MickeyAdaptus

+You will be thanking me big time after I am done with what I am about to do.+ The voice said to Maple through the radio. As around 20 soldiers were getting closer towards Haymaker, suddenly something happenend... A rocket impacted straight into the middle of the enemy group, 5 getting killed from the rocket explosion, the 15 other ones tried to locate the source, but they didn't have enough time to find it yet, as most of the soldiers got riddled with a hailstorm of bullets. Upon on one of the far sandhills stood a Mech, it was an enemy mech, but it wasn't piloted by an enemy, but somebody else. The remaining enemy soldiers tried to shoot at the mech, but their bullets didn't have any effect againts its armour. And they grew more desperate as the mech kept approaching them while tanking all those bullets, but not even using its gun to fire back, which obviously was used as a humiliation tactic. The nearest soldier tried to run away, but it got crushed under the Mech's mechanical leg that stepped on the enemy and then finished off the last remaining for with its Gatling gun. It then started to attack the scorpion creatures with a combination of using its Gatling gun and using its mechanical feet to crush them under it. But the drones had no good way of damaging the Mech either due to its armour, where the drones were only equipped with anti-infantry weaponry. +D-did that Mech just help us?+ Amriel said trough the radio with disbelief. +It seems like it, but I can't seem to really figure out who is inside of it...+ The Vernomian said trough the radio. "Just keep firing at the drones, but if you feel that you are losing focus, stop firing, there is no use in firing when your focus would end up sloppy and would miss most of your rounds, wasting the precious ammo that is already hard to find nowadays," Enoch advised to Festus. "But also make sure to stay in cover."

Congrats

As they were shooting at the drones, it seemed Enoch has managed to destroy one with his sniper, and the other one was already damaged by Festus his shots, so it didn't take much for his sniper to destroy the damaged drone. "I noticed your way of firing from afar, but I will give you some good advice when in such a position, aim with 2 hands, look down the iron sight and fire in short burst, that will have more effect if you do that from longer ranges, your current method works better at close quarters," Amriel told Festus with a smile, as he then turned back to firing short burst at the enemy from afar with his rifle. All the while Maple was attacking the drone that was getting destroyed by her claws. +Martyrdom and Haymaker, try to wrap up things there fast, multiple individuals are inbound soon and you don't be caught in the open like that when they arrive.+ The leader said trough the radio, +Sir, you might want to pull them back, NOW.+ Enoch said to the radio with urgency. +Why? What is going, Enoch?+ The leader said replied back. +Those inbound individuals that you mentioned aren't just a few, but a good amount of them, Haymaker and Martyrdom shouldn't attack that one with the formation that they currently have.+ Enoch said back. +So do you have a better idea, Enoch? You better spill it out now.+ The leader demanded. +Pull them back, and get everyone together, give us a proper formation in which we can attack all at once from range with a mixture of melee in front. The way that we are attacking now is too uncoordinated, some of us are shooting, some of us are fighting melee and are at different spots altogether, that isn't going to mix well in this situation. Not to mention that the newcomers aren't us their radio's, which could risk them to fall apart from our strategy.+ Enoch warned. +Right, Haymaker and Martyrdom, kill what you can and then pull back asap, we are merging squads into one big group again, this isn't going to work out, while some of you are working together, it isn't going to work out well if this teamwork is only shared among some individuals, instead of an entire team like it should be.+ The leader said with a sigh. +Regroup back at the hill, we are going to work as a big group again from that point on forward.+ He said. +The calvary has arrived!+ Suddenly sounded through the radio channels. +Who said that?+ The leader asked with confusion.

