August Hill

Nadira

Nadira watched as the witches went back into the forest, ready to help Vashhan. He would most likely be alright, but at this moment, Rason was her problem now, nothing else.

"Now," He growled venomously. "I will ask you nicely one last time. Let me go to kill Daemon." The words made the air seem poisoned. They all had held their breath. But no one actually understood what truly would happen if they dared to attack Rason, the demonic angel.

Nadira left the choice to the elves. She lurched into the wood to their surprise, leaving them confused. But they did not understand what Nadira truly was planning. They did not sense the demonic power he was generating. They did not understand the physical form of demonic nature. She slipped behind Alassea, staying in the underbrush. Unnoticed. If they shot the arrow, and Rason did something to deflect the attribute of light, she too would launch and attack at that very moment, hurting Rason's physical form.

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~Incognito

** Come back! This storybook can't end!


Raesa

Raesa moved through the woods, frantically. She heard Lazona following her, but Raesa barely spared her a glance. She darted back to Vashhun, her mind spinning. What had Raesa left Vashhun to? And with all of the soldiers... If her was poisoned...

Vashhun didn't stand a chance.

"Come on, Lazona!" Raesa called, picking up her speed. Lazona gave a frustrated growl.

"What do you think I'm doing?"

Raesa broke through the clearing where Vashhun had been.

"Vashhun!" she cried out immediately, foolishly. Raesa stopped and froze at the scene before her. Lazona came up behind her, and stopped just behind Raesa.

"You fool!" Lazona hissed furiously into Raesa's ear. "What kind of trap did you lead us into?!"

*WOW, a lot had happened while I had disappeared. 'Kay, time to bring Back Ballow and Ringo with the big guns! ^^*

Ringo and Ballow

Ringo watched with a smile on his face as Shaiel, or was it now Rason, built up his demonic power. He could feel it all the way over where he was standing and Ballow scowled at them both.

Ringo took in a deep breath, "Be it time for us to take action against such a lowly threat?"

Ballow glanced over to him counter part, "That you think he's a threat is enough to attack him."

Ringo nodded glad that someone understood the fact that to kill the Daemon first they had to kill the only other one who stood a chance for killing him as well. Though Rason seemed to want to kill the Daemon just as much.

It was times lile this that Ringo loved the world, while Ballow hated it. Ringo cocked his head to the side, "It is time to use our Marks?"

Ballow let Ringo's attitude reach him and he smiled. The first time you would ever see Ballow smile. It lit the forest.

Ballow ripped off of his shirt and laid a hand on Ringo's shoulder. Both of thier teeth grew sharp as they took on more siren like forms. Ballow's hair grew longer and several of the tattoos on his back slid up his arm and transferred over to Ringo.

The transferrinmg created a greenish white light. That was what happened when you joined fire and water together. They became 2 different elements. They both took a deep breath. Ringo's hair grew longer as well.

Little thin gills appeared on the side of his neck, in between his fingers formed a thin slimy webbing as if he were a frog. Ballow's transformation wasn't as different. Ballow had been a sun siren and as such had developed much like any other human.

Except his eyes. They turned a deep fiery red, the iris changing shape completely looking very much like a star. A burst of very white green light went through the forest and several plants perked up, while some were blown down.

Everything was unseeable for a second. Then it returned to normal. One thing hadn't been the same. Ballow had grown wings.

Every tattoo on his body had disappeared. His skin as smooth and flawless as Ringo's had been. Ringo was soaked, a grin on his face and with a yell he stepped away from Ballow's hand.

This was they very thing he loved most of all. Joining their powers to make different ones. The very second that they weren't in contact another wave of light swept through the forest.

Ringo and Ballow returned to normal. Except that Ballow now had white hair, his tattoos still gone and Ringo had green eyes. They smiled at each other. Now, for only a limited time they could use all four elements.

Fire and Earth. Water and Air.

The fun was about to begin.

Ringo and Ballow stalked out of the bushes. The only flaw about this was for about 2 hours they both shared the same personality. A mixture of both Ballwo and Ringo was installed in both of them. Usually this resulted in them both fighting with each other during practice.

But not this time. This time they knew who they were after. Rason.

