Halure, the City of Blossoms, a peaceful town whose barrier was linked to the giant tree that has made Halure so famous. The day was just like any other, however, something was happening with the tree barrier. The blastia core that powered the protective barrier started to ebb like it was losing power.

The blastia started acting even strangers as an unusual gathering of aer started accumulated until a strange portal opened at the base of the tree and spit out an overtly muscular dog, a helmeted person in strange armor and a spike covered humanoid reptile. The dog was covered in weird paint, and it had a spiked collar around its neck. Now that the dog was standing, they could see that it was huge, large enough to carry a young child around like a horse.

The mayor and the rest of the citizens were uncertain what to do with these strangers, especially the monster looking creature. "Are they dead?"

"Where did they come from?"

"What should we do with them? Will the monster attack us?"

"The barrier is still up. It shouldn't be able to survive if it was." The dog started licking the reptile's face to get it up.

The reptilian pushed the dog aside, "I've been called worse for just being…" It started to stir now, standing back up. Whatever it was, it was heavily armed with a very weighted satchel as three little monsters crawled around sticking their necks out.

The helmeted individual rolled over onto her back, "At least the landing wasn't hard… I think…" She moaned in anguish, "I hope we aren't going to be doing this every time they drag us to a new 'exotic' location…"

The reptile started to look around the skies, the brown scales of its muzzle contrasting against the darker gray scales on the rest of its body, then to the town before it and finally following the massive roots leading back to the tree at the center of the city. "That's new…"

The helmeted woman was already looking up to the barrier too, "Maybe the shielding isn't as frail as it looks… The City might be able to find some use from this, if the tech can be copied…"

And like a jinx or hex waiting for its cue, the barrier around the city started to falter. "Monsters!" one of the citizens rushed up from the edge of town, "Monsters are at the barrier!"

"Already?"

"No, it's too early for this!"

"Where are the Hunting Blades? We need the guild here now!"

The strange, helmeted woman got up and turned to the reptile, "Ready to bring the thunder?"

"If you think you can keep up."

The strange reptile pulled out a curved sword from its sheath hanging on a belt with a curved dagger in the other hand hidden in the bag. Without another word, the three worm-necked creatures jumped out of the reptile's bag as the dog bored it teeth toward the monsters. The helmeted stranger with them materialized a black and orange rifle out of thin air like magic, pumping the bit she grabbed with her left hand, as they started to head toward the monsters just as the barrier fell.

The reptile rushed first, cutting down monsters as if it was a member of the Hunting Blades. The dog's massive size and powerful jaws easily grappled and pinned any monster its size as the smaller lizard-like creatures piled on and tore into it them using their equally unusual maws. Each blast from her strange weapon filled each monster with a multitude of burning holes, pumping the weapon after each shot, and firing in quick succession, and occasionally bashing the skull of a monster with the butt of her weapon.

This unusual sight of completely different forms of combat somehow managing to coordinate in such a way that they were stopping many monsters before they threatened the citizens. But their numbers were nothing compared to what the Hunting Blades would normally bring for such a swarm.

Even as they stopped most of the first wave, there were no match to stop all the monster on their own. "Humans! Find shelter!" The reptile looked up to the skies, "Strun…Bah Qo!" A wave of energy shot out from its mouth as the clouds themselves started to darken. Rain began to pour as lightning struck out against the monsters outside the city. The stranger drew one of the bolts down upon herself, using the energy and becoming a floating bug zapper, electrocuting monsters within range.

The storm lasted a good few minutes before dissipating and the woman used up her energy and was using the gun to hold them off again. But still, the monsters would not relent. The strangers were surrounded now with no hope of survival. Then a rain of arrows cut a path through the monster horde as Imperial Knights moved in to slay the beasts.

"Move, men! Protect the citizens and drive these creatures back!" A young man with blonde hair was leading the knights into the charge now, slaying plenty of the beasts personally.

