Dragon Riders Online IC

"Tsk!!" Cifujis clicked his tongue in disdain. "If they're already dead, then they are useless to my cause," he grumbled. "Still, the living-dead may yet have their own kind of usage." 

The dragon rider softly stroked Shy'fei's luminescent purplish hide, "I hope these undead creatures won't be a bother to you, right Shy'Fei? They were once living an ordinary life and now they are still living, just a different kind of life, so there really isn't anything to be scared about." Cifujis peered into the distance ahead, "As a matter of fact, with their dulled state of mind, it should actually be easier to compel their mind to our side. Even if they have turned into beings of pure chaotic madness, they may yet be overtaken, especially with the aid of an animate object binding spell."

Cifujis looked back at the rest of his companions, they were so few in numbers. Sure we had magical beasts with us and each was equipped with their own unique skill set, but even still, "It will only be in our best interest if we had a handful more soldiers, if not an army at our disposal. Wouldn't you agree, Leon?"

Cifujis

"Not really, we chaos dragons accept their existence. Some were created by our kind so it's really not surprising." Said Shy'fei. "I think order dragons find them disgusting though. It is not natural for the dead beings to coexist with the living." Shy'fei nodded as Cifujis started to talk about how these mindless creatures could be used for their cause, "I understand what you mean, but from I understand those beings are already under the control of other entity so it might be difficult than what you think." Leon nodded, "What your partner said is correct, Cifujis. They are under the control of their creator. Unless we kill it, or put that being under our control, those mindless undead creatures won't fight for us."

Leon shrugged at Cifujis' question about having armies to fight their enemies "Well dragons are the beings that faught billions of monsters and sealed them. Yes, it would be amazing to have such soldiers to fight for us, but how long they could stand against the might of dragon riders? Numbers doesn't matter. A fear you could implant in your enemies, however, does matter."

Samir felt guilty, having made Ocenyx think he wanted to leave.

"Not really. I like it here," he said. "But my mom is back there, and I'm all she has. If something happens to me... Who's going to look after her?"

He tried not to get close to others, because he could only do so much. He hated to admit it, but he was just a kid. He wanted to be a kid. And the more people that relied on him, the more trapped he would be.

----------

Ashley frowned at Diana's words. Why would she be ashamed to play as her true gender?

"Yeah, it's my first time," she admitted. "Is it really that hard for girls in games? We're just as capable as guys."

She looked down at Zelenia and stroked her neck.

"Isn't that right, Zel?"

Samir

Ocenyx could feel the fear within his partner, he spoke gently to Samir. "Don't worry, didn't I promise? I have your back. You can rely on me, Samir." Then Ocenyx snorted, not angrily, but it looked like he was trying to lift the mood. "After all this, you better come back. You have not treated me with your mom's recipe."

Then Ocenyx spotted sudden appearance of magical ring that looked like a tunnel or some sort. Ocenyx frowned. "Samir, get yourself ready. I think we are going to meet with uninvited guests."


Ashley & Diana

"Yup, and we are smarter too." Zelenia replied to Ashley's question, Ban shook his head in little disagreement, but did not say any words. Diana waved her hands strongly, "Oh, no no. You got it all wrong. I did not like how guys treat the girls in virtual gaming world. I did not mean we are inferior to them at all." Said Diana, clarifying what she said earlier. "Some players use gender to make their life easy in the game world, and I didn't like that idea. Also, I don't like to be stalked by strangers...."

However, before Diana could explain further, there was a shout from far ahead. It was Leon. "Get ready! Dark Riders are here!"

From the clouds, huge magic circle was generated and from there 12 black shadows revealed themselves.


Everyone


The moment 12 black armored riders came to the sight, Leon shouted. "Spread out! Use the clouds to hide from them! Use your wits to fight them, and do not show them mercy." Shouted Leon. The one of dark riders shouted with authority, "After them!"

Shy'fei quickly turned to the left of her side, entering the cloud that was nearest to her. "So how do you want to hunt them down, Cifujis?" Shy'fei asked him.

Diana and Ban quickly soar up to the sky, "Will tell you about it later! See you soon!" Diana shouted at Ashley, disappearing to the upper clouds.

