ToMaL: Dark Earth

[Dwayna DragonFire]

Somewhere in a dimension far from Earth there was a planet three times its size. The large landmass was unbroken, as if no earthquakes had plagued this place, and that much was true. This landmass featured vast deserts, forests, mountain ranges and tundra, with sprawling cities and countryside practically littering the land. It was a paradise among the many dimensions that existed, and often visitors would call it a safe-haven.

But that planet had an abnormal quality to it since the beginning of time. The air itself consisted of things far beyond the understanding of natural science. The planet breathed - with its own living energy - magic into its ecosystem, to the point where no life without magic would be able to be without it for much longer.

The recent war with the shadow beings called the Ayx had left this place devastated. The people were almost wholly unprepared for the onslaught that came upon their peaceful planet that they called Terrater. Only at the last minute did the queen step in herself, with her ever faithful guardians at her heel.

Robotic beings known as the Androids had guarded this place, seemingly under the control of the queen. She herself knew better, the one they called the Great Father the head of what some would consider a 'strange family'. These beings had been there since the beginning, when the first of the Spirit Dragons had reigned as royalty. Through their ingenuity, the war ended in a great flash of light, and all was still and peaceful again. For a time the people mourned for their dead, but afterwards they found it was time to celebrate their victory over the Ayx.

Dwayna, the queen of Terrater, felt otherwise. She had just lost her parents through the betrayal of her own distant relatives. On top of that, many sacrificed their lives over something that could have been prevented sooner, had she not been warped in the mind by one of the Ayx, believing she was in love with him.

But something new had come of the war, a strange new life that seemed to be man, but was in fact an Android. He displayed emotions that were unlike any others of his kind, though also seemed like he was just learning to know what they were. It was revealed that he himself had a spirit, supposedly the true light that came from all that darkness.

This Android, Edward, became close to the queen in very short order, leaving some to begin to speculate whether or not the darkness had truly gone from his spirit. As Dwayna was the daughter of the great Dragon King, those who had those opinions stayed quiet, for fear of her wrath. Rumors started spreading about their romantic involvement, but the media themselves had practically nothing on the subject, meaning one of two things: either nothing was going on, or they hid it very well.

With her planet on the way to recovery under her benevolent rule, Dwayna was somewhat glad that none of her people knew the whole truth. Some would hate her, coming into her seemingly undefended throne room to yell and scream at her for the undue justice she handed out to the worlds they were connected to. That sort of mentality she could handle, because she understood where they were coming from.

What she definitely couldn't handle were the ones that would think her a god.

((OOC: Feel free to make your first posts, people. Pro will be helping me from time to time on this project, as 'Dark Earth' is his world and the main RP we have IRL.))

 

[BDFun97]

A portal opened up above Madone, three people falling out. One of them, the only male of the group, stood up, looking around. "This doesn't look anything like Japan..." Another of the group, a girl with brown hair pulled into a ponytail, looked around. She rolled her eyes, saying sarcastically, "Wow, really?" The third, the other girl of the group, stood up, looking at the city. "So... I'm going to take it we're probably not on Earth anymore, either." The boy nodded, looking at the citizens. "I'm gonna say no..."

 

[Luckii]

(OCC: Yay, I've been waiting for this to pop up!)

Nolan Acanthus snorted. The weather had not been the best so far that day. It had rained and rained and rained and rained some more. Nolan hated rain with a passion. Rain signified a coming thunderstorm, which Nolan also hated, as it meant, with all of the thunder and lightning, it was difficult to get to sleep when a storm came around. He loped back towards his cave.

Nolan was quite large for a Spirit dragon, one of the largest ever seen by human eyes. His skin was mostly Scarlet red, matching his control over the elemnt of Fire, although the skin from the base of his feet to his knees was a bright, sunny yellow. His head was also this shade of yellow, slowly fading into red, and stopping around two-thirds of the way up his neck. He had a short-ish snout, and a mouth lined with massive teeth, each one 6 inches long. Upon his head he had two huge horns, similar to those found on a ram, but on a much larger scale. He owned a magnificent set of wings, a wingspan of 7 metres, with the bone splitting some skin at the tip of each wing. This bone looked very similar to a hooked claw. He had a lengthy tail, around a third of the total length of his body. The tail had a set of four thagomizers (long, thin tail spikes) at it's tip, the same as a Stegosaurus. He wore a bronze chestplate, which had a small pouch at the front, containing human clothes. He also had an impressive beard growing from his jawline and chin.

