[IC] Melodramatic Deities and an Ageless Taste for Pizza

[Mortim]

*Crunch... Crunch... Crunch...-* 'What an annoying noise.' One would likely find themselves thinking, their world firstly enveloped by darkness before the company of ominous ambiance consumes their peaceful pondering. Telling's of forward momentum fill the gut as clarity begins growth. This wouldn't have been the first of Anora's familiar dreams, though it is most certainly more vivid than any previous trance. Of course, one must question whether they knew this to be a dream or not in the first place once beginning the immersion to soon be named.

*-Crunch... Crunch... Crunch...-* There was no time for frivolous query, sounds liken to gravel being trod upon once more populate immediate space. Cloth raiment lightly clasping either leg can be faintly recollected between what feel as trained steps inside complete shadow. 'I've been traveling awhile, haven't I?' This question somehow settles inwardly as relevant, yet one could hardly tell how. Strange enough, this wasn't troubling, when on common days it may indicate soreness or lack of rest.

Light suddenly splits the haze of gloom, ebony blankets giving way to vast arrays of profound and mythical hues of red and white. Clearer than ever before would be something of vibrant queerness. Yet, what's strangest of all is the clarity of it. Anora could likely say that this vision was of a deeper reality than her waking life, all five senses feeling stronger than ever observed; perhaps it was some drug to enhance ones perception?

Before her now extends an endless field of white. Speckled pockets of black show her to be ambling across small ivory objects, this indicates her gravel-born steps. Said landscape was flat, it's crumbling surface hardly the first of many remarkable details. Several miles in every direction our landscape would end in spherical fashion, much like a cliff, as if one found themselves standing atop a massive disk-like platform. Of course, this was hardly the most remarkable of things.

Far away, and surrounding Anora from all angles, would be massive perfectly circular pillars larger than any man-made structure. This wasn't to say these pillars were shrunken by great distance, in fact, they could be tens-of-hundreds of miles away and yet they would appear to swallow entire flanks with their immeasurable girth. All pillars were of the same bleached shade as her current landscape and would each end somewhere far in the sky above. Some were facing straight upwards, others would be skewed and leaning as if somehow pushed partially over. They continued endlessly in number, a sea of these objects being shown to continue onward as an ocean. There was no ground beneath them, we appeared to be far too elevated to observe any such thing as Earth. Perhaps we're at the relative peak of this place?

Regardless, another oddity would be the sky above. It was red, a deep and cloudless red. This didn't at all change the way other colors were perceived, the light above reflecting off objects as our natural Sun's light would. Looking down one might also notice that what they were walking upon wasn't gravel at all, but rather small fragments of assorted bone. Joints, cracked figments, spinal disks, even small human skulls could be spotted in several choice locations. Yet, for some unknown reason, Anora's own body could not be perceived as if it were somehow out of focus with the rest of reality. Her limbs were all unable to be commanded aside from their constant aforementioned pace, somehow continuing against all struggle of will.

*Grooooooom-rumble!* 'He's here.' Anora would find herself thinking as a distant quaking is registered against faint winds and relative silence. Such a thought felt only natural in response to said event.

*BOOM!* A massive human hand nearly dwarfing some of the surrounding pillars would suddenly shoot into the air before Anora's current place of standing several miles in the distance, it's titanic shadow consumes her, an open palm indicating action to soon grasp for any available ledge by slow and labored motion. It's skin ripples during slow descent, small humanoid mouths spewing crimson fluid crack open all across it's exterior surface. This is easily perceived, yet the rest of our gargantuan being remains hidden somewhere below. Danger is felt, flight or fight kicking in as waves of horrific agonized wailing blast Anora backwards. 'Shit! If I don't make the first move he'll-...

Her eyes would now open in real life, all visions ending completely as if they'd never occurred. Well, perhaps one should say 'as if they weren't currently occurring'. Either way, another day is to begin. Though, it's likely this day wouldn't be the same as most...

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*Crunch... Crunch... Crunch...* An odd man walks casually about not far from Anora's residence. He's tall, but aside from that and a relatively inspiring physique, there is nothing outwardly remarkable about him. He strides with a slice of pizza in hand, treasuring small bites whilst pacing over dirtied sidewalk. Warm summer air rushes over his casually clothed form, a plain blue button-up matching his faded jeans and tan flip-flops.

"I'm always given faith in man by how they keep creating this-...uhmm... what are they calling it this time...?" He continues walking, munching for several seconds whilst pondering over endless memory.
"PIZZA! They call it pizza this time around." Our same man nods in affirmation of greatness towards himself once blurting this aloud. He attracts several stares from those walking about during their typical affairs, but, it's not as if he's entirely out of the ordinary. Yes, for this man and 'most everyone else' in this town, it's just another average day.

Regrettably, it's only 'most everyone else'. There's three sets of eyes and two sets of ears observing him, and none are going to stand idle in this day and age. In fact, they're likely to take drastic action soon with their other physical facilities soon. Of course, this doesn't mean they aren't hunting one supposedly 'minor threat' first. One can only hope she's prepared for whats to come...

[Riven Wight]

Dreams are such odd things. They lurk in the depths of the mind, emerging when we succumb to the sweet, healing unconsciousness of sleep. For most, they are little more than wisps of visions that blow away with the waking world. They are quickly lost and forgotten, leaving only the haunting feeling that something had happened inside your head while you slumbered. And even that was rare for some, their dreams consumed by the darkness of the mind long before waking.
But Anora had not had that luxury for far too long. She was sure she had gone to bed, but the persistent, steady crunch reminiscent of gravel beneath her feet filled the darkness she had thought only a moment before to have been the product of sleep. Shadows. She was wading on expert feet through the obsidian blanket of shadows. She had the feeling she had been traveling for a while, yet she did not feel worn from the journey.
Streams of light streaked through the wall of black, but Anora did not so much as blink at the sudden light. The rays created a gray haze before the darkness fully pulled away, and she could not help but marvel at the vividness of the colors of her surroundings. Beautiful, but deadly-looking shades of deep red saturated the cloudless sky, illuminating the world despite the lack of a visible sun. Contrasting shades of a white expanse stretched around her, rounding off then dropping into red oblivion far in the distance. The indentations left by her steps allowed light shadows to pool inside them. But it was not just her sight that felt enhanced; every one of her senses had intensified as if someone had cranked her body’s perception dial to its breaking point. From the gentle breeze carrying a sour scent, to the sensation of the gravel beneath her feet, this relatively quiet place was unquestionably real, even more tangible than the world she had left behind.
Further off, gigantic, baseless pillars that could put even the Tokyo Skytree to shame surrounded her like a stone forest. It was impossible to tell whether the massive, perfectly round structures were one or thousands of miles away. Some of them leaned drunkenly while others stood straighter than she thought possible. She glanced from them to the gravel through which they seemed to have sprouted, as opposed to being built upon.
No, not gravel. Bones. For as far as she could see, a harrowing array of human-like bones littered the ground and cracked unnervingly beneath each of her steps, the occasional small skull smiling emptily up at her.
She tried to gasp, to step back, but her body did not obey her. It kept going forward. Of course it did. She was on a mission, and this was no ordinary dream, even by her standards. This time, her body was not hers, driven forward by a consciousness not her own.
A scratching rumble sent a violent tremble through the ground beneath her feet, and a thought not of her thinking, yet oddly fitting all the same, crossed her mind: He’s here.
Not-her-body tensed, ready for action. Where was he?
With a chest-rattling eruption, a colossal hand burst from the ground, sending a rain of bones clattering for miles. Its enormous palm reached slowly toward the ground as if hoping to pull up the rest of its body still hidden below. Its skin appeared to ripple as thousands of mouths opened. What looked unnervingly like blood blood gushed from their lips. The shock and dread blooming in not-her combined with the fearful awe that flooded through Anora.
What sounded like the tortured wails of millions of souls trapped in the underworld sent a shock wave toward her from the hand, knocking her back. She skidded painfully to her back, the carpet of bones poking at her through her clothes.
Not-her cursed and scrambled to her feet. If I don’t make the first move, he’ll--

* * *

Realizing she had regained full sensation of her own body, Anora jumped up from her bed, an electric purple energy speckled with gold forming around her hands. She had to attack first, but her blanket caught around her legs and made her fall to the floor with a shout. The energy she had summoned burst unintentionally from her hands and shot into her dresser. The wood of one of the drawers shattered, sending an array of splinters and scorched undergarments into the air before falling about the threadbare carpet.
Her heart still pounding madly in her chest, Anora pushed her upper body up and looked around, slowly registering the familiar surroundings of her bedroom. The peeling wallpaper that displayed an ugly, faded floral pattern. Her desk, the only thing messy about the room, cluttered with stray papers, half-finished drawings, and paintbrushes unwisely left dipped in water. The few posters and pictures she had put up to try countering the wallpaper. Then, there was her dresser, now minus one drawer. With a groan, she plopped fully onto the carpet, her arms on the floor above her head.
“Could my dreams get any weirder?” she asked the brown carpet. Though it offered her no answer, at least it was not made of bone. She could feel her black hair sticking up at odd angles, making her scalp itch as it tried to fall back into place.
Without fully sitting up, she twisted her body to get a look at her alarm clock. It told her it was a little past noon.
“Crap!” She hurried to her feet, this time careful to not let her blanket best her. She had wanted to get up earlier, but either her alarm failed to go off, or she slept through it. Either way, if she wanted to make it to the grocery store before her shift at the dinner, she would have to book it, or wait until tomorrow. With only enough food in the apartment to make a Jell-O and Lucky Charms sandwich, there was no way she was waiting.
As quickly as she could and trying to not think about her dream, she got ready for her day. She donned a tight-fitting black t-shirt adorned almost elegantly with a leather strip of silver studs on one side and various sizes of chains draped over the other, a matching pair of pants, and her current favorite pair of mid-calf platform boots decorated with exaggeratedly large buckles, her favorite knife hidden inside the left one.
As she hurried from her room, she paused to glance at the mess on her desk. The partially-painted sketch on top depicted a fierce, bloody battle she had borne witness to in yet another of her increasing dreams. She shuddered at the thought of the hand that had haunted her last night. That was certainly another one to put in the books. Her dreams had felt real since they began, but this had taken it to a whole new level.
Deciding her dresser could wait until later, she hurried from the apartment, pausing only to debate whether or not she wanted to take her car. Deciding it would be quicker, she grabbed her car keys from a dish on the small kitchen table, grabbed her handbag from beside it, and hurried from the two-roomed apartment.
She rushed down the creaky stairs to the first floor, her car keys swirling absently around one finger by a key ring, then emerged into the summery outdoors. She blinked slightly in the sunlight, examining the lawn suspiciously as if expecting another hand to come bursting through the ground.
Though she could not say what, there was something different about today. Something she could not quite place her finger on felt off, almost like there was an extra buzz in the air.
A feeling of paranoia stepped down her spine, making her frown. Looking around in a vain attempt at locating any reason for the sensation, Anora gripped her keys and made her way slowly across the grassy lawn between complexes toward the parking lot where her hand-me-down BMW waited.

[Mortim]

*Snicker* Twisted laughter reverberates throughout a shadowy corridor. "You think she's some kind of threat?" Feminine, malice-tainted vocals push said question towards their respective recipient, one masculine figure standing opposite of a corrupted woman known only as 'The Second Gorgon'.

"Of course. She's connected to that man." He responds by frank tone, either crimson eye looking down upon pedestrians via dirt-caked glass. His six foot stature, coated in grey pinstripe suit, leans laxly against peeling floral wallpaper.

