Deox Wars: Departure (Editing!)

Chapter Two

        Water lapped at Hyli's fingertips, waking her. Her hair and fur were covered in sand and her entire body felt as though it weighed a ton. She forced herself into an upright position, then looked around frantically for her friends.

"Nikolos?" She called out over the empty beach. "Dmitri, Agni, Ascher!"

"You!"

Not expecting a response from so close, Hyli twisted around to see the winged woman crouched a few feet away, an arrow aimed between her eyes.

"This is all your fault!" The woman growled. "You protected him, now look at what he's done!"

"My fault?!" Hyli shot back with a glare. "Ash hasn't done anything wrong! You're the one threatening people here!"

"You don't know anything! You're meddling in things you can't possibly understand!"

"Hey!" Hyli's attention turned away from the blonde woman to Quetzal, who appeared from around a small cliff carrying Valterra. "Is she okay?"

The Drachen looked surprised for a moment at her concern, then gave her a small, grateful smile.

"Yeah, she's fine. Thanks."

The white wolf, Curan, appeared then, brushing sand out of his hair.

"This is..." He began with an uncertain look around.

"A different world." Saniel finished grimly.

"We're on a different world?!" Agnion appeared beside Hyli in his usual burst of flames, with Dmitri, Ascher, and Nikolos in tow. The Animali lion was carrying Ash, who had fallen unconscious.

"It certainly doesn't look like Deox." Ascher agreed.

"Quetzal, Curan!" The winged woman snapped. "We're going now."

Curan was happy to oblige, but Quetzal's hesitation was apparent.

"Wait, we're going to leave them?"

"They are not my concern, and have no place in our matters." She told him shortly.

"That's cold, Lady Saniel!"

"Quiet! Do not speak my name!"

"This is an unfamiliar world to you as well, right?" Nikolos began slowly. "...Lady Saniel, is it? Perhaps it would be best if we stayed together. Strength in numbers."

She fixed him with a stern look, then heaved an irritated sigh.

"Very well. But I refuse to fight alongside primitive weapons. Here."

She held out several pendants, identical to the ones she and Ash wore, save for the fact that they came in a wide variety of colors.

"What do they do?" Agnion asked warily.

"I'm not going to make huge portals, am I?" Hyli eyed her pendant almost fearfully.

"They're living weapons," Saniel explained. "Weapons that can take on a human form."

"Whoa, really!?"

Hyli wrapped the thin thread around her neck, where it hung just below her collar. A tall man with dark hair appeared beside her almost instantly, startling her.

"Yo," He grinned. "I'm Durendal, The Unbreakable Blade." He bowed, and Hyli waved at him shyly.

The other weapons joined their partners in the same fashion, and introduced themselves.

"Svalinn. The Shield Before the Sun." The blonde woman with icy blue eyes bowed to Agnion.

"Gungnir! The Allfather's Lance!" Nikolos' partner, a young girl with short blue hair clung to the prince excitedly.