Sea of Rust

[Anonymous]

Water wasn't the problem. Entropy found that she could conjure that when she needed it. All she needed to do was will it into existence, and there it would appear in her cupped hands. She wasn't sure how, but it worked.

Entropy's mistake was running off into this desert without any food. The place wasn't exactly teaming with wildlife. She had been trudging across this red plain for two days already, and she hadn't eaten yet. And her stomach was murdering her for it.

To tell the truth, she wasn't even sure where she was going. It might have been smarter to just turn around and walk back to that town she had woken up in. She had already stopped a few times and considered it. It would be another two days back, but who knew how long it would be until she ate again if she kept going forward. Starvation was a very real possibility, and the further out she went, the harder it was going to be to make it back.

However, she didn't turn around. There was something... calling her, it seemed. Something out in the wastes. It felt familiar somehow, but she didn't know why. It didn't seem to matter. Aside from her stomach, no part of her wanted to turn away. She would march on until she either found whatever was drawing her, or the last of her strength drained away and she was left to turn to dust.

***

Elsewhere...

Only two days had passed since an odd-looking girl nobody recognized had appeared in the small community of Braitondel, only to leave immediately. It may not have been much, but that event had caused a minor commotion. Mind you, it wasn't too hard to cause a minor commotion here. This town wasn't really much more than a village, existing at the periphery of civilization. An agricultural community built on a small patch of green at the edge of a huge expanse of red, the place mainly subsisted on its own produce, shipping whatever small surplus the people could spare back to Tynova when they could, and occasionally servicing explorers whenever they passed through.

Nobody here really expected anything more to come of the event, though. The explanation the townspeople had decided on was that the girl had been a simple drifter who must have wandered into town the night before and fallen asleep in that alley, or perhaps even shacked up in the bar itself for the night and was turned out the back door the next morning. The owner of the bar vehemently denied any involvement, but he nonetheless received a few conspicuous glances as a result. Most of these were rather envious, as the girl had apparently been quite the looker. She had been an odd one, true, obviously some sort of alien, but quite the looker nonetheless.

Only two days later, however, the excitement was already beginning to pass. But just when last of the townspeople were just about ready to put the event behind them, yet another odd thing happened: a somewhat expensive personal ground-based transportation unit (let's just call it a car) pulled into town. Now this alone was rare enough, as only explorers tended to have a need for such things, everyone else doing well enough with teleportation, and this particular car was rather high-end on the luxury side for an explorer's vehicle. The other oddity was that the lone individual who emerged from the car, a smallish young woman with brown hair and brown eyes identifying herself by the name Arenda, had apparently come to ask around about the incident of two days prior.

Nobody really knew how word had even spread in that short of a time, especially not all the way to Tynova where the girl said she had come from. On top of that, nobody knew why somebody from Tynova would even take such an interest in such an insignificant happening in such an obscure town to begin with. When pressed, Arenda's explanation was that the earlier girl was a friend of hers who had gone missing several weeks ago, and who she had been searching for ever since. That still didn't explain how Arenda had learned of the other girl's appearance here so quickly, but the people of the town accepted the explanation at face value nonetheless, having no reason to distrust their visitor.

When Arenda was told that the other girl had left the town heading eastward, she did not seem very happy. Understandably so, too. To the east lay a huge expanse of nothing but rusted desert. If the strange girl had continued into that, the townspeople thought, then she was surely already dead, and trying to find even her corpse there would be like searching for a needle in a giant desert.

Arenda was still set on going in after her, though. She had brought the right vehicle for it, at least. Though the car was rather high on luxury, it was still designed for all terrains, and also happened to be carrying a good level of supplies its storage areas for just such a trip. Currently, she was standing just outside the door of the car thumbing through the keys on her keyring for the right one to open it. Sure, there were more technologically-advanced ways of operating a lock that by means of a simple key, but Arenda liked the bit of modest charm the older tools carried.

