Alice sat not far from the lake under a large willow, her eyes was closed and it looked like she was sleeping, but that was not the case, she was training her magic, gathering it inside her body. She slowly raised her hand and the energy began to flow out trough her hand, she used the magic to sense the object in front of her. A large rock she picked out to use in the training. Alice calmly used her powers to lift the boulder right up into the air. Her eyes was still closed, she moved the rock higher up into the air, then she suddenly made a quick move and the rock flew away across the sky towards the lake. She could hear the sound when it landed in the water.

She opened her eyes and smiled to herself. That had not been to hard for her, this place was good for her training, she was more home here, but the thought to be so close to her elven village made her unsure. She sighed and picked up a smaller rock from the groud, she looked at it for a moment and then she dropped it again. She did not feel like train more today, she was going to stay calm and relax for a while. Her plan was moving just as she had thought it would, very soon she could start it and gain more power

Aoide had traveled far from her home. The ocean was her home, and the sea creatures that had taken her under their care and let her live had realized their job was done. Aoide, a water genasi sat in a lake that she had stumbled across during her travels through Norwood Forest. Having her legs pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them, she lay the side of her head on her knees. Her eyes were closed, as she was meditating. Breathing underwater was like second nature to her.

Suddenly, her eyes opened, revealing fully black pupils. The water had been disturbed by something, and her eyes lingered on the rock that fell, almost glided, to the bottom. Looking up to the ceiling of water, she stood up. Revealing her little clothes she had, she kicked her feet on the ground, then started to swim upward to the surface. As she reached the surface, and she had the first breathe of air, her head appeared but her body was still submerged into the water.

At first, she scanned the area that lay infront of her, not able to notice anything. Turning her head slowly, her body moving with it, she looked forward to was just moments ago to her back. There, she spotted a young lady. 'Human...' She thought to herself. But upon studying the young lady more, she noticed her ears. 'Elf...' She corrected herself. She stayed there, her body swaying barely in the water as she continued to stare at the girl, unsure of what to do.

Alice watched the trees as they slowly moved in the wind. She had not noticed Aoide in the lake since the sorceress was sitting turned away from it. She laid down on the ground and she could feel the grass moving as a fresh breeze was shaking it. So gentle but yet so much power the wind had, it could be like this, friendly and gentle but then suddenly angry and harsh.
Just like Alice herself. This made the lady laugh to herself, she stretched her back and sat up again. "Well I can´t just sit here all day." she said to herself and slowly began to stand up from the ground. She began to remove some grass and dirt from her dress and her gaze moved around the area in front of her, still with her back away from the lake.

But there was something she noticed, that typical feeling most people can get, the feeling of being watched by someone? She raised an eyebrow and moved one hand trough her hair, she turned around and looked out over the lake. Was anyone there? Who could it be? Alice had not seen anyone there when she arrived. "Hmmm....how very odd?" she moved her hand and placed it on the wand, then she shook her head. "I think I start to hear things, just imagination." she lowered the hand from the wand and took a deep breath.

Her fully black pupils continued to study the young lady. Watching her every move, even as she stood up. She had seen many elves, but had never been in direct contact with any. Of course, she had watched them from her ocean home before when she was younger, and they had caught her interest, most with animal companions, bows and arrows, singing and dancing. Aoide was starting to run things through her mind, like memories of her past, what her purpose was, why she was here, why she even left home, and so forth. But as the elven lady suddenly turned around to look at her direction, quickly, she shot her head back down into the water.

Starring up at the water ceiling once again, she waited for a few moments, wondering if the lady would have tried to approach her, which meant she had seen her. Or she would not and that meant she had ducked down into the water just in time. Looking down at the rock, she quickly swam to it and then back to were she was. Near the surface, but not visible. The last thing she wanted, was the woman to come back for the rock if that was what she planned. And the thought of not really knowing if that was true or not, made her tense up a bit.

It would be better to toss it back to the land, than for her to come down and look for it, right? 'Yes, yes', she thought. With her webbed hands, she held the rock in, she tossed it up and watched as it flew into the air, and then dissapeared as it was out of her view now. It had not landed in the water again, so she knew it had landed onto land.

