Peaceful...? (Open)

[Bullet Witch]

"I don't care who you are. Either you get out of my way or i'll shoot you." Leigh said coldly, the barrel of her weapon Heresy pointed at the man standing in front of her. He and several other lecherous men had cornered her against the wall of the Peaceful Promenade, thinking her easy prey as she had left her katana in her room inside the tavern.

Men. She couldn't stand them. She had gone outside for a couple quick moments and a few steps then suddenly these men had appeared, strapped to the bone with weapons and random assortments of armor. They called themselves the "Promenade Pirates", and were the self proclaimed "Underwood Protection Agency". All they required was a daily 'small' payment and some 'entertainment'.

Apparently they thought that their entertainment would be her.

Well, she would not allow herself to be raped like this. She had looked around for some help at first, but from the villager's tired eyes and their weary expressions she knew that no one would come to help.

As the the first came up to her with a lecherous sneer upon his dirty lips, she quickly summoned her weapon Heresy, the only thing she held beloved. The men were surprised at first, but must have thought she was either incompetent with the weapon or that it was a trick because they kept advancing. It had taken a warning shot and the barrel to the face to let them know she wasn't one to be trifled with.

The original man who had tried to grab her now suffered from a nosebleed from the butt of the gun-bow, and he snarled at her with rage in his eyes. "You bitch! Don't you know who I am?"

And that was when she pointed the weapon directly at him and spoke those words. "I don't care who you are. Either get out of my way or i'll shoot you." And she meant it, too.

At first the man seemed to back up, as his 'men' were retreating back to the street, too afraid to face someone who really knew how to fight. But then he rushed her, and she was surprised by his speed that she barely brought her knee up in time to his groin. Fortunately, it had the desired effect, and he rolled to the ground, clutching his crotch and whimpering.

"Fool." she spat at the form on the ground and her weapon dissapeared once more. "Next time you try to rape a woman, remember this day." She gave him one more sharp kick and shoved open the door to the tavern.

Once inside she closed the door and let out a deep breath. She was lucky--there had been alot of men, too many for her to handle all at once. She had been lucky they all had no spines, and that the one who did was an incompetent fool.

Sighing, she sat down at the nearest table and called over the busy waitress. "Just bring me something heavy to drink." She said wearily, running her gloved fingers through the raven black hair. The waitress nodded and walked away, hips swaying vivaciously.

[Tranquil]

Shu awoke from a peaceful nights slumber as a stray projectile shattered the glass of his tavern bedside window and pierced multiple holes into his skin. He slowly picked out the glass, then the bolt that hat miraculously found it's way into his skin then mumbled incoherently, "This is why I sleep not in the city."

Wiping his tired eyes, Shu walked to his counter and wrapped his deformed face in his scarf once more. The red silk reached his calves. He dressed himself in his red and white robes, threw on his traveling boots and was ready to go. Upon leaving the room Shu grabbed his Staff that lodged in the door, propping it shut.

Shu's footsteps tared lightly as he walked down the Tavern steps, only the tip of his sharp Flynt staff made noise as it poked the oaken steps.

Gray eyes took in the pitiful scene of the bar through his hair which cascaded over his eyes; making it easy to see out yet hard to look in. Shu saw almost the same as always; men staggering drunk before Noon. All married men who would most likely end up in a tavern bed with a lady of the night. They were doing toasts and downing ales like it was going out of style..But there was one unfamiliar face.

"I don't assume that this piece of ammo would belong to you would it?" Shu asked as he walked slowly up to where Leigh was seated. "If it was, you can have it back if it Will be of any use to you...You hit your Mark if you're interested." Shu said, showing her the glass and bullet wounds.

"If I'm not being too rash, do you mind me asking how a bullet could be shot through me window? I'm just a Magus, I simply know nothing of this technology, forgive me." Shu said with a slight smile and took it upon himself to be seated.

[Bullet Witch]

Just a note my weapon fires crossbow bolts not bullets. You should edit your post so there isn't any confusion.

Leigh had simply been sitting there quietly to herself when her thoughts had been interrupted by a tall, thin man, dressed in white robes and a long red scarf. Immediately Leigh searched his eyes, looking for any ill content, but was both relieved and surprised when she found none. Was there actually a decent soul around here?

When he showed her the would her warning shot had caused, she felt two things. 1) Suspicion that somehow he had known it was her, even her though her weapon was safely tucked away in its dimensional pocket at this time and he had been nowhere to be seen during the incident. And 2) A feeling of guilt washed over her at the sight of the wound, although it didn't seem to bother the man in the slightest.

"Oh jesus..." she swore as she saw the woulds made from the bolt and the glass, and immediately took his arm in her hands. "...I'm so sorry. Please forgive me, i'll take care of this right away." With that she put her hand on the bleeding wound and concentrated, gathering her witchcraft and focusing it into one spot. "Lord of darkness, grant me your powers..." She chanted in a voice laced with witchcraft, and a red glow sorrounded the would. "...and Heal the ally of your servant."Immediately the small wounds closed up and the hole from the crossbow bolt also stopped bleeding and started to scab over.

"There, that should be all good." she sighed heavily. Using healing magic always wiped her out, as she wasn't accustomed to it even on Earth, However it seemed it was necessary in order to survive. "A magus? I don't believe i've heard that before. Are you like a wizard?"

[Tranquil]

Shu stared down at his arm in a slight bit of amazement and his eyes widened with shock as the wounds healed right before his eyes. He knew his body to heal at an inhumane pace, but that was extraordinary what she had just done.

"You flatter me, I'm nothing compared to a Wizard. Although somewhere along the lines I might become one." Shu spoke in riddles and often made little sense. "I'm a practicing Magus, every day of practice get me closer to becoming a Wizard, but my days of training lay far ahead in the future my dear." Shu said with a small sigh.

Shu ran a black gloved hand over what used to be his wound and he still couldn't get over her powers. "Now, might I ask what powers have you been trained in that you could close an open wound with your will alone?" Shu questioned, the words that she had chanted still ringing clear in his head. This magic was by no means pure, Shu could feel darkness emanating from her being.

[Bullet Witch]

Leigh raised an eyebrow. "I'm a Witch." She stated simply, wiping away the excess blood from his arm as she spoke. "I have to be trained in these things, if I am to survive in this...place." she waved one silken gloved arm to the door. The napkin she was using she threw in the wastebasket, as it was bloodied from the cleaning of his wound.

"How long have you been a..." she toyed with the word with her tongue. "Magus?" Finally she got the word out. It was a new word to her, one not spoken on Earth, and it felt weird in her mouth.

As she spoke she noticed several looks from different people, all whom she identified as potential threats. I don't think my little display outside or in here went unnoticed. She thought irritably.

[Tranquil]

"Not long enough I'm afraid, there is still much I long to know about the art." Shu said, smiling as he also took in the angry faces of the people in the dimly lit tavern.

"If I'm not mistaken these people could use some light to brighten their lives." Shu said with a slight laugh. "Incendious." Shu hummed and snapped his finger. Immediately every candle in the Tavern burst with a giant flame lapping at the faces of the Drunkards. They were so startled that they dropped their beer mugs to the ground. Shu watched on with a straight face, though his sparkling gray eyes showed what laughed his mouth did not.

"If I dare say dear Witch, my business is done here. I do always prefer the outskirts of the promenade anyway. The dubbance is Shu, a Vagabond Magus by trade, Alchemist by blood. I ask not your name, yet follow if you wish. I do ask you leave fair Witch." Shu stood from his seat and gave a curt bow and within his staff could be heard clanking it's way on the cobblestone path outside the tavern.

[Bullet Witch]

Another cocked eyebrow. Apparently the man thought he had a sense of humor, as she could sense the internal battle of whether to laugh or not within him as he intantaenously lit all the candles in the room. He spoke to her eloquently and took his leave, his staff thunking on the wooden floor as he stepped out of the Peaceful Promenade.

"That piece of shit! He made me spill my drink!" one man shouted, and she could tell from the slur of his voice and the way he stumbled towards the door with a sword in one hand told her that he was both half drunk and half an idiot.