Zelenia quickly turned to the right side of her, the cold moisture said hello to them as they entered the cloud. As Zelenia travelled through the clouds, Zelenia commented sadly, "So.... They are the dark riders... " Zelenia took a deep breath, "So Ashley, how should we do this? Face them head on?"

Ocenyx quickly hide himself and Samir using the clouds that were just below them, The moisture of clouds seems to be friendly to Samir. "Samir, enemies are coming. I think they have not spotted us. Do you want to take them down?" He asked.

Ashley's face grew grim as the dark riders appeared from out of the clouds.

"Yeah, let's get close and personal," she said, pulling out her mace. Close combat wouldn't be very advantageous, but her skills should make up for that.

"All right, Zel," Ashley called, raising her free hand in front of her face. "Let's light things up. Radiance!"

The sky in front of her was suddenly lit up with blinding light.

--------------------

Samir watched in awe as Ashley's spell lit up the sky a beautiful white radiance. Ocenyx was saying something, but he almost missed it.

"Yeah... yeah, let's take cover and see if we can't snipe a few," he said, raising his bow and taking aim.

Nexius wrote:

Samir

Spoiler:

****************************************************************************

Everyone

Spoiler:

Prisma*Illya wrote:

Spoiler:

Cifujis Ohtrin Mirthstrike Aoebwyn [COMA] Shy'Fei

The entire space lit up like an exploding firework. Shadows were casted all over and Cifujis was only hoping that their locations were not revealed as Ashley’s spell blasted alongside the clouds the others were hiding in.

“Ugh! Too bright for my taste.” Cifujis turned his gaze away from the light source for however long it lasted.

Shy’fei had asked him on how to go about their first battle, but from looking at the situation, Cifujis right away knew that deploying his turrets, in midflight, will not be an option available to him. The only thing left was to rely on his newfound spells. Unfortunately, he had no real practical experience in using any of them. Though he had ideas on utilizing them, but the first step would be to activate the spell itself, which he was not sure how it worked here? It is not as if he could see some Spell Bar in his HUD, which he could simply touch and that would magically automate the necessary actions.

In the given situation, he saw no point in wasting time in needleless experimenting. The wiser decision would be to ask his battle partner for help.
“Hey I got some pretty good ideas but I’m stuck at how to use my spells. We will stay in the clouds and attack from here, but I need help in figuring out how my Summoning Magic works. Leon said something about willing for it when the need arises, I can try doing that for my Hysteria Spell but for Summoning, I think I need some more help on that.”

Cifujis watched as his teammates set about taking their battle actions. They made it look so easy; he really felt like a newbie, after all, this was supposed to be his first VR-Game. Coming from those classic tabletops and choose your own adventure types, this was all new to him; even though he had little experience in the digital types, where the battles were very simple and not so active or fast paced. Brawling or using ranged physical weapons on the other hand was nothing new, but literally walking in the shoes of a Mage, now that is a completely new experience, all together.

Diana

"How do I use my magic?" Diana asked Ban, Ban still looking straight ahead answered her calmly.

"Calling out to your inner power and element. It shouldn't be hard." Ban said as if it was effortless.

Diana curled her lips, at the moment, she was not interested in her magic though.

Then there was a roar from behind, Diana glanced back. There were two dragon riders on her tail. "I guess it's time to show them who they are dealing with." Ban nodded at her words. "Indeed."

Soon Ban pick up the speed, daring his chasers to follow his speed.


Ashley

As Ashley shouted out her spell, she could feel the power within her, and as she blasted the light from her hand to lit up the clouds, she somehow knew how to use the magic of hers. It seems to her that what brings out the magic within her, was her gesture and inner thought of what kind of magic she wanted to use.

No words were needed, no contracts were needed. She could feel that she was using the power within her, and that power felt alive.

Probably that was reason why Leon said it was alive.

"Ashley! They are coming!" Said Zelenia, as the two black riders enter the light. One of them were stunned by the light as soon as he entered, but another one opened his hand, and suck out the bright light that was summoned by Ashley. "Your play time ends here!"

The black rider drew his long sword. "You are dead, outsider!" and he quickly rush towards Ashley with his weapon.

Zelenia, too, trusting Ashley ready to face him head on, quickly rush towards the dark rider. The dark rider quickly swing his sword from up to down.


