"Wondered where you'd show up." Versulos yawned. "Where's Lathilos?" he would add as he turned to his ally; the weasel. "Well, he should be catching up with his sooner or later. He couldn't be bothered to keep up." the weasel responded.

In a moment through the west edge of the village a big husky grizzly bear entered, the same white cloak on his back; but a large battle-axe was sheathed on his back as well. "You're reckless attitude will get you killed one day, Versulos." the bear said meakly.

"Oh come now, Lathilos! You should enjoy serving our lord in such a lovely way!" Versul exclaimed. Lathilos grunted before looking at the weasel. "And you don't help either, Delios."

The rifle-armed orderling shrugged. "Maybe."

Versul put his arms around the two's shoulders perkily. "Well either way, we need to shoot fear into this town! That should be easy for us!" Lathilos smirked a bit before responding. "Only if you overextend yourself I'll be bothered to help."

"Don't you like obeying our lord?!" Versul gasped.

"Of course. But you seem to be here for an entirely different reason then serving."

Versul frowned. "OH! What do you mean?"

"You came here for the regular lust and the blood lust."

"Well, that isn't anything new!" Versul shouted.

"Shut Up, Versul. Let's just get to it."

With that the three 'orderlings' began their 'holy' work.

"The big do's and don'ts, eh?" he chuckled. "Well it depends on how much knowledge you lack."

"To answer your question I have to ask you a question."

"How much do you exactly know?"

With every echo of a gunshot and the blood-curdling scream of another stolen life, she covered her ears with her paws.

Make it stop...

Her father had immediately told her and her mother to hide when those suspicious people showed up. He wasn't even two steps outside the family home when she witnessed one of them murder him in cold blood.

Her mother had met the same fate chasing after her dead husband...

What is going on? Why is this happening?!

She fled for the pantry door and hid herself in the darkest corner. Not that she felt any safer, anyway...

This girl was a ferret no older than thirteen years old. With the exception of the cyan stripe and tip of her long tail and the marking on her face similar to a bandit's mask, her fur was as white as snow. Her hooded navy tank top and denim jeans seemed to hang loosely on her thin frame, although she was a little short for her age.

She trembled violently in her hidden corner, silently hoping that maybe, just maybe this was all a terrible nightmare, one that she could wake up from and everything would be alright...

Unfortunately, the very next scream that reached her still covered ears told her it wasn't so.

Rico seemed to be dozing off, bored by the townspeople's banter.

"DAAAAAD!" The high pitched scream shot through the area, followed by the human boy falling all over himself to run back to his alien of a father. "His life is falling! DADDY WAKE UP!" He screeched again at the dozing fox.

An ear twitched, a prelude to the creature opening his emerald eyes and tilting his head up slightly, "Stop screaming, Keedis, I know. He'll hand it."

The human looked as if he was thinking for a moment, then something seemed to click and he smiled and trotted off wordlessly.

Meanwhile the halfbreed child had roamed behind his guardian's line of sight, and right into that of Versul and his companions. One look at their victim seemed to enraged the boy. He clamped his hands into small fists and bared almost animal-like teeth at the three cloaked men before barking out, "Hey @#%$! Did you do this?"

"Did you do this?"

The words kinda made Versul smile even wider as he turned to look at the child, speaking only one word, one that was so apathetic.

"Duh?" Versul retorted to the child.

Drew looked down. "Well, to be honest, I actually..." He looked up at the sky. "I absolutely know nothing."

---

Delios smiled at Versul. "You're a heartless bastard, you know what?" He looked back at the kid, and to Lathilos and Versulos. "I don't have time to deal with little brats. You guys can have fun with him if you want."

The Weasel scoffed and walked away.

*click*

"Don't run away chicken. I ain't done with you dorks yet." The situation worsened when the child pulled a handgun from his waistband and leveled it on the weasel. "You asses are staying here till the guards come."

Versul smirked. "Cute."

"Sorry, but we don't have the time for the likes of you." he would comment as his hand sparkled with lighting. In a instant a lighting bolt was shot at the kid, practicality at point blank.

*Crack... BOOM*

The smoke cleared around the halfbreed's motionless form, his gun laying not far away.

"Idiot," Versul snorted lightly half turning to look knowingly at his partner.

*cough*

Versul's full attention returned to the boy, now slowly getting back to his feet, a disgusting looking bloody burn straight through his shirt in a circular shape.

