Dragon Ahsterra's Story

Dragon laughed, standing up and brushing dust off of her white dress. "I must go as well, something is quite wrong here." She turned to the boy who had grown quite attached to her kitten. "Please, watch Leah for only an hour?" she asked him. "That trick of yours is quite nice," she quickly commented, drawing out a black mist from thin air and binding it around her finger tips, and then vanishing leaving the four standing together in a sort of awkward silence. The mist, however, lingered in the air until her kitten pulled it down with its paws. Dragon had left her book bag behind as well, but by accident or for a purpose she hadn't had the right amount of time to say.

Sarani watched Theodore perform his trick with a stoic expression, simply staring at the blue light, as unreactive as argon. She wondered what kind of creature Theodore was. It definitely wasn't what she was. She made a short glance at Rick, and then at the golem. The thought of destruction crossed her mind. The golem was just standing there, urging to be destroyed, and the thought of violence against its owner crossed her mind, too. She shook her head, disgusted by the thought. She was sure it wasn't really her thoughts, it was Friyeh's thoughts. It wrapped around her mind, like hands with talons clinging to her mind. Get away from me. I don't want you here, She though, looking down.

Do you mind if I change the subject? How about I try to escape? She heard Friyeh speak. She wanted to shout at him to shut up, but she had to remain composed. They would suspect if she did make an outburst. She had to use her energy to contain the urge so she wouldn't hurt anyone. Her mind trailed off, thinking of random topic and thoughts. She tried to escape from Friyeh and his creepy fiends, especially the lurking shadow-person and the collector. The shadow was the only one without a voice. When she saw him, he was silent and still, but he was frightening nonetheless. She had no idea of his purpose.

She saw a few others leave. "I think... I'll stay here," She looked up from her bare feet. a bit of uncertainty cracked from her typical calm, monotone voice. She looked back to Theodore, realizing that she hasn't commented on his trick. "Pretty cool, I guess." She was reluctant to show her skill, for a certain reason.

The resounding explosion of a black mist emanating from a single figure in the street a tall slender elven man cloaked in all black and wearing a masquerade mask as if he was about to attend a ball. Though the longbow on his back and the quiver full of malicious looking black arrows stated otherwise. A quick dusting of the elf's forearms led him to look up at the small group of figures with the soulless mask. No words were uttered, no sound made just the staring at the small group of people as the black mist of shadows continued to snake out from around the man.

Aeolus stopped mid stride as he looked back to see the elven man that now stood there with the haunting mask and drama of effects pouring from him. His mind raced a bit as another alchemical sign quickly rose in his eye staring at the man about 50 yards from him with with mist.

Dragon froze in her tracks, the very sight of the masked man causing her to tremble with fear. Emerald green bled into her silver eyes, black seeping into her amber hair. Simple white makeup was replaced with silver, her knife burning a bright gold. She dug into her book bag, removing a mask similar to that of the man's, holding it out for him to take. “I am done,” she told him quietly, lowering her head. “Have no business with pain here, hurt them and I will make you suffer.” The knife's color vanished as she flipped the blade shut.

Sarani quickly turned towards the source of the explosive sound. You have to run and go there. That isn't some ordinary explosion. The gravelly-voiced one spoke to her. The creepy but good voice she knew, like a second conscience to keep on fighting the ever-advancing Friyeh. It might not be what you were sent to do, but its what you were meant to do. She stared at Theodore with her emotionless gaze. "You take care of the cat. I'll go with them," She ordered before running off to the source of the sound. She watched the masked creature surrounded by shadows.

She wasn't phased by his appearance. She was actually fascinated by him. They're all after you. You can't stop them unless- Friyeh started to taunt. "No. It's not true!" Sarani shouted back. Thoughts of destroying came flooding towards her, to herself and others. "Please, stop it!" She could sense the presence of something behind her. The shadow man. She decided not to look back. "Please, just go away!"

Dragon stepped back, turning away from the man. “If this is purely for revenge, I understand,” she said quietly in a calm sort of tone. “However do not bring anything upon the others, for they have done nothing...as for me, kill me if you wish but do not even think of touching them.” She began to pad off further down the rough pavement, stopping for a moment. “You shall know where to find me, sir. And Sarani...I hope you do not kill anyone. Not YET, anyways...” And with that the young girl picked up her pace and set off again, leaving kitten with Theodore and book bag laying on the ground until she was far enough out of view for the five of them to assume she was leaving, which...she was, just not out of the city...further in was more like it. All along the way humming out a tune from her native country, Elras... “I hope they'll be alright,” she thought aloud. “Especially Theodore...I'm actually starting to like him, not like he would ever notice, anyways.”

The masked man was gone in the blink of an eye and then in another instance his hand latched onto Aeolus throat. The speed the movement was inexplicably fast. He lifted Aeolus up briefly before the black mist hurriedly warped around the pair before vanishing within the miasma. There was however the remaining mist that seemed to float about uncannily in the street not dissipating even after it's master had left.

