Runes of Magic US / AU

--Before I begin, I imagine it best to inform all readers and potential followers of this thread that the concepts behind this story in particular were my own works, despite the setting and practical application being those of Runewaker and Frogster America, Inc., as well as some bits of help from angelfire.com for the sole purpose of giving meaning and depth to names used here. Just getting my legal stuff out of the way. Also please, do not take my ideas portrayed here and use them as your own; intellectual theft is against the law but more importantly (to me at least) extremely offensive.

On another note altogether, feel free to PM me comments and feedback if you so desire, but I would prefer (though will do my best not to complain otherwise) that this thread have only its writer (being myself) doing its posting. Thank you much.--

"This is nothing..." Kethas told himself over and over, only once audibly as his keen ears twitched from the sound of something besides his own raspy breath. From the safety of what cover he could find behind a boulder at the base of Cyclopes' Mountain he watched the patrols. Perhaps not the colossi he had imagined, but certainly nothing he would want to take en masse. No wonder his brother had found a difficult time here; the man was a frontal combatant, even if he was a sneaksman! And for the first time in his life, their roles were reversed. Tahltril had always been good about pulling himself and Kethas out of a poor situation but for once Kethas found himself alone and at odds with the likely outcome.
After a moment longer surveying his surroundings, the hunter restrung his bow, running his thumb along the single rune etched on the handle as he gripped it loosely, his natural peace returning to him as he felt the added weight of what he already knew to be twenty-five arrows drop into the quiver at his side. "Nothing at all."
He reached for an arrow, taking a brief moment to aim and simultaneously draw the string back, firing dead-center on the chest of a Cyclops at the center of a small mass. Over and down the beast fell, though the giant wolf accompanying it was first to notice. First to spring, but Kethas stood tall, already nocking another arrow. "Come and get me!" He called, resting a foot on the boulder as he fired again into the ground at the center of the gathered circle. The arrow itself never impacted, but instead burst into a light blue circle, expanding out through the Cyclopes nearby and outright cleaving them in half, while another arrow shot immediately after into the charging wolf's head.
Kethas grinned for a second, before taking off for the tunnel of massive bones he spotted with ease in the blizzard. Despite his more armored attire he didn't have much trouble keeping a quick and steady pace. The material was hardly what he considered protective, but between its lightweight frame and the lustrous tendencies of his armor that he strove for anyway, he preferred it over the standard hunter's armor. Still he doubted it would do him much good with the brutes patrolling the area, and he had to be careful as it was. He glanced down to the quiver hanging off his belt. Twenty-five arrows, still - or to be more precise, again. That bow never failed him, not once. On with his hunt, he noticed a recurring trend with the Cyclopes' defenses. There was more than enough cover to dart from wall to wall, obscuring himself without any trouble at all, but that didn't stop the bridges and inclines from being double-manned. In his own defense though, he thought them idiots as a whole; hardly any armor at all, not that a barbarian could fashion anything to stop a cold, straight shot of his bow anyway.
As he neared a bridge, he decided on a secondary tactic. Still behind his cover, he pivoted on a single foot around the bend and took aim of his bow, angling his shot slightly over the intended point of impact for the arcing trajectory to land spot-on. One shot was all it took, and even though it missed its mark and buried into the creature's shoulder, the resulting off-balancing spin left him falling over the bridge's edge, while his comrade caught Kethas ducking back under cover and with a roar, gave pursuit.
Kethas had exactly enough time to nock an arrow before the creature was upon him, crashing into the Elven figure with a fury that the hunter could not have anticipated and thus disarmed of his weapon of choice, Kethas struck the mountain wall with his back, falling but not helpless. The ground beneath him was enough to ensure he would have a chance to move, but as he drew the sword that Tahltril had given him before his departure, he knew well enough he wouldn't make it to his bow in one piece if he were crushed between a Cyclops and a rock wall.
Still it came, but Kethas could only smile. With a last-moment resolve, he jumped to the side and rolled over his shoulder to regain his balance, just in enough time to catch the giant fist in the stomach, disarming him completely as he flew back several paces' worth. Still, there his bow was, right next to where he had landed, even if he was prone. One, two, three oncoming steps could be heard, as he reached his bow, nocked the same arrow again and took brief aim. The beast moved to crush him in the chest, but the Elf would not surrender and, with a single shot through its chin, silenced its roar. Satisfied that he had slain the beast, he lifted his head and back such to come to a seat just as its carcass landed with a resounding thud a mere four inches behind him. It would take some time to recover from the creature's strength, but Kethas didn't care; his brother was suffering worse, beyond the shadow of a doubt.
He stood, stumbling over to his sword and retrieving it with a passive stare to the runes carved into the lower end of the blade. "I'm coming," he said as if Tahltril were still there beside him, "Don't you dare die..." He blinked, forcing a tear from his right eye as he sheathed the blade and moved onward. Every bit of cover had become less a place to hide in his eyes now; in his dire need of recovery, they became a place of brief rest to get over the weariness that the strike to his stomach had induced, but he still carried on. Up the pass, through the masses as silently as he could, he reached the entrance to the Cyclopes' Stronghold only to find the most unlikely figure outside its doorway.
"So you did come for me." Tahltril said calmly, darkly from behind his well-armored attire.
Kethas only stopped and stared. It was definitely his brother's voice, but so far as he knew the man wasn't even strong enough to wear anything like the massive metal armor he seemed to be carrying without effort. "What happened?" He asked, his voice weak more from disbelief than injury.
