Closed The returning (Iggy)

[Valo]

91st Winter Somewhere in the streets of Zeltiva Close to midnight He pulled himself to his feet, surprised at the ease with which this action came to him. Eyes surveying the blood and the emptiness about. She - who's voice had been absent to him now, the panic and the desperation that saturated it, now faded - had abandoned him. Hound too had taken off and perhaps it was time for Valo to leave the scene too, for his clothing was now soaked with his own blood and the eyes of possible onlookers would surely make things difficult. This mind a clean slate, acute and agile finally making sense of what just took place. Valo hid away within the smallest and emptiest of alleys, figuring out what it was he wanted to do more than anything right now. And though that answer was painfully obvious, though he knew not quite how to accomplish it yet. Kill Hound was his most cherished thought. The burning urge for revenge. But his wit did not allowed him to blindly stride into death once more and his greed would not allow him to surrender that brand new unlife he was given for the feeling was too wonderful to part with. A great transformation had taken place in Valo that night. Though that shell of an idealistic gentleman seeped all the terrible qualities he had ever possessed. Only now he no longer cared for their disguise. The greed and the hate were no strangers to him now, only a lovely taste upon his lips which he savoured with a maddening grin within his paper white features. A low purr of a chuckle as he came to terms with that he had not quite believed. Hopefully no one saw him, but somehow the new born Returned knew people would ask of the blood and the signs of battle on the cobbles in East Street. People will look for the body, only to find there isn't one. The body was alive. The body walked the streets among them with paper white skin and burning red eyes. Today was a brand new start for Valo. First step on a road to greater things...

[Ignotus Everto]

Ignotus was not a happy Nuit that night. He'd recently exited a very, very, very unpleasant labyrinth, and though he had acquired a new body relatively easily, he was still getting acclimated, and that had left him in a perpetually sour mood. So when he was dragged off from the University by some very frantic garbage men to deal with a supposed monster, the wizard was more than a little annoyed.

"At least something will burn tonight..." Ignotus mused with a mental grumble as he cast his thoughts to his stomach. Though Djed didn't originate there, he liked to use it as a focus. Drawing from a mental well, the Reimancer forced a portion of himself to the border of his skin, then expelled it out of the pores of his left arm in the form of a thick azure fog.

A rope of Res drifted out of his sleeve and formed itself into a ring the diameter of a child's forearm around Ignotus, and an identically colored gel filtered out of the palms of his hands to float in two rippling balls above his shoulders. Coincidentally (to him), Ignotus felt much more relaxed after readying himself for a potential battle. A little woozy, but much more relaxed. He didn't want to think of why, however. "Just because I always feel better when casting doesn't mean anything. Who wouldn't? I'm much safer now. Yes, that's it. Of course that's it. He didn't have a problem.

In a few chimes, he found some sort of scrawny, bone white, angular creature with long red hair. Vaguely human, but most certainly not a Nuit. It was too dry, and far too agile. Some sort of alternative undead, then? It didn't matter. The surface of the right orb burst into flames with an audible roar and a flash of yellow, and Ignotus shouted "Halt!" to the creature.

While he didn't expect that alone to stop it, he had an ace up his sleeve. To be precise, a pulse of hypnotic Djed powerful enough to stop a single target dead from fear. The emotion was only artificially created for a moment, but hopefully its own mind would do the rest of the work for Ignotus. Because he could not afford to do it again.

[Valo]

"Halt!" was the yell that ripped the newly made from his thought, that stopped him dead in his track, eyeing the figure that spoke to him. But despite the new energy that had been breathed into him, he chose not to test his luck. Surely having given him a second chance, Ulrd was not prepared to grant yet a third one, if Valo was to mess this one up to. He was too intoxicated with his new life, too adoring to simply let it go. He didn't recognise the figure, nor the voice, nor the manner with which it spoke so boldly. What he hoped was that the figure did not recognise him either. Though there was little the artist could do to disguise the blood that saturated his clothing, or the skin of paper or the eyes, as red as his hair. And for a moment he weighed up his escape roots. Perhaps it would have been a wise decision to turn back on his heel and dart back towards his home, to conceal him self in the safe embrace of the fire from his hearth and the clutter of his art. If anything was a certainty however, was that Valo wasn't known for being wise, for if that was the case than his heart would still beat vigorously within his chest cavity. "I have no quarrel with you." he called instead, the voice saturated with his calm and bold manner. The manner of a man that feared not the other, the man that feared not death. Though perhaps it was a subtle fakery on his behalf, it seemed vital that he showed no such emotion as far. "Be on your way if so you choose and let me alone."

[Ignotus Everto]

Now, if there were two things Ignotus loved to do, it was learning, and incinerating the arrogant. Fortunately, Valo's eyes motivated him to do the former. This wasn't the first time he had seen those eyes, and he was curious. Very curious indeed... "You are not a Nuit," Ignotus said with a smirk, "Yet you are most certainly not alive. What are you then?"

The left orb began to compress and crackle, "I'd like to know what I've been asked to destroy."

