When RP takes control IC thread

[Tantrikenetic]

Dominic

I stood up at the feel of Thal's hand on my shoulder. I closed my eyes and nodded silently. My eyes opened again as I heard Skyler's voice in my head. It only made me angrier, memories of my vision flickering in my mind.

I think I've seen enough, Skyler. I shot back, trying to keep my thoughts devoid of emotion. I walked over to the horse near Athyna's and jumped on.

"Without Jasleth, we are going to have to rely on a map now more then ever." I whistled a low tune and Slip appeared out of my backpack, holding a large map. I took it from him and opened it. "According to what the sages told us, we're headed north. Which means we have to go through the desert first." I folded it up and handed it to Athyna.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

“Dreams? Really? What kind of dreams? And why me?” she asked, leaning closer into his touch. Although his hands were slightly cold, his touch was very much welcome - it had taken all of her self control to pull herself together and to ask him even those simple questions. Without a second word, she pulled her hand up higher on his phallus, her thumb rubbing across the smooth flesh of his head. It felt weird…like the dark circles of flesh before her nipples. Like that; the same sort of hot slickness to it. As if realizing that she hadn’t answered his question, she nodded shyly. “I like it a lot…Here, let me try something.”

She lightly pushed him back down to the couch on which they had been sitting, and took her spot next to him again. Getting comfortable, she then reclined on the couch next to him, resting her head on his chest as she continued to fondle his phallus, leaning up only to kiss him again. She wondered absently if her movements were too fast for him - would he blanch, would he end up telling? If this got out, her already insecure place as an heir could be removed…She could be possibly killed. She shuddered slightly. That wouldn’t happen - her father loved her. Called her his shining little star. She paused suddenly as a bit of warm fluid trailed across her fingers.

“What’s this…?” She stopped to look down at her fingers. Whatever it was, it was clear, like water…but a bit thicker. With a slight frown, she lifted her fingers up to her nose and sniffed it slightly. It had a dark…almost earthy scent to it. Inviting, really. Trailing her tongue across her offered fingertips, she tasted it, rolling it about in her mouth as if she was judging a fine wine. “It tastes weird. Salty, but not at the same time…” Wiping her fingers off on her thigh, she turned about on the couch, so that she was eye to eye with his head. Touching the slight dip, she toyed with it for a moment, moving his phallus slowly back and forth, before she leaned forward and trailed her tongue across the tip. It was odd - even though he was remotely touching her, smelling him this close, the dark smell from this part of his body, sparked her body to react. She felt her nipples stiffen a bit further, and then, that odd feeling of wetness between her legs, when she knew that she didn’t have to use the chamber pot, or that it was close to the moon cycle. Something….

“Touch me here,” she whispered softly, guiding his fingers between her legs.

 

[Xenocide_613]

Thalryn

“Let’s ride.” Thalryn said, his cloak flaring out behind him as he spun away from Skyler and Kryss. He mounted the horse next to Athyna and looked over as Dominic tossed her the map.

“Wonderful, we get to ride through a desert.” Thalryn spoke up. “I’d be much more comfortable with all of this if we could at least stay in sight of trees.”

He chuckled to himself at his own nervousness, then sighed. “It seems wrong to be riding off to battle without the “Prodigious Youth.” A small grin found his lips as he pictured the monk. His eyes met Dominic’s and he began to speak again. “Being short like this, we need to focus on staying together.”

Thalryn looked over his shoulder as Skyler and Kryss came out of the pagoda. He turned back to Dominic and their eyes met again. Quietly he muttered to Dominic so that only Athyna and he could hear. “I do not know what happened with Skyler, but we all need to trust each other. Whatever happened, don’t let your emotions interfere with what we have to do.”

 

[Armphid]

He nodded, his voice low nad husky, "as you wish." He touched his hand to her stomach, just below the navel. Then he slid it down slowly, noting how her body heat increased in that direction as he moved his hand lower. When his hand encountered the slick skin of her sex, he puased. Unsure of his next move, he ran his fingers down her slit, testing her reaction. Carefully, afraid of hurting her, he slid two fingers between her folds to the hot wetness of that inner area. From her face, from the way her breathing picked up, it seemed she liked it. He could feel her movement with those questing, probing fingers.

"Dreams...about you and me." "Like this..." He was afriad to tell her, afraid she'd stop, that she would hate him. He wasn't afraid of the headsman, he'd always known that he may one day end up on the block depending on how was heir. "I...I think I've wanted this for longer than I really knew that I did." He kissed her again, even as his exploring fingers found the mouth of her entrance, tracing around it. He was curious about the wetness down there...wanted to smell and taste it. Was it like what had come from him?

He broke the kiss, his eyes falling to look at her hand on his phallus, his hand concealed by the lips of her sex. He closed his eyes again, luxuriating in the sensations that seemed to burn through his body. Then he lowered his head, looking up at her through half-lidded eyes. Saying nothing, he lowered his head to her right breast, breathing on the darkened skin of her aerola. Then he extended his tongue, licking her taunt nipple. Hoping that he was not crossing a boundry he should not, he took her nipple into his mouth, gently sucking on it.

