Deep in the recesses of a barren valley overshadowed by the sharp crags of Teberhorn mountains, a harsh-looking fortress city of stone and steel sits like a boil upon the landscape. Here is the city of Ceracka, where humans live under the thumbs of the upper-class Eschel, the merfolk, working their days and nights away for as long as fate lets them suffer. The southern end of the town is built for the masters, boasting rich buildings and architecture, and the northern end is a lifeless, formless, endless suburb of stone huts and cobblestone streets. At the far northern end stands the Hesran gate, where all entering travellers are required to register. From there, it's a short trek to the Wretching Dragon Inn, where travellers can stay without being haggled by the Eschel guards. Unrest rules here, in everything that goes on.

---

Ting isn't peppy when she bounds through the portal, but that's comparatively. She still looks like a little ball of hyper-happy energy to anyone else. "Now...hm." She flicks her sizeable ears. "If I were a fury elemental, where would I hide?"

Down the way from Ting's entry, a number of the half-pint smoke monsters are gathered around a fallen fruit cart, devouring its contents. Its owner is standing against the wall, shivering in terror, but the monsters are ignoring him. Not far from there, several more of them are working on destroying every sign and billboard in sight, happily wrecking the place.

Ting's eyes widen. Um...eep! Her naginata is in hand and she leaps up the sides of a building, trying to cloak herself and keep quiet...until a smoke monster intentionally or otherwise freaks a little girl in the street, to instantly bared fangs. "Hey!" and a kitty-dumen, along with a well-aimed naginata blade looking to outright cleave the thing in two, comes plunging down towards it. "Back the hell off!"

The little monster eeps and leaps away from her attack, heading to join its compatriots in wrecking some signs. Ting's blade passes through it, and though it yelps, the smoke flows right back together.

A peal of musical laughter sounds from down the street, where more smoke monsters have gathered.

Ting carefully bundles the girl off into a doorway, and lets out a deep breath. To look for Quaiesh, or investigate the laughter...? Runs off towards the laughing after a few moments' thought.

"... so much fun! I never would have thought! Go break that one!" 

A troop of the little monsters leaps for a storefront, smashing through the window and raising hell inside. A Fel-sized woman defined entirely by the bright pink of her eyes and the pink/black stripes of her hair is standing on the corner, giggling uncontrollably.

Ting blinks, just kinda...agape. "Hey...what the hell, lady, that's not very nice! Even if your hair's cool!" There's something really, really weird about said lady's energy, too....

"Oh, it's not like there is anyone in there." The woman glares at Ting, hands on her hips, as the store owner comes barreling out the door and flees. "Anymore."

Ting nods. "Have you been called a bitch yet today?"

"That is not very kind." She looks away, to a stable where smoke critters are leaping all over the wooden counters and chasing terrified horses with glee. "We are having fun. Do you want to play too? Or leave? Both are good."

"Those people whose life's work you just wrecked for a few seconds' amusement don't think it's so fun," Ting points out. "You're psychic, I'd think you could pick the devastation out of their minds. 'Course, you prolly did. God, but some people are messed up. Nevermind. Bye!" And she turns to skip off, looking for Quaiesh.

"Bye!" Mi'ehna waves her little hand cheerfully. "I wonder what that was all about," she asks of her smoky little buddies. "You'd think a child of Felina's would be all over attacking me for this. Huh."

The fury elemental's signature pops up not terribly far off, at garrison of a former military base. Mi'ehna beams, and trots off that way at a quick clip.

Ting blinks. That feels...hm. Meanish! Sounds like fury elemental ish to me! And she hops off in that direction at a leaping rooftop run that's fun on top of psychic-enhanced fast, finally walking up to the military base and trying to phase through one of the walls.

... ineffectively. It should not come as a tremendous surprise that a garrison is protected against methods of travel that would negate its walls. Quaiesh's signature burns brightly inside the building, which is already beginning to teem with little smoke creatures.

A little ways back, Mi'ehna skips pleasantly along, her open mind feasting on the panic and mania running wild in Ceracka.