The group of Haymaker was opening fire upon the scorpion creatures, while at the same type slowly advancing a bit back in order to keep distance. But these scorpion creatures where with alot, around 60, which would apparently be fatal to meet in close combat as the moment you would try to attack the others one could swarm you at that very same time, hence why Haymaker was trying to keep their distance. +Haymaker, back up! Keep your distance from those things.+ The leader said trough the radio. +Martyrdom, status, what of the Chameleons?+ He asked. +They are still around sir, But Ember managed to kill one, and Enoch had managed to kill another, but there are still 2 or more around.+ Merra said trough the radio. But things suddenly turned for a worse, Haymaker suddenly got under fire by enemy forces who had managed to approach without much problems since the scorpion creatures already have Haymaker busy. +Under fire!+ Arkan shouted through the radio channel. +Haymaker, keep advancing back, but keep on slaying those scorpion things! Martyrdom, forget about the Chameleon's for now, engage those enemy soldiers at once, or else Haymaker will be wiped out! Razor Edge, provide fire support for Haymaker and Martyrdom!+ The leader ordered through the radio. Some of the Scorpion creatures tried to attack Maple, 3 from behind where trying to climb on her back to reach her wiring. While 8 scorpion creatures in front of her were heading towards her. What made this an impressive feat was for the fact that while these creatures were acting very much like animals, they did have some remarkable instincts, as these scorpion creatures where specifically seeking out Maple's wiring. Tough this instinct was probably meant to instead to be used againts vehicles instead. 4 drones, armed with Gatling guns appeared above the battlefield, not that high in the air but still high enough to get a decent view of seeing who to attack. And attacking they did, as they started splitting up, where 2 drones started to attack Martyrdom, attacking members of that group including Ember, but even though they where drones, they where not nearly as durable as vehicles such as Mech's or the more advanced drones, these ones could be destroyed by bullets or melee weapons just fine, but would still require some good effort. Enoch was looking scope, as he then started firing at the drones that were heading towards him.

For me, it is constantly warm, cold, warm, cold. Tough I heard this week it might become -10 degrees. So pretty cold soon.

Everyone has taken positions and they were now waiting for the enemy to come closer. +Alright, we are in position, now sound off.+ The leader said trough the radio. +Haymaker ready.+ Was heard on the radio. +Martyrdom ready.+ +Razor Edge ready and with full focus." +Right, now we wait for them to arrive, I will give the orders trough.+ The leader said. After 5 minutes of waiting for only a small outline of the war machine could be seen in the distance, and even from far away it looked massive, but the enemy vanguards seemed to move further ahead then the machine itself. +Toshkin, how close are they now?+ The leader asked. +They are getting close sir, only-+ He wasn't able to finish his sentence and let out some sort of dead gasp before going silent completely. +Toshkin? Toshkin come in! What happenend to him?+ The leader asked with anger. +He is gone sir, they seem to have sent out cloaked units, Aka Chameleons and trough my scope I only notice some vague outlines before the creature managed to get away.+ Enoch said. +Right, Haymaker, be on guard and check your surroundings. Martyrdom, take cover and wait for my mark, but be on guard as well.+ The leader ordered. But something was going on... And it became apparent real fast, Haymaker squad had to get into fast action, as infected scorpion creatures where swarming towards that group with a good amount of them. But Haymaker wasn't the only one who was under attack, Martyrdom had been targetted as well, but not by those scorpion things, but rather those cloaked enemies wich where referred to as *Chameleons*, which seemed to have been a smart move by the enemy, as some of those creatures had managed to track down the hiding squad without being seen due to their invisibility. 3 Chameleons suddenly charged straight into the squad, only vague outlines of their body where visible when they where really close, but one thing was for certain, the weapons they had where very deadly, as they seemed extremely similar to Maple's Lighting Claws, it could have even been where Maple's claws had come from when Caerson had built her that body. But Razor Edge wasn't that lucky either, because one of the other chameleons had managed to sneak up to the place where Razor Edge was at, and at a sudden move, the Chameleon tackled Festus from the behind, making the 2 of them tumble down a sandhill, only for the chameleon to jump on Festus and Roar in his face, even though the outlines where only visible, the sight of that alone gave it a very menacing appearance, and it didn't help that the breath of the creature was very foul. It was about to strike Festus in the face when suddenly it got blown off him, and a very loud shot rang across the area. Enoch had seen it happen and had shot through the creature's skull with his sniper, saving Festus his life at the very last moment. "You alright there kid?" He asked Festus as he called out from where he was as he got back in looking through his scope, aiming at the enemies from afar. One thing could be gathered from this, these creatures had noticed Festus his fear, and acted out on its instinct, attacking those with fear seemed to be an easier prey then attacking someone who had no fear at all.

