There was no time to rest, even as they distanced themselves from the onslaught of faeries and staggered past the vines and foliage that tried to ensnare them. The fog that followed them made it hard for Nocturnus to watch the terrain; her heel caught on a twisting curl of moving greenery, and she tumbled forward into the changed landscape, coughing as the heat and dust from the flames stung her throat. This place was foreign to her, or at least it seemed so upon first impression. How had they gotten here? This was not Zenar... how could they move so suddenly from Zenar to this new place?

The girl kept running until she was no longer in immediate danger from the fire, trying to keep with the rest of the group. She couldn't answer Aegle's question, so she stayed silent.

They were beginning to make some headway against the fairies -- their next attack unable to find any fleshy targets. Bellatrix felt a grin grace her lips, born from the burning adrenaline of battle and the fact that the group was finally getting away from their current enemies.

The grin was short-lived as thick fog, cold and sickly, clung to her legs, trying to push her back. The plantlife of this decaying forests came to life, reaching to impede the group even more.

Bellatrix frowned, disconcerted by the movement from things that should not be alive. But still the group found a way to keep going forward. It felt like they would never escape the dead forest, until everything completely changed.

Gone was the close confines of the decimated forest. Gone were the hoarde of blood-thirsty fairies.  

Searing heat burned her throat as she tried to catch her breath. Confusion prickled at her and her skin protested at the warmth, sweat already beginning to gather.

Bellatrix glanced around, taking in the new surroundings, still feeling utterly confused. She tried to control her breathing, but the smoke made it near impossible.  

She heard Bastet make a guess as to where they currently found theirselves, but the name meant nothing to her. It was hard to wrap her head around the idea that they were no longer on Zenar. She definitely did not enjoy this kind of mental whiplash.

So instead, she focused on something else, something a little more tangible than sudden teleportation -- or whatever was going on. "What's that wailing sound?"

One moment, SAM was stumbling through the woods behind the rest of the senshi, trying not to fall over the vines that dragged at them, and the next moment she was running on sand.


"What-?" She came to a clumsy stop in the middle of a familiar burning village, the air once again threatening to ruin her filters with smoke. No, this couldn't be... Ari said it first, and SAM tried to push back the bad memories Destore had left her with. The wailing sound was only further picking at her nerves. They weren't all going to start dying, right? "No, I thought it was over..." she said quietly, shrinking in on herself.

Okay, so now Sailor Xibalba was beginning to think someone, destiny perhaps, was screwing with her. As they retreated, the forest began to prove definitively that it was nothing like the forest of Xibalba. The plants on Xibalba could be dangerous, particularly the poisonous ones, but only if you messed with them. Never had the plants intentionally sought you out to hurt you! Sailor Xibalba returned the favor enthusiastically with her chert blade. 

And then, destiny continued to screw with them as she dropped the group into a raging fire. Sailor Xibalba gaped with her mouth open for a moment, and then closed it when the heat began to bother her throat. She looked around in disbelief, gripped her blade tightly, and then turned around to see the rest of the group. "I'm confused, is one of us doing this? We've been inexplicably transported twice." To places at least one of them recognized each time, although that could be one heck of a coincidence. Maybe someone had teleportation powers and poor judgement about good places to hang. 

As the senshi attempted to reconcile what had just happened, a small and high-pitched wail came from within the little village. And, Sailor Xibalba began to wonder. "Are there people inside the burning buildings?"

Sure, her domain was death, but she didn't really want people to die if there wasn't a good and preventable reason for dying. You could do something about fire, maybe. "We might be best equipped to help, especially since some of you guys have water attacks."

Holding back the urge to scream, Tartarus urged herself forward. Ahead of her were the displaced senshi like herself, and behind was.. well, certain doom. She had no desire to become plant or faerie chow, thrusting out a hand towards her friends in a desperate attempt to get away from the triple threat of noxious fumes, flora, and fauna.

It was mildly surprising to Tartarus that the petite young lady with the feline aspects was there to catch her hand. In that same moment, she could feel the dreadful slithering of a vine about her ankle. She held onto Bastet's hand, gasping for breath at the realization that the dark forest was attempting to claim her for itself.

