The sun came from hidding behind the clouds on a fine spring morning, it was warm but not too hot and the grass was green with life. The roaring of the falls drowned out any noise that would attempt to get through it to the area beind the falls. This was where, on a large rock inside its shell, a turtle slept peacefully. Muffled by the shell the turtle was able to sleep without being woke up. Moments later it opened its eyes and slid its head out slowly. It was followed by its feet being moved out as well. The turtle looked around and found no one near by at the moment and slunk off the smooth cold rock and into the pool created by the fall. Using powerful kicks the turtle swam from under the fall and surfaced taking in a deep breath again as it got up onto the lush green grass.

The water pouring from the falls made large rainbows as it fell to the pools below. Birds of all sorts flew across the sky churping happily as the turtle found his way towards the shore. He pushed himself onto the smooth warm rock and lay pleasantly in the sun. He heard the grass move as the falls continued to pour and he lifted his head to watch and see who was comming. Unmoving yet wondering if he should withdraw soon he stayed still.

Dispater was very much in need of a short time of relaxation, he was on a constant struggle to deal with all the things which threatened to destroy that which he considered to be the Balance. As a Concordant Killer, a race created many eons ago as some sort of experiment of the gods of neutrality, he believed that his existence was purely marked by a constant struggle to maintain the cosmic balance. He has since then became a sort of assassin, a slayer, a ‘killer’ like the name of his race also denoted, who pursues his quarry across the planes with cold-blooded methodical ease.

And the most relaxing place he could find throughout all The Realm of Arda was the Alulanta Falls, a place that could bring peace even to the most agitated soul. Even though Dispater was able to take a more human-like form to better blend with the people and not to be suspected of anything, he could be usually found in his true-self form, there was no reason why he would shun away from it, he was proud of what he was, and did not care one bit of what others believed about him, they were after all inferior… such an arrogant way of seeing things, but what could you expect from a creature which was both infused with celestial and fiendish essence; the two essences coexisted in Dispater, and he gained some advantages from each of the side. He had a pair of dusky, feathered wings, those being the closest thing to a celestial he possessed. As for the rest of his appearance, he looked fiendish. The Killer resembled a tall, scarlet-skinned humanoid, about 8 feet tall, his eyes were constantly glowing a most hypnotic emerald color, instead of irises he had swirling energies and instead of hair he had a indigo vapor rising from the top of his head.

He made his unusual appearance by landing somewhere close to the falls, preferring to continue the rest of the way to the clear, fresh water on foot. The flora and fauna was abundant in what concerned the surroundings of the falls, and he paid no mind to the turtle which was laying on that stone. It looked like all the others of its kin. And he continued to walk, arriving shortly to the shore, he stood there unmoved, just watching the rushing water. The wings were resting one upon the other on his back…

The turtle looked at the person as he walked towards the pools. He was quite an interesting being, with wings and all. But even the turtle could sence he was in need of some sort of rest. He looked at the being. "The water is nice and cool today. If you want a drink or just to cool off today is a good day to do such." he said as he stood with a turtle like smile on his face. The sun shone brightly on the pair as they stood in the area of the falls. The sweet smell of grass delighted the turtle as he thought about something but decided against bringing it up. He stood up and moved slowly but steady off the rock and yawned.

He slowly moved towards the shore and looked at it, small fish darted to and fro as larger fish lazily swam slowly without a care to the turtle looking on. One fish blew bubbles at the turtle and it gave a chuckle and a nod. He looked towards the other being. "I am Londhen, may I ask of what your name would be?" he said. He was not really one to use proper grammer at times when speaking but most people got what he meant.

Dispater was caught by surprise and unprepared by the words of the turtle, the last time when he checked there wasn’t anyone else around, other than the animals which also included the turtle. He quickly turned to look over his shoulder, scanning the area of the few times only to realize that the one who had spoken before was the turtle itself, its lips were moving. Dispater was not from this plane but even he knew that turtles were unable to speak, unless they were some kind of magical animals, or unless his mind was playing tricks on him right now. He shook his head, but the turtle spoke again, and somehow he was relieved that his mind still functioned properly, he could not afford to loose it, not now when he was still fighting in own crusade, more zealous than ever, on a constant quest to maintain the cosmic balance. If asked to explain, he would not be able to tell why was he doing it, it just felt right to him, it came natural…

For awhile he remained silent, his attention now fully focused onto the small frame of this interesting creature, the talking turtle, Londhen on his name, he awaited for him to join his side by the river. There was no reason why Dispater should harm the turtle or even pick on him, his small being didn’t radiate anything that would go against the balance he so tried to preserve. But Londhen had something special, unlike many others, unlike pretty much the whole human race he did not look strange at Dispater, he did was not scared of his sudden appearance and even had the courage of approaching and starting a conversation with him.

