Heirot

Thread started by Soran Nightblade on December 4th, 2004

Soran:

Zaraxi’s four silver wings beat powerfully against the swirling currents of the upper stratosphere. She couldn’t recall how long she’d been flying away from the burning remains of the facility that had conceived her, but it had certainly been at least several days.

She was flying over latitude 250, longitude 47. Why she knew such a thing, she did not consider. Dipping below the clouds, she noted excitedly that the landscape beneath her had transformed from flat, blackened plains to a vast expanse of green. She was wary of the ground, which she associated with danger, but could not resist investigating the strange green objects that covered the ground below. She swooped toward the ground, maneuvering her feet beneath her as she used her wings to lessen her velocity as she landed in the top of one of the trees.

She crouched down on an upper branch, curiously poking the unfamiliar green leaves and the strange structure they were growing from. An intuition that had been programmed into her told her that these structures were used for cover during cases of defensive maneuver or an attempt to ambush. Aside from that, their existence and purpose was an enigma to her.

The demon held perfectly still as she heard a faint sound from below her. She watched the narrow dirt path beneath her warily, instincts telling her to flee back to the skies, but she wanted to know what had made the sound.

Kyosuke:

A man with long white hair rolled out of the way as a wolf demon lept at him, fangs bared. He watched the wolf snarl at him and quietly drew a dagger that was in his belt under his long open coat. As the wolf lunged at him again, Chien rolled down in front of it, sticking the blade up as he straighted up while still under it.

The demon, with the slight bit of intelligence it gained from its blood, noted that it was safe since the dagger did not reach his under belly. That feeling of relief quickly faded as the dagger quickly transformed into a sword, cutting through the large wolf and slicing it apart from its belly down. Chien stood back up, then looked at himself now covered in the demon's blood.

"Yet another one that attacked me, what's with this forest anyway? I just want to find my way to Hepian, and I find myself covered in demon wolf blood," the man complained to himself. Even though it was a complaint, the stoic looking man's voice made it sound like he was just talking about it to himself, rather than complaining. "I shoulda killed it in a cleaner way," he muttered to himself.

Soran:

Zaraxi watched in fascination as a battle erupted beneath her between a strange white-haired man and a large wolf demon. She was particularly interested in the two-legged one, who seemed to have a strong understanding of hand-to-hand battle maneuvers.

But something was odd about the way he had won. That short weapon should not have been able to cut his opponent in half so cleanly. She wanted to see it up close, wanted to know more about the strange person who was carrying it. He was the first humanoid being he had seen other than the engineers in Shea’s military compound, and she suspected he might be one of them, but could not resist trying to get a bit closer.

She crept in a catlike manner through the branches and jumped to the ground below, using her wings to soften her landing. She walked quietly behind the man, managing to get within 10 paces of him, careful to stay out of sight.

Kyosuke:

Chien returned the sword to its dagger form and resheathed it. He then proceeded looked from side to side then closed his eyes to listen for signs of water. He found that people did not react very well to one showing up drenched in blood, as he had come to Ighten a while again after the incident in his village. When he finally heard the sound of running water he began to move towards it.

Before he got two far with his leisurely pace, he discovered a demonic presence nearby. The training he had received for demon hunting made him somewhat accute to the presence of them. As he continued to stroll through the forest, he slowly slipped his hand into his jacket to reach for his dagger, but showed no other sign that he had sensed anything. If the demon attacked, he would be ready. For now, he would just go wash off.

Soran:

Zaraxi continued following the person, trying to get a better look at his dagger. It was hidden under his jacket, so she could only see the very tip of the handle. She stared curiously as his hand pushed back the side of his jacket, revealing more and more of the weapon.

She was so absorbed in watching that she stopped watching the ground. Her foot snagged on a surfaced root and she stumbled, narrowly regaining her balance with the use of her wings. She cringed at the noise she’d made, spinning back to analyze the strange object that had caught on her foot. She knew of a weapon called a snare that was used to snag feet, but did not expect one in the middle of neutral territory.

It occurred to her with a fleeting nervousness that she might still be in the witch’s hostile territory. The person she was following could very well be hunting her, trying to bring her back to that place.

Kyosuke:

Chien continued to walk through the forest, acting as if he had never heard the sound. It didn't matter to him one way or the other. From the sense he had of the demon's presence, he was already able to pin point exactly where he or she was. Getting a sound to further pin point it did nothing for him.

Despite the fate of his family and village, Chien did not believe that all demons were evil. The ones that attacked his village were, but they did not account for every one of them. He had a personal policy to not attack unless attacked first. This demon following him had not attacked so it was either biding its time or actually a good one. In any case, the demon hunter found the stream he had earlier heard and stopped in front of it.

Soran:

She kept more distance from the man after tripping, watching from behind a tree as he stopped next to a huge rushing channel of water. She had never seen a river before, and was torn between moving closer to investigate and remaining a safe distance from the man. The person still seemed completely unaware of her presence, which baffled her since she was certain she’d tripped quite noisily before.

~’Wait! He must be deaf!’~ she realized. So all she had to do was stay out of sight… She grasped the tree she was next to and climbed quickly up, wings assisting slightly. The huge tree had branches that extended all the way out across the river. She could watch from there. The leaves rustled under her light body as she crept out onto the limb and watched him curiously.

Kyosuke:

Chien relaxed, the demon seemed to only be observing him. If it was planning on attacking, it would have already done so. The demon hunter sighed. Even if it did attack, it would eventually do so, there was no real point in just waiting for it to attack before he washed.

