-=-The Realm-=- Open and accepting.

[ManagerKyoto]

Pedrius continued to just think about things he had done. It was a slittle depressing but it helped him to stay focused on Holy's will. and Holy's will was all that keep him sane at night. At night when his thought's ran wild around and through him. At night when Darkness' strikes against him were their strongest.

"It is ok. We all need to bath at some stage. It is just a psrt of anture."  

[Tanaquil_night]

The ringing laughter that flowed from the female's lips was so innocently pure that it began to show just why it was it could calm the tense-nerved lupine. It was as though none of that which happened had been able to stain her soul. As though she could wash her hands clean of the things in her past, unaffected. There was something almost... soothing, cleansing even, in the way that laugh wrapped around one's mind.

"True indeed, though sometimes one must think and debate if they wish to follow the path of nature..." There was a pause in which she dunked her head under, rinsing her hair thoroughly before coming up for a gentle breath. "...or pick their own as they see fit."

Coursabal shook a ring of water from his fur out in a radius about his massive form, standing up to tower at his full height and stretch out his arms. Then he turned and sat not too far from Pedrius. D'artra didn't like the feel dried blood left on her skin, and he knew she wouldn't be done until it was all washed away.  

[ManagerKyoto]

"D'artra, when you have seen as much as I have, you will know how hard it is to not do what comes naturally. Everywhere I seem to turn, people and creatures alike just do what comes naturally. It is just the way things work."

Pedrius did not open his eyes to see Coursabal sit beside him, he just knewn that is where the Lupine would sit. That position next to Pedrius just seemed the logic or natural place to wait.  

[Tanaquil_night]

"I am not blind, sir knight." The statement ran almost as cold at the water that pulled past her slender form. "I have seen as much as time would reveal and well enough have borne witness to the wonders and cruelties of mankind. Still..." She splashed a handful of water onto her face, rubbing off the burning blood as it irritated her sensitive skin. "...difficult or no, ready ambition and fortified control does more for the will than not. People...are feeble, and they always will be. Yet individuals are strong. It is not impossible to overlook one's instinctual callings...but more so strenuous."

As she rose from the waters the cold air wrapped chilling fingers about her shivering form. She gathered the gray dress. it was cottony and coarse, but the moment it slipped over her skin it shifted into vile shadows of dark silk. As she began to adjust the ketenes so they rested upon her hip she continued, ringing her hair out with a shudder, Coursabal stood.

"It is when one can bypass such natural tendencies and take their steps with level decisions...it is then when we are truly borne unto the world of life." She stretched slowly. Her body was sore and she was quite tired from the fight, but she wouldn't say anything. Not when they were still so close. "That...is when we truly awake."

She then walked off, picking her way back towards the road to think over something or other milling about her thoughts.

Coursabal looked to Pedrius for a moment before letting his eyes follow his companion. "She is not what you think her to be...she's different...."  

[ManagerKyoto]

Pedrius stood up and slowly followed the pair again. Yet, he could not stop thinking about the words D'artra had just said.

"Does she not realise the true meaning of her words? Has she even been back to see the world she left behind? Does she mot realise that by being here, she is just doing that comes naturally for most. Heck, I have come here that often that doing anything but this feeling alien."

Pedrius' mind continued to run around in thought patterns like this.  

[Tanaquil_night]

[ Message temporarily off-line ]  

[Tanaquil_night]

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Mrs. Tabitha Earins looked on as the young child slept amonsgt the plethora of blpping machines, the doctor at her side frowning as he spoke. She didn't hear his words. They were far too harsh in their sadness. When he finished she looked up at him with strong emerald eyes, "What about her mother?"

She already knew. She had known for years. But still, she had never been allowed into the room with the child, even if she was the one sponsoring the use of the equipment.

"Dead. Sentenced after the diagnosis came back." He was young. Much younger than a practitioner would be thought. But he also was the best. Maybe...if he had been around then her own daughter... No. It wasn't the time to think back of that.

She managed to look slightly shocked, however, before letting her eyes go back to the young child. Surely she wasn't a child anymore...but when she had seen the images in the papers she had been. Although she knew the mother had died, they had never revealed to the press why. "Diagnosis, Dr. Travail?"

