Ethan followed Ka'ora closely, keeping an eye on everything around them. Once the fog rolled in, his guard was immediately turned up to eleven as he unlatched one of his knife pouches and allowed his marking to glow. He didn't like this, not one bit...His suspicions were immediately confirmed with the shaking of the ground and the loud shriek of a massive humanoid creature.

Cupping his left hand and aiming directly at the creature reaching for his adopted mother, Ethan forcibly pulled in air from the surrounding fog...Only to let it disperse as the creature reared back and the group was forced to run to avoid being trampled. He kept the others in sight as best he could until they finally breached the fog to see the sprawling flooded cityscape.

As the group prepared to settle down and camp Ethan began to relax slightly. After starting a fire, Ka'ora suddenly threw her spear directly towards Ethan impaling two zombies that were about to attack him. Immediately he was back on full alert Ethan immediately loosed a knife into a nearby zombie's head and fell into position around Vita. Pulling in as much air as he could without risking any collateral damage, he blasted a small group of six zombies, only managing to kill one or two while blowing the others back and knocking them down, tearing off a few limbs along the way. He threw knives into two of the others he had downed with the attack and chided himself slightly. His magical fighting style didn't really compliment fighting with allies all around him, so he needed to rely more on his weapons.

Now using both hands, he reached into two separate pouches and gathered four knives in each hand as he took a more defensive stance. It seemed whatever these walking corpses were, destroying their head was the only way to keep them down...Luckily it looked like the rest of the group had already picked up on that as well.

Lachdonon had taken near the back, close to Esmeray, but he didn't really talk, he was more focused on protecting the rear of the group. Mia was laying a crossed his shoulders the whole way. While others used their familiars to carry them. Lach...never really rode Mia. Preferring to walk where ever he went. It gave him endurance in the years of traveling outside the wall. So much so his feet did not hurt, nor were they sore from walking such a great distance.

despite their run in with the giant beast, and the fact Ka'ora actually chased after them...there wasn't much more exciting parts of the journey. He did enjoy seeing more of the land that he hadn't had a chance to get to yet, but he wasn't the wide eyed boy at the candy booth like he usually was while outside...and before Eurika's death.

However when they reached their rest area, Lach couldn't help but look slightly amazed. These were their ancestors homes...their cities of stone. The earth had taken over most of it, but their mark of existence still lasted 1000 years later. He couldn't help but feel respect for the land they were standing on. He felt something was off though...that is he didn't realize, he heard no birds...

Ka'ora was first to react, saving her son, and vita in quick succession. Lachdonon loosed his fathers spear from his back and spun it gracefully into his right hand from over his shoulder. Mia hopping down as he did. She growled and grew up to half her grown size, though her form did change to her 'adult'form. her back was as tall as Lach's shoulder, like that of a small horse.

"Protect Vita, Mia..." he said calmly. Mia glanced at him, put off that he wouldn't have her by his side to fight but she knew better and his thought process. With a scoff, she bounded a few steps before standing next to Vita, half encircling her. She had her own familiar yes, but it was what Lach wanted.

Lach stood between most of the horde and the group, not so far that he was alone, but farther out than the others. He stood there, allowing the zombies to come to him before he started spinning his spear, gathering momentum casually. When the closest one came within range, he quickly slashed the rotted skull, cutting it clean in two, and following up effortlessly with hitting it square in the chest with the butt of the staff. Sending it back into a few others.

He then moved forward and 'lighting'like reflexes, lashed out with the butt of the spear and crushed the second zombie's skull with the blunt end of his weapon, then catching a third in the neck, severing it as his spear continued to rotate and slammed into the skull, hitting it and sending it flying off to the side.

His spear finally came to a stop, as the middle of it slapped against his back with the blade pointing down. He let out a comfortable sigh...finally being able to vent some of his brooding that had accumulated in the last few days. He wasn't stupid though he was still paying attention, he took a few steps back and focused on the ground around the group, imagining spikes he forced a few dozen to suddenly shoot from the ground and impale a fair amount of them in the abdomen. While it wouldn't kill them, it would make it easier for the less experienced fighters to get a quick kill.

