"Krystianna..." A soft, female voice whispers into the young cleric's ear. "You're a disgrace..."

"Mmmff..." Krystianna grunts out, her consciousness hazed and her vision dark and blurry. She tries to open her eyes but a sudden flood of light stings her pupils, keeping her dark green eyes hidden and blurred between her eyelashes. "Whoever said that better hope she's not in punching distance...."

"Heh.... " Without warning, a resounding slap echoes through the area. Krystianna's eyes jolt open and close right back up from the light as a stinging red welt forms on her cheek. Her face contorts in a mixture of pain and outright fury. Her fist clenches by instinct and her muscles tense, beginning to vibrate from her building strength.

"...That was a mistake." In the next instant, Krystianna's fist jolts forward to attack whoever had the bright idea of hitting her. However, instead of her fist swinging to, ideally, the face of her slapper, her head and chest are dragged forward by her potential momentum and her wrist digs into an extremely tight rope. Surprised, Krystianna's eyes finally open in the blinding light of the room, just enough to see her wrist bound to a flat, blue object. "What the...?"

"I suppose a girl who chooses a path of darkness would have trouble with the light..." The voice says, the sound almost passing through Krystianna's ear. "But even the dark ones deserve to see their fate..." The woman suddenly snaps her fingers and the room instantly darkens so that the light is at a dull glow. Krystianna blinks her eyes open and looks around the room. In front of her stand a half dozen female clerics, all standing in a semi-circle around her and all dressed exactly the same. Confused, she eyes her surroundings for a moment, finding herself to be in a gigantic chapel. Row upon row of pews stretch to the end of the building and giant stain-glass windows, adorned with elaborate designs of saints and gods, stretch along the walls. The young cleric suddenly turns her head, remembering the feeling of the ropes. Sure enough, her eyes focus on the rope that’s holding her wrist to the blue surface. A few quick glances reveal that she has her wrists, ankles and waist all tied to a giant blue ankh on the altar of the chapel. Her eyes widen for a moment, a strong pang of fear rushing through her. She yanks her arms forward with all her might, but to no avail. Her strength almost seems to have left her. After a few seconds of struggling, her eyes focus on the head cleric as she smirks up to Krystianna, seemingly amused by her vain struggles.

“…Ah…” The young cleric’s blood drains from her cheeks, her face turning a little pale with fear as the head cleric walks slowly towards the ankh. The woman’s smirk gives way to a devilish grin as she steps in front of Krystianna and stares into her eyes, menacingly. Krystianna takes a gasp of breath and dons a panicky smirk, looking away from the woman’s eyes in a nervous twitch. “H-heh…” She starts out, her voice shaky with fear and a cold sweat drop falling from her brow. “You really did it now… Yeah lady… BIG mistake doing this… you know the punishment for kidnapping?”

“The only punishment one should fear is the punishment from The Faith.” The woman says slowly and darkly. Krystianna’s gut sinks and her face grimaces. She hates to hear about The Faith. “And what we do here today… is in the name of The Faith.” With that, she turns and walks back to re-complete the semi-circle of clerics. The six of them stare at her with disdain for a while with Krystianna’s eyes twitching, trying to meet their glares with as much courage as she can muster at this point. After a minute, the head cleric reveals a scroll of paper from the sleeve of her clerical robe and lifts it in front of her. Without even a twitch of her hand, the scroll opens downwards and she begins to read from the text. “To the one who does not believe in The Faith…”

Krystianna glares at her suddenly, seriously bugged out now. “THAT’S what this is about!? You kidnap me off the streets because I’m atheistic?!” Again, she struggles with the ropes that hold her to the ankh, this time more frustrated then angry. The head cleric doesn’t even seem to hear her though; she simply continues reading from the scroll through Krystianna’s protests and struggles.

“…to be cast into the fire.” The cleric finishes up. The writing on the scroll fades away and she drops it to the ground in front of Krystianna. The scroll bursts into a small flame and the clerics bring their hands up together in unison and start to chant.

“Cleanse the dark… cleanse the dark…”

“I don’t believe this…” Krystianna mutters to herself, watching the clerics chant in front of her. “These idiots… What are they thinking? They toss a fire scroll onto the ground and start chanting to The Faith… what nonsense…” She grinds her teeth together, fuming with anger as the scroll slowly burns up and becomes nothing but a pile of ash.

“Cleanse the dark… cleanse the dark…”

“Aren’t you finished yet?!” Krystianna grumbles to the clerics. “Nothing’s happening… and nothing WILL happen.”

“Cleanse the dark… cleanse the dark…”

“Honestly…” Krystianna hangs her head in annoyance, her temple starting to throb from a stress headache. “You stupid… idiots…” She blinks suddenly. Having hung her head, her vision focused on the floor. She swallows as she watches the polished marble floor warp and twist, the stones brimming with dark energies. “What… the hell?” She stammers out as a scaled, red claw rises from the warping energies and grips the stone floor.

“Cleanse the dark… cleanse the dark…”

“Th-this isn’t… this can’t be…” The claw soon brings with it a lizard-like demon, its eyes cat-like, its skin covered in red scales and its claws like fat stubbed knives. Krystianna pales from fear and her eyes widen as she stares into the grim visage of the demon. Its tail swings from side to side as it gains footing on the floor next to the altar and stares into the young cleric’s eyes.

“Cleanse the dark… cleanse the dark…”

“D-don’t just chant, you idiots!!! DO something!!” Krystianna yells to the clerics. They do not hear her though. The continue to chant as though her voice isn’t reaching them. “This is a demon!!! Stop it!!” She screams out as the scaled monster gets a dark grin. The monster twists its body for a moment, pulling its claw backwards, aimed straight for Krystianna’s chest.

“Cleanse the dark… cleanse the dark…”

“S-stop-! Stop it!”

“Cleanse the dark… cleanse the dark…”

“Stop… Please… n-no…”

*schlick*

Krystianna gasps weakly, looking down at her chest. Her body shivers but feels no pain as she watches the demon dig its claws slowly into her rib cage. She trembles in horror, her ears filled with the sound of chanting, snapping bones and the tearing of flesh.

W…why… why am I not in pain?!

“Cleanse the dark… cleanse the dark…”

The demon grins and plunges its claw further into her until its wrist disappears into her chest, blood gushing from her wound. The young cleric slowly grows speechless as she watches the claw dig around in her wound. Helpless, she watches as the demon slowly extracts her still beating heart from her chest and holds it in front of her, grinning wickedly.

“Cleanse the dark… cleanse the dark…”

Krystianna chokes a moment and blood dribbles out of her mouth and onto her neck, her brain desperately trying to figure out why she hasn’t died yet. The demon grins and turns to the head cleric, handing the heart to her. With a strange grin, the cleric lifts a sword made to resemble a misshapen ankh and impales Krystianna’s heart on the sword. The demon crosses its arms and glares into the young clerics eyes as Krystianna begins to lose her vision to a bloody red haze. The head cleric steps slowly up to the altar, holding the heart in front of her face as blood oozes down the blade of the ankh sword.

“Cleanse the dark… cleanse the dark…”
Krystianna shudders and coughs up a mass of blood onto the head cleric’s face, splattering her white robes with crimson blood, however, the cleric remains motionless as though nothing had happened. “…And now… dark one…” She says in a low voice, just above the volume of the constant chanting. “It is time… to be cleansed…”

“St-stop… sto-! …” The young cleric’s voice is cut short as the head cleric rams the tip of the sword straight through her neck and into the ankh on the other side. Krystianna’s head lowers slowly, her chin coming to rest on the sharp blade. Her half-open eyes watch her heart beat on the sword as her vision continues to cloud red. Another attempt at speaking is met by a dribble of blood from her mouth. The altar, now soaked in crimson, starts to glow. The demon kneels on the floor in front of Krystianna and runs its tongue along the pool of blood.

“You shall be reborn as part of this being…” The head cleric says with a wretched grin. “And this way you shall be cleansed into a better form… free of thoughts and pain…” With nothing else to say and Krystianna unable to speak, the cleric goes back to the semi circle and begins to chant once again…

“Cleanse the dark… cleanse the dark…”

The young cleric’s eyes water and tears begin to flow down her cheeks, mixing with the blood of her wounds as the demon opens its jaws and starts to devour her leg.

I’m not wrong… …Why… why are they doing this… …blind… my vision is red… I may only be able to see red… but they are far more blind then me… They… they…

The demon’s jaw suddenly close on her face and the world becomes white.

*Gasp*

With a jolt, Krystianna bolts upright, her breath shallow and her face pale. She pants from fear as she looks around her make-shift bedding she had set up in the forest. She takes a moment to look around the forest before she pats her woundless chest. As her ears pick up the sound of a bird chirping in the distance, she slumps over and holds her head up with her hand, almost exhausted by the night.

“…Shit.” She says to herself, reaching for her robe. “That was the last thing I needed today. A freakin’ dream about those idiots back at the tower.” She sighs to herself as she slips the robe over her shorts and tee shirt. “Ah whatever… we may not get along but they’re not that crazy…” With a stretch, she fixes her hair and gathers her stuff together. “It hasn’t been too long since we all split up at Rithia… I’m sure I can find that mage somewhere and strong-arm him into helping me…” She sighs again, tying her robe tightly and picking a stray leaf from her hair. “I don’t know why I want to do this… I don’t even know this cleric he says the assassin clan has…” She cracks her neck a little and starts walking down the road. “…But any good cleric would never help people who kill for a living. It only makes sense that she’s being forced to work for them. I guess I feel sorry for the ditz.” She stops for a moment to watch a stray bird flutter from the tree branches and fly across the dirt path. “…I’d better get going… he might be tough to find if I wait longer.”

With one final sigh, she walks briskly down the road, heading in the general direction of the nearest Inn. As she walks, a single drop of blood drips from her mouth... but it goes unnoticed.

Shadow avoids branchs and twigs as he closely follows a broken trail in the forest. As he gets to a clearing, he sees the make-shift bed and something twitching within it. Something...or someone. He steps out of the shadows to see the familiar robes of a cleric. He smirks and whispers the clerics name. "Krystinna." Just as he is about to approach her to wake her, she violently jerks again. Shadow takes a step back, into the shadows. As soon as he was clear, she gasps and awakens. Shadow pulled his night-black cloak closer to him, not wanting it to catch on the out-stretched branchs of a pine.

Krystinna mutters to herself about him and his smile grows wider. He watchs as she dresses into her robes and fixes her hair. She lifted her belongings onto her shoulder and started off on the trail again. As soon as she a foot away from her bed, Shadows eyes were transfixed on a small blood droplet, falling from her mouth. His eyebrow cocks and wonders how strange that was.

Shadow shook his head and started after her, still in the shadows and still silent. He stalked her behind and too the right as she wound her way on the trail stopping only once to adjust her shoulder pack. As she got to a bend in the trail, Shadow decided it was time to reveal himself. As he stepped out onto the trail, he heard the last thing he ever wanted to.

*Click*Click*

Shadow dived into the path, snatching Krystinna by the waist and dragging her down.
"What the!" Krystinna yelled as she went down. Shadow glanced into her dark green eyes and she said no more.

Shadow glanced back where he had been following her in the woods. There in a tree sat two small darts the size of his index finger. He glanced around the woodwork, finally spotting two forms, flawlessly blending into the tress. Shadow saw the glint of steel in the light as their swords were drawn. Beside them, two more clicks sounded. Shadow wipped up and flicked his cape, catching the darts in it. The others drew their swords and the four rushed together, flanking out to the sides.

Shadow started wagging his fingers and chanting as a small flame appearded in his hand. It grew in size and Shadow cast it at the one heading straight towards him. His leather caught on fire and he fell to the ground, screaming in agony.

Shadow turned to his left and saw Krystinna fending off one of the assassins. Shadow started casting again, making a waterfall right over the mans head. The weight of the water felled him, and Krystinna clunked him on the head with her staff. Shadow realed to the right as the third one closed on him. Shadow fell into himself them, waggling his fingers and chanting word he had never knew before. The area darkened but Shadow could still see his target. The man stopped suddenly as three balls of fire erected out of the ground and started dancing and circling up him. The cricling got faster until if finally reached his head where the fire crossed, severing and catching it on fire. The body slumped to the ground as the head rolled around. Shadow gasped as the light returned in a rush. His arms tingling and spun and wacked the man that had snuck up behind him. Luckly, the man had been mezmerrized by the site of his buddy getting killed. The man slumped as the staff cracked his skull. As soon as the body fell to the ground, Shadow turned to a wide eyed Krystinna, her mouth also agape.

"Hi." Shadow said as he walked towards her.

Were those woodpeckers just now? And... do I hear footsteps?

Krystinna blinks, her ears picking up the sound of rushing feet. She turns her head to the side and gasps, catching a glimpse of a black robed figure diving straight for her. "What the-!?!" Is all she can say before her breath is knocked from her as the figure tackles her waist and collapses with her to the ground. The young cleric's head bobs for a moment as the back of her head hits the dirt path with a thump, her staff falling to the side as she looses her grip. She grits her teeth in pain and slowly opens her eyes to see two tiny, blurred dart-like things sail overhead. Her heart jumps for a second until Shadow's face appears over hers, his azure eyes staring down into her dark green ones. For an instant, there is silence, the cleric's breath stops and her mind races.

