View source for 2016-01-15 (PostU) By Fire Be Purged!

{{Logsummary|
Title    = By Fire Be Purged!
|Summary = TASK is under attack again...  But there's no fog this time.
|Who     = [[Dorian]], [[Ferra-Torr_(Mortal_Kombat)|Ferra & Torr]], [[Kotal_Kahn]], [[Rayne]], [[Silencia]]
|Date    = January 15th, 2016
|Where   = TASK Courtyard
|Log=
TASK's courtyard is peaceful to the naked eye.  But if one sees what's roiling and swirling underneath, one knows this is not the case.  This much power, this much focus, and the area so 'broken' in a metaphysical way...
 
...With Thedas now knowing of this place, it was only a matter of time before the supernatural forces felt the great amount of power here in the TASK headquarters, and started to make their way here.
 
It starts small.  A 'pop', and a flash of green light about four feet above the ground in the courtyard.  It seems harmless enough at first, though it can easily be felt as spiritual magic intruding on the real world.  Those who know Dorian well enough may be able to sense it's very similar to his magic.  And then tendrils of green light and power reach out, into the courtyard.  They reach out from the odd green 'tear' in the fabric of reality, to touch the ground around it... and then suddenly, where they touch, the ground cracks and splits!
 
In thunderclaps of green light, beasts begin to appear around the rip.  Tall, lanky, hunched-over forms... vaguely humanoid spectres of green smoke... tall, elongated, beasts that seem almost lizardlike in form.  The air is full of negative emotions-- fear, anger, and sorrow.

It may be a different species of demons this time, but for the hardened TASK officers the protocol is still the same. 
 
From within the TASK HQ; sensors indicate unauthorized movement in the Courtyard and the officer manning the control panel spits his coffee in surprise "Oh shit!!" Comes his understandable reaction as he starts hitting all the buttons and screaming over the speakers alerting everyone in the building. 
 
"CODE GREY!! DEMONS IN THE SOUTHERN COURTYARD!! CODE GREY!!" 
 
"What!?" Kotal Kahn was busy teaching a class of Yaomichita to some officers when the alarm rang out. "The southern courtyard!? How can this be!?" Never before have the fog demons managed to get this far inside the building; but as the Aztec is about to find out, these aren't the demons that he's used to. 
 
The Aztec begins to run towards the entrance, macuahuitl in hand whilst he speaks through his radio. "All available officers report to the southern courtyard immediately! Push these loathsome beasts out of our base!!" 

[TASK] Kotal says, "All available officers report to the southern courtyard immediately! Push these loathsome beasts out of our base!!"

Rayne was just stepping into the break room after having another battle with a stack of paperwork.  The word, "Cooooooofffffeeeeeeee," escapes her lips as she approaches the appropriate machine to fulfill her desires...  and then every damn alarm in the building starts going off.   She blinks and looks around, now having a more metaphorical caffeine to wake her up back to full.  "The hell is-"  And then the announcement of just what is going on goes across the intercoms, and Rayne is already running for the elevator, issuing a confirmation over the radio.

[TASK] Rayne says, "I'm just upstairs, I'll be there as soon as I can."

Silencia had been near the courtyard when the demons appeared. The girl had seen quite a few strange things since her arrival in Twisted, but she immediately knew that these things weren't like the others. As alarms roar around her and people rush in, Silencia just stands there, frozen to her spot. Her eyes are wide and she just stares for a little while, paralyzed by fear, before coming to her senses. Kotal's voice booming through the intercoms helped her in that. She first gets herself out of the way before glancing back to see if Kotal and the others arrived. She would not dare act on her own, obviously not a fighter.

It is notable that Dorian is... nowhere to be found in the base.  He rarely stays there unless he's actually doing something there.  So he is not present when the call for fighters goes out.  However, it's not as though he's not listening to the radios.  He must look awfully weird in that cafe, suddenly leaping from his chair and hissing, "''Venhedis kaffan vas''!  The courtyard?"  He runs out.  "On my way."  And then outside, he disappears in a flash of light.  Those teleporters are handy.
 
