A Heartless In Center Park

A Heartless In Center Park
Date of Scene:	28 September 2012
Location:	Manhattan
Synopsis:	A massive mechanical Heartless arises in Central Park for unknown reasons. Who can stop it from destroying and consuming what remains of Manhattan?
Cast of Characters:	Merilan Yursalin, Skoll Ulfang, Mercade Alexander, Katyna, Avira, Maira

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Mercade Alexander has posed:
It's a nice evening in Central Park. The sky is clear, a few stars shining down upon what remains of Manhattan, tiny lights that signal, perhaps, hope that still remains, that lights remain in the hearts of the people.

This, perhaps, is why the Shadow comes. A pooiling of darkness whorls open, spreading like inky blackness as burning eyes open from the deep. The huge, hulking for rises, liquidlike, clawing from the darkness to rise up. As the Darkness closes behind it, the form solidifies into thick black armor plates, articulated limbs, hissing black-clawed, steely hands. Conduits of purple fire roil between the plating, the dark power pulsing through the body and running up into the helmet, shaped monsterously with a great backswept crest and burning eyes.

It's also appeared right next to the unluckiest bastard in Central Park, who was just out for a walk tonight. Mercade Alexander, who normally would be totally be up for dealing with this kind of thing, suddenly screams as a claw impacts him and knocks him clear through a tree. "OH GOD MY EVERYTHING!" is heard, moments before the broken tree falls on him and knocks him the hell out.

The dark creature is not here for him. He's just collateral damage. The hulking entity turns to look into the distance, and begins to move. Alerts go out. People scream and panic. Some might try to stop it... But who?

Maira has posed:
Popping up in completely random places is not at all unlike Maira. Indeed, one of her main desires is to explore the worlds at large, even though touched by the darkness. Are there worlds out there still that remain untouched? She has not come across one yet, but she is only at the beginning.

So it is that the young woman with the wild blond hair and whiskey colored eyes rushes out from the bushes when she hears a man screaming. Why she was in the bushes to begin with? Who knows.

She's dressed to fit in fairly well, in a jean skirt, a rainbow t-shirt with a shiny unicorn on it that's about a size too small, and knee high socks. She rushes over toward the man who fell beneath the tree, her eyes wide as she tries to think of how to free him and hopefully save his life.

"Oh no oh no oh no," she says, chewing her lip as she tries to move the tree physically. Which proves to be hilariously ineffective. Then, she gets an idea. Her face lights up with it. Grinning a little now, a bit of light begins to glow from within her as a breeze begins to build. Suddenly, a blast of air wooshes up from her to attempt to blow the tree off of the fallen man and send it hurling toward the Heartless.

Avira has posed:
This was CENTRAL PARK.

Avira had spent the past two hours wandering around this city in a daze. It was as if she couldn't fathom that a place like this would exist. Every sight, every building, every vehicle she stared at with wide, uncomprehending eyes. When pressed by the people around her, she wouldn't respond, too shellshocked by this experience to speak.

Central Park was eventually sought, being a forested area of some familiarity to Avira. She had wished to find a place alone to emotionally go to pieces but even on this nice, clear night, there was no peace.

Screaming. Hissing noises that Avira has long learned to associate with Heartless. Her head turns towards their source and something inside her snaps. "...not again..."

Witnesses would later describe that, before they ran the heck away, they saw some crazed midget with a barbed pole throw themselves at the Heartless.

"NEVER AGAIN! NOT HERE!" Avira screeches and plunges some kind of strange-looking serrated sword directly into the hissing monster. Armor plates be damned.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Darkness. There where darkness goes, Skoll follows - and there where Skoll goes, darkness follows. The wolfish youngster stands at the tip of one of the branches of Central Park, looking over the grassy place. It was his prefered place in this city, as it was closest to nature. His golden eyes watch as the field of darkness grows close to the portal that gives access to this city. This world.

His Lords had not yet demanded the destruction of this place, so there was no real reason to let this heartless just rampage around. Still, he doesn't move when poor Mercade gets knocked through the tree he stands upon. Instead, he just casually jumps down from the thing and glances over his shoulder to make sure that the guy is fine. It's just a tree that's fallen on him. People can survive that easily! Right? Besides, he has a blonde suddenly taking care of him.

Those golden eyes turn back onto the big hulking Heartless, and then glances around for any other little heartless. None seem to have shown up yet. So he casually moves a hand down to the chain that forms his belt and with a flick of his finger, he unhooks it. Then suddenly, his hair poofs up as a gigantic tree suddenly hurls past him!! His eyes widen for a moment, and quickly looks back to Maira - giving her a confused look - before he goes into a sprint straight at the robot Heartless.

In all honesty, he had been looking for a fight. And while he might have enough darkness to control heartless, this one is too major for those kind of tricks. He then uses the natural footing of the giant heartless, rushing just past Avira as she plunges her sword down into it and uses that planted weapon to jump further up, throws the magically expanding chain around its neck, and then tries to choke the thing - whilst sending a violent purple lightning through it!

