"Star Trek isn't that bad, its only fifty or so years old," Kayne said, a little defensive as he watched (and liked) Star Trek too. Not the original one, but the newer ones, such as Enterprise, Voyager, and The Next Generation, were some of the shows he watched on TV. Of course, watching TV depended on it not being broken and it was usually broken 364 days out of any given year.

"Oh, so you want proof?" he said as he started after the arrogant lady. "What would convince you, hmm? Perhaps if lit you on fire. Of course, then you'd be dead, but at least you'd believe magic was real....but that would defeat the purpose of making you believe in magic now wouldn't it. Well, what would it take for you to believe?"

_________________
Four Gods wait on the windowsill,
Where once eight Gods did war and will,
And if the Gods themselves may die,
What does that say for you and I?

Now, three Gods wait on the windowsill
Where one God's blood was lately spilled
While black tongues lap at the spreading pool
And build the strength they need to rule.

Alanna stared at him, not breaking her stride. Stared up at him. If they had been in her office, they'd both be sitting, as she hated looking up at someone to whom she was trying to get a point across. Looking up at someone in an argument cramped her style.

"You just won't let this drop, will you? In this situation, is it really necessary to believe or not believe in magic?" She broke eye contact - his return stare was more intense than most - and straightened her shoulders, her attention now on the tree ahead. A loner, it rose at least fifteen meters above the crown of the hill.

Stepping around bushes and over boulders, she didn't slacken her pace. "All right, then. Proof would have to be repeatable, observable, and explainable neither by technical, scientific means nor attributable to anything spiritual."

The tree reached, she started stripping off her boots and socks, bracing her back against the trunk. Alanna quirked an eyebrow at him. "Have fun with that." She started climbing.

Well, perhaps her attitude was ticking some people off - at least, those who were proud and extremely self-confident, as most of those here seemed to be. She wasn't normally cocky. At least not to this degree. She was still in shock. The Portal didn't work like this. And how was she ever going to get back? Build another one? Not likely.

_________________


<center>Nothing but the Rain</center>

"They are daft," Ryairon agreed, her glance darting from Kith to Geb to Merrin. "What the Underworld is he talking about?" She stared at Merrin. "What the Underworld are you talking about? Wyvern-riders? How - "

She never heard it coming. But she saw it, in a sense, behind her - its shadow, reflected as a dark blotch in Merrin's eyes... growing larger...

A reflexive dive to the right. A raucous screech above her head, followed by an impact slamming into her left shoulder blade and sending her sprawling. The creature descended, a billow of hot air at her back and a shriek of triumph tearing at her ears -

Not a second too late, she flipped herself over. A dagger whipped out in the same fluid motion, slashing up and across. Blood sprayed. A rush of talons whooshed overhead, close enough for her to feel the lethal tips scrape against her cheek. Face stinging, she rolled to her feet, sword unsheathed, just as scales glinted in her peripheral vision. She spun to the side, using her momentum to swing her sword around.

Too slow. The scaled predator banked. Her blade sliced through empty air, and the sweep of its spiked wing thwarted any attempt to recover. It continued its swoop - a straight cut to Kith. Ryairon started forward to help, but another tell-tale whirlwind of air smacked into her back, toppling her over for the second time in as many minutes. She rolled over and snatched a brief glimpse of the sky, where a swarm of black shapes darted in and out of the clouds.

And then the predator blotted out her vision. The creature was, in a word, terrifying. Spiked, scaled, dropping out of the sky like a winged demon. The armored rider had his lance leveled, its wicked tip gleaming red in the fading sunset. The unit - wyvern and rider - was plunging right toward her.

-----

The woman halfway up the tree presented the most tempting target. A single swoop detached her from the branches and sent her plummeting right back down.

Take that as a lesson, thought the helmed rider. He twitched the reins, his red cloak billowing impressively behind him, and guided his wyvern back up, where the rest of the shock force circled. He regarded the gathering huddled in the trees below him. Humans, mostly. A few odd specimens here and there. Pathetic. He called down to them, "You lot look like soldiers - you know the drill. Surrender or die."

Yeah, right. Pathetic or not, these were no cowardly, intelligent peasants. No. Defiant and stupid, these were. Couldn't be helped then, though Lord Raen might want them to bring back a prisoner or two. All the same... He counted fifteen, twenty people, even excluding the possibility of live prisoners. Enough to feed the wyverns for the night. He readied his lance and gestured for his men to do the same.

_________________

Ok, I think I want to join this.

