Ethstar sat calmly on a log, his eyes distant as dusk fell around him. Several trees were surrounding his form, their large and dark shadows spider webbing across the area as the sun slowly fell from the sky. He nearly smiled as one of the dark veils touched at his foot, the retreating orb of light giving the shadow strength needed to reach out this far. He didn't flitch away from the grasp, but instead welcomed it with pleasure. He had once been a person who delved within shadows, and made his job within shadows. That had been his life, but even that had been ripped away from him once he had fallen. Sighing deeply to himself, he pulled his eyes away from the tree's shadow to look at the sky. Clouds of purple, and a sky of orange greeted his blue eyes, further prove the sun was indeed clearing the way for the night to take over. Staring at the beautiful sky for a few more moments, he let loose another sigh and slipped his gaze down to regard the strengthen shadows once more.

He was a tall man, about six feet or so in height. He was sitting at the moment though, so his tall nature couldn't really be detected. Very light blue eyes stared out from behind a blanket of pure black bangs, keeping his gaze partially obscured and partially hidden. A black cloak hid his body from the neck down to leather boots, giving him a somewhat obvious air of mystery. His Angel wings were shape shifted into his back, just for in case someone stumbled upon his resting place. His back was aching a little though, duly noted as he had craned his neck to look back down from the sky. He slowly closed his eyes, letting a soft gust of air escape from between his lips as he did so.

"Hey. Pretty boy." His eyes snapped open, and his lips curved into a snarl as he looked to the left, where the voice had came from. His beautiful face now radiated pure anger, and his eyes flashed with rage. An angel stood to the left of Ethstar, arms calmly folded across his chest. He was wearing a amazing breastplate of pure silver, and regular brown britches. A sheathed longsword hung at his left hip, the hilt and blade silver as well. No hair stood atop the head of the seven foot giant, who had tight muscles cording all over his body, quite seeable on his arms and through the fabric on his legs. Pure eyes of white fire flashed at Ethstar. Who, of course, was reacting to the Celestial with a pure look of rage in his features.

Ethstar himself slowly stood, the cloak gently falling around him as his eyes remained on the holy being. Something changed though, something horrifying racked that gaze from the core. The pupils dilated to pinpricks, and the color thinned to a mere ring. In one second worth of time, the eyes had brutally changed to raging; to now intense, intimidating, sadistic, and raging. The other angel blinked, now looking a little less sure of himself. He had heard stories of those eyes, and had been warned of the man... but he hadn't really taken them to heart. It was only one fallen Angel, with all of his powers ripped from him.

But still. He had never seen eyes like that.

The owner of the intense eyes slowly spoke, his voice low and threatening, the snarl still filling his lips. "You come to kill me?" The Angel opened his mouth, ready to fling out an answer. Ethstar didn't even give him time, just kept right on going, his voice even deadlier. "Better bring the Legion next time."

Nighttime was her favourite time to be out and prowling, hunting and taking advantage of all the pathetic fiirya in the world who were careless. She could get rich off of them, and gaily tear apart their hearts and walk without looking back as their dying screams echoed in the alley. She could use and manipulate them like little puppets, sending them to their own deaths to make her ends meet. And it wasn't just the fiirya, the humans, that she did this to. All manner of creatures who were naive and imbecilic too. Tonight, it looked, as Tamris lay on her back in a tree, with her hands folded under her head and eyes closed, it looked as if this young little angel would have his share of her misdeeds. The crimson light spilled over her, cut into spears by the leaves of the trees. It was a fitting, if not an extremely eerie atmosphere.

He had indeed been a young one, and Tamris had gotten to him too easily. She lay not far off from the encountre, awaiting what would more or less be the pretty creature's last words. It didn't bother her that she sent him to his death, for where one died, she lived. And that was all that mattered, really. Oh, yes, Tamris answered Ethstar with her own thoughts. A legion will soon be coming. Her mental voice laughed and a smile formed on the ghostly lips of the pale half moon elf.

Her smile broadened further as she heard the celestial one's reply to all this. The syllables shook as if disturbed by an earthquake or something... surely the boy had more wits about him than this. But it would be good to see what the other could be driven to. His name was Ethstar Solther, the villagers had told her that much. From what else they had said amidst their mumblings and fake accents she had learned that he called himself a spell sword. Whatever in the abyss that was, Tamris didn't care to know. She had heard of them, but had never the interest to discover exactly what one was.