Tahltril spread his arms wide, clearly indicating how very little anything had surprised him. "The curse, Kethas! The Black Shadow, don't you remember?"
"That was years ago, it was purged along with the source!"
"Wrong!" Tahltril lowered his arms, his gaze coming to a glare. "Haven't you realized by now there is no one source for the Black Shadow? Look around you for even a second and you'll see what's happened here! The Zurhidon control everything, brother. The creatures you encountered even scaling this mountain are all their puppets. So you spend your time striking the weapon while the weilder remains unnoticed. How fool can you be?!"
Kethas stood silently, hardly able to believe what he had just heard. If the Zurhidon were behind his initial suspicions, as well as the Black Shadow as a whole then that could only mean that it wasn't going to end.
That his own brother would never return to him...
"You can't be serious." He said, tightening his grip on his bow. "If the curse remained then why did you return to me after we left Silverspring together?"
"Reprieve," Tahltril explained. "A rest for the foolish. To be honest, exactly for this; the moment you realize how absolutely strung-on you've become. What will you do? Strike me down? Good luck with that..." At just that moment, a long staff came around Kethas' throat, held against it by an unearthly force, but upon even mild inspection he realized it to be an Oak Walker, a creature of Mother Earth's conjurations. "Give it up Kethas. I could kill you here and now if I wanted."
"Why, then...?" Kethas asked between painful gasps, struggling to free himself from the Walker's grip. "Why don't you?"
"You want me to?" Tahltril replied with a chuckle. A single springing step and the drawing of a massive blade from off his back left the hunter at odds between an Oak Walker and a greatsword held with ease in one hand. "If that's what you want, I'd be happy to oblige."
The Walker released Kethas to fall onto his knees in the snow. "Damn it, Tahltril... have you given up so easily? Last time you left me with a game of chase through the abbey in Silverspring. What's your game this time?"
"Still clinging onto hope?"
"I want my brother back!" He shouted, on his feet in an instant. "I want the man I looked up to as a hunter returned to the Kennyrnddare family, why else do you think I came all this way?!"
The cut of Tahltril's blade from shoulder to shoulder left him gasping for breath, and Tahltril set a heavily-armored boot on the hunter's shoulder, dropping him face-first into the snow. "You have a long way to go before you find what you're looking for. If you're really going to be this persistent I advise you cut this little chase and make your way to Aotulia. You'll find your answers there..."
Everything fell into darkness for the elder of the brothers, but still he knew himself to be alive. The trouble was, he was very nearly on the opposite end of Candara from where he needed to be. "Damn it..." he whispered, "how could I be so naive?"

Dusk had fallen over the Eastern Valley on the Elven Island, but even the dark of night could not stop Kethas from his diligence. Pouring over one book after the next even in the confines of the upper library he took no notice of the waning hours of day, fading into the black-lit dark of night. Not until a voice caught his attention. "Kethas... you've returned?"
It was a familiar voice, one he recognized immediately to belong to Feratae Orlerretyn. The one he had grown to admire for more than her skill in the fields of magic - which in themselves were in no way to be underestimated - but also for her as who she was. Even through everyone's relentless accusations of the two conspiring to become a mutual pairing later in life he refused to admit it, but the fact that she recognized him in the dead of night gave him pause to question if in fact rumor weren't true. "Have you heard what happened to Tahltril?" He asked, closing the book he had in front of him, slowly.
"Sadly to say I haven't." She said quietly, sitting down across the table from him. "Did something happen during your travels?"
Kethas spun the book about on the table before giving it a nudge in Feratae's direction, revealing the title The Black Shadow upon its surface. "We separated years ago, after he fell victim. I've been working to find a means to eliminate it but so far nothing came up. In fact he very nearly killed me a week ago."
"What?" She rose from her seat, both hands coming down onto the table with a resounding smack. "Why didn't you tell everyone earlier? We've been worried sick, Kethas. What is it with you and being so pathologically unable to-"
"To expose the fact that I can't take care of my own younger brother?" Kethas countered, aggrivation burning in his eyes. "Who else's responsibility is he, if not mine?"
Feratae silenced, slowly sinking back into her seat and dropping her face into a hand. "Do you remember what you told me when we first entered into the academy?"
"Never again will I hide the truth." Kethas reiterated the exact words.
"Why do you?"
He remained silent, deep in thought.
"Kethas?"
Several more seconds passed in silence. "I had hoped to change the truth before it blew out of control."
Feratae stood and stepped around the table, wrapping his sunken frame in a loose embrace. "Let me come with you, Kethas. I may not be as hardened as you are in the ways of battle but I can help you somehow, can't I?"
Kethas shook his head, dropping it to the table. "It shouldn't have to be on anyone else's shoulders though..."
"It's either my shoulders or the world, Kethas. How do you think you would feel if this escalated beyond something the entire Elven race's comprehension? Do you want that to happen?"
Kethas' breath halted, and for a moment he looked up, staring into her green eyes hovering directly over his head. "Do you know something about this?"
She sat down again, this time in a chair beside the hunter. She opened the book he had shown her to a page near to the back, flipping once, twice before she stopped at a paragraph she recognized to be the subject of her search. "It is said that however unproven, victims of the Black Shadow are not at a pure loss as they are caught in an exchange. The victim's will is lost in the desire for power, which is subsequently granted at the cost of their soul."
