OOC: This is an open thread by requests only. So if you're interested, please PM me ^_^
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From a single thread, cast in silver by the moon's light, dangled a spider over her lips. It was said if she ate one widowed spider on the evening of the harvest moon, that she would have a vision of her fate. Long had it been since she had dreamed of a day her mother had conditioned her for, and she felt her blood burn that she was another year nearer to fulfilling her prophecy; a prophecy where it was said she, herself, could take revenge upon the Gods that had imprisoned them here upon these wretched swamps.
She was deep within a forgotten woods, where trees have long since rotted at the roots and their limbs, now skeletal and grey, stuck out like thorns from the soggy grounds of the swamps. These were the lands she paid homage to. These were the lands she was warned she could never leave, least she suffer the consequences where her breath would be sucked clean out of her, and her life to dissolve away. Yes.. Sah-lora feared ever leaving the swamps. If she did, it meant for her a certain death.
Fear of death kept Sah-lora from the boarders of her home, and also fear of the wicked night creatures that hunted and would kill you just to suck out your bones. She often did her work during the day, or in the safe haven of her mother's cabin, if a ritual be needed at nigjt.
But this night was an exception. This was her first night she was allowed to venture out by herself, and purely for the first phase of many rituals she would pay to her betrothed; a demonic prince of the nights. Her mother, having blessed her and drew chalk markings across her leather hood, and placed an curse-blocking amulet of bones around Sah-lora's neck, now kissed her daughter's forehead and sent her out into the wicked night.
And Sah-lora never questioned her mother, even now, as she heard the a haunting wail from across the fog ridden bog. Crouching low upon a rock, Sah-lora's body caked in mud from travel, and as she looked back up at the spider, an eerie, shadow of a figure against the glowing, red mood. Then she dropped the spider right inside her mouth. It's legs wriggled as she ground it between her teeth, and swallowed it fast as she clutched a hand to her throat. Insects and spiders were always so bitter when going down.
It was then she thought she heard something, and whirled around, eyes cutting through the fog.
But nothing was there....
The fire that whipped across his flesh opened his back in vicious wounds. Ghanon cried out much to the satisfaction of the cloven-hooved tormenters that had discovered his presence within their realm. They were ugly creatures, horns growing out, ridging their brows and growing up and outward on their heads. Their flesh was scarred with burns and lashes and hands were gnarled and clawed on the fingertips. As terrible as they were, they relished in their ugliness, for what savagery was in their hearts became attributed in their physical forms.
The plane of Cadameris had been a risky one, but Ghanon just couldn't resist. The Astralwalker had located a shard in the heart of that dreadful world, where one of the Dread Lords was near its power. But despite his discretion, he had been discovered and had Ghanon not convinced the beastly men of his disguise as a holy man from an enemy realm, they might have done more than briefly tortured him and cast him out.
But the flame whips that had lashed at his back stung as he ran. For though he wasn't yet executed, their definition of casting out involved the captive to run for change in rifts, the opened portal, while being chased by minions and their hounds. But Ghanon would endure all they had to give as he ran for his life, with the shard safely hidden away on his person. He could hear his pursuers getting louder the closer they drew and when he was tired of running he suddenly stopped and turned on them.
His form shimmered and wavered and gone were the tattered robes of the holy man and he was dressed in his black leathers that coated his body. At the sudden change in his form, the minions halted and cried out, stunned. Within his hands, Ghanon charged a powerful ball of energy and launched it at them, the Corrothim magic scourging their flesh. The dogs yelped and were cast aside and a smile of satisfaction grew on his lips at their torment.
"You can't take the fire when it's not in your hands," Ghanon quipped as he pulled the flesh from their very bodies. But just as he was about to finish one off, the presence of their master made the very ground quake.
"DECIEVER! the hoarse voice growled and the powerful voice of the Dread Lord made Ghanon lose his footing. "I should have known! Ghanon of Dragolir! Leave before your flesh is forfeit! LEAVE!" And a mighty hand, giant and its owner unseen, came in a cloud of fire and slammed Ghanon through the portal, sealing it upon his exit.
And through it, Ghanon was thrown into another world, falling through the sky in a blaze of fire, tearing across the night like a shooting star, right into that murky swamp. There was a roar, followed by a blast, and a stinging smell of burning flesh as Ghanon moved and twitched weakly within the muddy crater his fall had created.
A piece of spider was still wriggling in her throat. Clearing it, she forced it down with another hard swallow before wiping away at her lips and moving to stand. The next part of the ritual called for a dance and bath in the mud and waters of the swamp- and she was about to remove her clothing, as part of the ceremony dictated she do so, when a flash of light in the sky left her gaping as a shooting star suddenly smashed into the swamp lands, a reaction that caused Sah-lora to drop to her knees.
She had been flinching, and moments after the crater had struck, she blinking peered over the land to where swamp waters and mud sizzled and she could smell a peculiar but familiar stench of burning. Curious, as the falling star had come just moments after the spider had been consumed, she left herself half dressed in nothing more than her slip and a few scraps of leather, fur and bone, and began to wade her way through the chest high deep area of swamp lands around her until the pool thinned out nearest the crater, to where she hesitated in her approach. But upon seeing what had created it shocked her most of all as she dropped to her knees before him suddenly, and let her forehead touch the ground.
"Dark lord!" she exclaimed, not realizing what else to do in the presence of one such as he who fell from the sky. She could only presume this was the Dark Prince she had prayed to for so many years and was promised to wed, but when her call was not answered, she blinkingly lifted up her gaze to watch the charred, twitching form of Ghanon remain (apart from the twitching) still.
Frowning, she studied the man's form more deeply, and took note of his slicked back blonde hair and skin, much like her own. She had presumed the demon prince would have looked... more... demon? And well, as she stood up and lightly kicked his form, her frown deepened as she began to wonder.... if he were the demon lord, he wouldn't look so... dead? And well, unmistakably, he looked just too.... human.
Though curious as it was, she continued to study the man, lifting up an arm here, and resting her ear over his chest to listen to his heart beat and confirmed that infact, despite having fallen from the sky as a star, he was still alive. So maybe this man was a star of some sort? Or...
The idea just occurred to her- perhaps he was just a mere man? And he was sent here as part of her ritual. Fresh human bones were dreadfully hard to come by. Deciding it not wise to leave the man in the mud, she moved back to her supplies and returned, a fur-trimmed leather pouch in hand as she made quick work to dig up some rope, and as she did so- the night creatures she so desperately feared began to make calls in her direction.
