Felarya and the Aeriales

Princess Soley was almost stopped dead in her tracks by the harsh remarks she heard come out of Mort's mouth. She had never in her life be so insulted by a person she was showing kind hospitality to and she had half a mind of teaching this common human a lesson. But her anger was quickly put in to check. The political game always taught one to shelve one's emotions to save face and gain favor among those around you. Never criticize another and try to always consider their point of view. She had been inconsiderate in the way she was acting by not formally introducing herself. Perhaps she was also appearing selfish in the way she was favoring the Keeper of the Lore to the point of it being known to the common man. Princess Soley didn't want it to appear that she was planning on using the Keeper of the Lore for her own personal gain. She needed it to appear that she was acting in the interest of her tribe as a whole. Princess Soley actually was acting in their interest after all ( at least she kept telling herself that), she just hoped that the Master Keeper would be able to grant her the one true desire she had as well. What was wrong with a little bit of selfishness after all? A life of selfless service to her people was very taxing on her. Taxing enough to warrant a bit of selfishness from time to time.

Still, Princess Soley thought bitterly to herself. He could have chosen his words more carefully in pointing out my flaws. She had to calm herself once more before dismissing the thought. Mort was a guest here at Fenrir city and he was going to be treated with the same honor and respect as an honorary brother of battle. Hopefully his spiteful attitude would change in time. Princess Soley could at least still hold her head high with no regrets if his attitude remained unkind despite their kindness towards him.

Providing Mort with the story of the Guardian of the Lake was her first attempt at showing him more kindness regardless of his rude remark. If he was interested in artifacts then he would surely be interested in the story of the Guardian of the Lake sent by Loki himself. She would do the same for other gifts and artifacts as the group passed them. This way she could ease Mort in to the different artifacts that the Loki possessed on by one instead of overwhelming him with information. But this plan was stopped short when Mort stopped the group and declared he had something of significance to say. "What is it?" Princess Soley inquired with a soft and caring voice as she waited for his response patiently. It was a response that would never come and was quickly dismissed with Mort saying "Never mind..." and dashing ahead of the group as if he were an ashamed child. Perhaps now would be a good time to extend more kindness to the man? Princess Soley thought as she stepped forward to approach Mort. "Is everything alright?"

Mort stopped when he heard Princess Soley ask if everything was alright. He quickly wiped the tear from from his face and turned around. "Yeah. Everything is great. Never been better." He felt more tears build up so he quickly turned around to face the city. "Its very beautiful Princess. So serene and peaceful. Its almost as if this city were a beacon of light, shining in the darkness. A safe haven for all." Looking at the city through blurry vision, it appeared even more magical. He blinked rapidly and then shut his eyes for a few seconds and opened them. Mort gasped at what he saw.

He saw the very same city in flames. Dark thunderclouds produced a torrent of rain, drowning the city. But the fires continued to burn. A river of blood flowed through the streets as buildings crumbled to the ground. Suddenly, he heard a familiar cackling laughter above him. He looked up and saw Urael floating in mid air above his head. He weilded a gigantic ball of darkness that crackled with lightning as it grew larger. Urael raised it above his head and let out a roar that shook the earth for miles around.

"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SAFE IN THIS WORLD! ACCEPT YOUR FATE MORTALS!!"

Mort cried out in desperation. "DON'T DO IT! PLEASE DON'T!!"

Urael ignored him and smirked. He lifted the now enormous ball and threw it full force at what was left of the city. "WELCOME TO OBLIVION!!!"

Mort screamed as the ball hit, ahnihilating everything in a wave of destruction. "NOOOOOOOOO!"

He blinked again and suddenly the city was fine. Just as it had been. No one was dead. Nothing was destroyed. Everything was just fine. He sighed in relief and turned around to face the group. He went pale as he saw their faces. He shakily muttered to himself. "Did they hear me scream out loud just now?"

Lucas was too focused on what lay before him to pay much mind to pay too much attention to the conversation going on before him. His gaze was fixated on a huge structure in the distance that sat in the center of the city before him. It appeared to be a single tower that stretched high above the other buildings made out of white marble like the rest of the city. The left and right side of the tower had another wing attached to it that gently decreased in height at an increasing curved angle before leveling out at 90 degrees. The angle itself was cut in to square sections that were lower than the previous pillar instead of a single smooth angle. The top of the tower had a metallic statue of Thor with his hammer stretched out high while each wing had a statue of Odin riding one of his horses. In front of all of this was a massive statue carved out of black onyx that most likely represented Loki but was too general to be determined. Loki was a shapeshifter after all. He didn't really have that many identifying features because he could change them at will.

The design of the temple screamed for Lucas to try and decipher its symbolic meaning. He naturally leaned towards Gothic in design due to the stain-glass windows covering the converging sides at the top of the tower and how the tower stretched high towards the heavens as if to reach God himself. This was not the case and Lucas knew it even without cheating. The left horse was Sleipnir and the right horse was Yggdrasil. This could be symbolic of the sun rising in the East with Yggdrasil (the old horse) and setting in the West with Slepnir (the new horse). The statue of Thor being at the peak didn't necessarily mean that Thor was the primary god of the Loki. He was simply the god of the sky. And at that moment, Lucas saw another astonishing sight. Thor's hammer was struck by lightning and grounded the electricity. Not before the electricity was routed down each side of the temple to light up the eyes in Odin's statue and the large statue in front of the temple. The statue lit up brilliantly with electricity and shifted from the shape of a mane to that of a horse. A traditional Loki form as a shapeshifter and undeniable proof that statue was of Loki. The only question was how did they do that?

Lucas turned to Princess Soley only to notice she was still engaged with Mort. A proud smile had crept across her face from a comment Mort had made about Fenrir being a safe haven for all. "All friends of the Loki who seek shelter and refuge can find it in Fenrir. We will not allow any harm to befall our beloved city and have the protection of Loki himself." Lucas' eyes shifted over to Mort only to see his back turned to the group while he stared off in to the distance. Shouldn't there be some kind of response? Lucas wondered to himself while Mort spaced out. Maybe he is looking at something? He tried to look in to the distance to see anything else out of the ordinary in the direction Mort was looking. There were a few silhouettes in the distant sky that were hard to make out at first. Nothing more than large birds Lucas thought to himself until the large birds grew even larger at an alarming speed. The birds had to be twice the size of a regular man but still hard to see because they had their backs to the sun.

