It charged.

Boar were typically aggressive, but she hadn't made any sudden movements. It had only threatened for a brief moment before throwing its bulky body towards her.

Maybe it was just that frightened, or maybe it was hungry. It wasn't like boars only ate plants.

Youmu leaned forward, both hands on Roukanken's hilt.

It hadn't run from an unknown threat, and that was what was important. A beast so eager to attack people wasn't safe to allow to rampage. And the blood on its tusks told a story, too.

It wasn't as if Youmu was a particular expert on animals, but she'd hunted a few times for Yuyuko-sama and knew at least enough to do that.

Her legs tensed.

She couldn't move as fast as usual, not with the damage done to her phantom half. But she could certainly move faster then the boar.

The half-phantom sprang forward, a rush of air following her motion, a cloud of dust leaping from the spot she once occupied.

First, the tusks.

Roukanken sliced the air as Youmu moved, meeting no resistance whatsoever.

The boar's tusks sailed through the air, the razor-sharp points hurtling upwards before hitting the ground moments later.

As the boar responded, still trying to toss its head and impale her, Youmu's eyes narrowed and she stepped to the side.

Roukanken glittered as she raised it over her head, the long-bladed katana shimmering as the boar began to thunder past.

And then she brought it down, lunging forward at the same time.

The beast's thick hide would doubtlessly have saved it from all manner of assault by the local hunters. But the youkai-forged edge cut through it and the dense muscle beneath like it didn't even exist.

A shower of blood followed her path as she passed beneath the boar's throat.

Had she come from above, Youmu was confident she could have beheaded the beast. But the deep cut from below was more than enough in this case.

Youmu came to a halt.

Roukanken's edge wasn't even stained.

@PKMNB0Y

The first thing Rayne did when she got back down was hover over to the wall guards, and gave whoever was incharge of them (or just convenient, depending on how ad-hoc their posting up here was) the lay of the land she’d gotten from up high. No heralds in sight, which meant either they were long gone, or hiding somewhere. Admittedly not the most reassuring news, but at least they knew they weren't mustering for an attack just over the nearest ridge line.

“Plus, if they feel the need to hide, then at least they're scared about us finding them,” she concluded, which was a little boon of hope for all.

After that, well, she wanted to make herself useful, but the first thing she saw getting was the body moving and, she had to admit, she was very much in the squeamish camp on this one. It was, frankly, dreadful to see just how many lives had been lost to senseless violence, and she did include the heralds in that, even if they were to blame for instigating the whole bloody mess.

On a practical level she also wasn’t very well suited to hauling bodies two or more times her size.

She could destroy things fine enough though.

As a result she ended up helping by cutting the none corpse based detritus down into more manageable chunks, summoning runedge and then cleaving it down in two hands to split ruined timber into haul-able sections. Her flight also helped out, letting her float up to the roofs and upper floors of damage building to assess the damage, or even letting her act like a crane via rope tied around her waist which she could then use to haul stuff up and out of tough spots, be it bundles of scrap or buckets or rock or whole items.

While doing this, and between calling out reports from her elevated position, Rayne got plenty of time for small talk that would have been a lot more inappropriate had she been body hauling, picking up bits and pieces of info about the world as she did, and distracting others from the previous days with the tall tales of her adventures and strange home world. She ended up learning a whole lot about farming as a result, which others might have considered a bit worthless, but given that she and her husband had been mushroom farmers in between the two world ending disasters that had befallen their world, that was business as usual for her.

Magic. Anne couldn’t help but frown at the word. Where she came from, even the most inexplicable phenomena were rooted in advanced science or lost technology, and could fundamentally be explained and reproduced if only they were understood. This planet, on the other hand, was so far behind the times they didn’t even seem to have spaceships. Under such circumstances it was no wonder that superstition had taken hold.

There were jewel users in the North, on the Absolute Defence Line. Most likely that second item has similar properties. That could make it a powerful weapon in the right hands, but Anne herself wouldn’t be able to use it. And besides, why would the Heralds give their enemy something that could be used against them?

While she puzzled over the gem, Kendrick dug up something she’d entirely failed to notice before. Anne quickly read through the note, and her eyes went wide as she reached the end.

“Alvin mentioned a god as well. Or a Goddess, rather.” She threw a worried glance towards Millie. “He claimed that the entity spoke with Millie’s voice, and summoned me here along with the others. Which, if this note is true, would explain why…” Snuffed out like a light, it said. Was there even any hope of recovering that girl anymore?

Urgently now, she told Kendrick the rest of what she knew. “We first appeared in a church—but Alvin said he’d never seen it before. The entity working through his sister was gone by the time I arrived, but supposedly she called herself Lavielle.” She searched his eyes for any sign of recognition, familiarity.

“If the Heralds wrote that note, then it’s proof they knew about this Goddess and her connection to Millie. If they were after the kids from the start, then they must have known before we even arrived.” Either they wanted access to the power that had brought Anne and the others here, or they bought into what the entity had called herself: a goddess, and object of worship.

Better hope it’s not the second option. Power-hungry armies were one thing, but religious fanatics were some of the worst types of all to deal with.

@PKMNB0Y

Considering that the beast could have very easily panicked and attacked the instant Lewa made himself known, the toa saw his potential friend's somewhat ambivalent response as extremely positive. No progress had been made, of course, but at least further progress could be made. Newfound hope brightened his eyes as he prepared to take the next few crucial steps. He did not get ahead of himself, however, or let his enthusiasm blind him. As positive as things seemed to be going so far, something was definitely wrong. Maybe the boar should have responded more vehemently. Just as Lewa was beginning to notice the irregularities in its appearance, the fur matted and blackened with dried blood, Remilia hovered over to bring him up to speed.