Nolan picked some bone out from between his teeth. One of the least known fact on Spirit Dragon were that they were, in fact, omnivorous. Spirit Dragons had adapted to eat what the enviroment around the provided. Each Dragon's diet varied, as each one had it's own surroundings. It was very rare for Spirit Dragons to live together, prefering solitude. Nolan's home, the Quarrencore mountain range, provided him with a mixture of live prey and plants, giving him a varied diet.

Nolan surveyed his surroundings, and cracked a smile. He sure was lucky to have been born in such a wonderful place. The Quarrencore mountain range was the largest mountain range in all of Terrater, and it was magnificent. Huge mountains towered over all around, forests were bursting with life. It was truly amazing. However, it was not without it's faults. Various ditched and ravines cut the landscape, as a result of Nolan's ramages during his younger years. He had calmed down now, as he understood what a lucky Dragon he was.

He took to the skies, spreading his impressive wings. He darted across the skies, twirling and spinning on his way. Nolan loved the wind upon his face. It gave him the feeling that he was truly alive. After roughly 30 minutes of flying, Nolan grounded in a clearing, just at the edge of a forest. Nolan glanced at the small gaps between the trees. He then veiwed the scene above the canopy. He noticed a medium sized city. Interested, Nolan decieded to investigate. However, with all of these tightly packed-together trees, and with the curiosoty of most citizens he had encountered so far in his life, he would have to transform in order to go about his business. Nolan closed his eyes, focusing his mind on one thing; transformation. He began to hum. The hum did not have a tune, mostly just a low growling sound. Suddenly, his being was enveloped in crimson energy, sending out small waves of fire, keeping any onlooking anmials at bay. The outline of nolan's body slowly diminished, until it was roughly the same size as a reletively tall human male. After the light had disappeared, Nolan had taken on the form of a Dragonborn. His body up to his shoulders looked like a human's, althought covered in bright yellow scales. His neck and head, however, were a very differnet matter. His head was extremely lizard-like, with snake tails as hair. His wings had also not completely vanished, althought they were much smaller now. He also had a smaller version of his tail. This Nolan was his undercover form, used to go into towns and cities without fuss. He opened the pouch on the front of the bronze plate which he had on his chest in Dragon form. It contained human clothes. A jet black tank top, baggy, sky blue jeans, and light grey canvas shoes. He slipped into his attire.

After a short time walking, Nolan stood in front of the main city gates. "Madone", the main entrance sign read. Nolan passed through the gates. Hopefully, he could get some information on the situation regarding the queen.

 

[Dwayna DragonFire]

((OOC: BDFun, I think you should read over some of the other RP posts in the forum to better understand the quality of posting we like here on Charms. I would appreciate it if you try to write more than one paragraph next time, to better describe your characters to the other RPers in this thread. Please and thank you.))

BIC:

The portal room was humongous, with no visible ceiling in sight. The large metal disks lined the walls, rows and columns of them expanding into the darkness. The mechanism for how they opened seemed simple enough - sophisticated levers brought the portals from their resting place down to the floor below.

Each portal seemed to have a unique pattern to it, which glowed with an ethereal white light when turned on. The ones that were turned on often had people going back and forth from them. The people in question were mostly humanoid, though a lot of them didn't look very human at all, looking to be combined with other animals if not completely the animal in question.

There were cat people, dog people, insect people, snake people - the list of variety seemed endless. The people that did look human often had strange colors of hair or pointed ears, like elves from fantasy. There was even a few dragon-like people amongst the large crowd.

What soon became the most prominent to the group of three that had just fallen through the portal was a metallic being descending towards them. The figure looked very feminine in design, large angelic-like wings spread out from her body that folded in before she touched the floor in front of them. All that stared back at them was a circular light in the center of the regal looking face as well as her chest, glowing with the same white light of the portals.

"Welcome to Terrater," said a mechanical female voice that seemed to belong to the being. "I am the Gatekeeper. Request for escort has already been sent. Identify yourselves."

