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((OOC: the fourth one, the one with black hair, is actually Nigel. The girl is Nina. The white-haired one is Alban. Finally the grey-haired one is Noah.))

Noah heard a strange voice from a distance. Instead of making him calm and happy, it caused his aggresive personality to come up. Noah then flipped his hair to the right, showing his silver-colored left eye.

"Grrr!" Noah said in a painful tone.
In order to help the woman, he dragged her to where Nina and her uncles are.

"See that black-colored barrier? That's where the young mistress and the young masters are." Noah said, with a toothy grin, while pointing at a black-colored dome.

Noah and Ryuk then arrived at said barrier.

"Did you hear that voice, mistress and masters? It makes people overly calm and happy. It did the f****** opposite to me!" Noah said.
"We did but the barrier filtered the magic from it." Alban said.
"Please don't call us your masters. It's...kinda awkward." Nigel said.

After the initial assumption of the kimono girl offense he was then grabbed again and thrown next to the other girl on the ground. Startled to see the fires he watched as it seemed as though she was guarding them against it. "She wasnt attacking at all." He thought to himself. He began to separate himself from the fire as it was lapping around the barrier being made to protect them. His fear stood him right in the face and the look of fear was shown immensly. Then a circling siren of melodious music broke out into the air. Looking at the girl beside him he watched and felt the effects as his anger and fear of the fire infront of him quelled. The fire barrier died alomg with the water on his houlder from where he was burned, "her magic is so soothing." He thought slowly getting back up regaining his composure. As the effects slowly faded out he noticed the fight between the 2 demons and the 4 figures approaching. As they drew closer Gwin saw one grab and drag the kimono girled who protected him and the singer and put her on solid ground. From that she ran off into the woods. Bewildered by the sudden retreat he proceeded to follow the fire user.

-exit to forest-

(I too will move to forest. I am falling a bit behind on everyone when it comes to replying. Dont want to anchor this.)

Harlen Sinclair

((Sorry for the super long post! I got a little caught up in the moment, and I had this planned for a while. You can ask for a condensed version.))

Harlen watched as Ryuk stabbed Ken through, and he didn't even blink. Though Harlen liked to think himself compassionate and empathetic, his family had desensitized him to death. He was just glad the whole ordeal was over, and no one was seriously injured. He felt a crack in his ribs as he moved. Ok, maybe not no one, but he would heal. It would just take time.

As he scanned the surrounding area, he saw the blackness receding and fading. He began to smile when he saw what almost looked like a shadow dart below the ice beneath the charred corpse of Ken. Despite the pain it caused him, he ran forward, feeling the bones rebreak in his chest. Looking carefully, he could see a mass of black blood stirring beneath them. Ken must have been powerful to be able to animate his blood and live through it after his body died.

Before it could run, Harlen reversed the technique he had used earlier, trapping the blood in a ball of ice, not letting it escape, and he brought it to the surface, still encased. It writhed and tried to break out, but Harlen held it steady. This guy is strong. Freezing him won't do any good, you know that. Just leave him here, and let lake lady deal with him. Harlen approached the icy prison slowly. He couldn't leave him...it... whatever it was, he couldn't leave it there. And he couldn't let it get back to the Firelocks. Freezing wouldn't stop it, but soul magic could. No! I forbid it! Your in no shape to be screwing around with anybody's soul! Harlen found it odd that Mercurius would be discouraging him from using his powers, but he knew it was the only assurance that the Firelock's wouldn't find out.

Harlen placed his hands on the ice and focused. It was hard to find Ken's soul as it was constantly being shifted and dispersed through the blood, but eventually he found it. It was bright, an incredibly strong soul, but it was marred by darkness. As he focused on it, he began dissecting it, taking away chunk after chunk. It was the only way to safely disperse the soul into nothing. The soul fought back, and it took all of Harlen's energy not to collapse under the stress, but he was winning. The blood in the prison was thrashing about, but parts of it were already becoming inert and falling to the bottom. As he reached the core of the soul, he recognized the part that provided Ken's abilities with black blood. He should have dispersed it with the rest of the core, but in this state, the whisper from earlier seemed louder and commanding. No sense in waste... So, for reasons beyond Harlen's common sense, he took that piece of Ken's soul and integrated it into his own.

