[Open by request.]
The sun was fading fast and the night was drawing in. But it seemed like every second lasted forever, the harder his feet pounded the soft forest undergrowth. His throat was raw and ragged and felt like he was going to pass out at any moment. With darkness chasing him, he only knew it was a matter of time before the shadow would close in.
He didn't know what it was, but it moved as swift as the wind, like it bounced from tree to tree, a black shape that clung to each structure, jumping off from the left, then landing to the right of him in a zigzagging nature. At times it seemed incredibly close, so much that he could feel breath splaying on the back of his neck, and others, he saw that it was a hundred yards away.
But there it was! Salvation at last!
He stumbled through the trees, tripping over a root, but quickly finding his feet underneath him again. "Help me!" he cried out. "Help me please!"
The sun was falling behind the treeline, the sky a burnt orange color that cast stark contrasts in the growing gloom. The sky rumbled, the belly of heaven roiling in dull rage, and the clouds began to spill forth rain.
His cries fell on deaf ears and he felt something hard knock into his back. Before him stood the stranger that was hounding him. He was bewildered, staring up, wide-eyed. It was just a man, an ordinary man. Not the shade with menacing eyes he thought he saw form the corner of his vision. There was no look of reprieve from the pale man.
"Please! Please! I didn't mean it! It was just there!"
"You should know better than to take things that don't belong to you," he replied. "Pray to the gods for mercy, because you'll find none from me."
The blade was raised eye, one of a twin set of stocky broadswords with a twisting hilt, rose up from the stranger's hand, and as the light continued to fade, and the rain came down, his form darkened, turning into a blackened shadow. They held the handle of the blade and without a second thought swung the blade downward in a savage arc. The metal met to flesh, cutting through it like butter, and red splattered the ground, the man opened from belly to throat. There was a brief yelp, a gurgle and soon a hand fell limply to the ground, and in it was clutched a gemstone amulet.
Rain water collected on the ridges, and the emerald encrusted within it was dabbled here and there with water. The color shifted and swirled and Bhalasar moved over the man's lifeless body. Perhaps he hadn't meant to take it, but that wasn't his fare. It was taken and now it must be returned. His mistress would likely be quite unhappy that it managed to be stolen in the first place.
He reached down to pick it up, his hand pausing suddenly at the sound of a voice nearby. He could've snatched it if it had not been for their quick feet and he spotted them not more than a house away. Bhalasar growled inwardly and quickly vanished when the stranger came closer into view.
He watched them as he clung to the side of a building, the last rays of the sun gone, and the rain pelting down harder now.
Booted feet pounded the ground, crimson hair flying in the newcomer's midst as the person arrived on the scene only to find that she was too late. The man lay in a puddle of his own blood, one hand cut off from the rest of his body, split open like some kind of gruesome trophy.
Elowen glanced around carefully for the shadowy wraith-type creature she had been tracking. There was nothing she could discern, however as she looked towards the side of a nearby building, the hint of glowing eyes could be seen, their unearthly green light shining in menace at her. Narrowing her eyes, the sun elf warrior clutched her weapon more tightly in hand, and hefted it so she was prepared in the case of an attack her way. "Hey!" she spat angrily at the shadow man that was trying to hide. "I can see you, you despicable creature of darkness! Come over here and face me!"
Staring hard at the dark figure Elowen stood in a battle stance, Demon's Bane at the ready, prepared to strike whenever she got the chance to. Her red-gold armor gleamed faintly in the night, droplets of water dripping down it before falling to the muddy ground below. Her hair was bound in a tight ponytail which framed her face, her expression hard and unyielding as the warrior glared hatefully at the shadow before her.
Bhalasar inwardly cursed at having been found so easily. He moved out, away from the wall and stood before the interloping woman, a congealed smoky shadow, with glowing green eyes that pierced through her. She was curiously looking with her odd armor, and peculiar choice of weapon. He turned the blade over in his hand and stuck it's tip into the soil beneath his feet, placing his hands on the hilt, relaxed and curious.
