[Other FULL] Gunpowder (M) (IC)

Shak · Apr 5, 2015

Achilles Nimbus
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Electricity
Money - $0

A Grim Night Down South

SLAM! Shillace flinched as another door was slammed in Achilles' face.
"That was rude."The ghost-like blue figure looked down, to see that the newly appointed bounty hunter was no longer standing in front of her. To her left Achilles had already began trudging off into the distance, dragging his horse behind him. After catching up to him, she continued her rant. "I did warn you not to burn your money, who listens to money grabbing old women anyway?" She continued. Achilles growled in response to Shillace's lies, flicking his hood back over his head-as it had been knocked down by the force of the door. Feeling his body about to give way, Achilles threw his back into the side of a building and slid down the wall. He wasn't one for sleeping in alleys, but options weren't exactly in abundance. Shillace gasped in horror. "We're going to sleep here?" Achilles was too tired to respond. He gathered the energy to muster a couple of words.
"What choice?" Shillace looked at Achilles sympathetically. Though she often felt the same physical hindrances as Achilles-Hunger, pain,extremes of temperature-the feelings that were caused by a need for mental sustenance didn't seem to have the same affect. They were both aware that Shillace represented a projection of the more optimistic side of Achilles' personality.
"We could sell Onyx." Shillace glanced at the horse, before looking back at Achilles awaiting a response. Achilles made no physical reaction.
"We do not sell Onyx." He said as he began to doze. The horse whinnied at the sound of its name, jolting Achilles back to consciousness.
"The hell d'you think yer doin in my house?" Achilles looked to his left to see a small bearded man leaping up in the alley just a few feet away from him. The mans back was noticeably hunched, and his clothes were ripped. He had some sort of bag in his hand."Wait, yer one a them rich kids ain't ya?" The man inferred as he scratched his large beard; the contents of which became projectile with each scratch.
"No." Achilles responded. The man weakly gestured towards his expensive looking cloak and shoes, as if he had to really shift his body to raise an arm. Achilles sighed. "My money is gone, I've no more than you now." The man immediately noticed Achilles' genuine disappointment and believed his story. He sat down next to him and handed him the bag he'd been sleeping with, gesturing for him to drink it. Achilles looked down and saw the bottle in the bag. He shook his head. "I don't drink." The man looked at him, almost shocked at his new discovery.
"Every man drinks down south, trust me, it'll make you feel better." Achilles still refused. "Whelp, I gotta use the p***er." The man got up, and began to walk to the gutter at the end of the alley. Achilles finally felt comfortable enough to say a few words.
"Thank you sir, f-for allowing me into your living quarters." He murmured. The man stopped, as if trying to make sense of what Achilles had just said.
"Free country ain't it." The man said, raising his hand in the air. "Names Wyatt by the way...I cant handle all that sirm'aam stuff. He iterated as he continued down to the gutter. Achilles realized what the man had began doing. He couldn't move though, he simply sat and held his rumbling stomach. He heard gunshots and wood breaking in the distance. Shillace attempted to peer round the corner, but her vision was still limited to that of Achilles; whose fatigue overwhelmed his need to satisfy his curiosity. So he just sat and cursed those that were partaking in what sounded like a shootout.
"Damned south." He groaned in a bleating manner. Wyatt returned and again sat next to Achilles, urging him to drink from the bottle. This time Achilles accepted the bottle and reluctantly took a swig.

Gligar · Apr 6, 2015

Atropine Lethial
Status - Bounty Hnter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Earth
Bounty - 0$

Searching for the chug

"That was a great fight, baby." Mumbled June, as he took the money of his victim. "Anyone up for 50 bucks no lie!" cried June. As his mouth opened the stinking smell of his breath could be easily recognised. "I'm in." cried another voice from all the way down the alley."

"You know what, make it 100 bucks! I've got nothing to lose against a rat like you!" "You'll regret the day you said that, sucker!" Said the man as he pushed his way through the huge crowd. A Fight! Fight! chant quickly stormed around the crowd, and both men were ready throw punches at each other.

June struck the first punch hitting the man right in his face. The man stood there, and gave June a cheeky smile,to show that he had not been hurt. Angrily, June struck another punch right at his face. That punch never made its way, as the man fiercely blocked his punch. He took out his hand and knocked out June in one punch.

"Who's the rat now? Am I right everyone!" Cried the man. No one in the crowd said anything. They knew what was coming next. "Cmon, gimme my 100 bucks, sucka." "Sure." smiled June, as he took out his gun and shot his victim. The sound was clearly heard, as bounty hunters came grudging to the area. In minutes, the whole alley was silent and deserted.

"Don't worry boys. this ones mine." as a silent sound was heard. "What, you came Atropine?" asked a fellow Bounty hunter. "Wow, so the daughter of the lethal lady is ready to catch someone." Declared the commander. "I'm pretty confident I can do it." replied Atropine. "Don't be so ignorant, they call him Drunk John" said the Commander, with a look of doubt in his face.

"Drunk John?" said Atropine. "Drunk John June, to be more specific. He's wanted for not only being one of the richest gamblers in the whole west, but for killing all the people who win against him in a bar fight." "Sir, we found a body." said a Bounty Hunter. "Bring it in." he said. He turned back to Atropine and said "See, the bullet we heard was probably shot by June." As the Bounty hunters brought the body, one thing was clear. The man was dead.

"Drunk John is a pretty intelligent man. He always shoots his victims right in the face, so they are guaranteed to die." continued the commander. "The man still looks fresh, it must have been that bullet we heard." noticed Atropine. "Keep searchin' boys, we never know what we'll find." "I'd be happy to leave him to you, but won't you need backup?" asked the commander. "Don't worry, I said I got this." repeated Atropine.

"So, did anyone die while pursuing him? Asked Atropine. "You're actually the first person to be after him. he answered. "Mark! Please locate all bars around this area, and reserve a vehicle for me." told Atropine. "Yes ma'am! It seems like the closest bar around her is the Luzzania bar, which is less than 3 miles away." "Thanks Mark! Now leave up to me commander." said Atropine confidently. "Good luck me dear. We'll have a backup squad ready for any emergency." replied the commander.

gimmepie · Apr 8, 2015

Alex Rose

On the Road Again

Alex awoke with a yawn, the sun almost finishing its ascent upon the horizon. Alex made a habit of not getting up any later than the sunrise to ensure he had the maximum amount of time possible for hunting his prey. Getting up, Alex quickly washed and dressed – grabbing a wanted poster from the top of his drawers as he left his room and headed downstairs where he was surprised to find that Burke, Lily and Sienna were all up already, sitting at the dining room table eating porridge in their nightclothes.

Alex was generally the first one up, followed by Burke who had never quite shaken the habit from his own days as a bounty hunter. So seeing that all three of the Crowley's were already up and having breakfast was very unusual. Alex toasted some bread with a flame over his hand and slathered butter on it before sitting down across from Sienna, the twelve-year-old with light brunette hair looking at him and doing a bad job of trying not to laugh at the expression on his face.
"Yes?" Alex asked, trying somewhat not to sigh
"I can't believe you slept through all that" Sienna said, finally falling into full-on laughter
"Through what?"
"Well" Burke said, now also biting his lip in an effort not to laugh at the young bounty hunter "There were a lot of police mounting horses and riding off for Larkin, the city has called for reinforcements."
"What?!" Alex said, finally displaying some actual energy in a response "Larkin is the biggest city in the chasm though, why do they need reinforcements?"
"Someone totally destroyed a Tavern over there, the old opera house was burned down – they found two severed lower bodies there, the Culebras have been very active and are going to be out for revenge since they've just lost a lot of members to one of Janet's guys."
"I slept through all this?"
"You must have had a busy day," Lily said, in her usual motherly tone
"I always have a busy day" at that, Burke did laugh because he knew from experience that this was probably true.

The family and Alex sat and ate for a while longer before Sienna piped up excitedly again
"Who are you going after today, Alex?" Alex thought for a moment before handing the girl the wanted poster he'd stuffed in his pocket
"Hangman? He's really nasty isn't he?"
"He's no Big Bad, but yeah he's pretty unpleasant. He has a tendency to tie ropes around the necks of people he doesn't like."
"You should be careful with him" Burke advised "he's been around the block a few times and he's got a knack for killing bounty hunters."
"Have I ever not been careful?"
"What about that time you-" Sienna started before Alex cut her off
"Okay I'll be careful!"

Moments later, Alex was once again on the chestnut horse Burke permitted him to use. With all the excitement in the Larkin area, it was likely that Hangman who was located elsewhere was likely to try something.

Foxrally · Apr 8, 2015

Sophia Hartmann
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 580$

Jebediah Sanders
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Money - $1200

Spider's Hollow

Little Killer

"Hey. Hey! Wake up sleeping uh... yeah. Wake up."

Sophia slowly opened her eyes. She mumbled a few incomprehensible curses, and gingerly attempted to sit up, leaning on her elbows. "What just..."

"No no no, that won't work at all. You're moving way too slow. Here, let me help with that." Jeb went over to the bar and took two fresh mugs of beer and brought them back to her. "Here you go sweety, take a sip. It'll wake you up." Jeb pushed one of the mugs up to her lip and then completely dumped it out in her lap.

She suddenly awoke with a start as she felt the cold drink splash onto her face and clothes. She wiped it off her face, and looked up, her face turning to a frown. "What the- Jeb, you sonova-"

"Hush now child, just drink." He pulled her head back and pushed the mug up to her face, tilting it and making most of it missing her face and instead just running down her chin and soaking her clothes even more. "There we go, drinky drinky. Make you feel all better."

Sophia spat out the drink and attempted to push Jeb away with her leg. She stood up, and the first thing she noticed was that the bounty hunter she had been fighting was gone. She glanced to the side, where Alice was sitting, shivering in fear and staring blankly at the ground.

She looked back at Jeb, massaging her aching shoulder. "Two things - why are you here, and what just happened?" she asked.

After Sophia knocked him backwards, he drank the third of a mug of beer that was left from trying to wake her up. He wiped his face and readied the speech he had prepared. Sure he was still pretty tipsy, but he figured it couldn't be too bad. "Well, ya see, uh, I live here. For one. And uh, for two why are you here? And for three, wait, there was three things, right? Okay yeah, three. That whatever his name is kinda got a nice big chunk ripped out of his neck. Little uh, that little girl you decided to take with you - AFTER YOU STOLE MY FUCKIN HORSE - helped me out a little bit."

Sophia suddenly remembered how she had been knocked out. Alice - or what she assumed to be her - had turned into a ravenous beast and had flung her against the wall.

"Wait, what? She killed him?" Sophia turned to look at the traumatised child, still addressing Jeb.

"Uhm yeah I guess. It's all still kinda foggy. I remember her jumpin in through the window and then there was blood coming from the guy's face or neck or something and then next thing I remember is her shaking like that and everyone that was still in here staring us down like we were the weird ones."

Sophia yelped in glee, almost knocking off Nico off who was climbing back onto her shoulder. She ran to Alice, and tightly hugged her.

"My little killer, I knew you had it in you! I knew you weren't one of those spoiled brats from the north!"

Jeb spoke out to her but his words fell on deaf ears as Sophia was too engulfed in her new "little killer". "Hey, not all of the people from up north are stuck up rich kids. You might want to start getting out of here though..." He trailed off as he looked out the door to the saloon.

Meanwhile Alice said nothing, still staring straight ahead. Sophia looked her in the eyes. "Listen, when we get back to Larkin, I'm throwing a big initiation party for-"

She suddenly stopped as she read the expression in Alice's face. What was she saying? The girl was no Culebra. She was one of them, the rich upper class of Jeimas. She sighed, disappointed.

"I mean... yeah, you'll be going with Jeb. He'll drop you off at Janet's, and from there you'll go to wherever you said you were going in the first place-"

Jeb interrupted Sophia's speech by grabbing and tugging her arm. "Hey! You've got to get out of here! Bounty hunters are closing in, just go out the back exit. There should be a horse or two. Worry about this later, I'll take care of the kid and I'll see you in Wrench. You don't want to be here in five minutes."

Sophia let go of Alice, and checked to see if Nico was with her. "Right. Thanks." she muttered, clearly disappointed.

Jeb picked up Alice and slung her over his shoulder, she was almost just like a sack of potatoes. He put his hand on Sophia's back and hurried her out the back exit.

There were a couple of horses tied to the post behind the tavern. They could hear footsteps coming from inside the tavern. Sophia mounted one of the horses and cut off the rope it was tied with with her dagger. "Uhm..." Sophia hesitated, unsure how to phrase what she wanted to say. "Sorry about your horse, I guess."

"Don't worry about it, we don't have time right now." The voices of the men inside were getting closer, and Jeb wasn't about to take any chances being seen acting all chummy with an outlaw by some no name hunters. He gave Sophia Alice's book and then slapped the butt of the horse. "Keep that in a safe place!" He yelled after her.

A joint post of Sonata and Foxrally

Chocolate™ · Apr 9, 2015

A loud screeching noise came from the chalk scratching against the board. The person who was holding the chalk was the stuff of nightmares, a tall brown-skinned 60 year old lady lecturing Aidan in a class alone. She wore a white shirt and a long blue skirt which did not add to her looks whatsoever. Another one of her features was a moustache more clearly pronounced then even any of the 10th graders. She raised a large wooden stick high and brought it down with great force on a young 13 year old with his hands protecting his head.

"MUK, MUK DON'T HIT ME! PLEASE!!!!!!!" Aidan woke up with a start and shouted, with his voice echoing loudly throughout the abandoned school.

