Return to the Past (open)

[Arkantos]

Arkantos let his mind wander as he rode through the woods outside of the edge of Aberon, Borromeo Castle a dark silhouette against the night sky. Abruptly, Wingfoot stopped and snorted with the tension of familiarity. Looking up, Arkantos noticed where he was for the first time: the same clearing where he met Keri, and acquired Linnea's ring. The signs of battle, long past won, still lingered on the earth, along with a few bleached bones that even the scavengers wouldn't take. He smiled at the small familiarities as he set up camp, and picketed Wingfoot. In a few minutes, he had a small fire going, and was quietly humming an old warrior's song to himself.

[DarkSilver]

Silence.

Only broken by the gently determined beating of the woman’s heart in her ears, a determination she knew would soon grow and burst forth in a feral outrage, shaking her ‘human’ mind to her more wolf-like foundations.

Hunting along the un-named woodland she had found herself in only the day before, Keri felt at peace; something she was almost used to. It had been a long while since the rings magic laced itself with both her and the man Arkantos....
Yet being at peace all the time still startled her in an odd sense. She was used to pounding fear giving her the adrenaline she needed to survive, to give her strength when hunting...or being hunted herself. The blind fury that usually gripped her often left her with no memory of what occurred.
Yet now, with her higher state of mind, everything was disturbingly clear…
Man with axe attacks, take him down, rip him up… you’ve just murdered someone. thought Keri; disturbing the silence of her mind.
A great anticipation of dread ran though her and she cast her silver eyes to the little sky she could see through the trees, the sun was already way into it’s decent, casting long shadows over the chillingly familiar land.

Tonight however, those thoughts will be gone..

The anticipation had been growing through the past week or so - building up - like the promise of battle or the electricity in the air before a storm.
As Keri followed the tracks she prayed for darkness to return soon, so she could surrender to what she knew…what she craved.
Calling her urges ‘instincts’ would be a far too lenient term; she craved, needed…lusted.

The craving was not just the usual -food- she longed for something all the more …feral.
Blood; the adrenaline of war; she wanted to run; to fight. Yet there was also something else at the back of her mind, something she knew she craved; company?

A lone wolf can’t stay a loner forever, true? she asked herself..

Since she had discovered her homeland had been destroyed she had pretty much stayed apart from all life other than the ones she hunted. Apart from the rare occasions where she had met the riders and come across Arkantos. That was only a few days ago, since then she had been completely alone on hunts. The last life to have seen her was Saeunn..

A leathery ’thwap’ broke the still air across the land. The midnight hued dragon threw himself through the air, his great ribs heaving at his efforts. After flying all day, a sprint to the finish would have this affect even on a creature made for flying. Having decided he too would go hunting, as Keri did, Saeunn was only just returning. A large diamond-like orb watched over the land, searching for any sign of her. Seeing smoke Saeunn tore towards it, eager to see Keri for the first time in what felt days. As he came over the tree line, however, he remembered what Keri had said about lighting fires around this time. Too late he realized his mistake and cursed as he found himself in full view of whoever the stranger was; at this distance Saeunn could only make out a fire, a man and a horse.

'Curses!' he snarled to himself. Folding his wings down he let himself crash into the trees overgrowth, back into the dark and back where he couldn't be seen.

..Having come from the thickest woodland into the exposed outskirts just in time, Keri saw Saeunn's little mess up. Burying her hands in her face and suppressing the fits of laugher that threatened to take. She knew she should feel a sense of urgency and danger, but that would be in any other case. Following the last little bits of the path she had been tracking pretty much all day, she smiled at the irony of the situation. Last time she was there it was her- or, at least her kind- that were the hunted ones.
Smiling to herself she lifted her light body into one of the larger reaching trees. A balancing act across a thick branch reminded Keri or her times as a 'cub', she still kept that playfulness even now...although now there was often some black humor laced with it.
Keri had kept her mind closed to all but her own thoughts, so she was unsure if Arkantos knew she was there. Laying along a branch (funnily enough she had chosen the one closest to being directly above Arkantos) Keri gave a loud, exasperated sigh.

‘’He never was very subtle….’’ She said loudly, shaking her head.



[Post'gasm. Oo; *dies* ]

[Arkantos]

Arkantos looked up at the voice and shot off a bolt of light at the base of the limb from where the voice came from, causing the figure, and the branch, to fall about 10 feet to the ground in a heap. Raising his rage, his ring flashing, he bellowed, "You won't take me, Astarael! You and whatever Rider you've ensorcelled will be sorely disappointed if you think to capture me!" Lightning arched around him, his shadow became corporeal, and the fire blazed up to massive proportions. Throughout all of this, his ring turned absolute black, absorbing his fear, anger, and weariness and draining the life from all of the trees and plants around him to fuel his destructive wrath. His eyes glowed with the intense magical energy coursing through him, and in the light of all of this power, he saw who the figure was. Instantly, the power stopped, the shadow slunk back to it's former self, and the fire died down, as he rushed towards the ground, fainting from shock and exhaustion.

