Istan city was bustling about, like every other day. The merchants tried to seel their merchandise, whether it be real or fake, while children ran through the streets playing tag. Amongst all this, Sethran Dracogan sat upon an abandoned crate, observing the scene. He took a handkerchief to his forehead, which was dripping with sweat.

"How can they stand this heat?" he thought. While his home continent had warm tempuratures, it was nothing compared to this! He then got up and strolled the streets.

It had been a few minutes, and suddenly, Sethran heard cries of pain from somewhere. It sounded female. He began to look around, and noticed a huddle of people down an alley to his right. He dashed down there, and reaslised this was the place. Up against the alley wall was a young, blonde haired woman. In front of her were two men with their backs to Sethran. One of them held a knife.
"Just give us your possesions, and we won't hurt you...much." said the oen with the knife. His companion grinned and laughed lightly.

While Sethran had nothing to do with this, it still bothered him. Back home, he had learned to treat women with some respect.
"Hey!" he said drawing his sword, "Lay off her." The two men turned around. They wore some basic armour made from leather...They obviously wern't rich.
"Says who?" said the one with the knife, "We don't take orders from some kid with a sword."
"Your loss...." Sethran said with a sigh. He then advanced forward and slashed the man's arm, leaving a bloody gash. Then, he turned upon the second of the two and knocked him unconcious with the hild of the sword. Finally, he turned aroudn to face the first man, and gave him a punch to the gut. The man began to back away.
"Dammit.." he said, "Avenites will get you for this!"
Sethran ignored the man's words, and sheathed his sword as he walked over to the woman, who was trembling a bit.
"Are you okay?"he said.
The woman nodded, and then said, "Are you mad?"
"Mad?!" Sethran said, "I just got those thugs off your back!"
"And for that, I'm thankful..." the woman responded, "But you're insane to mess with members of the Avenites! They'll come and take care of you for sure!"
Sethran laughed and said, "Judging on thsoe two, I doubt they'll be any trouble."
"You're obviously not from this land.." the woman said, "Who are you?"
"Just call me Sethran..." he said.
"Hmm..." the woman siad, "Well..good luck with those Avenites...I'l be heading home if you don't mind."

With that, the woman walked past Sethran, and out of the alleyway.
"Ha!" he thought, "Let them come..."

"Just call me Sethran..." he had said.
"Hmm..." the woman siad, "Well..good luck with those Avenites...I'l be heading home if you don't mind."

Kalarn had heard most of it, and had seen all of it. Even before the man had come. Kalarn jumped on the fleeing Avenite, stabbing the man in the back, the blade going all the way through the chest. The man had tried to stem the bleeding, but Kalarn stabbed him once more.

Kalarn withdrew the sword, satisfied he was dead. He walked over to Sethran, his blood red with blood. Kalarn hadn't bothered to wipe it off, and figured, why bother? It would just get bloodier yet.

Kalarn finally got to them, and raised his blade. If they didn't move, he would have a clear shot at the man. The woman turned back and saw the blade. Then, she shrieked loudly. Kalarn brought down the sword on the Avenite's neck, the sword cutting cleanly.

Kalarn kicked the head, and brought his sword through the ground. "Sorry about that. Couldn't be helped. I've got to kill them, or the'll get the rest of the gang. Remember that."

Little did they know, they man was crawling off to the gang hideout. They would finish them, he thought.

Barely 10 seconds had passed since the young woman had walekd away when she shrieked. Sethran turned around to see her body crumpled on the ground, with a pool of blood beginning to form around her. She lay at the foot of Kalarn, a drakomme Sethran had met a few days ago. He was unexpected, but Sethran was pleased, nevertheless. It was always good to have an ally.

"Heh.." Sethran said, "I will, thanks."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The man that had crawled away managed to make it to Avenite headquarters in almost no time. he was lucky to have no injuries, and he pressed forward, eventually entering the Table of Leaders. He had come at the right moment, seeing as all the Higher-ranked Avenites were seated for a meeting.
"My Lords." he said, panting, "We have a threat in the city."

The Leaders were all wearing black, hooded cloaks. One of them on the man's left, however, took off hsi hood and looked directly at the man. His face was that of Neko. His hair was black and long, along with his cat ears. His eyes were yellow, and his pupils were currently slits.
"A threat?" he said, in a cold voice, "Be specific."
"It's this kid with a sword." the panting man said, "He doesn't seem to hail from Imythess."
"That isn't exactly what I meant by specific..." the Neko said, rolling his eyes, "How is it that he's a threat?"
The panting man felt fear run through hsi spine. He knew that if he didn't tell them exactly what they wanted to hear, he'd be killed.
"Well, sir." he said, "The kid appears to have some skill with swords. Judging by his build, I'd say he was a knight. He injured Pratus with such ease."
"And where is Pratus, by the way?" the Neko said.
"He.." the panting man said, "got killed by this other man. A drakomme. He seemed to be sided with the kid, and also killed Malia."

The Neko man raised his eyebrows. Perhaps the threat was him. He would need to be subdued, at the least.
"Alright.." the Neko man said, "This man you speak of is in fact a threat..even more so if he has the drakomme for an ally. Get a group together and bring him here....alive."
The panting man nodded, and left.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So..." Sethran said, "What brings you here, Kalarn."
The young man was actually a little curious about this. Last tiem they had met, Kalarn had some sort of issue on his hands. He didn't tell Sethran exactly what it was, but it seemed important. Perhaps his reason for being here had somethign to do with it.

"So...What brings you here, Kalarn."
Kalarn had heard it over the smell of the blood. Fresh blood. Even if it wasn't virgin blood. It probably was, but he was to help the people, not go berserk on virgin blood, of all things. Virgin blood was too powerful. Blood, blood, blooood...

Kalarn shook his head. He couldn't be tricked that way. He had made an oath. "I heard something was here." He looked for a glint of gold in the distance. He saw a seven pointed star, and smiled.

At least he had found the right person. But, the blood was still calling to him. He caved in, drinking a small amount of the blood. He was right. It was virgin. He was overcome with a sudden burst of energy, and unfurled his wings, ready to fly right to the house.

Then, the energy burst failed, and he was hit with a wave of depression. His wing sagged, the tips falling. He felt like I couldn't do anything. He would be caught before he even got close to it. He be too exausted to get to it. The clouds would cover the star.

Then, he was fine. He knew he would probably get to the star, but he might get caught. He ran, and flapped the wings. He got the flight, with a sudden updraft, and landed on the roof. He looked at the star, and saw a guard parading along the road. Then, he looked back to the star, and guessed, that he could get there with out being caught.

Sethran eyed Kalarn suspiciously as he drank some of the woman's blood. His wings flared out momentarily, only to retreat again. The drakomme was eying something. Apparently, it was something important, since he flew off.

"Hmm..." Sethran said as he began to walk out of the alley, "Weird place..."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the shadows, they could see him. The young man had come walking out of the valley after the drakomme had flew off. Their goal was simple. Capture the young man alive, and bring him back to headquarters."
"Okay.." the group leader said, "We go in quick, and get out quick. Do it......now!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They came out of nowhere! One second, Sethran was standing up, looking at the city streets. next second, he found himself being wrestled to the ground by a group of men!
"Knock him out, man!" one said.
Sethran struggled to raise his arm in defence, but hsi attempt was fruitless, as the man holding down his right arm punched him hard in the face. The young man's vision went blurry. A few seconds later, and Sethran was knocked out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Their target stopped stuggling after the punch. Everything went perfect. As soon as they were certain the young man was out cold, they lifted him up, and quickly headed back for headquarters.

