Strange Answers

[Call me J]

(Closed to Anna. Also, takes place before the FQ. All bunnies have been approved.)

There wasn’t really all that much of a reason for Jame to stop off in Anebrilith, save for the message he had received. He had never known Kedx Fieldeth in life, and in truth, the half dragon hadn’t wanted to know the vile vampire in death. However, the promise of visiting the lair of an alleged Enarlin apprentice was tempting for other reasons. Jame was about to go into battle, and he was going to see unspeakable evil. The idea of seeing evil up close before it was actually threatening him seemed like it might be an advantage for the callow youth. While he looked like a young man, he lacked the experience of one.

That was the irony of Jame’s adventures with Damon. The world had been saved, but it hadn’t been saved for him. Instead, it had gotten a great deal more dangerous. If Xem’zund really was coming to Raiaera, Jame should have been taking the first boat out of Anebrilith to somewhere as far away as he could manage. However, now he was just the pawn of fate and destiny, two masters he had never desired to serve. He felt an obligation for Damon, but he wondered how long that obligation would serve him, and his familial ties would really be enough to make sure he survived the wars that were going to come.

If Kedx’ house was any indication, though, evil was not very intimidating. The vampire who had practically razed all of Underwood had settled in a small carved out enclave out near the Anebrilith shore. It was a relatively hidden place, and Jame wondered how Damon had been able to find it. There were supposed to be treasures inside, but from the look of it, there were just a few sea creatures that had collected on the sandy floor. Everything of value was kept up on a platform, as if to suggest that even evil people had to concern themselves with water damage. That thought was strangely comforting to Jame.

“Find anything you can of value here…” Jame thought, thinking out loud. “Anything that belonged to the vampire that wasn’t lost in Underwood should still be here…” At least that was what Damon had said. Jame wondered exactly what it was that he was supposed to recover. Kedx had been known for his enchanted weapons, but many of them had been lost in Underwood. The vampire’s Enarlin magic was limited, if it even existed at all.

“Why would Damon want me getting anything evil anyways?” Jame thought. However, despite the fact that Kedx had been so sinister, there was nothing about his house that would have suggested as such. The little man made enclave was sparse, with cheap wooden furniture and utensils, and filled with books and papers. The entire place had a light air to it, especially the soft colored blue globe that sat on Kedx’ old desk. A thin layer of dust had collected upon everything, giving it a pastel grey air.

As Jame stepped into the house, the floorboards creaked lightly to welcome him. “Well this is where evil lives…” he said with a bit of a laugh. He glanced towards the left wall and noticed an old poster of a Brock Rundgren tour date. “And apparently evil likes hard music…”

[Nekoprincess]

Rainee was puzzled, her now shortened bright blue hair was put up in a neat ponytail, she was holding a yellowed piece of parchment in her hands, the writing on it was familiar yet bizarre, it was signed "Love Corin" but then why had he not sent word to her and Mylie before this? It had been years, since last she had seen him, the man who was the father of her little girl. But now he had sent a letter and apparently in a hurry with no explanation. Frowning as her booted feet moved over soft white sand, she sighed even more before rereading the letter for the fourteenth time.


Dearest Rainee,

I am sorry for being away for so long. You should come and see me in Anebrilith. Come alone, I've attached a map on the back.
Love,
Corin

The cat-girl’s silver ears twitched hesitantly, she had not liked the idea that her once beloved husband had asked her to come a lone. He had not even mentioned their daughter, who even now was looking bright eyed and happy at the chance to see the father that had walked out on her so long ago. Rainee had wanted to tell her little girl to stay back, but Mylie had insisted saying to her mother “Mom….its been four years! I won’t let you go see daddy alone! Were a family! Families are suppose to stick together!” Rainee had wanted to tell her precious daughter that fathers didn’t walk out on their families…but she had stayed her tongue. She would confront Corin when they got to his ‘home’ in Anebrilith.

“Mom!” Mylie said as her little feet were suddenly dampened by the bright ocean water that was gently lapping at the white sand. “My feet are all wet!” The bright green eyed cat-girl then looked around her until she spotted a home that was half way hidden by dull rock face, squinting she said softly. “Isn’t that the place dad marked on the map?”

Rainee nods but still looks uneasy as she steps across the darkened threshold. It was very dim inside and from the looks off it, there was about an inch of dust on the cheap-looking imitation furniture and furnishings. From the looks of things her runaway husband had been living very sparsely which was odd for him. Walking further inside, she noted that there was one thing he kept, Brock Rundgren list of when he had toured. He had one at their old home too, he had called it ‘His pride and joy of his former life.” Now though from the looks of things he lived yet another ‘new’ life. Frowning as her eyes wandered up to the leaky ceiling, she noted the shelving. On it were things that looked out of place in her eyes for her husband. Vases darkly painted but valuable were lined a long the shelves, along with three porcelain masks. These masks looked evil to the cat-girl’s eyes, scared and wondering just why Corin had called her, she whirled around her eyes fretful and fearful as she calls out “Corin…honey? Are you in here?”

[Call me J]

Jame had been crouched underneath Kedx’ desk when he was interrupted. He was so startled by her arrival that he hit his head on the bottom of the desk. “Ouch!” he exclaimed. He crawled out from underneath the desk gingerly and stood up, feeling rather awkward.

Almost immediately, Jame realized that he might be in trouble. This was the home of a very evil man, and if whoever this Corin was lived there also, then it was likely that Corin was evil to. As if looking for instructions, Jame unsheathed his sword just enough to see the blade. It was not glowing. Jame heaved a sigh of relief.

Now that he knew they weren’t a threat, he extended his hand outward towards the older of the two women. “Uhh… I don’t really know who Corin is…” he said. “This place was owned by a person named Kedx. He was someone who had ties to Enarlin magic and collected a whole bunch of Showstopper stuff. He also attacked Underwood a while back…”

Jame began to survey the two intruders as he spoke. The younger of the two was about eight and seemed quite disappointed to see him. Jame assumed she must have been expecting this Corin, whoever he was. However, the more he saw of them, the less threatened he felt. “It’s just two catgirls…” Jame realized. He relaxed his guard and moved his hand off his sword. He had never met a furry that had been all that threatening. He had met quite a few female furries that had been attractive, and the older of these was no exception, and this made Jame decide that he wanted them, at least the older one, to stay.

“Anyways, I’m Jame…” he said. He offered his hand out to Rainee. “I am here to look for any artifacts that might have belonged to this Kedx person…” he said. “He was a dark magician, and someone needs to get rid of things he has here that might be dangerous if just left around, you know? Maybe stay around for a while. After I’m done here we can go to one of the bars on the pier and you can tell me about this Corin…”

He smiled in a way that he hoped was endearing.

[Nekoprincess]

Rainee’s eyes were squinting due to the thick layer of dust and the lackluster colors, she hated things that were dull and boring. That’s why when Corin and her had moved into their mansion in Radasanth, the first thing Rainee had done was make sure their home was bright and welcoming. When they had shopped for furniture she had chosen a bright soft leather couch in chocolate and she had gotten sage green pillows and the two side tables had matched the couch in coloring. She had also made sure that ever other room in their home was welcoming, with little trinkets to know they were a happy family. In the spacious bedroom, she still had the only photo ever painted of Mylie, Corin and her, when they had first moved in. It was still hanging over their lovely ornate king sized bed with its plum satin comforter and gold sheets, it accented the room perfectly.

A sigh escaped her pretty lips as she thought about that picture….Corin back then had looked happy…content…what could have led him to live in this damp and dreary place? The answers for her were still a mystery…but…there had to be some clue…somewhere in this dump…her rock star husband had called his home….

“Mom?” Mylie’s voice came from underneath a ramshackle desk…it looked as if yellowed parchments were scattered on top of it…moving closer Rainee saw ancient symbols…many of which she didn’t recognize….she also saw her love’s writing…but it looked hurried…as if he was trying to complete something…a frown came upon the young cat-woman’s face as she thought she saw her name on the parchment…but…it couldn’t be……Mylie’s voice once again came from underneath the desk as her girl sounded distressed as she whined “It smells stinky down here….I can’t tell where the smell is coming from….I smell it underneath this old piece of junk mom…but I can’t find it!” Rainee meows furtively, concern on her face as she is about to answer her daughter when a strange man’s voice reaches her ears.

She did not hear what he said…her only concern was to protect her daughter, her pretty face thinned as she unsheathed her bow and took out an arrow to notch it….in a warning voice she murmurs “Who are you?” Her ears were flattened against her blue hair, her hand was shaking a bit as she moved to notch the arrow. Fear was coursing like a runaway train through her body, jolting out any sense of reason she might have normally had. The damp air, the strange parchments and just the plain fact that her husband was not here…was causing her to freak out. She had no answers yet, yet Corin had called her for some reason she was sure….sighing she murmurs “I came here looking for my husband…if you have any information for me spill it now…or else I’ll shoot you straight in the heart…..”

[Call me J]

(Mylie used with permission)

Jame genuinely didn’t know how to reply to the prospect of the arrow. He knew to pull his hand away, but beyond that, he was dumbfounded by the sudden hostility. He thought to glance back towards his sword, but decided against it after realizing that it would likely be seen as a threat. A few nervous drops of sweat began to appear on Jame’s forehead, and he glanced furtively around the room as if looking for a solution to be written somewhere on the walls of the house.

“Look…” he began. “I don’t know who your husband is, or why you’d be looking for him here. I’ve never met this Corin person, and I’m not here to cause trouble, alright? Just put the arrow away… we’ll talk, just I don’t want to fight here…”

Before he could continue to plead for his life, the little girl interrupted. She tapped her mother on the elbow. “Don’t shoot him mommy!” she said. “He seems nice and he’ll help us find Daddy…” She turned to look at Corin with soulful eyes that were as big as plates. “Won’t you?”

“Yes,” Jame replied. He answered on an impulse, though it wasn’t the impulse for survival. The little girl had looked on him with such eager innocence that he couldn’t help but agree to what she’d said.

Once she heard Jame’s answers, the little girl let out a light squeal and ran over towards Jame. She wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed. “Thank you! Thank you!” she said. “Mom and I are so worried. My father told us to come here and so we did, but the letter was old, and Mom was wondering if he would still be here and we have questions that need answering about where he’s been gone and why he hasn’t been looking after me and her…”

Jame smiled lightly, and patted the girl’s head nervously. “My name is Jame…” he said again. He spoke calmly and clearly, hoping that his demeanor might rub off on the older cat girl. “I don’t know about your husband, but we can look around here. A man named Kedx Fieldeth lived here. He was an Enarlin apprentice and-”

“My name is Mylie!” the younger girl interrupted. “Mylie Rivfader.” She squealed again. “And that’s a picture of me!” She let go of Jame and grabbed a small charcoal drawing that had been placed on Kedx’ desk. It was a picture of a family of felines, though the mother’s eyes had been poked out with a sharp piece of metal.

“That’s me with Dad!” she echoed, holding up the picture so that both her mother and Jame could see. “Mom… he kept a picture of us!”

“Your father must have known Kedx,” Jame said. “Maybe he’s moved in here since, though guessing from the dust on things, he hasn’t been here for a while. Look… I don’t want to be fighting with you, and there’s no need for any violence. Can you just put the bow down before someone gets hurt?”

“Namely me,” Jame thought to himself. He gulped visibly, unsure if either Mylie or his words had affected the older cat girl. “To think… I’m less than twenty four hours from meeting Xem’zund and I’m caught up here with a murderous cat girl…”

[Nekoprincess]

Rainee’s mind was frazzled, it felt as if thousands of needles were poking into her brain, numbing out all her other senses. The only image she saw was that of her precious daughter being hurt. Since Corin had left them they had been on their own. Rainee had been Mylie’s guardian and she had protected her child to the best of her ability. Or so it had been until she had discovered that letter, Corin wanted to see them again…perhaps, there was a chance for them to be a family again. But, that didn’t seem so likely now; a strange man was here in this dinky, water filled dump her husband had someone called ‘home’ and he was explaining that he was searching for someone, and that someone wasn’t sure beloved.

Hearing this Rainee’s hand slowly lowered the bow, her eyes were wary the silver irises squinting as she studied the man in front of her. He seemed fearful of ‘her’ like he was afraid she really would do what he said. He told her he didn’t want to fight and that….her fuzzed brain was starting to clear just as Mylie grabbed her arm and her girl’s eager voice reached her ears.

“Mom! Mom! Look! Dad was here, he left a picture of us!” Mylie’s pretty young face was all smiles as she waved the charcoal drawing in front of her mother’s eyes.

“I see that dear…let me see it.” This was Rainee’s first hint as to her love’s whereabouts, and for now she would take any hints she could get. As she studied the picture, she noticed some water splotches on it first, meaning that it had been here for awhile and the water moisture in the air had begun to damage the paper. The next thing the young cat-girl noticed was the the picture was finely drawing, Corin’s face smiling and happy as he held onto Mylie’s shoulders and one arm was around her. Mylie’s face looked good to, she was young back then, just four still and she looked eager and happy to finally have a complete family. A smile touched Rainee’s face as she murmurs “You really loved our little girl didn’t you Corin…” Her silver eyes then wandered to her own figure drawn in charcoal and that’s when she dropped the picture right into the ever gently lapping water. Her eyes…they were scratched out…gone…like he wanted to hurt her. That brought fear straight back into her heart. Why? Why would he do that…unless…no that demon…the one who had tried to possess him before….couldn’t have possibly….Damon had made sure that vile succubus was gone. But then why? How could her beloved have done that to a picture of her…didn’t he love her still?

Her eyes darted fretfully to the man whom Mylie had said was a decent one, looking at him she sighs as she says soflty “I heard you mention something about an Enarlin apprentice? Named Kedx? What type of music did you say he liked? I heard something mentioned earlier before I aimed my arrow at you…but my brain was too frozen by fear….when I first saw you….so what did you say?” Fear was evident like a large flower on her face, as her heart beat slowly. Her reaction to what was going on would depend on the answers that Jame gave her, answers that now she desperately needed to know.

[Call me J]

Jame took a while before he answered. He didn’t know what would set off the cat girl, and he feared that anything he said might end up being misunderstood. Thus, he exhaled lightly, looked towards Mylie for cues, and finding none, he repeated himself. “He has a lot of stuff from that guy Brock Rundgren…” Jame said. “Remember the singer from a while ago? He was really popular back before…”

“Of course, I never really heard him,” Jame thought. Brock Rundgren had mysteriously disappeared from the music scene before Jame was even born. The half dragon considered mentioning that, but he figured that would take too much explanation. Despite the fact that he only had about six years of life experience, he came across as if he was in his early twenties to anyone who saw him. This situation was confusing enough without him having to explain how the Mya had aged him.

After he spoke, Jame decided to take advantage of the fact there was no arrow pointed at his heart any more. He moved his body so that a stack of books were between Rainee and him. “Lets just start off from the beginning, alright?” he said. He looked at Mylie to see how she was reacting, but it was clear from her fact that the little girl was just as confused as he was.

“My father was Brock Rundgren!” Mylie now exclaimed. “He was Brock Rundgren, and then he was Corin Rivfader. He’s been gone for a while, so maybe he’s someone else now. He still wanted us to come here, or at least mom….”

“He was the Showstopper?” Jame asked incredulously. The idea that the singer Brock Rundgren had morphed into some kind of cat person homebody seemed too strange to be true. Then again, being held at the tip of an arrow by a cat person in the house of an Enarlin apprentice was not something Jame thought of as a regular occurrence either.

This day was becoming far too strange. The young half dragon mumbled a curse, and he wondered what could have been so important about this place that it was worth having to be threatened by a cat girl.

“Yeah…” Mylie said. “At least that’s what mom said…”

“Alright…” Jame said. A bit of irritation was starting to creep into his voice. Before he had felt a bit sympathetic to the two cat girls, but he was starting to get anxious. He wanted to get out of Kedx’s home as soon as possible. His regiment would be expecting him in Carnelost the next day. “Well, I’m sorry about your husband and all… but would you mind if I got back to my business? If there’s anything here you want, you can take it for all I care.”

Jame could sense that the two cat girls had deeper ties to this home than he did, even though they knew less about the place than he did. There were pictures of them there, though from the looks of the way the older cat girl’s visage had been treated, Jame didn’t know if Kedx thought fondly of them.

“Maybe he killed this Corin person…” Jame wondered out loud. He hadn't realized what he'd said until after he said it. He sighed. Now he wondered if the cat girl would break into histrionics if she knew that her husband was dead.

[Nekoprincess]

Mylie’s vivid green eyes were pale, her young lips shivered as if she was about to cry. In a weak voice she murmurs “What did you say Jame’s? Are you saying that…that…” Her young mind tried to comprehend the information…tried to visualize and piece together the truth. But…she was just too young, stubbornly she shook her head as her little feet begin to slap up water as she was on the verge of a temper tantrum. She wouldn’t believe…she just couldn’t possibly! Her daddy ALWAYS returned…he always came home and he would pick her up and twirl her happily in his arms. Looking at her mommy with watery eyes she whimpers “Daddy can’t be dead right mommy?” As she asked this innocent and hopeful question, her little hands were clasped together in pray, hoping that her mother’s answer would its typical “Yes darling.”

Rainee’s silver eyes looked troubled as she stared into her daughter’s hopeful green ones. The young mother was at a loss. What could she tell her little girl? When she herself was afraid that Corin hadn’t wanted Mylie to come…that he had wanted her to come here…to this secluded cavern..and what? Shaking her head her mind finishes the answer for her to sacrifice you…..Rainee’s eyes clenched shut, her heart literally breaking .

A heavy sigh escapes the cat mother’s lips as she places her hands on the old water stained desk…the stink that her daughter had smelled was still emanating from it, Rainee couldn’t quite place it…but to her keen sense it smelled like a dead animal…..had her husband killed something? Then hid it here…..shaking her head she says sadly under her breathe to Mylie “I don’t know honey. Daddy might come back he might not….” She then looked inquiringly at Jame and said softly “Can I speak to you outside? Privately?”

Mylie’s eyes looked saddened as she said softly her voice still close to hysterics “Moooommmmmy! I want to know now! I miss daddy! He’s been gone for four years! Shouldn’t he be here?!”

Rainee shook her head and prayed for patience, in a soft voice she murmurs “We’ll hope daddy is still alive darling. We can only pray that he’ll return to us safely and hold us again…” Inside though her broken heart was crying. She didn’t understand…what had she done wrong? What could have made her beloved turn to such dark arts? Did she not take care of him enough? Did she……shaking her head she murmurs “Jame outside please…my head is spinning with what that picture could mean……I know now that this Kedx listened to my husband’s music…and that somehow he has a picture of my family…I need to ask you this point blank….was my husband this Kedx? This murderer?” She couldn’t wait…she had said this softly with hopes that Mylie hadn’t heard her question, as her scared looking eyes pleaded with Jame’s for help. She just had to know…was her husband a murderer…or was he dead…or just missing…like she and Mylie had thought for the past four years.

[Call me J]

(bunny approved)

Jame’s eyes shot open wide when he heard the older cat girl suggest that Kedx could have been her husband. It seemed the most reasonable explanation, but he had never thought of it. Already, he could understand what weighty implications that would have for both Mylie and her mother. “Yes… yes of course,” he said. He grabbed the older cat girl by the shoulder and lead her out of the house. Once they had moved out into the sandy cave, Jame shut the door behind them and held it so that Mylie wouldn’t hear.

“Look,” he said. “I never knew this Kedx exactly, but if he was your husband, then I’d really be concerned for your welfare. From the things I’ve gathered so far in there, he didn’t have many friends before he died. Tel Aglarim was keeping a tight watch on that place, they suspected that he was going to be performing some kind of dark Enarlin ritual… something called the Lover’s Sacrify-”

Jame realized he had said too much. He could tell how fragile the poor cat girl already was, and if she realized just why her husband had wanted her there, it would have probably put her over the edge. While he wasn’t without sympathy, Jame really didn’t want to get embroiled in a marital squabble. However, as he saw the cat girl’s lip tremble, his heart melted. She was beautiful, but fragile, like a living porcelain doll.

“He probably wanted you for it,” Jame said solemnly. “That was why he wanted you to come without your daughter- I’m sorry, look, I don’t really know what to say to you, this whole thing just seems so terrible. I couldn’t imagine being married to a man like that…”

There was a light rapping on the one window to the house. Jame turned around to see Mylie, jumping up anxiously to catch a glimpse of what he and her mother were doing. There was nothing but fear and grief on her face, and Jame could tell the longer that she had to wait inside looking at her despondent mother the more desperately she would get. “Poor kid,” he thought. “And her poor mother’s too shooken up herself…”

He realized that Carnelost would have to wait. He didn’t want it to, but he had no choice. These two cat girls needed someone, and while Jame didn’t fancy himself much of a hero at all, there was no one else to do the job. “Just another wrinkle in destiny,” he figured.

“You stay out here…” Jame said. “Take care of yourself, calm down and then we can talk. I’m going to try and explain this to your daughter, because if no one talks to her, then she’s going to get really scared. Okay?”

[Nekoprincess]

“Alright.” Rainee said in a tiny voice as she turned to stare out at the darkening horizon. She could hear the gentle whoosh of the waves at they lapped at the white sand. Normally she would have found the sound soothing, they had lived near the water back home. But there it had been different, there wasn’t the threat that her life was in danger, Corin had been her love, had taken care of her and she him. But now…she sighs as she hears the door of the ramshackle hut close as Jame went in to speak with her daughter. For now she was alone, alone with her thoughts, and alone with her broken heart. A tear begin to spill from her eyes as the whole tower of her emotions came crashing down on her. She just couldn’t take it anymore. She had been trying to hold it together for her daughter…trying to make sure her daughter was not affecting by this…but for now…she would weep…weep for the hurts that had once again been brought upon her soul.

When she had been little…her family…her precious mother…her father who had raised her…and her little brother…she could feel the tears bubbling up as she recalled what her adopted father Ronin had told her

“Avenge your true parents my darling girl….look for the cruel bandits who killed your brother. You’re a strong beautiful girl….you’ll do fine.”

“But Ronin…How?” She asked this softly to the quiet still air “How am I suppose to be strong? When nothing but tragedy follows me? I couldn’t save Omarion…h…he saved me….I fell in love with the wrong man and…” Her soft lower lip begin to tremble heavily as she says over the gentle lap of waves “I haven’t even gone after the noble yet…the one who killed my true parents. How can I be true to my words, how can I be the daughter you raised me to be…w..when…” Tears begin to fall with loud plops onto the clean white sand as she wailed “I’ve been nothing but a failure at what I vowed!” Slowly her hand went to the amethyst heart shaped pendent she still wore close to her heart. This had been her mother’s…the woman who had bore her…had risked her life to bring her into this world. A sigh escapes her as she whispers “Momma…how? How do I raise Mylie…give her the courage that Ronin gave me…that you believed would be in me. I can’t tell her what her daddy wanted…that he…”

She bit her lip not drawing blood, just simply using the pain as a steadying meter as she finishes “he wanted to kill me for some dark magic art.” She looked up noting that the sun was slowly lowering its cheerful face, she could see hints of the blue moon, slowly rising over the dark ocean waters. Night was coming soon, and with night came trouble. Sighing Rainee rose to once more enter the ramshackle house, though she paused , Jame had told her to wait so that he could speak to her daughter. She trusted him and knew that he would do her daughter no harm, so instead she pivoted around and stared at the rising moon as she tried to regain control of her emotions. In a soft voice she murmurs “I’ll wait until this man..this kind man is finished speaking with my little girl…then…I’ll have to be on my way….I know now that Corin is gone…probably dead due to his evil deeds. I’ll just have to pick up again…maybe find romance…but its time to get back to the heart of things, its time for me to confront that noble….I can’t let your deaths go momma. I need to do this, so that my own heart can heal from the heartache Corin caused…” Nodding she then silences her words to the empty air as she waits for Jame to finish speaking with her daughter.

[Call me J]

As Jame reentered the house, he realized he had no idea what he’d say to Mylie. “It’s not like there’s a polite way to say it…” he realized. “I guess I can’t say he’s on a long vacation, that just sounds stupid and patronizing.” Jame thought of his father. He hadn’t known the man until recently, and now that they had been reunited, Jame wasn’t sure if it was a good or a bad thing. He wondered if Mylie would have been better never knowing her father. His life had certainly been better before he had gotten caught in the web that had been spun by his father and the Mya.

“I’ll just say she won’t be able to see her father,” Jame figured. His face was now an ashen white. He tried to fake a smile for Mylie, but the anguish that was already on her face made him realize his own sorrow. He had never known Kedx, but the thought that these two had been so upset about the death of an Enarlin apprentice seemed so completely tragic that Jame couldn’t help but get swept up in it a bit.

He knelt down so he was eye level with Mylie. It was a bit difficult to crouch down now that so many things in the small house had been torn asunder in search of answers. “Look,” Jame began. He wondered how many times he’d said the word “look” in the past five minutes. He paused longer than a standard breath before he continued. “You won’t ever see your father again.”