Some of the knights were not sure what to do with the dark scaled lizard, but it proved itself an ally when it protected some of them from a surprise attack by the monsters. An unspoken truce was made as they continued to push the monsters back together. Even with the reinforcements, some of the citizens were injured defending themselves or the children.

At the end of the battle, some of the monsters managed to retreat before anyone could finish them off, though many of them were mortally wounded anyway so it was not a cause for alarm for now. As the battle wound down the knights made sure the remaining corpses were just that. The young man who led the charge looked at the carnage left behind, "Oh no… I don't get it. What could have happened to the barrier in this town?!" He spotted the reptile again as it too was making sure everything was dead while collecting their materials. "You there! Hold!" It did as he asked, waiting as the young knight sliding down the hill to meet it. "Tell me, what are you and why were you here when the monsters attacked?"

"I could ask the same to your arrival. It was rather fortuitous that you and your men should appear when the horde looked it's worse." The reptile scanned the area, seeing some of the knights taking insult to its words, then back to the tree, "I am a Saxhleel, or what mammals simply refer to as an Argonian. The powers of the beyond are what called me to this world. As to why, I am not certain or for what purpose I could not say. But was I to simply stand around when an enemy stood before me? Mammals have always had a mistrust for non-mammals, and even more so for anything that didn't look human."

The helmeted woman who shot lightning from her hands intervened, "What my associate here means is that we're not exactly the ones controlling our destinations. We're just going with the flow; I suppose is the best way of putting it. We're just trying not to cause any trouble, but we end up getting caught in some regardless."

Some of the knights around them were a little startled by the reptilian's ability to speak, though the young man who called out to it remained calm. "Then you are good hearted individuals at least. May I ask you two a favor then?"

The reptile looked to the city, "You know of a possible means of fixing this and wish for us to remain to defend the city until you and your knights can return, correct?"

He nodded. "It's only a hunch, but it's better than no leads at all. I will inform the mayor of our plan and then we'll move out. Please do your best to hold the line until we return."

The reptile continued as the dog moved with it, starting a patrol around the city, "Just hurry and return before the monsters wise up and surround the city again." It then started to murmur to itself, "The magic here is strange…different from Thedas…although…"

Vile was dumped into a rather bountiful world of organic beauty with little to no human technology in sight. A disgusting view that needed to be corrected or burned. Right now, Vile's first priorities was figuring out where he was and how to find a potential host to crush X and Zero.

So first Vile took his new Biometal form high into the sky to get a better view of the planet. Breaking into the ozone layer Vile's internal sensors started to warn him about an unidentified barrier above him.

"The hell?" Vile let the scanner determine how wide this barrier was. Much to his surprise, this barrier was stretched across the entire globe and was distorting the visual perception of those within the barrier. "Why the hell does this planet need or even have such a powerful shielding system? Maybe their tech isn't as backwards as I thought."

Right now, the most distinct things in view were a giant tree with a couple of houses around its roots and a castle city across a mountain range to the south of the tree town. Save for the tree city, the other settlements Vile could see had holographic displays over them, possibly representing similar shielding tech as what is covering the planet.

It would also seem that his new form's ability to evaluate potential hosts has a very limited range. Vile estimating the range was probably going to be within a few hundred meters or so. Then again, he wasn't too sure what to expect from the modifications those he works with could do. Another issue was how the scans would be perceived by organics or if they have tech that could notice active or passive scans.

So, the next step would be to test how easily noticed his new form was to others, how easily he could infiltrate an area unseen, and how noticeable his scans would be to others. Now for Vile to start his host hunt, so he could get moving to his true goal of hunting down X and Zero.

Yuri Lowell was just living his everyday life in the lower quarter of Zaphias, the Imperial Capital, and then chaos erupted when the fountain went haywire because of some blue-blooded mage the citizens of the lower quarter barely managed to hire stole the core to the blastia. Unexpectedly, thanks to a tip from a strange old man he met in the castle's dungeon, Yuri had a destination for where to look for the thief; Aspio, the City of Scholars. And thanks to the same stranger, Yuri was given a key to his cell, so he took the initiative to sneak out and check up on the denizens of the lower quarter and sneak himself back before anyone was the wiser.

