Cepheron stared at the darkened city. This was the place she felt close too...the bitterness in her heart most strong, strong enough to make her stray from highly populated places. It like an inky blackness in place of a beating heart. Here, she hid in the shadows of the buildings, keeping her demonic body from view. She tried not to interact with anyone, though some tried to mess with her occasionally.
'Another evil night...,' She thought with disgust. She stared down at her claws and thought about shifting and travelling to another city to try her hand at things. Perhaps she would find something...interesting.
Cepheron climbed to the top of a building, where the pale moon did not shine so much as to make her visible, and watched the empty streets like a hawk, her violet eyes glowing slighty from the moonlight. "I wonder if anything interesting will happen this night...," Cepheron whispered softly to herself.
Edited by: Cepheron at: 6/27/07 12:17 pm
Those same calm, empty streets watched by Cepheron were soon the scene of a rambuctious altercation. The noises had started inside a building which was half-derelict, half-wreck; the sound of metal clashing metal, dead weights hitting walls and breaking furniture, and other sounds all too familiar in a dark pit such as Nureese. Still, the streets, themselves, had actually been rather calm, despite the noise from the building which, by the way, showed obvious signs that anyone with a shred of common sense wouldn't live in it for all the gems in this world. That spoke a lot for the intelligence of those within the building. Still, the streets themselves were calm. Until the sound of glass crashing, followed by the tinkling of said glass hitting the street and the dull thud of a body and the groan accompanying it. A head possessing long, waist-length red hair the colour of fire poked out of the broken window, staring at the groaning being on the floor. The head went back in and came suddenly back out, having thrown himself out the window head first. One might question the sanity of jumping out of a fifth-story window. That is, until he somersaulted in the air as the ground rushed in on him.
Pream landed in a crouch with a thud on the street and was immediately standing up, none the worse for the jump, his arms stretched outwards at his sides, a longsword in his right and a dagger in his left, both glinting in the moonlight from the diamond they were made with and the coating of shiny red blood dripping from them. His trenchcoat showed some cuts which were mirrored by the white shirt and black jeans he wore beneath, but no evidence of these cuts existed on his skin. And yet, there was nothing to suggest he was anything less than human, unless you had other senses, or even an enhanced sense of smell. Pream contemplated the creature in front of him with a cold detachment.
The creature's skin was covered in dark red scales, dull with the definite need for a damn good scrubbing. Not to mention a bath, to get rid of the smell. Two rather small horns adorned the top of his head. This, along with an all too human body structure and facial features, not to mention the lack of any wings and a tail, made this creature be scorned by the others of his kind, the Drae-kin, or Dragon-kin, his enormous lack of draconic features and an unimpressive amount of the same proof of the dilution of his blood with what the Dragons of his world and his people, the Drae-kin, generally termed 'humanoids', meaning humans and other races such as elves, dwarves, drow and others. Or at least, so did Pream glean from the other Drae-kin present in this world. The creature's dull grey slitted eyes looked at Pream with rage, but most of all, with fear. For his part, Pream only countered that with cold detachment.
The Drae-kin before him was known as Valdin and was a thug, a drug dealer, a scammer, a pimp, an informant for those who could pay the right price - services which Pream himself had actually used - a gang leader and a murderer. Dilluted and weak, Valdin may have been considered by the other Drae-kin, but he was still stronger than alot of sentient species out there and he was as cunning as he was devious. He was also planning to expand his little prostitution business into Anarab and had started by attempting to eliminate a street operated by a group of prostitutes, one of which was actually a friend of Pream's, a fact Valdin knew and attempted to exploit. For those who knew of him, his reputation as a warrior and a cross of a vengeful crusader and a stone-cold killer was enough to cause fear, something which Valdin had attempted to use against his friend and her group of fellow prostitutes. He couldn't allow that to go unpunished, and the punishment was further compounded by the fact that Valdin was attempting to eliminate a friend of his. Pream was nothing if not loyal to his friends.
