The Search For Mana

[Vosur Aekira]

Vosur gave an exhausted sigh after he helped Dante to his feet, catching wind of Lazaryos's decision. "I'm not fond of the idea of sticking around where my enemies know where I'm at. That's why I was wanting to get on the move now. Also during that fight, I somehow managed to lose most of the food from the hunt, between the dried gazelle and what's left, I'd say it'd last us a couple of days if we meter it out and not hunt at all. I don't intend on stopping my hunting, but it's starting to get meager with me doing this by myself." he spoke. "I don't know the way, but the tiger was right about one thing: we have competition and we don't need to wait around longer than we have to."

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos sighed as he did his best to help Ember get onto her mat, "Take it easy. We don't need you getting yourself hurt anymore, especially since the healer is still messed up in the head from the fight." He shook his head and slapped himself in the face, What the hell is wrong with you, you bloody sod? Since when do you give a damn about someone?

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember was getting more confused by the minute. Some people wanted to stop and rest, others wanted to keep moving onward. That messed her up enough without adding on Lazaryos helping her out and seeming to care about her welfare. "Must have lost more oxygen to my brain than I thought..." She mumbled softly to herself with her eyes still shut. She had no interest in keeping up their journey tonight and thought it'd be better to continue in the morning, but that was just her since the strangling had taken a lot out of her. Now she just wanted to go to sleep.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono pulled out his sword and stuck the flat side towards his crotch and used the handle as something to keep his eyes from losing focus as he looked up at the sky. "My dad, before he found out I wasn't worth a fraction of the ground I stood on, used to tell me that real power was when you could make "sky-forged stone stream down to smite thine enemies". Probably thought I could do the same since I was the only child that actually looked like him, twenty-two years later I'm the abomination of my clan..."

[Srgntcuddles]

"So...Let's go hunting then! Come on, pal! Ahahahah!" Dante threw his arm around Vosur and forcing him to walk with him in any random direction. He wanted to get far enough away from the others before asking him anything, but he didn't really know how to start the conversation. "Hmm...How am I going to do this? Want to help me take out the others? Even then...If he agrees...OH ALSO I NEED YOU TO STOP GOING FOR THE MANA KTHXBAI! This is going to be tough..." He looked like he had something on his mind.

[Vosur Aekira]

He stopped Dante before he started to lead him astray. "No, no... this way." he spoke as he started to lead Dante to where he had in mind. "I may be part-human, but I'm part-wolf also. I know where the best areas to go hunt." said with a smile, tapping on his nose, his expression going serious as he started sniffing. "You may also not like what you see since it can get pretty gruesome. I sometimes have to clean on-the-spot since the weight is often a factor in how much I can carry back in the hunt." He made sure his sword was secure to his hips before he got a couple of his non-coated cards out, his red-irised eyes seeming to lock on something in the distance. "Crouch down slowly and we'll approach very cautiously. If I do this right, we could have two gazelle for dinner."

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos didn't think much as the night wore on, though it was nice to have a full meal for the first time in a long time. Two more days... two more bloody days before I get close to unlimited power. He slept that night, the same visions coming into his mind's eye, the sight of himself killing his party, including Ember, and basking in the Mana's source of unlimited Majicka, reining over the world of fire birthed from his powerful lightning. Lazaryos awoke from that nightmare in a cold sweat. He's cold, but not cruel, and what he's been seeing for the last two weeks have been that of pure evil. Hopefully, it's no more than just a recurring nightmare.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember thought Dante was being really weird but didn't have the mind to think about what his deal was. It didn't take her long at all to fall asleep. All the dreams she had were different scenarios of what would happen as per usual for when she slept nowadays. The last scene that played in her mind was her standing over the rest of the groups' burning bodies with a malicious grin on her face, eerily shadowed by the glow of the flames. She awoke right after that image appeared but she could still see it when her eyes were open. She shook her head to get the picture out of her mind.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono lost any interest in what the group had seemingly thought of his words, and just started looking at random stars. He connected them together in his head, and lost track of his consiousness as he slumped back and went to sleep with his closing eyes towards the sky. In his dreams there was carnage on all sides, all three of the mages he had traveled with had died from eachothers magic and staffs, and Vosur was sadly caught in the crossfire. Chrono had avoided dying as the entire group had finished themselves off and were unable to claim the Mana. Not letting their 'deaths' be in vain, he cupped the mana in his hands and drank it down as if it were the first water he had in weeks. Suddenly it became a nightmare as fabricated pain shot through every nerve of his body, strong enough to cause a reaction outside the dream. His tattoos were now shining brighter than the campfire itself, and possibly blinding anyone who would dare look at him directly. Then, the dream pain vanished and the shine quickly went away...

Chrono would have a dream-less sleep for the rest of the night.

