Ethari walked to the edge of the lake that the falls lead into. It was beautiful. From here, Ethari could see the whole falls, and there magestic beuty. The foligage around the falls sprouted from the ground and added to the pictuequeness. Ethari sat near the edge of the lake and listened to the smooth sounds of the running water, his dove, Cataraza, perched quitely on his shoulder. Ethari looked quitely into lake, overwhelmed by the power of nature. He thought about his whole life, and how he wished it was different.

He had recently found out his sister was a half demon, and then he told her that she should no longer bear the family name of Xilophent. He now regretted that. She was a half demon, but she said she was tring her hardest to be good. He probably shot down her hopes, and make her think she was condemed to a life of evil. He knew after that she went on a killing rampage, destroying many people. He hoped she could find the good in herself.

Life of evil. Thinking of that made him think of a familer name. Azirel. Ethari meet Azirel at the ancient tower, and he fought with Rafeal his demon side, Rasmiir. He almost lost the battle, making foolish tatics and almost risking Cataraza's life. That was a reason he bought his sword. It was made of pure diamond from the Ered Annon mountains. Its blade was sharp and could pierce extermly tough metal and leave a deadly cut. Ethari picked up a rock and threw it in the lake. A rainbow piranha leaped up and ate it, thinking it was a piece of carrion. Ethari sighed and watched the landscape of the magnificant falls.

Azirel walked along stretch of a trail, mostly formed by hundreds of animals trampling through it over the years. He was mostly surrounded by trees, but he could have clearly saw the lake if he had bothered to. It wasn't far from the lake, but Azirel didn't dare approach the water itself, in fear of seeing his own reflection. No, he didn't want that, not yet. He was contemplating staring into the cool, blue water of the lake and just letting Rahmiir take over, only for a little while, just to break out of his prison of emotions for a few hours. He approached the end of the trail, it ended at a little place that a small child might consider to be a "secret club hideout" or something. It was mostly covered in dry dirt and dust, but there were some rocky patches and one big rock jutted upwards fifteen feet or so from the ground.

He gazed towards the water, still to far from it to see his own reflection, but close enough to see the lake clearly. He saw a figure taking in the beautiful lake and falls surounding him. The figure was an angel, and a tall angel. He looked like Ethari Xilophent, the angel that he had met in the ancient tower. Ethari fought Rahsmiir and then began bad-mouthing Azirel about his past. I this was Ethari, he wanted to know.

He scanned his surroundings for a pathway down to where the angel was. There was a little bit of a pathway through some oak trees that was mostly grown in, but Azirel decided to follow it downwards anyways. Sweeping thick brush and grass to the side, he carefully went down the path, trying to keep his footing on the steep hill. He finally made his way down through the path, to about ten metres away from the angel, who was now clearly Ethari.

He approached Ethari, not sure exactly what to say. He finally decided he would go with the lamest greeting in the books, "You again..." He said.

Ethari turned to face Azriel, his dream like state broken. " Why, I was just thinking about you," Ethari said calmly. He looked at Azriel unnervingly, not wavering his gaze. " I was hoping to see you again, I've been dying to see your progress on redemption, hopefully you've made more progress. The path of a dead soul, and a trapped soul is difficult." Ethari reached to his pocket and pulled out on of his spring flowers, its vibrant colors beaming.

" Aren't these flowers beautiful, I mean just look at them. The embody the aspect of spring perfectly." Ethari muttered a word under his breath, quite enough so Azriel wouldn't here. " I've had a chance to grow you see, and have gained powers that someday you can posses. If you turn to your demon side, powers would be available, but not as powerful as the powers the god of Life can offer. Are you following?" Ethari said his last words mockingly.

Ethari disliked Azriel, his ego on how he could 'magically' become good irritated him. He didn't know what it was like to climb to the top, earn and try to be good, choosing the hard path instead of just killing off people. Ethari continued his speech. Here's a example of what I mean." With that he reached to the center of the flower and pulled it apart. Instead of destroying it he pulled out another flower. Ethari tossed it in the air as it gently floated away. He grabbed the second spring flower and returned it to its original spot. " Have you improved Azriel? If not, then your not fit to be an adventurer." Ethari stared Azriel, waiting for an answer. He secretly hoped he wouldn't spur a fight, but another side wished it would.