"Are you serious?! That's just some distant relation. No ones seen him in millions of years anyways.." Lady Gorgon blurts towards her cohort. Her posture displays annoyance, feeling unhindered in speech as they both stand alone in a condemned apartment complex.

"You can only say that because you're young.-" Another retort coated in apathy draws deep aggravation by the woman standing across from himself. "-But if you feel that strongly, just take care of her." His words of allowance towards this girls wanting for conflict push away all further means to fight one another. She's sated, or at least, she feels she soon will be.

"I will! Just don't poke your head out while I'm having my fun you greedy bastard." The gorgon sneers, clenching her fists tightly in remembrance of past relations with our grey and mysterious gentlemen. She vanishes from sight, moving by expedience to address her latest source of entertainment.

"What an unoriginal child. Abandoned human housing... She couldn't have just enslaved half the town for comfort? somethings got her on edge. Perhaps he truly is nearby." He thinks aloud upon the gorgons departure, feeling now emboldened by privacy. He wasn't to stay here long, the man named in his contract feeling nearer than ever before. 'I've heard he quite delights in what modern man calls 'pizza'? Perhaps I shall start by searching respective establishments.' The hunt begins.

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Anora would have safely entered her vehicle, departing towards aforementioned grocery outlet as she might any other day. But, as she has already felt, this hour was not liken to 'any other day'. During travel, the air would have grown thicker and slightly more unnerving than previously experienced. Maybe someone was watching her? Of course the actual oddity of it all didn't occur until entering Piggly Wiggly's parking lot. This would be her first contact with that strange other world, the place of magic that's remained hidden for most all other pedestrians.

After having exited the BMW, something out of place unnoticed by all would likely be spotted. Near the road, roughly 40 feet from where she now stands, is what could firstly be described as one partially rotted ghoul. There it silently stood, wheezing faintly and constantly jittering within it's upright position. Flayed skin and torn raiment cling to maggot-caked exterior.

Perhaps Anora may gasp at her distant company, but surprisingly, none would join her. All surrounding sapiens pass by this being as if he weren't there. Not one eye nor ear is lent to it's existence as if she were the only to know of it's queer threat. Should Anora attempt to approach the beast, it would match her pace in retreating from her. If any attempt to run can be committed, the ghoul would follow in due form. Anora now had a second shadow, likely as untouchable as what she firstly possessed.

If Anora is yet brave enough to enter the store, so to would said zombie. Employees and people may only remark at how the automatic door seems to be malfunctioning. Company loves misery, and she wouldn't be without either for several hours to come.

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'Whats an 'Aldit' doing here?' A nearby being would casually think, sitting atop dilapidated bench with a near-finished slice of pizza in hand. His silvery eyes pace one shivering ghouls form, soon to alight over the girl it's vigilantly observing. 'She reminds me of someone...' Another thought to be traced over a massive sea of past experiences.

"Nope, not possible." He says aloud, affirming a belief that this ebony-clad girl is not what he thinks her to be. He was far too distracted by the finishing of an item long put into creation for any true attention to be paid towards another victim of some gorgons schemes. Besides, his pizza was also important, and he most certainly wasn't finished savoring it.

[Riven Wight]

Anora’s fingers tapped against the steering wheel as she drove. The sensation that something lurked just beyond the safe shell of her car only intensified, hanging thick and almost palpable in the air. It set her on edge, every loud noise or sudden movement making her snap to attention. A couple times, a purple-gold mist swirled about her before she hastily banished it before it could do any damage. She already had a busted dresser. She did not need to add her car to that list.
Get ahold of yourself! she scolded herself with a scowl. That dream wasn’t that bad. Even as she thought it, a part of her knew there was something more to it than that, the maddening question of, “But what?” driving her near to insanity. Her tapping on the steering wheel intensified. By the time she pulled into the parking lot of Piggly Wiggly’s Grocery, she was surprised she had not created a series of dents in the faux leather.
Turning the car off, she took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair, trying to calm her nerves and the ever-growing paranoia. Checking the time quickly on her phone, she sighed, and exited the car.
She straightened her shirt, then ducked back inside to grab her wallet from the dash. Though she could not say what made her look up, she found herself glancing to the opposite side of the street in front of her.
She gasped and, forgetting she was still partially inside the car, tried to straighten. A painful-sounding thunk followed by a moaned “Ow!” came from the cab. Anora pulled from the car, her wallet and phone dropping back onto the driver’s seat as she reached to rub the sore spot where her head had hit the assist handle.
She pushed the pain aside as she straightened and leaned on the open door, her amethyst gaze falling on a creature with rotting flesh and clothing in little better state hanging from its cadaverous body.
Had she finally cracked? Were her dreams spilling over into reality, or, perhaps, had she not actually woken up yet? No one else seemed to notice the zombie... no, that wasn’t quite right. It looked less human than a zombie. She had read once about a creature known as a ghoul. Zombie-like, yet not a zombie. Less mindless. More tactical, even though they shared the same affinity for human flesh.
Never taking her eyes off the creature, she closed the car door and took a couple tentative steps toward it, still trying to decide whether she had gone crazy or was, at long last, encountering one of the creatures she had so ardently studied. There was only one thing she was sure of; if she did not jump upon the opportunity to find out now whether it was real or a hallucination, she may never know. And every fiber of her being had to know.
The creature stepped away as slowly as she stepped forward, but it still stared at her with its beady, hungry eyes.
On the sidewalk opposite the creature, Anora dared tear her gaze away only long enough to glance down either side of the street to check for oncoming traffic. She sprinted across the street toward the living corpse, the chains on her shirt and pants clinking together and the task of shopping all but forgotten.
The ghoul turned and ran from her on surprisingly fast legs for a maggot-infested body.
“HEY!” she shouted after it as she wove through those crowding the sidewalk, gaining her a few choice words and nasty looks from people she nearly ran into. But she paid them no mind, her attention focused solely on the being she had only hoped could exist as she chased it through the city. Her sizzling magic, as invisible to the nearby humans as the ghoul seemed to be, formed around her fists, the magic ready in case the creature turned on her.
“GET BACK HERE!”

[Mortim]

'The bitch, she's really just an idiot after all.' Jaded eyes pace their emerald form across an approaching woman chasing one well-empowered minion. The 'aldit', or 'ghoul' as Anora would have it, easily matched pace with our young human female even whilst running backwards so as to never miss locking it's gaze upon her. Though, curiosities were peaked upon witnessing the varied energies clinging fervently against two clenched fists. 'I wonder...' Towards an alley Anora would be lured. Presumably, she'd follow the mangled beast into shadowy bowels so long as it maintained the previously established distance. Regrettably, what is to be found here was far more than just one decayed figure.

*THWAP!* Immediately upon entering or coming close to said corridor an unregistered force would snatch Anora from her feet. Someones hand had gripped her left wrist, lifting the hapless woman from balance with superhuman strength. Upon registry, the assailant's supernatural form would be made clear, and once more, without any passerby noticing.

Scaled skin cakes a near-naked form, no, a tightly-clad form. Green snake scales are the exterior to a snug suit adorned by one rather voluptuous feminine figure. The toes of her feet end in sharp claws, the soles of her stiletto's having been lifted as if she constantly postures on the front ends of her feet rather than the heels. Her legs are to be expected of most human forms, albeit, blatantly muscular. Her core speaks of similar training regimes, her waist being lined in what appear as turtle shells. Upon closer inspection, these 'shells' may actually be large jade stones carved in such a way as to mirror the aforementioned animal group. Her breasts and shoulders are lifted and lean, her left arm being visible and clawed just as her feet are. Her right arm is currently tasked in lifting Anora from the Earth. Her neck is lined in a massive collar splitting as a V inwards to the chest. It's been popped upwards, nearly rising past the top of her scalp as a fashionable wall of green scales. Her features may dwarf most all previously witnessed Greek sculptures, each facet appearing as symmetrical in beauty despite all malice and seething ego. Her emerald hair flows as if submerged, shimmering in light that hardly exists. Several long strands nearly collide with Anora, their beauteous movement to remain unquestioned by all natural standards.

Anora would have by now realized that she's paralyzed aside from movement of the eyes and mouth. From the moment her eyes had caught the quick movements of this woman grasping her fore-arm, she would have been defenseless. Something of an unnatural and unseen fluid could be felt flowing against each inch of her skin. This fluid would be cold, but never acting as something to prevent breathing or speech.

"You're what Ephrin tasked me to destroy? I slay godly beasts, not slithering worms." She sneers at Anora, that elegant face mirroring the tone of her near-musical voice. Despite being spoken as plain word, each syllable bled of perfect verbal training. Her free hand snaps to clasp Anora's cheeks, turning the girls head from side to side as if examining some piece of raw meat to be later purchased.

*Thwop!* Anora is suddenly dropped the two feet she's been lifted towards the Earth below, her paralysis ending just before said event. The tall green woman would vanish while this occurs, a faint breeze flowing from her previous place of standing. A callous chuckle fills the air, that sing-song voice sliding into Anora's ears once more. "Let's see if you're more than a worm, little maggot." She would have said, the ghoul still having stood forty feet down the alley suddenly takes a rather active position on things as opposed to it's previously silent composure.

*Grrrssshh* The beast would deeply moan, it's jaw sizzling with puss and bugs unseen but on corpses or in swamps. It's eyes light up in an odd way, two small tendrils extending from what can only now be perceived as hallow sockets. What can be registered as thin snakes in the faint light writhe from it's skull, acting as mobile viewing apparatus's. They lock upon Anora as both clawed hands extends forward. Labored steps carry an unholy fate towards a girl who's been tossed into more than she's known she could be. She has ten to twenty seconds before the beast reaches her, but should she attempt to walk backwards that cold and unseen fluid would overtake her, causing paralysis once more. She has only forward to move, only fears to face.

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'What's 'he' doing here?' Our relaxed male pedestrian thinks whilst taking the final bite of a long-treasured pizza slice, his hands lightly rubbing themselves together afterwards as to be rid of crumbs and grease. His thoughts were spurred by the spotting of a grey gentlemen roughly thirty yards down the street. Recognition was instant, rather than something to be sought inside the cavernous bowels of past acquaintance. This observed pin-striped man had taken it upon himself to walk into the nearest Italian eatery, looking as if he were full of some deep and meaningful purpose.

'Has he FINALLY acquired a taste for pizza? No, something's off, he's never liked fruits as a sauce. The male nods, as if culinary preference were the explanation to all things in the universe. After taking several seconds to breathe the scenery surrounding him, he stands. 'He looks tense, I should help put him at ease.' With pure intentions in mind, our pedestrian set off towards one of his many preferred restaurants. It's not as if he were really heading in that direction to acquire more food, the man couldn't possibly be that simple, could he?