"Aidan please shut the psyduck up, we're trying to get some sleep. We haven't slept for three psyduckin' days because of you." A voice said, accompanied with murmurs of approval following it.

They didn't know it, but those were words of comfort for Aidan, convincing him that everything was fine and that he was not in Mrs.Hastings class anymore. He lay back in bed dreaming of robbing banks and shooting 60 year old women in the forehead.

~ ~ ~

"Well that must have been a helluva dream yesterday. Was it about your teacher in the eighth grade again?" A girl around the age of 19 said. She was rather plump but not obese, with black pants and a shirt covered without a brown leather jacket, she looked oddly threatening.

"Oh yeah Kathleen, it's just that this place reminds me of her." Aidan replied.

"Well, I dunno why you're so terrified of a 60 year old woman. I mean just because she was a rattata that doesn't mean that she should haunt your nightmares."
 "How many times have I told you not to use profanity around here?"

"Well I don't give a muk. I say and do what I want. By the way, what about that job with the Raymond guy next door. I think you can steal 200$ without being caught, am I right or am I right?" 
"Oh yes he gets what he bargained for." Aidan rubbed his hands together, not to act like he had an evil plan but because he was feeling cold."

~ ~ ~

It was mid-afternoon and Aidan was standing outside the Raymond grocery store. He had nobody with him right now because he had been stubborn enough to not allow anybody with him. The whole reason he was going after Raymond was because the Raymond Stores belonged to an organisation named Lobos Solitarios (Lone Wolves) and was one of the biggest criminal organisations in the Northern parts of the Barren Lands and they hated the guts of Death Note as well as any other gang in their area. This was one of their smaller branches and Aidan's aim was to take all of the hideouts, slowly one by one. This was bound to be difficult however due to the fact that Lobos Solitarios had ties with bounty hunters and could hunt down Death Note whenever they wanted. So Aidan decided that they would slowly take out each branch anonymously, cementing Death Note's place as a big criminal organisation and perhaps even make Aidan one of the Big Bads. The store was closed today so it was primetime to try and break in.

Now he had to decide whether he should go stealth-mode or go all guns-blazing. He examined the store it was a relatively clean store despite the fact that the outskirts of IronHaven weren't really the cleanest places. It was about the size of 3 standard classrooms and had plenty of walls to hide behind. He thought about using his electric shock shells. but decided not to because of the fact that he wanted nobody witnesses alive. He slowly snuck in through the window and crawled close to the wall when he heard a noise. He crept behind the wall and peeked, there were two large men talking.

"But my friend, we shall take over the whole of the Barren Lands. Why you stress out?" The smaller dumber looking man said.

" Well as we're growing bigger, the Big Bads will start coming after us and I'm scared to hell by all of them. There's no chance of us surviving then. We'll be… screw" The taller smarter an replied.

"Weapons down!" Aidan joined in, knocking the smaller man out with a short elemental burst while holding his revolver to the face of the larger man.

"Well you're one of those goddamn Death Note members aren't ya. I was expecting this but no one believed me. To hell with you'll !" He spat on Aidan's face.

"Whoah, now easy there!" Aidan kicked the man, forcing him onto the ground. "I'll leave you alone if you tell me where the cash is."

When the man refused to answer, Aidan got on his back and twisted his arms in the most painful way possible. "Tell me." he said in a low but firm voice.

After five seconds of intense pain, the man shouted. "THE DOOR STRAIGHT AHEAD! BEHING THE REGISTER!!!!"

"Well thank you." Aidan replied while snapping the man's forehead. He strangled the stunned man to death before walking behind the register. He searched the register but found nothing. Seeing the door was locked he took out his spell book and cast a portal on the door. With that he walked through and searched the room. After a lot of searching he found a drawer with a wad of banknotes stuffed in. He counted the total money which amounted to 300 $ since he checked the register but found nothing. He came out of the portal but then saw a young girl who was probably around the age of 21 kneeling next to the bodies of the two dead men crying.

"Hey!" he shouted, pulling out his revolver but she started running. He tried to shoot but missed all his shots. He ran after her through the back-door only to find her riding away on a horse. He tried shooting the horse but missed.

"MUK!" he shouted, throwing his gun to the floor.

gimmepie · Apr 10, 2015

Rex Flinders and the Hangman

Too Easy - GM Post

Footsteps could be heard echoing down the thin cave tunnel, a faint breeze blowing sand in behind the man who had just arrived. Finding Hangman's hideout had been far too easy, a bounty-hunter was swinging from a makeshift gallows outside.

A lack of subtelty is something an outlaw can't afford to have. He has brought this upon himself... not that I won't enjoy it anyway.

The man continued to walk down the surprisingly long tunnel, which appeared simply as a crack in a rockform from the outside. It was a good hideout, however the fool had squandered it by leaving such an obvious marker outside. It was a well known fact that only an outlaw who could survive a siege should even hint to their location - even the Big Bads mostly prefered to have their location a mystery... well aside from that idiot Griffin.

The man arrived at the end of the thin passageway and stepped into a wider antichamber, seeming to fill a large portion of it with his hulking form. Hangman and the twelve other men that made up the remainder of the Charlatan's were sitting around a fire within.

"Hello Charlatans." he said. "Mind telling me why you robbed a bank under our protection? I'm going to have to kill you and take back that money now."

All of the men in the room spun around, instantly reaching for their guns. Hangman picked up a hunting rifle and aimed it at the newcomer. He lowered it slightly to see his face, and raised an eyebrow.

"Who in the hell...?"

"Rex Flinders of the Flinders Gang at your service. You can't say I don't do enough work being the boss." Rex gave a feral grin as he levelled his revolver.

"There's one of you and thirteen of us!" one of the Charlatan's yelled. "You expect to beat all of us?"

"What terrible odds." Flinders said smugly and pulled the trigger. A single bullet should have been fired, but it multiplied the instant it left the barrel of the gun, causing projectiles to rain down upon the Charlatans. Eleven bodies hit the floor, only Hangman survived having pulled the twelth of his follower in front of him.

"What the fuck..." Hangman muttered, tossing aside his human meat shield. He let out an enraged roar and fired a shot at Flinders.

Flinders didn't move, however the bullet never found its mark. Mere moments before the projectile embedded itself in the outlaw's flesh it flew off in another direction instead drilling into the wall of the cave. Flinders began to move slowly forward.

"Anything else?"

Hangman grunted again and fired another shot, only for the bullet to once again fly off in another direction. Flinders laughed, a terrifying smirk accompanying the unholy sound.

Realizing htid technique was inteffective, Hangman dropped his weapon. His hands began glowing red hot with fire.

"Those are the same hands I used to choke the last person who had to the nerve to talk to me. I'll make sure you die slowly, and painfully." he hissed, before huling a large fireball at Rex.

Rex did not flinch, he simply caught the flame and threw it over his shoulder.

"You'll have to do much better than that, not that you'll have the opportunity." Even as Rex spoke, several sharp salagmites burst from the ground impaling Hangman's limbs and rendering him immobile. "Any last words?"

The bloodcurdling scream echoed through the valley around the area, falling only on dead deaf ears.

JukeboxTheGhoul · Apr 12, 2015

ANIMA

[S-HIGHLIGHT]Music[/S-HIGHLIGHT]
Information

Spoiler:

I am the darkness.
The nightmare in your head.
The monster in your closet.
I am the doom ticking away in your mind.
People fear me.
For I am Anima.
And I will not rest, until everyone is saved from this hell.
Do they not know I help them?
Why do people fear me?
I am simply accelerating their journey towards the Afterlife.
And with this blood I shall shed. Gaudium will be happy.
Very happy indeed.

Crunch! Anima's boot came down on the ribcage of the skeleton. The skeleton was aged, as it was disturbed it would crumble in to grainy mush. The head was missing. Anima moved his eye down to the body. He sighed dismissively, shaking his boot out of the body. He trundled on, looking up. He saw a bleak indigo horizon, a harsh beige sand tainted with the darkness of the witching hour. The moon above broke through the clouds that shrouded the moon's shine with a grim red. Ahead houses, shacks made of corrugate and piss pots made of timber. The street stunk with the burning sensation of ammonia and crap. The town was quiet, it had very few services, not even a church. He paused, no one was up late. That was good. The stained ones could not interfere. Anima noticed a spike impaled in the dry earth. Atop the spike, a common occurrence around here, a skull with said spike thrust through the cranium. This was a custom of these remote towns, supposedly made to ward off the evil. But it hasn't stopped him before. The dirt trail was fading away, with weeks old horse shit to serve as a connect the dots. Reaching the centre of this town, he paused. An old oil lamp glared brightly, in contrast in the black. The oil lamp was in a run down tavern. The doors were detached from their hinges, beaten and battered. The tavern was in shambles. An otherwise nicely looking maid was swabbing up blood from the floor, perhaps from a recent brawl. Anima ignored it, for you see, he has no sexual drive and neither a taste for the poison that dulls your senses. Not to say, of course, he didn't like all poison. No, he liked many poisons, they are a way he can continue his divine calling while exhausted of mana. And such as a time has come to choose his next victim.

Anima concentrated. He inhaled. Then he exhaled. He found his mark. Anima fumbled around his belt, his hands glid over the stock of his shotgun. No, gunfire would be unnecessary. He continued, tapping his dagger sheath. No, too ceremonial. He followed his belt to the middle. No, he had heard stories of people who use that gun, but he never fancied it, he preferred to use it to scar his enemies when using his truthful eye. Then he came across his book. A small black notebook full of spells. It was called 'Ieros' and it seemed to be his weapon of choice. Anima knew which one to go to. He marched forward to a small house, the destitute home was in on it's last legs and had no shutters. Anima prowled to the window, peering inside through the curtain, the curtain wasn't fully closed. It was good that the house had glass, it meant it wouldn't have shutters and no one can close the curtains all the way across. He saw the figure curled up in a tiny bed in the main room. The bed was actually a couch flattened in to a bed by force, there were two doorways in parallel, one was ajar and the and the other had no door. These people had no money to buy a door to the shithole.

He summoned his mana to his mind. His figure began to to become dark and fuzzy. His hands faded in to a silhouette, then a shadow. The next he knew he was standing in the middle of the room. He could see it clearly now. A small coffee table had a small oil lamp burning away, near the wall was a large ceramic vase full of oil. The kettle was lukewarm from being on the fire. Glancing in the door ajar, a larger bed, a man spooning a woman, the woman's abdomen was swollen with child. On the small makeshift bed in the main lounge area was a small child, by estimation was about seven. Probably a boy due to the length of hair, but barely indistinguishable. He moved the boy's hair out of their face and placed his fingers on his head, he stirred lightly.

He bent down, "Hush, little one, time to sleep." He grinned unmercifully as he drained away the little child's aura.

The tingling sensation was met with a pulse of euphoria. As he felt that his victim's time had almost ended. He forced open his eye and covered his mouth. He engaged his Truthful Eye, his iris came alive, swirling around in to the shape of a vortex, gyrating at the speed of a rapid. He forced the little girl, as he found out when he connected with the child's mind. He delved in to her deepest fears. Her mind had been flooded by images of boiling flesh, rapes of villages, towns alight in inferno. The girl exhaled, and that was her last breath. Anima had to bite back the urge to cackle. He continued to follow the wall, stepping gently. His mana was slugging. He took off his gloves, placing in his pocket. He cupped his hands and delved in to the vase of oil. He proceeded to embalm the door's hinges with the oil. A talent he learned the hard way. When he first started, he made the mistake of opening a creaky door, that's how he got his eye out. He crept in to the room.

Only one of these people are worthy to pass on. However if I save the mother, then the child she holds will also be saved. Kill two birds with one stone. He, I will come for later. He will be left alive to suffer in this hell for a while longer. He thought as he prepared his mana again. He was filled with glee. He dried his hands and put on his gloves. He looked at the woman, He went to connect his truthful eye, but he sensed that she was already in a nightmare. He felt that she was already attacking herself with her own deepest fears, raising the infant and the child on the streets. Even for worthy refugees to the astral planes would we be poisoned with the thoughts of the darkness of the world they leave behind, to some this was a gift, showing what they were getting away from, otherwise it was just a nightmare. Nevertheless, it put down their guard and allowed the final stages of leaving the world, they let go of life on this pit and ascend. Ironically, this wasn't paranoia she was dreaming of. It was a legitimate upcoming event, their eviction. A fate Anima will save them from. He disengaged his Eye's power. He moved his hands to the woman's bulge and began to siphon her energy out of her body. It quickly bent to his will. He did a silent thankful prayer to Gaudium. Now, for his pleasure. He felt he infant squirming inside, the infant was male, and it was yearning for air, blood and nutrients. It struggled as it starved, clawing to life. Children, they do not know that the only thing on the outside is pain and desolation. The infant tried to make an early escape, but withered before making headway.

He took away his hands and looked at the man, the man was a local bully, he doesn't deserve untaxed passage. A twinge of anger shot through his body. But overcome by the prospect of reaping his soul in a tortured hour of agony. For he will be next. He took out "Ieros" and ripped out a page unwritten on, he took out a pencil and folded the piece of paper, scribbling the words "You NEXT." He popped it out and set it down on his shelf. He crept out of the room, opening the curtains. He concentrated. His figure faded in to the shadows. He appeared out of the shadows down an ally opposite. He left a giant grin across his face. He swished around and then walked around the corner, sitting down on to the cracked ground and rested his head back. Closing his eye.

