Finding Ietus - The Truth in the Lie

[Ayithe Solete]

Ayithe hesitated as the knight questioned her actions, his weary pale face looking weak and uncertain - if not a bit confused.

"She stabbed you. I had to take action..." Ayithe strokes a few stray strands of hair out of her face and paused in silence. "But yes, this is the child of the Ranceed family. I don't know how trustworthy they are... But he's only a child."

She wanted to keep moving, to keep herself and this child safe. It wasn't easy making decisions under this threat of death. Had this place been this way for a while? Had the picked off other mercenaries and knights that had come to stop this shifter? There was even a part of her that wondered if the shifter was real and if this wasn't a whole scenario created to pick off mercenaries, but that begged the question of why?

"I am no medic..." She felt the urge to state the obvious, the fact his wound was still bleeding profusely. "Can you stand and return to the fold? Can we try a new tactic and return the main group? We are all injured and fighting... Searching alone now seems stupid. And maybe one of them can heal you?"

Ayithe realised she hadn't answered his question about the archer, but her uncomfortable frown usually said enough. Labelling the man a foolish scared idiot would have been true, however, she felt no desire to recognise his existence anymore for he was more likely dead anyway.

"Probably dead. There was so much chaos that I just had to focus on saving the child and myself."

[Mutant_Lorenor]

"Going back to the group now would prove counter productive." The Paladin said calmly.

Lorenor carefully attempted to stand. He noticed something about the injury...his body was regenerating on it's own. As he stood up he noticed just how much blood he'd lost. Yet, he was still able to function, able to maneuver and act. He didn't understand it all fully...but he had started to heal. Lorenor shook his head as he stood. He was wobbly in his movements at first. His eyes looked upon the boy and Ayithe before him. Lorenor was considering the situation at hand, and how badly things have gotten. "Did you get attacked?" Lorenor noticed there were several bruises on Ayithe...he wondered what had caused them. His eyes observed her carefully, and then he looked to the boy.

"You're a good kid." Lorenor said calmly. He was trying to make himself feel comfortable more than anything. He was already recovering from an injury...so he wondered if that would impede. He shook his head and clutched at the injury in his abdomen area. "Doesn't hurt so bad." He looked at the knocked out girl before them for a moment. Her body in a crumbled heap. "Really wish this mess hadn't gotten so bad." He then looked at Ayithe. "We need to recuperate and figure out what's our next move. I have a bad feeling about everything anyway." Lorenor was trying to avoid regrouping with any of the others...the Ranceed people had made their point and Lorenor did not want to engage them in front of the boy.

Plus, in his weakened state...he really wanted to get bandaged up and put back together. A part of him wanted to leave...but the rational part of him knew he could not and would not. "If there is a Monster here we still have to find it, for the boy's sake." Lorenor said to Ayithe. "Whatever you decide to do...I'll go with you. Don't want you to have to face whatever we have to face on your own." Lorenor said. He considered the situation at hand...he knew there was probably more going on than what he was told. Yet...there was no other choice but to continue forward and press on. Lorenor would use his power to defeat the shifter...

[Ayithe Solete]

"We are damned if we do, and damned if we don't." Ayithe replied in response to his hesitation. After all, they have to try something and sitting around waiting to die was not on her agenda.

Yet, as he went to stand and she almost offered to lend a hand, he not only stood but seemed a little better from those few moments ago. Was his wound not as fatal as it appeared? He was a little odd looking, those glaring eyes and even a strange glow seemed to come from him, although he wasn't the first person to display magical abilities in front of her. She hesitated to think something else, then answered him properly.

"Yes, we got forced down here after an altercation. The guards here are disillusioned to say the least. We all knew it wasn't safe here, but this place frightens me now. This boy won't last the night if things continue the way I have seen."

Honesty was a strong point of hers, but she hated it as well. She never liked admitting her fear, but this place was already taking a toll on her mentally, and what exactly to do with this child was bugging her. There was nowhere safe, nowhere they could lock him up and collect later, they were all inside and trapped with an invisible beast. All she could do was keep him beside her and protect him, because she knew in her heart she could never leave a child behind to die - she'd never forgive herself.

"I still believe we should head towards the main hall, splitting up was..." She didn't want to finish her sentence. "A mistake... I wish I hadn't suggested or backed it. But we should try re-unite before more of us die."

