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Valter's saturnine expression only deepened when he heard what Rei had to say. Amara kidnapped? Th entire town afraid to enter the streets? There was no way this could mean anything good in the near future. When he thought about it a bit more, though, he realized it could be far worse. After all, Amara was in capable hands. And it wasn't like the townspeople were dead like he first thought. Maybe it was just his nearly absolute lack of emotion (excluding anger), but he really didn't feel so bad. It could be worse. He was about to offer a response to his friend, but he was startled by a voice coming from somewhere to his right.

Valter turned to see a man he had never met before. At least, he didn't remember him. He started to ask who the man was, but he was interrupted by yet another man he did not recognize. The first man looked interesting, but this one just seemed odd. His suspicions seemed to be confirmed when the man pulled a slingshot out of his sleeve and armed it with what must have been the strangest rock he had ever seen.

The first man started yelling at the strange man like he was crazy, snapping at him for absolutely no reason. Not even I am that violent, he thought. But then something even stranger happened. The second man's rock hit the ground with a splashing sound. As if that wasn't weird enough, it began to rain at the exact moment the rock hit the ground. Now Valter was no expert, but he figured that had to be some pretty advanced magic.

The first man didn't even seem to comprehend what had just happened. He just rushed at the other guy and swung his tome at his face. Seriously, what was this guy's problem? He didn't even have a reasonable weapon. Oh well, Valter thought. I suppose I should help out. But then he saw a problem- he didn't know which one to help. He did know one thing, however. His bet was on the one with the slingshot.

"Learn your licks." a shot was fired, and another shout came, "JASPER!"

It glowed an insane white like a flare and then contacted Derrin, acting like a bolting spell. It was abstract, so hard to dodge, no one had ever dodged it before, and with it raining, and Derrin wet, there was no way he could stop his attack and dodge. Though since Derrin was obviously a mage, it wouldn't do him in any, he was resistant.

Jasper grabbed another. It was a cool hue of blue.



Melethia jumped out of the tree, and into an open space. Kersigor, the Blaster Master, was on her scene like butter on toast. He raised his big axe and said, "'Scuse me, you dropped something."

"I want what you just dropped. If you don't mind, I'll just take it..." He advanced toward her in a fairly fast manner, and if she were to stop him, he would have no problem taking her out of the picture.

Each of us will do all we can...



Leon was about to enter the shop, and maybe have a few words with Leena before he went about to patrol the rest of this area of the city. Those were his plans, anyhow, when they were rudely interrupted by a person whom was latching right onto Anri's back leg, and not letting go. What did they think they were doing?! Before long, the knight knew that his steed would lose his temper and trample the civilian to a crumpled bloody heap.

"Oy! Cut tha' out!" He shouted in desperation, but the person kept clinging to Anri, and the horse's mood wasn't good.

With quick thinking , Leon thrust the blunt end of his poleaxe into the suspect's forehead with enough force to knock them out, but not enough to crack anything. What else could he do, as Anri's rage was nothing to be trifled with? "Oh for th' love o' th' Divine hero..." he whispered under his breath. Luckily after that, another member of the cleanup squad proceeded to take the poor commoner away.

"What's wrong wi' this place 'nyhow..." he said to himself again, before looking both directions, finding no one in sight, and finally able to go inside the shop and have a chat with its owner. Once he was inside and Anri stayed out (while hopefully not getting into more trouble), the brown-haired knight had the pleasant surprise of actually seeing the face of one of his best friends. "Leena! Good t' see ya! .... can't bel've th' insanity's spread this far..."

"Leon!" Leena greeted him fondly, before she heard about the 'insanity.' From what she saw looking out her window, there was some sort of plague of craziness facing Eyris. Had crisis descended upon her beloved city once again? If that was the case, she had to stay out of trouble. She had to keep whatever this force was away from her, so Leon and the others could focus and do their duties as the Watch and Guard. And now that he was here, and she remembered...

"Oh, Leon! I forged this for you! Look!" She held up a shining new Knight's Crest, that was ready to give its power to one whom was worthy of using it. The fact it was so well done meant that all this time, she was working on it, and the outside world escaped her. It had both magic and metal, and it was supposedly capable of bringing upon brand new strengths to the man or woman lucky enough to use it. "I... want you to have it, and not pay for it. This is yours... so you can protect Eyris. I don't have to go outside to know we once again face crisis. I can tell by the fact I had hardly any customers..."

"Woah, woah, I'm gettin' this for free? This cost ya yer time an' effort!" Leon argued, but he knew that his words would get nowhere, not with Leena's strong support of her men and women in armor. Once his friend made a decision, it was final, there was no turning back from that point onward, and there was certainly no getting her to change her mind, one bit. "... heh. Ya always had yer faith in us th' highest, hadn't ya?" He smiled a bit at her determination, and then he held the Knight Crest close to his heart.