"Is everything in this world super sized?" Lucas cursed as he squinted his eyes to see the birds to no avail. They were directly in front of the sun now and all Lucas could make out was the fact that they were getting even bigger than before. Bigger and faster. Wait, are they diving right now?! Lucas thought alarmed as he realized the birds were on a directly course for the group. "Attack of the birds!" Lucas shouted as he dove to the ground for cover just as the large birds landed on the bridge with three consecutive THUD!!! A second or two passed by without a sound before Lucas managed to squint open his eyes and peer through the hands protecting his face to see three pairs of feet similar to that of Princess Soley. Those feet belonged to three sets of incredibly long legs with flawless skin. Those legs were attached to shapely torsos wearing polished armor covering blue tunics made of silk similar to that of Princess Soley. All of them carried spears and wore helmets that covered their faces. Oh, and did he mention that they had WINGS?!

"Princess Soley," The one in the middle spoke in a very militaristic manner. "We were informed of your arrival by the Shadow Stalkers and were ordered to escort you back to the Palace. We have been searching for you for the last half an hour." Lucas peaked through his hands over to Princess Soley to see her step forward with a confident smirk on her face. "Thank you for the concern Captain Serenity." Wait, she actually knows them? "I have been tending to matters of great importance." The helmet-feather-chick tilted her head to the side questioningly, so Princess Soley pointed to Lucas. "This boy." All three heads immediately swiveled down to look at the sack of meat they had been ignoring since before they landed and Lucas suddenly became self conscious. "Uh, hi?" He said with a nervous smile as he rose to his feet. Lucas started to dust himself off while walking towards the figure. "My name is..." But his voice trailed off when his head went up and up and up some more. All three women were impossibly tall and easily taller than Briareos. Lucas was less than half as tall as them. He guestimated them to be about twelve feet tall each. It actually hurt his neck to even look that high.

Finally becoming numb to all the shocking experiences of the day, Lucas looked over at Princess Soley with a cocked head and pointed at her. Then he pointed at Briareos before pointing to the three guards with another questioning look. His gaze (and finger) shifted back to Princess Soley with a raised eyebrow for a moment before further titling his questioning head. Several seconds later he dismissed it all together with a movement of his hand and muttering. "Whatever." He could hear Princess Soley chuckle before she spoke to the guards once more. "This boy is no ordinary boy. He is an Elf and I have been escorting him to the Palace." All three of the guards seemed to do a double-take of Lucas. "His name is Lucas and he is the Keeper of the Lore. So send word to my mother to prepare for his arrival." Captain Serenity nodded in the direction of one of the other guards who took off (literally) without a single word. Captain Serenity turned back to Princess Soely. "Allow us to escort you through the city."

Briareos was looking at the huge temple which the ancestors had build many, many years ago. It always lightened his mood when he looked up to the gods who gazed down and seemed to protect them on their own way.

The princess was still talking to Mort as Briareos noticed that the Keeper of the Lore was looking up into the sky. he seemed to see something which also got his attention on which he tried to find whatever the elf saw. Maybe it was something very interesting? Briareos looked up and noticed three siluettes coming closer and closer. He had to squint his own eyes since the three things were flying with the sun in their back until he could identify that it were some of his own kind.

“Attack of the birds!!” Yelled Lucas and got down to the ground covering his face with his hands as the three huge female loki’s landed near the group with three loud THUDS as there feet came in contact with the ground. Briareos could barley hold back a loud laughter to the elves sudden action but he managed to hold it to a not so silent giggle while Dwalin only shook his head in disbelieve.
Briareos bowed before them still giggling silent while the princess came to them and he heard the voice of Captain Serenity, talking to her.
Princess Soley told them about the keeper of the Lore while Briareos still maintained in his bowing position. She told the Captain to tell her mother about her soon arrival with him and he heard as one of them started again.

The Captain offered her an escort trough the city and Briareos couldn’t believe it as they told him to get up already.
He did so and looked into the face of the Captain who already was on her way with the Princes and Lucas until a shadow covered his face.

The male loki looked to his right and his nose immediately noticed this so familiar smell as he looked up and saw the yellow eyes of his mother Verdandi who was at least two feet taller with some dark grey fur wearing her reddish armour and her blue guard tunic.
“M…Mom?” He said his voice shaking as she took of her helmet and gave her son an angry look.

“What are you doing here?” She said more hissing the words trying to keep her voice low.
“Tell me that you have nothing to do with her disappearing or loki help me…”

“Mom no. I have nothing to do with that. I was just doing my work in the woods and…” He began but Verdandi quickly grabbed on one of his ears and pulled heavy on it forcing him to get on tiptoes.

“How often did I tell you? Don’t call me mom or mother in public. You’re a waterboy you belong to the lower class and you have no wings so address me with the respect I deserve.” She said and lifted his ear even higher forcing some tears into his eyes before she slapped him with the other one straight into his face. Briareos held his cheek and needed amoment before he began to say wha she wanted to her from him.

“I…I’m sorry Lieutenant Verdandi m…member of the royal guard, p…protector of the royal family.” He said with a shaking voice and bowed down before she grabbed his hair and pulled him up violently.
She held him up and looked with her yellow eyes into his.

“Don’t you dare to forget that runt.” She said holding him in her iron grip. “If it weren’t for Balder I would have sent you into the mines right after your birth even before the elders had seen you.” Verdandi added and finally let go of him.

Briareos held his head as his mother walked away following the group. Dwalin appeared from under his vest and looked at him with a sad look in his eyes. The big Loki shook his head and forced a smile up. She was always like this since his birth was there not one single day on which she hadn’t hit or yelled at him. She made no secret of it that she hated him for what he was and whished that he wasn’t born. But over all the years had Briareos learned to life with this since his father Balder and his sister Vali saw in him what he really were a son and elder brother.

“Now come on and keep you mouth shut runt! I deal with you when this is over.” Verdandi said as she followed the group through the streets always making sure that he walked behind her in with some space.

Mort let out a sigh of relief when he realised that no one had heard him. Explaining why he had just randomly screamed for no apparent reason would have been awkward. He often suffered from hallucinations like the one he had a moment ago. Urael was always killing or destroying something innocent. These were not visions of the future as they did not usually come true. In fact, Mort was not sure what the hallucinations were. But one thing was for sure, and that is that they were not premonitions and so he could ignore them. And yet, he acted the same every time. Every time he truly believed what was happening was real. It was a burden on his already fragile mind.