The man quickly slipped out of his clothing, keeping it nearby so he could wash the blood out a bit later. He also kept the dagger he had close by, just in case the demon made a move to attack.

Chien quickly jumped into the water, submerging himself and washing the blood out of his white hair. He watched the blood wash away in the stream and hoped that it was not the water supply for some village.

Soran:

Zaraxi cocked her head to the side as the person took off his clothes and stepped out into the water. He still hadn’t looked at her, so she guessed he really was deaf. He brought the weapon with him out into the river, which she was hanging above. Now she had a good view of it, but not matter how she looked at it, it was just a dagger. It wasn’t the blade that did the damage she’d seen earlier. She wanted to touch it, but she could never get close enough without being seen.

She was distracted by a dark shape moving through the shallow water below her. It was a long shape, with four weblike feet, a triangular head and a long tail that twisted from side to side slowly as it moved. Its motion was so smooth and controlled that it didn’t disturb the surface of the water. She watched it with great interest until it occurred to her that the creature was heading toward the strange person. Clutching her branch, she observed warily.

Kyosuke:

Chien submerged his head underwater, scrubbing to make sure the rest of the blood was out. By coincidence, he opened his eyes and saw a large shape moving towards him underwater. "Gah!" he yelled out as he surfaced and jumped out of the water, not caring about his nakedness.

He grabbed his dagger and extended the blade until it was long enough to spear through the creature. Dark blood washed through the water and Chien rounded the blade of the now long bladed sword into a pole. He brought the creature up and saw that it was just a lizard, a really large one. Figuring it may just annoy him if he went back into the water, he flung the creature away into the forest across the river.

Soran:

The demon’s red eyes lit up excitedly as the weapon changed form and the man used it to defeat the strange-looking creature. She tensed as the frail branch she was sitting on lurched downward, half-snapping at its base. She tried to scramble back up it, but it cracked off and she dropped down to the next branch, which also snapped.

She crashed down through the leaves until her hands caught a branch strong enough to hold her, hanging precariously by an arm and a leg. She glared up at the broken branches above her as though she’d been betrayed; she hadn’t known they could break. She was feeling less and less at ease in the strange environment, and wanted more with each second to return to the sky. She moved back to the trunk of the tree and looked down to see what had happened to the deaf person.

Kyosuke:

Chien sighed. For whatever reasons, the demon had been following him for a while. And seeing that it had been sitting on the branch long enough for it to break, it must have been watching him for a while. The demon hunter turned around to face the demon and discovered that the it was actually a she.

With a slight red tinging his cheeks, he hid his lower body slightly behind some bushes. "Well, you've been following me for a while. What is it you want anyway?" he asked. His tone was slightly unfriendly from the caution he was using. He had been attacked by many of the demons in this forest and this one may be another that may do the same.

Soran:

Zaraxi’s instincts were screaming at her to run so loudly that she could hardly concentrate on the man’s actual words. He had discovered her and she only knew of two types of beings; neutral and malicious. From his voice, he was the latter. She took inventory of her possible escape routes. From her current position it would be impossible to fly between the dense branches.

She climbed down the tree in a fluid motion, reaching the ground where she would have more room to fly if necessary. Her wings were readily arched, springloaded to burst into action the moment the situation became dangerous, but her pure red eyes watched him with utmost curiosity. “I was…watching…” she said carefully in her silvery voice, trying to remember if she’d ever used it before.

Kyosuke:

"Well?" Chien asked. He made no move to attack. She may have climbed down the tree, but that didn't necessarily mean it was to do so. Besides, even if he was to attack, the humanoid demons were the strongest. They sometimes had powers and a keen intelligence, unlike the animal demons he had been facing since he got in the forest.

Despite being a demon, Chien didn't feel threatened by her, not yet at least. However, he immediately sensed another demonic presence coming from behind the female demon he was facing. He actually saw it over her shoulder, a tiger demon poised low to attack her, and some strange reaction took over. He ran out of the bushes and dived down, tackling her down and as he did, he transformed his weapon into a large sword, which sliced through the demon as it was in mid air over their heads.

Soran:

Warnings went of in Zaraxi’s head as the stranger raced toward her with his strange weapon extended into a large sword. Her wings sprung outward and tried to lift her off the ground, but the man was incredibly fast, and knocked her down to the ground just as a demon that would have pounced on her flew over her head.

She reflexively pushed up with her hands against his bare chest, her eyes widening in panic as her energy burst violently from her skin to his. Shocked by the unintentional transfer of electricity, she shoved him away forcefully and scrambled out from under him. Rising back to her feet, she backed away from the man’s form on the ground slowly. She looked from him to the dead demon on the ground just beyond him, trying to figure out what had happened.

Kyosuke:

Chien's eyes widened as the sudden wave of electricity hit him. After being electrocuted, his vision went black and he fell unconscious, his body still smoking slightly. The unconscious naked man moaned slightly in pain. It was a sign that he was at least still alive. But if he was left alone in this forest of demons and wild animals, he would probably die as a meal for a demon or animal.

Soran:

Zaraxi looked down at her hands, touching them together. ~’What happened?’~ She slowly walked over to the stranger’s side. His eyes were closed and his face seemed creased with pain. “Hey,” she urged, reaching out one nervous finger to poke him awake. She immediately withdrew her hand as electrical feedback tingled on her finger at the touch of his skin. Unsure what to do, she moved back from him and sat down, watching him warily for signs of consciousness.

Kyosuke:

Chien grunted slightly again when another jolt of electricity ran through him. A bit after that, the pained breathing he had evened out slightly into a normal breathing pattern and his eyes began to open. The demon hunter's eyes took some time to focus on the sight in front of him. When it finally returned, he noted that the demon he had saved was looking at him, and that he was still naked.

