Close to Godliness (pooh-bah Shizzy!)

[Goldie]

Time continues onward, no matter how man tries to alter, to change, and to shape it.  The sands of the desert, like the sea, fluctuate and move onward to different lands and different places.  Such is the fate of the world.  Time is set in stone, and with it comes change for better or worse.  Thus, the Priestess of Lumenari began her travels across the land and asked the High One for her blessings as she took rest in her most beloved land.  In the desert is where her saving grace touches the world and reflects in every grain of sand.  Here, could she take rest and reflect upon her ministry and the words of the Great Mother.  As a priestess it was her duty to be in constant contact with the Great Mother Sun and spread her words to those blinded to her graces.

So she settled in a small cave in the middle of the Moraki desert.  She had brought very little with her, only enough that could fit in the small linen pack she carried on her shoulder.  It had enough water to last her, sparingly, for a week; along with a single change of clothes.  She wasn’t worried about food, because the Great Mother would provide for her, and provide she did.  The cave was a ten minute walk from a small desert oasis that was filled with fruit and a small lake of fresh spring water from underwater springs traveling throughout the desert.  Her clothes were the perfect fit for living in the desert.  As a High Priestess she wore only white and it was made from a sun-bleached fabric that was formed to fit only her.  Sleeveless and immaculately white, the dress brushed the tops of her sandaled feet and was accented only by a gold chain that hung around her neck and ended in a pendant that looked like a drop of liquid fire.  This necklace, along with the small circlet of gold that graced her forehead and wove through her white hair, marked her for her station.  A High Priestess of the Lumenari.

Today, however, she dropped some of the formalities and let the circlet rest on her blankets while she pulled her snow-white hair into a quick plait around her head before she began her daily trek to the small oasis.  She had a small basket of ferns that she had woven to collect fruit, and the linen bag with empty containers that she would fill with water.  She had learned the hard way weeks before that doing the work with her priestess accents made the work much more difficult.  The amulet she did not remove, but tucked it neatly into her dress, which she tied up around her knees to keep sand from weighing it down and making the work that much more difficult.

If she could choose, she would have left the desert weeks before, but every night when she gazed into the flames, the Great Mother’s words were always the same.  Stay my daughter, stay.  Your time is yet to come.  She did not know what it meant, or when her time would come, but the vision was always the same: a shadow on the horizon, blotting out the Great Mother.  Of this, she was waiting.  That much was sure.  Yet, as much as she knew she must trust Her voice, she felt that all of the waiting was becoming excessive.  She was ready to move on.  How long had it been?  Weeks?  Months? She had lost count.  But she constantly reminded herself that She worked in ways that even Her High Priestess may not be able to fully understand…

“High Priestess….â€? she murmured a she sat beside the small lake, letting the sun wash over her.  Its rays were like caressing hands, holding her to Her bosom in a loving Mother’s embrace.  This was why she waited.  Oinnanai trusted Her with her heart, soul, and mind.  Whatever she was waiting for, it was important enough that She was calling upon her High Priestess herself.

Collect your friend, daughter Her words were clear in Oinnanai’s mind, Collect your fruit and then bathe.  Wash away your doubt

Kneeling, Oinnanai took a drink from the lake, silently thanking Her for the gift of life before dipping the canteens into the cool, clear water.  When that was finished, she began the tedious task of climbing the fruit trees and tossing the contents into the basket positioned below.  She had made a sort of game out of it, trying to aim the sweet, desert fruit into the basket itself.  She had become rather good with her aim and soon had a full basket.  Climbing down, she placed her baggage against the tree’s trunk before slipping her light, white dress over her head and draping it across a branch before stepping into the lake and rinsing off the cares of the weeks.  Sand and dirt was removed from her skin, leaving it pearly and clean, the sun kissing every nook and cranny and cleansing her of her doubts and fears.  Her mind was cleared, and Oinnanai stepped from the crystal waters and pulled her dress over her head again, not minding that the fabric was getting wet.  It was nicer to walk back with the cool, damp cloth clinging to the skin.  Her hair she plaited once more, and then grabbed her bags before beginning the hike back to her small, shaded cave.

*****

Night fell swiftly in the desert, and in due respect, each night Oinnanai stood watch as the great, golden orb faded from the horizon.  Secretly, she loved these times for Great Mother always left with a lasting impression.  Through her majesty and goodness, she filled the sky with unimaginable colors that were like a motif painted across the clear sky.  Tonight, the display was particularly beautiful as purples, oranges, and greens twisted together to create a beautiful masterpiece that etched itself in her mind.  She watched the orb disappear behind the earth, it’s clear glow reflected in her own golden eyes.

She stood, unmoving, barely even blinking as the sunset enveloped the earth.  The circlet was once again around her forehead, and her hair curled lightly down her back, entwined in the golden band while the fire drop amulet glittered against her chest.  As the last rays of the sun disappeared from the world, Oinnanai knelt in the sand and pressed her forehead to the ground in a sign of most sincere reverence.

Then she was in a world of night.

Standing, she made her way blindly to the pile of wood she had collected earlier and knelt beside it.  Yet, she did not strike a match, nor flint and steal.  Instead, she stared at the dry wood and muttered in a strange tongue, her hands outstretched before the wood.  Her golden eyes began glowing in the darkness and the stone around her neck began to flicker and pulse.  With a final breath of chant, the light of her eyes and the stone merged and flared into a fire that engulfed the wood.

With a silent intake of air, Oinnanai bowed once again to the flames, acknowledging Her gift, before staring into its depths and falling into a trance.  This time, the answer was different.

Soon, daughter.  Wake and be ready.

[Anonymous]

What happens when you're immortal though? Time has absolutely no meaning for you. If you could simply transcend all that was time, and simply exist in a state of constant perfection, then what did something so mortal and something so...insignificant as time do to you? Though yes he hated his father, he had passed onto him some very interesting things. He could remember a time when his father had sat himself down in front of a very large hourglass, and told him to watch it. For hours a day he would watch it...just watching as sand fell through the tiny funnel.

After the sand was all gone, his father asked him what he learned. Nothing. He had learnt nothing from all that. Until of course his father told him that he had been watching the hourglass for five months. That's when he knew. He had the luxury of being able to waste five months simply observing sand falling. Who else could boast such a thing? Very few.

Now of course sand was a reminder of his goody two shoes father, always trying look on the brighter side of life, and help people. Bah! No one had helped him though his life, and yet his father wanted him to just go out and help people that he found. He was not going to do that though. He was going to do exactly what he wanted to do, and if that was to raise an army of undead and diabolically evil minions than so help him Terrin he was going to do that!

Heh. Terrin. He still could remember when he passed through the Terrin Mountains. Who would have guessed that his personal God would have a mountain range named after him! It still just tickled him a little bit thinking about that. Of course he had gotten lost and ended up in the desert! Who ends up in the desert of all things! Cold and hot temperatures didn't really affect him but damned if they didn't annoy him! More so the heat. The heat was the enemy of the undead, things worked faster, things like decomp. In the cold, that all slowed down.

Luckily he didn't have to deal with decomposing.