Mylie’s lips quivered. “He doesn’t love me?” she said. She looked at Jame with eyes that begged him to contradict her.

Jame bit his lip. He doubted that if Kedx was her father, that he had loved her. Still, he couldn’t bear to break her heart. “I’m sure he loved you…” he said. “It’s just he won’t be able to be around people anymore. It’s complicated, but it happens sometimes. Do you understand?”

Though she didn’t say it, Mylie understood. Tears sprung out of her eyes like a damn busting open, and she buried her eyes in Jame’s chest. The half dragon felt a bit weepy himself, but he tried to not show it. Instead, he just held the back of Mylie’s head and promised her that he wouldn’t leave until she smiled again. He was so overwhelmed by the entire situation, he had never seen this kind of grief before.

“I’m pathetic…” he thought disparagingly. “Look at me here… crying over some cat girls and an Enarlin mage...” He wondered if he’d be ready for the battle at Carnelost, or if the combination of his lack of experience and soft living had made him too weak.

Soon, Jame’s eyes happened upon a small orb. It had a picture of the older cat girl inside it, and glowed ominously. Mylie realized what he was looking at and reached out to grab it. “It’s mom!” she said, curious.

Unsure if it was dangerous, Jame reached out and grabbed it first. He could see there was some ancient text written on it. While Jame couldn’t read it himself, it had been like the text he had seen on some of the scrolls Damon had brought with him when they had sought to rewrite the past. It wasn’t the kind of thing that a little girl should be playing with.

“This might be dangerous…” Jame said. He picked himself up and headed back out towards the door. “Just a minute, let me show this to your mother…”

With the strange orb in his hand, Jame brought it out for the older cat girl to see. “I don’t know much about your husband or his plans, but I don’t think your picture being in here is good,” he said. He offered the orb to the cat girl so that she could see it.

[Nekoprincess]

(Permission given to bunny.)

Soon night blanketed the ocean front, her husband’s ‘home’ now blanketed in thick darkness, it didn’t look welcoming now. Before when the sun’s rays had been shining on the dull rock, it had at least looked like it was just an abandoned house, waiting for someone to come and fix it up. However, now it looked like some creepy wizard’s lair, just waiting for some unexpected visitors to come. Gulping as this image ran through her head, she sighed and said once more to the empty air “That’s probably what you wanted Corin. You wanted me to come all innocent….and hoping for a warm welcome from you, then you’d spring your surprise….and leave Mylie without the only parent who truly cared about her.”

Her sorrow was beginning to change, she could feel anger bubbling deep in her belly. She had trusted him, had believed that he would come back! That they’d be a family again, finding out that he was gone, had left for evil arts, only made her feel even more vexed. Simple to say he had sown seeds just as horribly as the bandits had when they had killed her parents. To think, that she had loved a man like that was just degrading for her. Softly she vowed as she pressed the necklace against her soft shirt, that never again would she make the mistake of loving a man who would turn to evil. She knew her heart simply just couldn’t took the pain of that. Plus, she did not want Mylie growing up knowing such things.

Nodding as she made her resolution, the cat-woman’s ears twitched as she heard the creak of the wooden door opening. Turning to look at Jame’s as he stepped out of the creepy hut, she noticed the orb in her hand, an orb that was glowing a menacing eerie red against the soft blackness of the night sky. A frown came upon her face, as she saw her own visage in the glowing red orb. In a soft voice she asks Jame’s “What is this? Is this a crystal ball? If so then why…is it showing my face inside its endless depths?”

“I don’t know, just thought you'd have an idea since your face is in it.” Jame’s replied his eyes staring at the image in the orb.

“Strange..” Rainee said softly, as her eyes were locked on the orb’s image. “It looks like I’m moving, beckoning…” shaking her head as she had felt woozy for a moment she murmurs “I feel strange…I don’t think that orbs normal…but, ”against her own will, Rainee’s small hand reached forward to touch the orb’s clear surface, a shriek happened as the moment her hand made contact, it felt as if an invisible force was pulling her forward, her eyes were open in fright as she saw Jame’s disappearing as well. In a barely audibly voice she shrieks ‘What is happening? Jame’s what did you find? W..w..where is this thing taking us?!”

[Call me J]

Jame didn’t reply. He couldn’t find the words to say what he was thinking, if his panicked questions could even have been considered thoughts. Cold sweat began to blanket his body as everything turned to black all around him. It had began the moment that the cat girl had touched the orb, and now getting to Carnelost was the farthest thought from his mind. The blackness was disorienting, they were teleporting somewhere, being pulled towards a something, but the closer they got, the more forboding it was.

Terrified, Jame tried to speak, but his mouth gagged on his words. There was a lump of fear in his throat, and fear had all but paralyzed his muscles. The blackness was beginning to fade to colors, but there was absolutely nothing about the colors that were emerging. It was dark and grey, numbingly cold, but yet not freezing. The cold that was beginning to creep onto him was not the cold of temperature, but the coldness of emptiness. Jame couldn’t explain it, but as his feet found themselves touching solid earth again, he felt as though he was literally touching sorrow. Inexplicably, a tear fell from his eye.

With wide eyes, Jame began to look around his surroundings. He reached for his sword. The blade, that had been silent back in Kedx’s house, now glowed forbodingly. Save for a dull glow from the ground, the blade was the only light anywhere.

It took Jame a few seconds to have any reaction at all. Ever since he had first met the cat girl, everything had been spiraling far beyond his imagination. He realized now that he didn’t even know the girl’s name. “Looks like were screwed…” he thought. “Guess that bastard Kedx got the last word in after all…” There was nothing around them. In the far off distance, Jame could see a bright red glow, but there was nothing about the glow that made him want to move any nearer to it.

“I- I- I don’t know where we are…” Jame said. He reached down and touched the ground. It was cold rock, and seemed hostile to the very premise of life. “Did Kedx ever talk of a place like this?”

Jame’s face had wrinkled in a mix of fear and bewilderment. He looked around. As far as he could see, there was no one around but himself and the girl. If she couldn’t answer his questions, then he didn’t know what he’d do. He turned around to get a view of the rest of the area. There was the glow to what he thought was his north, and nothing but a greater expanse of cold rock in every other direction.

“I guess, let’s go towards the light?” Jame asked, trying to be helpful. “I don’t know… but then I really don’t know much. Hell, I don’t even know your name!”

He let out a deep exhale. Carnelost would have to wait now.

[Nekoprincess]

Rainee’s panicky question went unanswered, in fact Jame’s couldn’t even say one word to her as the force pulled both of them in. The feeling that came over Rainee was like nothing she had ever felt, fear, sadness, all the emotions she thought she had put to rest begin to overwhelm her body again. The inky blackness that was in front of her, was not like that of the quiet night they had left behind. It seemed to stimulate all her negative emotions. As if the magic that was sure to be in this air was set so that all positive influences would leave a person’s mind.

Shivering a bit, as her body begin to bead with cold sweat, she tried to look around for Jame’s. He had been her beacon of light and hope in this whole confusing mess. He had helped her explain things to her little girl, had tried to comfort her in her moment of need. A sigh escapes her as her eyes widen, did she…like him? But no…she had barely met him so how could she have feeling s for him now? A cry of anguish escaped her lips as their descent through the frozen darkness begin to change. Upon her feet touching cold stone, the cat-woman shivered, it seemed as if the ground itself was immersed with sadness, with an unexplainable pain that the blue haired kitty felt her heart aching from it. Slowly she could feel a tear falling from her eye as she looked around the world that she was in now.

A red glow seemed to call her, it felt as if it was saying her name. Fear filled her heart once more, as the sorrow seemed to deepen.

Strangely, an image came to her mind, and her whole resolve begin to falter. It seemed Corin was crying for her, holding out his arms as if begging her to return to him. It seemed his eyes were pleading with her and asking her Do you love another? Why did you not wait for me? I’m trapped here my sweet darling! Please come…save me!

A cry of pain escaped from Rain’s lips, as this image continued to haunt her. Her eyes were a bit blind as she groped around until she felt solid material,. Assuming it was Jame’s shirt she said softly her voice filled with panic “Help me Jame’s, he’s haunting me…his image…I made a resolve to be done with him..but now here….Corin’s image just won’t leave me alone…its like he’s calling me to help him..but I can’t! Please Jame’s I’m begging you help me! Help me break free of him! My heart just can’t take this anymore! This pain, I…it is too much!”

[Call me J]

“She’s an utter wreck!” Jame realized. If she was going to be of any use in getting them out of the mess they were in, it would only be because he put on a brave front now. Jame shuddered a little, and hoped that the cat girl would blame it on the cold. He wished he knew something more about her, what had compelled her to love the kind of man that could do the things to her that Kedx had planned, or how she could even love him now.

For a moment, Jame was disgusted by it. He wondered how someone could be that utterly stupid that they could forget so many bad things and still love someone. “He wanted to KILL you,” Jame thought. “Are you really that stupid?”

However, the pathetic image that the cat woman had cast made Jame realize he couldn’t vent any of his anger. He bit his lip and balled his fists, hating the situation that he now found himself in. He had never even been forced to take care of himself in meaningful ways until now, and the prospect of having to look after another seemed even more daunting.

“You have to give up on Corin,” Jame said. He hoped he’d remembered the name the cat woman had used for Kedx. “He’s no good for you, and we’re stuck out here in the middle of nowhere, and you’re just going to have to survive, okay? He’s not going to come for you, it’s just you and me here…” Jame wondered if that would be enough incentive for the fragile cat girl. Since she was so overwhelmed with sorrow, Jame wouldn’t have been surprised if she would have decided to give up on life then and there. “If not for yourself, give up Kedx for Mylie,” Jame said. “Is that the kind of man you want as a father?”

Jame knew he was being a bit cruel, but he didn’t know any other way. He was angered by the way that such a pretty girl could be so utterly stupid in matters of the heart, to the point where the kind of man she’d end up with was the kind that didn’t deserve her. Jame knew he was no angel when it came to relationships, but he hated the idea that a girl could be this naïve.

“Let’s move,” Jame said. He gestured forwards with his hand so as to emphasize the point. With that he began to move forwards towards the red glow. The cat girl didn’t know anything that would help him. If he was to find out where he was, he’d have to do it by himself. That simple truth was more frightening to Jame than even the prospect of Xem’zund.

[Nekoprincess]

Rainee let out a shuddering breathe, her eyes were beginning to clear just from listening to Jame’s voice. She realized he was right, she was a mother for gods sake! She just couldn’t sit here and turn into a sniveling crying wreck and expect to be saved! She had expected that too much in her young life, that is why she realized, why she hadn’t done anything she had vowed to when she had left her adopted father’s village. She had been too scared, to much of a coward to do the things she wanted to.

Her eyes closed briefly as she steeled her heart. In her mind she shouted “Leave me be Corin! Your nothing to me now! I loved you, the man I thought I knew! But now I DON’T know you! So leave me be, I will not be your savior! Whatever hell you put yourself in, is yours alone! I won’t have anything to do with it!” After she had shouted this at the image of Corin still on his knees begging to be saved, the image begin to fade and completely disappear. An air of calm settled over Rainee’s heart, as she sighs and says softly “Your right Jame’s, I need to be strong for Mylie’s sake. Thank you.” She smiled warmly at him before looking at the red light.

She knew something was there, and oddly enough it felt familiar, on a sigh she scrambled after Jame’s who had begun to move towards it. In a soft voice she murmurs “I apologize for not introducing myself sooner. I’m Rainee…Rainee Miyami. You’ve already met my daughter Mylie…and now I’m pretty sure you know who my husband was so, I think that’s it for introductions…” She then fell into silence as they passed yet more shining red rocks, and even it appeared a flowing stream of magma. A frown appeared on her face as an eerie feeling passed through her soul.

It felt as if evil lived here, and a very dark one. Scared by this she hurried to catch up with Jame as she said conversationally “Doesn’t it feel like we dropped into a cold icy hell? Are you sure we shouldn’t just head towards an exit. That red light doesn’t feel all that welcoming Jame…” She hoped he would listen to her, and that they could find a way out of here. She was starting to worry over Mylie. Just how long had they been in this icy prison? Was her daughter already searching for her mother? Did she think she was abandoned. Shaking her head she murmurs “I’m coming back baby…just wait Mylie…mommy will be back soon…”

[Call me J]

The appearance of a few rocks of hot magma broke up the monotony among the cold nothingness, but it did very little to make Jame feel comforted. He could understand the apprehension in Rainee’s voice, and in truth, he had felt the same apprehension. However, he had moved towards the heat because he was tired of the cold. Even with the rocks of magma, the cold emptiness was still very much a part of the scene.

“I’m not sure what we should be doing…” Jame said. “It’s either we move or we freeze…” His voice likely came off a bit more defensive than he had intended. Whatever energy the half dragon first had when he’d arrived was beginning to be sapped from his body. His shoulders sapped, and his face seemed as if it had frozen itself in a perpetually worried expression.

“I just wish I knew where we were…” he mused out loud.

Before Rainee could have responded, a voice spoke from underneath him. “You’re in hell,” it said. Jame, startled, looked all around him. It wasn’t Rainee’s, while the voice was female, it was far too raspy and harsh. He felt the ground underneath him fidget a little. He looked down to find the slight indentation of a face in the stone. It was a withered and slight visage, and Jame couldn’t help but to feel sorry for it, even though he had no idea what it was.

“I’m in hell?” he replied, somewhat suspicious of the statement. He glanced towards Rainee, to see if the face’s comments made any sense to her.

The face chuckled humorlessly. “You must be new,” it said. “Of course you are, you’re still walking. Soon enough, you fade into the stone if you can’t get into the Fire Palace,” it continued. “You’re better off there…”

Jame shuddered. He was tempted to look at Rainee for some guidance, but decided against it. Instead he backed away from the face to give it more room to speak. “Just what’s this Fire Palace?” he asked.

“It’s beyond the River of Blood and the Forest of Fear,” the face explained. “Keep walking. If you stay here long enough, you’ll begin to melt into the ground. Then you’ll have nothing for eternity but cold.”

Jame shuddered. There was no comfort in the words he was hearing. “Not even the littlest shred of empathy for people stuck in hell!” Jame thought angrily.

“I only do this because it’s my curse,” the face said. “The masters above want you to know where you are in the scheme of things. You’re here because you’re sacrificed. If you want to even be worthy of a real hell you’ll have to fight your way to it…”

Jame sighed. He didn’t want to be worthy of any hell, he wanted to get to Carnelost and join his regiment. Still, he knew his chances at that would be slim at best. Bitterly, he shook his head. “Is there any way out?” he asked.

“The Duke at the Fire Palace…” the face continued. “He shows mercy on those wrongly brought to hell, if it meets his purpose. You may go to him, but be warned, sometimes he just wants to crush your dreams.”

If that was their only hope, Jame knew that was where they’d have to go. “Which way?” he asked.

“Straight t’wards the light,” the face replied. It faded back into the rock, as if to say that it had no more intention of answering questions.

[Nekoprincess]

The ground was cold under her feet, not even her boots could keep the cat-woman warm. As she walked over the now red rocks, she could feel as if something was watching them, seeing their progress. Not soon after they had passed a small pool of glistening red magma did a creaky old woman’s voice reach her ears. Whatever it was it wasn’t addressing her, but she could here what the thing was saying to Jame’s. A sigh escaped her as she thought So we are in hell….but its odd…it should be warm..not icy and….her mind halted a bit as she heard the explanation that the voice gave. So that’s it.. Her mind finished. If you stay here in this icy hell too long you’ll become a part of it.

Her tail wrapped around her for warmth as the raspy voice faded from her hearing. As she looked over at Jame she saw the fear in his face. He also did not want to become a part of this frozen tundra, feeling the same way, Rainee hurried her pace as she said softly “Sorry for listening over your shoulder, but we have to hurry to this fire palace. I don’t know how far it is, but we should listen to that voice, at least it gave us guidance.”

There was no time to wait for a reply from him, she looked at the red light. It wasn’t welcoming, but it was their only chance at safety. Sighing she begin to make her way more towards the red light, her soft leather boots were smooth against the cold stones, but soon she could begun to hear a soft gurgling. It was like nothing she had ever heard of, unlike the bitter cold, that tried to eat its way inside her clothing, this sounded more as if human beings were being boiled gently alive in there. Fear slightly blossomed in her heart, but she pushed it away, she needed to be brave.

Looking around, her eyes soon fell upon the strangest site, against the waters the color of murky blood, was a boat. A boat that was made of glistening white bones and cartilage. It looked as if it had been constructed recently, and then had been abandoned. Groaning as her eyes fell on it, she moves towards it shouting towards Jame. “I see a way to cross the river, there is a boat here. Its gross and it probably isn’t all that sanitary, but its are only way across.” She then looked across the river and begin to see the tips of tiny almost bare branches, it seemed this Forest of Fear was near. If they got across the river safely…they’d be one step closer to get to the Fire Palace.

[Call me J]

Jame looked at the boat warily. There were still a few bits of flesh left on the bones that made up the boat’s hull. He looked around to see if there was anyone around, anyone at all who might want to trap him or Rainee. There wasn’t anyone. It seemed safe enough.

“Guess we’ll have to take it…” he said. He didn’t’ like the smell of it any better than Rainee did. The boat still smelled of decaying flesh, though its stench was offset by the smell of the bloody river. “The only other option’s to swim.” The mere thought of swimming through the thick blood sent shivers down his spine.

Both Rainee and Jame entered the boat warily, and Jame did his best to clean off a seat for the cat girl. He could tell that she was beginning to come around, and that her nervousness and longing for Corin were at least being subsided by other, more immediate concerns. If they truly were in hell, it had not been such a bad experience yet, when compared to what Jame had in his imagination. He had heard stories, and from what he had been told, there were hell dimensions in which poor souls were flayed alive, only to bleed out, be brought back to life and have the whole process start all over. In comparison, sailing a river of blood in a boat of bones didn’t seem nearly as intimidating.

Once they were settled in the boat, Jame used his spear to push off, and they began to move across the water. The current was light, but it carried them towards the opposite shore without needing any extra coaxing. The boat moved slow, but Jame was almost grateful for that. Now that he had the minor solace he was at least moving towards progress he could afford to let his guard down a little.

He grinned ever so slightly and looked at Rainee. He had forgotten how pretty she was. A bit of the color had come back into her cheeks, and while her ponytail had grown messier, it only made her look more endearing. Puffs of hair bracketed her delicate face nicely, like a silver frame for a cherished photograph.

“You know…” Jame began. “You’re beau…” A sudden boom shot out through the air. Jame looked up to see a large cannonball heading towards the boat, arcing menacingly up against the dull grey sky. Jame winced, and he moved towards Rainee only to watch helplessly as the cannonball missed the boat by inches. Off in the distance, Jame could see a large pirate ship heading his way. It was much larger than his boat and it had its own sails and oars to travel through the water much faster. Jame looked around. Even if he’d wanted to, there were no oars that he could use to get the boat moving faster. Like it or not, the pirates would be upon him and Rainee in no time.

The slight bit of softness that had creeped into Jame’s expressions faded. Another cannonball shot through the air.

“When we’re in range, use that bow of yours,” he said to Rainee. He had completely forgot what he was talking about before the pirates had arrived. The sudden change in his security had given him a singular focus.

[Nekoprincess]

As Rain settled herself on the slippery seat, she winced. The smell from the flesh and bones was horrible. Her first thoughts had been right, whoever had created this boat, hadn’t put much thought into getting rid of the smell, should somebody other then a lost soul or a demon used it. Wrinkling her nose, she meowed in disgust as she murmurs to Jame. “Its really horrible…this boat stinks worse then death itself. Lets just get across this river soon, so this awful aroma doesn’t invade my nose.” However, despite the kitty woman’s complaint, she felt calm. They had been traveling through ice up and until now, but here it was at least temperate, despite the fact that they were traveling across thick blood, for some reason it was warmer.

Perhaps because were getting closer to the Palace of Fire? Rainee thought as she settled down against the solid mass of bones. A smile crept upon her face as she sneaked a peek at Jame. He was extremely handsome with his bright red orbs, the thing that drew her in were the scales on his back. Just what did that make him? She knew he wasn’t fully human…though he appeared it, she also liked the way that his hair fell just short of shoulder length, it was a complete change from Corin, and change was what she needed.

Hearing Jame begin to speak, Rainee turned avidly towards his soft voice waiting to here what he has to say, but before he could finish, a loud boom rocked the fragile bone. A scream escaped Rainee’s lips as her silver eyes darted frantically over the dark blood. Her pupils grew large, as the ship came into her line of vision. It was made of bones, like their ship, but it was bigger and seemed to be constructed of human skeletons as well, there were also large fleshy cannons sticking out of windows in the ships sides. She could see from the distance they were at that soldiers were reloading them with large fleshy balls.

A squeak escaped her as she nods and moves to un earth her bow and quivers, notching one with shaky fingers, she points one of the arrows at the ship. However, her question was just what was she suppose to aim at? The pirates on the ship looked to be skeletons, mere creatures that had no flesh, she was more used to the fleshy targets and ones that could bleed with one shot. How was she suppose to kill something that was already dead?

Stall…her mind whispered it to her as she looked at the windows where the cannons were. Perhaps if she could just prevent those from firing they could make it to shore. Releasing the arrow, she aimed it at a pirate who was wearing a rotten looking hat, using that as a beacon, she fired another notched arrow, but this time she aimed for the cannon itself. She hoped that this would stop it up, going on instinct she begin to fire other arrows at the cannons and the pirates working on them. She hoped with this tactic they could stall long enough to make it to shore.

[Call me J]

Jame watched as Rainee’s arrows hit the pirate ship. They flew strong and true, but soon after they hit the hull, they died down to little more than an ember. Whatever it was the pirate ship was made of, it wasn’t flammable enough. Jame thought about throwing his spear, but he decided against it. By the time he would be in range of hitting anyone, he might as well have switched to melee combat. For a moment, he considered transforming into a dragon, but he didn’t know if he could transform without capsizing the boat. The idea of being tossed into the bloody river seemed not only nauseating, but dangerous. Even with the booms of the cannons, Jame could hear a faint sucking sound coming from the water below.

“There’s something down there that’ll be after us if we fall,” Jame thought. He ducked as another cannonball came whizzing towards the boat, though this one’s trajectory had been directly on Jame’s head. The pirates were now firing more than just cannons. Crossbow bolts and arrows also whizzed through the air.

“Stay down!” Jame shouted. He wished he could be more useful, but he really didn’t know what to do. He tried not to panic. In the past, there had always been someone else to give him instructions and offer guidance. Now that he needed to plan a battle on his own, it seemed far too difficult.

He didn’t want to turn into a dragon for fear of what it might do the boat, but Jame had begun to realize there weren’t any other options. The grey sky above did not look all that inviting, and he knew that he wouldn’t be saved from the pirates’ ranged attacks, but he had no other choice.

The pirate ship grew nearer and nearer, and their boat was still too far away from the shore. Now, the cannonballs had stopped, and a number of the pirates were waiting by the edge of the ship, ready to board. Jame looked at them, they all seemed as though they had once been among the living, but each one of them carried the stress of over a thousand years of life. Their bodies were worn, their hair pulled and stringy, they looked as though they had faded into the scenery in the River of Blood.

Jame bit his lip. He realized what he’d have to do. It would be very dangerous, but it was the only chance he had of transforming into a dragon without destroying their boat and knocking Rainee into the dark waters. Without an explanation, he leapt out from the boat to grab onto the pirate ship’s hull, latching on to some of the imperfections that had come as a result of Rainee’s arrows. His feet dangled dangerously just above the surface of the water, and Jame could practically feel a vacuum emerging as the water tried to draw him closer. Hoping that the pirates wouldn’t notice, he began to climb up the ship just as they had lowered a gang plank on the opposite side to board Rainee’s boat. He shuddered.

“Climb fast…” he told himself. “You’re no good to her or yourself until you're a dragon…”

[Nekoprincess]

Please hit…please hit! Rainee prayed this over and over in her mind as she released yet another arrow. As she lowered her bow to survey her handiwork, she sighed. Not one single arrow had hit its mark, she saw dents in the ship where her arrows had struck, but she could still see the gangly haired pirates grinning maniacally at her. However, unlike before when cannonballs had flown like rockets at them, instead came a hail of arrows.

Following Jame’s instructions to duck, the kitty girl peeked up at the ship to see just exactly what was going on.

Rain view showed her that the ship was drawing nearer and nearer, she could hear the ships motions on the thick bloody river, however as she strained her ears she also heard a thick sucking sound, as if the river itself was waiting on something. The blue haired kitty decided that she better switch to melee combat, from the looks of things she was pretty sure that the pirates were planning to board the little ship.