With a slight tinge of red on his cheeks again, Chien just sighed and said, "Well, you've seen it all now so it's not like it matters if i cover up again." He then sat up and rubbed his head. "I can guess that you aren't out to kill me since I'm still alive, but what happened to me anyway?" His tone of voice was no longer the unfriendly one he had before. It had returned back to his usual even tone.

Soran:

Zaraxi tensed as the man came to and opened his eyes. When he spoke, his tone had changed from before. It was neither friendly nor angry, but sounded slightly tired. “I can’t explain what happened to you,” she said, watching him warily. “I can’t touch you…” The long silver wings extending from her head an back untensed very slightly as she began to sense that this person might not be a threat. “It hurt?” she asked, looking carefully at the wounds where her hands had pressed against his chest.

Kyosuke:

Chien just nodded. "I see. I guess you were the one who electrocuted me then. But it's alright, it didn't hurt that much, and I've been through worse than this," he said. Seeing that she still seemed nervous, he added, "Really, it's fine. As long as you didn't mean to do it it's fine."

The demon hunter stood up and checked himself over. His body still worked alright, and the only real signs that he was hurt were the red handprints from where the electricity surged in. Other than that, nothing else hurt.

Soran:

Zaraxi listened attentively to the man’s voice, looking him over. Lots of questions were swirling in her head. “You were standing in the river…” she said cautiously with wide red eyes, still not sure she was safe here, but she had come in contact thus far and could not resist finding out more before she returned to the safety of the sky.

Kyosuke:

Chien shrugged. "Yeah, I was, and?" he asked. He walked over to his bloody clothing and threw them into the water, scrubbing them. "I gotta wash these before the blood sets onto them," he explained. "So what were you saying about me being in the river before?"

Soran:

Zaraxi watched him scrub his clothes. “Having blood on clothes is negative, then? And you were in the…’river’…because you had blood on you?”

Kyosuke:

"Well, normally I wouldn't care about having blood on me," Chien started explaining. "But I found out a couple of years ago when I showed up in town covered in blood that it scared people. That kinda reaction isn't a very good one."

Chien stood back up and hung the cleaner cloathing over a branch to let them dry. "Anyway, it's somewhat unpleasant to be covered in blood."

Soran:

Zaraxi absorbed this information, her attention going back to his weapon. He had left it sitting on the rock… he seemed distracted hanging his clothes, so she reached her hand out curiously to touch it.

Kyosuke:

Chien noted the movement it out of the corner of his eye. "That's not that good of an idea," he said offhandedly. "That weapon was made against demons so it may have some guards on it against them. I'm not sure if they actually do since the situation never came up but I wouldn't try it if i were you."

Soran:

The demon withdrew her slender finger disappointedly. She pacified herself by standing up and walking around the vicinity, meticulously taking in every unusual object she saw. Half her attention was still half on the stranger as she explored, still not really sure whether he was a foe. He seemed friendly enough for the moment.

She noticed a small fuzzy creature with two pairs of wings, sort of like hers, and six black legs. Yellow and black stripes lined its back. Exploring it in her usual way, she reached out to touch it, but it buzzed into the air and stuck something sharp into her finger. She flinched and pulled away as electrical energy radiated out of her finger, clutching the stung hand in surprise.

Kyosuke:

Chien turned around when the demon reacted to the sting and saw that she was holding her hand. "What happened?" he asked, showing some bit of concern. It was rare for him to find a demon that wasn't really evil. He walked over to the female and reached out, then paused his hand. "Hold out your hand so I can see," he requested of her.

Soran:


Zaraxi eyed him distrustfully, but slowly turned her hand palm-up toward him. A faint blue glow was still sparking off of it. “There was a small thing that I touched…” she tried to explain, but she didn’t know the name for the creature that attacked her.

Kyosuke:

"Well, it looks like it was some sort of bee," Chien said. "It left it's stinger in you, and I'm not exactly sure how the poison from it affects demons." The demon hunter paused for a second. "I can't take out the stinger without getting electrocuted though."

Soran:

Zaraxi tilted her head to the side and eyed her finger up close, looking for this ‘stinger’. There was a tiny black speck imbedded in her skin. She pinched it with two fingers from her other hand and it worked its way out. She watched it drop to the ground, flexing her hand experimentally. She looked up at the man, who had come up very close to her while she was looking at her hand. Her wings arched slightly, but she resisted the instinct to fly away. “It’s gone,” she said, as much to herself as to him.

Kyosuke:

"Alright then," Chien said, still not really showing any facial expressions. He then blushed slightly as he realized how close he was to her while he was still naked. He walked back to where his clothing was and spread them out, hoping that they could dry faster.

"Anyway, I don't think we've introduced ourselves yet. I'm Chien," he stated. "And you?"


Soran:

The demon blinked, recalling the name the scientists had called her, pointing at her critically as she first came into existence. “Zaraxi”. She was intrigued by his friendliness, not sure what it meant. “Hello, Chien.”

Kyosuke:

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Zaraxi," the demon hunter said. "It's strange, you really just give off a feeling of innocence that I've never gotten from a demon before. Ah well." Chien started searching around the area for some twigs and wood he could start a fire with. After gathering a small amount he set it down near his clothing.

Soran:

Zaraxi watched silently as Chien picked up pieces of wood, watching to see what he was going to do with it. She sat down next to his clothes, touching them with mild interest. She saw another bee on a tree nearby, but did not touch this one. She just watched as the pile of sticks Chien was making grew larger. Picking up a twig from next to her, she added it to the pile.

