The Curse of Eternity (Belting Out come here)

[Belting Out]

She smiled at him and took the map. It was definitely different than what she had usually been used to seeing back home. It looked more like a painting than a map, actuallym like hours was spent only drawing it. But she followed it carefully and easily, inching in between houses and through bushes and trees, until she reached a huge thicket of bushes, and right in the center was a worn out wooden cottage that smelled of sweet incense.
She gestured towards Vincent to enter first, as something gave her a bad feeling about this cottage, and she tends to trust her instinct.  

[Dante Rosaire]

Vincent took out the note and knocked on the door, and he heard a soft voice answer, "Enter"

Vincent put the other hand on the hilt of his blade and went in. It was a warm, comfortable setting, not quite what he expected. IUn the middle of the room was a table with some food and glasses on it. The smell was intriguing, it smelled like incense, something else he didn't expect to see here.

"Are you Methredel?" he asked cautiously.

"Yes, I am." she said in her soft voice. "And who might you be?" she said just as cautiously.

"My name is Vincent, I was sent to you by Valena." he responded.

Methredel perked at Valena's name.

She looked out the door at Jade, "Please come in, a friend of Valena is a friend of mine." she smiled warmly at Jade and beckoned her to come in.

Vincent nodded at her, "I don't think there's any danger Jade." he said reassuringly, his hand still on the hilt just in case.  

[Belting Out]

Jade inched in cautiously. Something was dreadfully off about this house, but she sat on a wooden chair nevertheless, Vincent on her side, and she asked, "Valena had said we could hear more about the artifact of Eleazar from you?"

She poured some glasses of tea, and said, "Oh, you two young lads wouldn't want to search for that nuisance. You don't want to waste your life away trying to search for something that can't be found. Now drink up. I always love company!" It was as if she was trying to steer the subject away from this artifact, Jade noticed.  

[Dante Rosaire]

He also picked up on the aversion, but he didn't want to push it right now.

"From what i've gathered, the outlands are a harsh place, what made you chose to live here." Jade could tell that he had a strategy.

"Oh, it wasn't my idea, it was my husband Corvus's idea." Vincent raised his eyebrow.

"Is he around? Could we talk to him?" he started to pry a little now.

Methredel seemed a little nervous now. She looked over at Jade and saw the ring on her finger.

"Oh" she muttered, "You two are married?" she changed the subject.

"No, our plans were...interrupted." he replied

"How unfortunate." she said with empathy, "What happened?" she asked.

Vincent was getting annoyed now, "Our priest disappeared, and we have been unable to locate another one." he lied.

He took a sip of tea to calm himself down, "Now, about your husband. From what you've said...it is clear to me that he is a treasure hunter like us?"

Methredel sat there quietly, obviously he was correct.

"He was." she replied plainly.

Tears began to flow down her face. While Vincent and Jade put an arm around her to console her, she explained that Corvus had heard the same legend, and moved them out here so he could search for it. That was 6 years ago. She said that he never returned and there was no explanation for his disappearance.

"I'm so sorry." they said in unison.

"You two should avoid the stone, it brings only sorrow." she said solemnly.

"Well, unfortunately, we need it, it is of grave importance." he said matter of factly.  

[Belting Out]

"We don't want to burden you with our lives," Jade said, "but we need to find this artifact to get back to the life we had."
Methredel considered it a little through sniffs; she couldn't have the guilt of killing these two love birds upon her shoulders over the burden of guilt from killing her husband. But she felt something was different about these two, like they could actually surpass whatever was about to come.
Methredel breathed deeply and gave up. What the hell, she was going to die soon anyway, wouldn't make a difference if they do, she told herself as a grim consolation. She told them of a thicket of willow trees somewhere deep inside the forest. Supposedly the artifact was somewhere in between the trees. She said nothing about the evil dead spirits gaurding that artifact, and the tricks they could play on the mind of mere mortals.
Vincent and Jade left after drinking the tea hastily and excitedly, Jade with a sword that Methredel had given her after she caught her hungry gaze upon it, and left her shaking with the aftermath of her weeping.  

