The Cycles of Change (Plot Thread 5.1)

[Enizo]

Enizo entered the bubble, pumping his fist into the air. There was a fight coming up, and he was excited.

"Alright, let's go save the world!"

[King Roxa Hiaten]

Roxa stepped inside the bubble and crossed his arms. Ready for whatever was ahead of him, it had been a long time since he had been this active and he had relished the opportunity to stretch his legs at first... But now he had found himself regretting the decision somewhat...

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

I landed, only to see everyone entering the bubble before us. Setting Yuna down, I urged her forward.

"Come on!" I called, beckoning her. "Hurry, or we'll get left behind!" I rushed forward and enntered after everyone.

"Sorry we're late," I said as Yuna entered behind me. "Got a little caught up, reminding Volkmar about what was really important." I folded my wings neatly behind me, not bothering to dismiss them. I might need them later...

Looking around, I realized that few of these people had made the realization of what I was; I shook my head. Best to leave that for another time; we had to focus on the battle to come.

[Kurai Horo]

Whilst his companion shook his head, Kurai moved forwards from behind him and simply placed a hand on his shoulder. He would not risk compromising the information of what Vash was any further than it had been already, the less the others around them knew, the better. He simply gave him a nod and stepped inside the bubble.

Pulling his book from his satchel, he sat down on the floor and opened it's pages, beginning to read. His lazy right eye scanned the pages whilst he waited for whatever was going to happen, well, to happen! It wasn't long before he looked up at Vash however. "Vash!" he called, patting the floor next to him "Take a seat, let's talk"

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

I smiled, walking over and sitting next to Kurai.

"Miss me?" I asked jokingly.

[Kurai Horo]

"Hardly" he said with a grin "I was beginning to feel all special saving everyone from The Shade's monsters with my Mangenkyo Sharingan, but then you go and show up with your damn flashy wings..." he muttered with a shake of his head, but he was still smiling in a light hearted fashion. He scratched his head before looking across at the fellow Lunar Knight... Or should he say Lunar Spirit now? "So, Volkmar... What happened with him?"

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

I sighed, shrugging.

"My little sis evidently had some problems a while ago with the previous Black Knight that led up to what you saw happen to Volk." I thought for a moment. "It all centers around an.... artifact of sorts. It's the remnant of an old evil, and incredibly dangerous to humans; with the issues with the previous Knight, Sayara was having difficulties controlling its power..." I sighed again. "When Volkmar came into contact with the artifact, the evil within took over his mind and he lost control of the power he'd received from the Black Moon. That combined with the corrupted power of the artifact, and, well..." I trailed off. Kurai could guess the rest from there.

I made a mental note to strangle my sister; she should have asked for help. THen I made a mental note to kick myself later - I should have known she needed it.

[Kurai Horo]

He nodded, he realized that it mustn't be an easy thing to speak of, and the way he said that he had encountered whatever Volk had become in the past as well couldn't have made the situation any easier than it already was. Still, he had more questions so long as his companion was willing to answer them. "Speaking of Sayara, I'm sure I saw you carrying her off towards those other two figures, what was his name...? Xiza? What's become of her? If you don't mind me prying of course..."

He looked up when he heard a few horses whinny and neigh outside, patiently trotting their hooves into the snow.

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

I laughed.

"Sayara? She's fine. Last I saw her, she was giving Volkmar a piece of her mind. She's definitely back to her old self again, and I'm glad of it." I shook my head. "And don't worry about asking questions - you certainly must have a lot of them, after.... all of that."

[Gensayce Zidjiai]

Gensayce sighed as he dismounted from his horse and gave the beast a pat on the neck, suddenly realizing that this may be the last time that he and Riliath saw the faithful animals which had given them so much "If we do not return, or if this whole world ends..." he whispered with a small sigh "I have been honored to call you my companion" he gave the horse one more pat before stepping inside, no doubt to be followed by Riliath a few moments later. His first act was to move over to Roxa and give him a nod, removing his helmet and holding it under his arm.