Everything was happening too quickly. One second, they were continuing on their journey. The next, fog obscured their vision and large creatures approached them. Vita's heart pounded within her chest as she looked up at the beasts. Her body curled around Chaka's back, hugging her familiar tighter as she rode atop her. She was just about to open her mouth to suggest staying in hiding when Ka'ora took off after the figures. Holding back a whimper, she held tightly to Chaka as they followed behind the group.

Soon they were allowed into a land of magic. The woman's eyes slowly widened as she sat up, her grip loosening on Chaka. A gentle smile pulled at her lips as she looked over her shoulders at the retreating creatures. Vita returned her attention to the landscape around them and she let out a sigh of relief. Maybe they would be able to finally get a decent amount of rest before once more continuing on.

Sliding off of Chaka's back, she stepped down into the water and rose her brow. Their environment was definitely suited for Jonah and Lach. She turned her attention to the men when a shadow moved in her peripheral. Turning to fully see the person, a gasp escaped her throat as her eyes widened. Ka'ora reacted first, soon followed by the others. Vita watched as the others began to form a circle around her to keep her from harm. The fact they had to do so highly unnerved her. She wasn't the best fighter, nor did she like the violence, but she had a great defense.

Her fingers on her left hand clutched at the locket around her neck before her other hand reached for her staff in the saddlebag alongside Chaka. She tightened her grip on the staff as the crystal flickered at the top. Vita took a step forward, only to be stopped by a zombie rushing towards her. A scream broke from her throat and she quickly lifted her hand in response. A flash of blue shown in front of her. Once the creature hit the blue light, he bounced back and hit the ground. Her life force had created a plate of armor at her side. She gulped and moved farther back towards Chaka, who was soon joined by Mia.

The girl's body shook with fright as she watched the rest of the Chosens fighting off the vile creatures. Her eyes darted over each individual person before landing on Lach and Sam. They were the two people she wouldn't be able to bounce back from if something happened to them. As she continued to panic, she felt a weight at her side. Raising a brow, she glanced over to see Mia nudging against her. She opened her mouth to protest when the giant fox moved her behind towards her, effectively knocking her down and sitting on top of her.

Landing with a thud on the ground, she gasped and reached over, pressing her hands into the fox's fur. "Mia! Now is not the time for this! I need-" Her voice was muffled by the familiar rubbing her nose against her own. Vita huffed out a breath and raised her palms up in defeat. "Okay, okay! I'm fine- see? Fine. I need up to help. I need to help Lach. Want me to help Lach? Mia, come on! Please? Please let me up. I'm calm now."

The fox eyed her, but then finally relented. Taking in a deep breath of air as the animal removed her weight, Vita pushed herself back up into a standing position and growned at her now soaked body. "Well...I guess that's one way to cool off. Thank you, Mia." She shook her head and returned her attention to the scene around her.

Vita hesitantly closed her eyes. She slowly inhaled, pulling in a large breath. After a few seconds, her eyes flew open and she reached out with her staff. Sudden flashes of blue decorated each Chosen, giving them a layer of life force armor to protect from oncoming attacks. She squeezed the staff tightly as her eyes turned white, her focus solely on keeping her life force in place.

Upon the back of his griffin Soleil, Sammael sat and watched their surroundings boredly. He flew not far above the rest of his group and was actively trying to ignore the bony bastard that his sister referred to as Osseus. The little brat was often chasing after his familiar and often got on Sam’s nerves due to the dragons obvious distaste for Sam. It wasn’t long into the journey that Sammael’s concentration was broken by the occurrence of a very peculiar fog.

