The Silver Line: Opening to Nature

Introduction
It was the rise of a new day as the sun could be seen shining down on the land as if it were telling the inhabitants that it was time to rise and shine. The morning dew started to glisten as the sunshine slowly went over each one of them. However, the sound of rushing footsteps could be heard as figures passed through the vegetation, making the droplets jump up into the sun, shining down small rainbows.

The figures stopped as the sun light enlightened the shadows as it was revealed to be June Fiona, Rift Grimm, Isa Wondril, and Taichi Marsh.

"We're not that far from the Beast's hunting ground, we're about another mile out" June said as they decided to take a break after starting their expedition so early in the morning.

Rift pulled up the real as they formed a circle to discus tactics. "So just so we're all up to speed. The hell sort of thing are we dealing with here? I mean, we ain't hunting dragons or something are we?"

Some laughed, but Rift was serious. The only person who caught on to this was Isa, who sighed in exasperation. "Rift..."

He glanced over at Isa, knowing exactly what she was about to say. "You've heard Axel's stories, and don't got a reason to doubt him. They exist somewhere, and I'd prefer not to be surprised."

"The one we're hunting isn't a dragon, that one is probably kept until the time Sabiel is needing to go oversea's. The one we're tangeling with is simply known as the Beast Whiger, a new species she created a while ago. It is the weakest, but still very dangeous" Fiona said looking at the path they were taking.

"In any case, it's good we went early, this time around the forest becomes a bit wild during the afternoons" Taichi said as he took a swig from his canteen.

"Hold on, she actually has a dragon?" Rift asked surprised.

"Anyways." Isa cut in, drowning out Rift going on about fighting dragons. "Do we have any way to find this Whiger?" She looked at June and Fiona, brushing her bangs over her ear before continuing. "Do you know what it looks like? What it does?"

"It's a feline type beast basically, the best kind for tracking down any kind of living animal sample, but trust me, this thing is huge" Fiona said looking around to try and see if there was any way to find out if it had been released or not.

"In any case, we still need a plan of action in order to keep it under our control" June said looking at the three people in front of her.

Isa thought for a moment. "If it's a mammal, it probably has a good sense of smell. So I don't think a surprise attack would work." She leaned back, looking up at the sky. "Sis would probably have a better idea about this than I would."

"I don't know." Rift said, finally dropping the dragon thing, though it was unclear if he was talking about Isa's mention of a surprise attack, or of Jaina's ability to form a plan. He quickly molded a tiny metal hammer using his magic and tossed it in the center of the group. "We could just knock it's lights out. Try the whole, dominant animal thing. See where that get's us."

"Maybe.... Alright let's give it a shot" June said as suddenly heavy footsteps could be heard, she recognized that it was the steps of the beast. They quickly scattered as they waited for the beast to come closer for them to strike, but what they saw shocked the Blazing Soul mages. A massive beast nearly double their size as it had razor sharp clawes and battle scars all over it's body.

Rift and Isa crouched behind a bush, watching it as it passed by. It looked almost exactly as Juna had described, a large feline, except more primal looking in nature. Rift leaned in closer to Isa and whispered with a smile. "So, do you think that's it?"

Isa pushed him away, shushing him as she did so. The beasts ears instantly perked up at the sharp sound, setting everyone on edge. It glanced around, made curious by this new distraction. Isa remained completely still, trying to not draw it's attention. She looked out of the corner of her eye when the beast looked the other way, only to find that Rift had gone from his hiding place. "Iron Make!" They all heard from above them, making everyone look up to see him in the air above the beasts head. "Heavy Hammer!" A massive cylinder of metal grew from his hands, which extended on a poll that he swung down on the creature.

The beast was pushed down, but held it's ground as it swung his tail around the area, breaking down nearly every single tree that were covering them. "This beast is strong...." Taichi said with a shocked tone before shaking his head and taking in a deep breath as he yelled out, creating a giant sound being of sorts as it began to tackle and wrestle with the beast.

"We need to find a way to make him calm down and make him under our control, do you have anything that can shoot out some kind of mind control attack?" June asked looking over to her allies.

"No such luck I'm afraid." Isa said, beginning to worry as the beast had just defeated Taichi's sound attack. She used Requip to summon a pair of books to her side, and took the pair of them in hand. They began to glow, and water jumped from the pages of one, forming into an orb in front of her. cold mist began falling from her other book, and large cubes of ice began forming in the water. She held the spell between her two books, letting it grow in size until it measured about 4 feet across, then she shouted. "2 Spell Formation - Icy River!" The water rushed towards the monster, soaking it completely, while the ice battered along it's head and torso. It shook violently, not allowing the water any time to freeze, then it charged at the group.

"Sorry to do this to you big fella...." June said starting to make her curse mark appear, but was starting to feel the change as it began to grow little by little on her arms. Fiona caught this and knew that she needed more time as she quickly used Slowing Magic at wide range to try and keep the beast constained, but due to the size, it was only slowly it down a few feet as she was struggling.

Rift appeared again, having been nocked into the forest a fair ways. This time, he came around the side, and created a large bat with his magic. He slammed it into the beasts face, causing it to stop dead. It batted at it's face, trying to stave off the pain. Rift clenched his fist, forming a throwing star between each finger, which he tossed at the beasts torso. It gave a howl of pain as they cut into it's stomach, then looked angrily at Rift. "Yeah, come on kitty." he used his magic again to form a pair of swords in his hands. "I'm the one your dealing with today." The beast roared again and lunged at him, claws outstretched, looking for a kill. Rift slid under it's belly, dodging it's claws by mere inches, while his opponents crashed through the remaining foliage. "A plan would be nice!" He shouted back at his companions, before jumping into the fray again.