"A legion? Come on, aren't you made of tougher stuff than that? I was about to bring an entire army!" A quick grin and a smart aleck reply. Of course.

At this, however, Tamris' obsidian eyes snapped open and she put one hand over her face. That idiot! She clawed at the loose strands of the silky, smokey hair that blew up from the faint breezes. Now she WOULD have to intervene. The assassin had been hoping to gain a little more information BEFORE her puppet ended up dead. She let out a deep but silent sigh as her hand fell from her face, eyes once more closed. Quite suddenly they opened once more and the half-elf rolled off the branch of the tree, plummeting to the floor below. She landed amongst the ferns with nothing less than silence. Her boots pressed into the earth and so did her hand as she balanced herself, but it was done without sound. Tamris' black hair spilled down over her shoulders. Now it almost fully hid Quicksilver, which had been strapped to her back.

She crept through the underbrush, pushing it aside. Her silver-grey eyes cut through the darkness with apparent ease and she saw the two figures. One, her little angel, and the other a tall man who had the air of magic all around him. He must be Ethstar, she decided, for there was no one else to which to place a name. She would have to do something, for now her puppet of an angel boy was chattering about something else; probably giving out reasons as to why he didn't need a legion. She had almost had enough with this. And it had just started.

Tamris turned her head and listened carefully. "Now don't tell me you're thinking of killing an angel." The celestial shook his head as if it were a tragedy that Ethstar thought this. There still remained a definite trace of uncertainty in his voice. "I'm sure you don't the gods added to the list of people seeking your death."

Now THAT was an interesting peace of information... although she still had no way to verify it. Verification was always a good thing... bad stuff happened when people acted on unconfirmed truths that turned out to be lies. She must know, the natural curiosity of her human side drove the instinct. She must. Tamris crept forward even further, hugging the shadows, seeking whatever droplets of information could be there.

Eying the Angel before him with barely contained rage, he simply ignored all the prideful words the fool was managing to spit out. The eyes of Ethstar were like dark thunderclouds, ready to unleash a fury unlike no other upon the idiot who stood in front of him. Underneath the dark veil of black that hid his weapons, that hid his tightly banded muscles, and tightly clenched fists... one of those hands would slowly move, ever so slowly inching toward the sheathed hilt of a hidden longsword. The intense eyes would still stare however, locked onto the holy eyes of the Celestial being in front of him. One step was taken toward the young angel, perhaps to be used as an intimidation tactic. The angel did not move and inch, yet the uncertainty on his face was evidence enough of the emotions that were racking through his meager mind. He spoke of Ethstar's plan to kill him, an angel, and then he spit out meaningless words of the wrath of God's.

And once again, the angel was labeled a fool within the dark crevice of Ethstar's mind. A short and rough laugh was barked out from between Ethstar's lips, his voice soon coming out with a rough and ragged tone to it. "If the God's would have cared, they would have stopped me a long time ago." At the puzzled expression that crossed the Celestial's face, Ethstar let out another laugh. He took another step, the rage still extremely obvious all over his beautiful features. "Didn't they tell you? Of course not, you are too headstrong to research your opponent whatsoever. You just wanted to kill me, to get the glory for bringing me down. You are young, and brash Celestial." He took another step forward, and firmly wrapped his right hand digits around the hilt of his blade. Slowly, as so the Celestial would not detect any of his movement, he would bring his left hand down to wrap around the hilt of a SECOND blade, sheathed in a leather scabbard directly underneath the very first. And at this, the unique weapons that had recently been obtained would work their magic.

Whispers. Cold and empty whispers, haunting as the howl of several ghosts. They would come from everywhere at once, prying within the ears of everyone within a specific radius. The effect would only be obtained the minute Ethstar took both hilts in both hands, and it would last until those hands were removed. Ethstar stared straight ahead at the young angel, quite used to the horrifying whispers that were plaguing the area. But the young one was starting to show even more signs of his nervousness, his eyes darting around frantically to find the source of the noises. He would never accomplish that though. For the source was within the two blades, even though Ethstar was unaware. Without a sound, the two hidden blades would be pulled from their rest, and brought out to be seen by all.