His skin was pale, porcelain white, flawless he would call it. Not a blemish, burn, or hint of any other colour on his flesh. So he was a bit of a priss...but that was his right. He was an odd one to see in the desert, while yes he was a tall man, lithe and skinny, he was still cold to the touch, no matter how much he stayed out in the sun. His straw like hair, black with red streaks was trying to be kept down but unfortunately that was not in the game plans. His eyes...staring...blood red, a nice crimson, with electric blue outlines just watching.

That was the lone man walking in the desert.

He wore silk pants, they were a nice forest green colour, rather soothing, but amongst all this beige colour it made him just stick out like a sore thumb. Not to mention he had a predominately black short sleeved shirt on. It had a small white pattern of some sort on it, but it was hard to see just what it really was. It looks almost like a strange forest setting outline. It was of course.

It was a reminder of his God. Of where he had first met him. That pool in the middle of the forest...that tainted pool full of death and swirling souls....Oh how he wished to be back there, just like in the days of so very old...floating in the pure death that it was...

But no, he was in the desert. Ever since he had gotten into the desert it had been nothing but looking over his shoulder too. It felt like he had been watched...that something was following him. Technically two people had, they had stalked him, sand people or something...he didn't really take any time to actually get to know their names or anything about them...he slaughtered them.

Of course, he brought them back after a bit of flesh grafting and necromancy. It had been good practice, he hadn't had to create anything in several months now...but now...he had a reason. Of course, the golem creature had dried up, became nothing more than a taught bunch of skin in the form of a grotesque human. Oh, that reminded him.

Reaching into a small satchel at his side he pulled out a small strip of leathery flesh and took a bite of it. Mmm. That sand gave it a little kick. Not a spicy kick like he hoped but...it was still something. It was jerky, just...human jerky from the dead flesh creature he had created. Maybe he was just a tad strange in his head...but he could be a bit strange, he was a creature that was the by product of a vampire, a psychic, and the will of a God.

Night was going to be upon him soon. He was in a strange land, who knows what strange creatures came out during the night. He had seen nothing in the day, and he remembered from his home planet there were...strange monsters in the desert, under the sands, and sometimes in the air. You couldn't see them, they kept themselves as blue as the sky to hide themselves. At night there were strange creatures, strange beings, ghouls that had gone wild, golems made from the sand and blasted with intense heat.

Now...what was out there? He hadn't found another soul...he could smell something out there...A soul.

Just a single soul.

Oh this was good, this was going to be very good. He walked along, knowing that it was going to be dark soon...where the hell was he going? He knew there was something out there though...he couldn't see anything yet though. However...with the darkness now here he could see a light glowing from somewhere. When he got closer he could see there was a fire somewhere.

A deep breath of the air told him that the one soul was a woman. Ah...she smelled...

He wrinkled his nose. She didn't smell good. He knew that smell. Gods. Power. Light. Oh what was going on now...With his staff gripped in one hand he dug it into the sand as he climbed the small dunes to look out. A cave! There was the fire too. Time to act.

"Ho down there! Traveller coming to the fire!" He didn't know what they said when a visitor was going to join you, but there were certain manners you had to say. With that he slid down the side of the dune to stop himself not far from the fire and the woman. He stabbed the staff into the ground, making it stand there with a small smirk. She wouldn't see the blight slipping into the ground, his blight, the personal blight that he himself swelled with...that he was filled with...

He couldn't infect the entire land with it...but he felt safer when the sands he walked on had his essence filling it. "Greetings to you ah...miss. I was wondering if I might be able to gain some heat from your fire. The desert gets cold at night and I'd rather be warm before I continue on. I shan't be here long, I promise, if you want I'll be as quiet as a mouse." Heh. Even if she did ask him to leave he would...but he'd be back. He'd wait. Watch. He'd let the blight grab her...then he could strike.

[Goldie]

No sooner had Oinnanai opened her eyes than the man’s voice pierce through her trance-fogged mind.  Blinking lightly, she looked toward the sound, her mind still lost in the vision and words of the Great Mother.  After weeks of being alone with only Her words echoing in her mind, the High Priestess was surprised to hear someone else, despite being forewarned.  For so long of living in practical silence, it took her a few moments before her mind wrapped itself around the fact that, indeed, a man stood before her, asking to share her fire.

At first he was shrouded in shadow, a mirror image of the visions she had been having for weeks, but that did not prepare her for the man who stood before her once the flames of her fire chased away the darkness from his features.  If at all possible, he was nearly as pale as she but the black hair that framed his face make his paleness look anything but ethereal.  Instead, she felt a shudder trickle down her spin that she forced not to show.  It seemed as if his appearance chased away some of Great Mother’s warmth.  If not for his hair, he could be considered an ideal Lumenari…the porcelain of his skin was highly desired among her people and given to few.  But his hair…the black…and then there were his eyes and she was immediately reminded of blood.  She felt sure that if she gazed into those eyes too long she would see things that would make her stomach churn.  Something about his presence made her want to flee.

But flee she would not.  Great Mother trusted her daughter enough with this project, with this test, that she would not disappoint.  After all, if the High Priestess herself could not remain strong then there would be no hope for the rest of the Lumenari race.  No.  Though she wished to flee, she would face this challenge head on.  Whatever this challenge was…

Even so…she couldn’t shake the sense that something was not right.

As if to emphasize this, the fire-drop stone around her neck pulsed, emitting both a glow and heat that silently alerted Oinnanai to the change.  Unfortunately, she took this not as a warning, but rather as confirmation that this was the man form whom she had been waiting.  Perhaps it was meant to be both, perhaps neither, but either way it was a reassuring heat against her breast where the cold threatened to destroy the sense of light and warmth.

Placing a hand over the stone, she nodded toward the man against her better judgment, as an acknowledgement of both his presence and in acceptance of sharing the fire.  She just prayed that the divine flames and light would be enough to keep most evil at bay.  If not…she would have her hands full until morning.  Without the  world enshrined in light, using her Goddess given gifts would be much more difficult than before.  Thankfully, because of the fire-drop stone she wore about her neck, she would never be without Great Mother’s warmth and light.  Luck, too, that the magic on the stone allows so only she, or another devout follower of the Great Mother would be unable to touch such a holy relic.

“It is a lonely night to be traveling alone.â€? she murmured, gazing at him with her own golden eyes, but making sure never to look directly into his.  Project or no, destined or not, she could not shake the feeling that those eyes would show her far more than she wished.  Especially with the Goddess’s fire standing between them.  With it, she would See, and with him she wanted to do anything but See into his past, or his future.

“Please, stay as long as you wish.  The fires of our Great Mother were created for all the share.  It would be against Her teachings to deny Her warmth.â€?  Averting her eyes towards the flames, she murmured a few choice words under her breath and the fire expanded to accommodate two rather than just herself.  It also helped to reassure her, knowing that the Goddess’s light and grace stood between herself and him.

Reaching forward, she pulled away a handful of flames and stared into the depths, reading the symbols of the Goddess there in the flickers and movements, just to double check that this truly was where she was suppose to be.  Much to her disappointment, the reading was the same.  Stay, daughter.  Strength.

