-Color: Veins of a New World-

"I doubt anyone will freeze to death either, but that doesn't mean its an absolutely terrible idea" Helios said, slightly glaring sideways at Ilene "However like I said earlier, what could we do to ignite a fire? Wood alone won't cut it" as he looked back at Bri, Safina, and Flower.

Safina sighed,rubbing the temples of her forehead, "I meant get wood to burn if we get a fire started. What we would need is flint and stone. I don't think we have any, though." Safina really disliked encouraging fire, but if the others wanted it... She will have to go along with it then. Nothing else she could do without probably starting some sort of argument.

Bri said bluntly, "I don't know how to make a fire. I think we need flint for a fire."

***

The screaming mortars of the battle slowly died down. Bloodied body parts could be seen on the ground. It was silent after a minute. The doctor twitched his eyes around looking at the gory scene. His sadistic smile remained present. "Zis is glorious! Ze glorious, glorious flesh! Zit fills me vith such joy!" He picked up a severed hand and squeezed all the blood out of it, onto his head. The doctor laughed horribly loud and played in the mud with the severed limbs he had picked up.

A Deathcapp walked up to the doctor, "Sir, we've spotted some Secondians fleeing towards the forest. What do you think we should do?"

The doctor screamed, "Vhat do jou sink!? Capture zem and bring zem to me!"

The Deathcapp responded, "Yes sir, right away sir." He turned around and yelled to the others, "Come on! We have more innocents to capture!" They began to chase the survivors through the forest.

"Pfft, fine." Ilene replied contemptibly. "Besides everything that's going to notice us probably already has." She turned to Gwyneth after the comment about fire breath and said "Such a shame." The dragon continued on about hunters, Ilene was confused. "What do you mean?" She inquired all hint of hostility gone. "Your not exactly making sense..."

"Hmm well unless we have something or someone who can ignite the wood, then the point is moot" responded Helios "And I am not sure what this flint you speak of is, but I don't think we have any."
He folded his arms again.

Safina nodded, "okay." She frowned, realizing something, "I don't know what flint is, either. I just have a feeling we need it. It's strange..." Safina replaced her frown with a smile, "I guess I'm a little glad if we can't make a fire- honestly, my only memory being fire and such, it doesn't seem very comforting at the moment."  Fire doesn't seem very safe or helpful, to be exact, at the moment. "I just thought if everyone else wanted a fire then... It seemed only fair that the majority of beings here made the decision, right?"

Bri sat down on a log. Her legs still hurt. "I'm still a bit confused." Something small and wet flew up to Bri and landed on her head. Bri stood up startled, "What is that?"

The little creature had beady black eyes, and was a very tiny humanoid with wings. It wore tiny clothes made from leaves, and appeared female. It smiled, showing its sharp teeth. It said quietly "The Deathcapps are coming." More of the tiny creatures flied up from the trees and leaves. They chanted, "The Deathcapps are coming."

"No. You're absolutely incorrect." Ilene got up in Safina's face. She licked her pointer finger, and twirled her with it. Her eyes looked up absent minded as she added "Well unless of course the majority agrees with me..." She snapped her gaze back to Safina, locking her eyes with her own. Her red orbs remained transfixed for a moment before she backed and started cracking up. "You should loosen up a bit." Ilene said with a grin.

She then heard Bri call out, and turned her attention to the strange creature.

Safina smiled back at Ilene, "I guess I should." She was just so tensed up because of the fear she had of a disagreement. It was a strange fear, places right along the fire fear, but a reasonable one. Safina more so feared that since no one knew anyone very well a fight could end up... Not very good.

Safina jumped when she heard the eerie voice. Safina twirled around to face the strange creature, watching in shock as more arrived. No time for shock- some answers would be useful though. "What's a deathcapp?" She questioned.

Helios heard the creatures speaking and the others cries of alarm. He looked over and listened to their eerie message. "I don't know" He thought a moment "But whatever a deathcapp is, they don't sound good. We need to prepare ourselves."

The tiny creatures continued to chant, then they began to say, "Run away!"

Steelio froze, "Deathcapps...?" He began shaking. A strike of fear overcame his face.

