Earth's Story

The smell of pine and the dry summer air. The forest floor is covered in mildly brow colored dead pine needles and light brown dusty dirt, a few rough roots surface here and there. Scattered rays of sunlight penetrate the treetops and brighten patches of forest floor creating a random pattern of shadows.
A footstep. Slowly, he cannot move at speed. The bare foot is laid on the bed of pine needles, the impact is soft. The walk progresses. The same foot is lifted again, and pine needles cling to the moist skin of the sole, and some of the moisture sticks to the needles on the forest bed, coloring them red.
It is not Earths blood that his feet are clad in though. His right arm is lax, the hand gripping the handle of great massive sword, dragging its blade along the ground. It’s cutting into the forest floor, plowing shallowly. There is no blood on the swords edge.

He goes between rough barked pale brown stems. His right eye is iceblue and distant, tired and struggling to stay open. His left eye as usual hidden behind the white cloth tied around his head from which two golden crosses hang, attached by golden chain. Strapped tightly round his chest is the white ribbon which is usually used to hold the sheathe of his two katana. As an improvised emergency solution he was forced to strap it diagonally across his chest instead, and it is not white any more, it is red. Underneath is a massive cut wound spanning from left breast muscle to the right side of his abdomen a few inches above his hip.
Earth continues on forward in his slow pace across the sun sprinkled pine floor of the forest as the birds cheerfully sing their summer songs. He collapses. Rolling over onto his back he spreads out over the dry needles and warm dusty dirt, feeling it with the skin of his arms and feet, grabbing and clenching it with his right hand. There is a subtle smile on his face as he stares up through the branches at the blue sky. It’s a short lived smile.

Earth is lying on his back. “Ugh…” he grunts in pain. Then he laughs.
“HmHm. Hmehehaha, he*Cough!**Cough*!” a truly joyful laughter, but a semi-collected one, it’d be better suited for an older man. The laughter transforms into a cough, and out of the cough floods blood, down the right corner of his mouth it runs, a steady blood flow a few droplets thick. But the smile left in the wake of laughter does not fade.
"That was nice."He thinks whilst in recalling the past few hours. “And this is nice.” he thinks with pleasant warmth. It is a satisfied man lying on the forest floor. But he is soon reminded that he is a troubled man as well.
"So many dead though. Won't let me enjoy this as I would…" The smile crumbles and is flattened into a straight face.
“Hm.” slips out.
Earths gaze is fixed on the sky, finding a path through the black silhouettes of branches of trees, looking for consolation in the vast blue. So it stares for a few seconds.
“Will I die huh?” He thinks as he gazes. His heartbeat rings clear to him in these moments, the rhythm of his life.
“Nah. I don’t wanna…” but... “…How bad is it?” Earth leads his hand to the great wound spanning diagonally across his chest. Upon investigating fingers, it isn’t as deep as he had thought. It still could use stitches though. Upon realizing this, Earths mind is reminded of a woman who always used to tend to his wounds.
“Man. Where's Clare? She’d patch me up…mm, yes. That’d be nice.”
Lying in the drought of pine needles and dirt, with the sunlight through the branches creating a bright golden, dry, in shadows patterned setting, Earth fantasizes of a woman stitching his great wound. Her hair soft and long, casually, unconsciously stroking the skin of his chest as she concentrates and her fingers work with his flesh and the needle and thread. Painful sensation and tender touch at the same time, to him overwhelming beauty.
Then the fantasy passes, and it is quiet. So quiet that he can more loudly hear his thoughts.
“Is she dead…I wonder?”
“…Fuck. They won’t let me enjoy this…”

-// A few houres ago in Tomachi village //-



-// A few houres ago in Tomachi village //-

Earths katana are sheathed. He is wielding his great massive sword with his hands. Sturdy feet, a stance rigid and alert. He shifts his weight, sliding his back foot ever so slightly backwards to more easily enable retreating evasions. It is coming.

The white cloth that is usually strapped around his head, covering his left eye, is instead hanging loosely down from his mouth, attached to the thin golden chain onto which his teeth are biting. The two golden crosses attached to the chain dangle freely.

His eyes are fixed forward. Unwaveringly concentrated, unchangingly, fixed forward. His right eye iris has turned golden orange and his left eye is open. Pitch black, crying blood, his left eye that can see three seconds into the future - but at a price. That he would resort to this - gripping his sword and opening his left eye – he wouldn’t have imagined. But he is terrified of that which lies ahead; as he looks upon it he is feeling his death.

Earth is standing on the dirt of a village road. On the same road, 20 meters ahead, is the black thing, the tip of Earths sword is pointed at it. The world around him is burning, a village engulfed in flames.
“What the fuck, this feeling… I have to get out of here, as soon as possible. I’ll be dead.”
There is sweat pouring down his forehead and cheeks, partly due to the heat of the fires, partly due to…

The black is right ahead, a mass of darkness.
“Here goes.”
Three seconds from now it will be coming.
He takes a few careful steps backward.
Two seconds.
It will attack him by extending itself into spikes of blackness, attempting to pierce him dead. Rip his body apart.
One second.
The fires of houses all around are reflecting on his skin their orange glow, the sky hid behind their black smoke. Earths black eye is bleeding tears.
“......”
It happens too fast for a man to react, if he hadn’t seen it coming with his left eye, his heart would have been pierced and he would be dead. Instead Earth twists his chest and leans backward, and the blackness barely burst past him, leaving his skins touched by its wind.
Next attack: it is aimed at his abdomen. Earth lets his right hand go of the sword and bends further back, falling onto this free hand, and with this hand steadily at the dirt road, his legs propel his body into a diagonal backwards flip, dodging the blackness.
The attacks continue. The barrage of razor sharp pointy tentacular extensions relentlessly attempt to pierce him, cut him, dismember and behead him, and he slips between them as he twists and turns, on quick feet moving constantly backwards.

