Hell Frozen Over (ValamLym)

[Bunbun]

When people visit the Sionad Tundra, they typically have a really good reason for doing so- it simply wasn't worth the trouble otherwise. The whole place was, more often then not, entirely covered in snow. Combined with freezing temperatures, the deep layers of snow made the tundra traversable only to those who were prepared to deal with harsh conditions. There were places of interest, sure, but they were near impossible to come across unless by a freak accident or by someone who knew of their location beforehand. Besides that, there wasn't much to see- aside from the trees and shrubs, any signs of life were typically buried under the constant snow before anyone else came across them.

Despite all this, though, people still ended up wandering the landscape for one reason or another. Some were treasure seekers, searching for valuable artifacts or materials that other people refused to brave the cold to retrieve. Others were wanted criminals, counting on the fact that their tracks would be covered up and that their pursuers would rather give up than wander blindly into unknown territory. Still others travelled in search of an adventure, treating the harsh conditions as a challenge rather than a hinderance.

Axia, however, did not fit into any of the aforementioned groups. She didn't have a great reason to be out here, but she wasn't bothered much by the cold either. There was something that she was supposed to be doing, which she had little to no desire to do at the moment. Instead, she'd turned her attention to something she actually enjoyed: flying! Over the course of a few hours, Axia had done nothing but practice her takeoffs and landings, using the wide open landscape to her advantage. Unfortunately, she hadn't made too much progress, but she was determined to get it right this time.

Circling around in the sky, Axia took a moment to choose a spot to aim for before beginning her landing.  Finally making her choice, she suddenly folded her wings up and allowed herself to plummet towards the ground. With the hard surface quickly approaching, Axia once again flapped her wings and shot forwards with plenty of speed. In fact, it was too much speed, and as a result her landing was... less than smooth. She stumbled over as her legs made contact with the ground, causing her tail to smack into a nearby tree.

Such a landing was obviously undesirable, but nothing that Axia wasn't used to. Laying in the snow for a moment to catch her breath, she then sat up and brought her tail close to survey the damage. A few of her aberrant scales had been shattered, leaving a cut that slowly dripped blood onto the snow below. It wasn't a serious wound, but it was definitely a sign that Axia should take a break from practicing. Frowning, she shook the snow off of her body and started to climb the nearest hill she could find. If she couldn't practice flying, then maybe she could at least come across something interesting by using the top of the hill as a vantage point.

[ValamLym]

Renegade sinners weren't afraid to hide in the most inhospitable places the world had to offer, they knew, anything was better then being dragged back to hell.. or worse imprisoned within a warden, to serve as sustenance for all eternity. Today was no different, today sinners thought they had escaped the clutches of the infernal abyss, how wrong they were, hell's agents reached everywhere, no place was too inhospitable for the un-holy.

Nymiria, ordered by the lords of hell themselves, found herself tracking five renegade sinners, escaped souls that have taken on their mortal bodies once more, attempting to blend in. They were quite good at it, they could fool just about anyone, even Nymiria. Too bad she thought about that too. Quite some steps away from the dragoness, all the way down the hill, fire flickered into un-natural life, its green glow illuminating the surrounding area. It soon began to take the shape of a doorway, howls of dread and agony echoing across the snow covered tundra because of it. Soon, three mighty hounds the size of horses stepped out, their un-natural flames melting the snow around them. They immediately began sniffing the air, attempting to find a lead. Behind them, a seemingly human woman dressed in feathered robes complimented with pieces of plate stepped into the snow, her heavy boots slinking into the snow.

''Terminus, Sentarius, Xandarius have you found anything?'' She inquired, her voice soft and gentle. The hounds let out a hellish howl in unison, answering their master with a clear yes through their howls. Then, their heads turned up-hill, clearly smelling more then just the sinners. Nymiria herself fixated her green gaze upward as well, though she could barely distinguish anything. ''Show me.'' She commanded, instantly causing the hounds to rush uphill, toward the dragoness. Leaving a trail of green fire as their massive paws dragged them through the snow, she herself followed suit, curious about what manner of creature other then the sinner's would attempt to hide in this forsaken area. She simply walked after her hounds, not in a hurry.

