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Chapter three: A Shift in the Continuum
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Mod
Khana had walked back. Using feet. Like humans do.
Aeros rolled his eyes and pulled Petra from the ground and into his arms. Raelynn grabbed his arms quickly and clung to him just in case something were to happen. They all started walking except Claire who was trying desperately to pull her daughter along, but she was too interested in the baby trees. Finally though Claire, with Aaron’s help, had set off and followed along after Khana who apparently knew where they were going.
“Aaron,” Claire said quietly, “You seem to know a lot about time travel... why is that?”
“Because I study it.” He said as if it were obvious. “But no, I don’t know a way to get back.” He knew exactly what it was Claire was going to ask. She had a daughter to look after. Of course she wanted to go home.
“Where is Dune?” Fuchsia asked in her bubbly voice from Claire’s arms. “Who is that?”
Aaron and Claire turned around quickly to see who Fuchsia was talking about, but there was no one there, just an endless sea of new born tree sprouts.
“Khana, where are we going?” Aeros asked.
Khana laughed a little and looked over her shoulder, “Khanaland.”
“Seriously though,” Aeros said, trying to ignore the feeling he had. Khana was seemingly acting like old Khana, was it because Kirari was in a totally different time? He didn’t know but he refused to get attached to her just so she could be ripped away again, like Hudorai and Korina were.
“I honestly have no idea.” Khana admitted. “It’ll be an adventure though. Maybe I can make someone make Khanaland, and then when I get back to our time—it’ll be real!”
“That’s a really good idea,” Raelynn laughed.
“No it is not!” Aaron yelled, “It’s the worst idea ever—do not tamper with time! Ever. Just pass through, touch nothing, talk to no one—and then we’ll find a way back.”
“You’re boring.” Raelynn and Khana said as one. Aeros looked to Aaron apologetically because if he knew his long-time-girlfriend-who-was-the-mother-of-his-baby-but-not-yet-married-to-him, and Khana—he knew that Aaron had just challenged the two of them, and they were going to take things very seriously from now on. Just not how Aaron had intended.
--------
Group 2
Ammos looked to Sira who had cornered him in the living room. “No.” He said flatly, turning to her. “I can’t get you back to the present. I can see the present... sort of. I’m not a very good seer. My sister was better... but she’s dead now.”
“Are you a firebender?” Sira asked again, seemingly not put out by the setback.
“Also, no.” Ammos said, “I’m an earth bender. A sand bender to be more specific, though I can do bits of earth, I’m not very good.”
“Hey buddy!” Cadac said to the woman in the doorway to try and ease the conversation a little. The woman was old and was carrying a basket of vegetables. Her hair wasn’t white as it should have been, but was instead long and blonde, her eyes were wide and blue.
“Who are you?” She said with much force to her voice.
“I’m Cadac.” Cadac replied cooly under the pressure. “You are?”
“Why are you here in my house?” The woman asked, avoiding the question.
“I’m so sorry,” Fajra said as politely as she could. “We were just—”
“We found it.” Codai cut in. Fajra rounded on him with a death glare before turning back to the woman.
“I’m sorry for him.” Fajra added, “We were just wandering and we knew this place once upon a time, and we thought we knew who lived here. I suppose we were wrong.”
The woman stood very still, staring at each of them individually, until finally her eyes fell upon Archer who was looking up at her with a half-hearted smile. After a moment of staring at him through squinted eyes she dropped her basket and fell against the wall, grabbing a shelf tight for balance. “Get out.” She said suddenly.
“Pardon?” Fajra asked.
“GET OUT!” The woman screamed.
“I’m sorry,” Fajra said, standing up quickly, knocking her chair over as she did so. She grabbed Codai’s arm and pulled him up as well.
“NOW!” The woman screamed loudly.
---------
Group 3
Troy tried very hard to ignore the bouncing boy next to him as he clung to his leg and tried to climb him.
“It’s disgusting.” Shana said coldly, walking along behind them.
“Harsh,” Zestos said, his eyebrows raised, “I thought he was cute.”
“Oh he is,” Shana said.
