Forum Wars - Civil War

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Requiem got up, he was injured, but he could not return to Ashleigh without Veera.

Timothy went into battle mode again as Ms Kala was attacked, he rushed forwards, arms charging up, only to have his attack interrupted "Excuse me?" he cried out as Requiem blocked his way.

The metal monstrosity was heavy and had a lot of momentum, it was exceedingly difficult to stop him, but digging his feet into the ground he managed to slow down the robot. A metallic punch was lobbed towards him and Requiem ducked out of the way. But Timothy had two fists and the other smacked him in the back, knocking him to the floor. But Requiem would not go down so easily, he got up again and stood his ground

"Could you please move out of the way" Timothy demanded, this guy was simply not going down. Timothy grabbed the man's polearm and tossed it away, he punched the musical solider again and again with hydraulic fists, landing blow after blow on the man's face and chest.

Requiem could not dodge the quick succession of blows that rained upon him, each punch was as if he was hit by a train, the blows made resounding noises as they hit his metal armour which buckled and dented under the sheer force applied. He felt bones fracturing, he could barely stand, but he had to protect Veera. For Ashleigh.

 

Jaden was satisfied by the man's silence and the nod of acknowledgement. He seemed to be behaving more reasonably now and thinking before he spoke, something he certainly preferred in the people that he dealt with. The Inheritor waited patiently as Onamakritos wrote in his book and thought about what he was going to say exactly. When he began to explain, he listened most intently and more so as what he said went on. Finally, he nodded in understanding.
"I see. Well, I believe I can interpret that to a certain degree. If my hypothesis is correct, then the vision suggests that you and I are related - On account of our shared father." He concluded simply. He crossed his left arm over his chest and stroked his chin with his right hand. "However by this point, it is negligible and there are other families with our blood." This did throw a wrench into the works so to speak. Having another person who shared in the Samarost blood outside of the main family's influence made things awkward, although impossible to prove to anyone else. It required two very specific sets of knowledge and an assumption. The ones who raised their awareness of the possibility of this extant family were Blackshards, and thusly entirely reliable and only under their direction. Whoever these people really were, they would have no place unless they were controlled. Otherwise, it might be simpler just to remove them from the equation entirely.
"This does not provide you any advantages, and as far as anyone else is concerned this possibility does not exist. It isn't worth consideration." The Inheritor continued. "And for the moment, I suppose that I shall await further proof before coming to a conclusion of the exact truth of the matter. Is that all you have to tell me?"​

 

Zahariel found his way towards the Inheritor's office and simply walked past the security Captain, probably the only person even allowed to do so. He walked into the room without even bothering to knock. Jaden was in the middle of teaching Onamakritos a lesson in respect and how history worked. "History is a funny thing. Wait long enough and all will be forgotten." Zahariel merely intoned as he waltzed into the room. They then set off with something about family. Family was insignificant, they would abandon you eventually and shared blood didn't mean you had any obligation to like each other, very much unlike humans thought. And while Onamakritos was in the room he was gonna go straight to the point. "It is unwise to let someone without restraint aid in an interrogation, to push the correct buttons requires tact, insight and restraint, not blind rage." He stated simply not giving a damn about the bloke being there at all. The ancient God stood in the office of the Inheritor the hood obscuring his face. "With that out of the way there are other matters I would like to discuss. Matters far from trivial." The voice came from all around as was normal for his kind the voice radiating with power. He didn't want this pretentious prick here when the matters were discussed then again he wouldn't be speaking them out loud anyways.​

 

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Veera grimaced as the creature shrieked, nearly rupturing her ear dreams before the shriek seemed to change. Slowly, the creature wobbled, then fell over, scrabbling as it tried to get back on its feet. Veera stumbled to her own, holding her sword between her as the creature slowly shrank in size, back into the body of the girl. She had black hair, Veera was surprised to notice, draping over her face and cascading down her back. Oh.

The girl was stark naked. Veera quickly grabbed the girl's cape from where it had been discarded and laid it over Kala's body. Despite being her enemy, she could still help the girl have a little self respect.

"Hey! Stop!" Veera got to her feet once more, ready to intercede in Requiem's fight. She hadn't expected the musical soldier to stick around, and she winced as she saw the damage that had been done to his armor. That would be me. She realized. I have to find a way to make this up to the guy. Or girl. She wasn't really sure. "Your mistress is calm." She tried to reach through to Timothy, tried to get him to stop hurting the other one. Her alpha instincts told her to jump into the fray, but she knew if she did that, she would end up a crushed glob in the sand.