She gripped the child's hand and looked up to Lorenor, she hoped he would agree, if not, she had no idea what else he could suggest.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Lorenor nodded.

"That sounds like a plan to me. I would much rather accompany you and the boy then be left for dead down here anyway." Lorenor was scared. The whole situation had gone south very, very quickly. He took a look at the maiden that had been knocked out by Ayithe. None of this was their fault... He shook his head at that point as he considered the fact. He wondered how much of the situation was really their fault...and how much was the demonic creature they were after. Lorenor carefully considered the thoughts...and he realized he was slowly beginning to buckle under the pressure. I just want to help solve the case and get the monster before his spreads out of control. If it is in fact a Demon...it's possibly anybody could have summoned it. Lorenor didn't want to disturb Ayithe with any of his own observations. At that point he was not one hundred percent anyway.

Gathering himself, he proceeded to grab his gear and prepared himself for the next part of the ordeal.

He knew that some of the Ranceed people were taking advantage of the demon's presence and attempting some sort of a power play in Knife's Edge. The Paladin didn't take kindly to being sold out by the Ranceed people but that was beyond his control anyway. That was information that he was not privy to from Abbot Hugo. Lorenor motioned toward Ayithe to hint that he was ready to continue the journey. Though hurt and tired, he wanted to be certain the demon was dealt with. Lorenor was walking somewhat slowly at first but soon found himself able to move he was taking a few practice steps so that he could get used to walking with his injury once more. The injury was still painful...but it was healing on it's own. Lorenor was not sure why he was healing in such a way. Hadn't I lost the regeneration powers with Reformation? Or maybe something else was going on...

He shuddered at the thought. However, it would soon be time for smiting the Demon and Lorenor needed to be ready. For his sake, and for Ayithe and the Ranceed boy's sake as well. Lorenor found himself capable of walking normally after a few moments passed and decided that he was ready. "Let's go then...whatever happens at this point...happens." As he moved forward, he assumed Ayithe and the boy would follow. Lorenor followed his own instinct and made his way towards the staircase that lead up towards the main section of the Ranceed building proper. As he moved he recalled everything that had happened during the long series of events. He drew his sword and prepared for the worst as he moved forward.

[Ayithe Solete]

And so, with boy in her arms and mutant man by her side, Ayithe left towards the where they had all started - the main hall.

It seemed almost pointless, Ayithe had a slight limp, her baggage may have been small but a child was more than just a bag or item, and the large man beside her was still recovering. Like a trio of batter and bruised brothers they walked up the stone stairs and through the marble archways. Stepping over corpses and bodies, the only definition of difference being that some were just dead men, and others were mutilated into unrecognisable figures with gaping holes and lacerated organs that left them in a sea of blood that filled corridors.

Had it all gone to hell so quickly? Were they the only few left in a war they knew nothing about? Or did they enter a game of life and death for a single beasts entertainment? Ayithe tried not to look at the bodies, stepping around the gore an entrails and trying to imagine the beauty that this place once held. It wasn't that she hadn't seen a body or two before, she was stronger than that, but the fact was that only someone with a stomach of steel could look at this unholy horrific mess.

Ayithe covered the boys eyes but she could do nothing of the smell, the dense rotten must of dead men and women that only attracted the psychopaths and rats. Yet this was their path. If they tried to escape, even if they could break out of the foot thick front door, or leap the giant concrete walls that surrounded this place, the guards of Knives Edge would soon hunt them down - or maybe even the creature itself.

Finally, the archways broadened and the corridor merged into a lobby before the main hall, and where there was once talk and huddled fear, there was now silence and death. Ayithe froze still as she produced a loud gulp in her throat. The hall had become a massacre, a fancy wooden throne centered in the room now circled by a river of blood and countless dead. Yet sat upon such a throne was one man, slumped forward with his head on his fist, his gold rings digging into his chin enough to draw a small trickle of blood. He appeared like a king, but his face shrouded almost black he was not the same man that they had met before. His royal red robe hung off him eerily as his cold blood shot eyes peered up at their arrival, and then he began to laugh.

Even the boy did not approach his father as his little hands clung to Ayithe for safety. "What..."

