LHC Official Unofficial CF Archival Thing

[Sariel of Tevet]

-Stormfront, the Land of Blades-

“How could he do that?”

“What an outrage!”

Haley wanted to keep walking past the commotion, intending to draw as little attention to herself as she could, which wasn’t easy when she could pass as a real-life mummy. Not a few children had called her than recently. She wanted to keep walking, but her tagalong one the other hand…

“What’s going on over there?” Dorian pressed his face against the watch face, peering out as best he could from within his empty mirror-world.

“Nothing,” she said quickly.

“Seems like something.”

“It isn’t our business.”

“But I want to seeeeeeee…”

Haley groaned but slowed her stride and focused on the loudest voice among the crowd.

“…say again: By order of His Imperial Majesty, the Blade Emperor, all street fighting is abolished, effective immediately and lasting for all time!”

“He didn’t say that!” someone challenged.

Haley heard the unmistakable clank of steel armor and instinctively turned towards it. The crier looked to be from Swordrent, the capital of the Land of Blades, seat of the Blade Emperor. His guard stiffened and moved in around him as the crowd grew more and more irate.

“He promised us!” another shouted, swinging a fist. “He wouldn’t take away our fights!”

“It’s our culture!”

“He said he’s one of us!”

The Imperial announcer sneered. “The Blade Emperor is most certainly not one of you!” He practically spat the word ‘you’. “He is closer to a god than a mere peasant! And you will not stand there and openly defy his word!”

“You ain’t the Emperor!” A woman shouted. A frying pan, still sizzling with bacon was flung from the crowd. It sailed over the crier’s head but it made the soldiers draw lower their spears.

Haley snorted. “Told you we should keep moving.”

“Shouldn’t we do something?” Dorian glanced up and her bandaged face.

“What, fight soldiers?”

“Well…”

“Absolutely not. I’m in enough trouble. I don’t need Imperials chasing me.”

She could no longer hear the crier over the roar of the angry crowd, which had swelled to almost double the size it had been. Haley began trying to shove her way out, wishing to be as far away from the mob when…it all stopped. It seemed as if even the wind and the animals quieted for a single figure as he strolled through the rapidly parting crowd. Haley knew who it was before he even stepped up onto the podium: Jaramen Opheia, the Crosswind, one of the twelve Blade Lords.

“Of course,” she muttered to Dorian. “We’re in Stormfront. This is his city.”

Lord Jaramen surveyed the crowd, arms behind his back. His hair was long and pitch black and covered the right half of his face. It went well with the black armor he wore. “My fellow countrymen, I understand.” His voice seemed to whistle like a cool summer breeze. Soothing. Haley didn’t like it. “This…news comes as a shock to me as well, but…” his one visible eye settled on Haley “we must respect the words of our Emperor, yes? I am sure he did not make this decision without due thought. He did not claim that throne by making stupid decisions, no?” It was as much an observation as a dare: Challenge me, peasants, give me a reason to demonstrate why the call me the Crosswind.

“Go home. Go about your day. Give this some time to settle. We shall discuss it again when we have clearer heads.” Almost before even finishing his speech, he stepped down and disappeared into the crowd, which slowly began to disperse, much to the surprise of a bewildered imperial crier.

“Haley,” Dorian whispered. “Did he look right at us?”

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t I like the way he did that?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t like it either.” She started moving, too. “But more importantly. Suddenly outlawing street fighting isn’t going to be taken peacefully, no matter how creepily soothing Jaramen Opheia is.”

“Why not?”

“It’s in these folks’ blood, Dorian. These people live to fight.” Sure enough, not two blocks down, two guys were already fistfighting while a crowd of onlookers cheered. “See?”

-Shortly thereafter -

Jaramen Opheia sat down at his desk harder than he wanted to, but he was in a hurry – and tired of pretending like he wasn’t. He brushed some papers off until he found a little black rectangle with a single button at the bottom. He pressed it and waited for the device to whirr to life.

“Yes?”

“I think I found her.”

“Who did you find?”

“Windborne Haley.”

“…Keep her in the city.”

-Back with Haley-

“You!”

Haley spun around, hands already resting on her holsters. “What?”

Four soldiers confronted her; two with spears and two with swords. One with a spear said, “Come with us.”

“Absolutely not.” Both revolvers were out. She two shots from the hip, one from each gun before leaping over the men. She had missed (firing from the hip was a stupid idea even if it did look pretty sweet) but hadn’t really been aiming to kill.

“We didn’t even do anything!” Dorian shouted back at the soldiers chasing them, who were somehow accumulating more.

“This time,” Haley corrected.

“Right.” Dorian sighed and held on for the ride. It wasn’t the first time they’d been chased through a city by soldiers, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.

