Now that Serafina had figured out what all of the strange things happening to her had meant, she assumed she should do something useful with her new found power. It was certainly a strange feeling – she had never been anything but selfish since the day that Nemesis had given her the gift of being a vaewolf. Perhaps it was part of the power the Voice had granted her – needless to say, it was strange, but she almost felt better having a purpose of sorts.

In her past, she had never been one to help when one of the gods would put out a call for action, but now, she had two reasons why she should be of assistance in the quest set forth by Nemesis. First of all, Nemesis was her maker, he had given her the gift of immortality – the power of vampirism and lycanthropy, all tied up into a neat little package as what was known as vaewolf. Secondly, as a deity herself now, it only seemed as though she should try to make a good impression on her fellow gods, for being in their good graces would most certainly come in handy and the future.

A simple gate travel spell got Serafina to the Valley of Vada with no complications. Her first impression? Too much color. The crystal trees were simply too sparkly, and that rainbow water? It almost made her nauseous. After surveying her surroundings, she took in a deep breath and resolved that she would just ignore the valley’s appearance and focus on the task at hand.

She hadn’t been in Vada long before she spotted one of the strange insects that had been invading the land. It was lying on the ground, its wings only twitching slightly. Someone had made an attempt to dispatch it, but hadn’t followed through fully. Serafina bent down slightly in an attempt to examine it, being careful not to get too close to it. She was fairly sure that its venom wouldn’t have the same effects on her that it would on a mortal, but she didn’t want to take any chances, not this early into her godhood, at least.

After getting a good look at it, she let a booted foot stomp down heavily on it, smashing it and quelling what little of its life remained. ”Not so tough,” she said, smirking slightly. Looking at how small the bug was, she found it hard to believe that they were such a plague – but then again, if they were to swarm in a large group, that would most likely cause a big problem.

She stood back up, hands on her hips, looking around the area. She had expected one of two things when she arrived in the Valley of Vada. She was either going to find a massive hoard of these insects, or she was going to find a myriad of people trying to hunt them down, but she didn’t seem to come across either of these things.

She walked on for a bit, and it was only then that she came across someone – though this someone was not doing all too well, it seemed. A man lay on the ground, his chest moving as though he were breathing rather shallowly. His skin was a sickly color, his eyes the same, and it looked as though he could no longer see. Serafina was able to make out a wound on his arm – it must have been from one of the insects.

”Here, let me help you,” she said, kneeling down near the man. She knew there was no saving him, there was no way for her to help him, but to put him out of his misery. As she knelt down, she placed her hands on his chin and neck as though she were going to prop his head up, but instead with a swift flick she cracked his neck, severing his spinal cord and killing him instantly. There was no point in causing the man to suffer any more at this point, though in a normal situations he would have enjoyed it. Instead, she needed to press on to find information that Nemesis may find useful in understanding why the insects were invading again.

She grabbed the dead man’s arm and began to examine the wound, trying to see if she could make out how the venom would have spread through his blood stream, too engrossed in her examination to hear the distant buzzing as a swarm of the insects was headed towards her current location.

Despite Ethan’s tendency for typical disdain for things, he felt a sorrow at what was befalling the valley. To know that there was a plague beginning to come upon the land again was something that made a dark pit form in his chest. The vampire hybrid had taken up a short time within Nemesis’ home to get his bearings beneath him. It felt good to be among family once again despite all that they had been through. Nemesis had been his mother’s lover back in DaeLuin; they had clashed personalities at first, but now it was different. This new plague was something the Lord of Darkness and Fear had been concerned for. He had seen the signs. Now, Ethan wanted to look into it further on the ground floor to bring any sort of information to the god. Nemesis was the god of darkness, but there was no way he would have wanted something like this to fall about the crystal trees of Vada.

