Times Flow

Shadow glared at the monster as it retreated backwards, and he snarled, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists against his blade. If there was one thing he hated in battle, it was retreating- even if it was for a tactical advantage, he felt it was cowardly. Then again, monsters had no sense of honor or bravery, or a sense of pride in how they fought... They merely fought in the way to justify the ends. Still... Shadow was a monster, too. He could play just as dirty as they could.

"Fine," he breathed under his breath, lowering his sword. "You want me to play dirty? I'll play dirty," he snarled, a devilish, fanged grin growing on his face. And as he spoke, his own image was beginning to fade away... Until, by the time he'd finished his smirk, he was entirely gone, disappeared into the shadows and the darkness of the woods. It would be a few seconds of silence, of his entire presence being gone from the small battlefield in the clearing of the woods...

And, right when it appeared that he had entirely left, Shadow re-appeared in a split second- right behind the monster, with his blade thrusting straight forward in an attempt to plunge it clean through the monster's spine and protrude out through its stomach, his shadow magic once more formed around him in a protective, dome-like shield.

The monster came to a halt as it felt the dark blade enter through the side of his back, this being due to it slightly moving to the side mere seconds before the strike, and out through its chest cavity. It just stood there and hung its head, waiting for the right moment...

Shadow glared at the monster, still holding his sword through the being's chest cavity. As long as his sword was in there, he knew he had the advantage. Monster, undead... Who know what really "killed" them, and what didn't?

Keeping one hand on the hilt of his sword, still fiercely held stuck through the monster's side and out through its chest, Shadow lifted another hand, open-palm facing outwards, as more magic began to build around it. He aimed it straight towards the beast's unmoving head- and blasted a massive, powerful shot of dark energy towards its head, aiming to explode it to pieces.

The Wendalfos muttered a curse, and that was the last thing that came out of its jaws before they, and the rest of its skull for a head, was no more. The monster slid off of Shadow's blade and dropped its own jagged sword.

The foreign teen who royally embarrassed himself minutes ago, came to his feet and grabbed his own sword. He put it in the sheath on his hip and looked around in shame.

Shadow scoffed as he looked down at the fallen monster. He disliked its cowardly fighting style; but at the very least, he had learned something that could be potentially useful. He drew his sword out of its carcass as it fell, headless, to the ground, and in a split second, it had been surrounded by shadow magic- and the next second, it was gone, no longer needed.

As the teen moved to retrieve his own sword, Shadow frowned, looking back over at him. He was embarrassed, clearly- and with good reason, too- but the child of darkness cared little for this, and ignored it. It wasn't relevant to him at this current point in time. "What are you doing out here on your own?" he instead asked bluntly, crossing his arms and slightly narrowing his unnatural, red eyes- not in anger, merely irritation.

"Fighting." the boy simply replied. He could have said something else, but the language of these people was new to him. He could understand what others said to him, but he couldn't fully grasp how to say full sentences or start up a conversations. For now, he was restricted to responding.

Shadow raised an eyebrow, slightly amused at that.

"Well, you're not doing a very good job at it," he said simply as he bent down to retrieve the monster's jagged sword. Turning to a nearby tree, he sunk the sword deep into the tree's bark, leaving it there and hoping no one would take it out any time soon. He turned once more to the boy.

"If you want to keep your blood inside your body," he retorted, "You should come with me. There's shelter not far from here, and these monsters aren't just going to disappear overnight."

The boy knew that he couldn't fight well, but the words still stung. He tried to fight and fight to hone his skills, and yet he always came near death. What was this the sixth time his ass was saved by some stranger? This time, it was a rather rude one. Yet, the boy saw something in this particular stranger that he didn't see in others: A possible mentor.

The dark stranger even invited him to stick with him! The boy was excited in the inside, and shrugged off the harsh criticism. This was his chance to learn...

The boy nodded and remained silent as he eagerly walked up to Shadow.

Needless to say, this wasn't a normal "stranger" that Shadow would usually run into every once in a while, saving their hides from yet another shadow monster... The boy hardly spoke, and his demeanor and overall appearance was rough and strange. He wondered if he came from some other place, like Shadow did- but he doubted it was to that much of an extreme. Either way, he gave a simple nod in return as the other approached him. "Follow me," he said simply, turning and beginning to walk back to the house, through the woods.

As they walked, however, Shadow remembered something- and, frowning, glanced back towards him.

"You can call me Shadow, by the way."

(Bedtime for me now. Gnight. ^^)

The boy gave a quick nod as he followed. He then pointed at himself. "Antares."

Shadow nodded once to show he'd heard the boy, but he didn't say anything else. He wasn't much of a talker either, and so the two continued on in silence, leaving the woods behind them as they approached the house. Frowning, Shadow finally came to a stop a few feet in front of it, then gestured to it as he looked over at Antares.

"Just tell them what happened," he said simply, "And they'll let you stay."

Antares hesitantly walked over to the house in a slow manner, glancing back at Shadow every once in a while. With each step he took his chance of learning the ways of the sword was slipping away just like that. He could have believed that this dark stranger would drop by sometime later, but he didn't have the luxury to take chances like that anymore.

Antares came to a stop at the front of the door and looked back at Shadow. "Will you come back?" he asked.

In response, Shadow merely frowned and said simply, "I'll be out here all night, keeping watch. Come tomorrow, myself and some of the others will be going to Death Mountain to rid it of the monsters that have moved in. If you're rested up by then, you can join us."

Antares felt relief when he said this. He turned back to the door and knocked.

Carol had been bsitting in a corner of the room, doing her best to ignore Uada who insisted on telling all about thier adventures apart.
"but it wasn't until after i played chu chu bowling the THIRD time that i threw up!" When she heard a knock at the door, Carol jumped at the oportunity to get away.
"i'll get that!" she chimed, and rushed to the door. "hello?"

Before her, stood a foreign boy in his late teens. He wore an elaborate loincloth, and jewelry on his body. He looked at Carol and pointed at himself. "Antares. Can I enter?"

Carol blinked, her face turning a bright shade of pink. The foreign boy was hardly wearing any clothes at all! She looked away quickly. "c-come right in! I-I'm sure our host won't m-mind." She stepped away from the door so he could enter. THe poor girl had been shocked a few too many times for one day. she was exhausted.

Uada, who had been watching Carol the whole time, now spotted the boy and smiled. "that's a great idea! It is a hot night after all..." he began to strip to his underclothes. "SO FREEEEEEEEEEE!"


(god i love playing comic relief! xD)

(Poor Carol, he's taking off his clothes for her 0____o )

Shadow heard all the commotion and turned to the door. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to explain the boy's garb or not, but before he could even open his mouth, Uada had opened his- again in a foul manner, and Shadow snarled, shadow magic once more forming around his hands. Though he made sure it was relatively harmless, he shot a quick jolt of it towards Uada, hoping it would be enough to startle him and perhaps sting a bit.

"Show some goddamned decency," he snapped angrily.

To Carol, he frowned as he said, "This kid was attacked by shadow monsters. I told him he could rest here safely for the night."

(yes. cue club music! nns nns nns nns nns nss!!! )

"oh!" Carol was jolted out of her embarassment by sympathy. "you poor thing! you must be hungry. I'll go ask if there's more soup." She smiled gently at the boy. "don't worry, you're safe here."

Uada jumped at the shock, then sat whimpering in a corner. Lucerna flickered about, fussing over her already half dressed companion.