Katyna has posed:
So..This is Central Park, Manhattan. Quaint little place. Right on schedule the heartless boss appears and Katyna smirks as she waits for the heroes to predictably appear. Might as well observe 'em like always.

Dressed in a simple red shirt, black jeans and jean jacket, Kat fits right in with the locals, just casually walking through the park, totally oblivious until the monster strikes. She then dashes behind a nearby tree, casting protective magic on herself, just incase..

Mercade Alexander has posed:
There is a grunt from the small crater that Mercade is lying in as the tree is launched into the massive bot. "ThaAAAaaAnk YoooOoOu..." Mercade says unsteadily.

The serrated blade cuts into the thick armor, tearing open holes as the massive thing is suddenly chained. It emits a hollow roar, and writhes in the purple lightning. The burning eyes turn towards Skoll, the massive claw clenching as it reaches out towards the man. Could it be begging for something? Or is it seeking vengeance?

Regardless, the Heartless cares not these things. The massive arms rise, firing black, hooked chains throughout the park. Terrain is shredded as the chains pierce into the ground, and the dark links hamper others who are struck, even if it is not lethal. Huge ports open up on the shoulders, burning darkfire rising and gathering as the energy pulses through it, the anchored Heartless machine suddenly unleashing a massive barrage of destructive flame, sending it washing through the area!

Collateral damage? Who cares about collateral damage?

Maira has posed:
Maira was a little scared that she would have to try to face this thing alone. Or, more realistically, try to fight it off while the injured man made an escape and she quickly followed on his heals.

Luckily, a crazed woman appears with a sword to save the day! Maira gawks openly for a moment as she charges the Heartless without hesitation. Before too long, another appears to help fight off the thing. Well, great! She can concentrate on Mr. Probably Internally Bleeding Horribly. She snaps herself out of it and looks down to the man. "Hey, don't worry, I'm going to help you!" she assures him, giving him a bright smile, though her eyes are wide as a doe in the wood.

Maira was focused on the injured man so much she did not see the attack coming. Uist hisses to her just in time for her to dive down to try to shelter the man. Alas, to no avail. At some point, another arrived, one who seems to know him. She nods to the woman, then resolves to get back to work. First things first!

Taking a deep breath, a different center of light begins to glow from within Maira as wisps of energy rise from her skin, barely visible and ghostlike. She lays her hands gently upon Mercade's chest, the greenish-white light entering his body to repair some of the damage done.

Avira has posed:
As soon as the uncomprehendable moment of fury had come to Avira, it is ever so quickly passing though the adrenaline high remains. What is left, however, is a very wound up woman prying her weapon out of the heavily armored plates of the strange Heartless, seriously questioning her lack of judgement. If there was any consolation, it was that she was not the only person attacking this thing and therefore would not be the only target it had to contend with.

Avira could deal with that. Her doubt begins to calm and her concentration settles in and, quite wisely, she shuffles out of such close quarters of the robotic heartless, stepping around to its left flank. Not that it seems to help much when the follow-up attack is magical in nature and gets absolutely everywhere, forcing Avira to weather the flames.

With a grunt, she forces herself to move further, slipping /behind/ the vast robot. Taking her serrated sword in both hands, she chops twice at the hip joints of the Heartless's left leg, then takes several steps back. With another running start, she throws herself bodily at the previously assaulted leg.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll suddenly finds himself in the clutches of the massive heartless armor, and within moment is thrown to the ground - creating a nice 'crack' in the sod of grass. The wolf-youngster makes for a bounce, and a few sideways rolls, before he digs his feet into the ground and comes to a cool halt, before he starts trying to evade the flames that erupt all about the park. He keeps himself moving, but he can't quite avoid them, the flames lick at his body.

"Tssk... this is a tough one." He winces, and makes for another quick glance around, taking in the rest who continue on to assault the Heartless. There's no need not to join them. And besides, lookie lookie! The thing uses chains, just like him! Now he really has to win! After all, it is from this very moment on, a rival! The wolfish youth suddenly speeds forwards again, grabbing another chain from his belt and dual-wields these chain-whips.

The moment he gets through its legs, he swings himself around, swinging the chains around its legs and then suddenly jumps up... and tries to /tear the Heartless up into the air/ with him! It's a gigantic armor! But still, he's going to try! And while in the air, whether it came up with him or not, he brings his clawed fist down upon its helmet - letting purple lightning once again spear down towards it.

Katyna has posed:
Katyna arches a brow as the blonde haired girl with strange eyes uses her magic to hurl a tree at the heartless. "Heh, not bad." She steps out then, as the tree she was hiding behind gets torn to bits by its chains.

The dark chain nearly hits her too before she leaps gracefully from behind the remains of the burning tree, her dark sword flashing in the dark as it deflects the attack.

