And Fire would Rain...

[Lotus Charming]

What would seem at first perfect silence would be interrupted by a seemingly loud explosion about ten feet up in the air, a portal of fire created with hands slowly coming out of it. The figure behind those hands hadn’t even appeared yet as the person eventually would stand on the portal’s edge just looking down on the water that was below, a lake so to speak and some rocks lined up around it. She’d seen this place before from her birthplace, a place of pure fire and lava. The woman had what looked like silver hair down to her waist and clothing that looked a little tightly snug against her body of red and white. She’d be without expression as she jump off the edge of the portal down to the ground below letting the portal close behind her. It was true though, the portal had been punched through with her fists alone into Algeroth as she let her feet touch the ground below getting a good look about where she was. She wasn’t just sure of her general location, but she knew it was Algeroth for that much.

Alterna was the given name to her, but she had other names she acquired over the years as she grew up. She’d eventually learn that being a Baelothonian after the destruction had grown worse wasn’t all that great. She’d look around a bit before sitting on the rock highest up over the lake looking down at the water. Her amber-reddish eyes just staring without even paying attention to anyone or anything, but observing what was around her, she looked like she was profiling the area for any threats that might be in her way. Alterna had in her hand a very, very small ball of fire she was bouncing up and down considering she had only a small amount of elemental magic in her blood. She was bored for the most part, but wasn’t about to move till she had observed the area and was satisfied.

[Sage]

Talis spent more and more time in Darkwood after his defection. It was less a means of repaying his debt to the Grims and more a way to pass time. If he'd had a conscience left, he might have been ashamed of the repetition with which he allowed the scavengers of Oblivion into this world to prey. They surrounded him now, pouring from a wall of black at his back, jolting off in different directions to find mortal souls.

After the last of them had come through, he allowed the metaphysical thing to fade away as he began to make his way through the forest. It was an overcast day, and the forest would already be in low light in the late afternoon, but the absence of sunlight made it even more eerie. It was this that gave her away. The tiny bit of fire she held was like a beacon in the dusk. He allowed his curiosity to pull him across and clearing and near enough to her to examine her face. His head automatically slanted to the side, short of any action on his part. He was one of the few Gartels to have been given back his memory, and he definitely recognized her from his former life, though he hardly thought she would recognize him now. His appearance had changed drastically since his death, and it was already a great many years between the time he had met a desperate and depressed little girl and the firecracker before him now.

Interested, he allowed the weight of his foot to crack a nearby branch, making just enough noise to get her attention, without having to speak.

[Lotus Charming]

“I wouldn’t move another inch if I were you. I might throw this right at you without even caring if the forest burned.” Alterna didn’t even need to turn her face, but her words showed she didn’t like being spied on. Her own mouth would prove that as she had grown, so did the daring of her mouth. She so dearly hated people spying on her as she stood up on the rock just tossing the fireball up in the air as it slightly grew in size to show she meant business. Her eyes were narrowed almost as if they had no sense in the word of gentleness that would have been left from her childhood from under the age of nine. From nine and above, she lost all sense of the word ‘gentle’. She doesn’t even know what it meant to be that. She grew up knowing war, famine, death, decay, and many other things that turned her foul attitude into things that people didn’t like seeing, especially when it came to banishing things. That’s when people often ran, because of the sheer power that flowed about a single hand that would release one talisman to do a job.

“I wouldn’t suggest holding silence for very long, or I might just lose my temper and we’ll have a real problem on our hands.” Alterna never once let her eyes return to looking normally, they just remained narrowed almost like they had the look of fire in them, with a hint of tainted water. She had a mix of the two elements magically speaking, though weakly in form. She had learned of a few talents in her not too long after the death of her parents, but it took self-training to realize it. For anyone that might have been looking at her, they’d see a woman with one fiery attitude mimicking the destruction of fire itself and the torrential destruction of water.

[Sage]

If Talis could have been amused, he would have been. Testing limits was something he was fond of, and very capable of. The girl hadn't changed all that much, after all. Going to a strange place, and threatening an unseen force in the dark woods without regard for it's identity or ability wasn't bright, but he could respect her tenacity. Tragedy had left a sour taste in her mouth for humanity, much as it had his. He continued moving forward slowly, gladly willing to accept her hostility if she chose to unleash it on him. He could protect himself, and others, well enough to annoy her at least a little longer.

" Oh, dear me. We mustn't ruffle any feathers by refusing to talk to each other civilly. "

His voice was absent of life, a droning monotone that matched his face as he came into view. Talis wore a dark leather suit covered by a form-fitting leather robe of unusual make and design. Chains and thick straps which seemed to serve no apparent purpose clung to the garb, and jingled lightly as he stepped through the underbrush. Other than this, he made no audible noise, a fact that unnerved many mortals, which is why he had modified his outfit in such a way. His eyes bore an unnatural hue, crimson like blood, which could be seen again at the tips of his shoulder-length hair, otherwise white with apparent age despite his youthful face.