That same panic is throwing Ting for a bit of a loop and upsetting her...she knows that she responsibly needs to grab Quaiesh, but keeps glancing back, wanting to help things back there. But...just grumbles at the little shock she gets for trying to get inside the garrison, and jumps onto the roof looking for an entrance. The idea of blowing a hole in it is distasteful after the stuff in town, it kind of sickens her to think they'd think she was with that pink haired lady even though it doesn't logically matter.

A loud crash from inside shakes the windowless structure, followed by one just like it. It almost sounds as if something powerful is trying to escape.

Mi'ehna slows her skipping as she approaches the garrison, beaming up at Ting.

"Now," she coos in a voice that has not long been restored, "I wish I had stopped to think when we spoke a moment ago. If I had known you were one of the sixth house I could have spoken to you in the alley instead of waiting for you to be lured here."

Ting blinks, looks down at Mi'ehna. "The sixth who now?" she does not like the word "lured," though, and resets her grip on her naginata.

"House, you idiot. I know you heard me." Mi'ehna pauses in step and speech, considering. "There were four factions, correct? Then five. Then yours. Six. So now that you are here, I suppose I can get to the business of asking you to leave again so I can take Quaiesh back with me." Smiles prettily. "Or forcing you to."

Ting growls. "No. Go to hell. Which are you working for, anyway?"

"If you have to ask, you do not need to know." Mi'ehna folds her little arms over her chest. "I don't want to fight with you. I like your mother - I assume that you're Felina's kitten - and this is just a difference of methods, so please don't make me hurt you."

"Your 'methods' involve killing a lotta people who never did anything to you!" Ting protests, nearly squeaking. She's her mother's daughter, but definitely isn't a clone of her. "And you can't exactly expect me to think you're a nice person after you wrecked up the town back there like a total jackass!"

"Hey..." her expression crumbles, "... that's not very nice... you do not know me. You are convinced that you are in the right."

"Nope!" Ting raises a finger. "I don't know all that much about what's going on! But I do know that when someone runs around and abuses their power against people who can't defend themselves and hurts and scares people and ruins lives and then laughs about it, I'm on the other side!" She scrunches her nose. "Besides, I mean...gawds, I'm seventy and even I know that when someone starts assassinating people and building up a tremendously powerful army, they're not going to end at the ultimate goal 'stop a war' no matter what they say."

Mi'ehna glances up at the sky, a little sadness left in her eyes. "Ceracka will be gone in a while. This whole place. It is going to die. I thought chasing them out would be more humane then letting them be destroyed with it." Her eyes squeeze shut, her head shakes back and forth as if pushing away an unpleasant line of thought.  "Why shouldn't I enjoy it, if it helps them?"

Ting blinks. "What's gonna happen to it?" Avoids the last part of the question.

"Can you not feel it? The planet's fury. It hates this place." She looks to the ground. "I feel it boiling up from within the earth. As plain as the ears on your head."

Despite her words, there is no trace of anything building beneath the soil. Ting might not see it unless she is expressly looking for it, but a soft trace of some foreign psychic influence mingles faintly with Mi'ehna's signature.

Ting blinks. "I...uh...don't feel anything like that, no." Unfortunately, despite her natural ability, Ting can only determine something vaguely fishy about Mi'ehna's perception. She isn't perceptive enough to solidly identify it as "foreign influence" yet.

"Well. I do. And I want to save them. And there is a horrible monster in that building!" Mi'ehna begins to pace back and forth in front of the structure, grumbling to herself between shouts to Ting. "You came to free it! And I came to stop you."

Ting blinks. "It's...uh...a fury elemental. I'm supposed to not let the scary jinneyeh lady take or destroy him." Ting is really, really beginning to think that this lady has a screw loose.

"Oh." She stops pacing. Looks up. "Good idea. Here, let me help you get him out." A calm breath precedes her trotting around the building, to the sorcerously impassable gate of the garrison. "You just have to know how to knock," the informs Ting, as a green, swirling rune glows upon her hand and dissolves the barrier at a touch. Almost immediately, the pounding inside intensifies. Flecks of wall and stone dust spray from the building.

"Oops," Mi'ehna chuckles, "he's mad."