[Riven Wight]

With a frustrated snort that the beast managed to remain ahead of her, Anora quickened her pace. When they entered a rather deserted back alleyway, the thought that it could be leading her into a trap crossed her mind, but she knew this neighborhood like the back of her hand, and while, if she recalled correctly, ghouls had strength on their side, she had range and power.
She smirked when the creature turned down a branch in the alleyway she knew led to a dead-end. This was her chance to corner it.
Anora spread her arms slightly wider as she advanced upon the opening in the brick buildings, her speed never faltering, and the energy around her hands growing in anticipation.
She shouted in surprise when something latched onto her wrist the moment she stepped into the opening. Her arm yanked back painfully as it took her legs an extra moment to get the memo of the need to stop. Before she could spin around to face whoever had caught her, her feet were lifted from the ground by her arm. Trying to use the momentum of the action while keeping her left shoulder from dislocating, she swung her free magic-encased fist toward her attacker. The power crackled angrily over her fingers, but the feeling of dipping in cold water flowed over her body from where her captor gripped her, making her fist freeze mid swing and the vibrant energy fizzle out.
Panic blossomed in her chest and crossed her face as she realized she could not move, but the expression changed the moment she registered who--or, rather, what--had a hold on her. Anora gawked at the woman standing before her, from the scales that covered her very feminine body in a natural armored garment and jade-like plates over her lean stomach, to her voluptuously emerald hair moving of its own volition. Though reptilian, the impressively tall woman was nothing short of the most beautiful creature she had ever laid eyes on. Though Anora could still move her mouth, could look the creature over, words failed her, leaving her only to stare in amazed horror.
Her only answer to the woman’s indubitably rhetorical question, the woman’s musical voice holding a regal air, was an extended, ever brilliant, “Uh...” However, the prickle of the woman’s claws on her cheeks had a sobering effect, and Anora's nose and lips rose in a quiet snarl. This was very real. And if she did not collect herself, she would become another corpse added to the pile of “godly beasts” the woman claimed to have killed.
Of all the ways she had imagined stumbling upon another with some sort of power, having a scaly hitwoman out for her had not been one of them.
For the second time that day, Anora’s heart ferreted madly in her chest.
The moment her paralysis wore off, her right arm, its muscles still tensed in its swing, followed through with its punch, only to hit empty air as she fell to hands and knees on the concrete. She scrambled back to her feet, looking around wildly for the woman, but her search was in vain. She flinched and ducked cautiously as the reptillion woman’s cruel, disembodied laughter echoed around the alleyway. Her body tense and adrenaline coursing through her, she held her hands in front of her defensively, an indecisive mist of violet and gold swirling around her arms as it waited for her full command as to what form to take. The gold in her eyes intensified with the use of the power, her amethyst irises alight with a faint glow.
“Bring it, puny Gecko!” she shouted in response to the woman’s insults as she turned, trying to locate the speaker. Then, her eyes settled back on the ghoul she had been chasing, the creature standing some forty feet down the alley.
She gasped when the beast let out a moan filled with the drone of flies, wasps, and many other creeping bugs that emerged from its jaws in a pool of sickeningly yellow puss. Yet, it was the snakes, of all things, that burst from its skull that made her take a full startled step back, ready to run, but the cold, liquidy sensation slid up her leg. She jumped forward before it could spread too far, and it faded as quickly as it had started.
She only had one option, then.
Holding her breath, her body shaking slightly in fear, she had no time to waste. She could only hope what practice she had, even if it had been against foes existing only in her imagination, would suffice.
She swallowed hard, then inhaled sharply through her nose as the beast rushed toward her. In a single, swift movement, she crossed her arms in front of her, then stepped forward as she yanked them apart again. The mist that had coalesced around them stretched and formed into a shimmering translucent barrier of purple strewn with golden spider webs, followed her arms as she threw them partially behind her, then disconnected to stand on its own. The comforting tingle of the magical barrier surrounded her, caressing her skin as her powers eagerly awaited her next order.
Even her powers felt slightly different today. More fervid, more willing to obey as if even they knew she was in danger. Following some unfamiliar instinct, she waited until the ghoul was slightly closer, swished her left arm in front of her once more, then placed an open palm on the inside of the barrier. At her touch, electric sparks engulfed the outside, and she ran toward the ghoul with a wordless battle cry, the heat and electricity radiating from the shield making her hair stand slightly on end even on her protected side. Though she hoped to ram into the beast with all the fury of a lightning storm, she remained ready to turn should it dodge, to fire the crepitating shield she had created wherever it went. Even, perhaps, to wrap it in a prison of sparkling gold and deep purple.

