As a warning, I'd like to tell you all that whilst I am writing this, I am
listening to very evil music. I'm in a state of mind where its dangerous to
let me use a pencil sharpener. Disturbed, three vanilla cokes, and a bag of
candy is NOT the way to inspiration. More along the lines of 'multiple-
manslaughter'.
Okay, I find it a big suspicious that hardly anybody's reviewed since chapter fifteen. Am I missing something? I feel so alone, where is everybody? WHY? WHY HATH THOU FORSAKEN MY FIC?!
Anyway, today's chapter is named after a song title too. I've decided that instead of bothering to rack my mind for chapter titles, and coming up with something that sucks, I'm just gonna use a song title that has to do with the chapter. I do not own these songs. If I ever tried to sing any of them, I'd probably make people go deaf. Today's title comes from Disturbed. Unless you like punk, don't listen to it. But it gets me writing, I'll tell ya what!
Also, I am in no way responsible if you suddenly go insane while reading this fic. Its only to be expected once you've been exposed to too much of my writing. Some of it sinks in, and might actually start make sense. *Shudder* I really, really, really dislike that word.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter IXX: The Game
Kahn opened his eyes a little bit. The ancient demon lord almost instantly regretted it. There, standing with great big smiles, were both Aeris and Nox Seran. It was more than he could take. It had to be some sick, deranged nightmare. He would wake up, and be in the crater at Gaea's Peak, growling at that evil Cetra. This was all a wicked nightmare brought on from too much emotional activity. Yes. That was it. The demon clenched his eyes closed again.
"Kahn!" The Cetra exclaimed. "Get up!"
Nox Seran sniggered.
"Listen to the nice Cetra, Kahn. Get up!"
A whisper of sunlight blazed through the window panel of the Highwind. A cold breath of air washed over his hide. Kahn groaned, and opened his eyes. This wasn't a dream.
"I hate you. I hate you all." He murmured, and groaned once again. A swift jolt of pain traversed through his skull as he tried to sit up. There was a war going on in his head, and it didn't look like his side was winning. "Why does my head hurt?"
Nox Seran grinned in a sinister manner.
"Metal-boy over there threw his sword at you." He pointed a finger at Seph X, who promptly returned the favour by showing a finger of his own. The middle one. "unfortunately, he had some trouble figuring out which end to throw, so he ended up throwing the blunt end." Once again, the demon received the honour of seeing Seph X raise the finger another time. Two, in fact. "I never get tired of making fun of him." Nox Seran laughed, and abandoned Kahn. There was bigger game to be had. After a while you could a metallic tapping sound, the sound of Seph X trying to walk away from Nox Seran, followed by the sound of slithering, and laughing.
Aeris sat down beside the demon.
"Well, we're with Cloud now, however this isn't exactly the way I had in mind."
Kahn snorted.
"Get used to it, Cetra. Or terrible things will ensue."
"Yeah right."
Silence.
More Silence.
All this silence business was probably due to the fact that half of the AVALANCHE was staring at Aeris, and blinking at Kahn. Especially Vincent. You'd think that his experience in the other realm would have taught him to accept demons, but no. He stared. Finally, the blonde warrior spoke.
"Well, erm, Aeris, Kahn, what brings you here?" He said in tone usually reserved for surprise visits from unwanted relatives. "Aren't you supposed to be, well, dead?" A horrified look came over Aeris. "Oh wait, I'm sorry!" He amended swiftly.
Joan laughed from the cargo room, where Seph X was being chased down and annoyed by Nox Seran. It seemed totally in appropriate for the atmosphere, but lifted the humour somewhat.
Kahn furrowed his eyebrows. Who were these humans to believe in such a fairy-tale like eternal death? They knew first hand how the planet worked, and they never once thought of using this knowledge? What UTTER fools!
He was about to give these 'heroes' a lecture in the finer arts of welcoming the dead, but Aeris silenced him with a finger. The demon grumbled evilly.
"It doesn't matter, Cloud! But only if you do one thing for me!" She said with a sweet tone. Kahn grinned. It was a time worn skill, being sweet when it was needed. When mastered, you could bring the world to its knees. Even Kahn had to admit, if he had been met with that tone, he would have done anything to oblige. The wonder of female charms...