Shadow...? What... what's happening?

Her question will remain unanswered though as soon the patter of footsteps can be heard around them. Shadow, much to the cleric's relief, rises up from the ground. Krystinna takes the opportunity to leap to her feet and pick her staff up from the ground nearby.

Friends of his... just perfect... does trouble follow him around EVERYWHERE he goes?!

Before anything else can happen, Krystinna sees a man dressed in black rushing towards the two of them. She gasps a moment and while shadow starts to follow some slightly more hidden figures, Krystinna decides now would be a good time to practice with her staff. The man unsheathes his sword with deadly speed, the blade swings at Krystinna's neck. With a slight gasp, she leaps backwards and holds up her staff and glares at the eyes of what she assumes to be an assassin. The man doesn't afford an instant to ponder though. He rushes at her with an overhead swing of his sword. With a quick movement of her arm, Krystinna brings her staff up over her head and the sword thwacks into the oak staff, the attack halted for now. The man blinks, suddenly realizing his sword is a little stuck in her staff. Krystinna glares at him in anger and pulls her foot back to kick him in the groin but before she can a hail of water crashes down on the man's head, knocking him to the ground, sword and all. The cleric blinks a moment and glances to Shadow. He is, however, preoccupied with the others and doesn't notice the glance.

Gimme a break....

Suddenly, Krystinna feels a grab at her ankle as the man, discombobulated from the spell, reaches out blindly for anything he can. The young cleric glares and kicks the man upside his chin, sending him flipping over onto his back, clutching his chin in pain. Without wasting time, Krystinna grips her staff tightly and thwacks the man in the head a few times. Each blow sending a small spray of blood shooting from either his mouth or nose. After about a minute of practicing her golf swing, there's a resounding crack from the man's head and Krystinna's face turns pale, realizing his skull broke.

"Hi." Her ear picks up. She turns to him, a put upon expression on her face.

"You really need to find some friendlier people to hang out with." She says rather sarcastically. "..In the mean time..." She says turning back to the dead assassin. "I have to clean up my mess." She kneels down to the prone body of the man and puts her fingers to her lips, breathing slowly through her fingers, gentle sparkles drifting from her breath and into the dead man's mouth. "Breath of Life..." she whispers. The man's vitals once again start working and a cold breath enters the man's lungs. He gasps in shock as he feels the warmth of life return to his frigid body.

"Well.... he's alive again, but not much else." Krystinna chuckles, kind of enjoying watching the man reel in pain, unable to even move his muscles. She fixes her hair and turns to Shadow, staring back into his eyes. "We really have to start meeting under non-death defying circumstances. But I'm kinda glad I ran... you ran into me. I'd like to talk about that cleric you said these idiots have." She says, giving the assassin a quick kick to his side, getting him to emit a painful groan.

"You really need to find some friendlier people to hang out with." She says rather sarcastically. Shadow turns swiftly around, scanning the trees to see if there were anymore assassins around. There weren't.

"..In the mean time..." Krystinna says, as she knelt to the ground and whispered something. A second later the man was alive again although in a lot of pain. His eye went wide with fear as he tried to move his muscles. Shadow glanced up to Krystinna's face as she fixed her hair. As their eyes connected, Shadow could see something, he had never saw before. Maybe because it wasn't there...until recently. What Shadow saw...was fear.

"I'd like to talk about that cleric you said these idiots have." Krystinna said. Shadow shook out of his thoughts and sighed. "I told you," he said," I didn't know her. All I know was that she was there and everyother day she would come and heal my wounds. Unfortunetly she did leave quite a lot of pain in its place. She said it had something to do with me hating her, and the only way to make it stop was to find something good about her....." His voice became a whisper, "..I never did."

A few moments passed in silence as Krystinna thought. All of the sudden, Shadows head bolted up. " Wait, there was something...she had an sign on her robes that she wore...I can't remember what it looks like but later I found out that it was the sign of..ugh..what was it..." Shadow thought hard as he tried to remember the words. " Ah yes, it was the clerics called The Faith."

At the words, The Faith, Krystinna became alert. "What else do you remember about her?" She questioned." What did she look like?"

Shadow didn't know what that was all about, but he thought it must have to do with clerics in some secretive way." Yes, sometime she would bring in what she called, a traniee. The person would get to...have their fun with me. But they always wore the same robes. Red..blood red. They wore that color because sometimes my blood might get on them. When ever the traniee only got to watch, she wore brown with white."

Shadow still didn't know what it meant, but suddenly Krysinna was getting excited. Alarmed, but excited also. As she started thinking again, a small red blotch appearded on her cheek and it started dripping blood.

"What the hell...?" Shadow said as Krystinna came out of her thoughts.

"I told you, I didn't know her. All I know was that she was there and every other day she would come and heal my wounds. Unfortunately, she did leave quite a lot of pain in its place. She said it had something to do with me hating her, and the only way to make it stop was to find something good about her....." Shadow's voice becomes a whisper, "..I never did."

...Well... at least that gives me some insight... This ditz obviously has a lot of practice and skill with healing others if she knows how to close wounds but retain the pain of the injury... Now the 'find something good about her' bit REALLY has got me for a loop... That could mean any number of things when you think about it... She could be regretting the path she's taken and desperately hoping someone can find the good she tries to cling to... ...or she could be a complete bitch who likes to toy with her victim's minds as well as their bodies... Either way I wanna meet her... whether it's to rescue her or beat some sense into her. ...heh... almost hope it's the second...

Krystinna blushes, realizing a mean smirk has passed across her face. She quickly shakes it off and continues listening to Shadow as he seems to have a realization. "Wait, there was something...she had an sign on her robes that she wore...I can't remember what it looks like but later I found out that it was the sign of..ugh.. what was it... Ah yes, it was the clerics called The Faith."

Bing Bing Bing!! Well that helps her morals. If she still wears the sign of The Faith then she MUST still want to heal in the name of good... ...After all, it was all those freaks in the tower could talk about... "Path of righteousness" and all that... ...Ugh... they spewed that rhetoric like a bunch of self-righteous geysers... Frankly I'm GLAD I ditched that career path and set out on my own... Though money's been tight and I've had to sleep outside sometimes... Mmm, in any case, we'll need more to go on.

"What else do you remember about her?" The young cleric inquires. " What did she look like?"

" Yes, sometimes she would bring in what she called, a trainee. The person would get to...have their fun with me. But they always wore the same robes. Red.. blood red. They wore that color because sometimes my blood might get on them. When ever the trainee only got to watch, she wore brown with white." Shadow continues.

Brown and white, huh? DARN! I remember... SOMETHING about those colors back from the tower... Rats, now I wish I had paid attention to those chaste idiots instead of making plans to raid their ice box at night... Heh... I wonder if that dream I had was part of a guilt complex... wouldn't THAT have been rich? I can almost see them crucifying me over stealing that jar of pickles... I know exactly what they would have said too... "We're not doing this because of WHAT you stole, we're doing this for the simple FACT you stole." Ugh... It honestly gives me a headache whenever I think about how chaste they live... There's no sense in going overboard... it's not like The Faith will ever help them in real life...

She shuts her eyes tightly. Anger and resentment beginning to swell inside her.

Idiots... praying to something... that's never helped a soul... Stupid... insipid....

Fearing she may start to cry, Krystinna takes a deep breath and shakes her head, trying to calm herself down. However, her body still trembles a little from the unfocused anger she'd built up and her fist shakes as she lifts her head to speak. Before she can say a word, however, Shadow beats her to the punch with a rather vague inquiry.

"What the hell...?" He says, staring at the young cleric's cheek.

Krystinna blinks in confusion. "...What? Do I have a bug on my face?" By instinct, she swats lightly at her cheek, accidentally smearing blood across her palm and face. It only takes an instant for her to identify the gooey stuff now on her hand. She gasps and quickly presses her hand to her cheek. "What the heck? Ahh.. those stupid assassins must've nicked my face or something..." She quickly pulls a handkerchief from her robe and wipes her face and hand clean of the blood, replacing the cloth in her pocket.

Man... that was kinda creepy... I don't... REMEMBER getting hit in the face... heck, I don't remember getting hit at all past shadow's dive... ..it... can't be frustration from that dream... can it?

She takes another breath, this time to calm down her brain from reading too much into the blood. "Ah.. just a scratch, forget it. So Shadow. I'm thinking we should go get this cleric... You know, keep power out of the enemies hand... free an innocent girl from being forced to do wrong... real hero-type stuff. You think you're up for it?"

Krystinna blinks in confusion. "...What? Do I have a bug on my face?" By instinct, she swats lightly at her cheek, accidentally smearing blood across her palm and face. It only takes an instant for her to identify the gooey stuff now on her hand. She gasps and quickly presses her hand to her cheek. "What the heck? Ahh.. those stupid assassins must've nicked my face or something..."

How strange...I didn't see anyone hit her. There has to be something more to this...

Shadow ponders as Krystinna cleans herself up. Once shes done she questions Shadow.

"Ah.. just a scratch, forget it. So Shadow. I'm thinking we should go get this cleric... You know, keep power out of the enemies hand... free an innocent girl from being forced to do wrong... real hero-type stuff. You think you're up for it?"

Shadow chuckles, "Up for it? Of course." He pauses a moment,"...unfortunetly the Shadow Thevies are a large gang that stays in the shadows. It'll be hard to find them. Although I'm positive they're somewhere in the Outer Rim. Maybe someone in town can point us to where they last say them."

Shadow moves swiftly to the side and continues down the path, knowing it should lead them to town. Krystinna paues a moment, then follows after him.

An hour later, they're back in town. Townsfolk everywhere seem to be over jocied that they came out of the woods alive. They quickly get them to the nearest Inn and pay for there rooms. The leave smiling and waving.

As soon as they were in the two bed room, Krystinna flopped down on her bed, obviously happy that she was on a real bed this time. She tossed her belongings to the floor and sat back up.

Shadow stood in the door frame. Something was troubling him and he needed to know what it was about. He sat down on his bed and look at his companion.

"Krystinna, you wouldn't happen to know anything about The Faith would you? I dont think I want to show my face to the Shadow Theives just yet. It might be better if we went to them first.

"Up for it? Of course." Shadow pauses a moment. "...Unfortunately the Shadow Thieves are a large gang that stays in the shadows. It'll be hard to find them. Although I'm positive they're somewhere in the Outer Rim. Maybe someone in town can point us to where they last say them."

Thieves? I thought they were just a band of assassins...

A smile drifts across Krystinna's face. A smile of cunning.

Oh that makes things worlds simpler... If there's one thing I know how too handle... it's thieves.

As she revels in confidence, Shadow decides now would be a good time to get moving. He passes by Krystinna, walking down the trail and she quickly follows behind him, after applying a very weak holy Ankh spell to her cheek.

The next hour of traveling is spent in silent contemplation and admiration of the scenery.

In the local Inn...

"Oh YESSSSS!!! Pillows!!! MMFF!!" The young cleric says, burrowing he face into the soft fluffy down feather pillows and hugging the stuffing out of it. "MMm-MM!! They know how to treat adventures RIGHT!"

Standing at the door frame, Shadow observes the cleric's antics for a moment before he can no longer hide his concerns. "Krystinna, you wouldn't happen to know anything about The Faith would you? I don’t think I want to show my face to the Shadow Thieves just yet. It might be better if we went to them first."

Krystinna blinks at the question. She looks up from her belly-down position on the bed and stares at him in a sort of disbelief. "What?" She says, staring into his eyes to figure out if he's kidding or not. "Oh wow, you're serious aren't you?" She lets out a gentle chuckle and sits up on the bed, crossing her arms over her knees and leaning casually forward. "Clerics, as a generality, are heavily religious. We tend to believe very strongly in our gods and "The Faith". It's pretty standard amongst all clerics. ...I guess you could call it the inner spirit through which we channel white magic... Though there's a lot more to it then that, I'm sure you get the idea." She shakes her head a little, reluctant to answer the next question. "You're a mage... Your attack magic is respected in Avalon..." She laughs painfully. "People like us though... we're usually branded as witches and forced to live on the outskirts of society... Heck, why do you think I hang around the Outer Rim so much?" She heaves a long, heavy sigh. "Anyway... the clerics who were shunned built a tower in Outer Rim. It's called the cleric's tower because apparently the people who built it were the least creative namers on earth." She chuckles a moment at her own joke. "Clerics seek refuge from society there." She rolls her eyes, clearly disliking what comes next. "And they just loooove to stay there and focus on their studies... lots and lots of prayer... non-stop..." A wave of irritation passes through her and her face contorts with disgust. "They're all idiots... wrapped up completely in their beliefs..." She grits her teeth, starting to fume with anger. "Praying to their gods for guidance... ...it's... ridiculous..." She shuts her eyes tightly, starting to shake in a bizarre mixture of resentment, frustration and despair.

Shoot... get it together, Krys... You're loosing it in front of him...

Through great effort, Krystianna takes a long deep breath and calms her shaking. A drop of blood seeps from her mouth as she looks back to shadow. "Anyway, it's quite a walk from here and I doubt the clerics would have anything useful to say. They'd never associate with assassins or thieves."

