Lothemadel walked through the swamp, erriely eyeing the surroundings. Even though it was the middle of the day, the dead branches of the trees supressed every last ray of light. Lothemadel panted as he began to walk further. Mud was coating the bottom of his robe, and his staff was sinking in the mud. He tried to yank it out, and with enough effort, managed to do so.

The gray sky around him made him uncomfortable. The shadows were everywhere, and seemed to press on him. Like a weight crushing him. He sat on a stump to catch a breath. He sighed and continued to pant, and the mud clung to the bottom of his shoes. After a minute or two of resting, he began to notice something.

All the branches of the trees were different. As if they were leaning toword him. Like they wanted to claw him, strike him down, and kill him. They were watching him. They were spies of the darkness, only to be restricted to movement, but disguised as nature. These were abominations, twisted by the darkness, corrupted by evil.

A shrill cry broke the silence. It broke the air, and made Lothemadel jump. The trees seemed to snap back into place. 'How could such a noise break such dead silence, the trees were barriers for screams.'he thought. Lothemadel was pondering this thing. How much terror could bring someone to scream to the point of blocking a barriar of trees?

Soon after that cry was sent rumbling through the swamp, a roar emited through out every corner of the swamp. The trees shook, and a flock of crows flew out in a flock. Lothemadel froze were he was. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed movement: the crashing of trees. Out of the the tumbling branches came a massive Malboro came crashing through. Its many pores on his head sprout out gases. Its tenticles lashed out, and it roared as it noticed its foe.

(OOC: You can find malboro info here)

(OOC: Ah, this looks like a beast Xelphias would like to fight. XD)

The sky was gloomy, giving off a hint of spook, almost as if the the sky wanted to distinguish an eternal shadow over the swamp. The trees lurked, seemingly watching any travelers. Beasts, unknown to Xelphias, seemed to be eyeing him demonically. The fog, here, was not as thick as the main portion of the Misty Forest, but it did not dematerialize totally. It just lightened up a bit, letting all the other spooky aspects of the swamp have their chance at frighten travelers. The branches of countless trees seemed to crane down the necks of their branches, annoying Xelphias at an endless pace. Though he trudged on, hoping to find the exit of this horrid desolation.

As the elf walked, he decided that a rest was in order. He sat down at the base of a trunk, and pulled out his pack. He slipped his hand inside, and found the same end protruding out the other end. "Blast." He murmured. The elf tossed the handbag aside, and was left hot and sweaty with only a cloak, and his two weapons; a trident and a blade. Weapons were never much of a problem for Xelphias, for he knew the right people in Lomedor who could smith him the right things. He sat and rested, and eventually started to get droopy. Xelphias started to close his eyes, but was poked by a branch. He sat upright, and looked at the tree: same as it was before. "Meh.." He said in a gruff voice. He slumped back down, but was hit upside the head eith another branch. "Ah!" He growled, and stood straight up, face to face with the tree trunk. "Not another move!" He warned. And he laid himself back down roughly, eyeing a certain branch out of the corner of his eye.

His eyes started to close, but once again, that same branch knocked him with great force, and sent him flying a foot or two. "That's it!" The elf grabbed his trident, hopped up on one branch (which tried to trip him again), hopped to another, and was soon at the top of the tree. "Haaharrggarhaa!" He yelled insanely as he jabbed and hacked away at the massive tree with the trident in both hands. This violent act continued on for a couple minutes, until the top of the tree was torn to pieces. "DO-NOT-TOUCH-ME-AGAIN!" He yelled in a very loud and frightening voice. He hopped up, and went soaring to the ground, while trident was pointed downward. The same branch that had been continuously poking and hitting him and just been sliced off, and was laying on the ground, worming around uncontrollably.

Xelphias laid down once more, but once again was interrupted. He quickly held hsi trident up, hoping to defend himself from another attacking branch. But this time, it was not the tree. It was a deafening roar that only a large monster could have ever made. He snatched up his weapons, placing his sword across his back, and his trident in hand, and ran towards the scream of terror. He rustled through a few bushes, and was lost for words..

