At last. Another to satiate my hunger.... There was no one to see it make its move or stop the prowling beast. Its blood red vision had its target in its sights. The shadows proved to hide its presence as its newest morsel had his back turned. It then quickly but silently slithered up and grabbed the man's mouth. He struggled to escape but to no use as a tail ensnared him. He was lifted and saw his captor. He looked into its blood red eyes and screamed.

Posters were placed all over the village, reporting the mayor's sudden disappearance. The whole village was throughly searched but to no avail. At midday a bounty hunter named Arcan Zarikon arrived to claim a bounty put on the captor's head. He was well-equipeed and ready for anything. That's what he thought...

Arcan had his right hand gripping his sheathed sword as he walked into town. It seemed eerily quiet as there was no one around. "Hello? Anyone needing a bounty hunter?" His call slightly echoed through the deserted village. He decided to visit the inn. It was usually crowded there. He swung open the door to find the place empty. What's going on? The bounty is fresh. There should be someone here. A crossbow was in Arcan's face. Its loaded bolt was dangerously close to his forehead. "You've picked a bad time to be here stranger. Ever since the disappearins no one's stupid enough to be out and about!" Arcan put up his hands. "Calm down. I'm here to hunt whatever did this. Do you have any information at all?" The man grunted. "No but I do have a tip. If you value your life you'd best leave for good. Thses kidnappins have everyone spooked. The strange thing is that they only happen at midnight." Arcan smiled at his successful attempt to outsmart the man. He lowered his crossbow and snarled. "Thanks for the info. I'll be investigating the crime scenes." As Arcan walked out the man yelled at him. "Then I hope you like having an early death!"

Caius sat inside a wagon as it made it's way to the village of of Estolad. He was looking over some papers sent to him by the village at the beginning of the week about some of the citizens going missing. The disappearance of the mayor grabbed his interest as well when the letter arrived on to him on his way to the villag. Thus he was off away from Lomedor to on orders to investigate the mayor's vanishing. It gave some strange details and Caius could only speculate on what had happened. He grew anxoius at the task at hand. He set aside the papers and looked out the window to see the sleepy town. He was almost there.

Caius finished grabbing his stuff and tossed a coin to the man driving the wagon. "Thank you sir." Caius said and the man was off back to Lomedor. Caius turned his attention to the village. The place was absolutely deserted. Caius frowned as he looked from house to house.

"HELLO!" He called out. No answer.

Caius began to walk down the street, he encountered nobody at all. He turned and looked the buildings behind him again. Just the wind kicking up the dust and the sun beating down on the roofs of the houses. Nothing. "What happened?" He asked himself. He continued his walk down the street when he noticed a bounty hunter leaving inn.

"You there sir!" Caius shouted to Arcan. "By order of Lomedor state your name and business here!" Caius said matter a factly. He usually had no problem throwing around his rank as a means to get people to talk.

Shelendri paused when she crested a rise and gazed down at Estolad. This was her second visit to the village, but this time her visit wasn't to satisfy her insatiable curiousity. This visit had a far more important, and possibly deadly, reason behind it. She'd come her in search of her father's killer. If she found him here, then there was a strong possiblity she would kill him in return once she retrived the dagger he had taken from her father. If she didn't, then she'd likely find a clue as to where to find him.
Gathering her thoughts and her resolve, she headed into the village. It took her a few minutes after entering it to figure out what was giving her an itch between her shoulder blades. The village was deserted, and completely silent. No one was to be seen. It was as if the entire population had upped and left. Shelendri shrugged her right shoulder slightly and pushed that side of her cloak back so she had better access to her sword. Villages didn't go silent like this without reason. A shiver ran down her back. Something was definately wrong here and her instincts were going crazy.
Somewhere in another part of the village, she heard a voice. She felt a wash of relief. Someone was here. Now she could find out what was going on here. She moved through the village, then came to two men facing each other. She could feel tension in the air, but she ignored it and stepped forward. She was just glad to have found someone. "So there are other people here. I wondered. What's going on? Where is everyone?" Her gaze moved to scan the buildings around them, and then returned to the two men. She moved closer to them, but kept her guard up. There was still the matter of the deserted village.