“I thought you just—”
“Troy!” Shana snapped, “Troy is disgusting, the kid is adorable.” Zestos and Shana walked along in silence for a while following Rhia’s lead, wherever it was she was taking them. Supposedly they’d travelled through time. So when were they? Shana looked over her shoulder to Brooke who was walking in silence, her head hung as she kicked stones along the path.
“Where do you think we’re going?” Shana asked.
“No idea.” Zestos said quietly, “What about Kirari? Who is she? Why did she send us back in time? What purpose was that?”
“No idea.” Shana said flatly, “But Troy and that woman work for her. Just follow along. We’ll battle back when things start happening.”
“You’re sure something is going to happen?” Zestos asked.
“When has it not happened?” Shana asked. Shana looked over her shoulder again to Brooke and then back to Zestos. “I want you to recruit her. I need to know that we have backup.”
“I’ll do it the moment we get to wherever it is that woman is taking us.” Zestos said, as they continued following...
Mod
~
Codai ran with the others until they had gotten a far enough distance from the woman's house.
"Why did she yell at us?" he shouted, bewildered and out of breath.
"Well we-" Archer started before Fajra cut him off loudly.
"What do you THINK happened you idiotic lunatic!? We were in her HOUSE! I can't believe we didn't think of that! Ugh, we've traveled in time. Troy doesn't live there anymore, obviously someone else is occupying it..."
"Fjra..." Codai caught her flailing arm, "Chill."
"Sorry..." she mumbled.
"Something about her looked terribly familiar..." Vaer wondered, fixing his beret. ((I picture him looking very french for some reason xD))
"Don't be silly Vaer." Fajra huffed, "We're in the future, you couldn't possibly know her. And where the heck did you get that baguette?"
Vaer blushed and put the bread back where he'd found it. "Desolé, madame."
Archer's eyes widened as he looked back the way they'd come. "Uhm, guys?"
"Yeah?" Cadac replied.
"Ammos and Sira are still in there..."
"Oh my god." Vaer gasped, "That poor woman is going to have a heart attack."
~
Rhia stopped as they entered a rocky shore. The sun was beginning to set over the horizon, the last of the day's light spilling elegantly over the beach, illuminating long shadows to every rock. Daunting shadows. Everyone looked toward her, expecting some kind of instruction, but Rhia simply stood, transfixed.
"No..." she whispered, eyes growing wide, "No, it should be here..."
"Uhm... Rhia, was it?" Shana spoke up, "Are we stopped for a reason? Where are we? There's nothing here and its hardly the time to go swimming, one would think..."
"NO!" She shouted, now running around the beach, to and fro ((chibi Rhia xD)). "WHO ARE YOU??" she screamed to the sky, falling to her knees. "WHAT HAVE YOU CONDEMNED US TO?"
"Eternal suffering." A man's voice shook from above. Everyone stopped and looked around in fright.
"Gods? Is that... you?" Rhia whispered in amazement.
Her amazement, however, was short lived as an arrow shot from the sky and struck the water bender straight through the heart. Rhia stayed still for a moment, then turned her head slowly to face her son, a trickle of blood forming at the corner of her mouth.
"Talfryn..." she choked, "Run."
Talfryn screamed as his mother slumped to the ground in a heap of cloth and blood. He tried to run to her, to tell her to get up but Troy held the frantic six year old back, stunned.
"Shana..." Zestos whispered, "I think I know when we are."
"You don't mean-" she gasped, as a giant red balloon descended from the clouds.
"Ready your arms, men!" The same voice from before shouted. "And Fire!"
"We're in the fire nation era!" Troy yelled to the others, "RUN!"
"What was that?" Sira murmered her hands heating up. "Arch?" She called. Then she heard a woman scream. She and Ammos ran back toward the dinner table and... stopped. "WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE!!! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!!!!"
Sira tilted her head. "Where are we?"
"THE &*$% EARTH KINGDOM!!!"
Sira then promptly pushed Ammos out of the house, and they ran about ten steps.
"Wait the others!" Ammos said. Sira swore.
