Gaius left behind a series of iron footprints as he sprinted across the cliff's edge to the best of his ability, picking up considerable speed as he kicked up dirt with his jade-set boots. "And we're off," He said softly to himself with a huff, kicking off of the rocky ledge. His final step sent stones crumbling into the abyss below. For a moment, it looked as if the massive glider wasn't going to hold together, but several meters away from the cliff's edge, Gaius and Lee were gliding without much trouble through the vast expanse of clear sky. "Hold on tight," He shouted past the noise of his armor clattering against the wind, "It's quite the drop!" That it was. There was no chance of survival if somebody fell from a height like this.



The noise was accompanied by a sudden weightlessness in his right shoulder. Gaius looked up and quickly rose his right hand to grab the bar that snapped from its joint on his shoulder plate, barely managing to secure his grip before the glider lose balance. "Whoa-Whoa!" Gaius cried out in a panic, struggling to keep his wingspan level as he trailed behind the other gliders, who'd passed him up by now with ease. "Shoot- No! Shit!!"

Gaius and Lee began losing altitude, but were able to remain airborne. But how long would it be before the second latch snapped? Perhaps this contraption wasn't meant for two people after all..

It felt like someone had reached deep into Lee's throat and dried off every particle of her lungs. There was hardly any air sliding in and out of the organs, Lee's eyes wide as her brain tried to catch up and register what was going on. Alas, nothing was getting in. She just couldn't comprehend it. The pounding in her ears seemed to drown everything out and things remained like this until something snapped. At that point, her body found it in itself to produce a loud shriek akin to the sound an animal would make when in pain. Panicking, Lee unintelligently tried to scramble off of whatever was holding her, fingers sliding off of the armor and causing her to nearly fall. What was going on? Her body and brain seemed to be on completely different pages, her legs pressed so tightly against Gaius she could feel the painful pressure of the armor against the bone of her calves. Her mind however was reeling. Millions of anxiety-riddled questions flashed before her and all of a sudden she could smell marigold and ginseng. Images flashed into her brain and something tried to push them away but they grew strong. When Lee made the mistake of looking down however, was when things really started to go wrong.

There wasn't much Blin could do at this height and by himself, but he did his best to keep any strain on his glider to a minimum. He looked the frame over but couldn't see any obvious signs where he heard the crack. Taking it very slowly he eased the glider upwards to slow his descent, no problems there. No way he could fly in a straight line so blin tried a gentle bank anti-clockwise and immediately the glider screamed at him in protest. He eased of and banked clockwise, at least he knew waht not to do now.

Blin cast his eyes about to grab someone's attention, but there was little he could do except fly straight, bank clockwise or hope an island would be floating in his path before he landed. "The one time I fail to check my glider and this happens!" he sighed and was glad he got enough rest to hit the surface safely (if not literally.)

Even though she was still a fair distance away from the group, Nikki couldn’t fail to hear a scream like that. She looked at each of the gliders before her in turn, surprised when it seemed to be Gaius having trouble. No way, the knight was the one that screamed? He sounded like a girl. She was /never/ going to let him forget this day, not ever. She couldn’t very well help him much, since he had armor and her wings wouldn’t support much more than just her, but she still angled closer for a better look. Her bit of schadenfreude vanished when she realized that he was carrying someone else. She didn’t know the woman, which meant any enjoyment from general misfortune was nonexistent. Nikki only rejoiced at the downfall of rivals -- or mayhem she herself caused. The latter could involve anyone.

It looked like one of Gaius’s wings was coming free, she observed, which was bad news in a big way. They were a long way up. Losing half of a glider would be disastrous. Good thing she knew just who to enlist for help. A quick barrel roll and she was heading for Blin. He’d be able to take another rider easy! He had a glider designed for weight, because of his job, and he’d love a chance to play hero. Not the most maneuverable set of wings, but if he was just below, one of the others could probably help transfer the lady from one to the other. Maybe she could do it herself -- after all, she /was/ the most agile one in Heron. If she couldn’t work it, no one could!

“Blin!” she shouted, cutting her speed so she fell even with him. “How’d you like to rescue a damsel in distress?” The panicked look on his face and another even girlier scream made her wince. “What’s wrong? ...Your wings have a problem too? What the heck, guys, am I the only one that bothered to check my glider today?” She shook her head slightly, trying to come up with another plan.

Sera squinted her eyes as she heard Annoying-Girl, apparently called Nikki, call out the challenge to everybody still up on the cliff. Right after Nikki had dove down, Sera swirled her glider staff around. "Oh, it is so on!" With a stamp on the ground with the staff, the glider parts unfolded from it, big enough to carry somebody her size.
Leisurely Sera just walked off the edge and simply dove, the air rushing past her giving her the thrill she loved about flying, or rather gliding. After a bit, she positioned herself so that the "wings" of her glider now started to break her fall and slow her down.