"The Aventies? Are you sure it was them," Rith questioned the quivering man before him. "Y-y-es, it was th-th-them, though y-y-you said they w-w-wo-wouldn't," The short balding man answered quickly. Rith contemplated his next move in silence. He knew that his shipment had been comprimised and that the Aventies had a change in leadership, though it was only now that he was able to put the two together without a doubt. He would have deal with them afterwards, but the question of the moment was what should be done with the pitiable soul before him. The overly large hound at Rith's side eagerly licked his chops as he waited on his master's desicion. Rith's looked down at the begging main with appraising heartless eyes. The one word that decided the man's fate slid into the air. "Expendable." The man looked up with horrified eyes and opened his mouth to plead more, but this was silenced along with his screams as Torment's jaws griped his the man's exposed throat. Rith had no need for hazards like him that man in his service. The present question was wether the Aventies were a hazard that could not be turned useful. He had the main leader of the gang under his command for a time, yet he seemed to have died recently and certainly probably by one of his collegues, though Rith could not determine exactly who.

Rith waited at the door while Torment savored the last few agonizing moments of the man's life. After the man was dead the beast shook the man, annoyed that the pitiable creature had not lasted long, and made his way to Rith after letting go. Rith walked out of the small house in the form of a well dressed gnome and Torment walked out in a much less intimadating form with the blood masked by illusions. These masks would let them wander the streets in the day without drawing too much attention, though Rith handled most of his buissness at night.

As Rith neared the Aventies base of operations, he noticed the a figured being hustled along in that direction by several men. Rith and his pet blended in almost seemlessly with the shadows and watch the group silently. The were no doubt Aventies, yet who where they carrying? He certainly wasn't native to the Istan Desert. Probably some traveller who peeved the wrong people off. Rith decided that he could tand a mild detour from his plans to assess any use he might be able to get from the man. He might prove an amusing tool against the group. Rith and Torment folowed swiftly behind, invisible to the naked eye thanks to a swift spell from Rith.

Kalarn hade smelt the scent of the man he had stabbed earlier. He rushed back, shouting, "Can't you just stay dead?! Is that too much to ask?!?" Kalarn stopped as he saw that no one was there. He could smell a scent, of fear. He was sure that if he followed it, he would get to them. The had kidnapped Sethran.

The scents displayed it as in a vision. Sethran had been knocked unconcious. Kalarn flew after, following the scent of fear. With any luck, he would get to Sethran soon. He flew fast, the buildings passing from his wings. Once, a guard on his way to the "church" saw him and yelled at him to slow, and chased him.

The guard could not keep up, and he was behind after Kalarn reached the bend. Kalarn could smell the fear, it was stronger, fresher. He flew into a pavillion of sorts, the blood of accursed spilled on the tiles. Kalarn tried to ignore the blood. The blood of the unlucky. The virgin blood...

Kalarn shook his head once more. He had remembered the effects, and he would not drink it once more. He ran into an abbandoned church, heavy chains wrapped around the door and sealed with magic.

Kalarn tore through the magic as easily as you would a cobweb. He smirked, they wouldn't last long if thier magic was this weak. Although the chains were another thing. Kalarn had the wrench them from the door, he sprained his shoulders doing so.

Kalarn entered the cathedral, and saw the door of the side hallway close shut. Kalarn rushed to the door, gripped his sword tightly. He swung open the door, and leapt in, brandishing the blade.

"Ugh....What happened?"
Sethran began to awaken, hsi vision coming back gradually. After a minute of seeing nothing but blurs, the young man realised he was in some sort of chamber. He looked around to see that he was locked in a dungeon of sorts. The walls and ceiling were made from standard stone, while the ground was soft, bloodstained sand. Iron bars kept him contained in this small cell.

"Where am I?" he said, trying to remember what happened.
Several men pinned Sethran to the city street. He tried to struggle free.
"Knock him out, man!" one said.
The strongest of the group raised his arm, and hurled it at Sethran's face. All went black, then.
"Geez..." Sethran said, "You gotta be kidding me..."
The young warrior then checked himself. The punch hadn't given him a bruise, as far as he knew...Unfortunatly, hsi equipment was nowhere to be seen.
"Dammit!" he said, punchign the ground, causing a small dustcloud to become airborne.

Getting inside was just as easy as following them unnoticed had been. He couldn't note many changes that had come upon the headquarters since his last visit, yet that had only been a little before the ill-fated war for Istan. Of course that was enough time for change, changes he had seen in the dress of the lowest members and there would likely be more changes visible before he managed to get to meet with the new leader of this gang. As soon as Sethran was safe in the bulding he was quickly searched and had all his equipment removed from him. Rith followed the man that carried the equipment rather than the men that were taking Sethran. Aside from possible picking up the warrior's equipment he had to get out his delivery from the gang's contraband. If anything was missing there would certainly be hell to pay, but if everything was together he might not have to make a show with a long torturous death.

Rith waited inside the fairly large storage room until the door was locked behind him. No guards of course were inside of it, only at it's entrance. Rith searched through the stolen goods and managed to find his own deliverly. The chest had been opened yet the gems were still there. Disguising them as useless rocks and adding other useless junk apparently helped keep it all together. Thankfully he'd managed to get her before they threw it out or got a mage to look over the chest. Rith whispered a spell as he made his way to warrior's equipment. A hand of raw ebony rose out portal summoned on the ground and gripped the chest before sinking back to where ever it came from. Possibley the warrior had awoken by now, if not he'd probably not bother dealing with him.

Rith found out as he stepped out of the shadows that the warrior was indeed coming at that very moment. Hopefully he knew why he was here in the first place. As the shadows mornfully part from Rith and his hound so to did his invisibility, leaving Sethran to see a well dress gnome and a large black dog to be seen on the other side of the bars. "What got you placed in that awful dump?" Rith asked emotionlessly while he mentally forced his way into Sethran's mind. The warrior would most likely not even notice that all of his privacies were about to be violated.

Kalarn ripped the hinges off, and threw tthe door away, hitting a gang member in the face. Kalarn ignored the man, and ran through the opening. He slammed into a man exiting a room, and the man cursed loudly as Kalarn flew over him, few inches from the wall. Kalarn cursed inwardly. They would have a mind reader violate him. Thinking of that, he flew faster, smashing through several doors.

"OW You...Damn, I'm not going to make it." Kalarn murmured to himself. Kalarrn could only see straight, and then, wall! Kalarn swerved to get past the curve, but slammed into the wall, pinning his wings beneath him. Kalarn cursed loudly, and heard the scurrying of a young member.

Kalarn flew faster, harder than he ever had, and managed to navigate this labyrinth. He heard a voice say, "What got you placed in that awful dump?" Kalarn heard the coldness in the voice, and could sense the magic. Kalarn burst through, readying a spell. "[I]Flashburst, you skum!!"

The white light and the loud explosion ripped through the room, the noise breaking an ornate glass placed on the table.

Sethran began to wonder if he was really awake or not, as a gnome and a hound became visible on the other side of the bars. The gnome then asked a question.
"What got you placed in that awful dump?"
"What got me placed in here?!" the young warrior thought, "I dunno...Pissing off the wrong guy at the wrong time?"
Sethran was going to answer verbally, but he was interrupted as eh heard a familiar voice call out, "Flashburst, you skum!!"
A bright white light and a loud boom errupted suddenly, and both of Sethran's respective senses were temporarily hindered.

Sethran slowly regained hsi senses, and he now could see The drakomme not too far away.
"Kalarn!" he said, "How many times do I have to repay you now?"

