Kuro Mirai

[SilentSpork]

Vahn inspected the runes and though they weren't familiar to him he couldn't help but try to decipher the symbols. While he might not know exactly what they meant there might be a chance to extrapolate some information if he could find similarities. Hunting for information like new runes had actually been one of the reasons he had justified his ventures away from home, though now of course wasn't the time for idle scholarship. As he tried to figure out anything he could from the blade he heard the warning from the scythe wielding girl. 'Yeah, that's just one of those lessons everyone learns I guess.' Vahn thought to himself as he smiled and gave a nod in her direction in acknowledgement before she moved on to talk to the rest of the group. It seemed odd that the girl was so cheerful after not only being hit by a blast but also after the other two had departed. What was going on here?

He was about the speak up to thank the girl for her warning more properly, seeing as he how a smile and head nod might not be the easiest thing to see in the night. That's when he caught another of the party approaching at a trot and it didn't look good. While the first of the group had seemed helpful and the second was down on the ground still this new one seemed like he was going to be trouble. At least trouble for Vahn.

Standing as the man finished the 'warm' greeting that his eyes had promised he considered how to approach this. Getting up should at least satisfy the now established 'no-touchy-sword' policy but this man wouldn't be happy with just that. "My name is Vahn," he started, "and I'm just a passer by that heard a disturbance and came as fast as I could. While I have no idea what's happening around here I would very much be interested in the part about massive energy attacks and why they are being thrown at random people. As to being a suspect I wasn't aware that moving rocks was a crime." Vahn jabbed a thumb at the rock, "I only flew in on it for a relatively short distance, I'll put it back once we get this sorted out if its to much bother where it is now."

It was pretty much impossible to talk your way out of THIS level of immediate suspicion so Vahn didn't have much hope for this man to be pleasant. What he did hope for was that the others would be a bit more accommodating and not take this mans lead. 'I need to get some information from these people.' Vahn thought, 'I don't need them if they become to much trouble but I will find that creature and the one that saved me. That would be MUCH easier with assistance.' Even while Vahn organized his mind there was something eating at him. Something had been off about that fight, but what was it?

[Remus]

Merissa couldn't help but laugh at Vahn's comment. "I guess it's an unusual method of travel that's all. I suppose it was effective. It did distract whoever that was from launching their attack." She winced slightly. The cut on her head burned worse than she thought. "Though it didn't stop him from blowing up half the clearing." She gestured to Devoe. "As my friend says, not only is the sword dangerous it does count as evidence as to what happened here." She stared at the sword for a moment. Now seeing it closer than she had before she had a better opportunity to study the markings. What were they? The sword definitely had an evil feel about it, but was it due to the runes engraved upon them or because of the thing that wielded them?

"I better go check on the others." she said quickly walking towards Satoshi. Kneeling down at his side she quickly inspected his wounds. The worst appeared to be on his shoulder. "You look just as bad as I do. Whatever it did, it knocked the girl away as well before flying off. All that's left of him is his weapon. A curious sword with even stranger markings." She reached out to offer the man a hand. "We should get that wound treated. Do you think you can sit up?"

[Nayr]

Satoshi largely ignored the conversation near where the weapon had fallen. He cared about it only insofar as if the fools didn't corrupt it too much it would still be singing a little from the recent combat. Particularly if there was still blood or trace on it. His senses swam in a lake of aching muscles and the protestations of his wound. Someone came over to where he lay and knelt beside him. If he recalled correctly, her name was Merissa.

"You look just as bad as I do," she commented. He'd have to take her word for it. He certainly felt like he was in bad shape, but he had no concept of how he looked. Merissa continued her remarks, commenting on what had just happened which served to confirm what he'd heard. She also described the weapon that had dropped. "A curious sword with even stranger markings" were her words, and while they didn't mean much to him his experience as a merchant taught him to be wary of distinctive items, weapons in particular. More on that in a moment.

"We should get that wound treated. Do you think you can sit up?" Despite her commentary on the obvious, it was a reasonable question. He hadn't noticed that she had extended a hand in his direction, and so impacted it slightly as he pushed himself up in a sitting position. He tried not to become annoyed as it happened, although it rankled a little both that he hadn't noticed the motion because the distance between them was so slight and also that she made no effort whatsoever to ensure that he even knew that she was offering assistance.

"Probably," he answered, having achieved a sitting position with no small amount of discomfort. He took a moment to allow the protestations of his body to die down a little before continuing to speak.

"I need two things in addition to medical attention," he continued finally, "First, make certain no one handles that weapon before it can be properly examined. Second, I would like it described as thoroughly as possible. I don't deal in weapons myself, but one hears things. Two merchants passing on the road share news and rumors. Based upon what you've said, it's distinctive enough that any merchant would remember it very clearly among their wares."
__________________________

Nayr's was a quiet existence. He generally stayed in his mountain hall, passing his life in solitude and contemplation. His unique condition complicated his life, and meant he had to take precautions that sometimes bordered on insane to avoid another episode. On his last excursion into town he'd found something to read, and was enjoying it for the fifth time when a gong sound echoed through his residence. Though the massive doors to his hall were solid stone, the entryway had been constructed to amplify impacts against it and send them ringing through the place to alert the inhabitants. This particular sound was more akin to something falling against it than it was to someone knocking, however, and when another sound followed which seemed like someone collapsing, he got up and moved to the door, picking up his medical supplies as he went.

