[center][h2]Last Dance[/h2][/center] [center][b]Christian, Raven[/b][/center] [center][i]Themerlinhawk, Grin[/i][/center] Shard took Raven’s hand and lead her to the dance floor as the twins started into the set they had prepared for the newly wed couple. With a practiced hand he put his right hand to her left hip and guided her around in front of him and took her right hand in his left as she put her left hand on his right shoulder. With a whispered “one, two, three.” Shard stepped off slowly to the song the Twins were playing. With gentle pressure Shard lead Raven through slow steps, gentle turns and regal promenades. The Lord of Storms never let his eyes stray from Raven as the two danced across the floor. Shard smiled down at his beloved as they danced. “This certainly feels right.” Raven smiled back, matching his pace. Feeling his presence guide her felt so comfortable, his hand on her hip was warm, as was his shoulder. Leaning in she pressed her forehead against his. Her companion, her partner. “I’m glad it does, because you’re stuck with me.” After a wink, Raven gave him a quick peck on the lips, returning to her previous position so the only thing she could see was the beautiful eyes looking down at her, worn by the handsome being holding her so closely. Shard looked up to see that the other dancers had cleared an area around the couple as they moved through the steps of the dance fluidly. This was the way the night was suppose to be. The night was calm as the two of them danced, the last of the song floating around them as Shard smiled down at her, his eyes refusing to leave hers as the whole of their surroundings faded away into a silent moment that wrapped around them and refused to move as the final notes of the song drifted into the darkness. [hr] As the song came to an end Shard twirled Raven an extra time and pulled her in close slowly running his hand over her hair. The night was quiet as they stood on the dance floor. The center of attention for that brief moment. Christian stood holding his beloved in his arms as his family stood around him. It had been such a long journey from the first time he had met her. [i]The Dragon peered down at the strange woman as she stood at the bottom of the incline offering him money to let the group of Stygian Deathdealers go. With a shrug Christian had agreed to follow her and her strange companions to the bloody end of the Stygian War.[/i] Taking her arm he started to lead Raven back towards their table. Something suddenly caught his attention as they walked. It was a ripple in the air; it looked like a folded star for a moment. Squinting he gave Raven a questioning look before looking over his shoulder to the form of Urthar who stood frowning as he too took in the sight. Urthar’s eyes suddenly narrowed in recognition as it dawned on Shard as well what was going on. Someone was opening a Way. And that could only be done by….. [i]An Aberration[/i] “Raven darling. We may have to hold off on our Honeymoon.” Shard’s eyes were suddenly filled with Stormclouds as Urthar shifted in the background dropping his left hand as he began to call something into it. “We have wedding crashers.” Raven noted his eyes. Something was off. She inhaled, then her pistols were in her hands, eye red with war tainted in the irises. She shut it, opening her moonless eye. She saw darkness, with a small glint. It felt like the tearing of flesh on a new wound. Opening her normal eye she turned to Christian. “We need to warn everyone. [b]now.[/b]” A crawling presence came over the couple as Urthar shifted away his veils. [i]Too late[/i] There was a sudden jerk as the Way tore open and disgorged a mass of Aberrations that Shard had never encountered before. Urthar cursed behind them; “It’s an invasion force Shard. I don’t know how they got through the Outer Door. This is going to be bad.” Christian nodded at Raven. “Go, Urthar and I will buy time.” Turning back to the oncoming swarm of Aberrants Shard let out a long slow breath as he shrugged out of his coat. The swarm blotted out the stars as it descended on Blackwing. Stepping forward with his left foot Shard bent his knees and called lighting into his hands before letting out a sharp yell and hurling a little storm of lightning bolts up into the advancing hoirde. Urthar’s wave of void bolts hit the Swarm next tearing through them like a sword through paper. They mindless drones dropped like flies as Shard and Urthar went to work slaughtering them by the hundreds from the deck of Blackwing. It was only a matter of time before they made it to the deck but they could at least stem the tide of the locus like horde that came down on them from on high. Raven nodded and turned on her heel. She