"You got greedy, Valdin. I know it's in your blood, but you got too greedy," he said, his voice still cold and calm. He could have been speaking of the weather, the way he sounded. He hooked one of his boots beneath Valdin, who still lay sprawled on the street, relearning to breathe. Something which Pream didn't give him the time to as he suddenly kicked his foot forward, propelling Valding like a rolling barrel towards the wall of the building on the opposite side. The creature crashed against the wall only to fall down on the floor in a broken heap. Pream walked towards the fallen Drae-kin and pointed his longsword at Valdin's chest. Raising the sword towards the wall, Valdin was equally pushed up and crushed against the wall again as if by an invisible hand. This time, though, he stayed against the wall as Pream used his telekinesis to very steadily apply more pressure. "My compliments to your information network. You obviously found out I knew of what you tried to do and ran and hid very well. You were hard to find. But you shouldn't have tried to expand your dealings to Anarab and you certainly shouldn't have threatened Alyssa."
The reply from Valdin came in a rasping and painful voice. He'd broken something inside. "Wh- What do you care? She's nothing... A whore."
No emotion came from Pream. Only a calm response. "She's my friend. You tried to use me through my reputation. Both carry a price. Threatening any of my friends requires a damn good reason for the price not to be death. You don't have one."
Suddenly, Pream whirled around with his sword, ducking beneath the path of a swinging crude club. His sword cut open the throat of his assailant, one of Valdin's goons. He'd expected that, heard him, sensed him. A crossbow bolt imbedded itself deep into his right hand, causing him to drop his longsword. That, he hadn't expected but that was the beauty of back-up plans. He quickly removed a tiny device with only a button on it from his left pocket. The building was very weak, one less structural support beam would undoubtedly cause it to collapse. A scintillating, moving liquid spread from his wound and started covering the bolt as he pressed the button. An explosion was heard inside as glasses shattered and flames were seen within the building. The building folded like a stack of cards, burying Valdin's gang. A pity, really, he'd hoped to do this with as less casualties as possible.
Pream turned and Valdin's eyes widened, both at what happened to the building and all hopes of his rescue as well as the bolt which was now completely covered by the moving, scintilatting liquid mass. This moving liquid was what a group of millions and millions of the nanites he possessed looked like when grouped together and they were deconstructing the bolt, molecule by molecule, atom by atom, and then storing it within him as building materials. Pream knew another reason for Valdin's astonishment. The bolt had been coated with quite a deadly poison, which would have rendered even others of the Drae-kin more powerful than Valdin instantly dead. His nanites told him that when the bolt was instantly analyzed by them the moment it pierced his skin. But his natural healing abilities were severely enhanced and that, coupled with his nanites, made it so that virtually no poison or disease worked on him. At least, none that he had been subjected to. Valdin's scream was cut short as Pream quickly slit open the Drae-kin's throat and then turned the dagger and pierced it into his heart. Valdin died quickly. Pream wasn't into torture or prolonging one's death for his amusement. In fact, he derived no pleasure from today's actions, other than the assurance that Alyssa would be safe from Valdin. Alyssa's friends too, but Alyssa was the only one who really mattered to him as he didn't even know the others.
Pream knelt and picked up his longsword before turning to Valdin's body, now laying down on the floor again, and removing his dagger from Valdin's chest. His nanites spread from his hands to his blades in rivulets of that moving, scintillating liquid and cleaned the blood away before returning into his body. The red-haired man took a deep breath and cast his counsciousness forward, attemping to determine whether anyone was still alive, buried by the rubble. Unfortunately, none where but he suddenly detected another presence. Turning quickly in the general direction of the presence he had felt, he gripped his blades and set himself into a battle stance. He looked up towards the rooftops, shouting out, "Come out! I know you're there." His voice was still that calm and cold tone of his, apparently not even worried about this other being, though one would think his action said otherwise.
Edited by: diasivo at: 6/27/07 2:26 am
Re: Darkened cities.
