“Stop!” The Leader called.

Even while a thrill caused by adrenaline raced through him, causing his body to relax and his senses to become even more heightened, if possible, subconsciously, he argued with himself over the title he had unknowingly given the strange woman. As much as he hated it, his less than Human mind insisted that there be a leader, and it insisted that it was this woman who really had no right to be ordering them around.

She knew magic… but still.

“I don’t hear anything… It’s quiet now.”

Strange, that this sentence would fill him with alarm more than anything else, the silence buzzing around him. Wait, a rustling noise… the stench of the giant spiders invading his senses, the darkness becoming rather suffocating now that he attempted to see through it. His eyes weren’t made for this stuff.

A snarling growl, an ugly sound, erupted from his throat, his facial features partially transforming in response to the three words and the fear –his fear- that came with them. His lower face elongated slightly, his nose becoming that of a feline… but nothing else changed.

After a moment, he concentrated and returned his features to normal. He wasn’t so sure changing was a good idea with these creatures. It could give him even more of a disadvantage. His greatest strength was his speed and agility, but it was useless here. His claws were useless. His teeth… he could use those. But wouldn’t a sword do better?

Duma exhaled a deep breath as he regained control of his animal instincts and raised his short sword, preparing for the worst.

“What are they waiting for?” He hissed. Why weren’t they attacking? They obviously weren’t afraid… they didn’t’ seem intelligent enough to do their own thinking.

Akira despised the fact that she had to move forward, and her lips were curled upwards in a grimace as her yellow eyes feasted upon the sword-thing that the other shifter had taken out. She couldn’t help but to laugh at him – to think one of her kind, and she used the thought kind loosely, would think to use a man-created weapon to save themselves other then the form gifted to them by the higher power. Dread-locked silver strands slapped tanned skin as her head shook, disappointment wafting from her form.

The girl started forward, allowing the other voices to flow around her, cocoon her in this whispering of a new pack. If Akira had been some other sort of Shifter perhaps she could have walked away, and allowed the people to continue upon their path- but she wasn’t and she had created a bond, however stupid, with this group. Although she could hardly stand the other female- a female who was talking, an-—

“It’s a trap!”

Another snarl seemed to flow from the woman, and this time she did move forward in a near run to catch up with the people just around the bend. Bare feet slapped at compacted dirt, her form blurring once more as those yellow eyes turned into a darkish brown-amber color, Silver fur had already started to creep over that tanned skin, and elegant fingers worked at the bindings that kept those ragged clothing at her hips, around her neck. Tight to her body.

“Do something,” she growled to the female with the fire, her eyes flicking around,  up top, at the horde of spiders that were ready to descend upon her. Growls poured from her throat, lips curled upwards to expose sharper teeth, more canine like in their shape and size. She was going to change, this time. There was no denying or putting off the desperate tingle that had begun a crossed her body, that twisted her limbs.  She would hold it off as long as she could, though.

She did look monstrous, at that moment. Silver fur sprouting along that skin, eyes shifting into a different color, nose elongating and teeth transformed. This was something she could do. Akira had been fighting spiders her whole entire life- just not a grouping like this.

That’s what she gets for trying to leave a war. Karma.

"Tell me grayny, is it true you defeated a Golddigger?"

"Ugh..." A tired sigh escaped Ion's breath. "You guys always get the stories wrong." A drink went down his throat, it wasn't clear what he was drinking, but it certainly wasn't anything light. He was there without his equipment, and half his armor. "First of all, it wasn't me. Second, it wasn't a Golddigger."

"Ha! I knew those stories about you were all a farce..." A scowling blistered man spoke with much arrogance. The man's friends all laughed and gargled their drinks as they allowed their leader to continue mocking Ion. They sat there, around a creaky unbalanced table, like sweaty, filthy hogs gorging over garbage. And like the hogs, they were all talk and spit.

"Yep, every single one of them, I am just a common folk as you are." Said Ion as he sat his glass down on the bar, and at the same time he laid down several coins, some of which rolled just few inches. His silver-filled head turned towards the men, which he then realized, weren't all that common-looking. "Or... maybe not as common."

"Heh, watch it." Growled the man as he flexed his fist toward Ion. The other men stared in disgust as well, as Ion lifted his body from his bench. They all had this weird body built to them, and with barely any clothes on they looked unshaped, deformed almost. Ion could barely tell they were all men, if their patchy mustaches and half-shaved beards didn't give them away, they could have easily been circus freaks.

