Light slowly filtered into the cavern as the miner swung his pickaxe.
"Sir I think we found something" he called

The foreman stepped forward and looked through the crack.
"I can hardly see anything, open this up more!"

The excavation crew went to work, vigorously swinging their tools and carting the rubble away, eventually the wall was open enough for the men to walk into the cavern.
"What is this place?" asked one of the men in bewilderment.

The cavern looked to be a large chamber with circles of scripture in some long-forgotten tongue scribed into the ground.
In the center of the room sat a throne, and on this throne sat what appeared to be the statue of a great and powerful demon.

The foreman took a step forward and accidentally scuffed the scripture on the ground, not caring one bit he turned to his men and said "search this place for anything valuable, who knows boys? this might be our lucky break!"

As the men rushed into the room none of them noticed the statue in the center of the room slowly start to change. First, his eyes took on a pale purple glow, then; his skin slowly started to darken, going from gray to crimson.

The first any man noticed of the change was when Fangûrn the Terrible rose from his great throne and let out a low rumbling chuckle.
"Hundreds of years, I have been sealed in a slumber from which I never expected to wake and yet you; foolish mortals not only stumble into my antechamber, but you break the seal on my curse and even rush in, offering me the first meal in centuries!"

The men didn't even have the chance to scream in horror as Fangûrn lashed out in a whirlwind tearing them all to shreds. After feasting himself on their remains Fangûrn departed through the hole in his cavern wall and prepared to unleash hell upon the world once more.

Daeron: In the city of Gael there exists an organisation of people, these people protect the innocent and strive to maintain order. Anything threatening order or endangering the people is dealt with by this organisation, they are the guardians. They are Daeron.

Felmare: In the barren North, where the Demons first burst forth from the Underneath there was once a mighty fortress called King's peak. It has since been razed by the servants of chaos and madness. Corrupt souls dedicated to destroying order and preying on the weak and innocent. These fallen beings are known as the Felmare.

Somewhere in the north, on the far borders of the Daeron territory there were small towns that lived with paranoia of the Felmare attacks. It was well protected but who knows when all will fall? When the guardians can't protect them?. Still they tried to live their lives normally tending to their work and families. Most of the towns worked with farming to provide food supplies for the Daerons protecting them, but the real value of protecting them were the mines that provided materials for weapons and armor.

Azai was sent to one of the mining towns, to investigate deaths of several miners and Daerons soldiers. The Daerons wanted to sent someone from headquarter, yet someone expendable, so the task was given to Azai, and he had to accept.

Upon his arrival to the town, he immediately felt the familiar cold that he was used to in his former thousand year service, the smell of fear from the citizens of the town. Azai immediately headed for the mine to question the miners about the deaths. He found the supervisor of the miners, and with a calm voice he said " I'm Azai the Daeron sent to investigate the deaths. So what can you tell me" the man was still paranoid and scared from the deaths, it was reeking from him with all his sweat. He was trembling a little but calmed down when he heard that he has finally arrived to take care of the situation. " Finally you arrived, The mining stopped and the mine is closed, even the guardians died down there... Rumors say that a beast has decided to make this mine his home..." Azai raised his hand and stopped the man from talking. He told him to give him te direction to the closed section, and went there.

He found two Daerons gaurding the entrance, he offered them to come with him but they refused with no second thought " No demon. It's your own funeral we are not prepared to die yet..." Azai wasn't expecting them to come along from the start. He crossed the sealed line and disappeared from the guards sight through the tunnels. The walls were damp, becuase of the heat inside mine, and the light was also being reflected from the walls giving multiple colored aura in each section. Azai started wondering what kind of beast would live in here when it's being used, several names came to him but still didn't feel it was right, so he kept on with his search...

Raph is a fresh arrival in Gael, his master had just declared him fit to pursue his own path. To start things off Raph went down to the Enlistment Corps for the Daeron guardians. The man supervising the recruitment appeared to be a Taerin, very slight and pale with a natural grace to his movements that would mystify many. This, however; as Raph soon realized, had absolutely nothing to do with his personality.

"Ahh more fresh meat for the slaughter ehh? Got sick of butchering rats so you came here for something a little bit bigger?" Raph made to reply, but the gruff man cut him off before he could get a word in, "No matter, we'll know your mettle soon enough... GREEEEEEG!"