The fight that ensued below her made Cepheron's adrenaline rush through her veins. Her heart beat madly in her chest; it sounded in her ears like a drummer furiously pouding away. There was no wind at all and the smell of the blood was thick in her nostrils; she wished to get closer but she could not tear her eys away from the the strange ones that fought only so close below her.
The first one she had seen, the red haired man that flew out of the window was more human than the other but she could see that indeed he was more than he appeared. No cut adorned his body even though he had come head first out of a glass window. It was all extremely exhilerating, not that Cepheron wanted to join it, she had no desire to fight just to watch as it all unfolded. Their strength was intimidating.
The building beginning to crumble close by tore her held violet eyes away from them to the destruction and when she managed to look back the strange horned creature was dead and the flame headed man was looking in her general direction. There was no choice in the matter of coming down, if she stayed she was likely to be attacked from the idea that she was with them. Cepheron easily jumped down close to the man. She watched him warily, unsure whether he was going to do something since he had his weapons still poised.
Edited by: Cepheron at: 6/18/07 10:57 am
Re: Darkened cities.
As the being jumped from the top of a building and landed without much trouble from the height, Pream's muscles tensed slightly, barely perceptible. He knew that such a jump hinted at a being more powerful than the average human. Then again, she, for it was definately a female, was clearly not human. He had also never seen the like of her before but, though curious, he eyed her as cautiously as she eyed him, staying silent and waiting to see if she would say something or attack.
Weapons still held at the ready, but without any further movement, Pream broke the silence first, displaying no sign of nervousness, tension or fear, of which the latter he had none. "State your intentions here, if you will. Are you seeking revenge or recompense for anyone dead tonight or anything destroyed tonight? Let us speak clearly and with civilized words and we can avoid further bloodshed tonight. Or attack, and let us be done with it," he spoke, voice clear and as emotionless as his eyes. He was in negotiations with an unknown entity and he was ready to be ruthless if he needed to.
Re: Darkened cities.
Cepheron cocked her head to the side as she looked at the stranger, her tail swishing slowly, side to side. This man was a strange one indeed. He showed no signs of fatigue, fear or even breaking a sweat; the just recent fight would leave any normal man probably dead. ‘Not much has been normal here…’ She thought to herself.
“There has been none dead close to me nor anything destroyed…I have not been here long enough for anything of that kind to happen, and I have never seen anything like that fight…” Cepheron replied to his inquiry, stepping a bit closer to see the man in a better perspective, but still cautious enough to defend if he decided she a threat as well. In only the few weeks she had been in this life, there had been nothing of interest. Until now…
Re: Darkened cities.
Pream cocked his head slightly to the side in a brief display of curiosity before he nodded back at her. He moved slowly, so as not to cause any panic, and reached the hand wielding the sword backwards, sheathing the blade into its scabbard hanging at his back. The dagger in his other hand, he merely twisted it around in his hand so that the blade turned towards his body and lay flat against the underside of his forearm, though he still gripped it, ready for action, just in case. Nureese was too dangerous a city for otherwise behaviour, especially after he pretty much eliminated one of the local gangs.
"Good," he said, in response to the being in front of him, "Then I trust there is no reason for us to fight, although you'll forgive me if I remain wary. This is not a city for the naive nor those too trusting. You say you have not been here long. Do you mean the city alone - Nureese - or this world? If you have questions regarding this world, I am willing to try and answer them freely, for such general knowledge is information you will easily find anywhere and there's no reason for you to be tricked by one of the many con artists in this city."
Re: Darkened cities.
"Not long in this...wretched world, although somehow in only seems like minutes ago my very life ceased and yet...I find my heart beating with a renewed fury inside my chest, inside a body only so recently awakened after a lifetime of hiding...," Cepheron laughed derisively. "No, not long here, but long enough to see it's like the very abyss of hell that swallowed me..."
There was a clear tone of bitterness to her voice altough she tried to laugh it off. It was apparent that she did not take in this new life, this second chance given to her. Cepheron watched the stranger closely as the moon began to shine brighter as the clouds drifted away, the silvery light of it shone on the obsidian black of her horns and brought the violet of her eyes to a eerie glow, almost like a cat in the shadows. She stood straighter on her clawed feet, never taking her eyes from his.
