[IC] The Light In The Darkness

[Cartwright]

Time Skip

After the night's rest the group stepped out of the safety of the castle walls, the Kitsune now carrying his bag and staff for the travels ahead. Ansen who seemed to be the more communicative and assertive one was trailing ahead of the group, his eyes scanning the streets that later turned into a dirt path surrounded by woods.

"Remember.. Bandits." Ansen pointed out, stopping to look over his shoulder at the others with his smile no where to be seen. Despite the whiteness everything seemed quiet, but the thing that had the Cianid on edge WAS the quiet.. Not even the birds were singing their songs.

[SnowAngel]

Arya walked behind Jason, Lyari walking next to her keeping an eye on her. She looked around her a shiver going down her spine. She was glad she got to keep Jason's jacket it was quite warm but of course that wasn't the only reason. The princess inhaled the sent from the jacket, it smelled just like him.
As they were walking the birds suddenly stopped singing. Arya stiffend a little. This part of the path wasn't the same as when she first came to the castle. The animals had left, the rivers had dried out, the trees were dying... dead and darkness were closing in...
Arya went to walk next to Jason. "So, uh. Where are we going again?" She asked him breaking the silent.

[deadpixel101]

'Dusk had taken up a position nearer to the front of the group, he wanted to be ready for anything attacking head on, and while he understood each person was here for a reason, he didn't feel they could all protect themselves...His job, and goal, was to make sure everybody in the group got out of any situation unscathed, his 'face' was as stoic as always (as it had no other option), it had a bland smile painted on it, and it seemed to have eyes of supreme caution. He was caught up in his own thoughts, not yet partaking in any conversation, yet his presence didn't seem to be a secluded one, anyone was open to strike up some words with him, and he would not mind.

Elaine almost bounced along instead of walked, she was looking repeatedly from place to place, thing to thing, face to face. She still didn't really know all the people in the group, and looking at them closer made her a tad more comfortable. She was tempted very often to start asking questions here and there to Feress (whom she seemed to has stuck herself to) but she felt with all she wanted to ask, she would just be pestering him, and maybe he might not be so keen on his decision to let her tag along. She hummed to herself a very offbeat and inconsistent toon as her big bright eyes continued to absorb information from all different angles.

[JessieTargaryen]

Jason looked over at Arya. "The forest of damned. Brace yourself, the dead claim no allegiance except themselves. You manage to piss off one and the rest are coming after you. We also have to watch out for my own kind. For the demons have moved into the area as well." Jason says softly and squeezes Arya's hand as a measure of reassurance to the girl. Before quickly letting go. Hopefully she did not get mad at him for doing that. "I'll protect you if you get scared." He adds and then contiues walking

[SnowAngel]

Arya looked at him and nodded, blushing a little by his words and actions. She then took his hand back in hers and squeezed it back. "Thanks." She smiled at him. "But I'm not scared. Its just this place it gives me the creeps."

Lyari sighed as he saw them holding hands. He looked away irritated.
Arya wasn't the only one who got the creeps from this place. It was to quiet, even the wind had stopped blowing.
The elf looked behind him as he heard an unsteady rhythm of footsteps. The young girl that was tagging along bounced about from the left to the right side of the path. Lyari stopped and waited untill she passed by him, then walked next to her and ruffeld her hair. "Don't be so restless. Are you okay? Do I need to carry you?" He smiled at her and wondered why she was here with them. This was going to be a dangerous quest. To dangerous for someone so small.

[Slypheed]

Sakura and Caroline were rather calm given the circumstances. Both were on alert, but didn't need to show it given that there were others to show it. Sakura was keeping her eyes on Jason, upholding the responsibility to be a chaperone of his. A smirk found its way on her face.

Venessa crept up on Lyari, a sly smile on her face. "Are you jealous or angry at what those two are doing?" She whispered to him so the others wouldn't hear. She was in her human form, but was still the same person. She looked at Lyari through the corner of her eye.

[JessieTargaryen]

Jason felt her hand wrap back around his and his face turned red. The boy was unsure of what he should do next, and reacted by pulling his hand back and awkardly walking beside Arya. It was painfully obvious how little Jason had ever been exposed to social situations, let alone an even remotley romantic situation that he was dragged into.

[Cartwright]

Ansen kept his eyes scanning ahead as they kept going, a sense of uneasiness kicking up as he felt a rising moisture in the air from the morning fog. He stopped to look at a sign then looked over the faint signs of darkness control in the area, plants dying without reason being one of the key factors. "There's a town down the road." The guardian pointed out, turning to face the group with his typical smile. "Lets see if they know anything, shall we?" With that he kept going, the smile fading once again.