Cloud actually tried to resist, to actually enquire what was being asked of him. Kahn secretly commended him for his effort, but as long as he had two different chromosomes then he didn't stand a chance. Aeris flashed the blonde warrior a sweet smile. Cloud caved.
"Sure." He said, trying to appear nonchalant. Kahn almost laughed aloud. The Cetra could sit herself on a high chair, but when it came down to getting things done she wasn't beyond coaxing others to do it instead.
"All you need to do is find a way to revive me!" She beamed.
A VERY nervous silence.
Kahn smirked.
"And you call yourselves heroes." He said smugly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Red mists covered his vision. Jarred moaned. He had lost control again. A dark figure loomed in front of him. It was clad in blue, and radiated with light. Strange... How could it be dark and radiate light?
The warrior closed his crimson eyes. This was a nightmare. It couldn't be real. Who would take time to care about HIM? No, this was all just some cruel nightmare
Jarred opened his eyes. Yes, this was hell. And apparently he was in a front row seat, where he could get the greater part of the torture.
Cool hands soothed his forehead. Jarred pulled away, snarling. He brought his hands up, and bared his teeth.
"Jarred!" A startled voice said.
The charcoal skinned man stopped momentarily. That voice, it sounded familiar...
The cool touch stirred Jarred once more. The red mists lifted, and Jarred saw where he was.
He was in the cave once again, and Elena was putting a damp rag on his brow.
"Jarred?" She asked.
The warrior groaned.
"No, I just happen to look like jarred. Black skin and red eyes came with the job." He groaned. He tried to sit up, but Elena forced him down.
"Apparently the fever has made you become a smartass." Elena reproved, wiping his brow once again. Jarred frowned.
"Fever? I don't get sick!"
"YOU HAVE A POWERFUL FEVER, DARK ONE." Wraith's familiar voice said into Jarred's mind. "YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE ATTEMPTED SUCH A POWERFUL SPELL IN YOUR CONDITION."
Elena furrowed her eyebrows.
"Well, Wraith didn't really go into detail about what was wrong with you, but he DID say that you had been drained. I just assumed you had a fever."
Jarred became fully awake suddenly, upon having heard the name of one of the people he least liked, being used in the same sentence as him. That didn't bid well.
"YOUR TRUST AMAZES ME, MY LIEGE." Wraith's dead voice said into Jarred's mind. "AND TO THINK OF ALL THE TIMES WE'VE FOUGHT TOGETHER."
Jarred forced a smile.
~That was once and hopefully never again.~ He thought back. At times when he wanted to talk with Wraith alone, he could always rely on the fact that Wraith was a control-freak, and took every opportunity to wrack mind the minds of others. ~Even *I* wouldn't stoop to YOUR level.~
Wraith smiled for a moment.
"KEEP TELLING YOURSELF THAT, JARRED. BUT BEAR IN MIND THAT NOBODY FORCED YOU TO KILL THOSE VLAKORADOS'." He answered smugly. "EVEN I KNOW WHEN MY ENEMY IS BEATEN."
Jarred sneered inwardly, and turned to Elena.
"Uhm, don't you think we should be leaving? Cloud and your friends might get worried if we find them soon."
Ghost snorted.
"I wouldn't put too much faith in them, if I were you. They've left you for dead." He said, a smile breaking out on his smooth features. "Some friends."
Elena stood wide eyed.
"b,b, but they wouldn't do that!" She said in disbelief. Okay, maybe Reno would. But Reeve and Rude would have demanded to have searched.
Ghost sniggered.
"Of course not. That's why our great and honourable leader here 'influenced' them a bit." He said, gesturing towards Wraith. The tall warrior snapped his head towards Ghost, flashing a murderous look upon the unfortunate Half-Breed. "What? That IS what you did!" Jarred stood in disbelief.
"Wraith, I think its time you took you brethren back to her." Jarred said coldly.
Wraith turned away from Ghost and sneered.
"ITS NOT LIKE THEY NEEDED TOO MUCH CONVINCING TO LEAVE *YOU* BEHIND." He said mentally, only to Jarred. "YOU'RE ONLY A WEAPON TO THEM."
