RPG To Celebrate Life [PG-VSL]

[Frankie]

She was now wearing a purple dress with leather belt and boots. Her hair was up and wrapped in ribbons. This was what she wore when she wasnt working. She locked the door and headed out.

Nait had managed to close up the inn and make it to the audience before the show. She saw some people who had been at her bar the other night and other people she knew. She she saw the mystery woman begin to play she thought it was an enchanting song untill she saw what everyone else saw.

The several dragons flying together in the sky. To Nait it was magnificent. She loved dragons good or bad. Seeing so many colors of dragons flying together made her day. While others panic and some stand bewildered Nait stood with a rather large smile on her face.

Some people looked at her as though she were crazy yet others were to busy being worried.

"Beautiful..." Was about the only thing she could say.

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]"Wow.." Lynn said, her eyes locked to the sky. She was dressed in a similar black outfit as she wore yesterday and had a red bow in her hair. "Amazing.." Ashwin's eyes studied the people around them. He grinned at the strange mix of amazement and worry that was on some of their faces. He even saw Vincent- he seemed more delighted than nervous or afraid. "Uhm.." He looked at Lynn. She had a look of slight nervousness and fidgeted uncomfortably. "They wouldn't.. attack us, right?" She pondered for a moment. "But maybe this wouldn't be.. too bad of a last memory.." She nodded to herself. "I'd be content with this.."

"Whatever happens, happens. For now, she seems to have things under control." He glanced at the stage and thought to himself, [i]"Though, I didn't think that the 'mystery performer' would turn out to be someone so famous."[/i]

"If they do attack what, uhm- what should I do? Run? Hide? ... Fight?"

"You will go to the shop and get whichever weapon you are most comfortable with from the back. Mind your fortes." He arched an eyebrow. "No magical ones. Those are too flashy and powerful. The last thing I need is another municipal inquiry as to what I have lurking in the shadows of my storeroom." He shook his head a bit, recalling the last official investigation that pried into his shop's dealings. "Then.. you fight. If you win your story continues on. If you lose your story ends and you start anew. For now? You enjoy this event as you will never witness anything like it again. Not in this life or the next." She nodded to him. He returned to watching the aerial show above them, his cloak flapping a bit from a breeze..[/color]

[GuyYouMetOnline]

The initial appearance of the dragons had frightened many, although those who'd recognized Tesera and knew her reputation were less frightened then the ones who didn't. But even they began to calm down as time passed and people realized that the dragons weren't attacking them.

"Damn," Eso said as he watched the dragons. "How the hell did she manage to pull this off?"

"What about that jewel?" Jaht wondered. "People say it gives her the power to controll dragons."

"Yeah, I've heard that," Azufe replied, "and it's clearly a bunch of shit. The jewel is unusual, so people point to it as the sorce of Tesera's supposed power. I don't know how she does what she does, but I don't believe it's any sort of special power."

Eso managed to lok away from the spectacle above. "We're on duty," he reminded the others. "We should be paying attention to the crowd, not the dragons." But it was hard for them to force themselves to look away, and Eso knew that it hadn't exactly been easy for him to do so. But he had a job to do, and the disipline to force himself to do it.

While scanning the crowd, Eso noticed someone on top of a nearby house. The man was armed with a bow. Eso hit Sako lighty to get his attention, then pointed out the man on the roof to him. The man seemed to be aiming at Tesera. "Take him out," Eso told Sako.

Sako, who was an archer, quickly drew his bow and shot an arrow at the man. His arrow landed right in the man's chest. Eso started to scan the other rooftops for any other archers, but before he could, something splattered on the ground. A couple drops landed on Eso. He didn't know what it was, but it kept falling. Eso looked up, just in time to throw himself out of the way as a pair of dragons came crashing down.

The two dragons were locked in a mortal struggle with each other. Eso watched their battle, both facinated and horrified at the same time. It didn't take long for one to finish off the other. By that time, people had started panicking, but Eso didn't think it would last, as the struggle had ended. Then more blood hit the ground, and Eso looked up again. "Holy shit!"

The battle hadn't been limited to the one pair. The arial show had turned into an arial free-for-all. People were screaming and running, while others seemed to scared to move. Then Eso saw Tesera. She was still on stage, and still playing her flute. She had her eyes closed, and Eso realized she didn't know what was happening. And then, as if things couldn't get any worse, he saw another man with a bow on one of the rooftops, aiming for Tesera just like the first one had been.

Eso jumped onto the stage. He ran towards Tesera, tackling her off the stage just as the arrow flew overhead. The two of them picked themselves of the ground. "What did you do that for?" Tesera demanded to know.

Eso didn't say anything. Instead, he simply pointed up. Tesera looked up, seeing for herself just what was going on. "What is this? My God! What are they doing? [i]Why are they killing eachother[/i]?!"

"I don't know," Eso said, "but that's not your only problem. Two people have already tried to kill you, and there may be more. You need to get out of here."

Eso led her over to Sako and the others. "We need to get Tesera out of here," he told them. "Sako, keep an eye out for archers. Let's move."

[Outlaw]

As James ran through the back allies of the town, now more concerned with the dragons than the guards. He glanced at the skies every once and a while to see what was happening, and to try and make his way to the center of the comotion. His curiousity was getting the better of his theives senses.

When James saw the fights begin the break out, he stold still and watched in horror as the skies became a war zone. He had never seen anything like it, and if it weren't happening right infront of him, and he wasn't so damn scared, it would almost be beutiful. Still, through his fear, he just had to see what was going on, and he continued towards the center of town.

As he got close to the center, he realized that he was both still wanted by the guards, and wearing what was quite obviously the outfit of a theif. He decided the best way not to be seen was to hop back onto the roof tops. He found one building which had a ladder up to the roof. A hell of allot easier than jumping up crates and boxes.

But he was closer to the center of town than he thought. As he hopped over the last rung of the ladder, he found himself staring at a trained assassin with an arrow pointed at his head. James dropped his bag and held up his hand.

"Hey man, come on, where in the same business here. Theives and assassins. Check it out, we even have the same kinda masks on. So how about dropping that bow, huh?" But as James pleaded for his life, the assassin simply responded by releasing his hand and letting the arrow fly. The arrow flew through the air with amazing speed, trained directly at James' chest. But James hadn't lived 2 decades as the theif without learning a thing or two about fighting. With his right hand, he caught the arrow, holding the tip just centameters from piercing his heart. In one fluid motion, he grabbed a small knife from his belt with his right hand and hurled back at his would be killer, striking him directly in the neck. The assassin fell to the ground, quickly bleeding to death.

"Holy cow. I guess I still got it huh. Haven't done that in years." James quickly made his was over to the assassin corpse, searching the body for an valubles or weapons. He also removed the knife from the assassins neck, wiping the blood and knife and sticking it back in his belt. "Heh, these things don't come cheap ya know. I mean, why waste money when I can just recycle."

James made his way back to the other side of the building and grabbed his bag. In all the commotion he had almost forgotten about the dragons. He looked back towards the sky, just as a large foot landed only a meter away from him. The rest of the body was still some were up in the air.

"HOLY CRAP! What in the hell is going on here!"

[Sakura]

[color=Navy]Tesera watched the sky as the dragons ripped at each other, roaring, snarling and attacking with all they had. The sky was lit up by the magical attacks of the dragons. There was flames, ice, lightning, balls of darkness and light. As the guards were pulling her away, she pushed them off and ran into the panicking crowd, unable to be seen through the commotion.