Peering over her shoulder in the direction she heard the calls, she made quick work to bind up the body, then promptly began to give him a tug after half redressing herself in her make shift cloak trimmed in fur and beads of bone. But boy was the man heavy, and she was not sure how long she'd be able to drag him like this as she dug her boots into the swampy grounds and pulled and pulled, all the while the wild calls of the night time hunting creatures were growing dangerously closer and closer through the skeletal trees. And it was hard to tell which way the beasts were coming, for the echoes came from all around, and the shadows danced as clouds moved silently over and across the blood red moon.
And just as she spotted the smoke from her mother's cabin, she paused dead in her tracks - for before her was the glistening perfection of a spider's web- and curiously, she paused to tilt her head and watch as a beady, black widow spider crawled down the silver- sparkling laces of her web, and towards the moth prey she had caught. If this was not a sign, she knew not what was.
Snatching the spider, she tossed it into her mouth, and then the moth that had been bond to it, and opened Ghanon's lips and forced the moth inside. Her and her mother would eat good tonight. Fresh human bones and meat was rare indeed. And this one would bring her good fortune and luck in her future, when she was to finally meet with her fated Dark Prince.
And while she tried to coax Ghanon's unconscious form to eat the spider thread incased moth, she began to draw mud markings across his face, and sprinkle frog piss across his clothes, just as the dark clouds rolled away to blanket the pair of them in red moon light.
Oh! But she had forgotten one more thing to bless their kill! (besides, you know, killing him..)
Scrambling around in the mud, it took a few moments of groping but she was able to yank out a mud snake- and the red and black serpent hissed and coiled up beneath her fingers before she moved to set the creature onto Ghanon's belly and held her breath, awaiting which fated direction it would go. And slowly the snake slithered towards Ghanon's chest, and she could only hope that the poisonous snake would bite him so that she and her mother could watch the man die from the terrible fever and shakes.
Yes! This had to be a sign! Oh, how Rizhra would be thrilled!
Ghanon's consciousness had been taken from him the moment he was knocked from Cadamaris. The force of the giant hand had been a gargantuan one, one he should have anticipated, but it had been too late. The burns had been gone, but they were replaced with scratches and bruises and left him in his solid form. As the strange girl pulled him from his muddy crater, he hadn't been able to realize the shard he had worked so hard to find, had separated from his landing.
It wasn't until he felt the slithering of something cold and wet on his chest did he finally awaken with a savage start. He opened his green eyes and stared eye to eye with the snake. His eyes narrowed and mouth snarled to hiss at the snake. The reptile returned the reply, brandishing its fangs, but after a battle of wills, the snake hissed once more and slithered off his chest. When it did so, Ghanon noticed Sah-lora and the rope that attempted to bind him.
His form shimmered and he phased through the meager ropes before lunging for the red-haired woman. His hands went around her throat, his hands stronger than iron and in his other hand burned a glowing ball of energy, simmering hot and ready to turn her face off. "Who are you and what do you think you're doing!?" he growled.
Sah-lora watched in mild fascination as the man charmed the snake, and so it was with no surprise she hadn't run when the man suddenly was upon her- though his display of power was in no way lost upon the girl. ANd she would have replied to him, was he not choking her of breath. But realizing he was hostile and she, panicking under the circumstances, found her boot kicking heavily to his arm as her finger nails scraped at his wrists in hopes to procure freedom from him. She did, after all, not wish to die!
Her nails did hurt, but it was not nearly enough to break his grip. Ghanon's hands were large and powerful and he instead moved from strangling her to vaulting her up and over his head, launching her into the tree behind him. Wood splintered outward from the blow and instead of taking on the attack, Ghanon instead, stood back and leaned against the first tree he had pinned her against. "Who are you? What are you doing!?" he growled once more.
The trees, being long since dead and grey, broke instantly on impact and sent her tumbling to the ground. The prickling sting from the bursting, breaking bite of tree limbs and the sharp slap of swamp ground from her landing made her wince, but the sudden realization he was doing things not quite human had her smiling as she laughed up at his form, gripping onto her side where a pain still throbbed from impact.
"Who am I?" and she found herself laughing again. "I am but a woman of little consequence to man as you- a man who has showed up on the night of the blood moon." And before him she bowed hastily, knees digging into the mud. "For I am the daughter of Rizhra, prophesied killer of Gods. And you.." And here she lifted her green gaze upon him, still ever smiling, "Must be the man I ate spiders for."
That she was so little winded or wounded from the slam in the tree bark told him that she too was not quite human. Which made this strange enounter all that much more intriguing and much more suspicious. But the Gods no longer had a hold on Ghanon of Dragolir, no longer had a say in his destination or his whereabouts and yet...somehow he felt this meeting was not entirely by accident.
He stood back warily and peered at the strange woman. "You ate spiders? For me? And I suppose your mother told you they would allow you certain gifts? Gifts like...prophecy perhaps? Then you can tell me then, just who am I?"
OOC: *face palms*
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Sah-lora's gaze was wide as she stared at the blonde man in wonder.
"Yes," she told him when he inquired about the spiders. "On the night of the blood moon, a vision would be seen." And here she rose off the ground, finding little consequence in the mud that now caked her knees. "Yet I had no idea the vision would be alive!" And she moved forward as her eyes danced across his form, not believing what she was seeing as her hands moved forward as if to touch him.
"To think... the prophecy is alive before me. The Dark Prince has finally come!"
OOC: >_> no Sah-lora, no...
"Prince huh?" Ghanon said. He had to stop himself from grinning in amusement to keep from leading her further on than she was already leading herself. As she reached out to touch him, Ghanon did not move, but instead he shifted his form to allow her hand to phase through him, as if here nothing more than indeed the vision she spoke of. But when she pulled away, his hand would shoot out to catch hers in a solid tangible grip.
He turned her hand over, back and back until he memorized the finer points of her hand before letting her go. "How can you be so sure? Were there certain signs that your mother told you to seek? Signs of what your prince would look like? What is it exactly that makes him so...dark?" He gave her a small smirk and peered down at her surroundings, his smirk fading. Gods her home left a lot to be desired.
To feel her arm (or perhaps, not feel it) pass through the man, made her pale green eyes widened as she smiled. But just as she was drawing her arm back to inspect such magics, the man suddenly grabbed onto her. The grip was rough, but even as she tried to pull away, she fought little as she watched him study her hand.