Mod
"So where are we?" Khana asked causing Raelynn practically to practically explode into giggles.
"You're leading us..." Aeros said quietly, not sure how to react to his sister's confusion.
"Yeah, but that's silly." She said. "Do you remember that one time when we went camping--just the four of us? You, me, Hudorai and Korina? We ran from the castle staff so we could be alone?"
"It was your idea," Aeros nodded with a grin, "And you got us lost so fast--and then started to cry."
"I didn't cry," Khana said, "That was you." Aeros' face went red as Khana and Raelynn started laughing. "Anyway, the point is that I have no idea where I am."
"I do." Claire said causing everyone to turn toward her. "We're in the same place we were eighty years from now. Only this time around... We're in a Fire Nation controlled Earth Kingdom."
"Right, because this was before Avatar Aang made his return!" Aaron said sharply, clapping his hands together excitedly.
Suddenly both Raelynn and Khana's faces fell as they looked to Aeros who was very silent.
They'd just discovered that his father was still alive.
"I need to see him." Aeros decided suddenly.
"You can't," Aaron said, "He's in the iceberg still."
"I don't care, I'll open it." Aeros said, "We need to let him out anyway--we can't rightly let the Fire Nation kill all those people if we know we can help!"
"Aeros." Claire said. "No."
"You know what 'no' means." Petra said quietly. Aeros stared at her and realized that by changing his father's life, he would change his own life, and thus Petra's. It wasn't worth it... but was that a selfish decision? He wasn't sure... but with a nod he agreed to let things stay as they were.
Group 2(30 years in the future)
"Shh!" Ammos hissed to Sira. "We can easily find them."
"Oh?" Sira asked, "What makes you think that, what if they've gone through time again?"
"They haven't!" Ammos said, though he wasn't really sure, "Wouldn't the sky light up like last time...?" He was trying to convince himself even more than Sira. For some reason, even with Vaer being on his 'i hate you' list, he wanted him around. He didn't want to think about losing him through a time stream.
"So can you find them?" Sira asked. Ammos shook his head.
"You think of something." He said, "You're the leader here." He realized no one had really voted upon a leader, but if he were to vote, he'd probably pick her. She was the easiest to follow, and the easiest to get away from if he needed to.
Group 3(800 some odd years in the past)
The man who had shot his arrow through Rhia's heart leapt from the bushes in the strangest, oldest attire any of them had every seen. His armour was very big and heavy looking, and it had weird horns coming from strange places on the suit itself. His golden eyes flicked from his fallen prey to the group of others that were still standing.
As the man readied his bow Shana jumped into the air using her air bending and spun quickly, summoning a great deal of the water from the lake and ripping it as fast as she could from it's place in the crater in the ground. As the water surrounded them and she slowly landed on the ground again more of the oddly dressed fire nation troops had bustled from the bushes and trees, surrounding them.
"That's very nice water sweetie," Zestos said encouragingly.
"Yes," Troy added, "But what do we do now high jumper."
"Shut up." Shana said through gritted teeth before clenching her fists and directing all the water into small orbs, and then into sharp ice shards. She then stomped her foot and sent all of them toward the fire benders. Many of them retreated upon sight of the shards of ice, and many of them were hit, fatally or just wounded, but still, so many of them were ready to fight.
"I've got this." Troy said, but before he could do anything at all a few of the fire nation troops had hit him from behind, knocking him over. Zestos tried to help him, but he too was overpowered by the men. Talfryn, shocked, clung to Brooke's legs, unable to move as the enemies advanced upon Shana who was punching the air, fire shooting toward them in balls of anger, but it was just bouncing off of their armour.
"Shana!" Zestos cried out, "run! You need to run! Shana!"
Suddenly Brooke's mind snapped together and everything started to make sense. "Hold on," Brooke said softly to Talfryn. He nodded and stepped back one step and allowed Brooke to move forward. Brooke slid her left foot two inches across the ground, causing a wall of earth to appear between Shana and the fire bender. A moment later the wall had fallen down and crushed him flat. Brooke, without turning to look at the other firebenders who had all pulled out arrows for an attack, had sent water, air, earth, fire--whatever she could think of, she shot it straight toward them all until they were all fallen, or retreated.