[Kurai Horo]

Kurai nodded once more "Well, I suppose that their is some good news through all of this then!" he said with a smile as he looked across at Vash, his eyes closed in the smile "And yes, I do have more questions I suppose, for one, care to explain what this is all about?" he motioned to the glowing wings that were folded neatly behind his back "Because I'm pretty sure that I can't do that, so that's no mere 'Lunar Knight' thing!"

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

((Okay. The italics thing is starting to get annoying, and since I'm thinking that from now on, most of Vash's conversation will be conducted in first person, I'm just going to ditch it. If he ever goes back to being fully bound, I'll italicize stuff for that instead.))

I chuckled.

"Actually, it has more to do with my element than my status," I explained. I fanned them. "The wisps, as remnants of soul, are pretty much the closest thing you can get to pure death-aligned mana without having, well... pure death-aligned mana. For someone like me, they're easy to manipulate, and only too eager to help. I can form them into several patterns, with these wings being one of those." I grinned. "Then again, Shiira couldn't do them either, so it may have a little more to do with my status than I might have thought!"

It took a moment for the words to sink in. I felt my smile fade a little.

"But... that was a long time ago," I said quietly. "Abilities vary between Knights, and I've never taken another... so I wouldn't know."

[Riliath Infernus]

Whilst Gensayce stepped inside the bubble, Riliath had a hand on the neck of his faithful stallion, Kasai. He looked at the beast and it seemed that the horse looked back at him. Neither made a sound until Riliath broke into a smile, patting the stallion's neck before taking his cross halberd from the animal and placing it on his back "If the world ends, we'll ride together once again as the scourge of death!" Kasai snorted and seemed to nuzzle against his hand and once again the big man smiled "Stay safe Kasai..." he muttered with a nod.

Turning around he stepped into the bubble only to hear the large red stallion whinny and rear up before slamming onto the ground, the snow around him melting slightly. Riliath nodded to himself and approached Roxa and Gensayce and also took of his helmet "Well!" he proclaimed, acting as if no-one could have even witnessed his exchange with his horse "The original trinity of the Kishu, together again and ready to kick some as-!" Before he could finish Roxa cut in

"Riliath, are you crying..?" Riliath lowered the arm he was about to fist pump and wiped a tear from his face "Wh-what?! N-no! No I'm not, it's just all that riding, I've j-just got a bit of a sweat on... That's all!"

[Kurai Horo]

Kurai looked across at Vash before noticing two more warriors entered, he'd seen them lingering around and assumed that they were companions of Roxa. He raised an eyebrow (well, his only visible eyebrow) at the sight of the largest man possibly in their whole group shed a tear over what seemed to be his horse... He pulled his attention away from the giant and back to Vash, nodding thoughtfully as he explained the wisps. "Well, I'll take this as the opportunity to say that they're pretty cool... And I won't push any further, you seem to be struggling enough as it is..."

He looked down at his hands and mused "I wonder if I have any sort of cool power..." he looked up to the sky, sort of hoping to see Zephyr up there and have him explain his entire anatomy as a Lunar Knight, but of course he saw no such thing, besides, he had no clue what direction they were facing at all! He looked back down to Allorum and scratched his head "So, what do you expect that we'll find up there?" he motioned up towards the sky, where they no doubt would soon be heading.

[King Roxa Hiaten]

- The Trinity Reunited

Roxa smiled at Riliath before reaching up and putting a hand on his armored shoulder "It's okay Riliath, we're all risking losing something by heading up there..." he looked across at Gensayce and put his other hand on the Ice Wolf's shoulder "But hey! If we're going to die, we're going to die together!" his grin widened as he looked from one friend to the other "We're cut from the same cloth, and together we'll fight, we've fought stronger enemies than whatever awaits us up on the station and I assure you that we'll fight stronger enemies still in the future, but we're the elements guys!" he released their shoulders.

He pointed at Riliath. "Fire"

He pointed at Gensayce. "Water"

He pointed at himself "Air"

"Together we can make and sustain life, am I right?!" he placed a hand forwards, only to have Gensayce put his on top and then Riliath do the same "Until the end?" he asked "Until the end!" they both repeated, smiling.