Once up top, the hounds would circle the dragon passively, waiting for their master to arrive.

[Bunbun]

For a while, Axia simply stood there atop the hill, waiting for something- anything- to happen. Despite her best efforts, though, nothing did happen. The only things she could pick up on was the faint howling of the wind, and the sound of her own breath. She was just about to give up and start making her way out of the frozen wasteland when she finally got her wish.

Out of seemingly nowhere, two very peculiar sounds rang from the bottom of the hill. The first one was, well, horrible to say the least. The unholy screams and shouts of the damned were unparalleled by anything the dragon had heard in her life. Many people would have ran in fear from such an infernal noise, but Axia was more intrigued than anything. Soon after, another noise caught her attention. This time, it was the sound of howling; it was a more common noise, but it had an unnatural quality to it. The sounds had obviously been produced by something that Axia had never experienced before, which only made her want to investigate the source.

In the end, though, it seemed that Axia hadn't discovered the source. On the contrary, they ended up discovering her. She soon found herself in the presence of three flaming hounds, rotating around her and melting the snow in a circle as they did so. Their intentions were unclear; such behaviour was sometimes displayed by predators when hunting a large creature, but these hounds weren't exactly ordinary animals. Unsure whether or not the strange creatures were hostile, the dragoness took up a defensive stance just in case. She was prepared to pounce at any moment, and she attempted to lock eyes with each of the dogs as they passed in front of her. Her tail dragged back and forth through the snow, leaving a small trail of blood as it did so.

[ValamLym]

The hounds would circle the dragoness a few times before their master arrived, immediately walking to stand beside Nymiria. She turned her gaze to meet that of the dragons and didn't seem to speak at all for the longest of time, she was contemplating many questions, but one in particular was important for her to ask ''What do the living seek in this land of death?'' she simply inquired, her true form already being betrayed to the dragon meant she didn't have to attempt and sound like a human anymore.

She seemed to wait a few more moments, her gaze constantly fixated on the dragon without even blinking, almost like a death stare. She then parted her lips again, many questions swirling through her head to which she wanted answers ''And what is it that has caused you harm?'' her hand extended toward the trickle of blood, before simply returning to rest on her hips. ''Were the sinners responsible?''

She then stepped closer, not entirely impressed by the dragon's defensive posture, but she seemed to have no intention of growing hostile herself, she simply was curious as to how the dragon would react, perhaps even a little curious as to her species. She had never quite seen a dragon like this before, in- fact she had only heard of them in tales and stories, but to see one sparked curiosity even within a demon of her caliber. After all, her species was curious and meddlesome by nature, some of things would never truly go away.

[Bunbun]

Axia held the stranger's gaze as complete silence hung in the air, trying to get a read on Nymiria. She wasn't the pinnacle of intellect, but the 'human''s unnatural composure and speech strongly hinted that she was something else. The dragon cocked her head to the side, trying to figure out what such an enigmatic being could want with her. If anything, she thought she'd be the one asking the questions, not answering them. Maybe if she cooperated, though, she'd be able to get some answers of her own.

"Oh, people don't usually come here. Most of the ones who do are either treasure hunters, or are being hunted themselves." Axia's voice was firm up to this point, but she suddenly hesitated when it came to talking about her own situation. Finally breaking her gaze, the dragoness glanced towards the distant mountains before continuing.

"As for me, uh, I'm here 'cause I just got kicked out of my home."

Clearly eager to move on from the subject, the dragon's voice suddenly regained its initial energy as she once again made eye contact with Nymiria. Her tail started to curl up instinctively as Axia explained the situation.

"Nope, this was an accident. You're the first person I've come across in hours, 'sinner' or otherwise."

The dragon's muscles started to relax, as it was clear to her that she wasn't in any immediate danger. She took up a more neutral stance, allowing Nymiria to approach her. However, she did have some questions of her own that she wanted answers to.

