Chapter Three – "Disappear"

"How the hell did we lose the bird!" Aeolus shouted, he was more attached to the bird then he would ever admit, "I mean come on he's as big as all of us!" he paced back and forth trying to remember the last time they saw it. "DAMNIT!" he suddenly burst out.

"Well he was still behind me when we nailed that last pack of spiders, he didn't come into the house" John said thinking back to the fight, which was really quite hard as he was fighting and didn't really have time to baby sit a bird. "Perhaps he ran of when the group of Storm Riders came by"

Angys and Radeon weren't really paying attention to Aeolus and John, they figured that they would either find him back or he'll go in the books as missing in action. "it's a pity though, it was a great help from time to time" Radeon said, Angys just lifted his shoulders, he couldn't know.

Phoenix was leaning against the wall of the outpost, reading through the book, trying to find some useful stuff, he couldn't be bothered. They found a capable warrior and lost a bird, he didn't see where that wasn't a good trade. He closed the book with a slam and stood up "well we certainly ain't gonna find him when we stick around here" and he walked inside the outpost.

"Why the hell is he walking inside, my Moa is here, in the jungle!" Aeolus said, getting more pissed at Phoenix by the second, only did he not care he also clearly showed he didn't. "He better get back here with a good excuse" he said.

Phoenix came back, it only took him a short time to return. He didn't have the book anymore, when the others looked at him questioning, "Useless, except for this" he said waving one piece of paper. One big book and only one useful recipe. "It's to clean and heal wounds very quickly" he said as he knew that they all wanted to know what was on that piece of paper.

The group stood still wondering what to do now, nobody really knew. Aeolus was getting worried, his bird couldn't survive this long on his own. Perhaps he underestimated his bird somewhat, perhaps he was still alive. "Now what are we waiting for?" Aeolus said, he seemed to have calmed down, his voice was back on the normal level.

"Let's Go!" John suddenly said walking off back into the deep forest, he had no clue where to look but at least he was doing something. Everybody followed him after a second of hesitation, wondering what he was thinking and if he knew what he was doing.

It wasn't hard for them to find back the house, all they had to do is follow the trail of destruction they left earlier this day. But the Moa bird was nowhere to be found in or around the house, Aeolus couldn't even find any footprints that where clear enough to follow.

"So this was a total waste of out time" Angys suddenly said leaning up against the house with his shield. Radeon said nothing but nodded, he agreed, this was no use, they had no idea where to look. Phoenix looked up in the sky and then back to the group.

"We might want to hurry, night is falling" Phoenix said wanting to walk back to the outpost, but John stopped him and shook his head, they couldn't leave Aeolus like this. They had stuck together through good and bad the last couple of years, they should help him, no matter what they thought about it.

"I'm not going back until I know what happened to my Moa" Aeolus said firmly, he was not about to give up yet. Something suddenly caught his eye, a feather, one of his Moa's feathers. He looked around it and finally found a useful set of trails, "I found something!" he let out in a more positive shout.

They followed the trail for some time, they had no idea where it was going but they knew it was getting dark and they really had to either find the bird or give up for today. Aeolus looked back into the group "we're not giving up" he stated, he had thought about that as well and figured that if he thought about it the rest would be to.

Suddenly a spider came down from a tree, Aeolus immediately whipped out an arrow and stabbed it right through an eye of the spider, right up to the point where he held the arrow, the spider was instantly dead "I have no time for this" Aeolus said moving on. The rest of the group looked at each other with amazement and shock, they never saw Aeolus like this before.

In the distance they heard all sorts of animals and beasts, spiders, warthogs, more storm riders and the screeching sound of a Moa bird. A Moa bird! Aeolus suddenly took a sprint forward, the others had trouble keeping up with him. There where no wild Moa Birds in this region, it had to be his Moa. The others heard it to, they didn't know much about animals in different regions but as always they trusted their companion.