When he opened the door, the first thing he noticed was the snow. The flakes began to drift inward, drawn by the motion of the stone doors, and he recoiled. Having escaped the frozen precipitation, he pulled on a thick cloak and heavy gloves before approaching the person outside again. That's when he noticed the arrow sticking out of the unmoving figure's back. Without another moment lost to hesitation, he pulled the stranger into the house, getting the limp form onto a table before returning to the door to secure the entrance again. There had been a fair amount of moisture tracked in and he'd have to fix that eventually, but for now he couldn't spare the time. He kept his protective outerwear on as he began to check the wounded visitor over, removing a glove only long enough to check that his patient had not already succumbed to the obvious wound. Before he did anything about that, however, he would have to make sure his guest would survive its removal. As he inspected the lesser injuries, he was startled by the face of this strange visitor. She, and this was certainly a woman, so resembled an acquaintance of his that he at first believed that it was she who had come wounded to his halls...again. Closer inspection revealed that his guest looked nothing like that person, but the resemblance was nonetheless oddly striking.

What sort of trouble are you in this time? he wondered as he began to tend to this strange person who had collapsed on his doorstep.

[Mini]

Devoe continued staring down the new man who had introduced himself simply as Vahn. Things weren't adding up. For starters, he fully admitted to flying in on a boulder, which clearly pegged him as some sort of not-human. Devoe didn't know too many humans with abilities like that, and the ones he did know almost always had a touch of something in them, be it demon or otherwise. It wasn't that Devoe was distrustful of demons or half-demons on sight, but his track record was pretty rough when it came to dealing with them. There was only one he had ever met that he had gotten along with, and that had been Labinya, the stoic and drop-dead gorgeous assassin of his old group. Labinya was long gong, though, and so were the rest of his friends.

"I never said flying around on rocks was a crime, though in certain parts of this neck of the woods, it might be," Devoe calmly pointed out. "You do realize that you just outted yourself as being something not all that human, right? I don't know nobody who goes flyin' around on boulders like that one there who ain't a bit of a demon." He cringed suddenly, aware that his "mountain talk" was starting to slip out. This was surely a sign of his exhaustion. How long had he been awake now?

Grumbling to himself, he slung his bow back over his shoulder and carefully trudged towards the bloody sword laying on the ground besides Vahn. He glanced over towards Merissa and Satoshi, then glanced back at Vahn. For a long while, he simply glared at him. The archer finally cursed under his breath and crossed his arms. "I don't think I trust you, but you're here, so you might as well make yourself useful. First, tell me what you know about those two people who were just fighting here. Do you know either one of them? Do they have any sort of demonic aura you can track? Second... that's not your sword, is it?" He spoke the last part more like a statement than a question. Frowning, he crouched down to get a better look at the sword. He knew from experience not to touch it until he could figure out if it was dangerous or not.

Upon closer inspection, he discovered that there were actually 5 markings on the sword instead of just 4. They had been cleanly and professional carved into the center of the sword. Try as he might, Devoe was unable to make heads or tales of the runes. They graced the sword with their presence, though, and almost seemed to glow in the light of the moon. The sword itself, which was a katana, looked almost too beautiful to be used in battle. The single-edged blade had quite the perfect curve to it. The metal that had been used to forge it was darker than a typical bronze or silver blade, but the blade glistened and sparkled as if it had been created from liquid silver gemstones. In the dark, it almost appeared to have a reddish or purplish tint to it. The hilt was wrapped in tattered, dirty, off-white cloth that looked as if it had seen a good number of battles, and it had been carefully laced up with some sort of black string. It was a shame to see blood and knicks on a blade so beautiful. As he examined it, he called out the details to both Merissa and Satoshi, trying to be mindful of the fact that his new merchant friend was blind.

((Runes on the Katana: ))

~*~*~

A stabbing, shooting pain in her shoulder caused the girl who had stumbled into Nayr's hidden home to jolt awake with a scream of agony. It felt like something had just tried to rip her arm clean off.

"AAH!! Oh gods, stop, STOP!" she cried out, instinctively curling up into a ball as if trying to make herself into as small a target as possible. Her platinum blonde hair spilled free of the rest of the braid it had once been in and obscured her face from view. All she knew at the moment was pain, confusion, and more pain, and it was causing her a great deal of stress. It was also causing her to be a bad patient for poor Nayr. With a desperate sounding cry, she tried kicking away from whatever was holding her down, while at the same time trying to stand up and run for somewhere that wasn't her current location. "No! Stop! You don't know what you're doing! You have to let me go! I can fix it, I can, I swear I can!"

[SilentSpork]

Vahn shrugged as the man pointed out the implications of his statement, "Honestly it was far from a subtle entrance so I felt it pretty safe to assume one of you had gotten a good enough look at it. Seeing as how you don't trust me, which was pretty clear even before you stated it, it seemed best that the information come from me and not one of your companions." There was also the fact that Vahn had a sinking feeling the fighting, and his power use, wasn't over in whatever he had just waltzed into. He couldn't hide his powers completely this time but he was going to do his best to obscure it. His attention was somewhat divided as he spoke, looking around the area for anything other then the sword that might have been dropped or left by the combatants. 'I just don't have enough to go on yet to know what to even look for' Vahn thought as he gave a mental curse and finished his scan of the night looking in the general direction of the fighter they had seen fall.

Information was what Vahn needed now and so he was going to see if this man or perhaps one of his companions would be forthcoming. To do that, some more trust would probably need to be earned and he'd have to work with them for now. While it had been a long time since he had last had to talk about or show his powers his last few encounters had been...educational on how to function in a group such as this. This was going to be the first test to see if his new plan would work and seeing as how that plan was based on misleading others right now as going to be a VERY good test. Vahn just hoped it wouldn't turn out to be to good of a test.

"I don't know who the fighters were no and I don't have that little demon part of me that you were talking about so no I can't track any auras they might be giving off." Vahn struggled to keep from using the opportunity to have a little fun with the mans backwards sounding slang he had slipped into. While the man was probably just tired, which he looked, and stressed, which would be normal in this situation, it didn't keep him from annoying Vahn with his suspicion and bossing attitude. "My sword" Vahn continued as he slowly reached up and pulled his sword with two fingers enough to expose the first inlaid crystal, "is right here and is part of what lets me do some pretty fun things." he pushed some power through the exposed crystal which gave it a slight green glow for a moment. Shiny things were usually the best distractions.

