Reality Crisis

Eric had helped unload what supplies they had managed to hold on to for the duration of the travel. Each person was key in the survival of all of them, and Eric wasn't above any of them. He helped store what they could in the broken buildings, not surprised by the condition of the structures around them. Once everything was secure the Dark Avenger left the citizens and headed for the innermost part of the place itself. It seemed it would need a lot of work.

The crow soared high over the rooftops, managing to offer Eric a look at the land around them from its point of view. It wasn't too terrible a place, but there weren't residences for all of them to have one separate. Which meant that they would have to have room mates. Eric wasn't exactly opposed to the idea, but he wasn't a man that needed such things so he figured whomever it was that had the luck to land him as a roomie was in for a big surprise. Mostly the luxury of being able to inhabit one of these structures on their own.

They would need work, however.

Slowly the black avian drifted downward, coming to land on one of Eric's shoulders as he stood looking at one of the houses. It had a roof, which was good, but it seemed to be leaking. None of the houses seemed any bigger or any more well-built than the next, so Eric didn't bother with finding the nicest of the structures. Especially since he actually didn't need a physical residence. He couldn't help but think of Leeloo when he beheld the structure before him, the house that had fallen on her.

Pushing the thought from his mind Eric moved forward and walked into the structure to test the durability from the inside. If it fell he would survive, if it didn't then there was potential for more.

The entire group was halfway through their journey across the wilds when all hell broke loose, in a quite literal fashion. The temperature dropped quickly and snow started to fall at an alarming rate. On one end of the caravan, reality burst at the seams.

One of the trucks disappeared into the hole and the rest of the vehicles just barely stopped short. The ground started to vibrate and suddenly a loud roar could be heard nearby. A gigantic white mass moved from the direction of the hole in reality and started stomping around the caravan. Meanwhile, mounds of snow started forming into even more creatures that converged on the group and their supply trucks.

The largest of the creatures roared again, revealing a full set of snow-white teeth. The mounds of snow formed into dinosaurs that were about half the size of the largest dinosaur, ranging from the large Tyrannosaurus Rex formed out of snow to the smaller and faster Velociraptors.

A few screams rose up from the group below as people started to run in an attempt to avoid finding out if snow-dinosaurs could and would ingest them.

OOC: Just a little holiday crack!plot for you. Join in, create subthreads, and enjoy!

Being incapable of death meant that one could do many things. There were no limitations to what could be done and Eric seemed to be taking full advantage of that fact. Fighting a dragon proved that Eric pushed his ability to the extreme but it wasn't like he had extensive knowledge of exactly what it was he could do. However by pushing limits and testing boundaries he figured out just what he was capable of. And Eric knew that Leeloo probably believed in him more than he did in himself, which was warming. He didn't want to let her down and he wouldn't as long as he could help it.

The night had fallen over die Festung and the aftermath of the dragon was one to revel in. Eric was just glad the thing was gone. It was still laying where he had left it, a symbol of they predictable danger that lurked in the deepest realms of this world, but it served as a beacon as well. A signal that staked claim on die Festung. They would not be pushed around by any beast. Nothing would harm them as long as the Chosen could help it. Eric wasn't going to make himself available to Belia unless it was dire but at least she could rest a bit easier that night knowing her people were safe again. How long that would last he couldn't say, but it was something.

The crow soared overhead, the silent watchman. It flew in slow circles around the broken city to keep an eye out for anyone that may need help. Eric stood in the shadow of a building below patiently as the bird surveyed the sky.

Eric waited for Leeloo, to see if she would come. He wouldn't blame her if she didn't. He had kept her from Peter for quite a while and Eric had felt the bond they had kindled. Eric couldn't steal Leeloo away from that any more than he could something precious from someone that deserved it. What Leeloo did was her own business and Eric wouldn't stop her. Couldn't stop her, but he would respect her decisions and thus keep their friendship as close as he could to his heart.

Overhead the bird noticed a small glow coming from a building nearby. It seemed like a fire. It burned hot and bright against the night and curiously Eric stepped through the shadows. Now clean he moved with more determination to the source of the blaze. They didn't need a fire to get out of control here if it could be prevented, but he wouldn't take away someone's attempt at warmth, either.

He followed the bird and rounded a corner, the bright orange light dancing off of the crumbled bricks of the structure. He stopped to wait, to listen.

The morning came fresh and new to the land of Gondor, but there was no brightness for her in the sunrise. Éowyn lay in her bed of healing with her heart afire. The window did not face east, toward which the Captains had ridden to hopeless battle not two days ago. The dominion of The Witch-King was broken, but there was yet Sauron the Deceiver and his ally the White Wizard in his great spire at Isengard. Yet, here she lay, a shieldmaiden, useless as such despite her title, despite the new title she'd earned for her deeds on Pelennor Field. At length, she rose and firmly requested of her nurses to be given raiment - and an audience with the Warden of the Houses of Healing. She would not lie useless a moment longer, while the men rode to whatever end lay before them.

The Warden insisted she return to her bed, from which it was clear he would have her lie for another 7 days yet. But she knew the truth: that she was healed well enough to stand, all but her shield-arm, which although broken, was mending in its sling. And she knew another truth: that it was not always better to be healed, and that a death on the battlefield was better by far than a death of shame in a bed, far away from the fields of glory. When the Warden could not be turned, she again firmly requested that he bring her to a man of higher authority - and this was Faramir, the new Steward of Gondor.

Into the field she went with the Warden, as he led her to the one she requested. But before her eyes came a dark shifting, and where the grass had been green, now it turned brown. The world of Middle Earth faded away and a new one replaced it - this one nearly as dark as the lands of Mordor itself. No man stood with her, here, and she was alone without a weapon. The day was older than the morning had been, and in the distance she saw a long wall. She headed for it.

By the by, she passed through what was clearly the site of some small battle. Old blood coated the side of one of the trees and across a nearby trunk, broken now. To her delight, a sword lay where it had apparently fallen. It was dirty, but the blade was still sharp enough. Éowyn had just seized on it, when she heard a roar in the distance.

She started running toward it.