Darkness Arising (OPEN)

[Ashla]

*RULES:

I would appreciate it if people DIDN'T do the following:
Swearing
Using any inappropriate themes

Also, If you are going to be on a vacation or will be unable to post for a while please find a way to get out of the story. if I or any others are waiting for YOU to post and you don't post for two weeks you will have until the end of that month (unless the end of week two is the end of that month, in which you will given until the end of the next month) to post otherwise the group will leave you behind.*

*This is my first thread ever! I hope you guys like it here. :)
This takes place a year before "From Land to Sea (OPEN)" by hoytti*

[Ashla]

Ashla's entire body was aching. She needed rest, but she knew this wasn't the time for it. She was running. Running from something. She stopped for a brief respite and heard her orange tabby cat Fireleaf purring at her feet.

"Just..." she breathed, "Just a little longer..."

She began to run again, but suddenly tripped over her own feet

"Good job, Ashla." She told herself as she fell to the ground. Fireleaf meowed to her. Ashla found that she couldn't muster the strength to get up! She looked ahead and barely saw that someone was coming towards her. She couldn't tell at all who or what it was. All she knew was that it was coming towards her.

She reached out with her shacking hand barely whispered, "Help... ... ... Please"

[Sen Zelrok]

Sen Zelrok slowly walked up to the frightened and tired girl. "Get up." he said as he reached the spot in the desert where she was laying. "What are you doing out here all alone? don't you know that you're in a very dangerous place? only a fool would be here alone."

[Ashla]

The creature's words slightly angered Ashla, "Then YOU'RE a fool for being out here too... Little cat thingy." She staggered and pulled herself to her feet. She saw that the small creature had his claws extended.

[Sen Zelrok]

"Call me little one more time and see what happens. I'm a very good fighter, no one in the entire desert has been able to beat me yet and I'm always ready to kill another fool who calls me small." Sen Zelrok said growling angrily at her and retracting his claws. "Who are you anyways?" he said looking at the girl with a kind of "I'm mad at you" face.

[Ashla]

"My name is Ashla Rose Icebreaker. And this is my cat Fireleaf." She gestured her hand at her cat who was still standing at her feet. "I'm here looking for somebody. I'm sorry if I offended you, sir. Whenever I'm hot or tired, I get really ornery. And I'm both so... Yeah. Who are you?"

[Sen Zelrok]

"My name is Los Recada Lucardo Sen Zelrok... but most people, who i don't kill, call me either Los Recada or Sen Zelrok." he said looking at her again, "Since you were nice enough to say sorry after you called me little, I'll be nice enough to spare your puny little life." he looked past her quickly and Ashla looked like she was confused. "follow me, we have to get to my current home, there's a sand storm coming and I don't to be cought up in it." he said and began running towards the way he came.

[Ashla]

"I don't wanna be caught either, but slow down! I can't run that fast! But how can you tell there is a sandstorm anyways? I can't hear it." she panted, as she tried to catch up to Sen Zelrok and Fireleaf, who were both quite a few feet in front of her. She felt like collapsing, but she had to get to safety! She had to reach the person she was getting to ... and the person she was running from...

[Sen Zelrok]

"I have extreme senses compared to you, i can sense anything twice as fast as you, hearing, smell, taste." Sen Zelrok said as he stopped and turned around realising that the girl wasn't in his sight anymore. "oh great, now i have to go back and get her again." he said to her tabby cat in which was next to him. "i probably should've thought about the fact that she was about to pass out." he thought to himself as he began to run back to find her. when he finally found her she was laying in the sand, completely passed out.
"Hey you, cat, yes you, can you carry her she's too heavy for my telekinesis to lift and carry her." he said as he watched the cat put Ashla on his back and begin to follow him. "When we get back to my place i will take care of both of you." he said as he led the cat and the girl to his home.

[Ihimirsyn]

If one tries to walk about during a sand storm, one will become lost because of the whole business of trying to see while your eyes are being sandpapered. That was one of the realities of being alone in a desert. There were many of such realities because the desert is what you think it is and when there's nothing but sand and sky, you have altogether too much time to think. No lies, no fantasies, just what there is and that was that.