Tears were pooling in her eyes as she ran, looking at the sky every now and then to see what was happening.

[b]"How? How did this happen?" [/b]she asked herself, a tear escaping and rolling down her cheek.

In all her times performing and summoning dragons, nothing like this had ever happened, and it was just horrible at the amount of destruction being caused.

She stopped and her eyes searched around for the tallest place around, she noticed it was the roof of the stage, so she ran toward it as fast as she could, clambering up the side and standing at the peak where it was highest.

Tesera took calming breaths and opened her beg, pulling out a small drawstring bag. She opened it and pulled some out. She held it in her hands and watched the dragons in the air. As one came close she threw the dust at it and spoke her spell loudly.

[/color] [center][b][color=Navy]"Iváhsi yüduin![/color][/b]
[b][color=Navy] Enimôr taym inspelz![/color][/b]
[b][color=Navy] Boyar ugôner gedit!" [/color][/b]
[color=Navy]she pronounced clearly and perfectly.[/color]
[/center]
[color=Navy]
The dragon stopped and flew toward her. She stroked it's icy blue scales and put her hands on it's head, linking mentally to it. She let go and spoke to the dragon.

[b]"What is your name?" [/b]she asked.

[b]<"I am, Dryoga."> [/b]he replied through the mind.

[b]"Alright Dryoga, I need your help, we have to stop this and find out what happened." [/b]Tesera told him as she climbed on his back.

Tesera braced herself and Dryoga flapped his wings powerfully, flying out into the battle. He let out a blast of frosty breath and froze an arrow that had been headed toward her. He growled and plummeted toward the assassin, flying by and freezing him into a statue and shattering him with a powerful swipe of his tail.

Tesera's hair and dress blew out behind her as they flew at high speeds, Dryoga dodged attacks from other dragons and they tried their best to stop them somehow. It was useless, so she asked him to pull away and see if they could figure out what was happening to the dragons.
[/color]

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]"U-u-uhm, father- is this considered.. a 'dragon attack'?" Lynn asked him shakily trying to calm her own nerves.

"That's a great question. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure." Ashwin took her by the hand and led her to the side of the road. Panic was spreading around them, crowds fleeing as quickly [and chaotically] as they could. He knelt down and looked her in the eye. "I have a change of plans for you. I want you to go to the shop. I want you to get inside, I want you to arm yourself. I want you to stay there. If anyone comes in seeking trouble, kill them. If anyone comes in seeking help, [i]don't[/i] kill them. If you think you need to run, do so. Understand, Lynn? Keep yourself alive." She nodded. "Then go. Go like the wind. Be confident, be brave and get moving. I'll join you in a few minutes." She nodded once more and fled towards the shop, maintaining some sense of purpose amongst the chaotic crowd around her. Ashwin's gaze went to the sky and he was awestruck by the aerial dogfight between the dragons, even as one of their hulking frames came tumbling down into a nearby crowd of fleeing people. "I've never seen dragons behave like this before.." He murmured to himself. His eyes traced around him, his mind searching for what he should do. He thoughts were cut off by an errant fireball. It cascaded down at him and he reached into his cloak. He flipped out a scroll right as the fireball was set to hit him and it crashed into a barely visible, light blue barrier. It dissipated quickly and he tossed the used scroll away. It turned to ash and was lifted up into the sky by the wind. He eyed the scene above and arched an eyebrow as he noticed Teresa up there. "Strange, strange things.."

"Father!" He looked and saw Lynn approaching him. He let out a sigh as she approached. She breathed heavily and struggled to catch her breath. "I.. I'm back."

"I'm pretty sure that I didn't say that you should come back out here."

"Remember what you said before? Uhm, we.. fight to the end. If we lose we uh.. start anew." She gestured. "I'm here to fight at your side." He regretted saying that now and shook his head. "Please, I brought my dagger. That's uhm.. my 'forte', right? I can fight!" She nodded.

"So you want to fight those?" He pointed up to the brutal melee above them.

"Errmm.." She hesitated as she watched the violence. She looked back to him with confidence. "Yes! Yes I do."

"First rule of real combat!" He held his finger up and walked through the plaza. "Don't be antsy. Those dragons aren't even attacking us yet. I'm not sure what's going on, but none of them are specifically attacking humans. What we can do, however, is cover her from archers." He stopped and stared straight into her eyes. "Do not seize with fear. Do not hesitate to kill. I have had you trained under various rogues on how to fight but you have never had a real fight. Follow your instincts as a warrior and use what you've learned. Do not consider a retreat as cowardice. Survive to fight again. Okay?"

"... 'Kay. I understand, father."

"No, no you don't but you will have to go through this first time to understand. To the rooftops." He climbed onto a table, up a set of crates and onto a rooftop. Lynn tilted her head; deftly leapt up onto the table, onto the crates and onto the roof. He arched an eyebrow at her and she shrugged with a grin. "Alright. That was pretty good. But- no more jokes, no more casual talk. Kill the archers aiming for Teresa. She's above us." Lynn quickly looked up and her eyes widened. "We will cover her from snipers. If you see Eso, talk to him. He will probably want to know what is going on with Teresa, if he hasn't noticed already. We will split up. If I need help, I will let off a flare." He handed her a scroll. "The same goes for you. I will be able to see it from anywhere in this town. Go." She ran off along the rooftops, leaping over the gaps where necessary. He sighed and ran the other direction leaping over the gaps as necessary as well. He leapt onto a rooftop with an aiming archer and skidded to a halt. He reached under his cloak and unsheathed his hidden cutlass, the very one that had been hanging over the map the night before. He unleashed a quick, skilled series of slashes upon the assassin, leaving him no time to counter. The body of the assassin slumped over and slid off the roof, landing on top of part of the panicked crowd. They screamed and cursed up at Ashwin. He was already gone though, hunting the enigmatic assassins..[/color]

[Andrew]

This was Vincent’s time to shine. Although the beginning of the display had been beautiful to his eyes, when he saw the first dragon fall his scowl was unmatched. [B]Probably some stupid damn fool wanted one of the dragons dead for bones or hide and started them at each other[/B] he thought. This bloodshed was completely unnecessary and it would be a long day with a lot more innocent blood spilled. Vincent’s intentions were set so that as little blood as possible would be spilled.

Immediately he set to work throwing his cloak back to reveal his glowing gloved hands. From his trained hands apple size energy blasts began to fly up at the dragons and just as each got in front of a one or two they would explode in a flurry of beautiful colours. As Vincent had planned many of the dragon’s got scared by the bright colours or some couldn’t comprehend what was happening in front of them and retreated in either fear or confusion.

Then Vincent noticed that somehow Teresa had thrown herself up into the fight riding on a dragon back. [B]“This complicates things”[/B] he thought out loud. Vincent was unsure of the extent of Teresa’s powers but if she could control a dragon enough to ride it bare back without previously training it she had Vincent’s respect.

Amongst the crowd, Vincent saw that Ashwin and Lynn were dispatching would be assassins and helping in whatever way they could and that many guards were already trying to organise the crowd to evacuate in a fashion that in some way resembled order. The sooner the civilians got out of the area the easier it would be to calm the dragons.

