The desert wasn't really the sort of place Winter would prefer to travel through, however she deemed it necessary since when becoming stronger, she would need to have advantage in all terrains, so she chose to cross the desert so as to learn the advantages and disadvantages of the environment, the first one being the heat that was bearing down upon her, she second being the lack of solid ground beneath her, something that she proffered. She stopped to rest on the peak of a sand dune, looking outwards across the endless sea of dry sand; she'd been walking for a good few hours, so she expected nightfall to come soon, at least then the air would be cooler and she'd have a better chance of traveling further.

So far however, she had found nothing to use to her advantage in a desert terrain, it was nothing but sand, no trees or solid ground, not the best condition for fighting. She estimated that it would be best battling in the evening, since the air was cooler and there was less heat to sap her energy. She looked over her shoulder and saw something off in the distance, like a great mound diving into the sand, before it vanished beneath. She paid it no more attention and got back to her feet, scanning the plain ahead of her. At most it would be a good few miles till she reached the Salquedor grassland, and from there she planned on crossing Dori'ba before making her way to the ancient tower. It was a long trip but she expected she could make it by the end of the month, besides it gave her something to do besides wandering aimlessly.

She stood up, thinking it over in her head one more time. Once she'd reached the end of the desert she'd rest for a while before heading for the land of the dead, making sure she had enough energy to deal with the phantoms that roamed there. She was bitterly disappointed with the desert's outcome, from what she'd heard there were massive creatures that lived within it, ones that could actually put up a fight against an average warrior, so far she'd encountered nothing, and was growing pretty bored of it, and the heat wasn't helping her mood that much either. As she walked she didn't notice the sand beneath her begin to slide slightly, and it wasn't until her foot punched through till the sand was up to her ankle that she noticed what was happening, but by then the ground below her seemed to collapse, sending her tumbling a good 20 feet down.

She managed to land on her feet on hard ground, however it sent a shock through her bones causing her to wobble when she stood up, it felt as though she'd almost broken both her ankles. It took her a while to recover from the sudden fall, once she did she looked up at the top of the hole, seeing the cloudless sky above her. At least it was shaded down here, she looked back down again and almost immediately backed away; a large gray bug was staring at her from the shadow of the hole it had dug, it's antenna flicking about, searching for her. It made its way towards her, clicking its mandibles as it went.

Winter's expression returned from shock and fear, to cold confidence. She reached up and unsheathed the twin katanas on her back, holding them by her sides and sidestepped, circling the creature. It didn't look full sized, though it was certainly much bigger than she was, and that didn't mean it wasn't dangerous. She took a close look at it, judging that her best chance was to take out the mandibles on its front, to strip it of its weapons. The creature clicked again and sped up, rushing towards her. Winter ran forwards, leaping out of its attack range and landing with one foot on its armored head, she used her remaining momentum to spin about and leap off again, landing behind the creature. She took a charge at it again, swiping at the beast and managed to cut off one of its back legs, it fell to the floor still twitching. She looked back up and was hit in the stomach at the creature rammed into her, angered at her attack. It threw her against the wall and then moved about to take a bit.

Winter got to her feet and leaped out of the way just as the jaws snapped closed. She looked up the hole, wondering if she would be able to jump that high, but for the moment she would prefer to take out this stupid creature that thought she was dinner. She turned about just as the creature finished turning about on its spindly legs. She raised her katanas, putting one in an offensive position and the other in a defensive position. The creature charged at her and attempted to take another bit out of her, Winter bent her knees, making herself flat enough so that the jaws just skimmed her hair, she then released the tension and thrust her arm forwards, driving the blade of her right katana through the creatures mouth, insect blood leaked out as she yanked it out, she raised her foot and struck the creature from below, causing it to rear up.