"Yes... prince," she confirmed, undoubtly sure he was the one of her destiny. Once her arm was returned to her, she curled her wrist towards herself and studied him, eyes dancing.
"And how could I be unsure? It was said on a night when the moon is red as blood, and the black widowed spider is eaten, a vision would come to me here- and I would hear the words of my Dark Prince, and see the clear visions of my future. For vengeance is upon us, and he will help lead me unto victory... to kill my father,a nd to kill any other God who stands in our way!"
ANd at his inquiry of looks, she shook her head.
"I know not what he looked like until today." And her smile continued to grow as she took him in in wonder.
"To kill a god? Now that is an intriguing plan," Ghanon smirked, crossing his arms in front of him. He stepped back, leaning his back against the tree and nearly scoffed at the red-headed woman. "And why would you want to kill a god? They're not so bad. Unless of course you call spending the rest of your life as someone else's pawn the pinnacle of your existence. Then killing a god sounds like quite a grand time. Do you even know who your precious daddy is? What did he do to cause mommie-dearest to wish his certain death?"
"Gods are the bane of all men. It is the Gods who treat us like slaves. My father cursed us to remain here, in these swamps, until the rest of our days. And until my blood is used against them, to summon them here and bring their demise, we will forever be stuck here. But the prince I am promised to is meant to come, and together- we will destroy all that they have built!"
The way her eyes sparkled show-cased the passion held within her breast. She solely believed this, and knew her destiny would someday be full-filled.
"The Gods are only deserving of this, for I have been punished long before my birth- but it has also been seen that through me, the Gods will fall and our freedom shall come."
"What a lovely way to spend an lifetime," Ghanon agreed with a nod. "Gods really are a pain in the ass, so I understand your sentiments exactly, and share them quite well. I commend you on your pursuit on revenge, and wish you all the best. But, I really must be going now." He flashed Sah-lora a smile and felt against his body the place where he had hidden the shard and just as he was stepping away, his smile slowly faded and he snarled, cursed.
"What the fuck!?" he howled, spinning around and feeling all over his clothes for the shard. "Not again!"
Sah-lora blinked as she watched him turn away.
"But you just got here. Are you really to leave so soon? The ritual has yet to be complete and the blood moon, still full. If you'd like, I could find the third and final spider to eat, then cut myself to offer you the blood you deserve."
Ghanon stared at her with wild eyes. What the hell was it she was rambling on about anyway!? He didn't need to understand her insanity, save that she would serve as little more than a roadblock in his search for the mirror shard that had fallen from his safekeeping. He really hoped he wasn't making a habit of this.
Ghanon turned to Sah-lora and stared at her dead in the eyes, approaching her. "And why would you offer me your blood? As if you are truly worthy of me," he said with a quiet scoff. "What makes you think I would help you? What would a spider prove?"
"But you appeared on the night of the blood moon." Her eyes wavered with emotion as she protested. She furrowed her brow. "Are you, a man of power, not connected to the darkness? I can feel it. With us. With you. In this swamp." ANd shaking her head, she added, "And a spider proves loyalty. Blood- promise." And she tilted her head curiously at him, before frowning.
Ghanon took a step back for a moment and eyed her. She could feel it? Feel him. Ghanon's mind flashed in an instance of separate memory. The shard was gone from his person, but there was suddenly a new energy to her, a power he could feel emanating. But how? The shard...did it somehow enter into her body? It...it couldn't be possible. And yet, far it be it from Ghanon to attempt to measure what was possible and impossible.
"A man of power...I am," he answered at last. "I am of both light and shadow, life and death. I did not see it at first, but now...now I feel it too. Your lifeforce. Your energy." And he suddenly drew toward her like a moth to fire and smashed his lips against hers, drinking of her 'lifeforce' so to speak as he kissed her deeply and hotly, then pulling away.
Startled, Sah-lora couldn't properly respond, for if she could have thought of it- she wouldn't have suddenly socked the man clean across the face. Finding her breath, she stared at him with wide eyes.
"What was the meaning of that?!" ANd she touched a hand to her lips and back away from him."And what do you mean life and death?"
Was it, perhaps, another such dark prince who arrived not her own? Maybe she ate the wrong spider.. or was performing this ritual on the wrong night. Shaking her head, she took another step back and kept her eyes cautiously upon him.
Ghanon stumbled backwards and landed in a muddy puddle of water, as he held his jaw where she successfully struck him. He just laughed and rubbed his cheek, smiling up at her. "Forgive me, I did not realize it from earlier. I have traveled across many worlds, many planes to come here," he said, cracking his jaw back into place and he climbed to his feet.
"Many worlds to find you. When I say I am between life and death it is because I am not quite physical, and yet not quite spirit. You saw it earlier, when your hand passed through me like a ghost and yet your fist collided with my face." He rubbed his cheek still and peered at her from the corner of his eyes. "I have traveled a long time to come here... My journey has take my memory, exhausted me of much of my power, but...it might be restored now that I am here to do what I came here to do."
Sah-lora regarded the man for a time. Her heart was beating rapidly within her chest,a nd her eyes were wild and wide.
"Then you are the Dark Prince of prophecy?" she said, mouth gaping in awe, and she moved forward a few steps and hesitantly reached a hand out to touch his arm, then shoulder, then to his face.
Ghanon smiled and tilted his head, holding his arms out to her. "In all his majesty," he replied and allowed her hand to touch him.
Sah-lora's arms touched his arm, and she flinched lightly, but then, witha smile, she touched his other arm and then took ihs hand, inspecting it. He appeared like any other human, just like her- but she had seen and felt when he had become other worldly- and had seen him come down from the stars.
Turning to him, her eyes became starry, like the sky.
"If you are the dark prince, take me to the stars!"
She had always wanted to go.
"Let me see the place you have come from. I am ready. The spiders have proven it!"
The spiders didn't really prove anything except that she would have little legs coming out of her later when they were finished digesting. But Ghanon only smiled at her, taking both of her hands into his and stepping in closer to her. She could feel his otherworldly energy emanating off of him and he clasped her wrists to his and his palms closed around her wrists. "I could take you across the universe and back," he said, peering at her with his fluxing silver-green eyes.