"Hey, who are you, and what are those 'sinners' you mentioned? Are they dangerous or something?"

[ValamLym]

Nymiria seemed un responsive for several minutes as she contemplated the dragon's answers. Clearly somewhat disappointed the sinners weren't here, or hadn't been seen yet. At-least her hounds could help her find them, but having a good indication of where to go always helped. When she turned her attention back on the dragoness she realized it was now she herself being questioned.

Somewhat surprised that the hounds hadn't given her away yet, Nymiria smirked. She didn't know whether this dragoness was just playing coy or just had not put two and two together yet. She sighed, it didn't really matter anyway, it wasn't like she was trying super hard to keep her identity a secret. ''Sinners are escaped convicts from hell, souls if you will. I am here to retrieve them or destroy them.'' she stated relatively bluntly, raising a brow at the dragoness ''As for what I am, I am surprised I have to tell you. I am a demon and these are my trusty hell hounds.'' she pointed at each of the hounds individually, indicating she cared about all three equally for herself.

''You should not linger here, it is not safe.'' She simply stated, before turning to face in the direction her hounds were looking, always keeping their noses to the enemy as she taught them. She had no idea how far away the sinner's were, the maximum raise of her hound's noses was quite impressive, which meant it could be a days walk or more, but probably less. They had come in relatively close to the source of the corruption through the portal, that was the mistake of the sinner's here, staying together simply made them light up like a flare on any demon's radar. 

Nymiria looked back to the dragoness, figuring she couldn't even leave now that she thought about it. This storm was growing more intense then before, limiting even her un-natural sight to be only a few steps forward. ''If you cannot leave, stick close to me.'' she simply stated, before beginning to walk in the general direction of the sinners she was hunting.

[Bunbun]

So she was a demon, huh? Well, that was... interesting. Very interesting. The fact didn't really scare her- Instead, it filled Axia's head with a stream of questions. It wasn't every day that you got the chance to talk to... well, a demon. That being said, the experience was certainly a lot different than she expected.

"A demon? Well, I thought demons looked a lot different than you do. Also, according to what the stories say, you should've tried to take my soul by now. I guess those weren't true, then..."

The discrepancies between what Axia was experiencing and the stories she'd been told growing up only served to deepen her curiosity. If demons weren't really like they had been described, then what were they like? The dragon immediately made it her goal to uncover the truth behind that question, whether doing so was dangerous or not. She rarely passed up the opportunity to learn about something new.

"Hmph. People always tell me not to do stuff that 'isn't safe', but what they actually mean is that they don't want me to do anything interesting. If I only did 'safe' things, I would've died of boredom by now!"

Obviously unwilling to be swayed from her goal, Axia quickly started following the demon. Having adapted to the harsh weather typical of the tundra, she paid very little attention to the gathering storm- in fact, she seemed to enjoy it. Not drained of her energy in the slightest, it didn't take long for the dragoness to start talking again.

"...You're very strange, you know that? You were perfectly willing to tell me that you're a demon and all that, but you never even told me your name."

[ValamLym]

Nymiria simply turned for a moment, eyeing at the dragon following her. She couldn't quite tell her to go away anyway, especially now. She didn't really have time for it anyway. Of course, part of her was also curious about the creature.

When Axia spoke of her she simply grinned for the shortest of moments. She sure didn't look a demon, not right now anyway... If only she knew. Eyeing the dragon in complete silence for a moment she spoke up again ''I can assume the form of a human for practicality. I am also not the type of demon that can sustain itself with mortal souls.'' she then smirked at the dragons other words.

''If you wish to come then so be it, just do not get in my way.'' she then simply turned again. Walking a few steps before hearing the next comment. This dragon sure was full of questions. She smiled at that, it was a welcome diversion from the constant assaults and insults. She looked over her shoulder ''I do not beat around the bush when my hounds have already shown their true colors. That said, I am Nymiria.''

