Chapter 3
"Just Another Day In The Desert Sun..."


A warm pulse wash's across your face, there is a faint sound of people talking and animals from what seems to be outside, Kiko is aware he's indoors...
He slowly opens his eyes, the roofing is cracked and a little light is showing through, the dust can be seen spiralling up towards the light, and with that his eyes start to focus.
His head rolls to his left, you can see out a window, across a desert town where people are living their day to day lives.
as he starts to become more concious, he notices someone sitting next to him, asleep is the old man, the one he saved from warwells.
Things were starting to come back, he had no idea just how long he had been out for, and so he rolled his head to the right to see where he might be, as he rolled his head the light blinded him for a second, it was no wonder he could hear people, the entire other side of the building had been destroyed. revealing nothing but sky and the people below.
In a quicker movement kiko sat up, and looked onwards, he had bandages on his chest and arms, with more confusion he looked around the room, there were several other beds, this was clearly now a hospital.


**For players wanting to join in, you may do so now that the scene has been set**
If you are unsure how this works, check out the previous chapters, also helps with story knowledge:

A Day Dawns
http://www.rpgrevolution.com/forums/index....showtopic=28909

Fun In The Desert Sun.
http://www.rpgrevolution.com/forums/index....showtopic=29844

From the sky above the pit made by the train a strange dark swirling vortex appeared, from it dropped a dark robed figure covered in a strange green tinted black ooze, the figure fell from the vortex and hit the sand, he rolled down a slightly sloped part of the desert dune, suddenly a large strange scale like arm shot out of the hole swiping wildly around a loud roar was let out as the vortex suddenly flashed and dissapeared leaving the still swiping arm to fall into the hole in the ground.

A while passed before the figure came to, he struggled to his feet and stumbled about for a few paces before raising his head up and tried to open his eyes, his vision was blury and unable to focus,almost like a systematic check he looked himself over, a few scratches on his arms, a grazed knee and unbeknown to him a large claw like gash on his back, he didnt seem phased by the wound and proceeded to shake himself down, causing the ooze to fall to the floor and dissipate. He rubbed his eyes causing his sight to become clear, the sudden difference in light caused him to retract into his hood some stopping the light from entering his eyes, with eyes focused and had a decent view of the land before him and gained his barings, he looked to the tracks and began to walk back towards the desert town he felt a fammiliar pressence there and was interested in finding out what happened.

Pepper scurried into what remained of the room as Kikojui began to stir.

It was quite apparent that she'd gone to get a bit of food for the old man so he wouldn't have to leave Kiko's side, she had a few rolls with some cheese in a bag which was being held in her arms, and a wine bottle hanging over her shoulders.

Her face however, was covered in honey and jam which she casually was still trying to lick off her face - clearly she could not resist the temptation of something sweet on her little trip!

Pepper grinned mischievously as she handed the requested goods to the Old Man and then plonked herself down on the floor to give her face a much needed tidy-up, sort of cooing happily as she did so. She had not noticed yet that Kiko was looking around.

Darkness was everywhere, and as kikojui opend his eyes the muffled sounds of people screaming and fighting filled the air, this noise was disgusting to the ears, and as his eyes started to see colour he could make out the blurry figures of men fighting, clad in armour, kikojui lifted his heavy arm and tried to feel behind him, he could feel the fur of something dragging him by his neck plated armour, this was adding ot his disorientation.
Then with a snap he was pulled through a hedge backwards, and the hundreds of people fighting were becoming more and more blurry.
The sound came pouring in, the loud noises of the two army's fighting, a symphony of steel clashing with steel and flesh, mixed in with the roars of dracoknights pushes kikojuis chest to the floor.
His vision sharpened, he looked around, it was soldier riding on what seemed to be a large Wolf, black in colour with the odd grey patch, it was huge but at the same time it looked old and not something you might rely on in a fight.
It released its grip, and kikojui slumped to the floor, his armour tatty and broken from whatever had happened.
The man riding the wolf looked down at kikojui, and told him "This is not a fight you can win, leave here." Kikojui snapped back "My fellow men! I cannot leave them!" the man looked back down, and in his deep yet wise voice replied "But they knew what was going to happen all along? you was not aware but the general's certainty knew this was going to happen".
Kiko sat puzzled and in disbelief "What are your words to me? why do you think the generals knew we'd lose?" the rider looked down on kiko and frowned "Because this was always going to happen my boy" Kiko stood up and walked over to him, "I DON'T UNDERSTAND!!" kikos patience was growing thin with the wise man. He looked stern at kiko, "I have done ou a favour, if you'd have remained on the floor you'd have died for sure, these generals that you follow, they have sold you out, they were working for the empire and they set the stage and supplied you actors".
Kikojui had heard enough, he huffed and walked increasing speed towards the hedge, it was quite, he peered through the hedge, there was a dracoknight sitting in the opening where the camp once was, eating from a few corpses left in pieces around the area.
His army is no more, and there was nobody to take orders from, in the distance, thousands of troops matched towards this position, he could no longer hang around...
So kikojui walked back through the bush, the old man and his wolf had gone, kiko looked around for a moment, gazing into, what seemed to be forever, face covered in patches of mud and blood running down his cheek from some injury, he rushed off into thicker bushes.
He stumbled and slipped through a bush, a soldier from the empire was pulling his sword from a large creature, it was the wolf from earlier, and the old man laid crumpled on the floor.
Without hesitation, kikojui pounced onto the soldier and continuously punched the mans face until he lost conciousness and collapsed, he then turned to the old man, who was whimpering on the floor, he was not afraid, but more so saddened by the loss of his wolf, it was uknown the bond the man shared with the wolf, but the creature obviously meant something to him.
Kikojui picked the old man to his feet and grabbed the front leg of the wolf and hung half the creature over his shoulder, the old man took the other and they shared the weight as they carried the creature off in a hurry.
As they walked they could hear the advancing army arriving at the camp...
They headed off and eventually met with a passing caravan that agreed to help them reach a near by town, with wolf and man on bord they looked off into the horizon of flames as the angry skies rolled in... Kikojui could see the old man now, watching the corpse of the wolf with great sadness, and the old man turned around, and pressed a bread roll into kikojui's his face.
Kikojui blinked, it was the old man, the old man from the boat, kikojui took a second to gain an understanding of what was going on, it was another flashback... kikojui was as he remembered, in the hospital he looked at the old man, who's grin was almost as wide as his face, he laughed "Morning! want some bread!!" "Thanks old man" kiko replied with a tone of amusement.
He sat up, still in a bit of pain and glanced around at the other beds, there were people in them, he was trying to figure out who.

