The Ghost from the dust

She cried out as she saw his eyes lose focus, trying to heal him, but it was too late. She looked up as the smell grew stronger, the growls ringing in her ears. She whimpered softly, and started to back up, her eyes still focused on the body of her companion, unable to believe he was dead. Though she knew he would come back by his words, the sight of his body still shocked her. She stepped outside the cave and turned to run, crashing through the trees, too frightened to even know where she was going. She could hear the creature running after her, getting closer and closer. Tears stung her eyes, tears of grief and fright, and she risked a glance backwards to see what the creature was.

crashing leaves and branches, followed her, shimmers of light and shadows, but there was nothing to been seen. as it chased her, smashing trees out of the way. growls and screeches as it tried to get a taste of her. Ardin laid on the ground, his wound stopped bleeding, and blood started to flow back through his veins, his heart began to beat, and he opened his eyes with a silent gasp, grabbing his gut, feeling the large claw marks in him, he pulled off his shirt cursing and wrapped it tight around him. "Why is it here" he kept saying to himself, picking up his weapon, and ran into the forest, following the path of the destroyed trees.

She saw nothing following her, though she could hear it and see the path of destruction it left behind. Turning her head back, she ran on, faster than she had ever run before, though the creature was faster still, steadily gaining ground. A frightened whimper fell past her lips, and she cried out in dismay as she saw that just a few yards ahead, the ground gave sharply away into a thirty foot drop. She skidding to a stop at the very edge of the cliff, and saw the river far below, studded with rocks. Closing her eyes, she whispered a heartfelt prayer to her goddess, she turned around, seeing the tree nearest her burst apart as the creature tore past it. She took a single step backward, and felt nothing under her foot. Off balance, she screamed as she toppled over the edge.

Running through the forest, Ardin follows the path of destruction, knowing if he didn't hurry, his only friend would be soon died. blood seeping from his wound, he knew it was going to kill him again, but he ignored it. finally reaching the the clearing and hearing the scream of Svenia, he charges out, towards the shimmers and shadows, knowing what this creature was, "How Dare You Touch Her!" he jumped landing on an invisible mass, sinking his blade into it, a sickening scream came from its mouth and it backed off the cliff, with him riding on it, every time it tried to grab the wall Ardin, slashed at its hands, sacrificing himself to take down the beast. "She will Live!"

Her hands scrambled against the wall of the cliff as she fell, finally wrapping around a thick root, her body jerking hard to a halt ten feet from the top. She had just gotten her breath back when she saw Ardin fall off the cliff, repeatedly stabbing the creature. "NO!" she screamed, holding onto the root with one hand, reaching out vainly to him with her other, watching as he fell past. She couldn't watch him fall, pressing her head against the soft dirt of the wall, tears streaming down her cheeks, leaving muddy tracks. After few moments, she realized how precarious her own position was, as the loose dirt around her began to crumble. She began to climb, using the roots of a large tree, and finally made it to the top, but she didn't give herself time to rest, instead running alongside the cliff until she found a way down to the river side, hoping against hope to find him.

He rode the beast the hole way down, getting slashed all over, by unseen whips, and stingers, clenching his teeth as venom and poison was shot into him, constantly stabbing it on the way down. until the crashed against the rocks, Ardin being launched off of it, and smashed against a rock, The creature sliding into the water, no longer cloaked, bleeding, its four bright blue eyes watching him, hissing its forked tongue at him, it slide with one arm and let the river move it away, out of sight. Ardin watched, then died.

She ran along side the river, finally spotting him on a rock in the middle of the river, the swift moving water holding his body against it. She managed to swim to his side, glad that she was a strong swimmer, with some effort got his body to the bank, dragging him most of the way out of the river, tears streaming down her cheeks as she checked his body for wounds and breaks. She took a deep steadying breath, and began to heal the wound in his stomach, the blue light shining from her palms, his skin knitting back together. "Wake up, please, wake up," she cried out, the roar of the river drowning out the sound of her voice.

He laid motionless, arm and leg broken, the claw marks healing, with her help. but he didn't wake, sat there cold and dead, soaked, burn marks covered his body, from the creatures stingers.

She set his broken bones, healing them quickly, her face paling from the effort of doing so much healing all at once. She concentrated next on the burns, watching them fade, her energy ebbing with each wound healed. At last, she couldn't see anything else to heal, and she sat next to him, on the verge of fainting. The young elven cleric wouldn't allow herself to do so though, in case that creature came back, though she knew she couldn't do anything against it. Drawing her knees to her chest, she waited, watching her friend for any sign of life, wondering if he could not come back.