He gave a nod of his head. "The thing that shoved the girl into the state she's in was the high counts of mixted variables within her systems. When a search of the apartment had come back to us we had found she'd been drugging the kid up on just about anything she could get her hands on. It was a wonder they said she was mentally ill...grown men have been known to die of less than what we found in her body."

Mrs. Earins frowned, tears threatening her own eyes. That a mother could do such to a child...that anyone... She shook her head. She didn't like to think about it. Instead she just looked back at the child. Her bones looked like they would tear through her skin, her eye sockets sunken and dark, as if she had two dark blackeyes. Her hair was a twisting tangle of uncommonly dark strands. She looked so weak, so frail...but then again, she had been in a coma for near on twelve years. Despite how much protein they had put into her body she still needed to be up and moving to keep her body strong and healthy.

The doctor looked shocked. "No one told you?"

Before a response could come the sound of the blpps increased, and that was when dark eyes opened up with a rattling gasp from a frail chest.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~  

[ManagerKyoto]

Pedrius had followed the pair through the woods in silence, prefering not to say anything and disturb their bonding. He did not know why, but there was a small voice in the back of his mind syaing that this day would only end in pain. Yet, in little of his reasons for being here, not a word of this feeling would leave his mouth.

When the pair started to move faster, it was obvious who was leading who. Coursabal, the large and powerful lupine, was being lead around by D'artra, the frailequse looking dark girl. It seemed a little comical but Pedrius knew that there had to be a really solid reason behind it. What ever it was, he was certainly going to get to the bottom of it when this little vandetta was over.

Suddenly the forest ended and the pair ran up to the top of hill, where a small house stood. Pedrius, not as egar, walked up and stood a few meters from the pair and a woman dressed in red. Pedrius was here to oversee D'artra's actions and not get involved, unless he had to. Words were thrown back and forth, and for a brief moment Pedrius thought he would have to stop D'artra from lashing out.

And then it happened. With a simple flick of her wrist and the sword moved. It moved straight through D'artra's chest. Pedrius had been watching D'artra like a hawk and could not move fast enough to have even thought about saving her. Or get vengence on Necia. It all happened too unexpectedly.

Pedrius just stood there next to Coursabal and the corpse of D'artra, staring off into the distance. He had been too slow to help her. Been so concerned with doing what was meant to be right instead of using the powers he had to help those that needed them. Looking upon D'artra's body, Pedrius was slightly puzzled. Usually after a minute, Players bodies turned to dust. Returned to the ground, but this was different.

D'artra's body just slowly started to lose it's colour. It did not phase out or crumble. Just lost all colour. Her body was starting to look like a real life recreation of a faded photo. Coursabal was right, she was different. She was the Trapped. She was one of the few that escape to the Realm without any intenion of going home.

A tear rolled down the side of Pedrius' face and fell off his chin.

"Coursabal... I am sorry."  

[Tanaquil_night]

The sound coming from Coursabal's throat was a mix between a growl and a whine. He reached over, cutting the palm of his paw-like hand as he pulled his father's blade free from his friend's chest. He threw the blade aside before wiping a droplet of black blood from the side of D'artra's gray face. The feeling of blood on her pure flesh had always hurt her.

"She wasn't ever under your protection, Player." He spat the last word like a curse. His own tears getting lost in the matted fur of his snout-like face. He doubled over and curled, trying to fight off the dark demons of Sorrow and Hate. Why had he let her bring him here? Why couldn't he have let her get a little bit more rest? He had failed... If it hadn't been because of him she would have... "She was...still but a child...when she found my body... Never before had I met a player who would risk so much...just to save both life and soul...of a complete stranger. She stayed with me...every minute of every day. I know she has a home to return to...out there in the Otherworlds...but she doesn't know the way back..." he shuddered, "...I must call upon Cade..."  

[Tanaquil_night]

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

It hurt. Burning. So hot. She shut her eyes as tightly as possible, trying to arch her back and burry her head away from that indescribable pain. Her body cried out at the command to move, tremors chasing the flow of the sting throughout her sickly underdeveloped body.

Coursabal!

Her mouth moved, fought to make sound, but her mouth was dry and her tongue felt swollen and heavy. She gasped, like a fish without water, gulping the air as if it weren't filling her strained lungs. She tried to move again only to thrash and feel the ache of more steady rivers of searing white pain.

