Fathomless Sunset - Letramenia

DeletedUser13682

After a confirmation from Kaiden that he knew where Grelin was, Akana stood up, and found that her leg would support her weight. However, the joint where her leg joined the rest of her body was sore and caused minor pain when moved. She would have to go slower than normal or use her abilities more. Akana stretched her back, and turned to talk to the others about the plan, but noticed they had disappeared, along with the body of the Creeper Warden. It seemed that they decided to bury him. That was fine, Akana had business of her own. She walked back into the village, and headed towards the dining hall. As she got closer to the hall, she saw the dagger still jammed into the wooden post that helped support the dining hall’s eaves. She noticed that the eaves had no troughs. Maybe she should come back and teach Village Tretana some of her knowledge…

But she was getting distracted from her mission. She really needed to get her job done and hurry back to the clearing before the other two decided be bakafir and go looking for her. She didn’t need them playing hide and seek and getting lost and hurt in the forest. She was already injured enough as it was, thanks to that bakadiyu by that bakafir Kaiden and his tree roots. Akana stopped her thoughts for a moment to stare at the knife. It was a curious design, wickedly curved yet seemingly able to be thrown fairly accurately with enough force to embed it into a post. After struggling with it for a few seconds, Akana managed to work it out of the post, and stuck it underneath her belt. She’d find time to make a proper sheath for it later. Its aerodynamic properties would be good to study. After that was done, Akana headed inside the dining hall to begin her search for the family that gave them food and to finally apologize to Tempa for what had happened earlier.
 

DeletedUser28032

The pair of them dragged the body off into a section of the forest leaving Red to her own devices for the time being. Kaiden waited patiently as Jokir performed his trick before rolling the corpse into the hole with his boot before beginning the task of backfilling. He too could produce holes relatively quickly by causing large roots to shift underground however unfortunately unless the hole was located at the foot of an escarpment or cliff he was yet to find a quick way of putting the dirt back...then again for most part he didn't usually bother burying the dead instead leaving it to the forest to dispose of them.
However this was not the borderlands and he'd promised not to spill blood here, a promise he had failed to keep, not that he would tell them as such.
Once the grave had been filled Kaiden directs his gaze at Jokir "Now that this business has been attended to we'd best find Akana and head for Grelin...oh and we don't speak a word of this to the villager’s understood?" he didn't want them to know that there was a man buried only a short distance from their homes. Nor did he want them to begin questioning how three people as seemingly young as they were had managed to best the imposing stranger "The note in the dead mans pocket spoke of another we'd best keep watch for him also for if he's anything like our friend here then we'll need to be careful" unless I spot him first then he'll be dead
 

Deleted User - 819397

With a huge yawn, Iatairris slowly opened her eyes. "You all are making so much noise I can't sleep! Surely you must be tired too?" She looked around and quickly realized something was amiss. A giant bubble floating around and containing Wallace surely wasn't a good thing…it was far too late to be playing, not to mention none of them specialized in water. Realizing that she had to come up with some way of analyzing the situation before she could do anything, she pulled the crystal trick she had earlier, encasing herself in a slowly rotating double pyramid. From here she could figure out what was going on and then react accordingly.
 

DeletedUser

Before Arkadi could make his move, Mezonas did some hippie-elemental magicky thing and encased the stone knight in a bubble of water, suspended a good five foot in the air. Arkadi knew that it wouldn't be long before the Walace got his own way out, and as long as he was in the bubble he was invulnerable. However, popping the bubble would send the knight crashing to the ground, where he would be vulnerable.
Taking a few steps back, Arkadi took a running leap upwards, slashing at the bubble. He had to be careful, if he leapt too far he would be under the stone man when the bubble burst, but not close enough and he wouldn't make contact. Unsurprisingly, the sudden impact of the salt-metal popped the bubble, which gave Arkadi roughly a second to get out of the path of the soon-to-be falling Wallace.
 