Tartarus would have shrieked in abject terror if she had not gulped down a lungful of the stifling, burning air. Coughing and sputtering, she dropped to her knees to make sense of everything that had just happened. How did they suddenly find themselves in this arid place? And why in Briareos's name was she able to respirate normally like the other senshi?

Looking up towards Bastet and Chalybs, Tartarus fumbled with her pronunciation of the world's name. "D-Destore..? Can you tell me what happened here?"

Great, harpoon the biting creatures. Turn. And run.  Except running proved to be difficult as they all made their retreat.  The forest was alive with nasty intentions of harm and doom.  Vulkan powered through, doing her best not to trip and fall onto one of the other senshi, never knew when the soft ones were actually soft or not and she didn't want to hurt them with her skin.  And then suddenly her concentration was broken as the forest gave way to a desolate desert and a small burning village.  

"No, this should not be." She grumbled to herself, her voice low and confused.  She was not familiar with the place, but never had she been moved so fast.  Quickly she darted back around, aaaaand no forest.  Some of them seemed to recognize the place while others did not.  So that was a pattern.  And that wail?  What if it turned out to be like the biting creatures?  Quickly she looked around for the other dark one like herself but small.  

Finding her she moved to stand next to the young girl, "Could you use your device to see which way the evil is here?"  Looking back to the direction they came from she wondered, what would happen if they just kept running?

As the woods came alive around her, she wondered if this was all just some big nightmare. And as if on cue, everything disappeared with the thought, seemingly banished by the realization and bringing her to wake up. But what she found next was yet another nightmare, just less familiar.

She suddenly found it difficult to breathe, with the smoke so thick around them. Fire seemed to swallow the buildings around them. The only open area seemed to be a desert outside the city they now occupied. She frowned at the dark mass in the middle of the street, wondering if that was a chaos thing or just charred buildings.

The wailing chilled her blood.

One of them seemed to recognize the new place. But if they were in Zenar just before... was this really that other place? Or was it all just an illusion? What was really going on here?

Xibalba mentioned saving people potentially inside the burning buildings, but... which buildings? Was she just supposed to douse them all? That would take so much out of her. And Vulkan's question toward Nocturnus made her wonder.

"Maybe we shouldn't be running away from the chaotic creature. After all, aren't we senshi? Isn't it our duty to get rid of them? Maybe whatever's messing with us needs to be eradicated before whatever is going on would end."

Nocturnus kept herself as close to Andromeda as possible, stifling another cough as the heat pricked at her. The comments and reactions of others around her were hard to focus on. In a way, this unfamiliar town reminded her of Enyalius, if only due to something about the layout of the buildings itself. She did not miss the undead that had threatened them in that place. Of course, there was no way to be sure that whatever they would find here would be any better, unfortunately. When addressed, she glanced from Vulcan to Andromeda as the two spoke. Sailor Xibalba, the one in the ornate headdress, had also made a suggestion. Nocturnus wasn't sure which one to support.

She returned the Asturlab to her hand, once again staring at the device and waiting for the dials to settle. At least they could know the direction of whatever lurked here, regardless of what they chose to do with that information.

Action:

Aegle's brows furrowed, her stance tensing with Bastet's response, muscles tightening at Bellatrix's question, the wailing sound seeming to settle in her ears and hang there ominously - where before she had been too preoccupied to pay attention and hear it, now it seemed like she would be unable to do anything else... until Chalybs's words drew her attention completely. Stiffly she rose and went to Chalybs's side, lightly putting her hand on the senshi's arm in support. She couldn't offer the other a smile - not here - or much by way of words of encouragement; Tartarus approached as Xibalba spoke, the paler-uniformed senshi asking after the story. "It won't happen the same way," Aegle offered quietly to Chalybs, leaving either she or Bastet to answer the question as she shifted focus to Xibalba and the others while remaining at Chalybs's side.

Vulkan had approached the little senshi - Nocturnus - and spoke to her quietly; she watched that pair as Xibalba suggested using water attacks to douse the flames on the buildings and Andromeda suggested running towards danger rather than away. Nocturnus pulled out the device that had told them where the chaos was on the last planet; no matter what they decided to do, knowing where danger was would be useful. 

