Welcome to Gaia! ::

A feminine silhouette moved forth from the shadows of the far passageway. She crossed the bridge and and stood at the challenger's end of the platform. Her dress was fashionably torn, and small fangs protruded from beneath her lips. There was no doubting it; she was a creature of the night.

"You've come for a fight?" I rested my hand on my noble rapier and locked my vision upon her.

She returned my gaze, and in the darkness, she seemed to smile at me.

"Well," I replied, "far be it for me to deny a woman what she wants." I drew my sword. "Have at you!"

I rushed forward and delivered a lunging thrust at her, which she amply dodged. I flicked my wrist and tried to cut her with the tip of my blade... and yet, she avoided that, too. I made for a third attack, aiming to land a sweeping slash across her torso, but struck nothing but air. Something was not at all right; for some reason, she was simply too fast for me to land a solid hit.

She grinned at me and started to strike back. I attacked her, but she caught my blade with her fan and closed the distance, landing her knee directly in my gut. I keeled over, and as I drew close, I smelled subtle copper tones clinging to her breath. I recognized it right away; it was blood.

I looked up at her; her face was flushed pink, and she appeared full-bodied and lively. Yes, she'd recently had her fill of blood... with the sanguine blessings giving her energy, there was no way I could match her.

"The blood," I gasped, "is the life... the blood is the life..."

With one swift motion, she struck me in the head with the heel of her foot, and sent me toppling over the edge of the platform, into the abyss...

"A witch..."

I saw her approaching from the far end of the arena. Having just come off the night shift at Gold Mountain, I was still in uniform. I rolled up my sleeves; the fight ahead wasn't going to be an easy one.

Alice smiled at me. She had a book in her hand, perhaps a magical tome of sorts. She was going to throw some kind of magic at me, I was sure of it. Going to pull a fast one on me with one of her little enchantments. I wasn't about to let her catch me flat-footed, though.

I nodded to her, accepting her challenge. She wasted very little time getting to work, and sent a blue bolt of sorcery in my direction. I ducked out and rolled away at the last minute. With a sweeping gesture, I performed a slight of hand, and several cards appeared between my fingertips. After avoiding yet another magical spell, I twisted my body, winked at Alice, and then vanished into the darkness.

She stood there, blinking, not sure what just occurred. However, she was quickly back on her guard, and spun round, expecting an attack from behind. At that precise moment, she felt a sharp pain between her shoulderblades; it became so unbearable that she slumped to the floor, unable to move.

I appeared from behind her and pulled the card of of her body. She'd been incapacitated by the Ace of Spades.

"Magic is a powerful force," I noted, "but it pales in comparison to the power of illusions..." I smiled and shuffled the bloody ace back into the pile. "And chance."

With that, I turned and walked away.

I turned around and gripped my sword. There was an intruder.

The air was quiet. I spun about, examining the whole of the platform. There appeared to be no one. I checked the entrances and exits at a glance, but all was still. An eerie feeling of unease started to creep over me...

Then I caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye. Someone, or something, was most certainly here. Instinctively, I lashed out with my archangel's blade, but I struck nothing but air. I slashed about wildly, again and again, until finally I heard a cry of pain. Had I hit it, whatever it was?

And then, I heard a whisper in my ear:

"Hard to kill what you can't see, isn't it?"

I started to move, but it was too late; my invisible assailant knocked me off the edge of insanity, and I spiraled off the platform and into the abyss below.