There's Always a Girl...

[Darkness Impulse]

((This is solo.))

"Why don't you just make one of your own men do it?"

"No. This needs to be done by someone outside our group, someone like you. Who, if caught, will leave no traces back to us. You see? It's been thought out." The man said, Lialmont dismissing most of the words. The ninja uttered a quiet "Fine" before the man noticed that Lialmont wasn't listening.

"Listen to me! I don't want you to mess this up! By god if you do i'll kill you." The words came from a coarse throat, the man brought his hand up and smacked Lialmont in the face, whose eyes were simply staring into the darkness. It was a strong smack, that sent Tempest to look down, he did not care to bring a hand up and care for it. Lialmont was defiant, and the man in front of him was beginning to realize that. He showed, without fail, that he could take any abuse that was thrown at him. He brought his head up and looked into the tall and muscular man's eyes. He was at least a foot taller than the ninja, with twice as much muscle. All of his features were rugged: Broad shoulders, unkempt and wily brown hair and a stench that smelled of sweat and blood. His dark brown, demanding eyes gazed down at the blue, defiant eyes of Lialmont.

"I'm not your slave, you know." The ninja said calmly, a calm expression on his face.

"I don't care what the hell you are or aren't. You're not listening to me, you're here against your own will. I have the power to kill you... But I need you. Let me repeat myself. Our clan is on the brink of total war, as you may well know. Now, I am in no sense afraid of the enemy Whose-Name-Shall-Not-Be-Mentioned. But what I do want to know, is the status of their greatest weapon that could indeed hinder us." Lialmont nodded blankly, his eyes looking into the muscular man's but he was really looking through him to the ceiling above. He knew what to do, and could have been on his way. "This is where you come in, Lialmont. All I want you to do is find out what they're doing with their Weapon. You'll know it when you see it. So... You know the rules, right?"

"Yes, I know your damn rules." Lialmont said bluntly.

"One: Stay in the shadows, if they know of your presence, you're on your own. Our clan will deny any ties you say you have to us. Two: Don't interact with anyone, unless forced to, and cover your tracks." Suddenly the man got angry again, he thrusted his hand to Tempest's collar and lifted him up with one hand, his attention finally going away from the ceiling. "Don't break these rules. I promise you... Fail me, and i'll serve your head to my dogs."

"Consider it done, Valor."


"Sir! We need you out here now, it's urgent!"

The muscular man, Valor, let go of Lialmont's collar. He dropped to his knees and pulled in a deep breath. "This meeting... It never happened. You have one day." He walked past the panting ninja and opened the door leading into the small square room they were in. Light flooded in, but quickly receded as he shut it again. The room was dark and ominous, it was obvious that it was not used very often. A thin layer of dust blanketed the gray brick floor and the stagnant air was almost unbearable. No wonder it was used for things such as this, things like demanding and interrogation. The victim would probably do or say anything to just get out of there. The only light being shed into the room with the single door shut was from a pewter stick candle resting in the center of a small bare square table. It gave just enough light so that you could outline where the other person was in the room. It didn't even light up the far corners of the room. Lialmont wouldn't be surprised if there were dying men strapped to chains in those black corners, the room was a dungeon! Tempest stood up slowly and turned to stare at the door for a moment.

This wasn't even his conflict, why was he being forced into doing this? He wasn't even going to be payed, and apparantly there is some type of tracker spell on him that will alert Valor if he tries to leave. "This is bullshit." Tempest thought to himself. It's not like he was even that renowned, he wasn't "Lialmont Tempest: [Rogue] Ninja Extraordinaire!" He was just Lialmont.

Lialmont turned opposite from the only door leading out and walked to the back of the room. He inspected the brick wall carefully, his hand feeling across it. He smiled and pushed inward, the brick beneath his hand moving inward. He stepped back as the sound of grinding brick showed that he found the right one. One by one, as if by magic, the bricks in front of him sort of curved outward to form a passage. A cold breeze blew in from the dimly lit cavern that lay ahead of him. Daylight could be seen around a bend in the distance. It was the middle of the day in Akashima now, and it was chilly. He took a couple steps forward so that he was into the cave fully, and grinding bricks pushed themselves back to form the seemingly normal wall before. Lialmont stared at the wall for a moment, then turned to walk out.

"One day..." he thought to myself. "That's one day too much, i'm afraid." He then said aloud as he walked through the cave. It's go time.

[Darkness Impulse]

The rugged kingdom of Akashima was covered with a gray fog. A gloomy feeling hovered in the mid-day air. Barely any sunlight penetrated through the overcast skies, and it looked as if it was about to rain. The air smelled fresh, untainted by civilization up on the cliff that Lialmont now stood upon. He looked down at Akashima, spreading almost as far as the eye can see. It would be a days travel to go the expanse of that place... Luckily Tempest's destination was not so far. It would only be a few hours until he made it to this unknown clan's complex.


"Now remember, it may seem that their complex is small, but there is a vast underground network spanning beneath the tower. Your journey will not take you in there, but know this anyways."

He had said that there was a span of underground caves and such beneath the tall tower where the Grandmaster is said to be hidden. Whether he was lying or not, Lialmont wouldn't know. But he couldn't wait to see just how big this place was.

Lialmont stood at the edge of the small cliff, behind him the small cave leading to the secret entrance back into his temporary "master's" headquarters. Other then that it was but a small circular piece of land jutting from the side of the Comb Mountains. It wasn't too far down, maybe thirty feet. Nothing that Tempest couldn't scale down though. He hopped off the cliff and began his descent back into the city. He would waste no time getting to his destination. He had the location memorized and would not let himself forget it. Hopefully by the time he got there it would be night as well. All the easier for a man such as him to sneak around.