[Mortim]

~~~In a restuarant just down the street, roughly eighty yards from Anora's current point of conflict~~~

*Ding-Ding!* Metallic frame collides against rusted bell, an atypical sing-song chime denoting another patron to have entered a place of culinary acquisition. Our relaxed pedestrian had entered his refuge, 'Dino's Italian Eatery'. They were famous for lasagna, but of course, he never arrives here for such a thing.

"Ah! It's the young man!" Dino would shout from within the kitchen, his eyes having instantly recognized one highly loyal customer through the rectangular opening into where food is constantly prepared. He rushes from a recently powdered ball of dough, those aged eyes moving to silently order one of many workers into resuming what the master chef had yet to finish. The care-free man anxiously scratched the back of his head, chuckling lightly towards what he saw as one rather hilarious old cogder.
"It's good to see you my boy!" Dino embraces the man with carefree enthusiasm, the two of them seeming to know each other well in the eyes of a packed-out dining area. It is true that he was one of the only customers to arrive for nearly a year just as Dino appeared to be headed towards bankruptcy. After said point, Dino slowly but surely found himself to be largely successful for no discernible reason. He attributes it to 'the man with silvery eyes', and surprisingly enough, he wouldn't be entirely wrong.
"Are you finally going to try my lasagna?!" Those brown eyes surrounded by care-worn wrinkles are nearly swallowed up by the force of two massive dimples created by years of genuinly joyful smiling.

"No, no. I'm here to see a friend. But you know, I could never say no to-" That soft voice repressed all conflict, it's presence forever something to be treasured and anxiously awaited by those to whom it's grown familiar.
"-Sausage and pepperoni!-" Dino would finish the sentence for him, the both of them chuckling amidst another quick hug before the stout chef rushes back to his place in the kitchen. A leathery hand slaps our mans back several times before departure, one of it's five callous fingers waving mischievously about with each step. "-I'll get you to try my lasagna one day!" He shouts, as he did with practically every word.

This joy was only to last a short while, one nearby booth having been partially populated by a grey gentlemen. Pinstripes curl against arched elbows, two hands having laced their delicate ligaments just in front of a pale face. The crimson eyes belonging to this body hadn't left our relaxed pedestrians form throughout the aforementioned encounter. The mind behind hig sullen expression would have made no move as to interrupt, he was too classy for any venture of that nature.

"You came, that was fast." Frank tones reach the silver eyes which move to sit across from their reddened counterparts.
"You hate fruit sauces." Equally blatant, yet hardly relevant truths did such a miracle as to push a smirk into the thin lips of the recipient of those words.
"True. So I suppose you 'are' who I've been meaning to find." Once having recovered, the gentlemen continued his subject.
"Maybe. But, what's the occasion?" Ivory iris's once again examine the luxurious exterior of he who sits across from them.
"Theft of your most prized possession." These words sent chills into the air, everyone in the room suddenly growing slightly more quiet than they had before without them realizing as to why such a thing had occurred.
"Okay. Your style is still lacking, but you've impressed me so far." Lively features would laugh lightly, as if all such threats were highly comparable to average interaction.

*Clatter!* A flustered woman would drop a plate with two slices of pizza upon their table, her body feeling rushed for reasons she couldn't verbally express to leave the presence of these two ominous men. She knew one of them well, but by queer logic, even he seemed intimidating on this day.

"So, what's your plan?" Warm lips would embrace the first treasured slice after speaking.
"You just swallowed it." After waiting several seconds, and riding on the distraction of flavor, cold tones could again be heard.
"You whelp..... Have I been complacent that long?" A friendly tone turns sour for only the briefest of moments when it's respective body registers what was consumed.

This is when all realizations collide. An old being is now to awaken, and even our grey man couldn't understand what this means. It may be true that none are safe, especially considering how effective an unnamed poison will be...

It goes without saying, profound, fairytail conflict is here to reawaken. Powers long dormant take their first steps towards materialisation. *Thwop* Sausage and pepperoni pizza lands flatly atop grease-coated plate. Powerful tastes mean nothing to one who's experienced all this world may offer. What feel as needles shoot into the skin of all who dwell inside the restaurant, nearly everyone for roughly one hundred meters would feel panic surround them as a cloud. Hostile lions could be standing before them and it's likely they wouldn't feel quite so scared as they do now. Anora would have some resistance to this. But nevertheless, it's as if some large hand looms over her, power untold rearing it's head upon Earths surface for the first time in the Fifth age.

"AHH!" *CRASH!* Screams and crashing vehicles now populate a panicked and chaotic city center. Scenery will change quickly in the next hour or so, should nothing be done to stop the source of this.

----------------------------------------

"GRAAALLLLGH!!!" The ghoul had charged directly into Anora's netted shield. Something about it's offensive appeared reluctant, as if having been commanded against better instinct to inflict this result upon itself. Death-born fluids of various type simmer and dissolve against the girls defense for several seconds before a counterattack is made.

During this charge, both previously described snakes had retreated into our ghouls skull. Two small glowing dots filled each eye rather than what typically may be observed as an iris from any other beast or man. Whilst being inflicted heavily with damages such as heavy scorching and turbulent waves of solid wind, one of these two snakes sacrifices itself to lung forward and use it's non-poisonous fangs to slash at Anora's chest. Regrettably, the attack would miss. Still, damage is certain to be inflicted upon her right shoulder whilst the willful strike is pushed away by fear-born energies powering all present defenses. Aside from this, not one hand could have reached the girl through her improvised fortress.

The beast would then release it's assault, being flung backwards roughly eight feet by the powers it was once pushing itself towards. The opponent would take hardly a breathe to recover, during which time another ominous feminine chuckle would fill the air. Overall, the Aldit doesn't appear to be severely harmed, all bodily functions still obviously intact aside from one missing 'eye'.

"Not too shabby, maggot. Perhaps I'll savor you for some time to come." Just after such words were permitted, the presence of those two men in Dino's would be felt. Though the relevancy of Anora's situation is undiminished, the stimulation it causes may likely push most present convictions aside. A force truly unknown to this point had shown itself, even the sluggish creature across from our young woman had felt this. It froze, backing away slightly, as if in fear... If such a monster could even feel named emotion. Perhaps survival?

For Anora, this aura wouldn't appear quite so 'life-threatening'. She would likely feel as if some relative had grown fiercely enraged over current personal circumstance, or that a deeply-connected brother were about to act upon an undeserved rage towards someone she knew but did not entirely care for. She would fear for those involved more-so than herself, something of resonance being felt towards that which projects all of said calamity. She could likely swear she knew what was responsible, even going so far as to say it was a 'who' rather than a 'what'.

Something of a cold, silvery outlining to a masculine figure far in the distance could be pictured deep in the recesses of Anora's mind should she focus in on what was engulfing all surrounding life. The being perceived was faint, but the warmness and deep respect for him was unmistakable. He had given her, or someone she knew, something irreplaceable. Safety and fear simultaneously collide, but whether these things were born of Anora personally is likely hard to distinguish in such a turbulent moment as this.

[Riven Wight]

To Anora’s surprise, the beast did not so much as step to the side to avoid her attack. She felt the collision like a gentle thump through her entire body. The electricity sparking over the front of the shield sizzled as it seared away rotting flesh, filling the alley with a fetid odor that nearly made her gag. With a quick push of her right hand, the shield shot forward, the ghoul still on its front like the world’s ugliest hood ornament.
As she readied to order the shield to wrap around the ghoul, too late, she saw a snake propelling over it, part of its scaly body gorged and burned. She gasped and staggered back, her eyes wide in fear, but it’s sharp fangs pierced the fabric of her short sleeve and latched into the top of her shoulder.
It took her a short, precious second to remember how to move her other hand, her mind screaming, “GET IT OFF!” like a holy mantra. With her attention no longer on it, her forcefield burst into a formless, glittering mist that quickly dissipated. She reached up, gripped the animal’s head tightly, and pulled. She hissing through her teeth as its fangs tore at her skin. She threw it to the ground and stumbled away from its writhing form as a crackling purple-and-gold bolt surrounded one of her fists, then shot desperately at the creature as it reared its head at her in a furious hiss.
“Why snakes?” she breathed with a shudder as the snake fell still, its head now a hideous, smoldering mess.
Hoping it was not venomous, she swung her attention back to the ghoul just as it readied to make its own attack. Ignoring the stinging in her shoulder, she raised her hand and another translucent shield spread out from her palm.
She jumped and dared to spare only a quick glance around when the reptilian woman’s voice sounded once more as the beast advanced to strike.
But then it shrunk back, turning into a snarling, frightened beast as it backed away. It looked about the alley and its body hunched in a defensive position as if ready to fight or flee from a foe it could not see.
Anora barely had time to register its actions before whatever had overcome it flooded through her as well. It was almost a distress, as if she was about to witness someone dear to her fall into an unparalleled rage, ready to take down anyone who came too close. Yet, it was not the angered she worried for, but the people in his path. His. Somehow, much like when one sees someone they are sure they had met before, but cannot remember from where, she knew this sensation radiated from a man.
Like one of her dreams trying to creep up on her, a vision formed in the back of her mind, its appearance disorienting as her brain registered both it and the alleyway with equal clarity. She reached out to the wall closest to her to help keep her balance, a twinge spiking through her injured shoulder at the action.
In her mind’s eye, she saw a man, his body surrounded in a silvery aura. She tried to see beyond it, to catch a glimpse of the features of the person she inexplicably recognized as the source for this sensation. His image brought a sense of security unlike anything she had ever known, mingled with a respectable fear. This was a man to whom she owed more than she could ever repay.
Anora swallowed and closed her eyes, trying to shake the image and thought off. Though she had scarcely gotten a look at him, she was sure she had never met him before. Right now, she had to finish her fight with the ghoul. Then she could worry about that man. Then she could follow the pull to find him.
Opening her eyes and trying to focus on the physical realm around her, her face twisted in determination. Unsure whether she could do what she had in mind, she held both hands at her side and her powers manifested around them into two solid strips closely resembling her barriers.
With the creature distracted, Anora reached toward it and the two solid masses released from her fingers. They connected mid-flight to form a lengthy shackle that, if successful, would wrap around the ghoul's neck, and embed into the wall of one of the buildings. She shot two more in quick succession in an attempt to pin its arms as well.
Hoping it would detain the creature, she reached down to her boot, pulled her long knife from its hidden sheath, and rushed toward the beast, energy crackling to life over the blade, ready to drive it into the ghoul’s throat.

[Mortim]

*THWOOOOooosh! Jingle-Jingle!* With a gust of wind and rattling metallic doors, both silver and crimson eyes faced each other once more on the street just outside of Dino's Italian Eatery. Things weren't quite so friendly upon this revived encounter, the air heavy with what is to be portrayed as 'anger' and 'fear'. By this time, most all human residents had retreated indoors. Their instincts screamed to flee and hide, so most all of them did, faster than they likely ever believed they could. Our two masculine figures now stood roughly three meters apart atop a road strewn with debris and cars that had swerved far from their native pavement. Scenery liken to an apocalypse had already been enacted here, and neither had yet to make a move.

"Why do you want this, Ephrin?" Severe words demanding an answer slip from our relaxed pedestrians lips.
"Well, Pahn, you aren't exactly my favorite person." The grey man chuckles, running one callous hand through side-swept hair.
"If thats how you want it." Pahn would say, his body pushed to take action when receiving an unsatisfactory answer.

*BOOOM!* The ground quakes as Ephrin catches a forceful punch inside his left palm, Pahn having now closed the distance.'Shit, I could feel that throughout my body. Still, it's not to be unexpected..' Pahn takes this opportunity to stare the boy down, analyzing him from less than a foot as opposed to more than a meter. Stones are tossed from the Earth below as pavement cracks beneath grey legs, boulders levitating upwards for several seconds when caught inside the profoundly dense aura's of these two godly beings.

"How unoriginal Pahn. Don't tell me you got your titles by swinging these little fists around." Ephrin goads through gritted teeth.
"Okay." Pahn replies. This one word, paired with solemn expression, was something that said 'yes, I'll show you some of what I can do.' With that, he dashes backwards to stand where he previously had before offering the first move. Ephrin stands ready at this word, choosing to observe the mythical strength about to be summoned as opposed to taking hostile action.

*.....wub....wub...wub..WUB.WUB!WUB!WUB!WOOOOOOOOSH!!* Ambiance liken to a generic star-ship powering it's engines could be heard as waves of what look to be compressed air rush from Pahn with each surge of magical strength. The air grows twice as thick as it had before, most all natural humans within a three-hundred meter radius now struggling to breath whilst coping with indescribable panic. Powerful silvery luminescence projects from either of the mans iris's.

*RUMBLLEE!* The ground beneath Pahn quakes and cracks, a very minor earthquake emanating from where he now stands. All aforementioned vehicles in the street surrounding him are pushed back by an intangible and colorless force flowing freely from his form. He takes a step towards Ephrin, the boy takes a small step backwards out of instinct. Whilst our grey man curses under his breath for succumbing to such a thing, Pahn initiates his offensive.

Pahns left hand moves backwards, his body shifting to emulate that of a practiced baseball pitcher ready to launch a curve ball. His right leg lifts whilst his left hand begins to glow. "Is our catcher ready!?!" He would shout, that once human voice now booming at such a frequency that windows attached to all surrounding structures nearly shatter. "Aaaaaand TOSS!" Said windows explode to pieces at that last bellowing howl, Pahns right leg lifting higher just before his body twists violently to propel whatever force had gathered in his left palm forward.