He scratched his clean jaw line while looking over the land. Gaze shifted to a distance away where a woman kneeled beside a man. Ethan felt his face contort into a sneer as the smell that finally made its way to him. It was the scent of death, and yet it was not right. Something was exceedingly off about the scent coming from the dying man. The vampire could only conclude that it was due to the insect infestation that had descended upon the valley.

Ethan took in a short breath before strolling over to the woman just as she broke his neck. It was a mercy to say the very least. Everything smelled so very wrong with the dead man as he laid there on the grass. It smelled like the other diseased humans he had been avoiding in the old city he had taken up residence. This smell was more potent than what he had experienced. Thankfully, his instincts had told him to dodge the blood.

Standing a few feet away he stuff his hands in the pockets of his pants with a lean in his stance. She had a smell that was familiar that told him that she was a daughter of Nemesis. A brow lifted as he had not expected one of the family to be in the location. The scent was stronger like that would come off the god’s. As he looked closer, he came to start to understand that she was Serafina. Nemesis had spoken of her often and fondly like he would of any children that were prosperous. ”Good day to you , M’lady,” he spoke with a sweeping bow at the waist.

A bright smile was upon his lips as he stood up. ”I wonder if you would mind some company on this information gathering mission? I take it you are a child of Lord Nemesis?” A question to merely confirm what his senses were picking up. Ethan placed his hands back in his pockets again as he stood with tilted head. She was an attractive femme, which made him smile at her. It had been a while since he ran into another of his kind that made him want to interact in the least.

Crimson eyes lowered down to the dead man, the sneer came back to his features as the wound was visible now. That small of an injury caused that much damage? It was right for Nemesis to be concerned about this.

Lewis found himself following his partner in crime into battle, alongside the useless dragon and Danwe. During the whole ordeal, though, he was separated from his companions, on account of their wings versus his lack of. While it didn’t entirely bother him, he did feel that it was perhaps a bit naive to split up in such a crisis.

Not that the would be assassin couldn’t handle his own. He drew back the Ethereal Bow he had been gifted, knocked with an elemental arrow. Fire swirled around the shaft as he let it lose, cutting through a smaller swarm with ease. This should not be that difficult. He let loose another two arrows, taking out another few swarms, continuing through the crystalline valley.

It was no time at all before he came across another two individuals who had not been affected by the plight. One of them was kneeling down, He barely heard a sound, but saw the swift motions as the woman ended the man’s life. It was quick and efficient, and immediately the teen assassin was interested in learning it. Except that now was hardly the time to be taking lessons from a skilled killer. No, now was the time for action.

Lewis started his approach to them when he heard the second figure mention the child of Nemesis, and his gaze turned back to the woman. “Oh Gods, another one?” It wasn’t often that Lewis found himself frustrated, but his association to a certain fox demon (and her subsequent association to a former god) was one of his few sore points. Still, he approached the two, and raised his hand to signify he was here to help.

“Oi,” he said almost awkwardly. “Have you found anything out?” As he got closer, he noticed just how small a wound had actually been inflicted. I should be careful, then.

“I’ll admit up front, I’m not one much for this kind of….information gathering…but I can watch your back if need be…” His voice wavered a bit. While he knew very well he had the skill, he was terrible at speaking aloud.

Attie had never been so prepared in her entire life! Normally she was a thin looking girl but she had put on so much padding for this adventure that she looked like a giant potato. She had a layer of blankets surrounding her body, a layer of cotton to add fluff, a few never melting icicles to repel the heat, a layer of dried wasp/bug repellent leaves, and a final layer of leather on the outside as the main protector. On her head was a thick leather helmet with her glasses built into it for the eyes. Tiny holes smaller than the bug's size were poked in for breathing in the helmet and her mouth was covered. All of her words would be muffled but if she enunciated her words and made them louder, she would be heard. On her feet were boots with seven layers of socks. Her hands were covered with two layers of clothe gloves and one layer of leather gloves.

