We're Not Alone [The Frontier Event]

The sound of a crackling flame was the first thing Devin heard as he awoke. However, he also awoke to a great deal of pain. His eyes remained shut as he felt his body grow tense as sharp pain flooded through his stomach and arm. It was overwhelming, and he wanted to drift back into the darkness, painless void of unconscious again but he couldn’t. The memories of everything that happened before everything went dark bubbled into his mind, causing him to fear for everyone’s safety and struggled away from going back to sleep as he forced his eyes open with a soft moan.

Everything was dark, but that was simply because the night had fallen in the hours it had been since he had gone into the forest for wood. The fog was clearing, but it only revealed dark clouds on the horizon and that rain was soon to fall. The campfire sat to his side, only a small flame but it still cast a nice ray of warmth over Devin as he laid there. He could feel under one of his hands a blanket, slightly wet from being put on the snow but it defended him from the full coldness of the snow.

Wrapped around his chest and arm was some pieces of gray cloth, undoubtedly made from somebody’s clothes but they did their job and while soaked red from his blood, had stopped the bleeding mostly. Shifting his head slightly, he saw Brant sitting not far from him, staring intently at the fire as it sent a yellow glow across his face. “B-Brant?” Devin groaned softly, flinching from the pain that was sent up his body in response to him trying to move.


How long it had been since they had arrived back at the camp was lost to Brant who had spent most of the time lost in his own thoughts. When they had gotten back, he had ended up sacrificing one of his shirts to use as bandages for Devin’s and Leo’s wounds. It was a small lost and didn’t weigh much on his mind. He had then decided to watch over Devin after they had gotten him stable, letting the others sleep or...Really do whatever they wanted to other than going back into the woods.

He had taken back up watching the campfire as well, but it was slowly dying out. He had thought about collecting branches from the trees out the outer rim of the clearing they were in, but failed to bother to do so and with the looks of rain the next morning...He could just get more firewood later. So, he had decided to take the time to get lost in his own thoughts as he stared at the dying fire.

As Destiny ordered him to do so, he had given up on blaming himself for what had happened to Devin but instead turned his thoughts onto what he should been blaming - whatever had attacked the Autumn. They had little information about what had happened other than the damage that Devin had taken, and that somehow it had caused Devin to turn into a demon...And that it was supernatural most likely.

His eyes flickered to the still bloodied hatchet that sat at his side and the pale blood that covered it. Whatever was the source of that blood, something told him it wasn’t normal. And the gash on Devin’s chest...He would of thought it was an wild animal but it the gashes were straight, not something an animal could do as anything shorter than chest height would of made them going down-ish, and they were just...Too clean for his taste. Something was out there, and it wasn’t a simple animal.

However, a voice shook him from his thoughts as he blinked. “Devin?” he said softly as he glanced toward where he was lying. Seeing Devin staring at him, a soft smile appeared on his face as relief flooded through him. He was finally awake...That was a good sign and now they could get some answers. “Thank God you're awake,” he whispered softly before he glanced around the clearing they were in, raising his voice so hopefully everybody else could hear him. “Devin’s awake!”

While Leo had previously thought that he wasn't going to fall asleep, he did. Maybe it was the on and off dizziness he felt on his way to camp. Maybe it was even the amount of energy he expended fighting Devin. Once he got to camp, his wound was dressed, and Leo promptly fell asleep in front of the fire, his head resting on his bag of clothes. His face was set in a kind of grimace. There wasn't much he could do pain wise, but sleep. The flames kept him lured in his dreamless sleep, not that he wanted to wake up into the pain anyways. Nor that he wished to face the fact that he had hurt his friend.