"Attack of the Birds!" Suddenly cried the other human whilst diving for cover. Mort looked up to the sky and saw what he was talking about. He unsheathed his sword in a flash and prepared for an attack. From this distance, they resembled Harpies. But as they got closer he saw that they were not Harpies, and when they landed he realised they were not hostile. Sheathing his sword he listened as the princess reffered to the other human as an "Elf" and "Keeper of the Lore" yet again. He didn't look like an elf. And he certainly didn't look like some sort of walking encyclopedia either. Then again, looks can be deceiving. Mort knew that better than anyone.

The tall winged nekos that had landed next to him wore matching uniforms and addressed the princess in a formal manner. He assumed that these nekos were some kind of elite gaurd. Just then, Briareos called one of them "Mom" which must have struck a nerve as his mother responded by shouting at him and slapping him in the face. Now, he knew that he had no right telling parents how to treat their sons and daughters but this had really struck a nerve of his own. He needed to say something.

"Protector of the royal family huh?" Said Mort in an extremely patronising tone. "Well that may be so but today you failed to protect your own flesh and blood. The hand print across his cheek is proof of that, Lieutenant Verdandi. You need to get your priorities right woman! Clearly, a dignified uniform does not make the wearer dignified. Don't hide behind a noble cause because it doesn't mean a thing. Oh wait, did I disrespect you Lieutenant? Well I'm real fuckin' sorry."

Mort finished his rant and took a deep breath. He only meant to say a single sentance but he couldn't control himself. He knew right away from the tension in the air that he had crossed the line a thousand times over. Subtly gripping the handle of his sword, he prepared for any potential backlash.

Briarios eyes widened in horror while Dwalin on his shoulder, nearly fainted as Mort blurted out his words towards his mother.
Lt. Verdandi looked at the little guy before her and began to tighten her grip around her spear feeling a deep anger rising up inside her.
How could this speck which was barly bigger as those underling nekos in the mines, dare to speak to her like this.

"You....!" She hissed and Briareos noticed the swirling air around her free left hand which was a sign that his mother already prepared one of her powerful fire spells.

He looked to the Captain in hope that she would maybe stop her but felt that she wouldn't even try to interfere here unless the life of the princess or the other elf could be put into danger which didn't counted for Mort since everyone was responsible for the words he said here.
No the Captain wouldn't interfere which left Mort alone with Verdandi and he knew that she wouldn't show any kind of mercy after this blunt verbal attack from him.

He grabbed Dwalin while the swirling air in her hand began to increase and set the spirit to the ground before he moved between both just before Verdandi attacked Mort.
The young loki grabbed his mothers rising hand before she could form her fireball and closed his fingers around it trying to stop her from finishing it while the heat began to burn his skin.
It hurt like mad but he didn't let a single sound escaping his mouth while his mother looked at him with an ice cold glare and even increased the heat, and power.
Mother and son looked at each other for several more moments while the heat burned his flesh while he hold her spear in place on the ground with his left hand.

The smell of burned skin and hair came into Verdandi's nose while Briarios held her back. She incresed her strength which he surprisingly countered and did this a couple of times more all the while also increasing the heat in her left hand while he held agaisn't it.

"A little more...son...just...a little...more." She thought as she looked down at him but from a moment to the other, left Briareos his strength and Verdandi, hit him hard with her spear knocking him down to the ground. Oh why had Loki decided for him to become a waterboy since his strength would have made him an remarkable soldier even without wings.

She looked down at him while Dwalin, his spirit, ran over to his master and tried to wake him up. Verdandi gave the spirit and ice cold glance as he looked up and showed some of her pearl white fangs which scared the little ape easy enough before she stepped over both.
She stopped next to Mort and looked into his face with a sneer. "He saved your life today. I dont know why he did that and I dont care but from now on, you better watch your mouth or it will be you next time...human." She said and walked to the Captain.

Just as he thought, she would not take his insults lying down. The swirling air around her hand made it obvious she was about to cast a fire type spell. Mort wondered if anyone would stop her, but judging by the expressions of the others, he assumed that would be a no. As the spell grew in power, Mort tensed his body, getting ready to dodge it. But as soon as Lt. Verdandi released the spell, Mort noticed Briareos cover his mothers hand at the last second. The fireball hit his hand full force and burnt him for several seconds. The pain must have been unbearable. And all the while he didn't say a word.

Mort was horrified. He was only trying to defend Briareos from his abusive mother. He was even prepared to take whatever Verdandi threw at him. But now, seeing the smoke rise from Briareos. To smell the burning flesh. He had done exactly the opposite. If he had just kept his mouth shut none of this would have happened. It was all his fault. All of it.

Then, he saw Verdandi approach him and sneer into his face. "He saved your life today. I don't know why he did that and I don't care but from now on, you better watch your mouth or it will be you next time... Human"

For a moment. Just for a moment. Mort locked eyes with Verdandi. And his eyes showed his true feelings. He was hurt. He was in more pain than was feasible. Taking a direct hit from that fireball would have hurt less. Suddenly, his face twisted into a snarl.

"Get away from me!!" He growled in an inhuman tone, so frought with anger and rage that it would strike fear into the hearts of the most veteran of warriors. But underneath all of the anger, there was an undertone. It was hard to notice but it was there. It was a tone of shame. He pushed past Verdandi and sprinted off into the city.

(Yo Acturis I'mma let you finish but I thought it necessary to post again considering what has happened. Also, could you send me a PM with some details aout the city itself? It will be hard to describe the streets Mort is running through if I don't know what they look like. )

"M-Mom...?" Lucas heard Briareos call one of the guards. This caused Lucas to immediately pivot around to see Briareos being scolded by one of the guards who was practically two feet taller than him. What was more strange was the fact that she had wings and he did not. Perhaps Briareos isn't fully matured yet? Lucas wondered as he turned back to see Princess Soley being escorted by a guard four feet taller than her. And Princess Soley for that matter. Why else would the two be so much shorter than those around them and wingless? A yelp behind Lucas caused him to look back at Briareos to see his mother pulling on his ear like he was some sort of youngling and Lucas couldn't help but snicker. It definitely reaffirmed the idea that Briareos wasn't a fully developed Loki yet. That is, until he heard her tell Briareos to not call her that in public because he was a wingless runt who needed to give her the respect she deserves. Wait, is being wingless like a birth defect among these people...?