let out a breath she had been holding in, and suddenly two clones appeared, running in the opposite direction as her to brace her crew. [i]I have to get all the vulnerables out of here,[/i] Raven massaged her temples, shutting her eyes. She focused on her ancient powers, then, she opened both of her eyes. Grabbing people left and right she teleported them back to the tower, a safe place. Using hand signals and body motion to keep her body in tact Raven practically danced from room to room, grabbing up to three people at a time and teleporting them to safety. She inhaled sharply. Using the dark star sword to warp space consistently by the second was not easy on her body. One wrong move and it could cut her body in half. She treaded on, however, and by two minutes everyone who wasn’t a knight or pirate was safe. “Knights! Brace yourselves.” Shard skipped backwards as he let loose a series of lightning bolts flicking cards from the suit of sparks left and right as he danced backwards as the Swarm descended to the deck of the Ship. A familiar form dashed in front of him and buried a sword in the deck of Blackwing as a silver green wall of force and Antimagic snapped to life in front of Shard. “What took you so long?” A sudden thud to Shard’s left answered the question. Turning he took in a rather disheveled looking Mistress of Shadows. Ralrisk gave Shard a pissed off look. “Seriously. I just got him separated from that airhead bimbo and you couldn’t hold off on having a catastrophe long enough for me to have a little fun.” Shard turned and gave his Master of Blade a knowing look. Megelis kept his gaze fixed firmly ahead “I have no comment. I was assaulted by [i]two[/i] women tonight. This is preferable.” The dirty look Ralrisk shot Megelis could have curdled milk had he seen it. With a quick flick of her hands Ralrisk conjured shadows to coat her hands giving her long supple blades which she flicked through the air cutting down anything that got near Shards Left flank. A resounding thud off to Shard’s right signalled the presence of another person he’d been expecting. Urthar twisted the piece of Void held in his right hand and cut a swathe through the oncoming attackers. Anything that piece of sheer nothingness touched was torn apart at the molecular level and immediately consumed by the weapon. “Apologies, I was delayed.” Shard shrugged at his Master of Word. “At Least you made it. Is that everyone?” Megelis gave a curt nod as he stood up from the sword set in the deck which was projecting a half dome of anti magic shield. Drawing his second sword he hop skipped backward and calmly cut down the next to of the Aberrations that breached the shield. Swaying slightly to the right and left; Megelis gave Shard the opportunity to fling lighting around him in sporadic bursts which damaged or killed incoming attackers as Megelis finished them off. “Are the other Knights going to be okay? We’re about to be surrounded.” Megelis stepped backward parrying incoming claws and snapping mandibles as he cut down four more of the Aberrations without a second thought. Shard nodded. “We need to hold the attention here. They can deal with the stragglers; have faith in them Megelis. Unless you have something you want to tell me about their training.” Megelis grimaced, it had nothing to do with the Knight’s training and everything to do with how drunk most of them were at this particular moment. A wave of Aberrations descened on the deck at once. With an curt thrust of his hands downward Christian crushed them against the deck with sheer willpower. “This isn’t working. Spread out.” His Masters and Mistress complied as they knew what was coming. Raven bit her lip as she saw the way tear open with creatures she’s never seen before. She ran around to the side of blackwing, using nothing but her feet to keep her from falling as she transformed her guns into moonblade and nightsing, her legendary rapiers. Holding them to her side she ran, tearing through several creatures and ripping them in half with little resistance. She jumped and landed next to Christian, pressing her back to his. The creatures were relatively weak, but she couldn’t help but feel awful, as if she were poisoned. Was this what her great grandmother warned her about? “Should have kept that whiskey flask on me, huh?” “Little bit.” Christian grabbed her with his will and hurled her straight into the air. WIth a roar like a thunderstorm Christian suddenly was covered in scales as he grew rapidly in size and dropped to all fours as massive wings sprouted from his back and a huge lashing tail extended sweeping the deck clear of Aberration behind him. With that Christian reared back and roared unleashing a Thunderstorm into the oncoming hoard. With a shift he maneuvered so that Raven landed on his back. Megelis stepped backwards in between Christian’s front legs and began to defend the front half of Christian as the Dragon began swatting and crushing oncoming Aberrations. Urthar stepped back under Christians right wing and began killing anything that moved on Christian’s right flank as Ralrisk did the same on his left side. Raven held out her arms, then blinked. Her armor was on her, covering her skin. [b]”Everyone duck.”