"You there sir!" Arcan turned to see who called him. It was a Lomedor Knight. So they decided to send their men into this affair. I wonder who else is here. "By order of Lomedor state your name and business here!" Arcan sighed. This knight was one of those people who loved law and order. He'd prefer a more 'take what you can get' kind of life. He's been living it for most of his time on Arda. "I am a bounty hunter named Arcan Zarikon. I'm here for a bounty concerning the disappeareance of the populace here. I'm not the cause if that's what you're thinking. I'm to hunt and kill whoever did this." Arcan paused to let his words sink in. He wouldn't give out the info he had received from who he suspected was the barkeep of the inn he just left.

Before he could continue he was interrupted. "So there are other people here. I wondered. What's going on? Where is everyone?" Arcan turned his head to see who else was here. It was a girl who didn't know what she had gotten herself into. "Who are you two anyway and why are you here?" He was slightly yelling to check if anyone was spying on him. This guy had better answer quick. Whoever this girl is I really don't care. By the looks of her she probably doesn't know what's happened. Might as well tell them. Arcan sighed and looked up. He swore he got here at noon but the sun was setting fast. He returned his attention to the knight. He didn't care about the girl. "Answer quick. I don't have time for chatter." He looked up again briefly and was stunned. It was either an illusion or whoever was the cause of the disappearance was doing it because the sun was already setting. "Looks like neither of us have much time."

Shelendri stared slightly when one of the men yelled. Well, that wasn't called for. All she'd done was ask a question. She frowned and studied him. He looked a bit scruffy, but had the bearing of a fighter. The other looked like a knight. An interesting pair. Under any other circumstance she would have been curious about it, but her instincts weren't just going crazy anymore. They were screaming at her that danger was coming.
She saw that the scruffier man looked over to the west, and she followed his gaze. The sun was setting. She frowned. How could that be? It had been mid afternoon just a few minutes ago. Something was definately wrong here.
Reaching over her shoulder, she drew her sword and held it ready at her side. "Something's wrong here." She looked around. She had a feeling that once the sun set, the three of them would be in big trouble. "Do either of you want to tell me what's going on, or shall I guess for myself?" She moved in closer to the two men. If there was to be trouble, it didn't make sense for them to be all spread out.

Caius's attention snapped to the young girl who arrived on the seen. He studied her for a few moments and was about to ask her something when Arcan shouted at him. "Answer quick. I don't have time for chatter."
Caius was a bit stunned, nobody was to speak to him in such a manner. "My name is Sir Caius Lucius, if you don't want to call me that than you may call me my lord." He looked at the bounty hunter and back at the girl. "And your name..." He asked the girl.

Yet before he could get an answer the sun began to set. Caius was a bit confused. "Ok it was like midday the last time I checked." He said and pulled out his longsword and put on his guard. "Looks like neither of us have much time." Caius shrugged. "Ya well better you than me. If anyone knows anything now would be the time to say it." Caius said checking his back.

Kenyari had been a riding on the back of Uzziah heading for Estoland. The things he could buy in estoland were only found there. They were supplies he needed for his journey so he and Uzziah had been going there in hopes of buying those supplies. Kenyari held on to the back of Uzziah as he sped through the plains to get there. Uzziah dodged trees like a pro. The speed of Uzziah was amazing. Kenyari didn’t even think for a beast his size he could move so fast. Must have been all that training him and Uzziah had done. Kenyari looked into the air as passing trees and leaves sped by his face. The feel of the cool air brushing against his face was wonderful. Kenyari felt that this was probably the one time one could actually consider themselves free.

