Ahren made his way slowly through the marsh, looking for anything that might show him where he was. For this trip, he had decided to ride on his cloud, for the ground was no always stable, and one might find themself sinking into the bog if they weren't careful. He sat cross legged on his small cloud, holding his bow ready in case anything should try to attack him. He wasn't that worried about on attack, for the winds would protect him. Even now, the fog that occupied some areas of the marsh didn't bother him. The wind blew it out of his path, making his line of sight clear between where he was and where he was going.

Sounds echoed throughout the march, telltale signs that there were always creatures out there. Ahren listened carefully, ready should he need to act fast. Suddenly, the wind brought the noise of someone approaching on foot. Ahren drew an arrow from his quiver, and set it on the bow, not pulling the string back yet. He looked around him, trying to determine which way the noise was coming from.

It was Kli.. Yes, the one who always seemed to either look for, or already be in danger. She was running, not caring about the mud and gross things that seemed to make her sink into the earth. She wore her white dress splattered with dried orc blood and stained with mud. She wore her boots this time, her trusty boots.. Her blue grey eyes constantly looked behind her at the shadows that seemed to follow her. Black and red short hair was again a mess and she had dirt all over her skin. She was gripping her sword. 'This is it..' She thought as the shadows moved closer. 'I guess father was actually right.. Fairy tales don't come true..' She tripped on a root of an old oak tree. It had been weeks of fighting, and now she was too weak to fight. She was too weak to do anything but try to escape from the grasp of death. If you could believe it she was even skinnier than before! Her pale face was even paler and grey. She clasped to her cloak for dear life as she struggled to get up and start running again.

The shadows were bounty hunters this time.. Not orcs, not trolls.. But bounty hunters.. Demons that didn't care who she was, they just did it for the shere joy of killing and the rewards of money. "You'll never get me.." She said quietly, too quiet for anyone to hear, but she said it anyway. It was as if she was talking to herself. "Never ever.. You will never kill Kli of Lorian while she can still run.."

Ahren continued to turn, looking for the source of the sounds. Suddenly, a figure appeared out of the mist, someone running. Ahren quickly pulled back the string on his bow, prepared to fire if he had to. Then, he got a good look at who it was. A girl in ragged, blood-stained clothes, holding a sword in one hand. Her hair was a mess, and she was extremely pale. Then Ahren saw the figures behind her, and he paled a bit to, demons! He didn't know who this girl was, but she needed help, and he couldn't just let the demons catch her. He moved his bow up slightly, just enough to where it would miss her and hit the hunters behind her.

He released the string, putting a bit of his magic with the arrow. The nearby wind instantly raced after the arrow, becoming stronger as it went, until the arrow struck the leading demon in the chest. The wind followed the next second, knocking over several of the remaining demons who had stopped at the sight of an arrow suddenly flying towards them.

Ahren didn't bother to look and admire his handiwork, flying down to get within earshot of the girl. "Hurry, I have delayed them for the moment, but it won't be long before they continue the chase!"

She looked back when she heard the shot being fired, she thought they were aiming at her.. but, when the leader fell over her eyes widened. Her eyes looked to this man.. This elf creature. She didn't know where he came from or why he was helping, but subconciously she was thankfull even though she kept thinking 'Who is this man who thinks he can just be all hero? Does he not think I can do it myself?'. She knew that he was only trying to help, but she always had problems with thinking that other people are just trying to show off because they think women are helpless. She was distracted now, not watching were she was going. She walked deeper into the haunted marsh, making it harder to run. She just stopped, it was quite useless to try and keep going like this. She sat down, watching them get closer. She took off her boots, her cloak, and stuck her sword in the ground so that maybe she would be able to run a little faster without having to use up all her energy. She got up and took off again, leaving her blade in the ground like it was no more valuable than a peice of tin.

Meanwhile the half demon bounty hunters were on the move again, even though the leader seemed to be dead. They seemed to have much more fury than before. Now it was personal. They didn't think that a price of the bounty might be life, they thought it would be easy. And it would've been.

Ahren watched as the woman ran off, making a mental note of which way she went. He quickly turned back and fired off two more arrows, before following after her. His cloud could move faster than people expected it to, since it didn't need wind to propel itself like normal clouds. He caught sight of the back of the girls dress and quickly chased after her. When he looked back to see if the demons had followed, he was shocked, they were closing in amazingly fast. He knew that eventually a stand would have to be made, but it didn't have to be mad eunder such odds. He ordered his cloud to fly ahead of Kli, the beginnings of a plan forming in his mind. He got even with her, and leapt off, taking flight with his own wings, while his cloud continued to zoom ahead.

When it had gotten a fair distance ahead, it waited there, till Ahren told it what to do. Ahren waited until Kli had passed the cloud, and had it expand as large as it could. While it wasn't large, it was big enough for his purposes. He quickly took up a position on a tree branch and waited. He hoped that the cloud would stop the demons from seeing him long enough for him to get another few kills. When the first demons broke through, he took out two more, before continueing to fly after Kli.