 

[katalynn]

Athyna took the map, kinda shrugging it off. She's going to follow the trail she saw moments ago, going in the direction that she saw Dirk and assuming Skyler came from.

"My emotions are fine now that I am leaving this place and ..... Never mind that. I think something did happen to Skyler, but it is something only time will tell, regardless. Stay focus is the main thing. We will be in a desert, which is seriously not a good thing."

She caught herself rambling again, she sensed something totally different about Skyler, but she couldn't place it. And she was with Dirk, calling him an old lover? That alone was not right. Shook her thoughts of it, it is not her problem till the time came for it to be.

Athyna nudged the horse to move forward and she started to get a better focus on the trail. Looking down at Luathas as he picked up some scent. Scent of death, and it wasn't what the sevants burned either.

"Follow it, you are leader m'love.."

Speaking down to the cat, he growled low for a moment at a scent he clearly did not like.

"I don't think Dirk is dead, or at least it was not Dirk I saw. Scent of death carries away from where he went down, as if he just simply walked away. Though, it's hard to tell exactly."

She spoke to Thalryn as he came up beside her,

"I'm sure you smell it too. Can never mistake the scent of death, no matter it's form."

 

[NyghtRayne]

Skyler

At Dominic's harsh retort to her trying to talk with him, she felt like she had been slapped. She moved to the horses, picked on of the two left and mounted up. She listened as Thalyrn said they would have to trust each other, she glanced to Dominic then away.

As they began to move out, she rode along quietly not even trying to communicate with Dominic or the others. How could she feel they could trust her when right now she felt as if she couldn't trust herself.

She had to think of a way with out directly telling them, that she couldn't be trusted and that Avrice would be waiting and would force her to do his bidding.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

His mouth closing about her nipple, she tensed, before letting a low moan slip out. It felt so good…Moving her hands from his phallus, she trailed them through his hair, pushing him closer to her body. Twisting her body around, she threaded her legs through his own, tilting her head back and pushing her chest further into the attention of his mouth. Shifting, his erect phallus rubbed across her slit, sending shivers of pleasure through her. There was just something about how it felt…Something natural about it.

Shifting up on his body, still laying next to him, she began to shift her body up and down, rubbing his shaft along the line of her slit. Reaching down, she pushed his fingers away, moving them to her waist. “Pull me closer,” she whispered, her lips brushing against his ear. She had an idea of how they could be closer than this, in that wonderful way that so many had written or sung about…but she didn’t know where to begin, or even if it was a good idea. Through the veil of pleasure drawn across her mind, rational thoughts screamed at her. What if they were caught? What if she had his seed planted in her and became with child?

Sensing her thoughts, he pulled away, their eyes finding each other. She smiled tenderly at him, running her fingers through his hair. Moving slowly, she pulled him a top her, and gazed up at him. The feeling of the heat of his body against hers was…indescribable. So good on so many levels…

“I…I really don’t know what to do next,” she said with a smile, “But I want us to be closer than even this…”

 

[Armphid]

He reached out, brushing a lock of hair back away from her face. Gods...this feeling was so incredible. Thier limbs intertwined, her body against his. The heat was more than he had ever felt, more intense that the fire that his Master turned on him, and the sheer pleasure from just this simple thing was more than he could have imagined.

"I want it too...like I want to be part of you." He kissed her hungrily, his mind racing, all the while a primal instinct stirring. He rocked a bit, the length of his member rubbing along her slit. He moaned into her mouth at the feeling, and then it clicked. "Don't be afraid, I won't let anything happen to you." He gave her a reassuring smile. "I can shape my chi...I won't let any of my life take root in you." Though part of him sang at teh thought of her carrying his child, it could not be. He would not put her through that. Never. "I...I think I know what to do."

He closed his eyes, remembering the creation story his Master had told him. "He said to her, "let me fll the part of you that is lacking with the part of me that is in excess, and thus give birth to the world.." He whispered it in ear, as he rubbed his phallus against her a little harder. "I...I felt it before, and I think I know what to do." "To bring us as close as we can be, to join us."

He moved the hand that had been massaging one breast, parting the slick lips of her sex with it. Then he shifted around, moving so that he felt the tip of his erection nudge at the hot, wet, entrance he had felt before. Just having it there, touching her was sending waves of pleasure through him. Deep inside him, there was a cry of joy from his most primal instincts. He paused, looking into her eyes again. "I don't want to hurt you...if it hurts, tell me stop." "I..I couldn't stand causing you pain."

 

[Apollo Wilde]

She smiled at him, her hair trailing over her shoulders. The moonlight painted her ebony strands silver, added a loving light to her eyes. Stroking his cheek, her smile widened. She had heard…that there was always pain the first time, but being with a kind lover could ease it all. “Please….Just…make us one…” Stroking the side of his face all the more, she leaned up to kiss him, her arms moving to encircle his back. With a gentle, yet firm tug, she pushed him further down on her body, gasping at both the pleasure and the pain that raced through her.

Gritting her teeth, she closed her eyes tightly, allowing herself to become lost in the kiss with him. He was pushing more and more of himself into her, stretching her…The pain rose and fell in excruciating waves…But his voice was so soothing, so calming, his lips so tender on her own. In time, she began to forget…looking down between them, she smiled a little. If it wasn’t for the different colors of their skin, she wouldn’t be able to tell where his body ended and where hers began. Her breath came in shuddering pants as she moved beneath him, accepting his form.