The figure was emitting a shining light, Anima was familiar with this. To him, it was his connection, to others he dreamed. If accused of it being a figment of his imagination, he replied that he manifests this connections through the dream. He always remembered this dream. The figure was his God. Gaudium, the place around him was an indigo that would swirl, when it swirled it flashed like lightening and phased in to a purple. He was on a circular platform. People here were always shown in their purest form, unclothed but they did not have any genitalia, this was the purest form. Helioa, this state was named. Not clouded by desires, bias or judgement. Gaudium peered down at Anima.

"José Anima" Gaudium's voice bellowed.
Anima quickly got to his knees. "Yes."
"Well done, you have released three souls today." Gaudium's light was blinding, it impossible to look directly at him. Gaudium dimmed his light slightly, three figures materialised around him, the figures were the three people he had just saved, as adults. "Go forth bring me the soul of the last. Complete the set. However, He is unworthy to come directly. Make him,Jeremy Coal, suffer." Before he said 'unworthy' the three Helioa blobbed in to Gaudium's light, which intensified.
"You will shall be done." Anima bowed, Anima noticed there were no scars or burn marks as he was in Helioa form. The light shined in to his eyes.

He awoke. The sun shined in his eyes. He craned his neck. A wail screamed out, followed by a sob. Anima rustled his hair, reaching up to the pipe to pull himself up. He wiped sleep out of his eye, his throat was parched. His stomach cramped. I haven't ate in days. He rubbed his stomach. He groaned. Then he regained his composure. Walked in to the tavern, the source of many evils of the world but also certain to contain a screaming person when you were in a rough mood. He sat down at the bar. Dropping some money on the counter, It's not stealing if it's from a dead body now is it?

He nodded towards the waitress, "Water and bread,"
"Sir, don't you want a drink."
Anima coughed, "Water." He looked at her, his eye gleamed, threatening to use it. She seemed to understand the gravity of the situation. The man a few seats away was crying, he was being attended by a large man.
"There, there, Jeremy." The fat man rubbed the man's back
So that is Jeremy. Seems easy enough, when I get my energy back.
But then, the sun gleamed in Anima's eye. Anima moves out of the way of the sun. The light was reflecting off something.
It was shining off of Jeremy's revolver. Loaded. Primed.

He knew.

Sonata · Apr 13, 2015

Spoiler:

Jebediah Sanders - Bounty Hunter
Level 1 Air User
$1300

A man, a girl and a horse

Jeb gave Sophia a final farewell wave before jumping onto the other horse at the back of the tavern. He slung Alice over the horse's ass and took off toward Janet's. He was still a bit tipsy, but the morning dew and all the excitement was doing a good job of waking him up. At least he wasn't flat out drunk like the night before.

"Hey uh, kid. You alright? You seem a bit dazed. You worried about Ol' Softy back there? She'll be fine. Just worry about not fallin' off the horse for now. We'll meet back up with her later. She's got somethin' for you so don't go dyin' on me." A few seconds passed with no reply. "Are you even lisnin' to me ya lil crapper?" He looked back over his shoulder.

Alice was still just laying there, right where he had plopped her. Staring at the ground, arms, legs and body in general simply limp. With each step that the horse took it knocked more sand and dirt into her face, but she didn't notice. Or at least she appeared not to notice. The color had drained from her face and he was sure that if her jaw hadn't locked up for whatever reason, then she would have already had bitten her tongue off.

"Gonna give me the ol' silent treatment eh? Oh well. Can't say that it bothers me, just leaves me with my thoughts. Though they're not always the nicest. Ya know, I almost had a daughter one time." He waited, but still no sounds came from behind him. "Yep that's right, she'd have been twelve by now. Died right before I got into this whole cops n' robbers business. I was only 16, and she died at the hands of some no name outlaw."

Alice glanced up at him with empty eyes and then fixed them back on the ground. Jeb eyed her and took a deep breath before continuing. "My father was a judge. His name carries some weight still up north, and even still a little bit down here. They managed to capture the man who killed my daughter a few nights after it happened." A tear welled up in his eye. "He let the bastard go. My father, the almighty justice of this nation just let him go. The man who murdered his own granddaughter." His voice broke and the tears began streaming down his face.

"I-" Alice had began to speak when she and Jeb were stopped by a young woman on a horse.

"You seen anyone suspicious around here? I'm this week's sheriff around here and I got word this mornin' that there was another shootout at the tavern on down the road. Witnesses says there was a real young girl about that one's age and another girl that seemed to be with her that started a fight with some bounty hunter." She eyed the duo that was in front of her.

"No ma'am. we just come in from the Sander's farm out in the desert. I'm Jeb Sanders, the farm ain't much but it's mine. Hopefully I still got a pig out there somewhere and maybe an ear or two a' corn. Pickins' been a lil slim this season." He spit off the side of the horse. "Ain't too much to stuff ahselves with no ma'am. Gotta feed Dia here," he patted the horse's side, "as well as me and my niece. It's a hard life I tell ya. Don't get too many visitors out that way neitha."

"Well alright Mister Sanders, I'll let you go today. Here, " she tossed him a coin, "take this and buy yourself something in town." She smiled and went back down the way she had came.

Jeb chuckled lightly. "And that's how you stay out of trouble. I'm afraid my life story will have to wait for another time though. We're at Janet's." He got off the horse and tied it off to the porch. "You wanna go in with me or you wanna stay out here kid?" He pulled Alice off of the horse.

She looked between the broken down house and the horse and ended up pointing her finger at the door.

"Well alright then. Just don't let her spook ya. We gotta keep what happened last night a secret, and she's great at pryin' secrets outta ya." He took the girl's hand and started up to the door.

He knocked twice and the door creaked open. "What the...." he pulled Mr Truth from its holster and slowly pushed the door open. What he saw scared him almost to death.

There waiting on the other side was Janet with a gun pointed straight at his head and a bill in her other.

He looked at the bill which had his name on it. "Now listen Janet, I can explain."

She pulled the hammer back and the gun clicked. "You better start talki-" she looked down Jeb's arm and saw Alice there at the other end, cowering behind Jeb. "Well hello little girl," she hid the gun behind her as she spoke with a softer than usual voice, "and what might your name be?" She smiled at Alice, who's eyes were peeled open wide at trying to take in everything around her.

Jeb spoke up, "This here's Alice. She'll be workin' with me for now and then she might end up being able to work by herself in some time. She was passed out around my house last night and I fed and bathed her and whatnot. Made sure she was proper for comin' ta see the big boss lady." He smiled and let out a little laugh.

"Oh haha you're so funny Jeb." She snarled. "But, you've brought me such a cute little thing, so it's not all bad." She rubbed Alice's cheek with her icy hand. "So, what makes you so special that the Jeb would take you as an apprentice? You don't know how many times I've tried getting him to take on a partner in the past even if it was just to even him out."

Alice shrugged her shoulders and then held out her hand. She motioned her head towards the gun behind Janet's back.

"Aww how sweet, you want to see my gun?"

Alice shook her head excitedly.

"Well then, here you go doll. Be careful, since I've lost my magic I've been spending a lot of time upgrading and customizing all my home and all of my weapons. That's a little more dangerous than just any old revolver. Here, go aim at uh... here. I'll get you a vase. Just hold on a second." She went into her kitchen and came back with a couple of mugs. "These old things have been sitting around forever and I haven't thought about how to get rid of them yet." She set them on her table in a row so that Alice could see each one.

Alice put both hands on the gun and closed one eye as she looked down the sight. Janet went around behind her and put her ice cold hands over Alice's.

"Now deary, I'm going to show you how to handle a real gun. That finger goes there, the rest go here, and then your thumb goes on the hammer. That's the little thingy at the top. Now what you want to do is pull back the hammer first," they both pulled back the hammer, "then you level the sights, but don't close your eyes. That'll throw off your aim. Then after that, simply pull the trigger." Bang!

The mug that was placed on the left of the table shattered into thousands of pieces and the bullet continued through the table before stopping in the floor. The impact of the bullet leaving the chamber sent Alice falling back onto her butt and caused her to drop the gun which caused both Janet and Jeb to jump in the air.

"BE CAREFUL WITH THAT!" They both shouted in unison.

They looked at each other and then Janet nodded at Jeb. "You're the one that's going to be working with her, not me. It's not my fault if you don't explain it well enough." Janet said as she picked her gun up off the ground.

Jeb pulled Alice up out of the plant pot that she had fallen into. "When you shoot a gun you want to be sure that you've got a good stance. Give yourself power and for the love of god don't drop the gun. That shit kills people kid. It kills even more people than a well aimed shot. Trust me, it took me years to perfect my shot and I killed a lot of men before then."

She sat on the edge of the pot and went back to just sitting silently.

"Well, whatever. I guess we can take care of the little things later. For now, I'm here to take care of business. Janet." He looked over to her.

She stared back. "I'm still upset with you. This bill is excessive. You can't keep doing this and if it weren't for the kid-" she gestured at Alice, "then I'd be tearing you a new asshole right now. You'll pay me back with your next bounties, but you're not getting anything big for now. No, you get to work off this bill in little shits."

"Oh come on Jan, first I almost die, then I decide to pick this kid up, and now this? Ugh, it's like you want me to die or something."

"That could work."

Jeb stared at her. "Really? You'd rather me die and leave you with having to rely on all the new kids instead of someone who actually knows what they're doing? That's doubtful."

"Yeah, it's also doubtful that you'd die. And if it does happen I'll be sure to throw myself a nice little pity party at losing a mediocre bounty hunter."

"OH HA HA JANET. HA HA." Jeb raised his voiced and almost yelled mockingly.

"Don't tempt me boy, you're still too young to be talking to me that way. Even without magic I'm a much better bounty hunter than you'll ever be. Take your new bounty and get out of here before I have you pick up trash around town instead to pay me back."

Jeb almost spat something back that would have most likely torn them apart, but he bit his tongue. Now wasn't the time, especially not with the kid being here. He had more important things to take care of. "So what is it this time? A butcher? A farmer? That little rascal Tommy who keeps tipping the cows?"

"Nothing that fun I'm afraid. Its name is Scrig. It's a runaway familiar, the only power it really has is teleporting. But it does have a band of hired thugs helping it out, so that might be a problem. I'm not sure if they can use magic or not, so it'd best to be careful with that. The creature is rather intelligent, but spends its time roaming from town to town selling some new drug called opioid. There's no information on what the drug does here, but if the thing's got a bounty for selling it then it can't be good." She finished reading the poster and then handed it over to Jeb for him to read over.

"So any news about where he might be right now?" He scratched his forehead.

"Nothin. You might try askin' some of them outlaws that you refuse to take out though, they might know something."

He scoffed, "It's not that I don't want to take them out, I'm just waiting for them to get interesting enough. Right now they all more or less just plain suck and aren't worth the time it would take to kill them. And ammo's been gettin' expensive lately. I don't have the money to waste on people like them."

Janet sighed. "Whatever you say Jeb. You don't always have to act like 'such a badass'. You disappoint me sometimes. Just get on out of here and take care of business."

Jeb hesitated, he thought about continuing the conversation. He had the perfect thing to say, but Janet was already heading off to whatever it is she does when Jeb leaves. He sighed and shook his head. "Come on." He reached his hand out to Alice. She grabbed hold and they both left the house.

They got on the horse, this time Alice actually sat behind him instead of simply laying over its ass. Jeb looked up at the sun which had nearly made its way into the middle of the sky. "Let's go find Sophia, whaddya say?" He looked over his shoulder at the girl who was clinging tightly to his waist. He smiled and then they set off towards the edge of town.

Shak · Apr 13, 2015

Achilles Nimbus
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Electricity
Money - $0