“The name is Dispater.” The reply came, his voice deep, powerful and profound, showing a lot of charisma. Dispater was a well trained warrior worn out through many battles, as his body and equipment showed. He was wearing a loose-fitting robe black in color, decorated with polished bits of blades taken from his fallen enemies, his upper half was bare, he found no use of armor for the time being. At his left hip, two not one swords were ilding, both were probably bigger than the turtle, they were supposed to be handed with both hands in a battle for someone as large as Dispater himself. At least one of them waited eagerly the moment when it would be drawn in battle, it was enchanted with the ability of feeding on its victim’s souls, and it hungered… On the opposite hip a serrated chakram could be found, a metal ring used for range attacks, very deadly and effective.

“What might you be?” asked he, while descending to the ground, preparing himself to sit by the rushing water.

The being was certianly caught off guard when he spoke for he searched for someone who had the ability to talk, obviously figuring out that the only beings around were the animals around him, before finally resting his eyes on the turtle. The being seemed awkward at his voice, it was strange for a turtle to talk but this being before him was also strange. The being finally spoke with calm and charisma, “The name is Dispater.” the being said then turned and sat down by the rushing waters. “What might you be?” he asked.

The Turtle gave a smile, if you could call the way his mouth had curved strangly a smile, and walked slowly towards the waters edge. "If you speak of my race, a turtle. As can be plainly seen by my shell, skin and such." He said as he dipped a fore leg into the water and slipped slowly into the pool beneath the waterfall. He held his breath for a moment and dived under swimming speedily towards where the man was sitting. The cool water provided a nice contrast to the warm air, he felt the water run off his shell as he surfaced facing the man who called himself Dispater. "But as for WHAT I am...that would be a philosopher. In my old age, well to your mind it may be old, I have seen many things. I have lived long enough for present to become history. I have seen hundreds of my kind be born and die, as I have seen humans do the same. History is a great thing to gain experience from, and knowledge and wisdom are great with age. I find many things are the same year after year, some things are different. But no matter what all may learn wisdom from it." he said and climbed up onto the grass. He gave a chuckle at himself. "But at my old age I do tend to ramble a little. I have found that those who know their falts and can express them often find a better understanding of themselves then those who find fault only in others. That is the difference between making a friend or an enemy." he said laying down by Dispater looking at the fish.

Dispater nodded to Londhen’s words, of course he was a turtle, that much he could figure out on his own so far; his question was meant to sound differently, he was curios to know how did he manage to be able to speak and live so long, it seemed strange but even the Nature itself was capable of creating strange things. The killer remained silent and continued to listen to the turtle’s words, they amused him to a small extend as it could be seen upon his face, a small smile forming in the corner of his mouth. Smiling was something unusual for someone such as him, he forgot about himself and about what to live means, he existed only to fight in this crusade without having a real reason of doing it other than the sheer thought that it felt right to him to do so, that was his nature and someone’s nature was hard to change. It the turtle was as wise as he said he was, then he would not assume such things as believing that Dispater was much younger than him, come on, after all how old a turtle could be? The plane in which the turtle existed was a fairly new one as well, the turtle race was a young one itself compared to demons, celestials, or concordant killers for this matter.
Though Dipsater chose not to say a word about it, and he just continued to listen to the little creature’s words, about history, and wisdom, he himself had learned a lot through the many journeys he had, throughout the whole cosmos, different planes, different creatures.

“If you are as old as you say you are, then tell me, what was the first race to populate the Material Plane, or however you want to name this world you live in.” Also all the other worlds were defined by the same word ‘plane’, it was like some sort of scientific name in the universal history and ‘language’, the one Dispater had studied before going to have some experiences of his own in those called ‘planes’. There were still many others that awaited to be explored, he had no home to return to, so wandering is what he is going to do all of his long, maybe eternal life, no one knew what was the life-span of a concordant killer, since they were, as said before, experiments, they could be killed, but none of them were found dead of old age.