-Color: Veins of a New World-

Steelio tensed suddenly at the sound of Raik's voice, slightly startled from his timid nature. His neck became stiff for half a moment and then relaxed. Steelio was relieved that it wasn't another Deathcapp. But why was Raik yelling? He curiously strolled over to the two wolves, "What's going on?"

Cakis was curious as well. Despite him having a mildly high level of experience with psionics, he couldn't read minds yet. The boy followed Steelio and plopped down on a log. He slouched over and crossed his arms, looking at the wolves. "Is everything okay?"

Karin sent a sideways glare to his brother, now he had to explain everything without making enemies. He shook his head.

"Not exactly," he said, "see, those things that were chasing us..." he paused, trying to remember what they were called, "Deathcapps. In a large group, we are very easily visible to their patrols. We are also unlikely to be able to find enough food for all of us in one place."

He took a deep breath, then continued. "We should, of course, keep in touch, but..."

"It would be safer if we split up into a few smaller groups."

Cakis felt a little shocked at first but then smiled mischievously, "Ah, I get it. You think we'll slow you down, get in your way. You think we're weak, and you think that you can survive without us. Here's the thing, doggy, I know more about the afterlife than you could ever know. I know it's secrets. You couldn't survive without us, most importantly, without me."

Steelio stared at the two wolves, feeling a bit heartbroken and a little feeling of betrayal. No words came to mind.

Briana slouched in the background feeling nauseous. She didn't hear Raik's cry. Her eyes were opened very wide and she just stood there, staring at the ground. Thoughts skimmed through the neurons in her brain. Her vision went blurred for a moment and then Bri closed her eyes tightly for a half a second then she opened them. Briana suddenly came back to her senses when she saw something in the distance. It looked like a heavenly being, glaring at her.

Ilene stopped walking abruptly and turned on the wolf pair. "Let them leave. They've been doing their own thing for a while now." she spat. "Sitting outside the group, spying on us, discussing your own plans." Her pointed ears perked outward protruding through her hair. "I hear all." The demonic light in her eyes intensified. "I see all." She circled around and this time addressed Karin "You don't trust any of us, least of all me."

Kairn growled, suddenly surrounded by people who seemed to have become hostile. He opened his mouth to snarl something back at them all, but he was interrupted.

Raik looked his brother in the eye calmly, silently pleading with him to calm down.
"Please..." he muttered, then looked up at the rest of the group. He raised his voice, fighting his own nervousness at the various upset faces focusing on him.

"Please. Everyone just calm down. I know we all have different ideas on what could help, and quite honestly Kairn is, in some ways, right. You all are."

He drew a deep, slightly shaky breath, and continued.

"I'm not going to force anyone to do anything, that's not what I want to do, I just want everyone to calm down. We don't have to be enemies."

He turned back to Kairn, quietly hoping he wouldn't make anything worse. Then he stepped back behind his slightly speechless brother, allowing him to take back his usual place as spokesman for the pair of them.

Safina whinced when Kairn and Raik announced that they were leaving. She did feel hurt- definately- but she didn't want there to be an argument over the matter. Judging on how others were reacting, though, it seemed as if it were going to lead to one. Luckily Raik spoke up in attempt to play the role of peacemaker. She decided to speak up as well to add in her views on the matter.

"I agree. Though I may not completely like the decision, we are hopefully all friends or at least allies so if they choose to leave it's their choice. Just remember," Safina shifted her gaze to Raik and Kairn, "You're always welcome to stay. Aaaaand I think someone else should join you two just to ensure protection. Strength in numbers, right?" Safina added in a helpful smile, though she still felt saddened by the wolves' news.

Cakis scoffed, "Fine, let them get captured by the Deathcapps." He got up from the log he was resting on, and began to walk away from the wolves slowly. "We don't need them." Cakis felt very offended and no longer cared for them, mostly Kairn. He felt disdain and hate. He felt these emotions more commonly than others. These emotions are common with his kind, death elves. Cakis and Steelio were both death elves.