It was some time before Jackus made it back to the small now ruined town, building now lay in ruins and a sense of fear loomed about the air. Jackus made haste towards what looked to be a still standing house, the few people around unable to call out to him due to fear or injury, he knocked on the door which caused it to fall inwards revealing nothing but rubble and debris behind it. Jackus sighed and turned around, by a large pile of rubble a woman and child sat huddled together, he went over and was unable to get any sense out of them, untill he asked if they were hurt, then the woman pointed towards the small girl, her leg was fractured and serverely damaged, without a little help, she would likely die, he let out a little sigh once more and bent down on his knees and put his hands out towards the small girls leg leaving a little gap between his hands and the leg, he closed his eyes and began to muble some strange words, the area between his hands and her leg began to glow a whitish green, the broken bone in her leg suddenly snaped back into place causing the girl to scream out in agony her mother comforting her as best she could, the muscle and damaged tissues began to come together sealing up around the exposed bone, after a few moments the girls tears were no more and her mother crying with happiness, the girl hopped to her feet now able to walk around once more, Jackus shrugged and turned to look around, he suddenly noticed some one he'd seen before heading into one of the buildings, the strange cat like figure... He thought. Without any thought to the girl or mother he hurried towards the building, his senses picking up on that fammiliar aura again... "Is he really here?" he said to himself almost in a whisper. He poped his head around the corner, on the bed was Kiko, next to him the old man and licking its self was the strange cat like creature... He stopped a moment sort of trying to figure out what the situation was and then headed towards the bed where kiko was. "Uh... Hey?"

"Uh... Hey?"
Kiko looked up in amusement, it was Jackus, the weird yet helpful character he had been on the train with.

with a tilt of his his head back kiko looked out the hole in the roof, "So, how long have I been in here? and what's happened to the town?"
The old mad looked toward the conversation, and then walked off, he was uncomfortable with this convosation, and Kiko's senses were saying that somehow, what's going on aint too pleasant.

From the shadows of the makeshift hospital Mitskye observed as Kiko regained consciousness. Mitskye slowly walked towards him as Pepper came in followed by Jackus. Things had changed alot in a short amount of time but Mitskye had gotten out unharmed unlike many others. And as he asked the question and to mood fell in the room Mitskye sighed and removed her cloak from her head.

Mitskye: Why don't you begin with what you remember?

She was standing in the light of a hole in the roof with one hand on her hip looking somewhat emotion less and cold.

ooc: LOL...I'm glad this started up again.

IC: Wisdom had done what she could to release the souls and guide them back. It had been exhausting work. Fortitude had carried her sore body with the others when the rescue party fished everyone out. The rescue party and the group headed off in opposite directions. Both Wisdom and Knowledge had slept soundly the entire trip.

When he came to, Knowledge was on a bed guarded by his faithful beast, Fortitude curled up on the floor at the foot of the bed. Knowledge stretched and moved to a basin of water and washed his face. There were no other bodies in this room, but he knew this place was not abandoned completely. Fortitude stirred on the floor.
"Keep resting my friend. You have expended more energy than I."
Knowledge opened his pack and pulled out clean robes. He changed and folded the dirty ones. It would be nice to clean these.

Carrying the bundles of clothe, Knowledge carefully padded down some stairs when familiar voices came from a room. A quick investigation revealed Pepper, Mitskye, Jackus and Kiko all gathered in the same room. Quietly he entered the room with a warm expression upon recognizing all his companions. Mitskye had just asked Kiko what he remembered. Knowledge listened.

Kiko slumped back into his bed, just staring at the celling, he felt so relaxed, he was unsure if it was due to the beds soft and malleable interior
He lifted his head, he could hear footsteps, the shadowy figure removed her hood, it was Mitskye.

"Why don't you begin with what you remember?"

her voice was soothing, it had been a while since Kiko had heard a woman's voice while being in bed, he grinned cat like with whatever thoughts he had, but then caught himself, and returned back to his usual appearance.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the spiritual one walking in also, apparently keeping a low profile.

"Hmmmm I cant really remem- *Kikos memory kicks in*

The old man is standing in a cave looking up towards a whole where light pours in, the top end of the last carriage of a train catches the light at the bottom of the cave, people are above handing down ropes, all the gang are smiling and looking to the rescuers with anticipation.
Kikojui walks slowly to the bottom of the whole in the sand, As he looked up, momentarily the light disappeared and then after a second or so slowly returned.
The rescue team looked up and around then continued to help all the members up, as Kiko was lifted the second he left the hole the heat was intense, it was getting to mid day and the desert temperature had sky rocketed.
They all walked to this small train it was open roof and used in navigating the desert, it arrived and stoped, the others climbed on, while the spiritual one stood and stared at the sky.
"Hey! you want to leave here or not?" Kiko shouted from the train to Knowledge, he, she, whatever it was, looked over and nodded, the nod seemed unsure about something.
They borded the train, kiko helped Mitskye onto the train and got slapped for an accidental slip of the hands.

They boarded the train and it bounced and rattled down the track back the way they had originally came from. they had been on.

The sky darkened again, pepper looked upwards, kikojui followed suit, it was an imperial airship, over head, its huge structure slowly roaring as it passed over, Something was dropped, "GET DOWN!!" Shouted kikojui as he dived for the first person he saw, which was Knowledge, kiko dived and speared the spiritual one and by chance Mitskye was standing behind the creature, all three went off train as a bomb slammed into the train. it sank into the train and then exploded, Hurling lumps of hot metal across the sand in all directions, as kiko sat up and spun around to look at the where the train once was, knowledge looked unconscious, then from behind her an angry Mitskye emerged, pepper's head popped out of the trains burning wreckage, it was not clear just how the little critter had survived it but she had.

"THE OLD MAN!!" kikojui shouted before looking back to knowledge, Wisdom had carried him to safety.
The all stood up and with a gentle thud a noise was heard from the train, something had landed on it, it was a general, no, a lord!
His onyx black armour and long red cape, this was not just any situation they had got into this was now, way beyond there control.

Mitskye Left froward to attack the man with her claw, but after just one step, a pulse came from the man, every one froze and pepper was ejected from the carriage, landed, and was unconscious.
Mitskye stood, shaking as if fighting the paralysed effect, she slowly managed to make another slow step, then another, and as she was about to land another, one more pulse came from the lord, throwing her backwards and landing on the floor, at that same time, knowledge was also thrown back, caught by wisdom, whom like kikojui seemed unaffected but terrified of the mysterious person.
As a matter of fact, everyone was now on the floor, kikojui looked down his pocket was glowing, it was the stone, or crystal, whatever it was, its been so many thing, none of which was lucky.

The man looked over to Kikojui, "Hummmph" his mood seemed somewhat frustrated, "Give me the stone, or this is going to start looking ugly".
Kiko wanted to shout back "I think it already is! you seen your face?"

The lord started to walk to kikojui, kikojui pulled the stone from his pocket and held it close to his chest, "Wai- Wait, no need to be hasty, I'll just go, ok?" Kikojui looked at the man, he seemed very afraid of kikojui having it close to himself, it was very confusing, but kiko just went with it. "Yeah, you know what this can do!! now get out of here!!" The man pressed something on his armour and the airship swooped down and he jumped onto it and fly off into the sky.