------------------------------

((Couple of hours later)) It was already getting dark, surprisingly. Lialmont had decided to take to the roofs of homes and buildings to make his way to his destination. He was feeling a little bit weary, having scaled over walls and jumping over gaps between houses. But he could feel that he was getting closer to his destination. There was also a brooding sense of suspicion in the air... He felt as if he had been followed for the past few moments now.

Lialmont stopped abruptly. He was currently on the top of a small square shaped building, two-story. He crept to the edge and looked into the street below... Nothing. He looked around, on adjacent roofs... Nothing. He looked into the sky, which was now clear and a beautiful dark purple color. Stars were strewn across the sky and the moon was in the distance, shining brightly. It did indeed get dark here quickly. That was a good thing, though.

He could feel himself close to the tower now... Only a little furhter. But he could not deny that sense of suspicion... He was being watched from somewhere...


...Mordoc

He spun around abruptly, so that he was facing the center of the square roof. His eyes widened suddenly as he saw flashes of someone, dashing across the roof. He could not catch a good glimpse at her, but she was a child. She flashed into sight... Then quickly out in an instant. Lialmont had never seen anything like it! He stepped forward, his brows wrinkling in thought, and walked towards the center where the image of the woman had stopped moving. She was standing in the center with her head down, dressed in a white nightgown - or something. Lialmont couldn't tell... The image of her was so vague, so transparent that he could only tell that she was wearing some kind of long white garment. He didn't recognize her at all, but what she said...


Mordoc...

She said that name again... Why was she saying that name? She had no right to say such things... Tempest's fists clenched tightly. It meant nothing to him...

When Lialmont got closer, the girl's head slowly started to rise. He stopped a little bit ahead of her.

Mordoc.

"Stop saying that name!" Lialmont shouted, backhanding the face of the ghost. She vanished into thin air, his hand hit nothing.

MORDOC!

He spun around as quick as he can, nothing there. Then, in a flash of blood red light, the girl's face appeared in his face, it combined with his vision. She was grotesque. A bloodied face with a shut eye, cuts bleeding on her cheeks. A horrid sight. The image forced Lialmont to slam his eyes shut, and he lost his balance. He fell backwards onto the hard roof, he fell on his back. He kept his eyes shut.

"Holy shit!" He said to himself quietly, panting for breath.

[Darkness Impulse]

Lialmont just stayed there for a few moments on the ground. His eyes were now open, the image was gone and the sinister feeling of being followed had left. All he wanted to know was why she was saying that name... It didn't matter. He must have just been hallucinating. There's no way that she could be alive.

He shook any bad feelings away and hopped up onto his feet. Lialmont looked around quickly, trying to get back on track. That was a complete waste of time, and he'd have to pick up the slack if he wanted to get this done quickly. He quickly found his way and started off again, his destination not far at all now. For after a couple of minutes, he was there already. He was crouched down on another small house, overlooking the outer ring of a circular courtyard, the tower stood in the middle. By this time it was cold, no wind lofted through to bring the chills. The city was quiet, he could even hear someone in the house below him snoring soundly. Heh.

It was not even that big! It looked like at the most a five story tower, each floor looking only to be a circular chamber. At least that what he could tell from the design. It was red, mostly. Red brick made up the exterior, except for the roofs which was a bright yellow. A terrible color combination if you were to ask Tempest. There were five roofs in total, each one showing the seperation between floors. It almost looked like a pagoda, but they didn't jut out far enough, only a couple of feet. The tower stood out like a sore thumb, in the middle of what looked like a park. All that surrounded it was a circular walkway for passersby.

"Hmm... No guards... Hm. No, none. Strange." he thought to himself, inspecting the tower's security. There were indeed no guards, if there were any why weren't they standing in front of the entrance? Maybe they think they're such a powerful group that they don't need guards. If someone wanted to go in and mess with them then so be it!


"Don't forget that the Weapon is being kept on the top floor. Okay?"

Alright then... Top floor. No problem. But first things first. Lialmont slowly stood up straight and looked around him for some dark shadows. He lifted his hand up above his head, his index finger pointing up. His opposite hand held right below his stomach, in the same finger position as his other hand. He waited a second, while the shadows began to dance around his form. They looked like they were jumping on him, converging with his body. After a moment he brought both of his hands together at his chest, both index fingers touching eachother. The spell could only be finished with one uttered word: "Kei!"

In an instant, his body seemed to darken. He looked like he was almost melting in with the shadows. His Shadow Camo was complete, and was at full potency. He hopped down from the house and touched the ground lightly, beginning a quick dash across towards the tower. It was time to finish this quickly.

[Darkness Impulse]

It wasn't a very tall tower. AT least, each floor wasn't. When Lialmont got to the base, he could see that each floor only looked to be about eight feet, nothing he couldn't just jump up to. Tempest looked around, there were a couple of closed windows near the entrance. Rather than making his ascent upward, he decided to see if he could hear anything.


"Yeah... I've got it upstairs. It's couped up in a small tank."

"Good. I assume that it's guarded, then?"

"Of course, sir. Very well also."

The conversation Lialmont could hear as he stood in front of one of the windows was brief, and the voices seemed so distant that he couldn't tell if they were any voices that he'd recognize. He wasn't surprised. Why have a secret base of operations if you could speak and be heard by people on the outside? Nonetheless, they gave him the info he needed: This was the right place, and the Weapon's location was certain now. They never actually stated "Weapon," but he just knew he had to be in the right place.