She opened her eyes once more, her head swimming with confusion. Tears began to build and burn in defense of the brightness that burned the dark orbitals. The faces she saw weren't familiar. Strange. It was all so strange. Where was her Dei'andri? Where was Coursabal? And what about Pedrius and Necia?

THE SWORD!?

She tried to shake her head, but even that much was a task that took more effort than it should have. More tears flowed this time. Words were drifting over her head, but she was drowning beneath their terrible waves. Why couldn't she see anything familiar? Why wasn't her Dei'andri there? He had promised he'd always be there...always...

~*~ ~*~ ~*~  

[ManagerKyoto]

Pedrius stood there, emotionless. Not matter what Coursabal was going to do, Pedrius would not hurt him. Even if Coursabal tried to kill him. For Coursabal had already been hurt more than anyone could imagine.

"Coursabal! Stop! You have no idea what you are saying! Just listen to me! It does not matter that she died her today or whether she died tomorrow, what matters is that you don't go crazy because of her death. Can you see why us Player's try not mix with the citizens? Can you not see how much pain it has caused you?"

Pedrius paused for a moment to gather his thoughts.

"Just stop for a second. We Player's are not as powerful as we seem. Sometimes all it takes is just one little look and we forget everything. We forget that we are Player's and think we are Citizen's. I know, it has happened to me before. I actually gave up fighting for her. And then..."

Memories came flooding back into Pedrius' mind. Memories of Freya and of Kristine. Memories of his parents and lost friends. All just swelling around in his head, completely overwhelming all logical thought. All Pedrius could do was break down and cry.

"WHY CAN I NOT DIE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!"  

[Tanaquil_night]

Silently Coursabal gathered up D'artra's form in his strong arms, both golden and blue eyes growing almost distant as he stood up. He looked at Pedrius, his eyes not quite so cold as they had been a moment ago. "Before I knew her... I knew no joy. I will save her." He turned back towards the road that lead to NorthBough then paused. "...there is something back there...in the Otherworlds...that can kill you Players in a way we citizens may never know. Long have I prayed to whatever gods there be that that sickening death would befall all the players in the world... and then I met someone who was already dying because of it. And I will freely give my life...if it means saving her from that fate."

He turned to the road once more. He had to find Alacade...the Corverian drunkard would know what to do. Sober or not... Cade would know.  

[ManagerKyoto]

Pedrius just shook his head. He knew Coursabal meant well, but was too stubborn to stop and just reflect on what had happened. But more to Pedrius' distaste, Coursabal did not care enough about him to listen.

Watching the Lupine run off towards the woods, Pedrius could not help but feel sorry for his plight. Taking a deep breathe, Pedrius thought about how to help.

"Velox of pes est non satis oh Senior. Saluto thee volo iuvo illud in periculosus. Periculosus ex Atrum Unus." Pedrius screamed at the top of his lungs.

A ray of light broke through a suddenly formed group of clouds. From the ray of light came a chariot drawn by to horses. The chariot and the horses where white and just gleamed in the light. It came chargin down from the heavens and slowed down in front of Pedrius. Quickly he jumped up onto it and took the reigns.

"COURSABAL! Get you big furry butt up here! And make it snappy, these horses hate to wait!"  

[Tanaquil_night]

Coursabal growled defiantly, but did as he was bade. He hated magics... but... he loved the child like a sister. And for her...he would do what it took. He focused his golden eye upon the Knight, his face sadly serious. "Do you know the eastern boarders? There is a tavern there... The Tied Gryfon... It's there where we'll find her Dei'andri. Her father."  

[ManagerKyoto]

No sooner Coursabal was upon the chariot and Pedrius sent it flying. For the first few meters of the trip, the chariot remained on the ground just gathering speed. The crest of the hill came up and went as the chariot used it as a runaway. Climbing quickly into the sky, Pedrius skillfully piloted it towards the eastern borders.

"I am not too familiar with them, I have sent most of my time in the distant lands to the north. I have only in the past few months come down this way. Regradless, these mighty steed will get us there in a fraction of the time."

Pedrius just stopped talking for a minute and thought about the look that was sent his way by Coursabal before he got on the chariot. It was one of complete distane. As if by some weird twist of fate, Pedrius was now the focus of his anger. After an arkward silence, Pedrius spoke.

"What have you got against me, Coursabal? Tell me, what do you find so disgusting about me?"