Vesta was lucky; when the Skylark began to shudder and swing from side to side, she was close to the pods. Although her small body worked against her, and she was flung from side to side, finally she grabbed hold of the handle on the pod and tugged at it.

The door swung open suddenly, and startled, she let go and slid back, hitting the opposite wall with a crack and a jolt of pain in her back. Dropping to the floor, she pushed herself up and staggered in the direction of the pod.

I have my armour, right? Ouch... should have put it on - but-

The floor's angle shifted and she was thrown headfirst into the pod, effectively completing her journey. Grabbing onto the pod's seat, she levered herself up once more, a throbbing now in her forehead as well as her back. Reaching up, she could feel a wet substance oozing out of a (wow, that big?) wide gash that forced her to squeeze her eyes shut against the pain.

She turned and slammed the door shut, and all but smashed the "eject" button. She quickly donned her armour, a tedious but necessary process - as her head and back told her all too firmly.

As she finished, she became aware that she was dropping sharply. The pod had ejected, of course, and she had forgotten to strap herself in. Now she had to deal with the consequences. She sat in the chair anyway, and fumbled for the strap.

Almost at once, however, the pod shook and began to spin, tossing her out of the chair and in circles around the pod. She became dizzy soon, and tried to grab for something. Finally her hand closed on a rail, and she felt a little better. She turned to inspect her handhold.

Above it was a small glassed opening, the window of the pod. Through it, as the pod stabilized momentarily, she could just see the ground approaching fast, and there was no time to prepare herself.

The exterior of the pod went up in flames, and the sound of the impact was almost deafening.

-

Out in the open for the first time in days, Feravis saw the fire in the sky, the giant object that twisted and shuddered as if trying to rid itself of the brilliant flames. As she stared, almost hypnotised by its rhythms, smaller objects detached and shot towards the surface.

Some burned to cinders before reaching their destination, others shattered, but most scattered themselves around Cradle, and one was headed directly for her.

With a bark of distress, she made marks in the ground in her frantic attempt to get out of its way. Under cover of the trees, she watched as the object crashed into the center of the clearing. The flames that had momentarily danced around it subsided, and it smouldered.

Feravis remained, staring at the pod, not quite sure what to do.

Pure terror and pleasure.

Those were the only two feelings Naomi could sense in her head as she came to from a rollercoaster of a nightmare, and as her eyes opened to see adobe around her, they were immediately placed by confusion and curiosity. She could only remember the eyes of that scary beast, and a flash of bright light had rendered her unsconscious.

Though she didn't know what exactly happened her dreams, she felt a great sense of horror and...stimuli. The sweat that dripped down from her face and onto the floor wasn't helping either.

Her hair unkempt yet tidy like a raven's, Naomi slowly peeled off the airy blanket on her and got on all fours, and then onto her knees.

She looked around again, her nauseous head preventing her from clearly processing the images that came. Late afternoon gave the adobe room a peach radiance, even if the stone was unpolished and roughly cut. An archway, obviously too tall for Isorans, led into another room, where the sounds of stone against stone rung. Whoever had brought her here was probably procuring some sort of herbal medicine, a thing almost unheard of back on the Skylark.

Her pale jade eyes dilated, and darkness tempted Naomi into slumber. With a surge of willpower, the girl had taken the initiative to stand up on her two feet, causing a powerful wave of dizziness to overtake her head.

The grinding noise stopped, and as Naomi was about to fall, something extremely fast caught her on the way down. Like a pillow, she rested perfectly into it, and the person put the little one onto the floor.

"Rest."

Fennel carefully picked up the talking head and stuck it back on the apparently undead Mortis's head, binding it with yet more fabric. Looking around, he noticed more smoking rubble and wondered if he could rescue more people before it was too late.

Save now, interrogate later.

The four (Mortis, injured person, himself, and Cypreus) of them reached the base of the hill Haven was situated on. Strangers' fleeting glances became all-out goggles as the unusual quadrio passed the orchards and gates. He slipped each member of his group a white pin in the shape of a Snipe, which meant that a high-level Stranger had given this person clearance to stay.

"I have to go and salvage more people from the crash," Fennel muttered. "Try to find anyone else who looks like this injured man. You're welcome to join if you can keep up with me."

He trotted to the Bazaar and bought some more honey buns and a few liters of water. Being practical, he also bought a few yards of spun fabric and a coil of rope made from the plants that grew nearby. Marching out of the city, he silently observed the forest from the high ground, marking a few places with large amounts of smoke and a pod-like capsule. Taking a deep breath, he ran down the hill and into the woods at a rapid pace, blending with the shadows.