Kalarn's tactless blaze through the building did well to warn Rith ahead of time and Rith was able to wind ether tendrils around his mind before the half-dragon even entered the room. He was so focused that sinking into his mind was easily done and made focusing on the two minds much easier. Rith was not surprised by Sethran's reply to soon after coming to, though he didn't exactly have the time to dig deeper in his mind to find truth of the matter. He did, however; have time to avert his eyes from the mage's annoying cantrip. Why did so many like to use that blasted feeble spell anyways? Rith was not blinded yet his ears were left ringing. He ignored his hearing completely, leaving telepathy to replace his ears. Torment had likewise averted his eyes though the deafening ringing plagued his ears as well. Torment was position in front of Kalarn and looked ready to pounce. Rith considered, but to Torment's dismay decided to amuse himself with whatever fate the half-dragon had brought upon himself.

"I would not thank him so soon, Sethran. And Kalarn, the only one fitting of that name in this room would be yourself. Have you any idea how much you've put both of yourselves in danger, you reckless barbarian? No matter, you shall likely learn shortly." Rith smiled with clearly mocking humour.

"Just be fortunate that I am in an unussually generous mood and permit you to live after you feeble attempt of an assult. I do however suggest you hold the door, as my pet is not so forgiving, not to mention that we shall be entertained with the lovely company you summoned shortly," Rith grined before taking the keys off the wall. He did not move slowly, but he did not make great haste acting almost as if the company wasn't coming anytime soon, but he knew it would be. The Avenites had quite a few assassins and notable warriors amongst the upper division of the gang and Kalarn was to meet a few of them if not all. Rith decided not bring up that he had Sethran's equipment, and decided to bring it out in a time when Sethran, might be able return this wonderful 'favor' bestowed upon him. Rith's adivce to Kalarn was however sound, it allowed the half-dragon a nice defensive position to ward off the incoming wave of Avenites. Prehaps this would be just what he needed, a test of wether the Avenites were fit to still exist. Torment ofcourse would not be lettingthe half-dragon get to Sethran sooner than Rith allowed and was indeed eager to peirce the half-dragons and teach Kalarn a good lesson in pain.

"Just be fortunate that I am in an unussually generous mood and permit you to live after you feeble attempt of an assult. I do however suggest you hold the door, as my pet is not so forgiving, not to mention that we shall be entertained with the lovely company you summoned shortly,"
Kalarn heard the voice and turned, only to see a gnome. He saw the gnome and started laughing. "A gnome is threatening me. That is too funny! I've picked things bigger than this guy out of my teeth. And this little puppy dog is going to delay me."

Kalarn turned, his sword unsheathed, and barely missed a man, raising his dagger for a back stab. The man jumped back, and Kalarn lunged forward, stabbing him. "Oops. Okay, who is next to get killed?" Kalarn turned around and felt a wieght on his leg. Naturally, it was an assassin, trying to cut his leg off with a rusty kris. "Don't they give up?" He said, kicking the assassin away from his leg.

He turned to the hallway, and stopped, gapping at the riding bird, but more importantly, what was on it. It a man, in full battle armor. "Aw, shi-" Kalarn was clawed in the face, but the bird's claws passed over without harm.

Sethran sighed as Kalarn underestimated the gnome and his worg. Even the most basic warrior should know not to underestimate another. Especially if that other made it into an underground headquarters undected.

The gnome unlocked the cell, and Sethran walked out of it, quite eager to be free. Of course, Kalarn's spell had caused a stir, and the group was now being attacked by Avenites of varrying classes. Some were assasins, others were plain warriors. Hell, there was even a rider!
"You know what?" Sethran said, "I take that back, Kalarn...I don't owe you a favour for this.."

The young warrior wasn't a fist-fighter, by any means, but at the moment, that didn't really matter, since he had no choice. He went for the assasins, and gave them a few hard punches before moving onto another target. He had managed to knock two of them out this way.
"Dammit!" he said, noticing that they were becoming even more outnumbered now, with the arrival of 3 more assasins.

The half-draogn's insolence was almost amusing. The creature had no idea how easily Rith could ruin his life. He probably didn't even understand the what his barbarian entrance even after seeing the armored knight riding on a large bird. Sethran was not so great a fool, and prehaps not a fool at all. He hadn't known of the Avenites until after evoking their anger with his actions. As Rith opened the door he dug deeper into Sethran's mind. He was pleased with the sound mind that he found. There seemed to be great potential within the warrior, potential that Rith could possibly put to great use later on.

Rith leaned against cell bar's after unlocking the cage. He had no intention of even offering the illusion of joining this fray the half-dragon had called. Rith however did decide to help when Sethran relised how great a 'help' his 'friend' has been. Rith faded into the shadows and seconds later shadowy tendrils lept from the shadows and wraped around Sethran. The hilt of the warrior's stolen blade was thrusted into his primary hand and aside from returing the rest of the warrior's equipment, the shadows formed a long dark cloak over the warrior's clothes. Not much of a help it was abotu as much as they were getting directly from Rith. After returning the warrior's equipment Rith returned to leaning against the bars in the same way that he had left them.

Torment was also eager to help, only because he wished to inflict pain and feed off it and not because he had any love for the fool that insulted Torment and his master. Torment was quite pleased when Rith allowed him to help, even if Rith had specified to do so only a little bit. It wouldn't do to have Torment do all the work, though prehaps he would have Torment save them later if it seemed they were worth saving, and the Half-dragon certainly did not seem as such. Torment jeted between Sethran and Karlarn with alarming speed. He leapt up for the bird's neck and caught it's thoat with his teeth as the bird made to jab at Kalarn's face with's beak. The bird was driven down to the ground on it's side, leaving the armored knight to fall off, however; the knight quickly stood up unharmed and quite ticked off that his Riding bird had been killed.

"You know what? I take that back, Kalarn...I don't owe you a favour for this.."
Kalarn heard Sethran say that, and he gritted his teeth and replied, "As long as we survive, I won't care much." He saw the tendril and lashed out with the blade to strike.

But, they were gone as quickly as they were there. His blade cut through open air. He jumped back, and bumped into the bird as it fell. "Eek!" He shrieked, jumping back again, as a tendril of swiling darkness quested from the wound. After doing that, he looked around and said, "You never saw that." He saw the man in armor ready a huge sword that was nearly as long as he was.

"Aw damn." Kalarn rushed forward, and lashed out at the blade, and cast a spell, and suddenly, felt weaker. The sword was harder to hold up. He had to release the spell. "Summon Lightning." The shock ran down his arm, making him wince in pain, but it flowed into the sword, out into the giant sword, and into the armor.

The man jumped, hollaring in pain, shouting the most vile curses. Kalarn readied his blade for a second attack and knew, he only had one shot. He struck, and made a long sratch on the surface of the armor. The man in armor was still being shocked by touching the close-fitting metal, so Kalarn readied his sword once more.

He struck again, this time going for the eyeslit on the helmet. He was too weak, and went through the neck slit, sratching the man in the neck, but not a mortal wound. "Damn. I wil survive. I won't die here!"

Sethran had been about to slide-kick into a guard, but suddenly, shadows wrapped themselves around him, forming a cloak. He also felt something being placed in his hand. He looked over at his right hand to see his sword gripped tight. A grin came across Sethran's face. Now, he could actually do some damage.

One of the guards came forward at Sethran, ignoring the fact that a sword had suddenly appeared in the prisoner's hand. Sethran was ready, as he countered the incoming sword strike with oen of his own. the two men stood there, trying to force the other's blade away. The guard had a strained look on his face. Sethran's face showed nothing but confidance. He put a little more strength behind his sword, and his opponenet's blade was forced upon the ground. Sethran didn't hesitate as he lunged forward and sliced the man's throat with a quick slash.

"Any more takers?" the young man said, grinning.
Some of the guards fled, possibly going for more reinforcements. The rest remained, and continued their assault.
Sethran dashed forwards and slide-kicked another guard in front of him, who fell to the ground. Sethran got back up, and cut the guard fiercely upon his back.
"Maybe we oughta get out of here..." he thought.