Steelio felt a strong attachment to Raik and Kairn, though he had known them for only a little while. "I don't want you to go! You two are my friends! Who knows if we'll ever see each other again?" He felt a slight bit of disdain, just as Cakis did, though it was a very, very weak sensation of emotion. The creepy voice came back to him, They're are going to gonna abandon you, little young boy child. You're ares oblivious tos the many very really bad, dangers of hatefulness and loneliness and abandon. Steelio tried his best to ignore the voice. It gave him goosebumps. Wires sticking out of his robotic shoulder sparked.

Kairn had almost recovered his composure, and was going to simply walk away, when Raik, of all people, growled.

"No!"

He jumped directly in front of his brother, legs spread apart slightly, fur standing up.
"Let me have a say for once! I don't want to leave, and after what we've heard, can't you see staying is safer?"

Kairn stared at Raik, shocked that he had suddenly become so hostile.
"...Fine."

He turned around to face the group, leaving a suddenly nervous Raik almost cowering behind him. "Fine! We'll stay!"

He didn't say anything more, just walked a distance away and flopped down to the ground under a tree, clearly aggravated and tired. He didn't know what to think anymore. He felt like he usually knew what to do in a given situation, but he didn't have all the knowledge he used to. He simply couldn't judge people's actions as well without the experience he assumed he used to have.

Raik stood nervously in front of the rest of the group, still standing braced with his legs apart, but his tail drooped. He wasn't sure what to do next, so he just glanced worriedly between each of the faces around him, scared that they might still be angry.

Raik was almost embarrassed that Gwyneth was so worried about him. It reminded him of something, though he couldn't place exactly what. He recalled reminding people that he and Kairn were, in fact, the same age. He blinked, and realized that he had stood quietly for an awkward second.

"Oh, uh. Thank you," he said, not sure if he should say anything else.

"He... He just wants the pair of us to be safe," Raik apologized for his brother, "I- I think sometimes he overestimates himself..."

He looked back at his brother, motionless under the tree. Kairn seemed to be trying to go to sleep, though still troubled. Raik wasn't sure what to do about the strained situation, but at least someone seemed to still want them around.

Safina smiled brightly when Raik and Kairn agreed to stay. Sure, she had said they could leave, but that was to prevent any fights. "I'm glad you two can stay," she smiled at Raik. Safina then turned to Kairn, who was under a tree, seemingly trying to go to sleep. Maybe she should go talk to him? Maybe not because he might need to blow off some steam. Safina felt indecisive on the idea. In one quick decision, Safina approached Kairn.

After standing beside him for a few (awkward) moments, Safina spoke up. "Um... hey. Sorry for bothering you since you're trying to sleep, but.... sorry. I hope you aren't mad at us for... yeah." Safina scolded herself for being unsure how to cheer up Kairn. She should have really thought about what she was going to say before approaching Kairn.

Kairn looked up at Safina, his dark amber eyes betraying no emotion. He shrugged, and looked back at the ground. He allowed a short moment of silence to pass before he spoke.

"Thank you," he said simply. He paused quietly a moment longer, then said, "I think we all need some rest, before tempers get much worse."

He grumbled quietly, showing slight irritation, "of course we also need food..."

Safina sighed, hoping Kairn wasn't angry with them. "You are right with your reasoning, though. There are a lot of mouths to feed," Safina turned around and began walking off. "Just hope you know you're with friends, 'kay?"

Once she was closer to the group, Safina sighed again. "Kairn did have a point though- we need food. I suggest half of use stay and rest and the other half search for food."

Ilene had spoken her piece so she let the others talk. In the end it didn't surprise her that the wolves stayed. Surprised they even thought to leave, shouldn't they have a pack mentality? Soon enough talk returned to food and rest. She but right into the conversation as if nothing happened. "I'm neither tired or hungry, but I can help provide nonetheless." Her fist clenched in anticipation. "That or guarding the camp since nobody wants to set up where it's safe." Ilene's tone was indifferent, if Deathcapps attacked so be it.