[Anonymous]

How he managed to not make a commotion himself was somewhat a mystery.  But, he had covered his hands in heavy black gloves, thuse conceling the talons they actually were perfectly.  He also wore black goggles that covered his black eyes with their white pupils.  He even wore a black head bandage that fully concealed his ears.  This combined with his black trench coat made him look overdressed.  Obviously an explorer.  Buy, he managed to stay out of the town's curiousity.  He was Locke Voidcaller.  And to further the strangeness of him being able to stay out of view was the fact that at his waist on the left was a katana, inside, not noticeable was his pistol.  But, most noticable and likely to take someone's notice, was his scythe on his back.  Yes, how he managed to stay out of notice in the village was a mystery.  But that was about to change.  Today, little Braitondel would be bustling with news or strangeness.

Currently, he was standing behind Arenda.  Watching her thumb through her keys, looking for the right one.  This brought back memories of the past, distant past mind you.  Were the only way to open a car's lock was with a key.  And nothing else, no special electronical devices at all.  But, that was then, this was now.  After hearing about the stange girl, and the arrival of this one.  He was more than curious as to these two, and their relationship.  He was also curious about the girl wandering the desert.  Plus, if needed, he would have to perform his job as a Soul Hunter.  "Excuse me madam.  I heared you are looking for someone.  Perhaps you would like some assistance?  Or protection?  An escort?  Or even some extra company to talk with?"  He asked calmly and with a smile.

It was strange to see first a strange girl in an out of the way village.  Even stranger still for someone from Tynova in a fancy vehicle to show up searching for the strange girl.  But, yet, the fun even included a mysterious man, who had no noticable distinguishing features other than that he stood at the same height as the woman that was looking for her "friend."  As stated earlier.  Braitondel was getting some strange excitement that was rare in such a far out place.  Indeed, when news of this reached Tynova, things would surely get more interesting.

[Anonymous]

Noticing that someone was standing behind her, Arenda looked back at him. Of course she wasn't taken aback that another person would approach her, as she had been drawing attention to herself all day, but she was a bit surprised that an explorer happened to be in this town the same day she was. Not too surprised, though, as the town was on the edge of civilization.

Either way, his offer of help was actually quite welcome. A relief, in fact, it seemed. Though it may have been a bit dangerous to go out into the desert alone with a total stranger, that didn't seem to bother her.

"Assistance?" she asked in a voice that sounded a bit hurried. "Yes, I could certainly use some."

As she spoke, her fingers found the key she had been looking for. Directing her attention back to that for a moment, she placed the key into the lock and turned it until the sound of all the car doors coming unlocked was heard.

"Name's Arenda," she said, giving her new acquaintance a quick nod and smile, then opened the driver's-side door and sat herself down while motioning him towards the other side. "Sorry for the rush."

[Anonymous]

One thing Arenda didn't need to worry about was any hostility from Locke.  He was the kind of guy that you could trust to not stab or harm someone else without a good reason.  Especially to those that accept his help and get his services.  As it was, he didn't mind that she was in a hurry.  Everything he had he carried on his body already.  "Lady Arenda, I am Locke Voidcaller.  Mercenary, help for hire, so on and so forth.  As it stands though, I will not charge you for traveling with you or helping you."  He told Arenda.  After saying this he gave a quick bow.

"Where do you want me to put my scythe?  It is not easy to sit in a vehicle chair with it strapped to my back.  My sword I can rest between my legs."  He asked.  He was of course correct, the scythe was cumbersome and ackward to travel with sometimes.  But he needed it for his job, plus losing it and letting it fall into someone else's hand was illegal and punishable.

[Anonymous]

"Thanks for the generosity," Arenda said when Locke told her he wouldn't charge for his help.

As far as the question of where to put the scythe went, though...

"That... might be a little tricky," she said. "Not sure if the back seat would be wide enough. You don't think it would fit straight down the middle, do you?"

As she spoke, she indicated the space between the two front seats, thinking that he might be able to lay the handle through there and push the blade back against the rear window. Of course, it was only a medium sized car, so she wasn't sure if the handle would even be short enough to fit throught there, either.

"If it won't fit straight, try putting it through diagonally," she suggested. "Otherwise, I guess we'll have to roll down a window and let the end stick out."

