The Plains

THE PLAINS OF GAIA

DESCRIPTION - LOCATION - CLIMATE

FLORA - FAUNA -

The Gaia Plain is a wide grass land of low, rolling hills and sparse wooded areas, with low population and abundant wildlife, set between the rising mountains to the west and south, and adjacent to the shore line to the east and north. This region has been largely cultivated, road networks run everywhere through it, and it is home to the major cities of Durem and Barton. The most hated annoyance above all within the plains however, is the mercarto fly, a carnivourous flying beetle, that goes about sucking blood from other animals.

• Description:

The grass is about to turn from a dark green to a soft yellow, nothing else is seen for miles upon miles on end. A gentle wind coming from the northwest causes its dance, forms rolling wave after wave and the traveller seems to traverse a golden sea as wide as the ocean looking to the east. Nothing is disturbing the circles of the eagle that is drawing into the sapphir blue sky, no noise other than the booming of the wind in the high grass is heard in the width of the Plains. The sun is setting and its light is reflected in every shiny stalk of the grass, producing an unreal shimmering of the air. Summer has arrived...

The Gaia Plains are known for holding an air of peace, though these plains have seen many wars and battles. Plants of all kinds grow up from the fertile soil, especially grasses that turn the plains a brilliant gold in autumn when the oak leaves are turning scarlet and yellow. Many flowers will bloom across the plain in spring, and winter has been known to leave frozen dew on the ground. The weather is very mild, and yields wonderful crops.

The Plains of Gaia are one of the most lush in all Gaia. Its scene is picturesque: long grasses are waving in the wind from the west where the Sea lies, and gives the air the scent of the ocean. The waves of grasses often show in a verdurous, springtime green that makes the world seem fresh and new, or else a sun-kissed yellow that makes the vast fields seem like a collection of golden talks dancing in the sea-soft wind. The fields are almost clear of all trees, though a few may sprout up from the rich soil, reaching up to touch a great expanse of sky. This scenery most often home for such elegant pastures, where you may find a horse roaming elegantly through the field.

But the Plains are not only full of lazy grasses, but also of crops. Farmers have taken advantage of the fertile soil and used it to make wheat and corn spring up toward the wide skies that look over the Plains. It is truly a farmer�s paradise, what with the gentle winds that will not ripe the seeds from their stalks or pull the fruit from their vines. The weather is almost always fair, and it is not often that snow will fall, though at times during the winter, a light frost will come upon the ground to make each blade of grass seem to shimmer.

But grasses are not all that make up the rural atmosphere of the Gaia Plains. Scattered fields are prone to small 'forests,' or groves, usually only a stral or so in diameter. These small areas of shade provide a comfortable place to rest when the warm sun yields an afternoon nap. Sometimes trees will grow by ones, too, though, and often swings will be made from their strong branches. These trees, usually oak, also provide a wonderful place for children to play, as long as they keep their balance.

The Gaia Plains are known to host a plethora of beautiful flowers. At times the grass may grow so thick that these flowers might be hard to see, but places where the grass yields for the buds and blooms, one can see the colors that the plains may hold. Flowers can often be made into wreaths or tiaras by children, or collected to make the inside of one�s home as beautiful as the world outside.

Pleasant country roads wind throughout the Gaia Plains: paths on which are easy to travel or stroll upon, or even skip if it suits one�s fancy. Paths are not often made of stone, save in the more urban areas where the roads lead to either Barton or Durem but are typically made of golden dust and sand. These roads move like threads in a spider�s web across the plains, leading to most any settlement one might wish to visit. Settlements in the Plains are sparse, mostly occupied by farmers who peddle their wares to either city.

Location:

The Gaia Plains is very popular, both for travel and for settlement, and this is based on the places that surround it. The major port town of Latent lies just northeast of the Plains, which brings many travelers from the south through its borders on their way there. Durem also lies just to the west of the Gaia Plains. There is also the town of Barton north of the Plains, across the river. Commuting between these major towns brings many into the plains, where most are captured by its rural beauty.

The Gaia Plains are also surrounded by many natural places, such as the Sea just to the east. It is this sea that helps the Gaia Plains maintain very mild weather, and brings rain to water the plants that grow here. The river lies just north, and has supplies and means for irrigating crops in the drier regions of the Plains. To the east lie forest surrounding the stadium and the Leviathan Stadium, whose Sky Ring always seems to remain in a lofty ring of clouds. To the south lie the Lakes, which provide another means of irrigation. To the southeast, the Fores spout up from the earth.

The Gaia Plains have three different water sources on three different sides: the Sea to the east, the River to the north, and the Lakes to the south. The water all around the plains have created a very mild climate for the area, yielding cool winters and warm summers. This has thus made for wonderful growing in the area, though the area is prone to some humidity in some places.

Spring will quickly melt the chill of winter away with a full sun and almost cloudless skies, though clouds have been known to wander in from the sea during the morning before being burnt away by the midday sun. Flowers will begin to bloom in this season, making it one of the more colorful seasons. Summers are very cool, and brief rainstorms are not uncommon. They typically help to cool the region off when things are getting a bit too hot, but such storms are not usually harmful to any crops or buildings.

Autumn is one of the most colorful seasons. The chill of this time turns the green leaves gold and crimson and they fall from gray branches into a windswept decent of color. The chill will often nips children�s cheeks red and most of the fruits and vegetables will be harvested up. During the winter, most things will decrease their growing. Snow does not often fall, though frozen dew will sometimes make the ground look as though it had turned a glassy white.

Flora:

The fertile soil of the Gaia Plains lends itself to flourishing growth. The moderate climate with gentle rains and warm weather help produce all kinds of flowers, trees, and grasses all over the fields. The most common is probably the wean grass, also called milk grass, which in itself helps the land, providing a healthy feed for domestic and wild animals, but also in helping to fertilize the soil. Grass also grows here in long slender blades. Both grasses often mingle together, bending under the carefree breezes and turning gold when autumn kisses the plains.

Bushes also grow here, creeping along the ground and hiding heart-shaped fruit among the long grasses. Many have taken up these plant and put it in their gardens, mainly for the charming fruit produced in the summer. It grows commonly all over the plain as a garden plant, and the fruit is often harvested and eaten. They are commonly of a reddish purple hue in this region.

Red and white oak grow in the plains, too, often seen in singularly growing up from a hill or in the center of the plain. Though the oaks produce acorns which they drop in autumn, it is rare to find more than one oak in any one area. Often times they will grow far apart. In the autumn, the red oaks are easy to spot, as their leaves turn a brilliant red.

The northern plain, is outlined on the north by the river, and thus the plain has a lot of water plants growing right off its banks. The reeds growscommonly in and on the shore, as well as waterstars, which often do indeed look like white stars in a dark sky when night falls on the river. The berries of these little plants are often made into an expensive paste.

Because this is the primary plain for crop growing, many fruits, vegetables, and grains are grown here. Wheat is perhaps the most popular of these crop plants. From the harvested grain, bread and pastries can be made. More wheat is produced in the Gaia Plains than anywhere else in Gaia. The small peas this plant produces are also a common harvest crop, alone with peascods. Due to the number of livestock, trees grow commonly around farmlands.

The other part of the plains, known for being a grove area, has quite a few trees growing upon it. Maple is one of the most common, and this tree produces sweet syrup that many have taken to harvesting. Baych trees grow commonly here, too, often growing in little clusters that spout up from the rich soil, and in their shadow grows the delicate allia, whose berries, though poisonous, can be used for dying. Meldarapple trees also grow here with some abundance, often in orchards where their fruit may be collected and sold. Their rich wood, which has a pinkish hue to it, is often used to make furniture.

Depsite the groves that can often hinder a farmer from creating good farmland, there are a few farmers who have managed to make a decent living from growing wheat. Even in the lightly wooded plain, rolling waves of golden wheat can be seen in the autumn.

The last section of the plains is commonly thought of as the horseland, and thus few or no crops are grown here. Often wild plants will spring up from the ripe soil and their peas will be collected and eaten. In spring, the bright colors of their lovely flowers can be spotted through the swaying wean grass upon which the horses feed. Wild meldarapple trees produce fruit that many mares feed upon as treats.

Because this southern plain is lined by the river on the north side, reeds can be found along the northern banks, along with waterstars that float merrily along in the current. For the most part, this plain is just fast reaches of pastures, sometimes spotted with small clusters of flowers.

Fauna:

The Gaia Plains are one of the most fertile areas in all of Gaia, and thus a huge number of animals live here, feeding off the landl. Some animals are region-specific, but others exist in all plains, such as the aelirels, a white bird believed to represent the innocence of children. They are one of the more uplifting animals to see here. Many other birds, such as small finches and quails, also enjoy the open air and fertile floor. The bat can often be seen or heard during the night.

One of the most common reptiles here is the green grass snake, which is, in some places, to be goodluck. The rolling hedgehog also lives here, though most don�t get to see the head of one of these little martens for very long, as they are quick to curl up when the least bit of danger approaches. Rodents find this area something of a paradise. Large populations of field mice dwell here, gorging on the edible grasses. Tareps also find this place to their likings, and the homes of these rabbits can be commonly found (often by accident) all over the fields. The high population of rodents have attracted several foxes here, in particular the red foxes.

The mimsy is a common here, often slinking around during the night to steal little morsels. They also happily feed on the populations of insects. Indeed, quite a few insects, both harmful and benign, live here, in particular the bees, which provide honey to the population, certainly making the Gaia Fields one of the sweeter places to live. The bright little firefly also makes its home here, and many children have taken to catching these little bugs in the summer.

The Gaia Plains are home to a huge population of horses that live here, wild and otherwise. Horses are not the only domestic animal living here, though. Sheep, whose wool is often used to make warm clothing, can often be found grazing in all parts of the fields.

The sparse settlements of the farmers, and thus many of the animals inhabiting the area are livestock, including cows and sheep that graze upon the fertile grasses. No farm is complete without a flock of chickens, though, and even pigs are sometimes kept in barns or stocks. More livestock animals live in theis plain than all the others combined. The barn cat can also be found here. Almost every farmer has at least three barn cats that take up residence within their barns and fields, helping to maintain the field mouse population.

Wild animals also dwell here, though, such as the common ferret, especially those of the bandit variety, though an occasional white ferret can be seen slinking among the fields. Most farmers will kill a ferret on sight, given that these little weasels will happily gobble up all sort of fruits grown by those living here. Throwing hedgehogs, both tame and wild, also live around these parts, helping farmers to maintain the population of biting insects. Many farmers have taken to using these animals to eat biting flies that harass their cows.

Some beautiful deer inhabit this plain where they are no often frightened off by the sound of galloping horse hooves. The starback live happily in this field and the neighboring field. Known for the white, star-like markings on their back, this deer grazes happily near its cousin, the common deer of this plain due to its peaceful atmosphere and open plains. Despite their beauty, most farmers are somewhat biased against deers, as they will often eat their crops.

Large and fairly aggressive birds, also live in these plains. Despite their acts of aggressiveness and being territorial, most farmers don�t mind their presence, as they tend to give a lot of meat when hunted.

The Gaia Plains are known for it�s grooves, where many animals can hide, especially small flies and insects. This gathers a good population of common ferrets, who feed off these little bugs, as well as some of the smaller rodents in the area, such as the tarep and the field mouse. They are also seen near the same area as the starback deer, who lives happily in the protective groves of this field.

The cuuloo bird is also seen, rather easily, around these parts. Their bright plumage often gives them away, both to hunters and to predatory animals. Many farmers in this area, however, have taken to raising the cuuloo�s as a sort of livestock, using their bright feathers for decoration. The many prey-animals in this area, as well as the undergrowth in which a predator can easily hide, have attracted a few packs of wolves to the area.

Resources:

The Gaia Plains are among the most fertile lands in the whole of Gaia. The soil is moist and rich with minerals that make plants grow strong and healthy, as well as rather fast. The air is soft and moist, often coming from the east, from the ocean. The sun is almost perennially shining above, yielding only to the gentle rain clouds that supply the lush fields and valleys and groves with water to help them grow. The richness of this place yields a plethora of agricultural resources.

Many crops grow here among the kind sun and fertile soil. Wheat is probably the largest export for the Gaia Plains. Thousands of wheat are produced every year from hundreds of wheat fields all across the plains. Fruits and vegetables are also produced here by the bushel.

But there are also a lot of livestock here. The farmers who grow wheat also sometimes keep many barnyard animals, including goats, sheep, cows, pigs, and chickens all of which lend themselves to a good amount of meat and animal products. They say that there is no milk sweeter than that of an Gaian Cow, and no pork thicker. Hundreds upon hundreds of eggs go to market everyday, and fresh milk is easy to get. The meat is delicious, with plenty of seasons to add into the roasting of it.

Axel shielded his face from the bright light that assaulted him, having just awakened and needing a little time for his eyes to adjust. The plains were just as he remembered them when he had drifted off to sleep, alabeit a bit less populated, and he decided that now was as good a time as ever to keep moving. He smiled grimly, wondering how much things had changed, if his old friends were around, or even if the same sites still existed. Relax, buddy, relax... you're good at finding people. Might have the world's worst sense of direction, but you can find 'em sooner or later. Hell, maybe even meet a few new people.

He stopped at a peculiarly placed roadsign. No telling how much further it was to Barton... it could take quite a while. It wasn't even in sight yet. But according to the road sign, there was a town somewhat nearby... many of the merchants seemed to be heading there.

"Aye, Latent. Yeh might want teh take a stop thar," said a merchant he had questioned about it. "Get yer'self a good shave, a bath, and some new clothes. And some food, too. You look like yeh'v been through hell." Axel thanked the man kindly, keeping his comments to himself. Well, he decided, it couldn't hurt to take a stop by. He WAS rather hungry... stretching out his shoulders, he took a detour towards the Merchant Town....

The pony was a nice enough animal, and really Musset was quite happy for the company but sometimes it just annoyed the heck out of her� Like now, when the animal had decided to try nibbling at her hair again, instead of all the abundant grass that was well within reach. Of course Muse knew that the pony just wanted an apple or a handful of the sweet grain from out of the saddle bags, but the little girl was not ready to stop for the night yet and the pony knew that would be when it got a treat.

She pushed the animal�s muzzle away again and muttered at it to stop before she stooped to gently pull the tall grass away from the thrush�s nest that she had noticed, smiling to herself at the shiny eggs tucked into a nest of dry grasses and feathers, it was late in the season for the eggs but it was always nice to see other signs of life out here on the plain.

She carefully let the grass go and hauled herself back into the saddle once more groaning at all the jumping that she had to do just to get back up on the pony, he was a short animal, but his back was still almost a full head higher than the top of her own.

Musset would never have even accepted the animal from the farmer on the edge of the plains except that in some places the grass was a good foot taller than she was! Patting the pony�s neck again she settled herself in the saddle and clicked at the animal to head out the way they had been going before she decided to stretch her legs. She tugged at her shirt and frowned a bit to herself, it had fit just fine before she set out on her little trek, but she was going through another �growth spurt� and the shirt was showing a good inch of her midriff now.

