Prometheus walked through the fog using a holographic map in front of him. He followed the directions through the dark landscape. He kept walking till he came to a mountain pass. He sat upon a boulder, "Fucking rocks" he pulled off his ankle high boots and tipped it over as a pebble fell out. He sighed staring at the landscape. "What a dreary place!" He said to the floating grimoire who was staring at him with its one eye. "Yes well it does house the army of the Puppeteer and their body. So…not supposed to be sunshine and rainbows" the grimoire said with a sarcastic tone. "I believe my statement was rhetorical!" He said annoyed. He put his boot back getting up to keep walking. The grimoire and him argued some more as Prometheus accused the book of getting a mouth on them lately. And the grimoire pointed out they had no mouth. They were a book. "And yet your talking!" He fired back. The book fell silent after that. 'Won that one' he thought.
They walked till they saw a far off campsite illuminating the darkness. It was dim but got brighter as they walked. The campsite was in a small cave upon a rock face. Three people sat around the fire. They seemed to be laughing and eating a meal. Outside the little cave was a pile of mythical creature corpses. They were all tired together on a sled. Prometheus scratched his chin as he looked through all clues to discern their threat level.
"Seems they are warriors from the Wolf King. Couldn't be the other warrior tribes here. They are on the other side of the realm and have a pact with the king. So…how to approach them?" The grimoire hovered silently, "Why not approach them at all? We follow them?" It suggested. 'They have a point. But that food does smell good…' he wiped his chin. 'I know Primordials don't really need mortal food but they do make good grilled meats' he thought. "We'll wait and move when they move. Give me time to meditate" he said sitting on a rock facing the small cave.
At the campsite one of the companions was Smiling Demon. He took a chunk off some meat and smiled at the woman Kira. She smiled big at him as they sat telling stories of battle, love, and friendship. Smiling had spoken of his companions of the Land of Madness the happier times they spent together. "They sounded like good friends" she said before taking a bite of meat. The third companion was a middle aged man with a greying beard a big scar across his face. He smiled as he drank wine from a flask. "Your realm sounds exciting" he said. Smiling kind of nodded, "It's definitely more lively than this one. The eeriness of this place being so quiet is unsettling for me?" He said looking out of the cave at the rolling fog. "Oh don't think that" Kira said bluntly. "See this isn't some quiet oasis with a few beasts roaming the land. They are small fry over the real threat out there. See this fog is magically made. It's some design of nature. The Onyx Wall keeps the corrupted souls at bay sure, but that corruption can leak out infecting others outside the wall. Behind that wall is a sea of miasma that can travel on the wind" she explained.
"Our job is to keep the corrupted from spreading. See our numbers were much larger than now. We had teams of towers that lined the wall. Villages that thrived from those towers creating a thriving population in this foggy realm. Cultivating crops indoor using magic and alchemy. It was prosperous for a time. But that miasma has corrupted many of the villages. Those that escaped execution by our blades still roam these lands as nightmarish creatures. Teams of them even still travel as packs killing anything alive. One such horde killed three towers till we put them all down and set them ablaze" she seemed somber at this thought. Smiling could tell she trailed off on this story getting a personal hit from it. "You lost someone to this corruption?" He guessed reading her body language. She merely nodded, "my father…he was one that had to be put down. It killed my mother to do it, but she did it herself. She was never the same. Seemed to break her spirit and she fell into a depression. She died from this guilt letting herself wither away" she said. "I would like to think they found each other again" she smiled. "I hope so. I hope we all get to see our love ones lost when we die" he sighed. "Well best to live for the day over tomorrow" the middle aged man said. The two looked at him and nodded, "Absolutely" she extended a hand for his flask. She took a long swig before handing it to Smiling. She seemed to linger on him before turning away blushing. He merely smiled back. As his time with her had gone on they had spent much of it together. They had drinks, he joined her hunting party, they trained, talked, and she taught him new ways to cultivate more efficiently.
They were slowly falling for each other to the point Smiling would think of her in his dreams. He wanted to take the plunge and be with her. But he knew their time together was finite. This seemed to always derail any thoughts of romance he felt toward her. And it was eating him alive. But it had been something he carried and he just kept up their friendship.
"I'm gonna turn in wake me for my watch" he said. He lingered on Kira's beautiful red eyes one more moment before pulling himself away. He then walked into the cave towards his sleeping roll. Kira stared at the fire. The third companion took one last swig. "You go rest I'll wake you for your watch" he told her. She shook off her stare at the fire and looked at him.
He smiled, "Go on. I'll go sit outside the cave and give you guys some privacy" he whispered. He got up and walked outside sitting a ways from the cave entrance. She lingered and looked behind her as Smiling was making his bed. She smirked and stood she approached Smiling who looked up at her, "Hey you coming to bed too?" He asked nonchalant. She then began to undress before him letting her uniform drop to the cave floor. Smiling looked up at her naked alabaster skin and toned muscular body filling him with a want to run his hands over her body. She then sat upon his lap and she kissed him. Smiling lingered on her lips as he took her breath in then her tongue. He then wrapped his arms around her body pulling him close. She did the same wrapping her arms firm around his neck. She then fidgeted ripping off his clothes. Soon they were intertwined in passion just letting themselves be together for this moment forgetting the world outside the cave. She moaned with delight as she rode on top of him. He was paralyzed by her beauty and let himself sink further into the love he felt for her. He never wanted this moment to end. That's when he rolled on top her pulling the blankets over them to enclose themselves together.