After a large number of them had left Vincent’s surrounding area Vincent drew his large sword and pointed it at the sky and began to call out in a strange dialect that the dragons seemed to recognise. Again some were scared away, others paid no attention and a few others altered their course to fly directly at Vincent.

[B]“Good! These must then be followers of Genesis. They will aid me in sorting this mess”[/B] He spoke to himself.

These dragons had been either related to or friends of the first dragon Vincent had ever met (Also the dragon whose body was used to make the sword that Vincent now wielded), Genesis. The immediate respect that Genesis' bones commanded from these other dragons showed their massive respect towards the old dragon, but now was the time to ease this violent situation.

[Frankie]

Nait just stared at the war overhead. She noticed light bursts and looked over to where they had come from. It was Vincent and someo f the dragons were coming towards him. She nodded but thought his light bursts were a bad idea.

"What if he had angered them enought to start attacking humans... Oh well"

As she stood there staring into the sky a dragon that came falling to the ground almost hit her. She turned around to see what was its problem and noticed a nice sized gash in its neck. Most likely from another dragon's fangs or horns.

She liked dragons to much to just stand there and watch it bleed to death. When she tried to get close to the wound thought the dragon would try to thrash and bite at her. This movement made its wound worse and soon it lay still.

She placed her hands on the bleeding gash and covered in blood in no time. She didnt care thought and began to concentrate. What seemed like forever was just a minute or two. As she slowly mended the gash more blood would spill out onto her arms and dress. She didnt care about the dress though... It could be cleaned. After a bit more time the wound was sealed. The dragon was still in pain and Nait pulled out a small jar of white gel. She spread it on its beautiful scales where the cut was.

The cooling effect started instantly and the dragon reacted violently from being startled. It thrashed a bit and Nait found herself onthe ground in the pool of the dragon's blood with a slight cut in her left arm. The sleeve of the dress torn ast hought it was not even there. She leapt up quickly and backed away from the dragon.

It looked at its now gone wound, snorts at Nait and then flies into the air. Nait sighes, "Ungreatful but I understand." She placed her right hand on her left arm's wound and soon it was gone as well. She felt extreamly tired and it seemed as though sheh ad any muscle energy to move. It took her a bit to get under an a balcony from a random nearby shop. She sat down and closed her eyes for a bit. Rest up and she would be ready to help.

"If any fireballs miss their mark and hit these shops... I hope I have enough energy to drown the flames..." She muttered to herself.

[Outlaw]

As James stumbled back, left in complete shock by the fallen dragon foot which had nearly crushed him, he found himself falling against the side of the building. He knew he needed to keep moving, but between breaking into the guard tower, taking out two pursuants, and killing an assassin, James was exausted. He sat against the side of the roof, catching his breath, while keeping an eye on the skies overhead.

But he found the long he stayed there, the heavier his eyes got, untill he had completely fallen asleep. However, after what seemed to be only seconds of sleep, he was snapped awake by a booming voice.

"Hey scumbag, get up!" James' eyes opened to find the two guards he had escaped earlier, Daego and Kajo, standing over him. He only had a second to recognize what had happened before Kajo swung out at him, connecting his powerful right hook directly on James' face. He was uncontious before he hit the ground.

James' woke up again, this time slowly and with a splitting head ache. He looked around, and found himself inside a small cell, his arms cuffed together even with the cell locked shut. He had been stripped down and put in simple prison rags that smelled like someone had died in them. In all likeliness, some one had. Obviously, the guards had taken no chances with him. James was stricken with a sudden fit of depression, as he was both locked in jail and stuck in a town seemingly under seige by a dragon war. Upset, he lay back down in his hard metal bunk and closed his eyes. "Man, I'm gonna need a miracle to get outta this one. Hell, I'm probobly gonna be eaten before they can through me in a real jail anyways."

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]The assassin fell into a peaceful slumber, a curse rune appearing on his forehead. He slumped over calmly and snoozed away, entering into his nice dream land. Lynn landed next to Ashwin and opened her mouth to say something before she eyed the cutlass. "Erm.. can you, uhm-" She paused and gestured. ".. use that sword?"

"Huh? Oh, the cutlass." He hesitated but smiled weakly. "Long story." He shook his head. He noted the blood on her dagger and nodded. "You're doing well. Keep it up. Get moving." She nodded and leapt off to a different roof with ease. "Old mages just aren't made for all this rooftop crap." He said to himself and not-as-easily jumped to a different roof. "Just where are all these assassins coming from. There's no way that-" The rooftop gave way and caved in, sending him crashing down into a bedroom. He groaned weakly and got up. He was covered in dust from the building and it caused him to sneeze. He cursed and dusted himself off which let off a light cloud of dust that caused him to sneeze again. He sighed softly. He looked up through the hole and his eyes widened. A sphere of dark energy smashed into the house, unleashing an explosion of magic that shook the structure and sent Ashwin flying out of the second story window. He flew down through the front window of a store and into a large display of clothes. He stood up shakily and regained his senses. "Pardon my mess.." He muttered aloud and walked out of the shop through the destroyed window. A guard ran up to him; grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him lightly a couple of times.

"Sir! Are you alright?! Do you require medical attention?"

Ashwin pointed to the people along the street. Some had been struck by pieces of debris and others were in a state of shock. "Tend to them." The guard hesitated for a second but ran off, yelling loudly for a healer. Ashwin sheathed his cutlass and climbed up onto the rooftops again, using a series of Festival displays as a makeshift stairway. His body was sore and he was cut in several places although none of them were too serious. He rubbed his shoulder a bit and sighed. "No rest for the weary." An explosion rocked the area and Ashwin turned towards it, shielding his eyes from the brightness of the blast. A column of smoke rose into the air, blanketing the sky with darkness. "Blasted dragons are destroying this town without even meaning to." Loud shouting came from the direction of the fire as the guards rushed to contain the blaze. "I wonder if Nait.." He trailed off. He shook his head and continued on along the rooftops.[/color]

[Sakura]

[b]OOC: [/b]Guys, just to clear it up, her name is [b][i]Tesera[/i], [/b]not [b]Teresa[/b].

[color=Navy]Tesera was alarmed when bright flashes of colourful lights errupted around her. She trusted Dryoga and didn't pay attention to around her, instead searching the ground in case someone was trying to attack her with the lights. She soon spotted Vincent, the man who she had met beneath the tree, he was trying to help her. And the man and her daughter were helping by killing off the assassins. She smiled to herself and spotted the guards that had tried to protect her.

[b]"I need to talk to some people, I will call you when I need you. Try to stop the dragons, and see if you can find whoever's doing this." [/b]Tesera told Dryoga.

He agreed and Tesera leapt off his back, doing a backflip in the air and landing in a safe, crouched position, not too far from the guards.

[b]"We need to do something, you and your friends are the guards of this city, you must know what to do." [/b]she told Eso.

They looked blank, she sighed, she couldn't blame them. Nothing like this had happened for hundreds of years, when a summoning went seriously wrong. But she had done it all properly, something else was the cause.

[b]"You, you will come with me on Dryoga and we will find out what is happening." [/b]she pointed at Eso, still not knowing his name.

[b]"I, am Eso." [/b]he said.

[b]"Alright Eso, let's go." [/b]she put two fingers to her mouth and whistled sharply.

There was an answering roar and Dryoga swooped down, landing on the ground and lying down to make it easier for them to get on his back.

[b]"Have you riden a dragon before?" [/b]he replied with a negative.