Lark quickly threw Sanyu across his shoulders, man handling her into a fireman's carry. He hadn't been able to take off with the same speed as Dragon, and as he lifted Sanyu and got to his feet, there would be no avoiding the rough bark that stretched for his back.

But just as it was about to grasp Lark, there was a piercing sound similar to a bird's screeching. The invisible hair thin barrier that contoured to Lark's form solidified. The feedback from Lark's armor was deafening as it threw back the grasping branches, but it only lasted for a moment and soon the barrier was gone completely.

Immune to the noise, Lark kicked off his back leg and ran as fast as he could with Sanyu.

Sanyu felt herself heaved up and draped around Lark's shoulders like a fancy fur. One of her hands grasped tightly onto his arm after hearing the noise. What was that? How had the hands not reached them? All these thoughts rushed through her head as Lark sprinted. She opened her mouth to shout- to scream- that she could run herself, but looking behind them she suddenly decided that it wouldn't be the wisest idea.

Walking after them was a beast most accurately descried as someone who had died, mummified, and then horribly mutilated. It was impossibly tall, with limbs like twigs. The skin was pulled taut over bone with no fat, no muscle, in between. Its skin was ashen, and its eyes so far sunken in its skull that they appeared but two small lights languidly swaying through the darkness. Its lips, whats lips it had, for they were torn, were splattered with a black substance and dotted with bits of meat.

Its steps made hardly a sound as it rushed toward them, though the creature deviated from Sanyu and Lark, going towards the lone prey: Dragon.

Yeah, that's right, come this way you stubborn piece of forest magic, was Dragon's first immediate thought but her second was this: run, you damn idiot. She forced herself to run, skittering past Lark and Sanyu in a quick blur of black and silver. Without thinking she jumped, grabbing onto the branch of a nearby oak tree and swinging herself into the air, landing with accurate precision seven branches over, taunting whatever this overgrown tree thing was, she felt something tear into her shoulder, shaking it off she waited only a second until the tree was directly where she needed it to be. Black flame twisted around her fingers, and with a flick of her wrist the tree was engulfed in flames. Personal victory for me, was her state of mind.

Still the young woman couldn't brush of the ghastly amount of blood seeping through her clothes. She gritted her teeth forcing herself to run despite the pain gripping her entire body. “Hurry, Lark!” Why do I have to like this guy????

The creature had reached for the young woman with its nasty fingers, each twice as long as the hand they were attached to, ending in thin, knifelike tips. Once the tree was washed in hot flame, the behemoth reeled back with a scream that took the sound of nails on a chalkboard and the wails of a tortured man to mix and rattle the brain and instill terror in even brave hearts.

Sanyu tapped Lark on the shoulder. "My staff!" she urged him. "I need it! You don't need to carry me with it distracted!"

Lark slowed to a stop, slipping behind a pair of normal looking trees. Carefully he let Sanyu put her own feet on the ground, obliging the woman's desire to be put down.

"I left it behind..." Lark mumbled quietly as he peered around a tree trunk. "You're gonna have to go back and get it..."

"I didn't mean to hurt Lark...but something told me to take his so-" Dragon clamped a small white paw over her mouth before she could finish her sentence, the young girl blushed brightly and vanished suddenly, scampering up a nearby tree to take refuge in its thick branches. She pulled her knife from a hiding place in her right boot and began to polish the blade, struggling to act as if nothing had been said. Why, did I HAVE to say that?she asked herself, looking down at Lark and Sanyu from the branch she was perched quite comfortably.

"Go help di girl if yuh cyan!" rasped Sanyu, breaking into a sprint in the direction where they had just come from.

Meanwhile, the creature had continued his pursuit on Dragon despite the flames, reaching through them to reach up and grasp her. The burning tree caught the beast and lit him aflame, as well, but it wasn't stopping him.

"Staff... staff... staff! Di Seven curse it!" spat Sanyu as she searched for her weapon.

Anton lifted his head to see who owned the voice of such seductive words. His vision was fairly blurred but he could clearly see there was an attractive woman in front of him. The male straightened himself in the bench only to suddenly feel the female's touch on his neck which for some reason ran shivers down his spine.
His eyes shifted to the wine and he found it rather hard to flirt back with the female when he was so tired and sick from alcohol.
"Hey there. What's a pretty lady like yourself doing out so late at night?" Anton managed to reply with a grin on his face as he looked the female in the eye then at the bottle of wine again. "Oh do I now? Well, your judgement is correct. Who wouldn't want to share with an attractive woman such as yourself?" That seemed to go better than he expected. Good job Anton, he didn't feel like he said anything too stupid.

He felt himself slip away into the woman's grasp, slowly sinking, going numb. It was too much for the human to handle and soon everything was black. Only her words repeated in his mind, slowly fading.
Sick was the best way he found to describe how he felt. Yes Anton felt like bringing back up the alcohol he had just taken in along with the blurred memories of what had just happened, although they felt like they were slipping away from him. How could that be though? It just happened, surly he wasn't that drunk. Or maybe he was, maybe this was all some crazy dream or hallucination, someone could have spiked his drink...
For now he felt like he was in eternal darkness.