And now Aoide was now a bit relaxed, knowing that even if the young elf lady had planned on doing something, she now knew that someone was there. Maybe it would make her think twice about approaching her.

Alice noticed the waves created when Aoide ducked down under the surface of the water. The elven lady watched that place for a few seconds, it looked like she was not wrong about being watched, someone or something was there after all.
She calmly moved her gaze over the lake to see if there was anything out of place.

Alice did not see when Aoide threw the rock since she was looking towards another part of the lake, but she did hear the sound of it when it landed on the ground not far from her. Quickly she walked to the place and to her surprise she noticed a rock there, and it was wet. After a few seconds she noticed that it was the same rock she had thrown before with her magic. Now this was very odd. The sorceress moved some hair from her face and then she bent down and picked up the rock. She watched it for a few second and then she looked out over the lake. "Now who could have done that? A water spirit? No I did not know any of them lived here? Well nothing is impossible I guess" she dropped the rock again and carefully examined the surface of the lake, she did not fancy to go inside, that would ruin her dress.

The ide Aoide had was good, but it did not work very much like she had thought, she was even more interested to find out more now the before"Hello out there" she said with a clear and friendly voice. "It is not very nice to hide like that, someone might be offended" she examined the lake as she talked. This was starting to be fun.

Aoide flinched slightly when the rock dropped into the water once again. Had her plan failed? Either way, she did not want to show herself to the lady that stood there on the dry land. Her voice however, made her swim quickly towards the wall of the lake. Her webbed hands lay on the dirt wall as she continued to look up. She wagered if she should stay underwater until the lady would leave, or if she should leave. Perhaps seeing as how the lady may think that Aoide herself is odd, that she may be scared off and flee? Yes, perhaps that was a good idea.

Finally, she peaked her head out of the water once again. Revealing her wet hair that stuck to her skin, it was also a light mixture of green and blue. Her skin was of light complexion, also a mixture of green and blue. But her eyes...her eyes were black. Starring at the lady, she waited for her reaction as the sun slowly started to fall, casting an array of colors in the sky.

Even though Aoide couldn't quite understand what the lady was speaking, she knew that she was interested somehow. She was speaking to her, and she had not left, she had also dropped the water back into the water. Yes, perhaps this woman would prove her thoughts of earlier wrong.

Alice noticed Aoide as she reveled herself from under the water, she was a little surprised at first and took one steep backwards, but then she tilted her head a little to the side. This was no water spirit at all, she did not know what this creature was but it was familiar...could Alice have seen something like it in one of her books?

That was possible. She watched Aoide for a few seconds but she did not look afraid in any way, she looked more interested. "So it was you then" she said with a friendly voice. "I could guess you don´t understand a word I say?" she was not sure about this since the stranger did come when she asked, but time would tell if she understood Alice or not.
She could try to talk in Elven, but the question was if that would work.

"What creature is that we wounder?" the voice said in her head. "Might be some kind of genesis? Or one of the sea elfs? Don´t look like much of a threat to us or our plan."

Erolam walked along the forest floor, stirring leaves as he walked. The faint smell of brimstone filled the air as he went. His large, satyr-like form was used to the scene, morphed as it was by demon blood. He enjoyed ironies, like twisting the peaceful form of the forest satyr, becoming somewhat muscular, growing large claws, a small tail, and black fur on his legs. Overall, he was a creature of shadows, but the earthen element still ran through his mixed blood. He smiled as he watched a squirrel moving along it’s branch, watching him. The wildlife sensed something was amiss, that something not of this plane walked their land. The brown squirrel tried to get away, but a flash of black stopped it cold, one claw pinning it to the tree by it’s belly.

Erolam pulled the thing off the tree, pressed his thumbs into it’s opened wound, and pulled, tearing away the furry flesh. The demon let a long, red tongue run through the muscle, tearing an artery as it went. Erolam tipped the creature up to drain what little blood it had into his eager mouth, dropping it to the dirt for the worms.