[Sariel of Tevet]

Standing atop a rooftop, hidden by the shadows as he leaned against a chimney, Reaper looked at the crier for only a brief moment to listen to the message. He considered it only for a moment, and no longer before turning to leave. It mattered little to him, he wasn’t a fighter, he was a killer. Dropping down from the rooftops behind an alleyway, he couldn’t help but notice a few wanted posters. Narrowing his eyes on one, he couldn’t resist the impulse to rip it from the wall and shred it to pieces. He paused when he faintly heard a familer voice, and made his way back from the alley to peer at the podieum once more, only to raise an eyebrow. Crosswind.

Seeing him, he decided to duck back into the alleyway. He’d never personally met the man, but he wanted no chance he’d see him. With that being said, he turned and made his way down the opposite end of the alleyway.

Some time later, he found himself leaning against a wall eating an apple he’d stolen from a fruit stand. “This place is just another dead end.” He muttered to himself, frustrated he was no closer to his goal then when he’d began this journey. He went to take another bite of the apple, only to groan as it had withered and rotted in his hand from his irritation, “Cursed hand,” he spat before tossing the apple onto the ground. Though the very moment it splattered, he heard two shots in quick succession, and for the very briefest of seconds, he looked at the apples remains as though it were the cause.

Shaking his head from the absurd notion, he turned to the sounds of screams and rose an eyebrow, an expression that was lost from beneath the magical shadow of his hood. He debaited about looking, but since he was certain the man he was looking for was not here, he didn’t believe he’d loose anything with a simple observation.

Turning, he started to scale up the side of the building he was leaning against, his hands finding holds were few could until he reached the top and followed the sounds until he found the source. Someone, a woman by the looks of it though the wrappings around her could be misleading, was running from the local guards. Seeing the revolvers, he knew who had fired the shots at least, though he was alittle less then certain as to why.

“Break the law did we?” He mused to himself, crossing his arms as he observed. After a moment, he smiled, before letting out a soft whistle like that of a songbird, and nodding to the alleyway below him. He figured if she was observant enough to catch it, he might be willing to help. He knew it was a foolish thing to do for a random criminal, but he couldn’t help but think of the many times he’d been chased by a city guard, and what an annoyance the scene could be.

[Sariel of Tevet]

"Here she is, sir. A well crafted blade for a swordsman of your stature." Said a bulky man bearing quite the beard on his face. Handing Blake his sword, who smiled at the man, tossing the man his pay in a full purse of money.

"But this too much, sir. I only fixed your sword."

"You're right. But I've had that sword for a verrrry long time." Blake finally spoke. "It holds a place in my heart, so why not show my true gratitude?"

He smiled at the blacksmith's work as he walked out, running two fingers down the clear blade. It was a perfect fix. From only two halves of a sword to a complete work of art. "Fighting Nuvilos with a broken sword? How could that work?" He muttered to himself, slightly worried about if his sword could not be fixed at all. He would hate to go through the trouble of bonding with another weapon. Paying the thought no further mind, Blake slowly sheathed his sword. The moment the sheath engulfed the blade, shots were fired with quick succession. What was with all the commotion for? Did something happen?

It wasn't every day something out of the ordinary happens in town... And with his sword fixed... He could go for a fight. He made a curious smile as he placed his hand on the ground, his form vanishing from all sight. Following after the sounds, his eyes shot wide as he neared the source. Someone whose face, rather his or her body covered in many wrappings. A living mummy, one might say. On this person's tail, the local guards. A glance at the revolvers in hand, Blake could tell who was doing the shooting. But why was a good question. Was this person a fugitive of the law? Likely being arrested for some time the person likely didn't commit at all.

"If it were a monster, I could jump in and fight it. But this is more complicated... And that won't stop me from helping him or her out." Blake muttered to himself, watching everything from near a couple of barrels. After a moment, as the chase was nearing his location... He kicked the barrels the moment the figure has passed by him, leaving the barrels to the soldiers. At the same time, a songbird's whistle sounded off. Likely it was meant for the fugitive, but as he had already interfered... Looking up to see another robed figure, faintly glimpsing him nod to the alleyway beneath him. He knew he doing something foolish... But he knew all too what an ungainly effort some of these soldiers put into chasing after innocents for no reason at all.

[Sariel of Tevet]

BANG! BANG!

The sound of gunfire broke Vidaar away from his daydreaming, causing him to rise and find the source. He jogged to the side of the street to look, and he found something akin to a living mummy holding pistols.

Silas's ears lowered flat to his head and his hackles rose, a deep growl emitting from his throat.

"Easy there, Silas," whispered Vidaar. "Heel."

Silas backed behind him, still poised to attack, but no longer growling. Ducking back into an alleyway, Vidaar drew his bow and prepped an arrow to create a tripwire trap. He then noticed the mummy-thing was being chased by city guards. It looked frightened, but not in the way one would be scared of the guards had you actually done something wrong. This creature had to be innocent. That makes sense...