---

The city of Madone was a large, sprawling city, possibly the largest on the planet. Buildings of differing construction laid within the cit gates, seeming to belong with one another even though there was no sense of unity with the theme - large skyscrapers laid next to medieval huts and everything else in between. There still seemed to be districts of sorts, all the shops in one place and all the homes in another.

Though the portal building towered into the heavens, the largest building was considered to be the royal castle. Seen as a great looming shadow from a distance, until one started to get closer, at which they would begin to see the real beauty. The colossal castle was emerald green in color, sparkling silver in the red light of the afternoon sun. The national flag was posted atop canopies, blowing proudly in the light wind that seemed to be mulling throughout the air that day.

The front gates were open, two seemingly statuesque figures standing outside. Anyone who had been here long enough would know these beings to be the Androids, and these particular two were not very talkative at all. They did not make a move towards the approaching Spirit Dragon, seemingly unphased by his entrance.

The mahogany doors beyond opened into the castle of their own accord, leading into a circular hallway, red carpet with gold trim lining the floor. The door directly in front of the entrance had a crown symbol on it, lighting up with a magic of its own before opening to let the dragon enter.

The throne room was quite large, silver-lit chandeliers descending from the ceiling. The throne was in the center, the emerald green eyes of the Queen watching the dragon intently from behind the rims of her glasses. Her brown locks of hair framed her pale peach face in an appealing way, looking decidedly human, save the cat-like slits for pupils. Two human guards stood beside her, and if one looked hard enough, they would see the outline of statues similar to the ones at the front gate lining the walls.

"Nolan," regarded Dwayna in a pleasant tone, a smile gracing her face. "What brings you to visit me today?"

 

[Dark Soul]

A lot had changed.

Looking back at his youth, Drake did not have many memories of his youth. He remembered a bright, hot and filthy atmosphere. Having to rob people in broad daylight. People who already had little. He would hurl his self at them from the rooftops, and hold them at gunpoint…

He opened the drawer and took out the one sole, remaining physical object from his youth. A Colt Python, a quite small firearm that seemed even smaller in his now larger hands. It hadn’t been used in many years now; A quick calculation told him it had been thirty years.

Drake looked out the window of his home office, a small room with a simple desk, a standard integrated metal desk spanning from wall to wall at the window, several large chrome-coloured shelves lining most of the other walls (Holding a bizarre mix of datacards, books and several other information-holding objects, both paper and electronics), and a couch, all standing on a floor of simple metal plates.. Blue and white light bars, integrated into the wall, lit the room. Needless to say, the room had space ship-y look, just how Drake had meant it to be. He had always had an affinity for science fiction, which was quite ironic going by the fact that he lived in a world full of it.

He looked at the right bottom side of the large screen in front of him, a thin touchscreen that was currently showing some new theories on genetics. Nowadays, science was improving at such a rate that Drake could barely keep up. It was 7:48 in the morning. Ajax was probably in the kitchen having breakfast right now, getting ready to go. Drake's stomach rumbled as he imagined the smell of his beloved wife's Hawaiian toast, with delicious ham and white bread. He logged off and the door slid open as he left.

---

To Ajax, few things in life were as good as his mother's toast.

Ajax Morrison always tried not to over-eat, because it'd saddle him up with so much energy, but it was very hard to stop himself from not eating as much Hawaiian toast as he could. Sitting on one of the bar seats at the table in the center of kitchen, he chugged down the last of his orange juice and looked at the clock; It was about time to go.

Just then, his father Drake entered. Dressed in a simple outfit consisting of jeans, a black leather belt and a white T-shirt, his father winked at him before giving a quick kiss to Rhian, as Ajax's mother was called. His dad was quite tall and muscled, though not overly muscled like Ajax, where his mother was a thin and quite petite due to being an elf. Whenever humans would ask him if it didn't feel odd to have a mother with pointed ears, he smugly answered that it felt rather weird to have a father with round ones.

'Hey Dad, I was just about to go.' Ajax said, pressing the gemstone at the center of his necklace and imagining a skateboard appearing in his free hand, and as always, it did. The gem was called bluebird, or in scientifical terms, Azurite-Cuprite. The necklace had been given to him at birth. He slung his backpack over his shoulders; The backpack contained his lunch, drinks, pocket money and some extra medicine, in case he ran out or lost the medicine he had in the small pocket connected to his belt, as well as some other simple gadgets.