Lucas' eyes suddenly went wide in realization of what he just heard. Being short and wingless not only put you at a disadvantage physically, it also put you as a second-class citizen. He looked over at Princess Soley talking up to her subordinate. And by up, Lucas really meant up. She looked like nothing more than an adolescent child at best next to Captain Serenity. He could only imagine what she had to go through as royalty for a people like that. How was she supposed to get respect when she was born with a 'defect' that labeled her as second-rate to everyone around her when it was her time to rule? Her throne would appear weak and she would most likely be subject to many power grabs both internally and externally like all civilizations that were perceived to have a moment of weakness.

And what of Briareos? He was being talked down to by his own mother. A mother is someone who is supposed to love you unconditionally. Lucas couldn't imagine the kind of psychological trauma that must played on Briareos. Being forced to a sub-standard existence to those around you through no fault of your own. Constantly being picked on for simply being the way you are. As if life wouldn't be hard enough from the fact that you are wingless in a world built for giant being gifted with flight. Lucas doubted that Briareos has ever even strived to realize his full potential because he has always been told he was worthless form the day he was born.

Something needed to be said in Lucas' opinion but he thought better than to open his mouth. He knew well that it was not his place to judge a culture that he has never experienced and practically no knowledge of. Basic human psychology was built on the fact that you never criticize another person because your criticisms will fall upon deaf ears and the person will immediately be turned off to listening to anything else you may have to say. Furthermore, if you want to influence people to your view, you needed to put it in terms that they could understand and not how you understand the situation to be. But it seemed the Mort was going to say something in Lucas' stead. Unfortunately, Mort seemed to take every rule that Lucas knew about psychology and threw it out the window. He didn't try to understand the situation and just made an argument off of what Lucas figured was his own set of morals. Now that normally could be considered something of noble in Lucas' culture because he was trying to stand up for the weak but Mort didn't simply state that what the guard was doing was wrong. He threw in a few insults laced with venom that Lucas knew was going to get him a backhand in the very least. Lucas held his breath in anticipation of the retaliatory strike form the guard. What should have been a simple backhand seemed to actually be a ball of fire being formed in the guard's hand. Holy...Lucas thought worriedly as he looked over to Captain Serenity and Princess Soley expecting them to intervene. But the two of them were watching the situation with a rather relaxed expression on their faces. Are you kidding me?! We're about to have roast Mort for dinner!!

The smell of burnt flesh reached Lucas' nose to draw his attention back to the fight scene. There he saw the fireball was actually being palmed by Briareos. What the heck was he thinking? His hand was becoming nothing more than a smeltering heap of chared-flesh the longer he held on to the fireball. Lucas wanted to say something to stop this. Lucas needed to say something to stop this. He opened his mouth but no words escaped his mouth. All he could do was watch the scene unfold in horror until the mother finally snuffed out her fireball and gave Mort a menacing look. "He saved your life today. I don't know why he did that and I don't care but from now on, you better watch your mouth or it will be you next time...human." A sense of relief washed over Lucas, though the knot in his stomach remained. He feared for Briareos' and his hand while the words his mother spoke would haunt him for the rest of his life. It was a harsh reminder to think before you speak. More importantly, it would always remind Lucas of the day when the man who saved his life got his hand burned off while he stood by and did nothing. It made Lucas feel so disgusted with himself that he felt like he was going to be sick.

"Get away from me!" Mort cried out in a dark and slightly hurt tone before taking off running towards no particular direction. It would seem that Lucas' anguish was not only his to bear. Mort was just more...animated? in showing his feelings. It was enough to warrant a response from Captain Serenity. "That boy," She began to say as she crossed her arms while she watched him run off. "Has some serious issues." Princess Soley seemed to nod in agreement. "Shouldn't we go after him?" Lucas asked off-handedly as he walked over to Briareos to try and help him to his feet. "No." Captain Serenity said as she watched Lucas struggle to get the Neko to his feet. "We need to get Princess Soley back to the palace so her majesty will can call back the search teams looking for Princess Soley. Otherwise we leave our city defenses in a reduced state." Lucas looked at Briareos' hand as he stood up. "How many people did you send after her?" Briareos had pretty bad burns all across his flesh and Lucas knew that was basically nothing he could do for the man at the moment. Wrapping it would do more damage than good. They needed to get his hand to a sterile environment and pick off the dead flesh before trying to dress the wound. Boy was that going to be painful. "The Princess was missing and possibly kidnapped. How many people do you think we sent to find her?" Captain Serenity asked in disbelief as she turned towards the center of the city and continued walking.

Meanwhile, Mort was running through paved street made of white stone. The street must have been wide enough for a pulled cart or wagon to be pulled in both directions simultaneously. On one side of the street was the city block with residential buildings built out of marble three sections high. Each section was fifteen feet high so the average building was forty five feet high with the upper sections having many windows and what looked like an open terrace to greet people on. the opposite side of the street had a large canal running through it where boats manned by Loki could navigate through to transport goods. At the corner of each block was a bridge between the two blocks so grounded Loki could cross the canal if needed but there was an upper walkway that ran along the open terraces as well. The only people Mort would come across were wingless Loki, Loki bathing in the water, and Loki manning boats to transport goods. That is, except for a single Loki talking to a shadowy figure in an alleyway. A shadow that seemed to dive in to the water with a splash and disappeared from sight when the Loki noticed Mort passing by.

Mort kept running and running. He ran with such speed, it was almost as if he were trying to outrun his pain. But it was faster than he, and no amount of running could help him escape it. He finally stopped running and fell to his knees, breathing heavily. "Why do I always get myself into these situations!?" He asked himself. "Just follow the weird little monkey thing, the human, the snobby princess and the unfortunate lowerclass. What could possibly go wrong?" He crawled over to the canal and scooped up some water in his hands. It was suprisingly clear considering it was canal water. After splashing some on his face he took a deep a deep breath and got to his feet. Slowly, he returned to his old self. He pushed what had happened deep into his broken heart and locked it away along with all the other painful memories he had experienced.

Now that he no longer felt so down, he thought to the near future. What was he going to do now? Should he attempt to exit the city or should he stay, and attempt to aquire the artifacts Princess Soley spoke of. No, he thought. He couldn't do that. Not after what had happened. It would be far too much to ask for the Loki to forgive him anyway.