Musset had no illusions that she would ever be tall, but she really was surprised to realize that she was now over three and a half feet tall, she had to almost be as tall as Rellis now, and that thought brought a little smile to her face as she tapped her heals to the pony�s sides to urge the small horse on a bit faster� heck she could easily run faster than he was plodding along now, and she wanted to reach that nice looking hill in the distance before it got too late to find a bit of fire wood for the night.

The pony grunted a bit but picked up his pace, showing that he did have a bit of intelligence even though he was lazy, for he knew that he would get his treat just as soon as she decided to stop for the night!

Musset had been out on her own for a few months now, exploring this would now that she knew she was not going back to her own. She still missed Rellis with all of her heart but Musset was finding Gaia to be an amazing place, and in some ways a heck of a lot safer than The Cleft had been. She had seen the Sea, and ventured for a bit at the base of the mountain range and now she was on he way back home, having decided to cross the great plains to reach the stadium and then Durem and Nedy� Nedy, her adopted mother, she had run out on the woman without so much as a good bye and the little girl felt quite bad at that, but in her own mind she was old enough to be out on her own and she needed to show herself that she could in fact take care of herself when she needed too!

Muse smiled to herself and urged the pony on a bit faster, eager to get to the hill and see what tomorrow held for her�.

Muse tied the lead off to a stout tree and let the pony graze a bit more as she wandered into a slightly thicker area of the woods, managing to find some berries and a few acorns, thinking of roasting them with her dinner for the night she filled her pockets, careful not to disturb all the bumble bees that she saw.

Returning to the pony and pulling out her stores she carefully packed away the berries in a plastic bag and wrapped the acorns in a piece of newsprint. Muse decided to check how her supplies were doing, pulling everything out of the one saddle bag and placing it on the ground. She was happy to see that nothing was so low that she would have to look for a farmer to try and barter with. Musset looked at three small empty plastic containers and tried to recall what had been in them as a bumble bee landed on her bag full of sugar. “Wow, there sure are a lot of you in here… I wonder if there is a hive in these woods of yours.”

Musset looked a tad surprised and then licked her lips as it suddenly occurred to her, where there was a hive, there would be honey…. and she did have empty containers after all. The Bees shurly would not miss just a little honey, and it would be grand to have some for her tea, and she could make pancakes too…

Musset was happily humming to herself as she picked up the medium sized container of the three and checked her pocket to be sure she had her lighter on her as she headed back into the woods where she had seen the most bees around the berry bushes, hopping that she could follow them to the hive.

It did not take the little girl long to find it now that she had thought to look, the bee hive was nestled in the hollowed out area of a huge old oak tree, only a good ten feet off the ground and with plenty of good branches to climb up on. Musset grabbed a long piece of dead fall and wrapped dry leaves and long fresh grass around the end before she pulled a bandana up around her mouth and nose and started to slowly climb the tree.

This close to the hive Muse had to be really careful not to bump into any of the bees, and she had to stay away from the actual entrance of the hive. That area of the tree was almost crawling with bees. Sitting out on a limb, a good three feet away from the hive entrance Musset lit her torch and was satisfied when the leaves caught but the grass started to smolder and the entire thing was letting off a ton of smoke, but there were no leaping flames.

She held her smoking branch out in front of the hive and watched in satisfaction as the bees stopped going into the hive and the ones inside all stopped flying around franticly, as the smoke made them lethargic. Licking her lips again she slowly moved down her branch to the trunk, careful to keep the smoking torch right in front of the hive entrance. The tiny girl pulled a piece of string out of her pocket and used it to tie the torch onto the branch so that she could have both hands free, glad that there was no wind now as she pulled out one of her knives from the hidden bandoleer under her shirt and the plastic container from her pocket again.

Muse looked into the hive very carefully, glad that she was wearing her ridding gloves still and the jacket as several bees flew fast her face. Hugging her branch between her legs the little girl leaned around the trunk and quickly spotted the combs of the hive, covered in wax to keep the honey from the air. She was a bit sad that she had to damage the hive to get what she wanted but the plan was too far along now for the little girl to give up as she quickly stabbed her knife into the honey comb and cut out a square, the liquid oozing along the blade as she worked.

Using the blade to break off the section that she had cut was harder and she noticed the sweat rolling down her forehead even as the bees became more agitated... the smoke was thinning and she realized that she was quickly running out of time. A little laugh of satisfaction was all she had time for as her broken piece of comb came out and she dropped it into the container and quickly sealed it shut to keep out the dirt. Her gloves and bade covered in honey.

Muse tried to swat a bee away from her face but realized that her sticky gloves were not going to help in that as she settled herself against the branch again and looked to see the torch smolder a bit more before a sudden gust of wind blew the thin line of smoke out away from the tree. Snatching the branch she screamed a bit as several bees suddenly swarmed in towards the hive and a very angry buzz could now be heard from within the tree.

Eyes wide, Musset quickly started to shuffle away from the trunk so that she could hop down and away from the tree. She managed to get to within six feet of the ground as a swarm of bees angrily flew out of the trunk of the tree and hovered all about. With a little shriek of fear the little girl looked to the ground and jumped as the bees started to head down the tree towards her.

Whimpering as she landed hard on the balls of her feet, feeling the shock all the way through her legs she took off at a dead run as several bees angrily flew around her face.

She had to get away from them, and at first she headed towards where she had left the pony but then she realized that would not work. The animal was tied up, and she still had her saddle bags on the ground… Musset suddenly turned directions again with a shriek as she felt the sharp pain of a bee sting on her wrist, the little thing had managed to get between her coat and her glove and with a valiant effort to get revenge for the damage to the hive he had killed himself to cause her some pain.

Not even realizing that she was crying the little girl was dashing headlong through the woods, knowing that she was leaving the bees behind her but still aware of the fact that smelling of honey as she did they would find her again easily.

The pond!

Musset screamed again as she ran straight for the deep pool, leaping off the same rock that she had sat on earlier to launch herself into the shockingly cold water she made a tremendous splash as she went under.

The shock of the cold water was almost enough to make the little girl scream again and try to jump right out of the poll, but remembering the bees she stayed under the water and grabbed some of the green plants from the bottom of the pool and quickly scrubbed at her ridding gloves.

Feeling her lungs start to burn she slowly let herself go back to the surface popping up quickly at first, her short hair covering her eyes as she gasped for another breath of air and ducked back down. Musset scrubbed her bangs back as she rose to the surface again so that she could see and with teeth chattering she was quite relived not to spot a swarm of angry bees anywhere near the pool.

Two strokes took her to the bank where she could touch ground again and shivering she scrubbed at her gloves and knife in the dirt to be certain that she had gotten all the honey off of both before she dragged herself out of the pool and slogged back towards where she had left the pony, careful to take the longest way away from the hive that she could.

Still shivering, her black hair plastered to her head and neck, her clothed dripping water and her shoes squelching with every step Muse looked the pony in the eyes as hr stopped his greedy munching on the tender leaves of a bush to look at her perplexed. “Not one word… don’t even think it, let’s just go. The sun will dry me off in no time at all.”

Scowling at the pony as if she expected him to make fun of her she pulled her prize from her pocket and was very pleased to find that the water had not leaked into the container and her chunk of honey comb was safe as she tucked it away with the rest of her food stuffs.

Tossing the saddle bags back up on the pony’s rump she hopped up onto the saddle once more and tugged his lead reign loose before tapping her heals to his sides. “Let’s go... still too many things to see before the sun sets…”

"Heh, normally my group won't attack alone people, but you've got a pretty weapon there," says a tall, slender male holding a bow.

"Should be more dan dat, mon," Skarburn replies.

"Well, we were all getting antsy waiting around for something to come around," explaining bluntly. He crouches down and looks at Skarburn, the bow leaning on his shoulder. "So are you going to give us the weapon, or do we have to play rough?"

"Go figure," Skarburns says, as he pulls the pole and stabs the bandit in the face with the pole.

The Bandit falls back, holding his nose in pain. A small volley of arrows rain down upon Skarburn, but all except one misses. The exception merely stuck itself in the chain shirt Skarburn was wearing.

"You b*****d!" the bandit yells out, blood flowing down his mouth.

Skarburn jumps up onto his remaining leg and balances, using the pole as a walking staff.

"Fella's!" the bandit yells to the trees. "This one's mine!" he growls, full of vengence.

"Humility is the greatest lesson you'll ever learn, mon," Skarburn says, quoting his chieftain.

"Whatever," the bandit says, drawing his sword and swiping at Skarburn.

Skarburn blocks with the pole, and the sword makes a deep cut into the wood.

Skarburn lunges his weight forward, pushing the bandit backwards. The bandit pirouette's and gently slices across Skarburns neck.

Skarburn attempts to stop his fall with the pole, but hits a rock on the ground, dropping him like a tree.

"Guess it's over now, infection," the Bandit says Ravenously as he raises his sword for the final strike.

"Not yet," Skarburn says and quickly clutches the most vulnerable area men know of.

The Bandit screams like a Banshee, put simply.

A small flock of birds fly off from the trees, frightened from the shrill cry.

"Now. What's ya choice, mon?" Skarburn questions, keeping his firm grasp as the Bandit curls up into the Foetal position.

Skarburn tries to sit up, placing the pole on the ground. He looks at his sore leg.

The arrow sits straight through his lower calf.

Skarburn snaps snaps the pointed end of the arrow with one hand before yanking it back from where it entered.

"Call it," Skarburn says to him, threatening with the Blood soaked, broken arrow in his face.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" the bandit attempts to scream out, his voice distorted by the pain and his fear.

Fantastic Skarburn thinks.

He lets go of the bandit and hobbles down the road, trying to get away as quickly as possible. Skarburn's forgets the pole, realising he needs something more deadly. Leaving it where it is, he reaches for his halberd and uses the haft as a walking stick.

Musset squeaked as she urged the pony faster still and again had to adjust her stance to keep her feet, his gait bouncing her so that she had to keep her knees bent to keep from falling on her head� Although the idea of jumping off his back was becoming more and more interesting by the moment as the pony trotted around in the circle of grass, his ears swiveled back to listen for another signal from the little girl that he should go faster still.

Okay, she figured that she had the hang of this now� and there was no way that she was going to try and get the pony into a full gallop while standing on his back . Clutching the reigns tightly in her left hand she kept him at a trot and jumped up slightly eyes going wide as the wind of their passing whipped through her short black hair, and butterflies danced wildly in her stomach even after her bare feet touched back down on the saddle, slipping slightly as she wobbled again in trying to keep her balance.

A grin spread across the little girl�s face as she laughed happily even though the pony looked like he was going to have a fit trying to figure out what the heck his rider was doing bouncing around on his back like that!

Grinning she jumped up again, the same butterflies dancing wildly in her stomach as she tried kicking up her heels a bit more so that anyone looking would have seen a good foot or two of open air between the girl and the saddle as Musset really began to enjoy her new tricks!

With a little bounce she slipped back into her seat on the saddle grunting a bit as she realized that at a trot her butt hit the saddle quite hard. . Muse reined the pony back in to a walk and twisted in the saddle to pull a rather limp looking carrot out of her saddle bags for the pony. �Thanks, you did great!� She patted his neck and held the carrot out for him as he turned his head to happily munch back the treat.

Letting him pick his own pace again the little girl put her shoes back on as they plodded back towards the road. �We should work on our commands some more� Well I guess that I should get some more treats for you if I plan to teach you more tricks.�

A bit sadly she turned his head towards the town the small pair heading down the road towards civilization once more.

Evan White- a seemingly young man who had his part-time home and training grounds, the Leviathan Stadium, destroyed. Yet again, another megalomaniac had to wipe the grounds clean of any life... well, what life was left inside anyways. So he had to pick a new place to train.

Though the Gaian Plains were not the most ideal place, due to the people who came through almost constantly, it was perfectly still this afternoon. The grass swayed in the wind, giving the entire field the illusion of water instead of the usual earth. It was almost.. hypnotizing. Well, it would have been if he had his eyes open.

But for the moment, he was meditating, as he usually did.

Hmm? What the...

BOOM

He was knocked over by someone who decided to intrude on his session, and quite rudely at that. However, rudeness can be forgiven. He didn't know that anyone was out here, nor would be out here for a while. The rather interesting thing was that he didn't detect him in his area of influence until the last second...

And just as soon as the thought passed through his head, he saw him reach for the hilt of what looked like a rapier.

His body calmed itself- he wasn't about to let this guy ruin his day.

"Sorry- I didn't know anyone was gonna be out here."

His tone was friendly... but his eyes were watchful. If the guy noticed anything, it would be the intricately-designed silver and black gauntlets along with a matching pair of greaves. While showy, these did serve their purpose...

Fool... fine then.

Evan sighed. He agreed with Hugin- the immortal that shared a mind with him was usually right. This guy was the rude one- he didn't even accept his apology- much less give him time to explain who he was or why he was out here. Well, whatever. It came down to this anyways.

"Accepted."

He casually stood in the at ease position, his hands behind his back and his legs at shoulder width. Back straight, eyes forward and staring directly at the opponent. It was always go time in the end, wasn't it?

"Come at me."

Clever, that.

Still, he was watchful. The feint didn't bother him much, though he was remarkably fast. One who had two swords had more attack options, sure enough. But one with one, or even no weapon, had a bit more freedom of movement and access to agile manuvers.

So it shouldn't have been a surprise when Evan casually lifted his right leg, and turned it just so-

CLANG

Metal hit metal.

In the meantime, his left arm snapped from behind his back in a blur- a snake coming out from the proverbial grass to strike-

CLANG

Parried.

Perhaps this would not be such a pushover.

((Yup, you guessed it. Sorry that I wasn't more verbose.))

Now, this was interesting. One arm and one leg were busy, and now he had a foot coming towards him. On top of that, the swords that he held at bay were starting to increase the pressure. It was near-impossible to catch the other foot with the other hand, though it was now out and free...

Then again, he wouldn't have to.

As his feet shifted and broke rhythm, Evan figured (quite quickly) that it was a minor, slight opening. A broken rhythm, whether on purpose or by something on the defender's part, was a break, period.

Thus, as the kick came forward and the swords pressed inward, he shoved his right hand forwards. All that tension that was being forced through his body was about to be used against the assailant... and a blast of compressed air slammed forwards.

However... it was a bit late. The attack got off, but at the same moment the heel of Kell's right foot slammed into his gut and knocked him off balance. The only question was... did it work?

One didn't have to be a fighter to know that it was not quite all that easy to regain one's balance at this rate. However, he did so... as he landed on his back, Evan planted his hands on the ground and used them to shift the rest of his momentum into a backwards roll. He was in a crouching position by the time he was done..

And his eyes snapped open.

They were indigo.

"Go."

As if that were a cue, he shot forwards at a much greater speed, and almost at the same time of his opponent. The reason for this sudden burst of agility was simple- the wind was at his back. He was manipulating it to move him forward, in the manuver called the Gale Shift. Within his area of effect, he could feel the movement of the sword as it flew end over end towards his right thigh.