A Prize Within Reach

Achilles awoke to a small jabbing feeling in his leg. He felt incredibly groggy, and his eyelids felt glued together. His back was cranked against a wooden wall that had seemed to be shoving his neck away from his torso. The rest of his body seemed full of energy; energy he couldn't seem to access. When he finally managed to pry his eyes open he noticed a small homeless man kicking him in his leg and calling his name.
"Achilles, wake up dammit, I got good news." Achilles managed to sit up, Wyatt continued. "You slept well." Wyatt said, mocking his grounded associate. Achilles breathed a sigh of exhaustion, before Shillace spontaneously appeared.
"He should try telling your body that." She said, also laughing at the state Achilles was in. They bounty hunter refused to respond to her. Wyatt gave Achilles some time to orientate himself before continuing. As he did so he pulled out a note from his back pocket.
"I figured you deserve a treat. All the cash you promised me, y'know." Achilles scratched his head, but didn't respond for risk of further explanation that his brain simply couldn't handle. This didn't stop Wyatt though. "We're gonna get breakfast, drink and whores! What more could you want?" The man beamed excitement. It was clear that this was important to him. Achilles sighed. Though he was starving, it didn't stop him from questioning the other two.
"Isn't it a little early for drinks and whores?" At this point he'd managed to find somewhere to plant his feet, ready to get up. Wyatt gave him an irritated glare, but said nothing. He began to walked down the road, heading toward his favourite tavern. Achilles quickly composed himself, before following obediently behind.
"Nooooooooooo!" The man screamed almost in tears. Achilles, with Onyx plodding behind him, began to run as panic occurred in front of him.
"Wyatt, what is it?" Achilles grabbed the man, who at this point was on his knees. Tears drizzled down Wyatt's face, dissolving when they hit his thick black beard. Achilles looked at the levelled structure in front of him.
"I take it this is where you wanted to go?" He stopped comforting Wyatt and walked over, examining the debris. Wyatt didn't respond. A voice called out from the distance.
"Hey! What are you two doing here? This area is off limits!" A woman with a sheriff badge was attempting to shoo them from the area. She went unnoticed by the mourning homeless man, and was ignored by Achilles as well. She was about to call out again, when Achilles stuck out his hand telling her to stop. "Who the hell do you think you are?" The woman gasped angrily. Achilles knelt down, peering into a puddle amongst the debris.
"Did it rain last night?" The bounty hunter asked. The woman seemed confused, but her face quick straightened to a more composed look.
"You'd have to look a lot further back than last night, to find the last time we saw rain in these parts." She chuckled. Her body language still akin to that from when she was angry. Achilles continued to share his deduction.
"This water seems to have taken it's time to seep into the wood." His statement fell on deaf ears, as the sheriff had began tending to Wyatt. This was no ordinary bar fight. He thought.
Later that day Wyatt and Achilles attended a different tavern. Wyatt much preferred the other one, but under the circumstances, was left with little choice. Wyatt went straight to the bar and began discussion with the bartender. Shillace seemed unimpressed by their situation.
"This place isn't exactly classy." she thought. Achilles nodded in agreement. They sat at the counter. Wyatt pointed at two women sitting in the distance, and the bartender gestured for the women to approach. After what seemed like a civil argument, one of the women seemed much happier than the other. The woman who was smiling approached Achilles. She began to flirt with him.
"Tall, dark and handsome, it must be my lucky day." She smiled as she grabbed his hands and put them around her waist. Achilles grinned. He looked over at Wyatt who had his back turned and was already deep into his 'appetiser'. The girl however seemed much less enthusiastic, and looked over Wyatt's shoulder like a dying puppy. "Perhaps we should, take this somewhere private. I feel like you want a little more than a lap dance." The woman continued. Achilles slowly removed his hands from around the woman's waist.
"How about you treat my friend, he paid for the both of you after all. Besides, it looks like your friend could use some help." He chuckled as he gestured towards Wyatt, who seemed to want a lot more than the woman wanted to give. The whore Achilles was with looked down at him with pleading eyes. He smiled at her and turned to the bartender, who had watched the whole thing.
"Cut her some slack will ya, she just got down from the tavern down town. She probably just wants to get the stress off." Achilles looked back at the woman, she had just reached Wyatt, after trudging slowly. A man down the bar overheard the conversation and offered a little bit more information.
"From what I heard, there was this little rich girl, who transformed into a demon, horns and everything." Achilles looked at the man.
"Is that all you know?" He asked sternly. The man nodded as he went back to drinking his beer.
"Achilles you god!" Wyatt shouted as he noticed the second woman join the fun. Achilles quickly intercepted and grabbed the woman away. She seemed confused, but didn't protest. Achilles looked her in the eye.
"You were at the tavern last night right?" The woman seemed shocked at Achilles' immediate change of heart. She nodded. "You saw the little girl, yes?" The woman nodded again. "Do you know where she went?" She seemed overwhelmed by the flurry of questions, but answered as best she could.
"I don't know exactly, but I saw her leave with a man with a scarred up face." She blurted out in the panic of the situation. Achilles looked away to process the information he'd just gathered. The woman continued to feed him information about the night. "There was a man who got attacked by a girl..." Achilles looked back at her.
"The girl?" The asked inquisitively.
"No, a different girl-a bigger girl-the smaller girl did attack but after, and she was a lion." Achilles looked at her, confused.
"A lion?" She nodded in response. Magic, it has to be. he thought. He let her go and thought for a second. Shillace interjected.
"The old woman must know something. I mean, he's probably a bounty hunter, that would explain why he's taking the girl. He probably found out about her finders fee." Shillace waited for some sort of response.
"You're right!" Achilles quickly jumped off of his stool and headed out of the door. The man, the bartender and the whore; watched as he left the building, confused as to who it was he was talking to. Wyatt noticed Achilles leaving and quickly chased after him.
"You aint leavin with my money are ya, Achilles?" He stood confrontationally, looking Achilles up and down. Achilles shrugged and continued walking. "Dammit boy, I was in there." Wyatt complained.
"The sooner I get my job done, the sooner you get your money remember." Achilles retorted, with a complete lack of interest.
They arrived at Janet's. Achilles knocked the door. This time, the speed at which the door unlocked was much slower. He could hear each individual click and clank. The old woman swung the door open, and her expression remained dormant as she saw Achilles standing at the door with a homeless man who barely had his belt around his waist. After a few seconds of waiting, Achilles broke the silence.
"I need to know what you know about 'the scar-face man', and where he's gone." She glared at him, she immediately knew who he was referring to and considered feigning ignorance, but allowed her curiosity to get the better of her. She was curious as to Achilles' affiliation to Jeb. She made a sound that Achilles assumed was confirmation of acquaintance. "Do you know where he's gone." Achilles asked again. She saw the determination in his face, his brows as burrowed as they could naturally get. She thought for a second. She had no plans on letting Jeb's antics carry any more weight in her pocket. She had no idea what Achilles wanted, or was capable of for that matter, but the risk to her coin was too great.
"He went to Fairbell." Her voice croaked a little as she said it. Had Achilles been focused he may have caught that she was obviously lying, but he had other things on his mind. Shillce watched him as he gifted Janet a nod of appreciation and walked out of the door. She didn't know if it was the mention of Fairbell or the fair of knowing that was where the girl was going, but it didn't look good either way.
"Achilles, maybe this isn..." Shillace tried to make him see sense. He walked straight through her. He walked up to Wyatt who was standing next to Onyx. He looked at Wyatt.
"You should stay." Achilles tried to mask his concern. Wyatt shook his head but didn't say a word, there was no need to bring the issue back up.
"Ima help you find this little girl. I don't know why you want her, but you came a long way. Bad guys don't tend to go through so much trouble." Wyatt smiled along with his words. Achilles grinned back and nodded. Following the nod, he dug his chin into his chest as if he was guilty of a crime. Wyatt didn't seem to notice. Achilles knew-a lost girl wasn't all he might find in Fairbell

gimmepie · Apr 13, 2015

Alex Rose

A Gift from Flinders

"I'm looking for this man, have you seen him?" that question had lead Alex to ride through the desert for many hours now, however he had at last found an answer from a merchant who had narrowly escaped death as the Charlatan's robbed him on his way to Spider's Hollow. It was because of that answer that Alex was now searching for any sign of the Charlatan Gang – and he definitely found one. Alex was approaching a large rock formation in the middle of nowhere, outside of which a gallows stood – a weak bounty hunter of Janet's that Alex recognised dangling from the construct.

Alex dismounted the chestnut he was riding as he got closer to the monolith, drawing his revolver as we walked cautiously towards a crack in the structure.
That seems to be the only way in, so it's probably not trapped. Still, something feels eerie about this.

Alex slipped into the crack as quietly as he could and followed a thin winding path towards a flickering light in the distance.
Fire light, maybe somebody is home.

It took a surprisingly long time for the bounty hunter to reach the end of the tunnel, his mouth falling open with surprise once he stepped into the chamber beyond. Several bodies littered the room, blood soaking the stone ground upon which the corpses lay and flames flickered throughout the room – the smell of burning flesh heavy in the air. In the centre of the room stood a stone structure and from it The Hangman swung by his own noose. At the back of the cavern, blood was smeared on the wall in the shape of a flaming target with the word "Flinders" below.

"What the fuck happened here" Alex exclaimed, his voice echoing in the silent tomb. The bounty hunter took note of the wall and then removed the noose around Hangman's neck "No point in letting a bounty go to waste… it feels empty just grabbing a corpse though. I'll have to ask about this "Flinders" person when I get back to Janet's.

Thus it was that several hours later, Alex was walking into Janet's agency in front of her house. The young bounty hunter walked passed the front counter, the body slung over his shoulder and into the rear of the structure where he found Janet sitting at a desk reading a newspaper article with a furious look in her eyes.
"Jeb is going to suffer… the damaged bar is on the front page. He'll end up putting me out of business the asshole."
"Janet"
"Oh grand, another one. Whose in the body bag?" Alex answered ignoring the woman's tone, he too simply wanted to do his job and get out of there.
"Hangman, but I didn't kill him. I found his hideout but when I got there the Charlatans had already been taken out." At this Janet raised an eyebrow, outlaws often fought over turf disputes all the time but it was unusual for a bounty hunter to admit they didn't kill a target out of fear of not being paid. The woman's curiosity was piked further though, when Alex explained the scene.
"the Flinders Gang, lead by Rex Flinders, haven't been active for years now – since before you were even a bounty hunter. They're pretty notorious but they tend to fade away from the public eye every so often and only show up when they run out of loot or if they think the other outlaws are getting to cocky. They're not people a weak shit like you should go after alone unless you're looking to not come back."

Shak · Apr 16, 2015

Achilles Nimbus
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Electricity
Money - $0

Friends close, enemies closer

After making considerable ground in his journey to Fairbell, Achilles noticed that the night was catching up to him. He hadn't heard from Shillace in a while, and the homeless man on the back of his horse had finally unplugged the mental barrier he'd managed to create in his nose. He stopped Onyx and dismounted him. The exhausted steed wandered off in an attempt to graze whatever green it could find. Unfortunately for the horse; the the land, barren by name, lived up to that title. Achilles peered off into the distance, trying to find any sort of shelter. He was never one to long for company, but this was a moment he definitely needed it.
"Shillace?" He called out out, almost in a whispered tone, as he waited for the pseudo-spirit to heed his call. Nothing. He always assumed that he could summon her at will, since that worked in the past. He sighed, as he continued heading south. He chose not to mount his horse though, he continued on foot.
The sky was red by the time he got near Fairbell, the journey was long, but somehow he'd made it on foot. A bubbled cauldron rose across what Achilles could see of the horizon. He noticed a broken and battered base of a home, piled high, with what he assumed was the rest of it.
"Shillace?" He whispered again. Hoping for the spirit to show up. Again with a sigh, he shook his head and continued down the road. As he walked, he looked back at the damaged stables next to the home. The animals had been evacuated. He tied his horse to the post and threw his satchel into a stable. He dragged Wyatt off of the horse, and placed him in a different stable to the one that he'd thrown his satchel into before walking back to his own. As he sat down he heard weeping.
"Why?" The voice cried out. He looked at Onyx, the horse hadn't responded at all to the cries. Achilles knew.
"There's no need to be upset." He said calmly. Shillace slowly faded in the stable. She appeared in the opposite corner to the one Achilles was sitting in.She refused to look at him. He knew.
"If that were true, you wouldn't be crying." She responded, still refusing to look at her creator. Achilles' face turned to that of confusion."You make that face as if you don't know what I'm talking about." She continued. Achilles ignored her second comment, though he definitely heard it.
"You're the one crying." he stated calmy. He sounded almost like a child trying to win an argument with a grown up. Shillace let out a yelp of laughter.
"The tears that roll down my face-plummet down yours. When my heart aches-yours burns. When I'm worried-you're petrified." Her words left Achilles cold. The bounty hunter didn't respond. He sat in silence, with his thoughts his own. He didn't sleep much after that.
The following morning, Wyatt awoke. He found himself in a broken down stable and covered in hay. His thoughts trailed as he began realise where he thought he was and what he thought had happened. That b*stard ran off with my money didn't he. He left me in this sh*t hole. He ran, looking around the destroyed stable and house, hoping to god, it wasn't true.

JukeboxTheGhoul · Apr 16, 2015

ANIMA

[S-HIGHLIGHT]Music[/S-HIGHLIGHT]
Information

Spoiler:

It was not the first time that Anima was at the barrel of a gun. The man in front of him was Jeremy Coal. He was an arms length He was bulky and brutish, a town bandit. The last few moments moved as swift as a few glances. The man had several exploitable fears. Anima thought, as he backed in to the corner of the bar. He looked at his surroundings.

From what occupants of the bar there was, they paid no attention. Obviously, this kind of scenario was familiar to them. The floor was sodden with dirt and blood... and oil... Anima knew his blunder. When he had lathered the oil on to the hinges, the oil drained out of his hands, the oil dropped on to the ground and he had stepped in it. He had left a trail. So, everything was going according to plan. Anima grew an unnaturally wide grin. 'What the fuck? He is staring my gun down the barrel and he smiles?' Jeremy thought as a sweat droplet scaled his cheek, loosening itself from the skin and free-falling. Anima's eye glowed enchantingly, the iris swirled like a galaxy spun it's web among the Astral Planes. Anima peered in to Jeremy's Soul.

He noted that the death of his family was his least worry. Anima activated his truthful eye, paralysing him in fear. Anima brought up his hand and gently pushed the gun out of his face. Anima pried the man's gun out of his hand and held it out. He struck the man on the temple with the butt of the revolver. The man snapped out of his trance when hit. Jeremy was dizzy but still able to fight with all of the adrenaline pumping through his system. He pounced on Anima, thrusting his hands around neck. Throttling him with his hands. Jeremy banged Anima's head back and forth. But then a small round circle poked his fat belly... He froze. His gun was taken by Anima. He pulled the trigger. Jeremy's body went limp, his arms stopped choking. Anima pushed the injured man off of his chest. I don't want him to go quickly. He hoisted up the body on to his shoulders. Grasping his drink and bread. He exited the tavern, a body over his shoulder.

It was a pleasant sight to behold. He'd been strung to his own roof, the roof his family was murdered in. His face twisted in to a ghastly projection of his face when he saw his world crumble. His blood dripped to the floor. Creating a pool in which sodden the floor boards. Anima admired at his work. He began untying his mask. The belts loosened. He slid the mask down. The Tender burn wounds were wrinkled and was tender. He put the bread in his mouth. Crunching down on the bread. He also drank the water. He scrambled up. He checked his ammunition. "Time to do some digging."