She turned toward Shana to help her to her feet, but before she could, a woman was swinging from the branches, flying through the air and landing on the ground dramatically.
Her hair was dark, but started halfway back her head. She was wearing air nomad attire, red, orange and yellow, and her head, hands and feet were decorated with a familiar blue arrow.
"I'm here to help thee," She said firmly, as she looked around her expression fell. "I see that you have overcome your problem." She stuck her hand out for Troy to shake, but he just looked at it weirdly so Shana took it.
"It's very nice to meet you." Shana said with a firm nod, "Thank you for your offer of help."
"It's no trouble, really." The woman said. "I'm Yang Chen, what is your name?"
"Avatar Yang Chen?" Shana gasped. The woman nodded with a proud grin.
Sira looked at Ammos. She took a breath and closed her eyes. She was taller then Ammos, she was actucally tall for a girl, unsurprising. "Ok. So, they arn't in the house, so the woman must have chased them out. So..." She paused and looked around. "Stand back." She told Ammos."What? Why?" Ammos said, giving her a look.
"Do it." Sira said, turning away from him.
Cautiously Ammos started to step back. He watched as Sira closed her eyes. Her hair was black, and he realised that she looked calm and relaxed right now. That surprised him given the sittuation.
Then she took a deep breath and reached out, and then fire exploded from her hands and feet, she jumped into the air, fire exploding around her and she landed the back flip on her feet, her hands touching the ground.
Her shoulder was smoking a little and she brushed it off, flashing a white grin to Ammos. The blue green of her eyes seemed too bright. "that felt good."
Archer looked around the horizon, thinking. "Oh, i think i've found them. Or Sira at least.." He pointed and watched at the fire ball disappered into the sky.
Sira looked at Ammos. She took a breath and closed her eyes. She was taller then Ammos, she was actucally tall for a girl, unsurprising. "Ok. So, they arn't in the house, so the woman must have chased them out. So..." She paused and looked around. "Stand back." She told Ammos."What? Why?" Ammos said, giving her a look.
"Do it." Sira said, turning away from him.
Cautiously Ammos started to step back. He watched as Sira closed her eyes. Her hair was black, and he realised that she looked calm and relaxed right now. That surprised him given the sittuation.
Then she took a deep breath and reached out, and then fire exploded from her hands and feet, she jumped into the air, fire exploding around her and she landed the back flip on her feet, her hands touching the ground.
Her shoulder was smoking a little and she brushed it off, flashing a white grin to Ammos. The blue green of her eyes seemed too bright. "that felt good."
Archer looked around the horizon, thinking. "Oh, i think i've found them. Or Sira at least.." He pointed and watched at the fire ball disappered into the sky.
Mod
Raelynn giggled in agreement, "Yeah, it's like we're ghosts from the future!"
Petra cackled and waved her arms around like a ghost. "Ooooo!" she exclaimed.
"Will you all just quit playing around and focus on the mission in front of us!" Aaron huffed.
~
Vaer grinned as he saw Sira and Ammos walking back toward them.
And that was it.
~
Talfryn watched everything going by like a blur of sounds and colours. Something at the back of his mind told him danger was everywhere, but he couldn't concentrate. His head hurt and his mother wasn't getting up. She lay there, limp and bleeding. Some instinct told him a simple bandage couldn't cure whatever had happened to her. If that was the case... she would be here right now, beside him and holding his hand. He was scared... and he felt so alone. Amidst a group of tall strangers who seemed to pay him no mind, he felt lost. Trying to cling to someone's arm, anyone's arm... but they all shook him back. Saying "Not now." or "Go away kid." Why wouldn't anyone tell him what was happening? Who was this new lady with weird hair?
Sira looked at their misfit group. "Ok, so obviously Troy doesn't live here anymore. Now we do need to find out how to get back to the present... our present... this places past. either way you know what i mean." "So Ammos is a time bender right? Archer said, raising a eyebrow at Ammos. "So if we get you some help on how to time bend soon you can get us to the past?"
