Journey Of Kalimador [Loveless x Zombiedude101]

[Loveless]

At the silence from Azieth, Deidre blinked her eyes in confusion and wondered to herself whether he had not heard her questions or perhaps he had ignored her. Perhaps she touched a touchy subject. But then, despite her curiosity, the raven-haired woman did not inquire once again nor say a word. Everybody has their own dark secrets and she was no exception to that, after all. Hell, she wouldn't want to touch onto her own dark past after all. But now it would be all behind her, that was for sure.

For a first-time traveler outside, the young princess followed the ranger within her sight and made certain she would not cause any trouble for him. It was then that she noticed Azieth halted in his footsteps and she stopped in her tracks as well, all so curious as she peeked over his shoulder before seeing the carcass. Moving her hand over her mouth, she took a few steps back and allowed for Azieth to observe the wounds. Then he spoke of wolves, and this alarmed her quite.

"W-wolves? In.. here?" She muttered, though then mentally scolded herself after that. Of course, there would be wolves in a forest. But she never thought they both would be in danger so soon. The sudden howl startled her and she quickly rushed over to Azieth's side. "... They.. would not attack us, would they?" Her blue eyes were looking around their surroundings, trying to spot any movements behind trees and bushes; her hand moving to the hilt of the dagger that Sir Aryan gave to her — mostly as an act to comfort herself, more than anything.

[Zombiedude101]

"Maybe. Something doesn't feel right, we should move. Now."

Unwilling to delay any further, Azieth somewhat quickened his pace, though not so much that he would leave Deidre behind. Indeed, something was strange. An aura in the air, a dark presence. It made him uneasy, and he didn't want to think of how it could corrupt the forest. But if this was the case, he'd have to take another route, but even then he was uncertain. To the North-East were the hills of the dead, a land once used for the burial and memoriam of the fallen, now taken by evil spirits which lurked in the catacombs and tombs beneath the hills. If the two ventured there, then they would perhaps be able to cross over the hills, detouring the thick forests.

"This way."

Making a slight deviation, this time towards the North-East, Azieth motioned for Deidre to follow him, only to catch a shadowy figure emerging from the bushes. It bore a resemblance to a wolf, but there was no doubt that it had been corrupted, twisted. Slowly, the creature began to approach them, prompting Azieth to quickly reach for an arrow his quiver and draw-back his bow.

"Move, carefully."

[Loveless]

His answer was definitely not the one she would want to hear, especially when she felt even more alarmed as she noticed his quickened pace and she tried to hurry after him. Moving faster, she followed behind him while her hand was gripping onto the hilt of the dagger all this while. She was uncertain, but just like Azieth, she did felt something was amiss within the forest. Just earlier, the birds were chirping and little animals were scurrying around, but as they did delve further and deeper, everything had turn eerily silent when they found the carcass earlier.

When the ranger gestured to her, she gave a quick nod and was about to follow his lead before spotting a dark figure coming from the rustling bushes and her eyes widened with fright. "W-What is that?!" She exclaimed out, her blue eyes wide and staring at the dark creature. She could see that it was indeed a wolf, but it somehow morphed to something rather evil and even more dangerous.

Even at the next words by Azieth, Deidre couldn't move from where she stood, as if fear had gripped her and stilled her movements. Was this the danger that Sir Aryan had told her about? They were capable of doing something like this even? How in the worlds could she compete with this kind of ability? Even more, it seemed that she even brought this kind of danger to Azieth as well, and they just only had met the night before.

With that in her mind, her hand slowly drew the dagger out from her belt to hold it within her hand, just in case. She slowly moved herself, her eyes concentrating on the dark beast as she tried to get closer to Azieth but then, she stumbled slightly on her footing as she stepped on a rock and stumbled over onto her knees. Out of all times, she just had to make a mistake right there and then!

[Zombiedude101]

"Roll aside!" There was no doubt, as the wolf began to move in on her - Azieth needed to act: fast. Breaking into a sprint, arrow still in hand, he swung the arrow at the creature, intend on embedding the arrowhead into it's eye or throat, any vulnerable point that offered itself up. Piercing the wolf's eye, the arrowhead prompted a low howl of pain from the wolf, but did not seem to phase it for long, as Azieth soon discovered. Rather than backing away, the wolf fought back with viscious aggression, snapping away at Azieth, who had only his bow ready to block the bows.

Yet, he was not one to give up, and as it happened his bow was a rarity, made of Elder Dragon's Bone, a material which itself was renowned for it's incredible strength and durability. Holding it out, the wolf snapped at his bow, allowing Azieth to wedge it within the creature's mouth and unsheathe his blade, then drive it into the wolf's open jaws, through the back of its skull and killing it almost instantly. Then, with a swift pull, he removed both the bow and his blade, before looking to Deidre.