At the man's call a large burly man came over to the desk. "what do ye want Fie? ye don' 'ave te yell, I were standing just a few feet away"

"That's not important right now, we have a new enlistee! take him out to the courtyard and see what he's worth". said Fie

"Aye..." grumbled Greg, tapping Raph on the shoulder and leading him to a nearby door. Once out in the courtyard Greg went over the rules, "No magic, no aiming at tha face an' no 'low-blows' pick yer trainin' weapon and lets start.

Raph picked up a wooden hammer from the nearby rack and whirled around, feet at the ready. "Now c'mon! Give me e'rythin' you got!"

With a quick forward roll to the right Raph made as if to straighten up but threw himself into Greg instead, pinning him to the ground Raph leveled his hammer with Greg's head and asked "So, how did I do?"

Cia and Lance had just entered a mining town that was being investigated. As soon as they entered Lance started to off towards the cave. On his way in he noticed a rather muscular looking miner near the entrance. He gave a smile as he walked towards the man. "Hey there sweet stuff." Lance said to the miner with a sly smile on his face. The miner looked at Lance in disgust before trying to move away. Lance grabbed him by the collar quickly though and dragged him towards himself. "Don't you know it's rude to walk away when someone is talking to you?" Lance said to the miner as he held him by the collar. "I'm not interested in you so just leave me alone." The miner said struggling to try and get away. "That's too bad then, I guess your gonna just have to be dinner then huh?" Lance said with a smile before lunging a hand right into miners stomach and pulled out his spleen. Lance took a bite out of the spleen like it was an apple as Cia approached him.

Cia looked at the spleen with rather unnamused look on her face. "You know must undead like to go around eating hearts not spleens." Cia said to Lance, her arms crossed under her chest. Lance finished eating the spleen before pulling out the mans kidney. "Eating hearts are so cliche, I mean yeah it has the most life force in it, but it's got so much blood in it that you can barely taste the flesh." Lance complained. "What ever just hurry up, some of the miners have started to panic, already, we need to go secure the creature in the mine anyways." Cia stated as she motioned to the other miners who had been watch or those who had run away at this point. A few of them had even barfed. Once Lance finished his meal he dropped the body and started to head into mine, ripping apart a few of the miners who got in his way. Each of the dead bodies were resurrected by Cia to use as her soldiers.

Phaleh sat on the edge of the bank, her feet submerged in the water. Strands of her red hair blew into her face, but she paid them no attention. She rubbed at the sores on her heels. The cold water felt good and the grass complimented the feeling with it's cushioning.

It had been about a day since Phaleh had left home - not for good of course. She was prone to week-long adventures here and there that would naturally leave her parents worried sick. She'd left a note, like always, explaining that she was bored and wished to go out and be elsewhere.

After about an hour, Phaleh stood up and brushed the stray blades of grass from her skirt. She tied the laces of her boots together and slung the shoes over her shoulder. As long as she was in this grassy place, she could walk barefooted. She took a path that followed along the trees, opting to stay out of their cover for once.

Not too much later, the first few houses of a town could be seen in the distance. Phaleh knew this place. A little mining town, somewhat on the border between Daeron and Felmare territories. She'd been there many times, having somewhat of an inexplicable attraction to the place.

She angled her steps to take the scenic route into town. This path ran alongside the mines. It was one of her favorite paths to take as the miners were always friendly. Sure, most of them were just flirting, but they at least would respond to her presence. She might have been naturally introverted, but she still liked being acknowledged.

An hour has past since Azai was looking for the beast behind the sealed passage, when he heard running footsteps getting closer to him. It was the two guards that he went past them, they were frightened, they stopped infront of him barley catching their breath " Sir.. Sir.. Undead there were a lot of them.. We would've died if we faced them.." Azai felt mad at them, for cowering like that but then he took a breath to think this over, he knew that means that a necromancer is right behind them. He turned from the guards and pointed at a passage and said " Look I need you to get out of here now, go through that passage, it will lead you outside. Go and get the elite guard of the town down here." the two guards noded with their head, and hasted through the passage.