"That is acceptable, just make sure you stay close to the others, alot of moving might be necessary." The leader replied to Festus his statement. He then looked at the others. "Alright, I will be splitting this group into 3 smaller groups, first one will be called Haymaker, the second one will be called Martyrdom, and the third one will be called Razor Edge. These names are just for the sake of making it easier to designate a specific group. "Now... Equip these to your ears, these are tiny radio communicators, where you can talk to each other via distance. But some of you who have served in the early days of this war are no strangers to this method." He said as he handed them out to everyone. "Haymaker will be on the front lines, attacking the enemy and drawing their attention at the same time." "Meanwhile Martyrdom will be laying behind cover and ambush the enemy once all of their attention is focused on Haymaker. While Razor Edge will provide fire support from afar." "Now I will list who will join what group. In Haymaker are, Toshkin, Maple, Arkan, Martin, and Elavor." "In Martyrdom will be, Torvan, Ember, Merra, Iliana and... It seems someone is absent... before we had left the others there was one more person listed to be in our group, oh well... Can't do anything about it now." "And in Razor Edge will be, Amriel, Enoch, and lastly Festus, who had requested to be farther removed from the fight, so that will make a good spot." The leader said. "Now... Take positions, and when ready, we will do a fast roll call through the Radio's, to make sure everyone is present and ready!" Everyone started to take positions, as there wasn't much cover in the desert except for occasional big rocks and sand dunes. It would prove to be a difficult battle.

"She is right, you could try to use an axe as big as a mountain and it still wouldn't do anything, as these things have been crafted from a material far stronger than steel since they have utilized this same material on their other vehicles as well," Enoch mentioned. "And while it may have a weakness, it is a weakness that none of us could even reach in the first place, you would need a type of firepower that would be very strong, something that nobody could just carry around with bare hands. We are talking about weaponry that would require being mounted on a vehicle or a big person like a full-grown Vernomian at the very least. Weaponry that we don't even have in the first place." He said as he shook his head. "We are brainstorming to much about something that we cannot change, regardless of what we would pull off. Not saying that it is totally impossible, but trying to think of a 1000 scenarios on how we could attempt to destroy the war machine without explosives really won't do much except waste the precious time that we have left. We should be using this time to prepare an ambush, take care of the vanguard leading the Warmachine and along the way we might see an opening that we could use to atleast slow down the machine, make use of the terrain, anything really. But rather on the basis that we are doing this safe, no heroic sacrifices among us for a battle that won't decide much, in the end, remember that Karthspire mentioned multiple ones being told off. Just because that those other war machines are far, far away from here or the city, doesn't mean that we not might encounter them in the future." "Enoch is correct, we should use the time that we have left to prepare an ambush, does anybody have a preferred role? Any ideas would be helpful because we don't have much time left. And we didn't exactly have time to come up with something before because a certain someone forgot the explosives." The leader mentioned.

"Alright, Everyone, gather around!" Someone said, who assumingly was the one who was going to lead the attack. The others started to gather, and so a form of planning started to plan. But there was a problem going on... "Could you gather the explosives?" He asked to one of the soldiers, but then came a comment from the person who Maple had kicked before. "Um... I... had forgotten to bring them..." The person stated with a guilty but nervous look, and he receives almost furious looks back. There was a real screw up apparent.