A memory ignited in his brain. He felt nothing but pain, agony, and the blood spewing from his eyes. This memory was very clear to him. He could hear a scary voice talking to him, "How does it feel? How does the Fountain Spell feel? All the blood through your eyes? What do you see?" Steelio cried his bloody tears, and screamed, screamed until his throat was sore. He stopped bleeding. His eye sockets were empty. The pinkish lumpy tissue in the sockets burned with pain. The scary voice was becoming louder, "You will make a fine sacrifice to the Deathcapps, very fine indeed." He laughed. The memory faded.

Steelio screamed, "We're gonna die!! The Deathcapps, I remember them! Very, very bad!" For being such a happy little boy, he is easily scared.

Bri raised her voice, "What are Deathcapps!?"

Steelio yelled back, "Very bad people!" He was shaking and beginning to cry.

At the mention of a threat, Ilene instinctively reached reached for her waist. Her hand clumsily grabbed at the folds of her skirt. What am I doing? I must look like an idiot.. For the first time since her arrival her face turned beet red. She looked around in panic, hoping nobody had witnessed her moment of weakness. There's too many of us, somebody had to notice. In a rash decision she covered her face and ran off in the direction opposite from which the creatures had arrived.

Steelio's panicked cries got Helios' attention Hmm I think we need to get out of here he thought to himself. Just then, the sound of footsteps on the ground and feet snapping twigs made him turn in time to see Ilene running away. He called after her to no avail. "Perhaps we should leave" he said to the others "Maybe Ilene has the right idea"

What Steelio said about the deathcapps greatly worried Safina. Sh looked up just in time to see Ilene running away. Helios suggested that they leave, as well. Safina quickly nodded, "agreed," she said before bending down to look at Steelio in the eyes. "It's going to be okay, okay?" She smiled reassuringly, "we just need to quickly leave. How about we follow Ilene, then?" As Safina said the last sentence, she stood up, more-so asking Helios.

Raik was finally awoken by Steelio's screams. He jumped up, instantly alert, and ran to his new friend. He rubbed against Steelio, more like a cat than a wolf, in an attempt to calm him down. He didn't know what was going on, but he had the sense to stay quiet and listen instead of asking questions.

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

Kairn had already figured out what he needed to know. As he stood up, he kept a calm, commanding air about him. He walked towards the rest of the group and took a place near Raik, though where everyone could see him. He did not sit down.

"Steelio," he said, "do you remember anything else about the Deathcapps?"
He paused for a moment, thinking of the most important specific, "perhaps their mode of transport, or anything they may use to find us."

He was already formulating several plans at once, but chances were at least one of them was completely useless. In the face of this supposed great danger, he had nothing against telling the others any plan he came up with, but only once he was sure it would work. When faced with a direct threat, he didn't want to just abandon any of them.

But he still would, if he had to.

Helios listened to what Kairn had to say "Do you know their hunting tactics or the type of weapons they might be carrying?" he asked. "Because if there are a lot of them, we probably should consider running, especially since we are unarmed."

Steelio said shakily, "The-they were scary, and big, and, and, it's not going to be okay!" He was overcome with worries and a painful memory of his experience with the fountain. He pushed everyone trying to comfort him out of the way. "We need to run, get out of here, and get away!" He got up, and began running. He screamed as he ran, "We're gonna die, all of us!"

Briana was shocked by all of this, "Wait, Steelio!" She shot up and followed him. Bri motioned for the others to follow her.

When Ilene's acute hearing picked up on Steelio shouting for them to run, she determined that she might not have made a bad call. From what she could tell nobody saw her blushing. She peeled her hands away from her face and raised her head high. While she did want to cover as much distance as fast as possible, she made sure that she didn't get too far away from the others. Ilene would never admit it, but she truly didn't like the idea of being all alone out here. Especially with these so called Deathcapps about.

Kairn growled under his breath as he jumped forward, getting a quick start to run after Steelio. He didn't really need it though. Steelio was young, and Kairn was a mountain wolf, both fast and agile. In moments he had caught up with Steelio, and he jumped forward. He didn't tackle him, though, instead using the jump to gain height so that he could grab the collar of the boy's shirt.

He planted his paws firmly on the ground, and refused to let go of Steelio's shirt. He glanced behind him at Raik, who had followed nervously. Raik didn't say a word, still confused and slightly sleepy.

Helios followed Steelio and Bri, using his longer legs to try to catch Steelio before he went off alone and was killed. Kairn outpaced him however and he came upon them a moment. He walked in front of them "Steelio, you have to stop yelling, that will only make this worse." he started "we should follow Ilene, but we need to do it quietly so they won't hear us."