Winter took the opportunity, and rolled beneath it, stabbing both katanas into the underbelly of the giant insect, it writhed for a few seconds, waving its useless legs in the air. Winter pulled her katanas out in a scissor motion, slicing open the creatures guts, she then jumped out from underneath it as the creature fell to the ground. She got to her feet and looked around at the beast bleeding to death on the ground, however she felt no pity for it. She looked up at then hole and crouched down, launching herself into the air. She didn't rise high enough but placed her feet on the wall and propelled herself higher, repeating the motion until the was out of the hole, she rubbed a few bits of sand from her shoulders and moved forwards. She'd barely taken three strides when the ground in front of her rose up and a much larger, fully grown insect emerged above her, clicking its jaws menacingly. Apparently, there more than one searching for their dinner. Winter looked about her in case more showed up, remembering how easy it was to sneak up on her when she was already engaged. Since no others showed up she turned her attention back to the creature in front of her, preparing for a full on fight.

Yes, training in the desert was a good idea. Hot, sweaty, and nothing to really help you out in a time of need if it came down to it. You had to a have a good sense of direction if you wanted to get out of the desert, or the ability to fly. With flying you get somewhere faster, and the rushing air actually cools you down a little bit. The sun still burned though...

So that's what Az was doing in the burning desert, was flying. He was in full demon form, just taking a joy ride through the endless heat. It didn't help much that he was wearing his black dobok pants, his bracers, and his bone armor. But that's all in part of the training right? Besides, the armor was sleeveless. Like that did much good anyways when it came to heat. All the heat just becomes trapped in the armor and doesn't leave until you take off in the shade. Flying faster for the sake of trying to get the wind to cool him down, he flew up higher too where it was a bit cooler, away from the radiating heat of the sand. It was bearable up there at least.

Watching the ground below him as he sped past, the brown sand soon just became a brown blur with nothing exciting going on. The tan mountains on either side of the edges of the desert loomed up higher than he was, and it looked as if they stayed still. Well, they were, but it didn't seem like it to Az since he was the one moving and all. He then took a fast descent down to the ground, levelling out just a few feet above the ground. Dust was kicked up under him as his wind hit the ground, creating a thick cloud that just seemed to loom there long after he passed.

Flying for a while longer, he saw a couple of figures rising off the near horizon. He couldn't quite see them all that well, but what he could make out was one was a whole lot bigger than the other. He sped up some more and ascended higher into the air to try and get a better look. In a few minutes he could see well enough to see what it was. The first thing he noticed though was a big hole in the ground. That was different, since holes don't just appear in the middle of the desert. Looking past the whole, he saw a flash of blue hair, indicating a human.

How could he forget the blue hair? It was an old acquaintence of his, Winter. Now what was she doing in the desert? He didn't know exactly but with a second glance he saw the glint of her katanas ready to strike. He looked in front of her and saw a gigantic bug looking like it was getting dinner. Still being a ways away from the scene, he descended lower to the ground till he was a little higher than Winter's full height. Getting closer by the second, he prepared himself to engage in a fight with a bug. It almost made him laugh, but that bug was huge.

He then came to the scene and kept going, right over Winter's head and to the giant bug. He thought he'd help give Winter an extra edge in the fight. He flew to just in front of the bug and took a quick turn to an ascent, kicking up a large cloud of dust for cover. He shot up a few feet quickly and quickly flipped over and dove down to right over the bugs head. He put his feet below him, and landed a drop kick on the bugs head slamming it into the ground. A loud boom came from the impact, shifting the dust cloud a little bit. Now he didn't know how much good that did, but he did know that a hit to the head slamming it into the ground is enough distraction to do some damage while it was down for the time being.

"Winter! Now's your chance!" He called out through the cloud, standing on the bugs head until she did something. His voice was low, cold and bassy, as his full demon form had this form of voice. It was a lot different than his normal proud tenor tone if one noticed. He quickly leaped off the bugs head, flipping over the now thin dust cloud and landing near Winter's previous position. He finally revealed himself, showing his wings, horns, tattooes, armor, everything.

