An ongoing mission

Stepping out of the portal, he took a deep breath. Ah, the mountain air of the Spine Mountains. He had travelled far for just a simple card spell. This was good. He needed to get away from Val'Dariah for a moment. He took a step forward and stopped when he heard the twig underneith break. He looked down, shaking his head slowly.

Turning around slowly to check out his surroundings, he caught sight of a fire. This was unusual. Normally his card's teleport spell caused him to appear in a place of solitude. He wasn't expecting to appear near someone.

Placing the card back into his cloak, he took out a few others and slipped them up his sleeve. Alone in the Spine Mountains was never a good place to be. So many bandits and wild ferrel creatures roamed these parts. Better safe then sorry.

Slowly making his way towards the fire, he kept himself well seen, if anyone was there to see him. He began to whistle a soft tune, hoping that whoever, or whatever, was near the fire wouldn't suddenly get started by him. That was the last thing he needed, a fight. He had just left one possible fight, and really didn't need another. But he'd still be cautious.

Reaching the circle of light, he stopped, seeing her stand up. A woman? Alone in this place? There had to be a catch. He ignored her slightly, looking around, using his card of divine sight to see if anyone else was around. Finding no one, he closed his eyes and powers to the card. Slowly he removed his hood, reveiling his soft blue eyes and raven black hair. He smiled and bowed his head slightly to her. He had already seen the hidden weapons around her.

"I am sorry, I mean you no harm, or disrespect. I saw your fire, and I didn't want to alarm anyone that was near by. I just arrived from Val'Dariah. Hard to believe, I know, but I was able to teleport to this location." He didn't want to give too much information to a stranger, just enough.

Holding out his arms, showing her his hands, he looked back up at her. "I don't have a weapon. I don't believe in them." He said, turning for her to see him. Sure, he was wearing a cloak, but that was open for inspection.

"I'm sorry I startled you. I'll go."

Nodding to her, he slowly turned his back to her, lifting his cloak to show that no weapon was hidden at his belt line. With her satisfied, he lowered his cloak and walked over to the other side of the fire. The food did smell good.

"You know, I actually forgot to eat at Val'Dariah," he said, chuckling. He waited for her to finish preparing the food before taking the plate she had offered. "And I can completely understand getting the jump on others. You must be use to having people assume you're an easy target."

He pushed his sleeves up, forgetting about his cards in the one. He watched as they fell to the ground before him. He reached down for them calmly. No need to act like they were a big deal or anything.

He placed the cards into his pocket and pulled out the normal set of playing cards. He placed them down upon the rock he was leaning against and smiled at her. "I've been known to play a little." He picked up his meat and nibbled upon it slowly. Three days worth of gambling and drinking had made him quite hungry.

Checking his surroundings, he smiled at her. "Val'Dariah is the capital city of Greater. Or, likes to pretend it is. They are the main ruling city upon this continent, but allow other kingdoms and clans to be self sufficiant. But I tell you what, every time the demon horde escapes from Dark, the governments of Lesser and Greater all run to the council in Val'Dariah." He chuckled a bit. "They have all the news and laws that go on around this continent. The travel hub connects every part of this massive land. If I knew exactly were I was at, I could tell you have far away we are. I don't recognize anything here, so I only know that it is to the north somewhere."

He had travelled much of the Lesser, having grown up there, and much of Greater. Her map was rather good, if not a bit incomplete. He noticed that the center of the map had to do with an elvish land of some kind. Her homeland perhaps? He smiled up at her. "Sure. I could go for some more food. I might have an idea for some vegetables and fruits that are around here. Since you aren't from around these parts ms...I'm sorry, where are my manners. My name is Dax Shadowfire."

He smiled at her, looking back at her map. "Well, if I am correct in assuming that this large body of water is Vastwind," he said pointing to the massive lake upon her map, "then I'd say, giving the general local that we are at, that Val'Dariah is a good two thousand miles to the northeast."

He rolled up the map and tossed it back to her. "The nearest city with a travel hub is actually a few hundred miles west of here. All we have to do is get to the river and follow it west. I don't really know the trails or roads of these mountains. And with 'winter' coming soon, I wouldn't want to be caught in these mountains while a storm rages around and upon us."

He smiled at her, "I'm happy to help. And I'm no Lord, I'm afraid. Just a simple monk who knows how to defend himself." He looked down at his hands. "I don't believe I've ever been to those woods. My travels have usually kept me to the north of this mountain chain. Harder for bounty hunters to get to you when you go hiding in some massive cities."