Samir

Samir was able to spot two riders who looked lost, they were in the perfect range for Samir to take them down with head shots....



Cifujis

"Well, for summoning, you need to make contract with the beasts. Right now you have not met any beast yet. But if you do, draw a star in front of you and make a contract that he will be happy to sign and fight for you. For instance, 'I, Cifujis, will call you, something, to be fight or whatever and I shall do what you have asked me to do...' or something like that. You need to figure out yourself. The beasts will give you a hint of what is their name, how they will fight your enemies and what they want."

Then the moment Shy'fei said that she could feel that they were two on her tail. "Cifujis, they are coming from our back."

The two dark riders' dragons roared, alarming their presence. Shy'fei glanced back furiously.

At that moment, something was calling Cifujis. 'I am the dark lord of the wind, I came before you as you are suitable summoner for my power. Summon me now to shred your enemies. Summon me now to undo the curse placed upon me. My name is Aeolius'

Ashley narrowed her eyes, body tense as the black rider approached.

"All right, Zel. Watch for my landing."

As they flew into range, Ashley vaulted into the air, thanks to Featherweight, and soared right over the man's sword. She swung her mace, bashing him in the side so that he plunged right off the side of his dragon.

Ashley pulled out of the jump, hoping to feel Zelenia beneath her feet.

--------------------

Samir fitted an arrow on the string, muscles taut.

"Here goes," he muttered. The first arrow soared like a black blur toward its target. Samir quickly fitted another arrow against the string and fired after the second rider.

Nexius wrote:

Diana

Spoiler:

*******************************************************************

Ashley

Spoiler:

**********************************************************************

Cifujis

Spoiler:

Cifujis Ohtrin Mirthstrike Aoebwyn COMA Shy'Fei

Battle roars traveled in from all around them. Shy’fei had just finished explaining the procedure when two enemy units blew their cover. Amidst all the chaos of battle, a voice, clear as water, resonated inside Cifujis’s mind.

“Telepathy!?” Cifujis thought to himself. “Okay, so what were the steps Shy’fei just told me?” Cifujis quickly tried to recall in his mind.

Shy’fei was glaring at the oncoming enemy riders. It did not appear as if they had much time, before the enemy crashed into them.

“Aargh!! I don’t have time for deciding on what will be the best scenario!!” He shouted out aloud.

The Summoner cracked his neck to the left and then to the right, as if he was releasing the tension in his neck muscles. “By Power of the Elements, I, COMA, call upon You, DARK LORD AEOLIUS, to break free from the curse that which binds YOU!!”

Cifujis hoped for all its worth, that his gamble would pay off. For summoning any creature and not binding, it with a contract to fight for you is risky in itself. Anything could go, once a being has been imprisoned for a long time, has its curse lifted.

On second thoughts, as Cifujis waited on something to happen, he quickly shouted out to Shy’fei, “Hey Shy’fei, this would be a great time, if I could know what powers you may be waiting upon to use. When it is time. I would not want you to feel left out..”

Ashley

The dark rider was stunned as Ashley brushed off his attack easily with a single jump, and he was caught off guard by Ashley's mace.

The dark rider was off from its dragon's neck and as Ashley jumped from the enemies, she found herself on her faithful friend's.

The dark rider's dragon roared furiously, however, instead of facing Ashley and Zelenia, it followed falling rider.

Zelenia quickly change the course of her direction as she realized the stunned rider was fully recovered from Ashley's light.

"Hold me tight, Ashley!" Zelenia quickly shouted at her partner as the dark rider fired an arrow at them. The moment arrow was released from his bow, the arrow split into hundreds and was flying towards them.

However, instead of trying to avoid incoming arrows, Zelenia gathered energy from her mouth and blasted at the arrows. As the fired celestial ray consumed the arrows leaving them with a clear path to their attacker. Zelenia quickly rushed towards them, staring at them furiously. "This is for trying to hurt my friend!" Zelenia's tail heavily hit the face of the enemy dragon, knocking out the dragon, making its fall from the sky.

The dragon rider panicked, "What! No!!" as they headed down to the ground.

"That felt good." Said Zelenia. "I think that was all. What should we do now, Ashley? Help others?"