Kyosuke:

Chien nodded in gratitude to Zaraxi. "Can you do me a favor and try to start up a fire with that electricity of yours on these sticks?" he asked. "I could do it myself but it'd probably take longer. And besides, it seems to me that you don't have full control of your powers, maybe this will help you some."

Soran:

The demon looked at him confusedly. “My powers? You mean this?” She held her palm over the pile of sticks and sent out a burst of electricity, causing the kindling to shake with energy, some bouncing out of the pile. She frowned and put the sticks back onto the pile. Holding her hand over it again, she charged a single narrow beam of energy down onto the center of the pile, maintaining it for several seconds. A tendril of smoke began to snake up from the spot, and finally a few small orange flames licked out from between the branches.

Kyosuke:

Chien nodded. "That's what I'm talking about. Thanks." Chien brought his clothing closer to the fire so it would dry quicker. He waited a bit, just staring at his clothing, as if willing them to dry even faster.

Sighing, he turned to Zaraxi. "So, you seemed interested in my weapon before right?" he asked, already knowing the answer. "It's a family heirloom really."

Soran:

Zaraxi looked at the dagger intently. She didn’t know what an heirloom was, but she guessed that was the name of the strange power that made the weapon change shape. “I’ve never seen such an…heirloom,” she said admiringly.

Kyosuke:

"An heirloom is something that's passed down, usually in a family. My family used to be a widely known group of demon hunters before the number of demons started to drop. We continued the training in case the demons came back... which they did," Chien explained. He sighed, recalling the sad memory of his family and town's demise.

Soran:

Zaraxi stiffened at the words “demon hunter,” but was confused. He didn’t seem to want to kill her. In fact, he seemed to be in some kind of pain. She watched his expression. There was something important she must be missing… “Your ‘family’ hurt you?” she asked, slowing down on the unfamiliar word.

Kyosuke:

"Na, my family's dead," Chien said rather calmly. "It's in the past. And don't worry about me being a demon hunter. I only kill the ones that attack me first or have attacked some something else without reason first. You haven't done either and until I hear that you have I won't do anything." Chien looked at the demon for a bit. "Besides, you seem to be nice enough, or innocent, either or."

Soran:

Zaraxi nodded and watched the fire blankly, feeling more comfortable around Chien. The orange and blue flames were dancing beautifully. Zaraxi understood fire. It was a weapon used in certain military tactics as a barrier or to create blinding smoke. This fire seemed out of character with its proper use. She stretched her wings comfortably and wrapped her arms around her knees.

Kyosuke:

Chien stood up and checked his clothes, finding them completely dry now. He quickly slipped them on, now much warmer than he was before, and feeling less exposed to the world. "Well, my clothes are dry now so it's time for me to get going. I need to see if I can get out of this forest before dark. I'll put the fire out," he said and walkeded over to the river, hoping that he could splash out the fire.

Soran:

Zaraxi watched him put on his clothes and walk to the river. She wondered if the place he was headed was a safe place.

Kyosuke:

Chien went back and forth carrying palm fulls of water, not having a bucket on hand and having put the sticks too far away from the water. After a couple of times back and forth, the fire finally went out and Chien through the blackened wood into the water. He waved to the demon he had spent his time with. "Well, maybe I'll see you around sometime, hopefully not needing to kill you." With that said, he walked off in a random direction, hoping to find his way to a town.


Soran:

As if she hadn’t heard a word he’d just said, Zaraxi stood up and walked a short distance behind Chien, following him curiously.

Kyosuke:

Chien felt the presence of Zaraxi behind him and when he crossed a bend in the path, ducked behind a tree and waited for Zaraxi to pass him, at which point, with a somewhat more amused tone in his still somewhat stoic voice, he asked, "If you wanted to come with me, you shoulda just said so you know."

Soran:

Zaraxi stopped walking and blinked. “Oh…” She hadn’t really thought about what she was doing, but now that he brought it up… “I want to come with you,” she said, testing his reaction.

Kyosuke:

Chien shrugged. "It's fine by me. I don't mind at all. A traveling companion is nice actually. Now I can be lost with someone else," the stoic man sighed and started walking again. "I wonder how the locals'll deal with a demon entering their town though... if we ever find it that is. Ah well, I'll worry about that later."


Soran:

Zaraxi grinned secretly at the invitation, feeling happy for some reason. She wondered what Chien meant about the locals, but didn’t worry about it. “Are you lost?” she asked, feeling like she might be able to help.

Kyosuke:

Chien nodded. "Yeah, I am. I've been lost for hours now. Actually, I think I was walking in circles for a bit of the time also. If this keeps up I'll be stuck in this forest for a long time," he said.

Soran:

“We’re at latitude 250, longitude 47.2,” Zaraxi said helpfully.

Kyosuke:

Chien's stoicness almost broke at that being said. He wanted to level a strange look at her, instead, he just gave her a flat one, not really needing to change his facial expression that way. "How do you even know something like that anyway?" he asked. "Besides, I don't even know where that is, so it actually doesn't help any."

Soran:

“I just know,” she said, not understanding why he didn’t as well. “Where is it that you are trying to go, then?”

Kyosuke:

"Actually, for now, I'm just trying to get out of this forest and to the closest town, don't care which one," Chien said, continuing to move on. He continued to walk on, not noticing that a small group of people were walking alongside them in the trees, watching their movements.

