*A Soul Finally Free*

[Julianna]

There seemed to be so many people busy in Capital Watch. Shipments were unloaded, then reloaded to head in the direction of some far off city that needed what this place had to offer. Children ran around, and giggled as kids do, catching their reflections in the water. Companions and their masters walked about, and gathered what they needed for the day. Merchants tried to catch your attention to acquire some material treasure that you really never needed, but wanted to have for it's beauty. Some just wanted to catch the site of the Capital City, which is what the city was known for. But one was not to be found among the crowd in the city.

Antonio had picked his way silently through that crowd, midnight black hair shadowed over brilliant amber eyes. Black boots carried him silently down the path, cross necklace thumping against his chest beneath his black shirt. He held cradled in his arm a jar, the contents hidden by his upper arm. To strangers, it would have appeared as though he was in search of a trade for the mystery held within the glass jar. But he never even glanced at the merchants as he had silently exited the city, and found his way to the river.

The Tradala River, which could be found running it's path peacefully through both the Auster Plains and the Falian Lowlands. Most used this river to catch a fish. Be it for food or to merely pass the time on a slow day. Or to carry oneself from one place to another. But this is not why the vampire found himself here today. He had another reason entirely to find himself by the bank of the river.

He slipped the jar carefully out from it's former place on his arm, and set in gently onto the damp earth as he knelt behind it on one knee, as though he was paying respect to one of royal power. He lifted the glass jar carefully in his pallid hands, as his amber eyes carefully absorbed one final glance at the fine white ash inside. He lifted the glass lid from the jar slowly, and placed it beside his right knee, which was sunken gently into the dark earth. With that movement, he closed his eyes for a moment as he replaced his other hand back against the cool glass.

"May you have found peace in the next life Christian, wherever it is that your soul has wandered." He murmured quietly, his amber irises alert and visible once more as he placed his hands into the flowing river and watched as ever so slowly, his brother scattered invisibly along the current of the river, almost like churned sand. He pulled his hands from the water, the jar now empty and crystal clean as he set it aside alongside the cover. He felt himself sink into the dampened earth as his gaze traveled across the water, caught in the reflection of the sky above as he settled a pale arm against his knee, his face still a mask of calm serenity.

"Antonio, what is it that binds us to this world? What defines us as humans? As gods? As beasts or elves or even as the undead? Because no matter what, we all have something in common. We DIE. It does not matter if you were the cruelest murderer, or the kindest healer to ever live. In the end, we all meet the same fate." Christian laughed humorlessly, tear like drops of crimson red falling from his hands. "When I think of it like that....it makes me wonder what we are judged on once we die..." He looked at his brother, his eyes clear, endless pools you could lose your soul into. "Do the gods forgive the ones who didn't have a choice?"

[Holly]

She was farther away from home then she usually would be, but, quite plainly, she didn't give a damn about it on a day like that day. It was a light sprinkle and the clouds were hanging in sky, not looking like they were going to move for hours. It was one of the days that Karissa simply enjoyed because it was cloudy and a pleasant temperature. Rain always made her feel more alive than sunny days.

The former slayer came across Antonio about fifteen minutes after she had left Capital Watch. The weird thing about the man was that he seemed oddly familiar. She couldn't place a finger on it, nor could she recall ever seeing the guy. He just seemed familiar and that made Karissa annoyed.

She was about to just plainly ignore the guy and get on her way to the next city, but something made her stop. As she began walking away, she caught his words. She flicked a glance over her shoulder, just to make sure she hadn't been hearing things. Sure enough, ashes were floating down the river. A small frown appeared.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Karissa whispered in Antonio's ear. The name Christian was drilled into her head now and it would not leave her alone.

What the hell was it doing there?

[Julianna]

"Our souls." Antonio answered simply, his back rested against the cool mahogany doorway, his amber eyes focused on his brother. "Our souls are what bind us to this Earthen realm, and death is like a key. It unlocks the secrets that are hidden from the living." He tapped the icy edge of a blade against his lower lip. "I am not a god, so I can not say for certain what they will forgive....but it is my hope that they can be merciful enough to the ones who deserve that second chance...."

Antonio blinked as Karissa's whispered words traveled into his ear and beat against his eardrum. He tilted his head up slowly, and smiled thinly at her. "Thank you." He replied in low tone, and ducked his head a little to as he took the jar back into his hands. He placed it on top of his knee with one hand, and secured the lid onto it once more with the other.