There was no reaction, at least not yet. He was not yet worthy, not yet ready to have the powers of a Great Knight. It was just as well though, for Leon anyhow. Anyone else would have been upset, but the knight saw it as a chance to grow more he begun to reach his full potential. "Looks like I gotta long way t' go yet, Leena." he smiled. "But someday, I'll be wearin' a Great Knight's armor, just ya watch! Thank ya for givin' this t' me."

He tucked away the crest inside one of his mail's many pouches before taking a seat at one of the tables that clients usually tried on their jewelry. Funny it was, almost... looking at himself inside a mirror. It wasn't like he did that very often. "If ya dun' mind, I'll rest 'ere a second. Can't be long, as I gotta finish m' patrol an' all."

Leena was happy that one of the best friends she ever made in the Watch had accepted the gift she worked so hard on. Sure, it didn't react to him, but it would someday, just because Leon said so. When he asked to stay, for just a few minutes, likely, not seconds, she nodded as if telling him automatically that he didn't have to ask.

The jeweler then took two cubes for good measure, feeding a rather impatient Anri outside before coming inside once again, pouring tea for only one as Leon declined her offer. She knew that look in his eyes: he had an espresso, and was completely alert. Soon enough he'd be on his way... but... He'll come back here, like he always does. So will Anri.

Rei rolled his eyes at the pouty mage, apathy in his voice. "...a cow suit..." Rei'd heard bits and pieces of such a happening, and he couldn't honestly say he cared. At all. If some idiot was prancing about in a cow suit, then honestly, they deserved to burst into flames and roll down an oil-slicked slope. Granted, such a show wouldn't be possible now, as rain began to pour from the skies, seemingly from nowhere. With a sigh, Rei slammed his book shut, and slid it into a pocket on his cloak. Can't very well read while the pages are being soaked, sadly.

He simply watched as Jasper tussled with Darren, a mildly amused smile on his face. Using a slingshot to attack like that? Creative, to say the least. If the man didn't come off as totally insane, Rei would have been tempted to see where the man got his ideas from. But, the man was... insane. And he was occupied with that one guy. Ah, such is life. Surely, there were more educational people in existence, ones that were less crazy.

Rei shrugged a small shrug before turning his attention to Valter. "Hey, sit down. This looks like it could be interesting." The mages would likely be busy for quite a while, and such a meaningless fight (since neither would be killed any time soon) was going on, being a spectator wouldn't be too outlandish.

"You are a CRAZY MAN!" She yelled just before she got hit with the axe. She went a little distance into the air and landed on her right side. She stuck the item in a safe place on her person so it would fall out. She sat up and some raindrops fell on her face. Well crap that wasn't going to help her. Rain= no fire.

"Ow..." She said,"Why do you want this anyway?" She asked as he was taking a swig of the purple liquid. She stood up and took out the restore staff. She was still ready to go.

"What the ******** is this guy on!?" She yelled in her mind as the tree cracked. She ran as best as she could hoping to get out of the way. "I REALLY wish I had a silence staff right now. And what the hell does this guy want with whatever I grabbed? I don't even know what I grabbed! It was on the ground and he wanted it! He's a crazy guy!" All she was hoping now is that she wouldn't get hit with that guys laugh somehow.

It was liberating. Sheer liberation. Finally, finally, after all these years, that little part of her mind had been tapped! At long last, after years of waiting and listening to nothing more than taunting whispers that tickled the mental eye and her conniving brain to all of the possibilities, something had descended on her.

The whisper had turned from a figment of her imagination to a full on presence in her mind, the soft, taunting words becoming a roar that threatened to overtake her entire psyche. The feeling of awkwardness that had always accompanied her verbal intercourse with her other half had suddenly disappeared, and she not only felt at ease with it... she embraced it wholeheartedly, and bowed to its every whim. After all, whatever it was was clearly a part of her, and it had been sleeping for so long!

It wasn't that she was alone. Oh, no, she was never alone. In one hand, she took that of her twin, feeling his strong fingers intertwining with her own. In the other, she held a small basket, turning to him with a positively warm smile that was looked for all the world like she meant him nothing but good charms and a lovely day, frolicking as all children should in times like these. To her, he also returned a similar smile, and the two ran into the street, their gleeful laughs splitting the air as he carried the small amber bottle in his other hand. A haphazard label had been thrown on the bottle's surface, with "Salt" emblazoned on the curled, aged label. The 'a' was backwards, and the 'l' was capitalized, but he didn't much care about such frivolities.

