Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sputtering hiss and snap of the fire wasn't enough to drown out the echoing cackles and snarls that drifted on the wind. Every pair of eyes was focused on the woman who paced back and forth before the fire. Her movements were precise, controlled as she took exactly seven steps northeast before stopping to execute a swift spin and proceed nine steps in the other direction. A sheen of sweat covered her dark skin as she moved, garbed as she was in a tank top and shorts. Off to one side her Mist division coat lie in a rumpled heap on the ground, cast off and forgotten in favor of movement and heat.

Her beads clinked softly as she stopped, her dark unreadable eyes sweeping across the hunters gathered around the fire. The last of them had finally arrived just minutes before, their jeep still cooling as its engines began to settle. It had taken several months to gather them all here to this lonely outpost in the middle of Africa. It didn't matter that it was nothing more than a couple tents and jeeps. This was their outpost, a front line in the never ending war against things in the most unlikely of places. She had allowed for a time of brief rejoicing, a period in which those assembled could welcome their teammate back into their fold.

But now their faces were grim, serious as they watched her. Even their newest had settled down, chin on her knees as she sat on the ground watching her. Under normal circumstances, the child would not have been assigned to her care. But these were not normal circumstances. She had changed drastically from when she had first arrived, too wrapped up in her own personal issues to be of any use to anyone. But two years on the Savannah had changed it, turning her into the beginnings of a true Mist soldier. Nkiruka felt a note of pride at the thought. It had been too long since the Mists received a trainee fresh from the trials. Other divisions treated the Mist division as their dumping ground, preferring to send their unwanted and seemingly useless trainees there instead of taking the time to train them. Some Mists lasted and grew, specializing in a bit of everything. Others figured out what they were good at and transferred again into another division, out of the "Miscs" as they were sometimes called.

But even with two years, it still wasn't enough. There were still things the trainee needed to learn, and not enough time to master them. But after this mission, perhaps...

Nkiruka resisted the urge to rub at her temples, to wipe the sweat from her brow. She had their attention now, and she needed to stay strong. She was their leader. To show weakness now would do none of them any favors. "Each of you has been called here for one reason," she began. "We are the ones who will not be missed."

That was enough to make some of them straighten up, to glance at her sharply. She now had their full attention. Some of them even grew pale as the gears clicked in their heads, each one putting two and two together. The result wasn't pretty.

Ruka continued on. "Later this year on New Year's Eve, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse will strike Times Square in New York City, intending to begin their quest for the Apocalypse there. We are going to stop them." Her voice grew hard as she began to pace again. "Tomorrow when the sun is up I will activate the portal leading to their homeworld. We are going to infiltrate, map out their area, and strike. We are not going on a suicide mission to wipe them out. We are going to go in, strike, pull out. There are too many of them to attack," a smile that did not reach her eyes lit her face, "But too bad for them that there are too many of us not to."

"Rest up. Tomorrow we strike. That is all."

The sun was still burning in the sky when Aria stumbled out of the portal to Halloween. She tumbled free of the portal and lay there on the ground, eyes closed. Where before it was agony the ice armor was now pure chilly bliss as the heat mercilessly attacked her. The ice melted around her, leaving her damp and very much wet.

It took all of Aria's strength to move and shut the portal behind her. Even after the simple task was complete she continued to lie there on the floor of the tent, eyes closed as she slipped into unconsciousness.

When at last she woke, the numbness in her limbs remained. Flexing her hands was difficult. Possible, but difficult. She was dressed for the heat of Africa when she and the other Mists entered the portal that lead to the horseman's labyrinth. The ice was too much for her skin, and even with fingerless gloves on her hands it was too much. The nineteen year old shifted and winced, rolling off the stone tablets. She stared at them blankly, trying to remember where they came from. Didn't she have something else...?

It hit her, then.

She was the last of the Mists.

She had disobeyed orders.

She had failed in the mission.

Aria spent the next four days resting and packing, securely locking everything and anything that was too heavy to be moved. Perhaps one day she would return to this place. For now the more delicate equipment was locked away and sealed, the heavier equipment stashed away. The stone tablets and what few fragments of research they had acquired was loaded into a jeep and driven off, away from their outpost and back towards civilization.

It took Aria nearly five months to make it to Deus Ex on foot. By then she was far, far too late.