Kikojui looked back down at the stone, it was just starting to sink into his chest, he yelped! and pulled it from his chest, a dark blue substance had started to crawl from its location and had hardened. when the stone was removed, it felt like the life had been sapped from him, his vision blurred, and he turned to the towns direction that was just visible, there was a plume of smoke from there, with a look of more confusion, he collapsed...


"And that's all I remember, kiko says to the group as he finished telling the story"

Mitskye relaxed her arm from her hip and walked closer to Kiko. She ruffled her hair on the side of her head with a somewhat disappointing look on her face.

Mitskye: So you remember most of it huh? Even my shameful performance against that imperial... You could have forgotten that heh.
Anyway, the smoke as you might have figured out was the town here, while most of the security was out in the dessert rescuing the people in the train a battle ship swooped in and made a mess. When we got here they had already left with the towns valuables and resources.

Mitskye walked towards the window and looked out into the streets, the once healthy town had been reduced to a slum like ruin.
People was sitting around to depressed or scared to do anything, wounds and agony had replaced health and happiness in this town.
It was strange how fast it all happened, how fast humans can be cast down into the abyss where its hard to climb out from.
Her thoughts changed though as she saw the a girl run past with a smile on her face, Mitskye knew this girl, she was the one with a grave wound on her leg. She smiled and turned back into the hospital. She looked over at Jackus.

Mitskye: I don't suppose you helped that girl huh? ...I couldn't do it... I cant use my powers even if it is to heal the people around me.
I once saved Kikos arm, it had been rip off but my powers was able to reattached it, even if it was a good action people looked differently after that. And you all know what happened in the dessert. I just can't use it as freely as you...

She turned around once more and looked out the window, with her usually cold look on her face.

Pepper did a bit of self grooming as she listened to everyone reflect on what they could remember before curiously starting to test out her bow, inspecting it's condition the best she could without firing it. Much to her surprise, the flame was now glowing a bright blue as she extended the bow. Pepper puzzled about it but eventually wasn't too concerned... As long as it does the job.... that cavern must of had an effect on it...

After a few moments, Pepper squeaked happily upon recognising Knowledge's presence at the door. Pepper smiled at them as she stood up and wandered over to Knowledge, "How are you feeling?"

Jackus had sat crosslegged on the floor as he listened to kiko's story he shrugged most of it off as he brought him self to his feet.

Mitskye: I don't suppose you helped that girl huh? ...I couldn't do it... I cant use my powers even if it is to heal the people around me.

He looked a little shocked to actually be talked to Jackus "Oh uh... Yeah, she had a broken leg, it looked kinda grim, I couldent leave it looking like that"

his face turned a little green ish the thought of the injury making him feel queezy, after a moment or two he looked towards kiko and put his hands on his hips

Jackus "Well, that was an interesting story. Do you still have the stone? Did it leave a mark in your chest? Are you still in pain?"

Jackus' face showed no concern or emotion you could say he almost looked a little scary with his dark eyes.

Kikojui watched as Knowledge stood motionless, as if switched off as Pepper spoke, did the being not hear or was something erid still going on as he was staring he heard a voice slowley fade in.

Jackus "Well, that was an interesting story. Do you still have the stone? Did it leave a mark in your chest? Are you still in pain?

Huh?! Kikojui spun his head around and looked at jackus.

No, I'm not in pain (He was) Kikojui pulled down the bandage on his chest, the purple like material that had came from the rock had been reduced in size, a small crater remained where the stone had made contact.
Kikojui Felt under the sheets, the stone was in his pocket, but sensing the change in mood with the oters, he decided that, for them, it was not there.
"No... I must have dropped it somewhere! No loss, that thing only brought me trouble"
Kikojui did not enjoy lying, but he understood the importance of discretion and its various perks.

He got out of bed, and pulled from his bag, the wooden armour out, and placed it on.
This time was different, it faintly glowed for a few seconds, then returned to normal.
"Whoa What? that's never happened before!" Kiko looked in amazement, and then to the others, they seemed to have not noticed.
Then on top of that, he put on the whhite robes, so that everything was covered and his eyes are all that you could see, with that he walked over to the old man, and turned to the others.

"So, we have a choice, We try going Back through the desert on foot... or we head east to the mercenary camp, despite what you might have heard, they are good people at heart."

"Since you guys have come back here, I will respect the groups decision, so lets vote! Where to go!"
"I personally Vote for the mercenarys."

Pepper's ear flicked slightly in response to Kikojui's suggestion. She quickly looked at him and said, "Considering the distance we may be looking at traveling by foot, my vote lies with the mercenaries as well. It is less likely to be as hazardous as the desert."

Jackus felt a pulse of pain eminate from kiko showing that he was clearly lying, he paid no notice to it, what ever caused him to lie would probably be part of his plan, he looked towards Mitskye and then back to the rest of the group, his attention deliberately difusing himself from any kind of contact with the strange one (wisdom) he shruged. Jackus "I'll go... Where ever he goes, the energy from that stone has caught my attention..." he pointed towards kiko and smiled gently Jackus "my healing skills are yours to command"

Jackus turned around and headed outside once more, as an act of good will he decided he would heal the entire village with one swift motion, from his sleve, he removed his staff and stood with it a moment gathering himself he thrusted the bottom end of the staff downwards creating a rather large looking crack that spanned a good 5-8 meters in random directions, he placed his hands atop the jewel that floated above the top end of the staff, his energy becoming very visible, a loud rumble could be heard in all corners of the village, some of the able bodied villagers screaming out for help and trying to move their injured loved ones. Jackus pushed the staff down slowly the crack began to pulse with a whitish greeny light, he opened his eyes, now matching the same colour as the energy in the cracks Jackus "Mien ooutch kanzth Gieth oushou!" A large rune glyth appeared beneath Jackus, smaller runes appeared beneath every one else in the village. After a few moments Jackus lifted his staff from the crack causing it to rumble once more. The crack closed up leaving only a small pool of water where Jackus had placed the staff, Jackus moved to the edge of the pool and touched the water, a ringing could be heard in the ears as the ripple echoed out to the edge of the pool. Jackus stood now and turned towards the make shift hospital and gave a shy looking thumbs up to the group.

The people of the village were now feeling better injuries and illness gone in a second.

(Off Topic)
Is Modesty still in the RP? Its been a long time between her posts and its difficult to get this rolling when she is an integral part of the story and we have to wait for what the characters are doing next .