Out in the courtyard, the demons screech and roar at the approaching TASK members.  No, these things do not look friendly.  And they begin to advance.  The hunched over figures don't seem to have legs, but it's hard to tell where their bodies end and their robes begin.  They shamble towards the assembled TASK forces, with arms outstretched.  The spectres seem to want to stay out of the main melee, and circle the battlefield, already beginning to fire green bursts of smoky energy.  The lizardlike creatures are the most reckless, charging towards TASK with loud, hungry roars.

Even though this isn't the first time that the TASK HQ is being attacked by monsters, it is the first time that they have a fight nearly inside their building. Because of it, the automated defenses that were specifically set in place to protect the exterior of the building from the fog monsters are of no use here. 
 
Therefore, TASK officers end up having to resort to the grim maneuver of actually pouring out the building and into the Courtyard right into the open maw of the enemy. 
 
Before, the officers had been able to stay cushy inside their defenses and open fire on the fog demons while the Director and his chosen warriors handled the brunt of every assault. This time though; these officers were going to need to go into the meat grinder-- and oh boy, some of these demons can actually shoot back at them. There were going to be casualties this time for sure. 
 
Fortunately; though most of the 'Krew' were out in individual missions, given their devastatingly low intellect, Ferra and Torr have little else to do in the organization other than stay inside the building and act as glorified guard dogs-- along the actual Cerberus guard dog. 
 
As TASK officers charge out the building rushing past the sides of Silencia, the massive ogre Torr leads the charge the tiny girl Ferra ridding on his shoulders. "Smash them Torr!!" She yells and Torr does just that; crashing into the main demon lizard front wave and slamming them aside with his hulking muscled arms. 
 
Meanwhile, TASK officers try to take defensive positions around the courtyard and return fire but soon begin taking damage from the specters, a few of them already going down thanks to the specter energy volley. Some of them may or may not have been close to retirement. 
 
It is the war god himself that comes in behind the first wave as he had been further inside the building and joins the battle a bit too late. "Damnation!" He cries out before he looks up in surprise. "The sun is shinning?" It's true! There is no fog blocking it right now, which means these have to be different monsters than the fog demons. "My priestess." Suddenly a look of horror flashes across his face and he starts looking around the battlefield. "Where is my priestess!?" 

[TASK] Kotal with screams and gun fire in the background; "Where is my priestess!?"

And among the throngs of officers is one with rainbow colored hair.  Jumping just to the side as soon as she gets outside to get out of the way of the other officers, she overhears Kotal's demand for knowledge of Silencia's location.  Really, it's hard to miss.  She takes a quick glance around the courtyard and almost starts advancing on the demons when she stops herself.  "There she is!  I'm moving over to make sure she's okay!"  Rayne frowns as she runs in Silencia's direction.  Silencia had joked that she would hide behind Rayne in combat before, and Rayne had suggested otherwise.  Looks like that might be happening after all.  

Arriving at her location, Rayne quickly turns her back on the other woman.  It's not a dismissal of any sort:  she wants to keep herself between the demons and the other woman, and certainly isn't taking her eyes off the threat.  "You okay, Sil?" she asks as she finally draws her swords, quickly shoving the pommels together so they form one connected weapon.

[TASK] Rayne says, "N...There she is! I'm moving over to make sure she's okay!"

Silencia couldn't believe the rampant violence in the courtyard. She kept herself out of the line of fire; staying inside the building, but close enough to touch the ground outside. She had seen a man fall, his face mauled by those frightening monsters and she couldn't stand back anymore. She knelt to touch the ground and roots sprouted, dragging the man closer to her. She quickly touched what was left of his forehead, her fingertips glowing as the skin stitched itself. The man was already running back into the fight when Kotal's voice burst through the chaos, demanding her presence. Silencia spots Rayne as well and nods quickly before turning her attention back to the fight, intending not to be just an onlooker, despite her intense fear. "I'm fine!"

[TASK] Silencia says, "I'm fine! Don't worry!"

[TASK] Kotal says, "Silencia! Thank the Eldergods."

