August Hill

Shaiel

Gritting his teeth, he glowered at Lazona. He allowed Rason to rise up a little now, the half-demon understanding that they had to work together here if they wanted to put off an attack by Ringo for the time being. The only visible change was in his face – his hair went slightly greyer than Shaiel’s white, and one of his eyes went red rather than the blue these four had seen so far.

His voice distorted, sounding as though he were speaking with two harmonizing voices, “I’m not lying to you, witch.” He said. His tone was much harsher now; Rason had been waiting for a chance to interact with the outside world since Shaiel had kept him locked up after massacring a contingent of Daemon’s men at August Hill. “We are one and the same. Rason, Shaiel. Two minds, two races, one body.”

Both eyes flashed red for a moment, and then Shaiel gained control and his body returned to exactly the same as it had been.

He gave Lazona a smile, “So you see, my alter ego is, in a lot of ways, me. But when he comes out, you wouldn’t recognize it unless you saw it happen. We look different.” He looked at Raesa, trying to appeal to the only one here who seemed capable of

considering his side of the argument. He could tell the lycans didn’t appreciate his company any more than they did the witches’, and Lazona certainly didn’t like him. “Ringo can’t know about me. He’s hunting Daemon, and I think it’s to prove his strength. No different to Rason. I don’t fear Ringo, as such, but I’m not sure if I’m his equal. Rason would be, easily. But since he exercises…little control, I can’t let him out. So I have to wait until we’re at Daemon’s palace before I can deal with Ringo. If he found out earlier, things would be problematic.”

They seemed to be taken aback by his show. Lazona least of all, however. She sniffed, "So you're actually only half as powerful as we thought you were."

I like her. Rason cackled, Even if she doesn't understand how the deal works, she's better conversation than you'll ever be!

"Shut up." Muttered Shaiel.

"What did you say?!" Lazona shouted at him.

He smiled, "Not talking to you, sorry. I was talking to him." He left it at that, not feeling any pressing need to explain himself further.

Desanda blinnked at the two characters who had stumbled into the seats. Aeriz grinned at them, and waved. "Hi! I'm Aeriz, and this is Desanda!" he exclaimed. Desanda wanted to smack her forehead, but now was not the time.

"We're after Daemon. Stupid idiot turned the seas red. It used to be silver, actually." Shaking her head, Desanda reminded herself that she was going out of topic. However, before she could continue, Aeriz did so for her.

"Well, Zire and Zander here are coming with us to go to the forest. There might be some people who can help there."

"You're going after Daemon too?" Alarinna and Sael, the two fairies, raised their eyebrows. "Well, that makes things easier," Sael remarked. "We're in. So, leaving now?" Not waiting for an answer, she got up. "Let's go." Alarinna's and Desanda's jaws dropped open in shock.

"We're l-leaving?" Desanda stuttered.

"Now?" Alarinna added. Zire, Aeriz, and Sael smirked.

"What, you wanna wait till Daemon comes after us?"

Alarinna~

She let out a long, drawn-out sigh. "Well, don't we need to sort of, work on our powers? Become more of a team. Daemon isn't just going to l-listen to us talk, y-you-you know," Alarinna stumbled over the words when she noticed everyone looking at her.

"That's the most sensible thing I've heard you say in years!" Sael remarked. "But she'd right! Maybe we should train together, so we know one another's strengths and weaknesses!"

Sael and Alarinna smiled. They were trying hard to convince. Well, Alarinna was, at least. Sael just wanted to whoop that Daemon guy's butt!
- - -
You nailed their personalities Vyper!

~Rei

Lazona

Lazona's eyes widened at the Half-Angels' snub.

"Watch yourself, half-ling," she snapped furiously.

"Lazona!" came Raesa's usual indignant reply.

Lazona turned to Raesa. "You, of all people, should be least pleased with wasting our time talking to this," Lazona sneered. "half-ling. What ever happened to - oh - I'm forgetting her name..." Lazona pretended to be puzzled.

Raesa's expression darkened. "Lazona..." she began warningly.

"Oh yes!" cried Lazona tauntingly. "Thalia!"