"Well darn, and I was just hoping to enjoy a quiet night!" She makes a face, "Guess I'll have to teach you a lesson!" Letting out a war cry, she rushes at the heartless, dark sword blazing with fire as she slashes down in three quick strokes at the heartless, leaving a strange runic symbol where her sword touches as the flames flicker from red to brilliant blue.

"Try this on for size!"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
The healing force causes Mercade's wounds to heal up dramatically. HE looks down at the wounds, now gone, and blinks. "Wow, that's amazing! Uh, thank you-OH GOD WHAT IS THAT THING?" He yells, looking up at the huge Heartless. He looks around. "I'll work on evacuating the area! You guys, uh... keep doing what you're doing! Thanks for the help! I'll be back ASAP!" He leaps up and gets running, helping to usher anyone still caught in the area out.

Merilian's blade slashes out, cleaving into the massive machine. The incredible power of Meri's Auracite-augmented windblade launches it up into the air, snapping the chains from the ground and putting it alofy. Avira quickly follows up, slamming into the massive creature and driving it into the ground with a colossal impact, the ground breaks slightly under the impact, and it falls to the side, the leg bleeding darkness and flame through shattered armor. The followup knocks it over completely, sending it flat to the ground. Skoll drives in right afterwards, using impressive power to launch it back up into the air once more! The huge beast, however, manages to bring its thickly armored armos up just in time, a huge impact ringing out from the force of the blow. For a moment, it seems like the strike would break through, but somehow this Heartless is Built Ford Tough. It slams back down into the ground with Skoll, recovering just in time for Katyna to slash deeply into a joint, tearing out another gout of oily blackness. It staggers, the hissing roar muted.

The massive creature continues to move, however. It appears to be one durable bastard. With that quiet roar, the creatue charges forward, smashing right into the group of heroes attacking it, and lashing out with a quick upwards smash, the arms sending people flying upwards. It launches up into the air, bringing the massive clawed hands togehter to unleash a devastating smash to drive his opponents straight into the ground, slamming down afterwards, almost in a reproduction of what Skoll just tried to do to it!

Maira has posed:
Maira doesn't so much see as feel the energy put out from her heal seeping toward Merilan as well. All the better, really. She would help any way she could.

Looking down at Mercade, she smiles and nods. Not much else she can do for him now; at least directly. What she can do, it make sure that Heartless goes down before it can do him or anyone else more damage. Biting her lip hard, she gets to her feet and steels her heart. She'd not fought off a heartless since her world fell to darkness. Since that fateful night...but she was better prepared now, wasn't she? She'd trained, gathered materia...she was older, stronger. Right?

Maira looks to those fighting to harden her resolve. Uist is a cool presence against her back, his voice, unheard by others, coaxes her forward.

Maira's eyes flicker in reflection from the flame she summons to hand. She discharges her attack just as the Heartless begins to pummel them into the ground.

Maira flies like a comet as she takes a hit, leaving a trail of scorching fire in her wake.

She lands painfully on her back, the air knocked violently from her lungs. She lay there, staring at the sky as she struggles to breathe, becoming more panicked by the moment. Uist's calming words get her through, and when she sits up once more she pulls a potion from her pocket, drinks it, and praises the usefulness of pockets!

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll feels his knuckles cracking against the amazing armor of the giant Heartless. A 'shiver' travels from his fist all-throughout his body, and ends up poofing up the werewolfy-tail. When he finally falls to the ground as Gravity takes over, he stands still for a moment. "Ow ow ow ow ow..." He winces, dancing around a little - his tail still flared out. The youth kisses his fist, little tears at the edges of his eyes. "That thing is tough..." He really should not have tried to hit that with his fist.

The wolfish creature then slowly looks back and up, just as that heartless smashes into the group of heroes. The ground splashes up, but he isn't thrown up. Instead, he watches as a gigantic shadow overcomes him. His eyes grow wide into big puppy-eyes. "Mommy..." He whimpers, just before the thing comes down HARD on his body!

Skoll goes not just flying, bouncing over the ground, but he also lands in the very same crater that Mercade landed in a few moments ago. His body is twitching. And with a little wince, he mutters; "Oh god... my... everything." Wince. Ouch. He's just gonna lie down for a little bit and recover!

Avira has posed:
This was...working! Hacking away at the weakened spots, in concert with the far more impressive-looking attacks the others here were doing, was really working! As the seconds tick by, Avira starts to feel a little bit more confident about this fight and is clearly emboldened when she manages to slam the Heartless face-forward.

She's quick to roll off its back in order to get out of the way of Skoll as he impressively manages to send the massive Heartless up into the air. Slipping backwards in a crouched position, Avira is quick to stand...

...but clearly was not expecting for the Heartless to charge and swat her up into the air, then back down to the ground. She manages to recover well enough, hitting the ground rolling instead of landing hard on something breakable. "I think you just gave it an idea!" she shouts breathlessly over to Skoll.