[DarkSilver]

Keri felt a grin play about her lips as she waited for Arkantos' reaction, she was beginning to feel more in-place already. These feelings were new to her. Before she could give them some thought, however, the air around her exploded in a torrent of heat and Keri threw herself back, giving a loud shout as pain etched into her cheek.

A low growl rasped from the thick undergrowth, the unlucky tree Saeunn had found got in the way of his 'smooth' decent was keeled over by his huge bulk, warm sap bonding with the earth and running from it like the blood of a fallen warrior.
Forcing his head through the brush just in time Saeunn caught sight of the explosion of power, and Keri being in the directed path. A furious roar escaped past his jaw, throwing himself into the clearing, damaging yet more trees as he threw his huge bulk towards them.

Before she could even think Keri felt the world turn sickeningly as the branch beneath her collapsed. Throwing herself to the side she only just managed to grasp another branch' but this one was much more slender. As it snapped under her grip Keri winced as it splintered into her hand, nipping deep into her palm. Releasing it she let herself fall, landing on her feet yet overbalancing and ending up on her back.

Quickly rolling over Keri got up to a crouch and looked directly at Arkantos ''Ark! Calm down it's me Keri! I am NO SHADE!'' she roared through the confusion.

Then it stopped, Keri looked up to see Saeunn standing over the unconscious Arkantos, a silent growl twisting his features.
''Leave him be...'' she murmured. Standing up she sighed and knelt over Arkantos in his unconscious state. Shaking her head back to the present at task she held her hand over the camp fire and with her magic doused the flame.

''This place is far too open if he expects to hide..''

Just as the sun was cresting, Keri was trying to pull Arkanto's heavy form down from Wingfoot's back, where he had spend about thirty minutes as Keri moved them all to a more secluded area of the forest. After taking ten minutes to get everything and calm Wingfoot down from Saeunn's little escapade, Keri was just about ready to collapse into her 'hammock' and watch over them all as they slept.

Tugging on Arkanto's cloak she allowed her eyes to drift upwards, the now tiny patch of sky she could see shone a glorious midnight entwined with silver light.
Energy snapped through her and she felt a new, alien life surge through her veins. Losing grip on what she was doing - even for that moment - was enough for Ark to end up sliding from his horse’s saddle and onto Keri, who just wasn't ready to catch him.

Cursing as she lay beneath his unconscious form she laughed to herself; today was just one ridiculous thing after another. Pushing his shoulder and rolling him off her Keri sat up, the whole floor of the clearing was padded, covered in softened leaves, the largest of which Keri had dragged in herself from a goliath of a plant, seeing their use for bedding.

Since Ark would be comfortable where he was, she decided to leave him until he regained himself. Un-tacking Wingfoot she put it all aside and nudged his mind in the direction of good forgery, otherwise going where he wanted. Where else could he go?

The clearing only had one way in, which was where Keri had strategically put the fire. Blocking the path but keeping it small enough so it wouldn’t' catch fire to the surrounding foliage. Another entrance was the river which passed along the side. Covered in overgrowth the entrance of the river was pretty much indistinguishable, Keri herself had only found it by chance.

Saeunn lay dozing and drying off by the smokeless fire. Coursing with energy Keri went and knelt by Arkantos. Unbuckling his cloak she pulled it from under him and laid it over him. She had nothing more for warmth herself, but they wouldn't need it in this natural catacomb.
Removing her weapons and stiff leather clothing Keri gave herself a mental note to make more, the boots, cuffs and jacket being the only vaguely armor-like material she had since she had lost or sold what else she had. Wearing only her leggings and an under-jerkin, and the rag which was wound around her hand, Keri felt delciously warm in the den. Lying on her stomach and gazing directly into the fire Keri allowed herself to slip into what you may call a trance, after a while she had unintentionally changed her attention from the fire, to the silver lining of moonlight that fell on Arkantos’ face and hair.. a new urge- to protect- growing...



[[ You can slap me if you want....or better yet. *Hands you a cattle-prod and puts her fingers in her ears* ]]

[Arkantos]

(I LIVE!!)

Arkantos awoke groggily, his head swimming with a buzz not unlike a hangover, his vision blurry, his eyes, especially, hazy with distortion. However, he did notice 2 things: one, that he was safe and warm under his cloak, and two, that a beautiful elf whom Arkantos couldn't recognize was staring down at him with an oddly protective expression on her face.

"Wha...what h-happened?" he managed to utter, "Where am I? Why am I here? Who are you? My eyes...I can't see very well for some reason... I hope it gets better..." So saying, he lay his head back down on the ground, and in his delirious state, he started saying what ever came into his head in the ancient language as the magic sought to regain its normal levels within it's vessel.

"You're beautiful...you know that?" he said to the elf, giggling slightly, as he stared off into the moon, a primal part of him stirring within him at the sight.

[[ I think I diserve to be prodded after this...*closes eyes and hopes for the best*]]

[Arkantos]

This thread is obsolete due to inactivity. So says I, ruler of the thread!

[DarkSilver]

[Darn. Just when I lived! Dx.]

[Arkantos]

[Yeah, Yeah. either way, this post is now dead.]