Re: Darkened cities.
At last, Pream showed a hint of emotion on his face. His head cocked very slightly to the side, his eyebrows rose just a little bit. A faint hint of curiosity showed in his face, though none of it showed in his voice, "You speak in riddles. As for Hell, well... Nureese is a rather dark city and I suppose Hell might be as apt a description as any. But there are other places which are not quite so dark. The city of Anarab, though a den of hedonism and treachery, might be better in some aspects than Nureese. The city of Genil, if you are willing to follow the rules of civility and obey the laws of the city, would be the Heaven to your Hell, perhaps even despite the recent war which tore through it. And several places in the wilderness of this world, though some may be wilder and some more civilized than others. 'Hell', as you say it, only has you if you wish it. You can certainly leave the city at any time."
His eyes darted around the foreboding streets though his head never moved from facing the strange being in front of him. This way, he could keep watching her out of the periphery of his eyes. "And Nureese is quite a far cry from Hell. Trust me. Were this Hell, it would be far, far worse," he said, slowly sheating the dagger in his hand. Though wary, he didn't believe she was going to attack him, specially if she had seen part of the fight and had an idea of what he was capable of. There was no reason to attack him and thus, he had no reason to attack her either.
"Now, miss, it would be best for the both of us to get going. Dark, Nureese may be but a falling building will still arouse the curiosity of its citizens. And if you've been here long enough, then you know you might not want to get caught alone in the streets. Then again," he said in that monotone voice, eyeing her up and down, taking note of her strange shape, "you might be able to take care of yourself."
With that said, he simply turned around, trusting the being enough to turn his back to her, and started walking away from her without so much as a goodbye.
Re: Darkened cities.
Cepheron watched him go with curious eyes. This man seemed so cold until his faced betrayed a speck of emotion albeit only for a second. This man intrigued her, with the way his body sported no evidence of any fight and the strange way he regenerated which she did not fail to capture in her sight. There was no way she could just let him go without any more words; she wished to learn more about him. He was the first person she had since with intelligence, the rest of the sad inhabitants of this city had nothing to show.
She smirked slightly to herself, "You never spoke your name..." She said softly, unaware if he could hear her or not. There was surely much she had to learn in this world, and perhaps this man could enlighten her...if not she could fair well enough on her own. There was still the highest thing on her agenda that she had to deal with, but that would come later.
Re: Darkened cities.
The dimly lit streets of Nureese were the perfect place for the hidden dealings of all manner of criminals to undertake their business, but only the most powerful were able to actually seize control of a building as such as had happened with the street gang that had taken over the building in which the altercation had taken place.
As the oldest living resident of Nureese, and the architect of the chaos within, Xanis had a sense of when new souls arrived into the city. Most of the beings entrapped within his web of deception and chaos were unaware of who he was, and no one knew who he really was. The average citizen only knew those who were older or younger than themselves, or those of undetermined age and origin. To ensure the placement of himself in the latter category, Xanis had summarily ensured that all of those who had come to Nureese shortly after him and had helped in the building of the city had died long ago as the first Prophets of the Schism Saints.
Watching from a faraway window, he pondered sending a member of the Schism Saints to investigate the newcomer and their intentions, but decided against it in favor of going himself, the war had devastated the numbers of his followers and it would take much time to properly rebuild them. Deftly, he jumped out of the window to land on a wire going between this building and one adjacent to it and climb hand-over-hand back to the wall, down which he slid to the street far below, raining down pieces of brick on anyone below.
Waltzing down the streets, he felt the reassuring crunch of broken glass beneath his shoes, enjoying the very feeling of being in this city of his creation. Within a matter of minutes, he would intercept the two and be able to get a closer look. For a short period of time he stopped in his tracks, reaching out with his spirit to grab a hold on the senses of those around them, perceiving their journey, before retracting his power and continuing on his way.