"Obviously!" Ting purrs. Now she's confused. So Mi'ehna...isn't working for the crazy jinneyeh lady? "So we can just step through the wall now?"

Part of the wall warps beneath the struggling hands attack it from the inside.

"Oh," Mi'ehna smiles dreamily, "he'll make his own door."

Ting nods. Yay! She gets to work magicking another barrier around the garrison grounds' perimeter so that Quaiesh doesn't hurt the people behind them.

She wasn't kidding, either. A pure black fist shatters the remnants of the wall, followed shortly thereafter by a thick, bulky beast-man of allover black skin and red markings. Quaiesh growls a warning to both Ting and Mi'ehna - who is by now covering her temples as if to shut his mind out of hers - and tries to run through Ting's barrier. He is, of course, oblivious to its presence.

Ting cringes at the backlash of when he hits it...but it does hold. Let out her breath, and bounces up to him, waving cheerfully. "Hiiii! Hey, can I talk to you maybe please?"

Quaiesh recoils at the blow, shakes off, and begins to wildly pound the barrier, screaming to get out. Mi'ehna covers her temples again, trying to shut out the creature's mind.

Ting wrinkles her nose. Annoying. So, after a moment's thought, she does what she does best: she begins to sing. Slow, wistful, subdued.

When the evening falls
And the daylight is fading,
From within me calls
Could it be I am sleeping?
For a moment I stray,
Then it holds me completely
Close to home - I cannot say
Close to home feeling so far away

The fury elemental's anger seems to slow a little bit. He looks at her, puzzled. Why's she singing? It definitely calms, him, though.

Mi'ehan, meanwhile, glances down at the ground. "Better hurry," she chirps, "everything is going to be destroyed soon." There's still no reason to believe this is so, either.

Ting smiles up at the much larger fear elemental...begins talking over the top of her continuing song like only a dumen lady can. She, of course, is more calmer and more even, too. "That's much nicer," she nods. "I did come to let you out...I just needed to talk to you first. There's a lot of weird stuff going on and a lot of people are in real danger and you're one. I am too! I'm hanging out in a place called the Millenium Maze for safety and to try and foil the other guys who are hurting people. Would you like to come?"

The elemental just looks at Ting, considering her. His blinking eyes are the eyes of a lost child, frightened and alone, but still desperate.

Mi'ehna moves a little closer to them. "He doesn't understand?" she asks as if speaking to the air. "What am I supposed to do with him?"

Ting just smiles at him. Warms her song, swaying back and forth a bit. Wanna come with me, go somewhere away from here? she tries to intone. I wanna be your friend.

"Hey... that is cheating...!" Mi'ehna walks close to Quaiesh -dangerously close, actually- and lays her hand on his arm just about the time he starts to nod to Ting. A pulse of that foreign influence makes itself known in her mind. A psychic of even low caliber could see that someone is feeding images into her memory, somehow, and the short little woman pulls in her breath for a piercing 'little girl in trouble' scream.

"No! No no! I hate you! I hate you, bastard, I hate you! Why are you hurting me? What did I ever do to you? Stupid!"

Quaiesh begins to tremble.

"Meep." And she actually says just this. "Hey hey be nice please...?" She hurries over and takes Quaiesh's other arm very gently, calming influencing heavy in the air along with her continuing song. "It's okay, Quaiesh, you didn't do it." Is a little wide-eyed looking at Mi'ehna, though...tries to guard Mi'ehna's mind against the introduced influence. "Stripe haired lady...? Somebody is messing with your memories, you gotta push them away..."

And still with the calming song and touch on the fury elemental's arm.

Both elemental and psychic gaze at Ting. Mi'ehna opens her mouth to speak, but when she does, no sound comes out. Quaiesh's mouth opens, though, his lips moving along with hers, and her voice spewing from his mouth.

"It is not fair! I did not want to lure anyone! They had the idea to send me. I wouldn't have to hurt her! The elemental would do it. I didn't want that. So they walled him up. I thought the friend of Felina's could get him out first. But they filled up my mind with painful things that just make me so angry...!"