"Who knows, anything could happen at this point, we got some major factions on our side, and a full combination between all of those armies combined might make a good stand, but we cannot deny the fact that many are going to die regardless. Mainly the survivors who are scattered throughout planets. They do not have the luxury of life as much as we do, and are in a sore disadvantage when it comes to weaponry and even things like food and water, a bed, anything, let alone the fact manpower." The Vernomian mentioned. "Yeah, no kidding, it must feel bad, knowing that you have to are on your own, knowing that you are going to die very likely, but not know how. It is the sad truth that most of us have to venture on our own due to this damnable war, or well... I could hardly call it war in their state, more like an apocalypse." The Raukan said with sadness. Suddenly everyone becomes quiet, and the ears of Enoch started to twitch a bit. "Do you guys hear that?" The Raukan said nervously. "What is it? Enoch, are you hearing something specific?" The Vernomian asked, only the Terrand and Raukan present where able to hear this sound due to their catlike ears. "Some sort thumping, it is very faint, but i can hear it coming from far away, but you know as well as I do know what it is. That war machine, it is heading towards this direction." Enoch said as he stood up and looked into the distance. "Here? Did it find us?" The Rauken exclaimed "No, I doubt it, I presume it is walking to this direction for other reasons, the most likely one is that its destination much is towards this direction, and we happen to be in its path," Enoch mentioned. "This is unexpected, but nothing that we aren't prepared for, so what you think we might encounter there? There is no way that they won't have a form of a vanguard that protects the war machine from ambushes." The Vernomian. "Most likely Foot soldiers, all of them ranged, with some carrying anti-vehicle weaponry, accompanied by a detachment of drones, most of them being smaller ones, while there might be 2 bigger ones with heavy weaponry. That is my guess. But they are still far away." Enoch mentioned. "So I can assume that Melee combat will only be effective at the foot soldiers, and the smaller drones perhaps, but againts the bigger drones and the war machine it will be out of the question. This is going to be interesting, we might have to prepare some sort of ambush, that way the explosives might serve a better purpose then we originally intended them to do." The vernomian mentioned as he started to gather his weapons. But it was not just that group who was aware of the enemies approaching, the whole camp has become aware of it.

That looks incredible!

