* { D I E } another d.a.y //, Maul x Skyeh

[fallenskye]

{I sorry, it was late, I`ll continue now D:

Pff, what do you think? XD

....Lol. I want awesome dreams like that...}


Auren, meanwhile, had his work cut out for him "distracting" the second Shi`naen. It seemed to want to join in the attack on Solan; while it snarled furiously at him, it was far more interested in dodging around the crocodile Xeriin to reach the white-haired swordsman. Odd. Auren drew the second of the twin daggers from its place, slashing at the thing`s legs to keep it occupied. It wasn`t easy; those scales were like iron. The second Shi`naen, apparently deciding that it had had enough of the Xeriin`s attacks, took a retaliatory swipe at his face with the first pair of its four forelegs; Auren dodged to the side, but was too slow--one talon scored across his chest, which was unprotected by crocodile scale.

He grinned all the same, keeping the strain out of his voice. "Little help here, necromancer?"

Solan fared hardly better. The demon he faced had tired of simply using its talons--this time it snaked its head forwards with blinding speed, snapping at his arm. He managed to dart out of danger, but the fangs closed around his black katana instead. Screeching as the metal glowed red-hot, the creature tossed it to the side with a jerk of its snakelike head. The weapon landed far away--too far for Solan to be able to retrieve it and not risk an attack from behind.

He was barely given time to breathe--a vicious clawed paw swung towards him, and Solan saw his chance. He ducked out of the way, then reached out swiftly to grab a talon, then released his grip at the right moment, landing on the monster`s back. His hands bled freely from the serrated talons...but the blood was far darker than should be normal. Black blood.

And the color wasn`t the only thing unusual about it--Solan`s blood possessed two unique properties. Firstly, it could harden into the consistency of iron--and second, he could shape it to his will. He used both of these abilities to his advantage now, drawing blood from his veins through the gashes in his hands. The demon thrashed, trying to throw him off, but he perservered, concentrating on molding the black blood into two identical shapes, both like the katana he had lost moments ago.

His vision flickered--it was always a risk, using this much blood--but Solan ignored it as well as the cold, creeping feeling that came with blood loss and dashed up the Shi`naen`s neck, bringing both blood-formed katana down to guillotine the monster`s head from its neck.

It fell--and the instant it did, Solan released his control over his blood, allowing it to flow back into the swiftly-sealing wounds in his palms. Stopping to catch his breath, he glanced over to see how Auren and Morcaen fared.

Not quite as well.

Auren had gained a talon-slash across one calf, and only the rutted crocodile`s scales had stopped the demon from biting his left arm in half. As it way, fangmarks bled freely, and he knew he had to end this quickly if he was to survive. This wasn`t nearly as easy as Solan had made it look--and the white-haired demon had had some trouble as it was.

Taking a gamble with his remaining energy, the Xeriin dashed for the demon`s throat, ducking to avoid a claw-swipe and deflecting another with an impact of knife on claw that made his bones shudder. With massive effort, he jumped, hooking an arm around the monster`s thick neck--then changed.

The shift happened smoothly, as he`d done it so many times before--head and tail lengthed, clawed hands turned to full reptile talons, skin gone to scales.

The next second, there was a resounding scream of anger and agony from the dragon-devil as a massive, twenty-foot-long crocodile weighing over a ton snapped his jaws shut on the monster`s throat with a bite force in excess of five thousands pounds per square inch. In short, not quite as clean as Solan`s method of decapitation, but certainly effective.

[Maul]

(Hmmm....I'm gonna guess he's pretty since ugly characters don't exist in BTACD. xP Viiiiince, take your shirt off, please. n___n )

"Nah, looks like you two have it," Morcaen answered, taking a few steps back and watching the battle. If he had no option, he'd summon the dead and have them fight the battle for him. He had some skill in self defense but he wasn't as confident in it as he was in his necromancer abilities.

Attacking by using his own physical strength was his last reserve. When all else failed was when he would turn to fighting like Solan and Auren did. He had a higher chance beating his opponent if he used his necromancer abilities than actually fighting. An army of undead would do more damage than he could to an opponent.

Once Auren had the beast, Morcaen edged closer. "Well, it's about time," he said, mostly joking. It looked like they were basically finished with this mission. They could return back and find out what the next one was and hopefully, he wouldn't be assigned to this. He preferred collecting information without having to stick his neck on the line. He did have to admit that Solan and Auren were both well suited for this, enough so that he didn't really have much to worry about.

[fallenskye]

{Vince: ....no.}


Auren let go of the Shi`naen with difficulty, giving a rumbling hiss--which was about as articulate as he could get in this form. Nevertheless, the growl continued until the massive crocodilian shrank and warped back into the more humanoid Xeriin form. "--and damn, that hurt. I kinda wish that, y`know, if they`re gonna die anyways, that they`d be all nice and considerate and--"

"Shut up, Auren," Solan interrupted with a slight long-suffering air. "Morcaen--those were the only two, right? I don`t want any unpleasant surprises...if we`re done here, then we`ll head back to home base. The rest of the team`ll be contacted with the rest of the pay..." He walked to retrieve his sword, which he tugged out of the ground--it had landed point-first--and sheathed. "Let`s get going, then."

Auren got up slowly, wincing. "We can`t take a breather or anythin`? Look, I dunno about you, Cap`n Indestructible, but us mortals take a bit longer to heal. `Sides, it`s almost dark, and I`m starved."

