Melody Imosh Entenia's Story

Rampion peeked out again from behind the tree, and realised that a small animal had joined the person, as well as yet another person. This one was large and intimidating, and Rampion didn't know people could be that broad. She thought that one may have possibly seen her looking out, and quickly ducked back behind the tree. However, the sword she was carrying slipped in her grasp, and she started struggling to catch it. She managed to get the sheath, but the sword itself fell out. She crouched down and reached out to collect it, praying that the people didn't see her. As she got a hold of the sword's handle, she looked at them. At least one of the two people seemed to be talking to the small, fox-like animal. They... Didn't seem to be acting all that cruelly towards it...

Alexis was about to re-assure her that he was not a threat, but then she fell out of the tree and landed on a sleeping figure that he had not noticed before. They seemed to hit it off well, and the girl had seemed to completely forget about him. glad that things had worked out for the most part, Alexis started to leave, going back inside the town. He needed a place to eat and sleep for the night before he moved on.

"That's good to hear. And don't worry about monsters, I'll protect you." Levint replied happily. He knew that this was gonna a great idea. He had just met Melody, but he knew that they were gonna be great friends. "Is there anywhere you ever wanted to go?" he asked.

((Whoa I go away for one day for school and all of this awesome stuff happens. Why is it always when I'm not around xD))

Melody's ear twitched at several things. First, that girl she had heard before, but then something else caught her attention. Something was wrong in the village. She jumped off her new friends lap and faced the place she grew accustomed to seeing in peace - ignoring the times when they would catch her stealing, of course.

She felt her fur stand on end at this unnatural feeling surrounding her. "The village..." Melody then turned to Levint. "I need to make sure no one's hurt." She then ran towards the people who attacked her for several years. Whether the liked her or not was not a factor that played in her decisions. Melody grew up with near this town and wanted the place itself - if not the people - to remain in perfect condition forever. She ran and ran until coming across a truly terrifying scene. The scary knight from earlier had hurt the village. Melody began to shake in fear but upon further examination she saw a girl behind him.

Watching her perfectly and re-imagining the scene, the young kitox's eyes grew wide. The terrifying man from earlier was protecting her. Someone who was hated simply because of her appearance - that's what she assumed, at least. Melody was not going to let what happened to her all her life happen to someone else.

Against her fear and better judgment she jumped next to the knight, arching her back ever so slightly while her fur stood on end and she let loose a growl.

Levint was surprised when Melody ran towards the village. He got up quickly and chased after her to make sure she would be alright. He had fallen behind and when he caught up, he saw Melody next to a rather large knight, growling at the villagers. He also saw a woman with a horn on her head standing behind the knight. Rushing forward, he stood in front of Melody and yelled "What is going on here!?"

Melody jolted out of her current state when Levint ran if front of her. She looked looked up at him as her tail swayed behind her.
"They're trying to hurt this girl. Melody doesn't like seeing people get hurt."

One of the villagers had noticed and recognized the small kitox, pointing an accusatory finger at her while remaining in the crowd.
"That's the monster that keeps stealing from our food storage! That demoness must be it's master!"

Melody winced. She only stole because she needed to survive, and she didn't recognize that word that they used to describe the girl. She wasn't going to let that change her decision, though. She was stubborn like that. Taking a few steps backwards, Melody found herself next to the girl. She seemed to have small wounds on her and that only made Melody's heart hurt even more.

"Melody knows healing magic if you'll let Melody help." ::Dammit:: There was the proof of her fear. Out in the open in her speech.

Hearing a voice accuse Melody of being a monster and the demon gor's servant made Alexis Chuckle. "If you are frightened of this thing, then you should not even call yourself men. The sin is not in her stealing food so she won't starve, but in all of you who leave her with no other option."

"You expect us to give the monster food!?" another voice called out.

Placing his hand on the girl's head, he answered, "No, I said no such thing. But you should let her earn it. How many of you tried speaking to her, and offered to pay her in exchange for honest work? And how many of you saw that she was not human, and immediately attacked her like you did the girl you were stoning naught but seconds ago? They are not the monsters, but you who can not see past your own ignorance." sighing , he shook his head. "None of you are even worth my time. These people are under my protection, harm them and you will know the wrath of the Holy Knights. But I have better things to do than argue against those with deaf ears." The threat was partially a bluff, as he was no longer in the Holy Order. But he was still very skillful, and believed the God would be on his side, so he was not worried.