She suddenly stopped, looking at the ones behind her. "Thats it!!!" She screamed. She closed her eyes and balled up her fist. Too tierd to run she stood there. "I'm not running anymore.. Come and kill me if you wish.." She said, opening her eyes. Suddenly her eyes were turned black, all black. She didn't move at all. The demons came closer and closer yet she didn't flinch, she didn't wish to run. She just stood there quietly. She remembered her sword, she had left it in the earth. 'Oh... How could I have been so dim witted?' She said, her anger piling up into a heap of fury. The demons were close now, only a few feet. They attacked but it seemed that her mage armor was up and it didn't seem to hurt her even though her weakness was killing her on the inside. She kicked the sword out of one of their hands and caught it. She was ready now. Nothing could replace her blade though. Her blade was the Blade of Lorian, the only one of it's kind. With a handle of pure gold and the engraving of the royal trademark it was one thing that could never be replaced. The demons didn't give up though, they surrounded her.

Ahren saw Kli stop running in the distance, wondering what she was up to, he quickly flew towards her. He was to late, and arrived just after the demons had surrounded her. She is either crazy or really brave he thought. It was then that he saw her eyes, and he was chilled to the bone. It was neither of those he realized, she was crazy, she was angry, and that anger gave her power. He quickly landed about thirty feet from the circle of demons, close enough so that he could kill them easily and still have room to maneauver.

He threw aside his pack and was about to use his only other wind attack, when he realized that Kli would get his to. He was forced to withhold his attack, and fire normal arrows. A few of the demons headed towards him, recognizing him as an elf, but most of them stayed around Kli.

"They didn't even tell you who I am did they?" She said angrily. "Of course not.. Of course not.. Because I am now nobody right?" She said, feeling hurt. She let down her armor, slicing one of their heads off. She was crazy... She knew that the first rule of wizardtry was that you're not supposed to let your feelings control you, but she didn't care anymore. She was angry, tierd, cold, hungry, and looking as if she was about to cry even though her black eyes were filled with anger. They started to attack but she stunned the ones who had crowded around her. She killed the ones who were stunned before she fell to the ground, closing her eyes in pain. She dropped her sword and her fist were is tight balls. She sat there, trying to settle down before her anger went too far. This was the first time in ages she actually got angry. I mean, sure, she was a fighter, one who would kill for a friend, but she never actually got angry. She just sat there, hoping in her heart that maybe, eventually, things would cease to be harsh. 'Fairy tales aren't real..' She thought to herself.

Ahren watched in horror as Kli killed the demons that had attacked her. He thought about leaving, but then decided against it. Despite her anger and power, she was still in trouble. She wouldn't get far in the state she was in, she looked like she hadn't eaten in days. She was deathly pale, and Ahren would have been willing to bet that she was freezing. He slowly walked forward, hoping that she was calm enough that she wouldn't attack anyone that came near her.

"Are you okay? Sorry, that was a stupid question." Ahren had been surprised to hear himself ask that question. He had always hated it whenever he was injured and people asked if he was ok, and here he was, asking the exact same person to someone who was clearly not okay. His cloud slowly floated up to him, and hovered there, waiting for it's next command.

"I'm fine.. Okay?" She said, deep breathing seemed to start to calm her nerves, but still she had always been on a fine line between reality and insanity. She either was happy or devastated. She seemed to hardly be in the middle of it, until recently. Being completely normal but having voices in your head didn't seem to give her any advantages. "You didn't have to help.. I'd be perfectly fine without your help.." She said as she always seemed to be saying these sort of things.. 'I'm fine..' 'Leave me alone' 'I can do this myself thank you very much..' But, everyone she didn't really mean it in her heart. They knew that she was secretly thankful, even though she was too independent to say otherwise that she might not of made it thanks to her friends. Her friends seem to think she had saved them many times, but she differs majorly from that idea. She seems modest, but she knows she didn't really do anything as brave as her friends.

She scrambled to her feet, looking around for her sword. She retraced her steps but didn't seem to see her sword. She sighed, giving up before accidently tripping over a root, which, by the way, she says always seems to uproot itself in her path, and slammed into the mud. She got up, about to just leave when she a glimps of a shiny object distracted her. She smiled, pulling the object out and wiping it off with her already mud stained dress. She sat down and laid it against her chest, by her heart and closed her eyes. She rocked gently back and forth as she tried not to have the flashbacks of the past, but they came anyway. Vividly, vibrant, and never ending. She hid her face, but you could tell she was about to cry. That was her alright, never showing her true emotions to others..

Ahren followed after this strange girl, more confused now than he had been to start with. One minute, she was furious, the next she was calmly retracing her steps through the swamp. He caught sight of her up ahead, and hurried forward, then he saw her crying, and was even more confused. Maybe she was a vicious fighter, that was hauned by what she had done. That had happened more than once, but never in anyone Ahren had known. He quickly sprinted the rest of the distance, slowing down when he got near her. He stopped, unsure about why she was crying, but knew something was wrong. He set is bow down next to one of the trees, and squatted down next to her.

He slowly reached out a hand until it was touching her shoulder, waiting ot see if she would try to throw it off. "Here, let me help you up so that you can get out of this swamp. You need to rest, preferably in a comfortable bed somewhere safe."

