Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-5583506-20160516023321/@comment-5583506-20160624022949

(And thus a new arc of the story has been introduced, immediately after this little timeskip.)

Ran's mind was in a blur. Whenever he looked around his sight seemed to lag behind with a few seconds, also he was seeing double, or at least he thought so. The last thing he had heard before he had lost all concept of presence was Raini's cry as she had attacked the bearded Imperial. From what he could tell that battle hadn't ended well. He prayed that she was still alive. What followed after his lover's attack was the clashing of steel and the crying of men and women drawing weapons and attacking back and forth. It was hard for him to tell whether or not these sounds actually came from around him or if he just heard them in his own imagination.

He could have sworn that he saw the shape of Myrdana lashing out at the Breton woman with the crossbow. The Redguard had brought Athorian to the ground, but not without putting some serious effort behind it. The Altmer was a former Thalmor soldier, after all. Evelyne had been dragged off by her hair; screaming, kicking and wailing. It looked painful. It certainly was painful.

The bearded Imperial shouted out some orders and from thereon followed only a cacophony of incomprehensible sounds of steel on steel and angry yelling. He wanted to move around to get a better look, but his body wouldn't allow it. He felt... broken... Just thinking of moving an arm or a leg caused him pain. His face felt bloated and unfamiliar. He was pretty sure that a tooth or two was loose.

Somewhere in the distance he heard Beatrix's voice call out to the group, telling those who remained to retreat. To run to safety, wherever safety was.

And after that...

Silence...

Silence for a very long time. He couldn't even feel the amount of snow that had settled on his face by this time, neither did he want to brush it off out of fear that he would harm himself even further. One thing was for sure though...

The danger had already passed... but it was what followed that might be even worse...

"Fucking hell!" cursed Beatrix as she threw herself and Koldri over a snowy ridge to escape their followers. "You think the others made it out alright?"

Falana ran alongside with Aigren, Nyx, Ja'Keil,  Mongo,  Jared and Katri, sprinting as far away from the wintry village ruin as possible. Her heart was still racing from the fight, and from the sight of what they had done to poor Ran'Jinro.

"Oh, Gods", she exclaimed under her breath. "They... they are madmen!"

Raini, Evelyne, Hildi, Myrdana, Havel, Athorian, Swift-in-the-Sack, Elinnel,  Julius, Hafid and Eyja found themselves in shackles shortly after that all hell had broken loose. Though they had fought bravely and sent many of the Outsiders into their graves, their numbers had been overwhelming and eventually they had forced the Beast Slayers to submit, lest they would all be killed.

Now they were marching in line, surrounded by these hostile people, and heading for the ruins of what used to be one of the greatest cities before the downfall of mankind. The Imperial City was waiting...

The bearded Imperial smiled at the group. "Don't look so fucking grim, would ya?" he said to no one in particular. "You put up a good fight, I will give you that. But against the Emperor's People, there can be no victory. You are the few, we are the many."