Thank you...

He quickly closed his arms like a trap, catching the sword in between his hands. Fortunately, this risky gamble paid off- he grasped it by the flat of the blade instead of the edge.

...For one of your weapons.

And then, he found himself in a dilemma- the weighted end of Kell's cape. His opponent was using it like a bull whip, and he was just inside its range. There was only enough time to flip the weapon around and catch it with his left hand...

WHAM

Evan- no, Hugin- was knocked sideways. However, though the pain certainly rang through his body, he had been through a lot worse. He didn't just shrug it off- hell, he couldn't. But he could use that pain- it sounds odd, but he did use it. Everything was energy to be used in the end, after all.

As he got whacked with the weighted end and was darting off in one direction- his left side, he slowed his path through the air by increasing the density of the atmosphere- it was a buffer that was about four feet away.

Thus, he promptly landed on his feet and assumed a fencing position only a moment later. He was turned to the side- left hand on left hip, right leg forward and weapon pointed casually at an upwards angle towards his opponent.

He would have to be careful of that cape this time.

The man was a veritable treasure trove of moves and strategies- but it would be quite interesting this time. Sword was going for his weapon arm- the tip of it was aiming to saw through the skin as it vibrated. Meanwhile, he had to keep an eye on the cape- it was being used as well.

Quickly, he hopped backwards and to his right, rotating his right wrist in an attempt to catch the blade with a circular parry before it ate his arm alive. As for the cape- well, if this simple evasion was successful, the weighted end would effectively be on the ground instead of on him, and Kell would be temporarily blinded.

It would, if nothing else, buy the Raven some time.

So he could fight blind, could he? Interesting.

But a strike with the sheath wasn't exactly enough- easily countered. Hugin casually blocked the attack with his left forearm, the gauntlet catching the saya and effectively slowling its path before said same forearm pushed it to the outside in a parry.

Enough foolishness.

Being blind worked two ways, that it did... and at this rate and this low stance, it wouldn't be that fun if say... he got kicked. Turning to the right- in order to keep the pressure on the opposing rapier- Hugin chambered his left leg... and shot it forward as if his leg were the firepower for a goddamn cannon.

The target- what was supposed to be Kell's head. If it connected, he would lose his advantage, be in real pain, and be knocked dizzy for a bit. And that's an understatement, seeing as a side thrust kick at this range was very painful...

How damned irritating...

The cloak had almost wrapped around his leg... almost. But the side thrust kick was designed to attack and retreat quickly- a power move that was meant to be a quick but painful stab instead of a killing blow. As it retreated, the sweep came. There was one simple way to settle this problem...

Because the left leg that was pulled up was a stance in its own right... Crane Stance. A stance that was not only capable of the sheer power of the legs, but if used properly, advanced aerial manuvers as well. The leg that came sweeping towards his would suddenly find no purchase as Hugin bent his supporting leg and jumped into a forward sault, tucking his legs in as he sailed through the air.

Coincidentally- if this worked, that was... the thrust that was meant for his right hip would sail clean underneath him.

Of course, one had to take into account the area of influence that Hugin had around him. He could sense an attack coming from anywhere within a fifteen-foot radius- one that was so close was hard to miss.

Indeed, his abilities did help in a way- it would be odd however if one thought about it. The attack was definitely going to be an overswing if it didn't connect- this could be the chance he had been waiting for... no, it wasn't even that. This was the opportunity he was waiting for. The cloak in a risky position, the sword in a situation where it would be hard to recalculate the path, or at least a minor annoyance...

While his back was turned, his head was down, and his legs were tucked in... no one really mentioned his arms, did they? Not really. They weren't exactly hugging his knees- they were pretty much free to move. And move they did- his left one anyways.

It shoved downwards... and the downward force of the air pushed him upwards, just enough to have the razor edge of the blade miss the palm of his hand! Damn, he was persistant, this one!

But it was going to be over soon enough as Hugin came out of his sault and landed hard on his opponent's cloak. With a clean, quick, precise stroke of his blade...

RRRRRIP

Satisfying sound indeed.

And it happened anyways.

His legs were pulled from under him- legs up, back down, and falling. And yet another power move, save for the fact that this time he was sure it would hit. At least, he was sure.

But the Raven of Thought was not about to die on this forgotten plain, beaten by this rude being who decided that a mere accident was reason for attack. He was pissed now- but he wouldn't show it with words or emotion.

Take this, then!

As he fell, a hand shot forward. The man would suddenly find himself stopped in his tracks... by the very air itself. He had condensed the air pressure around Kell to create a damned prison- one which he could move at will. As he hit the ground with his back, he winced slightly and hissed in pain- he'd be all right, though.

This guy wouldn't.

"Hn... You are an irritating one."

He began to stand up. Irritating wasn't the word for it- rude and slightly off-kilter were two he would pick, not to mention overreactive. Heck, he could pick worse words, but he didn't. He simply looked at him with those surprisingly cold eyes and walked towards him as he spoke.

"Now, we try this again... please forgive me for not checking if anyone was going to be out on this plain today, at the same day that I was casually training. Far be it from me to intrude on your little world, where apparently an accident is a cause for a duel to the death. After all, there could not be worse things that could be done to one's honor, correct?"

His voice was dripping with sarcasm and indignation. He was just about ready to spear the guy with his own rapier, but he would give him the chance to regain what... "honor" he had lost, if he had any. But on one condition...

"The cape... a quite interesting weapon. But now, you will fight on even ground. If this is to be a duel to the death, then we will decide this by the sword, and nothing else. Am... I... clear?"

He was in his face now- his barely suppressed anger almost showing its colors. This would end his way, and it would end now.

Muse had the pony at a trot again as she happily headed off the plains towards Durem, intent simply on restocking her supplies and perhaps getting the pony�s shoes checked.

Something was drawing her today, a strange tingling feeling in the back of her head that the child had come to associate with either trouble or the kind of fun that grown ups were always scolding her for .

The little girl leaned back in the saddle and at the silent command the pony slowed to a fast walk as Musset scrambled to stand on the back of the saddle, proud that she hardly even wobbled at all doing that now as something in the distance caught her attention. A flash of light was what drew her attention at first, but it was the visible aura of power about the two small figures in the distance that led Muse to believe she had found what had given her the urge to come in this direction!

The little girl slipped her footing so that she could slide back into the saddle and leaned forwards with a click of her tongue to the pony as a signal for him to speed up as she headed in closer to see what was up.

People out on the plain was not something that the child had encountered very often, and so she was very surprised when she was close enough to see that she recognized one of the two men. Muse reigned in the pony and sat back to contemplate the situation. She was still a good thirty feet away from Evan and the other man, and she considered it a safe distance for the moment.

�Interesting to see Mr. Evan out here Greedy� very interesting�� The little girl sat back in her saddle talking absently to the pony and waited to see what would happen.

"I hope you aren't always this concerned about a fair fight." Kellindel said at length, regarding his opponent with naught but more contempt than he had when trapped.

"Because if you are, then the intelligent fighters who aren't will pick you apart." As he spoke, he removed the top of his ruined cloak from around his neck with his free hand. "Assuming you last through this." A small smirk formed on his face as he stepped away from his opponent, putting his sword-wielding side forward.

With that, he dashed toward his opponent once more, closing the short distance between them in the blink of an eye. It ended quite quickly as he slammed his right foot into the ground, the hand on the same side extending, sending the point of his sword toward his opponents chest. A simple, straight thrust.

So much for traditional fencing.

Kellindel dug the toe of his back foot into the ground as he saw his opponent begin to shift his weight and pushed off, turning on his heel just in time to meet the two strikes. His hand was quite a bit faster than his body, however. Before he had even turned, his sword had struck his opponents blade, angling itself to force blade out wide or nowhere at all. He chose to cut back in from the other direction, however. This gave him a bit of time to reposition his own weapon for his next attack. Again he parried, halting the cut with what was near the base of his blade.

Now that he was repositioned and his opponents attack thwarted, he moved in for his own strike. The crosspiece of his sword being a perpendicular bar rather than the usual cup, it allowed him to use some rather unique techniques. A flick of his wrist and a subtle lift of his arm lowered his blade, almost leveling it but halting when the point of the weapon was aimed roughly at his opponents collar. Twisting his wrist, lifted his arm further as if trying to throw his opponents weapon off his own. Instead, the weapon leveled off and he stepped forward, stabbing inward toward his opponents chest, leaning his own body into the thrust to add to its strength.

All this occured in less than a second, the force of his thrust causing his opponents weapon (if pressure was still being applied) to slide down the edge of his sword and lock into the joint between his crosspiece and blade. From this point his opponent could either disengage and attempt to bring his weapon around his opponents to slap it away, or attempt to push the point of his enemies blade away in a battle of strengths at a great disadvantage due to leverage at the current position the blades held. Or at least thats what most of his opponents had tried so far. Perhaps he might learn something new from this fellow.

He simply continued his movement, stepping forward with his thrust and away from the kick while continuing with the downward movement and falling to one knee. Just as quickly, he looked over his shoulder, snapping his left foot outward at the knee of Evan's supporting leg.

His sword reemerged from behind him almost instantly, clutched in a reverse hold behind his back to defend against counter attack as he twisted back with the movement of his kick to face his opponent.

Thought it was a straight kick, his body moved as once might expect of a sweep to turn and add extra force to the blow. As such, his sword was still in a position to parry when his leg came in line for the attack. But the awkward position made his defensive manuever rather difficult. As such, the blade bit into his flesh before his own pushed it away from the leg and let it finish Evan's thrust toward the ground out wide. A hiss of pain and the sudden appearance of blood were the only indications he had even been hurt.

His own blade stabbing into the ground, still standing vertically to act as a barrier for Evan's own, he pushed off the pommel of the blade, almost appearing to use it as a cane. The earth gave slightly under the weapon, but in the space of a moment he was on his feet again, his left foot having already turned and retracted back in from its kick for a slightly different attack. Stomping on Evan's forward leg.

But he wasn't done there. Only a fool would give up a chance to attack an enemy in so vulnerable position. Whether or not he made contact with his left foot, his right would instantly snap forward the moment it touched down, kicking not unlike a soccer player shooting for a goal. Only in this case, the ball was replaced by Evan's head. Should his initial step make contact, moving away from the next would be quite the difficult feat.

How his opponent had managed to get to his feet from the splits faster than Kellindel had managed to rise from a crouch was rather confusing. Nevertheless, he had a bit of an issue to deal with, falling backward from his opponents rather straightforward shove. If his opponent really thought that would be enough to drop him, he had another thing coming.

He did indeed begin to tilt backward, his supprting leg lost its footing and it appeared as if he would fall. Until his lower leg shot out, effectively making him perform a dropkick aimed directly at Evan's abdomen.

Meanwhile, the muscles of his sword arm tensed and moved, pushing his left side upward and effectively corkscrewing his now horizontal body. Though the movement in itself helped little in halting his fall it performed two useful tasks. First is that it would twist his kick once it had made contact and the second is that it absorbed his kinetic energy and gave him enough time to put his foot back under him, allowing him just enough time to land on his feet at which point he would quickly free the weapon from the ground.

Clang!

Three. Wait...

Clang! Clang!

Four. Five. Yes, there was definitely a pattern here.

How completely direct of him. Perhaps his opponent was becoming aggravated? He could only hope kicking the same spot as his initial attack had caused some damage. It was a bit surprising that the guy had taken it in stride the first time, but hitting the same spot twice must've really hurt.

His opponent's sword dived at his vitals yet again, as it had since the beginning of this flurry of attacks. He grinned at his own thoughts as his left hand flashed downward.

"Ow!" He grunted, his distraction not entirely taking the bite out of the cold steel digging into his hand. Easily not one of the worst injuries he had recieved, he took the pain in stride.

As his left hand grabbed his enemies blade, his sword had moved from its predictable pattern of defense to cut not at the blade of his enemy, but the wrist of the hand wielding it. He was tired of this fight. He wanted to finish it. But most of all he wanted his ******** sword back. Having no inclination to release his enemies blade, it was either lose the weapon or lose his hand. Though his enemy always had his other hand, blocking a cut with flesh was a bit different than halting a thrust.

Again, he wasn't quite sure how his opponent had managed to put his leg up between them before he could finished his cut seeing as how he had been able to keep up with his opponents swordwork and again he wasn't going to let it stop him.

As boot clanged off steel, he stepped to the side and twisted inward toward his opponent, bringing his body between his opponents legs and almost shouldering his thigh into his chest. He held onto the blade, but it didn't matter considering where both were going to move in just a moment.

Backing up, his left foot sliding next to that of his opponents stabalizing leg, he snatched the wrist of his opponents sword-weilding arm. The same wrist he had been unwilling to move so that he might hold his weapon. Well ******** weapons. That had been the singular thought running through his head when he dropped his sword so that he might have a free hand to grapple his enemy.

Now, with both hands, he yanked downward and forward, heaving his entire frame into his shoulder throw. His opponent didn't have the leverage or distance for a strong kick in his position, only one leg on the ground so no possibility of him using positioning to halt the throw. He was far to close for swordwork to be of any use and he was holding his enemies blade anyway. If he punched him, well then he'd take it.

So in the same movement he had seen Judo-users perform so frequently, sometimes even on himself, he used his body as a fulcrum to throw Evan over himself. All the observation paid off, it appeared. Unless extenuating factors interfered it would be a textbook throw, his laying his enemy out on his back in front of him.

Except for one minor detail. His dropped sword wasn't exactly far from reach. A small length of cord, the neck of his cloak acted as a tether between the handle and his wrist, keeping it within inches of his hand. A single flick of his wrist brought it back into his grasp as his enemy flew under him, rolling over his back so as to be completely unaware, not that it would matter. No magic, right? He grinned as he stabbed upward at his falling opponents back, not so much even aiming or striking as pointing it toward the center of Evan's back as he let gravity do the rest.

BOOM

Said red rocket slammed into Hugin and sent him roughly four feet through the air. Whatever that was, it wasn''t in the fight. He certainly had enough stupidity for one day... time to release his self imposed lock on his abilities. Sure, they were locked by his word alone, but he was now given free reign to use them.

As he was headed towards the ground, he formed a cushion of air pressure undernteath him, acting as a sort of dampener of sorts. He was now hovering about three inches from his landing point- and a hard landing it would have been, too. He allowed himself to fall a moment later, and looked at the man who had crashed into him.

He figured that this one was just as rude... had it not been for the fact that he had just been spared. He was willing to forgive once, had it not been for Kell''s irreprehensible actions. He would forgive this one too- the man had missed his intended target by a mile, but it was no real harm done.

No matter how much it hurt...

Muse nearly fell off the back of the pony as the frightened animal reared and tossed his head trying to run away from the craziness only a short distance in front of them, the little girl clinging to his back and yelling at him to calm down.

Hugin sighed to himself. This guy was drunk as hell- he wasn't about to do much of anything but let him pass. But he did spare Kellindel a look of mingled pity and understanding. Hell, this was the guy he was running from?

I pity you, actually... Like I said, there are fates worse than death.