Azai didn't really need their help, but he felt that just in case there was more than the necromancer in the cave. Azai continued his walk, he wanted to complete his task first, then see this necromancer problem. He delved deeper into the cave, when he found traces of fur, it looked thick and black, it was also leeking of demon energy. Azai was shocked because it belonged to a possessed dire wolf, but what shocked him was a question of what is a creature like that doing here?!. Possessed dire wolfs are normal dire wolfs, that came into contact with demonic energy left by a spell or a skill used by a demon, but it must be a powerful one to leave behind enough energy, to be able to corrupt animals. Azai hastened his movements, and started wondering more about the reason of such a creature hiding here, this could prove more of what it is...

Greg let out a slight chuckle, "Not as good as ye think lad!" nodding his head down to where he had a small dagger pressed to a chink in Raph's armour.

Shamefaced Raph stood up and helped Greg to his feet, "Sorry, I got a little excited".

"Don' worry 'bout it, ye're still a far sight better than most newcomers" Greg said with a huge smile while shaking Raph's hand. "Welcome to Daeron boy! Lets head inside and get yer papers filled". The two of them went inside and had Fie fill out the necessary papers.

"By the way fresh meat, the head of our organisation is looking to scrape together a small team of warriors to go clear out some monsters. If you think that that's the kind of thing you'd like to do you should get working; they only want hardworking, capable soldiers on the team. If you're looking for work just go check the task-board down the hall" said Fie.

Thanking the Taerin for his time Raph quickly went down the hall and checked the task-board for a job.

-=Available Jobs=-

-Escort a caravan through Barren Marx (a marshy swampland riddled with bandits)

-Search for a missing child in a small eastern village

-Hunt some deer for the tavern nearby

Lance finished eating another of the miners before the miner could be resurrected by Cia. Cia herself was having a bit of trouble just trying to keep up with Lance. "You need to slow down you know." Cia said taking a breath as she tried to keep up with Lance. Cia and Lance were eventually stopped from behind by what seemed to be elite Guardians. Cia signaled something to Lance who quickly grabbed a hold of Cia like she was a hostage. Once the elite guardians were able to see them all they saw was a hostage situation. "Don't come a step closer! Or I will kill her!" Lance threatened as he held a knife he had gotten from one of the miners against Cia's neck. Cia then started to act as the Damsel in distress, this was a ploy that they commonly used to lure an attacker in. Thanks to Cia not even looking like a necromancer she always looked like she could play the damsel.

One the elite guardians pulled out a bow however and shot Lance right in the shoulder making him drop the bow and fall backwards. "Are you ok ma'am?" One of the guardians asked as he brought Cia towards the other guardians. "I am now." Cia said with a smile as the ground beneath come rose up and kept their legs still. At this point Lance stood up again after taking the arrow out of his arm. He smiled as he ran at one of the Guardians. The others were attacked by the undead miners, and while they did take a few of the undead down with them they themselves were eventually brought down by the undead. Lance meanwhile tore one of the Guardians apart. "You need to learn that not everyone is what they seem you know." Cia said with a smile while winking at a Guardian as he was torn apart by Lance.

One of the guardians was able to escape though and quickly ran off towards Azai to go warn him.

As he went deeper within the mine, Azai wasn't feeling the cold anymore, but instead it was heat. When the miners reached this point they stopped going further with their mining, and put a warning sign that said " Danger! Too much heat after this point" Azai looked around and found more fur leading deeper. He knew that this heat was too much for simple miners, but he didn't take any chance, he raised up his dark aura, summoning his armor. This was the armor given to him wen he reached the royal knight rank in the Felmare army, it the only thing that they couldn't take away from since he bound it to his aura. Azai upgraded the armor when he started researching smithing from all cultures, it didn't slow him down anymore, and it was sturdier. The armor had pitch black color and shining red from underneath every chest piece, Azai called this armor " The Ergo". After summoning The Ergo Azai continued his way...