Cold. And warm. How can I be two at once?

She was...not herself. Things were wrong, everything was heavy, black. Someone's voice was calling to her through the dark. A woman's. Kala giggled and clapped her tiny hands before running towards it on tiny legs, her sundress blowing behind her. The closer she got to the voice, the brighter everything seemed to be, and the heavier she felt.Kala's eyes felt heavy as she opened them, and the sand stuck to her body as she perspired. It was so cold, and she shivered, drawing her cloak around her to try to get warm, but yet, she was so hot she was sweating. Wait...my clothes...her head was pounding, and she tried to rise from the sand, only to have her arms give out. I'm okay just lying here. She decided, closing her eyes.

 

▂▃▅▇█▓▒░۩۞۩ ۩۞۩░▒▓█▇▅▃▂Shards of Hope▂▃▅▇█▓▒░۩۞۩ ۩۞۩░▒▓█▇▅▃▂

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Onamakritos crossed in arms and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You seemed to have had all the proof you needed when you were taunting me about Aidan and Calxiyn being my parentage. You already had come to that conclusion. I think you've made a misstep." He said shrewdly. "Your implications are clear, but don't go back on your word." Onamakritos gave a brief, and almost taunting bow to him as well as the man who had walked into the room as he took his leave. He wrote what transpired in his journal.

"He said this to the Inheritor, knowing that it could potentially be dangerous, but even still his word had been recorded in the mind of the Prince as well as in the Prince's writings. He had caught the mistake and felt glad that he did so, powerful even."

"I've been told I'm allowed to take part." He stopped writing and then walked over to Carissa. "There's something I must discuss with you later, Captain."


"The man who was a pain in the ass, the epitome of what it was to be intensely overconfident male. He could see the one-sided sexual tension and frustration. But looking at the solitary, strong-mannered women it was easy to see that she had no interest in relationships, much like himself."

 

Sophia's pov:



'We'll be returning to the Valiant shortly,' Jayce had said. "Alright I will see you there." The Valiant was I nice ship. She wondered if there would be heading to HQ or staying here for something. She would be finding out the answer shortly.


David's pov:



'We'll report to Jaden, then we'll have a short rest before our next deployment,' Carissa had said. "I do not believe we deserve rest." He might, but no once did they did nothing but stand around get hurt and needed to be rescued. All in all no one was at all that helpful. The ship was brought down and there were met with Jaden Samarost. It looked like they were free to do what they wished. Onamakritos then asked if she could interrogate the prisoner. He did not see why he should be let to do anything. He had to save his butt when they were fighting. Carissa then said it was ok. What was wrong with everyone today? Everyone went off to do there own thing. He had his own ideas on what needed to be done. First thing was to find Carissa. He walked down the hallway and spotted Carissa talking to Aster. "Excuse me, but I would like to speak with you when you have a moment." He then walked away slightly to give Carissa and Aster privacy.

 

He smiled at Onamakritos' observation. He had let his guard down, thought the man too simple and blind to notice his mistake. No matter. It gave him what he wanted, and that was information. Now he knew what his enemy's capabilities were. He would be able to be more careful in future. When Zahariel barged in, it effectively ended the conversation. The Ancient God would let none stand in front of him and he wasn't going to be ignored. That, and despite his confidence that he would not mention any of the contents of the conversation to anyone else, he was not willing to discuss such sensitive matters in front of him. He was only predictable to a point. Deities, he firmly believed, were decidedly tricky individuals.
"Correct, it was my mistake. Thank you, Onamakritos. You've told me a lot about yourself." He admitted graciously. "I trust you can see yourself out." He clearly saw the intent of his bow and shook his head amusedly. It was a petty attempt at posturing. Truly, he had not won anything. He thought he had an advantage, but he did not. In fact, he had set up the guillotine on which the Inheritor could, and would execute him if necessary. When the door shut he turned his attention to the God in the room and gestured for him to take a seat.
"I agree, but a blunt instrument has its uses, much like his power. We can shape it into a finer tool. Besides, I intend to watch that one. I have a... Vested interest in doing so. Nor shall we be alone. I myself shall be there of course, as will Carissa. You may join us if it appeals to you." It was a statement of possibility, not of permission, that Zahariel may join them. Not even he could control a God. Not precisely, or directly and influencing was most difficult. "Now tell me, Zahariel, what matters do you wish to discuss?"






