The sky had been stained orange by the sun setting on the horizon and there were already stars twinkling in the ever darkening sky. The shadows across the training arena had grown long in the evening sun, making things seem a little creepier than before.
"You're never gonna hit that thing from here without a bow," a critic voice came over the arena.
"And why not?" Iko replied.
He turned to the elven archer beside him with a calm smile on his face, the elf merely looked bemused.
"Look, that target is 20 yards away," the archer explained "If you're seriously going to try and hit it from here by throwing a rock at it..."
"I never said I was going to throw it," Iko cut in.

"What? So you're using a slingshot then?"
"Why would I need one of those?" Iko asked.
The elf looked taken aback and sighed, knocking an arrow onto his bow and taking up the appropriate position.
"Watch," he said.
He pulled the string back under his chin until the tip of the arrow just rested on the handle, paused for only a second and let go. The arrow shot through the air and hit the target within seconds, striking it just outside the center ring.
"I can't hit the middle with this bow," he said, hefting the weapon "And I've been using it for 15 years, and you're telling me you can hit the middle of that target without one?"
"Pretty much," Iko replied.
The elven archer just stared at the boy, he was clearly deluded, or insane, maybe he'd hit his head somewhere.

Calmly, Iko reached into the pouch on the that stored his weapons, a little tiny pouch from which he produced three small, spherical stones. He tossed them in the air a few times experimentally, testing their weight.
"I'm waiting," the elf said.
"My apologies," Iko replied.
He caught the stones again and drew his arm over his shoulder and let it out again in a sweeping motion. The three stones fell out of his hand but hung in the air for a few seconds and whizzed off towards the target. All three came into contact in less than a second and once the first stone went in right through the middle the other two followed, making the hole no wider than it was. Iko raised his hand out again and closed it with a soft click as the three stones flew back into it.
"Told you so," Iko finished off, looking up at the expression on the elf's face.

The shadows were lengthening over the grasslands, throwing deep pools of uneven darkness across the training grounds. Yet, despite the oncoming darkness, many people remained at practice, shooting at targets with bows or magic, sparring with melee weapons or just simply watching. These spectators lined up on one side of the grounds, sitting in the long grass and lazily watching those training.
One spectator sat apart from the others, lazing calmly against a fence post with his black cloak stirring behind him in the slight wind. Alex ignored the majority of the people who practiced, preferring to watch one group in particular, or one human in particular. A young lad with intriguing hair and eyes and, after what had just been witnessed, intriguing skills to match.
Alex smirked at the expression on the elf archers face, one of bewilderment and shock as he stared, speechless at the perfectly round hole in the exact centre of the target. Alex straightened, shrugging his longbow into a more comfortable position on his back. Intending to walk over and find out what exactly the young man had done with the little stones, Alex found his way suddenly barred by a huge barbarian who practically blotted out the ever darkening sky.
"You there, cloaked man," he rumbled, hefting his massive axe over his shoulder. "You don't seem to be doin' much, how 'bout you give me a bit of weak practice?" He roared with laughter as if he had just cracked the most hilarious joke in existence, but Oblivion just raised an eyebrow.
"You wouldn't really want that." he smiled, eyes giving nothing away.
The giant roared with laughter again. "I wouldn't want tha'?" he growled, prodding Alex with a finger as long as a normal persons hand. "Why would I fear a lit-" he was cut off sharply as Oblivion grabbed the finger still prodding him, pulled the giants arm up and threw him bodily to the ground. The earth shook as the massive man hit the dirt, more stunned then anything else. Oblivion smiled widely and hefted the man to his feet again.
"I wasn't joking," he said, his voice suddenly losing its easy-going manner and becoming surprisingly threatening. "Go find something that you might actually be able to fight. Fences don’t move, you might be able to hit one of those." With that Alex turned and headed over to the young man still standing by the target with the hole burned through the middle.
"Impressive." he said, leaning calmly against his longbow. "I'm intrigued, what are those curious little stones in that pouch?" he paused, face suddenly thoughtful. "I'm sorry, where are my manners?" He extended a hand. "Oblivion." he grinned, "But please, call me Alex."