Name: Jeniya Deilisa
Gender: Female
Race: Elemental
Age: 24
Profession:[/b ]Village Physician
[b]Appearance: Long, flowing, jet black hair. Blood red eyes that flash murderously when using her powers. Very slim, sacrificing strength for speed and agility. She wears dark clothing that do not weigh her down or hinder her speed and a maroon cloak.
Equipment/weapons: Two short swords (Three feet long), a crossbow with poisoned bolts, and her blood magic
Brief history/other*: Her blood magic is, well, unique. With it, she can heal herself and people around her (by purging the blood in the body). She can also directly manipulate the blood in the body, altering its course, forcing it into areas and causing organ failures. However those powers are depended on her physical condition.
Description of original universe: There's a world of elementals and a village of elementals were killed by a marauding army. Among the murdered elementals was Jeniya's family and lover.
How you came up with this character: Just came up for it and wanted a unique elemental.

And now for the appearance.

Jeniya steered herself ready as she faced the horde assembled before her. Surrounding her, was a small band of Elementals and their allies, mustered to face their enemies. From a numbers point of view, the battle was hopeless for the Elementals, but wager in the powers of the Elementals, and the scales of the war balanced itself back together. She loaded the crossbow with a poisoned bolt and nocked it. She held it in across her chest as the leader of the hordes roared and bellowed, with his army replying. Finally they advanced. The commander of the Elemental coalition cried, "Archers, fire!"

Jeniya aimed for the enemy and pressed the trigger. She distantly felt the blood pour from their wounds, soaking the earth underneth. Despite their losses, the enemies continued on, filling the ranks that Jeniya and the archers emptied. They roared and hissed and taunted along the way, until they were close enough for them then, they gave a giant cry of triumph as they rushed the coalition's position. Firing one last time, Jeniya strapped her crossbow on and unsheathed her two swords. However just as the enemy made contact with the first ranks of the alliance, her mind went completely blank as darkness blocked her eyes.

The wails and the screams of unknown beasts woke Jeniya from her daze. She looked around her in bewilderment. This isn't where I was, she thought as she examined the bamboo and wicker house with some curiosity. The harsh cries reached her ears again. Something did not feel right, she thought as she gingerly pulled herself together. What to do, what to do, she asked herself as she gently rubbed her eyes. She should try to ask what's going on. Maybe someone was still alive here. She slowly stumbled out of the alley between the bamboo houses.

_________________

I was cured all right.

"Oh..wait..no. I am not the one that likes Star Trek," Kira tried to save herself before Alanna left, but ended up unfruitful, "It was this guy in my Chesmitry class. Personally, I am not too into cheap animation, even though it can be debated that it was rather expensive for its time."

Kira watched as Alanna walked away and glanced over her shoulder to see if the small group of people had come back yet to inspire some sort of group activity for all of them to do together like a bunch of first graders at craft time. With no sight, Kira glazed her finger in the sand and doodled out a face.

WeeOAFF. A cry came from beyond the forest, and Kira managed to ruin her drawing in one harmonious plummeting of her hand as she stood up and stared into the forest as a rider on what Kira could only call some type of mutated wolf yelled out to them, ""You lot look like soldiers - you know the drill. Surrender or die."

Squinting, Kira was able to catch a glance of the rider, but she remained unable to comprehend it. Yelling out, she politetly responded to the rider, "From what I can see here, you look like a man, or... uh.. yeah, a man that has a high honor and allegiance following behind him. Why not hold to that and accept an accordiance of peace by understanding we meerly appeared her against our will, and we look with much ambition to go back and remain out of your skin."

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

Ruth Ann glanced up the moment she heard a howl. Immediately turning back, she went to grab her weapons and place them back in their designated areas.

Upon looking down, she meerly saw her sword on the ground with a young boy reaching down to take it. Shoving him out of the way, Ruth Ann whisked up the sword and looked into the distance to see the rest of her weapons running away from her in the arms of the village people.

Well, she thought to herself, That is the last time I intervene to promote peace here.

Whoosh.

Ruth Ann felt the air knock her over onto her back as her glance moved its way into the sky to see some sort of creature. That was all she could make out in such a stressful and shocking situation. Sitting up, Ruth Ann made sure she could feel the hilt of her sword in her palm before looking to see when the next move of this creature was to come.. with the full intention of demolishing its existence. It was then that she noticed the cloud of similar creatures running towards them from the mountians.

"Darn it," she spoke along, glancing over at the fishing village, "Just wait, you all are going to get it next."