*EDIT*
Just checked, and her last post here was a MONTH AGO!! xD

Mitskye was overweighting the idea of going across the dessert with Kikojui and the mercenaries or simply getting on her mount she grabbed during the rescue and walk over alone. Then Jackus used his enormous healing spell, Mitskye was in awe at at the massive spell, somewhat jealous of him to, he made it look so easy. If he did that wrongly he would only get hurt him self, the world wasn't that understanding, at least not in Mitskyes mind. People are selfish and when someone appear with a large amount of power they want him or her to leave, even if it's for their good they fear great power naturally and turns it away to save them self great powers great problems. That have always been the case with Mitskye, words, rocks and sticks was the usually thanks she got so she lost her faith in humans. They didn't want her power they didn't get it she thought, but after seeing Jackus use it so lightly she felt like she wanted to see him get thrown down by the people he helped. Maybe out of self pity or self righteousness.

Mitskye: Save in numbers I suppose... Not that it did very good against that battle ship but... Yeah I am up for the mercenaries.

Kikojui looked around as the others agreed to go to the mercenary camp, and looked out of the window, With a quick flash, wisdom and knowledge, who seemed stricken with fear, turned to stone in under half a second.

As they turned the noises from outside of town stopped, it appeared that kiko and the other remaining heroes were unaffected...
Kiko rushed to the demolished hole that used to be a window, and looked across the town, then walked over to his stone stricken allies.
The old man walked over and touched them and tried to communicate to them, it was pointless and kiko knew this kind of magic would need a really large amount of power to preform, so, he figured that it might be wise to leave here as sneakily as possible.

Standing ominously in the middle of a stone statue street, that resembled some sort of twisted graveyard, stood a man, very old in appearance, wearing a long white robe that had ancient symbols decorating it.The old man Called out "Jackus!, I know your there!" Kiko looked over at jackus then back out of the window.

The old man was gone... The roof started to make a slight grinding noise, then an ancient symbol appeared in it, almost like it was engraved, the roof then gave way. causing the symbols shape to fall through, kiko dived out of the way but from the dust could not see what had happened to the others, as kiko looked around, mid jump he saw the old man standing on top of the falling piece of roof... and so it began.

Unkown old Man "Jackus! I know you're there!"

Supprised by the sudden change of events Jackus realised the rules of the land, "Magic" was against the law and frowned heavily upon, realising this jackus grabbed his staff once more and made a quick boost towards the hut Kiko and the rest were in only to hear the sound of rune glyphs and then the crumbling of rubble. The dust cleared a little, Jackus could see Kiko, the rest was still too dusty to see, he looked a little deeper (for Magical auras and could see that the old looking man had slowly walked casualy towards Jackus and Kiko.

Jackus "What do you want old man? What did you do to every one? You better stay back... you dont wana know what will happen!"

Jackus looked kinda scared, he backed up till he had Kiko at the side of his feet he crouched, still looking at the old man and nudged Kiko

"Get up... You need to get out of here... This guy is really powerfull, I'll do what I can, but you and your group must survive this"

Jackus still crouching slamed his staff into the ground creating a blue and red barrier around himself and Kiko, he offered out a hand of help.

""C'mon!"

((OOC Once you make your self known to Jackus his barrier will come into affect for you too ))

A amused kiko looked onwards as jackus backed up to him.

Jackus"Get up... You need to get out of here... This guy is really powerfull, I'll do what I can, but you and your group must survive this"

Kiko stood up strong, angled his head towards the old man, and while shaking his right arm around, to stretch it, looked the old man square in the eyes, and spoke softly "You, old man, HAVE PISSED ME-" as kikos sentence continued it got fainter, the floor beneath him gave way to a small hole, and kiko just slid out of view.

*thund* followed by a lot of swearing as our arrogant hero could be heard scrambling around in the rubble below.

Kiko stared up and mumbled to himself "So much for my dramatic attack, well I better get out of here.." He found a steam of light and followed it outside, it was silent, but defiantly a nice day, in respects to the weather.

Kiko looked around the now statue town and took some food from a nearby stall and sat down to eat, and watched on.

With a mouth full of food kiko attempted to speak "Mughh thizz shouuld bu intarraaasting"

Kikojui "You, old man, HAVE PISSED ME-"

The sight of Kiko suddenly dissapearing startled Jackus sending him backwards a little causing him to fall on his back.

Old Man "You know this worlds laws, why are you so quick to ignore them?"

Jackus scowled "Who're you to be telling me what to do with my abilities? None of these humans deserved what they got and I was righting wrongs. What gives you to right to just suddenly appear turn the whole town to stone huh? You're even worse than I!"

The old man looked pissed off at Jackus' logic, he took a step forward bringing himself into a strange looking martial artist looking attack stance, Jackus replied by taking a defensive stance, holding his staff out infront of him with one hand its bottom touching the floor he looked towards the old man "Lets see what a servant of Geith has...If ofcourse that is who you are!"

The old man took deleiberate steps forward each one twisting and flowing into the next one, he came into striking distance and threw a semi balled fist at Jackus, It hit the shield and the blue area of the shield lit up, the punch had seemed stoped, then the red section began to glow vibrantly stopping any one watching from seeing the results. The dust cleared and the glow faded to reveal Jackus on one knee still holding his staff in the same position, his face and left shoulder had taken a blow, his clothes had been torn where the impacts seemed to hit as well as knocking down Jackus' hood, his hair was now a tint of blue and his eyes glass like, dark with a golden Iris ((see my avatar picture)) He looked up a little blue blood at the side of his mouth "Impressive... Not had any thing like that happen before" Jackus brought himself back up to his feet while the old man had made a few steps back and restanced himself for another attack. Jackus brought the staff up into the air the energy from the attack had been stored in his staff was now taking form in the shape of heavy looking armour, and his staff took the form of a sword. He brought his hand down and looked towards the old man, he raised his sword towards the old man and then put the palm of his other hand on the bottom of the swords hilt assuming a defensive position.

The old man twisted differently this time bringing both half balled hands into a palm strike looking position as he threw out his attack, the palms were stopped by a faint green barrier that barely stopped him from touching the armour, a loud sraping of metal could be heard, the end result pushed Jackus back, his feet had not moved and there was a build up of dirt behind his feet. The old man was taking a step back trying to ready a defensive position which was interupted by Jackus' sudden boost forward, the old man blocked Jackus' blade with his bare palms not seeming to take damage, Jackus' attack was relentless never stopping, after a while the light from the armour seemed to fade, eventually becoming unoticable, all of a sudden the armour dissapears and leaves Jackus looking the way he did with just his staff left. The old man was tired his palms had taken alot of damage by the end of the onslaught and stumbled back almost falling to one knee before regaining his posture "Very well Jackus, you win for now but I wont forget this. I'm no follower of Geith but you'l soon wish you were back at your place of birth!"

The old man faded out just as easily as he had appeared leaving Jackus to find his feet again. Jackus went to the nearest tree and sat down, his staff falling to his side as he nodded off to sleep.

*Off topic*
<< It would seem that interest has dropped and people other than myself and jackus, seems to be the only regular contributors, I'm giving this topic another 2 days, if there is no response I will continue the story and write out players so its fair for the people actually making an effort to keep on top of this, you have been warned!!

