Blood of Legends ((Kiandra&Mephilis))

"Mister?" Thyverian asked as he looked down at her, a smile coming to his face at the lack of revulsion from his somewhat sexual comment. Maybe she liked him after all, even so, he could not get too close to her. She was dangerous, and likely to vanish soon after this mission was over. But alas, he felt drawn to her regardless of the fact it was a terrible idea... or perhaps, because of it.

Thyverian thought little of the way he walked, but one might notice he tended to emphasize his shoulders with his motions, easing one forward as he took a step with the corresponding leg. Fingers curling into a fist, before relaxing as the arm is pulled back with the next step. He was not a large man, his his body was muscular, like a mobile powerhouse.

"You might need wings to fly Thy!"
Seylian called out from the landing site as the two approached. Provoking a grin from the white feline who would respond in kind. "I was just showing Cylesta one of the many things I can take, that would make you cry like a stuck dog!" This would provoke a chuckle from both Melorn, and Manus, the second of which was not in plain sight. "Are you alright?" Menis would ask moving to examine the red head. "I am Menis, our Femme fatale here put me back together."

"Which was no easy task either, seeing as he was blubbering like a baby..." She teased as she escaped into the shadows before he could retaliate.

Melorn laughed at that as Seylian nearly doubled over with his laughter. Cylesta stuck her tongue out at Manus as she passed him within the shadows, saying from within them, "Looks as if you're back in action... Didja miss them too much?"

Before he could reach her, she was already passed on, back into the living realm, smirking as Menis grinned at her for her words. Melorn shook his head at her, and finally spoke up, gathering all of their attentions.
"All right, settle down..."

Thyverian shrugged as she vanished, "If it where true, she would not have to vanish after saying it." with that, the male made his way back over toward the trees. It did little to stop the laughter, but Thyverian refused to let it bother him.

Manus did not respond, but growled at the darkness around him, which would shift in an almost apologetic manner. "Better be sorry." He spat before he began to move around, scouting ahead.

Just as everyone began to calm down, Merlorn was about to speak when Thyverian called out. "I found something!" This would draw the attention of the others, Melorn speeding ahead of the group to see his discovery first. "Dear Gods..." He spoke quietly at the scene, an obvious battle took place here. Manus would step out of the darkness in the center of the graveyard as the others arrived. "Looks like our old friends showed up." Manus spoke as one of his boots lifted the face of a corpse, long snout, not unlike that of a wolf. "And out bandits intercepted them."

"Not many of ours..." Melorn said, looking at how the vast majority of the bodies were not feline. "No, it would not be, without their Alphas the Carnice are weak, you will also see a lack of female corpses, likely taken prisoner for... obvious reasons."

"Why would the Carnice come here?" Menis asked.
"We knew it was only a matter of time before someone drug us into a war, my money was on the Carnice to be honest, they have hated us since the dawn of time... and the feeling is for the most part mutual."

Cylesta looked over at her uncle as he was about to speak, before he was interrupted by Thyverian. She followed, although by the sound of his voice, it wouldn't be anything good. She took a step, and surveyed the battlefield. Her eye took in all the details, and then she turned on her optic eye, checking the battlefield, and sighing as she told Manus, "You're standing in a poisoned carcass Manus..."

She wasn't worried, as it had settled into the corpse, but if he were to make a big fuss, the poison would drift back into the air and possibly become fatal is inhaled. She approached her uncle as he looked down at one of their own scouts, recognizing the old grizzled face. He had never been one of her favorite teachers, but he had taught her some skills, and to see that he had died here, caused an ache to build in her chest.

"How did they get the drop on the scouts? That's what I want to know..." She said, although she was mostly speaking to herself as she walked over to another corpse. Since this one was clean of the poison, she crouched, studying the body a little closer than most would.

"What I would like to know is why are there even scouts here? This is area should not have any of our people in it..." Melorn would speak as he crossed his arms at her question. "Probably caught by the bandits, then executed after the battle and left here to make it look like they were victims of the Carnice. Cause we should have no scouts here, we are going scorched earth on these cats." Manus would reply, looking around the corpses, he was not concerned with poison, the shadows typically flushed his system of unwanted toxins, and considering he was mad at them, they would work overtime to get back on his good side. The shadows had always been particularly protective of him, even int he customary 'Shadow Dace' all shifters have to take before they can dawn the title, when a lone shifter is forced to defend themselves against an onslaught of other shifters. The shadows jealously guarded Manus, letting none hurt him, to this day, he is the only shifter to have a perfect score in the dance for that reason alone.