" How fares the tough little girl from Baelothon? "

His eyes had once been kind, and sad for the child, but he had long since lost any appreciation for human suffering. He had been a supportive figure in her life at that time, for their brief interaction. But he held no responsibility, no duty, no conscience for her now. Only regret.

[Lotus Charming]

“Pfft, what of it? Baelothon is as destructive as its always been. Nothing’s changed, just gained even more destructive with time. It’s either kill or be killed.” Her words stung like acid. She lost all sense of the word, ‘humanity’. She stopped believing it was possible to even like her own. She cursed it in fact. The more she grew, the further she cursed her own birth. She almost wished when she was little she had died too till realizing with a stinging notion to just fight until everything burned with her hatred. “And for your information, I’m not a little girl anymore. I stopped being little after I realized how pathetic humanity really is.” Alterna squashed the fireball in her hand into a tight fist as she practically did a frontal back-flip off the high rock she stood upon to the ground below without a single hint she didn’t have the strength to land both feet on the ground. Instead, it looked like she had gained more than enough strength to take on things that normally she shouldn’t have been able to. Her body didn’t yield the appearance of muscles, but that itself was a mirage of her true strength.

Alterna’s eyes had in them true hatred for all things weak and things that couldn’t fight for themselves, she almost appeared from how she stood like she would probably better wish she didn’t have to fight for them so often when they pleaded to have things banished for them. She often left her own bit of destruction for them to wake up and know that the world isn’t filled with roses. “If feathers weren’t meant to be ruffled, they wouldn’t exist.” Alterna never allowed her eyes to return from being narrowed as her hands were at her side almost like instead of being weak like she was as a child crying out for help at age nine. She was someone that never even bothered to ask for any at all, but rather fought her own battles as was clear by the scars that could now be slightly seen on her body granted to her over time from her own fair share of fighting with people.

[Sage]

" And yet, human you remain. So tell me, does that make you pathetic? "

Talis' laugh was hollow, chilling. There was now joy in it for him, simply a mimicked emotion, plucked from mortality. Her attitude was intriguing, though it did not take a scholar to discern the root of her outward brashness. He had been there, seen the events that had first begun to mold her nature. But what she said was true, she was not a little girl anymore, despite the image burned into his recently-regained memory. As he came within a few short feet of her, he allowed his eyes to take in her figure without shame or comment.

As his blank gaze found it's way back to her eyes, his tone gave something away. A semblance of an emotion, but not quite. It could have been anger. " And what exactly is it you plan to do here, a grown woman full of righteous fury. I suppose it's trouble you're looking for? "

The question was more of an accusation than an interrogative. She might have mistaken him as an authority figure of some sort due to the nature of it, but he simply chose to speak to her in the way she spoke, herself. With hatred, and anger. It was a Gartel's nature to unintentionally mimic humans in order to understand them. It was a draw in them created by the Sleiden that binded with them to grant their power.

[Lotus Charming]

“I only remain human not of my own choosing, but that’s slightly changed over realizing a few things about myself. I’m not a full human like those in Baelothon.” Her words rung true though as her eyes that had slight hues of amber mixed in with the red hue. It was true though. She once had pure amber eyes, but now red was the majority of the color in her eyes instead of amber almost like someone or something had been born within her but hasn’t gained full power yet or access to their powers yet only their form. A shadow of that figure was behind her as she stood there. The legendary bird that governed over life and death itself, the phoenix; she had through a miracle some had tried to tell her graced her with its blessing transformation wise. She could become it, but not gain its powers.

“Trouble only comes if I want it. I have no need of righteous fury, nor am I pathetic like those that can’t fight for themselves.” Alterna truly had done a complete change from the little girl she was full of smiles that now only showed when she was in the full swing of battle which usually spelled trouble for someone when she did. It almost always meant the death of someone or something when she even cracked a smirk. “If trouble wants me though, it’ll find me. I’m not far from it anyways.” Alterna simply shrugged as if it didn’t matter to her either way. Her arms went back to being carelessly limp at her sides, yet tightly bound against her almost like something that she had learned from training to make her muscle relax while being in a position most uncomfortable to those without control in their own bodily functions. Alterna for the time would tilt her head only slightly to pop her neck before letting it go back to the position it was at before.

“My plans probably mean nothing to no one anyways. I’m only here because I saw a slight mirror of it in Baelothon and busted open a portal here. What I do here is my own business, no one elses.”

[Sage]

He felt the tingling at his back as the creatures found their prey deep within the depths of Darkwood Forest. It was a sign that they would soon be ready for their return trip, the second of their primal instincts kicking in as they sated themselves. Talis sighed with some exaggeration and began stepping away from Alterna, his hands raised in mock-frustration.