“Oh….You’re…” she couldn’t even finish her sentence, too amazed by how she felt, what she was feeling. He slid in slowly, until she felt that he could go no more. Looking up at him, she smiled luminously.

 

[Armphid]

He moved slow, oh, so slowly. He felt an urge to just plunge into her, but it was slapped aside by both will and love. This was for her more than him. He wanted it, desired it, but he would make damn sure she got just as much pleasure out of it as he did. The feeling as he entered her, the blast of heat and unimaginable pleasure shook him to the core. He held her tightly, whispering in her ear of his love, of the wonderous feelings that were coursing through him, doing all he could to reassure her, to carry her through the pain he knew she felt. There was resistance after the initial push, but with a tug from her, he pushed carefully through it.

He slid further and further into her, his breath becoming more and more ragged. The heat only grew more intense, the pleasure only greater. Over the physical pleasure there was a crowing of spirit, a great joy at thier merging together. She became his world, the only thing that existed to him the bodies that were becoming one. He felt her relax, feeling the pain fade away. He smiled, glad to know she was feeling the same intoxicating pleasure that he was.

Finally, he felt his sack come ot rest against her skin. Now, truly, they were united. He reveled in the feeling, the almost overwhelming sensation of it. His face was alight with rapturous joy as he looked down into hers. "Yes," he answered her unspoken sentance. "One." His lips sought hers, thier tongues dancing joyously with one another, joining above as below. He felt her pulse thourgh his member, her very life. He could also feel her body adjusting, accomidating the girth of thier joining. After a few perfect minutes, he felt a sudden inspiration. He beamed at her, eyes alight. "let's see...if...it can't...feel...better..." It didn't seem possible, but he had to try. Just as slowly as he entered her, he began to withdraw. He groaned as new sensation assaulted him. He only pulled out halfway, before slowly sliding fully into her again.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

She whimpered as he pulled out of her, wishing that he wouldn’t leave her, wouldn’t separate them. But he pushed back in…causing her to gasp aloud once more, biting her lip. She knew that she had to be quiet, else she could awaken the guards. But oh, it felt so good….She felt her body clinging to him. Wrapping her legs about his waist, she pulled him down to her, luxuriating in the feel of him…of them being one like this. Truly, there was not a more wondrous thing that this! It still hurt, true, with each stroke, but he was moving so deep inside of her.

Hips pushing suddenly into his, she blushed, a muffled squeak leaving her mouth. Why was her body responding like this? Blossoming like a flower? Oh, why did it matter? Closing her eyes again, she let her body free itself, and respond to what was happening to it. Before she knew it, she began to moan repeatedly into his mouth, with each new thrust of their hips, whenever the ridge of bones met each other with a dull thud. Her fingers running through his hair, she tilted her head back in perfect ecstasy.

 

[Armphid]

It defied his reason that anything could feel so unbelievably good. Each slow thrust brought new and greater pleaure, all the more as her body seemd to be insperable from his, their two forms clinging as they muffled their moans with each other's mouth. He felt an urge to move faster, and strove to resist it. He wanted this to go on forever. Still, thier movements quickned ever so slightly.

She threw her head back, and his head dipped along her perfect neck, kissing her furnace hot skin eagerly, hungrily. Sensual snarls wer mixed in with his moans, and he bit lightly at her flesh as her head came back up. The movement was easier now, and he decided to play a bit. With a long motion, he pulled back until all but the swollen head of his phallus had left her. Through the haze of pleasure, he could sense her disbelief. Then he slid in again with one smooth motion, and he felt her tremble around him . Twice more he teased her so, lengthing the interval before he returned to the embrace of her flesh each time. Then his strokes became shorter once again, his face buried in her neck as he drove them further and further into pleasure. From deep within, he felt something beginning to build. Some great pressure that would burst free ere long.

Lifting his head, his words came out amidst trembling gasps of breath. "I..can feel...something...coming..."

 

[Apollo Wilde]

“Me….me…too…” She said softly. She could feel it, her body tightening, knew that all dams would break soon. Hips bucking faster into his own, she tightened her legs about his waist, pulling him tighter and closer to her. His chest rubbed against hers, her nipples jostled almost cruelly against his body. His hair and hers mingled with each other. The pain was returning now as they were going faster, but she couldn’t bring herself to slow down a single bit. She wanted her body to let loose all the heat that had been building up.

Everything…

She felt it now, rushing to her slit, threatening to spill over and consume. Too close…It built in her chest, traveled through her stomach. “My body is burning…” she moaned out. It was so hot… “I’m…I’m going to overflow…” Nothing had ever felt this good….nothing had ever sparked her body like this. Her voice gathered strength in the back of her throat…Before that slow lull. Taking a deep breath, she waded through the darkness, before his thrust sent her home. She screamed into his mouth, her body giving up her honey in a thick explosion, coating his shaft…

 

[Armphid]

"Pressure...so strong..." It pressed hard on him, driving him onward as thier pace quickened. She moved her hips to meet his, the motion almost violent as they drove one another toward the precipace. Her every movement electrifeid his body, weakening tha dam that held back the terribly wonderful force he felt surging stronger and stronger.

