---

---

Tinker Tocker had exploded. He'd heard it from where he was and in the seconds after, saw several people and things go flying through the air. The entered the part of the dreamscape he was in, almost appearing out of thin air as they crossed the 'barrier'. He'd felt the dreamers presences in the area and started towards them.

Zakiriya was steadily making his way through the dreamscape. He wasn't in any particular rush, though. Nothing dangerous had peeked it's head out just yet. He was, though, a little worried about the sudden explosion. Tinker Tocker was probably nothing more then desolation by now. On the bright side, he was happy to have not been caught up in the explosion. One can only be so lucky at times.

Reaching up, he pushed his blue-black locks out of his eyes, brushing them aside to look up and judge the area before him. It was dark already. Strange how time worked in the dreamscape. His lips pulled into a frown. He hated how the dream worked, how things randomly changed and he could never really figure it out.

Climbing up a hill, he felt closer to the dreamers and in the far off distance he could actually see them. They were small dots from where he stood, barely even visible. He heaved a sigh and continued down the other side of the hill. It was always easier going down, or so he thought anyway. He was concentrating on his footing as he came down a particularly steep section, not thinking of anything else.

When he made it to the valley area he was much closer to the group than before, especially since they were heading towards his direction to begin with. That certainly made things much easier. However, he felt something else enter the area. His heart skipped a beat, a sharp breath filling his lungs. Zakiriya looked around sharply, trying to pinpoint the source of his sudden distress. The presence wasn't a nice one, oh no. There was definitely evil intentions mixed in there.

He finally spotted the being. Behind the unwelcome newcomer, three tiny little things that he couldn't make out bounced behind him. Squinting, he tried to figure out what it was that was following the tall figure. He grit his teeth and decided that it really didn't matter. All he knew was that this person was eminating out a really bad aura and the dreamers before him hadn't a clue about it.

Zakiriya had to rush, had to hurry to get there before something bad happened. He started running, his heart in his throat. Even so, he had the terrible feeling that he wouldn't make it in time anyway. There was too much ground to cover between himself and the others. As he watched, a dark mist formed up in front of one of the dreamers. It sunk into the boys body and he watched in horror as the body convulsed violently.

The once humanly shaped form of a dreamer slowly turned into something that resembled a 2-D piece of paper. Zakiriya felt bile at the back of his throat. His eyes widening in shock. He just about froze in his headlong rush to get to them. Terror flooded his whole body and a sense of realizing that he couldn't have done a damned thing made him shudder. What was he supposed to do then?

His gaze shifted to the man who gave him the chills. Something was wrong with this person, why would he just do that to someone?! Zakiriya summoned his first pulse. The enormous weapon materialized in his hand and over his lithe frame the dark blue clothing fit snugly to his body. The cloth flutter as it fell about him and he shifted the weapon, twisting it around into a better position.

He was just about to continue running over, but then he realized something. What exactly was he going to do? It wasn't like he could fight this guy right off the bat. Especially when he'd just witnessed one of the dreamers turned into nothing but a reminant of a dreamer, and so easily too. Zakiriya had to come with a plan... one much better than what he was thinking right at that moment.

The harlequin figure stepping out from the shadows surprised the creature, but then again, so did the baying of the quadrupeds that seemingly appeared out of thin air. Whether this was a ploy for intimidation or something that this newcomer was able to do naturally, she was unsure, but she immediately pulled her head back into the sphere around her. Those beasts would not be able to attack her under the water... and if they did, well, they would be in for a rather nasty surprise.

"Where is she!?" the harlequin figure growled, raising an arm to silence the quadrupeds. An interesting deveopment, considering the creature in the sphere was the only female at this campsite. There had never been any mention of someone that would be looking for her... Was this some sort of test that she would have to face to gain the good graces of her patron, or was this something else entirely? And if she was not indeed the she in question, then who was?

The creature, noticing that the quadrupeds were not coming to attack, slowly pushed her head through the surface of the sphere toward the harlequin. "...I am she... You are she..." she slowly formed the words. "...or perhaps you seek someone else? The siren sings her lullaby on the sharpened rocks that rise above the water... The oracle, she lives at the ocean floor in a palace of coral, but you seem ill-prepared to--"

Zhaleh...

The creature quickly retreated back into her sphere and looked toward the yellow-haired figure sitting on the log. Behind him, though... it was that dark figure! The same one that had showed her the light and infinite wisdom of the Depths! Was he here to convert this one, or...?

