That'll leave a Mark...

[Krad Zephyros]

Once the thick and heavy smog was lifted from the room Krad took in a deep breath and gave a relaxing sigh. His wind barrier dropped and he felt a huge weight lift from his shoulders. He felt light, but a bit too light. Working with the pirates, he rarely had to use his barrier; let alone exert it with enough intensity to encompass two bodies. It was very straining, and to drop it so suddenly dazed him a bit. Though he held it together. The refreshing air revitalized him slightly, but then this air was also polluted. He just could not wind.

Sand was heavy on the wind. Small particles of sand weighed the wind down and stripped it of its purity. This made it difficult for Krad to regain his senses as quickly as normal. He sighed calmly through his nose as he attempted to regulate his energy and regain his composure. That's when he heard her panicked voice. It seemed like Meiling was troubled by something. His ocean blue eyes flickered towards the small Myrthra girl and he could see the look of uncertainty in her wide eyes.

The fur on her ears and tail were prickled and her body language was tense, like she was preparing to run at the drop of a hat. “Krad there is something big coming... Its huge...” Her voice was tense, which didn't make him feel any better. He wondered what she was talking about and attempted to sense a presence, but couldn't over the raging sandstorm.

He neared the damaged portion of the ship and could see the empty, sandy, and odd exterior. The planet's surface seemed like one big desert full of oddly-shaped dunes and mud. The scene seemed familiar somehow, but at the time, he just couldn't figure out out. “Krad its getting louder.” She called out with a rising level of stress in her voice. He could hear nothing and, he didn't understand the sensitive ears of the Myrthra people, might have dismissed her, but he knew that she could hear much better than he, and if what she said was true, he did not plan on sticking around to find out what was coming.

"Then I suppose we should be going."

Casually, he walked down the broken corridor of the space craft to the cargo area and punched in a code on the number pad next to the door. The slide lit green and beeped with a confirmation signal before the metal door groaned upward into the ship's ceiling. The cargo bay was now open and, to Krad's relief, held Meiling's hover bike securely upright by metal clamps.

After entering the room with the sleeves of his twin scarfs trailing by his sides, Krad approached the bike and released the magnetic grips from the metal clamps. The hydrolics moaned as bent poles and beams attempted to fold away from the vehicle. It was a rough, jerking motion, but the vehicle finally dropped to the ground. Krad moved quickly and mounted the vehicle. He felt very satisfied in the driver's seat of this model.

It was a classic. Krad always had an appreciation of motorcycles. They were sleek, sexy, and powerful, just like himself. It made him smirk a bit, even in the face of their dangerous situation. This model dated back at least a hundred years on the time scale of the Gorgans. In fact, this type of technology has been integrated in the most basic training vehicles.

Krad stroked his fingers against the chest-level dashboard before manually switching it on. The interface was a touch screen with very basic functions, but he was familiar with all of them. When he was younger he used to practice with bikes like these. He initiated the ignition and the hover bike hummed with energy. The icy-blue veins that carried the anti-gravity thrust through the vehicle flashed and pulsed against the white-steel.

With a light push, the bike lifted from the floor about three feet. Krad, gripping the handles, cranked down gently on the forward throttle and the bike coasted forward, exiting the cargo bay and drifting effortlessly in front of the Myrthra tiger-girl. "All aboard." Krad said with a smirk as he held a hand out for the girl. Though the bike was only made to seat one person, Meiling was just the perfect size to sit behind him comfortably.

"Can you tell which direction its coming from?" He questioned with a bit more of a serious tone. He gripped the throttle tighter and the vehicle began to angle towards the tear in the side of the craft. He was ready to take off in a burst of speed. Meiling would have to hold on pretty tightly if she didn't want to fall off.

Will he ever get to catch his breath?

Word Count: 804
OOC: It was just fine. Btw, 3 more posts and we get a skill point

[Amy Heatherfield]

The forty blades slashed through the sand like it was nothing. The giant beast remained underground, only a little more than a mile away. The rocket speed of the monster sent sand flying into the air, quickly to be whipped up and thrown about by the great storm, inevitably making it larger. As if knowing what was going on, the wind seemed to be at the Velius Source's back.

At this point, the sand was so thick, seeing through it was almost impossible. This monster, though, didn't need eyes. He could feel the ground around him, and the little prey he was going after too. Two small life forms, quivering in fear as it approached. Shrinking away from the sand like it would be the death of them. Technically, it would be. Now that they were on the bike, only the sand in the air could tell it where they were.

Nearing half a mile in under a minute, the giant beast shot into the air of the storm, revealing itself as a great Sand Worm. With a great roar, sure to be heard for miles, the worm plummeted back into the sand, making a small arch with its body. Now fully back underground, it banked to the right while still moving forward. On contact with the ground, a great burst of sand was spit into the air, making it only thicker.