[Srgntcuddles]

Dante followed Vosur the way he went, all the while thinking of how things could go down. "I should probably just come out and say it..." "Vosur I-" Just then he was told to crouch down, so he did. "Damnit." He didn't say anything as not to spoil the hunting session. "Hrmm...Might as we think of a few plans to make the argument seem more enticing...Hmm...Lesse...I wonder how much of that stuff he has. Maybe we could poison their meat...That might work..." A thought of seeing Chrono, Ember and Lazaryos around a campfire eating some meat popped into his head. As they ate it they suddenly twitched and fell over unable to move. After wards Dante and Vosur ran in to tie them up leaving them bound in a pile. Dante and Vosur turned to exchange high fives then simultaneously turned and flashed a peace sign with wide toothy grins. "We could dig a pitfall ahead of them and they would fall in it..." Again a scene played through his mind with the group walking along and Chrono, Ember and Lazaryos falling into a giant hole. Dante and Vosur would scurry over to the edge with grins on their faces as they are in turn looking up at them and yelling, along with bickering amongst themselves. Vosur and Dante ran off, stopping only to exchange high fives and flash their peace signs. "Hmm...What about Mercenary ninjas? That'd be awesome." Once more a scene played out in Dante's mind. The group was walking again when a bunch of ninjas swooped in and took down the three in question. But before Dante and Vosur could exchange high fives they were chased themselves by the ninjas for not having money to pay them.

[Vosur Aekira]

Vosur's eyes went almost to pin-pricks, then expanded until there was nearly no iris as he watched the gazelle. He was almost motionless other than the breathing, even that was slowed to the point where it wouldn't be easy to tell if he was a statue or a living being. He made no sudden movement, carefully rearing the hand with the two throwing-cards at the ready, then when his eyes found his targets, he suddenly let the cards fly. Both cards hit their targets fatally, but that didn't stop him from rushing in to try to get another prey, quickly unsheathing his blade to try to strike another one of the nearby ones, which he barely missed. The rest of the gazelle, including the one that he tried to kill with his sword, escaped, a growl coming off of his lips as he motions for Dante to come help him carry their prey back to the camp, picking up and cleaning the two cards he threw. He knew that Dante had something on his mind, but he wasn't too sure if it was appropriate to bring it up yet, getting their catch back to camp and preparing it so they would continue to have provisions for the next few days if hunting became lean.

[Srgntcuddles]

Dante went over to help with the catch, hefting one over his shoulder. "I suppose it's for the best...Rest in piece." He said as he walked with Vosur. "Hey...I need to talk to you about something. When you get the chance I mean..." "Knowing me I won't get another chance like this...Oh well I suppose..." He walked along without saying anything, a somewhat serious look lingering on his face. "Just don't tell the others...Just between us. It's...Kinda sensitive, ya know..."

[Vosur Aekira]

"We may have to talk during the next hunt." he spoke as he hefted the other one over his own shoulder, heading towards camp. "It is getting late and having to go hunting twice in one night set me further behind in sleep, so I'm going to have to say it'll have to wait until next time. I do have the feeling that you're wanting to talk to me about the mission we have in front of us, each one wanting to achieve the same goal before the others." He spoke, going silent when they got within ear-shot distance of the camp, then cleaning and cooking their catch to get it ready to get on the move when they get up in the morning. He wasn't long from going to sleep after prepping and cooking the food, barely staying awake enough to pull the food from off the fire and setting the remaining portions to smoke before he started to doze off in front of the fire.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos groaned as he got up, his weight seemed to be making his mornings more painful, but muscles weighs far more than fat, so he couldn't tell what to think of it, so he just went on his way, waking the others by their proximity. Ember, of course, being the closest. After waking everyone, he walked on north without another word. He was not in the mood to interact with ANYONE, and was quite the sour one for some reason. By midday, Lazaryos looked down at the sand below their feet and picked some of it up, inspecting and sniffing it. We're extremely close. It may be many centuries old, but it's unmistakeably the scent of blood. It's faint, but very strong. The sand he had picked up was gray in color, getting progressively darker in the view, though not quite even close to black. They trudged along for the rest of the day in silence, Lazaryos' rotten mood really shooting out from him like a severe heatwave. At night, after setting up the fire, the silence of the party before Vosur and Dante decided to go for another hunt allowed the group to hear how close they were to the heart of Hell. The sound of metals clanging could be heard in the distance, and the sky lit up with high level spells being cast out in the night, seeming to almost complement the crimson, red moon, which seems a lot grimmer and darker than the night before, now that they are closer to the Hell of Blue Crimson.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember got up and took care of her things when Lazaryos woke her up that next morning. She could sense his bad mood as she followed after him as they began walking so she didn't try to talk to him, not like she would have anyway. She walked along with the group in silence. At midday when Lazaryos picked up some sand and inspected it, she just watched him. At night, she set up her makeshift bed as usual and laid down by the fire. She stared up at the sky, at the red moon, as she listened to the sound of fighting in the distance.