Scene 1
Narrator (changed to Scramble)
Narrator- " The firebird and the Union leader stared, mutely, at one another for enough time for it to become concerning to the others. The feathered visitor then turned down, at the clinging girl, impressed by how she was still clutching on; a fear long forgotten by firebird, that of a brittle life to depend on her.
The visitor nodded. She then took a stick and drew a circle in the ground, making deep points at various portions of the circle. Followed by an X over each one of them. To have it make more sense, she then drew weird shaped towers, made out of rock-
Firebird (played by Brigit)
Firebird- "Ice", she replied in a stoic, monotone voice.
Masso (played by Lian)
With each new discovery, Lian started to pay less attention to the play, and her mind taking her to other places. And people. Feth and Ogda, firstly. A lot of the descriptions of the creatures inside the lake could easily fit her water partner. And Feth, if he's been truthful, then it could mean that the dark water is more than just a feature of their home world. Are the two-
An annoyed finger snap from Brigit brought her into the play. "Right, now I'm Masso", thought Lian, taking a deep breath.
Masso- "Understood. And are you sure those are the approximate locations of those pillars?"
A nod was enough for Perren to copy the drawing on a sheet of paper and wave at Ashen.
Perren (played by Finley)
Perren- " We'll take a quick peak, sir Ashen, and search for these pillars. Pupil, take care of kids. Masso, can you-"
Masso- " Already on it. Checking on Victor and the others now." He then snapped his fingers, send pieces of papers and swapping them with reports from his teammates.
Narrator Scramble- "A moment of respite behind the protective dome of ash left by the dragon was what the group needed. Kuelin also took the opportunity to have a talk with his pact partner, the stowaway on this voyage. But the boy avoided looking at him, turning his face around whenever the young warrior tried to face him. Kuelin continued to smile gently, and sway his voice before flicking Arim's forehead.
Kuelin (played by older Arim)
Kuelin- "Ready to stop pouting and tell me what you're doing here?"
Young Arim (played by Maci)
Y.Arim- " Oww! Kuelin, you, oww! I'll, I'll-"
Kuelin- " Oh, trust me, I won't be the only one your mom will put on homework duty for what you did. Three weeks of house grounding, that's my guess for your punishment. " he then snickered and mimicked a second flick- " And three days for me." The firbolg then cackled like a mad witch, luring the others' attention, even Brigit had to look in bewilderment at the weird source of the laughter.
Kuelin took a relaxed position and kept ruffling little Arim's hair until all of his fears died of the intense fury felt by the child.
Arim- " Stop that, you jerk! Kuelin, you're such a big liar! Liar! Everyone just lies!"
Kuelin- "I lied?...I mean, ya, but you'll have to tell me which of my lies upset you."
Arim- " You said that I'll be big enough to go with you when I can swap like Masso. And look-"
Narrator Scramble- " The young boy then flicked both his left and right middle fingers into each other and winced from the pain. The second effect was that Kuelin and Masso changed locations between each other, both shocked by how quickly the boy advanced at that level of control in his ability.
Unfortunately for his body, though, the side effects crashed into his tiny body like three simultaneous colds, which left young Arim asleep with a small fever.
Kuelin- " Well, Arim's dead. Guess I'll need to look for another Fect partner. On the bright side, that little stunt charged me up a bit. I'm good to-"
Masso- " Change of plans Kuelin…Listen-"
Kuelin- " No, No…"
Masso- " Kuelin-"
Kuelin- " You promised that you'll keep on the line until the end of the mission."
Masso- " Things change, under-"
Kuelin- " This is my first real assignment! You can't just-"
Narrator- " The Union leader then raised his voice, shouting his name over the angry pleads of the young warrior. He then ordered him, simply and swiftly, that the situation was more dire than they expected."
Masso- " Victor is overwhelmed by just trying to reach us…his pillar was destroyed, but all the villagers managed to escape at least. And Nizzio and Goidel are also in a dire rut on their side. So take the kids and go with the woman to Nizzio's side and hold the line!"
Narrator- " Kuelin clenched his teeth and then went silent and listened. Without saying anything, he picked up Arim on his shoulder. The firebird was unsure of what was going on, but then Masso kneeled in front of her and tried to convince her to leave."
Masso- " Save that girl."
Narrator- " Those words were all the firebird needed to understand him and sharing a look with Brigit, she stood on her feet, put the other two children back and flew after Kuelin. Once Ashen and Perren returned, the two groups went into their separate directions.
Scene 2
Narrator- "A battered and wounded Victor joined the striking force, but in a much worse state than he wanted the others to notice. Ashen and Masso were too preoccupied with staring at the wasteland the area beyond the forest had become to see Victor's bleeding wounds.