Melody's ears stood up as she listened to the man tell the village about her before turning towards him. She starred in total shock and it wasn't until just then that she realized; when she had assumed he would harm her she was no better than the villagers. For that she felt truly awful. "m-mister Knight..."

When they called Melody a monster, Levint got very angry. These villagers were closed minded and feared anything they didn't understand. But after hearing the knight talk, he stayed his words. He looked over at the knight and simply said "Thank you. If these villagers attack us, I got your back. I hope it doesn't come to that though." Levint heard Melody speak and looked back at her.

"Thank you. If these villagers attack us, I got your back. I hope it doesn't come to that though."

Looking to the smaller man who he had left Melody with before, he nodded. "They would not dare cross the Church, so I doubt anything will happen. Even so, keep your eyes open." Turning to the Girl behind him, he spoke, "I wont tell you what to do, but you are more than welcome to join me. I will be going to the local church to stay." He stepped off to leave, but a voice stopped him.

"m-mister Knight..."

"Yes child?" he asked, kneeling down trying to get at eye level with her.

Instinctively, Melody took a step back, still getting used to the idea of people being this close.

Yes child?

"um...Me-...Melody's sorry she treated you bad. Melody shouldn't have acted scared around you like that."

Levint nodded and watched the crowd closely. He didn't want any harm coming to the people who defended the girl. The crowd seemed to quiet down but tension was thick in the air. All it would take is on small act to cause a riot. He knew next to nothing about any of them, but he felt he could trust the knight and the girl with a horn.

Looking at melody, he smiled behind his helmet. "I understand, few people approach those of the sword and cloth willingly, let alone happily." he said, patting her shoulder.

"It seems i have a debt to pay..." A voice behind him interrupted.

"Your debt is with God. Not with any of us." He answered seriously.

"Thank you... but demons cant enter a church but hey, your kind of cute" she looked at melody "she's cute too, but in a different way." suddenly she bent down and gave melody a kiss. It wasn't romantic, in any form. "That's for helping me, its a promise for repayment." Then she looked at the knight and kissed him as well. "Same deal goes to you..."

Though it was strange that she would kiss him without waiting for him to at least remove his helmet, Alexis ignored the action for the most part. He had never taken any vows of celibacy as other knights had -his power gave him exception to many rules- He still had no interest in romantic or physical experiences at the moment. "If your intentions are pure, then God accepts all his children." he answered in response to her saying that she could not enter a Church. "But do as you wish."

"see ya around" She added before she ran off into the shadows.

Turning to the group, he continued, "The Church will provide sanctuary, and even if the priests are corrupt, it is still God's house, not theirs."

Devanoc watched the scene play out before him in the street below. It looked as though it would escalate towards a riot. By this point, Devanoc had concocted two plans. One was, if a riot broke out, he could kill the man in the confusion. Of course, there was a risk that someone would kill him first. A second plan, and more favorable to him, was to wait for the crowd to leave if things ended peacefully, pretend to be a demon hunter, and kill the man while discussing terms in private.

When the demon darted into the shadows, Devanoc silently swore under his scarf. The way this had gone, a riot would spring out with the knight be called a heretic and such. In this manner, killing the man without being noticed would be nearly impossible. With the crowd going out of control, Devanoc had to move fast. He had one shot.

Planning his next move as he went, Devanoc teleported behind the crowd, just out of sight. He gently pushed his way in, masquerading as one of them. He quickly, but calmly approached the man, who was now surrounded by the crowd. What Devanoc was about to do was difficult, and something he only learned he could do recently.

Closing his eyes and desperately focusing on the rooftop he had just come from, Devanoc moved like a spring, grabbing the man and releasing his pent up energies, teleported them both back to the rooftop. Opening his eyes, he watched the man in front of him stumble from the teleportation. He was about to open his mouth and scream, when Devanoc kicked his legs so he fell to his knees, then slit the man's throat. Along with the blood pouring out of the man's body, a stream of dark energy poured out of him and into the sword, which pulsated with a dark gleam. Devanoc tossed the body down the other side of the house, so no one would see it.