"Something has tainted this land. We should move, before any more show up."

[Loveless]

Trying to gather herself onto her feet quickly, she was too slow before she saw the wolf closing in on her and her eyes widened at this. She rolled her body away quickly, her body reacting now to the danger and she clutched the dagger within her hand tighter, though her body was noticeably shaking from fear. Seeing the ranger acting to her rescue though made Deidre shout out, concerned for his life and even more, on how she could really do nothing more than watch in horror.

Yet, he managed to kill the beast after some struggle, and Deidre rushed to him, her blue eyes wide as she stared at the now dead corpse of the corrupted beast before looking over to the ranger. "A-Are you alright?! Are you injured?" There was genuine concern within her voice as she asked, even if they just had only met one night ago.

At his next words, the princess nodded her head in agreement, but her mind seemed in disarray, as she tried to calm her fast-paced heart from all the adrenaline. Sheathing the dagger to her belt, she took one last glance at the corpse, as if expecting for it to rise again but continued along the way with Azieth leading once again. "A-Azieth? I wanted to say.. thank you for rescuing me back there. And.. I am sure I'll be thanking you even more soon, I feel.."

[Zombiedude101]

Azieth quietly rubbed across his chin, dusting off his cloak before looking towards Deidre, giving her a quiet nod. "It's what I'm tasked with, and it's what I'll do. I'm fine, by the way, though I'd rather we didn't linger. The sooner we reach the Hills of the... Fallen, the better." Evidently, he was hesitant to speak the more common name for those Hills. The Hills of the Dead, termed so because of, well... Whilst he'd never been one to believe in old children's tales, he knew that the two would be crossing over cursed ground. They would have to tread carefully, lest they wish to ever leave again, and the thought of what dwelled within the catacombs was enough to send a chill through Azieth's body.

Then, as the two progressed, the trees would, gradually, begin to clear, as the land steepened and a fog slowly began to emerge from what lay ahead. Resting a tightened hand on the hilt of his blade, Azieth looked towards Deidre, speaking to her with a sincere tone of voice. "Stay close to me, and do not lose your way. You may see lights in the fog, lanterns of the lost. Whatever happens, you must not follow the lanterns. Don't even stare at them, or you might be lured in, and lost to the fog." Ah, the lanterns. He'd heard the stories, of Men, Women and Children who'd been allured by the lanterns amidst the fog. When they approached, some heard voices, others saw visions, or both. For children, of their mothers, only to be snatched away when the opportunity arose.

Approaching further, the two would gradually become enveloped by the fog as it surrounded them and became thicker, soon to the point that only the basic shapes of odd rocks which resembled giant teeth emerging from the ground. Azieth remained close to Deidre, and evidently did what he could to keep an eye on her. Gradually, faint lights would begin to appear amidst the fog, moving around, just faintly. And maybe, just maybe, Deidre would hear faint voices from a pleasant memory.

[Loveless]

He had reassured her that she was fine and the princess nodded her head, calming herself down as she followed him. Indeed, she had noticed on his hesitation but never really paid any more attention to it. The faster they leave would do better for them both, and so Deidre quickened her pace and tried to keep up with the ranger as the taller man lead the way for them both. As they walked further, she had noticed on how the trees had spread and them heading into a thick fog ahead of them.

At this, the woman kept closer to Azieth and felt all the sudden nervous. It didn't helped that the ranger began to warn to her and her eyes widened. She had heard stories about such places, from Martha and some passing-by servants who wanted to scare each other with some ghost stories. Hearing was one thing, but being there at the place was just something else. Gathering whatever courage she had within her, she walked ahead with Azieth ahead of her and tightened her cloak around her form as they delved in further.

At the corner of her eyes, she could see the faint, glowing lights in the fog and she almost jumped at the sight of them. Goodness, they were real! Taking quick steps, she walked directly behind Azieth and heed his words as she tried to avoid even taking curious glimpse at the wavering lights. She said a silent prayer under her breath, clutching her cloak tighter around her before her ears picked up something. Was someone calling her name?

She could hear it very faintly, and she almost dismissed it, but she could really hear someone calling her name. "Deidre.. Sweet Deidre.." She could not mistaken it; it was dearest Martha's voice. Her eyes widened at this realization and she almost stopped in her footsteps. "Deidre.. Where are you, girl? Playing hide and seek now, aren't ya?"

No, no, no, no! Shaking her head, Deidre continued moving and trying to keep up with Azieth, all the while trying her best to block out the voices. She could hear the voices — of Martha's, her mother's and even her father's. The sweet, good old times when she was just a small child, all before the revealing of her ability to use magic. The laughs of herself when she was a child, along with her parents as they all had played together before. Instead of feeling any sort of yearning, Deidre only felt anguish and sadness as she heard the voices. It was just cruel for her really.