"What?" Kethas asked, sheer disbelief marking his quiet voicing.
"However," she continued, "the loss of a victim's soul can be reversed if the body is slain and brought into rebirth through the will of Mother Earth."
Kethas again remained silent for several seconds. "What do you propose we do then?" He asked, his breath slightly shaky out of dread for any potential risk.
"Look, Kethas." Feratae said calmly, turning to face him. "It's no secret that I've admired you since long before our academy days. Do you remember what I told you, how no matter how fool you can be, I would always be here for you. You came back, Kethas. Now I'm the one who wants to go."
Kethas bit his lip and closed his eyes. "You remember what was said of us during the years we spent growing and learning our own ways? Is it true, Feratae?"
She nodded, leaning back in her seat. "I thought you knew..."
"I suppose that makes us equal fools then, doesn't it?"
"Not quite," She stood, offering him a hand to help him to his feet. "I still know what to do, and you still have the means to see it through."
"He's my brother!" Kethas shouted, remaining in his seat. "I can't just kill him!"
"What else do you suggest then?" She countered, tense but in no raised voice. "In his right mind, do you think he would have wanted anyone but you to stop him if this happened? Kethas, why can't you see how plain this is? He needs your help, and you need mine. Fate may be a fickle hand, but it is no less precise in its works."
Kethas lowered his head, finally accepting the woman's hand and coming to his feet. Even with his eyes closed, he may as well have seen her close her arms about him and hold him protectively in her grip. "I'm sorry." He said faintly, "I shouldn't be so selfish."
"You've done nothing wrong, Kethas." She assured him. "Come, I doubt you had any plans to lodge for the evening; you can stay with me the night."

The winding tunnel from the wilds north of Silverspring into Aotulia were no comfort for Kethas, as he could not for a second dismiss the rising heat from the areas ahead. Even as he measured his surroundings the walls appeared to have been overheated time and again, begging him to wonder if he had not taken up a venture into Hell itself. Even with Feratae beside him lending what support she could, he was still uneasy about the travel in itself.
"Kethas, why are you so silent?" She asked, stopping him at his shoulder and turning him to face her. "This was what you wanted, right? To bring Tahltril back from the Shadow?"
"It's not that." Kethas reasoned, "Everything that's led to this point has been by my lonesome. Now that you're here beside me I feel as if I can't carry my own responsibilities anymore."
She sighed, "Don't be so down on yourself. This matter goes far beyond you and Tahltril, don't you see that yet? The Black Shadow was what purged us from Zandorya in the first place, left our corrupted bretheren to their ultimate fate of tearing each other apart."
"I know that," Kethas said bluntly, "What I don't know is why it reached Candara. Its affect on humanity is next to nothing, so why would it be manifested where the population is almost entirely human?"
Feratae silenced and lowered her arm. Several seconds passed in silence. "This isn't just about your brother, is it?" She asked, her voice hardly even a whisper. "What happened when you two last met?"
"He said to cut the chase. After nearly killing me he said I would find my answers here, but at the same time for all I know I could be following along a lure. Playing right into their-"
"Kethas, don't say that!" Feratae stepped out in front of him, eyes cold. "You're reading too far into what you have no proof of and besides, if he let you live that's reason enough for me to believe you still have reason to hope! Don't do this to yourself; I'm not afraid to meet the same fate as you would, death or otherwise."
Kethas sighed and removed his bow from behind his back, stringing it as he did so. "I never quite understood that." He remarked, "How where one person can't do something for the sake of a whole nation, they can do it for a single person of the residing nation. And yet, it happens all the time... why?"
"Love, Kethas." She explained, "That's what you never understood, is the emotion that binds two together. Two not entirely unlike us I might add." She trodded along, nearing the corner into the open of Aotulia's volcanic atmosphere. Her smile lowered as she blinked. "And the same that binds you to your brother. Come on, he's probably waiting."
With a faint sigh Kethas set his bow at work forging arrows to use later on, but as he turned the corner beside Feratae he outright scowled. The scenery was bleak at best. What could best be compared to a desert wasteland held even one more flaw to it; the sparse vegetation in the desert was replaced by massive boulders in its place. "How could anything even live here?" He asked.
"Not everything is kindred to Mother Earth, Kethas. Look ahead of you."
Kethas peered into the distance, distinguishing multiple large wormlike creatures feeding on the ground itself. Scattered among them were other creatures, bipedal which had mouths fully taking up two thirds of their heads. Certainly hunters, but he could only guess they fed off the worms themselves. "So I see..." He said glumly. "Only way to go now is forward, right?"
She nodded silently, and the two of them made their way slowly along the volcanic waste. The air itself was difficult to breathe, but Kethas at least made no sign of irritation. Feratae on the other hand fell over twice out of sheer inability to breathe. Still after several minutes' trekking, they reached a small camp of oddly-scaled humanoid figures which Kethas recognized almost immediately. "Nagas..." he muttered, reaching down for three arrows at once from his quiver. Caught between four knuckles, he measured the distance between himself and the nearest, satisfied he wouldn't have a difficult time striking. The trouble then was whether he would be able to drop one with any number of shots. One into the next, he flipped the arrows up in his grip and fired a brief volley, all three streaking through the air in a steady line, each embedding into the naga's armor. Still the creature noticed the source and came charging. One, two, three more shots from Kethas' bow and the creature finally fell face-first into the ashes, dead only four paces from the Elves. "I think we're taking the way around the camp..." He said simply, "Come on."