She was a little more hesitant about facing the darkness head-on, a realization that reminded her quickly that she was neglecting her duties. Wordlessly she stepped forward, took Bastet's hands loosely and placed her forehead against Bastet's. She bat her eyelashes, mumbling, "Aegle Butterfly Kisses," as explanation so the other wouldn't completely flip out or anything, having figured that with the number of times Bastet had been attacked, the strongest version of the cleansing would be best.

action:

Their new surroundings were clearly having an effect on some of the senshi. Bellatrix frowned, but did not know how to give comfort for something she knew nothing about. She was glad to see some of the other senshi begin to support one another, and so Bellatrix turned her attention onto other things.

What Andromeda said made sense. "But where?" Bellatrix asked, looking around even more as if, inexplicably, the creature responsible for all of this chaos would show up right behind them. She wished for such a thing - at least then their objective to get out of here would be something she could physically do something about.

Without a tangible target, she was simply left with questions, concerns, and worry.

And an annoying wail in her ears. And smoke clogging her lungs.

She already decided she did not like this planet much.

"Whatever's doing this to us hasn't shown its face yet. How do we rid ourselves of a faceless enemy?"

She turned her focus back towards what Xibalba had said earlier, and she looked towards the burning village. "At least, if there are people in those buildings, that's something we can act upon." Bellatrix paused for a moment, glancing at the armored Chalybs with her confusing high-tech stuff and little Nocturnus with her Astrolab, then continued. "Is there some way we can pinpoint if there are indeed victims in there? There's no reason to put ourselves in unnecessary danger if the village is empty."

Though she did wonder what was making that bone-piercing sound, and she definitely would want to help if there were people in the village, she wasn't terribly keen on jumping into flames and smoke without just cause.

Ari tensed at Tartarus's question. How could she explain? She was sure some of these other senshi had seen death and battle like they had but... Andromeda had a point but what had running blindly into danger done before? As she worked up a way to answer, seeing that SAM was feeling similarly to her and Crysdal--had grabbed her hand. She jump slightly startled, until she realized what was going on. How was she holding up so well?

Ari looked the blonde in the eyes. "Thank you," she kept the words mentally between them, "I wish I could be half as strong as you." She gave her a half smile before finally explaining Destore.

"Destore is a planet that we," she motioned towards SAM and Crysdal respectively, "cleansed of Chaos along with others that had been conscripted in the war."

She paused, finding it harder to continue, but keeping her emotions in check as best she could. As she stared blankly into the landscape, feeling more certain of her guess.

"We had many losses and made allies. Just like back then, when we first arrived there was a village on fire," the blood splattered walls of the burning village flashed in her mind, "We never found out what happened to the people, but considering what we had to fight. We could put two and two together. I am certain this is the same planet. "

She wanted to help the people of the village as much as several of the others but if this really were Destore and Chaos had taken over again. The high-pitched wail still rang in her ears.

If Destore had been retaken, she clenched her fists tightly around her quarter-staff. Then what? The Cawthians would be their enemy once again. The Fairies were supposed to have been friendly according to Andromeda, which had proved to be untrue. Had they been taken over by Chaos's forces as well?

Maybe they should go into the village. Maybe they should do what they didn't the first time around. Before deciding on just what she felt was best, Ari listened intently to the sounds trying to pin point the wailing and feeling out for any sort of magic energy.

SAM either didn't notice Tartarus asking a question or was too stuck in her own head to answer her. A lot of her time on Destore was still somewhat blurry in her head, mostly around the time she'd "shut down". She promised herself she wouldn't do it again after Crysdal learned about it, but just the thought of someone dying here again was paralyzing. She was snapped out of her spiraling thoughts when someone touched her arm. She looked up and realized that Crysdal was next to her. It...wouldn't happen again? SAM wasn't sure why, but she believed her, and by the time Crysdal went to help Bastet, she was able to pull herself together again. She was going to personally make sure no one died this time. No more closing herself off when things got tough.

"I'll check around us to see if anyone is still here," SAM said, and then tapped the side of her helmet. She activated her Energy Scanner and focused on the buildings for any signs of life. 

DM wrote:

Actions wrote:

5  Bastet Wisdom Boost - Bastet hears the source of the wailing - it's in the center of town, towards the dark mass at the end of the street they were on. She felt magical energy pulsing around them, as though leading them towards the source of the wailing and then through to the other side of the town...

