-Color: Veins of a New World-

Safina watched everyne begin to leave and follow Ilene. She quickly began running after them, enjoying the feeling of the dirt and grass hitting her feet. It was strange. Why did she enjoy such a simple, everyday thing? Safina caught up just when Helios was telling Steelio that he needed to be quiet. She nodded in agreement, "besides, we aren't going to die. Don't worry," Safina smiled in attempt to calm the boy.

Ilene flew over the terrain in leaps and bounds. She found it strangely easy to navigate the underbrush, not taking a dive even once. Now with the group moving she didn't have to worry as much about losing them. She planned to keep running until the woods ended or others stopped. With any luck the Deathcapps aren't agile creatures, or they could be in trouble. Especially if they know the woods. Ilene pushed the thought form her head and kept going.

Steelio jerked backwards, stopping in Kairn's grasp. Not even Safina's words could calm him. He continued crying, "We're gonna die!"

Briana grabbed Steelio by the shoulders, screamed, and shook him, "Get a hold of yourself! We're not going to die!"

Steelio's crying slowly faded to a soft sniffle, "B-but, the Deathcapps!" He looked down onto his lap, then back up to Bri, "they're here..."

Yells could be hear throughout the forest, as fleeing villagers clumsily ran through the foliage. Screams and what sounded like gunshots filled the air. The doctor's giant voice boomed through the woods, screaming commands with his deep call, "Take no prisoners tonight, fellow Deathcapps!"

The Deathcapps shrieked with their battle cries. They were coming closer, armed with wooden rifles, bow and arrow combos, magic staffs, giant double bladed swords. One flew through the forest, faster than any of them could run. Just levitating without wings. It looked as if he were sitting, with his legs crossed, his head was lowered, his eyes closed, and his hands reaching out. He flew towards Ilene, about to snatch her by the shoulders.

A group of Deathcapps with various weapons ran through the forest. One yelled, "We've found some innocents!"

The doctor screamed back, "Kill zem! I vant you to torture zem! I want to hear zem squeal like the hogs zey are!! SQUEAL PIGGIES, SQUEAL!!"

They approached the group.

Safina could hear voices closing in on them. It was fight or flight. Consideriń they had no message, flight was the best option. She hastily grabbed Steelio's hand, "We have to leave!" She yelped, pulling him along. She looked at Helios, "think you could carry him? You will run faster than Steelio by far, and he's really scared." Safina looked at Flower, "need any help carrying those so you can breathe while running? We have to hurry!"

Ilene heard the battle cries and immediately knew that the Deathcapps had arrived. She looked back to make sure everyone was alright, only to see a cross legged figure flying after her. When he got close she diverted her path, heading straight for a large tree. To her pursuer it might look as though Ilene was backing herself against a wall, but she had a plan.

Seconds before he entered grabbing range Ilene did a back flip off the tree, propelling her feet first towards the Deathcapps face.

Even as Raik whined and ducked behind his brother, Kairn had whirled around and begun snarling at the advancing group. He stood his ground, beginning to bark at them. After a moment of nervousness, Raik steeled himself and stood beside his brother, his low growl cutting under Kairn's loud barks. Raik's ears pressed against his skull, and he prepared himself to fight to protect his friends.

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Kairn, on the other hand, was mostly just putting on a show. He doubted he could scare the group off, but at least he could stall them. Honestly, he was scared, though maybe not as much as Raik. This was more than he could handle, and who knew what kind of weapons they had. It was the unknown that scared him. If he knew more about these Deathcapps then he would be able to formulate a plan. But he knew nothing.

He had no idea what to do.

"Of course I can lift him" Helios replied, and he picked up Steelio and threw him over one shoulder. He then continued running in the direction Ilene had gone with one arm holding the boy and the other out in front, making him a human battering ram. Unfortunately, he was not as agile as Ilene was and so he ran somewhat clumsily through the underbrush.