Ethari turned and responded to Azirel. He was very calm, something about him seemed different, but Azirel wasn't sure what.
"Have you improved Azirel?" Ethari asked demandingly.

Of course Azirel had a tiny feeling that he wanted to start a fight with Ethari, but he managed to contain himself. "Actually I was thrown in prison," Azirel said with a hint of sarcastic humor. He brushed his hair out of his eyes and plucked a different flower.
"Yes, of course following the path of life can bring you fortune and glory, but why go the hard way when you can reach all this through destruction and chaos?" He asked. He rolled his hand into a ball and crushed the flower within his tightly clenched fist. "Do you follow me, or do I need to say it slower?" He asked.

Azirel had improved though, well, slightly at least. His most drastic change though, was his appearance. He had very fine-tuned his appearance, he didn't quite look so reckless as he did when he came to Arda. But that didn't count for anything.

"And what about you, Ethari? How have you been since our last meeting?" He asked. "You say you're different, but quite frankly, all I see is the same smug attitude you put on when we met at the ancient tower," he said. He stared Ethari in the eyes, waiting for whatever answer he may have.

Clearly both Azirel and Ethari felt a negative charge between the two of them, and he knew that they both were just waiting for a fight to break out.

Ethari grimaced at Azriel's response. He hadn't changed. He was evil, following that of Ita instead of Lothlomendil (OOC: I can't make those little dotty things :grr: ). Ethari saw that Azriel did look evil now. He also looked stronger, and wiser. Ethari tried to make the best of it. "Well," he said in a harsh manner " I actually managed to stay out of prison, something you might want to try. Oh, by the way, destruction doesn't lead to fortune, it leads to a false sense of fortune. One of these days, you will have killed a little boys mother, and he'll grow up and kill you. If you were light, you would have saved a little boys mother, and he'll grow up to be a knight and reward you, like all good things eventually do. If you don't understand it I'll explain. All good things pay off, bad things don't."

" Oh, and by the way," Ethari added " I'm not smug, you just don't know strength when you see it." A cold breeze blew, shifting Ethari's hair in his face. All of a sudden, things seemed darker, and colder, and much more ominous. Ethari muttered a few intelligible words under his breath, hoping that Azriel would over see the illusion, and a small squirrel ran up to him and rested on his shoulder.

"See," Ethari said " not only does it pay off to be good, but you get a little more respect. Well may be not the respect you like. The kind were they mean it, not the worthless groveling your used to." The squirrel darted back into the forest. Ethari made the illusion do this, in hopes that the effects wouldn't dissipate before his come back was over.

The gust of wind blew by and tossed Azirel's hair this way and that, throwing his bangs into his eyes. He smirked, "Oh, I could try to stay out of prison, but eventually Rahsmiir would find his way back out again... And, well you know the kind of damage he's capable of," he said, responding to Ethari's first remark, pushing his bangs back out of his eyes. "You don't need to worry much about me killing anyone anytime soon, anyways, I've done enough damage since my incedent in the desert," he said. He knew that Ethari didn't know what he was talking about, so Azirel would let Ethari's mind come up with some crazy idea's on it's own.

Strangely enough though, Azirel was merely putting on a show, he did indeed feel changed. He felt an emotion he had never experienced before, guilt. Every time he did something wrong, he regretted it. The people he had killed in the desert had made him stop to think about what he was doing, think about their lives rather than his own.

He picked up a stone from the ground and threw it gently onto the lake, it skipped several times before plopping into the depths. He picked up a different stone and hurled it into the lake as hard as he could, it sailed a few metres through the air before gravity pulled it quickly to the water. The gently thrown one skipped further than the other one.

"Hmmm... Interestingly symbolic don't you think?" He asked, cooling down a little. "Anyways, how have you changed, Ethari? What powers have you gained?" He asked, he wanted to know excactly how much more powerful Ethari had truly become.