Without getting up from her chair she swept a leg from underneath the table and tripped the man, and his long sword fell from his hands to the cobblestones outside. She eyed the fallen man warily, uncertain of what her actions might have caused, but then she realized with a start that he was snoring, fast asleep upon the Promenade floor. Must've been drunker than I thought... she thought to herself admist the laughter the man's fall had caused, and went and picked up the long sword.

It was a good 3 1/2 feet long, the blade being made of steel and the hilt being made of iron covered with a gold paint to make it look golden. She swung it around her self a little, testing its weight. Honestly, however, she didn't know a thing about close ranged weapons, and wouldn't have been able to tell the difference between a crappy imitation and a good, balanced one.

All that she knew was that she could sell it. She looked to the fallen man on the floor and felt a small wave of pity, but quickly repressed that after she remembered he tried to go after the man she had healed. "Next time, don't be so drunk as to not think straight. " she murmured, and tossed a couple gold coins on his head in consolation.

Leigh quickly stepped out of the door to see the alchemist/magus walking away. "Wait, i'll be right there." she shouted to him, and went back inside and quickly strode up the stairs with the new sword in her hand. As she reached her room she quickly set the long sword down and grabbed her katana instead. This, she could tell at least, was not a cheap imitation, and prefered its light weight to the heavyness of the other weapon. Strapping it to her side she went back downstairs and out the door, her black hair flowing out behind her.

This time, no one tried to stop her.

[Tranquil]

Shu caught sight of what the Witch had done for him through the window, though he could have easily dealt with the drunkard with himself; he waited for her out of respect.

To be quite honest, Shu marveled at the bravery and the audacity of the Witch. Whilst Shu normally is prone to avoid most types of frontal confrontations, this girl seems to invite it. She has no qualms with confronting a person who has a problem with her, Shu was quite fond of that persona.

"Well, if I'm going to be traveling with you, might I be so bold as to ask your name?" Shu questioned as he saw her walking out of the Tavern with the newly acquired Katana and the sword that had dropped from the drunkard. "That sword should fetch a nice price on the market." Shu said, noticing the length of the blade. "''Tis a nice imitation of a longsword...A foolish merchant might never know the difference." Shu said casually as he swung his staff over his back and began to walk on wards.

[Bullet Witch]

Alright, another note. I set the longsword down in the room for her to retrieve later, but i'll go with the flow here and have her carrying it with her whilst they travel, at the cost of points perhaps but for the sake of making this easier.

"Hmm..." She was uneasy about giving her name so freely, especially to someone she had just met. While he seemed like a good guy, Leigh had learned that sometimes the outside is just a mask for whats really on the inside. But, she decided to take the chance, as she was feeling pretty confident after that last encounter. "I'm known as Leigh. Shu...." she rolled the name over her tongue again. Shoe? "That's an interesting name."

She walked side-by-side with the alchemist now, taking long strides to keep up with his long legs. As the two walked she noticed that she was getting less and less looks on her appearence. Partly because she was wearing a katana, most likely, but she had a sneaking suspicion that it was because she was walking next to a man.

Leigh rolled her eyes at the thought. Of course, she couldn't be left alone if she was alone, but if there was someone with her...

She really needed to work on that intimidation thing.

The Witch gave the man another once-over. While his words said that he was a humble, if sometimes mischeaveous, man, his actions and the way he moved belied that in he carried within himself a quiet confidence that she found refreshing. "It sure is sunny." she murmured quietly as she shaded her eyes from the glaring sun. "Damn, I wish I had a pair of sunglasses right now."

[Tranquil]

"It is a pleasure to be traveling with you, Leigh." Shu said, pausing slightly as she took her time pondering his name. "Ah, a name is but a name, if I were named something else would I not still be the man whom you see in front of you?" Shu spoke in riddle speak again and scrunched his shoulders nonchalantly.

"While stealing is not in my accord and these..Glasses of sun you speak of have me befuddled to the highest limits; if it is redemptions from the sunlight you seek I can show you a place." Shu said, and with a powerful thrust of his staff into the ground his propelled himself forward nearing the outskirts of the promenade where the high grassy plains lay.

"Curiosity often gets the best of me, though I must ask. How does one come to know so much about technology?" Shu asked, looking over his shoulder as he walked hurriedly past the last houses in the Promenade.

[Bullet Witch]

He startled her with his speed. For a magic user, he was surprisingly spry, and Leigh wondered upon his age momentarily. However, she decided not to voice it as a question, and instead sped up her own steps as she answered his questions.

"Lets just say...i'm not from around here." A truthful answer, but one that did not give away too much information. Although they had exchanged names, he was still a stranger to her, and strangers could be potential enemies.

Although, she had to admit, the concern for her eyes seemed genuine and was touching. "Thank you, but no thank you." She said quickly, still not comfortable enough to travel with the man alone. "It doesn't bother me that much."

As they came to the edge of town, Leigh was about to give her goodbyes to the alchemist when she saw something that made her blood boil. The road continued on past the town, onto a flat stretch where upon the Witch could see a large group of men tormenting and old man and a young woman, holding the old man back while another set began taking her clothes off violently. The rest simply jeered and looked on with eyes that set her anger aflame. "Hold on a sec," she said to the alchemist, and ran down the road, her black dress/coat flowing out behind her.

She took her katana in one hand and unsheathed it in the other, the blade making a beautiful ringing sound in the clear air. The men turned at this sound, and a mixture of fear, shock, and incredulity spread across their faces. "What the hell!" one man said, before Leigh hit him in the face with the butt of her weapon, knocking him to the ground as he clutched his face in pain.

"Dammit, you bitch! Can''t you leave us alone?!" another man holding the old man roared, and drew a large broadsword from his back. He swung it at her head, but she ducked the blade and slashed at his thigh. The blade connected, and a spray of blood spouted from the open wound. The man roared and clutched at the gash with both hands, allowing the Witch enough time to slam one battle-hardened fist into the man's face.

[Tranquil]

Would the surprises never end? Shu was tempted to stand in the dust in shock and let this seemingly helpless woman take on all these armed men. But she was indeed not helpless at all. Within a matter of seconds she had knocked a man down flat on his back, and dodged what would have been a mutilating blow from a broadsword and delivered a combination attack of her own. It seemed as if she was perfectly capable of handling herself, but the number were simply too much, Shu advanced forward to her side.

"Stay here if you wish but consider this my final gift to you before I leave." Shu said as he stood with his back facing the Witch and his staff pointed out toward the violates. "May the fires of hell aid me in battle, come for from the pits of Brimstone; Incendious." Shu stabbed the Flynt of his staff into the ground and a large pillar of fire encircled his staff.

With his staff now firmly grasped in his hand held in the fighting position he awaited the enemies next move. "Come on, have at it. I'm sorry I'm not a harmless old man or a defenseless young lady. But you should try your luck with me either way." Shu mocked as he pointed his burning staff in the direction of the cowering man.

"Leigh, I do believe that you shall have no problem finishing them off right now. I'll leave that pleasure to you if you shall please." Shu said with a twisted tone of pleasure in his voice. "Because these sort of vile creatures are not fit to walk God's earth. If you shan't end their lives I'll send them to the pits of hell which the do so belong ever so greatly." Shu stared deep into their eyes and watched as fear consumed their bodies.

[Bullet Witch]

As Shu stepped into the fray, the Witch had to admit she was rather impressed with his skills and the way he spoke. It was deep, commanding, much like she imagined to be the voice of God himself. He said that she should have no problem finishing them, but found herself rather hard pressed as she barely blocked a sword strike at her midsection with the steel katana, holding the blade with both hands as to increase the strength behind her block. The man she was fighting had an eyepatch and missing teeth, and she was vaguely reminded of the fact that they had called themselves the "Promenade Pirates". Psh. Pirates indeed.

Copying her move from earlier, she slammed one knee into the man's unprotected groin, and the man's one eye bulged out. "G-g-g-gah..." he managed to make out, before he howled in pain as her katana slashed vertically up his chest, and blood spattered on her face.

"Godammit..." she swore as she wiped blood from her eyes. "...and I just took a shower two hours ago!" She turned to Shu to whine uselessly to him, when she noticed a bear of a man holding a greatsword above the Magus's head, preparing to strike the man down.