Safina caught Flower's animals, feeling slightly guilty for holding them when they were dead, and took off running, hoping Flower was behind her. She didn't know what to do if the Deathcapps caught up.... she didn't have any strength or stamina. She could always hide behind a tree. Hiding among trees... it would be a hard thing to do. And she would seem like a coward. It is better to be alive then it is to be dead, though, right? Safina continued running, moving with ease around trees and over sticks. Her feet were getting a little bit scraped up, but she didn't care about that right now.

The levitating Deathcapp had just about reached her, but his head had twisted backwards from the kick. The sound of his neck cracking filled the air. He fell under Ilene, and hit the tree trunk.

A Deathcapp with a big wooden riffle, somewhat like a musket, ran through the forest. He stopped, noticing Helios clumsily trudging through the forest. The Deathcapp smirked and readied his gun. He aimed for his spine to paralyze him. The riffle man loaded a pellet and muttered, "The bigger they are..." He shot the bullet with fairly good accuracy, it could have hit anywhere on his back, and maybe even hit Steelio.

Two tall female deathcapps raced clumsily through the forest. One had rather blueish purple hair, and winter apparel, while the other one was very muscular and wore plated lingerie. The blue haired one had a long magical staff. On the end it had feathers and white orbs levitating around it. The robust Deathcapp had metal plated gloves with giant bolts and screws protruding out from the knuckles. They noticed the feathered dragon, and the little blue serpent. The Deathcapp with the wand waved it around. The white spheres of energy began to follow the serpents. The orbs flew over to the two reptilians.

A short male Deathcapp with black hair, red eyes, and long elf ears walked ahead of Safina. He looked a lot like Steelio. He even could have been mistaken for him. The Deathcapp looked Safina right in the eyes, and began tapping into her brain.

Helios heard the crack of the rifle and felt the bullet hit him in the lower ribs, he grunted, and dropped Steelio to the ground, turning towards where the report originated from. He started running in that direction, coming upon the deathcapp before he could fire again. Helios seethed with anger, feeling his rage. All of a sudden, he noticed that his arms seemed to be on fire, but it wasn't hurting him. He looked at the deathcapp, and smiled a big grin that probably would've made some back away in fear. He thrust his right hand forward and flames shot out in a stream that incinerated its head. Helios then cam forward and grabbed his rifle, making sure to extinguish and flames on his body.

When Ilene heard the Deathcapps neck break she finished out the back flip and landed in a crouch. She immediately went over to the body to see if her attacker had been carrying any sort of weaponry. After doing so she darted from one tree to another using their trunks as cover, heading back to help the others. She heard a loud noise and saw a rifle man who'd just taken a pot shot at Helios. In response he ran up with his arms ignited and burnt the Deathcapp with a jet of fire. Since when could he do that? Ilene though to herself. She thought back to her vision. If I have anything locked away I'm not sure I want it to emerge...

Karin glanced over at Raik, trying not to look too nervous. "We're probably going to have to retreat," he said quietly.

Raik growled, "fine, but we're not abandoning everyone."

Kairn nodded, "of course not. We will stay as long as we can." He quickly scanned the area, spotting Faez and Gwyneth. They were both creatures he seemed familiar with, though he had no idea why. He signaled to Raik.

As one, they bolted towards the other pair. Raik sped slightly ahead, while Kairn kept an eye out behind them. As they approached, Kairn called out ahead of him.

"We may not be able to outrun them," he stated as quietly as he could, while being sure Faez, and more importantly Gwyneth, could hear him, "Hopefully we can find some sort of hiding place and wait for them to pass over."

Helios, now feeling a bit more sure of himself, picked up Steelio and started back the way he had come towards the others, albeit at a slower pace since there was a musketball near his kidney. He grunted in pain, holding Steelio over his shoulder with his left arm and the musket with the other. As he trudged along he thought to himself That fire I did back there...I don't remember being able to do that. Perhaps... he thought of the dream he had been having before waking up Perhaps I was able to use if before. But what happened to me then?

Ilene decided to run after Helios in an effort to rejoin the group. On her way back she smelled a metallic taint in the air. Then she suddenly found herself blindly Chasing Helios, completely ignoring the others. Not this again! She screamed insider her head, for her lips wouldn't respond to her command. It was as if there was another thing inside of her, forcing her into silence.