The Untouchable (Nahash/DaGlobster)

[SilverShadow]

Xanti sighed as she sank onto the floor. It was her most dreaded period of the day: Lunch time. She was in one of her favorite hiding places -- between the trash bins and the fence behind the school -- and she had absolutely no intention of moving until she absolutely had to.

[nahash]

Soules cut down a narrow alley that went behind the campus; it was a little short cut he knew.  He walked at a brisk pace hoping to shave some time because he was running very late.  .  He rarely had an excuse to travel this far south but since he was visiting the capital on official business he decided to swing by Uthlyn to catch up with some old acquaintances.  At the moment he was supposed to be having lunch this Miss Lunabelle who worked in the library at the academy but poor weather and congested roads had conspired to delay him.

[DaGlobster]

(OOC: Open thread! Don't mind if I do!)

Chenaank walked through the streets of Uthlyn, a smile on his face. Normally, he'd be in his extradimensilnal palace, or on business, but the hedonistic demon was on vacation. He was disguised in a way that didn't draw attention, even though he hated it. He was in the form a man about five and a half feet tall, with a rather luxurious mustache and goatee combination. His clothing, although seemingly plain, was made out of fine materials. The only parts that he never disguised was his walking cane, which he used for self-defense, and his signature ring, which was a pure gold band with a magnificient pearl-white gem on it. He spied a man run about and into an alley, and he couldn't help but feel intrigued. He didn't feel any greed coming off of him, which obviously meant he didn't steal anything, but he was interested nonetheless. He recognized an opportunity for a sale, and started to inconspicuously follow Soules.

[SilverShadow]

Xanti, from her hiding place, saw a man head down the street just on the other side of the fence. He was well built, dressed in military attire with a patch over one eye. The type of person she must always stay away from. To draw any attention in Connlaoth was dangerous, when one had the curse of magic as she did. But to draw attention from the police or the military was to risk death. She had heard there were lands where magic was celebrated, but she had never been out of Uthlyn, and the anti-magic sentiment in Connlaoth was so potent that she couldn't believe such a place might actually exist.

She moved further back into the shadow of the trash bins, watching him closely. Then she noticed another man following him. Two people in the alley at the same time? She'd never seen this tiny alleyway so occupied before. It was rare that anyone ventured down it. But wait...something tickled the back of her mind, begging to be let out. She started to habitually stamp it down, as she did with all her magic inklings, but then she stopped. There was something not right...and she needed to know what it was. Glancing around nervously, she carefully tapped into that little well. She felt her eyes warm as they did when they changed colors, but her brown contacts would conceal that. She focused on the second man, allowing her vision to change. For a split second she saw past the magical illusion he was wearing, before her sight returned to normal. A demon!

[DaGlobster]

Chenaank stopped in his tracks, immediately sensing the presence of magic and it being directed at him. He looked around, until his eyes came to rest on the girl hiding from his sight. A slight smile came onto his face, although it was an expression of friendliness. "There's no point in hiding from me, girl. I can sense your power." He said, and turned to face her. He sensed a great instability in her, the signs of a power not yet mastered. Even now, he could feel her trembling on the inside, struggling to contain her power. This was as good an opportunity as any to ply his trade. He looked around some more, and extended his hand. "That Connlaothian is looking for you. You need to come with me, I can help you." He quickly said, perfectly mimicking the concern and twinge of sympathy that all humans shared with each other.

He extended a hand towards her, more specifically the one with his ring. If she was reluctant to come along, the ring's impossibly beautiful gemstone would most likely banish those thoughts. The gem was a sphere-cut, void-black stone with shimmering lights that seemed to come from inside it.

[SilverShadow]

Xanti flinched back and hissed. Crap! He could sense her too! But of course. Demon, duh! she thought to herself. That was stupid of me. Then he said to come with him. Like he had some reason to care what happened to her. Humans didn't even care what happened to her, a demon sure as hell wouldn't! "No!" she refused stubbornly, drawing back even more.