He took the flask from her and opened the top easily enough. He smiled at her and poured the liquid into both. He wasn't much of a drinker, but he wasn't going to be rude about it. He already had a problem with his gambling. It was only habit to drink then. But out here, one needed to have their wits about them.

"Well, my dear Tah'lyia, what is it you do back home? Or did, since clearly you've been away for some time."

He nodded some, smiling slightly. "Yes, the sauce was wonderful." He reached into his cloak pocket and took out a small folding flute. He placed it next to the cards on the rock and sat back, watching her with pure enjoyment.

"Alas, no, I am not from these parts. I honestly don't know who my parents are, or what bloodline I might have. I was an orphan upon the doorsteps of the Cresent Monks upon Lesser. I grew up learning how to be a monk, as well as a fighter." He took a sip of the wine, instantly feeling the warming sensation run through his body. "Mmm, that's good wine." He cleared his throat. "When I was a teen I struck out on my own, moving to Larshar and becoming a gladiator for their arena games."

He looked up to the sky, sighing slightly. "And that is where I met her. Oh, what a lovely creature she was. Ash elf, no more then three hundred years old. Oh how her swords danced in the arena. We instantly became rivals. She would get so frustrated when we fought or sparred. Always told me how she couldn't believe a mere human with so little power to elude her blades."

Raising the cup to the air, he saluted the sky. "To those once had, but lost to the sea of eternity." He took another sip and smiled slightly.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't speak like this."

Power flooded his body, pushing his tolerance to the limit. Before his final moments were to be played out on Earth, his thoughts turned to Byblis. He couldn't help but smile as the pure power of his full self poured out and attacked the darkness of his father's cast out dark soul. It was only a fragment of the whole, but it was still so powerful.

"FATHER!"

And with that, he exploded.

Or so he thought he had. One moment his body was wrapped in pure divine energy, the next, he was standing upon a small trail, his powers completely lowered to their minimum level. He looked about, feeling the energies of the world around him. He closed his eyes.

"Demigora," he spoke softly, knowing his home without having to sense the land with his powers. "How the hell did I end up back here?"

He took a deep breath and looked around. There was a fire near by. For this he would try to send out his powers. Lucky for him, his second sight picked up only two; one male, one female. He slowly made his way over to the fire, his shadow cloak, the one he left behind, appearing around his body as he walked.

"Hello old friend," he spoke softly, making his way over to the small group.

He shrugged, sipping the last of the wine in his cup. "Nothing wrong with wanting to make sure of who was destroying your forest. You want to keep your people safe. There is nothing wrong with that."

Looking up to the sky, smelling the cooking meat and sauce, he took a deep breath and smiled. "I needed to get out of the city. And I do wish I could get back to Lesser. I have a friend working on getting me back home. So, for now, I'm up here."

He grabbed his cards from the rock and began to shuffle them idly. It was somewhat of a nervous habbit. Only happened when he sensed something out of place yet didn't realize something was out of place. Just an odd feeling of being watched that he had no reason to feel.

"You said you would like a game of chance every now and again? I play rather regularly. Someone told me not long ago that I'm a gambleaholic. Thinking that I played with my life, or something like that. I've never given up anything that precious. I just enjoy the game." He held the cards out for her. "Would you like to play? Any game you want. I'm skilled in all forms...I believe."

He slowed his pace. His sudden appearance had caused them to notice that someone was around. He wasn't a threat, but one never could be too careful with people in the dark, and at night. Plus, he was still getting use to the day/night aspect of suddenly switching locations without meaning too. Of course he had planned on giving up his life to destroy that corrupt soul, but that meant he would have arrived back at the tower. This wasn't the tower, and it was his same body. He didn't feel any different. Plus, if he looked carefully enough, he could see the scars hidden by his divine healing upon his own hand. This was still his original body.

At long last he came to the camp, his footsteps silent like death due to the assassin style traing his parents had forced upon him. He walked up to the fire light and sat down between the two people, folding his arms into his cloak, his hood staying down to hide his facial features. He blended in well with the night, having just sat himself between the two without making a sound. Plus, his shadow cloak helped keep him completely concealed from the world around them. He just sat there, enjoying the warmth of the fire. He didn't even bother to see who he was sitting with. He was more interested in the fire, not the people. He knew how to handle the people who lived on Demigora. They were his people. Kinda.