"@#%$. That hurt. You're an Art user, I thought my dad was the only one left with that kinda power."

The rabbit was already standing after hearing the deafening roar of thunder that hit the area. Richard? No, he hasn't used Warden abilities in years. I'd heard there were magic users on this planet but so blatant. And who's be stupid enough to provoke...

The hare tensed as a look of horror flowed over his face, "Corky..." He stammered and charged off toward the origin of the blast.

"Heh. Welcome to my World." Versul spat.

"He got up? Kid must be more useful than I thought." Versul thought for a moment before retorting aloud again. "Now if you don't mind, I don't want to deal with a piece of scat like you again." his open palm crackling with lighting again he smirked.

"Boom."

He fired a bolt again.

"@#%$! My arm, god dammit QUIT that!" The boy cried out over the second blast. This time he was only forced to one knee, a second blistering and bleeding hole in his shirt on his shoulder. I'm gonna pass out at this rate, what the hell ARE these guys. I gotta get outta here, if the other ones are just standing around they must be even more powerful. I hate Art users.

*pat* *pat* *pat*

The sound of deliberate footsteps hit their ears as the rabbit appeared. His pace was slow now, he seemed to be ignoring the three, instead walking straight to the boy and kneeling down to examine the damage to his charge.

A moment passed wordlessly, then he started helping the boy remove his shirt to lessen the pain from his injuries.

Versul just yawned, as he looked to the other two. "Come on, looks liek we caused enough fear and damage for the day." the Bear; spoke directly to Versul.

Versul frowned. "But I didn't kill the stupid kid yet!"

"Versul. Is it really worth your time?"

"I suppose not."

The three then stood in a circle and chanted lightly under their breath. Versul would look at the carnage he unleashed and at the kid he fried twice.

"JUST REMEMBER THE ORDER, PEON!" he declared in a triumphant voice.

Then the group would say that same chant. "Amon Ra." and in a flash of blue light they were gone and in the midst of carnage and death this village was definitively scarred.

"Wait. Nothing?"

"Wow, then it be best to go to Town Hall and pick up a recent event book and some history lore." Blade added.

"...You actually mean I need to study?" Drew shook his head. "I don't have time for that!" He stood back up. "I guess i'll just wing it, yaknow? Act how I do at home, and if someone gets angry at me, i'll just apologize and tell them i'm not from around here. I bet in time, i'll fit in quite nicely."

He looked back at the town, the pained expression of the people, and the destruction. Memories flooded back to him of similar events, bloody battles and great wars. And sacrifice. "Yeah...i'll get...i'll get used to it." He started to zone out, finding himself plopped back onto the ground.

"It's up to you, either way." Blade nodded. "Entirely up to you."

The hedgehog shrugged for a minute. "I suppose theres nothing else to ask you about, or ask me about at that."

Moments before they vanished the hare half turned, they could have seen one red eye looking straight at them over the tinted glassed on his face, and a low voice murmuring, "Thanks for the hint."

As soon as they'd vanished the rabbit's eyes softened, he looked worriedly at the burns on the boy, "Henry... you alright?"

The still pissed off halfbreed seemed to stabilize his temper and look over at the older man, "Course I am, Toby." He furrowed his brow, "But they were pretty strong, another one of the those and I'd been out cold. That wasn't normal magic." He winced a little touching one of the blisters, "I need to get these treated."

Toby nodded, "Let me carry you." Henry looked back with a odd sneer on his face, "What?" The rabbit glared, "People would think something was strange if you survived two attacks from people that murdered these people like nothing. Even if I tell them it was collateral damage if you go walking around like nothing happened people are going think there's something wrong with you."

The boy's face seemed to sink into a depressed state, "More wrong with me you mean." He sighed and tugged lightly on one of his floppy ears. Toby looked down and scratched the back of his neck, "There's nothing wrong with you, stop thinking like that." He smirked and looked up a little, "Besides, anyone that thinks so is a dork and we'll kick their ass, right?"

Henry drug himself over wordlessly to the rabbit, sending wisps of dust up around his barely tied sneakers. His legs were dirty as well, but it blended in with the color of his skin. Toby's fleeting attempt at a feigned smile fell to a look of pity.

I hate this, these people are no better than the others. Humans hate him for looking part animal, animal's hate him for looking part human.

