Welcome to Gaia! ::

~In the middle of the deep forest, there lay a village hidden in the treetops. Its borders could not be seen as there was a barrier...a cloaking spell which covered its structures and inhabitants from the wonderring eyes of travellers. Kamille and Metairie were part of this village, and they found their way back totheor home with ease.~

Hey, Metairie? Do I have to go with you to see the elders?

~In the temple of the Tel'Sindavathur, the Elders were in debate with a man dressed in black. His face nearly hidden by the hat he wore on his head. His Crimson hair flowing down his back and the length of his blade extending from the sides of his waist. The insignia he wore on his chest was that of the Matanuska. The elders did not need an explaination to his presence, for they were well aware of why he had been dispatched to their stronghold, and how he had been able to locate them. His skill was far greater than that of any other that had entered their village. Any other traveller that sought an audience with the elders would have required a guide, but this man knew exactly where to find the village. How? That remained a mystery to all parties that may have been invovled.~

We cannot deny that is one of our weapons, but your presence here contradicts everything you have stated to us.

Is that what you believe? You are only a narrow minded peon in my eyes. You are elder in title alone do not pressume to label myself or any of my bretheren.

You claim that one of our assassins had been spotted lurking about your stronghold? Why did you not bring him back to us?

Our stronghold is hidden from the world deep within Enathtai. For an outsider to 'accidentally' stumble upon us is impossible. I can guarantee that by now, your assassin is dead. My question to you is this. Knowing that the Andeluvian Mountains are most likely the most dangerous area of the Four Realms, why would anyone travel to such a place of their own free will. Even the most prestigious of warriors avoid passing through its borders if they can avoid it. How would one assassin decided to disobey the orders of his clan? He wouldn't. He was following orders from soneone in this village. And seeing as you three are the only ones capable of approving such a mission...You are the most likely cadidates of foul play.

So what are you here to do?

I have come to deliver a warning. You who consider us savages, you have been marked by death. Should you violate our borders once more, the Wrath of the Underworld will deliver you the same fate as Anier in the Kingdom of Larovia.

You have our word. We will find the traitor and deliver them to you personally.

There will be no need. By the time you discover who he is, they will already be dead.

~Walking through the forest of Natori's southern region, Kuroha had suddenly hidden behind a tree. He noticed that in the distance there was a platoon of stragely dressed soldiers. He did not recognize the insignia they bore on their armor, but one thing was for certain...they were hostile. They were gathered around what seemed to be a caravan of some sort. At their feet, seven elven maidens, brutally slain. He did not know whether or not they were the cause of this, but the fact that they seemed to take pleaseure in even futher mutilating the corpses as proof enough of their intentions. Once they began to move away from their victims, Kuroha slowly slid his blade from the sheathe being careful not to make a sound. He was certain that they had somehow sensed his presence, seeing as their formation was that of a ring, made to cover all directions as they proceeded through the forest. As they spoke to each other, he recognized the language that was spoken. It was the same language that he and his brothers spoke natively....the Language of the Dragons. It suddenly became clear as to what these soldiers were, but as far as he knew, the three of them, should have been the last of their kind. If these soldiers were what he believed, then all Azure had mentioned before his departure would have proven truth.~

This is not good. I have to get back to Enathtai.

~Silently from his position, Kuroha watched the movements of the Soldies. He was not particularly interested in the Swordsmen, but more so the Archers that happened to be hidden along the treeline. He noted how they attacked only when Azure was not occupied with the Swordsmen. Judging by the direction of their attack it could be determined that they were hidden above. He wasted no time in climbing into the branches above. It was then that he found his target. Wasting no time, he leapt toward one of the archers, and drove his blade deep into its spinal cord. The Archer let out an earshattering screech as its body grew limp. Once Kuroha withdrew his blade, the body of the archer fell from its position and landed in the road below. He then looked down at his brother smirking a bit, and proceeding to hunt down the others which were most likely mobile at this point.~

~When the body of one of the archers fell from the treetops, Azure could only smile in relief. With Kuroha eliminating the Archers above, the tide of the battle shifted a little more in their favor. Drawing his second blade, Dark Sentinel, Azure took up a fighting stance with ht e right blade held in an underhand position and the left held normally. Running through the trees, Azure sprung his attack one more. The remaining two swordsmen did not seem fazed at all by their comrade's downfall. They concentrated their efforts on Azure, who was now sprinting toward the two of them.

Upon reaching the first of them, he was met by the large blade being thrust at his torso. Obvioysly he intended to impale him with the massive blade of his sword. Azure, as nimble as he is cunning, his body faded into thin air, only to reappear falling from above and landing on the large blade with amazing balance. He needed only three steps before he reached the swordsman, and made an upward slash at its head, splitting it in two. He then leapt from the sword as the corpse fell to the ground, and landed behind the last of the swordsmen. As he went to make his attack, the swordsman suddenly screamed out in anger.