He didn’t even need Ka’ora’s advice before he pulled the ‘dagger’ from his sleeve. He chose to keep his weapon in this form for now because in its normal form it was very unwieldy from the back of a griffin. A sudden howl finally brought attention to the giant creatures that had begun to surround the group. Sam remained cautious, but he couldn’t help but wonder how hard of a fall it would be for one of these things if he were to cut its leg out from under it…

His thoughts distracted him from the creature reaching down towards Ka’ora but was instantly brought to his senses by the horrid shrieks of those damned creatures. Sammael growled to himself and wanted nothing more than to slice these monstrosities to bits but he knew it would be pointless. Instead, Soleil flew him up almost even with his sister and Osseus above the group. Of course, he barely paid any attention to his sister. He more focused on the sprinting creatures which they followed along with until they had emerged from the fog. Landing on the hill that Ka’ora had stopped the group at, Soleil laid down to allow Sam to dismount and he looked over the flooded city. Finally, the first impressive sight since they had left the city walls.

Sammael had no issue with the group taking a break, but that of course didn’t come to fruition due to a sudden attack of the undead. He wasn’t upset though, in fact a smile formed on his face. Sam pulled the dagger from his sleeve again, this time it began forming into its true form as he did so. That of a great sword. He had been itching for a fight for quite awhile.

The first zombie fell from a beam of light that went straight through its face, revealing several of its comrades in the darkness nearby to Sam. He laughed as the creatures body fell. He prepared his blade and flashed forward a few feet, a trail of light behind him. He swung at the two zombies that he teleported in front of, swiftly removing their heads with a heavy slash. Another one approached him and he hit it with the hilt of his sword and knocked it to the ground. He placed a foot on the chest of the undead creature to keep it down as he smirked down at it. “Farewell, foul creature…” He taunted as he drove the tip of his blade through the skull. He knew the creatures couldn’t understand his words but taunting his victims certainly amused him.

Unfortunately his little display distracted him enough for a creature to approach from behind him. By the time he noticed it, it was too late. If not for the fact that Soleil pounced the creature and tore into it with her claws. Sammael nodded in appreciation before turning towards the rest of the horde in front of him. Breaking formation he started to rush into the horde and tearing through as many as he could, enjoying the bloodlust of killing these creatures and their pitiful existence.

"Making a big commotion will draw unwanted attention..."



Ka'ora watched around, while cutting down zombies, looking at everyone and how they fight, how they choose to contribute and how they all seemed to really..focus. It took her out of it almost, seeing them in action, really getting a feel for how they worked. The growling turned her attention back and she narrowly cut down a zombie heading right for her. Iarzu summoned himself and made himself bigger then usual. Roaring, the sky started to darken and lightning flickered through the clouds. Thunder followed and Ka'ora began cutting down the zombies around the back, clearing them out one by one and swiftly. She turned to see Lach was out further, though she didn't mind right now, she kept him in her sight, as she did for Ethan. She went to the front of the group, joining the ones up front and slowly but surely they began to cut through the horde. Lightning flashed and lit the area up under the darkness of the clouds, more zombies had started to become attracted to the sudden commotion. Ka'ora saw Sam run towards the thick of them, getting lost in the fight. "Stay here, watch the groups back!" she yelled over the battle to Iarzu. Teleporting, Iarzu filled her spot and started tearing down droves of zombies with lightning attacks and his massive metal claws.

Appearing next to Sam, she kicked a zombie that was going to flank him, sending it flying through the ground and skipping across the water. "What in the hell do you think you're doing! You're-" she was interrupted by throwing her spear, impaling three zombies together, and waving to fingers in the air. Suddenly Sam would feel the air deafen almost, then feel the heat and see a huge lightning bolt hitting the shishkabobed zombies. It arcd out and hit a few more, before thunder rumbled the ground and filled the air "gunna get yourself killed!" she ripped her spear out of the zombies and stood next to Sam cutting the seemingly endless amounts of zombies. Then Ka'ora saw it out of the corner of her eye, something pulled a zombie into the water, followed by several other somethings snatching zombies off the beach. She looked away for a second, looking over to Sam, then she saw a tentacle, snaking past the zombies feet towards Him. Teleporting over to him, she pushed Sam out of the way and stabbed her swordspear into the tentacle. Almost instantly, dozens of tentacles ripped out of the water and started pulling droves of zombies into the water. Ka'ora struggled to keep the tentacle pinned until two others came to its rescue, one wrapping around her ankle, while the other wrapped around her throat.