This creature would make a suitable sacrifice...

Underneath the water, the creature began to speak, but it seemed that no one would be able to understand a word or syllable she spoke. Not only was the language one that no land-walker would be able to understand or speak, but the water seemed to muffle and contort the words further. To the others around the camp, it seemed as if she was talking to thin air, but to her, she knew. She and she alone knew what was happening...

Another figure pushed through to the campsite as the creature extended a column of water out and completely engulfed the yellow-haired creature. Without another thought, she immediately swam over toward the drowning man and opened her mouth wide, displaying multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth before savagely biting into the man's shoulder and tearing away flesh and muscle. She chewed quickly, for she noticed that there was something happening to this creature--he was losing his depth, looking more and more like a flat piece of seaweed every second.

The water around the two of them was turning blood-red. She could taste the iron inside the column. If this creature was not dead before, then he most definitely was now. The aqueous creature, hoping to satiate the appetite of the smokey man watching this spectacle, took a second bite, this time from his side. She managed to tear away a larger portion of flesh with this bite, but after this point her victim had lost too much of his depth. It would make no more sense for her to attempt further consumption, so she swam back to the larger sphere she had left behind, leaving a bloody mess in her wake. The column holding the corpse suddenly dissipated, letting the body uncerimoniously hit the ground and contorting the limbs unnaturally.

You have done well, Zhaleh... Continue your work... Follow these creatures for more suitable sacrifices...

With that final message, the darkened creature faded from view. The creature in the sphere chewed the last of the flesh in her mouth before swallowing and speaking once more underneath the water. When she finally finished, she calmly turned back toward the harlequin and stuck her head out of the sphere once more.

"...You are ill-prepared to meet the oracle, as she does not come up for air..." She turned her head to look over at the newcomer. "...but is this landwalker prepared, I wonder...?"

---

Khalimandaria’s soft lips formed a broad, warm smile and spread across the visible part of her face, hoping to assure the young girl that it was not seeking to harm her in any way, but even though it was glad to have come upon such a friendly sight, something did not feel right. This was definitely not the presence it could feel earlier, the one which had been watching it for so long and it had sought out in return, just to stumble upon this frail child with the strange, clattering bones from which she seemed to speak. The angelic being had crouched down when the girl turned her head downwards, hoping not to dwarf her with its much larger size, something that seemed to be proving rather intimidating to the poor girl, and hoped that she was not frightened by its presence. It tilted its head to the right slightly at the sound of the girl’s soft, wispy voice and the accompanying clatter of bones.

“Erixianti, a pretty name for a pretty girl, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” The girl seemed so anxious and frightened, maybe she was unaccustomed to one such as Khalimandaria, or merely disliked the company of strangers, but when she spoke of searching for her protector it seemed to make much more sense to it. A slight frown formed across its face as it pondered this occurrence, and when it spoke next there was just the slightest hint of a contemptuous snarl in her voice, “Searching for your protector? A protector who loses track of their charge might not be worthy of such a title little one. Do not worry though Erixianti, I could always accompany you until we come across this so called protector. May I ask to where you travel young one?”

Once again there was that soft, wispy voice and clatter of bones as Erixianti spoke through a strange skull, only one piece from an assortment of bones of all shapes and sizes, a rather curious preference of accessories for such a small, timid child, but there were stranger sights to be seen in this world. The voice was much clearer and firm this time, something that relieved Khalimandaria quite a bit, enough so to bring another soft smile to her lips again, especially upon hearing the child’s request. The thought that there was someone else located somewhere within the desolate, lonesome city where Khalimandaria felt that piercing gaze staring down upon it was almost too much for it to believe, and immediately a protective and curious instinct kicked-in.

Khalimandaria nodded curtly as the girl’s voice quieted down, the skull seeming to quiver and quake with urgency, and she lost the girl’s gaze once again. A delicate hand reached out towards the young Erixianti, stopping just shy of lightly grasping her thin shoulder, not wanting to frighten the girl any more than she seemed to be at the moment, and the angelic being stood back up, stretching its wings just slightly as it set its gaze upon the city. “We should hurry Erixianti, there is a dangerous aura about that city, and a young one such as yourself should not wander in there alone. Come now; let us retrieve this ‘someone’.” Khalimandaria set a quick pace back to the city from which it had wandered, in search of someone or something which it had not found just yet. Maybe they were this “someone” Erixianti wish to retrieve, or even her so-called “protector”?

