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"You're quite the mystery Rae."

He said with a half smile stroking her like any would their pet. Though he figured Rae had no idea on how to turn back into her human form Reinhart kept talking.

"You remind alot of one of my closest friends Rae, so much I'm almost willing to bet you're one in the same person. However, it seems to me you're unaware yourself of who you truly are and who she truly is. It's quite confusing honestly."

He laughed feeling somewhat defeated.

"My name's Reinhart. Remember that Rae."

And with that the Void collapsed around them and Reinhart was gone.

Case and point, one Ruuvan Lassenger. A man lost in a world unfamiliar and strange set like a toy solider on a stage. For Mr. Lassenger fate had dealt a cruel hand. A set of stark, mismatched eyes had locked onto his back. Eyes that belonged to a close friend, and yet at times a fierce foe.



Maybe it simple random placement. Maybe it was timing. Maybe it was the chaotic nature of this place as a whole. Or maybe it was simply what Shadow's do, but no matter the reason nearly 12 feet behind Ruuvan sat a black mahogany desk. Behind it, sitting in a comfortable office chair was one Maximos. The owner of those ominous eyes. His arms rested on their elbows bringing his fingers up in front of his face, his fingers resting interlocked and yet loose.

As misplaced as it seemed, Maximos' desk was currently resting in middle of this vacant grassy plain. The sky and horizon were both an empty blank white, leaving only the grassy ground to provide substance and form. Maximos himself was silent, still, almost disattached from reality as he stared at nothing and everything all at once.

Mr. Lassenger had just gone for a walk, a walk into a very strange place, on a very strange day. A walk into...

Ruuvan's boot sunk into the soil.

Dawn.

The sun soared high in the sky beating down on the grass plain, kissing it with its first precious rays.

Ruuvan's next boot crossed over the first.

Dusk.

The sun shot to the other side of the horizon. Violet's, oranges, blacks and fading blues swirled in the distance painting the landscape with color and texture no artist could ever truly duplicate.

Another step.

Midday.

The glowing orb in the sky ripped a path direction above Ruuvan, its soft glow beating down on the elves shoulders, shining into his eyes. Gorgeous in its own regard. But as trustworthy as the sun was, what with it having gone from day to night, to noon in a matter of seconds the sun's glow seemed to almost hide some sort of treachery behind it. Ruuvan might trust it, as the sun he's know all his life, and yet be wary of its wiles. What was this place? He was a step away from finding out.

A step he took. 10ft. The marker at which all the fights between the two of these men began.

Midnight.

The plains were completely still. Silent. Save for the scattered rustle of leaves and chirps in the distance, somewhere where the earth met the star ridden sky. Directly overhead the moon hung, as large as life, looking ready to eat the planet below it as it filled half the night sky.



The bright moon cast a pale shadow over the desk and the statuesque figure that sat behind it. At Ruuvan's words a gentle white glow ignited where the Shadow's right eye should be. Its delicate luminescence cut through the night like a knife through a velvet curtain, illuminating nothing but itself and leaving the top half of the face to which it belonged drowned in black.

An eerie, uncomfortable, and most of all unnatural stillness filled this distorted realm. It was as if this fluid realty was wanting...waiting for something.

Stephen would hear the sound of metal and human body crashing into the ground behind him. If he turned, he would see a man dressed in a black coat and black jeans. He was no more than six foot, and broad shouldered.

He stood up slowly, looking around carefully. His eyes caught Stephen on the first roll. What was more interesting was how he came to be in the middle of a city, to end up here... Wherever here was.

Dusting himself off, he walked towards Stephen, and held out his gloved left hand, his right occupied with a zippo lighter.

"Hello there. Being as we are both here, I figure we should get aqquainted. My name is Joe...Smith." Joe said, a kind smile on his face.

As Sutii charged, and pushed the punch foreward, Joe's open hand came inward, and slammed into his now fisted right hand. He was in a crouch, and thrust his elbow in towards Sutii's chest. The lighter was open, visibly, in his hand. No flame though.

He was in a saddle stance, legs braced on the rocky ground.

As the foot was placed on his chest, Joe braced himself, but he didn't allow the right foot to go in for his face. Instead, he reached up for the foot, and grabbed hold of Stephen's right foot. As Stephen was clipping, Joe waited untill Stephen was in mid flip, and yanked down. He was planning on slamming stephen into the ground, and hopefully it would work.

However, to help from knocking Stephen's back bone out of alignment, the ground in where he would intentionally land seemed to churn slightly, loosening the dirt and turning it into rough sand. No telling how deep it would be, but it was there.




-Energy - 97%

As his grip loostened, Joe gave a small smirk. His gloved thumb struck at the wheel and flint of the lighter, causing a flame to come instanly up. Followed by this, he fell back and rolled as Sutii would try to grip his waste. Agile kid... This is gonna be tough.

He would roll back, using his full backpack to help himself, and come up, one gloved hand rotating back and forth around the lighter, and a lit cigarette in his mouth.

"Amazingly well pulled off. I probably should have rolled back when your foot jumped off instead of trying to slam you into the ground."

He had a little smile, smoke drifting out of the corner of his mouth.