"I have killed Angels before, you will be just one more. I was an assassin my friend, and I was an assassin for the leader of my legion. I did my duty, and did what I was told to the best of my abilities. And I was rewarded with betrayal." With a somewhat awkward spin of the hilt, proving that Ethstar was not yet used to the blades, he set them in their positions. Two steel arm blades, which were basically steel blades with a hilt set into the side of the objects about 3/4ths of the way up. They were held so that the long side went down the outside of the arm to the shoulder, and the short side went up past the fist. Quite interesting weapons, but Ethstar liked them. For reasons he could not explain. The Celestial was starting to look much less sure of himself, not even bothering to spit back a retort for Ethstar's words. As a matter of fact, the stupid young one was still searching for the whisperers.

A beautiful smile crossed the face of the Fallen angel, even though ultimate rage was dancing across every inch of his skin. It was a horrifying rage, for the thunderclouds that had been in his eyes were now breaking loose. His voice came out calm and cold though, not at all matching the emotions his heart and soul were going through. "And through other events, that brings us to this specific moment in time. Come. Let me show you why I was named as the Angel Bane." With this, he sprung unto movement. His movements were completely different this time around, the full ability of his angelic nature, and his fighting style revealed. For when he started his pace toward the Celestial, he didn't quite "move". It was as if he swayed. It was like a beautiful dance, a graceful bundle of movements that utterly completed the natural beauty of the Fallen Angel. He simply sped toward the Celestial, who was now fumbling for his longsword, still obviously unnerved by all of the strange events. The young Angel had not been ready for Ethstar's burst of movement at all, for he had been too distracted by the sounds coming in from all around him. With a great roar of rage, he brought his right fist out in a sweeping arc, aiming for a punch. If the hit indeed landed, the knuckles would not be the real threat. The short end of the arm blades would stab through the man's cheek, impaling itself into the unlucky creature. The other armblade, the one on the left, it would be held out horizontally in front of Ethstar's chest, ready to block or dart in for a follow-up attack.

Tamris watched the scene with a somewhat grotesque interest in it all. Her eyes soaked up every movement of her quarry, while her ears registered and deciphered the words and all other senses filled in the missing gaps of information. This scene was a well of knowledge for one such as the assassin, and she gladly watched it, grateful that she had chosen to simply not just approach the fallen angel with the usual bold and reckless attitude that she usually had. The assassin rocked back on her heels, letting herself sink into the fragile earth. Yes, by the way he had reacted to this sudden intrusion, Tamris found herself very grateful to the rare foresight that had graced the half-elf.

But the meeting, she had passively decided as she observed from her hiding place in the bush, the meeting itself wasn't going so well. She might have done better to pick a more suitable puppet. This angel was brash, thick headed and slow... despite his smart aleck responses and impudent attitude. It truly was pathetic. She wouldn't be sad to see him die, or feel guilty knowing that his blood might very well be on her hands. That sort of guilt trip didn't work with the assassin... not anymore at least. It had been laid upon her countless times, and now it worked as if it were venom that had grown weak against her immune system. Very weak. It was only an uncomfortable prick that lasted for a second or two.

Now a strange thing had happened. Tamris had not once taken her eyes off the scene, but she knew that with her thoughts she had not been focusing. And she had consequently missed something. Annoyed at herself she refocused. His movements were swift and beautiful. He showed more grace than he should have, Tamris supposed... but she also supposed it was his half-angelic heritage. First he had drawn his blades, and her eyes devoured the site. She had known they were there, for two swords upon one another was a bulky thing to carry around. They were nothing special, she didn't think. Arm blades, and his inept fingering informed her that he was not used to the weapons. They were rare, she knew, for she hadn't run into them very often. Still, Tamris considered that a plus for her when her opponent did not fight in his proficiency category.

Once did the assassin's ears register the whispering, but she thought nothing of it. They were not a threat, yet, and thus were dismissed from her mind. Yes, her mind had been almost shouting an answer. Let us see why you are called the Angel Bane! It would be intriguing knowledge to gain.

She would have to do something. Her mind went back to scheming as she saw the eerily fluid movements... movements too fluid for any mortal, even her... and there had been times when people had considered her a goddess for her grace. But now this... this was a sight to behold; she had never seen anything quite like it. (She'd never seen an angel die either, but we'll not get into that.) A crisp smirk formed on her lips as the angelic puppet fumbled with his own blade to counter the attack. He'd never make it; he'd be fish bait first. Her white fingers laced behind her back and slipped Quicksilver from its black sheathe.