"Yeah, yeah. Save it guys, not today." An amusing chuckle spurted out of Ion as he finished. The man who was the biggest, then stood up abruptly, and challenged Ion with his menacing body. "I said, watch it." Ion's brows wrinkled down one before the other, and a smirk formed from his left cheek. "Isn't there some kind of dress knitting club you guys need to attend?" The man's eyes then widen and his brows expanded in anger. He then roared and slowly swung at Ion with his left arm. It was the most pathetic swing Ion had seen in a while. All Ion had to do was take step back and bend his body backwards. He didn't bother; Ion just kept walking until he was out of the bar. As he quickened his pace to go out, the men followed him with a very lazy and unbalanced foot.

"Later guys, say hi to wives and children for me!" Ion waved to the men as they bended down, and stretched their arms to their knees in order to catch their breath. Wheezing, snorting, and some even spitting, they all could hardly curse Ion. But there was indeed other lighter chatter among them. "Is any of us even married?" Said a bald one, with a wide nose and small eyes, just before he received a smack on the side of his head by one of the other men. "Shaddup you scaly bum."

Ion stared back at them smiling and almost mocking their rightful misfortune, but there was hardly time to do that, he had to continue to his current objective. One that he had to retrieve in less than a week, and had now been at it for months. It would've been easier if they would've given him directions, but all there was, was a name, and a number. All he knew is that he could find it in the plains, but which plains? The plains to east? the north? in the other side of the planet? However, he decided to stay around the town some more. After all, it would make more sense to stay and research, than walk and get lost.

He fiddled with a gold chain from the mountain shrines. "I hope Shonomaru gets here with that cargo today."

Noise. There was noise coming from all directions. Despite her long elven ears, it was impossible to pinpoint their loaction. "There is no going back." She answered darkly, blue eyes shifted from side to side anxiesously.

"So I guess our best bet is to keep moving forward and hope we survive?" Leo piped up with a wide grin, drawing his sword which was glowing faintly. For a moment, Alysha's eyes lingered on the blade. Solemnly Alysha nodded in agreement, "Quietly, I would hope. The light might be enough a few of them... but groups may not react the same way." Sighing deeply, Alysha shook her head. "They're getting closer... let's go."

"Right..." Taking a look at the rest of the group, Leo proceeded to take the first step forward. They walked for what seemed like hours before Alysha realized something.

"Stop!" Holding out her arm, Alysha used the light of her fire to show a bit more of the path.

"What's the hold up?" A bit of impatience made Leo's question seem edger then he had intended it to be but Alsyha paid him no mind.

"I don't hear anything... It's quiet now." Strange. It made her feel more uncomfortable instead of safe. She tried to strain her ears for something, anything really but nothing was heard save for their own heavy breathing or the sound of a distant water drop.

"That's great! Let's g--"

"No! Wait!"

The warning came too late. Stubbornly, Leo had moved forward and was no frozen in his spot. Damn this fool, Alysha thought as her teeth grinded together. Now... now there was movement. Taking a step back, Alsyha waved the fire around them but saw nothing... until she looked up. "It's a trap!"

It didn’t take a genius to see that the unknown shifter wasn’t all that pleased with the situation or the people involved in it, not that he could blame her. From what he’d gathered so far, she was a very tense, edgy individual; she was just inches away from shifting to her real form, but somehow controlled herself and fell into a sulk. At that moment, perhaps he would’ve gloated, but his mood took a turn for the worse as the dank smell of the underground assaulted him and the darkness obscured his vision. His positive feelings were plummeting as he realized how deep of a hole he was in, no pun intended. The others were getting further away and he would have no choice but to travel by himself if he didn’t follow them soon.

He’d never admit it, but he didn’t want to be by himself in this dark underground graveyard. He could only hope that the others didn’t get him killed. He was fairly confident that in a one on one battle with a spider, he could win again, but he’d have no chance against three or four or twenty, and it seemed to him that these spiders were pack animals and would attack in numbers. He’d just gotten lucky the first time.

Staring at the slightly disturbing grin/grimace on the other shifter’s face for a long moment, Duma frowned, all traces of his earlier attitude gone. “We better catch up to the others,” He said shortly, after a moment of silence, sounding more than a little sullen himself. He reached over his shoulder and pulled the fancy short sword from the three-way sheath attached to his torso, examining the blade with a look of dismay on his face that had nothing to do with the grim covering the sword. After a moment he turned and half walked, half jogged down the tunnel where the others had went, not looking back to see if the other was following him.

Soon, the others would hear human footfalls and Duma would wordlessly fall in behind the group, his frown discouraging any type of conversation, although he did listen in on what they were saying.