The elemental roars to finish the woman's speech, stomping one foot upon the ground in warning. His power is skyrocketing right along with Mi'ehna's inner turmoil. He stomps again, a final warning.

Ting's eyes widen. Her song continues under..."hey, wait, what? Hurt who? Quaiesh...weren't you going to be my friend...?"

Mi'ehna sprawls backwards, thrashing against attackers that aren't there. The energy signature attached to her mind is unquestionably Asiba's at this point, flooding her mind with images meant to terrify and infuriate her. Fuel for a fury elemental.

"Let me go!" Quaiesh roars, again in her voice. "Get your hands off me, no! Don't!"

I want to be your friend. I can't restrain this anger...!

At last, the elemental lunges for Ting, both hands stretched out to grab her.

Ting's eyes are wide. She springs backwards...and ends up hitting her own barrier hard, knocking the wind out of her.

Quaiesh's immense hands clasp around Ting's shoulders. He jerks her into the air to slam her against the barrier, hissing and growling, fingertips tightening as if he wants nothing more than to rip her apart.

The girl. Her anger. Pain. She is feeding my violence. Stop her pain, stop my violence. Friend.

Ting is shielding herself as best she can. Isn't singing anymore...can only grab breaths between hits, wrists braced against Quaiesh's huge ones trying to keep herself from being crushed. Manages to gather herself, just a bit, grimace broadening into something slightly angrier. "Lady...stop it!" And a psychic attack hurtles into Mi'ehna's mind, trying to stun it and banish foreign influence.

Mi'ehna is so engrossed in her artificial memories, so intent on struggling against them, that she doesn't see it coming for a second. The attack strikes her with far more force than it would a normal person, considering her unbelievably sharp empathic sense, and quite literally shuts down her brain. She stiffens and keels over, alive, but far from conscious.

Almost instantly, Quaiesh's strength diminishes. Ting should be able to easily overpower him, without a source of strength.

Since she'd already been enhancing her strength and pushing, his arms fly apart almost instantly. Ting catches her breath, dropping to the ground and swaying once or twice, grabbing her balance carefully and just staying absolutely still for a second, healing herself. Ouch...

Quaiesh doesn't even attempt to follow up on the attack. He looks around, eyeing Mi'ehna for just a second, before idly pecking on the barrier again. 

Trap.

"Yeah...ow..." Ting rubs her head, and gets back to her feet. "The barrier's mine...I can open it if you want. Do you still wanna come to the maze with me, though?" She mirrors her words as psychic ideas for easier understanding.

Quaiesh shakes his head, as if Ting is missing the point. He gestures towards Mi'ehna. Trap for you. She did not want to hurt you. Filled her mind with hate to make me do it. They did it.

"Oh...right." Ting smiles a beaten-down kind of sheepish, and nods. "Yeah...that's not very nice. It's really mean to use constructs' natures to go against what they want to do..." she grumbles this as she heads over to Mi'ehna, setting her hands gently on the telepath's head to check for whatever damage had been done. Mm...okay, not to bad. A really much bigger effect that she'd thought it would have, but still the right class, so she'll be okay.

The elemental crosses his arms, very Kaies-like actually. Bring her. I will go.

Ting's smile brightens a little when she looks up at Quaiesh, and nods. "Okee. Thank you! We're the nice ones, I promise..." laughs softly, and gathers the smaller human--though about the same weight--up in her arms. The temporal gate opens back up. "Okay! It's right through here, yes. And also isn't Mara-kuru kinda sorta your sister? She's there too." Nods and, careful of Mi'ehna, heads into the gate, getting some subdued bounce back in her step.

Quaiesh isn't quite sure what Ting means by kinda sorta sister, but follows anyway. 

---

Some time later, Dewei appears on a rooftop...and covers his nose against some smoke. Ick...what happened here? Absently helps with things a bit from where he stands as he scans for a disrupted divine energy signature. Can't be that bloody hard to spot.

Not at all, especially when smoke monsters - including the big one that attacked Ai - surround it. Morovain fights them off by the dozen, kicking back Cali when it attacks just long enough to fend off the little ones, making only slight headway in the fight.