Samir

Samir's first arrow was successful hit, the rider went down as so did its dragon. The dragon cried out furiously as it went to the ground. However, the second attack, something interfered with Samir's arrow, the arrow was dropped from the mid air to the endless cloud. "Ha! I found you!" said the dark rider. "You are dead, boy!" The dark rider smirked and rushed towards them.

The dark rider's dragon gathered and fired its dragon's breath at them, quickly, "Hold on, Samir! This is going to be rough!", Ocenyx avoided its attack. Ocenyx furiously roared at the enemy.

As the dark rider and its dragon aimlessly rushed towards them, Ocenyx opened its wings and blasted its icy attack. The enemies, caught off guard, they could not avoided in time.

Slowly, their movement stopped and they started make its fall to the cloud sky.

"I think our job is done." Ocenyx commented. "Shall we check with others?" He asked Samir.


Cifujis

*Nothing happened. The summoning failed.*

Shy'fei answered Cifujis' question happily. "Oh, I thought you wouldn't ask." There was a cocky tone in her voice. "Besides, summoning is overrated when you have me, darling." Then Shy'fei made quick u-turn in the mid-air. The dark riders were surprised as Shy'fei rushed towards them, and before they could do anything, she was between the two dark riders. The two dark dragons roared in pain as they lost balance in the mid air, they acted like something had smacked them and before their riders could do anything about it, they were falling from the sky to the ground.

"Weaklings." Shy'fei commented. "So, how come you weren't able to summon that whatever thing?" She asked her rider in curiosity, changing direction where others might be.


Diana

As two dark riders lost the sight of the dark dragon, it was too fast for them to follow. But as they were about to turn their attention to the others, they realized something was coming at them.

However, before they could do anything, the energy that was held within Ban was released, causing the invisible impact to them. And the moment Diana reached them, she fired mercilessly at the wings of the dragons, causing them to fall as well.

The dark riders and their dragons started to make its fall. "See ya, hope you guy won't bother us anymore." Said Diana cheerfully.

Leon

"It seems they were sent to just test us.." Said Leon, "Or did some of them finally came to their senses and betrayed him?" Raziel snorted, "You really think some of them would?" Leon curled his lips, "Not all the students and knights joined the overlord cause they wanted to be in power. Some of them joined that faction without proper knowledge." Raziel shook his head, "You are putting too much faith to those youngsters." Leon smiled gently, "Ah well, what can I say? It's a bad habit of mine."

Leon then typed something in the mid-air, every players would hear the familiar sound of alarming them that they have new message. "If you are done, come to this co-ordination. - Leon"

As the riders are back, Leon would lead them to the forbidden city.

(You guys could follow the co-ordinates straight away or could decide to meet up with other riders and dragons.)

Ashley breathed a sigh of relief once she was safely back on Zelenia's back, and the black riders were dealt with.

"Nice going, Zel," she said, smiling. "Yeah, let's go find the others."

They flew to where they'd last seen the others and found Diana and Ban.

"You guys okay?" she asked.

--------------------

Samir still felt a bit shaky from the close encounter. Even if he wanted to see the others - which he didn't- he wouldn't want them to see him like this.

"We have the coordinates," he told Ocenyx. "Let's just go."

Nexius wrote:

Cifujis

Spoiler:

Leon

Spoiler:

(You guys could follow the co-ordinates straight away or could decide to meet up with other riders and dragons.)

Cifujis Ohtrin Mirthstrike Aoebwyn COMA Shy'Fei

Falling down on one knee so to save himself from being blown back as Shy'fei rushed towards the two enemy dragons; the failure of a Summoner could only watch with a little amazement and a bit of amusement at the faces of the enemy dragon riders which were frozen in shock.

"Heheheh. Yes, weaklings indeed." The standing Dragon Rider snickered at the sight of falling dragons. But then his expression suddenly changed to that of fret. "Oh wait!! They're falling away." He cried out as he stretched his arms towards the rapidly shrinking objects below them, in an useless attempt on grabbing them from this high of a distance. "Oh wait." He then said in a changed tone, as if he just realized how crazy he sounded. "The riders weren't damaged at all. TCH!!" He clicked his tongue in disarray. "I should have attempted at killing them." The annoyed dragon rider let loose a heavy sigh, "Oh well, next time, hopefully when we're on solid ground."