He bucked his hips back, then thrust into her one final time. He felt her walls spasm around him, felt the hot burning of her juices flowing over him. In that instant, the gate was sundered. His entire body tensed, each muscle lending it's strength to the force waiting to explode from him. His scream mingled with hers as the power burst forth, and his world was wiped away by a pleasure so complete and intense that it was almost painful...

******
Jas cried out, a scream not of pain but of remembered passion. His back arched, and his wine red eyes snapped open. For a moment he reamined so, back bent, fingers curled as if in the throes of some total but joyous spasm. Then it left him. He relaxed against the ground, catching his breath.

He felt the men standing around him, looked up and for the briefest of moments, saw them as they had once been. The specific memories eluded him, but he knew them. and he recalled in a hazy way just how he did.

Not that it mattered. Only she mattered. Zhu...He reached out and took one of her hands, raising it to his lips. There were unshed tears in his eyes and in his voice as he spoke, "I found you." "Oh, Gods...I've finally found my way back to you."

 

[Apollo Wilde]

Zhu and Lang

Her own blood-red eyes were slowly opening, bringing back everything…that she had lost…And more than that…As Jas took her hand, she smiled tenderly at him. “Jasleth….Oh, my dear one…” She threw her arms about his neck, pulling him close to her. She buried her face in the side of his neck, taking in his scent. So much about him hadn’t changed since then…how could she have forgotten him like this? Tears painted long trails down her cheeks as she pulled him so close, pressing her lips to the side of his throat.

Lang dropped his spear. Once the block was lifted on her, so it was on all of her servants. He had dreamed about her, his princess…his future bride…

“My Lady…what is the meaning of this…?” His voice wavered, unsteady and edged with tears as he gestured to them holding each other. This was no casual greeting from one friend to the other - this was something much deeper. How had he not known about it? Who her gaze went to as she walked demurely down the halls, eyes usually downcast but amused. That monk boy…They had grown up together, although her parents had told her that it wasn’t fitting for her to play with someone of a low birth. She merely scoffed at them and continued….He remembered, as he watched idly, the two playing tag with each other, her laughter soft and true.

How could he have not seen it…?

“What…is the meaning of this?”, he asked again, trying to banish his thoughts. She had said she loved him, and no one else. He had given up his mortality for her, everything….She had to answer him. “Who are you, boy? That monk child running about barefoot…?!” Now he felt his anger began to mount, his hands shaking. “What business did you have with Our Lady, anyway?! You sullied her…Turned her from me…”

 

[Tantrikenetic]

Dominic

"I know." I whispered back to Thalryn. "Don't worry about my emotions; they are being ignored as we speak." When Kryss and Skyler joined us, I concentrated on looking ahead.

Thal and Athyna rode ahead of the rest of us, putting me between the two ladies. I didn't feel like talking. Right now, my brain was too occupied with everything. Skyler was with a former lover...and I saw it too.

But did I really have a right to be angry with her? We had an unspoken bond, really. We never spoke about our relationship. I always just assumed she felt the same way I did. Which just goes to show what assuming will do.

 

[katalynn]

Kryss was hurting, her heart was aching. All she could think about was Jasleth. Unable to give him a proper farewell, she had to write a note, hopeing he will get it on the the bed they shared. Unable to tell him how much she loved him. Thinking the of that note, it wasn't enough to tell him how she really felt about him, but he also knew.

JAsleth, m'love...
I was unable to bid you a proper farewell, so regretfully, this note will have to do. I love you more than life itself, I'm hurting that I was unable to give you one last kiss, to say *I love you* one last time. I can only pray and hope that we will be in eachothers arms soon. .. Until we meet again, may the spirits hold you in the palm of their hands.......

Your love. Kryss.

The words played out in her mind over and over again, her farewell was him falling to the side of that necromancer. That to played in her mind. The blight was feeding off this, turning painfully in her veins. She all but got healed, everyone else was fine, Dominic got healed. At least physically they were fine, emotionally. That was another story.

Out of no where, she couldn't explain, a different kind of pain rushed into her. Jealousy? Regret? Being forgotten? What it was she could not say. It just hurt more than anything else, her heart was suddenly tearing apart for no reason. It was distant, she wasn't sure if it was a voice or just her own thoughts.

"Your, lover boy is he awake do you think?.... And he's with her.. in that town without you. Just the two of them. You were unable to bid him farewell, and now he's with her.

She shook her head, trying to get the words out of mind. Tears streaming down cheek from the blights pain. Pain that she if forcing herself to ignore. Wrapping the reins around her hand tightly, holding it with a death grip. Beads of sweat slowly forming on her head.

Speaking softly she turned to Dominic.

"Can you.... you know.. see Jasleth? See if he's awake, if there are words. Anything? I'm so worried about him.... I.. I didn't even get to..."

Fresh tears escaped their prison, she was trembling slightly from so many emotions. Unexplained emotions. Things that she wasn't sure if were true, or if it was the blights doings. All she knew is she was hurting, wishing that she could have seen him off properly. Or better yet, if he was here by her side now.

