The Demons That Haunt Us (Open!)

Catha-CHING!


The sound of blade piercing flesh was a noise that was familiar to her. A sharp, melodic noise that was brief and high pitched, accompanied by the gasp of an enemy or the squeal of a deer. Many times had she herself been on the wrong end of a spike, pointed at her throat. Today, however, was a good day.

The griffin let out a last hiss, the light in his eyes already fading as they rolled to the back of his head and his body slumped over, landing with a force that shook the earth. The boom that resonated in the ground would have convinced a hatchling that an earthquake had taken place.

Athena let her tail whip back into place behind her, watching as the flies settled on the corps with cold, predatory eyes. With a silent huff, she yanked the hook on her wings from his shoulders and stood up, letting the heat in her veins melt into cold calm.

Taking a deep breath, Athena turned the body over and gazed at the brooch that pinned the amethyst cloak to his feathers.Taking it into her jaws, she pulled it from the cloak, tearing the fabric in the process, and bit down, hard. The iron clicked and she dropped it into the grass.

A paper sat in the middle of the cracked halves. Flattening it out with a hook, Athena bent down to read it. The writing was messy, unkept, but coherent.


She's a white dragon with blue feathers on her back. Lots of scars. Look for one that goes over her left eye. Get the newt that she's friends with as well. Purple dragon with green eyes, wears a red amulet. Kill him if you can, but he's fast.

Athena growled softly and, after drawing back her head, blasted the ice onto the letter. It frizzled and cramped as it was encased in a thick ball of ice, before it shattered into pieces under her back claws.

Taking a deep breath, Athena rose, scanning the skies for movement. Nothing. He'd been the only one to come. Strange, usually mercenaries came in groups of five or six.

A purple streak soared through the sky and an uncanny speed. Storm saw the battle taking place between a griffin and who he could tell was Athena. Why does she always get herself in these situations? he thought, a bit frustrated. No wonder she has so many scars! As he almost reached the fight, he saw them both go down followed by a deep thud. He flew down just in time to see Athena freeze a paper before shattering it.

"Athy!" Storm exclaimed, still panting from his frantic flight over. "Are you alright?" His eyes drifted from one part of the scene to the next. He tried not to get nauseated at the sight of the broken corpse of the dead griffin. He also noticed the broken brooch on the ground. "What happened?" He was suddenly alert for more danger. If there was one enemy griffin around here, what if there were more?

Athena stared at the bleeding corpse of the griffin, eyes trained on the blood pooling around him, staining his once copper feathers red. Poor guy. Then again, he was just a lowly mercenary, he was of no concern to her. Many had fallen at her fangs and spikes, crumbling before her like a sand castle before the sea. Freelance soldiers like him often had low levels of training stuffed into them, and many tried to be too cocky for their own good. Those were the ones she loved killing the most.


She didn't know he was there until she heard the slightest rustle of talons meeting grass. It may as well have been the wind rustling the leaves, but she knew. His timing is impeccable, she thought as the briefest of silences passed between them. Both a fascinating and mildly irritating thing.

"Athy!" the familiar voice was filled with concern. "Are you alright?" she chose not to answer straight away, instead letting him survey the scene and come to a conclusion himself. She sincerely hoped he wouldn't nag about the blood being spilled. Storm wasn't one to resort to violence very quickly. Unlike her, he was a gentle soul, with a warm gaze and bright smile. Oh, how different we see the world, she contemplated.

"What happened?" Storm was panting, he had obviously seen the fight from far off and had rushed over. Then, and only then, did Athena turn her head slightly to the left, to face him out of one eye. Some mercenary guy tried to rip my throat out, she stated, gesturing to the marks left by a sharp beak on her neck.

It was then, when Athena went to scratch an itch on her forehead as if she had just been walking in the park, did she realise she had underestimated her opponent. Her wing came away blood red, the substance dripping into the grass. The world blurred slightly and Athena leaned dangerously to the left, taking a step to the side as she did so.

The drumming started in the back of her mind and ascended to a droning 'THUMP THUMP THUMP' as it emerged. It was a horrible headache, something she rarely got unless she'd been hit in the head. One of her.. unique, little reactions to a bad head blow. Shutting her eyes, Athena grunted, feeling the blood trickling down past her eyes and racing down her cheeks like red tears.A horrible gash started just between her eyes and made it's way down to her nostril. Blood ran down her scales like water down a vertical rock.

Ah, crap, she muttered as wooziness began to rear it's head.