Right now, in the middle of the sandstorm, the reality of being hopelessly lost was quite impressed in the mind of one traveller. She was a slender, pale, and fine-featured woman in the prime of her life except for all the bits that were wrong. The eyes were wrong; they were the bright scarlet one usually sees in the dyed syrup that theatres used to represent blood. The hair was wrong; it was a silvery gray that shined even as it whipped around in the winds. The clothing was wrong; it consisted of an inky black, deep hooded cloak with tattered edges. In that vein, the mind was also wrong; it was perfectly content and accepting of being hopelessly lost without any supplies in the middle of a sandstorm out in the desert.

The truth of the matter is that Ihimirsyn has always been lost and has been known to have trouble with a straight corridor with no doors on the sides. It's been years since she was sent out into the world to find Iorea Cenata and so her progress is identical to that of day one, save that she was in a different place. This was okay, since she reasoned that if she continues being lost, then she will eventually go through all the places in the world and her target must be in one of those places. She's wandered out in the general direction of the desert for a now forgotten reason and now opted to try to sing and harmonize with the wind's howl.

That is the story of how Sen Zelrok heard a sound that had as much similarity to singing as banging two lead pipes together had to drumming. It approached closer, perpetually hunting after the howling tone. Eventually, Ihimirsyn's figure appeared from the blowing dust like an amateur flipbook maker's dissolve cut. People! Not Iorea, but still people! This was a nice day.

She took out a little red book, flipped through it, and cheerfully read from it, "Hi! I'm Ihimirsyn. I kill people. Who are you?"

[Sen Zelrok]

Sen Zelrok looked at the figure. "I'm Sen Zelrok, you kill people? Guess what, I do too." he said, "What are you doing out here?" Sen Zelrok stared at the girl and thought she has to be like one or two years old.

[Ashla]

Ashla woke up to the voice of Sen Zelrok and another. The only words she could make out from the new person was "kill people", She jerked into a sitting position. "Kill people?" That doesn't sound good! she thought to herself.

[Ihimirsyn]

There was some rather intense book flipping while Ihimirsyn tried to figure out what Sen Zelrok had said. It was made more difficult by the wind, which wanted to flip the pages of the book all by itself and flip the book out of her hand entirely. A second later, she resorted to planting down her stick in the sand, where it promptly fell over, and using two hands to manage her book.

Long seconds passed.

"Hi, Sen Zelrok! I look for Iorea Cenata. You see her?" Ihimirsyn of the difficult name read from her phrasebook. This was going pretty well! She looked askance at the other person and, as usual, read the name and date of death. Repeated experiences in the last few years have taught her that people appreciate it if you don't tell them such things. This slipped her mind.

"Hi! Ashla Rose Icebreaker! I'm Ihimirsyn. I kill people. Who are you?" She said with a bright smile.

[Ashla]

"You kill people?" Ashla asked wide-eyed. This sounded very bad, what if she was after her? "But I'm too young to die!" She cried. Fireleaf then jumped into her lap making a purring sound. Ashla held her cat tightly (but not too tightly) for comfort.

[Isylle]

Flip, flip.

"Yes. You are too young to die. You die later." Ihimirsyn said, brightly. She hoped that this was good news; people didn't like dying and they were encouraged when they find out that they won't die anytime soon. However, they get discouraged when they find out exactly when they die and, technically speaking, Ihimirsyn wasn't supposed to just go and tell people that information. It made for a terrible subject for small talk.

"What do you do?"

[Ashla]

"What do I do?" Ashla asked, "Well... I eat, sleep, drink. Those are the basics. But if you want something more interesting, I also migrate across Althanas, and I know how to use my sword and long knife. I wish I could have used something better than Steel to make them though... But oh well." Ashla somehow felt that she had already bored her.

[Ihimirsyn]

"That is interesting."

Flip.

Ihimirsyn walked near and sat down next to Ashla, wrapping her cloak under and around her. A thoroughly chilling aura of wrongness crawled up every living being's spine as she approached. It was a combination of a primal terror of death and a revulsion of the alien. Tiny tan scorpions burrowed of the sand and scuttled away hurriedly, one passing within a few inches of Ashla's foot. Small trails formed in the sand while creatures burrowed away from the Minor Death. Ihimirsyn took no notice.

"Why do you use sword?"

