"Thank you for visiting today!"

Waving farewell to a pair of kappa who were leaving the shrine, Sanae took a deep breath before glancing behind herself. The shrine had been busier than usual today, no thanks in part to the recurring presence of a new god who had made herself known quite recently. The young woman didn't particularly mind the recent uptick in activity, regardless of how tired it left her by the time she threw herself into her futon; things would settle down eventually, as they always had, until a new incident rolled around. That was, as far as she could tell, the way things went in Gensokyo.

Once the last of the guests had made their way past the torii and down the stairs, though, Sanae glanced at the stone pathway behind her with mild annoyance. As fun as the events in Gensokyo could be, the real problem was the cleanup afterwards...

And, as always, it fell to her to handle that.

Letting out a slight sigh as her shoulders sagged, the young woman began to walk back towards the shrine before a sudden surge of magical energy beneath her feet caused her to stop dead in her tracks. Sanae's first instinct, of course, was to try and dodge away from it; that attempt was quickly stifled, though, as what seemed to be a barrier of sorts kept her in place above what was very clearly a magic sigil of some sort beneath her feet.

That surge of magical energy, though, seemed to attract someone else to where she was stuck—one of the goddesses that resided in the shrine alongside her.

"Sanae!" shouted the small blonde-haired girl bounding over from inside the shrine. "What's going on out he——?!"

"Suwako-sama! There's some sort of barrier locking me in this... Whatever it is!" Sanae responded as she attempted to break through the barrier with a few magical bullets. "It doesn't seem to be———"

But before she could finish her piece, a blinding white light seemed to engulf her. When it had dissipated, there was no trace of the green-haired girl to be seen, nor of the spell that had spirited her away to who knew where.

---

When the light had finally died down, Sanae found herself in a vastly different place than the shrine she had been at mere seconds prior. Rather than the familiar stone pathway and Shinto shrine she lived at, this place seemed to be something more akin to a Western church. The statue of an unfamiliar goddess coupled with the distinctly different apparent time of day (given the light filtering in from the broken roof above) made clear that she was most certainly not in Gensokyo any more.

After the brief moment of recognition that something particularly strange was afoot, the young woman quickly switched gears as she raised her gohei before glancing around the area. Her eyes quickly fell towards a young man and a small girl, neither of whom looked to be in particularly good shape. Coupled with a fresh volley of arrows shattering the windows and falling in from the hole in the ceiling, though, and it became rather clear to Sanae that she need to act fast before whoever (or whatever) was bearing down upon these two took their lives. She could ask questions later, and the still-glowing pillars of light around her that looked rather similar to the one that had pulled her here meant that there was a non-zero possibility that others were yet to come.

Waving her gohei to her side, Sanae quickly summoned a cluster of ofuda at its tip, which then quickly flew through the shattered windows and erected a barrier above and around the church. At the very least, this would afford her some time to figure out what to do next and how to help treat the injured before dealing with whatever was outside.

Hopefully the other people that she assumed were being dragged into this situation like she was would be of a similar mind... Or that she wouldn't be alone here, at the very least.

She hadn't yet gotten used to it.

This warm sensation over her pale skin. The clear blue of the sky above, without a cloud in sight.

It felt like she had stepped into an entirely different world.

The clouds were gone.

The terrible rain had ended.

There was untainted, unblighted life all around.

She still hadn't been able to grasp it. To normalize this new world in her mind. It was so utterly unfamiliar, and so beautiful.

When she'd first set foot in the fields beyond the purified Land's End, for a few moments she had simply run through them. As tired as she had been, as much as her legs ached, she couldn't help herself.

When she couldn't anymore, she fell onto her back and lay there, staring up at the blue sky.

A blue sky.

She hadn't known it was supposed to be blue. Not really. She knew that the grey and dreary blighted sky of Land's End wasn't right, but she hadn't known what to expect of a sky that wasn't pouring down tainted rain.

She'd fallen asleep not long afterwards.

This was sometime later. She hadn't seen anyone else yet, but the Umbral Knight had told her there were people beyond Land's End, somewhere out there. And she trusted them.

She trusted all of the spirits. Her friends.

She trusted Fretia.

"Lily!"

It was the Umbral Knight's voice.

Lily's blue eyes widened in surprise as the armored figured appeared before her, sword drawn and at the ready. While her spirits could certainly manifest on their own, normally they awaited her to need them when it came to a fight.

So she couldn't help but be a little frightened, her heartbeat quickening, when the Umbral Knight appeared so suddenly on their own.

"Something isn't right, here!" they insisted, reaching back with their free hand to place it on her slight shoulder, "I think-"

A white light appeared beneath them. And in moments, it surrounded them.

Lily couldn't help but panic, trying to understand what was occurring. But, somehow, it didn't feel like an attack.

It felt like----

---

----a cry for help.

Lily clutched her hands to her chest.

This wasn't an unfamiliar place. Not really.

A chapel in ruins was hardly something she had never seen before. But there wasn't a hint of blight, or any sign of its purification, here. This wasn't the purged kingdom of Land's End.

It was somewhere different.

The Umbral Knight had long since picked up on her fear and confusion, their blade held ready.

"There's enemies outside. But I suspect some kind of barrier is in place, they can't get through, at least for the moment," they said, free hand still upon her small shoulder.

Her eyes had fallen elsewhere.

A young girl, perhaps around her age. She looked like she'd been hurt, though Lily couldn't tell exactly how from here. Beside her was a boy, who was older and looked like he was a little more stable. Not unharmed, but somewhat less immediately in danger.

The Umbral Knight followed her gaze.

"You want to help them, don't you?" they asked.

Lily nodded.

"Then you have nothing to fear, I'll keep you safe."

She didn't know how to heal injuries. But if there was something impure they were suffering from, then maybe---

Lily approached, the Umbral Knight by her side. She was a little nervous, being so close to people she had never met before, but she wanted to help them.

The boy was injured, but there was something inside the girl. She guessed it was poison. Had something hit her that was poisoned?

The Umbral Knight knelt with her, their voice gentle when they spoke.

"We're willing to help, but if there's anything you can tell us about what's going on," they began, addressing the still-conscious boy, "Then we'll be able to act all the more swiftly."

Lily concentrated, the blue gem hanging from her neck glowing as she raised her hand.

Compared to the Blight, whatever toxin was coursing through the girl's veins was much less invasive.

It vanished in moments.

@PKMNB0Y

“We don’t have much time…” so spoke the colossal figure of stone and greenery that was the only other thing in this void with her. So spoke Gaia, so spoke life, death, and rebirth itself “there can’t be two of us at once”

“Two of what?” the small figure floating before Gaia, Rayne, asked

“Every living being is connected to you. You share their life, their strength. They trust your judgment. They have faith in you. That is all it takes to be me” the goddess explained, and Rayne knew that the first half of this at least was true. She could feel them through the link, that magical connection that gave her the power to do the things that had gained her that faith in the first place. She hadn’t known it was everyone however. Or she had, deep down she knew it was everyone, but she’d hoped there were more people out there, that other places had survived the splitting of the sky.

They hadn’t.