Apelatia

Well-Known Member
The Round Hut

Entering the large hut which had been used as a dining hall earlier on, Akana would find nothing inside, but bare tables and the dim remains of the fire which had warmed the room previously... The dark room showed few signs of the earlier activity that had filled the thick-beamed walls of the village's meeting hall. Having seen that the person she wished to meet was not present, Akana would have made to leave. Upon turning around though, her eyes would fall upon the small figure of the boy Tempa just outside the doorway, looking in her direction. Closer inspection of the boy under the twilight sun's light would reveal that the boy's innocence shined through his face. Before him, he saw nothing more than a young woman whom he seemed to hold an admiration for... A young teenager's fancy perhaps, but Tempa seemed to have another motive on hand... With no knowledge of the ancient Arína, the boy would not have known in the slightest that the woman's age was in fact much greater than he could ever have possibly imagined...

Holding a candle in one hand, the boy approached the woman. "Red, are y...y...you leaving?" the boy stammered, obviously upset by the prospect. "I felt in my heart that you would leave tonight... I wanted to say bye..." Waiting to hear a response from the young woman, he then surprised her by striding up to her and presenting her with a large embrace, which he held for a few seconds. As he stepped away though, he grasped her hand, before speaking in a determined voice. "You will come back...to take me from this place. I don't belong here... Promise me this." Staring at her with a hardness in his eyes that she would not have suspected could exist in the young boy, he continued to grasp her hand tightly, waiting for a response...


The Forest Camp

Mezonas' reaction to Iatairris's waking, was sharp, and he immediately summoned his weapon in preparation to strike against the girl swiftly. The girl began to speak, before noticing that her surroundings were not as they should be at this time of night, and instead deciding to encase herself in a rotating crystal, something which Mezonas had not expected... "These girls seems to specialise in defensive manoeuvres..." He mused aloud. Iatairris's protective mechanism did not seem to be as permanent as Whisper's though, and so, he stayed put for her emergence, rather deciding to watch as Arkadi took a running leap before bursting the bubble, bringing Wallace out of his state of suspension, and down towards the forest floor. Mezonas viewed the situation with interest, to see the the outcome of this particular fight. Who would emerge as the victor? The salty assassin, or the solid block? Keeping a watchful eye over the temporarily hibernating Iatairris, he chuckled in delight. The bubble was one of his favourite abilities... He had perfected it when back in Cecia Town, but had never been able to use it in combat before this occasion... Well, this was sort-of-combat... He was certain though, the bubble was definitely one of his personal favourites...
 

DeletedUser13682

There was no sign of anybody now. The hall was empty, the tables were cleaned off, the floor was swept, and the remaining embers of the formerly strong fire provided thd only measly light with which to view the expansive hall. The boy Tempa was nowhere in here, nor was anybody else to ask his wearabouts. Akana dreaded having to go door to door, asking where Tempa lived. She hadn't done anything like that since she was a small child in Ni Dair. But, Akana felt that she needed to atone for her mistake and for probably hurting Tempa and his feelings. And she would have to be quick about it as well. Though she would have liked to come back and help this village grow and advance technologically and scientifically, she doubted very much that she would return. And the other two were probably done burying the creepy warden and itching to get going.

Akana had no other choice but to steel herself and start knocking. As she turned around, however, Akana was greeted with relief when she saw Tempa standing in the doorway, his feeble candle nearly doubling the light provided by the embers (though that wasn't saying much). Looking at the boy in silence, Akana could tell he was oblivious to what she really was; Tempa hadn't one of the small range of looks that mortals had when they knew they were within an Arína's presence. After what seemed like a small eternity (though in actuality it was probably no more than one half minute) Tempa slowly walked forward, the trembling candle causing shadows to morph as if they were living creatures. His voice matched the candle as he asked if Akana was leaving, stating that he knew in his heart that she would leave tonight, how he wished to say goodbye.

Breathing slow, large breaths, Akana formulated her thoughts into coherent words before responding. "I leave tonight; you have correct intuition. However, I..." Akana was unable to finish, having been interrupted by Tempa suddenly embracing her, very awkwardly. Inwardly sighing and wondering why interhuman interaction was so complicated (maybe science would have solved that problem had Ni Dair survived), while outwardly, her face increasingly turned into her name, Akana returned Tempa's embrace, equally awkwardly. After another short eternity, the embrace was broken and Tempa shuffled back a bit, while grabbing Akana's hand with his own free one.