He couldn't help but smile to himself when his back was turned to the two of them again. That, truthfully, was funny.

Then, he noticed he was being watched by someone else.

He looked towards Musset... and something clicked.

That girl...

He walked towards her.

"Interesting wasn't what I'd call it... the guy was being rude, and wanted to put up a fight for something that didn't really matter in the first place. But whatever- you've gotten bigger."

Interesting... when did he change personas? While he was walking towards her, of course. Hugin could not let Musset discover him just yet. He had to observe what she was capable of before making any final decisions. Time was running short- he could feel it. But- this was quite frustrating- he would have to wait.

"So then, what's been going on lately?"

"Yeah, funny. I haven't seen you in quite a while. 'S not good to wander all the time, though. People that you care for might be in trouble if you do. Still, it's fun all the same."

He shrugged and smiled. He wouldn't entirely tell her that it was fate- not until he was entirely sure, anyways. Life swung a certain way sometimes, and one had to go with it, although he or she didn't know where it ended. In any case, he would simply have to let her run her course- because he didn't know what to do with her.

There was one option... but he would save it for later.

"Anyways, seeing as you're wandering, I may as well join you."

"Now... did I say that you were a little girl, or did I ask to come along? Never assume anything of anyone. Then again, we don't really know each other... so I wouldn't be too surprised if you assumed plenty about me."

He shrugged and smiled. He would come with her, sure enough. Besides, he was headed back to Durem after that little... incident anyways.

"In any event, I'd love to come along. Of course, I'll just have to take my own little way- I'm not that sure that Greedy can take two people."

Ramiel walked across the Gaia Plains. A light rain fell on his body as he moved across the fields full of tall grasses. It seemed that Latent was not a good place to be at the moment, so he'd gotten out. It was rather simple for him to do. He'd found a back alleyway away from people and or ghouls, and transformed into one of his dragon forms. He'd then jumped and flew off into the sky, easily leaving the city and climbing into the cloud layer before he could be seen. He'd flown to the southeast since his nose had told him that this area was mostly populated by animals, and not people or ghouls.

That was nearly a week ago, and he'd lived mainly by eating edible plants and killing what food he could to survive. Shelter was hard to come by, but he'd managed to compensate for this by going into a dragon form and letting the thick hide take the punishment from the elements. He was thinking of how best to gather information about his target, the one called Madison, when the winds suddenly blew a scent towards his nose. It carried the smell of forrest trees, and oddly enough, the smell of dragon...

Two distinctly different dragon scents, along with something terribly familiar... This, he decided, was worth checking out. He lifted his False Ragnarok and hefted it up and into its shieth on his back. After brushing away the moisture that had collected on his face and hair, he then began to walk towards the smell. Little did he know that he was headed for quite a surprise...

Both parties grew closer to one another, until finally, they were both within sight range. Once both had gotten within sight rage, all hell broke loose...

Ryugi and Vargus were completely speachless as Ramiel walked into their midst. He looked almost exactly like Ryugi minus some very small details. His eyes were slightly darker, and a little harder looking. Ramiel was visably younger. His clothing was obviously newer and not nearly as battle worn, and, of course, he had a Raganrok, which Ryugi no longer had. Ramiel was the first one to speak, his voice a little darker sounding than Ryugi's, but otherwse sounding exactly alike. He pointed a finger angrily towards Ryugi.

You! With the scarf! Why do you smell like me! Why do you look like me! Explain yourself! Or else, I'll have no choice but to eliminate you...

Ryugi was taken aback, and pushed Vargus behind him protectively as Eclipse jumped ship and scurried behind Vargus' neck. The poor little dragon was just as confused as the rest of them.

Whoa there! Hold on a second! Theres no need to get angry! I don't know who you are, or why you look like me. And I'd like to know the same thing.

Shut up! I know what you are! You're a clone, made by some twisted company! I can't allow you to tarnish my reputation or the reputation of Marchiko Labs!

That said, Ramiel unshiethed his False Ragnarok and charged angrily towards Ryugi.

CLANG!!!

The sound of metal slamming into metal rang true and loud across the plains as Ramiel's weapon clashed with Ryugi's and sparks flew! However, the sheer mass of Ramiel's False Ragnarok sent Ryugi's sword flying and sent him flying off balance across the battlefield. He skidded and bounced nearly 20 feet before finally coming to a stop, and pulled himself up off the ground just in time to see a powerful lance of white energy screaming across the ground towards him.

You FAKE!!

Ryugi thought quickly and rolled to the side to avoid the massive wave, the bits of energy catching his clothing and shredding bits of the tough fabric, even as the anti magic field tried its best to disperse and dispell the blast. Ryugi knew that after a powerful overhead strike, Ramiel's sword would be imbedded into the ground just as his sword had always been. Now was his chance to strike!

He wasted no time in dashing foreward, pushing every part of his body to perform to its maximum. He closed the gap as Ramiel grinned wickedly and raised both hands, palms open and aimed towards Ryugi, his massive sword still embeded in the dirt at his feet.

Dragon Fume!!!

Ryugi's eyes opened wide in horror as a massive gout of flames exploded from Ramiel's open palms and rocketed towards him...

Ramiel grinned as the burning wave of flames washed over his opponent. There had been no warning of the attack other than the call right before the flames had fired outwards towards Ryugi's speeding form. Ramiel then threw his head back and laughed. This was way easier than he'd thought.

Ha ha ha ha! Some clone he turned out to be...

He then moved to remove his heretic weapon from the ground, but...

You're MINE!!!

Ramiel turned just in time to see Ryugi's fist milliseconds before it slammed into his face, sending him flying backward from the force, his dragon jaw bones aching from the sheer force that had been thrown into the blow. As the blast had enveloped Ryugi, hiding him from view, he'd kept running as hard as he could, the heat burning his face and singing more of his hair. His anti magic field worked as hard as it could to dampen the effect of the elemental flames, but the heat created still stung.

As he'd neared the end of the flames, he'd launched his body foreward, flapping his wing once while still on the ground to add a bit of extra momentum his legs compensating for the awkward force. He'd then jumped forewards, twisting his entire torso into the powerful right punch. The result was devastating as the combined force of Ryugi's momentum, twisting body, a little help from gravity, and the punch itself all formed into a mighty blow to Ramiel's jaw.

After the punch had hit, Ryugi wasted no time in landing ready to keep moving, recovering from the hit even as he raced towards his flying opponent. Ramiel had used the force of the punch to backflip, however, his timing was off, and Ryugi met his surprised face with a recovering right elbow which sent him twisting through the air as Ryugi used the twisting motion to spin up his left leg into a powerful kick that caught Ramiel in the chest. As Ramiel flew backwards, Ryugi fell into a crouch panting a bit. The fierceness of the battle alone was beginning to take effect on him as well as the burn's he'd taken from Ramiel's flames. Much more of this, and he'd be winded and tired before he could defeat Ramiel.

Ramiel skidded backwards across the ground and lay still for a moment as Ryugi tried to gather himself. Then, as Ryugi watched, Ramiel rose to his feet, his head low, a twisted grin on his face. All Ryugi could do was move himself back into a standing position and watch the events that unfolded next...

So... You think you have me beat huh? You got some punches in on me, but that won't be enough to stop what I REALLY am...

Ramiel's eyes began to glow a sinister red color, as Ryugi's eyes opened wide in terror as he realized what was coming next. He backed up a few steps not knowing what to do.

Ryugi! Get out of there! I sense a massive flux of energy coming from him!

GrraaaAAAHHH!!!

Instinctively, Ryugi's wing snapped in front of him as Ramiel disapeared behind a massive blast of white light in the shape of a dome. A powerful blast of wind and stray energy exploded away from where the dome was as Ramiel emerged in a new form...

It appeared that Ramiel's dragon forms were also different from Ryugi's in color and stats. For instance, unbeknownst to Ryugi, this was a Power and Speed form. Ryugi would need to keep his wits about him to defeat this new menace. Ramiel then turned towards the horrified Ryugi and glared, a disembodied voice coming from the large red form.

Lets see how you do against the real me...FAKE...

Ramiel's eyes narrowed at the word, and he charged angrily towards Ryugi...

Quietly making her way through the few trees, Nixxy let her mind wander over what little she knew of where she was heading. Her mother had told her to seek answers at this stadium, yet what were the questions. Brushing her hand through her hair she frowned and looked about, a battle was being fought nearby from the sounds of it. She pondered turning and making her way far around the noise, she had no time for someone elses problems and there was no way she was going to get involved with other peoples business.

Gripping her walking staff a little harder she turned and began skirting the edge of the trees, where the fields began. She could easily see the battle and hoped that their attention would stay upon each other and not some stranger that was in the wrong place at the wrong time. If she went further to the south around the battle far enough so she would not be noticed it would take her farther away from her goal but to keep from having to deal with others would be worth it.

Her attire was one of a wanderer, dull faded tshirt and jeans, with well worn sneakers. Nothing flashy which was exactly what she liked. All her worldly possessions were contained in a backpack that itself had seen better days. To say she looked poor was an understatement, but the cold pride in her gaze made it so others would stop and think twice before offering her any assistance.

Glancing back at the battle she raised a single brow as she now saw a dragon and from the distance what looked to be a human fighting...yea she had been smart yet again to stay out of it..with a cold smile she continued making her way away from the fight.

Far enough away to be considered what she thought a safe distance she turned and watched idly abiet somewhat curiously the battle. It had turned into what she would deem a suicidal mission taken to the skies.

Heh the human better have wings..he kills the dragon, or he gets thrown, either way he is done for.

A deep frown flits over her features and her chin moves up just a notch. She begins to turn away, bringing up the mental walls that were her haven and her prison.

None of your damn business Nix, your luck if you butted in you would end up in the middle of someone elses mess. Keep your mind on your objective...the stadium.

Still she watched, with a somewhat detacted yet morbid curiousity as to how the battle would end. Dragons were not something to toy with, she had to give kudos to the human, as insane as he may be he had guts. Her oddly shaded gaze narrowing slightly as she watched what would happen next.

Ryugi still held fast to Ramiel as the dragon climbed high into the sky, getting soaked from all the raindrops. The twists and turns had stopped for the most part, or so it seemed, but that didn't mean that Ryugi was going to let go or try to attack anytime soon. One wrong move, and splat. He'd be a Ryugi pancake. Knowing that, he still giripped the horns with all his might.

Once Ramiel was good and soaked from the rain, he then moved to perform his next maneuver. He spun himself around, doing a half loop so he was now headed towards the ground. Then, he tucked his wings in and began to spin, rolling faster and faster as he sped towards the ground!

Lets see you hold on NOW!!

Ryugi gritted his teeth and held on as hard as he could. Then Ramiel dove and began to spin. The speed was almost too much for his grip to bear, and he felt his hands slip as the water acted as a lubricant. The spinning force tugged at his body and soon, Ryugi's legs were spinning around the dragon as his hands desperately tried to hold on.

Dammit hold on... Hold on for the love of god...please...

His hand muscles ached terribly and the forces at work on his body tugged and pulled on his legs as if a whole other person was trying to rip him from his hand hold. He gritted his teeth and let out a yell as he held on with everything that he was worth. Until...

RYUGI!!! No...

Ryugi's grip had finally broken and he was thrown from Ramiel's form.

There were a number of things going through Ryugi's mind as he was thrown. The first was how light he felt. So light... Like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders and he was flying free like a bird. He felt as if he had wings and was floating through the sky. He noticed how beautiful the clouds looked from where he was. The sun just bearly peeking through the layer of overcast. It was so calm, so beautiful...

Things seemed to move in slow motion as he looked around. He saw Ramiel spinning through the air and open his wings to straighten his dive and stop the spin. He saw bird flying high above him, the gentle beats of their wings moving them foreward to wherever they wanted to go. The shine off of their white feathers was almost blinding...

Pictures flooded his mind. Pictures of events that had taken place long ago in his life, and others that just brought him joy. He saw his hometown of Presea in a little valley. The sun shining off the rooftops of the houses made of white stone. Happy people going about their business in the marketplace. And off to his side, a happily smiling face with red eyes, long silver hair and a ponytail. His brother...

Another flashed into his mind. This time it was much later in his life. He was in a camp of sorts surrounded by several other people. Everyone was laughing happily around the campfire. He saw his friend Matthew, a thief, poking fun at Lamia, a fighter who was excellent at her dual bladed combat. His other friend Devan sat and laughed at the hyjinx, his heavy sword laying against the tree near him. And off to Ryugi's side, sat the gentle white mage, his beloved friend Kara, who smiled at him...

Another flash, and another image. Suddenly, he saw himself, much younger, and the others he'd just seen fighting off a horde of monsters. Everyone was back to back facing the horde, and at the far end of the area, a cave Ryugi noticed, was Ragnarok in all its glory. A pillar of light shining down from a small hole and bathing the blade with light, its cutting edge embedded into the rock. Ryugi's vision zoomed in to focus on just his little group...

~*~

We can't hold them off for much longer!

The strong form of Devan shouted as his blade scliced through a black wolflike creature, vaporizing it.

Theres just too many of them! Theres no way he can win this, its nearly one nundred to one odds!

Lamia's blades were blurs as she cut down beast after beast, desperately trying to keep the group together.

Yo Ryu! I hope you've got something up your sleave this time or we'll all be gonners!

Matthew's light blade slashed again and a again, fighting off everything he could.

I'm trying, but any flames I use at this distance will hurt all of you! I can't do it!

Then, the creatures surged forewards, and the entire group was overcome by the beasts. Everyone was knocked out except Ryugi and Kara, who fought terribly to get the creatures off of their bodies.

Ryugi's Sol Blade cut into the horde of creatures that tried to finish his group, hoping and praying he could save them from this event. He was so close to his goal and to think of losing now was almost unberable. Just then, a bright white light emanated from the center of the fallen group causing the creatures to back off for a moment...

Don't worry... I can stop them...

Kara looked over to him, her soft blue eyes closing afterwords. She had her hands pressed against each other as if in prayer, and her body glowed with a brilliant white light. Ryugi could see what Kara was doing, and suddenly, it hit him. That spell... That was her final spell. It used the power of her soul to emit a powerful blast of pure energy that would eliminate any darkness or evil, at the cost of her life...

Kara! Don't do it! Please! The sword isn't worth it! Its not worth you! Please...!

Ryugi's sword cut another bunch of creatures apart as he ran towards Kara. He caught her in his arms and broke her concentration.

Ryu..gi...

The girl was mystified.

Kara... The other night... Just because I can't return your feelings of love, doesn't mean that I don't love you as a friend... I don't want anything to happen to you...

Kara's light still flowed from her body, keeping the creatures back in fear.

Ryugi...I...

But it wasn't to be. Before the girl could finish her sentence, one of the creatures braved the light of her attack and jumped for her. Knocking Ryugi down, and separating the both of them. The creature then attacked Kara savagely.

Ryugi was horrified! He jumped up, throwing the creatures off of him, their claws tearing at him. He cut down numerous beats as they lunged at him. He desperately hacked away at them, trying to reach his friend. He could hear her screaming as they attacked her, and it pained him, he had to help her, to save her no matter what.