Going at top speed, the shaking of the ground as it churned almost gave away the worm's excitement of the nearing kill. After banking in an extremely wide half circle, he drew into only a couple hundred yards. The air contorted as the flying sand gathered into giant lances and spiraled down into the craft, ripping metal to shreds. The two puny creatures would have to be fast to avoid such attacks. Being a creation of Velius, such magic came at an ease for the monster. In fact, this very storm would be a little softer if he hadn’t been around.

In one moment, the worm closed in on his prey, shooting up with another burst of sand and another, even louder roar. Going much higher than he did before, his back turned into a sharp arch as he sped towards the ship, ready to eat it whole, along with its inhabitants. The sky turned black, being completely covered up by the gaping maw of the Sand Worm. His thousand of sharp teeth seemed to be vibrating with hunger, ready to jump out and consume everything by themselves.

Air seemed to push out away from the ship, completely cleansing the space of sand. Now that he was so close, the worm could sense the food with his powerful mind. The forty golden claws wove together such great magic with so little effort. The air outside of the space was rippling, making it seem as a mighty current of water was encircling everything. Being only ten feet above the roof of the craft, an escape now would be ridiculously difficult. You would have to bend air itself to simply push past all of the contorted space. As if a small meatling could do such a thing.

[WC:527- Man, it is hard to write a whole bunch when your point of view is a massive sand worm, sorry ]
[OOC: Mwahahaha, no such mortal can contort the air, I, as a Sand Worm, am sure to win! *wink wink*]

[Meiling]

Meiling looked at Krad as he came over to her. Even she was amazed at her strength. She was in pain all over from the crash, yet she manages to keep on moving and not just collapsing on the floor in a heap. That’s survival I suppose. If your willing to fight on, your body will provide as much energy as it can to get you out of the danger.

"Then I suppose we should be going."

“Going?...Going where?” She watched him as he went to the cargo hold. Meiling was surprised any of the stuff was still there. And there it was. It was a beauty of a Bike, even if outdated. Its the first thing Meiling was drawn to inside the giant ship on her planet. Her attention was dragged back to the noise. It was getting so close! What was it? She was very tempted to climb out and try and see but before she realised it Krad had the bike out.

It hummed like a bumble bee and Meiling couldn’t help but smile. She'd never understood what it was so to see it in action was like magic to her. Her eyes scanned the bike, before falling on Krad himself and she smiled widely, fangs on show. But her ears suddenly flattened against her head and tail curled around her legs.

It was VERY close now. She moved closer to Krad. He would protect her surely? He had done so far. The only injuries she had were her own fault. She didn’t blame Krad for the fact she didn’t have her belt on. Meiling moved out the way as he slowly and gently lead the bike out. If it wasn’t for the creature coming for them she would have liked to look at the bike with Krad perched on it forever.

"All aboard."

She took his hand quickly and climbed on. Her body curved against his back, her arms wrapping around his waist and holding on. She had no problems being so close to him. She was breathing down his neck. She couldn’t help but be able to smell him. She clung on a bit tighter and laid her head flat against his back.

"Can you tell which direction its coming from?"[/color]

Meiling suddenly wasn’t so sure about this. She felt like she was going to fall off! She clung closer as she could as if she was trying to melt them into one. That when suddenly all she could head was sand shooting up into the air. It was like thunder! She made the mistake of lifting her head and turning to look. Her eyes burnt with the sand and she turned her head back to hide it against Krads back with a whimper.

She had just a second before the sand got into her eyes to see the IMMENSELY huge sand-worm shooting out of the sand on the opposite side of the craft. “THERE! IT'S THERE!!!” She had to shout. The noise was deafening! “Krad!” Her voice was full of fear and she was somewhat glad she couldn’t open her eyes, she didn’t want to look at that monster again.

(WC::529)
(OOC:: I have a few words of Advise for them ^^....'Leg it~!!!' LOL)

[/size][/color]

[Krad Zephyros]

It was just when Krad asked if she could point in the direction where the noise was coming from that the entire landscape shook violently. As if lightning and thunder both chimed together a loud boom sounded and the roar of a massive body breaching the sand's surface blocked out all other sound. Krad squinted tightly as he looked where Meiling had been screaming too and all he could see was a brownish black mass of a body thundering into the sky like a bullet train to heaven.

"Well shit..." Was all he could say as he saw the massive beast raise up into the air. It seemed as its body arched towards them, it turned day in to night. A bleak shadow fell upon the storm and Krad could only stare at this monster-made eclipse.

"Krad!" Meiling's screech of terror awoke the awe-stricken adventurer to the severity of the situation and his eyes widened, then he quickly whipped his head around to the desert before him, cranked down on the throttle and then yelled,

"HERE WE GO!!!" Like a mechanized war-horse the bike bellowed and its front bucked back under the force of the acceleration. What, at first, sounded like a bee buzzing, now rivaled that of the thunder created by the massive worm. Hundreds of colonies of bees couldn't compare to the roar the bike was giving off. Krad had to throw both his own weight and that of Meiling's to counter the kick-back from the bike.