"You are correct and wrong kid, they have a weak spot, everybody knows that. But it is like you said, where is the weak spot? And then comes the question, how can we penetrate it in the first place? That is what had Elavor started talking about it in the first place. We have strong explosives and some rocket launchers, but that is it really. If we had known that we could encounter one of those things, we would have stockpiled on explosives and even provided some mobile artillery, but now? We can only improvise and hope it will be enough." The Vernomian staid to Festus with a smile. "Didn't that one robot girl attempt to strike againts the war machine, with some sort of the propulsion?" The Raukan asked with curiosity. "Yes, but it didn't have much effect in the end, or atleast, it didn't have the desired effect. While it did buy enough time for the others to escape, it would just be a death sentence to attempt it with the intention of damaging the war machine, the differences in size and mass is way to big. That would be like a bird trying to knock over a bulldozer, even if it would go at sonic speeds, it wouldn't do anything but crush itself. You gotta know when there is a thing that you cannot battle, hence the reason why we are being told to avoid such war machines at all cost and rather let bigger weaponry engage it, that way it saves alot of lives. All we can do now is do our best and hope that it will work out, guarantee is a luxury we do not have here." The Vernomian admitted. "But you have to admit, there was alot of heroism in what she did, I sure know I wouldn't dare to attempt." The Raukan mentioned. "Indeed, but you risk the lives of others in such an action as well. It is a similar thing to where you take the initiative to do something dangerous, but then you get wounded, others will risk their lives to save yours, but by that extension, those very people might also get hurt or die. I don't know what her case was, but there is a boundary between initiative and being reckless. Listening to your superiors or fellow brothers in arms is the best of course of action, even if it may go againts your better judgement." "Still... Why do you guys keep being so serious about all of this? We know what is going to happen, but why not lighten up and cast aside all this bleak talk?" The Raukan said. The Vernomian cracked a smile. "You mean the same *bleak talk* that has managed to save you from numerous dangers?" The Vernomian retorted. "This is getting a little embarrassing.." The Raukan said as he looked down with an embarrassed look on his face. "Not exactly, I have left them decades ago, as many call them victims of damnation, and with good reason." The Terran said as he blinked his eyes. "Torvan served the Thundershocks as a volunteer, and has originally been born in this region, but not you Enoch." The Raukan asked. "No, I have served the Thundershock Army at the age of 11, been born and raised as a native of Moloch, the capital world of the Terrans, and the place where our biggest wars have been fought," Enoch admitted. "The darkest days..." Torvan muttered. "I have served under Captain Martian, but that changed when I was selected to join the Terran Prince along with many others, it was a campaign in where the remains of Valtrek empire were being hunted down by us. Everything went very good at first, that was until we stumbled upon the planet of Vernos IV " Enoch said. "You are going to mention that accursed place? You might as well tell further while you are at it." Torvan said "The planet itself was an ice world, at first nothing ordinary or concerning was present there, or so we thought at first, but then, we got ambushed, and had to fight off againts unimaginable odds, it was only through the efforts of the Prince's coordination and tactics that we managed to hold our ground and not get slaughtered to the last man," Enoch explained. "But suddenly things took a turn for the worst, a Serpentine creature suddenly emerged from out of nowhere, and some sort of black fog was emerging from its very presence, we shot many bullets at the thing, but all our efforts where ineffective againts the creature, that was until the prince himself jammed a grenade in its mouth, the explosion causing the creature to blow up from the inside out. But no celebration could be made, and no celebration would ever happen again among us after what we witnessed." "The creature's fog suddenly started to envelop the prince and started to inside every part of his body. What happened next was something that we could never forget. The prince started to bezerk, he had the golden eyes of an infected, yet he didn't seem to show the signs of any form of infection. He then roared like a madman and tore us apart one by one, acting like a feral infected, but there was something more sinister, the same black fog kept emerging from his body, and just like with the serpentine creature, nothing seemed to harm in that area." "After a long while, we managed to kill him, or so we believed, and as you can imagine, it weighed on all of us, down to our very cores. Not only was our entire expedition fleet wiped during the ambush, but the very prince that we served had turned into something monstrous." "But that wasn't the end of him because he is still around this very day." the Vernomian mentioned. "Indeed, it was 10 years later that the Prince suddenly reemerged, but it seemed almost like a miracle had fallen upon us. All signs of his berzerker state, the golden eyes and black fog, all of it was gone... And he seemed to remember nothing after he had changed. And to this very day, he has started to lead us again, but there is a dark truth behind all of this.. Apparently, the prince had never fully reverted to his normal self." "For some reason, he had been able to trap the creature inside himself, using his very own body as a prison to keep the creature trapped. Wich should be downright impossible, even for someone like him, given that he has no magic or any form of energy manipulation. Although lately, he has started to show signs of those dark powers emerging, but not in a downright bad way, just a concerning way. Not only has he become a killing machine againts our enemies, but his emotions and very judgment seem to have slowly gotten affected by the creature itself, as where he once still had a sense of happiness, positive sides, and other things, he now has become devoid of those things. Those around him cannot deny that he has truly changed, as he views every event with a grim view, a cold and disturbing view on his eyes. These signs are not that bad, but those close to him know that his sanity is starting to decline with every day." "And yet it is his leadership that keeps not only us but perhaps the entire galaxy still standing, just for the sheer fact that he has been sending the Thundershock army into the very teeth of battle, because he is aware Valtrek wants him dead for being a descendant of Aliah, so the prince uses this factor as a method to keep Valtrek's forces directed towards attacking us." "If you have wondered why Valtrek has yet to send his attack fleets towards this sector, then here is your answer, This entire war that is happening in that other sector, is both a struggle and distraction at the same time. As the Thundershock army is struggling on Moloch, where Valtrek is sending his forces towards nonstop. With Moloch having the entirety of the Thundershock army garrisoned at, it is even to this day still able to hold its ground againts Valtrek's entire army, but don't let that fool you, because the defense is still going from both impressive tacticians and the recruitment from the local population, else the planet would have fallen long ago." "But... what has that last part to do with why Valtrek isn't sending his armies all the way towards here?" Elavor asked with a raised eyebrow. "That *distraction* that I talked about, is the war of Moloch because while Valtrek's forces are giving everything they have into assault Moloch, they are to busy to attack any of the other sectors, so you should be grateful that the Prince is participating in this war the way he is, because as long as Moloch is constantly being besieged, countless of other planets have been spared from Valtrek's invasion fleet, only minor attack fleets have invaded planets in this sector so far," Enoch mentioned. "M-minor........?" Elavor stammered as he looked a bit pale. "Let that information sink in for a bit, because it goes to show that nothing of this can be so casually thought of, so for all of your sakes, be glad that you don't have to participate in the scale that is going on over there, because I have in the past, and all you see is a sea of corpses and blood as you walk the very earth that you fight on," Enoch said with a frown. "The Terran race is in stagnation, so don't be surprised if that species will cease to exist within the coming months or years." "Hope that explains it." "I have heard enough Enoch." Torvan said with a scowl.