"Shu!" Leigh cried out, and quickly summoned her favorite weapon Heresy into her other hand, and it loaded itself as she pointed the gun-crossbow hybrid at the giant man. She had not used this weapon because she hadn't wanted to kill anyone, just prevent them from doing anymore harm to the old timer and the terrified young woman, but in light of this new situation she found it necessary to bring the unnatural weapon out of its hiding place.

Closing one eye to aim, she pulled the trigger and prayed that the bolt would hit its mark.

It did...sort of. While she had been aiming for an instant kill, a blow to the throat, her arrow struck instead right below the collar bone, just as he swung the blade vertically at the now-attentive Shu. The blade missed the man by inches, slamming to the ground with great force.

[Tranquil]

Shu was shocked that he hadn't sensed the attack coming and he bowed graciously as Leigh saved him from potential death. "You've failed in your attempt to kill me, now you shall meet your death. Put in a good word for me, I shall meet you in Hell one day." Shu spat angrily, clutching his fiery staff tight as he watch the man desperately try to get the bolt out of his collar bone.

Shu charged the makeshift pirate and avoided his final blow with only a small cut on his right arm. Shu yelled in anger as he pierced the mans neck with the Flynt of his burning staff. The Pirate's body went limp and blood trickled to the ground. Shu stabbed the body and his staff into the ground and called upon his magics once again as he drug the body that Leigh had slain. "Fires of Hell, consume these bodies and take them to their rightful place. Incendious!" Shu called out as he drew out a web of lines around the dead bodies and as soon as the lines had connected and the enchantment had been said, a large wall or fire encircled the bodies and burnt the remainder of what life could have been left inside.

"Leigh, if you will. This place is definitely not safe for you nor I now. We shall be marked as assassins for quite some time. Follow if you wish but I've no intent to stay in this town." Shu took a moment to think of the actions that were just committed, but as soon as he heard loud voices coming from around the corner, he was off at a quick paced walk again.

[Bullet Witch]

Leigh watched as the rest of the men fled, apparently scared now that the Witch had revealed her most dangerous weapon, and considered going after them recklessly before she heard voices coming from the town of Underwood itself. "Help, help, we're being killed!" one of the pirates shouted, and immediately Leigh's face went white. Damn it, they were trying to place the blame on her and Shu!

She heard Shu mention the fact that they would be marked as killers, and ruefully the Witch agreed with the Magus. She had tried to resolve the situation without slaying any of the men, but apparently that seemed to be impossible. "Your right. I might as well leave too." She looked back at the town, trying to remember if she had left anything of value in her room, when she saw the old man, holding the shivering and crying young woman, come up to Leigh with compassion in his eyes. It was something she wasn't used to seeing, and the Witch took a step back at it.

Suddenly the old man lifted a sack of money and placed it in Leigh's gloved hand. "Thank you so much for saving us," He said, his sweaty face pale and old, weary hands trembling as he closed her fingers over the pouch. "Please, I would like you two to have that as payment. Its not much, only 500 gold, but its all we have."

Leigh shook her head. "I can't take this. I didn't help out of pity or self interest, I just hated seeing what they were doing. I don't need anything for it, and I don't think Shu does either." she jabbed a thumb at the waiting Magus. With that she placed the pouch of money back in the old man's trembling hands and said, "Please, it was the least we could do."

"You two truly are angels from above," the man whispered. Leigh winced at this comment but let it slide. The less people who knew she was a Witch, the better. She didn't know if witch burnings still existed around here, so she had to be careful of what she said. The old man shook his head. "There must be something I can do..."

Suddenly a loud ruckus came from the edge of town, and a set of three Underwood knights appeared on horseback, accompanied by several members of the pirate gang. "I know!" the old man lifted a finger, and all three of them, Shu, Leigh and the young woman, looked up at the old timer in surprise. He reached into his back and pulled out a scroll, checking the label on it before handing it to the Witch. "Use it." he told the confused woman. "Its a Marking scroll. You mark a place you want to return to using the first line of this spell--" He pointed at the first line, which glowed red slightly. "--then speak the second when you are ready. No two scrolls are the same, so remember you can't use it twice."

"But where will this...scroll...take us?" The witch questioned suspiciously.

"About a day or so away from here I used the first line at an abandoned campground. It has enough food and shelter there to last about a week, I'd say. I set the spell there specificly so I could gather stuff from there if I ever needed anything. But, it seems you are in more need of it." The old man shook her hand. "I'll stay here with my daughter Isabella and try to get this all sorted out."

"Thank you." Leigh was grateful. Not only had he given her and Shu a means of escape, he would try to help here too. "By the way, what is your name?"

"My name...is Logan McDorin." He said. "Now go, the knights are coming!" Indeed, the Witch could see and hear the officers clumping along in their metal suits and horses.

Grabbing Shu's sleeve, she unrolled the scroll and read the second line as best she could. "Fly, fly, dance with the wind, bring me to my memory oh bird of the wind" She recited eloquently, and suddenly she had a weird sensation in her stomach as if everything within her was being pulled and discombobulated. Her eyesight shfted, her skin blurred, until everyting became one with the feeling of movement.

As suddenly as the feeling came it was gone, and Leigh and Shu stood in the middle of a deserted campground.

[Tranquil]

Shu had heard none of the old mans conversation with Leigh, he was too busy getting ready to cast his next spell when he felt a hard tug on the sleeve of his robe and then his body nearly collapsed underneath it's own weight. His eyes watered for a few seconds until the movement stopped and they ended up in a barren landscape.

Shu's staff seemed as if it had long since been extinguished but Shu remembered the fight scene quite clearly. "Leigh, where have you taken us?" Shu had to ask the obvious question as he pace around in a small circled scratching his head, pondering what could have gone on.

"We could have taken out that Vanguard." Shu said half-heartedly. He was still in fighting mode, his adrenalin was still rushing and he wanted to kill, although he knew energy must be saved.

"We'll make the best of what's been given us. The guards mustn't know what has happened to us. It does indeed seem to be well stocked." Shu said as he took a silent inventory of all the stockpiles around the camp area.

[Bullet Witch]

"Yeah, the old guy said we could last for about a week up here with this stuff." Leigh swept back her long, raven hair from her face, making sure she could keep a visual on her sorroundings. The place, while it seemed innocent, gave off a bad vibe that sent chills up the woman's spine.

"In any case, we can hide out here while he--" she jabbed a finger back in what she thought was the general direction to the Underwood. "--can try and clear up any misunderstandings." She looked up, and saw that it was growing dark. "Damn, time sure can fly around here, can't it?"

With the nightfall came the cold as well, and soon Leigh found herself shivering as she was only dressed in her battle clothing, not used to the ever-changing conditions. She looked to Shu, and suddenly remembered that he had that fire spell that worked so well upon the "pirates". "Hold on, i'll be right back." She told the Magus, and adjusted her katana and the long sword so that the thinner blade hung at her side, ready for use and the long sword was strapped upon her back. She wanted to be ready, in case there was something, or someone, out there. "I'm going to get some firewood." She gestured to the empty campfire, where nothing but scattered ashes lay.

[Tranquil]

"My dear, if you expect me to stay cooped up in this terrible excuse of a shack for a whole week your assumptions are wrong. I'll rest for a day or two; then take all I can carry for my journey on wards." Shu said then noticed the girls shivering body, and heard her mention something about firewood.

"You shall do nothing of the sort, I don't need regents for a fire." Shu said and he motioned for her to come back and sit n the ground. Shu began to weave another indicate pattern of line in the dirt with the Flynt of his staff, yet this one was much smaller, and somehow less deviant. "Incendious." Shu muttered and snapped his gloved fingers, watching as the fire jumped to life inside the circle, lapping at the invisible walls of the ancient seal.

"Get warm, the first wont touch you as long as I hold my concentration and the lines don't break." Shu said, sitting cross legged, his hands gripping his staff which was delicately balanced between his two hands. His eyes were closed, taking in the warmth that his fire gave off.

[Bullet Witch]

Leigh nodded. She hadn't really expected him to stay up here, for there really was no necessity. However, Leigh needed to make sure she could go back to the Underwood without being arrested upon sight. "Right. Where will you go?" She asked the quiet magus now. "I was planning on heading back to the Underwood and seeing if everything's cleared up, but if you want someone to go with you its not important right now." Well, for the time being.

