Suta POV

'I can't even keep up... they're too fast,'

Suta thought to himself stuck between a strange sense of marvel and powerlessness.

Standing with his eyes wide open and stiffly fighting the urge to blink, Suta watched both the creature and the tiny iron-covered fellow engaging in a flurry of attacks and evasive maneuvers. The echoes of iron being grated, struck, and poked resounded through the air, intermingling with the hideous sounds of the creature's snarls and low growls.

A flash of surprise appeared on his face as the little fellow managed to find an opening and sent a twisting lunge through the left torso of the standing ghoul. The creature cried out in pain, forced back a few steps by the impact of the blow. Suta heard the squelching sounds of its punctured flesh, his eyes traced along the silver iron. Black thick slime dribbled down the lance, landing against the ground like poison, and corroding the bluegrass.

The scene was horrifying to say the least and Suta instinctively took a few steps away to widen the distance between himself and the duo.

"SIRE! B-BE-BEHIND YOU!"

Suta heard the thundering call a second before he felt it, a sensation he could only describe as a cold chill itching menacingly to the nape of his neck. With precise, measured movements, he slowly turned around, only to be faced with complete horror.

'You've got to be kidding me,' Suta eyes almost fell out of their sockets.

A gust of black sand danced around a strange, ghoulish figure, its grotesque, hunched body covered in layers of filthy, dark rags. The sight of its disfigured, black claws made the hair on Suta's neck stand up tall. Then, its oblong-shaped head slowly lifted, and unlike the first creature, Suta could clearly see its face. It held no eyes, but an obsidian-colored, fleshy skin. Its maw crudely opened, flexing rows of brown, sharpened teeth.

'There's no way I can fight against that thing... What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?' His eyes shifted everywhere, trapped in a frozen cage of panic.

Before Suta had a chance to react, the second creature launched itself at him. A large, black paw fell against him in a flash, the shadow of death looming. Suta's quickly revolving mind channeled everything into reacting.

Although caught flat-footed, his nerves suddenly spiked to a heightened degree. He leaped to one side, but the paw caught him against his side. A rush of pain and intense, searing heat brushed against one side of his body, the impact sending him tumbling harshly down the steep, earthy hill.

His body slammed against the ground with great force, knocking all the air out of his lungs. As he met the softly wet sand and the small trace of the lagoon, he felt the world around him spinning. With his hazy vision distorted, as though someone had forcefully shaken his brain. Suta realized that his consciousness was quickly fading. He couldn't let death catch him. Not now.

'Stay awake... stay awake... Get up, Suta... Get up,' he willed himself to rise, at first it was slow but his aching body eventually obeyed.

The side of his body felt hot, too hot, and he could already picture the terrible wound he must be nursing. Suta could only motion himself into a steady walk, the sounds of the little fellow's fight raging on above the short hill. Between his gasps and the overlapping echoes, he could just about hear the voice of the little fellow calling out to him.

'Damn it! What's he saying? He's probably telling me to run. Tsk! Fat chance of that happening right now. It's only a matter of time before this body gives up. I almost died. Shit! What the hell are those things? I need to move...'

'If I stop, I... I won't stand up again,'

He understood he was merely awake off of the adrenaline coursing through his blood, his mind beginning to fracture into strings of different voices. Thankfully, only a single voice trumped the others: the voice of survival.

Suta found his feet lightly pressed into the soft sand, the waters shallow around his ankles, slightly lukewarm with a serene, sparkling hue. He had no time to marvel, however; his body moved through the water and the thin strip of sandy land, the incredible dark blue sea sitting on either side. The further he moved away from the hillside, the deeper his legs sunk into the wet sand.

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Turning around, Suta noticed the second shadow breaking away from the fight on top of the hill, streaking down the hillside and creating a trail of dust in its wake. The tiny iron-wearing fellow couldn't keep two of those things pinned down for long. A cold stone fell into his gut as he watched this.

'Shit! Here it comes.'

He hadn't managed to make it too far in the first place, but how could he give up now? Suta grit his teeth in a mixture of defiance and frustration.

'If only I was strong enough... If I was strong... then I wouldn't be in this-'

"Shit!" He heard the vocal sound of a snarl closing in from behind, the same fear from before gripping him. If that creature caught up to him...

"Then I'm dead," his mouth moved unconsciously.