Rith was not at all pleased with the Avenites. To have let the half-dragon get so far was unexceptable, but to have not even managed to cut any of the three combatants that were quite out numbered was quite possiby worse. Torment wasn't helping that much and neither warrior held too much skill with their blade. This was not the same gang that he had helped gain respect and fear. Had so much truly changed in his absence? Rith pondered causing the complete destruction of this disapointingly poor excuse for a crimanal organization, if this brawl before him didn't ultimately lead to that. One thing was for sure, He'd have to track down it's current leaders as it would not do to let them live. If the Avenites were to still exist, it would be with brand new management. Coming to this conclusion, Rith out to find the where abouts of the Avenites Leaders, surely that had known of this intrusion by now and were seeking some solution. Rith placed his hands together and slowly pulled them apart. As he pulled them apart a dark shadowy substance seemed to grow between his hands. He stoped when he held a sizable black sphere in his hands. Rith pulled his hands back and then brushed a hand slowly throw the the shadowy globe which ribbled like water at his touch. Wordlessly he called forth the image of the Avenite Leader's to the sphere's surface. He noted that Sethran was quite ready to start working on getting out of their sticky situation and that time might not be in his favor for the moment.

Torment was quite pleased with the battle, though he would be even more so if the Avenites had been mortally wounded rather than killed. Still, Torment found ways of making the situation more pleasent for himself. After taking out the large bird, he downed a few inexperienced Avenites that were quite frightened by the creature that had managed to bring down the knight's steed with such ease. He hadn't killed them outright, he'd managed to wound them well enough to keep them out of the fight, but the rate of which the blood was flowing from their painful wounds pointed out that they didn't have long too live either. Torment tried to look out for the 'easy' kills trying to appease his master's wishes and his own desire to inflict great pain.

(*makes Sethran say what the Avenites leaders and the neko are up to* :mellow: )

"Any more takers?"
Kalarn heard this, and replied loudly, "How about taking the knight unwillingly? It would help quite a bit." He readied his sword, but in a completely different way. He was going to smash a hole through the ceiling. He put his hand over the crossguard, and felt the magick return, weak, but there.

He knew it would take a while to gather enough magick to break through the ceiling, and shouted to Sethranl saying, "Cover me! This bird's going to fly! Which means that I am going to break through the ceiling." He focused on the magick, luring it to the sword.

The magick came, reluctantly at first, but soon, with more obedience. It took a good amount of time, but the magic eventually molded together to become a good amount of magick, enough to break through the ceiling.

He swung his sword, and swung his sword across, and a wave left through the path of the sword, and smashed into the ceiling, ripping a gash into the roof, where the moonlight swept through, illumianting the room. "There, let's go, now."
He jumped on the table, and spread his, wings and decided to go back down to drink blood to regain strength.

Sethran sighed. Something told him that breaking the ceiling would be just as wise as Kalarn's form of entry. Nevertheless, he covered for the drakomme, reluctantly.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few floors up, and a little ways south from sethran's cell, the Avenite Leaders had called an emergency meeting.
"So, Lavren..."said one of the hooded figures, "It appears your prisoner has managed to get out, and is making an escape. Tell me..what is so important about this kid?"
The neko man grinned under his hood.
"He is the only person from Dravinox ever to make it here to Imythess." he replied, "Were he ever to return to his homeland, he'd be able to tell them of our secrets..assuming he stayed long enough."
"Ah.." said another of the hooded figures, "But you are only assuming! Now that you've captured him, he will begin to suspect! You have now assured the fact that he'll go and discover the land's secrets!"
"That is not my only reason.." Lavern said, standing up, "That boy is part of a legend. A powerful legend, at that. If we managed to bring him under our control, Dravinox would fall under our command so easy, you'd think we had only negotiated it peacefully over a table! Of course, we could win, even if the boy sided with his homeland, but I prefer to have all the cards possible."
The rest of the hooded figures began to mumble to each other. They were considering Lavren's words.
"Very well..." said the hooded figure opposite Lavern, "We'll keep this boy in our grasp at all costs, understood?"
The others nodded, as Lavern grinned.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Kalarn, this better work!" Sethran cried out, as he blocked another incoming strike. While he had been covering for the drakomme, sethran had acquired a few cuts on hsi arms, and legs. He would've used his heal spell under normal circumstances, but when you have guards coming out of thin air every two minutes or so, you really can't concentrate on such things.

Dravinox... Lavern... Avenites... Sethran... It appeared as though he had a fair share amount of research he needed to do. Prehaps the Avenites were indeed on to something and if that were the case it'd be wise to let the Avenites live on until he would out what exactly they were up to. It also meant that he would have to keep this Sethran alive and well out of their hands. He'd have to keep a close eye on both as well, but that was the easiest task for one with his resources. Rith decided he could discern no more from the conversation and in timely enough manner to find out of the Midnight dragon's latest dim-witted half hatched idea. It was indeed quite selfish and dangerous for Sethran and Torment who were already outnumbered. Even worse his hole would be hard to reach without having wings, which was everyone but the half-dragon, paticularly so when one was still under full assult such as was quite Sethran's case. At least the foolish half-dragon had made the hole on the right side. Thankfully Rith had also managed to pick up a useful magical trinket on leaving the Avenite's storage room, a cloak of Bat-kind. Rith had decided to give this to Sethran along with his other equipment, a choice Rith could not say he regreted.

Rith slowly press the black orb together between his hands and steadily it lengthened into a long stick-like form. The shadowy dark matter withdrew into Rith's hands to reveal a wizard's staff adorned with a small black orb at it's tip. Now the question was how best to take all of the attention off of Sethran.

Torment disposed of the knight as the human was about to swang against Sethran. The oversized hound merely leapt on the heavily armored knight, released a deadly spell with a lound snap, and pushed off of the knight to leap on another foe which fell in time with the knight. At his master's mental command and Kalarn's he began to take the fight a little more seriously and treated it as more than a simple feeding frenzy. He hadn't managed to get as many cuts as Sethran, but had gotten a long shallow crape along one of his sides. The pain of course never registered for the creature. Soon Rith gave a new command and Torment obeyed faithfuly, leaping against Sethran and intending to push him out of the doorway and quite out of the way of Rith's spell. A curious ethereal material seemed to stream forth for Rith's eyes to the ground below, before the incoming forces could get close enough to attack screaming tidal wave of frightened and tortured spirits rose from the ground and swiftly swift foward over the attackers. Those that were far enough ran away, yet those that could not fell to the ground and curled into the fetal position with terrified faces. Rith's eyes flashed a purple light and the spirirts were quickly vaccumed back into his eyes. Swiftly Rith waved his hand at the Door which closed and locked, though he knew that act wouldn't slow them much. "Grip the sides of the cloak and flap your arms," Rith said as he turned to Sethran.

"Grip the sides of the cloak and flap your arms." Kalarn heard Rith say. "Bah! That cloak won't be able to get you out of here through a crack like that! Here, grab my hand. I don't need to flap my arms like some drunken duck." He could see that the man locked the door. That wouldn't stop them for more than a few seconds.

His doubts were justified when a large indent appeared on the door, and several more appeared. Then, the indentions became holes, and a face shone at one of them, shouting, "They're here! They're in here!" The face was shoved aside and another face, scarred and thin, filled the void.

The face smiled, and laughed at the creatures inside the room. They wouldn't get away, the man thought. They would be killed, shot by the Altair. The man got out a gun, emblazoned with a dragon crest. He pulled the hammer, and shot.