Shadow listens as Krystinna explains about clerics. Unfortunetly it wasn't the news he wanted to hear and started to half listen. But when Krystinna started shaking, Shadow became alert incase anything bad happened.

After noticing she was shaking, she quickly took a deep breath and spook her advice, but now before Shadow noticed the strangest of things.

"Anyway, it's quite a walk from here and I doubt the clerics would have anything useful to say. They'd never associate with assassins or thieves." Krystinna said, but Shadow wasn't paying attention. His eyes were fixed on a drop of blood that had slipped out of her mouth. As it fell to the floor, too slowly for Shadows likeing, he nudged Krystinna and pointed down to where the blood was falling. Krystinna took a first glance...then a second. Soon she too had her eyes fixed on the small drop of blood.

As the drop reached the floor, the room darkened. Shadow and Krystinna instictivley grabbed their staffs, but kept their eyes on the blood. As soon as it reached the floor a hole appeard. The hole was a different shade of black, and looked like it could suck the remaining light out of the room. The hole spun as the blood was drawn in.

As soon as the blood found its mark, the room re-lit and a dreadful hiss came from the hole. It snapped shut as the blood came fully into contact, splattering into smaller drops inside.

Krystinna gasped, obviously from holding her breath. Shadow too noticed he wasnt breathing and started again in a more relaxed manor.

"Ok...that was freakie." Krystinna whisppered, as she flooped back down on her bed. She layed there, wide eyed, staring at the ceiling contemplating what it meant.

"Krystinna...that was no ordenary magic." Shadow said. Krystinna sat up and cocked her eye-brow.

"What do you mean it wasn't ordenary? Of course it wasnt, it appeared out of no where." She said.

"No. That was pure evil magic. Magic like that comes from...well not on earth." He said. He again stared down at where the hole used to be. How strange, he thought, I've never seen anything like it.

"Krystinna, there isn't something troubling you is ther...." Shadow stopped. Dead in his sentence, Shadow stopped. He thought he had heard something.

"What?" Krystinna asked, " Whats gotten into you?" After Krystinna talked, Shadow heard the sound again. It sounded like someone was talking. Soon it was growing louder, until finally it was all he could here. When he spook, it was in a dull voice, that wasnt his. His eyes grew wide with fear.

"Krystinna.." The unearthy voice said, " Krysssstinnaaaaa," the voice went up and down with every letter. going from high, to low. " Krystinna...Im coming...for you! " Shadow's eyes bulged as a hand came out of his throat. He breathed, and it felt normal. But he could see the hand there. He could feel the heat coming from it.

The hand lurched at Krystinna and she screamed and rolled over her bed, picking up her staff. A moment later, Shadow was sitting on the bed. His eyes wide, his hand over his mouth. He felt his eyes roll to the back of his head and then he fell unconcious.

"Shadow? SHADOW!!!!" Krystianna screams, leaping over her bed to his side. With a swift motion, she clocks her oak staff into the hand reaching out from the mage's neck. The fingers of the strange hand slowly tighten around the staff as if trying to strangle it. The cleric holds her staff firmly to the hand keeping her and the apparition in a rather bizarre game of tug-of-war... only this would be a push-of-war. "Shadow! Snap out of it!!" She yells into the mage's ear, his eyes glazed and motionless. She quickly brings up her free hand and lightly slaps Shadow's cheek with the back of her hand. "Come on!!!" The hand suddenly wrenches the staff from the cleric's hand and throws it to the side, sending it clonking to the floor.

"Sir? Madam? Are you alright?" A tall, bearded man inquires to the door. The man, actually being the inn's manager, reaches for his master key and goes to unlock the room. However, as soon as the key makes it half way into the key hole it stops, strange energies preventing it from going any further. "Huh?"

"D-damn it!! Let go of me!" Krystianna yells, the hand having managed to latch onto her finger. For an instant, she looses her footing and is yanked towards Shadow's neck by the hand. Her heart jumps and she rams her foot against Shadow's bed, shifting the wooden frame of the queen-size around on the floor before friction and a wall halt its movement.

RRrrrgg!!! This is insanity! What the hell is this magic?!

He foot firmly planted on the bed, Krystianna yanks on her arm as hard as she can without feeling like her finger will break, but to no avail. The hand slowly wraps around her wrist, almost like a snake and grips on her tighter. The tugging soon escalates to the point of the cleric using her entire body as a counter weight to the hand's pull. A few minutes go by as Krystianna desperately tries to think of a plan.

Come on... THINK!!! There's gotta be something I can do... healing harms the undead... is the hand of that origin? Arrrg... What's that spell that removes curses?! Can I even use it at the strength level I have?! ACK!!! I have to try SOMETHING!!

"Caressing Touch!!!" She yells, her free hand lightly touching Shadow's cheek. Blue ankhs start to circle around her as she channels energies through her palm. Her body slowly starts to emit a blue aura, white magic building up within the room until it practically bulges. The dark aura of the room begins to wane slightly as the focuses harder and harder on lifting whatever the hell curse managed to fall upon Shadow. The Ankhs slowly grow brighter and start to fill the area with a light blue glow, making the room seem almost as if it were under water. Light waves from the cleric's hand and her hair starts to flutter backwards from the backlash of the spell energy. Still, the hand holds her wrist tightly, not giving an inch to the energy. "RRRrrRRGGG!! COME ON!!!" She screams out, the ankhs suddenly shattering into sparkling shards of light. In an instant, something in the cleric's body snaps and the blue glow stops instantly. Her eyes start to glaze over and her muscles become limp.

Well.... that's what I get for trying to cast a spell I can't handle.... Didn't work... and now my body's out of energy...

She thinks and her consciousness starts to wane.

Weird... I always thought the end would be grander then this... The last place I expected to die was a little inn in the middle of nowhere... ...life's funny like that I guess....

The hand slowly grips her wrist harder, snapping her wrist like a toothpick as she begins to slump over.

I wonder... are all those stories about the afterlife true? Or will there just be blackness?...

Slowly, her eyes shut and she slumps, motionless, on top of Shadow, a tear falling from her eye.

Maybe... I'll see you again... mother....

Shadow awoke with a start. Cold sweat ran down his face as got his bearings. His head ached from seeing the hand...the HAND! Shadows hand lurched to his mouth. He felt around the inside of his mouth, finding it perfectly find. He was also aware that Krystinna had apparently gone unconicous too. She lay, her hands sprawled out in front of her, on Shadow's chest. He sighed and propped her up gently so he could crawl out.

Once on his feet, Shadow opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. He kept the door open though, incase Krystinna awoke too. He inspected the hallway, making sure it was clear of people. He leaned on the door frame and thought about what had happened.

What the heck was that thing...I could breath normally when it was there, just like now, when its not. But still I could feel its heat resinating off it. It was alive... to some extent. Shadow thought for about an hour as Krystinna slept, what seemed like, happily. After the first half our, he had moved Krystinna into a more comfortable postion and had rested her head on one of the pillows. He put a blanket over her when she started shivering. At the end of the hour, Shadow had finally found a conclustion.

It must have been from somewhere close by. But, the image we saw was projected, with another certain kind of magic added to make it physical when it appeared. How starnge...Krystinna has to know something about this.

Shadow goes and sits on the bed next to Krystinna. Her eyes were moving back in forth. Shadow knew that it meant she was having a dream. He had also learned not to wake someone that was like that, for fear of bad luck. But Shadow didn't beleive in bad luck. Shadow lightly whispered Krystinna's name. When she heard her name, she shreaked and bolted up. Obviously the dream had been a bad one.

" Krystinna, it's all right. The...thing is gone. Dont be alarmed." Shadow said, trying to calm her. She took a deep breath as Shadow sat by her side. He stared down on the ground as she brought her bearings up to speed. She turned to him when she was finally awake.

"Krystinna, are you sure you don't know anything about that thing? We need to know all we can to be prepared." Shadow asked, getting up to lean on the door frame as he waited on her anwser.

"You're such a silly girl..."

Krystinna giggles softly and smiles up to the face of her mother, her light blue eyes and long, flowing pink hair swaying softly in a cool breeze. The young cleric snuggles the back of her head against her mother's lap, her own pink hair jumbling up in bunches on her mother's white robes. "I just went all out is all... I do that a lot."

Her mother laughs a soft laugh. "Yes, I know. You have such a fire burning in your heart..." She says, gently rubbing Krystinna's cheek. The young cleric shuts her eyes, smiling and enjoying the cool breeze.

"This place..." She says quietly. "Was my favorite..." As her voice fades, the small grassy patch they sit on slowly unfolds into a beautiful landscape. Wheat and corn grow in the distance in wide fields spreading out for acres across the plains. The distant silhouettes of mountains can be seen on the horizon. The sun slowly appears in the dream, setting beneath the mountains and making the land glow an amber hue. Krystinna smiles and slowly rises to her feet, walking to the edge of what has now become a small hilltop with a beautiful birch tree in the center of it. She squints her eyes softly at the setting sun and a breeze gently blows through her flowing hair and tee shirt, making both of them ripple and wave. A few seconds pass by until she turns her head back to her mother with a sad smile and tearful eyes. "I miss my peaceful days..." She says quietly. "When I could spend hours out here... just watching the wheat sway in the breeze... talking to my brother..."

Her mother nods once, slowly, a somber look on her face. "There was nothing you could have done Krysti... Everything is the will of The..."

"No!" Krystinna interrupts, whipping around to face her mother completely, her hand swishing to the side for emphasis. "It's nonsense... I'll never believe in the gods again! They do nothing... They help no one...." She shuts her eyes. "...It's all pointless."

A stronger breeze picks up, tossing Krystinna's hair to the side, making it flow wildly. The sun slowly sets and the fields loose their color to the darkness. The village in the distance instantly ignites into flames.

"Tell me mother...." Krystinna says, looking up with a dark and cold expression. "Would the gods... want this?" Her glares fixes on her mother's sad eyes and a metal tipped arrow shoots past Krystinna's neck, piercing through her pink hair. The arrow whizzes past her and directly into her mother's chest, slaying her instantly. Krystinna walks slowly up to her prone body, an angry, cold look in her eyes. "I couldn't revive you... I was too weak. ...and now it's far too late..." The landscape bursts into flames, giving the dream a horrid red glow. Krystinna's fist shakes in anger, the flames growing more and more intense the madder she gets. "Is this the fire... Mother?" She asks darkly, tears starting to stream down her cheeks. "IS IT!?!?"

The young cleric takes a deep breath, tightens her fists and looks to the sky, screaming out at the top of her lungs. Her voice echoes and rises; the landscape becoming a swirling mass of darkness. Lightning crashes around her and flames shoot up from beneath her feet, her eyes whiting out with fury.

"Krystinna..."

The shock of hearing her name, causes her to gasp and wake up harshly. The dream coming to an abrupt halt, she bolts upright, seeing the face of Shadow right next to her.

"Krystinna, it's all right. The...thing is gone. Don’t be alarmed." Shadow says, apparently trying to calm her. Krystianna takes a long breath and shakes her head, still feeling flustered. A few minutes of eye-rubbing pass until Shadow speaks again. "Krystinna, are you sure you don't know anything about that thing? We need to know all we can to be prepared."

"First off, it's Krystianna. Not Krystinna. I don't care if it's harder to say. Call me Krys if you're too lazy. Second, I have no clue why your neck suddenly became a portal for what looked like a devil's hand. If I did know, I would have done something smarter then pass out trying to use a spell I can't handle." She sighs, looking to her wrist and casting Holy Ankh on it. "I thought you'd have a clue frankly. ...It IS your neck."

"First off, it's Krystianna. Not Krystinna. I don't care if it's harder to say. Call me Krys if you're too lazy. Second, I have no clue why your neck suddenly became a portal for what looked like a devil's hand. If I did know, I would have done something smarter then pass out trying to use a spell I can't handle." She sighs, looking to her wrist and casting Holy Ankh on it. "I thought you'd have a clue frankly. ...It IS your neck."

Shadow looks down after Krystianna spoke. He had just now noticted that he had been saying her name wrong. "Sorry Krystianna." He said somberly. When she doesn't say anything, he continues on. " And no...I don't know what the thing was. It was strange though. It has to have a transmitter somewhere close in order to be able to send it that clear. Plus, it did say it was comeing after you. But how would a demon know your name? They can only appear if someone summons them. That would take a lot of power." Shadow thought after proposing his idea.

So strange that something,ike that would happen. And why is Krystianna acting so...angry. She was only like this once, and that was when someone stole her robes. This is too odd. After contemplating for a minute, a idea suddenly struck.

The blood that went into that hole was Krystianna's. Maybe... Shadow looked at Krystianna. All he needed was her blood for the sample to work. He searched the room and soon found a small mug.

"Krystianna, I need you to produce some blood for a test." Shadow explained...a little bluntly for his likeing.

"What the blazes has gotten in to you?!" She replied, " I can't just bleed at will. And besides, why do you want my blood anyway?!" She asked with an edge.

"I have an idea. Please, just cut your finger or something. It'll only take a little drop." Shadow said, looking at the ground.

