Home sweet Hideaway

She was far from home, in a climate that she didn't hate, but a climate she didn't love either. She needed to make sure that her horse was protected, so she couldn't stay out too long. She wore her usual riding boots, but they had been over laced with fur, and she wore a wolfs fur cape, along with her brown leather riding jacket underneath. She slid into a bank of snow and pulled out out her scope. The snow and ice here was not easy on the eyes an she definately always had to wear sun glasses to help her focus.

She was hunting for someone that had managed to escape the walkers for some time now, and she was tired of this. She had never been called to this assignment, and had never met the man that had evaded the elite. She climbed back on her horse and clicked to him moving towards where she had been dropped off. She was going to have to hunt this man down old style. Track and hunt.

Chris was just about to fall asleep when a slight creek in the cottage woke him up. It didn't take much to wake him up, but when something did, he was on guard. Small whips of black and red protruded from his body, slowly creeping around the house. It did not take long for them to find the source of the sound, a small mouse had started nibbling on the floor board.

A whip suddenly shot out at the mouse, seeming to do nothing at first, but then the bones of the small mouse protruded outwards, impaling the creature with its own body. Chris sighed, the mouses body disintegrating into a red dust, and seeming to disappear entirely, without a trace. Chris was not one for words, so he did what any other emotionally detached person would do. He sighed, and closed his eyes once more, falling back into a light sleep.

Jeni had to use all of her senses. She was in an unfarmiliar place and at present moment she had no leads on how to find her man. She closed her eyes and she crossed over the patch of snow and ice and then got off of her horse and listened, felt, and smelt all at the same time. She then heard the undeniable echo of a whip. She also felt the very slight vibration. She smirked and opened her eyes. Where was he. "Where are you Chris? I know your close and I so look forward to meeting you. I know your one of the very few who uses a whip." She said even though she was sure that he couldnt hear her.

She began circling about like a shark that had smelt blood from it's next meal. She began smashing large ice collums that had formed. She wanted to stir this man up. She wanted him to blow his cover. She wanted to cause him some trouble, just as he had caused her fellow walkers trouble. She wanted him to understand she wasn't just fooling around. She didn't have an intention to kill him just yet. She wanted to get a good look at him and just observe him before killing him.

The clash of thunder in the sky caught the woman off guard. Making her jump as she walked through a narrow path in a forest. It was odd to find a forest in this part of the world due to it being made of mainly icey plains but she ignored that. For now she needed shelter of some sort. With another clash above her head, the woman let out a soft yelp. She was unsure as to why the abnormal weather was occurring but she didn't care. She made her way over the soft ice and snow. Lightning clashing on a near by tree and starting a small flame which sparked fear in the woman's eyes.

Mizu moved quickly away from the source of the flame and soon found herself at an abandoned looking house. She stepped quietly as she made her way in. "Anyone home..?" She asked the darkened space. With no response she walked deeper into the area, her steps causing small creaking sounds as she made her way deeper and deeper into the dwelling.

The males eyes shot open, the sounds that were echoing through the cottage were not those of a mouse. Repeating creaks.... Footsteps. Chris stood up, his eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness, one of the up-sides of being a shina elf. The male then continues to round a corner, his footsteps near silent, muffled by the sound of wind whistling through the window opened in his living room.

As he rounded the corner, he caught a quick glimpse of a females form, but almost as quickly as he saw it, it disappeared farther into the slightly large cottage of his. He looked around quickly before a large whistling sound took up his form, and a whisp of red and black enveloped him. His form appearing mere meters away from the woman, close enough that she would notice his presence, but not close enough for her to see him clearly. The most that this woman should see is his shadow.

Small petals of red fall from around his form as he appears, a whoosh of air and aura shoving light articles away from him.