Quietly, with a brief moment's pause as Feratae stumbled and very nearly coughed, but Kethas muffled her mouth well enough to avoid any attention-drawing noise. After she took his hand and got back to her feet, they made steady progress behind the nagas' tents and through to a long valley. The air was more clear there, and it was only twenty paces in before Kethas finally fell to his knees and coughed up a small bit of ash that had collected in his lungs. A small green weave of wavelike energy spun about him and an immediate relief overcame him as he looked around, suddenly curious but it didn't take long to realize the source. "You can thank me later," Feratae said with a smile, offering her hand to help the man up, "I'd hate to slow you down too."
For a second, Kethas didn't know what to say, and as such he took her hand and rose to his feet, but he found he had to say less than he had figured as she pulled him into an embrace and hugged him. By comparison she felt cold against the heat of the volcano, but it was no less a needed feeling for him. "Thank you," he said, utterly disregarding her advice.
"I've been doing some geographic studies while you were away," she said as she pulled away, "through this pass is definitely notthing I'd call normal. Construction everywhere, homes embedded in the rock. We may be able to find haven there."
"I don't want to find a haven," Kethas said, setting his pace again. "I want to find my brother."
"But you need to find safety! You're as likely to die of the air around you as you are to fall victim to a naga's blade! Don't give up on me now, Kethas." Feratae said, having to jog to catch up for a moment. "You don't realize how valued you are, and not just by me."
"Alright," Kethas said, still resigned in tone. "It's still forward, at least."

The sight of Dimarka was a half-welcome one to Kethas, with its structural compounding within the natural stonework providing a point of interest for the hunter that wasn't his brother - a much-needed reprieve as he found to be the case within mere seconds. The hollowed-out mountains serving as natural buildings reminded him faintly of his home on the island, how the structures on the elven province were in fact woven among the trees' branches themselves. Without any trees to serve the same purpose, he found the resemblance to be unique, giving him a much higher tolerance of the volcanic environment.
"Kethas..." Feratae's voice snapped him from his lost gaze, "When you do meet with your brother again, are you sure you can do what you need to?"
"No." Kethas shook his head slowly, lowering it as he said it. "But at the same time, how can I not? It's in his best interests, especially if the shadow does fade."
Feratae remained silent for several seconds. "Do you remember when we would always meet after courses at the academy? How Tahltril would relentlessly prod you into an admission you were never willing to make?"
"Why can't you just tell her, Kethas..." Kethas repeated from memory, his voice a mere whisper, "Why can't you just admit you love her?"
"Why couldn't you?"
Kethas remained silent.
"Why can't you?"
"Because I'm afraid."
"Of what, Kethas?" Feratae leaned back to the wall, holding both hands as if to measure unseen options. "If an admission of love is made and rejected, then you've lost nothing. At the same time, if you make no such admission you only burden yourself with the agony of your own silence."
"That's not it though." Kethas looked up to Feratae, his eyes cold but understanding nonetheless. "I've always been a hunter, a fighter without witting vulnerabilities. To love is to leave yourself open to injury from your lover, which I cannot accept the possibility of."
"How can you say that, though?" Feratae closed her hands and dropped them to her sides. "Humanity has drawn so much strength from the bonds they hold with each other, as have we. You've seen it before, I'm certain. Even the more vile creatures of Taborea cannot survive by one's lonesome, so how can you expect to? Sooner or later you're going to give out, Kethas. You can't stay strong alone, believe me. I've tried."
"When?"
"When you left!" She pushed off the wall and stepped forward to him, leaving him to retreat slightly. "How couldn't I? Kethas, do you even realize why he kept prodding you to say it? He's your brother, but that shouldn't make him the only one you care about. When you left to find him I was left in pieces, Kethas... I tried to tell you every way I could, during our years at the academy but you would never acknowledge it."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that I've already told you a hundred times and more." Feratae said, calming immediately. "Because I love you, Kethas. I've been waiting for you to catch on, to let me know how you felt."
Kethas lowered his head, unable to speak. Still he felt Feratae's hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to her again, hardly able even to think of anything to say, but she smiled all the same.
"Think about it for a while. You know how I feel now, I'm sure it's not easy to figure out for a first time. Besides, we've also got your brother to think about. On another note, however..." She lifted her hand and looked out among the buildings, as if searching for something she could not find. "I've done my fair share of research regarding Candara, but it doesn't make any sense for a place as well-established as this to have no populace. It might be worth looking into at some point."
"Do you think it might be related to Tahltril somehow?"
"I'm afraid to say it, but he might be the reason for it. The Black Shadow is a deprivation of the conscience. I wouldn't put it past him to make a demonstration on as wide a scale as this without one." Feratae said, but just as she made to speak again she silenced with a worried look about. "But I have a strange feeling we're about to find out firsthand."

Tahltril hopped down from a ledge across the road from where Kethas and Feratae discussed their matters, taking his blade from his back and hurling a hand out in the girl's direction, forcing her into a stasis bubble. His eyes turned to his brother, moving his sword into a defensive position in front of him. "You came a little later than expected, Kethas." He said calmly, smiling. "And in company, too... tell me, what would happen if I were to take the head of this fair maid of yours?"