Earth is forced to deflect a strike with his massive blade, the spike hits the blade and is guided astray, it is not a direct impact, but a fluid block. Despite this the force is massive; Erath is sent violently flying through the air.
“Shit”
He thinks as he is thrown off his feet, disconnected from the ground. He can no longer control his movements enough.
“Shit…”
He can see the future, if he tries to block the next attack, his sword shatter.
“Shit…”
That three seconds could take so long? Time moves in slow motion as he soars a few meters over the dirt road between rows of burning houses. There is not much he can do, he will be cut.
Two seconds left.
How long is the range of the blackness? He is flying swiftly, in his eyes the world around is distorted and blurred by the speed of his flight. Perhaps this will allow an escape? But he will be cut.
One second left.
Earth twists his chest the best he can, using his great massive sword as a counterweight to allows greater movements.

The spike extends and cuts into his flesh. It is not cutting through him, but running along the surface of his abdomen and chest, ripping a wound open spanning from a few inches above his right hip to the top of his left chest muscle. Blood dribbling from the wound, and tears from his black eye lay trail of red in the air behind his body, as it is sent tumbling uncontrollably through the air.

“I am still conscious”
Goes through his mind as the world is spinning. Flashing fires, blurry dirt and smoke skies. He can see no attacks in the near future. Is he out of its range? He might survive.
As he descends towards his crash, he assumes the most a favorable position possible, and
smiles and closes his black eye.
“Let’s fall.”
And so his left foot connects with the dirt road, grazing it leaving a trail of dust, than catching it hard, sending him into a rolling motion. He tumbles a few ten meters before slowing down and finally stopping.

Earth is lying on his back, arms and legs spread out on the dirt road right outside the infernal village. The clear blue sky lies above, welcoming the gaze of his right eye, which has now changed color from golden orange to ice blue.
He begins chuckling, and continues until he coughs blood. Red lines that have been left in the wake of pouring blood, run from his left eye and the corners of his mouths. It is a smiling mouth, and the blood eyes brother is looking at the vastness of the sky in relief.

Earth is still lying on his back on a bed of pine needles, basking in sunlight.
“Now then…” He thinks while holding his hand against the light of the sky, casually rubbing his index and thumb together investigating the blood they are coated in from fumbling with the large wound cross his chest earlier.
“What…to do?”
Earth sits up. As he does so, his abdomen contracts stressing some of the injured muscles, causing a little blood seeps out of the improvised cloth bandage.
His face expresses pleasure and an unconscious “ah” seeps out of his mouth, followed by a little smile.

Earth was sitting on the ground legs crossed, arms crossed, when he spotted the moose. It was a truly majestic creature and Earth recognized it as such, but it needed to die for the sake of his appetite.

Earth carefully adjusts his stance to achieve perfect balance. His legs are steadily bent and his right arm is positioned behind his body at shoulder height holding a katana, the left arm and hand extended forward towards the moose, as if trying to lock on to it. Here goes.
The katana hand is set into motion, his upper body is vigorously rotated and the farther back placed foot is lifted off the ground taking some dirt and pine needles with it. The katana flies towards the moose at great speed, spinning. Impact. The tip pierces straight through the short brown skin of the great creature, and is trusted into its flesh. The entire over meter long blade is embedded in the moose, as though sheathed in it. But the moose does not waver. It simply turns towards Earth and looks him straight into his ice blue eye, which expresses no small amount subtle amazement, and then turns around and walks away as though no katana had ever been thrown.
Earth shifts his eye from moose to the over meter long sheathe of his katana and back to moose.
“… … … hm.” He utters as he gazes at the moose making its slow, indifferent exist. Than he picks up the handle of his great massive sword and drags the blade along the ground as he goes after the moose, with and equally slow and indifferent looking stride.

There is blood seeping through the white ribbon strapped around Earths chest. Some of It drips down onto his white waist robes and light cloudy pants, some falls further and is absorbed by the forest floor.
Earth is walking slowly, bent forward in fatigue, each foot step heavy and he is pulling his great massive sword with slack arm.
Earth is following a great bull moose with a sword handle sticking out of its side. The sword handle belongs to a katana and the katana belongs to Earth.
“… …”

There was nothing particular on Earths mind as he was following said moose; he was just following the moose. He did not in any way plan or foresee his next encounter.

Earth is staring at the forest floor. In the corner of his eye he spots movement. Taking shape between tree trunks and branches as Earth gets closer and closer, are a party of human beings, among them one adlut is not wearing torn clothes, but is dressed in black. The one in black separates himself a little distance from the group, dragging something along the ground. He stops.
Earth is close enough to identify that the object being dragged by the man in black possess the shape of a human being. Earth makes some effort to pull his head up properly from its forward leaned fatigued position, and carefully observes.
The one in black shifts his stance, preparing for an explosive movement
“What is he...?...huh? Isn’t that…”
The man in black flings the body towards the moose and there is a snapping sound.
The body flies and lands and does not hit the moose at all, its complete failure, a horrible throw. However, something does hit the moose. An arm whirls through the air, spinning at the perfect velocity so that when it hits the moose, it does so with a perfect bitchslap straight to the face.
“Yeah. That’s Jeremy…”
Unmistakably so, was the man who had disjointed bitchslapped the moose Jeremy Dantoh: Abomination dispeller and necromancer.
“hehehe…” Earth chuckled, partly because he was very amused by the scene that had just played itself out, and partly out of a relief to see that at least one of his comrades had survived the darkness.
Upon the moose walking away:
"Yo!”

