The Ghost from the dust

He looks around with a smile "I feel at peace here, the spirits in this place, have no hate for us, they dont even know we are here,.... well at least you, the see me" he gets up and puts a soft and gentle hand on her shoulder "This is what you journey is for, do not fear what you witnessed, use it to further your understanding" he grins and sits next to her "So you wanted to know why I see them huh?"

She nodded softly. "If its not something you wish to speak about, that is alright." she smiled, shifting a bit so she could look at him. "You said something about having seen death before." she commented, the curiosity getting the best of her. "Was it that experience that led you to change your lifestyle, to quit being an assassin?"

Chuckles and rests his head against the tree "Well it wasnt that, that made me retire, I just got tired of it, changed my life, and my master had been avenged, I am old and tired of killing for people, If I am to kill now, it will be for the defense of others" he pulls out the blade from his back, along the side were markings of unknown symbols "I was able to see spirits after I died"

"How did you die in the first place?"she asked quietly. "And how did you get pulled back?" She was more interested in that, wondering how he had defeated death itself. " She glanced at the blade he showed her, carefully running her fingers over the markings. "What do they mean?"

sighed and put a hand over his shoulder to rub his back and looked at the sword "It means I am thy brother, It was given to me by another race from the land that im from, I was the first human to ally with them" he hands her the blade with a smile "Lets see, I was on a mission for the emperor since i was his personal assassin, I had acquired the amulet that he requested and was on my way back to him, and was ambushed at my camp site, and they killed me"

She looked up at him, a furrow between her brows. "But if they killed you, how did you come back?" she asked. "I may be a novice cleric, but even I should be able to detect if you were undead or not." she touched his hand, looking for a pulse. She looked up at him, her eyes wide and sparkling. "Did you convince the Gods themselves to let you return?" she asked breathlessly.

smiles as she checks his pulse, as it was there, he laughed as she asked about gods "Are you kidding the gods hate me, they wouldn't let me return even if I really believed them, No nothing like that, it was the amulet, in ancient times, a race of people made four amulets of immortality, to never die, even when killed, although the amulet wasnt on me dureing the fight it fell into my camp fire, and I fell on it, and burned on of the halfs into my back, it was the side of renewal life and ageless life, so now I am cursed, to die and always come back"

"Why do the gods hate you?" was the first question that sprung to her mind. She frowned lightly. "Was it just because of your profession?" She frowned at his explanation. "And you cannot rid yourself of the mark?" She inquired softly. She paused, a thought occurring to her. "If you cannot die... how long have you been alive?" she asked quietly.

chuckled "You are full of questions, though I would have to expect that from a young mind like yours, I am one hundred and seventy three years old and hating every minute of it" he tilts his head back and forth, "Ya they hate me for my profession, and killing many of their followers, once you do something you will face Kelsin as we call it,"
he looked up "And there is no way to change your mark, the monks and priests do not know what lies beyond our world, and you cannot be saved"

She grinned lightly. "Hmm, I am actually not that much younger than you as we elves consider things." she laughed softly. "Your only about a hundred years older than me, give or take a few years." Turning serious, she sighed and nodded. "I like to think that it is our intentions that decide our fate with the gods, not exactly our actions." She smiled, sitting down and hugging her knees to her chest. "At least, that is my belief. If it is otherwise, I'd rather not know."

Ardin patted her on the shoulder "Dont worry the gods are usually forgiving, you'll be fine just try and be innocent for as long as you can" the assassin held his hand out to her "Friends?" he smiled with his young thirty year old face, "We can look out for each other, since even though I come back to life, I must still wait for my wounds to heal, that was the other part of the amulet"

She smiled and took his hand with a light grip. "Of course we are friends," she stated, looking up at him. "And I will do my best to heal you, should you need it. Let us hope that you don't." she frowned, twirling a loose strand of hair around her finger. "Where shall we go from here?"

Ardin sighed and looked around the are, the buildings and vines and grass growing out of the stone. "Let us look around her some more, I want a good view, maybe hike up to the top of those falls we have seen, get a good look of the place" he stood up and took back the blade and sheathed it, notching the tree incase they got lost, moveing out of the city, moving passed invisible people. "Now that she stopped calling me I can think straight" he hopes over a few rocks, and back into the thick forest.