His blood soaked book made a print in the dust as the rising sun glared him in the face.

Then he looked around. A series of bodies were tied to a washing line. The eight carcasses hung by their hands, swaying in the wind. Anima grinned... His work here was done.

Ice1 · Apr 20, 2015

Angels

Sounds rushed towards the girl, and they swept her out of her sleep. Eternal silence was broken by the sounds of hoofs hitting the ground, and bovines grazing. Never had she ever experienced such loud noises. Never had she experienced any noises at all. It was painful, and she pressed her hands to her ears trying to suppress it. A crow screeched. The sound was awful, she did not want to hear. She never asked to hear. She yelled for her mother, and her own voice scared her. It was so high, so trembling, and so broken. Her mother rushed into her room
"What is it, Agnes? Are you alright?" she asked, and she kneeled next to her. She made her lip movements very clear, while she tried to describe everything with her hands. The little girl stopped weeping and stared her mother.
"Make it stop!" She yelled. "Make the sound stop!"
The mother started crying.
"Thank you God, for making our lil' girl hear again," she said, and she collapsed onto the ground onto the ground, praying and shaking. When she stood up, she walked to the window.
"Jason!" She yelled, "Come here, our daughter can hear!"
The noise faded, and the pain went away. "It's over, momma," she said. She spoke uncomfortable, as if her voice was not made for speaking. A light shone from within Agnes, blinding her and her mother. As if someone took control of her, her upper body was pulled upwards. In the blink of an eye the light faded and she got pushed back into her bed. Her legs, that used to be broken, beaten and unusable, were back to how they were before she got run over by the bull. She sat on the edge of the bed, and pushed herself out of it. Putting her whole weight on her legs, she balanced herself until she stood perfectly still. She was told she was never going to walk again, and it was a huge relief to find out that she had been blessed so much. Her mother looked at her in awe. When she saw her daughter rise up out of her bed, she ran towards her, and hugged her, squeezing her together, as if she was trying to squeeze the holy light out of her. "The lord blessed you," she started whispering, repeating herself, while tears streamed down her face. Agnes's father entered the room. He saw his daughter standing there, and he started crying as well. He joined his wife and daughter in the embrace, and tears filled his eyes. Never had he ever expected his frail, sickly little girl to ever walk again, to ever hear again. "God has plans for you, Agnes," he said, and he grabbed her face with both hands. "The Lord has plans for you, and he wants you to be great." He said, and he kissed her forehead. "We need to show this to Ezekiel. All of Fairbell shared our grief, now they shall share our joy."

"Today a wonder occurred. Dear little Agnes has been blessed by angels. The Lord gave her the ability to walk again, and his light illuminates her soul. Her deafness is cured, her legs are healed. The Lord imbued her with his Holiness. Her hands will bring holiness to us all. Agnes has been kissed by the angels, and she will share the Lords love with us all!" Ezekiel stepped aside, and Agnes stepped up. A big crowed of townsfolk looked at her, amazed and bewildered. Ezekiel walked up to the crowed, and gave his hand to an old man. His eyes were gray, and stared to nowhere. The man had Cataract, and he could barely make out what was happening.
"Sir, by the power of the Lord, our little Agnes will heal you!" Ezekiel said, as he walked the man towards the young girl. She put her small, pale hand over his eyes, and a light appeared. The purest of white shone from her hand, and the man's eyes lit up. The grey faded out, and his eyes became a bright, bright blue.
"Be healed! Feel the Lords power on your skin! Open up, and accept Agnes's Holy light!" Ezekiel said.

Winter · Apr 21, 2015

Virginia Raine | Outlaw | Water | Level 1 | $250

Emmet Holliday
Status - Outlaw – Demon; Drunk
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Water
Bounty - 300$

Raine on a Holliday
a joint post between Weiss Schnee and MorallyIncorrect

Emmett wasn't happy with the deal he struck with Antonio, but he knew it wasn't very negotiable. He said struck a deal, but he had really just submitted himself to the Culebra family. He had absolutely no idea how he would get ten thousand dollars together. A normal person didn't even have a tenth of that. There wasn't even a bank that would have that much money in its safe. He decided to forget about it for tonight. Larkin had enough taverns to get into some trouble to forget his real problems.

"Just iced water, please." Virginia said to the bartender.

She yawned and casually glanced around the tavern. There was quite a crowd tonight. The smell of liquor and the babble of tipsy conversation hung in the air. Just then, the doorbell jingled as someone walked in. At a first glance, she thought that the young man who had stumbled in reminded her of a rodent. Fearful, wide-eyed and jumpy on its feet. She was not sure whether it was obvious but there was a vibe of nervousness that she picked up from him. She took a sip, as her eyes observed him.

He saw the idiot from yesterday enter a tavern. He already giggled as he thought about what he could do to poor Buck.

"Owh man, you're going to have a wonderful night." He said to himself. He walked to the window and looked inside. He saw Huck sitting down with a group of people, who Emmett could only assume were fellow Culebra's. He smashed the door open.

"The strongest you got, please!" He yelled to the bartender. Huck turned around, and his eyes became huge when he saw Emmett enter.

"D-d-demon! That boy's a demon!" He screamed. "Get me out of here, he's going to drag me to hell!" Emmett gave a cackling laugh. He loved his demon act, and he loved it even more that Huck was stupid enough to believe it.

"Hiya Huck, wanna drink with me?" He said, as he licked his lips. "I just ordered a mug of blood!" He really turned this act up to eleven. Huck stood up, as he had decided to leave.

"Stay a-away from me," he said. Emmett saw his drink arrive. He blinked to it, chugged it down, and than blinked towards Huck.

"Owh no Huck, we're going to have a very fun night." He said, as he put his arm around the idiot's shoulders.

Another young man had entered the tavern and seemed to know the rodent-like man. From his expression, Huck (as she soon overheard to be his name) thought that the other man was a demon. Virginia rolled her eyes. Who believed in those things anymore? An arm laid around Huck's shoulders, who immediately shoved it away.

"D-don't touch me, demon!" He cried.

Like an animal cornered by a predator, Huck lashed out at the other fellow, and a fist connected with the man's cheek.

Virginia emptied her glass and ordered another. This would be interesting to watch, she thought.

The young man reacted quickly, and punched Buck right on his nose. "Right on your sniffer!" He yelled. The people at one of the tables all stood up, and rushed to help Buck. The boy blinked around, punching people, until one of the bigger guys got lucky and punched him in the face. The young man appeared next to Virginia, his nose bleeding, and he grabbed a chair. "Hello pretty lady, is this seat taken?" He asked.

She shook her head and regarded him coolly, not flinching at his sudden appearance. He must have blinked.

"You seem busy."

"I'm multitasking," he said, as he grabbed the chair and chugged it at the group of people. He grabbed the table and flipped it.

"Oh?" She stared at his bleeding face.

The kid grabbed his nose with his hand, which seemed to glow. The bleeding stopped. "I'm prepared for these kind of situations. I'm used to being in the minority, although I certainly wouldn't mind for you to tag along." He winked at Virginia.

"The name's Emmett," he said.

Healing magic? That's nifty. Especially for a criminal like her.

"Virginia." Her suspicious were confirmed. That they were both in the same boat.

"Situations like these are kind of my life," he said as he giggled. A bullet flew by them. Emmett ducked behind the table, and dragged Virginia with him.

Virginia heard the zipping sounds of several more bullets puncturing the air above them. Instinctively, she whipped her revolver out from her shoulder-bag, releasing two shots in retaliation. She heard a man yelp in pain. Virginia manipulated the water from her glass into a sphere, and sent it whooshing towards the group of men. Chair legs fell apart as the water gushed through them and downed a few men in the group at once.

Why am I babysitting this boy's troubles? The look on her face was of distaste.

"You can still leave," Emmett answered, "I don't really care." He raised his head above the table. "I thought you were a good shot, Huck, but this is just disappoint-" He stopped talking as a bullet pierced his ear. He gave a short scream.

"I would kill ya, if ya weren't gonna drag me to hell, ya demon!" Buck yelled.

Virginia rolled her eyes at Huck's retort. She popped her head above the table, conjured another sphere of water and aimed it at the superstitious fool. The impact sent him falling flat on his back.

She looked over to Emmett, but he was gone. Only a second later, the boy blinked back again behind the table. "I really like that spell," he said.

Virginia peered over the table, wondering why there was a sudden lack of gunfire. Several of the men, including Huck, were flailing about with their faces covered in ice. Huck looked like he had grown on a pair of crystal whiskers.

"If we leave this table, we can play around a bit more," Emmett said, and he ran towards the men. "There's something on your face, Huck, he said," as he punched him right in the stomach.

Virginia retrieved her umbrella that she left leaning against the side of a stool, and followed behind Emmett. At the corner of her eye, she glimpsed a trio of men with pistols in their grip. Right before she heard the flash of gunshots, she opened her umbrella and released a blast of water in their direction. A stray bullet was deflected off the edge of the umbrella, landing with a faint clink at her feet. The three men were caught by surprise with the water spell. They were open; she brought up her revolver and fired. Their legs crumpled and sent them falling to the floor with a thud, bodies limp as a dried fish.

"Don't kill them," Emmett said, "these guys and I share a boss."

Virginia nodded. In the midst of the frenetic action, the tavern's doors opened with a bang. A flash of light whizzed into the bar. Virginia reflexively put up a shield of water, but she was a second too slow as the shockwave of electrical blast knocked her to the ground.

"What do we have here? Nobody invited me to the party!"

Virginia winced from her smarting back, her eyes interlocking with a pair of brown eyes that belonged to a boyish face with tousled blond hair. The bounty hunter had a cocky smirk plastered on his pretty-boy face. The blast had halted the brawl, every pair of eyes and gun barrel now turned towards the latest arrival.

"Looks like I'm going to be rich!" The bounty hunter raised up two pistols in each hand, and began ejecting bullets at lightning speed. The air started to ripple as bullets zipped through the air in multiple directions. Nobody wanted to be turned in by the bounty hunters. Virginia scrambled to her feet, thankful that she did not sprain anything in her fall. Her mind was set on finding an escape, which was hopefully easy in the entire commotion. Emmett had disappeared from his previous spot, and Virginia could see him appear behind the bounty hunter. A big push to the back toppled the bounty hunter over, who hit the floor face first. The blonde boy hit the floor, rolling to the side as his wrist flicked upwards at Emmett. Light flashed from his hand and Emmett felt a sudden cone of pain travel up his leg. He collapsed on top of the bounty hunter, and clocked him in the jaw.

Virginia knocked several men out of her way with an elemental blast, moving towards the door. Emmett and the bounty hunter were busy duking it out with each other. Emmett noticed Virginia dodging bullets and spells, while heading towards the door. He grabbed his flask, and splashed the contents towards Virginia. He took a deep breath, and froze the water, freezing her in place. He ran towards the door.

"It's been fun guys," he said, "I'll see you tomorrow at work, Huck!" He yelled, and he blinked away.

JukeboxTheGhoul · Apr 21, 2015

ANIMA

[S-HIGHLIGHT]Music[/S-HIGHLIGHT]
Information

Spoiler:

The Sun erupted in the sky, the blades of sun beamed down. Light stung his eye, the baking heat irritated his burn scars. Anima pulled up his mask over his face. The giant ball of fiery plasma angrily stared at him. The shimmer blurred the horizon with Mirage, the sky streaked an azure mantle of cloudless sky. He caked his boot in sand, trudging through the deep, deep sand leaving a pit every few inchs. The sand battered against his shirt, the wind kicking up his long coat. When Anima got to a high altitude mound, he teleported a few foot forward. Making a shadow trail as he appeared in a different location. Anima thought about the lives he had ended. He read down his spell book and continued his trek.

He peered over the top of his book. He wasn't prepared for what he saw. He was met with a face full of sand. His body made a soft thud. He had stumbled over a ribcage. Quickly, he got up. Blinking his one eye, trying to tell if he was hallunciating. In the middle of the desert, he had found a shack. The run down hermitic shed was blacked out. Anima leant in, felt around the Shack. No door. He stopped when he felt an engraving, a circle with an arch going over the bottom part. coming out of the circle and looping around. Anima recoiled. His heart beats became audiable, it pumped his blood around at the pace of a stampede. This was the marking of Gaudium. He crouched peering at the engraving.

He remembered... The dying breath, the eyes connected. Passing the baton. With a death, the bringer Of the new astral planes was crowned. The stick had dug a groove in to his neck. The water was heavy, and in this place Anima had found the truth. He recalled her ruby lips, the pleasant smile. The waft of cookies accompanied whereever she walked. He remembered her soothing voice. Her skin was so tender to touch, the aroma of her body as it rotted. He had saw the light the intoxicating prize of the answers that never get answered. The smell of blood was never so sweet. This was the place he learned of the light. His first blood looked so peaceful, he remembered murmuring, "I saved you, mommy." This place is where he got his wings. He began his service, inheriting his noble benediction. The Revelation had freed him from the chains.

If this was indeed where he thought it was... He brushed aside the sand. The handle was unveiled. Yanking it with his foot, a wall of the shack ejected out. Inside was a dusty desk, with a book open. The inkwell had spilled on to the desk, it had hardened to a paste. The brush had repeated the example. On the chair sat a skeleton. 'My teacher. You were set free." He took off the skeleton's head and slid it in to his bag. He exited the shed. As the Fairbell church chimed in the horizon.