OOC: Sorry, sorry, I been busy with work and the follow me to Eden RP. I meant to write a while ago but I postponed it far enough, Here goes!

IC:

The sudden magic effect the spread through the town in a flash had Mitskye ducking for cover, she could feel magic as she was so attuned for it because of her song magic. It was very strong and and very fast and in a blink of an eye it had past like a tsunami in the town. Mitsye slowly looked up and saw what had happened in the town, she looked back inside and saw both Kikojui and Jackus still alive. She didn't know why the three of them was unaffected, she might have resisted it because of the song magic as well. She didn't know what to make of it all and stood there just staring, until the fighting began. She quickly looked out and saw Jackus fighting the stranger who seemed to be winning at first but buged out and called it even in the end. As Jackus collapsed Mitskye walked out to him, she bent down in front of him standing in a squat looking straight into him.

Mitskye: Hey... You don't look very good... I bet you aren't up for another of that massive healing spell again? All though I think that is just what caused al this from the start...

Mitskye knew her song magic might heal them, but the power would have to be large and that would take a long song to create.
With what was going on they might not have the time to wait for her song, but on the other hand they wait would heal not just the people but Jackus and Kikojui, if he didn't mange to get out safe that is.

Mitskye: Hey... You don't look very good... I bet you aren't up for another of that massive healing spell again? All though I think that is just what caused al this from the start...

One of Jackus' eyes opened slightly his arm wavering as he responded Jackus: "Oh... Uh I guess I forgot the laws of the land, not quite used to all these silly human laws... I'll see what I can do about the stone curse... Have you considered using your own powers? I've seen what you can do, have you tried concentration beads? Or perhaps, a 'home' item? Something to bring your self out of a song spell without... Freezing every thing?"

Jackus shifted forwards his body whining a little. Jackus: "I dont really know much about your kind of magic, but I think you could handle it, with the right kind of help or item, you just seem a little incomplete to me."

Jackus shifted back again, his body obviously not used to such heavy useage his eyes closing again Jackus: "I'm... Sure... You can like... do it..." Jackus nods off, a little confident smile on his face as if his faith was entrusted to Mitskye totally.

Mitskye stood up and began walking back and forth watching Jackus and the villagers, Jackus words struck her quite hard.
"Incomplete am I!?" She cleansed her fist but relaxed again shortly after "Maybe he is right? I really don't know what I am doing any more..." She stopped and grabbed her cloak she had been wearing since yesterday and threw it away. She took of her backpack and dusted of her vest and skirt from the sand that had been collecting underneath the cloak. She then bent down and unhooked her harp from her back back. With her other hand she pointed at Jackus and said.

Mitskye: Magic is energi, it have to be taken from somewhere. Song magic is made out of emotions, I'll show you how big my heart can be!

Mitskye then started to relaxing and took a few deep breathes, readied her harp and whispered to her self, Song of rebirth.



As the song began a warm air seemed to swirl around her, the dessert heat was not to blame. This heat grabbed the soul not the body.
As Mitskye repeated the verse over and over the swirl grew larger and larger, the air around them started to shimmer slightly like that of a dream state. The tunes echoed through the town, through the bodies of the people, the stone started to melt like icy in the hot summer, Jackus energy seemed to revitalize as well. Mitskye seemed to grew further and further away from conciseness as her song progressed, just as in the dessert with her Symphony of Icy. Her mind began locking it self away.

Sitting by a tree kikojui watched the commotion.

He turned away, and lit another cigarette... he just sat and stared at the horizon, the contrast between heaven and earth, solid and gas.

He sat for a while staring, and then his cigarette was blown from his mouth by a strong gust of warm air, he slolwy tilted his head left to see what it was.

He looked over to Jackus.
"Mitskye seems to be doing that weird thing she does... After last time, I'm not getting involved, its up to you, jackus, to keep an eye on her, I need to be alone"

The old man came running over to kikojui.

Old man:[b\] "Someone is heading this way"

[b]Kikojui:[b\] "Eh? where!"

Kiko looked hard and on the horizon was a large figure... kiko looked harder, it was the black knight that his old ally was going to deal with.

[b]Kikojui:[b\] "Well its going to take him a hour to get here, so we have time to think..."

Kikojui looked back over the village ruins, there were statues everywhere, Mitskye causing a mini tornado, a collapsed jack and the senile old man, who is actually a king, standing next to him...

[b]Kikojui: "Urgggh I just want some REST!!!"

Pepper squeaked uncomfortably as she managed to get herself out of some of the rubble that fell on her from the roof being torn off. The events had unravelled so quickly for her and considering it had been moments before the rubble fell that she saw Knowledge wasn't okay, now she was free of the mess again, she was concerned for the others.

Pepper looked around for Knowledge, but a lot of the floor had caved in by now... it was unclear where she was now. Pepper checked her paws, her bow was okay. Pepper dropped down, mostly based on faith, one of the holes in the floor and she landed awkwardly. Still able to move, Pepper made her way to outside the building and spotted Kikojui. She slightly limped up to him as he shouted:

Kikojui: "Urgggh I just want some REST!!!"

Pepper plonked down nearby in response, coughing a bit, "I wonder if we are safe enough to rest here? ....What on Caledonia happened to the building?"

Jackus' blood that was left on his face slowly shifted into a a strange red line going down his face around his cheek and down past the collar of his clothing, he let out a gentle moan as the healing energy passed through him the warm winds becoming more violent as the song was repeated continualy. He sighed a little as he got to his feet picking up his staff as he did so, he guaged the suituation, Mitskye had not heeded his words on the use of a home item or any form of spell recovery, he pouted a little as he walked towards Mitskye his red shield poped up as he got close as to protect himself from any negative effects of the spell, he looked around Mitskye looking for any sort of item that would be considered a home item, after a while he was unable to find any thing he deemed good enough so he pulled out a goldent feather from his sleeve he waved his hand around it for a moment and then placed it on Mitskye's forehead creating a golden glow, if it worked, the feather should call out to Mitskye and draw her back from her mind.

While he waited for the effects, he moved back and shifted towards the well and readied himself for what could come next. If the feather would fail it would burn a feather mark into Mitskye's head. Jackus knew it was risky but it was better than leaving the spell to go way way way out of controll.

"I wonder if we are safe enough to rest here? ....What on Caledonia happened to the building?"

Peppers voice shocked kiko, as he spun around angrily facing the creature.
He started her straight in the eye for a good few seconds before making a wide smile and spoke excitingly!

"awwww my new cute pet has returned!" added with patting on the head of pepper, it was clear that kikojui was a little strange with animals.

After finishing embarassing pepper, he looked back to the horizon.

"see that black dot, walking this way? if it gets here, and we are still here... We are dead. spimple as that."

