It was early spring when the rain still came on most days. On a cold rainy day, a building appeared in the middle of a field just outside a big city. The city was a place of light where the priests of the Light Gods were the ultimate authority. The building was made of black stone that seemed to shimmer and glow with darkness. It was a sanctuary for those of the shadows and the fact it had come out of nowhere to simply appear beside a city of the light meant the city was out of balance. Witch hunts had been on the rise lately as well as the death of innocents who were only disagreeing with the priests.

In the main room of the temple, before the altar was a young woman. She had long black hair and glowing crimson eyes. Her aura was full of shadows but had all colors within it. She knelt before the altar to the head of the dark Pantheon...to the altar of the Queen Lilith. She cut her wrist offering with her blood a prayer for the safety of the temple and for the protection of the darkness within the city and within the wilds.

OOC:: All are welcome to play. Even those of the light. You can play as part of the city or as part of those who live outside the city. This was just to set up the place. Be a priest who notices the temple or whatever. It's up to you. See where you guys can take the opening and run with it.

In long strides over the clumpy, soggy ground came a confident little wisp of a thing, the stains and blotches on her too-large apron no mental deterrent from whatever her dark, sharp eyes were fixed upon.

"What," she sang in a cracking, husky voice "What-what could that little bird be?" She meant the black obelisk which was swimming in and out of the shifting grasses, but being used to not making excuses or edifying herself when not in the presence of any of the cooks or of her employers or their guests, she certainly did not correct herself.

Snatching up a dry bit of grass left over from the previous summer, Gretchen folded into herself on the ground rather abruptly, nearly disappearing among the high sedges. Her sand coloured hair was in harmony with the rich, blurred gold of dead grass, and her sharp face was just a tan smudge hovering over the light-blue dress she wore. The apron she had on was the most startling colour in that landscape, a bright red rubbed to white in some places and patched in others.

Gretchen worked in the kitchen of one of the high priests of Hamay (the city which is the dwelling place of the high order of Light Clergy). She had been orphaned some three or four years ago at the age of 6 when her mother was dragged from her confused grasp by a host of 'peace keepers'. Her mother was a worker of spells and an expert in herb lore, and she had deviated from the ways of the priests in several ways. She was not an evil woman, as far as Gretchen knew, and she maintained this belief despite what she had been told since she'd been brought to live and work in the manor.

Studying the face of the strange building, Gretchen squinted and focused her eyes-- Wren was her middle name, and some elements of bird medicine had been transferred to her by her mother and from her innate senses and ancient history of being. So, she focused her eyes, and began to make out strange symbols swirling over the pulsating blackness-- symbols she found deeply familiar, yet she made no effort to explain the reason to herself.

"All the sleeping ones," she sang. "They are awakening, the thrush-bird is calling, to-weet-too-woo." Here she struck up a whistling which could be heard clearly for some distance around- a whistling incredibly akin to that of a bird.

Shadwe stood and went outside of the dark temple. her golden eyes worried as she glanced around. For her and the Temple to have been summoned by the Lord of the Balance, this place must truly be in need of help. She looked around calmly, her form changing until she appeared as a dark haired human woman. Her proportions of course remained the same. She was short and busty...yeah, not much she could do about that without really focusing. Right now she was just trying to get an idea of what she'd landed into this time. She could feel that the old powers of the land weren't completely dead yet but it seemed the light was trying to overtake the natural powers and the dark powers alike. She frowned a little as she settled on a stone bench outside of the temple. She practically glowed with darkness and she knew the Priests of Light would be here soon to investigate.

Richter Malon shut his eyes tight against the swirl of world he had created. This wasn't how the spell was supposed to go. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew it; he'd finally gone too far, something out of his range. He'd gone and killed himself with a spell, or something worse.