Gallon blinked in suprise as the mysterious hooded one effortlessly parried his strike, and pulled him into the bushes. Gallon was too shocked to see yet another instance of something completely different to what had already happened, that he just stayed put and let the hooded figure do whatever it wanted to do. It didn't want to kill him, if that were the case, it would have stabbed him rather than pull him into the foliage, so at least Gallon knew he was safe in that respect.

The Hooded figure drew an X in the ground, then made elevating movements with its "hands". Gallon nodded slightly, looking at the ground in thought, trying to make out what it was telling him, until he twigged on. He lifted his head an clicked his fingers as the thought flew into his head.

"Elevator!" But as he did so, the stranger had vanished. No trace at all. Gallon was taken back yet again at how it could have gotten away without making a single sound. He shook his head to try and rid himself of the thoughts of how something can just vanish into thin-air. A small light caught his eye, shining through the tree line. Gallon climbed out of the bushes, and made his way toward the light.

As he arrived at the source of the strange illumination, he found it to be an Elevator. Well, where an elevator had been. The floorless shaft went down some way, where some light from above could be seen, but only scarcely. Noticing a service ladder, Gallon began to slide down its rails, hoping to find out more about why the odd being had sent him this way. Could it have been a trap? Gallon secretly hoped so. It had been too long since he had a real battle. His skills were starting to dim, he could feel it.

Gallon started to walk out of the darkness, toward some other light sources. Candles, placed around a Grave-like area, brightened up the area. Gallon looked back, to see the small shaft of light still there, with the service ladder still in reach from the ground. Smirking, he prepared his Shield & Lance into an offensive stance, and called out into the Darkness,

"Anybody home?"

OOC : Is that supposed to be Ophelia you're talking about?

The call into the darkness echoed through the graves, as only silence fell upon Gallon's ears. He lowered his guard, and began to turn, expecting something to catch him at the last second. A clinking sound started to come from some dead foliage.The Lancer turned to see a little critter, which then darted over a wall. He smirked to himself, not bothering to take much notice of the small thing, and walked back up the path, guided by candle light to the base of the service ladder. He sheathed his arms, and climbed up steadily, back into the forest.

Upon reaching the top of the shaft, he climbed out, and made his way back toward Haven. A few hundred feet before he hit the town, he noticed the snipes that flocked around the area were acting distressed. A crashed ship would have done that, but surely they would have calmed down by now. Gallon grew cautious, as he made the rest of the journey to the old settlement.

There were Knight from the Crash, some injured, some not so much. There were a fair few that just seemed to be walking around the area, setting up camp and a command centre of sorts. Gallon stared for a few moments before something snapped. He needed answers for what these Knights were doing, and he needed them now. The bomber Knight from earlier was pacing around the Bazaar away from some of his cohorts. Waiting for him to be further from others, he saw him wander near a pond, with just 1 or 2 stranger merchants standing idley by. Taking the chance with an element of suprise, Gallon bashed him to the wall of the pondwith the face of his shield from behind ,letting him slump down. He switched to his Lance, and held it to the bombers open face-guard. He demandingly asked for some answers, his tolerance with these intruders growing extremely thin.

"What made your kind think they could just barge into haven with no warning?! Why do you carry weapons and arms, if not for ideas of war and battle?! Why are you on Cradle!?"

Gallon felt he shouldn't strike the Knight, but the feeling to do so after all that had happened was building, and fast...

The next time Naomi awoke, she found herself sleeping next to another Knight, though his face and features weren't recognizable by her. It appears that the armor and the skin-suit on his legs were torn and dented, or so the pair of shin-guards and greaves suggested. His legs didn't look deformed by that much, but perhaps it was just the obviously makeshift cast that was keeping it in place.

Her head was much clearer this time, though her memory wasn't quite so clear. Again, she gingerly lifted the miracloth weave from her body, and folded it neatly besides the unconscious Knight. Her hairbands were probably gone, as she felt her thin, brittle hair scratch at the back of her neck and down her shoulders.

"Corvus" was her mother's surname, for her family was known for this ever-dominant trait since times long ago. Her father...he didn't have a surname. An electric cyan-eyed man of simply ravishing features, her mother and father didn't have to be together long to find each other compatible as fellow soldiers and lovers.

So when they both died, Naomi had to fall back onto her mother's surname.

Naomi, having neglected to activate her armor, walked nigh-bare (save for the form-fitting suit) around the small hovel she had been sleeping in, but found it void of any life besides her and the Knight. The small side-street it led off into was empty, and only the sounds of strange birds filled the air.

On bare, powdered feet, Naomi slowly walked outside, brushing the woven screen aside. She panned her head left and right, and after seeing distant silhouettes pass by the side-street, she felt something soft on her foot.