Suddenly, she was pulled up and into the water, gripping on to her spear with one hand and trying to pull the tentacle away from her neck. Gasping for air, she closed her mouth and closed her eyes, the group seeing her pulled into the river. Just as she was pulled under, three sea monsters emerged from the water, one furiously charging towards Sam, while the other two charging at the group.

Thea was still kneeling on the ground firing arrows at the zombie horde when she saw the light chosen charge forward, he ran into the horde leaving himself exposed to becoming surrounded and overwhelmed.

"Idiot!" She muttered under her breath.

Thea didn't pause in her firing but did alter aim to target those coming at him, she needn't have been concerned however as K'aora suddenly appeared beside him. She fought with fierce yet controlled force and Thea doubted that the zombies would hold against the two of them for much longer. She focused on picking off any that seemed to be coming at any of the other Chosen from unseen angles and let them deal with the bulk of the horde. She inwardly thanked Karkand for his rigorous combat training, she might not have a close combat weapon but she was deadly efficient with her bow. Her eyes moved constantly as she continually searched the combat for appropriate targets.

She had begun to think that between them they would soon be free of enemies when she saw several zombies forcibly pulled into the water by what appeared to be large tentacles. Before she had time to fully register this more tentacles came from the water and grabbed K'aora. Thea yelled a wordless alarm to the others as she saw the tentacles begin pulling K'aora towards the water. At the same time forms rose from the water and Thea could see now what the tentacles belonged to. She wished they had stayed hidden below the surface. She had never seen anything like the creatures before and couldn't stop the near paralysing terror she felt rushing through her.

She had known that this mission would be dangerous and that the chances were high that they would come across monsters but knowing that and seeing it were two very different things. All the mental preparation in the world couldn't fully prepare you for coming to face to face with a nightmare. The creatures were big, very big and had multiple thick tentacles like the ones currently gripping the Lightning Chosen. Thea pushed the terror back with an effort concentrating on breathing deeply and evenly, remembering Karkand's lessons with effort, and once her breathing was calmer and her arms steady she targeted the tentacles gripping K'aora. She growled in frustration as she realised she couldn't get a clear shot.

"Dammit, I can't get a shot!" She shouted to the others.

She was about to try again but with her other specialty when she realised two of the three creatures were coming her way clearly intent on the rest of the Chosen. She glanced behind her checking Vita was still there before she looked forwards again at the two monsters.

"Dart I think now might be a good time to show off." She called upwards.

Dart didn't reply but instead began to glow with an orange/red flame that grew in size and brightness, the shape surrounded by fire continued to grow until it was similar in size to the dragon. Though instead of a dragon hovered a flaming massive bird with wings that trailed fire as it moved. Dart let out a piercing screech before he plummeted towards one of the two monsters approaching Thea and the others. Flaming talons extended Dart pulled up short of slamming into the monster, instead raking it with burning talons and a stream of fire poured from his beak as he screeched again. He then wheeled around preparing to come in for another attack. The monster reacted to the talons and fire breath, clearly Dart had hurt it, but the damage done seemed minimal at best.

Trusting Dart to deal with the other one at least for now Thea focused on the other one still approaching. Realising her normal flaming arrows weren't going to do much here she decided she needed to do more. She concentrated on increasing the flow of her power to the arrow and then loosed. The arrow hit the monster on one tentacle and then promptly exploded in a gout of flame, the monster staggered slightly but continued moving forwards. The tentacle Thea had hit was clearly damaged, the limb black and smoking, but it was still attached and useable though the tentacle seemed slower now.

"I've more where that came from!" She screamed at it and readied another arrow.