That was the moment when she heard a scream. Quite a girly one at that, too. 'Crud... some girl needs help...'
Quickly she manoeuvred her glider towards the sound.
Imagine her surprise when she spotted Sleepy-Boy who apparently screamed his lungs out. It seemed like he was struggling with his glider to keep it following his will. What she only noticed now was, Nikki seemed to be flying around him as well, like a bee around a flower.
Naturally Sera wanted to help, so she called out the the bumbling boy: "Ooooi! Are you alright? Everything alright with your glider? Can I help?"

With little time to react, and no help to be found in their allies, Gaius and Lee continued to lose altitude despite their forward momentum, dropping lower and lower until they were dangerously close to the surface. Finally, the dark shapes and silhouettes below them were starting to become discernible. They'd apparently found themselves no more than 400 meters above a large stretch of forest, where they would soon be stranded if none came to assist them. "No, no! Lee, brace yourself!" Gaius shouted, grasping both of the poles that latched to his glider as they neared the treetops. His iron boots and greaves struck several branches on the way down, sending wood and leaves crashing to the ground. When his glider was finally level with the treetops, Gaius was hopeful that they would be able to slow their descent and climb down to safety.

But fate had less optimal plans in store for the sky people, planting a massive tree right in their path. Gaius veered left when their chances of landing unscathed narrowed to an infinitesimal degree, kicking off of the massive trunk with his right foot while his glider hung at a 45 degree angle, barely tearing a strip of bark from the tree with the tip of its right wing. "Hup-" they were safe... At least for a moment, until their path was flooded with a flurry of foliage and branches. The Gaius Glider tore through the overgrowth, barely keeping its shape while their descent was slowed to a relative crawl. Gaius shielded Lee as best he could with his left arm until they were through the branches and leaves, and several meters below the treetops. Unfortunately, their luck had run out when the glider's left wing was torn clean in half upon striking a tree trunk roughly 15 meters above ground level. The sudden jolt unhinged the second shoulder bar and jerked Gaius into a forward roll, which promptly sent Lee off of his back, and pulled his glider to pieces. Gaius followed shortly after, losing his helmet in the fumble, and landing hard on his left shoulder against a small clearing of grass. Gaius tumbled and turned until his body ground to a halt at the base of a nearby tree, where he turned onto his back and spread his limbs apart, astonished that he was still breathing. Several moments passed as Gaius lay silent with his cheek resting against the cold forest ground. He finally managed to turn his head upwards, licking his fuzzy lips as he thanked the gods above for the mercy they'd bestowed upon him. "Heh heh hoh-oh..."

The air rushed past so quickly, stealing nearly every breath Lee tried to take. She didn't register the shout of her name, but rather, only the surface as it approached. It happened so quickly Lee wasn't able to react in anything but panic and anxiety. Her muscles were still tense and when the man tried to shield her, she had desperately tried to scramble away from him, her mind for some reason telling her that obstructing her view, covering them, would be a bad idea. Logically that made no sense, of course, eyes being the first organ that a person falling into a damn tree would want covered. There was a breath of something like relief when they slowed thanks to a tree, but it was short-lived, Lee's world plunged right back into mindless animalistic panic as they started falling. Another scream tore itself from her throat as she was let go. A branch hit her in the side hard, diverting her to the left. The woman felt something bite into her calf and slice along it before she hit the ground. For what seemed like an eternity, she was there on the ground, back arched and mouth partly open with her eyes wide. And then it started. The shaking. Lee smelled marigold and ginseng as her brain was filled with images. A replay of her own scream echoing loudly in her ears, shouting of invisible people and an incredible pain in her legs. Good god, the pain. Lee turned sloppily over onto her side, everything below her waist feeling numb. The woman's heart pounded in her ears with her entire body was trembling violently as she in vain, tried understand what was happening. Droplets of sweat slid down from her jaw to her collarbone as her fingers twisted the grass, the woman's breathing shallow. "I can't...I can't..." She couldn't get the words out, utterly horrified at what seemed to be going on. "I can't feel my legs!" She screamed, this time her voice cracking and hoarse. Lee felt tears form in her eyes as she tried to drag herself into an upright sitting position. Unfortunately, her arms shook too violently and gave out, her cheekbone connecting harshly with the ground. That didn't seem to bother her though as she propped herself up by her elbows, making a breathless attempt to just get away from the glider.