She had the faith of everyone who was left alive.

“Am I… a Goddess?” she asked, as she came to the conclusion Gaia was leading her too, before attempting to reject it “But… I don’t care about the Link! I never did! I just wanted to help people! I don’t want to be a Goddess!”

“If you were chasing personal ambitions, you wouldn’t be here” the Goddess replied simply, before attempting to be reassuring “Do not worry, You are confused, and sacred… Like I was when it was my turn. But, with time, you will do fine. We have done this many times before.”

Then she did perhaps the least reassuring thing, and began to fade away as she declared with a measure of finality that “My cycle has ended, and so your cycle begins…”

Rayne could not simply let the moment be, still reeling from it all, and crying out “Wait, I don’t know what to do!” which was an entirely reasonable concern to have when the burden of all that lived was placed on your shoulders.

“Just close your eyes. See the patterns in nature. Rearrange them - find the balance. Life can sustain itself indefinitely when it is balanced.” the goddess replied, which was less than reassuring when the reason that they were here was because people had repeatedly knocked it out of balance “After that… you’ll simply inhale death, and exhale life.”

“What if I can’t find a way?” Rayne called out, reaching a hand towards the goddess as if she might be able to grasp the fading Gaia, as if she could hold back her end.

“You’ll find it…” the goddess replied, almost silent, almost gone now “You’ll make your own cycle. You have all the time in the world” and then her time ran out, and she was gone.

There was silence, and then Rayne was truly alone in the nothingness. It took her several long moments to break the shock and then that silence.

“Ok. Ok. You can do this Rayne. Everybody was already counting on you to save the world, making a new one is basically the same level of responsibility… right?” she lied to herself, before her natural honesty forced her to admit “No. No, it's so much more. But… I can do this. I just have to breathe. Find a rhythm. Close my eyes and then-”

And then in a flash of light she was gone

---

Rayne tried to shield her eyes from the glare, and started to ask herself “did it work” before she realized something was oh so wrong.

“Wait. What. no no no no no no what happened, where’s the Link? Where did everyone go?” in a panic as she realized she’d lost her connection to all the people she’d saved, and even the people she’d saved them from. Lost her connection to Akai…

The only thing that stopped her absolutely freaking out was her vision returning, and forcing to ask the more immediate question of “Where am I?” as she laid eyes on the unfamiliar architecture, and unfamiliar people.

Many of them were strange, but she had no eyes for them, only the wounded pair who she immediately stepped towards while asking “Are you alright? Who did this?” before having that question somewhat answered for her when a volley of arrows smashed in through the window.

Despite the Link having vanished, and that meaning she had functionally, no power, she still stepped around them, putting her armored body between them and the entrance. “Stay behind me, I’ll protect you” she told them, causing her to feel the faintest bit of Link, to feel the promise of a start of a whole new network burgeoning in her soul.

As she did that powerless act, another of the strangers acted with sorcerous might, sending bits of paper out of the windows, and forming a barrier around the church.

The little promise of Link faded as hope was redirected towards this savior, but Rayne didn’t mind, even if she could see how that feeling had sent one of her fellow Knight Witches spiraling into madness. She was just glad someone had bought them time to work out what was going on.

She didn’t move from her spot however, just in case the barrier went down, and instead simply turned to face the others.

“Thank you for that” she said to the stranger in the starry dress who had created the barrier, before starting to ask “but who are you?” before pausing that line of inquiry and saying “No wait, that’s rude, let me introduce myself first. I’m Rayne, Knight Witch, and nice to meet you, despite… whatever the circumstances we’re in are?”

One of the people among them, a cloaked knight in gray armor, guessed that a good source of how to find that out would be the ones who were, unlike the rest of them, hurt (presumably by whoever was outside) and so asked them about what was going on as a small pale girl knelt down to aid one of them in some way.

“I’ll help too,” she told the pair, perhaps redundantly given her first action being putting herself in between them and danger, before broaching what she now realized was a slightly awkward topic to bring up right now, namely that she needed Link to be able to help “but I need you to believe I can help in order to help. I know that sounds weird and cyclical now that I say it out loud to someone who probably doesn’t already know what the Link is, but if you” she paused and then addressed everyone “if any of you believe I can help, then I can”

"Even if you don't I'll do what I can anyway" she clarified, "Build a barricade or something like that"

For Danny Fenton, it had just been an ordinary day. For the first time in a long time, Danny didn’t have any ghost related shenanigans going on. Ghosts weren’t wreaking havoc, people weren’t running in fear, it was an actual normal day. Danny was on a date with Sam. Their first real date, as a couple. For once in his life, everything was good.

Then there was a weird flash of light, and suddenly everything went downhill. Danny was now no longer in Nasty Burger with his girlfriend. (It still felt weird calling her that.) He was inside what appeared to be a church. Danny had never particularly been the religious sort. Was this the Ghost Zone? This certainly didn’t look like any part of the Ghost Zone he had been to. Unfortunately, Danny didn’t have much time to question the situation. There were two people who were injured, and a bunch of arrows coming in. A girl had created a barrier to protect the injured people, and more strangers started coming in.

Acting fast, Danny transformed into his Ghost form. He floated up, and his hands glowed green. “Ok. Where am I? And what kind of Ghosts are you? And what do I have to do to get back home?”

To some, the vast, stony expanses of Po-wahi might impart a sense of majestic grandeur, making one feel small in the shadows of monoliths that stood, weathering the desert sands, since times immemorial. The trackless snowfields and icy crystal spires of Ko-wahi, each radiant and perfectly unique as the snowflakes that dusted them, weren’t without their charms. The volcanoes and lava flows of Ta-wahi and the unfathomably vast depths of Onu-wahi were truly awe-inspiring. And who could ever summon up distaste for the gorgeous, sparkling coasts and bays of Ga-wahi, where waters teeming with life broke against the idyllic shores in a ceaseless, soothing lullaby? But to Lewa, there was no land more breathtakingly beautiful than his home, the jungled southernmost region on the island of Mata Nui, Le-wahi.

What’s not to like about it, after all? The endless sea of verdant green, a vast tapestry of countless species, all dancing to the whisper of the wind and the heartbeat of mother nature. The prospect of boundless discovery, be it new species of plant or animal, or behaviors of creatures never before seen, or even something as mundane as an interesting fruit or mushroom. With that, of course, came the guarantee of adventure: few pathways and signposts could be found in this pristine landscape, meaning that the intrepid explorer could enjoy getting lost time and time again. So too could new perils be found around every corner, creating an endless smorgasbord of thrills. Most Le-matoran would never venture too far from the safety of Le-koro, so when it came to charting the unknown, Lewa really had the run of the place. And yet, perhaps most beautifully of all, being in the jungle meant that he was never really alone.

