A/N: Guess who's not dead! Heh. Okay, so I'm not even going to try to make excuses any more. My update times are inexcusable. I'm sorry. :P So I guess here's something to show for my SEVEN FREAKING MONTHS of silence.

Plomistis threw himself to the floor as the sound of a gunshot rang in his ears. Behind him he heard a body slump to the floor. The panda had shot his own partner. If he hadn't realised it before, Plomistis knew it now; his opponent was ruthless. He would stop at nothing to kill the panther.

The panda shrugged and started to reload his weapon, "He was expendable anyways."

While the panda was distracted Plomistis scrambled to find the body. It only took him a moment. His assailant had been another one of the cloaked canines from earlier that evening. Clenched in it's lifeless paw was Plomistis' salvation.

Popping up from under the table, Plomistis pointed the weapon butler's head. His opponent was still rushing to reload. The panther smirked, "You los-"

He didn't finish. An angry voice cut him off.

"Gods damnit, Plomistis!" The combatants turned to face the speaker, a short, fat canine standing behind the bar, waving a dish rag at the two of them, "We made it almost at two weeks this time, you'd gotten my hopes up! But, no, here you are bringing you're damned fights into my bar again!"

"Can we do this later?" Plomistis groaned, "I'm kind of in the middle of-"

Plomistis was cut off when the panda jumped up onto the table and kicked him in the face. With a grunt, the assassin tumbled backwards, destroying the chair he had been sitting on not thirty seconds prior.

In a mad rush to get his paws on Plomistis' weapon the panda dove from the table, landing square on the panther's chest. A shout of pain came unbidden to Plomistis' lips as he felt several ribs break.

Plomistis, in a blind panic slashed madly at his attacker. He made contact and the butler drew back, clutching at his face, blood staining his paws, "Fine. I didn't want to have to do this, but-" He whistled. The door and several windows flew open, almost a dozen more cloaked figures rushed into the bar.

"Surrender,and I'll make this as painless as possible." The panda demanded, backing into the crowd, and out of Plomistis' line of fire.

"No! I won't allow this nonsense in my bar! Get out!"

The panda sighed, "Someone shut him up, please."

BANG!

The bartender fell to the floor.

"Thank you. Now, Plomistis, last warning. Drop the gun, or I'll make sure you're final moments are as horrible as possible."

Blood raced in Plomistis' ears. He was going to die here. He scanned the room, desperately looking for something to save him. He found nothing. This was the end. Then he had a crazy idea. It almost certainly wouldn't work, but anything was better than his current position.

"Fine." Plomistis sighed, holding his gun out at arms length, before dropping it.

Just as he had anticipated, one of the cloaked figures broke away from the group and rushed towards him, a pistol in one hand. He waited until the last second, then crouched, and grabbed his assailant's gun arm. In a single fluid movement Plomistis spun his attacker around, and pulled him into a choke hold.

Several guns fired, Plomistis' hostage went limp and only one bullet found it's way into the panther's exposed arm. Trying his best to ignore the burning pain, he dropped the dead body and ran from the bar while his assailants were reloading

For the second time that night, Plomistis barely escaped a fight with his life.

Barely a half hour had passed since the Vision Pool had spoken to Mura. Kopaka had summoned the Guardians for an emergency meeting. So far four of the six had arrived in the Temple gathering room, and a messenger had been sent to find Kaze, who was still out leading the manhunt for Lila's would be killer. The sixth Guardian, the Guardian of Electricity wouldn't be present as she was away on a trip to Volans.

The gathering room was small and mostly featureless. A round wooden table sat in the center, above it a large skylight allowed in the natural lights. Tucked away in the room's corners sat four identical suits of armor, silently watching the meeting with ancient, empty eyes.

The wait for Kaze was spent in silence. All four of the assembled dragons were exhausted. No one was in the mood for small talk. The air in the meeting room was one of foreboding, an atmosphere that became even more prevalent as the sun started to peak above the eastern mountains, washing the world in an eerie crimson light.

It was then that Kaze finally arrived. With his usual flair for the dramatic, The Guardian of Wind threw open the double doors and marched into the room, "Forgive my tardiness. I was near Spyro Swamp when your messenger found me. I came as fast as I could."

"There's nothing to apologise for," Kopaka said, "This gathering was sudden. If any one should apologize it is I."

Kaze nodded curtly and took his place around the table. After waiting a moment he asked, "If I may ask, what's happened? Why call me back from my investigation?"

"So much has happened that I'm not even sure where to start..." It was Mura talking.

"It seems obvious to me," Skotos cut in, "Let us start with the good news; Lila has come back from the dead."

Kaze shot the Shadow Guardian a flat stare, "Skotos, I know you like to joke, but that's tasteless, even for you."

"He's not lying," Kopaka said before Skotos could respond, "The Purple Dragoness is indeed alive."

Kaze blinked a couple times, trying to compose himself, "I don't understand," He finally said, "How?"

"We don't understand any better than you, but her wounds seem to have healed themselves. She should be out of the infirmary as early as tomorrow morning."

Kaze cracked a smile, "Ancestors be praised."

Kopaka nodded, a small grin on his face, "Indeed. It seems someone above is smiling upon us." Then he sighed. The smile fading away, he said, "If only all the news we bore were so good." He nodded to Mura.

"Lila and I have both had visions," The Fire Guardian explained, "Lila, before her wound had healed, and I, just a few moments ago," He paused, "This age of peace we've been living in... well, I don't think it's going to last much longer."

"I'm afraid it's already over." The Guardian of Wind shook his head, "The Fire-Claw protests have turned into borderline riots, ships are being attacked in Warfang airspace, someone just tried to have Lila killed. None of this seems peaceful to me."

Mura nodded solemnly, "And it only appears to be getting worse. I saw the Temple burned to the ground. I don't know when, and I don't know by whom, but it appears the Temple will be attacked."

The room was silent a long moment. A moment that felt longer than it should. "Are you sure?" Kaze finally asked, "Perhaps you misinterpreted the Pool's meaning?"

"I wish that were the case," Mura shook his head, "No. The Vision was too clear."

The Wind Guardian frowned, "Ancestors help us..." He trailed off and again there was a silence. Finally Kaze spoke up again, "And what of Lila's vision? Does it too foretell our demise?"

"I don't know. Her's was far more cryptic mine. You may want to hear it from Lila herself, as I'm sure I won't be able to describe it nearly as well."

Kaze nodded, "In which case I'll speak to her in the morn. Until then, what are we to do about Mura's vision?"

Kopaka sighed, "Perhaps it's cowardly of me, but I think, until we have a better understanding of the situation we would be wise to abandon the Temple."

There was a collective cry of protest from the other four Guardians, but Kopaka cut them short, "Hear me out. This isn't any easier for me to say than it is for you to hear, alas, tonight has proven that the students aren't safe here. We're understaffed and there's no major settlements nearby. If we were to fall under attack, I fear we'd be overrun before help could arrive."

Terrla was the first of the Guardians to respond. Eyes closed, she sighed slowly, then said, "I agree. At this point, retreat is out best option."

"But where would we go?" Skotos asked, "We don't have a back up facility, and we can't just send the students home. Hell, most of them don't have any other home to go to!"

"I wouldn't be too worried, Skotos," Kaze said, "I might be able to work something out." He smirked a bit, "After all; I used to be good friends with the C.E.O."