Suddenly his day dreaming was cut short as Uzziah had made a surprise leap high into the air. It was as if the two could sense the others emotions. Kenyari spread his arms out at as the air brushed against him heavily. They suddenly came crashing back down to the earth as they continued their way to estoland. Kenyari was half demon but he still loved things like that. It made him actually feel away from the world and free from worries.

Kenyari and Uzziah had reached the town of estoland. There was no guard taking post. There was nobody at the entrance but that didn’t matter because Kenyari and Uzziah knew exactly where they were going for the store with the supplies. The owner of the store they were going to knew them very well this would be the 15th time they went to the store to buy some supplies. Uzziah was still running as he sped through the city. It was odd that nobody was outside or even there was no busy commotion. Its normally a lively place at this time of day but nobody was outside.

Uzziah had turned a corner sharply as he saw three figures standing a few buildings down. Uzziah started slowing down as he approached the three. They seemed to have a conversation Kenyari had started to glow a slight red color thanks to his chaotic aura ability. Someone in the bunch was a good loving lawful person. His chaotic aura only made it where the damage from lawful people was reduced but Kenyari still hated people who loved justice and all that crap.

Kenyari saw what looked to be like his old friend Arcan. “Yo, Arcan. What rings you here” Kenyari called out to his friend. Kenyari jumped off of Uzziah and kept a hand on his sword. Someone here was lawful and he wanted to stay ready for a attack just in case. Kenyari had the smell of evil all over him and if one of those other figures would attack Kenyari would strike them down. Kenyari walked up to Arcan but Uzziah had let out a loud shrieking roar. Kenyari quickly turned around as Uzziah was looking at the man who seemed to look somewhat like a knight.

“Must be him” he thought to himself as he backed a few steps away from the group. Kenyari was not going to make any moves on the man but he was also being careful not to get surprised attacked by the man. Kenyari shrugged his shoulders as he looked back at Arcan. “So what’s going on” he said to Arcan. Kenyari looked past Arcan to take a look at the other girl in the group. “Your friends” he said to Arcan laughingly as he looked back at Arcan awaiting an answer. Kenyari didn’t want to seem rude so he turned to the other two figures and gave them a slight nod and smile but still kept himself on alert from the knight.

"So your name is Caius." Arcan had heard a screech and saw a beast heading toward him and the others. He had gotten into a fighting stance but relaxed when he saw the rider was his friend Kenyari. "Yo, Arcan. What brings you here?" Arcan smiled. "I could ask you the same thing. Since I've already explained my presense to Caius over here I'll be brief. Disappearances in Estolad. Bounty on whatever's doing it. That pretty much explains it. But what the strange thing is that I got here at noon and it's almost twilight. You have any clue on what's going on?" He saw the sun's edge disappear and his face grew slightly pale. It had gotten cold all of a sudden and a voice projected itself into everyone's minds. "Ah, the guests are here at last... But you should know that this village is mine now." Arcan's eyes shifted left to right, looking for whatever was speaking to them. "Stop being a coward and come out!" Arcan drew his longsword and waited. A mocking laugh followed. "You fools don't know what you've gotten yourselves into. Everyone that lived here is dead! And you are next...."

Shadowy beings emerged from the ground and various weapons formed in their hands. A sword wielder ran at Arcan, starting the battle. "Pathetic. You're sending in your lackeys when a real warrior fights with his own two hands!" Before the shadow could strike Arcan lunged at it, driving his sword through its torso. As soon as shadowy flesh met steel the being dissapated. They go down on contact huh? Easy." Arcan was caught off guard when one of the shaodws leapt onto his back. It attempted to slit Arcan's throat. He responded by grabbing the shadow's hands and flipping it off him and into the ground. Instead of crashing on the hard earth the shadow melted right through and reformed with an axe in its hands in front of Caius. This is madness! I can barely see but Infravision practically blinds me. What the hell is going on?