The bullet flew, a magic fire on it. The bullet sank into the wood, and the man fumbled for another enchanted bullet. Kalarn's heart sank, he knew they wouldn't last long if they didn't leave now. "Now! Take my hand! Before it is too late!"

Don't you hate it when you're forced to make an important decision in the timespan of a milasecond?

Well, Sethran hated it. He was either going to trust the gnome who had given him his things back, plus a cloak, or trust Kalarn, the first person he met on Imythess, and the first person he had invested some trust into.

"Just follow me.." Sethran replied to Kalarn. He gripped the sides of his cloak and began to flap his arms as if he were a bird. He began to float into the air, liek a bat. He then thought about the small crack he had to squeeze through, and began to concnetrate on just making it past that one obsticle.

Sethran tehn began to shrink, and become the pitch blakc colour of the cloak. His sking became more leathery, and the cloak became a part of him. His sight dissappeared, but he was granted the ability of echolocation. Sethran had turned into a bat. He then shot upwards through the small crack, suddenly in a room full of light! It was painful, forcing Sethran to revert to his natural, human form.

With his sight back, he looked about the room he had come into. Actually, it was a hallway that had a set of stairs at the end. There were no windows, and the light was provided by numerous torches. This led Sethran to believe that he was still underground. Cellar-like doors were scattered on either side of the hall.
"You guys coming, or what?" he whispered down the crack.

It was inevitable that reinforcements would come and that the door would come down. Rith knew this but enough time was bought for an escape without harm coming to Sethran. It was ultimately a little closer than Rith had hoped, but quite well enough with them trying to capture and not kill their main target. Rith was also quite amused with Kalarn's doubting of his advice and his won offer to aid Sethran. Most amusing however was how the warrior chose trusting one who had apparently helped him but was still a stranger without a name, over the-half Dragon who was the first of this land to befreind Sethran. It was a rather logical decisoin given how each of te two had managed to respectfully enter the Avenite's headquarter's.

As Sehtran replied back to the half-dragon Rith and and Torment faded into the shadows of the room. The pair appeared behind Sethran in his shadow after Sethran came into the room. Rith had been escorted through nearly all of the rooms of the headquarter's and easily recalled the room Sethran had made his way to. They would have to make haste with their next action. All of the Aventies that were not headed to the cell were on alert and it wouldn't take over long for those in the cell to come up stairs and make it to the room and that was if they didn't find a way of climbing up through the hole. If they hurried they would avoid getting caught in this room. The room had multiple doors and was not very easily defended, they needed to leave it immediately. "Let us make haste, time still stands against us and here is not the best place to stop," Rith told Sethran as he looked to each of the doors. It was fairly obvious information, yet if nothing else severed to Sethran that he was still with him. If a moment of repreive was needed Rith could cast a spell to make them all invisible, but not in this room, it would certainly be swarming with Aventies looking for clues of where the intruders and prisoner went next.

(Okay..I got a lil imptient...)

The gnome and his worg had appeared on the next floor after Sethran. Upon noticing his arrival, Sethran grinned. It was comforting to know that someone of knowledge and power was on his side.

"You don't need to tell me twice..." he responded to the gnome's words. He began to hear clanking from below. It would seem that the guards had broken into the room they had just exited. Kalarn hadn't come up yet, and Sethran began to worry. Sure, the drakomme was a solid brute, but even the strongest can be defeated......

Sethran knew this too well. At a young age, Sethran had lost his father. In Dravinox, he was reknowned as the greatest warrior in the land. He was also the succesor of a great weapon, though Sethran had forgotten it's name. To think that he had been killed upon an expadition...

"No time to dwell on the past.." he muttered under his breath, taking off at a run towards the set of stairs straight ahead.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Sir! Sir!"
An Avenite guard ran into the Hall of Leaders. Lavern's prisoner had managed to escape the guards down in the prison halls, and was trying to escape.

"What is it now?" Lavern said, glaring at the guard, annoyed at the interuption.
"My apologies, sir.." the guard said, under his iron plate armour, "But your prisoner has managed to escape from the prison halls. He's suspected to be moving up through the floors. Our assumptions are that he will arrive in the 5th floor training room. We've already set up guards around the place, but we thought you should know of the situation, in case you wish to alter the plans."

Lavern closed his eyes in frustration. While Sethran was skilled as a warrior, how could he manage to escape from at least 20 guards?! The man must've been getting some sort of inside help.
"I do wish to make a small change to the plan..." Lavern said, looking straight at the guard, "I will wait for Sethran in the training room, and deal with him myself. You shall focus your men on securing the other rooms."
"Will do sir." the guard said, leaving at once. Lavern took another exit out of the room, after adressing the other leaders.

"Let us make haste, time still stands against us and here is not the best place to stop,"
Kalarn heard him, and jumped, barely flapping his wings, appearing elegant, and sailed through the crack, accompanied by a bullet. The bullet ricocheted off of the wall, barely missing Kalarn's foot. Kalarn either did not notice the bullet, or did not care about it.

He flew through, and landed, sailing downwards for a moment. "Now, let's go! Aw damn." He said, after seeing the doors. "I though I had gotten through this time. Well, doesn't matter. I'll break through anyway. Or he will."

The door smashed, and the man, richly dressed in red and black, appeared in the precipice of the crack, and raised the gun, muttering, "Zwill." Another bullet, enchanted with lightning flew through the crack, and crackled through, making a tell-tale hole in the ceiling, again. The man scowled and raised his gun again.

"Well, well, well. Looks like I didn't even have to do anything. He did it for me." Kalarn jumped, and flung himself through the hole. "There's empty space, and, holy shi-! Damn!" A gunshot came, making the tiles on the roof clatter loudly.

"Damn! Gantiz is here! This was a trap. Not for long though." Kalarn growled, and the sound of scales hitting flesh came, and the sound came again, accompanied by a thump. Kalarn went back to the hole, and smiled widely.

He had held off Gantiz, with his magic bullets, but nothing as strong as pure magic. Still, he never knew they had joined with the Avenites. Gantiz and Zitang. The Shadowed Ones. The trained assassins of the Kalraken Imperials.

Rith mounted Torment, who was certainly large enough for a full grown gnome to ride. And the creature was certainly strong enough to carry a full grown human on his back. It would make getting around a bit easier until they reached a few more foes blocking their way. It also gave Rith a moment to focus on what was ahead of them. He would look for Lavern's reaction to this recent break away that certainly was not something a thing Sethran could handle by himself and probably not even possible with the help of the barbaric half-dragon that blazed through with no obvious plan of safely getting back out. Lavern seemed to be the leader and likely was the assassin of the last leader. As Sethran and Torment set off up the stairs Rith was quite surprised that the half-dragon knew well the two strange foreigners that used most ususual weaponry. Even Rith was unfamilar with the weapons and he knew tidbits of everything from everywhere. Aside from the fact that Rith, Kalarn, and Sethran were all not native to Imythess, it was quite interesting that Sethran and Kalarn each had foes from their homeland present here in Imythess. Rith of course had no foes in his homeland, only an endless sea of freinds seeking to plague the material plane more. There was however no time to bother with Kalarn and his Assassins, it was neither a good time nor place to deal with them.

Turning his thoughts to Lavern, the black sphere grew out out of thin air before him. Rith was not suprised to learn that they would have a surprise waiting for them at the training room, after all at this point the only way to that room would be to go backwards. After he had seen enough he dispelled the orb and turned his attention back to the world immediately around him. Rith would leave Sethran and possibly Torment to be gauges of Lavern's strength. If Lavern's skill was well enough that he needed to save Sethran then that would certainly mean that he would need to take Lavern's plans for Sethran seriously.

The gnome and his worg followed as Sethran tried to navigate through hallways and flights of stairs. On occaison, a guard or two would present themselves, but the foreign knight would deal with them long enough to knock them out.