[b]"Just hold onto me and keep watch around." [/b]Tesera said, climbing up first, then she extended her arm and helped Eso up.

Dryoga flapped his powerful wings and they were taken into the sky, they shot toward the sky battle, Eso's grip was tight around Tesera's waist. They saw a dragon rearing it's head back, releasing a large fireball, Dryoga flew by, shooting a freeze breath to counter the attack.

They saw that another dragon had caused a large part of the city to become alight and the guards were running over, with some water elementalists already trying to extinguish the fire.

[b]"Tell them to move away." [/b]Tesera said to Eso.

[b]"GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!" [/b]he boomed as Dryoga flew lower.

Everyone looked to the sky and saw the ice dragon with two riders on his back. After a long look, they moved away, recognising Tesera and Eso.

[b]"Dryoga." [/b]

He released a large freeze breath as they hovered over the flames. The fire was encased in a layer of ice.

[b]"You can access the place, just attack the ice." [/b]Tesera told them, Dryoga smacked a large part of with his tail to demonstrate.

Dryoga lifted up higher into the air, and their attention returned to the aerial battle that was still raging.
[/color]

[Zephyr]

Alno'dra sighed lightly as the chaos got underway. It turned out to be another peaceful moment ruined. As the crowds began to panic he held his place, leaning against the entrance to a shop. [i]This figures. And I was just getting into the show. Not to mention, that flautist was kind of cute.[/i] Alno'dra kicked himself as soon as that thought crossed his mind. Now was no time to be thinking like Karst. The chunk of shreaded dragon that landed next to him was proof of that.

Looking up, he noticed a second piece heading for the crowd. [i]Damn![/i] Alno'dra moved his right hand from under his cloak and pointed at the piece, which was promptly incinerated by a burst of fire magic. Moving into the crowd he continued to blast the falling pieces, protecting the people as much as possible. On particular piece caught his attention, because it had fallen from a dragon that had literally flashed out of existance, and another followed it. Looking around Alno'dra saw the reason, a older gentleman firing off energy blasts.

Another flash, another dragon gone, and another piece falling into the crowd. This piece was blasted by Alno'dra's fire too. [i]Fool, stop focusing on the dragons and try protecting the crowd.[/i] Alno'dra lost focus himself, and had to snap his hand up to stop a leg that got past his attacks. A flash of fire and the leg disappeared. Except for the scale that slammed into Alno'dra's chest, and smashed him into the wall of a building. He heard a startled gasp next to him as he dropped to the ground, coughing heavily.

"Are you alright," a feminine voice asked.

"I'm...(cough) fine," Alno'dra managed to say. Looking over he noticed it was the young lady from the bar the other night. "You should.... get out here. It's dangerous." Alno'dra climbed back to his feet and walked forward. He winced as he moved to strike down another random dragon piece. [i]Feels like I broke a rib.[/i] Under his cloak his left hand gripped the crystal around his neck. [i]Elder, please lend me the strength to endure. I have to help these people.[/i] He continued to stalk forward and blast dragon parts, protecting the crowd to the best of his ability.

[Frankie]

Nait watched as the man from last night struggled to keep up so he could protect the people still fleeing in every direction. Nait took a deep breath and leaped up to her feet. She ran out from under the balcony and watched as dragons ripped into each other and some sending more blasts of elemental energy into other dragons and buildings.

Nait gasped as another fireball hit a home. She quickly forced both hands out in front of her and focused on the fire. A large sphear of water began to appear slowly. The larger it got the more Nait strained to keep it above ground. She moved her right hand farther from her and the sphear began to move in that direction.

She used her left hand and moved it horizontally back and forth. This motion made the sphear flatten out. She made the water the size of the area in need of help. She then balled up both fists and released the water. It came splashing down onto the fire and the hissing of a fire dying was all she could hear. Tons of steam rippled off the burnt wood and into the sky.

"It may be dangerous but I can handle it..." She muttered to herself... Though she did appreciate the fact he at least said something that had shown concern. She watched as water began to soak her feet as it ran off the shop. A small shelf on a far wall was still lit up in a small fire but Nait quickly moved her hand in one swift wave and the water turned around and went like a wave right into the shelf getting rid of the last bit of flames.

"Well... shoot. At this rate ill have no more energy to help the injured."

[GuyYouMetOnline]

[color=darkred]Things were not quite proceeding according to plan, but it could have been much worse. So far, the only problem was Tesera's continued survival. She was supposed to be killed before the dragons fought, but she had not died. He would have known if she had. Fortunatly, she had not had the sense to leave Alsoto. He would still have his victory. He would just have to do it himself.[/color]


Eso had given up on trying to figure out what was going on a while ago. First, there was Tesera's unexpected appearance, and her calling the dragons to the city. Then all hell had broken lose. Eso had tried to get Tesera to saftey, but before he knew it, she was gone. Then she showed up on the back of a dragon, and Eso found himself riding the dragon with her.

Eso tried to keep an eye out for trouble, but so much was going on around him that it wasn't easy to do so. Despite this, he was able to spot something approaching the city.As it drew closer, he was able to make it out. It was a dragon. He pointed it out to Tesera.

"Looks like a big one," Tesera observed. "But what's it doing?"

"I don't know," Eso replied, "but I've got a bad feeling about this."

As the dragon approached the city, it quickly became clear that it was coming right for Dryoga. Dryoga flew a complex path through the fighting dragons,attempting to lose the pursuer. Unfortunatly, it didn't work. The dragon was surprisingly quick and agile for its size, and was able to keep up with Dryoga. Dryoga had no choice but to turn and face his opponent.

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]Lynn landed once again next to her father panting rather heavily. Ashwin gazed up into the sky at Tesera. She had picked up some random person and Ashwin couldn't really get a good look at them. "Looks like trouble." He said and pointed to the dragon Tesera was facing in combat. "That one looks a bit more dangerous than the rest of them."

"Can we.. help them? Uhm, I mean, is there any way we can.." Lynn's voice trailed off and she gestured erratically, visibly worried.

"Well we can't fly up there and join their little aerial escapade, no." He said with narrowed eyes. Lynn's shoulders slumped in disappointment. He shrugged and continued. "What do you expect? This isn't exactly the best territory for a nec-" He stopped himself in time and sharply cleared his throat. "Rather, a bane mage to be in. Any curses I throw up into their area would affect them as well. Invoking dozens of individual curses for each dragon would drain me."

".. Uhm. Do it.. anyway?" She asked quietly. He blinked strangely. She shook her head negatively. "They might die up there, father! Even if you faint, shouldn't you.." She stopped and closed her eyes. "Uhm.. I'm sorry. I just.."

A sigh escaped from his lips and he sheathed his cutlass. "I know someone who can help us. I suggest you stand back. This elemental is not people-friendly." He made a 'shoo' gesture with his hands. Lynn took several steps backwards and leaned against a chimney. He clasped his hands together and began the incantation. "Goddess of the Nether.." His voice fell into a quiet murmur. A small, dark purple orb formed in front of him. It violently snapped and sizzled until a loud groan came out from it. Two eyes opened on it's face and it stared straight at Ashwin.

"Ashwin Crow, Servant of the Night. It's been awhile." The orb stated in a voice that was female. It rotated and looked at Lynn. "You adopted that child from five years ago, hm? Amusing." The orb shimmered slightly. It turned back to Ashwin. "Do you have a request? Or is this just a casual occasion?"