"I need to know.. if he is awake.. what.. is he doing?"

Even her words started to falter, gripping the, now, glove like reins tighter, feeling the leather burn into her hand. Kryss can feel it, feel the heat rising into her from everything. Mostly from pain and the unknown.

 

[katalynn]

Athyna lead them down the trail, following Luathas. The scent of death became stronger as they reached some small little hut. Fresh tracks lead to and from it. A carriage was here, leading away from it, heading to the north. Looking towards Thalrynn,

"Avrice was here...... Should we go inside? See if he left anything we can use?"

"I can't but help feel we are walking into some kind of trap. This place is empty, so it is not here. But the feeling is strong none the less."

Glanced a cautious look back towards Dominic, remembering his words from before.

One of us is going to die, and we won't know who till it's to late.

Looking back towards the small building as the approached it. There was another scent, it was to faint from out here, unable to be certain of what it was. Scent of death was strong though, and it lead to the North with the tracks.

"Something happened here recently. Though, it is up you Thalrynn if you want to go check things out inside."

 

[Armphid]

Jasleth & Kyle

In the vaults of his mind, his soul sang. Still he could not believe he had forgotten her. Zhu...his princess, his love. Even the fusing of his being with Kyle's, even that should not have been enough. But now he was with her again. He remembered it all...thier fast freindship as children, her parents' disapproval. Sneaking past the night guards to see her, except with one of her three personal guards was there, letting him pass with a knowing smile. "I will never leave you again."

"How can you say that!" A voice shouted in his mind. "I don't care what past you shared with Zhu, what about Kryss?" "She's the one we love!"

He felt time slow, and halt, finding himself in the foggy mindscape of their shared mind. The mist was thinner now, and for the first time, Jas truly felt Kyle's presence as seperate form his own. As if summoned by the thought, the green eyed man suddenly stood opposite him, anger in his features. "Damn it, Jas!" "What happened?" "I couldn't feel you at all, and now you're going on about Zhu." "She's a remarkable woman, but how faithless are you?" "What about Kryss?"

Jas shook his head. "We were meshed together in more ways than one until now." "Even when one of us was in control, parts of the other wre present." "Which is why I felt your love of Kryss...and why you recognized Zhu."

Kyle's face grew darker. "Bull!" "You love Kryss!" "I know it, I felt it, damn it!"

Jas smiled sadly. "No...No I didn't." "Not really." "Your love for her reached through us both, effected us both." "I don't lie, Kyle, you know that." "I don't love her, not that way." "I know it will hurt her...and I'm more sorry for that than I can say, but I only love Kryss as my friend and my companion." "She...Zhu is my love."

Kyle stared at him. "You can't do this!" "Don't you get it, it's you she loves!" "Not me!" "Do you know what this will do to her?" "What her grief will do to me?" "Even if we were seperate, she'd still love just you!"

Jas looked into the stricken eyes of the man he had shared souls with. "I don't think so, soul brother." "I think you'll find yourself in her heart as well." "Either way, you'll have to be." "I...I won't, I can't love anyone other than Zhu." "It's why I was born."

Kyle glared at him. "That's a shitty thing to do to someone, Jas."

Jas sighed. "I know." "I didn't do it on purpose."

Kyle snorted. "Like intent matters at times like this." "We're seperate now, aren't we?"

Jas nodded. "For good." Then he smiled. "It'll be nice to have a mind to myself for a change."

Kyle looked at the younger man with fond frustration. "I won't mind it, that's for sure." He paused a moment. "I'm mad at you over this, over what's going to happen, but..."

Jas smiled. "I know, soul brother." "I know."

**********
Then Jas was back in the Chamber of the Sages, Zhu in his arms. Tears of joy streaming down both their faces. Lang's angry, ugly words came to his ears, and he sighed. He'd known this would come someday...though he never would have expected it like this.

He rose, bringing Zhu up with him. Then he turned his wine red eyes on Lang, sadness mixed with respect and admiration in his eyes. "Sir, Lang...nothing I can say will make this easier for you." "I am the orphan that was found by Master Gala, one of the advisors to the king." "I am the boy who played with the princess, who you watched with smiling eyes."

He stepped back from Zhu, fully facing the irate man. "My business with her was that of a friend, the only one of her age allowed near her, something she needed." "My love was a child's love, but as I grew, so did it." "I didn't turn her away from you, Lang." "I never had anything but praise for you." "Your skill, your songs, your kindness." "I loved her then, and I do now." "She came to love me as well."

He spread his hands, "I can't and won't speak for her, but I do for me." "Our love, my love, is pure." "She is not sullied by it, and neither am I." He paused, then continued, "and neither are you." He recalled a conversation they had had, after that wonderful night. "In fact...I told her that she should love you." "That you were the better match." "I'm sorry, Lang...but she still loved me anyway."

There was a rustle of movement from the padded cushions the party had been sitting on earlier. Rubbing at his head, Kyle groggily rose from among them. His body was heavy, the burning pain of pins and needles throughout it. As though his entire form had been asleep and was just now coming out of it. When had Jas given him control? He didn't remember it...then he looked and saw Jas confronting the enraged Lang. "That...that's not possible." His voice was shcoked, aghast. "How...how can I be over there...and over here?"