" No. I won't just make my self bleed for this stupid ide-" Krystianna was cut off as she saw a drop of blood slip out of her mouth. Shaow quickly placed the mug under her chin and caught the blood before it hit the ground.

"Ok," He said, " Get ready. This might be weird." Shadow emptied the blood onto the floor once he had his magic ready. The same thing accured as before. The hole opened and started spinning. Shadow could feel his magic wanting, begging to be released. But not yet...

The room's light reapperaed as before. Then it came. Shadow felt the heat first, then the fingers popped out. Then the hand and arm. Shadow wasn't frightened this time. Krystianna was.

"Why the hell did you do that?!" She yelled. Shadow remained calm as she snatched up her staff. But then remembering it haden't done anything, she calmed herself and summoned her power.

Shadow was way ahead of her. All he needed to find was the something that looked different on the arm. A finger that wasn't straight, or an peice of skin that ws discolored. Finally he saw it. The finger nail on the thumb was missing. That was it. Shadow fell into the magic, releasing his grip on it. If flowed through him with great energy. The ball of fire appeared in his hand, ready to be thrown. He pointed two of his fingers at the thumb and guided the ball. It hit dead on.

With a shreak the arm fell from Shadows mouth, looking like it had been snapped from the rest of his body. It shreaked finding it self away from Shadow's mouth, it's portal home. Shadow stomped his foot on it to keep it from moving. Krystianna thwacked her staff onto its hand, sending out another shreak.

Shadow formed another flame. This time, he put it next to the thumb, letting it burn. Once he was satisfied the transmitter was gone, he retracted the ball. He then picked it up with his hand. Eyeballing it size. The arm tried to crawl into Shadow's mouth again but even if it did, it couldn't be teleported back.

Shadow binded it's fingers, making sure they couldn't be used to scrath anything. Finally the arm gave up and stopped wiggling on the ground. As Shadow was about to pick it up to put in his pack, it burst into flames. Exploding into dust, the fires disappeared once it was completly gone.

Shadow stared at where it had once been. Finally, he fell down on his bed. Staring up at the ceiling, waiting for Krystianna's reaction.

Krystianna stares at the dust for a while, her mind racing. Absentmindedly, she grips her staff and plants the tip of the wood into the pile of ash. She stirs the gray flakes around on the hardwood floor for a while, pondering the possibilities.

Solid object... magical properties...

She looks up to Shadow and sighs. "Ok, I get it now." She says matter-of-factly. "You said something about a 'transmitter' right? I can only assume you incinerated the thing with your fire show." She notes the burn marks around the room. "I'm glad none of the bedding caught on fire... but anyway. It's an illusion, right? It takes a solid object and extends physical properties through itself by fine tuned manipulation of magic... "

Shadow nods somberly. "Yes, exactly. And as I said, they can only appear if someone summons them. It takes a lot of power." He says, bringing his gaze down from the ceiling to meet hers. "You still didn't answer my question... how would a demon know your name?"

Krystianna shakes her head. "Bah. Like I'd know." She turns to the window, not only to avoid eye contact but also to lookout for the spell caster, just incase he or she had chosen a conspicuous spot to cast from. A minute passes by in an odd silence before The young cleric speaks up again. "...The only encounter I've ever had with a demon is in my dreams... Not a real one." She slides a speck of blood from her mouth onto her finger, gazing at the drop of blood. "I had a rather bad dream this morning, actually. I coughed up a lot of blood in it. I think my frustrations my be manifesting themselves in physical pain." She turns with a slight glare. "Not that it's any of your business. In fact, I wouldn't hesitate to assume that one of those assassin guys planted that cursed transmitter on you and cast it from outside. ...Why it came after ME, I'm not sure. It might have something to do with the nature of the spell... since you were the portal it wouldn't suit it to kill its return point." She grumbles a little.

Damn it... real blood. My dreams never get this bad normally. Maybe it's just all that's happened lately... Ugh, I hope he's not still set on going to cleric's tower. Meeting them again is the last thing my nerves need.

She turns back to Shadow, walking up to him. "I'm up for suggestions. Do you think we should find the caster of this thing and deal with him or should we just keep moving? ....But first off, are you hurt? Need healing?"

Krystianna thought awhile then finally spoke again. She turned back to him, walking up to him. "I'm up for suggestions. Do you think we should find the caster of this thing and deal with him or should we just keep moving? ....But first off, are you hurt? Need healing?"

Shadow considered the question a while then finally produced an anwser. " No...there is no single spell caster. I have a feeling that this demon has a permnant spell..." Shadow thought a moment, trying to from his thoughts into words. " I think the orginal spellcaster created a device for the demon so he could come in and out of a portal that was also constructed." Shadow looked up to Krystianna. She was still waiting for his second anwser. " Oh, sorry. No, I don't think I need any healing. I feel fine..."Shadow's eyes opened. He had been searching for his energy while talking. But, the orginal spot he could always feel it in...felt numb and empty. He searched with great effort befor he gave up.

Shadow fell down on his bed. Staring up at Krystianna's face. "What?" she asked.

"I guess I don't have any phisical illness, but I could use some rest to regain my magical status." Shadow pulled off his shoes with his feet. He was almost asleep when he saw Krystianna sigh and shrug her shoulders out of the corner of his eye. As he shut his eyes, he heard Krystianna flop down on her bed although he was sure she wouldn't get much sleep. She had been sleeping before the monster had come the second time. As he fell asleep, Shadow was still thinking about why his magic hadn't been there. That big of a blast shouldn't have drained all of his energy.

Shadow awoke to the sound of screams. He snapped his head up and tried to move his hands but they were chained to the ceiling. He felt cold steel locked around his fingers. He eyes widen in horror as he remember this feeling. It had been what they had done to him. A cold shiver went down his spine as he tried to steady himself. His toes barley touched the ground. He squinted his eyes and light from out side flooded the room.

Shadow stared at the ground as the men entered the room. They lit the lamps and bowed their heads to a hooded figure in the room. Shadow felt another cold shiver run down his back. Cold sweat ran down his face as the hood was removed from the body. The symbol on her robes frightned him to the bone. Shadow looked up and almost jumped.

The face of the cleric was Krystianna's. Shadow immediantly calmed as he figured out the plan. "Thank goodness your here Krystianna." Shadow said, smirking at her ability to infiltrate such a guarded complex.

"Shut your mouth dog!" She shouted, pressing an object he had never seen before into his chest. His breath was lost as shear pain rushed through him. Like a ball of lightning had just been created and shoved down his mouth. Blood gushed from the point she had pressed the object. Yet, the object was flat on the end. Shadow screamed in pain. Contorting uncontrolably. Krystianna's face turned into a smile as she laughed.

She pulled the object from his chest. His body fell down, cutting the chain into his wrists, blood dripping from them onto his head. " Why are you doing this Krystianna?" Shadow asked, between gasps.

" Hahaha. Because I hate you fool!" She said, lightly running the object across his chest. More blood poured from the wounds as Shadow screamed. " Hah! Weakling. I guess for fun I should tell you though." She paused, cast healing enchantments on his body that closed the wounds but brought on much more pain. " This is the future, and unless you want this to happen, I suggest you kill me in your time. If you can even do that. Weakling." She laughed again and stabbed the object into Shadows jaw. Shadow screamed as his teeth chattered so much he thought they would shatter.

Shadow bolted up, cold sweat running down his face. He gulped the air, taking deep breaths. He felt his chest and pain coursed through his body. He clenched his teeth to keep from screaming so he wouldn't wake Krystianna. He felt his wrists and saw deep bites in them. Shadow slumped back down onto his bed.

This can't be happening. It was only a dream...but the pain is real. No, I won't believe it. Shadow searched for his magic and found it full and ready to be use. Shadow layed on the bed, too confused to get up and do anything so he waited for Krystianna to awaken.

"I guess I don't have any physical illness, but I could use some rest to regain my magical status." Shadow says, whipping off his shoes alternately with his feet.

"...Ah-!" Krystianna starts out, watching Shadow flop down on the bed, getting relaxed. As his eyes shut, the young cleric shakes her head and lets out a sigh, shaking her head in a way that, if anyone had seen her, would indicate that she's giving up.

Aaaahh... forget it. I can ask questions later.

She thinks as makes a light hop into bed, lying down on her back.

I guess he knows what he's talking about... he IS a mage after all. They know their magic and their demons. ...At lest I think they do. This one doesn't seem to be very sharing of info... but whatever...

With a soft sigh, the cleric crosses her legs and stretches out her arms for a moment before positioning them behind her head. She shifts her back around for a moment to get comfortable and soon shuts her eyes, letting her thoughts drift. Slowly, her muscles untense and she lets out a soothed breath, her body letting go of the day's stress. After one more deep breath, Krystianna finds herself touching her lip a little. Her fingers still red with her own unwashed blood.

...Dangit... I know this demon has something to do with him. I've never had this kind of trouble before. ...I mean... Maybe it's my blood that's activating it, but that still doesn't explain why it didn't surface before... Heck, I've had countless cuts and scrapes and I've never encountered a demon hand before...

She rolls over to her side, restlessly.

...Of course I've heard about clerics bleeding a little without injury.... Mom used to call it.. Anti-White. White magic is supposed to come from the purest part of the soul... Mom always said that if a cleric got too nasty, or too many negative emotions welled up within the person then they'd start to emit anti-white... reopening old wounds on themselves to release the bad magic... ...I figured it was just a story mom told me... just to make sure I never turned into a bad person...

She rubs some dried blood between her thumb and index finger until it grinds to powder and falls from her hand.

I guess I have to try and keep from getting too frustrated or else blood will spill and the demon could reappear. ...tch. Of course that my be hard with Shadow around.

She rolls her eyes a bit. "Screw it. I'm going to sleep."

....


.......

*YAWN*

The young cleric opens her eyes wearily. It had been a terrible nap. With a grumble and a terribly stiff ache in her side, she stretches out her arms and stumbles off the bed. Slowly, she drags herself over to Shadow's bedside, intent on waking him up and not sleeping through the day. "Come on sunshine. We've mooched off the inn long enough." ...No response. "Cooome on, up and adam." She says, lightly nudging his side. ...still nothing. "Damn... you're a heavy sleeper." She laughs oddly. "Like me." She smirks and shoves him to his back, leaning completely over him. "Wake up!!" She says, half laughing. Before her laughter subsides though, shadow's hand jets upward and through her throat, straight through the other side. Krystianna gasps and looks down weakly into the hood of Shadow's robe to see the face of a cleric from the tower.

*Gasp!*

The cleric bolts upright, a little pale. As soon as reality sets in, she pinches her cheek lightly to reassure herself that she's awake. "...Well that hurt. Guess I'm up." She says rather emotionlessly. She looks to the bedroom mirror for a moment to check for blood... none. She takes a calm breath and smiles, climbing out of bed. She walks slowly over to Shadow and chuckles, looking down at him as he lays on the bed. "I can tell you're awake you know." She laughs a little and shakes her head with a smirk. "Come on, get up. If you can even do that, ya weakling." She says jokingly.

Shadow drifted back into sleep after he awoke to find the pain being real. The dream wasn't so bad until the end when he woke up. In his dream he was lying in a medow, laying on his back in staring up into the night sky. But then, the night sky drifted away with the medow and Shadow stared falling into a endless pit. As he looked up he saw Krytiannas face. She laughed oddly and then said the last thing he wanted.

"Come on, get up. If you can even do that, ya weakling." She said. Shadow closed his eyes and focused his energy. No, this can't be right. No...I have to stop her...for now. Shadow lurched out of the dream, his hand reaching out for Krystiannas throat. He hands rapped around it, alowing her to breath, but not move.

"What are you doing?! Let me go!" She said, as her eyes filled with horror. Shadow got up, keeping her at arms distance. His hand still on her throat, he reached in his back for a small rope. He rapped that around her hands and down to her fingers. He tied it at the wrists so she couldnt try to undo it. Once done, he pushed her down onto her bed.

"So, you really were planning to turn me into the Shadow Theives wern't you?!" He asked, releasing her throat so she could talk easier.

"What are you talking about?! Why would I do a think like that?!" She questioned. Starting to lose her temper.

"You work for them. You are that cleric. No wonder she kept her hood up." Shadow paced back in forth between the beds. " And thats why the assassins knew I came here. It was because you sent them." Shadow pressed his palms together, being careful not to touch the wrists.

"Look, Shadow I don't know whats going on in that little brain of yours, but whatever it is, I am not that cleric. I had no idea who the Shadow Thevies were unti-" Shadow cut her off.

"Krytianna...your a disgrace." He rolled up he sleaves to show her the wrist bites. " In my dream, you did this to me." He pulled his cloths to show her his chest. " And this." Krystianna stared at the wounds.

"Please Shadow, you must believe me. I didn't do that. I dont have that kind of power to do it in your sleep. Please, untie me." She said, her temper still rising.


"Forgive me Krystianna. I did not know." Shadow untied her and then fell down onto his bed, tripping on his staff. " Dear spirits," he whispered," what have I done. What is going on?"

" Do what you wish to me Krystianna. I have acted wrongly." he said in a louder tone. He turned his back to her and hung his head, tears dripping onto the floor.