"I need you to return my familiar from whatever blasted land she's been vacationing in for the last seven years."

"Your familiar is on vacation? Equally amusing." The orb pulsated- it seemed to be it's way of laughing.

"She just took off randomly one day." Ashwin said with a shake of his head. "It isn't my fault she's a basket case."

"Is that all? How boring. I'll handle this with ease. Be back in a moment." The orb imploded upon itself, disappearing from view completely.

"Uhm..." Lynn stared at Ashwin. "What was [i]that[/i]?"

"The most annoying elemental spirit I have ever met on this blasted planet." He shook his head negatively as he spoke.

"And.. what did you mean by familiar?"

"I'm talking about Kira. My familiar. Most mages opt to have a helper in the form of a spirit, pixie or whatever. In lieu of that, I have a fairy of darkness. Been with me since my first year at the magic academy, actually." He said with a nod. "She's the oldest friend I've got."

"I didn't know that.." Lynn pondered this.

"No reason for you to. She went off to tour the world or something seven years ago. She's uh." He furrowed his brow. "Unique. She's unique."

The orb blinked back into shape in front of them. "Crow. Here's your familiar. Try to keep her around this time." It spit out a fairy clad in an all black dress, matched with a black wizard's hat. She had waist length, pink hair and green eyes that glowed slightly. She was visibly confused and disoriented. The orb shimmered and eyed Ashwin. "Call on me whenever you desire." It winked. "Tata~" The orb disappeared, leaving the confused fairy behind. The fairy saw Ashwin and leapt for joy [literally], flying over to him.

"Ashy! Kira, your servant, has returned! It's been too long, my lord!" Kira said enthusiastically.

"Ashy?.." Lynn blinked several times.

Kira peered at Lynn and let out a giggle. "[i]Ohmygoodness.[/i] Who is this little darling?"

"Good to see you, Kira. That's Lynn. I adopted her some years back." Ashwin said and gestured to the aerial battle. "See that-"

"Lady Lynn, it is a pleasure to meet you!" Kira said happily; took off her hat and formally bowed in midair. "I am Kira, dark fairy extraordinaire and loyal servant of your father."

Lynn curtsied and smiled. "Good to meet you, Miss Kira. I hope we can be good friends."

Ashwin rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Yeah.. okay, listen- you two can get acquainted later. We're kind of involved in an emergency here." He pointed the aerial dogfight. "Kira, see that?"

"Oh my- what's going on?" She asked and tilted her head quizzically.

"No one knows. It's been going on for a few minutes now." He rolled up his sleeves and looked to her. "I need your help with spells. We're going limit their ability to slaughter each other. Make the curses very strong. Don't hit the dragon with the riders. They are the people we're trying to protect. Lynn, I want you to keep us covered. Strong magical incantations take more than a minute to complete usually. We won't be able to defend ourselves."

"Uhmm.. you can count on me!" Lynn said confidently and gave her father a thumbs up.

"Alright, let's do it."

"Understood, Ashy!" Kira flew up and landed on Ashwin's head. Their movements mirrored each other as both of them folded their hands together and began to murmur an incantation. As their unified murmurs continued a hazy black mass formed above their heads. It churned violently and let out a loud, inhuman groan. The seconds ticked on, their combined murmuring growing louder and more audible. [i]"We the demons of the Night do call upon the Nether's power to inflict a contagion upon our enemy. Atrophy their strength and destroy their speed, oh Goddess. Servants of you always, we invoke your strength to summon forth this hex."[/i] This repeated several times until just over a minute had passed. The black mass was quiet now- it stood still, hovering over the heads of them. "[b]Amen[/b]." Ashwin and Kira both stated at the same time. The black mass shot across the sky, letting out a horrendous scream. It smashed into the body of one of the fighting dragons, melding into it. The dragon struggled for a few seconds as a runic script burned onto it's forehead. It's strength began to leave it and it started to fall from the sky. It let out a monstrous roar and the script disappeared. The dragon flapped it's powerful wings and regained it's altitude, returning to the fight.

"Uhmm.." Lynn began. ".. what happened?"

"I really hate trying to curse dragons." Ashwin muttered and shook his head. "In this berserker state their resistance to curses is through the roof. I can't weaken them in the least. It is all up to Tesera now."

Kira tilted her head and placed her hand on her chin. "Tesera? Who is that? Some kind of sorceress?"

"Hm? Oh, pretty famous human. Might be a sorceress, I'm not too sure anymore. She sorta inadvertently started this whole mess. She's up there on that dragon." Ashwin rubbed his arm a few times to try to ease the dull pain that lingered from his earlier mishaps.

"And.. who's that with her?" Kira asked and pointed to the figure behind Teresa.

"I never really took a careful look." He raised his hand to shield his eyes and squinted as he tried to make out the figure. "I'm pretty sure.." He chuckled. "I think that's Eso."

"Err, Eso?" Lynn peered up towards the dragon as well. Her eyes widened as she spoke. "Wow.. uhm, what is he doing up there?"

"Who knows." Ashwin said with a shrug. He unrolled his sleeves and took his cloak from Lynn. As he put it on he cracked his neck from side to side. "I'm sure he's as confused as we are."

"What do we do now, father?" Lynn asked and scratched her cheek. "Uhm.. I mean, if we can't do anything to the dragons.."

Kira flew down and sat on Ashwin's shoulder. "Aww. Your daughter is pretty cute, Ashy."

"Yes, well." He arched an eyebrow. "Anyway, I'm not really sure what we should do. I've run out of ideas at this point. Let's get back to the square. I think Vincent is there, maybe we could help him out."

"Vincent? [i]Ohmygoodness.[/i] I haven't seen him in forever!" Kira nodded to herself. "It's great to be back with you, my lord!"

"Haha. Hang on, Kira. We're going roofhopping." He said and approached the edge of the roof.

"Uhm.. is this kind of our preferred method of transportation, now?" Lynn asked with a grin.

"I think it just might be. Quick, relatively painless." He said as he leapt to the next roof. "Kind of fun once you get used to it."

They made their way along the rooftops towards the square where it had all started..[/color]

[Outlaw]

James sat in his holding cell sulking. He felt like he was doomed. He had tried everything he could think of to escape, but there was some sort of magic seil on his cuffs, both restricting his movement and keeping him unable to pick the lock of the cuffs. Suddenly, he heard a slam coming from the ceiling, as if something had crashed on the roof. The ceiling began to crack, and small pieces began to fall. Kajo, he only guard left at the station barged through the door.

"What the heck happened in here?" he asked. James was about to respond when all of a sudden a large chuck of the ceiling came crashing down ontop of Kajo, pinning his legs underneith. The enormose pain caused him to pass-out nearly immediately. The impact of the falling chunk had caused James to lose his balance and fall to the ground. He slowly recovered, struggling to stand with his arms still tighly bound. But he finally caught a ray of hope, when he saw Kajo's keys hanging off his belt. He stuck his legs out between the bars of his cell and used his exposed toes to grab onto the keys. "Man, I guess its a good thing they stripped me down, huh."

Within seconds, James had freed himself from his shackles with the keys and openned his cell door. He rubbed his forearms, which were incredibly soar from the shackles. Looking down, he saw the guard, still unconcious and les still trapped. His concounce went back and forth trying to determine wether or not to help the man. "Awwww, I know this is going to come back to hurt me." He dropped down and shifted the rock off Kajo's legs, using nearly all the strength he had left. He than grabbed the man's arms and threw him over his sholder, struggling to carry the man out of the guard station. He made his way outside, and dumped Kajo by the door.