There, towering of him, was a big, large, enormous monster. It had several tenticles that were lashing out rapidly. He had, what appeared to be, pores on his head, spitting out harmful gases. In the midst of this chaos, Xelphias spotted another male, eyeing the beast with a bloodlust glint in his eye. Xelphias grinned, and yelled, "Hey you! Yeah, you! We're going to have to fight this beast!" There was a long pause, and if the man had said anything, it was drained out by the monstrous screams of the monster. The elf eyed the monster suspiciously, and when he found the right moment, he sprinted to the side of the man. Xelphias panted, but shook it off as the monster came charged. The elf pushed the other man to the left, and he dove to the right. The monster slammed into a tree trunk, and seemed to be dazed. Xelphias ran over to the other man, and said, "What's the plan?"

Lothemadel was frozen with terror, but was relieved to notice a elf come crashing through. The massive malboro came charging. 'What can I do?!?!' Lothemadel stood their frozen, and was pushed out of the was by the elf. "We need a plan!" The man yelled at him. Lothemadel quickly gathered himself, and grinned. "Time for a fight!" He roared, and lunged his staff violently in the air.

Lothemadel quickly ran a plan in his head. What would work? Lothemadel was phsically beat, but this man seemed to have his strength. But Lothemadel had his inner strength, and was still capable of casting spells. "Okay, I have a plan! You seem to be an excellent combatant, and I will be a diversion. I will blind him, and you will destroy this beast and send it back to the abyss it came from!"Lothemadel told him.

"Okay, lets get this started!" he roared. Summoning all his energy he began his onslaught of spells. He first summoned lesser monster, combined with his normal monster summoning spell, and three dire cougersappeared. They helpless scratched the beast. They did no damage to it though but distracted it. Then, summoning all his energy, he began to whisper incantations.

A small orb of energy appeared in his hand. It began to enlarge, and shined ferociously. Lothemadel's eyes began to water, and leak out of the sides of his eyes. The energy morphed into a star, and glew brightly and blue. Lothemadel launched it towords the beasts eyes. The malboro roared in pain, as it became blinded. "Now is your chance! It will be temporarily blinded, and confused a while after! Get him!" Lothemadel shouted. He collapsed on the ground, still conscious. He veiwed the ongoing battle.

Okay. There were several things wrong here. For one, it was too early for her to even be out here; she should've just stayed back in that last village until it was completely dark. Two, this place was probably the nastiest and murkiest place she's ever been. She wasn't complaining as much, though, as she wasn't being damaged so much by her enemy's rays.

Groaning, Airyanya made her way as quickly as she could through the murky waters of the swamp, the quiet factor not being much of a bother since it was much more of a challenge in this area. Before, she had tried to climb into the trees and use them to her advantage, but that soon proved futile, and she was thrown right back to the dirty ground. Her white hair still tinted brown because of what it had endured from the fall.

Where's the nearest exit out of th-- Airyanya's thoughts were interrupted when a loud scream enveloped her ears. Taking by utter surprise, the Drow quickly covered her pointed ears and closed her lightly-coloured eyes, waiting eagerly for the shrill cry to end. When it did, a thunderous roar followed after it, and Airyanya's eyes only widened as she quickly continued on her path, eager to see to the cause of all of this.

When she got to the battle area finally, it was already beginning, and so she hung back in the shadows, watching with her keen eyes as the two males mattled the huge monster. She stayed quiet, not moving a muscle so the swamy ground wouldn't give her away, and as she watched them intently, she noted important things, incase the conflict turned on her as well. Like that was even necessary.

[ Uhh...Yeah...Sowwy ^^;; ]

Darkness started to convey a message that motioned for the end of the day. Not that the swamp area wasn't already dark, but the natural light of the sun was fading, and the appearance of Isiltelpe was beginning to form. The monster, which Xelphias found out was a malboro. After pushing the man out of the way of danger, and yelling for a plan, the man replied back. "Okay, I have a plan! You seem to be an excellent combatant, and I will be a diversion. I will blind him, and you will destroy this beast and send it back to the abyss it came from!" He said. "Okay, lets get this started!" The elf comprehended the man's plan, easily.