For a few minutes now Lewa had been sitting on the edge of a forested cliff, reclining against the gnarled roots of an old tree that stood on the precipice. With his hands laid behind his head he watched the dance of Gukko Birds over the jungle, appreciating their display. These two seemed to be males butting heads over territory, and though some might dismiss them as mere Rahi, these birds fought like seasoned swordfighters. On four long, slender, bladelike wings apiece that beat with the speed of a dragonfly’s, they maneuvered around one another with unparalleled agility, testing one another with thrusts and swipes of beaks like giant rapiers. Though both fought with skill, the larger one fought with the acuity of a veteran, and before long he managed to clip his rival’s wings. The challenger darted away and disappeared into the leaves below, bringing Lewa’s gaze out of the glorious sky and to a stretch of terrain ruined and rendered uninhabitable by vast amounts of acid.

Despite the distant birdsong and the gentle brush of leaves in the wind, he couldn’t help but sigh, his good mood soured somewhat by the bleak reminder. So far the Bohrok hadn’t been able to obliterate Le-wahi’s natural beauty, but they had certainly tried. The swarm was insatiable, unrelenting. They rampaged across every region of Mata Nui, sowing destruction in their wake, but nowhere did their unthinking cruelty hurt Lewa more than here. Entire swaths of the jungle had been smashed into pulp or melted into slag as the vile Lehvak crawled from the woodwork to assail Le-koro, time and time again. The near-constant fighting made him all the more grateful for brief moments like these, where he could catch his breath and cherish the miracle of life that he was fighting for in the first place.

Yet he couldn’t relax forever. Not when he had many kios left to patrol.

Lewa rose to his feet, one hand laid against the trunk of the ancient tree for support. He brushed a couple twigs and leaves off his armor, made sure he was ready to roll, and finally picked up his axe from where he’d laid it. His eyes lingered on the weapon for a moment as he hefted it. Some might think it a strange weapon for a hero and a protector of nature, but the law of the jungle demanded that one kill or be killed. Death was a quintessential part of the cycle of life, and as many Bohrok had already learned, the Spirit of Air would not hesitate to cut down anything that threatened this land’s precious peace. Lewa placed his axe on his back, swung himself around the tree, and resumed his patrol.

Within a few minutes, however, the jungle filled with a new sound. The steady beat of many powerful drums, played in sync and to a very specific rhythm, reached Lewa all the way from Le-koro. Each rhythm represented a message, and Lewa knew this one well. It wasn’t a Bohrok attack, thank Mata Nui, but it told Lewa that he needed to return. Without delay the toa set off at a run, building up speed to leap into the trees for speedy travel. But he didn’t get far. Almost immediately he slammed into an invisible barrier that sent him reeling, completely thrown for a loop. “What in the?” One hand on his mask, he tentatively reached out a hand and confirmed the presence of an unseen obstacle that rebuffed even a concerted effort to break through. “Some kind of air-wall?” Only when he looked down did he notice some kind of energy welling up beneath him, of a kind he couldn’t for the life of him identify. “A trap! But how!? Who!?” He looked in every direction for the culprit, every fiber of his being filled with the sense that something bad was happening. But it was to no avail. With an anguished cry, Lewa threw himself against the wall in the direction of the Le-koro drums. “Friends! I’m coming, don’t worry! I’m-!”

---

The light that engulfed Lewa receded slowly, leaving him stunned, dazed, and confused. When he regained his sight, however, he felt even worse. Rather than the lush Le-wahi wilds, he found himself confronted with the interior of a stone building, cluttered with furniture. That alone told him that he was far from home; even if Turaga Matau somehow brought him home instantly through some unknown power, Le-koro housed no structures like this; the treetop village built with nothing other than wood. Yet daylight poured through the broken roof, so this couldn’t be Onu-koro, either. The atmosphere in this place reminded him a little of the Suva shrine in Le-koro, but even the faintest traces of familiarity vanished when Lewa’s baffled gaze landed upon the individuals who’d come here before him.

“Mata Nui!” His jaw just about hit the ground when he realized the things he was looking at were living beings. Living people. He’d seen some odd things throughout his adventures so far, but these beings went beyond anything Lewa could have imagined in his wildest dreams. Towering over most of them was nothing new, since most Matoran stood at half his height, but that was about where the common ground came to an end. Their bodies featured strange, smooth, pale coatings that overlaid and disguised their inner workings, those outer layers themselves also covered by garments of woven fabric. In his world, only Turaga wore such ceremonial vestments, but here there was such variety. At least one of them possessed metal armor at least. At first he thought their masks incredibly expressive, but it didn’t take a genius to realize that they were masks at all. They were faces. Displaying one’s face was an unthinkable taboo; after all it was the masks, not the identical, featureless metal plates beneath them, that made toa and matoran who they really were. One of them did seem to be wearing a mask, but it covered his face only in part. Those faces, though…they were all completely unique. Somehow, they were more incredible -more alive- than most anything Lewa had ever seen.

Overcome with shock and wonderment at the utterly alien creatures he’d been faced with, Lewa could do little more than gawk for a few moments. Some of them spoke, superficially confirming intelligence on par with the people of Mata Nui and also helping Lewa to identify their genders, since he was totally at a loss otherwise. They seemed to be confused. At least Lewa wasn’t the only one. “This is incredible,” he breathed. “Unthinkable. Like something out of a dream. Or maybe a nightmare. What is this…?”

After a moment though, something happened that he could begin to understand. A hail of arrows tore into the bizarre scene. Some kind of attack? At the moment Lewa understood nothing, but if he or these small, helpless-looking, fleshy creatures were in danger, he couldn’t just stand there. Narrowing his eyes, the toa unslung his axe and readied himself for action, his mind still racing as it tried and failed to make sense of the situation.

Off her guard and unaware, Anne didn't notice the bomb until it was already too late. The explosion caught her dead-on and flung her across the room, hard enough that she cratered the reinforced concrete as she crashed back-first into the nearest wall.

This made it... Three. Three times people had tried to kill her since she'd landed on this planet. She was meant to be here as a mediator, a neutral party helping to end a military uprising before it could begin. Instead, it seemed like many of the would-be rebels had trained their sights directly on her.

Anne Mayer. The woman who'd murdered Leah Zail, and effectively shattered the entire Northern Order in doing so. There were people who wanted her dead for political reasons, to light a fire in the remnants of the Northern forces—and others who were just out for revenge, who truly loathed her for what she had done. Thinking back on that scene, the way the severed head of her onetime friend had rolled across the ground... Anne couldn't help but feel much the same.

Even so, she couldn't fall here. Not while she was still able to fight.

With gritted teeth, she stumbled back to her feet, pain racing up her spine from where she'd made impact. The initial blast had taken out the barrier on her coat, and her ears still rang from the noise, her balance dangerously off-kilter. Through the clouds of dust she could make out voices, the shadows of armored figures now sweeping the area for any signs of her presence.

Should she hide? Fight back? She wasn't sure if her body could hold up in the latter case, especially if the enemy had Knights among them. Escape seemed like the best option: get out of the building, lose her pursuers, and rendezvous with Aegis before they figured out where she'd gone. The bombing couldn't have gone unnoticed, and her allies on the Alcyone would already be on their way by now.

She drew in a breath, took a step forward, and barely stopped herself from doubling over as a fresh wave of agony shot through her legs and stomach. Her vision blurred, and in her moment of vulnerability she almost missed the telltale ripple of a sonic boom, the cyborg soldier accelerating full-force towards her.