"Zarya needs that message..." Sira murmered to herself.
"We need to stop Kiara too..." Archer thought outloud.
"So, timebending master... anyone have any ideas or scrolls or legends on time bending..?" Sira finished.
Mod
Ammos started to grin, but it faltered as soon as he remembered his anger toward French-Boy. He looked away.
"Uhm, Sira... I'm not a time bender."
"Then what... are you? How do you know so much?" she asked hesitantly.
"I'm just... a sand bender. I bend grains of sand. I can't even do earth all that well." His shoulders drooped in embarrassment, "I'm not anything special really. My sister was a seer. She could see the future. Sometimes I just get these feelings, like something is going to happen. It's nothing compared to what she possessed. Anyway, who said anything about time bending?"
Vaer shuffled his feet and walked a little while away.
"Vaer, where are you going?" Sira called, "We're trying to figure out a plan!"
"He's probably leaving again." Ammos grumbled, "Typical."
The anger that had been slowly bubbling inside Vaer suddenly exploded as he turned around and started walking straight for Ammos, yelling his head off along the way.
"Typical? Typical?? Do you have any idea HOW hard I looked for you? I tried to find you, time and time again, hoping that when I finally found you things could return to the way they were, but they're NOT. Instead, I find you treat me like some homeless cabbage seller who smells horrible and won't get off your doorstep! Do you even remember what things used to be like? It's like the whole world revolves around you now! You don't even stop to think, 'Oh hey, I wonder what Vaer is feeling after all these years of being separated?' No, you just ASSUME I wanted it that way. I made a mistake, I understand that. I'm SORRY. I'm sorry I chose to search for my lost sister instead of staying with you. I'm sorry you wouldn't come with me. I'm sorry that search as I may, I couldn't find EITHER of you and that it's like the Gods WANT me to be unhappy! I have had the worst three years imaginable and I'm sure they weren't too soft in you either, considering the way you look at me. Like you're disgusted I even exist! Well HI! I do exist! Get OVER it!" Vaer was half crying now, but he wiped away the tears angrily, "I loved you. I still love you. But I can't help anything if you won't even talk to me. So yes, I'm walking away. I wasn't going to but now I am. Because even though you are here, I don't like it. You're not the person I knew three years ago. You're not the person who even CARES if I walk away because you expect it of me. Well, there are two people I've been searching for. My sister is out there somewhere. I don't know where but she's out there. I'm going to try and find her, and I'm going to do it alone."
Ammos blinked as Vaer turned around again and started walking away. Everyone was staring at him... expecting him to say something but he had nothing to say. Vaer was doing exactly what he knew he would. Walking away. "You're right." Ammos spat angrily, "I knew this was going to happen. Come on Sira, let's figure something out."
"But what about...?" Sira inquired, gawking at Vaer's retreating figure.
"Without him." Ammos growled.
Codai let out a silent whistle of awe. Part of him wanted to follow his friend into the twisting roads of the marketplace, but the other half lay with Fajra.
"Well?" Fajra asked him quietly. She knew what he was thinking. She always knew.
"I think it's best if we stay together..." Codai whispered.
"You're so smart." Fajra smiled, taking his hand. "I'm sorry for being angry with you."
"It's alright." He chuckled, "Now we just have to figure out what to do next."
Out of the corner of his eye, Codai spotted a woman staring at them. The same woman from before, bright blue eyes and mangled grey hair.
"She looks so familiar..." he whispered.
Mod
"It doesn't matter who she is." He said flatly. "If you know her, then she knows you, and she could tell you what happens to you which would ultimately change the fabric of time. Don't talk to her."
"But she just... looks... so..." Codai trailed off, and Ammos let him think, turning to Sira and Archer.
"Please just lead us." He sighed. "I can't control time. Someone else must have. Please get us back home."
"I don't know if I can though." Sira sighed.
"Well try." He insisted.
----
"Where are you taking us?" Shana asked Avatar Yang Chen as she led the way through the woods. She seemed to refuse to answer anything anyone said, but Shana wasn't willing to put up with such nonsense. "OI!" She shouted, "Avatar! Tell me where the bloody hell we're going!"
