Saddaj walked across the cold, open valley. His footfalls echoed against the mountains standing on either side, witnesses to the centuries of ancient times, and now to him. This place was not like his home - it brought him considerable discomfort. He was used to the solitude, but here it lacked the intense heat and incredible sunlight he had lived most of waking life in. A day here was like a night in the desert, and it was disoconcerting. His lightly coloured clothes might, paradoxically, blend in with the snow at the peaks around him, but down here he was easily visible.

Another thing he found strange was the abundance of life. There was so much shrubbery, as well as some other strange plants, one variety that grew seemingly everywhere, hardly three inches tall, and another which grew to the height of several men, with what looked like the plants he was used to hanging from it. He'd heard caravaneers travelling between his home and foreign lands describe things such as these. Grass, he thought the small ones were, called, and the larger ones... trees? Certainly he had never seen any kind of plant, familiar or alien, grow in such incredible abundance. Apparently though, this was normal throughout most of the world, and it was he who come from the strange lands.

Saddaj turned his head suddenly. Had he just heard something? Maybe not. Still, his hand went to the spear-stave strapped to his back, and he turned around slowly. If the Ashen Steppes had taught him about anything, it was caution.

Chinoki slowly walks around the area, stepping over a few rocks and jumps over a few shrubs before stops to lean against at a random tree to replenish some energy. She had arms behind her head talking in the warm sunshine and her slowly softly closed. She yawns a bit before opening up one eye to see someone walking around has well. "Oh goodie a new friend," She says with a soft chuckle as she moved her arms so they were behind her back still crossed, "I wonder if they would want to play?" She shrugs and begins to walk towards this new person and say 'hello.' Currently, the only thing going through her head is the sweet taste and smell of the blood. She closes her eyes knowing it going to take a while to get there to him by walking and she didn't want to use one of her powers because she'll need her energy during the fight.

Saddaj relaxed. It was just a traveller like him, a young woman. He turned all the way around to face her, and the hand that had been going to his weapon fell to his side. "Greetings, fellow traveller." She didn't seem to have a weapon. Strange, considering the risk of being attacked, by wild animals or criminals, or any number of other dangers in this harsh land. And there was something about her eyes... Saddaj had fought vampires before, her eyes reminded him of theirs. And she was alone? There was something very, very wrong about this. "Are you- okay? You look ill."

Saddaj didn't want to scare anyone if he was wrong, and the woman was not a threat, but he wasn't going to risk his life to avoid revealing his capabilities to a single traveller, who on their own wouldn't be believed by most of the population anyway. So, as subtly as he could, he transmuted a small part of the rock he was standing on, gathering the sand in his hand in case he had to defend himself. Hopefully, there would be no confrontation at all, and they would both continue on their way, but without his spear-stave in hand he felt he needed some way to be able to react quickly to an attack. The sand was the answer.

Chinoki softly giggles and looks up at him with a sly grin. "Why would you think that mister? I only wanna play!" She says while pulling out one of her knives and giggles, "So let's play! Do be warned I like to play dirty." Her grows bigger has she looked up at him as she walked around him in a circle to try and intimidate him.

This woman was clearly psychotic, and a danger to the inhabitants of this land. Though it pained Saddaj, it was clear he would be forced to kill her. She was circling him, rather than attacking him immediately. She clearly expected an easy victory. Saddaj would be happy to surprise her, and if she was going to let him strike first, he certainly wouldn't complain. With his empty (left) hand, he drew his spear-stave. As quickly as he was able, he closed the remaining distance between them and threw the sand he still had in his right hand, aiming for her eyes, so as to blind and stun her. As soon as his hand was empty, whether his attack hit or not, he moved his left hand around to grip the spear-stave in a long-hand stance, ready to attack again or defend as he saw fit.

Chinoky bursted out laughing happy to see he has the guts to attack. She quickly dodges his sand attack and runs around behind him slashing at his back before jumping up and landing on top of his head. "Please don't make this easy for me. I do atleast want some type of fun," She says before jumping off of his head and bouncing off of his spear thing before landing in front of him and turning around to face him face to face, "Like I said. I like to play dirty. So Surpise me. I'm used to dodging things at the speed of light!"

Surprises? Saddaj could do surprises. It was clear already that, due to her speed, no warrior would be able to fight this woman conventionally. But Saddaj was not a conventional fighter. What good is speed when you cannot see to use it? With the desert on his side, wisdom would triumph over haste. So Saddaj struck the ground, hard, with the blunt end of his spear-stave, the resounding thud of metal on rock echoing through the valley. A thick cloud of dust rolled out from Saddaj, making vision inside a large radius of where he struck the ground useless. He gripped his spear-stave in a short-hand position in his right hand, with his left hand out for balance, and ready to enter a long-hand technique if necessary. He watched the area around him, alert. Though he remained still himself, he would have to rely on his ears should the woman attack him. While his clothes, designed with situations like this specifically in mind, would protect him from the worst of the dust and sand, he could still barely see farther than six inches ahead. What little attention he could spare he put towards maintaining the minor sandstorm he had going, so that it wouldn't dissipate unless he released his concentration, and a strong wind picked up.