Almost.

She caught him reflexively, grabbing hold of his extended arm before she fully realized what she was doing. Her throw slammed him headfirst into the wall at the exact center point of her previous impact, and drove him into and through where the structure was at its weakest. Concrete shattered, the wall crumbled inward, and her aggressor was left stunned and half-buried under a mound of rubble and twisted rebar.

There would be more coming. Without pause, Anne forced herself to clamber up and over the wreckage, doing her best to ignore the tortured screams of her body telling her to just give up and die already. Bullets whizzed past her, and she ignored them—there really wasn't much she could do about them at the moment. And if one of the rounds were to hit her, well, she couldn't say that she didn't completely deserve it.

Through the wall. She could see the sky up above, now, the clouds of smog, the small aircraft zipping by. Urgency pushed her forward through the pain, towards the nearest alley, anything she could use as cover. She threw a glance over her shoulder to check for pursuers, and in doing so stumbled straight into the trap.

There was no pain as the white light washed over her. Only a sense of relief, like a vast weight was finally lifting from her shoulders. She'd fought all she could, but death had finally caught up with with her, an ignominious end for the woman once hailed as a savior of humanity.

Her last thoughts were of the ones she was leaving behind, and the burdens she had placed upon them all. Amy, Leo, Yung. I'm sorry...

---

Cool air blew across her skin. Her eyes cracked open, and all at once the weight came crashing back, her body now aching head-to-toe.

Still alive, then. She swallowed the bile that was rising up her throat, and tried to focus, to get a sense of her surroundings. She must have been picked up in the aftermath and carried off somewhere to recover, but... Where? And by whom?

This wasn't the Alcyone. Nor did it resemble any kind of modern hospital or treatment facility. If anything, the structure reminded her of a church, though it was in a state of such disrepair that it had to have been bombed at some point. Not a surprising sight, for someone who'd spent half her life in one battered warzone or another.

What really caught Anne's attention were the people. A gathering of colorful strangers, each one entirely out of place in the crumbling ruins they now found themselves.

A green-haired girl in a fanciful blue-and-white dress, waving around some kind of narrow rod. Three children, accompanied by someone suited up in damaged power armor. Two young men with the look of Knights about them, one displaying some kind of Paranormal Power. And then a bright green... Machine?

Nearly all of them were speaking, and most of it came through as nonsense to the veteran Knight's ears. She recognized a general air of confusion, questions accompanied by bewildered looks that matched her own feelings on the situation. The stout woman in the hat stood out to her the most, the one who referred to herself as Knight Witch. Anne's expression stayed carefully neutral, but she quietly tensed up at those two words, the implied threat in them. To call herself that... Could she be a Knight from the Vista family? Or, given her appearance, the Rata clan?

Both of those groups had every reason in the world to hate Anne Mayer. For that matter, any of these people might try to murder her on sight the moment they recognized her. And she was hurt, exhausted, not in any state to fend off an entire group of enemy Knights.

Rather than join in the chatter, she backed away, and found a shadowed spot to slump against the wall. Drenched in sweat, still breathing heavily, she squinted at the scene and tried to make sense of it all, to find any thread of logic in her surroundings. Someone was firing arrows at the outside of the church, and her first thought was that it was children, playing some kind of innocent game with toy bows. Why else would anyone use projectiles that slow, and so obviously fragile?

Despite the change in role, and despite having done her best to train the Defence Section--both before her departure, and since her return--there were still some problems that necessitated a hands-on approach. It seemed to be inevitable that Rhine Labs would, even with more ethical oversight, still have the occasional disaster that the majority couldn't hope to come near in safety.

Maybe that was just the nature of the cutting edge of science. Originium was always going to be volatile, and that still comprised a large amount of their research. When it wasn't used directly, there was still the matter of trying to address oripathy, and where there were Infected... some people were always going to lose control, regrettably, or lash out at the world with weapons that nobody could take from them.

This meant dressing herself for conflict once again, and having someone explain the details of exactly what was going on while en route. Potentially devastating if not brought to a halt in time--unsurprising. And strong enough that the blast containment on the lab would likely fail if not addressed quickly enough. That... eerily familiar to her last incident before leaving, yet an entirely different scenario. Ifrit was nowhere near this building.

Leaving her entourage at the exit, Saria entered alone, only to be met with an unexpected white light--

---

Taking stock of the situation, Saria first tried to place where she could be. A church? Laterano was the first place to spring to mind, yet nobody here had a halo--nor was there an overabundance of guns in evidence--and that moved that far down the list. That made it more likely to be Iberia, and it was possible that everyone here was actually a Liberi despite the eclectic collection of attire. Everyone except the robot, although who could have developed something like that? Raythean's designs were hardly so sleek, and it was still far smaller than Rhine Labs' own power armour...

Location later, first there was the pressing matter of being under attack. The child was using some form of healing arts, which meant she could save her limited first-aid supplies until later. The Higashi-looking girl had created some sort of paper barrier against the arrows, but they couldn't afford to sit here and wait for a plan whilst under attack by an unknown number of assailants. This building was half ruined, and it was only a matter of time before they escalated to something more drastic. Smoking them out. Throwing grenades. Some form of arts.

All of which were harder to deal with if they had no visibility.

"Drop the barrier, we need to push out," the wyvern stated, tone brooking no dissent, already marching towards the heavy, closed doors at the end of the church. No doubt someone would be outside, and as soon as someone realised the way was open, they would try to funnel in. Unless there was an entire army, the ability to (if needed) fall back and use the doors as a choke point born of human ignorance would make the entire scenario easier.

It might be expected that the woman would heave the doors open. But as she came nearer, she focused on the metal hinges. Thick, heavy... and now so very, very brittle.

When she gave the wood a kick, as soon as the paper barrier dropped, the result wasn't therefore the splintering of heavy wood: it was that same obstacle being sent rocketing outwards, the hinges no longer able to take any sort of stress without snapping.

Once her barrier had been established and its defensive strength was confirmed (no thanks due to the next incoming volley of arrows bouncing off of it), Sanae took a moment to look around towards the other people who had been dragged to wherever this was. The general confusion among the group was quite palpable—understandably so, given that she was feeling much the same. One even went so far as to call them all ghosts, which... Was he some sort of American exorcist or something? The way he spoke made it seem like it, and the assertion that they were all not-quite-dead was something the young girl decided was better to internalize as "what he was used to handling" than "they were all actually in some sort of Hell" right now.

...Though, if they really were dead, maybe she could find someone who knew the Yama? That seemed like an easy enough way to get in contact with someone who might at least let her talk to someone back in Gensokyo.

Regardless of the actual situation, though, the brief thanks and introduction from the oddly small girl gave Sanae enough reason to respond in kind. Without any active threat in front of them, she could at least do that much.

"Ah... My name is Kochiya Sanae... Er... Maybe the Western order makes more sense here? Kochiya is my family name, Sanae given. I'm a wind priestess at the Moriya Shrine; functionally, though, I work as a shrine maiden. I'll be in your care," she stated towards the group before giving a bow in turn. "As for where this is... Your guess would be as good as mine. And I am most certainly not a ghost. Probably. Hopefully."