"I'm taking you to Omashu." She said flatly, "It's near to us. There you and I shall talk with the king of the Earth Kingdom. He's visiting."
"What an honour," Troy said with a sarcastic grin, "I'm so pleased you feel that we deserve such a privilege."
"Oh it's no privilege." Yang Chen said sharply, "This is a hearing. We will judge you there and we shall decide your fate."
"Fate?" Brooke asked nervously.
"What does she mean fate?" Zestos asked.
"You dress odd," Yang Chen said, "You talk strangely, you act bizarre. You bend all elements. You are not from this world."
"Do we bail?" Zestos asked quietly, throwing his arms around Shana and Troy's shoulders and drawing them closer to him.
"No." Shana shook her head. "We'll play along as long as we can. We can't fight off a fully trained Avatar."
"I'm scared." It was a quiet voice from the child. Brooke took his hand, but the others simply ignored him.
-----
"I wish we could think of a plot for us." Claire sighed and the others agreed.
Mod
Vaer continued to trump through the wood, too hot and tired to describe what he was doing.
Talfryn hurried along behind Brooke.
Dune kept walking through sparkly stuff.
Khana wandered around in confusion, not knowing where she was.
Cyri dreamed of Popsicles and goats, unaware that she was being watched by creatures from another world. Unaware of anything really. She was in a coma.
Ryka and Tondria gasped as they came to grips with being transported through space and time once more.
Hudorai kept being creepy.
Theia, Nyx and Zarya woke up to a brand new day, watching the sun rise and spill into their cave.
Quest had entered the forest, blindly crashing through bushes and brambles when she heard a noise ahead of her, a snarl...
Izoda was terified, but Simon wouldn't explain why because that would spoil it.
The demons cackled in unison.
Rhia lay dead, until her body was burned and she became yet another ghost.
Casper lay back, fishing in the moonlight and thinking about the universe.
((I think that's it?))
Cyri took a walk... she didn't like working for Pater. He was mean and grumpy. ALL the time.
A sharp gasp eminated from the bushes.
"Hello?" Cyri called out anxiously.
"You insulted Pater! You know the punishment for that is death!"
Cyri realized she'd spoken aloud and ducked, just as a razor sharp boomerang zoomed past her ear. "Hey!" she called out, "Just let me explain!"
"No explanations!" came the voice again, as a 12 year old boy (a new recruit) leap from the bushes and launch at her with his sword. "Fight me!"
"Fine!" She shouted and shot a blast of yellow fire straight at him, incinerating his head instantly.
The boy screamed and ran around in circles until help came and one of the firebending guards dumped a bucket of water on him, revealing a charred, motionless skeleton. The five spectators looked up at her slowly. "Oops..." she muttered, shuffling her feet and scratching her head.
"KILL HER!" the guard shouted, and suddenly Cyri was running as fast as her feet could carry her, through the forest with a gathering amount of people chasing after her.
"I'm sorry!" she screamed, "I didn't mean to kill him! Just to get him off my back!"
"ARRRGGGHHHH!!!" yelled the main guard dude once more, "You shall pay for killing my brother, bitch!"
"Oh dear, that was your brother!? I'm so sorry, sir!"
"ARGGHHHH!!!" he screamed again, echoed by at least twenty others.
Freaking out and dizzy, Cyri lost concentration and tripped. the closest one to her, a woman only about 5 years old than her with light auburn hair, caught her by the arm and lashed out with her finger-blade knives, cutting Cyri's skin to the flesh. She screamed in pain and kicked out, accidentally breaking the woman's neck as she fell wide eyed to the ground, dead as a doornail.
"Oops! I'm sorry again!" she screamed, taking off once more as the rest began to catch up, throwing fireballs and jets of searing hot light toward her. She ran and ran until she saw her chance. A tree, tall and dense enough to hide her from her enemies.
"Stop right there!" a middle age man shouted, grabbing her roughly by the arm. "I'm taking you to Pater!"
