Once In Light

Kader shook his head. He had no need for company, not now. "No," he said, then added almost as an afterthought, "thank you." With that, he stalked off again. He didn't look back at the group or even at the strange mare with her odd form of communication. He needed to get back to Springvale... there could still be survivors.

Sasha looked sadly after him, but made no move to stop him. She knew what could happen if she let him alone long enough, but for the time being he most likely needed time to himself. After a while she sighed.

"He seeks revenge," she stated, "but vengeance can never be satisfied." She closed her eyes, and almost didn't seem to be speaking of Kader when she continued, "I pray that he can let it go, for his own sake..."

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The wyvern led Lillith through twisting stone corridors, passing several odd creatures on the way and many closed doors. Eventually, they reached a dark metal door engraved with spiraling designs. He knocked on the door, then stepped aside. A voice, not exactly deep, but far from quiet, came from inside, "come in."

The wyvern bowed slightly at Lillith, obviously still uncomfortable and ready to end all contact with the newcomer. "Go on, then," he mumbled before taking off in the direction he had come from. He still had a lot of paperwork to do, especially considering how behind schedule they had suddenly gotten. Today was not turning out to be a good day for him.

Inside, there was a fairly large room with a few occupants already inside.  Along the walls were maps, some cabinets with who-knows-what inside, and a full suit of armor, presumably for the general, who was standing in the middle of the room.  He had two messengers standing by him, a matching pair of birdlike creatures.  As Lillith entered the room, he shooed them off to the side, revealing what he himself looked like.

He was a feline, and a rather large one at that, standing almost eye level with Lillith.  His fur was dark purple, almost black and very short.  He had bright yellow, almost golden eyes that seemed to be perpetually slitted, and pointed ears sticking out from under a helmet that seemed to show his status more than protect him.  His tail was long and ended in a small tuft, more like a puma than a lion.  But that wasn't the most interesting part.

Between his shoulders were four tentacles, furred just like his tail.  At the end of each one there was a more flat section which, on one side, was covered in small spikes.  He had them curled around himself, almost like folded wings, with the spiked part folded in on itself so he wouldn't accidentally hurt anyone.  He looked up at Lillith, and barely seemed surprised that he had never seen her before.

His form seemed to shimmer for a moment, before settling back to a more solid appearance.  He didn't seem to notice.  "Welcome," he said almost warmly, "I am Celinati, second in command here.  And who might you be?"

Celinati raised his eyebrows. So the group sent to Springvale had failed? Odd, they were some of the best. Of course, Lillith mentioned that they had been aided, which made more sense. What intrigued him more was the newcomer's true identity. An outsider, he knew, was generally not to be trusted. But they were also very powerful. He frowned almost imperceptibly, sizing her up. "Serath does not often speak to newcomers," he mentioned, "but he could probably make an exception."

Celinati turned around to face the pair of messengers, and spoke to them hastily. The first he sent to inform their leader of the new arrival coming to meet him, and the second...

"Send reinforcements to Springvale. You know who. Tell them to recapture the escapees, but do not hurt them unless it becomes neccesary." He narrowed his eyes, a grim expression showing on his face, "and if the team sent there earlier does not return on their own, then we can assume that they deserted us."

The second messenger nodded and sped off out the door, almost bumping into Lillith's feet as it went. Celinati smiled at her. "Pardon me, but now that that's taken care of, you can meet Serath. Follow me."

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Kader was already out of earshot, following the smell of smoke at a brisk walk, when Gerrin got up. He had been listening to the people around him talking, and judged that moment as the best to very simply get out of there. He leapt up and, without even unsheathing his claws, made for the nearest gap in the ring of people around him. Sasha, though startled, made no move to stop him. He wasn't hurting anyone, after all, and they couldn't keep him captive forever.

Celinati shook his head. "That should not be a problem," he said simply. He padded silently down ever widening hallways, sloping down into the depths of the mountain. They passed less and less other people as they went deeper, until eventually they came to a large golden door. Celinati walked boldly up to the door and knocked with one of his tentacles, before folding it back around his chest.