All of a sudden, barrels came careening from the side of the street, tripping up the guards a bit, and Vidaar used the distraction to set his trap. He waited for the mummy-thing to pass by, and in less than a couple of seconds afterward, he had selected his target (a barrel in the alley across the street), drew, aimed, and fired his shot. The arrow hit its mark, and he began to draw the line for the trap taught. This ought to teach the guards a lesson about chasing people that have done nothing wrong.

-----

Walking along the street as he normally would, Mhenlo enjoyed the beautiful sun and sky above the city...or what he could. For some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. The people seemed more on edge than usual, fewer fights were occurring, and the guards were really jumpy. This can't be good, he thought.

Suddenly, he heard two gunshots, and he honed in on what caused the sound: a mummy-like creature wielding two pistols running from guards. Either the creature caused trouble, or the guards are harassing yet another person, he thought to himself. I'm inclined to believe the latter.

He picked up his pace but did not run, hands clasped behind his back. The series of events that followed did not surprise him, especially with the citizens not being very fond of the guard and their ruler.

A group of barrels went flying into the street behind the mummy-thing, slowing the guards a bit. A ranger and his wolf fell back into an alley and created a tripwire trap to slow the guards even further. The mummy-thing kept running, and as soon as it came within earshot of Mhenlo, he asked, "do you need any assistance?" He brought his hands from behind his back and fell into a loose defensive stance, ready to hinder the guards even more, but prepared to go on the offensive to stop them completely.

[Sariel of Tevet]

Alias clawed through the land of flowers, quiet literally. Despite the name, it was not as pleasant as you would have thought. If you were not careful there was plenty things in there that could cause serious injury. Even some plants themselves tried to eat Alias, one even succeeded in completely engulfing his whole arm before it had decided he had not tasted very good. There was still a armor like scale missing from his shoulder where it had grabbed on too tight.

Getting ready to spit out the head of a flesh eating flower, Alias gave it a good crunch for good measure, teeth slicing it clean in half. Then he dropped the thing from its razor like mouth mouth, not enjoying the taste of vegetation in the slightest. Alias was now in the land of blades, well. Bordering it anyway, the lizard creature wished it could have ate something before leaving the other land but it was not very friendly to wildlife. Probably due to the excessive amount of man eating plants in the region of the land he traveled in. In fact, there was probably some really nice places there, yet he did not want to bother looking for it.

The sun beat down on his back, warming him up and causing his jaws to stretch in what passed as a yawn for him. Two sharp and loud noises then erupted at the horizon, forcing his jaws to close and his eyes to dilate in a startled manner. It was a good distance away, not close to the bordering land of flowers, and not on his way. Crouching low, he used his two strong arms as an extra pair of legs, speeding forward at such a tremendous bolt dust rained behind him. If whatever incident was happening on his way to his destination he would check it out, until then his path would be going to his own destination... for if the land of flowers was terrible, maybe the most horrible sounding place would be the nicest, The Land Of Storms.

[Sariel of Tevet]

It wasn't often that Ephantus walked among the "lesser beings". For one, he held a general distaste for their random, chaotic existences, and two...his warform generally attracted a great deal of negative attention. There were ways around that, of course, such as what he was doing now. Servitors were simple tools, little more than walking corpses implanted with his will, but they served their purpose as his eyes and ears.

Today, he was simply observing. Listening for rumors about Dosadi. So far he had heard nothing. No reports of the city going silent or of any refugees telling wild tales. Good. His activities remained undiscovered. That was a stroke of luck considering what a disaster Project Midnight had turned out to be.

The body he was using (some poor sap who wandered too close to Dosadi some time back), stumbled into a passing citizen.

"Watch it, pal."

Ephantus didn't acknowledge him, the servitor continuing its almost stumbling walk down the street.

...Perhaps he needed a little more practice with controling these minions. THe weird looks people were shooting him suggested "yes".

Suddenly there were gunshots. Intrigued, Ephantus turned to look back down the street, and barely managed to move out of the way in time to avoid a fleeing person. He did not, however, manage to avoid the barrels that followed, and was sent (rather comically, in hindsight) tumbling towards a bald monk-looking fellow. He crashed.

[Sariel of Tevet]

Desiderio had a series of wires laid out in front of him, his webbed fingers expertly tying them together in a specific way. He was focused on his work but his yellow eyes were on the crowd before him in what seemed like the main part of the town. He could pick out soldiers walking amongst the rest, waiting for any opportunity to take someone captive. When the announcement was made that fighting was to be stopped, Desiderio simply smirked and lowered his gaze. This is not going over well with them. The thought crossed his mind as shouts and objects were sent in the crier direction. It didn't matter to him if fighting was done seeing as how the gillman never actually fought unless in self-defense.

