Scraps of the oni.

[Tsukiko]

(Closed to Lorenor)


A good fox keeps her ears ready for the sounds of opportunity. The pained death of a deer or the sound of a badger eating in the open were signs that a fox could move in and scavenge a meal.
And Kitsune were no different. They were the magical descendants of foxes and as such they had the instincts to find opportunity.

“You know that this temple will be easy for us. We've Hunted Oni before but none of them had treasure like this place.” Said a boisterous deep voice of a large samurai.

“Well it does sound tempting and these people need the temple cleansed.” Spoke a quiet swordswoman

“Yeah, I say we do it but we need to be ready. Oni are Strong and we need supplies and weapons if we are to assault the place.” Spoke a small but quick warrior.

Tsukiko had her ears perked and her tails twitched as if she saw a squirrel that didn't notice her. The Prey was a group of samurai. No, she was not going to attack or rob them but they were talking of temple filled with danger and treasure, a fallen temple in the mountains. Evil Oni had taken over the once holy ground and needed to be purged so artifacts could be recovered and the monks that died could be given a proper burial.

The Vixen was smiling as she looked over the samurai. They were a well varied triad of two men and a woman. One man was lithe and held had a smaller blade than normal tucked in his obi, it smelled of jade; the other was a large man that had a blade large enough that it had to be worn on his back and the woman had a sword, but intuition told Tsuki that the woman wouldn't need the sword, for she wore it reversed and it seemed to look more of a symbol than a weapon. They looked like they could take the demons and probably the spoils.

Tsuki knew what she would do, when the samurai would attack the temple, she would sneak in and nab an artifact before they got it. It wasn't a bad thing to do, they weren't going to miss a couple of objects. It seemed easy. But then her ears fell flat. Tsuki hated doing things rushed and she would be rushed if she went at the same time as the samurai and she didn't want to wait. Perhaps there was someone else in the tavern that could help her. She could go to the temple before the samurai and take the items while killing a few oni.

Tsuki decided on that plan and turned her focus to the rest of the tavern. It was a quiet establishment as the only ones talking were the samurai. Everyone else was silently taking a drink. The vixen needed a partner that could be both quiet and deadly. Most of them looked harmless farmers just having an evening drink before returning to their homes. But there had to be someone fitting for the job.

It was odd for a Fox to take her meal before the killing of the prey but that was the way to get the best meat. If she waited for the kill, there'd be only scraps.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

January 1st., C.P., 1815.
2:30 P.M.

Late afternoon. A sea-fearing luxury vessel hailing from Corone's port city of Jadet made its way into Yambo Harbor. A shipment of cargo, supplies, and refugees was unloaded into the city's vastly growing population. The ocean scent laced the air. The luxury liner, called the Harvester by its owners, was an old ship with a lot of history. It was painted black and made of a special titanium alloy retrofitted with other alloys making it suitable for sea faring trips. The vessel was constantly on the ocean, making round trips all around the various continents of Althanas. It was a cruise ship, owned by a private investor operating out of Corone's business district.

Upon its spider-silk sails was the emblems of Corone's shipyard guilds. An enterprise that had sprung up in about the last two or three centuries as sea-faring vessels became more trendy on Althanas. The vessel had a figurehead of a dragon's statue, probably in the image of Lord Draconus himself, pointing proudly ahead with a sword. The figure was constructed with fine artistic detail made of the same impressive materials as the rest of the cruiser. The luxury liner pulled slowly into the Yambo harbor, waves flowing with the wake of the ship. Planks were lowered and individuals of all walks of life moved across their structures. The deep blue cerulean ocean awaited beneath the ship with its infinite secrets. Gulls bellowed their unique calls and captured fish that were dangerously close to the surface of the ocean.

There were many gulls and other seabirds feeding in this fashion. A constant ebb and flowing of life. Amongst the individuals that moved off the ship, a certain small Salvarn Lord faded quickly into the crowd. Sticking out like a sore thumb, the nobleman clearly didn't belong with the latest batch of refugees. Few Salvarns made their way out to Akashima for many reasons, the deep cold of their beloved Northlands being one of them. Mingling smoothly through the crowd, the small nobleman kept his cowl covering hie had, the vlince cloak flowing in the ocean breeze. Merchants called their propaganda in an attempt to unload wares unto the hapless tourists. Beggers called out for an extra gold coin.

Lorenor was having none of it. He had business in Akashima. A certain tribe living within the Shirayama Slopes. Visions of a crystal spire taunting the mutant in his sleep. Within the Yambo harbor district lay many taverns and pubs. One particular such tavern was called The Nine Oysters. Lorenor saw the old, crudely decorated oak sign swinging in the breeze. Akashiman architecture was still very new to the mutant. He had learned a bit about Akashiman mannerisms and culture from some of the individuals in the vessel traveling alongside him. Lorenor had also chanced upon a few Akashiman humans who served the mutant as victims of his voracious appetite. The feed exchanged powerful memories that served as a potent guide for the mutant in a foreign land.

Lead to Akashima by a series of complex dreams, and the will of N'Jal, Lorenor had an ulterior motive for being there. St. Denebriel had betrayed him with corrupt deceit, the Empire had declared the mutant and his tribe of merry men, the Red Hand, enemies of the state. Lorenor was a known practitioner of a secret organization known as the Cult of N'Jal. This knowledge was leaked to the local government, and thusly, the Knights of Dawn were hot on his ass. They had the thick-headed notion of prematurely ending Lorenor's journey. The mutant would have none of that, and so he fled Corone. He would flee to the ends of Althanas to find a safe harbor if need to practice his religion and spread the will of N'Jal.

Eyes fell upon the form of the small Salvarn Lord. This made the mutant uncomfortable because some of the eyes belonged to the local soldiers of this newly discovered island nation. A soldier was still a soldier. Lorenor knew. He would have to work his way around these armed and trained brutes if he was to uncover his true purpose for being on the island to begin with. He was well on his way to a land known as Antioch. There was very little reason to stop in Akashima save for the visions tormenting the mutant in his sleep. So, a nearby guard seemed like he knew his stuff. Lorenor approached the stout warrior.

"Konichiwa citizen." The man said in a friendly salute. "What do you desire today citizen?" He asked quickly, but maintaining a polite posture. Lorenor responded right away. "I am looking for passage to the Crystal Spire. I am here to seeketh counsel from the Royal Family and political asylum." The soldier rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The Crytal Spire huh? Are you interested in becoming one of them Warders?" Lorenor listened to the words carefully trying to pick up code and slang. "I need to meet someone out in the Crystal Spire. That monolith structure doth contain the individuals I seeketh." The soldier nodded casually. "You seem like you have a solid gold piece about you. Take your gold and head to that tavern over there. The Nine Oysters. You can't miss it, 'tis a lively joint." Lorenor thanked the guard and was on his way to the tavern.

Following the various scents in the tavern, a thick odor of seafood resonated from the structure. Lorenor almost let go of his lunch right there at the powerful smell of fish. Nature's bounty indeed. Lorenor walked in behind a girl that was strangely foxy looking. He needed a drink. The mutant found an empty table and sat down. A moment later, a pretty waitress came by and asked Lorenor for his order. The mutant ordered a whiskey on the rocks, shaken, not stirred and awaited his order. He needed something strong. He needed to be prepared for the journey ahead. He kept staring at the strange fox girl he'd spotted earlier, she had an unusual scent about her.

[Tsukiko]

There wasn't much in the crowd that made Tsukiko feel like there was a good partner. The only samurai or ronin were the demon hunters that she was planning to steal their spoils. But between the farm girl that was drinking too much sake and the woman that was eating the Nine Oysters' namesake and eying Tsuki in a way that she liked the other kind of oysters, there was a dark man that was giving the girl a look that sent shivers down the kitsune's spine. The man was cloaked and the eyes felt otherworldly. Those eyes hid a mystery that sucked Tsuki in... What did this man want with her?

The fox girls tail swished nervously as she ordered a cup of chilled kazeryu sake, so named that it had the smoothness of a cloud but was cloudy like smoke. The flavor was dry and had slight warmth to it that gave the girl courage. Tsukiko got up and moved towards the stranger and sat next to him and sipped her cup again. She was thinking of the saying of keeping friends close and keeping enemies closer.

“You seem like the man I need. I got wind of a place with many artifacts.” The girl was smiling slyly as she kept her voice low so that the trio of warriors wouldn't hear her. “There's an oni infested temple that has many great treasures of magic and I need a partner to help with the oni so I can get in and get some treasures. I'll split the treasure evenly.” The nine tails' daughter wrapped her tail around the chair's leg as she was hoping he would take it. This was a man that she wanted to have her eye on, and the girl was working out a plan if he was an enemy and how she could leave him facing an army of oni as she sneaked away with all the treasure. Of coarse if he was a friend, he would get half the treasure.

“Anyways, I'm Tsukiko.” The fox girl bowed her head and raised her cup in a sitting greeting before taking another sip. She was hoping for good luck, for having a betrayal was the last thing the girl wanted, all she wanted was some treasure since at the moment she was poor and if something didn't happen soon, she would have to return to her mother.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Looking at him strangely, the waitress stared for a moment as if the small warrior were speaking in tongues. "Shaken not stirred? We don't serve whiskey like that...maybe in the land that you're from..." The mutant heard that and laughed a hearty laugh. He turned to look at the waitress. "It was a joke. I was merely attempting to lighteneth the mood." The waitress looked at him with a strange expression on her face, but chuckled briefly bringing a smile to the mutant's face. Lorenor nodded. "Maketh sure that there is ice in the drinketh." Lorenor said calmly. The waitress moved to get his order.

Lorenor sat back in his chair when the girl he was staring at approached the mutant with an air of curiosity about her. Studying the native Akishimans with an inquisitive stare, the mutant observed the interesting characteristics of the girl. She was athletic, had fox ears and a fox's tail. The mutant found these features of the girl to be quite stunning. There were several other individuals with animalistic characteristics. Curious, the mutant wondered if the animal-humans were part of Akashima's populace. He figured that they were.

Introducing her situation, the girl went straight to business. She kept looking at another group of adventurers. Guards. Lorenor figured that he could probably take them if push came to shove. Listening to the girl's plight, the waitress came back with his drink. Lorenor took a long pull of the drink feeling the warmth travel down his throat. Lorenor let her words hang in the for a long time before he finally addressed her. Her bow was a courteous touch, but the Salvarn Lord wasn't impressed. The small warrior kept his eye on the pretty girl and took another long pull of the drink.

Finally, he placed the goblet upon the table, folded his hands across its surface and leaned in close to the girl. "Business aye? Thou seemeth pretty desperate for a partner. I shall tell thee what. This place isn't the safest place to discuss business. Half thou sayeth? I'm in. I doth not knoweth what these Oni of thee's art. But thou hast a partner."

Closing his eyes, the amethyst shine burning from his eye sockets vanishe briefly casting his face in shadow. The hood further served to add to the mystery of the strange Salvarn Lord. Lorenor let the warmth of the whiskey sit in his stomach for a time. "Wouldst thou liketh a drinketh?" He asked of her, offering her a drink of choice before they parted on what would most likely be a long quest. "I hast one request. I seeketh passage to the Crystal Spire. Maybe thou canst help me when we art complete with thy mission." Lorenor hoped that she could guide him to the spire when they were done searching the Oni Temple.

"Would you like anything else sir?"

"Another whiskey for me, plus whatever the girl is having." He motioned towards Tsukiko.

[Tsukiko]

The stranger wanted into the Crystal Spire. Tsukiko had heard of the tower but not much other than it was some magic that brought spirits into the world. “I might be able to help with the tower, I don't know, I've never been to the capital to see it.” The fox girl said apologetically as she realized his offer. “I'll have another cup of sake.” She ordered after some debate on how another drink would affect her.

But anyways the business at hand was not the Crystal Spire. Tsukiko needed to get into the oni infested temple and before the trio of demon hunters. The vixen didn't savor the final cup of sake and downed it as quick as she could, feeling a burning run down her throat as a reward. “Thanks for the drink, but I'm afraid we don't have too much time to waste, we can speak as we walk.” The vixen's tail twitched nervously as the girl was wondering if the trio heard her and weren't going to wait or plan to accost her.

The vixen bowed and gave some time for her new companion to finish his drink but excitement and worry about the demon hunters kept her tail hot. The girl decided that she gave enough time to dcently finish a drink and started to head towards the door and went out into Yanbo Harbor's Streets. The place was dying down as the sun set and the merchants still trading weren't as loud as they would have been in the morning.

The vixen waited and scanned the nearby mountains and forests and saw where the trees thinned. What the girl over heard was that the temple was on the road that skirted on the edge of the forest and plunged deep into the woods at the end where the temple was. “I have a feeling the temple belongs to Ruka.” The vixen said as she thought about the path. “It'll be a bit of a hike.”

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Business at hand was taken care of as gold exchanged owners. The mutant paid for the round of drinks and follower the girl outside. He noticed that she was looking up. But outside of his sensory array, the mutant only saw a gray field. Within the sensory array, the mutant could see everything and almost anything. His senses still needed a bit of acuteness in order to do things like pick wayward thoughts. A constant bombardment of external stimuli made the small warrior quite batty at times. Lorenor followed the girl outside once the transaction was completed.

Yambo's commercial district was quite busy. Lorenor felt, rather than saw, groups of individuals working on their various tasks. Residual feedback noise entered his mind as loud conversations crossed his sensory array. Using his training, the mutant blocked out excess noise and left it in the background. He focused primarily on whatever the girl was saying and doing. Her fox parts made her extremely attractive. Keeping his emotions in check, he heard the last bit of her spoken words. He was paying attention to the scenery.

Seeing the Akashiman soldiers was a great change of pace from the usual Knights of Dawn, his hated enemy. Buildings were built low in order to survive the legendary storms that sometimes came in from the ocean. Only a few tall buildings were visible and these were built with the sturdy Akashiman architecture. Lorenor liked the Akashiman buildings, archways and entry areas were built with a sort of elegance to them. Color schemes were also very dramatic and added a sense of mystique to the city. The mutant noticed that there were many statues everywhere, these were depictions of local deities and quite often, depictions of dragons. Lorenor observed dragons (Drakes specifically) in the endless caverns of Haidia. He knew from the legends that a legendary dragon lived in Haidia. He'd never seen it of course, and frankly, didn't want to. Observing the various nuances of Akashiman architecture made the Salvarn Lord look very much like a tourist.

He noticed that there were beggars on the street here as well. He ignored those having seen his share of them in his day, the lazy runts. Lorenor walked alongside the girl keeping quiet. He finally addressed her. "Thou hast to travel a lot in the wild in Salvar. 'Tis very cold. Very dangerous place. 'Tis nothing to go for a good hike." Lorenor occasionally heard the natives speaking in a mysterious tongue he knew nothing about. The language sounded elegant and quite beautiful. He would learn it and master it during his stay here. Lorenor liked the girl's scent...it was quite interesting. "We shouldst get going if we expeceteth to make it before dark."

Lorenor noticed that a group of warriors left the Nine Oysters and moved in the same general direction that they were heading. Would he have to kill them?

[Tsukiko]

“Yeah, that sounds like Salvar from what I heard, it's a little too cold there for me. I just couldn't think about a winter with no spring.” The girl commented then looked with Lorenor to see the trio on the move. “Great... I guess we'll have to hurry even if the sun will be down anyways. We need to beat them there so they won't pick the place of all the good stuff. Neither of our rewards will be very good if those three get all the treasure before us.”

Tsukiko walked through the stone streets with a quick pace and she didn't slow until she was outside the gates and in the wilderness. Just outside town the land was mostly grass with few trees but as one got closer to the woods and also the temple, the trees would become more common. “I wish I knew the exact location of the temple, then we could cut through the forest, but I think we'll need to stick close to the road and take the fork that leads deeper into the forest.” The fox girl looked at her partner as they walked.

He was a strange sort, very secretive but somehow, Tsuki felt she could trust the man for the moment. He seemed like a shady sort but the kind that would stick to his word until he was done, but also there was a feeling that once his word was up, he was for sale. Honestly he was the best the girl could get at short notice, if she had more time it wouldn't have been hard to go home and ask her mother for a hand. With Ki with her, the treasure hunt would be a cinch. The nine tailed mother could single handedly take on the oni and win.

But Ki wasn't here and Tsuki had to take the allies she was with, at least this one had a scent of power about him. Tsuki was sure that he was going to be useful when most people would just get in the way.

The evening was calm, most birds had become quiet to hide from the owls that were just waking up. Hopefully something would slow down the samurai, but Tsuki wouldn't get her hopes up. She didn't have the tools to lay any traps and it was doubtful a saber lion would be dumb enough to attack them. “I guess all we can do is hurry to the temple.” The vixen lamented as she looked down the dark road, hopefully it would be easy traveling for the pair.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Voices crawled up and down Lorenor's spinal cord. Ancient voices, angry voices, voices that could be exploited by the will of N'Jal. A potent darkness was visible in the air as thick as a vibration of power. Purples of anger, reds of fury, crimsons of revenge. Something evil lurked in this forest and it excited the mutant visibly. As the world of darkness emerged, his auspex powers flared to their full extent. Lorenor took a glance at the girl and then stared at the dark road ahead that was teaming with nocturnal energies. A familiar coldness wrapped itself around the mutant, sending a chill up and down his spine. Lorenor walked in silence but the truth of the matter was that he was concentrating on the world around him.

Promising power, the voices whispered their secrets. Taunting, tormenting, and through the wilderness the mutant could swore he saw figures of people moving in the dark. The books in his possession begged for release, eager to corrupt such a fertile environment. Knowing he would comply, the mutant took a last search for the demon hunters that were after the same things they were. They took a separate path towards their target and this infuriated the small warrior. Suddenly, Lorenor stopped. An idea formed in the back of his mind and he took a long look at Tsukiko. "I possess a plan. A plan that shalt get riddeth of our opponents in due time. But this plan requires preperation--" And there he saw it.

Movement in the bushes. At first the creature appeared as a monster, but once he saw the beating heart of the beast flaring its red tendrils of life-substance, the mutant understood he was staring at a deer. It was a female specimen and it had been drawn to the dual energies of the mutant's power combined with the vixen's. Lorenor would not pass up the good tidings from the will of N'Jal. "Halt Tsukiko. I shalt take care of our fellows. The name is Lorenor by the way." He said calml as he walked towards the female deer. Extending a clawed hand, the deer took several sniffs in the air as it was drawn by a morbid curiosity in the general direction of the small warrior.

Lorenor patiently held his hand out in the general direction of the deer and waited. With the will of N'Jal behind him, the mutant saw that the deer took a liking to the strange one's scent and moved in close. Like a viper, Lorenor suddenly struck his target. Powerful claws wrapped themselves around the neck of the creature and the mutant growled as he prepared to move in for the kill. The thing leaped upward at the last moment but was caught anyway due to the close-range. Lorenor was quite skilled with his hands and could kill with them. The deer's death rattle was alarming as the mutant snapped its neck. It fell down, dead. Lorenor placed both of his hands upon either side of the corpse. Before doing so, he equipped the Horns of Power.

With supernatural strength, the mutant dragged the dying deer onto the road right in front of the vixen. Settling the creature down, Lorenor looked at the girl and nodded calmly. "This will be dinner as well. But first we must prepare." Lorenor said and removed the three components of the Necronomicon along with his ritual tools. And so, he began his dark deed on the forest floor. His ritual dagger, won during involvement in the recent happenings in Salvar, was made out of prevalida. He gutted the deer and began to remove its insides looking for the still beating heart. Using the creatures' blood, the mutant drew elegant symbols upon the floor. These symbols were the dark symbols of N'Jal and to any observer, would seem quite frightening and mysterious.

Lorenor worked his craft, following the instructions of the Necronomicon and began chanting in a foreign tongue. As he chanted, the sigillium glowed with power. It gathered the darkness hiding in the forest and prepared the wording of the circle. Lorenor motioned for Tsukiko to remain in the circle at all times. A wall of power surrounded the duo and storm clouds began to gather from the mountains. Darkness erupted from the three books. The air swelled with its presence. And Lorenor called forth a tremendous evil that lurked within the forest. Neither Oni, neither spirit-folk, the creature was a dread follower of the will of N'Jal.