Ringo twitched his fingers and a wave of wind lifted them up and blew them straight to where the elves held Rason at arrow point. Both of their smiles widened.

Together they said, "Game on."

*Keheheheh! Take that! None of you guys ever thought ot wonder what the tattoos on Ballow's back were. Truth be told is that Ballow was born with wing, as all sun sirens are, but he chose to have them stored away.*

Rason

He raised an eyebrow as Ballow and Ringo approached, taking position beside the elves. "Game on."

"Oh, would you look at that, Shaiel?" Rason laughed, feeding an image of what was going on to his other half. Shaiel froze inside him. "It seems we underestimated them, hm?" Rason continued, then glowered, "As if it actually matters."

The bows of the elves twanged as one, and the shadows around Rason's waist sprung up around him. The light arrow spun away, repulsed by its opposite element, but the dark one simply passed through and drove its point into Rason.

The demon roared with laughter, tossing his head back. "Ah...that is so much better!" He said. Inside him Shaiel was screaming in pain, his mind convulsing and writhing in agony. "I've got complete control now." Rason said, "All you've done is suppress my brother."

He rolled his shoulders, joints popping as he gathered the power Shaiel would otherwise keep locked down. Not all of their shared power, he couldn't tap the full spring without the angel's consent, but this was the most he had ever felt coursing through him.

Rason reached out, and demonic ice, infused with darkness, began flowing towards his enemies. "I don't have all the time in the world." he growled, "So let's make this quick." Shadows, seemingly ringed with ice, began to detach themselves from the ground. A touch from any one of them would drain the strength of the victim, but not with the same speed as Rason's ice. Even so, a direct hit from a fire or light strike would kill any one of those shadows, so it only appeared that Rason now had the advantage of numbers.

Nadira seemed to come out of nowhere, barrelling into him, all fangs and claws. He screamed in fury as his control over the long shards of ice was broken, and they scattered, sticking into the ground. Their potency remained, but they were useless if they touched no one.

"You bitch!" He shouted, "I'll kill you!" She had his hands pinned to the ground, but his black eyes burned with insane fury. The shadow forms were racing towards where he grappled with Nadira, and he knew he had the advantage. She couldn't kill him, because that would kill Shaiel. And the shadows, if they touched her, would weaken her.

His eyes narrowed, "I'm going to kill you." He said again, baring his teeth, those a gleaming white in contrast to the rest of him, "I just haven't chosen which way yet."

Ringo And Ballow


They swore as one as Nadira came running out of the trees. They thought she would stay hidden until Rason became more vulnerable. Ringo looked at Ballow at the same time that Ballow looked at Ringo and they both nodded.

They flung their hands out towards each other joining hands. Nadira's life was all but forfeit and she had been a good distraction. Their grins widened as their hands came in contact.

Light flashed irratically around, blinding both the elves and Rason. Nadira being the Lycanthrope that she was had noticed the bright light before it intensified and had closed her eyes.

Rason momentarily dropped Nadira to the ground, and with eyes shut she rolled away out of reach. The light dimmed to show Ringo and Ballow standing still four orbs of colour rotating around them.

"The only way to deal with the blackest element." started Ringo

"Is to pound it with the four main ones." finished Ballow.

The orbs floating around them collided into one enormous swirling mass of a grey substance. Flecks of individual colours appeared in it, before being sucked away into a vortex of the grey. Foresty around them appeared withered as if tehy had drawn power for this attack from them. And they had.

One of the elves muttered outloud, "A pity they don't control light."

Then the massive orb flew straight into Rason that it knocked him off of his feet. Underneath, the earth weakened by Ringo's and Ballow's drawing of its strength gave way. Rason fell into a hole about 10 metres deep. The elemental mass of energy would not attack anything except the one that they it targetted at. And it was targetted at Rason's soul, not his body.

The orb had completely exploded as it made contact wth Rason's body and it looked as though Rason had absorbed it. Ringo and Ballow let out a collectve sigh, and then smiled, "Well, that was fun."

Nadira growled at them. Everyone inched closer to the hole wondeirng if Rason had been knocked back and Shaiel had taken the reigns again. Ballow and Ringo, however, were waiting for another game.