After a few minutes of walking, he heard running footsteps towards him, it appeared to be an injured elite guardian, he was barely breathing, after he cought his breath he told Azai what happened " Sir we were fooled, she is a young necromancer, with he personal undead guardian. She turned every miner to one of her undead, yet they were weak but they were large in number. The good thing is that we a had protection spell before we entered, it will not turn us to her slaves after we die. We will need a larger force to force her into retreat. What do we do now sir?" Azai was a bit impressed with the her, she could take down elite guards with her powers, it didn't matter to him the undead miners, since he could take them down easily, but the necromancer and her gaurdian would make a problem for him. Azai thought of plan incase he is defeated, all of this heat must be coming from an active volcano nearby, but since the heat didn't reach the rest of the mine, then there must be huge opening, he thought of the nearest mountain that had a volcano must be where they are. He told the guard of the route he mentioned to the guards before him to go through, and ready a larger force to be waiting for his signal at the top of the mountain. The guard noded his head and ran directly towards the tunnel.

After the guard left a howling could be heard from a near distance, Azai ran quickly towards it, he didn't want to deal with both the necromancer and the wolf at the same time. The wolf was waiting inside, it appeared that he was still going through the mutation, the wolf was in a crazed situation that causes it kill all those miners, and why it was in the mine. Azai walked towards it with caution. Because of this state that it was in, he could know to whom the demon energy belonged to, it felt oddly familiar but stronger, and like it was done deliberately, then when he got closer he was shocked, it belonged to his brother, so many questions went through his mind, but the first was why did he leave it run along like that, since he obviously wanted it for himself. He raised his hand and started to realse his energy to finalize the possession and make it his own, since it was his brother. He preferred that he would make it his own, but he was gonna kill it if it showed no signs of response...

McMillan was a man who was proud of many things. Of all his successful robberies. Of all the treasures piled up in his home. Of the first knife he made and kept on his person. Above all else, though, he was proud of his gang. Yes, without them, his robberies wouldn't have been so successful. They were loyal, and they never had any intention of ever betraying him.

Unfortunately, McMillan didn't feel much pride in what his gang was going through at the moment. In fact, he didn't feel anything right now. Good thing too, because if he could, he would've been screaming in agony as his flesh melted, and his bones burned to ash.

The gang of bandits huddled around some of the burning remains of their boss, trying to cope with what had just happened. They were preparing for another day's robbery, when all of a sudden, some Vaenshu woman arrived, looking about the place as if she was inspecting some ancient ruins. McMillan went up to her, threatening her with his knife if she didn't leave. She responded by sending an extra small fireball down his gullet, roasting his heart before he had a chance of finishing his sentence.

"Lunch is ready!"

The Bandits hesitated before looking up. There, waiting at a large table was the woman who had easily offed their leader. On the table were several plates with roasted meat on them. Under normal circumstances, they'd be delighted to have such a meal, but since they knew what type of meat it was, and where she acquired it, they were not looking forward to eating it.

Still, they had to. Not one of them wanted to tick off the woman after what she did. So they touched it out, eating every single bite they were given. The look in their eyes showed that this was something they were VERY uncomfortable with, but it only managed to bring a smirk on the woman's face.

"Now...while, you guy's are eating, I'm going to tell you what is going to happen after your meal. You all will proceed to rob the caravan that's supposed to pass through Barren Marx, just like you planned before! However, instead of simply robbing them, you are going to take everything. The goods, the transport, even the people themselves, and bring them back here, killing anyone who tries to stop you. After that...I'll think of something."

The bandits could do nothing else, but nod as they finished eating their former leader.

The woman only smiled at them before exiting the hideout. One of the bandits, too curious for his own good followed her and asked what they were supposed to call her.

"Hm?" she replied. "...Oh, right! I forgot to introduce myself. I am Girania Agidyne. Now go to Barren Marx, like I told you to. I'll be watching, so make it entertaining for me."

With that, Girania flew off.

Deciding on his job Raph went over to the Task master and told him "I'll be taking the escort job through the Barren".

"Pulling out the big guns right away eh?" inquired the task master, seeing that Raph was new to the faction.

"Actually, I was thinking more that a hammer is a terrible hunting tool. I'm also not very good with children so this escort job sounds just right" said Raph confidently. "Well, if you'll excuse me I'd better get going so I don't miss my charge".

"Take care to come back in one piece!" hollered the man as Raph left and ran down the road to find the caravan.

Finding the caravan leader Raph reported in, "Alright, welcome aboard. Just hop on the back of the last wagon and we'll be off! Your work starts when we get to the Barren so rest well until we get there, can't have our escort falling asleep on the job after all".

