Ethstar muttered random curses under his breath, trying to get out of the blasted marsh. He had actually got himself out of one, and then proceeded to dance right into another. This one seemed darker though, a little more twisted... And he couldn't see a bloody finger in front of his own bloody face. Staring uncertainly into the blackness that was spread out before him, he pondered his options. Go back into the knee-deep mud with the Hauntwood marsh, or enter into this new place where he could possibly be mangled by some type of monstrous creature. He let loose a sigh. It was a very hard choice. He was guessing that since he, an angel, couldn't see into the darkness, no other creature on the face of this inferior plane could possibly see in the darkness either. But then again, since he was an Angel, he wasn't very used to darkness.

In the plane he had lived in, the Celestial world, hardly any darkness could be found. He himself had never actually seen it very long. Most angels seemed to radiate light, but he himself had lost that glow once he had lost his stature in the plane. He was guessing it had left when they had drained all but the basics of basic spells from his being. He nearly cursed again, recalling the memory. They, the memories, seemed to be popping up all too much recently, and it had started right after he had met that woman... That interesting being...

Letting loose another sigh, he took a look around, wondering what to do. He had never been in a situation like this before. Straining his ears, he tried to identify the sounds echoing throughout the place, hoping they would give him some kind of a hint. The howl of the wind, the brush of the tendrils against leaves... the crumbling of dying grass underneath a foot...

Ethstar blinked, taking a step back from the edge of the darkness. Something was in there.

Ethstar was about six feet in height, although most of his slim body was covered in a cloak. The black material went from the neck down to the ankles of muddy leather boots, hiding his banded muscles, hiding his dark underclothes, and most importantly... hiding the folded wings on his back. His eyes were a whitish-blue, wide and completely childish. His face radiated utter beauty, an awe striking feature that was common to all angels. On his left hip, hidden behind the layers of cloak, a common long sword hung, his weapon of choice. Muttering something under his breath, Ethstar took the step forward that he had lost, sliding his right hand across his chest, to his hip to grasp the leather-wrapped hilt. He felt a cold comfort holding onto the weapon, for it had been the one thing he could rely on throughout all of the hard years. Even when his magic had been stripped from him, he had still had this blade. They had not been able to take this away from him.

Listening again, he tried to pierce the darkness with his eyes, still not completely ready to venture into that forsaken forest. He tried to locate any more signs of another living being, but nothing presented itself to his ears. Perhaps it had just been the wind, playing evil tricks on his mind? He took a step forward, letting his foot venture into the thick blackness. The other shadows he had seen hadn’t been like this. They hadn’t been as dark. It confused him, he couldn’t comprehend different levels of darkness. Wasn’t one shade of black just the same as another shade of black? He had once thought so, but this newfound level of shadow was starting to convince him otherwise.

With a glance down toward the area his blade hung, he was starting to wonder what good it would possibly do him.

The darkness was no surprise to the female –she had raised her self in shadow in her palace home. The grass crunched lightly underneath the tight leather boots, smashing into the mudded ground in small noises. She did not smile, she did not speak, nor did she show any sign of emotion on her face. She had been raised that way, and she could truthfully not refuse the power to do as she had once raised herself to learn.

She could not see clearly in the darkness, but she had long learned to rely on her other senses to guide her when in darkness that seemed to surpass things she had seen in the past. Her secret…Her High Mage’s…Her…No, she would not think more on the fact, for it would only draw a longing of home into her, and that would lead into nothing that would be good for the female Necromancer, practitioner of the Death Magic, and assassin, so she threw it from her mind as she thought again.

The black leather rangers cloak held against her form, tightened at the clasp around her collarbone. Although one would not see underneath this cloak, she wore he usual attire: A set of black Ninja garbs, with two silver bracers at her wrist to pin it down to her flesh, and the ends of her leggings tucked carefully into the boot edges, the garbs loose and free flowing on her body. Her black hair was braided back into two braids, hanging loosely down her back as she moved.

A scimitar was belted at her own hip, the hilt wrapped in a dark leather material, the blade resonating with beautiful and un-for-told power. It was a blade of flame, and she had used it on many occasions to kill. Spells ran through her mind, unconsciously of course, and she found she could remember a new one…It created a claw with shadow or shade, and she could use it as an extension of her own arm and hand. It was a powerful spell, one of the few she had learned years after she had began to study.

Another sound flicked through her ears, and their elven points fidgeted. She stood straight, her pale and thin fingers rested on the hilt of the scimitar of flame, and she moved cautiously now. She would not speak, this she was sure of, but she definitely would wait, and so she crouched lower, and watched for anyone…

Blinking rapidly, Ethstar made yet another vain attempt to push at the darkness with his eyes. It was as if he was hoping to break the shadows with his eyes, to cast them away so he could see his path once again. For a few moments, he simply focused, basically glaring at the forest of darkness for seconds on end. While he stared, memories started to flow throughout his mind, activated by this new kind of night. It was nothing voluntary on his part, but a cruel trick that his mind decided to spring on him once again.