As they continued to walk they eventually came up on an old, abandoned camp. Nymiria immediately stepped toward it. Her hounds searching the tents and dragging their noses across the ground ''Recent.'' she simply muttered, dragging a hand through the ashes of the fire.

[Bunbun]

"So you can change forms, then? Well, I think your human form looks pretty good, even if you're just using it 'cause it's convenient."

Axia smiled, pleased that she was starting to learn a little more about Nymiria. The concept of someone making use of multiple forms wasn't completely foreign to her, as she had met many others who were capable of a similar feat.

"...Actually, there's a lot of dragons who have a human form, too. I don't think I have one, though... Even if I did, it would probably be kinda messed up."

The dragon's voice took on a hint of sadness, and she finally went quiet for a few minutes. She just kept moving forward, her eyes fixated directly in front of her. However, it didn't take long for her to realize that she'd completely forgotten to introduce herself. Abruptly snapping back into character, Axia piped up.

"Oh, I haven't told you my name yet! I'm Axia, and I'm a crystal-back... sort of."

When they came across the camp, Axia jumped at the chance to examine the scene and look for any sort of clues. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be much left behind to investigate. Nonetheless, it was surprising to the dragoness that such a camp had gone unnoticed by her.

"Hmm... I don't think I've ever come across this place before. It must be pretty new, or I would have found out about it by now."

[ValamLym]

Nymiria seemed to ignore the dragoness for a while as she inspected the camp. Not because she was un interested, but because she simply preferred to take things one at a time. There would be plenty of time to talk after the camp had properly been searched. After a while, an unholy sounding bark emitted from one of her hounds ''excellent'' she muttered, as the bark meant that the hound had found a more thorough trail.

Finally she turned to address the dragoness. A neutral expression spread upon her face. ''Indeed I can. A demon of my caliber is not allowed to barge around in its true form.'' she simply stated. She didn't really seemed to mind referring to herself as an it. in fact, she often found herself not really caring about most things. However, she felt some discomfort in the dragonesses words and she felt the least she could do was take some time for her.

''Its a pleasure. Axia.'' she simply stated, forcing a smile on her lips for a short few moments. She took a few moments to consider her next words, trying to come up with a way to make the dragoness feel better without exposing the fact that she wasn't such a bad person after all, she preferred being thought of as a mean demon, it helped with her work. ''Appearance is hardly ever important. Practicality and mannerism is.'' she didn't really know if her words were even related to her concern, but most of the time females seemed to be concerned about their appearance for potential mates.

She turned her attention back to the camp for a moment, noting Axia examine the area ''It is indeed very recent.'' she simply added, letting the dragoness peek around a bit. There was no reason to hurry, she had their scent now, they had nowhere left to hide. Every second Axia might delay Nymiria would simply be borrowed time for the sinners.

[Bunbun]

Seeing as Nymiria was taking a while to respond, Axia went on with her own investigation. It was, of course, rather uneventful; gathering information about whoever had set up camp was near impossible for a mortal being. Anything incriminating had either been taken from the scene or erased by the snowstorm. Refusing to be deterred by this, though, the dragon pressed on. She'd poke around the tents, turn everything upside-down, then spend a few minutes trying to figure out how to get her scales untangled from the fabric. Occasionally, she would breath a small amount of fire in order to melt the snow and see if there was anything buried underneath... without much success. Eventually, there finally came a point where it seemed like she would stop searching...

...Then one of the hell hounds let out a sudden bark, scaring the living daylights out of her.

This caused Axia to jump a little, losing her balance and sprawling into the snow. She sat there for a while, berating herself for getting so startled for no reason. Over the course of a few seconds, though, she started to berate herself for... well, berating herself. This was no time to sit around moping, it was time to go adventuring! Picking herself off the ground, Axia seemed to silently think something over in her head before energetically bounding up to the demon.

"Hey! Uh, thanks for saying that stuff. Being different from everyone is hard, but I guess it also has its perks. It doesn't have to be something negative..."