Shelendri looked up at the sound of a large creature entering the square. She tensed, perhaps this was the threat she had sensed. But there was a man on the beast's back and he seemed to know the bounty hunter, so she relaxed slightly. No danger there, so far.
She returned the nod the newcomer sent her and listened as the bounty hunter explained the situation. So, people had been disappearing and there was no a bounty on whatever was doing it. She didn't really care about such things, but it was interesting. And the knight was here to do what?
A shudder ran down her body and those thoughts left her mind. The sun had set and it was suddenly cold. The cold seemed to bite into her bones. Something was wrong about it. Her left hand went to her right arm to try to rub some warmth back into its muscles so she'd be able to use her sword. A voice sounded in her head and her mind shuddered away from it. Such evil. She tried her best to block the words out.
Shadows began to emerge on the ground, even though there was no sunlight to cast them. Shelendri raised her sword. The shadows rose up from the ground, each weilding a weapon. She sliced at one that came for her with a battleaxe and its flesh melted with the contact of her sword. She cut down others, but there never seemed to be an end. Then she felt a hot, slicing pain in the back of her right shoulder. She turned and saw one of the shadows stepping away from her. Reaching over her shoulder, she felt the hilt of a dagger sticking out of her shoulder. Gritting her teeth, she yanked it out and threw it at the shadow who had stabbed her. It melted, causing the dagger to clatter on the ground.

Caius he a screech from great beats. He turned to the beast and its rider. For a moment he suspected him of the town's disappearances, but it was washed away as Arcan seemed to know him. He watched Kenyari carefully, if he was not mistaken he seemed to glow red. No doubt he had only seen that magical ability from the followers of Ita. "Slime ball, your audience is not needed..." He said in disgust.

He looked back at over to Arcan. “I said you will call me SIR it’s Sir Caius, NOT Caius.” He was frustrated and grunted in annoyance. “No respect for the civilized I swear to god…”

He stopped his ranting for a second. It seemed to get cold, really cold… His grip on his sword tightened. He put shift his feet into a defensive stance. The hairs on the back of his neck began to stand up. He pulled out his Searing Dagger with his left hand and held it in a low guard, inverted across the knee. “Does anyone else have a bad feeling…” Before he could finish a voice interrupted him.

"You fools don't know what you've gotten yourselves into. Everyone that lived here is dead! And you are next...."

“Well its about time I had a good fight!” He said. Shadows emerged form the ground each with their own shadow weapon. He cut the first one down with a powerful vertical slash, as he made a clean connection with the shadow’s head it seemed to dissipate. He turned to see a shadow jump from Arcan with an axe. Caius parried the axe with his sword and stepped forward thrusting his Searing Dagger into it’s chest, it as well dissipated. He spun around slicing down another. “All to easy boys and girls!” He said in confidence.

He noticed young girl was injured. He moved his way through the shadows over to her. “You gonna be able to hold up?” he shouted cutting down another shadow and covering her back.

Shelendri's injured shoulder throbbed like a bad tooth and two of her fingers were numb. Everytime she moved her arm to parry or strike a blow, the wound protested. Had she had the time and space, she would have healed it, but as it was she simply had to grit her teeth and get on with the task of defeating the shadows. One got past her guard and gave her a cut along her left cheek bone, but she was able to strike it down.
Caius then appeared, defending her from attacks from behind. She nodded her head at his question and swiped blood away from her cheek. "Fine. My shoulder hurts, but I can still fight." She saw more moving towards her a frowned. "How many of these things are there?" She raised her hand, looking almost as if she was about to ask them to stop. Then she spoke a low word and an arrow of flame shot out of her palm. It went right through one of the shadows, and the two behind it and connected with the wall behind them. The shadows looked down at the holes in their chests, and then seemed to disolve.
Shelendri tilted her head. "Well, that's interesting." She raised her voice. "If any of you three can use magic, then use it. It seems more effective then normal weapons."