Kethas stiffened, unshouldering his bow and taking hold of an arrow in its quiver. "Don't even think about it. I told you once already, I want my brother back." He lifted his bow, drawing it with an eye focused down the arrow itself, ready to fire on his own brother. "I'd just prefer not to have to kill you to have him back."
"That's not your decision to make," Tahltril said calmly, his own eyes focused on the projectile. "But just to make this interesting I'll see how much you can handle. I wonder if you can really make me put in an effort."
"Silence!" Kethas fired, the arrow streaking through the air, only to embed itself in the building behind his brother. His eyes widened in seeing Tahltril's agility, even armored as he was. "Just get it overwith..."
Tahltril was not long at all to spring forward, blade sailing unbelievably smoothly as he cut diagonally once, crossing into an x-like pattern and forcing Kethas back very nearly to the ramp behind him. Even through the stream of arrows from his brother's weapon, those few he did not avoid altogether did not seem to slow him in the slightest. Still with Kethas' gained distance he cut through the air, slicing a bluish rift into the vicinity and crashing it with another strike into conveyance at the hunter, hurling him back onto the ramp prone.
Kethas scrambled to his feet, straightening in a jump to the side as he heard Tahltril's massive sword crash into the ground behind him. This is holding back? He asked himself, doubts growing in his mind. He spun around, firing an arrow and focusing on it for a brief moment, watching as it took on an indigo glow. It struck Tahltril as he turned to face him, and the hunter could only smile at the eruption of blood that ensued. Still for a moment Tahltril stopped moving, and only smiled. A circle of chromatic power flowed about Tahltril, before from a massive white spark at his side erupted a spirit of the oak, a massive bulk of moss-colored wood with black eyes and powerful arms. The beast moved in on Kethas, as did Tahltril.
Between the massive punches thrown by the spirit and the deathly swings of Tahltril's blade, Kethas kept on his heels. He jumped off the ramp and sprinted into the road, turning with an arrow already drawing and firing into the spirit. It made no movement to avoid the attack, and with a relieved sigh the hunter realized how much easier this conflict had become. He jumped back, nocking and drawing another arrow only to fire the moment he landed, releasing another two arrows before again Tahltril came upon him, briar thorns spreading in a massive sphere about him and again forcing the hunter into the wall.
Tahltril cut through the air again, the arcing trajectory of his distant sword strike crashing into the wall as Kethas ducked to the side. The spirit of the oak still advanced on the hunter, but to his surprise Kethas jumped onto the creature's head and fired down into it before hopping off again, spinning about mid-jump with another arrow sailing into the massive bulk. Still Tahltril had only started. The spirit vanished into a massive flow of translucent green energy and flowed into the warden, taking a flowing green power over his armor.
Kethas stood still for a moment, appalled as Tahltril summoned a second creature, the oak walker. Its humanoid frame could have best come off as that of a temptress, had its eyes not glistened yellow and the entire architecture of its limbs been so crooked and branchlike. The walker advanced on Kethas, undeniably more quickly than the spirit and again, the hunter found himself angling about for dear life. Where Tahltril would swing, the walker would follow in the nearest open place to sidestep and even then, Tahltril would follow up from that. He had very little room - if any - to make an offensive. Out of the corner of his eye, the field entrapping Feratae surged with energy as he saw a brief glimpse of her trying to force her way out, only to get herself caught both pained and frozen.
Tahltril kept to his toes, using Kethas' sudden defensive to his advantage and pushing forward with no reprieve. Even though he still noticed an arrow or two sailing about, the walker was more than capable of avoiding such measly and direct attacks. Tahltril sprung forward again at Kethas, a fully-circular swing of his sword pre-empting the crash of his elbow into his brother's face and sending him reeling.
Kethas stumbled back, his vision blurring for a brief moment. Again the walker came upon him, forcing him to the side as he surveyed his situation. There was liable to be no way he could strike through oak-enhanced plate as it seemed evident, but his few aggressions toward the walker were doing him no good either. He blinked, his vision cleared, and an idea occurred to him just as Tahltril crashed his blade into the ground beside him again, sheer instinct guiding his feet to the side. With another hop back he let an arrow fly at Tahltril's shoulder, bouncing off the shoulderpiece itself and angling perfectly to strike at the walker's side, catching it off guard and leaving Kethas with both opportunity and advantage.
Another arrow flew forward at Tahltril, but despite the warden's move to the side it burst in midair and caused the flow of energy over the armor to flicker while the expanding ring of blue blew into his walker as well, leaving it to stumble a bit back. He smirked, as he formed the walker's power into another energy flow that wrapped red over his weapon, complimenting the enhancement on his armor. He summoned a third creature, a mass of green crystals intertwined with each other into a flowing circular flow. The nature crystal didn't even move aside from its self-sustaining rotation, and a stream of energy connected it to Tahltril, visibly easing his movements.
Kethas growled, taking a shot at the crystal. To his dismay it simply bounced off, but out of the corner of his eye Tahltril smirked in his advance. He hopped back as the warden's blade cut through the air again, but he found himself caught off guard not only by how quickly he moved so suddenly, but by the resulting trajectory of his swipe blasting him in the chest and sending him flying through the air, tumbling along the road. He managed to pull himself to a knee and fired at his brother. To his relief the green flow around his armor gave after the second consecutive shot, but nothing seemed to slow him. Two, three more in various marks on his brother before he sprang to the side again, turning midair to fire again as he went, finally landing strikes through all that armor. He raised his bow and fired, but no arrow was nocked. A green arrow composed entirely of wind flew in the path, blasting into Tahltril's armor but succeeding in slowing him down. With a few steps back Kethas nocked an arrow and took aim. "Farewell, shadow..." he said in a low tone between pants, before firing a last shot into his brother's head, dropping him backwards and leaving the nature crystal to disperse into a mass of falling jewels.