Moving quickly, Avira rapidly flanks the Heartless, seeking out that previously damaged leg like a shark following a bleeding wound. With a grunt, she drives her serrated blade into one of the cracks with both hands, twists, pushes it slightly deeper, then rips it back out with a flourish. One booted foot comes up quickly afterwards, again pushing her entire weight against the damaged appendage.

Katyna has posed:
"Uggh!" Katyna grunts as she gets slammed into, before she is sent flying into the air, then slammed down into the ground again. Still, the damage isn't quite as bad as she feared, and she leaps to her feet, attempting to counter the attack. Unfortunately it seems to be too quick as it dodges her strike.

"Tsssk. You were just lucky!" She rolls her eyes, before glancing around at the assorted heroes. "But everyone's luck runs out!!" Katyna takes a moment to peer around at the others, recognizing Merilan and Avira from the Luca bar..Too bad she can't stop and chat now! She does notice as the mage girl and wolf boy take a serious damage, blanching a bit and feeling glad that wasnt her. *ouch!*

"Hang in there you guys! Just a little longer...We'll get 'im!" An encouraging smile before she dashes to meet the heartless again, this time her sword flaring brilliant purple as she attempts to slash into a weak point of the heartless armour, and if successful, drawing out energy from the fiend at the same time.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Maira bombards the huge machine with fire! The meteoric impact of the fire into the machine slams it backwards, cratering into the purple-black armor and driving it back, buying them a moment of relief from the mechanical onslaught. Avira takes ruthless advantage of it, slamming her blade into the weak point on the back of the Heartless' leg. The impact knocks the massive robot over once more. Katyna tries to take advantage of this, but the Heartless brings up that same heavily armored arm to take the hit. The energy within the strike washes over the arm... And then repulses somehow. What could be causing that to happen? It's incredibly durable, it appears. And then Merilan follows up with her theatrical invocation of power. The darkness overtakes the massive Heartless, and it gazes around, impassively as the incoming torrent of blades. It raises its arms, trying to block the attacks, but the impacts blast into the frontal defenses... And all the other defenses as well. Armor cracks and shatters under the endless torrential assualt, the massive creature slammed back into the ground and pierced through with gleaming crimson blades that evaporate and shatter after a moment. The huge beast, armor cracked and shattered, lurches... And rises once more.

The yellow eyes look with impassion over the area, and it spreads its arms. There is a hollow roar as it spreads its arms once more... And a massive blade rises from the ground, the Darkness disgorging a multipronged, massive straight blade that seems to absorb light all about it. The crest of the hilt is a Heartless insignia, which pulses as the weapon sloooooowly points over the heroes present.

There is a sudden snapping noise as the huge weapon explodes with darkness, the huge being bringing up the weapon and slashing outwards with the blade, leaving a crecent arc of void behind as it cleaves through the battleground of the park. It then throws the blade into the air, the clawhand rising as if controlling it from a distance as it boils with energy. The purple flame surging through it gathers in the hand, firing up towards the blade... And then it lances through the weapon, firing at the ground and connecting the night sky with Central Park. For terrible moments, the ground is transformed into a burning, chaotic abyss... before the blade descends, a terrible Sword of Damocles that slams into the abyss and blasts through it, sending shattering cascades of power roaring up to devour and destroy everything they touch!

Maira has posed:
The Heartless continues to fight. How can its need for wanton destruction be so strong? Its thirst for ruin all-consuming? Maira can only be left to wonder as she begins to limp forward, her eyes drawn toward Merilan as the winged woman begins to chant what seems an incantation. Maira's eyes widen. She's only just realized the woman had great black wings, like some goddess of battle and death. The young woman watches, entranced by the sight, her heart beating like a drum in her chest.

She takes another step forward when Merilan slumps, clearly exhausted from her effort. Maybe Maira is still needed.

The fire-blessed woman watches in horror as the Heartless summons a gigantic blade that seems to pull the very light from the world. How is this happening? Will these traumas follow her wherever she will go?

Maira could make no sense of what happened to her in that moment when she was hit. There was only blackness, chaos, and pain. A scream rises in her throat, but even that is snuffed by the darkness. In that moment she is a speck of pure pain in the universe.

By her side she feels the barest of a breath at her ear, unnaturally cold but comforting somehow. He'll lead her out of here if she needs to flee. But how could she run? Watching these people who risk their lives fall to this....this THING!? They had to be hurt, maybe worse than she.

Eventually, the world returns. "No...not yet," she tells Uist. As if pulled by an invisible string, Maira rises to her feet, the green-white aura of the orbs glowing from within her body become and eerie candle as her eyes scan the field. With that gaze comes a cool touch, and hopefully, healing.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll hears Avira shouting at him, while still flattened on the ground, and raises one hand. "Sorry madamme." He mutters, before he plants both his hands down onto the ground on either side of himself, and slowly pulls himself out of the little 'pit' that had been dug for him. "Just one moment." He adds, before he finally stands up properly and gets into an offensive combat stance of sorts. And with that, one means that he stuck his hands into his pockets and shifts his hips a little.