Death wasn't an outcome he was ready for; no, these days, Suta actively refused it. The creature's presence loomed closer, and their faces fell against his turbulent thoughts once more.

'Demoria? Ringo... Tsk! I can't die, not now... not here.'

Suta could only stagger briskly forward, forward... forward.

'Don't turn back... don't stop... forward... move, damn it - move - move.'

The shadow was upon him now, his body tensing as he pictured the creature perhaps a few feet away. Suta made a desperate lunge forward, his instincts telling him the creature was moving for the death blow.

'Shit! it all... it's... it's over.'

Something cold traveled through his spine, the true fear of dying. Strangely, Suta felt as though he wasn't a stranger to death, vividly recalling the feeling of falling into nothingness at one point, that mind-shattering silence was one of a kind. This time, however, he felt empowered to go against it.

'No! Death! NO! I REFUSE!'

A strange, warm surge of energy suddenly swarmed through his entire body, a power he'd felt somewhat before. It wasn't like blood, but it felt...golden. But where had he felt this? That was the question? Then his inner voice spoke to him.

'Who cares! If this is Suta or that damn Fishbowl head's doing, one of you just save me!'

He stretched out his hand , his body almost freefalling and pulled at the empty air, his vision blurring and colors disjointing. But Suta saw it - the tear against the empty air, followed by a noticeably sized, shimmering fissure appearing. It grew wider as he fell forward.

Suta fell through the portal he had ripped into existence.

Other POV

The skies were almost red this evening.

The scorching sun swallowed every ounce of moisture away from this accursed ridge.

On the highest stone peak, where a carcass of dry bones sat in a purposely made pile reaching 4 meters high. Two silhouettes stood on the edge of the steep fall. A figure remained perched on its knees. Clothed in black and violet martial robes, and a heavy robed hood shielding its helm away. The figure beside him was less than mysterious, a venerable looking elderly woman, dressed in a long dark green robe, adorned with a red stash and various strange pins and apparel woven around her waist. Her hair was silver and tied into a long bun. But the strangest thing about this elder, was evidently the idea she was floating away from the ground.

With her two arms clasped behind her back she stared with purpose out into the vast barren field where red sand covered the desert land filled with webs of cracks.

"Venerable Elder, permission to speak?" Said the fellow poised on one knee.

The elder remained as stiff as a statue choosing not to break her gaze away for a single moment. But then the elder noticed something dotted against the horizon far far away. And the corners of her mouth tugged upwards.

"Go on, speak" Her voice cut through the silence like a knife. After composing itself the shroud found its words again,

"Is she...is she truly worthy of your great tutelage. A-a-fter all, she is *Gulp* an outsider?"

The venerable elder chuckled with her entire body, her wrinkly features displayed a rare smile.

"Do you know how many martial robes I own?"

@...@?

"Fufufu, I own countless, some of which are filled with the blessings of great forgemasters from a time long forgotten. And till this day, I have still only worn one martial robe per day. Again, do you know why this is.?"

The figure studied the elders words in deep thought a little this time.

"Because such materials are only deserving of gracing your skin once?"

"If the question was centered on how good of a boot licker you were, I'm sure you'd get them all right. But no, sadly that is not the correct response."

"O-one thousand apologies great one"

"Sigh, nonetheless, it's much more simpler than that. You see, when you've reached the pinnacles of power like I have. Things become somewhat...boring?" The venerable elder explained, with a noticeable glint sparkling in her gaze.

"Boring?"

"Well, it's like those fancy shoes those maidens love wearing. You don't really have a true use for them, but you can never have enough shoes now can you fufufufu, yes, that's the perfect description."

There was a vocal rumble against the earth. The figure knelt down twisted slightly towards the scoring sun, where the horizon folded away one could see a large silhouette fast approaching. Only the giant monstrosity being dragged wasn't their object of intrigue, but the tiny figure, practically dwarfed in size pulling it along. The figure raised its helm, revealing its half iron masked features. The side which wasn't hidden revealed the beautiful features of a young woman, her dark eyes were like coals, and her lips shaped delicately.

"And you my apprentice, that little girl who fell from the skies now so long ago, well, she just happens to be my favorite shoe at this moment."

The young woman lowered her helm again, not daring to second glance the venerable elder. But her ire was hard to contain, gazing off across the horizon, where that tiny dot was arriving after killing yet another tri horned half dragon ogre.

"Tsk! Ringo" She snarled in disdain.