All at once the whirling came to a stop and dropped him, butt-first, into a field of dead, golden grass. His jeans immediately began adding joy to the situation by soaking moisture from the damp clods of earth. All Ricky could do was hang on to his aching head for a moment, trying to ease the dull throb. In his right hand he held a small thin wooden dowel. If anyone asked it wasn't a wand. He was only a middling sorcerer after all. He'd been making small change in Lexington, Massachusetts for a couple years now, well since he'd graduated college. With a final shake of his tousled brown nest of hair, Ricky looked around him. The grassland and far off in the distance what looked like it might be a city of some sort. A dark obelisk shinning in the distance.

Somewhere to his left he heard what sounded like a bird whistling. Looking over he saw nothing. He turned to move his gaze back to check himself for other injuries and to see what he'd brought with him, but something caught his eye. Bright red, moving in the grass. Someone else was here. He rolled onto his stomach instinctively. Regretted it instantly as moisture began soaking into his flannel shirt. "Damnit." He closed his brown eyes and tried to count to six. Opening them he saw the red shift again. "I am not in Kansas anymore."

Nor was he in his basement apartment. Instead he was stuck in some kind of ... well, not his world. If only he wasn't just a middling sorcerer--he thought for the upteenth millionth time in his life--maybe this stuff wouldn't happen to him.

Ricky clambered to a squat and started sneaking . . . rather noisily, toward the red in the grass. Maybe it was a map someone had dropped. He wasn't sure whether he hoped it was a person or didn't. But it was his only lead for now.

A young man, about the age of 25, suddenly appeared in the field, holding a book in his hand. "Where am I?" he asked under his breath, he looks down at the book and checks over that spell one more time. "Yes, yes, yes, ah, I mispronounced that clause there." he starts muttering swear words under his breath. He then reaches into a pouch on his belt, and pulls out a useful piece of technology. There were the words Don't Panic on the front in large letters. He brushes his long brown hair out of his eyes and begins to search the guide. He puts the guide back into the pouch and then takes out a large sword and slings it on his back in a baldric. He knew he shouldn't have overdone it with that final spell, but well, all he did was risky.

He saw another man in the field of dead grass, he sees something red, and far off in the distance he sees some kind of dark ... obelisk and near it what looks like a city. He takes the towel off his neck and puts it into the Pocket dimension pouch, which could store an infinite amount of space as far as he knew. Alex was from a small planet in the vicinity of Betelgeuse in an ended universe, where he decided to travel anywhere and everywhere. He was a researcher for the guide and he had discovered the secret to immortality, he sipped from a flask which contained the famous Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster and decided to go see what the red thing was.

Shadwe left the temple as she sensed life-forms not to far away. Her eyes dark as she moved silently and slowly through the tall grass. She had felt two beings just appear in the setting that didn't quite feel like they belonged. But the demoness wasn't worried, the Lord of the Balance was kind well...most of the time and He could be behind the two new arrivals. So she stopped not to far from where she could see the blur of red watching and waiting. She couldn't afford to make a mistake in the service of the Dark Pantheon this time. After all, she was already on probation for killing the wrong person last time she'd been sent in. But they hadn't told her the guy had a twin who shared his powers. So yeah, she was screwed. Looked at the rather lost hitchhiker as she knelt in the tall grass.

She wasn't ready to be seen yet. She wanted to be subtle this time so she watched the hitchhiker before turning attention toward that sorcerer. She wondered if they were to help the darkness or the light. 'Ah well, all things in their own time' she thought to herself.

As Ricky got closer, he realized the the wisp of red in the field was a girl. A little flip of thing, couldn't be more than ten, eleven, maybe twelve at the very most. The red was a bright though ratty apron she wore, and it appeared that she was the source of the bird calls. Ricky wasn't much good at sneaking, but so far he'd managed to go undetected it seemed, watching the girl-whose movements were quick and sharp, additionally reminding him of a bird-crouch and whistle in the field of grass.

