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"I don't think so," Eylee said. "I'm sorry. It's a complete mess in there. Most of the upper floors aren't even really recognizable as, like, anything that was intentionally built, anymore."
She glanced down again at the mirror, clutched in her hand so tight that her knuckles were going white. "I could take another look, but I don't know I'd be able to see anything more."
Wandering in the sea of flames looking for the fuel room and finds a metal bolted door. He places his hands on the bolts and suddenly sparks envelope his body. An explosion shoots him into the wall, breaking it and the ceiling collapses on top of him. Laying there motionless.
Ganokgu noticed the person that most recently got here rushed away back into the school soon after what he said. He started to chase after him then realized that he didn't have any power to stop fire or anything, just a rod. "Dang... I wish I could go see if the teachers were alright..." Then Ganokgu realized something and shouted,"Wait, I have an idea! Where is the nearest water source?"
Lindel gestured to the snow. "This. Hold still, March." she ordered, converting the spell carefully into one to replenish blood loss, and pressed it into his arm. As it worked, she wobbled a bit. "Oops.... Wee, falling down now." With that, she passed out and hit the snow.
Ganokgu turned to the snow, 'Oh yea...' He thought to himself. Taking the rod in his hand, he formed it into a decently sized pot. He kneeled down while scooping up the snow. After the snow was in side, he slid his hands over the top to seal the pot closed so no water would get out. "Now, once I go inside, the heat should melt the snow into water, fairly fast." He said, as he turned around only to find the fairy in the snow. Quickly, he locked the, now spherical shape, onto the harness and rushed over to pick her up out of the snow carefully, trying not to damage her wings. He wasn't sure how delicate they were. He looked at her seemingly frail body and scanned the area for any place to put her.
"Quick, where should I put her?" Ganokgu questioned.
Justyce instantly drew away when the fairy began using her healing ability. He shivered. Was he afraid of something. The instant it was finished he ran over to Isaak and clung onto the other. Poor Justyce was hard to understand, especially since he rarely spoke about his feelings to others. Actually...he just rarely talked. He was shaking as he clung to Isaak with a suprisingly strong grip for someone who has lost as much blood as he had.
We're she awake, Lindel would be teasing him about his reaction to her magic, but she had kinda passed out. She pulled herself into a ball while asleep, and one wing was in the process of moving to cover her.
Isaak glanced over at Ganokgu when the other asked where to put the little fairy. "I'll take her-" he just managed to state, before letting out a ummmph as Justyce suddenly clung to him. He blinked at his friend, taken off guard. But then he smiled, and gently tapped Justyce's head. "My, Justyce you have quite the grip. I guess she did a great job in replenishing the blood you lost, you're as strong as an ox now." he then said, his voice somewhat playful.
Ganokgu carefully place the fairy into March's hand. "March? is your name?" Soon after, Justyce clenched onto March. "Uh, What's up with you?" Ganokgu said, baffled by the blood mage's actions. His eyes returned back to the fairy and wondered if she was going to wake up soon. "Wait, How long has that guy that ran back into the building been gone? I'm going to go check on him."
Ganokgu took one last look at the fairy and the blood mage. He turned to the building on fire and bravely, but carefully ran in. "I assume that guy tried to go see if the teachers were alright and I heard they were supposed to be up stairs." Ganokgu said to himself as he ran through the weakening building.
The snow in the wooden case on his back was starting to slush around. Due to the the blazing heat from all around him, sweat started to pour form his skin.
Before Ganokgu knew, he was already upstairs. He knew he didn't have much time because pillars and pieces of ceiling were constantly falling. A few of them he had to dodge. He soon encountered a obstacle. It seems like part of the ceiling caved in. He started to climb over it when he noticed a human hand poking out form underneath the rubble. Pieces of the rubble were on fire.
Ganokgu shouted, "Can you hear me? Respond if you can!", as he shaped the sphere to have a nozzle. He quickly poured it over the fire and rubble to try to stiffle the fire. When he was out of water Ganokgu started shifting rubble around until he was able to safely drag him out and carry him.
A loud crash happened right next to him, another part of the ceiling collapsed. One piece landed at a weird angle and sliced Ganokgu's arm. He dodged the rest of it. Looking behind him he thought, 'The teachers.... they should be fine. They are the ones that thought us. The condition this guy is one just makes him dead weight, but I just can't leave him here.'
