It was such a nice day for a walk through the woods. The sun was blocked by the thick clowd cover as sheets of rain poured from the sky. The wind howled as it blew through the branches of the trees causing them to shake and shudder angrily. Walking through the storm a lone robed figure slipped past the trees, any animal out in the horrid storm shrank away from him in fear. The sky was illuminated by a bolt of lightning as it struck vengefully at the earth, showing the robed figue in a flash of light. A beard, a wrinkled face, and a frown could be seen from underneath the hood as the figure flinched away from the sudden light. The robes he wore were pitch black allowing him to blend into the darkness of the forest like a shadow.
Continuing down the path that had been created many generations ago he watched as a lone wolf jumped into his path with a deathly calmness. The gray wolf was soked to the bone and its ribs were easily visible even in the darkness as it hadn't had a good meal in a long time. Looking up from under the hood almost blind eyes of a seer stared blankly at the starved animal, the frown changing from one of rage to sadness. Snarling, foam leaking from the sides of its mouth, the wolf began to circle the robed man. Once it had gotten behind him it lunged, its jaws opened wide and aimed for the mans neck, with a yelp of surprise it disintegrated into ash.
The man turned to the pile of ashes and seemed to stare at something. To the naked eye there was nothing left of the wolf, but to the trained eye there could be found a glow of energy which had made up the wolf's soul. With a twitch of his wrist the soul was drawn into the man who sighed in relief as the energy flowed through him. Even though the robed figure appeared old he was only eighteen years old, his appearance simply changed from the enchantments placed on the robes, which had been passed down for thirteen generations in his family. Being the fourteenth necromancer in his family, Phaestus Xhumba was proud to ware the robes of his forefathers.
Finding a dry place underneath a pine tree Phaestus pulled back the hood of his robes, allowing his ruffled hair to spring up. Looking at him now the only semblance he had of the elderly man was his brown hair and rounded face, which had also been passed down. Another flash of lighting made him jump as he quickly pulled the hood back up and returned to the path. He needed to buy some more dried meat from the butcher and get some timber for the fire since the nights were growing colder as the fall equinox grew closer. He would have to buy some bear pelts from the trapper in town so that Mutton and Sticks don't freeze at night.
Phaestus was broken out of his thoughts by the feeling that something wasn't right in the forest. Looking around he noticed that there were no animals around, even though some still came out during the rain. Being able to blend in well most animals didn't notice him unless he was close enough to touch them, but when there were no animals it only meant one thing. Travelers. He hated it when there were people traveling through the forest, it made him have to waste time to scare them away so that they didn't stumble upon his home. Not that Mutton or Sticks wouldn't be able to handle a merchant or even a lone paladin if they had to. You don't have a chance when Mutton is trying to pound you with all six of his arms and Sticks is jumping around your every attack.
Using the shadows to his advantage Phaestus used a useful shadow spell which allowed him to look through the shadows to any other shadow within a limited radius. Quickly checking through all the shadows in the area he found what he was looking for, the shadowy forms of two travelers making there way almost straight for his home. They weren't even merchants as they had no caravan and didn't even have any backpack to keep food in, as if they didn't expect to stay in the forest for long... "Users of the light." Phaestus hissed in rage causing the shadows to shudder and the paladin and priestess to stop in there tracks.
"Did you feel that?" A definitely female voice asked as the preistess lit up the area with an orb of holy light, destroying all of the shadows around them. Phaestus couldn't see them up close but now he could see where they were as the orb was like a beacon in the night. Walking through the shadows like they were gate ways he found himself at the edge of the light in no time, his anger almost boiling over. How dare they defile this place with there presence! Thinking quick he threw a ball of dark energy at the orb of light, extinguishing it so that the crusaders could not see and used a bit of magic to silence the preistess so that she couldn't conjure up any more holy light.
"You dare enter my home?" Phaestus growled, his words warped by the amount of dark magic he was giving off in his rage. Not waiting for an answer he sent a blast of flame from his palm at the paladin who blocked it with his sheild which glowed with a faint arua of holy magic. "An anti-magic sheild? When I kill you your weapons will be added to my collection!" Phaestus roared as he lunged at the priestess, grabbed her by the throat and picked her up off the ground, begining to leech her of her life force. Hearing the strangled calls for help from the preistess the paladin leapt to her aid, bashing Phaestus to the side making him release his grip on the preistess.
Hyperenor Bretel and his sister Isabelle Bretel had been sent to a small village to ask around if there had been any sighting of a necromancer in the area. To their surprise one of the residents, an elderly woman who had been an apothecary admitted that there was an old necromancer living in the woods. She told them not to trust the other villagers as their families had been friends with the necromancer for generations. She gave them directions to his home which was located deep within the forest, but was easily accessible by a trail that the necromancer himself walked to get to the town. Thanking the elderly apothecary they had set out in search of the necromancer in the forest, which they hoped would only take a day's time as they had limited supplies and gold.