Lewa listened in a state of intense focus, though her explanation was brief. As he suspected, the boar was in bad shape, enough so that Remilia judged its days to be numbered. Although he'd be sad to see such a majestic beast go, its kind were evidently not rare around here at the moment, and death was an inescapable part of nature. If the boar's life was his only concern, Lewa wouldn't be inclined to disappear. The problem lay in what the animal could do to the struggling villagers nearby, whether in a rage driven by pain or disease, or just as a result of its everyday activities. He paused, his eyes narrowing as the Scarlet Devil made her suggestion. Given the boar's enormity, a nonlethal takedown would be very difficult. Lewa doubted he harbored the strength to stun it, should that opportunity even arise. Maybe Onua could, but not the Toa of Air. It seemed just as unlikely that his weapon of choice could be used to inflict nonlethal damage. Axes were made for felling things, be they they trees or foes. And could his elemental power even budge a beast of this size? His only option would be some sort of trap. The trees around here featured, a distinctive lack of vines, though. A pitfall, maybe...?

Even with a mask on, Lewa couldn't hide his uneasiness. "That would be...difficult," he told Remilia, succinctly summarizing his thoughts. Not for the first time, he found himself wishing that his sister Gali was here. Water could cleanse and soothe, and it sounded like this poor creature needed both. Living things might need air to breathe, but wind couldn't enliven or rejuvenate.

Or could it?

Rather than continuing to speak, Lewa diverted his attention and looked around the forest-ringed clearing. Everything here, from the smallest insect to the biggest tree, needed air. The flow of carbon dioxide from animals and oxygen from plants created a sustained cycle, uniting all forms of life. Everything moved to a certain natural rhythm, a beat like the drums of Le-koro...no, like the rhythmic rise and fall of lungs. Lewa could hear it--the boar's breath that came in strained, irregular heaves. Its rhythms had been damaged, destabilized. By what, he could not guess, but anything that was broken could be fixed again. Life would find a way, but sometimes it needed a little help.

Lewa stepped away from Remilia, and began to breathe. He took deep breaths, in and out, and he repeated this action, the air around him began to move. In, and out. In, and out. Bit by bit, it got louder. Stronger. It was a pulse, like the heartbeat of life itself. Not a threat, like a gathering storm, but a symphony with an open invitation, inviting all to join. Like music, it could be irrepressible, but calming and comfortable. Lewa believed that a natural harmony united all living things. The boar was hurt, agitated, distracted, out of sync with nature, but it could still recover. It could rest, still its addled mind, and kickstart its regeneration, all systems go...if it just got back on beat.

"Breathe, my friend," Lewa said softly, getting closer. If he could approach, he would lay his hands on the beast's body and stroke it, slow and gentle. "Breathe..." Around him, the forest itself seemed to breathe with him, begging all to join in the choir, consciously or unconsciously. Hopefully, this would allow the boar to relax.

Before she could even attempt to batter away at the giant boar's hide, the green-haired shrine maiden watched as the half-ghost gardener cleanly dismantled any semblance of an attack from the boar—and the boar itself on top of that. Sanae couldn't help but grimace as blood spurted out of the boar's neck as it's charge slowed to a stop just a few steps away from where Youmu had cleaved through, and the bleeding corpse of the beast did the gruesome scene no favors in terms of palatability.

"Eugh. Remind me to never fight you without spellcard rules," Sanae remarked as she floated back down to ground level, taking care not to actually step on the ground lest the blood soak into her shoes. "But, well, that's that settled, I guess? Pretty huge boar, though; I don't think I've seen any ever grow that big, even on Youkai Mountain. Maybe that hermit might have one, but..."

As the young woman trailed off, lost in her thoughts as she was, Joker's question caused her to reconsider the situation once more instead of reminiscing about her new homeland. Certainly, if it was boars they were talking about, there was no reason to think that there would only be one or two present; doubly so if this one was as aggressive as it was, given how it charged at them a few seconds after noticing their presence.

"Uh... Maybe, maybe not?" she responded, unsure if any response she gave would be meaningfully helpful in the least.

Thankfully enough, someone with more sense about the world than the three of them did seemed to have chosen to follow; strength in numbers, perhaps?

"Oh gods, that's a big earthmane boar," spoke Derek as he finally caught up with the group. "Why the heck's one all the way out here?"

"Out here?" Sanae asked, raising an eyebrow at the hunter's comment. "Are they not native to the area?"

"Er... No, they're native, but I've never seen one all the way out here. They're usually solitary creatures, but they rarely come anywhere near this area. Usually they're deeper into the forest, closer to the mountain than not. Does explain what I saw, though..."

"Huh. Would it be worth checking further out, then? This one had some blood on it's tusks when we met it, and judging by the looks of things, that blood was pretty fresh," Sanae replied, crossing her arms as she glanced at the tusk that had been sliced clean off the creature. A once-over of it would indeed confirm that there was (somewhat) fresh blood layered upon it.

"...Yep, definitely recent. I don't think I'd be surprised if the others ran into a boar or two, too."

"Well, earthmane boars are definitely out of my comfort zone, so I'll leave figuring out what exactly is going on to you. In fact, I'll do the smart thing and head back to town so we can grab some people to haul this thing back; heavens know we're going to need the food, and it'd be a waste to leave this beast to rot," Derek responded before turning back around.

Once he had departed, Sanae turned back towards the boar's corpse for a moment before refocusing towards the other two others who were still standing by. The 'what' of the situation had been answered, but the 'why', less so.

"So... Either of you two want to follow the trail of destruction this thing left, or should we try and regroup with the others before doing anything?"

---

Remilia's approach towards Lewa immediately drew a more cautious response from the boar, almost as if it smelled the blood upon the wind that emanated from her—not that such a scent was easy to escape from given her nature, of course, but it was likely that she would have elicited such a response from the injured creature simply because she was yet another unknown creature appearing in front of it.

Uncertainty still gripped the creature's heart as it let out a half-huff, half-snort and adopted a slightly more aggressive stance. But Lewa's own actions, undeterred as they were by its posturing, caused the boar to briefly ready itself for combat——

Only for the strange green being to begin to breathe in and out. Such an action was confusing to the boar, of course, but whether or not it seemed to be consciously aware of what was happening, the animal began to breathe in tandem with Lewa. The tense and taut muscles in it's body slackened ever so slightly, and though that sense of unease never truly faded, the creature seemed to calm down enough for the Toa of Wind to reach out and touch it.