Storm noted how Athena didn't reply right away. He saw blood dripping off of one of her wings, staining the lush green grass below. It was when she turned towards him did he see her other wound, which was a large gash in between her eyes. She stumbled to the left and looked like she was going to fall over for a second. "Oh, Athy!" he said, concerned. He walked over to her quickly, ready to try and steady her if need be. "Sit down! I don't need you falling and passing out on me!"

After this, Storm started to think about how he could bring her water to clean her wounds with. He couldn't recall seeing any bodies of water on his way there. Though he was focused on getting to the battle, so he could have missed something. Instead, he grabbed some clean leaves from off a tree nearby and said, "Here, let me put these on your wounds and put pressure on them to help stop the bleeding. And while I do it, tell me what in the world happened to you."

He was kind of worried for Athena sometimes. Not that she couldn't defend herself. No, she was more than capable of doing that. But he was scared that one day she might go too far one day and get killed. He couldn't lose her again. He had been through that heartbreak too many times.

The world was blurring in and out, in sync with her slow, steady heartbeat. Stumbling again, Athena attempted to right herself and succeeded, for a second. She shut her eyes tight and clenched her teeth. Dammit.. she mumbled as she felt Storm's presence next to her. Her friend demanded she sit down, and like a zombie, she obeyed, slowly lowering onto her rear with a thump.

Taking a deep breath, Athena tried not to think about the blood running down her forehead and off the sides of her snout. She felt stupid. She felt weak. Why was she so weak? Wounds weren't a problem to her, why now did a simple gash affect her so much? She could hardly think as it was. Storm disappeared for a moment and for a second she felt panicked, alone without someone to help her.

However, her friend returned in moments, telling her to let him tend to her wounds. Such an act was only performed by herself or her uncle, back when she didn't know who he was. She remembered how he had patched all her little scratches with all the love in the world, telling her she was a brave girl. The images made her bare her fangs for a moment.

Slowly, she leaned her head towards him, tilting it slightly to give him better access to the gash. Was walking, she mumbled. Then the dead guy, when he was alive that is, slammed into my back from above. We fought, I had him pinned for a sec n' asked him what he wanted. He said he wanted the gold. He shoved me off, came at me, I saw my chance, brandished m' spikes. Boom. He's dead. She shrugged. He was a tough old bird. Didn't even feel him scratching my head though. Guess the adrenaline blocked the pain.

Storm watched as Athena seemed terribly close to fainting. He terribly hoped that she wouldn't. He had never seen her get like this over wounds before. Maybe because it was a head wound? He didn't know, but he had to stop the bleeding. He tentatively took one of the leaves and wiped the excess blood around the wound. Then he took a couple more leaves, and pressed them against her head, putting some pressure against it to help stop the oozing blood. He held his talon there while she explained her story in short sentences.

The story she was giving him didn't seem to fit right. Why would some random griffin attack her and ask her for gold? As far as Storm knew, Athena didn't have any gold. Maybe the griffin thought she was someone else? It still didn't seem right. And what about the broken brooch and frozen paper? There were obviously more parts to the story that he didn't know about. He thought for a few moments, still putting pressure on the gash.

"Well... Some of this doesn't fit in my head. What gold was the griffin talking about? Oh, and what about the piece of paper that you froze? The way you shattered it tells me that it made you angry and that it is of importance, right?" he asked, voicing his thoughts. "Athy, what's going on?"

Athena blinked. The guy was probably promised riches for his troubles. Knowing he'd be going up against me, a substantial fortune was probably offered, she smirked lightly. He knew she was dangerous. He himself had trained her. Oh, that, she sighed, and then she leaned to the right as the world blurred again. She shut her eyes, growling softly.

You know me well, she croaked once she had recovered. Whoever paid the guy was after you as well. That's what made me angry. She chose not to repeat the particular name used against her friend in the letter. It was rather.. belittling, in her opinion, to tell him that he was distinguishable by his short height. Poor fellow.

I don't know what's going on, she sighed, rubbing her cheek with a wing. I ripped the guy apart before I could interrogate him, she glanced at the griffin now. A few crows were settled on him, many circling already, peeling bits of flesh from beneath the feathers. Ouch.

Where the heck were you? she asked, hissing as a wave of nausea came over her and she leaned again.

Storm listened to her story, nodding slowly at the end. He swallowed hard. There were people after them. Things were falling into place now. But that didn't explain who would be after them. Athena's uncle? That was the only answer he could think of, but it didn't make sense that he would be able to track them to Ellesmera, seeing how he was left in Pyyria. Then an explanation came to him, but it still didn't make much sense. Maybe her uncle was the one who teleported them to this world. If that was the case, then Storm would be really angry. After all, being in this world took him away from his beautiful daughter, which still pained him every single day.