But I guess it shouldn't matter, I'll protect him. Not from people that those magic users, he can handle people like that. Physical pain doesn't affect him that much. But being treated like a freak, whispered about and avoided. I can't let this keep happening.

"Hey, uncle Toby?" Hearing the boy's voice he broke from his thoughts, "Hena?*" Suddenly Henry's smile vanished and he jumped on the rabbit's back giggling, "Stop being EMO!"

Toby seemed suprised for a moment but it faded into a sheepish smirk, "Whatever dork, start pretending to be hurt and lets get you fixed up, thats the 3rd shirt you'd ruined this week."

Rico looked up at the comment, "Reading... I think I'd like that as well." He stood up and dusted off his black pants and maroon overcoat, "History often repeats itself you know."

* Hena - A Kydane phrase meaning a male sibling. Brother, Bro'

Blade glanced to Rico for a minute. "Yeah, that is true. Well at any rate, I better be off to my camp, I need to look into some things."

With that Blade began to walk down the road into the Swamps.

Rico smirked and nodded, "Ciao"

"AAAGH! Please! NO! It HURTS!" The high pitched adolescent screeching filled the medical tent. Tobias sat outside the curtained area where Henry was being treated looking embarrassed but yet trying to appear concerned, Don't you think you're overdoing it a little, Corky?

He grumbled watching two young nurses run into the curtain to help. Within moments the screaming stopped. Toby looked up muttering, "Why would he calm down that...*irk*" His mind flashed back moments earlier watching the two girls rush by him. He shot up and into the curtains instantly.

There he found himself standing next to a confused doctor. The old Shepard blinked, still holding his anesthetic swap and gauss tape. On the makeshift examination table was Corky, the youngest nurse by his side holding him. His head comfortably resting... on her chest. The doctor seemed to be explaining the injuries and how amazed he was that the boy had already calmed down from the pain. Toby felt his eye twitch, one thought flashing through his mind, Little Pervert.

"Mister Underwood? Mister Underwood are you alright? Henry is going to be fine." The doctor was spouting as Toby's mind unfocused from throttling his companion by the neck. He cleared his throat, "Yes, I know. Although you know we're Kydane. Our young are prone to violent fits when injured. Why when I was little a simple innoculation ended with a nurse being hospitalized with several broken bones. Poor lass, she wasn't much older than your nurse is, Doctor."

A low thud resounded as Corky's head hit the pillow and the nurse speedily excused herself to tend to other patients. The doctor blinked watching the nurse flee for her life, he backed turned low enough for a glare and rather unchildlike hand gesture from the injured halfbreed.

Toby hid his grin and moved to more important matters, "The people that attacked this village, Doctor. Have you heard of the Order? One of the mentioned it as they retreated."

Drew sighed, and looked around. He was never much of a healer, so he decided it was best for the wounded if he stayed away from them. He wasn't much of a worker, so helping rebuild the houses would not be any good for him. Really, the only thing he knew how to do was fight.

"And the damn fight occurs and ends before I could even get here." He unsheathed his own blade, a simple sabre, and began swinging it around.

"Christ, it's been a while since i've even taken this thing out. I'm amazed it's not rusted."

"The Order? Can't say I have. This is the first time I've been so much carnage and murder in one night. I'm not sure... not sure at all." he frowned. "My apologies. Maybe someone should go warn Knothole of this new... powerful enemy. I mean attacking Knothole would really put a dent in the War Effort, and thats what worries me." he added.

He shrugged at that. "Maybe I'm just pulling hairs."

Is it over now? The girl opened her weary eyes and scanned her surroundings.

Crawling out from the pantry shelf, the sounds of voices once again drifted to her ears, albeit slightly muffled by the mostly covered window.

She paused for a moment, more curious than frightened out of her wits. Against her better judgement, she started for the window, but froze once as a flash of light temporarily illuminated the room for the briefest of moments.

"Come on, Seven Baladi, get a hold of yourself," she muttered aloud as she climbed atop stack of fertilizer bags and peeked out the window.

The fox, weasel, and bear that murdered her family and friends were still out there, along with the motionless form of what looked like a humanoid child, possibly a little older than her.

Her eyes widened slightly at the thought that those monsters would actually harm a kid. Part of her wanted to do something, but her body remained rooted to the spot, forcing her to bear witness to the rest of the events that unfolded just beyond the clear glass.

She couldn't hear much of what they were talking about, but she felt slightly relieved when someone else showed up and the three cloaked figures left in a mysterious light.