"No you aren't!" she screamed, biting down hard on his fingers and shooting him backward with a jet of fire. He screamed like a child until he burned to death.
She began to climb, quietly contemplating how weird it was that her morning had started off with turtle-dog eggs and toast as usual. How unfair it was she might be dead by noon.
Cyri reached the top and clung the the tree's spindly end just as the whole of Pater's guard, now including Pater himself, rushed past without noticing.
As soon as she thought for sure they had gone, she let out a sharp fit of giggles.
"Wrong move..." A sly and careful voice crept up through the leaves. "My men are not as well trained to the eye as I, my dear. You've left footprints in the mud, honey... not the smartest choice."
"P-Pater?" Cyri called down, "Is that you? I'm sorry... I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to kill them. Any of them." She was crying now.
"Oh, it's okay... I know you didn't mean to, Cyri. I forgive you."
"You- you do?" she sniffed, eyes wide and scared. She couldn't see Pater through the dense brush of leaves and needles, but she could hear him pacing back and forth around her.
"Of course, you're my favourite... you're like a daughter to me. I would never hurt you. Now come down here so we can settle this little... confusion."
Nodding hysterically, Cyri agreed to come down and come down she did. As soon as she reached the bottom, Pater opened his arms as if to embrace her. Nervously, she stepped into them and let him hold her.
Pater smiled, and unaware to Cyri, he pulled out a silver dagger. Holding it above her back, he stroked her dark short hair. "It'll be okay." he said, as he began to laugh maniacally.
"Wha-" Cyri started, as Pater brought the knife down in a stabbing motion. Before it could hit her, however... the girl disappear. Straight into thin air. Pater was so astonished that he let the blade drop from his hand. She was gone. Just gone. No footprints, no noise, nothing. Nothing but... what looked like the shadow of a shadow crawling away into the earth...
"Pater!" an out of breath voice called, as the stout looking caller scrambled up to him. With a glare from his master, the man straightened himself up quickly.
"Er... my lord." he corrected himself anxiously. "We've lost her."
Pater said nothing, staring at the spot on the ground where the shadow had melted into.
"My... my lord?" the stout man stuttered, "Is everything... alright?"
"No." Pater declared, as the rest of his army caught up with the stout man. "Something is very wrong."
~
Subgroup D
Dune stumbled toward his mirage. The glittering image of a waterfall stuck in his mind, as bold as the sand beneath his feet. Every time he took a step, the thirstier he became. Eventually the mirage disappeared and returned to the bleak and empty dunes.
"NO!" he shouted, "NO! NO! NO!"
With a brutal sigh, he collapsed into the sand, laying there for what seemed like an hour before a buzzing sound began to ring in his ear. He opened his eyes. Right in front of his sat a scorpion.
"Shoo..." he managed to choke, "Get away from me."
The scorpion remained stiller than before, as if stubbornly determined to do just the opposite of what he wanted. Dune would later swear it huffed at him.
"Alright, sorry..." he grumbled, "Look, if you're going to kill me, just kill me already."
The scorpion remained still. The faint buzzing got louder. Then, slowly, the scorpion began to grow. So slowly that Dune didn't notice it at first, but when it became as big as a basketball, he had to leap backward with a surprising amount of energy.
"You were definitely not that big before..." he muttered, transfixed at the still growing scorpion. When it reach about five feet in length, it stood up on its hind legs.
"Holy roleplayers..." dune gasped, as the scorpion's shiny armor softened and became skin. Now standing in front of him was a life size version of the ghost Hudorai. Beautiful as ever.
"Come with me..." she smiled, reaching out a slightly transparent hand to his own. Hesitantly, he took it, and as the buzzing became almost deafening, they vanished from the desert, leaving no trace of their existence except for one honestly freaked out tarantula who would later silently return home to his wife and children, obviously very disturbed and having no way whatsoever to explain what he'd seen on his way to work that day. Millions of years later, when the baby avatar Zarya was to be born, all spiders would tell the tale of the giant mythical scorpion that changed into a beautiful human maiden and escorted a lost traveler home.