No matter what, it was probably going to be a little bit clumsy...

[Anonymous]

Locke smiled.  Of course it would be difficult to fit the scythe in the car.  But he had a trick up his sleave.  He can make the weapon dematerialize and vanish.  Thus avoiding any uneccassary baggage.  So he did just that, he took the scythe off his back and concentrated on it.  Suddenly it vanished.  It just wasn't there.  Of course if need be Locke could summon it back.  This was not an often used skill as it was somewhat risky to use in combat.  Summon the scythe at the wrong time and Locke would be leaving himself wide open.  But, he doubted he would be meeting any wayward spirits anytime soon.  That meant that his sword and pistol would have to do.

"Just kidding about the scythe."  He said with a smile.  "There was actually no need to store it in the car.  And the sword is small enough to easy fit between my legs with me."  He said, taking the entire sword and scabard off its connector that kept it fastened to him holding the weapon in his hand.  The sword was indeed much smaller than the scythe.  And was thus more portable and managable.

"So your friend that we are about to go find.  What can you tell me about her?  I gathered some random myths in town earlier, but I don't know how much I can believe and would rather you tell me about her."  He said.  If she had been surprised at the vanishing act of the scythe that would surprise him because of all the magic and technology that did exist.  Most people don't even seam to care that it disappears like that.  But he did wonder about the woman Arenda was looking for.

[Anonymous]

After seeing Locke's scythe disappear, Arenda glanced around the area, making sure nobody had been watching.

"You need to be careful who sees you do that," she said quietly, once the man was in the car. "Edanith's laws about magic are pretty strict."

It had only been a word of advice. In Edanith, though, someone who would let a mage pass with only a cautionary word would have been quite rare, especially if that someone was from Tynova. Still, Arenda seemed to have no intentions on alerting anyone of a rogue mage being present. Instead, she just started the vehicle and began moving.

"Her name's Entropy," Arenda replied to the question. "She's also a mage, but that's about as much as anyone knows, her included. She showed up in this area right after one of Thanatos' smaller unmanned research stations came down. They said it had been crashed intentionally because it had become obsolete, but their records show it had been refitted with new equipment earlier this year and was being used for experiments with some kind of interdimensional portal technology since then."

At that point, Arenda trailed off, the town's roadways requiring her full attention while she navigated her way out. After a few minutes of winding between the dome-like storage buildings at the town's edge, the car abruptly emerged from that forest of metal and concrete to find itself rolling down a long, straight road through a vast plane of hydroponic fields. Those fields were as green as any, but beyond them in the distance could be seen a vast expanse of red.

[Anonymous]

"No need to worry about me.  And your friend is a mage?  Interesting story."He though, indeed, it was interesting.  He had gotten into the passanger seat and watched the hydroponic fields.  Indeed, it was something of a miracle that they existed.  Humans could do wonderous things, and even barbaric things.

"Interdimensional portal technology?  Sounds like they were attempting to open a portal to some place not part of this universe.  Would be funny if they opened a portal to hell and released a bunch of demons on board the station and thats why it crashed.  But that sounds a like far fetched."  Locke said with a laugh.  Of course, it also happened in a very old game, but it happened on the moon, and so that is were his joke came from.

And Locke was fully aware of the laws of the area.  Than again, he was older than the nation itself.  And yet he had stayed free all that time.  How did he do it?  How could someone who used magic stay out of captivity with ease?  Did he have a way of getting away from them?  Yes he did.  But Arenda didn't know that.  But it had to do with why he told her not to worry about him.

[Anonymous]

Arenda responded with a simple nod when Locke told her not to worry about him, not meaning to push the issue. While she may have heard that before from plenty of headstrong kids who ended up in bad straights as a result, he didn't strike her as one of their sort. A mage of low to moderate power could be captured rather easily, but the most powerful ones could be quite elusive.

"Portal to Hell?" Arenda laughed a bit. "Like in that old fairy tale? That would be kind of ironic."