"Behold o' mighty fiend of the Nether! Cometh forth into this accursed land of Althanas. Once again lurketh upon the mortal coil to tormenteth the living! I do conjureth thee!"

A presence manifested within the circle alongside the duo. A terrible presence, one of vile power. "Servant of the Dark Mother. What is thy command?" The creature asked in a voice that was many voices. Lacking any true form, the thing was a terrifying mass of many heads. It was black, faces distorted in agony. The beast had many pairs of eyes, and many mouths with sharp teeth. It floated off the ground. "Feasteth upon mine enemies! The menfolk who intrudeth upon thy forest! Grant us safe passageway to the Oni Temple!" Lorenor commanded and the creature accepted. "What doth thou offer in return?" The fiend asked. "This life, and the lives of our enemy!" Lorenor held up the deer's heart. It was taken into the fold of the beast with a brilliant burst of purple fire. The deer's body faded into the fiend's body in a horrifying consumption.

The creature had a name that Lorenor spoke, but the name was too terrifying for mortal ears. "Thy offer is accepted dread servant of N'Jal. May thy venture prove productive to the will of the Dark Mother." And with that, the circle's power died down and the creature floated into the darkness of the forest to feast upon the living. Evil lurked within the forest now. Lorenor closed his books, picked up his ritual tools and left the circle as it was. He took a small figuring of N'Jal and offered it as a sacrifice to his beloved goddess. The mutant buried the figurine beneath the circle's central most axis point and looked at Tuskiko after putting away his belongings.

"Let's go. We've already wasted enough time."

In the distance, screams and shouts were heard. Lorenor grinned a satisfied grin.

[Tsukiko]

Tsukiko Shivered when she realized what her partner was doing. The man was working a strong spell that was fulled with evil. Tsuki's heart raced as she watched Lorenor practiced foul arts to call a monster. His words flowed like smooth bile as the ritual took place over a killed deer. The poor beast was too curious for its own good and now Tsukiko was wondering if she was in the same position as the doe.

The being that Lorenor summoned was a mass of hungry maws. It seemed to be a beast that was meant purely to devour everything it could. The vixen felt bad that her ally had released such an abomination upon the poor forest and even felt bad for her enemies. But the girl didn't do anything but watch and wait, for fear of becoming the mouth monster's next meal. At least this spell meant that the pair could get to the temple without worries of being beaten. Even though the path was easier, Tsukiko hated hearing the screams.

Thanks to the monster, the forest was silent, all the animal had gone into hiding in fear of the new fiend in the forest. The trees were still and the night cold. Tsuki looked towards her new ally. “I'm worried, that monster will wreck havoc on the forest and what if it runs into an innocent?” The girl shivered as she thought about what the monster could do.

Thankfully the road was coming to an end and the stone snake guardian statues were in view. The vixen felt a little better now that the goal was in view. “I was right, it's a temple for Ruka. The Lore Guardian of the Earth.” The girl was rather happy that she had made it to the temple but the victory was bitter for the monster that was brought forth in order for her to be first. “Be careful, there's oni inside that temple and some can be as nasty as that monster you summoned and maybe even worse.” The vixen said with her tail twitching. She really wished that Lorenor didn't summon such a beast.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Hearing the words, Lorenor paused for a moment. Turning slowly towards the girl the mutant scowled. To him, the will of N'Jal was absolute. It was the single driving force behind what twisted logic the mutant had left. Staring for a long moment, the mutant considered carefully what he was about to say when he quipped at her. He realized that he was probably about to be very harsh, but he could not hold his tongue when it came to the defense of the dark mother. "Fool! The will of the dark mother is absolute! I must obey the commanding of mine mistress." Lorenor was angry. He wanted to physically destroy something but his partner would not suffice, he was a professional after all.

Walking a few steps towards the location of their Oni temple, the mutant paused after a moment. He'd probably unleashed a sharp tongue upon the girl for little reason of her own design. Lorenor considered apologizing to the girl but decided it was better to keep his wits. "Forget it, let's just be on our wayeth." Lorenor started to walk towards the temple again leaving the sigil and its gory contents behind. Lorenor drew one of his prevalida swords. Focusing for a moment on the quality of her weapons, or lack there of, the mutant realized that his companion was ill prepared to face the Oni. Owning an extra prevalida longsword, Lorenor removed the scabbard from his person and walked over to her. As an offering of peace and truce, the mutant handed her the weapon.

"Tis a longsword made of prevalida. Thou canst wield it for the time." He paused as if he were going to say something else. But not one who was very formal, the mutant decided that the offering of the masterwork sword would be enough for his earlier snapping. He took a look back at the circle he'd cast and the corpse of the doe. Lorenor wore a sly grin the entire time that tugged at the corner of his lips. He waited until she took the weapon, knowing that she would. Who would turn down such a gift?

[Tsukiko]

He was insane. Tsukiko had chosen a mad man as her partner. Lorenor snapped at the girl for whining about the creature he brought forth. The strange man felt justified by some strange goddess to summon an abomination without thought of what it would do to the forest.

Both hesitated to enter the forest and then Lorenor took a blade and handed it to Tsuki. The girl took the blade and looked it over. It was a strange gift to give for a man that believed himself wronged. But it seemed a suitable apology. The blade was a barbarian longsword made of Prevalida, a rare and strong blue metal. It was a strait edge, a weapon not suited to Tsuki's fighting style but the fine metal and fine balance made up for the difference. The sword's hilt looked like Coronian Dragon wings, a blade meant to block another blade; definitely not a weapon suited to Tsuki's style.

“T, thanks...” Tsuki stammered as she felt shaken by the man's actions. Lorenor was acting strange and Tsukiko was not liking it. The vixen twitched her tail as she slung the blade across her back. “It'll be helpful against the oni. Are you sure that you'll be fine without it?” Tsuki asked before she looked at the temple.

She couldn't wait much longer, sure it seemed like the other samurai weren't a problem anymore but now Tsuki was feeling like she didn't want to be around Lorenor too much longer in fear he might do something worse. The fox girl started to walk onto the temple grounds. The statues were still in tact and even the plants seemed alive and vibrant but there was a strange scent to the land, like burning hair. The shrines however, were crumbled and burned. The once holy ground was no longer holy.

Tsukiko's ears perked up and she drew her blade. The ancient Banzai trees held glowing eyes of the oni in them. The lesser oni was a coward but it had friends nearby. The entire world seemed quiet for a moment. “Lore, I think we've been spotted, the oni seems to be a weak one and it's scared but I'm sure it'll cry out for its kin if we make a sudden movement.” The vixen peered into the tree, the creature seemed almost like a monkey but that was all she could tell.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Annoyed with the situation at hand, the mutant sensed more than one pair of eyes transfixed upon his person. He sighed, assuming that company was coming. His partner was upset at the situation too, and that made things difficult to deal with. Lorenor needed someone who could follow orders and lead at the same time. The mutant could fill both rolls, but he preferred for his client to be just as adaptable. Lorenor drew his secondary prevalida longsword, and a recently purchased enchanted longsword. With a weapon in hand, they were both roughly of equal length and roughly the same weight. The prevalida sword was much lighter than the enchanted sword. It was a weapon made out of damascus.

Lorenor stole a glance up at the tree when they managed to walk right by it. Grotesque eyes seemed to peer down at the mutant. Listening to the will of the endless within, Lorenor felt a dead quiet more than anything else. Strange statues of a foreign deity filled the main courtyard of the castle's keep. They walked towards the temple. Lorenor spotted the increasingly more interesting Akashiman architecture prevalent on the archways of the building. Many of the more decorative features were removed from weather and natural decay. They were also removed from the effects of man's corruption.

Feeling a tremendous age from the grounds, Lorenor felt young compared to the temple's hollowed grounds. For a moment, he wondered if he was event meant to walk those grounds. Residual sparks of a once potent energy burst in and out of reality weakly as the oppressive aura of the mutant cascaded across the threshold of the forest. Lorenor suddenly found himself missing his precious Concordia Forest. The mutant passed by one of the statues to the foreign deity that was worshiped in this land.

"Abomination!"

He cried as he took his damascus sword to the statue's head. He quickly sliced through the thick marble with skill and precision. Rolling slowly off the neck, the mutant moved out of the way as the statue's head hit the ground with a smashing sound. Lorenor grinned at that looking up at the eyes in the trees with defiance. The glow of the eyes had gone out by that time, and Lorenor felt several presences in the nearby vicinity. Screeches filled the air, primal shouts of anger.

Lorenor cllutched his dual wielded weapons and turned to face the incoming threat. Small, tiny folk approached from the surrounding trees muttering in a strange language that traveled oppressively across the breeze. Once they touched his sensory array hte mutant began to get mightily disturbed. Tsukiko had given away their position! Damn! Lorenor pointed his weapon towards the incoming creatures. Tiny, purple colored beasts approached the duo. Lorenor moved to point his weapon towards the little ones...

"I doth not own the hour for this!" Lorenor yelled. "Power-line: ENGULF!" The mutant called to the power within the sword...

[Mutant_Lorenor]

And in that moment, the battle intensified. A small group of the Oni creatures emerged from bushes and the surrounding environment. Then it was every man for himself. After he'd lunch the burst of fire from his precious sword, the mutant saw that several of the creatures were licked by the Wizard's Fire. Lorenor heard the sounds of their cries and was satisfied by that noise. "By the will of N'Jal you shall fall!" Lorenor found himself switching back to the modernized version of the common-tongue. He figured speaking in the old tongue would be unwise in front of these cretins. Staring at the small, monkey-like beasts, the mutant deduced that they were roughly around four feet in height at the tallest points. The smallest of the creatures were around no more than two feet in height. Muscle and fur was wrapped around a powerfully built skeleton. Lorenor could see purple blood pumping from the Oni's tiny, but strong hearts. Their hearts beat rapidly with excitement at the thrill of the hunt. Coming alive with a forest filled with creatures, the beasties gave off their purple energy.

Wondering just how much these monsters were related to the demons of Haidia, the mutant had no time to ponder that matter further. Each of the tiny beasts was armed with powerful looking claws and talons. Glowing amber-colored eyes filled the eye sockets of the creatures' faces. They had brightly colored fur accentuated by powerful muscles. Even the ones who were on fire screamed viciously in tongues. Lorenor could not understand their native language and it was not familiar to him. He assumed it was some sort of gibberish. Before he knew it, the mutant noticed that there were at least fifty of the small creatures within his sensory grid and some were outside. Able to sense activity in the Antifirmanent, the mutant could see the shadowed out forms of the creatures who were outside of his powerful sensory array. More were coming. They were coming in relentless waves. Lorenor knew that he could not take them all. He had baggage to protect. Turning towards Doji, he defensively slashed with his weapon in the general direction of several incoming beasts. Injured by his weapon, the creatures were knocked back into the crowd as several more replaced the injured.

As he began to quickly search for Doji, the mutant realized she was no where to be found. Somehow, in all the chaos, he'd lost all visual cues of the girl. She was nowhere. Either the beasties had gotten her, or she'd escaped on her own leaving Lorenor to his own fate. The mutant cursed in the Spider-Magi's tongue and began to form a plan. On his own, he could take them all with a number of area attacks. But there was no time. His precious Endless would protect him until the moment that he fell, but he would need help. There were just too many. Lorenor decided that fighting was not the wisest of choices. Too many variables existed that the mutant could not account for. He knew that he would either have to make his way towards the temple, or escape all together. Maybe that Doji girl had the right idea after all. Lorenor made several more defensive slashes injuring a few more of the creatures. His weapon, masterwork though it was, was doing very little to their thick hides. He cursed again. Perhaps his earlier actions of defiling the temple had enraged these beasties.

Deciding on using some of his power, Lorenor felt the familiar pull of his plasma discharge gun. He mentally activated it whilst he was busily staving off the incoming attacks. They were attempting to swarm from every direction. Letting his gun-wand charge to its full potential, Lorenor released its power in a spherical attack. A muted sound of devastation filled the air even as it rippled under the wait of the kinetic energy. Several of the creatures screamed as they were lifted into the air and knocked backwards several yards. Spreading out for several feet, the kinetic energy reacted to each of the bodies it came across. Discharging its force through the air, the blast powerfully pushed against the bodies of the creatures. There was no hope for them. The creatures had no way to defend against Golem-technology and were simply knocked several yards backwards to join their companions. In this fashion, Lorenor had injured many and created the opening he needed. Screams and curses filled the air. Lorenor ran towards the temple and prepared to search for a way in...

[Makira]

Makira was frustrated. This small village in the woods, 4 to 5 miles from the temple to be exact, was a annoying waste of her time. She Had come here not only to gather information, but to recruit a new member to her guild. She had gathered where the person would be and had come. Now she was wandering where her frustrated feet took her.

The person she was going to recruit hadn't been there. As one villager put it. "oh, deary they wont be back for weeks!" the elderly villager had laughed and sent her on her way. She sat down against a tree. Wasting time, wasting money, and wasting effort to come out here. The only thing she had gotten out of coming to this place, was the information. That at least had proven true and worthwhile. She supposed that the only reason she was angered to the point of useless fighting at the bar, was the information she'd gained. The information itself was about something in the temple. She had half a mind to go to the temple now to see if it was in fact true. She sighed and absentmindedly pet the black phoenix that accompanied her where ever she went.

After that some type of fighting sounds echoed in the forest around her. It seemed to be coming the direction of the Temple. She closed her eyes in thought for a moment more before she opened her eyes, stood and began walking. She wished to know what was causing such sounds of the fight. Obviously yes it was a fight, but whom was fighting. Perhaps the person she wished to recruit, or perhaps a mere traveler on their way to the village. Either way she had decided to check it out at the very least.

She made her way through the forest, as she listened for the sounds. Listened to try and locate the source of the fight. Her feet kept a small, almost unnoticeable rhythm as she walked along the forest floor, careful to make as little noise as possible. Curious she was indeed, but she wasn't willing to lose her head if she startled either fighter.

As she got closer however, she heard it was not merely two people fighting, but one against a group of Oni. This knew development of information, only caused her to double her efforts in silence as she moved through the forest. She of course was no yet close enough to see what was going on. this was merely the forest echoing the sounds from both sides that she learned this. N'jal's name was spoken by someone, a male judging by the deeper tones of the person. A follower of N'jal. Interesting. She thought as she continued on toward the temple, the fight, the Oni and the man who followed N'jal

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Whilst the Oni creatures began their recuperation process, Lorenor already bounded towards the temple. He'd already wasted enough time on the weird monkey-things. All though fighting had its particular share of rewards, the mutant couldn't afford to waste anymore time. Treasure was in the temple for the taking and he'd already sacrificed too much for this particular adventure. He didn't want to leave the mission empty handed. Once he'd covered enough distance between himself and the group of Oni, the mutant allowed himself a breather. Running at top speed for such a long period of time was always a risky endeavor because it managed to sap energy quickly. Lorenor hadn't realized that his trajectory was taking him in the immediate path of another adventurer. Lorenor saw the various foreign statues and an urge to break them all crossed his thoughts. He would have too if not for the urgency of the moments. According to Lorenor's views, only N'Jal was the true deity. He kept his enchanted weapon handy and prepared to enter one of the side entrances of the temple.

Using his advanced sensing capacity to its fullest potential, Lorenor discovered a hidden switch beneath a bush. With the guidance of the Endless, the mutant gambled that the switch was for a side entrance. He pulled the switch and felt something stirring in the walls of the temple. Magic stirred from the temple's archaic properties. This magic was part of a foreign race, one that Lorenor did not recognize. Creating a brilliant magical light, Lorenor had to cover his eyes. Feeling something stirring from within the depths of the temple, the mutant saw a figure manifest before the appearing entrance. Sensing a great power from this individual, Lorenor instinctively moved into combat stance. Can this be some sort of a trap I just triggered? Was the Endless wrong?! When the shadowy form manifested before the brilliant glow of the temple, the mutant could see in two-fold. On the one hand, the temple had a very physical presence in the Firmanent. It gave off a particular texture and a particular sensation against his skin. Lorenor could see the mysterious symbols and hieroglyphic markings upon the temple's walls.

They were everywhere. On the Antifirmanent, a shadowy edifice was visible to the mutant. It looked hazy, like an image one saw through the smoke of a blazing inferno in intense heat. Lorenor could see that the structure was built upon various levels and sections. Some defying the natural laws of physics. Seeing the structure on the Antifirmanent gave the mutant a distinct sense of foreboding. The girl manifested herself in both the Firmanent and Antifirmanent. Giving off its own aura, Lorenor judged that the structure pre-dated antiquity. Lorenor stared at the place in awe. He knew what awaited was a difficult challenge. One that no mere mortal could surpass. When the figure completely manifested, he could see a dual-presence and a powerful aura. Her energy caused the air to ripple and made his tiny hairs stand on end. The Endless screamed against the power light, but overall there was no immediate threat posed by the girl, yet. She was dressed in a simple royal blue outfit. A symbol was etched upon her forehead in an a foreign language. A language that the mutant had never seen before. What is this?! Lorenor thought to himself. She had brilliant green eyes, creamy-soft skin, and hair that was braided. She had very thin facial features and a lithe, athletic build. She carried several packs on her person and several pieces of equipment.

When she spoke, her voice was translated by the Endless. Lorenor felt a migraine headache as the girl spoke. She felt like a presence from within himself, more than a presence from within the temple. "<Trespasser. Why have you come?>" The woman began. Humbled by the girl, Lorenor blinked a few times still having a hard time adjusting to the light that flowed from behind her. "<The security system has been activated.>" Lorenor didn't know how to respond. But somehow, when he spoke, the Endless translated his voice to her tongue. Hearing how he sounded, the mutant could hear noises that acted as a language coming from the depths of his stomach. "<I am here for one reason alone. To spread the will of N'Jal.>" Defiant, the mutant spoke with as much bravery as he could muster. To an outsider, it would appear as though Lorenor were talking to something very far away. No. That he was talking to the air itself. "<The N'Jal. Do you speak of the N'Jal Protocol? The Harbinger?>" Lorenor simply nodded.

"<The N'Jal Protocol is not welcome here blasphemous organism.>" The girl began. "<Begone from this place. This is sacred ground keeper of the N'Jal Protocol. If you choose not to heed my warnings, you will be destroyed.>"

"<Fool! I carry the N'Jal Protocol within! I will proceed forward!>"

"<You do so with risk to your soul.>" And she vanished at that revealing the entrance to the temple. The second adventurer would have made her way to Lorenor's position by then.

[Makira]

She saw the mutant, having followed the sounds of his movement she got to his position. A mutant, with a strand of the N'jal protocol. she hadn't an idea what he had been saying. He seemed distressed, winded. It looked like he was favoring the right side a bit, she couldn't be sure.

To her surprise though it was Lorenor. She had met him before, him and Drako. What was he doing out here? she wondered. To the temple surely but for what artifact or reason was he going into the temple.

"Hello?" she called in caution. A staff was in his hand. She was quite sure, with the way he held it he knew how to use it. She was already in a defensive stance. She had seen an entrance to the temple open. But if there were traps inside, the logical choice was to have assistance. Perhaps he would help her. If not she would try to convince him or follow him, since it seemed he was indeed going into the temple.

The phoenix with her now hovered above, watching. It had felt the tenseness in its master. She waited for him to respond, her muscles tense. her wings ready to aid her.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Once the brilliant light faded away, the mutant allowed himself a chance to relax for a brief moment. He was trying to ascertain exactly what had just happened to him. Guessing that he'd inadvertently set off some sort of alarm system, Lorenor shook his head. I gotta be more careful next time. Just then, a familiar scent swelled up against his sensory array. It was a feminine scent, one he found sincerely desirable. His eyes blinked for a moment as he pondered just what the owner of the scent was doing there in the first place. He turned towards Makira's position just as she arrived nearby and called out to him. Lorenor was shocked to see the fellow Red Hand member here in Akashima of all places. Wasn't everybody busy with operations in Corone? Lorenor thought to himself looking at the girl as calmly as the situation. First came the obvious question. "How'd you find me, and what are you doing here?" Lorenor asked. Then, he shook his head realizing that her appearance was probably a boon. He sighed visibly and remembered his manners.