When the crowd had settled down and had started to wander off, two sharp bangs met his ears. Turning his head slightly, Desiderio took in the sight of a group of soldiers running after a...girl? Shaking his head, he looked again and noticed the bandages wrapped around the figure. He watched as a series of events took place as the group ran. He calmly collected his wires, wrapping them around his wrist and waited to see how this played out and if he needed to get ready for a fight that had recently been outlawed or not. He could feel the fin on his back rise slightly at the thought but he forced it down, not wanting to draw attention to himself.

[Sariel of Tevet]

"Good news and bad news," Dorian chirped.

"Not now," Haley growled, spinning in place and slamming her shin into the lead guard. The force carried up off his feet and back into the three others directly behind him. Only then did she see the rest of her pursuers tripping inexplicably over a heard of rampaging barrels.

"We've been noticed."

"Is that the good news or the bad news?"

"That depends. How low of a profile were we trying to keep?"

Haley groaned, but resumed running. "How many are watching?"

"Er. Find a place to hide while I look."

Haley ducked down a side street and crouched behind a mound of garbage while Dorian disappeared into the mirrorverse. She didn't like sitting still like that, but if she kept moving, Dorian would have a hard time finding her again. According to him, the other side was a lot of empty space; only what was reflected existed in his world. And if they moved...

The wait seemed to take hours, but it was probably only a minute. Still, she had enough time to think about unraveling her bandages. She could always find more clothing elsewhere. But Dorian returned before that line of thinking went anywhere.

"Five are definitely paying attention: looks like a thief, a swordsman, an elf, a bald guy, and some fishman."

What is this, an RPG? "And?"

He shrugged. "I'm just recon. You're the brains."

And the brawn.

"Also, the guards are going after that elf guy."

"What, why?"

"I think he did the thing with the barrels."

"Stupid. He should have stayed out of it." Even as she said it, she got to her feet. "Hold on to the watch, kid." She opened the chambers on her revolver, like she was going to empty spent casings. But her guns didn't work like that and instead, displayed a tiny display with blinking buttons. They were two halves of one device, a pair of weapons designed to be used together. Designed for her. She pressed a few buttons and clicked the chambers back into place. The guns hummed gently, indicating a connection to new ammunition being established.

"You're going back out there?"

"What can I say? He won't be the first stupid kid I've saved."

With her left-hand revolver, she fired a bright green flare in a high arc, drawing the attention of the guards running for Vidaar. Into the companion revolver, Haley had loaded smokescreen pellets. Not her first choice in firefights, but useful. She fired six successive shots, establishing a wide wall of thick, black smoke into which she charged, knocking guards out of the way until she reached Vidaar.

She scooped him up with her left arm, slung him over her shoulder, and continued running, firing more smoke bullets back over her shoulder.

"Did I mention he has some kind of animal?" Dorian shouted suddenly.

"No!"

"Oh. Well..." Haley didn't bother looking back, hoping that the elf's animal companion wouldn't maul her before they reached safety.

[Sariel of Tevet]

Staying atop the roofs as he watched the scene below, Reaper let a finger run along the hilt of his sword before simply shaking his head. This was drawing far to much attention as it was, and he had no interest in getting dragged into such a mess. Turning to leap across the rooftops and away, he paused as he saw another contingent of guards coming, or two in truth. Three men rushing in from both sides of the street to block in the alley.

He also didn’t miss the alarm they were shouting, and had no doubts more reinforcements would be on their way. Tapping the pommel of one of his swords he shook his head, before reaching up to remove the clasp of his cloak, and removed it from around his shoulders, throwing it into the air. Though the moment he did, he vanished all together as his cloak was caught by the wind and began shifting and swaying.

When the cloak floated down, the guards coming in from the left of the alley paused for a brief moment. Though their surprise was rather great, as the moment the cloak hit the ground, Reaper sprang forth with it back around his shoulders. He didn’t bother drawing his swords, rather slamming his palm into the face closest man with a spear, before grabbing hold of the shaft while he fell to the ground, spinning around and smashing the wood over the second, watching him drop in a heep as well. Looking up, his piercing blue eyes visable from under his enchanted cloak, bore into the final solider. “Boo,” was all he did to send the third guard running back, howling for reinforcements at the top of his lungs.

Spinning the other half of the spear in his hand, he shifted it before throwing it at the guard, and hitting him square in the back of the head. He was still conscious, though hit the ground all the same.

“Hey,” He shouted heading to the opening to the alleyway as he leaned against the corner. “I suggest you get moving. You’ve got another round of guards coming from that side, and likely wont be long before you have the entire city guard coming.” He warned, before quickly scaling up the building once more, having no interest to be here when the rest of the guards arrived. It only took him a second to reach the rooftops once more.