"Very well Onamakritos, it will be a pleasure to have you here I'm sure. Isn't that right, Aster?" She said mockingly to the man that she was trying to tame. "And yes, we can talk later. We'll discuss when I'm done with this interrogation, and with dear little Aster here." Her voice was sickeningly and sarcastically sweet. ​

 

Zahariel merely ignored the Fire God slayer's mocking bow and took the seat even before the Inheritor offered it to him. "No, it doesn't strike my fancy, when such blunt instruments are used. If you however required my help you know where to find my quarters, after all I can be quite persuasive." Zahariel spoke and smiled underneath the hood "Just be sure to keep any personnel away from that place, unless you want to teach them a lesson." That was when the Inheritor asked him what he had come here for. He took an empty sheet of paper from the desk and borrowed a pen as well and wrote down in an elegant handwriting. "Is there any news on the progression of my previous requests?" He wasn't going to speak up it was rather difficult to speak quietly with his voice and he didn't need anyone else to know about this, after all this was between him and the Inheritor.


The Andaran Prince continued his ritual to the very end. The fog in his mind dissipating into clarity. He looked over seeing the young woman lay in the sand having calmed down, the ritual had worked. He quickly gathered up the things that had been used for the ritual and he felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him. The rituals tended to do that to him, not always but it had been a long day already and he had been traveling for quite a while.
He walked over to Veera, Timothy and Requiem. Veera was trying to convince Timothy to let them go and stop it. "Construct, we should let them go, they realise the mistake they made. The girl is safe, they mean no harm anymore." The Andaran Prince bargained, then turning to Veera "I fulfilled my end of the bargain." He didn't need to finish the sentence.​

 

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Requiem stepped back and leaned slightly on Veera, he felt as though his legs were going to give out underneath him, but robot seemed to be halting his assault.

Timothy was conflicted. These people were clearly enemies, but they weren't attacking anymore. And Kala had suddenly lost weight, and her clothes. Without a word Timothy walked over his mistress and picked up up, wrapped in her cloak. "You will let us go free? We intend to join the Shards of Hope" he stated.

 

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Veera gladly supported Requiem, though her eyes narrowed at the mention of the Shards of Hope. Maybe it wasn't such a bright idea to let them go after all. She glared at the Andaran Prince, cursing her own bad luck. If things had worked out just a little differently, they could have captured turn coats and brought them in for questioning and perhaps conditioning. She wouldn't mind having the strange girl on her side, rather then on the other. In the right hands, that girl would be a powerful asset.

"What do you think, Requiem?" She asked quietly, one hand gripping the sword that dug into the sand for support. It was his injuries that would keep her from going after the creature. She would not risk losing a packmate for the sake of the prey she wanted to hunt. Alpha was another matter, but Alpha was asleep for now. Veera would repay Requiem for the harm that had come to it for helping her.

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The strange, soothing voice in her head was gone, replaced by the brutal sounds of the real world. People arguing. She was still so cold. How am I cold out here? She wondered, slowly blinking her eyes open. She wasn't lying on the sand anymore, but held in the arms of her mechanical savior, Timothy. Wait, what did he save me from? She thought back to the tower, yeah, that had been once. Then when people started killing each other right on top of them, okay, that had been two. And then another time from the strange wolf woman. But hadn't there been a fourth?....She yawned and snuggled deeper into the cloth that wrapped around her, before-Oh. She blushed, and wrapped the cloth tighter around herself, not an easy feat in the arms of a robot.

So that's why I'm cold. "Are you cold?" she asked Timothy sleepily, completely oblivious to anything outside of her world, which right now consisted of herself and her robot friend. "Because I haven't felt cold until.." she was interrupted by a jaw cracking yawn, "until now, and I'm not wearing anything, but you're not wearing anything either."

 

Carissa whipped around and kicked Aster in his left cheek, her eyes afire.
"Say anything like that again Aster and I will kill you." She threatened, an expression of pure rage etched on her face. "Now stay down there and shut up." There was a tone of finality to her voice.




