Step after step, cold breath after cold breath, Fruizo of the Beast families, marched forward with the rest of the Supernovas, or so they had been deemed by their elders. A name that had come from a dream of a smiling, hairy face. Fruizo hadn't known what the name meant, or where his sudden skill in the spear had come from. He possessed no innate magical abilty, not like some of those whom he marched with possessed. His skill was on par with some of the others that had been sorted into the more physical side of the Novas, however, though some possessed more fearsome weapons.

The timid beast, reached across his body, left to right, to rub his upper right arm. Fruzio could feel the hardened, five inch thick plate of steel threaded wooden, wrapped in leather, fashioned into a small shield and strapped to his wrist, bump into his fingers as he rubbed up and down. A soft, cold sigh escaped his lips. He had no idea how long they had been in this frozen existence between the Allarian Multiverse and one inhabitated by the 'Angry-Rilla', or something close to the name. Words were hard for the cold anthromorph, though no one could remember what animal he had evolved from.

His large ears twitched, and brought him from his painstakingly crafted trance. He hated when that happened, it would take him days to get back to that point, longer still to settle into it. A clear indication of how long they'd been on the forced march to save their verse. Cold fingers gripped the shaft of his spear, his large ears had picked up a sound he had hoped he would not hear.

Silence.

His head darted around, his shielded wrist even lifting the bandanna and cap combination from his head, hoping that his eyesight would prove enough to pick up where his ears had failed. They didn't, nor his nose. His enhanced senses couldn't find the sight, sound, or smell of his comrades. Had he gotten lost already? A slightly panick set in, before his training kicked back in.

Deep Breath.

Fruzio's grip loosened on his spear, and his world calmed. Turning to his left, he could make out the ghostly figures of his comrades - still walking the ever-lasting path, with only one looking back.

The man with the bucket on his head.

If they were there, where was he? And why could the Classless One see him? Further still, why did he not move to act? With no magic, he surely could not expect Fruzio to free himself, could he?

With another sigh, this one loud, he took stock of his environment. While no snow was falling, the ground was packed hard with ice and the world was foggy with the common light gray, slight blue associated with cold. The type of tint one could see when they peered to the outside and could almost see the cold. Few trees darted the landscape, and the only river, almost two hundred yards to his back gushed quietly down its infinite path.

Fruzio patted the thin steel plate that protected his guts, and headed off towards where his associates were headed. Surely there was something that could place him back with his friends and verse saviors.

Still, in the back of his mind, he pondered why he had lost track of them anyway. Had his meditation been so thorough that he simply walked from formation, and kept walking until he was lost. Or had something took him from the group and placed him in the area, and if so, were there others.

"Now this feels a little more like home."

The wolf padded softly through the snow, hands in the pockets of his jacket as he whistled a slow, cheerful tune. On another aimless journey after helping the Dreamers, he had stumbled upon this icy world and had decided to give it a look see. After all, nothing appealed to an ice elemental more than a world full of what he was made of. However, the one thing that bothered him was that for the whole few hours that he'd walked in a straight line, he'd seen no one.

No signs of life. A depressing thought, one that mellowed his thoughts of a perpetual winter wonderland for him to fool around in.

The area he was in had little trees; most of the greenery had most likely succumbed to the unending cold. What little plants and trees remained were evergreen, their spines keeping themselves green and lively through the infinite winter. The air was not cold enough to freeze what water he'd seen, but it was cold enough to bite through his fur like a knife.

As his sneakers crunched through the snow, he looked around. No snow fell, and as far as the eye could see the plains were a dull white, dim light filtering through the dark clouds that masked the sun.

Then, a noise. Footsteps, crunching on ice and snow.

Quietly, he hid behind the trunk of a nearby tree, pressing himself as flat as he could down into the snow. He drew upon the ice within himself, freezing the snow up against his entire form until it camoflaged himself against the ground, save for his eyes that gleamed from a little slit in the snow. From there, he watched and waited, ears peeled for the footsteps as he looked for their source amidst the snow and ice.

How long had he been running? This damned area had little in the way of time-telling method, not even in the Beast families scent factors. The method was known as the Olubezza, a method of turning the scent receptors up to a rather high amount, and sniffing out the minute changes in smell associate with the amount of present sunrays, moonbeams, or any other factor. Time here, it seemed, literally did not exist.

As he was slowing down, about to turn down his sensitive receptors, before a strange smell assaulted and knocked him unconcious, which was known to happen when the Beasts thought they could roam freely with it ramped all the way up, he caught the whiff of something not... natural.

Someone was here, and they were trying to hide. That meant only one of two things, they were a predator, or they precieved themselves as prey. Fruzio let his receptors go back down to normal levels, marking the scent in the glands just behind his nose. Perhaps subconsciously, he thought back to the lionmen of his world, and how they hide before striking - he would not fall victim like his cousin Werl had so long ago.

Fingers gripping halfway down the shaft of his spear, he began to move slowly. His heightened strength and the almost abnormal fluid silence of his steps helped him move into a protective stance. Even before moving, his body was capable of several things, enhanced hearing and smell, somehwat enhanced sight, and a respectable level of taste. His body lacked defense, but his strength was nothing to shake a stick at, nor his speed and reflexes on the move.

