The Living Forest

The first sign that something was wrong, came when her people closest to the ground started to wobble and then fall into the smoke and the fire below. Then came the screams, coming from the forest where they had fallen.

Immediately, her people started to fly higher, but some would still fall. She saw them start to falter in the air, as if they couldn't quite control their bodies, and then they just fell. One of her Sect Leaders, a ravzor with a true body that gave him wings, flew near her and yelled.

"There is something in the air, Sect Head! A toxin, it is rising with the heat," he told her and Awirren trusted him immediately, he had eyes that could see such things. She reacted a moment later. She blasted through the air, finding one of her warriors, a karura sitting on a cushion of air.

"Toxin rising," she said, "Blow it away."

Her warrior nodded and she felt his Qi moving through his body, and then the world shook as he activated his Ideal.

—Call Wind—

A surge of wind blew toward him from all around them, as if it was sucked in from afar, and he released his technique. The smoke was blown away along with whatever toxin had gotten her people. It blew back to the ground and into the forest, the flames burning beneath them were fanned and they exploded into wild swathing waves that expanded on all sides.

"Keep watch, don't let the smoke rise to us," she ordered. That should guarantee that the toxins don't reach them either.

She kept watch, looking for any signs of more danger. It was hard to see, a layer of smoke was covering the forest, and the fire was that was burning wasn't spreading as fast as she thought it should be. The wood was burning, but it was obviously powerful, high tiered, it took a lot to get it going. A moment later, she noticed shadows moving in the smoke, she narrowed her eyes and realized what it was a moment before the thousand reaching vines burst from the smoke.

She screeched, a signal to all to disperse. Her Sect Head wasn't fast enough. A dozen vines grabbed hold of him and pulled him down from his cloud. The wind died, and smoke started to rise again, and fast.

Awirren channeled her Qi, filling her conduits with the might of Soulfire, having it move through her like a giant river, then infused it into her feathers. As vines grew upward, seemingly long enough to grab the sky, she released her technique to join those of her people.

Her wings spread wide, and her Qi copied the feathers on her body, a thousand feathers exploded out of her in a {Blast of Feathers}. Each a reflecting a golden surface, burning with the flames of her Qi, with rough edges that could sheer off stone with ease. Her feathers cut through the vines like they were nothing, then crashed down through the smoke where she heard them impact the trees.

The sounds of splintering wood echoed from below, followed by the sounds of her feathers hitting the earth. Even with her onslaught, and that of her people, it wasn't enough. Vines pulled back, with her people in their grasps. Before she could even react, a volley of sharp thorns as tall as her, blasted out of the smoke, faster than most of her people could react. She saw many impaled by them.

A warrior next to her evaded barely in time, but not fast enough to avoid the scratch across his upper arm. Awirren saw a dark green sap like residue on the wound, and saw it seep in through the scratch. Her warrior twitched, and then blood started pouring out of his eyes. A moment later he tumbled from the air.

Awirren's mind watched it all in slow motion, knowing that this was all being watched. Knowing that this display could not continue. She couldn't be seen as weak.

She saw more of her people falling, seemingly not hit by anything, and she realized that the toxin had to have reached them again. But she also saw many who were lower, closer to the forest, who hadn't been affected. It didn't take her long to realize that only people that were below a certain tier were affected.

She started breathing fast, almost panicked, trying to figure out what she had to do. Then, she felt the presence of a familiar technique and froze. For a moment, she almost reacted violently, she almost pulled her ring off her finger, but then she realized that the technique wasn't focused on her. The Qi of Sky, blasted all around her, through her people, it hit the air and to Awirren it looked as if the Heavens themselves smote down from above. Smoke was blasted down, along with the toxin and the thorns and vines flying in their way. The ground shook as it cracked, and the forest toppled in all directions directly below her.

Rage filled Awirren's mind, an all consuming fire that threatened to spill out as she looked above to see Anatalien standing above her, saving her people.

She was taking her spot, her glory, she saw her people looking up at her with gratitude in their eyes. Looking at Anatalien as their savior. Others were watching too, she couldn't let this happen.

Shouts and interrupted her, and she turned her eyes away, her mantra echoing inside her mind. She couldn't let the world see her, she had to play her part. Her eyes and ears found the source of the shouts, and she blasted through the air, flying to the edge of her forces, then looked down where they were pointing.

She saw the forest beyond the dome, the one that filled this territory, and she saw that it was changing. The trees were shaking and pulling themselves out of the ground. The leaves were darkening and growing larger.

It didn't take her long to realize that the Dome Forest was somehow growing beyond its original size, it was taking over other plants.

Awirren was mad, but she still had eyes. She saw a territory filled with trees, and knew that she couldn't let the Dome expand through it. She wondered why they hadn't cleared the forest around the Dome before now, but no one had mentioned the fact that the Dome monsters could do this.

It didn't matter. She triggered her Evolved Form.

Her body burst apart in a blaze of glorious flame. She grew until her light filled the sky, and the Golden Phoenix stood in the center of her army.

She screeched, a mighty sound that drowned out the noise of fighting. Now all eyes were back on her, as they should be.

Her Soulfire Cloak intensified and Soulfire Qi burned the air itself. She plunged from the sky, straight into the smoke as she charged a technique. She saw the ground, approaching fast, and with a mighty roar she released the {Dawn of Soul Flame}.

Anatalien watched from above, waiting for the right opportunity. Each faction that was assigned to a Dome was given all the information that the researchers, historians, and analysts, got on that specific Dome. It was no different for Awirren's Sect. Except for one small thing, one piece of information that was missing. It was a risk, but one that Anatalien had been willing to take. With a single sentence, Sigmund had made sure that all who had seen that information, forgot it. It had taken a lot out of him, and he hadn't yet fully recovered his willpower. But it was worth it.

Awirren didn't clear the forest around the Dome, and because of it, the Living Forest would have fuel to grow, to consume. She didn't doubt that Awirren would win, in the end. But it would take more out of her. It would leave her weaker for Anatalien's justice.

She watched as her old friend used her Evolved Form, the power that Tali had given her, the form that she had only because of the fact that she had taken Tali's inspiration. It burned her from the inside, that knowledge, that she had given Awirren so much, only to be betrayed in the end. She was mad, and even if the world didn't see it, Tali knew it intimately. Her body and soul had healed, but she still felt the echoes of the pain that had been a daily occurrence for three hundred years.

Ryun had asked her to think carefully about what she was doing, but he didn't understand, he couldn't understand. Some people just didn't deserve to live. Some betrayals were worse than others.

As Awirren fought, Tali kept waiting and keeping herself back. Waiting for the right moment.