One silvery sphere speckled with blueish hues rockets towards Ephrin in utter silence, said target initiates a move at launching himself upwards when seeing this. Pahn winks at the boy just as his evasion begin. *BOOOOOOOM!!* The sphere explodes prematurely, it's energies blasting as a cylinder of smoke and white flames for several miles before dispersing by crackling multi-colored beads liken to cheap fireworks. Ephrin was near-instantly swallowed up by the inferno. People may begin thinking a holocaust was occurring, even with none having been harmed by some miraculous feat as all destructive force had been contained in between whatever structures humanity had taken refuge in. Nevertheless, carnage unspeakable had been left in the wake of this attack.

"I'm not so weak as I was before." Ephrin gasps between labored breaths. He stood inside a singularly preserved sphere of pavement, his left hand being extended forward. Crimson fluids spill from a humanoid mouth that had split open just inside his gaping palm.

Pahn is beyond words, only speaking when it humored him to joke about Ephrins destruction. He'd already begun gathering winds around his right arm. Spinning tendrils emulating a myriad of colors swirl ferociously about him, something bigger than that last attack already nearing completion. Those of greater training would realize that it had only just begun, that last 'pitch' being more of a stretch than an actual movement.

-------------------------------------------------

*Thwack!* Her attacks were successful, the genuinely panicked beast already feeling far too flustered by extreme insecurity to make any moves at avoidance. She was not it's focus, regardless as to whether or not she should be. Gold shackles enraptured by crackling purple energies make each frightened lurch to escape something far bigger than this young woman more theatrical.

"GRAAAAWL-*gurgle*!!!" The beast howls in protest, puss and slithering insects oozing from it's jaw. This detestable roar would end in a sizzling gurgle as Anora's knife makes semi-accurate contact. Surprisingly, the beast would lurch backwards, carelessly tearing it's throat open to move away from the girl. It would make several more thrashes, each weaker than the last. It's body slowly loses strength, all 'living' facilities appearing to be gradually shut down. This would continue for roughly ten seconds before the Aldit is reduced to a twitching mass laying flat upon the Earth below.

This is likely when the greater Aura would surround and consume Anora. She would feel as if she were a child passing under a bridge, needing to hold her breath out of a superstition more tangible than all known life. This aura does not threaten her as it may others, yet she'd still feel slightly petrified at it's sheer magnitude. There could be a titan the size of Earth looming above her, it's fiery eyes gazing directly upon where she stands, and it would only make sense.

The masculine figure in her mind wouldn't become any clearer than before, but the it's silvery outline would certainly have changed. Rather than just a faint glow, there would be a liquid light spilling freely into her memory's and imagination coming directly from his form. One could almost say it's as if he'd always been connected to her dreams and visions of distant, fantastical worlds. One distinct, and utterly unquestionable word arises in her memory. 'Pahnjaka'

[Riven Wight]

Despite the creature’s thrashing body, Anora’s energy shackles--strips of glowing purple with veins of gold pulsating in the translucent color--held. She did not so much as hesitate to drive her blade home as a cascade of decay gushed from its mouth, the shackle around its neck bursting into mist to allow the knife entrance. When its life appeared to have all but completely slipped away, Anora stepped back, pulling the knife from its flesh and releasing her hold on the shackles on its arms.
She watched it fall in a lump to the ground, her body tense and ready to defend herself just in case. But then it fell still, turning into nothing but the corpse it should be.
Despite the situation, despite the aura that pulsated in the air and the danger of the reptilian woman still lurking, unseen, somewhere around her, a small smile quirked at her lips. She had killed a monster with a taste for human flesh, saveing any it would have gone after. This. This was part of what was missing. This was what she was meant to do. She felt it in every fiber of her being.
“Okay, you cowardly gecko!” she called, emboldened by her defeat of the ghoul. “Where’d you--”
Her words cut off in a gasp as another, stronger wave of the aura crashed over her. She took a few steps backward, away from the dead end, her gaze darting around. The image of the man intensified once more in her mind’s eye, the silvery outline rolling from him much like the aura saturating the air. The feeling that not only was he the source of the aura, but that he and her dreams were connected made her inhale and hold her breath as a single word... no, a name whispered through her mind and echoed around her head.
“Pahnjaka,” she breathed, the name familiar, even natural rolling from her tongue though she knew it had never formed it before.
If he held the key to her dreams, she had to find him. No matter what it took.
The ground rumbled beneath her feat, making her attention snap back to reality. An answer about the dreams that had plagued her would have to wait. Something deep inside her clawed at her, pushing her to put a stop to this before it escalated any further. Tossing aside any thoughts of the reptilian woman, Anora turned and raced toward the opening. She closed her eyes and bent her head, unsure if charging through the spot where paralysis had threatened her would work or not.
An icy air rushed over her, and her paced slowed for a terrifying minute as exhaustion threatened to settle in her. But just as quickly as she had run into it, the sensation passed, and she was sprinting down the backroads toward the grocery store as fast as her legs would carry her. Her car would make locating Pahnjaka that much easier. Her injured shoulder stung as she ran, and she could feel her sleeve sticking to her skin from blood that had soaked into the dark fabric around two narrow tares, but she gritted her teeth and ran on.
Her pace slowed for a moment when she realized the once crowded streets had been abandoned, then ceased, a look of horror on her face, when what sounded like an explosion rose from the direction she was heading. She craned her neck up as the light of the noon sun flooding the backroad changed. Flames shot past in the sky, licking harmlessly at the tops of buildings. A veil of smoke quickly followed after it.
Breathing heavily from both the exertion of her run and panic, she glanced to the road ahead of her.
The moment she emerged onto the sidewalk of the main street, she froze, her lungs refusing to work as she took in the destruction that had ravaged the area. It looked as if she had walked onto the set of apocalyptic movie. Cars were on the sidewalk as if they had been blown off the streets, some dented from ramming into streetlights or each other. Alarms sounded from every vehicle in a deafening drone, their headlights flashing as if even they felt the panic hanging thickly about them. A couple fire hydrants had blown from the sidewalk, leaving only geysers of water in their place that spread an artificial rain on the cracked concrete around them. That water joined leaks spraying up through the broken concrete from busted pipes below. Glass glittered in the sunlight from the shattered windows of every shop down the strip.
A few blocks away, she spotted the source of the damage. Though his back was to her, she could almost see the power radiating from a man. His gray-skinned opponent with what from her current position looked like a bleeding wound on his palm, stood in what the only remaining intact patch of concrete down the entire strip of road. Tendrils of every color wrapped around one of the powerful man’s arms, waiting to strike.
Anora had the feeling she was going to be late for work.
Swallowing hard, she ducked back into the side street and pressed her back against the wall. The sheer strength it would take to create such devastation was way out of her league. But she did not know if anyone else could even see the two. She had to do something before they took out more than just the one road, but if she got in the middle of that, she may as well sign her own death sentence.
A distraction. She needed to create some sort of distraction, something, anything to bring to light the destruction they caused. Even if it would do no good, at least she could say she tried.
She quickly wiped her knife off on her pant leg, returned it to her boot, then dove to where the hood of a car had nearly collided with a storefront. She crouched behind it, only her head visible over the hood. Though she had completed what she had in mind on a small scale a few times, she only hoped she could accomplish it on a larger one, and from such a distance. If she failed, there was no telling what would happen to anyone inside the buildings if things continued to escalate.
Taking a deep breath, she lowered her chin in determined concentration as she exhaled, and raised both hands toward the duelers. Her eyes locked on a spot between the two, and began to glow with a fierceness unlike any they had ever shown before.
A pool of the familiar purple mist streaked with golden particles, her magic in an un-molded form, bubbled over the ground. It began to slowly rise upward in a spiral until it was twice as tall as both men measured together. Tongues of the magic reached out to either side, and the glittering particles rained down as the mist condensed into the swirling, particulate form of a massive falcon, its beak pointed toward the sky and wings stretched out to their full magnificent span.
Anora’s breaths quickened, and fatigue made her legs shake. She was pushing her use of her powers further than she could handle. She knew the feeling from when she had first started using them. Still, she ground her teeth and pushed on.
The bird gave a mighty beat of its wings, then turned its head, its unseeing golden gaze shifting between the two men. Then, it opened its beak.
“Enough,” Anora whispered, but her voice emanated from the bird’s mouth with a crackling fierceness demanding respect. “You’ve had your fun.” Anora faltered, sinking partially to her knees as her world began to spin. The giant bird’s gaze focused on the gray-skinned man. “Now leave, lest the destruction you have caused be dealt upon you tenfold!”
The bird let out a sizzling screech, then raised its wings above its head. The moment the misty feathers collided, the entire form imploded into a tight orb, then burst into a shower of violet mist and golden electrical sparks. The display cascaded to the ground around the two men, the sparks closest to them lashing out with electric fingers.
With a groan, Anora sunk behind the car, her stomach doing queasy flips and darkness threatening the edges of her vision. She leaned her back against the wheel and sat there, limply. She closed her eyes, trying to stop the frantic spinning her world had been thrust into and keep down the contents of her stomach. She could only hope the men would not bother trying to find the source of the spectacle.

[Mortim]

Pahn visibly ceases his escalation to closely observe the convulsing mass of energy before him. The silvery magics swirling about came to rest as spiraling rings of shimmering luminescence around his right hand whilst an eagle wreathed in purple and gold sprouts from sundered pavement between two godly duelists. 'I was wrong...' Recent memory's of a girl running towards danger in a shadowy alley haunt a once relaxed mind. Our named man despairs at his blunder, showing this outwardly as a grin in Anora's direction whilst she speaks through one glimmering familiar. Words would reach the girls ear, reassuring tones seeming to fill her with vigor and stamina to continue. "I'll end this quickly. Don't worry, I clean up after myself rather well." Surging energy's had been invisibly transmitted to her, powers to better withstand raging aura's filling a flipped gut. His mouth hadn't moved, but, an understanding that this message was given by him alone felt somehow clear. His promises attracted profound sensations of trust and security, as if one were young before memory and their parents had promised to give them something they knew beyond doubt they'd receive.

Ephrin laughs aloud, lowering his hand whilst regaining composure, an aura of darkened malevolence beginning to seep from him. Shadows grow longer, sighs grow deeper, warm air retreats as if to be intolerant of what stands before it. This wasn't quite so palpable as what emanated from the ivory-eyed man, but it was felt nonetheless.

"You're just full of surprises, Pahn! There's still a guardian or two lurking about?-" Ephrin's tone jokingly dances around the subject, his eyes moving towards the car Anora hides behind. His gaze was like a force, penetrating all solid matter, nearly feeling to tangibly wrap it's slimy fingers over each inch of her flesh-bound vessel. She had most certainly been discovered by all present immediately upon attempting to cast her spell. These were no minor wizards, they were well versed in the mechanics of magic in all its forms. nevertheless, she appeared to strike something in both of them, having created a conversational pause in something that was about break out in full swing.
"-I thought I'd ended that era with your lovers heart on my masters table?!" Ephrin continues his words, making an attempt at striking another chord in Pahn. Regrettably, this is exactly what he accomplished. He'd brought up a subject the man had buried for many eons. Especially after discovering Ephrin was related to a rather tragic period, things certainly weren't about to end quietly. Pahn opted to wait for now, knowing the scoundrel before him had something prepared. He'd let the beast take it's action before ripping it's jaw wide open.

Ephrin points with his left hand towards the heavens, a spell he'd been stealthily preparing since the beginning of this eagles rise being now fully enacted. This spell would take less than a second to fully activate, regardless, it's magnitude of size and detail are not to be withheld.

*WOOOSH!* All splotched clouds in the sky above split spherically with a gale felt clear down to Earth's surface. One could say some meteor had just entered it's final descent into the atmosphere, but there was no such object to accompany current events. A swirling mass of darkness spreads from the epicenter roughly ten miles above where warring participants stand, expanding as an ebony mass before ceasing it's growth upon reaching a size to dwarf any average american town. This black mass would mold into having all the features of a face, it's six-mile girth somehow never creating shadows to darken the streets below; though, it did certainly blot out the sun. Upon reaching maximum diameter it's mouth would open wide with all other features remaining closed, a howl mixes with what sounds of many revving automobile engines to create an otherworldly resonance. At the center of it's gaping mouth accumulate rays of reddened energy, eventually projecting one super-massive crimson beam downwards. They were all in it's sights, Ephrin succumbing to his inner demons by relinquishing a maddening grin in his targets general direction. When all of this had finally occurred, nearly one full second had passed.

In response to this, Pahn tosses the rings of silvery energy he'd gathered upwards. These small spiraling dots of light seem to fade into the sky before, all at once, *BOOOM!*. They collide, creating a blinding light equivalent to that of a star reaching deadly proximity with our habitable world. Color fades from existence for several seconds by a wash of pure white before the sun can reclaim it's rightful place in splotching solid matter with myriads of hues and shades. Due to Pahn's 'enchantment', Anora would only be blinded for a few brief moments even if she were to look directly into all conflict. *WOOOSH!!* Five seconds after collision, another profound gale would wash over human civilization, this one feeling far warmer than the last.