Cifujis clicked on the flashing notification and silently read through the message from Leon. Then checking the coordinates on the map, he passed the information along to Shy'fei. "Hey we got new coordinates to head to, but lets first check on the others. Maybe they're still fighting the other enemy riders. Doubtful but worth a shot. I need to find fresh meat." Cifujis clenched his fist, boosting his confidence for his next kill attempt. "Come Shy'fei, let us go looking for trouble... heheheheh..." His evil laughter trailed off into the wind as the dragon headed towards the coordinates while taking the route in which they last spotted the other party members fly off to.

"Oh I almost forgot!" his mouth twitched at the recollection of his failed attempt. "Yeah, probably it changed its mind on the last second. It's fine, I'll take a go at summoning some other time. But yeah you are pretty strong on your own. The way you took down two dragons at once. Wow, unbelievable." The dragon rider nodded to show his agreement. "Yes, yes, it's all well and good, but I think with Summoning and Hysteria combined with any more of your abilities; we should have an even scarier attack pattern. It is not all about raw power, but the way we use it. We need to make it fun if we are to take any joy in defeating our enemies." Cifujis patted his Dragon partner and smiled, "Yes. We'll make a great team. You just wait, World and all evildoers, Team COMA & Shy"Fei shall grab this world over in a Storm!!" The enthusiastic Dragon Rider shouted for the winds to carry his message over throughout the world.

Ashley & Diana

"Hey! You guys look fine too!" Diana replied with a smile, "Ha, those guys were not that tough. Well, I did not kill them though... I couldn't bring myself to kill a real human. If it was a game, I would have shot them mercilessly, but..." Diana trailed off, but Ban finished it off for her. "I would prefer them dead than I see you die, Diana."

Diana pet her dragon's neck, "Thanks, Ban." Then she looked at Ashley and Zel. "Shall we head off to gather with Leon and others?"

Zel gave them a nod, and Diana's party flew off first. "Ashley, after that battle... I want you to know something." Said Zel as she also turned to the coordinates. "Just like Ban, I would rather see them dead than they strike you down. Is that selfish of me?"

The voice of the dragon was shaking, and sounded confused. At the beginning Zelenia just wanted all the dragons to be happy, but to do that she had to face and fight her own kind. Was this the only way?

Such emotions were passed on to Ashley's mind. Zelenia needed someone to tell her what is right and what is wrong... She needed Ashley's words.


Cifujis Ohtrin Mirthstrike Aoebwyn COMA & Shy'Fei

The dark dragon chuckled little, and she said it softly. "Theo Nal Ge Meon Se..." then Shy'fei turned around and headed to the coordinates that Cifujis had received from Leon.

"Let's hope that day would come soon." She commented cheerfully, "But, first, let's save this world. You cannot be a ruler, if you don't have the world to rule."



Leon & Samir

Leon greeted Samir and Ocenyx, "Hey, you guys are the first pair to made it. Well, I can definitely feel all of your well being so, it should be fine." Said Leon. "So, Samir was it? I got to say, you are really courageous. But, do not be so distant. We are in this together. We need everyone to work as a team."

Ashley

Ashley smiled at Diana, glad to see that they had come through unscathed as well. She was relieved to see that Diana was as unhappy about the arrangement as she was. It helped her feel as though she wasn't overreacting to all thus.

When Diana proposed continuing on, she nodded and followed behind her and Ban. Zelenia, however, seemed to have something on her mind.

"Ashley, after that battle... I want you to know something. Just like Ban, I would rather see them dead than they strike you down. Is that selfish of me?"

Ashley stroked the dragon's head soothingly, the smooth scales rippling beneath her fingers, and smiled sadly.

"No, Zel, it isn't. It's very selfless," she said quietly. "You're doing something you hate for my benefit. So, thanks. Thanks a lot."


Samir

Samir nodded at Leon in greeting. So, they were the first ones then. How had the others fared?

Unsurprisingly, Leon launched into a speech about the power of friendship and teamwork. Samir resisted rolling his eyes, mostly because he knew Ocenyx was watching him

"Yeah, that's what everyone keeps telling me," he muttered noncommittally. "So, I guess this means the enemy knows we're coming then. Do we really have enough numbers to do this?"

