The marshes were almost silent, apart from the squawking of a raven. Through the bushes walked a young woman. She mouthed something into the air, telling a silent lie. She kept on talking but no sound escaped her lips. The air was thick with a curling fog, that seemed to swallow up the air. The place seemed so dead and so murky, that even Xena didn't say anything, or well anything out loud. But all those who could hear her words had to scream to stop themselves from listening. But those creatures were not here, they didn't want to hear her haunted lies. Xena had always been a great lier. She loved lying, all the words just slipped out of her mouth, and became so believable. Even the most craziest things.

Bahamut was behind the girl, moving as quietly as possible. He was curious, and when he got curious, he either killed it, or manipulated it. He prefered manipulation, at times though he preferred killing.

Xena didn't hear anything, she was concentrating on getting every single word correct. No mispronounciations or mix ups; everything had to be perfectly clear. She was nearing the end of her long and complicated rant. Her eyes looked ahead of her, unseeing; her hair hung behind her, fluttering as she walked. Suddenly she stopped. Xena was standing near a big willow tree. She almost faltered with her rant, as she gazed at it. It was huge, arching over everything. It's leaves dipped into a dirty pond. The pond's surface was undisturbed, it was filled with bright green algae. She was very close to a stone stuck in the ground. It was uneven, but one side was flat. Ivy was creeping up it, and there were a few visible cracks.

He suddenly grins maliciously. He then turns into a fruit bat, and flies up to the girl and perches on her shoulder. He wanted to scare her, it would be funny. He looks at her with his tiny bat head.

Xena shrieked silently, and took a step back, reluctantly pushing the bat off her shoulder. Then she cursed, and moaned. All that trouble spent for nothing, great. She stood their glaring at the bat, "Curse you! You have wrecked it all, you couldn't even hear it! Curse you!" She screamed at it, her eyes bright with fury. "I spent all that time, that practice, memorising it and learning it's meaning and now you, you....destroy what I have built. You can go burn in hell for all I care, you're just a stupid bat. A flying rat I should say." She snarled, her anger building up. "If you were but a little smarter, you would have to pay." Her voice echoed in the marshes. Nothing else could be heard. She stood still, her eyes sullenly glaring at him, her fists by her side. The anger seemed to radiate from her body.

The bat shrieks with laughter, then flies around her head, still laughing. This was so fun, he liked freaking her. He didn't know what she was talking about, though.

The fact that the bat was whizzing around her head, made her even angrier. "It's ruined!" Her angry shriek echoed across the marshes, scaring away a few birds. "I- I spent ages! A stupid bat ruins it all. You better be happy that you're only a stupid flying creature that can do nothing to stop me from killing you, that's actually the reason why you're not lying on the ground squeaking with pain. Animals just don't understand revenge, you know." She snarled, her eyes flashing. "You....You....arrgh!" She stomped around, ignoring the bat. Xena kicked the stone, she grunted in pain. The stone had had a thin crack straight through the middle, now the two pieces lay two steps away from each other. Xena swore, this couldn't mean anything good.

He stops in midair, on the other side of the stone, then suddenly in its place is Bahamut, green scales and all, saw-toothed glaive in hand. His eyes were green, and he had his snake fangs out. "Oh, but I'm not stupid, little witch."

Xena screamed and took a step back, tripping over the stone. She landed on her back, looking up at the sky. "You're not a bat?" She whispered. "I knew something bad would happen when I kicked that bloody stone that now tripped me." She muttered to herself. She didn't look at the thing infront of her. Maybe it still had the intelligence of a bat; wait a second, how did it know she was a witch. "Uuh...who are you?" She asked, forgetting her anger.

He grins. " Ah, I am Bahamut, former God of Fire, Demonicly Infused with Bathalzar, a Barbazu, and Snake Charmer. Now, who are you? You seem to lie quite well."

Xena picked herself up from the ground, brushing dirt from her backside. "I'm Xena." She said her voice growing stronger again, as she remembered what had happened. "If...you don't mind me saying, you disturbed me and destroyed something really...perfect." She said, staring into his eyes, feeling her heart beat within her.

He looks at the stone, then her."Sorry, comes from being Chaoticly Evil. I like mischeif(sp?)"He looks back at it."What were going to do, by the way?"He looks back at her again.