Tempa didn't exactly ask, it was more of a demand, that Akana would come back and take him away from this place. He didn't believe that he belonged in the village. His tone, body language, and gaze indicated that he believed firmly in this. He was determined to leave this place and see the world. Retaining her crimson colour, Akana rubbed her head with her free hand and looked to the beams for guidance. After a few moments of contemplating, Akana turned back to Tempa and responded. "You know the full meaning of your request not. I guarantee my life in my task not. However, I will after my task for you with me to complete to allow to come with. A village had a rumour. I arrived. People had a small amount of time later disappeared. I was blamed. They stated 'onikakushi'. It translates spirited away by the demon. They are correct with a manner. I am a demon with a manner. I will you myself when I return to explain. I will still you to desire to take. I promise." Akana didn't want to scare Tempa away, she had already hurt him enough. But she did want him to understand that she wasn't exactly human and that whatever grand adventures he imagined would probably be swept away by cold, dreary, painful reality.
 

Apelatia

Well-Known Member
Tempa

The boy appeared to be disappointed that Akana was leaving, but his face was still determined, his resolve steady. Still grasping her hand tightly, he stared at the flickering candle as she gave her response... He found it difficult to follow her speech, but did manage to grasp a vague understanding of what she was saying after some contemplation over the lines. Giving a short upward glance at the woman's face, Tempa released her hand, before pacing to a table and placing the dim candle on its surface. After a minute's silence, he spoke again, though this time, Akana would be able to detect hints of grief in the young boy's voice. "When I first laid my eyes upon you, I felt something... A strange feeling that my future would be intertwined with yours... That...my destiny lay beyond the setting horizon...You would take some part in it... This probably sounds weird..." Tempa smiled sadly at the floor, before continuing to speak. "You're right... I probably don't understand what I'm asking, but my heart is telling me to... I've never felt such a strong urge to do something. Elena told me that I should always 'listen to my heart before anything else'. My heart tells me that you are important to my future." The boy lifted his head to look at Akana, a solitary tear running down his cheek. "I will wait for you here Red, and when you return... You will tell me your real name. Don't forget me..."

Standing there in the candlelight, leaning against the table for support, the boy stared hard at Akana, emotion clear on his face. He would wait to hear what else the Arína had to say to him, and then would stay there, succumbing to his deep-running thoughts...
 

DeletedUser28032

With dirt still staining his hands and clothing Kaiden slowly entered the now deserted village, looking for any sign of Red as he does so. Had things gone differently he would have liked to have stopped for the night and perhaps even trade for a little food but as it was he felt it would be best if they all simply disappeared into the night.
Upon reaching the hall in which they had all eaten only a few short hours ago Kaiden catches sight of Red speaking with the boy that was holding her hand; the look on his face making it clear how he felt about the immortal woman "oh this can't be good" he said quietly to Jokir, knowing from brutal experience that relationships with the Dying never ended well for either party.
Deciding that putting an end to the conversation would be for the best he calls out to Red "Red! We need to go!"
 

DeletedUser13682

Tempa stood there, holding Akana’s hand while he tried to reason through what she had told him. She knew her lexicon wasn’t exactly consistent with many other groups she had met up with. That was the curse of having grown up with a lingua franca plus a 200 year isolation (±50%). Eventually, though, he was able to figure out her meaning, and released Akana’s hand while executing a strategic remanoeuvring to the safety of a nearby table. Tempa seemed absorbed in thought, staring at the feeble flickering of the candlelight. Akana was unsure what to do, and was about ready to leave when Tempa spoke again, a thread of grief weaving its way through his words. He spoke to Akana of how he knew in his heart this his future and hers would be intertwined, and that his destiny was connected with hers or something like that. Akana didn’t believe in destiny or fate, or the heart model of thought. It was all disproven, or at least proven highly improbable back in her village.