Pray to your God, for I shall not. And I shall give you no mercy. At All

Shak · Apr 21, 2015

Achilles Nimbus
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Electricity
Money - $0

Music
Cold Flame

The tavern Achilles walked into felt homier than the taverns he'd visited before, perhaps it was his impending fate. He chuckled ironically.
"So, this is where I'm gonna die huh?" His smile put Shillace off. The spirit was much more content than she'd been the night before, but the bounty hunter's words confused her.
"You seem very accepting." She groaned. The bounty hunter ignored her, so she continued."What if I'm not ready to die?" She groaned again. Before the hunter could respond, he was patted on the shoulder. The large figure behind him grinned. His golden hair shone in the beam of sunlight that slipped in through the window across the room. He wore brown fingerless gloves, and cargo bottoms with bulky trekking boots beneath them. Achilles remained facing the bar.
"We probably shouldn't do this here." Achilles murmured. The man began to walk away; Achilles followed shortly after. Shillace grimaced as Achilles laid eyes on the man's back which was covered by his white vest. She knew.
The man led them to an old mill just outside of Fairbell. He turned around and threw his bag down. Achilles' brows burrowed in response to seeing the familiar face. He felt an air of guilt, and it made his stomach ache. The man walked inside, leaving Achilles out. Shillace appeared.
"There's no need to do this, it's a risk far bigger than what needs to be taken, he doesn't have the girl, so we can leave." She rambled. Her words clearly full of desperation. "The worst part is, you still can't even admit that this is just about your damn pride." She grumbled in a sulk. Achilles simply grinned as he walked inside.
"You're right, this is about pride..." He brushed his chin. Shillace looked at him, surprised that he'd admitted it. Achilles looked over at the man, who at this point was cracking his knuckles. "...but it's too late to back out now though, wouldn't you agree?" He sighed in appreciation; his confidence seemed to seep from his face.
"Talking to that damned imaginary friend of yours?" The man began to laugh. "Hey, b*tch, go get me a sandwich!" He bellowed in laughter. Shillace growled in response. It fell on deaf ears. "Coady Landis, the 'The Cold Flame', returns with the head of Achilles 'The Black Nimbus'..." He grinned. "I can see it now...Retribution!That's the headline." He yelled triumphantly. Achilles didn't respond, he stood watching, covered by his cloak. Coady was annoyed by Achilles' lack of response. He growled before swinging his arm in the air, a stream of fire followed behind it. Achilles jumped to the side, barely dodging the flames.
"Done already? I figured knowing you, you'd want to talk a little longer." Achilles chuckled. Coady growled again. He kicked the ground and a spear of rock shot at Achilles. The bounty hunter was shocked by the instant response. He used his Static ability to de-materialize his body, and watched as the spear went straight through him. He grabbed his broken sword from it's sheath, and blinked behind Coady, putting the blade to the flame sorcerers neck. Coady quickly grabbed Achilles' arm and dragged the sword away from his neck. Being 6"3 and well built Coady was able to easily shift Achilles' significantly smaller 5"8 frame. He threw him across the room. Achilles quickly regained his balanced. He immediately looked around and noticed two large boulders rising from the ground.
"Lets see you deal with this you arrogant b*stard!" Coady shouted as he as he swung his widened arms inward. The boulders began to close in on Achilles. In response jumped backwards, but the boulders came crashing together before he managed to arrive out behind them. Coady grinned.
"That was just too easy." He groaned. "I wanted that to last longer." He continued, as he approached the rubble. After a few steps, Coady felt a foot slam into his face, which knocked him off his feet. He attempted to get back to his feet, but Achilles was already standing over him.
"You got your wish." Achilles uttered calmly. Coady stamped on the ground and the floor beneath Achilles began to rise. The bounty hunter jumped forward, landing face to face with Coady. The flame sorcerer threw a punch, but Achilles ducked and attempted to sweep his feet. Coady grinned. When Achilles' leg reached his opponents, he felt intense heat on the shin that made contact and shifted away in pain. He grabbed his shin, cringing. Coady assisted him in his attempts to shuffle away by kicking his stomach. The burned leg was now the second most intense pain in his body. Achilles faltered but managed to find his feet. Instead of taking the opportunity to attack his weakened foe, Coady stood with his arms folded, angrily glaring at Achilles.
"You're still a pretentious piece of sh*t, y'know." He griped. Achilles looked back at him with tired eyes. He was clearly in pain, but refused to let his face show it. Alternatively, his face displayed a look of slight confusion. It only made Coady more annoyed. He walked over to the weakened Achilles and grabbed him by the collar. "You're fighting for your life you a**hole, why the hell aren't you using any magic?" Achilles looked to the side, still with tired eyes. Coady took a few seconds to heat his fist before punching him in the stomach in rage. Achilles let out a scream of pain before loosing consciousness. "Answer m..." He was interrupted by a clicking noise behind him. He felt a jab in his back.
"Hows about I give you an answer." Wyatt's thick southern accent came from behind Coady. Achilles still remained unresponsive. Coady began to chuckle, his laughter grew until it sounded almost maniacal.
"Awww don't tell me, little 'Achi' made a friend." He laughed attempting to patronize the lightning sorcerer and the homeless man. He puched Achilles in the stomach again, this time letting him go and grinning as the limp body collapsed to the floor. Wyatt forced the gun harder into his back. Coady could feel the gun shaking, as if Wyatt's nervousness was travelling through the weapon. The nubb of the gun began to melt, Wyatt attempted to pull the trigger in response, but the gun was unresponsive. Coady turned around and smacked the man with his forearm. Wyatt, being a frail man was easily knocked to the ground. Coady looked over at the burned gun that the now fear filled man had been holding. It was the one he'd left outside.
"As if you had the nerve?" His body temperature raised drastically. Wyatt could feel the heat, as though it was driving him away. The glare Coady drove into Wyatt was incredibly menacing and intimidating. He grabbed the smaller mans throat. He began again to heat his hand as Wyatt struggled to free himself. The heat on his neck grew more intense, as his level of panic did the same. Tears began to roll down Wyatt's face as he began to realised what was about to happen. His actions grew frantic, he was kicking and screaming, trying everything possible. His body grew languished. Coady began to enjoy it more and more.
"Don't take it personally, you see with 'Achi' I have a little bit of sentimental value, I want his death to happen just right." Coady clenched his fist, as Wyatt's burning neck began to soften. The body departed the head, which Coady casually threw to the side, before turning his attention to Achilles, who had barely rediscovered his consciousness. He walked over to the Achilles' body and grabbed the back of his cloak. He brought the smaller man to his feet; which he was able to maintain without being completely conscious.
"This fight isn't over." Coady stated.
After taking a few moments to compose himself, the injured Achilles refocused his gaze onto Coady. He was completely oblivious of the corpse laying behind his opponent. He blinked towards Coady, and launched a half-hearted punch into his gut, before receiving a double fisted punch to the back. His body faltered again. He was kicked away again, but again found his feet. He stood hunched, and at the mercy of his opponent. Coady conjured a rock and shot it straight into Achilles' arm. The arm was knocked out of place and Achilles fell to his knees. This time he didn't even scream, since the pain barely overwhelmed what he felt in the rest of his body already. He curled up, on the floor. At this point he could do no more than let out short groans of agony, as he held his broken arm. Shillace watched fearfully.
She knew.
She knew what she had to do. She began to fade , this time different from the last few, this time she flickered red before her eventual disappearance. Achilles looked up at Coady, his eyes no longer red. His eyes now blue. He unsheathed his blade, which was covered in his own blood, and swung it at Coady. The flame sorcerer barely dodged the blade, but Achilles quickly sent a surge of lightning through it and it caught the blonde man's lower body. He grimaced and held his side. Before he could sling another insult at Achilles, the lightning sorcerer was already up and in front of him ready to attack again. Achilles kicked him away before shooting a lightning burst to follow him. Coady gained his footing but was stunned by the barrage of attacks, the now blue eyed man had thrown at him. Achilles blinked behind him; they stood back to back, a lightning shield surrounded the combatants. The larger man had had enough. He regained his composure. An eruption of lava came from the ground. It left a cloud of smog behind it. When the smog cleared, the once high intensity Achilles, was heavily burned and barely conscious. Coady was relatively unharmed, compared to what he'd been before. He staggered over to Achilles; he panted as he did so. His panting was akin to that of some one full of rage, but his walk and expression suggested calmness and composure. Upon reaching the broken body of Achilles, stamped on it for good measure.
"You piece of sh*t, I don't know what the hell that was, but if you think I'm gonna let you die on your own terms you're wrong." He lamented as he leaned over his old friends body. "If you've made yourself a few more friends, then you won't bleed out." His panting now akin to that of fatigue. He almost shrugged off the guilt he felt for leaving Achilles for dead. Despite the days events, he had all the admiration for Achilles that he once had. "Until we meet again." He walked away, gesturing a two finger salute. The remains of his endeavour: a decapitated old homeless man, a mass of burned crops, and an old friend with a broken arm and heavy burns.

Gligar · Apr 24, 2015

Atropine Lethial
Status - Bounty Hnter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Earth
Bounty - 0$

Chug! Chug! Chug!

Atropine was left all by herself, after the commander and his team left. Atropine knew nothing about this place. It was practically a new world to her. It sure didn't look like the good ol' city.

"Mkay, Luzzania bar. That should be around this dump." muttered Atropine. She slowly puled out her gun in case someone attacks her. "I doubt there are more two bars around this dump, who would settle around here?" she continued.

As she entered a bar, all she saw were drunken men. The only person who wasn't drunk was the bartender, who was peacefully cleaning dishes. "Hey you!" pointed Atropine. "Is this Luzzania bar?" "No, but we sure do have some good booze around here. The cheapest price in all of the Barren Lands."

"The Barren Lands?" she questioned. "Yeah, that's the name of our wonderful town." "Now, the booze?" said the bartender. "I'll pass, booze isn't really my thing." said Atropine.

"Well, we've got two bottles of wine, if you'd want to serve yourself." replied the bartender "I'll pass on that too, the only reason I came here to see where Luzzania bar is." asked Atropine

"Well, it's 5 blocks from here, which will tkae you 25 minutes to reach if you had an automobile." he answered. "Wait, I was told the closest bar after Lakefold bar was Luzzania, but here I am in a bar." said Atropine.

"Well, you see, here in Barren Lands, the only two classified bars are the Luzzania and Lakefold bars. Almost all the places you'll go to in look like bars. That's just how the Barren lands work." he answered.

"I better get going, thank you for the information" she thanked, as she got ready to leave. "No tip?" muttered the bartender. "Just take 5 bucks, and don't tell anyone about the conversation we had." said Atropine, as she gave 5 bucks.

"Dammit, now it'll be even harder to find this drunken bra. Practically every building in this dump is a bar." Said Atropine, as she road off to Luzzania bar.

JukeboxTheGhoul · Apr 26, 2015

Anima

Achilles.

The Predator and The Prey - Part 1

A collaborative post between SYDAXARO220 and Aquataris

Achilles woke up. He was barely able to move, and so just stared upwards. There was a cross hanging directly above him-all he could see were the feet of Jesus.
"Shillace." He called. He could barely muster anything more complex. This again. He thought as he was starved of any kind of response. He felt a draft of wind hit him from the opposite end of the bed, and the curtains were catching his vision every few seconds. His curiosity gave him the strength to shuffle his body into a seated position. Doing so pained him, as he remembered the beating that his ribs had gotten, as well as the fact that only one arm was following its commands. The other was restricted by a sling; which was tied neatly, and gently, around his neck. He heard footsteps coming from outside the door to his right. He patted down his leg for his satchel, which would normally hold his blade and spell book, but it was nowhere to be found. He edged as close to the wall as he could, with his broken left arm defending his torso. The door opened. A priest took a step in, but halted as he laid eyes on the wounded man in the bed.

The skull swung from side to side, tumbling around in a seeming less physics-less environment, his teacher's remnants was a little souvenir he acquired from the shack. Following Anima's footsteps was a trail of holes embedded in to the ground. The baking heat scorched his forehead. Beyond the Mirage of the intense heat, the spire of the Blasphemers Temple burned its false symbol in to the minds of all who care to look. It made him nauseous, how people listen to the profanity and scandalous lies that intoxicated them with ego. After Anima was done, they will pray only to Gaudium. No more of those fake idols and tainted lessons. Anima felt the sand thin, the town was almost upon him. He closed Ieros. In Fairbell, he heard there were many people who worshipped this fallacious deity. Anima grew a large grin. More people to torture, this is going to be fun.

"The lord wills you live another day." He let a smile grace his face as he said so. He walked over to the chair next to Achilles' bed and sat down. He replaced the bible on the dresser with two glasses full of water and a bowl of soup. Achilles still had his guard up. "Relax child." The man ordered. "If we wished you harm, we certainly wouldn't go making it difficult for ourselves." He said taking one of the two glasses. Achilles slowly eased his body back into the bed, but he remained much closer to the wall than he'd began. "You were out for just under a day. We've had plenty of opportunities." The man continued. Achilles looked at the soup. He could feel his stomach grumbling but was far too cautious to dare.
"We?" His gaze still focused on the food.
"Myself and Lady Agnes." The priest replied. "She is the one who purged the blemishes of Satan from your skin." Achilles faintly remembered the burns he'd suffered on his leg. He assumed that was what the priest was referring to. He kicked the sheets off of his leg and saw that the burns were gone. He sat shocked, staring at the healed leg.
"I take it you healed me then." Achilles' attention didn't shift from the leg. The priest shook his head.
"Lady Agnes healed you, but it isn't her you should thank. God brought you to her to be healed." The priest advised as he grabbed the bowl and gestured for Achilles to take it. Ignoring the bowl, Achilles scoffed at the priests words.
"I'm no stranger to being overlooked by your god, I have no plans on becoming his slave now." He retorted. The priest sighed. He grabbed a tray and placed it on Achilles' lap, placing the bowl on top of it. Achilles initially refused, but his stomach conveniently rumbled at that moment." He nodded to the cross, before leaving the room.
Achilles took the opportunity to gather his strength. After eating the soup, he immediately felt stronger. I suppose this is supposed to be holy soup. He thought to himself, chuckling. His torso still felt incredibly sore, but he could walk, and that's all he needed. He grabbed his cloak and satchel, and limped to the door.

