Adella Harmond's Story

It was night again and Adella had come to the forest to speak with Fang. However, unlike the times previous, she was accompanied by another person. It was easy to tell that it was a man simply by the way Layang walked. He kept a fair distance between himself and Adella. Layang knew that she was a vampire and how tempting his mortal blood was to her tastes.

"Where is this man that has decided to help us in our ... deliverance of Terra," Layang asked Adella.

"He is nearby," she replied.

"Nearby meaning that you do not know specifically where he resides."

"I've never been to his home."

"I see," Layang said before he fell silent. Adella cast a glance over at Layang. He was not the one she wanted to bring to Fang. Desmond would have been a better choice but the daemon was busy with another lead on the feathers. Instead, Desmond had sent Layang. The Kite Master had yet to be tested thus far and now was the time to see if he was trustworthy.

"I think you are lost," Layang stated.

"I am not," Adella argued. Silently she wished for Fang to show himself as the two people continued to walk through the brush of the burnt forest. The odor of char hung heavily in Adella's nostrils. She had stopped breathing a long time ago, albeit when she had to speak.

Since their last discussion, Fang had been busy. Busy embracing his 'new' outlook on life. In truth, he knew this way of thinking was nothing new to him. Far from it. He knew that somewhere, deep down, this is who he used to be. Something deep inside him knew it. Knew who he was, what he was, what he used to be. Many worlds had had many names for him. He'd been so many things. Bandit lord, conqueror, serial killer, assassin, terrorist, and many more things, though the common denominator had always been bloodshed and chaos.

As he stood over the bodies of his most recent outing, trying to find those damn feathers Adella wanted, a thought occurred to him.

He didn't know if he could control it. A lust for violence, and a numbness of the heart had set it, like he was meant for this kind of life. Another reason to believe it. The sight of these corpses, dead by his hands, did nothing to move him. The glow was all but gone from his eyes, his skin, his hair. Embracing the evil inside him really had made a difference. No more pretending to be better than this. Move forward, with your goal in mind...

Fang sensed something. A presence that wasn't, and something else. Something he didn't recognize.

His emerald dagger in hand, still painted with fresh crimson, he crept closer and closer to the source. Perhaps he'd get to slay more than his boredom tonight...

"This will make me ultra numb..." He mumbled to himself, moving through the flesh of a tree as if it were heavy fog...

Adella stopped suddenly in her tracks. Layang was slower to stop than the vampire. The man arched a brow and waited patiently for the woman to speak up. It was more than obvious she had either spotted or sensed something nearby. After a full minute of waiting quietly, Layang spoke up.

"What is it," he said in a dull voice. "We don't have time to stand here and wait."

Adella did not respond.

"Well?" Layang asked, again.

The woman took off in a run between two trees. She was much faster than Layang and he was left behind. It did not take long for the vampire to appear before Fang. She stopped several feet in front of him and gave him time to register that it was her in front of him.

"It is just me," Adella said to Fang, holding out her hands in a gesture of surrender.

Despite all of that, Fang barely stopped in time. His eyes, pools of deep, jungle green reflected nothing back at her like they used to, if only for a moment, before a smile crept onto his face, the smallest semblance of light coming back into his features. "Ah...I thought at much. Can't be too careful though, eh?" The godling half-apologized, searching around his pockets for his lighter, and his pack of smokes. Lately, his chain smoking habit had just gotten worse.

"What are ya doin' out here in the middle of the night, Ella? You can't just be lookin' for me." A long inhale, the plume of smoke noxious and bitter on the wind. "Though I'd be honored if ya were."

Truth enough. Even Fang, even now, still got lonely.

"And...whose that other one I detected with ya?"

"That is Layang, the Kite Master of Matyeng," Adella said just as the man walked up behind the woman. He was much taller than her and wore a mask that covered just the lower portion of his face. Layang sized up Fang for a moment and then nodded. It seemed he had passed some sort of approval from the Asiatic man.

"We came to see if you have found any of the feathers yet or met any of the Lumina looking for them," Adella said to Fang. She walked closer to him, now that she was sure he wasn't going to attack her.

"Make it short, Adella," Layang demanded.

She looked over her shoulder at the other man. A muscle tightened in her cheek but Adella did not say a single word to him.

Fang twitched. Something about this other man annoyed him. Greatly so. "No. I haven't seen anything, or anyone, like you've described. But the night is young and there are more and more invaders in my woods I've yet to track down. Perhaps you'd like to join me, Adella?" It was an offer he didn't make lately. He had become heavily protective of his lands, and even these people, a friend and an ally in question, grated on his nerves just by merely...being.