A fat little...bird had declared Naomi its resting spot. The girl had little idea what to do, and so she was left standing with the Snipe on her foot. It wasn't until she had decided to pick it up did it move, and it rested on her shoulder instead.

Though she was curious, she went back into the hovel to stay with the other Knight. She had no idea who or what might be outside, and she could only hope that something friendly would come by. At least the first thing other than a Knight she met was this bird.

It wasn't until then when she found a little note tacked to the wall. From her built-in HUD, she translated it as this :

"Stay with your friend. Getting herbs to fix his legs.
- The one who brought you here."

Bowie loafed around on a marble bench in the gardens of the High Realm of Parmecia. Having firmly secured peace against Zeon, things had gotten boring rather quickly. He and his Drakon, Kiwi had all the time in the world to relax and unwind, but he couldn't keep telling the same stories over and over again until he was an old man! What kind of hero would he be if he sat on his laurels and basked in the glory of only one immense victory. "By the blood of the Ancients! I wish I had something new and interesting to do!", he exclaimed in incredible boredom. Even teleporting down to Cradle was boring to him, one could only fight Kats and the undead so much. But then something happened to break him out of his self absorbed stupor.

A courier had tapped him on the shoulder, handing him a scroll. With a respectful exchanging of salutes, the courier left. Bowie took a look at the scroll and smiled softly at the seal. "What's this? A letter from the King?", he mused, pushing a lock of hair out of his eyes. Readjusting his headband, he read the letter aloud, "Bowie, we have detected a large energy disturbance in Cradle. Something much larger than the Nazca ship that was shot down in our realm by Zeon. I'm tasking you to go down and investigate, and render aid to any surviving beings. I wish you well and may Mitula and Volcanon protect you.". Grinning, he felt quite energized at having something to do for his kingdom. Glancing at his Drakon, he added, "Well, Kiwi, looks like we're going on another adventure!". Rising from the bench, he teleported home and donned his Valkyrie armor. Sheathing the Force Sword in its jeweled scabbard, he slung his Grey Owlite Shield onto his back.

Focusing his mind on the relatively new settlement of Haven, he called upon his innate magical ability. Winking out of existence in the High Realm, he travelled through the blackness between the two. It was cold, but he wasn't affected by it as in the amount of time it took to cough thrice he had appeared in Haven. Spotting the Stranger near the fountain, he waved. The Stranger appeared to be holding a small being and he was immediately concerned, remembering his mission. There were a few others milling around the fountain and he settled on calling out loudly, "Hello! I come from the High Realms! What has happened here?". He hoped someone knew something of importance and if there was anything he could do to help them as a swordsman.

Naomi made a small wave, and came to squat down next to him.

"Name's Naomi.

Before you ask, I've no idea where we are. Your legs are fine...just let them rest or something. Whoever brought us here told us to stay here, and I really don't want to..."

She then stood up, and peeked her head out the hole in the wall, which acted as a window.

"...I really don't want to leave. Tall figures moving outside the alley...

...are you alright? With staying for now?"

OOC : You're in Ophelia's little hovel on the outskirts of Haven, with Naomi. Not a hospital.

Turning around Mortis hiss, not because he wanted to but rather reaction, as he looked apon a creature that did not belong. Looking on with a sort of anger only one from beyond the grave could understand the Shadow Guardian slowly reached behind him and placed his hand on his Lance.

"What...is this, thing doing here..." He said as he grumbled some more. His actions slowed by his afliction, but his mind was clear. Why does this keep happening, can we not just have a calm day... He malled over in his head while he watched the new comer.

"My name's......" Herston hesitated. Maybe he shouldn't give her his real name. "My name's Topoyozada. You can call me Topo." He was taken aback by his own reply. Didn't he trust this girl?

"Maybe we shouldn't go out...." Herston, or... Topo wanted to gaze out the window, see what Naomi had seen, and he felt the curiousity. "I want to go out. I can't see from this window." He blurted out.

Bowie's turquoise eyes narrowed at the hiss, annoyed. He stared back at the thing that spoke and moved slowly, placing his own hand on the hilt of The Force Sword. This wasn't the welcome he had expected at all! In the interest of peacefulness and not wanting to cause a scene in this settlement, he let it slide. There was a time and place for everything but his own mission took precedence over demanding satisfaction from a shambling lancer.

He listened to the grumbling question and glanced at Kiwi, the light breeze ruffling his scarlet cape. In the interest of gaining their trust, he elected to answer truthfully. "I am Bowie, a Valkyrian Hero from the High Realm of Parmecia. I was sent down by my King to investigate a disturbance in the energies on Cradle. Now that you have my name, mind telling me yours?", he replied in a matter of fact tone, gazing at the lancer curiously.