Raesa's nostrils flared a the jab. Lazona could see pressure begin to build in Raesa. Lazona knew Raesa all to well, though; Raesa would not lose her temper in front of almost-total strangers. Raesa had too much pride for that.

"Stop it," barked Vashhun irritatedly. Lazona turned to him.

"Oh, pardon my rudeness, Great One," sneered Lazona. She gave a flourishing bow to the now-furious Lycanthrope. With a satisfied smirk, Lazona turned back to Raesa. "I think I'll take my leave," she said in a mockingly formal tone. "It is obvious I am not welcome here..."

Raesa pursed her lips and began to say something, but Lazona quickly backed into the woods behind her. One of the perks to holding a conversation at the edge of a forest. Dramatic exits were so easy to pull off...

"Alright, who's up first? Me and Des against whoever wants to try!" Aeriz grinned- like a fool, Desanda noted- and streched his arms out. The other four glanced at him. Maybe one of them would start thinking that he's a lunatic. Desanda paused to ponder the fact. It wouldn't actually be surprising, now that she thought about it.

Sael and Zire looked at their alter-egos, and almost immediately, they grabbed the hands of their alter-egos and shot off towards the pair. Zander sighed, already knowing that once Zire got worked up, there was nothing he could do. Alarinna squirmed for a while, obviously uncomfortable.

"We're going first!" both Sael and Zire announced at the same time. At once, they glared at each other. "No, I am! I was first!"

Aeriz, Desanda, and Alarinna blinked, apparently amazed that the two hotheads could start spewing the same words at the same time. Strange. Zander raised an eyebrow and continued doing whatever he was doing before; what it was, nobody could tell.

*Okay, that was a little strange of my characters to act in that way but I'll go on with it this time. *

Zander

I was thinking, fiddling with a miniature feather i had found before. After a few seconds of listening to Zire argue with Sael who was in fact the one who i agreed with in this argument. I walked to Zire and then turning him from his shoulders i started shaking him as fast as possible. To anyone this would seem insane, but in Zire's case he actually settles when shook fast.

"Hey Zander" in a tone that made him seem drunk.

"What would you do without me idiot?" I asked sighing.

"Good question" Zire replied scratching his head.

"You Go first" I said addressing Sael.

She grinned and then continued her... offensive procedure with Alarinna.

*The Shaking thing was kinda random *

*Offensive Procedure? XD sorry, I'm lost myself.*

Sael~

Sael pushed Alarinna into the 'centre stage' in front of Zander, Zira, Desanda and Aeriz. "You know how to do this, right?" Sael nudged Alarinna's shoulder. Alarinna nodded her head vigorosly. "Yep," She whispered, and grabbed the bow that had been hidden beneath her wings this whole time.

Sael and Alarinna had practise this before. Because of Alarinna's amazing control of her emotions, she had impeccable accuracy. And since Sael had the time to yell and abuse her alter-ego, she had amazing stamina.

So Sael rubbed her hands together to create friction, concentrated, closing her eyes, and beneath her feet ice began to lick at the grass like frost. Then it got bigger, and soon ice was forming beneath the small area they were practising. Sael soon made the ice into tiny points on Alarinna's bow, and Alarinna shot. At least five razor-sharp ice shards were sent flying through the air to the tree.

"We can both make ice, of course," Sael said, almost gloating, "but we like this. The razor-sharp arrows could penetrate any human skin without a problem." She grinned, pleased of her work, and stepped back, allowing someone to go next. Alarinna retreated behind Sael's dragon wings.
- - -
*Anyone can step in now.*

~Rei

Vashhan

She left. Was Vashhan's first thought when he saw Lazona start to leave the forest. He felt the longing to go after her. He had to keep the group together, he assured himself.

Just go after her. There is no fooling yourself this time. It might be more helpful if your antsy feelings were out of the way. Nadira thought almost snobbishly. Let him go after the pathetic witch. There was no point holding off any longer. I will figure out what they want. Now go. Do what ever you have to.

Vashhan nodded his head, and right before all the people he transformed freely into his pristine wolf form. He heard one of the people gasp, though he did not know who it was. He shook his fur knowing how impressive his size and did what he had wanted to do for so long now. He ran. He jumped into the brush following Lazona's scent. He would find her.

