Autumn's Beginning, Autumn's Breeze

"Come on," Nat instructed, dragging Bella back towards his house. "The spectral can find me no matter where I go. We need to get back to the others."

"Oh my God, Gerard is at the south gate!"

"Exactly," Nat sighed. "Now move!" they sprinted all the way back to his house, arriving breathless.

"What.....happened....?" Nat panted.

"We don't know yet." Silvin answered, meeting the two as they entered the house. "Ara is still on the roof. She sent a bird to check it out as soon as we realized something was wrong. I couldn't see anything because of the fog." Silvin said, somewhat shamefacedly. "What happened with you two?"

"We heard a bang..." Bella said, seeing as Nathaniel was still out of breath. Not used to that much physical excursion, the sprint was talking its toll on the sickly young mage. Coughing and gasping, Nathaniel collapsed on a small, dusty couch, waving away Bella and Silvin when they offered to do something for him.

"The bird just came back." Ara said, entering the house with a worried expression on her face. A second later the spectral reappeared, starling everyone but Nathaniel, who was still gasping for breath.

"Master." the spectral bowed again. "The south gate is being attacked by at least half a dozen strange monsters. Shall i describe them?"

Nathaniel nodded, still unable to speak.

"They are large, demon like creatures with bat like wings, spiked tails, and horns. They are furry on the top half of their bodies, and scaled on their lower half. Master, i have never seen such a monster." the spectral said, it's shadowy face seeming to frown in puzzlement.

"What...about...my brother?" Nathaniel managed to gasp.

"There were three people defending the south gate. Your brother was among them; the big warrior. When i got there, he was fighting alongside the vampire and another, black armored person. I did not see his face. Just as i was leaving to come back here, the warrior was struck. I do not know if the blow was fatal, but he went down. After that i came here." the spectral said.

Nathaniel paled, amazingly, considering how pale he already was after the run from the inn.

"The bird confirms that." Ara said, frowning and exchanging worried glances with Silvin.

"Go help them..." Nathaniel commanded the spectral. It bowed and disappeared again.

"I'll go help too," Bella said at once. Nat gave her a wary look; he didn't know about her new-found talent yet.

"No, Bella, it's dangerous. Last time I checked, you had little talent with the sword," he cracked another smile, or so Bella thought.

"Nat, I can help. Watch," she changed shapes, going from Gryphon, to Dragon, to Bird, and ending as another Nat, standing there next to him.

"Holy heck..." he gasped.

"I'm going to help," she said, changing back. He grabbed her arm.

"Be careful," he warned before letting her go. She bent down so she was level with him.

"In case I don't come back," she decided, because she was bursting to let him know how she felt. At the same time she was utterly terrified; this could break their friendship, after all. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, not having the courage to kiss his lips. She changed into a large bird, a pheonix, and flew out of hte room, leaving Nat to his own thoughts...


***Have fun Dark Magik!!! =D Hope this was ok! ***

Silvin couldn't believe his eyes. "I'm going, catch up if you can, the south gate is already lost at this rate."

"What did you see?" asked Ara.

"You don't wan't to know." He drew his bow and started to jump roof to roof twords the south gate.

*Lol, thank you Bella.* *I'm not gonna use Gerard at the moment, seeing as he's out cold. *


Nathaniel watched as Bella and Silvin ran out, Bella changing into a phoenix at the last moment. The girl's kiss had caught him off guard for a moment, but long, tedious hours or training and he had regained his composure.

Oh well, it won't last long. Once she knows she will hate[i ]me anyway. It's always the same.[/i] He sighed.

Nathaniel motioned for Ara to come help him stand, using his staff to help support him. Once he had his balance he bid her leave, and head directly for the south gate. He would join them as soon as possible. Ara nodded then ran out, the little dog appearing out of nowhere and trailing after her.

Nat stood in the center of the room, head bowed, his hand holding tightly to the staff. His eyes closed and his breathing slowed. After a few moments he opened his eyes again and disappeared.

Nathaniel reappeared in seemingly the midist of a battle. Sword clashed and shrieks threatened to deafen him. He looked around but an impenetrable fog shrouded the scene. All that was visible were the tiny multicolored lights.

Nat cursed and prepared to cast another spell to lift the fog. He threw his arms open and some of the fog lifted, just enough for the battle to be seen. He cursed again.

"Nat!" Bella's voice echoed from above. He turned to see her land and change back into human. She ran over.

"How did you-"

"Magic. Where's Gerard and Alise?"

"I only just got here. I don't know."

Suddenly a huge multi-colored light flew up into the air, illuminating the scene with smaller, dancing lights. The light suddenly exploded, creating a huge bang and knocking everyone in the area backwards. The light dimmed and the whole world went black.

Ara followed him on the ground, she was used to running alot. She sent the little bird to get her horse and was soon galloping towards the gate ready for whatever would come. It always surprised her what other people could do.

*sorry it is short*

silvin felt the shock wave and cursed under his breath. Sprinting even faster he put his bow on his back, "With this fog shoting a bow will be difficult."

Drewing his mythril sword he charged at the gate seeing some of the others bodies on the ground. A quik examination showed that they were still okay.

Nathaniel came ot his senses slowly, not openeing his eyes at first but instead reaching out with his other senses. Yells, shrieks and metal on metal were still almost defening and he could tell the fog still lingered because of the moistness of the air. Behind his closed eyelids, flashes illuminated the night.

Running footsteps of heavily booted feet sounded close by, but continued running on. Nathaniel dimly remembered the huge flashing ball of light, remembered the force of the explosion, remembered falling...