As the white bone gangplanks clanked against the side of her little ship, she could feel a slight push on the bottom of the vessel, looking over she saw Jame’s jump onto the side of the ugly pirate ship. Confused she wondered just what he was planning to do, he seemed to be using the dents her arrows had made as footholds to hold on to. However, she had her own worries to worry about as she heard the clump of thin feet dragging themselves across the bone gang plank. It seemed the pirates were coming and they were set on dragging her straight into the River of Blood.

Her goal though was to survive, moving her quiver back to its holster she draw Sparks Petals from its sheathe and moved the titanium blade into view.

“Little missy here is planning to battle us!” One of the pirates said his hollow mouth curved into a ghastly grin “She thinks she can beat us? No mortal soul has ever escaped our death ship!”

Rainee hissed loudly as she spat “Well let me be the first!”

The three that had boarded then moved to surround her, gleeful little smiles on their faces as they prepared to rend Rainee’s flesh from her bones.

“You won’t harm me you nasty beasts!” Rainee shouted as she moved to slash at the nearest pirate with Sparks Petals. There was limited room, so her slash went a little wide only hitting the hem of the rags the pirate wore. This caused the pirates to grin as they closed in on her and started to hack at her limbs. Rainee managed to block most of their thrusts, but she was beginning to grow tired from the strain of being in hell’s draining environment. Groaning as she blocked yet another endless swipe, she soon felt a slash gash across her cheek as one of the pirates managed to get a stab in.

Whimpering a bit in pain, she reached forward to stop the flow as now she was blocking one handed. She knew she still had a few tricks up her sleeve, but her body felt to worn out to do much more then just block and thrust back. In a tired voice she whimpers Jame? Just what are you doing! Hurry up and help! I can’t hold them off much longer!

[Call me J]

(bunny approved)

Jame was fortunate that he had managed to climb up onto the pirate ship unseen. He was a bit surprised to find how few piratest here actually were on the ship. A few were attempting to board Rainee’s boat, but Jame only saw two others, one up in the crow’s nest with his eye on the horizon, and another at the steering wheel. Fortunately, neither of them saw Jame. “They’ll notice me soon,” he thought grimly. Transforming into a dragon was likely to get their attention, especially since the transformation might even rock the larger ship.

Even though he knew he was going to be vulnerable during the transformation, Jame’s arms began to twitch and scales began to cover his body. He knew he had no choice if he wanted to save Rainee and escape the Pirates. His hands fell down to the ground, his neck extended, and wings began to pop out of his back. “Hurry… hurry!” Jame said, coaxing his body to make the process go as quickly as possible. He could hear that one of the pirates on the ship had spotted him.

He tried to think how long it would be before the transformation was finished and he could fly away. He flapped his wings once, but he didn’t lift up off the ground. They had yet to extend fully. Jame cursed the fact that it seemed like his wings were always the last to emerge. With a deep breath, he readied himself to exhale fire from his lungs if necessary, and let out a short burst towards the crow’s nest to keep the ship’s lookout at bay.

“Any minute now… any minute now,” he said. He was flapping his wings frantically, impatient for the transformation to be complete. He didn’t know if all the fidgeting was making it harder, but it had seemed like it had taken too long already. By now, not only had both pirates left on the deck taken notice, but one of the pirates had even returned from the boat to come and get him.

Finally, Jame felt his feet leave the ground. He hovered in air for a few seconds, and then lifted up just as one of the pirates took a swing at his tail. He winced, and his blood trickled out into the water. “Damnit…” Jame thought. For a brief moment, he wondered how that wound would affect his transformation.

Now he hovered above both boats, and he looked down towards Rainee. He didn’t know if she had seen his transformation, and even if she had, he didn’t know if his dragon form would scare him. Given the way that his stepfather had reacted to it, Jame had always been a bit ashamed of his dragon lineage, and now that his wings no longer appeared in humanoid form, he had kept the lizard part of him well hidden.

However, he knew now was not a time to worry about such minutiae. There were lives at stake. He couldn’t use his firebreath, because that might just hit Rainee. Instead, he swooped down and grabbed the cat girl by her shoulders with his hind leg. He used his already battered tail as a flail to keep the pirates at bay, and made sure to hold onto Rainee good and tight. He swooped over towards the bank and dropped her gently on the grass.

As he landed, he realized they had entered the Forest of Fear. Jame smiled as he looked back at the pirates, watching as they shook their fists angrily with seemingly no intention of coming off shore for him. Jame transformed back, only to find that his cut on the tail had translated into a gash on his left side. It was not too deep, but severe enough that it would hurt until healed.

Still, Jame couldn’t complain too much. They had escaped the pirates, and now as he looked into the Forest, he couldn’t help but notice that it didn’t look all that different from any other forest. The grass was green, the leaves on the trees were no different than the woods of Concordia, in fact, the Forest of Fear seemed far less intimidating than the Red Forest of Raiaera.

Given everything else they had experienced, it was a welcome change. Of course, Jame knew that appearances could be deceiving, but saving Rainee had put him in an optimistic mood. He had come up with a plan that had succeeded. An ordinary looking forest now didn’t seem all that intimidating.

[Nekoprincess]

Rainee’s face was contorted with pain, her balance was off center from the boat sloshing back and forth in the bloody river. Things weren’t made any easier by the fact that two pirates were slashing at her in such a way that she had to swivel and pivot her way to avoid them. Which wasn’t made easy by the fact that they were in a small confined space. As she managed to block a swipe at her midriff, she winced as she realized that they had already cut her in a few places, she knew that her cheek was already bleeding, but now she realized that they had slashed a small gash in the white fur of her tail, this caused her to yowl in pain as she literally nearly slipped on the uneven surface of the bone boat. She managed to catch her balance with one hand, but as she looked up she could see the thin silver edge of the mangy pirates sword preparing to cleave her in two.

Oh damn it…Jame! What the hell are you doing? Hurry up! I need help here or else I’m going to be a two for one kitty! Rainee thought as she prepared for the inevitable pain that was heading straight for her.

Much to her surprise as her eyes were shut tightly, she felt no sword rend her in two. Instead she felt claws gently grab her and lift her as if she was a light feather into the air. Confusion seeped through her mind as she found herself flying like a bird over the gurgling bloody red river. Soon she was dropped gently onto the softest grass she had ever felt. More confusion seeped through as her mind shrilled out Aren’t we in hell? Why would it seem so peaceful here…maybe…it’s a safe spot? Meant for those seeking the duke of the Fire Palace to rest at?

Looking around her eyes fell on some barren trees, but these were just the ones that were by the Bloody River, from her eyes she saw that the sucking sound she had heard was the red waters sucking the life out of things. A breathe exhaled from her mouth as she whispers “We were lucky that murderous river couldn’t get to us through our boat…” Her eyes then fell onto the creature by her, his gentle red eyes were looking at her softly. She then saw that the creature was transforming back into a person..and that person was Jame’s. Awe filled her eyes as she asks softly “You’re a dragon Jame?”

She had seen her fair shares of dragons..but most of them had been more on the attacking her side. Moving up to him she reaches out her hand to run her fingers over his soft scales, her soft silver eyes also roamed over his body until she noticed the cut. A frown came onto her face as she murmurs” We need to see to that Jame. We better go search out shelter..” She then turns to move into the soft foliage as she murmurs “Come on, we don’t know how long this safety will last Jame’s, we better make the most of it!”

[Call me J]

Jame looked at Rainee a bit uneasily. He could tell that she was impressed by his transformation into a dragon, but he didn’t really like to dwell on it. He didn’t really like the way he looked as a dragon, indistinguishable from the feral brutes who roamed parts of the Coronian countryside. Still, he liked the way that Rainee ran her hands over his scales. With an ambivalent smile, he looked up at the sky and decided that they would need to find some kind of shelter.

The bank of the River of Blood was quite calm, the grass was soft and the temperature was surprisingly temperate. It was a sign that they were in hell that the climate could change so rapidly, there was nowhere in Althanas where the weather fluctuated so rapidly.

“Lets move into the forest...” Jame said. “We’ll have to be careful, I don’t know if there’s anything hiding around there. There are probably going to be things there, we’re going to have to be carefull...”

Jame tried to conceal his fatigue from Rainee, but now that she had mentioned that they should find a place to rest, he had realized just how tired he was. Moving through the coldness and sailing across the River of Blood had been grueling, but by now it was likely night in Raiaera. Jame thought for a moment of Mylie, but decided that it would be best not to bring her up around Rainee. The older cat girl was calmer now, and Jame supposed mentioning Mylie again could only upset her. Still, he worried a bit about who would take care of the little eight year old, especially now that he and Rainee were going to try and find some place to spend the night.

As Jame entered into the forest, he was surprised of how dark it had gotten the moment he entered into the woods. He was uncertain as to what had been the source of light across the River of Blood, but whatever it had been, it had faded now. With the bad light around him, Jame could not see too far in front of him. He could hear the noises of the wood, rustling of creatures in leaves and the mating calls of unknown animals. It might have seemed calming had it been in Concordia, but here in the depths of hell, the forest seemed much more unnerving.

Soon enough, Jame heard the howl of a wolf. He unsheathed his sword, and it was glowing brightly so as to warn him of the potential dangers that were all around him. He looked back towards Rainee and forced himself to smile.

“Don’t worry,” he lied. “We’ll find some place safe in here...”

Jame only wished he could believe it.

[Nekoprincess]

Rainee’s eyes were still dazzled by the soft almost green light that seemed to beckon from the forest. It felt, inviting, which was a complete change from the way that hell had looked so far. As she followed Jame’s into the soft foliage her eyes were met almost immediately with inky darkness, a mewl of sadness escaped Rainee’s lips as she pouted and thought Darn it….the forest looked so inviting, but inside…its like any other place….dark…and creepy. At least on the plus side…it isn’t freezing cold…but; just where had that light come from?

Leaves seemed to brush gently against the cat-woman’s sides as the two begin to follow what Rainee could only assume was a path through the forest. The sounds of chirping could be heard as the two continued their trek, there were also other sounds, the low call of a deer, perhaps maybe the soft pattering of other creatures. However, Rainee wasn’t sure if all creatures here were safe, or for that matter if even the sounds she was hearing were callings of normal creatures. Her mind had nearly slipped from the fact that they were still in hell, and that the calls of these creatures could be anything…from imps calling to other imps, to the meandering activities of demons.

As they continued through the now thinning darkness, Rainee could see a bit of blue light up ahead, it seemed inviting to her and she would have continued towards it, had it not been for the unmistakable howl of a hungry wolf. Bawking a bit her ears flattened straight against her soft blue hair as she shied behind Jame’s and whispered tensely “Wolves…I don’t like wolves…they attack travelers and especially furries for no reason….here….I’m sure they are even worse and probably maybe even slightly demonic…”

She still could see that blue light even as the sound of soft paws crunching over leaves could be heard. Confusion filled her heart as she could’ve sworn she heard the pattering of feet also trying to escape. A frown flitted across the cat-woman’s pretty heart-shaped face as she whispered softly “Someone’s out there Jame’s, the wolves might be hunting whoever it is. Maybe we should go and help?” After she had said this quite softly, she tried to will her feet to move forward.

She had seen that blue light, and normally it seemed in this world, that meant safety of some kind…a resting place. If they could only get there, and save whomever was in danger….then she could treat Jame’s wounds and then they could get some much needed rest. If they were going to make it to the Fire Palace in fair condition, they needed all the chances they could get to heal themselves. Frowning as she moved to grab Jame’s hand she hissed “Come on lets go! If we don’t hurry those wolves are going to have that poor soul for lunch!”

[Call me J]

Jame didn’t much care for the idea of chasing after some light, especially now that the growls of wolves had become more audible. He shuddered a bit and looked towards Rainee. There was something going on in the woods ahead, and Jame almost wanted to suggest heading back out to the bank until the wolves had cleared. However, he doubted that the Forest of fear would ever be that safe, and that their only way out of hell was through.

“And if we don’t get through, then we might just end up melting into the rocks or something,” Jame realized. There might have been a pack of wolves now, but Jame didn’t doubt that there would be other dangers later.

Any conficdence that he had minutes ago had quickly evaporated. He looked in the direction where the blue light had once shone, but it had faded back into nothingness. Even if the light had been a sanctuary before, it was gone now.

With a stern frown, Jame took Rainee's. He held it tightly, hoping that she couldn’t feel just how tense the muscles in it were. He frowned visibly, though it was likely concealed by the dark. The sounds of the wolves were growing louder, but they weren’t directed towards him. Whatever it was, they were moving into a frenzy, and Jame couldn’t help but wonder if they had emerged from the blue light.

Soon, Jame heard the sound of a man screaming in fear. The cries echoed out into the trees desperately. The leaves shuddered with the pitiful cries, but they were soon drowned out by the howling cacophony of wolves. Jame didn’t want to go anywhere near, and for a moment, he thought that it might just be better to go back out of the woods and take his chances on the bank.

“There has to be some other way out of here...” Jame thought. “We don’t belong here and we just got swept up in this thing. They’d have to let us out now, we’ve done nothing to belong here. There had to be some kind of a trick here that should get us out of here...”

Jame’s thoughts were interrupted by another round of cries for help. His entire body froze, and even though he knew that he had to get through the forest, he was too overwhelmed by fear to admit it.

“What if my life does end here?” he thought. “I know that I was supposed to have a destiny, but what if the Mya were mistaken or their plans had changed. Or what if my destiny is just here in Hell? I know Damon sent me here, but does he really know me enough to care?” He shuddered.

However, Jame felt as though he couldn’t just ignore the cries that were emerging from the forest. He was afraid of what might happen to Rainee’s psyche if he showed his fear. Instead, he decided to leave the decision to her.

“We can go out of here and come back later...” he offered. “We don’t need to stay here and fight if you don’t want to... we’ll come back when the wolves had gone. It might not even be a person. It's could be some kind of trick of the wolves. Let's get out of here, okay?”

[Nekoprincess]

We can get out of here and come back later… Jame’s words repeated themselves in Rainee’s mind as the man’s screams became louder and more painful. She could just imagine the pain the man was in, her soft silver eyes clenched shut as a similar scene played itself out in her mind.

“Sister….sister…Rain my dearest sis go, leave me…I’m done for…only one of us can live…you know this…but…”

Rain’s voice sharply cut off her brother’s as she hissed worriedly ‘No…momma and daddy would be heartbroken if you died! I can’ t let you!” She was inexperienced, but she knew she could heal her brother’s wounds. He only had taken an arrow to the shoulder, she could see that nothing vital was hit.

Omarion’s soft eyes showed love and compassion as he said softly “Oh sis…I can see it in your eyes the fierceness..the determination to save my life. I want you too but…” His hand reached out weakly as it traced over the broken arrow tip that was still lodged into Rainee’s shoulder. “Your injured to, you have a purpose in your life dearest older sister…you need to go on…let me protect you…it’d….”

Rainee pressed a finger to her younger brother’s lips as she said “Shush now…let me…” The cries of the bandits could be heard coming closer, she had managed to get her brother to a secluded alleyway, where she could treat him first, and then take care of herself. She could smell the blood oozing from Omarion’s wounds, she hadn’t noticed it before, but he was also hurt in his calf area. A sigh escaped her as she traced the wound in his shoulder and prepared to heal it.

“Wait! Rain don’t you hear it?” Omarion struggled to his feet as the sound of approaching footsteps could be heard. A woman’s screaming voice was saying ‘No I won’t tell you AHHHHHH!” The woman’s soft voice was cut short as her life was taken brutally by one of the bandits. Omarion’s eyes hardened as he said strictly, now sounding like his father “The village is burning Rain, there killing off everyone…I have to make a stand and I won’t see us die together!” Moving he swiftly tossed her up onto one of the few remaining huts, pointing at their home he says in a warrior’s voice “I’m young…but if I die…know that I’ll be in your heart! My pride as a warrior will be with you Rain! You’ll be able to overcome anything! Don’t let fear rule you sister! Rule it!” He then quickly left the alleyway to divert the bandits attention from his sweet sister, giving Rain her chance to escape back home.

Rainee’s hands clenched together tightly as her brother’s dying words echoed in her head. A tear slipped unseen from her eyes, as the wolves greedy howls echoed in the quiet forest. She knew those howls, they were a signal of victory and of greed, the wolves were happy that know one was coming to save their preys life.

A glint came into her eyes as she felt something stir inside her heart, she had seen that same look in the bandits eyes when they had gutted that woman, and when despite her brother’s best efforts they had taken him down. Remembering his words had stirred her, had made her realize that she couldn’t be weak, in order to protect you had to be strong! Moving to unsheathe Sparks Petals once more Rainee’s voice was much different then her usual gentle one, it rang strong as she stated softly “No Jame’s…even if this is a trick…life is precious. You can’t just walk away from someone in need…..” Her feet slowly begin to walk across the darkened path, leaves bright green, some brown swirled across her feet as she entered the clearing, calling over her shoulder she continues “Maybe if we save this man, we’ll get out of here…we won’t need to see the Duke of the Fire Palace Jame’s. Furthermore, if we try to save him, that will give us more points to the Duke, he’ll see we don’t belong here!”

As she stepped into the clearing, her eyes narrowed into slits, five wolves, there thick fur an abnormal brownish red color were approaching a poor thin man. He looked frightened as the wolves approached, some of his flesh was already gone as the wolves howled again as they prepared to strike yet again on their meal. Rainee let out a loud meow to get the beasts attention as she said softly “Hey beasties! If you want prey? Why don’t you try tackling something that fights back?!”

The wolves beady black eyes narrowed, but there howls were ones of greed as they stalked towards the cat girl brandishing her glinting sword. They knew that they had the odds it was five on one? How was one measly little cat-girl going to save one man? Rainee’s eyes flashed as she begin to charge towards the wolves her sword lifted and raised, as the one she charged pounced at her, she rolled beneath the heavy weight of the wolf and thrust Sparks Petals upward, the painful howl echoed throughout the quiet forest as the wolf was thrust away dead, Rain then got up her eyes sparkling like that of a warrior as she circled the remaining four beasts saying sharply “Whose next? I won’t let you take another bite out of that poor man!”

[Call me J]

Jame was still struck with fear. He watched as Rainee took her delicate paw from his hand and charged towards battle, and admired the way that she spoke to the wolves without any bit of hesitation or fear. Jame didn’t know how to explain it, but the weeping girl who had seemed as though her life was lost without her husband had managed to turn into a far greater warrior than he. Had he prided himself upon his warcraftsmanship, then he might have been ashamed. However, as he was, he could only pull his sword out from its sheath, and compel himself towards the action.

“You can’t lose Rainee here,” he reminded himself. “If she’s alone against the wolves, then she won’t even stand a chance.” Jame bit his lip. He wished for strength and ferocity, or at least the courage to use what power he had.

Though he didn’t realize he was doing it, Jame was once again transforming into a dragon. His small row of scales along his back had once again begun to cover his whole body. Perhaps he would have stood a chance fighting against the wolves in human form, but after the attack on the pirates, Jame felt safer fighting as a dragon. Whatever feral instincts he had showed up more readily then.

As Jame fell down to all fours, Rainee had managed to kill the first of the wolves. He looked on at the rest of the pack, and though he couldn’t gather much about them, their eyes glowed maniacally in the distance. Jame counted them, and he saw eight eyes, four pairs.

When his transformation was complete, Jame bounded ahead. He was surprised with how easily he could rush in to battle now. Perhaps it was that turning into a dragon had unleashed his feral nature, or perhaps it was just that he had rediscovered a well of confidence that he never knew he had. However, Jame just thought of Rainee, and how unlikely the chances were for a single cat girl against four demonic wolves.

A sudden burst of fire appeared, straight from one of the pairs of glowing eyes. Jame lowered his head and began to run harder. These were not ordinary wolves. As he moved closer and closer to Rainee, he could see the wolves. They all had an orange brown fur, the sign of their mastery over the fire element. Jame knew now that his own firebreath would be of limited use, but he still responded in kind. As he reached Rainee, he noticed a sixth wolf emerging, a larger, grey wolf whose eyes glowed an intoxicating blue. Jame shuddered as he saw this creature, it was clear that the grey wolf was the leader and far more powerful than any of the others.

“Keep away from the grey one as long as you can,” Jame said to Rainee. He pawed at the ground as he watched the wolves communicate with each other and form their own battle plan. As he spoke to Rainee, they had begun to spread out, as if they were preparing to attack all at once from different angles.

Immediately, Jame realized he and Rainee would need a more elaborate strategy if they were to survive. He was stronger and more powerful as a dragon, but even so, he didn’t fancy his chances against the five wolves that were remaining. Unable to formulate a plan equal to theirs, he grasped at the first thing he could think of. “Rainee, get on my back and use your bow...” he said. “I’ll keep away from them while you shoot them, once they’re gone, then we’ll be able to help the man...”

[Nekoprincess]

Rainee’s heart was pounding with adrenaline as she lifted herself off of the ground, the wolf’s blackish blood dripping from the hilt of her silver sword. Her eyes were glowing with determination as the wolves begin to circle around her, there fierce black eyes were dark as they surveyed the cat-woman before them. Rainee eyed them warily, her tail swishing softly as a battle song echoed in her heart. For now she was without Jame’s help and for once, she was doing fine. So far she hadn’t needed him to be there for her. However, before they even made a move towards her they begin to howl in unison. There deep sound echoing through the bright green leaves of the forest.

Confusion filled Rainee’s silver eyes, as her battle with the wolves was halted. She wasn’t sure why they were making this sound, but perhaps they were callng for something. There leader maybe? Rain thought as she knew was that this would be a tough fight. Rain still had to formulate a battle plan, just what was she going to do? Perhaps…now she did need Jame’s help.

Her heart pulsed once, as if helping her find the courage to make the right plan. Closing her eyes, she calmed her beating heart for a minute to think What would Omarion do…..well, he’d charge right in sword first…hacking and slashing until the thing was dead. But, what did he do when his life was in danger…he became a feral beast…he couldn’t be called human, he had taken so many with him that…. Her mind cut her off, as Rainee’s eyes widened; there was her answer! She needed to let go off her humanity, she needed to act like the beasts she was fighting!

Once she had come this resolution however, she begin to hear heavy paw steps, she heard the crack of a branch as if it was crushed by a heavy foot, fear tried to inch its way into her heart, but she pushed it back, telling herself I can’t give into my fear, I have to rule over it; or else I’ll just be the coward I’ve always been, looking for a shadow to hide behind… As a giant silver wolf with luminous blue eyes appeared out of the heavy trees, her heart did a jump into her throat, here was an enemy that she alone could not face.

Rainee was about to call for Jame’s, simply due to the fact that here was the alpha of the wolves, and from what she had remembered….an alpha was the strongest of its pack. Breathing a bit heavily, as she watched Jame’s appear suddenly and once more transform into a dragon, she prepared to fight. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do now, her plane had been to simply tangle with the demon wolves, but now as she watched them change their prey to Jame’s, she saw that there was more to them then just their claws.

Fire spewed from their cavernous mouths as they aimed it at Jame’s, he retaliated with his own fire, as the silver wolf seemed to circle around Rainee its deep blue eyes filled with untold knowledge. A low snarl escaped from its fine mouth, as the wolves leapt back and begin to form a five on two circle around the pair. Rainee meowed as she gripped her sword tightly, her mind made up as she was about to revert to her own instincts. Closing her eyes, she prepared to change from her sweet self, to a more feral animal. But, before she started she heard Jame’s suggestion. Nodding she mutters “Alright…we can give that a try, just be careful Jame. I don’t like the look of that Alpha…it seems like he’s different, stronger like you said. We may have to use everything in our power in order to defeat that beast…” She then moved to get onto his back, taking out her bow and her quiver of arrows she murmurs softly “My mark was off against the skeletons…they were immune to my arrows Jame, hopefully with these beasts.. It is not the same thing.”

[Call me J]

The ground was unfriendly under Jame’s feet. It was soft and flaky, making it hard for him to get the proper traction that he needed. Jame tried not to look at the wounded man that he had been roped into rescuing, knowing that if he saw that man’s wounds, it would only help to scare him more. As it was, Jame was glad that all he needed to do was avoid the wolves. He would leave the offense up to Rainee.

She was expressing doubts, but Jame had far more faith in her now than he did in himself. He was shocked at the way she had managed to transform herself. He remembered the way that she had sniveled when they had first been teleported to Hell, and just how frustrated that he had been. Now, at the first sign of real mortal danger, their roles had been reversed. It was Rainee who had rushed to the aid of another while he had been crippled by fear.

“Don’t worry,” Jame said. “I trust you.”

The wolves were practically frothing at the mouth, and all four of the orange ones were looking expectantly at their leader, waiting for the signal to attack. However, the blue eyed alpha wolf seemed to be much more strategic. It was sizing up both Rainee and Jame, and it seemed to know time was on its side. The wolves were the natural inhabitants of the Forest of Fear, and their prey had already been incapacitated.