He did not know what was driving him so much to find her. His logical explanation was simply that he wanted to get away from the man as soon as possible. He was unnerving. It was impossible to tell whether he would ever reveal the other person inside him, and for odd reason Vashhan feared that day. He would run and find her, maybe take a detour here or there, to waste time. He knew he was being shameless and fearful. He had left Nadira there alone with him, and he knew he was the stronger one to fight. There was never knowing what could happen when he was off galloping off into the woods.

There was another unknown reason why he wished to find Lazona that drove him farther too. He thought many possibilities, but shook each and every one off. He was confused, there was no other way to put his emotions.

Nadira

Nadira felt his presence leave and felt the tugging on their connection as his presence got weaker and weaker. She had been losing him for the last few days, and there was no other way to put it. But now the problem at hand was what they needed to pay attention too.

"Why are you travelling these parts? There has been a vexing murder just a little while ago." Nadira let the words that everyone was holding back slip out. She felt a tangle of emotions run through the air. She knew Raesa was mourning over someone lost. She did not know about the other three.

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

Yeppers. That's about it.

~Incognito

Shaiel

He seemed uncomfortable at the mention of the vexing murder, after all, there was every possibility that Rason had something to do with it. He hadn't exactly discriminated between soldier and civilian on his way out of town, anyone who had got in his way had been killed for it.

An image flashed through his mind, he heard his own voice screaming in protest, but it was from a distance. He knew this was from Rason's perspective. Flames licked the area just beyond Rason's influence, but the ground around them was cold. The bodies were barely distinguishable nearby, frostbitten beyond belief, one actually frozen against a wall.

Shaiel shrugged, "As I said, I'm trying to find out how to get the pureblood city. I'm going to kill Daemon for what he's done."

Nadira smirked, "Nothing new there. Just about everyone seems to want to kill that man these days." She looked straight at him, "But why are you travelling around here so soon after such a terrible murder?"

"I'm from August Hill." Shaiel said, "So I don't really have any choice but to be here." He paused, "As to the murder..." he sighed, "I'm not sure, but it could have either been Daemon's men or Rason, my other half."

Raesa seemed shocked, "What, you mean you don't know if you did it?"

He seemed angry for a moment, and then calmed down, "I would never do that to an innocent. But when Rason is in control of our body, I don't know most of what he is doing. He's more powerful than I am, I don't know how I manage to keep him suppressed most of the time. The fact is, I had nothing to do with the murder, even if Rason did."

*Sorry Firestalker. I'll try to keep it IC next time*

Aeriz raised an eyebrow and whistled approvingly. "Nice ice arrows. Or whatever you wanna call them. Des and I'll be going next, if you don't mind," he said to Zire and Zander. Not waiting for a response, he glanced around. Eyes locked on the ground, he searched for water.

"Aeriz? Already found a puddle," Desanda said, pointing to quite a large wet patch on the ground. The bright day was reflected on its surface, Aeriz's own face peering down on it. He saw that he had a dark smudge of something running across his forehead. "I'll do panther. You?"

"Sword seems good. So, ladies first," he said, sweeping into a low bow. Desanda shrugged and raised a hand over the puddle and it swirled up, strands of clear liquid twirling around themselves. They danced and curled like smoke, slowly forming a body. Sael scoffed.

"This isn't a beauty pagent," she said. Desanda paid her no mind and continued concentrating. Soon, a miniature panther stood at her feet, growing at the others. Aeriz grinned, and reached down into the puddle. His hand immersed, he gripped his hand on water and pulled it out and his previously empty fist now had a sword in it. It glimmered in the daylight.

"This is as strong as any sword you'll find, probably even stronger. Best part about it is..." Aeriz walked over to a tree and sliced deep into the bark. However, when he pulled out the sword, it had an enormous curvein it. Soon, it rippled and turned back to its normal shape. He grinned. "It can do that."

Desanda petted the small panther which purred and rubbed up against her. "These guys can pretty much tear anything apart. Human flesh works especially well." She pointed at a fallen branch, and the panther immediately sprang up. It bounded to the wood and began clawing and biting at it. After a while, if you glanced at it, you wouldn't be able to tell that it was wood. "Cute, isn't he?"

