[right][img]https://i.imgur.com/sxd3fD9.png[/img][/right][hr]The trek to find the gryphon had been quite the bonding experience. Yup, several young adults who'd been excited for their much needed vacation hiking for hours up and down a long dead forest was great. So much different from their squad training. Honestly though it wasn't [i]all[/i] bad. Listening to the rowdier members of their group squabble was always kind of fun. The exercise had everyone sobered up by then too, so the Barghest were in full form for their usual antics. [i][color=EB829A]"Really hope this thing tastes good,"[/color][/i] Zak murmured to himself as he watched the beast from the hill. He'd really been looking forward to that barbecue before they'd gone on the hunt. That would turn out to be the least of his problems.

Soon after the gryphon's departure the Barghest squad was stunned into silence as the wreckage of an airship plummeted from the sky. The largest pieces of the liner made for intimidating meteors, smothered in ash and flame until they hit the cracked earth some miles out and continued to burn there on the ground. The scene was awful, and incredible. The red haired WARDEN hadn't even realized he was holding his breath until Galahad broke the solemn quiet that'd overtaken them. Gal was right like he so often was - the mass of fire that was once an airship hadn't looked like any Rassvet vessel he'd ever seen. Somewhere in the back of his mind a thought stirred: if it wasn't a ship of Rassvet design, then that meant...? But it looked civilian, from what little he'd glimpsed of it before it exploded into hot metal chunks. There was no reason a foreign civilian craft should be in their airspace. 

As the other WARDENs began to speak up and think aloud, Zak kept his quiet for a little while longer - though he nodded along with some of his squadmates' words regardless if they noticed or not. There was a pit in his stomach. Was it from seeing such wreckage up close for the first time? He doubted it, the officers at the Citadel had drilled pretty much any scenario into their heads. Still, that sinking feeling was there. Zak was glad that Sam took the initiative to pinpoint survivors, and he didn't need to double checking the other man's words before he got to reorganizing - preparing for another trek through the badlands rather than a battle with a winged beast. It was Ray's uncertain question that finally coaxed Zak's voice from his throat.

[color=EB829A]"Of course we're gonna help,"[/color] Zak all but snapped out. Dark eyes flickered towards the squad's de facto leader Galahad - a young man who, despite his reputation, was far from heartless. It was only a matter of time before they'd move out to help the possible survivors of the crash, and like most of them Zak was ready to get going. [color=EB829A]"I don't think the fire will spread in a place like this so - "[/color] the red head paused, swallowing thickly and dragging his gaze from the Barghest back to the burning remains of the liner, then out into the petrified forest where he guessed the parachutes might have landed based on Sam's initial spotting. With some talented Mist users on their team, there was no doubt they could put the fire out if needed, but it was... unlikely, to say the least, that anyone still in the ship when it crashed would have survived. And as he said, the flames shouldn't spread. The airship itself was the least of their concerns, they had to head towards the most likely survivors. [color=EB829A]"You all heard Sam. Come on, we should hurry."[/color]