A small open field revealed the Moa bird fighting off several spiders, it seemed as if he was protecting something or somebody. John knew a good work out when he saw one and dashed forward helping the Moa in his struggle, no matter how strong it was, six spiders might be a bit too much. Angys followed John's example and ran forward with a big smile on his face.

John's hammer splattered the skull of the front Spider, the others seemed to shout in agony for him. At that point Angys spiked another on his sword, for some reason the other spiders seemed to have become smarter, they ran off as they saw Phoenix, Aeolus and Radeon coming from the jungle as well. Aeolus was able to cripple one of the spiders with an arrow. Angys and John looked at each other for a split second and then started running towards the crippled spider.

"Last one there is a rotten egg" John shouted and Angys could only smile. John swung his Hammer forward getting ready for the final blow to the head of this beast. John made it there first but when he wanted to plant his hammer in the face of the spider it buckled under some kind of agony they couldn't describe.

Now they saw what the Moa had tried to protect, a slim woman in a green outfit. She had red hair and dark brown eyes, well at least the Moa still had a good taste for woman. She winked at the two warriors as they looked over their shoulders wondering what the hell happened to the spider.

"Hello lads, thanks for saving me" the girl said with a cheery voice, she ran her right hand through her red hair. "and thank you" she said as she reached out to pet the bird, who clearly had some affection for the woman as he let himself be petted willingly. "if it wasn't for you guys, and this lovely bird" she said still rubbing her hand over the Moa's head "I would be food right now" she finished her sentence.

Aeolus smiled, "you shouldn't give him too much credit, you might spoil him" he said walking closer to his bird and placing his hand on the back of the bird. "so who is this lovely lady you saved" he said to the bird but it was clearly meant as a question for the lady herself.

She stopped petting the bird and put out her hand, Aeolus shook her hand, "I am Mirage, Mirage Artois" she said, she had a sweet voice but it was stern. It sounded charming yet strong, this girl could take care of her self.

"I am Aeolus Epox" Aeolus said then he let go of the hand and started pointing out people, "that dark guy over there is Radeon Kahbouter" he said pointing at the Necromancer, who waved back. "That cranky elementalist over there is Phoenix Deus" he said pointing out the bright red haired man. "The two warriors, the one with the hammer is John Conahan" John raised his hammer in the air with both his hands, "and last but not least, the man in green, that's Angys Loch Nessie"

Mirage nodded and smiled to everybody waving back as they were introduced. "I am a Mesmer, that's why that spider died before you could touch him" she twirled the cane in her hand and smiled to the two surprised warriors, "what did you think that a girl like me couldn't defend herself?" she looked around a bit and rested her sight on Phoenix. "so why are you so cranky?"

Phoenix just raised his shoulders, why the hell did she care? It wasn't really any of her business. "I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist" he said, he looked up to the sky again, it was getting dark. "and it's really getting dark now, we should go back to town" he turned around to walk back into the forest.

"Wouldn't it be better to set up camp here rather then walking back into the forest?" Aeolus said, he looked around the group, nobody really felt for staying here, but perhaps they felt even less for going through the forest again.

"What's the matter bird boy, afraid of the dark?" Mirage said teasingly, she then walked to Phoenix, "lead the way mister realist" she said with her cheery voice, a near death experience and she was still cheery, this girl was really something.

They all walked back inside the forest and it took some time before anyone had the guts to ask "So what were you doing here in the middle of nowhere?" John finally asked Mirage. Mirage just smiled at first trying to figure out how to tell them this, perhaps they didn't even really care.

"Well perhaps I didn't want to be saved" Mirage finally said, "perhaps I was glad those spiders came for me" she added making it even more clear. She didn't want to live anymore, and the others didn't know why. But a beautiful girl like her, she must have had one good reason.

Angys just shook his head, "why in Dwayna's name would a cute girl like you want to end her life?" he just asked, he really wanted to know what brought this woman to her decision. But he didn't get the answer so easily, and certainly not the answer he had wanted.

