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Streak nodded to Issildia and ran to Adenia. He put his blade across her neck so that he would be prepared for practically anything.
"Keep your hands in full view and no-one has to get hurt." Streak said to Adenia.

"You are right, you won't die tonight...I won't allow your death to take Archer from this realm...No...I shall rend your spirit from that body!" Issildia said wrathfully.

As Yggdrassil charged forward, Issildia stepped to the side then proceeded to move into a duo of strides that placed her a matter of inches from her opponent's right as he hurtled by.

As she moved into this position she sheathed her left blade and used her now free left hand to dart forward and grab hold of Yggdrassil's right shoulder. Using her hold on him as an anchor Issildia sharply brought up her right knee to slam in to his ribs. She then released his shoulder and immediately brought her right hand blade down into a sweeping cut that once it reached it's lowest point came back upwards to stop just before cutting his throat.

Issildia's left hand came to grasp Yggdrassil by the back of the neck, to aid her in restraining him. "Do you remember that time in the desert El?" Issildia said at his ear; her voice far colder than ever before , she used his former name to simply spite him. "I swore that if you endangered Archer...that I would take you to the realm of the dead...and leave you...for all eternity." Issildia took a slow deliberate breath. "And I meant every word of that vow El...every word....Now relinquish your control of Archer or I will carry out that oath." She said dangerously bringing her right handed scimitar's blade closer to his neck.

Blood ran down the blade from the gash in her arm that she had sustained and fell to the parched desert sands, the slow deliberate dripping of the crimson liquid set the grim tone for that moment even more so.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adenia looked at Streak with venom and slowly raised her hands. "So...do you have a say in this situation...or do you just follow orders blindly...I suppose that is why my former master wished for you to be in his service...you must have made a rather reliable tool for him...following orders without question." Adenia said with a smirk as her dragon paced nervously behind her. "Ironic that you are still taking orders from a Nevar." she said sarcastically.

"You are mistaken" hissed Issildia. "For you have reason to fear me...for I can make every day you spend in this body absolute agony. Though Anier was not a place that preferred to use torture for methods of persuasion...we still managed to make an art of it." Issildia brought the scimitar forward to make contact with his neck, then slowly brought it upwards until it rested against the windpipe. With a subtle application of pressure the tip of the blade made a slight incision, there with an even more subtle twist of the blade the tip pried a pin hole of an opening in the windpipe. There was a slight whistle of air as he breathed now, though it did not impinge upon respiration.
"A quarter turn to the left and just the act of drawing breath will become...rather uncomfortable for you" she said darkly. "And I know many other ways to make things more than interesting when it comes to the simple act of existing. Now quit bluffing and relinquish control, let Archer go." she threatened.

"Wounds can heal" Issildia returned. "Perhpas he will hate me for it...but Archer would rather be freed of this existence than to be held a prisoner in his own body."

"Now relinquish your control," she commanded as she gave her scimitar a slight turn, exactly half a quarter of a turn, if she did so again it would finish off the nerve cluster situated there and half way collapse the windpipe. Making breathing a constant torture for him.

Khastur still had evil inside of him, it commanded him, it fueled him, made him stronger; more resolute-- but he remained calm, he had to as things were getting tense, "even evil has some sensibility."

He felt he could do nothing, he knew nothing of El or archer, so he went to Adenia. "I know you now, at this point you don't care if you die I'm sure, you may not even feel it for your master's magic-- But speak now, or I will find a way to make you hurt!" Khastur smiled broadly as his right fist clenched hard.

"So you've turned a leaf have you? Very well Adenia, I'll play. Could you tell us, pretty please, what Luin is doing, what he plans to do, and if you're helping him is wholly your choice."

"Nay, brave woman, for he does not will it, but he prefers it over the terrors he sees in his nightmares, the terrors of Hades." He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, they were brown, the color of Archer's. "See these eyes? they see more than you possibly could."

Issildia drew her scimitar away and sharply used her hold on his neck to throw him back savagely. She then delivered a similar kick to her first into his chest. As he hit the ground Issildia planted her booted foot on his chest and brought the tip of the scimitar the rest once again against his neck as she stood over him. "Do not speak to me of nightmares" Issildia said, and edge of desperate anger in her voice. "Hell is a fabricated illusion of our reality...true Archer's past is riddled with horrors that have created this nightmarish realm of his ;but witness one of your own flesh and blood destroy the only home you ever knew, simply out of malicious intention toward yourself...and try to convince me that I do not know the hell that you speak of!" Issildia drew in a ragged breath. "To watch as an entire civilization be turned to ash and erased from history...making their final punishment that of a destroyed memory... With only a scant few that will ever remember their legacy...and to be tortured by a dying memory. "

Issildia glared down at him. "I know of this hell...I know it's every demon and every treacherous path, so do not assume that I do not understand his position, for I know it well...and even so I would never commit myself to a livelihood of servitude to avoid my memory and own personal Hades...I can only hope that Archer would have the same belief."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Adenia smirked, "Lord Nevar has accomplished his goal of defeating Anier...now his only remaining objectives involve his last three obstacles...The first is Keirdon, Larovia's age old enemy...the second is the Ryera and their ability to challenge his rule...and the third is that one" she said glancing at where Issildia dealt with Yggdrassil.
"The last of his children...a constant thorn in his side that will find her end with both Keirdon and the Ryera. There is nothing that can be done to stop him. As of now his army from the battle with the Ryera joins up with the troops he had stationed at the Larovia's southern borderlands. They will launch an attack on the crown city of Keirdon...Faltora. " Adenia paused before continuing with a sneer.
"After Nevar has King Remos's head on a platter he will turn his combined forces on the Ryera...and this time victory will be certain for Nevar...then I would only assume that he will have every mercenary and assassin his charge after his child to see to it that the last Anierian survivor of the massacre at Anier is killed...taking with her the memory of Anier as well as their legacy...wiping that troublesome civilization from history. Of course other Anierians remain within the realms, and he will hunt them down in time...but that will be a long time in coming." she said with finality.