His throat was sore, did he scream while he fell and was that help on the way? Not one but two people, crazy Nikki and who was that girl flying close and offering to help? "The wings strained, hard to turn this thing." Blin shouted out praying that whatever had cracked would hold together. then the girls swooped in each side of his glider and with them gripping his fixed wings with their legs. The stranger was above one wing and Nikki was upsisedown on the other. they both helped him steer the glider straight. It actually worked, it certainly seemed to Blin that the glider was more stable and with the ladies steering all he had to do was slow his descent. the wood wasn't protestiong as much and the three drifted lazily in a straight line.

The ease of the descent made Blin imagine about constructing some kind of multi-person glider for two or three people. Until Nikki screamed at him to snap out of it. She started to talk him through how to roll when they landed and Blin suddenly realised two things. First the ground was coming up quite quickly and second he couldn't see anyone else close by. He had lost sight of Lee and Gaius when he took off instincively, and then had his own problems to sort out.

"Put my left shoulder down so I roll diagonaly over my back?" he shouted at Nikki, it sort of made sense but he had only one chance to make it work.

The girls kept him steady and managed to steer him to small glade, glad it was an open area Blin made ready to do his drop and roll for the first time. Nikki was the first to release from the wing, swiftly flying the right way up and then the girl who Blin couldn't recall seeing before. He couldn't help but stare at her as she strained to control the glider by herself, and then she too let go and Blin had seconds to slow as much as possible before his "landing".

He opened his eyes, the sky was clear and bright and he vaugely remembered bending his kness as he landed before tumbling. he tried little movements and actually felt pretty fine, a few small aches was all. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

Rahna Altema

---

Rahna barked in laughter at Eli's response to Nikki as she flew off the edge. "No need to thank me~ I'll always be around to help you out, you know that!" She responded, patting his back in a familiar manner. Eli's words of concern were a little lost on Rahna. It was pretty amusing to her for him to be telling her to be safe. The person who should be saying that line was her, but she decided to let it slide. She was happy that he was worried about her.

"Cold feet? Me? Ha!" She snorted as she picked up her belongings and her glider. "See you down there kiddo~!" She smirked playfully at him before jumping off the edge, following everyone else. As her glider unfolded, the rush of air pushed upward on the wings, slowing her descent by a significant amount. She leaned it forward, allowing the glider to dive downward. At this point, she donned her goggles to stop the rushing air from tearing her eyes out.

Getting a clearer view, she saw some of the other gliders having trouble staying in flight. Her inner doctor stirred as she saw the Gaius plane crash into the trees not too far off. Should she go help them? Of course she should. But... She caught a glimpse of Blin having troubles with his glider too, his screams inaudible to her as the wind rushed passed her ears. However, she realized that Nikki and Sera had gone to try help him, so he should be fine..

She turned her gaze back to the general area of the Gaius plane crash site and decided to turn her glider in that direction. 'I hope they're not too hurt..'

---

Getting down there was no easy task, since the pair had plummeted almost straight down, so Rahna had to tilt her glider to make slow circles as she spiraled down to them. When she got close enough to the trees, she realized there was no real open ground to land.. Well it was time to be daring now. She folded the wings of her glider as she approached the trees and pushed her feet onto the glider's main body plate, slamming into a thick tree.

All hopes of surfing down the tree trunk like a badass were dashed as a giant branch got in the way, knocking her clean off the packed glider. Luckily for her there were plenty of branches and leaves to slow her fall, although it still hurt like anything.

THUD.

Her body hit the soft earth below. She lay there for a moment before slowly getting up. She was glad that she didn't land on her back, or else all her belongings would be ruined. However, landing any other way hurt just as much. "Ow ow ow.." She whined as she slowly got to her feet, dusting herself off roughly. She glanced around quickly to look for Gaius and the woman. Speaking of which, she had heard a scream earlier... And then She saw movement among the trees. It was someone. Probably the woman? What was her name again...? Lee?

She quickly jogged over to the person, leaving her glider behind. It was Gaius, and Lee.

"Are you alright?!" She called as she rushed over to Lee. She could see that Lee was injured, hopefully not too seriously, but she was trembling and it didn't look like she could use her legs. Most likely shock. "Please calm down, take some deep breaths.. Don't worry, I'm here to help you." Rahna said in a calm manner. She couldn't let the woman see that she was also a little panicked. If the doctor is panicking, then the patient will too. She thought that she'd take a look at Gaius once she was done helping Lee. The man was tough, he should be fine for the moment.. hopefully.

"Where are you hurt? Can you move your legs?"

---

@Acromantula@tex

There was too much. Too much of everything. Lee's senses hopped into overdrive more than eagerly. The hum of wildlife in the background was deafening, accompanied by the thunderous pounding of her heart. A nearby thud had resounded so violently to her that the woman flinched and tried to put her hands over her ears. Something or someone stepped on what might've been dry leaves or a twig and the snap hit Lee as loud as if she were in her father's shop, listening to his mighty tools work against hot metal. Suddenly someone was speaking. To Lee, it was like they were speaking in tongues, warbled language pouring out too loudly for her liking with strange syllables that only slightly made sense or sounded familiar. And then she heard 'please calm down', her world flashing back to three years ago.