"Forgive that outburst. You probably have personal business here in Akashima." Lorenor assumed. "Nevertheless, I am glad that you've shown up. I could certainly use some company right now." He said while casually glancing at the temple's general direction. "I'm about to go into this place. I had a previous partner but she seems to have vanished on me." Lorenor said grimly. "The area here outside is dangerous. There are creatures known as Oni lurking about. They are a dangerous, irate sort of bunch. I don't know what lurks inside of the temple. I cannot scan -into- the temple's walls." Lorenor said calmly. "If you care to join me, I'll split the treasure we find with you equally." Lorenor explained revealing that he was in fact after something. The mutant was eager to get his journey underway, but he was interested in the girl's sudden appearance. N'Jal had provided a blessing. Turning towards the West, the mutant's sensory grid was just starting to pick up noises against the wind. He sighed, the Oni were coming. "I suggest you choose quickly. Our enemy is coming." The mutant kept his sword in his hand at all times, prepared to launch off another power-line spell if need be.

[Makira]

"Then i suggest that our pleasantries wait until we are at least in a semblance of safety. I will come with you." She said. The phoenix the had hovered above her rested on her shoulder now. "Lorenor. i suggest we make it to safety. the Oni will eventually ware us out. it would be foolish to waste such time." She raised a hand to hover over the hilt of a dagger.

True enough she kept her gaze in the direction of the oncoming enemy. They were many, against two people. They would be worn down and ultimately defeated or killed. That in particular, Makira did not wish to happen. She had told Lorenor she was with him, so she would not abandon her comrade. It would be dishonorable if nothing else.

The Oni were approaching. She did not particularly wish to fight against the Oni, it would be a futile fight. Numbers mattered in a fight, and Her and Lorenor were vastly outnumbered.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Lorenor simply nodded towards Makira in agreement. He wanted to make sure that they could make it within the structure. It pre-dated Althanas' Demon War judging by the general structure of the temple. It was a curious oddity, but the building did not resemble the other buildings of modern Akashima. Instead, the building looked pointedly out of place. Wings situated in a general cross-like pattern across the edifice. The general building was made up of millions of cut-stone units that were situated together to form each layer of the structure. If the pressing matters weren't so serious, the mutant might've admired the building's basic artistic design. Deciding it best to simply rush into the building without thinking a second thought on it, Lorenor made an attempt to dive in. He burst into a full sprint, bounding into the structure easily. He paused once inside, giving Makira enough time to catch up. Once he was inside the temple, a particularly ancient odor swelled across his sensory grid. The mutant suddenly wished he had the Golems with him to provide adequate back-up.

However, they were back in Raiaera. Lorenor decided to take an extended trip to Akashima without the Golems present. He regretted that decision now. Once his feet were situated on solid ground, the mutant carefully scanned the area around him. Concentrating, he was seeking out switches for traps or other mechanisms. To the best of his ability, he could find none around him. Once he entered the temple though, there was a wailing sound in the air. It seemed as if the very structure was alive with archaic energy and ancient wrath. A powerful wind from the belly of the monstrosity swelled forward and filled the hallway with a terrible gust. Lorenor, leaped forward as he sensed danger, made an attempt to grab Makira, and stabbed his powerful claws against the walls in front of him. The wind rushed forward like a deadly serpent filling the hallway with a tremendous noise. After the wind passed, Lorenor could hear voices in the wind, there was a resounding surge of energy against his sensory array. Feeling energy all around, he could hear the door behind them shutting. The energy laced the walls with a distinct glow and a disturbing dark filled all.

Lorenor was in his zone now. As the living dark settled all around him, he realized he was holding onto Makira's hand. Letting it go he sighed audibly looking in her general direction. "My apologies. Can you see well enough or do you require more light?" To Lorenor, the dark was his natural element and the dark provided power. His powers peaked, but the mutant understood that he would be tested to his very foundation. Lorenor let Makira's hand go as he began to take a better look at their environment. Symbols etched on the wall that were unlike any pictograph he had ever discovered were etched all around. On the floor, on the ceiling, and on both walls. The passageway that they were in was set on an declining angle, which meant that they were going to go down. However, once the sound bounced into the hallway signaling that their only exit route was cut off, the mutant shook his head. "It's all or nothing." Lorenor said in silence as he stared back the way they came. He knew that the monkey-Oni were waiting for them outside as well, plus whatever other beasties were present.

Concentrating on the immediate passage around them, the mutant noticed a disturbing discovery. Trying to concentrate into the hallways' walls and ceiling, the mutant realized he could not sense anything past the stonewalls. Furthermore, symbols visible on the wall glowed with a mysterious power. This power was playing hell with his senses and cut them down to half their normal distance. Whereas Lorenor could normally detect things within a twenty-foot sphere, the mutant was limited to a ten foot sphere. Lorenor sheathed his enchanted damascus sword, and drew the N'Jal Blade from its scabbard. The blade gave off a dark energy of its own that made the living dark around them seem all the more ominous. From the walls, certain symbols lit up with a vibrant green glow that offered some illumination but not flawless illumination. Lorenor could see in the dark regardless, and preferred it. For the light hurt his eyes, but this sort of lighting strangely, did not. Lorenor was deciding on what to do next when he considered asking Makira her opinion. After all, they were both in this mess together.

"I don't know these symbols. They are not like Ancient Haidian, or Ancient Raiaeran. They are something else." Lorenor thought about the Otano symbols he'd learned that time, but decided it best not to mention that to her. Besides, the markings on the wall did not resemble the Otano symbols either. Lorenor was at a loss. His limited knowledge of history was visible now for all to see. He sighed at that. Looking at the symbols, he could tell at least that they were pictographs of some sort. Strangely quiet, the Endless was providing no assistance to the mutant...yet. Lorenor knew that would change in due time. His hands clenched for a moment. He sensed danger all around but could do nothing about it. Staying put would serve no purpose either. "The passageway seems to curve downward from what I can tell. So our journey will head in that direction." Lorenor said pointing ahead. "I'll take point." He added, revealing his tempered, fearless nature. "Look if anything happens, just stay close. I'll protect you with my life." Lorenor said casually and then began to walk into the hallway. He strangely remembered the time with that man, Vigo Ruinn (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=5938&page=7), back in his fledgling days in Haidia. This time however, he was venturing into another temple with a fellow member of the Red Hand.

[Makira]

Makira could see little, her eyes not of the dark. The black pheonix blended in with the darkness but she could see the iridescence of his feathers in the light. Her eyesight and sensory was extremely limited. She rely on her other senses. She was the leader of the Thieves' Guild, she could at least fight with limitations. Her hand still hovered over the hilt of her dagger. Her body tense from the sudden light. It had taken her moment to adjust to the sudden light from pitch darkness. The light being low and more a glow than true luminescence made it quicker to adjust.

" i can see. Limited though it is. I will need your help if i am to continue with you." she said. there was a pause in his words. She assumed he was looking at their surroundings. When he told her he would protect her. she was beyond flattered. "my lord, i see no reason for you to throw your life away for my own. we will protect each other. as equals." she said.

She would have to stay close to him. it was the only to see him in this light. if she ventures not even very far she could very well become lost. She places a hand on the wall. Reassuring herself that it was indeed there. She slowly became used to the darkness and adjusted to it. For those moments she had her eyes closed trying to switch her dominatory senses to the others but eyesight.

It was not easy switching. She relied on her senses very much. It had been a long while since she hadnt been able to use sight. She would admit she was out of practice.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Feeling her tension, the mutant made sure that she was comfortable before they proceeded any further in the temple. Understanding that he was now cut off from the rest of Althanas proper, the mutant prepared for the worst. Taking point meant that he would be receiving most of the dangerous monster threats if there were going to be any in the temple. Seeing the symbols on the wall that were all around him, the temple seemed to come to life before his very eyes.

Just like the strange feeling he got when that Oni in the tree was watching him, the mutant felt as though the very temple itself was silently observing his every action.

A part of him almost regretted cutting down the mysterious statues for he was certain he had angered the gods in some way.

The first time to a party one always tried to make a good impression. Lorenor had already failed in that respect. He shook his head and decided it was time to keep it moving. Despite the weaknesses that the temple forced upon him, Lorenor felt confident in his ability to at least protect Makira for now. He had no knowledge of the Oni and thusly, could not assess the threat level for the time being.

As he walked forward, he assumed that Makira was following close by. Lorenor kept his eyes directly in front of the passageway ahead. The stone material was prevalent everywhere. It was a rather unsettling to realize that someone or something many ages ago built this structure from the ground up. Lorenor could see brilliant hues of purple and reds spiraling off the walls as he focused on his heightened senses. Seeing in the living dark was an easy matter for the mutant who was a creature of that same darkness.

Taking a few steps into the super-structure, the mutant stopped feeling a strange reaction from the temple. Something rumbled from the depths of the building and it came to life. The walls started to shake and the floor became unstable. Dust and debris from all around the structure began to fall everywhere. Lorenor suddenly had a very bad feeling. Turning towards Makira, he decided it was time for them to find a way out. Screw the treasure, this is not worth getting crushed to death. "Makira! We have to keep moving. I can carry you and we'll move much faster. Just climb on my back and we can start trying to find another way out. Something very bad is happening right now." Lorenor called out to her hoping that she was still with him.

Waiting for their doom to arrive, the mutant noticed something. The walls suddenly became alive with an energy that flowed from the underbelly of the beast. Energy lit up the massive super structure that created a sort of filtered light. This was an unnatural sort of lighting, and the mutant saw that the blocks suddenly became see-through and filled with a liquid-like energy that glowed. Symbols flowed in the liquid as the blocks faded away, the very same symbols that were visible on the previous walls. Lorenor's gut told him that they needed to get the hell out quickly. But another side of the mutant said something else. Filled with a morbid curiosity of the temple around him, Lorenor was now captivated by the spell of this place. To make matters worse, he began to hear some noises from further down the hallway as the breeze began to carry them to his person. Cursing in the Spider Magi's tongue, the mutant shook his head and prepared to face his fears. He would need to hustle to avoid any traps that were heading his way.

[Makira]

Makira was not fortunate enough to not be effected by the dust and debris. She was coughing terribly the dust having invaded her lungs, The black phoenix ever present with her avoided the debris he used his wings to push away any more dust that could cloud his master's lungs. As much as it helped prevent more dust, it created more to coat the insides of her throat, or so it felt.

The dust it seemed no matter how she coughed would be there. It was not choking per say, merely that she was was unable to breath properly. She was with Lorenor the whole time, she saw the dust and debris fall, but that was all before she had to take action pertaining to her breathing. She heard his question but could merely cough, her throat now both dry, rough, and coated with dust. She tried to reach to her belt, there would be a waterskin there, or so she thought. When she reached down there was no waterskin, no container of water of any kind. She must of dropped it outside when she was carried in. Normally, this wouldn't cause a problem but with Lorenor at point it was up to her watch their backs.

She couldn't very well do this while on her knees and a hand at her throat as if to encourage the dust coating her esophagus to clear and allow her to breathe. It wasnt as if she couldn't breathe, she could. It was raspy, rough, and only caused more coughing but at least she was breathing. Over the sounds of her coughing she heard something ahead of them.

If she had been able she would've gladly asked Lorenor to pick her up and do whatever he see fit, judging that she was hardly able to exert enough force to properly breathe. She would be disadvantaged if not useless in a fight.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Feeling his companion's distress more than he actually saw it, the mutant became concerned for her. Turning to face her, he saw her struggling to breathe. He used his enhanced sight capabilities and saw that her throat had become terribly parched, a darkness of sorts visible near her larynx. Lorenor reached into his own supplies and gave her a simple waterskin filled to the brim with clear water. He hoped that the substance would help his partner. Matters somehow seemed a little bit better when he knew that he was with a fellow member of the Red Hand, versus a complete stranger. And a stranger who worshiped false gods at that.

Concern for his companion was the order of the day. He handed her the waterskin without saying another word about it. The newly added lighting from the bizarre energetic reaction in the walls, made things easier for the mutant. He could see that each of the blocks were very thick, very wide, and had other such dimensions. They were also built deeply into the wall and he could not see another side past the many layers of the cubes.

The symbols swam around in the cubes, they were quite similar to the symbols formerly etched upon the brick that was visible moments earlier. Even the dust in the air was gone. Every few seconds, bursts of energy flashed through the cubes. Extra lighting from these flashes lit the hallways up so that Lorenor could see further down the hallway, but he could not see past the ten-foot diameter. Something was screwing with his senses and powers. If worse came to worse, the mutant was not certain he could protect Makira. Lorenor looked at the bird for a long moment and wondered if the creature was safe here.

Probably not. He doubted any of them were safe, and was quickly regretting his decision to enter the temple in the first place. No treasure was worth their lives, and the mutant suddenly realized he'd changed somewhat from his youthful reckless ways. As the mutant waited for the girl to take her fill, he felt a foreboding feeling creeping up his gut.

Something about the temple was a dangerous element. He remembered that time with the young Otano named Wizo. The memories came flashing back in his head, the temple proved sacred to the warrior's people. He'd discovered much from that structure, and obtained much. Despite that, he couldn't draw upon his temple-exploring experiences now. This was something entirely new.

Beneath him, the floor was solid. The entire structure seemed to be made of that flowing light. As Lorenor stood in place waiting for his companion to drink, the mutant could see ripples of energy against his feet. He could also see something else that disturbed him. Outside of his physical capacity for interacting with the Firmanent, the mutant could see the Antifirmanent at well. And in the Antifirmanent there was a lot of activity as well. Lorenor saw that he could touch objects in the Antifirmanent, but not change anything at will. At least not yet. He had not obtained that blessing from N'Jal in this juncture. He had one ace-in-the-hole if he absolutely needed it, and that was Necronomicon. He could summon fell-beasts, or conjure horrific powers to his aide if he so chose. It was still too early in the game to pull that card. Lorenor was prepared to use any means necessary to survive, and make sure that he brought Makira back safely home. Lorenor had forced upon himself a goal, and a mission. A mission more important than obtaining any secrets or treasure or scraps that the Oni might possess in this temple. And then, in the Antifirmanent, the mutant saw a form slowly, but surely approaching them.

It gave off a vibration he did not like...

"Trouble's coming Makira. We have to move quickly. Drink while we walk. I know its a bit to ask of you, but we need to find another way out of here. This place is not safe..." For the time being, something distracted the form that was approaching through the Antifirmanent. But only those gifted with the capacity of seeing in the Antifirmanent could even perceive what Lorenor saw.

[Makira]

Makira took the waterskin gratefully, she drank relieving her throat of the dust that coated her throat. when the dust dislodged she secured the water and held her breath, she pulled a small cloth which she secured around her neck, if need be she could raise it quickly to cover her mouth and nose. it was thin enough she could breathe through the cloth but it would protect her throat. She didn't raise it just yet.

Makira stood. " No, as dangerous as it is here, there is something of interest to me. Until i retrieve it i cannot leave. The dangerous a location, the greater the worth of the object is. Lorenor, i will need your help. I understand though if you see the need to find an exit, i will help you as much as i can. But i must continue through." she explained. The phoenix rested on her shoulder's once she stood.

She stepped closer to him and held a hand on his shoulder. "decide what you must do. i cannot force you to continue if you fear for your life." she said in understanding. She would ask no one to risk their life for her. She would risk her own instead of risk others.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Switching his peripheral vision so that he could keep a close eye on the activities within the Antifirmanent, the mutant studied. He listened to her words while he studied. Deciding on a proper course of action, the Red Hand Counsel Member turned to look at Makira for a moment. "We shall venture only as long as necessary. If we find a secure escape route, we should take it. I am sensing things that are very dangerous to both of our beings." The mutant said casually looking at the beings in the Antifirmanent. The world outside of his peripheral distance appeared like a gray zone. Mist settled everywhere only highlighted by the mysterious silver glow of the energetic blocks in the Firmanent. What happened in the Antifirmanent affected the events in the Firmanent, and vice versa. The mutant knew this from his studies of the Necronimicon. A vile collection of books that was dedicated to the worship of the Thayne known as the N'Jal Protocol. Lorenor was a member of the Cult of N'Jal, a secret society of individuals who followed The Word of N'Jal.

Dedicating his life to the ideals and the religion of that Thayne, Lorenor was thankful for the gifts he had uncovered. Still no legendary warrior, the mutant was nonetheless a force in his right. He knew his weaknesses, and he knew his strengths. So when he looked at the creatures stirring in the Antifirmanent within this great structure, he wondered just how readily he could protect her.

Within ten feet down the hallway, the mutant could see with tremendous accuracy. Though his powers were somewhat diminished by the symbols in the wall, Lorenor was safe for the time being. His weapon was in his hand, and he had a hardy partner that could fight alongside him. That's when he thought about what he should do next. Judging her to be an agile warrior, the mutant took out a single masterwork dagger made out of the material known as Prevalida.

He twirled the weapon in his hand for a moment and handed her the weapon with the handle facing her. He smiled softly, a hideous visage. "I would feel much more comfort if the lady was properly armed. I have a small set of weapons and equipment with me. This should suit you just fine. You can borrow it for a time." Lorenor said and placed the blade inside the scabbard whilst he waited for her response. Moments earlier, he pierced the glowing stone floor with his main weapon, leaving the handle facing skyward for a moment whilst he attempted to complete the transaction. "Thank me later. Just be ready for a fight at any moment."

[Makira]

Makira nodded accepting the blade and securing it on her person. it would be helpful, She had on her person the steel daggers and the whip. The extra blade was welcome. " i think i can do that." she said. "however its time we started moving." she suggested. She was taking in her surroundings, her eyes adjusted to the light. She limited in distance, but she could see. that's what mattered. The symbols floating on the wall were strange and alien to her. "I've never seen markings like these." she voiced in a whispered tone.

As she wondered about the symbols she also wondered if the walls were solid or not as their appearance suggested. She reached out to touch them, to see if they were indeed solid. She thought better of it by stopping her hand a mere two inches from it. The walls could be against them just as much as they were helping them.

"Lorenor. What do you think this place is. It's obviously not a temple." she voiced her thoughts. What was this place, Oni chasing them inside and once in the walls change. " and perhaps we weren't caught in here by chance either." she voiced yet another thought.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Lorenor removed his weapon from the ground. He noticed that the ground rippled and it dawned at him that they could possibly not even be inside the temple anymore. He could still see the Antifirmanent, and that was a silent relief to him. Lorenor rotated his weapon, sheathed it and prepared to move on. There was no immediate threat visible at the time, so there was no need to walk around with weapons drawn. It was only a hassle with this limited space everywhere. He could use his claws if need be.

Stretching for a moment and orienting himself, Lorenor looked down the passageway. All he could see was the pitch-black and the disorienting structure around. The light had a maddening glow that played with his peripheral vision. Making Lorenor think that the Living Dark had another, more dangerous presence to it. Shaking his head, he tried not to loose himself to the mysterious glow.

The glow, despite its particular texture and effect on the Living Dark, created a sort of strange vibration. Lorenor could see this vibration everywhere as it danced in and out of the shadows, piercing and penetrating at the same time. Lorenor did not like the vibration that this mysterious place gave off. He couldn't just shut off his sensory array either. Lorenor was as one entity with his madness. Shaking his head, the Living Dark rippled around the mutant for a moment as he could see various forms dancing within the substance. Lorenor was strangely reminded of The Endless.

Makira spoke for a few moments and Lorenor simply listened whilst she spoke. She took the dagger into her position. This made the mutant feel more at ease with the situation. He didn't want her to be completely defenseless against whatever challenges would await. The mutant waited for her to finish talking. In that process, he proceeded. He honestly didn't know very much about the Oni. He didn't know anything about the temple, his previous partner had been very mysterious. Was I suckered into this trip? It was too late to regret venturing out there in the first place now.

