Temperance? This was Temperance of Dragon's Blood? Lilith gritted her teeth as she saw the woman stand there, surrounded by fire and smoke... And Sorin was on the ground between her and Temperance. What in the world was this power pinning her down like this though? Diligence never showed anything like this, but if what Temperance said was true, then Diligence truly was the weakest of their group. And now, Lilith realized, this made them lower their guard and underestimate this new opponent.

You best pull yourself together immediately, child! I will not have yet another vessel die to a human again!

Melantha's biting words rang through Lilith's mind, managing to raise her upper body just enough to get a better view of Temperance, the woman now stepping closer toward them.

"You gave her an agonizing death by flame, Ignatius," Temperance spoke aloud, a hand reaching out as she approached Sorin. "For that, I will ensure your death is just as painful, starting by slowly crushing your body against the earth." Her hand would slowly clench into a fist, causing Sorin to be pushed down again, the young man shouting out of pain from that unbearable weight. But at the same time this occurred, Lilith felt the invisible weight lessen from her, knowing this was her only chance to keep Sorin safe. She had to take this now or else they'll all be slain by this woman. Lilith's eyes focused on Temperance, the shadows formed by the flames around in this dark forest rising up into sharpened tendrils and even snakes. This happened in mere moments, enough for Temperance to notice and quickly pause mid-step, jumping back as the shadows struck like vipers toward her.

Once she was out of sight, Lilith felt the weight lessen considerably more, able to push herself up onto her feet. She turned toward Amaya and helped her up, the girl groaning as she held herself. It didn't seem like Amaya had any serious injuries from what happened.

"You alright, Amaya," asked Lilith, looking her over once more.

"Y-yeah.. Felt like gravity just increased on us during all that."

"Gravity?"

Her attention went to Sorin, Lilith rushing over to his side. She took hold of his arm to help him up, though he quickly pulled it out of her grasp as he got up to stand. Dark red blood dripped from his nose, some drops falling onto his shirt, as he staggered a little. Bringing one hand up to pinch his nose, he winced as he looked down at his other hand, seeing the dagger he had caught earlier. He tossed it to the side with a small growl, clenching his now free hand as his eyes quickly looked around.

"Lilith, don't let your guard down, she could be-"

"Watch out!" Amaya screamed as the tree that had the embedded dagger was uprooted, the entire tree sailing and spinning through the air and toward the two. Sorin pushed Lilith as hard as he could, the girl falling back as Sorin just narrowly avoided getting struck. He fell onto his back with a groan, try to see over the tree and check that Lilith was alright. Instead, he saw Temperance jump into view, pull the dagger out of the bark of the tree with ease, and then pouncing on the downed girl, dagger raised. Lilith was a bit dazed from the push, having but a few seconds to react with Temperance on top of her. With nary any emotion crossing Temperance's expression, she swung her hand downward, Lilith overcome with panic to properly think until the blade punctured her skin on the left side of her chest. Her scream pierced the air, Amaya's hands clenching as she glared at Temperance's back.

The uprooted tree would collapse in itself as all the water within it was drawn out, leaving behind a shriveled trunk of what was once a great oak, the stream of water striking Temperance from behind. The force pushed her off of Lilith, slamming her into another tree as Lilith rolled over, her hands over the wound to try to stop the bleeding. Her body shook from the shock and pain, quickly looking up to focus back on Temperance. The stream of water Amaya controlled swirled in the air before turning to slam back onto Temperance, the woman's eyes widening as she brought her hand out in time, gravity taking hold of the area in front of her to pull the water down to the ground. Her brown eyes glared back at Amaya, pushing her hand palm out as Amaya was sent flying backward, slamming into a tree herself. Only for gravity to reverse and pull her away from the tree and then slam back into it, Amaya gasping out as the air was knocked out of her, some blood left behind on tree's trunk from where her head met the tree. It was enough to leave behind a small dent, Amaya knocked out cold from it.