He ran the back of one hand across his mouth and sighed, walking to the lake. Hearing voices, he paused and shifted quickly, turning into a drow-like figure with a slight pug-nose and feathery black hair. He walked into the clearing wearing only his cloak wrapped around himself and pushed round spectacles onto his nose.

The tiefling smiled as he approached two figures, a human woman and another which he did not immediately identify. Erolam walked over two the two, hooves covered by his cloak.

“Hello there.” He said in his accented voice, the voice of a very educated scholar.

Alice was just about to say something else when she heard the voice, the sorceress quickly turned around and for a short second Erolam could see something that looked like bright lightnings inside of her eyes, like lightnings from a thundercloud. But it was gone the second after and she had the same sweet expression as she had before. She bowed slightly. "Hello sir" she said. "Much people running around in the forest today." she giggled a little and then her gaze moved back to Aoide and then to the stranger again. "Who have we the honor to talk with sir?" her green eyes moved up and down as she examined Erolam, he looked normal, but there was something odd about him for some reason....Alice did not know why, but she liked it.

"He is out of place we think" the voice said as a low whisper inside the elven sorceress head. "He is very attractive. In a strange way a smile crossed her face as if she was thinking of something fun, but then her face turned serious again.

Erolam smiled at the elf and bowed deeply, keeping his cloak closed for the sake of decency. “Erolam, good lady.” His educated accent and pleasant tone stood against what he was in almost every way. Such was his sense of humor. He was easily pleased, especially where pain and suffering was involved. But a good joke here and there did wonders to keep the satyr-demon happy.

Erolam looked her over and smiled pleasantly. “And who might you be?” He asked curiously. Underneath his dragging cloak, he swept up his tracks with a hoof, clearing any suspicion.

He would have to look into a good appearance shifting spell.

Erolam chuckled and noticed the genasi before them, wordless. He bowed and smiled. “And who might you be?”

Alice returned his smile, she calmly moved one hand trough her hair. "Well my real name is lost since a long time, but you can call me Alice" she bowed her head slightly. "Very nice to meet you Erolam, you sure sound like a educated man? Are you a scholar my any chance? Sorry if the question was private, but I was just curios that´s all"
She turned around by half so that she could see both the demon and the woman in the water. She wondered how she would react to this new stranger. She looked a little jumpy as it was before he came.

((Sorry that it was a little short....but it happens.))

Aoide had not noticed the man that had just entered the scene until his voice brought her attention towards the direction where he stood. Her eyes lingered off of the elf woman, and to the man in the cloak. Thoughts ran through her mind as she let the two talk, wondering what he may be. Human? No, that was not it. He was different, something about him seemed so much...sinister. But then again, she should not jump to conclusions.

Watching their mouths move as they exchanged words, she tried to make out what they had said, however, being around all the ocean creatures all her life and not around the people of the land, made it hard for her. She was starting to understand though, slowly, but she was getting the hang of it.

She wagered then, in her mind, if she should leave. Perhaps they knew each other? Just about as she was sold on her decision to go under and flee the scene, the man bowed before her and asked her a question, she pondered it for a few moments, until finally opening her mouth. "Ao..." She said, sounding almost like a speachless child trying to pronounce something for the first time, or a shy child. Moving her mouth slightly, as if trying to get the words out, she finally said, "Aoide..." Her voice was odd, it sounded as if she was underwater, which was weird considering her head was above water.

Closing her mouth finally, she raised her hand out of the water, exposing her webbed hand. Pointing at the man, she began to speak again. "Erolam?" She said, and then turned her attention to the woman, pointing at her now. "Alice?" She said, trying to confirm that she was right.

Alice turned towards the girl when she began to talk, the elf woman was surprised to hear the sound of her voice
She smiled anf nodded when Aoide said the names. "Yes dear, I´m Alice and this is Erolam." she pointed at herself when she said Alice and at Erolam when she said his name. "So your name is Aoide? Nice name really, well nice to meet you Aoide" she bent down and stretched out a hand towards the young woman. t was nothing intimidating about it, just a friendly gesture. She had a friendly smile on her face.