_________________
<center>

Kayne felt the beginning tugs of a soulgaze before the lady broke eye contact. He knew exactly how to prove magic was real, if only she would let him get a word in edgewise. By the time she stopped talking, she was a third of the way up the tree, so he sighed and crossed his arms, resigning himself to waiting for her to finish and get down out of that tree.

And of course, as usual, the moment he let down his guard was the moment the wyvern rider hit the lady (he really needed to learn her name) off the tree. Kayne recovered quickly and sent a lance of flame as thick as his fist toward the rider and his steed. His aim was off and the fire only seared the wyvern's wingtip, but Kayne couldn't follow up with another hit because he had to catch a lady who was falling from rather high up in the sky.

Kayne raised his arm, pointing his staff at the quickly descending form. The runes along the staff glittered a bright, pure white and wind whipped towards the woman with the purpose of slowing her fall. And it did, but not quite the way Kayne had intended as she now began to fly up instead of fall down. "Oops," Kayne said as he lessened the power he was sending through the staff. In the end, she landed on the ground with less force than if she had tripped and fell.

"Believe in magic now?" Kayne laughed as he turned to face the wyverns and their riders. "Do you have a weapon?" he asked while he undid the knot that held his blasting rod in place inside his coat. His staff was a much more versatile tool, but the blasting rod was much, much better for what Kayne was planning to do, which was blast things so smithereens.

He poured his will into the blasting rod, causing the runes running along its length to glow a harsh, glaring reddish orange. Kayne looked back at her, "Well, do you?"

_________________
Four Gods wait on the windowsill,
Where once eight Gods did war and will,
And if the Gods themselves may die,
What does that say for you and I?

Now, three Gods wait on the windowsill
Where one God's blood was lately spilled
While black tongues lap at the spreading pool
And build the strength they need to rule.

If Raen was daunted, then he did not show it. He merely inclined his head in mock-deference and allowed Denaris to lead the way. He was mildly surprised when they did not stop at Denaris's study, but he supposed that it still was not in any sort of shape to receive guests. Even hours later, Raen could feel the power radiating from the room. He held little respect for the caster, but the spell itself would have been magnificent, cast correctly.

Finally, they stepped inside an empty room and bolted the door behind them. The room was sparsely furnished and none too impressive in terms of size, but on the plain table in the center of the room sat a large stone basin with a water pitcher next to it.

Raen stepped up to the table and indicated the basin with a wave of his hand ''Enlighten me.''

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

"Are we planning on surrendering?" Kjan started to ask. Before he could even finish, however, a beam of fire shot toward one of the flying creatures. The beast let out a harsh cry and pulled back, but it was only one of many. Overhead, quite a few more circled in what vaguely resembled an attack formation, only in the air instead of on the ground. The man responsible for the fire pulled out a rod etched with various rune-like markings, ostensibly some sort of magic item. Convenient, that.

Kjan shrugged. "Didn't think so," he said under his breath, unsheathing his knives just in time to slash at a diving whatever-it-was and block a blow from its rider. He wasn't exactly accustomed to fighting aerial opponents, but he could improvise. The creature circled around for a repeat of what had just happened, only this time it reached out with its claws and managed to graze Kjan's shoulder. He retaliated by stabbing upward with his knife and succeeded in drawing blood.

"Here's an idea," he called over to Ash as the first opponent backed off momentarily. "How about the one whose weapon allows him to attack before it becomes hand-to-hand combat handles the offense?"

Alanna didn't know what had hit her; only that something large and painfully solid had raked across her back, tearing gashes in the back of her blouse and leaving painful lacerations in her flesh. And then she was falling, whipping through twigs and leaves at an ever-increasing pace, rushing towards that awful finality that eventually greets every man.

The sky, framed by the silhouettes of branches, was a perfect blue. Odd thing to notice at a time like this.

Something flat slammed into her back, jolting the bloodied muscles and loosing the scream that she had so far held in check. It howled up around her ears, enveloping her, slowing her descent until she bobbed up briefly before continuing downwards at a much more reasonable rate.

She landed on her feet, gently, facing the ... man who was pointing his (unnecessary) walking stick at her. And laughing at her. She was in too much shock and pain to care.

"Believe in magic now?" He turned to look at the sky, and she saw that there were winged shadows diving ominously close. "Do you have a weapon?" the man asked, while producing a cylindrical device that he switched on. "Well, do you?"

Weapon. Alanna was barely beginning to process everything that had happened in the last sixty seconds. Weapon... danger... the winged silhouettes. Right. Weapon. Wake up, woman.