Inluluss, Azirel's whisping wraith carefully snuck out of his backback and floated down to the ground. He examined his surroundings and noticed among large objects such as rocks and trees and plants, there was an unfamilliar person, he had never seen this person before. He was intrigued by this creature, it had wings like a bird, but it looked like a human. He hovered over to Ethari, zig-zagging between stones and roots, trying to hide himself as best he could. He quickly shot up as soon as he was close enough and yanked at a long white feather on Ethari's left wing.

*******
(OOC: I'm going to try to make her point of view animal like, so it might sound a little weird :geek: )Cataraza saw as a little wraith headed for one of her Loved wings. She leaned over and and bit at it, but it was to late. She grabbed it, but the thing had the Loved's feather already, rendering him a sharp pain. She picked it up with her beak and tossed it at the ground.

********
Ethari had just cooled off. Him and Azriel had there differences, but at least there urge to fight had been suppressed. Instead of tense debate, Azriel had begun to skip rocks across the lake as Ethari had started before he arrived. "What powers have you gained Ethari?" Azriel said. " Well," Ethari replied " I have, as you might have seen, gained a diamond blade from the Ered mountains. I have crafted a bow and some arrows from the trees around the Squalor Grasslands. While at the Temple of light, I learned how to Bless, Detect Evil, and grant Light. And then, I picked up from studies of my holy spell book and other travels I can create illusions and conjure a mystic net."

Ethari turned to Azriel and asked " how have you improved?" Just as he finished his question, something caught his eye. He turned to see his dove attempting to yank away a minuscule wraith as it was trying to pull his feathers. It was successful. It yanked away a feather one his wing, leaving a sting of pain. Cataraza threw it off his shoulder, his feather falling to the ground, a clump of skin hanging from it. " So this is what you have, a devious little imp" Ethari growled, tension returning. " You haven't changed a bit, have you?" Ethari said mockingly.

As Inluluss reached out to snatch the feather, the owner of the feather, a large white bird, squawked and cast him off and into a puddle, it only was a few feet wide and a few inches deep, but to Inluluss it was a lake-sized body of water, and he couldn't swim. He began making high pitched chattering and squawking noises that sounded like a frenzied squirrel. His body wet and therefore to heavy to lift out of the water. But at least he got the feather...



Ethari listed off the spells and weapons he had obtained, and Azirel was about to reply when Cataraza, Ethari's dove yanked off a small beetle-ish thing and tossed it into a puddle. He bent down and looked at the thing in the puddle, it was Inluluss, carrying a long white feather with a hunk of pink flesh hanging from it. "Ouch," Azirel muttered, scooping the traumatized wraith out of the puddle.
"So this is what you have, a devious little imp" Ethari grumbled. "You haven't changed a bit, have you?"
Azirel smirked, "Not much," He sneered. "This thing followed me from Anfauglir." "But aside from Inluluss," He continued, pointing at the wraith that was nested in his hands, sticking out his miniscule tongue at Cataraza. "I have stolen these gauntlets, this pair of boots, and purchased a map. Appairently this torso armor I was granted when I came here is part of a very powerful set that matches my gauntlets and boots. They were created by the Goddess of Chaos herself," He explained.



Inluluss sat neatly on Azirel's hand, making mocking faces and gestures at the bird, waving the feather around. He folded the feather in half and took hold of each side of it with his hands. He hopped off of Azirel's hand, using it like a parachute, he was still to wet to get air born by himself but with the help of the feather, he was able to gently float towards Ethari's face, cackling in an irritating high pitched voice, indetectable to human ears.

((OOC:
********** - Switching into Inluluss' point of view
********** - Switcing out of Inluluss' point of view/into Azirel's point of view))

(OOC: Nice idea ^_^
*******- Ethari's point of view
*******- Cataraza's point of view)

******
Cataraza made a small squawk at the annoying wraith. That thing her her Beloved, which hurt her. Not only that, it was laughing. It was extremely high pitched, so high, the Beloved and the other being could not hear. Cataraza turned and squawked at the small wraith and stared at it.

