Ploay was wandering and she stumbled upon a grassless place. She heard that the dead awaked at night. The sun was about to sit and she wanted to test her skills on the undead. She wasn’t sure if this was a right thing for an angel to do. Shouldn’t she just leave the dead to rest? She sat on a tombstone and waited. The tombstone was hard and old. For years of storms she saw it had cracks. On the other graves she saw man sized holes in the ground. She sun was slowly going down. She whipped out her katana from her sheath. She stood up and waited for the dead to come.

Dori'ba, place where the dead live at night. And isn’t the most prettiest place on the world. She yawned and soon it was night. ‘Here we go,’ Ploay thought to herself. She came here on her own will but was starting get scared. Waiting, watching for any movement. She wind howled at night and gave her shivers down her spin. Was this really wise? To come at a spooky place knowing that there are dead people about to awaken? The wind kept howling and she smelled cool air. She kept looking but nothing happened. She wanted to get stronger, and she loved the adventure. But the more she was thinking about it. The more she was starting to chicken out. Although it was a cold night, Ploay felt warm. She stood her ground and waited silently.

At midnight she started to her a scraping sound. It was a slow and eerie sound. The sound was as if something was coming out of wood. She gripped her katana tighter and felt a thud on the middle of her back. She gulped and as she turned her head she felt the thump on her back harder. When she fully turned she saw a zombie that was thumping her back with his palm. The zombie looked pale and had no eyes in its sockets. Instantly she smelled rotten flesh coming from the zombie. You could see the rotten guts hanging out. As she could tell the zombie looked like the cause of death was a cut wound in the gut.

She turned around and jumped back a few inches. She knew that the zombie would kill her if she didn’t act fast. The zombie lunged itself towards her. Ploay dodged the zombie. For a dead body it sure did move really quickly. The zombie was about to use his teeth to bite into her. He hardly had any teeth left and made Ploay chuckle a bit. She took a big step to the side. The zombie was so ugly it was starting to make Ploay sick. She tried to cut its head off with her katana but she missed and the zombie slapped her hard on the belly. The blow took Ploay’s breath away and soon she was on her knees. The zombie went to reach out and grab her while she was on the ground. Ploay kicked the zombie behind the knees whirl winding around and stood up.

The zombie wasn’t done with her yet and she started to hear moans from other zombies. She needed to kill this zombie quick. ‘This really wasn’t a good idea.’ Ploay said to herself. But she lightly smirked, “come on I can take you all on!” The moans were the getting closer and the zombie that she just took down reached for her ankle and grabbed her tightly. Ploay cut the zombie’s hand off that was holding her leg. The katana could go though that zombie as if it was butter. She knew then that she could take them on no matter how many there were. Even if she had to chop off limp by limb she would.

Kithara sighed and walked along the dirty and dark path of Dori'be. Of all the places, she had to fly there. She wasn't really sure why she brought herself there...she just did. As she continued to walk, the wind blew hard and she got the message instantly. Someone was being attacked by the dead. She ran up to where the zombies gathered and she hid.

She observed them and after awhile, she saw a girl being mobbed. she wondered why that girl is also in the land of the dead. at least she knows, she's not the only crazy person who'd go there. The zombies were moaning and they looked really ugly. She realized that the zombies are angry at the girl because she was trsspassing on their territory. It was also a sign of disrespect for the dead. She quickly controlled the winds and made it throw the zombies away from the girl. Their bodies fell apart but quickly recovered.

"Hey!" she called, coming closer, "Are you alright? you have to get out of here. They are angry at us for tresspassing here."

She grabbed her and was going to run but the zombies were fast and now, they are cornered.

She was losing the fight with the zombies. She was growing weaker and the zombies just kept coming towards her. They seemed unstoppable to her. She felt a strong gust of wind. How the wind blew it was as if it were being controlled. The wind blew the zombies back, they it didn’t stop them. The cool gust have her goose bumps. She then heard a voice called out to her,"Hey! Are you alright? you have to get out of here. They are angry at us for trespassing here.” She realized it belonged to a girls voice. Ploay wondered why anyone else would be here. Where the dead attack you isn’t a relaxing place. Even the archangel knew that she shouldn’t have come. But now that was to late. If she wanted any chance to live, she had to fight. She turned to the voice. But as she was turning she felt someone grab her arm and pulling her. She felt herself running. But soon they both were stopped.

The zombies had them cornered. Not only did Ploay’s life go on the line. But she felt it would be her fault if she let this girl died. She glanced at the girl. Her eyes were grey and her hair was blue. She had a strong sense hat she was a rauko. She wondered why a stranger came just in time to save her. Ploay lightly smiled in her head. But she knew this wasn’t a time to smile. She had to work out a plan to save them both. But what?