Seven turned away from the window and let herself slump off the bags and onto the floor. There was nothing for her in this little village now. Just about everyone she knew was dead.

Even so, she felt the need to see just what other damage was done with her own eyes. Besides the dead bodies and destroyed homes scattered about everywhere. Before she knew it she was standing outside her home, looking down at the lifeless corpses that were once her parents. It was strange to her that she hadn't screamed and run away seeing them like this, especially after seeing them die. Instead, she knelt down and picked up the small sheathed knife that lay on the ground just above her father's hand and the teardrop-shaped pendant that hung around her mother's neck on a string.

She remembered them telling her that she would recieve these items when she came of age... now they were the only mementos she possessed.

Surveying her surroundings once more, she noticed some tracks leading off into the woods. Figuring they would lead someplace where she could stay for the time being, she decided to follow them...

It wasn't like she had any place else to go...

Once again, Drew was alone. Well, alone in a town full of the dead and wounded, at least. "I don't belong here..." he muttered. It wasn't his place to stand around and wait for attacks, or even help the wounded. No-what he could do was find out more on these attackers-and fight them on his own.

The only person he thought he could ask about the attacks would have been the older guy-Otis-but he was already gone. And Blade had taken his leave also. "Sorry to leave, guys, but maybe I can help out in my own way."

He had made up his mind. He would investigate this attack and others, and hopefully uncover who was behind all of this bloodshed. "I really wish I had read more detective fiction when I was younger." He promptly left town, this time sticking to roads-doing his best not to end up in another swamp.

Maybe if he had stayed he could have protected the people-but, he felt something pulling him away from being a town guard. There was something in the nature of their bloodshed that reminded him of memories that are usually left forgotten.

No one deserved to die like they did-the victims of the attacker. And for such a worthless cause too. He would take it as his duty to fight these guys if necessary. It had been a while since his last adventure, since he had left those he loved behind.

He was a warrior. Back home all he did was fight. He didn't expect much different here.

He didn't expect anything at all.

Tobias rubbed his chin, "I really hate to sound like a moron. But I haven't been around here since I was little. Where's Knothole?"

"Really, it's just north of here a few miles. Maybe a two days trip, maybe." he replied to the rabbit. "I'm sure theres a few patrols around the exterior of the village once you get close enough, and from there on it should be easy to find." he nodded to himself for a minute.

Otis found himself staring in the distance as he saw the Humanoid trek out of town. "I wonder where that lad thinks he's going." the aged feline chuckled.

Otis' thoughts trailed back to the Order. Lightning never struck in the same place twice. Perhaps he should follow the young man and see if the Order ran into him. It looked like the kid was looking for trouble anyway.

"Alright." he muttered. "I'll follow him, Blade can take things here well enough alone." he finished as he began to follow Drew.

Drew kept on his path, having no idea where he was going. Drew wasn't exactly 'famous' for a good sense of direction. On the contrary, Drew was always lost without the aid of a compass.

"This...sucks...so muccchh!" He sing-songed as he trotted on the dirt path. "I don't like goin' anywhere without a map and it looks like there's no maps for me!" Of course, he 'sang' his lines so out of key that it was probably painful for any nearby ears.

Not far from the post-bloodshed frontier, which had seen a fox, weasel and bear responsible for the death of lives almost so that of a humanoid child, a pair of glistening aqua-lime eyes glinted from the dark void of the rooftop of a water tower.

"Men and their blades, mana and magic..." she snarled, simualtaneously closing her in a dark manner.

Athena, the wild three-tailed Kitsune had to give in that the previous revelation was more surreal than what she had witnessed before. Ever.

All else had pretty much always fallen to the raiders, who picked their town and cultivated lives through the mere swift actions of their blood-hungry blades life-hounding bolts of lightning.
But this one... human-like child... (or was it?)... seemed a little too persistant in giving to the face of death.
In some respects, it was abseloutly bloody hilarious that these death raiders couldn't even take down a weak looking brat. What was even more hyterical was that all they could do was throw in a lame excuse about 'not having time for this', and effectively 'running away' through some fancy disappearing act.
She was pretty damn sure it dented their ego. But being the arrogant bumkins they were, they weren't going to admit that any time soon, if at all.