"Wh-what if we find any Carnice women? What do we do?" Menis asked, his ruby reds locking on his older brother who would sigh softly. "Kill them, they are the enemy, we cannot let them return home." Melorn also took in a breath, neither of them liked the idea, but they knew it was the best action. "Well enough lurking around, while very few Rastarox died in the fighting, I have no doubt they will be celebrating this victory, and will be vulnerable to a surprise attack." Manus spoke before the arms of darkness moved around him in an almost loving way before he was gone from sight again.

Cylesta watched him disappear then turned to look over the dead bodies once again. She lifted her hand, a small ball of purple smoke within her palm.

"Better get out of range, this stuff is nasty..." She warned as she made her way to the very middle of the field. Melorn, who had only watched this happen once, nodded and made his way out of the clearing. He even went so far as to boost himself up onto a low branch, motioning the males to do so as well.

Cylesta watched while they followed her warning, then took a second to take off her boots, she lifted them clear of the ground, and then giving them another look, as if to assure herself they weren't within range, dropped the ball at her bare feet.

She cringed, and then watched as the ball expanded, forming a blackish purple mist that crept along the ground and over the dead bodies. She watched it silently, as it began to work, eating away at the carcasses, leaving bleached white bones behind, stripped of flesh. Anything dead was cleaned and destroyed.

She walked within the mist, following it as it expanded to encompass the entire clearing. She had measured the dose out perfectly, so she wasn't too worried that it would go beyond the death within the field. At the outskirts, she turned around, tail twitching in pain and annoyance as the mist slowly disappeared, its work having been completed.

She turned to look at Melorn, and nodded towards him, to let him know that the floor was safe again. As they regrouped, she sent a wave of healing energy down her legs, and then slipped her boots back on. If anyone were to catch a glimpse of her feet, they would see a ghastly sight of bones with flesh dripping down the sides. It would take her a bit to heal this, but it was better that she had sustained this injury rather than heal it on someone else. It was easier for her to send the energy shooting down her legs.

Once her boots were on, she stepped towards Melorn, leaving behind a puddle of hissing blood and goops of flesh. Once they made a base camp, she would have to steal away and clean out her boots, but it was better than having the boots fuse to her feet, had the mists touched them.

"I bet that feels good." Thyverian said as he watched the trail of flesh she left behind, catching only a glimmer of her feeb before she covered them. Melorn was quick to begin moving, and the group was quick to follow. They traveled the land for nearly as hour before Melorn drew one of his blades and slammed it into the dirt. "Menis, you are with me, Seylian I leave you in command, I want a camp set up before we return." He would normally take his niece, but she needed to tend to herself, so he would instead take the potential scout for a quick recon.

"Alright, Thyverian, gather some wood, Cylesta, once you are done with whatever you need to do, I want you to help Thy if he has not gathered enough, I will see to setting up the tent." While under normal circumstances, Seylian would not have the athority to command the female, but the commanding officer did just give him the right to command everyone, including her. "Yes sir." Thyverian would say, clearly a hint of a mocking tone in his words before he moved out to gather soem wood.

Cylesta grinned ferally at him as she heard Thyverian mock him. She shook her head, and found a seat close by, before she pulled her left boot off her foot. A chunk of flesh fell from the boot next to her and she sighed to herself. She looked up at see Seylian's face, knowing that this wasn't something that most could look at without running for the hills to puke their guts up.

She smirked at his expression, and then lifted her foot to check it. Thankfully, it hadn't picked up a lot of dirt as she had walked between the corpses, and with a quick spell, it was clean. She started working on the healing process, and by the time Thyverian had come back, the foot had pale pink skin over it. She looked it over and the stretched it out, making sure all the ligaments and muscles were in the correct order, before covering it with fur.

She looked over at him and smiled before pulling her other foot out of the boot and grimacing. This one had the ligaments torn from on side to the other, and it looked as if it were simply melting away. She growled to herself as she pulled it up and began working on it, repeating the same process as she had with her left foot. She cleaned it quickly, and then slowly began to repair it. Once everything was back within her skin, she flexed it, before smiling and allowing her fur to grow over the skin again.