Tempest took a couple steps back, then rushed forward, taking a couple steps up the wall, then pushing off upward so he was able to grab the outer edge of the roof. He pulled himself up and swung his legs over, quickly and quietly. There were some more windows on this floor, and when Lialmont came to them he noticed that these ones weren't covered. He peered inside. It was empty. Well, empty of any beings. There were no sounds coming from this room but the wind whistling past his ears. There were shelves of empty vials and flasks, a set of apparatus, and two flights of spiral stairs. Why were the flasks empty, if there was a set of apparatus? Surely you can't do anything with air. Nothing of interest in the room. He was dissapointed. Hmph... Some "secret base of operations." More like an abandoned laboratory. He expected something to jump out at him, something to startle his senses. That, or at least some color. Everything was either clear glass, black apparatus, brown floor, or gray wall. But alas... It was but a room.

"Ah what the hell... It looks normal enough, why don't I just head the rest of the way up from here?" He thought to himself. There was no glass covering the window, so he simply stuck his hand into the small window. It would take quite some maneuvering to get in through that little rectangle. There was a deep purple colored cloth curtain that was hanging on a little pole above the window, he felt it when he put one of his hands in the room. It was pushed aside, and when he stuck his head in and looked at it, it looked as if it was bunched up and covering something. He shrugged and pushed the curtain aside.. All black. It was just the darkness behind a shelf of glass vials. Well, he did see a small sharp looking metal tip from the other side of the darkness, but it was nothing import- What!? A sharp metal point!? Lialmont quickly pulled his head and body back out of the window, accidentally ripping out the curtain with him. He heard a click immediately after and watched a crossbow bolt zip across. He stumbled and fell to his rump.

"Shit!" He said loudly, a little too loudly. He hushed himself immediately following. Did he really have enough skill to own the title of ninja? Maybe not, he seemed to be making a lot of dumb mistakes lately. He should have guessed that the room was trapped. He balled up the small curtain in his hand and tossed it back inside, shaking his mind of any ideas of going in there. He would just have to keep climbing up. Not like it was hard. He quickly pushed himself up and looked around to see if he was being watched or not, luckily it seemed that he hadn't distrupted the peaceful Akashiman night.

Lialmont looked up, took a step back, and repeated the hop-up to the next level. Then he rinsed and repeated, silently. Checking the windows of each floor, only to find the same thing. Except for the fourth floor, which seemed to have no windows. When he got to the fifth floor, the last floor, he turned so that his back was facing the wall, and slouched down. From this height he could see alot of Akashima. Dark, but homely. It must be pretty safe here, for when he looked down into the park below he saw a little girl run through, holding the hand of a man - probably her father. She was dressed in plain white.

He remembered a little while ago when he was haunted by that girl... Was there any significance to it? There couldn't be... But the face, it was so familiar. But he did not remember seeing that face on the body of a child, it was a woman. A voluptuous woman, at that. Why a little girl? It must have been his mind, simply, playing some feeble tricks on him. He shook his head, shook away the past. Memories were futile in the human mind, memories were a subtle poison that if allowed could take over a man and drive him insane.

A poison... Nothing more, nothing less.

[Darkness Impulse]

"Hah... It was nothing..." Lialmont whispered to himself, a saddened tone in his voice. Yes, she did have an impact on him. But this wasn't the time, nor the place to dwell on memories. Never was the right time.

He reassured himself that he was fine, he had to focus! He believed Valor when he said that he would die if he didn't do this. But he didn't know how, just... Somehow. He stood up, keeping his back to the wall. Quickly and silently he shuffled along the edge of the wall, around until he found a window. Unfortunately, there weren't any. All that the ninja found was a square passage, carved at the top of the wall, just low enough so that he could probably jump and get himself in. It was black, pitch black, all inside it. It was probably about two by two feet in width. He couldn't see or hear anything. It was probably his only way in, but to where? Maybe it was a chimney of some sort, and if he hopped in he would plummet to the bottom floor, probably hurting himself badly... Or killing him.

Lialmont stepped back so he was able to see most of the inside of the two foot tall passage, grabbed a pebble and tossed it into the darkness. Surprisingly, he heard it hit brick just as he threw it in. So maybe it was just a passage... Strange. Well, it was his only way in. He jumped up, grabbing the bottom ledge with both hands. With some effort, he pulled himself up and managed to crawl inside. It was difficult, but he was agile enough to handle it. As soon as he pulled himself inside he finally saw a light. Funny, from down on the roof it seemed that the tunnel was pitch black and endless. When he actually got inside it, was only a couple pushes before he got to the other side. He could see bright lantern light, and most of the room, except for a little piece on his far right, totally bare.

Wait, what? Totally bare!? How could that be? Well, there was a small wooden table in which a couple of oil lanterns sat on. But that was it. The walls were bare, the floor was bare, the ceiling was bare. It was just a circular room surrounded by bright red bricks. Bright red walls, bright red ceiling and roof. Gah, it'd be enough to drive a man insane! Luckily he didn't have to be there for a while. But there was still that little piece of room on the far right that he couldn't see. So Lialmont pushed forward a little bit, so that he was almost hanging out into the room. His eyes widened in surprise, there was actually much more of the room then he had expected. Much more then he would've guessed by looking outside. But it was also bare, except for the spiral staircase that led downwards. Wait, was that a...

A fish tank?

[Darkness Impulse]

It was... It was a large, rectangular glass tank filled to the brim with clear blue water. But that wasn't what caught Lialmont's attention. It was the mermaid swimming around in it that caught his eye.