Unfortunately for him, Brant's voice awoke him from the comforting void he was in. Scrunching up his face, Leo wished the sound to be quiet, only to hear more voices. Forcing his eyes to open, the blond slowly turned his head to see past the fire. Devin was awake? Eyes brightening, he pulled himself up into the sitting position. A smile made it's way onto his face. He was awake. Which was great, but will he be okay? The wound seemed pretty bad as he saw. Leo went to raise an arm only to flinch as he used the wrong arm. Oh. Right. His cut. Shaking his head, the blond looked back at Devin before asking quietly, "A-are you okay?" Please don't let Devin hate him. He didn't mean to hurt him. 'I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry'

Destiny perked up from whatever she was doing when Brant called out that Devin was awake. The necromancer turned around and looked over to see that Devin was in fact awake. "Good. I don't have to kill anymore trees now." She said, as a half joke. The white-haired girl walked over to the three boys, and knelt down next to Devin. "How are you feeling Devin? Do you feel like you need anymore life-force? I got a tree's worth of life-force inside of me if you need it." Destiny said with a small smile on her face. Right now she was more concerned with making sure Devin was okay first before trying to ask for answers. "I'm sorry that I couldn't heal your wounds.. All I could do was keep you from dying. Which is good, but you are gonna have to deal with the pain from your wounds for a while." Destiny said.

Her brother wasn't back yet.

The moment they had gotten back, Nicola had expected to see Hieta either there or waiting for them. Instead, it was completely empty, save for scattered materials. She had thought about going out and looking for him, but considering the events that just transpired, that idea was immediately scrapped. It'd be easier to simply wait for him, and that's exactly what she did. In a tree, sitting back as though it was the most relaxing place to be at. Every now and then, her eyes had traveled down to look at Devin or Leo, both who had been unconscious since they arrived.

Nicola shook her head, suppressing a yawn. It'd be really nice if she knew how to tell what time it was... Actually, she almost did fall asleep until Brant shouted something, and she nearly fell out of the tree. Quickly regaining her balance, she jumped down, with an annoyed look on her face. "Brant, you could've been quieter. What if something heard you and found us?" she sighed, glancing back behind her as if to prove her point. "We don't exactly want a repeat of tonight, do we?"

What she didn't expect was a rustle in the bushes behind. Turning around into a defensive position, she was suspecting it was some dangerous creature, but... it was just her brother. He looked the same as usual, just a little worse for wear. Maybe because she used her demon powers... Shoot. Hieta peered over, narrowing his eyes as he inspected the camp. What the hell happened?

Destiny seemed a bit more youthful, Leo was anxious and had a few cuts, Devin was completely beaten up, Nicola was the correct age, and Brant seemed like he had some kind of heart attack. Him talking about the stupid goatman he saw would have to come later. At least he actually spotted something this time instead of just suspecting... "What have you guys been doing out there?"

"About that... long story."

Devin had flinched slightly from Brant's call, but turned his head toward Leo when he heard the older boy's voice. He stared though the fire toward where he could just make out the angel, the look in his eyes unreadable as he said nothing. Maybe he would of, but then Destiny spoke up near him. His gaze never shifted from Leo as the necromancer went on. But when she finished, he finally spoke up as he finally turned his head away to glance at Destiny.

"I...I'm in a lot of pain," he muttered in a soft voice, gritting his teeth slightly from the pain that ebbed though him. "B-But I can manged..." he drifted off before he blinked as he shifted his gaze toward Leo for a second before he cleared his throat. "S-Something happened...I-I was attacked and.....I-I don't remember everything...But...We're not alone..." his voice faded, shifting slightly from where he was lying only to wince again.

As everybody started to fret over Devin, Brant looked at Nicola as she scolded him for shorting. He frowned, folding his arms. "And if something did, we could take care of us with this many people. It wouldn't be a repeat at any rate..." he drifted off as the sound of something moving rustled behind Nicola. Leaning slightly to see what it was...Only to not see anything as Nicola seem to calm down slightly caused him to figure it was simply Hieta.

When Heita spoke up, he let out a sigh of relief before glancing at Devin as he finally spoke up after being pestered by Destiny. Didn't remember everything? He wasn't sure how he felt about those words. Did he not remember everything about what had attacked him in the first place or after he turned into a demon? Really, it could mean anything, so he remained quiet until Devin had the energy to explain exactly what he did remember in that case.