There was some obvious reasons for the attempted misdirect. One was demons and half-demons were usually not very trusted by humans. Not that there wasn't good reason in a lot of cases for that mistrust it wasn't going to do anything but hamper him now. It should also hopefully sound like he was trying to be straight forward with the man, answering the obvious follow up question about his powers after he denied being demon. Well what he had "meant" was actually a refutation of the 'little' part of the man's observation but with the rest of the given context they shouldn't be able to notice that. Whenever he was forced to bend the truth he preferred a misleading statement as opposed to the full lie as the latter of the two was usually much harder to recover from.

"So now that we have that all cleared up, would someone explain what the heck is going on here? What are you investigating? Also its usually courteous to give your name before you harass someone." Vahn said with only a little bite in his voice. Usually he could keep his emotions under control better then this but after whoever that women had been that had saved him he wasn't exactly in a normal state of mind. As he continued to eliminate the possible identities of his unknown savior it was pretty much narrowing down to one of two options. One was he didn't know the person at all and it was just random and the other.. well if it was her then Vahn wasn't about to tell this man anything till he talked to her.

Something else gnawed at him too but this one he had a much better understanding of. Vahn had finally found a measure of peace over his isolation and the soldier mind that used to reign had slowly started to fade to the back. It had taken apparently a single event like this to bring the soldier almost fully back to the fore front. He appraised the group which apparently was made of the archer-man-of-suspicion , Merissa the scythe wielder who would likely be some sort of altered or none human as the strength needed for that weapon would be more then her frame suggested she had, and Satoshi who was still a complete wildcard to him. With Merissa's presence he should probably feel a bit more welcomed as not fully human but Vahn would not, could not, accept that. The countless hours practice using only a tiny amount of his power in combat, the creation of these new weapons with their crystals, the rune studying, and much more had all been so he could leave his demon and past behind. Now the schism, the risk of these journeys from his home, he feared had come to be; he couldn't turn his back on this situation but it seemed far to likely that his sword alone wasn't going to be enough.

[Remus]

(OOC: sorry for the long wait guys. Double shifts and legal crap kept me from posting. Also apologies to NAyr too for my last post. I kinda had the assumption that although Satoshi was blind he could somewhat sense what the people around him are doing. Sorta like Daredevil, he wouldn't be able to see her but he could sense her holding out her arm which is why I had Merissa act the way she did.)

Merissa could have smacked herself forgetting Satoshi couldn't see that she was offering him help. She found herself lowering her head. "I'm sorry. I-I'm sure I have something in my pack to help with that wound." She dropped her pack to her side and immediately started digging through it while she listened to Devoe describe the runes on the sword. Merissa's knowledge of enchanted weapons was very limited, and most of what she knew wouldn't help in the situation. She could only hope Vahn or Satoshi would know something of it that would help them further. Issen still seemed to be missing too. She wondered if he had caught up to one of the fighters yet. Who exactly were they? And what did they have to do with everything that was going on.

There was Vahn himself to wonder about too. Devoe clearly did not trust him and neither did Merissa, though for different reasons other than his suspicious appearance and strange entrance. He was clearly lying. Merissa may not have had her demon half long enough to be able to track the fleeing combatants, but she knew enough to know that Vahn was not at all as human as he was portraying himself to be. It was only there for a moment but she felt it. If that were true, even if he didn't see her little fire show back there, he would be able to sense that she too was not entirely human. His sword was pretty and for a while she could not help but stare at it's green glow. She couldn't risk exposing herself to the others though. Not yet. If she could find some point where she could get Vahn alone, perhaps then she could reach out to him and get some real answers. But not yet. First she would have to see what the others would have planned, then she could make plans of her own.

"Ah here it is!" she said suddenly pulling out a vial of red liquid from her pack. "I acquired this a while back from a good friend of mine. She was an expert healer and lent me some of her supplies the last time I stopped by her village." She produced a length of linen cloth and spread the salve over it. "Not only will it clean out the wound but you should heal from it quite quickly too." She gave a quirky little laugh. "I once knew a man who used her potions to heal himself from some very bad looking burns once."

Yes, she would have to keep her secret from them for a little while longer, but when the time was ready she would be able to tell them, but of course she had to ask herself if she could really trust them. "Let me bandage your wound. This may sting a bit at first, but you should feel its effect soon enough."

[Nayr]

(OOC: Don't you worry, Remus. Neither I nor Satoshi are offended in the slightest. He was more bemused than anything else. We're cool.)

He nodded to Merissa, indicating that he very much preferred that she bandage his wound. He hoped the motion appeared grateful, but he was too otherwise focused to take particular care about it.

"Don't handle the sword too much unless you know what to look for," he said again, loud enough for the others to hear, "That's definitely a one-of-a-kind blade. I've heard of swords like this one. They were forged back in the Time of Heroes by expert swordsmiths. Each one was forged by hand from a material none of my contacts could put a name to, but they're strong swords. Anything that can put a nick in one of those blades is at least as powerful as the rare steel they used to forge them. This specific weapon matches the style of a particular sword master, although I haven't talked to anyone who could tell me the person's name for sure. The stories do agree that each one of this master's blades were forged only for those warriors who could prove themselves worthy, either by defeating the master in a sparring match or by demonstrating their commitment to the way of the sword. I can't say I've heard much that would help track down this sword's owner, but it's something that wouldn't just be idly dropped. This is an heirloom quality sword, passed down from wielder to wielder across the years. The one who dropped it just now will have undoubtedly left traces of themselves on it, assuming you two haven't wiped it away already."