Chinoki crouches down slightly so she did be under his line of fight and hopefully be able to get a few hits out of him. She quickly summoned another knife before slowly standing up trying to hold her ground has the wind blows harder. She at first she slowly walks closer to him before rushing up to him and slashing across his chest in a x like pattern. She grins at him when she does so before bouncing back out of his sight and into the storm. The sand hitting her skin over and over again didn't really bother her that much but it did hurt.

Saddaj knew he wouldn't be waiting long for an attack, and here it came. Wait. Now she had two knives? Magic seemed the most likely answer, but he had been caught unprepared, and paid for it. He heard her coming, and began to parry. He struck her right elbow with the blunt end of the spear-stave, sending the attack wide. However, the action left the outer side of his left forearm open, and he suffered a long, though shallow, cut along it from the woman's other knife. Thankfully no arteries had been opened, but the pain was certainly distracting. She would be expecting him to retreat, and whether that was a wise decision, it was certainly unwise to be predictable. So, instead of breaking under her assault, he pressed forwards when she tried to move out of his vision, lunging forcefully in a long-hand stance, hoping to catch her off-guard by his sudden, risky, movement.

Chinoki groaned has she took the hit but we rebounded by quickly placing her hands and the spear and lifts herself up so she was balancing on it. She looks over at him and giggles before pushing herself off and throwing one of her knives at his neckm she lands to the right of him and quickly slashes at his shoulder and hand hoping to wound him enough that he would not be able to use that arm. She groans at the pain in her stomach area where he hit her.

Saddaj was glad when he finally managed to hit the woman, even more so that his risk had paid off. He had stabbbed her around her stomach, hopefully the pain would slow her down a little. He reacted quickly to the thrown knife, ducking under what could have been a fatal attack. However, while he was righting himself the woman created a deep wound across his bicep. It was painful, but he got his spear-stave into his left hand, in a short-hand position, before it fully settled in. He couldn't be expecting to use that arm for much in the near future. Being right-handed, Saddaj's ability with his spear-stave was diminished, though he had trained for situations like these and was highly skilled even now. Still, he'd prefer to keep his distance and focus on ranged attacks. He retreated a few steps, then all at once the sandstorm froze and drew in to a cloud above his head. He formed it into a column and blasted it towards his opponent. A direct hit with the rough sand would be horribly painful for her, unbalancing her and potentially knocking her off her feet, while ripping her skin all over. While Saddaj knew she might dodge it, the potential of the attack was too high to ignore.

Chinoki growls and jumps up to dodge his attack but ends up timing it wrong causing her left foot to take a hit. She lands on the ground and groans but she lets out a small giggle at the same time, "Okay let's what you van do about this!" She then summons a bunch of knives and begins throwing then at multiple different soft spots. By doing this she was hoping that she could distract herself from the pain and inflict pain on him.

The woman had been hit - not badly, but Saddan would take it. However, she was now throwing a flurry of knives at him. Too many to be particularly accurate, yes, but enough that even without presicion they posed a threat. It was now that Saddaj was thankful for the enchantment placed upon his spear-stave. He could let loose a short-lived but powerful gust of wind. Typically he would use this to unbalance opponents before performing the coup de grâce that would finish them off. This time, though, he had a different use for it. He thrusted the spear-stave, in his left hand, forwards towards the knives. The wind blasted a few a short distance backwards, but most were not caught head-on by the gust due to their spread. These were instead knocked off-course, some being pushed downwards, to the left or right, and many were knocked upwards, flying over Saddaj's head.

Chinoki growls limping slightly trying to figure iut something that would work. Sge just need to get a few fatal hits. Once she came up with something she bit down on her teeth before summoning three or four new knives. She rushes towards him at half her normal speed because of her foot and stabs him with one knife in his leg before running around behid him and stabbing him in between his neck and shoulder hoping that he wont block and dodge one of her attacks. This was a risky move because of her foot and how careless her movements probably was.

With one arm out of action, Saddaj's main form of defense had been broken. He was losing blood - and his consciousness. If he didn't end this fight now... too slow. He had lost focus, and recieved another wound in his leg. Making an effort to concentrate, he lifted the sand he'd attacked the woman with earlier and, while turning to face his assailant, created something of a shield to block the knife attack. He expected it was risky, but he tried to plug his wounds with the remaining sand, to prevent further blood loss. He'd never heard of someone being hurt by sand in a wound, and he hoped there was a good reason for it.

The attack deterred and the blood loss stopped, Saddaj had bought himself a split second to sharpen his thoughts. Even now, it was only a matter of time before he would be defeated. Only careless agression, something completely uncharacteristic of Saddaj, would save him, and he knew it. So he used his split second the only way he could afford to - he ignored his pain, gripped his spear-stave in both hands and dropped the shield. He stepped forwards, raised the spear-stave high and brought it diagonally downwards towards the right side (Chinoki's right) of his enemy's neck. It was an all-or-nothing move that would, if perfectly executed, cut through her trachea, causing rapid asphyxiation. If not, he would be leaving himself wide open to her own, potentially fatal, attack.