"Irrelevant," she suddenly hissed- as if scholding herself for dwelling on such irrelevant matters. She stood up tall- an elongated shadowed silhouette she cast before against what harsh hazy sunlight happened to sift through the cracked bricks of the water tower wall.
She was hungry.
These bumkins were supposed to leave some 'dead' behind... some easy pickings... to feed her hunger for blood. And normally they were quick at that.
Today was a snivelling dissappointment. Not only did these stupid bumkins hang around for what felt like an eternity, but by the time they DID leave, some surviving gatherers had come to take up the corpses. This would probably be to bury them and probably lament over them in order to serve their pathetic mourning rituals. They probably had some misguided ideology that if they were to cater for their people's descent into another realm by orthodoxly disposing of their bodies- perhaps they would be promised a worthwhile afterlife.

Furthermore, the kid and some random fury, who had come to collect him disappeared to another place.

Her attacks... had to be... AWAY from watchful eyes.

"Pathetic pathetic pathetic!" she sneered, shaking her head a side to each word. She knew she would've been better off a predator today rather than a scavenger. It also felt more rewarding to be the former. But in someway, since the slaughter started infesting the lands like a cancer- she felt in some way to serve nature by 'cleaning' up afterwards in her scavenger like way.
One day, she'd see more reason to this thinking. More justification, perhaps.

She smirked somewhat, when she saw a little white ferret walk out the house. She looked rather cautious, wide-eyed and... naive.

"Nice," Athena whispered hoarsely, her fang glistening in the darkness.

Without waiting bunch longer, she threw down her forearms against the wooden floor of the water tower, and dug her claws through the planks. She did this to thrust herself with full force off the high height of the building...

... and land with a heavy thud. Smack bang right in front of the ferret.

Seven jumped back started, her heart nearly jumping to her throat.

Athena, stood up- smiling in a sultry manner. On the one hand, she was a pretty femme fennec- with noticably long ears, pink and strawberry blond hair that neatly stranded her face and prominent aqua eyes and well pronounced featured face. But, there was a wild aura nonetheless. And Seven could very much sense that she was in danger.

"Hello little girl," Athena said calmly "why are you wandering around here ALL alone?"

The ferret struggled to keep her composure in front of this newcomer, although she had no idea how she was going to escape.

"Wh-what do you want?" she stammered, her grip tightening on the knife she still held in her shaking hands.

'Cease idol conversation and kill her!' a part of Athena's mind screamed 'predators don't ask questions.'

'But look at her quiver with fear! It's damn exhilarating!' another part of her mind hollered 'maybe if you ask nicely, she'll tell you of other naive children around to eat... perhaps her siblings... her friends....'

"I'm here to help you..." Athena said, almost passiv and in her own world, before her eyes widened and creased "no put down that knife!" she hissed- a total change in character.

But then she laughed healf-heartedly.

"I mean... there's no need to be afraid... like I said. I am here to help you."

"Now then... are you alone?" she asked solemnly.

She had to be sure she was.

Seven took another step back. "Why don't you figure it out?"
Even if there were others even alive in this dead town, there'd be no way she'd reveal them to a stranger... right?

OOC: This is Bentleee.

IC:

"Wow. You're so rude," Athena said apathetically.
The apathy was suddenly replaced by a manical laughter, causing Seven to take a couple more paces back... the knife shaking in her trembling hands.

"Your parents brought you up really badly," she said, her voice returning to normal "they deserved to die... just like you are about to!"

With that, Athena pounced like a spider... her claws flared out as she leapt towards Seven.

___________________

Blade continued on his way, towards the swamp, never looking back after bidding his farewell to Rico, Drew and Henry (who was there earlier).

Before he rounded the next corner of a desserted looking pub, his left ear twitched somewhat- causing him to freeze and abruptly turn around in an instant.
He had heard some scuttling. Or, something, at least.

The sight behind him, however, consisted of nothing more but ruins and broken buildings that had been unfortunate enough to be at the receiving end of the raiders' attack.

"Paranoia... the destroyer..." he muttered, concluding that his wary mode of action was a false alarm.

"And it's come knocking on your door," resounded a voice with clarity and certainty, and yet, that of simualtaneous sinister nature.

Blade turned back to the direction in which he was walking, for that's where the voice had come from.
His expression appeared unfazed somewhat though. He was, after all, used to surprises from all these 'jokers'.

But... this one was a little new.