"Bwahahaha," his deep bellowing laugh echoed like thunder throughout the hallway. "I must confess, I wasn't expecting anyone to return here just yet. I wasn't quite finished in my preparations. Anyway," he stood revealing his sinister smile and enormous size - larger and more frightening than any normal man, his body pulsed like water before it regained a solid strength. "Allow me to express my task here is already done... Yet, you all just keep coming in here like cows for a sacrifice. How can I resist?"

What drove such a creature? Why was it here and why had Ietus sent here to destroy it? She'd killed a shifter before, but the sea had helped back then, and the only sea here was that of blood it had made itself. Ayithe carefully put the child down and requested he stand back, the terrified child didn't want to let her go, but when such a danger lurked before them there was no choice.

"Lorenor, I hope you're well enough to fight." Ayithe's voice trembled slightly, but as she focused forward she gripped her disk-blades. She was as ready as she could be.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

It had all come down to that.

Lorenor saw many ripped apart bodies, some in worst decay than others. He frowned the entire time and felt pity for the few allies he had made in the sad, sad story. He saw the faces of the mercenaries...mangled in masks of terror. He shook his head as he walked. And said a silent prayer for the victims of the monster. He walked, instinctively and they made their ways to the main hall. Where it all began. He was surprised that the man who had initially shown such hostility towards him was the monster. Or at least the body and current host of the demon. Lorenor could not help but shake his head in disgust. Lorenor was still hurt, but he had a mission. The sway had tasked him to exterminate the demon in the Ranceed household and he was determined to do just that. Once he was before the target, Lorenor considered the situation at hand. He could cast the rituals necessary to burn to the Demon and send it back to Haidia, or whatever Hell it came from.

Lorenor looked at the Demon.

He barely heard Ayithe speak. As a Paladin, Lorenor knew that this was the enemy. There would be no bargaining, no mercy, no excuses. Despite his injury, Lorenor summoned up every ounce of courage he could. For the sakes of the Ranceed boy, the sole remaining heir, he would be brave. Lorneor saw the power radiating from the creature, it was Darkness and not Darkness at the same time. As he considered the situation at hand, he readied his weapon. Lorenor recalled every time he had ever encountered a Demon, or someone truly evil. His body began to glow with the righteousness of the Holy Light. As he looked at the creature before him, Lorenor almost felt sorry for. His ally, Abbot Hugo, had warned him that it would be a very dangerous hunt. He had proven correct in that assumption. Lorenor looked at Ayithe with a very serious expression on his face.

"Flank it, I'm going to provide the necessary distraction." Lorenor considered himself a Hero, and he would die for the Ranceed boy. As he readied his weapon he walked slowly towards the demon. Lorenor's eyes locked on the eyes of the creature itself. "I've fought your kind before. You wear the masks of people cause you yourselves are pathetic." Lorenor recalled the Endless he fought back in Haidia that would take over the bodies of the fallen. They were parasites. Perhaps this creature is not so different from an Endless? Lorenor thought to himself. He finally covered the distance between himself and the demon. "I suppose this was your grand plan? So that the authorities would blame us for the death of the Ranceed leader?" Lorenor shook his head again. "Abbot Hugo sends his regards, monster." And Lorenor struck. He began by summoning forth one of his potent smite spells and ran forward with it, aiming his powerfully glowing weapon towards the mid section of the foul creature.

And so it would begin.

[Ayithe Solete]

Ayithe watched as the shifter just stood there, allowing the large frame of Lorenor to charge it down with Claymore in hand. The swords sky blue glow illuminated in Lorenor's hands as the blade raised in anticipation of striking its target. Yet as he launched into his assault the Shifter appeared to step into the attack.

It's skin moulded and liquefied as it turned its arms into long blades equal in length to that of the Claymore weapon that Lorenor held. Their blades clashed as the Shifter's mould finished and solidified for impact and sparks signified their greeting with a loud metal twang.

The creature still winced in some pain, Lorenor's blue glow was apparently more than just a pretty attribute. Their eyes met and the shifter snarled as they pressed swords into one another's and held a pose of strength as if to wait for who wilted first.

Ayithe ensured the child stepped back, confident she had found the sole perpetrator for this whole situation. She had faced a Shifter before, and fire was not its friend. She instinctively gripped at her necklace, the thought of flames ready to trigger into her very weapons. Yet, just as she went to close her eyes the shifter drew her attention.

