concentrates on pouring his energy into the ball. "Someone ready everyone to move!" he shouts across the field.

"Not today," a voice says behind Ashura.

"What...." he begins as he is hit on both sides of his head, rendering him unconscious. His energy ball fading back into its base parts.

"Grab him and run!" the voice says as three orcs grab Ashura's limp form and haul it away.

 

 

After catching up with him, Vannaka finally confronts Sephiroth. "Where do you think you're going......you mind if I call you white hair?" Vannaka asks. "Anyway, ready your sword if you have one that is."

 

Sephiroth turns around to face Vannaka, in confusion he asks, "Who are you? And what gives you the right to ask to fight me? I only fight strong people, which I can see already that you are not."

 

"I beg to differ, I am strong. You are probably too weak and scared to even challenge me, or you just think you're full of it," Vannaka says trying to agitate him.

 

Sephiroth starts to laugh at the site of this poor soul. "Do you REALLY think you can beat me? If so I'll let you have the honor of going first. Hell! I'll even give you a free shot! I won't even block or anything!" Sephiroth is still laughing at his cockiness hoping that this would work; after all he still has some fight left in him.

 

"If you're trying to mock my skill, you have a way of showing it," Vannaka says as he gets his stance ready. Suddenly Vannaka disappears and reappears behind Sephiroth and makes a good swing. "What the Hell, just a scratch? You are definitely something else," Vannaka leaps back to get ready if Sephiroth attacks.

 

"Psh...as I though...you got cocky too, and hardly made even a dent..." Sephiroth puts his hand over the cut and it heals itself. "Hopefully you can do better this time? Ill let you in for another attack." Sephiroth, a little ticked off at the weak attack, watches Vannaka in case anything happens.

 

Vannaka grins as he tightens his grip on his sword. "Heh, another chance eh? Wrong choice," Vannaka says as he lifts his sword and clashes it on the ground, then the blade starts to glow and fire circles around it, then lightning begins to circle that. He then tries the same tactic, then a great gash of blood pours out of Sephiroth's side. "Well now let make this fight quick."

 

With the attack, Sephiroth is rendered immobile, the shock of Vannaka's attack and its result leave him in utter disbelief. Vannaka starts the ritual to recharge his swords power to finish Sephiroth. Yet as he finishes, a dark cloud descends from the heavens and materializes into something that is little more then a shadow. "Vile creature!" the newcomer shouts. "Leave now or you will die!" With the declaration, Vannaka launches his attack at the shadow. "Foolish mortal," it says as Vannaka collides with it. In the instant Vannaka's attack hit, its power is turned against him flinging him away from the shadow creature and leaving him a bloody mess.

"Hidalgo," Sephiroth says weakly. "You have finally come to help."

"No, I have not," Hidalgo replies. "I have come to fetch you and bring you back to the overlord council. Your actions will be judged and your disobedience will be tried."

 

 

Vannaka struggles to get up, using his sword as a crutch. "Who are you?" He said in a daze while trying to wipe the blood off his face.

"Still alive....that means I'll just have to kill you." Hidalgo says as he reaches to grab his scythe from his back.

As soon as he saw the shine from the scythes blade, Vannaka went into a flashback.


The city was burning with people running and screaming, with some of the people already dead.

"Hey wait! What's going on?" Vannaka said uncontrollably.

"Run just run away, The White Death is here, he's in the town square!" said a villager.

After arriving in the square, Vannaka could see a white cloaked figure with a scythe in hand covered in blood. and all the villagers in the square were dead.

"Zlarex drop your scythe. We can help you!"

A white cloaked figure in front of Vannaka turns to face him.

"I don't need help from the likes of you, why don't you just go to hell like the others I've killed."


By the time this vision stopped, Hidalgo had already pierced him with his blade and Vannaka was out cold.

Now that that's over and done with, let's get back to the point Sephiroth.

 

 

"Hidalgo, why would the council have need of me?" Sephiroth says as he starts to stand his ground. "And as for you....Vannaka was it? I suggest you run along and play with your dolls this is of no business of you."

"Sephiroth! Now is not the time to toy with the enemy," Hidalgo says. "The council is not known for their patience."

Hidalgo opens up a portal. "After you Manicotti," Sephiroth says as he follows Hidalgo into the portal.

As they vanish, Vannaka regains his consciousness. "Hey! I'm not finished with you! Come back!" Vannaka shouts. Vannaka goes into a state of rage and pounds his fists into the earth hoping that Sephiroth would return, thusly re-knocking himself out.

 

 

"Am I really going to die? I have lost too much blood, but I have to help the others, but I can't in my currant state. I can only hope that someone comes."