Her N-36 handgun was anchored to the underside of her workstation. No good here. And the plasma rifles were in the armory lockers on the walls. No good either. She had her knife - but it was definitely not a range weapon. So improvise.

Alanna picked up a rock. "Yes."

_________________


<center>Nothing but the Rain</center>

Frozen for a moment in a sudden paralysis of fear - Merrin had never faced such an enemy without being securely astride her dragon - she watched Ryairon dive sideways, watched the darkly shimmering beast swoop nearly to earth, and only in the intervening - and heartstopping - millisecond regained the presence of mind to throw herself out of the way.

She rolled over, feeling grit in her eyes and blinking frantically. Belatedly, she remembered her rapier and yanked it from the sheath, trying to watch every great flying shape at once while stumbling to her feet in the uneven sand. A dazzling explosion of vermilion-orange fire lit the air over her head and Merrin ducked, retaining the presence of mind to stab sharply up with her rapier. A frightening rush of air, a sudden wind keening in her ears, and wings snapped out as the creature shot upward, unhurt. Merrin gulped a quick breath. If only they still had the shelter of the trees, at the very least!

The sun momentarily ceasing beating on her head. Merrin experienced the briefest of confused sensations and then she dove sideways, realizing even as she moved that Devarion was directly in the way. She slammed into him, knocking herself breathless - he was very solid - and as the wyvern touched down, found that she wasn't as far away as she had intended to be. Teeth flashed and she yelped involuntarily, stabbing blindly upward with her rapier.

Somehow, a sudden and painful death was averted once more. Merrin wasn't at all sure how long she could keep it up.

---

Surrender or die, Raign heard, and in a flurry, it seemed to be decided that surrender was not an option. She whirled, scimitar sliding out of its sheath in the same motion, feeling a desire to protest mounting swiftly. Especially once she saw the beasts.

Colored ebony, and hovering close enough overhead for her to see their talons in minute detail, were creatures Raign had never seen before. One of them could have decimated half their group with, if not ease, then little difficulty. They had a modicum of advantage in the sheltering trees; a modicum that was sorely lacking, in Raign's mind. Rapidly, she found her thoughts spiraling on a downward trail. Surrender or die? The second possibility was looking more and more likely, and Raign wanted nothing less. Was there a possibility of surrender, and death nonetheless?

Yes, she decided, standing tensed for action half in and half out of the jungle. Yes, definitely. "Spread out!" she yelled, falling automatically into the position of commander. "Don't all stay in one place! If you have a long-range weapon, bloody well get moving with it!"

The first of the beasts swooped in, not touching down but merely diving and then angling sharply to rise and circle once more overhead. Raign judged the distance, wondering without time to fear what would happen if she managed to get underneath one of those steep, diving assaults. She shifted position, moving back into the trees, gaze darting from place to place, person to person. Several of their group were already fighting. But she could read the mood of the head rider, who hovered overhead. His and his mount's attitudes were almost lazy. He wasn't worried.

Raign's lips tightened. At the very least, she'd make sure they had something to worry about.

_________________

“I’ll see what I can do.” Ash shouted back to Kjan, readying his bow as he spoke. “But I can’t say I’ve ever tried to fight off anything that big with a hunting bow.” He barely had time to put an arrow to the string before the injured beast was back. His first hastily fired shot went wide. The second had a bit more success, the arrow lodging in the creature’s side. Shrieking, the beast veered towards Ash, then shot upwards as his third arrow hit it in the chest.

"Spread out! Don't all stay in one place! If you have a long-range weapon, bloody well get moving with it!" One of the women (Raign, was it?) seemed to have appointed herself commander of the fight. Ash didn’t care- it sounded like she had some pretty solid advice. He ducked just under the canopy of trees, still able to fire, but hopefully out of reach of the fighters.

In the next instant, another beast dived in through the trees, its rider brandishing a sword. Ash fired twice, one arrow hitting the rider, the second ripping through the mount’s wing. Dodging the beast's outstretched claws, he found himself standing near Raign. “So, what happens when we run out of long-range weapons?”

At the first sight of the wyverns descending from the skies, Xarw whipped out his crossbow into his left hand whilst the right moved to a holster of crossbow bolts by his side. When one of the riders simply demanded surrender or death, the drow had made his choice and loaded the nimble bow. When the whole beach seemingly turned into a battlefield Xarw lunged towards the woods, knowing he the wyverns would have trouble reaching for him. However he stopped as his path was cut off by two wyverns and their riders, a slight grin appeared on Xarw`s face.