She paused abruptly, trying to think of what more she could say. Axia's conversations didn't usually last this long.

"...Sooooooo, did you find anything useful? Your, uh, friend seemed pretty worked up."

[ValamLym]

Nymiria couldn't help but snicker as the dragon fell in the snow thanks to her one of her hounds. She went to offer her a hand to get back up, but the dragoness seemed determined to help herself up. Working her face back into a neutral expression Nymiria listened to the dragoness speak, simply shrugging in response ''It felt appropriate to say. Mortal mannerism isn't my forte''

When Axia inquired what the hound had found she simply turned to point in a northern direction. ''The location of the demons I came here to hunt.'' she simply stated as she began walking in that general direction. She needn't burn this camp to a cinder as the storm would destroy all evidence within the hour. Instead, she simply began walking into that general direction, her hounds in tow. She took a moment to look over her shoulder at Axia ''I suppose I should ask. Why are you risking your life following me?'' she didn't seem concerned at all by being followed, but her curiosity demanded she asked.

[Bunbun]

The dragon nodded when Nymiria brought up her unfamiliarity with mortal customs. That was an aspect of life that she herself never really bothered with.

"Yeah, I can understand that. There's a whole bunch of dumb rules that you're supposed to follow, and a lot of them don't even make sense. Like, there's certain things you're not supposed to say, then there's things you're always supposed to say, even if you don't mean it... the whole thing's a mess."

Noticing that Nymiria was once again on the move, Axia immediately started to follow as she had done before. She took a little while to answer the question she'd been posed, but she was confident in her words.

"Well, I guess the main reason I'm doing this is because this whole situation is so interesting. This is a chance to learn about something that I might never come across again, and I say it's a risk worth taking. I'd rather die doing something worthwhile than spend my whole life being afraid of doing what I do best."

At that moment, a confident (or perhaps overconfident?) grin crept across her face.

"But anyways, I'm not planning on dying anytime soon. I'm a lot tougher than you might think, so I could handle myself if I got caught up in a fight. It's not like the sinners would want anything to do with me, though. You're the one they're running from, right?"

[ValamLym]

nymiria simply listened to the dragoness speak as they tracked through the snow. She didn't really pretend to understand the humans, let alone this dragon. She seemed rather, adventurous. She supposed, but she didn't know whether that was a good or a bad thing yet, probably a bit of both. When the dragon finished speaking about human mannerism she chuckled ''I can't say I know, I know basic verbal communication, emotions through my own kind and.. luckily, that usually applies to them as well.''

She nodded at her hounds, sending two of them rushing off ahead, while the other stayed with her, to help her track down the renegades. ''I don't know whether I should commend you for your bravery or call you foolish.'' she stated rather bluntly, though attempting to maintain a non- mocking composure. ''Most creatures do not plan on dying, its not something you decide.'' she paused again for a moment, further analyzing her potential answers. ''All are wise to fear me, whether they do it or not is of little concern to me. Arrogance makes my job easier.'' she then looked at her over her shoulder ''They would not seek you out no, but your soul is always a welcome snack.'' she promptly turned her face forward again, continuing their path.

Eventually, they would come up on yet another camp. This one, however still had two renegades residing within. It seemed they had split up, they hadn't detected them yet luckily, the snowstorm luckily messing with their senses as much as it did with Nymiria's. This was also one of the few times where being power restricted helped, it stopped them from sensing her vast aura, at-least for now. ''There they are. They have split up for some reason.'' she noticed her hounds prowling through the snow, already circling their prey. The snow storm luckily drowning out their shapes.

[Bunbun]

"Hmph. Well, maybe you're right. Maybe I am foolish, or arrogant, or whatever. Trust me, I've had those words repeated to me by others more times than I can count. But, you know what? I've been doing this kind of stuff for years, and I'm still around. I mean, I'm alive, aren't I?"