Suddenly, his red eye flickered repeatedly and a crippling pain shot through his body. An all too familiar feeling swept over him. Urael was trying to take over again. Clearly, he didn't like the idea of abandoning the artifacts. Mort resisted as best he could but he felt an odd sensation. It was almost as if Urael wanted to take over, and he could easily do so, but something was holding him back. The force that had been keeping him at bay the whole time he was in the vicinity of this city, was being pushed outwards. More and more and more. Cracks were starting to form in this barrier and Urael's power was trickling through. It would only be a matter of time until the barrier failed. And when it did, Urael would do terrible things to this city and the hallucination he had near the bridge...

...would become reality.

Briareos felt a small hand on his face. The memories of the last seconds of his stand come up and the pain in his right hand remembered him what he had done.
He looked up and saw Dwalin sitting near him a with a worried look on his face which changed intoa sad smiling face.
"Hey pal." Briareos said still little groggy as he tried to move some of his fingers but felt only sharp pain.

"You stupid big...cat." He heard Dwalin saying knowing that the little spirit was extremely happy to see him awake.

Briareos heard the others talking but his hand took most of his attention. He looked back for a moment hoping that Mort was okay but he only saw his black long jacket disparaging behind a corner of the street.

"At last he didn't seems to be hurt." Thought Briareos before he looked back to his hand. A little more and his mother would have burned it down to his bones and he was sure she would have the old scars on his body proved it.

"Can you get up, B?" Dwalin asked and Briareos nodded with a weak grin knowing that his mom only waited for another reason to beat him. He held his wounded right to his body and tried it a few times but failed to get up.
It was then as he felt a hand on his shoulder and as he looked who it was, he saw the elf they had found standing next to him with a worried look.

Lucas gave Briareos a nod before he grabbed around his waist and began to pull on him. Briareos tried to get back on his feet but he knew that the little guy was way to weak to hold his wight alone. Still he was thankful for the help from him.

It took both a few tries but they managed it and Briareos stood on his own feet again a little shaky, but he stood. He noticed the elves look as he saw the burned flesh on his right hand and quickly turned it away.

"Thank you keeper of the lore." Said Briaeos with a bow and nearly fell forward while blood dripped from his hand.
Briareos ignored the pain as good as he could which wasn't easy to say the least but he did. He looked to the Captain, his mother and the Princess and noticed their looks which weren't really pleasant towards him.
His world was still spinning while Lucas was still holding him as good as he could.

"I can stand alone Sire. Please, you and the princess have to go." He said and gave the elf a little push forward to the waiting group. Lucas stopped and looked back but only saw a grin on Briareos face.
"Its okay I follow." He said a little pressed and Lucas nodded.
Briareos quickly took his bandana and began to wrap it around his hand and fingers trying to stop the bleeding a little.

"I can stand alone sire." Briareos said to Lucas and gave Lucas a nudge towards the rest of the group as he stood up on his own to feet. "Its okay, I will follow." He said and Lucas immediately looked over to the group and shook his head. "Nonsense, you are injured." Lucas turned back to Briareos to tell him why but stopped short when he saw Briareos beginning to wrap his hand. "Wait!" Lucas said as he practically lept at Briareos to stop him from wrapping his hand. He took the bandanna out of Briareos and looked at his hand that was already partially bandaged. "Ow," Lucas said as he started to pull back on the bandanna but stopped short when he saw some of the flesh sticking to the bandanna itself. "You can't wrap the bandage like this and apply pressure because the skin on the surface is burnt so badly that it will stick to the bandage. So it will cause the skin to tear off when you remove it." Lucas began to say as he recalled his basic EMT training from high school. "Normally you'd want to use gauze because it can stop the bleeding without sticking to the flesh but we don't have gauze here." He stated the obvious as he tried to form a solution in his head. "We will use the bandanna for now since the damage is already done on the surface from here up and we don't want to tear the skin off right now. I want you to gently press the bandage against your hand instead of wrapping it tightly over your wound." Lucas bunched up the bandage and applied little pressure of the most troubled spots of Briareos' hand for him to better understand. "I also want you to keep the hand above your heart. This will reduce the blood being pumped to your hand and help your body to stop the bleeding."

Lucas looked back to see the three women giving Lucas a rather bewildered look. Was it because Lucas was pretty much giving them a lesson in the fundamentals in first aide or was it because he gave a damn about the 'waterboy'? "I need a bowl of pure alcohol to place his hand in." The guards simply stood there without saying a word and it didn't look like they were going to move any time soon. "You heard the Keeper of the Lore." Lucas heard what seemed like a serene voice from heaven at that moment. It was coming from the runt of the group, Princess Soley. "Get him a bowl fill with pure alcohol." Captain Serenity looked a little startled and nodded towards the Lieutenant. "Yes m'lady." She said as she rushed off in to the nearest home to fetch the required ingredients. All the while Briareos was being told by Lucas to keep his hand above his head just to be on the safe side. "Alright," Lucas said as he held the bowl of alcohol for Briareos. "Put your hand in the bowl and let it soak for a few minutes. This is going to burn like hell but it will clean the wound of bacteria." He could see a look of confusion in the eyes of those around him. "This is how you treat a wound without the aide of magic. Though normally you would want to bandage the wound itself. We will have to remove the bandage while his hand is soaking in the alcohol very carefully and slowly cut out the dead skin before giving him a proper bandage."

-----

The female Loki that hid in the shadows earlier walked in Mort's direction. If he looked from the ground up he would see her brown leather boots reach the top of her pale calf. Only a small portion of bare skin was visible as form fitting shorts soon covered the rest of her legs while the rest of her attire was draped in a black cloak. The same cloak covered the facial features of the figure but a stray black hair betrayed the owner as it fell beyond the protection of the hood. "You there, boy," Asked the figure in a feminine but authoritative voice. "What ales you?" As she stood over Mort awaiting a response, Mort would be able to see three bright blue balls form in the pupil of her left eye...

"What ails you?" Mort heard a female voice say nearby. Without thinking he automatically blurted out a typical response.

"Oh I'm just having a headache. Nothing to be worried about but thanks for your concern."

He stopped talking and studied the woman. She was very mysterious indeed. Brown leather? Black cloak? And are those spinning blue balls in her eye? She was not here to be friendly, that was for sure. Mort suddenly grasped the hilt of his sword, and in one fluid motion held it in a gaurd position. The glyphs that adorned the blade glowed brightly, as if to ward off any threat.