[Sariel of Tevet]

"Clearly, those barrels weren't enough to slow those bastards down after all. Good thought, but those guards might not have that many screws... Unlike most." Blake muttered, chuckling at his failed attempt to help. "However, I can't sit on my laurels now! I need to get out of here without drawing more attention than need be."

With a few more moments on his spell of concealment and this wall of smoke in play, this might have been Blake's chance of sweet escape. He gave chase to the brave gunslinger, watching her lug someone over her shoulder, continuing to fire more smokescreen bullets. As he neared the woman, the concealing power began to fade...

"Hate to draw more attention... But!" Stopping in his track, he turned around to the knights still chasing after the hooded figure. With one hand on the ground... "O earth beneath, dance to my song!" With his incantation, a large boulder arose from the ground, aim for a perfect strike against the knights. Blake jumped back into the smoke, following after the hooded figure, his concealment finally wearing off. "It was good while it lasted."

[Sariel of Tevet]

Mhenlo noticed the mummy-thing moving towards an alleyway in his peripheral vision, so, assuming it was going to hide, he dropped lower into his stance. However, he heard something coming behind him, but it wasn't on the ground. He turned his head to find someone flying through the air at him that had been tripped up by some barrels that had appeared behind him. Mhenlo jumped through the air, flipping over the oncoming person, and landing safely back on the ground, which caused the flying person to crash directly into the oncoming guards.

"Well," he said to himself, "that was easier than expected." He turned and followed the mummy-thing to the alley, only to almost run into it. "Whoops! Pardon me!" he said as he changed direction and followed. He noticed that it was carrying what appeared to be a half-elf over its shoulder.

"I take it you decided to get mixed up in this, too, no?"

----------

Vidaar sighed as only one guard actually tripped on the trap he had tried to use to delay them further. He saw the mummy-thing running straight for the alley in which he was hidden.

"Don't bring them--" he began, but was stopped short as guards had already spotted him. He was about to get up to run, but the mummy-thing had already made it to him and proceeded to sling him over its shoulder. "The hell?!" On the way back out of the alley, it almost ran into a rather handsome monk. Gods, I've got to stop doing that...checking guys out while I'm in a predicament...

"Whoops! Pardon me!" the monk exclaimed as he almost collided with with the mummy-thing. He then began running behind the two, and he made eye contact with Vidaar.

"I take it you decided to get mixed up in this, too, no?" asked the monk.

Such dreamy eyes! thought Vidaar. STOP! Stop it! Answer his question. "Yeah, it seems so," he answered aloud. He then turned his attention to mummy-thing. "You didn't happen to grab my wolf, did you?"

AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

"That'd be a no..." Vidaar turned his head to look behind them (in front of him, really) and found Silas bounding after them all, hackles raised, fangs bared, ready to tear someone's throat out. Silas managed to get close and was snipping at the mummy-thing's heels, grabbing a loose bandage in an attempt to trip it and save his "master".

[Sariel of Tevet]

The Water Elemental

Days and days after she left her home. The Water Elemental would usually be happy with how her journey around the mainlands were going. Except for these moments when terror and pain struck in her path. People and creatures dying for petty arguments on such occasions. This time in her path, a women with revolvers would turn then pull out weaponry that she had not discovered yet. She fires a pair of shots, then makes a run for it. Men chasing her for whatever she had done. Chaos erupts from the rest of the people around her. Some appearing to want to help her. Though she did not have any recollection on why they would want to. This was different from the other needless events that she had seen before. Creatures working together in hopes to escape there foe that they themselves had cause to be there enemy. All to help a women out of what reason, Curiosity? payment? how about the rush of chaos?

These were the questions that led her to follow and observe, The Water Elemental hidden in plane sight as a stream of water along the crooks of a house close to the ground. She was somewhat behind them, observing in her own curious way. If this was an ordinary group of bad people, she would have helped the good guard people out by attacking them. Though each individual being here interested her, the fish man and girl the most, if it was a girl of course. The wrapped up girl because she started this all in The Elemental's own opinion and the fish man because if his connection to the water. Though the fish man was not necessarily with them. Maybe she would catch up with him later?
-=-=-=-
Alias

Alias underestimated his speed, his bulkiness making him confused about his speed, Alias had unintentionally run and tripped over multiple hard grey things in the ground, and on top of the ground. Some bigger then others, and some incredibly small. He could sense he was getting closer to a tense area. Though it was only when he banked over the next rise he felt things knocking into his side, sharp things that ripped off his scales, yet had not managed to penetrate the abnormally sharp hide. Alias glanced over to his right as there was a loud noise.

"Get the marksman up here! I see a opening on it's shoulder!"

Rapid movements cause him to panic, and he began to lose balance. Catching himself just in time, The Lizard Man tried to gain speed again. Quickly tripping over a long flying stick with a pointy colored end.