---

Once again time passed by in an indistinguishable manner, as they crossed over the threshold into the city itself and began wandering the ruins aimlessly in search of this other stranger, with Erixianti still seeming so anxious and in a hurry to find the person for whom they sought. Khalimandaria decided to stop in what appeared to have been a fountain-area at one point in time, now toppled-over and reclaimed by some form of vegetation unknown to the angelic one. It turned around to face the young girl, as it tried to stay somewhat in-front of her should anything jump out to surprise them as they traversed the ruins. “Let us stop for a time Erixianti, the one for whom we seek might just wander by this way whilst we rest, and if not we can at least reconsider how we are searching. Now, tell me, what does this person look like? Are they male, female, or something else?”

He watched as the girl approached, her body surrounded by a bubble of water, almost as if it infused her with its form. At this closer sight he began to feel a little off balance, mainly due to water being an oddity to him, vague flashes of cloying darkness and suffocating blackness sparked inside his head at the half dreamt memories slowly trying to make themselves known again. Forcing them down he returned to the present, feeling a light touch against his armour he almost started when he realised it was this new arrival.

"I’d not let your fingers linger long lass. Me and water don’t ‘react’ well together."

He chuckled softly as the water from her hand-print trickled slightly and began to fizz as his armour became coated in spiraling lines of purple sparks. Lightning raking his outer flesh and would most likely have done so to hers had she rested too much longer. She appeared to be judging them both from what he could tell but for what purpose he could not say, though it would hardly be fair to say that she was the only one judging. He too was trying to decide what to make of her given the somewhat dangerous nature of this place and those around. It never paid too much to be wary of strangers here.

She sat at the edge of the firelight, after asking half to herself and half to them if she should sit there. Each to their own, and strangeness was neither uncommon nor surprising to Martellus. And she seemed to be getting comfortable as her bubble slowly reformed, till at last her head slowly emerged again to speak to them from what he could tell. He watched her for a few moments as the three of them sat in silence; the only sound to be heard was the crackle of the fire and the different tones of their breathing. It seemed, given her posture and positioning from the fire that its warmth and light may be somewhat detrimental to the woman, especially since she seemed to extrude an aura of cold and darkness. But he had to concede that may be his prior dislike of the black seas of this land from previous travels, and the pain he’d felt there.

He looked around them, something suddenly odd about their surroundings. It was as if they were surrounded by a void yet it didn’t look as if they were. But the cloying tightness of being in a trap was gnawing at his thoughts, as several sleek demonic looking hounds burst into existence from almost nothingness. It was then he could make out the vague impression of a dark overlay to the world beyond the fire.

So a trap then… What a great way to start a day. Crash landing halfway up a mountain and being caught in a noose with two strangers at the dripping jaws of hunting beasts. What next?

His internal debate was halted as a female figure detached itself from the darkness and stepped into the firelight. Her posture was all hate, and rage, and menace. But somehow familiar…

"Where is she?"

The voice was dripping venom and anger and the threat stated by it and the creatures circling them was clear enough. Yet despite that the familiarity seemed to jog something in his memory, has did her question. Vague yet still clear enough. The aquatic woman spoke to her in an oddly childish tone, almost goading her with her questioning, though abruptly stopped and withdrew in silence. Odd but it allowed him to respond to the question as well.

"You’re seeking that girl, aren’t you? The one who fell from the building?"

He looked around at the strewn rubble and crumbling architecture that had smashed across the mountain, several storeys of the buildings were phased through the rock itself lending a strange effect to the skyline view of this place.

"From this building?"

He jestured towards the brickwork behind the girl in her bubble, the rubble that he’d clawed his way out of earlier. Alone and without any of those he’d tried to save or the one who had helped him.

" You were with her, you both fell… I tried to stop you and my friend tried to catch you. Then nothingness and here was where I rested."

His rough, gravelly voice was attempting to be sympathetic due to the Jesters concern for her friend, a princess he believed she’d been called, but if she made any move to threaten him more, then events would sour quickly and not to his liking. Before either could truly react to events there was a odd sound coming from the direction of the girl in her bubble and the blonde haired boy. She had retreated completely into the bubble and appeared to be speaking to herself, rapidly and unintelligibly. Suddenly from the darkness a thing of water appeared and engulfed the boy with the floppy blonde hair, drowning and suffocating him as this sea maiden merged with the overflow, biting and tearing at his flesh as another creature did the same. Blood suffused her bubble, coating it with sickly liquid as her lips were stained below the surface of the orb.