The icy prison shattered, and the lifeless blood spilled out on the ice. Harlen stood there, frozen with a look of pain and deep concentration. The part of Ken's soul was dark, and resisted joining Harlen's own, but Harlen's soul was strong, even if his body was weak. Eventually, the battle inside of him died down, and the piece was now a part of him. Well, that didn't go too bad. I should check on Nina, Noah, and Ryuk... He felt his knees give out under him. He had overexerted himself, and he needed rest. His vision went black.

Though Harlen was unconscious, a new person was in his place. It had the icy skin and claws of Mercurius, but it's eyes were bloody pits, its mouth had far too many sharp teeth, and bloody, bony horns curled around his head. He sat on his knees and smiled as he looked around silently.

Harlen Sinclair

((I don't have a picture for this form of Harlen yet, because it's a pretty specific look...))

Harlen, or something vaguely resembling Harlen, continued to swivel its eyeless head as if looking about. Noah heard only silence for quite a while before he received a reply. It was very weak, almost a whisper. Don't look him in the eyes bat-boy. As this was said, the demon jerked its head at an impossible angle, and the bones in his neck seemed to creak. He kept the same toothy grin on his face. He began to stand.

As he stood, his body jerked and twisted, as if he didn't know how to control his own limbs, and joints and bones bent and moved in ways they never should. Eventually, he stood in front of the small group in an odd, almost primal stance, leaning forward and gauging the group. Then a strange giggling could be heard coming from his unmoving mouth. It slowly spread open, and as it did, the giggling turned into a horrible laugh. It seemed to echo on itself, and it had a guttural, hollow tone. Then it stopped suddenly, and the mouth closed with a snap. Then, he spoke.

"Oh... Don't worry... Little Familiar..." It's voice was distant, old, and each word seemed laborious and heavy. "Harlen is... Safe... Safe... With me..." He jerkily walked forward in the direction of Noah. His legs buckled and lunged, but seemed to have a rhythm to them as he approached. "He''s fine... Asleep... Tired... But he'll wake... Wake soon..." He stood over Noah, and seemed impossibly tall, at least two feet taller than Harlen. He then grabbed Noah's arm with impossible speed, too fast to see, and Noah could feel what felt like a hand on his very soul. He was slowly pushing Noah to the ground, his face inches above Noah's. "He likes you... And your... friends... Thinks you're... Fun... We'll see... How FUN... You are... Next time... Little Familiar." His grin widened impossibly, then began to shrink.

The horns receded, as did the claws, and his skin returned to it's normal color. His teeth dulled, and as his eyelids fluttered, his blue eyes returned. He collapsed to the ground, and from his face down position, a distinctly human groan of pain could be heard.

Harlen Sinclair

It took Harlen a few minutes to come to. Everything hurt, and as he moved, it was like his bones themselves protested. As his vision unblurred, he looked around. He must have been moved by someone, because he had definitely passed out much closer to the lake. Before he could say anything, a pain in his stomach made him double over, and threw up what appeared to be black blood. As he stared at it in horror, it seemed to come alive and crawl back into his body through his cuts and scrapes. It was an odd and utterly unpleasant feeling, but the cuts began to seal up as the blood moved through them. Now that he thought about it, though he was sore, his rubs didn't feel broken any more. If he focused, he could feel the black blood coursing through his veins, healthy and lively. He wasn't sure how that got there, everything was still kind of hazy, but it seemed to be helping, and he was beginning to feel better.

He stood shakily, gaining his balance a lot slower than normal. When he felt he could safely move without falling, he turned towards the small group in front of him. "Um... Nina? Noah? Twins? What the hell happened?" He mentally asked the same of Mercurius, but he felt he had receded to some hidden part of his mind for some reason.

Harlen Sinclair

Harlen was tired, dirty, and in pain. He wanted nothing more than to return to his library and clean up, then curl up with a nice book about two dudes getting it on hot and heavy (his guilty pleasure). He smiled. "I think that's an excellent idea Noah. We'll go back, get the twins library cards, and let them look through the books a bit. I'd prefer to hear that recording in the privacy of my reading room, and since you say it touched your soul, I'd like you to be there too. I should be able to make sure your soul is unharmed." Harlen led the group through the portal...

{Exit to Library}