Suddenly the camp grew darker, and Leigh could hear an ominous humming sound as a myterious darkness enroached from the forest, circling the small camp until all was blotted out except the light from the fire. The hair on the back of Leigh's neck prickled, and she could sense an evil presence just within the darkness. "Shu, stand up." she commanded the magus, and in one hand she conjured her weapon Heresy, the dimensional warp placing it into her hand. It clicked as the bolts locked and loaded, and she pointed the weapon with one hand at different parts of the darkness. "We're not alone."

All was silent for a moment, there being no sound save the ominous humming that filled the air and the two's quiet breaths. Then, she heard it. That shuffling footsteps that she had heard long ago.

"It can't be...why would it be here on Althanas!?" she whispered in dispbelief, as the first of the monstrosities appeared, the firelight illuminating its grotesque form. It had no arms and no face, rather it seemed the arms seemed to be moving inside the flesh. In its chest it had a slobbering, gaping hole for a mouth, with thousands upon thousands of tiny sharp teeth lining it. It walked on two inwardly bent knees, and from the beast's crotch blood seemed to spill, until the liquid hit the ground and made a slight hissing noise as the dirt was eaten away.

Leigh had fought one of these before, during the Great War on Earth. This...this thing was a spawn of what they liked to cornily label as "The darkness", but there was nothing corny about it.

If this was the same "Darkness" that Leigh had faced years ago, then this walking corpse was just the beginning.

She quickly shot a crossbow bolt at its head and it struck with an audible thunk, and the beast screamed in pain but kept on advancing. "Shu, look out for anything behind you! There will be more, trust me!"

[Tranquil]

"It seems I've gotten my wish." Shu said to himself as he jumped from his relaxed position and the fire faded quickly, leaving the two in absolute darkness.

"Incendious!" Shu lit his staff with bright flame and stood side by side with Leigh. "You're afraid of that beast?" Shu was often over confident, and would fall victim to his own foolishness. "Stand back, you shall see what a Magus is made of." Shu said with a cocky laugh. He twirled his staff in a large circle with both hands, a large ring of fire forming in front on him. "Maye the fires of Hell consume your soul! Incendious!" Shu shouted just as the last web had been created by his staff in the circle of fire. As soon as Shu stopped twirling his staff he pushed the middle of the Ring of Fire with his left hand directly at the beast and snickered evilly.

But to Shu's disbelief, the Ring touch the beast and he merely roared in a slight uncomfortable state. "That Fire spell was enough to take out any opponent!" Shu said, gasping for breath holding himself up on his one knee. "I know it hit him, I can smell the vile stench of undeath in the air!" Shu screamed in anger. he had put so much effort into that spell that he was physically drained.

[Bullet Witch]

"Dammit!" Leigh swore. It seemed that the magus's spell was too weak even for this Walker. She could only watch as it continued to stumbled towards them, spraying acid blood from its crotch as it howled. Glaring in both fear and disgust, Leigh pulled the long sword she had grabbed from the drunken man earlier and, stepping close to the monster, swung it vertically and cleaved it from head to crotch. However, as soon as the blade left the monster the blood from it began eating away at the blade. "Aaagh!" Leigh yelled in surprise, and she dropped the sword as the two halves of the beast fell to ground, still spraying acidic blood and melting the ground as it lay writhing and screaming.

Finally, went the beast lay silent and its pieces began evaporating into the darkness sorrounding them. Leigh dared to speak. "We need to get out of here, Shu...we need to keep moving." She looked back at the magus while she breathed heavily, tired from the constant exertion she had been put through.

"Lest he shows up." she shivered at her own words, and prayed to god that she would be wrong, that this wasn't the same darkness from last time.

Oh, how she prayed.

[Tranquil]

Shu hated admitting defeat, he wanted to stand and fight. he wanted to stand and defend Leigh with all of his might and Vaolor..The problem was; Shu could barley stand on his own two feet.

"Go on, I shall take on anything that come from behind, lead the way Leigh." Shu said as he pushed all of his weight onto his staff and pulled himself to his feet. Once upright, his breathing began to stabilize.

Thoughts raced through Shu's mind, 'What where these demons of the night? Why are the resistant to my most powerful of spells? how am I expected to protect my companion when I can barley keep myself alive. She is more of my guardian than I am to her!' Shu beat himself up mentally as he struggled to stand on his two feet.

"Alright, off we go." Shu said as he went to quickly jolt out in the darkness but his legs simply couldn't hold his weight and he fell to the dirt with a loud thud. Shu sat in the dirt and cursed the gods angrily.

[Bullet Witch]

Damn, he needs to rest too. This is NOT the time! Leigh ran over to the fallen magus as fast as she could and tried to pick him up. "Dammit, Shu! If you don't start moving we're both gonna get killed!" she yelled at him, trying to motivate him to move.

Then she heard it.

A scuttling of legs, like thousands upon thousands of ants all moving at the same time. However, she knew that it wasn't ants. And then she heard the sound she had been dreading all along:

The scraping of metal upon metal, and then a howl that sent chills through both of them.

"Oh shit...oh shit..." Leigh whispered in horror. Of all the beasts that came from the darkness, this one was the worst as far as she knew. Her fear was evident upon her face as she looked to the general direction from where the noise had come from, and she shakily stood up and waved a hand over Heresy. "Reload thy weapon" She spoke in witchcraft shakily, and four bolts locked themselves into place.

She turned to Shu and grabbed him by the scruff of the collar. "D-Dammit, Shu, I need your help if we're going to survive. We can't beat him, so the only thing we can do is protect ourselves and hope the sun rises in time." She stuttered at first, but then switched back into the role of the leader. "I need you to cast your strongest fire spell around us in a circle, at least seven feet in diameter. Can you do that?"

[Tranquil]

Shu had fallen silent, his mind cursing his own foolishness. He had attempted to do too much and now his body was responding with terrible agony. "I shall do my best for you, though I can promise nothing. If the shield shall fall and the monster advance upon us, leave me." Shu commanded, knowing full well that she tried to pick him up before and wouldn't be able to escape with his body weight. "You hear me? Go without me if I fall." Shu said, as he quickly etched a very similar drawing to the one that he had drawn around the bodies that he had burnt in the Promenade. The only thing different was that it was palm sized, and in the middle were two crudely drawn figures. The outsides were labeled with two cryptic sevens and the circle protruded lines from the dirt. "Be ready my friend." Shu said, looking back to Leigh as he ignored the upcoming sounds, all he heard was his own heart beat.

Shu grasped his staff tightly in his left hand, gathering up all the energy that he could muster from his weakened body. He focused so intently that the veins in his forehead showed from beneath his hair. Lairs upon lairs of fire formed at both ends of his staff and traveled threw his body. As this happened Shu's hair stood on end, his red scarf fluttered madly behind him even though there almost no wind in the vicinity. The fire exited his body and curled up Shu's right arm where it formed in a massive fire ball. Shu's screams grew louder and louder until the last bit of fire left his body and he was left with a ball of fire glowing in his hands.

"Fires of Hell I call upon you once more. Protect us until the sun shall see it's rise, do not let us meet our Demise. Incendious!" Shu screamed and slammed the fireball down on the crudely drawn picture and instantly there was a massive structure of intertwining rings and lines of fire protecting them from harm. "Leigh..." Shu gasped as his hand was hovering over the dancing rings of flame that remained over the initial picture. "This is not impenetrable. Protect yourself, hold him off if you can." Shu said, funneling what was left of his energy into protecting both of their lives.

[Bullet Witch]

Leigh looked upon the shield of flame sorrounding them with a good eye. It was impressive, but she didn't know how long it would last against the Cleanser's cockroaches.
As if bidden by the thought, thousands upon thousands of mutant cockroaches began swarming from the darkness, demonic faces filled with glee as they attempted to rip and tear apart the two.

However, Shu's impressive fire held them at bay as it incenerated them by the hundreds, the smell of burnt flesh and boiling blood filling the air in an incorrorigable stench. "I'll try." Leigh said in response to Shu's words. "You just make sure you can keep up that fire of yours. Its the only thing keeping us alive right now." And she was right. The cockroaches seemed endless as they flew against the shield with glistening teeth, ready to chew and rip right before the flames of the shield licked them.