A moaning zombie started to come closer. Ploay stepped closer to the zombie and tried to cut off its head. But she missed. She tried again and the head was cut off. But the body of the zombie still moved. She relized that she should have had respect for the dead. She felt that now it was to kill or be killed.

Ploay held her katana with two hands and said to the girl, “I’m alright, but what are you doing at a place such as this?” The zombies were getting closer and Ploay prayed in her head.

Raven in wolf form sniffed the ground, then immediately regretted it. The smell of death was everywhere. She felt it hard not to faint at the smell. Aegis turned to her.

"Raven, I believe we are lost," he said.

"Shut up," growled Raven, "I know we are lost."

Normally, Aegis would communicate with her mentally, but when she was a wolf or a similar animal like a dog, he talked to her normally. That was one reason why the wolf quickly became another of her favorite forms. Another reason was that even though the eagle was faster for travelling, she couldn't very well bring Aegis with her as an eagle.

Aegis sniffed the air and let out a sound of disgust.

"Do you know where we are?" he asked.

"If I did, then we wouldn't be lost now would we?" she asked.

"I thought you knew where north was," said the wolf.

"I do," said Raven, "Over there."

She pointed with her paw.

"But that's not helping, is it?" she asked.

"We are in Dori'ba," replied the wolf, "Land of the Dead."

"Oh...great..." growled Raven, "Grab my pack, will you Aegis?"

Aegis grabbed the pack with his teeth and pulled it off Raven's back.

"Going to shapeshift?" he asked, putting the pack down.

"You bet," said Raven, transforming into an eagle. She flew up into the air and scanned the area. She could barely make out a group of undead fighting two people. She flew back down in alarm and transformed back into a wolf.

"Well?" asked Aegis.

"Two people...zombies," muttered Raven, "Let's go."

Both wolves ran towards Kithara and another girl. Once there, Raven transformed into her human form. She grabbed her Masterwork Longbow from Aegis' back and fired an Ice Arrow at the creature sneaking up behind the other girl.

"Do you need help?" she asked, fitting another arrow to her bow and drawing the string back.

Ploay felt a zombie get close behind her. She looked and the zombie was about to thrust its short sword into her. She gulped and felt like it was too late to do anything. Was this how she was going to die? She hoped not. Ploay didn’t want to give in so easily, but what was there to do? She heard someone firing an arrow from a bow string. She then saw an ice arrow go into the zombie. The zombie stopped dead in its tracks. Ploay thought to herself, ‘Who fired?’ She hoped the one who fired the arrow was on her side. If not then she may have a bit of trouble. Ploay then heard the girl say, “do you need help?” Ploay thought about it. Countless zombies against two girls. Yeah she could use the help.

The other girl had grey eyes and hair black as the night. She wondered why this other person came to the land of the dead. The archangel herself shouldn’t have been here. “Yeah we could use all the help we can get.” Ploay said to her.

The zombies were getting closer to them. Ploay outstretched her arm that was holding the katana. She then used her whirlwind attack and spun herself at the zombies. A few zombies had gotten their arms cut off and most of the backed up a little. She stopped spinning and the zombies were starter to get closer again. Maybe luck will be on her side again and a miracle will happen. The cool chill of the wind blew again. The fresh air didn’t make the rotting flesh so bad.

Raven nodded, casting Fireball on the nearest zombie. She turned to the girl, firing arrows as fast as she could manage. Aegis helped too, tackling them to the ground and attacking them with sharp teeth and claws.

"Do you think an illusion will work on them?" she asked the other girl.

Kithara jumped back just in time as a zombie almost but her throat. She saw an ice arrow hit one of the zombies and one person came to her mind.

"Could it be?" she thought, lookling back to see the person, "Raven!!!"

Now, the three of them fought the zombies. as she was slashed them, she was fighting the urge to give up. It wasn't the zombies fault---it was theirs. They shouldn't be in that kind of place but now, they had to kill or be killed. As she heard Raven say about illusions, she also had an idea.

"Rae." she called, "Use your illusions while I create a fog."

She stepped back and started on her spell. Slowly, the place was getting blurry that you can hardly see a thing. The zombies would have a hard time finding them but it won't stop them--they had sense over living things. The three girls kept quiet and remained still.

((Kit, Net Axs, 2:30, Yin and Yang? Can you?))

Raven nodded to Kithara as the fog went up. Concentrating, she cast an illusion of the three of them a little bit away. The zombies rushed over to the illusion, attacking it. Raven grinned at Kithara.

"Show's they're not very smart," she said.