"Cut the cover lady. I have seen your kind before, hiding bullshit behind a smile. So what do you really want? Come on, spit it out!"

Those spinning blue balls in her pupil were not a good sign. What did they mean? What did she want from him?

(Mega short yes I know. Want to fight about it!?)

(Just don't let it happen AGAIN Mort!)

"Who said I was smiling?" The mysterious woman said in an ominous voice before there was a bright flash of blue light from her single eye. The next thing Mort would realize is that he was laying on the ground next to the canal as if had decided to lay down and take a nap. A lovely nap that made him even feel rejuvenated. It was as if a burden he had long since carried had been lifted from his shoulders. A problem that he wouldn't be able to remember for the life of him. A problem that would turn in to nothing more than a minor nagging sensation in the back of his mind. What might be more disturbing to Mort would be seeing his reflect. He would notice a necklace clamped around his neck that had inscriptions in a language he had never seen before and a bright blue gemstone. One that appeared to be similar in nature to the blue orbs in the woman's eye whom he had just met. Further investigation of his person would reveal two other pieces of jewelry not previously there. One on each ankle of his. All of them locked in to place on his person. As if they had been formed around him and stuck tightly to his skin. There would be nothing short of magical removal of these pieces of jewelry. What Mort didn't know about the jewelry is that each piece alone amplified the anti-demonic field around the city by a factor of ten. So together these jewelry pieces amplified the field one thousand times over.

------------

"Your probably going to want to sit down for this." Lucas said to Briareos when he was finally ready to put his hand in the bowl. "This is because burns this severe typically send people in to shock and I am amazed that your not in shock right now." Lucas sat down with Briareos and continued to talk. He figured walking Briareos through the process of what was going on might take his mind off the incredible pain he was about to go through. Not to mention possibly giving Briareos some brownie points with his mother. "What is shock?" Lucas heard from behind him. It was Princess Soley who was walking over to where Lucas and Briareos were. She sat down next to Lucas and paid a great deal of attention to what Lucas had to say. "Shock is..." Lucas began to say as he tried to form what he knew in to coherent words. Something that was proving extremely difficult at this point. "Shock is just what it sounds like. The body has been 'shocked' by a sudden injury and doesn't get enough blood flow to an area. It can be life threatening if not treated properly." Lucas turned his attention back to Briaroes. "The pain of me dipping your hand in this bowl of alcohol could very well send you in to a state of shock."

Lucas could see a hint of hesitation in Briareos' eyes as he reached out to grab Briareos' hand. "Don't worry," Lucas said as he guided Briareos' hand to the bowl. "It'll only be for a few minutes." There was a loud cry of pain from Briareos as Lucas dipped his hand in the alcohol. Who could blame him? "Just think of it this way!" Lucas had to practically shout over Briareos' cries of pain. "We needed to run your burned hand in cool water anyways to reduce the swelling that will occur from the burn. Not to mention lowering the overall temperature of the burned area." Lucas then reached in to his back pocket to pull out his multi-tool. By far the most useful thing he ever bought. "Plus this will disinfect the wound by killing all the germs." That was when Lucas heard the voice he had nearly forgotten about. "Germs?" Princess Soley looked confused as to what he was talking about. "Germs are microscopic organism." His explanation was met with another blank stare. "They are organisms that are so small that they cannot be seen by the regular eye and are actually grouped in three different categories. You have bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Humans in Midgard use tools known as microscopes to see these organisms." Princess Soley nodded her head in what appeared to be somewhat understanding of what Lucas was saying. She then started looking intently at Briareos' hand in the alcohol as if she was trying to see these microscopic organisms. "Let me give you an idea of how tiny these germs are." Lucas said as he gently pushed Priincess Soley back. She had been leaning over him to look at Briareos' hand and it was placing him in a very awkward position. "Your body is composed of billions and billions of tiny skin cells that are linked together to form the surface of your skin. Smaller than the tip of a hair." Princess Soley looked at one of the ends of her hair while letting out what sounded like a gasp of understanding.

At this time, Lucas was flicking through his multi-tool to get to his knife. "So the next thing I am going to do is separate the bandage from the skin and then cut away the chared layers of skin." Lucas said as he dipped his knife in the alcohol to sterilize it. "All the chared skin is dead and needs to be removed before new skin can grow back." Lucas kept Briareos' hand submerged while he pulled up gently on the bandage. He pressed against the skin lightly with his knife while pulling up on the bandage to separate the two. "I am removing the bandage carefully because we don't want to tear the skin at this point." Lucas was interrupted by Princess Soley. "Then why are you cutting the skin to remove the dead layers?" Lucas chuckled at little by her question. "Because skin recovers easier from straight cuts instead of rips and tears. That is why jagged weapons are so much crueler than a straight blade." Lucas finished removing the bandanna and actually soaked it in the bowl of alcohol. "I am going to soak the bandanna in the alcohol to sterilize it. That way we can use it to loosely wrap your hand after I clean your wounds." And by clean his wounds, Lucas meant cut away the chared skin. "Your actually pretty lucky." Lucas said to Briareos as he did his work. "You weren't burned bad enough to need a skin graph. And this bandanna is silk. That makes it the perfect loose bandage for a burn." Lucas made sure to wrap up each finger individually before wrapping up his hand and finally tying it off around the forearm. "And viola!" Lucas said confidently with a big smile on his face. "Good as new." He then looked at Briareos' face. "In about two weeks..."

Lucas tried to stand up but bumped in to Princess Soley. He hadn't realized she had been hovering over him and Briareos the entire time Lucas was patching up Briareos. "Ouf!" Lucas said as he was knocked down while Princess Soley was pushed backwards. "Er, sorry." Lucas said before standing up and turning to the guards. "Ready to go then?" Captain Serenity nodded and the group turned to head out. They would bump in to a rather lazy looking Mort in the street. "Hey Mort!" Lucas called out to him. "Everything ok now?"

The moment, his hand touched the alcohol was the second he wanted to grab the head of the little elf and squeze it into a pulp of blood and brain.
He screamed out loud and clenched his unharmed fist in the ground while the little guy talked with him which he didnt understood and didnt gave a damn at the moment.