She follows him into the forest, her footfalls not making a sound over the thick covering of dried leaves. She realized that she had lost the fish somewhere in the city, but she didn't care to go back for them, knowing they could always catch some more. Upon reaching the waterfall, she looked around for a way to get up. Reaching back, she slid her staff into a few loops on her pack to make sure her hands would be free, and began hiking up through the trees alongside the waterfall. The ground became wet and slippery, but still manageable. "Its a bit steep, but I think we can make it," she called over her shoulder.

Chuckles as he climbs up behind her "You know, I do have a title as an assassin, I am known as the Silver Ghost because some how no matter how well a person could hide, I would get them even if I had to scale the tallest tower" he grabs his rope from the sword on the other end of it was another weapon, a tool with two sharp hooks, he began to spin it then launched it up the cliff wall, grabbing a tree growing out of the side, "How good are you for climbing?" he smiled holding the rope out in case she wanted to go first.

Watched the hook glide through the air with interest. "I've never actually did much climbing before," she admitted. "Maybe you better go first so if I slip, I won't knock you over as well." she laughed lightly, looking up at the hook in the tree, giving the rope a sharp tug to make sure it would hold.

Ardin laughs and puts the robe in her hands "Then your going first, so if you do fall then I can catch you, don't forget I cant really die" he puts her infront of him and brings the rope around he legs "OK use the wall for your feet and climb with your hands, if you start to slip I will catch you, once you get to the top try and find a foot hole and hang onto the tree got it, since when we get to that tree I'll have to throw the rope up further" pulled hard on the rope to make sure it was secure then motioned her to start climbing.

She nodded, taking hold of the rope and taking a deep breath, taking a few tentative steps up the sheer cliff. She had gotten ten feet off the ground when one of her feet slipped, and she let out a yelp, holding onto the rope for dear life as she fought to get her feet back under her. "I... I'm ok!" she called down to Ardin, getting back under control. She was more careful the rest of the way, holding onto the tree and scooting down the ledge enough to give him room upon his ascent.

Ardin watched her carefully climbing up behind her, not even using the wall just climbing with his arms. until he grabed the tree, wrapping himself around it, then unhooked the tool and launched it up and over the cliffs edge , pulling tight as to make sure it had hooked on something, "Ok Seven, get up there" he smiled seeing if she would answer to the name, as held the rope out for her. "Baby steps, I'll be right behind you"

Svenia looked at him oddly. "Its Svenia, not Seven." she commented, taking hold of the rope and letting out a deep breath, carefully maneuvering up the cliff wall. Coming to the edge, she pulled herself up, scrambling far enough away to give him space. "I'm up!" she called down to him, panting slightly, rubbing her arms which were not used to such activity.

Ardin pulled himself over the edge, and grabbed the hook, wiped the dirt off of it and put it back into its pouch on his belt. "I know, just thought I'd call you seven, see what you would do" he smiles and coils the rope and straps it on his belt and looks over the cliff and whistled "Nice view" The assassin, smiles at her seeing her rubbing her arms "See there are things you must learn without a book".

She chuckled lightly, standing up and looking out over the falls, hearing the roar of the water, feeling drops land on her as she got nearer the edge of the water. "It really is a fantastic view," she commented, smiling. The sun was at its highest point in the sky, and it shone off the water as it fell, creating a small rainbow. "This really is a beautiful valley." she looked off towards the ruins of the city. "Did you happen to learn what had befallen them?"

He shook his head as he looked over the area "No, she didnt say, only that they were attacked, I dont think they actually know that there dead except her, you cant see them but the spirits in the streets were all doing jobs, like nothing had ever happened, I can't tell you what happened" he looked away and glanced around the area seeing foot steps in the grass, not sure what but it was an animal "Now those are interesting".

She nodded, and followed his gaze to the prints in the sand near the bank. "Hmm... I don't think I've ever seen tracks quite like these." she commented. She placed her hand beside it, and saw the print was twice the size of her hand. "Whatever it is, its pretty big," she gulped, looking around as though expecting to see whatever had made the print standing in front of her. "Look at the depth of those claws."

Ardin stared at them, and looked around and went by the water, looking into it and say a print under the water "What ever made these... made them recently" he puts his hand on the hilt of his sword and looks around, for the creature "I've never seen anything like these, keep an eye out" the forest was silent which made him tense.