Ganokgu decided to leave the building to save Haku. "I'll get us out of here."
Justyce buried his face into Isaak's chest and nodded slightly. His shivering eventually died down and he seemed to relax against Isaak. The other had been his only true friend for as long as he could remember. However, Justyce wouldn't have it any other way.
Haku's finger twitches and static electricity runs through his whole body, immobilizing his movement "I'll be fine... Just head on out and I'll take care of the fuel source..." He attempts to stand, staggering from the electric shocking.
Casting his Infra Armor, demonic aura flows around him and swallows his body, leaving back a knight-like figure with black armor which resembled a demon fox. He opens a void and throws Ganokgu into it, landing him safely onto the snow with the rest of the people, closing it as he landed.
Standing in front of the bolted door, which protected the fuel room. A magic circle appears around Haku, and ice spikes erupt from the ground around him as he collects ice particles into a spear. He throws the ice spear into the bolted door, causing the door to shatter from the cold, freezing with the fuel room behind it and anything else within the 200 yard radius (the whole school) became covered in ice crystals.
Isaak smiled at Ganokgu when the other placed the fairy in his hand. The Neko studied her for a moment, hoping that she was perfectly ok. She did seem to be, but he wished he had a way to completely be sure. However, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Ganokgu's voice, and the glanced up at the other, as he asked if Isaak's name was March. Isaak blinked. March? He couldn't say that he had March in his name at all. However, Ganokgu had run off before Isaak could correct the other mage. Oh, well then....
Isaak then felt Justyce's head press into his chest, and then gave his friend a small smile. Isaak, honestly felt somewhat like a mother hen. After all, he had a sleeping fairy in his uninjured hand, and his long-time friend pressed against him. He chuckled softly to himself as he thought about this. He wondered what the others thought, but then decided that it didn't really matter all that much, anyway.
It wasn't long, though, until he felt Justyce begin to relax, his friend's shaking beginning to disappear. The Neko smiled, and then gently bringing his free hand up, he gently poked Justyce's cheek. "Come on, Justy. It's time for a smile." he then said, a playful tone still evident in his voice.
Emily opened her eyes slowly, and found herself lying in the snow. She'd been knocked unconcious in the tower's explosion, and apparently been thrown several feet away from the rubble. She groaned and sat up slowly, blinking her eyes a few times in a daze. Her head was pounding, but she felt alright. Glancing over herself quickly she was glad to see no sign of blood, or any burns. But she was cold, and wet...
Suddenly her eyes went wide, and she began looking around frantically.
"Naomi?" She called, though her voice was quiet and whispy. Apparently being knocked unconcious in a fire was bad for her throat. Actually, she thought to herself, it was probably the smoke that messed with my throat... After a moment, there was movement in the snow to her left, and a small grey cat poked its head up. The kitten was buried in the snow, but seemed otherwise fine. Staying in the sitting position she'd pulled herself into, Emily leant over and pulled the cat out of the snow. Naomi wriggled a bit, then made herself comfortable in Emily's lap, licking the girl's arm comfortingly.
Still slightly dazed, Emily looked around again. She saw people stumbling away from the ruins of the tower, and she saw people who she didn't think would be moving ever again. It saddened her to know that people she knew were dead. But she didn't linger on the thought.
Spying a group of people not too far away, Emily thought it best that the survivers should regroup, and figure out what to do. There weren't any towns for miles, and they were in the dead of winter. They'd need to act fast if they wanted to survive any longer. She set Naomi on the ground next to her, and moved to stand, but a sharp pain in her leg stopped her. She gasped, and the shock of the pain made her fall back to the ground. She lay on her back, eyes clenched in pain. So much for no injuries. After a moment, she pulled herself back into a sitting position and looked at her leg. Initially, she'd missed the tear in her leggings, and the stain of the blood on the dark material looked no different than the marks of melted snow. She pulled the torn edges of her legging back, and blanched at what she saw. There was a deep gash in her leg, about four inches long and jagged. She bit her lip, and sighed. She was used to injuries, she had accidents all the time when practicing her spells. But she'd never had anything quite so bad, or painful. She braced herself, and forced herself to her feet, putting most of her weight on her left leg, the good one. She tried to take a step forward, but stumbled and fell back into the snow, bracing her fall but still landing hard. Lying on her stomach, Emily was already breathing hard.