Moving forward, the woman had not realized as she then instinctively raised a hand and begin to grip onto Azieth's cloak as she moved, lowering her head as she walked and her body visibly shivered. She really wanted to get out of this damned place as quickly as possible.

[Zombiedude101]

Azieth quietly glanced back towards Deidre for a moment, nodding as he picked up on her discomfort. Whilst he didn't show it so much himself, he too had begun to experience the illusions of the spirits. Memories which hurt him dearly, which he didn't want to resurface, gradually being drawn out by the influence of the spirits that stalked them through the fog. A sound... a voice? It was male, and belonged to someone of age. "Isindur! There is little time left, you must go, quickly!"

Then, another voice, a child's voice. "No, father, I can't. I won't abandon you, I won't!" "Please, my son, understand that I am the Chief of our people, and that I will live as they live, and die as they die. But you, no. Your fate lies elsewhere, I know it." "But, please, father.." "No, Isindur. If you wish to honor me, to honor our people, then you will live for yet another day. Too many of us have died already, and the Titans be damned if I am to allow my own son to perish." "Fa.. father.. alright.. I'll do as you say." "Now go, and remember that the strength of our people will be with you in spirit. We will always be there, at your side, no matter what." Azieth quickly glanced to his left, a white haze momentarily appearing before him, one that resembled a bearded man, donning cloak and chainmail which resembled what Azieth wore.

Almost as soon as it had appeared, the figure dissapeared, vanishing into the fog and leaving Azieth to wonder whether it had been an apparition of the spirits or if what he'd seen had really been... well. Looking back to Deidre, he spoke with a hushed tone. "You hear them too... I understand. We should be nearing the pathway soon, the fog will clear from there." Overhead, the faint darkness of the skies could be witnessed: Night had fallen, somehow. Maybe it was an illusion of the fog, or maybe it was actually night. The perception of time had become a little distorted, amongst the confusion, though the existence of the two moons in the sky seemed to indicate it was actually night.

[Loveless]

Her blue eyes caught glimpses of figures within the fog and she forced herself not to stare for way too long. Closing her eyes shut for a moment, she wished to block out the mere whispers and voices she could hear with her ears and wondered to herself on whether they were any closer to exiting out of this place. Opening her eyes again, she looked over to Azieth and wanted to voice out her question but her words wouldn't come out from her lips.

Either was because she was perhaps spooked of such existing places like they were going through, or the sad memories flooding her mind. It was all too much really. But fortunately, he answered her inner question and nodded her head in response, though only noticing she was gripping onto his cloak as a comfort gesture for herself. At this, her cheeks flushed gently but she gripped onto him still; afraid that if she would let go, she might lose herself into the fog or lose him instead.

Looking up, she had noticed that it was apparently night time, or it seemed that way. Had they already been walking that long already? She was never aware of how fast the day had gone already. "... Should we rest after we exit from this fog? It's already night time. And I only realized that we haven't really eaten anything for the whole day.." As if on cue, she felt her stomach grumbled gently and her cheeks flushed more, mostly out of embarrassment at the sound. "... Do you know how far we still need to go, Azieth?"

[Zombiedude101]

"Not too far." Was the only response that Deidre recieved from Azieth. No doubt, he was pre-occupied with something else on his mind, and he was doing all he could to bar the spirits from accessing his memories from which to manifest their illusions. He felt something soft became trapped and broken beneath his foot. It was a hand, a slender, skeletal hand without a body to call its own, no doubt of one unfortunate soul who wandered in too far. Respectfully, he quietly pushed it out of the way so that Deidre wouldn't see it. Further up, the two began to tread on a harder surface; a cobblestone pathway. It improved his mood, at least, because now he knew that they were close, and they'd be able to leave this forsaken place once and for all.

Leading them further down the pathway, Azieth soon stopped as he spotted something ahead of them in the mist, a large boulder which blocked the pathway ahead, barring their exit. Azieth quickly realised his mistake; they had fallen into a trap. He knew that he couldn't turn back now, however, and it was at this point that an unearthly, hollow force spoke out. "Another pair of wanderers, visitors led astray into our veil of fog. Hmh.. different this time. Yes, very different. The girl... lost and alone, an unwanted child, an abomination to her family and subjects. Or the ranger, shrouded in a veil of mystery, much like this fog. With an uncertain past yet... familiar. Tell me Humans, did you really think that the Star could be stopped? That there was some slim hope of your pathetic existance being spared. A fool's errand. No matter, I'll see to this soon enough, starting with the girl." With that, the ground gave away beneath the two, causing them to fall back into what appeared to be a tomb. Fortunately the fall was not too great, resulting only in bruising and a few grazes.