"Look up at the stars, and breathe gently, feel your energy flow into me," Ghanon soothed. He warmed his hands to her touch, the energy of his magic pulsing and coursing and gravitating between them. "Focus on the stars, visualize them, then look into my eyes." He gripped her wrists tighter before allowing his vision to pour into hers and his focus was so intent - not even a blink - as he imparted a fraction of his gifts to her, to allow her to be transported along with him.
Soon they faded from that world that was, their bodies ghosting through atmosphere, warping, blending, melding together until where they stood now seemed to be nothing more than a platform suspended both in space and in time. And around them swirled the torrent of galaxies and stars and nebulas and quasars, pulsars, magnetars.
"Well?" he asked, looking up once he had broken their stare. "What do you think?"
The sensation was out of this world. Whether it was lucid or real did not matter, for before her the stars spanned across her in an infinite ocean of clouds of swirling dusts and sparkles of light twinkling against the blackness. As far as her eyes could see this stretched, and the awe inspiring sensation had her clutching onto Ghanon tight.
Such power, such beauty kept her breath hitched within her throat as she peered around them- and found no words to describe the swell in her chest.
"I.." she said, hesitantly, still clutching onto him. "I do not know what to say!" And her eyes were lit up so vibrantly, the green colored appeared to sparkle like those of the pulsing stars. And she was smiling. "This is incredible! This land of a thousand stars!" And to him, she smiled, almost laughing. "And the power- I feel so insignificant here! It is like nothing I ever imagined!"
Ghanon offered her a small smile and turned his eyes toward hers. Within their glare, the fluxing silver rimmed with green almost seemed to be filled with millions of more stars in their midst, as if within him resided the heart of another universe all its own, though whether that was true, or were merely the reflection of the stars around them, no one could ever know.
His hands gripped around her and he nodded. "The gods know not the power of their own universe, their own creations. They would turn a blind eye to the very majesty of what they had made. There are some things we have yet to discover, that are greater even than the gods, these makers, these planners, these forsakers," he replied.
"But our world is just one of many, and many more among them."
Sah-lora continued to stare at the stars as he spoke, taking them all in in wonder before turning her gaze towards his. His eyes were mesmerizing, and she found herself with some difficulty to break his stare.
"Y-yes," was all she could say. "The Gods are fools."
Ghanon did not even blink as she stared into his vision. He squeezed her hands and peered into her eyes until she was completely lost in them. "Indeed they are. Which is why I will help you, as the prophecy foretold. Do you believe me now?"
"Yes," she told him blindly, excitement and fear all welling up inside her and swelling her with glee. But she steeled off that giddyness and nodded. "Of course. Anything for the Dark Prince."
Ghanon smiled at her and squeezed her hand in all the realness he had become. He nodded and took a hand to coax her eyes closed. "We shall return to your realm then," he whispered gently. And with that they dissipated back to her earthen plane.
Once they were surrounded again by dank trees and thick humid swampy air, Ghanon opened his eyes and told her to open hers. "Then where do we begin? I'm assuming you have the ritual to complete," he muttered.
Sah-lora, once she felt her boots on solid, swampy ground, her eyes shot open and she became giddy at the sight. Seeming not to hear his question, she turned to him.
"Oh what ritual when you are already here!" she spoke, taking his hands and squeezing them. "To think, my dark prince has come! I did not think it would be this blood moon, but you are here! And you are real!"
Ghanon frowned at her, not nearly as excited as she was. He knew nothing about this woman and yet he made no qualms about pretending to be her destined lover. It made no great matter, he simply needed to bide his time long enough to get the shard. And if there was one thing Ghanon had it was time.
"What now then?" he breathed softly.
Her eyes were shimmering with such brightness that she had almost not realized the noise- and once she did- and the familiar howls and hisses were heard, her expression immediately dropped and her face, paling into terror.
"Those who come out at night.."s he whispered. "Those made of bone. To Rizhra's we must go," she spoke, taking his hand suddenly. "Lest the monsters of the swamp appear and eat us."
Monsters of the swamp? He doubted it couldn't have been anything more than he could handle, but he knew better than to contest her judgment and her desperation as they moved on toward the house that had become her home. To Rizhra.
"Is she far?" Ghanon breathed as he ran alongside her, following her lead. He hoped it wasn't as the growls and howls grew louder and more angry. Though he did not fear them, it wasn't a bad touch to pretend he did.
At first, Sah-lora did not answer him as she tried to make quick work through the swamp like terrain.
"Yes.. see that curl of smoke?" she said, pointing one gloved finger towards the skeletal tops of the trees. "She lives there, on the other side of these swamps."
And it was evident that that location was so many miles away- and that the creatures, who howled, unseen, were so much closer than that.
"We're going to need to get there faster than running," Ghanon barked, feeling the creatures of the night closing in on them. "That house up in the distance? I think I can get us there..." He suddenly lurched forward and wrapped his arms around Sah-lora. A portal opened up before them and he leapt through. He closed his eyes, as the portal closed behind them and before them, they tore through another, appearing on the other side and bashing through the door of the swamp hut.
As the two fell into a muddied heap upon the floor, they would be greeted by the bubbling sounds of a brewing pot, it's heat...a nd smells. Though it seemed nothing else was there as Sah-lora lay on her back side, breathing heavily and peering up at the bones and dried herbs that hung from the ceiling and clattered together lightly, making hollowed- chime like noises as they struck together. But as the familiarity of the cabin became real to her, she sat up suddenly with a gasp.
"We're in my home!"
"This? This is your home? It certainly seems like someone like you would live here." Ghanon's comment was a little disoriented as he climbed unsteadily to his feet. Leaning against the wall, he took in the raw and savage look of seemed to be a witch's hut in the middle of the wilds of the swamp. But then a notion struck him and he blinked. "How do you know we'll be safe from the monsters here?" he asked.
The reminder of those beasts had her gesturing to Ghanon to remain quiet as her green eyes stalked across the building, and she crept around- checking windows and doors alike to ensure they were closed. But each time she checked one window and one door, she lightly wrapped a hand around a clove of garlic and bones hanging from it. But she said nothing, letting her eyes raise towards the roof top when a night time wind rattled the roof.
"We are safe if the roof remains," she murmured.
"Yeah...hopefully." Ghanon looked about the strange abode before finally turning and taking a seat on a stool in the corner. "So where is your mother? This Rizhra? Though...perhaps we don't need her right off. Do you have food and drink? I am awfully famished!"