However, Tempa did speak some truth. Akana did feel slightly different when her thoughts brought up the boy. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t have cared that she had hurt Tempa’s feelings, and would have counted it as another accidental faux pas to learn from while the victim suffered in silence, his emotions disregarded. But here she was, actively looking for Tempa, wishing to make amends, making sure he was alright. What in Eris’s name was wrong with her? An old song was popping into her mind, and she vehemently disagreed with it. There was something between her and Tempa (probably), but it seemed to be nothing more than a cosmic probability alignment, augmented by the confused and befuddled mind of a human teenager that lacked understanding of various things within the world (including the thermodynamic improbability of the Arína, but Akana could never get the hang of that concept).

Tempa eventually finished with a demand that Akana would tell him her real name when she returned. That was a reasonable enough request. “I will everything you about me to explain. I promise.” Before Akana could say more, however, she heard someone call out her name. Looking outside the open door of the dining hall, Akana saw Kaiden and Jokir. Akana wondered how long they had been standing there and what they were thinking as her face began to redden again. Akana hurried toward the door, pausing to turn around. “Kadar kemudian,” she told him, while giving a short wave. She then exited and joined Kaiden and Jokir. “Where go we now?” Akana asked, wishing for the other two to forget about whatever they thought they saw. They’d probably confuse what really happened with what they assumed happened. Life wasn’t a roman.
 

Deleted User - 819397

Wallace had been freed from his bubble by a second assailant. Whisper was nowhere to be seen, nor was Gemina. The attacker she'd noticed first was still there, watching her. Thinking for a moment, Iatairris decided it was time to try something new. Depending on whether or not the man could sense energy shifts, her preparation for this hastily improvised attack would go unnoticed. Without outward warning, the side of the crystal she was encased in exploded, razor shards flying towards the man Iatairris didn't recognize as Mezonas through the cover of night. The remaining part of the crystal continued rotating, each side exploding in the same manner as the first, continuing to have the shards fly at the man. As the last section met its end, the young girl stepped smartly to the right of where she'd been sleeping just moments before, summoning her staff-lance in the process. The improvised attack hadn't eliminated a lot of her energy, her naturally high levels combined with the fact she'd been resting prior helping there…she was slightly frightened, but not unduly so…after all, she knew from experience she still had enough energy for the most devastating attack she'd figured out up to this point…she'd be spent afterwards, but if the man hadn't been downed by the exploding crystal she didn't know what choice she had. Unlike most of the other Arina she hadn't had much time to experiment with her abilities, only having them for a couple years. Most of what she'd done up to this point involved mobility…having fun with her powers using techniques like what she'd done to get down the tree safely. She didn't have a lot of offensive techniques as a result, save the one that her friends, having seen her demonstrate on a practice dummy, had called overkill. She realized she'd have to learn how to defend and attack properly, and fast. For now though, all she could do was remain on high alert, waiting for the man to show himself…if indeed he was still around…
 

DeletedUser28032

"To Grelin of course" Kaiden replied as a red faced Red came to join them waving to the boy; Tempa as she left "If we back track the direction in the dead man's notes we should be able to find it...or at the very least find him" and with a little persuasion I am sure we could get him to point us in the right direction he silently continued. He wasn't sure how the others would react to the idea, Jokir seemed to have a rather large conscience for an assassin after all it had been him that had suggested reasoning with the Wardens, as for Red...he couldn't be certain but h suspected a code of honour would get in the way.
Turning to leave via the southern path out of the village Kaiden speaks to Red in a voice low enough not to carry tot eh hall in which Tempa was still stood "You know it won't work right? you know how this works if you did return he would still grow old and die whilst you remained forever young...trust me its not a route you wish to take" he could remember his life back in the borderlands...or at least most of it. His wife and children aging before his very eyes whilst he remained the epitome of youth, the way his grand children were scared of him and the villagers muttered of witchcraft and curses. No it was not a good route at all, better to live alone than go through that again.
 

DeletedUser

Wallace's shouts were answered quite promptly. The tiny stream of water that had curiously formed at his feet suddenly envelopes him and raised him into the air. This development could only mean two things either he was being attacked by another Airna or one of the 'demons'. Of course any mystery had been shattered as just before being bubbled a man wearing the same kit as Arkadi had dove past him.