Re: Darkened cities.
The red-haired warrior stopped in his tracks suddenly. He remained motionless in place for a few seconds, his back still turned to the female being he had just encountered. Then, he looked back over his shoulder, his right eye focused on her, the white star that was his tatoo with the bright green core of his eye, an eye with a colour of green unlike any seen in human nature, so bright one might call it fluorescent. "Call me Pream. Having given my name, will you tell me yours?"
He still had his senses stretched out, both his physical and his metaphysical senses, keeping watch over any intruders coming in. He hadn't been joking when he mentioned not wishing to meet any of Nureese's denizens. Now, he sensed something, someone. And he thought he felt something else but he couldn't pinpoint what. It was a feeling alien to him. He didn't like it and had no wish meeting someone else but his face showed nothing except a pensive stare in his eyes. The one he had just met at least had no obvious ill intentions towards him. He didn't know about whoever else was out there and in Nureese, well, the chances weren't good. He considered himself an excellent fighter but he wasn't stupid.
"It is Cepheron....."She told him. It quite surprised her that Pream had heard her when she spoke so low but then again it should not have, considering the strangeness of the world she was so suddenly dropped in to. She still had to get used to the enhanced sight and hearing as well as a few other senses as they were heightened to much more than any human could ever dream of. There was a feeling of a newer mental awareness inside her head although Cepheron did not fully understand this and in turn could certainly not use it to her advantage.
She uncounsiously stepped closer to Pream as she listened to something she thought she had heard in the distant. There was nothing to grace her sight but that never meant a thing. Just because there was nothing to see did not mean there was nothing there...and there was surely something though she could not quite place it.
Re: Darkened cities.
The pace was calm, relaxing, almost addicting. It was that element of almost that allowed him to remain sane in this world and remember his true focus for life, to continue in his search for the god Otus, and learn to transcend beyond the physical reality that had trapped him for centuries now.
Walking past one of the streetlights that was still on, a sudden shower of sparks from its wiring overheating brought a flash of light, then darkness, before the light cooled down enough and somehow came back to life once again.
Sidestepping around a puddle of the green goo that constantly covered the ground of Nureese, he slowed his pace somewhat, hearing the hushed tones of the voices he assumed to be those of the beings he was coming up on. Stepping out from the narrow and seldom-traversed street, he caught a temporary flicker of surprise to his left, and with a very slight movement, pivoted to fix the two with a grin devoid of emotion, merely highlighting the fangs in his mouth and undoubtedly sending a glimmer through his two-toned eyes.
"Why, hello there." Xanis spoke with a voice of fluid confidence, betraying no intentions of violence towards them, nor having the tones that would be given to a long-lost friend, merely a greeting of courtesy to any and all who heard it.
In the darkness of the streets, a momentary scuffle could be heard somewhere just within earshot, then a stifled screech, and lastly nothing. Nureese was such a beautiful place.
Re: Darkened cities.
Pream merely waited, sure of where the presence was now, looking in its direction so that, whoever it was, would know that they were made out. The being finally came out of the shadows, grinning emotionlessly at Pream and Cepheron before giving a neutral greeting. For his part, Pream met emotionlessness with lack of emotion. His bright green eyes simply focused on the being, alert and yet seemingly relaxed, his face betraying no emotion as it often was with him when he confronted something or someone he knew nothing of. His reply was an empty and short-clipped, "Greetings."
The red-haired man simply stood there, body apparently relaxed but ready to go into action as he awaited whatever came next by assessing the being. One could mistake the being in front of him for a vampire but Pream was unsure if such was the case. His instincts told him he didn't quite possess the flavour of undead the vampires he had come across usually possessed. Waiting, he remained silent. He wasn't going to say anything to this new arrival as he had nothing to say. But he wasn't willing to just turn his back to him and leave either.
In this city, it probably wouldn't be a smart thing to do, regardless of the fact that he could heal a lot of damage done to him.
Re: Darkened cities.