"Just go." Jarred said, ignoring the cruel words. Cloud would have searched for him. Seph X would have demanded it. "Nobody wants you here."
"THEN I GUESS WE HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON." He said smugly.
He flicked his hand at Ghost.
Spectre appeared from the entrance.
"We're leaving already? Man, I didn't even get to kill anything." He grumbled, and joined his allies.
"REMEMBER, JARRED, I MAY BE UNWANTED, BUT I HAVE A HOME TO RETURN TO WHEN I'M THROWN AWAY." And with that ghost flung his cloak around, using his magic to take them away.
The cloak floated to the ground. Jarred picked it up.
"He could never get the hang of that spell." He remarked, folding it up and putting it along with his weapons. He smiled at Elena, acting as if nothing had happened. "So, when are we going North?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Psin watched, from his vantage point on the mountain range which went all around the northern continent, as Jarred struck out boldly into the Sleeping Forest, accompanied by that little human wench. He smirked evilly. Everyone had their own silly little weaknesses. Wraith, his arrogance. Jarred, his inexperience and empathy towards the weak. Kahn, his arrogance, temper, racial hatred, disdainfulness, over-experience, and a lot of other vices. AVALANCHE, well, they were only human. There was a long list of weaknesses there, but the human part pretty much covered the major points.
But he was invulnerable. Perfect in every way. Of course, everyone else was just too flawed to realize it.
"Oh, my dear Prince." He spat out, revealing with every syllable how much he hated 'the dear prince'. "When will you ever learn? Only the strong survive. The weak must die. Our race must prevail." He quietly reproved, looking at how much Jarred was enjoying the human's company. He sneered openly.
A dragon dropped down beside the mercenary, looking imploringly at its master.
"I wonder, shall we educate our friend in our philosophy?" He asked the dragon. It snorted out hot vapour in agreement. Psin patted the monster's head soothingly, a smile playing over his scarred features. "Then go."
The dragon spread its massive wings, and Psin faded from view.
"Do my bidding, my minion. You will receive my strength afterwards."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wraith swore openly once he was back in his own residence. It wasn't something he did often, only when in times of great stress or anger. Now was a time for both. His rage needed venting The trio's house was filled with his evil speech, sometimes accompanied by the sound of something being smashed. Spectre and Wraith shrugged it off, and set about finding something that could pass for food.
Their abode wasn't exactly small, by any standards. In fact, you might go as far as to call it massive. There were three floors, with each one being dominated by one of the warriors. Each of these floors contained a small orchard, bed room, living room, training room, kitchen, library, and stairway. Massive. Ghost could hear from his floor, the top floor, as Wraith threw something particularly big and probably heavy against something was also big, and most likely heavy, followed by the sound of smashing glass.
Teleporting into Wraith's 'room', the sly warrior grinned.
"You know, you were really asking for that, the way you were acting. Jarred may like us, but he doesn't have any patience for you." He said smugly
Wraith drew his massive sword and slashed at head-height. Ghost ducked the blade easily, and teleported behind the raging warrior. Wraith was just angry, not trying to kill him. There was no danger. Not yet, at least.
Wraith spun around bringing his blade down with him. Ghost barely had time to nimbly sidestep the blow.
"I don't care if Jarred doesn't like me. He shouldn't be with those blasted humans, and we all know it. He's wasting his time." Wraith said, whipping his blade upwards.
Ghost ducked once more.
"At least we can agree on something." He said. "But that doesn't justify you 'influencing' his friends.
Wraith brought his knee upwards suddenly, connecting loudly with ghost's chin. The red eyed man was knocked back, his head spinning. Wraith grabbed his neck, and rammed him painfully into a wall.
"Her will justifies anything we do, Ghost. Anything, except endangering his life. If I did anything, I was probably cutting off the hold those humans have on him. He has no where to go anymore. He HAS to return now."
Ghost looked into Wraith's dead, emotionless black eyes. He suddenly felt very afraid of Wraith. Something had snapped.
"Wraith, what do you mean, she justifies anything we do? No home to return to? What do you mean? You're not thinking about,"
Wraith smiled. It was a smile that only showed merriment to the most corrupt of souls. A smile that oozed with cruel intent.
"They're just humans, after all. Nobody will miss them." He said in sinister voice.