The chant of the Sages, silent until that point, broke out once again. "The part of the Man With Two Lives is ended." "No longer can the Twisted Usurper use him to upset the Prophecy." "Where there was one, there are two." "The Arrow of the Queen, and The Guide."

 

[Tantrikenetic]

Dominic

I looked wearily over at Kryss. "I see the future. You know that Kryss. The probability of me seeing what's going on presently is..." I stopped when I see the tears began to stream down her face. Her words were choked and I could feel her broken emotions. I sighed and realized I should at least try for her. I closed my eyes.

"I-I'll give it a try." I said simply. I concentrated on my crystal orb, and then on Jasleth's form. Several seconds passed, and then...

Jasleth was standing in a building, Zhu lying in his lap, and he was staring directly ahead. He was looking at someone else. The two people were almost mirror images of each other. They look to be the same exact person.

My eyes shot open. I blinked twice. "Uh...Kryss...Jasleth is awake. He was looking...at himself." I shook my head. "I don't think it was metaphorical either. I think he was actually looking at someone who was practically his double."

I decided not to mention that I saw Zhu in his lap. No reason to upset her more than necessary. It might mean one thing, it might mean something completely different.

But if it did mean what I think it meant, then I felt suddenly glad Jas wasn't here, or I would seriously consider trying to deck him for his insensativity. Currently, I was feeling very little remorse for those who hurt the hearts of the ones who love them.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

Zhu and her servants

“….It’s not true….Tell me it’s not true!” Lang begged, his eyes pleading with the both of them. “I was with you ever since you were little, I knew that I was going to marry you when I first came to serve with your court…And after that day, I was the first to give up my life so you could live, even on my worthless borrowed time. Where was he?! Where have YOU been these last years, when she needed a family, a lover, someone with warm skin and a heartbeat? You were nowhere to be found, and I will be a DAMMNED man before you will come in and take her from me!” By now the young man was hysterical, tears streaming from his widened eyes.

“Lang, please…” Zhu began, trying to calm him down. He suddenly whirled on her, hand outstretched like he was about to slap her. She recoiled, lowering her head.

“Don’t SPEAK, don’t even LOOK at me! And you two!” he said angrily, pointing to Huozai and Shihou, “Did you know about this, and keep it from me?! Did you?! ANSWER ME! How could you have sat by and watched?! Did you not each love her!?”

Shihou started forward, his hand on the hilt of his saber, before he was stopped by Huozai. The redhead man’s gaze was stormy. “I knew nothing about this - my true closeness with the Lady was forged only after my life was given for her. Don’t you say a SINGLE word about not loving her until you know what each of us have been through! I had my own family and my own life, but my duty to her came first, because not only did I swear it, but I loved her as well as I would any daughter.” The muscles in his neck tensed slightly. “There was a closeness between her and the boy that I noticed, but you must think of the gap between your ages. Now it seems like a paltry year or two, but when she was seven, you were nineteen. That is twelve years, Lang. Has it been so long since you were young that you have forgotten?”

Huozai’s words seemed to calm the young man into harsh sobbing, his face covered by his hands. “And you, Shihou…” his voice was broken, floundering for the very air to form words, “Did you know? Did you sense it?”

The blonde’s glacial eyes softened as he looked to Zhu, and then to his weeping comrade. He had seen the two playing when they were younger, and even their games as they got older. The quick glances, the barely contained excitement when they got time alone together. He had thought it, from beneath the high crest of his helmet, but…This was much the same way she acted when Lang was around, or even when he crossed her path. “I did not know…” he said at length, “for she treated him like she treated all of us. Does the heart only have room to love one like this? Do not Huozai and I both love the Lady, although we had our own families and wives?”

Lang looked up from his hands, his eyes swollen and red, his gaze narrow cat slits. “Did your wife not cheat on you, Shihou? I thought you would be the one to understand…”

“Lang, please…let me speak…” started Zhu again. How quickly did her tears of joy turn into that of sorrow! Her feelings for the Ocean prince had not faded or changed with the times, but only now could she understand it. When they were engaged, they had hardly dared to kiss - things that should have been easy and natural were hampered under the stiff fabric of truth. “I love both you and Jasleth, as well as I love Shihou and Huozai. You were my family in the time before time, and I cannot erase my feelings or what has happened. …”

“Will you give me back my life, then?! Will you give me back all the things I felt for you?!” Lang’s voice rose again, nearly to a feverish pitch. His eyes wild, they darted about for a weapon. Picking up his spear again, he jabbed the tip into her throat. Taken aback, all she did was flinch slightly. From beneath the point, a dark bead of blood welled. “I gave you everything,” his voice dropped again, “and you’re telling me that the love you had for me is the same as it would have been for anyone else? I devoted myself to you in both life and death, my Lady….Will you not say that you love me? Will you not?” his eyes were pleading again as he slowly lowered the spear from her throat. “Will you not still be mine…?”

Her fingers shakingly went up to touch the wound on her throat. She knew that the man had the power to kill her, to take back the life that he had given her.