This new face that appeared before them struck a black chord within Cepheron's heart. His face, those teeth, reminded her of something in her past, and although this man was certainly not from her past she could not expell the feeling so quickly. She straightened of her taloned feet, her tail lashing side to side in a sliht irritation as it seemed to have a mind of its own. There was just something about the man's face that seem terribly false to her but it could have been her imagination.
Cepheron spoke no words to him and just stood her silent vigil watching him with glowing eyes, never leaving his. Though she was somewhat skilled at fighting, this new perfected body she had was much different and she had little practice in using tail and talons much together so she doubted she would come out of anything unscathed. Unless of course, she caught them by surprise by her unique ability...
Re: Darkened cities.
Out of the two of them, they seemed to be quite the odd pair, yet they fit together well. Both were cautious, very much so. In fact, only one of them had even responded to the greeting, and it was merely the simple word "Greetings." with a speculative glance.
Another thing about both of them, was their uncanny perception, they both were intelligent, cunning, and didn't seem to eager to fight every random person they came across, only the ones that presented a direct threat.
"Well, the two of you aren't very conversational, 'eh? Not even interested enough to find out who the strange newcomer to the conversation is, and why he hasn't violently assaulted you."
If nothing else, the question as to why he hadn't attacked them up to this point should interest them, especially since he had placed it out there in the conversation. There was always the chance that it had not even been a concern for them before that point, but after finding out that they didn't know why it would bug them to some degree.
Continuing a few paces beyond, he leaned up against a post that presumably had once held one of the many streetlights that had lit the streets of Nureese, but all that remained of this particular one was the metal pole sticking out of the ground, there was not even any glass or twisted metal around the base of it to indicate that it had been recently smashed.
Re: Darkened cities.
Pream remained silent as the vampire look-a-like approached him and Cepheron. He remained stoic and impassive as the newcomer spoke. Pream was indeed curious but it wasn't really in his nature to admit to anything like that. And yet, by pointing out that he and Cepheron had not asked what he wanted, he had revealed at least a desire that they ask the question, if not that he wished to tell them.
But silence had served him well in the past so that's what he did as he watched the being recline on a broken post. He would wait until either Cepheron asked herself, the newcomer lost his patience and revealed whatever it was or, perhaps, he himself might eventually get tired and ask. But then again, he was more likely to just go away and disappear into the shadows.
Re: Darkened cities.
Cepheron snorted derisively. "You won't get what you want that way...", she said coldly. The sort of game the stranger was playing was not unfamiliar to her, she had her share of it in the past. Her eyes had taken on a slight crimson glint, like there was blood within. She noted that Pream wasn't saying anything and figured that he would not. Cepheron suddenly thought that perhaps she should not have spoken either since that is probably one thing the stranger had wanted. Though he did not quite seem hostile at the moment, she trusted no one at all and her mind automatically assumed everyone was an enemy to her untill she was shown otherwise. This stranger had such a smug look on his face that she could only assume that there must be something behind it, but it could be just her imagination. Her instincts seemed to tell her otherwise...
Re: Darkened cities.
Their rebuttals of his conversational lead-ins were hardly surprising, or original. His response was not so much original, either.
One of the two had stood in a stoic silence, while the other had simply trailed off in mid-sentence. Acting as if to turn back the way he had come from, Xanis seemed to hesitate somewhat, watching for any reaction from the two - whom remained stationary yet wary of his every movement.
Turning his back entirely, he started to slink off into the direction he had been going when he first encountered them, then turned halfway back to whisper back at them, "I hate to break it to you, but in this city you won't get what you want either that way...." There was no need for a threatening tone, the words were strange enough to be delivered flatly and with the same lack of emotion as he had gotten in the few comments from them.
Continuing on in his casual pace, he made his way into the shadows beyond the visible light around there, before turning and going down the street in the direction of the abandoned power plant for no apparent reason that anyone could deduce, not even himself if not for the fact that he knew why he was doing it and could have ripped it out of the mind of the one doing it if he didn't know.
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