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((^_^ No problem ^__^))

This time as their lips met IV's eyes slid closed and his lips parted, his tongue pressing forward, licking her lips and seeking access to her mouth to seek out its counterpart. If she'd allow it his tongue would slide inside her mouth and wrap around her tongue, a slight chill running across the flesh and down deep within her. There were many things about him that were inhuman, and this rather flexible and extendable tongue was merely one of them. Granted, it didn't have the greatest taste, what with him being dead and all, but he couldn't resist it any longer.

When it finally ended he slipped an arm under her and stood with grace and ease that signalled his inhuman strength and agility. He smirked, "Onto the Palace then. I knew there was a good reason I cleared that place out. Perfect, if you can stand the sight of blood." Slowly he began walking towards the mountains, daming himself for not getting them closer.

He held her close to his body as he began to lean forward slightly and broke out into a run, the barren landscape passing by at speeds most mortals trained their entire lives to achieve. The look of intense oncentration was upon his face as he did his best to run without bouncing around, keeping her steady in his arms, maintaining a mostly smooth ride. His speed only seemed to increase as he ran, a trail of orange light beginning to grow behind him.

((>.> Praise having nothing to say. OOH! ^_^ *points to Avy* I got mah Horns back. ^____^))

((I was wondering where you had gotten off to. >.< That really sucks >.< I'm patient ^_^))

Within only a short time the two had come upon the rim of a massive volcano, and it was here that he had to set her down. He glanced down into the caldera, gesturing down to the massive pillars half submerged in the lifeblood of the earth's core. He smirked, "Can you believe I pulled that down from the sky myself?" He seemed...giddy about it, almost boasting about it with such enthusiasm that usually wouldn't be found in him. He held out a hand to lead her down, "Come, I can't carry you down, cause if I slip I won't be able to catch myself. Hand in hand...we'll be able to catch one another if we slip."

((You might not be able to listen to it now, but Ikibe poked me with this site, http://www.machinaesupremacy.com/discography.html some of the best damned music I've ever heard. Rather fond of Ghost (beneathe the surface)))

The path down had been prepared, worn as if he had come this way many times before, which isn't to say it wasn't dangerous. There had been many a time where he slipped and had to remove section of his body after they were partially consumed by the molten rock. A crude bridge had been fashioned below, leading from the sides of the caldera to the man square of the City. Despite the volcano below, a majority of the heat seemed to have been rerouted, streaming out on the northern side of the volcano in a plume of heat and volcanic gasses that passed high in the sky. Just one of many maintenence spells he had cast upon the place. He had slowly been turning it into a home.

When she kissed him he planted a leg in the rough earth to keep himself steady for a moment. Her whisper brought a smile to his face, "Happy Valentine's to you too, my dear." He knew it likely either wasn't the day yet, it had passed, or might actually be the day itself, seeing as time flowed differently here, but he wasn't going to tell her. He glanced down as they continued on, unable to help thinking about something Torment had told him about. The archmage had brought his wife Kalie to a place he had wrought of with his own two hands, a place of exile for his sins. If this palace didn't represent wholesale slaughter and IV's sins, nothing did. He tore a kingdom from the sky and killed every remaining member and halfbreed of an entire species, the Sky Titans.

As they got down to the bridge one of the spires on this side of the palace that was undamaged could be easily seen toppled over. It looked as if two giant clawed hands had lifted it and thrown it into the lava below. The bridge was a rope bridge, but the material that made up the rope seemed a bit too... organic. The planks were not of wood, but seemed to be thick sheets of bone. This shouldn't be too shocking as it was the easiest thing he could manipulate, but the color was off, it didn't seem to be his own bone, and it was as if it were from a beast...or person much larger than they were.

Beyond the rope bridge the main square of the palace stretched for a half mile, the huge spires towering around it with a style that seemed to be of the middle east. The entire place looked as if it should be teeming with life, but it was eerily dead...no one around, no signs that there had been any life for at least a year, except smears of blood that lined the streets and the walls, some showing signs of having tried to been cleaned up. There truly hadn't, as IV had been away, passing through the planes and roaming Gaia, eventually finding the Fortress.

As he led them through the square he tried his best not to look towards the bloodstains. He hadn't only killed the opressive bastards, he had slaughtered them and the halfbreeds as well. Anyone and everyone that was in the city was destroyed by his hand, cast into the molten rock and buried under the spire he had thrown into the lava. He was leading her to the main palace, heading to the main chambers for the one who had once been king.

In the King's Chambers there was a mound in one corner of the room covered by a blanket of sort that seemed to radiate magic. It was a pile of flesh, muscle, and bone, preserved under a cloth enchanted with a simple spell placed upon it, all of it fresh. It was pieces of the victims he had slain here, as many as he could store under the cloth. There was more mundane food upon a table at one end of the great room, a desk on the far wall holding writing instruments of massive size, and a bed in the distance. Each had a staircase of bone reaching to the top to allow access. He was leading her towards the more human food first. Through it all, he said nothing, too wrapped up in shame and guilt, trying not to start at the walls, but trying not to make it obvious he was trying not to look.

He was rather surprised when she stopped him, confronting him, a look of pain and sadness flooding his eyes at first. As she spoke, however, it was replaced with a look of shame, and he didn't return the kiss with much fervor. He seemed ashamed, despite her words, "You don't understand...I did this...and I know I did, and I've tried to give restitution for my sins...but I destroyed an entire race. They will never live again. Thats not just murder, thats genocide." He held her close, "I can support you until the earth crumbles beneathe my feet, but I can't ask you to love a monster."