Feress kept on with the knowledge that Elaine was walking beside him. It was when Lyari came up and started ruffling Elaine's hair did the kitsune break his concentration, the confusion being rather evident in his face as he looked over at the elf. "E-..Eh?" The little creature stammered, his ears twitching a few times. I never knew these people to be soo touchy of others.. What an interesting observation.. Then again when those kids saw me for the first time... The memory of human children swarming him sent shivers down his back, their rubbing and grabbing was enough for any kitsune to kind of freak out.

[JessieTargaryen]

Jason looked at the town. "Its a trap. The Darkness stands like a veil over that town. Either everybody in that is under complete control, or a demon loyal to my father is among them. Either case is dangerous." He says aloud as he looks on at the town. "On second thought. If its a demon we should go in. There's a chance its one I hate" He says and grabs the hilt of his sword

[SnowAngel]

"Jason... we shouldn't seek out trouble." She placed her hand ontop of his one that was on the hilt of his sword. Arya looked at him, then looked at Ansen.
"Let me go in first. I can scout ahead. "

Lyari looked at Venessa and shrugged trying to hide his embarrassment. "What do you care..." He snapped at her.

[Slypheed]

Venessa grinned a toothy grin, sharp teeth that interlocked too perfectly, the only teeth sticking out were her long vampiric canines. "I'll take it as both" she whispered to him before skipping merrily up to Jason, slapping him hard on the back. "Man you two lovebirds sure do watch over each other" she laughed. "Hate to say it though, no real time to bicker around about who goes first." In the middle of her happiness she quickly shot Arya a rather nasty and disgusting look, then returned to her cheeriness. "What demons don't you hate?"

---

Sakura looked over at Caroline as all the actions happened, she wasn't surprised by what she saw. Caroline was snacking one another grapefruit that she had bought for her. But the expression was new, she seemed rather entranced, and as Sakura followed her line of sight her own eye landed on the little girl. She turned back to Caroline "What's got you so interested in her?" but that didn't seem to grab Caroline's attention, Sakura merely sighed, she'd get an answer eventually.

[Cartwright]

Ansen kept quiet, letting the group mingle with each other as he looked ahead at where the town was suppose to be. There were shapes of small houses and buildings, but a layer of fog concealed it from the plain eye's reach. Eventually, the Cianid stepped towards those stepping forward, chuckling quietly. "We'll have the quick and agile take a peek. Do not enter the town... As a matter in fact," The guardian said, scratching his chin for a moment then straightening his hat before continuing. "I'll take whoever steps forward to go ahead, but we will not go far ahead. Our backs will be seen by our comrades while we investigate this. Understood?"

Feress on the other hand was adjusting the grip of his staff, his attention shifting over to the girl who he took with him. "R-remember to stay close, okay?" The Kitsune said, his voice seeming nervous. He knew something wasn't right, but he couldn't put his paw on exactly what the threat would be. Lets just hope it isn't like the incident with Ansen.

[JessieTargaryen]

Jason stepped straight forward after hearing the guardian's words. "I'm the closest to an expert. I'll be able to tell you if it is only a demon or just the darkness driving people mad. The latter being the less violent and much less... relieving for me." He said as he looked at the town. "The darkness is certainly heavy." Jason says as his armor develops fully, including the helmet this time.

[deadpixel101]

Elaine was caught off guard when a hand landed itself on her head, her humming came to a dead stop and she looked back over her shoulder to see who was now speaking to her, she hadn't talked to this person before, but so far her seemed...safe. she was about to respond to his question with something probably a tad too proud for someone so young, but the lady who fell from the sky came along and whispered some darkness into his ear, which he threw back at her immediately. Elaine shrank away from him after that, perhaps he would rather not bother with her at the moment..."Mhmmm, I won't be far..." she replied to Feress, still looking at Lyari while she said it. She felt a bit for him, as if something was bothering him, but she doubted she could do or say much of anything to help.

Dusk watched but did not really partake in all the conversation and contact going on about the group, he liked to learn about people when they spoke, it was an interesting character study. Eventually his eyes came to rest on the obstacle ahead, a wispy form of what he assumed was a town, it was shrouded by a gassy veil, which as far as Dusk could tell, while a bit obvious, was probably not a good sign. He looked over to their "leader" and listened to his thoughts on how to proceed, "I am stepping forward, watching someones back is something I have experience with." he walked until he was shoulder to shoulder with Ansen, waiting for him to either give more specific instruction, or advance.

[SnowAngel]

Arya jumped a little when she saw Venessa glare at her. The princess rolled her eyes and looked away. She didn't understand her at all, she didn't do anything wrong did she?
She hadn't even talked to her. If she would keep acting like that, so be it. Its not like she cared.
Arya stepped forward. "I'll go in to."