Except for Perren, who dashed desperately towards him to frantically help out the warrior."
Perren (played by Finley)
Perren - "What happened? God', there's so much blood on you. Are those piercing wounds? Has the bleeding stopped?"
Victor (played by Grushie)
Victor- " Oh, it's no big deal, they hardly hit anything vital." Victor then walked past the duelist to avoid any awkward conversation between the two. A tension that brewed between the two left him a bit embarrassed to even know how to talk with the duelist.
Narrator - " But then his intact hand gets grabbed by Perren, who somehow drags the brute of a man down to his level. He then whispers something in Victor's ears, which in turn softens the firbolg's pain written face. Victor appeared a bit confused by the murmurs, but after turning to see Perren's committed eyes, he forgot all about the pain and injuries and bear hugged his, as of that moment, boyfriend.
The two then shared a brief but compassionate kiss to seal the deal, a short moment of respite before returning to the torrent from hell.
Ashen (played by Tommen)
Ashen- "You kids these days really think you have all the time in the world, don't you? Took ya both this long to get to this point?"
Narrator- "While Victor just laughed it off, Perren turned away with embarrassment, hurt a bit by how his own reluctance dragged things for this long. Masso, in turn, moved directly to the briefing and presented their battle plan.
A few moments later, Ashen hovered above the lake, at a far away distance, enough for the dark water's tendrils and hands to not reach him. It strived, though, with persistence, which was exactly what they wanted.
The dragon acted as a bait to draw a large mass of the liquid into using huge amounts of its body to try and reach Ashen. To sweeten the deal, the beast's meteoric shower destroyed the only pillar the firebird managed to catch a glimpse of during her ascent from the void.
The lake's long distance attacks barely hurt or touched the beast, so in the end it acted just as they planned. The others hid in the few remaining trees and rocks still above water-level to mark down the locations, and if an opportunity showed itself, destroy them immediately.
On Masso's side, more than half of a putrid misshapen tower made out of a purple material showed itself, a chance the leader could only dream of. By a snap of his fingers, a large bow with no arrows teleported itself in his hands; Masso started to charge his left gauntlet, with multiple bands circling it until the blue, light one remained and changed form into a transparent arrow, outlined by a thin line.
It then grew larger and larger, while the air inside started to unravel and unrest, as if a hurricane was forming within. Masso's fingers started to tremble and bleed, while he clenched his teeth to sustain the pain. He then shot the arrow at a speed that broke three things that day: the sound barrier, the bow and the pillar. To his ears' displeasure, the pillar left a screeching wail while it cracked and crushed into the tidal waves that were forming above.
A second wail came from Victor's position, who also succeeded in crashing another pillar. That left only two more to go, if the firebird was correct. The lake then started to act peculiar; while it seemed like more than half of it receded back into the hole it came from, the remaining portion gave up on hiding the towers. Instead, the remaining mass split into large blobs with the key points in their middle. It turned the play from hide-and-seek to a defensive battle.
Scene 3
While on the run, Kuelin kept turning his head back, pretending to keep an eye out for the attackers, but his mind instead wandered towards the center of the action. The firebird flew a bit above him, carrying the three children in her arms, so she barely noticed when the young warrior thought of a way to leave Arim in her care as well.
Kuelin (played by old Arim)
Kuelin-" Hey, Arim. Can you hear me? We've got an emergency and need your help." He waited for a second, thinking if he was willing to stop low enough for it. Perren's and Masso's disapproving voices then came into his mind, followed by Krass and Victor's dismissive jokes, while the rest stood by, silently ignoring his pleas to be left on an away mission.
Kuelin- "Arim…your mommy and daddy are fighting again?…", whispered the young warrior, a phrase which startled a quick nightmare into the boy. With a splitting headache and eyes darting around, the six-year-old woke up, feeling upset and hurt suddenly, not sure of the cause.
Young Arim (played by Maci)
Arim- " Wha? Kuelin? Wha goin- Where the others?" The child could barely talk, but his mind slowly regained focus. He remembered using his ability, and then nothing else.
Kuelin- " Hey, buddy. Listen, we haven't got much time, but we need your help. How's your head, do you think you can do your trick one more time for me?"
The firebird heard someone yelling behind her, and when she turned around to check it out, she saw Kuelin, standing still, waving at her. And the boy, a few meters away from him. She didn't understand what the two were doing, but the second she saw the warrior pointing towards Arim, the feathers on her arms stood up, and her danger senses went wild.
She turned around to stop the boy, forcefully if necessary, but it was too late; Kuelin's plan worked. After Arim used his swapping ability, instead of the young warrior, a small blob of dark water stood in its place; at first, it seemed confused, rapidly turning into agitated and when it turned towards Arim, furious and bent on attacking him.