The ground of Fairbell was gravelly, no longer trudging through sand, Anima surveyed the square, the activity was scarce, but too much to start early. He observed the infidel's church. His eye burned with anger. Creak... the door of temple opened. Anima followed the movements that followed quickly after. What Anima saw was a black haired vermin, scurrying out of the church. The vile little creature was encased in a tar black cloak. The man was obviously an infidel, it reeked from his posture, why else would someone be attending the church more than the religion mandated if he was just a minor believer? He needed to eradicate the root of the tree, and then it will wither. Anima scowled around the area, this was no place to confront him. It was never his strength to fight out in the open. Anima crept in to the shade given by the church wall. When laying his hand on the stone he made a quick apology. The next time he touches this blasphemous building shall be grinding the rubble in to dust. Anima concentrated. His consciousness echoed in his mind, calling for Gaudium's verdict. The apparition of his God appeared in a faded form, only visible to his eye. He whispered to his disciple tenderly. 'He is unworthy, he deserves to suffer...'
He grinned 'Your wish is my command...' He finalised his dialogue with his deity.

Achilles headed back to the destroyed house, he had to find out what had happened to Wyatt. As he walked he noticed he wasn't the only on taking that path. He ignored the the other traveller at first. He arrived at the barn and began searching for his friend. He noticed the second traveller approaching him, and looked at him waiting for him to turn off in another direction. The man's direction didn't change. He continued to focus on Achilles. As he got closer Achilles could see him in more detail. The man was tall; he wore belts across his face, which confused Achilles. As he got closer Achilles began to feel nervous, the man's appearance wasn't exactly welcomed by the bounty hunter, who grabbed his sword underneath his cloak. "Was this your home?" He asked calmly.

This imbecile, Anima thought, it was a mistake to dismiss me. The perfect place... Now, how do I act? Do I play it smart or Do I just confront him? "Hasn't your mother taught you to be pleasant around your elders?" The man before him seemed to be young. Anima hadn't tried going about his initial interactions covertly. He decided to play out the charade and see how the approach went, but at some point he'd have to cut this chit-chat short, for one he wasn't too sure how to act very different, and he was here to maim, not gabble about the heat of the sun.

Achilles released his blade. He was confused by the man's words, but decided that he didn't seem to want any kind of confrontation. "What exactly is your business here?" He groaned, trying not to let his frustration surface.

Anima hesitated, What do I say? "What's yours?" Anima couldn't exactly put the play down before it blossomed. He'd have to wait.

Achilles' frustration grew. The man didn't seem to have any plans on co-operating. He had three options: lie, tell the truth, or attack. Achilles again grabbed his sword, but decided to see how the truth would turn out before resorting to his plan B. "I lost something here, I'm searching for it." He watched the man carefully and awaited his reaction.

Anima saw the man had a sling, 'He is trying to avoid his fate...' Anima thought, anger welled up inside his heart, his covered eye burned with his aura intensifying. He attempted not to show it. "That was mighty stupid of you. What was it?" Anima attempted to adopt the spoken style of the others he had killed, thinking it'd aid him in tricking him. Anima surveyed the area, sensing this could soon go to his advantage. He mentally noted a few items.

The man's demeanour was awkward. Achilles noticed something was off, but wasn't quite sure what. He wanted the end the conversation as soon as possible. He thought for a second, he couldn't just say 'a friend'. "Just a satchel, it had a little money in there." He lied.

Anima stared at him, this conversation was exhausting him. "You'd think I'd not notice you lying to my face? Take out your dagger and stop messing around." Anima was imbued with a feeling of adrenaline mixed with pleasure, this infidel had to make his move. Anima stretched out his arm wide, revealing his shotgun holster and quickly gripping the stock. If he makes a move, I'll be able to use my new toy. He grew an estatic wonder in his eye, that glinted with pleasure. He ends here.

Achilles frowned. He knew that he'd have to fight this person, but he wasn't in the best condition to do so. The man seemed to be smiling, but that only served to make Achilles more uncomfortable. The bounty hunter was hesitant, so he simply waited, to be absolutely sure he'd have to fight.

Anima was disappointed, he hadn't put up much of a fight, he thought he couldn't had some more fun. It was obvious really, no one would attack the Anima in that state. Anima's mind turned tactical. He'd be expecting me to attack this side. He could surprise him with a teleport, yet that'll only work once... Unless... Anima took out his dagger. He didn't need to be a good shot, just get in that area. Anima made an unanticipated move. He threw his dagger down, on to the ground, the blue sky reflected of the blade as it oscillated towards the ground. And then for a split second, the back of Achilles' head came in to view. Anima focussed all of his mana. His figure disintegrated in to a shadow heading at the knife at lightening fast speed, then bouncing off the reflective knife and then Anima materialised above Achilles head, with his leg extended, aiming for his head.

Achilles was shocked by the Anima's speed. After just having fought Coady whose speed was nothing to worry about, he knew he'd need a different approach. He quickly used his static ability to de-materialise. The man's foot went straight through him, as he jumped back. Unsheathing his blade would be pointless since he'd be unable to defend himself effectively. He shot an electric burst at his opponent, the desperation on his face, very clear.

Peculiar. Was the first word to jump in to his mind. As his foot fell through Achillies' body. The power put in to his kick was wasted. His foot hit the mud below, a jarring pain rattled through his body, jumping from nerve to nerve. The pain shocked Anima. Sluggish, his opponent took this chance to strike him with a blast of electricity. It thrummed through his veins. Anima knelt due to the pain. He picked him self. "You shall feel the wrath of Gaudium!" Anger throbbed through his entire system, his eyes became bloodshot. His body pumped Adrenaline in to his blood. He began rapidly blinking from side to side in a confusing zigzag. Then appearing infront of Achiles with his fist already wound up with power, and he swung it forward.

Thankfully, Achilles' reactions were up to par and he was able to block the quick attack. He instinctively threw his left arm in the air and it took the full force of the punch. He was knocked back by the hit and he knelt, clenching his broken arm in excruciating pain. Unlike Anima though, he wasn't able to regain his footing. The pain was a lasting one-an agonising one. He looked up to detect the man's whereabouts, it didn't take him long though; he was standing right over him.

This man was at his finger tips. Anima summoned a lightening blast in to Achilles face and swung his arm forward delivering his electricity with his blow, and Achilles vision went black...

Shak · Apr 27, 2015

Anima

Achilles

The Predator and The Prey - Part 2

A collaborative post between SYDAXARO220 and Aquataris

Achilles groaned as he awoke from yet another groggy stint of unconsciousness. He looked down to see leather straps restricting his movement. His eyes widened at the sight of the restraints. What the hell have I gotten myself into. He thought to himself. "Shillace?" He called out. In a situation like this she'd surely have to show up. Nothing. He had no idea. He continued to struggle, without the moral support of his friend. His arm was tied down awkwardly, which only made the situation that much more frustrating. The pain was severe. He searched the room for any aids to his escape. Time ran short however, the man he'd been fighting was at his bed side, it was safe to assume that his intentions weren't to provide his best wishes.

Anima peered at his blade. He gave it a last polish. Finally he will be able to use this dagger for it's intended purpose. Anima got up and lit a few more candles. He took out his dagger holding it up to his face, "I am Anima, The Angel Of Death, the nightmare in your head, the monster under your Bed. Don't try to run, it'll just make me stronger." Anima reached up to his victims' head, slicing off some hair before running the knife gently across his forehead. Achilles winced. He wasn't a fan of the damage being done to his well kept hair, but at this point he'd given up his futile struggling and simply took a deep breath of frustration. Anima quickly poked his dagger point in to his hands, avoiding the veins. Achilles groaned, the pain of shifting around his injured arm wasn't worth it though, so he made a conscious effort to stay still. "Now for the good stuff." Anima didn't need to monologue to himself, he had an audience. Anima kneeled next to the man. He looked in to his eyes. He held his head in position, secretly beginning to drain his life, His hazel eyes began to swirl like an awe-inspiring galaxy gyrating in to the shape of a cream shell. But then it turned to a red and black abyss. The eye peered in to his mind, searching his fears...

Achilles stood alone in the darkness, the sky littered with shades of red and black. He began to wander. His path seemed to go in circles and he slowly gave up; his mind began to wander. In paths of circles. He sat down. No longer willing to wander. No longer willing to follow the circles.
He heard a voice in the distance. It gave him hope.
"Why?" The familiar voice questioned. Her voice longing for some sort of closure.
"Shillace?" Achilles both exclaimed questioned in a flurry of confusion and excitement. His friend had finally returned. He stood, watching her, hesitant to do anything in case she disappeared again. He had no idea why she'd went missing, but it didn't matter. He felt almost like a relieved child. He tried to compose himself, as he approached her...Shillace's image erupted in to a billion pieces, the pieces were like shattered glass. Achilles tried to grab her hand, but his swipe simply shifted the airborne particles. The particles began to surround him; forcing every negative image in his mind to the surface. He saw the image of the events that had transpired the day before.

Anima sensed that Achilles was ready, he was in the perfect state, Anima started showing northern towns erupting, the people wasting away, rotting corpses hanging from their eyelids. Burning cities. Then his parents were shown, their flesh melting off and making a pool of pink gloop on the ground. A writhing pain engulfed his mind, he was put smack middle in to a furnace.
Anima retracted. He saw his cold dead eyes leer up at the room. Covered in gloom.

"Anima." A booming voice surprised him, his voice was met with a jarring pain in his head. He responded gingerly. "Yes, my god?" He kept his jaw clenched.
"He should not die. Scum like him do not enter my presence." He echoed. "He allowed his dearest creation perish for the sake of his own pathetic pride!"
Anima felt his nerves being taken over. He took his dagger, cutting the leather binds, Cutting off his victim's shirt and took his weapons and spell book. Anima lifted his victim and threw him outside. Putting the dagger in a dirty drain, Achilles' cold dead eyes looked up at the cloudy sky.

He couldn't manage his emotions at that time. He seemed completely oblivious to what had just happened to him. He just picked himself up, flicked up his hood and continued walking aimlessly into the desert. His face was completely shrouded by his hood. The shade the hood had created only covered more darkness underneath it. He felt a weight of emotions: Guilt, anger, fear, desolate.

Jay · Apr 27, 2015

Sorcery Level: 1
Current Elements: Water
Collected Bounty Profits: 0$

Accidental Benefits

"You don't need to act tough for my sake, you know?"

"Still have next to no idea what you're talking about."

Buzzards and vultures, far as the ears could hear and not much else but the sound of a single pair of trudging footsteps. Wolf stepped forward slowly, visibly tired from the long trek he and his precious ward had taken. Speaking of Elissa, she sat awkwardly on his back, her arms wrapped around her neck gently and her legs gripping his sides as he held her up. It didn't help his strain, to carry her like this. But he had insisted, he had noticed her tiring and in visible discomfort. So he would carry her. He didn't have to, hell he didn't want to. But Elissa was practically the only thing he had. It was a sad and sorry life but he did everything he could to make it more bearable for her. Even if she refused it.

"I'd sigh if I didn't think my heaving breath'd collapse you. Y'know?... What was the name of that outlaw we've been sent after again."

Wolf took a moment to clarify his thinking through his admittedly tired state. He didn't like it when Elissa was right about things that made him wrong. Yes he was tired but did she really need to mention it so incessantly? Regardless, he had bigger issues to attend to, the question his ward posed being on of them. Now... What had the guys name been again? It didn't really matter in the long run, a dead guy was a dead guy, but until Wolf had the bastard at the end of his blades he realized he would need a name for tracking purposes. This was something the young man had forgotten too often. He mulled it over, stewing in his thoughts for a few moments, concentrating.

His amnesia was long term only, but that didn't change the fact that he seemed to be forgetful by nature in all aspects that weren't Elissa.

"Anima!" Wolf proclaimed triumphantly, as if he had just won some long dwelling and difficult mental battle.

Elissa just smiled gently and sighed.

She was sitting rather comfortably on Wolf's back as he trudged them across the desert sands to a destination that for the life of her she swore they had forgotten. Some village in the middle of nowhere, it was the last place this "Anima" guy had been sighted. She pouted slightly at the name. It creeped her out, why use something so obscure as a moniker. At least "Wolf" was pretty. Cool and elegant. She often wondered if it suited the man whom was now her champion, but it at the very least suited his hair and... ferocity.

She flashed back to the night she had met Wolf and shook her head gently. She moved her forehead to gently press against the back of Wolf's neck and sighed gently as she rested her eyes closed. That night still gave her nightmares. Did she trust Wolf? Not yet. Not entirely. To be frank he still scared her a little, even if a little part in her heart was certain that he would never hurt her.

But it wasn't for her sake that she was frightened. If someone innocent hurt her, even if it was a mistake. How would Wolf react to that? She worried about such things.