It was then, though, that the mecha dropped in, and Sanae's eyes lit up like stars in the night sky. Though it was most certainly not the time to ask questions about him, the young woman made a mental note to herself to pry into those details later. Preferably when they weren't being peppered by projectiles or at risk in general, if possible.

By this point, though, the young man kneeling on the ground—who looked to have barely entered his teenage years—who had been protecting his sister finally seemed to snap back to reality. Seeing all of these people (and one odd... Golem?) brought here all of a sudden and moving to protect him brought him to the verge of tears.

"Y-yes!" he almost shouted as his sister's pained expression began to relax a bit when one of the smaller girls walked over to heal her. "The Raven Heralds—they came to my town. Said they were looking for my sister—looking for Millie. Our dad told us to run, and after that..."

The young man trailed off for a second before shaking his head and looking towards the group with a small glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"Please, I don't know what magic brought you here, but if that goddess said that you were heroes or something, then maybe you can save us—save my home!"

Having been listening intently to the boy's impassioned cry for help, Sanae glanced outside for a brief moment to see that there were indeed soldiers of some sort bearing down on the church. That explained the arrows, at the very least.

"Well, this certainly looks like an incident to me, and if people are getting injured or dying, then it wouldn't be right to just stand by and watch," she responded before one of the others who had arrived called for her to take the barrier down as she walked towards the door. It was fairly clear that she intended to fight, and assuming the competency of those who were brought here was on par with or better than hers...

Hopefully that trust would be rewarded.

"I'll drop the barrier after the next volley hits, then. Please be ready to move to a safer part of the church if you don't plan on heading out to fight," Sanae stated, nodding towards the pair of siblings and the draconic-loooking woman as she rose into the air. "Oh, good, I can still fly here. But, right then; we can figure things out afterwards, I hope."

As promised, when the next set of arrows bounced off of the magical barrier, Sanae swiftly dispelled it in turn—only to see that the woman who had asked her to bring it down had used the door as a projectile weapon. It seemed to have hit a few of the soldiers head on and sent them careening (with the door, of course) into the woods.

She couldn't help but whistle at the level of strength she would expect from an oni being put on display here.

"...Oh! Right! Gotta help cover!" she said before flying through the hole in the rooftop and glancing around the area. There seemed to be... A fair number of soldiers collapsing in on the church ruins, and the topography of the land was incredibly unfamiliar, but at the very least the area was open enough to let her do her thing.

Rather than use a spell card here, though, it seemed prudent enough to simply fire a hail of danmaku bullets down at the soldiers who were bearing down on the back entrance. Even if they wouldn't actually leave any lasting harm, covering fire seemed like a better choice than flooding the skies with projectiles... No matter how pretty the patterns were.

@VitaVitaAR@DracoLunaris@EchoWolff@Crimson Flame@Lugubrious@Drifting Pollen@Raineh Daze

It wasn't just the green-haired girl and the injured siblings. It was a lot of people. And some green figure Lily didn't understand, they were armored? But they weren't shaped like a person, nor like a monster created by the blight. She didn't get it at all, but right now she couldn't pay attention to that when so many things were happening.

The girl her age was at least no longer suffering from the poison, so she was happy she'd been able to help.

The Umbral Knight nodded at the boy's words.

"Raven Heralds..." they commented, "A grim name."

Lily found her eyes drifting towards the knight, who nodded. They knew what she wanted.

"She removed the poison from your sister's wounds," they explained, before shifting gears, "My oath is with her, and so I shall fight for you. Until you can receive further medical attention, move as far back into the chapel as you can."

Lily gripped at the hem of her skirt.

She could hear them outside. She could hear the door ripping off its hinges. It was frightening.

But she'd faced awful things. And she didn't want the little girl or her brother to get hurt any more then they already were.

So, she had to do something. Even if it most certainly meant she had to fight.

Her blue eyes turned to the Umbral Knight again, who nodded.

"Our enemies are certain not to be monsters created by the Blight," they said, "You should turn away."

Lily hesitated for a few moments, before slowly shaking her head.

Their enemies---

She didn't really know what this meant. But if she looked away, then she couldn't direct her spirits, her friends. She couldn't keep track of what was happening.

If she really wanted to help, she couldn't do it.

She couldn't look away.

"Very well," The Umbral Knight turned, tattered cape flowing behind them, "Not a single Raven Herald shall enter this place."

As Lily advanced closer to the doorway, she was able to allow the Umbral Knight to do so as well.

And as soon as they reached it---

The Knight sprang forth, reaching the fallen door where it had pinned a soldier to the ground, several others scattered about it, landing on it and slamming it down firmly on the enemy beneath. They were in dark armor, a dull purple, largely composed of leather and bearing wicked masks upon their faces.

The Knight perhaps considered that was a blessing, as the monstrous visage would distract Lily from the true nature of their enemy.

Their blade swung in an arc, an arm and a head severed in the very first moment before the Raven Heralds could even react.

Lily's hands clenched. Her heartbeat quickend. She'd seen blood before, but these enemies were different then those suffering from the Blight.

The body had yet to fall before the Umbral Knight twisted their frame, a diagnal slash hewing its way through the throat and chest of a second Raven Herald.

But their blade was stopped, at least for a moment, when it struck the shield of a third. Wood and steel...

It wouldn't be enough for her.

Lily was frightened. But she knew that the Umbral Knight's sword wasn't able to cut through something like that so easily.

Before the enemy could retaliate, the knight simply vanished, the red light of their spirit form returning to her side.

And in the very same instant, a great hammer raised.

Its wielder, in spite of her gray skin and crimson eyes, was still quite beautiful, wearing a nun's habit with a pair of feathered wings extending from her back.

Guardian Silva wordlessly brought the hammer crashing down, shattering the shieldbearer's arms, cracking the wooden shield in half, and crushing his chest cavity in a single blow.

@PKMNB0Y@DracoLunaris@EchoWolff@Crimson Flame@Lugubrious@Drifting Pollen@Raineh Daze

Her plea for faith fell on deaf ears, which in hindsight was somewhat unsurprising with everything else going on. People pulled out of wherever they had come from, unsure if it was just part of wherever that was. Rayne at least had the advantage of knowing this was somewhere entirely beyond the context of where she had been due to the loss of her links. Meanwhile they called out for allies, made preconception leaps of logic, or in one case slipped away from the group as if they were a danger.

It only came to Rayne’s mind that that last was perhaps the smartest reaction to finding yourself around dangerous looking strangers when one of them floated up into the air, activating some kind of power in what came off as a threatening manner as he demanded answers. Rayne hoped it was just that he was scared and defensive, rather than wanting to lash out, and so she approached her reply with that hope in mind.

“We’re-” she pushed because technically she couldn’t talk for everyone and then corrected “I’m not a ghost, and I don’t know where we are, but I do know it's nowhere near where we once were. I was connected to everyone left alive where I was from, and none of you were among them. So. It's a different place ? A different world? We’ll need to figure it out together so please, don’t attack anyone here!”