"Actually I have no idea where we are. I was told that a race called the Oni would have treasures in this place. We defeated another Adventure Party on the way to this location. But aside from everything that's happened so far, I don't know anything more than you do. Our only choice is to go deeper into this place." As Lorenor started to move forward, something began to happen. The color of the energy changed from a subtle silver, to a deep green color. He had no idea what that meant. And that's when he felt it, several forms were approaching their position rapidly...that's when Lorenor drew his weapon. He wasn't trusting anything alive or otherwise in this place except for Makira.

[Makira]

Makira had the dagger he had given her to use and one of her own steel daggers. "I hear them approaching." Then came into view, Feral monstrous things. They looked to be a combination of an Oni, A lupine creature and a rabbit. They looked strange, something she'd never seen anything like them.

Their fur was thick and black, They had long tails like the Oni they had seen before it curled upwards towards the ends. The legs were lupine mostly except the front legs were longer by a fraction and they bent more than any lupine paws, the claws created a clatter against the floor. The snouts were lupine the fangs larger than any she'd seen before. its ears were long and floppy. it was truly an ugly beast. It was no taller than She or Lorenor but it was wider. they all had yellow eyes, no pupils, just pure yellow.

"what is that?" Makira asked shocked and disgusted by the beings who approached them. They were foul smelling beasts as well. which did not put her in a good mood. the phoenix at her shoulder fly up, the ceiling were high enough it would not be in danger.

The monstrous beings stopped, there seemed to be leader the one up front. He stared at them unmoving as they approached. for several moments just staring. Then he roared, it sounded like a grunt,screech, and growl all at once. The things surrounding him charged foreward.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Stopping before their party, the creatures numbered roughly four heads. The mutant could observed the beasts and they gave off a very peculiar aura. Somehow, the creatures seemed somewhat familiar to him. But he couldn't quite place where he'd seen something quite like these Oni-things. There were organs that Lorenor could see, and not just one heart, but many hearts within a single one of the organisms. Their eyes glowed with power indicating at terrible fell energies that were theirs to control. Muscles were knotted beneath the fur of the beasts, and the stench was horrendous. He was reminded of the Wild Snow Bear from Salvar's highlands. Lorenor kept his weapon in his hand and went into a combat position with his weapon pointing towards them. He kept it at about the middle of his center of gravity. Lorenor kept his eyes on the beast and a distinctive gut feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. There is that feeling again! What is this?! Weary of the creatures before him, Lorenor looked at his companion. "Stay behind me, stay close. I will protect you."

And then, the creatures attacked. Somehow, the symbols in the walls seemed to react to the creatures presence. The symbols started to dance about in an excited fashion, rotating quickly and moving in strange patterns within the liquid like substance in the cubes. Lorenor had about half a second to notice that before the closest of the beasts took a quick swipe to the mutant's head. Lorenor reacted just in the nick of time, barely moving in such a way that the creature's big paw slammed heavily against the mutant's left shoulder knocking him on his knees. Lorenor balanced himself with the sword in his hand and stared at the beast with an angry expression on his face. This whole trip was a really bad idea! The mutant thought to himself as he looked at the incoming creatures. Each of the beasties had massive strength, at least the equivalent of five or six grown adult men. He didn't like his odds against these beasts at all. He suddenly regretted not casting something from the Necronomicon. That could have possibly given them a greater advantage...

But he knew he'd summoned something from the Fell Pages not too long ago. He would need to rest at least a day before he could use the pages anew. Lorenor knew that the books were out of the question, but he had many other tricks up his sleeve. The Living Dark, burned in his fist as he remembered the Ring of All Shadows. Lorenor rarely used the artifact, but he knew that he could get an advantage of sorts if he used it now. Allowing the full power to flow from the ring, Lorenor suddenly felt the magics tap from the ring. He called forth the growing power of the ring, influenced by the Living Dark in the temple, and released his control of the ring. He heard a loud screeching sound flow from the ring, and suddenly, there was a burst of raw power in the hallway. The Living Dark rippled around the mutant as he temporarily took command of it. The powerful artifact had grown much since the first day he'd acquired it from the Forest Elves of Concordia. Lorenor felt a burst of energy from his very soul, as the Living Dark consumed a portion of it. He knew he would have to rest considerably after this battle.

As if an army of beasts were released from the ring, many glowing eyes suddenly manifested. They were colored red, and ran towards the leader of the Oni creatures. Floating across the Living Dark with tremendous speed and velocity. They brought helter skelter into the chamber suddenly. Shrieks, yells, screams, and loud noises as if there were claws scraping against the walls, floor, and ceiling ran forward. The beastligns from the Living Dark attacked the creature in a sudden, massive burst. Their clawed talons extended forward and ripped at flesh even through thick hide, as they ran in unison. There were thousands of them, Lorenor could discern many shadowy figures in the Living Dark that ate and slashed at the terrible beast before them. The Oni screamed as he was literally torn apart, and the Living Darkness reacted to Lorenor's call. Tainted blood was spilled everywhere as the creature was ripped to shreds. Lastly, its head was torn off its neck and dragged deeper into the Living Dark. The Darkness ate its fill of the Oni and managed to take a second one of them with it.

Lorenor couldn't have asked for a better response. It's been a while since I let you out boys. Good feasting my friends. I gotta use you more often. Lorenor felt that a bit of his power had been sapped away, but he could continue forward without trouble. Two of the Oni remained now and they were attempting to flank Lorenor and Makira. Lorenor would not allow his partner to get hurt. One of the Oni attempted to use the same lumbering attack, but the mutant was prepared. Despite the pain in his shoulder, the mutant slashed upward with his Prevalida sword. The blade connected with the Oni's arm and cleanly sliced it in half. The creature was capable of feeling pain and grabbed the newly created stump in intense agony. Lorenor saw that the Oni stepped backwards to allow the other Oni a chance to attack. They were attempting some sort of rank-and-file system it seemed. They are intelligent, I will have to remember that. Next time just take off it's head... "Makira, try to take their heads off!" Lorenor hadn't realized that he was completely covered in the creature's black blood.

[Makira]

Makira was bit preoccupied. The creatures that were attacking her seemed to be looking for weakness's in her defense. She was skilled in her combat and that was what was keeping her alive one of the claws of the creatures managed to score her side in a diagonal motion, Her moving slightly kept it a deep but not fatal wound.

She was on the back on one of the creatures, it seemed not to be able to reach her there. The creature was about about to throw itself to the wall to attempt to get her off. He would have if she hadn't buried a steel dagger in its neck to the hilt and pulled in a slicing motion. The head didn't come off but it stopped to grasp at its neck, or try to anyway. It was on the ground a gurgling noise signifying it was in pain and bleeding to death. The other creature attacking her roared suddenly and swiped at her with its claws, fury evident in its eyes. She dodged it by throwing herself to the floor in a roll.

When she stopped the creature was lumbering after her. She was bleeding still from her own wound meaning she didn't have much strength left before she had no choice but to rest. The creature lumbered closer and she was just standing up. She had to bring it down. She looked for options. Lorenor was busy, there wasn't room for her to use her wings for leverage. Those precious seconds she had lost in searching had cost her, the beast pushed her down to the floor causing her cry out. It's fangs were far, she had only one hand free the other felt like it would break under the weight of the beasts limb on it.

The beast roared a triumphant cry. Exposing his throat, she used the second and all the will she had left in her body to raise the dagger Lorenor had lent her through its neck, it was a clean cut, she severed something important for this creature merely fell its body cause his blood to flow to the floor. She was being covered in the blood and her wings. She managed to shove most of the weight off her so she could use her good arm to free herself.

She scooted back. The arm the creature has stood on was weak, stiff, not broken but useless for now. She was breathing heavily trying to regain her strength as she bleed from her side, thankful that the claw marks hadn't hit anything vital. She looked at her weak arm, already it was bruising, no doubt her back would be the same.

She couldnt support herself enough to look over at Lorenor. That alone made her upset and annoyed that she needed to rest that badly already. " Lorenor?" she called.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Once the battle was over, Lorenor cleaned his weapon with his cloak and moved towards Makira's position after turning. He walked towards her position, but once he sensed her blood he ran towards her position. Lorenor knelt down to her, there were two of the dead Oni nearby. That meant that all of them were gone. The harsh smell of their blood filled the hallway.

Lorenor didn't like the smell of these beasts. He knelt down towards Makira as he saw that she wasn't standing up. "Makira! You're hurt...and I don't carry any potions of healing with me." The mutant's mind was racing quickly as he thought of what he could do next. He leaned in close to her position. His lips just inches away from her own.

"You need to be healed of your injuries." Lorenor began. He had one idea, just one. It was a dark idea, but it was their only option. With his face so close to her own, he could smell her aroma. Her womanhood, her blood, her sweat. The entire event was making the mutant think in a completely irrational matter. He felt her bosom rising up and down as if it were rising up and down in his hand. Lorenor wanted her. He hungered for her for himself. He allowed his dangerous thoughts to linger for a few moments before he focused on the main proposition at hand.

She had to be healed. Lorenor had one triumphant ace up his sleeve that he could play to heal her. He looked at her eyes with those glowing purple energy eyes of his. They narrowed briefly. "Makira." He began. "I have the power to heal you. But. It will come at a very costly price. I can make you like I am...but only if you allow such a thing to happen." He said cautiously giving her a choice in the matter. "I wish it didn't have to come down to this, but injured is injured. I am offering you a healing. It is a healing full of risk. But it is a healing nonetheless."

Lorenor continued to speak as her blood spread from the injury. He wanted her blood. He wanted her flesh. His chest heaved up and down as he spoke it was difficult containing his excitement. "If you wish it...I can turn you into one of the Forsaken. My people. You would become different. Better in some ways, worse in others. But you will be healed of your injuries." The mutant promised. "If you agree, I can help you right now." The mutant closed his eyes for a moment as he thought of many things. His hands were on the floor on either side of her as he held himself up. His face remained very close to her own. He waited for her response. He hated to see his newly acquired friend in pain...such pain. He could do something about it.

"Let me put an end to your pain..." Lorenor said. There was utter sincerity and concern for his companion Makira in his voice. He did not speak with any sort of hostility.

[Makira]

She was highly aware of the closeness in the proximity of their bodies to another. her skim warm because of the closeness, the battle. His seemed to be cooler, much more so than hers. A marking feature of what he was. Her eyes closed, the calmer her heart beat the slower the blood flow. She thought about his request. True it would heal her.

" Becoming a foresaken involves the goddess N'jal quite intimately does it not? " She asked knowing the answer to the question. She did not favor any of the gods or goddess's letting them bless their gifts when they chose and thanking them when they did. To change her life completely by becoming a foresaken, She couldn't let that be.

She waited for his answer, focusing on keeping her heart beat calm and steady to keep the blood flow slow. This wasn't a fatal wound, but it would weaken her incredibly. She was sure beyond any fathom of a doubt she'd slow them down. Even knowing that, it wouldn't stop her.

She kept her eyes closed. It helped to relax her, the pure darkness instead of the blue glowing light that she would see. It helped to keep her calm, collected, and focused. Though she wished she could do something about the smell of the foul beasts corpses that surrounded them and the blood that covered them both.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Closing his eyes, the mutant concentrated on the blood. It swirled outward like a proverbial tree of life. Lorenor could see tendrils of heat flowing into the darkness as her heart beat the life substance out. Her injury was not healing and it would be a real tragedy to loose this companion now. Lorenor regretted not having any healing skills other than his regeneration abilities.

Feeling the oppressive energies of the Living Dark flowing about his person, the energy had a heat to it that was generated from her person. Lorenor knew that this heat was a direct effect of her flowing blood. His hand was in the puddle of her blood. So easy to take. He could just reach out and consume her if he wanted to. But she was an associate, a fellow member of the Red Hand, and furthermore, she was somebody that he deeply respected and admired. Lorenor listened to her question, feeling the concern in her voice. Even at the late hour, with blood freely flowing, she remained defiant of accepting N'Jal into her heart. Lorenor knew that N'Jal was true freedom. N'Jal was true power. However, not all Forsaken had to follow N'Jal. He knew that to be true as well. There were things that needed to be explained. She knew some of the Forsaken's culture, but she didn't know every aspect of them. She was not a Forsaken herself and could not otherwise experience the act of being a Forsaken. Lorenor began.

"No. You do not need to follow the Dark Lady N'Jal. There is a code that the Forsaken follow, but it has been established by myself and MetalDrago. I follow N'Jal. Metaldrago follows N'Jals. But the lady Makira does not have to. All of this is free will." Lorenor said in a hushed whisper so only she could hear him. He was drawn to her scent, drawn to her heat. He moved in closer to her now, so close that their foreheads almost touched. He kept his lip inches from her. "I can only give you the mark of the Forsaken if you truly accept it. Otherwise I cannot help you."

[Makira]

Makira looked up at him. Her eyes meeting his, She had felt the cool temperature of his body move ever closer. There were talking but in hushed tones, practically whispering against each others lips. She couldn't let her heart react to that. She took a deep breath breathing the scent of him in. It didn't bother her. It never had. She thought before speaking her tone low, hushed as if they were talking of intimate things.

" Lorenor, i may not follow the goddess, but the goddess will favor me because of it. The gods are jealous often times of the races they watch over. It would change my belief's all the same." she explained. Her eyes were slightly closed, she was relaxed and comfortable. She could afford to be nothing else.

"It will not kill me if i can stop the blood flow." She said, knowing that cloth as long as it was clean would suffice for a bandage wrapping. She didn't have any such cloth. She assumed there would be a water source nearby in the temple. No matter what resided here, water was essential to any life. She smelled the air sifting through the scents, she closed her eyes to listen as well. There was a fountain, water judging by the smell, but they had to find it.

" If there are dangers, help me get away to where the scent will be thrown off. i hear a fountain or a water source of some kind faintly but i can." She said though to herself she admitted that was only for the fact that there was no other sound but her breathing and their hushed talking.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

She knows not about the N'Jal Protocol. Oh well. It must be free will. He thought to himself and pulled away from the closeness with the girl. All that could be seen of his person was those phantasmal glowing amethyst eyes. Lorenor dug into his duffel bag and pulled out an extra cloak giving it to her person. He let her grab it at will so that she could use the Vlince material to good effect. "Use this cloak."

Lorenor said calmly. He felt a little far away that he'd been rejected so completed, but he did not let it bother him. There would be other opportunities to get her if he so chose. Lorenor's senses were good for ten feet in every direction, and he was not sensing the water fountain at all. Lorenor waited for her to bandage herself so that she could potentially stand. He stared down the hallway, and turned his back to her.

"Let me know when you're done." He held his sword in hand once again. He could dual-wield his weapons if need be.

[Makira]

She was able to sit up, or she thought she was. When she attempted the task it hurt enough that caused a groan of pain. The phoenix landed beside her in concern. She sighed, She had waited a bit to long to stop the blood flow. She needed help now to merely sit up. She was also tired, but she couldn't allow herself to sleep. At least not until she was sure she would wake up.

" Lorenor... you have to help me." she said. She had no choice but to ask his assistance, movement hurt to much on her own. She closed her eyes knowing that he would have to remove her shirt from her to bandage her. She wasn't sure if she was uncomfortable with this or not, mostly she just wanted the bleeding to stop.

She opened her eyes settling them to watch Lorenor. Hopefully he would help her otherwise he might as well let her die, which she truly didn't want to die from such a non-fatal wound.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Turning away from his companion out of respect, the strong scent of blood continued to torment the mutant. He had to focus on the task at hand and that was getting them both out of there alive. Apparently, the structure contained multiple threats. He was not able to detect any source of water, but then again, he couldn't sense past the ten feet of his sensory array. Perhaps there was something that Makira could detect that was beyond his sensory array. The mutant found that interesting.

She called out for help and Lorenor nodded to himself. He only approached her after she had called out, settling his person next to her in a sitting position. He only hoped that no more Oni would attack for the time being and their presences could largely remain undetected. Lorenor looked at the Antifirmanent, and something disturbed him. Something very, very dangerous indeed.

Several entities in the Atifirmanent drew closer to their position and the mutant knew they had to hurry. These creatures were like parasitical organisms hell bent on capturing the weakened souls of the fallen. And Lorenor and Makira were their next target!

Like flowing cloaks and wisps, the creatures clawed across the glowing stones meaning that the walls were solid. At least on the side of the Antifirmanent anyway. The mutant readied his prevalida sword and stood in front of Makira. "You can't have her! Because she belongs to me!" The mutant hissed at the wraiths that were approaching. Swirling cloaks made out of brown cloth. At the end of the sleeves were ancient looking hands with sharp claws extending from the fingers. This was a really bad idea, I shouldn't have come here! I might not be able to defend her.

To an onlooker, it would appear as if Lorenor were attempting to defend against air. In many ways, he was. The properties and denizens of the Antifirmanent could only affect the living under certain circumstances. And the mutant had called a very dangerous Fell Beast from the pages of the Necronomicon only hours earlier. With his sword glowing in the dark thanks to its cold aura. Lorenor stared as the first of the wraiths came in close enough to attack him. There was a small group of about three of them that Lorenor could sense at the moment.

Peering into the Antifirmanent was still a tricky business. The creature took a slash at the mutant and he prepared to counter back. Focusing all of his attention on the incoming invaders, he had no idea what they were really drawn to. Lorenor could only fend them off. Again, the mutant could not keep track of all of their numbers at once, there were simply too many despite his superior sensory capacity. So Lorenor attacked what he could. "Makira! They are here, stay close to me!" He moved so that he stood by the lady. His sword reacting to the creature's attack. Lorenor slashed at the incoming creature, and the two attacks connected.

There was a sudden flash of light as the cold aura released an elemental energy against the first of the wraith. Lorenor could hear the howling of the beast. And in their close proximity, the symbols began to light up. After the intense flash of light and elemental energy, the mutant saw the wraiths visible on the Firmanent! Now Makira could see them too, and one of the Wraiths was close-by to her position! Lorenor attacked the nearest of the Wraiths with a forward slash whilst the first Wraith recoiled. Lorenor was hell-bent on saving her life. "Use your dagger I lent you, it will save your life!" And the true battle had begun.

[Makira]

The wraith closest to her was reaching for her, she groaned forcing her body to stand. She was breathing heavily. The wraith seem agitated by something. The prevalida dagger in her hand, she had little time, and less ability to get this thing down. There wasn't much she could do. The thing attacked, She slashed out sloppily but scoring a hit to its arm, it screeched and attacked again, she ducked. When she came up she used her body to push the blade through to where it's heart would be. It screeched and seemed to disperse.

That was it, that was all she could do. The blood ran faster. The phoenix screeched in warning, that Makira had fallen. The dagger still in her hand. She would not die here. She couldn't let herself.

She so blasted weak. Sure the wound wasn't fatal, but she would die because she would be attacked by a wrath. She was on her stomach, she flapped her large wings attempting to stand once more. The wind it created was strong, some black feathers falling from the wings. It seemed to disturb the wraiths, the black feathers.

She was kneeling, her body covered in sweat, she could move nor more, her wings folding around her slightly. She could do nothing, her body had been pushed past its limits. The phoenix landed in front of her. It nuzzled her hand in encouragement. She looked at it sadly, knowing if she was attacked, it was her end.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

(Bunnies approved)

Noise. Negative feedback noise burned across his sensory array as the wraiths howled in frustration. They couldn't get past the prevalida sword that was wielded by the mutant. He swung the blade in reaction to every attack that came his way, able to fend the beasts off. But they kept coming. Feeling his companion moving about in a vain attempt to defend herself, Lorenor knew he could not keep this up. He had to do something, and quickly.

The Antifirmanent was alive with stimulation that the mutant could sense. He stared at the incoming creatures and there was a large group of them now. Howling and wailing wraiths were screaming in a mixed combination of pain and agony. Each one that came within striking range was fended off by the mutant who struck with all the skill he could muster. Knowing full well the dual nature of his limitations and strengths, the mutant was fighting hard to protect his comrade.