Jeni came trotting around a corner just in time to see a female enter out of the frozen woods and into a cottage. Really? You were going to wander into a cottage which you had no idea whom it belonged to? That was very smart. She climbed off of her horse and sent him away and then stalked around the outside and towards the door. She quietly slipped inside, her bow and one arrow drawn. She could smell the scent of the fire and hear the crackle of the wood. She didn't need to see that there was a fire, she knew, she could feel the difference, and smell it. She sat near a wall sliding down and keeping her arrow taught in the bow.

She couldn't wait to see what this woman was doing here. She didn't belong this far away she was a forest girl, not an arctic woman. Slipping closer into the cottage she began to notice a moving shadow. She steadied herself and her arrow.

As the woman noticed the shadow she bowed her head, kicking into innocence mode. "I'm sorry. I did not mean to intrude on your home. I was sent by a co-worker to find someone here. Do you know anyone by the name of Chris? Chris Jenova? The man is to be very talented with chaos arts and my co-worker wishes to meet him. It is not like the man is in trouble of any sort, nor do we plan to put him in any trouble. I assure you on that."

The woman's words were kind and gentle. She had kept up her innocent and caring act for so long around others. Once meeting someone that she figured would join her team, she tended to let that slip. The woman remained in her softness, however, just for a while longer. Once meeting the one known as Chris she'd have no choice but to switch personalities as she tended to do when talking to Gil as well, or any Aegis member.

Chris's eyes dragged along the scene, locating the woman who was speaking to himself. He kept silent as his eyes continued over to the farthest area of the room, also seeing a woman with a bow and arrow. He takes a minute to read the situation, and then makes his move. Chris launches himself off the floor and onto to woman who had just spoken of him. petals of crimson fell upon them, and as quickly as the movement has been done, their forms disappeared.

Mizu and Chris appeared just outside of the cottage, Chris launching off of her and back onto his feet, turning to the door of the cottage and summoning up whisps of chaos energy. He was ready for a fight, more than ready, he was exhilarated, thinking of tearing up another bounty hunter, or courageous mercenary. His mind snapped back into place, his eyes retinas focusing on the door. He didn't have enough time to see the hunters face, or their body before he had escaped, so he had no idea if it were male, female; light, heavy; husky or quick.

Jeni watched as they both dissappeared right before her eyes. She smirked. They would be expecting her to come through the door. She climbed up into the rafters of the cottage and launched herself through one of the upper windows, protecting her face from the glass. She drew her knife as she tucked and rolled. She threw off her cape and prepared herself for a fight. This was not the reason she had come today. But if a civillian was involved she couldn't allow harm to come to them.

She looked at Mizu with a cold stare and then averted her eyes back to Chris. She stood from her kneeling position and gathered up her cape. "For now, I've only come to introduce myself. I am the Fiddleback. And I know we'll be seeing each other very very soon." She said. She had no intention of going far, she had intention to watch and evaluate and then engage tomorrow. Atleast now she knew where his hideout was, which was more than anyone else could know.

The female was about to pull away from the man when he had moved towards her but before she could he was away from her. The experience was slightly bothersome but she then smirked a bit, seeing that the man was who she was looking for. "So... You are him. Allow me to introduce myself... I am Mizu Fydan... Aegis of Water and Priestess of Kanto. It is a pleasure." She spoke with a bit more confidence. Her metallic gray eyes looking over the male before her.

The female wore black pants with black boots within this weather. Her hair left out to reach her mid thigh in length and her shirt being a dark blue long sleeve color. She held her hand out to the male as a safe greeting while her body remained relatively still. It was odd that the man had yet to speak but instead only took action.

The male simply glanced towards the one who had just introduced herself, before returning his glance to the apparent assassin that had just leaped out of the window. He gave a simple tisk at her comments before allowing a small smirk. It was at that time that three large blades leaped from the ground beneath the huntress. These weapons, aiming to impale her, stopped mere millimeters from her body, one at her torso, one at her neck, the other aimed at her thigh.