Yet then again how many times had he stared death in the face and laughed at it? How many decades had he survived in a world where every step might be your last and behind every turn there is a blade bared at your throat. He might have grown more subtle in his way of dealing with things in the world above, but at least he had not forgotten how to kill like before. The string snapped, sending a bolt right into the wing of the other wyvern, where it was left sticking out. The the other one charged and forced Xarw to lunge at his right, but then only to notice, that the other had recovered and was coming forth. Xarw discarded his crossbow to the ground, he used magic to create a ring of darkness around himself. The wounded the wyvern and it`s rider still charged forth ferociously, ready to rip him apart despite the sudden obstacle.

As the beast rider swooped into the darkness and slashed wildly in an arc with his weapon the motion was stopped, suddenly he felt something pull the weapon. At that next instant as the wyvern exited the ring of darkness, Xarw had already mounted the creatures back and sunk his longsword into the chest of the rider. Now it would be only a matter of time before the wyvern would be dead as well, the poison coursing trough it`s veins was hopefully taking in an effect. However Xarw was not willing to rely on, that as he threw the dead rider down from the wyverns back and still held onto the spear of the rider with his left hand. The beast aware of what was happening went wild, trying to shake off the masked `man`, that was now hanging onto his life. Xarw had to admit, that it had been a reckless move of him, but at least it might do some good.

With a sudden glance he spotted a former threat approaching as the other wyvern rider approached him with the intention of knocking him off the beast he was dangling on. It was a far cry for a kill, but he quickly raised the spear above his head and sent it flying across the air at the enemy. The foe simply moved out of the way of the badly aimed throw, but at least it had bought the drow sometime to prepare for a crash landing. The poison was in fact working as the beat of the wyverns wings became ever slower and they were losing altitude with great speed. Xarw grinned widely as he grabbed the reins and pulled hoping to direct the beast into the right direction.

Both he and the wyvern crashed near the shoreline, where the water was the lowest.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

"If you have time to contemplate it, you're moving too slowly," Raign said acidly. She moved swiftly between the trees as one wyvern descended, spewing flame. The moment in which it touched down was the only opportunity she saw.

Darting out and slashing down with her scimitar, and using all the strength she could muster, Raign chopped at the creature's broad tail. Almost instantly, her arm jarred with the impact and her weapon bounced, completely ineffective. Faster than she would have thought possible, it whipped around, one taloned leg outstretched to slice her into pieces.

Raign saw the black blur of scales and knew she had seconds. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! her mind was already screeching. Acting purely on a vague sort of instinct, she threw herself forward and into a ball, stabbing up with her scimitar. Hot breath missed her by too narrow a margin, and she felt talons graze her back, but her blade struck something, and the wyvern screeched deafeningly and flapped aloft, the wind of its departure nearly knocking her over once more.

She retreated hastily, feeling dimly that there were stripes of pain across her back, but pushing the sensation to the back of her mind. That had been too close. Her thoughts raced. Trees or no trees, they were going to be brutally massacred. Think! Think! her mind was saying urgently, scrambling for the possibilities. Another plume of flame lit a group of palms on fire. Raign scanned the sky.

Curse it all, she had no time to think, no orders to give. Helplessly, Raign dodged the next burst of fire, trying futilely to think of something.

_________________

"Alright," Kira sighed, "I am presuming peace is not too nicely an option for these folks." She quickly looked under her blue blouse to make sure she was wearing her outfit, and then she proceeded to unbutton her blouse, take off her jeans, and throw them to the side, burying them a little in the sand and setting a few indicating marks as to where they were.

Looking up, Kira thought through was the best mode of combat would be. She stood up, smiling, and burst into flames and then flew into the air and headed towards the huge group of Wyvern riders.

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

"Long range weapons?" Ruth Ann thought to herself, not too satisfied with her present situation, "that means that kid is going down."

Seeing no other real way to follow through in combat with solely her sword, Ruth Ann dashed out of the way of the Wyvern rider and jolted down the path after the boy who had taken her bow and arrows.

She had run for over 200 paces before she was able to clearly make out the boy with the bow and arrows. Luckily for her, it was the smaller of the three that had grabbed those; nonetheless, they were making there way up the mountain.

Pushing the question to the side of why they were going where they were going, Ruth Ann did manage to get within a few paces of the boy, but, once the boy noticied, the distance between him and her began to increase. Taking the opportune moment, Ruth Ann stopped, picked up a rock, and flung it causing the boy to topple to the ground. It was then that Ruth Ann ran up and pinned him to the ground with her sword at his neck.