"Though I am looking, believe me. Having a bit of fun along the way, but looking."

Pulling his jacket tighter around himself, Fang couldn't help but shiver. A cold wind blew by, and cold had always bothered him, even now, even at the height of his power. Winter was the enemy of spring, after all.

"I have to ask though...Why is he with you?" The godling motioned to Layang, his eyes narrow. The man rubbed him a wrong way...

"I would-..."

"Eve did not want us gone for long. We will have to return to Gayaer soon, Adella," Layang chimed in.

Adella gave an apologetic look to Fang before she turned to face Layang. "If you are so worried about it then do, by all means, return to Eve. Tell her that another of the Naari needed aid in finding a feather. She will be most displeased that you interrupted her. If you have that much bravery, I commend you Kite Master Layang," Adella scolded.

The man scoffed and folded his arms across his chest. He turned away from the pair slightly and looked out over the forest. It looked like he wasn't going to leave, just yet at any rate.

"Fang, let's go find that feather," Adella said, taking his arm. It was still strange to touch a living person, but Adella seemed to be adapting to her vampirism easily enough. It should have been alarming to her but it was becoming more and more natural as the days passed by.

"Yeah, sure. Like I said, still plenty of invaders in the trees tonight. Enough so that its really beginning to bug me. Why do all these people assume they are welcome here? Nature doesn't want them, and neither do I." He was glad for the physical contact, and the annoyance spreading across her companion's face. It was a nice change of pace, to be sure.

"Any idea where to start? I've just been acting on instinct. No planning, no thinking, just doing. Its been working so far, but if these people are as potentially dangerous as ya say, I might need someone who can keep a clear head when it comes to violence." He would let her lead the way, the Godling turning half of his attention inward, to the voice of the woods. These woods in particular were vengeful, wanting nothing more than payback. The grievous wound it had been inflicted, though extinguished now, still glowed with hatred, and barely tamed embers. Each one of those shining, orange reminders of nature's pain stirred only one thought in Fang's mind...

Death...

These parasites had long since abused this world. It was time to wipe the slate clean, and let nature retake this world...

And the last, sentient life Fang would take in the end would be his own. As he stepped deeper into the darkness inside of his soul, he realized that no one was safe, and one day, he'd even turn against his allies...

"There are times that 'just doing' has been very successful, Fang," Adella said. She had her hood down and was showing her face. There was a nervousness in her glance. Adella kept looking out of the corners of her eyes as if she feared someone was watching her, or following. If Fang asked about it the vampire would say a placating excuse that mentioned something about her Sire. It was nothing, really, she would say.

"Shh. Fang," Adella said, tugging on his arm. It was strong, the tug. She hadn't been to mindful of the strength she used. Instead she was focused on making him stop. Layang paused too, just on the other side of Adella.

The woman's irises went wide in dilation. There was no white left to rim around the black pools. In the darkness of the forest, Adella could see every single detail, down to the tiniest vein in a newborn leaf.

"I hear footsteps and voices," Adella said. Layang bent at the knees and leaped up into a tree soundlessly. Not a single leaf rustled as he settled himself on a branch. The man disappeared into the foliage and became like the natural shadows of the forest.

The dream shifted. She was now in her room, a normal sight. She was locked in this room more times than she cared to count, usually when her mother had guests over. It was a simple room, dark right now as it was the middle of the night. There was one small window high on the wall. She remembered she could look through it when she had the chair under it.

Shifting from her simple bed, she quietly shifted over to the chair and picked it up, walking it over to the window before climbing it to look out of it.

The moon was full tonight and it shone through the tops of the trees of the forest surrounding their city. A city hidden among giants. Trees here looked as though they could touch the heavens, if they really wished for it. And the city looked as though it had grown from the trees as well, as if the trees felt the need to shelter the elves that lived beneath their large roots. The spirits here were old, and danced in the air with each other from sun rise to sun rise, keeping the forest alive with their ancient wisdom.

They taught her things. Taught her things that they normally wouldn't teach the elves that could see them. They said she was special.

Her heart ached to think about her home. She did not miss any of the elves, but the trees and the spirits were her best friends growing up.

"Yeah, 'm not from around these parts," Jarlas says dismissively. Telling him the name of the place didn't really help much. He was more interested in the guns than the man or where they were anyways. He was about to ask about that when Kestrad posed another question.