She wasn’t really sure what terminology worked in terms of how to talk about this place outside of the context of the place she had just been, but they were beyond the reach of Gaia’s cycle, and that raised all sorts of questions. The information they got from the locals raised even more, about who this goddess was, how she’d brought them here, why people were being attacked, and oh so many more. But the questions would have to wait, because one of the others wanted to be proactive when dealing with these ‘Raven Heralds’ who were attacking the church.

The creator of the barrier agreed, and so it looked like they were going to have a fight on their hands ever so soon.

Acting out of habit Rayne lifted her hand up and splayed her fingers as she always did when preparing for battle, only to be surprised to find a trio of spectral cards appearing in her hand.

“Wait but how…” she asked herself, before figuring it out.

Her mana pool wasn’t sourced from the Link, she’d grown the said pool via hearts of nature and the cards were technically physical things, enchanted to work alongside her Link given powers rather than being sourced directly from them. So she had this power at least. Just no way of refilling her incredibly limited mana reserves.

Wrecking ball, magic shield, sentry gun, she saw as she checked her hand. The first was powerful, but the way it shot wrecking balls out in front of and behind her meant that she’d risk wrecking the church’s wall if she used it too close. The third was worthless, because if she couldn't shoot magic bullets, it couldn't either.

The second however came in handy almost right away, because while the green haired woman’s barrier was lower to let people sortie out just after a volley of arrows struck, that didn’t mean that that volley was the last. So if she could do one thing, she resolved to do something about that problem.

She jogged over to the window through which the shooters outside could get the best angle on them and then called out “Magic shield!”as she put a thumb to the spectral card and flicked it upwards out of her hand to use it. As soon as she did, a 3 meter tall oval shield of some kind of brassy-bronze material appeared before her, floating in the air, blocking the window, and a few moments later absorbing some arrow fire just as she’d intended it too.

Said shield was invulnerable, but as a trade off it did not last forever. So Rayne set about doing what she had said she would if she didn’t have power: making a barricade. Heaving with all her might, she dragged over and then upended a few of the worn benches in the church in-order to block the windows with something physical and permanent.

The Witch Knight whipped her brow and gave a little sigh after the physical exertion, and then checked her hand of cards to see what she’d drawn after her use of Magic Shield.

“Armageddon?” she read out loud, finding one of her most indiscriminately destructive cars in her hand, and then quietly adding “let’s hope it doesn’t come to that”

If not for the young man's plea, Anne would have been happy to remain where she was, to take even a minute to recover and catch her breath. As always, though, it took only a moment for the situation to turn critical. This mystery planet was yet another warzone, and the people here were in dire need of help.

And what kind of hero could leave the cries of a child unanswered?

Even with her right eye still half-blinded, even with her body howling at her to lie down and rest, she forced herself to stand up and step forward. To hold herself up straight, shoulders squared, like the kind of knight people spoke about in stories. These kids had been forced into the depths of despair, and just as much as they needed protection, they needed some kind of hope to cling onto, something to keep their souls intact through the bloody battle that followed. Anne knew better than anyone how war could tear a person apart, and she would not let these innocents fall the way she once had.

Her gait steadied as she approached the young man and his sister, and she spoke to them with the firm confidence of a woman used to command. "Your goddess is right. We're going to save your home, and bring you and your sister back to everyone there. So right now, we need to keep both of you out of harm's way." She knelt down to gently lift the injured girl in her arms, before ushering the two civilians back towards the far end of the chapel as the powersuit stranger had advised. Her back faced the doorway, the open windows, and the dark span of her coat formed a protective barrier between her charges and anything that might assail them. Never mind infantry weapons: her clothing was built to fend off tank rounds and particle beams if necessary. So long as she was here, nothing would get through.

...That may be all I can do for now, though. If the enemy was a Raven unit, then they could be affiliated with the AL, and it would cause a political storm if Anne were to be seen engaging them directly. Even leaving that aside, with the state of her body... She'd have to count on the others to fight. With their numbers and their Paranormal Powers, they could probably win without any casualties on their side.

Any of these strangers might still turn out to be her enemy. Yet when the young man had asked for someone to save him, each of them had heeded the call in their own way. At least for the moment, this fact was reason enough for Anne to place her trust in them.

With his weapon now in hand, ready to carve a path toward freedom or channel his elemental power if need be, Lewa felt his confidence returning. If he was going to have any one friend in a bizarre and unfamiliar place like this, full of unknown organisms and dangers with no sign of any way home, it might as well be his trusty axe. It had enabled him to brave the island of Mata Nui with all its perils, from infected rahi to the Bohrok swarms. It should help him brave this new realm, too. And besides, wasn’t the discovery of new and fascinating creatures something he enjoyed? Lewa took long, slow breaths, pragmatically trying to push past the unreal superficiality of everything in front of him to find common ground. Once he had that foundation, he could build on it to reach a functional level where he could interact with his surroundings more or less as normal–or at least, the toa sure hoped so.

For one thing, Lewa wasn’t the only one who seemed to be a fish out of water here. Even among the fleshy ones, there were some who recoiled from the others. One, garbed predominantly in black and adorned with a long curtain of burgundy plant fibers that extended from her head, fled toward the wall in an odd manner. Her biology might be foreign to Lewa, but her body language struck him as oddly familiar, suggesting heavy fatigue or some sort of injury. He hoped she’d be okay; even if he possessed the medicinal knowledge of the Le-koro healers, it would be useless against organisms like these.

There was another, clad in heavier garments of beige and white, with fibers like polished silver. Instead of panic, she moved with an air of certainty, and her decisive action made one thing crystal clear for Lewa. These creatures might be short like matoran, shorter than him by two feet or more on average, but they were far from powerless. As he watched, his yellow-green eyes shining through his mask, this organism smashed a huge door off its hinges. “Such strength,” he marveled, having assumed that creatures of meat must be far more frail than beings of protodermis like himself, only to witness physical might on par with Onua.

Once she went to leave, Lewa focused on another organic who was talking. This tiny one, and the even smaller thing next to him, were pitiful enough to make even a matoran look like a toa. As he tried to explain what was going on, several of his words went over Lewa’s head, but the Spirit of Air found his heartstrings tugged nonetheless. These minuscule, pleading creatures needed help, that much was for certain. The others seemed inclined to oblige, even the black-and-burgundy one that seemed unwell earlier, and Lewa decided that he would, too. As an appointed guardian of Mata Nui, it fell to him to defend those who couldn’t defend themselves. How could he call himself a toa otherwise?

Of course, that decision was hardly the end-all, be-all. Even if his answer to their cry for help was ‘yes’, the questions of ‘how’ and ‘against what’ remained. Lewa watched, impressed, as the one who called herself Sanae floated into the air. That power didn’t look elemental, so clearly these people didn’t need masks in order to access supernatural abilities. Just one more preposition he needed to throw out the door, he supposed. She flew away, and the others went to action. A tiny organic that Lewa thought amongst those who needed aid instead marched forth to render it, watched over by a warrior in strange gray armor. Lewa shook his head, his doubts beginning to resurge. Could he assume anything? He needed ground to stand on if he was going to make a move.