Pointing at the arrows, Ruth Ann's manner of presentation was unmoving, and the little boy was engulfed in tears with a look plastered on his face of being scared for his life. In fear, he pushed the bow and arrows out of the way and let Ruth Ann grab hold of them. She relent her point on his neck and stood up, continuing to have eyes piercing towards his. Pointing her sword in the opposite direction, she indicated for him to leave, which he immediately obeyed as she set up the bow and arrow, turned around, and ran back towards the battleground.

_________________
<center>

Jeniya crouched behind an abandoned wagon as she watched the loathsome beast swoop and fly. At first, she thought their attacks were random, but a second glance proved that they were concentrated their attacks on a specific group of people, ignoring the fleeing villagers. After looking around her surroundings to verify its relative safety, she withdrew herself into a trance as she quickly identified the blood of the lifeforms surrounding her. They were all so unfamiliar. The majority were those that belonged to the villagers, while the beasts seemed to have masters not of their kind. Even the blood of their prey varied. This was certainly a mysterious world.

A loud screech pulled Jeniya from her trance like a whirlpool. Apparently behind an abandoned wagon wasn't as safe as she thought it was. The beast and its rider was diving towards Jeniya. Quickly she dodged its path, however the claws raked against her left shoulder, forming three short slashes against it. Ok, shouldn't use that arm then, she thought as she picked herself up. She unstrapped her crossbow from her back and began to load it, cursing the grueling process. When she finally finished, she aimed for the wyvern as it circled for another dive. This time she was ready. At the correct moment, she fired, sending the poisoned bolt into the beast's neck.

With a loud last screech, the dead beast fell to the ground in a tangled mess. The rider was buried under the beast's giant wings, dazed. Deciding not to draw out her swords, she rushed the stunned soldier and swung the wooden stock end of the crossbow at him. That only stunned him further, failing to fracture his skull. Ripping a section of the rider's clothing, she bound his wrists to a pole used to support the roof of a building.

Inside the village and indeed, outside, the small skirmish continued on. Shrugging, Jeniya decided to help the band of the mysterious strangers. After all, the enemies of her enemies were her allies and questions can always follow.

_________________

I was cured all right.

"Hey, you there, Raven hair! My Glaive! Can you throw me it?"

Jeniya had absolutely no idea who he was referring to. The man with spikey red hair standing on the outskirts of the village. Another second passed before she saw the glaive in question near her and thought, Oh, right. Me. After checking that there wasn't any immediate threat such as a wyvern diving at her position, she gripped the glaive tightly and pulled upward. Genius, she thought as she pulled again. Who puts his own weapon in the ground this hard? After the fourth try, she managed to pull the weapon out. "Catch," she cried as she tossed the glaive at the man.

She turned around to see yet another wyvern dive and this time, instead of trying to slash at her, it simply breathed a jet of flame at her. She rolled away from the line, surviving with only a small fire on her cloak. Quickly she took it off and stamped on it vigorously, putting out the flame. Peeved, she grabbed the crossbow she had temporarily discarded to retrieve the glaive and loaded it.

_________________

I was cured all right.

Just as she finally had the wyvern in her sights, a flash of fire blinded Jeniya, forcing her to look downward. The perfect aim she had achieved was lost. Angrily she turned towards the fire, only to remember that was where the man with the glaive stood. She let out a brief gasp and for the swiftest second, moved towards him but reason stopped her. What could she do anyways? Instead she raised her crossbow, aimed, and fired at one of the wvyern that attacked him. It collapsed on its side, crushing its rider against the ground. Grinning as she felt the blood of both beast and master mix together and soak the earth, she turned to go after the other one when her shoulder cried with pain. She cursed her shoulder as she gently massaged it before continuing her task.

As she nocked her crossbow and loaded, she noticed something peculiar. When the fire died out, instead of killing the man as it should have done, he was still alive, albeit weakened. While she was familiar with magical shields from her world, none of them could deter the intensity that the two wvyern unleashed on him. She was inwardly glad that she chose to ally herself with him. He was clearly not someone she wanted to face on opposite sides. She aimed at her target when her shoulder protested again, collapsing under the weight of the crossbow and throwing off her aim. Cursing, she put down her crossbow and concentrated on her wound, allowing the blood to clot faster and inhibit the pain slightly. She sighed in relief as she hurried to aim at her enemy once again.

_________________

I was cured all right.