The man, who seemed to be very knowledgeable of magic and summoning, was preparing his thoughts in his mind. The mage first summoned three cougars. They immediately attacked the malboro beast, slashing and hacking away with teeth and claws. The man then morphed a orb-like thing in between his hands, which grew rapidly. It grew so large, that it soon materialized into a star. The mage shot it towards the eyes of the beast, which seemed to temporarily blind it. "Now is your chance! It will be temporarily blinded, and confused a while after! Get him!" The man yelled. He then fell to the ground, barely conscious. Xelphias was about to run to his aid, when the beast roared out a menacing scream. "Oh yeah." The elf muttered, remembering that he must fight the beast while he could.

The elf, shaking off the horrendous screams of pain, threw any bare essentials he obtained to the side, tucked his blade into his sheath, and put both hands on the handle of his trident. "Come on, beastie." He murmured to himself, grinning wickedly. The malboro slashed out one tentacle, but the elf deflected it. He kept advanced, and finally was maybe five to six feet away from the beast. Xelphias moved side to side, dodging and blocking slashing tenticles. A rather large tenticle shot out towards Xelphias's stomach, and was soon amputated as the elf came down hard on it with his trident. It roared demonically, and it's cut-off tenticle soon siezed it's worming around. The elf kicked it off to the side, and stood in a fighting stance. He waited for the right moment, still dodging and blocking attacks. Now! He thought.

He lunged on top of the beast, stabbing and jabbing where ever he could. The monster screamed with terror, and knocked Xelphias off it's headm its head increasingly bloody. It's head pores spat out smog gas, apparently its way of coughing. Xelphias charged again. This time, a tenticle lashed out at his feet, tripping him. The beast towered over him, still spitting black and grey gas. The malboro tried to strike Xelphias with a tenticle, but that same limb was cut off, causing several roars to come from the monster. The elf jumped up, instantly to the top of the beast's head. Smog gas was issued from one of it's pores, leaving the elf thinking, Great. Xelphias took his trident with both hands, and stabbed it in the hand. Blood spewed out rapidly. "How much more can this monster endure?" He muttered, wondering when his opponent would die. Xelphias stabbed again, hoping to hit the monster's brain. This time, it worked.

The elf jumped off as quickly as possible, as the monster started to writhe around insanely. Smog gas issued from the pores rapidly, uncontrollably, darkening grass, trees, bushes, and what ever vegetation that surrounded the malboro. For a minute, the beast stopped moving. It then turn and fell to the ground, causing the earth to shake. Sweat trickled down Xelphias's face, but he was relieved that the monster was dead. He retreated towards the nearly unconscious man, and shook him gently. "Are you okay?" He asked. "The beast is dead. There is no need to worry. Sit here and rest; you need it." Xelphias sat down next to him, glad that the battle was over.

Lothemadel was weary and exhausted. He was semi-consiously veiwing the oncoming fight. The elf was impressive. He handled the fight well and calmly, defeating the beast with grace and percision. He mustered his energy, and stepped up."Are you okay?" He asked. "The beast is dead. There is no need to worry. Sit here and rest; you need it," the man to Lothemadel.

"No, don't worry I am fine, we need to find a way out of here." He finished getting up, and brushed his robes. They were stained brown from the mud, his eyes dull with exhaustion. He had cast every spell in his reprotiore, and it drained almost all his ether. And his previous hike had exhausted his pyhsical energy. He could say that he was drained, mentally and physically.