"At least I don't need to hide when I talk to someone," Blade retorted "why don't you show yourself... perhaps even look me in the eye, if you will... or dare."

"Gladly so."

Blade gasped when his eyes were met face to face with a pair of ice-aqua eyes that emerged as if from nowhere and nearly froze his very soul.

Along with the eyes, a spectre like-form gradually emerged into a cloaked figure. He had knee high, black clothed boots with white-gold buckles, his hands were bare-revealing a cerulean furred complexion- and some of his long spines could be seen poking through the cloth of the hooded robe.

"Who are you?" Blade hissed in a hoarse whisper, unsheathing his sword.

The figure grinned, before raising his right index finger.

"Careful!" he barked, a white orb floating just above his finger, as if to accentuate his warning "for I know what it is you fear."

Blade snarled, before resheathing his sword and straightening himself.
It was out of character for him to do this, but this outlander sure was strange and something about his cold karma beckoned a stern warning about acting with rashness.

"Who are you?" Blade demanded.

"Wraith." the figure smiled, before unveiling his cloak- his skull a thick head of spines, including some icey blue markings on his cerulean forehead, fringe and tiger-like stripes on his ears.
He seemed dark, calm and collected and still very much sinister.
Unlike other pretentious dark character though, Wraith decided not to waste any time in drawling out any introductions as to what his name was. Anything else Blade may have wanted to know, Wraith would not voluntarily give out at this moment in time.

"Wraith?" Blade repeated, raising an eyebrow, before chuckling "you Joker."

Wraith smiled at Blade's bland sense of humour.

"I want to know about the Order." Wraith said, narrowing his eyes- his shadow growing in length as firey sun set deeper and deeper into the distant horizon.

The girl barely avoided Athena's claws as she stumbled backwards and fell, wincing in pain as they cut her left cheek.

Shutting her eyes tight, she unsheathed the knife and swung the blade. She didn't know whether or not she inflicted injury to her attacker.

Either way, she wasn't going to stick around to find out. Scrambling to her feet, she clumsily started running for the woods. She didn't care where she was heading now, she just wanted to get away.

Blade raised an eyebrow at this "wraith", for a minute. "You want to know about the Order? Well, gee. That's nice and all, but you see nobody in this town knows anything. Why would one assume a village randomly attacked by a sinister figure in a white cloak would know anything about his 'Order' is beyond me." Blade retorted.

"Meh."

"Not to interrupt, but why the sudden leaving of the village?" Otis spoke out to Drew, a casual smile on the cat's face as he was not too far behind from the humanoid.

(OOC - And hey Bent! Long time no see, welcome to the RP. )

Drew nearly jumped out of his skin as Otis approached him. "OH!" He turned around. "O-tis, right?"

He eyed the cat warily for a moment before turning back to the path. "To be honest, I didn't want to feel useless as some town guard, so I decided to try my luck at gathering information at my own pace, yaknow?"

He looked out towards the woods. "Of course, I have no sense of direction, nor a good place to head to. I guess one could say that i'm totally lost before I even left." He gave a slight chuckle, in turn looking at the ground.

"Besides, i'm probably wouldn't make a very good guard. Maybe I can do better as a detective. Though a compass and a map wouldn't hurt."

He looked back at Otis. "A new question now, why are YOU suddenly leaving the village, eh?"

OOC: Long time indeed Mike. Thanks! Hope this RP goes strong!

"And it is precisely because of this town's ignorance, that it's fallen to its demise," the cerulean hedgehog said callously "it's inevitable that sitting ducks, that just sit, will be taken down by its predators."

Wraith maintained the same stern expression.
'Stubborn, pathetic outlander,' Wraith's mind hissed.
He then looked directly at Blade again and blinked with a sense of certainty once again.

"Perhaps if we were to uncover the so-called 'dark' truth... this mystery that surrounds 'the Order'... perhaps we can take some more preventative measures. And in any event, cease their senseless and cruel causes once and for all," Wraith spoke.

"...your opinion?" Wraith frowned, but smiled half-heartedly, expecting another blunt and dogmatic response from Blade- which he was losing patience for.

____________________

Athena yelped back in surprise- her back crashing against of barrels causing them to tumble in all directions.

Her, herself, and fallen flat on her back. Her chest heaving up and down rapidly from a mixture of the intense hunger for blood, and the whole surprise of the attack.

When she picked herself up, she found a deep gash across her upper arm, which bled a crimson red.