A familiar voice suddenly appears, drawing Jeremy's attention, he slightly turned his head and moved his eye towards the source of the voice to see the hunched down being. Blood dripping onto the forest floor and some insanely massive sword, Earth. His eye was set as a glare, not intentionally, it was natural for Jeremy. Of course, he was annoyed for loosing an arm to a moose. Maybe that kid can help...

Jeremy walked towards Earth, signalling the others to come with him, of course dragging the bodies with them. "Ah, hey there Earth. How's it going?" Jeremy tried to seem happy to see his comrade, but he was too tired and still pissed off. His voice was simply the same croaky, deep, mono toned.
"I see you survived that thing," He looked down towards Earth's wound, "...Just."

The two men were standing up facing each other in a regular talkative manner. However the scene was rather unusual. Such a cheerful dry forest: beautiful, nice and open with few low branches and a lack of under vegetation, yet such miserable people. One was missing an arm the other way too much blood.
"Hows...it going?" Earth replied with rather regularly toned voice but that lacked any sort of well-wishing or enthusiasm a regular voice might express. A rather bare thing, that voice.
"I’m retrieving my sword" Earth pointed at the moose, which was looking smaller and smaller, distance increasing.
"Well. I‘ll be going now. You should follow me." Earth said and wandered after the Moose.

"Eh, alright. Let's go guys." Jeremy followed Earth not far behind. With the rest of his accomplices following a bit further back, one man carrying three bodies and the woman holding her live child on her shoulders.

As they walked, Jeremy stared at Earth's wound. The heavy blood loss was making him a bit... Excited. Great passion began radiating from his dull, clouded and dark eye. Crap, gotta act natural.
Jeremy placed his intact arm over Earth's shoulders, holding his severed arm by the bicep it moved on it's own and wrapped around Earth's head to pat it.
"Hey... I see... You've lost a lot of blood. I can always reanimate you and then it won't matter." Jeremy whispered to Earth, trying to keep it out of the child's earshot, although she did guess that it was some kind of magic. Maybe teaching her necromancy will be able to keep Jeremy intact, regenerating and healing.
"Of course, I'll need your life energy which seems to be fading a little..."

On the bank of by a pond in a pine forest were four creatures, three were (more or less)human, and one little dragon.
A woman, of silver hair, was lying on the cold shore ground, naked, being tended to by another girl, who had readily rushed to the silver haired ones side as soon as she had her spotted.

First there was a scraping sound. Wait a few seconds and could be heard the sound of brief conversation, and finally footsteps.
Earth was dragging his great giant sword over the forest floor, disturbing any silence that may have existed subtracting his presence, while replying to Jeremy’s whisper:
"Hey... I see... You've lost a lot of blood. I can always reanimate you and then it won't matter."
"Of course, I'll need your life energy which seems to be fading a little..."
With a plain "No."

He arrived at the shore, and stopped. The iceblue eye took a few seconds to investigate the scene before it, it was a complicated situation that wound not have been expected. There should have been a moose here. That was what he had expected to be before him as he came around the shrubs just now.
But not only was there no moose, but there were a bunch of wierdos instead. A dragon, a naked woman and a man with unfamiliar and foreign facial features and weapon.
The sharp eyes gaze went from abnormality to abnormality before landing on his sword, its blade fully coated in mooseblood.
He walked forth "There is a blade... but there is no moose..." he muttered as he went to get his sword, swaying in his movement as a result of the blood loss from the wound spanning cross his chest infusing dizziness.
"Why is that? he continued to himself as he dropped his great giant sword a few footsteps before the other blade, which was dwarfed in the first ones presence. It gave of a sharp metallic shriek as the heavy hilt hit the white pebble ground.

He took up the smaller sword, cleaned it in the pond, sheathed it, returned to the great one and lay down next to it. The wound cross his chest was throbbing with pleasant warmth and his faces emptyness gave way to a dreamy smiling expression for a few seconds before regaining composure.
"Have you seen a moose?"
Earth asked the world around him.

Jeremy's question was quickly answered with a "No". Fucking asshole, it's painful to suffer this lack of life energy. And now he walked off towards that pond, wait... Where's the moose? Dammit, they lost it.
Jeremy continued forward, his severed arm left grasping onto his shoulder and dangling over his chest. He walked slowly as his eye scanned over his surroundings, acknowledging all of the beings gathered at the area. Hey, a dragon, and the life energy is enormous. That seems like a good prey, but with that dragon is another being with an amazing amount of life energy which seems to be damaged. Maybe if he asked them nicely if he could take some of the life energy, it does replenish, unlike the pseudo-life energy that Jeremy has to suffer with.

Suddenly, something grabbed onto Jeremy's hand, oh it was Charlotte. He looked over at the little girl to see a face of fear, or was it shyness? It doesn't matter, having a woman's daughter entrusted to him is an honor and a hindrance. He should've killed her before.
Behind Jeremy walked two other beings, the reanimated corpses. A male one carrying two corpses over his shoulders, and the female mother dragging a third corpse behind her.