Sah-lora kept quiet, even long after Ghanon posed his question as green eyes scouted the room again when another strong breeze came through. ANd with her eyes still cemented to the ceiling, she said, "Rizhra might have gone to look for you."
"Well, then we can wait until she comes back. In the meantime, don't you think it'd be prudent for you to show me around your home?" he murmured with a sly grin.
Sah-lora blinked at such a comment. She was not familiar with the custom.
"But we are already in my home."
"Indeed we are," Ghanon gave her a smile. "But I'd like to know more about it. Tell me. How did it come to be yours and your mothers? Why do you live so isolated from others?"
Sah-lora gave a curious tilt of her head at the phrasing.
"We are cursed to live here. We can not leave. It is the Gods who wish us to stay here in the swamps- out of fear and pride. So my mother choose to build this as our home. Everything you see here is hers. I just help her to maintain it."
"Then I suppose that's as much as there is to learn about this place. But it does spring rather curious questions," Ghanon muttered, holding his hands behind his back and stepping throughout the small cabin. "Why are you exiled so? Do the gods know of your work here? To slay them that is?"
Sah-lora gave a curious tilt of her head.
"I do not know the affairs of Gods, but they do know we dwell here. I did mention they were the ones who imprisoned us, after all."
And she turned away, smirking as she did so as she moved to tend to the fire, her green eyes peering into the bubbling cauldron.
"Odd.. Rizhra left the pot to boil..."
And at a scratch at the window had her whirling around- but nothing was there.
"How...how do you know that you are safe from the beasts outside of this house? How can you trust the frailty of wooden walls and glass panes?" Ghanon asked with a grim expression.
The woman frowned.
"I've lived here many moons, in fact.. this is the place I've grown up. Not once have they come for me here. This place is sacred. We mark it, and conduct rituals to keep these animals at bay. It is how we live in peace in such a place." And there really was no other way, though another seemingly intentional scratch at the side of the house again gave her more reasons to frown, as a chill ran through her and she heard a few crunching foot steps outside.
"Why do they live here? Where do they come from? Why do they hound you?" Ghanon asked with furrowed brows.
Before Sah-lora could answer him, there was a scraping at the door. She whirled around, but the second her eyes were taken away from the wall with the window, the window cracked, then shattered, and a gust of wind howled through the cabin, snuffing all the candles out.
Andnow their bodies were only illuminated by the glow of orange fire beneath the cauldron as Sah-lora felt herself swallowing back her heart that had leaped within her throat.
"By the devils.... they're here."
Ghanon too turned around, putting his arms up to shield his eyes from the gust - though it wasn't really necessary. His hair ruffled and the light fluttered outward. The light that flickered from the fireplace was not quite as sufficient as it otherwise should have been to tear through the darkness on the other side of the door. But regardless, Ghanon swore there were eyes staring back at him.
He only looked at Sah-lora for a second, breathing out his question. "Who is here?" But before an answer could be heard, shadow began to leak out onto the floor like thick ink, bleeding into the cauldron's light and steaming up as it went.
She was ignorant to the mass on the floor, her eyes wide and glued upon the broken window. And when she had the time to tear her eyes away from it, she took a hold on Ganon's hand and exclaimed, "We must fix the window! Before they find a way to get in!"
Frantically she moved about the small cabin, gathering up whatever pieces of thin fire wood she could to be used to nail over the window. And she gestured towards a work bench in the back, where he might find some tools- a hammer and some nails, to help her.
"Bring those here! Quickly! We can not let them in!" For whatever it was, it had her so terrified she could have pissed herself, and her skin was so deathly pale, she seemed to glow like the moon as she moved swiftly through the cabin.
The moment was beyond his comprehension in Salora's sudden agitation. The mass on the floor didn't even seem to catch her attention and the darkness surrounding the cabin was congealing in bloody ink. Ghanon moved swiftly, summoning the proper tools to his grip and slamming the nails into the wood with powerful precision. The mass was congealing quickly as they attempted to mend the windows.
Ghanon suddenly reached out and pulled Salora back, yanking her from the close proximity as the shadowed being's form manifested completely and lashed out at both of them with black spikes that stuck into the walls. "What the hell is that!?" he shouted as he shook her to attention. His eyes widened, surprised and defensive, and he felt his own hands heat up with the power of his magic. The runes on his gauntlets began to glow as he charged his hands and expelled growing energy outward, shielding themselves from another onslaught of shadowed spikes.
Sah-lora remained plastered against Ghanon's side, staring at the black thing in awe. She was afraid but also mesmerized by it, and though it seemed to attack them as some amorphic shape, it soon was growling, as if a leopard, and it moved as swiftly as one as it's form bubbled and boiled around them, moving like nothing she had seen before as it attempted to strike at the pair again.
Ghanon clutched Sah-lor tightly to him and when the shadow lunged upon them, he suddenly spirited them away, far from the cabin, lost in the middle of the swamp. Ghanon opened his eyes, as they fell through the quickly-closing portal and quickly picked himself up. He pulled her with him, knowing the wilds around them were alive with hunger.
Sah-lora's heart was in her throat- for one second she was within her cabin, and the next- thigh high and falling over into the murky waters of the swamp. It was so black out that night,t he clouds above snuffing out the moon light as she groped around, but found herself soon stabilized as Ghanon jerked her out of the waters.
"Those things.. they come for us. Even out here, in the swamp," she went on, panting as she clutched at his side. She shook her head. "No where we are safe. They crave our blood, the blood of gods.'
Ghanon peered all around him, his eyes igniting the night and he peered down at her. He held her by the arm and pulled her along the mudded side, where tree roots stuck out as an elevated perch. "Bull shit!" he growled. "Where is your mother!? You said she could help us!"
"I... I don't know!" she shrieked, stumbling as she was pulled along. "She was supposed to be at our home!"
"Can't you sense her or have some way of finding her?" he asked.
"Sense her?" Sah-lora made a face. "Do you mean like by her smell?"
"I mean capable of finding her somehow, track her," Ghanon said.
"Track her? You mean like an animal?" She supposed she could, she could hunt, after all, but if anyone was good at tracking, it was her mother.
"Yes," he said. "To find her. Perhaps she can give us proper haven against the monsters in the forest. Let's find your mother."
"I'm not even sure where to begin," she breathed, heart pumping loudly. "Perhaps to the North, towards the thistle woods?"
"It's better than standing here!" Ghanon took her hand and took off north.