Crimson powers gather inside the orbiting face once more. Pahn snaps his right hands fingers when this occurs, the residual vibrations feeling more like a clap of thunder than anything one human hand could produce. *SKEEEE!* Sounds of grinding metal fill the air, the space above aforementioned mass of darkness having warped suddenly. Towering spears of pure white had blasted completely through the levitating weapon, that monstrous incantation dissolving away once being run through by more than thirty of these rods that could match the width of most skyscrapers. *BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!* Each spear crashes somewhere far in the distance, plumes of smoke rising at their base of collision, sending veritable shock-waves throughout surrounding county's. The length of these bland towers birthed of combat reach easily into where clouds should rest far above.

Ephrin begins dissolving into his shadow whilst his offensive dissipates, Pahn moving faster than human sight could perceive to intercept him. A massive cloud of smoke birthed from broken cement fills the entire street. When it settles, Pahn can be seen standing at the center of a seven foot deep crater slowly being filled by muddled water from a broken pipeline. His eyes are distant, and his fists are tightly clenched. Blueish fluid seeps from the corner of his mouth. Should Anora notice this fluid, some distant instinct deep in the back of her mind would flare up without any immediate explanation or control. She would feel as if she needed to protect him from harm or anything that demands hostility, perhaps even from the wind itself should our current situation deem it necessary.

Pahn would stand in his bowl of destruction, completely still for many moments to come. Silence and fear take hold of his world should none come to intercept his current train of thought. He would stare down at where his enemy once rested, being consumed by contemplation of this person and what he'd spoken about. His powerful aura had lessened, though it was still certainly potent enough to keep any average onlooker at bay.

Should Anora approach, she'd see that his body and features were to be marveled over, much like the reptilian woman to whom she was held captive only a minute earlier. How odd, that strange female offender seemed to have disappeared, yet some distant thought about her dreadful eyes seemed to linger on what was happening here. Was she still observing Anora somehow?

When close enough, the physical details of this godly being would be provided resolution. Upon his feet were tan moccasins clinging well to porcelain ankles in all their smooth, arching curves. Tattered blue jeans covet his legs, flapping faintly in a breeze still lingering from recent chaos. Through denim tears and well-fitted fabrics could be spotted faint hints to thighs lacking not in lean musculature. A brown belt rests just below a blue button-up, keeping his pants stable whilst faintly augmenting the shades of his shirt. The shirt is loose-fitting, being pulled this way and that against a body which yielded as little to the world in it's lack of movement as a marble statue. The greedy breeze provides slight peaks at shadowy valleys of physical prowess, the lower half of his abs and the upper sections of his collarbones liken to a flexing celebrity in the middle of posing for photos. His arms are smooth and unscathed, looking to practically be polished before having entered our sullied Earth just above two tightly clenched fists. His neck muscles strain out of stress over current circumstance, his face looking to be fairing no better. Even in their perplexed rage each feature seemed to be pulled directly from some beauteous Greek sculpture, leaving one to almost wish for his face to change expression so they may observe the separate facets of his outward emotion. Silver eyes, faintly luminescent even under the afternoon sun, rest just below Ivory hair. His hair was light, flowing nearly as water in the wind, and cut to be rather short aside from one wisp of strands resting just over his forehead. Overall he was rather tall and skinny at around 6' 5", perhaps it was the sheer definition of his traits that demanded awe.

How these details werent clear before is due to a thick haze of an invisible substance sorrounding him. It could not be felt, but once whithin a five foot radius of the man, his faculties would be revealed as if emerging from some blurry shroud of super-heated air.

[Riven Wight]

She trusted him. Though she could not say why, something deep inside Anora bade her to believe what he had said, his words echoing in her mind. Though she knew little of magic, she had no doubt the surge of strength that had rolled over her had been sent from him.
Now, leaning against the car she doubted would provide much--if any--protection, she listened to the voice of the gray-skinned man as it traveled down the street. His words confirmed what Anora had felt; the silver-eyed man who had helped her was none other than the mysterious Pahnjaka.
She felt the sickness and dizziness that accompanied the overuse of her powers fade quicker than it should have, allowing her to slowly rise to her knees, careful to keep her head behind the car’s hood. But the questions still remained: who was he? What was the connection between him and her? Who was the gray-skinned man, and what did he want? Or the reptilian woman, for that matter? Were the two connected somehow, or was their appearance sheer coincidence?
She shuddered as a sensation between the prickle of being watched and having the contents of an egg slide over her skin encompassed her. She dared to poke her head just far enough above the car to see the gray-skinned man looking in her direction. She gasped and ducked back down, though she knew it would do no good.
Of course he would have noticed her. To someone who could aid in the destruction of a city block, locating someone like her must have been child’s play.
Faster than Anora would have thought possible, a black mass burst into existence and stained the sky as far as she could see, a large, gruesome face jeering downward as a menacing red light formed in the depths of the face’s open jaws. She barely had time to open her mouth, gawking at the manifestation that blotted out the sun yet left its light, before the red energy shot down in a fierce ray toward Pahn.
“No!” she shouted, hopping to her feet and placing her hands on the car’s hood. But the word had barely left her mouth as Pahn's silvery disks flew up to meet the ray.
With a bone-rattling explosion, the two energies collided and created a blinding flash of white light that bleached the world.
Anora gasped and fell once more to her knees, her eyes closed and head bent. The light radiated through her eyelids for a short second, the clatter of loose stones and chunks of broken concrete rolling around her as a fierce wind blew through the streets.
She only opened her eyes when the sound of metal-on-metal assaulted her ears. She dared to look up at the face still hanging in the sky. Another glowing orb of red had begun to pull in its mouth as white, radiant spears pierced its dark form, one after the other. Anora lost count of how many of the massive shapes penetrated it before, at last, the mass dissolved beneath the power of the spears. Without the mass of clouds to keep them in place, she watched as they fell to the earth.
Anora went to poke her head up again to see what damage had been done to the fighters, when a gray dust cloud rose from their fight.
She gasped and ducked back down as it shot toward her, making her body as small as possible. Just as the cloud hit, she thrust a hand out over her, and one of her forcefields formed in an arc above her. All the same, she bent her head as if to better protect it. The clunk and clatter of small bits of rocks and broken bits of cement falling to the earth thunked around her, bouncing off the car beside her and raining down on her force field. Small golden ripples erupted over the veined purple with each piece of debris that hit.
When the harsh rain stopped and all fell still, Anora let her shield dissolve away and cautiously stood. Though dust still hung in the air, she could make out a deep crater where the two men had stood, layers of concrete, gravel, and soil all blown away with Pahn only just visible to her from its center.
“Pahn,” she breathed in a mix of fear and relief, using the nickname she had heard the gray-skinned man use. But as she watched, he did not move.
Why isn’t he moving? Panic settled in her chest as the dust finally fully cleared. The aura that had radiated from him had died down, but still it hung in the air.
In the light of the sun that now shone its face once more upon the town, despite the slight haze that still hung around him, she noticed thick liquid dripping down from the corner of his mouth.
Is that... blood? She held her breath. He was hurt, and there was no telling where the gray-skinned man had gone. The desire, the need to protect him, to remove him from harm’s way, welled inside her.
Any thought of her own safety tossed aside, she vaulted over the narrowest part of the car’s hood and hit the ground on the other side running. She tripped when stepped wrong on a slab of uneven concrete, nearly making her stumble into the gigantic crater head first.
The ground around his feet was quickly turning to mud. A familiar crackling buzz sounded softly from the opposite side of the hole. She looked over, and gasped; severed underground electrical wires dangled from the driest portion of the hole, and the foul water was mixing dangerously fast with the soil and creating wet pools.
“Pahnjaka!” she yelled urgently from the rim of the crater.
If her voice did not stir him to action, Anora cast a fearful glance to the live wires. Though unsure if the waters thick with mud would conduct the electricity or not, if the water rose faster than the dirt could absorb it, she feared the worst. Moving as quickly as she could, she dangled her legs over the side of the crater, then dropped down. She landed with a sickening wet squealch in the softened soil. She pulled her boots free from the strong grasp of the mud beneath the layer of water that had formed on top, and sloshed toward Pahn, her gaze focused on the wires and mud at her feet.
Once close enough, she finally looked up to him as she reached a hand toward him. She paused, incapable of keeping herself from marveling at his appearance. He towered nearly a foot above her. Everything from his chiseled features and muscles, to the age and knowledge beyond his years swimming in the depths of his silvery, angered gaze looked... perfect. The rage on his face sent a shudder down her spine, making her wish she could wipe it away and replace it with something more fitting for a being like him.
Shaking her head to pull herself back to the task at hand, she gripped his wrist tightly, half expecting it to be made of the marble he seemed to be carved from instead of soft flesh.
“Listen to me!” She shook his arm and cast the wires another glance. “We need to go! Now!”

[Mortim]

Pahn was relatively consumed in thoughts over past experience. Speech and other external remedies weren't beyond him, though, he doesn't exactly move at the pace most humans see fit to thrive by. His life and words have always been proven as considerably permanent, thus giving him no real urgency with nearly all things.

'Pahnjaka!' Anora's words had pierced an amalgam of raging perceptions and broiling conclusions. All of Pahn's thoughts had just begun to swirl violently about between ivory hairs, only at the beginning of something that could have grown to be much worse than it was. 'Hmm? Oh, right.. I must attend to this.' He would slowly think, each separate feature now gradually unraveling to reveal passive contemplation. Whatever was brewing had now been given reason to halt.

*SCHLUP!* A young woman landing boot-first upon mud-clogged terrain reaches Pahn's ears during his unwind. Rage still seethes in every logical corner of his ego, only just revealing a cautious decline. He recognizes her rushing towards him whilst staring blankly at an earth being overturned by liquid in all it's natural states. 'Where the fuck did I go wrong with him..?' Was his final conclusion before being pulled from natural rhythm by small, soft hands clasping his smooth yet supernaturally hardened wrist.

Pahn's face turns to recognize Anora's own, letting go of it's demons to paint a slight smile against pale canvas when distinguishing what it is that troubles her. Those faintly luminescent eyes dance from her to where it is she stares. Crackling wires that could only harm her in this situation grow closer to being something of a threat. He knows his own immortality isn't at any risk here, but, he also knows what it is that pains those present.

"Oh, child.." He says with a tone that some grandparent might take when feeling astonished by the pure feelings of a truly treasured grandchild. Those marble arms move with quickened grace, wrapping themselves about Anora to sweep her off dirtied feet in one swift movement. She would be carried with utter ease to the edge of the crater whilst Pahn looks into the distance ahead of them. His expression is that of satisfaction, as if he were now accompanied by some relative he could only ever be proud of after many years in waiting.

Once at the edge of the crater, Anora would be placed on her own two feet. Pahn didn't look to take all named actions by rude intention. He simply desired to have the girl be more comfortable with the safety of the man before her, as if in understanding of her unnatural emotions. "We're away from harm now, correct?" He questioned, perhaps in hoping for her to validate the sanctity of current circumstance by her own means rather than his. Regardless, he'd yet to notice the drop of blood at the right-most edge of his lips. Bleeding isn't a common thing for him.

There Pahn would stand, marveling at the girl before him. She represented an age rarer to him than most all things of this universe. An age of rest, an age of being protected, an age of guardians. How she'd gotten here, he had no immediate idea. What it is she needed to become, he understood all to well. That glimmering gaze and frank expression would reveal only feelings a parent who feels nothing but delight and confidence for their child could have. She was blatantly precious to him in ways that would only make her succeed in life experience and physical power beyond reasoning. She was not to be his, but to be a protector of the convictions she's likely felt her entire life.

He wouldn't speak, being content simply to observe another facet of Earth. There was not hostility nor a need for anything in that countenance. Pahn simply looked upon Anora, as he did with many entities for countless eons past. Whatever it is she was to do likely wouldn't bother him. Those glazed eyes and one faint smile that showed a confidence in various named emotions were content with circumstance for the time being. Why should there be any rush? Both were already here, both were already in reality true.

Though his 'physical' aura had begun fading, this is the air he constantly exerts without question. Someone of existence, rather than someone of substance. A person who looked to be of different natures than most all of humanity with just two sentences and one weak expression. He doesn't need for anything, in fact, if there were a thing in need here, it would be all of the surrounding Earth. Sustenance may seek him, rather than him ever moving to seek it. Perhaps this wasn't all immediately relevant, as it is something that goes against all base human understandings. But nevertheless, when one may move past their instincts, they'll realize it all to be true. Pahn is not of Earth; One might even wonder if Earth is of him, all of it's separate lands and identities being a part of the whole that is Pahnjaka. This is, of course, a ridiculous notion. Yet still, not entirely far from the current truth of our planet. An existence so prolonged as his own may begin lending to times flow rather than taking it up or pulling from any of it's turbulent tides.