And then, she suddenly became still. Lorenor had to do something. He shot a glance over to the phoenix and nodded to it. After that, he swung upwards and clipped another of the Wraiths in the side, the mutant could keep this up forever, but his comrade was in a dangerous position. Her presence on the Antifirmanent is what the Wraiths were attracted to. Seeing her form expanding on the Antifirmanent, the glowing energy that was her living soul, vibrated in the air. It was flowing from her person slowly as Makira prepared to face death. Lorenor would now allow this. Having one possible option, the mutant raised his metallic forearm after slashing one of the Wraiths cleanly in two pieces. He could see both halves of the creature lying on the floor in agony. Lorenor felt the power of the Aegis Shield waiting for release, and thrust his hand up in the air. He grabbed one of the Wraiths by the collar and pulled him so that their faces were inches apart. "Die you filth." Lorenor said, and released one burst of the Aegis Shield.

The air rippled with power as the archaic magics came forward. It rushed into the Wraith and there was a reaction of opposing magics. The Wraith exploded as a result of the shield suddenly erupting from within it, and scattered into magical dust. The Aegis Shield burst forward as several Wraiths attempted to attack Lorenor in a last-ditch effort. The mutant quickly sheathed his weapon and wrapped his arms around his companion. In a moment, he'd picked her up after concentrating on his enhanced strength, and ran after making sure he had all his equipment in tow. He'd carried her the entire time even as he felt a magical burst of power when the shield instantly cracked underneath the weight of the Wraiths' attack. Immediately, the Wraiths went in hot pursuit of the mutant and his companion. Running at 50 miles per hour, Lorenor reached top speed even as the Phoenix flew alongside. The bird screeched its concern for its master. Lorenor nodded to the bird. The sprint lasted for approximately 3 yards. Lorenor saw a room up ahead, even as the Wraiths began to catch up. The mutant, suddenly leaped, turned, and slid across the ground whilst he extended the metallic arm of his and launched a blast from the plasma discharge gun. Afterward, there was a brilliant flash of kinetic energy and a symphony of loud wails signaling the dispersing of the wraiths. He slid into the a new chamber, holding Makira in his arm protectively and finally stopped in the center of the newly discovered room.

He kept aiming at the hallway they previously just left waiting to see more attacks from the Wraiths. Lorenor stared wide-eyed and with anger, frustration, and a mix of other feelings. The water source was generated from this particular chamber. Lorenor eye's were locked in the direction of the hallway even as his hand shook. He kept holding Makira refusing to let her go. Even after five minutes had passed, he refused to get up...

"Son of a bitch, curse those things..." Lorenor said finally still sitting and aiming for an enemy he expected to continue assaulting at any moment.

The attacks never came.

[Makira]

Makira was dazed. She knew enough that they were safe, for now. " Lorenor... get away from the door." she whispered. She was tired. So , very tired. She wanted nothing more than to sleep. The black phoenix had found pillows dusty, but not eaten, tattered or torn. He flapped his wings in quick movements to get Lorenor's attention.

Makira stayed awake but her breathing was quick. She needed to be bandaged and healed. She knew that, even though she didn't want to stay awake. It was as if her eyes weighed tons. It felt like it anyway. "Lorenor, the blood." the hot liquid was flowing, trickling down her skin, soaking into her clothes. She was certain he felt it. The blood was certainly soaking him, the side that was bleeding was the one closest to his chest.

She had to focus, on something. On anything. She focused on keeping her eyes open and her breathing calm. It was all she could do after all. The wound hadn't been fatal, but that was assuming it would be bandaged. She knew from the start, she could bleed from it. She didn't think that it would become a fast approaching problem.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Situating her on the floor in the center of the chamber, Lorenor prepared to face reality. He was loosing her, and fast. He had no idea what to do at the time but had one viable option. The chamber was large and had four exits including the doorway they had just come in from. Lorenor saw an exit going North, South, West, and East in a basic cross. He was in the center of the large chamber now. In this room there were no symbol-holding blocks. Those mysteries were contained in the hallways apparently, or so Lorenor assumed. He had no idea what secrets lurked in the place. Already healing, the bruise on his back was regenerating on its own, it wasn't a serious injury at all. But it hurt, bothering the mutant quite a bit. As he walked to the center of the chamber, he glanced about his surroundings and examined the area. Large artifacts were in play in the center of the room and alongside the walls. These artifacts were large sorts of metallic, sleek looking devices. He'd seen such devices before working alongside the Golems back home in Corone. He wished he had the Golems with him at that point in time to make sense of everything.

"Masheens." Lorenor said out loud to nobody in particular. He remembered the word from the teachings of his son, Number 5,325. The hyper-advanced renegade Golem that he'd met so many ages ago. Lorenor reflected back to the Golem's teachings as he tried to focus on the situation at hand. The bird made itself useful, bringing pillows to Makira which was probably a good thing. He looked about and sensed the energy of sentient organisms that were there not too long ago. "Makira. We're apparently not alone." He said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Lorenor walked over to one of the devices and saw a keypad with several rows and columns of mysterious symbols written in a language he did not know. There was a screen attached to the keypad made of some sort of material he did not recognize either. None of it made any sense to him. There were several lines of glowing messages written in that same language on the screen, glowing red. Lorenor did not want to attempt to touch the keypad, he had no idea what any of the symbols meant.

In the center of the room there was a particularly strange device. It was a large pool that contained some sort of liquid, and a huge pipe that went through the ceiling of the chamber. Lorenor noticed that the liquid had a peculiar glow about it. He also noticed that there were things floating around inside of the pool. Something inside told the mutant that it was safe to touch the liquid, but he wasn't certain. Makira needed the injury cleaned and she needed it bandaged up. Lorenor had no idea how to do either, but he figured he could consult the Necronomicon if he absolutely had to. As he was preparing to walk towards Makira, something mysterious happened. Something that he was not expecting at all. A presence manifested in the chamber coming up against his sensory grid for the first time. Air rippled under the weight of some sort of a power that the mutant had never been before. There was a new individual within the room that stared at Lorenor's person for a long moment, and then looked over at Makira. "The injury is not that serious but you're loosing her." The stranger began.

He was a human as far as Lorenor could tell. However, the man had a mysterious aura that seemed to affect the Firmanent as well as the Antifirmanent. "Why don't you people ever heed the warnings of the defense mechanism this place has? Now look at you. You're lost and confused, and your friend is on the floor dying." The man said. He was a handsome lad by Lorenor's standards. He had tightly cropped, but wavy black hair that was about three inches long. It was cut neatly so the length of his hair did not pass the top of his neck. He stood at about six feet in height, and had a fairly athletic build. Lorenor saw that the man had honey-colored skin tone, thin eyebrows, and a boxy jawline. His zygomatic arch was also quite boxy. He had a full chin. The man looked over to Lorenor's person with a kind, but amused expression on his face. "The name is Clark. Clark Westfield." Clark said, introducing himself. "I already know who you are Lorenor. The entities within this temple already told me your identity the moment you crossed the security barrier with your friend." The man wore a blue uniform with strange markings on the shirt. He walked over to Makira's position. "I can help your friend out but she must do exactly as I say. And you must protect us from the others." He said to Lorenor.

"Others? What do you mean?"

"Not too long before you showed up, a small group of people entered before you did. That's why the mobs are on aggro-mode. I tried to prevent this, I tried to warn you people, but you never listen. So here we are. Like, I said there are others. And they are hostile. They are after something but I don't know what it is. And I am only allowed to help you in this specific room." Clark revealed that it was a game that they were playing. A sadistic sort of a game, but a game nonetheless. "I must admit, you lot are more entertaining than the last few batches that have come through here." Clark said as he knelt down by Makira. "Makira. I am going to be using surgical procedures against compiled from the historical database. There will be non-elemental energies that pass through your system, and a nanomachinery that passes as well. It will hurt. A lot, but only for a short while." He knew Makira's name as well. "After that you guys are free to listen to what I have to say, or go about your own business."

Lorenor nodded. "How far away are these others you speak of?"

"Not too far." Clark said. "But they have their own agenda and will be hostile to you. Now. Let's see about your friend." And Clark began the healing process but placing his hand against Makira's injury.

[Makira]

Makira nodded in consent, her eyesight blurry. Spots of red, black, and purple seemed to dance in her vision. Fighting for dominance. She didn't much care, she was tired exhausted. Then there was pain. She didn't know the cause or why, She'd forgotten the mans words. She groaned in protest. She couldn't do much more.

Her body was weary, her mind already succumbing to the darkness of unconsciousness. It seemed a welcoming thing. That black darkness of sleep. Her phoenix was near her, Makira's free hand on the the feathers of the black bird. The man was healing her. So she could rest. She was silent, no matter how much pain she was in.

Her eyes closed slowly. She fell into a slumber immediately. The pillows that supported her gave her some amount of comfort. The cloth one could assume was a blanket, under Makira aided that comfort. It helped ease her into sleep, into unconsciousness .

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Once Clark introduced the nanomachinery, he allowed her body to do the rest. Lorenor kept his eyes locked on the entrances. He felt Clark stand up. The man walked over to Lorenor's position and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Your friend will be fine. She lost a lot of blood but you brought here just in time. She is sleeping now, so let her rest. In the meantime, I can tell you what is going on." Lorenor nodded. He kept the handle of his weapon in hand, and pointed the tip of his blade to the ground so that the weapon could touch the floor. "That would be useful." Lorenor said in response, more than a little annoyed at the situation. He kept staring at Makira, who was now asleep for the time being, and then turned so that he faced Clark. "You mentioned a security barrier. Do you speak of that woman that I met earlier?" Clark nodded. "You were warned about this place. But you decided to enter anyway. There are Oni everywhere outside of these chamber, and several different denominations. Each type having its own set of skills and powers. The ones you met earlier were just grunts and spies." Clark said. Lorenor listened.

"How many of them are there? And what are they?"

"Thousands of different kinds, Lorenor. They are experiments. In your tongue they would be called creations that were made by human hands." Clark hesitated as if thinking about his answer, and then proceeded. "You will not understand until later. But a large series of experiments were being conducted here many ages ago. Oni were just the beasts in Akashima, lurking in the wilderness. The inhabitants of this temple thought they could engineer weapons by experimenting on the beasts." Lorenor did not understand what was being said. Lorenor had a confused expression on his face. "It is okay if you donot understand. Just accept that I speak the truth and you will be saved." Clark said casually. "So they experimented, and found that they could engineer an entirely new variety of the creatures present in the wilderness. These creatures were named Oni. In your tongue, the word means Demon, or, Devil. And in essence that's what these beasts were. And so they escaped and turned on their masters."

The mutant rubbed his chin with his free hand and thought about what he was hearing. Somehow, he began to respect the Oni more. "There is an Oni that is superior to all other Oni. This Oni lurks deep within the temple and we refer to it as Mother Brain. It is the boss of all the Oni. Mother Brain took over the temple long ago. Me and a few others like me escaped its wrath." Clark said. "Find us, and the way shall be revealed. My proposition to you is to kill Mother Brain and set us free." Clark said with that same amused expression on his face. "I doubt you can do this, but I offer it to you anyway." Lorenor thought carefully about what was being said. "What do I get?" The mutant asked, it a simple question really that drew a laugh from Clark. "You are a shrewd one are you not? Very well. If you defeat Mother Brain I will give you the means to unlock a cache hidden within this temple. And I will give you the means to get to it. Within the cache lurks a tremendous gift." Nodding once again, Lorenor shook Clarks' hand suddenly. "It's a deal. I will defeat this Mother Brain if I can for you. And in return you will show me to this cache." Lorenor said calmly. Clark agreed. "There are others somewhat like me in the temple. They will offer you things. Donot listen to them." Clark grinned. "Only I can help you find the way." And the mutant had an agenda.

"Clark?"

"Yes Lorenor?"

"Can you show me a way out of this place after we defeat Mother Brain?"

"Perhaps." And after that, Clark vanished into thin air.

[Makira]

Makira was dreaming. She had no idea what it meant, or its purpose. She was sitting in a dark place. Her wings were bound. Someone had bound her. She could not fly, could not fight. Could do nothing but sit and look out golden bars where people passed day by day, looking at her like she was on display.

She had no privacy. She sat in the center of the cage, men came out and beat her to make her active. She wanted to fight back, she couldn't. They kept her bound, unable to fly. She wanted to run. Her legs were weak and heavy, chains.

She could do naught but take the pain, the beatings. She groaned in her sleep, in pain both physically and in her dream. She stayed silent, her captors could do what they liked. No sound or utterance of any come would leaver her lips.

Hours, days, years it seemed that she was in that dream. In that cage, bound, beaten. She woke hours later as if from being drowned. Her heart was racing, her lungs working hard to keep pace. The phoenix was startled but stayed close.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

After Clark vanished, the mutant had some options at hand. He knew that he had to concentrate his forces on getting Mother Brain, but the situation at hand was much more complicated than that. Others are here. Lorenor thought to himself as time passed. He walked over to the keypad for a moment and investigated the frustratingly complicated symbols on there. He had never seen them before but something seemed maddeningly familiar about the symbols at the same time. Again, he walked over to the coolant chamber and continued to examine the movement beneath the water's surface. He saw that there was something...almost alive... within that mysteriously glowing water. The entities brushed up against his sensory array and seemed to interact with it somehow. He noticed that there was a vibration, a strong one, coming from the fluid. Feeling as though there was something powerful in the pool, he pondered grabbing a sample of the liquid and its strange life. However, his own curiosity would not do them any benefit whatsoever at the time.

So he ignored the urge to dip his hand in the pool. Keeping his weapon handy, he walked away from the pool. The strong feeling of temptation left his gut as he walked away from the source. Lorenor decided that he needed to concentrate on the task at hand and sat down nearby to Makira's position whilst she slept. He wondered what she dreamed about. Lorenor sat in a lotus position removing the Necronomicon from his satchel. He opened one of the books and began to pray to N'Jal in silence. Bowing his head deeply, he sat there whilst he waited for his partner to wake. Symbols on the pages of the Necronomicon were written in the Spider Magi's tongue. He was able to see with his glowing eyes and the pages revealed the truth to him. Lorenor turned to a specific passage that was particularly inspiring to him, and proceeded to read the works over and over. He would read the passages until it was time for Makira to wake up, or until he felt like reading some other pages in the book. Reading the mysterious symbols brought the mutant an extraordinary sense of comfort.

As he read the symbols and understood the teachings of N'Jal further, the mutant began to understand the N'Jal Protocol. Lorenor wished that everybody could know what he knew. Teachings of N'Jal were an exclusive cultural aspect of the Spider-Magi and the Forsaken of N'Jal. The mutant knew that to be true. Studying the pages of the works, the mutant finished his reverie and went on to study the various rites of the Cult of N'Jal. There was many ritual sacrifice and he realized he could have used the bodies of the Oni stationed in the other passageway.

However, he would not abandon his companion. So instead, he focused on learning what new teachings he could learn. There were passages for Initiate Priests and the mutant was studying those daily in order to become a more powerful Priest of N'Jal. The mutant allowed time to pass its normal course and before he knew it, hours passed. Keeping himself occupied with the text was a simple matter of just studying what he needed to study. He was trying to uncover the secrets of the ancient ways. The study was crucial to his development as a Priest of N'Jal.

Through the teachings of the dark lady, the mutant uncovered many secrets, including one specific secret that he could employ in times of need. He studied the secret until he learned it through and through. Occupied with that series of studies, the mutant barely noticed it when Makira began to stir slowly. His attention went from the pages within the Necronomicon to the girl's body. His eyes narrowed softly as he studied her casually. She seemed to be in stable condition as far as the mutant could tell, and she was alive and breathing. Lorenor saw that from his position near to her person.

"Welcome back to the Firmanent, Makira. Glad to have you back with us." Lorenor said, being as sincere as he could. He closed the pages of the books and placed all three back in their silk pouches, then placed them back into the satchel he had for them. He stood up and walked over to the girl, sitting down next to her. "Clark gave us a task. And explained what's going on. It seems we are not alone..."

"You're right about that. You're not alone." Came a foreign voice, and Lorenor turned towards it. Again, another set of strangers was able to creep up against his sensory grid without his knowledge of the situation. Lorenor saw a small group of six strangers walking towards them with mysterious weapons drawn. They were glowing with energy. The strangers all had their eyes covered with dark glasses of some sort and wore clothing similar to the clothing Clark wore, only colored in black and red. Lorenor heard a rough accent of some region or place he had never heard before. The man who spoke had long black hair tied into a ponytail and walked with a specific purpose. "Our informant told us we would be the only ones in this location. No matter, it seems that there is a spy amongst our unit." The man said without consequence or care. "Regardless. It seems that he got to you first. That is certainly a problem. He has a way with people." The man said casually revealing another piece of the puzzle. "Do not move, if you make any sudden movements we will kill you, understand? Nod if you understand."

Lorenor nodded simply and stood perfectly still. "What are you after?"

"That's none of your business. I am sure he told you about Mother Brain? A nod will do." Lorenor nodded. "Good. Then you have some idea of what the Oni are capable of." The man continued. "You should have left your companion to die, any injury will just slow you down ahead. Piece of advice. Escape while you can. You should never have listened to what he has told you. Shut your eyes and ears to them. You don't know what they are capable of." The man said. "And one more thing. Stay out of our way. We are after Mother Brain as well." Lorenor pondered protesting the man's words, but they had Makira and him outnumbered. It was their call for the time being so Lorenor played along. The mutant started to move to check on Makira, but the man threateningly aimed the mysterious weapon at Lorenor once more. "I told you man, no funny business." And there was a strange sound from the weapon he carried, a beam of radiant light proceeded to erupt from the device and was propelled forward a few inches from Lorenor's person. It left a dark blotch on the floor it connected with. "You only get one warning shot. The next shot is your ass." The man said.

"Jane. Examine the keypad and download any pertinent information you can, then wipe the drive clean. We don't want these people catching on to the plan at hand." One of the women gathered in their party nodded, and immediately walked over to the machine against the wall. The one with the symbols. Lorenor cursed in silence as he saw what was happening. "It hurts to be defeated so absolutely doesn't it? Don't feel too bad friend, business is business. We were just here first is all." Jane worked on the console for a few moments and suddenly became excited. "Sucochi, I found something! Come take a look." The leader of the small outfit, walked over to Jane's position and examined the console carefully. "Excellent Jane, that should be the spot. Clean house and let's get the hell out of here. We should evac within the next five hours." Sucochi turned towards Lorenor's position, Lorenor continued to obey the man's command. His eyes was locked on Makira's form. "There's plenty of temple for you to explore. We'll take care of Mother Brain for you. Don't make any attempt at following us."

"My men and I will kill you and your friend." And so, after doing something to the machine, the girl removed another strange device. "Done sir." The girl said. "Good. Fry it." She did something else, and the machine suddenly had smoke coming from its depths. To make matters worse, Sucochi fired the weapon against the machine once Jane moved out of the way. It was protocol and procedure. Lorenor admired their effectiveness. "Too bad there huh? We could've worked together in another life." As the men began to travel down the northern-most passage, one of the individuals in his party put a device next to the north hallway's exit. He activated the device, bowed towards Lorenor and walked off with the rest of the mysterious band. As soon as they walked away, the device glowed, and several beams of energy flowed across the threshold of the doorway effectively blocking Lorenor and Makira off from that particular path. Lorenor stood up once the left into the depths of the passageway and ran towards the blocked off door. He slashed his prevalida sword against the energy beams, it held, but the bars burst in an explosive light. Lorenor felt heat and energy crackle through the air.

"Fuck! They are after Mother Brain! We gotta find another way around now." Lorenor cursed again, sheathing his weapon and walking towards Makira's person. He looked down. "Makira, can you stand up, we have to get a move on now. Those bastards screwed us over..." And Lorenor took a glance at the broken machine, his heart felt broken at the loss of that piece of technology. The Golems would have been able to decipher its purpose...but now that was gone forever.

And the race began.

[Makira]

Makira didn't move the entire time the others were there. They were the people who saw her, the people who had watched her in the cage. Something else was bothering her as well. " Lorenor. I think..." she paused still reeling from her dream. There was no doubt in her mind that the dream was her insight to something. She didn't know if an artifact was pulling at a dormant ability in her mind, or it was in fact just a dream.