It sleekly guided Lorenor to one side, letting his own confrontation push him to one side as he stepped past him to face Ayithe. Yet without a word he stepped into a charge, his focus on the very necklace she held close in her fingers. She almost panicked, gripping her disk-blades she stepped back, standing deliberately between the shifter and the child. One arm merge back into a human fist, and reached out for her - desperately grabbing for the necklace.

She sliced out defensively, the blade cutting up the shifter, but its effect seemingly nothing as its reach was only stopped by her own grasp.

"I know what this is!" The Shifter claimed as it drove its sword hand forward.

Ayithe smashed her diskblade into his sword, the two interlocking as they stumbled backwards and they crashed to the floor. The Shifters sword stabbed into the floor harmlessly and the two lay in a grapple as they tussled, fighting over the necklace, for some fear of its power seemed to provoke its concern.

Jamming her knees under its gut she tried to push herself free, but the overwhelming strength of the shifter pushed down on her, pinning, trapping and forcing itself to its goal.

"Lorenor!" Ayithe shouted, "get this thing off me!"

[Mutant_Lorenor]

At that point, the true battle began...

Lorenor focused on his aura of vengeance and was gathering the power within himself. He knew his enemy was the shifter. The shifter foolishly exposed it's back to Lorenor and went after Ayithe, the Paladin would act. Harshly. For Abbot Hugo. Lorenor thought to himself and he leaped forward. His mighty claymore rotated through the air as he maneuvered his hefty weapon. The bodies created a horrible scent in the air, but Lorenor had to focus despite his injury...

In mid-air, Lorenor prepared a fully powered Smiting Slash.

As he jumped downward towards the shifter's back, the old Paladin struck. He summoned a fully powered Smiting Slash and attempted to to plunge his powered weapon deep in the back of the horrible creature. "So much death. You will pay for what you have done." Lorenor said. He was both tired and extremely angry. He'd already passed judgment on the horrible creature, and hoped he would never be forced to battle something like it again...at least not until he was considerably stronger.

As he leaped through the air and plunged downward his mind cleared...

***

"...Again." The trainer said carefully.

Lorenor did not understand why he was seeing a memory of the past, but it haunted him regardless. The past always haunted. He was back at the Ixian Castle, back as a newly reformed member of Ixian society. The reformed follower of N'Jal flinched when he saw his past self. But he played along with the memory.

There, as so many other times, there was the training center on the castle ground.

The old Paladin Order was part of the military wing of the Ixian Knights.

"You'll never reach Ietus like that." The trainer suddenly said to Lorenor as he trained against the training dummy. "You need more FAITH IN THE LIGHT."

"I'm trying." Lorenor said back as he had a thousand times over. Ietus was a myth, a legend told to the newer members of the Ixian Knights...had Lorenor really found heard the name Ietus before...? He swung again, attempting to perfect the swing that he was taught.

"The Demons will take away everything you love. Everything you hold dear, and they will do horrible things to you." The trainer said calmly.

Lorenor swung again. For the thousandth time that day. His hands were already bloody, his muscles were tensed and his body was on fire from the Holy Light.

"Such little faith in Ietus." The trainer said calmly.

"I've never even been to Ietus!" Lorenor snapped back and felt his anger and rage driving him to focus.

"Lorenor. What do you think the Reformation process is?" The trainer asked as Lorenor continued to slash the training dummy...

"Reformation...it is connected to Ietus somehow." Lorenor said calmly.

"Those who undergo the process, sometimes are connected to Ietus. But always, they have to pay for their deepest wish. What did you wish for, Lorenor?" The trainer taunted.

For someone like Lorenor, the price was heavy indeed. What did I wish...for...in that cold, dark cell? Lorenor sighed at that point. "I wished for my freedom from N'Jal."

***

And Lorenor exploded at that point with the rage he felt inside. What is...Ietus? A story...a myth...? Maybe Ayithe knows. She has to...I owe a debt... Lorenor thought to himself as he plunged his weapon deep into the Shifter's back. He released his most powerful Smiting Slash yet.

What did you wish for, Lorenor...? The voice repeated itself in his mind.

I wished for Freedom. Lorenor answered back in his mind as he burnt the creature badly with his power...

"I wished for Freedom. Freedom from N'Jal."

And the disturbing thought repeated itself once more. What was Ietus...how was it connected to Ayithe? Only time would give answers.