His brother had always been interested with the Night. He had studied it in books for hours on end, reading about the stars, and the moon, the endless shadow... he had also babbled about something known as the Shadow plane, which Ethstar had actually heard of. The obsession with things of darkness and shadow had suddenly started up, coming from nowhere. Secretly, Ethstar was sure it had something to do with that woman he had been going around with. She had been a pretty woman, with black hair and interesting eyes...

Muttering a curse, Ethstar snapped from the unsafe memory, his eyes narrowing as he realized he was delving back into the past again. Shaking his head slightly, the gentle look on his beautiful face nearly slipped from existance. The memories were something he HAD to leave behind, and now they were popping up quite often. Muttering ANOTHER curse, he tried to pull his focus back to the edge of the forest in front of him. Managing to push the old thoughts from his mind, and replace them with questions on the forest, he concentrated.

Nothing. The sound had faded away, and all that was left was an interesting silence. With a sigh, Ethstar cast anohte glance at the area of his cloak that held the longsword in hidden reserve. He still doubted how well it would do. With a great sigh of discomfort, the Fallen Angel stepped into the darkness. And with the luck of the God's, stepped on a pile of branches, sending several loud snaps echoing through the wood.

With a growl, he hopped back into the border, his eyes glaring at the area he had managed to set off. Of course he would pick the WORST location to place his foot at. Muttering under his breath, probably more curses, he tried to calm himself down. No sounds were coming from the trees anymore, so it was likely he had no reason to be so edgy, and it was also likely he had no reason to move with any sort of stealth. A look of uneasy settled onto Ethstar's features, and he took a hesitant step into the forest, then another. Slowly but surely. He already had two feet in, what an accomplishment!

The loud noise rummaged through the female’s ears, and as she stood gracefully in her crouched position, she did not move. Someone was close…very close…and that sound had only added on to her original suspicions. Her eyes remained watchful, and she shifted them slightly, carefully, and calmly, only to find nothing more but shadows. She could not see any farther then she was looking now, and as she slowly moved, she saw the shadowy figure of a man.

She did not advance, nor did she intend to, but carefully studied as her continued to walk. He seemed no immediate threat to the female, and therefore she would not look upon him as one until she felt she needed to. Carefully, slowly, cautiously, she advanced more, and each time the man moved, she followed closely behind until she stood calmly, and announced her presence, her left hand never leaving the hilt of her flame scimitar.

This enchanted blade grew with power, and as she sent out a single sliver of her magic, forcing the blade to simmer down. Her magic extended coldly, forcing all to create a barrier against the sword, forcing it to think twice before it summoned its magic once again. She drew the blade quietly, and took this chance to move now, jumping above the swamp water as she landed carefully behind the hand in a splash. She posted the blade’s tip to his neck, and smiled in retreat as she looked coldly at his head.

Speak now, man…Why are you here?


{I know, Really crappy}

Feeling a bit more at ease now that he had taken a few steps, he stopped for a moment to gather his nerves. That had been flung in every direction when the fear had overtaken him, but now he was feeling a little bit better. Taking a deep breath, and giving himself mental commands to calm down, he took another step forward. His eyes were still poking at the darkness, trying to pierce it. He could make out odd shapes here and there, but that was really about it. And those particular odd shapes were only a few feet from his position. Squinting slightly, he took a wild guess and labeled the twisted objects as some kind of trees. Nearly ready to take another step forward, that is when his ears picked up the small splashing sound coming from behind him. In a blur of speed, he twisted to see what it was, but only got to about half-way when he finally felt the blade tip brush his skin. Freezing in his position, he was looking at his mystery attacker sideways. For a few moments after he heard her speak, he let silence fall across the area.
The he actually smiled.

He was pinned and in danger, but for some reason, he was confident. The fact that when one had a blade pressed this close... it was completely too late to feel most emotions, and have any use for them. Confidence or cowardice were the only options left, and he had never shown the second. And anyway... his eyes were changing. And with the changing of the blue orbs, a changing of personality came along with it.

The pupils dilated to mere pricks, the color thinned to a mere centimeter around the pupil. The left side of his face was facing her, so it was the left eye that gazed at her with intensity. Not that she would be able to see it, for the darkness. Or perhaps she could, he really didn't know. At least she wasn't a blasted Celestial, that was clear enough to see. And she was a female. The gentle curves were plain this close up, so he was at least aware of that one fact. His voice came out, slightly wary, yet cold. He changed alot when he was threatened, or angry, or simply in certain moods. And at the moment, he was feeling threatened. No matter how confident he was in his own abilities... a blade against the neck was threatening. "I wandered in. I would rather not backtrack into the OTHER blasted swamp." Blinking, he eyed her while speaking, and didn't even slow down his words after answering her initial question. Actually, his voice changed. To slightly... confident, which replaced the wary.