As Raph made his way to the back of the caravan he noticed how relaxed the people he'd be travelling with were. "Oh good, looks like this job won't prove to be too difficult after all!" hopping on the last cart and leaning back Raph closed his eyes and began to doze off.

The bandits hid, lije they had many times before. They took their usual positions, a few in the trees, a few hidden among the reeds, and some were waiting for the caravan to come into view, so they could hide in the water. They knew where each and every member was supposed to be. This was just like every other robbery they'd done before.

Except for a few things. For one, their leader was dead. Secondly, their plan for this was different. Instead of just taking the victims' stuff, they were to take everything. From the loot to the cart to the victims themselves. They may have been bandits, but thwy seldomly kidnapped anyone, and when they did, they certainly nevsr brought them over to their base of operations. Still, none of them wanted to burn to death, so they had no other choice but to go through with this new objective.

...

Girania waited. She was watching the bunch of bandits that she scared into worjing for her. Normally, she would've just killed them and move on, but she had been working on a new spell of sorts, and she needed some test subjects to perfect it. Using these bandits to get those test subjects was much easier. She also had to admit that it was entertaining to watch others do stuff.

Oh! Girania saw the caravan in the distance. She turned her head and found that the bandits had seen it as well, and were hiding. The show would start soon.

As soon as the caravan got close enough, the bandits jumped out, and were upon the poor merchants...and their bodyguard!?

Cia had been trying to resurrect the guardians but nothing was happening. After awhile she realized that this just wasn't going to work no matter what she did. "Darn. Oh well it's not like they would have lasted long anyways." Cia said as she started to walk forward. Eventually she found her target, though she was disappointed that it was just a wolf. "Really? Couldn't have tried for a bear or something?" Cia said disappointed.

Lance on the other hand had noticed the man with the wolf now. "I guess you got to it before us then, do you have any idea how tasty demon wolves are?" Lance said a bit pouty at the fact that this man had gotten to the wolf before him. "Although, you look pretty tasty too now that I look at you." Lance said licking his lips. "Wanna go on a date with me hot stuff?" Lance said with a smile as he got closer to Azai.

As Cia watched the exchange she couldn't help but face palm. Every time they came upon a strong male fighter Lance would immediately start hitting on him. Of course this wasn't always so bad as a few times Cia had been able to avoid conflict all togeather but that was on rare occasions. Many of the undead miners were behind Cia now, each of them wielding either a pickaxes or a shovel. They were ready to back up Cia and Lance if needed.

The necromancer has finally appeared with her bodyguard, and a small army of the undead miners. It appeared that they were after the wolf, but why? He wondered what could've made them come all the way to Daeron territory just to hunt it down? It didn't matter much now that he was in this situation, they didn't seem hostile though, he understood that her undead bodyguard needed to eat and she saw it as an opportunity to make a small army for her. Azai wasn't gonna back out if a fight were to happen, his monochrome would take care of the miners but the problem was Cia and her undead guy...

She seemed disappointed in what she found the wolf, but Lance was more intersted in Azai, he seemed strangely playful for an undead. Azai was still calm and staring at him, his armor started emitting a dark aura, just craving for blood. Azai removed his helmet and said with a cold voice "You are going to step away now" and ignored Lance as he walked towards Cia, he didn't expect her to be this young, it meant she was strong yet he kept his confidence, because she couldn't be older than him, since in all his 1000 years of serving the Felmare and becoming a dinosaur there, he didn't encounter her. He was right infront of her, and asked her "What do you want with this beast?... But before you answer me, let me tell you I will have a peaceful solution, since you don't know what you got yourself into... But know also, that I will fight if we do not come into an agreement." his voice was calm and strong.

The wolf was getting agitated with all this commotion, his demonic energy was getting distorted. If this goes on for long the wolf might die.

As the bandits descended upon the caravan Raph unleashed his burning fury, his hammer became wreathed in raw flame and every strike scorched the earth before him. Before leaving the Vaenshu education system he had been given the title "Fire Lord" this title meant that he had graduated top of his class in fire magic studies. He had all but mastered how to control his flames, walking forward slowly, breathing calmly and taking great care not to set the land ablaze as he crushed and burned the simple bandits before him.