"Where is he...?" she growled, but then got her answer as she heard the sound again. Metal against metal, a ripping, screaming sound that hurt her ears, and suddenly he was there, the fire flicking to illuminate his grotesque form.

The Cleanser. The reaper of souls, as he had be known as on Earth. The only demon she knew that she couldn't defeat, even at her full strength.

He had the torso and legs of a human, but beyond that was completely monstrous. His head was covered by a giant metal triangle that pointed out wards like a beak, and left arm ended in a giant sword that was meant for one thing: to kill. His other arm ended in a nest of tentacles with snapping teeth, and upon his back six giant scorpion tails lifted him up like spider legs.

For a moment Leigh and the Cleanser simply stood there amongst the swarm of killer cockroaches, staring at each other. Leigh's eyes burned bright with rage and fear; she had seen this monster slay dozens of her comrades at a time, mercilessly in the darkness.

As long as he had the Darkness behind him, the Cleanser was invincible. And they both knew that. However, Leigh had to try, and she lifted her crossbow quickly and fired off a round. "Die, motherfucker..." she growled as the crossbow bolt slid into his neck like a knife thorugh butter.

http://tn3-2.deviantart.com/fs11/300W/i/2006/256/a/3/Pyramid_Head___Youre_Not_Here_by_Feitan.jpg
I found this pic while browsing Deviantart, and I realized it captured the true esscence of Pyramid Head(aka the Cleanser). While it may not be exactly as portrayed in the post, I thought it was a good representation of it and the darkness. I take no credit for the image itself.

[Tranquil]

The smell of the burning insects was making Shu sick to his stomach, but at least the smell meant that his shield was working and it gave him an unknown strength inside to push harder.

Shu clenched his left fist even harder around his staff and stabbed it into the ground. His eyes turned pure white and all noise was blocked out from around him. Fire began to be drawn from the ground, into his staff, through his body and forcefully into the picture that was feeding the structure. Shu screamed a blood curdling scream as the power that surge through his veins threated to spontaneously combust inside of him.

As the excess fire was funneled into the picture, the shield grew not only in power, but size. It burned anything and everything that lay in it's wake. Cockroaches, trees, grass, birds or any animal that was in Shu's warpath was disintegrated and added to the stench pool.

Shu turned to Leigh and stared at her with his lifeless white eyes streaked with red lines. He spoke in an angry yet feeble, lifeless tone. "He must be burnt with the others. Draw him into the ring. What needs to be done shall be done." Shu said, the sleeved of his right arm started to catch fire due to the tremendous heat that he was working with. Even the fire Magus couldn't hold this for much longer.

[Bullet Witch]

As the bolt slid into the monster's neck, it charged into the fire, swinging its massive blade. Luckily the Witch ducked and Shu was low to the ground, so the blade passed by harmlessly over their heads. As the beast ran towards them suddenly the fire shield intensified and largened, and the thing ignited. The Cleanser screamed from whatever mouth it had and backed up, the fires of the Magus obviously causing it great pain.

But not killing it.

With a wave of its tentacled hand darkness streamed from the mouths of the tentacles/serpents and immediately the wounds on the beast started to heal. "No!" Leigh cried out, and immediately fired another bolt at the creature, this one sliding into it's chest reigon. She had been aiming for the arm, however, and cursed her inaccuracy. "Shit..." she said, as the next bolt locked into place. Counting her ammo in her head, she had two shots left before she had to reload.

That slight delay could cost them their lives.

Leigh searched her head, looking for a spell that could delay the beast longer. Her orb of darkness spell, she knew, took too long to cast, and she didn't know if it would even work against this creature from the dark itself.

Then she found one; she didn't know if she would be able to cast it or not, but it was worth a shot. Touching one of the loaded bolts with her fingers, she said quickly with her voice of Witchcraft; "Bringer of darkness, freeze my enemies and curse them from the Earth!"

Suddenly the crossbow bolt she touched turned an icy blue and frost seemed to hover around it in a small coating. Breathing hard as the magic left her body, she turned triumphantly to the form of the Cleanser, only to find it bearing down upon Shu and her with all six legs pounding upon the earth. Damn! she swore in her head, and quickly pointed her weapon at one of the advancing scorpion legs. She pulled the trigger on Heresy, and let the bolt fly.

The icy bolt struck the frontmost leg, and immediately a coating of ice spread across the "feet" of the leg, causing the great beast to stumble and trip upon not only the wet ground from the blood of the cockroaches but the cold of the air too. However, the ice didn't even go halfway up the leg, and Leigh was reminded of how weak she was now.

But the bolt had done its purpose, and the Cleanser fell to the ground from his momentum, his giant sword missing the two by merely a few feet. However, it didn't delay him for long, as he immediately pushed himself up on the remaining 5 legs and held the giant blade up above his head, ready to cleave the magus and the Witch in two.

Leigh tried bringing her weapon up again to fire the remaining shot, but she couldn't. Weariness filled her bones, and she knew that she was going to die. So she could only stare up at the monstrosity with horror and fear as it brought down the sword to strike them down.

Suddenly, the blade stopped a mere foot from her head. Puzzled, Leigh saw the beast look up to the sky, as if listening to some unknown sound. Then she realized what he was listening to; the abscence of sound. The humming that she had come to associate with the Darkness was gone. The Cleanser looked at her and Shu with its metal pyramid of a hed, then suddenly it dissapated into the darkness, piece by piece, as the swarm of cockroaches dissapeared too.

Then suddenly, it was morning. The darkness was gone, like it had never happened at all.

They had survived.

"Shu, we..." she said in relief before collapsing to the ground, a darkness of her own filling her mind as unconciousness claimed her.

[Tranquil]

It was still early in the morning before Shu awoke from his comatose like state. He stared blankly at the scene around him and was confused by what his eyes saw. He and a woman he believed to be his companion lay in the remnants of what once was his circle of greater fire protection spell. The small camp site had been completely burned to rubble, all of the resources that they could live off of for a few weeks had been demolished.

"Damn it to hell!" Shu muttered, pounding his fist into the earth. He dared not even try to get up yet for he could feel that his body neglected even the slightest thoughts of movement.

Shu took a look at his sleeve and saw that it had been singed a good bit of the way up his forearm leaving his flesh slightly burned. His vision was blurry, still adjusting to the morning sun when he finally realized what had gone on the previous night.

"Leigh!" Shu cried, grabbing his staff and using the Flynt edge to dig it into the earth to propel himself toward her. "Leigh, are you alright?" Shu asked, his face on eye level with hers as he lay with his chest flat against the ground, gasping for breath. Shu hadn't the slightest idea of how they made it out alive, but his best guess was that fate was on their side.

[Bullet Witch]

Leigh swam in the waters of her mind, lightly browsing her memories like they were books, glancing at them without emotion before setting them aside and moving on to the next one. However, she was saddened by all the memories she had, saddened by the deaths at her hands and others. It was strange. Not once in her life had she ever regretted becoming a Witch, not even upon having to kill her own father. Why was she feeling these awkward emotions now?

Before she could search her mind for the answer, light filled her eyes. "Leigh!" she heard someone cry. Who? She didn't care. She put an arm over her closed eyes and grumbled. Why couldn't they just let her sleep? She needed to sleep. "Leigh, are you alright?" Again, the annoying voice. She was about to open her eyes and tell whoever it was to fuck off and leave her be, when suddenly memories of last night and the day before flooded into her and she sat up quickly, opening her blue eyes to the morning light.

Pain racked her body, and she began coughing. Shit...she said inside. I must've pushed myself too far, haven't stopped to rest in days...Clutching her side in pain, she turned to the fallen form of Shu, who looked to be in much greater pain than she.

"I'm....." she coughed. ".....Fine." Taking a look around her, she saw that the entire campground had been burned to ashes from Shu's exertion. Damn. Well, his efforts has kept the two of them alive, that's what mattered. "We....we were lucky." She managed to say quietly as she folded her legs underneath her and started to help the fallen magus up. "If it hadn't been for the sun and your fire, well..." she started to leave the sentance hanging, but then finished it with another. "Well, that's what must've have happened to the campers who were earlier...the Darkness leaves no remains from its meals." She shivered from the memory of the Cleanser.