"Nat!?" a whispered, worried voice said from a few feet away.

Nathaniel opened his eyes and saw Bella lying close by, pushing herself to a sitting position. Nathaniel stood weakly, clutching the staff he had somehow managed to hold on to.

"Nat! What happened?" Bella asked, stumbling to her feet. Nat turned his head to look out towards the multi-cololred lights.

"I don't know. Come on, we have to find the others, and quickly."


*I'm changing Nat's looks a bit...but not much.*

*I'm finally coming in *

I ducked under a swing of one of the creature's tail. I swung my sword up, removing it's tail. Then with a quick lunge, I stabbed it through the heart.

A burst of light came at me but I jumped out of the way. Then again a light came at me and I used my blade to block the blast.

Alise was fighting with her hands, it was harder than with a sword, but she had to do something. Things weren't looking too good.

She saw Gerard lying on the ground close by. She wouldn't go too far, she wouldn't leave him alone.

She saw him stirr and knelt by him, "Gerard? Can you hear me?"

He nodded and sat up, "ouch," he groaned.

Alise smiled and stood up for an attack. It wasn't fatal but it knocked the creature out cold.

"You got an extra weapon or something?" She said, "I can't do much without one."

Gerard pulled out a dagger and handed it to her. "Use it well, close contact is dangerous."

Easily she pulled him to his feet. "Do you need to-"

"I need to help."

Gerard-

Gerard shook his head to clear the smothering haze. He drew his sword and stood back to back with Alise, slashing, hacking, and kicking at the demons. There just seemed no end to the monsters, they just kept comming. Once he killed one two more took its place.

"This is way more than half a dozen!" he shouted to Alise. She laughed.

"You think?" she called over her shoulder, at the same time stabbing a demon in the neck. Gerard brought his sword down on one's head, splitting its skull.

"Wait..." Gerard paused for a moment, his eyes widening in alarm. "Where's Nat!?"

Gerard brought his sword up just in time to block the blow of one of the monster's tail.

"I haven't seen him!" Alise called. "Last i saw of him, he and Bella were running off towards the inn! I believe that was the last time you saw him too!"

"Come on! We have to find him! If he's caught up in this there's no telling what could happen to him!" Gerard yelled, slashing at the demons with renewed energy and speed. Soon he had broken through the seething mass, Alise following close behind.

"NAT!" Gerard belowed.
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Nathaniel-

"NAT!" a loud, masculine voice beoolowed over the din of the battle. Demons were everywhere and Nat was firing spells off left and right, slowly but surley losing energy.

"Gerard..." Nathaniel panted, too out of breath to call out. Thankfully Bella had more breaht and she answered back.

"Gerard!" she yelled, pitching her voice to carry.

"Bella! Where's Nat!?" Gerard's voice came again, this time somewhat closer.

"He's here!"

Nathaniel sent flaming darts flying into all the nearby demons before thrusting his hand up above his head. A ball of pure white light burst to life on his palm, shooting skywards.

"Master." the spectral's voice whispered in Nat's ear. He saw the shadowy form float over to a few of the charging monsters, raise a skeletanal hand, and point a bony finger at them. The demons fell to the ground, dead, but more replaced them.

"How...?" Nathaniel breathed, then he knew. More demons were being born from the dead bodies of the others. He silently cursed.

"Nat!" Gerard's voice broke the mage's concentration as he looked up to see his bulky twin emerging from a mass of the monsters. "Nat, you ok?"

Wearily, Nat nodded. Suddenly, hundreds of small, multi-colored lights lit the night, flying past the small group. They all turned to see a black armored figure backing out of the fog, sword raised, blocking a few of the lights that were flying out of the mist towards him.

Alise gasped, "Lethero!" she said almost happily.

"Who?"

"Old friend, one of the best fighters I know."

*Can't think of much more*

*Erm...alice...the figure in black armor is Lethero (ash's character)...and i'm almost positive he's not a vampire. But...yeah. Sorry if i made that unclear. I'll edit it if you want.* *Ok, nvm, i see you edited yours. Sorry that was so unclear. *blushes**

Ara watched this happening, her heart wrenched as more creatures appeared. Alise was telling everyone to go to the house, but she couldn't let the city die. Silvin was still fighting so she kept too. He was the only one she had really talked to and they hadn't talked much. \
*Srry couldn't think of anything else.*

"What's shooting off all those lights, i wonder." Gerard said, fending off a few more of the demons. Nathaniel stood back-to-back with his brother, shooting off spell after spell. Alise stood next to Gerard, Bella next to Nat. Silvin and Ara were nowhere to be seen.

"Do you think...maybe...a mage?" Bella asked. Nathaniel scowled.

"If so, it won't be for long. Those spells are amature. Watch," he shot out a few of the the glowing balls of light himself, sending them past Lethero and into the fog. Lethero spun around.

"Who..." he began, then spotted Alise and grinned. "How ya been?" he asked casually, slashing a few of the demons.

"Can we catch up a little later?" Alise asked, stabbig another of the demons.

"Hey Nat...Nat?" Gerard called to his twin, who didn't answer. Gerard risked a glance over his shoulder and saw that Nathaniel was not there. Neither was Bella. He cursed.

"Where'd they go? NAT?!" Gerard called. A distance off, another burst of pure white light shot into the sky; Nathaniel saying he was fine. The twins had developed a code for battle. Nathaniel shot off different colored lights to indicate what his status was, in case the brothers were ever seperated. White meant 'Fine', Red meant 'Don't Come', Green or black meant 'hurt' and no light meant the worst.

*Post Nathaniel in a few minutes.*