Lyari clenched his fist as he heard Venessa speak. Then he looked at the girl who was looking back at him.
"Uh, sorry kid come on." He held out his hand to her. "I'll take care of her." He said towards the kitsune. "Feress right? I'm Lyari."

[Cartwright]

Ansen nodded with a more confident smile when people stepped forward, his wolfish ears doing a slight flick. "Right then.. Lets get going!" The Cianid said, motioning the other volunteers to follow as he continued down the path, the shapes of buildings forming in the fog ahead of them.

Feress watched the others then shook his head with a chuckle, looking up at the one who offered to take Elaine. "It might be best if we stay together because of this fog. I wouldn't want to set fire to the wrong person or entangle you in vines. The kitsune said, tapping the base of his staff on the ground beneath them before he started off, the sediment around them rising from whatever the kitsune did but falling back to the ground when he began walking. That fox sure had a mysterious gift unlike most practices of magic.

[deadpixel101]

Elaine moved to see whoever was speaking in the current conversation, she heard Feress' comment and she looked up to Lyari, she shrugged then blinked hard. "I suppose I will stay with Mr. Far-ess for now..." she turned to trot along after her furry caretaker but she looked back at Lyari once more before the fog began to absorb them. He seemed...interesting. She didn't know but something about him seemed slightly unstable, an yet for the most part, trustworthy. She shrugged it away and stepped even closer to Feress, she was going to be his shadow from now on, and a good shadow was never far behind.

Dusk took a stride to keep shoulder and shoulder with Ansen, "So, you are one of the more experienced ones here with the darkness...what is the likelihood that our group here is attacked?...I don't like the chances of certain members being able to protect themselves." Like earlier he was still itching for action, but he would never trade the lives of, anyone, for just a little bit of swordplay. That being said..."Do you think we can hold whatever might be in here off?" he hoped his cowl and the fog would be enough to hide his plastic face, the one which now had a coy smirk painted upon it.

[JessieTargaryen]

Jason stared at the town before a small smirk crossed his face. His helmet appeared around his head to complete the armor. "We have a couple of friends in there. Two demons, both a lower ranking in the warrior caste. So not terribly great at fighting against beigs who know how to combat a demon. And it looks like one is my dear old friend Grüti. This will be fun." Jason says to the scout group. Through the darkness, Jason saw two figures standing at the mouth of the village. One was about 14 feet tall, with massive (and sharp) horns sprouting from its head and a long and powerful tail. The being was red and literally had a fire for eyes. The other one was much the same, except instead of horns it had wings and razor sharp teeth. It was also green anf only about 10 feet tall. Both demons wore actual chainmail armor, and had massive maces in thier hands. Jason glared down the bigger being who slowly took one step towards them.

[Cartwright]

Ansen looked over at Jason when the man started conjuring armor, his ears doing a flick as he looked ahead to see what Jason was seeing. The Cianid paused for a minute before reaching to wrap his right hand firmly around the handle of his sword, his left hand holding the scabbard. He noticed one of them approaching, closing the distance between the group and the unknown threat, by god it was tall. "Guess we'll have to deal with it." The guardian said and with that he freed his weapon of his grip and grabbed his bow, quickly knocking an arrow in and pulling back the string to it's full potential. There, the wolfman held the shot, the aim focusing on the chest of the figure.

Feress gulped upon hearing what was going on, and seeing something very tall approaching them. Tall things seem to have it for the smaller things, and the kitsune was a smaller thing. He looked over at the group that was ahead of them and held his staff in both of his hands, his tail doing a few nervous twitches as he whispered to Elaine. "You can hide, or you can stay very close to me. Either way, listen to me until this ordeal is over."

[JessieTargaryen]

The taller being say Jason and laughed. "Heretic. I have been waiting so long to tear you to shreds after your escape. It'll be just like when I beat you as a little brat." He laughed. Jason simply growled as a strong telekintic force yanked Grüti forward. Slamming him into the ground in front of Jason. "I'm going to enjoy your death." Jason said before swinging his sword down on the enemy, who blocked it with a massive chain mail clad arm. A mace swung up at Jason, who phased out of being then dropped in from the shadow of the ball, stabbing his sword into the demon's shoulder. Which caused it to growl with pain and throw himself forward, sneding Jason back among the group Feress was with. "Stay back! I'll take this bastard." Jason said to them before bouncing up into a defesive position, his sword being held upside down and the blade braced against his forearm. Blocking the charge of the bigger demon. The smaller demon roared and charged Ansen.