Cheerily ignoring Nolan's killing glance, Fleo occupied herself with an examination of Amaya. While no longer leg-wobblingly nauseous, the girl remained decidedly ill at ease. Although, Fleo reasoned, if not for her unique condition she'd be severely uncomfortable as well. Her dusty limbs, while still receptive to the feeling of heat, couldn't sunburn, and a combination of headrag and cotton blouse adequately shielded the rest of her from the sun's scornful radiance. Long ago her burnt-orange jacket had been removed, wadded up into a ball, and placed in her horse's saddlebag along with her allotment of Nolan's supplies.
Despite her lack of reverence for the Ash God Slayer, Fleo heeded his advice, and remained behind with the others to watch the proceedings from a distance. Having had all day to acquaint herself with Lucas's presence, she no longer felt even mildly threatened by his presence. While his alarming actions early in the early morning has cast him as a villain, a closer inspection of his spirit hinted that he was merely flawed. It wasn't the first time, Fleo could sympathize, that inhospitable fate had cursed an otherwise good mage with dangerous powers beyond his control. As Nolan neared the sitting figure not too far away, she wondered if the sad situation of Bert Cunningham arose from misfortune, as the tales about him argued, or from darkness within his own heart.
While Bert looked up at the approaching figure mournfully, he did not otherwise acknowledge Nolan's presence. After the Phoenix Winger had said his piece, the rogue mage sighed momentously.
“Conscience, not conscious. Funny, isn't it, how even in this eleventh hour I must still succumb to my quirk of correcting other people's speech. Well, it won't last much longer. I'll tell you everything I know, and then you can decide what to do with me. At this point, I kinda just want it to end, though. Throwing me in jail will only make it easier for the...the...thing. To get me.”
“We heard about this thing before we encountered it. If you know anything about Magnum Hound, you know we were up-and-coming. We were going to prove that we had the right stuff to help people. So we went after this thing. We tracked it to a flooded village, but when we got there, it looked empty.” Bert bowed his head slowly, an expression of deep sadness crossing his face.
”But it wasn't. We lost Ernie and Abby before we figured out that the thing was invisible. Once we surrounded it, we beat it easy. Way too easy. A week later a guy appeared at our guild. Master Grover let him in, but...before we knew what was happening, the thing exploded! It...disguised itself as human. With watery tentacles it speared a quarter of our members, including Master Grover! I was the guild's only S-class wizard, so I fought it, but...it beat me. After flinging me away it killed everyone else, destroyed the guild hall, and then drained all the water so only my sand was left! People thought I had done it...I wanted to clear my name, but the thing was coming after me! I ran and ran and ran, until I got here, where it had no water to control. Listen, I...!Over the man's features had spread a look of infinite horror, and his gaze lay straight upon the sand where Nolan sat. Rather than its usual beige, the sand appeared to be a damp brown, and thicker, as if mixed with water...to him, at least. To both Nolan and the onlookers, the sand didn't seem very different at all. Bert's horrified eyes, dancing with a fragmented, chaotic light, bored into Nolan's own.
”Human disguise...you've...you've come. SAND REBELLION!”The very earth leaped into action, swirling around both men before violently exploding and tumbling Nolan away. When it cleared,
Bert was standing, his hat littered on the ground and his eyes wide with terrified anger. [B22222]”Alright! Come and get me! But I'm not selling my life easily! Sand Eulogy!” At the incantation, the desert began to shift. Millions of tiny particles formed into massive rectangular pillars that pushed up from the ground and then toppled, threatening all of team Powder Keg at once.
-=-=-
Nero – Balsam Village
At Trinity's beckon, a grumbling Nero let alone the unhappy FOREVER receptionist and made his way outside. He looked from left to right, at all of the other mages, and then up at the untainted sky.
“Don't know what all the fuss was about. You think someone's coming after us? He must be a better joker than I to expect that to turn out well. Heeheehee, yeah, let's get outta this village. Don't want any civvies around when the guild of property damage is around.” He scanned the exhaustion and frustration on team Frozen Heart's faces and an idea hit him.
“Tehee, I don't suppose you want me to give either of you a power boost? My Law of Augmentation will temporarily increase your magical power. If there's some dude out here giving the mighty goons of Phoenix Wing some trouble, might be you need it.” Nero crossed his arms, smiling a disarming, toothless smile, and stepped up until he stood beside Trinity.