Soran:

Zaraxi understood now. "I will go look for the town," she said calmly, beating her wings and rising up into the air, throwing up a small cloud of dirt. She reached the canopy and climbed through to where she could see the sky. Jumping happily out of the trees, she flew up toward the clouds eagerly, then caught a thermal and glided on it, feeling at ease in the sky.

She considered staying there, but she had said she would return and tell Chien where the town was. She looked down at the surrounding area and saw a cluster of buildings with tiny smoke trails rising from their chimneys. ~'A town,'~ she thought. It appeared to be around latitude 250.3, longitude 47.5. Memorizing the location, she dove back down toward the forest and landed in the treetops.

She was careful this time not to hang on the thin branches, making her way back down to Chien. She seemed to have landed a short distance away from where she'd taken off from, but could see Chien nearby.

Kyosuke:

Chien watched Zaraxi fly off and patiently waited for her return. Meanwhile, the people that had been sneaking around the two decided to take some form of action. One of them lept out of the bush behind the demon hunter, who reacted a tad bit too slowly to it. A swift hilt blow to the back of his neck rendered the white haired man unconscious.

Another three more bandits came out, following the first. They kicked the unconscious man hard a few times, making sure that he was well into unconsciousness. They laughed at the unfortuneate man and started to search his body for anything valuable to steal.

Soran:

Zaraxi tensed as she saw several men jump out of the bushes and attack the person she’d met. Her immediate instinct was to return to the sky, and she turned to climb back up the tree, but paused. Things like loyalty hadn’t been programmed into her, but if Chien wasn’t an enemy, that meant the people who were after him probably were. She would have to get rid of them eventually, and right now being unknown to the enemy would give her the upper hand.

She slipped down to the ground silently and ran toward the men, her steps lightly patting the ground as they propelled her rapidly across the forest floor. She reached out her hands and a jagged beam of energy propelled outward at one of the men, hurling his smoking body into a tree. She wore a completely blank expression as she fought, as if her body knew what to do instinctively without her even thinking about the tactics.

She turned on the next man, who had stopped attacking Chien to swing a heavy stick at the side of her head. She raised her right hand up in the direction of his attack, and a crackling blue field formed for an instant around her, repelling the blade. He too was on the ground before he could figure out why his attack had failed. Zaraxi turned and looked at the final attacker, who was pulling the special dagger out of Chien’s belt. “You can’t have that,” she said firmly.

Kyosuke:

Chien lay unconscious on the ground, oblivious to all that was going on around him. The final attacker, the one holding his weapon, had been watching him for a while now. They noticed how he was able to use the weapon to change shapes and had also heard that this was a weapon to use against demons, which he was no obviously facing.

The attacker, being someone smart, assumed that changing the shape had to do with one's thoughts, as Chien did not say anything to activate it. He pictured the weapon as a long sword, and concentrated on it as strongly as he could. The white glow of the weapon's transformation took place much to the man's delight, though it soon fell when it only changed to the sword he pictured without the blade on it, his willpower not having been enough to change it fully to something of that size.

Soran:

Zaraxi looked at the man, observing the weapon's new shape. A sword without a blade... It seemed fairly useless, but she was on guard anyway. For some reason she felt strongly opposed to the special weapon being in anyone's hands but Chien's. The man swung the weapon at her in a wide, obvious arc. Distracted as she went to block the ostentatious attack with an energy shield, she didn't notice the man's other hand reaching up for the wing on the opposite side of her head.

She cried out in a shrill, metallic voice as his hand clenched around the crest of her wing and twisted. She fired a hurried crackle of energy at him, struggling to get away, But most of the energy became absorbed into Chien's weapon. She grabbed it with both hands and tried to pull it out of the man's grip. It stung into her hands and sparks flew off as her demonic hands attempted to touch it, and Zaraxi could feel her energy draining rapidly.

She frantically ripped it out of his hands and flung it away onto the ground, zapping him with a beam of electricity in the same motion. Now that all three enemies lay unconscious on the ground, her balance wavered slightly. She stepped over to Chien dizzily and sat next to him, feeling very weak.

Kyosuke:

Chien woke up half an hour after the battle ended, he sat up, rubbing the back of his head and noted that his dagger was not at his belt. Panicking for a bit, he found the dagger a few feet away from him, near Zaraxi, who seemed badly hurt. The demon hunter jerked back in surprise, seeing her so tired. "Are you alright?" he asked the demon. "What happened?"

Soran:

Zaraxi looked at Chien tiredly. "They attacked you, so I attacked them by surprise, but he grabbed..." she hesitated and rephrased her sentence, "He used your weapon, so I took it back. It's over there." She gestured toward the ground where she'd tossed the dagger.

Kyosuke:

Chien nodded. "Alright, but more importantly right now, what happened to you?" he asked, pointing to Zaraxi's broken wing. "That's broken and you're exhausted right now." Strangely enough, the demon hunter had grown attached to this demon, despite the obvious conflict in the two's beings. There was something about her innocence that convinced him that she wasn't evil.

Soran:

Zaraxi looked away uncomfortably. She knew intuitively that showing weakness was dangerous, especially to someone who was still a stranger. But on the other hand, he didn't seem interested in harming her and he hadn't gone to retrieve his weapon.

"I don't know what happened, but touching your dagger..." she looked down at her hands, which were still emanating sparks where they'd touched the blade. "You said not to, but he was touching my wing..." The thought made her want to shudder, but she repressed the urge in order to spare her injured wing the turbulence.

Kyosuke:

"So THAT's what happens if a demon touches this dagger," Chien said, snapping his fingers. "I had assumed that something would happen but never knew what it was. I suppose it drains the energy of a demon then." Chien walked over to the sword hilt and picked it up, reforming it into a dagger and putting it back into his belt.

