As the smoke subsides, both Nathan and Meira could see the man chasing them once again, if he could still be called one. Spots of black scales had grown over his skins, the proportion of his legs were wrong being more reminiscent of a beast than a man, and two large protrusions had grown over his shoulders. Standing at his full height, he had also somehow grown taller, towering over Nathan. His mouth opened, but only gibberish moans and growls came out. However, Nathan's approach had seemed to agitate him and he charged towards the boy with a roar. The ground thumps as he raised a blackened claw to the side and swung it against Nathan in an effort to bat him aside and probably broke several bones. [hr] Miia's outburst gained a confused irritation from Alice and a hurt expression from Whizzle. He shot an irritated mental message towards the Ancient, '[i]Really, granny[/i]?' However, before any following message could be conveyed, a gunshot interrupted their conversation followed by the screaming and an apparent terrorist attack. "Oh come on!" Whizzle groaned, a hand planted to her face. "Who's responsible for safety here and how could they let this happen?" Alice's eyes widened as panic started to set in her as well. She managed to remain still and quiet however, even as her heart starts to race. The same question that Whizzle said out loud was also in her head. How could an assault against the heart of Windgrace's Castle happened and at the coronation of their ruler as well! [hr]