Please calm down. Get her out of that thing,now! Lee, look at me! Lee! Dammit... Get me another pair of hands here, idiot! Hold her, yeah, like that. Careful.

Suddenly there was a pain in her wrist, a phantom hand grabbing and holding on tightly. "No, stop. Don-Don't touch me!" Lee's words sounded like they came from far away and from someone else, the attempt to come off as threatening warping into a plea as she tried to move away in vain. It seemed like all her strength had vanished. Sharp pain bloomed on the right side of her head and it was mirrored in her lower back, sweat causing black strands of hair to stick to her temples and forehead as her body refused to stop shaking. Lee turned her head away and tried to focus on a patch of something pink far away but it was too bright, nearly neon and she let out a tiny exhale, looking back to the ground. She made an attempt to use her legs, to twist her ankle, something, anything, but it didn't happen. A small wave of hysterical, bitter tears dripped down her cheeks as she refused to even look behind her at anything below her waist. Her brain spurred on another torrent of panic right before she heard a familiar voice. A voice she'd heard three years ago. It was low, it was sweet and it was right by her ear, phantom hands stroking over her hair and her hands even as she pulled one back to her chest in fear. A body that wasn't there holding her somehow.

Hey there, Silvertongue. Whatcha cryin' for, kitty-cat? Don't you be scared now, yeah? Listen to me. Just listen to me, no one else. Nothing else.

There'd been very little time to muster a substantial amount of composure. His entire body ached, some parts more than others, and there was a distinct huffing in the distance. Gaius rose his head forward and twisted his neck. A few moments is all it took for him to take joy in the fact that his neck was fine. He wiggled his fingers and toes beneath their jade casings, and coughed up a mouthful of warm liquid. Blood? He spit forward, onto his breast plate, but there was no red in the clear bile. His stomach was just a little startled by the fall. Thank god he thought, pulling his elbows up and propping himself into a sitting position. His head felt lighter than usual. It made sense, he'd just fallen over 35 thousand kilometers, the atmosphere would've been unkind to their approach in all manners of ways. Wait, no, that wasn't it. Where... Where the heck is my helmet!? Gaius tried to push his body forward, but a sharp pain shot through his left shoulder and sent him crashing back into the ground like an uprooted tree. Hair medium-long auburn hair splayed outwards onto the forest floor, and the massive man coughed once again. A fiery ache overtook Gaius' left chest cavity. It became slightly harder to breath the more he moved. He coughed yet again, feeling another warmth splatter against the roof of his mouth. That wasn't bile, he knew that consistency all too well. It was blood.

Gaius let his disheveled cheek hit the forest floor as his head turned towards a series of cracking branches coming from his right side. His bright blue eyes took in every detail from above, like time was slowing down just for him. It wasn't, of course. That was just a side effect of the adrenaline. Before long, Rahna fell through the forest's overgrowth and landed with a resounding thud in a nearby alcove, close to where one of his Glider's wings had half-cleaved its way into the trunk of a tree. Lee was nearby too, crawling away from the ruined Gaius Plane debris in a fleeting attempt. Gaius' eye widened in horror. He forced himself over onto his chest, propping himself up on both hands and ignoring the pain that crashed through his left side like a maelstrom of tiny knives. His left arm shook relentlessly, but he was able to squeeze a leg under his hulking abdomen, and push himself up onto both feet. Without having to support his body, the pain in his left arm had subsided, for the most part. "Lee!" He rasped, making his way over to where Rahna had already begun to assist his short-term passenger. "Rahna-" Gaius stopped at the edge of the forest clearing and glanced at Lee's desperate attempt to escape Rahna's aid. He flinched as a needle seemed to prod at his lung. A droplet of blood snuck its way out of the corner of his mouth towards his chiseled jawline, but Gaius didn't bother to wipe it away. For a moment, he felt embarrassed without his helmet, but shrugged the feeling aside as quickly as he could. He tried to ask Rahna about Lee, but his breaths were already becoming too painful to sustain. Last time I fly with armor he thought.

Between the two girls, they managed to help with Blin’s steering problem. The tomboy took the left, flying above that wing so she could dip down to push it with her feet when needed. Nikki, with her usual precision maneuvering, put her glider directly under the right wing of her friend, hardly any space at all between the two gliders. Fortunately they didn’t need to do much. Aside from the issue with steering, Blin’s glider was still in good condition and had no trouble staying airborne now that they could keep it steady.