"What the hell is this?" he thought to himself, "Is this some sort of trick? I see no weapon here. Unless..."

He shook his head. That couldn't be true. He shuffled in the passage, pushing backwards. But just as he pushed back a little, he heard some sort of click spring in the brick, it must have been some sort of trick! He tried to look backwards, and saw that the bricks surrounding the outer edge of the outside slamed together, closing Lialmont in. Then another set of bricks, just shy from crushing his feet.

"Shiiiiiiiit." He rushed forward, shuffling his legs and feet as quickly as he could. Another set of bricks slammed shut. He quickly reached the edge that led into the room, and rather than preparing to jump out in a coordinated fashion, which he had no time to do, he simply just pushed himself out of the passage and let himself drop. It wasn't very coordinated, but he was able to get his body into a rolling movement, doing a forward roll immediately when he touched the ground. He ended up in the center of the small circular room, on his knees. His head was facing down at the floor.

"Damnit," he though to himself, slamming his fist on the brick floor, "Now what am I supposed to do?"

"Hello?" Came a faint voice from Lialmonts side. His head jerked to the side to see the mermaid perked up out of the tank, staring at the ninja intently. Now that he was in the room, he could pay attention to her details. A scaly seafloor green tail, pretty much being half of her entire body. She was topless, and Lialmont's natural sense of lust kept him from looking away from her large breasts. She didn't seem to mind, simply waiting for an answer. She had semi-long blonde hair, reaching about mid-back. Red, full and luscious lips with hazel green eyes and pointed ears. Wait a second... The face was familiar. Lialmont's eyes widened in surprise when he finally realized that he knew this beautiful woman.

"Vana?" was all that the ninja was able to mutter.

[Darkness Impulse]

"Mordoc!?" The woman said, squinting her eyes so she could inspect Lialmont better. The ninja stood up, and despite more then half his face being covered, you could tell he had a very perplexed expression stamped on his face. At that moment the two knew that they had encountered one another again, but...

"You're a... Mermaid?"

Yes... It would appear so. Somehow Vana had been transformed into a mermaid. Maybe it was temporary, maybe it was just an illusion. He couldn't know. But this was no ordinary mermaid, this race of mermaids were commonly known as Feroin. Feroin are almost like sisters to the Siren, their undying beauty secuding men and luring them into whatever trap they would lay out. They made the perfect man-lure if you could tame them. But why would there be one now, in here? Vana was no Feroin, she was human. Or, she used to be.

"I'm a slave." Vana said solemnly, lowering her head.

"A what?"

"You heard me... This is a trap. You're meant to die here, and now." Her voice was serious, her words cold and sharp. Lialmont had no idea still what she meant by a slave, but according to her he had been set up. But why? And by who?


"You're a terrible secret keeper, Vanacrist."


So it was her... Vanacrist Poalia. My love. The one who resisted my pushing and shoving, broke through my personal barriers and threw me into emotion's arms. The young and beautiful human woman who was actually able to stand up to me. I'll never forget that day I met you...

But to meet now, to meet here. It is unfortunate for the both of us. This just isn't the right time. What are you doing here? I want you to explain...

Vanacrist gasped and turned around to look at the flight of stairs behind the tank. Lialmont leaned over so that he could see as well. They heard footsteps, slowly approaching up the stairs. The voice was familiar, but deeper. It sounded as if he had just heard that voice only a few hours ago. Strange... There was only one person who he had associated himself with today. Wait...

He emerged from the steps, head first. After Lialmont saw his rugged and dirty face, and that shoulder length messy brown hair, he knew who it was.

It was Valor.

[Darkness Impulse]

"What a coincidence. It seems that you two know eachother. How unfortunate for you!"

"What the fuck is this, Valor? Why are you here?" Lialmont quickly responded.

"I own this place. This is my home. Well, my second home." answered Valor, walking into the room fully and standing next to the tank with Vana in it. He was wearing a black fur cloak that covered his entire body, except his feet which were wearing some big boots.

After the initial gasp Vanacrist didn't seem to be surprised, nor motivated to do anything but sit there. Tempest switched from looking at Valor to the "Feroin."

"No, Lialmont, she isn't really a mermaid." Valor answered the ninja's unspoken question. Then how did she look like that. That was the moment when he saw the glistening bracelet on her wrist, glowing with enchantments. That must've been it. But why? Why was Valor keeping her in the form of a mermaid, why did he trap Lialmont here when he could have already killed him back at the other place? So many unanswered questions, and not enough answers. Things just didn't make sense.

"I'm sorry, Mordoc, that this has happened to you. But now I can't do anything." Vanacrist said quietly. Lialmont was glaring at Valor.

"You think you can keep me here? You have no weapon, how can you possibly stop me?" The ninja yelled, pulling out a ninja star and whipping it at Valor. The only response he got was a confident grin. He made no attempt to dodge it. Instead, Valor pulled out a large curved dagger from his cloak and threw it at the ninja in return. He was barely ready for the unexpected attack, but Lialmont managed to hop into the air and pull off a deft backflip. The dagger clashed with the shuriken, sending it flying in some random direction, and the blade grazed Tempest's suit as it flew by. Luckily he dodged that, the dagger went flying into the brick wall behind him. But as he was in mid-flip, his head upside down he watched as the brick floor beneath him collapsed. Not really collapsed, but sort of just vanished. It went by too quick for the ninja to see what happened, but he knew that the floor he was about to hit was about ten feet below, and he wasn't ready.