“I’ve been expecting you.â€? she murmured, raising her eyes to his for the first time, extinguishing the fire in her palm by closing her hand on the flames.  She saw a flash of a woman, but closed her mind to the vision before it took hold.  She did not want to know the future, not now.  One step at a time.  There was always the chance she took gazing into the future of seeing something that would scare her out of the correct path she was chosen the follow.

[Anonymous]

Hm.

She was cute, he'd give her that. The golden eyes would always put him off as well. After you've looked into the eyes of a God before he's crystallized an entire island....and shown you just how insignificant you were, and just what the end of your life will be like...well you never truly got over your hate for them. Still...she was cute. That was all that mattered. She would look with a slight grey skin, kneeling naked in front of him begging for him to show her even an ounce of mercy. Oh yes.

She'd look good.

Carthax stared at her, watching her for a moment as she observed him as well. A smile wormed its way onto his face. She couldn't look at him, not at his face though. He wondered why. It could have been what she might have seen. The eyes were a window to the soul after all...and he could only imagine what she saw in his soul. Oh some people saw a few good things but most people saw the deepest evil he had in there. She seemed a tad fidgety too...he wasn't sure why but she was avoiding that. Whatever, he was putting on this charade anyway of being nice...so if she wanted to be rude...

Things were off about her. Though the blight was spreading slowly...it moved quicker to her...like it was feeding under her from something. That...she looked like a holy woman but...for some reason...it was enjoying the essence of the aura she projected.

Creepy.

"I prefer it this way. Easier to myself think. I've dealt with the chatter of humanity in my mind far too long, being alone lets me think." Also because a lot of the people he tried to keep alive just went and died and he turned them into zombies or something along those lines. It was just easier that way, zombies didn't talk back. They just did what they were told.

"Well...I thank you then." And so did followers of any religion. Heh. She was a sheep. Carthax eased himself onto the sand near the fire, but he didn't get too close to it. The light hurt. He wasn't sure why, but it did. Not to the extremes of a holy light which usually would cause a rather painful sizzling under his flesh...but this light was just uncomfortable. It was funny though...she must be holy, talking about a Great Mother and Her teachings and Her warmth...oh yes...it must be something holy.

That explained the aura, the feeling around her, but not the fact the blight liked her. The blight never liked things that were associated with light, with holy light for that matter. It couldn't be good, but still...there was something about her. Carthax watched her as she suddenly pulled some flames from the fire and watched them. Alright, this surprised him just a little bit, confused him was more like it. What was she just up to now?

"Really now?" His face showed a bit of surprise, but he was more intrigued as to whether or not she was lying to him or actually telling the truth to him. Maybe she was a seer. He wouldn't doubt that either...people loved to scry the future, but only if they had the power. Maybe she did, or maybe she was a woman who would try to make a quick gold piece but luring him into something and getting him to ask for more information about the future.

He didn't care.

"Oh...I suppose introductions would help everyone. People call me Carthax Feratul. Is there a name I might call you...ah...Priestess?" He wasn't sure she was actually a priestess, but he'd rather not offend her. He had to be careful, she could still hurt him after all. If he wanted to gain her trust, he would have to step very carefully. At least sound muffled foot steps right?

[Goldie]

“Oinnanaiâ€? she replied, adjusting herself into a more comfortable position on her knees.  Her hands moved to rest in her lap, folded elegantly as her pale flesh flickered in the firelight.  â€œA High Priestess, if you will, but I was never one for technicalities.â€?  For the longest time, and even still, she felt out of place being so young and yet having passed the highest ranks of so many priestesses of the Great Mother that were years older than she.

When she had asked the acolytes at the temple, they had merely replied that She chose her daughters and it was not their place to question Her authority.  Thus, Oinnanai had been marked from an early age to be one of the highest ranking officials of the Lumenari.  The perfect Lumenari, really…snow-white hair, skin nearly as light, and eyes that reflected the Great One’s reflection in the sky.  That, and she had the knowledge of foresight.  Should she gaze even a moment in someone’s eyes, she would be granted with a vision.  Sometimes these visions were past, others future, and even still some of the images that she saw were direct reflections of the persons soul.  She could not control the gift, but it allowed her to find the unbelievers, betrayers, and so much more.  The Great One had granted her Priestess a holy gift, marking her from birth to be higher than her peers and elders.

It was unnerving at times…unnerving when she was faced with followers of the Lumenari Order who were more tried and tested than she.  Yet, somehow she had always managed it.  Somehow she was able to hold her head high, gaze into their eyes and read their souls.  She had been raised to accept this gift, and not many tested her mind.  She had seen many things in their eyes.  Crimes and Joys alike…and never once, until now, had she been too scared to gaze into the images that the eyes held for her.  Never once had a foreboding so great consumed her thoughts that she ignored the gifts Mother had bestowed upon her daughter.  Strength, Mother had told her to have strength…

Unthinking, she lifted her gaze and caught his eyes, sending her tumbling through a mix of images.  None of them made any sense for they were a disjointed mix of what could be present, future, past.  She could make neither head nor tail of it, but one thing was certain…

She saw herself in his eyes.

And it terrified her.

Tearing her eyes away, she focused on the much safer point, her lap.  Her heart was beating quickly in her chest.  She had felt fear in her visions.  Fear so strong it left her mouth dry and her fingers quivering.  Never before, not even faced with the terrible fate of being taken by the Drow, had she felt so completely and utterly alone, and petrified.  This man brought evil with him.

Yet…the Great One Herself wanted her High Priestess to take on this man by herself?  How could she when she could not see clearly in his eyes, and was overcome with heart wrenching fear when she tried?  How could she, a pitiful seventeen year old girl, raised in a convent her entire life, confront and conquer her fears?

“Your eyes tell much.â€? she murmured, unable to keep a slight quiver out of her voice at the start, “Yet much of it even I cannot interpret.â€?  She took a deep breath, and raised her head, focusing on the contours of his mouth rather than risk another flash from his eyes.  â€œBut tell me, Carthax Feratul…you did not come here merely to share my fire, that much is plain from the distance you keep from it.â€?  A small smile touched the corner of her rosy lips.  She held out her hand and called to the light, feeding the flames so they slowly expanded, becoming larger, “If I were to keep feeding the flames…would you bear it, or would you shrink?â€?  She forced the flames the cease growing wide, and ordered them silently to inch toward the night sky.  Her eyes followed the line of flames, the firelight dancing in her glowing, golden eyes.

“’Tis sad, really.  To shrink from something so stunning…â€? she watched the flames flicker and dance with each other in an intimate soirée of colors, shapes, and images.  She read them with the accuracy of someone highly trained and use to reading the symbols as easily as breathing.

“I do not look into your eyes…â€? she answered the question the fire posed to her as she dropped her hands, allowing the flames to settle into its previous form, “…because of what I may See there.  You are followed by death.â€?  Yet, here the images had become shadowed.  They spoke, but she did not quite comprehend their meanings.  Many times the symbols would say one thing and she would not fully understand until the person explained, or the future came to pass.  Followed by death could have multiple meanings, and of which one the flames spoke, she did not know.  Gifted or not, trained or not, even a Seer of many ages would not be able to untangle all of the secrets of life through a fire dance.

“So tell me, Carthax.  If not for the warmth, why do you traverse the desert and settle at my lonely fire?â€?