"Do not feel intimidated," he said, "Serath does not consider himself above much of anyone else." He smiled, "we fight for a cause, and that is all he cares about."

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The messenger, a bright blue birdlike creature built more like an ostrich, charged in the door to one of the training rooms without warning. He barely had time to open his mouth before a large beaked face appeared in front of him. Kashta, a brownish yellow thunderbird with white ram horns and a swallow tail, grinned. He was about twice the size of the messenger, making him about as tall as the average human, with a wingspan at least three times that wide.

"Hey! You got an assignment for us, don'cha?" he asked joyfully, causing the messenger to wince at the volume of Kashta's yell. The small, timid creature nodded, backing up a couple steps. Kashta didn't seem to notice, and instead whooped with joy.

"Ya hear that Lye?" he called out, flying over to a perch by his friend, "we get to go outside!"

After a moment the doors opened, seemingly of their own accord, revealing a large room lit brightly with many large braziers. In the back, there was a golden throne. Or at least, a sort of stage. Dragons don't do well with chairs. Serath was sitting proudly on the raised platform, a golden scaled dragon with broad orange stripes running down his back and legs. On the back of his neck were four bony spikes, with another set on the back of his front legs, and on his tail. His emerald eyes were framed by dark brown ram horns and a pitch black helmet.

Celinati stepped to the side. Though he would be keeping an eye on her, he assumed Lillith would prefer to introduce herself. There were no messengers remaining in the room, all of them having been sent away with the news of a visitor coming. Serath seemed to realize what Lillith was almost instantly, and bowed his head in respect. "Welcome," he said with a shadow of a smile, "I am Serath. I have been told you have a deal for me?"

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Kashta's grin only grew wider as the messenger spoke, though no one really knew how they could tell a smile from anything else, considering he had a beak. The messenger, on the other hand, was incredibly nervous, and seemed to want to leave as soon as possible. "The group sent to Springvale failed," he said, sounding very rushed, "Celinati wants you to go recapture the escapees. Don't hurt them unless you have to."

He shuffled some papers he had taken from the room before he left, and eventually brought out a small stack of files in his mouth. "I have descriptions of the members of the team. If you can find any of them, they can tell you what their captives looked like. However, if they don't cooperate, Celinati says they can be considered traitors..."

The messenger kept shifting his balance between his two splindly legs, clearly hoping to leave as soon as possible. He didn't particularly like speaking with Lye, who he thought was fairly intimidating. Though, he thought almost everyone was pretty intimidating. His only wish was that the pair wouldn't need any more information from him, and he could go back to what he had been doing before.

Serath nodded, smiling, and spoke with a passion.  "The magic users are to be warriors, mostly.  Should they refuse, we have... Other uses for them."  He raised his head proudly, a faint expression of anger on his face.  "As for my goals, I seek power.  Not for power's sake, no."  His expression hardened, and he stared down at Lillith, "I intend to slay a god."

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The messenger shrugged, "something about a light creature helping them escape.  I don't know much..."  he looked at the ground, seeming ashamed of his lack of knowledge.

Kashta landed near Lye and looked at some of the papers.  "Wait wait, this is Lessya's team?" he interrupted, "those guys are good, they've never failed!"  He narrowed his eyes at the files, "what could have happened...?"

"Celinati says you should leave as soon as you are ready," the messenger answered. He seemed to be attempting to back out the door, as if he could do so without anyone noticing.

"I could go right now," Kashta said, already grinning again, "I don't need much stuff." He beat his wings a couple times casually. He had a set of light leather armor that he could bring, but he really didn't like it unless he knew he would need it. It was harder to fly while wearing it, if safer, and he swore it messed with his magic somehow. Everyone else had assured him that that was impossible, but he still didn't approve. Not unless they were going into a warzone or something. Other than that, he really didn't know what he might need. He was ready to go any time.