There was only one problem: The bike wasn't moving forward. Tidal waves of magic seemed to push the very air from the ship. Distorting it and completely leaving the hover vehicle suspended in motion. With no air particles to push off from the vehicle was completely stationary. Krad couldn't believe this, but he hadn't a second to hesitate. In his mind, that giant beast was still coming straight down from the heavens. Krad went to curse, but as soon as he opened his mouth he felt the breath being sucked from his very lungs.

It was like the vacuum of space had formed a rift that was tearing the air out from the area. Like a ship's broken window, Krad could feel air and wind being torn from the inside out. Was this the work of that thing? Were they going to die? Not today. Krad finally felt it beneath his feet. On the side of the bike was a hold in which he'd slipped his sword into horizontally just beneath the footholds of the bike. His ocean blue eyes glinted towards the blade, which was still wrapped tightly within his twin scarves.

Krad could see air oozing from the creases in the scarves where glints of Mythril blue steel shown through. This, however, was not the wind from the ship. This air came directly from the blade itself. That's where Krad got the idea from. He watched as his sword autonomously created a barrier of wind around itself so that that magic it contained would not be torn out from it. Krad could possibly do the same. That way, encased in his shell, not only could he breathe, but he could also give the hover bike something to push off from. He had to try.

Instantly a bubble of air formed from around Krad. Normally, this bubble would only be large enough to encase his body. His Shell ability alone was far too weak to grow larger than his own body size. However, when the shell grew to such a circumference where it could interact with his sword, it immediately tripled in size. Krad's Mythril blade was like a weaponized talisman of wind. Within it was an unmeasured amount of air magic that no human could possibly hope to sustain within their own being.

Now, combined with the magic of Krad's sword, his shell expanded around both himself and the entirety of the hover bike; even around Meiling as well in order to allow her the ability to breathe. Now came the hard part. Krad still needed to form a separate mass of wind so that the bike could push off from. He got the idea as he imagined cogs turning. If he forced his own barrier to react with that of his sword's he could create the same effect two cogs in a machine would.

With that, the barriers would constantly pull at one-another, causing them to rotate, which would create a virtual roadway of circulating air beneath the bike. Not only that, but when the bike pushed against the wind, it would force it to spin faster, thus allowing the barrier to move on its own with less effort. No longer would Krad have to create a push. So long as the bike was going at a certain speed it would power the barrier's spin and the roadway would sustain itself.

Krad forced his wind to separate from and react with that from his sword. Immediately he felt a grinding of the two forces and a tension that tightened his entire core. He felt like his insides would be liquefied from the crushing pressure created by his wind magic and his sword's magic pressing against one-another, but then, the roadway formed and instantly, the bike caught on to it. It pulsed with speed and the roadway of magical air began spinning like a hamster's wheel.

The bike was moving now and at a great speed. It shot out from the wreckage of the space craft and into the open. The barrier from the quickly circulating wind repelled all sand and dust from the outside storm while his wind magic sliced through the distorted space and, because the bike was driving against the magical current of air, it's balance was not interrupted by the distorting sands. They were like a gyro blasting out across the desert in a bubble of pure wind.

The pressure had relieved itself from the mage-knight and he breathed a sigh of relief, but refused to take his hands from the throttle. He didn't want to risk slowing down for a second. That damned worm hadn't landed yet. With that in mind, Krad glanced back behind his shoulders and there it was; a massive space worm surrounded by an uncountable number of golden claws circulating around it. This was like nothing the mage knight had ever seen before. He believed some of the massive creatures he'd seen in his lifetime were the scariest things in the entire universe, but this completely baffled and stunned the well-traveled adventurer.

"What... is that...?" What shocked him the most was that, even in its mighty and destructive display, this creature had an unknown, attractive beauty to it that forced Krad to appreciate this once in a lifetime sight. They were so close to the god-like beast that he could make out every detail of its hide. He could even see a few of the many rows of vicious teeth within its widened mouth. Awe was simply too weak a word to describe the feeling welling up within him, but that feeling would have to wait until after he escaped with his life.

"Meiling..." He called out softly to the Myrthra girl who pressed her slender body against his. "Don't let go." Finally able to tear his gaze away from the creature, he cranked down on the throttle yet again and, with his wind magic slicing through the distorted space, increased his speed and he zoomed further away from that terribly beautiful monster.

Word Count: 1255 (even more words this time)
OOC: Yeah! Even more words this time around, lol. Well that sure was fun. I wonder what danger the two of them will now have to escape from.