"You summoned me?" he said, with a tilt of his head. When moonlight shone through the clouds, his form materialized, coming back to flesh, armored and starting at Elowen with hungry eyes. He grinned at her, wicked and sinister. "Oh how quaint, a peasant in armor. Make yourself scarce, mouse, this has nothing to do with you."
He lifted the shield from his back and raised his sword, glaring at her.
Elowen watched with a careful eye as the shadowy wraith temporarily took the form of an armored knight. She held her weapon in one hand, shield in the other poised for battle.
"I do not talk to evil creatures like you." the sun elf looked disgusted. "I kill them."
And with those words she charged at Bhalasar, weapon ready to strike!
"As if you could possibly kill me," Bhalasar laughed, raising his shield to block the meager blow of the morning star. Though it was not as meager as he expected it to be! The woman hit hard and made him step backwards. He growled inwardly at that and he shield rushed her.
Pressing on with her attack, Elowen easily dodged the move from her opponent and swung Demon's Bane at a less protected part of his armor, aiming with the intention to make him stagger back even more and weaken him with the holy power imbued in her weapon. This abomination would fall!
The weapon clipped the bottom of his shield and unleashed angry sparks that showered over his legs. Bhalasar staggered to the side and narrowed his eyes at the mouse. She wanted to play? He was game.
He quickly spun counterclockwise and slashed his blade out to her legs, stepping in quickly, gaining ground between them. And if she would not give it, he would crush her.
Side-stepping the blade slashing at her legs, Elowen quickly moved out of harm's way, whirling around and bringing her shield up again in front of her as she moved in again, slowly. She waited a second before she made another attack his way, aiming at the arm holding the shield with fierce strength behind the blow.
Sparks showered all around him, igniting the night like festival fireworks. Bhalasar held true and swiped his blade low at her legs and then once again upward toward her torso. "Get ready to die mouse!" he growled and lunged at her with lightning dexterity.
When he lunged for her, Elowen tried to block with her shield but the slash at her legs hit being mostly absorbed into the damage reduction properties of her armor. However the strike made her stumble back and nearly fall and she quickly brought her shield up to deflect the second hit towards her torso, more sparks flying about as metal met metal upon contact. Elowen quickly stood up fully straight and went to slash at his neck.
Bhalasar was in the mood for no more games and when she came to slash at his neck, his blade swiftly parried and his boot came up to kick her square in the chest. The mouse started it and he would finish it.
Sparks flew as the weapons made contact with each other, blue specks blending into the dark of night as they fought. Elowen twisted out of the way in time to avoid his armored boot hitting her in the chest and turned her body, so that his foot kicked empty air instead. Making a circle turn, she spun on her heels darting behind him and brought her morningstar swinging upward to hit at his back, weapon aglow with a glaring light of holiness about it.
Bhalasar felt the blow connect and he twisted when he felt he weapon collide with him. It sent him tumbling to the side, turning as he plummeted to the ground, landing hard, even in his armor and he felt his whole back feel as if it had been struck by all the horses attached to a flaming chariot.
He laid beside the amulet, the one he'd hunted the foolish man for and his closest arm snatched onto, hiding it in his palm and rolling off to the side, and taking off toward the trees, keeping the sword and amulet wrapped firmly in one hand.
Feeling a momentary sense of triumph as the blow connected with her foe, Elowen made to whip Demon's Bane downwards in a quick strike to the wraith's midsection as he fell to the ground, but she wasn't fast enough, her weapon striking the ground instead with a clang as he took off running for the trees.
The sun elf warrior wasted no time in chasing after him, roaring with an enraged battle cry as she went plowing after him. "Die, monster!" she screamed after him, searching with her keen eyes to see where he went.
He was at home once again. Where the moonlight poured through the treetops and was contrasted by their masses, he vanished like a ghost into that darkness, as if he'd never. He could've escaped, vanished and materialized elsewhere with impunity. But he wanted to squash the mouse that dare wound him.
He scowled in the dark, as his body blended in as one with it. As if she thought she might strike fear into him! HA! He watched her, as she ran through the trees, and when her back was to him, he leapt out from the massive shadow of an oak and held both swords in hand, aiming for her back.