Mirage didn't answer Angys, instead she looked around a bit, "Ever had the feeling that it was all useless, that it didn't really matter what you did at all?" she asked Angys back. Angys just nodded, he had been alone hiding in dark corners for the last two years, he knew how that felt. "when the Charr invaded they destroyed everything, everything I loved was gone" Mirage was starting to unveil why she wanted to be eaten by the spiders "They killed my husband and my two sons, they destroyed my house, my parents are missing" she took a deep breath, it was still tough on her, "For one whole year I told myself that there would be something better after all this. I think tonight I had just given up on that"

The group went silent and kept walking for a while, it was pitch black in the forest and they couldn't see anything that even resembled a path. Aeolus was now walking in front, as he was the better tracker but it didn't really help, even he was blind in this darkness.

Suddenly John spoke up. "I've seen this tree before," he said, pointing at an old looking tree which had the size of a guard tower. Even before anyone could react, Angys added:"...twice..." to John's sentence. They were quite correct, as they had been walking in circles for the past thirty minutes...

"Maybe setting up camp in that open field wasn't all that bad of an idea" Radeon said looking around him to everybody. "I mean I would rather stand watch every now and again then walk the entire night" Angys and John nodded, Aeolus shook his head, not that he didn't agree but out of failure. He felt as if he had failed his friends not getting them back.

"Well unless you know the way back I think we should try to keep moving" Phoenix said to Radeon, "it's not as if we're gonna get somewhere by just standing here watching a tree we already saw twice" he added in a sarcastic tone.

The Moa bird had kept quiet the entire time but now started flapping its wings and generally making noise, he wanted to tell them something but they never understood. They must have figured that out by now as well, perhaps it knew the way.

"well Moa, since I couldn't get us home, I think it's not reasonable to let you have a try" Aeolus said placing his right hand on the Moa's head. He sighed as he realized that the Moa might even have a better chance at bringing them back to the outpost.

Proudly prancing the Moa walked in front of the group leading them to where he thought would be the place they left off. Carefully but surely choosing his path in between the trees, it was dark. All the trees looked the same and the former LuS members didn't know how he pulled it off but they reached the edge of the jungle.

"Well the bird is more useful then you Aeolus, I'm glad we went back to get him" Phoenix said with a sarcastic grin on his face. He didn't really mean it and Aeolus knew that. Just as they wanted to step out of the darkness of the jungle and back into the outpost they saw a group of men. Carrying heavy armor and torches.

"This is not good" Angys said, instinctively wanting to hide, as he had done for so long. They were quite close and could just barely hear some talking in the group, there were man and women of all different kinds of professions. "not good at all" Radeon added to Angys' statement.

"Why do we have to go patrolling in the dark trying to find four guys of the guild we burned down two years ago?" was one of the loudest thing they could hear. Now that this was cleared up, they were being looked for, probably just as much as two years ago.

"What's the matter? Are you afraid of the guards? You aren't some kind of rogue bandit group thing are you?" Mirage asked wondering why they kept standing in the dark in stead of walking to the outpost relieved. She looked around "well can somebody explain please?"

"Well it's… " John was immediately interrupted by Phoenix "A Long story, that's what it is, and it seems that it will be getting a lot longer" he said on a dark and urging tone. "you don't want to know" Angys said placing his hand on her shoulder. He didn't know why he did that but it seemed like the right thing.

"ok… fine… be mysterious" Mirage said, you could clearly hear she wasn't happy with what they told her. She stepped away from under Angys' hand, "but I don't think they have any trouble with me, so thanks guys for saving me" she said and gently pushed aside John and Phoenix, who were in her way out of the forest.

The five friends said nothing, they just saw the girl walk into the light, being examined by the group that was patrolling the outpost. But they let her through, all they could hope is that the patrolling squad wouldn't find out, they had enough guilt feelings already without putting her in even more danger then she put herself in.

Angys was the first one to snap back to his senses again, "well I think it's time to do the thing I am getting pretty good at" he said turning around, the other four looked at each other quite surprised wondering what he could've meant. Angys looked over his shoulder and saw that they weren't coming "Disappear"