All at once three things happened: Tamris leapt into the air, thrusting herself up with some unearthly strength. She blinked in midair and when she reappeared Quicksilver swung in a blinding white blur and with an almost perfect arc. It clashed with the out stretched blade, but she didn't know what it would do for she was moving so fast. It might have had no impact, it might have meant life and death, but one way or another, her angel puppet had drawn his own sword... finally... and now sought to end the fallen one's life. She had barely begun her descent back to earth as she blinked once more, disappearing into air as if she had never been there... or if she had been naught but an apparition. But her attack (or defence... for what... her angel that was bound to die??) was real enough.

(No one really ever questioned why the half-elf did things. She just did them. And usually without thinking too.)

Tamris shot back into the underbrush again, as if she were a black rabbit fleeing from the hunter. Quicksilver disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. She glanced once behind her before bounding into the safety of the shadows, quite confident that he would not catch up to her. And if he did... well... that was a different story, one that Tamris did not like thinking about the least bit.

(( o.O;; *is clearly out of it* ))

Quite easily, he could remember all of the kills he had made, all the memories flashing before his maddening blue eyes in the instant that it took his blade to cross the distance between himself and the man's jaw. So many points in his life where he had done about the same thing, except with a silver longsword instead of these strange yet intoxicating weapons of power.

The Angel never saw him coming. Every step he took was as silent as death, while every motion he made was undetectable. Cleaning his sword, the Celestial with his back turned would never know the man who was about to kill him. With deadly effieciency, Ethstar sent his longsword into a silent and sweeping arc. The sharpness of the blade cleanly cut through the Angel's neck, sending his head flying from where it had once rested. It had been a simple task, as he had known. He stared quietly at the lifeless body, his eyes intense orbs of ice. Fallen scum were popping up more and more often, and had to be dealt with even quicker then they had before. It was a bloody job, but he felt proud for it. He was keeping the Legion free of the black taint of evil, and that was all he had ever wanted to do. Keep the peace, and continue to be the Celestial that everyone could be proud of.
And then he was snapped out of his thoughts, a sudden being blurring into existance from the brush to his side. He barely caught it out of the corner of his eye. A flash of movement. And that was it.

He blinked, and his eyes widened. That was the only thing that seemed to register the suprise that was blasting throughout his mind. Something came between his arcing blade, pausing it in it's path. A long and metallic ring would prove that something very real and very solid had collided with the object, but Ethstar did not have time to think about that fact right now. With his right blade hovering in the air and to be held motionless a bit longer as a result of Ethstar's shocked state, the other Angel had managed to pull out his long sword and hold it firmly at the ready. Faintly, he heard the crashing of someone running over to his left, and that is about the only thing that saved him. The loud noises of leaves under feet snapped him back to attention, just in time to throw his left blade into a hasty block. The steel caught the slash aimed toward his heart, a vertical, downward cut. It was the simplest of moves. Yet the blow let his amuetur grip shaking quite badly, and a quick flick of the wrist performed by the brash Celestial sent that particular arm blade spinning away. The Angel let out a victorious grin, ready to end the life of this annoying pest. He was so stupid he hadn't even picked up the fact that some kind of being had helped him, had saved his life. His mind was completely set on ending this injustice in the world, and being promoted higher within the legion.

Pity that he didn't notice the inevitable. Of all the time wasted disarming his opponent, he had forgotten the other blade that was now hovering in the air a few inches from his cheek. With a great roar, and some mental effort put toward forgetting the person that was fleeing from the scene, Ethstar shoved his arm blade into another lethal punch. The blade entered at the cheek, hit the jawbone, and was sent sliding upwards toward the brain. In an explosion of blood and gore, Ethstar's angelic strength continued to push the blade, basically slicing off a section of the man's head. The unlucky angel slumped to the ground, his attack already blocked by cold fingers of dark death. Ethstar didn't even wait to relish the taste of victory, or grab the blade he had dropped. In a flash, he was off and running with that un-natural grace, in the direction his mysterious attacker had gone. He could barely hear her now, she was that far away. With a growl and a snarl, his eyes set themselves upon the path of crushed brush and leaves, determined to seek out this person. Whoever it was, the speed of the being was incredible. They might even be faster then Ethstar, which was something the Fallen being did not really want to consider at this point in time.

And so thereforth he went, his Angelic eyes easily picking the trail out of the darkness. He moved as fast as possible, one armblade held ready in the right hand. Whoever had seen what he had done, they were a dangerous person to him, and he could not allow them to roam the earth freely. And if it was an Angel, the Celestial being would die just as the rest, being only one domino in the slowly toppling stack of fate. It was a sad reality, yet one that Ethstar firmly relished. Relished it like the lifeblood that fueled his body.