Then the hand came toward her, and the ring caught her eye. It was, simply put, the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Not that she had seen that many beautiful things, but it was by far the most so. 'Beautiful' didn't even really begin to describe it. She started to lean forward, then stopped. In her world of threadbare clothes and trashcan food, beautiful things were rarely, if ever, what they appeared. Plus, this was a demon. She had heard tales of the evil tricks demons used. Granted, she had heard stories about how evil magic was in general too. But that wasn't the point. She was a survivalist. And demons tended to be bad for survival. Resisting the overwhelming urge to touch that stone just once, she shook her head.

"No." she whispered. "I know what you are, and there's no way I'm coming with you!"

[DaGlobster]

Chenaank looked down at the little mortal girl, and retracted his hand. He had a feeling she would refuse, after all, she DID know what he was. "To confuse me with a demon, Pah! How typical." He said, tapping his staff on the ground. "Those brutes wouldn't know something greater than themselves if it stabbed them in the stomach. I rise above their ideals. I, my dear girl, am an honest businessman." He proudly said, and extended his hand again. "Allow me to restate my offer." He said, and a serious look entered his face. "You can come with me, and live, or you can stay there, huddled in the filth until that Connlaothian officer finds you and burns you on the stake." He grimly said, and said nothing more. He didn't care if she could see any ulterior motives he might have, it was a pretty solid offer. To live or to die.

[nahash]

Soules was had put a great amount of distance between him and the trash bins in the alley when he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up.  Someone else was in the alley behind him.  He ducked around a corner, waited and listened.  Two voiced drifted down to meet his carefully atoned ears, he could not make their words from that far away.  One was a young girl, most likely a student, and the other was an older male and something about his voice just screamed trouble to the Soldiers old ears. 

Resting his hand on the handle of his saber, Soules made his way back down the alley.  "I know what you are, and there's no way I'm coming with you!"  He had caught up just in time to hear her second refusal.  "Sir, I am going to have to ask you to step back away from the Girl" he called out in a stern voice.

[SilverShadow]

"I rise above their ideals. I, my dear girl, am an honest businessman."

Ha! Xanti thought skeptically. She didn't care how "honest" he claimed to be. She wouldn't have gone with him even if he'd been human!

"You can come with me, and live, or you can stay there, huddled in the filth until that Connlaothian officer finds you and burns you on the stake."

Xanti paused, but only for half a heartbeat. She was sure he had ulterior motives, no matter what he claimed about being 'above' other demons. And besides. The Connlaothian soldier was only human. She had spent the last 14 years dodging the suspicion of humans. She did not, however, have so much experience in dealing with demons. The demon was the wildcard, the more dangerous element of this equation.

Even as Chenaank posed his 'offer', she heard the soldier's footsteps, and a stern voice demanding that the demon step away from her. He was coming to her rescue? She had to assume that's what it was, since by all appearances she was nothing but a helpless young schoolgirl about to be sucked in by an evil, magic-using monster. Even if the soldier didn't know he was a demon, he was still the one who looked suspicious. Good start. Time to play it up.

She put on her best innocent-young-girl voice and replied to Chenaank, "But sir, I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about! My daddy says that our soldiers are brave, honorable men, and that man sure looks like a soldier! I'm sure he wouldn't hurt me. But you aren't a soldier. You're a stranger." She had never in her life called her foster father "daddy", nor did she ever intend to, but it worked for the purpose of building her image.

[DaGlobster]

Chenaank's eyes moved sidewards, merely acknowledging the presence of the sabre-wielding soldier. At that point, he remembered why he never went on vacations. Mortals were tricksy, tricksy biengs,  that fortunately got less tricksy the richer they were. Really, he was here to buy some art, but being the mercantile monstrosity that he was, he couldn't help but see if he could lure some mortals a deal they and their bloodline would regret. It looked like to get this one, he'd have to try something different.

He held his walking cane up and pointed the end at Soules, turning his head to face him, but keeping an eye on Xanti at the same time. "You. You shouldn't rush into things without context. You hear an older man talking to a younger girl, and you assume I want her flesh and come dashing in to save the day? Give me a moment, I'll be right with you." He spitefully growled at Soules and turned his head back to Xanti, keeping the cane pointed at Soules. "If you want proof of my good will, I will provide. Take this as a token." He said as his smile returned,  and he held his free hand up. He clenched it into a fist, and when he opened it again, an unseemingly normal golden locket was in it.