Ghost's eyes went wide. Jarred had been right. Wraith employed dirty ways of fighting. Ways that not even the Prince Of Darkness would think of using.
"IF YOU'RE QUITE FINISHED, THEN I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WITH YOU, WRAITH." The distinctly female voice of their leader said mentally. Like Wraith, she could use telepathy. She had almost limitless power in her own domain.
Wraith dropped Ghost. He kneeled, and held his head down.
"FORGIVE ME, MY QUEEN. THE RAGE GOT THE BETTER OF ME." He said hastily. The tall warrior suddenly looked up at Ghost. "What are you waiting for? Teleport me there!" He hissed.
Ghost stood up, and straightened out. There was something wrong about the look in the slim warrior's eyes. It was the way he looked with mistrust that sent Wraith into confusion. Ghost held his cloak over his face, and faded from view.
"Find your own way, Wraith." He spat.
Now invisible from view, he took full advantage. He stepped down hard on Wraith's sword hand.
"I may not be as strong or as powerful as you, but I am still a master of illusion."
He twisted his foot around, snapping Wraith's fingers.
"Remember where your loyalties lie, my friend. We are JARRED'S knights, not hers."
Ghost whispered a word in the cryptic language of the Half-Breeds, and teleported back onto his floor.
The slim warrior fumed. Who did Wraith think he was, abusing him? They had come a long way, yes, but that didn't grant him the right to start kicking his friends around. Ghost flopped down with a loud 'oomf' on a nice, soft couch. Relaxing was an art, which he had mastered alongside illusion. Reaching into his cloak, he made as if to pull out his book. To his great puzzlement, he couldn't find it. Also, he noticed that his shoulder cape was gone.
~Must have left em in the cave.~ He thought darkly.
He amused himself by thinking about retrieving both garment and book. It was actually rather tempting. He might catch Jarred while learning things about the other sex from the human. It was a VERY tempting prospect.
~What the hell.~ He thought, and teleported back to Jarred, not using his cloak. It would have been embarrassing to leave that behind.
"What the?" He heard Jarred exclaim as Ghost suddenly appeared beside him. Elena was currently on the other side, which was lucky for her or else she and Ghost would be painfully close.
"Just thought I'd stop to say hello." Ghost said cheerfully.
Okay, I find it a big suspicious that hardly anybody's reviewed since chapter fifteen. Am I missing something? I feel so alone, where is everybody? WHY? WHY HATH THOU FORSAKEN MY FIC?!
Anyway, today's chapter is named after a song title too. I've decided that instead of bothering to rack my mind for chapter titles, and coming up with something that sucks, I'm just gonna use a song title that has to do with the chapter. I do not own these songs. If I ever tried to sing any of them, I'd probably make people go deaf. Today's title comes from Disturbed. Unless you like punk, don't listen to it. But it gets me writing, I'll tell ya what!
Also, I am in no way responsible if you suddenly go insane while reading this fic. Its only to be expected once you've been exposed to too much of my writing. Some of it sinks in, and might actually start make sense. *Shudder* I really, really, really dislike that word.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter IXX: The Game
Kahn opened his eyes a little bit. The ancient demon lord almost instantly regretted it. There, standing with great big smiles, were both Aeris and Nox Seran. It was more than he could take. It had to be some sick, deranged nightmare. He would wake up, and be in the crater at Gaea's Peak, growling at that evil Cetra. This was all a wicked nightmare brought on from too much emotional activity. Yes. That was it. The demon clenched his eyes closed again.
"Kahn!" The Cetra exclaimed. "Get up!"
Nox Seran sniggered.
"Listen to the nice Cetra, Kahn. Get up!"
A whisper of sunlight blazed through the window panel of the Highwind. A cold breath of air washed over his hide. Kahn groaned, and opened his eyes. This wasn't a dream.
"I hate you. I hate you all." He murmured, and groaned once again. A swift jolt of pain traversed through his skull as he tried to sit up. There was a war going on in his head, and it didn't look like his side was winning. "Why does my head hurt?"
Nox Seran grinned in a sinister manner.