All of her hair was in her helmet. There was not a part of her that wasn't covered with several layers to avoid the bugs' stings. Her backpack straps were larger due to the extra padding around her shoulders and back. She was also using her bear strength in order to carry all of the extra weight. In order to walk she had to waddle a bit and her walking would always make a small swishing noise due to her padding. It was clear that she was determined to be safe while getting information, though it was more for her own curiosity than anybody else's. She wanted to know what this bug thing was and was ready to have a grande adventure to get her answers. Even if it meant she had to look like a little leather potato to do so. 

She didn't need to walk too far into the valley before she spotted a dead bug. She pulled a jar and a knife out of her bag then began to cute the dead bug in half, to ensure its death. Then she dropped the bug into her jar and continued onward. Attie eventually came across three people standing out in the valley without protection on them! One sting would be the only thing that they would need to be defeated! Although….unlike Attie, they would be able to fight better and move around easier. She wondered weather or not staying with them would be wise, as they would provide a source of protection from other monsters and beasts. 

Attie began waddling over to the group. A small swishing sound of her legs moving announced her presence. 

"Hi!" She said loudly so that they could hear her through the padding, "Need help?"

Serafina could feel the presence of another being before she saw him – and the presence gave way to the fact that that this being was much more similar to her in some aspects than a typical human would be. She stood from her kneeling position to face the newcomer, drawing in a sharp breath of his scent, just in time for him to bow to her in a rather extravagant yet welcome fashion. ”And a good day to you as well, sir,” she said, her voice resonating with its typical sultry tones.

She drank in the smile upon his lips and a smile of her own crossed her visage – he was pleasing to the eyes, to say the least. ”I am indeed looking to find out what is happening here in Vada,” she began, though she knew she did not need to elaborate as it was clear the two were on the same page. ”And you would also be right in assuming that Nemesis is my maker,” she affirmed. She could have gone off on a tangent about her newly attained godhood, but she saw no need for that – this man was being courteous as it was and noted her familial alignments. If he knew of Nemesis, then he knew of her – indicating such would just be theatrics, if that.

She watched him for a moment as he examined the corpse that laid before them, not worrying in the slightest about whether or not he had seen her end its life just moments before. Being of her kind, he would have known that it was out of mercy more than anything else. She was just about to ask him if he had any luck in finding any information out, since she had just arrived in the valley, when another voice caught her attention as another approached the pair.

She whipped her head to face the newcomer, the whites of her eyes turning red for a split second until she saw the young man’s arms raised to show he meant no harm. Her eyes faded back to normal, and she relaxed her stance. ”I have not. I was just about to ask – wait, I’m sorry, I didn’t catch you name,” she added, turning to the one who was of her kind. ”I was just about to ask if he had discovered anything, when you approached us. It seems as though we will now become a trio,” she added. ”I suppose, the more eyes we have around us, the less likely we are to be bombarded by any large groups of the insects, at least we will be slightly more aw-“

Her words were cut short as they were approached by yet another newcomer. ”Hello,” she breathed quietly as the girl approached them. She was beginning to feel a mild annoyance at the situation – she had attempted to come out on her own, in order to do some research and report back to Nemesis, and here she was, surrounded by three people. At least one of them seemed to have some semblance of who she was – but the other two, she was sure hadn’t the slightest inkling that they were in the presence of a god. Perhaps that would come to Serafina’s advantage.

”Have you discovered anything about the insects?” she asked, as a general question to the group. In the distance, there had been a faint buzzing, but now the buzzing was continuing to increase in volume. Serafina’s head suddenly turned towards the direction the buzzing was coming from. ”Do you hear that?” she asked, holding up hand as though she were urging them to cease any discussion and listen to the buzzing in the distance.

Predator gaze watched as the woman stood up from her crouch. Every inch of her shouted out the lethalness contained in her body. She exemplified a grace that only their kind possessed. Ethan was pleased to see that she was open to his presence. From her tone, it seemed that she was even welcoming to his arrival. His fanged smile became paired with a light purr that came from his throat in response to her sultry voice. The visit was not going to be as boring as he thought it would have been. He dared to close the distance between them, though he made sure to not crowd her space. ”Well, m’lady, you are as beautiful as has been described to me….and more.” A light playful wink was thrown her direction before he moved to check the cooling corpse.