Then he heard someone else behind him. Shooting a look over his shoulder, Ricky's mouth dropped open, staring at a man, close to his own age, standing near to where he'd fallen into the field. He couldn't have missed the man when he been there mere moments before. It was like a nightmare. He didn't know where he was, and people were popping out of the air and out of the ground like daisies or quail . . . the other man took a towel off his shoulder and stuffed it into a pouch that shouldn't have been able to fit the towel. Ricky lifted an eyebrow; another sorcerer? Obviously a better one. Probably, *he'd* meant to end up here. The man began walking in Ricky and the girl's direction. Ricky ducked into the grass, hoping he wasn't in danger and could go unnoticed: belatedly remembering his own blue flannel shirt and dark hair were not exactly made to blend into the yellow grass. He felt like an photographed portrait stuck in a Monet exhibit.

Thagrahn was lounging up in a tree overlooking the field around the city. The hustle and bustle of the city dwellers was nothing new to him, as he saw them enter the woods on many occasions. The new addition to the field was odd to him.

He had avoided most of the people from the city quite easily, mostly because they never look up. Has they seen him they probably would have killed him for his fur, and not event bothered to find out what he was. He really didn't care though, since life as a jaguar had left him with so few cares. The life was easy, hunt when hungry, sleep where ever, and the river was fun to swim in, too.

The two pops of energy drew Thagrahn's attention toward the field again. one landing in an amusing heap, the other simply appearing. "Now what could this be about?" He thought to himself.

Unfortunately, as Ricky worked hard to be inconspicuous, he began to have the distinct impression that he was being watched. It was the itchy, between the shoulder blades feeling that makes you want to scratch the spot. A tickle, no more than that. But as a sorcerer, middling though he might be, Ricky had learned to trust that instinct. He was crouched in the grass, soaking his knees. Keeping his movements slow, he scanned the rest of the grass around him, looking for an assailant or silent watcher. He moved slowly, painstakingly slowly, turning until he reached the end of his twist radius, he tried to look behind him. Believing he might have seen something, Ricky twisted even farther, digging his fingers into the earth like extra tripods (well... with two extra legs per hand). He slipped, and managed to barely avoid face-planting.

Lying in the grass and dirt, Richter's face burned like an electric stove. He turned a little, rolling onto his back with an "UMPH" and stared up at the sky. Gloomy, rainy looking. "perfect" he muttered, "rain is exactly what I need now."

Staring at the sky, however, allowed his mind to clear a little, and--while the damp dirt wreaked playful havoc on his shirt and pants and back and legs--Ricky notice the feeling of the place. It felt . . . funny. Like when you're just barely nauseous from motion sickness. Off-balance, but not yet toppled over. A breeze rattled the grass above his head, and Ricky shivered. Something was wrong here.

Shadwe stayed silently in her spot in the grass. She muttered under her breath a short hiding spell, weaving the energies around her to show her absence rather than her presence. She crept closer to the strangers. It was the sorcerer that fascinated her though not the guy with the towel. As for the girl,it was obvious the red figure was already spoken for. She held light in her aura to the demoness and that was enough. She muttered softly. "Hmm...what am I going to do? What if they make it more dangerous rather than less for me?" She looked up and rolled her eyes at the furry figure in the tree. She simply hmmphed a little. Great, a furball and from what she could tell a very powerful one. That she didn't need.

Ricky wondered what was wrong with this world. It didn't look all that wrong--though feeling watched was a mite bit spooky as hell. With an almost chuckle of relief, Ricky was glad that he didn't believe in fate. It definitely meant he wasn't here to fix anything cosmic.

Suddenly, he felt energy shift to his right. Someone was putting a spell together! Ricky rolled over on his stomach and scanned the grasses in the direction of the spell . . . nope, there was too much grass at ground level to see anything. But feeling, the spell wasn't going out, it was pulling in. Ricky stuffed his dowel into his back pocket and crawled through the grass, guessing that the spell caster's concentration would be on their spell. He wove something very simple to listen closer, using tiny amounts of energy: the concentration it took was fierce. As he slowly came back to himself from the spell he heard someone moving towards him and in his desperation to not be seen (he'd probably be killed if he was), Ricky pulled back from moving forward.