A glint of light caught Lilith's eye, and the next thing she knew, Temperance's partner dagger had embedded into its owner's upper arm, the woman gasping out in pain as she turned her head to the source it came from. Sorin charged her in that moment, and to Lilith's surprise, his hands didn't look like normal hands but like dragon claws. Dragon claws engulfed in fire, Temperance quickly jumping back as she pulled the dagger out of her arm with a wince. And as Sorin kept trying to close the distance between them, claws slashing at air as Temperance kept evading, Lilith took this moment to observe as best she could despite the pain. Sorin was very close to Temperance, so why wasn't she using that opportunity to use gravity and pin him down again? She always kept trying to have some space between all of them...

She can't use gravity that close or else she'd risk succumbing to it as well.

Gritting her teeth, Lilith did her best to stay as calm as possible, breathing heavily from adrenaline as she kept her right hand over the wound. Something to stop Temperance.. she had to think of something! If only she could make a wall... A wall? Yes, that was it! Focus and form a wall... Before Temperance hurt either one of them again.

Temperance's own shadow rose up behind the woman, her back colliding against it that made her eyes widen with shock. Sorin took advantage of this to slash at her abdomen, cloth ripping and blood spilling as the wall behind Temperance fell apart. She was knocked back, Temperance quickly sitting up and bringing both her daggers together. All the trees around them, including the ones that Sorin set on fire, began to bend toward Temperance. It'd take a few moments for Lilith to realize that Temperance was using herself as a center of gravity for the trees... And that they were all in the middle of that crossfire. The uprooted trees flew through the air all around them, Lilith ducking down as she focused her shadows to protect her, shadows catching and piercing trees before they hit her. The sound of the crashing trees echoed all around, until... Silence.

Lilith groaned as she stood up, stumbling around a fallen tree to look for the others. Her eyes squinted some, the smoke getting a little heavier now that the fire had spread further, Temperance's last attack making it worse. But it didn't seem like Temperance was around anymore. Perhaps she escaped now that she realized fighting the three of them at once was too much? She wasn't sure if that was good luck or bad luck that Temperance got away... But right now, she had to see if the others were okay.

"Sorin! Amaya! Where are you!?" Lilith winced after her yell, starting to feel a tad dizzy now as she tried to move around the fallen trees and their branches.

"Here," Sorin called, crawling out of some branches and leaves. His right hand was over his torso, his face scrunched up in pain. "Ugh... I think she broke some ribs on me from all that invisible weight bullshit and the fucking trees." Well, he seemed fine enough if he was able to talk like that. Lilith nodded and looked around some more for Amaya.

"L-Lily.. I'm over here," cried out Amaya, her voice a mixture of pain and sobbing. Lilith and Sorin glanced at each other before they limped to where they heard Amaya's voice. But what they saw there was unexpected. Amaya was mostly alright, but her foot was caught under a tree trunk.

"Oh shit," muttered Sorin, eyes looking at the fallen tree. "Lilith, help me with this. You should have some strength from your dragon, so we can move this thing off her."

"Y-you think so? I'll try," she told him, slowly nodding. The two stepped closer to the tree, one on each side of Amaya. Sorin placed both of his hands on the tree, glancing at Lilith to see her do the same. He knew she had gotten stabbed back there, so this was about to be very painful for the both of them.

"Alright, on three," he told her, taking a deep breath to brace himself. "One... Two... Three!"

They both pushed at the tree with grunts and gasps, the tree slowly rolling a bit, enough for Amaya to pull her foot free. She crawled backward some, her breath shaky and gasping as she stared at her crushed foot. Sorin groaned as his arms went over and covered his torso again, inhaling sharply through his teeth from the pain. As for Lilith, the dizziness grew worse as she stumbled forward and leaned against the tree, the palm of her right hand covered in blood. She had no choice but to try to apply more pressure to the wound, Lilith sliding down a bit until she was on her knees.

"Shit... Lilith, you alright," asked Sorin, watching what was going on.

"I'm.. lightheaded and dizzy," she replied, Sorin sucking his teeth at the implication.

"Amaya, I'll need your help with this one," he started, glancing to the girl. Amaya looked up with watery eyes and then to Lilith, returning her gaze back to Sorin. She slowly nodded, knowing this was only going to get worse unless they stopped the bleeding immediately. Sorin stepped closer to Lilith, crouching down to be eye level with her.