4  Chalybs activates her Energy Scanner and finds nothing.

New Turn

---

12 Fairy Hoarde Poison turn three has taken its toll! 
--3 HP for infected senshi!
Turns remaining: 0

12 Fairy Hoards Poison turn two has taken its toll!
--3 HP for infected senshi!
Turns remaining: 1
8  Aegle uses Aegle Kiss (3MP) on Bastet
How much healed?
--5
--CTRL 11
--MP 1
--Affection -2
----Total of 15 HP Restored

5  Tartarus Rejevenation Helix on  Xibalba restores 2 HP! 0 turns remaining

---

Battle Order - for the record:

Aegle smiled weakly and, as Chalybs started to check for signs of life, she quickly kissed Bastet on the cheek to heal any internal damage dealt by the fairy's poisons, then stepped back to look around, her mouth a tight line of worry as she looked into the windows of the building nearest them and finding nothing but a burnt husk within. If people had been in there... there was nothing much left of them now. Chalybs's scan would give them more information about the fate of the rest of the village. Crossing her arms she looked to the sky, the long trail of smoke etching an uneven line in the heavens, and took a deep breath to collect herself. 

"Does anyone else need healing?" she asked quietly, not wanting to take attention away from Bellatrix's train of thought but unsure of who else needed attention, considering there was another healer in the group.

action taken out above:

Nothing was visible on her scanners, and SAM turned it off and shook her head. 

"There's nothing in these buildings that I'm picking up. They're empty." Either everyone had left, or there were nothing but bodies here. She pushed that second thought away. The injury the fairies had given her was pretty minor compared to how badly they had hurt others, so SAM didn't ask for any healing, though she was tempted to after seeing Ari get it. She shook her head again in an attempt to refocus. Why did she care if Ari got a kiss on the cheek? That was how Crysdal's healing worked. It was silly of her to be so fixated on it.

The senshi in blue suggested heading towards the source of darkness, and even though SAM didn't really want to fight anything, the idea made sense. 

"Maybe we do need to confront something here..." Like whatever was wailing, for example.

Seeing that there was some camaraderie amongst the senshi made Tartarus feel a bit better about their situation, and perhaps even a tiny bit jealous. What she would give for such opportunities! The desert planet was strongly affecting Chalybs, and it was only with Bastet's description that the redhead could form some kind of context about SAM's apprehension. She sighed inwardly when Aegle was there to offer emotional support to her feline friend, shivering briefly despite the heat of the sandy planet. How she longed to have friends and learn of their stories, to try her hand at easing their own pains and sufferings.

The act of keeping her hands busy would ease Tartarus's own hurts, or at least help pass the time.

Aegle then raised a general query of her allies' health, prompting Tartarus to quietly appraise her tentative friends. If her eyes were to be trusted, Teeth might warrant additional help; Blondie seemed reluctant to apply her healing touch, or kiss in that case. It was very difficult to kiss what Tartarus would read as a grinning skull, so it wasn't exactly an unwarranted feeling. Kitty looked better as a result of Blondie's attention - a very good thing by any measure! If anything, Tartarus would need to keep her attentions on Teeth and Rocky Red.

SAM suddenly spoke up with the results of her scan, prompting Tartarus to listen closely to the summary. After a moment, SAM suggested again that there might have been something the group would need to investigate in this burning village.

"That seems likely, but I want to be certain that everyone is prepared. Something as important as our health shouldn't be left to mere chance."  Tartarus swallowed nervously, then approached SAM with a raised hand to signal a request for her attention.

"Sailor Chalybs.. umm, before we leave, may I ask a favor of you?"

Nothing. It pointed at nothing.

Dark navy eyebrows furrowed above eyes black as the void. The small sailor soldier nervously licked her lips, gaze never leaving the mechanical workings of the small golden device in her hand. This seemed almost impossible, but it had never lied to her before. After all, Mother had given it to her. Nothing that Mother had touched could possibly be inaccurate, especially as far as Nocturnus was concerned.

"There's nothing," she told the others, not only addressing Vulcan. Her voice shook slightly; this was a strange message to deliver. She didn't even know that anyone would trust her.

"I... I don't know what this means," Sailor Nocturnus admitted, hating that she had to say such a thing. So much for trying to make a good impression on a new group.