Nexius wrote:

Cifujis Ohtrin Mirthstrike Aoebwyn COMA & Shy'Fei

The dark dragon chuckled little, and she said it softly. "Theo Nal Ge Meon Se..." then Shy'fei turned around and headed to the coordinates that Cifujis had received from Leon.

"Let's hope that day would come soon." She commented cheerfully, "But, first, let's save this world. You cannot be a ruler, if you don't have the world to rule."

****************************************************************************

COMA - Shy'Fei



"Yes, you are right. Let us save the world first and then think of other grander plans. But first, we should continue onwards to meet up with everyone else. There is strength in number, plus the more friends we make, it could lead to accomplishing our goals, that much quicker."

The Dragon and its Rider, continued to fly towards the location that Leon had sent them.

"Also, I do need to acquire new powerful spells and for gaining what I desire, we need to destroy more of our enemies."

Everyone

Leon smiled at Samir, "Even we don't, we have to make it work." Then there was a sound of wind, three dragons emerged from the clouds. It was Ashley, Diana and Cifujis.

As they gathered in one area, Leon signaled them to follow him.

Soon, they were in front of the giant circular frame that had nothing in the middle. However, as they got closer, the empty space of the frame started to lighten up and it created something that looks like a portal that one might see in the game. "Alright, ladies and gents, this is the way to the forgotten city. We wasted fair amount of time, come on."

Leon entered the portal first, then Diana and Ban followed them without hesitation.

Spoiler:

"Welcome to the forgotten city." Said Leon, Diana's eyes were widen as she saw the abandon city. "It looks like the old cities of our own. Or similar to our cities..." Leon nodded in agreement. "Yes, but this is not a friendly place. Everything here is unfriendly. They might even fall upon you to kill you." Then there was shout that called out to Leon. "Leon! Leon!"

Leon looked at the direction where such calling was coming from, it was Andrew. "What took you so long?"

And then, Andrew noticed other riders. "I am guessing you guys are not from here too?" He asked them. Andrew then without a further ado, he introduced himself. "My name is Andrew and this friend of mine is called Hyo."

Leon, however, did not give them time to get to know each other. "We can catch up later. We need to find the place to rest first. The night in the forgotten city is not so welcoming. Everyone survey the area and send me the message to me if you find a suitable place to rest. I am going to seal this area so there won't be any more hindrance to our quest. Alright, Samir and Ashley, you guys take the eastern part of the area and Cifujis, Andrew take the western part. Diana, you stay with me and guard me against the monsters that disagrees with my decision of sealing the gate." Diana looked at Leon, surprised. "Me? Can't I go with Ashley?" Leon gave a short and strong answer. "No. Your dragon is fast and take care of the monsters that may come to disturb me easily than others." Diana bite her lips, but sighed. "Alright..."

Leon once again looked at others. "Go, time won't wait for us."

Andrew nodded, and looked at the pair that he was teamed up with. "Nice to meet you, I am Andrew. Hopefully we could find the place soon."

Ocenyx turned and they (Samir and Ocenyx) were along with Zelenia and Ashley. Ocenyx was feeling little uncomfortable as not so sure this was a good pairing.

Samir sighed. Of course, they would have to pair up. Of course, he would have to get stuck with Ashley.

He wasn't sure why he had anything against her in particular. Maybe they'd just gotten off to a rocky start. She and her dragon had helped Ocenyx though.

Samir looked up and realized that Ocenyx, Ashley, and Zelenia all seemed to be waiting silently for him. He blushed and looked away.

"Well, let's get going then!" he grumbled, leading Ocenyx forward. Ashley looked down at Zelenia and shrugged. The foursome took off toward the east, searching intently for signs of shelter.

Samir was surprised that Ashley wasn't trying to force conversation on him. That should have made him happy, but, somehow, it didn't. Ocenyx, Leon, and the others all seemed to be judging him, waiting for the moment when he would join hands in the circle of friendship.

"Uh... You guys encounter a lot of enemies?" he asked abruptly. Everyone stared, causing his cheeks to further heat.

"A few," Ashley said, looking down at Zelenia. She knew her dragon didn't want to be reminded of it.

"I'm glad everyone came through okay," she said, and she meant it.

"Yeah..." Samir muttered. He didn't quite sound it, but she felt sure he meant it too.