Rason/Shaiel

Caught halfway between their forms, and both of them in pain, the brothers screamed. In anger at the people who had hurt them, in pain from their attacks, and in protest at each other. Each saw through one eye as people backed away from the hole at the scream. It was a hideous noise, distorted between Rason's low, grating voice and Shaiel's more melodious one.

The speech between them altered between the spoken form and the mind form, making it difficult for those around to fully comprehend what they were saying.

"It's my turn at the moment!" Rason was screaming, "You're too weak! I still have plenty of strength."

"They attacked your soul!" Shaiel replied, his voice half in, half out of the hearing range of the others.

"What soul?" Rason asked. The elemental attack had, wanting for its original target of a demon's soul, targeted Rason's mind and, to a degree, Shaiel's soul. Shaiel had barely felt it with the dark arrow's poison still burning at him, but he had felt Rason's mental flinch. It had allowed him to push Rason's mind down for a time, and now Shaiel had dominance again.

After another five minutes of arguing like this, Rason ebbed away, his enraged curses fading into the forest air.

Shaiel clambered out of the hole, wings splattered with his own blood. His entire body was covered in scrapes and bruises, all the attacks Rason had seemingly absorbed. He coughed, spitting blood onto the ground.

"Well. This is a welcome change." Someone muttered.

"Which one of you idiots," Shaiel said darkly, "Decided it would be a good idea to attack Rason with darkness?" They seemed surprised by his anger, was this appropriate behaviour for an angel, "And who thought he had a soul?"

Ballow and Ringo

Ringo stooped down to smile in his face, "Well, if he was alive he had to guess that it was probable that he had a soul. Directly damaging his thinking organ might have done something, but we weren't sure if it would cause him to disappear into a puff of smoke or lose more sanity."

Ballow nodded his agreement with a smile, "We weren't sure if he was going to die or become even more unstoppable if we damaged his mental source."

Ringo then pulled Shaiel up, with him grimacing into an up right position, "It was the pointy eared ones who shot you with the arrow."

Ballow nodded, his smile growing, "Yeah, they didn't think that through very well."

Shaiel's bloody wings fell limply by his back, he appeared like one of the fallen angels everyone had read about. Black and dirty and covered in blood it looked as though he had just fought through a war.

A blinding light once again split through the forest and Ballow and Ringo were the source of it. Then as suddenly as it had come, the light was gone. Both the changes on Ballow and Ringo were gone. Ballow's tattoos back place, clearly visible because he had no shirt on. They both looked completely human now.

Ballow scowled, Ringo's smiled widened exponentionally as he dug a finger into one of Shaiel's cuts, "Ahh, well, now you owe us you're life, I was thinking back to the honey and leather comment . . ."

Ballow slapped Ringo's hand down, "Don't. He's hurt."

Ringo pouted before reverting to his smile, "I really do not like sharing a personality with you. I always feel to goody too shoed. And now you have me speaking almost normally. It will take forever and a day to get my wider vocabulary back!"

He fell to the floor, cross-legged. The earth still weakened from their attack gave way underneath him, but Ballow snatched him out of the way before he could fall.

Ringo growled as Ballow threw him onto the ground. Ballow gave him a scathing look, "Idiot. I'm the only one who can hurt you."

Ringo spat at him before standing up and wiping off the dirt that had accumulated on his clothes, he snuck off into the trees. Ballow turned to the elves, "Can either of you heal him?"

Lazona and Raesa decided at this point to fall out of the bushes, tackling each other, "We're not helping them! They nearly killed each other!"

Ballow glanced at them, "Heal the angel, please."

They untangled themselves and stood up, Ringo somehow had manged to climb a tree standing above them and now dropped down onto their backs, a dagger in his hands, "Do fix the winged one if you do not expect to be missing a ear of a nose."

Suddenly there were two daggers in his hands one in each. Both of them rested on the parts that Ringo had mentioned. Ballow scowled at his counter part, but added, "Please"

Ringo sat on their backs with a satisfied expression on his face. He let the dagger just touch one of their ears a little bit, drawing beads of blood. The daggers were sharp, no doubt.

Escape was improbable. The elves and Ballow stared expectantly at the two witches. Shaiel was still smouldering over the fact that the elves shot a dark arrow at him.