Elowen felt the whoosh of air behind her and made to evade, but she moved a split second too late and the blades' tips struck her armor and some of her exposed flesh, drawing blood. The sheer pain of it slowed her down for a precious second or two, likely giving her opponent a temporary edge over her.
But Elowen would not give in. She started this, she would sure as all hell finish it! Swinging her weapon at him again, this time aiming for his face, hate and anger burning in her eyes.
The weapon would pass through him like air, wooshing passed and he stepped in close to her. Slashing upward toward her exposed wrists and arms and began a merciless assault, closing distance quickly and never giving her the chance to regain her balance.
More pain resulted, again throwing her off-balance. The enemy continued to rain attacks on her with fervor, a frenzied assault that Elowen could barely avoid. Throwing up her shield to deflect some of the hits coming her way, blood poured down her arms in rivulets now, but she made to attack yet again.
"You won't win this fight, I swear it!" Elowen snarled at him.
"I don't intend to win. I intend to break you," he said with a low, amused growl from deep in his throat. He moved out of the way of her slow attack and took the green gemstone amulet from his belt. "My mistress could use a new slave. A shame I'd have to kill someone so beautiful. I could always carve out your face and stretch it over porcelain," he laughed.
Bhalasar lunged for her one last time, weapons unleashed.
[I'm thinking that maybe the amulet breaks somehow during their scuffle and causes a sort of magical anomaly. The exact nature of the amulet and what it does is up in the air, and what the anomaly might is also up for determination! We can figure it out as we go, or if you have ideas on this, shoot me a PM!]
Elowen managed to get her shield up in time but barely. She was put on the defensive as the wraith creature continued to slash at her mercilessly. Enraged, she wanted to end this thing, and by the gods she would! The need to win and destroy this creature churned a fierce storm inside her, and with eyes gleaming in hatred, Elowen vowed to herself that she wouldn't fall. The sun elf would never give this abomination that satisfaction.
With an angry roar, Elowen shield-rushed him, intending to knock him down.
But her delay had given Bhalasar time to square himself and when she came at him, he met her shield to shield. He was strong, a wall, and when she would collide with him the clash would create a massive bright light. However, he was not immune entirely to the force which she herself wrought, and it sent a subtle quiver down his hands, and he brought his weapon arm up to strike at her.
However, it seemed his motion had brought up the amulet he had fought so hard to retrieve. He moved too quickly, and his pride would shatter much like the amulet when the edge of his weapon impacted the small crystalline object, shattering it into pieces.
At the collision of shields, Elowen was temporarily blinded by the bright yellow light and stumbled backward, but that only lasted a second before her vision began to return. However it was enough time for his weapon to strike her, but luckily most of the damage was absorbed into her tough red-gold armor. The hit seemed to crack something the wraith held in his hand, green crystalline pieces flying this way and that. Miraculously none of the shards hit her at all, falling harmlessly to the ground in broken bits and pieces.
With renewed fervor, the sun elf swung her weapon at his head at the same time a ghastly shape emerged from the broken pile on the ground. A loud screeching was heard then coming from a black open maw that seemed to comprise the creature's mouth before whatever it was vanished. With Elowen concentrating on her attack, she only saw this out of her peripheral vision so it didn't fully register at that point.
It all seemed to move so slowly. Bhalasar had never felt so stung in his life. And it came not only from the blow Elowen's weapon delivered to his face, but the sheer pain of it struck his whole body, electrifying him and he screamed in agony.
However that energy was not kept solely on him, and like a bolt of yellow lightning, it would leap across Elowen's weapon and strike the very heart of her.
When the blow hit its mark, Elowen was thoroughly unprepared for what happened next. The force of her own weapon ricocheted back onto her and while some of the fire damage she was able to absorb, it wasn't enough, not to mention the sheer divine power her weapon possessed. Normally holy power only dealt damage to those evil and and vile of heart, certainly not those who fought for the side of good. Something was terribly wrong here. Elowen didn't know what it was, but it gave her pause.