The stasis orb around Feratae faded, and immediately she ran to Kethas' side, dropping onto her knees and catching him in her arms just as he would otherwise have fallen face-first into the ground. "Kethas!" She cried, "Are you alright?"
"I've been better." He groaned, "But, I'll live."
A quick working of her fingers induced a progressive cure onto the hunter, and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him as though for dear life. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "I know it has to be hard..."
Kethas' breathing eased slightly. "There's no need to be sorry, Feratae. I did what I had to, for my brother."
Feratae stood slowly, offering a hand to help him to his feet which he promptly took with a look over to Tahltril's fallen body. Above the corpse a violet mist dispersed into nothingness, the black shadow having been destroyed. "And in turn, I have something I need to do yet." She walked over to the corpse, running a hand over his various injuries and mending the individual wounds on the lifeless body before going into an incantation with flowing golden spirals of energy following her weaving arms. After several seconds, a pillar of green-and-gold power erupted over the body, and with a delayed groan Tahltril brought himself up to a knee, staring down at his weapon laying on the ground beside him.
"What... what happened?" He asked in a quiet tone, before turning his head to take in his surroundings.
The only thing he saw was his brother, embracing him as though reuniting from a lifetime apart.

"Tahltril." Feratae said with a steady measure of sternness in her tone. "You should know that you've been lost in the midst of the Black Shadow for well over a year now, and if I dare say it your brother is a blasted fool for having gone this far but I think there's more to his reasoning than he's willing to share."
Tahltril looked up from Kethas - who picked himself up a slight ways to allow better view for his brother - and stared on at Feratae for several long seconds. "That would certainly explain the sudden sense of relocation, but..." He looked from her to Kethas. "Why are you two of all people here?"
Kethas looked back to Feratae, fully aware that she knew him through and through for her observation of him being unwilling to voice his thoughts and feelings as they were. He sighed. "You're my brother, Tahltril. Even with all the rivalry and idiocy that's passed between us, I'm still going to go to extremes for the people I love."
Both Tahltril and Feratae stopped for a moment and simply stared. "So it is true then," Tahltril said, regaining a small measure of cheer. "What about Feratae? You ever get over your pride with her too?"
Kethas' glare could have redefined unrelenting. "Only recently." He said firmly, looking over to Feratae, "Call it a confession if you will, but as I'm sure you're aware I've been afraid."
"There is no fear in pride." She said, stepping up to him and coming down at his side. "Just as there is usually no hesitation without negligence. Why didn't you say so sooner, though?"
Kethas had no answer to give. In truth he wanted to answer her question but found no explanation within his thoughts to respond with. Still she smiled and rose to her feet again, as he got to his own and helped Tahltril stand as well.
"Perhaps that was what he was proud of?" Tahltril offered, "Hunters aren't too well-known for displaying emotion. I distinctly remember almost catching an arrow in the arm when I asked Caellae's opinion of me several years ago."
Feratae laughed softly. "Of course. It is wrong of me to judge. It does beg to question though, how you learned the ways of the warden while under the Shadow's influence."
Tahltril shrugged, unable to explain himself. "I don't remember a thing, to be honest."
"Probably better that way," Kethas remarked, "I doubt I would want to remember if it were me cursed."
"I wouldn't even want to remember just watching." A feminine voice called from a nearby building.
Kethas spun to see who had spoken, but at first glance he could see no difference among the terrain. Upon closer inspection though he caught glimpse of an elven maid garbed in green-dyed leather watching from the roof of the building. "And who might I ask has been watching?" He asked, skepticism melding with curiosity.
The figure hopped down from the roof, landing in a crouch that not only softened her impact but did so with such grace that the majority of elvenkind would have paled by comparison. The bending of her. "Lyavain Tyrneathym," she said casually, rising to her feet, "I've been following rumors of the Black Shadow for the past four months, but it wasn't until I caught sight of you -" she indicated Tahltril with a passive wave of her hand, "- that I realized how close I really was. Who are you three anyway?"
Tahltril blinked, looking to Kethas as if asking for an explanation. Neither of the others appeared much more knowledgeable of the situation. After a brief silence Tahltril stepped forward and shrugged as if to steady himself. "Tahltril Kennyrnddare, my brother Keth-"
Lyavain's eyes flew wide, "What? You've got to be lying; the Tahltril Kennyrnddare I knew at the academy was more a dancer than a fighter."
"No mistaking it," Tahltril said with a slight shrug indicating his own confusion, "I remember taking up the dance as well, but since the Shadow overcame me it appears I remember nothing of what happened in the interim."
Feratae sighed, stepping forward with a hand out to Tahltril to keep him from saying anything he might regret. "How much research have you done on the Shadow, if I might ask Lyavain?"
"I try not to rely on books," She responded with a dismissive wave of her hand, "I keep to the field."
Feratae laughed softly and shook her head. "I suggest you leave its understanding to me then, or perhaps take note of the aftermath since you've evidently seen the conflict in itself."