[TASK] Kotal says, "Well done, Rayne. I'm moving to your position. We shall make our stand there."

Oh yes.  There will be casualties here.  The demons can feel the fear from the TASK personnel pouring out of the building.  And it causes the demons to taget them more specifically.  Particularly the lizardlike demons, that home in on the TASK officers like a moth to flame.  Spectres begin to circle them, feeding on the scraps of fear surrounding them like a miasma.  At least the hunched-over demons don't begin targeting them specifically.
 
Fortunately for the TASK personnel, Ferra and Torr have the first wave of lizard monstrosities handled, smashing them away from their intended prey.  Of course, now they begin to turn their attentions to the gestalt fighter.  And the spectres seem to be perfectly capable of coordinating their attacks around their lizardlike friends.
 
Fortunately this is splitting their forces, with the majority of the lizardlike demons going after the lesser-powered officers, as their fear is greater.  The hunched-over demons, in fact, are specifically targeting Kotal, Rayne, and Silencia, given their screeching and reaching towards them with long, spindly fingers.
 
And right about then Dorian shows up.  His first task?  Placing a barrier around Silencia-- and due to her closeness, Rayne as well.  Dorian himself jogs over closer to where Kotal is, since Rayne has Silencia protected.  "Fade demons?!  Here?!"  apparently Dorian knows what these things are.

Ferra and Torr are like the ultimate shock troopers. The giant ogre with his little girl rider  barrel into the wave of lizard monsters with wild abandon, smashing them and clawing them apart like a frenzied whirlwind of death. Their unity puts them above a normal bruiser as Torr would normally not know what to when assaulted from above by the specters, but Ferra is a cunning little lady and has an idea. "Flying things bad like Mac Mac! Torr throw! Me deal with skinnies!" She chitters and despite her limited ability to communicate, Torr seems to know just what she means. The ogre digs his fingers into the solid stone of the courtyard and flings a massive boulder up at the specters, wide enough that it might take a couple of them out with one throw. Normally, this would leave the ogre totally exposed to the attacks of the lizard demons, except that his rider dives in front of him and slices the demons' legs with blurring speed using her claws. 
 
Kotal Kahn arrives where Rayne and Silencia have converged just in time to see Dorian place that barrier upon his priestess. "Good job, Dorian." The Aztec commends the mage and seems satisfied until the Thedian wizard mentions that these are in fact Fade Demons. "Those creatures that converged with you?" Kotal remembers fighting them the day that Dorian arrived in Twisted. What are they doing here now? "No matter." The warlord seems to answer his own question "We will investigate their source after we kill them." Spoken like a true god of war. 
 
"Silencia. I need to you to help me channel the energy of the sun. I will obliterate these beasts in one blow once I charge enough power." So, Kotal is pretty much going to the spirit bomb ala DBZ? Looks like it. 

Rayne pulls an arrow from her quiver and, with it in hand, pulls back a string from her now joined swords.  Did I saw swords?  Clearly it's now a bladed bow.  She grimaces slightly as she draws the bow to full and lets the arrow fly at one of those hunched over things, aiming for a head shot.  She doesn't keep her aim on the one, however.  No, she knows that there are many, and she proceeds to quickly let the arrows fly at the array that are approaching, spreading her arrows out to hopefully injure as many as possible.  When the shield comes up, she seems to breathe a bit easier.  While she was about to detach the swords again for melee combat, she now lets the shield do its job, covering the three from damage as she continues to lay arrows into the creatures.  It's not until several are clawing at the sphere that she changes tactics to focus firing on one at a time until it drops, always lining up for head shots.  
 
And the whole way through, she's humming to herself, an unidentifiable tune that seems to have a stronger beat with each arrow loosed.

At first, Silencia focused on trying to heal as many of the injured and fallen as she could by dragging them to her with roots and vines and healing them with a quick touch. Her training had been paying off, she had much more control and speed than before. When the hunched-over demons approached, Silencia stopped dragging people over, fearing it might endanger them. Now she's focusing on keeping the demons back, tripping them with roots and pulling them back with vines as Rayne shoots at them. Kotal's statement gets a quick nod, the girl keeping her concentration. She seems intent on multitasking. She moves to stand closer to Kotal, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Ready when you are."