Kli inched her shoulder from him, in her own little world. She cut into the earth, making the ground go one way or another as she sketched something into the soil. A symbol of some sort, the same symbol that rested on the back of her neck. She wiped away the tears quickly so no one could see and let a few tears fall in the middle of the symbol. She kissed the ground softly as if some ritual and buried her tears away. She knew this was it. She had now promised in symbolizim to the gods to bury her emotions towards the past. She knew that the past only made her worse. She still was a bit insane though, she still had voices in her head that she just couldn't seem to make dissapear. She sheathed her sword and felt where the tattoo on her neck was very quietly.

"I don't need your help or your pity so take it elsewhere where people need it.." She whispered. She didn't mean to be rude, but she felt as if he put pity on her, one thing that she hated was that. "I'm fine.. And even if I decided to go, there is nowhere safe anymore.. They all know.. There are many bounty hunters just hoping to be able to deliver my head to Lorian.." She said. "So, you couldn't help anyway.. Even if I did need help, or pity.." She said quietly. Of course, she knew that she had been lying to herself since she was a child, saying that they didn't like her but pitied her like she was some dog dying. She held the hilt of her sword with one hand, the other wiping the mud and earth from her face quietly. "Some people can't be helped..."

Ahren listened patiently to her arguements, realizing what she must have gone through to get to this point. He shook his head, astonished that someone would be pursued relentlessly wherever they went. "I am not offering you pity, and everyone can use some type of help. It can be different with each perosn, but a form of help is always able to be offered. At least let me travel with you until you get out of the swamp. Ahren hoped that she would accept, she looked dead on her feet, he doubted she would survive another fight in the state that she was in.

"You may not like to accept the fact, but you need help. Don;t let your pride stop your common sense from realizing the truth. Everyone one needs help now and then. You are just to stubborn to believe that you need help. Your pride will end up being your downfall if you keep up this pattern of thought."

"I am sorry if you think I am a stubborn old fool who doesn't know her own condition.. I'm sorry if you think I'm mean.. But sometimes you need to fight your own battles. One once said 'If you try all you can try, then you have one no matter if you live or die...' and I believe it.. I have tried, and I will keep trying until the end... I will only let people help me if I'm near death.. Do I look near dead to you?" She asked, standing up. "I'm not near death... It may be trying to take me into the bottomless pit of hell, but no, I'm not near death..." She sighed, looking out into the horizon. "I am much stronger than I may seem.. I have to be.. Yes, I do let people help me.. But only when I know I can't hold on any longer.. I don't pride myself, sir, I merely try not to involve nice people in fights that may take the lives of many.. The fights I always seem to find myself in.. If you feel better about yourself or something you may journey with me out of the marsh.. But, listen to this.. You don't need to help me, I am not poor, or needy... So don't try to treat me like I can't take care of myself.. I've been doing it ever since the first time I went on a wilderness trip alone.." She said, not telling him anything about the past.

She still gripped her hilt with her hand, as she picked up a few of the things that she had dropped before hand to be able to run faster. She put on her cloak, boots, and put on a bag that seemed to be filled with potions. She whistled and the horse slowly walked up to her, cautious of the stranger. Kli struggled to get on but finally made it up. "Thanks boy..." She said quietly. "But why do you follow me?" She asked the horse even though she knew he wouldn't be able to answer anytime soon. The horse started to walk very slowly towards the north as Kli rested her weary feet. "Well, if you're comming.." She said.

Ahren shook his head, constantly confused by the people of this world. He followed after Kli wordlesly, shaking his head. He folded his wings against his back, but kept them slightly elevated so that they didn't drag in the mud. He looked at the back of Kli's head as she walked through the swamp, watching her carefully for any signs of tiring or faintness. "So, I never got your name. My name is Ahren Elessedil. May I know what your's is?" Ahren didn't care that much if she didn't answer him, he was just attempting to break the silence that spread throughout the swamp.

Ahren wondered what this white horse was doing following Kli. It was obvious that Kli knew the horse, but it didn't seem as though she owned it. He let his thoughts wash over his mind, blotting out the path that they took through the swamp. He followed silently, wondering whether Kli would decide to answer his question or whether she would ignore him for now.

"My name? I guess it really doesn't matter.. A name is supposedly to describe a person. Who their parents are, where they come from, and since you'd probably figure it out eventually, as most do, I guess I might as well tell you and spare not only the awkward silence, but your life.. I'm Kli.. Kli of Lorian they called me.. Yes, that used to be my name.." She said simply. She grew quiet again, not expecting an answer. She was tierd, dreadfully, and she knew it, but of course she wouldn't show it. It wasn't her. Her eyes closed as she traveled, in a trance between dreams and reality. Suddenly she fell from the horse and frowned, half asleep. She didn't say anything though, she just slowly got up and got back on. "Come, I will show you the way out.. Or rather he will.." She said softly, stroking the white stallions long mane. She tried to stay awake, not asking questions or giving answers that she knew she eventually would have to ask or answer.