The male made a short gesture to the left, as if to allow the woman passage, or inviting her through a door. Chris was not one to speak, and had often been referred to as a man of few words. He preferred to take action rather than speak, because, as he had always been taught. "Actions speak louder that words chris" The male gripped his arm, it seeming to pulse underneath his grip. The words seeming to have come from no-where, echoed throughout the forest.

The male held his stance for a few seconds, before releasing his grip and glaring at the assassin. "Get lost, If I see you again, you will become my next meal." He turned away from her, pacing right to the woman named Mizu, gripping her hand and pulling her out of the snow. After such action, he continued to walk, not speaking a word, towards the Armetisian boarder. Motioning to her behind his back, as to let her know to follow him.

Jeni watched as Chris' blades protruded from the ground beneather her. Jeni looked down but switched the weight from one hip to the other, but she did not move. If he was going to kill her he should have gone ahead and done it. It was unwise to threaten an enemy and then not kill them. But, it was even more unwise to turn your back on an enemy. She let out a shrill whistle. They were both heading right towards her horse.

Porthos came right as she requested and slid to a halt infront of the two, he reared up on his hind legs and let out a feirce cry of rage and then landed roughly sending small vibrations through the ground. Her bow and arrow were drawn. She allowed one arrow to sail through the air towards them, sailing right between the pair and sticking into the ice by Chris's foot. By this time her horse was near her. She flew up into the saddle and pulled her cape back on as she sat there. As she passed them she smirked. "Theres a momento to remember me by...atleast until we meet again Chris." She said and clicked to her horse trotting off towards town.

Keleus was sitting in the shadows, watching the entire skirmish take place. After reawakening in the tundra not too long ago, he was contacted by Gil, and was told to immediately head for this very location to prevent the foolhardy Aegis Mizu from getting herself killed while trying to recruit some idiot psychopath, or prevent her from killing him. Nonetheless after the display he had just witnessed he beleived it was time to step in.

Warping out of the shadows, Keleus gripped Jeni out of mid air by her thought, tearing her right from the horse. "That's a big horse, and very loyal seeing it hasn't ran away yet. You wont either, in fact, stay for awhile, enjoy the show im about to put on." He said to her, as he lifted his armana up and launched pure lightning into the cabain, utterly destroying it, but at the same time creating a sphere of static that kept Mizu safe. "Mizu, Gil wants you home, now, but we both want you to watch me test this....thing first to see if he's even capable of joining us." He said as he glided closer. "Now you little shit, show me what you have."

The woman's figure shifted as she moved away from the oncoming arrow. Her eyes glanced over in the direction it had come from and noticed the woman she had met back in Kanto. Mizu shrugged it off as her hand was grabbed by Chris'. As she was yanked toward him, the woman slightly tripped but quickly regained her balance. She walked behind the the man before hearing a familiar voice. As she turned to face where it had been coming from there was a sphere around her, casing her in safely.

The woman merely smiled and shook her head before waving at Keleus. "Why does he want me home now? First he wants me out here now he wants me back in kanto? Such a pain, ya know?" The woman said before sitting on the ice within the sphere. She figured the show would be worth it so she merely relaxed. "Just don't kill him Kel!"

Chris continued to pace, right past Keleus. In a nonchalant' voice he said to Keleus. "Not interested."
He wasn't lying, he honestly didn't want to be part of any countries group. He hated both superpowers, why join one? He just wanted to be left alone, rest for a bit, and continue to travel. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, you kill a handful of people, and suddenly walkers come after you. And then you need to kill those walkers, which make more walkers come after you.

He broke the arrow by stepping on it then continued to walk. He was a bit hungry, and they had just burned down his supply of food, he would need something to travel with. He took out his bag, and looked to Porthos, there was enough there to keep him fed for the trip. It was then, that the tendrils of red and black extended from his body, and pierced straight through the horses body. They did no physical damage, it was not until five seconds after that the bones of said horse protruded outwards like the mouses. The horses body then falling to the ground, the tendrils turned solid, cutting and slicing the body of the horse into manageable sizes.