[Dante Rosaire]

Vincent looked amusedly at Jade's new weapon, "I'm not sure what our blades will do against ghosts." he mused.

Jade was able to pinpoint the section of woods on the map Valena gave them. Woods was an understatement, the forest here was incredibly dense, barely enough room for them to squeeze through. There was an aura of evil as they ventured deeper into the forest. As they went still further, it began to clear up, they had more room now, which worried them.

The trees began to chnage as well, they became less grizzly and more pristine, a sign that they were on the right track. Just as Vincent was pondering this, they heard footsteps off to their right.

"A spirit?" he thought to himself.

Almost immediately, a four legged beast emerged from the trees. It was covered in jet black fur and had eyes like a snake. It bared it's fangs and saliva dripped from their needle like points. It was hungry.

The beast snarled and lunged at Jade, figuring she was an easier target. But Vincent threw himself in her way, it's bite missed it's intended target, but it's fangs sunk into Vincent's arm. His eyes popped open, the pain was excruciating.

Instincts took over Jade, she drew her sowrd and swiftly severed it's head from the body. The jaw pressure released and the head dropped, blood was slowly oozing from Vincent's wound.  

[Belting Out]

Jade looked at the head, then at the decapitated body, then at the gasping Vincent. Instinct REALLY took over there, as she has never killed something before. She shook away the troubled thought from her head and scoped the clearing about her. Everything seemed dead quite, although a strange could be heard somewhere deeper into the woods. Jade ignored that and wrapped a peice of her scarf around his arm wound. Neither said a word, still shocked about this sudden attack. They did exchange thanks with their eyes, but just as they stood up they saw something speed towards them from their right. It came so fast, it was just like a blur of black and nothing else. Jade stood, terrified, as it seemed to race into them and back the other side, over and over again, as if it was taunting them.  

[Dante Rosaire]

They heard a familiar snarling sound rip out of the air. It finally stopped right in front of them. It was another creature like the one they killed, probably its mate. It looked at them with a ferocity that he had never seen before. It reminded him of the expression "if looks could kill." its eyes seemed to pierce them like daggers. It paced around them in a circle, waiting for an opening. It came when Vincent blinked; it lurched forward, its mouth open and saliva dripped from its fangs. This time, it was different, they heard what they thought was a gust of wind. When the gust blew past the creature, it dropped dead, like it ran into a wall.

After a few seconds of silence, a shape began to materialize in front of them. As time passed, they could tell it was human, ot had been human. It must be one of the ghosts.

It spoke to them, her voice faded and hoarse, "Why do mortals venture where spirits have lease?"

It looked at them with empty eye-sockets, the only odd thing about it.  

[Belting Out]

At the sight of those eye-sockets, Jade shuddered unknowingly, staring as if hypnotized at this sight. She couldn't speak, like something was holding it down. The ghost -if it was so- laughed at their horror-stricken expressions, and said, "Idiotic humans, can't tell the difference between a haunted wood and a good one." Jade couldn't see how this was relevant, but she kept that to herself. The figure approached them, and they could get a good look at it: it seemed to be a women, but with a ragged worn-out tunic and a dirty dress. It didn't even seem like it was walking towards them, rather floating right above the ground. Jade tried to snap out of her trance, and it worked, as she unsheathed her sword and swung at the figure, but the sword just passed through it from top to bottom, no blood no nothing, only a chuckle from the ghost. She made to Jade with her hand, and Jade suddenly was pushed back violently against a tree. She slumped back down, gasping in pain.  

[Dante Rosaire]

"JAAAAAAAADDEE!" he cried as she recoiled from the impact. There was no fear in Vincent, only concern for Jade and pure anger at the spirit. After making sure she was alive, he walked over directly in the woman's path. The anger still burning in him.

"You'll pay foul spirit!." he practically screamed at it.

The ghost just chuckled again, "my, my, such a temper, you must love her then." that seemed to amuse her more.

With a flick ofg her wirst, Vincent was tossed like a rag doll 30 yards away, plowing into the ground like a stone. Nothing but sheer will power got him up to his feet, he had to protect Jade at all costs.