Iko enjoyed the expression on the elf's face for a few moments as he looked between the bright haired farm boy and the target. However Iko's expression remained as it always was, a soft and almost humerus smile.
"Do that again," he said slowly.
"Very well," Iko replied softly.
He held his palm out and the small stone sat upon it shot out suddenly and went straight through the hole once again, causing a slight waft of air but showing no other signs that it had gone through. Iko caught the stone again, still retaining the calm expression on his face.

"Oh I see," the elf suddenly had a smile on his face "You're using magic, aren't you?"
For a moment Iko's expression changed dramatically, his soft smile vanished in place for an extremely annoyed and insulted expression. However before the elf had enough time to register this Iko had let out a sight and returned his expression to normal. He didn't look as the elf but answered nonetheless.
"My skills are not magic," he explained "Magic is a loose and unfit term used by people who cannot understand what is going on in front of them. For example if I make this stone float..." he held out his palm and the rock floated a few inches off it "...Then you'd see that as magic, but you'd be wrong. What is happening is I am able to control my thoughts so that they do not just flow through my mind, but through my body as well. A psyche if you will. Then I focus this psyche on a single object and it flows out of my body and connects to that object, making me become one with it. Basically I can make an object several feet away from me part of my body and I am able to move it as easily as if it were my arm or leg. That's not magic my friend."[/B]

The elf looked slightly baffled by this explanation.
[COLOR=purple]"That is what magic really is," Iko went on "Nothing but our psyche linking us with another entity and allowing us to control it as part of our body. The principle is the same for lightning and fire, and anything elf similar to that."
"Okay then," the elf said "What about mind reading and fortune telling, can you explain those?"
"Mind reading is easy," Iko chuckled "It is the ability to read another person's psyche and interpret it so that it makes sense, mind control works in the same way only you are able to control how that person's psyche flows for a short amount of time."
"And fortune telling?" the elf asked.
Iko paused for a moment and then looked back at the elf.
"I'm still working on that one," he admitted.
The elf looked skeptical and sighed.

Iko ignored him and looked about, sensing that someone else was approaching him.
"Good evening," he said as the man approached.
This man also wielded a bow and appeared to be of elven descent, but was somewhat different from Iko's woodland friend behind him.
"My pleasure," Iko replied as the man introduced himself "I am Ikoru Yami, but that's a little long so Iko will do just fine." He paused for a moment and then continued "As for these," he held out the stones he had been firing at the target "Are just regular stones I found on the way here, I'm sure you may have heard my explanation, I can always repeat it if you didn't."

Grinning easily, Alex shrugged slightly. "I got the general gist of it. Forgive me, for magic... sorry, psyche abilities are most certainly not my strong point. I am but a simple..." Alex paused, thinking of a suitable word to replace his true occupation. "Archer." he concluded finally.
He glanced at the elf beside Iko, opened his mouth to say something, decided it was too cruel and shut it again. His tongue had got him in trouble too many times in the past.
Alex turned to Iko again and was just about to ask him another question when he was lifted off his feet and hurled several meters through the air, landing heavily in the dirt. Alex swore and flipped to his feet, thinking that the young Iko had just cast some sort of spell on him. But when he turned, his vision was obscured once again by an all too familiar giant.
"You again." Alex sighed, looking past the man mountain and waving for Iko to wait just a minute.
"Me." The huge man growled and swung at Oblivion with his fist. The blow would most definitely have hurt had it come in contact, but Oblivion could have washed, eaten and possibly have written a brilliant play about pixies in the time it would have taken to connect. Instead, the half-elf ducked the arm and drove up with his fist, slamming it into the giants jaw. But the only reaction he got was to be picked up and hurled back to where Iko and the elf were watching.
Alex hit the dirt again and sighed as he rolled to his feet. "Sorry 'bout this guys." Oblivion directed at Iko and the archer, slipping his longbow off his shoulder. "But this seems to happen nearly everywhere I go. If only the ladies were so easy to attract as these types." With that, Oblivion knocked an arrow to the string, raised the bow, drawing the string back to just under his chin, and released.
The black shafted arrow sliced through the air, through the giants hand and embedded itself in one of the inner rings of the target behind. The giant was in several predicaments at this point. One, his hand hurt, two, he couldn't reach the man who had shot the arrow and three, the arrow had never left his hand, trapping the man against the target. Overwhelmed by all this, the giant fainted.
Alex turned back to Iko and the archer. "So sorry about that little interruption." he smiled flipping the gold coins he had stolen from the giants pocket. "Now, where were we?"