"Do what you wish to me Krystianna. I have acted wrongly." The young cleric watches as tears fall from his eyes.

Krystianna's fist shakes a little. A lump in her throat swells for a moment before she swallows it down as her stomach churns in a mixture of anger and symapthy. About thirty seconds pass with her staring at the mage. Instead of running her thoughts through her consciousness, however, her inner mind stays silent and her gut starts to lead her actions. Swiftly, she picks up her staff again and tightens the green sash on her robe, making sure it stays comfortably snug. Next, she gathers her belongings she'd scattered around the proximity of her bed. First the empty bottle, then her bandage kit and her gold bag. Sliding her things into her robe, she turns to Shadow and walks up to him, standing directly in front of him. She lifts his chin up so their eyes meet.

"Come on." She says with a repressed sigh. "We're leaving." She grabs Shadow's pouch and rests it into his arms. "We're gonna go find this cleric and set at least one thing straight today, alright? I don't want to hear any apologies, complaints or apprehensions, got it?" Before he can answer, Krystianna is already heading for the door. As she steps out into the hallway, she meets the concerned gaze of the inn's manager.

"M-madam, we were so worried! We heard screaming, crying and snoring from in there! We were worried about you two." The manager says, twisting his brown vest nervously between his hands. The cleric looks to the side and scratches her head, not sure if there was a good explanation for him that wouldn't cause panic.

"Ah that... He was telling a scary story." She says, trying not to sound like a complete liar. "You know... gotta practice being fearless and all, what with all these adventurous jobs to be done, right?" She laughs awkwardly and tries to read the manager's face. She cracks a bit of a real smile behind her fake one, seeing the man look at her with confusion and nervousness but thankfully no disbelief. Her eyes glance to the side to escape the gaze and let her thoughts focus on coming up with a good exit line. "Weeell.... anyway. We're gonna take off. Shadow's gotta damsel in distress we gotta save. Can't waste time!" She exclaims, sliding past the manager's side to the inn's exit.

"O-oh! Well good luck then!" He says, heading back to his office to try and minimize the outright weirdness he just felt from the cleric. Watching the manager, Krystianna sighs; her acting skill had been sub-par once again.

"Come on, Shadow!" She calls. "You have to lead the way you know. I'm magic, not psychic." With a sigh, her gaze fixes on the streets of Rithia as she waits for her unlikely partner to come and lead the way.

Shadow gathers himeself together as he listens to Krystianna's story. Shadow smirks slightly at the "damsel in distress" part. He grabs his staff firmly and walks out of the room when he hears Krystianna telling him to hurry up. He follows the sound of her voice out the door. Shadow found her staring down the winding streets.

"Come on, I think I know the right way." Shadow smirked again and headed off to the east where he knew he could find a ship that would take them to the smaller islands of the Outer Rim. Once they were clear of the town though, the area turned into a forest again. Shadow slowed his step, perking his ears up to listen for anything unsuall. Luckily the forest held no surprises as they made their journey.

Shadow stopped suddenly as the forest turned into a cliff looking down on the harbor. He layed down on the grass as he looked for a nice looking boat to take them where they wanted to go. After a while of scanning and squinting, Shadow found the perfect boat.

The boat had the same insignia that the Shadow Theives had so Shadow guessed that was their best route. After memorizing the guards movements, Shadow motioned for Krystianna to follow as he picked a concealed, and safe way down from the cliff.

"Sneakin' on a boat huh?" Krystianna says, looking over shadow's shoulder to the docks. She notes that, in terms of size, the docks aren't really large. However, with the crates and boxes scattered pretty near everywhere and the small wooden houses dotting the piers and boardwalk. Sailors of all types move to and from their respective ships, the occasional shouted order echoing across the lapping waves of the docks. She eyes a market stand selling fish, chuckling at the fact that the people on the docks are so used to that smell. The wooden piers creak softly as the multitudes travel on them. Finally, her dark geen eyes scan the boats for a second before they move to Shadow's face. "From that look in your eye it seems like you picked one out. Which is it?"

"That one." Shadow says, his finger pointing out a boat with a few passing guards.

Krystianna nods for a moment, noting the small marking on the side of the boat. "Hmm... better try not to stick out too much..." She says to herself. Leaving Shadow for a moment, Krystianna ducks into the cover of a few trees and tall plants. She sighs, looking over her robe.

I really do need something less conspicuous if I'm going to be sneaking around thieves and assassins. The white robe makes me stick out like a sore thumb. Besides, most sailors hate witches anyway.

Leaning her staff on the side of a large tree, the young cleric sighs and unravels the knot in her dark green sash, letting it fall to the forest floor. After a quick glace through the wide leaves of the plant, she slides her robe off, revealing her dull pink tee shirt and black shorts that a few inches shy of her knees. She sighs for a moment, stretching her shirt down a little to cover the centimeter of her midriff that shows. She curses her lack of money for a moment, knowing she's slowly growing out of her clothes.

Maybe I can find a new shirt on this trip...

With a shake of her head, she bundles up her robe and gathers her things, placing them into her bundled robe and attaching the bundle to the end of her staff in the traditional traveler's manner. One final task remains though... With a quick sweeping motion of her hand, the cleric scoops up her long pink hair and gathers it into a high-set pony tail, tying it up with the green sash from her robe. Before she comes back out of the bushes, however, her eyes glance to a beautiful red flower blooming in the plants she's hiding behind. She stares at it for a while, admiring its form, a gentle blush forming on her face the longer she stares. Finally she laughs briefly and plucks the flower from the plant, sliding it into her hair on the side of her head.

"Ok, that's better." She says, stepping out from the plants towards shadow. "I can move faster without the robe anyway." Gripping her staff in her hand, she kneels down next to Shadow, waiting for his seemingly laser-like concentration to yield some results. After a moment, the mage waves his hand, a motion for her to follow. Swiftly, the pair make their way down a somewhat rocky but not too difficult section of the cliff, Krystianna occasionally using her staff to support her on the ledges. It only takes a matter of minutes before the two find themselves in an alleyway between two storage huts on the pier, dangerously close to the ship Shadow pointed out.

"Alright..." She whispers. "Are we planning on hiding in the hull storage?" She smirks sarcastically. "Or are we going to ask for a ticket?" She chuckles. "Either way, just give the signal so we can sneak onto the boat..."

Shadow creeps down the cliff into the the alleyway next to the Shadow Thevies ship. He turned to Krystianna when she spoke.

"Alright..." She whispers. "Are we planning on hiding in the hull storage?" She smirks sarcastically. "Or are we going to ask for a ticket?" Krystianna chuckles. "Either way, just give the signal so we can sneak onto the boat..."

Shadow nods and turns back to the guards. He scans their eye movements, judging the "window", or time they would have to get on the boat and behind them, was about 25 seconds long. Shadow cursed under his breath. He knew he would be able to do it, but he didn't know about Krystianna. And if he tried to juse magic, it would alert everyone else on the port. Shadow contemplated a bit before turning to Krystianna.

"Krystianna, the window of oppertunity is only 25 second long. Do you think you can sprint quietly and quickly behind those guards in that short of time?" Shadow asked, turning back around to make sure the guards haden't seen them, when a fight errupted.

Two sailors were in the middle of a circle of men. They were probably fighting over something stupid like drinks. The two Shadow Thevies guard seemed intrested and they ran over to place bets on the winner. Shadow motioned for Krystianna to get ready. He scanned the boardwalk to make sure everyone was watching the fight. Once sure of it, Shadow held is hand in a fist up above his shoulder, then released it into two fingers pointed towards the boat and darted out of the alleyway. He zig-zagged behind crates and barrels. Then, he sprinted the last few feet onto the boat and down into the hull.

Luckily, the boat was empty, but Shadow kept his magic ready, just in case. When he heard a thump, then Krystianna's panting, he knew she had made it too. Shadow waited a moment to catch his breath, then walked forward, down the hull.

Lamps lit the hull barley enough to see. The lamps hung on chains, and they swished back and forth with the waves. Shadow found a nice, large crate they could hide behind, or in, considering it was empty. He held up the tarp so Krystianna could crawl in, then crawled in himself.

"Ok, now all he have to do is wait for them to move out. We should be safe in here, although it might take a while for us to get to their remote island. So make yourself comfortable." Shadow whispered, laying down on the hard wood floor of the crate. He placed his bags behind his head so he could use them as a pillow. Then the sought his magic, falling into it so he could feel its warmth.

"Ok, now all he have to do is wait for them to move out. We should be safe in here, although it might take a while for us to get to their remote island. So make yourself comfortable." Shadow whispers, laying down on the hard wood floor of the crate.

"Comfy huh?" Krystianna shrugs, gently placing her staff along the side of the crate so it doesn't make noise. "...The crate's empty you know. They may end up wanting to fill it before we take off... It IS for cargo." She warns, leaning against the side of the crate, crossing her arms. "Though it's pretty big... I wonder what they ship in this thing? ...Not people I hope." She shudders involuntarily, getting a bad memory.

...If they do, I'll wanna bash a few heads. ...It'll be my way of expressing my opinions to them... heh... ...

With a sigh, the cleric shuts her eyes and nestles against the back of the crate, trying to get comfy. Listening to the waves splash against the side of the boat, sighs and ponders about her recent life. A few minutes pass by before she speaks up. "Hey Shadow..." She says in a hushed voice, just incase any one is nearby. "...I'm live in the Outer Rim because people see me as a witch... as they do all clerics... But I thought mages were revered... at least in Avalon. Why are you hanging out around here? ....or are you just passing through?" She scratches her head a little, looking to the opposite end of the crate. "...You don't have to answer. We've just been traveling together so much... I got curious."

"Hey Shadow..." Krystianna says in a hushed voice, "...I live in the Outer Rim because people see me as a witch... as they do all clerics... But I thought mages were revered... at least in Avalon. Why are you hanging out around here? ....or are you just passing through?" She scratches her head a little, looking to the opposite end of the crate. "...You don't have to answer. We've just been traveling together so much... I got curious.

Shadow sighed, no one had ever asked about his past but he guessed it had to happen sometime. He thought a moment, bringing together all the peices of his scattered life story. When he was finally ready he sighed again, and spoke.

" I'm hanging out around here," he says, useing the same tone as Krystianna's, " because I worked with the Shadow Thevies. As you know I was once with them...but I didn't tell you the whole story..." he paused a moment, then continued, "...You might not have seen, but I was a the best assassin the Shadow Thevies had. My magic based attacks were no match to any of their...targets. They used me for important missions, like assassinating kings or killing...traitors."

He stopped again when he noticed his voice was quivering. Once he had it under control, he continued. " The truth is Krystianna, I was their top assassin and highy revered in the Shadow Thevies. But when I defected I was hated of course. The guards that arrested everyone at the dock thought I was just a small time guard, so they let me go. But they knew I was a Shadow Theif, so the kept a close eye on me. To elude them, I had to become a drifter. Once I did that, I was no longer revered by anyone. I was a criminal to the police, a traitor to the Shadow Thevies, and a drifter to the public."

Shadow stopped for a long pause and when Krystianna said nothing, he continued. " Krystianna, I've seen more dead bodys then anyone should. I've had to travel to a target or elude police thats a thousand miles away." He finally stopped, staring up at the ceiling as he waited to what Krystianna had to say.

"I see..." Krystianna says, having listened to Shadow's story. "That explains why you hang out in the Outer Rim. Lots of good places to hide out... avoid the public." She smiles a little to him, giving a chuckle. "Most of them aren't worth the time to fit in with anyway." She consoles, still giving a gentle smile and relaxing back against the crate. She stares at the opposite end of the crate in thought for a while, pondering the story. Her foot taps involuntarily, maybe out of boredom, maybe out of nervousness, hard to tell really. As she stares, her mouth moves on its own, saying whatever's on her mind.

"Guess you can't go back to Cethindol tower, huh? The mages probably won't accept ex-assassins... though they're a mysterious bunch so I sure wouldn't know... Seems to me they'd be interested in someone with as much power as you..." She laughs for a second. "Wow, if you got good enough maybe you could be hailed as an archmage... control the fabric of creation with just your magic... That'd be great..." Her eyes half-close and she suddenly heaves a distant and woeful sigh. She stares into space, her mind putting even less conscious thought into her words. "...Control the elements... the fabric of reality... yeah, you be the closest thing a human can get to a god I guess... Heh..." Her smile fades into a pensive expression, almost one of scorn. "I think it would be easy to be god. You wouldn't have to do anything, just stand there and watch..." A long two minutes pass without either of them saying anything.

*Creak*

Krystianna blinks and her ears perk up. She whispers to Shadow. "Did you hear something?" Before he can answer, however, there’s a suddenly low rock on the boat and a shout on deck to hoist the sails. They are on the move.

Shadow sat up, replacing his pack so it was at his side. He let out a sigh and leaned his back on the inside of the crate.

"Did you hear something?" Krystianna whispered to Shadow. He looked around, shaking his head. Then, the boat rocked and various calls when heard from above. The ship was setting sail. Shadow shruged. He knew this feeling all to well. He let his body sway with the waves as the ship moved out from the harbor. He sighed again, straightening his robes.