She pulled her soleless boots from her pack and slipped them over her calves. She always thought they were kind of like gauntlets, but for her legs. She stood, tail twitching from side to side as she balanced her weight on each foot, before nodding to herself and picking up her full boots.
"Do you need me to do anything Seylian? I'm heading down to the stream to wash out my boots."

"Thats definitely attractive... marry me Cylesta." Seylian said sarcastically as he saw her flesh fall out of her boot. At least he was not hungry anymore. Moving about, setting up a site for different tents. They might not be here long, but it was better to be ready to settle in then have to settle in with no shelter to speak of.

"Um, yeah, if you are going to the river, you can fill up some flasks, no idea how far we are from the enemy, and Melorn and Menis will likely need some water upon their return. If Thyverian is still out there gathering wood, it would be nice if you could make sure he didn't die out there."

Cylesta grinned at him again, and headed out to the stream, carrying the canteens to fill them up. She kneeled down, setting everything to the side as she took a moment to expand her senses to check her surroundings.

After a moment, she knew she was alone, and a smirk curved her lips as she took a step into the stream, picking up her boots so she could wash them in the middle of the stream.

It didn't take long to wash them, and she stretched her toes within the cool rush of the water. She placed her boots on the shore and then filled each of the canteens.

Once that was done, she checked her surroundings again, extending her reach as she tried to sense where Thyverian was. She smiled as she pinpointed his location, and picking up her things, she headed out to find Thyverian.

"Did you get lost?" She asked as she approached him from behind.

"N-no." The white feline said, mostly in surprise as she spoke to him, looking back over at her slowly. A strange look of concern over his face as he watched her. Taking his eyes from her, he began to look around the trees, "I just have this... strange feeling..." He said, almost a whisper as he continued to search. A hand moving up to take his sword hilt in hand as he dropped what little wood he had gathered. It would not take long for the sound of wings to fill the air, "Its here."

Almost as soon as he spoke, a massive body came down, crushing the trees in front of them. A large, red reptile with wings that blocked out the sun around the two felines. Teeth larger than even Thyverian showing as it opened its large maw, letting out a loud screeching sound, something akin to a feline's roar. The red headed male was quick to draw his blade, taking a deep breath. "A dragon... great..." Just his luck, his first real fight would be against one of the mightiest beasts on the planet, well at least he had Cylesta, if nothing else he wouldn't die lonely.

Cylesta saw his face and placed the canteens down by a tree, along with her boots. She extended her senses, and felt the beast approaching them, knowing immediately what it was as it flew closer. She didn't say anything, simply watched Thyverian, waiting for his move.
This was not her battle, nor her mission, and she would only step in if it seemed he needed help. Of course, that didn't mean she couldn't let him have all the fun and glory, and so her pulled her twin sais out of their sheaths, twirling them expertly before doing something that she had only ever seen Manus do.

She charged the blades with the shadows, watching the metal as it glowed with purple and black lights as the shadows came willingly to her aid. Dragons were large magical creatures, and so she opened her aura to encompass the large dragon, so while Thyverian fought him physically, she could fight him aurically. It would be just as hard as his fight, but it would give him a fighting chance. And hopefully the rest of the squad would feel her aura and come to their aid as well.

Thyverian did not want to fight this thing, he had hopped it would just fly away. His hope however was crushed when the massive creature rushed at him, head first, spike like teeth aimed for the felines. The red head, throwing caution into the wind, rushed toward the dragon, right after its mouth. Jumping quickly as he neared the entrance to its maw,landing on its face as its jaws slammed shut in a failed attempted to crush the smaller creature. With a loud sound, something like a roar, but more like a hiss, Thyverian began to slam his weapon into the beast's face, it did little good as the armor like scales protected it well.

"This isn't good."

Thyverian said before the monster jerked its head feverishly, tossing the red head into a nearby tree with a very painful sounding impact. The creature would watch as the feline male hit the ground after bouncing off the bark, nothing broke, but a few bones did pop as he got to his feet. Holding his sword tightly in hand, Thyverian's celest eyes stared into the flaming suns that were the dragon's eyes.