Gaius and Lee were no longer in sight as the trio soared onward, travelling considerably farther than the knight and the young lady, who’d had to cut their flight short. Nikki didn’t even think about landing early. Their goal was the star, and while she’d have more or less followed Gaius were he around, she wasn’t the sort to deliberately hang back. Besides, the issue with Blin had driven all thought of the other damaged glider from her mind.

“Cloud-head, pay attention!” she said sharply after some time, seeing his focus was wandering. “You’re not going to be able to land the way you usually do. We can’t help you that low. It’s time to learn a roll-landing. Not as nice as a swoop and drop, but it’ll have to do.” The young woman quickly instructed Blin in the basic technique, giving as many pointers as she could. “Make sure you roll,” she cautioned. “It will help you absorb the impact.”

They finally drew close to the ground, and Nikki watched their altitude carefully. When they were only a dozen yards or so up, she knew it was time. They’d already slowed as much as they could, and there was nothing else they could do to help. “This is where we gotta drop back, Blin. Remember: jump, tuck, and roll. You can do it!” With that she dove slighting and cut her speed enough to stall, before recovering and going to land herself. Blin didn’t do to badly, she thought, though it wasn’t a very elegant landing. When he came to a stop, staring up at the sky, the boy just lay there. Nikki let her glider fold shut and approached, eyes widening. Was he -- asleep? No way, he’d /just/ been awake. “Wake up, sleepyhead,” she called, shaking him. “You okay? Still in one piece? That was a pretty good job, considering it was your first time.” The young lady grinned down at him.

Blank surveyed his landing site. It wasn't far from where he saw Nikki's glider go down, alongside two others. As he got close enough to the treetops that he could see through to the ground, he realized something unfortunate. He had never glided this long before, and he'd been picking up speed the whole time. If he started breaking now, he still wouldn't be going slow enough when he touched down for a safe landing. He did start breaking though, as his mind quickly flipped through his options. Leaves and branches whipped at his face, but nothing strong enough to puncture his canvas, and when he was feet off the ground and Nikki, Sera and Blin came into view, he made his choice.

He quickly unhooked his boot from it's stirrup, planting it higher up the central rod and bearing his weight backwards. The first part of the glider to touch down was the foothold, which bent at nearly a ninety degree angle and skipped him back off the ground, tearing up part of the forest floor in the process. The maneuver almost gave him whiplash, but it had slowed him down enough that he could safely jump off to the ground while his glider careened wildly off into a tree. He looked sadly at the ruined mess for a second, then turned to the other three in the clearing with him.

"So," he said conversationally, as if nearly crashing was commonplace. Hanging out with Nikki all the time, it really was after all. "What now?"

Sera fought hard with her side of the wing, not because she wasn't strong enough, no she was, but strength really didn't matter in the air. It was her weight that was her ultimate struggle. Sera was just too small, too light to properly lift and push down the wing she was tasked to take care of. Nevertheless she did her every best to steer Sleepy-Boy's glider more or less safely to the ground.
A little bit later, suddenly all the weight of the glider was upon her as Nikki let go of her wing.
Clenching her teeth Sera tugged on her wing a little correcting Sleepy-Boy's final approach before having to let go.
Exhausted she flipped herself around to lose all her speed and then to simply float to the floor landing next to where Nikki landed next to the seemingly asleep Sleepy-Boy. Go figure...
When Sera's feet touched the ground, they buckled underneath her, undeniably little, weight and she flopped into the slightly wet grass face first.
She mumbled a "Uhhhhgh!" into the grass before turning herself around and staring at the sky. "So exhausted...!", she moaned to nobody in particular leaving all the worries about Sleepy-Boy to Nikki, her staff-glider rolling out of her hands next to her.

---

He opened his eyes, the sky was clear and bright and he vaugely remembered bending his kness as he landed before tumbling. he tried little movements and actually felt pretty fine, a few small aches was all. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

Nikki let her glider fold shut and approached, eyes widening. Was he -- asleep? No way, he’d /just/ been awake. “Wake up, sleepyhead,” she called, shaking him. “You okay? Still in one piece? That was a pretty good job, considering it was your first time.”

The maneuver almost gave him whiplash, but it had slowed him down enough that he could safely jump off to the ground while his glider careened wildly off into a tree. He looked sadly at the ruined mess for a second, then turned to the other three in the clearing with him. "So," he said conversationally, as if nearly crashing was commonplace. Hanging out with Nikki all the time, it really was after all. "What now?"

When Sera's feet touched the ground, they buckled underneath her, undeniably little, weight and she flopped into the slightly wet grass face first. She mumbled a "Uhhhhgh!" into the grass before turning herself around and staring at the sky.