Naomi bounded up to the girl, licking her face. The cat knew something was wrong, but didn't know what. However, she knew that she could get help.
Naomi ran through the snow, each step a challenge, considering the snow was almost as deep as she was big. Anyone looking on would probably see a smudge of gray among a scattering of snow with each step she took. Eventually, she got to a small group of survivors, and was happy to see that one of them was a neko. She liked nekos, they were like her.
Naomi made her way to the boy, and put a paw on his leg, trying to get his attention, before moving back a few steps the way she had come, meowing quietly. The cat hoped someone would get her meaning, and realise that Emily needed help.
Meanwhile, Emily had pulled herself back into a sitting position, and was trying to clean her leg up with some snow. She had almost no knowledge of healing spells, but she did know that, if worse came to worst, she could cauterize the wound with a fire spell...
But she really didn't want to do that.
After being thrown though what seemed to be a portal. He was facing the group again. "Uh, that Haku guy just tossed me back over here though a portal..." He turned around form where he was tossed. He couldn't even find a hint of where the portal was. He noticed something interesting though. The once, on fire and crumbling school, was now covered in ice. "Wow, did Haku do that?" Ganokgu said as he motioned people to look.
Isaak suddenly felt something small touch his leg, and he looked down to see a little cat. He blinked at her, watching as she then meowed to the rest of the group. His ears twitched slightly. He was fairly sensitive to cats naturally due to what he was,and he felt he he sort of understand what the little cat was saying.
Isaak gently pulled away from Justyce, gently patting the other's head, and holding his hand that held the sleeping fairy out to his friend. "Would you mind taking care of her for a moment or two?" he then asked his friend. "I believe that little cat may be looking for some help with something." he added, as a simple explanation.
Eylee glanced at Ganokgu and then back over her shoulder at the tower, which was now glittering with ice. "I guess so," she said. "Kind of an improvement, I guess. I hope he's not overexerting himself, though. I mean, I understand he tends to run on a higher level of power than some of us, but... Well, not to be a wet blanket..."
She looked around at the group and sighed. "We're not exactly in the best shape, are we?"
In response to Eylee, Ganoku replied back, "Well, When I found him he was under some rubble. I had to dig him out. I also got cut from some falling pieces of ceiling that I narrowly dodged." After remembering the cut, he positioned his arm to see the cut. It was a little deeper than he thought, it was still bleeding and it stung a little bit. "I got cut pretty good, didn't I?" Ganokgu joked.
"Hey, what's you name?" Ganokgu said looking at Eylee. He pointed to Isaak, "Where is he going?", Ganokgu questioned.
Naomi bounced about in the snow excitedly for a moment, before moving a few more feet towards Emily. The cat understood when help was needed, but she always had a hard time not being ridiculously energetic. It wouldn't be hard for someone to see the path Naomi had made from Emily, and to see Emily sitting in the snow. She wasn't far off from the small group of survivors, but she didn't seem to be paying much attention to them.
Emily sighed in frustration. She hated when situations came around where she would have to ask someone else to help her. She knew that everyone would be in pretty rough shape after that explosion, and at that moment she kind of regretted not looking into healing magics. She poked at the gash on her leg, wincing a little. She had a feeling it may have just barely reached the muscle in her leg, which was probably the only reason she'd had such trouble standing up. She frowned to herself, trying to come up with a few options as to what she could do.
Zorvan watches all that has happened, saying nothing. He continues to hum. His left foot spontaneously combusts, but he doesn't notice.
A big explosion in the school sends Haku flying out of the school, landing head first and tumbling in the snow next to Emily. His armor's right arm no longer there, showing his arm with ice from his hand to his forearm. "That might not have been the greatest idea..." Smiling with sweat drops on the side of his face.
He looks up and surprised to see Emily and asks "Why are you all alone? You should gather with all the other students." He tries to sit up, flinching with electricity still surging throughout his body.
"I'm Eylee Marinis," she replied. "You're... Ganokgu, right? The fighter?" She was a good deal more sure of his identity than she sounded; while Eylee considered it her business to know who else was at the school, she knew it sometimes made people nervous when she knew who they were without introduction.