While Thyverian faced the dragon head on, Cylesta used the shadows to get round the back of the creature. She started probing the beast, trying to find weak spots, and right under the arms, she found a sweet spot. She grinned, and sent the shadows into the beast, causing it to howl in pain and start batting at itself.

She used the shadows to twine within the beast, surrounding the inner organs. She began using it like a rope, twisting the organs from within, and within seconds, she had the heart of the creature surrounded by shadows. Had she been facing the creature head-on, she would have never been able to use this move, but thankfully, Thyverian was distracting it.

She pulled at her shadow, and allowed it to wrap more closely around it's heart. She looked over at Thyverian, and pulled, hard. The heart pumped frantically, and the dragon finally looked over at her, noticing her for the first time and roaring it's displeasure. It charged her, and she lost her grip on the heart, letting it slip from her grasp as she slipped into the shadows to escape the charging beast. She popped out near Thyverian and yanked him into the shadows with her as she noticed the dragon turn it's head and spew fire at them. Thankfully, she got him into the shadows just in time, and she smiled and in the heat of battle, pressed a hard kiss to Thyverian's lips, before popping them back in, up in the trees, out of sight of the giant beast.

"Back to work mister!" With that said, she disappeared, sliding down the trunk of the tree, using her shadows to stay out sight of the dragon.

Just as Thyverian had thought things would go badly, she saw the darkness envelop the dragon. Watching almost in awe as Cylesta nearly tore it apart from the inside. This was not to be, as it managed to break free of her grip. Suddenly a wave of flame spewed out toward him, but before he could be cooked, Cylesta jerked him into the darkness. He had been here before, inside the shadows, when Manus drug him in and beat him senseless. This time he was here, with this beautiful woman, he quickly forgot about the giant reptile that desire to eat them both as he lost himself in her eye. Good thing she only had one, two might have sent him into a coma. Just as he started to speak he felt it, a surge of pleasure some over him like a tidal wave. It did not take him long to figure out why, she had pressed her lips into his. His eyes quickly rolled back into his head as he let out a hungry moan, this must be what heaven felt like.

The joy was short lived, as he soon found himself back in reality, facing a pissed off dragon. He could not shake off the fogginess in time, as he was quickly knocked aside by a giant hand of sorts. Getting to his feet as the monster rushed at him, there was just simply not enough time. He knew it, just his luck, gets the most intense kiss of his life and he dies right after. But suddenly, the dragon slowed, and he felt a hand on his shoulder, and a voice in his ear, "Move." A voice so familiar but he had no time to process it, he only listened. To an onlooker, the dragon did not slow down, but rather, Thyverian got faster. Quickly avoiding the dragon's attack and blitzing the beast wish his bastard sword. The blade did little to the monster's armorlike scales, but he did succeed in irritating the creature. A large clawed grip coming at him from his blind spot, behind him. "Jump." The voice commanded, and just as it seeme dhe would be hit, the white male landed on the dargon's arm. Quickly leaping again, Thyverian impaled his battered sword into the monster's eye.

This attack not only drew the creature's blood, but sent it into a crazed panic, a creature so large and powerful would not be a custom to such agony. Shaking its head repeatedly, it would eventually throw Thyverian off, his body slamming into a tree with a enough force that said tree crack up. Thyverian would his the grown and groan in pain, he had not only wounded the monster, but sent it into panic, leaving it completely open for Cylesta.

Cylesta had been flitting through the shadows, using it to get around the beast. She would pop out, and hit it with her powers as she moved gracefully.

She had to stop and stare as suddenly Thyverian seemed to change in front of her eyes. She stared in shock, and if she was honest, in arousal as the white male moved lithely as if he had been fighting for all his life. Her robotic eye was quick enough to watch his movements, and she had to grin and then watch in shock as he plunged his sword into the dragon's eye. She had to cringe in shock and, a bit of pity, as she remembered how she had lost her eye.

It was kind of like when a male watched another one get hit in the groin.

She smirked, then saw her chance as the dragon thrashed around in a blind panic, and Cylesta pulled Thyverian into the shadows to keep him safe while she used her powers to plunge into the dragon's body. Wrapping the shadows around its heart, she squeezed and as the dragon finally found her with its one good eye, she caused its heart to explode within its chest.