Of course the fact that Arkadi was apparently attacking him is quickly overshadowed by Wallace's imminent drowning. Thinking spur of he moment Wallace Rebalances his armor so that he floats upright. Before Wallace can get any further the bubble ... Pops? With the bubble gone gravity reaffirms itself and Wallace falls to the ground. Quickly rising from the ground using the same method as before he rebalances his armor once more and instead of adding more mass to his armor Wallace forms the pillar into a spear. Wallace didn't know what Arkadi's abilities were but it was pretty obvious by the way the man had talked that he was an assassin and as such as long as the man was kept at a distance Arkadi would lose. Resummoning his shield Wallace cautiously approaches the man, occasionally thrusting with his spear to test the man's reaction time. The other assailant could prove a threat but an explosion and tink of things hitting Wallace meant the person was down or at least busy with Iatairris. Hopefully the former but for now he had to focus on the assassin.
 

DeletedUser13682

Kaiden had not been very helpful in his response, only stating what Akana already knew. Yes, they were going to Grelin, but what direction were they going and what they would encounter. Akana was about to berate Kaiden for his uselessness, when he continued his answer, and explained that they would follow the dead warden’s footsteps and find it, or him. But hadn’t they killed him? And what note was he talking about? What had happened to them while Akana was gone? As the group left the village, headed south toward Grelin, Akana prepared to ask them about that. Before she could, however, Kaiden gave a warning to Akana, telling her to not pursue a relationship with Tempa. What? Hadn’t they forgotten about that? Or at least gotten the hint that she didn’t want them to mention that? This was the exact reason why she wanted them to move past that scene; they would get the wrong idea, and think it was something taken straight from a roman.

Turning red again (she was doing that a lot, what was wrong with her), Akana turend toward Kaiden and berated him. “Bakafir! Your eyes have you to fool. Your guess is wrong. I desire a relationship with Tempa not. He had me from this village to ask to remove. I had to agree. He wishes education. I will to educate. I do romance not. I have for greater than 200 years not to romance. Tame bakafir.” With that statement, Akana ran ahead, and leaped upwards, the wind propelling her upward, until she cleared the tree tops. She landed lightly on a tree branch; however, in her anger, she had misjudged its thickness, and it snapped under her mass. After falling for a moment, Akana managed to get the wind to launch her upwards again, allowing her to land on a more substantial branch. The complete change in momentum had been more strenuous than her usual boosts and slow brakings, and somehow that pain in her leg was back. She only went a few more trees forward, instead of the dozen or so planned. When she arrived at her destination, she landed on a lower branch, and laid down, limbs swinging lazily off the side. She would wait here to cool down a bit, and give the others time to catch up to her.
 

DeletedUser28032

"Oh yes and that’s really mature" Kaiden muttered sarcastically as Red leapt up into the tree tops and fled after berating him for speaking reason; claiming that she had no desire to "romance" the boy but merely to "educate" him Yeah because that definitely won't lead to the former...hell the boy probably wants it to lead that way he silently grumbles before moving off once again.
After a short walk down the dirt track he locates the girl lounging within a tree; limbs hanging limply over the edge like a satiated big cat "calmed down have we?" he calls up to her sounding like a parent nearing the end of their patience “…in case you’ve forgotten we’re currently tracking a bunch of psychopath’s hoping that they’ll lead us to a hostile army so splitting up may not be the best of idea’s” he continued, realising that although they were individually powerful and damn nigh unbeatable in a group that if these Wardens managed to get the drop on one of them then it could swing things in their favour.
Without waiting to see if Red decided to rejoin them Kaiden continues walking down the track. They would have to make camp soon as it was getting dark in amongst the trees but putting a little more distance between them and the village wouldn’t do them any harm.
 

DeletedUser13682

The tree branch was nice. A perfect circumference, not too rough, a substantial amount of leaves above providing the perfect ratio of shade to sunlight; this was a good place to be. Akana had known for decades why cats both large and small loved tree branches like this, and why, if one was careful and very quiet, you could spy one of those creatures napping in such a place. There was some sort of aura in places like this that caused any creature that remained for any significant amount of time to grow wearly and slowly slip into that fantastical realm where even the very laws of physics themselves were but pliable playthings of The Dreamer.