It's true, the spectres are fairly well coordinated.  But they're so weak they couldn't even form a physical body.  So their coordination doesn't really make up for their comparative lack of strength.  It would be one thing if the Fade was mere spirit-stuff-- the boulder would be ineffective because spirits.  But these spectres are TRYING to make a physical body.  So their green, wispy, cloudy forms are indeed affected by the thrown boulders.  And the effect?
 
SPLAT.
 
And it's also true that the lizardlike demons take this opportunity to come forward and try to attack Torr.  But Ferra has him covered, and her blades slice deeply into the unorganized, hungry demons.  They know nothing but hunger, and what they hunger for is fear.  Ferra and Torr are keeping them from feasting on the officer's delicious, delicious fear.  And so they attack.  They practically run headlong into her blades, in fact.
 
Headshots seem pretty effective against these hunchbacked demons.  They seem the closest to human anatomy, and headshots seem to make them fall down.  They seem to be sucked into the ground itself as they fall.  Rayne may want to be careful, though... the shield doesn't last long.  It's a 'cover your butt' tactic for emergencies, but it won't stand as a long-term shield.  In fact with the clawing of several of the things, Rayne may notice the blue aura covering her dissipate, and the slight tingly feeling of the barrier disappear completely...
 
However, Silencia's vines are doing a good job of keeping the hunchbacked demons from reaching Rayne, even after the barrier goes down.  It should give Rayne clear shots on several, as they confusedly try to disentangle themselves from the vines.  As a note, with Silencia's powers aligned to nature and all, she may note that nature actively flees from these things, unless otherwise directed.  They are unnatural creatures never meant to set foot on nature.
 
Dorian nods to Kotal's question.  "I'm afraid so. It appears I've let riffraff in.  I do apologize."  He points at the green rip in the air with his staff.  "They're coming in through there," he says.  "We'll need to close that rift, or they'll keep coming out of it.  But not while demons are coming out of it.  A larger demon must be responsible.  Kill that one and the rift should fall dormant enough to be closed."
 
As he explains, he aims a wall of fire at the approaching horde, hoping to keep them back long enough for Kotal and Silencia to do whatver it is that they need to do.

"Yay!!" Is Ferra's cheer as she viciously slices the demons' legs. It looks like her half baked strategy is working and through their combined efforts they actually manage to repel the bulk of the fade demons. Now that's a first, Ferra and Torr are by far the dumbest members of the Kotal Krew but it seems they can manage a bit of ingenuity here and there. "Good job, Torr!" Ferra jumps back onto Torr's shoulders with most of the demons disposed. "Now, we go help Big Boss!" With a hulking roar, Torr rushes back into the back line of robbed demons and barrels into them from behind like he did the lizard demons. 
 
"It is no consequence, Dorian." Kotal tries to assure the mage as he looks as if he thinks this is somehow his fault. "Many are the threats that assail Twisted. They shall all fall before our might." Whilst Rayne, Silencia, Dorian, Ferra/Torr and the TASK officers continue to keep the creatures at bay, the Aztec's eyes glow and he nods to the mage. 
 
"I will do more than just that." He raises his hand to the air just as Dorian tells him what is that he needs to do to eliminate this threat once and for all. 
 
He nods to Silencia, motioning for her to begin chanting along with him and begins channeling power from the sun. "Up the stair path, to the fire's edge.." 
 
Kotal along with the sun rays begin to glow brighter. And though it should burn or at least blind the eyes of everyone, it seems that the sun rays are actually healing those Kotal deem allies. Injuries TASK officers return to a healthy state and the approaching demons begin to slowly burn as long as they stay under the sun's rays. 
 
"Up the stair path, to the fire's edge!" Kotal begins chanting louder,  causing the sun to glow brighter and brighter. 

