A shimmering green expanse of trees and a deep blue sky above it; that's what they saw as the Pact ships approached the Maguuma jungle. It was gorgeous in spite of what evil they knew it held. Many of the Pact troops had been a part of the organization during it's time fighting Zhaitan and they knew just how terrible an Elder Dragon could be, so they were cautious regardless of the apparent serenity of the jungle. They had no idea how nightmarish it would truly be.
Grasping vines; impossibly fast and hideously sharp, assaulted the Pact ships in an instant. They had thought themselves beyond danger floating effortlessly above the canopy. They had been wrong about that as well. The sound of cracking boards and shattering glass, tearing cloth and screams rending the air were deafening, it was a roar befitting a mortally wounded beast. All the effort, all the hopes, all the people who had banded together to join the Pact and fight the dragons were being ripped apart in an instant…in more ways than one.
Anuelyn didn't even comprehend at the time what was happening. He'd not been a member of the Pact during the war with Orr. He'd been safely back in the Grove. He would be still if the Mother Tree had not been attacked. Because of this he'd never been in a real fight before. He'd taken on wild beasts, even some Nightmare Court…but he'd never seen real war. Not that if he had it would have helped. It wouldn't have prevented his ship from falling out of the sky under his feet as he fought for his very life against someone a moment ago he would have died to protect; a fellow sylvari. It wouldn't have prepared him for the hammering in his skull; a deep, dull voice that seemed to whisper around the corners of his mind, making him unfocused. It was calling to him...somehow. And he knew he did not want to answer. How either fight would have ended is lost to chance, as the ship hit the canopy and Anuelyn was sent crashing towards the jungle floor through branches and hunks of debris. He saw the still cool blue sky being swallowed by the green of the jungle as he fell before he finally hit something hard enough to knock him unconscious.
The next thing he saw looked completely different. It was something…warm. As he tried to open his eyes more to get a better look he was forced to shut them again quickly in pain. Was it too bright? No, he realized the answer as he tried to breath and was sent into a horrible fit of coughing. Smoke. It was stinging his eyes and burning in his nose and throat as he tried to inhale. He stopped trying only to become even more aware of the heat. He forced himself to open his eyes a little again; he still couldn't see well as tears were streaking down his face from the smoke. All he could see were bits of burning ship and trees that had caught fire, the fresh green plants were creating the chokingly thick smoke. Anuelyn closed his eyes against the smoke and tried to concentrate; that….feeling was still crackling in his head and he was doing his best to ignore it. He tried to lift himself off his stomach but when he pulled his arms down to brace himself and try to get up. He couldn't, his legs were pinned. Something was on top of them; it was heavy. He couldn't see what and couldn't seem to shift it. He wasn't able to think clearly enough to figure out a coherent course of action, he just knew he was in danger. The flames seemed to be growing all around him. He felt his stomach knotting in panic; fire produces a primal sort of fear that consumes reason like kindling. Anuelyn tried again to get up; gritting his teeth at the effort. It did no good, he couldn't pull himself free. He fell back into lying on the ground coughing hoarsely from inhaling so much smoke during his exertion.
"—lyn!" Anuelyn shifted slightly, someone was yelling.
"Anuelyn!" And they were calling his name. He recognized the voice, it was Reihlu. She was a noon bloom like him, though a couple years younger. She'd come with the Pact ships after the Mother Tree had been attacked, just like him.
"Re—" He tried to answer her but he'd inhaled too much smoke and just starting coughing at the effort. Fortunately Reihlu was not alone in her search.
"There! There there! He's here!" Piem called out as she jumped around Coarega's hind paws. Reihlu saw where Piem had pointed and was bent over Anuelyn in a second.
"Can you hear me? Hold on, we'll get you free. Coa! Help!" Reihlu gingerly rested a hand on Anuelyn's arm as she looked frantically over her shoulder at the Charr. He was already passing behind her and carefully though hastily finding a hold on the burning hunk of ship railing that was pinning Anuelyn down.
"Gah! Blasted—smoke" he huffed as he lifted the wood. Anuelyn thought he was helping drag himself free but really Reihlu was doing most of the work at this point. Coarega dropped the smoldering mess and firmly moved Reihlu out of his way as he swooped Anuelyn up in one easy motion. Anuelyn noted for the first time that he had some burns.
Coarega broke into coughing again and shook his head as he took off away from the smoke with Piem and Reihlu hacking raggedly behind him. It was a good walk, or stagger, until they were clear of the smoke enough to all actually catch their breath. Coarega bent and carefully set Anuelyn on a smooth bit of ground and removed himself to let Reihlu and Piem get in to look at him. Neither were dedicated medics, but between the two of them they ought to be able to do a better job than Coa could at patching anyone up. Especially a sylvari.
Rei made a humming sound that was stuck somewhere between concerned and trying to be comforting. "Are you alright? We were so worried we wouldn't find you!" she asked as she moved the leaves of his Mohawk to get a better look at the burn on his neck. Anuelyn didn't answer right away, he could still feel a fuzziness in his lungs from the smoke and his head hurt; it felt like his ears were buzzing too. Without the din of bits of ship cracking and popping as it burned he again kept thinking he was hearing something but there was no one talking. Was it...surely not. He glanced at the others in turn; noting that they were not free from injury either. Piem's left ear was badly torn, and even more poorly bandaged judging by the blood showing through. Coa was limping and favoring his right arm. Reihlu looked the best; that is to say she had only a nasty looking bump on the side of her head that was starting to show bruising.
"I'm—" he took a shaky, slow breath. "alright. Happy to see you lot." He finished weakly, finally answering her question.