((This is after all before her turning into a Demonic infused. :P))

Erolam smiled at the two of them, the genasi and alice. Both seemed very nice women, even if one was an elf and the other a near-speechless genasi. Erolam shrugged mentally, which happened to be a bad idea at the moment. Abaelshazarr woke with a mental snort. 'What have i missed?' He asked sleepily. 'I fed on a squirrel and met two nice women who don't know anything about me. So far i'm doing great.' Erolam chuckled to himself. 'Helpless woodland critters, a pretty face, and a dumb genasi? you've lowered your standards, goat. wait until they see your tail.' The Barbazu laughed. 'Shut up Abe. You'll get your--' He stopped when the demon made for a power struggle. The demon won by element of surprise.

Erolam gave a visible shudder, then made a shaky bow. "And i'm Abaelshazarr, a much cheerier fellow than goa-- erm Erolam here." The voice was a bit higher and nasal than Erolam's unfitting of his human form. Erolam gave the mental equivalent of a flying tackle and submitted the barbazu. He had to establish a line somewhere later.

"Ahem. Anyhow. Don't mind that." Erolam smiled innocently, pretending nothing happened. 'I'll get you for that one, Abe.' Erolam snarled. 'Looking forward to it, ramhorn.' Abe shot back. 'Ramhorn? That's a new low for you. I'm dissapointed in you, Abe.' Erolam thought to the demon, slightly cheerier. 'I know, something's wrong lately. I'll have to compile a list and memorize it.' The demon had a thoughtful tone. 'i'll forget it.'

"So where are you ladies from?" He said cheerily, trying to break the awkwardness. His low, accented voice was back.

Aoide starred at the woman who had just stretched her arm out towards her. Should she take it? But she didn't know much about this woman, only her name and what she looked like. Was she asking her to trust her? Aoide, the naive one, was of course, thinking that she could be trusted. They would be as nice as the ocean folk...right? Aoide was reaching out towards her hand, when all of a sudden, she heard a voice. It was coming from Erolams direction, but it was this time, different. It didn't match up to the voice she had heard from before. She whipped her head towards his direction and stared at him.

However, as he smiled innocently, and his voice was no back to how it was, she looked back at Alice and then grabbed her hands with her webbed ones. Comparing her own hands to Alice's hands, she starred at them. Studying every little detail, her eyes lingered on them.

Alice turned her head slightly to look at Erolam. "I´m from a small village not farm from here actually" she said with a sweet voice. That was true but the sorceress had not been there in many years and it was not going to change now. She could not return home, not after she ran of like she did after Eric´s death.

She raised an eyebrow when the other voice began to talk, it was very different from before. There was more to this man the what one would think at first sight. Well it would most likely come with time.

She was a little surprised when Aoide grabbed her hand and she turned back her gaze to the girl. The elf smiled when she noticed that Aoide was comparing her hand with Alice´s. This girl was odd, most likely she had not meet very many of other species. She could not be very old, or she did not look like she was old. Alice did not pull back her hand she gave Aoide time to examine it. Her eyes moved back to Erolam, "and where are you from yourself then?"

Erolam mentally punched Abe as he watched the genasi grab Alice’s hand. “Ah, the countryside, eh? Nice area.” He chuckled nervously, wondering if they would look into Abe’s intrusion later on.

“I’m from… Various places. The forest to be exact. Right outside Balefire, Gloomood I believe it was. Dark place full of shady figures. You never know what you might find.” Erolam chuckled and winked at Alice, looking at her eyes.

They were strange eyes, drawing your attention. They seemed full of energy and life. After a second, a sort of connection was made and he saw something else, something deeper than this bright, cheery woman who seemed so kind.

Erolam coughed and looked away, a grin on his face. Abe had seen it too. ‘Nice woman.’ ‘a bit like us, eh Abe? we both saw that.’ 'Indeed.'