"I don't get it, why are we chasing that we couldn't even damage with our weapons? I feel all of our time is wasted in that regard, we need bigger weaponry! Why didn't Karthspire bring any tanks? I have seen him utilizing them in the past! But now? We might as well just stand in the open and scream 'Here we are!' with how we are handling things." The Raukan said as he appeared to be a pretty young soldier. "Being in command is a hard task since you cannot predict everything that might happen ahead, but if you are so sure of your words, why don't you take command of this task? Let's see how you will handle our situation, try to coordinate our movements and plan out an attack againts a big Warmachine, a detachment chuck full of foot soldiers armed with firearms and snipers. A couple of drones, and a small detachment of cloaked infected. Lets how you will manage that without getting us all killed and failing the one task that you had been assigned to." One of the Terrans said as this one appeared to be a bit of the more older type. "Well... You didn't have to put it in such an insulting way..." The Raukan said with a frown. "But that is the reality of commanding Elavor, you need to be devoid of simplification in terms of what you perceive if you are going to make this level of claims. You may not like it, but it is foolish to start claiming things that you don't know anything about it. But this is often expected to come from the younger recruits, they need to witness things with their our own eyes before they can drop their assumptions at a whim. And you apparently haven't reached that phase yet." The Terran said. "You are 21 years old, while the age might not always matter, your service record does matter. Have you run through enemy fire while your comrades are being shredded apart by the bullets that they fire? Have you been in a situation where your commanding officer is dead, and only 3 other soldiers are there with you, knowing that the end of their lives are in the hands of somebody that they cannot rely on? You haven't Elavor, you can voice your oppinion, but you shouldn't claim things that you don't know anything about unless you want to be seen as the epidemic of incompetence by others." "That is enough Enoch, let him be on his oppinion, we all see things in a different way." The Vernomian retorted. "Just being truthful to him Nermos, he won't learn to fend for himself in the real world if he keeps being sugarcoated by his superiors, because there will come a time that this society of ours breaks, and then we will just become refugees again like we always do, I had to learn that the hard way, and I do not prefer to have any of you experience it that same way." The Terran said with a sigh. "You are a morbid one, Enoch." The Raukan said with a chuckle. "A lifetime of service and warfare does that to you, but a 4-time transfer to different armies will make you see things in a way where you start to despise false hope, especially if the transfer is to the other side of the galaxy." The Terran admitted. "The other side? Are you referring to your original homeplace? You haven't told me from which army you came from. Was it the Cadre's Fith? Thundershock Legion?" The Raukan asked with intrigue. "Thundershock Legion, the army that I used to embrace with a sense of pride, but now it has become a mere shadow in the past." The Teran admitted.

"No problem." He replied to Celestia "Hmmm... I wouldn't call his action stupid or heroic, but more in the area of atonement because we all have somethimes moment where we want to repent for the wrongdoings or mistakes we have made in the past, some of them not that bad, but others very bad. I think going alone might feel as a way to atone for past sins to him, or doing something very dangerous. It is how some of us tend to act with this." Edgar explained to Luna, though he personally did not know if this was the case for Karthspire either, he was still confident about it. "Anyway, I am going to have a talk with my friend, I will see you 2 later," Edgar said with a wave as he left. 'Don't worry, you really are going to like it, I have been planning to give gifts to everyone.' Jack thought to Evelyn. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The second group had set up a camp after travelling far and been tracking the trails of the war machine, as they felt they were getting close. It was busy with conversations, some sat around campfires while others were just staring at the view. it was all variated. One group was recounting stories to each other, but what stood out from this was that there was one raukan, 2 Terrans and a 2 legged Vernomian among them, although this one didn't seem to have wings.