"Why do you have this blade up against my neck? If you wanted to kill me, I likely wouldn't be standing here right now. Perhaps you are afraid of me, and therefore you threaten me so I will not attack you. And you have no real reason to try and intimidate me, unless you simply have fun doing such things." The smile on his face grew, actually quite sadistic now. "If that last thing is true... Then you should at least draw a little blood." Perhaps he was now trying to intimidate her, or perhaps it truly was a sadistic moment. He had them every now and then, especially in this particular mood. Normally, he would have been quite cautious with the blade so near his throat. But that woman... the other one... she had a strange effect on him.“It makes it so much more fun.”

(Nah, you are fine. I didn't give you much room to work.)

This strange man seemed to take on a more sadistic tone that sounded like a harsh whisper as the blade was pressed firmly to his back. Another smile flickered upon her pale, thin lips as she calmly absorbed the words the man spoke. Of course, this man was a strange on indeed. Magic seemed to be weaving throughout his body, infusing him with some strange sense of power. Of course, the female read this part of his bloodline easily, for her magic was just as strong –or possibly stronger- then this mans, and therefore the spell she cast allowed little lee-way on her control. She seemed to enjoy using magic too much, though often she found her magic spiraling out of her control, and though she was happy the simple spells such as this one were never far out of her grasp –if they were, she feared she would never become a Spell Weaver.

The laugh that she let escape her lips after the words of the man shadowed over his last phrase so she heard nothing her spoke after that. The echoing laugh seemed to harshly bounce around this swamp so it seemed she would not be able to control the magic she therefore wished. She smiled softly, her hands flexing around the flaming scimitar that seemed to roll gently in her palm. Swiftly, the female spoke aloud, opening her lips so that they moved too swift for this man to see if he could see through the darkness through magical means. She was not entirely sure, for she had never dealt with someone with some strange senses about him, but she assumed he was in possession of some strange magic as well.

Dearest Man, if I wished you dead, the blade would not be against your neck and your body would be at my feet while I stood in triumph, and it is not, is it? If I was in any way intimidated by you, I would have killed you, which reverts back to reason one. If I had little more use then curiousness, then you would be dead as well, leading back to both reason one and two.

She smiled the same malicious smirk that always generally adorned her lips, ivory teeth sparkling and dazzling if the man could see her. Her skin was slightly tanned with travel during the day, her jet black locks of raven cascading down her back, the flesh blocked by tight fitting black cloth garbs as she stared at the man in her general gaze. Her glacier like orbs, flecked with gold, seemed to be cold when one was gazed at, and most wished to let her kill them before they thought of looking into her eyes, for looking into her eyes was a definite death for most. The malicious smile seemed to dazzle, a gleam running behind her orbs as she gazed at the man –and then slipped the scimitar back into its sheath with another serious smirk, a quirk running in her brow.

The blade was to your flesh because I wanted to put it there.

He half-way turned after she removed the blade, his own confident smirk still implanted, matching hers. Every emotion that ran behind her eyes, his own eyes woul dgive a glimmer in response, flickering brightly without the aid of a light. Strange and deep eyes, ones that held mystery and fear in the palm of their hands. His lips slowly opened as if he was to speak, but he held his tongue for a few more moments. Instead, he simply watched her for a moment, imprinting her features into memories. Once again though, the shadows of this strange place were messing with his sight, so he could only make out a few features. He was close enough to tell that she was indeed a girl, yet that made no difference to him. In his time back in the Legion, he had learned that there were women who could use him to mop the floor with. Gender was not anything that made a fighter stronger then another. No, the thing that defined fighter from fighter was the amount of skill that was held within the passion.

“If I remember correctly, I had already thrown aside the possiblity that you wanted me dead. But...” His eyes danced down to her hip, where the flame scimatar had gone out, presumably from being sheathed. “Are you sure it is all that wise to sheath your blade? Is it a show of confidence, or a show of stupidy?” The smile on his face remained as erie as ever, and he took a step closer to her, prepared for movement if she tried to bring her blade around to bare. “Not that I am calling you stupid. No, that is for you to prove.” It was. He never presumed much about people, and he rarely insulted them without good reason. One of those “good” reasons could be the fact that he didn’t like them, but so far, he was comfortable with the girl. She was like him, or, at least half of him.

With that, he let a short burst of wind fly from his lips in a whistling fashion, and called upon the magic held within the blade as his side. The mere and slight rustle of wind suddenly curved around, soon twisting around the Fallen’s head in a tornado type of manner. His long black bangs ruffled voilently with the action, but he seemed not to care. After a few more moments of matching gazes with the girl, he turned so his back was to her again, and sent the gust of wind slashing off directly in front of him. He heard a loud slapping sound as the mighty gust voilently smacked into some tree trunks, and he let out a sigh. He had been checking to see if it was a mere swamp with a few straggling trees, or a swampy forest with thick trees. The latter was in the right. He had even more to worry about now, like if he was to get through this blasted area without slamming into a tree that the darkness was hiding from him. He let loose yet another sigh and turned his head back toward the girl, gazing at her sideways.

“Sorry, I am prone to checking my path before I walk into something. I like to do it the interesting way too. Are you here for a reason that you would tell me, or simply around just to try and scare helpless men like me?” His voice held a tone of light challenge, mixed with a little teasing. He was indeed comfortable around her. Which would probably strike quite a few as odd.