Winter looked up at the giant bug leering over her. On the upside it did offer a good deal of shade, if it weren't for the fact it was planning on eating her she'd probably have taken the opportunity to rest. Since it was blocking out the sun, she was able to get a good look up at the creature, searching for a weak spot. Since she last one had been defeated by slicing its belly open, she supposed a similar method might fell this beast. It lunged at her, raising its mandibles to attempt to take a bit out of her, Winter raised both her katanas, blocking both of them, however they shook with the effort to keep them far apart.

The bug continued to try and crush her and was slowly succeeding, Winter didn't have the muscles to win a match of pure strength, so her only chance was to pull out. She did so quickly, ducking beneath the creatures jaws and leaping aside before pausing to catch her breath. The beast turned slowly around, tank-like, to face her, clicking angrily. Winter glared up at it, sweat dripping down her neck. She got back to her feet, shaking slightly from the heat, she'd never fancied herself as bug food in the first place. She raised her katana again, this time aiming to cut off the beasts large pincers with a swipe.

A whooshing sound filled her ears, she looked about in time to see something fly over her head, causing a slight breeze where he pushed the air, she looked about and saw the thing kick up a cloud of dust, hiding the features of the bug almost entirely. A second later there came a dull thud and the sound of the beast hitting sand. Winter covered her face as the sand blew past her, however she kept her eyes open. Once the sand was clear she saw the bug had been forced into the ground by the attack and was writhing to get free, she looked up to see the flying attacker and heard him speak:
"Winter! Now's your chance!"

Winter looked down at the bug, not risking to miss an opportunity she ran forwards, raising both her weapons as she did so. The figure leaped off the beast head, it rose up slightly but not high enough to avoid Winter's attack. She repeated the same move as on the other bug, and stuck her blade through the creatures face, blinding it. She pulled the blade out and leaped high into the air, away from its vengeful mandibles snapping in vain. She stowed one katana away and gripped her first with both hands, using her own weight and momentum to swing it forwards. The blade impacted on the creature's armored head and smashed straight through it, Winter bent her knees on impact to absorb as much as the shock from falling as she could, kicking up a ring of sand as she did so, she leaped back from the range of the bugs counter attack and landed beside the other fighter, standing up straight.

"Thanks," she replied in her usual tone, which didn't seem to reflect much gratitude, or distaste for that matter.
She looked up at Az, barely recognizing him through his demon form, but she could always tell by the way a person held themselves. She turned her attention back to the bug for the moment, thrashing about in pain at the wound she'd just caused it.

He watched her finish off the job by slicing right through the bugs head. It was a beautiful sight to see a perfect slice slice through something hard. Especially when executed by a woman. That just shows women can do just as much as men, and probably more, and it makes them more intimidating. Az always grinned in admiration when he saw something like that. "Nicely done, my pleasure to help." He said to her, changing back to his normal self. No horns, crazy tattoes, or creepy demonic voice. Just his bone armor, wings still extended, and his proud tenor voice.

"I'm impressed, that new katana is working pretty good for you isn't it?" He said, referring to that first time they met in Lomedor while she bought her new blade. He looked back to the huge hole that had been made behind them, and looked to the dying bug. "How did you get yourself into this predicament? It's not everyday you fall into a hole in the middle of the desert then end up killing an oversized bug. I don't even get myself into that much trouble anymore." He chuckled a little bit, not finding many events where he had that much luck.

Winter placed her katana back in the scabbard on her back, staring at the pathetic creature as it slowly bled to death. For a moment she wondered what it felt like to feel sorry for such a creature, but it didn't help that it had tried to eat her, Winter had never had an sense of pity, regret or remorse, and had always found them a difficult concept to understand. She looked back up at Az in time to see him morph back into his normal form, thus confirming her suspicion that it was him after all.
"I'm better at fighting with two blades than one," she replied "comes in useful when I'm outnumbered as well."
She took another look at the creature, still writhing on the ground before its legs finally stopped twitching.