“All those years ago, when I should have died….” she began slowly and quietly, “there were three men who loved me enough to give up all that they could for my sake…And is this how I repay them?” Her whole body began to shake, as if she was about to collapse under all the knowledge. “Have I not enslaved them, have I not broken up existing bonds?” she questioned as she waved idly to Jasleth. “I was once a princess, but now find myself no better than common gutter trash. I am ill fitted to be anyone’s Lady…and all the more ill-suited to tell those who are evil that they must stop. End my life, then, Lang, and everything that I have taken from you, from Shihou, from Huozai, from you, Jasleth…will all be returned.” She reached down, placing the tip of the spear at her throat again. “Please,” she said, a small smile crossing her face, “do this to set your own mind at ease.”

Lang’s hands trembled on the spear. So much weighed on this…He lowered his gaze, and pushed forward with the spear. As her blood gushed over his palms, he opened his eyes once more, looking into her own. They were blank, misted over with the look that he had seen all too often. But…something stirred within his own chest. His own skin flushed warm once more, the color returned to his cheeks. “Is this….my heart beating…? Is this blood in my veins…?” He jerked the spear free from her throat, idly watching her body crumple to the ground. “Am I not living once more….?”

Shihou and Huozai stood in shock, too stunned to even cry.

“LANG!” Shihou roared, drawing his saber. “You…you….” he couldn’t finish, his own voice shaking with rage and hurt. Huozai dropped to his knees, his voice undulating in a keening cry as he shook back and forth.

Lang turned, and looked at the two undead idly. With a faint smile, he spoke. “Why are you two not living with her blood yet? Do you know how wonderful it is to breath again, to hear, to f…” he cut himself off as he looked down at her body once more. The shock settling into his system, he backed away. “No….This was not done by my hands….Was it not….?” The tears started anew. “I did not do such a thing, did I?! No…no….Zhu….My Lady, my Life, wake up….” He knelt by her side, and began to helplessly shake her. “Wake up….please…! How cruel a trick you play on your future husband! Wake up and show me those beautifully red eyes…like your blood….” Her face gave him no reply. “I know what I will do, through, my Beloved Lady, what I did all those years ago….and this time, be so kind as to let me rest, for I have seen enough….” He stroked her cheek, trailing his bloodied fingertips across the cooling flesh. “I will kiss you, this last time…It is a pity….I wish that this could have been, when we were both living, and both happy…” He trailed his fingertips over her eyelids, closing them gently as he pulled away from her.

On his knees now, he looked upwards, a look of saddened realization on his face. His eyes were happy, hollow. He picked up his spear once more. “Into your hands, I command my spirit, fairest of the fair….and keep my love with you, as long as you hear a song, as long as you see the ocean, remember me, and I will smile from the Heavens…Cast my body into the sea, my love, and let the waves forget my form, send me to the bottom, where even as an unfeeling skeleton, I will remember….” He suddenly thrust the spear through his heart, his body convulsing sharply. Blood welled from the wound, gushing onto the girl. As Lang’s eyes began to lose their vision, he smiled…

And then slumped down over her form, dead.

 

[katalynn]

"oooo Now they both are awake. They both live as two men... Two men that love you. Or do they?... Both lover boys claimed their love for, both made love to you.... Now you are going to have to choose.... Or..

Kryss shook her head as the voice seemed to be haunting her mind. It was still distant, she knew more and more that it wasn't her imagination anymore. Though, the same questions lay deep. What if one was playing her? What he wasn't allowing the one to have control at certain times? Or what if they both did and do truly love her? She didn't want to choose. Not like that.

"...Kyle..."

Whispered as she lowered her head, granted she didn't know how it was possible for the two of them to seperate, or what caused it. Kryss loved Kyle because deep down she knew he was the one that had forgiven her. An act that was unforgivable, and she felt that it was him that made Jas forgive her. Also, she loved Kyle because he was the person behind Jasleth, the person that played him, created him. Or at least gaming wise, he would be the person she would have met in real life.

Then again, as the passed, they both have become two very different people. And only one that loved them both could tell.

Jasleth, claimed he loved her just as much as Kyle did. It was Jas that she fell in love with yes. For at the time he was she knew when they met. He had a strange way about him, but it was always true. His words of love were always true, after all monks never lie.

"You can feel it, I know you can for ... well.. I run in your veins. Your thoughts, you know that the Oracle is hiding something.... Something he doesn't wish for you to know.... You don't suppose one of your lover boys has betrayed you.... Do you? ... Or perhaps they both have... After all, who knows what one was truly going after the necro.... Isn't it? .. "

Flames started to show around her hands, the horse was getting a bit ansy from the intensity that was pouring off her. She was trying to calm down, it was failing because of the pain growing inside, and now these words that were not hers.

When she looked up, flames were dancing in her eyes. Tears streaming down cheeks. A slight wind picked around her only as she looked around, looking for something she can pour this energy onto. A lake, or flowing water. Anything that wouldn't cause this place to burn. Finding none close by within just sight alone. Closing her eyes, forcing herself to take deep breaths.

"I .... I need a moment..... A voice... Words... They will not leave me alone...."