**Umm, I think Raesa and Lazoba were supposed to be off with Vashhun, Daemon, Vashhun's dad and a small army. So chances are they wouldn't have much of a chance to come tumbling along just yet.**

Yeah, I read Phantom Of The Potter's last post and assumed that they ran into us.

"Vashhun!" she cried out immediately, foolishly. Raesa stopped and froze at the scene before her. Lazona came up behind her, and stopped just behind Raesa.

"You fool!" Lazona hissed furiously into Raesa's ear. "What kind of trap did you lead us into?!"

But the again I did miss out on a tad bit, so I wasn't sure.

Do you think I should change it?

Naw, it's all right...

*Holy Jeez, this place came back without me knowing! And it seems you guys are all confused... Phantom, just heal them, and send them barreling back into the forest once more. It is easy enough to fix. Just a simple mis-understanding. It will take to long to change it up.

Nadira

She staggered to her feet, exhaustion making her want to fall over once more. All her bones ached and when she leaned down on her fore leg, a blistering pain shot up her arm, leaving her crippled and back on the ground. She morphed back into a human and stumbled over to a tree, leaned against it, and fell to her knees examining the scene before her.

The most shocking thing was the bloodied angel, standing before them all. Just like a dream from her childhood. She had not thought of it much then, more of a nightmare than a dream, but then it all came back to her. It was in that dream that she had envisioned Vashhan's death, brought down by that angel.

But that would not happen. Shaiel would not hurt him. He would not do that. Her eyes drifted closed and she felt a subtle calm seep through her.

Vashhan

"Father! Get away from him!" Vashhan scrambling to his feet, his body wishing otherwise. "He is a monster!"

"He is not a monster. He is my friend." Vashhan's father stepped toward Vashhan and grabbed his arm, his eyes filled with happiness. "Boy, you have grown."

"He killed our kind father! He obliterated them!" Vashhan pointed at Daemon angrily. "He did it all father." His voice melted into pleading and his knees let out on him, but his father caught him and pulled him into a hug.

"Vashhan, I missed you."

The arms were strong and reasuring for Vashhan, holding him close. His fathers familiar scent wafted up to him once more, and recognization and foreign memories wafted up to Vashhan, pleasant and nostalgic.

Vashhan's father grabbed Vashhan and held him at an arms length, hands on his shoulders. "Daemon didn't kill our kind."

"It is trickery father! Trickery! He made you believe that!"

"I did." The words completed silence in the forest, of all around them. All that could be heard was the crackle of flames and the rustle of the leaves on the trees. No animal sounds could be heard, they had all fled. It was a stab to Vashhan's heart, making tears come back.

"You couldn't have! You wouldn't have killed your whole kind!"

"But I did exactly that. Corruption had sprouted in our root Vashhan! The elders were becomeing corrupted, the young ones were becoming uncontrollable, phasing back into a wolf and not having any controll of their movements." His father looked up into the sky. "And as the leader, I had to fix that, by any means. We must re build the Lycanthrope race, you and I. We will start it all over."

Vashhan pushed away from him. "Father! That can't be! You couldn't have. I don't believe you. It was him! Why else would the race die when he brutally attacked the rest of the world!"

"Because I fight along side him. I fight for his cause. My people would have stood up to this, and our kind would have been massacred anyways. I could not have let that happen, so I poisoned all our blood, only killing the ones tainted at the heart."

"Malik. He won't be convinced. I have given you your chance." Daemon's voice came out heartless.

"Let me continue for one second!" Vashhan's father cried and he turned back to Vashhan. "I need you. If the Lycanthrope race is ever to return, I need you. Join us. Help us. Stay with your father."

Daemon's laughter keeled up in the forest around him, an evil grin on his face. "Oh what a tragic moment. Vashhan, wouldn't you like to forget everything you once knew? To start over new? To live a new life?"

Everything seemed to go quiet again at that moment, except it seemed the even the wind died out to meet his response, the flames stopped crackingly. Everything everted Vashhan's senses except his father before him, staring at him welcoming and pleading at the same time. For all this time, he thought that his father was dead, that he was the last of his kind. That Daemon was the brutal assailant on his kind. But he was wrong, and there seemed only one choice in the matter.