Devanoc slipped away, further into town, where he removed his scarf and hood while out of sight. He didn't think anyone had seen his little stunt, but if someone did, he hoped the hood and scarf protected his identity. He headed off towards the deserted market, hoping someone would be there to sell him food. Recent kill or no, he still needed supplies.

With the demon leaving into the shadows, the crowd became angrier and angrier. Some villagers started to yell and scream at them for allowing the girl to leave. A few of them drew small weapons like knives and hammers. Demoness or not, she had not done anything wrong to deserve what the villagers had done. He was worried about the other's safety. He knew that the leader of this village would be the one to strike first so he kept a close eye on him. He saw a man in a hood and scarf grab him, but then the crowd shifted and he lost sight of the leader. When the crowd shifted again, they were gone. He didn't understand it, they were only out of sight for a few seconds. Levint scanned the crowd looking for the village leader and he couldn't find him again. He had more pressing issues at the moment though. The crowd was advancing slowly, and they didn't seem to disband. "Hey guys, you should get in the church quickly." Levint said.

Melody watched as the demon girl left. She still had no idea what that word meant and it was embarrassing that she would have to ask. Actually, come to think of it, there were a lot of words that the knight had used which the young monster didn't know.

She turned back to the two men and spoke up. "What's a demon? And who is this 'God' you keep talking about? And who's 'Sanctuary'? I've never heard about those things before." She was going to continue her questions, but what Levint said had finally caught up with her.

Hey guys, you should get in the church quickly. Melody tensed. How could she not have noticed that the crowd was still there. Normally she would have ran to her special tree by this point, snaking through the angry crowd with practiced ease but now she had friends with her. She couldn't abandon them.

Still, she didn't know any attack spells, only weak healing ones so fighting was not something she wanted to do. "Wh-what's a 'church'? Melody's never heard of these things. And why are those people still angry? The demon girl left so shouldn't they leave Melody's friends alone?" Just when she thought she was calm enough to stop speaking in third person...

"That should be the case, but because we stood against them and defended her, we are being blamed and they want someone to be punished." Levint replied. The situation was spiraling out of control, and he didn't want any harm to come to Melody or the knight. He promised to protect Melody and he meant it. "Hey Melody, do you see any way we can run to get away from this crowd?"

Melody focused in on Levint, not knowing how to respond exactly. "Melody...um..." She started looking around. There were several ways she could escape, but there weren't any large enough openings for her much taller comrads. After looking around one last time, she finally came to a decision. "No. But Melody can be a distraction. Melody can get to the food-storage area from here really easily. A lot of villagers will run after her after Melody jumps through the window like she always does." She smiled at her friends, suddenly feeling her fear be replaced with companionship. "There should be some openings after some of them run after me."

Levint didn't want to leave Melody on her own. If any villager caught her, he wouldn't forgive himself. "I don't want you put in harm's way like that Melody." Levint said. He wanted to find a way to end this situation peacefully. He knew that if a riot started, there would be little chance of anyone coming out unscathed. But the crowd stopped advancing and just stood there, seeming like they were waiting for something. Levint didn't know what, maybe and excuse to attack or orders from their leader. The tension hung over them like a fog. Levint braced himself for the worst, moving in front of Melody to protect her if the crowd attacked.

"There will be no need for that, my friend." Alexis said listening to Melody and the other boy. Picking Melody up, he set her on his shoulder. "Just hold on. Nothing will happen to you there." Then walking towards the crowd, he gripped his war hammers tightly. "Stand aside." he spoke firmly to the crowd. They did not move. "I warn you for the last time. Let us pass. NOW!" internally, Alexis was praying. Asking his God to help them. Slowly, one by one, the crowd parted. He walked confidently down the isle of people, ignoring their discontent.

"To answer your question Melody, God is my master. He is the ultimate authority in all matters. He is a being of absolute power. He is the one who tells us right from wrong. He rewards those who follow him, and punishes those who do not. It is not uncommon for people to use his Word wrongfully so they get their own way. That is what happened here. these people think they are doing his Will, but it is anything but. A Church is where you go to worship God. As long as the Priests are true to His Will, we will have sanctuary. Sanctuary means safety. a place where nothing can harm you, physically, mentally, or spiritually. There is nothing special about the building itself, despite what people think. It is what the building represents that matters."