A wild beast was not so easily tamed, but it seemed like the animal wasn't going to lash out unless someone or something attempted to attack it now.

@VitaVitaAR@Izurich@Lugubrious@EchoWolff

---

"Whoa, hold on, I can only take in so much at a time," Kendrick replied, holding his hands out ever so slightly in front of him so as to keep Anne from speaking far faster than he had a chance to figure it out. Once the woman had finished her hasty explanation as to the circumstances behind their presence here (and by extension what had happened to the two children the day prior), though, the guard could only take a while longer to fully process what he had been given.

"Right, well... I don't remember any goddess with the name Lavielle, and I'm not all that well versed in religious matters, so I'm not exactly the best person to ask about this. Unfortunately, the old man who ran the church here passed in the attack, so you won't have any luck with that here..." he said as he looked at the note that she seemed to be panicking over.

"...Honestly, I don't even know what this thing says. How can you even read this? I've never seen any script like it."

Shrugging his shoulders, Kendrick put the note back in the box where it had been initially before picking up the necklace in turn.

"But putting that aside for the moment... You're saying that this was a planned thing? Kidnapping Millie for some unknown deity? How would they even know she was—"

Before he could even finish his sentence, a faint glow would envelop the necklace, and the amulet dangling at the end of the chain would begin to subtly pull itself towards Millie's still-slumbering body.

@Drifting Pollen

---

While the others were busy on their own little sidequests, Rayne was at liberty to speak with those still willing and able around the town. While saying that they were in high spirits would have been a bald-faced lie, the townsfolk seemed to be able to at least converse with her about what had been before this whole incident had transpired.

Aventon was, as would be fairly evident, a frontier town. It was somewhat more developed than one might have expected from a settlement so far from any centers of transportation, but being situated near water and close to national borders meant that it was more something between an outpost and place of interest.

Not that the townsfolk really understood why this place was so important, though; most of them had been here for a generation or two at most, which meant that though they cared for the land upon which they were born, it was more sentimentality than any sense of geopolitical importance that they wished to remain.

But maybe that was for the best?

Either way, conversations would drift from one topic to the next as Rayne continued to help clear away all of the rubble and debris impeding any chance of timely repairs. From the occasional trade caravans that went to and from the town through the southern gate to the odd ruins that were scattered throughout the forest (that nobody really desired to look into given the other matters of import throughout the years) to the inevitable lamentations about those who would rest in eternal slumber and many others beyond that, there was no shortage of things to speak of.

The first point, of course, might have been the most interesting in it's own right; apparently, a trade caravan was scheduled to arrive some time in the next few days. Whether or not it would arrive remained to be seen, but if it did...

Well, expecting merchants to part with their goods for free was folly in and of itself, but maybe there was something to be gained in bartering with them.

@DracoLunaris

Though the injured Earthmane Boar reacted to her presence, Remilia hypothesized that somewhere in that bestial mind, it figured that its best tactic right now was bluffing. It was agitated due to its injuries, but also due to those same injuries, it couldn't really afford a fight right now. Indeed, she'd call its bluff and instead focus on planning with Lewa. "I suppose so." She quipped with a small shrug, but she did promise that she'd let him at least try to solve the issue without killing the rahi.

Thus, the moment Lewa decided on a plan of action, Remilia hovered back a few inches, letting the Toa of Air perform supernatural feats befitting of his title. Though the Scarlet Devil watched in respectful silence, she couldn't help but wonder about an interesting pattern, I wonder if there's a connection between aeromancy and being green...? between Sanae and Lewa, Then again, that nosy Crow Tengu is anything but green... Just a coincidence then, or Aya could be the exception that prove the rule, either way, more sample size was needed. Right now though, she subjected herself to being an observer as the biomechanical guardian commanded the very winds with his breaths, creating a rhythmic pulse resembling that of a heartbeat.

Is this... essentially a meditation therapy...? Remilia mused, her hypothesis supported by the fact that the beast began to relax, its strained aggressive breaths calming down to a steady rhythm, just like the winds. Hooo~ peculiar, and convenient. I should introduce this aeromantic therapy to everyone at home, ...except Meiling, it'll just make her doze off even more that she already does.

With the boar pacified, Remilia quietly soared over Lewa and the beast, hovering a meter or so above them, then she closed her eyes with her arms slightly raised at her sides. "..." As usual, Remilia tapped into her haemomancy as scarlet mist began oozing from her petite frame, but unlike natural mist, it moved with purpose as it gently flowed down, covering the boar's body with denser pockets settling upon its wounds. If the beast let the vampiress do her work undisturbed, it'd feel a warm, comforting sensation as if being embraced; bruises would recede, lacerations would knit close, and even gangrene would regenerate into fresh, living tissue. It'd take some time due to its size and Remilia's impaired powers, but eventually, it'd no longer have to worry about any pain or discomfort ...with a less fatalistic implication than what the other boar experienced with Youmu.

@Lugubrious @PKMNB0Y

To Lewa's great relief -not to mention delight- his wild idea actually seemed to be working. It was one thing to put stock in nature's natural rhythms, and to try to live in harmony with the world around him. It was another to try turning those underlying principles to his advantage, and truth be told, he hadn't been sure that this would achieve anything. Perhaps his intent played into the outcome; he wasn't acting out of selfishness, but out of a genuine desire to help this ailing beast relax and recover. And despite the odds, his meditative breathing managed to work a miracle. As the poor creature unwittingly synchronized with surroundings, its agitation melted away, replaced by a soothing calm in which healing could begin.

While the toa's efforts helped even more than he could have hoped for, the mere act of breathing could not mend the enormous boar's grisly wounds or clean away the contamination festering within. Once he felt sure that his new friend wouldn't lash out in unprovoked hostility, Lewa slowly moved aside to give Remilia a chance to work her own magic. He stayed close of course, continuing to run his hand through the beast's coarse bristles in an effort to keep it placated, but for now the Scarlet Devil was the star of the show. Having no inherent aversions to injury in organic beings, Lewa watched her hemomancy at work intently, fascinated by an ability that defied elemental classification. Her sorcery bore a few similarities to his sister Gali's power over water, both in appearance and effect, but he could not lump these abilities together in good faith. "What an incredible power," Lewa marveled, his tone low and soft so as to keep the convalescing boar unperturbed. "To be able to do such kindness for others, you must be a beloved doctor in your homeland."