[Riven Wight]

Despite Pahn’s tone, Anora scowled at being called ‘child.’
“I’m not a--O-okay!” she finished in surprise as he easily lifted her into his arms then strode to the side of the crater as if the mud that had hindered her own steps did not even exist. When he jumped up to the surrounding concrete of the street, she instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck as if that would help prevent her from falling. Her eyes pulled from him only once they were on the solid street.
When he placed her on her feet, she took a couple steps back, her awed gaze never leaving him. She released a breath she had not realized she held, her gaze coming to rest on the unusually colored bead of blood streaking down his skin.
She absently started to nod at his question, but stopped, the feeling of being watched again stepping unnervingly down her spine.
“How should I know?” she breathed, wrapping her arms loosely over her midsection.
Everything from the way he looked at her to the strength and power in his presence kindled a war inside her. A part of her yelled for her to run the other way, telling her she should be afraid of someone who just destroyed a city block, and who knew what else where his spears had landed. The ghoul she had chased was one thing, but the being standing before her? The gray-skinned man? The reptile woman? Sure, she always thought she had a fairly open mind, but they were a league all their own. Something far above her head. But another, stronger part wanted, needed to know more about him. It longed for the side of the world he represented. It told her she was safe, here, with this perfect stranger. He seemed so familiar, as if she knew him, yet she had never met him before in her life. She had no reason to trust him, no reason to have dared risk her life to try pulling him from his silent, unmoving rage. Yet, she did, and she had, some sort of pull compelling her forward. She wanted to see him safe, the thought of him being in harm’s way making a knot form in her stomach.
Confliction contorting her face, she snorted and shook her head, breaking her gaze away from his and taking another step back.
“This... this is insane!” she hissed, her body and hands moving animatedly and emphasizing the last word by quickly moving to and from her temples. A haze of glittering purple inadvertently flashed over her fingers with the action and her emotions. It made a few strands of her hair stand on end from the unexpected electricity, and her eyes glowed for a short second. Still, she could not bring herself to look away from Pahn for long. Curiosity, intrigue, and confusion burned in her violet gaze. Her voice rose slightly as she continued. “Who are you? What are you?” She took another step back, the mud on her thick-heeled boots leaving prints on the concrete. She glanced almost disbelievingly around at the destruction surrounding them, and ran a hand exasperatedly through her hair. “What on earth is happening here?”
She stared at him intensely, daring him to not answer her. She pulled her hand from her hair and placed it tenderly on the side of her injured shoulder. Her spirited movements made the fabric pull and ruffle irritatingly against the small wounds, reminding her once more that this was not all just in her head.
Anora spun around when police and firetruck sirens sounded from further in the city, the irritating cacophony growing swiftly louder. She inhaled and took a backwards step toward Pahn, before turning back to him.
“You said you clean up after yourself well, right?” she asked in a rush, glancing back over her shoulder. “Might want to hop to it unless you want to explain this to Homeland Security or something.”

[Mortim]

Pahn's slower pace got the better of him. Anora's intense verbalization and enthusiastic gestures had long reached completion before he'd made time between silvery lips for a proper response. In his eyes, she was utterly unknowing of the world. She flailed this way and that whilst propelling her obvious confusions in his direction. Sirens howled in the distance as she hissed about some 'home-group security-land'. She was like a child, a child telling him to beware an explanation towards some club of stuffed animals her and several other children had dubbed their 'protectors'. There was nothing but slight humor here. Danger was not present, not a threatening breeze nor an unsightly insect. This was, of course, how Pahn viewed it behind that undisturbed smile of his. He wasn't incorrect by any known logic upon the departure of his foe, though Anora wouldn't know of such things. He eventually understood her disposition upon careful consideration over current circumstance.

"Ok." Would be his reply roughly thirty seconds after the sirens had become audible. Emergency vehicle lights could practically be seen further down the road when he finally took action upon request of Anora. His lag in said event wasn't painfully slow, but, it likely took longer than anyone present had thought necessary.

Pahn raises both arms upon speaking, pressing his palms against each other over flexed chest as if suddenly delving deep in necessary prayers. *whoooooo* Faint, silvery light spills from between tightly pressed hands alongside an ambiance of sounds likened to one distant plain flying overhead. His eyes slowly shut as said noise grows in volume. Proportioned tones rise only slightly for four consecutive seconds before both eyes again reopen with an intense blueish-white luminescence. This is when the 'cleanup' commenced.

Pahn spreads both hands forward, releasing a small wave of white light that covers just the area encircling him and Anora. *Crack-rumble!* The cracks exclusively beneath their feet slowly close within a circle they alone stand upon whilst wailing sirens grow ever closer. One might think the police would have ample time to arrest their two prime suspects before all at once a wind like none before overtakes our present lands for numerous encircling miles. None of this is likely to knock Anora from her feet, but it most certainly may try.

*WHOOOOSH!!* Pure ivory mists rush from the Earth below as if clouds had suddenly acquired an ability to pass through solid matter. One massive, circular plume overtakes both Pahn and Anora at breakneck speeds, spreading upwards and outwards as quickly as it had appeared in all conceivable directions. This white mist seemed to pull damage from the Earth as it rose from each sundered surface, cracks filling, craters vanishing, buildings restored to worn workmanship faster than one could perceive said mythical mass being created. A thin and immeasurably tall wave of snowy-luminescence had stretched it's profound girth from where they stood. Sirens and all other EMT's ceased to exist with the wave, in their place stood people going about their business as if nothing had occurred. If one hadn't watched Pahn's fabricated phenomena swallow all of existence whole before dispersing itself, or if they'd taken too long to blink, they might consider that nothing had happened at all. That chaos hadn't occurred, that destruction wasn't present, that danger was far from near. The sun was shining again, and before a question could be asked, all was well inside man-made suburbia.

Pedestrians moved about their business. Feet hustle into taxi's whilst grocery bags are placed in car trunks from their departure of one nearby grocery store, 'Piggly Wiggly'. Anora would find the wound she'd recently acquired to be healed, her sleeve fabrics of an equally repaired disposition. The skyline had reacquired it's sense of normalcy, mythic spears of glowing white having taken their leave from view. Not one soul appeared to know what had just occurred aside from Pahn and Anora. In fact, they were the only two standing in the middle of a now rather busy street. How many other vast conflicts have taken place without a soul knowing if sentient creatures like Pahn exist?

*HONK!* "Get out of the way, morons!!" Someone could be heard shouting from their lowered window as the grill of their car slowly inches towards both participants to mythical combat. Pahn stands across from Anora as he was before, either hand within it's respective pocket. He still has that care-free disposition, a faint beam of pride over the person before him, and a lack of consideration for whatever it is that may be occurring around him. This angered onlooker could attempt running them over with his 2004 Chevrolet Malibu, it would make no difference to Pahn. One could say he was the only one actually standing here, and everyone else was like the wind in it's ability to be moved from place to place without ever having a thought.

"Which question would you like answered first?-" Pahn would casually inquire between the car honks that quickly encircle them. He again shows a lack of enthusiasm for everyone but Anora. They could be having this conversation in a cafe somewhere and he would likely feel equally at ease. This man, the only remaining evidence of some apocalyptic display of strength between godlike beings, would seemingly forever remain unperturbed by the world of humanity in all it's noise and bustle. "-I know a great pizza place just down the road. We could talk about all this inside." He grins, asking this obviously flustered young woman out to some restaurant as if they were just two friends needing a place to eat. His right thumb gently directs itself towards one, 'Dino's Italian Eatery'. Perhaps he didn't care for the noise of Earth, but something about the words 'pizza' seemed to light a very faint torch within him.

That previously menacing aura had all but vanished by this point. All that's left are questions and an aloof deity veering more towards having a meal than immediately dispersing information. The world Anora had stepped into was certainly exciting, but she'll quickly find it to have it's fair share of 'exotic individuals' just as any society does.

[Riven Wight]

When Pahn did not immediately respond, Anora’s brows furrowed, wondering if he had not heard her, or if his hearing had been damaged in his fight.
“Hello?” she said, contemplating waving a hand in front of his face to get his attention. Instead, she cast another nervous glance toward the sound of the sirens. She looked back to him when he responded, and gave a sigh of relief. At least his hearing was not compromised.
Just his reaction time? she wondered, concern she did not yet fully understand crossing her face.
She watched him raise his arms, and took a small step back, wanting to neither risk getting in his way, nor miss anything of how he planned on cleaning up. Her gaze shifted to his as he opened his eyes. She inhaled at their change, but the gentle sound was overpowered by the consistent grumbling whoosh accompanying his powers and surrounding them, its volume only just surpassed by the high-pitched whine of emergency vehicles growing unnervingly closer.
Anora’s attention turned to the ground as a white glow spread about the ground around them. Her concern about the authorities all but forgotten for the moment, she turned in a circle, lifting her feet a little higher than necessary as she watched the fractures in the concrete beneath her stitch themselves together with a series of cracks. The earth shook lightly with the effort of restoring itself, even the mud caking her boots pulling away to return to where it belonged.
With her back to Pahn, wind burst from behind her, making her long black hair flail about her face. She tried to quickly gather it as mist seeped impossibly from the concrete, casting a haze over the visible world. It swirled up and around them before it shot out like a wave from a supernova.
She watched, awestruck, one hand still trying to keep control of her hair, as buildings, sidewalks, and roads alike appeared to rebuild themselves, leaving no traces of damage behind. Even the noise of the sirens abruptly snuffed out. People appeared on the completed sidewalks as the last of the mist rippled through the city, each going about their normal, mundane way, none apparently any the wiser of the battle that had commenced only minutes before. Even her own car sat where she had left it in Piggly Wiggly’s parking lot, none the worse for wear.
“What in the the...?” Anora turned in a circle, gawking. An awed smile slowly quirked at her lips. Please don’t be a dream, she silently pleaded.
The loud screech of someone slamming on their breaks abruptly pulled her back to reality--at least, what she hoped was still reality.
She shouted and jumped back as the grille of a Chevy Malibu bucked to a halt only a couple feet from her, her back nearly brushing against Pahn, her eyes wide, and heart hammering madly in her chest. Judging by the condition of the car and few dents already in the front bumper, she was shocked it even bothered to stop.
“Which question would you like answered first?”
Anora spun back around at Pahn’s voice, startled at how close she now stood to him. She had to tilt her neck slightly upward to be capable of looking him in the eye as he suggested another place to talk, his tone and posture utterly unperturbed by nearly being ran over.
“A--a pizza place?” Her brows rose incredulously, before the Malibu’s horn made her flinch. The line of traffic grew steadily behind it, and more annoying meeps and honks joined the first. “Fine!” She stepped hastily toward the sidewalk, trying to usher him out of the road. “Anywhere but the middle of the street!”

[Mortim]

Pahn found himself faintly bemused, or, perhaps enchanted by the woman hurrying about before him. These were sensations he'd spent so long away from, he could hardly tell the difference between them. How strange it is, her world being one which moves in response to those around her. The cars and street before them had rules she felt she must obey, people who's tasks may have greater importance than her own. This was not the existence Pahn inhabited. He is a being of power, a being who could rewrite all of modern society should he so desire. He hardly took to such tedious tasks, but, it is possible nonetheless.

Pahn's legs carried him at a natural pace towards the sidewalk which Anora impatiently shouted about. He silently continued to smile at her, continuing to grin in such a manner whilst turning away to guide said girl to his favored Italian establishment. He would silently act as their guide, content with his own thoughts before reaching aged metallic door.

*Ding-ding* Rustic bell chimes at our two patrons entrance. Had Anora posed any questions on their short journey here, Pahn would have nodded in response as an aged man may before taking his time to provide cryptic answers; perhaps providing the occasional 'hmm' as if what was to be said truly required thought.

"My boy!!" An old man would shout from within the kitchen before any of the presently occupied staff could attend to Anora and Pahn. Dino exits from between swinging doors that lead to where all imagined delicacies are prepared. His portly legs carry a plump figure to greet them, wildly grinning eyes leer between Pahn and his first meal guest before bearded lips enamored with an aged smile release several further words.
"I see you've brought a lady with you this time, eh?" One eye emulates a practiced wink before his bare elbow jousts Pahn several times like he was some close grandchild whom just started dating. Pahn simply chuckled and allowed his body to bounce about in response to the force, hardly minding the humor of this energetic chef.
"I'll seat you two right away!" Dino laughs aloud, slapping Pahn's upper-back with force before clasping the mans shoulder to guide them towards a quaint booth in the corner of the establishment.
"I'll bring you two bread sticks to talk over. Take your time ordering, it's on the house." Dino then rushes away towards his duties in the kitchen, presumably preparing something special for such a well-acquainted customer.