The male paced over to the horse, collecting the chunks of meat and putting him in his bag, He only collected around five chunks, the meat would keep longer as he reached the frozen plains, but as soon as he got over seas to Armetisia they would start to rot. He continued to walk foreward, not paying attention to those behind him. "The aegis members can follow, just know I am not a supporter of Barlarvia, Ellesmaria or the war. If I see you again walker, you will turn out like your mount."

Jeni let out a snarl as she was thrust backwards off of her horse, by something around her neck. She reached up and felt for something but found nothing. She looked up as another man appeared. Now she was getting adgitated. Her frustration level was about to go from a 2 to a 20. Her target then looked at her horse. She saw what he did and she heard her horse scream in pain and then fall to the ground dead. She rushed over to her horse as Chris began collecting meat from her horses dead body.

At this point she snapped and and her eyes became dialated and fixed. She watched him walk away. Her eyes were only focused on Chris. She let out an ungodly scream of rage and leapt towards him with a savage snarl almost in an animal like form. "I wouldn't turn your back on an enemy! You better sleep with one eye open bitch! I'll hunt you and I'll see your sorry ass dead. Bitch you just made a big fucking mistake!" She roared.

Not interested? Do it on my our own time? These words did not bode well Keleus. To him, this all translated as "I don't have time to join your club because I'm just too good." Too add into into this, he just witnessed this arrogant prick needlessly kill a horse and make suffer the girl he had wanted to keep around as a witness to what just happened. Without her horse, she would more than likely die if she tried to reach civilization now. And then this pinprick fuck is going to have the nerve to walk past him!? "Don't have time basically huh?" Kel said as he drew Messina Titania, swinging it with one arm and hitting Chris on the right side of his head, using the flat side of the blade, knocking him away. "Then Make time for us, because we don't have a lot of time to spare on a weak piece of shit like you. With what you've done, you don't get to roam free. Everyone is after you. One nation wants your head on the pike. The other knows how stupid it would be to recruit you. Us on the other hand, love a good psychopath, so your choices are rather," He said again as he lifted his sword into the air, again with one hand, before charging up lightning and slamming it into the ground, sending a massive shockwave at Jenova, "LIMITED!"

Watching what had occurred, the woman shook her head and relaxed within the sphere. Not like she could do all too much while within it. Her expression was a face of disgust after seeing what Chris had done to the walker's horse. It was an innocent beast which only followed the ways of it's master, so why kill it? Mizu half expected Chris to go after the woman rather than the horse but then again, a death is a death. With the horse dead, apparently the walker female had gotten extremely angry. She had moved towards Chris, causing Mizu to call out to ehr. "Walker. Leave him be. Let Kel take care of it."

The woman's eyes heard Keleus' voice rising and quickly turned her gaze upon him. "I take back what I said! She said to the walker female. As Kel made his way towards Chris the woman stood up in the sphere and allowed her voice to shout at Kel. DON'T KILL HIM KEL! Or we'll both had Gil on our asses!" She made sure to say to Kel loud enough for him to hear her through the lightning all around. She didn't want to have to explain why Kel killed Chris or why there was now a walker wondering with them if that came to be the case. She wanted to get the job done and just go back to Kanto.

Chris had moved to the side slightly as the blade made contact with his head. Then retorting to his stance he looked back at the male known as Keleus, he made a contorted motion to the side. Then turning his hand, he pointed to his house, now burning down. "You think you are as to be one so great, to burn down my house, and then demand my time. Your just a stupid over zealous god, I kill those whom kill gods. You shalt be any different."