"Well, that's our powers! What about you guys?" Aeriz asked Zire and Zander, dropping his sword.

Zire

Zander was the one who started talking.

"We're Wizards, we have many powers but, we can of course control the elements, the easiest of our magic." He explained.

"But there is this" He added then nodded to me.

We held hands and took in a deep breath. The slowly willing our powers we willed our atoms to separate, making us gaseous like objects. Our atoms then merged together creating a gaseous humanoid form.

"This form is good for defending of course, try it if you want, nothing can technically hurt us now." Zander said.

"And what about offensive, you can hurt others and fight can't you?" Asked Sael.

Zander grinned, "Shoot an arrow at me" He told Alarinna, who obliged after Sael nodded.

The minute the arrow reached our range of offense, Zander used his powers to use the wind to make the arrow turn around. He was fast as usual so fast that all one could see was the arrow disappearing and then appearing a few feet away moving back to the sender.

"And those" He said "are just some of my powers."

*I know the powers are not that impressive, but hey, it cant be too impressive right?*

Raesa

Raesa stared, horrified, at Shaiel. She couldn't believe that the person she was staring at could be, however distantly, linked with Thalia's death. To Thalia's murder.

"How -?" began Raesa nervously. "How can you claim to hate Daemon if - if you might have - have - " Raesa couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. Shaiel's expression darkened.

"I had no control over anything that happened there..."

Raesa frowned. She couldn't understand Shaiel or his other half... They were one, yet they blamed each others deeds as separate. How could that be?

Raesa tried to hide her uncertainty. It sickened her that Thalia's murderer might be standing in front of her, but could not face the blame.

Lazona

Lazona paused as she came into a small clearing in the woods. She burst out laughing. They were all so pathetic! First, the was Raesa, with her desperate yearning to avenge her dear Thalia. Next, there were the Lycanthropes, whose pride and dignity for their race commanded them to punish Daemon for his actions. Then, of course, the half-lings! Where to start with them?! Poor Shaiel, having to deal with the evil Rason. Poor Rason, having to deal with the angelic Shaiel!

Lazona laughed harder. What had the world come to? Daemon might not be nearly as powerful as the world seemed to think. It wouldn't take much to lead such a band of bumbling buffoons! Lazona could do it!

Oh, and one must not forget the pathetic ease that came with stealing some of Urchin Academy's most prized objects! A simple door lock!

The woods rustled behind her. Lazona stopped laughing abruptly and spun around. A large, white wolf stood in front of her.

"Ah, the Lycanthrope..." drawled Lazona. "What brings His Holiness here to visit poor, meek Lazona?"

Vashhan

"Since when am I His Holiness?" Vashhan trandormed quickly back into his human form. He quickly whisked his white blonde hair out of his eyes. "Last time I checked, I was as far from Heaven as could possibly be able without entering hell."

Lazona snorted and turned around shifting her bag on her shoulder. "Why are you here?"

"I came to bring you back obviously. We can't have a stray witch running around our forest now can we?" Vashhan smirked. He could feel the tension leaving his muscles. His quadriceps were throbbing though because of the fast walk.

"It seems that you let a Half Demon roam through you woods. How bad could a witch possibly be?!"

"A Half Demon?" Vashhan snarled. She was speaking nonsense now.

"I am talking about that Shaiel person! He is Half Demon, or at least holding a Demon in side of him. I was able to tell by the time he first took a step towards us." She turned to look at Vashhan hoping to examine the affect of her words on Vashhan, as she did this though, her bag fell open, random things falling out. Vashhan smelt something incredibly musty yet familiar. Lazona, surprised, jumped around and tried to shove the things back into her sachet.

"What is that?" Vashhan felt the snarl escape his lips as he saw a couple of the items. There, in her hand was wolf fur as dark as the night and another patch as white as snow. "I thought you witches said that animal magic was not used any more! I thought it was forbidden!" Those were the odd items he had smelt coming from her. He had been foolish not to inquire right then. Then, he wouldn't have even bothered to leave. He felt the sudden sense of being alone, without Nadira there.