Helios, who had been silent for some time made a suggestion. "We should divide ourselves roles; hunters, gatherers and lookouts. Then we should determine who needs sleep." He looked over the group making his own evaluations before proceeding. "Everyone knows themselves best, so we should volunteer. As long as everything gets done that is."

Cakis stood a few yards from the group. He had been listening to the conversation, and was a bit displeased that Kairn and Raik were staying. Once he dislikes someone, he usually hates them the rest of his life. Though that doesn't mean he won't communicate with them, or show that contempt, he would just keep it locked up inside his consciousness, letting it sizzle and burn up with all the rest of his disfavor in his life, like the hate for the doctor, his parents, and most Deathcapps.

He suddenly felt a single neuron in his brain die.

An eerie ambient voice spoke to Cakis. It sounded like a familiar being that Cakis knew. A white face with albino red eyes flashed in front of Cakis's eyes, "I greet you once again, my old master. How are things? I assume that you have realized that you are no longer a Deathcapp, and I have taken your place." Cakis suddenly felt fearful and very small in power, yet at the same time, angry and hateful. The voice sounded as if it were speaking over his shoulder. He felt the cold nonexistent breath on his shoulder. Cakis's field of view suddenly skyrocketed and then he shuddered as he closed his eyes and his vision became normal again after a fraction of a second of it disorientating. The voice said something again, "Perhaps I could get the Afterlife Program running smoothly again, Pompeii... Perhaps I could even teach you a few things. Tell me this, if you were to be my servant, I would spare you."

Cakis shouted in an aggravated tone, "Shut up!!" Everyone could have heard him.

Startled, Briana looked away from the angelic being and looked over at Cakis, a bit confused. She didn't say anything, and stared at Cakis.

Cakis growled, and announced to everyone, "We have to get out of here, that idiot Overseer might be here soon." He wasn't as much concerned as he was angered, "He's been talking to me telepathically for about a minute now."

The voice said, "You shouldn't assume that I'm coming to, what would like me to call it... Enslave you? No, no, I was merely making a deal with you. It's a simple agree or decline situation. I implore you to consider your conclusion."

Cakis didn't respond to the voice, "We should go to the village. I doubt they destroyed everything."

Sfina smiled happily- living creatures that peons boy won't hurt then are in villages! "I vote village!" She smiled, leaning against a tree. Her pale freeness skin contrasted the tree's bark. "So can we go? Because I have a huge craving for something edible 'cuz in still hungry." With the arrival of a small amount of her memory, Safina seemed to be returning to her happy self from before her death.

Cakis began walking and answered Faez, "If there are any people there, they're probably scared half to death. The Deathcapps probably killed everyone, though it won't hurt to look for some supplies there." He sighed, "We'd better get going." Cakis walked with a slight bit of haste, stepping over the foliage on the ground of the forest.

Steelio picked up his mechanical arm and tried to shove it back into the socket, fiddling with the wires. He said to Cakis coming up behind him, "The arm won't go back in, what do we do with it?"

Cakis responded simply, "I could tell you the complicated way, or I could tell you the simple way."

Steelio was a bit confused about the first choice so decided to pick the latter, "I'd rather have the simple way, please." Satisfaction was bound to be in the simplest way.

Cakis felt a bit disappointed by Steelio's decision, "Oh, are you sure? The complicated way is a lot more fun." He looked over at Steelio with a dementedly evil smile. It showed no teeth, and was more of a smirk than a smile.

Steelio glared at Cakis, feeling fairly uncomfortable, "Uh, simple way, please...?"

Cakis sighed, "Fine, we'll get you a replacement arm and I'll do the same thing I did with Bri's head."

Briana heard her name, but made no note of it. She ignored that her name was said.

***

A slow, ominous voice said telepathically to Ilene, "Why hello, young fiend. How are things?" She felt breathing on her shoulder and an odd presence crawling up her back. It felt like a cold hand caressing her, though there was nothing out of the ordinary behind her, nothing. "You did an admirable job defending yourself from the Deathcapps..."