Ari was not surprised when SAM's scan came up empty. This really was just like their first arrival on Destore. Despite the results, she could still feel a magical aura around them, as if leading them towards the center of town, the same direction that the wailing was from. Crysdal healed her with a kiss once again. Ari sighed in relief as the last of the pain from the fairy attack disappeared. The small girl, Nocturnus, had found nothing either, though her item seemed to scan differently than SAM's. If her item couldn't pick up the energy she was feeling, then what was it? There was only one way to find out.

"I can sense an energy around us and it's flows that way, towards that noise." She pointed towards the center of town. She could just make out a dark mass at the end of the street. Did it have something to do with that?  But the magic felt like it continued past it. Well, if the group was healed, they should make their move. There was no use waiting, hesitating on their next action. They had did that far too often on their first missions. She took a few steps towards the direction the magic energy was leading her, stopping only to not go too far without the group.

"Shall we?"

Eh, maybe she was getting used to no one really liking her ideas. ... No, scratch that, she wasn't. Sailor Xibalba had been the leader of the Lords of Death for hundreds of years, if you counted all the times she had been reincarnated, and they knew not to question her authority. Although she was used to being leader, none of these other senshi saw her as one. That pissed her off, but Sailor Xibalba knew she couldn't force respect for her authority. Instead, she growled low under her throat and continued to grip her chert blade as she looked across the clearing. 

"If none of you brought us here," Sailor Xibalba said, looking to each face. No one had answered her question in the affirmative. "Then, logic would have it something else did, maybe the chaotic creature." She jerked a thumb in Sailor Andromeda's direction, and then put her hand on her hip. "I like her idea, let's kick butt." 

And then, Sailor Bastet explained why some in the group were hesitant. But, the senshi's words excited the blood in Sailor Xibalba's veins. War thrilled her. She was, first and foremost, a soldier and she had always loved every minute of it. She and her Lords were called into battle often and they truly shined on the battlefield. But... She was without her Lords. Sailor Xibalba's heart fell in her chest at the thought and the feeling of abandonment began to spread. She took a step backward away from the group and turned to look away. No one had her back here, not in this battle. 

Sailor Aegle offered her aide, but Sailor Xibalba didn't take her very seriously. Their relationship was a bit strained. She shrugged her shoulders, "if you are offering, sure." And then she looked to the rest of the group, "if no one else needs it, first." She hesitated to take a step forward, and instead continued to hang back. The Lord of Death didn't want to push it by approaching Sailor Aegle.

"If there's nothing in the buildings and no evil, then what's wailing... The energy?" Sailor Xibalba asked.

Chalybs found nothing, Nocturnus found nothing, but the tremor in the younger girl's voice revealed her discomfort with the findings. As she clarified, offering that she didn't know what to make of what her mysterious little metal device meant, Crysdal unfolded her arms and approached easily, not trying to scare or alarm her but to comfort her as the others spoke. She smiled, showing her teeth in an attempt to make the smaller girl feel better, "Maybe we got lucky," she suggested quietly in her friendliest tone, "Maybe we were taken here to get us away from the darkness from the other place, as odd a choice as this setting may be. Chalybs's isn't picking up anything either; let's take it as a good sign."

Aegle's brows furrowed in response to Bastet's comment about energy flowing around them, but she smiled again to Nocturnus before Xibalba's voice echoed around the street again. Taking a deep breath, Aegle straightened and gave the shorter, more violent girl her attention as she seconded Andromeda's idea about fighting the creature - not exactly surprising considering all of her other suggestions - while completely jumping over Bellatrix's valid earlier point about not being able to find said creature and the revelations of Chalybe and Nocturnus about there not being any around. 

Then she red-toothed senshi shrugged and accepted her offer for healing... but only if no one else needed it. Aegle's face relaxed, the statement honestly surprising her a little - she had thought that Xibalba would have come storming over and demanding healing if she needed it - how many times had she yelled for aide in the forest despite injuries that looked minor on her in comparison to the injuries others were sustaining? And yet here she was, looking almost... sheepish? 

Had she been frightened before, and most of the aggression been tied to that underlying fear? She had been looking for someone when they arrived in the woods - maybe... But she wouldn't make suppositions just yet. Still, just the idea endeared the shorter, louder girl to her, even if just for now, even if just a little. 