The dragon seized once, before it slowly slumped to the ground, the one eye that had watched Cylesta in life, closing in death. She took a breath, and then let it out, letting her power slip from her fingers. She approached the dragon's body, running her fingertips along the large scales of the beast. She faded into the shadows, finding Thyverian's form quickly and then pulling him back into the world, checking over his wounds as she set him on the ground softly.

As thyverian was pulled from the darkness, he glanced over at the female as she lowered him. A grin came to his face as he felt his back touch the ground. "Can't say I've ever been carried by a woman before, feels kinda nice." He muttered as he looked over at the dragon. "Good, I figured you could handle it." Suddenly his thoughts wondered, to that voice, and the hand he felt. He knew that voice, it had spoken to him before, long ago, saved his life then just a sit had now.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak, he heard it, deafening roars, coming from above. His eyes widened, looking skyward as three more dragons came swooping down toward them. Their scales where brighter, prettier, doubtless these three where males, perhaps sons, or perspective mates of the dragon they just slew. "Look ou-" He was cut off by a loud thunderclap, briefly, a streak could be seen dashing past the three beasts. In that instant, the life was cut out of those dragons, and the fell lifeless, crashing into the ground around the two felines.

"What the..." Thyverian uttered as he looked around, looking for the cause the the deaths. For one, brief moment, he could see something. In the trees, overlooking them, Thyverian's weary untrained eyes could only make out a dark figure with long hair flailing as if it were caught up in wind, despite the utter stillness around them. Perhaps if the female was looking in the same direction, her mechanical eye would see a familiar figure, akin to the male below her on the ground, only older. A long, armored coat covering his tall form. Those same celest eyes as Thyverian, only his were more focused, and brimming with power. Just as soon as the specter appeared in sight, he was gone like the wind, which still was not blowing.

The difference in power quite evident, however, this thing slew three of these beasts in an instant, while the other two had some difficulty with only one. Thyverian could only hope, whatever it was, that it was a friend.

Cylesta had been looking down at Thyverian when the other three beasts descended around them, already dead. Her mechanical eye caught the figure, and she felt her eye widen as she looked from the figure down towards Thyverian, as if trying to figure out why there were two of them. In that instant, the figure disappeared, and she had to sigh and wonder if she had seen what she had really seen, or if it had been a trick of the light.

Either way, Thyverian's injuries needed to be looked over and healed, and she made him sit down before she kneeled next to him. Her hands poked and prodded at him as if to distinguish where he was hurt the worst, and she had to smile at his reactions.

"You are such a baby. Stay still!"

Once healed, and when she could move again, she approached the dragons, looking over their bodies to figure out if they could use something from them. Dragon scales made great armor, and teeth and talons were weapons of the highest caliber.

Thyverian put up little resistance when she urged him to sit for her, leaning back into a tree as she worked over his form. Secretly getting an eyeful of her due to her close proximity. Grinning at her smile, as he gave her verbal indications of his pain.

"Oh please, is that anyway to thank the man that took all the hits for you, so you could kill a dragon?"

Thyverian remained on the ground for a bit as she moved to examine the dragon corpses. He would look back in the direction that he saw that figure, who was it? And why did Cylesta give him a rather freaked out look before? It was pointless to try and figure it out as he had nothing to go on. With a sigh, he would stand, and move closer to the female, looking over the bodies. Other than the one they fought, the others had damage done to their sacles just legions of cuts to their underbellies. This perplexed Thyverian more, that streak he saw must have been the figure. but it only lasted an instant, not nearly enough time to make allof these cuts. "Eitherthat thing is really fast, or it has a very interesting sword... or both.." He muttered to himself as he glanced back over at the one eyed feline.

"Who knows." Cylesta said as she pulled the shadows around the dead beasts, and made them disappear. She smiled at Thyverian, and then grabbed her pack and the canteens, and led the way back to camp.

"Hey, did any of you guys hear the commotion?"
"I did. You did quite well My dear." Manus said as he slipped from the shadows to stand before her. She growled at him and said, "Thanks for the help. It was greatly appreciated!"
"Welcome. Plus, it looked like you two were quite cozy within the shadows... and in the middle of the fight..." He teased her and she rolled her eye, and then gave him her middle finger, before tossing a full canteen towards him.