In that moment, he gets a full view of Katyna and her purple-flared sword making for the heartless' armor, and Avira slicing into the thing so valiantly. But perhaps the one he takes greatest care to notice in that moment is Merilan... disappearing. Disappearing and then coming down upon her foe with such beautiful might. What a Lady - what a fighter. He then moves to Maira's side and offers a hand... seconds before that gigantic blade comes out of nowhere.

The wolfish youth looks up at the massive blade, and then suddenly flame comes up once more! And then the blade follows down right after that. "... I hate this part." Skoll whimpers, just as the thing comes down upon him and crushes him right back into the ground! OOOF! One can see one of his hands still sticking out on the right side, twitching. And he continues to twitch, feeling his consciousness fading a little even as Maira's healing light graces his body... but doesn't quite wrest him from the holds that the wounds have him under.

Avira has posed:
The confidence slowly turns into excitement. Like a child realizing that he's riding his bike on his own without training wheels, Avira finally finds herself enjoying the adrenaline and rush of the battle. The fact that this is a life-or-death struggle is far less prominent than before and the doubts she had seconds after the real fight had started melt away.

There is, however, some faltering when the Heartless roars and summons an enormous blade befitting of its gigantic fram from the very ground. Avira's eyes widen and her entire body shudders, heart thumping loudly against her chest at the very presence of the weapon. "N..not good...not-" Without hesitation, she throws herself to the ground, barely ducking beneath the first slash of void that covers the park. Rolling once, she's quick to leap back up to her feet, leaping and scrambling in a less-than-graceful but oddly effective fashion, dodging blasts of fire and darkness. Chaotic her own movement may be, it does inorexably take her to behind the Heartless once more.

At the sword's final descent, she leaps upwards, managing to barely avoid the crushing doom that follows.

Upon landing, Avira is breathing extremely hard from the sheer effort it took to physically avoid all of that. Later she will look back on this moment and be amazed that she managed to pull it off-but for now, she had to push on, lest that horrible Heartless pull that sort of onslaught off again. A quick headcount shows that one of their numbers, the wolf, has actually been taken out.

Squinting her eyes shut, Avira forces herself to focus, trying to jump-kick her magic for the first time today. After quite a bit of effort, it comes, reflected in the sudden several sheets of ice that cover her serrated blade, adding both mass and volume to it. Her stance quickly shifts to accomodate for the change in weight and, with great effort on her part, she brings it down repeatedly on the Heartless's back, breaking off a layer of jagged ice onto her foe with each blow.

Merilan Yursalin has posed:
What power gives, it also takes... in equal measure.

Stunned and left with little power from the massive attack, Merilan finds little way to escape the Heartless' assault -- she rolls, but is very shortly scooped into the blade and the torrents of powerful purple flame that sets to light Central Park's skyline.

Merilan is bloodied, and battered at this point; her limbs cry out to an unresponsive mind focused only on the battle, her arms stinging and aching and her legs without feeling.

Yet, her wings still beat.

"More..."

Maira's generous salvation does come to her, and with her cool touch comes relief and healing. Her exhaustion is reprieved, for a moment, allowing her to stand and fight further... the foe is not yet crushed, yet.

The lilting ribbons of crimson power are still dancing about the winged Aegyl as she speeds on ahead, once more; without the energy or the magical reserves to perform another massive attack on that level, her attacks have lessened and slowed... yet, they are persistent. Once more, the intonations have resumed:

"Burn, and now open the gates of battle...
Until all is laid to rest.
This girl whose soul burns transiently...
She embraces the Holy Mother, until her strength is no more."

Merilan's flight has taken her above once more, and a focused flurry of scything crimson windblades dance into the no-doubt equally battered form of the Knight.

"Dream Arcanum: Scarlet Wind Rhapsody...!"

Katyna has posed:
Well dang, looks like lightning struck twice in the same place! Katyna yelps as she gets blasted back, nearly completely flattened by the monster's massive sword blast..But she's still alive, thankfully, to stubborn to die, dammit! "Heh..." She grunts, climbing slowly, shakily to her feet, pausing a moment for a hipotion before glaring at the monster. "I'm not done yet..Let's finish this!"

Letting out another battle cry, she raises her sword to the sky, and orbs of fiery light seem to rain down on her, all of them streaking towards her sword as if absorbed by its' energy, causing it to grow ever more brilliant.

She rushes at the heartless then, bringing the sword down in a wide, downward arc at the monster, driving the sword in the ground where it unleashes an explosion akin to fireworks. "Burning Heart!" she cries, pouring all her energy into it.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
The blade is gone. It appears that this Heartless cannot manifest the weapon for long, much to the likely relief of those present. The massive Heartless turns, looking upon these beings that would not die. If it could speak, it likely would scream in frustration. But it has no mouth, even if it would scream. The massive being is suddenly assaulted from behind, once more apparently developing an Achilles' Heel as the leg is savaged by an icy blade. There is a sudden CRACK, and the leg falls off, dissolving into dark points of non-light. It collapses, howling, a the lyrical power of Merilan powers her assault, sending her cleaving into him over and over. The windblades shatter the armor repeatedly, crushing through it and shredding the purple-veined darkness behind. Katyna lunges forward, cleaving into the blackness, causing it to thrash wildly in pain. The armor is gone, leaving it open for a deadly stroke... But it is not dead yet.