Leo frowned as Devin spoke, looking back at him with somber eyes. So something had attacked Devin before he had gotten there. Not alone... The angel's frown deepened before glancing back at Nicola. Was she talking to Hieta? He thought he heard his voice. Leo too was curious as to what had happened not too long ago. "Is that all you remember?" He asked softly, eyes lowering to look into the fire. He no longer wanted to meet Devin's eyes. It was his fault he was in pain.

They basically already knew that there was something else out there or well Destiny did. Destiny couldn't help but frown. She hoped that he would have remembered more, but she can't really help him remember too much, unless she wanted to steal his life force so that way she got his memories maybe. She hadn't really confirmed that. She remembered getting a bit of Jaun's memories, but he was a skeleton that she used not stealing life-force from a person. She would have to work with this later. "I will explain it to you later Heita." She told the ghost boy unless Nicola wanted to instead. Now that he was in her range, she could make him visible, and she did so that way people knew where he was when they were talking to him.

"You have no idea how strong that thing could've been, Brant," Nicola retorted. As bright and positive as she was normally, the whole using her demon powers again sort of left her in a sour mode. Most of all, she broke her promise to Devin, stabbed him, and he didn't remember. That's the best part. Sure, she was glad to finally be at her actual age instead of being stuck in a child's body, but... She had to do it by using her friend's energy. One that she promised not to hurt? Yeah, fun times. "Anyway, strength in numbers isn't always going to work. I can guarantee that that thing out there is stronger than all of us combined."

At least, that's what she was pretty sure of. It drove Devin into becoming a demon and those wounds looked nasty. Minus the one she added on. She really was going to pester herself over that for awhile...

"Sorry to interrupt, but I saw something out there," Hieta muttered nonchalantly, his expression dark. It might not have been the greatest time to jump in at the moment, but he didn't think he'd have any actual opportunity later on. Not for the time-being. Especially when he was sure of one thing: it's probably the same creature that attacked Devin. "A rather nasty creature, but the staff didn't even warn us of this... What the hell were they thinking sending kids to the middle of nowhere when they knew of something in this place?"

Brant sighed softly as Nicola decided to scold him some more, folding his arms across his chest as he looked at her with a frown. "First of all, I didn't even call out that loudly. Secondly, that thing got driven off after Devin..." he drifted off, glancing at the hurt boy. If Devin really didn't remember what had happened after he got attacked, then perhaps it was better not to mention the whole demon thing at all. "Either way, it got driven off easy enough. Yeah, Devin is in bad shape but he only had a hatchet to defend himself against it while almost all of us can use our powers to defend us. I mean, Destiny can summon a skeleton army if needs be, so I think we are well defended."

Devin went silent when Leo asked if that was all he remembered, shifting around - as much as his body would allow without a great deal of pain) nervously. It took him a few moments to respond. "Y-Yes. Only being attacked by a strange creature," he said in a low tone, an uneasy look in his eyes as his gaze quickly shifted away from Leo and toward Hieta as he became visible, not paying much attention to the banter between Nicola and Brant. As Heita stated that he had seen the thing, Devin flinched slightly. "N-Nasty is right...It has a weird power..." he said weakly, resting his head on the ground as he stared at the sky, recalling how it had first appeared. "I-I 'm sure it can take the shape of people...I-It ended up surprised me."

Shapeshifting? Brant's eyes flickered toward Devin once more, a surprise look in his eyes. Well...That wasn't good...At least if they were together, taking the shape of people wouldn't exactly be helpful as anybody other than them would be clearly out of place as they were suppose to be alone out here...Not counting the strange monster and wild animals. God, it would of been nice if they were able to leave whenever but they were stuck here for a few more days. Of course, Brant still doubted that the school knew about this creature so he finally decided to speak up. "I doubt the school knows about this creature...They wouldn't have sent us here if they did with the fact of how if anybody is alone...Well, this might happen...Of course, I wish I had my sword and shield with this new danger around." He muttered the last part about his weapon under his breath.