[Amy Heatherfield]

The Sand Worm was hurtling down at an almost imperceptible rate. The storm conjured up by his magics reached its peak just a few feet above the wrecked craft. Just as he was about to consume his meal, they sliced through the barrier he had created and dashed out into the sand dunes. Going at top speed, they flew over a rather large mound and raced out of range. At the last second, the Sand Worm utilized all of its magics to bend in a rather sharp turn. His side crushed half of the ship into a big, metal heap. He landed hard on the sand, and stayed above ground even after he had straightened out his body.

The magic didn't go to waste. It seemed to just float away, but with a single tug from the Golden Claws, they returned to the earth. Grouping into more lances, the distorted air circled around the worm, then shot underground. For a moment, nothing could be seen but the body of the worm quickly gaining speed. Then, sprays of sand began flaring up into the air. Eight burst of magic were burrowing through the ground. They were like underground torpedoes, but twice as fast. They raced each other, to see which could reach the bike first. All of them were winning.

After setting loose the new spells, the Sand Worm reached even new levels of speed as he chased after his victims. He utterly destroyed dunes of sand that were higher then the land he was on. Not hesitating a second, he shot through the hills, flinging tons of sand back into the strengthening storm. In his path was level ground, a new path formed for only himself. He was hungry, and he was going to catch these meatlings, even if it was the death of him.

They were heading east, further into the large desert, closer to the fourth section. The desert stretched from ocean to ocean. Two hundred miles going north to south, and only fifty miles if you were going east to west. It was split into eight sections, each fifty miles by twenty five miles. Lined up by two's and going down, they had an interesting numbering system. They were numbered in the order they were formed, so the first is the oldest and the eighth is the youngest. From top to bottom, left to right, it goes two and three on the top, one and four below that, six and eight underneath them, and five and seven bordering the other ocean. The worm was in the first desert, and heading east towards the fourth. Simple really.

The thing was a blur of speed as it went. Ripping through the earth, chasing down it's hunt, spells going faster than it, the whole thing was a rather large mess. The storm was began to strike once again. It was brewing into a large whirl pool of sand and wind, with the bike stuck right in the middle of the tide. The desert stretched as far as one could normally see. With the hindered vision, it seemed endless. If you didn't see sand, you saw gray air. There was nothing above, and nothing stretching out in all directions. A few skeletons were jutting out into the air, quickly crushed by the Sand Worm's barreling form. Unless the lifeforms pulled out another miracle, they would soon be consumed, or destroyed by the magical missiles.


Unbeknownst to the cat and mouse, a savior was coming. Eleven dune bikes were flying across the mounds. Using the desert like highways and ramps, the specially made Sand Surfers were ready to take care of that worm. Armed to the teeth, nothing was going to stop them from removing the menace. Tenovems are not a race to be messed with.

[WC: 634 - I honestly don't believe that number.]
[OOC: Raging sand worm, magic torpedoes, endless desert, giant storm. Think that is enough? I could add more, if you want.]

[Meiling]

The bike's front wheel shoot into the air and Meiling hand to cling onto Krad's waist for dear life. The bike was now alive with a rumble of thunder. It would have been hard to even hear herself scream with the mix of the bike and the giant worm!

"HERE WE GO!!!"

The bike slammed down its front tire and Meiling prepared herself to shoot off out of the shadow of the beast. But nothing happened. The air became thing and she gasped. Her lungs burned from the lack of oxygen. She closed her eyes tightly and clung to Krad. Her body was weak already and now he brain was beginning to slacken. She left as if her body was spinning but when she opened her eyes again she noticed that they were still not moving.

Her ears where flat against her head as she chocked on nothing. Her grip tightened on Krad. She was shaking uncontrollably. This was it. She was going to die here in the desert, hundreds of thousands of miles away from her home and family. They would never ever know what happened to her. She'd become one of those stories told to children in the town. 'Never go into that forest or you'll end up like poor Meiling. She never came back and was eaten by monsters!!' Or worse. She would never be remembered... Her family of course would remember her. But when they pass on, who would be there to remember her?

Her mind was becoming hazy. She could feel her heart beating slower and slower. She was going to suffocate! She felt her eyes close again and her grip loosen on Krad. She wasn’t going to survive. This was it...This was the end...

Suddenly air rushed into her lung, filling them so much she choked and almost fell off the bike. Her grip tightened around Krad once more- her head felt like a rock and she lent it against Krad's back. She looked to the side. Was that a bubble around them? Like a shield of some kind. It was all around them. She turned her head without lifting it from Krad's back to look the other side.

She could feel the tension in Krad's back, as if he was being made to pick up a boulder with nothing but his own strength. His muscles rippled under his clothes. He was so much stronger then her and she was glad that, if she should die, she would not die without him trying to save them with all this strength!