The Thistle Wood would not be easy to access, and the pair found themselves sloshing through the swamp lands, at times the land becoming dense, but then suddenly would break away, and Sah-lora found herself nearly spilling face first into the waters.
"Be careful of your step," she went on, voice low as her green eyes cut across the swamp lands. "Those who wish to seek us harm are all around us." And she felt her skin prickle as she heard the noises of the one's they had thwarted earlier.
"Come, we must hurry!" And she pointed towards the thorny, grey trees on the horizon.
"Over there is where we must go. If my mother is anywhere, it is in that place."
Ghanon was tired of all this running. No matter how swift or lightfooted they were to be, the creatures were coming in around them, tightening the noose, eradicating any chance of escape. Ghanon suddenly grabbed Sah-lora and pulled her up into his arms. He opened up a portal before them, slipping through it, ripping through reality, and appearing in the air, just above the tree line.
But they were in the air, and gravity soon claimed them, pulling them back to earth in a hard crash.
Reality smacked her, quite literally, as the pair fell into the ground, Stunted and winded from the fall, once her wits and breath returned to her, she looked over at Ghanon- the sounds of those of the night having already sniffed them out and wailing in hunger.
"R..run!" she said, trying to get to her feet. She hadn't time to question just how they escaped, but really- she knew of one thing-
That those THINGS would hardly stop hunting them- even after they would seemingly 'disappear'.
"To.. to the edge of the woods. They.. they won't come chase us around there!"
Or so she hoped-
It seemed most creatures in this place couldn't leave- herself included.
"You really should get out of the forest! Not all places have creatures trying to make you a meal!" Ghanon was getting sick of all this running, and it seemed even teleportation wasn't getting them nearly as far enough as it should have. But he could tell they were nearing the edge, even as they splashed through puddles and over what solid ground remained. Mud caked their feet, keeping them suctioned in some places.
But they were closer than it at first seemed.
Sah-Lora gave a shake of her head.
"To leave means death. The curse of my birth keeps me here."
"Then let's refrain from dying shall we?" he said with a charming grin and gestured her to lead the way. "To your mother if it's not too much to ask."
Rizhra snarled as she appeared behind them. She was more than pissed that she felt the presence of something near godly in her swamps and with her daughter. And without warning, she threw her crook forward, slamming it into the swampy grounds and summoned a blast of wicked darkness towards them both.
Okay so it was fair to say Ghanon was not expecting that! He shot out a blast of green light just in time to hold back the physical darkness, his magic penetrating it and shielding himself as well as her daughter from Rizhra's magic.
Rhizra hissed and readied her staff, but as the powers dissipated, Sahlora saw who it was.
"Mother!" But the witch had already thrust another surge of powerful dark magic at them both.
Ghanon grit his teeth for her magic was strong. And so was his. There was a reason Corrothim magic was forbidden, it's sheer power could tear apart flesh as if it never existed at all. And with the force of Rhizra's magic, he opened his hands and pulled apart that darkness and cast it out. He felt that surge of power, that intoxicating rush as it was absorbed into his gauntlets and his silver eyes glowed with it.
Rhizra eyes flared dangerously at his deflection.
"Away from my child or I'll have to turn you both into a smoldering pile of smoke."
Ghanon kept his hands charged with that energy and he glared daggers at Rhizhra. "I was defending your daughter from you," he spat savagely. "We can looking for you! She found me in her swamp."
At that, Rhizra laughed, a dark, cackling.
"And you expect me to believe that? BE GONE!" she roared, and hefted another, more potent surge of energy, and just before it made contact, something grabbed Sah-lora and yanked her away into the thick mists.
This was going nowhere fast! And just as if to prove his point, something yanked Sah-lora out into the darkness. Ghanon howled, when Rhizhra's magic hit him full blast, knocking him back into a tree. But he could see a black giant thing dragging Sah-lora through the trees. Forget her stinkin' mother.
He climbed to his feet and bolted through the darkness. And finding the trail of what the creature was was none too difficult, for it's footprints were giant tree roots. Ghanon surged his hands, igniting the night and blasting out bulbs of white light.
"Sah-lora!" he cried out, leaping into the air and taking flight.
[Sometimes I forget Ghanon has like a bunch of cool powers...]
OOC: omg I'm the same way sometimes. It's like.. 'oh right, they can do THIS'
If there ever was a time to be afraid, it was clearly right now, for though she feared the creatures of the swamp, she had never seen one. There was a difference between fearing the legend to keep away, and then awakening to its truthful nightmare. And though she hadn't a clue as to what to do, frozen stock still in it's clutches, the orbs of power suddenly shooting her way knocked her out of her shock and soon she was writhing and reaching for her bone knife on her side.
But once she was able to get it free, the creature that held her let out a wail, having been hit and suddenly, it shot down into the swamps, aiming to bring Sah-lora clean with it! And just as it nearly disappeared beneath the murky waters, Sah-lora managed to get a hand free,a nd reached up into the night, hoping desperately to grab or reach onto something to salvage her from whatever fate lay beneath the swamp.
It was a walking tree, that Ghanon could see as it splashed down into the murky swamp. He watched as Sah-lora was sinking down with it. He surged his body downward, arms clamoring around her and swooping back up through the air, narrowly avoiding several trees.
The muck bogged her down, but thankfully the force that pulled her was strong, and after a moment of wondering if her arm was going to get pulled out from it's socket, she suddenly felt herself give way and into the air she went- cool and inviting as she gasped for air.
Ghanon looked at her from the corner of his eye as they flew along. "Your mother is a bit grumpy isn't she?"
Sah-lora remained clinging onto him, fearful to let go. But after a moment, she finally looked down, and was completely awe struck by the moving world beneath them. It was as if she hadn't even heard his question, but when it registered, she found herself asking, "What do you mean?'
"You said she would help us and yet she tried to kill us. What's her problem?"
"Can you blame her? This swamp is sacred to us. It's all we have." She tilted her head as she studied him. "And you... you have a god like feel to you... I'm sure all my mother can do is see red."
At that Ghanon actually laughed and set them both down upon a hill that rose up out of the swampy ground. At least the footing was dry enough to not slip back in. "I know a man like that," he replied with a small smile. "And I can understand why your mother responded the way she did. You are all she has."
Sah-lora blinked. She didn't understand the laughter.
"And what of this man?"