Why had it been here? Last she knew, the Regeant Witch, the head witch of their organization, had swallowed both the darkness and the Cleanser in another dimension, sealing both from Earth forev--

Oh. Damn. This must have been the dimension, she realized. "Crap." she said outloud, rubbing between her eyes in frustration. "Why me? Why do I have to deal with it this time?"

[Tranquil]

Shu was gasping for his words as Leigh pulled him to his feet. "Well, if I'm that much of a burden than put me back on the ground. I'm surely not fit to be standing yet and you shouldn't be holding double the weight." Shu said, his head still unclear with terrible thoughts.

Shu's body shrieked in agony with every single movement. It was as if his ligaments were tearing apart limb from limb inside his body, but Shu tried to keep his stony complexion.

"If what you say is true, and the beast was not defeated, then we must seek some place devoid of all darkness. The beast will surely return to finish off the scraps as soon as the sun sets." Shu was trying to think logically but it seemed that even thinking hurt him. "Wait, how did you get us here in the first place? Can't you just reverse the affect?" Shu said, his body slumped against Leigh's, begging to be put back on the ground from the sheer agony the movement was creating for him.

[Bullet Witch]

"Oh no, its not you, if it hadn't been for you we would have been eaten alive!" Leigh looked mortified. She hadn't meant to offend the fiery magus with her words that she should have kept to herself. "I simply mean why do I have to deal with this Darkness again -- I"ve already had to fight it once, and that was enough."

However, she noticed that her words were falling upon almost deaf ears, ears covered by the sound of agony and pain. Laying the trembling magus upon the dewy, wet ground, she placed a hand on his chest. Damn, I'm almost spent completely...She said to herself, mentally keeping an eye on how much more magic she could use. Her Reload spell almost cost nothing, but the problem was she had been using too many large-scale spells. She didn't know if she could pull off another one, but at this point it was worth a try. Speaking softly, trying to conserve energy, she spoke with a voice laced with Witchcraft. "Lord of darkness...heal my comrade so that we may continue on." Relief flooded in her bones as the magic flooded out, a healing magic that poured into his bones and aches, probably slightly relieving them, or at least enough so that he could move.

She collapsed once more on the ground next to him, breathing hard. Healing spells were still difficult for her. Looking at him, and suddenly remembering the magus's question, she shook her head wearily. "No, I can't. I used a scroll given to me by that old man, and he said it was one-time usage only. However, if we can get going, we might make it to the Underwood in a day's time, I think he said. We should be safe there, if he decides to pursue us."

Alright, there may be a bit of confusion on here regarding Leigh's healing ability. It says under my profile that her skill is called Heal self. However, it does not just affect her "self" but other "selves". I realize this and it is named wrongly. However, I justify this as I did not list that she could just use it on her"self" in the profile...I guess though that this constitutes an ablility that she does not have in the mods eyes, so i'll request it as spoils and accept any detrements to my score.

[Tranquil]

Shu slowly felt his body regaining the ability to move as his eyes caught the sight of Leigh crashing down in front of him. "I humbly thank you. But you really shouldn't have. We're both terribly winded and you need your energy, I could have dealt with the pain." Shu lied blatantly to her face and he knew that his eyes exposed his affront.

"The Underwood is a day's journey from here? Well lets get going, I'm sure we can find somewhere off this beaten path to help us regain some energy on the way." Shu said, still heavily relying on his staff to pull his weight up but once he was upright his legs supported him mainly in part to Leigh's healing spell.

"Up you go Leigh, we must be off." Shu said extending a gloved hand down to the Witch as he held on tightly to his staff with the other.

[Bullet Witch]

Liquid timing this to prevent unneccesary posts.

It was near dark when the two of them reached the outskirts of the Underwood. They were hobbling/running away from the enroaching darkness, which had suddenly come up behind them as they were walking. "OH SHIT!" Leigh had roared in fear as she saw the Cleanser's sword through the darkness. He wanted their souls that much, it seemed. "RUN!" she screamed in the magus's ear, and the two of them went off running as fast as their weary legs could take them.

Suddenly, she saw a bright light fill the entrance to the Underwood, and several men dressed in robes poured out of the light and immediately began chanting and moving their hands. Ah shit, I forgot, we're wanted criminals! She thought, and her immediate assumption was that the magic-users were there to capture Shu and her. We don't have time for this!

However, as a massive fireball zoomed overhead and smashed into the growing form of the Cleanser, she realized they weren't there to capture them but to help them. "Thank god!" she cried out, and stumbled into the arms of the old man, who was also dressed in similar robes. Her eyes widened. "You!" she said.

"In the flesh." he grinned back. Then his grin turned upside down and he looked to the growing darkness. "I'm sorry I sent you there. I didn't know something like this would be there. We just got the report that two adventurers had been found dead in the woods, their flesh eaten to the bone. Near that campsite." He gestured to the Cleanser and the swarming roaches. "It must've been this thing."

Excuse the craptacular post, I recently aqquired a headache....>.<

[Tranquil]

Shu ran up to the two and stopped to take a breath before speaking. "You know, I'm terribly sorry to break up this momentous occasion of two friends re-uniting...But if you haven't noticed we're in bad shape. I thank you for your assistance," Shu was afraid to be blunt but as he took Leigh's arms and pulled her toward the gates of Underwood he called back to the Old man and his comrades, "Would you do us all a favor and kill the wretched thing!" Shu screamed and made his way past his fellow magic users making sure that Leigh was following behind.

"Should we help them?" Shu asked almost immediately knowing the answer to his question after answering it.

[Bullet Witch]

Bunny approved.

Leigh let herself be dragged away from the battle, her weary form almost limp in Shu's hands. When he asked her the question, however, panic and doubt sparked up. "Shu...we're both way too tired to fight...I can barely move as it is...." she almost murmured this, and realized that her vision was growing dark again, and that weariness had stole up on her once more. "Shu, I..." she managed to make out before closing her eyes once more, ignoring the screams of death and pain behind her.

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

She woke up in the Peaceful Promenade, in her room, lying upon her soft bed. At first she tried to get up, then stopped resisting the feel of the comfortable matress and pillow and simply lay there, her aches and pains slowly going away as she soaked in the warm sunlight.

Wait, sunlight? How long had she been out?

She looked out her low window quickly and saw that it was morning once more. She must've have fallen asleep and brought up here.

Suddenly, a snore disturbed her, and she quickly turned around and drew her katana, which still lay strapped to her hip. However, she chuckled softly and instead set the weapon down and lay the sheath upon the chair next to it when she saw it was only Shu. He looked beat, but he was asleep, snoring as he rested his head against that staff of his as he sat in one of the uncomfortable wooden chairs.

Aww...she felt a warmth towards the magus. That was sweet of him. He must have brought me up here and tried staying up to make sure I was ok... She stood up quietly and tip-toed past his inert form, walking quietly into the hallway to make her way down to the pub.

She wasn't surprised to see the old man there, drinking some unknown liquid that steamed from the heat. "Oh, your finally awake." He said to her as she approached the table.

"Yeah..." she ran her hands through her hair and suddenly realized that she had bed-head hair. "Um....you woudn't know where the shower is around here, would you?" she asked the man completely with a straight face.

He chuckled and pointed to the other set of stairs. "Just take the second left where it says 'Lavatory' " he said to her. "Go and take your shower, but when you come back we have things to discuss."

[Tranquil]

Shu stirred when he heard the creaking of footsteps on the wooden floor and his eyes opened slightly. They looked over at the bed where he had placed Leigh and he saw that she had found her way downstairs, he had fallen asleep whilst he was on guard. "Dammit." Shu cursed as he stretched his aching bones. He had healed much from the previous battle, but sleeping on a chair was something he was not previously accustomed to.

Shu stood and stretched his body, yawning slightly and advanced his way forward out into the hallway. He the tred down the pub steps, his staff clinking on every step as he made his way down. As soon as he reached the landing floor he set his eyes upon the Old man that had saved them and he made his way over as quickly as possible.

"I am forever in your debt good Sir." Shu said, bowing his head slightly as he spoke. "You ad your men were the reason for my survival, and surely my companion shall say the same." Shu said, scratching his head. "By the way, have you seen the girl by any chance?" Shu asked with a quizzical voice.