The spirit smirked, in the blink of an eye, it was inches from Vincent's face. The non existent eyes probing him.

"You are a fool, you should have died then." her lips curled and she began laughing, her voice made his blood run cold.  

[Belting Out]

Jade was out cold for a moment, although it seemed like eternity as she could hear Vincent struggle with the ghost-like female, if it was indeed a ghost and nothing worse. But something in the deep abyss of her mind glowed a fiery red, like something at that moment had awoken. She saw herself, like in a dream, floating in mid air in a black black night. A figure approached her, standing tall and strong, and blazing with fire. She couldn't tell if it was a man or a women, but it approached her nevertheless, and it had on it's fiery face a look of compassion. Jade was unable to move, and she realized she had the sword in her hand. Jade could feel the heat of the flames as the figure approached and placed a flaming hand on the sword, which lit on fire almost instantly but then diminished just as fast. It left the sword glowing with a dull red glow. The figure said something along the lines of, "Use this weapon now to save what's most precious to you."
The dream faded into black, and Jade awoke to see Vincent face-to-face with the ghastly figure, an obvious shiver running down his spine. She stood up despite a broken rib, and, as if pushed by an invisible force, approached the spirit from behind and drove the sword through her translucent head, although she had tried that to no avail before. Albeit this time, a fire lit where the sword had hit home, and it spread throughout the spirits body, causing it to bellow loudly. Jade watched as the spirit let go of Vincent, but exhaustion overwhelmed her and she slumped to the floor, panting.  

[Dante Rosaire]

Vincent thought that maybe the spirit had put him under some illusion, so he pinched himself. It hurt a lot, mostly becuase he used his arm that was in a death grip not too long ago. He sttod there, unsure of what to do next. For a while, Vincent just stood there, dumbfounded. When he looked over at Jade on the ground, he snapped out of it.

He knelt beside her, looking her over for blood or any type of serious injury.

"What was that?" he asked, not sure if she could answer.  

[Belting Out]

Jade chuckled a little at this ironic event, seated cross legged on the floor and panting quietly. "I have no Gaddamn idea, Vincent. No idea." The ghost had disappeared and all that was left was a tiny hill of ash which was almost instantly blown away by the breez. Under that hill of ash, however, was a glimmering object-what it was Jade couldn't say. It was golden and shaped strangely, as if it was broken off from something even larger. The sides of Jade's mouth twitched in a smile; this could be the prize of all this trouble, the peice of that artifact.  

[Dante Rosaire]

Jade gestured toward a shining object. It was glistening in the light and had oddly shaped edges. This had to be the stone of Eleazar, he would put money on it. He got up cradling his arm with his other arm, he limped over to the golden object and picked it up. It certainly appeared to be a piece of something larger, like a puzzle piece that fell out of a box. The second Vincent grabbed the stone, he felt a strange sensation, like he was being pulled somewhere. He half ran back over to Jade,

"This is it!" he sighed with relief.

Then and there, the world around them became distorted, blurry. They didn't move, but they felt like they were moving somewhere else. Before they could even regain their senses, the area around them became focused and more clear. It was not the forest where they found the relic, it was a new place altogether.  

[Belting Out]

Jade blinked as the image of her surroundings focused once again. They were not in that dreaded forest now, that's for sure. It seemed as if they were in some kind of large square in a city large and majestic. There were people in suits that resembled those of cyborgs bustling around Vincent and her, going here and there, casting curious looks in their direction as they lay seated on the marble (which surprised Jade, for they were outisde) floor. She stood up, and scoped around her: everything was an off-white, the floor, the tall huge buildings that looked nothing like buildings but extremely tall modern towers, kind of like the CN Tower, except more advanced. She saw people that definitely did not look human, as they looked more mechanical and mortal. Above her were speeding flying vehicles that went so fast they came as a blur and went just as quickly. Jade was awed in the marvel of this new place, and didn't notice when an army-or so it seemed-of Cyborgs (they certainly looked like them) approached the two, their mechanical armor glowing in the blue sunlight; yes, it was peculiar enough how the sun turned blue.