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" Oh very much yes. It was a wonder I was even alive at all given the strength of the creature and how much larger it was than me. But I had killed it and after I had healed I was trained to be the next guardian, taught how to use sword and shield and the powers the shield held. When Levin died of old age, I took over in his place. But I was always a wayward child and I soon left for the mainland on the next trading ship, taking the shield and my swords with me."

He smiled abit then and chuckled at the memory,

" I had never seen anything like Strata before. It was...intimidating, but I was headstrong and eager to take on the world without knowing anything about it. I met Maximos and Tomorrow there on the docks though, and got my first job."

He shifted alittle himself, settling better on his legs and rubbing the slightly dead feeling from his feet. As blood flow resumed to those distant appendages Damion resumed talking.

" He helped me find my first team for Heaven or Hell and I learned just how much I enjoyed hurting people and just how little I knew about the world. To see all those fighters from all over in one place...it was breathtaking, to imagine the power in those arenas. It made me want to see everything and to improve on my skills, so I wandered for abit and did odd jobs. I have fought in Heaven or Hell for 4 years now, each time with a different set of teammates and now I return with my original team, plus Stephen. I took on the job as Maximos's delivery boy sometime during last year's tournament, or the year before. It's difficult to remember. Back then I was human and looked no different than anyone else. I had no markings, none of the skills I have now."

Unconciously the elemental reach towards his neck, touching at a blank spot there that was lighter than the rest of his skin. It was obvious something had been there before that was absent and from the way it ran around his neck it was clearly a collar.

" I had gained earth manipulation my first year on the mainland, an anomoly thanks to a mixing of blood. I turned into...this, thanks to a pact made with what I thought was a dragon. I haven't regretted it yet."

There was much of his life Damion was leaving out, not because it wasn't important but because there was so much of it. So much blood had coated his hands. So many deaths he had been the instrument of that it was hard to place them all without mixing them up in his head. The hydra could only taste the overlying feelings from those long past battles, the scent of blood, the pain of wounds and the exhultation at a kill made, the sheer joy of everything. The only fight fresh in his mind now was the one with Maximos, the one where his mind was opened to new possibilities.

Somewhere in his soul a voice called to him and tugged at his killers heart, demanding blood, demanding sacrifice, and he turned from it to smile down at Tilly.

" I have picked up many skills in my lifetime, short as it is. It would be many days before I could finish them."

" Yes."

No.

" Funny."

Not at all.

Damion let his head fall aminute in thought, staring at the ground as he thought of what to say next, what to reply with. He wanted to know more about this person that held such sway over her. Wanted to know the extent of their powers and skills and how best to defeat them, how best to kill them. With their death, he had no doubt, her freedom would be assured.

" How will they find you? Who will they send? Will this....Calliope come for you themself?"

Each piece of the puzzle added would give him an upper hand in the fight he knew was coming. He hoped that Calliope was a god, or their equivalent, and that they were vengeful. He wanted a true fight, one there was no chance to walk away from, and to taste a gods blood after walking away from something like that would be better than the finest wine. Damion thought of the tools he would use and the weapons he would need and found that of all his 'toys' only one would be needed in the end. But first, he needed her answers and so his gaze fell back to her, expression serious.

Damion took her hand in both of his as gently as he could, his hands shaking just a tad without his notice. He gave her his best smile and tried to come off as calm and believable as he told her what he saw as the truth.

" I will kill them all if I have to, to keep you here."

For a moment he was every inch the monster he really was, a beast garbed in human flesh only through the providence of fate and ill-fortune. His smile was all hunger and bloody excitement and his eyes carried no hint of warmth inside their green irises. As far as he was concerned, they were the ones living on borrowed time.

" But until that time comes."

And now he softened, shoulders losing their tension as his arms reach out further to capture and pull her closer to him, laying back slowly and tugging her around ontop of him somewhat.

" I will not speak of it if you won't."

Damion sounded tired and beaten, as if that was the last thing he wanted to do. He would rather be upfront and savage about it without the need for kind words and bloody promises. He'd rather let his claws and teeth speak for him as they always had in the past, no greater truth than bloody death staring you in the face. But for her he would wait and lie until the day came where his hands would strangle the life from any being who thought to enforce their will on her. The cold ground did wonders to calm him though and soon she would be able to feel his heartbeat cease its racing and settle into a steady and slow tattoo in his chest.