Chris then returns his gaze to the male Keleus. As he did hundreds of tendrils then continuing to form around the male, as if a wall of wriggling, deathly snakes. The tendrils then continued to interlace, creating a wall around the male. All was silent for a minute. But then, following the creation of a hole in the wall, made of the purist black, entire swarms of dark creatures started to charge forth. A dark voice echoing from within the hole. "We cannot be brought forth by a god, for we are more in numbers than the largest army. We are legion"

The creatures, hideous in form, taking the appearance of a human without a face, had enlongated claws, and constantly teleported as chris had, small petals of red and black forming around them just before they did. They had turned their numbers towards the male Keleus, and their numbers continued to swarm forth from the dark hole in the wall of tendrils.

Jeni turned as the preistess told her to leave the horse killer alone. She let an animal snarl rip up through her throat at the woman. Jeni wasn't fooling around. She was ready to charge into the unknown and battle with Chris. But unfortunately she did not get the chance. As she moved forward towards the two locked in battle. The one known as Keleus sent out a shock wave sending her flying backwards.

She landed and slid backwards a bit and finally stood back up after, the breath that had been knocked out of her, had been returned to her she stood. She had better starting heading towards somewhere she could make her home, otherwise she wasn't going to survive for long out here, especially without any provisions. She had a plan in order to defeat Chris and she was going to act upon it.

"Am I.." Keleus said, raising his sword again, "Supposed to be intimidated by this?" He finished as he crashed the blade downward, sending a wave of raw shadow energy at the worthless wall, completely destroying it and anything summoned forth by it. "You boy use chaos magic, which is, as I will admit, mildly impressive. However like all forms of magic, chaos magic is derived from another form, in a never ending and very vicious cycle. You still think you can simply walk away from this, or follow us, as if a simple observer. What's more disappointing is that you think you can then defeat me by using magic derived from the darkness. My darkness. I COMMAND ALL FORMS OF SHADOW, I AM THE WARDEN HIMSELF, YOU BOW TO ME MORTAL!" Keleus said, his voice changing, sounding hollow and demonic as it echoed in the valley. A vortex of shadow energy appeared before him, as his Armana began to glow with intense energy, almost as if it was berserking. "Tendrils, cute." Keleus said as he created his own tendrils, much larger, and much more gruesome then any previously seen in this minor scuffle. "I'll show you what a tendril does." He said as the tendrils went to wrap around Jenova.

The female remained silent as she watched the scene. In all honesty it was boring her so she stood up, stretched her arms above her head before shouting towards Chris and Keleus. "Chris! Give up! The sooner the better! If he doesn't Kel, just knock him out! Don't waste time right now. I need to get back to Kanto as it is!" She shouted before placing her hands on her hips. It was apparent that the Walker female had run off into hiding, which didn't bother Mizu all that much. What it came down to was if the woman had recognized her, which she doubted due to her change in clothes for the moment.

Chris gave an un-interested tisk to the larger tendrils, simply disserning them as a waste of energy. He waited for them to get close before moving his hand in a sweeping motion. Just before it crossed the paths of the tendrils, his medium sized scythe appeared in his grasp. A small U shaped wave of energy leaving the blade and cutting straight through the base of the tendrils. The rest of them seeming to rot at an accelerated speed, holes appearing in the flesh, and soon, the tendrils were a small brown pool.

Chris stood there, scythe in hand, waiting for the next move by the hulking male. He stood there a good thirty seconds before turning his back to the male once more and continuing his walk to the nearest dock. "I have no intentions of continuing this fight. Its a waste of both our energy, and has no purpose than to otherwise than to show off." He only took a second glance at the horses body before snapping his fingers, small petals settling on the horses body, and after a few seconds, all that was left was ash. "I do hope it rests peacefully." He continued his walk, not even glancing backwards.

Jeni headed due west. She was hopefully able, very soon to find some shelter. She trudged on through the snow. Oh how she missed her companion. She was well on her way and far enough away from the others that she griped on about how it was bloody cold, and how she missed Porthos, and how she was going to get her revenge. As she thought about her manner of vengance, her head snapped up. "Ah...I think it's time to go on and see the Dread Skulls." She said and then trudged on.

(Jeni Exit)