The air felt tense, like it was about to choke them all. It cooled down, strangely relaxing, comforting. The sky change from white to a light grey, then warm blue, though it seemed more unreal than it ever had.
The Lady stared at the one interrupting her, her eyes wide with surprise and... fear? .Master.. She bowed at the newcomers, stiff and uncomfortable. .Everything is as it should be, master, I was just teaching them some manners.. She did not raise her head while talking.
The speaker, a tall humanoid with hollow, dark green eyes and an unconsciously noted similarity with a tree, gazed out on the battleground, observing the surroundings with a certain authority. Behind - him, a female beetle anthro shifted her weight, restlessly waiting for the tree man to do something. Beside her a tall man stood calmly, his orangey red hair and tired expression giving the few conscious contestants the feeling of having seen him before, and then again not.
Everything, everyone was quite. Xzeno rose from the sand, and moved closer. Those beings had to have the control now.
Phil, Bob and Jack helped Dingsly get on his feet. His chest hurt a lot, but he had still been fighting on until the battle had been stopped. He was dizzy and unable to concentrate, slowly blacking out in the arms of his new-found friends-but-enemies.
"What's going on?" Charlie looked up from the sand his head had been buried in moments before. Pazx shrugged, ready to dodge the golem, if it decided to move again. Near them, Delairi was blacking out as well, her hair wet with blood.
Billy observed the scene from the ruins, too tired to get up, while Vixen was trying to wake up Dervysh, who once again had fainted.
Teaching them manners? I have knowledge of other things. He turned his gaze at her, looking emptily at her. These beings are not ours. You have lied to us. His voice, though slow, calm, got a edge when he said it, like he was patiently scolding a child. The Lady did not answer, nor did she look up. The beetle woman shifted her weight again, flapping her wings with a loud buzz. "Can we start cleaning up now, I have a meeting later?" The man spoke,
looking arrogantly at the back of the tree man Yes, yes, of course. Follow, Suoli. The tree man turned, followed by the redhead and the beetle.
The Lady took a step forward, then another. .Fools.. The golem crashed forward, lunging for the three clad in white. The sand was whirled up as it connected, and a sickening crack sounded over the rest of the noise.
Silence.
Then a buzzing began, and the dusty sand was blown away. The trio still stood, the redhead resting with a exhausted, but bored, expression against the broken arm of the golem. The treelike humanoid spoke, and the golem returned to the sand it had come from.
The Lady stared at the tree man with burning hate. Then Charlie started laughing.
"You idiot, shut up!" Pazx snarled at him, but it seemed to encourage the laughter. By Dingsly's side, Jack started snickering, and soon the laughter roared across the desert.
Xzeno looked at the imbeciles, then moved the last couple of meters to the side of the tree man "Excuse me, but I think you can be to my.."
A violent wave of... cold erupted from where the Lady stood. The Lady was screaming with rage, her form melting into the blobs of darkness, her pure essence exposed and radiating cold, despair, death. The laughter stopped abruptly. The arrogant smile on the man's face froze, though he did not look as terrified as the beetle, or as startled as their leader. .The universe is mine..
Another wave of cold, more fierce than the first. The blob formed tentacles, striking forth, barely missing the tree man .Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine.. The Lady chanted, the voice getting shrill, then bubbly, like someone drowning. She stroke again, but hitting nothing. Another wave of stinging ice. A cry of a
bird of prey. Something blue dived through the blob, and disappearing up into the light of the distorted sun. The red haired man pushed the beetle lady hard,
and mumbling she focused on the dark matter. White fire surrounds the blob, and she cries out, the bubbling sound getting more distinct. Coughs. More bubbles, then silence.
The woman dismissed the fire with a confused expression. The waves of painful cold had stopped with the screams, and where the blob had been was nothing but a bit of ooze and smoke. "Did I just..." The beetle looked horrified at the tree man I highly doubt it was you. His expression was once again calm and almost non existing. She is... gone.
"Can we please go home now?" Yeti mumbled groggily at the strangers.
--
"Wake up." The hawk pushed to the ninja with a talon, then just stared emptily at him, like birds do. "Hmm? Is't already mornin'?" Strop blinked, feeling heavy and sleepy. "You are getting home." The beetle woman bend over him, her black eyes piercing him. "Home?" "Someone is waiting for you." She grabbed him around his chest and lifted him like he had been a rag doll, and carried him half through some white swirls. He fell the rest of the way, wincing when he meet the ground. When he opened his eyes once again, he looked up into a familiar face.