Once Jeremy reached Earth, he stood there, staring at the eastern man. He seemed like trouble, and that life energy was pretty pathetic. He would crouch down next to Earth, but that would probably break his legs, Jeremy was already pissed off at having to carry his own limb around.
"Maybe it just ran off as soon as it left our sight." Jeremy answered Earth's question, his voice toned down to become more mono toned. It was still croaky and deep as before with his words dragged out.

The cloth scratched against her newborn skin, the feeling unfamiliar as she quietly pulled the dress tight around her chest, sitting still for a moment as her blue eyes blinked. The sky above her was blue, a heard of white horsetails streaking across from the east. The trees that surrounded her were all pine, though shorter than what she was used to. Back where she was from, Ammy was surrounded by trees so large it was impossible to wrap one's arms around them. These red woods towered up to the sky, even in her bird form she was unable to reach the top of the trees. These trees looked like kin, but they were so small that it seemed almost impossible that they were kin. Her ears swiveled, catching the sound of the birds and the other animals around as Ammy suddenly turned her attention onto the water her feet were in. It was warmer than what she was used to, untouched by the frozen glaciers from her lands and she looked down at her pale feet in the water. It wasn’t very clear, blood had swirled with the water and muddy clay had joined the mix. The wind had stopped and she brushed her hair back, picking up the blade that had pierced her side. It was oddly shaped, the blade still coated in her blood as she shook her head and stabbed the blade all the way to the hilt in mud.

“Of course it’s not mine,” her voice came out in a horse growl, clearing out her throat as she looked up, finally turning her attention to the people around her. The woman that had healed her was close to her side, her eyes blue like the snow flowers. If anything, Ammy thought she looked like a smaller version of her, much smaller. Her hands were so small they looked breakable, and her own hair was wet. The man on the far side of both of them looked uninterested as he leaned against his spear. “Thank you.”

Her head shot up as she heard the rasp of the blade, her hands reaching up to crunch down on her ears as he came closer. Her lip curled, revealing pointed canines as she caught the scent of blood. She immediately recognized the man walking towards them, her legs wobbling like a newborns as she stood and moved away from the sword as he cleaned it, then asked something about a moose. It was answered by a man who was carrying his own arm, two lifeless creatures behind him as Ammy tossed her head. That man-he was the one who's arm had slapped her!

“I’m that moose and you owe me an apology!” she boldly declared, stepping forward with the dress now on her body, the bottom of it coming to her knees. Her feet dug into the mud and anger caused her fighting spirit to blaze inside of her.

Jeremy quickly turned his glance to the girl strange girl in the dress, she. A moose? Jeremy felt quite offended at her remark, what would she do anyway? Kill him? Nah, he's Immortal now.
"Do I look retarded to you? You aren't a moose." He spoke towards her, his voice had a slightly sharpened tone to show how he took offense to the girls remark. He let go of Charlotte's hand and grabbed his severed arm by the bicep, it moved on it's own and faced the woman. The hand made a hand signal stating 'go away' as it waved.

Next, the eastern guy spoke to Jeremy, he moved his glance over to the laid back person as he spoke. Jeremy's voice returned to it's usual mono toned, croaky state as he answered, his severed arm moved where the hand would make a mouth which pretended to speak as Jeremy spoke; "I have no idea, I used to be a master of the elements. 'til I decided to learn necromancy, it removed my elemental powers so I'm stuck like this. I roam free in these lands, always have. People just refuse to mess with a guy carrying a scythe and having 20 corpses following him. Although, that was when I was alive, I don't have enough life energy to summon my scythe or reanimate 20 beings..."

Oh that's right, life energy. Without facing the fake-moose-girl, Jeremy spoke out to her. His voice in a more aggravating tone; "Oh yeah, is that dragon yours, fake-moose-girl? Or can I take some of that high amounts of life energy of yours? Don't worry, life energy replenishes."

Ammy
“I’m that moose and you owe me an apology!”

Earth
Upon those words the expression on Earths face changed briefly, slightly, shifting in and out of a momentary state of intrigued surprise. Then he spoke, remaining flat on his back.
"... ... Why are you the moose?" (there was a pleasand feel to this moment, the rippling of water, the cold stones to his naked back, and the cushioning of the golden ponytail laying comfort on he back of his head. Bare chest in the burning summer sun but at the same time swept over by nice coolness that can often be found in the air by any larger ammount of water. Two elements that crash and counteract, shifting heat and cold, governed much by the will of the wind. It reminded Earth of the conflicting pain and pleasure that was throbbing in the wound cross his chest. Or perhaps both were one and the same.)

Ammy
Ammy was taken aback from such a silly question. She blinked, wondering if she really did have a good answer to that or not.
"I-I guess i just wanted to be something other than a wolf for once. I'm a shape shifter, I guess. Does it really matter? You stabbed me and that man slapped me," she said simply, her anger failing. Back where she was from being a shifter was considered a curse, and these people weren't even blinking an eye.

Earth
Earth glanced at the woman, not with rudness in mind, but just because he did not want to turn his head wich was comforatbly resting on his lush ponytail
(inside the mind of earth) She is looking less hostile now. Why is that? Hm.
The sliverhaird womans outburst had blow over, the adrenaline now gone, her posturing was faltering, the wound in her side not allowing her to stand straight. The fire of the Dragon had caused the wound to close, but the cut run deep.
(inside earths mind) Wolf. Wolf? What is she saying...
"...Wolf?"
Earth asked.

Ammy
"Yes, a wolf. Is that so strange?" Ammy grimaced slightly and moved back up the bank to where the grass began, her ears twitching atop her head as she stared down at the owner of the sword. He looked at peace, one with himself before she pulled her gaze away. "It doesn't matter anyways. I was just passing through."