Alice nodded. "I see, well I have heard about Gloomwood before" she said with a calm voice. "Yes that is a dark place, but then again one should not fear the dark, just the things that can hide i it" she laughed and shook her head, it was no evil laugh. Just a typical girlish laugh. She moved her gaze around the area and then back to Erolam. She tilted her head a little when he looked away. She examined his back calmly, but after a few seconds she looked up into the sky instead. "This sure is a calm place" she was talking more to herself then to Erolam or Aoide.
It was true, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of the water and the singing of some birds in the distance, calming to the mind and soul.

((This was little, but well I did not know what to say that could be long.))

Erolam smiled at Alice. “Oh, you're more right than you may know. There's evil everywhere, you just have to know where to look for it. I'm sure you could find so many things in these woods that make your skin crawl, no matter how peaceful it may seem here.”

Erolam's thoughts drifted back to the squirrel, laying skinned and bled out in the forest. A shiver of pleasure crawled up his spine, a tingling feeling that made him shake a little. He took a sick, sadistic pleasure in the harming and killing of innocents, the spilling of virgin blood. It was the kind of personality like his that made more primitive imythessians sacrifice their people to demons.

“But yes, I suppose it is rather quiet. Nothing too bad. I hear there's a satyr that lives in these woods that does a bit of care taking. Keeps the plants healthy and the bad guys quiet if not dead. I'm not too compelled to meet him, but perhaps you two should. Could be neat.”

He chuckled and abe sighed wordlessly.

Alice thought about his first words for a second before she said anything about it. "Well I´m sure your right about that, you don´t just have to be in the dark to find evil after all." she said with a slight smile and looked around the area for a moment, he then looked back at Erolam. "there are many things that would make peoples skin crawl, not sure anything in this forest will be able to do that to me thou." she laughed and looked up into the sky for a few seconds, she would hear the rest of what the other one said.

Her gaze returned back to him when he talked about the satyr.
"Well that was a suprised, I had never heard there was a satyr in this forest before." she giggled slightly. "Well I`m sure he is an interesting person, could be nice to meet him. Maybe I will have a look around and see if I can find him sometime in the future." The voice in her head sighed deeply but it did not say anything as a comment, Alice was still not aware of her own power and it would still take some time, but the meeting with this man had forced things to move a little faster then before. That was good.

Erolam winked at her. “Thing's don't have to be scary to make your skin crawl.” He chuckled and looked over at the genasi, then back at Alice. The genasi hadn't said much, perhaps she did not know enough of civilization or language to interact very well. Erolam knew the feeling. He spent months figuring out the basics of speech so he could communicate with the townsmen.

He peered at Alice. “Oh yes, satyr can be very charming. This particular one prefers to keep quiet though. Doesn't show himself much. But if you listen sometimes, during dusk, you can hear his playing echo through the forest.”

Abe scoffed. 'charming? Well demons can be very full of themselves.' 'a dangerous combination, don't you agree?' 'oh, certainly. It's why I picked you.'

Erolam chuckled at Abe and looked at alice, trying to find a reason for his laughing. “Abe says hello. You know, the nice fellow you met a minute ago.” Erolam tried to stifle a laugh. 'time out, goat.'

“Thing's don't have to be scary to make your skin crawl.”

Alice laughed and removed a tear from her eye, not a sad tear but a one of joy. "Well your sure right about that, there is much that can make once skin crawl in this world." she shook her head. "But my thought are still the same, I don´t think anyone living in this forest could make my skin crawl" she moved her gaze around the area as she was talking, she stopped for a moment at the genasi for a moment, she gave her a smile and then she looked back at Erolam.

She raised an eyebrow to his comment about the satyrs, but then she nodded slightly. "Well I´m sure they can be very charming. I see nothing wrong with them except the way they look." Alice always had a liking for things that was different then others, she had been that way since she was a child. Just because the satyrs was unlike other then why did people have to look down on them? But she did not say anything about this loud, she kept it to herself. "That one sounds like he don´t get much visitors then...not many inside these forest after all." she shook her head slightly.

She tilted her head slightly to the side when Erolam talked about Abe. "I see, well that is very thoughtful of him then." she replied and giggled. "Yes I remember him very well"