The huge machinelike Heartless twists, and slams a fist into the ground.

Suddenly, blackness rises, twisting and shifting in a confusing manner. Voices are absorbed into the darkness as all seem to be pulled into the black. Everyone seems to be alone, there, in the darkness...

And then claws smash out, rending and pulling at all of those present, black chains lashing otu to try to pull those present into place so they can be destroyed.

Maira has posed:
Maira's vision has blurred. As she walks forward toward the Heartless, she struggles to focus her gaze. She hopes the healing energy buys them some time.

The Heartless attacks once more. Darkness consumes. Maira hears the sounds of those around her as if through water.

What is this? What is the circle of flickering golden light that surrounds her? Maira looks down for a moment, puzzled as her pupils shrink from the sudden light.

Holding up her hands, she observes quite numbly that she is on fire.

The flames lick at her skin but do not seem to burn it, even as her clothing begins to ignite. Maira becomes a burning torch, her wild hair blending with the dancing flames in a halo of primal fire.

That is the being the Heartless pulls with his chain, and she slams into him like a phoenix in flight.

Merilan Yursalin has posed:
Desperation, in turn, powers more desperation...

And as the Heartless Machine's claws and chains rend out, Merilan finally finds the gap within its abominable clockwork. The winged woman springs on from where she stands and is finally able to weave on through to a gap in its arced swing.

The Swallowtail's held in front as Merilan presses on, ignoring the signals and screams that her body is pulsating and pounding her mind with. Ignoring the toll that the Auracite is seeping into her very heart and soul.

"Farewell..."

There is but a single burst of crimson cutting wind this time, as Merilan dives in from the Heartless' blind spot.

Avira has posed:
With the final severing of the leg, the final layer of ice breaks off into the Heartless with a misty spray. Avira is quick to back up once it starts thrashing wildly from the combined assault of the other deadly ladies here. She circles around it like a hungry wolf, waiting for a good opening to dart in and finish off the creature, her heart beating so quickly that it might explode from her chest. (That would be doubly bad right now though!)

Even crippled, the Heartless moves and Avira is pretty impressed. Then, without warning, darkness spreads out from its fist and engulfs everything, "What-"

Her words are cut off, heard only to her. Fighting panic, Avira responds to this in the only way she can. She runs-charges even-forward with her blade held in a double-handed grip, pointed forward not unlike a jousting lance. Chains rise and whip about her, trying to restrain her, and missing. Claws rake at the empty air where Aivra once stood. That strange serrated blade plunges downward repeatedly in a frenzy at a target Avira cannot see, but trusts is there.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
The warriors strike back against the labyrinth of darkness, Weapons plunge into darkness, and the Heartless rises like a horrible titan, a dull, gutter roar shrieking through te night, fire and darkness consuming it as it all dissolves away, a burning light exploding from within and rising high into the air, before vanishing.

The Heartless vanishes, leaving Central Park mostly intact and the people of this World safe. Xanatos Enterprises will no doubt ensure that the occurance will be blamed on a gas main explosion, and the area will be repaired soon. Keeping the people of the city safe and calm is important.

And the people who came to defeat that Heartless can take solace in that, even if they did not appear to gain much of material worth...

Katyna has posed:
"Guh! Enough already!" Kit stumbles back as claws and chains attempt to slash and drag her to her death. She darts back, bringing up her sword as she twists to the side, the claws glinting against her armour and piercing it in places, drawing a little blood.

Without skipping a beat she managed to counter its attack, drawing a little energy to heal herself, but before she has a chance to launch a full blown attack at the monst, it is suddenly dead, defeated by the many gathered heroes.

"Phew.." She breathes a sigh of relief, glancing at those gathered. "Everyone alright? That was close.." She has one eye greedily waiting for the inevitable XP and munny to explode from the heartless' body..

Merilan Yursalin has posed:
Merilan lets out a cough when the Heartless rises -- and then dissipates, in a hurrah of fire and darkness that consumes it.

As the nigh-automated sensation of battle and frenzy escapes her, all of the pain, the aching both physical and mental start to rise back in turn to her.

"I--"

There's a sharp gasp of pain as Merilan puts a hand to her head, feeling the somewhat sticky red substance lightly covering the side of her head. Blood...

"Uu..."

And, with that battle-rush escaping her, the fright and panic is starting to well up within her again.

The Auracite's light silently glimmers, unbeknownst to her...

This girl, who seeks power borne out of desperation...
Know my price, heralding from the sea of her soul...

Soul Devoured: 2.83%
Soul Remaining: 72.17%

I look forward to her next patronage...