At last she broke away, the remains of the body and the other creature vanishing into the night. Her eyes turned towards the dark Jester as she whispered to the night’s air, her head resurfaced.

"...but is this landwalker prepared, I wonder...?"

Martellus had tilted his head to one side, shock and slightly disgust plastering his hidden features as his hands tightened in rage at the meaningless slaughter of his friend. Well they had only just met, but he had felt no ill will from the boy. From his hands slowly grew the long shaft of a war maul, curved and deadly.

"What is the meaning of this?! What have you done?"

His voice echoed as he bellowed his rage at the sudden absence of life from their gathering, his armour growing razor-sharp spikes and chains dangling from his form as his emotions shaped it. Lightning was given new life as it overflowed across his body, melting the ground around his feet slightly as it sparked.

"You were a guest at my fire, and this is what you bring to my table? Murder and secrets? Darkness and death?"

---

Eludrest City

He was trying to get out of the strange city. Having seen his other half, it had unnerved him completely. What was worse was the look of evil intent in the being's eyes. Kiyu felt his heart race, a strange feeling at the back of his mind pressing forward. He fought to keep it down. The feeling was a strange one and it was scary as well. A kind of darkness that he didn't want to let invade his mind and body.

Kiyu moved swiftly, coming down a set of old stair in the short hill that went passed several broken down stone homes. The 'people' there seemed to turn their cold eyes upon him, causing him to fear even more and move faster. Always at the back of his neck, the feeling that someone was staring holes through his skin was present. He could almost feel his mirror image following him, if that were even possible. Kiyu continued to tell himself that it wasn't possible and that these people didn't mind his presence at all.

As he came down from the steps and the street leveled off he began to recognize where he'd come in at. The open courtyard was familiar with the fallen stones, the fountain at its center and the lack of the paper-like people. He felt a sigh of relief fill his chest as he slowed his advance. With his heart settling down, and his thoughts coming into a point of rest from their haywire earlier, he didn't notice the two sitting at the fountain.

Even so, he was a ways away from them, still on the edges of the main part of the city that was nothing but rubble. A sudden chill ran through his spine and he turned to look behind him. Golden eyes widening, he took a step backwards as he turned to face them. So, the people had followed him and they looked... upset. He wasn't sure really. Even so, they came at him with every intent to attack and Kiyu swiped his hand out in front of him, a shout of fear escaping him.

As his hand swiped out, a rush of black crystallized spikes erupted between him and those that wished him harm. He pulled away from them slowly, the crystal wall wasn't nearly high enough to keep them away for long and it wasn't all that thick either. He'd done it in a hurry with little to no thought at all. Kiyu's heart raced in his chest as he backed away, watching them carefully and preparing to raise another wall if he needed to.

---

---

Zakiriya edged closer to the growing tension. He'd not made it in time to save the boy, nor had he made it nearly close enough to do anything about the sudden attack of the girl in a sphere. She'd turned immediately and proceeded to... feast on the unfortunate companion. His heart twisted, wrenching as he watched her. It almost made him sick, but he kept control of his stomach.

His weapon, however, he did not put away and he kept a close eye on the man who had killed the boy in the first place. The others, though didn't seem to notice that their companion was indeed killed by something much worse. He wouldn't say anything though, they were not lucid dreamers and even if he did tell them... how were they supposed to believe him? Zakiriya swallowed dryly as he approached the group. His hand tightened around the shaft of his scythe.

"What is the meaning of this?! What have you done? You were a guest at my fire, and this is what you bring to my table? Murder and secrets? Darkness and death?"

The boy who spoke in enraged tones also materialized a weapon he too took an interesting look. Stopping just short of them all, Zakiriya shifted so that he was nearest to the boy who asked the question. The large blade of the scythe scrapped the ground as he moved ever so slightly into the better position. His gaze fell upon the woman who'd eaten their friend and he once again felt a wave of nausea ensue.

Zakiriya wouldn't say anything until the woman answered the given question. He would decide then if she was an enemy or not, even though everything about her screamed evil. He watched wearily, ready for a fight, but not really wanting one, not so early in the game...