"Which leads me to wonder," Lyavain interjected, "now that it seems your initial purpose in being here is over and done with, what will you all do? I have my own aims regarding the curse but I'm not sure if I could deal with them alone."
Kethas looked from Tahltril to Feratae, noting the unyielding flare in each of their eyes at the mention of plans, but he himself wondered still if this woman could be trusted. "Pray tell, what are your plans then?" He asked, turning back to Lyavain.
She stepped over to a ramp on the side of the road, gesturing each of them nearby as she indicated a massive obsidian fortress in the distance. "I've tracked a small Zurhidon force as far as the route into the naga's stronghold. I figured they were involved somehow or another but I never would have guessed they'd be cooperating with the naga. I'd go raid the place myself if I had any measure of confidence I could get through enough of the naga to get to the Zurhidon's sanctuary, but pitting a rogue bladesman against a full city of naga isn't exactly a feasible option."
"Agreed," Tahltril said simply, measuring his options, "but even so, you managed to keep yourself hidden from us; why not slip past them unnoticed?"
"Patrols," Lyavain explained, "there are so many of them, even hiding at all would be a difficult feat."
Tahltril nodded, idly tapping his armored foot on the ground in thought. "Leave it to me then." He said conclusively, "Naga's are known for their brutal tactics, but when pitted against something as heavily-armored as themselves I doubt it will be so easy."
Feratae scoffed, "Are you mad?" She asked bluntly, "Patrols don't come in groups of one Tahltril; how do you plan on taking them by the half-dozen?"
"I think the answer speaks for itself," Kethas observed. "Feratae, I know you've a fair share of restoration for my own part, why then wouldn't you be able to keep Tahltril from sustained injury?"
The druid silenced for nearly a full minute before nodding decidedly. "You're right, of course. I shouldn't discount myself so much."
"Then it's settled?" Lyavain asked with a smile.
"Seems so," Kethas said simply, "I'm sorry for judging so harshly."
"No point in blaming yourself," Lyavain shrugged, "I'd be skeptical too, having a stranger jump into my business."

"Well this is it then, isn't it?" Keravel asked, looking over to his sparingly white-robed companion, who shook her head with a sigh.
"He may be only one, but I can tell just from here he's got much more power to his name than I'm willing to stand against at this point." She leaned back onto the wall, pondering her options.
Korali Dryearghymn, by namesake the Black Shadow. After a touch of research Keravel had never stopped his relentless search of the man but never would have gotten much of anywhere had Nylis not come along. Of course, for her it had been almost more trouble than it was worth, guiding a mundane warrior to a magical target.
"Well then feel free to stand back - he's dying now." Keravel said simply, before both blades flashed into his hands from their respective sheaths and he charged into the room, out of sight.
"Oh, you damn fool..." Nylis' voice trailed off, hearing the sounds of combat behind her. The weight of the Nagas' weaponry wasn't anything new to her, but they seemed to be colliding an awful lot with the bridges and streets, as opposed to...
The ringing of another weapon caught her attention again, a lighter blade in any event. The acropolis was under attack, by all evidence. She looked into the shadow-dimmed room, unable to see either friend or foe inside. "Hang tight, don't die on me." She said under her breath, as she ran off towards the sound of battle.

Lyavain spared no mercy in driving both of her daggers into the back of a Naga's neck from behind, spinning with both in hand as she saw the tip of Kethas' arrow sail through its head for good measure. Tahltril and Feratae seemed to be doing well enough on their own, even if the former drew far too much attention for his own good. Another two Naga approached her, and while she knew she could probably handle one easily enough it was likely to be a problem taking two at once. Still a short volley of arrows flew over her shoulder, landing in one of the aggressors' shoulder, neck and chest and dropping it nigh-instantaneously. She flipped her left-hand dagger into a reverse grip in her hand and rushed forward, moving so quickly that even to Kethas' trained eyes, she may as well have simply reappeared behind the Naga. A jump and brief spin into a stab on the creature's skull silenced its surprise readily enough.
"Come on, is this all they have to offer?" Lyavain called, obviously displeased by the lack of challenge.
Feratae blinked, seeing an odd phenomenon of flames up ahead of the bridge. From her knowledge of the Naga, not many knew too much flame-inducing magic, let alone any that raised it sheer out of nothing. Still she caught sight of a white-robed figure among the now-charred others, and her questions were answered easily. "Kethas!" She called over to him, "We have a visitor!"
Kethas raised his bow by sheer reflex, but seeing the elven figure rushing to him and the others lowered it quickly. He jogged ahead of Feratae and the others, skidding to a slight halt several paces from the stranger. "Alone in the acropolis, are you mad?" He asked, "How can you not get yourself -"
"I'm not alone!" She called, raising a hand to the dome behind her, "I can explain later, but if you're on business against the Shadow and the Naga, I need your help."
Kethas signalled back to the other three, lowering his bow at his side. "Who are you?"
"Nylis Arkeneamitore, and my partner Keravel Rilynnzea is about to get himself killed, now come on!" She didn't even wait for a response, instead running headlong back to the dome.
"To be fair, the Shadow's source is in that same building she's running to," Feratae remarked, stepping up beside Kethas, "I trust her, for now at least."
Kethas looked over to Tahltril, his decision made by the glare in his brother's eyes almost immediately. "Let's go." He said calmly, not quite surprised as he saw his brother take off in the same moment.

