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Yeidaan village of Nelismeyn, The land of Aster, year 4000 e.y.
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Screams filled the air, causing the child who stood staring out through the window to shiver in horror. There was no question in her mind as to the reason for such fear, for outside the sanctuary of the Town Center, the Yeidaan's village looked like something out of a nightmare. It was as if the whole world had gone completely mad, for everywhere she looked she could see the trees, the grass, and even the ground itself filled with an uncanny murderous life. They were moving freely, wreaking havoc upon her village home by grasping building and Yeidaan alike with their strong vines and stony grips, and tearing them apart as easily as if they were made of paper. Even so, she knew this was not the worst possible scenario to occur. At least THEY weren't there yet.

The young one turned her face from the carnage. She could feel her stomach churning from the sight of it, and she dearly hoped that she wouldn't be sick in front of the other children, who numbered about twenty or so. They were terrified enough as it was. "It's not looking good." The girl admitted to them frankly, trying to keep her voice brave. She had to remain calm. If they sensed the hysteria in her tone, they would lose what little semblance of order they had, and that was the only thing keeping them quiet and safe form the attention of the monsters outside. "But don't worry," She assured them hastily, following this train of though. "We're going to be sent to the newly built sky and sea cities soon. We're just waiting for the adults to finish setting things up."

The younger children still didn't quite understand what was going on, however, and one of them looked up at her with his watery brown, puppy-like eyes. He was obviously from the Aro clan. When he spoke up, his velvety little voice was teary and afraid. "Why did they bring me away from my home? Where is my family?"

The girl reached over and patted him fondly on the head. "They brought you here to make sure you would be sent off as soon as possible. There are a lot of kids in your clan, so they had to split the group a bit to speed things up. Your family is probably getting ready to be transferred to their destination, just like us." They wouldn't be here much longer either, she knew. But would the adults manage to get the pods set up before the monsters got to them?

Another child shifted closer to the older girl and glanced fearfully at the window. She couldn't see out of it from her seat on the floor, but the sounds that penetraded the walls around them were enough to keep her from any such inclinations of curiosity. "

"Nothing you need to be told about, dear." She assured the wide eyed toddler, despite the fact that she had no idea herself. She was only parroting exactly what the adults had told her when she had asked them the same things.

One of the older boys laughed sarcastically at this display, causing her to suddenly feel very self conscious about her mimicked words. "You sound just like a mother!" He teased. "Good thing you're in charge."

"Why AM I in charge, anyway?" She asked grumpily, quick to shift the subject away from the mockery.

"Because you're eight-hundred years old, so you're the oldest." Replied the boy. He was named Haurtalla, the girl recalled, and she found his cynical nature in the face of this trauma to be quite irritating.

"But Jes is eight-hundred, too."

The boy in question, Jeszrik, shook his head. "I'm only seven-hundred-and-eighty-five."

The girl folded her arms across her chest. "Oh, big difference."

"Actually---"

But Haurtalla never got to finish his remark. At that very moment a middle-aged woman burst into the room and quickly barred the door behind her. "Hurry now, little ones. The time has come. We must get you out of here now." She said to the children as she rushed them to the back door, scooping up a few of the tinier ones as she went. Some of the children that aged in the seven-hundreds also picked up the smallest of their numbers.

The girl whispered soothingly to the quietly whimpering child in her arms. "Shh, it will be alright, It'll all be okay." She stroked the little girl's soft, copper coloured hair, glad that she was not openly wailing, as that would surely have given them away. She shuddered at the thought, and was surprised to feel a hand comfortingly pat her shoulder. Turning, she found herself looking at Jeszrik, who was cradling a toddler with one of his arms, and he gave her an encouraging smile and a gentle push forward. She sped up slightly as he had indicated with the motion, thinking to herself as she went that he really should have been put in charge after all.

Haurtalla was struggling with two wiggly toddlers. "Hey, Je-" he began, but once again he was not able to complete his thought. A howl of rage burst from something about forty yards behind them.

They had been spotted.

"They're here! Run, little ones!" The woman cried. They didn't need to be told twice. The children broke into a rapid dash for the platform before them. They were fast. The Yeidaan were extremely agile. Unfortunately, so were the creatures that were closing in on them. Thirty yards behind. Now twenty-five.