"Nothing of him. I just know a man like that. There is nothing ore to add in that regard," Ghanon shrugged nonchalantly. "When will it be safe to return you to your mother? Will she cool her temper in a few minutes?"
"In a few minutes? I can not say, but it doesn't seem likely."
She frowned.
"It is not safe here,"s he added, her voice lowered. "The creatures will smell us. And they will seek to eat our blood."
"Perhaps. But if we go back to your mother, will our fate - or more specifically mine- be any better?"
"I can not say. My mother can be as unpredictable as the winds. Though if she believes I have been tainted..... I am not sure even I would be safe." She studied him. "She thinks you're a God."
And gods were the enemy.
Ghanon set them down and let his hand linger under her chin. "What do you think I am?"
She peered up at him- curious, but unafraid.
"I am unsure..." She continued to study his face, a hand ghosting across his cheek. "I see power... sense it. A power beyond all reasoning." Her eyes met to his as she continued to look into his face. "And from what you've shown me.... I wouldn't be surprised if my mother was right."
"Well you know what they say. With great power comes a damn good time," he chuckled. "Let's try your mother again. Maybe you should do the introductions this time."
"A time? A good time, but of what?" she knew not his phrasing.
"Don't worry about it. I'll explain it to you later. Let's not linger in the dark anymore. This swamp is giving me the creeps. Let's go find your mother."
Sah-lora frowned. But she agreed indefinitely with the suggestion.
"To the east is our home. If we follow the foot path just North of here, it shouldn't take us more than half an hour to get there."
And that made her recall just how quickly they managed to get to this spot as she observed Ghannon again in silence.
"Will you show me more of your powers?" she knew now might not be hte best time to ask, but for all she knew, Rhizra wouldn't let there be a second time.
Ghanon looked on in the direction she indicated and it wasn't long before they took off again. He hadn't missed her request to see more of his gifts, but all he did was give her a smile and nodded. "I think I can make some time for that," he chuckled and continued onward until he saw something that resembled an abode below.
But they wouldn't get much closer than that, as a bolt of lightning struck their path and then there was Rizhra.
Ghanon stopped, tumbling to the ground with a hard crash. He released Sah-lora from his grip and rolled up, mud coating him. He stared up at Rizhra and took his feet, slowly. "Hello, mother dearest," he said, casually dusting himself off.
Rhizra's eyes pierced at him darkly.
"How dare you use such words towards me! Have you soiled my daughter? Have you tainted my precious child?" she asked, powers crackling dangerously at the tips of her fingers.
Ghanon stepped back, putting his hands up. "I have not," he said steadily. "Tour daughter found me when I landed in this place. She saved me of the creatures here. I would do nothing to harm her. That I swear."
Rhizra narrowed her gaze.
"Landed? That means you had to have fallen here. What are you and where have you come from? And speak clearly, for my patience is running thin." And when she saw her daughter try to speak, she shot her a gaze and told her gruffly, "ANd still your tongue, Sah-lora. I will speak with you, next."
"A burning star," he answered quietly. "A dying star." He looked upward, remember the plane from where he was cast down. "Fire everywhere, in the very air you breathed. It burned your skin and your lungs. My name is Ghanon."
Rhizra didn't much care for his cryptic speak.
"So.. you came from the burning mountain chain in Adela?"
Which would make him not a God, but from what she'd seen- she needed to be on high alert with this one.
"Something like that," he replied and frowned a little. "I fell and crashed on the swamp. You're daughter tried to make me eat a spider."
Rhizra's eyes narrowed.
"And did you eat it?"
It was then Sah-lora could hold her tongue no longer.
"Mother, please! Nothing happened! He has not corrupted me, only saved me from your fear driven attacks!"
Rhizra looked at her daughter firmly, before looking over to Ghanon.
"The spider... did you?"
Ghanon looked between the mother and the daughter and saw the preparedness in Rhizra's eyes. One where a smirk flickered on his lips a bit.
"I may have while I was unconscious. She had bound me and decorated me with odd symbols."
Rhizra's gaze snapped to her child, but Sah-lora was quick to put out, "Nothing happened mother! I never gave my body to this man!"
"Nothing happened," Ghanon said again, adamantly. "Once unbound, that was when the creatures of the swamp came."
"And it was a moth he had eaten! From the web of a widow!" Sah-lora added. Her mother shot her a look.
"And why the prey and not the spider?"
Sah-lora hesitated beneath her gaze.
"I er... First mistook him. It was a mistake that I wish to rectify," she went on, drawing in a breath. "But now that I know who he is...."
"And that is?" her mother asked, impatiently.
"The Dark Prince," came her reply.
Rizhra's eyes narrowed.
"Oh? Is that what you think?"
Sah-lora nodded.
"I do not think. I know."
Rizhra's lips turned into a thin line, brow creasing.
"And is it from this belief you wish me to... What, Sah-lora?"
"To not render us both ugly both toads. And toss us into the pot. Or me, more specifically," Ghanon asked, putting on his best grin. It sobered quickly however, and his eyes looked to Sah-lora.
Rhizra shot a glare his way.
"I believe I was speaking to my daughter."
Ghanon gestured gallantly to Sah-lora. "You have the floor," he said.
"I just wish for trust, mother. This man... he has shown me things and proved much," her daughter replied.
Her mother remained indifferent, but eventually turned to Ghannon with a scrutinizing look.
"And you? Do you think you're our Dark Prince?" she asked.
"I don't think I'm anything, other than myself," Ghanon answered coolly, meeting her mother's with a steely gaze of his own.
"Well, it seems you have convinced my daughter of your title. Perhaps you can.. enlighten me on what makes you so special."
"I took her to the stars. We spoke among them. I protected her from the monsters of this mire. And she did the same for me. "
"To the stars?" she asked, darkly. She narrowed her gaze, skeptically.
"It's true! And it was my idea! I thought it would be something convincing if proved," Sah-lora interjected.
"I did exactly that," Ghanon replied levelly, meeting Rizhra's gaze.
Her gaze still hard, Rhizrha nodded.
"Such power can not be trifled with. But that does not clarify your origin of to whom you serve. Is it yourself? The dark and damned, or some king and you're out for coin? Though I do not suspect the latter. No king is foolish to set foot here."
"I serve no one but me, and my actions are my own. I answer to no man or woman or god. I am Ghanon, Witch-Queen. That is who I am," he said, his patience running thin.
It seemed the man was as stubborn as she. It made her grin, though a hard one.