Fingers traced the same wound that Serafina had been examining just a moment ago. How large were these insects? From the look of the injury, it did not take much of their venom to infect the victim. Lifting the arm he could see where the venom had spider webbed through the arm until it disappeared towards the heart. Ethan clicked his tongue all while shaking his head. The stench of the venom mixed with the blood still made him feel a bit queasy. Thankfully, he had had a hearty meal before coming to keep any temptations away. There was no knowing what it could do if consumed from an infected source.

He flared his nostrils as the scent of humans came close. Ethan got to his feet to look at the newly arrived human male. He was young from his features. In a quick motion he placed himself directly behind Serafina to her right as if he were a protective shadow. It was an act that was instinctive. Nemesis was her maker, and not only that she had been risen to divinity. There was no need for his protection since she was a goddess. Even so, Ethan glared down at the young male to assure that it was understood to keep his distance.

Brows lifted in realization that no proper introduction had been given. ”I am sorry for the lapse in judgement. Ethan Blackbird is my name.” He smiled at her from over her shoulder before turning his attention back to the boy. Serafina had the lead on the situation while his position was support for the moment. Disbelief could not be hidden from his features at the arrival of the girl. Though her ‘armor’ made sense, it still looked ridiculous to where Ethan hardly could contain a laugh. ”By the gods,” he muttered under his breath.

Ethan clenched his jaw at the buzzing as it grew louder. Maybe the girl’s armor was going to come in use. Wrist was lifted up to Ethan’s fangs to allow his skin to be punctured. Blood spilled to the ground plentifully to color the grass red. It did not take long for the wound to heal up once he was satisfied with the amount available for use. The blood lifted into the air to form small arrows that would be small enough to pierce the insects.

”Girl, you are going to be testing out that get-up sooner rather than later,” he chuckled at newcomer. A glance was given to the goddess; one that had concern laced concern though he knew she could take care of herself. ”On your word, m’lady.”

Lewis found himself staring at the duo, his cold eyes unwavering. The woman was obviously something other than human, as noted by her initial reaction his arrival. The male stepped between the two, almost to protect her, but Lewis doubted she needed much protection. Every part of Lewis felt the presence of the two beings in front of him. Had they been on opposing sides, the teen felt he would stand no chance against either of them, let alone both at once.

While the woman had not introduced herself, the man called out his own name at her request. Ethan. They are strangers to each other as they are to me…yet they bonded easily. A part of him felt as though he should feel offended, but growing up on the streets, he had formed his own bond with the fellow children who stole to live.

“Lewis Dusk,” he said aloud, whether or not it was relevant to them. He had to at least stand his own, lest he be left behind. Still, the tension was enough that he felt he should move no closer, despite his morbid curiosity on the wound that had been inflicted on the victim that the two were examining. He felt in almost inappropriate to move any closer, and he had a feeling that Ethan was perfectly fine with the status quo set.

But I will get nowhere if I merely sit back at the whims of those who are stronger. Despite the unease he felt, he took a step forward. If there was to be a protest against his proximity, the would be assassin would merely brush it off. It was an emergency.

However, the tension was crushed by something that even Lewis couldn’t help but gawk at. A strange, almost comical girl arrived on scene, with seemingly a head to make her way into the fray with as much protection as she could muster.

“Unbelievable,” he said aloud. “How can you even see in that get-up, let alone…” He let out an exasperated sigh. He was about to dismiss her entirely when the woman at center stage made a remark about the sounds of buzzing. Lewis had been a fool to let his guard down, even for the newcomer, and turned his attention to the direction of the noise.