[Anonymous]

So he had been right then, she was a priestess, a high priestess for that matter. Well, at least she wasn't one for technicalities, cause he wasn't one for them either. More so if he didn't believe in the religion. He based religions on how the Gods operate, and in his world, Gods actually came down from the heavens and interfered just a bit too much. "Well, I suppose I shall just call you Oinnanai then." What a bloody mouthful. Some people sure did like to name their children strange things. Then again his name was Carthax...that was a pretty strange name wasn't it?

Why was it that every time she looked up at him and they caught each other's eyes she would suddenly turn away?

What exactly was she seeing in them? She was afraid, she felt fear, a great fear for that matter. He could feel her heartbeat from here, the blight literally pulsed with it, quickly, just like a mouse that was being hunted by a cat...Of course this game was just a wee bit more dangerous than cat and mouse...still...

She's right to be scared of me but...not too many people have been since they don't know me. What does she know that I don't... Carthax mused silently as he watched her tear her eyes to look away from him. Maybe as a holy woman she could feel his evil, the taint, and the blight that spread forth from him...some of them could do that after all. Still.

"They speak a whole volume that a book about me could not, don't they?" He smiled lightly, keeping a close eye on her. She was a special one...he knew this mainly because she had called herself a high priestess, which meant that he was going to have a lot of fun with her. He'd never broken a high priestess...never really saw it as a smart idea. Mainly because they would be heavily brainwashed, and breaking them would be an ordeal. Still...he had no plans at this moment, none that would require his time like taking over a world.

Oh no, start small. Very small.

"I said I was passing by didn't I? I never said that I planned to share the light of the fire either." He just wanted to share the warmth after all...well...maybe not true. He wanted to share the company perhaps. Though he hated most people, he could handle a few people, he always had liked small groups, five perhaps, maybe more people if he was feeling good about. Carthax closed his eyes as the fire grew brighter but he stayed right where he was despite the irritation that was in his skin. "I will not falter if that is what you ask." He spoke through gritted teeth to her.

"You speak as if the light is something to behold. I prefer the darkness." The light had advantages yes, but so did the darkness. It was just a path that you could take in your life...he had just chosen a life of darkness and evil. Granted you could hold the darkness and be good, just as you could take the light and be evil, but he followed a little more...simplistic ideology. Darkness bad, light good. Plain and simple really. There were only the rare cases where darkness was good and light was evil but that was neither here nor there.

She caught his attention though as she spoke about his eyes and what she saw. "A reaper always lurk closest to those who bring about the greatest death. Can't you feel it in my very shadow?" He swept his hand about, suddenly pulling his shadow with it to suddenly dim the light of the fire. But just like a cloud covering the moon suddenly his shadow stopped dimming the fire. "You control the light and the fire just as I control the darkness...A strange thought I suppose, such a polar opposite you and I." Except the fact that she would always be a slave while he was just always free.

"Honestly? I took a wrong turn at a small town and ended up here in the desert. Your lands are too new to me, I haven't a map to go on, or any sense of topography so...I just wander, hoping I'll find the right place for me. I heard of a few places, decided to go take a look but no real success." He didn't exactly have a good sense of direction. Still, with a bad sense of direction comes some fortunate luck. Like finding this woman.

"It isn't all bad after all, I have found you. Perhaps not a Godsend for you but I'll take what I can get." He decided he should perhaps fight her fairly, without using the blight to sap her powers but...no...he wasn't going to fight fire. Not with the fact that right now his skin smelled a little bit like burnt food because of her. That was an insult he wasn't going to live with.

[Goldie]

A laugh burst from her lips, clear as crystal but slightly harsh like it had not been heard in a very long time.  She didn't know if it was actually humorous, or if her fear had reached such a level that she was hiding it behind mirth.  Whatever it was, the laugh was all that she needed to chase away the fear she felt when looking into his eyes.

"So that is why..." she murmured, running her hand through her hair and twirling the long strands around one finger, silently thinking to herself about the Great Mother's will.  The laughter and her movements softened her features, allowing her to shed the years that requirement and work had caused her to gain and left her for who she was -- a 17 year old girl, not a High Priestess, but a human.  Even she could break under the pressures of her position, even she resorted to juvenile actions that did not fit her station.  Darkness...his power was the opposite of her own, and thus against the Her teachings and against Her people.  She had sent her High Priestess to show him the light.  Or, to destroy him should he chose to remain the dark.  If he only accepted the light, his soul would be saved by Her grace.  Yet...he shrunk from the flames, from the light, and tried to smother it in his tainted darkness.

He would soon learn what it meant to destroy Her light, should he try.  She was trained from the age of 5 in the arts of light and fire, and that would not be quenched quickly by his power over darkness.  Even in these hours of night.  Eventually the sun would rise in the east and his power over the darkness would dwindle while hers expand.  The Great Mother would not forsake her daughter, her hand-picked savior of Her people.

She knew her place, she knew her job with this man, and she began by calling back the fire to its original size.  If she were to gain his trust, his heart, and his soul, she would have to start with small gestures of peace and friendship.  He did not like the fire yet, so she would not torture him with it's rays.  Not until he was either ready to accept Her as his Mother, or he was stubborn enough to choose death.  She would not falter, she would not tremble, and she would face whatever fight he would put up with the same persistency and single-minded focus that a High Priestess should employ when working with the non-believers.

If she had one flaw...it was being far too nice in her approach.

"Polar opposites, indeed." she gave him a light smile, her hands returning to her lap and the air of a priestess once again returning to her small frame.  "And these are not my lands." she explained, "They are Hers, and I merely travel to the places where She sees that I should be.  I have been in this desert for weeks, always watching the flames, listening for Her voice, and following that which she asks of me.  It is Her will that I be here, at this fire, with you.  The Great Mother places her children where they are most needed."

Standing, she walked into the shallow cave to collect the basket of fruit she had gathered before.  The simple white dress that she wore shed sand like gold dust and she walked, the sway of her hips showing clearly through the fine fabrics, her hair falling in a deluge of curls down her back emphasized only by the gold circlet that encompassed her head.

Returning to the fire, she knelt once more and removed the fruit from the basket.  Reaching around the flames she held one out for him.  If he had been wandering for who knows how long, he was bound to be hungry.

"It isn't much, but I'm sure that you are hungry.  I have plenty of fruit, and water if you so desire."

Nice....start out with being benevolent to see if he could be molded, to see if he could be shaped to fit the Great Mother's Will.

[Anonymous]

At least she could laugh because of him! Perhaps not at him, but with him in a way. That was always a good sign. He hated when people laughed at him. Genuinely laughed at him, it reminded him of his father, who was a humorous fellow in his own right, and always liked to laugh...though his father's laughter could have the same biting sting as any parent.

"If I had known a desert lay this way I would not have continued on my path. I'd rather be in the murky depths of a swamp with the sun blotted out and the rotted death all around me...somewhere I feel safe, instead of in a place where the sun beats down upon my skin, the heat burns my very lungs and even the wind, something that used to bring a cool chill would rip at me with the sand. No...I do not like this place." She seemed to be right at home with it though, with it being so warm and bright.

Bah.