But fate seemed to have its own plans out for him. While trying to sneak out for the night, he encountered an unusual noble girl named Estellise, who he nicknamed Estelle, and her desire to warn a mutual friend Flynn Scifo of imminent danger. Unfortunately, that danger turned up in the form of an estranged assassin calling himself Zagi, who even killed one of his associates for interrupting his 'fun' fighting Yuri in a big case of mistaken identity. Thus, with Yuri's faithful companion Repede now at his side again, they ventured outside the safety of the capital to look for Flynn and to hunt down the thieving mage Mordio.

But like everything Yuri has endeavored before, nothing is ever as easy as he planned. Their timing was fine, but Deidon Hold was under siege by an unusual surge of monsters that were early for their yearly charge against the fort. Using information from a guild woman named Kaufman, they traveled around the hold and entered the 'cursed' Quoi Woods. They had stumbled upon a defunct blastia that blasted the area and left Estelle unconscious.

When she recovered, they continued until they encountered a strange kid named Karol Capel who claimed to be a member of the Hunting Blades guild, monster slaying specialists. Although easily startled and scared, Karol 'volunteered' himself to guide them to the city of Halure.

Estelle was excited, seeing the place for the first time outside of books or portraits, "Halure… 'The City of Blossoms'."

Karol nodded, "Yeah, that's right."

As Estelle and Karol distracted each other with that, Yuri looked up above the town and was rather perplexed, "Don't they have a barrier here?"

Estelle looked up now too, "Yes, there should be…"

"You guys haven't been to Halure before, right?" Karol waited to see their response, both in the negative. "So, then you haven't heard about the tree barrier."

"Tree barrier?"

"Some blastia fuse to plant life, gain organic qualities and evolve." Estelle turned to Yuri after reciting that fact, "The tree barrier of Halure is one prime example of this. I read that in a book."

"Well thank you, professor. So, what's happened to this famous barrier?" Yuri looked over to where several people were laying out injured from monster attacks, "Doesn't look like it's doing much right now."

Karol seemed to know, "Every year, just before the blossoms are in full bloom, the barrier weakens for a while. It's just that time of year right now, and the monsters took the opportunity to attack…"

"Is that when the barrier went down?"

"Yeah, the monsters were taken care of, but the tree is slowly starting to decay." A girl rushed before Karol and he soon chased after her, "Hey!" He looked back to Yuri and Estelle, "Sorry, I've gotta run! Bye!"

Yuri was impressed by the speed he was going but still, "Does that kid ever sit still?" He turned to Estelle, "So I guess you'll be looking for Flyn…" Estelle now ran off towards the injured citizens. "Doesn't she know we need to keep a low profile? And what happened to looking for Flynn?"

"I thought I saw new people arriving…" Yuri turned to the hooded figure who managed to approach without him even noticing, though the horns sticking out the back did seem rather weird. "Cause trouble here and I will put you down." He was on guard but given how Repede wasn't growling or preparing to attack, he knew for now they were safe.

Yuri shrugged, "What, you the city's guard?"

"Temporary. Until the barrier has been restored, I have been charged with patrolling the perimeter since my arrival. Though I keep getting drawn closer to the tree with each passing moment. Forget my ramblings and stay out of trouble." The strange figure turned away and continued walking again.

After her little talk with the strange human in black who carried his sword by its string and his blue canine with a scar, Deesh continued to walk around the city. Deesh already had her crossbow primed and ready to fire if the monster who dare to chance another assault on the city. However, the whispers in her head continued to get stronger with each passing moment she's near this tree until finally, H…Hel…p…Help them… heal me…

She looked back to the tree, "A Hist? How did a Hist come to this world?" After a moment to just ponder about the situation, she glanced down to the dog, "Strider," the mabari turned to her as Deesh dumped out the deepstalkers from her bag, "Continue the patrol with the stalkers. I have something to investigate about this tree."