"The creatures downed! go for it marksman, use the poison!"

As soon as this was said a much smaller version of the sharp stick thudded into his right shoulder directly in the center of where the missing scale was, and Alias found he could not move his right arm. Shapes moved from beyond the hill to his flank, so he stood to his back legs, glaring at them from sharp eyes.

The men were close to them, and he recognized there garb. It was the humans that called themselves the Purifiers, and Alias was not pleased with this. As he advanced on them, one or two of the six men uneasily faltered back a step.

"I thought deadbolt back there used the poison!?" One of the skinnier ones whispered.

"I did, or he would have run by now. He cannot escape." The largest of the band growled, his face covered in a mask of leather.

Someone to his right nervously glanced over "Are you sure that is a good'ting Marksman, or is it a bad'ting?"

With that Alias opened his jaws, and screamed at them with a loud and horrifying noise.

Then he advanced.

[Sariel of Tevet]

Desiderio watched the scene play out, keeping an eye on the guards in case some came his way. He could see a few other people watching at this point, most were probably watching for their own amusement which seemed to be the norm in this place. The gillman was reminded of his home where battles were fought often, usually with death being the final result. He could remember battles that had gone on for days when neither side was willing to give in. When his thoughts returned to the present, he noticed that a few people were starting to file out of the main area probably expecting to be arrested for encouraging this behavior. Desiderio took this to his advantage and wound his way between a few citizens, over hearing snippets of their conversations as he found his way to a small stream of water, his webbed feet felt the cool water and he immediately longed for a pond to at least wet his gills. His back fin rose slightly as he felt the presence of something or someone nearby, his eyes focused on the crowd around him, taking in anything of interest.

[Sariel of Tevet]

There was a rather large commotion going down upon the area where she was flying above, humans were shooting at a rather large lizard man, violet eyes narrowed as she saw the wound upon the man's arm and watched as the human's advanced. Sylvea had been long since living out of the human's world to know what these humans were exactly, and what they did, but she didn't like to see anything struggle for survival...After all the beast did look out of place in a field of flowers, regardless if the things could eat you.

It wasn't long after that, that the Pseudo dragon found her silken wings folding, and arrowing down, gaining speed before she let a volley of icy fire flow from her mouth. She watched one man dance away from the sharp icicles that came raining down, while another man was unfortunate enough to had his own arm speared. As she circled above she turned her long slender neck to watch the scene, only to have a few arrows flying in her general direction as the humans in their posts began screaming about the Beast having a minion....She didn't like that comment all to well however...

[Sariel of Tevet]

"I really don't have time for this!" Haley tried to yank her foot away midstride without thinking, which succeeded just about as well as it could have. She tripped (rather spectacularly) but had the presence of mind to let go of the half-elf, who flew through the air. Haley managed to turn her fall into a roll, before she collided with the facade of the Imperial Bank - Stormfront Branch. Dizzy, she glanced down at her left foot. Well, what should have been her foot. The cloth had torn away, thanks to Silas, ending abruptly just above where her ankle should have been.

Instead, there was nothing.

"Dorian?"

"Yeah."

"If you ever speak of this again - "

"You'll throw me into the nearest river, yeah yeah." He waved away her threats and grinned. "Was pretty funny though."

"I hate you."

"More than the soldiers rapidly closing in on us?"

"...Close second."

Soldiers were indeed moving closer. The smokescreen had cleared and the barrel stampede was dissipating. Sighing, Haley turned to look where the half-elf had gone.

"You ok, kid?"

[Sariel of Tevet]

Ephantus did not appreciate the sudden turn of events that had led to the position he now found himself in. His servitor had gone flying towards a blad, fellow, only to be suddenly sent into a wall of soldiers who were apparently giving chase to the bandaged figure. Several random people were helping to either stop the guards or just watching.

"Out of the way!" One of the oncoming guards shoved 'Ephantus' out of his way...and into the building beside them. Ephantus' minions were fragile things usually, since he wanted to avoid detection. His puppet's head hit the wall with a crack and slid to the ground. The soldier stopped short. "Oh shit." the man muttered, realizing that he'd probably just killed a civilian. Distracted, the soldier knelt down beside Ephantus.

'I could always use a more capable minion. EPhantus reasoned as he watched the soldier through his servitor's eyes.

THe servitor jerked and Ephantus grabbed the soldier by his ears. The man yelped in surprise, but in that moment Ephantus released a small cloud of the microscopic machines in his servitor's body, forcing them through the soldier's ears. The man twitched in place for a moment, a scream dying just before it could be let out.

Then Ephantus stood up, adjusted his uniform and scowled down at the body laying ont he ground. "Damn drunks." he growled and chased to catch up with the other soldiers.