She licked her wound slightly, her ears folded down in a self-pitiful manner, before turning to look at Seven again.

"...you just made a very bad mistake little girl!" Athena cried sternly, rising to her feet again, her three tails swishing ferociously.

The outburst only served to startle the poor teenage girl, causing her to trip over her feet and fall to the ground.

Much to her dismay, her weapon had been thrown from her hands and stuck fast into a tree just a few yards away...

Seven looked back for the briefest of moments at the angered fennec, her mind racing in panic and fear.

I've got to get my knife back!

Without another moment's hesitation, the ferret ran over to the tree, took hold of the hilt, and pulled with all her might.

Behind her, she could hear the advancing footsteps of the predator...

"I'm here to defend the village, not go off on some self-righteous quest. Besides. It's not like I'd give some outlander's comments taken to my heart." he retorted and sighed.

"Do what you wish, outlander. But I'm not to bother with you." Blade added. His steps turned off as he walked further in the swamps. To go rest at his camp, or perhaps meditate. Nothing less.

"A new question now, why are YOU suddenly leaving the village, eh?" Drew had said a moment earlier. While this would only cause Otis to smirk.

"I was planning to look into this white cloak-toting Order and see what I can find out. That's all. But it looks like that path was towards the one you were exiting the town on."

"A Coincidence perhaps."

"Coincidence? Or maybe it's fate, eh?" He looked at Otis. "I planned on goin' to a larger town or city, a place that might have more info on the subject of our questions." He looked down the road again.

"Since you're from the area, do you know any big towns or hubs that I could get some information?"

"The biggest 'hub' would probably be the Hidden Village, Knothole." he started, but was quick to add to that. "But I think if you appeared in that village, they'd kill you." Otis chuckled lightly.

"Theres plenty of villages and towns around Knothole to look for some leads and information. Though, I get the feeling other villages know about the same as us... maybe even less. But maybe we'll get lucky." he added.

"Knothole, eh? Sounds good."

Drew shrugged off the fact that he would be "killed", and kept down the path. "So, what direction is this Knothole? It sounds...earthy."

Otis would pause before responding to Drew. "Not to mention I highly doubt they'd think of me too highly if I show you into Knothole." he wasn't quick to add to the sentence. "While I consider and think about it, we'll undoubtedly run into other villages and posts along the way. Maybe we'll run into minor information on the way."

In thought though as he was in speech, he was a bit reluctant to show an Overlander to the only Mobian stronghold against Robotnik.

"We shall see how this plays out." he thought.

"Alright, alright. Even if I tried to find the place, I wouldn't find it. I need someone who knows the area, and any information helps."

He ran a hand through his hair and looked back at the road. "So, which way are we headed?"

"North." the aged feline said almost too quickly. "North would be our best bet, and this path takes us north at that rate." he said.

"I hope you like walking. Because you are going to be doing quite a lot of it."

"Ah Geez, just a few miles huh? You sure we're going the right way, Toby?" The complaining flowed easily out of the half-breed's mouth. Walking nonchalantly down a path whose next pause they had assumed was Knothole, the younger of companions was already starting to doubt the authenticity of that claim.

The older of the two seemed just as laid back, lightly getting the dust up as he walked. "Hell if I know, dork. I don't have any bearing on this world anymore. Maybe we should-". His sentence stopped dead in it's tracks, the rabbit's ears stood up as if radar towers. The boy only trudged forward a few more steps before stopping and looking back in concern, "Wassat? You hear something? Uncle Toby?" The youth's face shifted to one far more serious than one would anticipate from an adolescent, his small tan skinned hand reaching into his pack.

The blade came free after a final tug, sending Seven jerking backward in limbo from the sudden momentum. It only took a moment to regain her balance, but in that moment something had happened.

*click* *click*

The readying of two ballistic firearms clicked on either side of her. Both the large rabbit Tobias and the his smaller companion Henry stood with weapons pointed at the sound of of incoming trouble. The small halfbreed sneered, "Hey lady, be a good idea to tell us what we're about to shoot at." The larger rabbit narrowed his eyes and leveled his weapon on what his sensitive ears had targeted as the source of the noise, "Just as long as it's not bullet proof."

Drew nodded. "Trust me, back home, I walked all the time. Well, not all the time, sometimes we drove, but the majority of the time I was walking."

He decided to let Otis lead the way, mainly because Drew still had no idea where north was.