'Uggh' he thought. 'I need to step it up!' He gathered his energy, and with a struggle, shifted his staff to his left hand and outstretched his right. "I am Lothemadel, conjurer and Daymaster of the soon to be formed Order of the Infinitas. May I ask, who are you?" Lothemadel inquired. The dismal setting was suffocating him. The sun began to set, and the darkness began to deepen. After the action ended, the trees resumed the original scratching postions. They outstrechted their branches. The darkness separating the branches seemed to glow, like eyes glaring at the sucessfull warriors.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lothemadel noticed something coming through the branches. They seemed to be observing the fight, like they wished to keep out of it."Who are you!" Lothemadel shouted at the figure. "Identify yourself! Are you an enemy of friend!" Lothemadel hoped he wasnt hostile, he didn't have any energy for a fight of any kind, even with words, he was that exhausted.

Airyanya watched carefully and intently as the two battled the beast, staying silent so as to keep her existance unknown to the other two as she watched. Her whole body remained stone still, her eyes the only things that moved as they stayed on the two. One of the men collapsed, but the other continued on, soon disposing of the huge beast. When the malboro fell, Airyanya bent at the knees very slightly so she wouldn't fall face-first onto the murky ground as the ground shook from the collision.

Now that the battle was over, the male that had delivered the fatal blow to the creature went to his fallen companion, speaking to him. Straightening back up, Airyanya now had the chance to study them both. One was of the elven kin, very similar to herself, but the other was of an almost complete different race. She couldn't think of what he was exactly, but she didn't stress much over it, neither.

The fallen was helped up to his feet and he continued speaking, brushing at his robes in a futile attempt to rid of the dirt and mud stains from it. He looked highly exhausted, and there Airyanya was dumbfounded. Why did he waste all of his energy instead of conserving it? He should've been much more wise than he had been. What if another enemy -- not saying she was one, but then again, she potentionally could be -- came along at this moment? The both of them would be dead, more-than-likely.

She was torn from her thoughts of confusion when she suddenly heard an outburst. Her eyes glazed over as she wsa knocked back to reality, and as she saw the two of them again, she noticed that one of them had noticed her.

I've been noticed...I was actually wondering if they were never going to find me Airyanya told herself before she willingly stepped from the shadows, approaching the two. Her brown-stained white hair hung in her face, giving her not the best of looks, and she guessed these two fighters would take the impression as a bad one and demand a fight.

She came to a stop near the two and she kept quiet for a moment, letting the silence settle. Her lips finally parted after a couple moments, and the words that passed her lips were spoken in a quiet and low tone.

"Whether I'm an enemy or friend is how you judge me. I could be either; depends on you solely." The way she spoke, the way her words were formed and how she pronounciated everything, gave her an air of mystery, which was enhanced by the way she held herself. Not regal, but not too proud either, even though she was a little sharp-tongued and stubborn of mind.

Lothemadel glanced at the drow gliding towords the two. She had a sharp tounge, and was waiting for Lothemadel to say wether he was enemy or friend. He spread out his wings, strechting them. The magnificent valor of the angel wings were stained brown, making it's normal luster lacklustrous. They were small, but capable of flight, but his half angel heritage made them less....graceful.

"I am Lothemadel, conjurer and Daymaster of the Order of Infinitas. For now, your are the friend of me and.....um this man here." Lothemadel pointed to the elf next to him. "If you wouldn't mind, both of you, what can I adress the two of you by?" Lothemadel asked the two elfs near him. The trees leaned forth, listining in on the company.

Lothemadel began to breathe slightly deeper. He had to leave this dreaded place soon, it was almost suffocating. The darkness was captured by the dead branches of the trees. But the trees were tainted by evil, and corruption seeped through their roots. No matter what, it seemed that light couldn't get in.

The sun was fully set, and it seemed that the darkness was now covering them like a blanket, thickly set upon the entire swamp. Lothemadel mustered up some of his remaining energy, and struck his staff on the ground. Light leapt forth, and sent forth a pale beacon of light. It dimly shone, and was trapped by the branches. It could not go further than the dark confines of the swamp of shadows.

Lothemadel began to feel dizzy, and light headed. He sat down, even though he was waiting for the two replies of his fellow combatant, and this newcomer. He sighed, and held his staff upright, so that it could continue to illuminate the surronding area.