With that, the leader of the wolves howled. The four orange wolves let out gasps of fire. Jame knew he would have little chance of dodging it with all four beams of fire coming from different locations, so he decided that he would have to repell it. With that, he took a deep exhale, knowing that his lungs as a dragon would be better than those of the wolves. He let out a deep breath of fire, emptying his lungs like they were bellows. The fires collided mid air, Jame’s fire catching the rest at a nexus point which they all converged. The result was a rising mushroom cloud between the wolves and Jame, and as smoke began to rise up and fill the air, the surroundings were suddenly bright.

Jame could now see the green leaves, he could tell how waxy they were and how many seemingly harmless animals were now watching the battle nervously. Jame could also see the wolves’ first victim, a small elven man whose right arm had already been badly mangled. He had suffered from many cuts and bruises, and the entire left side of his face was scarred with burns. Jame shuddered, but he still maintained the flame.

“Shoot now!” Jame thought. This would be Rainee’s best opportunity to kill the wolves. Her vision would never be better, and they were stationary as they exhaled their flames. Jame would have told Rainee to shoot if he had been able to speak, but he felt as though he could rely on her good judgment. He just continued to breathe in through his nose rapidly so as to keep his flame burning as often as pissible and with few interruptions, carefully timing his breaks for the same times when the wolves took brueaths of air. A few drops of sweat fell down from Jame’s face, the process of repelling their fire with his own bursts was not just taxing on his lungs but his concentration as well.

The blue eyes of the grey wolf began to light up, and a thunderbolt shot out from them. Jame watched as the projectile flew luckily just to the left of him, though it barely grazed by his wing. Jame shuddered it reflexively, and he could feel an ongoing tingle as a result of the attack.

He would have wanted to scream, but yet again he couldn’t, because he was so caught up in the fire. He hated himself for his limitations and being so weak, and he truly envied Rainee. He didn’t know how the cat girl had managed to erase so much fear so as to defend an unknown stranger, but that would be a story for later, if they ever managed to get out of the fight with e wolves alive.

[Nekoprincess]

Jame’s back was all scaly and soft, it took the cat-woman a little while to maneuver herself into a comfortable firing position. The air around her felt soft and warm, as if breathe from both the wolves and Jame had all intermingled into one to create a very hot sauna. Gripping Jame’s hindquarters she moved to position her bow into place, as she felt a very hot flame pass just above her shoulder, sweat begin to bead from her brow as she says almost jokingly to Jame “Up for a hot bath after this?” The pretty blue haired kitty also heard Jame express his confidence in her, this brought warmth in her heart as she said softly “Thank you Jame. I trust you to keep me safe, while I got about taking care of the wolves.”

She then set her mind back to business, she could feel her brother’s voice still in her head and her heart as he whispered into her ear Steady the bow sister…remember aim for the target…which in a creature is normally its heart, father taught you this, and now I’m just reminding you of that very point.

Rainee sighs as she looks at the wolves thick pelts, she recalled that the first beast that she had slaughtered had been stabbed straight through the heart and that the foul orange furred beast had died straight away. However as she studied the beasts thick pelts, she noticed that except for their underbellies they looked nearly impervious, a frown formed on her sweaty face as she murmurs in her mind to her brother What I do now Omarion? There fur looks nearly impervious, aside from their underbelly they don’t seem to have a weak point.

Omarion’s voice echoed in her mind as one of her other lessons was reviewed by him Dear Rain, my sweet sister, as silly as ever. There is always more then one weakness, in a beast, is not its eyes normally harmed by arrows? Just shoot the brutes in the eyes, that ought to blind them enough for you to get a fair shot at their weakest point!

“Shoot them in the eyes.” Rainee murmured this aloud as she had to grab onto Jame’s scales for support as his body had exhaled yet more fire breathe, she could feel him tiring out beneath her, if she was ever going to do anything now was the time. Exhaling a breathe, she notched an arrow into her bow and aimed it at one of the wolf’s beady black eyes, however before she could get the shot off, the whole forest erupted in a great bright light.

The light showed her that the leaves were glossy and that there actually was a bit of a sky above the canopy of trees, it showed a pink hue to the leaves of the forest, and showed that there were other innocent creatures watching this battle to the death, it made Rainee’s heart ache, and she made a vowed that she would save these animals from the beasts that pursued them. With that thought in my mind she fired off an arrow at the beast nearest to her, the creature howled and aimed a scalding hot fire shot at the arrow, but its breathe went wide as the arrow struck it straight in the eye. Rainee then grinned as she prepared another arrow but then her eyes went wide, as a bolt of lightening came from out of nowhere and ended up striking Jame’s in the wing.

A hiss escaped her lips as she realized that the alpha wolf possessed the same magic she did, which meant her own magic was useless against the leader of this pack of savages. Growling under her breathe Rainee set her bow and quiver of arrows on Jame’s back as she put her hands forward a beam of lightening begin to form before her eyes as she soon separated it into four separate lightening strikes, her eyes were nearly dark gray with her anger as she released the beams saying loudly “Die you foul creatures!” She then looked at the alpha male and said coldly “Your next leader of this pack….we won’t let you get away!” The wolf seemed to snicker at her words, as if he was saying “I don’t think so, you’ll become my meal!”

[Call me J]

Jame was beginning to become breathless. Rainee had managed to kill one of the wolves, but the half dragon feared what would happen soon when the alpha wolf fired his next lightning strike. His entire body was shaking, and his muscles were beginning to twinge for the lack of oxygen. Jame wondered how the wolves could keep up their fire, even now that one of their numbers had fallen, they were still managing to keep up a strong flame.

Jame flapped his wounded wing. It was a little stiff, and it still stung from the lightning, but it still moved well enough for Jame to fly. He was still breathing fire, so he couldn’t warn Rainee, but he began to flap his wings and after a few seconds, his feet began to leave the ground. His lungs ached as he desperately sought for the money to both maintain the fiery shield until he could get into the air. Sweat was coating his body, and Jame wondered how much Rainee could feel his fatigue.

He heaved a heavy gasp for relief when he had gotten far enough into the air that the wolves firebreath could not reach him. He breathed in Hell’s air deeply, and it felt welcome to his lungs despite its curdled odor. With a ready smile, he assessed his situation for a minute before saying anything. Now, he and Rainee were level with some of the lower trees in the woods. Jame could tell his flight had scared some of the tree creatures, he could sense them rustling all around. Some of them were likely harmless, but Jame knew well enough that some of them had to be dangerous, after all, this was a forest in Hell.

“Sorry if I scared you,” Jame said to Rainee. He spoke somewhat distantly, for his focus was on protecting both himself and the cat girl from dangers. He could barely see the wolves below him now, save for when one of them let out another fiery burst in vain. Without the light of the fire, it would be difficult for Rainee to attack too.

However, the alpha wolf’s blue eyes till shone brightly into the night. They looked beautiful, like a pair of glowing sapphires, but still terrifying. A few waxy leaves from the trees above fell down on Jame’s head. He mumbled nervously before he realized it was just a plant. There was something rustling to his left, and as Jame looked on, he found a small ape like creature. He heaved a heavy sigh of relief as his heart settled on a few moments of relief. “It’s just a monkey!” he thought. “Keep it together, you nearly fell out of your skin.”

Then, the monkey hissed. It opened its mouth to reveal a cylindrical tongue, from which it shot out a spray of toxic fluid. It hit Jame right in the eyes, and the half dragon convulsed violently in mid air, acting without impulse, regardless of what would happen to the cat girl on his back. His entire body suddenly felt weak, and his flapping wings had begun to slow involuntarily. Jame had not yet recovered a sense of himself before he began falling back down to the ground.

The wolves howled expectantly, and the little monkey laughed wickedly in the tree above.

[Nekoprincess]

The air seemed to stand still, as the four right yellow bolts of lightening sped toward their intended targets. Rainee’s breathe was held, as for a moment she was poised in midair, her hands still sparking slightly from the magic she had created, her breathe was released when four howls were released into the quiet forest air. Her spell had hits its mark, all four of the wolves seemed to be slightly shaken by the effects of Rainee’s spell. One seemed to be in a daze its beady black eyes rolled in the back of its head, as it seemed stationary against the quiet back drop of the trees, the second wolf seemed to be a little worse for wear, it was slumped against the dirt of the forest floor, its heavy tail tucked under its body as sparks seemed to shimmer from its orange fur.

The other two wolves however, simply shook off the sparks that singed like a fairy’s song against their pelts, these two seemed to be stronger then the other two she had dazed, from her perch on top of Jame’s back she could see that the other two were eyeing her with angry beady eyes, they hadn’t liked the fact that their bodies had been jolted by her magic. A heavy sigh escaped her as Rainee mumbles “Grrr, stupid beasts, they really need to be put to rest.” She then moved to notch another arrow from the bow that was resting on Jame’s scaly shoulder, however before she could she felt a heavy rush of air blow across her midriff. Meowing in panic, Rainee moved to grip Jame’s scaly shoulder as she shouts “Jame what the..” wiggling her nose, she smelled poison in the air, looking around she saw a monkey flicking a very weird tongue out into the air, as he was pointing and laughing at the dragon.

As she felt the wind pick up in speed she let out a little screech of panic, as she saw the trees begin to fly by her, luckily they weren’t too high up, but she was too precariously balanced to land successfully on her feet. As she heard the heavy crash of Jame’s body strike against the soft dirt of the forest floor, she let out a squeal as she rolled off of his body and ended up landing trapped beneath one of his wings.


Struggling, Rainee could feel more sweat beading down her body, she could hear the growls even before she knew that the wolves were approaching her, she yelped a bit as she moved to get out from under Jame’s heavy wing. Her breathing was coming out in short gasps as she felt his wing crushing her, mewling and whimpering she pushed her soft hands against his scaly webbing and shouted “Move you stupid wing! I don’t want to become a first course meal for these fire breathing wolves!”

As dirt begin to cover her flailing arms, she could feel something other then Omarion’s words and strength seeping into her heart. She recognized this as she let out a scream, the feeling was her feral side, her pure kitten side coming to the surface. As her hands stopped there flailing, she lay there absorbing the coolness of the dirt around her, she could feel her fangs growing a bit larger, and her tail begin to swish frantically as she felt more strength then before surge through her body. Hissing a bit as she now had to go by smell to recognize Jame, she pivoted and maneuvered her way out from under him, just as a flame breathe was shot at where she had been just previously.

Panting a bit as her tongue lolled from her mouth, her silver eyes scan the four orange furred beasts in front of her, she could smell that two of them were already injured, one was bleeding from its eye and the other was whimpering from the pains of lightening magic she had thrown at it. Licking her lips she begins to circle around the two moving ones as her eyes bore into theirs.

They seemed to realize that now this cat-woman was different, she wasn’t the adrenaline driven creature from before, now she was like them, simply a creature looking to sink her fangs in to their flesh. Feeling now that they had to be a bit on the defense the two who were still able to move begin to circle her, eyeing her up and down, they waited only a moment before they did a pounce at the cat-girl from two different sides.

The heat in the air only seemed to stimulate Rainee’s actions, hearing the movements of the twos paws, she was able to calculate at which point and time they would strike, using her natural agility Rainee ducked under the first pounce, which caused the second wolf to collide with the other. Yowling in victory as she heard the two wolves whimpering in pain, she loped on all fours towards the one who was the most injured, grinning as her tongue rolled over her lips, she did a slide underneath the wolf who tried to swipe blindly at her with his heavy paw. However due to his eye injury he missed her. Now at the advantage, Rainee traced the wolf’s underbelly slightly with her claws before she latched them into the soft skin and used this leverage to hoist herself up. Biting into the wolf’s underbelly, she could taste the acrid flavor of the wolf’s dark blood, she drank it though despite its thickness and continued to until the wolf let out a death howl and landed on top of her.

With weight once more crushing her, Rainee used her claws to push the wolf’s heavy body off her. Her pristine outfit was now stained with black blood. As the remaining three eyed her now even more warily she circled them and then glanced at the icy blue eyed leader, he seemed to be contemplating her strength as he watched her battle, he would make his move soon, he just wanted to see what limit’s the cat-woman could go, before she could do no more.

[Call me J]

Jame was conscious as he fell to the ground, but he was hardly lucid. The his eyes were blurry, and in the darkness he could make out nothing more than the alpha wolf’s glowing blue eyes. He couldn’t think well enough to put any of it together just yet, the poison that had entered into his blood stream had come with a hard fever. Jame could feel his entire body heating up, and as he shuddered, he practically shed a bucket of sweat.

“Ray...” he began, though his voice choked on itself as he tried to get out the word. As some sense returned to him, he could only feel fear. There was too much uncertainty, because there was nothing he could see in the dark.

Jame’s heart was beating fast, but with the fever, all of his muscles were weak. He couldn’t see anything well enough to know what was going on, but Jame was certain that Rainee would be in danger. He could feel her calling out to him, and he could just about lift up his wing to let Rainee get away.

There were forboding noises all around, and it was far too unnerving for the half dragon. He looked back up into the trees, staring up at the leaves hoping that they could come back into focus. The delirium within his body was not getting any better, but it wasn’t getting any worse. Jame was forcing himself to repress a feeling of nausea, and he was managing to stand up once again.

More than anything else, Jame was afraid for Rainee. He had seen how much stronger the cat girl had become, but he didn’t know how anyone could stand strong against that many wolves. The smell of blood was getting thicker and thicker in the air, and Jame could only hope that it was one of the wolves and not Rainee.

“Tell me what’s happening!” Jame shouted desperately. He took a deep breath to light some fire, but he held back at the last moment. If he were to breathe fire blindly then he was just as likely to hurt Rainee. “RAINEE PLEASE!” he begged. “LET ME HELP YOU!”

He was panicking, and between delirium and fear his body was shaking violently. Jame didn’t know how helpful he could be, but he didn’t like the idea of being crippled by poison, unable to help. The only thing that Jame could tell with certainty was that the blue eyes of the alpha wolf were growing closer and closer to him.

“I’ll have to do something,” he thought. His heart began to beat more boldly, and his wings had begun to move a little. “I can’t afford to let Rainee die out here.” Every sound that he heard was feral, and Jame doubted any of them could have been the cute cat girl.

“Tell me what to do!” Jame pleaded, just hoping to hear Rainee’s voice. He picked himself up and was surprised to find that he could take a few steps forward. With his delirium, Jame had yet to consider the long term affects of the poison, but was surprised to see that his strength was returning.

Jame thought about how courageous Rainee had been. If he could only find a bit of that courage for himself, he knew he would find a way to defeat the wolves.

[Nekoprincess]

Rainee’s heart was beating rapidly as the wolf’s thick blood slid easily down her throat, it pumped yet even more steam into the cat-girl’s now anger driven body. She was beyond reason now, she had not shown the wolf any mercy when she had stolen his life, her goal was no longer to save the innocent creatures in this forest, her goal now was simply to survive, to take out the creatures who wanted to end HER life.

As she let out a hissing mewl, she heard Jame’s soft voice desperately pleading with her. He was asking for her to slow down, for her to let him help. She wanted to answer him, to do her best to comfort him, but for now she was simply fueled by her animal instincts and unable to talk. However she could do one thing, loping over to Jame, she moved close to him and prepared to nuzzle his shoulder, meowing at him she hoped he would understand that she wanted his help and that she was comforted by his secure presence.

Rainee then left Jame’s side and mewled at the two remaining wolves, it was a challenge to see if they still had the guts to take her on, an animal challenging another. The wolves growled in response, the one that had been frozen in its tracks now pushing itself up from the soft forest floor. Its eyes were burning like black hell fire, as its mouth soon puffed up, it seemed to be building its flames to a much higher degree, its anger causing the wolf to release an almost black flame, one that was hot enough to roast anything that it touched.

The waxy green leaves of the trees begin to melt and fall of their thick brown branches as the ball of black flames scorched a steaming trail across the dirt that littered the floor of the forest. Even from her crouched position, Rainee could feel the searing heat radiating off the ball, licking her lips as sweat begin to pour from her body, her mind screamed out MOVE OR GET FRIED!

Omarion’s voice had screamed these words into her mind, his thoughts, his place in her heart was still there despite the fact that she was running on her animal instincts. Leaping up into one of the nearby trees, her claws begin to dig into the thick branches as she made a frantic climb for the top, she could feel the heat growing closer as she watched as a tree in front of her burst and lit up like it was a flaming star at a show.

Mewling in panic, Rainee soon reached the the top most branch and she sat like a monkey looking at the immense pitch black ball that was heading like a meteor her way. She saw that she was sitting right next to a cute family of squirrels, they seemed a bit abnormal with their purple fur and there slightly larger then normal teeth, but they seemed to be chirping in fear and they weren’t doing anything to harm her. She could hear yet again her heart screaming at her

Save them! Then flee, I know your thinking like an animal right now! But save these creatures, don’t’ just consider yourself sister!

Rainee shook her head, as she simply hissed at the creatures as they looked at her with large brown eyes, they seemed to be pleading with her to save them. But, Rainee let out a yowl as one of the lower branches begin to ignite in flames, while she would have normally saved them…she still remembered what had happened to Jame. That monkey had poisoned him…what if these squirrels had a hidden agenda?

Sighing as she leapt past them, she was grateful that she had ignored the squirrels, as she was passing one of them tried to take a chunk out of her tail with his fangs. They had been waiting for her to be off guard, before they tried to attack. Hissing, Rainee used her tail to swipe at the little buggers, managing to connect with their little bodies, she swept them far across the tree and right into the approaching fire ball.

Groaning as panic begin to fill her body, she hissed out in garbled tongue “D…da..hiss! D…a…a..amn!” She still hadn’t gotten far enough away, as she looked behind her and watched another tree erupt in flames, she did the only thing she could. Trusting that she’d land on her feet, she took a twelve inch leap towards the ground.

It seemed like an eternity, but her booted feet managed to land agilely in the soft dirt, she could feel the heat of the black flames just minutes behind her, and she could hear the growl of the wolf who’d thrown it pacing and following her flight from the fireball. Using her only chance for survival, Rainee begin to scratch away at the soft dirt. Moving quickly, she dug herself a two inch deep hole and then dove into it.

She barely made it, as she settled into the pitch blackness of the hole, she felt her tail get singed by the fireball. A howl of pain escaped her as she heard the crunch and drag of the ball as it continued its trek through the Forest of Fear. Burning whatever appeared in its path.

Moving out of the safety of the hole, she now had dirt mixed in with the blood, sighing as she shook herself off, she soon was staring into a pair of beady black eyes, the mouth of the beast was still smoking, growling, Rainee moved her claws up and rushed at the creature aiming a swipe for the creatures throat. The wolf however wasn’t having it this time, as he ducked beneath the half kitty girl’s claws and pounced on her.

Snarling heavily he managed to scratch into the thin shirt the half cat was wearing, finally he drew blood and snapped his muzzle at the girl’s face. Rainee in turn yowled as she fought fiercely to kick the creature off her. Her hands were holding the muzzle desperately off, but she could feel the sharp fangs nick into her skin and draw blood. A whimper escaped her as the pain soon begin to dance down her body, her mind was beginning to fog from the pain, but she kicked it away. To survive you needed to struggle through anything.

Thinking fast, Rainee kicked her boots off her feet, her nails had grown once she had let go of her human side, kicking up, she was satisfied when she felt a nail dig into the wolf’s tender flesh. It let out a yip of pain, as smoke had started to form in its mouth, it hadn’t yet used its fire breathe because after releasing its black flame, it needed some time to rest and recover. But now since it had finally been given that time, it was preparing a flame breathe to roast its cornered prey. But, once Rainee’s nail had dug deeply in, it was thwarted by the pain that pulsed through its body, yipping as it leapt off Rainee, it yelped and limped away from her howling for its leader and the one that remained.

Hissing as Rainee struggled to her feet, she begin to slowly follow it, she needed to finish it off, but, she then heard a howl behind her, and an even deeper snarl, as the last of the healthy orange furred wolves leapt at her from behind aiming for her throat. Hearing the leapt though, Rainee sidestepped avoiding the deadly attack and then pulled Sparks Petals from its sheathe and she struck the wolf down in mid leap. She then let out a meow of victory as she chased after the injured wolf. She found it once more in the clearing where Jame was recovering. Grinning as she could taste victory, she prepared to charge at the last of them with her sword.

But before she could a large twin shots of blue lightening struck at her, moving to avoid them, she found herself staring into icy and shining blue eyes, the alpha wolf was grinning down at her, as she had leapt right in front of his path. Howling in victory, the wolf begin to pulse again, preparing another deadly blast as his paws tensed, he was ready and he knew the cat girl had reached her limit. His victory was now!

[Call me J]

Jame's vision was still blurry, but the wolf’s blue eyes and sinister magic were too bright to be avoided. Rainee hadn’t called out to him, but Jame could tell from her nuzzle that she wasn’t dead. He didn’t understand why she didn’t speak to him, but that was the least of his troubles now. Just a few feet away from him, the alpha wolf was launching an attack so fierce, Jame didn’t know if Rainee could withstand it.

“Act now or never act,” Jame realized. He sucked up every last bit of energy within his body and found a way to sublimate his fears. He was going to help Rainee, not because it would be easy, but because she needed him to.

Though he was weak, Jame somehow found the strength to barrel forwards. The poisons effects seemed but fleeting, and now the half dragon was beginning to see his strength return. With his head held high, Jame ran straight towards the alpha wolf, and he caught the bulk of the creature’s flank with his shoulder as he ran forwards. The alpha wolf, caught completely by surprise, fell down to the ground and howled in pain as Jame’s claws dug into him. The half dragon continued running forward just long enough to regain his momentum, and then turned around to see the wolf’s glowing eyes.

Between the darkness and the poison, Jame’s vision was still impaired, but the wolf’s eyes practically served as homing beacons for him. He had begun to let another bellow of fire collect in his lungs, though Jame knew he was going to have to be judicious about when he used it. Rainee was out there somewhere in the darkness, and so was the man that they had come to all this trouble to help. Jame didn’t want to miss the wolf and hit either of them.

It didn’t take too long for the alpha wolf to pick himself up. Jame could feel small chunks of the creature’s flesh that had been caught underneath his claws, but the wolf was far from vanquished. Jame pawed at the ground, still too delirious to grasp the full extent of the danger he faced. All he knew was that he wasn’t going to use his teeth. The smell of the wolf’s blood coming up from his paws was far too much of a deterrent.

The grey alpha wolf shot forward before Jame realized the creature had continued the fight. It gnashed out towards Jame’s neck, as if it wanted to kill him by crushing his windpipe. Jame flailed at the wolf with his claws to keep it away, practically rising up onto two of his legs to keep the wolf away from his neck.

The fever had left Jame lumbering, and as he poked away at the wolf, he could feel the desperation and ferociousness that had overtaken the grey creature. Jame didn’t know how sentient the creature was, but it seemed aware that all its allies had been subdued and that it was facing a creature even bigger than it. With his blurry vision, Jame could only flail his front claws blindly, but that was more than adequate since the wolf had abandoned all pretext of strategy in a vain attempt to leap up towards Jame’s neck.

Jame’s back ached as he tried to keep himself up on two legs. In his dragon form, he could only sustain himself that way for the smallest of times, and now with the wolf practically underfoot, Jame feared for his neck if the alpha wolf were to be able to sink its teeth into him. He continued flailing desperately, and even let out a few quick breaths of flame, none of which did anything to deter the vicious wolf.

Despite himself, Jame’s back gave out. His front legs fell down to the ground, crushing the wolf’s flank underneath his claws as he fell. The wolf let out another howl, though this one resembled more of a panicked scream. It was not fierce but instead a cry for pity. However, Jame had none. He blinked a few times before he realized that he had the wolf caught underneath his claws. Between his blurry vision and the shock, it seemed too surreal that his luck should have ended that way, especially since he expected to have had the wolf’s teeth dug into his neck by now. He had been bracing himself for that impact as he’d fell.

Now, all that was left was to put the wolf out of its misery. Jame let out a breath of fire, and the wolf burned with a final whimper. Jame’s forelegs were caked with blood, and as he pulled his claws from the wolf, he began to return to his human form. His body was drenched in sweat and blood, and Jame fell down on his bottom, grateful to have survived it all. He blinked again and called out for Rainee, hoping that by killing the alpha, whatever wolves that were left would bother him and Rainee no longer.

“You okay?” he cried out, wiping his eyes in an attempt to clear them of their affliction. His vision was getting better, even if only marginally. The fever had already broken, though it had left him quite pale.

The smell of the wolf’s blood suddenly hit his nostrils again. It was much more pungent now that he was no longer a dragon. Between the fever, the sweat and the struggle he had just endured, Jame could not maintain his composure any more. With a violent cough, he vomited the remains of his last meal.