(sure...)

Kithara giggled, seeing the zombies run after the illusions. you can expect they're not smart showing their damaged brains and organs but they did have sense and one move could make them find the real ones.

"Not a sound, girls." she whispered, "Let's get out of here."

((cool...see you there!))

Raven nodded, following Kithara through the fog. She guessed that it might have already been about 10 minutes, meaning they had 10 more minutes tops before the illusion disappeared. She followed Kithara a little way away and behind a rock.

"We have to go north to get out of here," she whispered to Kithara, pointing in the direction they would need to go.

Ploay hid behind a rock with the other girls. She was silent. What skill those two girls had. It was very impressive. Such teamwork. It reminded her how she used to team up with other angels. But that was a long time ago and she needed to move on from that past. She was glad that the power of team work was still strong.

She over heard the one named Raven whisper to the other one about heading north. North would be safer Ploay thought. Wouldn’t it?

The illusions seemed to be holding up for the most part. The zombies were slow in movement and slow in the mind. Come to think of it did zombies even use their brains, that is when the brain is still there. Ploay shook the thought away and whispered. “May I flee north with you two too?”

"Sure," said Raven to the girl, "But we're not fleeing. Call it a tactical retreat."

She grinned.

"I'm Raven," she said, "This is Kithara."

She looked around her.

"We need to keep these zombies busy while we get out of here. Leave the distraction to me. Go that way."

She pointed towards the north.

Kithara nodded and patted Raven on the shoulder.

"We will be waiting for you." she said, standing up, "Don't Die okay?"

She fixed herself and checked if the zombies were still running after the bait. looks like they were.

"Come." she looked at the Archangel, "Raven will distract them."

She looked at Raven and concentrated. After awhile, the winds began to blow around Raven.

"The winds will protect you." She said, "good luck."

"Aegis will lead you out," she said to Kithara, "Don't worry about me. I'm counting on the fact that they're about as smart as rocks."

She grinned and sent Kithara and the other girl off. Aegis was leading them. She took a deep breath and used her Invisibility spell. Once she was invisible, she walked near the zombies.

"Earthquake!" she cast.

The ground split open, swallowing some of the zombies. The others moved around, looking for the attacker.

"Fireball!" cast Raven, sending a ball of fire at some of the zombies. They moved around, still not noticing where Raven was.

Ploay nodded at Kithara. She hurriedly went with her. They were running to the north. Those two were so brave. She noticed someone leading them. This must have been Aegis. She felt the winds were picking up greatly. Ploay turned her head as she felt Raven cast spells. It wasn’t possible for a zombie to do what was it? So it had to be her. Ploay continued to walk besides Kithara. When she thought she was far enough away from the zombies. She started to talk quietly, “do you think she will be alright?” Ploay looked at Kithara then looked down.

She sighed sadly. She knew that this other girl was strong but anything could have happened. She wondered if they should go back and lend some support. She thought about this for a while.

She was also wondering what was up north that would protect them. Or would it have been possible that up north wasn't a good place to go? And what if the zombies were north too?

Raven looked around. Seeing that Ploay and Kithara were far enough away, she cast one last spell and shifted to eagle form. Flying after them, she let out three screeches so that they would know that she was all right. She hoped that they noticed her.

Ploay hear three stretches that seemed to be coming from a bird. She looked up and saw an eagle. She tilted her head in confusion and realized that it must have been the shape shifter Raven. Ploay waved to her from below. Raven must have taken out those zombies. Ploay showed her emotion and smiled a little at the eagle formed Raven. The wind softly blew Ploay’s hair back. She could only smell a slight bit of the dead bodies. She looked at Kithara and said, “now what do we do?”

Ploay scratched her head with her index finger. The other girls would most likely go somewhere else and leave her alone. The archangel was used to being left alone. Always traveling alone. Never knowing where she is quiet going until she gets there. And when she gets there, she just finds another path to take. Ploay never liked to stay in one place and settle down. She was a wanderer and she wanted it to stay that way for a long time.

Ploay started to feel the ground shake. As if something big was coming towards them. It made a rhyming beating sound. She heard a loud groan that sounded like a hundred blasts from a trumpet. As the sound was getting closer, Ploay could make out a figure out in the distance. It was big. As it was getting closer she could make out more of it. It had three arms and two heads. Each arm held a weapon, the first and the second arm held swords. And the third arm held a large ax. The weapons that this creature held were black. The creature had different patches of skin. As if they were sowed skin from dead bodies.

Shivers ran up the archangels spine as she uttered the words, “Girls we got trouble.” Ploay gulped. They were in trouble. This creature was huge, and Ploay hoped they were either strong enough, or fast enough to live though that night.