After letting out a blood-curdling scream of pain, Elowen fell back breathing heavily before turning her enraged glare to the black wraith. He didn't look any better, and that at least made her feel a sense of accomplishment, even if the victory was only partial. Growling out between her teeth, she snarled at him. "What did you do?!" Wanting nothing more than to keep attacking her foe until he was no more.
Bhalasar was knocked back, and laid against the gnarled bubbling roots of an tree behind him. He gasped for breath as he hadn't had to do in ages, but the need suddenly fell upon him. And nothing made him feel more corporeal than the pain that coursed through him at this moment. When the elf growled at him, he simply looked at her with wild eyes and scowled.
"I-I...How am I supposed to fucking know!?" he spat, voice hoarse and pained as if his own ribcage was feeling ripped apart. He then looked upon the broken glass of the amulet scattered all over the underbrush. "No..." he breathed. He scrambled up, or tried to with extreme effort. "No! NO! What!? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"
He reached for his blade again, trying to push the pain away from his mind as he crawled over to Elowen and raised it to stab her. "You're finished!" he howled.
Rolling out of the way, the blade hit only dirt as Elowen jumped to her feet. With renewed clarity and drive, she swung her morningstar at Bhalasar again, aiming for his mid-section. The fight was on again, as the sun elf strove to put as much crushing force into the hit as she were able.
And when her blow connected with his chest, that yellow lightning struck again, seeming to come from any violent contact between the pair, and struck them both square in the chest. Bhalasar stumbled onto his pack and tried to hold his chest together, the points of Elowen's morning star having scraped against the metal of his armor.
The sun elf was knocked on her back in pain as the yellow lightning struck the both of them. What the hell is going on?! she thought angrily. Elowen quickly jumped up and repositioned herself into a fighting stance, ready to swing at him again if need be. Although now she was hesitant to do so as it seemed whenever she did, her own strikes retaliated against her.
"Curse you bastard! I don't know what you did to me, but I swear you won't be around for much longer to gloat!" Normally this would be true, but with the odd effect of her own weapon going against her, Elowen was much less certain about what was going to happen next.
Still her desire to see the end of this abomination was still very strong within her and so Elowen raised Demon's Bane to strike again. Charging at him, she screamed in his face. "Die!"
He raised the shield, just barely deflecting the blow as more electric sparks passed between them. The blow only brought on more pain that surged down his arm, and the same effect would pass through Demon's Bane and into Elowen.
Elowen gritted her teeth at the pain in her arm, but otherwise showed no further signs of being impaired. Now more determined than ever to finish the thing before her. Yet, she was faced with an aggravating problem. Her own weapon had never turned against her before, and in her bloody haze she wondered if it had anything to do with the shattered artifact on the ground. She was now at a loss.
Elowen wanted nothing more than to hit her foe again with Demon's Bane but hesitated instead, looking down at the shattered pieces of glass and crystal still lying in the grass. The sparkles of green against green while pretty, seemed to be the cause of her problem and the sun elf screamed in rage at this.
Huffing for a few seconds to catch her breath, she noticed her enemy also seemed reluctant to fight. At least it wasn't purely one-sided, as the wraith's own attacks also injured him as well. Elowen glared with pure hatred at him, and spoke venomously, "I may not be able to kill you now, but upon my weapon and family I swear you will meet your end soon enough!"
Bhalasar remained still, panting hard as if to still a heartbeat that remained. "Why?" he hissed at her. "Why try to destroy me? What have I done to you?"
Elowen was also trying to calm her breathing, and she adjusted her position on the ground as a tree root pushed painfully into her side. The sun elf snarled at the wraith in pure aggravation. "Scum of the earth like you don't deserve to exist!"
"And who are you to judge me as scum, elf?" Bhalasar spat at her. He stepped back, staggering and soon falling against a ridge of stone beside a tree. "You can't hurt me. As I can't seem to hurt you. It only seems to bring more pain between the two of us. Now unless you have a deathwish, you should cease this foolishness at once."