While he avoided using any specifically derogatory language, at least one word to the effect of "idiots" or "dunderheads" could be clearly heard missing from the last sentence. Satoshi didn't have a very high opinion of Devoe's investigative skill, and didn't mind showing it in this particular scenario. It didn't seem as though there were any other experts handy, so he would have to take charge anyway and that began with insisting on a proper examination of the only real lead they had.

~*~*~

Nayr's first reaction was to hold his patient down in as gentle a manner as possible, taking care not to disturb any of her wounds unnecessarily.

"Calm down!" he ordered, "You're safe! I haven't done anything yet. I'm just examining your wounds. I have medical training, so if you'll stop fidgeting maybe I can do something to help."

He continued to keep her from wriggling away or falling from the table until she stopped moving. If she started slipping away from him, he would add more strength or more weight. First priority was to get her to talk to him instead of flailing around making things worse.

[Mini]

Devoe glanced up at Vahn as the stranger went on to try and show off his apparent human nature by laying blame for the flying rocks on his sword. It was shiny and sparkly and glowed green for a few moments, but Devoe didn't seem all that enthralled by the magic show. One eyebrow arched up skeptically as he looked the man over.

"Not a demon my ahhh, what was that, Satoshi?" Devoe called, choosing to ignore Vahn for the time being and instead listen to the traveling merchant's words about the sword. Satoshi claimed that the sword appeared to be a one=of-a-kind blade. Normally Devoe would question how a blind man who hadn't even touched the blade could know something like that, but with the runes that were carved so carefully into the blade, it was a fairly easy conclusion to draw. Satoshi went on to state that the sword was most likely a relic left over from the Time of Heroes. Devoe had heard many tales of that age, which had happened a few hundred years back. It would have been around the time that the famous Shikon no Tama, or Jewel of Four Souls, had been created. That certainly made it an interesting sword. The real problem at hand was trying to figure out if it was a demonic blade or not.

"So you think this weapon is really that old, eh? If it is, it shows its age well. It's a little nicked up, sure, but I guess that's to be expected if it was just used in that epic fight," Devoe said loud enough for Satoshi and Merissa to hear him. He scowled darkly as Satoshi informed him not to touch the blade like he was some kind of child in a candy shop. He also caught the missing insult that his merchant friend so cleverly left out of his careful phrasing of words. "'Oi, you really think I'm that stupid? Glowing sword guy who's totally a normal human guy, maybe, but believe it or not I know a thing or two about weapons. If you're so enthusiastic about touching the thing, then how about you come pick it up? Merissa, you got anything to wrap it up with in that pack of yours?" Devoe yelled back over his shoulder.

With a groan, he stood up and turned to face Vahn. Devoe looked beyond exhausted but was doing his best to not show it. It wasn't working so well. "All right, bub, listen up. Whoever said we're investigating something, huh? Don't just go drawing conclusions there like you think you're some kinda hotshot detective," he said a little too gruffly. He seemed to notice how angry he came off sounding and sighed heavily, shaking his head. "Ugh. Listen, man, I'm exhausted, and it's been a long day. Cut me some slack here. It's been a long day," he said with a groan. "Wait, did I all ready say it's been a long day? This backs up my claim that it's been a long day."

Devoe took a minute to glance back towards Merissa and Satoshi, making sure that they seemed to be doing okay. Although he had just met the two and they hadn't spent very much time together, almost being killed by the same foe had an odd way of bringing you together with your comrades. He shifted his attention back to Vahn. "You really wanna know what we're up to? You better brace yourself. It's not pretty," he warned. "There's been a string of really nasty murders going around this neck of the woods over the last few weeks. They victims are all over the place so far as age, gender, and all that goes. There's no pattern with any of them, save that they were all killed by what looked to be a single wound inflicted by a sword, and almost all of 'em were alone when they were killed. There's been next to no evidence or witnesses anywhere, but the killings are getting closer together. I set out to try and figure out what's going on, met up with the merchant and the scythe girl and a few others, and we ended up coming across a fresh murder scene back by the river. A girl, maybe late teens, had just been killed practically in the arms of her boyfriend. Blood everywhere. She was dead when we got there. He was a wreck, but was able to tell us which way the thing that killed her went. We came this way and came across the freaky cloaked thing and the girl, I guess she was, fighting like two starving bears over the last scrap of meat. My intuition tells me that the cloaked thing is behind all the murders, but what I don't get is the why. If it was your run-of-the-mill demon, it wouldn't be killing people so carefully and one at a time. If it's a human, which I kind of doubt since it seems to be able to fly, then why's he or she randomly killing people? They're not taking any money or possessions or fouling the body at all, and they haven't been killing a specific type of person, either. And now we have the added puzzle of this girl to work in. Who is she? Why was the cloaked thing trying to kill her? Where did she go? How does she tie in to all of this? Is she an innocent bystander who just happens to know how to defend herself, or is it something bigger than that?"

There was an awkward bit of silence that followed Devoe's summary of events before he spoke up one last time. "Oh," he added as if he realized he forgot some important information from his story. "Devoe. My name is Devoe."

~*~

The injured girl let out a pained whimper as Nayr pinned her down to the table. "No, NO, you don't know what you're doing! Get your hands off me, I can still fix this!" she screamed again as she thrashed around blindly. Nayr managed to hold his ground and keep her down while he shouted at her to calm down. Forgetting that her shoulder was more than likely dislocated and that she still had an arrow sticking out of her, she tried to push him off of her and push herself up with her bad arm. This sent a shockwave of pain through her body. The poor girl collapsed back down onto the table, muttering curses that would shame any sailor under her breath.