[Bullet Witch]

Leigh stepped out of the small shower, disgusted, wet but clean. It had been small compared to ones she had seen in other places, and a spider had crawled into her black hair while she had been relaxing, but other than that it had been okay. Well, at least she was clean.

Leigh held her hair up with one hand as she walked over to where her clothes were stached, her naked body gliding across the wooden floor and dripping wet. She stopped by a leaning mirror and examined herself thoughtfully. She frowned as she turned around and examined her entire body. Am I really that skinny? She thought to herself. I barely have any ass or boobs at all. At least, that's what she thought.

"Whatever." she said outloud, and quickly stepped into her black Witch outfit. Taking one last look at her voluptous body and thinking it too skinny, she stepped out of the bathroom and let her now-drying hair down.

As she strode down the stairs, she noticed that Shu was sitting at the table with the old man. "Oh, hey Shu." She murmured, a little embarresed at her appearence, obviously looking like she just had taken a bath or shower.

"Alright, down to business." She spoke now to the old man, who looked on with a raised eyebrow. "What happened after I fainted? Did you drive it away? Because I know you didn't kill it."

Shu sighed. "No, we didn't kill it. It slew five of my best men, whatever the blazes that thing was." He then turned to Shu. "I believe, however, that your magic wielding companion can tell you more about it than I can." Looking upon Leigh's surprised and quizzical expression, he said, "This one saved your life back there. That...thing almost had you."

[Tranquil]

Shu was almost equally as confused as Leigh. "I beg your pardon Sir?" Shu asked in proper fashion. "I've never sen that beast before in my life, I acted out of sheer desperation, and it was Leigh's idea to make the shield." Shu said, taking no credit at all for the battle.

Shu scratched his head and looked at the man, there was something in his figure that he really didn't trust, but he couldn't exactly put his finger on.

"Please Sir, don't mind me asking but why would you willingly send us to a remote area where such a beast lurks when you already knew that the bones of two travelers lay?" Shu asked quizzically, his eyes a shade of dark gray as he pulled at a piece of his hair.

[Bullet Witch]

The old timer shook his head. "Mayhaps you misunderstand me, magus." Leigh widened her eyes. The old man knew what Shu was? He continued, "I am referring to when the beast somehow got past us and the darkness circled around you and your friend there. Somehow you drove it off with that fire of yours." The old man looked troubled. "I didn't send you two there through malicious intent, I just got the reports after you two left."

The old man then turned to Shu. "If you don't mind me asking, how would you like to study under me and my magicians for a little bit? I could help you on that magic of yours." He winked with a jovial smile.

[Tranquil]

Shu tried to remember successfully banishing the demon with his flames but he couldn't remember doing any such thing, but if the old man said he did such a thing then it must have been true.

"It would be an honor to train my Magic skills under a Magus with such extraordinary talent as you." Shu said, bowing his head slightly and quirking an eyebrow. "Dare I ask what the catch is?" Shu asked quizzically as he looked from Leigh to the old Magus.

[Bullet Witch]

Leigh was troubled by the magus's lack of memory. She hoped that he hadn't hurt himself in any way trying to protect her. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if he did.

The old man chuckled. "Ah, the catch. The catch, if you will call it that, is that in a month's time I will require an object of power, something I have been seeking a long time."

Leigh's attention immediately shifted, the word power attracting her hungry mind. "Power? What power?" She asked eagerly.

The old man looked at her with an amused face. "My dear, it isn't something you could use." He spoke to her. "It is only for magic users like me and your friend here."

Leigh decided to keep her thoughts quiet on this one. She would have mentioned that she too had magic of her own, but then she would have to explain what she was, and she wanted to keep the fact that she was a witch quiet for the time being. "Ugh, fine. But what is it?"

"The object I seek is deep within the mountains of Akashima, in Corone." the old man began. "It is a dagger, an enchanted one."

Instead of letting herself be pushed out of the conversation, Leigh interjected with a question. "A dagger? How is it enchanted?" she fired this off rapidly.

The bemused old timer chuckled at her impatience. "It is said that this blade is enchanted to cut through stone as if it were butter."

Leigh's eyes widened at this. "Wow."

[Tranquil]

Shu's eyes were fixated upon the man, his brain working hard contemplating his offer. "So let me get this right. In exchange for me going into a cave an retrieving a dagger for you, you shall teach me how to advance my powers?" Shu talked as if it was almost too easy, and then he remembered the monster that he had faced only a while ago and his near death experience.

"If I might ask, what is in it for my friend here? Might I bring her along for some help on the road?" Shu questioned raising an eyebrow. He had become quite accustomed to having Leigh around in the past day and was overwhelmed at her battle skills. If he were to have her at his side it would be an extreme asset.

[Bullet Witch]

"That is correct." The old man spoke. "The reason I wouldn't get it myself is that the dagger is guarded by a beast that is immune to my type of magic."

Leigh squinted. "Immune? Then how do we know that it wouldn't be immune to Shu's magic as well?"

The old man shook his head. "My dear, I think you misunderstand. That blade was placed there on purpose by one of my enemies, and it was he who created the beast. It was created with only the resistance to my magic, so your friend's magic here should work."

The old man frowned as he looked at Shu. "Actually, I was going to ask if you would bring her along. I am not totally sure if the beast would be immune to just my magic, so it would be good to have a warrior along with you."

"Wait wait, hold up." Leigh held up a gloved hand. "One, if this thing is just an enchanted dagger, why cannot I be able to use it?"

"Because the enchantment upon the blade is only activated upon casting the appropriate spell upon it. Otherwise, its useless." The old man explained. "So only Shu would be able to mutter the words that could activate it."

Goddamit, what are the words?! She wanted to yell at the old man, but she knew she would look suspicious if she did. I just hope that Shu asks the question instead...

[Tranquil]

Shu was growing ever more confused by the second. "How could the beast be immune o your magic and not mine? We are almost two of the same are we not?" Shy asked quizzically, pondering what spells Shu could have a one up on the old Magus.

Then Shu heard his explanation on the Dagger, and he saw Leigh contemplating heavily.

"The words to activate? Well, even if I knew such words what good would a little dagger do me? I care not for close mêlée combat." Shu said, casting another look to Leigh. "Though if I find this dagger of yours and overcome this beast, if I use the magic words.." Shu stopped and wondered if this was the right thing to do as he sank in his chair and let a heavy sigh out. "Would Leigh be able to wield it?" Shu asked, staring the man in the eyes.

[Bullet Witch]

The old sighed in exasperation. "The reason MY magic doesn't work against it is that it has already identified my magic and has developed an immunity against it. But that is my magic, and mine alone."

"You see, every person who can use magic has a unique identification when using it, like how no two people have the same fingerprints. Lets use, for example, my fingerprints according to the beast. My fingerprints it already knows, so now they would be usless against it. But yours, well, it would not know, and thus would be unprepared."

He looked to Leigh, who purposely avoided meeting his gaze. "Leigh would not be able to use it." He finally said. "First, the person wielding the dagger must be the one to say the words, or else the enchantment fails. You could not, for example, say the words and then hand the dagger, fully enchanted, to another to use."

"So what are the words?!" Leigh finally blurted out, unable to hold it in any longer. She finally realized that she had yelled it out when she noticed everyone staring at her.

The old man looked up at her with an amused expression. "Unfortunately, I do not know the words myself. However, I am in the process of retrieving them as we speak."

[Tranquil]

Shu laughed silently at the old man. "So you want to send me to fight this beast and bring you back a Dagger that will have absolutely no use to me or my friend in hopes of enchanting it with magical words that you don't even know yet?" Shu's voice grew to almost the pitch of Leigh's. His chest was heaving at the extreme absurdity. Shu couldn't believe the audacity of the old man, whatever he could teach Shu had to be amazingly powerful to put he and his companion in such a harmful situation.

"Leigh?" Shu asked his one worded question, staring at her intently. Shu had every meaning of traveling to the furthest depths to increase his skill as a Magus, and he didn't intend to put his new found companion in any more harm.

"You're not compelled to come with me, if need be I'll brave this by myself as it should be." Shu said, looking back to the old man with a sigh, wiping the sweat from his brow.