[Nekoprincess]

Rainee’s seemed hypnotized by the luminous blue gems in front of her. They seemed to say to her You did good young one, but not good enough! Your soul will now rot eternally here! Fear begin to creep back into the half cat-woman’s heart, the human emotion reducing a bit of the feral nature that had controlled her before. She let out a gulp, as the wolf’s body begin to pulse a gorgeous icy blue color. From the feel of it, Rainee could tell that the creature was preparing to let out a very large lightning based attack. Moving to roll away from the creature’s line of sight. She prepped herself up on all fours as she let out a hiss at it.

If she was going to die here, she might as well die fighting. As she flexed her claws and started to charge up a lightening attack to counter the beasts. She was not expecting Jame to come lumbering out of no where. The glow begin to die from her hands as she saw the two begin an all out struggle for dominance.

Her eyes were wide as she watched Jame rear up and out of the creature’s line of attack, his claws were swiping viciously at the wolf’s supple body, as he was doing his best to keep his neck away from the creature’s snapping muzzle. Her heart begin to beat rapidly as more of her feral nature dissipated away. She begin to feel worry for her friend’s survival. She could tell that Jame was inexperienced at this, that he was new to the art of war and the fear that survival brought. She hoped that he would be ok as she grasped her hands together as she watched the two tear chunks of flesh from the others body. Finally after what seemed like a slideshow of carnage Jame managed to crush the alpha wolf beneath his claws.

As a whimper of pleading filled the air, Jame mercilessly ended the leader’s life with a burst of dazzling orange fire. Letting out a relieved breathe, Rainee watched as Jame reverted back to his human form and collapsed to the ground. Worry filled her heart as she moved to take a step towards him, then a whimper reached her ears.

Turning around, her eyes caught upon the last wolf, it was limping, blood trailing from its wounds, as it tried to make its way back into the forest. Growling softly, Rainee shook her head as she hissed out, still feeling a little feral “N…no!” She then closed her eyes and focused all her energy into one charge, Sparks Petal was still in her hand, she hadn’t noticed it before from her worries with Jame. But now, she could use it to finish off the last wolf. Rushing towards the wolf, Rainee aimed a swift downward slash at the beast. It was too quick for the creature to avoid in its injured state. One last howl meted the air as the creature fell dead from Rainee’s bladed rush.

With this done, Rainee let the last of her feral nature fade away. She also felt Omarion leave her heart. For now the battle was over and it was time for Rainee to return to her gentle nature. Worry filled her heart as she pivoted on her feet to rush to Jame aid. In a soft worried voice she reached down for him whispering” Jame? Jame! Are you ok?”Hearing his question she paused in asking if he was alright to answer "I'm fine, a bit battered up, but otherwise ok!"

She then looked up and saw the poor injured man that they had originally intended to save. A frown came upon her face as she said in a frustrated voice “Damn it…where was that blue light? It seemed like another safe haven, we sure could use it now if we’re going to rest and recuperate!”

[Call me J]

Jame’s first fears were that Rainee would no longer respect him. When it had been her mental anguish over her lost love, Jame hadn’t shown her enough sympathy. Now that his failures in warfare had been made apparent, he hoped that she would be more empathetic. For a moment, Jame wondered if Rainee would know how much he had failed. In the darkness she might not have noticed his vomit, and would have been impressed that he’d killed the alpha wolf. She didn’t have to know it had been a fluke, and Jame had absolutely no intention of telling her the truth.

He spit a few times to get the taste of vomit out of his mouth, but it still lingered. Perhaps it was just the air in Hell, but it seemed as though the cowardly mark of his upset sensibilities would not leave his mouth. He listened to a wild Rainee shout “No!” boldly, but paid it little mind. He was too caught up in his own self-doubt to worry about her.

More than anything else, Jame just wanted to pretend that threat had never happened. The woods were still quite a dangerous place to be, and even though the monkey’s toxins had all but subsided, he had taken a bit of a beating in his fight against the wolves. He had a few slight burn marks that had collected along his arms, and a bruises from his fall. As he got back up to his feet, he realized that his left leg could only limp, not walk properly. The muscles within it were far too sore.

Emotions had left Jame’s head spinning, and he truly wished that there would be some other way out of hell. He could vaguely remember Rainee suggesting that the Duke would look kindly on them after fighting off the wolves, and now he hoped that was true. He hoped the Duke would come in now and whisk both Rainee and him back to Anebrilith, where they could lie down together in Kedx’ old bed and rest for a while. After their ordeal, they did deserve it.

Still, Jame knew such thoughts of fantasy had to be made carefully. As much as he might have wanted them to mean something, he knew in his heart that they truly were nothing more than fantasy. The barren stretches of rock he had first encountered when he had entered told the whole story about this god forsaken dimension, hell was known by its absence of caring. It wasn’t just the gods that had forsaken them here, but the devil’s interests in the area were limited as well. That would have been the only reason he would have bothered to appoint a duke in the first place.

Jame kept those grim thoughts to himself as he answered Rainee’s calls to him. “I’m fine!” he said. He was glad she seemed to know little of his indignities. With a watery smile, he added on his greatest accomplishment. “And I killed the grey wolf!”

The thought of shelter sounded nice, but before Jame could say that he knew nothing of the blue light, he was interrupted by a call from the man who they had set out to save. “I can help you to shelter,” he said. “Just help me, help me.”

Jame looked at Rainee, and knew that she would agree that the man needed their help. Jame limped over to the man and saw a poor soul who had been victimized more savagely by the wolves than either he or Rainee. This man’s right arm was practically chewed to the point of being unrecognizable, and Jame couldn’t identify a single body part that wasn’t damaged.

“Shit!” he exclaimed, astounded that a man with that severe injuries could even be alive.

The wounded man reached out towards Jame. “Help me...” he said. Jame grabbed his shoulder and began to walk the man in the direction he was pointing. When they had moved about fifteen feet from where the wounded man originally had been, he sang a strange tune. A blue light shone and it revealed a passageway that had been hidden before that.

“A little bit of my portal magic,” he said with a smile. “I haven’t been able to do this everywhere since I died...”

Jame didn’t think about the fact that he was getting help from a soul that had banished to hell. He just sat the wounded man down inside the cave and then moved in deeper himself. There was a small fireplace and a few logs kept by the cave side. The area was warm and dry, and it didn’t feel like Hell anymore.

The wounded man began to explain himself. “I can transport us here for 24 hours,” he said. “It’s a cave in Anebrilith, Raiaera, near the edge of the Black Desert. We can only leave back out into the Forest, and if we don’t leave soon enough, Hell finds a way to suck us back in. Still, we all need rest, and this is as good a place as any.”

“I’ll need more than a day’s rest...” Jame thought grimly. He collapsed against the side of the cave without even bothering to light the fire. He knew his condition was much better than the man who had brought them here, but even so, he didn’t know if he’d be able to continue through the woods after that.

With a troubled mind bothering him, Jame rested his head against the wall of the cave. It was cool, but inviting, a sensation that the half dragon had missed. “Just think about rest now,” he told himself. “You’ll feel better later... think about it...”

Jame thoughts were interrupted by the wounded man coughing up blood.

[Nekoprincess]

Rainee had been so worried about Jame, that she hadn’t noticed anything strange about him. She could tell that he had feared for her safety, and that the half dragon had suffered some serious injuries at the hands of the alpha wolf. However, in her eyes she didn’t notice anything else, the half cat-woman thought that Jame had fought the wolf well, despite the fact that he appeared to have struggled, he had succeeded and to Rainee that was all that mattered.

Smiling Rainee let out a deep breathe as she moved to extend a helping shoulder to Jame, it was then that her own injuries started to protest. A painful meow escaped from her soft red lips, as she had to back away from Jame for a moment. Her face was singing, as if a small knife was still dancing slowly through her tender flesh, her chest was also painful, and had she had known that her breathing was ragged, she never would have charged after that last wolf. She could feel the tiredness seeping through her muscles and the thought of a good safe shelter was all that the cat-girl could think of.

Groaning a bit as Rainee fought to not collapse onto the soft ground,, the cat-woman begin to fear what had happened, she had thought at first that when they had arrived. Their only worries would have been demons, or other normal hell creatures. She hadn’t expected that even in this forest, there would be innocent or apparently innocent creatures that they’d have to fear. A sigh escaped her lips as the thought of safety of getting out of here, passed through Rainee’s mind.

A nice warm bed would be nice…so would a hot bowl of soup; and the comfort of a warm fire. Rainee thought this fleetingly as she heard Jame answer her question on whether or not he was fine. A smile briefly came to the half cat’s face as she answers softly “I’m glad…”

A voice then came from her left, it sounded forced as if the man talking to them could barely use it. He was talking to Jame and saying that he’d be able to take them to a safe place. Hope filled Rain’s heart as she watched Jame shoulder the man, soon when they were about fifteen feet away from the clearing, the man sang a soft tune and a blue light shone.

Amazement filled Rainee’s heart as they appeared in a warm and dry cave. She discounted the fact that the man who had helped them was a lost soul trapped forever in hell, what she was grateful for was the chance at safety. At being able to rest and heal without the threat of being attacked.

Once they had settled in and things were calm, Rainee approached the man. Her eyes slowly traveled over his injured form and she sighs murmuring” I could try to heal your wounds…”

The man let out what could pass for a smile as he grunted weakly “You could try lass…but in all honesty I think I’m done for.”

Rainee smiled as she moved her hands over to his stomach, concentrating her hands begin to pulse a gentle light blue color as she said softly “Tell me about yourself. It help keep your mind off your pain.”

The man smiled thinly as the light begin to shine over his body, he could feel a soft soothing inside him, as if the girl’s hands were helping his soul find peace. In a soft voice he begins “I was a bad man in my life lass. The portal that I used to bring us here, in life I used my magic for wicked deeds.” He paused as his body convulsed a bit and he coughed up yet more blood. “Excuse me lass, anyway…eventually my people got sick of me using my portals to bring evil upon my village. So one day when I was sitting in my hut, they came for me. They;” He paused as a smile came upon his face, he was feeling more peaceful with his own soul as the girl’s magic begin to soothe and heal his pains both physical and mental, on a sigh as his voice begin to grow softer he continued “ would not take it anymore. They sacrificed me by burning me at stake. They said that I would pay and atone for my sins in hell.” Closing his eyes as his soul finally felt at peace with himself he finished “They were right, I’ve been atoning for my sins in life ever since.” Reaching slowly for the cat-woman’s hand he said thankfully “Thank you lass, I’m Marvin and I thank you for healing my soul’s hurts. I realize now if I’d been more like you in life lass that I would not be suffering here. Thank you for showing me kindness. I’ll never forget it…” His eyes then closed, he was still breathing though it was slow as Rainee moved to where Jame was slumped against the wall. The cat-woman squeezed the thin man's hand briefly before she turned towards Jame.

“You doing alright Jame?” Rainee asked as she was trying her best to hide her pain. Her chest injury was bugging her, but her next priority was to help heal Jame’s hurts. As she reached out her still lightly glowing blue hands she murmurs “I’m going to heal your wounds now Jame, just sit still and relax, you won’t feel anything but a soothing soft touch inside your body.” She then smiled weakly at him as she moved to heal him of the hurts he had received from his fight with the alpha wolf.

[Call me J]

(sexual content warning)

Everything was starting too feel better. The ground underneath him was nourishing and welcome, and the air no longer had a curdled stench. Jame even found a small strip of water running by the left wall. He cupped his hands and took a quick drink, and even offered a bit of the water to Rainee. Now, his heart had begun to return to normal, and his body felt better, though he looked onto the cat girl with a sense of admiration.

Jame wanted to ask Rainee about how difficult it had been for her to find the courage to fight the wolves, or if he could ever have the same kind of strength. He was afraid to ask, because it would be admitting how weak he was. Still, he wondered if there was something about Rainee that allowed her to gain strength at the times when she needed it most, and still allowed her to crumble in the wake of a husband that had been untrue.

However, the more he looked at Rainee talking to the man who had brought them to the cave, the less he cared. Jame watched as Rainee’s paws worked delicately and diligently over the man’s injuries, and his own body waited in anticipation for her to do the same for him. “She’s like an angel here...” he thought. “With everything in Hell as dark as it was, it was hard to see her for what she was, but she’s an angel. I can tell that now.” He wanted her, not only because she was beautiful, but she had hope. Jame had been so caught up in his fears that he had all but forgotten about that emotion. Now that he’d been reminded of it, he wanted to get as close to it as he could.

He wondered what his life would have been like had he never come to Anebrilith to collect items from the home of a dead Enarlin apprentice. He could have met Rainee in a tea shop in Akashima, or in a library in Eluriand, and they could have talked together for a while about politics or books, the kinds of things that Jame supposed that people of his age were supposed to be talking about. They weren’t supposed to be flung into Hell dimensions or even called upon to fulfill destinies.

“If only we’d been normal...” Jame figured. Girls as pretty and as gentle as Rainee weren’t supposed to have fallen in love with Enarlin mages either. But they weren’t normal. They were Rainee and Jame. One of them was the ex-wife of a sinister magician, and the other had fate waiting for him at Carnelost. Neither of them lived lives to be envied.

The words “if only” seemed almost magical to Jame. With them, his life could have been different in so many ways. Normally, he tried not to think of them, because he knew just how much both his father and the Mya were counting on him to be at Carnelost, but now that he was stuck in Hell, so far from his supposed destiny but still thrown into the same dangers, he couldn’t help but think about how wrong it all was.

“I’m not meant to live in Hell,” he said out loud, though he was speaking to no one in specific. “I belong somewhere else.” Though he was sore, he reached out to put a few sticks of wood in the little man made fireplace and lit it with his breath. He welcomed the warm flames, they would relax his muscles a bit and give him a source of wholesome warmth.

The first few billows of smoke rose up through a pair of holes in the top of the cave, presumably a makeshift chimney that the wounded man had made during better days. Jame could tell that he wasn’t responding well to the treatment.

“If only I hadn’t hesitated,” Jame realized. He added that statement to his growing list of regrets that started with “if only.”

Soon enough, Rainee had made her way over to him. He smiled as she began to heal him, and he stared into her deep almond shaped eyes as she helped him. Despite every urge within him, he resisted the temptation to grab both of her cheeks in his palms and kiss her forcefully on the lips. The warm glow of her healing touch was just that sensual, especially since her chest was slightly exposed after the wolves had been at her shirt.

His prurient thoughts were interrupted by another round of hacking by the wounded man. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and after a few final gargling sounds, the man collapsed. Jame tried to take his pulse, but he found the man was dead. Immediately, he recoiled, and he was awestruck by the magnitude of death. It was nothing that he had seen before so up close and personal.

“And to think, I just learned the man’s name...” he thought. The physical comforts of the cave had been ruined by this, and so Jame now looked towards Rainee for the only comfort left that he could gain. He was cold and scared, and she had been a beacon of hope for him. He was attracted to her because of that more than anything else. Jame felt as if the closer he got to her, the more likely he’d be to survive.

“Rainee, may I kiss you?” he asked. He didn’t wait for an answer before he pressed his lips up against hers and began pulling off her shirt.

[Nekoprincess]

We’re safe for now…Marvin, thank you. You said you were a wicked man in life, but now. I think you’re the dark angel, meant to guide us safely through hell. Rainee thought this as her hands continued to move diligently over Jame wounded body. They would not be safe had it not been for the wounded man. He had risked his life by running from the hell beasts that had pursued him, then despite the fact that he was mortally wounded, he had used his own magic to transport them to safety. A smile graced Rain’s soft lips as her mind finished her thoughts you’ve atoned for your sins, you don’t have to suffer anymore Marvin. We’ll get out of here safely, and you, you can finally…

Her thoughts were interrupted when there was the sound of hacking, this was much different from before. Worry filled her heart as her hands momentarily faltered from healing Jame, looking at Marvin her soft silver gray eyes begin to fill with tears as the poor man died. He had a smile on his face though and he looked angelic and peaceful as his body stayed still as if he was only sleeping.

The tears were beginning to fault as she heard Jame’s soft question, her body made a slight shift to turn towards him and when she had she moved her lips to answer his question. But before she could she felt his soft warm lips press forcefully against her own.

A soft squeak came from the half cat’s mouth as she felt warmth fill her body. Nobody had kissed her like this..since…since she had last seen Corin. The tears that had began to fall at seeing Marvin’s death, begin to drip down Rainee’s cheeks as she welcomed Jame’s gentle touch. Her hands begin to move over Jame’s clothing, first she removed the torn shirt that had ripped when he changed into a dragon. Then as they continued to kiss she moved to remove the next part of his clothing.

Her heart was filled with warmth though and need, the need to feel alive. To feel human, to know that even here In hell, love could still be had. Could still be pure and true. The tears begin to mix with the sounds of soft sighs as Rainee broke the kiss and looked at Jame’s warmly. In a tender voice she murmurs “Hold me Jame. I need you to, I need to fill alive, to know I’m safe and that I’m capable of love!” Her eyes were swimming with sparkling crystal tears as her paw moved to trace one of the scratches that the wolf had left on Jame’s skin.

The scratch begin to disappear at Rainee’s touch as she moved to meet her lips with Jame lips. Looking at him with eyes shimmering with needs, she seals his lips with her own, as her heart begin to beat rapidly and her body begin to warm from Jame’s soft and gentle touch. Her last thought before she completely gave in to the needs running in her heart was If only I had met you before Corin. Then we wouldn’t be suffereing this pain Jame. We could be together, somewhere warm and safe and happy. With Mylie and…perhaps with other children.

[Call me J]

(bunny approved)

As they grew more entangled in each other, Jame could feel all the “only if’s” in his life fade away. He had been impulsive, ignored the consequences of his actions or who they concerned. He didn’t care that Rainee still technically had a husband, or that her daughter would be waiting for her. He hadn’t thought about how he felt about Rainee beyond those few minutes, only that she had excited his most basic sense of attraction.

Still, it was perfect for a night that for all Jame knew, could be his last night on Althanas. The death of the man with the portals had made his awareness of his own mortality that much more acute, and with the challenges ahead, Jame worried if he and Rainee would make it out alive. However, with his lips pressed against hers and blood rushing to different parts of his body, he couldn’t help but let his senses take over and bathe him in Rainee’s welcoming touch.

As he pulled off Rainee’s clothes and ran his hands ravenously over her curves, he found himself so deeply intoxicated in her that he could barely say a word. “You’re beautiful!” was all he could manage. He had been with many girls before, but never in a situation like this, where they were drawn together by a closeness not aided by a few too many drinks at the end of the night. There was something real between them, even if that was only their mutual fear and regret.

Jame had many things he needed to bury away. He began kissing Rainee all over, running his mouth down from her lips to her neck to her chest and down on to her pert breasts. He was hungry for her, practically to the point that he couldn’t want anything else. He loved the way that her hands ran against his dragon scales. For the first time, they had felt like a natural part of his body, not something that he needed to be ashamed of.

They were both naked now, and Jame swept Rainee up into his arms and then lay her down gently by the fire. He kissed her on the lips again, and then offered her a smile.

“This was everything I needed,” he said, his eyes beaming with affection. “Lets make this a night to remember.”

Jame wanted Rainee too much to not take her despite his wounds. Though he hadn’t realized it, he had been attracted to her from when she had first walked in to Kedx’s house, despite her pointing an arrow at his chest. He had wanted to say something on the River of Blood, but the pirates had interrupted. Now, his vulnerabilities had forced him to take what he could get to keep himself sane.

Eventually they would settle down for some rest. When they woke, the Forest of Fear wouldn’t be any lighter, but they would have been revitalized by having been tangled up in each other. Jame kissed Rainee again on the lips and then began to have his fill. He closed his eyes in ecstasy and soaked in the sensations as his world faded to black.

[Nekoprincess]

The next morning when Rainee woke up she felt heavenly. Like all the worries in her heart had been lifted. She hadn’t been sure at first if her feeling for Jame had been genuine. She cared for him, she knew that she trusted him…but love? She wasn’t yet quite sure if she could love him. The half-cat recalled her happy thoughts before she and Jame had given in to their needs. Had she really meant them? Or were they this just thoughts that flew through her mind as her body felt alive?

Doubt like a black seed crept into her heart as she frowned and looked down, Jame was sleeping, resting like a peaceful angel on her bosom. The doubt was slowly pushed away by tenderness as she moved to stroke his hair gently. Despite the fact that he was sleeping she whispered “I don’t know if I love you Jame; but thank you. You made me remember what it feels like to be loved, to feel alive and wanted. Whoever this Duke is…you gave me the strength I need to face him and to press forward with my life.”

Grateful to him, her eyes begin to wander at what she thought was the safety of the cave. However, a sigh escaped her lips as she felt no warmth from a fire. The fire had burnt out as the two had slept peacefully for the night.

“Looks like its back to work.” Rainee said heavily as she shook Jame’s shoulder to wake him. She could see from her line of vision that the fire needed to be relit. As she reached her hands out to pile more wood onto the smoking embers, she was pleased when the fire burst into a cheery orange glow. As she sat back down, her back resting against the smooth cave wall, her thoughts begin to wander.

After all…we don’t’ want to be stuck here. We are innocent Jame, we don’t deserve to be in hell. We just need to continue onward and plead our case with the Duke of hell. Then after he sees that we were wrongly brought here. He’ll let us go back to Althanas. There we’ll be safe…and I’ll get to see Mylie again.” A thread of worry trickled through the half cat mother’s heart as she thought about her daughter. Was her little girl safe? Had time passed into another day as well? If so, where would her daughter go? Biting her lower lip Rainee tried to soothe her worries, she was sure her daughter was fine. After all Mylie was a smart girl and Rainee had taught the little kitten to stay put if she wasn’t around.

Convinced that her daughter was safe now and waiting for her, Rainee turned her attention back to Jame and said in an even louder voice “JAME! WAKE UP! WE HAVE TO GET GOING!”

[Call me J]

As Jame woke up and found Rainee hovering above him, he smiled a sheepish grin. He had enjoyed the last night a great deal, and the implications of it still seemed a bit far off. For a moment, he wondered what it would be like to continue on through the forest after what had happened, but he was caught in the brief interlude between being awake and asleep where things didn’t matter all that much.

“Stop shaking...” he said as he rubbed his eyes and sat up. His body felt much better after the night, Rainee was quite a good healer. He reached over for his shirt and put it on. It had been dyed with his blood, but it was the only shirt that he still had.

For a moment, Jame glanced over to the corpse of the man who had brought them into the portal. Jame noticed a small bag that the man was carrying. In fact, now that there was a bit of light in the cave, Jame could see just how well equipped this man had been. He had a short sword strapped across his back and mythril bracers. Jame couldn’t help but wonder how the wolves could have overpowered Marvin with all his equipment.

Jame thought to go inspect Marvin’s bag, but hesitated for a moment. He had already gotten his rest at the expense of the dead man, Jame wondered if he could take that much more. In a way, it seemed destroying a grave. He figured Marvin had had a family somewhere, and they were more entitled to his things.

However, Jame also wanted to survive. He knew that both he and Rainee had been fortunate to defeat the wolves, and that their chances of survival would be better if they raided Marvin’s things. He realized that it had been a long while since he’d said anything meaningful, and so he looked over towards Rainee’s heart shaped face to get some kind of insight.

“Rainee, I don’t know what’s in that bag, but I guess that it’s a lot of things that we could use,” he said. Jame felt a bit sheepish even suggesting it, but he was so conflicted over his plans that he needed someone else to make the decision. Rainee had been much braver than him against the wolves, and now he needed her courage in a completely different way.

Jame wondered what Rainee’s history must have been like. Until recently, Jame’s emotions and body had never been tested, and so now every test he faced overwhelmed him. He wanted to know what Rainee had experienced that let her defeat the wolves, or even have the courage to face them.

He didn’t know how to ask, and so he just waited for Rainee’s answer about going through Marvin’s things. “We can bury him afterwards...” Jame added. He felt that was the only thing that they could do without seeming completely heartless.

[Nekoprincess]

Rainee smiled down at Jame as he stirred from his sleep, he was so cute as he slowly opened up his eyes and said in a sleepy voice “Stop shaking….” Rain let out a soft laugh as she murmurs “I wouldn’t have had to shake you so much if you had woke up sooner!” She then eyed the fire ,it was very quiet in thecave and she wasn’t quite ready yet to begin their trek again through this deceivingly peaceful forest. For now she was content to just sit here and rest in the quiet peacefulness of the solitary cave.

Seeing Jame eyes go to Marvin’s corpse, Rainee pulled her dirty torn shirt tighter against her still slightly sore chest. Just looking at the man made her heart twang painfully. In his last act, he had helped them, had practically saved their lives, and now despite her efforts he was dead. This caused another tear to fall from her eye, while she and Jame had showed each other what it meant to be alive, Marvin had passed on, to peaceful oblivion. It just went to show the cat mother that life was short and precious and ever moment of it should be cherished.