He held the locket out to her as it dangled from the end of its chain, which was held between two of his fingers. "This will help you control your gift. You don't need to hide anymore." Chenaank said as he set the locket down on the cobblestone, kneeling down to do so. He turned his head back to Soules, this time turning his whole body to face him, his ring clear as day on his finger. "Now then, there was something you wanted?"

[SilverShadow]

Xanti started to scoff at him...until he finished his sentence. Help her hide? That could be valuable...if it was true, anyway. No, wait. He hadn't said it would help her hide, he'd said it would help her control her gift. She would still have to hide. She would ALWAYS have to hide. And she'd gotten fairly adept at controlling (or rather, suppressing) her 'gift' by now. Still, there were times it slipped through... She sat and stared at the locket as Chenaank addressed Soules, studying it, trying to decide whether she dared touch it.

[nahash]

Soules had to do a double take when the man before him produced a locket out of nowhere.  He was sure the man hadn't had the locket in his hand before he offered it to the girl.  He tightened his grip on his sword.  Something was amiss here and the best he could guess it was magic.  Magic was the only way to explain the locket appearing like it did or the best sleight of hand he had ever seen.  He found himself wishing he had a mordecai with him.  He dealt with bandits not mages.

Soules moved between the man and the girl.  Catching sight of Chenaak's ring, his eyes lingered for a moment but only that.  It was the most beautiful ring he had ever seen but Soules had never been one to like stuff and there were more pressing matters.  "young ma'am, I beseech you, do not take that locket I think foul play is at hand and more so I think we are dealing with a mage."  He said to the girl behind him while keeping his eyes locked on the man before him.

[SilverShadow]

"No, sir, I won't," Xanti yanked her hand back and wrapped her arms around herself. As Soules stepped between her and the demon, she studied him with curiosity. She was glad to see he remained unentranced by the Chenaank's ring. She wanted to tell him it was a demon he was looking at, she wanted to warn him that this was more than a mere mage he was facing, but she didn't know how to do so without alerting him to her own powers. Inside, her sense of survival screamed to take the win and run, to leave the soldier to his fate and protect herself.

But she couldn't. He had turned back to defend her, and now he had physically placed himself between a strange looking girl he didn't know, and what he believed to be a mage. Her sense of honor wouldn't let her abandon such a noble man to the hands of a demon.

"It's not a mage," she whispered softly, though she knew he would hear. "It's a demon."

[DaGlobster]

Chenaank made no motions other than keep himself facing the man with the sabre. He silently watched the human displays of heroism and internally smiled at the sweet irony of it all. This man was offering up his life to save a girl from a mage, not knowing that Chenaank wasn't a mage and that the girl in fact was one. The internal smile turned into a scowl when Xanti quite audibly pointed Chenaank out as a demon. "Girl, call me old-fashioned, but calling those who try to help you demons isn't exactly seen as polite." He said, and a smirk came onto his face. His mind reached past Soules, and into Xanti's. "The locket will help you channel your powers, allow you to keep them from surging up. You will never have to hide again. I beseech you girl, take it." His voice said as it chimed inside Xanti's head, completely inaudible to Soules. He redirected his attention to Soules, the smirk maintaining its position on his face.

"You Connlaothians amuse me. You think you can stamp out a force that drives this world, a force that constructs it. You blindly burn tomes and torture wizards. Fearmongering is an art to you people. So much so, in fact, that I'm surprised there isn't a gallery dedicated to it in this city." He venomously said, at one point pointin his cane at him before returning it to a walking position. He eyed the sabre Soules carried, and a contemptous chuckle arose from him. "Tell me the truth, officer. Do you think that Sabre will do you any good? My cane makes a better weapon." He added, staring Soules dead in the eyes. From that stare, Soules would be able to tell there was a creature immensely powerful looking at him.