Jeremy
A shape shifter eh?" Jeremy thought while he listened into the conversation, it explained a lot about why this girl has a very large amount of life energy. As his severed arm fell back down lifeless, Charlotte quickly grabbed onto the hand again, it was further to the ground so it was easier to hold without stretching her arm upwards. She gave off a sigh of relief as the coldness of the arm reassured her safety. Then Jeremy heard the shape shifter mention him slapping her, so she must be the moose...
"I accept that you were the moose we were going after, since you know of that bitchslap. I must apologize for doing that, and I think it's pretty obvious that I did not mean to slap you..." Jeremy apologized to the shape shifter, his voice had calmed and the words were dragged out once again, it was a sign of him being sincere. As Jeremy waiting a while for a reply, he decided to break the silence with the great question he needs answering;
"Hey, fake-moose-girl, I see that you have a very high amount of Life Energy. Probably because you are a shape shifter. Anyway, as you can tell, I am dead. I am surviving on pseudo-life energy which does not replenish. Do you mind if I take some of your energy? The converstion ratio is about 1:2 so I won't need much. Just about a third. Is that okay with you, or do you need more of an apology?" His voice was more desperate, the words came out quickly and were not dragged out. He simply could not stand being stuck with a fraction of his full energy when he was alive. The first self-reanimation takes up a lot of energy afterall. And reanimating corpses simply splits the energy, it can easily be recovered by reversing the spell. But that still does not allow him to use his full potential...

Earth
Earth was looking through the corner of his eyes so he had yet to pay notice to it, untill now: "She has wolf ears" he mutters while glancing up at her with iceblue eye.
"You were suppose to be lunch then. You should applogize for not being a moose anymore."

Ammy
"Take what you need, no more," Amy offered, holding out her palm unsure how the trade would be made. Then she turned towards the man, her eyes narrowing."Who kills a moose with a sword?!"

Earth
"How about meat. Can I have a leg?"

Jeremy
The shape shifter's answer lightened Jeremy's mood tenfold, under the rags covering the bottom half of his face, he was smiling, drooling. This girl is simply allowing him to take her energy, but it is best to let her live. Killing her would be a bit like a douchebag since she is kindly handing it out. "I thank you, you are a very kind woman." Jeremy thanked the shape shifer, his voice had lightened as well as the aura around him. His eye even showed a tiny piece of life behind the death that plagues the body.
With that, Jeremy walked towards the shape shifter, signalling Charlotte to stay with her undead mother as he walked, a black triangle appeared on his left (intact) hand and began to glow. At first it seemed he was going to grab her hand, but instead his arm stretched forward and grabbed onto her forehead. The light from the symbol glowing through his fingers as the life energy was being drained and converted. Slowly, Jeremy's body became more coloured to a pale, white colour instead of the death-like blue tinge. His eye became less clouded and the brown colour slightly recovered behind the black iris. He had finally regained his full energy and could finally reach his full potential, maybe inventing a new spell which converts nature energy into pseudo-life energy. Oh yeah, his arm needs to be fixed. Jeremy quickly takes a little more life energy to make up for the regeneration cost and pulls his arm away from the woman's head, the symbol quickly faded.
"You will probably feel a little ill and tired, just give it an hour or so and your energy will have replenished." Jeremy warned the shape shifer, as he pushed his severed arm into the sleeve. A pentagram appeared around the shoulder which glowed for a few moments before disappearing. Jeremy had finally fixed his body.
As he moved his arm around, clenching a fist and bending it to get himself used to using it again, Jeremy spoke to the shape shifter again; "I thank you again. I owe you."

Ammy
"Thanks," she muttered, not sure why as she bent her head between her legs, "Maybe you could patch him up." She tried to divert their attention away from her as she let her body go limp. He'd taken more than she'd expected and it was taking its toll. Already her heart beat became a pounding in her head and her body shook as she took several deep breaths. Hell, that had been rough and she tried not to vomit as she stopped moving her energy towards the wound in her side. Healing now would kill her if she tried, and changing was out of the question for a good week ater that. Slowly she ran her hand over her eyes and lay back, letting the sun hit her face.

Jeremy
Seeing the effects of the energy drain on the shape shifter, Jeremy sighed, he only took a small amount of her full energy and she had that kind of reaction? "Have you ever used that large amount of energy before? It seems you are new to energy requiring magic." He spoke out to the shape shifter as he lifted Charlotte onto his shoulders, giving off a small "Yop" as he did so. He nodded his head and gave off a small giggle to the little girl as she laughs and cheers over Jeremy regaining his energy and fixing his limb. The female corpse smiled, but could not speak, instead she raised her hand to her mouth as a form of expressing her laughter. Oh yeah, Jeremy could get those bodies reanimated. And then store them in the death dimension, eh wait til later.
As for the shape shifter's suggestion, Jeremy replied with a hint of happiness in his voice; "I would, but I have no idea how. Normally healing magic would patch me up, and I can only use Necromancy." He explained to the woman, the croakiness in his voice had disappeared and it seemed more young, no words were dragged and it wasn't as deep as before.

Ammy
"There's a reason why we have so much energy. It holds us together and lets us split. Have you never met a shifter before?" she shook her head and sighed her eyes looking toward the kid again. The look on the kid's face was enough to make her do it again, and she smiled gently at their reaction. Yes, she would do it again. Even if it claimed her life she would do it again. Her body winced and her hand fell gently on her side, trying to make it appear normal.