Her eyes shut tighter and she winced against the mans back as they continued to move forward. Thinking of negative futures would only lead to negative futures. For now she could only do her best to move forward and try to use Wolf's devotion and power to do the right thing, hurtful as that might have sounded.

***

Wolf suddenly stopped moving. Dead in his tracks, Elissa whom had near fallen asleep was jolted and she opened her eyes gently only to stare at the back of Wolf's suit jacket in dreary upset.

"Wolf... what are you-"

"Elissa don't."

The girl blinked at her companions response. Don't? What was he talking about. His voice was slowed down, dead calm, dead serious. It was a rare tone for him to use. He was someone whom laughed in the extremes of combat. Why was he so solemn?

"Keep your head down... we're... we're almost to our next destination. So just-"

Elissa paid him no heed. She lifted her head up almost immediately as he told him not too, being stubborn as a mule was one of her less common traits but if Wolf was being this grave in simple conversation then-

"O-oh... Oh my God... what... how...?"

Elissa gasped and had to hold herself back from vomiting as her eyes took in what was around her, Wolf reached back gently but she pushed his hand away and stepped off of his back, she was suddenly dizzy. She needed to calm herself, take some time to collect her thoughts but- but how could she? Everywhere she looked there was such death and decay. Such horror. It was terrifying, she had never seen anything like this.

Wolf turned quickly in worry as Elissa dismounted from her piggy back position. The scene around them was distressing her. Why did she have to wake up at such a particular time? He shouldn't have stopped, even for a moment, why had he stopped? He had upset her.

But even he couldn't walk through that horror. An abandoned ghost town, seemingly empty. But there was signs of life, or more, of life now ended. Eight bodies tied to a washing line, strung up and dead. Brutally murdered. A strange marking that Wolf didn't recognize was emblazoned onto the peoples stomachs. To normal eyes Wolf understood how sickening it must have felt, to see such a thing. How it would make the skin crawl, the blood curdle. How the very life of a living being would drain at the thought of touching such solidified death and pain with ones own hands.

Yet Wolf felt nothing.

What had he been? Or perhaps... what had happened to that person that allowed him to look upon something so grim and disgusting as this without flinching. It didn't matter, he realized, what mattered now was Elissa. She was shivering gently and staring wide eyes at what stood before them in that shell of a town.

"Elissa. Elissa are you okay? are you-"

Suddenly a sickening thump could be heard from a nearby building. Was someone actually alive in this abandoned pit stop? The "town" could hardly be called a town anyway. Wolf had been fully willing and ready to believe that the eight dead were the towns entire population.

"G-go, Wolf."

Wolf quickly turned his head to Elissa. What on Earth was that supposed to mean? Go?

"That building. Go inside, there might be someone left alive, they might know what happened here. I'll be fine here by myself so, please, go. They could be hurt."

Wolf nodded gently, still worried beyond belief for the girl in front of him. But he would not refuse her orders. He owed her his life, he had no right to disrespect her. Wolf quickly ran inside the building and Elissa looked away gently from both him and the carnage before her. This was all too much.

***

Mere moments after Wolf had left to enter the building Elissa heard them coming. Horses...and shouting. Men. Were these men survivors? Come to help? Or were they the ones behind this carnage? Elissa wasn't going to be stupid enough to find out the hard way, rushing behind an abandoned cart, she hid behind the splintered wood and watched as two horses pulled up. Upon each sat two men, making four in total. They looked filthy... and stupid too. They had a sickened expression, but it looked too shallow to be mourning for the dead.

"Oh fer **** SAKE! We come all the way out here for a 'lil loot and a lot of fun and some psycho beat us t' the score."

Elissa watched this man. He was gaunt and ugly, a single tooth missing from his jaw, the gap making a gentle whistling noise whenever he spoke. She knew this man, she realized. He was in charge of these men. He had an aggressive look in his eyes, just like his wanted poster back at the office. "Rainy" they called him, just a moniker for his meager water magic. He and his band of thugs went from town to town, extorting weaker settlements like this one for money and supplies. How sickening. It seemed they weren't responsible for this act of inhumanity however, they were just vultures looking to pick at the bones.

"'Ey boss... looks like we got ourselves a live one over here!"

Suddenly, someone was grabbing Elissa's arm and throwing her out onto the road. She had been paying too much damned attention to the leader, she hadn't noticed the large hispanic looking brute catch a glimpse of her as he moved from his horse. She quickly made a move for the house that Wolf was still inside, but her hair was quickly grabbed and she was held back. She reached for her revolver but it wasn't there, looking back she saw it glinting behind the wagon, it must have fallen from her pocket upon her being tossed. The larger scumbag was holding her back harshly by the hair, the other two fellows were skinny and gaunt with greasy hair they jumped from their horses and brandished daggers. Smiling wickedly they began to approach the helpless Elissa as "Rainy" hollered from his horse.

"Hooey! Looks like you boys brought me somthin' t' cheer me right on up!" His steed, whom looked hungry and beaten, slowly trudged forward as he urged it as the man himself cocked his rifle, a simple single barreled flintlock gun.

"And who are you supposed to be huh?... Pretty little thing... should I gut you? Or have some fun with you first huh? Yer pick!"

Elissa winced gently, she was scared. Afraid to answer this man. She felt worthless, helpless, like she couldn't do anything. She felt about ready to cry as she started rushing through her options slowly running out of escape plans until- until-

Until she felt it. The spell book in her other pocket... and as it grazed against her leg through the fabric of her skirt, she felt something else as well. She felt him. Watching. Aware. Coming.

Wolf.

"I... I am a bounty hunter."

They all laughed and Elissa cringed slightly, not fear but an angry scowl on her face. Rainy wiped his eyes of tears and chuckled out some words, his voice sounded like a cat struggling to avoid drowning. She hated it. She hated him. Everything about him.

"You hear that boys?! She's a bounty hunter! Heh! If you're so strong little lady, to hunt people like me n' my pals. Then what are YOOOUUU gonna do to stop us from pinning you down... 'aving our way... and then gutting you like a tramp? Huh?"

Elissa's face was clear and accentuated. She looked emotionless as he approached. She sensed him. He was there.

"It's not me you should be worrying about..."

*Shwick.*

A near silent sound, like a knife passing through butter passed through the air moments before the commotion to follow ensued.

"...wha? Oh shi- Eddie watch out!"

Elissa smiled as she felt his advance.

"... It's him."

***

Nothing. What a waste of time.

Wolf had entered the building and searched the bottom floor thoroughly, whispering out little words of condolence and safety, but nothing had responded. Upon searching upstairs he realized what had actually happened. There had been a man hanging from the roof, brutally murdered as the others were, except he had a gunshot wound in his stomach and what looked to be... a permanent contortion of terror in his expression.

The rope hanging him had been gnawed away at by lice living in the buildings walls, Wolf deducted by the way it was frayed, he assumed he had seen this sort of thing before to have known that. Not that it was relevant at all. Regardless, the rope had snapped and the man had fallen to the ground into a pool of his own blood. That had been the sickening thud Wolf and Elissa had heard, not a single survivor to be found.

He wasn't surprised.

With a light tap of his foot to the decaying head. Wolf sighed.

"You know... I really didn't have the time for this distraction mate. I would have prefered if you'd just stayed hang-"

Something was wrong.

Wold made for the stairs immediately. Elissa, Elissa was in distress, he sensed it. The bond they shared connected them, he knew when she was in trouble and he would not allow her to be hurt by what could have been the monster that ruined their current location. He got to the bottom floor and looked out the window. Elissa was on her knees, held back and in place by her hair. Her expression was panicked and frightened, but upon him getting closer she seemed to settle.

She sensed him too. He knew that of course.

He moved silently from the building, moving around various small debris in the town to avoid detection. Elissa was taunting them gently with her profession, buying herself just enough time for Wolf to prepare. He worked his way around to a few barrels, filled with water which was very convenient, he thought. He focused his blade and his mind, he channeled himself through Elissa, he felt the spell book pressed directly against her. Even if it was not in his hands, his spells were at maximum power and efficiency. Silently, like a ghost he withdrew water from the barrel and concentrated it into a single blade.

"It's not me you should be worrying about..."

Spoiler:

In a single swift movement, Wolf leaped over the barrels and drew his sword quickly along the concentrated edge of water he had formed. The blade of water shot forward at an incredible pace. It was fully concentrated, thanks to Elissa buying him time. The attack now had the power to cut through solid rock with increased velocity.

*Shwick.*

The blade of water cut through the side of the outlaws poised rifle as wolf continued to dash forward, it had damaged the weapon beyond repair. But it hadn't caused the thing to fall to pieces just yet. No, that part came later. The idiot "Rainy" was completely unaware of what had even just happened as the sight of Wolf was too hard to ignore as the young silver haired man, grasping two sharpened blades now, ran towards the large man grasping at his young wards hair.

"...wha? Oh shi- Eddie watch out!"

Wolf caught a small glimpse of Elissa's smile as the large man turned his head to see Wolf leap upwards, his swords poised diagonally to cut in an arc.

"... It's him."

The blades cut clean before the fool could speak, two perfect slices directly diagonal. The two well maintained swords ripped through the man like he was nothing as Wolf landed on the ground once again. He ripped the bloody blades back and harshly kicked the fatally wounded attacker to the side. His body, now without any strength to grip Elissa's hair, fell quickly to the side, slightly ajar in proportion, an effect made by the the thin cuts of the leaf blades. It pooled blood as Elissa stood up regally and moved to stand behind her savior.

"Yo. Now then, I assume I've got your attention." Wolf stretched gently. His casual nature to the whole situation was disturbing, considering what he'd done, to all present. Even Elissa.

"You made a mistake. A really bad one you know? So I'm going to have to rip that ugly piece of **** you call a face right off of that malformed skull of yours, yeah? Nothing personal. Actually, everything personal. I just killed your buddy. It was really easy too. I'm guessing this thing is pretty personal for you now, actually. Right?"

The two knife wielding goons stood there petrified after seeing the biggest member of their group dealt with using such little effort. Rainy himself panicked and channeled water energy into his rifle, a small rain cloud formed above him and the water that drained seemed to coat the barrel of the gun.

"I'LL ****ING KILL YOU, YOU-"

*BTOOOM!*

The damaged gun exploded in flaming gunpowder and his pressure water as Rainy attempted to pull the trigger on the damaged mechanism. The man was launched backwards off of his horse, which reared up and began to run off. The two knife wielding goons grabbed the stirups and managed to keep it still long enough to hop on its back together. Looking back one, they met a slight smirk on Wolf's face.

Terrified, they ran away.

Through coughs and burns from the miniature explosion of gunpowder and liquid, Rainy cried after them.

"W-wait! Come back here you stupid pieces of- WHAT HAPPENED TO HONOR IN THE THIEVES OR WHATEVER?!"

Wolf slowly walked towards the grounded Rainy, whom was slowly pulling himself along the ground towards the two pursuers. Upon turning to see Wolf he began to force his injured body along the ground, terrified. He gasped, panted and wheezed as Wolf kept up with him at a steady pace.

In a panic, the man attempted to pull out his spell book, only to find it burned and drenched. Illegible, useless and destroyed. Tossing it to the side he put his hands together, defenseless he groveled.

"P-please sir! I won't do it again I promise! You don't have ta, I mean you don'tgotta kill me righ'? You could just capture me or somethin' righ?!"

Wolf stomped harshly on the mans leg, causing a pained shout as Wolf yawned and moseyes around to stand over the guy. He looked up gently for a moment, as if pondering the situation, before shrugging and looking back down at the man at his feet.

"Nope."

"Wolf wait we don't have to-!"

Wolf didn't even hear her as he drove his blade down harshly into the mans skull. He struggled to pull it out afterwards, stumbled gently as it suddenly gave way and chuckled to himself at the fact that he had almost fell. The blood from the body was slowly pooling now, leaving two more stains on that towns ground.

Elissa had since grabbed her gun from where she had dropped it, she let Wolf do his thing like he always did. But she would have much preferred less casualties if it was at all possible. Wolf never took human life and its value into consideration.

Wolf didn't say a word to Elissa about it as he passed by her. She didn't seem to want to talk either. That place was surely draining the girl, so much death. He realized she wasn't as steely as she was. Elissa never took efficiency and it's security into account.

The larger man's white horse was still present. The two knife wielding cronies had only taken one horse away during their speedy escape. Wolf hopped onto the stallions back and pulled Elissa up to sit in front of him. She sat as upright as possible as she didn't like begin too close to Wolf after he had killed. It made her uncomfortable. Extremely so.

It felt so sudden, but death in their World was. The World of bounty hunters and outlaws. People died all the time for very little to no reason.

They might talk about what they had just gone through later, they might not. But that didn't matter now, they just had to get away from that place. Elissa for her state of mind and Wolf for Elissa's safety. With a rack of the reins the horse took off and Wolf began to head it in the direction of Janet's place. To collect the reward on the "happy coincidence" that had just occurred.

"What about Anima... if anybody did that carnage it was surely the guy we tracked to that location?"

Wolf just shook his head gently.

"After we collect what we're owed we'll head straight back onto the trail. We have a horse, so we might as well head back with the extra speed." He paused momentarily.

"Besides. I think you've done enough to warrant a few hours rest and pay."

Elissa sighed gently. She wouldn't argue with him further on that point. She knew that if she insisted he would follow her demands. But she also realized that she was right.

Watching the desert sun moving slowly and softly in the sky. The soul crossed Bounty Hunters went to collect their payment.

[Other FULL] Gunpowder (M) (IC)

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