As the others took action, Lewa couldn’t keep track of all of them. There was too much going on. He understood by now that there were enemies outside, though that concept by itself would’ve felt foreign to him if not for recent events. Before the Bohrok, Mata Nui had no ‘enemies’. Just the adversary, Makuta, and the rahi possessed by the infected kanohi masks. If not for him, the only real dangers of the island would be running afoul of one of those rahi just trying to survive day to day. That changed when the Bohrok arrived, though. Those monsters were weapons made for war, meant only to destroy the beauty of nature and all that Mata Nui’s people held dear. They had no right to live, if they could even really be called ‘alive’, and they represented an ‘enemy’ that Lewa and his brothers should exterminate without reservation. Were these ‘Raven Heralds’ similar?

Regardless, he did not join the others as they exited the church. Maybe the enemies were out there, but the creatures he needed to protect were in here. Leaving them alone to go out and kill seemed like missing the forest for the trees. Instead Lewa crossed the interior of the building and knelt a few feet away from the children. “Fear not, little-things. I, toa-hero Lewa, pledge to uphold your right to live. Whatever might come our way.” So saying, he rose to his full height and turned his back to the children, fixing his eyes on the church’s entrance with his axe at the ready.

A different world? She didn't know of a way that was possible, even with all the strange things that Terra had for the curious to investigate. Even with the very sky... alternate realities didn't seem possible. Unless one were to listen to strange rumours from parts of Rhodes Island. Though, with all that Terra did have to offer, the idea that there might be a world out there that knew how to reach between them was far from impossible.

And now wasn't the time to be considering the nature of reality. There were enemies, possibly slavers or something of their kind, and even if the surprise at one of theirs being hit by a door--apparently, incapacitated by the door, which didn't speak well of their endurance--bought some time, they needed to be fought off.

The strange paper arts girl could apparently fly, which was an incredibly convenient ability to have, and was providing a high volume of very bright arts in return. Not that this appeared to be doing much damage? Not like the apparitions accompanying the child, who were going in for obvious killing blows.

Should she do the same? They had no way to keep prisoners for long, and the enemy was attacking them with lethal intent. On the other hand, if this was an unfamiliar world, she ought to determine how durable their enemy was for when they might need to take prisoners, or just had a misunderstanding.

Work her way down from lethal, then.

The first of the soldiers that the wyvern got within arms' reach had a refreshingly brief time to endure their injury. One second, a rock-like barrier was forming around Saria's fist, the next there was a blank space where their head used to be. Disconcerting as this might have been, one of the other Heralds was bold enough to seize this opportunity... and watch his blade skitter off what looked like a bare arm.

He was the next to get a lethal punch, this time through the armour of his torso. And this was the plan: pull her punches a little bit at the time--and keep using the shield to cover her side, when not hitting someone with that instead--until she got down to what was probably 'incapacitating'.

Then she could go back to lethal force. They would have at least one prisoner that way, and there was no need in holding back when they were outnumbered like this.

It became readily apparent to Sanae after only a few seconds that the soldiers on the ground were almost wholly incapable of dealing with the bullets that she was raining down from above. Given that their attacks against the barrier earlier had been with arrows and steel, though, the young woman thought for a second that such a result should have been a given.

Not like she had any reason to complain about that, though; if these people were aiming to kill or capture the two children still hiding in the church, then they deserved any sort of pain they'd receive from eating her projectiles head-on.

With her aim still trained upon those still attempting to approach the rear door, the young woman turned her head to see what was going on at the front of the church. It didn't take much more than a glance, though, for her to witness the rather brutal nature of how the others were fighting. It was one thing to read about killing in the news or manga and another entirely to see people die—much less by decapitation from a single hit to the head, or by being bisected from shoulder to hip, or...

There was a brief lapse in focus as her vision blurred for a moment, but given the situation at hand the wind priestess knew full well that such a thing could lead to an opening that might lead to something even worse.

"...I guess I shouldn't take spell card rules for granted..." she mumbled to herself before placing her attention back towards the oncoming soldiers. At this point, though, it seemed quite apparent that none of the enemy soldiers had even a sliver of a chance to break through their defensive line—and given the fact that there were still people inside, it was almost guaranteed that even should one or two of the soldiers slip through that they would meet just as bloody an end.

That, of course, made the apparent call to retreat from the area a given. The soldiers that Sanae had been keeping away swiftly broke formation, and those that hadn't been executed or otherwise left incapacitated began to disperse back into the forest—likely back with the other members of their military force, if what the boy had said earlier held true.

With the present threat dealt with (for the moment, at least), Sanae took a deep breath and slowly floated back down into the church, her body none the worse for wear.

"It looks like the enemy's retreating," she remarked to those who stood guard inside as she landed on the floor. "...I'm no tactician, but I guess they cut their losses after seeing what happened outside. Not sure whether that's a good thing or not."

All the while, of course, the boy and his sister had remained protected by those who had placed their safety first. There was a sparkle in the former's eyes, of course—and the fact that there were such gallant figures so willing to protect the two of them while the others drove back the ones who had so simply threatened their home only served to inspire further hope in him.

"Thank you very much," the young man said, unsteadily rising to his feet before bowing towards those present. "But... You said they were retreating?"

His pale face seemed to grow even paler as he realized the implications of what had just been said.

"..."

The dread apparent on his face now that he had realized what his escape had come at the cost of—and of what more it could take from him—only now seemed to dawn upon him. Though the two of them were safe now in the company of heroes, the same could not be said of the people who would be sacrificed in his place.

@VitaVitaAR@DracoLunaris@EchoWolff@Crimson Flame@Lugubrious@Drifting Pollen@Raineh Daze

Another heavy crunch.

Before the Raven Heralds could retreat, another of their number fell, the hammer having shattered the bones in the soldier's neck and caved in his skull through his helmet.

Silva lowered her hammer, then faded, the crimson-white orb of light that constituted the forms of Lily's friends when they chose to be dormant.

Lily's heartbeat stopped hammering quite so quickly, now that the immediate danger was gone. But she was surprised when the Umbral Knight chose to manifest once more, turning to address the assembled outsiders as they did.

"Those 'Raven Heralds'... they're returning to these childrens' village, aren't they?" the knight commented.

Lily stared for a moment, then quickly realized what this meant. If the enemy soldiers were so determined to hurt the siblings, then that meant wherever they came from was in just as much danger.

Her eyes traveled over the corpses left behind by the brief clash for a moment. Realizing where she was looking, the Umbral Knight quietly moved to interpose themselves between Lily and the scattered bodies.

"... It's your decision, Lily," they said, gently, kneeling beside her, "There's no need to push yourself."

It wasn't as if she hadn't seen dead bodies before. She'd seen plenty, even if the Umbral Knight didn't think she needed to see any more.

No, more than anything else, she wanted to keep helping the siblings.

Her gaze traveled back up to the Umbral Knight, and she nodded.

She'd seen far too much destruction to let it happen if there was still a chance of stopping it.

"Very well," responded the Umbral Knight, rising to their feet once again.

"We've ensured their survival, but to ensure they have somewhere to return to, we have to give chase," the Umbral Knight addressed the others, "Will anyone else accompany us?"