"Thanks for saving me," Chien said to Zaraxi. "Anything I could do to help you with your wing?"

Soran:

Zaraxi looked at her wing, the full weight of her situation beginning to dawn on her. Not only was she drained of more than 30% of her strength, but she couldn’t fly like this… She was suddenly very frightened, but didn’t want to risk showing weakness to this person. For now she needed to fix her wing, but…she didn’t know how. Her adrenaline was up so high she could hardly think. It was the most sensitive part of her body, and she couldn’t stay calm through the sharp pain. She looked at Chien wide-eyed.

Kyosuke:

Even in Zaraxi's pupil-less eyes could Chien see the panic build up. He would have backed up, but concern for his newly made friend stopped him from doing so. He moved to grab her shoulders and try to calm her down, but realized that it may just get him electrocuted. "Calm down Zaraxi. Just tell me if I could do anything to help you out here," he said, hoping it would get through to her.

Soran:

“I need to fix it,” Zaraxi mumbled frantically to herself. She looked at Chien carefully. “Can you fix it?”<br>
(OOC: Zaraxi’s wings are safe to touch. They’re mortal and not made of energy.)

Kyosuke:

Chien nodded. "I'll try." The demon hunter reached out hesitantly towards the broken wings. Taking a look at the other one to confirm what it should look like, Chien gently took the wing in his hand, expecting to be shocked. When the shock didn't come, he sighed in relief and twist the wing back into place with a loud crack. 'That must've hurt,' Chien thought.

Soran:

Zaraxi stared tensely as Chien reached out toward her wing, her anxiety rapidly rising. She trembled as his hand touched it, despite his attempt to be gentle. They were incredibly delicate and she could hardly stand having them touched.

A tiny twist of the man’s wrist set the broken bone back into its proper alignment. She cried out in agony and a circular wave of very weak electricity fanned out along the ground around her, sending billowing blue tendrils of energy through the air. A moment later she regained control and sat breathlessly trying not to panic.

Kyosuke:

Chien felt a light electric shock cover his whole body, making him shudder lightly. It felt like he was getting static electricity shocks all over his body. He slowly let go of the wing, making sure he didn't inadvertantly hurt it more. "Are you alright?" he asked. "I don't quite know how making a splint for a wing would work so that'll have to do."

Soran:

Zaraxi rose shakily to her feet, still trembling slightly. “I’m alright,” she said blankly, unable to muster any confidence behind it. “I found the town’s coordinates…it’s two point four miles away…” She began slowly walking Northeast, taking delicate steps to minimize the jarring of her wing.

Kyosuke:

Chien put his arm out in front of Zaraxi's chest, stopping her. "You're hurt, maybe we shouldn't travel for a while," he suggested. The suggestion however, had a firm tone to it. "Besides, it'd just be problematic if you injured that wing again. Let's had back to the riverside where I was washing the blood off of me before. We haven't traveled that far from it and it's a nice place to rest."

Soran:

Zaraxi paused and looked back at him. She wanted nothing more than to return to the sky, but it hurt to move… Walking for 2.4 miles was a very unpleasant prospect. Maybe he was right. Her head was still swimming, so she just nodded blearily and turned to follow him back to the river.

Kyosuke:

Chien lead the demon girl back to the river side. He cleaned up the remains of the fire they had before and started another one. He looked at the shaken demon and took his coat off and put it over her shoulders. "Warm up a bit, it helps somewhat."

Soran:

Zaraxi sat on the ground and curled her second pair of wings around herself while Chien worked on the fire. She closed her eyes tiredly and shivered, then woke to the feeling of something warm and heavy draping around her shoulders. She looked up at Chien curiously.

“Warm up. It helps a bit.”<br>
Zaraxi touched the edges of the coat and pulled it around her. It felt smooth and thick; very different from her own clothes, which were just made of energy. She played with the cuff in her fingers idly and soon her mind began to stop focusing on her wing.

Kyosuke:

Chien sat down across the fire from Zaraxi. He was shirtless now, but it wasn't much of a problem to him. His torso was usually mostly exposed anyway due to the open coat, and Zaraxi had seen him wearing much much less anyway. He sighed then looked at the demon in front of him.

"So..." he started saying. "What's your story? I mean, most demons, and even humans, your age don't really act like that, you know."

Soran:

Zaraxi tilted her head to the side. “Is my behavior unusual?” She was still petting his coat.

Kyosuke:

"Kinda," Chien started saying. "You have an innocence about you that most people don't have really, at least, not when they start getting older." Thinking back to himself, Chien realized that his deceased wife had the same aura of innocence about her. She was always nice to people. The demon sitting in front of him had a different behavior, but a similar aura.

Soran:

Zaraxi still wasn’t sure, but she thought she understood. “I know all about some things, but there are a lot of things I’ve never seen before. I’ve always stayed in the sky until now…”

Kyosuke:

"Really?" Chien asked, looking up at the sky, which was now darkening due to the setting sun. "You musta lived a lonely life then, didn't you? To live in the skies for most of your life. How old are you anyway? You look about 19, but did you really live up there for that long?"

Soran:

Zaraxi looked at Chien uncomfortably. She had a feeling from his question that she somehow wouldn’t fit in with his idea of normality. “I was only flying for a few days. I flew down to the ground as soon as the landscape changed.” She grinned slightly. “But it’s not lonely there at all! It’s open and safe and…free.”