Earth
Earth was was watching the sky while overhearing the conversation.
(inside the mind of earth) ... ... ... Heal me?... Jeremy has known me for a long time ...
"...Wolf. Why are you here?" He asked bluntly.

Ammy
"I dont know how to answer that," Ammy finally said after a moment, sitting up to look in the direction of Earth.

Earth
He did not look back, kept his eye fixed on the sky. "You are strange."

" That is the cost of being a shapeshifter... You do not know and will never know your purpose.".

Xin Zhao chimmed in, butting into their conversation. He moved closer to the water and emptied his canteen into the pond. "Shapeshifters are like water. They know nothing of loyalty. This pond, this water, holds this form but once it is moved, it takes the form of its container.".

Xin dipped his canteen into the water, getting his sleeves wet, as a demonstration of what he meant.

"I know my purpose as do each of my people. I've observed that this is a unique trait of ours for your people do not know their purpose. ".

Xin backed away from the water and returned to his original spot before continuing.

"Your farmers wish to be merchants. Your merchants wish to be Nobles. Your Nobles wish to be kings and your kings wish to be gods.".

Xin took a deep breath and then he finally decided to abandon his meditative pose by standing. As he rose he took his spear in his left and walked over to each individual, bowing rather than offering his hand.

"Where is the next settlement from here?", Xin asked, his dark brown eyes jumping from each individual to the next.

Skye accepted the shapeshifter's thanks with a quick smile, before hearing the scrape of another sword. Brimstone seemed to perk up again, coming to Skye's defense, but a quick glare at him made him shut up. She watched as the shapeshifter seemed to take in the environment around her once again.

The scrape of the sword grew closer, and the demand to know where the moose was, was almost rude. Skye answered quietly, "You wouldn't believe us if we told you - " At the same time as the shapeshifter told them that it was her. The scoffs and remarks made afterwards proved her point. "See? Told you that you wouldn't believe us." She sighed. She stood up with the shapeshifter, looking absolutely tiny and very muddy. Great. Her spare clothes were ruined. Again.

The Necromancer - one of the dispellers, maybe? - mentioned her dragon. "Actually, he's mine." She remarked, and as if in agreement, Brimstone chittered and glided up to her shoulder. The dragon was warm on her shoulder, radiating heat, and his scales in a thin line glowed orange as he breathed.

The next conversation that followed was long, and discussed the shapeshifter. Skye listened intently, but did not speak. There was no reason to. She instead listened, until the conversation appeared to be over. She had no purpose? Skye looked at her feet. Surely everyone had a purpose...Even if it wasn't clear.

She listened to the rest of the foreign man's speech, looking at each of them in turn. Or, strictly speaking, looked up at them all. They were all much taller than her. She looked like the child on the Necromancer's shoulders. The foreign man then asked about the next settlement near here. "The only one I know of was beyond the village...I don't know about beyond this forest." She shrugged. He asked a lot of questions.

"I think we should introduce ourselves." She began. They couldn't really talk much without knowing each other's names, so she decided to ask. "I'm Skye, and this is Brimstone." Brimstone chittered in agreement.

"Follow the trail" Earth answered the foreign man.
He was referring to the trail of blood and plowed earth left by his wound and sword.
"It leads straight to the burned village."
The girl introduced herself as Skye. Earth found this a little amusing, or at least remarkable, as he was in those moments starring at the sky and had been doing so the past few minutes for no particular reason.
"Skye. Is that a dragon?"

Skye nodded shortly at the man asking her a question directly. He seemed inquisitive, but not as much as the foreign man. He asked a lot of questions. "You still didn't tell me your name." She pointed out.

He was a lot taller than she was, with long blonde hair pulled up tight in a ponytail. A huge sword trailed behind him - which was what she heard earlier. A large gash trailed down his chest, which Skye frowned at. He would need stitches. Unfortunately, the only healing she knew how to do was to singe cuts closed so they wouldn't bleed any more. "If you'd like, Brim can seal off that cut for you." She offered. She didn't know how he'd react but she hoped that he would see it as a kind gesture.

She looked around the group again, before walking over to a slightly less muddy place and sitting down again, hugging her knees once again to her chest. Wind whipped through her wet hair slightly, making it fly out behind her like a fan.

"Thank you that would be nice." He said and pulled off the blood red(previously white) ribbon that had been partly covering his wound soaking up blood, revealing the full length of the cut. It was oozing with blood, a red line drawn diagonally cross his entire upper body, beginning at the left chest muscle, going down through his right line of abs ending just below the waist. It was difficult to see, as it was hidden under blood, but the cut wasn’t all that deep and not much musculature was severed, it cleaved the surface of his chest and abs and was not deep enough to be a continual line of red, the crevasses between different muscles, between chest and abdominal muscles and in-between abdominal muscles, had not been carved up. Nonetheless, most details could not be spectated, as they were hidden under blood.
Lying down, Earth adjusted his chest upwards a little, taking his bare back off of the white stone grounds uneven pebble surface and introduced himself. “I’m Earth.”
With a hint of anticipation or excitement he said after a pause "Burn it."

As everyone was speaking, Jeremy decided to get to work with the corpses. Making a rising signal to the male zombie, it picked up one of the bodies and held it towards Jeremy. While Charlotte was still sitting on his shoulders, Jeremy held it hand out and started the reanimation process. A black pentagram appeared on the chest of the corpse, it glowed a little as the pseudo-life energy was transported into it. Once the process was done, the pentagram disappeared and the body was dropped to the floor. Instead of ordering the body to rise, it was left to sink into the ground, ready to be summoned/teleported for use.

