(Closed to Ashla) Lorenor: The Story You Knew. (Chapter 2)

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Lorenor was not a stranger to Conccordia Forest.

In it's depths there were many mysteries...including the sleeping ruins of The Ixian Knight's castle.

He sat by a lake near the ruins and his camp was present. He'd set up a tent of sorts so that he could he sleep at night and did a combination of fishing or hunting to keep his stock of rations going. He'd gathered a good supply from the wild lands and was thinking about what should be his next move. He was considering the suggestion that girl gave him before. Rebuilding The Ixian Knights. On Lorenor's terms...it probably would not work. However, to his knowledge...Lorenor was the last Ixian Knight who wore the markings of that factions.

As far as Althanas was concerned...The Ixian were no more.

Lorenor represented a dead part of history that no longer mattered.

And so he plotted and schemed...attempting to gather himself for what he was going to do.

He knew The Ixian castle would play a huge role in his present mission.

Therein, within the ruins...lurked the relics that Sei Orlouge left behind.

I have to finish the work that the mystic started. It was only the correct thing to do...to honourt he memory of a friend. Lorenor was tending to the injury he'd suffered during his trip to Salvar. It was a cold reminder of how weak he still was. How careless. I have to be more careful...the scar and the injury never healed...despite it being years later. Lorenor thought to himself.

He had a journal on his lap and an ink bottle on the ground.

He was dipping a fountain quill pen into the bottle and writing with it here and there as thoughts came to him.

He was also drawing, maps, symbols, ideas.

Some of the sketches were of people he'd come across. Others were of weapons, ideas...artifacts. Things he'd dreamed about. Lorenor was enjoying his time off to himself and would talk strategy and plans with any interested parties. However, as he wrote his ideas...more ideas came. He was feeling incredibly restless despite the calming nature of the lake in front of him. It was growing dark all around him, and the campfire provided a decent light. Lorenor held a simple oil lantern in his possession that was situated on some nearby rocks. It was a simple camp. Lorenor was an outdoorsman, he never liked cities anyway. Radasanth represented the corruption that was suffered during the recent Civil War.

He shook his head as he thought of that event.

Lorenor was scribbling down his thoughts. Writing was a good way to plan and make strategies for the next portions of one's life. The Paladin found himself consistently thinking of Sei Orlouge and the man's mission. He had a plan...I am following in the footsteps of a great man. I'll never be the man he was... Lorenor thought to himself as he jotted more ideas down. He would spend more time in Cocnordia Forest in the next few ideas. But what he did know was that he had to gather up the relics of The Ixian Knights. They were hidden around the world...but Corone was a good place to start. The castle was there and had seldom seen any intruders due to the dangers that oft wandered around the area. Those dangers Lorenor would face alone if need be.

So he sat there, at his camp, writing in his bound journal.

As he sat there he kept glancing at the lake and thinking back to the events of his crazy life.

He knew he had to start getting things done...that time would come.

And so...he wrote and jotted ideas down waiting for the events of the night.

[Ashla]

When life throws one lemons... use sheer power to obliterate them and crush them into lemonade... Then throw that utterly useless sewage out and make them of one's own devices, because sweet beverages are nauseating.

That could be said of the life of a "girl." A once young, fair innocent duchess who took the term when life throws one lemons, make lemonade. At this point, the lemonade was no good, made of rotten and sour lemons. When even the lemonade tasted like dur'taigen dung, the only option was to go thirsty for the time being. Once again, in her life it had come to that. Living off what she could, more focused on eating and learning of ancient war, she had been so, so, stuck. Yes, power was steadily growing, but even the most trimmed and lean of warriors needed their nourishment and purpose. Only recently had rumors reached her half-elf ears of the rebirth of those wretched, sick, cruel and oh so twisted horrors that were the Order of the Crimson Hand.

Just like that, it was murder time again.

The predator had come out of hibernation... and was absolutely ticked off.