You... You BASTARDS!!! COME AND GET ME!! I'M STILL HERE!!! LEAVE HER ALONE!!!

The beasts attacking Kara stopped what they were doing and every single one in the large room turned and headed towards Ryugi. He could hear them coming, running across the ground, their claws digging into the hard rock of the cave floor. He could hear his old master telling him not to do what he was about to do... If sacrificing himself meant saving one more person, then so be it... He then let loose every ounce of power he had in his body. He removed all blocks on his power and let it flow freely from his being. The full power of his flame element erupted from his tiny body as the creatures all jumped towards him.

The power from the flames vaporized the beasts with ease, and they kept coming, certain that they could get past them. Ryugi's body was positioned between them and the fallen members of his party, creating a barrier of passion's flame and Ryugi's own will to protect those that he cared about. One by one, the beasts tried to challenge the flames, and each failed. These flames destroyed anything that tried to harm his friends, while protecting his friends with Ryugi's love. The strength of his resolve made the flames harmless to his friends, but devastating to anything else...

Then, once every last creature was gone, his flames sputtered and went out, his element totally tapped until it could recharge... Tired and determined, he forced himself onwards towards where Kara was. He collapsed at her side, and took up her bloodied hand. He looked to her face and her soft blue eyes looked back at him as a gentle smile crossed her face.

Thank you... Ryugi...

Her soft voice came from her mouth as she looked up at him...

You... showed me true love and...caring... But I don't think I'll make it to see you get to your goal...

Kara... Don't talk like that... You'll do fine... We'll get you patched up and you'll be good as new...

She raised a trembling finger to his mouth to quiet him.

Shhh... No more words... You know as well as I do that... this is it for me... Please, don't cry for me... I'm going to a better place... And someday, we'll meet again, just like old times... I'll always be with you... in your heart... But for now... I have to go... Just... remem...ber. Be strong...and live... For...both... of us...

As she finished speaking, her eyes slowly seemed to glaze over, and her hand gently fell from Ryugi's grasp, limp.

He just stayed there a while, in the dimly lit cave, laying next to the body of the only other woman he'd ever been close to since Vargus. The pain of her loss weighed heavy on his heart, but he didn't couldn't honor her request not to cry. Tears fell from his eyes, not for her as she had asked, but due to the fact that he had failed to save her. His skills weren't enough to protect her from death. His inadequate skills couldn't protect everyone that he'd come to call his family. Once more he felt the pain of that.

But he could honor her last request at least. He gently removed her golden saphire ring, and placed it in his breast pocket along with his other memories. He then kissed her cheek, still slightly warm, and stood up. He checked to see if the other members of his party were ok, and, seeing that they were, he then walked to the end of the large room to where Ragnarok stood. He reached out and grasped the massive sword, pulling it free of the rock. As he held it in his hands, he spoke aloud to himself.

Kara... I swear... I will be strong for you... I will fight to protect the ones I care about, using this sword to accomplish those goals. I will live on for both of us... And I'll never forget you...

~*~

The events flashed through Ryugi's mind at lightning speed as he fell, the whole sequence not taking more than half-second. But that wasn't the end of his visions. Another flashed into his mind, this one almost one hundred years before he'd even set foot in Leviathan Stadium.

~*~

He stood beside his friend Garret next to a pile of smoking and broken down rocks. They were the remains of a massive rock golem that he had been sent to destroy, along with a few other mercenaries. Ryugi had watched in horror as Garret had been punched by a massive stone fist that had slammed him into the canyon wall where the fight took place...

Garret... I'm sorry... I... I couldn't...

Hey... man... Shut up... You did the best you could... And thats all I could ask for... Not everything is your fault...you know? I should...have seen that punch comin'... I knew what I was gettin' into... when I started this job... and you did too... People die in battle... all the time... Its a way of life... The way things are... Take my dagger... It'll help you remember me...eh? Now I don't want to see you bawlin'... for little old me... Ya hear? Just live enough... for the both of us...alright?

Ryugi watched as Garret's form slumped a bit. He sniffed a bit, and took his dagger from his limp hand, placing it in his little bag of memories.

I'll keep living for the both of us... You just rest now... We'll meet again someday, and it'll...be like old times...

~*~

Ryugi came out of the vision and thought to himself...

Maybe I've lived long enough for both of them and myself... I've been through so much in my life, that maybe it really is my time to go. You can't argue with fate when it comes your time... Ryudo and Vargus won't be happy... And I know Silver will be missing me, and Madison too... But in the end... I'll be able to see all of them again someday... I'm sorry I couldn't live longer for you...

But it wasn't meant to be.

For as Ryugi had finished his thought, he felt a thump go through his body that shook him out of his daze. He looked around only to see silvery white scales below his body. He then looked up to see the head and neck of a beautiful dragon...

With lavender eyes.

Vargus...?

I'm not ready to lose you yet Ryu-kun... And you still have living to do for others... Now hold on tight.

Ryugi gripped his legs tightly around the base of Vargus' neck and placed his hands on the top of her neck, as Eclipse bounded down her neck and into Ryugi's jacket, nuzzling his guardian lovingly.

Alright... Lets roll...

Ramiel did NOT expect that the girl was the other dragon. Something was going on here that he didn't understand. First off, if that man was supposed to be a clone of him, then why did he not turn into a dragon himself? And seccondly, why wasn't he putting up as strong of a fight using his powers? If he was truly a clone, then he should have his powers as well, but why didn't he use them? As he pondered this a blast of violet energy whizzed by him, nearly slamming into his head.

So thats how they want to play...

He spun himself around, his dragon body glowing with red energy... Then, it erupted away from his body, froming into dozens of red energy blasts.

Red Dragon Inferno!!

The energy blasts rocketed towards Vargus and Ryugi.

I missed... It seems I'm a little out of practice...

Don't worry, you did fine. But we have bigger things to worry about now. DIVE!!

Ryugi tightened his grip on Vargus as she dove, the many blasts of energy barely missing her, but it wasn't over yet. As the balls missed, they spun around and began to follow Vargus.

They're homing!

Don't worry! Keep low and follow my lead!

Vargus sped over the plains only about five feet above ground as the blasts grew closer. As they approached, Ryugi ordered Vargus to climb as fast as she could, holding her tightly. The blasts slammed into the ground since they were less manuverable than Vargus, and the female dragon kept climbing higher.

Nice plan Ryu-kun, but we're still too far away to have a chance of hitting him.

You're right... what we need is an attack so powerful, that we can defeat his dragon form, and send him back into his human form.

But how are we going to do that?

I don't know, but we'll think of something...

Just as Vargus said, once she started her dive, Ryugi was ripped from her and began to fall through the air. However, he was ready for it. As he dropped, he removed his scarf, and unfurled it to its full legnth and width of eight feet long by two feet wide, and the wind whipping past him carried it above him as a sort of psuedo parachute. While it slowed his speed tremendously, he was still moving at quite a dangerous speed, and a flat footed colision with the ground would shatter his legs and quite possible kill him. It was then that he began to flap his one wing. It slowed him down even more since his body weight in this case acted as a slight ballancer to the usually unballanced force from the wing. His speed was now within a relatively safe rate, however, if he didn't land just right, he was still going to have some broken bones and pulverized organs to deal with...

Meanwhile, Vargus was screaming towards Ramiel's position at tremendous speed at nearly five hundred miles per hour. Within seconds she broke through the cloud layer and kept dropping...

Ramiel was still charging his attack. This beam would have enough power to eliminate these troublmakers for good. He was watching the clouds when Vargus made her appearance. As Ramiel saw the light burst through the clouds, he let lose the mighty energy beam and sent the powerful yellow blast of energy directly towards her.

Red Dragon Finisher!! Lets see them deal with THAT!

Vargus was ready for a counter attack, and as the beam shot towards her, she quickly moved to the side and flew straight down the side of the massive column of energy. Ramiel was still blinded by the light from his own attack, and was therefore unable to avoid Vargus' Aurora Wing. The two bodies slammed into one another with tremendous force resulting in an explosion of magical energies.

Ramiel's dragon form was unable to keep up with the blast, and his white glowing form shot out through the back of the blast, heading towards the ground while he shifted back into his humanoid form.

Ramiel collided with the ground as his dragon form was forced back into a human form to conserve his energy. He saw Vargus coming down from the sly as well in a human form, two slivery wings guiding her down. He stood up, quaking with rage, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, and several other scrapes and wounds bleeding slightly from under his clothing. His eyes were blood red, and glowed slightly with an angry red energy. His rage gave him the energy to raise a bloodied arm and hand towards Vargus.

GrrrraaaaAAAAGGGHH!!!

Fiery red energy collected around his hand and swirled in dangerous patterns as his final attack was about to be unleashed, but then...

I DON'T THINK SO!!

Ramiel turned to see Ryugi falling from the sky, sword in hand, let go of his scarf and tuck his wing back, the speed from his fall picking up slightly just in time to catch Ramiel in the side of the head with the blunt end of his weapon.

He was knocked across the ground by the finalizing blow, and landed in a heap about five feet away as Ryugi let go of his sword and tucked and rolled right before hitting the ground, avoiding most of the extreme damage, but getting a few cuts and scrapes across his face.

Ryugi looked at the defeated Ramiel and picked himself up off the ground, replacing his scarf and his sword. He had done it, along with the help of Vargus. He and his love had joined forces and defeated one of the most treacherous foes he'd ever encountered. He just stood there looking at his enemy, as Vargus got up and came up behind him.

Well... I guess we did it, huh?

I guess we did... I don't know why he attacked us, but something tells me we haven't seen the last of him... Anyways, lets get moving before he wakes up. I'm too tired for another fight like that anytime soon.

That said, the both of them turned, Eclipse jumping up onto Ryugi's shoulder as they continued out across the Gaia Plains and towards the Mithral Mountains to the north...

Sephi had never been to this area of the world before. He had been above the surface, but not very many places other than where he first emerged, where he was first taught to really fight. There wasn't another humanoid in sight, but yet everything looked so full. He wanted to find someone, anyone to talk to. Show him around the area or maybe have a little battle with him. He hadn't fought in so long, not since his first colliseum became abandoned, and not since mostly all of his master's enemies were taken care of. He was on vacation, but didn't want to lose his touch. He set his pole of ice strongly into the ground and extended it up ward into the sky, holding on to it as it rose. It widened at the top as the part stuck in the ground stayed thin. He looked over the land, still no one. He shrunk the pole of ice down to regular size, and then let it fade away into vapor. He closed his eyes and put his hand palm out up in the air to his sides, and began to mess with all the vapor around him, practicing his ice control.

Azhure74 Wrote:

i continued to walk throught the planes. for some reason, i liked it here. i had tried to let the snak go several times but he refused to leave. so i figured i was stuck with him...or her....i had no idead what sex the snake was.

"well, since i'm stuck with you i might as well give you a name"

i say to myslf. so for a while i tried to think up names for my new companion, but none came to mind. i decided to just let it go, the right name would come eventually. i sensed something to the left of me. it was not too close, about two miles away. i shruged it off, i did not feel the urge to go and see what it was

Sephi had been practicing for a while, he decided to check again. He raised his pole into the air again and looked over the field... person! Finally, someone to show hime around. She was pretty too. He lowered his pole and let it evaporate into the air once more, and began to walk toward the girl he had seen.

As Sephi slowly walked toward the person he had seen he reached his hand in to the air, spinning around the evaporation in the air as ice for entertainment. As he did this he felt ice from far off in the direction he was going... another ice manipulator? Was it possible? He would have to be especially careful now, she knew all the ropes he did. Well most of them anyway. He stopped in his tracks and put his hands over his chest, closing his eyes. Suddenly armor of the coldest ice formed on his shoulders knees and chest, unmeltable while attached to him. He then continued on, he didn't want to look too cautious, wanted to seem at least a bit inviting.

As Sephi walked forward he watched as the girl noticed him and waved to him. Maybe she was friendly after all. He left his armor on none the less and continued to walk to her, stopping and bowing to introduce himself.

"Hello there, my name is Sephi. I saw you from a distance and was wondering if you could show me around, i'm not farmiliar with this area."

He really wanted to spar a bit, it had been too long, but he decided to wait.

Damn he needed money. And to back that fact up, he needed a friggin job. Werent there any bounties going around in this area? He was pretty sure if there was, he would collect them. Tsk, such a shame.

Dark, the man known for his odd dress of dark garments stepped through the flatlands with the large 8' long garafa, an exotic polearm propped up horizintally over both shoulders with his wrists hanging limpy on either end. With his head wrapped up with a long dark piece of cloth and his bodt dressed in rough black clothing, his bare arms showed the lines of scars and rought beat up gloves covered his hands. On his back and sides, he seemed to be covered with many bladed weapons.

Simply put, he didnt look like a very pleasant fellow to be around. And as he went through the grassland, he pondered what there was to do at times like this. Maybe mug someone. Wasnt like he was a very moral person anyways, he was a bounty hunter afterall.

"Hey you!" the man yelled across the plains in a grating voice at the figure in the distance, "Gimme 'yer money."

Well, he wasnt exactly the most intelligent of types, and he was pretty gruff and anyways, so he cared little for stealth and all that other s**t. If he was going to start a fight, he'd let someone know beforehand. Simple as that.

Well, projectiles mentioned, he did have, sort of. However, with both hands on the garafa, he didnt have a way to use them. Not to mention that a throwing weapon wouldnt be very useful at this range anyways.

So, to remedy the situation, he flipped the large weapon up over his head and let the crescent head end dig into the ground, it's heavy weight easily dropping into the soil. Now, he began to move, letting his grip slide until both hands gripped around the butt end of the weapons haft. With that done, he yanked the weapon out of the soft ground and made a dash at the other man, letting the polearm trail after him as it chipped at the dirt behind him. Of course, he wasnt that dumb to waste all his energy chasing after the man, and if a chase was going to take too long, he'd just give up and look for someone else to mug.

I begin to follow him. "My name is Azhure" I say to him. As I keep pace with him I ask "So, tell me something, why are you travling all alone?" As I say this I hold out my palm and an ice cube forms in my palm. I pop it into my mouth and stuck on it.

GorillazFan111 Wrote:

Following Azhure (if she didn't mind),was the kid she never wanted to see,again!

His name was Leon.Azhure hated him.The main reason was that if she didn't play with him,he'd use his telekinetic powers to destroy things.Azhure could alaways overcome Leon's powers though.She was too powerful.(Sorry to whoever started this.I thought your story was the coolest so far)

As I skoe with Sephi i sensed something behind me. It was close to. I had a feeling it was that kid who wanted to play games all the time. He must have gotten out of the bonds i had put him on him, in hopes that I could get away...and not have to play another game that we had played forty million times.

She was really beginning to wonder what the point of it all was...a dream, or perhaps something more, the tiny girl was no longer sure... But Relis had been there, and she had been so very happy to see him again...