He drew his bow back after nocking an arrow. Fire seemed effective, so there was no need to change it up. He looked to Ethan and the woman. “I’ll follow your lead then.” Despite the earlier tension he had felt, he figured that the threat of these insects was greater than Ethan’s disdain for Lewis. At least, the boy hoped so.

Attie spotted the tension that had been in the air before she came. Perhaps the group was having a squabble of some sorts? Knowing that her outfit helped ease the tensions made her pleased with herself, even if it resulted in them chuckling at her. But a laugh meant that she was making somebody happy! The thought of this made her smile, though nobody else would be able to tell due to her helmet. Attie held up her jar that held a few dead bugs in them. She had been busy collecting them to investigate the critters further. Though, she didn't bother explaining the jar since it was obvious she was collecting them. 

"Attie!" She said her name with enthusiasm, "And the most that I've learned is that unlike bees, their stingers don't fall out after they sting somebody. Oh and they don't attack each other. Just people. Its like they have a grudge or something."

These people wanted to know her name so they might be interested in becoming friends. New friendships on a journey always provided new fascinating perspectives and information. As for the information she shared, Attie didn't believe it to be helpful. Surely the people who were using alchemy on the dead bodies of these bugs were doing far more important things than her. That was why she was just collecting the dead bodies of the bugs, for dissection purposes. The jar was large enough to hold a few of the bugs.

Suddenly, she began hearing the buzzing noises in the distance. Quickly, she opened her backpack to put the jar away and she took her wand out. After ensuring that there were no holes or cracks in the bag, she turned with her wand. Normally she would have used her hands but they were covered with too many layers to be used. But Attie had been practicing before this event to ensure she was capable to hold her own using a wand. In the corner of her eyes, she could see Ethan bleeding and suddenly begin to use the blood as a weapon. Her eyes widened in awe as she had never seen such magic used. 

"Wow! That was really gross but amazing!" Attie said to Ethan.

She noticed that Lewis had a bow in his hands and was equally impressed by his weapon. Attie, determined not to be shown up by everybody else, held her wand in the air and began to mutter a few enchantments. Her wand glowed as she continued muttering. She was creating a protection spell around each and every one of her new friends using the Archprotection Spell. The spell would create a transparent layer of magical armor around Lewis, Ethan, Serafina, and herself. Attie was determined to prove herself useful and keep her new potential friends alive. The armor wasn't strong enough to hold up against something like a giant axe being swung at full force, but it would be able to hold up against smaller attacks such as arrows or any smaller attack. Her eyes looked to the others to see if they approved of her use of magic. 

Serafina could not help but allow herself to be flattered by Ethan’s comment on her appearance, though she only allowed herself to smile at him rather briefly. As much as she would have liked to spend a bit of time working her charms on him, there were far more pressing matters at hand, and there were others present at well. ”Charmed, never the less,” she added, nodding her head slightly in his direction.

She turned her attention to the one who had introduced himself as Lewis. She allowed herself to look him up and down for a moment, as though she were making an attempt to get a judge of his character. She noted that he was keeping his distance – and she gave him a lot of credit for that. She thought to herself that he must be rather smart. ”A pleasure, Lewis,” she said in his direction, and out of respect for his decision to keep his distance, she did not advance any closer to him.

She shifted her gaze to the girl that had joined their group. ”Attie,” she said, in acknowledgement of her, though she did not progress any further as Attie proceeded to inform them of the information she had discovered thus far. ”Interesting,” she said quietly, furrowing her brow in thought.

She then addressed the three. ”I am Serafina Volkov,” she said, and left it at that. If they had knowledge of who she was based off her appearance, her aura, or her name, then so be it – but she was not about to start announcing her honorifics and true identity just yet.

Her attention turned back to Ethan as he bled upon the ground, clearly using some form of hemomancy or blood magic. She found herself intrigued by such – a being that fed on blood using it for his magic as well was rather interesting to her, and she hoped that she would get a chance to get to know him a bit more in the future – after all, their kind was not all that common.

