Fading Flames

"Wait, wait, what?" Jay called out suddenly, looking over to his brother as the young man had announced what they were going to do. "Dude, we haven't even had a day yet of training. We are not going to go up against that thing!"

Wesley wasn't listening though as he leaned in, looking at the Beast with something akin to excitement on his features. This was the whole reason that he was looking forward to becoming a Soldier. He was ready to simply eradicate every Beast from the face of the planet, and that became clear as he took a step forward toward it, his eyes widening in his sudden genocidal excitement.

"Stop," Theodore spoke, the pale-haired figure frowning as he looked to Wes, setting a hand on his shoulder. "Why is it even here..?" he spoke, looking back to the creature as it fought with the firebird on the ground, the waves of heat rolling off of it unreal, even from the distance they were at. Burns were already starting to appear on the creature's hide as it struggled against the firebird, clearly looking for a meal.

"That's a good point," John spoke quietly, the man's eyes narrowed. "Why is it even inside the Wall? How did it get through?" He glanced back at the others as if expecting some sort of answer, before a loud curse came from the distance, and the group glanced over to see the rather sour-faced woman from before standing on the dilapidated remains of a building.

The woman (whose name Wesley didn't quite recall at first) moved her glare from the Beast to those gathered. "Hey, you all! Test is over. You pass- tell them Shannon gave you the okay," she called out as she flickered forward, moving far, far too fast for any of them to keep up with. She simply became a living blur for a moment as she drew closer, and then shot past them, heading for the firebird.

"Hey! We can help you!" Wesley called out, the young man's eyes narrowing as he began to move forward, when another hand set on his shoulder. This time it was Jay. "What? We can't just let her go up against that thing on her own!"

Jay shook his head. "Dude, she told us to go. We need to go. What we did up against Gustave's summoned dude was not anything like this. If we start in on this, we're going to get our asses kicked. Hell, we might even die. I don't know about you, but I'm not feeling up to charging in right now and getting my head taken off by that thing. Are you?" he asked, growling a bit at his brother as he pulled Wesley's shoulder, forcing the other to face him.

"She is... calling for backup," Ted noted calmly as he looked past the brotherly spat, seeing the woman lifting a device to her ear. "She will... not be alone."

"Screw you guys, I'm with Wesley," Sasha spoke, the girl's eyes narrowed. "Those things took my dad away and I'm not about to let one of them go." The girl's golden eyes were practically radiating anger, the woman struggling to keep from just teleporting right in there, right now.

Wes glanced to her before looking back to Shannon, the woman leaping into the air as she approached the beast and creating a half-dozen copies of herself that all rained down on it. It almost looked like they were formed from pure speed, before they came down hard on the Beast's body. It roared in what was presumed to be pain, the jaw that was the entire length of its body opening up, unleashing the cry.

Even from the distance they were at, several of them winced at the harshness of the sound. It was like the screeching of twisting metal, resonating out over the landscape toward them. With that roar, what appeared to be another mouth began to appear, perpendicular from the first as it lunged forward toward the now-falling woman. She seemed to lack any sort of Space Framework as there was no Teleportation or Force Shield Skills used, and she simply braced for the attack as it hit her, sending the woman hurtling backward.

She hit the ground, hard, not even able to stop her momentum as she rolled several times, skipping like a stone across the water, before she finally rolled to a stop a short distance from them.

Wesley's eyes grew wide as he watched the woman's momentum fade before she merely stopped, crimson beginning to pool around her mouth and where her left arm used to be. "Ted! Ethan!" Wes called, practically shoving them forward at the woman to try and use their Restoration Skill on her.

The two moved, almost a little hesitant to approach the woman, not quite sure what they were going to find when they came closer. Still, both of them were in possession of the Restoration skill, and that was going to have to be enough to heal her. Although neither of them had one strong enough to help with the lost limb, they could at least keep her from bleeding out. "She is... unconscious. She should... live," Ted spoke, glancing back over his shoulder at Wes.

He nodded, frowning for a moment as he glanced back up at the Beast, which had now managed to tear open the firebird with its fangs, and its insides were being torn asunder by the creature's fangs. Another heavy blast of heat erupted from the avian creature before it seemed its proverbial fire had gone out as it fell limp, ichor oozing from its numerous wounds before it dropped the bird, not seeming at all interested in actually feasting upon it as the Beast's gaze began to follow where it had knocked Shannon away.

"Shit- it's coming this way," Sasha hissed out under her breath as the monster began to lumber towards them. It wasn't after them specificly, theyknew, but all the same, it was very difficult to stare it down when they could see what it had done to both a trained Soldier as well as a large Framework Creature like the firebird. "Wes, are you still in on fighting this thing? Or do you think we should back out?"

Before Wes could respond, another voice cut through. "No way! We gotta beat it up!" Evie's voice came, the vibrant blonde girl riding on the shoulder of Mr. Woodhead, while the others looked back to where Andrew was sulking with Mason at having to be rescued, but at the same time seemed to be using Mason as a shield against the Beast, the Fireshaper making certain that Mason was between himself and the Beast at each and every step.

Wes glanced back to them and nodded. "We can still take it. If nothing else, we can outlast it until the rest of the Soldiers get here. I think that if we tried to run, it would just catch up. There's no way that we can move everyone that quickly."

"What if we were to split up then? Surenly most of us would get away," Andrew spoke, clearly used to having some leadership role in situations, butting in almost before Wes had finished speaking.

"Yeah, most of us would at the expense of someone dying. Sit down," Wesley responded, his eyes narrowed as he looked at the man. "I'm not going to roll the dice and hope that someone who has a Teleport Skill being the one who gets targeted. If we all work together, we can last until the Soldiers arrive.

Up in front of them, Shannon coughed as her eyes fluttered open, the woman grunting as she tried to sit up. "I thought I told you to go," she hissed out.

"Yeah, you did. And we decided to stay so we could keep you alive. You got a problem?" Sasha asked, narrowing her eyes at the woman. Despite her tone and word choice, Wesley could tell that the girl was concerned about the fate of Shannon. "We're going to try to keep it at bay til your friends show up."

Wes didn't let Shannon speak, overriding her almost immediately as he stepped forward. "Okay. Plan is the same as when we were dealing with the firebird. Mason, you join the support group. If someone's about to get their head taken off, get them out of there. Evie, you and Mr. Woodhead join the attack group along with Jay and John. Andrew- I have no idea what you can do."

"Death and Time Framework. Fireshaping, Distant Impact, Group Acceleration and Group Deceleration." His tone was clearly not at all excited about the prospect of fighting against this Beast that lumbered closer with each passing moment.

Wesley nodded. "You join the attack group then. Keep everyone moving. Evie, come here," he spoke, nodding to the side, the girl hopping down from Mr. Woodhead and opping after him. Once they were a short distance away, so the other group couldn't hear, he moved a hand forward, putting some of his Death Framework back into her.

"Weaken?" she asked, grinning.

"Weaken," he affirmed with a nod.