Hearing Jame suggestion to search through Marvin’s things, Rainee’s first thought was No, it would be impolite to his memory…but.. biting her lower lip, Rainee let out a held breathe before she said softly “We might as well check what he has….its just going to sit here and be with him for eternity. I’m sure, he’d have wanted to give us something as thanks for attempting to save his life…”

She then crawled across the soft gritty dirt, once she was upon Marvin’s corpse, she sighed and looked once at his pale, still face. She could see the soft smile there and the way he was laying meant that he had died happy. This at least brought her some solace as she reached out to touch the mythril bracers that were snapped snugly against his thin wrists. Blinking as her silver eyes were drawn to the shiny metal, she ran her tongue over her lips, before she moved and unsnapped the gauntlets from his wrists. Looking at him she inclined her head respectfully to his body as she murmurs “Thank you for all your help. We won’t forget you Marvin, you’ll always be in our heart.” She then prepared to move away from him before she noticed a small intricately carved box that was made of Maplewood. Moving to pick it up, she studied it as it suddenly grew to twice its size in her hands.

Blinking as she turned to look at Jame’s she flipped the box open as a machete that was blinking and made from fine steel appeared inside the box along with a very well made claymore. Looking at Jame she whispers “It seems Marvin was well prepared to defend himself, its just I guess…he never chose to use them. I guess we can also take these, Marvin doesn’t need them and from the look on his face I can tell he appreciated the effort we took to save his life!”

[Call me J]

(bunny approved)

Jame was still a bit reluctant to take the dead Marvin’s property, but if Rainee thought it was appropriate, he knew that he would have to listen to her. She knew how to survive and he didn’t. With that, Jame took a shirt from Marvin’s bag and put it on. It was a bit small for him, but it still covered better than his bloodied and tattered shirt. “You get ready...” Jame said. “Take as much as you want I guess. I’ll be outside...”

He took Marvin’s corpse and strung it across his shoulder. He grabbed the claymore in his free hand and the moment that he had remerged into the Forest of Fear he began to dig a hole in the ground. The forest was still dark, and there were likely just as many dangers around, but Jame felt as though his conscience wouldn’t let him rest until he had finished burying Marvin.

“We’ve already killed the wolves, there couldn’t be anything else around that’d want to fight us,” Jame thought. He tossed Marvin’s corpse down near to a bush and then drove the claymore into the ground. He twisted the blade into the ground and began to dig.

The dirt in the Forest of Fear was quite shallow. Below the initial level that sustained Hell’s plants, it was practically ash beneath it. Jame set Marvin’s body in the ash and let it sink deep into the ground. He placed the pieces of grass he’d uprooted back upon the patch of ground from which they had come. He was surprised at how easily he had dug the grave, and was glad that he had done it. Jame noticed that Marvin’s shortsword had fallen from its sheath, and was now lying abandoned by the side of the portal-maker’s grave. Jame placed it near the top of the hole because he didn’t have anything else that would serve as a gravestone.

With a sigh, Jame thought about his own mortality a bit more, and wondered if his promises of destiny didn’t come with a bit of an advantage as well. While his life might not ever be normal, if he truly had a destiny he had nothing to fear. The battle against the wolves and the good fortune of meeting Marvin had made Jame realize that fortune was smiling on him. It was both welcoming and humbling.

Still, Jame couldn’t help but feel like the adventure through hell was still a bit too great for him. He was fortunate he had Rainee with him, both for her abilities and the support that she gave him. Now, Rainee emerged from the cave, and as Jame looked on, he was reminded how beautiful she was. He smiled brightly. “Hey!” he said. He gestured over to the grave so she could see.

He decided that he would have to ask Rainee about her past. They had already been intimate together, and he felt now as though she should have nothing to hide. “I’ve got the grave dug...” he said. Without waiting for Rainee’s response, he began walking forward through the Forest of Fear.

“Where do you get the strength?” he asked as they had begun moving. “I don’t know how you got the strength to do the things you do...”

[Nekoprincess]

The half cat moved to the side as Jame lifted Marvin’s body and brought it outside. The only thing that was left was Marvin’s leather bag. A frown came across her pretty face as she sighs and looks down at her torn shirt. The cotton was frayed, the shirt torn beyond repair. Shaking her head as she reached for the poor man’s bag, she begin to rummage through it as she murmurs to herself “I’m sorry again Marvin. I know I already took two things from you but, I need to replace this shirt. It would not be appropriate for me to head towards the Duke’s palace with a torn shirt.”

Her hands then pushed past vials of herbal medicines, she also found what looked to be a torn charcoal painting of a young boy with his mother and father, sighing as she pushed back these mementos she soon came across two simple cotton shirts, one was a button up shirt in a light blue color and the other was a plain brown t-shirt. Shaking her head as she left the t-shirt in the bag, she pulled out the simply designed light blue button up shirt and peeled off her torn shirt. Slipping into the button up top, she sighs as she buttons the last button and murmurs “Thank you for everything again Marvin…”

She then rose and sighed as she looked down at her bloodied jeans, the blue material had now been dyed a thick black from the wolves blood, she could also still taste the dry acrid taste, sighing as she moved to the little clear stream that Jame had pointed out, she used it to rinse her mouth out and clean her face of any dried blood. Content when she saw her reflection was clean in the water’s surface, she exited the cave to rejoin Jame.

Rain smiled as Jame greeted her, but sighed as she looked upon the grave that Jame had dug for Marvin. Kneeling down she clasped her hands together and said a silent pray, wishing for the kind portal maker’s soul to rest in peace. She then rose from her kneeling position and dusted off some brown brittle leaves that had stuck to her pants. Looking up as she saw Jame’s exit the clearing.

Hurrying to catch up with him, she had snatched up her boots from the clearing as she exited, hopping as she put them on. She squealed a bit as her toe got stuck against the leather. Pausing a minute, she finally jammed her foot into the boot as she smiled and murmurs “There we go.” She didn’t have as much of a problem with her second boot. As she rose again and quickly hurried to catch up with Jame.

Hearing his question just as she appeared behind him, she sighs as she looks up at the canopy of waxy leaves. In a soft voice she murmurs “I get the strength from…” she lapsed into silence for a moment, as she worked to gather the thoughts in her heart, finally she begin “From my family, I never knew my true parents…my mother died; giving birth to me. My father was killed,” a hiccup escaped from her lips as she could feel her eyes growing watery from telling the tale.

“by bandits. My brother Omarion, he too was killed by bandits, the same band but at a different time. My adopted father raised me as if I was his own. He told me the story of what happened to my mother how she died bringing me into the world. This necklace…” She holds up the heart shaped amethyst pendent “was hers. Remembering her sacrifices and the sacrifices others have made to help me and save me; are what give me my strength.” Looking up at the canopy again she murmurs “Its because I’m determined to prove to them that I’m worth it, that what they did for me was good, is what gives me the strength to go on!”

[Call me J]

Jame almost expected that Rainee was going to say that she was joking when she reveled her past, he had never imagined that anyone could have ever had ever faced such a tragic history and not been crippled by it. The worst Jame had ever experienced was his step father having left, and that was something that had only made a limited impression on him. He had never faced a bandit, and he dreaded to think of what would have happened if he had had his entire family killed by them.

“Wow...” Jame said. “You’re very strong!” His eyes were open wider than hers had been when she had seen that he could transform into a dragon. He hoped that Rainee wouldn’t turn and ask him anything about his own history, because he had nothing that could compare to it.

They had move through most of the forest now, and it seemed a lot less intimidating now that they had faced the wolves. Jame also felt much more confident being around Rainee the more and more he knew about her. He wondered just how powerful this Kedx must have been to have had diminished her so.

“It’s a good thing that he got killed in Underwood,” Jame thought. “Where would I have been if I’d have been stuck here by myself?”

Jame wondered if he should ever go to Carnelost. If the duke were to be sympathetic to their pleas, he would likely transport them back to Anebrilith, and Jame would have to go and join Tel Agalarim, albeit late. He glanced towards Rainee, and as he looked at her, he wondered if he couldn’t just make his future the same as hers. He was weak on his own now, and he needed her strength. He had no tragedy of his own to draw on.

Soon the forest began to thin. There were still a few trees, but the area had grown lighter and sounds of animals had all but faded away. Off in the distance, Jame could see a small hill and a pair of pirouettes. Jame guessed they were close to the palace now. The air was glowing brighter and brighter, and the red glow that Jame had first seen when they had arrived in hell reappeared, only brighter.

“It looks like we’re almost there,” Jame said. “We’ll just need to ask the duke for mercy, and then we’ll be able to get back home.” Jame caught himself before he was about to suggest that he didn’t know what would happen. Before he had come to Hell, he had direction. Now, after the battle against the wolves and making love to Rainee, he didn’t know if he had any sense of direction any more.

The idea of being that shiftless was so intimidating that Jame thought that he might not want to leave.

[Nekoprincess]

Rainee’s smile was sad but soft as she murmurs “Thank you Jame, but honestly; I’m not strong…just a survivor.” She then turned briefly away from Jame, staring at the few trees that remained, she seemed to study the deep waxy leaves as her eyes appeared lost in thought. She still hadn’t quite recovered from the shock that Rowan had told her, it had been four years since she had found this information out. Four years that she could have been doing everything that she could to avenge her murdered parents and her slain brother, but instead it had taken her four years of surviving to learn the skills she needed to finally have the courage to stand up to her demons.

Sighing as she finally settled her heart, Rainee wiped the tears from her eyes as she gave Jame’s a watery smile and asked him “What about you Jame? What was your life like? You can’t have just simply appeared on Kedx’s doorstep. There must have been a purpose for you to have been there?” Rainee waited patiently for her answer, as the lights seemed to dance from red to violet and back around her.

She could feel a kind of foreboding inside her heart, as if the palace itself was a place that she shouldn’t approach. Shivering a bit as the chill continued through her body, she willed her feet to move forward. Smiling at Jame, she murmurs “What was your family like? Did you love them? Did you know them?” She was continuing with her questions, because the closer they got to the palace, the heavier her heart felt.

It was as if an invisible pressure was gripping the cat-girl’s heart, as she stepped over a large molten color rock, she could feel her steps growing heavier. It felt as if the hill that the two were climbing was a mountain. Pausing for breathe, Rainee leaned against one of the many rocks they had passed, she was still waiting for Jame’s answers, but she had begun to wonder just who this Duke was. Why was her body feeling like lead? What was the whisper that was moving through her mind?

Come to me little kitty! I’ve been waiting for you!

It seemed like whatever it was, wanted her to enter the Fire Palace. Sighing as she looked up at Jame she murmurs “I don’t feel so good, its like some invisible pressure is weighing down on me. This Duke…I wonder who he is?” She then sighs as she tries to push herself off the rock and murmurs “But we have to push on…we’re so close to getting out of hell….I can’t let some sense of foreboding hold us off from seeing the Duke…”

[Call me J]

Jame thought Rainee’s sense of forboding was no different than his own, and so he paid it little mind. Instead, he answered her question as they continued moving up towards the castle. As they climbed the hill, Jame could see just how intimidating the fire palace was. There were the two pirhouettes that he had seen earlier, but the whole rest of the castle was not made of stone. Instead it glowed, a mass of fiery embers collected densely around each other so that the castle itself seemed almost like a giant mass of flame. There was a mot around it, filled with lava and strange sea creatures, ones with long necks that hissed violently as they swam up close to the bank.

“I never really knew my family,” Jame said. He answered Rainee’s questions so as to keep his mind off the danger of the palace. “My mother, I did. She’s the one who raised me more or less. She took care of me but my stepfather left when I was young. I never knew my father until recently, and I found out that he was a famous Raiaeran general. But he’s old now, and he never had the time for me anyways... my mom had waited to tell me about him until I was older.”

He wondered if he should continue onward, but talking to Rainee about his family made him a bit calmer. He felt as though she wouldn’t appreciate the conflict he had when compared to his own family tragedy, she had been the first person to ever ask about his lineage. Others either knew him from his father and assumed that he was just another heroic Kaosi or never bothered to ask. Of the two groups, Jame preferred the latter.

“And yeah, my father was supposed to fill a destiny, but now he’s too old,” Jame said. “So I have to do it for him. He used to know Kedx a long time ago, and he told me that there were things in Kedx’ house that would have been useful to me. That’s why I went. Later, I’m supposed to go to Carnelost and fight against Xem’zund’s army, because its rising. The only thing is, after fighting those wolves there, I just feel like I’m too scared. I’ve had this time with you, and it was good, but I don’t know what it means. It just seems sometimes like I’m moving, moving moving moving and I don’t even know where I’m going. I’m reacting to situations I never chose to be in. I know that doesn’t compare to having your family killed by bandits, but its my confusion and I don’t know if I can handle it? Know what I mean?”

The words had flowed out from Jame’s mouth like a river gushing from a broken damn. His time in the cave had already stripped him of all his inhibitions, and he had been keeping his fears bottled up inside him for so long that he felt they needed to come out. If his destiny was true, he would survive, but as he grew closer to the Fire Palace, he wondered what if his thoughts had been wrong. Perhaps the Mya had always planned on having Damon die here instead of him.

As they came closer to the moat, there was a raised drawbridge. Jame called out towards it, but he got no response. The river was made of fire, so there would be no swimming across. Jame figured he could fly, but he worried about the impression that might make on the duke from whom they would soon be trying to curry favor.

“HELLO!” he shouted. No response. “HELLO!” he shouted again. There was still no response. Jame looked around on the ground for a rock and threw it against the drawbridge. He still got no reaction. With a sigh, he figured that he should wait just a little while longer before turning into a dragon. He didn’t want to be out around the Fire Palace moat any more than he had too. The long necked monsters in the moat were very unnerving.

[Nekoprincess]

The Fire Palace was daunting to Rain’s eyes, as she listened to Jame explain his life story, her silver orbs traveled over the fiery castle before her. The piercing flames that seemed to dance over the pirouettes creating a hypnotizing show to the cat-girls eyes. A meow escaped her lips as she could have sworn that the flames were alive. Shaking her head, her silver eyes turned back to Jame as she heard him explain about his father. Running her tongue over her lips she murmurs “Your dad sounds like my adopted father, a hardened soldier doing all that he can to protect those that he cares about.” Looking back up at the towering palace, she feels fear trickling down in the form of sweat down her neck. Trying to shake it off she softly asks “Who was your dad? I know you told me he was a Raiaeran general, but what was his name?”

Her heart continued to beat rather rapidly as her next series of answers and questions was halted when she had to take a deep breathe to calm her heart. Closing her eyes to relax for a moment, she took the time to formulate her next response to him ‘Whose this Xem’zund? Is he a god or something?” She then noticed that the beasts in the moat were beginning to swim closer, she could see that there eyes were opaque and red, almost as if fire itself danced inside their souls.

Gulping yet again, Rainee begin to dance from foot to foot as further talk stopped. Shivering a bit as she heard Jame begin to call out for the Duke to let them in, she frowned when she saw that his attempts were in vain.

Impatience begin to knag at Rain’s heart, as she stamped her foot kicking up some fiery dirt. Glaring at the beasts as she could now see their pointed fangs she shouts” Duke! Let us in! We simply seek an audience! We’ve traveled far and we’ve made it through the hardships of hell! You could at least grant us the courtesy of an audience! Then we won’t trouble you for anything else!”

Rainee then waited to see if the still dark wooden drawbridge would move. Her fingers were crossed as she prayed that this journey would end. The hardships themselves had been hard on the cat-woman, being with Jame had been a great comfort. But now all the mother wanted to do was return back to the world of the living and to her daughter. She still was extremely worried about what was happening to her baby girl, and in order for her heart to be fully soothed, she needed to reunited once more with Mylie and be back in the world where everything was normal and right.

[Call me J]

The drawbridge began to move. Jame didn’t know what Rainee had said that was so convincing, but they were now being granted entry to the Fire Palace. “Didn’t realize manners worked in Hell,” he joked to himself. He brooded about whether he should answer Rainee’s question. He knew that his father had known Kedx, so it was likely that his father had known Kedx’s wife as well. Jame thought it might be strange to admit being the son of a man who, but for supernatural causes, would probably not be that much older than Rainee herself.

Still, given everything that had happened, Jame felt he had no choice but to answer. “My father is Damon Kaosi,” he said. He offered no further explanation, and had no interest in elaborating.

Jame moved forward over the drawbridge and into the castle. He was surprised that the Fire Palace did not burn. It was quite hot, and a bit of sweat escaped Jame’s forehead as he passed through the doorway, but the temperature was not crippling. Inside, the palace seemed little different from others, save for the décor of magma. Small streams of the fluid ran along the edges of the passageway, and bulbs of magma seemed to convulse up the wall like slugs.

“Some decorating here,” Jame thought snidely. However, he had little reason to be so snide. Outside of the Fire Palace’s facination with flame, the design of the palace was quite elaborate. The hallway they were passing through was made of mahogany, and the carpet below was woven elegantly. Everywhere else in Hell, the decorations had seemed to have the goal of intimidating the poor victims that had ended up in the place, but now that they had entered into the palace of flame, it seemed like that test was over. Jame began to feel that he was getting a bit of his confidence back.

As they continued down the hallway, Jame noticed the paintings on the wall that were of past dukes. There were elves, dwarves and humans, and all of them looked like hardy warriors. The half dragon wondered what had happened to them, why they were no longer dukes of the palace. There was no painting in place of the new duke, though it looked as though it had been taken down recently, as opposed to having never been put up. It was a bit strange, but Jame was too anxious about his fate to worry about the decorations on the wall.

Eventually, he reached a large door. It was carved of liviol oak, and the engravings on it were both ornate and intimidating. Despite himself, Jame gulped a little. There was an ogre standing by the door, and he wielded a spiked club. Jame watched as the ogre hit the palm of his hand over and over with the club, and he couldn’t help but feel like the brute was a bit too eager to use it.

“Uhh... we want in,” Jame said. “Me and Rainee, we’re here to see the duke.”

The ogre frowned. “Only Rainee has permission!” he boomed, as if reciting something he had heard. “Only Rainee enters!”

Jame’s face fell white as he heard those words. It had seemed that the duke had already made the decision. He winced. He would be spending an eternity in Hell after all, and he would be spending it alone. He thought of the face in the stone that he had encountered early on his journey and wondered how long it would take for him to end up that way. That was, of course, if he was lucky. Bad fortune would mean he'd end up just like Marvin.

[Nekoprincess]

Damon Kaosi was his father?! Rainee was shocked by this answer. She had thought when she’d first met Jame that there was a resemblance to someone she knew. That is she had thought that after she had taken the time to see who he was. When she had pointed her arrow at him, she had seen nothing more then a red haze in her eyes, she had thought he was a danger, but now she knew better. Now she knew why Jame had willingly stuck by her side through this whole horrid journey.

Rainee’s heart warmed further towards Jame as she walked across the drawbridge. If he was the son of Damon Kaosi then she knew that he could be trusted. As they passed through the grand interior of the palace, Rain’s eyes begin to notice things that seemed all to familiar. Her steps slowed as they begin to pass pictures of the previous dukes. As unfamiliar faces of elves, humans and dwarves stared out at her, she begin to shiver. To her it felt as if the paintings were watching her, judging her ever step.

Sweat begin to trickle down her back as she walked past the last painting, she could see an outline of a painting after it. Of whom she could only assume was the new duke; but it wasn’t there. Her feet stopped on the luxurious plush carpeting as she froze in front of large door made from liviol oak. This surroundings looked far to familiar to her. Shaking a bit as she noticed the large ogre standing with a huge club.

Her meow was tiny as the ogre begin to speak saying that only she could enter. Closing her eyes and moving to grip Jame hand she said sternly “No! I won’t have that you stupid brute! Either he comes with me! Or I refuse to grant the duke an audience!”

The ogre stared at her with two different colored eyes, they were hardening though as he boomed again “Only Rainee enters! The other one leaves!”

Rainee shook her head as she walked up to the ogre and said sternly again like a mother scolding its child “I’m not entering without him!”

The ogre seemed to shake violently with temper, as finally unable to take the half cat’s scolding, he swung his club into the thick carpet. In a uneasy voice he spewed out “Fine boy can enter to! But don’t blame me if you regret it!”

Smiling smugly Rainee motioned for Jame to follow her. Entering the even more vibrant throne room, the cat woman felt her heart stop.

Sitting there on a throne made up of rubies, emeralds and diamonds was the last man she ever expected to see. Her husband was lazily sprawled in the throne, eyeing her with eyes that she very well remembered.

Fear became a hard nut in her heart, as she had lost her ability for speech. She know knew why the surroundings were so familiar and why when they had first arrived at the palace it felt like someone was calling her. Shaking visibly Rainee could say the only word that came to her fear filled brain. “Corin…honey.” Licking her lips as they were now dry, Rainee tried to avert her gaze, but they only fell on piles of gold or cups of silver. Seeing these signs of evident greed, Rainee’s heart broke even more as she asked timidly “Did greed bring you here? Greed of wants, possessions, is that what took you away from me? Was I or Mylie not good enough for you?” Unlike her normally strong and sure voice, this voice was timid, scared.

After all the information Rain had discovered about her husband, she sure as hell didn’t want to see him now. Seeing him now brought all the fear that Jame had helped her wash away back, and now she wasn’t sure what she was going to do. She could only shake and quiver in even more fear as her eyes were drawn back to those of her husband’s. Whom she was sure could see how much fear he had induced into her soul by his actions and the clues he left behind about what he wanted to do with her.

[Call me J]

It took Jame a few minutes to realize who the duke was. As it dawned on him, his eyes had grown as wide as saucers. He looked at the slim feline man with shock and awe, and watched as the one time Enarlin apprentice got up from his throne and banged his sword cane emphatically.

Jame could see that this man had no pity. They would never be able to escape Hell as long as he was duke. With a slight shudder, Jame reached for his short sword and drew it, as if to suggest that he would be happy to fight the duke if need be to get out. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that, Jame didn’t fancy his chances against an Enarlin apprentice, but he hoped the threat of violence would be enough to get him sent home.

However, the duke seemed to pay no attention to Jame. His cold hearted eyes were fixed exclusively on Rainee. “It took you long enough to get here,” he said. “I would have thought your lovestruck little heart would have come running the moment you got the letter, and you wouldn’t have brought a new boyfriend with you.”

Jeweled rings covered the fingers of the duke as he linked his hands together. Jame continued to watch quietly. Kedx did not look much like Jame had imagined him. The cat man was slight, older and his face looked particularly weary and his entire body was covered in a long red cloak. If it hadn’t been for what Jame had known about the duke, he would have thought the man had looked almost grandfatherly.

Kedx continued to pay Jame little mind as he spoke, as he began to use his words to dig into Rainee’s psyche. “And to answer your question, of course you weren’t good enough for me. Why did you think I wanted to kill you?” he asked. “Neither you nor that stupid little street urchin of an orphan that you made me adopt. I couldn’t stand her or her grubby paws, and by the end, I couldn’t stand you.”

It was clear that he knew the cat girl well, every word he used had been sharpened by the experiences that they had together. Jame couldn’t know how deeply they had cut the cat girl, but he wanted Kedx to stop.

“SHUT UP!” Jame shouted. His muscles twinged in his hands, and more than anything else, Jame wanted to drive his short sword through the heartless body of this duke.

“I’ll get to you...” Kedx said coldly. He had glanced towards Jame for the first time, and his look was somehow both angry and cold. Jame shuddered, especially when he saw Kedx’s grey monochrome eyes.

“But Rainee, no one who wants to be around you wants to stay there for long,” Kedx continued. He waved his hand, and a curtain magically appeared to his left. A series of cat people walked out, all of various ages. A young catboy among them bore a striking resemblance to Rainee.

Kedx smirked. “You know these people, Omarion, Ronin?” he continued. “They would have rather been killed by bandits than stay with you, so you could hardly blame me for abandoning you... especially when you act like a slut and run off into the arms of some fire-eating dragon...”

Jame’s open fist clenched tightly. He bit his lip and took one last look at Rainee before he prepared to charge up the steps to the throne and drive his weapon into Kedx’ heart. Duke or not, Jame was going to make Kedx pay for everything that he had said to Rainee.

“And since you bore me now, it’s about time you died too!” Kedx continued. The cat man seemed to have not noticed that Jame had begun to run towards him. “You’ll be locked up in stone, and when you die you’ll set me free. Back to live my life and maybe feast upon your daughter.” It was abundantly clear that Kedx was speaking now just to hear his own voice and cause Rainee pain. The smug duke seemed particularly pleased with himself as he pulled a pistol out from a holster underneath his cloak and took aim at Rainee. “Goodbye slut!”

Right before he could press the trigger, Jame threw his sword at Kedx. The half dragon hadn’t the time to reach for his spear, and he knew he needed to act quickly. Given how scared Rainee had been earlier, he knew that she wouldn’t be able to fight against Kedx. It would be up to him to defend her.

