Teleportation was one of the most nauseating and unsettling parts of life in the Dirige, it took quite a while to even begin to get used to it, and some of the after-effects would never quit plaguing agents. Indeed, the trip from Purgatory to Greoul would feel as though one’s insides had been scooped up, twisted into odd shapes, and then forcefully placed back into the body. Liliya, being a rookie agent as she was, would no doubt feel the effects a bit harder than Circe, who had grown relatively used to them, albeit not quite immune to them, and so both agents would need a moment to regain their composure.

After a moment of recovery, Liliya would find herself surrounded on all sides by dense vegetation, a canopy of limbs above her, and the smell of rotting green-life below. A trodden path was several feet to her right, the obvious signs of civilization not far off from where the path lead, but still quite overtaken by the jungle. Beside the woman would be her partner, Circe; she had recovered before Liliya and was casually waiting for the older woman.

“Are you alright?” Circe asked with concern in her voice. “It can be a rough ride, but you get used to it… A little.”

Circe placed a finger at the small device housed inside her ear, infusing just a bit of Qi with it and pressing the small button that turned it on; she listened for a moment and then turned her attention back towards Liliya: “Activate your comm,” she ordered. “We’re not too far off.”

In fact, they were pretty close to their destination, only about a mile or so off, and they had no choice other than walking the rest of the distance. Although a bit slower than being transported directly into the center of the town, it was safter to start off outside the destination; really, if they had just appeared in the middle of a disaster zone, disoriented by the trip, they'd just be sitting ducks, and nobody wanted to die in such a stupid manner.

Once Liliya activated her comm, she’d be able to hear their handler, Tau, speaking, and would only catch the latter end of whatever he was telling Circe:

“--Hetzer’s the name the place. Small town, pretty young, but with established trade routes; t’bad, they were pretty well documented. Pretty odd stuff,” his voice grew low for a moment as he shuffled through papers and files. “Population was small, but it doubled in three and a half years. ---”

“Funding?” Circe’s voice was loud, the ear-buds didn’t allow for too great of communication, but she really despised the glasses.

“Nada. Nothing on record for such a rural place, you know?”

“Oh well,” she shrugged.

“I’ll file the report and see if we can’t have this looked into, but it probably isn’t something to concern us.”

“Right,” Circe removed the hand that was near her ear, “annnd we’re off, Lil’. Let’s go.”

Walking towards the path, she’d wait for Liliya to catch up, and then the two could be off. It’d be a short time before they reached their destination and there was no specific cause for rushing.

“I’m sure I will. Sync with my roses is in full swing. Time between the synchronization has begun to slip away. The two hours have begun to tick. The time limit has been set.” Lilyia would open her eyes as the blank look seemed to remain present for a set time before a normal appearance reappeared to fully form the synchronization with the roses. She had to have normal looking eyes for that. First step was the blank looking eyes that held a solid color, then normal looking eyes that would be the doorway to her will and wishes. Lilyia knew the risks of doing this, but it had to be done to make any moves from here on in.

Her body would have almost seemed rigid in formation as her arms held the roses a little tighter for a few brief moments before loosening up. Lilyia’s body then looked like she was completely functioning on a different scale almost like she was a puppet to her own roses, but that was just apart of her own abilities. She would function for the mission, however for the most part Lilyia would seem like she wouldn’t be on the same level as when she first arrived at the meeting place. Her temperance was tame, almost child-like as if embracing a teenager’s spirit so as to fit the ruse she would have to take.

“I feel sorry for such vegetation.” Her voice came out like a teenager’s making her transformation complete with the synchronization as planned with the roses. She had done what was needed as she caught up with Circe easily using the tree branch’s as steps before landing behind Circe. Lilyia having a small body made it easier to maneuver this way without too much problems, but once in town she would behave like a teenager trying to sell roses least under the guise as one. “Just remember the clock between the roses and myself have begun to tick. Once the roses wither after the final hour, I will probably be of no use. These roses are different from my longer living kinds. They are made to survive only for a subject amount of time for a reason due to their abilities and how they sync with my body.

“It’s fine,” Circe nodded and folded her arms behind her head as she walked. “It shouldn’t take that long to reach the village, anyways.“

And truthfully, it wouldn’t. It was only about a mile before they’d reach the village and the path, being so beaten down, meant travel would probably be easy and obstacles scarce.

“So how’re you liking the Dirige, Lil? Not exactly like other jobs, right?”