[Valo]

He took a step back, calmly staring down his opponent. Red eyes full of life, full of energy and yet something else, but that quality was unknown yet. "And why must you destroy me? Have I crossed you in some way sir?" he questioned. "Who are you?" Valo tried desperately to place the stranger, to figure out whether they might have met before. Perhaps it was some deep held grudge on the other's behalf. But the artist could not, for the love of Laviku, the love of Uldr or any other god he could bring to mind, place the face. With a sigh he took yet another step back, though this one as very subtle. And for a brief moment his eyes brushed the cobbles beneath his feet before once again looking up at the stranger. His voice solemn for a moment. "Truth it is, for I am not alive any more. Though I was just moments ago before the cold blade of another ended that condition. As to my current condition, I tell you solemnly sir I am not sure." and with the last sentence his voice picked up subtly and his articulation of each word was clearer. The Nari accent was present in the sound. "Returned, is what he called me."

[Ignotus Everto]

"I get paid to." Ignotus said in true deadpan fashion. "It's nothing personal, really. You're just unlucky."
The question of the Nuit's identity remained unanswered. Ignotus was not interested in vengeful ghosts. Or undead.

"You don't say?" Ignotus mused dryly. "Tell me something I don't know."
As if telepathic, Valo did. "Returned?" The wizard repeated, his brow starting to furrow. "Who told you?"

[Valo]

The artist was perhaps a little more cunning than he led on, for the words he spoke weren't those of a tame man, but an attempt to buy him self just a few spare seconds. Precious couple seconds would suffice. And as the stranger spoke, Valo's mind was made. There were two possible escape roots; one to dash around the corner just a few steps back and bolt down the alley as fast as his legs may carry him, the other to go straight though the stranger. A decision to attack. "It's nothing personal, really. You're just unlucky." spoke the stranger and the artist's mind was set. If he was not to keep this unlife of his, he would go down protecting it. "Returned?" the wizard said and Valo took yet another step backwards. this however was not that of retreat but merely to propel him self forward. The friction between his soul and the cobbles should aid him. And if by some miraculous stroke of luck he would reach the wizard before his spells were cast, then the pure rage within the artist's heart would rip him to shreds with his own bare hands. So powerful were those new emotions within him, so liberating was their acceptance. He knew now where this new found hate for everything sprouted from. Not once would it cross his mind that it was merely the spring of human hate that resided within him since birth. Yet that did not matter, for Valo's calm mind was razor sharp with the will to survive. "Who told you?" Barely had the wizard completed his sentence and the blood stained artist bolted towards him, but somehow his speed was greater than he remembered. Perhaps it was not that of wind, nor sound, but he hadn't ever recalled sprinting with quite this much velocity and within moment he was upon the other. A knee to the stomach, slamming the man on the ground and immobilising him with both hands.

[Ignotus Everto]

While both undead, Valo and Ignotus had some severe differences between them. For instance, while Valo was swift and vital, Ignotus was exceedingly sluggish. Just processing what had happened took up two of Valo's strides, and sending orders to his body was not much better. However, he was also much more lucid than Valo, and he knew what the standard anti-Nuit maneuver was. So he had prepared for it beforehand. As the Chained One closed in on him, the ring of Res around Ignotus flared out, and began attracting air. With luck, the force of the gust would knock Valo back.

[Valo]

So he was a reimancer. Valo should have realised this from the ring of res that floated about the wizard. A substance not at all alien to him. A skill which he wished to learn, but had no luck in doing so just yet. A great gush of wind knocked him back nearly a metre, nearly knocking him off balance but he was sharp on his toes. Crouched before the mage now, he allowed but a brief moment to inhale for that very gush knocked all the air from his lungs. Little did Valo realise that he no longer needed to breathe. Scrambling to his feet with a degree of fluid grace, like a cat that barely managed to land on all fours, he once again bolted for the nuit. This time a smaller distance divided them and he would not fail again, but just to be sure, he kept low to the ground, allowing him self a wider base, should the mage try the same trick again. The rage within him, propelling him into action.

[Ignotus Everto]

Valo's gambit would have been clever, had it not been so easy to adjust for. The ring simply moved down and did the exact same thing, with effectively the same results. Ignotus was growing tired of playing ping-pong with undead, so he followed up by moving his left wrist in a lazy mime of an overhead pitch, and the unlit orb swung in a wide arc towards Valo, attracting air to it all the while. The result was predictable. That is, the Chained One was slammed into the floor.

The sphere of Res continued hovering above him in the event that he should try to get up again, and Ignotus flicked a speck of lint off of his shoulder. "Impressive." he drawled, an almost coquettish smile flickering onto his face, "Your will is strong, and your body seems capable of wondrous things..."

In hindsight, he should not have produced so much Res. Granted, he didn't know he was facing a sentient creature worth getting on the good side of, but it still bothered him that, at the moment, Hypnotism was barred to him unless he wanted to hurt himself. "No matter. He will come to see things my way, or he will burn."

Ignotus, in a moment of incredible arrogance, turned his back on his opponent, saying, "And yet, you are not human. Not even close. It's obvious, even from a distance. Although, perhaps I am a little more sensitive than others. You are, for all intents and purposes, a monster."

The Nuit's head twitched slightly to display a profile to Valo, a single eye shrouded in shadow and glistening yellow teeth, "And so you will be feared. But you require protection. Guidance. Had any but I faced you, there would be only ashes. You require, quite simply, an elder undead."

Ignotus turned around fully, closed the distance between himself and Valo, and extended a hand. "I can help you there."