Celeste listening in growing horror to Maia's tale of magic gone awry, of her people trapped in monstrous forms. She could not imagine what it was like to live through such a catastrophe, and felt compassion that she was hesitant to convey aside from her worried look and the concern in her voice. She wasn't sure how Maia would take to being touch, to being comforted, and so she only shook her head. "I don't know what that's like. It all sounds horrible, and I can only imagine the things you've seen and felt. I can only offer my sympathy, and my aid. Your father was only able to save you? With more help, might he be able to rescue-"<br/><br/>But before she could continue, Maia had stopped with a warning. Celeste froze in place too, trying to figure out what the other woman had noticed, when the crash of falling stone came from behind them. She gasped, whirling about.<br/><br/>What she'd thought was a dream was fast becoming a nightmare. Two creatures flowed towards them. At first they were a wall of flesh and writhing tentacles, bunched up into an alleyway, but as they entered a courtyard they flattened, spreading across the flagstones like eggs in a pan. Jaws and fangs, pincers and claws, arms and legs, eyes and mouths were scattered across the bodies seemingly at random, as if mocking the rules of physiology. Even as she watched, some of the appendages were absorbed into the greenish-purplish mass, only to be replaced by others.<br/><br/>Battles were not her specialty. Her mouth had gone dry, and her hands shook slightly as she raised her staff. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that the guards had turned about, but were waiting, making no move to advance. The chaos creatures were gaining speed; if they ran, they would be caught before they reached the captain and his men.<br/><br/>What should she do? She could blast them with fire, make the earth erupt in an explosion, call a bolt of lightning from the sky. But had Maia not just finished explaining that her people were changed into beasts, and described the very things now oozing towards them?<br/><br/>"Maia? These things, can we stop them, without hurting them?" she said.<br/>