"We said that most witches do not use it anymore. I didn't say I was against it myself. That Academy is very helpful you see. There is many valuable secrets being kept within their walls."

Vashhan could not understand the feelings of betrayal rising inside him. He felt resent for what she had done, yet he still felt the huge desire to rip her throat out. In her hands, was keys to Black Magic. It was the fur of the Alpha and its Alter-Ego. A lycanthrope had to die for her to get that fur. He felt the tremor surface in his body and soon he was morphed back into his wolf form.

He let loose a howl, and jumped towards Lazona, perfect intent on hurting her, maybe even killing her. For here she was, with the pelts of his dead fore-fathers in her grasp.

Nadira

Nadira sensed the feelings of unease emanating from Raesa. She was troubled. This man was bringing back unwanted memories. Nadira smirked. Served the little witch right.

"It seems we both have a common gaol to kill Daemon. Would you like to join us? I am sure Vashhan would agree with my invitation." Nadira felt the sense of satisfaction rise from within her. Vashhan had invited her worst enemies to join them, and now was her chance to stab back at him. Vashhan did not trust these people, and it seemed perfectly well that she should invite these people also. The more the merrier.

But then she heard the howl from within the forest. She automatically felt the urge to run to Vashhan. There was something going on. He did many reckless things, but they were usually deliberate in some way. Maybe the witch tripped on a rock or something and was injured? Nadira did not care about her. She had no desire to go because of her. It was Vashhan's clear pain in the howl that made her hair stand up on end.

Then she got one blank message in her head from Vashhan no matter how much she pressed for a response. It said simple but clear message.

I will kill her.

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

~Incognito

*okay as no one seems to be posting who are with me I'm trying to get into the part of the story you guys are in, is that okay, if it is not then I'll edit my post*

Zire

He heard a wolf howl, even though they were just a few feet outside the Academy. But is was not of a normal wolf, it was a Lycanthrope.

I started to run towards the woods, there was something wrong, i smelled black magic, and strong ones too.

Zander

Black magic, my black magic. My stolen pelts of Lycanthropes. They had been missing for some time now and I had thought that they had been confiscated until now. Zire suddenly broke into a run.

"Come on" I whispered loud enough for the rest of them to hear, i was not going to runa dn leave them thinking me to be an idiot like Zire.

As i ran towards the forest the I sensed a witch there and also a Lycanthrope, fighting, the witch was defending herself trying to attack the Lycanthrope, but as it was the one to attack it had the upper hand for now, i did not believe that a Lycanthrope could kill a witch so easily, at least not one who possessed a knowledge of Black magic.

I was running not to help but to watch and jedge the amount of power this witch posessed, after all to this day i had thought i was the only Magic wielder who possessed any control over Black magic, but it seemed to be wrong. The pelts had indeed a large amount of power, if this witch had taken it one purpose, then she was indeed a fair match for me, she could fight me and even win.

Shaiel

It was clear to him that Raesa didn't understand the distinction between Rason and Shaiel. Maybe if she saw Rason in his own form... He shook the thought away, he wasn't just going to trot the half-demon out for show and tell. Instead, he decided he'd deal with her apparent hostility later, and turned to Nadira.

His eyes hardened a little at the offer of a chance to kill Daemon, "We both accept. On this matter, Rason and I agree completely. The human must die."

Then a howl tore through the air. Shaiel didn't know what it meant - he wasn't versed in recognising the different tones of wolf howls. He could tell if a dog was mournful sometimes, but that was about as far as it went. He assumed, though, that if it were Vashhan, there could easily be some serious trouble.

Nadira looked worried, "I need to go to him." In a moment, she'd shifted, and was bounding into the forest.

Shaiel paused for a moment, looking at Raesa, "If it was my other half, then there are no words that can express my sorrow at what he has done. But I cannot take responsibility for his actions, any more than you can for Daemon's."

With those words, he leapt off the ground, shooting towards the trees as a pair of blinding white wings sprouted from his back. He'd kept them concealed until now, he found that they were usually only a hindrance. But now he needed to fly. He shot after Nadira, trusting her to be able to find her alter-ego better than he could on his own.