Circe’s voice came off curious, she was used to working alone on missions, but since she had a partner for the time being, she figured it’d be best to get to know her. She knew what the woman’s dossier said about her, but you really didn’t know a person from just that.

“It’s different, but sometimes I’m reminiscent between Dirige and the past jobs. I get that way because of how the roses react with my own body. However, if synchronization is not made completely dangerous levels of energy are released before a will or wish is made. It is often best to make sure the levels are made perfectly clear with one another before using anything. Otherwise, the roses won’t work or I might find a wound upon my body that won’t heal for weeks on end.”

Lilyia knew the inside and outs of what to do when it came to making sure her energy levels were at optimal peaks with the roses that she synced with. She knew better than to go over the levels or go under them. The moment she loses control Lilyia knows it is best to cut the link between her and the roses and let the roses die, or it would be her own life that is forfeit instead. “I doubt you remember why roses are my chosen object to use when it comes to missions. Not many other Dirige’s even recalls the reasoning behind it.”

“Eh? Well it is pretty unorthodox,” she admitted with a smile. “Most of us just use a normal weapon, except the lucky ones,” she thought of her father for a moment and continued on. “And no, actually--I never knew the reason. Your file only listed the basics,” she shrugged and continued on: “The doctors and techies get all the good info.”

Indeed! Tau and Circe knew the woman’s name, her age (even despite her appearance), and some other miscellaneous tidbits that might as well have not even been on the paper. Other than that, they were informed of when to meet her and why they were meeting her; there was nothing else that their superiors bothered to inform them of.

“The roses themselves once I sync my energy to them are tied to my very life energy or qi. If I am even a fraction off with the synchronization, it could be disastrous. To be blunt about it, I could cause my own wound from being off by that fraction. It is why battles I must maintain my cool and not get upset even when taunted. You could say, it could turn me into what some would call a machine at that point and time as some have called me when I begin to react. You’ll see that first hand during the mission. I doubt that was even reported to you or Tau. It is partially why I’m youthful in appearance like I am. My growth was stunted because of a freakish incident that did not bode well. I myself do not recall the details, but I’ve not aged since the incident. So now, I am able to either speak with a woman’s voice, or that of a teenager’s pending on what I need my voice to be.”

Lilyia kept her eyes forwards at the roses she carried seemed to get an odd glow to them, almost like they were truly alive even though they weren’t in the ground. “We’re starting to get closer I suspect, the roses are reacting.” Lilyia had her own ways of sensing things, and the roses were that way of sensing things.

“Well just keep in mind that we shouldn’t have anything to fight,” she repeated herself again; it seemed like Lilyia was really aching for a fight, but that wasn’t the purpose of the reapers at all. “Anyways, remember what the objective is, Lil. We can’t interfere with the living without catching hell for it.”

Circe was especially cautious about following regulations, normally. Her parents were recognized as two of the best agents the Dirige had produced and she, as their daughter, was not particularly keen on ruining their images, and for good reason, too.

The two agents would find the road widening as they continued on; they were not quite at the village yet, but more and more signs of civilization were beginning to show. Off in the distance, following the flow of the land, one could see the first signs of buildings and familiar plots of farmland set aside for crops. This land, however, was not meant for food, but drugs, most likely. Greoul took great advantage of some of their more recreational plant-life.

“Mm, yeah. When we get there, I’ll leave the souls for you to send, you won’t be able to send them all without tiring out, but I’ll pick up what's left over.”

Very few rookies would be able to send such a large amount of souls on their own. Circe was particularly skilled in her ability to do so, but she had two years experience over Lilyia--she could send them just by being near them, Lilyia would either have to touch them physically or with her roses, whichever method she was comfortable with.

“I know regulations, but I can’t help but be cautious. It comes with the territory from where I used to have to go before these missions. The dangers then were terribly great.” Lilyia’s words seemed almost like she knew something that maybe would be best she spoke about, but she hid it instead. A secret about her past, or maybe a hidden scar that would reveal the real truth behind why she wasn’t able to grow into a fully blossomed woman at all; I can’t help but get the feeling this isn’t just an average meeting of sending souls.”

Lilyia’s eyes went blank again as her roses went from white to red again, showing that the energy levels had reached peek levels. That meant that time was truly lapsing and before long the ties between roses and owner would have to be severed. “I may or may not tire out, depends on how long the levels between the roses and I remain connected. If the levels begin to wane, then yes aid will be needed. If not, the petals from the roses should suffice.” Lilyia narrowed her eyes a bit as she looked at the place ahead. “I don’t like the looks of the place, something’s fishy don’t get me wrong. I despise fights. They kill my roses off too quickly to let their beauty shine, but there’s something weird about this area.”