"My what? What're you gettin' at, eh? She's..." Jarlas finds himself pausing. What the hell was she to him. "Special," he decides on. "Just special to me. I don't fuckin' know. Back to you," he says, expertly deflecting the conversation.

"Those guns are really impressive," Jarlas says, making sure to embellish the word 'impressive.' "I dare say they're probably... legendary in quality. Yeah?"

Fang could sense them now too, more clearly at least. More people in his woods. His. His only. No one else should be a part of his Nature. Gritting his teeth, so much so that his gums started to bleed, Fang would restrain himself. He wanted to end their lives right now.

Deep down, there was a concern for his ever growing bloodlust, his avarice, and his willingness to do things he once considered immoral, and depraved. But such emotions were no longer useful for this godling. He'd realized enough time had passed. Enough of nature's suffering, and needless destruction at the hands of creatures such as these. If only he had realized it sooner, perhaps things would not have gotten as bad as they were now.

"When do we attack, Ella? I grow tired of waiting." The relaxed, lazy drawl he had developed over his life was gone for now, replaced by cold words, and an icy glare in the direction of their prey.

Somewhere, on a plane of existence far from this material realm, a woman began to weep.

"This is your first test to see if your intentions are true," Adella whispered into Fang's ear. "I will not fight in this battle with you, Fang. You must defeat them yourselves. If there is a feather, you must claim it. They are the enemy," the vampire sang in the godling's ear.

"I will wait in the shadows for you, as will Layang. If you need aid all you need do is call out my name," Adella spoke softly in Fang's ear. And then for good luck, Adella leaned forward and placed a cold kiss near Fang's ear. Adella also whispered something else in Fang's ear for no one else to hear.

She disappeared into the shadows in less than a heartbeat as she said she would. Fang was left alone, or so it appeared.

His test had begun.

---

"So, you are in love with her," Kestrad said. It seemed that is was perfectly normal to be in love with someone. His tone was not condemning of Jarlas. Kestrad did not know the reason for a corpse loving a perfect half-elf girl and did not judge.

Kestrad shifted Curtana in his arms taking great care that she was as comfortable as she could be as he carried her.

"Yes," Kestrad answered Jarlas's question. "They guns are an heirloom passed down from father to son. These weapons have been in my family for countless generations. Why would you want to know if they were legendary or not?"

Jarlas was beside himself for a moment. Dude kept coming back to him and Curtana. Jarlas was not about to talk about himself and Curtana. That was not a thing he wanted to talk about.

Fuckin' Maree-Thing was messing with him. That was it. He liked Curtana, but something about how sure she was about his feelings for her, it was like... he was trying to hide it from himself?

Zombies weren't cut out for emotions. Especially not Jarlas zombies.

Jarlas decided to ignore that with a dismissive mumble. "Not that I said anything about it to anybody." If the gunner heard him, hopefully it'd dissuade him from further comment.

"Anyways, your guns. See, I've got this thing. I'm dead," he said. He gestured at his exposed ribs. "But I saw a doctor who said that if I complete twen'y trials, I can live again. Findin' a legendary weapon's the next one I gotta finish."

Jarlas twiddled his fingers for a moment, peering over at the man. "Sooo... mind if I hold one, for a sec? I'll know if it counts or not, then I'll just hand it right back." He smiled at Kestrad, doing his best to look charmingly innocent.

Curtana whimpered in her sleep, and Kestrad could feel her muscles twitch.

In her dreams, they had shifted yet again. The children were kicking her and her one friend. Of course, it was just a oddly colored fox, but they had gotten along wonderfully. "Please! Stop!" Curtana cried, trying to reach out for the fox, but the children would kick her arm away. She yelled out in pain and curled up into the ball she normally did. She soon after found herself standing and fighting back for the first time in her entire life. Pushing, shoving, kicking, punching, she fought no matter how many times they pushed her back down.

The children, frustrated and with broken prides, ran off leaving Curtana there with the now dead fox. She held the limp body in her small arms, weeping and apologizing to it. It was her fault it was dead. If she did not exist, he would have lived a normal life time. The spirits around her wept with her, rain falling from a cloudless sky.

Tears fell down the sleeping Curtana's cheeks.

'It's time. It's time to leave this place little one.' She had remembered that voice, although she could not remember who told her that. 'You are meant for so much more. You must go and find your path.'

"It's time.. time to leave.." She whispered in her sleep.