Whenever Akana decided to rest on one of these sleep aura generators, the time from fully(ish) awake to sleep was roughly one sixteenth of a watch metre (roughly 15 minutes), though the closest thing to an experiment Akana was able to perform involved her staring at one while she dozed off, so the margin of error was about +/- 50%. So when Akana was awoken by Kaiden admonishing her for wandering off (she wouldn't have if he hadn't assumed stupid things that weren't true and wouldn't have been within his realm of influence anyway if the stupid assumptions he had made were right [which they weren't]), and reminding her that they were on the hunt for an invasion army, she assumed that it must have taken them about one eighth watch metre to catch up. After Kaiden passed under her branch, Akana jumped down, hiding her reaction to landing on her injured leg. Mustn't let Kaiden know that his stunt still left its mark and made her weaker. At least the reddening sun looked nice filtered through the gaps in the canopy. Akana wondered if the others would be willing to continue through the night; didn't they want to get to Grelin quickly? "Continue we through the night?" Akana asked the others. "Or, is Grelin a longer journey to be worthy of?"
 

Apelatia

Well-Known Member
Tempa

As soon as Akana had left, the boy blew out the candle, muttering under his breath, "Sjelact mnej..." in a disappointed tone, before disappearing silently into the darkness outside. What lay in store for the young boy in the near future was uncertain, but the tides of fate had begun to change his life, and perhaps even the lives of those connected to him...


The Road Ahead...

The dirt track continued on into the distance through the area of the Dark Forest that the small group were currently traversing through. If one were to look back, they would realise that Tretana was in fact at the end of what seemed like a long valley, in which the vegetation was about twenty times less dense than that in the area between the rise above the north end of Tretana and the mysterious structure that was Eldaríl Hall. It was almost as if the valley in question was devoid of what the rest of the forest seemed to have in abundance: trees... The light cast by the crescent moon shone brightly enough to illuminate the track which led south, though this light occasionally disappeared temporarily behind a solitary cloud drifting through the heavens...

The group travelled throughout the night, in which time the moon slowly gave way to the new day, which unfortunately brought with it a deluge of rain. By the time the trio reached the crossroads, they would be soaked from head to toe. The divide in the road came at the end of the valley, which rejoined the mass of the forest around it. No further villages had been encountered along the way, no surprise as there had not been a single river running through the valley's length. The curious thing about the crossroads was that no signpost lay to elaborate on where each path led... Three paths lay open to the group. One that lay to the southwest, another in a more southerly direction, and another path that led towards the east. The latter path did have one pointer as to where it led though, in the form of a wooden board with letters painted in red, below which was painted a skull and crossbones. 'Cecia' was the one word that lay upon the sign. The sign seemed to carry upon it an aura of destruction, mixed with feelings of sorrow and despair, and more importantly...loss... Down which path Grelin lay though, was unknown...


The Forest Camp

As the shards of crystal flew towards Mezonas, he realised startled that he'd have no time to react, and instead focused the energy inside of him on surviving the impending force. The hit never came though, and as suddenly Gemina flew out of a fissure in the air, summoning what seemed like a large gust of wind in front of her, which knocked the shards harmlessly to the ground. Seeing that the fight needed to stop before someone really did get hurt unnecessarily, she landed on the ground half way between the two separate fights, before shouting in a loud voice: "STOP! Fighting ceases now.", before running forwards towards Arkadi and Wallace with scythe summoned, ready to intervene if either should choose to continue...
 

DeletedUser13682

The journey after Akana had rejoined the group was devoid of talk; the sounds of the forest were the only soundtrack to accompany the three travelers as they journeyed toward their final destination of Grelin. As the moon made its journey through the sky, and the group made theirs down the roads, Akana noticed that the trees were getting increasingly thin, and the trees that did remain were looking increasingly sickly and unwilling to live in a world that could be so cruel as that which they experienced day after day, week after week, year after year. Of course, this melancholy interpretation could be due to the fact that the crescent moon provided barely enough light to see by, and that light was intermittently blocked by fat clouds promising to deliver their cargo of rain upon the travelers any time now. This promised was made good on shortly after sunrise. It wasn’t until the first drops bounced off Akana’s hat that that she realized they had been traveling through the night. Guess that answered her question, the last words any of them had spoken for a long time.