He wasn't ready, but fortunately ten feet gave him enough time to prepare a semi-safe landing. He was in the center of the tower, so there were no walls to grip on. Lialmont was able to get his feet back below him just in time to land on the hard brick floor of the fourth floor, but rather than landing and staying on his feet he collapsed immediately from the force and ended up on his stomach. His eyes shut, and he felt himself slip away from conciousness. His landing was close, but no cigar. He had been swallowed whole by the tower itself, thrown into the bowels of Brick Hell. And all the while the Heart of the tower himself stood laughing from above.

[Darkness Impulse]

"Hahaha! How does it feel, Lialmont? How does it feel to be the one being tricked?" Valor shouted from above. Lialmont irked out an "Ugh" as he awoke. He was still in the center of the room, sprawled on the floor. Either he hadn't been out long, or Valor just didn't do anything to him.

The room he was in was dark, the only light came from the open room above. Apparantly Lialmont managed to land right on the trap door, about five by five feet big. He was right smack dab in the middle of a square of light. The room had a gloomy feeling in it, the walls were grey, the floor was grey, and everything was bare. There were no stairs in the room, but it seemed smaller than the rest, meaning that the stairs must spiral around the outer edge, between the wall of this room and the outer wall. Heh... It's the perfect trap. Valor was standing right over the edge, peering down at him. Vanacrist was standing next to him. Wait, what? When the ninja managed to pull his head up enough to look at Vana, he saw that she had legs again. It was incredibly strange... It must've been just an enchantment. But now she wasn't nude, she was dressed in a shabby white robe that covered the whole of her body save her head. Why did that seem so familiar to him?

She was at Valor's side, also peering down at him. Again, she didn't look like she was resisting in any way. Was she really Valor's slave?

With a painful groan and a titanic effort, Lialmont managed to pull himself up on all fours. Valor was quietly chuckling above, and he heard nothing from Vana. It smelled horrible! Like rotting flesh...

When Lialmont rotated his head so he could see what else was in the room, he couldn't help but gag. His stomach convulsed and he reached up to rip the cloth mask off his mouth. He pulled it off and vomited on the brick. Valor began laughing loudly then.

"Surprised?"

What Lialmont saw was unforgettable... Piles of dead bodies littered the room. Not just any bodies, male bodies... Nude male bodies. The clothes that were probably once covering the men were ripped off, and most of their flesh had become a sickly pale color, the smell of rot dominating all other senses. Each body was covered in cuts and bruises. After Tempest had let out all of his entrails he gasped for breath, forcing himself to not look around again. Upon closer inspection of the brick floor he also noticed that there were puddles of dried blood scattered across it... It was disgusting.

"You sick sonofabitch!!" The ninja screamed angrily, managing to glare up at Valor who was simply laughing happly. "What the fuck is this!?"

"This is my collection. My prized possessions, you should consider yourself lucky for even being here!" Valor replied.

Lialmont didn't even know what to say, didn't know what to ask. Things had happened so rapidly, he was disoriented. His mind was ever asking the all common question: Why? Why bring him here, why not kill him when he was back in the other room earlier that day? Why...?

"Why here," Lialmont managed to say, still panting for breath.

"What was that?"

"Why bring me here? Why didn't you just dispose of me back in the clan headquarters?"

"Are dumb? Why dirty the walls of my home with your blood when I can dirty these walls?"

Lialmont was still confused, "Why didn't you bring me here in the first place, then?"

"Excitement. I wondered if you could even get in here without outside help. Woe and behold, you did! Congratulations!"

"You twisted Fuck. What are you going to do now? Kill me!?" Lialmont yelled angrily. He pushed off his hands and tried to stand, but he realized that he had injured his ankle. He knew it couldn't be broken, but it was hurt, he probably twisted it. Nonetheless he couldn't stand.

"Well, yes, that was my original plan." Valor replied, looking over to Vana who stood there, unemotional. Tempest looked closely... No, she wasn't resisting because she wanted to not resist. She was being forced to, somehow. "But seeing as how you two know eachother, I think it would be more pleasurable if she killed you."

[Darkness Impulse]

No... Not Vana. There's no way that she'd do it. There's just no way... Even if she was forced...

"Wait, what!?" Vanacrist finally blurted, stepping back from the edge of the trap door. Valor's eyes followed her, a smirk strapped to his face.

"Yes. Is it not a good idea? It's not like you have any choice in the matter, Vanacrist. Now go!" He shouted, grabbing her by the arm and heaving her into the pit with one arm. Such strength... Vana let out a yelp as she flew through the air.

"Vanacrist!" Lialmont shouted in fear. She was the only woman that he cared about, but they were forced to seperate. Now that they meet again, he just can't lose her so soon... Surely she wouldn't survive such a fall.

When Vanacrist was halfway down into the pit, her descent seemed to slow down. Her body was upright and her eyes shut. Was she... Levitating?

Not even Lialmont knew that about the woman! Incredible! No wonder Valor just threw her in, he knew she would levitate safely down. When Vana finally touched down on the floor, about four feet ahead of Lialmont, she opened her eyes. He could tell that they were full of horror, she didn't want to do this.

"Come on, Vana, you can do it! Here, use this." Valor said, pulling out yet another large curved dagger and tossing it down. Vana caught it, surprisingly, by the handle. She was indeed a skilled kunoichi. She looked at Tempest for a moment, her hand clenched around the dagger and shaking. Something was trying to pull her hand to do the deed, but she was resisting. When Lialmont looked back up to Valor he almost puked again. He had taken his cloak off, and he was nude as well. The sight was horrid, he didn't even look long enough to see his physique. It was then that he realized what must be going on. Valor was some sort of sick, twisted homosexual, finding horrid pleasure in murder. The shock of reality hit the ninja like a torrent, and it was gross, in all it's sense.