He pushed off the damp earth with his left hand, the jar now grasped in his right hand loosely with the tips of his fingers. The jar thudded against his thigh quietly as it swung freely a bit. He caught sight of the slight frown that was settled on her lips, and looked over his right shoulder for a moment at the river behind him. "I apologize if what I did offended you, miss." He turned his head back to face Karissa once more, his voice almost a flat monotone.

He stepped silently to the side, just in case she had wanted access to the river from where he had stood. He simply crossed his arms over his chest, his head turned to just hover his right shoulder once more, amber irises lingering on her before they trailed back to the reflections that shined off the calm waters.

[Holly]

She pulled her goggles up onto her hat and rolled her eyes as he apologized and took a step to the side to let her get to the river. Like she needed that. 'How thoughtful', she might have said in a regular situation, sarcasm flowing into her voice depending upon the situation. Today, however, she sighed, she grabbed the jar from Antonio's hands, and walked over to the river without waiting for any response or protesting to her action.

Karissa stepped exactly where Antonio had when he was dumping the ashes into the clear water, crouching down and popping off the lid. She threw the lid over her shoulder and dunked the jar into the river, waiting a few moments before pulling it back out. "Here we go," She muttered, standing up and placing the half-filled jar of water to Antonio. "You gave something to the river, and it gave something back. Now stop slumping around like a sloth or hovering around like a depressed little storm cloud, why don't you?"

While her voice was soft and innocent when she had first whispered to Antonio, Karissa's voice slipped into a demanding attitude. Her crimson eyes were narrowed, fairly annoyed with him. But not exactly for the reason she had pointed it out. "Miss is not my name and never shall be my name. I can deal with being called 'girl' or 'elf' when someone doesn't know my name, but 'miss' is completely unacceptable. What would you do if I called you Sir? It sounds stupid, right?" She crossed her arms over her chest defiantly, though it didn't say much with her height. "Karissa, Olisthir. Not Miss."

[Julianna]

Antonio's gaze trailed back to Karissa when she moved to pull the goggles back into their place on her hat, and rolled her eyes. He raised an eyebrow and watched the girl with mild curiosity as she took the jar from his pale, icy hands, and walked past him without a word to the spot that he had just stepped from moments before. When she tossed the lid of the jar over her shoulder, he stepped forward fluidly, and caught it quietly in the palm of his hand.

He tilted his head, amber irises locked intently on her back as she dunked the jar completely into the river and waited a bit before standing back up once more. He looked down at his hands when she placed the partially filled jar back into them, then back up to her as she spoke. He couldn't help but smirk as she compared him to such dreary, and slow things.

"I have unfinished things to attend to here, and simply thought since you came from nowhere to where I was, you might have wanted access to the river, which I had been blocking." he replied with a flat tone, his mind turning at the same time wondering why he felt he needed to explain himself to the girl. A rather independent and demanding girl at that.

He lifted his hand, the lid still nestled in his palm, and pushed it securely back onto the jar. He took a step toward her and placed the jar on the ground in front of her before stepping back from the river a few feet. His body was placed now so that when he spoke to her, it was from the side. "Now the gift from the river goes from me to you. Maybe you'll find a use for it." he continued, simultaneously taking steps backward as he walked away from the river, his hands now settled in his pockets.

He paused for a moment, and looked at her, taking in her expression. "I find it rude to call one who does not appear to be a small child a girl, and did not think to call you an elf. I was taught to address strangers as I have called you, no matter how 'stupid' it may sound. My apologies that you find it unacceptable." His irises darkened a shade of color as he spoke, but he did not seem to notice, no evidence that the color change had been caused by anger.

"Nice to have met you, Karissa. I am Antonio. Butler." he bowed slightly to the girl, a tick in the back of his mind telling him that she would probably have something to say to that as well. He then turned silently on his heel, and began to walk farther down the length of the river to continue what he had came for.

[Random E. Vent]

As if summoned by the word, "butler," an earsplitting caterwaul erupted from the south. Visible in the skies and heading directly toward Antonio and Karissa, a large wyrm made its grand appearance.

The larger-than-average adult dragon roared again. His color was grey and ice-blue, and he wielded frost breath. The dragon circled around Antonio and Karissa at the river and frequented the power he possessed, breathing shards of ice and a freezing cold mist upon the pair. His blizzards were arctic and he was mad.

The beast made use of his flight and refused to land until adequately injured and his wings were no longer capable of use. Otherwise, he would not hesitate to whip and hammer his tail, swipe and slash with his claws, or jab and snap with his jaws.



ooc.
you two are now free to role-play the frost dragon freely! it was hinted subtly, but he will not land and fight until his wings are sufficiently injured/he is weakened greatly, and when he does land, he won't run a lot but he'll whip his tail, bite you, slash at you with his claws, and make use of his frost breath in a frantic, chaotic manner until he's dead or until you're dead or until you run away or something.