"Metal-boy over there threw his sword at you." He pointed a finger at Seph X, who promptly returned the favour by showing a finger of his own. The middle one. "unfortunately, he had some trouble figuring out which end to throw, so he ended up throwing the blunt end." Once again, the demon received the honour of seeing Seph X raise the finger another time. Two, in fact. "I never get tired of making fun of him." Nox Seran laughed, and abandoned Kahn. There was bigger game to be had. After a while you could a metallic tapping sound, the sound of Seph X trying to walk away from Nox Seran, followed by the sound of slithering, and laughing.
Aeris sat down beside the demon.
"Well, we're with Cloud now, however this isn't exactly the way I had in mind."
Kahn snorted.
"Get used to it, Cetra. Or terrible things will ensue."
"Yeah right."
Silence.
More Silence.
All this silence business was probably due to the fact that half of the AVALANCHE was staring at Aeris, and blinking at Kahn. Especially Vincent. You'd think that his experience in the other realm would have taught him to accept demons, but no. He stared. Finally, the blonde warrior spoke.
"Well, erm, Aeris, Kahn, what brings you here?" He said in tone usually reserved for surprise visits from unwanted relatives. "Aren't you supposed to be, well, dead?" A horrified look came over Aeris. "Oh wait, I'm sorry!" He amended swiftly.
Joan laughed from the cargo room, where Seph X was being chased down and annoyed by Nox Seran. It seemed totally in appropriate for the atmosphere, but lifted the humour somewhat.
Kahn furrowed his eyebrows. Who were these humans to believe in such a fairy-tale like eternal death? They knew first hand how the planet worked, and they never once thought of using this knowledge? What UTTER fools!
He was about to give these 'heroes' a lecture in the finer arts of welcoming the dead, but Aeris silenced him with a finger. The demon grumbled evilly.
"It doesn't matter, Cloud! But only if you do one thing for me!" She said with a sweet tone. Kahn grinned. It was a time worn skill, being sweet when it was needed. When mastered, you could bring the world to its knees. Even Kahn had to admit, if he had been met with that tone, he would have done anything to oblige. The wonder of female charms...
Cloud actually tried to resist, to actually enquire what was being asked of him. Kahn secretly commended him for his effort, but as long as he had two different chromosomes then he didn't stand a chance. Aeris flashed the blonde warrior a sweet smile. Cloud caved.
"Sure." He said, trying to appear nonchalant. Kahn almost laughed aloud. The Cetra could sit herself on a high chair, but when it came down to getting things done she wasn't beyond coaxing others to do it instead.
"All you need to do is find a way to revive me!" She beamed.
A VERY nervous silence.
Kahn smirked.
"And you call yourselves heroes." He said smugly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Red mists covered his vision. Jarred moaned. He had lost control again. A dark figure loomed in front of him. It was clad in blue, and radiated with light. Strange... How could it be dark and radiate light?
The warrior closed his crimson eyes. This was a nightmare. It couldn't be real. Who would take time to care about HIM? No, this was all just some cruel nightmare
Jarred opened his eyes. Yes, this was hell. And apparently he was in a front row seat, where he could get the greater part of the torture.
Cool hands soothed his forehead. Jarred pulled away, snarling. He brought his hands up, and bared his teeth.
"Jarred!" A startled voice said.
The charcoal skinned man stopped momentarily. That voice, it sounded familiar...
The cool touch stirred Jarred once more. The red mists lifted, and Jarred saw where he was.
He was in the cave once again, and Elena was putting a damp rag on his brow.
"Jarred?" She asked.
The warrior groaned.
"No, I just happen to look like jarred. Black skin and red eyes came with the job." He groaned. He tried to sit up, but Elena forced him down.
"Apparently the fever has made you become a smartass." Elena reproved, wiping his brow once again. Jarred frowned.
"Fever? I don't get sick!"
"YOU HAVE A POWERFUL FEVER, DARK ONE." Wraith's familiar voice said into Jarred's mind. "YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE ATTEMPTED SUCH A POWERFUL SPELL IN YOUR CONDITION."
Elena furrowed her eyebrows.
"Well, Wraith didn't really go into detail about what was wrong with you, but he DID say that you had been drained. I just assumed you had a fever."
Jarred became fully awake suddenly, upon having heard the name of one of the people he least liked, being used in the same sentence as him. That didn't bid well.