"At least I know that the sun will set and the sands will cool. Even the desert has its polar opposites doesn't it?" Carthax smiled a little bit. Night and day, it was all good wasn't it? You have to like it when you can relate yourself and a new companion to night and day. That was really something wasn't it? Granted he really wasn't a fan of this woman but still...she was something new to observe, something new to talk to.

"Ah, well that makes sense. Let's hope that She is always watching and will always deliver you from evil." Heh. If this Great Mother was real, he wanted her to see him defile her. He wanted Her to see Her greatest priestess fall to him...fall to him and become his slave. It would be terrific!

Carthax's eyes narrowed slightly as he watched her suddenly stand and walk away from him. He was focused more on her hips of course, as he was only male. That was a nice little show...she had a smooth sway, hypnotic almost. He could get lost in that little wiggle for sure. Whether she meant to do this or not, he hadn't a clue. Was she celibate perhaps, or could she take men as suitor? It was an interesting thought. She almost seemed to...shimmer as well...the sand catching the light and glittering. It was rather...

No. It wasn't nice. It was just a trick of the light.

"Hm? Oh...no I'm quite alright. I don't...I can't eat that food...watch." He reached out and took a piece of the fruit and raised it to his lips, but the moment it touched his lips something seemed to happen...it began to rot.

"Besides, fruit and vegetables will not sustain me." He tossed the piece of rotten fruit far from them, since the smell would get to them no doubt. "I have my own food..." He reached to the satchel at his side and pulled from it another large piece of flesh and took a bite into it. "I'd offer you some but...I need this flesh more than you do I'm afraid. I need to sustain myself. Heh. Besides, not many people like to eat other people." His eyes flashed slightly as he watched her, taking another bite from the strip of flesh, chewing it rather loudly, savouring it.

"You ever been so close to evil Oinnanai? I mean to such a true evil like me? I bleed evil in a way, a blight, plague, death, hold the shadows to my own like they were family...and someone with an overly large ego like my own?" Carthax asked her, still keeping his eyes locked on her face. He didn't come off as threatening yet...his posture was relaxed, very smooth, his actions weren't stiff, but they were fluid. After all, there was no reason they couldn't enjoy the time could they?

"Tell me, have you ever taken a man for a suitor? For a lover?  If not, have you ever wondered what it was like? Maybe even to be married...or just to be a slave to another's will? A slave to a person who forces their will upon you?" Her clothes didn't leave too much to his imagination, but damned if he didn't want to see it stained with blood, to see that beautiful white skin marred with red blood as it spilt freely...oh how that would be sweet.

[Goldie]

ooc:  this is going to be much suckage ._.  but I'm trying....my Oinnanai muse has gotten fat and lazy sitting in my brain eating cookies for the past few months...I've put her on the tredmill but she's sooooooooooo fat that it's taking forevah!

ic:

The High Priestess watched her new project with interest that slowly turned to disgust as the fruit neared his mouth and slowly rotted.  This darkness in him was more than she had bargained for.  Now that she focused on him, she could almost feel the cold emitting from his ghost-like skin.  Her skin crawled just watching him and she was overcome with a sudden shudder that traveled up her spine.

Evil...she had seen evil before.  The drow were the epitome of evil and she had taken part of many rituals to rid the world of those evil beings.  How many had she caught in the net of Her light?  How many times had she destroyed their miserable lives in the hopes that, one day, their filth would be wiped from this earth.

But this man...never before had she felt the cold touch of fear upon her like this before.  The drow, evil and terrible as they were, none of them caused these feelings.  She was  overcome with the sudden realization that she may have bit off more than she could chew.  This was not a man who could be saved by accepting Her light...he was a blight to the very earth.  A cancer even worse than the drow....oh Goddess...Mother....what was she suppose to do?  It was obvious that this was what She wanted her to do...but...perhaps, perhaps She had given her daughter something--

NO

She would not fall victim to doubt.  This is where Mother wanted Her daughter to be, and this was where she would stay.  Nothing was above Her will.  And Oinnanai was Her High Priestess.  She would not waver even when the person presented before her was something as difficult and terrible as Carthax.

She was not weak.  And she would follow the Great Mother Goddess's will.

"Something as evil?" she asked from her kneeling position across the fire.  Sitting closer to the flames and keeping Her light between them gave her the courage to continue forward.  "There is plenty of evil in this world, Carthax.  I have seen, and been a part of the destruction of its core.  It is whether or not we have the strength to conquer over them that is the true question."  As simple and easy as her words were, there was a threat behind them, that much was clear.  It was reflected by the brightness of her eyes as they stared towards Carthax.  Their brilliant gold dazzled forebodingly in the light of the campfire.  It was clear that her Goddess was on her side.

"I am Her High Priestess" was Oinnanai's reply to his question about suitors, "I follow her will.  I have been trained in Her sacred arts and have been blessed with the grace to hear Her voice.  From the age of 3 I have been trained.  I have not had time, nor the calling, to take a man for my own pleasure.  It has not been Her will, and I listen to Her in all things."  Like him, her own stance remained at ease, but it was impossible to ignore the fire in her eyes.  She was coiled like a cat and would be ready to strike the moment his movements turned hostile.

"Now tell me, Carthax." She mused, "What could possibly keep you here, at a fire that harms you?"  She didn't want to hear his answer, but she was tired of this game.

[Anonymous]

He wasn't joking when he told her that he was evil.

This was Carthax after all. He didn't feel too much of a need to exagerate his own...well...greatness. Though he did rather like it when other people dit that sort of thing to him. OH he loved getting a good ego stroke, there was nothing finer than having a person give him a little ego stroking. It helpe dall the more by the fact that she was...well she was a High Priestess. Ah this was going to be so much fun!

The filth from his staff would stay at bay...not to be used until he needed it.

Which could be soon really.

Was she fretting over there? His father knew how to read people really well, tell what they thought, what they were feeling, that sort of thing. He tried to pick up on it, but he didn't have such honed senses. His father could hear pin drops in dirt for crying out loud. Now he could barely hear a heart beat. Oh he could feel it...heh heh...that was because he was so connected to life and death. Actually it was mostly death.

Still, the two were interconnected.

Carthax didn't much want to get closer to the fire, and she seemed to know that it hurting him just a little. That couldn't be good could it? She would be able to keep him at bay, or she could try. He could fight it, he could dorwn it, he could envelop it in darkness.

He could suffocate it just like he could do to her.

"Hah! You talk of such fun things. I don't think you've been too close to real evil. What have you gone up against? Have you been against demons? Liches? Living Darkness? Eternal Tainters? Dracoliches? Have you stared into a Hellish pit?" He had seen evil, he had been evil, if she truly thought he had evil in him, she should have been there at his peak of power.

Ah she would have been his queen. Captive perhaps yes, treated none to well but...that would be her fault for fighting no doubt.

She seemed like someone who would.

"Aw, that sounds so boring. Having to be so tame and reserved. My time as the Avatar of Terrin was so much more....fun." All the carnage that he could make, all that death, never worrying about consequences. He just did what his God wanted him to do, and that was to make suffering and pain a reality for a lot of people. That was the easy part, no, the fun part even!