As Xibalba asked her question about energy, Aegle kissed her palm and blew the healing energy towards the senshi of death and disease, then replied, "One way to find out," and nodded to Bastet, ready to follow towards... whatever was out there.

Next Turn:

SAM didn't quite understand how or what Ari had sensed something beyond her scanners, but she trusted her. Maybe what Ari was picking up on didn't count as a life-sign. That did make her wonder what kind of thing it was if it wasn't considered "alive" though.

"That does seem to be our only lead at the moment," she said. The bone senshi also thought that confronting the source of this was a good plan. They were most likely as prepared as they could be, so they might as well get going. She was about to trail after Ari and Crysdal when Tartarus got her attention. She stopped and turned to look at her.

"A... favor?" SAM asked. Was something wrong? "What kind of favor?"

She listened to the others discuss the options, figuring Nocturnus would point them towards the source of malicious energy, and it seemed another senshi had some sort of scanner to detect life energy as well. Meanwhile, another was telling them about what they knew of this planet - so it was, supposedly, another planet now? How had they hopped from Zenar to this Destore with just a couple steps? - when they were conscripted to cleanse it. Conscripted. She winced; she had heard that some sectors were not as lucky to have enough volunteers, but she had hoped the rumors that there were senshi being forced to fight and die were just that, rumors. And these senshi looked young. She couldn't imagine what they had gone through. If it had been Nocturnus... her fists balled on her sides as she thought about the injustice of it all. She felt a lot of admiration for them that they were still standing here and not curled up in a ball of anxiety somewhere. Zenar had nearly traumatized her, and she had volunteered.

And they had many losses. No one had died on Zenar, at least, except for Queen Mana.

Both the senshi with the scanner and Nocturnus found their search turned out empty. When she heard the tremble in Nocturnus' voice, Andromeda surreptitiously reached for the younger senshi's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. It wasn't her fault if she couldn't find anything. It must either be that the chaotic agent was hiding too well or using some sort of trick to evade detection. Either way, it wasn't Nocturnus' fault, and she hoped her gesture conveyed it. She looked at Nocturnus and gave her an encouraging smile just in case.

The cat-like senshi, Bastet, said that she could sense the energy flow, and suggested they moved towards it.

"I'll follow you," she stated, ready to move as well. If someone else knew the way better, she was more than happy not to be holding the reins. Hopefully soon they would find something they could actually fight that would solve their current predicament.

It seemed, despite the fact that there were no signs of life within that burning village, that the group still wanted to go that way. Bellatrix still had her doubts. If there were no civilians to save, then what was the point? Still, she conceded the fact that the energy signature was the only real thing they had to direct them at the moment.

Plus, she knew she was not the best at making tactical decisions. She left that for others who were better at such things to point her in the right direction.

And if this was the way everyone wanted to go, then she wasn't one to argue against it. At least, not until she had a more concrete reason besides 'I don't really like fire all that much.' Risks and dangers came with the job description, after all.

As several others began to make the first few steps towards the magical energy Bastet was able to detect, Bellatrix gave another glance around, frowning at this desolate place, before following as well.   She again kept towards the back of the group, wanting to keep all of her allies in sight so that she could, hopefully, protect them better if something happened.

They moved forward together, the heat becoming even more unbearable as the crackling of fire seemed to echo all around them. Bellatrix felt distinctively on edge in this place. She kept looking from one area to the other, grip tight on her spear, expecting something to jump out at them or perhaps for something to explode in a blast of flames and debris.

It was the smell that made her feel most uncomfortable. She couldn't figure out what it was, but she knew for certain that she never wanted to smell it again. Bellatrix wished she had a cloth to cover her mouth and nose, but she felt that perhaps even that extra barrier wouldn't be enough.

As the group continued to move through this literal hell, further into the destroyed village, a great dark mass came ever closer. Bellatrix frowned at its sight. Was this the creature, perhaps? She couldn't tell. All she knew was that all of her instincts were screaming at her that this was wrong. She didn't know what they would find as they got even closer, but, as her skin crawled, she was certain it would be terrible.

Tartarus fidgeted with her hands, having slung her rifle over her shoulder to address SAM in a less formal way. The senshi in black and white turned her palms inward as if to frame the outline of her body, starting from her cheeks and slowly working down towards her knees. "This might sound strange.. but when you say I look different, can you tell me what exactly is different? What do you see now, compared to when we met at the conference?"