Wrapped around each of their bodies was a hooded cloak, with hers red and his a deep shade of violet. The tatters on the end looked slightly out of place, with dark stains and blotches that littered what was once a solid-colored piece of material standing out in the lit areas of the street. Each of these was tied in a neat little bow via a string just in front of their necks, holding them nice and steady to their bodies even as their juvenile forms skipped through the paved roads, a rhythmic tapping emanating from every synchronized footfall. Not a step was out of place, nor a click out of sequence- it was strangely hypnotic in its precision, and haunting in the smiles that did not match those bright green eyes that loomed beneath their chestnut locks.

"Look upon him, brother!" The little girl spoke, her eyes ablaze with glee and her smile still looking ever so sweet to behold. With an outstretched hand, she pulled back the long-sleeved shirt she wore beneath her stained white vest, pointing to a man who literally had no arms on his body. No, the brute looked like some crude thing they might have put together- blades in his face, arms ripped from their very sockets, and blood rushing down his face not unlike a pig that had been skewered by a farmer's hay bale fork. His form was large and grotesque, and still the little girl grinned at her brother, watching as he, too, turned to look upon the creature.

"I do see him, sister! What a fascinating creature! I do think I should want it, don't you?" So, too, did her brother took to look upon the thrashing form of Aeton, grinning as well at the happiness he saw within his sister. Twins, they were, and though their DNA was not identical, their birthing times were mere minutes apart. He, too, had heard the voices, heeded that reedy cry that had always rang out in his head as he went about daily life, and had learned to accept it as a part of his own soul.

When it screamed in glee during the times he had torn the wings from flies that thrashed and oozed with each of his experiments, he had only learned to do it further to satiate that primal part of his mind. First came the wings, the veins oozing that strange, pus-like blood when torn slowly from the body- then the tearing of the legs, so that it would not run away. When the creature bored him and the voice stopped laughing, he would drop its trembling, quaking corpse onto a trail of ants, listening to that one last giggle of that inner spirit as they devoured the still living creature alive. Piece by piece, he could almost hear the tear of the exoskeleton as each bite and pull ripped the thing to pieces.

From insects to birds, from the neighborhood finch to the obnoxiously singing alley cat, he had learned to hone in until the voice had already spoken clearly to him before that descent of the dark- all that did was bring it forward, to the point where it felt like it was filling his skin, this delicious sensation!

"Do let's!" Another peal of laughter, and the two moved forward towards the man with the disfigured face, their metal-encased shoes clicking again against the ground with every skip they made.

Click Click Click.

As he turned to look at them sharply upon hearing their approach, Aeton beheld the twins, their faces eager, naive, and innocent as they fearlessly looked up at his own. Flesh that had once been relatively smooth had become swollen from the repeated impacts of the artificially implanted blades, the puffiness only adding to the grotesqueness of his blood-soaked face. Surely they would be frightened!

"Oh, yes, brother. I do want him so." Looking up with a grin, their hands still clasped, they came to a stop not three feet away from the feral madman. In unison, they tapped their toes against the ground- their left feet lifted slightly before tapping the tips of their toes three times, pausing for a moment before their right feet did the same. Doing a little turn and a curtsy- which the boy did with his long brown shorts and the girl did with her ratty brown skirt- they both looked up sweetly at the bewildered man who looked ready at any moment to slam his head down at their faces.

"I shan't deny you. Let's bring him home, show him to mum!"

Suddenly, their hands released.

As Aeton tired of the charade and slammed his head forward towards the girl, he found that she had darted off to one side and the boy the other. Again, their moves were perfectly synchronized, the clicks of their feet infuriating in their precision. Two leaps was all it took to flank him, with each twin standing on either side of him as the former butcher looked to find his target.

Click Click.

The little girl's hand reached suddenly into her mahogany basket, and she grasped something in her hand. It looked not unlike a loaf of bread, for that was what it was- just a simple loaf of bread, almost looking ready to eat. She did not drop her basket even once, and that sweet smile was still spread over her face as she tapped the bread against her free hand.

The boy let out a shout, and Aeton turned his head towards the boy- just as the little girl leaped into the air.

The bread was stale, and hard- but that wasn't the true force of it. Slamming the butt end of the bread into the back of his neck to make him shriek from the sudden jarring of the bone, the little lass wrapped her arm around his neck and kept grinning as the bare tip of the spring-loaded blade inside stuck out from the end of the loaf. Aeton moved to throw himself backward, all the better to pull her down and crush the little girl beneath his body mass, but her brother had moved ahead, the bottle in hand. Striking at his belly from the side and darting away from those crushing legs, the boy forced the taller man to double over, stunned for just long enough.

For a moment, Aeton would feel the rough crust of the bread scratching against the bottom of his jaw, scratching insistently at that tender flesh with that last heaving breath.