"Alright, let him come now!!!" June yelled as Rift looked at her with an shocked look, but did what she said as he jumped out of the way, leaving the beast to pounce right at June, making the others attempt to go help her, but stopped when a black bolt of lightning channeled down onto the beast, striking him, but not hurting him as the lightning began to channel around the beast's arm's and hind legs until it reached it's neck and created a leash of sorts as the beast attempted to break free, but was met with shocking results.

"What did you do to him?" Fiona asked looking as the beast struggled to break free.

"Managed to manipulate the bond structure of my lightning, making it into a sort of saddle for us to control it" She said groaning as she was falling to the ground.

Rift dropped the swords he had been fighting with, adding to the mass of debris and felled trees in the area. "Well, I caught almost none of that, but it looks like we got what we needed."

Looking between the beast struggling, and June exhausted on the ground, Isa looked concerned. "Are you sure you can keep that up? You don't want to ware yourself out before we even get their." She sounded more like a caring mother than a concerned friend.

"That I did understand." Rift said with a laugh. He quickly generated what looked like a giant metal cuff and slammed it around the beasts neck. Literally collaring it, he jumped up on it's back. "Sit..." A massive metal fist formed over his forearm. "DOWN!" He slammed it down on the top of the beasts head, causing it to grunt on impact. It went ridged for a moment, then slumped down to the ground, moaning from it's new headache.

"Ugh... Sorry the tiring isn't from the use of magic, it's from not having this curse mark run wild" She said taking in a deep breath before the curse mark stopped glowing, "The stuff I injected myself with is still working, but the power in me can run wild" She said regaining control of her breathing as she stood up and looked at the beast moaning.

"We apologize, but it is the only way" Fiona said with a sad smile as she walked up to the beast and started to slowly pet it.

The beast shifted slightly in her direction, watching her out of the corner of it's eye. Rift jumped off it's head and began hurrying Fiona away from it. "It's not a pet kid. It's a monster that'll jump at you given the chance. Only reason it hasn't yet is because it's head is still spinning."

"It's not it's fault, my mother does horrible things to it, it can be a good beast" Fiona said looking over to it as Rift arrived over to June.

"In any case, we have what we need, now we can begin step two" June said as the beast regained it's sense of balance and roared, attempting to attack, but fell as the binds made it drop.

Isa watched the group, as rift dealt with the beasts tantrums with another bash on the head. "So how long do you think we can wait before your mom notices it's gone missing?"

"The beast usually returns by next morning, it's when her experiments that focus on the sun's ray's occur, this beast was probably sent to gather day time creatures and specimines" Fiona said seeing beast continuing to knaw at it's cuffs. "We still need to figure out what we will be doing once we get in there, it's easy but difficult, especially if we need to find this cure" She replied with a worried tone.

Isa wrapped her arm around Fiona to comfort her, pulling her head in to rest on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Jania will have a plan for that. We just need to focus on getting their." The beast thrashed again, causing Isa to jump a little, pulling Fiona with her by accident.

From a little farther away, they heard Rift knock the beast out, before shouting. "If you guys want to go get her, I can watch our new friend here. Might save us the time of bringing it back with us."

"I'll stay too, I need to keep an eye to try and pick up the guard changes and routine, Sabriel changes them often so it's unpredictable to see how we can get past the guards" June said as Fiona went over to her and looked at her with a worried look on her face. "Don't worry, I'll be fine, go and rest up for a while, you'll need it if you want to face with your mother again"

Fiona took in a deep breath and hugged her as she nodded before letting go and walking with Isa back to the guild.

Just as the others where out of earshot, Rift left the beast to stand by June's side. "So you sure about keeping this kid around?" June was a bit confused by his abruptness, so he explained a bit further. "The Breakers got a once in a lifetime opportunity here. With you, they could march the entire guild right up to this chicks doorstep and bring the house down on the bitch with a good day's work. They know where her main hideout is. Instead, we're going in with only a few people against someone you clamed is invincible. You obviously care for the kid, so I'm wondering why you chose that route, instead of bringing an army to her doorstep."

"If it even is the right place" She said walking a bit towards a small cliff to see it, "Sabriel is one twisted woman, her mind is an infinite maze, one way out could seem like another puzzle, maybe this could be the main building, but I've known her longer than Fiona. She will have something in store for us, and I rather die than let anyone else come to my need. I've lost too much as it" She said taking in a deep breath as Rift noticed her change in her behavior as she was gripping on her shirt more tightly.

"What about you? I can understand your reason for being here, but I know this is more than just one guild mate, what made you come to the aid of someone like me?" June asked him as she could see her own reflection in his sunglasses.

Rift laughed a bit, then flashed her a smile of pointed teeth. "Naw, you had right the first time." He gestured with his thumb over his shoulder, in the direction the others had left in. "As her sisters would put it ,I'm a battle happy nut." He paused for a moment. "Both their sisters actually." he laughed again, and June began to question his sanity in the face of all this. "Though honestly, most people from our guild would help out had they found you that night. I'm just the lucky one."

June laughed as she pulled a hair behind her ear and smiled, it had been a while since she was able to ever smile at something, but her smile turned down when she looked at him, "Listen, Jaina isn't here so I know she can't do this, but I need you to promise me something" She said looking over at him.

"To take the kid and run if this goes sideways?" Rift turned his thumb to the side as he said the word. "Yeah, Jaina filled us in on that little plan of yours. Though I don't think it'll come to that quite as you expect."

"Regardless, I just wanna make sure that she survives, she was given a great gift of freedom, and if I am the cause for her to be sent back, then I rather her be saved and you all too" June said sighing as she sat down on the edge of the cliff, continuing to look at the building to see what kind of activity was going on. "It's funny, to this day I asked myself how I lived for so long when she must've experianced a hell I could never imagine" She told Rift as she felt him sit next to her.