[Bullet Witch]

"Thats very sweet of you Shu..." Leigh said, standing up and brushing off her dress coat. She had had enough of this. Obviously she wasn't going to get what she wanted today. "...But this dagger that can supposedly cut through stone has intrigued me. I shall return here in one month, so be ready for me when I do."

She turned to the old man once more. "What use does the blade have to you, anyways?" she snorted. The events of last night had completely left her mind now, and she was focusing only on the fact that power was just beyond her reach.

The old man looked around, as if to see if anybody was watching, before pulling from his robes what seemed to be a rock. However, as they stared at the rock, it pulsed an eerie blue.

"What is that?" Leigh whispered. She could feel something in the rock, a living power that seemed to feed upon the very light in the room.

"That, my dear..." the old man said bluntly. "Is the reason I need the knife. To find out exactly what this thing is."

Leigh looked outside. While they had been chatting the outside had already brightened considerably, and she had a feeling she was wasting her time now.

"Well, I must get going now, i'm afraid." Leigh said to the two gentlemen, then leaned over and gave Shu a peck on the cheek. "And thank you, for saving my ass back there." she said directly to the magus. "I'll be back in a month, so get stronger, y'hear?" And with a dramatic flourish of her coat she headed back upstairs to gather her weapons and accesories.

My ending post. My spoils requested are:

Frozen Bullet: slightly enchants one bolt so that it inflicts a little cold damage as well, and may cause slight freezing (encasement of ice). however, this doesn't last long, and she can only perform this twice per day as it is a major drain, at the very maximum. Any tries beyond that will simply bring about failure.

Heal Others: Just a sub spell of the spell "Heal self", it simply acts upon another instead of just herself. Power and mana decrease are the same.

[Tranquil]

Shu looked at Leigh as he knew that her lips had touched the skin of his cheeks, or what was left of it at least, and he smiled slightly. "If only I were able to feel." Shu whispered to himself, lacking the capability to blush or his face would have been the equivalent of his blood red scarf.

"I shall indeed be ten times stronger by the next time you see me Leigh, and maybe I'll be able to kill instead of just protect." Shu said as she walked away in a hurry. Though Shu confused himself greatly, why had death been on his mind? he was not normally heavily concentrated on killing; until he saw the blue stone.

"Magus, I have your leave?" Shu bowed with respect and walked out of the tavern, his staff clicking the wooden floor in it's similar fashion as he walked. Shu had a sense of pride and fear in his stride. Proud of his accomplishments, yet scared of what was to come...Only time could tell. "I shall see you in one month Leigh, you had better hold your promise." Shu said to himself as he walked off into the rising sun.

*****Spoils request******
Circle of Death- Use of Incendious charm to burn victims bodies alive, returning ashes of their bodies to the ground which they came from. (Limited to two victims, must have circle weaved around them.)

Circle of Protection- Use of Incendious charm to create a fiery circle around maximum of two characters to ward off enemies for as long as Shu can muster power into the circle.

[Call me J]

Total Score- 38
Well guys, this was a good start for both of you on Althanas. I think both characters have great potential for growth, and I’m pleased that both of you seem to have put a good amount of thought into the ways your characters think and act. I have some suggestions for improvement that if you can manage, you’ll see your scores shoot up quickly.

• STORY ~ 11/30

Continuity (5) ~ This thread had an excellent start (see pacing), but the problem was that you had to introduce me to the characters on the fly as well. When you guys slowed down the action after Leigh’s initial fight with the rapists, I really didn’t get all that great of a sense of where this story fit in either character’s lives. The relatively high score is primarily because I am pleased with the way this story started and ended, not because you did such a great job in the middle. In the future, you both should do well to think, unless you have a really good reason, we should know why your characters are where they are and what they are doing by your third post. This is a rule of thumb that there are exceptions to, but it’s a good rule to adhere to while you’re starting. With time, you’ll learn what the exceptions are.

Setting (3) ~ My bigger problem here was not as much that you didn’t describe the setting at all, but that your characters seemed completely unaffected by the setting in most cases. There were a few exceptions. The return to the Peaceful Promenade was well done, though I found it odd that Shu would return Leigh to a bar where she had gotten assaulted when their adventure had began. Think about the difference between the post where Leigh woke up in the Peaceful Promenade and the rest of the posts in this thread with regards to setting.

Pacing (3) ~ I really like the way this thread started. It threw me into action, but the problem was this action really didn’t have much to do with the rest of the thread. The little incident really didn’t even tell me all that much about Leigh’s character. I really like what you tried to do here, but if you could have worked the rapists into the thread a bit more, it would have been better. Perhaps if they had been allies of the Cleanser, it would have worked better.

• CHARACTER ~ 11/30

Dialogue (4) ~ My biggest issue here was that every character sounded the same, despite the fact that there were so many NPCs with diverse backgrounds and motivations. You could have added a lot of color into the thread by giving characters different speech patterns. Also, I would encourage you to both consider some of the things you can do with spoken dialogue. Spoken dialogue is a great way to show what kind of a character you are playing, you should take use of it. Also, don’t forget that there are unspoken ways that you can add to dialogue. Shuddering, cringing, smiling and crying can sometimes say things so words don’t have to.

Action (2) ~ There was some stuff that really made me smile here. I liked the way that Tranquil took his character’s knowledge into account when interacting with Leigh’s technology. I also liked the way that you two took the uncertainty of each other’s intentions into account. It was particularly poignant considering the trouble Leigh found herself in during the first post. However, the fighting left me generally unimpressed. Leigh especially seemed too confident in her abilities to shoot, especially given that her marksmanship has been described as average. Average shots worry about missing.
Also, Bullet Witch, with regards to your use of heal selves, I feel that was a stretch of the ability as it was written. While you did not specify that it could not be used on other people, the fact that you’d labeled it “self” in and of itself is such an implication. If you had come up with some kind of justification as to why Leigh’s power was growing, I wouldn’t have considered this to be problematic, but as it was, it came out of left field.

Persona (5) ~ This was one of the relatively stronger areas of this thread, though my biggest complaint here is that both of you only focused on the ways that your characters’ abilities affected their persona. I would like to see you both explore your characters’ persona more, I feel that both of you have strong characters that will get stronger as they are fleshed out more.

• WRITING STYLE ~ 11/30

Mechanics (4) ~ I’m going to make separate comments for each of you here. You both have some work to do, but neither of you should feel discouraged. Mechanics is one of the easiest categories to improve your score with practice. By nature, this category sometimes seems like the judge is coming down on you, but again, this is just so I can point out some things you can do better.

Bullet Witch: I’d like to see you develop a better sense of when to make new paragraphs. Every time you change your train of thought, it’s a good time for a new paragraph. You don’t have that many problems with your grammar, but you do have a few with formatting.

Tranquil: Two things really jumped out to me. First you shifted between tenses. That is a big no-no. Second, sometimes when you used speech, it wasn’t clear if it was Shu talking or an NPC. I could figure it out based on the comments that were made, but you should format it in a way that makes what you’re trying to say more clear. In general, if you’re going to have an NPC speak, it’s a good thing to put into a new paragraph. Capitalization was also occasionally an issue for you.

Technique (2) ~ The low score here comes more from not trying to do anything than trying and failing. Thus, the only thing I can say to help you in this category is to try to bring in more literary devices. At the beginning, it might seem intimidating, but don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of them in time. In general, it is better to try and fail than to not try at all on Althanas.

Clarity (5) ~ Things occasionally got a bit jumbled here because there wasn’t always a clear sense of what the NPCs involved in the thread were doing. However, for the most part, this thread was not too hard to follow, and brevity was one of your stronger suits.

• Wild Card (5) ~ I really do like the characters. I hope both of you write more, because with time, I think both Leigh and Shu will evolve into characters that have compelling stories.

Spoils

Bullet Witch receives 500 EXP and 185 GP
Tranquil receives 500 EXP and 185 GP

With regards to your other spoils, I am somewhat reluctant to grant each of you two abilities as a result of this thread. However, after looking through your profiles, I feel these are relatively innocuous, and that you both put a lot of effort into the thread. As such, I am granting them. All abilities are approved, though if an approvals moderator disagrees with my decision, they reserve the right to tone them down. As long as you understand that condition, enjoy your rewards. You guys worked hard and you deserve them!

[Karuka]

EXP/GP Added!