The knife moved up, then, the tip digging sharply into the skin just before his ear as she wrapped her other arm around his neck, digging it until the bone ground against the blade dragging it forcefully down to trace his jawbone. Around it went, biting into the bone and carving it as the behemoth screamed, thrashing and trying to throw her off to stop the agony. The blades did nothing to someone not exposed to them, and she continued her jovial task, grinning and holding onto his body with her legs and arms as her brother moved sharply behind him with a few more sounds...

Click. Crash! Shhhk.

The sound of those blasted heels, the sound of shattering glass, and suddenly the pain of his face being sliced was complimented in agony by the feeling of broken glass slashing into the back of his knees. Ligaments tore before the uneven shard that sliced open pants and muscle alike, catching painfully several times along the way as his legs trembled and buckled from the sudden lack of support. He fell on his knees, then, no longer able to stand- the little girl unwrapped her legs and stood on them as he tried to throw himself back. He could crush her now, walking be damned, he could crush this hell-spawned b***h and send her back to the demons that whelped her...

...only to feel an excruciating fire jolt up his spine, the grinding of bones and the crushing of something terribly vital as a hot numbness assailed his lower body. Had he been able to turn his head away from the witch's vice grip on his face, he would have seen that her brother had also taken a final precaution. The little boy reached below the curve of glass that protruded obscenely from the man's bloody, pulpy back, his hands plunging into the tissue and feeling around for a moment. Every twitch of that boy's fingers was a strike of agony, releasing more blood even as the blade the girl held continued to draw permanent lines in his face and jaw.

Finally finding what he was looking for, the young boy let out a joyful shout as he held fast to his prize, shoving the glass in one last time with his free hand to loosen it further and yanking several times until one of the lumbar vertebrae finally parted from its home in Aeton's muscular back. Slick with visceral juices and the muscles still twitching from its sudden removal, the little boy looked to his sister, who now had free reign with her paralyzed victim.

"I've got a souvenir, sister! Won't mum be pleased?" Listening to her laugh as she dragged that blade roughly up the other side of his face, she ignored the maniac's shaking screams and the pleas that fell on deaf ears as she continued the cut up to the front of his other ear. To shut him up, the boy took a look at the bottle in his hand, shoving the shattered bottle roughly between the murderer's lips and forcing copious amounts of salt down his already raw and swollen throat. Unable to breathe, unable to swallow, the butcher just coughed and sputtered violently, shaking from head to foot as agony gave way to desperation.

"I do think she would be, brother! Come now, let's get the other." With that happy thought, she shoved her thumbs under his skin, just below the cut in his jaw. She fought with those tough connective tissues- the sinews that made it hard to lift skin from muscle made his throaty screams dissipate into the most base, high-pitched tones of unadulterated suffering, but she didn't care. Finally finding a foothold- or, rather, two spots where her thumbs would fit snugly against those twitching, bleeding muscles that massaged the back of her fingers, she carefully avoided the blades and looked him over one last time.

"It won't be clean, brother! Oh, I hope mother will still be pleased. I don't want to see her cross!"

Shrrk. Shrrk. Sptak!

She had to pull at him, her foot in his throat as she pushed him down, tugging upward with all her might as that cold metal plate jammed into his throat, crushing his windpipe painfully with several painful pops as rings of cartilage and layers of sinew gave way to her feet and insistent pulls. Again and again, she jerked upwards on that piece of pre-cut flesh, feeling it suddenly give way and tear.

His face came up, away from the muscles that quivered and twitched, now in far too much pain to allow him to scream- after all, who could scream properly when just having one's muscles existing caused them indescribable pain? His eyes rolled back in his head, his shudders quickly turning into seizures that threw him towards Death's undeniable door as the little girl again gave a violent tug to loose the skin from his forehead. Of course, the skin wasn't whole.

Holding up the hole-filled face and stepping away from that trembling, choking body behind them, the little girl let out a very exaggerated sigh and held it up to the light.

"It's not right! I messed up the lips, again. Wesley, will mother be angry at me?" Trying to console herself at her apparent failure, she grabbed the muscles of his cheek and cut them sharply, pulling them with a resounding tear from his face and squeezing the tissues between her fingers like a makeshift stress ball.

"It's all right, Abigail. We'll get it right, next time. Won't we, mother?" Taking the skin from her and putting it into the basket with the others, he looked for a moment at that rotten, bloated hand that lay within their prizes, ignoring the blackened flesh and writhing maggots in favor of looking at the ruby that she wore on her finger in the first place.

A pact with the devil was why they put her to death.

But without her, they wouldn't have those voices in their mind to call their own, would they?

"Of course. Thank you, brother. Let's try again!"

And so they skipped down the street again...

Click, click, click...