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After the two fell asleep the third party member sighed taking a swig from his flask. 'Best go do my job here' he stood up and his form shifted into a tall man with tight fitted metal armor. A scar across his face lean face and sharp cheek bones. His eyes were completely black and he had a buzzed brown hair. He put his flask on his belt and stretched 'Been here a year and finally my king is ready to make a move. Time to ditch these two and head to the Onyx Wall. Collected the miasma and get out of here' he then sneaked away quietly.
Prometheus could see all this and he had a hard scowl upon his face. 'Well things just got interesting?' He said standing up to follow the mysterious stranger. They travelled around the foggy wasteland towards the Onyx Wall. The stranger headed towards it and placed a hand on the wall. He then removed a piece of chalk creating a magic circle upon its face. He then cut his hand with a dagger sheathed upon his belt. He focused on coating the blood with his chi charging the blood. He then smeared it upon the magic circle's center. The circle then lit up with white light and began to swirl. "What might you be doing here?" Prometheus asked. The man was startled as he turned to face the man who sneaked up on him without a sound.
"Who might you be?" He asked. The circle then turned solid black and purple mist started to leak out of the hole. "You have any idea how much of a bad idea that is?" Prometheus stated. The man turned to the dark circle and back at him. "Sure, but it is what it is" he then shot a beam of light at Prometheus from his hand.
He swiped it away easily and saw the man jump into the hole. He appeared on the other side of the wall into a large barren landscape with still swaying figures surrounded by purple fog.
He then removed a large glass and metal cylinder from thin air. He set it down opened the top and the fog began to get sucked into the tube filling it up. "Well you managed to go where no one ever would? So either your going to use that miasma for something nefarious, or for someone else to do the same? Who do you work for?" The man slowly stood up. He smiled, "Doesn't really matter does it? See I'm not here for something nefarious it's for a purpose. And it's not that crazy that I'm here. I'm the best at what I do" he shot forward like a bullet unsheathing his dagger. Prometheus sighed as he met the impact with ease he kept up with the slash's, stabs, and quick attacks from the stranger. He dodged, hit, and threw in some punches. He held back his strength only trying to immobilize the assailant.
His arm snapped from a kick and a quick jab into his gut made him keel over. He cradled his broken left arm and began to puke. "Let's be civil huh? Who do you work for?" The stranger looked up with wide eyes and drool coming out his mouth. "Who the hell are you? Why can't you just walk away!" He said spitting on the ground. He picked up his dagger with his good arm. "I really wouldn't do that. Just give me the information so I can close this portal before things get bad for everyone huh?" Prometheus had his hands in his pockets as he was relaxed towards this situation.
The assailant rose up weakly. He pointed the dagger at Prometheus who merely rolled his eyes. He pushed his glasses back upon his nose. "Do you have any idea how much danger we're in right now? If not let me educate you. Out there" he pointed to purple fog covered landscape. "Is the worst things you will ever meet. They are beings with no feelings, no intelligence, and above all no quit in them. They will corrupt you and make you just like them. Being here any longer than this is asking for trouble. They will hear us and come running. And with your little portal there. They will ravage this realm" something then occurred to him as his eyebrows became raised, "How did you even bypass the spell on this wall? No one can get through it unless the Wolf King says so at least now after the first break out?" His eyebrows squinted. The man smiled, "Like I said…good at what I do!" He then lunged forward. Prometheus side stepped and slapped him across the face with an open hand. He fell forward, "Come on your just embarrassing yourself now. Just let that pride go and do the right thing. You put all Realms in jeopardy" he warned with a more serious tone. "I know. The realms are already in trouble. We live under a tyrannical system by the Regime and the World at the center! We need a new leader!" He spoke with a maniacal grin. Prometheus looked at him with wide eyes.
'He is mad! Truly insane and that just proves to me I can't let him leave here with the miasma' their conversation was cut short when they both heard a loud screeching. Then more and more followed. The wounded man started to run towards the cylinder filled with miasma. Prometheus moved faster getting in front of him. Before the man's body dissolved in front of him. "What?" He whispered as he looked behind him seeing the man running with the cylinder. 'A damn illusion spell! I'm such an idiot!' He thought sprinting towards the man before he was attacked by a creature in black armor. It had grey skin, pointed ears, hollow eyes with purple specks. They wielded a sword as it attacked Prometheus. He blocked the attacked and drove a fist into the creatures stomach sending it flying. "BARRIER!" He screamed. A force field formed around him. "Soul Weapon: Green Hornet" he swiped his hands in the air outward to his side. He manifested a bow with a green glow and spiral head. He pulled back an invisible string creating a bright green arrow. He shot at the stranger. The arrow flew true hitting the man in the shoulder. The arrow then melted down burning his shoulder with acid. He jumped through the portal in the wall and hit the ground hard. His skin sizzled and oozed as if burned through all the way to his muscle. The cylinder flew out of his hands and landed a ways away.
Prometheus jumped through the portal cocking back another arrow. He shot it in midair the man was then hit in the hand pinning him. He screamed in pain as the acid leaked all over his hand. Prometheus turned swiping a hand as his barrier coated the portal keeping it secure. "What spell is this?" Prometheus demanded. The man grunted in pain as he scooted towards the cylinder. Prometheus was loosing patience as he grabbed the man by the back of his neck. "Answer me!" The man started to laugh. The portal started to flicker as the barrier was absorbed into it. Prometheus's eyes widened "What the hell is going on?" He said staring in shock. The magic circle was feeding on the chi.