"How can you even read this? I've never seen any script like it."

"What?" A fresh frown of concern from Anne, who now had to grapple with this latest confusion. "It was just..." Just the same kind of writing practically everyone used across the known human worlds, ever since their unification more than two hundred years ago. Less neat than if it had been typed, but still easily legible to an educated woman like Anne. If Kendrick hadn't brought it up, she probably wouldn't have even noticed anything amiss.

That fact that he couldn't read this particular script, however, had major implications. It was possible this world had been cut off from wider civilization long enough for alternative languages to become prevalent—except if that was the case, then shouldn't she have had trouble understanding Kendrick's speech? Even assuming a smaller divergence in spoken language, it seemed odd that Anne hadn't noticed any unusual vernacular, or even that much of an accent. And that was putting aside all the other strangers who'd been summoned here, from places too far-flung to recognize.

...Something's translating for us. A leap of logic, but it made sense. The Goddess summoned us here for some purpose, and it'd be hard for us to take action if we couldn't understand anyone around us. Anne could imagine achieving something like that via implants, but her body should have rejected any such foreign objects... Meaning whatever mechanism let her understand the language here had to be external. Was it drawing power from Millie's body?

It was only when Kendrick stopped talking that the Knight realized something had happened with the necklace. Her eyes slowly followed his gaze to the glowing, bobbing trinket, and widened just a fraction at the sight.

"...That's probably your answer right there." She looked largely unsurprised by this latest development, more like a suspicion of hers had just been confirmed. "I don't know if the Heralds made it themselves or they got it from somewhere else, but if they have stronger versions of this, they could triangulate Millie's position from anywhere on the planet." A pause, as she considered. "Assuming she's the only one, at least." If it worked like Paranormal Powers did, then it could be a hereditary factor that primed its user for possession by the 'Goddess.' Though, based on the results, it's more like a curse than a power.

She nodded her head toward Kendrick. "Keep it, if you want. I don't trust the Heralds, but something like that ought to at least be useful for keeping an eye on her."

@PKMNB0Y

Given Youmu's natural inclination to do what was "right" when not honor-bound by her mistress, it was rather unsurprising to Sanae that the half-ghost gardener was in favor of pursuing whatever it was that had driven the aggressive "earthmane boar" from where it usually called home. The boar itself seemed to display no reason to be so aggressive besides it's prodigious size, however, which didn't exactly bode well with regards to what might be lurking deeper in the forest...

But that mattered little when there was the possibility of the threat simply cascading further out of control if left unchecked. Though the shrine maiden had intended to return to Aventon once the source of the hunter's worries had been discovered, a part of her was left concerned enough to simply follow after Youmu and Joker in their pursuit. Hopefully, Lewa and Remilia would join them ere long, but who knew how long that would take. She couldn't really say anything about Lewa, of course, but given what she knew of the Scarlet Devil it wouldn't have been surprising in the least if she didn't work on the same sense of time that the rest of them did.

To that end, traveling further into the forest was a straightforward enough matter; with the now-deceased boar's muscling past (and uprooting) trees left and right and Sanae's choice to simply float up past the treetops to direct the group in the general direction away from the town, finding whatever was at the root of the issue wouldn't take anywhere as long as incident resolution traditionally did.

What was harder to notice further away from the ground, though, were more odd marks upon both the trees and the ground beneath their feet. Sanae herself would be unable to notice it, high above the ground as she was, but those closer to the ground (and a keen eye) would find more signs of something subtly unsettling on top of all that.

---

Coupled with Lewa's efforts to calm the boar's anxious heart, Remilia's magic would make steady progress healing the beast's wound. It wouldn't take long, however, for the reason for the wound's nasty appearance to reveal itself to the pair. Once the swollen, rotting flesh had been cleared away, the injury itself—which seemed more like deep puncture wounds opposite one another than the distinct clamping down of jaws—could be seen. Closing that wound would have simply been the end of things in one sense of the word, but it wouldn't take long before some impurities within the boar's blood would begin to siphon out of the open wound.

To be more specific, a deeply-hued, semi-translucent purple fluid would begin to pour from the open wound before any sort of meaningful healing began in turn. Despite this fact, the boar seemed to remain as it was. Maybe the fact that the two strangers were relieving it of its pain was being acknowledged in a sense, but given how the pair was removing what ailed it, maybe that was to be expected.

@VitaVitaAR@EchoWolff@Izurich@Lugubrious

---

While it was mildly odd to Kendrick that Anne seemed to be confused by her ability to read that document, the older man seemed less concerned about the minutiae of how she knew and more that she did. Any information was good information as they were busy trying to piece together what little they knew, and if the woman who had saved the kids was able to get that from a paper that may as well have been useless, then what reason did he have to complain?

But what seemed to be more noteworthy than even that was how the necklace was beginning to react to Millie. The fact that it had begun to move towards her body lent credence to Anne's own theories, but something about the situation piqued Kendrick's interest. Sure, the fact that it was reacting to her presence did imply that the enemy was tracking her...

But why, then, would it only react now instead of when they had first opened the box here?

"Mmm... There's too many questions and not enough answers. Why would someone give you things like that in the first place? If they were tracking Millie, wouldn't it have been easier to not let us know they could to begin with?" he asked before the glow upon the necklace intensified for a brief moment.

At the same time, though, Millie—who had up until this point been left in her deathlike sleep—seemed to almost... Stir in response. The young girl's body shifted around in what looked to be mild discomfort, and a soft groan could barely be heard slipping through her lips...