When all of the bodies were energized and stored, Jeremy allowed the male zombie to sink into the ground. Leaving him with Charlotte's mother. Of course he would let her stay, she was Charlotte's mother. Only a small amount of pseudo-life energy was used, and can be transported back into Jeremy's body if needed.

Now that Jeremy was finished, he turned to face the others. Charlotte sitting on his shoulders with a massive smile, and her mother standing next to Jeremy with a very happy look.
"Name's Jeremy Dantoh, this is Charlotte. I don't know her mother's name, nor does Charlotte." Jeremy stated to the others, speaking in his usual dark, deep mono toned voice.

“And yet it is the ever-changing state of both water and nature is what keeps your body alive,” she growled simply, “If water had any loyalty to one form, do you really think it would be so easy to fill your stomach with it? Can you eat a solid block of ice and gain water from it if it remains such a state? Nature has no loyalties; not with you, or me, in any form I take. The only constant is change.”

Ammy finished triumphantly, her eyes flashing golden for a moment as her inner wolf threatened to take over. This man was like the ones from her homeland; everything had to be loyal, belonging to someone or some idea, otherwise it was dangerous, unpredictable and had to be eradicated. Ammy curled her lip, her little canines showing. Ignorance was the true killer of men, not magic or shifters. Those that had lost their lives to such things deserved their fate. More often than not it was they who started the battle; the shifters were only trying to protect themselves from harm. All animals attack when cornered, she thought to herself as she lay back on the grass and gave a pitying smile in Skye’s direction. These clothes belonged to Skye and Ammy saw that Skye’s were already mud covered from helping her in moose form. At least Ammy had managed to keep the loaned dress away from the mud; it rested so high on her body. She would give it back. Once she remembered where exactly she had placed her own clothes the last time she had changed. Quietly she closed her eyes and put her head in her hands. The sun struck across her face, giving her silver hair an almost white appearance, as she rose her head up higher remembering the last time she had lived in a day so warm.

FLASHBACK

Ammy dashed past the trees, her blonde-white hair streaking out behind her six-year-old-self as she ran, her lips pulled back into a joyous smile. She could hear the shouts of the person who was giving chase far behind and she took the opportunity to slow, twisting her head back to look for him amongst the aspens. Seeing no sign and hearing nothing, she came to a stop. Her blue eyes, much like glacier ice, widened as she scanned the foliage. It was fall, the soft red and orange of the trees casting a colorful glow as they slowly threw themselves from the tree only to flutter joyously around in the winds.

“Azian?”

The snow-elf was nowhere to be seen, his dark hair and rich clothing having seemed to disappear into the woods that were his home. Curiously she turned her head taking a few steps in one direction before switching to a different direction. She turned on the spot, trying to catch even the slightest of glimpses of Azian.

“Come out! This is tag, not hide-and-go-seek,” she called with a giggle, her face towards the warmth of the sun as she bathed in its waves. She wasn’t worried; this wasn’t the first time he had pulled a stunt like this; until she heard the snap of a branch, followed by a growl. Her head turned, her body slowly backing away carefully as she lifted her skirt slightly.
“Okay, you can stop it now,” she called, twisting as another branch broke behind her. She twirled, only to get pushed from behind, her body lurching forward with a scream. Laughter rose from behind her and she turned, seeing Azian behind her. Her lips pulled back in a snarl as she launched herself at him. He fell back against the leaves with a sharp gasp, her arm pressed into his throat as his eyes smiled.

“Don’t! Do! That!” she growled, watching as his brown eyes glinted.

“Tell me you didn’t enjoy it in the least bit,” he smirked, his eyes flashing as she smiled. It was hard to stay mad at him. She took a deep breath, her eyes closing as she smelled the earth, the sky and even the tangy, piney smell of the man under her, “Get off of me Ammy!”

“Whoops,” she laughed as Azian pushed against her hips, slowly moving her to the ground next to him as they watched the clouds. Her eyes remained closed for the most part, and his remained fixated on her face.

They stayed like that for awhile, until the stars rose and the moon lay hidden behind a dark veil. Occasionally, the stars would fall from the sky and he would watch as her lips moved quietly, just a little twitch of breath every-now-and-then, her bright blue eyes tracing the fall until it vanished. His fingers twined with hers and she took her eyes off the sky to look into his. Her lips pulled into the smile again, returning her gaze back to the sky as he slowly rose. She listened to him move and shuffle around on the earth. Their heads touched their hair mingling together as he lay against her, his feet the opposite way from hers.

“What do you see?”

“Hmm,” she murmured, not taking her eyes off the sky as more stars fell.

“What do you see up there that holds you so captive, Ammy?”

“My mother told me that every star is a life, when they fall, that means that someone is entering the world. But each star has its own story behind it too,” carefully she pointed to a clump of stars, eyes shining brightly, “There. That’s where I came from. It’s a bull. If you look closely, all the stars from the outline of my creature.”

Azian smiled gently. Slowly he nodded, agreeing with her as one by one she enlightened him to which stars belonged to which animal. Slowly, even he could begin to see a pattern in the stars above. He rolled, bending over her to plant a kiss on her cheek as she stared up, blushing.