Kyosuke:

Chien shrugged. "A few days huh? That isn't that bad," he said. However, he was somewhat confused on the inside, not showing it. 'It doesn't make sense. If she's always been in the air, and she's only been flying a few days, that means she's only a few days old. I wonder...' Chien trusted the demon in front of him, despite the confusing nature of how long she has been around. It was strange, but he just did.

"So where are you from then?" he asked, wondering if that would clear some more of his questions up.

Soran:

“latitude 36.2, longitude 53,” Zaraxi responded quickly.

Kyosuke:

"Chien blinked a few times. I really don't understand all these numbers that you're giving. Do you know the name of the place? Or maybe just describe what it was like," he asked. Really, all these numbers were just confusing him. "And what does longitude and latitude mean anyway?"

Soran:

“They’re global positioning coordinates,” Zaraxi said, finding it hard to comprehend that anyone wouldn’t be in the habit of using them. She tried to find another way to explain the place. “It was a large compound of steel buildings with many guards. Everyone around me was wearing black robes, and the landscape outside seemed black also. There were none of these green things.” She pointed to one of the trees, looking at him to see if he understood now.

Kyosuke:

"I see..." Chien said. He shrugged, figuring that he didn't recognize the place anyway. He sat in silence again, and after a while, he noted that a demon was coming their way again. The demon hunter stood up for a bit and took his dagger out, then extended the blade until it hit the demon, which yelped once before dying. Chien returned his blade and sat back down. "So how're you doing now? Does your wing still hurt?"

Soran:

"Yes," Zaraxi said quietly, wondering why this person was being so friendly to her. She had momentarily considered, when he had stood up with his dagger, that he was thinking of attacking her after all, but he had been attacking a different demon. She knew she could use her abilities to block a normal sword, but wasn't sure about Chien's. She pulled one knee up against her chest and looked wistfully at the sky.

Kyosuke:

Chien sighed. 'Not much of a conversationalist are ya?" he thought to himself. "Do you know any way we could get your wing to heal faster?" he asked. "You would know your body best after all."

Soran:

Zaraxi began shaking her head, then stopped when her wing throbbed. "They're different from the rest of my body," she said, not sure how she even knew this. "They heal slowly like any broken bone." She considered explaining that it might heal faster if she could get to the sky, but still wasn't sure she wanted to tell him. She looked at his weapon again. "Why do you hunt demons?" she asked, her curiosity finally regaining control now that she was more used to the sensation in her wing.

Kyosuke:

Chien rubbed his chin. "I've never really actively went demon hunting. When I lived in my... hometown, demons really weren't around that often," Chien started saying. His eyes fell a bit when he mentioned his hometown, stoic eyes looking almost sad. "Even now, when I'm here, I've only attacked the demons that attacked me first. If I didn't do that then I would have attacked you after all. The only time I go after a demon is if I get a job to kill one that's been causing trouble for people in towns, and even then I look into it a bit before actually going after them, to make sure that it isn't just prejuduice against demons."

Soran:

Zaraxi listened carefully. It was subtle, but Chien seemed a little bit more serious than before. She looked up at the darkening sky. "You said you wanted to reach the town by dark," she remembered worriedly. Was he here just because of her?

Kyosuke:

Chien waved his hand offhandedly. "It's fine, it was more for convenience's sake more than anything else. More because I didn't feel like having to wake up every now and then to fight a demon. Besides, I probably wouldn't have found the town alone anyway," he said.

Soran:

Zaraxi began to relax, despite her wound. Something about Chien’s voice was very relaxing to her. She shot a tiny spark of electricity idly between her first fingers. She knew about what sleep was, and that people were especially vulnerable when they were asleep. It was the best time to launch surprise attacks, after all. But she herself didn’t really understand what caused this ‘sleep’. When she ran out of energy she went to the clouds… “Do you need to sleep?” she asked Chien, pronouncing the word strangely as though it was some rare disorder.

Kyosuke:

Chien let out a yawn. "It would actually be nice to. I've been wandering around this forest for a day now. Because of all the demons that are roaming around, I can't get a good night's sleep since I would need to wake up every half an hour or so to fight. And in going to sleep like that, there's also the chance that I'll wake up groggy one of those times and die. So yes, I really would like to go to sleep," he said. Staring into the fire now, his eyelids started to feel heavy.

Soran:

"I see," Zaraxi said. She felt sorry for Chien for having to live on the ground all the time. She decided she wanted to stay near him for a while. He was fascinating to her. "I'll watch out for them so you can sleep," she said determinedly. She realized she was still wearing his coat. "Do you want this back?" she asked, holding it out for him to take, her fingers playing with the fabric one more time as she handed it over.

Kyosuke:

Chien leaned back against a tree. "It's fine, I don't really need it. It's not that cold out. And thanks for looking out for me so I can sleep," saying that, the demon hunter closed his eyes. It was strange that he was now trusting a demon to defend him. After the day without sleep, Chien knew that he could only wake up groggy, but he trusted Zaraxi.

Soran:

Zaraxi climbed silently up into a tree and climbed out onto a limb overlooking Chien. He was so still and quiet. Sleep didn't seem like much fun to her. She watched him and the surrounding area for signs of danger, playing with the edge of his coat.

Kyosuke:

The sun rose over the horizon, and soon after, the white haired man that slumbered against a tree woke. When Chien opened his eyes, the first thing he discovered that there were several bodies of demon animals lying around. Their demonic spirits had mostly left their bodies, but there was still the feeling of demon from them. There was even a demon squirrel among the corpses and Chien had to think hard about how a demon squirrel was dangerous.