'Alright, Ajax, I'll catch you later. Keep it cool!' His Dad said, which made Ajax feel kind of embarrassed even though nobody but him and his mom could hear him. Adults and popular talk just didn't combine, really.

Ajax Morrison was a Junior at Quintavius High, the main high school of Madone City, the capital of Terrater and where Ajax and his family lived. He didn't always enjoy school, but it was a good way to spend his days; Like his father, Ajax had a knack for learning. Biology and medical sciences intrigued him. It was nice to have some friends around as well, seeing as Ajax wasn't very good in making friends with someone, and to have people around to hold him back whenever he turned aggressive and such.

As soon as the elevator had reached the bottom floor, Ajax threw his skateboard in front of him and jumped on. Swiftly maneuvering around the people that had been waiting for the elevator to come down, he skated out of the building onto the sidewalk. The flat that Ajax lived in was uphill, and the school was downhill; So it wasn't exactly a long and tiring trip. It was dangerous from time to time though, seeing as the streets were often filled with persons of different races and a lot of them.

-Three hours later, Quintavius High-


‘What’s our next subject, Rey?’ Ajax asked his best friend, Rey. Reynald Hernandez was a pure human; A thin and tall guy with caramel-blonde hair and an everlasting smug smile, that was as much in his eyes as much as his mouth expressed it. He had always been Ajax best friend, an understanding and friendly person. He was also the only person with permission to knock out Ajax whenever he had an aggressive outburst that got out of hand; This had actually happened a couple of times.

‘Magical Training!’ Reynald said, grinning. ‘Just what I needed; Smashing a couple of heavy object to get rid of the daily frustrations.’ He continued. Ajax sniffed. ‘You really like bragging about your power, don’t you?’ Reynald winked at him. ‘I love the offensiveness of it. You can blend in, of course, which is awesome in its own right, but being able to wreak havoc like me? It's awesome! Why do you think I use them whenever I have the chance?'

Ajax had never felt particularly bad about his power. Sometimes, in public, the streets would be just too busy for him and he'd just melt in with a wall of sorts and relax with his music player carrying some soothing tones into his mind. It was also much easier to stay away from people he didn't like that way. Of course, he would've loved to have powers similar to Rey's, or to his Dad's- Who could shoot lightning from the palms of his hand- but it wouldn't have been a good thing in the slightest. If he'd have gotten mad with abilities like that at his disposal, he could kill dozens of people- At the very least.

Magical Training was never very interesting for him. Occasionaly, there'd be a special part for people with blending, invisibility or illusion powers like him, but other then that, he as usually stuck at the side watching the more powerful students do their regular training, along with resorting to being soft-dart target practice for those with telekinesis. They'd never managed to hit him.