He wanted to ask more questions, but it seemed like Athena couldn't take much more at the moment. He helped steady her as she she leaned over again. Deep in thought, he almost missed her next question."I was out hunting," Storm explained. "And I saw you and that griffin fighting in the distance. I came as fast as I could." He glanced over at the griffin to see crows starting to rip at his flesh. Anger welled up in him and he growled and swiped at the crows, scaring them away. Mercenary or not, nobody deserved to have their corpse eaten by birds. He wanted to bury the body, but it would take a lot of work and he wasn't sure if he was up to it.

When Athena leaned, a claw was there to steady her. She shut her eyes, allowing a soft sigh to escape her jaws, which were parted slightly. She wondered sometimes how he put up with her. It was both hilarious and impressive. Her friend had the patience of an old EarthScale, something she lacked. That, and he didn't have a temper. How alike we are, and yet how different, she thought as she glanced at him out of the corner of one blue eye. If she had told her sister she had befriended a dragon like him, Hera would have just laughed. A dragon like her, a rugged, battle-worn female with no patience, friends with a friendly, positive and peaceful male? "Ha!" She would have cried, tossing her head back. Yet here we are..


Storm explained he was hunting, and when he said that she relaxed slightly. During his absence, she had.. worried. Somewhat. A little bit. Ugh. She was growing soft and she had to stop before she became so soft she was like clay. That would be awful.

Athena noticed the amethyst dragon glance to the side. She followed his gaze, eyes narrowing as they focused upon the decapitated corpse of the unfortunate griffin. With a growl that would have scared any hatchling, Storm lashed out at the crows and sent them scattering into the skies. She scoffed. Flying rats, she muttered, observing their hurried departure into the heavens. She looked at her friend, and immediately she knew what he wanted to do.

Letting out a prolonged sigh, the ice dragon spoke. If you want to bury him, do it. Slowly, shakily, she rose, lifting her head to give her an almost regal appearance despite the leaves covering the wounds. New scars. New memories.

I don't know how you do it, she said quietly after a moment.The whole 'White Knight' thing. Seems like a waste of time to me, considering dragons tend to turn around and stab you in the back when you're not looking.

Storm looked over at Athena. Once again, he was filled with thankfulness and contentment that she was his friend. They had been through so much. Her and Sarah were the things he treasured the most in the world. That is, if Sarah was still alive... But honestly, he loved Athena. Not in a romantic way of course, but as family. She was his family. And he knew that whatever happened in the future, he could count on her to be there for him.

Then the IceWing spoke his mind, telling him to bury the body if he wanted to. "Yes, I would like to," he started to say as she slowly got up, "But I don't know if I am up to it. Maybe I will find a body of water to put him in. I don't want to just leave him here, though." He glanced at the body, trying to decide what to do.

Then Athena's next words surprised him. "What do you mean? I'm just trying to be an honorable dragon. I may as well leave a positive impact on the world instead of being dark like a lot of other dragons. May as well be a light in this dark world while I live in it," he stated truthfully.

The pain had begun to fade, leaving a faint numbness in it's wake. Shutting her eyes for a second, Athena allowed the adrenaline fo battle to wash away with it. Dig a hole and bury him in that. Her eyes grew cold as her lip curled slightly, revealing sharp, light blue teeth that gleamed like shards of ice in the sunlight. I'll help with the hole, but I won't touch the body. Damn bird tried to kill me. Her snout relaxing, the crinkles around her eyes disappeared and she let out another sigh that came in the form of a white, wispy cloud.

Sometimes I wonder how we ever got stuck in this mess, she muttered, glancing up at the sky to watch the birds zig-zag across the vast expanse of blue. What with us ending up here, Atrex, dragons hunting us. Slowly, the usually cold dragoness turned her head slightly to look Storm in the eye. Thanks.. For, y'know, sticking with me on this.

Her stomach suddenly decided to demonstrate a male's mating call, and Athena cringed at the sound. Great. Just what she neede. Bleeding like water from a mountainside, and now she was hungry. Wonderful.

Slowly, she got to her feet. She swayed dangerously, but managed to hold herself. Please tell me you caught something on your hunt, she gave him pleading eyes. She wanted to hunt, but she didn't want to collapse mid-flap either.

Storm nodded to Athena. "Fair enough." He was honestly surprised that she would help bury him in the first place. He wasn't surprised that she wouldn't touch the body, however. He didn't know how she did it. Kill so mercilessly and seem so unfazed by it. In the few times when Storm had killed, or even if it was Athena alongside him who did it, it haunted him for weeks. He would see their cold, emotionless, dead faces everywhere. Even in his dreams.