The demon hunter rose from his position against the tree, then rubbed his back, realizing that the bark had left imprints on his back. He quickly located Zaraxi's presence and discovered that she was above him in the trees. "Morning!" he called out to the demon. "Thanks for making sure I stayed alive through the night."

Soran:

Zaraxi grinned when she saw he was finally up. She leaned out and waved at him, then made a strange face as she lost her balance and flopped sideways. She hadn't realized how much she relied on the wings on her head for balance. She tumbled off and hung upside down on the branch with both arms and legs, trying to figure out how to get back to the ground without her wings.

She climbed clumsily upside down along the branch until she got back to the trunk of the tree and edged slowly down until she was low enough to jump to the ground, which for once she was grateful to be on. Climbing down was much harder than climbing up. She paled as she suddenly realized she'd left Chien's coat up in the tree.

Kyosuke:

Chien almost smiled when he saw Zaraxi's little display. When Zaraxi's face paled, he looked towards where she was looking. He saw that his jacket was left in the tree, and seeing that she had such a difficult time getting down, he figured that she wouldn't want to do it again. "Ah, don't worry about it," Chien said, then took his dagger out and changed it into a pole and used it to pick up his jacket. He slipped it on and shrugged. "So where's the town you mentioned before?"

Soran:

"It's at latitude 250.3--," she broke off and reworded. "It's that way," she said, pointing West.

Kyosuke:

The stoic look in Chien's eyes lightened, almost as if his eyes were smiling instead of his face. "Thanks," he said and stood up. As he stood up, his stomach grumbled. The demon hunter almost lost his composure and turned to Zaraxi. "Say... do you think it'd be a good idea to eat some demon meat? I've never tried it before and I don't know if it'd poison me or not."

Soran:

Zaraxi looked at the bloody corpses splayed around the campsite. She didn't know a lot about eating. It wasn't how she'd pictured food to look like, but she honestly had no idea. "I know nothing about that subject," she said.

Kyosuke:

Chien sighed. "I'll wait til we get to town then," he said, ignoring his stomach. "It can't be that long of a walk right?" The demon hunter walked towards the direction that Zaraxi pointed at before. "I really hope we get there soon."

Soran:

Zaraxi followed behind Chien at a short distance, looking around at their surroundings as they went. The forest was full of sounds she'd never heard before of birds and insects and squirrels and frogs, but she couldn't spot any of the creatures. Her wing wasn't nearly as sore as it had been the night before, though she still didn't dare move it.

She looked up into a tree to her right as a pair of bickering squirrels squabbled down a tree trunk and onto the ground. She jumped back as the noisy creatures raced across her path, holding her hand out at the ready in case she needed to zap them. They scampered into the brush on the other side of the path, seemingly completely unaware of her. She slowly lowered her hand, confused.

Kyosuke:

Chien noted this even with his back turned. "Not everything in the forest is harmful, ya know. And not everything anywhere else is harmful also. I mean, there'll almost always be something that may be out to get ya, but you can't help it," he said to Zaraxi.

"Maybe you shoulda caught those squirrels, I know I coulda eaten them since they weren't demonic," the demon hunter realized. "Darn, missed a meal."

Soran:

When Chien said that squirrels counted as food, she looked back to where the squirrels had disappeared to. She no longer saw any sign of them. ~'Not everything is an enemy,'~ she thought, only half believing Chien's words. She continued walking behind her, trying to spot another squirrel, but now that she was looking none appeared.

Kyosuke:

As the two approached the town, Chien stopped his movement and looked back at the demon girl following him. "I don't suppose you've got a way to hide those wings on your ears do ya? I can give you my jacket to hide the ones on your back, but the wings on your head are more difficult," the demon hunter said. "Even if not everyone is an enemy, humans tend to fear demons. Humans also tend to attack what they fear, so it's better to hide you."

Soran:

Zaraxi didn't really understand. "I can't make my wings disappear," she said simply. "Why would I?" From Chien's explanation, she had an image of the townspeople wearing black robes like the ones at *that* place, trying to rip off her wings. She shook the thought away and walked on in silence, wondering if this was really a good idea.

Kyosuke:

"Wait!" Chien called out. "I didn't mean that they definitely would attack you on site. And in fact, many of them may just cower away instead of attack. But there are most likely a few others who'll understand that not all demons are evil. But if you don't want to go into town then I can go in and just buy some supplies before coming out, and we can sneak you in at night."

Soran:

Zaraxi had mixed feelings. She didn't want them to touch her wings, but she also wanted badly to see what was inside the town. "I'll go in," she said after a moment, looking ahead warily as the gates of Hepian came into view, along with its tall stone wall.

Kyosuke:

"Wait a second!" Chien called out. He took his jacket off again and handed it to her. "Put that on, it'll hide the wings on your back. Also, can you try to hide the wings on your head with your hair a bit more? It's still simpler to hide than to draw attention to ourselves. I'm not the only demon hunter, and some other ones are no better than the ones I kill."

Soran:

Zaraxi put on the jacket, feeling claustrophobic with her wings bound up, but she would put up with it to enter the city. She arched her smaller wings back against her head so that they blended in with her hair. She folded one across the back of her neck, but the broken one hurt too much to stretch that far and still stuck out quite obviously. From a distance, it was possible someone might think she was just wearing silver feathers in her hair, although the metallic silvery color of her hair itself was alreadyenough to draw attention. She looked at Chien to see if he approved.

Kyosuke:

Chien nodded. "That's good," he approved. "Now let's go then, I'm hungry." The demon hunter started walking towards the entrance of Hepian along with his demon companion.

(OOC: I'll let you start the Hepian thread ^^)