'Right, then.' Ajax said, adjusting his backpack as they tried to make their way trough the halls, to the large concrete hall that was used for Magical Training. It was not actually a part of the school, because stuff got blown up a lot. 'Let's get going.'

~~~

Later that day, Reynald and Ajax followed their semi-regular routine of having lunch by the fountain in the main square. The busyness of the place was negated by the fact it was a large, wide-open and rather beautiful place. The fountain itself was covered in bright emerald scales that glittered in the sunlight, as a homage to the previous king- Dad had told him he'd actually been saved by said king, from a ruined world on which mankind originated- and the pavement around it had been laid in with shiny and colourful gems, varying from the size of a grape to slabs the size of a fully grown human.

It was cool.

They manouvered their way trough the crowd on their boards, careful not to hit anyone, in which they mostly succeeded. They got a couple of slanted looks nonetheless, but they'd never cared much for it. Most regular terrace-goers knew them by now and also knew they'd never purposely harm or annoy everyone. Their favourites were café owner Elise, a very bright and friendly woman who would occasionally dish out a free sandwich and bum Alfredo, to whom they would usually donate the sandwich in question in return for a story of 'the old times', of which both of them were pretty sure he made up half of.

They retrieved their boards, sat down and unpacked their lunch. It was sunny, but bearable- One of those days where you felt like nothing could go wrong.

So, naturally, something did.

(OOC; Of course something did.

 

[Pro765]

From before the beginning of time the angels walked the heavens. No, these were not the angels that would save or damn your soul - these were the angels that created all things at the beginning of time. They were the servants of The Source an enigmatic energy core to all things. They regarded The Source as alive and revered it as most revere gods.

Prophetear was one such angel, although his story was much too long and complicated as to even simplify it would take many years. It can be said that he was nearly destroyed by forces outside of reality and worked to recover from his weakened state. Though this might take forever to one's understanding, to him it was simply a week in the hospital.

Prophetear displayed a morbid curiosity with depression and often was found to reveal himself in a dream-like manner to those in question just before their passing. This habit was frowned upon by his brothers as it was seen as clear sign of favoritism.

Terrater was never really a place where Prophetear was drawn by fascination, mostly because it was rarely interesting. There were few wars, and even less corruption - the androids that kept it safe also guided the population to be almost without the nature of greed. The citizens rarely wanted for what was not already provided and most were content to live only by their needs - until recently. A recent force of corruption plagued all of the world sending death and destruction, fear and hatred to bring about total war. Even victorious Terrater was shaken by this sudden turmoil time of strife. Change was about to spin this peaceful place into a new shape and Prophetear would not miss that for all of the tea in China.

Prophetear was also looking for a new place for a long time friend of his to rest, since his last home was about to be destroyed. Prophetear was drawn to a city in Terrater called Madone and a young girls dream of the future. As it happened, Prophetear had the ability to enter ones dreams to communicate. This young girl had a unique gift to see possible futures as visions, and her current vision of a world engulfed in flames was of particular interest to Prophetear.

Prophetear appeared as a man in his early thirty's with long pure black hair and vibrant ocean blue eyes blending his fair skin, he smelt of roses and wore a dark Nordic over-coat with crow feathers bracing the shoulders. Around his neck was a small necklace with a blue sapphire shaped as a tear encased in silvered talons on a simple chain. There was also a sword at his hip but only the handle could be seen - it had a crows head with twilight gems for eyes for the pommel and black feather designs down the handle. He said nothing, just appeared beside her and gazed over the landscape in the same direction she was also gazing, although his expression was not of horror but simple fascination.

 

[Dwayna DragonFire]

Some would say that time heals all wounds, but those who had lived long enough might not agree with that saying. Humans usually lived a hundred years or so before dying, the others usually lived more, and on this planet there seemed to be a plethora of immortals - not the kind that could withstand any attack, but the kind that could not die of old age.

Merenwen, or Meren for short, was one of those immortals, but not by natural means. The short-haired blonde elf had lived far beyond the normal limit for her kind because of a device that had been made for her ages ago. It fused with her blood, making it arcane with all of the special ingredients that had combined together to make her live this long.

This had been both a blessing and a curse for Meren. The blessing laid wrapped around her head as a red bandana - the sign of her exploration prowess - at her sides as a sword and shield, and on her body as a suit of armor when she called it to her - all of which she had carefully crafted for herself. However, instead of the armor she was wearing a yellow tunic with a matching skirt, leather boots and gloves, and a red cape to match her bandana.

The curse laid in Meren's piercing blue eyes, a seemingly unending cold behind her gaze. The weight of several millenia of lost loved ones had long since taken their toll on the great paladin, leaving her to be mistrustful and generally cryptic towards almost anyone who crossed her path. Her usual life span of two hundred years seemed now a pittance to the actual time she had spent alive.