@Drifting Pollen

Though currently debilitated, the lilac-haired vampiress had no illusion that her blood magic wouldn't be able to eventually mend the boar's body; it was a creature of flesh and blood after all, and as long as the recipient wasn't actively resisting her ministrations, this beneficial application of her sanguine powers had few practical differences as any other healing spells. Despite the treatment taking longer than she preferred had she not been enfeebled, everything was proceeding as expected... well, almost everything. Mmm... curious. Remilia noted the strange aubergine solution flowing out of its puncture wounds before they were cleansed and closed by her scarlet mist, Purple liquid, the cause of the rot? Ah, venom, perhaps? But by whom...? A notable development for sure, something she should share with the others, but later, she wasn't finished yet.

Eventually, the Earthmane Boar looked as fresh as it could be; its injuries treated and spirits lifted, it was free to go about its days without having to worry about succumbing to death's embrace anytime soon. For her part, Remilia descended back down to Lewa, hovering at the Air Toa's eye-level, "It's done, I suppose it's time to send the rahi on its way." However Lewa would accomplish this, Remilia would simply watch the sizable creature depart before returning her attention to the green-clad biomechanical guardian, "Why, you flatter me, Sir Lewa~" Far from shying away from compliments, Remilia was visibly relishing in the praise, "Regrettably, as amusing as it is, no, I am not. A mistress of the house, a socialite, a schemer, a connoisseur of fine vintage, I'm known as all of these, but doctor isn't one of them." But who's to say that she couldn't be? Maybe having a competition would push that hack Eirin to take her duties seriously, "Funnily enough, Sir Lewa, due to your nature, my rejuvenation powers won't be able to touch you, but I suppose you'll need a mechanic, not a healer." Unfortunately, Nitori wasn't here... right?

Back onto the matter at hand, "By the way, did you notice what I noticed, Sir Lewa?" The petite youkai paused for a moment, "The boar's blood was tainted with what appeared to be venom. I wonder... who or what was responsible for it?" But regardless of her hypothesis, they weren't going to find the answer here, "I believe it'll be prudent of us to rendezvous with Sanae and the others." Remilia nodded before she began floating away, preferably together with Lewa.
..........
.....
...

Eventually, Remilia would track down and reunite herself with the others, "We meet again, comrades." She would then waste no time at relaying her report of what had transpired on her and Lewa's end, "...and so, with our efforts combined, we pacified and healed the creature. However, I did notice that the beast was afflicted with some kind of harmful concoction, likely venom until proven otherwise." She finished before noticing the odd marks upon the trees around her and the grassy ground beneath her hovering form, "Aha~ what's this? Another set of clues?" It wouldn't take a Satori to notice the Scarlet Devil's curious amusement.

@Lugubrious @PKMNB0Y @VitaVitaAR @EchoWolff

"I'm not sure... It could be their version of a peace offering. After all, they wouldn't have wanted us to keep harrying their forces after they retreated from the village." Anne hadn't witnessed the battle herself, but she'd seen a number of Herald bodies littered about the village, with injuries that couldn't have been dealt by a bunch of under-equipped guards. If there was one factor that all the summoned strangers seemed to have in common, it was their combat strength, great enough to put any one of them on par with an entire platoon of soldiers.

Even as she said it, though, she felt that this couldn't be the right answer. Closing her eyes, the Knight tried to think back to the events in the cave, and what the Herald commander had said before leaving. Make use of them. Place your life on the line to keep her safe. And then there was the note...

"The alternative is that they wanted us to use these. If the necklace has a function of its own, then it makes sense that it could be used in concert with the other two items." Whatever their reasons, the Heralds wanted Millie alive, and the note read like a warning of a potential danger. Maybe the box had been meant as a way to help—to keep Millie's soul from being 'snuffed out' by the Goddess, which was the one outcome neither Anne nor the Heralds could abide.

Of course, the girl herself chose that exact moment to finally show some sign of life. Anne lifted her head at the sound of the groan, briefly met Kendrick's eyes, and then made her way across the room to where Millie was resting. "Millie? Can you hear me?" The callused fingers of her right hand—the biological one—gently touched the girl's wrist, checking on her pulse.

@PKMNB0Y

Going from a bamboo forest to a church by an ordinary deciduous forest was one of the more unexpected things that happened to Mokou in recent times. Not impossibly unexpected, she had only recently found herself being teleported to the Outside World, but that had been due to actively collecting objects to facilitate it. She didn't think there was some weird incident to be pulled into this time... at least, nobody unusual had been coming through to pick fights, which was probably the only thing to go on.

Or maybe this counted as a weird incident? Something of an annoying one, since it didn't look like it was going to wear off as quickly as her last foray out of Gensokyo, and these trees were not native to Japan. Nor was the architecture of the crumbling building. Still, if she looked around long enough, there would probably be somebody.

If not, it didn't really matter. It wasn't like there was anything she was in a hurry to get back to.

She was saved from having to follow a trail back to a settlement by the sound of voices. And she recognised that one.

"You!" The pointing wasn't necessary, but it gave her time to pick out other people except the vampire. Some green thing, boy, a green-haired girl that seemed vaguely familiar, that ghost's strange gardener... what was she doing with the devil? Had there been a trade in underlings? "You're not going to try have that maid eat me again, right?"

With this strange group, maybe Remilia wasn't the one behind this? Not if she was going to be out in the daytime. Even if she had only moved into Gensokyo recently and was more likely to know a way to get people out again.

Boar could normally be pretty aggressive, but everything the hunter said made it sound like this was still an unusual situation. Both for the boar to be in this location, and for it to attack so quickly.

Hopefully, the townsfolk would be able to quickly collect the body. It didn't make sense not to, when they definitely needed the resources. Besides, Youmu herself was plenty familiar with hunting on Yuyuko-sama's request and thus bringing home an animal's body to be prepared.

The fact that this was all so out of the ordinary meant that something had to be happening, didn't it? Youmu couldn't quite equate it to an incident in her mind, not when this place clearly operated differently then anything she knew, but---

The petite half-phantom sighed.

They'd have to go deeper to find anything out, something she quickly agreed with. There was no use stopping now.