Keravel's vision clouded, tendrils of black forcing themselves on his vision as he moved to take a step back, but fell instead to a knee, breathless. "She wasn't kidding..." He gasped, "Would have been a nice relief not to die alone though..."
Korali chuckled, crouching down and looking blankly to his challenger. "You know, if you weren't so boring I might have let you live. Seeing as how you never even got near me though, that's a little out of the question." He looked up, seeing another figure step in, followed quickly by another. Only moments later three more came in, one of which tossed a hand Keravel's way, rendering him on his feet again quickly enough. Still, the armored figure caught his attention, and he gritted his teeth slightly. "Kennyrnddare!?"
Tahltril nodded, "What of it? You don't think you've done enough to me already?"
"How did you release from the grip?" Korali noticed Keravel's half-playful salute out of the corner of his eye. "Impossible..."
Keravel raised his bow, taking aim and drawing an arrow back with impeccable focus in his eyes. "You're next, Shadow."
He fired, but Korali merely raised a hand, bringing up a sphere of electricity about himself and forming a field immediately behind it, deflecting the projectile harmlessly away. "Am I now? With as poor a display as that?"
Keravel hopped back to join with the others, both blades down at his sides but his entirety quite tense. Lyavain held both daggers out and ready, crouched down with her weight on her back foot, poised to spring at any moment. Nylis' hands flared with small orbs of flame, igniting as hot as her eyes. Tahltril's massive blade held at his front, his breathing easy but his expression one of blunt hatred. Kethas drew again, as Feratae's hands glowed with a faint greenish light. "I'm only one." Kethas said simply, "Think you can take six?"
All at once, an arrow, a massive sphere of flame and a throwing knife flew at the Black Shadow, followed shortly by Lyavain, Tahltril and Keravel. Korali held up a hand, as when several bolts of lightening and a gust of wind appeared about the charging trio they slowed significantly in the wind force, each also injured quite readily by the conjured thunderstorm. The knife and arrow again bounced off the barrier, but the sphere of flame caused it to fade, and the Shadow slid back a step, removing himself from the resulting explosion.
He tossed a knife of his own at Tahltril, indigo flames igniting in its wake and wrapping over his armor, seeming to drop him back a step all too easily, but Feratae quickly swept a hand out, pouring the same green energy out over the lot of them. Korali slid another step back as Nylis called a bolt of lightening down to him, avoiding the impact but momentarily blinded by its light anyway.
In Kethas' continual volley of arrows, one streaked through with a blue trail flowing behind it. To his pleasant surprise a fair number of them struck into the Shadow's frame, and he could hardly help but grin as his eyes betrayed the blue flamelike glow that showed over Korali's dark frame. His vision distorted for a brief moment, and the surrounding activities slowed immensely as he drew another arrow, pulling quite hard on his bowstring and taking careful aim.
So far as everyone else was concerned, a single second had passed between an oddly-blue arrow and an impossibly fast shot on Kethas' part, to which Korali stumbled back another step. Lyavain and the others quickly caught up to him, each of their blades flashing about as they assailed the unarmed mage.
A familiar gush of flame burst up around Korali, and to Feratae's dismay Lyavain dropped lifeless to the ground with a quiet cry of pain. Another rush of energy from the Druid, ensuring everyone else remained intact as she silently resolved to raise the poor girl once things had settled down.
Another burst of flame about the Shadow, before Nylis caught on and threw out a hand to her opponent, a brief spell silencing the man. "Everyone, get back!" She called.
Keravel listened; Tahltril did not. Feratae's singular focus turned to the Warden, even as Keravel's retreat put him slightly behind her.
"Is he insane?" Keravel asked in passing, still with both his swords at the ready.
"No." Kethas answered, without even pausing in his firing. "He's got a rightful vendetta."
Korali found himself on a momentary defensive, ducking under Tahltril's blade and slipping back a step from a subsequent attack. His eyes flickered to the archer, and he simply vanished with a single step, reappearing behind him and setting loose another gush of flame, again dropping one of his opposition.
"Kethas!" Feratae screamed, jumping away from the blast of fire even as Korali turned and siphoned her own life from her in a slew of violet lights. Even still she raised a hand to her own chest and quickly healed herself.
"Ahh, how gratifying." Korali chuckled, "But play time's over. Now you can die, too."
Tahltril gritted his teeth and wove a dimensional hold over the Shadow, turning his eyes to Feratae. "Get one of them up while you can; I can't hold him too long."
Feratae nodded, immediately setting to rebirth Kethas before Korali's banishment subsided. The same pillar of gold that fell over Tahltril's body now lifted his brother from the throes of death, his surprise at seeing Korali still alive hardly comparing to the subsequent focus even as he nodded his appreciation to the Druid.
The sphere about Korali shattered, causing Tahltril a slight daze but not quite so stunning as the sphere of flame from the Shadow. Nylis was well-enough prepared though, and in a quick display of magic had sent an entire volley of such spheres as Korali had just fired, assaulting the man relentlessly. After nearly five seconds of this, he vanished into a wisp of smoke and the mage fell to her knees, gasping.
Feratae stood, quite struck by the sudden display but turning her attention to Lyavain and raising her much the same as she had Kethas. She stood, slowly but surely enough. "Remind me again how much I hate mages..." the girl coughed.
"If I remember right, almost as much as I do." Tahltril said simply, glancing over to the point where Korali had been.