CHPT 397: Romulus' Ideals/ Grey's Awakening....

"Is this the true power you strived for Romulus?"

The thought went on repeat in his mind. Falling from somewhere beyond himself-- falling from a place born from everything he'd learned up to this point. A collection of events and experiences in life.... and near death, that slowly birthed such a simple yet profound question. It fell, like a raindrop falling on his pond of a mind. The rippling waves traveling through his brain and birthing new thoughts. New questions. New edges of wonder he couldn't yet reach.

Reach....

He reached for much as he lay in the battlefield of the wild against the corrupt. Overhead-- from the view of the Moon, the two forces clashed and blended like spilled paint. Swirling and mixing into chaos. And there Claude lay, his shadowy sentinels shifting and gnawing through the madness as life bloomed from the center of it all.

That life that he pulled from seemingly the deepest corners and crooks of the earth below, it's energy spoke to him. Gave him strength, traveling through the ancient and formulaic markings etched into his skin like lightning on a predestined path. The natural energies filled him, blending with his livened spirits and pondering mind in all their natural magic essence.

And natural they remained. Shown in the massive green healing waves he shot back into the earth. Each hit washed over the children of the wild and split the battle as the HellBred and Armament wearers were burned by the spread of untainted nature.

Slowly, the waves continued, and the battle split. Leaving Claude and his freshly escaped pack mates to lay calmly in a valley of lush grass for a stretch of seconds before moving.

In a rush, Claude groggily got to his feet. Helping Ursula up along the way as beings of all forms and kinds joined their ranks and the echoes of war in the canyon shook the earth. He was surprised to find that she was suddenly waking.

Wolves, dogs and everything in between paced about him at nearly the same size as Frosty. Some with sabered fangs, or heavily muscled jaws and long limbs built for incredible speeds. Mountain Lions and many other wild Felines were in a similar state, joined by Griffons and massive Hawks that circled overhead. In the grass, muscled snakes slithered around his feet, their eyes like rolling predatory jewels. The sight reminded him slightly of the stories Arne told him of Romulus and Remus' pack of Wild Magic evolved canines...

And somehow, they weren't the focus. They weren't the most marvelous sight.

"C-Claude..... look.." Ursula whispered.

Behind them, a small unit of Centaurs sat with their massive ancient wooden bows and heavy blades at the ready. A couple of them nodded in his direction, determination lit their eyes from behind their reinforced primal bone masks.

Flying beside them and barely above the ranks of wild creatures were beings he never thought he'd see again. They floated like ghosts as the winds ruffled their loose torn clothing and smoothened their ethereal forms. They all looked beautiful. Inhumanely beautiful with their Elven ears, flowing weightless hair, light blue skin and pure white eyes. That beauty was a mask to hide their true horrific features. Or was it the other way around. He didn't know. All he knew was, it was the same Banshee he had met in the Tangent, joined by others now.

He suddenly remembered her voice in his fading mind, speaking of watching over him. It seemed such a statement had very real intentions behind it.

The collection of wild booming barks and snarls radiating from the canine beasts around him shocked him out of his mind to face the HellBred legion screaming and pacing at the edge of the grass that split their ranks.

The Armament infused PitGnoll loomed over them all as it exited the canyon to join them. It's hungry eyes focused on him. It followed Cyrene like a trained dog. She'd once again retained her demonic form and wielded her pure silver blade coated in shimmering coils of red lightning. A smile twisted her face as she split the clutter of HellBred without ever speaking a word to them.

"Back to square one eh, Claude?...hehehe...." Cyrene yelled over the hum of barely restrained violence.

"Far from it." Claude said as a thick wooden spike broke from the earth beside him. Slowly, iced spikes grew from the wooden surface as Ursula dropped the temperature of the area of her.

"HAhahahAHHA! You might be right! You have no idea wh--"

FWOOO!

Cyrene's words were cut short as a crossbow bolt whistled overhead and smacked Cyrene straight in the head, causing it to snap back like she'd been punched with the force of ten men. Immediately all hell broke loose. Literally. The abrupt change was incredibly jarring. Claude didn't mind. He didn't feel like talking anyway. Talking wasn't an aspect of war. Whoever fired the shot understood that and took matters into their own hands. He was glad it was someone on his side.

As his adrenaline coursed and his senses exploded, he found himself looking to the source of the shot. Just for a moment-- a fraction of time slowed by urgency of the moment.

At the top of a hill in the distance-- a smaller canyon if anything, a man stood in the shadows. Squatted on one knee as he took aim with a rifled Crossbow. Despite the shadows cast from his hood, he could see the blue glow of hawk-like eyes. A small flair of anxiety rose up within him, but faded after he remembered his current circumstances. It simply didn't matter at the moment.

He thought he saw a couple familiar hounds as well. Maybe part of him already knew the Bounty Hunter had arrived..... now he only wondered why he stayed?

With nothing more to do, he took off to join the battle. A war had been waging for who knows how long in his absence-- in his name. He needed to change the tide to repay them. To save them. He could only hope with their numbers they could succeed, because something told him if they didn't, more than just his goals would tarnish. Much larger things were at stake. A network of much larger-- and darker things that tied to everything.

That was the eerie thing about the night. Everything was seemingly connected in some way. Romulus and Remus. Their ideals. The variety of life on the field. Druidry... Demonics. Life and corruption. Demons and sadistic Guilds. There was a connection he couldn't understand. Like webs in the shadows holding it all together....