It wasn't long before they ran into the others again. Frankly, Youmu still had no idea what was going on with the green machine man. He was like something the kappa might make... or that Kochiya-san might have in one of her games or books.

But according to Scarlet-sama, he was apparently good with wildlife, somehow.

"We encountered one of these boars as well," she responded, "But it was aggressive, and so I dealt with it."

She paused for a moment when she saw the strange marks on the ground and on some of the trees nearby. They were... what were they?

It wasn't as if she was some incredible tracker. Most of the time, hunting for Yuyuko-sama, she simply flew at top speed and took some animal off guard by doing so.

So it wasn't as if she recognized tracks.

But in this case she simply didn't have any clue what possibly could have made them in the first place. It looked like something had scratched the ground and trees hundreds and hundreds of times.

"Er... what... is this?" she asked, "It doesn't look like any animal-"

Where did Fujiwara no Mokou come from!?

The Hourai Immortal just emerged from no-where! Youmu didn't even know she was there in the first place!

"Where... where did you come from?" she found herself blurting out before thinking.

Were there other people from Gensokyo here, just waiting to spring out of the trees suddenly? It's not that she would be opposed to seeing familiar faces, but at the same time it just raised even more questions!

@PKMNB0Y@EchoWolff@Izurich@Lugubrious

@PKMNB0Y





It was always strange when a Heroic Spirit returned to the Throne. Floating around in the seemingly endless void, only decorated by odd azure streams of light and dots of the same color that shined like stars in the night sky, there wasn't anything to do, really. Nothing but waiting for the next call from the Holy Grail. The next summoning from a Magus, eager to participate in the Holy Grail War for a chance to seize the coveted wish-granting chalice.

Honestly for the Berserker, a nice change of pace was needed. Like the last Grail War she was in.

Sure, the goal was the same, but she and her Master were fighting alongside six other Servants and Masters against another team of Servants and Masters. Pretty sure that's not how it usually goes, but what does she know? She was there to fight for her Master for a chance to get a wish......or die trying like she did.

Still, as Fran smiled fondly, she liked Caules. The boy could use some confidence but he was kind. She really hoped he lived through that Grail War. She then pouted as she recalled her fight with the Saber of Red. That knight was very strong, but also rude and mean. And the Rider of Black? Ugh. So annoying. Always disturbing her when she was picking flowers. She hopes the next Grail War she is summoned to doesn't have that pink-haired fool in it as we-

"Heroes from beyond the rift, I beseech thee..."

Huh?

Fran swiveled her head in all directions, trying to locate the voice in the void, but she was unable to. The voice felt like it was everywhere. This....shouldn't even be possible, what with how far removed the Throne was from time and space. What is going on here?

"...take up arms and bring forth salvation—if not in the name of Lavielle, then of your own————!"

Before she could contemplate on what that even meant, she suddenly started falling. Actually falling.

"Ah!", Fran yelped at the abrupt descent. However, it was not long into her fall that a shining white light appeared below her and was rapidly approaching. Soon, the light became too bright and Fran closed her eyes and raised her arms to shield herself as the light completely engulfed her.

A second later, she disappeared without a trace...

---

As the surviving villagers went about their day scavenging and surveying the damage to their homes, none of them noticed the shining white light briefly appearing over their town.

But they did notice, or rather heard, was the one that came through said light.

"-aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAH!"

A loud crash echoed throughout the town's central hub, kicking up a dust cloud and sending the surrounding villagers scrambling for safety, fearing another Raven Herald attack. After a tense few seconds, no attack had occurred and people slowly came out to investigate, only to see a strange sight coming out of a small newly made crater: A strange peach-haired girl with bangs that covered her eyes wearing what looked to be a wedding dress. The prongs and horn that adorned her head made her look all the odder as she stumbled out into the open, coughing.

"*koff*...*koff*....Uuuugh.", Fran muttered, shaking her head as she recovered from her fall. Not damaged, thankfully, just knocked her sense of balance for a loop. Upon regaining her footing and senses, she then noticed the people staring at her. The berserker can guess why.

"Ummm....H-Hi?", she announced, complete with a small, unsure wave of her hand.

“And so I told her, we don’t sell that kind of truffle but she just wouldn’t-” "-aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAH!" “-huh?”

Rayne’s retelling of a tale from the happiest and least interesting chapter in her life came to a halt when the interesting times she was currently living in came along and reasserted dominance by taking a boot to the monotonous rhythm she’d gotten into with helping the townsfolk with their scavenging.

And what an interruption it was. It wasn’t every day that you got to see a woman fall out of the sky, let alone find her more or less unharmed when you dashed over to see what was going on.

There was a little moment of tension when the horned person emerged as people, Rayne included, waited to see how this sudden arrival would act, one that was thankfully broken by the awkward greeting and wave the stranger gave them that put them all at ease.

It was enough that Rayne stopped focusing on the distinctive mechanical augments the woman had had done to her head, the equivalent of which she’d seen only once (no, twice now actually with Anne) and took the rest of her in. Other than being generally very pretty the other thing about the rest of her appearance that stood out was her outfit, one that prompted Rayne to to raise her hands to her cheek as she gasped “oh no. She didn’t steal you away on your wedding day did she?” before shaking her head lightly and responding to the situation properly, replying “Hi, hello” (along with her own little wave) to the well, greeting.

As she did so she floated down to hover just above the ground and approached to a distance she deemed close enough to not be standoffish, but not so close that she might worry the stranger with her own strangeness before introducing herself. She did so by tipping her witch hat to the stranger and then saying “I’m Rayne, Witch Knight, and, I hope, a friend” before asking “What’s your name?”

Bit by bit, the boar's condition improved, its flesh slowly knitted together and the toxins gradually expunged from its flesh. As the pain subsided, its body language became more relaxed, and Lewa could sense its relief. It wasn't long before he no longer felt the need to continue his elemental breathing exercise, as the condition of Remilia's patient had stabilized, and the unfortunate beast seemed to be on the road to recovery at last. At the same time, however, the toa got the distinct impression that this wasn't over just yet. Despite his lack of familiarity with organic biology, something struck him as oddly anomalous about its afflicted wounds. Still, he couldn't be sure, and resolved to ask Remilia about it once her treatment concluded.