Arcan was constantly slashing his sword at the shadows when the girl mentioned something. "If any of you three can use magic, then use it. It seems more effective then normal weapons." Arcam smiled. That'll be useful. But I don't think we'll be able to hold out any longer. A shadow's claw swiped Arcan's face. He grunted and slashed at his attacker, only to miss. A few shadows then clumped together and tackled him to the ground. "Get off me you hellspawn!" Arcan launched a fireball and it wizzed straight through the greater shadow's left shoulder. The wound slowly covered itself, as did the wounds of other shadow creatures. "They're healing! We can't fight like this!" The greater shadow clenched its fist and hooked Arcan in the face. He yelled in pain and tried to move his sword. As he did the greater shadow then covered his face with it's hand. His voice was muffled but could still be heard. "Flame Blade!" Arcan's sword went on fire and the greater shadow backed off, giving him room to get up. The bonds on the greater shadow came apart and the shadows making it fell onto the ground. "Hate fire do you? Too bad!" Arcan threw a fireball at the group and dissipated in the fire's presense.

He laughed but his victory was short-lived. Shadowy hands emerged from the ground and grabbed Arcan's legs and feet. He slashed at the hands and they let go, only to immediately grab on again. The flames on Arcan's sword turned purple. He knew this was bad. The purple flames lifted off his sword then curled into a fireball. It then rocketed at Arcan's torso. He tried to parry it with his blade but it passed right through and struck him. Pain shot to all parts of Arcan's body. It died down as he noticed he was sinking into the ground. He raised his sword and tried to cast Flame Blade but it didn't cast. He then tried to throw a fireball but it didn't work either. He was suddenly pulled right through the ground and he crashed onto solid rock. He shook his head and saw a nightmaric version of Estolad. If this is what that...thing is planning to do to Estolad, imagine if the whole world became this!

Out the corner of her eye, Shelendri saw Arcan hit in the chest by a fire ball from his own sword. She gasped when he fell and disappeared. Pushing the two shadow creatures that had locked blades with her, she ran to the stop. "Arcan! Where are you?" A shadow leapt onto her back, throwing her to the ground. Stabbing it with her sword, she got to her knees and quickly glanced around. There seemed no end to the shadows. For every one that was cut down, there was another to take its place. Her fist tightened around the hilt of her sword. "I have to do something." Sheathing her sword, she stood and concentrated. Her outline blurred and expanded.
Roaring, she lashed her tail at the shadows behind her. Opening her mouth, she breathed lightning at others. The shadows around her backed up. She felt some satisfaction about that. They hadn't been expecting to face a dragon, and a now angry one at that.

Arcan turned his head left then right, for any sign of life. There was no one to be seen in the whole village. The buildings were broken apart with obsidian tendrils bursting through them from the ground. The sky was a midnight black and lightning could be seen in the distance. Arcan could barely see as there was a thick white fog covering the entire village. "Hello?" He regretted saying that. The instant Arcan spoke five shadow beings emerged from the ground. Arcan struggled to his feet as they advanced on him. "Back off!" He thrusted his hand forward and a fireball shot out. It collided with a shadow creature and knocked it back. Yes! My magic works! "Infravision! Strengthen!" Arcan's sight sharpened to a degree the fog seemed to disappear and his muscles immediately buffed up. The fog is an illusion! So this place isn't complete yet... "Indeed..."

The shadow creatures backed away then bowed as a serpent creature appeared before Arcan. "But once it is, it shall eclipse Estolad, then the world!" "You're crazy! You're just a snake too big for the jungle! All you can do is summon shadows!" Arcan pushed it too far. The serpent roared and it pushed it's left hand forward. Crimson Lightning erupted from its scaly, skeletal fingers and all of the bolts struck Arcan. He was electrocuted then thrust back. He slid across the ground and stopped just before going over the edge. Arcan rolled to his left and saw this nightmare Estolad was in the sky. The serpent was slowly slithering toward Arcan. He quickly got up and drew his bow. He nocked an arrow into it and fired. The arrow hit its mark but sank into the serpent's chest. It then fired it back as a Shadow Arrow but it just missed Arcan. "Burn in hell!" Arcan fired a Flaming Arrow at the beast. It was deflected by a conjured barrier. "You fight for your life but what of your friends?" This psyched Arcan out for a moment. A shadow jumped onto his face and he fell down. As Arcan hit the ground the majority of his body was over the edge. He flipped right off the edge. The shadow jumped off Arcan in time to get back onto solid ground. Arcan grabbed the edge and was hanging there. The serpent's eyes looked for any sign of Arcan and missed his fingers. It snorted in victory and disappeared into a portal. The shadows melted into the ground and Arcan took his chance. Using his magical-increased strength he pulled himself back onto the floating village. "That...was...close..." His panting ceased as he stood. I have to find that monster and kill it before all this becomes real!