"Very well. I shall send for you if it becomes necessary." Jaden nodded. When Zahariel wrote down the nature of his requests rather than speaking them, his mouth twisted into a half smile. He was very secretive for someone so... Noticeable. Not that there was much he could do about the fact that he was an Ancient God and probably the most magically powerful person in the Shards of Hope. It was good therefore, that he wasn't fond of the Demi-Gods. While Zahariel was not an insurmountable obstacle, he was an inconvenient one. "This room is very well soundproofed. You may speak. Your voice will not carry. Even this window is blacked out and highly reinforced. There won't be any hearing what we are saying." He selected a large report of pages bound together and flipped them open to remind himself. The first few lines of the report were sufficient.
"Very well. I've dispatched spare units from the Social Force to investigate the three sites you've described. Angelicasta, Dagath and Hieros are dust, not even ruins seem to persist from what my men have been able to find. They are beginning careful excavations in the areas, but I cannot guarantee you anything." He explained factually. He flipped ahead several pages to the section at the back, taking up around a third of the overall document. "As for your seals... If anything we are encountering setbacks. As you understand, the resources we have available to use on the project are minimal considering the developments necessary for the war. There have been... Breakthroughs in AVENGER. New information, so to speak. Once that has been completed I can redirect the units working on that to breaking your seals. Lack of manpower aside, the spells used to seal you away are impressive. None of my researchers have seen anything of the like. Expect progress to be slow."


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Ms. Spooks' PoV: "Ahh, I see. I'd heard bits and pieces about this war throughout my secluded life. Thank you for briefly explaining it!." Ms. Spooks paused, and yet again looked out towards the tower that had been a battlefield not long ago. The slightest hint of what could only be frustration, or anger, took over Ms. Spooks' face for a moment. She clenched her hands, and looked back at Ashleigh. She spoke without raising her voice at all, yet her tone was void of the tranquility that most were accustomed to hearing. "I want to avoid as much bloodshed as possible, Ms. Reaver. I want to end this war peacefully. I know it's not probable, but I will try my hardest. Please, understand my cause. I will try my hardest to convince Jayce, and I will try my hardest to come up with some sort of plan. I simply lack the mind of a tactician. If I cannot convince him, I will gladly hear your alternate idea. Anything to avoid this war escalating too far."

 

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Requiem emitted a low-pitched note of submission and waved his hand, letting the others go. His mission had been to assist Veera and bring her back to Ashleigh, he wasn't supposed to capture anyone, and honestly he was far too exhausted to right now. It was at that point that Anthem finally arrived, a bit late. He took one look at the state of Requiem and emitted a note of sadness, the two musical soldiers exchanged a series of low pitched notes, then Anthem took Requiem off Veer and supported his brother-in-arms's weight. He gestured for Veera to follow, and they began to head towards Sky Tower. Anthem slowly removed Requiem's helmet to assess the damage, beneath that cold metal helm, was what seemed like an ordinary person. Requiem had black hair and chiselled features that would have been handsome, if they weren't currently bruised and cut from the many punches he recieved.

Ashleigh smiled "Anything? Good. This conflict is destroying Arkan, I'm sure you can agree with me on that, any route to peace would be a good one, no?" Ashleigh joined Ms Spooks gazing out over the battlefield "We have won today, but lost many troops, Shards casualties will have been high. If we don't end this war soon, we may be the only ones left"

Timothy nodded to his former enemies, grateful for their generosity "I cannot feel warmth, Ms Kala" he stated in response "I always feel cold. But don't worry, I'm going to get you somewhere inside, by a warm fire, and I'll make some more clothes for you" Timothy, despite his excellent chauffeur skills, had no idea where the Shards main base was, he turned to the man with the gun "Excuse me, good sir, have you any idea where we can join up with the Shards of Hope?"

 

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Veera acquiesced to Requiem with a sigh, turning to head back. The soldier was heavy, but she would manage. She would have to. It was then Anthem showed up, and took the weight off of her. She smiled a little at their exchange; it had been the one redeeming factor to traveling with Ashleigh. Something about the musical notes the soldiers emitted was incredibly soothing. Alpha was already whispering in the back of her mind, asking her why she had even bothered with the fallen soldier. The weak fall and get left behind, and only the strong survive. But listening to the unintelligible conversation between the two knights, she felt Alpha calm, and a weight was lifted off her shoulders.