Winter wandered over to it and bent down, examining the creature. It was a strange monster at first glance, and at a closer inspection it was even more gruesome, although part of that was presumably down to the damage Winter had caused it. She got up again, not sparing the creature one last glance as she wandered over to where Az was looking down the hole she'd fallen down in the first place. She looked down it, spotting the first creature she'd defeated minutes before, again she felt no pity for it, merely that it had attacked her so she was obviously going to attack back.

She looked back up at Az, wondering why he happened to be in the desert as well, he certainly didn't look dressed for it. She passed the question off, assuming he was here for the same purpose as her, since she was hardly adaptable for the desert either, since part of her biology preferred cold environments the desert was the last place she'd be expected to go, but that hadn't stopped her stubborn will by a long shot. She sat down on the warm sands, resting her chin on her hands.
"Call it dumb luck," she said "happens a lot."

Az nodded when she said it came in handy when she gets outnumbered a lot. "Yeah, I can see where it comes in handy. I'm still just a hand to hand kind of guy, though I got a blade on order right now, and I'm still waiting for it. I gotta go and check up on it soon and see it's progress. It's taking forever to get it done." Well, it was a blade forged by demons, so it might take a while to get it up here. He was pretty excited to get the blade and see how it well it fought in a fight.

He laughed a little when she called her dangers dumb luck. He then saw the other dead bug down in the hole, and raised his eyebrows at the feat. Well, he had to figure that she took the other one out too. That one looked a bit smaller, but it was still too big to be rightfully called a bug. "Maybe you didn't need my help at all." He said modestly. "Next time I think I'll watch. If you run into this dumb luck all the time and get out of it, sounds like you'd rather kill someone that helps you just so you can kill the thing attacking you.

"Besides, what brought you to the desert anyways?" He asked curiously. It's not everyday someone just decides to take a lovely stroll through blistering heat in the desert. Training would be a reasonable answer, but Az would never be able to guess that right off the top of his head. He stood next to her sitting down, raising a wing over her head to give her some shade. He stuck his hands in his pockets and continued looking down the hole. That's a big hole to just be in the middle of the desert... He thought to himself.

Winter didn't reply, and continued gazing down the hole at the creature lying at the bottom, half expecting it to twitch again. She was wandering exactly how accurate Az's statement was, since she'd never truly had the opportunity to find out. She thought it over a bit to keep her mind off the heat radiating from the sand, however since she hadn't had much past experience of fighting along side somebody else, she wasn't likely to judge there and then. She pulled her mind back into reality and looked up at Az still talking.

She stood up, glad to get her legs away from the sand, since they were turning red against her pale skin, and she didn't like the look of it that much.
"A few things," she replied "exploring mostly, seeing what kind of place it is, and what advantages there are."
She kicked a small pile of sand absently, bordering on becoming frustrated with the deserts lack of advantageous elements.
"Dry as a bone," she concluded "it's a wonder those things actually live here." She looked up at the larger bug, now definatly dead.

She gave a small sigh, this level of heat didn't suite her much, the sooner she got out the better.
"So," she continued, hiding her fatigue "I take it your here on a similar goal, not best dressed though."
She made a brief glance at his bone armor, while impressive, it looked extremely hot to be lugging around in a desert.

Az listened to her reasons for being in the desert, and found them plausible. But really, if no one says there isn't much to find in a desert, and if they say that it's freakin' hot and barren, they're usually right. There usually aren't many advantages either, unless you were used to the heat and could preserve water like a camel.

"Well, it's not really something someone would do, just explore it and see what it's like. There's hardly any water anywhere, it's hot out here, obviously dangers of random holes and oversized bugs. I guess the only advantage one could have out here is adaptation to the head and lack of water. You got that you can probably out do anyone in the desert." He said, frowning a little bit and looking around the barren sands.