"And we can't run forever, so, we will leave Jack, and the crazy woman to sort out their own magic madness, and me and you, we are going to take that black speck, head on"

"Desert is your enviroment, and, well, I have have a few tricks up my sleeve, so we are going to head over there and do our best, while these two sort out the town, you up for that?"

Kikojui slumps his bag on the floor, and grabs the handle from the sword he had back in warwells, the blade had exploded in the previous fight with a manikin.

Kikojui smiled and raised the handle above his head with both hands, small beads of light rolled up from his finger tips to the handle, and with one swipe downwards the blade appeared to extend from the handle instantly, causing a brilliant sparkle of light particles to flush away from the sword, revealing the huge blade now looking like frosted glass with a slight white glow, the blades movement downwards stopped by hitting the sand, and causing a plume of sand to be dispursted from the area of impact, also creating a thunder like echo that bounced around the town.

With a huge smile kikojui grinned at Pepper, "Lets go".

The feather Jackus put on her forehead slowly glowed stronger and stronger.
As Mitskye wasn't that deep with in her own mind as last time the feather did the work quite easily and Mitskye shoot open her eyes and let out a signed as the song died down. The air stopped and the shimmering faded. Mitskye looked around and took a dep breath.

Mitskye: I guess I went a bit far... This is why song magic is in practicall... Imagen the danger if it had been fire or ice like last time...

The people around them looked around like they all had woken up through a dream, no one had noticed them self being stoned nor anyone ells it seemed, a strange eerie feeling surrounded the town as mysterious events keep happening around them. Mitskye notcied that no one seemed to understand what just happened which suited her just fine.

Mitskye: No word of gratitude, but no word of hate either... Feh

Mitksye sat down on the nearest bence and looked over at Jackus, she crossed her legs and arms and gave him a grin.

Mitskye: Thanks for pulling me out, other ways I could have been singing for a while.

Mitskye: Thanks for pulling me out, other ways I could have been singing for a while.

Jackus smiled, and gave a thumbs up "No problem, perhaps I'll lend you one of those feathers for next time?"

He put his hand up his sleeve and pulled out another feather, this one you can call your own if you want it, just keep it in hand before you decide to use your unique gift. He put out his hand half closed to keep the feather from being blown away by the winds, its glow was dim but would surly increase if it was taken by Mistskye.

Jackus smiled and gave a nod towards Mitskye.

Mitksye grabbed the feather and looked at it. She didn't know what ever it could do if no one ells used it on her. She wouldn't be able to use it her self since she blocks out everything. One verse is controllable, two verse is also okay but when she gets past the third verse she starts to go deeper into her mind and lose her concisions. Thats why the song magic was never used, it was to unreliable as a mean of casting magic and forgotten along the empire archives. She tucked the feather to her harp as it was her main object to focus her mind, it might just work.
She then stood up and smiled at Jackus.

Mitskye: Thanks, lets hope I don't have to use it... By the way where did the others go?

She said and started to wander of in s slow pase looking around for the others.

Pepper didn't seem too impressed with being described as "his pet" but shrugged the feelings off as Kiko explained the plan regarding the speck, it was quite clear they had work to do.

Once Kikojui had given a flex of his weapon's muscle, Pepper was off like a shot to begin the plan of taking down the speck in the distance..

Pepper: "Nice! I shall scout ahead and get a few shots at him as soon as he comes into a good enough range."

She was swift on her feet for someone so small and so it wasn't long before she was standing again just a mile or two from the town, panting gently from her brisk run, readying her bow for the first provoking strike.

Before releasing the shot, Pepper glimpsed behind her looking for Kikojui.

As the dust form peppers dash off to to the sandy horizon settled, kikojui looked on with amazment!

Kiko: "Fast little thing!, Well I better catch up!!"

He looked into his pocket, and then into his bag, it was obvious that this was not going to be an easy fight, but then again, when is it ever easy.
From the bag he pulled out two items, one was a very old stone pocket watch, it was an artefact of the old age, also from the bag, kikojui pulled out another trinket, it looked like a bag of seeds , Kiko took 3 seeds from the bag and put the rest back, then threw his bag to the floor, and sprinted off into the horizon.

He got near pepper, and crouched beside her, the target stopped walking, the giant knight stood motionless the target slowly sank into the sand, could he have seen them? or was he swallowed up by a worm? maybe it was a mirage? all these questions floated through his mind trying to decide what was going on!

A slow, quite hissing noise came from behind them, and a shadow loomed over their position, kiko spun around to see it was him, the black knight! towering above them, he stood motionless, before his voice echoed across the desert!

Knight: "challenge... accepted"

With that his gargantuan sword plummeted towards the pair!

Upon hearing the hissing noise, Pepper's face just dropped as she grasped the reality of the situation, "Oooooh, sh--"

Pepper was swift with her paw as the next few seconds passed and as the sword began to drop, her aim was not hesitant - she aimed for the knight's face as she took the opportunity to get somewhere safer by jumping at the Knight and scrabbling up his body.

Standing upon his shoulders as he continued to move as he intended to, Pepper did her best to keep her balance as she took aim to shoot another arrow where she stood...

the blade hurtled towards a suprised kiko!

In less than 2 seconds pepper went from being next to him to on his shoulder and the knight had an arrow stuck into his helmet, it must have hit him but his blade fell as if nothing happened.

A second arrow struck the side of his head and the blade slowed just enough for kiko to realise what was happening, with this knowledge kikojui rolled out of the blades direct range.
As he finished the roll he smiled at pepper with a somewhat arrogant face, then the blade hit the sand, and kikojui disappeared as a shock-wave of sand blasted past him.

as the sand started to settle the knight turned his attention to pepper, with great speed the knight used the arm she was sitting on, and grabbed peppers face and head front on with his gargantuan hand.

He lifted pepper of his shoulder, and let out a deep rumbling laugh as he started to slowly sink into the sand...

The Knight's hand took her completely by surprise.. confused and alarmed, her arms and legs began thrashing around, her tail whipping against the side of the Knight's arm as she did what she could just about manage to do to somehow get herself freed.

She was totally blind to what the Knight had planned for her while her head was securely taken in his hand... but took her risk and fired a few shots, using her body as a sort of baring on where the Knight's body may be...

Pepper clenched her eyes trying to stay calm as she could feel the heat of the arrows running near her leg fur... breathing was becoming slowly more difficult the more she struggled to fight...

As Jackus looked around the town for hints of where the others had got to, a dark energy came from the entrance of the town, it spread a sense of a spine chilling fear.

Jackus called out to Mytsike "Hey! The entrance THE ENTRANCE! I think something bad is happening!"

Jackus made a few hand gestures pointing towards the main gates of town and made a speedy dash towards them not really knowing what he would find on the other side.

As he approched the gates he noticed that one of the big heavy doors was ajar and he could slip through with ease, his vision was now of the horison, in the distance, he could see three dots moving around, He rubbed his eyes to make sure it wasnt some sort of mirage and sprouted his wings and boosted forward, even with these wings it would still take a few moments to get to the dots.