[Holly]

Antonio would be correct by thinking that she wouldn't be the happiest camper at his bow. She wasn't some dainty girl who needed someone doing something like that. However, now that she thought about it, butlers were what they were. Their whole life was serving someone else, so maybe that's the reason for the overly-polite, overly-formal behavior. Wow, now she felt like a jerk. Not like she would tell him that, though.

Karissa was just about to say something when a deafening tone took over every other sound in the area. She turned swiftly, pulling the goggles over her eyes as if they would help her see better.

Upon the blast of ice, Karissa was quick to throw up barriers of flames to melt any oncoming shards. Once that was done, she was sure to conjure up a mass of weapons for her and, if he so wanted, Antonio to choose from. Her first choice were a pair of battle axes. Gaining momentum by spinning, she launched the first with well aimed percision, watching as the axe flew right into it's wing. "See! That's what you get for messing with people, you flying lizard!"

[Julianna]

Antonio had not gotten very far when the frost dragon's tremendous caterwaul peeled through the air. His amber gaze shot upward almost instantly, as his footsteps took him back to where Karissa was with every second after the wail. It was like that roar has ripped away every sound that surrounded them, and filled the sky with his immense form.

He was about ten feet away from Karissa, his back still to her when the large dragon breathed out a deadly barrage of frozen shards at the both of them. His pitch black pupils shrunk against his reddened irises as the shards sailed in their direction. Antonio took a quick glance back at her, seeing her barriers before he pulled his arms across his chest, and disappeared in a shimmer of black mist. He then reappeared at Karissa's side as she summoned a multitude of weapons to try and fend of the immense beast.

He took her lead, summoning his own arsenal around himself before it went to the side for later. Specifically, his left hand, he quickly conjured up five simple silver daggers. Antonio darted forward, pulling his hand to his left shoulder. Antonio swiftly threw his arm at an upward angle, and sent the daggers into dragon's wing membrane when Karissa spun and sent the battle ax flying into it's wing as well.

He smiled a bit when she spoke, slightly amazed at her attitude towards the dragon that attacked them. Antonio watched it's reaction to the attacks critically, trying to predict how the beast would retaliate. He got his answer fairly quickly as the dragon turned on them, darting at them and sending a second cluster of sharp ice shards before pulling back up into the sky.

Antonio conjured up a sword, handle in his right hand and the blade braced in the other at shoulder level right before it collided with the shards, and pushed Antonio backwards and to the side as he turned the sword to hit the shards. He also used Telekinesis to send others flying away. "I wonder what made this creature behave like this.." he mumbled quietly to himself as he continued to deflect the frozen crystalline daggers.

Two pieces of the shards dug into the skin of Antonio's left arm, and one into his right side, leaving behind claw like indentations. The dragon then sent a third and fourth barrage of frozen shards at Karissa from it's place in the sky.

[Holly]

The other axe that she hadn't thrown fell to the ground as Karissa discarded it. Weapons from far away weren't going to affect the beast as well as close-ranged fire manipulation. That's what they needed to do. But, the problem with that was the damn, winged gecko was still in the flipping air and wasn't coming down!!

That was, until it dropped down in elivation to throw a few more ice shards down at them. At that, a small smirk took the forest elf's features, finding the weakness of the dragon in that instant. Conjuring up a few large fireballs, she sent them to block the oncoming ice bits.

"Just keep it distracted, butler! And try not to hit me!" She yelled across to Antonio. Slowly, her hand clenched into fists. In accordance to her actions, the ground before her split and cracked. Raising her left hand up suddenly, large chunks of earth rose into the air, stopping at different heights to create a sort of staircase.

And the dragon dropped down again to shoot ice at the pair. At that moment, Karissa started climbing up, clearing the final rock and running onto the dragon's tail.

Once on it's back, two claymore's appeared in her hands, which she used to stab into it's wing membranes. A completely serious aura took over her entire being, similar to when she used to be a vampire slayer even if she didn't remember it. Directly in the center of it's back, she crouched down, focusing on where she would strike, then stood back up. Above her raised right hand, an enormous ball of fire formed. Swiftly, she brought her hand down and punched the dragon's back, the flames following the movement and attacking it directly in an immense attack.

A signature vampire slayer move of hers that was named "lucem novissimi".