[Ashla]

"I only use it to defend myself of others." Ashla stated, feeling frightened by her approach, "I don't like fighting, but I'm not afraid to if I'm forced to." Fireleaf ran over behind Sen Zelrok in terror, somehow this being scared the living day lights out of the poor feline.

M-m-meeooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!

[Ihimirsyn]

Flip.

"Why fight?" Ihimirsyn asked. To mortals, she was the ultimate reality. One of her colleagues was waiting for everyone at the end they seldom met anyone at their best. Sophonts, especially, fought the hardest against the natural course of death. That was why Minor Deaths existed, to hunt down those who have unnaturally extended their lifespans. Fighting against them was unreasonable; they always won, in the end. It is to be noted that she didn't remember being alive.

Flip.

"Will die, at end."

[Ashla]

Ashla thought for a second about those last words...

"Will die, at end."

It chilled her. She thought until she found what to say- hopefully- "...Maybe..." She said, "But that's the way some people want to do it these days, so..."

[Moonberrycat]

Ok, Iris admited she was pretty stupid being IN A SANDSTORM, but, yet, she wasn't arguing. I could be somewhere worse...a lot worse. She saw a home-type of thing, walking to it she realized she lost her kitten, Deer, again. "DEER! WHERE ARE YOU?!?!" She cried out.

[Ihimirsyn]

"Not maybe." Ihimirsyn reassured, "Will die."

Flip. Flip.

"If you do not die. I kill you so you die." She smiled proudly while announcing that. In her view, the purpose of her existence is to make sure that the people who were evading their natural death through various means stopped denying themselves. It was a little like a committee that assigned forced retirement, except that instead of a watch and a poster card, the retiree received a coffin and a gravestone. If he was lucky.

"Not maybe." She reiterated.

[old man]

I knew this storm was coming. Something drew me here and i don't know what. Dustin thought to himself. I must get out of this storm, if i do remember there's a house just over this dune. Dustin began towards walking over the dune. when he reached the other side he saw a door to a small sandstone house. There it is, I hope the owner doesn't mind me staying here for a while. Dustin opened the door and found there was no one home. hmm, if no one is home then they must be in the storm. I'll have to take shelter here though, it's my only chance to survive. he walked over to a tea pot and began making himself some tea.

[Ashla]

It's official, Ashla thought, This girl is giving me the creeps!

Ashla looked to Sen Zelrok, and bent over to him to whisper, "help me, please? She's creepy and I wanna get out of here." She whispered it softly enough that the Minor Death couldn't hear what she was saying at all.

[Sen Zelrok]

"We need to keep moving, this storm is really bad now. let's go, my house is just a few minutes away." Sen Zelrok said as he began running towards his home.

When they entered his house he smelt a very unusual scent. "Is someone making tea?" he asked confused "The smell is coming from the kitchen, Ashla get your weapon, You may need it." Sen Zelrok said as he walked into the kitchen, his claws ready to kill. All he saw when he walked in was an old man. "What the heck are you doing in here?" Sen Zelrok asked a little confused.

[Ihimirsyn]

Ihimirsyn followed the two out of practicality; there were few landmarks visible in a storm and even fewer that will move along until it gets to somewhere interesting. Following people who were not the person that she was supposed to kill had worked many times in the past as a means of getting elsewhere. Most of them gave up after trying to shoo her away and looked for the closest friendly door to slam in her face.

It was an odd, civilized, human thing, the fascination with doors. There were hints of memories on the edge of her mind that failed at suggesting the usual norms and beliefs associated with the devices, so all that Ihimirsyn saw was a mobile section of wall put into the way. A mobile, very leaky-around-the-edges section of wall. A few minutes later, one or more people generally ended up in various states of excitement or upset when, after politely waiting for the door to be opened again, death decided to walk through the door instead. That was usually an interesting end to the following-people-around bit.

Following history repeating itself, somewhere interesting happened to the three. Ihimirsyn peeked over the little cat thing's shoulder - an automatic sort of motion considering that the shoulder in question was barely a foot off of the ground - and into the house - a more difficult sort of motion considering that the cat thing's house was sized for the cat thing and therefore built on the scale of some of the more expensive sorts of doll-houses. She was amazed.

If the cat-thing had built this house, how did a big, full-grown human manage to fit through the tiny door?