Waking back in this place... the world called Gaia was at once a relief and a terrible loss for the child, for once more she was all alone... she couldn�t keep that thought out of her head as she crossed the plains back towards the stadium, a tiny part of her wishing that this was the dream and she would wake back in The Cleft once more...

"Meep" Muse blinked as she was startled out of her reprieve and looked up at the man with a slight blush.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't watch where I was going" The little girl brushed her long bangs out of her face with a smile.

The tiny little girl held out her had to him. "Musset, pleased to meet you."

"well not really... I don't think they would like that at all, seeing as how they are dead and all..." Muse tried to shrug it off but somehow that question always hurt..

"besides, I can take care of myself." That was said with all the self asurance of the perfect twelve year old...

"Papa started my training... But mostly I learned at the Monistary with Relis...." She laught happily and spun on her heel to dip into a little bow.

"I'm not just a fighter though, I will be a mage one day... a very powerful one if my teachers were right." The little girl was quite obviously proud of herself, at least enough that she never minded amiting to knowing something.

"Are you a fighter? I met lots of nice fighters at this cool place caled Leviathan stadium..."

A few crickets chirped off in the distance as muse settled down against Greedy's saddle, the pony still happily stuffing his face on some of the long green shoots that she had found for him earlier as the little girl smiled looking up at the starry night, just enjoying the peace of another quiet day.

Yawning and stretching the tiny twelve year old stood back up to push her pony away from the feed pile "You are really going to get fat if you eat all of that tonight.. save some for breakfast at least... honestly some days I wonder why I decided to take you with me."

Brushing her black hair out of soft lavender eyes she tied the small horse to a stake that she had pounded into the ground just out of reach of the small pile of fresh feed, the animal looking at the child with sad eyes as he lipped at the collar of her rough black jacket. "poor thing... but spring will be along any day now and then you can stuff yourself to the brim on a daily basis again."

Throwing the saddle blanket over the fodder, to keep the wind from blowing it away Musset settled back in next to her tiny fire, almost down to glowing embers now, to read a little from a small leather bound book.

Greedy Gust whipped up his head, shaking and pulling at the tether that held him in place, the scent of death and a predator almost sending the normally calm animal into a full panic...

"Oh for goodness sake... calm down..." Musset was just getting up to calm her horse down when she heard the voice, purple eyes narrowing as she slowly turned to look up at the tall man, a smile of greeting slowly spreading across her face.

"Good evening Sir." She dipped into a little bow, one hand against her chest as she flowed to her feet. stepping around the tiny fire again to pull the scared horse back down on all four hooves, looking him in the eyes for a moment before whispering in his ear. "Go to sleep now Greedy Guts, everything will be fine in the morning..."

The trembling animal hung its head and actually closed its eyes, the stranger and his mistress forgotten as her simple spell sent him into a deep slumber.

Turning back to her guest with the same simple smile, her eyes almost shining a deep purple in the soft glow of the small fire. "I'm Musset..."

"Quite fine thank you...I am simply on a journey, and out here there aren't any people to get in the way of my studies." The little girl let her bangs fall back over her eyes as she sat down at the feet of the sleeping pony, reaching up to absently scratch the animals chin. "May I ask why you are out here sir, you do not look to be a traveler, and we are a little far from the city for you to just be out for a walk... are you lost perhaps?"

The child chuckled slightly, looking a little embarrassed as she brushed at the rip on her pants, and tugged at the too short sleeves of her jacket, suddenly aware of the fact that she didn't really look to great, something that never really occurred to her when it was just herself and the pony. "Not really that kind of journey, I came a long way, and I have spent the last year trying to figure out why... I know a part of that puzzle now, but I am still waiting for the clues for the rest of it."

The child shrugged as if it didn't matter. "For now I am simply developing my skills a bit more, and safely figuring out the things my masters didn't have a chance to teach me..."

"Hand to hand combat... Fire and Wind elemental skills, and pure mage craft... Although the later is hard to study on my own most places don't like to lend out the books on that sort of thing." The child looked at the man through her bangs, wondering if this was someone that Rellis and Master Iago would not have liked her talking too...

The fact that Greedy Guts had freaked out about him should have been a warning, but she didn't like to judge people without talking to them first. The child could also see the aura's of beings, but she was not yet confident about the things she saw around people, a color around someone, for instance, could be really confusing. "I like to stop in at this place... a fighting stadium, and I manage to learn all sorts of really neet things from the people there..."

"You are excused. That is the place... lots of fun around there, I even got to meet Mr. Enki himself once." The child was still rather impressed about that fact.

"I'm sorry, I know this might sound strange, but do you happen to know why all the light around you is actually dark?" It was hard to describe to someone, and the child was convinced that the man would likely not have a clue as to what she was talking about.

"oooh, no I see so someone with shadow blood in them allways will have the black light around them... That explains a few things." The child taped a finger nail at her lips, quite pleased o have that explained to her for once. Most of the people she knew, or had met didn't understand the lights that she could sometimes see around people.

"Aura, that is the word you used... and it is the light around people, do all people have the light around them? I can't always see it..." Curiosity wone over for her once more, as she leaned in a bit more towards the strange man, wondering if she had by some chance found another person in this strange world who could teach her something that she needed to know.

"They shine a lot, I tend not to look when I am there. Sometimes it is hard to see what they are doing." The chiled chuckled softly and looked away. "The same goes with people casting spells, I can't see what they are doing if they glow really bright already."

"I would really appreciate that Sir, perhaps then I could learn to turn it on when I want it too?" The child was really that trusting? or was it that she honestly didn't think that the man could harm her, evil blood and all... but then again, perhaps she knew something he didn't...

"I'll stick around this area... I may put Greedy Guts someplace else though, I think he is afraid of you..." The child stood up again, dusting off her pants and smiling as she patted the sleeping pony and brushed her bangs away from her face again.

Tenma sat in the tall grass. To most anywhere far from him the only hint of him being there was the small tendril of smoke curling lazily into the air to be broken by the breezes higher up.

He sat with a small fire near him, small game on sticks spitted over the fire cooking, popping as the meat cooked.

Kicking back he stared at the small flickering flames. Not the ones in the pit, the small flickering flame about a centimeter above his open palm. Jumping around in the wind like a fickle child, not sure where it wanted to go next with it's new found freedom.

Compressing the heat into a small ball it went from red, to yellow, to blue and finally to a small white sphere about the size of his pinky nail.

Letting the small flame grow brighter and smaller he smiled as he let it expand again the heat becoming the fickle red flame again.

sliding his sandals off and putting his mask on the ground near him he pulled one of the rabbits off of the spit and bit into the steaming meat, juggling it between his hands trying to let it cool as the meat scalded his tongue.

Not the smartest thing to do. Pulling heat out of the meat so it was decent to eat he tore into it and finished his meal.

His bag on his back, resting against his shoulderblades. tightening the straps so he could move without the thing bouncing around on his back he pushed his mask against his face and tied it, tying back his hair after putting on the mask.

Sliding his sheath into place on his sash he began to move. Again, not sure where to, it was a simple fact that he could survive out here so why have a destination.

He could deal without people, it wasn't that hard at all, not with the idiocy that seemed the spread among them like a plague.

Petty fights, killings, lynchings, deaths, all because of stupid little things. Mob mentality wasn't the only blaming point anymore, people were growing stupid.

taking a handful of sand he held it flat out in his palm. Cupping it slightly so the wind wouldn't take the light granuals of sand he slowly heated the sand until it was a glowing cherry red blob in the center of his palm. slowly rolling it in his palm until it made a small oval.

Taking one of his throwing blades he used the tip to carve small designs into the molten glass. Pulling the heat out of the thing in layers as he sharpened the tip into a razor edge using his fingers the glass hardened, it had blue waves within the glass from the odd cooling process but he put it into a pocket on the inside of his sash grinning.

It had really seemed to matter when she started walking.

It had seemed important, consuming even. He had said he'd cared for her...he had promised to protect her...and then he'd left. And then they'd met again, and she'd yelled, and he'd held her, and he told her he cared for her. He told her he'd protect her. And then he'd left. Again. So it had seemed important.

She remembered being consumed by anger, that might have hid some kind of despair, some sort of crushed hope. But with each step her strange, scaled feet took along the road across the plains, it seemed to matter less and less. She barely felt anything anymore.

A human hand brushed strands of blue hair away from light brown eyes, then returned to the woman's side as she looked to the northeast. To her eyes, and to the eyes of any who could see telepathic power, there was a single golden line stretching from her, towards the Leviathan.

Even now, Owle stepped off the road she had been following, into the grass of the plains. She needed no road...not when her power could tell her the exact direction of his mind. Even if it didn't seem to matter anymore, she had come this far. There was little sense in turning back without seeing him.

She was heading straight for Vahn.

Jericho was jogging through the plains. Gotta keep yourself in good shape!

"Hmm?"

Jericho slowed down and turned around. His long, beige short turned around with him, and so did his black, sleeveless shirt. His hair swiveled slightly, yet stayed finely tousled as always. His bright green eyes didn't roll that much, but they did lay onto the man that had been following Jericho.

He took his hands out of his pockets.

"Oh, hello. Nice day, isn't it?"

"What the he--"

No time to swear. A flash of light on both his arms, and Jericho was wearing his weapons, a pear of steel gauntlets that covered his forearms and fists, both for defense and offense. When the large man started lowering, he pushed himself off the ground, jumping high and all the way on fatman's shoulders, before jumping again and turning on himself. When Jericho'd land, it'd be at the guy's feet, facing him as he was lying on the ground.

"What was that for? Sheesh."

Laying with his back against a tree, Kurimu averted his gaze to the night sky as smoke from his cigarette drifted upward, dispersing as it weaved through the plant's leaves. Having just awoken from a long nap, his eyes were still weary. He reached over to his side, grabbing his travel bag and removing a map from inside of it.

"Let's see... Still a pretty long way to go." he muttered to himself, his voice deep and smoky.

His eyes scanned the terrain.

"This plain... So quiet."

He admired the peaceful scenery for a few moments before putting out his cig and rubbing his eyes with his gloved fingers. He wore a black t-shirt and old, beat-up blue jeans. His red leather jacket sat crumpled on the ground at his side, near his travel bag. Reaching into the bag he pulled out a wrinkled pack of cigarettes, gazing inside to see only two left. He frowned. Yawning, he tossed the pack back into the crumpled mess of his belongings and relaxed, closing his eyes and going back to sleep, hoping to get a little more rest before sunrise.

As the fists met and smashed against a large balled fist beneath the clothe, the larger man yelped in a high pitch, something people that large arent expected to do when feeling pain. But a hand balled into a tight fist is less fragile than a hand which was flat or at an position which would shift the bone structure around, so damage would be minimised. To how much damage however, it was not certain, but safe to say, he wouldnt be using that hand for a couple of minutes.

But, as soon as the gauntlets would meet fist, the big man's left arm, which was already in motion, would connect at the same time. Airborne, Jericho didnt have anywhere to run to, his body suspended in the air, hands already being used to make a counter attack, his legs already too low and too close to be used as a defense.

Muscled bulged beneath clothe as the left arm snaked out into Jericho's right side like a cannon being unleashed, right beneath the ribcage at that soft spot. What he would then feel would probably be a painful sensation, for the fact that, one; it was one of those 'pressure points' which induced pain, and two; sharp claws would shred through the clothe of the long sleave, through Jericho's clothes, and into flesh beneath the ribs. Unless of course, he wore some sort of metal armour or hard leather which restricted movement, for the force of the thrust produced by the giant man's heavy muscled frame and the little blade like claws would tear through clothe and soft leather alike.

This particular soft spot, between the muscles and underneath the ribs, was a very vulnerable place, for at the moment claws punctured flesh, fingerd would curl up around beneath the rib to keep the man in place. Pushing off would really accomplish nothing, as the body would just bend back and pull against the flesh caught beneath the ribs and fingers. In such a spot, even without claws to help enter the body, it was soft enough for any normal person to stick their fingers in and hook their fingers around the bone; here, the claws only helped to inflict more pain and a better grip on the rib.

Now, by pushing off, Jericho would be forced to lean back, body suspended in the air by the hand in his side gripping tightly around his lower rib in his right side. However, in such a position, no matter how strong someone was, it would be near impossible to balance the weight of the man properly, and he would begin to fall and tip backwards.

So what would the larger man do? He'd push his body forward as his right arms would push down, following closely after that push as his hand was released. He didnt need to use the injured hand, just the arm, enough to drive Jericho's upper body further downward so that the back of his head would slam into the ground before anything else would. And following that, the larger man's body would drive down to land atop of Jericho as his left arm would follow the body and dig its clawed fingers into the same area it had attacked before, digging into flesh and curling fingers around the lower rib, following that, the larger man would pull against the ribs, almost as if to rip him apart.

((Edited, striked out s**t ignored, bold stuff new. End result: same attack.))

"How long are we going to keep running, Knights." Jean looked up at him as they lightly jogged through the long grass. She found it strange that he wasn't making more of an effort to go faster, despite his apparent need to delay meeting Vahn in the first place.

"Not much longer now...I'll make a stand...here." With that he stopped, and turned around. There was a harsh sound, and everything, grass and flowers mostly, flattened within a ten foot radius, leaving both figures highlighted by the growing dusk.

The tall man unbuckled his sheath and drove it into the ground in front of him, hand curling around the hilt with a comfortable familiarity. He was ready, he was cool...coat blowing in the breeze, stern look on his face... all up until the point Jean kicked him in the shin.

"O-OW ********, Jean...What the hell?" He scowled down at her.

"You said HIS name out loud, you dork!! How the hell are we gonna explain that? He's gonna know...he ALWAYS knows..."

"He doesn't always know Jean, he just guesses..." Knights winced as soon as the words came out of his mouth, and she kicked him again. "s**t!"

"He doesn't guess! He KNOWS, he's a GOD, jeeze...does omnipotence mean anything to you?!"

"Isn't that when you can't perfom in the bedroo-GAH! Stop kicking me, damnit...they're coming."

"I hope Dei-dei turns you into a dragon again...things were a lot more peaceful spirituality-wise." With a huff she went and sat on the outter circle, grumbling about religion. Knights remained where he was, favouring his now very bruised leg.

"They've stopped."

Again Owle's voice would sound in Vahn's head, as she desperately tried not to think of how easily she could fall off, and how fast they were going, and how easily Vahn could crash into someone.

She didn't know what they were doing, but they hadn't been moving away for a while. It didn't look like they meant to. Owle sighed gratefully to herself, Thank the gods. It's almost over.

"Knights?"

"Yes Jean..."

"Relax, you look too stiff..."

"Look, are you gonna yell at me all through this...I mean, I'll give you the tape and YOU can do it if you like."

"Really?!"

"...No."

They had...stopped moving.

Thank the gods and all the powers that this ride is over. Thank you.

Owle slowly, slowly opened her eyes. She took a few deep, calming breaths, then turned to regard their two...pursu-ees?