Unable to resist any longer, Vanacrist lifted the dagger, still shaking, above her head. She prepared for the strike... Lialmont, helpless, could only stare into her eyes, hoping for a miracle. It was at that moment that he saw her do something that inundated him with hope and glee...

She winked.

[Darkness Impulse]

Lialmont smiled a little bit and let his head sag down. He simply stared at the floor on all fours, awaiting his untimely death. Valor was doing only god knows what, laughing like a maniac.

"I'm sorry, Mordoc." Vana whispered, readying to strike.

"Hurry it up, Vanacrist. I'm tired of waiting." Valor finally said, smiling with glee.

This was pointless, still, after all of these new discoveries. Why would Valor go through so much trouble? He must've been a damned retard!

Vanacrist spun around abruptly, throwing the dagger not at Lialmont, but up at Valor. Tempest's head snapped up to watch, a smile on his exposed face. Vana's beautiful face also had a smile on it.

Valor's eyes widened as he saw the dagger flying towards him. The surprised look on his face only heightened Lialmont and Vana's hope. But it quickly changed into a grin. His hand snapped up and snatched the dagger from mid-air just as it was about to spear his face.

"It didn't hit!?" Lialmont said bluntly, obviously not.

Valor's facial expression went from sick pleasure to pure angry. He jumped off the ledge and landed in the pit without a scratch, right in front of Lialmont. The ninja was struck with a powerful kick to the chest, but he was able to block it with his arms. The strike was still powerful enough to send him into the pile of bodies at the other side of the room.

"You little bitch!" He said, turning around to face Vana, he grabbed her throat and effortlessly lifted her into the air, all she could do was shriek in return. "I don't know how you're able to resist the enchantment on my little bracelet there, but no matter. You won't believe how many women that are out there, willing to be my slave for money. Killing you, killing you both, will be easy... And pleasurable." He let her go, and Vana dropped to her knees panting for breath. Valor spun around again towards Lialmont, but he saw nothing. He saw the dead pile of bodies up against the wall, but no ninja. He knew that's where he threw him. "Where the fuck are you, Worm!?" He said, stalking over to the bodies and began pushing them aside one by one. "You can't walk, you can't do shit now! Haha! Hiding in this hole won't serve you any good." Valor's strength was immense, he was tossing bodies aside as if they were light as a feather. The pile depleted quickly, and when he was reaching the bottom he saw the top of Lialmont's headpiece.

"Hah! I've got you now, you little shit!"

Valor grabbed at the headpiece and yanked, hoping to pull up the small ninja. But when he only pulled up Tempest's headpiece alone, he yelled in rage and threw it to the side. Just as he did that, Lialmont emerged from beneath a group of bodies to Valor's side, he leaped high into the air, kunai in hand. All Valor's mental capacity would allow him to do in that surprised instant was for him to watch. He watched as the ninja's twisting front flip brought him up and over his head. A feat that he wouldn't be able to accomplish without getting a boost from jumping off a dead guy's head. As soon as Lialmont was right over Valor, upside down, he thrusted the kunai into the tip of his cranium. The blade embedded itself into his skull, and blood immediately began to gush out. Valor's body movements halted simultaneously with the strike. He didn't fall, he didn't say anything, he just froze, paralyzed. Lialmont landed the flip, ending up behind Valor.

He himself was surprised that he could pull off a stunt like that, anyway! The fall that he had endured previously left his two legs weary and hurt. Yes, he had acrobatic skill and strong legs but even an unexpected fall like that nearly broke his legs like twigs. Fortunately for him he didn't break them, but it left him wincing in pain occassionally.

"Now who just got tricked?"

[Darkness Impulse]

After a moment, Valor finally seemed to collapse, falling to his knees while sick gurgling sounds escaped his dead lips. What a fight, well, what a strike. Lialmont looked ahead and saw Vana still kneeling on the floor.

"Vanacrist! Are you okay?" The ninja said, rushing over to her side and helping her stand. Vanacrist nodded slowly, she seemed to be fine. Her breath came back to her, and she looked at Lialmont with a wide smile on her face. She smiled at the man's undeniable beauty, without his headpiece on - which got lost beneath some dead bodies that Lialmont didn't dare to touch. His half-elf origins gave him the soft and hawk-like features like an elf, but also the ruggedness of a human. Combined with his smoothly tanned skin, she wondered just why he always covered that face up. A regular human nose, with fully pointed ears and small pink lips. But was strangest of all was his hair. Lialmont's brown hair, despite being kept under a headpiece for so long, was naturally straight and smooth. It was about shoulder length, and his bangs covered his face at just the right places to give him an angelic visage.

"I'm fine, Mordoc, thank you."

"Please... Stop calling me that."

"Why the hell not!? That's your name!" Vana quipped quickly.

Lialmont hesitated to speak. He just didn't know what to say. What could he say? "Mordoc was my Karasi'minn name. How can I still be Mordoc if I left that clan?"

Vanacrist shook her head, she had never known Lialmont as any other but Mordoc. After all this time, how could she just change? How could Lialmont cope with change so well? Truth is... He didn't. Tempest may have been more at unease than her about what had happened. He wasn't Mordoc, he was a rogue. A rogue ninja without a clan.

"You still call me Vanacrist, Mordoc," She began to say, "Don't you remember that I came with you that same day? My name is Vanacrist, it always will be. Maybe to everyone else you're Lialmont, but you'll never make me stop calling you Mordoc."