Her next words made him smile lightly as he moved slightly, a little bit away from the fire. "Why...you of course. Alone, well, alone in body, of course no one is alone with a Goddess in your life...vulnerable...so weak...so delicious...your body so fresh and fertile. It just demands to be defiled. It would be an outrage if I didn't." He didn't make any move toward her. Not yet. He had to wait. The taint was moving, finding its way about her and such. He was going to have a bit of fun with her first.

"But really, you've never even had the calling for pleasure? To know what's its like to have a man inside you? That building pressure of pleasure before you burst in orgasmic bliss? Not a once then?" Maybe now he was just teasing...just a little bit. Perhaps a tiny bit.

[Goldie]

Ah she thought to herself, So that is what he wants...

It wasn't hard for her to read him, even from this distance and she was well aware that all of the things he was telling her were the foreshadowing of events to come.  She had heard screams in her visions, and now it was slowly becoming clear what was about to happen.

No, he had not physically threatened her yet.  If anything he had moved away from her fire, but that was not about to stop anything that was predestined to happen.  She could see the future in snatches and small pieces, but that future was ever changing like the flames of a fire, and one could never be sure of their meaning until the moment arrived.  It was this gift that caused her to be taken from her family at such a young age and trained as a High Priestess.  That and her nearly perfect Solisi look.  Her hair was light enough that it could blend in with the first snowfall, and her skin held just enough pink to prove that she did, indeed, live.  Not to mention, her eyes were the most brilliant of gold, a gold that sharped each time a vision overtook her.

Screams...she had heard them, and now she knew that they would be her own.  The Great Mother provided her children with the tools they need in order to survive and fight for the one true belief, and she would not fail Her.  It was a test.  A test of her faith, a test of her strength.

She would scream.  The future had been determined by Her long before Carthax appeared.  But she would not falter.  She would not fail.  Her High Priestess would survive this test and come out stronger.  After all, one cannot fight what they have not witnessed themselves.  Now, she would be able to preach to her followers that she had been had by the darkest of demons and come out victorious because the Great Mother never abandons her children, even in the darkest times.  Oinnanai would not fail Her.  She would not fail.  This was where she was meant to be and she would take all that She had planned.

"A test." she murmured under her breath as she stood from her spot, the sand once again falling away from her pure white dress like gold dust.  The flames were reflected in her eyes as she pushed all fears and all doubts behind the iron door of her mind.  She was no longer human.  She was no longer a 17 year old girl waiting in the desert for some unknown.

She was Oinnanai, High Priestess of the Lumenari.

Staring across the fire and directly into Carthax's eyes, she endured the flashes of the future that played in her mind by the direct path in which their eyes met.  She was no longer afraid to see them, no longer afraid to hear her own terrorized screams.  Instead of fear, it was empowering.  She already knew the future.  There was no reason to be afraid.  She was Her Priestess.  Without breaking the connection, she lifted her arms to the straps of her gown and purposefully pushed them from her shoulders.  Without anything to hold the dress in place, it fell from her to land in a puddle at her feet.  She raised her arms, revealing her entire body to him as it blazed in the firelight, adorned only by a small amulet that appeared to be made out of flames.

"You wish to have me?" she asked, her voice filled with a power that was not there before.  In an instant, it became clear that this woman was not easily broken, nor toyed with.  She had been trained, and now she would be tested.

"Know this, Carthax" her eyes were so intense that it seemed they would burn holes into the back of his skull, "All that you desire, comes from the Great Mother.  All that you wish to have, is Hers.  All that I am, I was granted by Her grace.  My life means nothing next to Her message.  So come.  I See in your eyes what it is you wish to do.  They do not lie.  Come.  Let us end this game."

[Anonymous]

He was a simple man after all. He had very few needs and wants, at least at this time and in this land. There wasn't much that he wanted to demand at this time anyways. He already had his food after all, that was in his pouch, but this woman was something else. She was a priestess, and just being able to defile a High Priestess of all things...why would he pass this opportunity up when it was offered so readily to him even?

He really never figured what he was going to get into at this time but...it looked like it was going to be fun! Very much fun!

As he watched her stand up he raised an eyebrow, wondering just what was going to happen now. Was she going to attack him then? The taint was at the ready, waiting to strike if he needed to. He really just hoped that there was no Goddess watching over, at least not an active Goddess. Because she wasn't going to have a High Priestess after this. At least not one that was going to want to believe in a Goddess. This would end eventually in some death perhaps. Either that or she would always be by his side until he let her die.

Oh that was always such fun wasn't it?

He almost got lost in some fantasies of his when something really caught his eye. Her dress was starting to get taken off, becoming a small pool around her feet. She was completely naked now, save for an amulet around her neck. Alright. This was unexpected. Did she fight better in the nude? Did she expect him to get distracted so she could kill him quickly? Hah!

It took a little more than a young naked virgin to distract him.

He...He wasn't sure what that 'little more' was though..maybe if she had some sort of platter with food on it and a crown for him? Yeah alright he'd be an easy kill for that.

Carthax slowly got to his feet and dusted himself off as he focused on the woman. Hmm. A high priestess. How difficult would she be to take down anyway? That necklace worried him. After all...the flames were causing him to sizzle a little, so the amulet.

"Game?" He enquired as he spread his arms wide. "This is no game. No test. This is your life. This is my life. Heh heh. However, I agree. Let's end this game then." There was a ripple of wind through the sand suddenly as he moved all the taint inward. The fire, suddenly become covered by the strange black liquid-like substance. At first the fire seemed to fight it until it hissed and died into darkness. His eyes stayed alive as he watched the woman across from him. The taint was very much around them, keeping them in a close circle. If he needed to, he could just envelope her in it.

Heh heh.

That would be fun.

But all of this was going to be great fun really. Very great fun.

[Goldie]

ooc: *KICKS THE BOARD OF NO SAVING DRAFTNESS!*

ic:

Although Oinnanai could not feel the thing Carthax dubbed the "taint," she could tell that Her fire was being quenched by some outside force.  The fire began to sputter and dim, but she was prepared.  Without a second thought, she reached for Her power and connected to the flames, pulling them into her being in order to preserve the holiness of Her flame.  No evil being would quench her fire.  Even if the sun did not shine, Her light would pour through Her believers.  So she accepted the flames into her soul which caused her pale skin to glow softly in the darkness, emphasized as the fire was quenched and disappeared.

It became clear that this woman now held the flames within her very soul as she shimmered in the darkness, the fire amulet around her neck glittering and flickering as if it were made of flame and not glass.  She was Her High Priestess, and she would not let Her down, not now, not ever.  This foul beast may have his thoughts twisted around some sick fantasy, but this would be her test, and his downfall.  No one who stood against Her will would prevail, as her followers were stout of heart.  The true believers would never waver, no matter the consequences.

"You may try to quench Her fire," Oinnanai's voice boomed across the space that separated her from her test, "But Her flames will forever shine through Her followers.  They will forever burn with the fire of passion that lives in the hearts of Her leaders.  Of the fire that smolders in my soul, ready to face the darkness that you bring into Her lands.  You will tremble beneath Her power."

During this whole ordeal, her eyes never left his face, and her hands remained outspread, not in a symbol of servitude, but in a dominate way that revealed all of the light that shown from her skin.  It was a threat that she did not need to place into words.  Her eyes were clearly saying, Come if you dare.  Will you be able to touch me with your vile fingers?  Or will the flame the burns within my very soul cause your skin to boil and burn?