@PyroDash888@Tombprince@shylarah@chukklehed

A little bright ball of light scooted along the ground, floated up, and landed gentle as a feather on Blin's nose as he daydreamed. Whatever effects the forest's magic had been having on him slowly faded, and the little light grew brighter as he breathed. Should he open his eyes, he might catch a glimpse of an ethereal serpentine figure and slitted eyes looking back at him -- but perhaps he was still dreaming.

A gleaming light floated like cotton down out of a tree, swirling down over Sera's head. If she captured it or let it touch her skin, the pain and nausea of the forest would slowly dissipate -- the light would grow brighter, and to her own sight it seemed to imitate an ethereal and translucent fire.

Blank and Nikki, by this time, would feel deeply the damaging effects of the stifling energy all around them. It pressed all around them, threatened to throw them to their knees.

A bright ball of light shot out of a bush and stuck itself to the side of Nikki's face like a burr. The pain very slowly began to lessen while the light brightened, as if it were sucking out the dangerous levels of magic. She might catch a glimpse of feathers in her peripheral vision.

Another ball of light swirled around Blank's ankle, then floated up into his palm. While his pain slowly dissipated, he might glimpse a glimmering furry shape under his hand -- but then it was gone.

The other lights faded back into the forest and buried themselves in the ground.

The sound of knocking hollow wood was much louder now.

BOOM

A section of the trees suddenly shattered in an explosion of wood and torn leaves; a small boulder -- sharp and mossy -- shot like a cannonball out of the shadows and dropped fast toward the spot where Blin was lying in the grass.

---

Upon noticing one small patch of clear ground, thankfully in front of him, pushed his glider slightly downwards. Two minutes later, his feet were on the ground, the tip of his glider impaled into the ground. "What now?" he scratched the back of his head.

@LostBrotherGrimm@Pacha

The forest's energy pressed in on them, threatened to squeeze their skulls and their hearts til there was nothing left.

A bright ball of light drifted through the air and swung gently around Thema's head before it came to rest on her shoulder, like a little bird that had decided to take a rest. The pain very slowly dissipated from her head and her chest, and the little light grew brighter.

Another light burrowed among the grasses toward Eli's foot, then drifted straight up as if attracted to him like a magnet; it attached itself to his forearm, light and airy, and slowly he would feel a relief from the effects of the forest.

The sound of hollow wood was getting closer.

"Kyyyaaaaaaaaa!"

Something brown and pudgy skittered out from under a curtained leaf and tumbled frantically toward them. It was only a foot tall, and it looked like a mushroom dressed in tribal paint and feathers.

"Oh no oh no oh no oh noooooo! Abandon mission! Move! Run! Amscray!"

The little thing gave a leap and attempted to burrow itself into Thema's bag, digging out supplies to make room for itself to hide.

---

"Are you alright?!" Rahna called as she rushed over to Lee. She could see that Lee was injured, hopefully not too seriously, but she was trembling and it didn't look like she could use her legs. Most likely shock. "Please calm down, take some deep breaths.. Don't worry, I'm here to help you."

"No, stop. Don-Don't touch me!" Lee's words sounded like they came from far away and from someone else, the attempt to come off as threatening warping into a plea as she tried to move away in vain.

"Lee!" He rasped, making his way over to where Rahna had already begun to assist his short-term passenger. "Rahna-" Gaius stopped at the edge of the forest clearing and glanced at Lee's desperate attempt to escape Rahna's aid.

@tex@Acromantula@Rekaigan

The shadowed forest seemed entirely unconcerned with the plight of the stranded travelers. The trees muffled Lee's screams, and the air around them pressed in on their skulls and their chests with its deadly energy.

After awhile, a little ball of light floated quietly through the grass, drifted up and nestled itself in Gaius' exposed hair. Though his injuries sustained from the crash remained, the pressure in his skull was lessened and the nausea dissipated. At least he could breathe again.

Another ball of light swirled over Rahna's head and finally came to rest against the side of her neck. The pain caused by the forest's energy was very slowly sucked away while the little light glowed brighter. In the corner of her eye she might make out the dim shape of something furred -- mossy? -- curled around her shoulders.

A third light peeked out of the ground, then jumped and attached itself to Lee's forehead. Immediately it began to glow brightly; the pressure and the nausea of the forest's energy dissipated -- as well as the memories that crippled her. The little light absorbed them all, glowing brighter and brighter. Even Rahna and Gaius might see the ghostly, serpentine shape that draped itself behind Lee's neck. Catlike eyes stared into Lee's face.

WHAM

Something big shot suddenly out of the trees and landed hard, frighteningly close to Rahna and Lee. It was white as bone, feathered and spotted. It rose up on its long legs and raised its skull-like head; the thing was willowy like a heron and stood as tall and menacing as Gaius. its bony limbs clunked when it moved, with a hollow sound like wooden chimes.