Deesh climbed onto one of the roots that ran from the edge of the city and back to the base. As she moved closer, she started noticing that the roots were not of the same tree. Looking back, she started to notice how the tree was not like normal trees, interwoven as it twisted upon itself. There were too many mysteries in front of her, Deesh refocused on investigating why a Hist was reaching out for aid.

Once back at the base it was overwhelming the amount of blood that had soaked the ground. One of the killing grounds where the knights must have surrounded the beasts. She dug some of the dirt up into her hands and pulled it closer to smell. There was plenty of blood but something about it was strange.

She squeezed a droplet of blood out for her tongue to taste. "Poisonous blood… I see. So, the massive assault was focused on poisoning the tree. Instincts lead them to attack the humans indiscriminately. If this is how the beasts normally assault this place, then the Hunting Blades must be formidable in stopping them from ever endangering the tree." While Deesh's naturally high resistance to poisons and her training has helped now, the only reason Strider probably wasn't poisoned was because of the healing magic used after the battle. The stalkers seemed to have their own level of resistance to poisons as well. She looked up to the tree, trying to feel the energy within, "And with how the energy of this place feels different from Nirn, I dare not risk my magic to heal you… or your root partners. So how," her hand now on gently glided along the root's grove, "how do I heal you?"

A strong breeze blew into her face as she turned away from it. And when she looked, she spotted the young man in black again, talking with the shopkeeper. As she got closer, she could hear them talking about the material needed for creating a panacea bottle that can cure poisons. Just like the knight from before, this young man wasn't going to just sit around for a solution to appear, he was going to chase it himself. Deesh continued to listen from a distance as they mentioned a creature called an 'eggbear' and going back to the nearby woods to hunt for it. The young man, noble lady, dog, and kid were heading out to the wood to hunt for an eggbear

Deesh slid down one of the roots and jumping in front of them before they left the city. "If you know of a means of healing the trees, I am going with you."

Yuri looked back to the villagers, "I thought you were holding down the fort and patrolling the perimeter for monsters."

"Circumstances have changed. If you know of a way of curing the ailing trees, then I will help make this go a lot faster. We've already spent enough time protecting this place and picked off a few bolder monsters from a distance. But that is only a stopgap. We would be powerless if they came in force and swarmed us from all sides again. But if you are concerned, I have my partners staying back for now. Let us move to these woods and find the eggbear before it's too late. You may refer to me as Deesh if we need to speak further, and I am female."

Within the City of Shade, Aspio, Flynn was doing his best to recruit one of the best mages, however his effort was being stonewalled, "You don't seem to understand the scope of these implications. If we can't get Halure's barrier back up, then the entire city may be overrun by monsters. This thief could be linked to Halure's barrier suddenly failing."

The girl stopped only to counter, "And I told you I'm too busy to help you with that! Now go bother someone else about your problems." She slammed her door, letting the sign she pinned on it be her last words as she locked the door.

"Miss Mordio, please! Many lives are at risk! We need your expertise!" Flynn's please were left unanswered.

Sodia, Flynn's second-in-command, started to pound on Mordio's door, "You are an Imperial Mage! You are obligated to follow our request for assistance!"

Still no response from the infamously stubborn Mordio. Flynn relented, "Sodia that is enough. She won't help us; we shouldn't pursue the matter any further."

Sodia relented, stepping back, "Apologies, sir."

"It's alright. We just need to find another mage just as capable as Mordio. Let's head to the library to see if we can find another blastia specialist to aid Halure. Hopefully they're also willing to assist us in capturing the thief as well." Flynn wanted Mordio's aid as the Genius Mage of Aspio, but he didn't want to force her. Not if he wanted to live up to his ideals of changing the laws to better serve to people and punish the unjust who seem untouchable.