@PKMNB0Y@DracoLunaris@EchoWolff@Crimson Flame@Lugubrious@Drifting Pollen@Raineh Daze

After making his pronouncement and taking up a defensive position, Lewa stood watch. Normally he’d be neither so patient nor steadfast in waiting for potential enemies to come to him, instead happily rushing ahead to solve the problem proactively. For now though, it took about everything he had to just stand firm dealing with all the bizarre stuff in here, let alone out there. Better to take it one step ahead rather than charge off into unknown danger. Still, he could hear all kinds of sounds that found their way into the decrepit church from outside. The clash of metal against metal. Death screams. Butchery. If he had skin, it might have crawled as he struggled to imagine what could be causing those horrible noises. Gradually, though, the din of battle subsided. Voices and heavy footfalls faded into the distance, after another few moments those who’d ventured beyond the church to make corpses drifted back inside.

Upon landing, Sanae gave her report: the enemy was routed. Lewa let out his breath, not even realizing that he’d been holding it. The pulse of his heartlight slowed down somewhat, though his inherent discomfort in this place kept it from dwindling down to a level that could be considered ‘calm’. As it turned out, the same went for the very small creatures; any hint of relief on the little boy’s maskless face quickly turned to horror, but as to why, he didn’t say. Maybe all these strange people distressed him like they did Lewa? Everyone else had a lot more in common with one another than he did with them. Either way, he didn’t even try to figure out what the matter was. Instead he took a step back from the group that was beginning to coalesce, slung his axe onto his back again, and crossed his arms to wait for someone to start explaining.

The best he got was the warrior of metal and black cloth, the only one here whose face Lewa couldn’t see in all its unnerving detail. Unfortunately for him, that knight shared no insight about who, what, or why, instead telling everyone that their task wasn’t done yet after all. He asked the others to join him and the tiny organic he seemed responsible for in order to ‘give chase’. “What? Why?” Lewa raised and rubbed his masked head with one hand, glancing around at the alien beings arrayed before him. “Hold on just one second-moment. I didn’t want anyone in pain-hurt, so I wanted to protect scared little-things, but I’m just completely stumped by…everything!” He shrugged helplessly. “Don’t think ill-little of me, but let me explain. My name is Lewa, and I'm the Toa of Air, defender of Le-koro. One minute I was patrolling in Le-wahi. Swinging through the jungle, hunting for stray Bohrok. Then, light-flash! And I’m here. What is this place? Who are you? What are you? In my whole life, I’ve never seen such flesh-meat creatures before. Never thought-dreamed such a thing could be possible. Thank Mata Nui we’re even able to talk-speak with each other. I mean, is this a dream? Has the war-fight against the Swarm scrambled my noggin-brain like a Gukko egg?” He clapped both hands against the sides of his mask, his bright yellow-green eyes rolling around like lost marbles. After slumping over for a moment in defeat, he straightened up again, his mask somehow molded to portray his confusion. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy to help if I can. But this is all so nuts. I need to go home. The Matoran need me. My brothers need me!” He stared at the humans entreatingly, hoping that one of them might have an answer.

She didn’t end up having to contemplate whether she’d have to use her Armageddon spell for very long, because almost as soon as she’d raised a barricade, the attempts to shoot through the windows ended. As did the sound of combat because, according to the flying woman, Sanae, they’d scared off the attackers.

At least that is how she interpreted it, mind more focused on the relief that it was on how exactly that had come to pass.

Then, before the boost adrenaline died down, she got another, different kind of boost, as the boy offered them thanks, which caused a small flash of light to appear around Rayne, along with metallic clink of two thin translucent teal chains forming and then disappearing.

“Oh!” The Witch Knight started as she felt the power return to her, causing her to float up and off of the ground, the Link having ironically unlinked her from gravity. A shimmer of magic formed in each hand briefly as she flexed a pair of familiar magical muscles, reaching for her sword and ‘gun’ for a moment to make sure they were still there.

All that took less than a handful of heartbeats, after which she nodded to the young boy in her own thanks, before seeing his concerned face and wondering what was wrong. She didn’t have to think on it herself however, as the knight had already figured it out: the native’s home was still in danger.

“If there’s still people to save, then of course I’m coming” she started to tell the knight when he asked if any of them would be willing to go after the Ravens. But in doing so she had to turn to face him, and his body could only block what he (and a few others) had done to the attackers. Her final words faltered, and she found herself clapping a hand over her mouth, looking and feeling sick to her stomach at the sight of the slaughtered.

Blood and mangled bodies lay in the grass outside the church, the results of a lethal and decidedly one sided battle. It shook her to her core. She knew this was what happened when people fought, her fellow knight witches had killed living soldiers as well as golems during the war under the broken sky, this she knew, though only as of the prior day due to that information being hushed post conflict.

But at the same time, it looked like not a single scratch had been laid upon the summoned people who had slain them, so she had to ask, voice quite yet forceful “Did you have to kill them? They never stood a chance”

Whatever argument over morality that question resulted in might have to wait, because at more or less the same moment she asked, the ax wielding green golem broke down under the pressure of all the unanswered questions.

“That doesn't-” she started to dismiss his concerns, more worried about the deaths that had occurred, and would occur if they lingered, but that wasn’t fair. He’d said he wanted to help despite his confusion, and it wasn’t right to put him down, or use him as a way to put down her own similar thoughts and fears, at least in terms of how they got here, or how they’d get back. Then, as that chain of thought rolled through her mind, it remembered something for her.

“You said there was a goddess who spoke to you, right?” she asked the boy rhetorically, as if that was the most normal thing for someone to claim, before running with that information and inferring that “If she brought us here, then maybe she could send us back after we’ve helped?”

She emphasized that last part, very eager to get moving, and she would, as soon as she knew if any of the others would be coming, and if they would be able to keep up with her dashing through the skies.

With the enemy now retreating, Saria was content to try to answer the question of why they were here. There was no guarantee that the retreating enemy--given the ease with which they had been fought off--would be willing to chance another encounter with any possibility of resistance until they got their bearings. Yet there was some risk that the soldiers would head straight for the village. To kill two birds with one stone, it would be better if their group were to seek answers there rather than in a ruined building like this one.

The vouivre voiced her assent, and was about to leave when she caught one of the girls--Rayne, she believed?--asking about the death. A look that seemed to be echoed on some of the others' faces. That... would be a problem, it was odd that these people could actually fight enough to have been pulled out, yet were soft enough to be put off by the outcome of combat. But she couldn't be too blunt.

Yet nor was there time to spare anyone's feelings.

"Keeping an enemy alive when they want to kill you is a luxury. You need enough of a strength advantage to go for a less-lethal option, access to such an option, an awareness of how resilient your enemy is, and either an assurance that they won't come back as soon as they can or somewhere to keep them," Saria stated, looking around to emphasise how little that last one applied. "Soldiers will either return to their duties or become bandits on defeat. Incapacitating them would be to ask the locals to repeat our fight again and again.

"I admit to using more force than needed, but humans in my own world display a large degree of variance in their endurance and protection. It was safest to work from a worst-case scenario."