"I don't know where he is either, he isn't with this group, and he didn't go with any of the other groups, that I am sure of. I bet he went alone because I heard alot of arguing before we left, and when I saw Karthspire's face I saw a grimace, so knowingly him, he went to the Talorians to ask for help, and thinks that with everything that we currently have with us won't be enough to attack the conversion center, atleast not without enormous casualties. He might think this after what we had witnessed during our travel, or more specifically during the sandstorm, you cannot deny that we were in a very dire situation at that moment." Edgar said to Luna. He then walked away for a moment to get something, and walked back towards Celestia and gave her a water bottle. "Here, you are gonna need it." He said with a smile. "I do like it, but right now my arms are tired, if I would try to sit on the saddle during our flight I would be thrown off you like a ragdoll, this time I rather not let that happen," Jack said with a bit of a laugh. He looked a bit around a bit as they were flying, enjoying the view. 'Thanks for everything, and especially, being there for me. I really mean it.. So, i wanted to give you something, a gift, it is something that you might really like, but i wanted to give it to you goodnight, is that ok with you?' Jack thought to Evelyn, as it seemed better to him tell her via his toughts rather than saying it out loud due to to the wind.

"Sadly, I don't know anything that we could do Luna, I am sorry but most of the things that I came to know about them is because my father told me those very things," Jack admitted with shame. "No worries there champ, I got an idea, not something that would solve all of this but it will be a right step in the direction," Edgar said with a smile, he then turned to Luna. "You mentioned you wanted to talk with Karthspire, but instead, why don't you ask him if he knows where C'lan is now at? Those 2 are able to go along with each other very well." Edgar asked Luna. "Also, you doing alright over there? You need anything?" Edgar asked Celestia, with a hint of concern. Jack shifted around a bit. 'Do you think you could carry me this time? I think that might be a safer idea as I am not sure if I can hold on to the saddle for very long this time.' Jack thought to Evelyn with a nervous smile.

"I think there is a reason why he hadn't told any of you, one of them could be because he didn't think you guys would be targeted, the Blood Cult favours confusion and unpredictability among their enemies as a way to strike when it is most unexpected. I do have a second theory about this.." "He was afraid, afraid of what they might do to his people once he starts telling things, even if so much as telling you guys about this might sound ridiculous, you should know that the Blood Cult is no joking matter regarding this, they have targeted people for the most ridiculous of reasons. I had once heard a story, that a man had found out about one of the Blood Cult clans, and told his best friend, but when he came back home, his entire family where stripped away of not only their lives, but their spirits as well, leaving just the ice-cold bodies behind, but sparing the life of the one who told the thing in the first place." "All that just to get a message across, which shouldn't come as a surprise that many fear them, I don't know how they even find out about people telling each other their secrets in the first place, but they have their ways," Edgar explained. "Though I do know something about them that might come as a surprise to you, where Valtrek and his armies are all Chaotic Evil, the more aggressive clans of the Blood Cult seem to in fact be Neutral Evil, while they do the most horrific things, something worse than murdering someone, they don't do it for their own amusement or even agenda, it has become their very nature, I presume they either don't know any better or they need to do it in order to survive. Then again, this Neutral Evil assumption is the case for most of them, there are some among them who are Chaotic Evil, one of those probably the one you guys had fought againts minutes ago..." Edgar admitted. "So while talking to Karthspire about this does seem to be worth a try, I think my assumptions about his reason will prove true, given how this might the case for most of us." 'Evelyn, shall we go flying now? I rather just forget about everything that has just happenend. And don't worry about Celestia, she is going to be fine, the damage that she had gotten was alot less then what I had thought to be at first.' Jack thought to Evelyn.