The dirt track was now mud, and travel along it was becoming increasingly difficult. Akana would have jumped up and used the trees as her pathway, but by now they were too far apart to be of much use. Besides, she didn’t want to leave Jokir and Kaiden stuck in the mud, although that probably would be a fitting punishment for the preposterous assumptions Kaiden made earlier. Akana didn’t feel like being that cruel, however; the other two were probably already irritated with the rain and the mud and the walking; it just wasn’t worth it. Therefore, Akana trudged along with them, one foot in front of the other, towards that mysterious Grelin place. Eventually, they came upon a fork in the road, with three paths available to choose. Two paths were unmarked, but the third was clearly shown to be the route to Cecia Town, that ancient city where everything had gone wrong, and the inhabitants were driven out to be scattered amongst the surroundings like tree pedals in a brisk spring breeze. That sign carried with it all the dread and despair expected of such an event. That wasn’t a problem, however. The absence of a marker to point the way to Grelin was a problem, however. “What do we now? The way lies obviously over there not,” Akana spoke, while pointing toward Cecia’s path. “Know one of you the way to Grelin?” If neither of them did know, Akana would pick the southern path. It was a (pseudo)random choice and there seemed to be no reason not to take that path.
 

DeletedUser28032

At the suggestion that they travel through the night Kaiden gave an imperceptible shrug of his shoulders before moving down the road. It didn't really matter to him; he'd travelled through the night many times before; tracking some elusive prey through the wilderness.
The path was reasonably straight and level allowing the rangers mind to drift away so that he was practically asleep, listening to the whispering of the trees around him as their voices soothed his mind. The trees were always there, they didn't lie, they didn't complain and more importantly they had lived almost as long as he had.
Reaching the cross roads he snaps out of this sleep like state in order to examine their options, noting that only Cecia town was marked; the skull and cross bones more of an invitation than a warning. Up until very recently he'd always believed that Cecia town was the fabled home of the gods and discovering that he was in fact apart of this fable only increased his curiosity "What about this way?" he inquired to the others indicating the route to Cecia "...apparently its our home and if somebody’s gone to the trouble of painting a warning then there must be something worth seeing down there" and with no way of really knowing for certain where Grelin lay any direction was as good as another
 

Deleted User - 819397

Iatairris started as a voice she quickly recognized as Gemina's called for them to stop the fighting. "But if we do then they'll hurt us!" the young girl protested, frustrated with the older woman for having missed this simple flaw in her reasoning. "Wait, you're back? Where'd you go? It's the middle of the night! What were you doing?" Her confused mind forced one thought above the others after a moment of increasingly frustrating confusion. "Wait, why are we having this conversation in the middle of a fight?? Come on, focus! I don't want to kill them, I mean come on, do I LOOK like a murderer…or is it murderess? I can't remember…but anyway! I don't want to be a murderer or murderess tonight or ever, but we can knock them out right? That's got to be possible…but how…how how how…ooh, I know! We'll get them to knock themselves out! But wait, how do we do that…no, nevermind, that won't work…oh wait, here's a rock! Just have to aim it at one of their heads…FIRE!" With gusto, Iatairris threw the rock she'd grabbed in what she thought was a direction where her former assailant would be, albeit without checking to see if the man had MOVED or not in the past minute of her babbling. Her mind was stressed from having needed to go from sleeping happily to fighting for her life, and all these transitions were not being handled well on her part.
 

DeletedUser

Arkadi twisted his body to avoid an early thrust by Wallace, before bringing his feet around in a semi-kick the moon. He would have then tried to move in close, lest the knight succeed in driving a distance between them. Unfortunately the woman called Gem reappeared and dove into the midst of the melee, just on the fringes of both fights, not enough to completely block, but enough to interfere.
"STOP! Fighting ceases now."
Arkadi paused, he wanted to continue, to commit to his manoeuvre and finish. But at the same time he could see Gem and her scythe about to interfere. Continuing was desirable, but practically unreasonable. So with a roar of frustration Arkadi stepped back and threw his blade into the ground, making it stick out at a perfect angle. Visibly annoyed at the intervention he ran his fingers through his hair and took a few paces away from the others.
 
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