"Uh... somewhere o-over there," the ferret stammered, a little startled at the newcomers' rather... abrupt appearance. "A fennec, I th-think..."

Well, it wouldn't of been hard to go north even if the dirt and stone path they were on was beaten and aged, Otis knew the way on the path well; and the northbound path would eventually end up at the old ancient ruins of Acronia Castle. Leading there they would continue a bit north; and if by then no knowledge of the Order came.... he may of just had to go to Knothole against his discretion. Otis began stepping forward on the road.

But to make even more sure of himself, he scuffled in his pants and retrieved a aged beige piece of paper. He sighed then and there. He'd forgotten how large the forest was, and by his eyes it'd take a good while to get even to the Castle. He'd have to get a mount at the next village, if that to make good time.

"Well, this indeed will be a long trek." he would think before smirking for a mere moment.

"Here we are, on the road again!" Drew exclaimed, following Otis. Of course, Otis had probably never heard of the song that Drew was loosely referencing, and so the joke would most likely be lost on the old cat.

"We're like two hard boiled cops, placing together information and evidence to nail these crazy psycho murderers! All we lack is a box of donuts, and a few cups of coffee. But, I bet we can pick that up at the next town, right?"

"You are an odd one." Otis chuckled. "But we are in so much more in odd situations, so it works." he smirked lightly as he kept moving onward.

"I hope you can walk for a day straight, at the least." he took a quick breath. "Maybe three, if we cannot ifnd any mounts at the villages on the way." he turned for a moment.

"You have any interesting tales or stories to tell while the long trek is onward?"

Drew looked back at Otis, and shrugged. "I know a few yarns, most that...well, you probably wouldn't get or understand."

He continued down the path, and looked over to Otis. "Well, I do know one story, but, I don't think it's so great. It's a story about a cursed man, who went against his own birthright, forsaking what he was born to be for the greater good."

He yawned and relaxed. "All in all, it's pretty boring."

[[OOC: Okay, now it is time to use DM powars! It seems Bent isn't here for the moment so I'm going to assume that her character retreated when the show of force came. So that means Kaze and Rico can advance that plot area without waiting for Bent.

I'm going to move the Otis/Drew movement a little bit in a moment. Alright? Lets RP again.]]

Nothing...

No matter how many times she scanned everything around her, she couldn't find any trace of the predator who wanted to have her for dinner; all that remained were the tracks that were leading to her then suddenly veered off into another part of the woods and the faint smell of blood.

Seven sank to her knees and breathed a sigh of relief. That's all over... for now anyway.

As the scenes enveloped, Night slowly crept upon the Forest, and it really didn't help the fact that the creature stalking the ferret had disappeared when two others appeared on the scene..and well armed at that. The darkness was just another big envelope that attracted fear, which meant a lot more things would happen in the forest alone.

About a good few miles ahead of Dunric and the path Drew and Otis were traveling on, in a small forest village- another good few figures that were responsible for Maplewood Vale's own ravaging disaster apparently were deciding to pay a visit, or one of them really. The figure was a different one, but the cloak was still apparent and her eyes kept well on the inn in the village.

"Well, it all comes down to bloodshed. But it looks like fear isn't going to be too tough since this area is on edge after Rauzieun's own slaying of the place to the south. Maybe my presence will be strong enough that I won't have to kill my qouta." her thoughts were crisp, but more cautious then the figures from Maplewood Vale.

Eyes in the Inn / Tavern kept peeled to her, they had heard of the white-cloaked murderer of Dunric, and they didn't want to be in the same boots. Although, with fear around their shells - some of them had no fear but disgust and courage. There were some that wouldn't take murder so lightly. About four men in the tavern kept their eyes paced on the white-cloaked figure.

"Hey, your the one that butchered Dunric, ain't you?!" one of the fearless men growled.

The lady in the white-cloak just let a smirk, not speaking.

So they easily think...that bravery will save them? How Foolish."

With no answer coming, the man growled again. "Hey! I was talking to you! Answer me!"

"It'd be pretty pointless to answer you, when you already apparently know." she spat with a frightening dark-sided grin.

His eyes narrowed. "That's it boys, lets get 'er!" they exclaimed.

If one would pass the place, screams would soon fill the air. Male Screams.

Otis could clearly hear the commotion in the distance. He glanced at Drew. "You hear that too, or have I really gone old in my hearing?"