At that moment a traveler stopped at Vannaka's side. "Well, it looks like you could use some help," said the traveler as he picks him up and grabs his sword and starts to walk of into the forest.

 

 

Seeing Vannaka being led into the forest, Mahiko finishes off the orc he was fighting and follows at a safe distance.

 

 

"I think the first thing you need are some bandages," the traveler says with a grin. As the traveler came into his camp site he lays Vannaka down on his mat with his sword next to him and starts to treat his wounds. "Since your unconscious, I can't give you any medicine, but that will have to wait until you wake up." he says as he tried to start a fire.

 

 

"Regroup!" shouts Staim as he kills yet another orc.

The Group gathers in a defensive circle, fending off any and all hostiles.

"What should we do there's so many." says Syriantus

"The only thing we can do! Keep fighting!" shouts Nyxrith

"Where is Mahiko where's Vannaka and Ashura!" yells Staim

"We must flee otherwise we die! Akiru, search the skies for an opening anywhere!" insists Raryn as he slays another orc.

 

"Fine then," Akiru says taking up the leader role in Mahiko's absence. "On the count of three, everyone make a break for it."

"What about the fact that we're surrounded by orcs?" says Raryn as he defends himself.

"Three!" Akiru shouts as he propels himself into the air.

"Great, the avian is a coward," Staim says as he cuts a bloody path through the orcs, closely followed by Nyxrith and Syriantus.

"Where is Raryn!?" Syriantus shouts as they break free from the mob.

"Looks like he sacrificed himself to protect our escape," Staim says. "Well, your death won't be in vain my friend."

"Who said anything about me dying?" Raryn says from up in a tree.

 

"My friend you never cease to amaze me. Now lets get to some suitable cover to make camp far from here."

"Everyone step up your pace, we need to get out of here!" shouts Syriantus.

 

 

Back in the forest with Vannaka and the traveler...

Mahiko comes out of hiding, and snaps his fingers to start the fire that the traveler was having problems with.

"I am Mahiko. He," Mahiko says indicating Vannaka, "Is part of my party. Who are you stranger?"

 

"I am but a lowly stranger who can't leave those in pain, untreated," the stranger says.

 

"I see... Please, do what you can for him!" Mahiko bows deeply, then sits down and watches the man, not completely trusting him to be left alone with Vannaka.

 

 

"Alright, we've gained enough distance so that I can finally activate a teleportation spell. Everyone think of someone and my spell will take you to their side."

"It would obviously be best if we all think of Mahiko," says Raryn as he slashes down an orc that caught up to them.

"Alright I will send Staim first, then Nyxrith and Raryn and I shall go together. we'll simply have to hope that Ashura, Akiru, and Vannaka can all make their way to Mahiko," says Syriantus as she begins to teleport Staim.

 

 

"Again thanks for the fire, would you like something to eat?" the stranger said as he grabbed a box and opened it. The box contained many varieties of meats and some ales, rums and wines. "There is enough to go around, if you want some," he says as he starts to cook the meat.

 

"I thank you for the meal!" Mahiko accepts. When all of a sudden Staim comes out of no where. "Where the hell did you come from?" Mahiko asks.

 

Staim sees Mahiko, and Vannaka, and the traveler. "I don't really know how to explain it. Ahh, so Vannaka is with you, but where is Ashura. Have you seen him Mahiko?" asks Staim as he walks over to the fire.

As he sits down, Nyxrith appears next. "Alright will one of you two tell me how you've gotten here and how you appeared out of nowhere?" asks Mahiko a bit agitated at Staim not really answering his question.

"I can answer that for you Mahiko," Syriantus says as she and Raryn appear from no where.

 

"Friends of yours? Well, anyway they must be hungry, come on join us," the traveler says as he hands them a plate with a ready piece of meat on it.

 

 

As Vannaka awoke and they ate their meal courtesy of the traveler, they discussed the events of what had happened over the past couple of hours. Everyone is now up to speed on the events, and where everyone went, etc.

 

"So you haven't seen or heard from Akiru or Ashura since this afternoon, that's quite a predicament," says Raryn.

"Syriantus, couldn't you teleport to where Ashura or Akiru is with your spell?" asks Mahiko.

"Using the spell on so many people within such a small span of time took up a large amount of energy," responds Syriantus.

"And besides that I doubt it would be wise to go after them this late in night, in case they've been taken by the orcs," responds Vannaka.

 

"Hmm, We'll wait until morning and then you can teleport me to Akiru, and I will see what I can do for him," Mahiko Replies.

 

"So what should we do?" asks Staim as he finishes his bottle of mead.

 

"For now, nothing," replies Mahiko. "All we can do is wait for the morning and hope that we aren't too late to save the others."

"But what if we are?" asks Vannaka.

"Let's just hope that we aren't."