He looked back at her as she stood, moving his wing out of her way so she didn't bump into it exactly. It looked like she was a bit tired to notice the small decrease in heat in the shade. He wasn't exactly out in the desert for the same thing. He just felt like flying over it, seeing how long it took, get a look at the scenery. "I'm not exactly out here for the same reason. I try to avoid the desert if I have to, but with the ability of flight it's kind of fun to fly over and see it. But yeah, I know, I'm in armor. It's hotter than hell in here." He said with a grin and a chuckle, shaking his head a little. "But I was just flying over the desert, seeing how big it really was and taking in the scenery. There's really nothing like it up in the air, and it definitely doesn't compare to down here. It's a lot cooler up in the air too." He chuckled a little, shrugging.

"I'm that sort of person," Winter replied "I like to know, wherever I'm fighting, that I have the advantage."
She drooped her head slightly, hiding her eyes from the glare of the sun, the light cast from the sun and reflected from the sand had reduced her pupils into nothing more than two short, pencil thin lines in the middle of her eyes.
"I've fought in a blizzard one," she continued, half smiling "we nearly killed each other."

She reached up and brushed the fringe out of her eyes and straightening up again, while a blizzard may have been a harsh environment she was far more accustomed to the cold, a desert presented the opposite extreme in the form of sweltering temperatures, and ones that she certainly couldn't handle.

"Flying, huh?" She muttered "I always wondered what it's like." She gave a half glare at the wings on her back, they were tiny and no use except possible shelter from rain "I guess you'd say I was jealous," she continued, not even sure why she was spouting this.

She gave a sigh and sat back down on the sand, putting her head in her hands, it was becoming harder to fight the heat off. She'd overestimated her skills, and had assumed she'd be able to handle it until night. She still tried to fight it off, and had seemingly forgotten that Az was there, watching her. She looked up after a few moments, breathing loudly.

"Advantages are good nonetheless." He said with a defeated nod. Az had never fought in a blizzard, but he fought in the snow. Not exactly as treacherous, but it was still cold. It's not like the desert was much better either... "Try fighting out here full on just like I am now, armored, fighting some maniac that lives in the desert. I think I'd rather fight in a blizzard. At least there's water." He said sarcastically with a shrug.

Az looked at Winter's wings for the first time, just noticing. He blinked at them, holding back a painful laugh. "Um... Well, I would laugh, but I couldn't say that they were there for nothing." He stretched his wings out to their full 12 foot wingspan and took a quick gander at them before lowering them and giving Winter shade once more.

Looking down at Winter when she looked up at him, he saw she definitely looked a bit fatigued from the heat. And obviously she was a bit more accustomed to a blizzard more than she was to the heat of the desert. "Hey, uh, you want a ride out of here? You can hop on back of me and I can get you out of here in just a while. Unless you want to put up a fight and battle the heat until it cools, it's not a problem for me." It wasn't a problem for him at all, plus he wanted to get out of the desert anyways before he collapsed from heat stroke. He was probably a little more prone to it, since he had on his bone armor, which was black, and his dobok pants, which were half black and half white. He close to becoming disoriented soon.

Winter got dizzily to her feet again, attempting to defy her own biology. She swayed a bit as she did so.
"I wouldn't like to fight in armor period," replied to Az's first comment "no offense, but it would just get in the way of my fighting style."
She gave a sigh, and almost fell over. She put a foot out behind her to steady herself quickly. Ignoring her bodies latest complaint she remained stood, determined to defeat the desert heat by herself.
"Plus," she hefted her twin scabbards father up her back and tightened the strap across her chest "I don't need water as much as you would."

She finished tightening the strap and checked that it wasn't about to slip off, she'd hate to lose her weapons in the middle of nowhere.

She turned her attention back to Az, noticing he'd spread his wings, she could almost feel a spark of jealously trying to ignite, perhaps the desert heat had begun to melt her frozen heart.
"Thanks, but no thanks," she replied, looking away "I came here to make it through myself, and that means no shortcuts," she gave a sigh "I'm fine by myself." She finished.
She looked away, focusing her attention on the way she'd been going in the first place, she'd guessed it would take her at least a couple of days, possibly more if she moved by night, and she was determined to fulfill this goal.
"Besides," she said after a short pause "I never really like flying with someones help."
Her eyes narrowed slightly, staring at something unseen by Az.