Well, I guess I should break the news to Krystianna about phase two. Shadow thought. He looked over to Krystianna. She looked like she was just now getting comfy.

"Ok Krystianna, time to go over how were going to get off of this boat." He paused a moment, making sure she was paying attention, then continued," Alright, once we get into harbor, they're going to unload the boat immediantly. That means were going to have to find a way out of here before they discover us." Shadow reached over, moving his hand around infront of his feet. He finally found what he was looking for.

Shadow gripped his hand around the latch and lightly pulled up. The trap door came up silently. Obviously they had greesed the hinges not to long ago. He caught up on his knees, Krystianna doing the same.

Once his head was looking down the shoot, he heard the spray of water and the slapping of waves onto the ship. He gestured with his hand as he spook.

" This is a trap door that leads straight down into the water. It was made so that the crew can easily sneak out of the boat, incase it is taken over. Or, it is used the drop small barrels and boxs into the the water so that pirates dont obtain them." He paused a moment, looking into Krystianna eyes." I hope you don't care if you get wet, because this is our way out of here with out them seeing us."

Shadow leaned back on the crate again as Krystianna thought to herself. He kept the shoot open so she could see down it. He waited for what Krystianna thought of it.

Shadow leans back against the crate, keeping the shaft open so Krystianna can see down it, which she does, quite thoroughly. "How the hell does the boat not sink with this?!" She asks rather bluntly. "It's drilling a hole into the bottom of a boat! ...This cargo area must be a tall ship to keep this thing constantly above sea level... but how does the thing keep its buoyancy?? What's UP with that?!" After a minute of this rambling, there's suddenly the sound of footsteps outside the crate.

"What the-?" A gruff voice sounds from outside. Krystianna blinks and shuts her mouth with her hands, hearing the voice from outside. The wooden floors of the boat creak as the heavy footsteps get louder. Krystianna swallows, knowing he's probably coming this way.

"Shoot..." Krystianna whispers to herself. In an instant, she snags her white robe from her staff that she had laid at the side of the crate and, swiftly but silently, slides her things against Shadow's side. With a quick flick of her wrist, the cleric opens up her robe to its full billowing length. Before Shadow can implement his own measures to hide, however, Krystianna makes a quick lunge at him and lands on top of him, her robe floating down over top of them, covering them and their items. Krystianna's eyes lock with Shadow's, trying to convey the message of 'Don't move and keep quiet.', not that Shadow needed to be told that.

*Flap!*

The sound of the tarp opening is heard and the man peers into the crate. The cleric shuts her eyes softly and even stops breathing, her body remaining motionless over the mage's. From the sailor's point of view, the mound of white simply looks like cargo that has been covered over. None the less, the man looks inside the box for a seemingly endless ten seconds before the sound of the tarp being replaced can be heard again. Krystianna doesn't move a muscle though. Her voice, nearly inaudible, sneaks into Shadow's nearby ear. "It's a ruse. He'll open the tarp again soon."

*Flap!!!*

This time the sound of the tarp being opened is much more violent. The man, suspicious of the sheet, figured that if the 'cargo' had been stowaways, they would've come out of hiding after he left the first time. Fortunately, the man, now convinced it's just a pile of junk, replaces the tarp and his footsteps can be heard walking to the other end of the room. Krystianna sighs softly, looking into Shadow's eyes with a bit of sad irritation. Her quiet voice picks up again into his ear. "We'll wait until he leaves the cargo room. He may check back just to make sure the 'contents' of the crate haven't shifted." She chuckles silently to herself. "In the meantime... let me answer you. I don't mind getting wet, as long I can dry off afterwards."

"We'll wait until he leaves the cargo room. He may check back just to make sure the 'contents' of the crate haven't shifted." Krystianna chuckles silently. "In the meantime... let me answer you. I don't mind getting wet, as long I can dry off afterwards."

Shadow sighs inwardly. We might not have that kind of time, he thinks, by the time we're inside, the alarms will go off and we have much time. Plus we might have to 'convince' the cleric to come with us. Shadow sighs silently again and looks at the floor. It was starting to get uncomfortable in Krystianna's robes. He folded his arms and interlocked his fingers in his sleeves. He tried not to move to much so Krystianna's robes would stay in the same place.

After a minute or two pasted, the tarp once again swung open and the man gazed inside. Shadow heard him shrug his shoulders and the tarp close. Footsteps echoed down the hallway into the crate as he climbed the stairs back up to the top.

Krystianna climbed off Shadow and sat down where she was before. Shadow listened intently at the sounds of orders being barked from above. He guessed they were close by the call of "Ready the anchors."

Shadow gathered the things and tucked them neatly as he could into his robes.

" That should protect them a little bit from the water," He whispered to Krystianna. She nodded and did the same. Shadow sat up and leaned over the trap door. He pulled it open and gazed down. Scratchs floated up to his ears. That told him they were in shore and the sand was scratching the bottom of the ship. It was almost time.

He held up his fist to single Krystianna to be ready. Once he heard the splashes of anchors hitting the ocean floor and wooden boarding planks hitting the dock he opened his fist and jumped into the hole, feet first.

Shadow slid down the small slide into the water, hitting lightly and barley causing a splash. He waited for Krystianna to do the same.

*Splish*

"Wow..." Krystianna whispers to herself, sliding her wooden staff and robe into the back of her shirt, tucking the end of the staff through her belt to secure it. "That barely made a sound." She slides over to the trap door, staring down into the shaft. She takes a quick, calming breath to ready herself as she dangles her feet over the side. Just as she's about to jump into the chute, her mind clicks into thought. She looks down at her dull pink shirt and stares at it for a moment, just... thinking. Slowly, he face contorts into irritation, thinking the color is just a liiiitle too light for this situation. She decides it might be best to find a rock on shore to swim to remain out of sight. As she sighs, getting ready to jump, there's a sudden noise from the stairs leading into the cargo area. Footsteps.

"What do you mean 'the cargo'? We didn't PUT anything in that crate!" A gruff voice sounds out as pair of footsteps starts clomping towards the crate. After cursing under her breath, Krystianna snags the lid of the trapdoor and pulls it shut behind her as she slides down the chute. She grits her teeth, feeling the rough wood scrape against her bare legs before she plunges, feet first, into the cold sea. Her whole body tenses and she shivers as the bottoms of her black shorts expand to fit the incoming salt water. One quick gulp of breath later and her head is below the surface of the water. She opens her eyes with a squint, just making out the bottom of the hull of the boat in the water. Her cheeks puffed with held air, she slowly places a hand on the underside of the boat to keep her position in the water until she can locate Shadow. As her eyes start to burn from the salt, she spies a hand waving for her to follow under the water.

Agggh... man it burns... I can't see down here for much longer...

Using her hand, the young cleric pushes off the hull of the boat and straightens herself out, horizontally in the sea water, flutter kicking towards the figure. After a few strokes, her hand slowly moves in front of her face and a soft blue glow emanates from her hand to her eyes. A tiny blue ankh appears around her hand for an instant and the next instant she opens her eyes fully under the water to see the figure she's following.

Oh yeah, that's Shadow.

Over the course of the next thirty seconds, the cleric follows the mage under the water until they reach a secluded part of the beach. Her wet, bare feet slosh up onto the shore as she ducks behind a rock, out of sight to catch her breath. After a few pants, she slides her staff and robe out of her shirt, just then realizing her fears from the boat had come somewhat true. She rolls her eyes and grabs her hair, wringing it out, making sure she has her back turned to Shadow. "So... what's next?"

Shadow opened up his cloak and let everything fall out. The bags dropped into a pile, his staff rolling down onto his feet. He picked it up and used it to spread out the bags so they could dry easier. Finished with that, he flopped down onto the sand, squinting because of the sun.


"So... what's next?" Krystianna called from a few feet away. Shadow paused a moment before anwsering.

" Well, the sailors will either back-hand the man that found us. Or believe him and start searching the beach for the lost 'cargo'. We're a good half-mile or so from the harbor, so they should take enough time for our equipment to dry out. Then we can go in the way I came out. No one knows about it, I'm sure, but it's gonna be tight. We might have to leave our packs somewhere hiddin so we can fit through, get the cleric and get out."

Shadow thought about how hard it'll be to convince the cleric. She might come with us quickly and quietly, or raise the alarm and doom them both. He shivered and a cold prickle went up his spine at the thought of being tortured. No, I won't let that happen. I'll kill myself with a fireball before I go through that again.

He sighed and felt his packs. They dried quicker then he thought they would. He flipped them over when he felt the bottom was still wet. The sand that was attached to it flaked off as it dried.

Shadow looked over to where Krystianna was concealed. She was still drying out her shirt, so Shadow turned around. He called over his shoulder to her.

" I'm gonna put some cloth over my eyes. Enough to see, but you wont be able to see my eyes. If I slip out of sight, you should too. Its gonna be hard infiltrating a Shadow Thief complex. No one has been able to get in without being seen sometime or another. The same is for people trying to get out, except for me." He paused a moment, picking up his packs and shaking them so the sand would fall out.

" As soon as...everything...is dry, we'll continue forward. Just tell me when." Shadow said, standing up and looking over the complex.

"As soon as...everything...is dry, we'll continue forward. Just tell me when." Shadow says, standing up and looking over the complex.

"Got it..." The young cleric says, wringging out her shirt. After a few seconds she sighs and opens up her robe, donning it quickly so she reveals nothing. Turning to Shadow, she picks up her staff, ready to go. "Alright, let's do this." Her robes still trailing a small stream of water behind her, Krystianna starts walking beside Shadow towards the complex. She looks up at the stone walls, curious as to how they managed to build such a place on a remote island.

Must have some pretty good connections... They'd've had to have chartered a boat... gotten lots of building materials... Yeah, this isn't an organization to tread lightly on....

She shakes her head, washing away her doubts. "Ok... you take poitn Shadow. Let's just take the shortest route we can through this place, get the cleric and get out..." her heart starts beating a little faster as the sea breeze shifts her damp, pink hair around on her shoulder and forehead. She wiggles her toes a little, trying to get the sand out from between her toes as she watches Shadow scour the walls for the enterance. every now and then she checks behind her, her eyes trailing to the distant docks for any sign of the boat and possible activity.

Ugh... I'm getting nervous...

((OCC: Lead the way mon' capi-tan, your complex... XD))

"Ok... you take point Shadow. Let's just take the shortest route we can through this place, get the cleric and get out..." Krystianna said as they started to walk up to the complex. Shadow scanned the walls, looking for the faulty one that led to their entrance. As he got closer, he found the faulty looking brick. He smiled, apparently no one still knew about it. He walked directly in front of it and concentrated.

Shadow released a breath slow and easy. He grabbed his staff and tapped it to the block three times. A moment after the taps stopped echoing, Shadow created a ball of flame and floated it to the brick. The color changed as the fire made contact but instead of catching on fire, it absorbed it and changed to a whitish color. The bricks around it did the same thing until it spanned out to twice the size and height of Shadow.

All of the sudden the white bricks dissipated. Krystianna gasped, but Shadow ignored it. He motioned for her to follow as he went in the newly formed passage. Once both were inside, the bricks formed again, but left a soft glow to light the room.

As the light periced the darkness, forms were turned into boxes and it was obvious that they were in a storage area. But this storage area wasn't for food and stolen goods. No, this room was for the storage of dead bodys. Shadow breathed through his mouth to lessen the stench and Krystianna pinched her nose. Shadow turned to her and spook.

"While were in here, we can't speak. There are sound traps everywhere, but in this room. Walking around wont set them off, but verbal usage will. Once we reach the clerics quarters, we might have to wait around. She might be...teaching some people. So just hide until she comes. Understand?" Shadow asked. Krystianna nodded and he turned back around to the door out. He hoped they hadn't locked it or he might have to start a ruckus to get in. And that was the last thing he wanted.

A few strides was all it took to reach the door and Shadow carefully laid his hand on the door knob. He pulled lightly and opened soundlessly. Every door was like that in here, he knew. Stealth was what the Shadow Thieves were all about.

Shadow proceeded down the stone hallway, past wooden and steel doors. Some of them didn't lead anywhere and were just used to practice on for the thieves. Shadow ignored them though, for he knew that the middle was the one with the cleric’s room on. But that was three levels on. Hopefully no one was down in the dungeons.

Wait...if were passing through the dungeons, I could release the prisoners and see if she was down here. It might be risky, but its worth it. Shadow thought. He turned to Krystianna, who was trying to make as little noise as possible. Still the sound of her boots on the stone echoed down the hallway and up the stairs that were at the end of it.

Shadow motioned with his fingers that they would have to make a quick stop by holding up his index finger and then his fist. She nodded slowly and Shadow continued forward. Once they got to the end of the hall way, Shadow saw the stone stairs. They lead up three stories but Shadow stopped on the second landing.
Down the hall, torches burned brightly in their brackets. Screams echoed from the down the hall to Shadow’s and Krystianna’s ears. A shiver went up Shadow’s spine at remembering those used to be his. He motioned that he should go down alone. Krystianna nodded and found a place to hide so no one could see here.