Naomi sighed, and picked up the incapacitated man in her arms. She was careful enough to avoid holding him by his lower legs, and rather hold him by his thighs instead.

She then went out into the alley, and looked about both ways.

"From the sound of it..."

She paused to allow the sounds of busy working and Snipes chirping to fill the air.

"We're in a marketplace, or the whole town's just busy today. Alright, Topo, let's go back inside..."

She had then lain him back on the mat again.

Gallon glanced up from his kneeling position by the golden haired girl, and enquired a few things.

"However, if I am to be yours, I will need to know a few things about you". Gallon began to list a couple of things that he found to be crucial information, and what would clear up some rogue thought trains in his head.

"Who are you? And what do you see me as in all this? A Lacky? Soldier? Perhaps...a Partner?". Gallon awaited any answers from the girl, hoping she would not avoid the questions yet again.

Mortis did not say anything as he let his stuck expression speak for him for a second. Slowly he moved his hand away from his weapon and let it hang by his side. I hated these things in life, and it seems one is here to curse me in death. He then crossed his arms in front of his body ajusting his heat so he could see the new comers full body.

With a rather sickening cough Mortis spoke with his Ethereal tone. "Mortis...a hero to Almire. But now dead and doomed to cross Cradle till the lord takes me, or some ones cold blade embraces me." He then started hacking for a second as a little more of the heated Liquid escaped from his mouth. "Cut, the act...we all know, your kind is just as rash...as Almirian's are at times..."

Mortis knew his insult was not called for, but in the moment he just felt an old rage pop up. He did is best to try and come off as friendly. But when your a Seven foot tall walking Shadow Guardian its kinda hard to be friendly with out looking completely angry at the same time.

Bowie sighed with relief, letting his own hand drift away from his weapon. His eyes widened at the much taller lancer when it turned its head and crossed its arms. At least cooler heads would prevail for the moment, but for how long remained to be seen.

He shivered as he heard the lancer cough sickeningly before speaking with an Ethereal voice. "So his name is Mortis and he's from Almire. How degrading to be denied the rest a hero deserves!", he thought to himself as Mortis hacked some more, heated liquid hissing as it touched the dirt. At the mention of the rashness of Valkyries, he blinked and dismissed it as the bitterness of being denied a true rest. "Well, Mortis, why don't we just put that aside. I'm here to figure out why we felt such a drastic shift in magic come from Cradle. So what exactly happened here? Or as much as you know so far.", he replied calmly, grinning inside his helm.

Mortis looked up at the sky for a moment then back at the creature which seemed to house his unspoken hate.

"From the sky...a thing forged or metal. Fell down and seemed to crash of the way." He took a minute to breath, finding it rather hard to keep speaking for long periods of time. "Smaller metal spheres seemed to fly from it and crashed into the surface...Humans came from space, and now are here. I don't know anything els-" He turned his head and coughed up more of the Liquid from his chest before whipping his mouth and looking back at the man.

Reaching behind him mortis pulled out a piece of cloth and whipped his mouth clean, or at leas he hoped. Well I guess I can't speak for extended times...Makes since I suppose, I mean my body is a walking skeleton...Well undead but my point still stands mind...Stop talking to your self. Mortis quickly returned to himself crossing his arms and looking back, eye to eye, at his target of his words.

Bowie nodded as he listened, intrigued. So it was a flying apparatus that had crashed that had caused the disturbance. And the mention of humans on Cradle was also interesting, as was the mention of the smaller spherical objects crashing into the surface of Cradle. He sighed as he watched Mortis cough up more of the liquid and produce a cloth to wipe it away. Still grateful for the information, Bowie tilted his head respectfully to him. "I appreciate your help, Sir Mortis. But now I must take my leave of you and seek out any that may need assistance.", he replied respectfully, giving a small bow before moving in the direction of the Town Square to investigate further. At the least the Strangers would have something to eat and be willing to trade with him.

Double Post. Ignore.

Suddenly, the ground exploded around him as half a dozen Alphas burrowed straight up. Fennel flinched, and the Kat thing, with a yowl, fell. Angrily, Fennel rapidly took out four of the Voltails with a flash of metal before the rest, with the screeching Kat thing, burrowed back underground. Fennel tossed a poison potion into the hole, only for it - along with a ton of dirt - to burst out of the opening. Fennel rolled left to avoid the splash of liquid.

SonovaGreaver...

He guessed that since this was apparently the foreigners' technology from the symbol on the cage, he should probably alert them of the loss of the Kat thingy.