Az didn't mind his armor. He found it flexible, but hardly breatheable. That was the only downfall of it, was the head. Well, it protected well and he could still fight in it, so it was Az's favortie so far. Plus he loved the look of it. He shrugged at her comment, and said, "Well, I like it, just because I like the protection and flexibility it has. I think it goes well with my half demon heritage too." He said with a chuckle, puffing out his chest in a sarcastic manner. He deflated his chest back to its normal size, which was still pretty big. "And yeah, I do need water a lot more. I'm quite parched right now." He nodded a bit in defeat, admitting his flaw.

Az had noticed that she had swayed a little as she stood up, and didn't feel very comfortable with her fatigue. He wasn't going to force her to take a ride on his back, but he was probably going to insist on taking the rest of her journey the rest of the way. Just to make sure she wouldn't pass out and die in this hellish head of the desert. "Well, if you don't want a ride, at least permit me to go with you. Don't try and hide it, I saw you sway standing up." He said with a chuckle, nodding to her once. "And it's always a smart thing to travel with a buddy. And I know how boring it is to travel alone in the desert. Nothing to look at, nothing to enjoy but brown-ness." He shrugged a little, looking around at the total nothingness around the desert. Personally he hated it, but sometimes it was fun to go through. And this was that sometime for Az.

He blinked a little at her comment on not liking help to fly, and looked back at her.. He was curious to know if she could really fly with her tiny wings, but if she couldn't, how would she know how to fly without someone's help? "So you can fly with those? Or have you taken a flying machine to know what it's like to fly? I fly fast." He said, trying to sound a little convincing, returning to his offer to take her for a ride out of the desert. He grinned, an odd twinkle sparkling in his black eyes. "Fast and straight." He added, and finished there.

"I told you, I'm fine," Winter replied, still in denial "I'm here for a purpose, and I intend to see it through."
She managed to prevent herself from swaying again by putting her foot out behind her and mentaining a decent balance for herself, all she was concerned with was making it to the end of the desert before continuing her journey through the land of the dead, when she'd set off she had been sure she'd be able to cope with what the desert threw at her and so far she had been correct, however she still failed to admit she was vounrable to heat, she'd never thought herself as having weaknesses even when they were blindly obvious.

"You're welcome to travel with me though," she said "if you would like."
She paused for a moment, trying to regain the streangh the desert had been sapping from her, it hadn't helped that she'd used up a lot of her energy fighting off two oversized bugs, both of whome were now perfectly dead and already forgotten.

"And no, I can't fly with these," she said "not now anyway. I don't care for flying that much anymore."

((Writer's block sux >_<))

He shrugged at her stubbornness. "Ok, but I'm here to help when it catches up." He said bluntly. He felt a little better at her acceptance to him travelling with her. Now he would be able to help out a little if she somehow passed out in this hotter than hell heat. Then he would take her for a flight.

He grinned as she said she couldn't fly yet, and how she didn't care about flying. "What?" He said playfully. "You don't like flying? But it's so much fun!" He showed off a little by jumping into the air and flipping right over her in mid air. He finished the flip but never planted his feet onto the ground. Instead he flew a quick loop around her and stopped on the other side of her. "Sure you don't want a ride?" He asked sarcastically.

"Ok never mind that. Shall we get out of here before we both die of heat in this oven of hell?" He made a move to start walking in the direction she was going, assuming it was the direction she was going. He hoped it was the direction she was going, otherwise if it wasn't the direction she was going, she would have to point out her original direction in which she was going. If she didn't remember, well, he would just take her out of the desert and into the grasslands. Hopefully that was the direction in which she was going, towards the Salquedor grasslands.