---

Thema, along with the Kelari, had been the only ones who hadn't actually jumped off into the unknown. Thema, being smart (and also remembering all of her "landings") decided to pull some of her thicker, well-worn clothes out of her bag. She quickly tied them around her knees and elbows. She tied one more around her mouth and nose, as she remembered how hard it was to breath whenever she accidentally went at ludicrous speeds.

She grabbed her glider and opened it. Everything seemed to be in working order. She prepared to jump. The crowd watched. Rather embarrassingly, to be honest. Thema took a running start and leapt off.

The ride down was fairly easy.

Just kidding.

As Thema rode down, what was supposed to be a fairly standard and simple angle to slowly descend turned into a rather extreme angle downwards. Thema gained absurd amounts of speed. Her fearful shrieking wouldn't stop. At the rate she was falling, she would have died right whenever she got near the trees. By the means of some miracle, Thema managed to stop her wailing for long enough to pull the tip up right before she got next to the trees. The vertical fall slowly became a mostly horizontal glide. However, Thema was still moving at a farcical speed.

Once again, she started to yell as she remembered that she didn't know how to land this glider. The glider dipped into the trees. Her speed slowly got cut by the breaking branches. Still, she was moving at a maddening speed. She looked in front of her. She was very quickly approaching two rather large trees, with barely enough room for Thema to get through. She instinctively curled up her body.

CHUNK

Thema made it through. Her glider, however, had been reduced to much more of a fall-er.

Luckily, she had been gliding inside of the trees for long enough that she was only a few meters off the ground.

Her instinctive curling up made herself lucky. Due to most of her speed being horizontal instead of vertical, she hit the ground and rolled instead of bouncing straight up and resulting in a musical pancake.

She yelled like no tomorrow.

She hit the ground over and over again, slowly losing speed as she did so. By some miracle, as if some controlling force didn't want her to die yet, she went through numerous trees, missing them all as she skidded on the soft dirt.

Her descend had been stopped. Most of her body had been covered in scrapes and cuts. However, due to her thinking earlier, her elbows and knees had been protected. Now that she thought about it, she probably should have put on a full set of clothing instead of what she usually wears.

After laying on the ground for a while, Thema let out a loud groan as she pulled herself in a sitting position. She looked around. It appeared that she landed right next to some boy that she had only vaguely seen before. She rubbed her head and tore off the cloth covering her face. Everything hurt. It was terrible.

Briefly remembering her bag, Thema looked right next to her. It was still in fairly good quality. The thick leather of it managed to be fairly sturdy enough that it wasn't punctured. Panicking, she haphazardly opened the bag, ignoring her own wounds. She reached inside and pulled out her lute. Two of the strings had snapped, but besides that, it was perfectly fine. She let out a sigh of relief as she reattached it to her hips. She looked back at the boy.

"Uh... Er... Hello." Thema said to the boy. "I, uh, just flew in from the island. And boy, are my arms tired..." Thema said, in a nervous attempt to break the awkwardness of literally rolling into the boy's general vicinity while wailing like a banshee.

In all honesty, just saying that much hurt Thema. Her chest hurt. Despite the rather safe angle, a few of her ribs must have been broken. She tried to cough, but it hurt too much to even do that.

It took all of her strength just to stand up at that point. Whatever adrenaline was going at the time had started to fade away. The minor pain of all of that before had turned into a rather extreme pain. It wasn't pleasant.

However, some oddity flew onto her shoulder. Thema, out of mostly exhaustion, didn't care. However, whatever that strange little thing was doing, it seemed to remove her pain. The sharpness slowly faded out and her exhaustion slowly cut away to a newfound reserve of energy (despite it being a very small amount).

Without much more warning, she heard the rampant yelling behind her. It was as though a small creature was yelling - which it was.

"Oh no oh no oh no oh noooooo! Abandon mission! Move! Run! Amscray!"

Whatever that thing was, it knew their language. Thema watched as it attempted to tear stuff out of her bag to make room for itself. Thema, confused about everything. She put her things back in, but left some room in the middle for the small mushroom-thing to climb into.

Such an act was based upon Thema not really caring what happened. She couldn't quite think straight since she landed. Whatever it was, however, seemed like it was in a hurry.

Thema then began to speak in a panicked tone to match the little mushroom man.

"What do I do! Why does this thing want us to run!"

Nikki turned her attention to Blank at his call, grinning. “Now...well I’d like to find Eli and Rahna, but I think she landed pretty early. I don’t recall seeing their gliders after taking off. But I’m sure they’ll catch up!” Her face was alight with eagerness. “So now...we go find us a star!” It was a few moments before Nikki registered the pressure, as exuberant as she was. She winced. “Ugh, it sure is stuffy down here. It’s amazing, though.” The young lady shook her head to clear it, but the pain didn’t go away. “Am I the only one it’s getting to?”