It was at this time that James realised he was still nearly naked, and the guards still had his suit. He ran inside with the keys, entered the guards supply room, similar to the one he had broken into earlier. He found his suit quickly, as it had been recently packed in a box of confiscated goods. He slipped on the suit. Getting back in it gave him a slight boost in energy, but he was still nearly passed out tired. He neaded a healer, and fast. He limped back out of the guard station, to find Kajo regaining concousness.

"Uh, what happened?" he asked half aware of his surroundings, "And how did i get out here?"

"I carried you," responded James. "The ceiling collapsed on you, and you were knocked unconcious."

"You, but your a theif. Why would you help me?"

James gave the guard a look of annoyance. "Yeah, well, forgive me for saving your life. Now, can you walk?"

"I....I don't think so."

"Alright, you wait here. I'll go find a healer."

With that James limped down the road, headed towards the center of town, were he figured most the the townsfolk must be. He hoped that helping this guard out might get him off the hook, but he doubted it.

[Frankie]

Nait was again resting in a sheltered place. She felt very tired but her energy came back slowly. She heard the battle around her but did not look. She could tell by everyone's reactions that something large and dangerous had approched and she prefered not to be in the way or even within eyesight.

As she looked around her she saw a man limping into the square. She narowed her eyes at his leggs and frowned. He looked very tired and extreamly weak. She just could not stand to see it. She had been called to nice before and she figured she always would be.

He approched some people and asked for a healer but most people weren ot healers and one in the area took one look at him and turned him away. Told him that she was busy. Nait frowned at this and stood up again. She approched the man and smiled.

"It appears you need a healer. I am available..." She said looking at him kindly.

He smiled tiredly at her, "Yeah me and this large guard back over by the uh..."

Nait nodded, "Jail... Ya I understand. Lead the way..."

"You dont mi- Hmm yes could you help me out first though? I am about to pass out."

Nait nodded, "Of course... Sit down."

After he did she waited for a few moments and rubbed her hands together untill they were hot. She pressed her palms against his chest near his heart and lungs and whispered to herself.

He felt a warm sensation cruise through his body to all the tired or injured areas. Soon he didnt feel so tired anymore. He waited for her to remove her hands and realized she already had but the pressure and warmth of her hands remained.

"Thanks..." He said standing up.

"So uh... Lead me to the guard..."

[Sakura]

[color=Navy]Tesera saw the large dragon and was shocked by it. No dragon that large had been seen for centuries. She just stared at the magnificent creature but soon realised it was headed right for them. She ordered Dryoga to try to lose it, but it was surprisingly agile despite it's size. They couldn't shake it, so Dryoga had to turn and face it.

Dryoga blew a frosty breath at the dragon, it was immediately countered by a burst of hot flames. They circled in the air, Dryoga was small compared to the dragon, but he charged forward, hoping to do some damage. Dryoga rammed the dragon but it didn't do much at all, in fact, it probably hurt him more than the dragon.

[b]<"This one's tough."> [/b]Dryoga told her.

Tesera gnawed on her lip and finally came up with a possible solution.

[b]"Give me your sword." [/b]she told Eso.

[b]"What?!"

"I need it, I don't have a weapon, you have Dryoga to help and protect you." [/b]Tesera explained hurriedly. [b]"Quickly, there's no time." [/b]

Eso handed over the sword. Tesera slid it between the dress and the sash around her waist so it stayed in position.

[b]"Dryoga, get as close as you can." [/b]

Dryoga nodded and banked sharply, at the peak where they were closest, Tesera leapt off Dryoga and onto the back of the large dragon. She was so small on it's back and clambered to get a hold, gripping inbetween scales. The dragon roared at it's new passenger and started flying wildly, trying to shake her off.

Tesera clenched her eyes shut and held on. As it got weary, she pulled out her flute and tried to tame it, it was a failure, it's mind was incredibly strong and it resisted the taming.

She put the flute away and drew the sword, holding on again as it bucked, spun, flipped, barrel rolled, somersaulted and did tricks to try and remove her. She slid her way over to the edge of it's back, near it's side, she stabbed the sword into the thin area between the scales of it's back, and the scales of the underbelly. It was one of the, if not the most, sensitive parts of a dragon and the best place to attack.

It roared angrily and wriggled and tossed, finally loosing Tesera. It turned and shot flames at Dryoga and Eso who were circling close by. The flames prevented them from flying beneath Tesera to help. Dryoga tried to counter but the attack was larger and more heated. Finally Dryoga's breath gave and the flames covered the dragon, making it extremely hot for Eso, setting him on fire. He jumped from the sky and curled into the ball. When he hit the ground, he rolled safely.

A few seconds later, Dryoga plummeted from the sky, crashing to the ground. It was groaning and roaring. It was burnt all over.

Tesera had managed to land safely and ran over.

[b]"No! Dryoga, are you alright!?" [/b]she panicked.

[b]<"I'm sorry I couldn't...defeat the dragon..."> [/b]he apologised.

[b]"Don't worry about it, just worry about living." [/b]Tears welled in Tesera's eyes, she knew it, he knew it, it was inevitable.

[b]<"You know I can't make it. All the best. I really enjoyed today, even though it was just a short time. Thankyou..."> [/b]he sighed, then his eyes closed.

[b]"NO!! Dryoga, get up!!" [/b]she cried, the tears rolling down her cheeks.

There were puddles of blood everywhere, mixtures of dragon, human, and the darkest was from the large dragon. Tesera fell to her knees and cried over the body of the dragon. Eso realised it was dangerous and saw a wild dragon aiming an attack at her. He grabbed her by the wrist and tugged, she wouldn't move.

[b]"Tesera! We have to go!" [/b]he shouted.

She just sobbed, he sighed and had no choice. He picked her up bridal style and ran, just as they moved, a powerful dark attack hit where they had been, engulfing Dryoga's body.

[b]"NOOOO!! I'll kill it! I'll kill it!" [/b]she cried. [b]"DRYOGA!!!"

[color=Black]OOC: [/color][/b][color=Black]Let me know if you want it different.[/color]
[/color]

[Outlaw]

James and Nate half walked, half jogged back towards the guard station. James was still a little soar and very hungry, so he couldn't full out run, and Nait was feeling the strain of using her magics aswell.

"I really appreciate you helping me here," he said, trying to break the silence between them.

"It's alright. I figure even a theif like yourself doesn't deserve to die on the streets," she responded. Her anger towards the days events had taken control of her mood.

"Hey, I'm trying to do the right thing here. You know, just because I'm a theif doesn't make me a bad guy." Nait stopped suddenly and glared at him.

"What are you talking about? Being a theif makes you a bad guy. You steal from people," she scolded in a harsh voice. Her emotions were getting the best of her. James saw that if he tried to fight her on that fact, they'ld be stuck out here all day.

"Ok, your right, I am a theif, and I guess that does make me one of the bad guys, but even bad guys have a conciounse."

"Oh right, honor amoungst theives huh? Lets just go alright."

