The smell of salt drifted through the air, carried by the soft winds that swept around Lake Aelin in a delicate fashion sending ripples to move along the waters surface every now and again. The sun was his, the wind not to cold, all and all it was a very nice day some might have even called it a perfect day infact. At a small clearing near the waters edge of the lake a young looking man could be seen. His hair was as white as freshly fallen snow, his eyes sparkling new perfectly blue gems in the rays of the sun and a small smile creeping ever so slowly along his slightly parted lips.
This man wore a long pair of pants that stopped just in time to see his footwear; his upper half was not covered in armour like most people in Arda but instead clothed with red hooded top. Other than these items of clothing this man also wore a long coat, which almost touched the ground. The sleeves of said coat were rolled up to the mans elbows, it was this that showed off the main difference between this man and others from the world of Arda as his right arm was mainly red with some strange kind of engraving within it that glowed with a deep blue, there was also a shimmering blue aura surrounding his arm. It was clear this man was not exactly human, no infact he was a member of a race not many in Arda had actually heard of, a race known as Night Leopards.
These Night Leopards were generally large animals, looking like a cross between a wolf and leopard, however the main differences between them and the other beasts in Arda were that they had marking upon their back, some having different colours than others, but these markings glowed with a strong light. The colour given off by this light also covered the form of the beast in an aura. The other difference between the Night Leopards and other animals were that they could turn into a human form, but in their humanoid form the Night Leopards would still have their glowing marking upon one part of their bodies, for this man at the lake that part of his body was his right arm.
Walking closer towards the edge of the water this young man lifted said right arm up and curled his glowing blue fingers the hilt of the large blades knows as Red Queen that lay upon his back. Almost instantly he removed the blade from his back and looked along it with his blue eyes, still without a single words said the strange looking man thrust the end of his sword into the ground and sat down upon the grassy ground looking out to the lake. The reflection of the sky upon its surface was amazing, he could see the birds flying overhead by simple looking into the waters surface, it made it look as though the birds were swimming instead of flying really.
With a smile along his lips the man places his hands behind him and leaned upon them so he could look up to the sky, it was then that he said to himself; “Not very often I get to see a day like this, infact I think this is the first day in a few months that I have not had a job to do. I guess a day off every now and again is not to bad!” He could feel the wind slipping along his face like a gently kiss. The man, who was known as Nero Black, felt at peace, he was happy to finally have a day to just relax.
The elf maiden known only as Laurana walked at a brisk pace, she turned back every so often to look into the distance. A dark cloud followed her, within that cloud there was a massive group of thugs. She had offended them when she refused their not so subtle advances. Proud and very full of herself, the elf maiden refused to run away. She had to admit a quick pace was needed and in fact welcomed as she walked down the dirt road. It was a vibrant day but she had little time to make note of her surroundings as they drew closer, it seemed that these thugs were running at a break neck pace.
She almost laughed at the goofy humans; surely she would not have to fight…right? Laurana was beginning to worry, they drew ever more closely and before long they would be upon her. She had to take her chances. The elf maiden wheeled around to face her foes, drawing her bow and fitting an arrow to the string she nimbly climbed a tree. She looked down upon the raging dust storm of men and orcs that ran toward her. Finally reaching the tree under which Laurana sat the thugs stopped and began to draw their weapons and shout crude comments. She shouted a challenge to the creatures, "leave me in peace now or I swear you will not live to she another day!" She waited in silence for them to reply, when no such reply came she grew worried.
Her fears were realized when one of the thugs rose a sword and started to climb the tree. His repulsive green face was only contrasted by his red and lecherous eyes, a small string of saliva ran down his chin. Laurana was terrified of having to submit to such a creature. Her stomach was in knots remembering her station and with a high and mighty sense of pride she refused to submit, raising her bow she let loose and arrow straight toward the creature’s eye. The arrow flew true and straight and impaled him. With a screech he fell toward the ground, and with a thump he landed upon one of his buddies.
With a laugh Laurana fired another arrow this one landing neigh more than half an inch between his legs. She yelled another warning. "I implore you heathens to leave me be or you will never feel the touch of a woman again...leave NOW!" Though her voice quivered with fear the thugs scrambled like scared hares and took to the hills at her rather harsh warning. She did not begin to relax until she saw them cross over a distant hill.