This knight was walking away from the Science and Religion sector of Madone towards the town square where the main park laid. She was not alone, however, another woman knight walking beside her. This one was foreboding in a completely different manner, a smile plastered on her face in a manner that would disconcert those who did not know her.

The other woman was named Aria, notorious for being an assassin and a Chaos Demon. Her long crimson hair wound its way around her pale peach face, glowing red eyes peering around at passersby. Her leather armor looked like it was stained with blood, with two sheathed daggers at her sides. Her feathery black wings were wrapped around her in such a way that they looked like a cloak of their own.

"... You should really stop bothering him," said Meren in her whimsical but stern tones. "He has enough trouble as it is, having forsaken his... master."

"But teasing him is so much fun," replied Aria in her usual sultry, amused voice. "It's not everyday you meet someone who calls God a dick, let alone an angel of his order."

Meren glared a little bit at Aria, who gave her a bit of a playful pout in reply before the smile came back on her face. They soon crossed the grass in front of the two boys enjoying their lunch, seemingly unaware of their presence there, at least at first. The ageless elf glanced at Ajax and stopped in her tracks, the demon girl comically falling into her backside - on purpose, no doubt, to embarrass her all the further that morning.

"Ajax, yes?" Meren asked him, "How fares Rhian?" It was common for elves to acknowledge each other, even with a simple nod from time to time. Because of her unique predicament, Rhian had spoken to Meren, so that she might speak to the Queen on her behalf. Ajax was the result of their hard work, even though it was... less natural than would be regularly approved of in elven culture.

---

A girl with pink hair was dreaming, her silvery eyes gazing at the burning landscape before her. Whether the dream was a vision of a possible future, or perhaps a past long forgotten was lost on her at the moment. The human seer was so close to figuring it out, so near to the edge, fighting her fears...

Elizabeth felt a sudden great calm wash over her that was hers but not hers. Her favourite smell of roses came to her nose and the dream became much more vivid. She turned her head and breathed in the softest of gasps, barely a whisper as her silver eyes met blue.

She woke from her slumber, a short glimpse of black wings appearing before they faded away, just as quickly as they had come. The same face stood there above her bed, hovering over her with familiarity. He was in one place to her, like the Androids, where she saw everyone else at their beginning and end as well as the present.

Elizabeth put on her glasses resolutely, looking at him more closely, her pink nightgown peeking from beneath the covers. He was not an Android, but he seemed so familiar to her, like she had seen him many times before. Realization hit her suddenly, a solemn look of sadness gracing her pale features.

"Have you come for me?" she asked Prophetear sorrowfully, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer. "I did not see my end so soon, so why are you here?"

 

[Dark Soul]

As the two friends sat near the glistening fountain, enjoying the sunlight and their sandwiches, he noticed two female figures advancing on their position. One was an elven paladin, and quite obviously so; Her armor shone in the light. The other one was from a race that was a bit of a rare sight around town- A Chaos Demon, more protagonistic than their name implied. This particular one had long scarlet strands, and stained leather armor.

The elven warrior with stark blue eyes suddenly halted in front of him and Reynald, the Demon she was with bumping into her in a strange fashion. The paladin completely ignored this and smiled at Ajax, eyeing him with friendly yet calculating eyes. 'Ajax, right?' Ajax nodded back at her. How did she know of him? Through his mother, perhaps? Ajax remembered being told he had been quite the news issue at birth, but that was sixteen years ago now.

'How fares Rhian?' She continued, proving his earlier theory. 'She's doing well. She's busy with her work as much as anyone, but still as brilliant in ever in taking care of me and Dad- Well, mostly Dad.' Ajax smiled. He noticed the look on Rey's face had gone from basic interest to teenage admiration- To put it lightly- And knowing elven women really disliked being ogled like that, he nonchalantly nudged Rey in his side. Rey cleared his troath as if to say something, then just grabbed the plastic wrappers their lunch had been in and went over to the bin to throw them away.

That was the funny thing about Rey; He was almost never stumped, unless females were involved.

Just as he was about to ask the elven woman her name, he heard some yelling and looked back over. Apparently, Rey had bumped into someone or done something similar, aggravating a rather burly man with flaming- Literally flaming- hair. Ajax was pretty sure Rey could handle it himself, but he excused himself for a bit to check on him anyway.

'Oh, so now yer gonna team up on me? Are ya chicken?' The tall fire elemental snarled, glaring at the two boys whilst cracking his knuckles. Reynald looked very vigilant, a look that Ajax recognized from whenever he got angry. This man was just about ready to start a fight just for the heck of starting a fight.

'Look, I'm sorry I stepped on your foot! Can you just leave us alone?' Rey called out, frustrated. 'I'm having none of it!' The man retorted, and with lightning speed, launched an almost soundwave-like attack in the form of a blast of hot air from his mouth, knocking back both Rey and Ajax into a terrace table.