For the first time since awakening, she seemed to finally hear Nayr. It occurred to her that his voice was very different from the one that she had thought had been speaking to her. This voice, while strong and commanding, was also on the gentle side. Long, wispy bangs covered most of the girl's face, but she glanced up at Nayr briefly. "Wha... who... wait, y-you're not... then I'm not?..." Her voice trailed off, but the girl seemed to realize that for the time being she was safe. "Oh, thank the gods," she whispered, exhaling deeply. "Listen, I don't know who you are or how I got here, but you said you have medical training? Owwww, oh dear lord, I hope that training covered how to pull an arrow out of someone without letting them bleed to death," she groaned. "If... If you can keep me from bleeding to death, it'd be much appreciated."

With great effort, she managed to turn herself so that she was properly looking up at the man who had just dragged her inside his home and was trying to keep her from bleeding to death. The instant Nayr saw her face, he would notice an absolutely uncanny resemblance to another girl he knew. The platinum blonde hair was easily the biggest difference, but hair color was easily changed, wasn't it? A second look, however, would reveal a few other slight differences. Her eyes were a light blue-gray color, and she was much thinner and a little younger looking, as well. She was deathly pale, although that could just be on account of all the blood loss. She stared up at him with a strange look in her eyes, as if she was straining to see if she knew him or not. After a few moments, her eyes widened in shock.

"Wait. Wait a minute. You... this place... Are you Nayr?"

[SilentSpork]

'I'm just never going to figure out how to do this right am I?' Vahn thought to himself as he saw his misleading had no real effect on at least the man-of-great-suspicion. While the others hadn't yet let it show what they had thought of his little story to explain his powers it obviously hadn't dissuaded this man. How many times had he screwed up hiding his nature now? Thankfully before the conversation could go any worse Satoshi chimed in with his information about the sword. For a moment the attention was off of Vahn and he took the opportunity to listen with intent on what Satoshi could say about the sword. With the making of his new sword that he now carried Vahn had delved into weapon forging fairly heavily though he had never had access to the information or history this merchant apparently had and knew. While not only somewhat interesting to listen to it was also important as the sword seemed like the best lead he had on finding whoever that girl had been.

The sword's description was only a temporary distraction though as he soon found himself almost insulted at the end of it, then actually insulted, and then talked down like a kid who couldn't think that the words 'evidence' and 'suspect' were indicative of some investigation or another. Mostly he had been working on keeping his anger in check and to not quip back during it all. This man, who revealed himself to be named Devoe, seemed to be trying to antagonize him and Satoshi's barely withheld insult wasn't much better. Overall it appeared that Merissa's fairly neutral response was the most positive reaction of the group. Still, when finally the gruesome details of the murders came out along with the disturbing build up of the their timing it gave him something else to worry about. This ultimately cooled his pride a bit and made it easier to be less frustrated in his response.

"Sounds like its been more then a long day for all of you. There isn't much I can provide you with about whats happening here. The one thing I do know is that this doesn't feel like just a string of murders done pointlessly by a lesser demon. There is something more going on here and whatever it is you're going to need all the help you can get." Vahn looked at them in turn, "This is all backed by judging the destruction those two caused so quickly and by the apparent uniqueness of that sword." This pretty much summarized what Vahn knew. Even if these were the powers he had tangled with before the only thing he knew then was that there was likely something bad, no VERY bad, at the other end of that monsters leash. All he had to go one though was a single scream and the act of intervention and even then that didn't really prove anything specific. It simply wasn't enough to voice even as a suggestion let alone convince him.

"I may not be some hot shot detective," while he couldn't leave that one untouched Vahn did fight off the urge to toss Devoe a quick glare, "still I'm pretty useful in a pinch. Honestly no matter what you want to do I think it would be wise to move along soon. It's late and cold and apparently tonight is filled with explosions. On that last note who knows what attention we'll get with all of that noise." The implied never know whats out there he didn't add but he didn't really feel the need to. Vahn usually didn't have any reason to worry about the night but this particular time he was keen to get inside or at least away from this specific spot. His retired, and in this case paranoid, instincts indeed were kicking back in.

[Cernan]

For Issen, too many things had started happening, seemingly all in one instant. A disadvantage of splitting himself like he had. Tailing Satoshi his focus had been to centered on him to notice the orbs sent until nearly too late. He saw the one coming at Satoshi first, but before being able to even shout a warning, one had been flung at him. Caught off guard all he could do was quickly drop to all fours, barely dodging it, but getting sprayed by the chunks of tree from the same explosion of wood that had caught Satoshi. He had barely managed to get back to his feet when a large boulder with a man on top came crashing down, nearly crushing his double that had been charging in towards the tattered figure, forcing that one to jump back and his two others that had been circling in to stay on the forest edge. Then the girl came barreling back into the scene, again catching his attention just long enough to distract him as a massive wave of electricity was sent out.

It was all to much for Issen to process. It was becoming much to frantic to try to maintain so many perspectives. There was just too many people. As the wave spread out all four of the Issen's that had been moving about shimmered away, as one figure crouching behind a low shrub back where he had first split himself came back in the same shimmering flickering manner. As he was recollecting himself there was a blinding flash followed by quite a forceful shockwave. There was not much he could do but remained crouched and braced himself as it rolled over him, shaking him, but due to his distance not harming him much. Once it had passed over him Issen looked around quickly taking in all he could. The girl had gone sailing into the ground, their target flown off, and there was a lot of confusion. Deciding it might be best to stay hidden and see what happened next, Issen re-sheathed his dagger, cutting off the flow of energy that was coming from it, and his image flickered away again as he made himself invisible.