She, it must be a she--he thought as he heard her begin to mutter--, was talking to herself. He didn't see anyone else, no familiars, nada, zilch, nothing. --Oh sweet snack pops. She hmmphed and he saw a curtain of dark hair slide behind the grass. --whoa, they don't mess around in this world, he thought, wondering how many women he'd seen with hair like that---nada, zilch, nothing.

Her eyes examined the sorcerer completely unafraid of him. She was after all not just one thing but many. And she was no more from this particular realm than he was although she was probably better suited for it. Eyes shifted to gold as she felt his spell and she laughed a little. Oh yes, he may not be the best but he was good. So she let her own spell dissolve and stood up trying hard to maintain a human looking form. Although that would prove mostly impossible as pointed ears showed through the thick hair. She still wore only those robes and a simple necklace of gold with a black rose charm on it.

"You're afraid of me." She spoke quietly. Her voice musical but with an accent that was hard to place. She pushed a few strands of hair behind a pointed ear shaking her head a bit. "That is not the expected reaction. Although I haven't seen a human for awhile anyway. But fear...of what? I am not that scary and I'm certainly not going to kill you. Me...a fighter? No, assassin maybe."

She looked at him.

Ricky felt his face twist open in surprise--her eyes shifted from red to gold and she laughed. --Great, he thought, she was probably psychotic, just his luck. Then she stood up, making his crouch into something ridiculously frog-like when he was the only one hiding and, now that she saw him, he was also completely unhidden. As she stood, Ricky noticed that she had a human appearance, this confused him a little; for some reason he hadn't thought of her as human when he had listened to her, felt her spell, and saw her dark curtain of hair. Even the red eyes had, golden now--he studied her small form and found that her ears, barely visible were pointed. Ah ha! He'd been right, perhaps she was a shape-shifter--Ricky blanched, probably she was actually a massive smokey beast that ate people like him for breakfast.

Then she spoke. "You're afraid of me."

Ricky didn't move, his face still comically open. She continued, "That is not the expected reaction. Although I haven't seen a human for awhile anyway. But fear...of what? I'm am not that scary and I'm certainly not going to kill you. Me....a fighter? No, assassin maybe."

Ricky was unfortunately amused and still wary. "Seriously?" The word tripped off his tongue. And he waited while she watched him, she didn't seemed to understand and he spluttered for words, "I mean, you're, well, look at you! You're just, well, and your spell, and well." --shut up, Ricky, he thought. "For sure, you aren't safe." He finished rather lamely, with the justification for his apparently 'unexpected' reaction.

"Yes, seriously" She felt no fear of him more amusement than anything else. She sighed knowing all to well what she really was wouldn't make any sense to a mortal. She had no weapons though on her except a small wooden athame. She couldn't believe she was having to convince someone she wasn't the threat but ah well, all in a day's work. She was as safe as it got around here at least for the balance. "You're safer from me than from some of the others around here. You've stumbled into a witch hunt area. Fanatic priests and the like, boy. I happen to be here for a different reason. One perhaps you'd understand but perhaps not. You never know what mortals will understand. And honestly, a dragon? Dragons make good familiars but not such good a form unless you plan on scaring people half to death"

She was rambling. For some reason, this reassured Ricky a little bit--although he couldn't help but think of the completely insane magicians that wandered the streets sometimes babbling at the air. But she seemed to be straying off topic a little. At the very least, she was straying off the important things. So as brave as he dared, Ricky pulled himself up. Finding he wasn't ready to say anything, he checked the towel man over his shoulder and the chunk of red in the grass before looking at her again. Finding he still couldn't speak, he looked at his knees, turning a slight pink around the ears--stage fright was embarrassing to say the least. Ricky busied himself brushing clods of dirt off his legs. Finally, he asked, "Why am I safer from you? What are you supposed to be doing here? And why--" he straightened and looked into her golden eyes, "wouldn't you be a danger to me?"