"You need to lay down," he told her, Lilith nodding and slowly laying back onto the ground, her hand still over the wound. Sorin gestured to Amaya to move close, the girl having to crawl just a bit to be close enough.

"I'll need you to hold her down, got it? Can't have her thrashing around." Before Lilith could ask what he was going to do, his hands were suddenly grabbing at the bottom of her shirt, pulling her top up.

"What are you doing!? Are you insane," yelled Lilith, her hands and arms stopping him from pulling the top off completely.

"Shut up and let me take this off you! We have to look at this wound and.. cauterize it," he told her firmly, Lilith freezing up at his words. Her eyes glanced away out of embarrassment, but she nodded and relaxed, allowing Sorin to take her shirt off. Though, she winced from having to raise her arms up, her upper body now only dressed in just a black bra. Now with a better look at the stab wound, Sorin sighed a bit as he leaned over her.

"It looks deep.. You're losing a lot of blood, so we have to stop it now while we can until your dragon's power can heal it later," he explained to her, his eyes next looking at Amaya. "Hold her arms down firmly, Amaya. Lilith-" he brought her balled up shirt to her face. "-You might want to bite down on this."

"It's gonna be okay, Lilith," Amaya said between her sniveling, mustering up a comforting smile. "Just hang on, it'll only hurt a moment." Amaya's hands grabbed and pinned down Lilith's wrists over her head, the girl nodding at Sorin to confirm she was ready. Sorin brought his right hand out, a flame hovering above his palm, taking another deep as he watched Lilith bite down onto her bloodied shirt. With everything in place, he pushed his hand down onto the wound, the flame making contact with her skin as it seared the open wound. Lilith screamed and kicked her legs from the pain, arms struggling against Amaya's grip as Sorin's fire burned her skin. Tears flowed out of her eyes from the excruciating pain, her head shaking to the left and right as she arched her back. A few more moments and then Sorin pulled his hand away at long last, taking a look to see that it had worked.

The wound was cauterized, the bleeding stopped, albeit now she had to deal with a burn until it healed up. Amaya let go of Lilith's wrists, the girl turning to lean her back against the tree that had crushed her foot moments ago. Sorin would do the same, his eyes on Lilith as the girl breathed heavily. She pulled the shirt out of her mouth, draping it over herself to try to cover up some from him. She was trying to take deep breaths to calm herself, her breaths shaky. Grunting as she sat up, she looked at the other two and then to the scenery around them.

"We need to get out of here," she told them, getting up with some trouble. "That fire is only getting worse."

"It's probably not obvious but we're not going to be able to get far as we are," Sorin pointed out through gritted teeth. "You lost a lot of blood, Amaya's foot is pretty much useless right now, and it fucking hurts to breath right now."

"Then what do you think you should stop doing?"

"Shut up! And-" Sorin groaned as he brought his hand up to his nose, sniffling some from the trickle of blood lingering. "-That fucking bitch broke my nose too."

"Mn, you two," Amaya spoke up, her left hand coming up to cushion the back of her head against the tree, face scrunching up in pain. "I sense... I think she's coming back."

"Aw, fuck me! You gotta be kidding!" Sorin pushed himself to stand up, using the tree as a crutch to help himself, turning his head to look around. Wincing as she tried to look around, Lilith held her shirt close to herself as she looked around too, preparing herself for another attack.

"Where is she coming from," Lilith asked Amaya, the blonde dazed as she squinted her eyes a bit. She raised her other hand to point to their left, Lilith stepping closer to Amaya to protect her from Temperance. Both Sorin and Lilith stared down into the darkness of the forest, where the flames hadn't reached yet. Aside from the crackling of the wildfire, they were soon able to pick up on the sound of footsteps, the occasional sound of snapping twigs mixing in. Even through her own blurry vision, her head feeling like it was spinning, Lilith stared to try to make out who was approaching them. One thing that didn't feel right to her was how long it was taking for Temperance to go on the offensive... Unless this wasn't Temperance. If it really was her, she would have attacked again by now, wouldn't she? There'd be no reason not to, unless her own wounds were compromising her. A couple more steps and...

