The beginning

Seth stumbled in front of a Miser hunched over and stopped, gritting his teeth. The Miser sneered and bit its own lip till it bled. "You're a cute thing," Seth mumbled, his heart racing.

Zander aimed his rifle and fired at an older Miser trying to jump the border fence. He took the creature down square in the stomach, sending it flying back into the dust. The creature writhed and got back up, his eyes trained on Zander with both hunger and rage teeming from his expression.
"Remember, aim for the heart, head and legs!" He shouted, hitting the Miser again between the eyes. "Slow them down enough for the others to get to safety!" The soldiers replied in turn by adjusting their aim, firing and hitting only once out of every five shots. Zander ground his teeth as sweat trickled down his forehead. We're too low on morale...this is more than we're used to!

Five listened to the Misers cackle and continue towards his location. They stopped, two of them, and sniffed the air.
"I smell the blooooood of a brooooootherrr," one sang.
"Are you an ally or a foe?"
Five remained silent.
"An ally would have answered-"
"-so that means you're a foe!" The first darted around the corner and swung a massive blade on a long, sturdy staff. Five ducked and the blade ripped through the steal in the wall and left a gash. The Miser was long and tall with skinny limbs and little strength. He had to use his foot to remove the blade from the wall.
Five had enough time to lunge behind him and stab him in the back of the skull. He shrieked and reached for the blade, thick black blood trailing down his back. "You...!" He took Five's dagger and threw it at him, screaming with rage.
The second Miser was normal height and build with long, bone claws. He sneered and swung at Five, scraping his claws down the tunnel wall.
Smirking, Five jumped back with ease. "So, you're the new models? Stupid and ugly. If you're going to attack humans, you should try to blend in."
"Like you?" The long one laughed bitterly. "You're a traitor through and through."
"Actually," Five spoke to the first, "this is my true form. Unlike you, my body doesn't rot and fall of its bones when I don't feed."
"Then." Another sneer from the second. "You're one of the Lost, the misguided children of Satan."
"If you asked me, there isn't a difference between one or the other." Effortlessly, Five flung another blade into the long Miser's eye, tackling the second one as he was distracted by the first's screams. The blade fell from the screaming Miser's fingers, clanking to the floor. Five took his first dagger and plunged it into the neck of the Miser, then stomped it in deeper.
The first came back, swinging blindly while pulling the blade from its eye. Five slowly picked up the weapon and swiftly removed the Miser's head, letting it roll down the tunnel and stop against the wall. Then he turned to the second choking on the ground, and did the same.
"If you get back to Tira with your heads," Five yelled to them while gathering his daggers. "Tell her I said she should know better than to send amateurs to my city."
He flung the blood off the blade and lit a cigarette, walking back towards the surface entrance.

Anna squatted and watched the Misers running towards the camp. "Oh, these are boring Misers. They can't even change form yet. They're just babies."

Athen walked slowly towards the wave of Misers and unsheathed his sword again. He easily sliced a diving Miser in half, letting its corpse fall on each side of him. Another came from his side and he stabbed it through the skull and pulled the sword free, kicking it over and beheading it. These must be a warm up for something bigger.

Cala joined the others a few feet away from the hoard pouring in and pulled her knives free. She tossed three, hitting her mark almost perfectly each time. The Misers fell, but rose again. She aimed for their knees and eyes and unleashed another handful, taking one out and slowing several others.

Soren dashed forward and tripped up a Miser, sending it flying with a well-placed kick from his now-glowing leg. He murmured words of an ancient language as he pushed more of them back, putting strength in both his own and Cala's blows. He set another aflame with a glowing blue light from the end of his staff and shoved it into a twisted drainage pipe protruding from the earth.
They're getting smarter, he noted as he watched the creatures feint and parry blows and dodge gunfire. He also perceived their hesitant reaction to fighting Cala, watching as certain ones sniffed the air around her and paused skeptically before advancing.

Seth hesitated as a Miser charged towards him. He crouched and pulled the little knife free from the strap on his leg, sweaty. A knife flew past him and took the Miser down. He glanced at Cala and bit his lip, charging the fallen Miser and taking out its left leg.

Cala noticed Seth's hesitation and quickly moved to cover him, watching him curiously. Is this his first fight....?

Moa lay on the cement floor, drawing with an ashy rock on the cracked pavement. "Athen is awake!" he yelled, doodling a giant stomping on Tira.