They were always on her mind, those despicable monsters. It was her addiction, her fuel, her thirst; her thoughts haide bent on stopping them. It was her unhealthy obsession, her pain, her ruthless hatred. Oh, how twisted she was by it. Tangled in the never relenting web of unbalanced chaos and internal torment. How did she not go completely insane? Moral compass all but dead, she followed her own ideals and world views - world views many others would disagree on. Oh, her ruthless, so ruthless hatred. The concept of hatred was one she never thought she would grasp. In fact, the concept of hatred was one she distinctively remembered vowing to never accept. Whoa and behold though, that was the vow of a naive, worthless kid. If anything, that child's stupidity was laughable. That little girl was long gone, slain by the cold blooded thieves who took everything from her... Well, if it was easy to think they were cold blooded, nobody had colder blood than Ayleth Icebreaker.



~~~


So focused as she was on her internal standpoint, the world around her hardly seemed clear to her. She almost never took time to explore her surroundings. She suffered a condition called tunnel vision, especially when a certain target was right in front of her. In this case, he was bellowing on the ground several feet in front of her. She faintly heard the smooth evening lake just several feet off. The sound of crickets harmonizing fell on all but deaf ears. She did feel the discomfort of liquid red slipping down her fingers, but that was all. She gripped her crimson smeared broadsword, holding it to the neck of the man whose face was unreadable. It was like all she saw was the vermilion blood and the basic outline of a human being. Her own eyes shaded like white, frosty ice, she seethed as she looked down on him.

"You..." she growled with just enough concentrated anger, yet she seemed out of place. Her voice was robotically off tune and unnatural. Was even this not real enough for her to interact with clearly? A blood bathed, unreadable man holding what was left of his hand?

"You... Stole from them. Innocent family, innocent children. Hurt them. Give ... Give it back!"

She heard him mutter something, but could not understand. Whatever words were spoken sounded like a shapeless blur of clattering grunts and noises. What she did - barely - manage to process was the sack of gold, color uncertain, cast onto the ground in front of them. She did start to hear one or two things clearly, here and there. Was it the echoes of a pleading man?

"Leave me alone! ... Here's the money! ... Begging you!"

Fedora shading her eyes as she looked down to the ground, she was so internally wrapped up in her bounty mission taken personally, she could only barely manage extroverting the words. "... No."

... ... ...

"You hurt them."

... ...

"No. You must be punished."

She extended her free, bloody hand. Pale fingers extended, she closed her eyes. Every ounce of intuition and tunneled focuses aimed for the veins just extending from where his heart would be, cold steam emitted off her hand. That steam doubled when she clenched her fist, solidifying but a drop of blood. That one drop was all she needed.


~~~

The vibrations of a brigand's cries echoed across the forest briefly, bouncing off the trees. Birds took off in what was a brief, haunting screech that stopped a moment after it started.

The entire world could of heard it, but Icebreaker did not.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

He was half asleep when it happened...

There was a surge of energy nearby and Lorenor was momentarily startled.

He hadn't realized that there were others in the area...but the surge of energy and the scream was unmistakable.

The local wildlife was disturbed by the sudden and tremendous outburst of power.

Lorenor knew his time had come.

He stood up from his state of half sleep, his campfire still going strong. I must see what happened... Lorenor thought to himself as he gathered his belongings quickly and wrapped his cloak about himself. He was an Ixian through and through. Once he had gathered himself he took the journey to where the screams had originated from. It was relatively close by on another part of the lake grounds. Lorenor had expected to see a lot of things... but what he saw was what he had not expected to see. There was at least one dead bandit up ahead, and a strangely familiar figure. The figure of a woman he'd encountered some time sooner. I'll be Thaynes damned... The last time he'd seen that woman was during the events that lead to the destruction of Eiskalt.

Men had been present there...powerful men...and a certain girl that Lorenor hated above all other women.

Madison Freebird.

i swear...she will pay for the dead of Eiskalt. Mark my words... The woman who stood before the dead bandit...he only partially recognized her. He kept a careful distance from the girl...never was he one to underestimate a potential enemy or a potential ally. Lorenor saw the girl and her fedora hat. She reminds me of someone else who liked fedoras too. Wonder how he is faring these days? Lorenor shook off the thoughts and decided to approach the woman. She was different those days...but he could tell it was her. Lorenor had not been able to save the citizens of Eiskalt and he'd owed Ashla Icebreaker a debt that was now bound by mortal terms. "Forgive me. I heard a scream..." Lorenor fancied himself a daring Hero. But Eiskalt was one of the biggest regrets of his life. I didn't have the power to stop Madison Freebird.... Lorenor had a sad expression on his face for a moment. [i]How many had to die...? Because of me...?[/b] He shook his head again.