While the rest of his Compatriots gathered in the clearing and around the sword, Issen set about sniffing around in the bush. The entire area was permeated with the smell of ozone, but he could pick out the smell of blood fairly easily. From the clearing, presumably from the katana and any incidental blod that had been spilled during the two figures brawl he could detect the creatures blood. It was familiar now he knew it, which meant the scent drifting on the wind was cloaked figures. He circled around the clearing towards it's direction. Had anyone been paying close attention they would have seen footprints being formed in the snow where there was no person creating them. He couldn't really spare the energy or effort right now to cover the tracks, but he doubted anyone in the clearing was going to try to attack him so it didn't matter. After having gone about a quarter way around the clearing he got where he wanted to be, where the two scents came from opposite direction. Three actually. That of the tattered figure and what had to be the human girls blood in the clearing one way, and out into the forest the fading smell of the blood of the other. She was moving away.

Glancing back Issen could see that all of the group were okay, and converging around the sword. He had some time. He started walking into the forest towards the smell of the fallen woman. As he went his ears swiveled back, keeping tabs on the conversation behind him. It didn't take him too long to find where the girl had fallen. There was obvious signs of her impact but she was already gone. There was footprints leading away, as well as the heavy sent of blood slowly fading in the wind. Issen would have like to found the girl to see if she was alright and ask her some questions, but he didn't want to wander too far from the group either. With a small sigh he turned and headed back to the clearing.

Approaching the clearing Issen almost wanted to roll his eyes. They were still all standing, or sitting in Satoshi's case, near the sword squabbling. He had to wonder about all these people so perplexed by a demon sword, surely they had seen one before. He walked into the clearing and right up to the sword leaning over Devoe's back to get a look at it before making himself visible again. He couldn't help it. In spite of all that had happened he was still a fox and liked tricking people.

"Yup, that's a demon sword by the looks of it."

He quickly stood back upright and walked over to Vahn, the one who had almost crushed him, giving him a look over then looking over to Satoshi and Merissa.

"I would have thought at least one of you would be familiar with weapons like this. Runes usually come in one of three varieties. Sealing, summoning, and amplifying. Problem is if none of us can read the, it's hard to tell without actually using it, or we could always ask. Our target headed towards the village, the one he was fighting went that way." Issen pointed in the direction he had come from.

"We should probably go after one of them."

[Remus]

"There" Merissa said as she finished bandaging Satoshi's wounds. "This will do until we get back to the village later." She had cleaned the man's wound and treated it as she would normally had done for Raven. She wasn't a healer by any means and Satoshi being human would mean his injuries would take twice as long to heal as hers or her brothers did, but she had hoped it would be enough to stop the bleeding and stave off any infection that may have come with it. Satoshi's words had disturbed her greatly. A weapon that old....forged in ancient times.... something like that sounded far above something she, perhaps more than all of them would be able to handle. She wanted to find Raven. Now. Even if he, with his knowledge of demon and human weapons didn't know anything about it, it would simply comfort her to know that he was close. After checking Satoshi's bandages again, Merissa stood up and brushed the dirt from her pants.

"Just a spare traveling cloak." she answered to Devoe's question. "It's a little frayed but you should be able to wrap it around the sword without having to physically touch it."

She reached into her bag and pulled out a long dark cloak. This cloak was heavier than the one she wore on normal occasions. She used it mainly when the weather was bad or whenever she and Raven were traveling in the colder climates. It's age was apparent by the tears along the hem and the many weather stains across the back. She walked over to Devoe holding out the cloak. As she did so she glanced down at the sword. A dark energy did indeed seem to emanate from the weapon, but even so Merissa could not help but admire the dark beauty in it. It gave her a shiver to think of how strong such an old weapon like it must have been. To have even a smallest nick, Satoshi said would have to have been an even greater more deadly force. This sword could have seen hundreds....no thousands of battles and yet only one thing was able to damage it. A person wielding that weapon, be it demon or human would become unstoppable. Unstoppable.. Merissa felt herself shudder again.

"Here." she whispered holding out the cloak to Devoe. "Be careful. Satoshi's right. That thing. It may not affect you if you touch it a little bit, but to actually hold it...." She shook her head. "I don't know. I haven't come across any ancient weapons in my life. Demon weapons yes, but this one feels different from all the others. It feels more alive than the others."

It was then that Issen had come back to the clearing. Merissa felt a little relived that he was okay. Now they could make a plan to go on ahead.

"I think our best bet would be to follow the girl who ran off." She explained to the rest. "She's injured, and on foot. Even if she isn't hurt badly there should still be enough of a trail to follow. Our killer however may not be so easy. He can use both the ground and the sky to his advantage and we don't know the full extent of his abilities yet. Best to go after someone who we could hope that there is a chance is on our side. She did take the hit for a few of us back there after all."

[Nayr]

Satoshi moved his arm experimentally as Merissa proclaimed it bandaged for the moment. It still hurt, obviously, and it wouldn't be as strong as it usually was while it healed, but it was still usable provided he didn't allow himself to become too ambitious with the tasks to which he put it. He remained silent as tempers frayed and a demon sword was discussed. Apparently Issen knew quite a bit about magic runes, but not enough to read the script on the sword. From there, it was suggested that they pursue one of the two figures. Reasonable, but stupid.

"I suggest neither," he began, "The one who flew off will likely be itching to either resume the business we interrupted or take revenge on us for the interruption, and the one who limped away wounded will be headed somewhere in particular. If I were wounded in an unfamiliar place, why would I head away from the village? On the other side of that, if I knew there was an ally nearby who could tend to my wounds and ensure that my enemy wouldn't take advantage of my weakness, I would obviously choose them over someone I didn't know. We should assume that the wounded one is no longer alone. Even if she were sympathetic to our cause, we know nothing at all about whomever she set off to find in her condition. It's best to treat both of them as threats and confront them only when we can be assured of the situation playing out to our advantage. I suggest that at least one of us go back to the village and make sure our eyewitness is safe. Especially with our quarry heading there as well, we should assume that the killer means to silence the boy."