Ashley & Samir

Ocenyx smiled, well, Samir was not able to see his face and it was really hard for human to tell exact emotion what dragons are going through, but nevertheless, Ocenyx was definitely feeling happy. He was happy that his partner was trying his best to become much sociable.

Zelenia realized that as well, and she was also happy to see that the rude boy's dragon smiling.

"Well, let's get closer to the buildings." Said Ocenyx, and Zelenia nodded and followed them.

As the dragon riders and their dragons got closer to the building, it was now easier to understand what Leon meant 'it' might fall upon to kill them. All the buildings were way lager than the full grown dragons. In fact, the buildings looked like they were meant for giants.

Ocenyx and Zelenia looked like baby dragons compared to the buildings of the forgotten city.

"Wow! Look at those buildings! They are huge!" Said Zelenia, "Do you think they made it so that Dragons could enter the building too?"

Ocenyx was impressed too, "I am guessing they had to create all these massive buildings because the magic that could affect the space was not discovered..."

Every single building in their sight was huge and probably good for hiding. Well, from the outside it looked like every building is good place to hide. But, Leon definitely did not send them to check out the outside of their hiding place.

COMA - Shy'Fei ~+~ Hyo - Andrew
 
They finally made it through. Cifujis was as astonished as Diana as the heavenly light lit up the City in ruins. The shadows, twisted and thrown apart due to the light hitting on the destroyed building structures, gave the city a menacing and unwelcoming look.
 
The Golden haired Dragon Rider, introduced himself with his fellow Dragon. The Dragon itself was one of those magnificent types with the air of nobility around them, or at least that’s the aura Cifujis picked up from how the Grand White-Gold Dragon commanded the air around its body.
 
Nonetheless, over here, it didn’t really matter to Cifujis if someone was from a rich family or a commoner, he’s been around enough people to know that status means nothing to an individual’s personality as it’s all up to how they personally interact with the world they reside in.
 
The other group began to depart and Cifujis though it more productive to think of plans while on the move.
 

“Pleasure. And yeah, let us get a move on as well.”
 

Cifujis took a quick glance in the direction Leon told them to look for shelter. The landscape looked like it could have been once a magnificent city, but with all the destruction, the city’s image had taken quite the toll. The once sky scrapers that commanded the skies, now cast only a glimmer of their past glory. With all but a few buildings only left standing, which though still was more than one could count on their fingers; the buildings crumbled to half of their former length, were much more in abundance.
 
As the Dragon Rider flew closer to the uneven skyscrapers, these buildings weren’t just tall, but extraordinarily wide. Though that only made him question if all of them would be evenly layered from the inside as well or simply hollow, with high arching roofs, like those found in cathedrals or museums of his world.
 
There seemed to be quite the roofless buildings thrown about. Though there were those which appeared to have huge chunks eaten off from their sides, so even if they still had a standing roof, they surely felt unstable and ready to crumble and crash if they had to take on any more mobile mass.
 

“This city… I’m starting to feel like we would be better off traversing caves inside some huge mountain than get a decent shelter spot in these buildings with uncertain outcomes. Still, sometimes we have to make do with what we are presented with.” Cifujis continued to scan the area as he spoke to his fellow companions.
 
“When you came over to greet Leon, did you by any chance happen to spot any circular building? I’m thinking something like a stadium or arena, even an opera house would do. With Circular dimensions, everything would be at equal lengths when huddled in the centre and less chance of spell rebounds hitting each other. The further higher up the building’s dome is from the ground level, the more time we will have in avoiding an aerial attack or debris falling towards us.”
 

OOC wrote:

Examples ... somewhat.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Ashley whistled as she surveyed the panorama of the city. It certainly was an impressive sight.

"Any idea where to start?" she asked, glancing over at Samir. He said nothing, but gazed thoughtfully. After a few moments, he pointed out one of the buildings. It wasn't quite as tall as some of the other buildings, but was large enough to fit all of them. It had an impressive dome on top made all of glass that reflected the dim light of the sky above.

"Why that one?" Ashley asked.

"Should give us a good view in all directions," he said. "And I think the glare should keep anyone from spotting us, unless they get close. And-"

He cut off abruptly. Ashley raised her eyebrows, looking curious.

