Ah, the nice green wilderness, the clear blue waters....nature was a wonderful thing. This area was a wonderland of nature. The birds singing, the waterfall flowing down, and the animals fighting to the death in order to survive yet another day. It was like Eden, in many a way. This place was all but perfect! Such a glorious place must surely be hidden away so that only those who know where it is can find it, right? Such a lush area HAS to be a great secret!

Well, even if it was, it didn't matter any longer. Meglumar had wandered into it. It was some time after revisiting Lómëdor, and running into the Antichrist known simply as Ian Vaner, Meglumar had decided to take the scenic route to the Sanctuary of Angels. By Scenic route, this of course meant 'getting completely lost and running around in circles until the gods showed mercy and showed him the path back.'

He trudged through the bushes, looking around, his dirty green cloak almost making him blend in like some sort of woodland ninja. This was probably because he rarely got a decent chance to ever wash his cloak, and the dirt matched the deep green quite well, funnily enough. Behind his white and black mask, he had an angry expression, still furious over dealing with that pretentious, arrogant, selfish, snobbish brat, Ian. Who the HELL did he think he was?! A god?! He thought, angrily. One day soon, he'd beat Ian with a Holy spell and then stop his idiotic evil soul....and maybe, MAYBE get the older Ian back, if there was any part of that Ian left. That was unlikely, sadly. Souls were so difficult to understand.

He wandered over to a stream, and looked to the left. A waterfall...He had to be careful. If his bad luck continued, he'd end up falling in and falling to his doom. That would be unpleasant, to say the least! Still...his cloak DID need to be washed. He removed it, and carefully began to soak it in the water.

Earlier in the day, Imril had found the same stream Meglumar was at. She found it rather secretive, as there was quite a hike to get there, and as it was at the mid-level of the falls, that meant that animals couldn't find her there, and given how it was out in the middle of nowhere, the humans she FEARED LIKE HELL wouldn't find her. So she had rested herself at the water's edge, soothed by the sound of the river.

And that was exactly where she still was, all but on the other side of the bank from Meglumar, in plain view, eyes closed, unaware of Meglumar's presence, her wings beating every now and then, a tiny cloud of dust being puffed along by the wind created by the falls every time she did so.

She was relaxed, and no matter what happened, short of discovery, she'd be safe here.

As Meglumar washed his cloak, a strange dust came by his nose, sneaking past the mask through the eye holes. This promptly lead to a sneezing fit that was so horrendous, that he ended up sneezing his own mask off, and into the river. As soon as that happened, he immediately gave a disturbed yelp, and jumped into the river with a loud splash, thrashing about as he tried to grab the mask, now skating around the bottom of the riverbed. He had to get it back, NOW, and he had to make sure he did not fall over the falls and to his death.

Must take mask back MUST TAKE MASK BACK! He thought frantically, his arms and legs flailing about in the water like some sort of epileptic raccoon on a sugar high. It was quite a funny fight, and possibly more evidence to make Meglumar look like a clown. Oh well, at least there was no way to record his movements on some sort paper and play it back by moving it rapidly with some sort of amplification of the paper. If there was, and someone was doing such a process with his scene, Meglumar would DIE of embarrassment.

After a few more comical moment, he raised his right arm up in triumph. THE MASK WAS HIS ONCE AGAIN. He fastened it onto his head, and then pulled his head up and out of the water. "Once again, the light and holiness shines it's wondrous blessings on me." He thought out loud, with a smile behind his mask. He then saw his cloak start flowing past him. He'd almost forgotten about that. he made a dive towards it, and BARELY caught it before it flew over the edge of the falls and to the rocks below.

He climbed out of the water, now soaking wet. How enjoyable, He thought, sarcastically. Oh well...at least he wasn't lying on a spiky rock with a broken spine or neck. That alone made this a good day, right? No, not really. It wouldn't be a good day until it was over and he was guaranteed to not to have broken his back, so he'd know by tomorrow if it was a good day. Until then, this was a day to be cautious.

Imril heard the sneeze, and before Meglumar could take his mask off, SHOT OFF into a tree as fast as she could, leaving a glittering trail of dust in her wake. HUMAN! Imril made a sharply high pitch chirp of distress, and hid. Then she heard splashing, which was Meglumar getting his cloak back.

Wait...Green cloak...sword?

PANIC TIME.

"OHMYGAWD, IT'S THE GREEN SWORDSMAN! HE'S COME TO PUT ME IN A BOTTLE!" Imril thought. As a fairy child, she had been cruelly picked on by her peers, as they told her stories of a green swordsman who bottled fairies, and later used their magic to heal himself as he endlessly battled. The fairies that were "used" were never seen again, and no one even knew how they were used. One theory was that he simply ate them. Another one hypothesized the swordsman used an unholy ritual to drain the life out of the fairies captured, thus making them wink out of existance. The last, and scariest, theory was that he used magic to control the fairies and force them to use every last drop of innate magic they had in them, thus healing his wounds, and leaving them as mana-drained husks that withered away rapidly.

Paranoid Imril believed the 3rd, obviously. The site of Meglumar's mask only made him scarier to her, not to mention the hood. "An Executioner's hood, ohhh...it's so appropriate! What if he see's me!? I have to get out of here! And the Mask! It has to hide some sort of gross face..." She imagined a face not entirely unlike Emperor Palpatine. If she only knew...