Words came from her lips, though she herself did not hear them.
Needing something to release this unwanted energy, sliding off the horse to stand, in the same movement she went to her knees. Both hands in the dirt of the trail, seconds later the dirt turned red with so much heat. Flames tried to escape the dirt every so often but failed as she dug her hands further into the dirt. Wind had picked up around her now, still forcing herself to breath deeply. When she opened her eyes, the flames in them were strong as they slowly, reluctantly started to fade.

"I'm..... I'm sorry... I don't know whats happening ..... but I'm sorry..."

Whispering between panted breaths, fresh tears streamed down her dark cheeks. Lowering her head while she slowly calming down. Redness in the dirt was throbbing as it to was dieing down. Kryss began to tremble slightly from the intensity.

 

[Armphid]

Jasleth & Kyle

Jas started for Lang at the same moment Shihou did. As the other man was restrained, so was he. He rolled his shoulder, preparing to slap the hand away when his move was countered by whoever held him. "Lang," he said, "I was imprisoned by the same magic that caused all this, I couldn't be there for her...no matter how I wanted to." "So help me, if you don't lower your weapon, I'll-"

"Do nothing," said a familiar voice. Jas stopped struggling, his eyes growing wide. He turned his head to see Kyle standing behind him, the more gracile man releasing his hold. "You have to let them handle this, Jas." "You do not want to hear it, but they need to have it out between them."

"Don't stop me again, Kyle." Jas glared at the other man, "You're the reason I wasn't with her before, I was too busy being fused with you!"

Any further arguement was forestalled as Lang's spear pierced Zhu's throat, spilling her lifeblood upon the ground. Both men froze momentarily, shocked to their cores by the beautiful man's action.

For Jas time seemd to slow as her body crumpled to the floor, the light of life leaving her blood red eyes. His mind was a blank of terrible loss and of ultimate horror. Not again. He couldn't lose her again!

He threw Kyle aside, falling to his knees next to Zhu. "Zhu!" "Don't die, love, please!" He reached within, trying to calm himself to call uppon his chi techniques. Before he could do so, Lang had made his sacrifice, and life flowed into Zhu once again, and yet the wound did not heal. He closed his eyes, seeing the life force flowing into her with his chi sense. with a flurry of lightning fast movements, his fingers jabbed at pressure points and chakra centers, strengthening the chi given her by Lang. He guided it with his fingers, letting his love for her suffuse the effort. The pure emotion lent further strength to the Chakra technique, increasing it's healing power a hundred fold. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and a new pulse of chi as Kyle lent his own power to Jas's use. The younger monk grasped the flow, tying it into what was already working in Zhu's body.

Jas opened his eyes. Her form was bloody, but her chest rose and fell, and the ugly wound at her throat was gone. He could feel no chi from Lang, and knew that the other man was dead, and would not rise again. Tears of mingled sorrow and joy were in his eyes and he cradled Zhu's head. "Zhu, my love." "Wake up...please...Lang, he...he needs you so that we can honor his memory."

 

[Xenocide_613]

Thalryn

Bright emerald eyes gazed at Athyna before the gold elf dismounted. “We’ll check it out. I don’t want to miss a potential weakness in our foe just because we were too hasty for a fight.”

His eyes turned behind him in time to see Kryss all but fall from her horse. A bronze skinned hand motioned for Athyna to follow him as he approached the path to the hut the she-elven ranger had discovered.

The gold elf spoke quietly to Athyna as the pair neared the hut. His melodic voice filled with concern as he spoke his thoughts to his dearest friend. “We’re in no shape to be going against Avrice. Dominic and Skyler aren’t speaking and Kryss is characteristically unstable.”

The elf shook his head, sending waves of golden hair falling about his shoulders. “I’ll not have us walking into a slaughter, for that’s what will happen if we cross blades with the enemy as we are.” Thalryn looked back through the foliage to where Kryss was unleashing her agony into the soil. “There is something to be said for high emotions in battle, but she is unpredictable at best. Skyler is a liability, and Dominic has reached new heights of apathy.”

Thalryn reached out to Athyna, brushing back her silver hair as he gently touched her cheek. Weariness was clearly visible on his face as he sighed slowly. “I fear I may be leading us all to our deaths.”

 

[katalynn]

Athyna looked back at Kryss, the ground was furious with fire, Athyna could feel it's pain. Though, it also understood as it helped ease her pain. Following Thalryn some ways up the trail,

"Aye, I think going to the sages like that only hendered us more than it should have."

Closed her eyes a moment, feeding off his delicate touch to her face, speaking with her eyes closed as his hand trailed through her hair.

"They may not be well, and I to fear the worse. After all, how do we kill a necro? Kryss still holds the Blight, giving Avrice some kind hold on her. Skyler is dead, giving him a hold on her. Jas is not here. Dom is an oracle, he can only do so much."

Her words trailed off in thought, that only left Athyna and Thalrynn. Opening her eye looking deep into them;

"And I fear that Skyler was here, her scent is all over the place, and there is faint scent of ...... sexual act...... But it is hard to tell exactly what went on....Though if it is what I think it is, then..."

Running tracing her fingers along his lips, wanting to kiss him but held back.

"If it is death that we find, then so be it. I will be by your side regardless of what happens."