Minutes passed, and soon enough, Sethran found with only one option left: Enter into a room. He didn't know if thsi would result in a dead end, or if it would yield an exit, but at this point, he didn't care. As long as he kept moving, it'd be harder for the guards to capture him.

He also noticed that the gnome, who'd been riding upon his worg's back, had disappeared. Sethran, however, did not take this as a sign of abandonment, or flight...If the gnome had done so, he would have taken the worg, no doubt.

"Guess it's just us two for now.." Sethran said to the worg. He then opened the iron door in front of him to lead him into a training room of sorts.

For a gang of thieves, this room looked like it was for training an army! There were weapons, armour, ranged and melee targets, books..just about any useful thing one would need to train themselves. Sethran walked forward into the center of the room.
"Glad you could make it..." said a cold voice.
Sethran looked around him. Nobody was in here except for him, and the worg, who, despite it's abilities, probably couldn't master human speech.
"I'm right here." the voice said. Sethran turned back around to face forward. In front of him was a neko man in navy blue robes. He had long, black hair, and yellow eyes, which were fixed upon Sethran. He was a bit taller than the young warrior, and upon both forearms, he wore bladed bracers. not small blades, mind you....These blades looked like they belonged on a fancy looking greatsword. They were black, with sharp, red edges.
"I must admit.." he said, "You had me caught by surprise when I heard you had escaped. Even more so when you failed to be re-captured after this much time."
"I guess your guards need to use this room more often, then." Sethran said, smirking. He was also trying to remember who this man was...he seemed familiar...
"No..." the Neko said, "My men are well-trained already...I think that if you didn't recieve help, then neither of us would be here...But where are my mnners? Call me Lavern."
The neko had an evil smile upon hsi face now, and extended his hand out. Sethran didn't shake. Why give a sign of trust to his captor?
"You know.." Lavern said, "turning around, and pacing a bit, "I could grant you power. Power beyond what you could gain from training alone. Think about it. Power is what matters these days. If you have power, the world wil bow to your feet. You want something done, it'll get done. You want to go somewhere, you can get there. Even home."
What the hell was this about? Sethran had pissed off soem Avenites, escaped their prison, killed a few more Avenites through the process, and yet here was the leader, offering power?! Soemthing was fishy.
"Sorry.." he said to Lavern, glaring, "I actually listened when my teachers told me not to take something from a stranger."
"Pity.." Lavern said. He then raised his arms, and lunged forward at Sethran, who instinctively blocked with his sword.

Waiting for Sethran, Kalarn cocked his head, and listened, and heard a scritch of blades. Kalarn stood up, tearing off several shingles that had stuck to his claws, and jumped down to hole. He thought he would fall, and so did Zitang, but at the last second, with the precision of an expert, whipped his arms out, and sailed over the hole, facing the cieling.

He let go, and landed, his claws imbedded deeply in the floor. Not noticing that his claws were stuck, Kalarn got up, only to be yanked back to the floor. Looking around, and seeing his hand still stuck in the wood, he shrugged, and ripped his arm out , flinging wooden shrapnel at the walls. He ran, his feet making long gashed in the floor, he jumped.

As he jumped, he brought out his sword the smallest bit , and broke through the closed door, kicking Lavern in the thigh. Kalarn jumped back, and rushed forwards, slashing with his sword. With lightning fast agility, Lavern blocked, and slashed, humming an inch from Kalarn's face.

Kalarn started, and gripped Lavern's wrists tightly, his right on Lavern's left, and vice versa. Lavern's eyes were wide as he realized what Kalarn was going to go. Too late. Kalarn flung Lavern up, and grabbed his face, his fingers curling around he edges of his face.

Kalarn smiled, and said, "It is time that we saw our goodbyes, old friend." The man smiled, and Kalarn started to use a spell, gathering magick, when a black shadow flew through the room, and landed on Kalarn's head. The creature smiled, and said, "You don't really expect me to be in this room undisguised, do you?"

The creature was a ferret, and slowly morphed into a human shape, black fur replaced by black and red tunic and breeches. Both were elegant, gilded with gold thread, the tunic covered by a blood-red coat. The coat was also gilded with gold thread. "No," He said, "I would be watching from the shadows, preparing the coup-de-grace, or in some cases, coup-de-etat." Smiling, the fake Lavern started to fade, the edges of his clothes first.

Rith dissappeared along their ascent, turning into an invisble vapor that moved to a doorway along the flight of stairs. An illusionary wall rose up making the door appear as the only exit Sethran could have taken as Rith focused on Kalarn's mind. The room was as large as the training room, but had no exit other than it's entrance. It had enough free space about it that that Kalarn could fight his phantasms without harming himself. He didn't need to stall the half-dragon for long. Lavern should be able to best Sethran's swordmanship, even though Torment would make sure Lavern stayed on his toes. He likely wouldn't need much time to assess the man's abilities.

Torment was to look after Sethran and keep him from getting hurt too badly. Rith was going to hold Kalarn up. The clash of blades called Kalarn and lead the half-draon into the room filled with a grand illussion only Kalarn could sense. It was an illusional copy of the training room and the details were fairly well done down to the smell of Sethran that Rith had drawn from Kalarn's memories. The illusions of Sethran, Lavern and Torment weren't the ones he intended to hold up Kalarn with and Rith allowed Lavern to vanish in a manner pullled together from Kalarn's subconsious mind. Ultimatley, not what Rith would have chosen to program himself, but it made it was easier to to do it that way to hold onto Kalarn's mind, maintain the large scale illusion and monitior Sethran's progress. The results weren't overly bad, and allowed him to move to stage two rather smoothly.

"I hope you don't think you came in time to save your freinds, either," the illusionary Lavern grined before completely fading. The illusions of Sethran and the worg slowly faded in similar manner. "Don't worry, though I've arranged for you to have a few new freinds," The Lavern laughed as the group vanished from sight. As if on cue, the door Kalarn entered through burst open and Gantiz and Zitang emerged. The illusionary exit, that was in reality just a wall, was warded by a colorful barrier. The shadowed ones' details had also been well done from Kalarns memories and recent experience. There was still the question of what to do if the real shadowed ones showed up and proved too much for the half-dragon alone. They weren't that far off.

---

Meanwhile, Torment had accopmanied Sethran to the training room. While Torment had indeed mastered human speech, speaking was not something he did often, nor had he been the one to speak. Torment gazed foward from Sethran's side and readied himself for Lavern. There was not much the worg could do in this form to harm a skilled fighter, but he could do well to protect Sethran's side and keep Lavern on the move and if need be he could knock Sethran out of the way of an attack the human couldn't quite block. Torment was only allowed to take it up a notch when Sethran was in trouble. Torment liked the idea of a challenge, but was certainly one to like taking a defensive stance.

After managing to block Lavern's attack, Sethran immediatly rushed forward, and tackled him backwards. He then proceeded with a vertical strike to Lavern's chest. The neko, however, turned into smoke, and re-solidified behind Sethran, and gave a quick slash with his left blade.
"Arrgh!" Sethran cried, falling to his knees. He then got back up, turned around, jumped into the air, and dropped on top of Lavern, with his blade first.

"Damn.." Lavern said, pushing Sethran and hsi sword off of him, "You have some skill....Still, not enough to get past me.." His weaposn then glowed purple, and upon slashign the air with both, two waves of Dark magic sliced through the air and struck Sethran across his stomach. The warrior fell to his knees, and began casting his Heal spell. The newly formed gash became smaller, though it stil existed. Sethran then struggled to get up, and ran forward to continue the battle.