Ajax was the first to be back on his feet again.

Oh no you didn't.

 

[Pro765]

"Fear not, child." Prophetear said with a calming voice, also familiar to her as almost a distant memory of a pleasing voice. "I am not here for you, but you are the one who has brought me here, and for that I must thank you." Prophetear continued.

Prophetear's eyes never leave hers, as if lost in search for something deep within them, also evidence that her sleeping night-gown had not attracted this mans attention. His features were unchanging, as if dust could not settle on his skin or , the subtle shifts of light only displaced the shadows around him, almost as if he was not allowing them to obscure his features from her.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am called Prophetear. I am a poet, philosopher, writer and scholar. My work sometimes takes me to the far reaches of the deepest dreams and desires of the living, for this is the focus of my work." His introduction seemed shorter then his body language displayed, as he spoke with subtle motions displaying great age and awareness, yet his words were bare and not creative - as would be suggested by his presence.

Prophetear waited politely for the response to his introduction, as he often found that those he met always had many questions for him - most of which he could not answer. But he always had an answer, even if they did not fully understand it.

 

[Dwayna DragonFire]

"She's doing well," replied the boy. "She's busy with her work as much as anyone, but still as brilliant in ever in taking care of me and Dad- Well, mostly Dad." A curious statement to make, but in her experience, Meren had learned not to think anything of the things people said to her. She was a soldier of Terrater and a never-failing paladin of her elven god, who still heard her prayers even here.

The other boys glance did not escape her, but she was perhaps the only elf that didn't mind. Perhaps it was the fact that she knew he was no threat to her, or perhaps it was merely the eons getting to her. Meren was not offended, for she knew that elves were considered a beautiful race. Those types of stares were more like little compliments for her, as if to let her know that even after all the years past, she still had some charm - even though physically she had not aged since she was a hundred.

A hundred seemed like little more than a minute compared to her actual lifespan, but those thoughts were less than important. The other boy, the one she did not know, had accidentally provoked a fire elemental. The man in question did something akin to a shout, which knocked both boys on their feet. Of course, when she looked beside her, the demoness was grinning from ear to ear, and some of her teeth had turned noticeably pointy.

"Can I take this one?" asked Aria eagerly, her hands wandering towards her blades. "Or shall you?" The glowing red eyes met hers, sparks of passion flowing out of them and seemingly also into her. Long since the shivers should have stopped, but there was a different reason they now ran down her spine.

"You may take this one," said Meren resolutely, "But you must do it with a civil head on your shoulders." Aria's smile faded slightly, but there was still a bit of an amused smirk, as if she knew this would come to pass. The demoness let go of her blades and instead walked towards the fire elemental in question, a swerve in her hips that would make any weak-willed man turn an eye.

"You know," began Aria, her voice turning liquid seduction, "These are just children. I'm sure they meant nothing by their disturbance. Still, your little outburst might be seen as an act of aggression. As a knight, I have the authority to take you in... The penalty for such things could be at least a month in jail, maybe more. Would you really want that, over a simple misunderstanding?" The demoness was slowly circling the man all the while, trying to keep his attention on her.

"If you get more aggressive, I do hope you paid attention in history," she said, motioning towards her elven comrade. "This is none other than Merenwen Falassion, the greatest explorer since the Age of Obsidian. If that's so, she was born before even Orn... our last great king. So perhaps you best watch yourself and apologize, lest you incur her wrath... and mine." Aria's eyes turned pure fire at that statement, her teeth turning to rows of fangs before changing back to their original beauty.

"Apologize now," she finished, "And you'll spend only a week in jail. After all, such actions still deserve some form of punishment."

---

Elizabeth furrowed her brow in confusion, for more reason than one. She knew what he was, who he was, and yet... He had not come to take her, it was not her time, but she had still brought him here? He introduced himself as Prophetear, and told of his supposed occupation.

"You call yourself a poet, and say that the desires of the living are the focus of your work," she replied, "But I know your other job. It confuses me why you would visit me if not to do that job." She looked at him with her silvery eyes, but all she saw within those eyes was a dark cavern of nothingness.

"I should expect nothing less, from Death," she muttered with a sigh. "I am Elizabeth Aelo, but I suppose you already know that. Tell me, why are you here now, if not to take me? You say I have brought you here, but if I had, it was not consciously. Does it have something to do with the vision I was having, for that is the only way I now dream?"

A little bit self-conscious - even if he seemed disinterested - Elizabeth touched the pendant on the collar around her neck. In a flash, she was wearing a pink dress with black details around the edges and waistline. It was one of her regular dresses, given to her by her Mistress, whose mansion she now resided in. She waited for his reply, her gaze unending as some of her visions seemed to be.