She was distracted again by the emergence of strange lights. At first she thought it was a side-effect of the dizziness, but when one landed on Blin’s nose, she realized she was mistaken. “Blin!” she hissed, eyes wide in amazement. “Sleepyhead, open your eyes! But don’t move -- oh, if you miss this you’re going to regret it!” She didn’t dare move herself, afraid of scaring the...whatever-it-was off. “Blank, magpie, are you two seeing this?!” She almost forgot just how weak and dizzy she felt just then. Ugh, what the heck was going on?

The thought was totally derailed when another light flew from the underbrush and landed on her cheek. Nikki squeaked, at the surprise and the thrill. “Ooh, there’s another one! Haa, I think it likes me!” The light grew more intense, and she thought she saw feathers for a moment, but that was probably the fuzzy feeling talking. Actually, come to think of it, she was feeling better now. The unpleasant feeling must have just been from coming down so far or something. But it was fading, which was the important part. She lifted her hand, trying to gently grab the glowing critter so she could get a better look. Touching it was strange, like it wasn’t all there, but she managed to get it in her palm. “You’re pretty~” she told it. “Hey Blank -- oh, you’ve got one too! Haa, awesome! I wonder if we can keep them?” She glanced around, but most of the floaty lights had vanished. The girl gave a shrug. There was so much to see here, and to hear -- and she was going to experience all of it.

Mixed in with the noises of animals and the wind in the branches of the massive trees, there was a hollow clonking noise, and it had really grown quite loud. That was the next thing to attract her attention. And a good thing too, for all at once trees in that direction were exploding, and something large flew towards her and Blin. “Yipes!” Quick reflexes were indispensable for someone that courted danger as Nikki did. and they served her well in this instance too. A lunge to grab the boy on the ground and then she flung them both out of the boulder’s path. She released her friend once they were clear, making sure that she rolled as she hit the ground to minimize the impact, and coming to rest on her back. With the danger past, she burst into gleeful laughter. “Hahaha, /wow/ that was close~” Even a brush with death didn’t wipe the smile from her face. If anything, it made her grin wider.

((THIS NEEDS EDITING. Will happen in a while. *thumbs nose at Moks*))
((Edit: right, no it doesn't. Moks says I can just go with what I had. ^.^;; ))

Rahna Altema

---

As Rahna tried to calm Lee down, she heard Gaius call out to the two of them. At first glance, she thought Gaius was unhurt, but she noticed his slightly pained look and posture. He wasn't okay. But she couldn't help both of them at the same time, so she decided to concentrate on Lee.

She didn't want to be too rough with Lee. Grabbing her too firmly might hurt her more.. The fact that her mind was starting to blur wasn't helping at all. She could feel a pain, throbbing in her head; It was becoming hard to concentrate, but she needed to make sure Lee was okay before worrying about herself.

"L..Lee, I need.." Before she could even start her sentence, her chest forced out a cough in nausea. She felt like she was going to be sick. "I need you.. To calm down.." She said quickly, her heart rate soaring in panic.

It wasn't long before the headache started to overpower her thoughts. She held her head in pain; it felt like her head was being stabbed over and over. She could feel her vision fading in and out from the pain.. But then.. There was a small light. The pain slowly began to subside. Her vision cleared as the headache faded away. She noticed a small.. Ghost-like thing curl around her shoulders. It looked kind of.. furred? No, more like mossy..

Her gaze almost immediately moved to Lee, only to see a bright light and then a ghostly.. Snake? Things were getting pretty weird. But Rahna's thoughts about what was going on was interrupted as a massive white monster burst from the trees.

Rahna sat there, her eyes staring up at the beast in shock, and maybe some awe. She didn't know what to do. She knew that she needed to run, but her legs wouldn't obey her. Looks like she was the one with leg problems now. Not really something to laugh about either.

Instead of nausea, the sickness manifested differently for Sera. Slowly she got more and more exhausted and slumped into the grass even more not being able to move her muscles very well. What the hell was happening, Sera had no idea, but she feared she hurt herself in some way going down. Either that or there were some weird particles in the foreign air making her tired, she didn't really know.

At that moment a light descended onto her and landed on her head. In just a little moment, her exhaustion faded away as if it didn't exist.
Surprised she opened her eyes and the light floated to her opened hand and hovered above it. Now that it was in her field of view, Sera noticed the light looked like a flame, flickering and dancing in a non-existent breeze. It was pretty, in a Sera-kind-of-way, so wild and fiery, but still very lovely.
The flame danced up her arm and down her other arm playfully as if it was attached to her, tickling Sera some as well making the girl laugh delighted.