Kalarn watched as the contents of the room fadedm and another room appeared. He saw the Lavern scowl, and say, "I hope you don't think you came in time to save your freinds, either,"

Kalarn watched that fade, and Gantiz and Zitang appear. As Gantiz entered, brandishing the gun, Zitang moved the mirror images of him. Kalarn studied them hardly. He had sensed something was not normal. No one here, besides the gnome, could use this kind of magic, to transport him. It had to be an illusion.

Kalarn finally smiled, and saw the one flaw in the illusion. Not a moment too soon either, as Gantiz aimed the gun at his head. "Hey, gnome! You forgot one thing. Gantiz's scar is on the right side, while Zitang's is on the left. " As quickly as the illusion appeared, it faded, bringing back the truth.

Kalarn saw the fight between Sethran and Lavern, and stepped in. He waved his sword, stopping a double slash from Lavern mid-strike. The strain was showing on Lavern's face, and Kalarn pushed harder. Lavern flew to the wall, hitting it with a sickening thud.

Kalarn walked over to Lavern, and immediantly the body was consumed in a puff of smoke. In its place was a bamboo effigy. Kalarn cursed loudly in a foreign language, causing the walls to shudder in a particular spot. Kalarn smiled, and walked over to the square of wall.

Kalarn noticed the shudder continue in the wall, and plunged his sword into the wall, up to the hilt of his blade. A trickled of blood slid down the wall, and Kalarn smiled. "You thought that you can survive with a simple illlusion. You thought I wouldn't notice when you always move when I curse in Kalardian.

( :confused: I'm fairly sure Kalarn has no idea what magic Lavern [Or any other leader of the Avenites for that matter] or the gnome can pull off, though gnomes are known to be talented with illusions.)

Rith was curious as to how he could make such a mistake when the illusions had been made from Kalarn's mind. Possibly a small error that happened from trying to do so much and as unlikely as that was the most likely thing Rith could think of. It was fairly easy to drag the half-dragon into another illusion he accepted as truth. Kalarn was presented again with the illusions of Sethran, Lavern and Torment, yet the half-dragon had never left the room and was still several floors beneath the group leaving plenty to happen before the half-dragon could get to them even if the Half-dragon weren't caught up in Rith's web of illusions.

Once again Rith passively let the illusion follow it's own course while he kept the illusion seeming entirely realistic to Kalarn. It was truly humorous how the half-dragon truly thought his skills in battle were so great, though they were there seeing as the fool had charger through the hide out nad not yet managed to get himself killed even if that was largely because of Rith's aid. It was however time for the half-dragon to get a real challenge not just some illusionary combatants. The distortion in the wall of course was not Lavern but rather a devil emerging foward into the plane. It was the Devil's blood which wet the blade and ran down the wall. A Black-metaled longsword swung towards Kalarn's neck, coming out of the disorted wall at just as Kalarn ended his taunt. As the devil attacked, the large red-scaled demon steped out of the the distortion. It's other hand was still within the wall and seemed to be what Kalarn's blade had struck and indeed was. The Devil put aside the pain in his peirced hand and twisted it about to get a grip on the blade such that Kalarn would likely get hit by his attack if Kalarn did not abandon his own blade. The devil was fairly storng and could possibly best Kalarn in a tug-of-war over the blade despite the devil's poor grip. The Devil would not intentionaly kill Kalarn, but at the same time the Devil was not going to hold back.

"Why would I bother with a simple Illusion?" the false Lavern smiled as attacked the illusional Sethran from behind, with Sethran barely managing to block in time.

The shadowed ones were drawing closer. When they finally did come, Rith supposed he would have the Devil help even the odds and that would give him reason enough to to his attention back to Sethran.

---

(Too lazy/cautious make Torment do anything. You can include him in your post however within guidelines in this post and the last one. )

Lavern seemed to know a fair bit of magic. It certainly made protecting Sethran all the more harder. Rith probably would fair better at keeping Sethran safe and predicting Lavern's every move. Lavern could apparently cast spells fairly quickly so much so that there didn't seem to be enough time to catch him of gaurd or distract. There was however enough time to counter anything the trickster tried and Torment would do just that, even if it meant sheilding Sethran from a blast. It would take more than dark magic to harm Torment after all.

Blades continued to clash upon each other, as their wielders tried to best the other. Lavern was more agile with his attacks than Sethran, given the fact that he hadn't been harmed since the beginning. Of course, this didn't discourage Sethran...It only gave him more incentive to striek the Avenite leader down.

After five minutes of continuosly blocked attacks from both men, Lavern backflipped into the air, where he hovered above hsi opponent.
"May thy path be clear!" he bellowed, pointing directly at Sethran.

The ground rumbled a little bit, as humanoid figures rose from the floor. They appeared to be made from the earth itself, with dead plant roots hanging off of them in random places. They had no eyes, but they apparently could see their target, and began to rush towards him, while giving a deep war-cry.

"Perfect!" Sethran said, rolling off to the right. There were a total of 3 humanoids. If Lavern chose to continue fighting along sid ethese things, then Sethran sure as hell had no chance. Regardless, he wouldn't give up. He thrust his sword forward, and into the side of one of the conjured creatures. Dirt could be seen seeping back into the ground from it's wound.
"Well, at least they don't regenerate.." the warrior thought. Any further thoughts were interupted, though, as the other two creatures came over to Sethran's sides. He blocked the one on his right, and hoped to god that the othe rone would somehow miss.

Well, the other one didn't exactly miss....it was blocked off by the gnome's worg, which jumped in the way of the punch. It seemed the beast still had a lot of fight left in it.
"Thanks." Sethran said to worg.

Kalarn gasped as cold washed through his body. He grunted, and gave a start when the sword flew out. Kalarn just managed to duck in time, and watched as a red oni came out of the wall. "They won't get me with this!" He shouted.

The oni had red scales, which melted away to rveal skin, and horns, nearly covered by a mop of silver hair. Kalarn gritted his teeth and pulled as the oni's hand closed onto the sword. Kalarn gasped once more as the sword flew out of the oni's hand, ripping off several fingers. The demon screamed, and the blood shot out of his hand, melting through the roof, causing a beam of light to come, bathing Kalarn in celestial might.

A face appeared in the ray of light, and whispered to him, "See the truth...Do not be captured by the man's illusions..." Kalarn nodded briskly and slashed, a long tear in the air appearing. Kalarn smiled, a wisp of a smile, and jumped through the tear.

Kalarn saw as the illusion dissapeared, and shouted to Sethran, "Watch out!" Lavern slashed down, barely missing, and sinking into the wood. Kalarn ran forward and jumped onto Lavern, making a tear on his neck before leaping off.

Kalarn thought he knew what the creature was, but he was indeed quite wrong. Oni were demons and devils were not at all demons. Demons and devils often fought each other and had many differences about them, thought they were both evil. The devil Kalarn was fighitng had failed to hit Kalran as well as hold unto the blade, but he had not screamed as the half-dragon thought he had. In fact Rith drew up another illusion to give him time to repair having the devil's hand. As Kalarn went through a rather ironic illusion that claimed to give Kalarn truth while at the same time thrusting him into yet another illusion, a black shadowy substance consumed the Devil's hand. Aside from stoping the bleeding the shadowy substance expanded to take the form of a large sharp claw.

Kalarn thought he had struck Lavern's neck, yet he of course had only attacked yet another illusional clone. Sethran and Lavern's illusions vanished once again as the Devil swung his ebon blade diagonly across Kalarn's backside, intending to catch the half-dragon off guard and slash Kalarn's wings. Rith amused himself with the thought of how more of this clash between reality and illusion the Half-dragon could bear before losing his sanity. Optimumly he'd rather not bring that end just yet, after all Kalarn might have his uses later on. He had already proen to be easy enough to fool, such types always had some use Rith could take advantage of.