“It’s Greoul,” Circe sighed. “This area is always weird, but I guess you never know. We’ll see.”

Admittedly, Circe wouldn’t have been able to tell if anything was out of the ordinary at the village and this was even despite her proficiency with Qi, there was just too much spiritual concentration for her to get a good bead on what was happening; alternatively, she could have asked Tau for his side of things, but he usually commented when something was up, anyways.

The remainder of the trip would consist mostly of silence and would last until the two came to the mouth of the village, a broken and charred archway that gave way to similarly destroyed buildings and rubble. As the two stepped into the village, they would be able to note a considerable number of mutilated bodies on the ground, blood stained the dirt in black patches, and the smell of burning flesh came from near the center of the village.

The carnage was great and there was no skill behind it, either. Pieces of human beings were strewn about the ground for no apparent reason, as though chunks had been ripped off, and simply tossed aside.

“Looks like a good size force came through here,” Circe remarked and continued walking forwards. She took point and would lead Lilyia deeper into the village, a vigil lookout was kept in case of trouble; both spiritual and physical senses grasped about the area.

The pieces of the deceased would thin out until the two reached the village center and there, they would find a group of survivors, leaning into the remains that had once been their livelihood, and would also locate the source of the foul smell in the air--a massive funeral pyre lay in the very center of the village, body after body piled atop one another.

Circe said nothing to the survivors and they said nothing to her, they looked to be dead already, and their bodies simply hadn’t realized it yet.

“Disgusting,” she spat and looked about. There were souls in two of the collapsed buildings in the village square, but the majority was in the town hall, which could be seen from another path leading out of the center, one that went up a small incline.

In honest, Circe didn’t know how Lilyia would react to the carnage and murder around them, and she didn’t ask, either. When one got right down to it, in the most basic sense, this was what their job mostly consisted of, and only occasionally was it ever pleasant.

Off into the distance, shouts and yelling could be heard in a dialect of the Greoul language, but even Circe wasn’t quite sure what they were fussing about.

“Souls in both of those buildings,” a slender arm raised from her side and she pointed to the two buildings she was referring to, and then pointed towards the path they’d be taking next: “We’re heading up there afterwards; after that, we should be done here.”

“The roses are my sensory abilities. An extension of me, but they are much more than that. We need not go inside the building to tend the souls. The roses have pin-pointed them for me.”

Lilyia simply looked forwards as she plucked up a two long-stemmed red roses as she concentrated her energy and maintained concentration. Her mind was linked to the roses at that point as the petals would fray from the stemmed roses almost like they did it due to dying which would be what the survivors would see. The petals however would act like a wind was carrying them into the building ahead. Lilyia however was the one controlling the petals. Her eyes having a strange glint in them that seemed to only match what she had been doing all along, “They have passed. The petals have reached their mark. Distance triangulated, petals have withered and disconnected no trace of energy on the petals left behind.”

Lilyia barely spoke above a whisper as she seemed to be working almost like a machine would have, or some would say due to her experiments one.

Lilyia truly was a different being than what her own file would indicate, but it had to due with her past. If Circe was looking long enough, she’d notice two wing shaped scars glowing faintly upon Lilyia’s back almost as if they weren’t made by mortal hands.

A link possibly to Lilyia’s past and maybe a key to why Lilyia doesn’t age past sixteen, “We must reach the next focal point and soon, the shouts and yelling I hear. It is not something that we want to stick around for. My roses are nearing the end of their span and I must cut connection with them at that time. If what those shouts details is danger and I am stuck to continue connection past the time limit, danger for not only myself but those around me will occur.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she reassured Lilyia and started off towards their next destination. “It isn’t a dialect that I’m used to, but it’s definitely in my language. It’s mostly gibberish,” she sighed and stepped over the severed arm of a man.

As the two came closer to the town hall, they’d be able to see a group of men, still able bodied, but rather beaten and abused, as well. These men held their body weight against the door of the building and were shouting amongst each other, frightened words, encouragement, and despair on their lips. There was no telling how long they had been carrying on in such a way, but it was obvious that they were tired and beginning to lose hope.