Vahn would see, now that the two were in sight, that the golden lines he had been following were in fact the bodies of two dim golden snakes, winding their way through the air. They seemed bored, now, lazily circling Knights and Jean, occasionally letting their tongues taste the air. When they caught sight of Vahn, though, the black voids where their eyes ought to be regarded him steadily, almost...lustfully?

And then they were gone, reeled back like so much fishing line, comically flopping in the air until they vanished back into Owle where they belonged.

I hope he didn't notice that...

"Vahn?" Her voice was small, timid almost. If Vahn hadn't noticed how tightly she'd been gripping him, or the fact that she winced every time they passed something, well...he would probably still be oblivious to her discomfort, especially with his quarry right before him.

"...is it safe to get off now?"

"Yea...it's safe."

He got off the Harley with one smooth motion, both feet touching the ground, before he started walking towards the two strangers. "But stay here."

Yellowed eyes narrowed, as he made his way forward, running a hand through his hair.

Knights noticed both peoples movements and scowled not taking his eyes from the advancing man. "O-Oi! Where do you think you're...damnit Jean, you'd better not start making friends!" His knuckles tightened but his overall position remained the same.

"You got the look of a man searching for something beyond him," A smirk played around Knights lips, though the emotion never reached those strange green eyes.

"You look like your brother."

((I'm guessing this bird's mind would register as a little bit odd for a bird?))

Owle gave the bird a look. Being a shapeshifter who could turn into a small bird herself, and never knowing birds to fly quite that close to humans, she was somewhat suspicious of the creature. Still, it wasn't doing any harm, so she let it be for now.

"What?" she shouted back at Knights, indignant. "I just had the most harrowing ride on a motorcycle EVER! I need to stretch my legs!" She shook her head. "I have no intention of fighting you, so don't worry!"

She didn't stop moving though...even going so far as to start pacing back and forth when she was right across from Jean. Mostly, she regarded the other girl curiously, though she kept glancing at Knights and Vahn. Waiting.

"What do you know about my brother?"

He stopped advancing forward, instead moving in a slow circle aroudn them now, walking carefuly along the ground.

With a loud crack, the length of his flamberge hit the ground, splitting it slightly as his left hand gripped the handle, his right massaging the back of his neck.

"Either we're going to play...or you're giving me that disk. Dig?"

Yellowed eyes stared out with no emotion, even as steam rose from the blade's length, his entire attitude suggesting no mood for games.

Owle watched the conversation, the new made flower, and the magpie with interest. The magpie wasn't nearly as interesting as Jean was right now...she could tell that two minds were peering through the bird's eyes, but a closer look would require going a bit closer to someone who probably knew more than a smidge about telepathy, and right now that was probably unwise. Sure, Owle would probably register as a very powerful telepath to their senses...it only took ten of the 256 snakes that resided within her to match the power of your average, off the street (NPC) telepath. However, that power was raw and unfocused, as though she didn't use her gift much...it would be like someone with a huge-a** sword and no training going against a master fencer. No, Owle didn't want to pick any fights with other telepaths.

So she let the bird be, and took a few slow steps toward Jean. Owle's hands were empty, and she carried no obvious weapons...on Gaia that didn't mean much, but there was just something about Owle that screamed she wasn't a fighter.

"Hey!" Owle waved to Jean. "It looks like they're gonna be at it for a while. You wanna...chat, or play tic tac toe or something?"

She didn't want to watch the fight. This was something she couldn't interfere in, so she didn't want to see what happened. She knew she'd wince every time Vahn got hit, and she really didn't want that.

She also figured she'd be safest over by Jean, and, by the same token, the girl would be safest near her. The man Vahn was fighting seemed to have some attachment to Jean, so doubtless he'd make some effort to avoid hitting the girl...and Vahn would make the same effort to avoid hitting Owle.

The rebound from the blow shoved both men backwards, sending grass and dirt flying into the dim light of sunset.

Being the original striker, however, afforded Knights the opportunity in the battle, by being prepared for the counter to his blow, rather then the person knocked off balance.

Digging in, he launched himself forward. For this, he didn't need to be too close or creative. The buisness side of his three and a half foot blade would come in for a low diagonal, hip to shoulder slash, right to left. Depending on how quickly Vahn countered would mean the differance between a shallow cut and being gutted.

This would mean that he'd be very prepared for the sword coming in from the left should Vahn retaliate with that. Unfortunately this meant a small window to his own left side.

He was really REALLY trying not to divide his attention between Vahn and what started between Owle and Jean off to the side.

---

Jean blinked and stared at the girl that had moved over to stand next to her, before grinning broadly.

"Hiya! I wouldn't mind playing at all, but if Knights told me not to it's probably best if I stay out it, he gets a little cranky if he see's my playing while his life is on the line."

She said this like it happened all the time. She smiled, wincing over the clash of swords and the sparks.

"What was your name again? I can't remeber if I asked before or not..."

"Who the hell do you think your playing with?!"

For a hundred years I've been making mistakes...

Even as his opponent's swrod came biting in, Vahn's right hand closed upon the blade, tightening it's grip despite the blood that flowed freely from the contact. With blade stuck in flesh, and gripped by his hand, he had the man trapped in place.

"Is this a game then? You want to play a game?!" Yellowed eyes narrowed even as he pulled the man's sword in, forcing him to coem closer to Vahn.

"Let's play a game then!" Pulled in tightly, Vahn's lips would be right by Knight's ear whispering, even as his left arm reared back, Flamberge smoking from the blood along it's surface. "How about how many times I can call you an a*****e before I finally die?"

Knights glared over the blade as Vahn pulled him in, the red reflection of the Flamberge scrawling up the side of the mirrorlike surface of his own weapon.

He let the man say his piece, and then calmly let go of the hilt, bringing his elbow up to crack Vahn in the face before the other sword could come down on top of him.

The grip reversed on the hand remaining with the weapon so that it was horizontal across his chest instead of perpendicular. This supported his hold enough to actually not only crack Vahn once, but twice, second time being harder, in quick succession. This was an instinctual reaction, brought about with training.

Training with someone who focused on getting in close and using you're body as a well trained weapon. The sword was a tool, not an extention of his being.

If the connection worked, the combination of blows and the reverse grip would give him the leverage to drag his body down and underneath the upraised sword arm, leaving a nasty gash in Vahn's hand.

---

"They don't really understand, you know..." Jean, as opposed to Owle, was avidly watching, making sure of something from the looks of it. Anything she said to the girl sitting next to her would be said almost absentmindedly. "Considering they're both fighting for the same goal."

"This is petty...it isn't a game either though, Knights really feels like he's protecting everything. He's always been a little hard-headed about that. He knew Vahn would find us eventually..."

A sigh.

"But really, he should consider whats happened and worry about Dei-dei's new feeling afterwards."

((

Owle Isohos Wrote:

((Erm, Kraun? Could I get some more details out of you? About how far away from us are these ghosts standing?

One hundred meters.

Owle Isohos Wrote:

Can I see them? Are they transparent? Do they look human?

They have physical form, 'ghosts' used as a metaphore because they have skin as pale as ghosts.

Owle Isohos Wrote:

Do they have souls (ie would they show up if Owle stretched her telepathic sense around the area?) Is there anything ridiculously unusual about them that a telepath would notice, if she noticed them in the first place?

What would be unusual that makes them stand out is that they are undetectable by supernatural or extraordinary senses. They give off no distinct energy signature, psionics dont work around them within 10 feet, they move without sound, dont produce heat, and dont have a scent.

Owle Isohos Wrote:

Can Owle tell who they're staring at from however far away she is, assuming she does eventually notice them?))

Following the eyes of the two, one has eyes of pure mercury orbs, no irises, no pupils, reflecting everything of the world in their blank space. The other doesnt. Both do not move their heads to watch said person, but the female's eyes do move, as they are relatively normal. Unless someone can zoom their vision to see facial features clearly at 100 meters distant, it is unlikely.))

"Deity? Dead?" Jean threw her head back and laughed softly, not at Owle, but at the thought. "Didn't he tell you what he was? He can only be taken apart, everything else about him is immortal. He was our God, our Deity...Datho Mere Sunstrike..."

"JEAN!!!"

Owle wouldn't even see it coming. Just the warning, and a sudden whoosh, before she was ten feet off the ground.

The whole time that Vahn and Knights had been fighting, without realizing...Knights had tried to listen in, thereby bringing both fighters, too close to the girls.

Flame ignited, and Jean didn't have a lot of time to prepare and grab Owle before both found a platform of earth shoving them sky high, ironically, the small plateau was big enough for two people.

Knights slamed into it from the impact, causing Jean to squeak and grab hold of her friend again when the dirt shuddered, everything smoking.

"Heh...heh...another fire ******** me..." Chunk! The blade hit the earth and Knights smoking body hauled itself upwards.

"The ******** do you think you're playing at Godchild...gonna destroy even before you start? Makes me wonder if you even want this disc in tact...or if you just wanna kill me for looking like him." Those green eyes stared at Vahn without fear, just regret.

"I said you weren't strong enough...he won't remember you. You react like this, well...you're too even to know the outcome for sure. Heh...must have shaken you up big time...finding love like that and being consumed by your own power like this."

"Nngh..!" Yellowed eyes narrowed even as he froze his arm. The words did more than make him falter, they went straight into his heart and shattered the dark bindings that had taken place, making him regain his senses...

..if anything else. "S-Shut up! I'm not here to be played along with!!"

He swung the flamberge to the side, one-handed before stepping forward. "Don't talk like you know me! You don't know me at all! You don't know him-- you don't know US!!"

He said love. Vahn's reaction only confirmed it. Owle stared down at the him, wide-eyed...not believing. Yes, she had known that Vahn had someone else who held his heart, someone he had to find. She had been alright with that, when he told her...cause so did she.

But a GUY?!

A....GUY?

..........Owle's brain went offline for a few moments, and she simply listened to them talk.

"Oh, um, you're welcome," she stammered to Jean, barely looking at her, her eyes still glued to Vahn and Knights.

Wow...what a cute dragon...

HUH?!

The last as the child she'd been speaking to wasn't a child anymore.

Which was real, which was false? she wondered as she waved back to the young woman. The child or...?

Well, I can't stay up here all day.

She leapt off the plateau, tiny wings fluttering madly as they slowed her descent to the ground. Her feet touched earth, she looked up at Vahn, her brown eyes meeting his. So many questions, so many doubts and things she needed not to hear...

"What-?"

It was a single, strangled word that demanded an explanation for everything that had just happened.

All the while, the magpie sat on the bike's handlebars, silently watching. Only when those two figures appeared in the distant, the bird seemed to be confused, as if it didn't know what to do, as if it got contradictory orders. It suddenly croaked in protest, then became calm again, reminding of a piece of decoration.

He was injured, bleeding, and probably insane. Owle shoved her emotions aside. Deal with the problem.

"Come on..." One arm around him, to help him stand if he needed it. "We need to get you somewhere where you can heal up. Then you have some explaining to do. Okay?"

She didn't know why she expected she had a right to an explanation, there was no logic behind it. But damn it, she'd been straight with him before they'd made love. She had told him about Rafe, about the child she carried. And he had hidden this from her. Until she'd woken up.

"Whatever happens, whatever you decide to do or have to, I'm here. Alright?"

He was still a friend. Whatever inner turmoil she might have, there was no denying that his need right now was greater than that little emotional storm. So she locked it away, let it sit. He needed something solid, someone who wasn't going to let him stand here and bleed to death on the plains, laughing about god knows what.

And the magpie just wasn't gonna cut it.

His laughter petered out as she touched him, his voice croaking down into short bursts, and then haggard breathing as he began to collect himself again.

The 'seam' along his right arm seemed to fade away, even as Vahn lowered his head, hsi body nearly sagging. "Do you hate me Owle?"

At least that's how it would have gone, if it weren;t for the fact that he began hearing someone coming closer... one..no two...

"....?" Lifting his head, yellowed eyes stared out.

With those two coming closer, the bird's eyes were fixed on the tall, pale man with his silvery-white hair.

By the way, if one was to take a closer look, he would find a thin leather strap around the magpie's leg, attached to it a tiny, uncut pearl.

"--You!"

He spat the word out, even as blood accompanied the sudden movement. He was already pushing away from Owle, bringing the flamberge up and off the ground, giginv a lazy wide arc to the rgiht.

"Some party we got here!" He took a half step forward, blackened flames leaking from the wound in his side, and forming what appeared to be half of a jagged wing.

He was moving forward, putting distance between himself and Owle for her own sake. "It's not another burnt stadium is it? Maybe you wanna do the plains next?? That what your god wants?!"

How could he forget Providence... no.. Kraun..

"Vahn-!"

And Owle did what any useless heroine in the old movies would have done. She let him go, cried his name, clasped a hand to her heart, and...

"Be careful."

...became a cat, conveniently hard to see among the tall grasses. She began slinking through them...if Vahn needed her, well, she could at least provide a momentary distraction. With any luck these people would forget she was there, or, better yet, think she'd run off.

They seemed peaceable enough, for the moment. But Vahn seemed to think they were trouble, so if that changed...

"It's all in the envelope Mister Kyonuske... If you so choose to open it." the woman answered evasively. All the fine details were in the envelope, and with the woman around, even if she had supposedly disappeared, she wouldnt speak the private details of the matter. With a flick of her fingers, the small black envelope was sent sailing through the air towards the man.

Grace laughed musically as she turned around and walked off with a merry step. Providence followed after her. They were done here.

Inside the small black envelope would be an invitation to a small private underground tournament with no publicity whatsoever, virtually unheard of, there was but only promise of bloodshed. It included rules and directions to the place it would be held at.

(( http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14435433 ))

Owle knew that Vahn had been trying to protect her when he started forward...she had seen it before, with other friends and family. She knew, and she knew he was right to do so. Owle was well aware of her own limitations. She was useless in head on physical combat; staying near Vahn would only have hindered him.

But as a cat, unseen, slinking around in the grass? Well, maybe she would have been able to gut one of them before they even knew what hit them.

As Grace and Providence turned to go, the moment they were more than ten feet away, Vahn would feel something warm and furry rub up against his legs, a deep rumbling purr emanating from it. Then it would pass, and the more or less human Owle would be standing by his side again, putting an arm around him to support him.

"Come on. It's pointless staying here."

Vahn may have hurt her, but she had already forgiven him twice over. His pain was greater than hers right now, and he needed her...that made her pain unimportant. For the time.

She looked over towards the motorcycle naturally; she wasn't sure if Vahn could ride in his state, but it was the fastest way back to Latent. It was then she noticed the magpie acting strangely.

Weird.

And she would have stayed completely oblivious to its meaning, if she weren't always on the lookout for incoming telepathic messages. She didn't know how many friends she had whom she had told If you ever need me, just think my name real loud in my direction. Her astral ears were always open, and one or two snakes always hovered on the borders of her shields to catch messages that might be trying to reach her.

The cafe she and Vahn had just made a mad dash out of. First aid for Vahn's wounds. And a need to talk...well, why wait till they got there?

If Vahn bothered to notice, a single golden snake shot off from Owle, first zooming towards the magpie and staring at the poor bird through black eyes. Then it was off again, this time following Lucind's connection to the bird backwards...