"Wow, you three look like shit," spoke a male voice, the figure finally stepping into view. He looked a bit shorter than Sorin, his figure also stocky. He was wearing a black hooded jacket, the sleeves stopping at his elbows, fingerless gloves on his hands. The jacket was open to show a white shirt underneath, baggy tan shorts to go along with it as well as black shoes. He tilted his head a bit at them, reaching up to pull down his hood. His skin was very tan, light brown eyes looknig them over and then to the fire and fallen trees behind them.

"You know you can't be starting fires like that, right? Or knocking down trees either," he said bluntly, stepping closer to them. "All fun and games til someone gets hurt."

"You.. You're a carrier? Really," asked Sorin, raising a brow at him as his posture relaxed a bit.

"Huh, was it that obvious? Damn... Guess I'm actually bad at this," he muttered, stopping to look at Lilith. She stared back at him until she realized she was still shirtless, quickly turning around and slipping the shirt back on. When she turned back, her cheeks were red with embarrassment, her gaze lowered.

"Don't worry, that will be our secret," the newcomer told her, slipping his hands into his jacket pockets.

"We're carriers too," Lilith informed him, meeting his eyes. "We had.. a fight with someone trying to kill us."

"That explains a lot," he said, walking past her to approach Amaya. "Name's Ferris... And I guess this one ain't gonna be walking for a while, yeah?"

"Clearly," huffed Sorin, crossing his arms over his chest. "What are you even doing around here, anyway?"

"Well, I do live in this forest, so smelling smoke being blown into my house got my attention. You three are all beaten up, though, so.. I can offer my home for you guys to recuperate. You're going to need it."

Sorin and Lilith would look at each other and then nod, realizing they weren't in any position to turn down such an offer. They needed shelter and time to heal their wounds, and they were exhausted as is from the day's events and after that fight. Their bodies needed some rest.

"Okay, so we're all on the same page? Then I'll carry this one there. You two can still walk, can't you?" Ferris kneeled down and carefully scooped up the dazed Amaya, the blonde quietly looking up at him. She seemed too tired to speak or even react to the fact he was carrying her bridal style.

"Lilith and I will be alright," Sorin assured him, nodding. "Just lead the way. We'll follow you."

"Ah, so Lilith and...?"

"Sorin. And the one you're carrying there is Amaya."

"Got it. Alright, my home is this way." Ferris started to walk, Lilith and Sorin waiting for him to get ahead of them before they trailed after him, the two staggering a bit.

"So that was the real power of Dragon's Blood? It was three against one and yet she still beat us up pretty bad," Lilith began, looking up at Sorin. "If any one of us had been alone, we would have been killed by her."

"I don't want to talk about that right now," Sorin muttered in a low voice, his brows furrowed angrily. It didn't take much for Lilith to know that he was angry about the outcome of that fight. Or maybe it was more about his pride taking a huge hit? Where Diligence had boosted his ego, Temperance sure humbled him with her use of gravity. They had lowered their guard around Temperance and that could have gotten them killed. Now, they would have to be more, well, diligent in keeping themselves hidden from Dragon's Blood, pun unintended. One was bad enough, but Lilith couldn't imagine the misfortune of encountering two at the same time. But if there was one thing for certain, it was the fact that their numbers helped them survive against one powerful foe. Now after meeting Ferris, Lilith wondered if he'd also join them. If it meant surviving, she hoped he would.

But that was a question to be saved for another time. Right now, they needed to get to Ferris' home and rest, hopefully in time before another encounter with Dragon's Blood happens again. They'd walk through the darkness of the forest, Sorin eventually creating a flame in his hand to light their way once they were far enough from the wildfires. Every step eventually grew heavier for Sorin and Lilith as they followed Ferris through the forest. After who knows how many minutes, they eventually spotted more lights in the middle of the darkness, Lilith quietly sighing out of relief that they were seemingly almost there.

"That's my home up ahead," Ferris told them, glancing over his shoulder at them. "I live alone so you can settle in however you want. It's not huge or anything, though."

Just a bit more, then they can finally get some rest... And figure out where to go from here on. Dragon's Blood apparently knew about them and it was only a matter of time before other people knew about what had happened in Ristroff, specifically about Diligence's fate. It felt as if things just got more difficult for all of them, and it only made Lilith want to get to Ferris' home sooner so she can finally close her eyes and sleep after such a long day.