Iko chuckled softly, at least this Oblivion fellow was humoring him and his theory. He was about to talk back to the archer when he was suddenly replaced by a different form. Iko blinked and looked up at the giant glaring down at Oblivion.
"Oh well," he sighed "So much for a peaceful day then."
He looked about and watched the impolite proceedings take place, after all he could tell this shouldn't take too long.

The giant man seemed a little ticked off at the half elven archer, presumably having had a bad experience with him earlier. Or maybe he was just a little tired since it was getting pretty late. He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets, watching the brawling idiot take his chances.
"Seems this always happens no matter where I go," he muttered "Always someone who causes a ruckus."
As he'd expected though, it didn't take too long. The giant, while brutish and evidentially strong lacked the quick thinking needed for a proper fight, and ended up getting pinned against a target. A bit of an irony really and most people would walk up to him and see it as an accident.

Iko had to hold back a chuckle as he saw the giant faint from the shock of what happened, hopefully he wouldn't need to use his hand anytime soon. He looked back up at Oblivion as he returned, no doubt irritated by the interrupted as well.
"Think nothing of it," Iko replied "Somehow, events like that seem unavoidable." He gave another chuckle "I believe we had just introduced ourselves. A pleasure to meet you, Alex." Iko gave a short but polite bow.
He straightened up again, keeping the same soft smile he always did no matter what the situation. He was always keen to meet interesting people, and this person certainly seemed interesting enough.

In the little light that remained, Alex glanced back at the stirring form of the barbarian, pinned to the target. A couple of dwarves on the next target across were giggling as they tried to figure out how the giant had got himself stuck there in the first place.
"Hmmm, maybe i should get him off that..." Alex mused, not noticing as a low cloud passed over the bright red of the sun, throwing the grounds into darkness and making Oblivion appear to have vanished into thin air. "But then again," came Alex's voice from the darkness, "He did deserve it..." The cloud passed and Alex appeared once again, his face thoughtful, not noticing the shocked stares of the two dwarves as he seemed to materialize out from nowhere. Then he shrugged and grinned again, the expression so often used just shot to his face without thought.
"So, as I was about to ask before we were so rudely interr-"
"Oi, elf!"
For a moment, Alex's composure slipped, rage flitting across his face as the giant yelled at him. "Please excuse me once more, mister... Iko? I really have got to finish this."
Oblivion spun around, his bow leaping to his hand, an arrow from the quiver at his back already nocked and drawn. In the blink of an eye, the arrow had been loosed and slammed into the target a hairs breadth from the giants face.
"Alright you, I'm getting sick of this. Firstly, if I wanted to kill you I would do so without hesitation, but I feel that stupidity, at least in your case, is a mental disorder, and no reason to kill someone. Yet I am so close to firing an arrow into your eye, don't give me reason to do so. And secondly, I AM NOT AN ELF!" His rage finally appearing to erupt, Oblivion sent a third arrow at the giant, who yelped as it grazed his neck.
"Now shut your mouth and, if you're good, I might cut you loose."
The giant looked close to tears in fear of the now very imposing half-elf before him. Alex let out a deep breath and turned back to Iko, all traces of his rage suddenly nonexistent. He grinned "Right, now that that's taken care of, I can finally ask you..." he paused; eyeing the giant to make sure he made no more interruptions. "What else you can do with this psyche power of yours. I may not be able to do much myself, but the idea interests me." He waved towards the barbarian who was attempting to worm his hand free without causing too much discomfort.
"Care to show me what you can do?"