"This is true. Do you know me by my fighting?" Ganokgu grinned, he was proud of his fighting skills and whenever people respected him for it. "So, Wh-" Ganokgy heard an explosion. His instinct turned his head toward the source. A body seemed to shoot from the explosion, into the snow. Without looking, "Let's go!" Ganokgu ran toward the body.
Lindel groaned, sitting up weakly. She seemed to be totally drained of magic, at the moment. "Ow..."
Emily's eyes widened as the school shook with another explosion, and as a student was thrown from the explosion, and landed in the snow, not far from herself.
"I, uh... It hurts to move." Emily answered his question quietly, laughing a little as if to portray that it was no big deal. "Did you just do that? Are you alright? Well, can I help you with anything is probably a better question..."
His armor shatters into bits of darkness, vanishing into thin air. He looks at Emily and smiles saying, "Yeah, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. You need to get your leg fixed up soon, or it could get infected." Haku suddenly coughs up blood ands falls over, his eyes cringing from the damage the electric shock earlier.
Looking in the distance he can see the people run towards him as his vision blurs into darkness.
"I'm a diviner. I know folks," Eylee was replying, when Ganokgu abruptly ran off. With a sigh, she glanced apologetically at the others in their little group and, clutching her skirts out of the way with one hand, followed in hot pursuit.
She finally managed to catch up as Ganokgu reached Haku and Emily. A quick look at the situation, and Eylee bit back an exclamation that was quite a bit short of polite. "Ok. Ok. We can deal with this, right?" she said, looking to Ganokgu, still a little out of breath.
Emily's eyes widened again, this time in disbelief.
"Yeah, I'll worry about my leg..." She murmered to herself, pulling herself closer to the now unconcious student, just as two others ran up. She gave the girl her moment to freak out, then spoke.
"We're going to have to deal with everything, I'm afraid. I don't think any of the teachers made it out..." She paused a moment, and then determined, steeled herself against the pain she was about to go through. Trying not to bring attention to the gash on her leg (or the pink-tinged snow around it), she looked at the other two survivors.
"I'm no healer, but we need to get him to one. I don't know what's wrong with him, so we need to move him pretty quickly, I think." Emily braced herself, and rose halfway to her feet, supporting Haku as best as she could.
"A little help please?"
Lindel flew over- Carefully. "Maybe I can... Heal him?" she mubled.
Hardly winded, Ganokgu arrived at the locations where Emily and Haku were. Moments later Eylee arrived. He could hear her breathing. In response to what she said, "We don't have much choice, I don't think..." He saw Emily trying to support Haku and positioned his self next to Haku. "Why were you laying in the snow?" Ganokgu asked Emily. "Anything wrong?"
Ganokgu did his best to try to take most of Haku's weight. He knew he could carry him by himself. After hearing what Lindel said, Ganokgu spoke up, "Hey, don't push yourself too hard. I won't stop you if you want to heal. Feel free to use my shoulder to save energy the best you can." She had already fainted once, Ganokgu just didn't want her to hurt herself. He thought for a few moments and asked, "Anyone know where we're taking him?"
Ganokgu looked over at Emily and asked, "Are you ready? I'm about to take a step."
"Well.... There are some caves nearby? They've got a few monsters, but if we get the others, we should be fine. Their really cowardly!"
Ganokgu loved her idea, he loved to fight. Even though he loved to fight, he had to think for the best of everyone else. "Hmm, That might be the best option. I would think the school would still be unsafe. Maybe we could set up a camp at the entrance of the cave. Maybe light the outside of the cave up so people can see us?"
Emily rose fully to her feet as the Ganokgu supported most of Haku's weight. She supported herself mostly on her good leg, doing everything in her power not to wince as the gash on her bad leg twinged. When Ganokgu asked her if anything was wrong, she forced herself to smile.
"Oh, nothing to worry about. I think we need to focus on this guy first. And yeah, I'm ready to move when you are."
The caves... They were really the only option the students had, and Emily knew it. She tilted her head to the side a little, thinking, as Ganokgu suggested setting up camp.
"I do think setting up camp is a good idea... But who's going to see us? There aren't any towns or villages for miles. I think we may have to set up camp, scavenge whatever we can once the school is a bit safer, and probably resort to the caves for food and shelter, then once a group of people is strong enough, they can leave to get help. I wouldn't suggest anyone to wander off into the snow on their own." The forced smile on Emily's face had faded to grim determination. There was nothing for them to do now but survive.