He took a piece of meat from the stick, plopping it in his mouth and chewing upon it slowly. It was so good. He then swallowed and smiled at her.

"But you said you enjoyed games of chance. Did you mean other then cards? If so, I'd like to hear those stories, if you don't mind." He took the cards back, smiling. "I know many games. I can teach you a game called go fish. We don't have to bet anything. Just learn for fun, what do you say?"

Suddenly he sat up straighter, feeling a slight shift in the air pressure. He looked around, wondering why he felt so uneasy. It wasn't like him to just be cause so unaware. He reached into his cloak and pulled out his divine sight card.

"Do you feel as if something is a bit...off?" he asked, summoning up his slight powers to look through the eyes of the card. He didn't like feeling like this.

He couldn't help but smile. Of all the things in this world he had been taught, not using his ability to phaze so as to not disturb the foilage was something he usually forgot to do. It was bad enough he relied upon his cloak so much, let alone his invisiblity spell. But to not use everything he had to keep himself completely hidden. Now that was just plain stupid.

He looked from the woman, seeing her dagger with his second sight. He couldn't blame her. She knew he was there, and without him announcing his intentions, or that he was even there, it wasn't so surprising she would be like this.

Slowly taking a breath, he turned to face the other individual. He looked him up and down, wondering what was in his hand. He blinked, thinking he was seeing things. He looked closer at the man's hand, seeing the card there, along with the slow surrounding of arcane power. Ever so slowly he looked up to the man's face. He went wide eyed.

"Dax!" he said, throwing off his hood, reveiling his bright green eyes and short platinum blonde hair. "Is that really you? Or am I really dead?"

It wasn't hard to read her body. She knew he had noticed, yet she had figured out where the creature was. His divine sight card wasn't picking up anything, but then again, it was only good for picking up things of a divine nature. He couldn't pick up anything arcane or spiritual that might be near by. He didn't have those cards, as much as he wished he had.

Nodding with his eyes at her, he began to push as much of his powers into the card to see if anything had been around, or might be. Still, with her showing him where the thing might be, all he could see was the pitch black night. There simply wasn't anything there.

He jumped, his cards at the ready to launch an attack, his expression one of mild shock and horror. But as his sight began to focus, and he could hear the chuckling coming from the man, who's only visible body part was his head, he knew who was sitting at their fire.

"Sky?! Ok, this is just weird." He turned to Tah'lyia. "It is okay. He's a friend." He turned back to Skyler, shaking his head. "Talk about giving someone a scare, you sneaky bastard. When did you get back to Greater? Your letter said you were going to Val'Dariah to use the travel hub. I tried to catch you there, but it is such a big city, and you are not an easy person to track. I got to the travel hub, only to be told you had already left. Though, not by the portals." He picked up the stick with the rabbit and held it out for him. "I know you don't usually, but are you hungry?"

He held up his hand, shaking his head. He had eaten more on Earth in those few days then in all of his time training before. He was sure he couldn't eat anything else. Luckily, Dax knew better then to push the issue. Besides, it wasn't even his food to offer. He caught the slight movement of the woman on his left when Dax offered the meat. Lowering his hand, a small cup filled with the poisonous, yet highly beneficial, Hydra Tear Tea, he turned to face the woman. Her garb was a bit surprising, but then again, even he could wear less if he needed too and still feel comfortable.

"Dax is too kind, and yet he is rude while being kind. He should have asked you if it was alright if he could offer me your catch. But he means well." He bowed his head slightly to her. "My name is Skyler Khan. I am going to guess, by the feel of the life force residuals, that you have not known Dax for very long?"

Leaning forward, taking out his other hand, he took a sip of the drink. A slight shiver, followed by a sudden flash of his green eyes and slight violet aura, caused him to smile a bit. He vanished the cup, placing both hands almost directly into the fire. The shadow cloak around his wrists began to thin, trying to keep up its' own regeneration with the sudden increase in light. He looked over to Dax, smiling a bit.

"How have you been? I know you just arrived from Val'Dariah. I can follow your life trail off in that direction. Plus, you smell of Oblivion," he smirked slightly. He closed his eyes, looking through the shadows to the city. A hurricane, a normal occurance, was just starting to reach Val'Dariah as they spoke. "Ah," he smirked, opening his eyes. "you just left in time."