After he took his hand out of the bowl again, took the elf a shining little metalic object and took a little knife out of it with which he wanted to cut off the burned dead flesh. Lucas removed the self made bandage and after that began to cut of some of his skin. Briareos tried to stay awake because of the pain while Dwalin sat on his shoulder and tried to hold him awake.

"Hey big guy dont faint not yet!" He said while Lucas cut of the dead skin. after that, he bandaged his hand again while princess Soley watched over Lucas shoulder as he performed the treatment.

When he was done, Briareos hand was shaking and he was nearly at the edge of fainting but Dwalin could hold him awake while the group began to go on again.
He saw them going down the street while he rested on a bench trying to catch his breath again.

"Man B. This guy is good have you seen what he did with the knive?" Said Dwalin as he looked after the group.

"He cut off some of my skin Dwalin. What do you think." Briareos replied while he pressed his hadn against his stomach. When the pain began to settle down in his hand, decided the young Loki to follow the group again. He noticed Mort at the group but something seemed wrong.
He tried to move his fingers but a sharp stinging feeling stopped his movements at the second and he hoped that once they would reach the castle, that the healers would be able to help him or at least ease his pain a little.

"Oh hello there" Replied Mort to Lucas. "I..uh. I... this place is soooo pretty!" He said, ignoring Lucas and looking up in wonder up at the marvelous buildings. They almost seemed to sparkle with purity and magnificence. His mind floated off into a happy place while he was phasing out, looking at the incredible architecture. He felt like he was in a dream. Like every single burden that was ever placed on him had been lifted. He felt no anger, no regret, no memory of terrible events of the past. He felt like a child again. After looking for a little while longer, he looked down again and asked Captain Serenity a question.

"Wow you're big... You must be important. Where am I? Oh how rude of me I don't believe we have met. My name is... uh... Mort! Yes thats right. At least I think so... Yes I'm sure." Mort continued like a curious child. "Are you going to that big place up there?" He said, pointing to the palace. "Oh wow please take me with you please!"

He skipped up to them and felt a strange feeling on his wrist. Looking at himself more closely he saw that he now had some strange jewellery on.

"THATS SO COOL!" He squealed. "Look at these! Pretty impressive huh? I got them... uhm. Oh it doesn't matter where I got them they are awesome right?"

Smiling a big grin for the first time in decades he walked up to Princess Soley.

"Wow you're pretty. If you're that pretty, you must be a Queen or something right!? Oh wow this day just keeps getting better. I might visit you again after I finish what I came here fo... What did I come here for? Oh who cares I'm here now and I might as well enjoy myself!"

Breaking into a brisk walk he motioned for the others to follow him. "Come on guys we gotta get the Queen to her palace immedietly!" He continued towards the palace, whistling as he walked. He felt great. Better than he had felt for ages. It didn't even trouble him that he couldn't remember things. He was far too happy for that. It was almost as if he had adopted the innocent and naive personality he had way back before his mother was killed. But of course he couldn't remember his mother. And for now, he didn't care. But then, he felt a sharp stabbing pain at the back of his head. It was faint but it hurt enough to stop him whistling. However, he passed it off as a bug bite and continued to whistle.

The entire group appeared to be shocked by Mort's sudden outburst of admiration for the city. Lucas, Princess Soley, and Captain Serentiy stood there with a dumbfounded look on their face as Mort's attention darted from building to building. "Wow your big!" Mort finally said when his attention fell upon the group once more. Captain Serenity to be more specific, and she did not seem to be too happy with Mort's 'little' comment. Lucas had to try hard not to laugh as Captain Serenity's cheeks flushed red and she folded her arms over her stomach. She looked like she was about to say something too, but Mort's ADD seemed to give him the advantage. "You must be really important." Captain Serenity seemed to be taken aback by his remark because she realized that he was referring to her height (Causing Princess Soley and Lucas to snicker in the background).

"Your in..." Captain Serenity beginning to reply to Mort's question about his location but was cut short by another series of odd remarks. Odder than usual Lucas thought. Not only did Mort not know where he was going, he was having a hard time remembering who he was and had to ask where they were going. Lucas suspected that he didn't even recognize the group in front of him at all. "Uh, sure!" Lucas tried to respond cheerfully to not cause Mort any undue stress. He did seem interested in going to the Palace and he would have a difficult time running from the floating island. Lucas would be able to sit down with Mort in a safe environment to try and figure you what happened to Mort.

Next came an astonished remark from Mort about some weird jewelry he was wearing. It was another mysterious piece to the puzzle. Lucas looked back at Captain Serenity and Princess Soley to try and gauge their responses. The two Loki exchanged a very peculiar glance before turning to Lucas with a shrug. "Those are totally awesome!" Lucas said to Mort about the jewelry he was showing off. Mort seemed rather pleased with himself before making yet another unexpected move. He walked over to Princess Soley and remarked out pretty she was and that caused Lucas to stop and think for a moment. Mort was right. Princess Soley was incredibly pretty in all respects. He hadn't noticed earlier because he was too busy having a heart attack every five seconds. For being a keen observer, I am pretty blind...

"Come on guys!" Mort shouted, breaking Lucas' train of thought. "We've gotta get the Queen back to her palace!" The blissfully ignorant Mort took off towards the Palace without another word. Princess Soley must have still been coming out of her shocked state because it took her a moment to realize that Mort was going in the wrong direction. "Oh no," Princess Soley called after Mort. "Mort, the way to get to the Palace is this way!" Captain Serenity shook her head and followed behind Princess Soley. Lucas chuckled before looking back at Briareos. "How you doing there buddy? You going to be alright?" The ironic hand of fate intervened before Briareos could answer Lucas' question. The water next to the street seemed to swell up higher and higher above the street at a single point. That water slowly too the shape of a ten foot humanoid with webbed hands and a fish-like face.

Lucas stood there in complete awe of what he saw before him. Was this the face of the Guardian of the Lake that Princess Soley was talking about? It definitely seemed that way. A water like spirit to protect the whole lake but similar to that of the Loki because it could change shape at will. Certainly a gift that Loki would bestow upon his children. Unfortunately, this was not the case. The water creature seemed to breath in deeply, causing the water level around it to lower, before blasting out a high powered stream of water at Lucas. "What the..?!"

(I hope no one minds if I join in. If so, I'll just delete this post. This just looked too fun to pass up.)