Wandering in the forest for the whole day, half of that in the rain, the two siblings had finally found the path and had been walking along it until they both felt a large amount of unholy magic being used nearby. Within the span of a second the siblings were forced to defend themselves against the extremely powerful necromancer. "I can't see a blasted thing!" Hyperenor whispered to Isabelle as he helped her up from one of the necromancer’s vicious attacks. She was breathing heavy and if he looked hard enough he could make out her now pale face.
"I can feel the light returning to me! Let us not fight in darkness anymore!" Isabelle said as she created another orb of holy light but this time made it flash brightly so as to blind the necromancer which worked out perfectly. Phaestus rubbed wildly at his eyes as he hurled a bolt of lightning randomly, missing and hitting a tree instead.
"Damned holy light!" He shouted as Hyperenor and Isabelle watched in shock as shadows wisped off of the necromancer's body, making the illusion on the robes flicker revealing to them what he truly sounded and looked like.
Finally regaining the ability to see, Phaestus glared at the gaping paladin and priestess. "What are you staring at?" He yelled then realized that he sounded like himself and not like an elderly old man which made him look down at the robes and notice the shadows smoking off of it. Before anything could be said or done a tear in the fabric of the world opened up in the middle of the three, having a pull strong enough to make some of the trees shake. Screaming, the three were sucked into the tear and it shut after them making it seem like they were never there to begin with.
Stepping from behind a tree the old woman steeped into the clearing with a large smile on her face. She seemed to waver for a second before her illusion was torn to shreds, revealing a tall shapely woman wearing a nuns robe. The nun smiled gently then opened her closed eyes, which had an unnatural light radiating from them as they were completely white. "Exactly as planned."
"Ow... Why does it feel like I just went through a demons digestive track?" Phaestus said as he woke up, his whole body aching as he tried to get up. Finally succeeding in sitting up he looked around at his surroundings and was shocked to find himself in a clearing where he could clearly see the bright sun. "Where the hell am I?" He said quickly looking to the side as he heard a groan come from his right. Looking like someone had just thrown them off of an air ship the paladin and priestess lay not far from him on the grass. One wore the painted white steel armor of a paladin of the holy sun and had a sword and sheild laying next to him, while the other wore the robes of a priestess of the holy sun.
Looking around Phaestus couldn't seem to find anything familiar about his surroundings, which only meant one of two things. He was either in part of the forest that he hadn't been in, which were extremely dangerous areas, or he wasn't in Dartwood any more. That last thought sent a shiver down his spine as the forest seemed to grow darker, and not in the good way for that matter. Hearing another groan come from the paladin and priestess Phaestus ignored his pains, stood up and hobbled into the forest, crouching inside of a bush to hide. Peeking out of his cover he watched as the paladin pulled himself up using his sword so that he was standing, and quickly helped the priestess stand.
"Show yourself necromancer." The priestess said calmly as she seemed to scan the shadows for any sign of him. "I can feel your dark presence." Phaestus silently cursed the goddess that the Order of Dawn prayed to for all the problems that he ever had. Quickly checking over the enchantment on his robes he found that it had been dispelled by the cleansing light the priestess had used against him. Growling in frustration he looked back towards the pair, the paladin growing restless as he scanned the forest.
He could easily slip away if he wanted to, all he had to do was turn around and sneak away from here and they would never know where he went. Phaestus was about to leave the pair behind when the thought of being like one of the other necromancers invaded his thoughts, making him change his mind. With a large sigh he stood up and walked out of the forest, the rustling of leaves alerting them to his location. The pair stared at Phaestus as he stared right back at them. neither of the opposing forces wanted to make the next move, but the stalemate was ended as Isabelle stepped away from her brother and towards Phaestus.
"You live in these woods, would you know where we are?" Isabelle asked, drawing Phaestus's attention away from Hyperenor and his hostile glare. Phaestus stared into Isabelle's bright eyes as she returned his stare with a calm authority that demanded respect.
"I have lived in Dartwood for my whole life, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that we aren't in it anymore." Phaestus said as he watched the pair with a glint of distrust in his eyes.
"I was afraid you'd say that..." Isabelle muttered, looking around she could already tell that the trees were not native to Dartwood.
"Then where are we monster?" Hyperenor asked with as much rage and hate as a barbarian berserker about to rip out there enemies spine. Phaestus seemingly ignored the question and him all together and instead turned to walk back into the forest but stopped and turned slightly.
"I will leave a trail of dead plants, follow me and you will find your way out of this forest. Don't, and you will be a nice meal for the wolves." He said, disappearing into the shadows of the forest. Hyperenor and Isabelle looked to each other and both knew what the other was thinking, even if they were two different opinions.
Isabelle walked to where Phaestus had been moments before and found that his words were true, as a trail had been cut out of the forest with dead plants on either side of it. Turning back to her brother she could see the doubt in his eyes, but if it was really the way out of the forest... "I don't trust him." Hyperenor walked over to his sister with a glare as he looked down the trail that had been cut through the forest.
"You don't have to trust him, trust me." Isabelle said as she placed a hand on her brothers shoulder, giving him a reassuring smile. Hyperenor chuckled as he returned the smile, sighing as he shook his head.
"Dear sister, you are going to be the death of me."