(I didn’t know if abominations were aloud, if not I’ll edit this.)

Kithara ran with the archangel, gritting her teeth. She thought deeply about them leaving Raven--it wasn't right but she had to trust her when she says she'll be fine. Kithara then turned to her companion.

"She will be fine." she smiled, "She knows what she's doing..."

Deep in her mind she added a thought.

"I hope..."

They followed Aegis who was leading them up to the north. They reached the spot and they waited. Kithara couldn't keep still, thinking of how her friend is doing, She trusted her and she remained calm. after awhile, she noticed the archangel was worried.

"Don't worry about her." she said, patting her on the shoulder, "By they way, you never told me your name."

Raven stared at the monster. If she had been human, she would have let out a low whistle, but in eagle form, it sounded more like a screech. Even she was not reckless enough to take on that thing. She hoped she could lead it away.

Swiftly, she darted down to the ground and snatched up a stone, hoping that this monster wasn't very smart either. She flew over it, dropping the stone. It raised a giant arm to swat at her. She screeched again, flying a little way away. It followed her, angry. She repeated this for a while until the monster turned, spotting Kithara and the other girl.

Oh no!, thought Raven, screeching at them for a warning. She darted off after the monster, hoping it wouldn't be too late, and hoping Kithara and the other girl could make it out of Dori'ba in time.

Kithara stood up in surprise to see a zombie running after them. She raised her hand and signalled Raven not to go under the ground. She released a very hot, burning air which was solar wind, headed to the direction of the zombie. It burned the zombies skin and she didn't look. It felt horrible especially since it was their fault for tresspassing but they had no choice but to fight back.

"We have to get out of this place." she said, helping the archangel up, "Raven won't go down. She'll meet us somewhere else."

She called Aegis and eventhough these two don't get along, for the first time, Aegis followed and ran with the other two girls. Kit was surprised with that and never thought it would work.

Raven abruptly pulled upward, avoiding Kithara's solar wind. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Aegis rush over to Kithara and lead them away. She was slightly surprised that Aegis actually listened to Kithara in the first place. She flew after them while the monster was still confused, hoping that they actually did manage to get out of this place in time.

Ploay and the other girl were running. As Ploay ran she jumped over the grave holes. There were no zombies coming out of the grave holes and that was very interesting to her. Each hole she jumped over the worse she felt. She would never have such disrespect to jump over markings of where the dead were kept. She sighed as she kept running.

She saw the abomination in confusion. Maybe what Raven did worked. They may just have enough time to leave the land of the dead, just maybe. As they kept running the smell of the dead wasn’t as strong as it was. The awful smell stopped making her dizzy. She stopped when she thought they were close to the border.

Ploay rested her palms on her knees. She gasped for air that didn’t seem to come in. When heart slowed down, she looked at looked at the girl who asked her name, “My name is Ploay.” She looked up and saw that Raven was above them. Ploay blinked and hardly believed it, they had lived through the night.

Kithara smiled and gave a thumbs up for Raven. They had made it and they were safe--for now. There were no attacks but they will never be sure.

"So, Ploay." she said, panting, "Why did you come here? Something tells me it's not just to annoy the dead."

She looked at her and waited for an answer. She noticed that Raven didn't come down yet. Maybe she was still scouting.

The archangel rubbed her nose with her finger. It was an easy scratch to get rid of. Kithara asked her why she came here. That was a hard question. But the angel tried to best to answer her the best way possible. “I go where the wind takes me.” She plainly said. Then wind softly blew. And the sun was slowly coming up. It was now dawn and the zombies went to rest. Never really knowing why she trusted the wind to lead her. Ever sense she could remember she would go place to place just because that is how the wind seemed to take her. There was a deep emotional string that connected Ploay to the wind and she was happy for that.

Lightly smiling at Kithara she said in a quiet voice, “How about I leave.” Ploay was the loner type. She did like company but she traveled alone most of the time. ‘Always alone, and it is going to stay like that.’ She thought to herself. She tucked her hair behind her ear. Her hair was soft yet it was a little messy from the fight. She would take care of that later. Placing her hands in her pockets, the archangel starter to walk away from them.

The wind was blowing east. So she went east. A few feet away from them she stopped and turned her head at them, “it was nice meeting you two, really.” She then faced in front of her and continued to walk away. The dead went to sleep and her work was done. She felt like she accomplished something. As if her duties were done. But still the angel had no idea what her duties were. An angel sealed up and no home to go to. The smell of the dead stopped the farther she went out. And maybe she may return back to the land of the dead. Only time and where the wind took her could tell that.