"Well then it's a good thing that we won't be staying together for much longer." Lialmont responded, turning away from her and walking over to the dead Valor, who was surprisingly still on his knees. He reached out and grabbed his kunai, and pulles it out with a loud sickening pop. When Tempest turned around he was slapped in the face by an angry Vana.

"How can you be so damn selfish? You can't imagine how much I suffered without you. And now that we meet again you want to leave me? And to what!? Does it look like I have anything?" Lialmont simply watched her talk, without an expression on his face or a thought in his mind.

"You have skill," He responded, "Forget about this man, here, forget about Akashima. Go to some other city and become a mercenary. You easily have as much ability as I do." Lialmont pushed past Vanacrist who was standing silent, trying to hold back her emotion. Maybe it was true that she was as good a whatever Lialmont was to make a decent living off of being a merc, but she couldn't seem to hold back emotion as he did so easily.

How could he do that? Just forget about the past so easily? It was unnatural. He was even able to quickly dismiss the events that transpired only minutes ago. Telling her to just 'forget him.' How could she?

[Darkness Impulse]

"Listen, i'm grateful for you helping me. I'm grateful that somehow you managed to resist the enchantments on that bracelet, but why do you think I left you in the first place?" Lialmont said slowly, standing with his back turned to Vanacrist. "What I do, what we do, just can't be done together." He turned around to see a crying woman standing before him.

"Why not?" she managed to say, "Why can't I come with you? I don't have any money, I don't have any clothes, I don't have any weapons. What am I supposed to do? You know you want me to come, Mordoc. It's only been a couple of months, we couldn't have changed that much. It will be just like old times. You saved my life, too, you know. I wouldn't have been able to resist Valor's... 'Charms' if you hadn't come. Please..."

It was true, she had nothing. And now that she was back in Lialmont's arms he wanted to throw her back out again. He wanted to escape the past, and was willing to do anything for that cause. But she was right, he was being selfish.

Lialmont thought in silence for a little bit... Well, couldn't just deny her. Maybe she could come with him for a little bit... He'd be taking a break until he bought a new headpiece anyway. After a moment of silence between the two rogues, Lialmont nodded to Vana, who then smiled and rushed over to him to envelop him in a hug.


Hah... Always a softie on the inside and sharp on the out. I guess it must be fate.

I guess there's always a girl in the life of a man. No matter how much he tries to deny it. It's nature working at its best.

So you're strong willed, intelligent, strong and sweet, Vanacrist. What can't you do? You can even make me realize that I shouldn't run from memories, but embrace and accept them. It's too late now, though, i've forgotten too much. I suppose that we'll have to forge a new past together.

"You can come with me, Vanacrist, but only for a short while."

"Wh-what?" She replied, sadly. She was too happy about thoughts of being with Lialmont forever, she wasn't ready for another statement like that. She was still hugging him, and he failed to return it.

"For a little while you can come, until you're back on your feet. Just promise me that you won't get into a situation like this again, will you?" Lialmont said quickly, a genuine smile on his face. He still didn't want to stay with her forever, but he supposed they could become "partners" for a while. Until she got some money. Vana had stopped crying and now only smiled. Lialmont was too stubborn to have another change of mind. She simply accepted the deal, and knew that the whole time they're together again, she'll just have to persuade him to let them stay for longer then "a while."

What else could he do... Things had happened too fast. That day had started out by Lialmont being invited to some guy's clan hall and it turned out that when he got there they didn't want him to leave unless he agreed to help them. So he did the deed, knowing that it wouldn't take that long and it just so happened that he met his lost love, Vanacrist. He didn't even know how to react, it's not like he had been planning a reaction for those months of separation! And all of a sudden she wanted to go with him and wouldn't take no for an answer... All he could do was let her do what the hel she wants in the end. It's always been like that.

[Darkness Impulse]

"Tell me, Mordoc, what did you have planned after this?" Vana asked happily, standing in front of Lialmont and staring into his blue eyes. They both still stood in the pit, both had seemed to get used to the once overwhelming stench that made Tempest gag. He smiled in return.

"Well, I was going to head back to Raiaera."

"Why?"

"C'mon, you seriously want to sit in here and talk with me?" He replied jokingly, "Lets get the hell out." Vana laughed and simply walked to the wall. She looked up and began to lift from the floor slowly, levitating upwards towards the fifth floor. Lialmont watched with a grin on his face. He didn't need to float. He ran towards the wall behind Vana and placed one foot after another up it, he got up about six feet before he let his feet slip and his arms came forward to grab the ledge of the fifth floor. He swung himself over the lip just as Vanacrist emerged from her ascent. Yet another feat that pained his legs after completion. He would definitely need to get some good rest. Neither of his legs were broken or sprained, but they both hurt like a bitch!

"So now tell me, why Raiaera? Got a job there or something?"

"Sort of. This is more of a quest, i'll tell you later." Lialmont replied, still stalling. He just wanted to get out, he didn't want to stay in that tower any longer. The two of them had met again, something sad happened, something happy happened, and now they were together again. But all he wanted was just to get the fuck out of there! He didn't want to talk, why did Vanacrist have to ask so many questions? "Please, Vana, can we just leave here? I'm sure it must be morning now, or close to being morning." Vana nodded. "And hopefully we can find a way to get this infernal bracelet off, too." she thought to herself.