"Too bad we couldn't get a bit more cozy."
Thyverian chuckled a bit, as Manus caught the canteen with ease, which is to be expected from their kind, not that she threw it with a truly sinister intent. "I would have stepped in if I thought you needed it. I was about to actually, when the other dragons came down, but your friend beat me to it." He said looking over at Thyverian for a moment, he got a good look at the figure, nice and close. Cylesta might know why he was looking at the younger male, but the red hair was totally clueless.

Seylian reminded quiet, mostly out of jealousy, not only did it seem that Thyverian got somehting from the female, but he also got to face, and take down a dragon. Perhaps he was letting it bothe rhim more than it should, but he lothed the idea of Thyverian doing better than he.

(Why does it sound like Seylian is going to go bad?)

Cylesta smiled and checked the fire, her stomach grumbling in hunger. Healing usually took a lot out of her, but she was just really hungry right now. Her uncle smiled at her and nodded as he pulled the top off the pot, showing her a potfull of stew, bubbling.

"Is it ready? I'm starved. Did you get a good look at our stranger? I don't think I've ever seen him before..." Cylesta said as she grabbed a bowl of stew and made herself comfortable against the fallen trunk so she could eat. She smiled at Manis and then started on her bowl.

The conversation around her continued as the males spoke, and by the time she finally ate enough, she looked up to find them all looking at her amusedly.
"What?"
"You were purring..."

"Stranger?" Melorn asked as he moved back to take a seat on the ground. Ceyliana nd Menis would move to gather some food after the female had made her move. Manus and Thyverian merely stood in place, with their arms crossed. The male shadowshifter would nod to the female's question. "Yes, yes I did, an eye full actually, he is definitely something, knocked down three dragons after you two just managed to kill one. He should not be out concern right now,as he doe snot seemhostile... yet. What did you learn on your scouting trip, Commander?"

"Their defenses are lowered, many of their men are not even geared up, spending some quality time with their new guests. We have a window of time to strike, we should take advantage of it as soon as we can." Melorn would an sewer, causing Manus to give a nod. "As soon as the kids are done eating we move out then." Melorn would nod, just before Cylesta began to purr. "Just how cozy did you two get Thyverian?" Melorn woudl ask, glaring back at the younger male, causing him to lose a bit of his cool. "J-just a kiss, I swear, sh-she kissed me I mean... I was trying to fight the dragon... she attacked me! With her lips!"

Cylesta looked over at Thyverian as he sputtered out an answer and smirked at him as she answered her uncle, "I wouldn't call it Just a kiss... I mean, he definitely knows what he's doing with his mouth, and he didn't fight me off when I did kiss him..." The smirk she wore made Manus snort in laughter as she winked at Thyverian and then stood from her spot.

"Oh stop giving him a hard time Uncle, I've always thought a relaxed hunter catches their prey much faster than a stressed one..." She said as she cleaned up her plate, and made sure her pack was set. Melorn turned his glare towards her and she simply grinned.

"Am I only watching for now? Or do you think you'll need my help for the attack?" She asked as she got back to business, a serious expression on her face. This was their show, she was simply there to make sure nothing went wrong, and Manus was only there to watch and help out when it got too rough. If anything, the two would probably spend the entire time speaking in the shadowrealm, while they got all the fun of the fight.

"What? I didn't!" Thyverian shouted at Cylesta's words before Melorn interjected by waving his arm over at the younger male. "Enough. I know my niece well enough by now to know she likes to stretch the truth for her own amusement." It was all menis and Seylian could do to keep from laughing as the ylooked over at the distraught Thyverian. The grey feline began to think maybe he was lucky he wasn't the one kissing the devious female.

"You know you job by now, I hope. Youa re to observe and interject if soemone gets into too much trouble. These are mostly Ex-soilders from the civil war, so it is highly likely someone will need backup. So keep the armor on your body and your eyes on the battle." Melorn spoke firmly, knowing all too well what those two might do in their little shadowrealm home, and that it might be the death of one of these boys. "Manus know shos job too but incase there is any confusion, he is not to help, unless it is absolutely needed to complete the mission. He is to inspect the abilities of these greenhorns and grade them acordingly, if they all pass then the squad stays as is, if not, the failing parties will be split from the whole, and replaced, and I will look like an idiot for picking a team of newbies, so, no pressure."

Yeah, no pressure, only the threat of being disbanded and probably stabbed by Melorn if they screw this up.