Suddenly the bike shot off. It was speeding across the sand as if it was brand new. The sand flew past them without getting in there eyes. Krad must still have some sort of shield up to protect them from it? Meiling felt a sigh flow through Krad's body, his back relaxed. When he glanced over his shoulder to instinctively moved her head to rest on his other shoulder. She knew what he was looking back at, and she couldn’t help but copy. She turned her head to peek over her own shoulder.

"What... is that...?"

She was shaking to the core. The Sand worm was the biggest thing she had EVER seen. She wouldn’t even doubt the fact that it probably was bigger then her planet!! She tore her eyes away from it. She couldn’t look at it any more. Her hair got in front of her eyes and out of relax she moved her hand to her face to push it out of the way.

She almost lost grip on Krad but the bike was so awesome that it didn’t even wobble. She was quick to cling back to Krad, she didn’t even want to think about being ran over by that worm.

"Meiling...Don't let go."

She pressed herself closer to him, as if trying to become one. She nodded her head against his back, in-between his shoulder blades. She couldn’t speak. Her lungs still burnt from the lack of oxygen only minutes before. The bike shoot off to even higher speeds and Meiling felt her hair whipping about behind her. Her tail had moved around and also wrapped its self around Krad's waist. She didn’t want to fall off and be left behind.

She could hear the worm chasing after them, distorting sand dunes with its mighty body. But her keen ears could also pick something else up in the storm and over the crashing of worm against sand. It was a faint grumble...Similar to the sound of her bike. “K-Krad..” She had to shout to even hear herself. This was the first time she had spoken since leaving the craft. Her voice was sore. She was so tired. She knew the minute this was over her body would probably fall apart. That’s if that worm didn’t pull her apart with his teeth first...

“Krad-...I heard something-” She sounded so unsure of herself. She didn’t know if he would care right now considering he was more concerntrating on not becoming a Free Meal for the monster.

(WC::847)
(OOC:: Sowwie....abit of a shitty post D: )

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[Krad Zephyros]

It didn't seem like there was much more they could do. So they had some distance away from the creature now? It was gaining on them fast. Krad's first instinct was to just go faster, but after looking down at the bike's speedometer, he realized he was already in the red. Just going at this speed alone was threatening to blow the engine. If he went any faster the entire bike would probably just explode. Trying to turn at these speeds would cause the bike to tip over and that would be enough to kill them instantly.

Krad felt like he had no options. He was physically and mentally drained. His muscles and bones ached from the amount of stress he put himself under. In a single day he'd crash-landed in the desert, sustained a Shell big enough for two twice, turned the air around his bike into a hamster wheel, and even now he was still sustaining a dense barrier of wind ahead of the bike so sand and dust wouldn't assault the two riders.

The sounds of the land all slowly began to fade away. Everything was going quiet. Was he going deaf? Or maybe his body was taking away energy from certain senses in order to sustain others? Whatever the case, he could feel the effects of his energy draining. He felt like a cyborg running out of power; slowly shutting down one system at a time. His vision of the already hazy desert was worsening. Fog was forming in his peripherals. His lungs choked. His chest burned. Gritting his teeth he attempted to maintain some sense of feeling, but even that was beginning to fade. There was nothing more he could do. He'd reached his wall: his limit. And because of that, he would die.

“K-Krad..”

Instantly, the spark in his ocean blue eyes illuminated his face. When he heard Meiling's voice, suddenly he could feel her arms wrapped around him. He could feel her chest pressing firmly against his back. But more importantly, he could hear her heartbeat. It was quick and frenzied, but it was strong. It pounded against his back over and over, forcing him to feel the vibrations throughout his exhausted body. That's when he realized it.

He wasn't dead yet.

Krad was never one to give up. He was never one to lay down and die for anyone or anything. He always fought until the last breath. He always fought until he could fight no more. Feeling Meiling's heartbeat. Hearing Meiling's voice. It reminded him that he still had just that much energy left. He still had that much feeling lingering within his body. He still had that much will to live. Because if he just gave up, it wouldn't only mean the end of him, but her as well. He would not let her die like that. He would not let her die because of his own weakness.

“Krad-...I heard something-”

Her ears hadn't failed them yet. Krad fueled himself with enough energy to check the surrounding area. Nothing to the left, but to the right... to the right he could see something. He could see a lot of somethings. At the moment they were too far away for him to clearly distinguish, but he could tell they were heading straight for them. And he could see weapons. Had the cavalry arrived? At this rate they wouldn't even come close to reaching him in time. Not unless Krad found a way to get to them. And that's when he saw it.

"ALRIGHT!" Krad shouted with a new found will to live. He leaned slightly to the left, angling the bike towards a sand dune just ahead of them. His plan was to use it as a ramp and launch himself up on the air. Then, using another dune just fifty yards from the ramp, he would angle his landing so that he would slope out to the right and completely change direction. There were so many flaws with that plan. For one, the two seconds of him hitting the dune and traveling upward would be two seconds less than his current forward movement, thus slowing him down. Then, the landing. Even if he managed to, by some stroke of sheer luck, land the way he envisioned himself landing, As soon as he would start his forward progression, the sand worm would take them out like a freight train. Even still, this was the only chance he had. "LET'S GOO!!"