"Yes. I will." Vashhan then fell over, a splitting pain coming from his chest. It coursed through his veins. It seeped through his muscles. It ached his bones. Soon his whole body felt like it was on fire. The poison.

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~Incognito

**Ehh - Alright... Whatever... You bring up a good point, Incognito..

Lazona

Lazona felt a drop of blood fall down the side of her ear. She sneered at the ground.

"Threatening me won't do you much good," she said casually. "Nor will siting on me. I can't very well heal the halfling if I'm pinned to the ground."

A painful warning tremor ran through her body. Lazona set her jaw grimly. She'd hadn't completed Raesa's Ultimate Plea yet, and the tremor was just the Witches' Council's way of reminding her.

"Get off me," snapped Lazona, any pretense of casualness gone. Ringo sat up slowly. Lazona picked herself up, glaring at him. Ringo held his dagger at the ready, just in case Lazona attempted to run. Lazona flashed it a contemptuous glance, then marched off to where Shaiel sat. She pulled open her back and began unfolding various paper packages.

Lazona felt Shaiel looking apprehensively at what she was doing. Lazon bared her teeth in a malicious smile. After a few minutes, of mixing and mashing, stirring and pouring, Lazona was nearly done with poultice. Her hand wavered over a pain-killing herb, but Lazona decided against it. She had been threatened, after all...

Lazona poured the substance from her cauldron into a jar. Another tremor shook her, more painful this time. Lazona glared at the ground until the pain had subsided.

She snatched up the jar and shoved it into Ringo's stomach, smiling vindictively. "Spread this on the wounds. They should heal quickly enough."

Lazona walked away from him. She met Raesa's gaze.

"I believe we have a previous engagement?"

Raesa

Raesa nodded quickly. Lazona's jaw tightened for a minute; she glared over Raesa's shoulder.

"Let us go, then."

Raesa quickly moved back into the forest. She was glad to leave. Every moment that Lazona had used to make the poultice, Raesa had had horrible images of Vashhun. Vashhun dead, Vashhun mangled, Vashhun captured, Vashhun tortured, Vashhun left to his own, tortuous, poisoned death.

"Hurry!" called Raesa and she crashed through the woods toward Vashhun. Lazona's response was delayed.

"... I'm going... " she snarled back. "Trust me when I say I want this done with just as much as you do."

Raesa broke through the forest into a clearing. The fire had almost consumed the clearing. Three men stood in the clearing, two of which Raesa did not know. Raesa spotted Vashhun, his face contorted in pain.

"Vashhun!" she cried, relief apparent in her voice. He wasn't dead! Lazona came up behind her. She took one look at the men in the clearing, and swore loudly. Raesa glanced at her, then at the man Lazona was staring open-mouthed at. Raesa felt a twinge of fear when she saw the look of grudging respect in Lazona's face. That twinge turned into a tidal wave when Raesa's eyes turned back to the man and met his gaze.

Vashhan

He saw her, and his mind went blank.

"Oh dear, it seems we have a couple intruders." Daemon smiled at them. "Hello there."

"Don't you dare, Daemon." Vashhan hissed, the pain from his chest making him fall to his knees. Raesa could not be here, even if she was with Lazona. She would be hurt if she stayed. She would not be safe. "Do not hurt them."

"Vashhan?" Malik looked down on his son with concern. "What's wrong? You are in pain!"

"Of course he is. He is poisoned." Lazona hissed at him stepping forward. The desire to help Vashhan was intense, the Plea was pulling her towards him. Pulling her to help him. Vashhan seemed to curl into a ball, knees to his chest, tears running down his cheeks, yet he would not call out, or shout.

"How did he get poisoned?" Malik's Alter came out from behind them, his hair dark chestnut brown, he had angular features and was tall and lithe. He kneeled down beside Vashhan and grabbed the boys shoulders.

"Elven arrows." Raesa was barely able to speak. Thalia.

"Of course." Malik swore. "The light must have had effect on our demonic blood. Akira?"

"Yes?" The Alter responded.

"I need you to find Vashhan's Alter. She must be around her somewhere. He needs her clean blood." Malik ordered.