Rayne separates the bow back into twin swords as soon as she realizes the barrier is down and approaches to cut into the beasts, both swords swinging.  This has come to be her more comfortable wheelhouse of melee combat...  one against many, her swords striking and defending on multiple fronts.  It seems she never has much luck one on one lately.   Her humming speeds up and the tune intensifies as she steps into the fray, taking a change to a minor key as she narrowly avoids one creature's attack and back up to a major as she stabs another in the head.

Silencia keeps adding vines to her defense, some even wrapping around the limbs of the more energetic demons to keep them down. The girl straightens her back, a bead of sweat running down her cheek. The nature was fighting her. She had to focus on keeping the vines where they are, as they kept trying to slip away from the demons. She starts humming to calm them down and that seems to work. As Kotal starts to chant, she joins in, her voice still holding on to the melody of her previous hums. "Up the stair path, to the fire's edge!" She simply closes her eyes when Kotal starts to glow, trusting the power of the sun to keep them safe. She does not relinquish the vines though, keeping them in their place with her will and voice. "Up the stair path, to the fire's edge!" Silencia's voice gains in strength as Kotal's does, the girl mirroring his chants with her eyes closed.

The weak spectres have been eliminated, there are only a handful of the lizard demons left, and Rayne and Silencia's combined efforts have about handled the hunchbacked demons, leaving only a few of them left.  Dorian's wall of fire is keeping the demons corralled, so Torr barrels into a large number of what remains of them.  Rayne going melee in the now smaller space that the demons have free to run fells more of them, Silencia's vines aiding in keeping the demons from moving, so that those fighting may cut them down.
 
And once they're felled, the green rip in the air crackles and spits out another form-- only one this time, a shape that seems to be made of lava.  It appears to have taken a vaguely humanoid upper body, with its lower body a bloopy sort of liquid mass of lava.
 
However, as it appears, the power of Kotal's sun abilities... starts to BURN IT!  This is a confusing thing for the demon, obviously it has never felt the sensation of being BURNED before.  Nonetheless, here it is.  It aborts its charge towards the TASK forces in mid-charge, beginning to howl and writhe in pain with the odd, horribly painful sensation.
 
Even Dorian notices it.  As he casts barriers again, first around Silencia and Rayne, then around Kotal, he observes, "That's the one responsible."  But then also, "You... you're ''burning'' it.  How are you ''burning'' a Rage Demon?  That's rather like drowning a fish."  No, he doesn't expect an answer just now, he can see Kotal and Silencia both are busy at the moment.

This is why it pays to channel things preemptively. Had Kotal gotten the idea to begin his chanting exactly when the Rage Demon emerged from the rift, it would have been too late, and the demon would have surely taken out many more lives in its rampage. 
 
As it stands now, the demon emerges directly into the already powerful sun rays that Kotal channels down to the earth. Nothing seems to burn that Kotal doesn't want it to, all the officers, Rayne, Dorian, Silencia and even the building itself are left intact by the otherwise scorching rays. To them, it will feel like the gentle sunlight caressing their skin. 
 
The demons are another story, as they begin to feel the full might of Huitzilopotchli's power. Burning their skin and their very beings with holiness. That these fade demons are affront to nature works both ways, because while nature might not want to touch them, the holy energies of the sun are known to be the bane of all dark things. Just as these demons. 
 
If this were Kotal channeling by himself, he would be unable to answer Dorian. But he has a priestess now, someone that believes in him fervently enough that greatly increases his power thanks to her strong faith. 
 
Kotal stops chanting momentarily to give the sliest of smiles down to the mage. How can Kotal burn a Rage Demon? A being seemingly made purely out of fire? 
 
"That, my friend, is because I am a God!!" 
 
The sun rays are now reaching their full might and even though it still doesn't hurt any of the TASK members, its almost getting too difficult to see. The entire landscape has turned blindingly white. 
 
"And I." 
 
"HATE!!" 
 
"DEMONS!!!!!!" 
 
Kotal points his hand directly at the Rage Demon and concentrates a beam of pure holy energy down at it. Finally finishing his chant. 
 
"By the light of the sun!!" 
 
"BUUUUUURN!!!!!!" 
 