"Huh, there's a whole city back there. Well, no sense standing around here." A boy of roughly 18 stood in front of the boulder blocking the path to the cities. He moved some of his spiked, electric blue hair out of his matching eyes and using a teleport to enter. He quickly and stealthily made his way to the larger city over the lake. As he stopped near a few statues he seemed to vaugely remember, he saw a group made of two nekos, some winged-nekos, a human, and someone who he remembered from an earlier trip in Felarya. "Mortis, is that you?" He asked Mort. "It's been a while. How have you been?" He turned to look towards the pool of water a monster had just appeared from and drew his 3'6" black sword and stepped back. "Judging by everyone's shocked reactions and this thing's aggresive actions, this thing is dangerous and unwanted. If anyone doesn't want it dead, let me know," he said, crackling with a blue electric charge. He held the sword in his scarred right hand, which was a dark burned black all the way to his elbow where it split into four parts that spun and thinned until they got to his shoulder.

Briareos was a few feet behind the group holding his wounded hand close to him. It burned like hell and blood ran along his arm while they walked down the street with Mort in front of the group. It was then as another strange looking human appeared out of nowhere. He just approached the group and immidiatly without any introduction, walked to Mort and talked with him.
He wondered how this guy had made it into the city without being detected but the captain and his mother would figure that out pretty soon while Lukas came back to hima dn asked how he was doing.


Just right at the moment rose the water to their right several feet into the air and a creature in the form of a human, with a fish head and webbed hands appeared. It was a Changelig a morphing creature which was sadly common in the lake among some other creatures. They came to the surface from time to time which was always an extremly dangerous situation since they were fast and deadly predators. They catched their prey and immidiatly returned into the water where they would devour it without being troubled by others.

The Changelig then shot a strong wave of water at Lucas who could only say "What the...?" before he was flushed away right infront of Briareos eyes.
The Loki looked shoked after the elf, who was strugling to get back at his feet after the strong impact.

The new guy grabbed hiw sword while Briareos mother already prepared one of her powerful fireballs in her hand holding her staff ready in her other hand.
The Captain stood in front of the Princess preparing herself to defend her while Mort well Briareos had no idea what the human did.

Briareos was truly afraid of the creature and Dwalin had already crawled under his vest on his back and shivered.

Mort heard a stranger say his name as if he was his friend. he turned around and saw another human standing before him.

"Mort? My name!? Erm... Yes thats my name. How did you know that?"

But before he could answer, a human and fish looking creature appeared from the canal beside the. Everyone seemed shocked and afraid. But of course, Mort in his incredibly naive new personality didn't know that.

"Oh wow! A fish person! This city is AWESOME!!! Hey fish guy, how did you get all... you know...fishy?

Suddenly, the creature shot a torrent of water at Lucas. "What the...?" Was all he could say before he got blown away by the powerful stream.
Mort felt fear begin to corrupt his otherwise happy status.

"H...Hey. Thats not nice fish guy. I only asked you a question.

The creature turned his head to look and him and the two of them locked gazes.

"Ok,ok,ok I'm sorry fish guy. Just leave us alone and go back to... doing whatever you do. Please leave us alone please!"

But the Changelig did not go away. Instead, it became even more interested in Mort. Catching him would be easy.

The boy noticed the creature focus on Mort and immediately took on a much more aggressive pose and vibe. His electric blue eyes seemed to almost burn with determination. "I'll be damned if I let some stupid water monster kill anyone today," he said strongly, sliding in front of everyone else and raising his sword. He kicked off of the ground to jump hard enough that he almost came eye to eye with it. He landed on one of its arms and sliced a large cut on its arm before jumping down.

"Gotta love magnetism boosted jumps, huh?" he muttered under his breath. "I wonder if that will be enough to make it leave. Maybe with some luck, no one and nothing will have to die," he said to himself. He turned towards the group behind him and almost instantly looked more calm. "Is everyone all right? Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name's Rai," he said to them. Standing a huge 5'6", he was shorter than just about everyone else. His black shirt and pants contracted with his bright colored hair and eyes. He walked over and helped Lucas get up and checked to make sure he was ok before turning back towards the creature and checking to see what it was doing, hoping it would just leave before things got any worse.

Acturis man where are you? Its your turn laddy.

Briareos looked after the new guy with the strange name Rei. He draw a sword and in one swift motion, hit the monster with one strong blow.

After a short introduction of himself, they heard an inhuman scream coming fromt he Changelig and as Briareos looked back at it again, stormed the creature already towards Mort and the others. Its deep black eyes seemed to stab the little guy already as it moved forward and preparing its unharmed arm for one of its devastating attacks.

"RUN!!!" Yelled Briareos as loud as he could.

(Nice try Strong. But it changes nothing. Without Acturis this thread is dead. He is the only one capable of reviving it... )

(Hey, sorry for the extreme delay. I really hope you guys are still around. I was busy ushering in 1,200 guys in to the U.S. from Afghanistan.)

Lucas watched in amazement as his teammate, if you could call him that, tore through the watery body of the beast standing before him. They attack sliced through the water like a hot knife through butter. Yet, as soon as the arm was dismembered, the arm was resown on the body of the creature in a matter of moments. It almost looked like the creature itself drew water from the lake to re-attach its dismembered ligament.

"Wha-wha--ah?" Lucas tried to blurt out as he stared at the group in astonishment. He had no idea that half of these creatures could exist, let alone creatures that regenerated withing moments. "We need to get away!" Cried out the blonde captain whose name seemed to escape him at the moment. He simply nodded and began running in no particular direction as the captain shot lightning out at the water element. It was an attack that dissolved a good portion of water, water that was quickly replenished by the water of the lake. Lucas could only look over at the Captain in astonishment as her fingers sizzled with black smoke from her attack before he bolted in her direction. His plan as to get away from the water as quickly as possible. The best way to do that was to get up to the floating palace, wasn't it?

(Good lord Acturis! I thought you were dead! Nah just kiddin' but DDAAMMNN that took a long time. Such a long time in fact, that I don't even remember what is happening. Alot of stuff has happened since you were gone. My character has had some heavy revisions done, and I am currently devoting all my effort to making my new RP a good one. Also, my labtop blew up so I don't have AIM anymore. I have to use my mothers labtop and she hates it when anyone downloads something on it. To be honest, I considered this RP to be dead a looong time ago. I have lost most of my interest for it. Maybe It could be revived with a little effort but I don't know... Its been dead a little too long. I'm all for trying. What about you guys? Strong and Sparky I mean.)