She had been training her entire life for this moment.

Failure was not an option.

The Goddess filled her very being, filled her sense, her heart, and her soul.  No man, no demon, no evil creature could enter into the sacred realm of her soul and banish Her light.  It would shine brightly, and only continue to burn, despite those who sought to quench it.

[Anonymous]

Ooc: x3 It's all good!

IC:

It was an outside source, perhaps because it was not of her world, it was...different. The taint was not evil, though it was from an evil creature, controlled by such an evil creature. That creature being Carthax. To him, he had not noticed at first that it hadn't been killed, but instead, the fire had simply been...moved. Just like his taint, it could be kept within, to the very soul, hers was different. It was pure, it was perhaps powerful, and it make her seem different. The question was though, did Carthax fear? Did it strike him as painful? No. It just made him want her even more. She was trying to makeself so pure...

It just made him want to taint her even more.

He watched her careful, able to feel her fire burn brightly. This would be a hard thing to master. A very hard thing. He closed his eyes for a moemnt to let the taint come back to him, seeping into his pores and becoming part of him once more. His soul felt better, a lot stronger again, and things would be okay. At least he hoped he would be alright. She was offering herself, but he knew that it was a lure. To get him close to the fire. "Oh...there will be a fire of passion tonight Oinnanai...but it will be mine, and it will be quenched by the tainting of your pure body." He began to walk, going to cross the distance between them. He would have to be strong, and he would have to ignore what pain there might be from her.

Carthax kept his eyes on hers, smiling lightly as he stood not far from her now, watching her carefully. He clenched his hands into fists a few times. There had to be a way to get passed all her defences. This faith, he may have never heard of it, never encountered it, but it was strong within her. Faith that wasn't yours could still hurt you, more so if it empowered the victim you faced. This one happened to be of light and fire.

Maybe he was at a disadvantage, or maybe this would serve to help strengthen him. To make him fight all the more, fight harder, fight better. It was a challenge.

Carthax reached out to her for a moment, his hand come to fall upon her hip. One could see he had pain from that, it was in his eyes, but he just decided to go through with it anyway. It was just pain, and it was actually very good anyway. It wasn't a deep burn, she was strong but he was coating it so it didn't hurt as much. That was important. "You're going to be really fun." His other hand came up to cup her cheek as he leaned in suddenly to kiss her. It wasn't soft, it wasnt tender, it was rough, it was hard, it backed the force of his animal desire, that darkness that wanted her, to douse her with it.

He would. Not now though. Things were going to be slow though. He wanted to defile her all through the night. By morning, he wanted her to have enjoyed part of it. Heh. Even if she didn't he was still going to thoroughly enjoy all of this. His lips felt perhaps warm, and his tongue slowly dragged along her lips tingled. Mm, still good though.

[Goldie]

ooc: Oh Carthax....*sniggers*  Sorry it took so long!  I've been debating with myself what direction to take this....>_>

ic:

Oinnanai watched him carefully, her gold eyes dancing with the flames that no longer lit the night.  She no longer needed the flames, for she herself became a beacon of light, her pale skin glowing with its own golden fire.  She was beautiful by Solisi standards.  Everything about her was light, the complete opposite of darkness.  Her blonde hair practically glowing in the moonlight, just a few shades lighter than her skin.  Perfect, porcelain skin that could not be darkened by the sun no matter how long she waited in its perfect rays.  Her eyes Saw more than the normal man, and shimmered between orange and gold.

Her high priestess.  That was who she was.

High Priestess...and soon to be tested.

A clear, haughty laugh erupted from her lips as Carthax blabbered on about love.  She had never said that she had not been with another, she had merely said she had never taken a lover for her own desires.  Every action that she did stemmed from the Goddess's will.  Her will.

"You assume much, Carthax" she murmured into his ear as he approached her, laying his hands on her naked form. "For it is you, not I, that lacks the true feeling of passion."  As his lips brushed roughly against her own, she did what she assumed he did not expect.  She met his lips with her own, forcing the heat of Her fire into her very lips.  Blistering heat that burned with a metallic stench as white hot flames erupted from her mouth.  Without pulling away, Oinnanai wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer into her embrace as she parted her lips and slipped her tongue into him; with it flowed the white-hot flames.

She pressed her perfect body against his, letting him feel the heat that radiated from every pore of her body.  Just barely touching her had hurt him.  She would give him everything he desired.

Oh yes.

Everything and more.

So much more....

She was Her High Priestess.  She had mastered Her fire, and she would use it.  As the fire coursed through her veins, she shivered with passion that billowed throughout her entire body.  She was in Her High Priestess.  Her power flowed through her and offered more pleasure than any man's touch.

But Oinnanai caught herself before she let the fire consume her.  She needed to keep it, for this night had just begun.  With a shudder she pushed back the blissful fire, the metallic reek of white-hot flames dissipating into the night as she returned to herself, arms shaking with desire.  Wait she told herself, her lips turned up in a smirk as she looked for Carthax, having been so consumed by the passion of flames she did not know what had happened until she forced Her flames away for the moment.

Would he still want to dance with her this night?

[Anonymous]

ooc: It's quite alright. xDD Poor Carthax indeed!

Ic:

A strange turn of events. Meeting this woman, his opposite, he who served a God so dark no light could have withstood him, so those of darkness had risen up and smote him. Now she was here with him, a woman of light so...apparently pure and powerful. He found it fed him in some way, but he was unfamiliar with it. That however didn't matter right now, all that mattered right now was the fact that he had to deal with her, with her fire and light, attack it with his shadow and his darkness.

"I won't disagree with you on that." He whispered, his voice hushed, his lips so close before they came to hers. He was surprised by her return, her response. There was heat at first. More heat. She was very funny wasn't she? Carthax didn't struggle, he didn't scream, he didn't even seem to care as the fire was enveloping him. It ws a nice feeling. Her tongue went to his mouth, his meeting hers, despite the burning. She was so adorable wasn't she? His own arms went to rest downward, wrapping around her waist, though it wasn't needed. Her body was already pressed against him, already so close to him.

He would get what he wanted.

He would have her, and it would be good for him, bad for her.

It was a disturbing thought. However, what she was doing was wasting her powers. She was letting her fire go into him. He was letting it get sucked into him, he was taking it, and letting it get smothered by the blackness. It was delictable, a taste unlike any other. Though his body was being burned, he did not mind at all. The pains he had in the past were so much more than this little girl's fire.

He decided to play a little bit.

Carthax broke away from her, his hands coming up to his face as he began to scream. He made it genuine, letting the pain flow through him as he stepped back from her, turning away from her, falling to his knees. Indeed, the smell of burning flesh was upon the air, his hair burnt, his face burnt, even his clothes were smouldering. He made a strange gurgling noise as he continued to try and get the 'heat' away from him. That is until he stopped and stood up, turning to look at her, his hands coming away from his face.