The sword flew through the air in front of the pistol. Jame cursed his luck, but just as the bullet shot out, it hit the sword. The gun backfired and practically flew out from Kedx’s hand. The duke’s attention now turned back towards Jame, and he looked on with a sinister leer as he pulled off his cloak to reveal a mythril set of armor. There was a breast plate and greaves, long bracers that covered all the way up to his shoulder. A giant claymore hung across Kedx’ back.

Kedx glanced back at Rainee one last time before leaping into battle. “Well if I can’t have a quick death for you Rain... then I’ll have to entertain myself with your friend,” the duke said. He unsheathed his claymore and ran down the stairs to challenge Jame.

The half dragon shuddered. He looked readied the weapon he had taken from Marvin and tried not to think to hard. Jame didn’t want to consider what his chances would be like against an Enarlin apprentice.

[Nekoprincess]

Please don’t let this be true. Please I beg you, god let this be a dream! Rainee thought frantically as her husband’s lips begin to move. Clenching her eyes shut Rainee let out a desperate meow as she moved to pinch her skin, when she felt the sharp twang of pain, she let out a pathetic whimper. This was not a dream like she hoped, the man whom she had loved was standing here, his familiar voice ringing in her ears. Yet the words that he had begun to spoke were unlike anything he had ever said to her before.

Her body begin to feel weak, the words he first said cutting through her as if she was as soft as butter. Mewling sadly, she turned her eyes away to stare at a jewel encrusted gold plate. The intricate detail seeming far safer then her husband’s words. Though for her it was just a distraction, she could tell that her lower lip was trembling and that tears like icy crystals were fallen unbidden from her eyes.

Wrapping her arms around her slim figure for support, she stuttered almost to soft to hear “So you did not love me? Eve…e….” A sob escaped her lips as she tried to continue and said weakly “ everything you ever did with me? For me was a lie?” She couldn’t help it, her legs were trembling too much, she collapsed onto the plush carpet, her soft blue hair falling over her eyes as she continued to mumble “You didn’t want Mylie, but…b..but you took the effort to! You…you helped me honey! You helped save her from those sea serpents! It was you who rowed us to safety!” Rainee’s heart was twisting painfully against her chest, as she felt her strength fading under Kedx’s cold glare.

Biting her own tongue to stem the flow of words from her mouth, Rainee’s eyes traveled over to what was a plush velvet curtain, the intricately woven black silk was fitting, but at the same time it seemed strange. Runes were carved into the curtain along with the other detailing. Frowning as Rainee took the this opportunity to try to not hear the painful jabs to her heart. She studied the curtain, as her mind thought Just what could be behind it? What is Corin trying to hide from me? Ha…hasn’t he done enough to hurt me?!

Her ears were flat on her soft blue hair as she continued to use her hair as a filter to hide herself, she could still hear everything her husband was saying. Every biting word, and she begin to shake with both grief and rage. How could she not have noticed this before? How had Corin deceived her so well…why had she not picked up on the signs when he had been willing to make a contract with Damon’s succubus?

Howling again, as the tears begin to make a wet puddle against the bright red of the carpet, Rainee once more looked up at her husband, his presence, his complete dominance over her before, had made her forget that Jame was there. The cat woman could hear his voice, trying to be strong, trying to defend her, but she knew it was useless. Trying to find the words, Rainee was about to say Its useless Jame… When Kedx showed the biggest shock to the young mother.

From behind the very same curtain she had seen before came her family, came her true parents, and her young long lost adopted brother. Whimpering a bit as entire body froze, she whispered “What? No!” Her voice was quivery, almost as if she said or heard anymore she’d lose her ability for speech entirely.

Shaking a bit, As Rainee’s tail scraped weakly against the soft plush carpeting, Rainee tried to find the words to say to her family. Omarion had already helped her, but too see him now, with his young face contorted with pain was almost too much for the cat-woman.

She could feel her grip on her sanity loosening, moving over her body, she could feel the buttons of the light blue shirt she had gotten from Marvin, as her hands traveled down to her waist, she felt the light weight steel of the machete that had been his gift towards her.

Unsheathing it from her belt, she begin to rush at her previous husband, her eyes were blinded by tears as she murmurs “How could you? How could you betray me like this! I loved you! With all my heart!” She could feel her broken heart beating blandly against her chest, and she could only see her husband.

However, before she had taken no more then two steps a soft voice shouted “Don’t dear..” a restraining hand was placed on the woman’s shoulder, as the man who was her mate shook his head.

Just hearing her voice, Rainee paused as she remembered her family was here. Swiveling on her heels, the machete was still gripped like a lifeline in her hands as she murmurs “Why are you here? Mother? Father?! Omarion why?” Waving the machete frantically she hisses her voice near hysterics “Is what he says true?” She points at her husband. “That you never wanted to be around me? That you’d rather find peace in death?’

Pain seemed to be etched around both the female cat’s and the male human’s eyes as they held each other, in one voice they both spoke “Its true…” That was all they could say as Omarion spoke up.

“I’m sorry sister, but you were never appreciated, never wanted, my parents were happy when you left. I…I found peace here.” There was pain etched around his soft eyes though as well, deep down for both Rain’s parents and Rain’s brother, the words they were saying were hurting them too.

A scream issued from Rainee’s lips as she turned her head to glare at Kedx. Her eyes froze when she saw the gun and heard his words, her body was already too numb to react, ignoring the fear, even though it was like a shadow strangling her she shouts “Why? Why are you torturing me so? Just let me go! Please! I did nothing to you to deserve this!” Her anger was fading back to fear, her eyes still wet with tears as she grips the machete still as if it was her only lifeline, whimpering a bit she murmurs “Please at least, if you wish to kill me let them go.” She points at her family. “They especially have done nothing to deserve your cruelness.” Closing her eyes Rain says in a soft and defeated voice “Direct it all at me honey. No one else…and leave Mylie out of this…she’s done nothing to deserve it either…”

[Call me J]

Jame was surprised by how heavy the claymore was, but he still managed to deflect Kedx’s first blow. Jame took a heavy sigh, and began to pace away. Kedx’s attention was divided between him and Rainee, and Jame came back with a second blow. He drove his claymore forwards, but the weapon merely bounced off Kedx’ armor. The duke smirked arrogantly and threw a shuriken straight at Jame’s face. The half dragon dodged, and in his panic he dropped the claymore.

“Shit!” Jame realized. The last time that he had dropped a weapon, he had paid for it dearly in blood. He shuddered, and took a few steps away so that he would at least be able to run while Kedx chased after him. However, the duke seemed to have very little interest in fighting Jame. The half dragon watched as Kedx had turned away towards Rainee, all but ignoring him.

“Your new boyfriend can’t fight me slut!” Kedx shouted at Rainee. His voice seemed much more painful and harsh. “If you were going to use your sex to get someone to fight me, you should have found someone better. And don’t act like I’ve brought your family into this! When I told them you were coming, they wanted to tell you how much they hated you. We ALL hate you. Even your stupid daughter, and when I send her to hell, then she’ll say the same.”

“He’s a monster,” Jame thought. The half dragon was horrified by the cruelty with which Kedx spoke to Rainee. However, he also realized that he had been watched the entire time they had been in Hell. There was no other way Kedx would have known about them. He picked up the large claymore, hoping that Kedx wouldn’t notice until he had landed a blow. However, Jame had just readied himself as Kedx’s attention returned to him.

“And you!” Kedx shouted reproachfully. “I know you too... “ Kedx continued. “None of your parents are in hell, but I knew your father. Trust me, Damon would have never thought all that much of you. When he was your age, he’d already been made General. What have you done other than fuck a cat girl?”

Jame didn’t answer and instead rushed at Kedx. The half dragon put his full might into another blow to the stomach that just bounced against the chest plate. However, Jame was more prepared. This time, he didn’t drop his sword, but instead, cocked back his wrists and used his position to send a second upper blow towards Kedx’s chin.

The duke took a quick step back, and Jame once again lost the weapon. This time it went flying though the air, landing closer to Rainee.

“And you say you want to defend her?” Kedx continued. “I have barely lifted a sword against you and I’ve already disarmed you twice. How much longer do you want to continue this charade. Look, if Damon hasn’t loved you yet, he probably never will. You’re not going to win his love by fighting me. Just surrender now and you’ll be spared.”

Jame practically spit on his reply as he said it. “Never!” he said. He looked over towards the claymore. His more familiar short sword was closer, but now he had slipped into a single mindedness that the only thing he could focus on was getting the large sword and getting it through Kedx’ armor.

“Suit yourself,” Kedx replied. He turned his attention back towards Rainee. Soon, a dark energy reverberated within the cat man’s hands and a dark bolt of lightning shot straight towards Rainee’s head.

Even though he wanted to help Rainee, Jame just ran back for his claymore. “I just wish I could know something about this bastard...” he rued. “As it is, he’s got a bigger advantage than just his weapons.”

[Nekoprincess]

Rainee stayed where she was, her eyes staring dully at the plush red carpet. She had lost her sense of awareness after she had begged Kedx to direct all his cruelness at her. Her willingness at life,. Her desire to push forward had all be washed away. As the sounds of battle echoed through the brightly decorated hall, all Rainee could feel was a hollowness inside her soul. It seemed the places where she had shared warmth, with the memories of her family were gone. Like they had taken flight the minute that the true ghosts of her beloved family members had appeared.

As she felt the static electricity in the air, the saddened cat-girl merely stayed put. She knew what it would feel like, she herself had shocked her enemies many many times. The thing she didn’t get as her hair begin to stand on end from the approaching black and deadly bolt was, how had her husband learned such magic?

Pain filled her soul as the dark and sinister magic struck the cat-girl. Rain couldn’t help it, she let out a loud agonizing scream as she fell convulsing onto the carpet. Her eyes were wide as her body continued to shake and vibrate from the pain. Whimpering a bit, her big and sad eyes were on her family as she seemed to plead with them to tell her the truth.

Raven’s hands twisted together as her pretty soft eyes flitted from the cruel cat-man’s to that of her beloved daughters. A squeal escaped her lips as her bracelets jangled as she grabbed for Rowen’s hand. Shivering she whispers “I can’t take much more of this! How much more pain is that cruel man going to inflict on my poor baby girl?’

Rowen’s dark eyes were sad as he brought his wife into a firm hug. Glaring at the man who was suppose to cherish his little girl, Rainee’s father soothes his wife and whispers “I don’t know, all that I wish is that she had seen the evil this man hid. That she had escaped him. But she was all too naïve, you knew this from watching over her…”

Rowen’s words were answered by hiccupping barely audible sobs and soft meows. His wife white tail was wrapped around her waist in a way that he knew meant she was extremely upset. Shifting to hide his wife from Kedx view, he frowned as he saw his daughter’s convulsions stop. Worry was in his heart, he was afraid that if his baby girl didn’t fight back soon, she would give this cruel man his wish.

Omarion meanwhile was shifting from foot to foot as signs of irritation were on his face. He did not like to see this happen to his precious sister. She had always been self sacrificing, he knew she would have done this for him had he not forced her to escape. Sighing as he continued to dance from foot to foot he glared at Kedx as if saying “Why are you doing this to her? Don’t you have any love in your heart? She did so much for you! She took care of you! Why? Why do you wish to take her life so badly when she sacrificed everything to be with you?!”

After the lightening had left her body, Rainee felt weak, her limbs felt like Jell-O as she shakily pushed herself back up into a sitting position. Stars swam in her eyes as she blurrily turned towards the sounds of fighting and talking. IN a pleading and weak voice she whispers “Please honey, stop this. Don’t hurt Jame! Leave my family out of this! Direct everything at me please! I don’t’ want anyone else to be hurt!”

[Call me J]

Jame had reached the claymore when he saw Rainee getting hit. He shuddered, and a huge exhale escaped his lips. The half dragon looked on with wide eyes, and his fears were reinforced. If they were going to survive, then he was going to have to defeat Kedx. The half dragon gave himself one last minute to think about all his fears and doubts, and then he bundled them up into a tight little ball, and shoved them away in a box in the darkest recesses of his mind. Jame knew that it would be the only way.

Kedx’s attention was still focused on Rainee. “You don’t understand how much it makes me happy to cause you pain” he said. He held out his palm, and projected an image of Rainee’s daughter Mylie onto the floor. It was an older image, from when she was four, and likely forged from Kedx’ memory. Seconds later, a holographic Kedx approached it and sliced her head off.

This was the last straw for Jame. It didn’t matter that he might die, he was overwhelmed with rage. He hated Kedx with every fiber of his body now. The duke had mocked his heritage, insulted Rainee, and now took perverse pleasure out of pantomiming the death of an innocent little girl. Kedx may have been powerful, but Jame was still going to knock him down.

With a battle cry, Jame ran straight towards Kedx. The half dragon took a wild swipe towards Kedx’s head, and he managed to catch the feline unawares. Blood spurted out from Kedx’s head, and it was only after Jame’s blade had fallen back to the ground that the half dragon realized that he’d sliced off the top of Kedx’s ear. The cat man howled in pain, and his clear grey eyes began to burn brightly. Bursts of fire spurted up from the corners of the room.

“You can’t defeat me!” Kedx said. “You CAN’T Win!” The wounded duke began to unleash a barrage of strikes with his sword. Jame, emboldened by his lucky shot, had managed to continue.

“What are you trying for, what do you want to achieve?” Kedx asked. “If you had just stayed outside, I would have sent YOU back. I had nothing against you, I just wanted Rain. You don’t know the things she’s done to me. Because of her, I attacked Underwood, because killing an entire city was better than coming home to that ordinary, penniless girl. Before her, I was the Showstopper, after her, I was shit. Now I'm the Duke of the Fire Palace, but every night I burn. Once a night, after my judgments are made, I get set on fire. It's all because of her.”

Kedx was just making wild swipes now, so they were easy for Jame to dodge just by moving. He was tempted to try and deflect them, but he feared that the duke would have been stronger than him. Jame had already lost his sword twice, and now that he’d sliced off the feline’s ear, he doubted that he would get a third chance.

“Rainee didn’t tell you to attack Underwood...” Jame said. He spoke between deep breaths. He wondered why Kedx was still trying to deal with him. The cat man was strong enough to defeat both of them as they were. “And I don’t care what my father thinks...”

Kedx snorted. He stopped for a moment. “Sure you do,” the cat man said. “You wouldn’t have replied like that otherwise...”

Jame took this opportunity to go on the offensive, but his strike was deflected by Kedx. He readied for another, but Kedx had gone back on the offensive. It was all Jame could do just to keep his sword in his hands as he blocked the next attack.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Jame smiled that he’d managed to keep his sword. The half dragon’s arms were getting tired, but he didn’t realize the fatigue because he was so caught up in defending himself.

“You think you’re so smart talking shit, don’t you?” Jame said. His eyes bore deeply into Kedx’s He unleashed a deep exhale of flame that Kedx needed to side step to avoid. “Lets see how you feel now.” Jame turned towards Rainee.

“Rainee!” he demanded. “Tell me about your ex!” If Kedx was going to mock him for his lineage, then he would find something to mock Kedx with. Anyone as bitter as this duke must have had a history of sorrow.

[Nekoprincess]

Tears continued to fall like sparkling drops of rain from the cat mother’s soft silver eyes. Her whole body was singing still form the lightening bolt, and her heart was broken even more. She could not stand much more torture, soon she would be at the point where she would beg Kedx to just end her own misery.

As she heard the blur of voices, her silver eyes turned to where her family was standing. She could see her father holding her mother, and she could hear tears of pain and hurt coming from her mother’s shaking figure. This confused her, if her mother and father hated her…wouldn’t they; watch as Kedx brought more pain upon Rainee? She then shifted and winced a bit due to the pain as her eyes fell on her brother. He wasn’t glaring hatefully at her this time, instead he was looking worried and it seemed instead he glared hatred at he feline who used to be her husband.

Don’t they hate me? Rainee thought as confusion filled her eyes. I thought that Omarion didn’t’ want anything to do with me! That he chose death just so he could get away from me? Rainee let out a sigh as the pain in her heart deepened. She just couldn’t take it anymore, with tears in her eyes, she turned just in time to see Kedx’s little display of him slaying her daughter.

“NO!” Rainee’s voice was weak, almost hoarse from her not using it since the time they had entered the palace throne room. She weakly begin to back up as her eyes were huge in her heart shaped face. In a weak voice she screeched “NO! NO! NO! I WON’T BELIEVE THAT! NO! MYLIE!” Her voice faded as she begin to violently shake her head back and forth, knocking over one of the crystal cut gold plates that had been held on a marble pedestal.

Not hearing the crash, Rainee could only see the display over and over in her mind. She could hear Mylie saying “Daddy!” Then instead of a soft and gentle response, she saw the evil feline before her bringing and axe down and then her daughter’s head rolling onto the plush carpet of their foyer. Tears begin to fall a new as she squirmed and kicked her feet as the torturous scene kept replaying over and over in her mind.

Omarion meanwhile could take no more, in a soft voice he whispers “Sister…” When Rain continued to squirm and scream in torment he rose his voice ‘SISTER! STOP YOUR TEMPER TANTRUM AND LISTEN TO ME!”

When Rainee’s legs stopped moving and the half cat was staring blankly in her brother’s direction Omarion continued. “We don’t hate you sister! Your mother, your father and I; we….” He spared a hateful glance at Kedx before she blurted out quickly “Love you! We don’t want to see you in this pain! Stop sacrificing yourself for this bastard! FIGHT! What did I tell you? I told you don’t let fear rule your heart! RULE IT! Now sister I’ve one last bit of advice for you!” He slowly reached behind his back and unsheathed a mythril claymore, pivoting on his feet, his dark eyes burned as they looked at Kedx, he then continued in a loud voice “ BEAT THIS BASTARD! HE SHOULD BE NOTHING TO YOU NOW! HE WAS YOUR LOVE, BUT NOW HE’S SIMPLY ANOTHER ENEMY! LET GO OF THAT LOVE MY SWEET SISTER! SAVE THE MAN WHOSE STOOD BY YOUR SIDE SINCE YOU’VE BEEN STUCK HERE!” Omarion then laughed as he brandished the blade at Kedx hissing “Come on now you slimy little bastard! Come fight a real warrior! I’ll make you pay for brining my lovely innocent sister pain!”

Rainee’s eyes were wide, as her mouth was in the form of an O. Omarion’s words had shocked her so much, that common sense had banged headlong in her head. The only reason why she had been submissive to her husband was because she was trying to spare her family and Jame pain, but it seemed like theo only way that Kedx would get the message, was if pain was brought to him. Sighing as she moved to unsheathe Sparks Petals, she slowly traced her fingers over the Topaz lightening shaped engraving.

She then looked at Kedx at her beloved Corin one last time before she said thinly “My brother is right, I tried to ask you to spare those I cared about. And too just bring pain onto to me, but you used my fear against me. I won’t stand for that anymore Corin! I’ll end your tyranny here! With the very blade I got back in Haidia! The blade we got together, when I first met you!”

[Call me J]

Jame’s body was beginning to tell him that his battle with Kedx was going to have to reach a conclusion soon. Weilding the claymore had been quite difficult for him, the sword seemed a great deal heavier when he was using it to parry blows than when he was using it to dig. Despite himself, he was beginning to feel overwhelmed. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Rainee, hoping that she might give him some kind of indication that she could help him. Jame didn’t expect much, but he was desperate.

Kedx’s attention was now focused on him, so much so that the duke paid little attention to either Omarion or Rainee. Instead, Kedx swung his sword straight at Jame, and the half dragon was able to make another parry. Their fight continued on and on, with neither warrior gaining a meaningful advantage. Meaningless words were exchanged, blood and sweat flowed from their bodies as both gained a series of nicks. Jame didn’t know how much longer he could continue, while he was holding his own, it seemed as though he was much more tired.

However, a twist of fate went his way. The moment that Rainee’s voice had taken a harsh turn towards Kedx, it had snapped the vile duke into a state of shock. Kedx’s body froze in surprise. His weapon stood upright in his hands, up from his body. Jame didn’t hesitate. The young half dragon was able to catch his blade on the hilt of Kedx’s sword and knock it away from the shocked duke.

“Rainee!” Jame said, his eyes suddenly wide with joy. He realized what an advantage she had given him. With a wide smile of accomplishment brightening his face, Jame prepared his claymore for that one final blow that would end the vile duke forever. Jame could see from the shock on Kedx’ face that thanks to Omarion, they had been able to win.

“You betrayed me,” Kedx said sorrowfully. His eyes were looking at Jame, but it was clear he was speaking to Rainee. “When I needed you strong, you were weak, and now when I needed you weak, you became strong...”

“And now you’re weak,” Jame shot back. He brought his sword forward, his entire body exposed.

Kedx chuckled hollowly. He ducked underneath Jame’s blade and pulled a dagger out from his boot. He stabbed Jame straight in the gut, and the half dragon staged a few steps back, staggering blood in shock.

Jame’s flesh had begun to turn pale, and he clutched at the dagger in his stomach, and looked at the blood that had begun to overflow onto his hands. He fell back towards the wall wearily, unable to fight anymore.

“I’ve failed,” he realized. He could barely stand now and was just supported by being propped up against the wall.

Kedx snickered. “It’s time to punish you!” he said vindictively. The duke’s hands began to glow with the same dark lightning they had before.

Jame was shocked. He knew he was probably going to die, but he didn’t know why Kedx was still going after him instead of Rainee or Omarion. Suddenly, it had dawned on him. He had the edge he needed to beat Kedx, at least in one war. “You’re a bully...” Jame realized. “Just a fucking bully!”

Kedx’s eyes bugged. “A what?” he asked incredulously.

“You’re a bully,” Jame continued. “That’s why you wanted to make a deal with me, why you got sick pleasure out of sucking every last bit of misery you could out of Rain- it was all because you’re sad and pathetic. You’ve failed and you're a spoiled little kid whining and trying to take it out on us...”

Kedx snickered, but it was clear he had been rattled by what Jame was saying. The rate at which the lightning bolt was growing had been diminished. “Bold words from one about to die,” Jame said.

“You can kill me, but you’ll still be a failure,” Jame said. He was putting all his energy into his words now. He may have not been able to beat Kedx with his blade, but now he felt as though he might have a chance with his words. It was the least he could do for Rainee. Even with a mortal wound, he wanted Kedx to fall.

“When I kill Rainee I’ll be out of here...” Kedx said. “That was the enchantment I made.” The lightning bolt wasn’t fully formed, but Kedx still sent it out towards Jame to finish off the battle.

Unable to do anything else, Jame winced. He closed his eyes and suddenly was reminded again of his fears. But the lightning never reached Jame. With a feline growl, Omarion had leapt from his position near Rainee and had stepped right before the bolt. The cat boy crumpled down to the ground, twitching in pain as his body glowed with a dark hue. Jame looked on, both touched and terrified.

“Save my sister...” Omarion said. “Save her.” His body faded away.

Jame’s eyes turned back towards Kedx, and he got back up only to stumble back down to his knees. With his eyes swelling with tears, he looked on to Kedx with frustration and regret. “I’m sorry,” he said, turning back towards where Omarion had just fallen. He didn’t have the energy to fight any more.

[Nekoprincess]

Its now or never! Rainee told herself as she moved swiftly towards Kedx. Her eyes were blazing with her pain and her fury that Corin had never appreciated her. Never appreciated me huh? Lousy oaf! I did everything for him! Rainee thought bitterly as she approached the place where Jame and Kedx were battling to the death.

As the sounds of metal twanging against metal could be heard, Rainee moved to join the fray. However, Kedx now turned on her with both sad an angry eyes as he made an accusation that she had not been strong for him when he had loved her. Hissing in angry, Rainee’s eyes widened as she fisted a hand to her heart and said loudly “Not there for you? Not strong for you! That’s a load of bull Corin! I was a patient housewife! Always waiting for you when you came home! I had the manor arranged in just the way that suited you! I took care of Mylie making sure she was comfortable and fed! All you had to do was come home and relax! Perhaps just spend time with Mylie and I! We never asked that much of you!” Taking her fisted hand away from her heart, she once more gripped Spark Petals hilt as she finished “I was strong for you then, never weak! I was only weak or submissive when you asked! But now, now I need to be strong because your wrong Corin! Honey your out of line and you need to be put in your place!”


"You were in my way every time I wanted power," Kedx said. "I didn't need your home cooked meals and you flea ridden daughter. You know why? Look at your parents." He snapped his fingers and they were banished into a different part of hell. "Because they can disappear that quick!"

Rainee let out a yowl of anger as she watched her parents disappear. Sorrow filled her heart as she screamed “Mom! DAD! URGH!” Turning back on Kedx, her eyes are molten coins of hot silver as she hisses “Didn’t need my home cooked meals? Nor my little girl? Things can disappear yes…but” Pointing her blade at his throat she hisses “They can stay true as well! YOU weren’t true to me you bastard! SO…” She then moved and swung her blade at Kedx’s throat hissing “Now its time for you to disappear honey AND atone for your sins!”