Lialmont didn't look back as he walked, even limped a little, past the tank of water to the spiral stairs leading down to the third floor. Vana followed closely behind, pretty much looking back the entire way. They were almost opposites. But that was all the better. Not good and evil, but maybe, fear and acceptance. Two forces on the same side, yet so different. Vanacrist's sweet but rigid attitude was just the thing that attracted Lialmont to her. He could not deny it, he was attracted to her. She knew how to fight and knew how to kill. But at the same time she knew how to love and embrace the past, learning from the past rather than being shunned by it. She couldn't really teach Tempest how to fight better, but she could cerrainly save his life by showing him how to face facts rather than bury them in the depths of his mind. Showing Lialmont that there was more to him then meets the eye, showing him that not only can wits save your life, but emotion can too. Strange...

Lialmont quietly laughed to himself when he saw his throwing star laying on one of the steps. He smiled, glad that he didn't lose it. After all, he only had seven. He bent down and scooped it up, examining it and the kunai that was still held in his opposite hand. They were small, sharp and precise like any other ninja weapon should be, but yet he still felt unfulfilled. They were boring, mundane, there was absolutely nothing special about their designs or their metal compositions. He sighed at the small weapons and slipped the blood-covered kunai next to the others, doing the same with the shuriken. He realized that he needed a new weapon... A weapon that was unique to him and was his only. He would have to find one in Raiaera, no doubt. "Hopefully we don't run into anyone downstairs," Lialmont thought to himself as they went down the stairs, remembering when he first came to the tower and he heard voices on the first floor.

Luckily and fortunately when the couple made it to the ground floor there was noone to be seen. It looked like a meeting room though, and there were signs of people being there recently. There was a long, wooden and rectangular table sitting in the middle surrounded by chairs and some candles were lined down the center of it giving the room a yellow glow. A couple of the chairs had not been pushed in, he guessed that whoever was down here just left, and the chair sitting at the head of the table was extravagant, probably Valor's chair.

When the two opened the door and went outside they couldn't help but look at the sky. It was nearing morning, the eastern horizon had a red streak of light at the base, giving the cloudless sky a reddish-orange hue. It was chilly, a fresh breeze that smelled of morning lofted through the park and a light fog blanketed the whole of Akashima. It was a normal morning, for a special departure.

So then it was to Raiaera, for reasons that Lialmont didn't wish to reveal at that moment. The first new quest where the rogue couple triumphs together... Must be interesting. What surprises were left for the two?

((Spoils - NPC Companion Vanacrist Poalia, she can in no way help Lialmont in a pvp battle. And a full profile for her will be made in a mid-level update.))

[AdventWings]

A nice Introduction Quest that sounds very promising.

So~ I'll give you a run-through on each category and you can PM me with any questions or comments you may have.

Story

Continuity - 6

A tad confusing as to how you basically got connected with Valor in the first place, or even why you left the clan and was wandering around Althanas to begin with. The little snippets of background info was good and it can help set up further story development to your character. Not overly impressive, but it was better than having none.

Setting - 6

There were not a lot I can glean from the overall narration asides from descriptions that were a bit generic. I could not find much detail as to how the air smelled or the roughness of the bricks. Some were generic and I believe you could do better at describing the feeling, such as how fresh the air smelled to you. A good Setting evokes an image of the character's surrounding and not just merely tell the reader where something was. Keep practicing and you'll get there.

Pacing - 7

This was a pretty strong category for you. The scenes flowed nice along the entire story, only to be slightly disturbed during the beginning of the story as it was flying by a bit too fast. Otherwise, there were good gradual biuld-up of tension as Tempest advanced up the Pagoda. The showdown was a bit anti-climatic, which sapped a good deal of tension from the action scene and it disappointed me a bit. Other than that, it was well-done.

Writing Style

Mechanics - 7

Nothing bad but nothing overly impressive either. Not even a minor misspell, which is a sight for sore eyes (even from me!). Now that you have a good grasp of the Standard English Language, mix it up a bit more and add in some spice, such as intentional misinterpretation or intentionally misleading sentences. Just some food for thought.

Technique - 7

Good use of basic literary techniques. Not much that jumped out at me, though.

Clarity - 7

I can understand most of what you were trying to do the entire thread, though there were some instances that made me wonder what you were trying to tell the reader, such as the bloody-faced girl with Vana's face for example. I guessed that you were using that to convey the image of "Haunting Past" but it did not really come across as a strong image, but more of a strange image to me. It really did not connect for me. Then again, maybe that's just me.

Character

Dialogue - 7

It started off a bit cliche and generic, but the later posts and uses displayed more and more of his inner character. Good use overall and you stayed well to the personality of a tight-lipped and reclusive young ninja.

Action - 7

'Twas an OK effort overall. A few parts made me wonder about the reasoning behind his action, but that I blame on me being unfamiliar with your character and the minimal info I was able to discern from your posts.

Persona - 7

The recluse personality really shone well during the later half of the story, though the earlier development was not really observable. With more IC experience under his belt, I believe Tempest will develop even more depth than he is now.

Misc.

Wild Card - 8

Lotsa potential here. Tempest is starting to sound interesting and what with the glimpse of emotion showing through that stoic face of his... *Wink*

Also, kudos to you for choosing Akashima as your starting point. Even though some portrayal here is not exactly accurate, I blame that on the relatively inadequate information and social structure. I should know, I wrote this sub-region ;) Still, what you had here was well-done and a good start. I look forward to seeing more from you. ^_^

Total - 70!

Darkness Illusion receives 900 EXP and a bag of 100 GP that he found lying about on a table within the Pagoda. Stealing from the dead...?

Vanacrist Poalia will also be accompanying you in your journey. She will not be participating in any battles unless the matter had been settled with the other parties involved.

Make your visit to the Realm of Greeting and have our staff there look it over. It won't take long. :)

Good luck and have fun!

[Cyrus the virus]

EXP added, great job Impulse!