"Sorry for the trouble." The man did not look sorry, when he helped the siblings to the swirls. Actually, he looked annoyed, like someone who had just through a bad case of the flu, and now had caught a cold. "Sure, whatever..." Yeti answered exhausted. Sasquatch was just staring suspiciously at the swirls, before he entered them. On the other side, all was like it used to be. Soft air met him. Silence.
"Hey, you couldn't drop us off near a burger bar or something, could you?" Jack looked at the tree man with a non caring expression. The tree man looked just as non caring back. You will be "dropped" where you will be "dropped". "Just asking." He mumbled, following his friends through the swirls.
Garrow looked at the swirls. "So, those will get us home" "Yes." The man looked at him with an annoyed expression. "How do you know where we live?" "Your memories told us..." "But what if our memories are wrong?" "Then you won't go home." "So we are not go.." "GO THROUGH THE PORTAL!" Pazx grabbed Garrow, twitched an ear and wandered through the swirly whites.
I am sincerely sorry for the trouble, Mr Dragon. The tree man bowed lightly, then looked at Hallow with his empty eyes. The dragon simply looked back. "I trust that will be the last time you let a maniac roam..." I hope so. The humanoid replied. "Take care of the Kai..." He turned, and trotted into the swirls, entering the fresh morning air of his own world.
"This was... Weird..." Dervysh mumbled to Vixen, as they were lead to the right swirl of white. "Very... So much..." The words faded to nothing. What had it been? An adventure? Dangerous? Troublesome? Horrifying? She didn't know. Dervysh seemed to share the same thoughts. She squeezed his hand a little before they went through the swirl.
Nergyl was simply thrown through a swirl. No one had dared to wake him up, after Yeti had told how violent he acted. He landed in the middle of nowhere, but a safe place for him to wake up. Near living beings he could tear to pieces.
"I would sue you for this, if it was worth anything, crazy bastards..." Xzeno looked arrogantly at the beetle, who just smiled and nodded. "Seriously, half my equipment is ruined!" She smiled again, pushing him towards the portal. "If I find out this was planned, you would wish you where a felin.." His words was cut off when he entered the portal.
Azu patted his dog a little on the head, and trotted through a swirl.
"You look mighty good." Billy smiled at the beetle woman, and disappeared into the white swirls.
"FLY LIKE SUPERMAN!" Charlie yelled while running towards the swirls, any swirl, it seemed. "Why do I get all the oddballs..." The man sighed, grabbed Charlie by the arm, and directed his "like superman" at the right swirl.
Dingsly looked at the slowly emptying space before the swirls. This had been confusing to say the least. And hard. His chest still hurt when he took a breath, and he could hardly raise his sword from the ground. At some point he remembered wondering about it all, wanting to know. Now he just wanted to forget it all. And sleep. The tree man called for him. He took a last look at the surroundings, before going back to his own reality.
"Could it be possible to... let me go where ever I want?" Delairi looked at the beetle woman. "I am not quite sure what you mean, dear?" She smiled, pushing Delairi towards the swirls. "I.. Don't want to go back." "Not our department."
Kai petted the mazzelh tiredly. He was exhausted and everything gave off pain, but still he patted the soft fur. The mazzelh licked his fingers, mewing to him. He forced himself to smile, scratching her a little behind her ear, before letting the tree man take her to the last of the swirls. She exited the portal not far from the nest. A worried mewing met her, and her mate stared shocked at her, before nuzzling her, happy to see her.
"Feeling better, dear cousin?" The man nudged the boy's head. -I am feeling like crap, thank you for asking...- He sighed, staring into the air from the floating stretcher like thing. "Good." The man said harshly, laughing. Kai sighed once again, closing his eyes, finally able to rest.
--
As the members of the Government left the plane, as the world began to fall apart, the illusions breaking down, the memories scattering once again, the being stood there, in the middle of the destruction, watching the spot where the members had disappeared from. Then it smiled grotesquely wide, fading. We will see how easy you slip away next time, my prey... Then it was gone.