The two continued down the road, now moving faster, their adreneline pumping from their arguement. When they reached the guard station, they found Kajo still lying on the side of the road. James explained to him the Nait was a healer, and Nait went to work patching up Kajo's wounds. Within minutes, Kajo was back on his feet again. James just stared at him, wondering what the next move would be.

"So, were do we go from here?" he asked the guard. Kajo raised on eyebrow at the theif.

"What do you mean. You knocked me out and escaped from prison. And now I have more pressing matters to deal with. Now get outta here before I run you in for loitering." With that Kajo headed back into the guard station to check the damage to the holding cells. James looked back towards Nait.

"Well, I guess its just you and me then," he said with a grin, which could barely be seen from behind his mask.

"What do you me 'you and me?' Theres no 'you and me.' Your a badguy remember. And the last thing I need right now is more trouble." she responded in a huff.

"Look...Nait, right?" James inquired, recieving a slight nod yes from the girl, "Look Nait, you just saved my life, and probobly the life of that guard, which basically just saved my life again cause now I'm not going to jail. So the way I see it, I owe you. Big time. And I'm going to pay my debt by making sure you make it out of this ordeal alive." Nait was a little taken back by James' speach. She had not expected him to say something like that.

"Honor amounst theives huh?" She asked with a slight grin, her mood shifting a little.

"Yeah, something like that," he responded as they headed back towards the town center.

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]Kira held onto Ashwin's cloak with one hand and her hat with the other as he rushed across the rooftops. They had just witnessed the aerial battle between Dryoga and the monstrous dragon that ended with Dryoga's crash landing. "Damn." That was all Ashwin could say but it mirrored the feelings of all of them perfectly.

"Ashy, maybe we should go help them. They crashed just a short distance away, you know? I think they could use the help of a n-"

[size=1]"[b]Shh!![/b] [i]Bane mage[/i]. I'm officially a bane mage in this town."[/size] He responded in a hushed tone of voice. [size=1]"Nobody trusts necromancers. I couldn't live here if they knew that I was one."[/size]

[size=1]"Come on, Ashy. You've earned their trust by now, haven't you? Upstanding member of the community, owner of a well-known shop.."[/size] Kira whispered back.

[size=1]"Trust doesn't matter, Kira. The public has an opinion that all of them are the purest evil and are nothing but trouble. The only thing I use in this town are curses- no black magic, no death magic. You should know that."[/size]

Kira sighed and out of the corner of his eye he could see her shrug. [size=1]"I know, Ashy. I know. Still, isn't it about time you put a little more faith in your fellow townspeople?"[/size] Ashwin shook his head negatively at that statement.

"Uhmm.. what are you two whispering about?.." Lynn's uneasy voice came from behind them.

"Nothing, nothing. Just catching up on old times." Ashwin said and glanced back with a smile to ease her nerves. She weakly smiled back and Ashwin faced forward again, stopping his run. [size=1]"Don't tell her, either. All that aside, I will agree that we need to get to them. Seems like they need a blasted army to protect themselves."[/size] He knelt down and peered over the edge of the building to the road. "We'll use the roads from now on. Seems like the townspeople have been evacuated successfully." Kira flew up from his shoulder and he leapt down, his familiar flying down behind him with Lynn following behind her. They landed in front of a surprised couple- Nait and a young man he didn't know. "Er." Ashwin said and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, Nait. Didn't mean to startle you and your friend."

Kira bowed respectfully. "Yes, pardon us." The man looked strangely at the fairy and she smiled at him. Lynn was too shy to say anything but she bowed several times as well.

"Have you seen uh," Ashwin's mind blanked at the most inopportune moment and he shook his head, trying to clear his muddled thoughts. "Eso!" He exclaimed as it came back to him. "Yes, Eso and Tesera. Did they come running by here?" Nait shook her head 'no'. "Blast it, they could be anywhere by now."

"Do you think they're going to be okay?" Nait asked, looking worried.

"I don't think so, no." His voice trailed off and he stared down the road to the town center. "I'm not so sure where they could be, either.."

"We were heading to the town center, ourselves." Nait gestured to the man and herself. "I think you should come along. It'd be better than just running around the streets with no idea where to go."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Hm, I should introduce myself I suppose.." Ashwin offered his hand to the man. "Ashwin Crow. Mage, shopkeeper and enigmatic jumper of rooftops. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." They shook hands. "This is my daughter, Lynn." He gestured to Lynn who shyly waved to the man. "And.. my familiar, Kira."

"[i]Ohmygoodness.[/i] I love meeting new people! Nice to meet you two!" Kira took off her hat and bowed to them. "I am Kira, the most spectacular dark fairy you will ever have the chance to meet! Lucky you." She winked.

"Yeah, pardon her.. enthusiasm. Anyway, who would you be, young sir?" Ashwin looked back to the man.[/color]

[Outlaw]

James chuckled at the fairy's gesture, and bowed in kind. "I'm sure I am. My name is James, and I'm....um, Nait's new bodyguard." Nait raised an eyebrow at James in confusion. James simply winked back and nodded towards Ashwin's little girl. Nait understold he was just trying to protect Lynn. Ashwin also nodded in approval.

However, Kira obviously didn't catch on. "But if your a body guard, why are you so small, and wearing all black like a the....." A sharp glance from Ashwin quited the inquistive fairy. "Oh, okay."

"So, where the people you were talking about? This Eso and Tesera." asked James, trying to get caught up on what was happening. Ashwin explained how Tesera had summoned the dragons, and how they had gone crazy. "Damn, this is bad. We better head over there, and quick."

[GuyYouMetOnline]

Eso knew Tesera was upset by Dryoga's death, but there wasn't anything that either of them could do about it. The only option was to keep moving, and when Tesera had not done so, Eso had no choice but to carry her, so he picked her up after retrieving his sword. After a while, he was able to put her down, and she kept up with him. Eventually, she did tire out, so the two of them ducked into a nearby tavern. It was empty, probably beause everyone was running out of the city. Eso walked over to the window and looked out.

He quickly spotted the large dragon that had attacked him and Tesera. It was not getting itself involved in the arial melee. "I think it's looking for us," Eso told Tesera, "and based on what just happened, I'd say we don't have a chance in hell of surviving if it finds us."

"That's probably true. I've never seen a dragon that large before! Nobody has, not for centuries. Why's this one here?"

"I don'k know. How rare are dragons of that size?"

"Very rare," Tesera replied. "Most don't survive long enough to grow to that size. See, dragons can live for a very long time. Nobody knows just how long they can live for, but it's believed to be thousands of years. However, it's rare for a dragon to survive for longer than a few hundred. Something's usually killed them by that time."

"So this particular dragon is older than most," Eso said. "How old do you think it is?"

"I'm not sure. Nobody's ever seen a dragon that large for centuries, so I don't know, but old. In the thousands, certainly."

"What's that mean in terms of how powerful it is?"

"A dragon's size and power grow with age," Tesera explained. "As a dragon ages, it continues to grow in size. As it grows larger, it becomes physically stronger, and the hide of a larger dragon is usually much more difficult to penetrate. Also, the older and larger a dragon is, the stronger its natural abilities."

"Natural abilities?"

"You know, like the fire breath. Also, larger dragons tend to be faster in the air, though usually not as agile as smaller ones. That one that came after us was more agile than dragons of that size should be, but it still had the speed one would expect a dragon of that size to have."

"And what about a dragon's power?" Eso asked.