"Tell me, Ghanon, what is your purpose here then? You claim it is to make peace, but you fell into our lands... It is that landing I must question. It is... difficult to trust anyone, though it seems you are a man who can understand at least that."
"I came to claim what is mine," Ghanon said resolutely. And gestured to Sah-lora.
Rhizra raised her brows before they narrowed sternly.
"I'm sorry, but my daughter does not belong to you."
"You are right," Ghanon said. And with that he came forward toward Sah-lora and kissed her, slowly and deeply.
The witches daughter hadn't expected that! The contact of his lips upon hers made a heat wash over her, through her and tingled down to the end of her limbs. She wasn't sure what to say or even do to that, for her brain had temporarily halted, but she found herself kissing him back- before a sharp hand on her arm ripped her from the moment, and she found herself at her mother's side.
"That is quite enough." Rhizra glared. "Whatever this is, your visit here has come to an end. I'm sure you can find your way out of this swamp by yourself."
Ghanon stared at Rihzra, smirking a little and wiping his lips. If she thought she could get rid of him that easily, she had another thing coming. Still he winked at Sah-lora and turned slowly, disappearing into the night.
That wouldn't be the last they'd see of him, but he would go quietly. For now.
The night seemed endless, but at least the monster's seemed to remain at bay. But their moans still drifted, and when they'd normally make her shiver, Sah-lora had only one thing on her mind. But she listened to her mother and remained inside their cabin, all the while Rhizra prepared a potion- one she hoped would ward off the wanna be dark prince.
That was her hope anyway.
Ghanon remained in the dark, ethereal, and as quiet as the wind. He watched and listened, looking at them between spaces in the slats of their cabin.
When the cauldron flared red, she held up a ladle of smoking brew.
"Here, Sah-lora." She grabbed her daughter by the hand. "Drink this, and quick. The potion will protect you from that menace, and ward off his treachery."
"Ward him off?" she raised her brows quizzically, and her mother hissed.
"Yes, ward. I concocted this potion from his very body chemistry. Drink this and he won't even be allowed to touch you without getting burned."
Sah-lora stared at her mother, uncertain for a moment, but the look her mother gave her-
she was quick to lift the drink to her lips.
"And be sure to drink it all!" her mother barked.
Witchery. He smirked at her mother's clever attitude. She really thought she could protect her from him?
She knocked the drink back, which soon had her coughing over the taste.
"This tastes like piss!"
He mother smiled and sneered, "good, its supposed to!" yanking the glass from her hand, she gestured. "Now get ready for bed. You reek of the swamp."
Sah-lora cast her mother a glare before preparing a shallow bath and undressing in the back room, and as she began to clean herself with the lard and oils, her mother appeared and studied her daughters body.
"Sahlora.... You are old enough to know you must be careful."
"Yes, I know... Both man and gods and their treachery," she went on, dipping her long red braid of hair into the water before beginning to scrub.
"I dont think you know... You were fooled this once. What if another appeared?"
Sighing impatiently, she turned to her mother with a look.
"Then I shall have to drink more piss water, won't I?"
Her mother's glare deepened.
"This is no joke, Sahlora... If the Gods try something...."
She had enough of this and stood up in her bath
"If the Gods come, let them! I shall cut myself and slay them with my blood."
Rhizhra eyed her daughter.
"Do not be so brash, foolish child Finish your bath and get to bed. You'll have a lot of spiders to eat come morning."
He waited for her to sleep. And when she was alone, in peace, only then would he come to her in her dreams. Whatever potion her mother had given her, it had a warded power, but not one that Ghanon wasn't willing to suffer through. Not when there was a shard at stake, a power to behold.
"Sah-lora," a voice gently whispered in her mind.
Sah-lora tossed and turned at the voice, and tried to command it away, curling up more snuggly beneath the meager blanket she slept beneath.
"Sah-lora," he voice murmured from within her dreams once more. "Open your eyes not from without, but from within."
"From within?" she didn't understand, but somehow she just knew, and found herself awakening in the dreaming world. She sat up, the world being strange, visual- incomplete, but something,s he noticed, moved in the darkness.
"Is somebody there?" she called out, feeling as though she had moved to stand, but it was hard to tell, as she had no feelings here, no connection.
She would feel something somewhat familiar, a hand reaching out to grasp hers. It was almost ghostly in its touch, but found firm when the contact connected with her skin. "See, it's easy," he murmured, and Ghanon materialized beside her, securing her easily into her dream state self.
She felt a ghosted rush of what she could only describe as a chill when Ghanon reached out into this world. But she dare not move, and her jaw was clenched tightly. But when things began to feel more physical, she realized her breath and tried to loosen the grip on her clenched fists at her side.
"Easy?" she smirked at him, appreciative of his easy going nature about all of this, but she was still very spun up over the whole ordeal. "Says a man who can vanish to the stars."
"Yes. It's easy when you realize nothing physical can hold you back, hold you down. In this realm, you are absolutely limitless," Ghanon reassured her, reaffirming his grip and gently running his hand along her arm.
"Just let go. Let yourself be."
"Let go?" she gave him a playful, yet challenging look, but only made her grip on him tighter. "I don't think I've known you long enough to trust you on that one. What if I fall..."
She peered around. This was all so very new to her, and a tickling thrill rushed through her, from her hands, all the way down to her toes.
"Then I guess we'll find out." Ghanon held her firm. "I won't let go. I promise."
She was still skeptical.
"But I thought the idea was to let go.. to stand just as you are..."
Her smile was a nervous one but if she was going to do this... why have him hold onto her? If she could walk among the stars....
Then she should walk among the stars.
She had a point. And Ghanon released his hold on her, curious about her. "Very well," he offered. He was used to the feeling of being weightless, and having no solid flooring beneath his feet. He was curious to see how she fared
And her natural reaction was to cling back onto him, her eyes wide and her body, tense.
He gripped her with ease. "Let's go and see what it is you dream of, shall we?" He asked. Ghanon took her hand and where he stepped, glass panels materialized beneath him, vanished and repeated with each movement forward.
"How long have you been living with your mother? Has she always been mad?"
"How long?" she was moving to walk with him, but made sure to watch where she stepped. She was not as confident as him in this land, this walk among the stars. "I've lived with her forever, my whole life."
"Then that is indeed many tiring years of madness. But if she cares about you, then that's all that matters. She does care about you right?" Ghanon murmured.