He pulled back, lifting the front of the bike as they zoomed up the dune. "DON'T LET GO!" Just as he predicted, the bike slowed immensely and the worm seemed to pick up three times as much speed as it originally had. Then, something strange happened. Something that Krad hadn't expected. Something that was so unlikely to happen and so ironic all at the same time, one would never guess that such a thing could happen again.

One of the magical torpedoes launched by the creature just reached the hover bike and, just as Krad and Meiling reached the peak of the sand dune, it shot straight up and exploded, decimating the entire dune, but at the same time, creating a shock wave that actually pushed the bike farther than it would have gone if it'd just jumped normally. Even still, the bike was now back-flipping. Krad had to stabilize it, but as he did so, he could see the second torpedo and all its magical energy distort the space nearly arm's reach away from the side of his face. He stared in amazement as time seemed to slow down and he watched the majestic bolt of pure energy sail past the two of them and higher into the sky.

Krad completed the arial back-flip and managed to angle the bike so that it would land at a downward-sloping slant angling to the right. He did his best to complete the right turn, ending at the bottom of the dune at a 90 degree angle. Not even a half of a second after landing and clearing the dune, the entire universe behind them was wiped out instantly as the worm surged through like an unstoppable bullet-train.

They dodged the massive beast, and now they were headed straight towards the mysterious figures out in the horizon. Krad felt uneasy now. Who were these beings that were approaching and were they even on his side? Aside from that, he knew the worm wasn't done chasing them. How much further could he keep this game of cat-and-mouse going before both he and Meiling became its next Free Meal?

Word Count: 1,104
OOC: I liked the reference made to Getting A Free Meal lol. Also, hope you dont mind the tad bit of God Modding, if you even consider it God Moding. Let me know if you feel violated and want me to change the post a bit.

[Amy Heatherfield]

The Sand Worm must have sounded like a tornado. Which sounds like a train. Which sounds like the Sand Worm.

He shot towards them. Five of his missiles were already gone. Two actually reached the mark, but failed. The other three had been destroyed by miscellaneous obstacles such as large dunes or larger skeletons. Even without the aid of magic, he blasted through. A surge of disappointment coursed its way through his advanced brain. He had missed consuming the meatlings by two feet. That's unimaginably small if you happen to be a Sand Worm.

He howled in rage, making the deafening noise a step above ear shattering. Magic radiated from his body like a heat wave. It formed into groups and once again shot off towards the bike. Instead of going underground, they simply flew through the air like askew fireworks. Twenty spells went through the air, they shuddered, twitched, sparked, and rapidly changed from one bright color to the next. They were hell bent and intended on getting there. Screams of pure rage seemed to be emanating from the mass as if furious banshees had joined in on the attack.

The Sand Worm continued for a second or two, then raised the front of his body into the air. He quickly arched down and shot underground. A small tremor spread throughout the desert as he tunneled. With an unbelievable speed, he rounded out back towards his targets, then shot back into the air.

The tunnel left behind was so close to the surface that it immediately collapsed. A great guffaw of dust and sand flooded into the air which only made it look murkier. It seemed to be a domino effect as the ground began to slip away. It poured further down and the gap widened faster than anything else going on right that moment.

Everything seemed to be a mess. The ground was slipping away, rumbling and roaring and adding to the overall chaos. Magic bolts came from the earth and the sky, each one centered on a simple mechanical bike slowly moving through the desert. The worm had traveled a number of yards into the air, and had begun his final decent towards his prey. This last strike would be unavoidable, it was all over.


Except for one factor. Four dune bikes flew into sight, giant bazooka looking weapons in the hands of the figures who were driving. Each bike had one Tenovem on top. They were clad in the blackest of black armor. Their wings were loosely wrapped in black tape, and they had varying pouches and pockets around their bodies. Their torso was adorned with nice bullet proof vests, just for added protection.

In unison, the Special Forces team aimed their bazookas. In a matter of seconds, they had come through the murk of the desert. Through storms and hills. Not a cacti lived within the ancient, withered sand of the desert. Not a single leaf fluttered about and not a single insect burrowed down. The place was lifeless besides things like this Sand Worm.

The bazookas fired, but a giant explosion didn't erupt. A giant shock wave emanated from the weapons and it quickly engulfed the area. All the spells so quickly encroaching were completely wiped away. The giant monster landed short and seemed to stop in place for a second. That was all the time they needed. Two bikes were on either side, and all four curved away from the monster and drove back from where they had come from, narrowly avoiding the growing pit.