[Ashla]

Ashla drew her sword and followed Sen Zelrok into the kitchen. There wars an old man.

"What the heck are you doing here?" Sen Zelrok asked confused.

Ashla walked towards the man lowering her weapon, "No worries, I won't bite," she smirked, then returned to a more serious face, "Who are you?"

[old man]

"Oh put that sword down i wouldn't hurt a fly." Dustin said as he looked over to Ihimirsyn. "I do believe you know who i am, don't you Ihimirsyn? Who are you going to kill this time?" Dustin then looked over at Ashla. "And Ashla, your mother died of child birth, and your father died when you were very young. It's ok i know what your going through, i had parents who are now dead too. don't worry i'm sure you will find a place to call home." after that he looked over at Sen Zelrok, "Although I don't know who you are."

[Ashla]

"Uhh... How do you know my name?" Ashla asked Dustin confused and creeped out at the same time. She didn't know this man at all... How did he know her?

[old man]

"Oh you know, i've studied Althanas all my life, the land, cities, people, i know them all, except this cat thing." Dustin answered. "I've worked in the fallien government for 45 years. You tend to know people, even if they don't know you."

[Ihimirsyn]

"You are Dustin Quelt."

Flip, flip.

"You still have time." Ihimirsyn, of course, knew who this was. She had looked at him, after all, and it was part of her job to know whom she might be facing. It didn't matter nearly as much as the answer to the question that she had for this scholar.

"Who was I?"

[Moonberrycat]

Iris looked around again, wildly. The wind blowing the sand was making it very difficult to see. "Deer! Where are you!" She yelled again, louder. "I told him to stay here!!!"

Meoooowwwww

"Deer!" She saw his brown fur through the sand as he bounded up to her. She scratched him between the ears as he purred happily. She looked up to look around, but now only seeing sand swirling around her, she tried walking, but got tripped up by the sand.

"Oh my, Deer, where are we?"

[PinkGhostofSeaside]

Eshwyn waited at the ruins. She was waiting. "Where's Ashla? She's late..." Eshwyn and Ashla had agreed on a visit as old friends. It was two years ago, Eshwyn helped Ashla escape from her people who had planned on killing her- which got Eshwyn exiled from her own people as well.

"It's the sandstorm." a voice whispered.

Eshwyn turned to see Diamnd, barely visible due to her being a spirit and all; floating just a couple feet above the ground close to her.

Eshwyn looked at the spirit an smiled, "She'll get here. Ashla is a clever girl, I know that."

"If you say so." the spirit responded. And looked beyond the ruins of the ghost city they occupied, and waited for her arrival.

[Ashla]

Ashla suppressed a sigh, Won't this Minor Death just go?

She sheathed her weapons as she waited for the man's response, rolling her eyes.

[BlueEvilGhostofSeaside]

FlameShadow was tired and angry, she didn't plan on being caught in this sand storm, but she was! She coughed, "How can this day get any-" she choked, then sighed, "-Worse?!"

She then spotted a cave up ahead, "Finally! Shelter!" She then ran on in and flopped onto the cold ground. Now that she was out of the sand storm, she was bored. And she hated being bored because whenever she was bored, she remembered that she was a Bounty Hunter and that she needed an assignment, so she could receive more money! She sighed "I think I'll just bore myself to sleep..."

[old man]

"Yes, a minor death, such as yourself, must know who all are." Dustin said as he turned towards Ashla. "Hello Ashla, Nice to finally meet you. Please return your sword to your sheath, I am no threat." He then looked towards Sen Zelrok and noticed his claws. "Oh Calm down Sen Zelrok, I am no threat."

[Ashla]

Ashla could only tell this day was getting weirder and weirder!

Why me? Why me?? Why me!?! Why these complete strangers who somehow know everything about me?? WHY!?! "Um... okay?" she stayed her blade, placing it in it's sheath. She then wiped her hair back again, "What are you doing her?" the almost always suspicious teen asked, Old guys... Oh, is it just me, or is it hot in here. Oh, right we're a dessert! Ha, ha! I'm lame. Ashla sighed and she whipped her brow, sweat dripping off it. Actually, it's been getting even hotter than when it was before she grew concerned, why was it turning out like this? Bah, I worry too much! It could just be the sun or something

Little did she know the threat ahead of her... the darkness arising...