Ardin opened his eyes with a scream of pain, gasping, shivering and shakeing "Water, rum Wine, Anything!" he looked around, fear and pain in his eyes, as he panicked

Svenia fell back with a small scream of her own as he awoke panicking. Quickly, she felt for the canteen she kept slung over her shoulder, finding it still there and uncorked it, handing the container of cold water to him. "Shh, you're safe, you'll be fine. I tried to heal you as best I could," she told him, tears running down her cheeks at the pain in his eyes.

Ardin looked at her, his eyes grey staring into her. he was shakeing and clenching his teeth, sweating, and arching his back, from the pain. grabbing the water drinking some then pouring it over his chest and head "The poison!" he curled up, as the venom from the creature burned inside him.

She hesitated before reaching out to touch his chest, jerking back as she felt the poison stirring in his veins. She had not noticed it before because his blood had not been circulating. From the amount and strength of the poison she detected within him, she knew there was only one thing to do, though she had never attempted it before. "Ardin, listen to me," she spoke quickly, making sure she had his attention. "I have to draw the poison into my body, I can dispel it once its in me. But it will take me days, and I will need you to bring me to a safe area where we won't be attacked." she took a deep breath, putting her hands back on him, whispering the spell that would transfer the poison to her body, her breathing growing shallower, pain wracking her body, but she didn't stop until she knew it was all out of him. Only then did she allow the spell to fade and collapsed next to him, her body shuddering, in more pain than she had ever felt before. She forced her mind to concentrate, dipping into the pure wells of mystic energy within herself, feeling it begin to purify her blood slowly. As long as she kept it up, the poison could not kill her.

gasping and shuddering, he slowly felt the pain fade from him, then looked at her. painfully getting up and tied his bloody shirt around his waist and picked her up "I promise I will keep you safe," he carries her holding her close, to him, finally reaching the ruins in the night, finding a place, to stay, seeing that she had cleaned it and all, he put her down and gave her some wine "It helps with the pain, drink" his eyes never left her, holding her hand as she dealt with the venom.

She nodded, barely managing the gesture, and swallowed some of the wine. "Th-thank y-you," she whispered through gritted teeth, the poison running hot through her veins. Her skin was pale and clammy, her eyes held a feverish glint. She took a deep breath, trying to use her mystic talents to put up a pain block in her mind, but she needed all her energy just to fight off the poison. "What w-was that monster?" she gasped out, trying to think of anything but the venom running through her, her hand gripping his tightly.

held her hand, letting her squeeze it as much as possible "Its called Metsaz it is a creature, that is very dangerous, and very poisonous, it preys on humans and cloaks itself to hunt people" he held his hand on her forehead. " Did it hurt you"

She shook her head from side to side. "No. I f-fell down the cliff before it c-could reach me," she gasped out, her back arching as the pain seemed to double. She gasped for breath, her hair clinging to her face, slick with sweat. "I c-c-c-caught a root several feet down. Climbed up." she told him, her eyes losing thier focus, the room around her seeming to blur.

Ardin handed her more wine, and put a hand on her neck "look into my eyes, and just focus on them, your going to get through this" he stared at her with the Grey eyes, holding her head towards him.

The young elf did as he told her, focusing on the grey of his eyes, the rest of his features blurring beyond recognition. Having something to focus on helped ease the pain, and slowly, ever so slowly, her holy mysticism dispelled the poison coursing through her veins. As the sun began to rise, she felt the venom fade enough that she could let go of the power within her, knowing it could no longer kill her. She let the blackness take her, easing her into unconsciousness, where she couldn't feel the pain.

seeing her fall asleep, he let himself relax, laying down next to her, his hand still holding hers as he falls to sleep as well, coming back to life taking a lot out of him

She slept through most of the day, finally waking slowly about an hour from sundown. She sat up slowly, noticing that the pain had dulled to a steady throb, her limbs seemed weak and limp. Spotting her waterskin nearby, she forced herself to move over to it, gently taking her hand away from his as she stood up. She drank deeply, terribly thirsty, draining the water from the canteen, feeling slightly better.

Ardin remained on the ground, blood still on him from the shirt, as he still slept, so the symbol on his back taking so much energy from him to bring him back to life, he was far out of it, sleeping.

She fumbled around in her pack she had set in the corner the day before, which seemed so long ago, finally grabbing her blanket. It was all she could do to bring it over to where he lay, her body hurting too badly and weak. She covered them both, and fell asleep again, her hand covering his as she slept, sending some of her healing to him.

talk softly in his sleep. "Let me help you, I know I am a killer, and killed ones you've known, but let me change this" he sqinted and squirmed a bit before going silent again. twitching his nose a bit, not even notice the blanket that they shared

She was so deeply asleep the words didn't register, and she continued to sleep for over another day. When she woke, she could tell the poison had mostly run its course, leaving her weak and sore. "Ardin?" she spoke, turning her head to see if he was still in the hut.