"Heh! From your position I bet you were down right burning up from the excitement of seeing us! Much more than usual. It's ok, we get it. The imminent threat of death makes any friendly face more attractive, even Coa's!" Piem talked quickly. She was always irreverent, and it was worse when she was scared. Anuelyn smiled at her. Coa tried to scoff but just ended up hacking some more. "Blasted….smoke!" He exclaimed again. Piem and Reihlu did the best they could with what limited supplies they had on them. Anuelyn expressed his gratitude for their efforts. "Where is everyone? Did all the ships fall or just ours?" Anuelyn asked. The others glanced at each other helplessly.
"We don't know. I saw at least two others fall before ours did. Those vines…" Reihlu trailed off. Coa made a disgusted sound. "They were everywhere. Not to mention we apparently had some traitors." He made a low growling sound in the back of his throat at the word. Anuelyn looked down, partly in response to Coa and partly because his headache was getting worse again. "I know." Reihlu interrupted before he could say more. "I saw Amarius attack you. I was standing across the deck. I couldn't believe it..." she looked at Anuelyn evenly. Was she hearing it too, he wondered. He was afraid to ask. Piem shrugged shakily. "Hey well at least the squad is all still together." She smiled a toothy smile up at the plants, though you could read in her eyes the unease.
"She's right. We haven't spent the last few weeks training together for nothing. We're a complete squad, and that's good. We'll get through this. You good to walk turnip?" Coa asked. Anuelyn just nodded in reply and carefully lifted himself, with some unnecessary but appreciated help from Reihlu. "Good, then let's start looking for other survivors. We should try to get in touch with command. Their ship was a few klicks behind ours to the south. Let's see who we can find in that direction." Coa was calm and in charge as always. It was comforting to the others, who had previously found it a little annoying at times. None of them had been warriors before joining the pact, not like Coa. Now he was their best shot at surviving.
Anuelyn began walking but his first couple steps seemed to produce a buzzing in the back of his head and he had to shake it off; Reihlu seemed to be uncomfortable as well. It wasn't till a few steps later he slowed; things suddenly becoming distant to him. He wasn't imagining that voice, and it was exactly who-what, he'd started to fear it was. Reihlu had stopped too but the others seemed to have taken no notice. Anuelyn's stomach tightened as for the first time he was able to clearly make out what it was saying; commanding. It was…inside him. Like the dream but stronger than that had ever been; it was piercing, compelling, painful. It was Mordremoth. This is why his friend had turned, it had been too strong for him. Anuelyn distantly heard Reihlu calling out to Piem and Coa in distress. Anuelyn himself couldn't speak; he was concentrated completely now on not moving. Mordremoth was screaming in his head; one moment it was a bargain, the next an order, the next a plea. He was assaulting Anuelyn's reasoning from every avenue. Anuelyn might have given in to one of them, but it was all coming in such rapid succession that he was automatically just trying to shut it out without even thinking through it. 'No. No no no no n-' his thoughts were interrupted by Coa appearing in his vision apparently out of nowhere; shaking him and calling his name.
"-n! Hey, answer me! Don't do this to us skinny, I just finished talking about us being a whole unit. Reihlu is kickin' his ass so you can too, c'mon now!" Anuelyn blinked rapidly and his rigid stance gave way to him leaning on Coa's arm. "I…I'm alright I….think." He could still feel it; like something foggy, cold and dark darting around in the back of his skull, but he was still in control. Coa was staring at him critically but seemed to relax when Anuelyn stood upright again and looked past him searchingly at Reihlu. She was sitting on a log with Piem in front of her holding her hand and looking furtive. She felt Anuelyn's gaze and looked up at him; her eyes were tearful but she had a serious expression. "That's what happened…on the ships…he's why..." She'd recovered a good few minutes before Anuelyn and had been explaining, sketchily, to Piem and Coa what was going on.
"Thinking some of the Pact-had been spies or….that was bad enough. This is…" Piem trailed off. Anuelyn wasn't sure what was worse, thinking that those who had fallen had done so willingly, or the suddenly more probable answer; It hadn't been a choice. Anuelyn also wasn't sure how to feel about the fact it was apparently just him and Reihlu who could hear Mordremoth. The others were fine. That was at once comforting but also...They hadn't heard anything; didn't feel anything from Mordremoth. Anuelyn wasn't sure how to describe it but from what he'd heard...Mordremoth said that they, the sylvari, were "his". Anuelyn internally raged against it, but it also felt...true. The things he'd said were wrong, but all seemed to have some seed of truth buried in them that made it difficult to resist him. It was disconcerting at best, crippling in its horror at worst. Coa shook Anuelyn back to reality once again.
"Hey kiddo, don't wander off on me. We still have a job to do all of you," Coa turned, one paw still on Anuelyn's shoulder. "It hasn't changed. We're gonna burn this beast down one way or another. We need to find other survivors and start building a base camp. Our goal is south for now. Keep an eye out for supplies too; we're gonna need everything we can find. Clear?"
Piem saluted and offered to take point to which Coa agreed. Reihlu nodded and stood up. She was strong. She'd be alright. Anuelyn fell into stride again without speaking. He wished he felt so certain about himself. The Pact was all but obliterated if the ships had all crashed. How long would it be before reinforcements could come? Would even know to come? And even if they did, how long until Mordremoth would be defeated, if he even could be. Would this... calling continue until he was dead? Anuelyn wrapped his arms around himself absently. By the Pale Tree he wished he was back in the Grove, that Mother was still alright, that this had never happened-Anuelyn snapped his gaze over to Reihlu who had grasped his elbow. She gave him a lopsided, tired, but purposeful smile. He let out a weak breath and moved his hand to touch hers. He couldn't bring himself to return the smile but he felt, for the moment, a little better. The others were with him. They'd take care of each other.