The Woman glanced behind her to see how close their pursuers were. She didn't like what she saw. With a few quick movements she handed her burdens off to one of the older children and turned to face the enemy, calling over her shoulder. "Keep going! Don't stop and don't look back!"

She narrowed her eyes and focused on the invaders. Fifteen yards. Ten. Eight. Now! In a matter of seconds her face enlongated and her body stooped so low that her hands were touching the ground,and her legs were bent behind her in a crouching position. Her gray streaked sandy blond hair grew and spread all over her body, which was now growing in size. Rather than her clothes bursting from the strain, they seemed to disappear and become a part of her, as if adding to the growing amounts of sinew in her body. The grizzled lioness stood ready to defend the platform.

And not a moment too soon, for the enemy was upon her. The lioness snarled and lashed out with her claws at the front runner. Her aim was precise and her limbs were powerful. He fell to the ground with his shredded intestines spilling out of the opening in his belly, realeasing their contents on the grass beneath him. Another choked over the blood gushing from the place where his throat had been only seconds before. The lioness quickly dispatched him, lest he keep going. They weren't the sort to cease their attack for anything short of death. They couldn't.

Blood stained both the grass and her fur as she continued to cut down their numbers left and right. A look over her shoulder told her that the children were just reaching the platform. The oldest of the girls also turned to look at the lioness. The lioness in the center of all of that blood and gore. Aghast at what the child would be seeing, she shouted across the distance at her. "What are you doing?! I told you not to--!" She yowled in pain and surprise as she was sent skidding on her side for several yards. She could feel one of her hind legs snap, as well as chunks of fur and skin being ripped off by twigs and sharp stones that passed beneath her in the process. Her head was spinning. Her left eye was destroyed, probably from whatever had hit her. It was over and she knew it. She searched frantically to see if the girl was still looking. It was hard to see with the blood dripping over her one good eye. Had she gotten a wound on her scalp, too? No..it was her ear, or rather her lack thereof. It had been ripped off somewhere along her route of projection. She had been in too much pain all over to notice it.

At last she spotted her. The girl's eyes were wide as she watched the creatures close the gap between them and the Lioness; watched as they surrounded their prey; watched as they laid their hands upon her. The lioness may have said something to her then, or perhaps she was just screaming with fear. The girl didn't know. All she knew was that they were grabbing the lioness and yanking at her flesh. No, they were tearing her flesh from her bones. Now it was clear that she was screaming, since she could be easily heard from the platform. The screams of someone being eaten alive.

The girl gulped and ran a few steps toward the lioness with her arm outstretched. "Matraia! Matri!" She sobbed as she cried out for her mother in the tongue of Aster. But her mother could not be saved. One of the adults, who had been placing each child in the center of a small circle that adorned the platform, made as if to grab the girl, but Jeszrik made it to her first. The boy caught her gently yet firmly by the shoulders and pulled her away from the horrific sight, steering her toward one of the circles. She sat in it's center while he sat in the one next to her's. "Just relax." He said to her in as soothing a manner as he could manage."We can't be holding everyone else back. Everything will be fine, okay?"

He had spoken to soon. Not a second after the words had left his mouth then did something make impact near the back of the platform, and more followed thereafter. They were stones and boulders that the rage infected plants were throwing at the escaping Yeidaan. All around her the girl could hear screams of pain and terror, but clouds of dust shrouded her vision. But she still could make out the voice of Li, steadily telling her to remain calm.

"Hurry! Release all of the pods!" A man's voice cried. In a matter of seconds each circle rose up and became an amber coloured sphere around the child at their center. A series of whirs momentarily drowned out all other sounds before the pods shot into the sky like beads. The girl looked desperately at the face of Jesrik in his own pod not far away. They were being sent to the same place. That was good at least. They smiled weakly at each other.

Then something happened that would stick in her mind for ages. A boulder made impact with Jeszrik's bead and sent it spinning downward. She cried out in panic. "Jes!!"

Before his pod plunged out of sight, she heard the boy answer her cry. "Nyxira!"