*******
Ethari rubbed at his sore wing, pain shooting through his left wing. The skin was regrowing and the feather already emerging. His wings were accustomed to fall out, since he flew often, but not so suddenly. Because he flew so often, it took about two hours for it to completely grow into place. Ethari turned and faced Azriel. "So, they were they granted by Ita? Or Raku? I'm sorry, I'm not up to date on all things wrong with this world, all I know is that you still exist."

Ethari's eyes dulled to a faint blue. He had to suppress his emotions, to keep him from lunging at Azriel with his diamond longsword. He knew if he did this, not only would it be a tough fight, but the results could be deadly. Ethari continued his sentence, "so why exactly did you go to jail? Did you kill a family, or wait at a local pub and attack women? Or both? It sounds like something a follower of darkness would do." A hawk flew above the pond. A rainbow piranha leaped out of the pond and pulled the hawk in. Soon there was a feeding frenzy in the center, red water leaking into the lake. Ethari looked and quickly turned away, feeling sorry for the hawk. He made a note to himself, stay away from the pond

Ethari asked Azirel what he did to wind up in prison as a jumping piranha snatched a hawk out of the air. Azirel watched as the deep red blood of the bird poured into the lake. He grimaced and leaned against a tall red oak. "I killed know one. Rahsmiir killed them, and I'm not entirely sure what happened..."
Azirel watched a small animal that he didn't recognize carrying a small nut in its paws, it slightly resembled a squirrel, but it had a thinner tail and looked shaggier.

Azirel felt himself becoming distracted. "I'm going to go for a walk to clear my senses... You can come with or you can stand there dumbly, I'm not going to bite." He enounced, throwing his arms into the air and yawning rudely. He suddenly realized that Inluluss had disappeared. He bit his lip, another one of his strange habbits. He knew what kind of mischief he was capable of, and now Ethari knew too.

**********

The tiny wraith scurried along the ground, deserting Ethari's feather. He made sure to avoid being seen so that the bird wouldn't attack him again. Slowly, he crept along, inching towards Cataraza. He wasn't approaching very quickly but he was getting closer... Closer... Closer, and then he bounding onto the large white bird's back and hung on, with a vice-grip that one wouldn't expect from such a small creature. He tugged on the bird feathers, enough to get it aggitated.

**********

Azirel was about to leave when he noticed Inluluss hop onto Cataraza's back and yank at her feathers.
"NO! Inluluss, leave her alone!" Azirel shouted, lunging towards Cataraza. Inluluss squeeked in response and yanked again.

(OOC: I'm so sorry it took so long to reply ^_^; busy!)
***********
Cataraza sat perched at her Beloveds shoulder, and gazed at the wound on his shoulder. It didn't seem that bad, but that creature shouldn't have hurt him. As she pondered her thoughts, she was interrupted by a lock on her body. "NO! Inluluss, leave her alone!". Cataraza shot up in the air and reached her neck back to bite at the small imp. She flew up to the center of the lake and attempted to disembody the imp.

********
" I'll go with you, I need to clear my senses as well." Ethari inhaled deeply, his sparkle in his eyes returned as he cleared his mind. Ethari began to take a step forward when a squawk rang out. Ethari turned to see Cataraza rocketing in the air, with the small imp on her. She flew out to the center of the lake and attempted to unattach the creature from her. Ethari recalled that the water below housed rainbow piranha, that would kill Inlusluss. Ethari began to fly, and then muttered some words under his breath. He conjured a magic net and it fell on the two grappling creatures.

The net fell on them, and there bodies fell to the lake. Ethari shot off in the air and caught the net that fell on the familiars. He then swooped back to the shore of the lake and set the net down. He reached in it and pulled at Cataraza, the imp still hanging. Ethari pulled it off her, surprised at the strength it held her, and returned Cataraza to her perch on his shoulder. Ethari tossed Inlusluss at Azriel and said " keep a better eye on him, or next time, I'll let Cataraza drop him in the lake."