The "fairy tale" she was referencing was a bit of an obscure one, passed down since times immemorable, detailing the adventures of a knight who fought a horde of demons who had been accidentally summoned by a group of sorcerers who had delved into the "forbidden arts" while trying to gain access to other worlds. In Edanith, it had mostly been told as a cautionary tale about the dangers of magic being allowed to get out of hand.

"But I agree," she went on. "The evidence does point to that being what they were trying to do. And I suppose it's possible that Entropy may have come from whatever dimension they found. There don't seem be be any traces of her anywhere before that station crashed... But her actually being a demon would be a funny thought. That's about the last thing she acts like."

With the road being straight and open, Arenda's car picked up quite a bit of speed, enough to reach the end of the road rather quickly despite the distance. At that end, where the fields suddenly ended and the road simply disappeared beneath the red ground, Arenda slowed down quite a bit before crossing the threshold. Once she was past that point, however, her speed increased again, enough to surpass the speed she had been driving on the road by quite a bit.

[Anonymous]

So here was a good, long question that had to be pondered - how many Soul Reavers did it take to venture into the desert of Mars on a mere whim ... simply because it seemed like a good idea at the time? The answer was one. One little Reaver, walking through the sand ...

Scarlet hadn't wanted to come. She was too busy stalking monsters in the Wastelands outside of Daanu. And Nakéminae? She'd been sleeping at the time. Considering it was 2AM when Naira left Earth behind ... that was a good enough reason, and totally logical. Terry was off doing his own thing somewhere and she could only hope he didn't decide that hey, now was a prime time to gore his main target! Ugh, that would end very badly. So ... Nay was on her own, taking a midnight stroll on a random planet, leaving a note behind with her comrades (Nak could read it to Scar) before heading on out. A backpack strapped to her back in case she decided to linger longer than planned. Water bottled, strips of jerky ... it was all good. Hidden in her waste pocket was a flask of cyanidalwhisky - just in case.

Of course, Naira hadn't expected the sandstorm. It was sudden. It was brash. An it hurt. She inhaled a good dose of debris and as left choking for almost fifteen minutes after the storm cleared. Once her lungs made it obvious they were no longer in distress and respirations returned to a normal state, draconic talons plodded on ... three feet, before stopping short. A figure was looming in the distance. Naira paused, face twisted into the expression of a stone statuette - unmoving and cold. There were stories about Edanith's intolerance of mages. Here's hoping nobody noticed her element abilities ... If this was trouble, a fight would come rolling. She was prepared.

There was no way anybody could have expected the sleek, silver-skinned woman with wings to appear from the frothy horizon. A long demons' tail. Headband ... Immediate recognition. Naira very nearly dropped her pack but refrained. Instead, she rushed forth, an ecstatic tone clamping around vocals. "Entropy!" Frantic wave as she drew nearer. Naira dared not to run too fast in this heat. "Hey! En!"

[Anonymous]

Locke had actually dealt with demons and devils in the past.  Than again, all dealings had happened out of public view.  So no normal people knew about demons and devils being around the place at all.  Many caused problems.   A few actually were rather nice and didn't cause any trouble what so ever.  So, nice demons did exist.  Though they are few and far inbetween.  Better chance of running into a mage, or a bioweapon nowadays than running into a nice demon.

Of course with evidence pointing to such a thing happening on the station....Locke couldn't help but wonder.  "I don't know.  Nice demons could exist.  Think about it, if in mythology angels could fall from grace, than it would be possible for a demon to rise into the light.  So to speak.  But we will not know for certain what was truely happening on that station.  Unless...you can time travel, which I can't, and I doubt you can."  Locke said, relaxed even as she picked up speed.  How long would it take them to find Entropy...who at the time was now being greeted by a soul reaver...

A Soul Hunter meeting a Soul Reaver.  Technically, they were the same thing, just did their business in different ways.  But at the same time, they were different.  Locke never got to involved with the rules and formalities of being a Soul Hunter.  Were Hunters and Reavers allies or enemies?  He wouldn't know.  But one thing for certain...he would be able to tell that she was undead on sight.  But how would she react when greeted by a Soul Hunter?  Only time would tell as the car made good ground towards their goal.