She looked at him. "I was...doing something I had read from a book the spell was supposed to-" She stopped and looked down, a pink colour creeping onto her other wise pale face. "It isn't relevent what I was doing." Xena muttered, keeping her eyes low. A small cut had appeared on her arm, a single drop of blood dribbled down her wrist, she smiled weakly and brushed it away.

His eyes had caught the drop of blood already though. "Do you want me to heal that?"He smiles slightly, retracting the snake fangs, eyes turning back to blue and red."Being a Snake Charmer has it's uses."He dips some poison on his arm, then licks it off."Immunity to poison, is just one."He smiles more, revealing pointed teeth.

Xena took a step back. The wound was filled with more blood, another drop fell down to the ground. "Uuh...you would heal it? I thought you wanted to..to hurt me or something like that." She muttered, quite confused. She had been prepared for the snake guy to kill him, she wasn't really sure what he was. "Snake charmer.." She repeated the words, they didn't mean anything to her. "Uhh what's that?" She finally asked.

((Bad post..))

"It's a prestige class. Allows me to do snake things. This, for instance."His form changes slowly, until he is a ten foot snake, then he changes back. He grabs her arm, and uses Heal. When his hand comes off, the wound was gone."There."

Xena took a step back, she had never really liked snakes, and the fact that there was one right in front of her wasn't very pleasing. The guy was getting confusing, maybe she should just pretend she knew what he meant. Prestige class didn't mean anything to her either. She was surprised when he took her arm, almost pulling back. "Thanks." She whispered. 'Maybe one day you'll be able to heal yourself, Xena.' She thought to herself, with a weak smile.

He nods."Anytime."He frowns. "You don't understand Prestige classes, do you? They're easy. basically like skills that give you abilities, and powers, of course."He smiles slightly."You should get one."

Xena blushed, she really wasn't good at hiding things was she? She smiled her thanks and thought about what he had said. "It would be silly, I don't even have any magical powers that a real witch is supposed to have." She said, then gasped softly. The words had slipped out of her mouth like water down a river, she hadn't meant to say them. Nobody knew and now she was spilling her secrets to a stranger. What a stupid thing to do, she tried to rectify her mistake. "I mean...It's just that..." It didn't work. Her usually perfect lies wouldn't take form, she sighed. Perhaps he hadn't even heard her. <Now that was stupid! Next time think before you even open your mouth> A voice in the back of her head scolded. "Sorry..." Her voice trailed, her gaze trying to look everywhere but in his direction.

He smiles. "Ah, it's okay. Lot's of witches don't have many or any real powers, and they get along fine. Maybe you should buy some spells though, might help you out if you ever get in danger. Save big ones like Ennervation for later, though...."He remembered when he had first gotten Ennervation. "Powerful spell, drains you quite a bit though....."

Xena sighed with relief. Of course, he had an answer. "How forgetfull of me, though many people would find that perfectly normal. D'you want to...go for a walk? I mean standing up just seems so odd." A nearly true smile spread across her face, she hadn't met normal (if you could call him normal) people in a while, at least someone who would talk to her. "I can't wait to get my powers back. I met someone who had a friend who would teach me.*" She said with a sigh. The marsh was silent, she only just noticed, with the lack of attention she was getting from the voice in her mind. <Don't think I've forgotten you.> It said, suddenly.

*: teach her=buying the spells

He nods slightly. "Well, you have my good wishes on getting you powers back." He looks at the split rock again, then at her. "Rock spell, sounds fun." He grins. "Ah well, whats done is done. No use crying over spilt ale, I once heard from a drunk."He smiles slightly at the memory. He had killed the drunk after hearing that.

Xena smiled back at him. Kicking the rock had been an accident. She glanced down at the one she had broken, and grimaced. "Heh, well it's the first time I've heard of a drunk that said something sensible, first time I've heard of one that said something right." She smiled slightly, taking a couple of steps. She felt like walking, just walking and walking and talking. "I have quite a lot of spells to aquire." she said with a smile. "You seem to have magic, and by the smell of it, quite a lot of magic." She commented.

((Sorry it's such a bad reply, I need to go on holiday tomorrow, will be returning next saturday... BYE!! I won't forget this topic!!))

(is ok, same here)

Bahamut laughs slightly. "Yes, I have alot of magic. I don't use it all, but it comes in useful from time to time." He smiles, then a tiny spark of flame appears, dancing around on his hand.