[SilverShadow]

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD YOU MONSTER!" Xanti screamed in alarm, as Chenaank's voice appeared in her mind. She squeezed her eyes shut and clapped her hands over her ears, trying to drive out his voice. She focused hard on putting up walls in her mind, slowly edging them forward, pushing him out.

Wind gusted, blowing her hood back, and she realized that she'd let go of her self-control. It was only for a moment, but it was enough. She grabbed at her hood and pulled back down on her head, frantically struggling to control her emotions as her magic threatened to spill from her like an unstoppable tide. She firmly replaced her mental walls, stifling her abilities once again. She had regained control, for now, but the wind continued to blow.

[nahash]

Soules his eyes grew wide when Xanti called out that he was facing down a demon but other than that he showed no reaction to that revelation.  Years of training and nerves of steel allowed him to push that information out of mind for the moment.  It did not change the situation any because he still was not going to back down.

He had to fight the instinct to turn around when Xanti screamed out.  To turn his back on the mage, no demon would have been akin to suicide.  "You leave her alone, she has already made it clear that she wants nothing to do with you now clear out before I have to make you leave" he kept his voice calm but stern with  commanding tone. 

Soules stared at the demon before him with cold eyes.  "To be honest I don't know if my sword can match your magic, you care to find out" He said with a smirk as he loosened his sabre from its scabbard.  He felt the wind gust behind him but still did not turn his back.  He a tribute it to the demon since he could tell it was not natural and not the girl.

[DaGlobster]

Cheenank started laughing. It was the kind of laugh that sent chills down the spines of whoever heard it. "Pray tell...Soules." He started, his face changing into a scowl. "If I'm a demon, how could the girl behind you possibly know, hmm? I see no devices on her, so there can be only one explanation." He said, and put a foot forwards. All while he was talking, he made it a point to smash down Xanti's mental walls again, letting her know she couldn't resist him "your will is weak...take the locket." His voice said as it crawled around her mind. "I'm afraid my time for you is just about up. You can either let me rid you of the mage cowering behind you, essentially doing your job, or I can kill you and make sure  your afterlife is spent in absolute misery. Maybe as one of my palace slaves..." He said, tapping his cane on the ground. The head of his walking stick started to glow a brilliant gold, and he adjusted his grip on it, his hand clenched just below its head.

"That's my final offer." He added, and waited for Soules to reply.

[SilverShadow]

My. Will. Is. Not. Weak! Xanti's mental voice was no longer frantic. It was strong, sure, ...and filled with rage. She widened the mental walls she used to contain her magic, such that they encompassed all of her mind. She hardened them, making sure no trickle of her magic would slip free into the world.

Then she let loose the storm. Her mind filled with blinding lightning, deafening cracks of thunder drowned out Chenaank's voice, and boiling hot rain pounded against the mental conduit between them. It was a storm that would have succeeded in expelling any creature, even a demon, but Xanti remained unaffected by it. If anything, its release strengthened her, thus strengthening her power.

Outwardly, though, she looked weak and frightened. Curled in a ball on the ground, her face had been drained of color and her hands were clasped over her ears, as though Chenaank was still torturing her and not being angrily forced out of her mind.

[nahash]

"Rather or not she is a mage has no bearing on the fact that you are molesting a Connlaoth citizen. My first duty is to protect our citizens. Leave NOW! Or I will be forced to use force." He mentally rechecked his stance, his gear, his weapon.  If it came down to blows he would be ready. 

[DaGlobster]

Chenaank's voice boomed in Xanti's head, sounding completely different and infinitely more sinister. He was laughing, his voice coming back through the raging storm. The sound of gold coins flowing combatted the thunder, and cool lavender water flowed over their conduit. "I hold the power of a universe's greed! You must release yourself! Release the power, and save the man who's about to die for you!" His mental voice cackled, as legions of golden giants sprung from nothingness and assaulted her walls, forming small cracks and threatening to break them.

In the real world, Chenaank smiled once again at Soules. "Oh, come now. Don't act like you're not planning to apprehend that girl if you somehow manage to defeat me. I have no intention to leave, so I suppose you're going to have to strike me down. Go ahead, take a swing."