"Point taken. Let`s find somewhere to shelter, then. That okay with you, Morcaen?" Solan asked, turning to the necromancer.

[Maul]

(Pretty please? D: )

"Well...I'd assume so. I can't sense them, only the dead they've killed so if there was another, I wouldn't know," Morcaen answered, still keeping on alert just in case but he was confident that Solan or Auren would stop the demon if there was a third one.

He nodded in response. "Sure, sounds find. Maybe we should let the others know we're done here?" There was no need to worry the others at the headquarters. Plus, they could work on collecting the money if they were informed that the demon was already dead. The pay had better be good.

(-looks at time, looks at reply, looks at time...flees-

[fallenskye]

"Yeah. I`ll send Malvyrr..." Solan unbuckled the katana from his belt, then held the sheathed blade in his palms. Silence..and then the shape flickered all down its length. It began to gleam with a faint scarlet radiance--then lost the form of a sword, shifting into something completely different. Moments later, a western dragon the size of a large dog manifested before them, scales dark as night and slitted eyes matching the color of Solan`s.

It apparently needed no verbal instruction; after a few seconds it dipped its head, then lifted its wings and took to the air. Solan watched it go, then spoke again. "He`ll get the message to them within half a day...for now, we`ll try to find somewhere to stay the night; I don`t fancy going into town, not with that freakshow in tow."

Auren didn`t even bristle; he remained as easygoing as usual, and gave a crooked smile that revealed too many sharpened canines. "Speak for yerself, albino," he snickered, then led the way downriver. If they were going to camp, it`d better be beside some nice freshwater, and a river was as good as anything. He kept an eye out as he went for any likely places.

[Maul]

Morcaen watch, fascinated by Solan's ability to make the knife turn into a dragon. "Never got to see that happen before. Maybe I should come out on the actual jobs where the beasties get taken down more often," he said with a cheerful grin. The necromancer was usually always in a good mood and easy to get along with if you could overlook his strange fascination with dead things.

It was actually very common for normal humans to develop an aversion for him, he wasn't sure why but he assumed that since he attracted the dead, it was only logical that he should repel the living. At least his differences weren't as apparent as Auren's though growing up hadn't been any easier. There had always just been that oddity in him that humans seemed to be able to sense without knowing what it was. As a child, his eyes had both been grey, they hadn't changed until he had come into his power and then one eye had changed from grey to a maroon color. It was an easy thing to hide either with his hair or with colored contacts. Auren on the other hand...that must be difficult to conceal.

[fallenskye]

Solan glanced at him, then shrugged. "Malvyrr`s a spirit-weapon," he explained. "Forged from my soul, in other words..the black dragon is his spirit form. I can fight without him, as you probably just saw, but I prefer not to." He followed Auren`s lead, then stopped at the Xeriin found a likely shelter; a small clearing just big enough for three, the edges overgrown with thorns. "Looks good for tonight, provided we stay out o` those bushes," the Xeriin commented, then set his pack down. "I`ll go fishin` and see what I can find, yeah?" With that he slipped his coat off, then waded into the river.

Solan grimaced mentally; he hated the taste of fish. "I`ll go find some meat," the white-haired demon said. "Coming?"

[Maul]

"Sure," he answered with a shrug. He didn't mind fish or meat, he wasn't a picky eater. "When will we return to base?" He didn't particularly liking being out too much, it always increased the chances of being pestered by ghosts. He had his 'safe' areas where he knew they wouldn't show up to bug him and he knew there were certain plants that would send them away but not all could be sent away. Some for unknown reasons to him, were stuck on earth. They seemed to have unfinished business and until it was finished, they were stuck here. The worst was that most of them seemed convinced that it was his duty to help them and if he didn't, they seemed to think it was in their right to drive him insane until he did help them.

[fallenskye]

"We`ll start back tomorrow," Solan told him. He wasn`t particularly good at a long-range throw with it; he`d have to rely on his mastery of elemental magic. It was uncommon to be able to use all elements, but Solan was proficient in each of them to some degree, and especially masterful with Dark and Wind magic. With others, such as Earth, he could only control the growth of a plant or manipulate the earth to a small degree; nothing like what a true Earth element would be able to do.

Within an hour he found the tracks of a doe with a pronounced limp; with his practiced eye they were easy to follow, until he spotted her grazing with the rest of her herd. Holding out an arm to stop Morcaen, the demon concentrated on his target. Half a minute passed; then the air around the doe became distorted. Solan tightened the vacuum he had created to suffocate the animal; she fell, thrashing as the rest of her her fled, sensing the danger. He was loathe to make his prey suffer, but it wasn`t as if he had much choice. Once she was down, her movement stopped, Solan stepped into the clearing and dispersed the wind vacuum, breaking her neck between his hands. He didn`t want to spill her blood here; it would only attract scavengers.

[Maul]

"I can see why you are the one that's usually sent on these missions. Your abilities are...something else," Morcaen said with deep respect. He envied Solan's abilities, they were by far better than being cursed with the ability of necromancy. The demon that they had had to deal with was something that he himself could summon, if he felt so inclined and if he wanted to take the risk which would be stupid. Most demons were smarter and more powerful than humans, if anything, he'd end up the slave to the creature if not dead.