She shrugged and began to slowly forget the encounter as she nimbly climbed down the tree. She was quite pleased with herself. She had always had quite a hard time with confrontation and now she felt like she could take on anyone. With a playful mock boxing she gently hit a nearby tree pretending it was one of those thugs. "Take that...and that!" she said as she hit the tree. Suddenly a bird flew out of the tree with such force that it made Laurana's heart leap. Being mid punch she hit the tree rather hard in her state of alarm. She looked down at her aching hand and cursed under her breath. She felt stupid but soon all of her emotions flooded away as she took her first look at the day's wonders.
She scanned the skies and horizons noticing little details. She made note of how light and blue the sky was and how serene the water looked as it lapped against the shore. How wondrous the morning light shone down as it shifted towards mid afternoon. She let out a sigh as she felt her hair bake with a warming and sublime heat. The breezes washed over her. Laurana was in heaven...then she saw something odd. A man with a glowing hand sat not six yards from her looking out to the lake. Curiously she began to approach watching from behind trees and rocks. She laughed rather loudly when she noticed his large coat and massive amounts of clothing. It was a hot day what was he doing wearing a large coat today? Compared to her in the lithe dress she lovely dearly, he looked like he was prepared for a harsh winter storm!
Suddenly she realized how loud her laugh had been she covered her mouth and ducked behind a nearby boulder.
Still looking out towards the lake Nero was not exactly sure what else he could do for the day, the wind was still blowing softly and the sun was still casting its rays down upon his form however even out in the beauty that was nature Nero still felt something missing, something deep down inside him that was not there and had not been there for some time now. Letting a small sigh slink along his lips Nero thought to himself; “Sure it’s amazing and all out here, but I am already starting to miss swinging the Red Queen around like a madman. Hmm what can I say… its fun I guess…” It was while these thoughts ran through his mind that Nero heard the sound of laughter, yet although he had heard rather close by the young night leopard still did not move from he was. No instead he just curled his lips into a smirk, he knew someone was near him and it was going to be fun finding out who it was and what they wanted.
Reaching into his travel pack Nero removed a strangely shaped bottle with a powerful liquid within it, he had gotten this ale from a merchant he had helped a few weeks ago and it still had a lot left inside of it. The brew was very strong, yet held a soft taste to it, one of the main reasons Nero was fond of this drink was because he had gotten it for free and the merchant had told him he could get as much of it whenever he needed for no cost at all. After all there is not a better drink than one that is free right?
Pulling the cork from the bottle Nero raised it up to his lips and let it slide down his throat, the taste sent a shiver down his spine and he quickly shook his head before saying out loud in a satisfied tone of voice, “That hit the spot!” After he had said this the young white haired male placed the cork back onto the bottle and once again put it back inside of his travel pack. Brushing some dirt off of his chest Nero soon got to his feet, where he also wiped the dirt off that had gotten onto his coat and pants from sitting down.
Now back on his feet Nero moved his neck side to side cracking it with each movement as he wrapped the fingers of his left hand around the hilt of the Red Queen and ripped the blade back out of the ground. With his sword in hand Nero turned from where he stood and began to walk away from the lake, although in truth he was only heading in said direction in order to find out who had laughed out towards him a few moments ago.
Raising his eyebrows Nero looked over the area until his eyes set on boulder that was ahead of him, while looking at the boulder the young man still had the small smirk along his lips. From his height he could see the basic outline of someone hiding behind the thing and it was now time to find out exactly who it was. With this in mind Nero headed towards the boulder and once there he placed his left foot upon the boulder and peeked his head over it. That was when Nero seen her, a beautiful young elven woman behind the boulder, had it been her that had laughed at Nero? Keeping the smirk along his lips the white haired man said towards the woman, “Well what do we have here then? You know there are two basic rules you should maybe know on spying on people. One; Don’t make any sudden noises when doing so, and Two; If caught pick somewhere covered in darkness to hid in. Not on open place like behind a boulder.” As the last of these words slipped pasted his lips Nero placed the Red Queen back onto his back and waited to see what the woman would do. The day was now starting to get interesting!