But the smile slowly died as she stared as Requiem revealed. "Um....I-I'll hold that." She offered to Anthem, regarding the metal helm. It had never occurred to her that underneath all the armour and music was an actual person. No, wait. A human person. Try as she might, she couldn't stop staring at the two soldiers now, her mind completely devoid of any thought except, Oh. Well, followed by, So that's why Ashleigh likes having them around.

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"That's so sad." Kala whispered, raising a hand out of the cloak to touch the cold metal that was Timothy. "I like warm. I like -" She paused as Timothy spoke to someone. "Who's that?" She said, suddenly afraid. Something tried to call out to her, rising like a black shadow from the depths of her mind, screaming that this man was not to be trusted. But he hadn't done anything to her. Had he? Then why did he look familiar?

 

The Andaran Prince merely watched as Requiem, Anthem and Veera after a little bit of a discussion as to what they would do, he heard the girl in the constructs arms speak and listened to what she said, when she said she wasn't wearing anything he took note of it to not look at her, after all it was not decent to do so. He heard her ask who it was that the construct spoke to. The construct asked him if he knew where they could enlist with the Shards of Hope, hadn't the construct asked him before if there were any safe places left in this world where the war would not touch them? And now they wished to participate in this war? If they deemed it right then fine. "I am Varraki." The Prince started off, bowing his head as he did. "As for your question, construct, I have an idea as to where you should go to join up with the Shards of Hope, I can lead you there if you wish." The Prince had paid attention to troop movements, eventhough he didn't really want to join into this war it never hurt to know where troops were and he had knowledge of a Shard encampment not too far away.


Zahariel listened to what the Inheritor was telling him. The magnificent cities and fortresses were but dust. It was to be expected, they would carefully try to excavate something. He doubted much if anything at all was left to find. The Inheritor explained to him the progress of his requests the setbacks on the seals were unfortunate but not crippling and despite the Inheritor's assurances he still wrote his responses. "Unfortunate, if the units find anything they are not to touch it. The setbacks with the seals is unfortunate, but not unexpected." He wrote again in the elegant handwriting. "I wil await further news." He finally spoke "This AVENGER, what could you tell me about it? It sounds like you have been dedicating quite a few resources to it."​

 

Meanwhile, thousands of mil- Just kidding

The button had been hit. The button that should never have been pressed. The button that Jayce had warned would result in a swift and painful beating were it ever to be pressed...

And that moron of a thief had gone and done it.

A low humming sound bounced off the walls, producing a very irritable noise. A few of the guards shook their heads in annoyance, as they kept Ransak pinned to the floor. The Captain, identified by his fancy cape, heavy pauldrons and hawk helmet, marched forward with a gun drawn.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Le Capitano asked, shoving the gun in Ransak's face, "HUH!? CUZ I DON'T HAVE A BLOODY CLUE!"

Boom. The humming subsided. The crystal in Ransak's hand exploded in a blinding flash of blue light, nearly vaporising the eyeballs of anyone present. The glow of the crystal flashbang remained for a few moments, before dissipating completely. The crystal shook about in Ransak's hand for a second, as if attempting to escape, before resting, and blasting a massive holographic projection in the second of the hallway.

The figure was huge. Towering over all present. The guards paused, briefly staring at the giant's face, before cowering in fear.

"It's him."

"Him!"

"Oh god, he's returned!"

The figure was draped in a long cape, flowing from some sort of distant winds. His hands were gloved in the finest mail, clenching a weapon in a slightly better condition than the one Ransak had stole. Beneath a hood of cloth, a pair of piercing blue eyes surveyed the room. Taking in the sights. Searching for something. Eventually, the figure spoke.

"You... are not my son," he said to Ransak, in a voice which shook the hallways.



So many dead...

Jayce, after arriving at The Valiant, had met immediately with their reinforcements. Three airships stocked with the finest warriors from the Northern Regions. Discussions with the commander had been brief and business-like, with two hundred soldiers to accompany The Valiant and a hundred to remain guarding Sky Tower, along with fifty of Jayce's own troops.

And yet, despite replenishing their badly-depleted forces, driving The Shards away and even beating their toughest warriors, it felt like their greatest loss yet. Over a hundred men were dead, and a great deal of their own forces had been badly injured. Worse yet, Jayce's own assassin had been captured. Distantly, he heard Theodosia telling him to rest. He felt her hand briefly on his shoulder, before he shrugged her off and carried on without her, at a much faster pace.