[Sariel of Tevet]

Vidaar rolled, luckily not being knocked out by the impact with the ground. Silas came trotting up to him and licked his face.

"I'm fine! I'm fine," he said as Silas continued to lick him. He got up and pull his bow, which miraculously hadn't been damaged, from his back and drew some arrows from his quiver, which was also on his back and unharmed. He then called to the earth and plants in the elven tongue. "Olvarim tukalia!" The plants in the area grew rapidly, bursting through the stone streets, and began wrapping themselves around the legs of the guards, effectively immobilizing them. He then pulled back on his bow, set with three arrows, and let fly. He caught one guard in the head, another through the heart, and the third arrow whizzed past all of them, heading straight at the guard that had stopped because of the flying man. However, it missed and hit the wall of the building behind him, shattering the shaft and sending the head careening into the alley.

Not bad, he thought. Could have been better though.

"Nice job, ranger!" exclaimed Mhenlo. "Well done!"

Senpai noticed me! thought Vidaar. ...STOP! NO! STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!

"Now," Mhenlo began, smirking, "let me show you what I can do!" He began to run towards the remaining guards, and, holding his arm aloft, he spoke the incantation. "Guang mao!"

With the words spoken, a shaft of brilliance formed in his raised hand, creating a spear of pure light that he threw at one of the guards in the middle of the group, catching him in the center of his chest. He then stopped short of the front of the group, and dropped into a quick fighting stance, speaking a quick prayer.

"Yuan Huo Zhan yindao wo de quantou ji da wo de diren..." His hands and feet began to glow with brilliant, holy light, and he began to flow among the entrapped guards, hitting each one on a point that, coupled with the immense amount of energy being sent into them, caused them to die almost instantaneously.

When he got to the other end of the group, he stopped and pulled himself up, hands flat together in a praying gesture, and whispered a quick prayer of thanks to Huo Zhan. He turned to look at Vidaar. "How did you like that?"

Take me! thought Vidaar. I'm yours! He shook his head, deciding that he'd need a cold shower later. Mhenlo then did all sorts of acrobatics, back flipping and jumping over the corpses of his enemies, all the way back to where Vidaar, making things just that much worse for the ranger. Silas nudged his "master" as if to say "Oh, just ask him out already!"

[Sariel of Tevet]

Alias

Alias had never before had the interaction with such a creature. He did not know even how to act, so instead he focused on eliminating his biggest threat. Which was the humans, he growled and hissed his anger. Pounding and slashing all in his path, first leaping on the ones the flying creature had not injured, then jumping on those after and forcing them to the ground. Alias shot his arm backwards and back slashed a flanking bandit. The man spinning away in mid air, this was before another one stabbed him in his shoulder area with a small and sharp weapon, right over the pointy metal and wooden stick. He shouted out in pain before picking him up by the head and throwing him away.

"Retreat!" shouted Deadbolt, the groups toughest. All the men ran back the way they came, leaving one frustrated Lizard to mull over and cool its temper.

Still in a rage, his attention went towards the flying bird thing. His single working arm swinging around at it "Go aww... a-away"
"W- What arr you?" It spoke in a deep scaly voice. Each word foreign sounding to his own hearing as he tried speaking.

[Sariel of Tevet]

-The throne room of the Castle of The Secluded and Tropical Nation of Koosalagoopagoopakuzbekistanahamas-


The Dayman was pacing back and forth across the throne room, exposed royal chest glistening, and lost deep in thought. His chest wasn't glistening from sweat mind you, a good royal chest simply always glistens. However, it will never sparkle in as magnificent of fashion as his royal codpiece. Truly a national treasure for all the kingdom to adore. The Dayman stopped in his royal tracks, filled his lungs with a spectacular amount of air, and took his royal victory pose.

"That's it! Treasure! What princess would not love treasure on her name day?"

Apparently, the speaking of the word treasure granted The Dayman with the idea of treasure hunting for his graceful wife's birthday present, so he resolved to do so. What? Ahh...ah yes my prince. No, no it is my fault. I apologize entirely.

The Dayman wishes me to clarify that it was not, in fact, through any help of the narration that the conclusion to treasure hunt was reached. It was, however, simply on the edge of his tongue the entire time and he was not given the proper amount of time to make his exclamation before I made my claims so recklessly.

Now that this issue has been resolved (I apologize once again, my prince), The Dayman slumped down (with perfect posture I might add) in his seat nestled near to the throne. With a single royal motion, he slid back the buckle and released the portal to infinity. He thrust his head into the belt and began to search for his wife's prize.

After an absurd amount of a few minutes (Which obviously is hours to royalty. They cannot be held to the standards of mere commoner time, it could never properly capture the importance of royal attention and presence), he found a map containing "The Land of Obsidian". He pulled his head from infinity (still with perfect hair of course) and bellowed.