After aiming a swipe at his throat, she then placed Sparks Petals in front of her and her silver hot eyes begin to glow a dark, dark blue. Lightening begin to swirl and crackle like a dragon across her blade. She then begin to cut and swipe and aim lightening shocks at Kedx hissing ‘Die you foul bastard! You may consider yourself a prince Kedx! But in reality your nothing but a poor lost soul! Driven by your greed and lust for power to abandon anything that might be dear to you or in all honesty that might be true and real!”

"You were always to dumb to understand my need for power, but then again, you're just a stupid beast..." Kedx said.

Rainee’s eyes were growing hotter as her anger was reaching its boiling point, stamping her foot, Rainee could feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. Letting out a low growl she hisses “Beast huh? Dumb huh? Well then, lets just see what this dumb old beast can do!” Letting go of all pretense, Rainee then let go of any human emotions she had, feeding on the fact that she had once more seen her beloved brother die, and on the fact that she had a chance to get to know her parents, but she’d missed it, her eyes begin to change, her features begin to grow more cat-like as she hissed as claws were now holding the hilt of Spark’s petals.

Licking her lips, Rainee moved agilely as she stepped to pivot behind Kedx, in a purring voice she hisses “You…meow, sm..ell good, like hot firrrre, meow! But be..ne…ath that fire beats a heart….a soul, everrrrry crrreature has its weakness! You have yourrrrrs beloved!

She then grinned as she crouched down on all fours, purring a bit as she could smell his scent, she used the muscles in her legs to spring herself forward. Moving to latch on Kedx’s back she moves her fangs down to bite into his neck as she murmurs her words soft in his ear “I b…be…t y….you have a weakness for b…being bitt…en still. She then moved her fangs closer to his skin, smelling his blood pulsing beneath his skin, she knew she was close to piercing it.

However before she could reach her target, a swift hand moved and latched onto her throat. Dark smoldering eyes were glaring at her as Kedx spat “ I don’t think so little kitten.” His hands then closed around her throat as he begin to choke Rainee easily. Spitting into her face he smirked

Struggling against his grip, Rainee’s face was turning blue as she could feel her breathe growing short, feeling her adrenaline rush disappearing, she pushes against his hands, words unable to form in her mouth as she finally goes limp unable to fight him anymore. Staring dully into Kedx’s eyes, Rainee was once again normal.

Fear begin to knag inside her heart, as she gasped for air, panicking Rainee mewed weakly against Kedx’s hands as her eyes implored Jame. She knew he was weakened, but he was her only hope! Help me! Her eyes pleaded with the half dragon as her bodies struggle became less and less as she was slowly dying.

[Call me J]

Despite being in the Fire Palace, Jame was beginning to feel cold. Jame’s hands were wrapped around the hilt of the dagger, and he would have pulled the weapon out of his gut if it hadn’t been for the fact that the dagger seemed to cut deeper every time he pulled at it. Jame looked around the room. It was full of jewels and precious metals, but it still seemed an uninviting place to die.

Jame wondered what would happen to him if he died in Hell. Would he disappear like Omarion? Did it make a difference that he had come to Hell amongst the living? No matter what happened, it wouldn’t be enough. Jame didn’t care about the fact that he was dying as much as he did the fact that he had failed Rainee. He had failed her against the wolves, and now he had failed her again.

Guilt wrapped over Jame like a giant snake, slithering on his skin and tightening around his waist. Omarion had died again to save him, and the only thing that Jame had been able to do was bleed. He needed to find something, he was searching for some kind of answer, but every straw he grasped at seemed to disintegrate before he could wrap his fingers around them.

For a moment, Jame wondered if he could turn into a dragon, and whether or not it’d make a difference. He tried for a bit, but Jame found that he only had the energy for a few scales on his neck. Jame was about to give up, but his heart was just too filled with desire for him to pass away gently. Still, the carpet beneath him seemed soft and inviting, and Jame felt overcome with feelings of drowsiness. Death seemed tempting. He would be freed from responsibility, gain a reprieve from the responsibilities that had been foisted on him by destiny. All the fears that he once had, they would be buried along with his broken corpse, deep in the ground like Marvin the portal maker.

“Maybe that’s why Marvin left his claymore where it was...” Jame figured. “He hadn’t really wanted to survive. It had been worth being ripped up by the wolves just to escape the struggles of Hell!”

Despite all of Jame’s new ambivalence, he knew exactly what he had to do. He got back onto his feet one more time, only to fall back down. He crumbled onto his knees, and his arms propped up his body. He looked like a beast of burden on all fours, and the blood ran down from the dagger profusely. It would be a matter of time before he collapsed.

The only thing keeping Jame from giving up completely was because he wanted to see Rainee take her sword and end Kedx’s life forever. He watched as she struggled with Kedx’s hands wrapped around her throat. “You’re tough Rain...” he thought. “But not tough enough...”

Suddenly, a rush of blood surged through Jame’s body. He thought about all his obligations he might need if he were alive, and they suddenly seemed less daunting. It dawned on him that if he didn’t follow his destiny then many others would suffer, just like Rainee.

“I’ll help you!” Jame thought, though he couldn’t find the strength to turn his thoughts into words. Still, he got back onto his feet and lurched forwards. He grabbed onto the claymore that Kedx had left on the ground and dragged it forwards. Jame watched as Rainee struggled under Kedx’s almost vice like grip on her neck, and without a single word, put all of his body into one final swing of the giant sword. Jame’s entire body swung with him, and he collapsed with the momentum of the sword at the same time that Kedx’ head hit the floor. The old duke’s body disintegrated, but Jame couldn’t see it. He now lay on the ground on his stomach, shivering with cold. With eyes that were having their very last flickers, he looked towards Rainee and cried.

“If I ever make it out of here, I'll go and fight at Carnelost,” he resolved. Jame doubted he would ever have that chance.

[Nekoprincess]

Is this the end? I can’t…feel…my body.. Rainee thought groggily as she could see blackness dancing in and out of her line of vision. Her body was beginning to feel cold, not even the warmth she could feel from Kedx was able to touch her. A weak meow escaped her lips as she let another futile thought past through her mind If I die here will I be trapped here? Forever cursed to wander Hell, like Marvin did?

Rainee feebly tried to move her arm, as she tried to will her body to live. She could feel the pressure that Kedx was applying to her throat and she knew as a healer that if it didn’t stop soon she would pass on. Closing her eyes as pain overwhelmed her body she let out another weak meow and thought sadly Good bye Mylie…I’m sorry for abandoning you…I..tried to be a good mother…

The half cat then let out one final labored breathe as she prepared for the inevitable. However, the cold embrace she was expecting never came. Instead, Kedx’s vice like grip was loosened, shock filled her eyes as she saw her husband lose HIS head. Gasping and meowing as she was dropped heavily onto the plush and inviting carpet. She just let herself sink into it.

Resting her head against the cozy softness, she purrs a bit as her breathing begins to even out. Finally once she had regained some strength she pushed herself away from the cushiony softness.

Her mind was on one thing, she remembered that Jame had been injured by her former husband. Her eyes traveled over the now empty room. All the possessions that her former beloved had collected were gone. The room was now simply gray, with a slight red hue, it was lit by two iron flaming torches. Rubbing her eyes as she felt the carpet disappear beneath her feet. Confusion filled her eyes as she murmurs” Where’d the palace go?

“It isn’t here anymore! “Came a squeaky voice. “It disappeared once the duke disappeared!”

Looking for the sound of the squeaky voice, Rainee saw a gray skinned imp with hollow big green eyes jumping up and down. Looking at it she murmurs “Can you tell me the whereabouts of a person named Omarion?’

The imp squeaked as he simply said “If he died in hell! He stay in hell!”

The half cat sighs as she looks at the scraggly little imp, sighing she murmurs “And what of two cat anthros well one cat anthro and one human?”

The imp cackles as it murmurs” They were sent to another part of hell!”

Rainee sighs as she murmurs a loud “I’m sorry mom…dad; I’ll try to find you next time!”

The half cat then sighs as she looks sad, her brother once more had risked his life for her. He’d sacrificed himself again for her. Sighing she whispers “I’ll never forget you brother…thank you again.”

She then looked to where Jame was lying still. Groaning she mutters “ Don’t die on me Jame!” She then hurried to Jame’s side and placed her hands over Jame’s body, they begin to glow blue as she moved to heal his wound murmuring” Come on live Jame! Don’t die on me! We’re so close! We’re almost out! Come on you can make it!”

[Call me J]

The area suddenly took a softer shade. The throne room of the Fire Palace began to reappaear. The little imp squeaked confusedly, but that didn't stop the changes that were happening. All the riches returned but they somehow seemed more distant. It was almost as if the room had appeared again, but only as a memory. Jame found that blood was returning to his body, and he no longer felt very cold. Sweat and blood seemed to pour back into him, and he could see everything that much better. “Thank you...” he mouthed. He hadn’t known Rainee was this amazing of a healer, but he was grateful for it.

A pale man dressed in black had descended from the ceiling. This stranger had his hands folded over his chest, and he waved lightly at Jame. “Doubt you thought you’d see me again...” he said.

Jame laughed. It wasn’t that he was amused, it was that he didn’t know how else to react. He had seen this man dressed in black only once before, when Damon had nearly destroyed the universe. Now, he wondered what this Mya was doing in Hell.

“Well it’s the young Mr. Kaosi!” he exclaimed. “Confused? Don’t think we don’t control Hell too,” the man said. “Hell is just where people go where they can learn to reach heaven. Omarion for example. Miss Miyami, you’ll be comforted to know that his sacrifice in this battle will lead to him being turned into an angel. We think that’s something that you’d welcome.”

The imp began to cackle, but it was silenced quickly. The Mya snapped its fingers and the little creature suddenly disappeared. “Enough of that creature’s mischief,” he said. “That thing might have been entertaining against the lost souls here, but we don’t want to deal with it now.

The black clad Mya made his way up the steps that led to the throne that had once belonged to Kedx and sat down. He crossed one leg over the other and smiled. “The only question is who will be the new duke,” the Mya began. “Normally, the Duke of the Fire Palace is the one who has slain the last one. By rules, our next duke would be you, Mr. Kaosi. However, both of you are among the living. By rules we should return you both to Anebrilith.”

The entire situation was a bit overwhelming, but it seemed that that was common every time one met a Mya. They never seemed to appear in normal situations. Now, he wondered what was going to happen to him. The idea of being a duke, even in Hell, had a certain appeal to it. It would have been the closing of a chapter, a role that he could fill for the rest of his life. Still, he wanted to go back to Carnelost. He knew the duties that the Mya had placed on him before he had appeared here.

“What about me then?” he asked.

The Mya nodded. “You have a choice,” he said. “You can stay here, and we’ll make sure that you can spend your time here more painlessly than the lost souls who take the position after death. On the other hand, you know the road we’ve laid out for you. Is that a road that you’re still willing to take? Before, you had no choice to your destiny, now you can take your responsibilities, or you can stay here.”

The choices were grim. Jame didn’t want to stay in Hell. He wasn’t sure what would happen with him if he went back to Raiaera, but he feared staying in hell. Either way, he doubted he would get to live the life he craved. Jame took a deep exhale. He didn’t like the idea of having to chose his destiny, especially when the two choices were ones that he hated. He bristled a little being forced to make the choice.

“Mull over your decision,” the Mya said. He waved his hand and Kedx’s claymore set itself down next to Jame. “That is your symbol as the Duke of the Fire House. Regardless of your decision, you will have been the duke, even if only for a few moments.”

Jame still didn’t know what to say. He looked at Rainee for a moment, as if to ask her for some signal.

“Miss Miyami, any questions you have, we would be happy to answer before we sent you back,” he said. “We don’t really like it when the living are brought into our penal system, so we suppose we’ll answer questions about what has happened. Do you have any?”

[Nekoprincess]

Rainee’s eyes nearly popped out of her head as she saw the little man dressed all in black. Where the gray it seemed ‘waiting’ room had been, the throne room appeared once more. Blinking like she was an owl, Rainee looked around at the room before she turns to the man and murmurs “Just who are….” Her question was answered when he introduced himself as a Mya. He seemed to be quite an animated little guy as he explained the situation that had happened.

Listening intently, Rainee let out a soft meow as the first question she could think of popped out of her mouth “Why was my former husband the Duke? Was he really as greedy as he appeared? He kept saying he coveted power above all else….could that really be true?” She still was in a bit of a dream like state, not quite believing that the events she had witnessed between herself and Kedx were real.

The Mya voice was sure and quick as he replied carefully “Unfornately, your ex-husband was a fool….’

Rainee’s voice was a little sad, as her hopes of it all being a dream shattered as she asked quietly “How was he a fool?”

The Mya smiled. "He turned his back on you," he said.

The half cat’s smile was watery as she said softly “That he did.” Sighing she murmurs “Thank you for at least the little bit of information you gave me about him.” She then took a few minutes to gather her thoughts before asking her next question.

Her heart begin beating rather rapidly as the thought of learning the answers to questions she had kept long buried, made her quiver with excitement.

Nearly bouncing on the balls of her feet, Rainee’s voice grows eager with her next question “ My parents…w….” her voice grew soft, as she sighs and slowly finishes what she was going to ask “why are they in hell? They were brutally murdered…forgive me for saying this; but, I would think that an innocent who was slain by another’s hand would be sent up to heaven?”

The Mya grinned knowingly. "We really shouldn't answer this," he said. "The decisions of the immortals are our decisions. Lets just say they were not bad people, but there were things they needed to learn. You will notice it was only Omarion who had the courage to do what was right in the throne room. Don't worry though, one day you will all be in heaven together."

Rainee nods slowly though sadness can be seen circling her soft silver eyes as she murmurs “I see, thank you sir. I appreciate all you told me, but what about my little girl?” Her voice grew urgent as she asked this “Is she ok? What happened to her? I was gone for so long! That I’m afraid she might have wandered off some where!”

"Now that's a question we can answer with pleasure," the Mya said. "We can take you back to Anebrilith seconds after you left. You will be returned to the young Miss Rivfader and you can continue the rest of your life together. Mr. Kaosi will either be sent on his way to Carnelost or remain here, but you should say your farewell now either way."

Relief filled Rainee’s heart as she clapped her hands together happily. Smiling at the little man she murmurs “Thank you so much sir. I really appreciate you answering all my questions!

Her smile then turned sad as she turned to Jame. She hesistated for a moment, before she spoke her mind about his offer to become the new Duke of Hell. In a slow, soft voice she murmurs "Don't become the new Duke of Hell Jame. Please don't..." Biting on her lower lip she blurts out "Power brings you nothing but pain! Please, think about it, stay the same person you are! Return to the world of the living with me, don't...become like my ex-husband was, don't be a fool...hun...' Rainee said this last part shyly, as her white tail twitched nervously behind her.


Her smile then warmed after saying these words, she hoped that Jame would listen. Also the look in Rainee's eyes told it all, she’d miss him. Plain and simple. Moving one of her booted feet against the soft plush carpet she murmurs “Thank you for everything Jame. I..” Sighing as she paused to catch her breathe she blurts out “Will miss you. I’m not sure on how I feel about you, but; I do know I enjoy your company.” Pausing as she took her leather bag off her shoulder, she rummaged through it until she found a sheet of parchment paper. Writing down her address she murmurs “For now I can be located at Grace Manor Jame. Come look me up! I’m sure Mylie will be pleased to see you!” She then moved to hugs Jame as her mind thought I’ll be pleased too. I just can’t admit that out right; until I’m sure about my feelings for him….

[Call me J]

Jame hugged Rainee back. The moment he hugged her, his decision was final. He couldn’t stay in Hell. He had to be among the living, no matter how hard the choice was. He didn’t want his destiny, and would have loved to have been released from it, but it seemed Jame had no choice. Even his destination point would be one that he couldn’t choose. While Rainee would be sent back to Anebrilith, he would be going to Carnelost. There hadn’t been a choice or negotiation, it was either Duke of the Fire Palace, or soldier on the front line in the oncoming war against the Forgotten Ones.

“I’m ready to leave too,” Jame said. “I don’t know what you have meant for me, and I’m sure I don’t want it, but I can’t stay here in Hell. For better or worse, I’m going to have to live.” He put the piece of paper Rainee had given him into his pocket. “And one day, I’ll make sure to visit...”

The Mya smiled. “That is a wise decision,” he said. “We knew you’d think that way.”

Jame bristled a bit under the Mya’s smugness. This time, he didn’t care much for the man clad in back. The first time, Jame had been grateful that they had put the universe back together, but since then, he had felt like nothing more than a mere puppet in a grander game they were playing.

He wondered if he asked to be transported somewhere other than Carnelost, would the Mya listen. They could control the situations in which he was placed, but Jame felt as though they couldn’t control the desires of his heart. If he wanted to contradict them, would they use their power against him.

“I’d like to go back to Anebrilith though,” Jame said. “So I can say goodbye to Mylie...”

The Mya shook his head. “That won’t be happening,” he replied sternly. “This adventure was enough for you. Your father sent you to Kedx’s house because he felt you were going to need something. Now you’ve got what you need.”

Tears of frustration began to well in Jame’s eyes. Like a rebuked child, he gathered his things and Kedx’s old claymore. He took one last glance at Rainee. “Well, we’ll have Hell to remember until I come to Grace Manor...” he offered dryly. He hated the idea that his destiny was so rigid that the Mya couldn’t even allow for a few minutes for him to talk to an eight year old girl.

Seconds later, Jame began to fade. He reappeared on the outskirts of Carnelost. Soldiers were getting ready for battle, Jame could hear all kinds of talk about the glory of warfare and the role that they would be playing in history, and he let out a slight chuckle. From what he understood of his destiny, things were going to be much more complicated than a simple win on the line in Carnelost.

For a moment, Jame wondered what both Damon and the Mya had meant when they had said that he had got the thing he was looking for in Raiaera. He had got a claymore which carried the symbols of the Fire Palace of Hell, but he doubted that was what they meant. The sword, while well forged, could have probably been found other places.

“Maybe they wanted me to meet Rainee,” he thought. “They figured I’d need her strength, and so they gave me some of it now.”

Jame smiled. He liked that interpretation.

(Spoils- the giant claymore. I’d like it made of mythril if the judging mod deems appropriate. It’s quality is masterwork. The weapon has no other significant aspects to it, though it should command respect among minions of hell.)

[Nekoprincess]

Rainee sighs as she watches Jame disappear before her eyes. Silently she wishes him good luck in his battles. She hoped that he had learned something from this journey, that he had taken to heart the will to survive. Still hoping this Rainee could feel her body becoming misty as the Mya sent her on her way back to Anebrilith.

As she reappeared, the sounds of the ocean greeted her hearing. The sand was warm and dry beneath her feet as she sighs. Before she had been here with Jame, talking about the Enarlin mage Kedx. Now she was back her head full of knowledge that she knew she needed to know; but at the same time she wished she didn’t. Sighing as her ears twitched a bit when she heard the sound of a gull calling for its mate in the late evening air, she pivoted on her feet to walk back into the ramshackle hunt to her ex-husband had called his home.

However, before she had taken two steps, her feet touched something solid. Looking down she saw the orb that had started the whole hellish adventure. For now it was glowing a pearly white, but the cat mother knew just where that thing would take her. Moving past it, she pushed open the old creaky wooden door and stepped straight into Kedx’s home. A shiver passed through her as she saw the now wet charcoal drawing. Mylie she noted had fished it out of the water to stare sadly at it.

Sighing as Rainee was about to call for her daughter, Mylie turned around and seemed to wipe some tears away from her gentle green eyes. Running into her mother’s arms she whispers “Mommy! Oh mommy! I…” Burying her little face into the simple blue shirt Rainee wore the little cat-girl sobbed “That man…I think…Jame’s was his name…t…t;” a loud hiccup escaped from Mylie’s lips as she finished “t..told me daddy doesn’t love me anymore! Is that true?”

Rainee heaved a sigh as she said softly but bluntly “Your father is gone now darling. Just a sweet memory.” Moving to soothingly stroke her daughter’s hair, she continues “Just remember in your heart that he loved you angel…that should e enough for you to get by on!”

Mylie’s tears were dampening her mother’s shirt as she let out another sob and hiccup as she wailed “I gues…guess I can do that. But, still it wasn’t fair of daddy to leave us!”

“I know darling…I know…” Seeing the picture laying on the water damaged deck, Rain sighs before she moves to pick it up. Handing it to her daughter she murmurs “You want to keep this honey? As a memory of when we were a happy family?”

Mylie’s green eyes lit up as she murmurs “Sure!” The little kitten still hadn’t noticed that her mother’s eyes had been scratched out. But by some miracle Probably the Mya’s Rainee thought her eyes in the picture were back to normal.

Sighing as she reached for her daughter’s hand, Rainee looked around the water logged hut one last time and thought to herself Rest in peace Corin…your memory of when you loved me will always be there in my heart. But…..the memories of when you tried to kill me will be there too. If I ever run into you again…no this. I won’t be forgiving, I’ll protect what is mine…with everything I have in my power!

The mother and daughter then left the old hut, making there way across the sand. Mylie was tucking the pretty picture into her bag, it was drying do to the hot night air, but there would always be water stains on it. Rainee meanwhile was lost in thought as they made there way back into town. Her heart was heavy at the truth she had discovered, but glad still that she and her daughter was safe. It all wasn’t in vain and luckily even though I was in hell, Mylie didn’t notice. She was safe. I know I have the Mya to thank for that so. Thank you! She said this to the Mya as she and her daughter’s tails disappeared around the bend as they headed for the nearest village.

(Spoils: Mythril silver gauntlets- These gauntlets are made from fine mythril, they cover just up to Rainee's elbows and are tied by leather laces that have been dyed with silver metals. She recieved these from the portal maker Marvin after he had passed away.

Steel Machete: A large cleaver like cutting tool that Rainee found miniturized inside an ornately carved wooden box that the Portal Maker Marvin was carrying. It is a thin blade with no hilt that appears that is bright gray with a slight sheen to the steel. It has no hilt, but then it can be used both as an offensive weapon and if the cat-girl needs to make her way through heavy vegetation.

Picture of Corin, Rainee and Mylie: Picture of the family during happier times. This is a spoil requested for Rainee's daughter Mylie not Rainee herself. I'm requesting this simply so that Mylie has a way to remember her father, and not get so lonely by not having anything that she can see or hold to think of him and remembers that he loves her.)

[Karuka]

All right, I know that you guys have been waiting a long time for the judgment of this monster, so here it is. I'm going to go easy on detail, but I know that if either of you want to ask questions about it, you'll let me know.

Continuity: 5 - I kinda sorta got why both of you came to Kedx's house and where you were going, but it didn't tie in so well, especially for Rainee.

Pacing: 3 - I'm sorry, guys, but not only did this quest run longer than it ought have for its plot, it had long stretches of intense activity and looong stretches of dialogue. There were also a notable lack of transitions, so for every two steps forward one of you made, there was one step back in the next post.

Setting: 6 - I got a good enough sense of setting that the world around the characters was more than a simple void, but there were some parts of it that I looked at and thought "how does that matter?"

Persona: 5 - Jame came out pretty well here, for a new character. Rainee, however, came out as kind of flat. It's as though you wanted to portray her as soft and pretty and sweet all the time, so it came as a kind of slap in the face when she suddenly decided to go feral. To be honest, when she did go feral, it wasn't really believable. Try to have it be less a conscious decision next time, and more instinctive. Also, less talking when she's gone into Danger Kitty mode.

Action: 4 - There was way too much talking during the intense fighting, and way too much stopping for internal monologues. I know that most judges penalize players when they become fighting machines, but Jame and Rainee are both focused on survival, and one of you is half dragon, the other is a cat. Fighting is a lot more primal than your average tea party, you know. Also, Nekoprincess, murmuring is soft and barely coherent. You don't murmur when you're telling someone you're going to kill them, nor is a voice soft when you scream.

Dialogue: 5 - There were some really good moments, but they were hidden over by all the cliches and unnecessary stuff.

Mechanics: 4.5 - The mechanics were tolerable. You guys need to watch out for the differences between "there, they're, and their," and various and myriad other things. Nekoprincess, you need to watch out in particular. I recommend proofreading, and in partner proofreading. Your partner will often catch things that you don't, and it's better to hear it from the other party that wants the thread to do its best than from the judge that has to subtract points for the little mistakes that add up.

Technique: 4 - Again, there was some stuff that was really good. But there was more stuff that was not so good. I suggest reading through your posts and making sure that you don't repeat words often. English is a wonderful language for synonyms, and each one is slightly different. The synonyms you choose to use tell us about the character, and if you use the same words over and over again, you present a really flat character.

Clarity: 4 - I had to read several things again, and still didn't quite understand some. If Mechanics improve, then this will likely improve as well.

Wild Card: 5.5

Total: 46! Congratulations!

Call me J receives 1651 EXP and his requested spoil - only it's made of Dehlar instead of Mythril.

Nekoprincess receives 2097 EXP and her requested spoils.

EXP/GP added!