The dragoness laced her last sentence with pride, making it a point to puff out her chest as she did so. To tell the truth, she had been in some pretty rough situations before, and always managed to come out of them relatively unharmed. Though, to be honest, she couldn't say she'd ever come across anything like this before... not that she would ever admit to that. In any case, the words of another had rarely convinced her to stay away from danger before, and she sure wasn't going to start doing so now.

Axia's eyes lit up when the group came across another camp, giving her another chance to explore. Apparently, this camp actually had a couple people in it, which probably meant that it should be approached with caution. Of course, that meant that Axia immediately went to go check it out, not caring much whether Nymiria approved of her doing so. She moved through the snowstorm with surprising agility, moving at a fast pace while also remaining nearly silent. Hopefully, the snowstorm would obscure her presence enough to allow her to get a closer look at the area.

[ValamLym]

Nymiria simply shrugged in response to the dragon's retort. She really didn't know what warranted the entire story, it probably bothered the dragon more then she let on. Or perhaps it was sheer pride responding. In either case Nymiria felt no particular need to delve deeper into it, simply raising her brow as the dragon puffed its chest like some sort of bird would do during a mating dance.

She simply blinked as she noted the dragon sneak off. It looked extremely silly to her, dragon's clearly weren't meant for sneaking. But between her and the snowstorm, even a giant would be stealthy now. She figured she'd follow her, after all these two were her charge. She didn't really attempt to sneak, she knew that if her senses could barely detect the other two then they had no chance to even glimpse her. As such, she simply walked toward the camp.

Noting how the dragon moved to one side, she decided she herself would move to the other. Allowing the dragon whatever the type of fun it wanted with the other lost soul. ''I am moving to capture.'' she said, almost as if addressing an unknown third party ''release restrictions of dormant form.'' she pointedly added, her form quickly changing in response to the glow of the runes of her arms. Taking on the shape of a succubi with green skin and plate only covering her private parts, her long sharp horns curling along her head, two leathery wings bursting from her back.

She quickly dashed forward, hitting one of the sinner's before it could even react. Hand coiled around its throat, lifting it off the ground. A routine mission, that's what this was. It wasn't like these sinner's would be a threat to her, they had to be eliminated because of the humans they could endanger. Although she never quite understood why, it was not her place to question her masters. She eyed the other one, who gave her a panicked look. ''Well dragon, you wanted fun? have at him.'' she exclaimed before a long snake like demon replaced her tail, it coiled around the sinner in her arm, wrapping its mouth over its head before simply swallowing the poor sod, sending him into the abyss that would be Nymiria's guts. 

While that was underway, Nymiria herself had let go of the sinner and turned her attention to the other. Conjuring an infernal bubble around the area, stopping it from attempting to flee. Eagerly awaiting what the dragon would do with it.

[Bunbun]

It didn't take long for Axia to spot something interesting, though surprisingly it wasn't the renegades- it was Nymiria herself. Somehow, in the span of a few seconds, she'd managed to transform from a seemingly human being to a succubus. If it weren't for the fact that the dragon already knew what Nymiria was capable of, she wouldn't have even recognized her. Fascinated by the transformation, Axia stood by and watched as the demon effortlessly took care of one of the sinners. Soon afterwards, she found herself in some sort of makeshift arena with the other renegade- clearly, she was supposed to kill him.

While the dragoness did had some experience with hunting animals, she'd never killed anything that she wasn't planning on eating. She stalled for a bit, staring down the sinner and trying to decide how to proceed. No matter what, this guy was going to end up dead; if Axia wouldn't do it, the Nymiria certainly would. She figured that anything she could do to hurt him would be infinitely better than whatever the other guy was going through. Besides... even if she did let the sinner escape, he'd probably just go back to whatever it was that landed him in hell in the first place. It was an unfortunate truth, but a truth nonetheless. Filled with sudden resolve, the dragon prepared herself to attack.

"...I have to send you back where you belong. Fight back if you want."