"YOUR TRUST AMAZES ME, MY LIEGE." Wraith's dead voice said into Jarred's mind. "AND TO THINK OF ALL THE TIMES WE'VE FOUGHT TOGETHER."
Jarred forced a smile.
~That was once and hopefully never again.~ He thought back. At times when he wanted to talk with Wraith alone, he could always rely on the fact that Wraith was a control-freak, and took every opportunity to wrack mind the minds of others. ~Even *I* wouldn't stoop to YOUR level.~
Wraith smiled for a moment.
"KEEP TELLING YOURSELF THAT, JARRED. BUT BEAR IN MIND THAT NOBODY FORCED YOU TO KILL THOSE VLAKORADOS'." He answered smugly. "EVEN I KNOW WHEN MY ENEMY IS BEATEN."
Jarred sneered inwardly, and turned to Elena.
"Uhm, don't you think we should be leaving? Cloud and your friends might get worried if we find them soon."
Ghost snorted.
"I wouldn't put too much faith in them, if I were you. They've left you for dead." He said, a smile breaking out on his smooth features. "Some friends."
Elena stood wide eyed.
"b,b, but they wouldn't do that!" She said in disbelief. Okay, maybe Reno would. But Reeve and Rude would have demanded to have searched.
Ghost sniggered.
"Of course not. That's why our great and honourable leader here 'influenced' them a bit." He said, gesturing towards Wraith. The tall warrior snapped his head towards Ghost, flashing a murderous look upon the unfortunate Half-Breed. "What? That IS what you did!" Jarred stood in disbelief.
"Wraith, I think its time you took you brethren back to her." Jarred said coldly.
Wraith turned away from Ghost and sneered.
"ITS NOT LIKE THEY NEEDED TOO MUCH CONVINCING TO LEAVE *YOU* BEHIND." He said mentally, only to Jarred. "YOU'RE ONLY A WEAPON TO THEM."
"Just go." Jarred said, ignoring the cruel words. Cloud would have searched for him. Seph X would have demanded it. "Nobody wants you here."
"THEN I GUESS WE HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON." He said smugly.
He flicked his hand at Ghost.
Spectre appeared from the entrance.
"We're leaving already? Man, I didn't even get to kill anything." He grumbled, and joined his allies.
"REMEMBER, JARRED, I MAY BE UNWANTED, BUT I HAVE A HOME TO RETURN TO WHEN I'M THROWN AWAY." And with that ghost flung his cloak around, using his magic to take them away.
The cloak floated to the ground. Jarred picked it up.
"He could never get the hang of that spell." He remarked, folding it up and putting it along with his weapons. He smiled at Elena, acting as if nothing had happened. "So, when are we going North?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Psin watched, from his vantage point on the mountain range which went all around the northern continent, as Jarred struck out boldly into the Sleeping Forest, accompanied by that little human wench. He smirked evilly. Everyone had their own silly little weaknesses. Wraith, his arrogance. Jarred, his inexperience and empathy towards the weak. Kahn, his arrogance, temper, racial hatred, disdainfulness, over-experience, and a lot of other vices. AVALANCHE, well, they were only human. There was a long list of weaknesses there, but the human part pretty much covered the major points.
But he was invulnerable. Perfect in every way. Of course, everyone else was just too flawed to realize it.
"Oh, my dear Prince." He spat out, revealing with every syllable how much he hated 'the dear prince'. "When will you ever learn? Only the strong survive. The weak must die. Our race must prevail." He quietly reproved, looking at how much Jarred was enjoying the human's company. He sneered openly.
A dragon dropped down beside the mercenary, looking imploringly at its master.
"I wonder, shall we educate our friend in our philosophy?" He asked the dragon. It snorted out hot vapour in agreement. Psin patted the monster's head soothingly, a smile playing over his scarred features. "Then go."
The dragon spread its massive wings, and Psin faded from view.
"Do my bidding, my minion. You will receive my strength afterwards."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wraith swore openly once he was back in his own residence. It wasn't something he did often, only when in times of great stress or anger. Now was a time for both. His rage needed venting The trio's house was filled with his evil speech, sometimes accompanied by the sound of something being smashed. Spectre and Wraith shrugged it off, and set about finding something that could pass for food.