Two more bikes shot out from behind the dunes and began to fire with giant, mounted gatling guns. They aimed for the dangerous claws that were writhing around so wildly. With the magics disabled, the worm was all but defeated. They weaved back and forth. First they went down the sides, then back up. They had to make sure each claw stayed paralyzed.

The last of the Special Forces arrived. Two bikes came at a slightly slower speed from behind a dune. They were going straight for the front of the Sand Worm. They were about to hit it dead on, which probably seemed crazy. But actually, the Tenovems were heading down on either side. They were also connected by the one long blade that they had in their armored hands, like a huge sideways gallow. They were about to slice the monster in half. The gun bikes ceased fire and returned back with the rest of the group.

The original four had reached Zeph and were attempting to get him to stop his bike. With their black armor, odd helmets, and goggles, they likely seemed just as bad the worm they were attempting to kill. But one of the Tenovems rode up next to the bike. He had a deep, smooth voice that went deep down into your mind. It made you understand.

He spoke at a normal register that somehow carried to the pair of escapees. "Please stop your bike, we are not here to harm you. We are a Special Forces rescue squad and we were assigned to stop this worm and help any victims. From those wounds you have miss, you must be a vic-" He was cut off by a grand shriek.


He had no time to move, he was done for. The Tenovem's blade was just in front of him. As it started to cut into his great maw, a roar escaped his body. More than a roar, it seemed as if it was a scream of despair and desperation. It was the loudest sound made that day.

[WC:936]
[OOC: I build em' up and I tear em' down.]

[Meiling]

"ALRIGHT!" [/i]

Just the confidence in Krad's voice calmed Meiling's heart slightly. It was still beating around crazily in her chest, but what else would you expect? She suddenly felt Krad's body lean to the side and at first her instinct was to lean away. She was fearful of tipping the bike over and flying into the sad at this speed would be very painful. But then she realised she had to trust him. He was her only hope. She cling to him a close as she could and leant, like a shadow she copied his every move.

"LET'S GOO!! DON'T LET GO!" [/i]

The bike bucked up. She couldn’t see over his shoulder so she couldn’t see what was coming. Before she knew what was happening they where in the air. She felt a shock wave against her back but continued to keep her head against Krad's back. It didn’t matter if she trusted him or not. She was stuck with his decision, good or bad. She felt the bike travelling too far forwards. She could feel the panic drowning her. They would land on there head and hopefully be killed instantly. If not they would then be devoured by that thing.

Before she knew it they where on the ground again. Her arms where numb from holding on so tightly. She left light headed. She could hear the beast behind them.

The suddenly blackness came over. It was dead silent. Then the noise came back, piercing her ears and made her yelp in pain. The light stung her eyes. The blackout was only a few seconds but I'm sure Krad would of felt her grip loosen for those seconds. It was now howling behind them. She just wanted it to be over.

Meiling glanced over her shoulder to see the beast lift itself into the air and burrow into the sand. She returned her head to Krad's back as she heard the creature destroy the landscape behind them. That’s when they came. They where here to rescue them?! This is fantastic. They weren’t going to die after all. It was going to be okay...

If that was the case why was Krad continuing on and not stopping. She left the light headedness come over her again and glanced to her side. There was a man. He was speaking. She couldn’t understand him. She could hear him, which was strange enough as it is with them being in a sandstorm, but she couldn’t understand anything he said. He was speaking gibberish. She just hoped him and his gang where friendly.

"Please stop your bike, we are not here to harm you. We are a Special Forces rescue squad and we were assigned to stop this worm and help any victims. From those wounds you have miss, you must be a vic-"

It pierced Meiling's ears so violently. It was so painful and she drug her head into Krad back and let out a scream. Her ears where so much more sensitive then these humans. She couldn’t hear anything. It was like being in a glass box. And that’s when the corners of the vision started to blur again into blackness.

She had lost a lot of blood and now that she thought the danger was over her body was starting to realise what damage it was in. Her fingertips lost grip of Krad's waist. One second she was pressed close to Krad's back, the next she was gone. Blackness came over her as she fell backwards off the bike. It was still going pretty fast so when she hit the sand it was like hitting tarmac, not that Meiling would know what tarmac was. The sand peeled skin away from her arms and stomach.

She rolled many times until she came to a stop, laid on the stomach and limp.

…..

The blackness cleared and she felt the hot sand burning her skin. She moved to roll onto her back. Amazingly enough nothing was broken. That was twice she had been so lucky, but she was too weak to even move. She just laid there, waiting for the beast to come and eat her. She didn’t realise the thing was now being cut up. She still couldn’t hear anything. She would not be able to hear its blood-curdling screams of pain.

She closed her eyes. The sandstorm blew sand into her wound and her eyes. She had gained a few new wounds from hitting the sand, and now the sand was stained red underneath her. An image came to her minds eye. She saw Krad. He had tried so hard to protect her. She would be in-debt to him for the rest of her live...that’s if she survived.