Shadow quietly moved down the hallway. The screams grew louder at the end. Shadow thought the cleric had to be in there. No torture could make those screams. As he reached the end of the hall, he peered in through a window in the steel door that had two bars running from top to bottom. As he did, he saw a figure hanging from chains that were attached to his wrists. Next to him, was the figure he sought. Shadow let out a quiet sigh, glad that he didn’t have to go anywhere farther up.

Shadow quietly went back to where Krystianna was hiding. He had a questioning look on her face and Shadow nodded. He led her down the hall to the man’s cell. He gave Krystinna a thumb up and a thumb down. She nodded towards the up and they stood up. Shadow swung the door open and entered after Krystianna, the grip on his staff almost giving him blisters and the grip on his power loosening for easy use.

That's weird... I didn't expect him to smile when I suggested he take point. I mean, usually that means getting hurt first if we run into trouble. Plus he's a mage... if he's hit by a sword it probably wouldn’t take much more to kill him. It's not like he's wearing any armor... unless he's got more then that dagger he's keeping under his robes. I mean mages are powerful and all.. they did destroy the dragon hordes way back when... but still I don't see how he's managed to survive this long. He must... -hmm?!

Krystianna jumps out of her thoughts to see Shadow forming a ball of fire in his hand.

He's not gonna burn his way in... is he!?!?

The young cleric tenses up, worried that they'll make a burn and run sort of maneuver. She swallows, watching him float the ball of flame to the wall. Instead of bursting into flames, however, the wall seemingly absorbs the ball of flame. An instant passes while nothing seems to happen. Krystianna starts to tense up, fearing a sudden repercussion. All she emits, however, is a brief gasp when the wall suddenly changes color and vanishes without a trace, revealing a small passage into the complex. The duo walks into the room, the wall reforming behind them.

Solid illusory magic... This must've been made by a sorcerer or someone who was here before...

A few steps more lead them into a new room, dimly lit and full of large wooden crates. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but soon Krystianna's nose wrinkles up, catching whiff of a terrible, yet familiar odor. Plugging he nose, she realizes it's the smell of dead bodies. For a moment, her mind draws back to an old village she and the bandits had been forced to stay in since it was too late for travel. The smell of death was so pungent it made her stomach churn.

It's different here though... these guys have been dead for a good long time. ...It's a shame really... I can't possibly revive them once they start decaying. ..You can never revive a person who’s been long dead. Sometimes they end up as a zombie... I'd never put a person through that... their body nothing but a mobile corpse without a soul...

"While were in here, we can't speak. There are sound traps everywhere, but in this room. Walking around wont set them off, but verbal usage will. Once we reach the clerics quarters, we might have to wait around. She might be...teaching some people. So just hide until she comes. Understand?" The cleric nods a little, a little relieved he know's what he's doing.

The duo walks through the halls completely silent. They pass doors and ascend stairs, Krystianna noting a rather thoughtful look on Shadow's face. She shrugs a little, sure he'd say something about it later when, you know, they wouldn't be killed for saying something. Suddenly a scream from down the halls perks the duo's ears. Krystianna grimaces, hearing the pain fully evident in the scream. Soon after, Shadow makes a semi-intelligible hand gestures for Krystianna to hide. After a few seconds of head shaking and sarcastic looks, the cleric nods in understanding and ducks into a nearby door. She blinks, noting her surroundings.

I'm in a linen closet?!

She almost laughs out to herself, noting all the black cloth piled on the shelves surrounding her. Also on the floor seemed to be a small box full of odds and ends sort of clothes, perhaps garments they procured off of their victims... hard to tell. For a moment she pauses in thought, an idea coming into her head. She sifts through the closet for a moment, grabbing a sock and a few sashes and slipping them into her robe, holding them there with her own robe's sash. She takes a moment to look over the outfits, considering taking them as disguises just in case but before she can grab them, the door swings open and Shadow appears, motioning for her to get up and follow him.

Time to go then...

Leading her down the hall, the screams grow louder. A glare comes across Krystianna's eyes, angered at the fact that a cleric would hurt someone that badly. She slides her staff into her robe's sash so her hands will be free. A few quiet steps later, the dup finds themselves in front of the door. In a rather unstealthy approach, Shadow swings the door open, causing the occupants of the room to turn their heads towards the door. With a smirk, Krystianna rushes forward through the door, surprisingly fast. The cleric that had been torturing the man turns with a surprised look, raising her barbed wire whip just in time for Krystianna to smack her wrist away, causing her to drop her weapon. With a quick hand motion, Krystianna pulls out a sash from her robes, the two of them struggle briefly to gain the upper hand but the young, pink-haired cleric quickly grabs the woman's wrists binding them together with the sash behind her back. As the knot on her wrists tighten, the woman glares and inhales deeply to scream out for assistance. Before she can, however, Krystianna shoves the sock she'd found in the closet into the cleric's open mouth, effectively gagging her. Another sash tied around her mouth and head secures the sock and Krystianna steps back with a smirk, admiring her work.

(OCC: THERE! A post! =D)

Shadow hurried in after the blur that had been Krystianna. When he finally got in and shut the door, Krystianna had binded and gagged the cleric with socks and sashes. Shadow saw a smirk on her face that made him smile under his wraps. Meanwhile, the cleric and the prisoner were still stunned. The cleric had at first a look of pure hatred that now turned to terror. The prisoner seemed just as surprised, but relaxed when she was gagged.

Shadow unhooked the chain of keys from the clerics sash. She followed him with his eyes, screaming into the sock. Shadow ignored it and unlocked the chains that had the man hanging from the ceiling. He helped the prisoner down onto the floor and propped him up on the wall.

Before Shadow forgot, he quickly searched the cleric for any tricks. The whip that Krystianna had wacked away was laying on the ground a good distance from her. Shadow felt up her right arm and found what he was looking for. He forced the object out of her robes and it clattered to the ground. He rolled the golden rod with the silver chain attached to it away from her and then bent down to pick it up. But when Shadow touched it, he hadn't expected what was going to happen.

Shadow first touched the golden rod with his fingers, feeling it for any unseen traps. Then he solidly gripped it, and the spell awakened. A deafening raor sounded through Shadow's ears and he was soon on his back.

Shadow's eyes came back into focus as he noticed he was halfway across the room. At first, a little ache from his arm. But then he noticed the blue lightning courseing up and down it. Pain shot through him fast then a dart. His body went rigid with agony as tears filled his eyes. He tried to stand but his legs crumpled under him. He remembered the pain that had happened to him in the dream. This wasn't what it had felt like though.

Krystianna looked at where Shadow had been and where he was now. Apperently the sound of the lightning had only been heard by Shadow. Instead of making come to heal him, he motioned for her to begin the questioning of whether or not she wanted out of here. She made a question looked as if to ask if he was serious and he nodded his head. The pain was dissipating from him and it looked like he had no physical wound.

Shadow tried to stand up again, slower then before. He finally made it to his feet and moved from the wall to where the golden rod layed, unmoved. He bent down and touched the silver chain instead. He braced for the lightning, but none came. He carefully picked it up and threw it against a wall. It made a soft thud, but didnt break. Just wanting to be rid of the weapon, Shadow tossed it to a far corner of the cell.

Krystianna had began talking by the time he was done and he rose to his feet and stood next to her to hear what she was saying.

(OOC: Sorry if this is a little sloppy. But I'm glad were starting up again. Tell me if you want something changed in it.)

Getting fed up with the silence, Krystianna turns her head to Shadow as he walks to her and finally speaks. "Yeah... I figure since this guy was screaming in pain and traps weren't set off... I'm guessing it's safe to make a peep here." She says, her hand tightly gripped on the cleric's wrists, keeping her from running. Before Krystianna can spot it though, the torturous cleric shifts her foot a little a ducks suddenly, kicking her foot to the bottom of Krystianna's ankle. The young cleric's ankle buckles from the impact and she topples backwards to the ground. The torturous cleric grins for a brief instant before she too is dragged to the ground, having forgotten Krys' firm hol don her wrists. With a shuddering thud, Krystianna hits the ground on her back, gritting her teeth in annoyance. "Why you...!" The torturous cleric hits the ground on her side. She flails around a moment, trying to get up without the aid of her arms (not easy) but Krystianna is on her again in a second. Grabbing the sash from the cleric's robe, she ties her ankles together, leaving the woman basically helpless on the floor.

"Stupid little.." Krystianna mutters to herself regarding the cleric as she gets back up to her feet. With a quick dusting off of her robe, she turns again to Shadow, crossing her arms in a business-like manner as she speaks up. "Trouble follows you around like bears to honey." She says, her gaze turning from his face to the golden rod. She stares at it for a moment, pondering its properties. "You always find yourself the worst possible magicks it seems." She smirks at him, staring at his face through the corner of her eye. "Guess your dark demeanor attracts the blackest of magicks." She says with a chuckle. Before her Sarcasm Lobe comes up with another zing, Krystianna turns to the prisoner and walks over. The man had hit the ground from the surprise entrance. She kneels down to hit and looks over his wounds for a while, inspecting a cut here... a scrape there...

That's really good control over her magic... The cuts are closed but leave the nerves unhealed... he feels the pain without the injury...

She laughs a moment, holding out her hand. "Guess it's time for some poorly focused magic." She smiles, a pink aura surrounding her for a moment. "Holy Anhk" In an instant, white magic pours out of her hand, surrounding the man in a gentle glow, his cuts healing completely and the pain in his body melting away. The prisoner smiles gratefully as Krystianna stands back up and walks back to Shadow. "OBVIOUSLY we can't leave either of them here. But as they are I don't think either of them will/can put up much of a struggle. Now might be a good time to mosey on outta here before they find us. ....unless you have some errands to run."

((OCC: Looks good so far... Sorry for the day late. >_< homework caught up to me.))

"OBVIOUSLY we can't leave either of them here. But as they are I don't think either of them will/can put up much of a struggle. Now might be a good time to mosey on outta here before they find us. ....unless you have some errands to run." Krystianna said, glancing over to him.

Shadow contemplated for a few moments. I could take the cleric with us for further questioning. Or I could end it all right now. She did try to fight us. Maybe after she heres our intentions she'll- Shadow was pushed out of his thoughts by the sound of footsteps coming down the hall.

[I]It had to be the true torture comeing back for somemore work,/I] he thought. The footsteps grew louder as the person came closer. Already Krystianna was hiding for a easy spot to surprise him.

"Wait, let me deal with this," he whispered to her. She put a questioning look on her face, but slowly nodded her head. The footsteps were almost right on them. Shadow still had some time.

He quickly moved the prisoner to Krystianna's side. In the same movment he grabbed the clerics wrists and locked them in the chains hanging from the ceiling, throwing the keys in his hand next to the golden rod.

The footsteps stopped and the door opened. Shadow turned to the form in the doorway right before they peeked in.

The burly torture entered the room, weapons and devices on his belt clanging together and swishing with his hips. Shadow knew some of those devices and a shiver went up his spine when he looked at some of them. The guard stopped dead in his tracks at the masked figure standing in front of him and the cleric hanging from the chains, gagged and binded.

"What the heck happened here?! Who are you?!" He reached for a small mallet as he yelled at Shadow. Shadow was faster, a ball of flame appearing above his hand. The man stopped reaching for the mallet, his eyes locked on the fireball. Shadow took his other hand and pulled the garb that was over his face so that the man could see him. The tortures mouth dropped open at the sight of the once deadly assassin. Shadow wrapped the garb around his neck, the fireball burning brightly in his other hand.

Shadow's azure eyes locked onto the tortures green eyes. The man seemed to freeze, as if he was staring at his death, which was true. Shadow shook his head and his black hair went from side to side, fixing it self from a long time of being under a hood.

"Speak you fool," Shadow said with a deadly edge on his voice," what is your name.?"

"Kennith Setro," the man whispered, his voice quivering and his eyes darting from the ball of flame, to Shadow's eyes.

"Well Kennith, do you know who I am?" he nodded his head," Good. And do you know who she is?" He pointed his staff at the cleric hanging from the chains."

"Her name is Daina." He said, a little bit of conficence comeing to him. It diminished when Shadow floated the ball of flame close to his face, the heat almost hurting him.

"Where did she come from and why was she sent?" Shadow questioned, glancing to where Krystianna was at to make sure she was fine.

The man shook his head," I only know her to be a cleric. She was sent from somewhere that wanted some extra money." His voice quivered and his muscles tensed as the fireball moved straight in front of him.

Shadow knew he wouldn't be getting anything else from the man, so he finished his task. " Well thank you Kennith, you have been a great deal of help." The fire flamed straight forward into his abdomen, catching his weapons his leather shirt on fire. Another poofed atop Shadow's hand and went hurtlying towards the man's head, burning the flesh and blonde hair. He tryed to scream but the fire on his faced continued down his throat, igniting him from the inside.

The man thudded to the ground after a few seconds of agonzing terror. The fire went out, signifying he was dead. Shadow saw Krystianna and the prisoner stand up from their hidding place. Shadow looked to them in turn. The prisoners mouth was agape with awe at the sight.

" So," Shadow said, turning to the hanging cleric, " should we quesiton her here, or wait until later?"

(( OCC: Sorry for the delay. Couldn't think of what to do. Tell me if thats to controllative.))

