Snippet #1745556

He let out a heavy sigh as he watched the scene before him unfold; A woman had stormed out from a nearby tent and begun to run for the exit with a blade in her hands, knocking down two to three healers in the process. Out from the tent followed Barca with a wide smile over his face. As if he had done something good. It would be a waste of time to punish the green bastard while he had an appointment with Annie, so Lockwood saved his rage for later.

“Theron Lockwood. I have been expecting you.”

The masked man nodded slightly at the young woman as she acknowledged him and he brought his attention onto her. He wasn’t used to hear his entire name from someone else, but it wasn’t a feeling that threw him off his balanced state of mind. However, before the leader of the White Shadows, Annie, were able to continue, a roar erupted in the middle of the encampment. It was one of the healers who had, in his fury, screamed and was charging at a large green orc Theron knew by the name of Barca. Lockwood figured it was best to stay out of the fighting and let this healer take his lesson. As long as nobody died that is.

Although Annie rushed to stop one of her men and succeeded at doing so, Theron still felt it had served as an example to Barca; Healers could fend for themselves and could pose a great threat if they got the upper hand in a fight. Hopefully Barca would soon learn that he wasn’t invincible, no matter how skilled he was in battle.

Once Annie was done sorting out the man who had attempted to assault Barca, she soon found Theron where he had been standing all along, watching the scene from afar. The conversation between them went faster than Theron could both have thought and hoped for. He didn’t even have a chance to say anything until she had returned to her tent once more. However, she had left an envelope to him and as he carefully opened it with one of his knives, his eyes darted over the text upon the letters.

As he read the first letter from Lena, Annie’s mother and the former leader of the White Shadows, he got mixed feelings and felt lost for a moment; In it she told him that she knew that he would sooner or later return again and that she had the book he was looking for. Confusion and frustration struck Theron, but he waved the frustrated feelings away into the void of his mind. Somehow she had known that he would return and look for this certain book. However, could she truly possess the actual book he was looking for? It seemed impossible, but then again, these healers had already proven that they didn’t know any limits when it came to mystics. They knew many other things surrounding subjects close to magic and the art of healing, so it wasn’t much of surprise to Theron after all. The problem now was, what would he do now when his plan was pretty much ruined? Everything he needed to know about both Newhaven and Blackpond was in that book and the few ways to stop the incoming invasion as well. The importance of that book was greater than his own life, and he could say that without being overzealous. Maybe he would go after Lena after all or he might just follow her advice and wait for her, but with the incoming invasion and all, that seemed like a very very bad idea.

Before Lockwood could decided what to do next in this horrible mess, the other letter came into his view. The letter from Daniela. Slowly, Theron read the letter and he could feel the intense pain as tears began to roll down his damaged face. She was dead, for real, and she had known that she would die. ‘The last teachings’ is what the elves used to call that - To know and accept your own death. A strong a wise thing, but then again, Dani had almost always been a strong and wise woman. Even though Theron had all the reasons to cry in sorrow, his tears were that of joy; He would not fail her and Sebastian and knowing that they were both together in the afterlife made everything seem so much brighter and better for some reason.

The last words of the letter:

”Until we meet again… I leave you my best wishes.

Dani Rivers”

Theron stared at that sentence for a couple of moment. ”I’ll see you in the afterlife... My friends.”. After placing both letters inside his coat, Theron looked and realized that Akida was standing right next him and Barca was standing just in front of him. He let out yet another sigh as he waved Barca out of his way, but added ”I’ll deal with you once we're out of this camp.”, before leaving for Annies tent.

Once he reached it, Lockwood walked straight in and stared at Annie where she sat for a moment. ”Crystal has already updated me about the situation and the things that are going about in Valcrest, but I found her words not neutral enough to make a solid stand on.” Theron explained very forward in his tone, yet, still friendly enough. Seeing as the book was out of his reach for the moment, he might as well try to make some use of both himself and his companions and maybe help the healers out or anyone else until he could find a lead on Lena or wait until she comes back. She stated in her letter that she had traveled back to the mountains, but it would take weeks, if not more, to find her up in those hazardous icy peaks.

”Could you tell me what’s going on and if you need me and my company to do something for you while I’m still here. We will be moving on shortly though.”

---
[The Plains]

Ace and the healer had been walking together (More like she was following him around) for a short while now and the healer had started to go on about her life with the White Shadows and asked questions from time to time about him, but Ace did his best to ignore her and the sufferable ranting. However, as they reached the outskirts of the encampment itself Ace started to hear distant voices with the help of his abilities as an elf. It didn’t take long for him to position himself just right to seem like he was listening to the girl in front of him, but at the same time hear everything this unknown woman said to another little girl.

Ace quickly recognized the woman’s voice to be that of Allison and the little one was unknown to him, but she was called ’Kate‘ by Allison. Although their conversation wasn’t so interesting, Ace focused on them instead of the bothering girl in front of him. Suddenly, however, a man joined in on the conversation soon enough. He was called Sean by Allison and it was clear they were in some sort of lock-down with each other - Nemesis facing Nemesis, if you may. Violence had yet to occur, but this was something Ace just couldn’t miss.

”You’ll have to excuse me, I think I heard something in the plains.” The elf said and pushed the girl away. She had apparently had enough of this fool and walked away once and for all. Ace sighed and turned his full attention back on Allison and this ‘Sean‘ guy with both his ears and eyes from afar. The conversation just turned very serious and utterly interesting as Allison slashed at Seans chest with a knife, missing by an inch. Ace was sure it had been on purpose; A way of intimidating the young man. Just before Allison turned her back to the man and walked away, Ace stood there, half covered by a boulder and watched as she walked away. The question was now, should he approach Sean or maybe follow Allison or should he just go back to Theron? So many choices and so little time. In the end, he choose to return back to the rest of them at camp. He wasn’t as curious about these kinds of things as Barca, and especially not as Akida.

---
[Outside Newhaven]

Tick, Tack, Tick, Tack

The clicking sound in the beasts head repeated itself like a turning wheel every second he continued to stare at the scene in front of him. Mageria, the person he was after, held her so-called dying 'Brother' in her arms. The scene brought great joy to this demon, because he was connected to Mageria and could feel her massive sorrow and hatred growing ever slightly bigger for each passing moment. It was like an orgasm in his very soul, repeating itself over and over again.

When the woman had finally left on her horse with another person, The beast followed her through the shadows he found here and there. It wasn’t easy, but he kept following her for as long as possible before she and her companion reached the city where he and she had fought against each other before, only three years ago. The beast lay still in the shadows as he watched her ride past the main gates and fade into the crowd of people inside the city. The gates closed shut after her.

"Tick, Tack, Tick, Tack. Time has come for Thee to die by mine hands, claws, jaws and fangs. Thy soul and body will be mine in the morrow of the Seventh day." He whispered in her mind as a grim smile crossed his demonic features before fading into the shadows completely. He loved to play with his prey's mind before feasting upon its body and soul.