Suddenly it kicked in. she curled up a little into the fetal position and let out her own screams of pain. She coughed up blood onto the sand. She was too disoriented to move any more. She called for Krad, but she couldn’t hear her own voice. She sobbed his name with gritted teeth.

(WC:: 842)
(OOC:: I feel kinda bad for the wormy now D:)

[/size][/color]

[Krad Zephyros]

Krad was rolling on pure adrenaline. His blood was pumping so hard, and his heart was pounding so strongly it felt like he was a water-balloon ready to explode. Everything hurt. His arms, his legs, his muscles, his very spirit. His caramel body glistened with sweat produced by adrenaline. Every muscle in his body was tense and detailed. His eyes no longer shimmered with the light of a lively human. No, their light was dim; dark even, like a hurricane deep in the center of a mighty ocean.

Those mysterious being zoomed past Krad and his bike with such speed, it was like they weren't even aiming for him. Could they be heading towards the worm? Krad didn't want to look back. He didn't want to stop. Every instinct in his body told him to just keep going. Keep going. Keep going! He could hear noises in the background, but his mind was so focused on escape it devoted little efforts into processing these seemingly unnecessary sounds. It was then that, in the corner of his eye, he noticed one of the mysterious buggies was approaching from the side.

Krad eye locked on to the driver with such raw fury and determination. His eye looked something other than human. It looked demonic almost. He gave off such an energy, such a high-level of killing-intent it could almost be seen forming a barrier around him and his passenger. If this person made on wrong move; one slight action Krad took as hostile, the warrior was prepared to defend himself.

"Please stop your bike, we are not here to harm you. We are a Special Forces rescue squad and we were assigned to stop this worm and help any victims. From those wounds you have miss, you must be a vic-" The person's voice fell deaf in the presence of such a shriek. It was as if all the skies in heaven were torn like sheet paper, this sound was so loud. It had to be the worm. Krad's ears were ready to bleed, but in his mind, he knew that which made an attempt at his life was bleeding, which put his heart slightly at ease, at least, until he realized a weight was being lifted from his body.

It was strange that his adrenaline was fading so fast. In fact, he didn't believe it was that at all. He happened to focus his energy and glace back, and that's when he caught a glimpse of a hand slipping away from him.

Meiling was falling!

In one swift motion, Krad ripped the bike into a hard ninety degree angle and leaned sideways towards the falling Myrthra. He wanted to scream out for her, but everything was happening so fast, the time it would take his voice to rise through his throat and reach the outside world, everything would have been over. No time to think. No time to react. She was too small, too frail to survive this kind of fall, so he leapt from the bike after her.

It was like a dream frozen in time. The entire world seemed to fade away. The sound, the feeling, everything was gone. It felt like they weren't even moving. Krad and Meiling were just two entities frozen in space; one reaching out for the other in an attempt to reach her before she hit the sand below. He was completely extended outward with his right arm at least a foot away from her body. He was too far away. He couldn't reach her. And then.

Black.

Was this what death felt like? Just... nothing? One moment you experience a sickening amouut of adrenaline, and then the next... just nothing. No pain, no fear, no conscious thought. Just... nothing. But then... something. He felt something hit him. It felt like a body. Was it Meiling? Reacting, Krad pulled the body into his arms and held tightly, and that's when the feeling returned, but he wished it didn't. His skin was on fire as the grands of sand tore into his flesh. He crashed, bashed, and rolled against the sand, which felt harder than stone at this speed. What made matters worse was the added weight of the body he clung too pounding against him every time he hit the ground. He didn't care though. He could feel her hair in his face. He could feel the fur of her tail against his leg. He wouldn't let her go no matter what. He would die with her in his arms, and they would have to pry her out of his cold, dead, grip.

He could hear the hover bike, which probably overturned when he jumped off, flipping and skipping against the sand as well just as hard and rapidly as the two of them were. He couldn't tell how long he fell through this death-roll. He couldn't tell how many times he rolled or crashed, or bounced. But now, at least, it felt like it was over. He wasn't moving anymore. His skin burned, and he could feel a hot liquid running down his arms, legs, and head. He dared not open his eyes. He hadn't the energy to spare. Though there was something that did give him peace. He felt a movement in the core of his body, where he held Meiling. She twitched, the churned and curled into a ball after letting out a call that sounded like his name.

She was safe...

The young adventurer let out a soft smile as he felt all his life energy fade away from him. He did what he felt was right, he protected her life with all his energy. He was able to relax and allow himself to no longer feel any pain or stress. The world then quickly breathed out of his body. He could no longer feel the winds or the sands beneath him. Everything was tranquil and serene. Finally, as if a long day;s work was finally completed, his body rested, and his mind faded to the darkness...

Finally... at rest...

Word Count: 1,010
OOC: For the win.