Vashhan stared at Raesa pleadingly, yet he could not voice the reason's why. Her eyes had not moved from Daemon, who still stood there, the smile clear on his face, as if enjoyed the pain Vashhan was going through. He did not know why, but Raesa had the desire to kill Daemon and if she tried, his father would protect him. And if his father protected him, Vashhan would have to fight her.

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~Incognito

Raesa

Raesa stood trembling, locked in a silent battle with the very source of all her troubles. The man who had killed Thalia, who had started this whole mess. He was only about six feet in front of her.

Daemon was smiling maliciously back at her. Raesa wanted to run away, dart into some deer's thicket and hide. But she couldn't; his gaze seemed to freeze her joints.

"You," Raesa hissed, her voice cracking. Daemon raised his eyebrows.

"Good evening, witch. I don't believe we've met."

Raesa didn't even acknowledge how he knew she was a witch.

"You," she repeated, growing more hysterical. Daemon frowned.

"That point has already been established. Yes, I know that it is me."

Raesa's face contorted. "You!" she screamed. Daemon furrowed his eyebrows.

"You begin to annoy me, witch," he said, but then sighed dramatically. "Alas, I suppose that is all you can say. Being a witch, you are naturally dull."

"Do you know what you've done?" whispered Raesa fiercely.

"Ah! So you can talk?"

"Murderer!" screamed Raesa. Her magic blossomed within her. Raesa let it consume her, building it up until her fists were glowing with crackling energy. Daemon looked amused. He chuckled quietly. Tormented anger welled up inside Raesa.

"Thalia!" Raesa screamed. "Does the name mean anything to you?! The name of the sweet, innocent child you slaughtered at August Hill! Does it mean anything to you?!"

Raesa throat was burning. Daemon raised his eyebrows. Raesa snarled, and raised her fists.

"Raesa! No!" The strangled yelp came from Vashhun, only barely audible above the crackling of the flames. Raesa ignored it.

"This is for Thalia!" roared Raesa, pelting every ounce of energy in her body at Daemon.

Vashhan

Malik leapt to his feet, seeing the energy force flying towards Daemon, and he stood before Daemon, taking the blast full on, sending him flying backwards into Daemon. His breathing staggered and his face became distorted in pain.

"Father!" Vashhan barely spoke, trying to crawl over to him. Daemon held Malik below the armpits and placed him slowly onto the ground. Vashhan made his way over, tears spilling over and collasped beside his father.

"Vashhan, my son. I am sorry for what I have done. I-I am sorry for leaving you." Malik said, blood starting to drip from the corner of his mouth. He cupped Vashhan's face with his hand and wiped away the tear on his cheek. "I-I never expected to see you again, and I, I guess I am happy."

Malik's eyes drifted shut and a smile occured onto his face. "I love you."

"Father!" Vashhan croaked, the pain on his insides flaring up twice as much. "Don't!" His fathers hand went limp and it fell to his side. It moved slightly, and Vashhan gripped it, trying to find the pulse in his father's hand. "He is dead." Vashhan whispered, barely audible because of his weakness.

"He is not dead." Daemon said, appearing beside Vashhan. "I can help him, but not here. He protected me, so I will try to help him."

Vashhan looked up at Raesa and his vision blurred, but he still staggered to his feet and stood infront of Daemon, barring her way. "I-I, I can't let you... kill him." Vashhan barely said.

Nadira

Her eyes flickered open as she heard a sound of moving leaves. She snapped to her feet just to see a wolf, bigger and taller than her appear, his fur as dark as the night. Her eyes widened in amazement as it stepped closer.

A Lycanthrope.

But then it sudden fell over to its side, reverting into a human once more, and it seemed that he was in pure pain, breathing ragged and his nails were clawing into the earth. But what was more alarming was that she recognized the angular-featured man. Akira.

"Nadira," The wolf started. "We need you." He staggered to his feet, fear in his eyes. "We need to go."

"How are you alive?" She was alarmed. Was this an illusion her mind thought up.

"No time, we must go. Vashhan." And with that it reverbrated back into the wolf form, and she joined him and they both charged into the forest.

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~Incognito