"I don't trust Clark." she had a perfectly good reason for it. Clark, was one of the men who beat her. One of a few. She was shaken from her dream and she had no wish to revisit it. Makira looked at the energy beams. They looked like the bars of the cage. She pulled her knees into her chest and her wings folded around her slightly.

She felt weak, like she was back in that cage. Thrown into the cage day after day, beating after beating. It was almost as if she could feel the sting of the blows, hear the laughter and voices of the onlookers as they walked by. She had never begged any to help her. They would've laughed or mocked her. She saw that in their eyes.

So she sat in her cage, her clothes becoming more tattered. Her knees drawn to her chest as they were now. She looked at Lorenor. " I'm not sure we should trust him. Or his words." She looked up at him, her eyes haunted.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

He heard her, but he was not listening. Keeping his hand on the grip of his weapon, Lorenor knew it was time to go. The mutant saw the look in her eye, she was like a caged beast. He shook his head. He held a hand for her to grab. "You need to stand up. We have to get moving." He nodded towards the bird. "You're doing a good job so far too." Lorenor said casually as he readied himself to venture on ahead. She was on her feet now, and the mutant let her hand go afterwards. His face was twisted in a deeply worried expression. One path was blocked off. Assuming that the people came from the other path, that path was fully explored too. So that only left the passageway to their East. Lorenor looked at the pool containing the coolant liquid once more and sighed. Then, an idea struck him. He grabbed one of his water skins, dipped the object into the pool and filled it with the pool's contents. Lorenor then walked over to the wall of bars. He knew that it was a long-shot, but it was worth a try. As soon as the substances settled at the bottom of the water skin, Lorenor felt a cold bursting through the container.

This cold was a deep sort of feeling. Archaic, vile, but not magical. It was a chemically induced sort of cold. Lorenor yelped as he felt his hand beginning to turn cold from the deep freezing substance. He launched the water skin in the general direction of the bars. As expected, the water skin burst from the weight of the energy. Liquid ice shattered across the bars, and the bars faded for a split-second. Lorenor saw that some of the ice was very sharp and traveled through the air. By some twist of luck, some of the ice struck the nearby device and split it into two pieces. The ice scrambled the device and the bars faded. Clark spoke of Mother Brain. The strangers had spoken of Mother Brain and now, Makira was speaking of Clark. Badly. Deciding that she was traumatized cause of her near-death experience, the mutant let her words go as heresy. Clark had helped her had he not? Why would he be giving them false information? Lorenor thought to himself. All though he was quite gullible, the mutant saw that Clark had physically helped Makira. There was no question about that. He turned towards Makira.

"He saved your ass. Doing a favor for him is the least we can do."

Lorenor saw the world in a black and white sort of way. He saw extremes, there was no middle-ground. Either you did something or you didn't do it, and Clark had promised them a way out. One way or the other, Lorenor was going to be sure that he collected on Clark's promise. Even if Clark did not deliver his promise, the mutant knew that the strangers possibly knew more than he did about the Temple of the Oni. When the device scrambled, there was a small bursting explosion. Lorenor sighed as his plan had worked, they now had two viable roads. Taking into heart what Sucochi had said, he assumed that everybody had their own agenda. All he could do was trust his own instincts and his two partners. Lorenor, angry by now, prepared to move deeper into this dungeon maze. "Come on Makira let's go. I know one thing and one thing only. Defeating Mother Brain is going to provide us an exit out of here." At least that's what Clark had promised him. Lorenor could not allow doubt to sink in his heart. He had to believe that Clark's words were true, he just had to. Lorenor only trusted in his own greed.

It had saved his ass countless times before. With those thoughts in mind Lorenor began to walk off towards the North passage. He walked over to the device, and tried to make sense of it for a moment. Assuming Makira would do no better than he, the mutant let the device go. It was too advanced for his feeble brain to understand. Lorenor moved a pace or two in the passageway, and waited for Makira and her familiar to catch up. In the meantime he took a look at his surrounding. There was still light everywhere, flowing from the mysterious stones. This section of the temple did not have the glowing energy boxes. Instead, there were symbols on the wall! Even more bizarre, the symbols were moving across the wall by themselves! Each time a symbol moved, it made a skittering sound across the air. Lorenor found the sound very discomforting. He could see darkness ahead. The passageway was lit up by the symbols. They had a bright green glow to them. Lorenor heard the sounds of fighting up ahead...

[Makira]

Makira tried again, though she was on her feet now. Her phoenix was on her shoulder. He wasn't listening to her. " Lorenor, i know that he helped me. Even so i do not trust him, his actions or his words." she stared at him planting her feet. She would have this argument now. He would listen to her. She was a not a feeble woman by any means. Nor was she swayed from her decision.

" How do you know his actions are not merely his own gain, that we are merely disposable pawns." she said crossing her arms over her chest. Her eyes reflected the stubborn streak of her actions evidently. It was an emotion not mistaken easily.

"We need to figure out his motive. I know nothing save he healed me. I know nothing more about him." To herself, except that he beat, hurt and humiliated me. She kept her eyes locked on Lorenor. She would be heard, and listened to. She would accept nothing else right this moment.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

He could hear the sound of battle intensifying up ahead. Lorenor focused on that for a moment, and then something happened. Something completely and utterly unexpected. Raising an eyebrow, he paused everything he was doing to listen to Makira's protest. Weren't you nearly dead a moment ago? Didn't I offer you an alternate way out other than accepting the help of some total strange? Now you are angry at someone who has helped you?! The mutant felt fury enter his heart. Not at Makira's words, but the actual fact that she was standing there questioning his logic. That really ticked him off. Lorenor listened to her rant for a long moment. Ideas swirled in his head, thoughts, suggestions from the endless. How dare you... Lorenor thought to himself but did not voice it right away. Instead, he sat there, wasting time whilst she yelled at him. I should have left you you selfish little bitch. In that one moment his entire opinion of Makira altered. He once looked at her with high respect being a companion of MetalDrago, and poentially, a member of the Red Hand.

Forced into the leadership position long ago, and then accepting the Counsel Member position, the mutant wanted his subordinates following orders at all times. He did not like units disobeying basic rank and file. Let alone questioning the basic situation at hand. Lorenor's eyes swirled with a dangerous fury for a brief moment, becoming a deeply swirling amethyst. However, this soon passed when the mutant took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. Keeping his anger in check, the mutant thought very carefully about the words he was going to speak next. Lorenor knew one other thing. She was knocked out during the entire conversation with Clark. Lorenor's main beef was with the fact that she hadn't sat there and conversed with Clark. The idea that Clark could have been lying to him crossed his mind at some point, but then he let it go. Clark's physical actions were on his side. That's all that Lorenor knew and he prepared a counter argument to the woman's words. He didn't want to argue with her, but the position was forced upon his shoulders to defend Clark's actions.

And so he would.

After he'd calmed himself down, the mutant spoke in a very quiet, low tone. He was speaking in a way that could not be perceived as being harsh or demeaning. However, he could not help but keep the grim expression on his face. "Look. Regardless of what you think you know, Clark volunteered and saved you. That's what I know. I sat there and physically talked to Clark. I don't have to trust him or his agenda. A favor is a favor. Eye for an eye. He saved your ass, now I have to ensure that I do what he has asked of me. It's fine if you don't agree. But I also know that those people are after Mother Brain as well. You don't have to agree with me, but we are going to help Clark whether you want to or not. We must work together to get out of here." Lorenor said, he spoke in a surprisingly calm tone of voice. He was angry at the situation at hand, but he was trying not to be angry at her.

"Look. Let's just get going. Otherwise they beat us to Mother Brain. I can't let them win in this. You coming or not?" Lorenor said and began to move towards the passageway. As far as Lorenor was concerned, the debate was over.

[Makira]

Makira sighed. He was right. " Lorenor. I trust you, that is the only reason i am going along with this. I don't trust him. He helped us to easily." she said. The phoenix hovered to her shoulder and she followed after him. If she liked the situation or not, Clark had an ulterior motive. She didn't know what. She followed only because Lorenor asked her to.

She was still annoyed but she put the thoughts from her mind. "I'm sorry for making it seem i do not trust your ways, logic or judgment. It is not you i question here." she said putting a hand on his shoulder. The tones were low, soft spoken in case someone was listening. Beast or other wise.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Walking into the hallway's depths, the mutant noticed that no symbols were floating around in the walls. Instead, symbols were painted onto the walls. These symbols had a particular syntax and imagery that Lorenor did not understand. They were quite similar to the symbols in the other hallway but somehow seemed to be more primitive. It almost looked like a child drew the symbols on the walls to express things about Althanas that they did not understand. Lorenor looked at the symbols for a moment, and then continued forward ever on the look-out for traps. His senses flowed outward in this section of the temple, and that troubled him deeply. He'd gotten used to having his sphere toyed with, but the mutant was not expecting his range to be reacquired so quickly. Lorenor kept his weapon drawn and prepared for a fight to break out at any moment. He half expected those strangers to show up at any moment as well. Lorenor walked very closely to Makira's position as he thought about the situation at hand. There were many questions, and the mutant found himself doubting certain matters.

"What the fuck is that?!" Lorenor suddenly exclaimed as they entered another chamber. Bodies were everywhere. Some of them were hideously ripped apart to the point where they were beyond recognition. Oni blood and Human blood was splattered everywhere. Lorenor recognized the suits that those strangers were wearing from before. Some of them were dead and or dying. Lorenor could see several large tubes filled with a glowing green liquid. These tubes contained Oni that appeared to be powerful looking to the mutant's eyes. Stepping into the room, Lorenor avoided attempting to step on remains as much as he could. He used his sword to swipe away bits of a body that was right in front of him. There were literally piles of bodies everywhere. Lorenor smelled an intense scent of death that caused him to growl slightly. He noticed that a small group of the strangers were apparently fighting something beyond his sight. As he walked forward, something grabbed his pants, near his ankles. Lorenor was startled briefly, but soon recovered.

He turned towards the source of the pull. Lorenor saw half of a body with his eyes strained in agony. It was a human male. He was part of that strange group of people that arrived before them. Lorenor kept his awareness together, prepared for anything, and knelt down towards the lad. "They must be stopped." The man struggled to speak in agony. "Who must be stopped?" Lorenor saw that the man strained against incredible pain. He was under such agony, that it broke the mutant's heart. Pondering a mercy kill, Lorenor simply continued to listen to what the man was saying. "My superiors. They were warned by the entities of this place. If they get to Mother Brain they are doomed. We are all doomed." The man said. Finally, he coughed up blood and the man died in a shudder of anguish. Lorenor shook his head at what he had just heart. "Mother Brain huh?" Lorenor remembered everything Clark had told him, and then he turned towards Makira. "We might have a problem here."

Lorenor said. "I don't have enough information to make any conclusions for ill or for well. But, I need to head further to see if we are being manipulated by Clark. I need to know the truth. Mother Brain has our answers and we must move forward in order to find them. Are you ready Makira? We must not show any fear." Lorenor said calmly and proceeded to move forward. They could not show any hesitation either. A few more screams filled the room and Lorenor turned towards the fight that was taking place. Two more of the humans died at the hands of...something. It was a big something. As Lorenor walked closer to their position, the mutant could see what that something was and his eyes went wide with shock. It was the largest Oni he had seen so far. The thing had white fur strewn throughout its body in patches. It stood at about eight feet in height, and weighed approximately several hundred pounds. The creature was a humanoid. It had large, powerful arms and equally powerful legs. On its face, the creature had a snapping maw that was currently dripping with blood and flesh. One of those things did all this!? What the fuck is going on here!? Grabbing the last human, the creature twisted the man's neck, broke it, and threw the body in Lorenor's general direction. With pale blue eyes, the creature turned to look at...

"Lorenor..." It said pronouncing each syllable of the mutant's name. "Lorenor...come boy. The Mother Brain awaits..." Lorenor blinked at that but acknowledged the request. He walked forward towards the Oni beast...

[Makira]

Makira sighed and followed. She looked at everything around. It all seemed liked it fit somehow. She wasn't sure. She followed Lorenor. Curious. Though he had somewhat admitted to agree with what she had said about Clark. She wasn't sure what Clark's plans for them had been. However, they knew two things. One, they were stuck in this place. Two, The mother brain seemed to be the way out. She preferred to get there under her own power. She stretched her wings and her shook her head to clear her thoughts.

The phoenix landed on Makira's shoulder. She walked following Lorenor. Though she admitted she'd rather be at his side instead of behind. She didn't really have a choice it seemed. It seemed more like this beast had only called him, seeing him as the current leader of their small two-man group.

She felt slightly annoyed at herself. Earlier... how weak she was. How..... She shuddered as the thoughts played. How womanly delicate she had been. Even from a battle wound. She wasn't sure what to make of it. Either case she was angry with herself more than anyone else. She could hardly blame him. Seeing as how he was the one helping her.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Holding the hilt of his weapon in his hand, the mutant clutched it tightly. He felt a comfort from the prevalida sword knowing that it would serve to cut whatever come his way. Even the creature. Piles of bodies filled the strange room that they were traveling through, there were more of those strange consoles against the walls with their equally strange key-symbols. Lorenor wanted to decipher the secrets of these symbols, but he knew there was no time. They were treading on territory where they were not welcome in the first place. Thinking back to the first encounter with that fox-girl the mutant found himself feeling quite irate at the fact that she'd abandoned him in this situation. However, the fates had been kind, and the mutant was granted a new companion. Thankful that the injury was now taken care of, he knew that Makira would be more careful in the near future. He walked a few paces behind the big creature. It was a behemoth! Standing at hill giant size, the creature had a nine-foot tall stature. It was hunched over visibly at its upper back region, the trapizius muscle group.

Its spinal column curved forward to accentuate the forward bending gesture. Lorenor noticed that the creature had spikes sticking through white fur that were made out of some sort of a metallic-organic substance. He wasn't sure what kind of material it was. Its fur was a thick hide that was very solid and seemed capable of good defensive measures. Lorenor noticed a smell coming from the creature as of a recent slaughter. Blood was caked in the thickly matted hair strands. The creature had large hands with three fingers a piece, and large feet. It walked in a slow, lumbering sort of way but it was purposeful and methodical. Lorenor observed the Oni creature for a long moment as he walked, and decided on drawing his weapon just in case the matter was decided that they would fight. He had to be careful not to step on the dead and dying. It seemed as though they had stumbled into the very fires of perdition itself. Lorenor walked in silence, keeping very close to Makira. He held his weapon so that it was pointed in a forty-five degree angle towards the ground, a few inches off the ground.

He moved quite deliberately so as to avoid stepping on what bodies he could avoid. There was a passage that lead to the North. And the mutant noticed that there were more bodies in this passageway as well. The big Oni crushed everything underfoot. It didn't seem to care that flesh was hanging off its feet. Lorenor noticed that fact and felt disgusted at the tremendous loss of life. Chains dangled from the ceiling, attached to the chains were chunks of more bodies that dripped blood and intestines on the ground. The mutant felt a strange feeling of euphoria from seeing such carnage, and at the same time, a sense of loss. There was no choice but to travel through the hell that was presented before them. At least there's nothing to fight at this point. We would have been clobbered by those fellas with the ray guns. Lorenor thought to himself. He continued the journey forward, and then stopped when the big Oni stopped. "Here." The Oni said and pressed his hand against a panel, console that glowed for a brief moment. Once the glow faded, there was rumbling from within the wall, and a set of doors seemed to manifest out of nowhere.

The doors carefully slid open. Lorenor felt a powerful presence and heard a battle from within. "Choose your path wisely, Carrier of N'Jal." The Oni said, and then moved away, vanishing into the depths of the hallway. After the Oni was gone, Lorenor turned towards the newly discovered chamber. He stepped inside. "Let's go Makira." And then, once he stepped inside he saw the battle he'd heard earlier. There were dead people everywhere, as a result of whatever abilities the Mother Brain possessed. The mutant was shocked to see that the men and women from the earlier engagement were fighting what appeared to be...a woman. Not just any woman, but a handsome woman. Lorenor's eyes went wide as he saw that the woman had a light flowing from around her very soul. She seemed to be projected from a large set of monitors against the far-end of the wall. On the screen was a series of powerful images that were too confusing for Lorenor to even begin to understand with his primitive mind. Then, he saw Clark standing to one corner of the chamber as if observing everything from afar.

The mysterious travelers that were encountered earlier were busily fighting the elegant woman. She had flowing robes on her person, that had many ribbons wrapping around her limbs. Two large scarf-like ribbons were visible around either of her wrists. She had a laugh. A piercing, laugh that was sort of comforting to hear. Lorenor stared at the situation for a long moment as he saw the Mother Brian construct slaughtering the people before her. One by one, the Mother Brain attacked with glowing chains, and dissected, dismembered, and utterly tore through the people attempting to fight her. A part of Lorenor wanted to approach Clark and beg for another way out. But as he thought that, the mutant realized Clark was looking at him with a sly grin. Then, he turned to look in the general direction of Mother Brain as if telling him what to do. Once the last of the travelers was cut down, the mutant looked towards Makira, and hesitated. "I don't know what to do. But I have one plan." Lorenor said and walked forward towards the woman. The woman had stopped attacking and now looked invitingly at the duo. The woman had long, flowing red hair and stark green eyes that seemed to glow.

Lorenor stopped when he was directly in front of Mother Brain. "Ah you. We've been expecting you." The Mother Brain said. "It seems that they got to you first. However, I am prepared to make you a better offer than what they can give you." Lorenor suddenly frowned at that notion. "Betrayal? You're asking me to betray Clark?" Lorenor asked, knowing that's what was being placed on the table. "I can offer you and your companion your lives. If you'll only spare us." The Mother Brain very casually. There was no malice in her voice. Then the mutant felt the manipulative cords of Clark behind him. Lorenor began to twitch at what was being said. He heard a whisper in his ear that only he could hear. "We saved your friend. Join us Lorenor. All we want is what you want. Freedom. Salvation. You hold the key for us." Lorenor stared at the Mother Brain's bosom as it rose and fell against the constraints of its dress. The mutant felt very hot suddenly, very haughty. He turned to Makira after having made up his mind. "Makira. What I am about to do, I do not wish to put you in any sort of danger. Please stand back." He turned towards Mother Brain suddenly with his weapon drawn. "Your defeat is our key!" Lorenor suddenly yelled and prepared to attack the Mother Brain.

"Fool!" She said angrily.

In the distance, Clark seemed to laugh in victory.

[Makira]

Makira had walked on the bodies. They were dead, the dead have no care what happened to them. She listened, she waited and followed. Lorenor however seemed to be more paranoid. She didn't care. She told him her advice, her words. He did not listen. This was no longer her choice to change his mind. Let him be foolishly chivalrous, let his do what he wished. Her goal was to kill clark. That was what she was going to do.

Partially it was because she had no wish to owe anyone anything, being in someones debt was a hassle. Secondly, she didn't trust him, his words or anything he had done. Lorenor voiced his hesitation, then his words. She saw him go into battle. Saw Clark's victory. She approached him. She merely stood there. Her arms crossed over her chest. The black phoenix found a high perch to stay away from harm.

"Is there a reason your so confident in yourself?" She asked. Lorenor could see the action how ever he wished. He had asked her to stay back. She could do that, she had no intention of defeating the woman anyhow. Clark was the one with the offer, clark was the one the dreams had warned her of. She didn't care if this was a temple or a damn graveyard. The man would die here amongst the other bodies.

She had no care for gods or goddess's, no mind for religion, nor a desire for one. She followed herself, remained faithful to her instincts. Everyone was screaming at her that Clark was not to be trusted. She would follow those instincts. They kept her alive longer than she cared to remember.

Her hand drew the blade that Lorenor had lent her comforted by the metal. The other hand held one of her own knives. The whip remained coiled. "Why is it your so damn smug in the face of this carnage, or better yet why not fight her yourself." She both questioned and accused.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Looking at Makira for a moment, Clark's handsome face became very serious. His eyes sparkled with a sort of hungry malice that lurked there. "You are quite clever to attempt to challenge me after I've helped you. But your friend has already chosen a side. This is a game. A game that's been played long before you two ever wandered into this place and the pieces are now moving to a check-mate." Clark knew that Makira, nor Lorenor could understand the things that he was privy to. It was like trying to explain quantum mechanics to a roach. "There are rules in this house. All along you've all been puppets being pulled by a puppeteer. It doesn't matter which side you choose, so long as you chose a side. And your friend, has sided with us." Clark said, still wearing the smug smile. "Believe me young one. If it were, possible for me to move directly against Mother Brain. I would. But unfortunately, the rules dictate that we must use mortals to play our game. You all have done rather nicely this time. It's amazing what you fools would do for a few Scraps of the Oni."