In his current state not only was his hammer coated with flames but his wings themselves took on the aspect of fire, spreading out behind him in a hellish display of power, lines of fire running intricate lines along his armour.

It seemed strange to Raph as he unleashed his flames the bandits seemed to go from nervous to absolutely terrified, more so than you'd usually expect someone confronted with an armored monolith of burning death would be. After striking down the fifth bandit Raph noted that they were retreating and let his flames abate. Breathing heavily he lumbered back to the caravan and made sure that everyone was alright. Urging them to pick up the pace Raph jumped up next to the driver of the first wagon so that he could catch his breath.

Lance looked at Azai with rather unamused look on his face. "You don't have to be rude about it." Lance said as he watched Azai walk away from him. Azai was making a mistake by turning his back on him and getting between Lance and Cia. "We don't actually need the wolf, we just need it's heart. Although I think our employer might have said something about bringing him it's brain... oh wait It was the Brain I needed from it, and the employer needs the heart." Cia said thinking to herself. She knew that a fight would break out soon, but she prepared for it. There was a small wall of earth about as a high as Cia's feet.

"Now I'm going to give you a chance to walk out of here without conflict and we can all go our seperate ways, hand over the wolf." Cia said several other areas of earth were rising but each were no taller than an inch. Some even lifting in the form of magic circles. Cia had a feeling that this man wouldn't give up easily, and she was prepared to fight to get that wolf. Lance standing behind Azai was cracking his knuckles waiting for Azai to make the first move. Of course if Azai went to dodge the Lance would go straight for the wolf.

It appeared that it was all just business for her, yet even if it was business it should be a considerable amount of payment, to make her come all the way here, he thought that it must be a high ranking officer or a royal family that have her this task, was it a rival family to his? Since this was Serph's wolf. She told him about that they needed it's heart only. A possessed animals heart is only good for a few reasons most of them useful for the demon who possessed the animal.

Azai glanced back to see that Lance was glaring at him with killing intent, and felt that the ground was changing beneath him, she gave him the choice to back away and let this go by. Azai said with a threatening voice "Do you really think that if we fight here you will emerge victorious? Do you really think that you and you slave over there can defeat a 2000 year old royal knight demon? Your child competed to me." Azai was about to fight her before he calmed down, he wanted to ask her first about her employer before he decides on anything "But before we do anything rash, let me ask you something, who is your employer?"

Girania watched as the bandits' attempt at robbing the caravan had not only failed, but also resulted in the agonizing deaths of several of their little crew. They were slow at first, but eventually the rest had gotten the idea that they were outmatched and ran away. They weren't exactly screaming in terror, but the look in their eyes showed that they truly were afraid. Whether they were this scared because of the bodyguard's fire magic alone, or if she herself had lent a hand in that phobia.

Girania laughed. Yeah, there was no particular reason for her to laugh. The bandit plan was a bust, the merchants and the caravan were still moving forward on their intended route, and there was a person that just turned five of the bandits into charred corpses. But, she just couldn't help but laugh at the faces of the survivors. She'd have to congratulate them for entertaining her later. As well as..."help" them get stronger. She planned on using them for quite a while.

She had taken a moment to let her laughter die down. She needed to. After all, she wasn't nearly satisfied with what had happened, so she went over to the caravan herself. Girania flew over to the part of the path that the caravan was bound to reach. Once they were in her sights, she grinned.

A ball of fire formed in the palm of her hand. Without Girania needing to move a muscle, fireball floated up into the air, away from her palm, and shot to the caravan. Both the driver and a horse ended up with burning holes in their chest and head respectively.

Seeing the fireball coming Raph raised his hammer and deflected the brunt of the attack, unfortunately both horse and driver on the wagon were dead. Hopping off Raph told the caravan leader to hide and began marching toward the new assailant. Understanding that all out combat would do more harm than good when fighting against another fire mage Raph decided he would try to communicate with the strange Vaenshu woman.

"What is your business with this caravan?" Is business really the right word? She was very clearly shooting to kill... oh well, can't think of another word that would apply. "If at all possible we should cease hostilities, us fighting would do more harm than good" declared Raph in a measured tone.