"I wonder that too, Athy," he sighed sadly. Atrex... His golden, amazing, four-winged friend. They were buddies. But then he took that dreadful step and refused to open his wings... All because he thought that Athena was gone... And the awful part was that his death was in vain. Storm found his crumpled, broken body at the bottom of a cliff at the edge of the SkyWing territory. He missed him terribly. That day was a nightmare in itself. The only thing he had left at that time was Sarah. Oh, his beautiful, darling, daughter...

The next thing Athena said made Storm look up at her with care. "Of course, Athena. You are my best friend and mean a lot to me. And the only thing I have left..." He trailed off as emotion started to fill him. Sarah was left all alone. If dragons were hunting him and Athy down, what was keeping him, if it was her uncle, from going after Sarah? I swear, if he does so much as come within a hundred leagues of her I will kill him, he thought, almost surprised at the ferocity of his own thoughts.

Storm was taken aback as he heard a very weird sound. He stifled a small laugh as he realized it was Athena's stomach. On other conditions, he would have probably burst out laughing, but he was too serious for that right now, and had a lot to think about. "No, unfortunately, I hadn't. But you wait here and I'll catch you something," he said, and spread his wings, preparing to leave.

Athena returned Storm's nod with a slight dip of her head, shifting her gaze briefly to the griffin's corpse before looking up at the sky, half expecting to see more mercenaries pouring out of the heavens like rats out of a sewer. If that were to be the case, she would have sighed -probably growled, too- and murdered the lot of them, but unfortunately, no more of Daydris' dragons, griffins or Arkhor knows what else came down for her to spill more blood.

"I wonder that too, Athy," Storm sighed, and she felt her heart warm at the little nickname he used. The leaves rustled in the wind and for a moment, all was calm, just the breeze wafting through the trees, the summer sky alight with the shining sun, and the grass was soft and light beneath her claws. When Storm spoke again, she looked down and met his eyes, a tiny smile pulling the corners of her mouth up every so slightly. Same here. Her thoughts wandered to Pyrriha, her friends, the life they had had.. Sarah. Gods know what poor Storm was feeling, the anguish that gripped him like a vice.

At her belly's plea for food, Athena heard Storm's muffled giggle escape to her ears. She glared playfully at him, chuckling herself. Her friend offered to go and hunt for her and Athena immediately started to shake her head, but the sudden movement sent her world spiralling and that soon turned into a slow nod. Is help you if I wasn't afraid of falling from the sky, she chuckled. She watched him spread his wings her smile faded. Watch your back, she warned.

Storm watched Athena worriedly. He hoped she was okay. He didn't want to go too far to hunt just in case she needed him. When she looked up at the sky warily, that just made him want to be more cautious.

Then Athena did something he hadn't seen in a long time.

She smiled.

It was just a little one, but it made Storm's heart warm, as he hadn't seen it in years. For a short moment nostalgia hit him, and he was with her and Atrex, on whatever crazy adventure that they had gotten themselves into. He missed those days...

He watch her glare playfully at him. He smirked back. "Alright," he replied to her next words. "You watch your back too. I don't want to come back here and have to kick some tail for you." He let out a small laugh before pumping his wings and took off.

// I want to continue this, but what should Storm find? Should he just hunt and come back? Or should we advance this story?

(Should advance the story! What do you think we should do? I have a few ideas, but I want to hear yours first )

Athena chuckled at his words, rolling her eyes at the idea of anyone having to save her. She watched him take off and soar into the sky, and had the urge for a moment to follow him, but she stayed behind. Settling down, she watched as her patched wounds began to heal.


(If you want to add this in, feel free xD)

Little did she know, for all her intelligence and skill in battle, that another had seen the entire thing. Stretching his wings, the dragon flew up into the sky, circled 'round her field of view, and took off after Storm.

// So what would you like to do after this? Should Storm find a piece of the puzzle on how they got there?

As he searched the area for potential prey, Storm couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. It made him uncomfortable. Maybe you're just being paranoid, his brain told him. He looked below him and saw a deer not too far ahead. Luckily, the animal hadn't spotted him. He dove and landed just far enough away as for the deer not to notice. It was a large buck. My lucky day, he thought, thinking how it may even fill both him and Athena up, at least enough for them to keep going for a while.

He stealthily crept up to the oblivious animal, keeping to the shadows of the trees. His muscles tensed, ready to strike. Now! He lunged. But before he hit the deer, something slammed into him from the side and pinned him down before he had time to react. The wind got knocked out of Storm and he coughed, looking up, dazed. To his surprise and horror, he looked up into the face of none other than Atrex.

//Should you play as Atrex's character? Should we both take turns while in our RP posts?