RETURN

That had been the good times, back when she was still welcomed with open arms in her village, being loved by everyone as Ammy, the Innocent. Six-year-old Ammy was happy, alive, surrounded by the rest of the village kids. She was the ringleader in all schemes and adventures, which was until the next year. She was seven when she found herself walking through the forest by herself one day. It was one of aspen and pine. The colors flashed gold, red and green in the light. It was cool and the threat of winter was nipping at her nose and cheeks but at that time Ammy had no problem with the cold, in fact she enjoyed it. As she walked she came across a split in the path and decided to head for the one that split from it. As she walked on it she was careful never to tread on a living thing, animal or plant. Soon she could hear it. The sound of water falling from the cliff that towered above the whole forest below called her onwards. Soon she arrived at the falls, the water falling blue and white in a clear cascade down into a pool that was also clear. Ammy could see the bottom of the pool, filled with the white stones that had created the path. Now they were also at the bottom of the pool and at the center, the stones that were rare on the path, the black ones were in abundance. The water sang and beckoned to her so she took of her shirt and pants before stepping into the cool water. As she waded toward the center, she suddenly began to feel a sharp pain, a pain that still caused her now to grimace. It was the forbidden spring, but it hadn’t seemed so bad back then. That water had given rise to her true nature; it had not caused it, but brought it forth out into the open. Ammy the Innocent died that day, and Ammy the Feared had been born. What was feared, was hunted, and if they were lucky, killed on the spot. Ammy had not been so lucky.

FLASHBACK

Her white dress billowed around her legs, making the colorless threads shooting through the black marble stand out. Her blonde hair fell around her shoulders, arranged so that it covered her breasts. Her eyes were closed. The low lighting in the room made the blood dripping from her fingers appear like black water, falling like diamonds from the tips. The cut right under her arm released the precious tears, the horrible jagged thing attesting to the pain she had endured. Her hands hug over the edge of the marble, her pale skin being mirrored by the puddle of blood shining on the cold grey stone. Her chest rose and fell with invisible breaths and a single tear shimmered on her cheek.

The barred door creaked open as her captors entered. Ammy kept her eyes closed, her heart beat as slow as her almost nonexistent breath. They walked over to her, their eyes glimmering black as they used their ability to keep her body bound tightly to the cold marble, slipping back to allow another to enter. Finally the last person entered decorated richly in a cloak of deep purple, a signature of royalty. He brushed the silver grey hair back from his icy eyes, looking over her body with a nod of approval. His healers had done well, not a scar remained except for the slice under her arm, right near the large artery running along the length of it. He remembered with sick pleasure how she had wept as the steal had cut through her, burning with the special powder that his assistant had given him. She hadn’t told them anything, holding true to her stupid Shifter laws. This time though, she would talk.

He rolled up his sleeves, nodding to the two men who had faded into the back of the room. They stepped forward, their eyes becoming normal colors and they began to arrange her in a position to better the pain that would be coming. Her eyes flashed open and she attacked, throwing her fist out to catch one of the extras under his jaw and sending him reeling back, the snapped rope still wrapped around her wrist. Her blood spattered the wall as she moved, quickly making the two binders useless on the floor. Their blood flowed from their lips and nose, their eyes closed in unconsciousness. She turned to her captor, his eyes narrowing.

“What do you want from me,” she growled her body tensing. He stepped to the door, pressing his back against it and signaling the man behind him. She received no answer, only the icy stare of the man who she didn’t recognize, had no knowledge of.
“Sleep,” came the soft voice of a different man, stepping form the shadows, his cloak as red as blood. As she started to fall, he swept forward, catching her in his arms and laying her gently on the table. He arranged her as best he could, clapping her hands in the chains that hung from the table instead of the useless rope.

“Thank you Kirsten,” the old man said, steeping forward and kicking the two men that lay on the dirty floor. “So, Wolf….”
“I’m not a Wolf,” she snapped taking her eyes off of Kirsten’s. She heard the slap as her head snapped wildly to the left before she felt the singing pain across her cheek. She had bit her lip, splitting it and already blood was oozing forth from the bite. She ran her tongue over the cut, tasting the salty blood and growling. Kirsten began to get anxious, his hand gently caressing her cheek which still stung like fire from the abuse it had just received. Ammy could tell that it wasn’t Kirsten who had slapped her but the man who was pulling his sleeve back up over his elbow. Her eyes flickered and hatred burned in her soul, making her stronger. She wouldn’t tell them anything, nothing about herself or the shifters. They were her family and she would remain bound to those laws even till her dying breath had escaped her lips. Her eyes flashed silver and then faded, her jaw squaring and becoming tighter as she locked it, thinking only of her familiars.

“Come now,” he said gently, laughter glimmering in his eyes, “You just have to lead us right to them in their woods and you’ll be free.”

She opened her mouth to say something, whisper it so low that only he would be able to hear but as she opened her mouth to speak there was the sharp pain of skin ripping and the horrible smell of flesh burning. Words turned into screams as the pain finally hit her, her body withering as it tried to escape whatever was doing this to her.

“Talk,” the Lord purred, pushing the heated blade further up into her skin, his eyes narrowing as the only thing that came forth from her was tears, but they didn’t fall. “Very well, you will talk before this is over.”
He pushed the blade up to its hilt, twisting it violently inside of her as she arched her back, keeping her jaw locked but screaming none-the-less. She didn’t tell nor say anything but kept her mouth void of words as they continued to torture her; steal cutting and burning, fire pushed inside of her and white hot iron all took a shot to loosen her tongue but nothing but her screams filled the chamber.


REALITY

Time had caused her to whimper, the harshness of the memory giving her a reason for why she had left. She had left to escape unjustness, to escape ignorance in man, to be free. Her eyes opened and looked upright as she watched the dragon sear fire over an open wound, the smell of singed hair and skin reached her nose as she looked back to her hands.

“My name is Ammy.”