They should have all thought of that sooner, but they had become understandably distracted. He wasn't about to take charge of this little game, but he would definitely avoid at all costs the wasting of time in its course. The story was interesting to him, and he didn't want to see it stalled out just yet. Particularly if working with this motley assortment would bring him closer to that killer...

~*~*~

It took some time for the girl to become coherent enough to recognize her situation, but persistence and leverage guaranteed his victory. When she collapsed back onto the table, he removed his weight from her and waited for her to work out what was going on.

"Oh, thank the gods," she whispered, breathing a sigh of relief, "Listen, I don't know who you are or how I got here, but you said you have medical training? Owwww, oh dear lord, I hope that training covered how to pull an arrow out of someone without letting them bleed to death. If... If you can keep me from bleeding to death, it'd be much appreciated."

She turned over a little, looking as though it were an exertion to do so, and looked up at him properly. She definitely resembled that person very much, and yet was so very different. The girl before him was thinner and looked younger than the one he thought of, and had a light blue or gray color to her eyes. The hair was much different, obviously, but that could be readily altered at need. She stared at him intently, as if trying to make her eyes focus on his countenance. It was neither especially dark nor especially bright in the room, so her eyes shouldn't have needed time to adjust. Perhaps she had taken a blow to the head in addition to the other things that had befallen her. Those were always tricky to heal. Not much he could do for her here with the supplies he had on hand. The arrow could be remedied, but-

He was cut off by her sudden look of shock and equally shocked outburst.

"Wait. Wait a minute. You... this place... Are you Nayr?"

He gave her a quizzical look. If she weren't that person, how would she know of him or his home? Perhaps this was a friend of the girl she resembled. A sister, perhaps.

"Yes," he said uncertainly, "Have we met?"

Obviously not, but it was a good place to start. If the girl recognized him or had heard tales of him she would doubtless provide some information to work from regarding how she knew his name.

[Mini]

"Yep. That's a demon sword by the looks of it."

Devoe let out a sound that was most unbecoming for a grown man to make as Issen reappeared behind him, leaning over the top of him. The archer glared daggers at the fox demon as he zoomed his way over closer to the sword. "What is wrong with you why would you do that are you trying to give somebody a heart attack?!" he shouted all in one breath. Grinding his teeth, Devoe curled his hands up into tight fists as he attempted to get his heart rate back under control. Issen went on to explain something about runes, and the others continued their conversation.

Devoe was staring off into the distance, listening (mostly) to everyone else talking when Merissa approached him with her cloak. He turned and perked an eyebrow. "Uhh... no thanks, I'm not cold." He stood there for nearly a full ten seconds before he realized what Merissa had meant. Once the lightbulb went off, he whirled around to face her. "Oh. Ohh! Yeah, this should work great," he said, taking the cloak from her. For the moment, he ignored his comrades as they argued about who to pursue and whether or not it was even a good idea to pursue either one of them.

What Devoe hadn't told the others was that he had indeed handled demon swords quite a few times before. He had been in the business of transporting and stealing such goods for a long time, so he did know how to wrap up such special deliveries in such a way that it would be safe (mostly) to transport them. The cloak Merissa had given him was thick, but it was a bit old and tattered. It would have to do. Devoe slipped on a pair of gloves he pulled from his back pocket. He gingerly plucked the blade up by the hilt and held it tilted above the ground. With his other hand, he took a corner of her cloak and wrapped it around the middle. With a few surprisingly agile twists, folds, tucks, and spins, the sword was completely wrapped up in at least three layers of the cloak and packaged nice enough to be presented to a prince.

"I'm inclined to agree with Satoshi and Vahn," he said, standing back up with the sword tucked under an arm. "My vote is we return to the village for the night. It's way past my bedtime. If any of you nocturnal folk want to go chasing after either one of our new friends, then you can be my guest. Scary Demon Monster went flying off... somewhere in that general direction," Devoe said, gesturing to the entire sky with his free arm. "He'll be super easy to track, especially since the thing can apparently fly and turn invisible. As for our brave heroine, we have to ask ourselves - does she even want to be found? Sure, she's injured, and sure, she sort of helped us out a bit, but I didn't see her jumping down to introduce herself and join our party. That creature seemed to want her dead, but why? There's gotta be a reason, and frankly, it's a little too late right now to go figuring out why. Like Merissa said, she seemed pretty banged up. There's a good chance we'll see her at the village. Issen, you said you think she was headed that way? Even better. Speaking of the village, we do have another person of interest involved waiting for us."

Devoe had indeed almost forgotten about the boy. Surely he must have seen something. Was it too much to hope for that he was somehow connected to the killer, the creepy demon (who was probably the killer), and the mysterious girl who had nearly killed herself to save Vahn? With a sigh, he turned and took a few steps back towards the direction of the village. "So who's all coming with me, eh?"

~*~

Meanwhile, back at the village, the boy that Devoe and his companions had found at the scene of the latest grisly murder had been taken to the temple. He had been tossing and turning something awful, but he remained unconscious. The priestesses had done their best for him. After changing his clothes - his outfit was drenched in the blood of his deceased lover and was so disgusting that one of the temple boys had taken it out back to burn - they had placed him inside one of their cleansing chambers, hoping that that would help to alleviate some of his pain and suffering. A concoction of medicinal herbs was made up and given to him, and soon he slipped into a deep, restful sleep. The priestesses scurried around nervously, whispering little bits and pieces of what they had gathered from the men who had brought him there.

One of the men, a village elder, had strolled over to the tavern where Devoe's adventure had first started. It was incredibly late. He should have gone straight home, but he was all wired up now and, well, seeing what he had seen had him unsettled. Hopefully a glass or two (or seven) of sake would help ease his nerves. Good thing that the tavern was open so late to accommodate travelers and such.