[Ayithe Solete]

The glowing claymore sliced with a furious determination from Lorenor, cutting down through the creatures back until it protruded from the other side. The angled blade now lodged awkwardly in its black, only inches from Ayithe's own stomach, Lorenor had now expected such serious impact, but the foolish Shifter had staked it all on stopping Ayithe's secret weapon that hung on her neck.

The necklace of fire that she had burned one its kind with before, and if she hadn't of been fortunate to hold it off for Lorenor's attack, they could have been in serious trouble.

"Argh!" The creature wailed as blood spewed from its back and chest, pouring down onto Ayithe as she winced in an uncomfortable and sickening moment. The urge to throw up swelled in her stomach as the thick red blood merged into a purple sticky mess. However this was their moment to take it down, one brought on by a mistake, but that didn't mean she would take pity and hold back. It was it or them, and she felt no desire to die this day.

Picking up her loose disk blade, she drove it into the Shifter's shoulder. The blade slicing down into a humanly fatal wound. She roared herself into a forceful kick and then managed to push the Shifter back, its grip weakening after the blow and then her powerful legs enough to knock it backwards and free herself. As the monster let go, the disk blade left her hand and erupted into a circle of magical flames that burned and charred the creature as it backed off. IT screamed and wailed with its arms and legs lashing out as it tried to dislodge the weapon, before finally knocking it the ground and stopping the flames.

Ayithe sat up, her focus on the shifter as it gathered itself and fell silent, its charred wounds and wounds pouring profusely with its own gunk of blood and gore. It's human shape only just holding together it awkwardly stood upright and two glowing red eyes peered back at them.

"Warriors, sent specifically to take me down..." The Shifter groaned with frustration. "How fortuitous that ones such as yourselves would arrive here to ruin my amusement. Or is that knowledge beyond your mortal minds?"

Ayithe tried not to respond or give away her motives for being here, but it seemed clear that this Shifter was more than just a killer without remorse. Why was it here? Why was it doing this murderous crime? Her mindful eyes, trying to think of why as she listened, met the shifters piercing and knowledgeable eyes.

"Your silence says enough to convince me." The shifter continued. "I will be slain even if I survive tonight. The war has begun, but at least my mission is accomplished."

"Murdering a family is no real mission. Murdering us is a mistake. You will die, not us." Ayithe retorted.

"A mistake? No. I'd call it a failure..." The shifter coughed and spewed some more purple gunk to the marble floor. "Yet you were not my target, merely an inconvenience of my own fun. We all die, my death will not affect the result of today's actions."

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Lorenor had heard enough.

"You're all the same...DIE!!!" Lorenor had fought Demons before. He ripped his sword out of the body of he fell creature. Then, as it spoke to Ayithe, Lorenor struck. There was no more time for mercy, no more time for words. The Shifter was a terrible creature that fed off the misery and suffering of others. The fact that it had killed everyone proved that. In the same motion, Lorenor drove his glowing weapon in a powerful slash towards the creature's head. Lorenor intended to burn the thing alive. There was no suffering too great for the monster before him. It had earned it's fate simply by what it was. Lorenor was a Paladin, and this creature represented the enemy...

Nothing else mattered...

Lorenor swung his mightiest attack at the creature yet. At the same time, he released a final attempt to smite the beast with another, more powerful Smiting Slash. Lorenor was hurt, tired, but he had a crusade he needed to finish. Ayithe and the Ranceed boy's safety were a major concern for the old Paladin. This is a terrible situation. I have to explain this mess to Abbot Hugo. But where do I even begin to do that...? Lorenor thought to himself as he considered the situation at hand.

So many dead...and for what? Lorenor hated the idea that the Shifter had caused so much harm in such a short period of time. Just for it's own selfish enjoyment. Lorenor judged the shifter in one final action, and put everything he could into that attack. It was then or never. Lorenor looked upon the shifter with tremendous disgust. "By the light...be judged." Lorenor said angrily as he felt the righteous rage fill his heart and soul. In the back of his mind, he kept thinking about the Ranceed boy. This will affect him a lot. I will try to talk to him a little later and perhaps get him to join Abbot Hugos cause and put him in orphanage now that his estate will be in ruins. He will need help after this. I intend to help the boy and Ayithe in whatever way I can.

Then another thought crossed his mind. I need to find Ietus...I need answers. This Demon and Ayithe are part of the puzzle somehow...