With that, Axia began to flap her wings rapidly, lifting herself slightly into the air and disturbing the fresh snow as she did so. The snow was blown from the ground, filling the air and obscuring the dragoness' location even more than the storm had previously. Using the snow as a sort of smokescreen, Axia waited a few seconds in order to make it hard to predict when she would strike. Finally, she dove towards the sinner from the air, stretching her claws out in front of her in an attempt to pin him to the ground.

[ValamLym]

The sinner stared at the dragon in awe for a moment, clearly not having seen anything quite like her just yet. Before long however, he recovered from his surprise, only to be pinned down by the dragon's massive form. ''No! you can't do this to me, you don't know what they do to you down there!'' he exclaimed, trying to appeal to the dragonesses good will.

Nymiria in the meantime hoped the dragon wouldn't fall for it. These souls had been send to hell for a reason after all, but she decided against voicing that just yet. She was curious whether or not the dragon was able to make difficult decisions without the need to work with absolute truths. She didn't really know why she wanted to see it though, perhaps curiosity, perhaps she felt like teaching the poor thing a life lesson.

She turned her gaze to the sinner being devoured by her demonic snake tail, as the crying and screaming finally stopped when he disappeared down the snake and eventually into her own body. Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly no visual indication showed that a man taller then she had just been pushed into her gut, showing that something entirely was going on, or perhaps that her gut didn't quite work the same way as a normal humans would. She let out a satisfied sigh, turning her gaze back to the dragoness and her ''prey''

''Lets not dawdle too long, we've got more to find.'' she added pointedly, hoping it would speed up the dragon's decision. From what she had seen so far, the dragon seemed far from a killer, but that was simply because the dragon had immediately noted she was not prey. Either way it wouldn't matter, if she came along she would no doubt be forced to become a killer eventually.

[Bunbun]

Again, the dragoness paused as she stared down at the sinner, now helplessly pinned to the ground under her claws. It wasn't easy to attack someone who had no chance to protect themselves, let alone kill them. Plus, the sinner's desperate pleading for his life definitely wasn't making things any easier for Axia. She was seriously considering the possibility of letting him go, until the anguished screams of the other sinner reminded her of what the alternative was. Shaking her head solemnly, she finally came to terms with her decision.

"...I'm sorry. I'll try to make this quick and painless."

Carefully removing one of her claws from the sinner's body, she shifted more weight on the other in order to compensate. She did her best to keep him from moving without doing unnecessary damage to his body, but in truth, she had no idea how much force his bones could withstand. Taking a few deep breaths in an attempt to keep herself calm, the dragon started lifting her other leg into the air. There, it hung there as Axia mentally prepared herself to do the deed. Eventually, she brought her claw down towards the man's throat with great force. She looked away as the claw sunk in, holding it there until any movement from the sinner had ceased.

Once she had assured herself that the renegade was no more, Axia stepped off of his corpse, doing everything she could to avoid catching a glimpse of it. Slowly, she made her way back over to Nymiria, tracking fresh blood through the snow. Unlike before, she didn't try to make eye contact; she did have a few questions that she wanted to ask, but she didn't really have the heart to do so at the moment. She just stood in silence, waiting to hear whatever Nymiria had to say, if anything.

[ValamLym]

Nymiria couldn't help but note the dragons reluctance, walking over toward the body of the sinner. She promptly leaned down, plucking the soul from the hollow carcass, tossing it behind her for her snake like tail to consume. ''These sinner's will try to appeal to your mortality. They will stab you in the back the moment they get the chance. Do not pity them.'' she stated pointedly, ordering her hounds to search the camp for anything worth noting.

She would force her to watch if she had been one of her own, but she was not and thus saved the ordeal. She would have to face the reality of this world at one point in time however, but Nymiria was patient enough to let that come to her on her own pace. She quietly took a few moments to savor her little victory, while her hounds searched.

When they turned up with nothing several seconds later she began walking in a northern direction, hounds around her in a group ''Time to find the last three, I am assuming they will be more interesting to combat. Perhaps, you'd like to fight them alone?'' one might've thought that she was joking, but if she was her voice had let no sign of it slip. It felt more like a simply inquiry or challenge then it did a joke.