---

Summoning! There was no effective counter for that that he could think of. He would just have to take them out. Despite their strange composition, these creatures still knew pain and Torment would just have to teach them a new lesson in that. As Torment blocked the attack that surely would have knocked Sethran of his feet, Torment also managed to grasp the dirt creatures arm in his mouth and rip it off. The taste of the dirt was not pleasing, yet for Torment few foods were. Though, the creature gave off no scream, pain the creature felt, though dulled, pleased Torment. Torment spit out the dirt and let it return to the ground while turning about two face the two creatures. Torment's red eyes flared with a deep dark red color. The two dirt creaures near Sethran called to the air with foreign screams as pain flushed over their bodies. It would leave the perfect oppurtunity to take them out.

Torment sprinted foward and lept against one. Coming against the creatures, he drove it back to crash agaist the wall with the momentum of Torment's leap. The impact caused the dirt creature break apart. That was one down. Hopefully they didn't see even more trick's up Lavern's sleeve while taking out the rest. Lavern clearly had more tricks up his sleeve for him to cast spells so freely in battle.

As the worg took care of one earth creature, Sethran delivered a flurry of slashes to another. He then finished off the succesive strikes with a kick to the chest that propelled him into the air. From above, he could see the creature collapse upon itself, sinking back into it's orgin.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Why is it that none of my minions can manage to knock him out?!"
That thought crossed Lavern's mind as he witnessed two of his earth summons return to the ground. He then noticed sethran was suspended in the air for a moment. This would be the perfect opportunity to strike!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sethran was starting to feel a bit more positive about this fight now. Sure, he still needed to give Lavern the slip, and find another exit route, but he could manage.

Then, from the corner of his eye, Sethran spied Lavern flying towards him at high speed. He tried to raise his arm in defense, but in his current state, he was unprepared, and Lavern was too fast! The two combatants colided, and Sethran felt his body slam into a stone wall. It didn't feel like any of his bones had fractured, but he wasn't exactly a certified healer.....
"Did you really think you had a chance against me?" Lavern's voice sneered.
"A chance at besting you?" Sethran replied, a strained grin upon hsi face, "No...A chance at making it out alive? Yeah."
"Hmph!" Lavern said, carelessly tossing Sethran back on the ground.
"Dammit!" the warrior thought, "If I'm going to get out of here, I'll need some sort of cover."
He then looked at the room. Five torches kept it lit. Sethran then remebered the cloak he had recieved from the gnome. It had allowed him to transform into a bat in complete darkness. In the light, he was forced to become human again. This sparked an idea in Sethran's mind.

He got up, and ran immediatly to a shelf of armour, ignoring Lavern and hsi earth summons. He then picked up a helmet, and ran for the nearest torch. There, he placed the helmet over the torch, destroying the flame. One down. Four to go. Hopefully, th egnome's worg would catch on to Sethran's idea. it would make things a whole lot easier.

Kalarn watched as the head slowly flew off, and landed on the floor. The face smiled, and imploded on itself. Sethran also imploded, and Kalarn heard a whisteling noise. Kalarn backflipped over the blade, the tip cutting him in the heel. Kalarn landed, and swore loudly, the words rebounding off of the walls.

The sword made a thump as it landed in the wood, and the demon rushed past to grab the sword. Kalarn stuck out the sword, and the oni cut itself in half on the sword. The oni looked at him, and said, in a raspy voice, "You have only killed one of us, Doolan." Kalarn frowned at him, and slashed the oni in the face once more.

Kalarn looked around, and threw the sword into the floor. He fell on his knees, and scratched out a symbol on the wood. That accomplished, he ripped out the sword, and ran himself through. As he fell, he spasmed, but made sure that the sword wasto the right of the vital organs.

At least then, he would live, if not fool the illusionist. He could tell that the oni couldn't get here by itself, it needed someone to help it. Someone ruthless and backstabbing enough to send a full-grown oni to "toy" with him. Someone like the suspicious gnome.

Rith could not help but note how acrobatic the half-dragon. A back-flip from a standing position was a rather formidable act, course it was also foolish. The Devil could have easily clipped the half-dragon's tail as a lesson of Kalarn's stupidity, but Rith did not see a need for that yet, instead he had the demon give a good-sized in the heel. If devil hit well enough it would keep Kalarn from being able to make all of his leaps and dodges. From there he let illusions grip Kalarn as he let the devil ready for the next attack. He was amazed again at how easily the half-dragon was fooled by these illusions. The devil would not fall so simply.

Kalarn's next action was a strange one and confusing one, though less of each for one nibbling at his thoughts. Of all actions the half-dragon had done as of yet this was far by thse dumbest, without Rith's help he would die. Perhpas that would make enough use out of the half-dragon, Rith always had a use for new souls. The Devil strode foward towards Kalarn and delivered a swift hard kick intending to turn the half-dragon over and pull the blade out, slowly. It would be a fitting retribution for the damage Kalarn had done to the devil's hand. Rith would have to monitor Kalarn's lifeforce, He did need the creature to die from loss of blood. The end of the imaginative nightmare of illusion seemed to come to it's close in good time, Torment stated it was almost time for him and sethran to make an escape. Lavern was a rather formidable foe. Not one for Torment to easily take on his form and protect Sethran. Good, all that's left was to keep Sethran alive. He wondered what the warrior would think of his poorly made freind nearly commiting Suicide and accomplishing nothing in the act.

---

Torment saw the slight error in his plan of action as Lavern streaked out towards Sethran at an amazing speed. There was anything the hound could do. Lavern was moving to fast and Sethran was only a bit too far. Torment rushed to Sethran's side Leaping against the remaining dirt creature along the way. The creature fell down against it's left side destroying some of it, but not enough to keep the creature from climbing back to it's feet. Torment positioned himself between Lavern and Sethran, ready to guard Sethran against this powerful threat. Torment did manage to catch on to Sethran's plan. He could help some but his main focus was keeping Lavern from getting to Sethran. Torment's eyes flared his a dark purple glow as a dark substance consumed one of the two torches behind Lavern. Sethran would have to get the other two or Torment could end up letting LAvern slip through his grasp once again. He'd get his last one when he got a chance, Sethran still had to run to each of the other Torches were as Torment did need to waste all of that much time. Mentally he warned Rith that things were begining to wrap up.

A torch was suddenly eliminated from some form of magic. Sethran guessed it was the worg, and moved onwards. The last dirt creature came in front of hsi path, but Sethran didn't slow down. The creature had already lost a sizable chunk of it, and it would be weak enough for the young man to overtake. He jumped off the ground roughly a foot away from the creature, and leaned towards it, with his blade in position to slice it in half.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dust clouded the area where Sethran had been running. Lavern had been halted by the worg, an dwitnesed what happened as the dust cleared. Where hsi creature had stood, ther ewas nwo a pile of dirt now seeping back into the earth. Behidn it, and only two feet from the next torch, was Sethran, who had hsi blade outstretched to his right. Cradeled in his left arm was the helmet he picked up.

This angered Lavern further. Again, his plan had failed. he'd have to rely entirely on himself this time.....But first, the worg would need to be dealt with.

He stared down at the beast, and held a hand up to it's face. He then muttered a few words, and a burst of fire errupted from his outstreched hand.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sethran wasted no tiem in running to the third torch, and destroying the flame. It was becoming even harder to see now. Of course, the darkness made the remaining two torches easier to locate.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lavenr chuckled to himself as the room became darker. beign a Neko, he could adjust his eyes to the poor lighitng, allowing him better visibility than a human, like Sethran.
"You're only makign things harder for yourself." he said, running off in Sethran's direction.