Its skin seemed to harden almost as if it were made completely of stone, as its red eyes found themselves fixed on Azure. Almost shocked by this feat. Azure backed into a defensive stance. The last swordsman, now enraged with the deaths of his comrades lauched an assault that was completely different from the last. He swung his blade at Azure with a massize velocity. Azure barely had time to react, he ducked under the blade but was met by the swordsman's foot, as he kept with his psin and raised it into Azure's chest. Azure, to his misbelief was sent plummetting into one of the trees, crashing into its trunk and causing it to fall from its place where it had been rooted. The bodies of the remaining archers fell to the ground one after the other, and once the final one hit the ground, Azure had stood back up, gathering his bearings as he twirled his blade a bit before lauchung his next assult.

His eyes had begun to glow a jade green once he sunk into his stance. The swordsman's strength and spped had been dramitcally enhanced by his rage. But there was a single flaw in this technique...his movements were far too predictable to launch a successful attack. The swordsman began his charge once again, this time swinging the blade at Azure's waist, which was in turn avoided by Azure leaping over the blade in an aerial manuever that landed him on the side of the swordsman. In the slit second that he had earned, he swung his left blade at the Swordsman's waist, which indeed met its mark however, the blade skidded across his skin as iff it were stone. Sparks of black flames leaping from the metal as it made contact with his skin. The Swordsman then countered the attack with an attempt to crush Azure beneath his blade, which in turn made contact witn nothing but the earth beneath the two of them.

Azure had reappeared several feet away from the swordsman analyzing his next move. His blade had no effect on him in this state. This was a probelm for him, but he was all to familiar with the technique that had been used against him. The thought did not sit well with him. His third blade, which was in its sheath at his waist, was one that should not be used freely, but it seemed that his current situation he had no choice. As he sheath his blades, Kamakaze and Dark Sentinel, Kuroha had made his way to his position hastily, knowing all too well what he was planning.~

What are you doing, Azure? You know well what will happen should you wield that blade.

I'm not planning to use it...not like this.

What?

Are you done with those archers?

Yes. They're all dead.

Good. I think its time I introduced him to my fire, yes?

Ah. I see. In that case, I think I'll try my hand while there's still something left of him. twisted

~With that, Kuroha drew his own blade, Arbiter and sunk into his own stance, with the blade gripped in a reverse grip. As he stared at the swordsman, the cries of the dead could be heard as the souls of the archers and the fallen swordsmen left their bodies, and became one with Kuroha's blade. It was then that the Swordsman had begun to walk toward the two of them. His strength far beyond his body's limitations, his mind was being affected by the technique he used agains them. As he his grip on his blade tightened, the air in the forst was suddenly growing cold. Without any further comment, Kuroha srung into action.~

Not long ago Issildia had departed from the outskirts of Gertea, deciding against using the shape-shifting abilities granted by her Avariera blood. Instead she simply used the gateways born of the Veil to easily cross into Natori.
The Veil was a realm that few knew of, for it was a barrier that separated the realms of Life and Death...upholding the balance of the Cycle and of nature, the very realm that had nearly been destroyed all that time ago when Issildia had been far younger.
The veil had been created by a race know as the Avariera many millennia ago, to uphold the failing boundaries between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead. But in bringing about the birth of the Veil, a realm composed of both the forces of life and death...the Avariera sacrificed their entire civilization to accomplish their will and bring about the Veil's existence.
Issildia was now the first and only Avariera to walk this earth in centuries, and had been granted the duty of overseeing the well being of the Veil since that fateful day when she had been granted a second chance at life. Using a network of gateways threaded throughout the realm that is the Veil, she could travel to nearly any destination at a moment's notice. Though she rarely used this method to travel for she still prefered to have many believe she was still the same half-blood she had been all that time ago. Her reasons for this deception were still uncertain to many.



There was a brief flicker of sapphire hued light, outlining a portal within the a cool forest clearing within Natori. The air within the clearing hissed with energy and briefly glimmered with white sparks as a form stepped from the near invisible portal outlined in subtle blue flames.

Issildia's vision immediately slipped into a different spectrum as the dark of night closed in around her after emerging into the clearing. Not unlike the infrared eyesight granted to the celtarie, Issildia was able to see perfectly fine in the dark, though she was not bound to a spectrum of red hues as the celtarie were.

As she swept the area for intruders or potential threats her thoughts mulled over the information Jadea had supplied. Supposedly there were rumors of a powerful necromancer within the Natori region but Issildia suspected that Jadea had been purposely supplied with this information.
But it mattered not, she would continue to play the part of prey...for now. When the opportunity presented itself, she would discover the truth behind this Infinitus group and their leader.