Even if it doesn't completely wipe out this creature it will leave it more than greatly weakened to any attacks Rayne or Dorian have left. To say nothing of the smaller demons. Those are surely completely incinerated by now. 

Rayne winces at the bright light, briefly shielding her eyes.  Even her humming stops as her world erupts into nothing but whiteness for breif moment.  "Holy crap," she says, perhaps a bit irreverently.  All the time she's spent around Kotal, there was a fair amount of her that didn't quite take his claims of godhood completely seriously.  But in that bright flash, that blindingly powerful light, she finally realizes that he's far, far more than a juggernaut on the battlefield.  "That was...  a Thing," is the only way she's able to verbalize it, however.  The light faded, she reconnects her swords into a bow again and seeks out another target, if there are any.

Silencia does not stop her chanting, a light smile on her lips when Kotal stops his to comment on his ability to burn the demon. Her eyes are still closed, shielded from the bright light as she trusts her companions enough to do so. She allows the vines to retreat, feeling that the demons within them are either dead or about to be. Now all her concentration lies in her chanting. Her voice keeps getting louder, the sound travelling far and wide as the sun powers their attack. When the chant finally ends, Silencia lowers herself onto her knees, exhausted. It was no easy feat to make the nature do something it did not want, especially since she never had the nature fight her will before.

It's true.  The demons of the Fade are mere spirits, forced out into the physical world.  The physical world drives them insane, and perverts their very being.  Thus it makes them dark and unholy-- the bane of all that is natural.  The true, pure light of the sun burns away unholiness, and these demons fall under that purview.  Of course, it also forces Dorian to shield his eyes as well.  He is, unfortunately, still mortal, for all his power.
 
The demon, however, burns horribly.  Roaring and writhing, it seems to be turning into black smoke and becoming smaller.  An arrow fired by Rayne's bow strikes the thing where would be directly between the eyes if it had a face.  It stiffens, the roaring stopping as if in utter shock.  And then it disappears in Kotal's sun power, Rayne's arrow dropping to the ground.
 
Once the demon disappears, the green rip hangs in the air almost peacefully, dormant finally.  And once it's safe to look again, Dorian opens his eyes, blinking the spots out of them.  "Right then.  I hope everyone hasn't expended all their mana at once," he notes.  "Someone needs to close that, and I fear I haven't ''quite'' learned to wield that sort of power alone."

"Hah!!" The sight of the demon going down by way of an arrow between the eyes is funny enough to amuse even the god of war himself. "This is why I never underestimate mortals." He nods. "Well done, Rayne." A nod to her and then Kotal is kneeling down to pick Silencia up in his arms and carry her bridal style. "You all performed masterfully. The pride of all of Twisted." 
 
He glances at Dorian as he questions their mana reserves. "I am still nearly at full power thanks to my priestess, but many of our officers have surely been injured in battle. We best tend to our wounded." 
 
At the very least the alarms have some blaring now that the demons have been banished. 

Rayne says, "Uhhh, if you just need to borrow power or something, I've not cast a single spell since I've gotten here today."  She tilts her head.  "Not that my own spellcasting is a drop in the bucket compared to yours."  She then grins at Kotal's compliment.  "Thanks, boss."  The young-looking phoenix then gazes around the yard, trying to determine the best way she can help.  In the end, tending to the wounded is best left to those that have the training in this situation, where the medics and healers were already standing by inside the building.  As a result, Rayne decides getting a closer look at this still-open rift is called for, and she cautiously approaches it."

Silencia doesn't resist Kotal as he picks her up. She does perk up when she notices the wounded, struggling to get down. "Wait... let me help the wounded...I'm okay!" She might be exhausted, the little priestess is also stubborn. She would not let herself relax if there are people that need her help. "Let me deal with the wounded and focus on closing the rift!" The only thing holding Silencia back from running over and healing the fallen is Kotal holding her and she will not back down.