For only a moment, Carthax looked a true monster. His flesh was shriveled and burned, his eyes had melted in the sockets, his lips were gone, pulling back to show his fire-blackened teeth. One could see the muscles pulsing and contracting as he grinned, or what she might be able to assume was a grin. "Just kidding." His voice was a throaty gurgle, he had let the fire go so far into him. It had to look authentic. Though before her eyes he began to change, his flesh began to grow, his teeth cleaned to white once more, muscle grew back and his eyes seemed to pull back and inflate once more into his socket. He was suddenly back to normal, he looked just like he had, even his hair had grown back.

"That was delicious. Very delicious." A hand went to his clothes, he began to strip them off. He unbuttoned his shirt, pulling his arms from the sleeves and tossing the heavy and ornate, now burnt article on the ground. Then the simple undershirt was stripped off and discarded. Carthax wasn't a muscle bound man, but he did look rather sculpted. After the belt was undone, he stepped from his pants, no time to fold them. It left him only in a pair of thin leggings, which were soon taken away. He was not ashamed of his body, how could he be? Carthax believed he was born of a decadent God's will, and the God had not been stingy on his appearance. Yes, he was perhaps a little skinny, but his muscles were developed, they were just like his father, a vampire.

He was disgusted by the fact that he had to abide with being a descendant of his father, inheriting traits but...his father had just been a vessel, same with his disgusting elven mother.  They had just been used by Terrin.

"Shall we get back to the dance now Oinnanai?" There was a new power behind his voice, his eyes were alight, a new shadow suddenly billowing up behind his form. He seemed all the more brighter as this darkness stretched outward. They both had a hate, and her love for her Goddess, her devotion, it was all that he needed to power him. Not to mention that fire she kept using. Even if she was infinite with it, and he was finite, the more she used on him, the greater his darkness could become. he had found the perfect little battery for his powers.

And this one had such a shapely golden form. Lucky him.

[Goldie]

ooc: What the.....fo' real?  That just happened?  lol  well that sucks...so much for having any weaknesses...great...flame=battery.... -_-()

ic:

Oinnanai's eyes cleared as the bright flames faded from the gaze, leaving golden spots in her vision as she watched Carthax writhe in pain.  Fool she mused None can stand against Her.  For She is perfect and quenches all those that oppose her light.  She stood victorious over this foul creature...for surely that was all that he was.  He did not even constitute as a man, for he was nothing more than a roach beneath her feet.  He would be squashed and destroyed by Her flames.

Another clear laugh erupted from the High Priestess's lips.  A laugh that echoed the joy she felt at his pain.  No, he was no Drow, but his filth was close enough to their despicable nature that any pain he felt, would be her joy.  Oh yes, it would be a nights worth of entertainment and a life time's achievement to add to her ever growing list.

"You silly, fool." she murmured, eyes flashing with mirth and fire, "To stand against Her is to burn!"

Then, much to her dismay, he stood.

And his words filled her with dread.

"No..." she whispered, eyes widening as the reality of the situation sunk in.  Of course....this was her test....that would have been much too easy...."Goddess...no..." He was standing, he was grinning while his face could be described as nothing less than macabre...he was the walking dead for a instant, before the skin that had melted away on his face slowly began to knit itself back together.  While she could laugh at his deformed figure, once his face resembled himself again she forced herself still as she began to tremble.

No... she thought, her mind desperately running in circles as she tried to find some sort of solution to this terrible turn of events.  When the sun was shining she would have a infinite amount of power, for Her grace would encircle her Priestess.  But here, in the dark of the night she knew that the danger was much greater for herself.  If she was not careful, she could use her own life force and extinguish her own light forever.  She could accidentally feed off of herself until she herself became nothing more than a burned out husk of flesh to be carried away on the wind like ash.

Goddess...Help you're High Priestess she sent up the silent prayer Help her destroy this creature of the night and continue to spread Your light!  You have given me a great foe, and I ask only for the strength to face him, for now I know this night will be long and filled with great toils.  Help your Daughter.

"Oh, the dance has barely begun." She muttered back, once again quenching the 17 year old girl that threatened to emerge with a shriek and go running in the other direction.  She needed to be the High Priestess, not a young woman.  She needed to protect Her light with whatever means possible.

As the dark shadows began to swell up behind him, Oinnanai began muttering under her breath in an unknown tongue, her hands flowing in a circular pattern around her, tracing lines with her fingers that left streaks of flame hanging in the air, creating an intricate pattern before, behind, and all around her figure.  The lines shimmered and danced as she began moving faster and faster, creating her own shell of fire and symbols before her.

If he would create shadow, she would create light.

[Anonymous]

OOC: Well she could start reciting bible verses from his home realm, she could just keep that fiery glowy stuff in her and make the whole process uncomfortable, or just not fight, that'll annoy him a little? xDD She could also make the sun rise! That'd make him stop!

Ic:

Carthax found it all hilarious though. She seemed so confident, so very victorious. All his writhing, screaming in pain, it was perfect really. Of course, he couldn't have planned her words better than she had. He stood up, and she seemed so afraid now. That was kinda nice actually, finally letting her see the dread in her face. In her eyes, perhaps...just in her soul too. Mmm. Such a beautiful soul too. He just hoped that he could ruin her so that soul no longer shined brightly.

"Oh Goddess yes. Nice try though." Stupid little girl. Though he had no God on his side in this realm, he was still strong. He had been given the powers that he desired, and he still held them true. Just like her, when he had his God, he would be near infinite in his power. Now though, he was limited. A pity too, but with this whore of a priestess at his side, he could feed off of her and be so much more. He could have his power back if he needed it.

"Oh, I'd say it's going to end really soon though." Carthax hissed at her and stood near her in the nude. It was liberating really, and of course, it would be easier on all of them. Holding her down, having to strip himself? Yech. That was just troublesome. He stepped toward her and stopped as she began to draw things in the air. Oh my. He rubbed his chin for a moment, watching her carefully. Abyssal Runes? No. This was different actually, it must have been their...own form of magical runes perhaps? The fire shell was impressive, but she was not going to deter him really.

There was a difference with him. Light and Fire were different in his world. Light was created differently from fire itself. Fire held little meaning to him. He had dealt with Hell Beings before, loved Succubi and Demons alike, their fire had been more painful than this. His darkness only grew and boiled out behind him as he stepped closer to her, until he was almost pressed against the shell of fire. Cute.

He closed his eyes for a moment, his head tilting back and his mouth opening. Slowly, there was a black substance that began to billow forth from his mouth. The thick oily liquid began to cover him, until he was almost completely coated in the blackness. His hand came up and he pressed his fingers slowly against the fire shield, the sizzling sound was such a strange  noise but really...he wasnt being hurt. Not yet anyway. There was heat, it was good for the time being, and he was just testing it anyway.

He wondered the best course of action.

If he were to become the taint and rise up under her, would the sand have been turned to glass? If he stepped through, would she no longer be there perhaps? The best action might be to simply...cover the shield, smother it with his taint, extinguish it then. Or even still, with her distracted by it, he could step through, and claim her.

Yes.

From his hand, the taint began to spread outward from it, moving onto the shell. Still it sizzled and bubbled as it spread, bleeding onto it carefully. There was the power in it, his power, his will, causing it to not simply burn away. Draining, but he had excess power to spare for the time being. If this dragged on, he would use up all his power before half the night was even close to being done.