The old man stood at the gate as jackus flew past, he seemed not to know what was going on, the old man turned around and headed back into the village, he knew this was something he could not aid in.

The knight was chest deep in the sand as he sunk through the desert landscape, peppers limbs started to also submerge, the sinking suddenly stopped.

The knights torso and hemlet littered with arrows as he let go of peppers head and turned around.

Kikojui was there in the sand, and kikojuis sword had gone through the knights pelvis area and would be visible the other side, if it was not in the sand.

The knight made no other movement, as if staring into kikojuis soul in what seemed to be his final moments, with a roar kikojui slammed his foot into the sand and with the momentum lifted his sword through the knight upwards, causing the knight to be ripped in two.
The two half's of armour held from the base to create an open 'v' shape.

The sword came around and landed behind kikojui, he looked forward, this was it, the knight, THAT knight, he was finally gone...

But then kikojui noticed something, in the armour was nothing, as if the armour was a shell, inside was a floating orb, fluctuating between purple and black.
The orb floated a little before finally cracking and then began to glow intensely bright, in the light the armour seemed to slowly, as if magnetised stick back together.

The knight exploded into action from the sand, and swung his sword wildly at kikojui, kiko jumped back as he countered and blocked attacks, now the attacks were doing next to nothing. the knight stopped and spoke softly, fine...
This terrain is no good for our fight...

He raised a hand and extended his steel fingers, the nights running through the air and gathering dark mist, this mist became a ball.
The ball sat in the centre of his hand for a few moments, then, he crushed it.

For a second nothing happened, so kikojui darted forward for an assault, A huge explosion of energy threw back kiko, and above the knight, a swirling metallic orb sucked in sand and everything in sight, including the knight, who went in laughing.

Kiko could see various people also being sucked in, including the old man.

Kiko: "What!? What is happening? why am I not effected?"

He looked into his pocket the stone was glowing brightly...

With a tremendous clap, the orb vanished, leaving a huge sand like crater and half of the town, kiko looked around, there was nobody...
Once again Kikojui was scared, and alone.




OOC
(This point the story branches off for a little bit, those in the other world, and those in the original one)

As Jackus got closer to the suituation, he felt a wave of energy pass him followed by what appeared to be a void sucking up sand, the dark figure, the old man and now Jackus

Jackus : "Ahh! Kiko! Damn it I cant... get sucked.. Into... The.. Vooooooiddd!~"

Jackus' voice echoed out of the void for a while before becoming quiet again, just above him he could see the strange old man had met the same fate as himself

Jackus "old man! Are we gonna die?!" Jackus' face looked scared and some what frustrated

"I... I don't know young'un if it has an end make sure you catch me!"

Jackus suddenly felt floor beneath him, a strange scent filled his nostrils, around him was a strange purple land, filled with claw like spikes sticking out in every which direction the old man landed just a few paces away, the instant Jackus' foot hit the floor he noticed that the gravity in this land was much stronger than that of Earth's, he made a pace or two forward feeling slightly drained even from a few paces he looked to the old man and made sure he was unharmed, luckily the only problem the old man had was standing.

Happy that the old man was OK Jackus looked around now to see who or what would appear next.

Pepper was surprised to gain her sight again slightly submerged in the sand - she made light work of resurfacing herself as Kiko took it upon himself to slice the Knight in half...

As the battle between the other two re-commenced, Pepper prepared herself to aid Kiko, but the Knight's spell caused her body to fly unexpectedly... then once the spell began to suck the general environment in, Pepper was too disorientated to fight it at that particular moment....

After the spell came to a calm leaving her in the purple land, Pepper sensed the shift of gravity... she took it upon herself to remain on all four paws as she slowly took a glimspe around the new surroundings, clearly struggling to move properly.

She managed to spot the Old Man and Jackus, but looked concerned when Kiko no longer seemed to be around... Where did they go....?
With this realisation and the restrictions now upon her body, her fear slowly began to creep through... Where in Caldonia is the Knight now...?

As Jackus for some reason speed of towards the entrance Mitskye looked towards him as he went with a pondering look on her face.
"Something bad huh?" She whispered for her self and stood up from the bench. She signed loudly and complained about that she always got dragged into things no a days. Ever since she met Kiko at that bar he had completely turned her life up side down.
She followed Jackus towards the entrance only to see him fly of into the air and head out into the dessert. She squinted as she tried to see what was out there but before long her neck hair stood up and a feeling of dread washed over her, something was going to happen.

Then it happened, out in the dessert things seemed to storm up and the air around her was increasing in speed as well. "What the hell...? Wait... This isnt a storm... Every things is blowing out towards them... Its pulling everything towards it!?" Mitskye quickly returned into through the entrance gate and worked her way around a wall. She dug her self in to avoid the increasing gravity pull after a while she saw people flying away towards the centre of the magic. It was gruesome to look at, the fear and panic was absolute. Amongst it she saw a little girl desperately trying to claw her way backwards along the sand, it was futile for the small body to resist the gravity pull but thanks to her desperate attempt she glided near Mitsykes hideout. With out really thinking Mitskye lashed out and grabbed the girl and pulled her in towards her self. The screams was everywhere and she hugged the crying girl tightly as the gravity got stronger and stronger, it seemed like forever but then it stopped. It was dead quite again.

The void clapped like thunder and disappeared leaving a sandy creator, kikojui got to his feet and looked around, it seemd that parts of the town were also sucked into the void.

He fell to his knees and wept, the void world was a harsh place that very few even know about and only one person had ever gotten out from there...

after a few minutes kikojui composed himself and stood back up, the desert wind was eerie.

A soft, yet deep voice blew across his ear.
"So, can we talk now"
Kikojui turned around, and behind him was the black knight towering above him.

Kikojui blurted, "Your not in the void?" to which the knight replied " I have divided myself, I sent 30% of my power into the void to keep your friends occupied and the rest is here, don't you just love magic?"

kikojui stared at him. "you going to bring my friends back?" the knight chuckled to himself "friends?! what has become of you kikojui? what has happened to your mind in all these years!"

Nothing, I'm the same guy you remember, but these guys, much like the Mercs have helped me out, and I respect them for it"


The knight sat down, causing the floor to shake a small amount under the weight...

And he looked at kikojui "Well, hurry up, your friends are about to have some fun with my less patient half"

Jackus felt a presence coming from the side, it felt powerful and very unsettling. He glanced towards the direction, readying his staff a large figure strode boldy forward perhaps this was that thing Kiko was fighting Jackus scowled at the armoured figure not sure if it was even real, his attention suddenly shifted as he noticed the strange cat like thing Heh... This isn't looking good, what will I do if he goes for that lil thing first Jackus called out "Hey... Uhh I never caught your name but there's some armoured figure here... I got a real bad feeling... be on your guard!"