Of the portal and the wounded soldiers, Dorian replies, "That is true.  But if this rift isn't closed, more demons will follow.  I know the basic spell used to create it, so I may be able to undo it.  I'll study this phenomenon more closely, so perhaps it won't be needed next time.  If there ''is'' a next time.  But for now I'll need to overwhelm the rift to close it, rather than merely unravel it."
 
Rayne's examination shows a portal, green and glowing, an irregular shape.  It's dormant.  But what's beyond it?  Magic.  Nothing but pure magic.  But what's really unusual about it.  It 'feels' almost exactly like Dorian's magic.  But he wasn't there when it formed...
 
Dorian notes Silencia's state finally-- now that he can see-- as Kotal lifts her.  "Are you all right?" he asks the elven priestess, a worried frown creasing his brow.  Though he smiles at her insistence upon helping the wounded.  "Do be careful, Lady Silencia.  You can only help so many if you yourself fall."

Rayne isn't skilled enough of a mage to be able to tell the similar feelings between the rift and Dorian's magic.  "Overwhelm it, huh?   So if I were to, say, pump a lot of fire into it, would that do anything?"  She sheathes her weapons finally, not really seeing a point to keeping them out.

Silencia hops out of Kotal's grasp when he finally lets her down, the girl still a bit wobbly on her feet. She smiles at Dorian as he seems to be concerned. "Don't worry, I'm stronger than I look!" She immediately runs off towards the fallen and lowers herself onto her knees as she heals the wounded with quick touches of glowing fingertips. She keeps herself close to the ground, fearing that she might collapse if she were to push it. The roots and vines work to bring the wounded to her as she heals them, just like she did when the demons were attacking. Silencia has a much easier time controlling them now, since nature was not resisting her will anymore.

"Not necessarily fire," Dorian replies.  "The magic of it itself.  If you can... 'squish' the rift with fire, crush it together, the 'pressure' of the magic alone might mend the rift.  Like you would with pastry dough, folded over and pressed together to hold its contents."  He pauses.   "...Not the most elegant of metaphors, but serviceable," he decides.  "If fire is the magic you're strongest with, use that.  Whatever magic you can wield with the most skill."  A smirk.  "It happens to be my specialty as well."
 
Silencia's assurances get a nod.  "If you're sure, my lady," he acquiesces.  "Please don't exhaust yourself too much, though.  Kotal would be upset if something were to happen to you."  But this, he figures, must be why the warlike god took Silencia as a priestess.  Indomitable will is still strength.

Rayne says, "Alright, then...   Give me a few minutes, I need to prepare for this...  Just....  keep the doorways open for me, would you guys?"  She starts walking back inside the building, headed for the locker rooms.  Just what does she have in mind?"

Silencia's will is what allows her strength to grow and develop. Dorian's pleas for her to be careful get a distracted wave as she works to heal the wounded. It doesn't take long for her to finally heal the last officer. She had no reason to ignore her exhaustion anymore. Silencia sighs softly and lets herself fall back onto the grass. She was so tired! She closes her eyes and just listens to Rayne and Dorian dealing with the rift, a soft smile on her lips.

Dorian nods to Rayne's statement.  As she begins to head into the building, he says, "I'll keep the rift stable until you return."  And then he turns to do that, reaching out with his magic to 'hold' the sides of the portal to keep them from opening again.  He points at the rift with his staff, the eyes of the three draconic serpent heads lighting up with bright green energy.  Though part of him is keeping an eye on Silencia to be sure she doesn't exhaust herself too terribly much.

Silencia just lies there, on the ground, her hands neatly folded in her lap and her eyes closed. She had used too much of her magic and her body felt like it was made of stone now. She is not unconscious though, she's awake and listening, but simply too tired to react at the moment.

And that's when the eagle with red plumage kind of awkwardly walks out from the tower.  It looks around as it reaches the outdoors before spreading its wings and taking flight.  Once aloft, the large bird of prey just...  catches fire before circling around the yard a few times...  But no, now isn't the time to revel in the rare joy of flight...  It has a job to do.  The phoenix's gaze snaps down towards the portal before it swoops down towards it.  Now much closer, it banks to circle around it one more time before hovering near it, seemingly on a thermal from nowhere. 
 