Clark laughed at that. "So have at it child. If you wish to fight directly against me, I will ensure that your injury from before, remains permanent!" And Clark moved to a fighting position. With that, a sword manifested in his hand. A sword made out of an advanced material not native to the world of Althanas. Its material seemed to literally glow with raw energy, as the blade reflected light. Clark's laugh came to an end. He looked at the girl for a long moment and remained in that combat position, allowing her to make the first move. Clark wore no visible armor, but his sword was impressive in nature. It seemed to glow with the same symbols that were etched all over the temple walls. The blade was long, curved and balanced with off-world technology. Appearing to be quite ancient, and masterwork in quality, the weapon gave off a hate that was pure. From the sword, there was a noise that was given off, a noise of thousands of screaming souls. Clearly, the weapon gave off a terrible power. Potentially, it gave off its own life-force hinting at a certain level of sentience...

"Your move." Clark said calmly with a sadness in his eyes that seemed sincere. "Make it count little pawn."

***

Mother Brain evaded yet another attack. She moved with skill and speed that was unmatched and unparalleled to anything that the mutant had ever seen before. "Do you not hear the carrion coming for your soul?" Mother Brain said to the mutant as he concentrated on an aggressive sort of melee style. It dawned on him, that Makira had prepared to engage Clark. He could no longer protect her at that point. The mutant swung his weapon with all the skill he could muster, all the deadly precision he was known for. Then, just as all of the previous attempts, the woman dodged with decisive movement. "Are you really the greatest warrior that Clark could send against me? You're so pathetic, you cant even keep up!" And she was right, at that right she had him. Lorenor realized that Mother Brain was playing with his head, using him as nothing more than one would use chess piece on a battlefield. Making an effective counter swing against one of her previous movements, the mutant caught air. She was capable of moving at blinding speeds, contributed by the laws of the machine against the wall.

Either way it went, the mutant understood that he faced a dire situation. He understood that things were rapidly going south. Moving forward again, the mutant met with more air. As the time passed, his heart was growing heavy and his muscles were growing tired. She evaded another attack and the mutant collapsed on the ground, balanced by his sword. "Clark is waiting for you, do you not want all that he has promised you?" Mother Brain taunted. Her well formed bosom rising and falling with each of her heated breaths. Moving like a ghost, she glided towards his person and placed a hand underneath Lorenor's chin so that he looked up at her. Her claws extended and they held him in place, he grimaced and hissed. "You poor boy. How about a kiss, to mark the occasion?" The Mother Brain said coldly, and the mutant frowned vividly at that. She leaned forward, showing her handsome cleavage, and kissed the mutant deeply. Preparing him for the final act. Purifying him so that he could face his destiny without fear. "And now boy, you will fall."

***

Tasting her lips was like tasting honey. A part of him yearned for Mother Brain, and his heart was heavy with regret. However, Lorenor was a mutant of his word. He kept to his promises, and he knew that Clark had contracted him for a mission. Mother Brain threatened to destroy everything the mutant stood for, and everything he fought for. Lorenor could not allow such a world to come to pass. There could be no Althanas without a Lorenor. A part of him knew that he was that much of a megalomaniac. "I'm afraid I cannot allow the creation of such a world. A world without Lorenor." He said calmly. "Oh? You still feign a battle? Very well then boy. To the hell with you!" When she said that the mutant started to laugh in Mother Brain's face. "I've been there. Do your worse." At that point, Mother Brain released one of her chains and captured the mutant, by wrapping the chain around his neck. "Urrgh!" He shouted once he felt cold steel wrap around his throat and begin to squeeze. Is this the end? Lorenor thought out to the void. This time, there was no voices to respond to his plea, and he was fighting all alone.

All he could depend on was his own cleverness and bad assery.

[Makira]

Makira smiled. "Sad, the player seems to be fighting a queen who has the kind in checkmate. She launched a Shadow matrix. She was hoping to damage him. That's from there she launched herself up onto a higher perch. The flames burned him and shocked him, that's all she needed. He was disoriented. She dove for him and managed a slice across his arm. She managed to dodge most of his attacks. She received a good slash across her arms. She had to use both to block him.

She stepped back, his sadness was now anger that she had scored a hit. She grinned and fell to the ground kicking at his knees. She dislocated the socket in his left knee bringing him down. Then she kicked him in the face. She was avoiding all contact with his blade as possible. He slashed at her leg when he fell he manages a score to her thigh but not the femoral artery.

She smiled shoved him to the ground and held his arm behind his back and u. She highly doubted the man was double jointed so no doubt his groan, wasn't from anything but pain. She was shocked that she was moving faster, probably do to him. But that was just fitting to the irony. "Well i believe that is checkmate." She said.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Clark grinned where his face should have been in tremendous pain. "Oh my dear pawn, look at where your friend has gotten himself to." Clark said casually. "A true manipulator doesn't use all of his pieces until the very end of the game. And I am afraid that you are right about one thing. There is a check-mate. Just not on your side." Clark said casually. Then, there was a tremendous rush of wind, and Clark was no longer beneath Makira. He had moved. When he reappeared, Clark's injuries were gone. He'd repaired himself with some sort of power known only to Clark's kind. Looking down at Makira, he pointed his sword to the back of her neck. "I could kill you right now, but you still have a purpose." Clark said. Then he looked at Lorenor's general direction. "Lorenor! Finish the job, or your friend dies!" And further incentive was placed on the mutant's shoulders. Clark kept his eyes in Lorenor's general direction, holding his majestic weapon against the girl's neck with relative ease. He held the weapon at a downward, forty-five degree angle.

"End-game children. Time to choose a side." Clark yelled to both Makira and Lorenor.

***

Seeing something fitting in what was about to happen, the mutant suddenly began to laugh. He stared at Mother Brain with an accepting facial expression. His eyes were narrowed, and his body was growing slack even as he held the chain that bound him place. Lorenor was lifted a few feet off of the ground by that same chain. "I am going to crush you!" She said as she stared at him, her fiery red hair flowing in some breeze generated by her person. As Lorenor began to laugh, he called back to her. "Is that really the best you can do?" Blood already trickling down his lips as he spoke. He was running out of options and fast. Lorenor had only one contingency plan. Only one. Feeling the heat from her body as she glided towards him, the mutant prepared to enact his plan. Hearing Clark's words, and realizing that Makira was in danger only added fuel to the fire. Lorenor looked at her as he struggled to keep his neck tight. "Why don't you come here and finish things?" He taunted. And Mother Brain complied, she didn't see his hand hiding behind his back, or what it was forming.

[Makira]

She used her shadowed illusion it was easy wit that quick disorientation to get out of the situation. "Lorenor fighting really isn't getting us anywhere." She said and kicked Clark in the back of the head using as much force to throw him against the wall. He lost his grip on the sword and it clattered away from him on the floor. "In fact I'm getting tired of being a bloody pawn." She hissed out threw a dagger into clarks back. It was there right under his ribs she missed the vitals for which she cursed but the blade was the one Lorenor had lent her. It damn well would hurt.

" Enough of your games. I am no pawn, to gods, to people to anyone." She growled.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

He concentrated for a brief moment. Feeling the blood flowing down his arm, and through his epidermis, the mutant gathered the strength he needed for one last surprise. "We might be pawns. But even a pawn can kill a King. Or a Queen..." Lorenor managed to choke those words out even as he formed what he was preparing. When the power coursed through his arm, pulsing outside into the air, the Mother Brain realized what was happening all too late. Attempting to toss Lorenor aside, the mutant gathered enough blood to fuel the attack he was preparing. Using a pre determined amount of blood pool, the mutant focused his power into one singular thought. He was going to end this game once and for all. As he was tossed aside like a rag doll, Lorenor released the Plague Grenade. A black cloud of nano-machinery filled the air and traveled quickly through the oxygen ridden substance. Lorenor had programmed the attack to attempt to take care of both Clark and Mother Brain. The mutant was preparing to forge his own destiny.

"To Haidia with the both of you!" Lorenor yelled as he was slammed against a nearby wall. The chain lashed out at the moment, as more chains suddenly and sporadically came at him and flew about in every direction possible. Just as Lorenor was about to taste defeat, the mutant saw that the plague latched onto the epidermis of the two opposing forces. "Makira! Take cover!" Clark was the first to realize what Lorenor had done. "You bastard! You betrayed us!" Clark yelled in frustration as he realized the tables had been turned! The nano-virus attached itself at the molecular level against Clark and Mother Brain's flesh. Quickly digging through their epidermis, the entities yelled in agony, at the same time as the virus hit the both of them. Lorenor gasped, struggling to get his breath. As the Mother Brain was infected by the nano-virus she ran and vanished into the largest monitor against the back wall. Clark looked at Lorenor for a moment with a sad expression on his face, but he was a man of his word as well. Clark understood how Lorenor functioned. Manifesting an object in his hand with what power remained, he created a special key. "Lorenor! Hurry! Use this key to get out of here!" The mutant grabbed his own throat as he looked at Clark and the key. "Why are you helping us?!" Lorenor suddenly yelled.

"I am a man of my word. Believe me on that. You helped me so I am helping you. Fair is fair. Follow the door towards the East and take that passage to get out of here. You will find something useful along the way for both of you." Clark said. "In the meantime, I will keep Mother Brain busy." Clark said. Somehow, the rules of the game had changed. Lorenor looked at the monitors as they flashed madly, infected by the plague. Nodding calmly, he moved towards Makira's position, extended his hand, and held onto her person, lifting her up off the ground. He ran with Makira in his arms, knowing that the bird would follow. Now that Clark and Mother Brain were infected, they were mutating, and the field was decidedly different than what existed previously. Lorenor ran at best speed after making sure he'd sheathed his weapon. Running towards the East, the mutant made his way towards the exit of the Temple. Holding onto Makira, he saw a side chamber that appeared to be a vault of some sort. Lorenor, held onto Makira and entered the vault-chamber for a moment so that they could claim their well-earned prizes.

The mutant grabbed himself an Artifact Device that seemed to be the technology native to the Oni. He was satisfied with something to keep his thoughts occupied for the time being. He waited for Makira to grab something for herself after placing her gently on the ground. "Take your pick Makira. But hurry. They are coming." Lorenor said as he felt the very temple itself beginning to shake and change. Soon they would be forever trapped within the hellish place. The mutant placed the Artifact Device and the Key away. He would have to wait until he had a chance to test the Artifact Device in order to discover its purpose. The Golems would know what it was. In the meantime, he saw an orb that shown with a brilliant darkness. He grabbed that orb too, knowing that he would have no time to grab anything else. After he'd possessed both of the objects, the mutant was satisfied and decided that he would experiment with the objects in due time. Soon, he would discover their purposes. He heard screaming coming form down the hallway and continued to look at Makira with a worried look.

"Take what you can, but lets hurry." Lorenor had assumed, that Makira recovered her dagger from Clark.

[Makira]

Makira nodded. She didn't hesitate, her instincts had gotten her far enough. She grabbed a Blue crystalline pendant that seemed to pulse with the same energy the she felt from her dreams. As well as a blade. She sheathed the blade and held the pendant, she placed it around her neck. " Dammit we really don't have time for this." She looked around not caring for the money at that moment. the phoenix grabbed something in its talons. She put it out her mind. It looked like it called to him. Perhaps a phoenix armor. She didn't care.

She looked to the exit. " Move it!" She shouted and grabbed lorenors arm to drag him behind her if she had to. The Phoenix was flying ahead to the exit.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Wanting to stay behind and grab more stuff, the mutant knew he had someone else to take care of. If it was his decision to make, he would definitely have attempted to quell his greed. However, this was not his only decision to make at the time being. He'd danced with titans and lived to tell about it. As he gathered himself and was pulled by Makira's strong will, he took one last look at the technology level of the Oni. There were devices and equipment pieces of all sorts. More orbs were visible, and there were stock piles of gold. The mutant saw that there were large totem poles that were intricately carved that represented the various cultures of Akashima, and other areas of Althanas. It seemed clear that the Oni spread out from this main area and liked to collect various things from distinct cultures. Most importantly, they were gold hoarders. Lorenor saw large piles of gold. He longed to grab at least a handful of the stuff, but saw that there was no time. Once he was dragged back into the hallway, Lorenor saw that they were being chased. And the something that was chasing them was the Oni from before. The big white thing.

"Fuck! Its that thing from before!" The mutant yelled with great aggravation. Seeing the huge lumbering beast that guided him to the Mother Brain, Lorenor heard a continuous roar coming from the creatures mouth. "Run! We probably stand no chance against it." Lorenor said with a certain sense of acceptance in his voice. He'd been able to barely out-smart Mother Brain and Clark and come out the winner of the three. He'd relied on a partner, and had earned much more than any reward could measure. Makira's friendship, and respect. So, taking the rear point in the party, Lorenor urged Makira to move on ahead. "Move ahead, I'll buy us time. Don't worry about me. I always have a trick up my sleeve!" Lorenor handed Makira the Key that Clark had given him. "Use this to escape. I'll be right behind you. Trust in me Makira." Lorenor said with a sly grin. Then, he turned towards the behemoth heading their way. Drawing his prevalida sword, the mutant prepared for what was coming. He was ready for anything, even his own demise.

However, if he could help it, he was not willing to simply throw his life away for a lost cause. Instead, the mutant attempted to out-think the behemoth and what it might do. Mentally planning out the next few moments of his life, Lorenor knew he was treading on unfamiliar territory. The unknown, and a certain fear of the situation settled in the mutant's black heart. Holding his weapon in his hands, the blade trembled with his own for a visibly. Lorenor was scared, and he knew it. He knew that he could very possibly die thanks to a few scraps of the Oni. It was all right though, he'd managed to save a friend. That's all that mattered to him. His greed was justified in that sense. Lorenor saw that the behemoth covered the ground quickly between its former position and its current position. The mutant held his ground. He assumed that Makira had made a break for it. "Come on, let's do it!" Lorenor yelled, and began to run towards the creature. He'd encountered several distinct types of the Oni already, including three of the larger devils.

This one would be a pain in the ass to bring down. Sensing the power emanating from the creature, Lorenor jumped forward to cover the rest of the distance to his opponent. Rotating his weapon in both of his hands, the mutant prepared to face what he was going to face. Lunging forward, the beast roared again, and extended its maw. Its mandible structure was warped through a conscious control mechanism. Lorenor saw that the face of the creature became distorted as raw muscle, tissue and bone was pulled in a downward motion to the point where bone popped, the epidermis was torn, and the fangs of the best were jutting forward. The mutant immediately respected the creature's power. With his advanced senses, Lorenor could see the glowing green blood flowing from beneath the flesh of the beast. Its heart was like a factory that pumped the substance throughout the massive body of the beast. Studying the heart for a moment, the mutant realized that the thing was massive and possessed more than four-chambers. He admired the monstrosity before him.

A hunger lurked in his belly as he prepared to strike against the creature. He was eager to taste the blood of the Oni. Moving his weapon forward, the mutant was in the range he excelled the most at, extreme close combat range. As he lunged forward, the monstrosity lunged forward at the same time. Lorenor's sword sang through the air and the masterwork prevalida weapon was aimed upward into the belly of the beast. Lorenor noticed that the creature did not seem afraid, and ran forward anyway. With huge arms, it swiped towards Lorenor's head. The mutant didn't even bother attempting to move. Once the huge paw of the beast struck against the side of his head, the mutant prepared for the worst. He felt the blood flowing down from the position where his sword struck the creature, and then he pushed upwards attempting to maul the beast in place. Lorenor felt a tremendous headache as if his brain were going to leak out of his ears. Where the creature had struck him, several fresh cuts bled his own black blood down the side of his head. Lorenor felt the creature attempting to crush his skull as it held on.

Still looking the beast right in the face, the mutant prepared to accept his fate. He continued to stab his sword upwards, knowing that he'd caused a serious injury. Moving against the momentum of the beast, Lorenor suddenly pulled, and he pulled hard. He ripped the sword right out of the creature's body, pulling it through the side of the beast and breaking open the creature's rib cage. Lorenor saw several more bursts of green blood and the great beast howled in frustration. The mutant was grabbed and lifted up and off the ground. In a moment, the mutant was slammed against the ground as the behemoth prepared to make a feast out of him. Lorenor was not going to stand for that. The creature moved in for the kill even as he was bleeding to death. Moving with a burst of adrenalin, Lorenor suddenly lunged at the neck of the beast when it was in range. The mutant's face expanded as he revealed his maw and razor-sharp teeth. Lorenor bit down against the neck of the creature, and it yelled in frustration. Lorenor's claws pierced the flesh of the beast.

He prepared himself for the final moments of his life, as the beast writhed and twisted in agony. Lorenor felt blood gushing into his mouth. It was a rancid sort of flavor but he did not care at this point, he just wanted to defeat his opponent. As the behemoth writhed and twisted, it lifted Lorenor up and off the ground one more time, slammed him against a nearby wall in an attempt to remove the mutant and suddenly, it became lax. Lorenor fell to the ground as green blood poured down his face. The mutant gasped as he laid there, with the serious injury to his face. The blood was a rare monster's breed and the mutant's head suddenly cleared. He looked up at the ceiling and could see the memories of the creature flash before his eyes, assuming command of his peripheral vision. Lorenor saw what the behemoth saw and and knew. He saw that the Oni was a race of monsters that were once native to Akashima. When the temple appeared on Althanas many aeons ago, the native monsters were captured by the denizens of the temple.

Lorenor saw Clark, Mother Brain, and many of the denizens he had not met in his sojourn into the temple. He'd saw many thousands of them, all conspiring against one another. They used their great knowledge and lack of ethics against the monsters of the Akashiman wilderness. In an attempt to control life itself, the denizens of the temple grew power hungry. As they captured more and more of the Akashiman monsters, the mutant saw that there came a time when they captured powerful monsters. Soon, there was a rebellion of some sort. Lorenor saw that many of the creatures sided with the faction under Clark's influence. Some sided with Mother Brain, still other types sided with their own causes. Thanking N'Jal for this blessing, Lorenor continued to observe the memories of the behemoth as his blood coursed through the mutant's veins. Somehow, Lorenor felt stronger than before, as his regenerative powers worked to seal the injuries inflicted on his person. However, he was tired. He'd received a number of serious injuries and he simply lay on the floor as the memories past.

Seeing that the creature was now infected with Lorenor's infection, the mutant stared up at the beast. "Know peace. Kill yourself." Lorenor said, and obeying the mutant's command, the creature removed the mutant's sword and impaled its own heart and died. The sword was on the floor between the mutant and the behemoth. It was art. It was a beautiful death. And then, the mutant heard the temple start to shake violent. He felt the thing begin to move somehow. The mutant vaguely wondered what was happening, but the rational side of him didn't care very much at all. He simply stared at the ceiling accepting his fate. You knew this was a one way trip kid. Lorenor thought to himself. And that's when he heard the boot-falls coming his way. Lorenor looked in the general direction of the newcomer and sighed. He couldn't fight whatever it was. Then, a familiar scent filled his sensory array. He could see Clark brushing up against his senses now. Partially, he felt relief, and another part felt incredible amounts of fear.

"Lorenor. It can't end this way. After all we are free because of you." Clark said. "At long last, we will be free of this prison." The man continued. He knelt down to Lorenor's position. "Seeing the Oni's memories you now know the truth. I must compliment you. You are a strong bastard." Lorenor saw that Clark somehow appeared much different than how he appeared before. For starters, he wore all black now. His eyes had a much more decidedly sinister appearance. "The Oni grew too powerful for us to contain. So we had to cheat our fates. We hit within the monitors on the walls. We hid within the temple itself." Clark continued. "In defeating Mother Brain and sealing her to her prison, you freed the rest of us. She was the last lock we needed in order to obtain our freedom and continue the cycle anew. No no. There is no gratitude needed. There is no thanks we can give you. It simply is the way it is. Playing into our game, and obeying the rules of the battlefield you played into our hand. We wanted someone powerful enough to defeat the Mother Brain, and we got you instead. Your friend was right. We were not to be trusted."