Jackus' staff began to glow a gentle white shooting small white beams of light every where making the area a little brighter, easier to see. Jackus smiled confidently as his interest shifted towards the armoured pressence. If he wants to try and take me down my warding lights will give him a hard time of it

Pepper listened to Jackus' voice as he gave his warning, and tried to stand in response. While she did so, she prepared herself so that if she needed to defend herself, her bow was ready...

My gawd, that hand has really hurt my head.... but I don't think there's any more time to worry about that now...

Pepper limped over to Jackus and stood by his feet, trying to adopt some of his confident stance as they watched the armoured presence.

Mitskye sat in her hiding place for a while simply hugging the small girl, things had just gone from bad to worse to nightmareish. These people living here had done nothing but they had suffered a lot. As a small sobbing was heard coming from the girl Mitskye finally let go of her hard grip and gently stroke the girls head. She tried to let go of the girl but she held on to Mitskye like her life depended on it. Mitskye couldn't blame her after what just happened though. She stood up and took a look around, there wasn't many people around the village after the attack but it looked like a ghost town now. She looked down at the girl and spoke softly.

Miskye: Let's go and see if we can't find your family.

It didn't seem like the girl listed or if she even heard Mistkye. she had grabbed Mitskyes skirt and her grip spoke that she wasn't letting go easily.
Maybe she needed some more time Mitskye though but standing still wouldn't lead anywhere so she started to walk into the town in search for anyone still alive.

*in the setting desert sun, Kikojui and the knight sat facing each other, the knights towering sword next to them, to the side of them laid the giant sand crater from the dimension rift*

Kikojui: How long...

Knight: *his voice echo's almost in ripples* What?

Kikojui: How long has it been... Since we last met?

Knight: ...you should know, that I have very little memory...something like me, needs not worry about the past, or the future.

Kikojui: So you was sent to retrieve the stone, I know it is unstable, too unstable for the empire, so why do they want this back so bad?

Knight: *the knight's voice soft yet assertive* Its a part of a picture so big, you would never understand...

Kikojui: That empire, that KING, will only bring ruin to this land..

Knight: Maybe... but you...also understand, that I have to take it back, as well as that armour, its all part-

Kikojui: * interrupts* -of the bigger picture.. yeah I heard.

Kikojui: This one item, is all I have, its my only leverage, and once I get into that position, I WILL kill the king.

Knight: This world... is destined to be plunged into the dark... you cannot fight fate.

Kikojui: I know you have to kill me, and you have no choice, I can only apologize in my part of making you, who you are, but as for fate! I will show you, I will show you what somebody can do, when fate pushes them.

Kikojui stands, and throws off the robe, uncovering the armour, and with a flick of the wrist, the handle of his enormous sword, and held it to the knights head, the knight let out a sigh, and spoke "Very well..." he stood to his feet and also grabbed his sword.

The two faced each other....as the sun finally set...

Kikojui hoped somehow to rectify everything that had gone wrong.

Time felt like it was passing very fast in this dimention, every thing but himself, the figure, the old man and the lil creature was shifting at speeds nearly impossible to see. The figure started moving forward, Jackus shifted on one foot slightly arcing his body towards the figure, one hand on the staff the other placed behind the other, activating a majestic bow like form around the staff and his hand its aura was calming and emited a faint green glow simmilar to the one that was emited during his attempts to save the village (Its a healing bow form ) and took aim for the knight.

Jackus drew back the string and released a streak of white which impacted on the armour of the figure dispersing around the armour leaving only a white smoke "Crap... powers arent any good here... Think Jackus think!" the figure released a slash in midair sending a wave of purple energy towards Jackus causing his staff to react and turn red, causing the energy from the attack to be absorbed into the staff, the emense power of the attack caused the gem on top of Jackus' staff to crackle with a red lightning a most forboding energy could now be felt in the area.

Jackus took a step or two back and suddenly twigged "Ummm little one. If i put you in a lil one of my bubbles it should heal you, and possibly stop this horrible gravity thats cripiling your body... This may take a moment, please hang on as long as possible!" Jackus began enchanting the bubble, a few moments passed before the crackling from the gem began to get louder and a massive eruption of power was unleashed from the gem causing the whole area to now feel lighter as if the gravity was now almost a little lighter than normal.

"Oh my... That was unexpected! There's not much I can do from here... Umm what is your name any way? I'll assist as much as possible I hope we make it out of this alive." Jackus made ready his staff and prepared a healing spell.

meanwhile in the real world, Kikojui and the knight fight at great speed and power, each clash of the swords echoing like thunder across the landscape as if part of some epic orchestral piece, each foot step like the beating of a war drum, each grunt of effort soaring to the night sky, the battle blasts onwards as kikojui and the knight jump at each other trying to find weakness in the strategy, then the howling voices of the backing singers erupts and the fight intensify, the clanging of the sword going to some demonic beat, people sit at the town outskirts watching as both warriors go all out in an epic display of strength, endurance and skill, each time the swords meet, and lock the crowd holds it breath and watches not knowing what might happen next.

They both stop for a moment catching breath, the knight stops, and bellows "Is this all that fate will push you?is this truly all you have?" Kikojui seems to back away a little and then lunges forward for another bout of attacks... the knight gets knocked over, but not by kikojui, he looks to his right and standing there is Lukas, Kikojui's mercenary friend, armed with a also large sword, he steps in and speaks "good job I turn-" a short sharp crushing noise was heard, followed by dripping, kikojui looked over ot the knight, half of his blade was through what seemed to be a small portal, kikojui looked back to Lukas, he has the other half of the sword coming from the floor into his body, he was dead...
Thee knight removed his sword from the portal and it closed, Lukas's body fell to the sand, the knight's voice was dark, and pulsating, "this fight is between us... nobody, and nothing will stand between us..."
Kikojui looked strait at him, and nodded, he was sad at his friends abrupt death, but he had to focus, and besides, where one merc is normally the bunch is.

They both ran at each other and clashed swords...

Pepper stared intently at the armour as Jackus spoke to her.

Jackus: "Ummm little one. If i put you in a lil one of my bubbles it should heal you, and possibly stop this horrible gravity that's crippling your body... This may take a moment, please hang on as long as possible!"

Pepper nodded the best she could in response, clearly looking grateful for the relief that the bubble would cause for her.

Once the gravity had eased off, Pepper replied to Jackus, "My name is Pepper and I can try my archery on him... to be honest, when I attacked him before, I am unsure how much harm I did... I am a bit afraid that he may be, um, well, semi-invincible."

Now standing at a more confident looking full height, Pepper raised her bow and allowed each bright blue arrow to grow stronger before she fired each one, targeting what she assumed to be it's vulnerable points, Come on bow, don't let me down...




[OOC: This reminds me of Galaxy Quest.. "It's a rock! It doesn't have any vulnerable spots!" ;3
Yay for post 50 too! XD]