"Most dragons have some kind of magical power, frequently elemental powers of the same type as the dragon. An ice dragon would have elemental powers of ice, while a fire dragon's would be powers of fire. Of course, dragons can have all kinds of magical abilities. Some have healing powers, some are skilled with illusions, and on and on. The oldest dragons to ever live all had command over multiple forms of magic. That's how they survived for so long. The dragon who attcked us may very well have multiple forms of magical power. Andas a dragon's power grows with age, it's magic will be very powerful."

Just then, someone opened the door of the tavern. Eso immediatly drew his sword, then relaxed when he recognized the person who stepped through the door. "Jaht! What are you doing here?"

"Finding a calm spot to rest," Jaht replied. "Things hae been extremly crazy. I assume you're in here for the same reason I am."

"Tesera needed to rest, so we ducked in here. What's been going on/ I lost track of the situation on the ground as soon as I got on that dragon with Tesera"

"Understandable," Jaht said. "I'd have been distracted, too. Anyways, the city is now more or less evacuated. Everyone's paniking, and we've had several fights break out. If this doesn't end soon, there'll be problems. Any idea what's going on?" he asked Tesera.

"No. I don't know what happened."

"Neither do I," Eso said, "but something tells me that that huge dragon Tesera and I were attacked by has something to do with it."

"Okay, so what's our next move?"

"We need to get Tesera out of the city," Eso told him. "That dragon's not the only one who's tried to kill her. There've been two humans so far who've tried to kill her, and I'd bet there are more where they came from."

As if on cue, the tavern door burst open and two men entered, swords drawn. "I knew I heard voices in here," one of them said. "And wouldn't you know it! There she is, right there. Do you have an idea how much trouble we've gone through to find you, bitch?"

"Jaht, take care of them!" Eso ordered. He grabbed Tesera as Jaht drew his sword and faced the two men. Eso led Tesera out the back of the tavern.

"Will he be all right?" Tesera asked.

"Of course. There were only two of them, and Jaht's very good with a sword. He'll be fine. Now, we need to get out of here before that dragon finds us. Let's move."

[Frankie]

Nait and the others headed discretely through streets and such. They all noticed this rather large dragon hovering over the city in search of something and they all ageed staying out of view was the best way to go.

Lynn, Ashwin, and his familliar got ahead of Nait and James and Nait stopped for a moment. James did as well slightly confused.

"Listen James. I am sorry about earlier. When I am tired I get cranky and I am sorry. You see I helped you because I beleive no matter who you are there is good in you. Sure there are exceptions and in your case I can see what i just said is true. Now I will say there are most likely some things you have done that I would disagree with but in a way I would also say a person has to survive."

He listened to her carefully and looked around for any dangers.

"What I am basicly trying to say is that in reality I have nothing against thieves and this is why I helped you. I help almost everyone. I dont always judge people by their actions before iv met them so really so far I have seen nothing bad."

"Well I... Uhm..."

"So we are starting with a clean slate. Oh and by the way... You dont have to pay me back. I have never charged people for the work I do. I guess Vincent and my parents were right by calling me too nice."

He stood there for a second and blinked. Ashwin turned around, "Are you two coming?"

Nait nodded, "Yes!" Before the moved she turned to James again, "Oh and you need not even think of stealing from me. I never have anything on me worth stealing. I am an Inn Keeper I have little to nothing of value." She said just in case he was just being nice to give himself time to find anything he could possibly take. She trusted him but only to a point. She was however, willing to give him a chance. "Now uh. Lets go. I need to locate my parents. This is been one hell of a birthday..." She muttered.

[Zephyr]

The world seemed to wobble randomly as Alno'dra tried to walk down the streets of Alsoto. He had used his magic skills too many times, and it had drained him badly. The heavy pain in his chest was not helping matters, and only got worse from all of the exertion. The only real upside he could see was the sight of empty streets. Most had made it to safety, though a few lay still in the middle of the square. Their fate was obvious.

An unusually loud roar caught his attention, and he looked skyward. Flying overhead, in the middle of the meele was a dragon several times larger then any other. Oddly, it did not seem to be attacking like the others, and merely circled the area as though it was searching for something. [i]Perhaps now is a good time to find shelter.[/i] Alno'dra moved as quickly as he could a few blocks from the center of the fighting.

Damage to the buildings was not as bad after a short distance, since the fight had no yet spread too far, but it was likely the whole city was going to be in danger soon. For now, however, this was a good spot to rest. Alno'dra sat down in a small alleyway between two buildings, hoping to hide from the sight of any stray dragons. While keeping a lookout he checked the area where the dragon scale had hit him earlier. What he felt was exactly what he had expected, and dreaded. [i]Looks like I did snap a rib.[/i] He winced as he touched the spot again and a sharp pain shot though his right side.

It was a few minutes before Alno'dra found the world to have steadied out, and he stood back up. [i]If I stay here I'll just end up a snack for one of them[/i], he looked at the sky again. Alno'dra stepped out of the alleyway. "Time to go," he said quietly as he took a step forward.

[GuyYouMetOnline]

[color=#8b0000]Tesera was prooving more difficult to eliminate than he had expected. Everything else had gone according to plan, however. The traitors were dying, and their deaths far outnumbered those of dragons still loyal to their race. But the human Tesera still lived, and this was intolerable. He would not allow her to escape the city alive. Unfortunatly, he'd lost track of her after killing the dragon she'd been riding, and he hadn't been able to find her again. But he would, eventually.[/color]

[color=#8b0000]The battle in the air would not last much longer, he knew. Most of the traitors were already dead, and those that weren't soon would be. Some were foolish enough to attack him. He killed the ones that chose to attack him, but aside from that, he did not involve himself in the battle. He was occupied by the search for Tesera, and when he found her, she would die. She had escaped once through pure luck, but that would not happen again.[/color]
[color=#8b0000][/color]
[color=#8b0000][/color]

Eso and Tesera ducked behind a pile of rubble as three armed men walked past, and this wasn't the first time they'd done so. Eso was feeling more confident now. For the first time since the dragons starting fighting, he was in a situation he understood. He knew the odds of surviving were not good, but at least he knew how to play this particular game.

"How many of them are there?" Tesera asked as soon as the men were out of sight.

"I don't know," Eso told her as the two of them started moving again. "Certainly more than I would expect."

"More than you would expect?"

"We've seen quite a few men so far. Now, this is a big city, and nobody has any way of knowing where in it we are. So they'll be spread out, searching the city for us. Think about what that means. We've only seen a fraction of the number likely to be looking for us. Which means this is a lot more than just somebody wanting you dead."

"What do you mean?"

"This is too much to just kill one person," Eso explained. "Nobody sends this many people to kill one person. And then there's the coincedince of timing. The first attempt to kill you occurred just as the dragons strated fighting."

"You think this has something to do with the dragons?"

Eso nodded. "I've never believed in coincedences. Whatever caused the dragons to go nuts like that may have something to do with all these people trying to kill you."

"What about the dragons?" Tesera asked. "Why are they fighting?"

"I don't know," Eso replied. "I just don't know."

Eso spotted a trio of swordsmen heading towards him and Tesera. "Damn," he swore. "These ones see us. Move it!"

Eso and Tesera turned and ran. Eventually, Eso pulled Tesera down a side street and behind someone's house. "This is carzy!" he said. "We can't go two minutes without having to run from somebody! Unless we stumble across someone willing to help us, I don't think we'll make it out of here alive."