Dewei's eyes narrow. Right then. He's over there in a heartbeat, sword flashing. Makes no comment, just...joins in, blade glowing with a rune-based wind element and slashing at the beasts.

The little smoke monsters disappear in puffs beneath Dewei's wind spell. They aren't very substantial, really. Cali, on the other hand, only doubles her efforts at the intrusion. Morovain's rusty, filth spewing sword clatters down the street a ways, slapped away by one of her vicious tendrils.  The fallen angel doesn't seem aware of Dewei, which leads to him striking at the young man just as if he were an enemy.

Dewei, for his part, is lucky that he's fast. He has most of his sister's speed and mother's precision, so it's a good mix for a cautious fighter. A quick duck and spring backwards, the near contortion to avoid a blade he'd learned from his mom, and Morovain's attack misses. He doesn't strike back. "Hey, watch it! I don't have wind magic active against you. I'm on your side!"

Morovain pauses at Dewei's words, looking at him curiously just long enough for Cali's tentacles to shove and pin him to the ground. Little needles of smoke hammer against his armor, piercing at some points. The smoke beast glares at Dewei, as if daring him to try and stop her.

Dewei bares his fangs. He's still pissed off enough that this is the face that had ripped Ai apart...and he's not Radivishe Moorn's apprentice for nothing. His claw, dipped into rune-worthy ink he's made a permanent fixture of his belt, flicks briefly over his sword's blade before it slashes in her general direction, sending a scythe-like, high-concentration wind elemental attack searing towards the monster, followed half a spring later by sword and attacker himself.

Cali's form wavers beneath the wind attack, her essence blowing away bit by smoky bit. She abandons her assault of Morovain, hissing in pain and anger, and tries to leap to safety.

Dewei is not about to back down and give her his back...and it helps that he hates Cali's non-guts, lacing the elemental-based attacks further to maintain their strength and not backing off of her, though a small part of his mind is on Morovain to make sure he rises okay.

He does. Slowly, but not without strength, the fallen angel gets to his feet. He retrieves his rust-eaten sword, flicking it as though to clean it while Cali leaps and dodges Dewei's attacks.

Cali... Asiba's irritated voice flows through the psychic spectrum, ... they got Mi'ehna. Abort.

Dewei pauses at the voice, though he has that feral gleam in his eyes right now. His attention stays firmly on the smoke creature, though, ready to attack again if it isn't gone in the very near future.

It hisses at him, but does vanish. Its annoyance remains for a while afterward, though.

Morovain looks at Dewei for a second. Just a second, though. He turns and begins to walk towards town.

Dewei sighs inwardly. Oh, good. One of those. Wipes his sword briefly on a pant leg--there's really nothing on it, predictably--and picks up his pace to fall into step beside Morovain. "So aren't you at least curious why a few dozen smoke monsters were trying to impale you?"

"I know why. They asked me to fight a war." The angel doesn't move to get away from Dewei. "No. And you have my answer, as well."

Dewei blinks. "Wait...they asked you to fight in a war? Was that verbatim?"

"Yes. Now go away." Morovain continues his walk. A section of air behind him wavers, making it appear as though a slight, wavy shadow trails behind.

Dewei's psychic sense points him that way, and he glances back to it. Is quiet a moment. "You do realize that will mean the end of you, right? They're following. And there's much more power where that came from."

"Don't care." The faceless creature pauses, reaches down to pick up a small piece of something. A button, probably off of a formal shirt. Tosses it down. "Everything dies."

Dewei pauses at this...nods a little. Well...fair enough, he can sense that this creature's mind is solidly made up. "Fair enough. If you change your mind, just wanting to get ahold of us is generally enough to do so."

The angel stops walking. Glances at him, regarding him with that fallow expression of his. "I understand." His words linger for a moment, drawn out in reluctant agreement. With that said, he turns and heads back towards town.

Dewei knows he's most likely leaving this man to his death...that doesn't sit well. Frowns a bit. Well...nothing to be done for it, really. Their side isn't the one conscripting people. Watches that moving shadow a few moments. Just...damn. Turns to walk back towards the portal.

Morovain makes no move to stop him. He'd told Asiba no. He'll tell anyone else no.