Maira has posed:
As the Heartless vanishes, Maira descends to the ground. It is something of a slowed fall, likely due to magic or shenanigans.

When she reaches the ground however, she finds that her legs stubbornly refuse to support her any longer. She slumps to her knees, the fire that had engulfed her snuffed like a candle-flame, leaving her untouched save for her poor clothing, which is singed and practically in tatters now.

Pity. She'd liked that shirt.

Breathing heavily and looking as though she was barely conscious, Maira's eyes search out the others. "Is....everyone okay...?" she asks. Though, obviously, most of them are not. "I should be able...to heal everyone...got some potions too..." she says, reaching for the pockets of her skirt only to find half of it is gone. "Oh...huh."

Avira has posed:
The contrast of sudden light against the consuming darkness is enough to make Avira flinch when the Heartless finally expires. She turns her gaze away for a few moments as it happens and is pleased to find their deadly foe now gone once the light fades. Avira slowly smiles and quickly starts looking around the area. If her clan could have only seen that fight...!

Sadly, there doesn't seem to be anything left over of the Heartless that she could bring back to the others as proof of the fight. Exhaling a long breath, she plops down on the ground, dropping her odd-looking sword next to her and stretching out.

"I'm fine, just a few little burns. Bruises." she calls out to Kit. Already she's digging through one of her pouches about her belts. A small white bottle is withdrawn. "...admittedly that's gotta be my best fight yet."

Somehow, Avira's accent sounds familiar at the moment. Similar to the denizens of this city.

Maira has posed:
"Oh....good," she responds. Truly, she had intended to help them with another heal, but she just doesn't have the energy. "Think imma just...go sleep...." she continues, laying down right there.

Before she is totally unconscious, she introduces herself. "Name's Maira...this is Uist..." She gestures floppily to the empty space beside her, then closes her eyes.

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
With the sword lifted from his body, Skoll remains grounded for a little longer, twitching now and again. With the healing magic's remnants on his body, he slowly begins to regain enough lifeforce to stand up. He pulls himself up and finally comes to stand in that 'relaxed' manner that seems to suggest he's perfectly fine. The blue eye and slightly ripped clothing however, certainly suggests that he is /not/ fine. However, at the same time... something strange is at hand. He should be FAR more wounded than he really is. Far... more wounded. What's up with that?

He quickly looks left and right. "Where did it go?" He asks, then looks back to the girls standing there. His hands lower. "Oh... right... guess I got knocked out for that last part of the battle." He really feels bad about having just entirely blown that fight. Normally he does far better than that! Doesn't mean he can't try to look cool at least.

His chains retract back to his hands, and he then continues to loop them around his waist like a belt and then walks up to Maira... who just fell asleep. "Ehh..." He glances to her side. "There's nobody there." He notes idly, and then looks back at what apparently is an unconscious girl. He moves a hand to the back of his head and kind of shrugs. "Well, guess she is taking a nap." Seems he'd missed her being on fire seconds ago.

He then glances back to the other ladies. "You ladies okay?"

Katyna has posed:
Katyna glances over at Merilan, noticing the blood and the gasp of pain. "Hey..Merilan, wasn't it? Here..Catch!" With a grin, she tosses her a hipotion, before glancing back at Maira. Hmm, she's a promising mage, but who is this Uist she's talking about?

Kat glances at where she gestures but sees nothing. "Huh?> Nice to meet you, Maira, I'm Kat.." But in no time she's asleep. With a shrug, Kat pulls off her jacket, resting it over the rags of Maira. It'll get cold in this park in the night if she plans to sleep here.

Avira seems alright too, and that guy who was hit by the tree..Healed by Maira but apparently resting now too. "Heh, looks like everyone's still alive." She smirks at Skoll, "Sleeping on the job, eh? Tsk.." Resheathing her sword, she starts to walk away, waving behind her. "See y'all around I guess.." Now that she's collected more useful data on them, perhaps next time....Hmmm..

Merilan Yursalin has posed:
Merilan looks on with some concern as Maira just goes and collapses right there, but then turns towards the rest of the assembled people -- and Katyna, as she provides her with healing medicine.

"Ah... thank you. Yes, I'm fine."

With a little quaff, much of her injuries and energy is restored. Yet... there is a persistent hollowness that will linger for a while yet... as it always does, when she calls upon the stone, though she would not know this yet.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Finally, Mercade comes running back up. "Holy crap, that was a hell of a fight!" He says. "Everyone is safe, thanks to you guys." He reaches up, as if to tip the brim of a hat which is not there, and he frowns, wincing for a moment as he tries to cover it up as running his hand over his scruffy hair. "Are all of you guys going to be all right?" He frowns. "We can get you some medical help or something. At least let me treat you guys to dinner." He grins. "Nothing like New york style pizza!"

Avira has posed:
Falling over asleep right here in the park did sounds like a tempting thing to do and Avira almost gives in to following Maira's example. She does not, though, because she knows that doing so in Central Park is generally a bad idea. Instead, she unscrews the top from the bottle and starts extracting the ointment from within, which is rubbed on her burns.