"Well, we don't know one hundred percent what happened to the teachers, if we put up the torches they might be able to tell where we went and help us or something like that?" Ganokgu took a few steps forward while we was talking. The first few steps were a little rough, as he was trying to match his pace with Emily. Within a few moments he matched her steps. When they start to get the rhythm of it Ganokgu asked, "By the way, what are your names?", to both Emily and Lindel. He started thinking of what they might need. 'Branches, water, food.' Were the few that came to his mind, he wondered how to get them as he continued to keep pace with Emily.
Lindel blinked. "You haven't heard of me? Surely I've pranked you at least once! I'm Lindel Ripa, school prankster of sixty seven years! At least, if you go by your years. Otherwise, it's ten." She bowed mockingly, lost her balance- and tumbled into the snow.
"Oops! I'm okay!" she called up, now sitting at the bottom of a deep pile of snow. "It's kinda cold down here, though!"
"Yeah..." Emily murmered, agreeing with Gonokgu about the torches. "And perhaps any other survivors will be able to make their way to the caves too. Torches are always a good idea. We're going to need the light soon anyway."
Emily waited for Lindel to introduce herself, since the fairy started replying to Ganokgu's question first. She couldn't help but grin at Lindel's antics, and even giggled a little as she fell into the snow.
"I've heard of you Lindel, but I don't think I've ever met you before." Emily kept a smile on her face, and addressed both of her (concious) companions. "I'm Emily. It's nice to meet both of you."
Meanwhile, Naomi arrived. She'd been bouncing between Emily's location and the Neko she'd found, full of energy. Naomi wasn't scared easily, and she didn't really seem to have much of a sense for urgent situations. She'd gone to seek help, and so she felt her job was done. The cat noticed Emily moving, and so directed her romping towards the girl and her new friends. The small cat arrived, immediately noticing Lindel in the snow. Naomi stopped near the fairy, staring at Lindel as if to say "Want to play?"
Emily didn't need to force herself to smile when she saw Naomi, it was natural. The girl looked at Lindel as well as she could. "She'll let you ride on her back if you want to." Emily informed her. "It'll get you mostly out of the snow."
"Hi-hi, miss kitty!" She got to her feet, and scrambled on top of the kitty. "Hm... No, you haven't yet, have you? My apologies!" Lindel laughed, rubbing the back of the kitties neck.
Surprised at Lindel's reaction he immediately replied, "Well, I'm sorry? I skip most of my classes. Usually I'm outside honing my fighting skills. The only classes I attend to are ones that help me with that. Maybe that's why?" Ganokgu let out a slightly nervous laugh, then continued. "Well, nice to meet you two. Kind of a weird way to meet, eh?"
When the kitten arrived Ganokgu laughed at it's playful attitude. He let a smile show during this. His shoulder felt a little awkward, in response he nudged Haku up slightly to get it in a better position.
As everyone drew closer to the cave, he could see the entrance. "Look the entrance!" Ganokgu stated with a smile. He continued to match his pace with Emily.
"Classes? Who bothers with classes?" she laughed. "I just stick with my two teachers and spend the rest of the day having fun!"
Isaak had just been about to head over in the direction he believed the cat had been indicating, when Lindel had woke up. He blinked in surprise, but then smiled as he watched her head over towards the others. I'm glad to see she's alright. he thought still looking over in that direction, noticing how the group was heading towards the caves. It also seemed that those who needed help, had gotten it. That was good.
The Neko then looked back at his friend, and gave him a gentle but firm nudge. "Come on, Justyce. Let's catch up with the others." he told the blood cleric before turning and heading towards the others at a fast walk.
Once he was with the others, he looked down at the cat and the fairy, and chuckled. What an interesting sight. he thought to himself, before addressing Lindel, "Well, Madam fairy, I'm glad to see you're awake." and as he finished speaking, he gave her a playful, yet at the same time, sincere smile.
"Yes, yes, awake is good! No one likes fainting from magic loss, after all!" SHe grinned, glancing around. It was extremely dark by now, especially without the light of the tower. "Hm, anyone want a light?"