After only a few more moments, the vampire finished. There was nothing else she could do for the boar, and its couldn't claim to be in perfect health, but the fruit borne of the otherworlders' efforts made a world of difference. "The rest is up to you," Lewa told his new friend in a soft voice as he offered a final, reassuring pat. "Eat and drink well, and get plenty of rest. Go now, sister boar." Reinvigorated and as high-spirited as Lewa himself, the creature could head off into the underbrush at a peaceable trot. Even after it disappeared from sight and the sound of heavy footfalls faded, the toa's smile remained. The forest around him seemed that much more full of life, the wind and birdsong a cheerful harmony that permeated leaf and bough. After a moment Remilia interrupted the peace and quiet with her response. While Lewa didn't understand everything she said, the two could share in an unspoken feeling of a job well done, at least for a moment. She mentioned not being able to work her magic on him, which puzzled him somewhat. "I am no less alive than our new beast-friend. Should I suffer injury, I hope you will try to mend-treat me."

She proceeded to confirm his earlier suspicions, and he nodded his assent with her hypothesis. Venom, at least, was something he knew about. Some rahi, like the Nui Jaga scorpions of Po-wahi, wielded it with lethal finesse. One of those highly aggressive arachnids could have easily perpetrated an attack like the one that injured the boar, but given the circumstances Lewa dismissed that possibility outright. Whatever the boar's assailant was, it represented the root cause of the new threat facing the village. "As long as the one responsible remains at large, more rahi like our sister boar may be maddened into rampage by the pain," he pointed out. "If we want to solve this problem for good, we must cut off the head of the Bog Snake." For now though, that could wait until they checked on the others, and brought everyone up to speed on what they found.

Lewa followed Remilia back toward their group's temporary base of operations, still in a good mood. Once there, the vampire took care of all the talking. The others filled him in on what they'd been up to as well, and when Youmu mentioned that she dealt with an aggressive boar, his face fell somewhat. No living thing was inherently evil, just affected by circumstances. The beast she described sounded no different from the one he found, and he'd known from the outset that if he took the wrong tact, his encounter could have gone very differently. None of the others had entertained the possibility of a peaceful outcome, and if they went in to eliminate threats, chances were that their targets responded in kind. Maybe he and Remilia could have saved others; the thought lanced him with regret.

The otherworlders' rendezvous took a sudden turn when another little girl showed up. She quickly made it clear that she knew several of the others present, which quickly deepened Lewa's bewilderment. What was with so many individuals all seized from the same world? At this point, it couldn't be coincidence. From the very beginning the toa had utterly felt out of place, but now he felt more estranged than ever. Was the girls' world the one this whole ordeal revolved around, and he was just along for the ride? Caught in the crossfire of some divine accident? With nothing else to work with, and no anchor of any kind to hold fast to, Lewa maintained his silence.

With how fast Youmu had dispatched the boar earlier, Sanae found Remilia's and Lewa's swift return somewhat surprising. There wasn't anything inherently wrong Lewa's inclination towards trying to nonviolently pacify the boar when they had first split up, but given how the one the three of them ended up staring down was more than ready to send them flying, the shrine maiden had expected them to at least take a while longer in their efforts.

...

Or maybe they had come to a similar resolution to theirs?

Remilia's recounting of the events that had proceeded on their end, however, proved counter to her beliefs—a fact that did leave Sanae at least a bit surprised. What was concerning here, however, was the mention of venom. Putting aside the possibility of the boars themselves being venomous (which didn't exactly seem likely due to their prodigious size), the fact that the injured boar the other pair had encountered was left debilitated from something that wasn't physical exhaustion or injury was worrisome at best.

Any immediate desire to see what it was that Remilia had found, though, was quickly overtaken by the arrival of yet another somewhat-familiar face. Though she wasn't exactly any sort of acquaintance towards the white-haired woman who began proceeding by immediately pointing fingers, that immediate reaction towards both Youmu and Remilia meant that she had to have been a resident of Gensokyo, too. The half-ghost's reaction only further cemented that fact, though absolutely nothing in this situation gave her any indication of who the person in question was.

"Well... That makes four now?" she asked, slowly landing on the ground before giving the newcomer a brief once-over. "Either way, I guess quick introductions are in order, just so we're all on the same page. Kochiya Sanae, resident of the Moriya Shrine. I'm going to guess you're not part of some rescue force to try and get us back home, right?"

It wasn't as if she had expected such a quip to result in anything meaningful, nor did she really want to head back quite yet—not with so many unknowns and so many more threats looming overhead. As long as Kanako-sama and Suwako-sama knew she was safe, she could work without worry.

While all of that was playing out, however, anyone wishing to examine the area further would find that there were more than simply traces of something being simply present. Sifting around in the nearby underbrush would eventually reveal a rather strange cluster of shallow ruts carved into the earth. Further into the forest than that, though, would only further emphasize what it was that had driven the boars out.

After all, the sight of the corpse of an earthmane boar that was no more than skin and bones lying among the underbrush, body hollow and eyes empty, would be more than enough reason for most things to flee. A very notable, roughly-shorn hole in the center of where the boar's stomach had been was front-and-center for all to see, but beyond that...

@VitaVitaAR@EchoWolff@Izurich@Lugubrious@Raineh Daze

---

While displeasure was evident on Kendrick's face as Anne mentioned the possibility of the contents of the box being a peace offering, any further considerations of what deeper meaning they held was promptly thrown out the window as Millie began to stir for the first time since she had arrived. In the same instant that his eyes met Anne's, the guard gave a quick nod before rushing over to the young girl's side.

Millie herself seemed to be in stable condition despite being left in a comatose state for the better half of the last sixteen hours, though that might have been more due to how miraculously everything up until now had lined up. Regardless of that fact, though, the young girl shifted ever so slightly where she lay as Anne tested for her pulse. The woman's words, however, seemed to have a bit more of a profound effect. Hearing her name called, Millie unconsciously pulled her arm back before her eyes opened for the first time in what felt like ages.