I need to come up with a better name than Kat thingy. How about...feline! Wait, that sounds stupid. Smack yourself. Ow. Anyways, how about, Kattie? It'll work for now until I get the proper name.

Fennel ran back to the elevator, narrowly avoiding the traps in the Clockworks. Strange he usually wasn't this clumsy. What the, was he...concerned? For the Kattie?

Must be a biological need to nurse young ones, like the others with Snipes. Must be.

As the elevator climbed the shaft, Fennel pondered where the Kattie had gone. This place was near a Gremlin zone, and Fennel knew how much they distrusted all sentient creatures besides their own kind. They were also infinitely curious about all technology they themselves had not developed. If they got hold of this Kattie...

The elevator rose into the Arcade, where the hustle-bustle of Strangers once again greeted him. He ran through the town, boosting himself a bit with some energy. Where the heck had Cypreus gone?

"Hello? Is anybody out there?"

...

A sound rocked me back to consciousness, but from where in the encompassing darkness I did not know. The weight of my amnesia still haunted me like I was trapped, sealed in with no way out. I couldn't help but smile a bit at the irony; I was trapped, and I didn't have an immediate way out. My smile vanishing, I realized I was strangely tranquil in light of having no memory of my entire freaking life for crying out loud. Instead I felt more exhausted and weak.

The red light that had permeated the darkness when I had first awoken was much dimmer, worrying me about just how much time had transpired since I was in here. Relaxing myself, I desperately delved into my memory banks, in search of anything. After a few seconds I grunted, slamming my hand now balled fists down, which I immediately regretted. My throat was incredibly sore, and my hands recoiled against whatever sharp object that I had hit. The frustration of the futility in remembering nigh a single thing enraged me, but the one thing that terrified me the most, was the disappearance of my name. The one little thing that held my identity.

I had to focus, and get out of here if I wanted any hope of living, let alone recovering my memory. Recalling exactly what had waken me up, I was astonished that it slipped into my mind almost immediately.

Hello? Is anybody out there? I was out here... The voice was definitely not from outside, for it was far too... distorted. Meaning that it must have originated from within the pod. The subconscious thought almost eluded me as I realized I had referred to my obscure position as a 'pod', whatever that meant.

My hopes crept up as I found my first sliver of hope. I wouldn't be able to force myself to remember things, I guess they might have o come to me; but it was still agonizingly torturous.

Getting up, I nearly stumbled back down. The floor wasn't flat. It was... slanted? With a much more concise awareness of my surroundings, I stretched my hand out, and touched the red light.

A startling hissing sound rumbled to my left, and in a slick movement my eyes were impaled by the eruption of devastatingly blinding light. My head exploded as my vision swarmed with iridescence, despite being shut tight. Immediately shoving my hands over my eyes, I hollered in pain.

My mind flashes white.

Running. Fear. Shouting. Falling. Pain. Darkness.

The enigmatic feelings and vague memories drifted briefly through my mind, their meaning indecipherable.

Ignoring them, I wait for my eyes to fixate to the astounding level of light. Squinting, I attempt to peer out the pod. A lush verdant landscape stretched towards the horizon, where it collided with the pure azure sky above, permeated only by a ominous steel and rust colored strip that crossed across the surface. Glancing back inside the pod, I understood why I felt disorientated. It was titled to the side, opening facing the sky, but angled enough to reveal the landscape. Climbing out, I could only stare awestruck at the beauty.

Was this my home?

The brilliance of the sun against my face and the immense views left me breathless, almost letting me slip my worries away. In a way, I was sort of glad that I had lost my memories, for if I had seen the sight that lay before me previously, it was a blessing to experience it all over again.

Allowing myself to bask in the elation of the moment, I slowly clambered the rest of my way out of the pod and leapt off. Wincing as I landed on the ground, I was surprised to find that the soft yielding grass cushioned my jump. It was clear however, that I was badly injured. Looking back to inspect the pod, my strange assumption was proven correct. A metallic spherical object laid within a mildly large crater, which was just out of sight from within the pod itself. It was almost buried in the ground, a scar of blackened grass trimming the edges of the crater.

Now that I was able to see myself, I decided to check my equipment, see if there was anything that could assist in recovering my memory. I was wearing a sturdy metal armour which scintillated bright white in the radiant sun. On my back was a large cobalt blue shield, rimmed with a gold tinted metal, a strange crest adorning its wide surface. Tracing it I felt a tingle of familiarization, but it quickly sunk back into oblivion. There seemed to be no other indication of my origins on me.

Sighing sadly, I shrugged, walking back to the pod, which was cool to the touch, and climbed back in, in search of anything of use.