While Tartarus could look down and examine her own differences, if her hunch was correct, then she needed another person to confirm the changes. She knew what her own appearance was, both before and after the treachery that transpired within her homeworld. Echidna also knew her own desires, and that was certain to twist her perception. It was a scientific approach, after all; someone like Chalybs had to verify what her eyes would show her in order to eliminate that bias, to ensure that she was not merely being delusional.

"Um.. you don't have to answer right now, but would you keep it in mind? Something very wrong is happening here, and you may able to help me solve the puzzle of where we really are.. or are not, as it were."

---

When the senshi pressed further into the burning village, Tartarus covered her nose and did her best to avoid making noise. There was a highly unpleasant stench in the air, punctuated by the dry crackling of wood. Something lay ahead of them in the street, like some darkened amalgamation of garbage of refuse.

That wasn't right at all. Most societies, hers included, came to learn that dumping trash into the streets posed a significant health hazard to its citizens as a whole. There were proper places and procedures to keep such waste matter separated from public spaces. The only kind of encouragement found in this place was the kind that would make her stomach do backflips in a frenized fit of nausea.

Tartarus murmured softly to herself as the senshi explored the forsaken village, trying to make sense of the visual, auditory, and olfactory stimuli that assaulted their sensibilities. She kept her plasma weapon at the ready, watching and waiting for their unseen enemy to make a move against them. No other senshi would share Echidna's fate on her watch, if she had anything to say of it.

Everyone had agreed to move towards the center of the village but it was Andromeda's words that caused her stomach to churn in anxiety. When had she taken on the leadership role? She had felt a boost of confidence for a brief moment before but now as she had made the decision to continue, it was as if a giant weight had been put on her shoulders. If this were to end horribly, it would be her fault. Was this what the others that often took charge felt?   If only Hadley was here...She turned forward, not wanting to show the group the worry on her face.

The closer they got to the black mound the more the scent and sounds of their surroundings grew. Ari had noticed a slight dull in her awareness, recognizing that as her magic wearing off. This was not a time to have dulled senses.

"Bastet's Wisdom" she whispered the spell once again, though as she did she found herself having to cover her nose and mouth.

The mound was much taller than she had expected and the smell, oh by the goddess, what a horrific smell. Ari felt herself choking on it as she realized just what she was looking at it. It was...she stood horrified. Never before had she seen so much death centered in one place. Her eyes watered from the stench and smoke of the burning buildings. The wail continued and Ari managed to drag her eyes up, fearful of just what she'd see atop the pile.

Round 3:

Bastet's words whispered unintelligibly back to her, and suddenly the mound ahead of them came into focus. Aegle froze, recognizing what was ahead and immediately wishing she hadn't. Closing her eyes, she turned her gaze aside, shaking once in revulsion. "Don't look," she warned meekly, the horrible smell suddenly clicking into place, making an identity for itself in the recesses of her mind, an identity she would have been fine never having made. She kept walking, looking pointedly and resolutely at the ground ahead of them.

The smell of burning flesh was not familiar to everyone in the group, but when it reached her nostrils the child choked and almost stopped walking, suddenly overwhelmed with a torrent of memories. She knew it from another place, caused by another power: Sarastros' light. If it weren't for steadiness of Andromeda at her side, she might have screamed. Nocturnus raised a gloved hand to cover her nose and mouth, attempting to block it out, feeling tears stinging her eyes.

The wailing noise originated from somewhere at the top, so very, very high.

"Who could have done this?" the small voice whispered, horrified. It would have taken so much effort to gather the bodies from the buildings that still burned and bring them here. This... this looked like madness. It seemed unreal.

Why was Tartarus' appearance important to the situation they were in? Well, if she thought it would help...

"Your hair is sort of reddish-brown now, and your eyes are almost green. Your skin is darker too," she explained as they walked towards what Sailor Bastet was sensing. The smell hit her before she could really see the pile of bodies, sharp enough to cut through the breathing filter and make her pause for a moment as she tried to acclimate to it. Getting up close only made the experience worse, and SAM averted her eyes so the sight wouldn't be burned into her memory banks any more than it had to be. This was... unsanitary and barbaric. Who was even capable of doing such a thing?

"Do we... have to go up there to see what's yelling?" she asked quietly.