"That is the thing, Luna, I don't know how to counter such things, let alone the fact that what he did wasn't really a spell, atleast from what I can gather. You see, not a whole lot is known about the Blood Cult other than that which has been made public, but you saw how that Cultist reacted in the tournament when it was found out he was a member of the Blood Cult, he wanted to straight up murder Karthspire because he had made some secrets about the blood cult public." Jack said "So I can only assume that they are very secretive about their powers and secrets, because if nothing is known about their powers, then there is no way somebody could even make some form of counter againts a thing that they don't know, which is precisely what they want, it makes them all the deadlier, and does explain why they hold back alot." "If only..-" Jack, however, was interrupted. "Karthspire knows," Edgar mentioned. "He does?" Jack asked back with surprise. "Yes, without a doubt. Remember that he was right there when 1/4 of the Raukan race had decided to join the Blood Cult a few months before the destruction of Raukan. I would say that was about... 500 years ago, but keep in mind that not everybody who happenend to be there joined, Karthspire was one of the 20 individuals who refused, but there is also one other person..." "Edgar mentioned "His name is C'lan Karviah, tough you pronounce his name as *Clan*," "You mean that person who is considered by many to be the leader of all Raukan? Where even is he?" Jack asked "That is the one, but it would be hard to say where C'lan would be at now, where Karthspire is now more as a military leader and politician, C'lan, on the other hand, is a war leader that is on the very offensive, taking his war efforts againts Valtrek forces to a new level, so... I personally don't know where he could be, all I know is that he tends to arrive on this planet either for important business or in times of great need, where he lends his aid. But if there is one person who knows things about the Blood Cult, it is his him without a doubt, many rumour that he knows where their homeworld is located at." Edgar said as he scratches his chin. "Karthspire also knows some things about them, but not nearly as much, and i could already imagine that he would be hesitant to tell any more secrets about them in the first place, he really is looking out for his people, and he fears if he takes it too far, that his people will be in alot of danger, more then they already are."

Jack moved his paw along Celestia's body in order to find where the coldest spot would be, and he found it. "It seems her left is the coldest spot in her body at the moment, I bet that is where the initial attack had hit her. Remember how these cultists keep talking about devouring souls? Well, I bet I know what this cultist did to her, he used his powers to do some sort of attack that did not hit Celestia's body, but rather her soul, or rather the part of the soul where her left lung happened to be." Jack explained. "I think the moment that attack hit her, that there was a slight disconnection between her body and soul, the reason she reached a moment of near death, and I think that disconnection at that moment caused her body to in a form of shock. Now, it was only a slight disconnect, but even that can have severe effects like you say. Now what I bet is going on... Is that her body is trying to fix certain parts of her brain that have happened because of that slight disconnection, but it is having trouble doing so." "But I know how to fix this, my dad taught me all sorts of stuff that I never believed I would need to know, but now I am glad that I do," Jack said as he moved his paw towards where Celestia's lung was located. "Celestia, I am going to give you a strong shock in your left lung, I know that it is going to hurt but if I don't know this then you could get either brain damage or a permanent paralyzation, I am going to do a countdown and then il do it as fast as possible, so please brace yourself..." "3, 2, 1..." It was then that Jack did some sort of Electric shock on Celestia's lung, a spell that was akin to how a defibrillator would work, and it sends a shock through her entire body. "There... That should have done the trick... Now you just need to wait and rest for a minute or two, and you should be able to move everything again after that, your body temperature should also return to normal after a while." Jack told her with a sigh of relief. "Although... One thing that I wasn't able to fix where those weird memories that you had gotten from that attack, it didn't remove any memories, but rather added these... I don't know how to explain that one, just take a deep breather." Jack said, As there was an additional side effect when getting hit by an attack of the powers that the Blood Cult utilized. The victim that got hit by one of their attacks would get some form of knowledge that they didn't know before, and yet this knowledge was not related to the person themselves, but it where the more mysterious things, locations, secrets, names, memories of other victims that had been hit by such an attack. It was one of the mysteries on how Members of the Blood Cult knew things that they would be able to know, the type of energy they used was not just there to give them these crazy powers, but for many other purposes as well, one of them was storing information, and sharing them with countless of other users who had joined the Blood Cult.

"She is over there." Jack pointed in the sky to where Evelyn was flying. "She mentioned to me that Celestia is saying something hurts, but there was no visible injury," Jack told Luna. 'I think I know what might be going on, I have been attacked by a blood cult member before, and after that, I experienced something from inside that I couldn't quite explain. Since you are holding her now, can you feel if she feels cold? Like unnatural cold? If so, then I might know what I have to do, just make sure you lay her on the ground on her back.' Jack thought to Evelyn. Edgar came walking up to Luna. "Hello there, I wanted to apologize for not being able to notice your son crawling off like that, something came up and Harry started shouting towards- Is everyone alright? What is going?" Edgard asked as he noticed something was not right.