It turns its gaze to look at Dorian and nods once before returning its focus on the portal.  The flames around it erupt further, stronger as it focuses its power, and then finally it screeches before diving towards it one last time.  It seems that the bird is going to collide with the rift, but no...  Just before it would collide, it beats its wings powerfully to halt its motion...  And the area in front of the eagle erupts into a column of flame, engulfing the rift in the process.  It keeps its focus, forcing as much of its power into the rift as it can until finally the flames start to die down. 
 
The eagle barely manages to keep the air under its wings as it seemingly stumbles from the air into a bit of a rough landing not too far from where Dorian was standing.  It is clearly out of breath, the flames that surrounded it as it flew have died down to the point where it's very difficult to even see them, and after a moment it doesn't even bother to stay on its feet.  Seemingly having caught its breath, the bird looks up to Dorian, as if to say, 'How was that?'

As the bird forces the fire into the rift, Dorian does the same-- except he 'pulls' the rift closed with his magic, his hands igniting with fire as well.  Though what reaches out from Dorian's hands and the end of his staff to the rift is not normal flames.  They are flames, but they are magical flames, teal blue-green.  They 'arrange' Rayne's flames into a circle, a swirl, and then pull them in towards the rift.
 
Dorian is clearly straining to do this, even with Rayne's help.  This isn't something that one person can do, and without Rayne's assistance, he wouldn't have been able to pull it off.  And really, Dorian is only directing Rayne's power; she's the one mostly contributing the strength.  But finally, with a sound like a shriek of dismay, the rift closes.
 
The bird is not the only one who has difficulties remaining in the air.  Once the rift is closed, Dorian slides down to a knee, propping himself with that staff, panting with the exertion of closing the rift.  "...That was... unpleasant," he pants.  Though he offers a nod of thanks to the bird.  Only because he's still catching his breath.

Silencia can't help but be curious about what's happening, so she forces her eyes open and peeks at the two working hard at closing the rift. She pushes herself up to sit, but makes no move to do more. The little bit of rest she got was barely enough for her to sit up. She smiles when the rift closes successfully. "Good job!" She isn't even sure if her voice reached them, but not attempting to speak louder.

Rayne nods back to Dorian before getting back to her feet and beginning the walk back to the locker room.  Really, the worst part of this form for Rayne is the fact that she can't talk in it.  She does pause as she passes Silencia and gives her a nod as well before continuing on into the building.

And through all that one has to wonder. 
 
Why didn't Kotal Kahn close the rift himself? It was clear that he had more than enough power to spare given what he and Silencia did to the Rage Demon. Even with his power still held back by the limiters of Twisted, Huitzilopotchli could have closed it with naught but a thought. 
 
And yet he allowed his warriors to undertake this task. Because truly, what is a god who does everything for mortals? He is here to lead and ensure their survival, everything else is up to them, his fine warriors, and they succeeded just as he knew they would. 
 
"Well done, everyone." He smiles as finally things settle down and goes to pick up Silencia again. "I believe we've earned ourselves some rest." Carrying the girl bridal style he follows the phoenix back to the TASK building. 
 
But what about Dorian? Who's gonna help him out. "Yay!!" That'd be the sound of Ferra approaching and Dorian will suddenly feel massively muscled arms picking him up bridal style too. "Mustache man did good job!" Chirps Ferra atop Torr's shoulder who's currently carrying the so called 'mustache man' mage. 

Dorian smiles as Rayne-bird toddles off, presumably to get her proper shape back.  Then he turns to Silencia-- apparently he did hear her-- and gives that same dashing smile.  "You as well," he offers warmly.  And then suddenly he's being picked up!  "What--?!" He notes it's Torr, and shakes his head ruefully.  Still.  "Thank you," he offers.  At least he's getting transportation!  "You both did well also."

Silencia smiles groggily at the pretty bird as it passes her. It takes her a moment to register that it's Rayne's bird form. She leans into Kotal as he picks her up, the girl peeking up at the god with an exhausted smile. Her eyes close again, the girl allowing herself a bit of rest once more.

|}}