Lorenor stepped out of the shadows of the forest and walked up towards the woman he had not expected to see again for a long time. He considered that she had killed the bandit. "I did not think I would ever see you again." Lorenor said calmly. He recognized Ashla despite the outfit she wore, the fedora she wore. It was her scent, it was the way she positioned herself...it was her eyes. "Ashla Icebreaker...I was there when...Eiskalt happened. I couldn't do anything to save anybody. I couldn't stop what happened..." Without ever realizing why, Lorenor suddenly knelt before Ashla. "I have come to humbly beg for your forgiveness. I have failed Eiskalt...I have failed you." Lorenor was being sincere to Ashla, he was hoping she would understand the gravity of what was happening.

[Ashla]

Another day, another injustice righted... at least, that's how it seemed in her twisted mind.

After bringing justice down onto that good for nothing burglar, Ayleth placed her trusty hand in a half sword back in the sheath at her side. A distant, numb, exhausted expression covering her face, she stooped down and grabbed the money bag. She slowly stood up again, her weapons and armor jostling from beneath her grey poncho. Her now normal eyes looked upon the sack she had retrieved with blank emptiness. Whatever emotion she felt, it was unreadable.

As of now, she was still extraordinarily wrapped up in her internal self, the entire world around her seemed more unreal than the faint thoughts in her head. The side of the waters, the long grass. The fireflies and lightning bugs flying around the beautiful lake. The purple evening sky, the scent of the cool ground and beastly wildlife. From her internal fortress, it could all have faded into mist at any second, leaving her to rest in the darkness that had become so hauntingly comfortable to her. So caught up in her inner world she was, her unhealthy thoughts, she did not even realize that another living person had entered the scene. The sound of a magic fueled man cautiously leaving footprints in the green blades below did not even register. Surprise did pounce sharply when he spoke, but it still did not bring any external reaction out of her. Not even listening, she only watched the burlap bag of coins with an unchanging default expression. For a moment, a pause left the air chilled wind in a state of silence. More vibrations in the air hit her ear drums... and a single set of words caused internal alarms to blare.

"... Ashla Icebreaker... ... Eiskalt happened..."

Shockwaves vibrated through her lithe body, those names... those titles and locations... she once knew them. Her eyes visibly widened beneath the shade of her hat, though they did not move. Even now, she could not completely listen. It indeed did surprise her when whoever the person was decided to out of the blue, unnecessarily, throw himself at her feet with no warning. Suddenly, with a gasp and step back, she finally snapped out of it. Orbs, one blue as the lake, the other dark amber shroud; both heavy as a blizzard level snow fall, awakened. They locked onto him, soaking in every word.

"I have come to humbly beg for your forgiveness. I have failed Eiskalt...I have failed you."

Well... this was sudden and awkward.

Taking several more steps back, her light elvish feet only sounding thanks to her metal leg armor, her shocked eyes darted in all directions. The violet sky. The rich ground. The decreasing sunlight, replacing itself with moonlight. Having absolutely no idea how to take in anything that had just happened, even the mere presence of this foreign, plainly dressed traveler, caused her to instinctively grip the tiny sack of money for grounding.

"I'm... sorry?" Her voice was out of touch with the outside world. It sounded even unnatural and automated. This awfully disturbed young woman raised an eyebrow, her free hand edging oh so slowly towards her sword again, "Do I, uh, - know you? ..."

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Lorenor stood up at that point, taken aback by her response.

He felt like a complete idiot...what if that wasn't her...? He shook his head as he stood there looking at the girl he thought was Ashla Icebreaker. He sighed at that point. After a moment, he gathered his thoughts and readied himself to speak very casually. As he spoke to her he decided to keep things simple. Maybe she's in disguise or something like that...? But Lorenor had an instinctive feeling that it was her. The very same Ashla that he met during the Eiskalt war...only much much different.

"I was present at Eiskalt." Lorenor sighed again. "You just reminded me of Ashla Icebreaker...forgive my sudden outburst. My name is Lorenor." He explained quickly trying to insure that she didn't get frightened into attacking him or something of that nature. "As I said earlier...I was present at Eiskalt. I heard a scream from this general direction and I see you by a dead body. I'm going to assume he meant to harm you or something of that nature...I'm only here to figure out why there is a dead guy there." Lorenor looked at the body for a moment. The face was twisted in pure terror.

As Lorenor stood there he decided it best to simply begin to part ways with the woman unless she remembered his small involvement in Eiskalt. He just wanted to save people...

"Well if you're not Ashla, I can leave you be. And let you go about your business. Was just concerned about the scream..." Lorenor began to gather himself and made to part ways with Ashla for the time being...at least...until he decided how to proceed.