"That's it! Diane adores obsidian! Though, not nearly as much as she adores her prince...but what could be worth more than an obsidian crystal plucked by her very husband?! I shall leave at once!"

The Dayman grabbed a hold of the infinity belt, dove inside, and pulled the belt in behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-The Land of Obsidian-

The Dayman landed with a royal thud, quite louder than thuds made by, no doubt, drunken vagrants. He stood proud and his purple cloak flowed behind him, despite finding himself inside of a laboratory and independent of any breeze or wind source. Positioning his hand above his brow, he began to scout the area.

"I spy with my royal eyes aaa-ooooph!" He came crashing down after tripping over a power strip and, pun entirely intended (for puns are rated quite highly in the kingdom), he tripped it as well and sent the equipment in the room into a whizzing ruckus. Choosing not to notice this, of course, The Dayman spied a splendid shard of obsidian on the floor. He stood in a most joyous manner and released a royal shout.

"This is it! It is so perfect! It can never be altered to be more splendid. Oh how I wish I could clone it!"

The dated computers, having terrible voice recognition software (that or they were not set to "royal"), shouted across the room accompanied by alarms.

Alteration improbable. Project Midnight cloning process initiated. 404 Error: Specimen not found.

A giant mechanical claw leapt from the ceiling and began to swing about the lab, where it inevitably found the barreled chest of The Dayman. It snatched the prince up and strapped him to a chair with an abundance of wires frayed about. A light flashed upon The Dayman to capture his molecular image, and the light reflected off the superiorly shiny surface of his codpiece and destroyed the machine, releasing him from the chair.

"Well...that doesn't normally happen in The Secluded and Tropical Nation of Koosalagoopagoopakuzbekistanahamas. Such a strange land. Um...what..is this?"

He turned to a chair positioned next to the one he was recently freed from. A form began to take shape in the chair and the prince, with no caution at all (royalty fears nothing you see, everything is beneath them).

"What...is this?"

A man, still slightly bathed in light, looked up from the chair with the same royal blue eyes that are possessed by our exquisitely dressed hero.

"Where...where am I?"

He reached out and grabbed hold of the obsidian shard in The Dayman's hand, and the laboratory began to flash red.

Error. Error. Cloning process contaminated. Abort. Abort.

The Dayman began to look around for plugs.

"Well you heard the disembodied commoner lady. Abort damn you!"

He started to pull switches and levers and whatchamadoos everywhere. Mainly just the coffee maker...it has alot of gadgets.

The clone reached towards him and fell out of the chair.

"No! Stop! I command you!

His form, altered by the obsidian began to his clothing dark, even down to his soul.

"Stop. NOW COMMONER."

He reached up from the ground, still glowing from the cloning process and brushed his palm against the infinity belt as the prince backed away and stomped on a self destruct button, which was placed uncharacteristically on the floor.

Self destruct in...five...four...

The Dayman dove inside his belt just in time to escape.

three...two...o....

The clone huddled beneath a nearby desk and waited....and...well...kept waiting. After about an hour of being perched under the furniture he crawled out and took a look at the nearest computer. The battery icon read "0%". He slammed a fist down onto the computer, fueled with obsidian rage.

"Filth. There can be only one." He paused, hoping to be scolded by his own narrator for the poor reference to such a wonderful film, and continued on with his concise monologue.

"I will end you, with these hands, if it is the last thing I do."

He placed his hands dramatically upon the top of the computer desk and drew his face in close enough to see his reflection, and smirked.

"For I am...The Nightman."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-Stormfront-

The Dayman fell flat on his back at the feet of an odd bandaged woman. He looked up and smiled a royal smile.

"You know, I would comment further, but I really ought to...wrap this up."

[Sariel of Tevet]

Sylvea watched the man...or creature before she landed, her form disappearing under the tall grasses before a girl now stood in her place. It was her human form that greeted the tall creatures gaze, her small form hidden under a cloak of deep black that seemed to make her pale white skin glow as violet eyes peered from the shadows of the cloak's hood. The Pseudo Dragon then reached up pulling her hood down exposing spiraling feather grey rams horns that encompassed her pointed ears.

"What I am is a Pseudo Dragon, but who I am is Sylvea..." the girl was around 19 years of age, and she was short compared to the tall grasses only her shoulders appearing above the swaying plant life as she watched the man. She watched him for a moment longer before offering a small smirk, her thin lips twitching up at the corners as the sun shown down upon translucent white scales that were small, but still glittered in the sun off of her shoulders, chest, and neck. "What. Are you?" she shot back in mock questioning as she took a tentive step closer, her always bare feet padding silently across the plants.

The girl wasn't without curves, but her features remained hidden beneath the cloak for the most part, along with the plants blocking most of her body anyways.

"Also, what are you doing here?"