Lorenor listened to all of that and remained quiet. Even with the confession of the grand scheme, the dark side of the mutant could somehow relate to the desperate need for survival. The desperate need to outwit one's foes. And even Death itself. Nodding casually. Lorenor found the strength to speak. "All I ask is that you allow Makira safe passage out of here." Clark nodded at that. "I am a man of my word, you don't even need to ask such a thing. I am here to inform you of what has come to pass, and what shall be. We have now been given free reign to challenge those that would bind us. You have enemies now Lorenor. Enemies from beyond your world. Those that would seek to destroy our community would come for you now for involving yourself in the game." Clark said. "Who are they?" The mutant asked. "The people from before?" Clark nodded. "You are owed an explanation. They are off-worlders. Devious pirates attempting to use our arcane knowledge for their own purposes. They have no loyalty or honour except to themselves." Clark said. Lorenor saw that Clark stood up at that point.

"My fellows are moving now. They are preparing to leave this place at long last. Now we can continue our conquest of life itself. Now we can continue to explore the matrix of reality." Clark said. None of it made any sense to reality. "With this parting, know this Lorenor. We will meet again one day. You will know the hand of my brothers when you come across it. In defeating Mother Brain your fate is now inexorably tied to our own. And with that, we must part. You no longer belong in this vessel of the gods." Clark said finally ending the long order. "Close your eyes my dearest Lorenor, and when you awaken them you will no longer be inside this temple." Lorenor did as Clark asked. He felt the man touch his face, and then there was a brilliant flash of light, and nothing. Darkness filled his very soul and then he knew peace. It felt like death had settled in his very heart, and he was thankful for it. For a part of him knew, even though he had chosen to attempt to defeat Mother Brain and Clark, Clark had proven the superior opponent. With Mother Brain's defeat, the final seal was broken and Clark and his tribe of people were free to venture into Althanas proper as they pleased.

When Lorenor awakened some aeons later, he found himself standing next to Makira. And with that realization of physical reality, he realized that they were surrounded! "Now what!?" The mutant cursed. When he turned to look in the general direction of his new opponents, he saw a horde of the monkey-bastards waiting for them.

[Makira]

Makira had gotten out regretting leaving lorenor behind. But once outside she had no time bother. The oni were there. She was immediately engaged in combat with the Oni beings. She didn't have much of a choice. She grabbed the sword that she had acquired and cut down what she could.

She had three down and not comming back, little good it did her. Her legs were injured the oni clawing and biting there first. She fought was she could. There was a flash of lights and the oni paused. The temple was sinking and the lights from it. Lorenor was at her side. She had no time to wait out this fascinating light show. She grabbed lorenor and launched herself into the air. She was a good half a mile up and the Oni couldn't get to her.

"Dammit Lorenor we have to get out of here." Her wings beat powerfully as she launched them through the forest. The branches were hard to dodge, her wings getting nicked. She didn't care. it hurt like hell that her wings were battered and bloody. But she flew to the village. " Do not move to much. not much further." She said she could see it. The phoenix was ahead, he had stopped at the village.

She was dizzy, too much pain. her wings were probably nearly broken. She let him go when she was out of the woods with a scream. a branch had hit a wings bone. SHe fell to the ground her legs bloody, her wings cut into. It hurt like hell but she knew it would heal if she didn't use them. She lay with her wings outstretched the right wing evidently injured. Loose feathers around her. The oni was off the chase now that they were in a village. The phoenix landed next to her. It was silent.

The phoenix knew it couldnt help, but it was still worried. It looked to Lorenor for help and sqwaked softly. Makira was passed out the pain a bit much.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Of course, the shock of being transported by Clark from point a to point b was such a sudden act, he had no choice but to be pulled up by Makira's person. Before Lorenor could even mount any sort of resistance, she managed to barely lift his 200lbs person up and off the ground. Considering that Makira probably possessed a great resolve and a great strength, the mutant grew to admire her even more. As Makira traveled through the wilderness, the mutant found branches cutting through his clothing and biting through flesh. Smaller wounds were regenerated quickly, but the bulk of his injuries were already a bit too much. Clark had not managed to completely heal the mutant, but rather, the mutant was sped along the regenerative process. Feeling the influence of Clark's energy, Lorenor was in a state of euphoria. Wind on his brow, the cloak he constantly wore flapped around his person. He could see the panoramic aerial view of Akashima proper. There were lowlands and high-lands and the island was much larger than it previously lead on. Makira sped quickly through the forest. The mutant was about to protest and have her slow down when the injury happened.

Blood pulsed everywhere and Lorenor was quickly dropped several feet to the ground. He tumbled through tree branches, twigs, leaves, and other forest items. In a brief moment, he saw the ground coming rapidly against him. Something familiar wrapped itself around the mutant's body and presented a cushion with which to buffer anymore potential damage. The Endless was silent throughout the whole ordeal in the temple without Lorenor really understanding why. Now that they were outside again, the Endless functioned normally and created the protective barrier. Lorenor hit the ground hard, nearby to Makira's person. All wind was knocked out of the mutant's lungs. He gasped for air as he looked at his partner's position. He tried to speak but could not for no voice traveled from his lungs. Clutching at his chest, he lay there against the ground. Then, he felt a presence moving up against his sensory array. Now what? Looking up, Lorenor saw a man coming up to them. He was a native Akashiman dressed in flashy robes, and wearing strange medallions and necklaces. He was bald except for a single long braid that extended from the back of his head. He had a long, thin, mustache that extended from his chin. His eyes were strangely blue that had a glow to them. The man walked up to the two fallen adventurers.

"That was quite a fall you two took there. We had a pool going against you two. It seems you two did something to piss the Oni off. Fitting." The man looked at Makira and noticed the injuries. "Your friend needs a lot of help and so do you. However, your injuries are beyond my capacity to heal, Haidian." Lorenor heard the man say.

After a few moments, the mutant caught his breath as air returned to his lungs. He was able to speak, but only just. Looking up at the monk, the mutant blinked a few times before actually putting his thoughts to words.

"How do you know my origins?" The man reached down and grabbed Lorenor by the collar. Then, amazingly enough, the man lifted Lorenor up and off the ground so that they were facing eye to eye. The man spat on the ground after that. "You wreak of that bastard land." The monk said. "My Ancestors were killing your kind during the Demon War." Lorenor noticed that the man took a deep sniff of the air around the mutant. "You are not like most of the Orckin or Trollken I encounter from Haidia. You are different. You are more like those blood-suckers." Then, Lorenor was thrown several paces forward to the ground. Landing with a thud, the mutant had a chance to think one thing only. Man I'm having a really shitty day. A part of him wanted to be back in the temple with Clark and Mother Brain. The monk walked over to Makira and examined her injured wings. "You are not like the Haidians. You don't smell like you hold any true allegiance to them." He said to Makira. "Yet you are traveling with this monstrosity." The man continued. Lorenor was just gathering himself and barely able to get up.

Just then, the monk pointed his hand towards the mutant. There was a flash of light that extended roughly four feet from the monk's hand and a sword that was not previously visible anywhere on the monk's person manifested. The monk held his ground near to Makira's person. "Hold your position, devil." The monk said. Lorenor saw a conflict occurring in the man's eyes. The eyes held something dark within them that glowed with the fury of a thunderstorm. The mutant could finally stand. He sensed a terrible light emanating from the monk for the first time. In the Antifirmanent, he was able to detect powerful energies flowing from the monk. A direct confrontation was simply out of the question. Lorenor drew his sword anyway. "Move away from my friend!" Lorenor managed to sound somewhat intimidating. "Your friend you say? Most interesting. The scriptures and ancient writings state that your kind does not befriend humanity so easily." Lorenor began to move towards the man and that's when he felt it. "Hold. Or I will crush you!" The monk said.

"Damn!" Lorenor cursed. He kept his switching from the monk, to Makira's person. The phoenix was by Makira's side. The mutant was just now sensing the raw power emanating from the monk's skin. Lorenor saw a brilliant circle of light surrounding the monk. There were writings on the circle that seemed to be a language of symbols native to the Akashimans. In either event, it seemed like gibberish to the mutant. He took a step back from the blinding light and covered his eyes. "You can see can't you? You possess True Sight." The monk said. "The Light pierces the Living Dark." The monk said to nobody in particular. After that Lorenor saw that the monk focused on something in the wild. "You can come now." He called to someone out there. Then, several presences detached themselves from the wilderness. Now what the fuck is going on? Lorenor thought to himself as he saw several more of the strangely dressed monks. Now there were five all together. And Lorenor suddenly realized what these people were. Akashiman Warders. Lorenor understood he was now facing the very reason he ventured into Akashima in the first place. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the Monks. Only the monk who was talking seemed to give off the Glorious Light.

The mutant found himself concerned for Makira's safety above his own natural concern. If it came down to it, he would trade his own life for Makira's safety. The monk walked closer towards Lorenor's position. "We've been waiting for you. We saw you enter. Something dark was summoned in the woods, and we suspect it was your doing." The monk said. "We have laws in Akashima, we do not tolerate the natural order being toyed with by such heretic power." Finding himself at a loss for words, the mutant merely listened as he looked at their general direction. He mostly focused on Makira. "Interesting. You really do care for this child." The monk said. He walked closer, and the Glorious Light seemed to diminish at the monk's command. However, Lorenor could sense the heat flowing from the man's person. Burning his epidermis, the mutant could feel the awesome power of the light. He knelt down upon the ground. "Don't come any closer!" Lorenor managed to yell. "I am afraid things are beyond your control, devil. You've managed to survive up until this point because we've allowed it to be so." The monk said. He continued to speak. "However, we are not completely cold. We are going to give you a choice. My superiors have known that you were going to arrive on Akashima for some time now. We have prepared long and hard for this moment. We knew you would enter this temple of the Oni." The monk continued. "I was told not to interfere until the very end, which is now."

"What sort of a choice will you offer me?" Lorenor was almost afraid to find out. The monk grinned at that and reached down, placed a finger underneath the mutant's jaw and pushed upward so that Lorenor looked up at the monk. "Purification. Either you accept to be purified without struggle, or..." the monk said. "...Or...you perish with blade in hand." Lorenor thought about the odds of survivability against this newly discovered enemy. Without realizing, his actions had made enemies of the Akashiman warders. The mutant found himself without much of an option, much of a battle-plan at all. He was submitted to his fate, and could only sigh heavily. "What the matter, Haidian? No words in your defense." The mutant shook his head. But after a moment he looked up at the monk and started to speak. "If you heal my friend and let her go, I will accept whatever fate you have in store for me." Lorenor said, being completely sincere. "I will not resist. Just let my friend go is all I ask." The mutant knew that end-game had arrived. It was now do or die. All that mattered was ensuring Makira and her bird's safety.

I should never have come here...

[Makira]

Makira floated to consciousness, the voices game her something to follow. "Leave him alone." She whispered, weak and haggard. She didn't nearly die to get him away from the temple for this reason. She tried to move her hands, to help her sit up, she had lost to much blood, her right hand was useless from her battle with Clark. She tried moving her wings but the minute movement of that one wing and she groaned in pain.

The oblivion of unconsciousness was welcome but she fought against it. She tried still with her left arm to stand or even sit up. It was a damn hard struggle to even get the arm under her. By then the strength failed her and she couldn't even gather it to work that much. Her body was covered in a light dew of sweat both from the temple and from this struggle to even sit up. "Lorenor... help me." She asked. She needed to stand, to be on her own feet she didn't care if she was damaged. She was not going to stand for this. She couldn't even face him though she wanted to.

She wanted to what was happening. Who the voices belonged to. She wanted to see what offended them, why he was in danger. The bird hovered closer before landing. The metallic necklace from before was around its neck. It whined as as it nudged her arm with its beak.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Making a decision now, the mutant decided he needed to be there for his friend despite the immediate threat to his person. Rushing forward to Makira's side, Lorenor knelt down and attempted to wrap his arms about her person. As he did that, the monks looked upon him with a curious mixture of various emotions. It was obvious, Lorenor was a strange specimen that cared for the floored girl. "You bastards have the power to heal her. Help her!" The mutant suddenly proclaimed. He kept his eyes locked upon the one who had spoken all along. Lorenor saw that the monk was hesitating and he turned to look at his peers.

A moment later, they went ahead and started to yell at each other in native Akashiman. Whilst the men argued, Lorenor lifted Makira up and off the ground, quite gently. He turned and nodded towards the bird, and started to walk off with his friend. "Hold!" He heard the monk yell, but Lorenor did not stop until he was a good few paces away. "We're going, you've had your chance. Next time we meet, the hour will be mine." Lorenor said calmly, then broke off in a sprint with Makira in his possession.

The mutant used his power at 1/2 its normal capacity which gave him just enough juice to concentrate on the task at hand. Running through Akashiman wilderness, Lorenor heard some angry shouts and could have sworn he felt power for a brief moment. However, he did not stop. He dared not look back. He simply ran.

Trees blurred past his person and his senses were burned. He ran until his legs felt like rubber, and still he ran some more. His lungs pumped fire through his undead vessel. After about four hours of running to the nearest settlement, the mutant stumbled upon a fair-sized township. The township was filled with many fox-like people similar to that girl that originally recruited him for the Oni temple. Immediately having a mistrust to the fox-people, the mutant wondered if all of them were backstabbers and traitors. Shaking his head at the thought, the mutant walked towards the front entrance of the town. Several fox-ken ran towards the mutant's position. "I need a healer." Lorenor managed to whisper in the common-tongue. The large male in the front of the group seemed to understand him and nodded . "Worry not, we are well equipped here." Lorenor felt relief after that. "Can we take your friend?" Lorenor shook his head. "She stays with me."

"Very well then. Let us be off to the hospital with you two."

And the group made it so...

The End.

***Spoils***

001-Orb of the Oni-An Orb picked up in the vault section of the temple during Lorenor and Makira's escape attempt. The orb houses a tremendous storehouse of knowledge. It must be consumed in order for the orb's knowledge to gain effect. It will eventually help unlock Oni power. For now it is just a plain orb until consumed and activated by Lorenor. The orb itself functions like an egg, and contains an organism within it that will hatch once the egg is consumed. The organism is an Oni parasite that bonds to the host.

002-Soul Cannon-A powerful Oni device. Strapped completely across one arm, the artifact has parasitical properties. Once attached, it forms a permanent bonding with the host body. Creating a synergy effect with the host body, the device forms a harmony with the bio-electric field of the host. Once the harmonious effect is created, the weapon is capable of firing off a powerful beam of condensed energy that -can potentially- damage the soul of weaker targets. In some cases, erase the soul all together. With a special function of the device, the Soul Cannon can steal a living soul directly from a dying organism. Works on beings with some sort of a soul intact. Player(s) require permission.

Amended Notes: (These notes were suggested by Kyle himself, thank you very much) 1-The Soul Cannon may ONLY be used in Quests. 2-For now, the Soul Cannon may ONLY be used once per thread. With a twenty-four hour cool-down period implemented. 3-From levels 5-7 a Soul can potentially resist the Soul Cannon's effects with a modifier of up to 60%. Souls lower than level 5 have a 30% negative modifier against the Soul Cannon. Souls ABOVE level 7 have a 70% chance of negating the effects of the Soul Cannon. 4-Harvested Souls appear as a "Soul Gem" that can be used in various construction projects to make new, interesting Items. Soul Gems may be sold in certain markets for big bucks. A Soul Gem maybe consumed by Lorenor for healing effects. (Subject to moderator approval)

[Makira]

Makira was fading in and out. In pain though her freind tried to be gentle. The scenery blurred. She could follow much of what happened. The phoenix was there flying to match Lorenors speed. She didn't know when but she fell back into unconsciousness when he whispered about a healer. The pain and the blood loss was too much. Death wasn't eminent but the pain was unbearable. With a healer at least death was not close. She trusted Lorenor, If she had a choice or not, she did.

Her mind floated, vaguely aware of the dreams she may or may not have had. She merely knew she was safe with Lorenor. That's all the time she had to worry about.

The end

***Spoils***

001- A blueish/ silver colored jewel nestled in a silver pendent. This gave makira the dreams about clark, leading to her mistrust. Its believed that those that the pendent of the oni connect to are wise beyond most. In truth is merely gives the holder it chooses dreams of warning. Prophetic dreams more to.

002- A knife. Silver, intricate designs on the blade. The hilt plan and white. Not much is known. But it is a good weapon fashioned by the Oni to help its wielder in battle.

003- Phoenix armor. It is merely a chain pendent with wings outstretched from an black amber stone. Magic armor. Can take a certain amount of hits per day. Is replenished in its magic when its wearer sleeps.

[Duffy]

Well, this is an impressively long thread, so apologies for the length of time it’s taken me to trawl through it and give it the attention it deserves. I’ve done it in the usual manner, as a joint effort, but if any of you would like closer feedback on your specific contribution, please feel free to pm me anytime you like to talk it over. So, with the niceties out of the way, here we go!

Story

Pacing: (5) Ambles, partially due to length, but cut above the jib to keep it at a steady pace.

Continuity: (4) Distantly, although it was an enjoyable read all in all, it’s length detracted from the sense of your characters evolving, or of any real change occurring that was justifiable. Lorenor was the main culprit here, you’ve set your character into stone and although you know him well he’s not evolving at a quick or realistic pace.

Setting: (4) All three of you established a good sense of location, but, you mention things and then the description fades, as if it petered out. All these jade surrounded statues and ports aren’t brought to life either adequate or long enough to get any real sense of where your characters are. It’s not expected to have paragraph after paragraph of description, but certainly, build up on the tapestry you started, and drop subtle references back to it, to improve your continuity mark, perhaps mention the weather changing or the effects of time passing more. Makira could comment on a passing noble, Lorenor on a demising crowd etc.

Character

Dialogue: (4) Everything that is needed to be said is said, it’s ‘competent’ in the sense that it’s present, but you could do so much more to develop your story and your characters interactions. This reflects in the low persona score, although I am familiar with Lorenor outside of this thread, there is little in the two scores to really draw you in and to make you sympathetic to their cause/persona/personality.

Persona: (3)

Action: (4)

Writing

Mechanics: (6) Several capital letter based issues in Makira’s posts, which could easily be tidied up with a bit of proof reading, as they seem the typo sort as opposed to lack of comprehension. Solid effort from all involved, whilst not solid enough to warrant a higher mark, it shows some effort has been maintained to keep the cogs grinding.

Technique: (6)

Clarity: (4)

Wildcard: (7) This is 6 points for a generally interesting if flawed read, and an extra point for ‘holy cow it’s long’, yep, you get points for that, keeping it going and not slipping to the point of epic fail is wild in my books. Nice work.

Total Score: 47

XP And Gold

Lorenor: 3548 XP, 300 gold.

Makira: 842 XP, 300 gold.

Tsukiko: 1295 XP, 100 gold.


Spoils

Mutant Lorenor

The Soul Cannon is awarded with the restrictions in your edited comment, as per your discussion with Task. The Orb is permitted as a source of knowledge regarding the Oni, a repository of their history/culture etc. You will have to request spoils for any abilities you access using it in the normal manner, although I’d prefer a rough idea or one or two ‘locked’ abilities, I reckon you’ve been here long enough and are wise enough to know what isn’t and is acceptable. So show some progress with it and all should be funky.

Makira

Phoenix Armour is permitted, but it can only block weak to medium hits, five times per thread, or 3 times per battle. If it’s charges are spent, it cannot be used again during the thread, and required Makira to rest between recharging.

The amulet is approved for threads only, outside of that, in battles or where it affects PC’s directly, you will need PC approval.

Knife approved.

As ever, any further comments or help or questions, hit me up with a PM!

[Taskmienster]

Exp and GP added!