As he swung the door open and glanced around, he was surprised to see a man dressed all in black sitting up at the counter. He looked young-ish, maybe in his early twenties, and he had oddly spiky blonde hair. There was a dark, brooding look on his pale face. As the villager walked towards the counter, the man stood up to leave. They met about halfway across the room, and for a moment their eyes met. The man had piercing blue eyes, the likes of which the villager had never seen before. There was a fierceness in them like that of a wild animal. The man dressed in black stopped walking, blocking the villager's path. The two stood there in uncomfortable silence, sizing each other up. Without so much as saying a word, the man in black stepped aside and headed for the door.

The villager let out a deep sigh of relief as he plopped down at the counter. An older gentleman came around the corner and glanced around. "You're here awfully late, Yamato. Is that other feller gone?"

"It's been a... long night, Bato. Yeah, he just walked out. Strange looking fellow. Weird hair. Did he say what he was doing in town?" Yamato asked his friend.

"Didn't say much. Just said he was looking for somebody. Somebody with long, silver hair and a long sword."

~*~

The blonde girl grimaced in pain as she accidentally moved her bad arm. A thousand questions danced through her pounding head, and she was sure that Nayr had at least ten thousand for her. He chose one of them. It was an easy enough question to answer. At least, it should have been. A simple yes or a no should work, right? But what if it wasn't quite so easy?

"No. I mean yes. I mean... I mean... ahh... it's... it's complicated. I'll make you a deal, okay? Get this arrow outta my shoulder, figure out if my arm's broken, and keep me from bleeding to death and I'll try to explain as much as I can."

[SilentSpork]

Marissa patched Satoshi up well enough and it appeared like it was a practiced motion. That one wasn't a stranger to having to bandage wounds which spoke about her general history. Her shiver then came as a bit of a surprise as she looked at the blade, though perhaps she was right to be a bit unsettled by such a weapon. It must have seen more then its fair share of death and destruction and would likely see more in its future. In the right hands that thing would be terrifying.

Vahn's hand only briefly went towards his sword at the newcomers sudden appearance, though it wasn't hard to see that he wasn't a threat. He let a small smile come at Devoe's slightly more humorous response. The newcomer, after giving Vahn a strangely pointed look-over, shared some insight into these rune types. While he was a tad on the rude side, he did provide information more important then that of the runes which was the direction the parties had gone. It did present a new problem however as the different directions tore at him. 'Find her or go find what the village would hold for them?' though he already felt like he knew what he was going to have to choose.

Marissa didn't sound like she had much doubt and there was certainly a want in him to agree with her. Finding his rescuer was going to be important for several reasons. Still, as Satoshi and Devoe pointed out there were many reasons not to go chasing after someone who was likely already seeing to the harm she had taken in the brawl. That coupled with plenty of reasons to indeed go to the village it made up Vahn's mind. Devoe's own sluggish reaction to Marissa's offered cloak was only more testament to the village option outside of the wisdom of protecting and getting what they could from the lead. Devoe HAD followed that brief lapse of attention up with a deft wrapping of the weapon which he proceeded to pick up with a certain confidence. At least that was taken care of but he now had more to think about where Devoe had gotten so adept at doing THAT particular action.

"I'm going to the village with you, lets see if we can't figure out something more there. With what we know, little though that it is, it does seem the best option for now." It tore at him some but it was true. There seem like questionable gains chasing down either party directly tonight. "Maybe after we found out what we can at the village we can investigate the girl's whereabouts. As for the monster yeah it does seem that chasing it directly would be fruitless." The more he thought about it though he guessed they would likely end up having to just react to whatever the situation threw at them next. They might get lucky with the witness but unless the monster had said something or did something notable in his slaughter it was likely to be more just a terrible story of a murder. That would leave them back to having the girl, the monster, and a bunch of dead bodies.

[Remus]

"I'll go with you." Merissa told Devoe as she began following him towards the village. She needed to see Raven. To tell him what was really going on here. What ever they were facing, it was not the average murder or demon rampage that they had thought it to be. A simple mission had turned into something that was almost as complex as the war in the Eastern Provenance. It would be too much for the two of them to do alone, even with Raven's massive ego. She would have to convince him that her new friends were trustworthy, but how could she convince them to trust her if they were to discover she was not alone as she had previously told them. The murderer had wings that enabled him to fly. Raven too shared this feature. If the wrong things were said, her brother would be an immediate suspect. Knowing her brother's personality, it wouldn't help if the group were to run into him before she had a chance to talk to him. She sighed. He was probably tearing apart the village by now looking for her. In her haste to return to the group she had neglected to leave him any of the secret messages they usually would leave one another when they were apart so that the other would know where to go.

It's his fault! she thought angrily He was late in the first place! She resisted the urge to shake her head. She didn't need the others to think she was any crazier than they must already think of her. She glanced at Devoe who was still carrying the sword under his arm. The strangeness of the weapon still drew her curiosity.

"Are you alright with that thing?" She titled her head. "Not feeling any violent impulses or anything like that?" She could not help but pose the question to Devoe. Demon weapons tended to have an effect on humans no matter how strong they were mentally or physically. In such a case it would of been better to have someone more knowledgeable in resisting such effects carry the sword but she did not bring up the point. She still wasn't ready to let them know and couldn't risk giving away more about herself then she already had. Devoe had mentioned another person of interest back at the village. He must of meant the boy that had been attacked by the same monster that had attacked them now. Merissa had taken him back to the village. When she had left him, he was still injured, more so in mind then in body. Would he really be able to help them at all?

"I wonder how he is?" Merissa asked to no one in particular. Her words seemed to speak of the boy, but in her heart she was thinking of her own person of interest. She began to walk faster.