Lewis appeared to be an archer, readying his bow for the attack. A ranged physical attack – that was certainly something that Serafina did not bring to the table, and most certainly would be useful considering that their opponents were small, airborne creatures.

Attie seemed to be a healer at the core, to which Serafina almost laughed out loud but she managed to keep herself. She was not laughing at the girl’s capabilities – of course they were handy and from her experience healing magic took a lot out of the user. What she laughed at was the fact that she was now surrounded by a protection spell – when her immortality granted by the Voice would protect her far more than any protection spell would; however, it would come in handy for the rest of the group.

Serafina stood stoic with a smirk on her face – she drew no weapon. Instead, she closed her eyes briefly as the swarm of insects approached them, focusing her thoughts on the Underworld below them. Within moments, in the field ahead of the group, a black, smoking portal opened up from the ground. The distant moans of tortured souls could be heard emanating from the area, and a few arms reached up from the portal. A few of the arms managed to snatch some of the insects from the air, pulling them back down into the portal – but the vast majority buzzed right over the top. ”That didn’t go according to plan,” she said, mildly surprised. She had expected that to stop the insects in their tracks.

”Ethan, Lewis… why don’t you take a shot at them,” she instructed. ”Attie, hold that protection spell – maybe the insects are small enough where it will deflect them, even in a swarm,” she said, a bit of hopefulness audible in her voice. She wracked her brain in the meantime, formulating a backup plan while she waited to see the outcome of her newfound companions’ attacks.

Little effort went into the smirk that appeared on the male vampire’s face. A small flick of tongue on his fang helped him pull back on his true desires. He was starting to feel a little hungry with the dead around, even if their blood smelled wrong. When the young man introduced himself Ethan nodded towards him with no other response given. Apparently, the goddess was more inclined towards manners than he was. Ethan was glad someone was able to keep the conversation going in some sort of capacity. It crossed his mind that his growing hunger could have been sated with simply taking from the pair that had just arrived. Black hair shifted as he shook his head at himself. This was not the time to take from those that had the potential to help, even if it were in a small capacity. Anything at that point was going to be needed.

Sizable insect host made its way towards them as if it could lay waste to whatever was in front of it. Knowing that the stingers were not removed upon infection did help as Ethan thought about it. That meant one insect could have several victims. He clenched his teeth tightly at the thought. What were they going to do?

His own technique was not going to be as effective as others could be, but over the years he had trained to be among the masters of hemomancy. Crimson eyes narrowed as he waited for Serafina to take her run at the onslaught first. It was quite the effort. The male had to make an effort not to step away from the portal that had opened a distance away. The smell that came from it told him exactly where it led. His kind were destined for a death that would have torture waiting in the afterlife. It was a given.

Attie’s protection spell went into effect. All they could do was hope that it would hold against the mysterious insects. Ethan chuckled at Attie’s comment on his technique. ”Yes, it is not for the faint of heart…though it can be fairly effective.” One hand was stuffed into his pocket, while the other lifted. His fingers were fanned out as hand was formed in a claw like motion. Fine pointed miniature blood arrows waivered in the air for a moment. One last sharp inhale was taken before Ethan flashed his hand in a forward motion to hurl his host of arrows towards the insects.

Most found their individual targets, leading to bodies falling to the ground. Ethan smiled, though it last a short moment. There were more still heading their way. His already pale features were paler still as the hunger grew stronger. Using his skills meant efficiency, but it also meant draining from himself. The vampire clicked his tongue as he went to cut his wrist again to release more blood. The flow was quick, yet it did not produce as much. ’I should have eaten more,’ he thought with a curse.

Ethan produced his blood arrows even though there were fewer this time. He sent another wave towards the wall of insects. Targets were met, and yet still did not take out all of them. Weariness began to eat at his body and mind. Hemomancy was a deadly, and rare technique. On a smaller scale it had great potential. When taking on a large fine pointed enemy it was more difficult to wield.

”Here’s hoping your spell holds, girl. I’m tagging you in, Lewis.”