It wouldn't be long before Lucind would find a snake staring her in the face. The purely astral creature, invisible to those who could not sense psionic power, would seem to bow its head politely, then nuzzle up to the woman's hand. If Lucind let it touch her, she would find Owle's voice in her head.

"You're Vahn's friend, I presume?"

((I think this may be the longest post I have ever made. And I can't even find a reason why. ))

"Dirty?" It was an odd question, and Owle was beginning to fear Vahn truly had lost his mind.

She shook her head.

"No. I mean, you're covered in your own blood right now and probably a good amount of earth, but...you're not dirty."

What was on her mind?

"All I'm thinking right now..."

Her arm still around him, she started walking. Toward the bike, toward Latent. With any luck, he would take the hint and walk with her. She couldn't very well drag him.

"Is that you're injured, and something's really shaken you. All I'm thinking, is how I'm going to get you to a safe place where you can rest, and heal." She shook her head. "Nothing else matters right now."

If he had taken the hint, and was moving, she continued to walk on without saying more. If he continued standing still, she scolded him

"Come on, walk with me. I'll get worn out if I have to shift and carry you all the way back to Feimurgan's. And I will carry you if you don't move."

"...Your stubbon."

He began moving forward complying with her wishes, even as the flamberge was dragged along behind him.

"Why is it all the women I meet are so damn stubborn..."

Giving as much as he could in support to Owle, he followed her lead, trying not black out from strain before it was too late.

((I think if it takes Lu with a car around 15min to reach the plains' outskirts, it will be enough time for you to get out of this uncivilized area...or what do you think? However, my next post will be in the Latent thread.))

"I don't suppose you know how to drive..."

In all honesty he shouldn't have been this exhausted... the fight hadn't even gone on for that long, but using his flame.. had somehow sapped him of all the stamina he had. His right arm had felt odd as well... like he was not adapting well enough or using the "power" correctly.

So much blood had been used in just summoning all that flame that he was ready to collapse.

The hell.. is going on with me?

A bike rolled through the plains from the Stadium, on the way towards Latent. It happened to be a black Kawasaki Ninja ZX 6R, burning down the pathway in all haste. The trip to the Leviathan had been a royal bore, and he was in quite a hurry to go see whatever else there was to be seen.

Gods, I'm irritated. No one was in today...

His swords had been to no avail, really. But he carried them around anyways, just in case something stupid happened. Even now, they were hanging from his right hip while he was on the bike, the bracers and greaves underneath his black clothing shining merrily as the sunlight hit them where available.

s**t!

And thus, he fell... into what? A pit, and nothing more? If that were the case, he could just get out. The bike went roaring down the hole, and while it did so... Evan bailed. He hopped off of the bike in the middle of its descent and drew his short sword, digging the stainless steel into the earthen wall of the pit.

Okay... that was new, he mused to himself as the motorcycle went crashing down to the ground below. With that, he began to haul himself up, drawing his katana and planting it into the wall as well. Using both of them, one after the other, he began to climb his way out- or at least attempt to do so.

"Just someone who was passing through. I trust these things are common around here... I doubt you'll give your name, so I'll get to the point." He simply kept moving upward, regardless of what else was said or done. First, he'd get out; then he'd assess the threat. One thing at a time, here. Then again, the person, whoever it was, was already a threat, seeing as they had laid the trap.

"What do you want? I'm busy at the moment, and not with this hole you've dug for me."

Nothing else... what the hell is he on?

His mind tried to recall. What would he have needed from him earlier? Something was not right about this. Especially about the five heads that just popped up. This line of questioning would have to wait until later...

Threat has been determined. No more climbing. Worry later- go now.

With that, he kicked off of the wall, freeing his swords from their confinement at the same time. With that, he kicked both legs downwards... and went bursting upwards, the greaves adorned around his shins shining a light blue. A pillar of air pressure had been created underneath him, giving him a solid surface to launch off of.

Five feet upwards... another jump, and another five feet. He got his swords ready. Another five feet upwards... and in the space of exactly four seconds, he was above the hole instead of inside it. With a final kick outwards instead of downwards, he came rushing at the nearest target, both weapons at the ready and pointing forward.

In other words, he was trying to impale the first target he saw.

The attack met. No effect. Needles incoming, lots of them. Don't forget that bite. What now? Simple enough, though it wouldn't seem that way at first. The claws were the unseen element, but easily handled. The fact was that Evan not only moved forward with those weapons- He threw his entire body behind the attack. If that didn't damn well ground an opponent, nothing would.

Seeing as that wasn't the case though, Evan moved before the arms could wrap around his person. Swinging his legs forward and underneath the undead, he pulled his weapons free and slid along the dirt and grass, leaving a wake of dust. He ended up about five feet away before quickly getting up and making an organized attempt at deflecting the rest of the needles with both blades in a frantic dance.

I have to move faster.

There was only one way that was going to happen...

I guess there's no turning back. Find an opening, or create one.

It was simple enough to do, really. As he deflected the incoming projectiles, he began focusing his energy. It was easy enough to do, provided that he was moving around enough. All he had to do was gather his energy with every swing and parry.

And once there was enough, he let a technique fly. Pivoting clockwise on his right foot with both blades extended, he let out a shout of focus. With that, a massive ring of air pressure shot ten feet outward from the combined might of the blades and the centrifugal force.

And he spun again... and yet a third time, completing the technique. That would be a total of three attacks... the needles would be re-directed back towards their targets, and the air pressure would simply slice through or push back anything in its way.

Technique Used Wrote:

Hurricane- A spin in a clockwise direction with the blade(s) extended in an Ichimonji (horizontal cut, targeted just below the opponent's rib cage) that causes a circular wave of energy as the blade passes through the air. Can be done up to three times for an added effect, and further motion in any direction.

It didn't get a good grip.

As suggested earlier, it wouldn't be able to. And while the rotation was underway, Evan saw his opponent coming even before the hand extended. He smirked. This would be somewhat interesting. He would try to use the stick in the fan trick.

Not going to work... Evan was moving too fast. But why just keep moving when there were two opportunities to counter? So he let the arm stop him... on the second spin. But he kept on moving, and thus turned from his position, spinning to the right. And with that, he was to his opponent's side... before he steped forwards and underneath.

The hand missed entirely, and now the target was right above him. This wouldn't hurt, but it'd neutralize the threat- or at least, one of them.

"HYAAAAAI~!"

He suddenly thrust the short sword forwards and upwards towards the opponent's head, a rush of air accompanying the strike. Frankly, the compressed air alone would have done the trick, but the blade was too close... it went through anyways. This attack would tear the opponent's skull apart at this range.

And with that, he leapt upwards, cutting through the corpse with his katana, slicing the opponent summarily in half from underneath. Thus, both the needles and the ghoul were dealt with. Now, if that didn't stop him, he'd be in serious trouble.

Not like he wasn't already, but there was still a way out.

Technique Combination Wrote:

Heaven Piercer- Tsuki (forward stab to the throat, windpipe, or chest) with an added effect. The blade is pulled back, and the practitioner begins to focus. When the desired point of focus has been reached, take one step forward and thrust forward. Along with the powerful stab, the gathered energy is projected, acting as a giant needle and an effective short or long range attack. Can be done while airborne for an air-to-ground attack, as a normal aerial manuver, or as an anti-air attack from the ground.

Rising Divide- A heavy upwards cut done while jumping in the air from a low forward crouch-step, using air pressure to further elevate the jump. An effective way to slide under an attack and counter. Can be done twice to keep the opponent airborne, and open up possibilites for mid-air tactics.

Negative energy. Something straight from the void.

Yup, he could live with that. Matter of fact, he did something potentially dangerous- he took it in. Absorbed it. Now to anyone else, this would be potentially fatal. For him though, it was simply like breathing. He was a creature of the negative plane himself, and with that said, the energy cloud only helped him.

Drain? Right... Now, if Munin were fighting, which he would be damned if that happened, she would be indefinitely crippled by this. She was his polar opposite- the light to his darkness.

Now then... faster.

As said before, there was only one way that he'd be able to move faster. That way would be a strength increase. One that he had just gotten. He did nothing but grin as he turned himself in the air and pistoned both feet towards the sky, the air pressure platform allowing him purchase to head back towards the ground before the needles could hit him.

He righted himself, hit the ground with his feet planted and his knees bent...

And just plain vanished after one full second. Well, not really. If these ghouls had any idea of what was going on, they'd get moving, and fast... because this was going to be one very interesting show. His speed was now beyond the plane of sight, or at least to the point where those with such perception would only see an indiscernable blur.

One of the ghouls would be summarily cut in half from the ground up.

The needles? They'd miss entirely, or hit a combination of kevlar, titanium, and steel. The coat, the bracers, the tactical vest underneath. Now everything came into play... and playtime was over.

Quote:** Wrote:

Gale Shift- Evan performs a senkuu (Air Flash) manuver, using the aid of the wind in order to move fast enough to evade attacks and projectiles while making it seem as if he vanished from sight. He is highly vulnerable on startup for one full second due to the amount of focus required, and during the evasion as well if improperly timed.

He didn't need it. All he did was let it blow up and get moving. He vanished again, seeing as one whole second had just passed. It was time to systematically eliminate the competition. Weaving back and forth through the sea of needles, vanishing and re-appearing as if he were some kind of mirage with two swords. And each moment that he stopped moving, one second had passed.

Soon, he neared another ghoul and decided to have fun with him. Before reaching the target's position, he sheathed his katana and wakizashi at the same time... which took all of half a second. Indeed, one of the key elements in iaido was to be able to re-sheathe the weapon in the blink of an eye. And in the next half, he was gone again.

Only to appear right in front of his target... and cut with both swords, one after the other in a blinding, blurring flash. The speed of his draw was rediculous- one moment the ghoul was standing there, the next his head was gone and his torso was sliced clean through.

And Evan was gone again, heading towards the next target.

Quote:** Wrote:

Two-Fold Scimitar- The practitioner strikes at the draw of the blade in Ichimonji, moving his torso to add force to the attack. As the blade moves in a horizontal line, the saya (or a second sword, if available) is to follow. With enough training, it can be made to look like the first attack struck twice instead of once.

This one would be different, though...

The claw came towards him, and he smiled as he ducked right under it. And summarily, he kicked upwards with such power that he himself was lifted into the air. Heel would connect with chin at this range and snap the head backwards, if not completely off.

From there, he righted himself with a front sault and snapped his legs forward and upward, keeping the ghoul in the air... once, twice, three, four times... then BOOM.

He would sent the undead flying towards its mate with a fifth and final mid-air side kick that would send his target flying towards the intended direction, turning the ghoul into a pin cushion and effectively defending himself against the hail of shots.

Quote:** Wrote:

Zephyr Feet (Light Strength)- After ducking low and launching his foot upwards at the opponent, Evan rights himself with a forward flip, and while supported by a column of air, kicks the opponent multiple times, his feet snapping upwards into the opponent in order to keep him or her afloat. The final kick sends the target flying towards the ground, slamming hard into the pavement or what have you. Total of seven hits on full-strength.

Coming out of the last foothills of the Mithral Mountains, Fa was finally on level ground again. He was officially in the Plains of Gaia now and on his way to his destination, wherever that might be. Fa was still unsure of where he wanted to go, so he just started going strait ahead. This may not have been the best decision so far, but it sure made things simpler.

It had taken him much effort to get her to quit resisting, and some hours after their waking, he had managed to get her to let him drive the dusty Landrover.

Soon after he woke, he had remembered her strange behavior from the night before and he decided at that moment that she needed rest more than he, for whatever reasons. Within minutes after waking, they made sure to take everything of theirs in the room, and together they headed to the front desk where they checked out and left. The vehicle Red owned was not too far from the hotel building, and it was a short walk to reach. As soon as they had reached the white Landrover, a small and mild argument developed over who would drive, and with much goading he managed to coerce her into doing what he wanted, for her sake.

The journey out of Lament was pretty uneventful, heavy traffic headed towards the main gates as usual, heavy military presence as usual, even the security checks at the gates themselves were monotonous, something which mildly surprised Zetsu, for he had expected the sensors to pick up the aura of the small book Red held.

'Must have been shielding or something, whatever.'

They had reached a good distance from the main gates of Lament, and not much of the city was visible besides a dark blur on the horizon. It would be awhile before they would reach their destination, but he surprising slept well the night before, and he was ready to drive for hours if needed. So far, they had spoken little and to tell the truth, Zetsu himself wasn't much of a morning person.

With the vehicle on cruise-control and the road being ruler straight, it wasn't long before he looked to his left, seeing the endless grassy plains fluctuate like the waves on the ocean. It was this strange sight he saw through the grimy window of the white vehicle.

"Wai.."

'Just like before..'

The day he had arrived at the Leauge, the most vivid thing he could remember was staring out of a grimy window. The day he left his 'family', the most vivid thing he could remember was the grimy window. It was this strange coincidence which prompted his next thought.

'Every time..'

Every life changing event which marked his life was signified when looking out of a window. Although the connection was vauge, he was deeply disturbed at his personal sign of changing times.

"So....how are you feeling? Just tell me if my driving's making ya sick okay?.."

"You can't run forever." Decruda's voice carried over the grass field, even as the man he was speaking to smashed a ghoul in half with a massive sword. He walked slowly, taking his time, his scimitar in his right hand. He was in no real rush, simply leaving the ghouls and the man to go at it until he arrived.

Another one flew through the air behind him, pouncing up to come down at him in order to sink its claws into his back, and following that, bite into the back of his neck. Of course, that was taken care of quickly enough as his large sword was brought back around, not only batting the creature out of the air, but ripping it apart in the process, spilling its guts across the green grass.

"Heh... heh... Sure I can." he responded to the statement between a few breathes as he crushed the skull of another ghoul with the back of the blade while swinging back.

"These things are actually..." he threw a solid punch into the jaw of another creature coming at his from his side, sending it spiralling off ten metres through the air before it would bounce off the ground and roll a few more metres, its head completely twisted around, jaw out of place. "Pretty weak." He glared at Decruda, one eye pitched black, the other one grey with flakes of green in them.

Quote:** Wrote:

To..put a long story short, my companions all ended up dying, me escaping death by a thread, and my best sword being broken in half. That all happened in the middle of autum. From there, I found it impossible to access any funds I had gained, and so I spend the winter surviving off of whatever no one else wanted. All I had then was my empty revolver and the clothing on my back.

Ymir.

That name gave her goosebumps and caused her heart to beat frantically. She had experience with Ymir cults, she had watched her entire family sacrificed to Ymir. Her mind was screwed up because of Ymir. She was a freak because of Ymir. She grabbed him by the collar, pulling him away from the steering wheel and not caring about the consequences at the moment.

It might of had nothing to do with Yaits or the charitable order, there were plenty of Ymir cults before she had unleashed the incarnation, but they all worked together and ussually had the same goals.

"A Ymir cult! What did you learn! What did you find out! who tried to kill you! Who hired you, I want to know now! NOW!"