" Very well, then. I will leave you to your idle frustrations, clearly you know my intentions far better than I ever could. "

Talis turned his back to the girl, and made a point to move slowly as he began to walk away from her. They were at least a mile from any sort of civilization, and he could only imagine the boredom she would suffer when left alone. His hope was that she would follow, or do something equally entertaining before she lost sight of him. He knew all too well how mind-numbing the silence of loneliness could be. The softest of the forest sounds before dark screaming at you, deafening inaudibility. This alone was a good a reason as any to blast through a rift in the world and toss about conflagration on unsuspecting emptiness.

[Lotus Charming]

“Pfft, whatever.” Alterna’s eyes had that burning in them that almost signaled something much deeper in her that probably shouldn’t have even awakened at this time. Her present form disappeared from sight leaving behind in its wake a bird of some sort. A greenish bird with wings of fire, she was clearly hiding this form as she seemed to almost instantly dart faster than anticipated into the forest itself causing a loud enough boom to be heard deep within the forest itself. She’d then re-form herself again atop a branch of a tree very high above the ground, almost to the top of the tree. She had no fears that could even be noted anymore. Alterna herself gave up on fear itself and just looked around her while letting herself hang upside down as a bat might.

Her hands would form small balls of fire in them as she tossed them into the form letting her more chaotic nature form. It was a sort of purification fire, but enough to burn the forest as she let the fireballs drop to the forest floor. It’d not burn the forest as most would expect. Her prey instead was something that actually came from Baelothon itself. One that had opened a portal before her and she had been hunting it to kill it with her talisman and flames. She’d purposely let herself fall from the tree dodging the branches as she aimed for the creature she was ready to fight with two talismans in each of her hands. The speed in which she was falling probably should have been enough to scare most, but not her.

She had a target to kill and that was it. It was a type of ghost that took physical form in Baelothon to snare another creature in its grasp and take over their body. Alterna learned of the creature a long time ago, only by accident and been hunting them down ever since to remove them from existence as they were the ones that destroyed the very reason she destroyed her more humanly emotions. Eventually blows could be heard between her and the ghost that took a more humanly shape. Her talisman’s made it solid so that she could fight it, but what the creature would find is that Alterna liked to toy with her prey before exterminating them. Alterna would take her rapier in one hand and a talisman in the other and just slash, then seal the wound on the ghost letting it suffer without any remorse on her part. The ghost would even shed blood as if alive, she didn’t even care till finally there’d be silence from her location after the ghost itself would be killed off from a final banishing due to Alterna’s unique gifts.

Alterna herself was bathed in blood once again, but this time of her own choosing and it wasn’t her own blood. Her abilities were ripe for use and she was already tracking the one that spoke to her earlier as she once again took the form of the phoenix again sitting upon a perch waiting.

[Sage]

He had gained some distance from her, after she had taken her sidetrip to destroy some unseen foe. He used the opportunity to return several Grims which fluttered toward him to the darkness, opening that familiar wall of black against the crisp night air, causing a stirring wind as it pulled hungrily on the mortal world. As she re-approached, she might have felt the rush of air; seen the flutter of cloaks. The people already spoke ill of Talis, about his odd behavior and the sightings of him with creatures that resembled and smelled of death. But she would know little about that, and as a person familiar with the supernatural, she would be free to shape her own opinion. It concerned him little.

" You stink of spilled blood. "

He turned as he raised his thick black hood over his white locks, only allowing the red tips fall out, partially obscuring his eyes. He could smell more than death on her. It would rain soon, the pleasant scent filtered past and made him wonder where he should go for the night.

[Lotus Charming]

“As do you have that of things of death following you around, but they aren’t my particular ‘targets’. My targets come from Baelothon itself. They often wander from there, but easy enough for me to kill, unless one of their more powerful friends show up, then I get to play with them a little bit longer.” Alterna obviously found her time hunting her particular types of targets fun, almost as if it were a game suiting her needs. She was still in her phoenix form, uncaring about the fact she could slightly tell rain was going to fall.

“I expect a friend of the creature I killed to show up soon. They always travel in pairs. I just wonder where it’ll pop up and the type. Baelothon is not as you remember it anymore, as I do remember you clearly of your past life. I can see it in your energy while in this form. Baelothon is now islands of death and creatures that I hunt now roam freely there. I don’t hunt them for the sake of Baelothon, but for sport.”

Her voice even while in phoenix-form came clearly as she changed back, just sitting there on the branch she was on. Her lack of fear about facing an even greater creature than previous didn’t phase her the slightest as she eventually looked back towards the lake again. “I sense a portal opening. I wonder, if it isn’t my next prey. I can already tell, it’s not the usual suspect I’m up against. This might be actually fun for a change.” Alterna would stand up upon the branch, she knew where some shelter was but not sure he’d listen to her if she told him.

“If you seek shelter, there’s a cave near the lake. It’s clear of anything damp. I for one, have a new play toy to hunt.” Alterna would at that time begin jumping branches towards the lake as if giddy to be getting her next victim so soon. For once, an expression was on her face in the form of a smile that seemed unnatural to her almost like she enjoyed hunting her targets a little too much.