“They’re trying to keep someone from getting out;” she stated the obvious, but continued to lead Lilyia towards the building. “Stay several feet away from the men and, if you can, send the souls by remote, like you did in the square, but don’t approach. This isn’t our concern.”

“Understood.”, Lilyia focused her abilities with the roses since they were reaching their limits as she released more rose petals again showing again making them look natural to send off souls that were beyond her reach by making the petals go through cracks in walls, windows, and any passageways or doors.

“Done, connection to roses has to be severed soon limit is near critical stages of approach when damage to both host and vessel will arise.”

Lilyia looked at the men, but said nothing as she knew the dangers. The winged scar on her back obviously was glowing just a little stronger, which usually would pain her greatly, but for once she didn’t feel anything or rather didn’t show it so as to hide the fact she knew the critical stages were coming close. The limits of the roses were arriving. They had to leave without incident soon, or critical stages would occur if further exposure and loss of energy occur.

“Whatever they are trying to keep in there, the energy from what my roses detected is strong. I would have to breach critical stages to even handle it, if we end up against it due to their failure to hold it back.”

The explosive sound of splintering wood and the death-cry of a young man echoed from the hall, as the group of men fell backwards and tried to scramble away from the building; as Lilyia predicted, the door could no longer be held, a deafening howl pierced through the hearts and minds of the men, and a silhouetted figure shuffled out the doorway.

One of the men who had fallen to the ground would immediately find himself stomped by the creature, his life was snuffed out near instantly, but no soul escaped his body, there would be nothing to send.

“Looks like you were right,” Circe placed her hands behind her and surveyed the monstrosity from head to toe. It stood about 5’9” and was obviously taller than both of the agents; it was heavily built and wore broken, heavy armor; and it had patches of skin missing, marking it for something not quite healthy or maybe not even alive. Its skin, what little of it seemed to be left, was a pale-bluish color, and its teeth were yellowed and broken.

Beside the creature, the man it had stomped out sought to raise from his broken state, its body twisted and snapped as it pushed off of the ground and shuffled just a bit closer to the larger, fiercer abomination. The rest of the men, no longer wishing to stay and confront the thing, quickly sought their escape, and would not so much as look behind them until they were sure of their safety.

“Tau?” Circe called the name of her handler and placed one of her hands back up to her ear, “we’ve got an issue here.”

Slowly, the things would advance towards the two female reapers.

“You might want to stand far enough away from me as possible Circe. If I continue the connection with the roses I carry, I will be entering critical stages. Unfortunately, I will not be able to guarantee your safety at that time. The consequences of me holding them past their set time would already be enough to tear through my body.”

Lilyia’s eyes sunk deeper into a dull appearance as it seemed true that the connection between master and roses was reaching critical stages. “It might appear, we’ll have no choice but to go through the things to get to our destination. They block the path.” Lilyia hid her previous missions’ details for a reason. They involved battle details when in critical stages while interacting with her roses. She knew exactly how long she could remain in the critical stages and just how far she could push it. The only thing she couldn’t ever ensure was the safety of her partners.

Lilyia narrowed her eyes as she plucked a single rose and twirled it in her fingers. Her mind and body was sending energy into the rose as she glared at the creature, within her. She knew that they weren’t getting out of this without a fight.

“That’s not the issue here, Lil!” Circe’s voice bordered on yelling, “our destination isn’t blocked! We could just leave, but now our mission‘s changed.”

Indeed, after sending the spirits, their job had technically been done, and if the thing that had been locked inside of the town hall had been a normal human, no matter how strong or wicked, there was nothing either of them would have to do, and they could have simply left; however, that was not the case any longer.

Circe took a few steps to the side and removed her scythe from its sheath, the chain was held in the opposite hand of the weapon, and was swung in a small, controlled circle.

“What’s up,” the familiar voice of Tau would speak through both of the reaper’s comm-links.

“Low level Ame Voleur,” she admitted in a-not-so-concerned tone. “Insignia on its armor has an eclipse,” she almost laughed. “That isn’t good, right?”

“An eclipse, really? N-no, that isn’t good at all… Can you--”

“Yeah,” she cut him off and took another few steps to the side, increasing the distance between her and Lilyia, and allowing the younger, weaker of the two monsters to head towards the woman.

“Lilyia,” still composed, Circe spoke to her partner: “This is the other side of our work,” an impish smile appeared over her face.

The smaller of the two figures would increase its speed, but never quite make it to a sprint; it would still reach Lilyia in a matter of seconds, however. The larger one would head for Circe, but was considerably slower in advance.