"Who...?" she asked, voice weak and raspy as her eyes panned from Anne towards Kendrick. "...Uncle Ken? What happened...? Where's Al?"

"Alvin's... At home right now. He went to go pick something up," Kendrick responded, lying as best he could to cover up what had transpired the night before. "But he'll be back soon enough. Are you okay? Nothing feeling too out of place?"

"Mmgh... My arms and legs hurt, and I'm really thirsty..." she responded, to which Kendrick responded with a nod.

"Well, sleeping on the floor'll definitely do that," he spoke simply, nodding his head before turning towards Anne, then back towards Millie. "This person here—Miss Anne—helped you and your brother out yesterday."

"She saved us from the bad guys?"

"Yeah, she and her friends saved... A lot of people yesterday," he said, slowly rising back to his feet. "...Sorry, but do you mind looking after Millie a bit longer? I want to make sure Alvin... Didn't get distracted."

@Drifting Pollen

"Mmm... that's unfortunate." was what immediately came to the Scarlet Devil's mind when the Gardener of the White Jade Tower revealed that she had "dealt" with the aggressive boar, it wouldn't take a Patchouli to deduce that the tools Youmu used to handle the problem erred on the lethal side of things. For a very brief moment, Remilia glanced at Lewa, spurred by an instinctive curiosity to see if he'd be affected, and somehow, even through that full-face mask of his, she felt... regret. Or maybe I'm just projecting what I thought he'd feel, still, I'd be surprised instead if he felt nothing, considering everything. But what's done is done, the threat was dealt with either way.

However, before Remilia could continue the expedition along with the others, another Gensokyoan made herself known; tall stature, silver hair, could it be-... "Oh." Remilia was so disappointed by the revelation that a heavy groan managed to escape her throat instead of remaining purely in her head. "..." Her slitted eyes were half-closed even as the Immortal Vagabond of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost pointed directly at her, "Uuurgh... Three of you so far but none are Sakuya." By Dracula, she'd even take Meiling at this point, yes, Meiling, better her than... this callously suicidal walking fire hazard. And why did she recognize me first? Why not Sanae or Youmu? Her culture shares a lot more in common with theirs than mine. Don’t tell me, is it because of that one time Sakuya and I stumbled upon her? Was she being unjustifiably harsh to Mokou, who was likely just as lost and confused as them? Perhaps, but she couldn't help herself, especially not when the phoenix mentioned that maid, her maid. Oh the things she'd sacrifice just to have Sakuya by her side right now... "Honestly, if that's what it takes to bring Sakuya here, yes, yes I would tell her to do just that..." Remilia murmured, half-serious, half-hopeful.

The vampiress closed her eyes as she rubbed her forehead, trying to massage a headache away while Sanae introduced herself to Mokou, also mentioning some kind of rescue force, "If such a thing is possible, Patchouli would've already either teleported me back or sent Sakuya after me, and neither of these has happened so..." Speaking of headaches, that reminded Remilia of something, she hadn't fed ever since she arrived here, huh? Even though her affliction would've made it even more necessary than ever before. ... Her thoughts subconsciously led her crimson eyes to stare ominously at the the Moriya Miko's supple, delicate neck, how the sweet red "wine" flowed freely just underneath her fair skin. Out of everyone here, she likely would taste most delectable; Youmu was half-dead, Mokou might be too spicy with all those flames, and Lewa... well, he didn't even have blood in the first place. Even with her debilitated body, Remilia was confident she could still pin the human down, then... then she'd just need to sink her fangs into-...

Haaaaarrgh!! The combination of her hunger coming to the forefront of her mind and frustration at allowing herself to almost succumb to her thirst vehemently vexed her, I'm better than this... I'm better than this...

Shaking her head, Remilia focused on the matter at hand even if simply to distract herself from the urge to prey upon Sanae. She noticed that Lewa had been quite silent ever since their rendezvous, right, him feeling out of place among these Gensokyoans wouldn't do, they'd be comrades for the foreseeable future after all. "Ahem..." The vampiress cleared her throat to garner everyone's attention, "Sir Lewa, please meet Mokou of Clan Fujiwara, she hailed from Gensokyo, as the rest of us." She quipped while gesturing elegantly toward the Hourai Immortal, then vice versa, "Lady Mokou, I present you Lewa the Toa of Air, Guardian and Protector of Le-wahi, the land which he hailed from." There, that should be good enough, right? "Regardless of our circumstances, we were all called here by a deity only known as 'Lavielle', it was through her meddlesome powers that we found ourselves here to protect her people... very much against our will." Would it hurt to at least ask for their consent first?

With that out of the way, Remilia figured it was time to continue idling about, Mokou had caused enough delays as it was. Venturing further forth, the lilac-haired youkai would eventually catch the scent of... death, a corpse was nearby, a sizable one too considering the odor's intensity, "Tread lightly, something’s up ahead." And a moment later, the answer presented itself in the form of a desiccated corpse of an earthmane boar; consumed down to nothing but skin and bones, likely belly first, the beast was well beyond saving. "Hmm..." Remilia rubbed her chin in thought, "How likely is it that the one responsible for the other boar's poisoned blood to also be the cause of this?"

---

---

@Lugubrious @PKMNB0Y @Raineh Daze @VitaVitaAR @EchoWolff

The white-haired girl let out an annoyed click at the introduction, shoving her hand into her pockets. "We can't just beat this goddess up and go home?"

Not that she needed to hurry. Aside from the minor headache of some food rotting while she was gone... it wasn't like that forest was going to go anywhere in a hurry. There was a small chance that Kaguya might have moved, but with everything else that was happening recently, it didn't seem like that was too likely...

Still, she was willing to tag along while they investigated the boar. Wild boar were something she had quite a bit of experience with, mostly when it came to eating them.

This one was considerably larger than Japan's boars, but--

"You'd probably die if you ate this one. Even if it's not poisoned."