All three questions kind of went together, but he asked the separately anyway. He had a vague thought, while shifting in discomfort, that he might try a spell to siphon the liquid and dirt from his clothes. However, it probably would not be the smartest idea to try a spell that had only a 60% chance of working in front of an obviously superior sorcerer.

She smiled a little bit as she thought for a few moments about his questions. But then of course, the witch was distracted by a stray thought. She had some sort of idea that the liquid and such from his clothing was uncomfortable but he hadn't asked for her help and she wasn't sure if it would be accepted to help like it would by say one of her brothers. So she ignored the dirtiness for the moment and chewed on her lips. Her little fangs showing and drawing blood as she did so.

"It's actually rather simple, I'm on assignment. And killing you or hurting you unless you prove a danger to myself or the balance is out of the question. I'm already in trouble as it is. Let's just say if I harm you without a very good explanation and you attacking me first, I could have my powers suspended for a very long while. My name is Shadwe by the way" She said that quietly, almost nervously before speaking again. "It's not my true name of course but it is an everyday use name. So trying to use it to control me would be pointless."

Thargahn yawned, finding the current entertaiment boring. A pair of the people out in the middle of the feild had started a conversation but that was about it. the other two seemed to just be standing or sitting there.

Thagrahn shifted his body and turned his head to look back into the depths of the forest hoping to find something of interest there. He scanned the area for movement first, then for any unusual colors. There was only the movement of the branches in the light wind, but the glint of metal was all to telling. Thagrahn focused on the metal, realizing it was silver armor. Looking closer the armor was worn by a woman in a long white dress. She carried a shield and a sword. This was bad! One of the preistesses of the city was in the forest again, and that was always trouble.

On assignment she said. Nice to know, he thought, at least her magical powers of rage were not, at this moment destined for him. Good God, it was something to be thankful for, provided she wasn't lying her pretty little um off to him. He brought his mind back with a snap at something she said.

"Ohh, wait wait wait!" Ricky caught it, a mention of "the balance? Balance of what? Something is way out of line here, is that it?" He thought for a moment, feeling that sense of off-kilter swirling before focusing on her face again, trying not to throw up. Then he registered what she finished in a quiet whisper of words, he blinked. "Sorry, what was your name again?"

With a slight embarrassed flush, Ricky pushed his bangs out of his face and muddied his forehead. Oh, spectacular.

She laughed a bit. His emotions were so easy to read and he was so cute in that way the young always are. He honestly seemed to be at an apprentice's level in her eyes but she was quite willing to deal with him. She looked at him and then shivered sensing a being of light approaching. She looked to Ricky and spoke very clearly. "Come on, we need to get somewhere safer. I can explain everything there."

She then took off running back toward the dark temple. Her hair streamed behind her as she moved. She ran like a large cat, perhaps that was her spirit totem? She stopped realizing for a moment he wasn't following and knowing he still didn't trust her. "My name's Shadwe. And...yes, the balance is what's wrong with this world. I promise to explain but I don't want the priests catching either one of us. I'm a powerful witch and your a young sorcerer. Not exactly the best friends of religion, right?"

Ricky only needed to catch one word of that before following her. Religion, ah hell. Religious zealots, pogroms of magic users, witch hunts. He took off after her, glancing over his shoulder at the field only once. Dropping into a world where he'd be hunted was definitely not a good idea. Though he'd also been counseled not to go with strangers of his own volition. He watched Shadwe's back as he ran. Her hair swept across it with every step, reminding him of Pocahontas. He grinned a little bit and continued running.

He wondered what her mission was exactly, and who she answered to.

After a mere couple moments of running toward the city, Ricky began to tire. He had no adrenaline rush--as she seemed to have--seeing as he couldn't sense the impending disaster. He slowed, finally coming to a jog, but didn't actually stop. Over his shoulder, the grass just waved.