Meglumar sneezed again. What was making him sneeze?! He looked around, trying to find the source. He could see some dust...was that it? He caught it in his hands, and observed it. This was odd, what could it possibly be? He looked around, trying to find the source. He saw some of it falling from a tree. He slowly and cautiously walked over to it, and loked into it. Oh, a Fairy! "....Hello there." Meglumar said, simply. He was not in any mood to hold a conversation, or stay long around the fairy, at least not while she was making the dust. He sneezed again beneath his mask. Maybe he was allergic to it? Either way, he backed away from the tree, to try and get some fresh air. What a bother this was becoming...

Imril shrieked in fear. She had been discovered. She should have known! He had to be an expert at finding fairies! Hopefully he couldn't reach her, as she flew up to the top of the tree, clinging to a twig as hard as she could, screaming at the top of her tiny lungs. Well, keep in mid, Meglumar was basically the boogieman to her, so it was understandable for her to be terrified.

Rationalizing, she realized she really had no hope. The first impulse for a fairy would be to fly away from a serious threat. Perhaps the Green Swordsman had a way to suck a fairy in, or, in accordance with the 3rd theory, take control of them and force them into service that way. Imril wrapped her legs around the tip-top of the tree, clamped her hands over her ears, and jammed her eyes shut. She was having a panic attack, no doubt about that, her skin was breaking out in red splotches as her blood pressure rose, and she was sweating as her body temperature began to skyrocket.

Meglumar but his hands over his ears as he heard the small fairy scream out and fly away. BY THE GODS, WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HER!? She clung to the high branch, far out of his reach. He screeching was like hearing some howling old witch cackling while her sharp, deformed and yellow nails scratched down a blackboard while bats flew by screeching. Well, alright, it wasn't that bad, really. It's volume, however, made it feel that way. He stumbled back, cringing in agony. Oh how he WISHED Ian was here. He would be dead, more than likely! Oh how GLORIOUS that would be. Still, though, hopefully he would be hearing this and bleeding from the ears.

That may not have been a very noble thing to wish for, but since WHEN did a person like Ian deserve noble intentions? Either way, Meglumar looked up, and saw the poor fairy covering her ears and screeching on. Wait, was she getting sick or something? She seemed to be breaking out...maybe. She was too small to really be easy to see properly. Still...maybe she was sick and delusional. He wasn't sure how well his healing spells would deal with a sick person....

Oh well! Better to try and fail than not try at all! He cringed as he removed his hands from his ears, the screeching nose from hell filling his ears like some sort of acid. He aimed his right hand at the fairy, and closed his eyes. With a small chant, he fired off a bolt of healing magic at the fairy, hoping to hit and heal her of whatever was ailing her. Again, he was not sure whether or not it would have any affect, or what was TRULY wrong with the poor young fairy, So only time would tell if she would be OK.

Imril felt warm and tingly inside when the bolt hit her. She felt warm and happy as the healing spell cleared up a scratch she had across her back she had gotten earlier.

And that scared her even more. "Oh god no, it's starting! He's making me feel good!"

She cried out in an absolutely desperate voice. "NOOOOO, I DON'T WANT TO BE A SHRIVELED HUSK!" Mental images of her bone-dry body hitting the ground and being blown to dust by a breeze filled Imril's gullible mind. She was sobbing now, she was afraid for her very SOUL by now.

"Wait, wait, wait, WHAT? Meglumar asked in a somewhat loud tone of voice. "End up as a WHAT?" What was wrong? Was he the one causing her fear? How....horrid. "Look, I'm not here to do ANYTHING! I'm just wandering about!" He said, trying to calm the fairy. "I'm a paladin out to head to the Sanctuary of Angels, and decided to find a shortcut. I got lost, and ended up here!" He hoped she would quiet herself and calm down. Her voice was rather annoying, for some odd reason.

Imril stopped sniveling and looked down at Meglumar. "No! You're the Green Swordsman! I'm not trusting you! Go away!"

Poor Meglumar. This was all one huge misunderstanding. If he only knew he matched the description for the most feared being in Imril's existance. She'd have a heart attack if he pulled out a bottle right now.

"...Green...swordsman?" He looked at his cloak, and threw it off, then looked down at his shirt. Damn, it was green to.....What to do, take it off? No, that would not be good....hmm..... Aha! Of course! He went over to a mud puddle, and placed the mud over his shirt. There, now there was no green...save for his eyes. He closed his eyes, then spoke up. "Look, no green now. I'm sorry for scaring you. Please calm down." He said, trying to make the poor fairy relax.

This was much like a monster putting a mask on, though...

"EEEEEK, NO! YOU'RE TRYING TO TRICK ME!" This solidified her fear even more. Not only was the green swordsman out to get her, he was DETERMINED to get her, even through vile trickery!

Meglumar sighed. This was hopeless. "Fine then, whatever, Miss Fairy." He said, moving to the river, and scooping up some water, and washing the mud off his shirt. "I hope you get over this weird as hell fear thing you have, whatever it is." He said, getting out and throwing his hooded cloak on. "Farewell, Miss Fairy. I hope you calm down." He said, following the river path. Such a hassle!