The interior here was of an atypical red and brown scheme. The lower half of all the walls in the dining area were covered in boards of waxed wood, the upper half holding red and white checkerboard designs. Pictures of this restaurants long history deck the walls between slogans over family life and meals prepared properly by love and patience. Their booths cushions were a deep-red with an orange embroidery, leading into dark brown wood paneling which appeared sturdy in its attachment to a dark-grey carpeted floor. White tile sets could be seen glistening inside the kitchen, should one sneak a peek in that direction. This place was busy, as told by the ambiance of conversation and chatter paired with clanking glasses and the occasional thud of iron cookware somewhere in the distance.

Pahn slides with one smooth motion into their booth, looking with complacency and faint joy in Anora's general direction.
"So, what is it you're curious about?" He would say, as if they had just finished watching some movie and she'd mentioned she had questions over one or two of the plot holes. Once more his aloofness reared it's head, showing itself further as he flipped casually through the menu's which had been waiting for them on their table covered in green and white checkerboard designs. Had she asked of things before this, he would have still questioned her here. Perhaps he was wishing for her to better word whatever inquiry had been posed, or perhaps he simply forgot. Regardless, it might be odd to see this luminous deity in all his majesty attracting stares at an Italian eatery of all places. How easily he had walked into normal society, the conversations with an old man and the consumption of food. What life has he lead before meeting Anora as he has today?

[Riven Wight]

Anora gave a relieved sigh when Pahn joined her at the sidewalk, allowing the building traffic to speed on its way, though not without its fair share of rude shouts and a last barrage of angered honks.
She shifted her weight awkwardly when she noticed the grin still on his face aimed toward her. It was a much better expression for him, one that mysteriously made further relief flood through her. He seemed... content, unhurried, as if the world was his, that it revolved at his command, instead of the other way around. Between the aura he radiated and his show of power, of turning a destroyed city into one oblivious of the destruction that had occurred, that did not feel too far-fetched.
Anora followed Pahn, her gaze not staying in one place for long. She cast his back frequent glances as they made the short trip down the street toward Dino’s Italian Eatery. She dared not look from him for long, fearful that, if he got too far ahead or she diverted her gaze for too long, he would vanish and she would wake up back home in bed.
She thought about talking to him, of throwing the questions running around her skull at him, but decided against it; they could wait until the two of them were no longer out in the open. She walked behind him in silence, her tongue itching to speak as her reeling head tried to make sense of the senseless.
“I’ve heard this place has good lasagna,” she commented distractedly as Pahn opened the door of the restaurant.
She glanced up at the metallic chime of an old-fashioned bell attached to the doorway. Various types of sauces, spices, breads, and pizza filled the place with a welcoming, mouthwatering aroma.
In the short moment they waited to be seated, Anoram now standing at Pahn’s side, scanned the dining area, taking in the various decorations and resting on each of the few faces enjoying their meal.
“My boy!”
Her attention snapped up to see a plump, bearded man hurry toward them from the kitchen. She glanced between him and Pahn, her lips rising slightly in amusement at him being called ‘my boy.’
“Wait, what?” she said at the man’s comment, realizing what he thought. Before she could fully think on it, he laughed and guided them to a corner booth.
She looked at the man, surprised at their order being ‘on the house,’ gave a quick, “Thanks,” then slowly slipped into the long seat opposite Pahn. She cast the room another quick glance, her eyes stopping on the door just visible from where she sat.
Pahn’s voice drew her attention back to him, to the questions racing through her mind and the impossibility of everything that had happened.
Her brows rose and chin fell incredulously at him. “What am I... Well,” she began, her voice light and dripping with sarcasm, “I was just wondering whether their marinara or carbonara sauce would taste better.” She rolled her eyes. “I just--” realizing she was speaking a bit louder than she intended, she cast a quick glance around, then leaned forward and continued in a softer voice.
“I just killed a ghoul, met the reason people shouldn’t breed with reptiles, watched a man destroy half a city in a magic battle with a gray guy, then clean up and act as if it’s just another Monday in paradise!” She threw her hands up slightly and leaned back in her seat. “Not to mention this... this...” she moved her hands to gesture to herself and Pahn, unsure how to put the feeling, the connection she felt to him into words, “whatever’s going on here! What do you think I’m ‘curious’ about?” She struggled to keep her voice down, her tone slightly higher-pitched than normal. “Who--rather, what--in the world are you?” she repeated her earlier questions, now incapable of neither taking her eyes from Pahn, nor stopping the flow of questions. “What the freak did I just witness? Who was Mr. Gray, and what was he even doing here? What are you doing here, for that matter? And how did you...?” Instead of finishing the last, she motioned throwing bolts into the ceiling, then made a wiggling explosion motion with her fingers.

[Mortim]

Anora had projected an array of questions in Pahn's general direction. He would neither react immediately, nor show any outward signs of haste towards resolving said inquiry's. He would sit there, patiently sifting through his menu whilst allowing faint smiles and sighs to roll from his porcelain lips. Our mans mind is likely occupied by one of two things upon natural observation: should his pizza be just classic cheese, or should he wait to decide on the toppings before answering this woman's anxieties?

Pahn looks up, opening his mouth slightly whilst taking a breathe in as if to begin speaking. Just as this occurs, his eyes squint in slight at the girl across from him. Once having squinted, his lips shut and he shakes his head. He looks silently down at the menu before him once more. He would speak several seconds later, hardly taking liberties to tear his gaze from assorted food prices on this occasion. He didn't appear to be intentionally disrespectful, he simply acted as if this conversation and it's subjects were of minor day-to-day relevance with the potential of confusing their recipient.

"I think you're curious about what it is you've away from. I think that my existence, and the similar individuals I've attracted here, push your logic into new places. You're afraid, but, still unsure as to why that is. This,-" One hand raises from it's previous hold along the edge of a laminated restaurant menu to wave one finger around during a brief pause. "- this is what you're curious about." This hand returns to it's place on the rim of a now thoroughly examined piece of simple literature. Still, Pahn doesn't look upwards. He would stop speaking again, though, if Anora may take this seven second interval to toss in some further response, Pahn would raise his hand again as if to shush her during an essential moment in personal deliberation.

"I am-.." He would finally say, still allowing moments for seemingly unnecessary breath in between his words. "-I'm an old man. A being far older than this planet. You could say I wasn't human at first, but, upon landing here I had already become that.-" He drops the menu, both hands wrapping themselves around each other near his chin whilst previous expressions change from joyful pride into painful remembrance. "...- Someone had come here with me. We disagreed on certain things. Then, after some conflict with each-other, he died to keep me trapped here for a very long time." His lips tighten, his eyes squint whilst gazing at the wall rather than facing Anora. He took an even larger sum of moments as his jaw tenses further by each word. Should our guardian woman speak, a hand would still be raised to shush her.

"The people you encountered were toying with both me and you. They are apprentice to an old relation I hope is far from his former power. They seek to steal something from me. In short, a weapon of sorts that, if acquired, could be used to break both me and this world. None have been capable of doing so, perhaps they may possess what it takes.." That last sentence of his was nearly wishful, lingering on a sigh that says it to be desired.

"Here are your drinks! Now, what can I get ya'?" Dino would arrive promptly upon Pahn taking several minutes to answer Anora's questions, wine and water in hand alongside appetizers of bread sticks and sliced cheese. In-between them would now also sit a candle, likely meant to enhance some 'romantic' vibe the owner of this restaurant had gotten into his head. *Click!* The fire of the candle is set alight with some practiced gesture meant to exude flair and comedy to whatever customers observe it. Pahn would grin lightly at this chef and his antics whilst a notepad is withdrawn to take the pairs order. They exchange some odd set of looks, Dino points and makes an odd "Eh?" sound before nodding and writing something down for Pahn. "He'll have the usual, what is it you desire my dear?" He'd depart upon receiving her order, rushing eagerly into his familiar kitchen.

Pahn would sit quietly, staring at the candle between him and Anora with an utterly emotionless expression. Those glazed eyes looked to be peering into some deep part of his memory he'd been tossed into by this girls questions.

-------------Somewhere deep in the void of space---------------

"Do you feel him?" Gentle vocals caress the ears of three guests, powerful beings who'd arrived to hear what this first speaker has to say.
"Do you mean the source is singular?" Looking towards the man who'd spoken, a masculine voice projects it's concerns.
"Yes, he is one being... Sen, will you?" The gentle voice inquires a third presence, it's quiet nature breaking to provide response.
"My second apprentice. He will. I am the contingency. Is this adequate?" Feminine vocals project powerful waves of tempered force against those present.
"I consent." The second voice would state.
"I consent." The first voice would state.
"I consent." The fourth and final voice would state.

All depart for their separate occupations. Sen, the unrevealed caretaker of an unnamed duty contacts her prized student. A blade now soars towards Earth, a blade unperturbed by whatever may be waiting for him on one of the most aged worlds in our known universe.

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-------------Somewhere in the Earth below---------------

A gray man, faintly weakened by his battle with Pahn, slinks across puddles of crimson hatred. Human blood pools at his feet whilst he stands before a dark presence. 'Prephlin's disgusting, no class..' The man finds himself thinking upon gazing upwards at his oddly dressed master.

"Prephlin, please, I beg-..." A gloved hand extends forward from a seat high above, shushing the younger being below.
"You should watch your head. We have lots to learn still, don't we, kiddo?" A high pitched, cartoonish voice projects itself throughout the grimy cave where these two converse.
"No, please master, I need to find his tre-" Before the grey man could speak further, that same gloved hand was upon him. It's durable fingers tightly clasp his throat whilst those squeaky vocals again propagate through a fluid smeared residence.
"Stop that silly talk of yours. The surface has done you no good. I'll see to it you're all right again." And with that, the screams resume, as they had for century's before. What a painful teacher he is, the old god of horrors known as Prephlin.

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[Riven Wight]

When Pahn did not answer her immediately, Anora tilted sideways in her seat. The chains on her shirt jingled lightly as she tried to get a better look at his face with it bent to look at the menu, and wondered if he had even heard her. When he looked up, she returned his gaze expectantly, tensely anticipating his answers as he inhaled then squinted at her. But instead of speaking, he returned his attention to the menu.
She sighed irritably. “Hel-lo?” She waved a hand at him to try getting his attention. “Did that guy hit you harder than I thought or something?”
When at last he began to speak, the first words out of his mouth were less than satisfactory.
“What I’m what?” she interrupted, her brows raising as he answered her rhetorical question first. When he raised a hand and moved a finger as if to gesture to the place around him, she instinctively glanced around. “I’m curious about an Italian eatery?” she asked cheekily as he returned his hand to his menu, unsure what, exactly, he was trying to insinuate with his gesture. What he had said? The side of the world she had, at long last, found? The creatures she had just encountered? Didn’t I just say that’s what I’m curious about?
Her eyes narrowed in frustration when he stopped speaking.
“I’m not afraid, I’m--” she began, but Pahn raised a hand to silence her. She leaned back with a huff and crossed her arms, waiting impatiently for him to decide to continue.
Anora’s expression perked up when he began again, this time, by the sound of it between his rather excessive breaths, to answer her true questions. She leaned forward in her seat once more, her attention unwavering from him. Though his answers only begged more questions, it was at least a start.
When Pahn placed his elbows on the table and interlaced his fingers, she crossed her arms over the table atop her otherwise untouched menu. The pain displayed on Pahn’s face made a twinge of pity flash over Anora’s expression. It came as no surprise that he was far older than he looked. Even if she had needed proof, the strength and power in his aura would have been enough. She could only imagine the hardships that could come with being so long-lived.
“Trapped in this--?” she tried when an even longer break in conversation ensued, her voice softer than it had been. To her chagrin, her words were once more greeted with a raised hand to quiet her.
She growled slightly, and drummed her fingers on the table, her black-painted nails not quite long enough to clack against the wood.
Anora snorted and shook her head at the thought of the battle between Mr. Gray and Pahn being the former’s version of “toying” with someone.
Her brows furrowed at his rather wistful tone as he finished. “You… you say that like you want this world destroyed,” she said quietly, leaning away from him, but never averting her gaze.
Anora felt like she jumped a foot in the air when Dino returned, his approach going unnoticed in her focus on Pahn. She gave an exasperated exhale as the man placed drinks, appetizer, and a candlestick on the table. She all but melted into the booth when she realized it was only him, her heart racing from the scare. Taking a couple breaths, she recovered herself and sat up straighter as Dino lit the candle with a practiced flourish, hoping Pahn had not noticed her reaction.
When Dino turned to her to get her order, she blinked at him, food the furthest thing from her mind.
“Oh, uh…” She glanced to the menu she had since neglected. “I’ll have some of that lasagna I’ve heard so much about.” She offered him an uneasy smile.
Once Dino disappeared from sight, she looked to Pahn, his distant gaze on the flickering flame of the candle.
She sat, silent, for a short moment. Despite the many more questions floating around her head, there was one that shouted louder than the others to be let out, the possible answer awaiting it unsettling.
“Are…” She took a breath, her voice little more than a whisper. “Are you here to stop them from ‘breaking’ you and the world, or are you here to help them?” Anora stared at him, her eyes and face hard as she waited for his answer, holding her breath and hoping she was not somehow connected to someone out to destroy the only home she had ever known.