Tira snapped back to reality, pulling her mind away from the eyes of a fighting Miser at the camp. "Yes," she mused, wandering around the room. "He's fighting our friends right now. So are those bothersome Lost. All of them are distracted. As long as they're all wasting time fighting each other, nobody will notice Krios' arrival until it's too late and he is already here..." She stopped next to Moa, frowning at his artwork. "You're terrible at shadowing," she complained, gesturing to the drawing.

"I bet Athen notices. You're not really doing anything." Moa rolled over and looked at his 'boss'. "I mean sending pitifully weak creatures out to attack stupid humans isn't going to stop Athen, Five, or Kallias from sensing Krios. Even if it did, the two halflings will sense him now."
Moa looked thoughtfully at ceiling and then smirked at Tira. "And the girl halfling isn't ugly like you. Maybe Krios will be attracted to her."

Tira collapsed into a fit of giggles. "Krios? Going after that?" She fell back against a pillar and slid down as laughter consumed her.
"Oh, Moa." She finally managed to say, wiping tears from her eyes. "For an incompetent fool, you do have a sense of humor." She stood back up and walked to the window, sighing. "This is only part one of my plan. Thos Misers may be weaklings to us, but to the humans, they're still powerful." She turned back around. "Which means the Lost and Athen will be doing all the work."
She turned to a crimson-robed Miser. "Prepare my altar," she instructed in a strong voice. The Miser bowed deeply and disappeared.

William hung back, but crawled close enough to see the fight. His jaw dropped at the sight of the Misers. N-no way... I'm one of them? But- His eyes darted across the field, falling upon the moving random organs, dancing in unison to the commands of their severed brains. I'm not like that! I'm still human!

Athen stopped, ignoring the threatening hiss of a Miser in the difference. He turned quickly in circles, following a strong magic vibe he couldn't distinguish from Soren's. "There's something else here!" he yelled to the others, running towards the sensation. "It's something big!"

Bion smirked behind his hood and removed himself from the ranks of the bloodied Misers.
Seems I've been discovered. Best to get my goods and make an exit. Don't want too much attention from either side.
The shape-shifter bolted over the remaining Misers and slipped past the hesitant, young halfling.
"I would much rather the company of a woman," he said aloud, but to himself. With that, he took the young halfling by the collar and tossed him like a paper doll. "Don't struggle," he told the woman with a smirk.
With his left hand, he waved his palm inches from her eyes, leaving a trail of shining white light that blocked her vision. With the other hand, he reached out and pulled her against him, putting his cloak over her head before exiting as quickly as he came with the girl.

Cala gasped as the hand waved passed her eyes and blinded her. She collapsed forward against something solid, shocked by the light still. "Soren!" she cried out as her body was lifted from the ground. She could feel herself moving quickly away from the fight.

Seth hit the ground and groaned, the quickly jumped up again. He looked where Cala had been standing and gritted his teeth. "Dammit! Where did he go?!"

Anna shrieked and clutched to Zander. "They're taking the dual souls!" she screamed to no one in particular.

Soren looked up just in time to see the man disappear with Cala in tow. He cursed under his breath and reached a shadow blue-hued hand from the end of his staff towards the two, but the hand retracted mere feet from the man. Powerful defenses, he thought as he strained his power, but to no avail. He growled angrily and sent a group of the Misers flying backward in a hail of flashing blue sparks. "Keep one of them bound here!" He shouted. "This isn't just a random attack!"

Athen ran to the closest Miser and speared him into the dirt, letting him wiggle on the end of his sword. "There's your Miser," he said with a smirk.

Kallias appeared next to Zander, out of breath and wheezing. "Athen! Where's Cala!" he screamed across the void between them. "Don't get separated!"

Zander stumbled from the weight of the girl and regained his aim. "Don't cling to me jid," he growled. He aimed his gun at the retreating figure and fired a shot. The bullet deflected from the two, leaving Zander frowning in disbelief.
He looked up at Kallias as he spoke and continued firing. "They're retreating! Keep them back!"

Five ran passed Kallias and Zander and tackled a Miser retreating and stabbed it in the skull, yanking it's head back and dragging it a few feet to where Athen stood. "What's going on?" he asked, frowning. "They're retreating? Mid attack?"

"Why are you just standing there!?" Seth demanded and started running towards where the mysterious man ran. "He's going to get away!"