Their abode wasn't exactly small, by any standards. In fact, you might go as far as to call it massive. There were three floors, with each one being dominated by one of the warriors. Each of these floors contained a small orchard, bed room, living room, training room, kitchen, library, and stairway. Massive. Ghost could hear from his floor, the top floor, as Wraith threw something particularly big and probably heavy against something was also big, and most likely heavy, followed by the sound of smashing glass.
Teleporting into Wraith's 'room', the sly warrior grinned.
"You know, you were really asking for that, the way you were acting. Jarred may like us, but he doesn't have any patience for you." He said smugly
Wraith drew his massive sword and slashed at head-height. Ghost ducked the blade easily, and teleported behind the raging warrior. Wraith was just angry, not trying to kill him. There was no danger. Not yet, at least.
Wraith spun around bringing his blade down with him. Ghost barely had time to nimbly sidestep the blow.
"I don't care if Jarred doesn't like me. He shouldn't be with those blasted humans, and we all know it. He's wasting his time." Wraith said, whipping his blade upwards.
Ghost ducked once more.
"At least we can agree on something." He said. "But that doesn't justify you 'influencing' his friends.
Wraith brought his knee upwards suddenly, connecting loudly with ghost's chin. The red eyed man was knocked back, his head spinning. Wraith grabbed his neck, and rammed him painfully into a wall.
"Her will justifies anything we do, Ghost. Anything, except endangering his life. If I did anything, I was probably cutting off the hold those humans have on him. He has no where to go anymore. He HAS to return now."
Ghost looked into Wraith's dead, emotionless black eyes. He suddenly felt very afraid of Wraith. Something had snapped.
"Wraith, what do you mean, she justifies anything we do? No home to return to? What do you mean? You're not thinking about,"
Wraith smiled. It was a smile that only showed merriment to the most corrupt of souls. A smile that oozed with cruel intent.
"They're just humans, after all. Nobody will miss them." He said in sinister voice.
Ghost's eyes went wide. Jarred had been right. Wraith employed dirty ways of fighting. Ways that not even the Prince Of Darkness would think of using.
"IF YOU'RE QUITE FINISHED, THEN I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WITH YOU, WRAITH." The distinctly female voice of their leader said mentally. Like Wraith, she could use telepathy. She had almost limitless power in her own domain.
Wraith dropped Ghost. He kneeled, and held his head down.
"FORGIVE ME, MY QUEEN. THE RAGE GOT THE BETTER OF ME." He said hastily. The tall warrior suddenly looked up at Ghost. "What are you waiting for? Teleport me there!" He hissed.
Ghost stood up, and straightened out. There was something wrong about the look in the slim warrior's eyes. It was the way he looked with mistrust that sent Wraith into confusion. Ghost held his cloak over his face, and faded from view.
"Find your own way, Wraith." He spat.
Now invisible from view, he took full advantage. He stepped down hard on Wraith's sword hand.
"I may not be as strong or as powerful as you, but I am still a master of illusion."
He twisted his foot around, snapping Wraith's fingers.
"Remember where your loyalties lie, my friend. We are JARRED'S knights, not hers."
Ghost whispered a word in the cryptic language of the Half-Breeds, and teleported back onto his floor.
The slim warrior fumed. Who did Wraith think he was, abusing him? They had come a long way, yes, but that didn't grant him the right to start kicking his friends around. Ghost flopped down with a loud 'oomf' on a nice, soft couch. Relaxing was an art, which he had mastered alongside illusion. Reaching into his cloak, he made as if to pull out his book. To his great puzzlement, he couldn't find it. Also, he noticed that his shoulder cape was gone.
~Must have left em in the cave.~ He thought darkly.
He amused himself by thinking about retrieving both garment and book. It was actually rather tempting. He might catch Jarred while learning things about the other sex from the human. It was a VERY tempting prospect.
~What the hell.~ He thought, and teleported back to Jarred, not using his cloak. It would have been embarrassing to leave that behind.
"What the?" He heard Jarred exclaim as Ghost suddenly appeared beside him. Elena was currently on the other side, which was lucky for her or else she and Ghost would be painfully close.
"Just thought I'd stop to say hello." Ghost said cheerfully.