"I like domes..." he muttered, looking away. Ashley smiled and urged Zelenia forward.

"Then let's check it out!"

Cifujis & Andrew

"Well, no, and I found out hard way that these buildings are not that friendly... Some of them were disguised monsters." Said Andrew, "Well, I definitely slew one of them, but that doesn't mean there's only one..." He added cautiously.

"May be we could fly further and look for one." Said Andrew, heading to the further west.

****************************************************************************

Samir & Ashley

Zelenia gave a faint nod and quickly speed up to the building, but she stopped as they got closer to the dome. "Ashley, did you see that?" She asked, whatever Zelenia saw, it looked like it escaped Ashley's view as there was nothing suspicious in Ashley's eyes.

While Ashley and Zelenia went forward, Ocenyx took his time little. "Good thinking Samir." Ocenyx complimented his partner, then he stopped. Coming closer to Zelenia and her partner.

"What's the matter, Zelenia?" did Zelenia see something inside the dome that made her stop moving forward?

"Samir, should we check it out?" Then again, domes won't be explored by themselves. The night is coming closer and they need to find the place to rest as soon as possible.

COMA - Shy'Fei ~+~ Hyo - Andrew

Spoiler:

"Monsters disguised as buildings? Well, that is indeed quite concerning." Cifujis remarked, a bit shocked.

The Dragon Rider raised his alertness while scanning the buildings in their path.

"Hmm... if we had some sort of scanning, or radar system, which could show blips on our map, that could be quite useful in discerning which buildings are being used as a cover for these monsters or any other monsters in the vicinity." Cifujis turned his head to look towards Andrew. "Hey, I think I spot something!!"

The Rider peered into the distance towards a tall building where he thought something had sparkled.

"Hmm... must be my imagination. I thought something bright, just flashed in that building with the triangular top. Could be just some broken glass reflecting off some light source." He spoke his mind out loud.

Cifujis continued to fly further West.... "We could check it out though, probably wouldn't be anything, or might turn out to be one your monsters or if not then maybe a good recon spot."

Ashley looked puzzled by Zelenia's question and craned her neck to look around.

"I don't see anything, Zel," she said, shrugging. She looked over her shoulder at Samir and Ocenyx, but they seemed clueless as well.

"Well, are we waiting for something?" Samir asked a bit irritably. Ashley shrugged and urged Zelenia forward. There was a hole in the roof off to the side of the dome, so they veered toward it. It was a close fit for the dragons, but they made it through.

"Check it out," Ashley mused, dismounting from her dragon. It looked like some kind of planetarium, old and unused, but not in bad shape. Samir said nothing, but stared about with interest.

"What do you guys think?" Ashley asked, looking up toward the dragons. "Good spot?"

Cifujis & Andrew

"Yeah, tell me about it. Me and my partner thought that we were going to be some kind of monster's lunch." Said Andrew, half jokingly.

As Cifujis pointed out a building with a light source, Andrew nodded in agreement. "Yeah, let's go over there and check it out."

Whatever Cifujis saw was not his imagination. As they got closer to the building, the building seemed to have power generator in tact. In other words, they could probably use electricity inside the building.

"Hmm, it's pretty good condition. Wanna check inside?" Andrew asked his fellow rider. Shy'fei muttered quietly, "Something tells me, it won't be that easy though."




Ashley & Samir

Zel reluctantly entered the building, following Ashley's idea. However, she couldn't shake off this feeling that the place was 'off' some how...

As all of them went inside, it looked like a good place; it just had overgrown plants all over the place. Ashley asked the party if it was good or not and Ocenyx nodded. "It looks like a good place for us to stay for now. The place is big enough for several dragons and its big enough to fit several oversized dragons like Raziel."

Just then, Zel heard something moving, and notified others. "Guys! I think we have company!"

Then small figure stepped out from the shadow; the creature had glowing red eyes and its body did not show any distinctive features. One thing was clear though, the creature's body was surrounded by dark energy, hindering the dragons and players to identify its definite shape. It kind of looked like a black fog with glowing red eyes. Did it even have a body at all?

Then as one creature stepped out, it was followed by several of them. Was it going to attack? Couldn't be sure. But if it's intention was not good, it was going to be a hard battle.