Shelendri hissed and struck out with her tail. Two shadow creatures were slamed into a wall and melted. She watched the melted patches of shadow intently and saw them slither away and reform. So, that was why there never seem an end to them. Cutting them down wasn't doing anything. She glanced around quickly. If this didn't stop soon, everyone, even her in the form, would be overwhelmed. And there was no telling where Arcan had disappeared to.
Opening her wings as much as the confines of the street would allow, she leaped into the air. Climbing up onto the roof of one of the building, she opened her mouth and blew lightning at the shadows, being careful not to hit her allies. She then raised her voice so it sounded somewhat like thunder. "Hey, whoever it is that's controlling these things. Stop bein a coward and fight us yourself. And bring Arcan back." A shadow creature had climbed up the building and was charging at her. Hissing again, she grabbed it with her jaws and bit down. The smell that erupted from it was like sulfure and caused her to gag. She threw it down onto the street and retched.

Arcan started down the ruined path toward the town square. As he got closer to buildings the fog around them grew thin enough for him to see their state. Plenty of them had tendrils sticking through them while others were just a shattered wreck. Such destruction...Why? What would that monster gain out of this? If the whole world became the sorry state this realm is, then practically everyone would be dead. Arcan's right hand clenched. Threaten my home will you? His sudden anger nearly made him yell but he just kept it down. Arcan relaxed and kept walking. He soon stepped into the town square. As he did black crystals erupted around the square and a magical barrier was formed. Arcan drew his sword as five shadow beings emerged. "Alright you know I'm still alive. Thought I fell into the abyss huh? Wrong!"

Arcan lunged forward at the nearest shadow and instead of it dissipating like it did before it took the hit. Arcan pulled his blade back and saw black blood coating it. So in this world they actually suffer wounds. Strange. If only I could tell that to the others. The wounded shadow gripped the mortal wound and fell backward, exploding on impact. Until just now did Arcan notice the red glow from the barrier on the shadows. They may be small but they really look freaky right now. Suddenly the other shadows jumped at Arcan. He rolled to the side and hit the barrier. Crimson lightning coursed through him until he was pushed into the center of the small arena. The shadows circled Arcan then gathered in front of him into a greater shadow. It was roughly his size but a bit bigger. Arcan quickly stood up and side-stepped a sword slash. The shadow was surprisingly fast as it quickly pulled its sword back and struck again, this time with a lunge. Arcan had no time to fully dodge the strike but had his blade block instead. He placed his left hand on the back of the sword as he slowly angled the blade. If he moved it too much, the lunge would strike him directly. If he got it just right, he'd be able to push the monster's sword up. Here goes nothing... Arcan stopped moving his sword and tried to push his enemy's back. As he hoped the monster's push was diverted. It lost its balance as Arcan predicted and knocked it back with a solid slash. Arcan kicked its sword out of its hand and thrusted his through the shadow's neck. It struggled to pull Arcan's sword out but it was dug in the ground. It became limp and Arcan pulled his weapon out. He spun it vertically a few times then sheathed it. The bonds linking the shadows together were severed and they were blown in all directions, exploding on contact to anything. None of them got near Arcan and the crystals forming the barrier shattered. Yes! I'm one step closer to getting the hell out of here!