Now that he was in danger of being attacked by this unknown source of smell, whatever it belonged too, he had to adequately prepare himself.

The physical Novas determined they could utilize things called steps to open up a world of offensive and defensive capabilities. They weren't always classified by the classic definition of steps, but by actions taken. Fruzio had four possible moves from his first step, which he was now executing. The steps were simple, but what they could do from them was anything but. With his first step, he could enhance his strength or speed, execute an attack, or ward off a somewhat weak attack. With enough steps, he could even attack incorporeal beings, or defend against magic.

With no outlying reason to use any of the steps he could activate now, he calmly continued to move around in a left to right circle, letting his body slowly turn towards the scent.

If anyone is here, you can come out. I mean you know harm, but would like to know what you're doing on the path opened from one multiverse to another.

"Huh."

Daniel stood, breaking free of his cloak of ice. He shook off bits of frost as he adjusted his cap and walked slowly towards the figure.

"Hey. I mean you no harm too. Just wandering."

In his slate gray hooded jacket, jeans and sneakers, he was most likely a strange sight to the traveler. However the sword strapped to his waist in its sheath and the two guns holstered on his lower back would most definitely be familiar sights. With his palms raised, he approached the traveler and tried his best to look non-threatening.

"You, uh, know where we are? I kinda stumbled onto this place by accident."

Step by step, he rotated his body in a wide circle towards the smell of his potential prey. Just as he completed his arc, the ice covered creature rose from the ground, he gripped his weapon and twisted it in a deceptively quick overhead arc, bringing it to bear in front of him, thus completing another step.

As if to keep the distance, when the anthromorphic figure stepped forward, he stepped back.

The creature, a wolf-human hybrid, it seemed, mentioned that he was wandering. Was he a wanderer? Still, he had hid himself, was he usually prey or predator.

I know w-w-where we are.

Fruzio's voice broke slightly as he talk, a combination of the cold and of the nervousness he felt in meeting a strange creature, whom was much like himself.

Are you from the Allarian universe, or are you a creature from the multiverse me and my comrades are travelling too? Those would be the only two reasons you'd be piggybacking on the magic that brought us here. You're either coming or going, and neither is an aptly acceptable answer.

Despite his words, his core shook with nervousness. Not of anticipation, but of fear. What type of creature from Allaria, or from the Angry Rilla-verse, could enter this type of multiversal portal. Had he stumbled across an absurdly powerful creature already? Was this where the line ended?

His mind raced, as both predator and prey. Would he need to engage in defense, or offense? This was a choice he made often in Allaria, and it was always the same.

He spoke again, a final time for now.

This is a path from one multiverse to another, mine to what I am hoping is your own. How you got here would have consisted of some dubiously powerful magic, hopefully your own, in a way, so you can comply with my request. That you leave it.

"I'm just passing through pal, guy like you, just trying to make my way through the multiverse. Hey, have you seen another guy like me? Cute little dog, about yey high," Daniel replied, holding his hand to just beneath his chin, indicating the height of his missing companion.

"Wearing a silly cowboy hat, boots, jeans, um, looks real sad?"

"This is a path from one multiverse to another, mine to what I am hoping is your own. How you got here would have consisted of some dubiously powerful magic, hopefully your own, in a way, so you can comply with my request. That you leave it."

He smirked a little and shook his head.

"Uh, naw man. I'm just gonna keep wandering to look for my buddy, but hey if you get in my way intentionally...might have to do something about it."

Instinctively, his hand hovered over the hilt of his katana and his feet spread slightly apart. Ready, but wary.

For all his time spent in the wilds of his villages, needing to fight to stay alive and to eat, the very mention of a 'cute little dog' that ran about chin height of the anthormorphic figure in front of him, and sporting classical cowboy gear was enough to cause him to stumble in his steps, reverting him back to zero.

"I`ve not seen the creature you are referring to," Fruizo stated, his mind forming an image of the creature, and how comical it would look if he had. That would have certainly been an odd sight, one to break the slow dribble of boredom they had all felt on their long trek through the path of multiverses.

His attention returned to the man, the creature, who had used body language to deny the reuested stated.

Keen eyes spotted the hand, almost on instinct, hovering above the hilt of the blade, they noticed to shift in stance. The creature had no intention of moving shop and looking for his companion in another area.

Something clicked in Fruzio's head.

He would have to fight.

"Please, I ask once more. This path was intended for our use only. Should you stay, as your stance now suggests, then I must bar your movements and restrict them to here."

Fruzio lifted the spear and pointed the sharp end towards his opponent. Initiating another first step, his elders would be ashamed and probably exile him for his foolishness.

This would not end well, nor would it be pretty. The spear suggested that Fruzio would need to keep the man at a distance, an opening gambit not based on steps, but deception - even hunters make themselves into something alluring.

"Well then, looks like we have ourselves a little Mexican stand off. I need to go that way, but you need to go this way."

Daniel growled softly as he widened his stance and drew his katana. The ebony black blade slid noiselessly out of its sheath as he held it aloft in his right hand.

With practiced precision, he held it level with his face, blade pointing outward as he shifted his left foor forward and the right back. His left came up in a "come hither" gesture as he backed up a step and began to circle the strange man.

"Only one of us is gonna be standing at the end of this, youngster. You or me." And frankly? I'd prefer it be me."