Now that people weren't fighting for their lives/glory, Avira's able to get a better look at everyone. She seems pretty interested in Skoll, if only because he had been struck pretty hard during that battle. Strange how fine he was looking by now... "I'm fine, what about you?" She starts to look around for that other guy that was stuck under the tree-though he did run off to evacuate people, didn't he? "..and what about that other guy, is he okay too?"

Speak of the devil!

With great effort, she pushes herself to stand. Avira scoops up her sword...which upon closer inspection actually resembles a straightened human spine dipped in metal. The hilt is formed from the tailbone and pelvis. The "sword" is returned to a specially-fitted sheath across the small of Avira's back. "Oh yes, I will /certainly/ take a pizza."

Merilan Yursalin has posed:
"A-ah... no, sorry," Merilan apologises to Mercade, checking for his condition from where, y'know, a tree got landed on him earlier. There's a faint smile, as she remarks, "From the places I have seen selling it, it is treif... I apologise."

She turns towards Avira and bows gently to her, and does catch a sight of Skoll... she does not know him, but something about the way he fought was... she didn't have a word for it.

"I--I'm glad everyone is fine. I must go now... I'm sorry."

The Aegyl is up in the air in a fast beat of her wings, now. This... feeling -- or, perhaps more accurately, the lack of feeling...

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
"I will have you know, I am not asleep." Skoll replies to Katyna, folding his arms. The young wolfish punk then steps aside and glances Avira's way. "Oh, I'm fine." He does one of those silly thumb-up things to her, before sticking his hands back into his pockets and glancing Mercade's way. "Thanks for the offer man, but..." He pulls an ancient pocketwatch from one of his pockets and flicks it open.

He looks at the time, and then back to Mercade. "I gotta head out soon. Sorry. Oh - hey, did you end up getting your thingy-mebobby back?" And off goes the Aegyl, before he can even thank her. But then, Mercade has offered enough thanks for all of them in a ways.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade looks up with a concerned expression as he sees Meri fly off. "Was that blood?" He frowns, seeing her head out. That wasn't like her at all. He sighs, and looks back over to Skoll. "Yes, but I lost something just as important in exchange." He sighs, and rubs his hatless head again. "You guys are tough. That looked like hell to deal with. I'm glad you all were here to help."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade Alexander also winces as he sees Avira's 'sword'. "Wow, that's... that's a hell of a weapon, there. Anyway, come with my and we'll go to a good place."

Katyna has posed:
Katyna just chuckles at wolf boy. "Sure, but you looked like you were gonna die for a sec there. I'm surprised you're still in one piece!" Well she was about to head off, but pauses when the tree guy mentions pizza.

"Ooh, really? I could totally go for some food right about now..Not sure what we'll do about her though." She peers back at Maira, pondering dragging her back to the heartless realm, except she's probably a bit heavy.

She pauses a minute, glancing up at the winged one as she takes off. "Ooh, I'd love to fly like that.." she sighs, shaking her head. When Mercade mentions losing something important, she arches a brow at him. "Hmm? What did you lose? Perhaps we can still find it!"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade shakes his head. "It's my hat. It means a lot to me." Katy might remember him wearing a fedora last time she saw him back in Traverse when they were talking with Ward. "I know exactly who has it. I'll find a way to get it back from her eventually. For now, we need to move forward and do what we can."

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Click! Skoll closes the pocketwatch and nods at Mercade. "I hope you'll manage to win it back then - your hat. I wouldn't know what I would've done had I lost my lucky keychain." The wolfish youth then steps away towards the portal at the center of the park. "As for me. Don't worry about me - it'll take a lot more than a giant sword and some fire to do away with me. I just..." He pauses for a moment. "Well, I was surprised by that heartless' strength honestly. Never met one quite like /that/ one before." He wonders what made that giant thing step out into Manhattan like this.

"Anyhow, I'm out of here. Maybe I'll take you up on that offer for Pizza another day, and I can see about perhaps sharing some of my winnings so we can get that hat back." The wolfish youth then raises his hand and wanders on off into the Shadow Corridors.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade waves. The last one standing seems to be Avira. "Let's go get some pizza." He holds up the Xanatos Expense Account card. "Call it a business expense." Mercade winks, and leads the way to an evening of delicious pizza.

Avira has posed:
Everyone else...seems to part ways here, Meri included whch she would have spoken with a little more after this. "Huh...I dunno about them but I'd definitely wouldn't mind a detour for pizza."

She grins over at Mercade, "Oh, heh, thanks. Custom deal of course." Glancing over at Skoll, who excuses himself, Avira actually pouts a little. "...aw. Ahem. Yes. Right. Pizza!"

Skoll Ulfang has posed:
Skoll Ulfang suggests trying to code on Penn before Tiny - if you want it ported to here. There's some compatibility issues.