"Son of a *****..." he muttered, taking his anger out on the metal hull of the ship's corridors. Distantly, he could hear the sound of arguing and a dark voice which promised pain to those who had angered it. Probably some of the troops who'd drank a bit too much. He'd deal with it later. For now, he had someone to confront.

"All forces, this is Commander Jayce, meet with me on the bridge," Jayce spoke into his headset, before bursting into the room where Ashleigh was stationed.

"You have a lot to answer for cousin," the young Demi God hissed, before noting the guest she had with her, "And who might this be?"

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away (this time for real)...

...

...

...

Awaken.

They were three. Overlooking a vast expanse of nothingness. Beyond which, no one could say. Some claimed it to be their doom. Others attested there truly was nothing lurking beyond the veil. He, however, had a different word to describe it.

Freedom.

"Brother, are you certain this is the decision you wish to take?" one approached him, clad in a suit which no blade could ever hope to break.

"He's the boss here, I say let him do it," another clad in loose fighting leathers.

He merely turned, keeping his gaze to the gatekeeper of their reality. The shroud. Taunting and teasing them. For how much longer, he couldn't say. However, he had a feeling their release was approaching...

Arkan was calling. ​

 

"Yes Zahariel, I am well aware of the policy of not touching the mysterious artifacts. Although, how we're going to get them here without having you disappear when we may well need you is another mystery. No matter, we shall figure that out when it becomes relevant." Jaden smiled at the request to know about AVENGER. He could disclose a little more about it to Zahariel. "Initially, it was just a personal project. Now it's a little more important. I'm working on tying it into to certain plans I'm putting together. That reminds me..." He had to have a word with one of his men before the interrogation. They needed to organise something for almost immediately afterwards. If he knew Jayce, then he had a perfect plan in mind.
"I'll seek you out if anything is required for the interrogation. This concludes our business for now, we shall meet another time if there is anything else pressing." Jaden stood up and walked to the door to both open it for Zahariel and speak to the man outside. If the God took an affront to his perhaps brusque cut off to the meeting then it didn't bother the Inheritor overly much. Just because he was divine did not mean that Jaden was beholden to his every whim. Fortunately he tended to be more reserved than that. "Captain, a word if I may. There's something I need you to organise for me."




Kalak followed Jayce back to the Valiant. It seemed that his assistant wasn't having very much success getting to him. He wasn't surprised. Jayce wasn't ever going to be responsive in one of those moods. He'd probably mention something about the blatant neglect of his assistant.
"At times like this, you're going to have problems. My dear Uncle gets very moody." Kalak spoke. As if on cue, he called everyone to the bridge. He rolled his eyes and started to head for the bridge. However, he heard a booming voice somewhere nearby. That was something he was not willing to ignore. "Tell Uncle that I'll be there shortly." Kalak strode through the corridors of the ship towards the booming voice. Something about a son? Then, he arrived in the room with a giant hologram and a total stranger.
"Well this is... Interesting." The Demi-God spoke. ​

 

David's pov:



He stood around waiting for an opportunity to talk to Carissa. While he was waiting he watched what was going on and it was entertaining. Aster was hitting on Carissa for some reason. Carissa did not seem to like this. Ah, love or whatever this was. Was this why Aster was staying around so that he could be near Carissa? He thought that there would be better ways then it hit on her, but what did he know. He just stood there watching the two. What would become of these two? Only time would tell. Way this why Aster was always fighting Carissa because he could not tell her abut the love he had for her or something? He then began thinking back to the battle until such time he could talk to Carissa.



Sophia's pov:



She walked on The Valiant waiting for Jayce to show up. She began walking spotting Jayce walk into a room around a corner. She quickly followed him into the room. She then noticed that this may not be the best time to talk to him. That was when she saw the blood on him. He was hurt. "Jayce, you are hurt. I can help you with that." The man needed rest, but she did not think he would listen to anything about resting. If the stories about his father was anything to go by he was just as stubborn as him and he would not rest until he was dead. She wonder if that was how Xan died. She did not think anyone knew the answer and it was probably best not to question it. She stood by the door. She wanted to help Jayce, but only if he wanted it. She knew better then to just jump in and help him. Like his father in so many ways.