Kashta rolled his eyes. "I'll be fine," he whined, "c'mon, you know me." It was true. Kashta wasn't exactly a distance flier, but as long as he didn't have to battle any strong winds he would be fine. He could always walk if he had to, but he really hated being landbound.

He watched the messenger sneak out the door, leaving the remaining papers on the team sent out. Kashta smiled, not even bothering to glance at the files. "You're right, though," he said, cheering up, "this shouldn't be hard."

Aiko turned to Gerrin and saw that he was trying to leave. She stepped in front of him.

"Where are you going?"

The question was rhetorical, of course, though she was curious. Also Aiko didn't want Gerrin to leave and tell his master or whatever about them and their escape- even if he probably already knew of them. "Don't you have some answers we could use?" she asked, this time the question actually being meant to be answered. She sighed before adding in just in case Gerrin wasn't going to answer, "Look- no battle-ready things from me, currently. No claws teeth or anything else. For once I just want to talk." She looked around the group before pointing to an area out of earshot, "We can talk over there, if you think it's fine."

Gerrin stiffened, staring up at Aiko.  He couldn't decide whether to be worried or angry, but decided to play along for the moment.  "I'm trying," he grumbled, "to go home."

He narrowed his eyes, "but that isn't happening, is it?"

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Serath looked at Lillith for a moment, considering what little he knew of her offer.  After a while, he nodded.  "alright."  He brought a memory to mind, one that had taken place nearly 80 years ago.  If Lillith looked, she would see him flying just above a battlefield.

He landed alongside a few allies and lunged toward the enemy.  He was tearing through small, black, wyvern like creatures as if they were nothing.  Claws, teeth, tail, fire.  He leapt back into the air and flew a good distance away from his allies, with only the dark creatures clawing up at him from below.  He hovered for a moment.  And then he seemed to explode.

Bright flames ripped through the air around him, burning through the creatures around him almost instantly.  They barely stopped short of his own, awed allies.  In the midst of it all, he roared.

The moment of glory was cut off abruptly by a large shadow appearing out of nowhere and slamming into him.  It looked much like its smaller, more corporeal cousins, but it was much bigger and more powerful.  It knocked the unsuspecting dragon out of the sky, and they landed not far from each other.  Serath didn't stay stunned long, and was on his feet before the creature in front of him could even think of lunging.

He growled, and shot towards it.  While most dragons had their breath weapon and nothing else, Serath boasted a bit more control.  As he ran, he let a hint of flame pass out of his mouth, only fueling the real spell he was casting.  Claws blazing with fire, he leapt up, above his enemy.  And landed directly on it.  It was dead before Serath's hind legs hit the ground.  He looked up at the rest of the advancing army...

Aiko sighed in annoyance. Gerrin was suspicious of her- why wouldn't he be? She did try to fight him. "If you cooperate, then you can. I just want to talk. So," she gestured away from the group, "Please?" She was hoping Gerrin was willing to follow. if he wasn't, however, Aiko wouldn't blame him. If she were in his position, after all, she knows she would have refused.

Gerrin was obviously displeased, but nodded. He doubted he had much of a choice, being outnumbered beyond what he could be bothered to count. He followed Aiko silently to wherever it was she wanted to go.

Sasha watched them walk off, but didn't follow. She stayed with the rest of the group, silent and almost serene looking. She observed everything in the area, her pupilless eyes making it near impossible to tell where she was looking. Mostly, though, she was keeping an eye on Lessya, who she was sure would awaken soon.

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Serath looked down at Lilith, considering. She was a demon, which, logically, would fall more towards being his enemy than his ally. But he also knew that she was out for herself alone, and he may need her help. After a moment of thought, he nodded. "We already have a good collection of empty power crystals," he said, "can you do anything with them?"

Power crystals were very handy when assembling an army, assuming you can get a lot of them. They would run any sort of psuedo-magic contraption, but that wasn't all. The stored power could also be drawn out into a spell, or even directly into someone's personal mana reserve. Of. course, a very full one could also explode when broken, but that was often a risk worth taking.