"So," Shadow says, turning to the hanging cleric, "should we question her here, or wait until later?" The cleric doesn't answer right away, however. Her eyes are fixed on the prone body of the guard, laying on the ground, very much dead.

"Geez... the guy barely had a chance..." She laughs awkwardly for a moment, still a bit shaken up by the sight. "Heh heh... and just basic spells too! Wow, no wonder you were an assassin." She rises from the floor, dusting the bottom of her robe off and helping the prisoner stand up. The man graciously takes her hand, rising up and dusting himself off. Krystianna takes a long hard look at the cleric hanging from the chains. Her gaze darts to the door of the room. In a quick motion she pulls the door nearly shut and turns to Shadow with a nod.

"Alright. I want to get out of this assassin den as soon as I can... but we should get at least a few answers out of her before we beat feet." She says, clearing nervous about staying too long. Regardless of her apprehensions, she turns to Daina and swallows, walking up to her.

Alright... There's a lot I want to say but not a lot of time to say it...

"...Daina... right?" The chained cleric nods her head with a perturbed expression. "You know, I didn't think any cleric in their right mind would ever heal people for the sake of hurting them more. That goes against the basis of our magicks... I figured you were being forced by the assassins to do all these horrible things but I'm not quite sure anymore." She drags the gag from her mouth and yanks the sock out from between her teeth. "Don't yell unless you want to be hurt... Now I want an answer from you... Are you being forced to stay here... or do you just like hurting people?"

"Don't yell unless you want to be hurt... Now I want an answer from you... Are you being forced to stay here... or do you just like hurting people?" Krystianna questioned, obviously wanting to make sure that they weren't towing along a evil cleric when they left.

The cleric thought a moment, looking from Krystianna's eyes to Shadow's. When she turned to him, a ball of flame appeared in his hand. " We can do this the easy way," Shadow said, the ball of flame becomeing smaller, " or the hard way. Now awnser her question." The fireball doubled its size to where it had originally was and drifted towards the chained Daina. She didn't flinch, looking straight into the heart of the magic. She smirked.

Shadow suddenly felt a tingleing sensation course through him. His eyes widened, and he instantly got rid of the fireball. The sensation ended when the magic went away. He whispered to Krystianna the delima.

" I can't use my magic on her. If I do, she'll take it and use it against me. Just use your staff incase...we need to." Shadow ended the sentence and looked back at Daina. Her smirk was gone, replaced by dread. Soon, she spoke.

" My name is Daina Strong. I was recruited to be a tortured here when they learned of my ability. I'm the only one in exsitence that can steal a person's magic and use it...for pain, or help. I was forced to torture them and often saw it as wrong. But as the years dwindeled on, I began to shut out the sickness and...accept it." She paused a moment, looking at Shadow." When I happened to embrace it, who would come by but Shadow here. I was appalled that he would betray his loyalty to the Shadow Theives."

She continued after a sigh,"But I now too long for that escape from the evil and hatred that resides in this compound. So please, either take me with you or kill me so I can be free of this evil." She let out a long breath, letting her head fall.

Shadow looked to Krystianna and they both nodded their heads. He reached down to the floor where the keys for the chains layed. He slid them up and reached to the wrist chains. A smile of delight spread across Daina's lips, pure and girlish. As the chains loosened, she hugged Shadow.

" Thank you, both of you." Shadow pushed her away and she went over to the prisoner. " I'm sorry for what I did to you. I was forced beyond my contorl. Please forgive me." She bowed her head and the prisoner took up her hand and shook it.

"Apologie accepted." He smiled and pair came over to Shadow and Krystianna.

" Alright, enough chat," Shadow said, moving to the door." We have to get out of here and somehow make it off this island. Now, we can exit where me and Krystianna entered, but finding a boat from their would be preety hard." He started to wrap the garb from around his neck back around his face, but decided against it. It had been a long time since he felt wind on his bare face. He wasn't going to end that joy yet.

They thought for a while, hoping one of them would come up with an idea.

((OCC: Go ahead and control Daina however you wish.))

"Alright, enough chat," Shadow says, moving to the door. "We have to get out of here and somehow make it off this island. Now, we can exit where me and Krystianna entered, but finding a boat from there would be pretty hard."

Daina and the prisoner nod a little, their faces frowning with concern about how they could possibly escape via boat. Krystianna looks between the two faces for a moment, her expression a bemused one. She looks over to Shadow and laughs out for a second, smiling and shaking her head. "We didn't have an escape plan did we?" She says, almost in disbelief. "How reckless ARE we?!" She keeps laughing, finding their lack of preparation uproariously funny. "We're in an assassin den without a plan of escape..." She says to herself, shaking her head. After about a minute of this, the young cleric walks over to Shadow with an odd smile.

"I tell you what... Why don't you leave the boat thing to me? You take these two to the beach we arrived on and stay out of sight until I come and pick you up with the boat, alright?" She chuckles again, still finding the situation humorous. "Just try not to get caught. A group this size may not be the easiest to sneak around." She chuckles, patting his shoulder. "Though I'm sure you can handle it." Then, without another word, she turns to the door of the chamber and slowly opens it. Peering into the hall for any guards. After a second, she nods to herself, assured that the path is clear. She turns her head back to Shadow. "We'll spilt up for now. Just make sure you're at the beach soon, alright?" And with that, she ducks out of the room, rushing down the hallways to a cove in the shadows where she can hide and plot her next move. A grin passes by her face. She'd never stolen a boat before. This will be a fun first.

((OOC: it's short, but I'll get to the descriptions in my next post unless you wanna stop this plan))

"We'll spilt up for now. Just make sure you're at the beach soon, alright?" Krystianna says, ducking out of the room and slipping sliently down the hall. Shadow stared after her dumbly, thinking.

Ok...I guess that'll work but still...a cleric stealing a boat help by assassins? I hope she knows what shes doing... Shadow looked over to the hostages he now had to take care of.

"Alright, as you know the halls have traps set everywhere. Just, dont say anything or touch anything and we should be fine. Always stay close behind me and we shouldn't have a problem, got it?" He said, shaking his head so his hair moved swiftly from side-to-side. They both nodded and Shadow did the same. He glanced out the door, seeing a figure go running up some steps. Probably Krystianna. he thought, and turned back to the two.

"Alright, lets get moving. I've been in here longer then I wanted." He turned swiftly and snuck out of the room, the hostages following close behind. He darted down hallways and into coves everywhere. He was making good time, and slowed his pace to give Krystianna some time. As he entered the last hall way though, a delima feel into his lap.

Two guards were pacing down the hallway. Obviously from dropping off a body because their close smelled like the stink of death. They stopped when they saw Shadow and his band. Weapons automatically at their hands, they bent their knees in readyness. Shadow pushed the Daina and the prisoner into a small closet and turn his raptor like gaze back on the guards.

This is going to be hard. No sound alowed..hmmmmm. Since the torchs aren't setting of the traps, I guess fire is fine but not Cleansing Falls. O well. Shadow ended his thoughts with a two fireballs in his hands, staring down the hallway at the guards. They sprinted for him, not knowing whom they faced.

As the two guards rampaged down the stone hallway, Shadow targeted the two fireballs at the duo as the closed the distance awfully fast. 10 feet from Shadow, the fireballs hurteled from Shadows palms to the guard's faces. One cried out in agony, soon his fate was ended. As a globe of green light popped out from the wall, it soared toward the screaming guard. The globe hit without sound and green light filled the hallway. As the light diminished, the guard was no where to be found and ashes were found where his body used to be. The skull sat neatly on top, as if it had been there for ages. The other guard stared in disbelief and Shadow took the inisative.

A second fireball flew for the man's hands and set them aflame. He was a about to scream when Shadow sprinted to him and thudded him on the head with his staff. The man went down in a heap, the fire starting to consume him. Once it was down, it died down and the two excapees came out from their hiding place. They stared at the two dead bodys until Shadow motioned them on, stepping over the bodys and not minding to hide them or clean them up at all.

In a few more minutes they came to the corpse room, and Shadow quickly went to the glowing door. Through the glow he could see outside since the wall was a fake, construted of magic. The boat Krystianna had promised hadn't come around yet, so instead of risking going outside, he pulled his garment back around his face to cover his nose. Daina and the prisoner did the same, pulling up their shirts to cover their noses.

I hope Krystianna can get that boat. I don't want to resort to the way I got out last time. Shadow thought, staring out the wall from time to time to see if she was there.

Come on you stupid freaks... keep walking....

Krystianna thinks as she watches the feet of two assassins stop walking in front of her hiding spot. She swallows nervously as the two pairs of feet stay motionless. Above her feild of vision, the two assassins are giving each other looks. The hallways still being adorned with sound activated traps or something similar, the dark-clothed killers seem to have perfected the art of non-verbal communication long ago. For a few seconds, Krystianna remains still and breathless, awating the continued movements of the assassins. Seconds crawl by like minutes, with only a veiw of their feet to aid in her assesment of the situation... still there... still there...

The young cleric blinks, watching the feet suddenly move again. For a breif instant she considers laughing in happiness before deciding that she'd rather keep her neck non-slit. For a minute she waits in the hallcloset, still peering through the crack under the door, waiting for footsteps or sights. With nothing picking up in any of her senses, she hustles out the door and down the hallways, making as short a path she can to the docks.

I sure hope this trick works... Shadow's counting on that boat...

As she approaches the doorways to the docks, she spies two men dressed in black, carrying the dead body of a merchant, dressed in leather armor. She gasps and ducks behind a doorway as they approach. The two men, outside of the trapped hallways, mutter to one another.

"This was one tough target..." The skinnier of the two assassins mutters to the other.

"Tell me about it. Merchants aren't supposed to be so muscular... I think I broke my fist on this guy's face." The fatter one grumbles, adjusting his grip on the merchant's legs.

Krystianna covers her mouth, surpressing a wild giggle. Digging in her robe, she pulls out a few old metal pins she'd found in a trash heap. With a quick flick of her fingers, the pins clink to the opposite end of the hallway, aimed at the base of the stairs. The sounds, simulating money being dropped down the stairs, are instantly picked up but the assassin's highly trained ears. They glance at each other, neither of them expecting the other to share in the possible gold, and place the body down, heading to the opposite end of the hallway to inspect the sound. Krystianna smirks as she watches them head down the hall, knowing that theives tend to leap at the chance for some extra money.

Ok... what did that thing that blew up look like?

With a swift glance of her eyes, the cleric scans the packs and belts of the dead merchant, spying two bottles topped off with wet cloth in the bottle neck. She grins and grabs two of the bottles, sliding them in her robe as she places a hand on the merchant's head.

Better hope you died recently....

"Breath of Life..." She whispers, almost indecernably. Light blue sparkles waft from her hands and across the merchant's body, surrounding him in a faint glow. After a few seconds, the merchant gasps weakly, prompting Krystianna to cover his mouth with her hand, holding up a single finger in front of her lips to tell him to keep quiet. Fortunately for both of them, he does. As the assassins walk up to the metal peices, Krystianna smirks and her hand glows bright blue. "Holy Anhk." The young cleric says, focusing her magic as hard as she can. In an instant, massive amounts of white energy surge into the body of the Merchant, his body reeling from the healing and his limbs violently twitching as they surge back to life and mobility. The man instantly jolts up, his face pale, the fear of death still fresh in his mind. The assasinsm picking up the rukus, jolt around and gasp in unison to see the daed man walking again.

"Meet me at the mobile boat in the docks when you get my signal." She whispers in the stranger's ear, getting up to go.

The merchant, rightfully confused, looks over to her as she heads out the door. "Wha-? Bu-.. ? ...Well at least what's your singal?!" He calls bac to her.

Krystianna giggles a second and waves at him. "Trust me, you'll know it." Without another word, she ducks out of the doors and into the harbor, heading straight for an alleyway.

For a moment, the hallway is silent. The assaissns, confused as to what the heck just happened. The merchant, needing to suddenly get used to having life flowing through his viens again. Indeed, at this point it will all come down to who can regain their senses first.


Back outside...

Peering out from behind a trashcan, Krystianna surveys the harbor for a few minutes. She notes that it's hardly as big as any major port city harbor, the boats are tied to the peirs as though they were toys. Everything is made of wood and iron... As her vision descends on a smallish boat, similar to the one they arrived on, she grins and starts going through her plan in her head.

Ok then... the harbor is small... I can get everyone's attention with a single fire... but to clear off the boat I need I'll need it to be in danger of burning it, but not so much that it does.

She smirks, grabbing a match. "Well... might as well get this party started...


Inside the cavern...

"Hmpf... damn assassins." The burly merchant grumbles pulling a small dagger out from his upper arm and kicking the corpse of the assassin that threw it. The report of their injuries will later be described as 'Thier heads being crushed', for now though, the merchant leaves the mangled bodies to rot and heads for the door. "Now that kid said something about a signal..." He mutters to himself, looking out at the harbor. For a while, everything seems normal... people managing ships, supplies, cargo... coming and going from bars and storage huts.... A giant fire forming on one of the huts...

....?!!?!?


((OCC: Ok for now. If you don't post I'll just add onto this. sorry for being stupid but I've really lost my motivation for this))