The air around the small clearing crackled with energy and power. Lorenor felt the energy that Ashla gave off, but he decided not to say anything. It made his skin crawl. As he stood there waiting for a response from her, his mind and thoughts were a volatile collection of images at the moment. He considered the situation at hand. If this girl is Ashla...what has happened to her since Eiskalt? What happens if she isn't Ashla...what do I do at that point...Sei Orlouge would know how to handle this. I could use his guidance now... Lorenor thought to himself as he looked at the fedora-wearing girl for a long moment. He was waiting for a response from her. Depending on her response, he would react.

[Ashla]

Her mismatched eyes were wide, her blue one slowly freezing over the edges again. Many said the eyes were the mirrors of the soul, and her soul was a messy whirl of chaos. Her pointed ears even were perked up in alarm. Still clenching the bag, she watched the man hesitantly attempting to dodge her bad side with dire caution. At first, emotion seemed to be unaccounted for in her mind - or forcefully buried. For a long moment, she did not speak.

As the grasshoppers chirped, a nuisance to her elvish ears, her internal systems were flaring up and down. Unsteady frequencies tossed and turned like the waters of a mighty hurricane in a disturbed ocean. For a long time, staring was all she could do. In her dark brown eye, a tear welded up, but did not fall. So much thrown in her face, so much confliction... and he asked about the dead body. A million screams, taunts, cries, and whimpers raced through her mind, all aimed at him. Yet nothing escaped her lips.

At last, after a long last, her dry mouth separated. Her eyes narrowed, the frost in her blue one quickly doubling for a split second before it retreated again. At last, she communicated with the alien.

"For your information," so much emotion bled out of her voice. The bitter attempts to keep all pain locked away and hidden, and the despair she experienced as memories of war flickered through her mind. For that brief moment of tension though, she did physically relax into an icily casual position. Even her expression seemed disturbingly calm. As the fading sun flickered, moonlight dim replacing it, she continued in an outright dead tone. "He stole money from a family in need. I tracked him down and we came here. I took back what is rightfully theirs and gave him what he had coming for his crimes."

She could of spat on his useless corpse, but she lacked the energy. Instead, Ayleth lazily tossed her free arm at his direction before laying it at her side again.

"Ashla is dead too," the young woman's voice cracked like thawing ice caps in Salvar. Between the dry ice's cracks, the previous hints of emotion the glacier trapped started to steam out, "That naive child failed."

A solid "ha" came from her as an actual smile took form on her face. It was a smile of irony. "I could not let her go on. She lost everything. We lost everything. I only had myself, I simply had to finish off what Eiskalt started."

She blinked again, her smile fading as she made softer eye contact with the person, "Look, Eiskalt was not your fault. It was no one's fault but the Order of the Crimson Hand. They are to blame. Not you..." Nervousness crossed her eyes as she looked away, shy eyes clearly showing how hard it was to speak as the girl she once was, "... Do not grieve your heart as I did."

[Mutant_Lorenor]

She spoke at that point.

Ashla is...dead...? Lorenor could not believe what he was hearing. However, he was gone for a long time Eiskalt, and had been in hiding as well. The girl spoke words...words that made sense. I wonder if this is how Sei would speak at such a time...? Lorenor nodded towards her. "It is far too late for me." Lorenor admitted. "I have paid a great deal since Eiskalt and for other events..." Lorenor's glowing eyes and black blood were an truth to that. As Lorenor listened to her words, he thought of something. "I have a camp nearby and it's getting pretty late. Perhaps you can accompany me back to my camp and we'll talk a fair bit about things?" Lorenor was glad to have someone to talk to.

It had been a long time since the events in Salvar, and also, the events in Eiskalt. Though he only played a minor role in that event, he still was present. Her words did help in his deeply troubled mind. Eiskalt was a burden on his soul and it was a matter that greatly concerned him. It concerned him for what fragile sanity held him intact. Once Lorenor had gathered his thoughts he smiled at the girl. "If you would like to accompany me, it would be great. I would, in exchange help you deliver your gold back to it's rightful owners." Lorenor was a humble man, a man of principle and honour. Those things mattered very little in their decaying world. Sei Orlouge had given Lorenor his new purpose and he broke free from the grasp of N'Jal.

He had sacrificed a lot to get to where he was at that point...the Old Lorenor was also dead.

He waited for her response to his invitation. Lorenor was sincere and meant every word of it. He was hoping she would see that too...he didn't want to see a potential friend be harmed by the dangers of the night world in the forest...