[/b] With that she spun with her blades. It created a whirlwind of sharp purple energy that cut anything that touched it. It cut open all the aberrations that bolted towards them from above, and stretched several stories apart. It was like a thin, compacted hurricane. [i]That’s my job[/i] Christian’s gentle scolding reached her as he swiped a group of Aberrations with his left hand clearing them from the deck in mass. The way suddenly distorted and bulged as though it were getting ready to disgorge something. With a titanic sound like the death of a planet. A titanic being stepped through the way. “It's the World Breaker.” Urthar delivered the news like he was talking about the Weather. “And it looks like it brought company. A host of other smaller beings had passed through the portal. With malicious intent they descended on the deck of Blackwing. Urthar cursed in a language that seemed to grate at the edges of reality. It clearly required more tongues than Christian had and possibly some other vocal organ. Spreading out the unique Aberrations began targeting Knights. “This is not good Christian.” Urthar frowned as the Aberrant Drones seemed to redouble their effort attempting to overwhelm the group of Masters. Raven stopped her flurry and stood, watching the way. Something dark and ancient twisted inside her in protest, as if it were pushing back against whatever force was about to rip open the world in front of them. “Something is wrong,” She breathed. Her body began to tremble in protest, every cell in her body wanting to push away. Christian turned his head up to look at her out of the corner of his giant bronze eye. [i]Raven what is wrong?[/i] Urthar snarled suddenly. “Shard, look.” The Way rippled again only this time something truly massive stepped through the way. The titanic figure seemed to warp reality as it walk. Chunks of the ground ripped free and began to float through the air as it strode forward. A strange psychic pressure seemed to emanate from it. The being stood with no eyes but seeing everything as it loomed over the side of Blackwing. [img]http://orig05.deviantart.net/bde3/f/2016/047/c/4/161061_temporaldistortion_final_small_web_by_aleksi__briclot-d9rytmz.jpg[/img] Urthar transformed into his Aberrant form and yelled something in a language Shard didn’t understand before Urthar turned and looked up at Shard. “It’s the World Breaker. Iziel.” Raven’s trembling stopped. She clenched her teeth and sheathed moonbane and nightsing. She glanced at Christian, sending a wave of her will through his head in the form of words. [i]”We need to send this thing through the way, [b]fast.[/b] I feel my body resisting whatever this being is. It feels like my will is being sucked out of me. Do you not feel this?”[/i] Raven inhaled. Her tech arm began to glow a mint green through the detailed designs, as if they were 90 degree angled veins flowing with energy. She reached behind her head. [i]I feel it. Let's go.[/i] With a sudden flap of his wings Christian launched himself from the deck and began heading towards the World Breaker on swift wings batting aside the incoming Aberrants. As he closed Christian roared and let loose a blast of lightning to clear their path as the creature lifted its hand. Christian sank his talons into the hand and ripped massive furrows into the arm of the World Breaker. [i]What’s the plan?[/i] Raven jumped. She landed on the hand of the titanic monster, running along it to get up to its arm. With a sharp tug Raven pulled out a thin object with a black crystal hilt. The object itself twisted and turned according to the light and the direction one would face it, but vertically it seemed to appear thin, like a blade, and illuminated pure darkness like a black hole, the sun not shining over its exotic form. It distorted Raven’s image as she sprinted up the monster. [i]”Find an opening, something abnormal, a weakness, I’m going to distract it and do some damage. Hurry!”[/i] Clones appeared at Raven’s side, and they took out their own moonbane and nightsing rapiers, spiraling in different directions and cutting minor wounds into the world breaker. Raven felt the wind dance with her hair as she ran straight for the World Breaker’s head.