Completed The Feline and the Snake. A Bite for Trickery.

[Samantha Grenth]

The snarling stopped as she felt sharp pain on her head. Out of instinct she bit down harder, breaking the skin enough for the metallic smell of blood to side into her nose. It took all she had no to go with her natural instincts and finished him off. She was vibrating and should could tell it wasn't any sounds she was making that were the cause of it. Svan was lucky to be alive as of now and probably wouldn't say that way when he decided to try and get the upper hand. Svan began to talk again. This time Samantha didn't try to ignore the words... she listened. And she was now wishing she had gone for his vocal cords instead of the place she had now. Her gums pulled back even more as she got angrier and angrier. Samantha's body was shaking so much is was pulling on the wounds in her skull and the bite on Svan. Svan then dared to move his thumb so her eye. He applied presure and so did Samantha. If she wanted to play with her life she would love to take his away. She could feel the points of one hand and no doubt his other hand had them. It would take only seconds for him to kill her..but what he didn't know was it was simple to bite into to spinal cord so close to her mouth and all movement of his would be lost. Samantha let out a loud growl that hurt even her ears at the end of his little speech. 'I'm going to murder him. Sicken's him? Who the hell does he think he is! Born into power! Buddy I was born into a family that thought an animal should be human. Four years I lived the life of a human and you think I was born into power? I had to teach myself everything I know. I had to learn to live as the animal I am. And here you are accusing me of being power-driven.' "Times up tiger, let go before I take an eye for an eye seriously." Samantha snorted. Her grip never relaxing his he scrawled away. 'Times up snake, I think I'll loose an eye over this.' Samantha never let go of Svan but moved back over him, ignoring to pain in her eye. If she lost it... she lost it. Waiting until she was back over him she slowly let go. The blood flowing more freely as the holes no longer were stopped. Shifting back Samantha licked the bloody shirt and moved to whisper in his ear. Ignoring the blood running down her neck, back, and throat. Also ignoring the pressure on her eye. "I've only been wild for a couple years honey. I'm not nearly as beastly as you think." She licked any exposed skin in a single stripe, "But if you think putting your pretty little talons in my skin is going to try and teach me a lesson you're wrong." she snarled and moved her face back to her bite, " I think it will just put into over-drive my crave to bite clean through your spinal cord and then eat you. I wasn't vibrating mostly out of anger sweets." Samantha cooed, "But mostly trying to keep you alive. Living as a human, for so long let's you be pitifully merciful." She let out a growl as she licked at the bloody shirt, "But if you try to kill me.... I will make sure you'll never walk again...possibly never move a single muscle. I can loose an eye and not really care... but I don't know how well you'll like loosing feeling." Samantha whisper was low and wild. She kept her eye's closed and focused on the wound in-front of her. Lapping up the blood as it pulsed out. "Something to remember me by sweets." Samantha would love nothing more than to bite it again with her sharp teeth and leave a smaller set of scar marks and then get up and leave... but she was stuck to him and the net didn't allow all too much of movement.

[Licearsvansan]

Marshmallows!

This was roughly the first thought that crossed Svan's mind as the ferocious tiger shifted into a rather curvacious woman. The snake's eyes widened and he visibly blushed as the woman fell onto his lap, though he blamed it on the cold and the suddenness of the transformation. By the goddess, does she want to fight or petch me?! The fact that she immediately began to lick Svan only served to confuse him further. If she starts making moves on me, I'm going to throw up. While he was certainly getting mixed signals sent to his mind, Svan didn't allow his body to miss a beat. When she had tried to roll back over him as a tiger, he had taken care to sink his talons in deep like harpoons, and only lost a minute amount of ground before he caught a rib. If she wanted to steam roll back over him, he was going to take a ribcage and a lung along as a souvenir. He had of course prayed it would not come to that, and he was happy to see that his prayers were answered...sort of. But now he sat on the floor with a naked tiger-woman just inches away at farthest, and he didn't have the foggiest idea of why she had changed in the first place. I don't remember hearing or reading of a time limit for these transformation, and she already tried to seduce me once. So why is she trying this move again. Svan was puzzled. Didn't she realize just what a horrible move she was making? Svan was stronger, faster, more skilled, and smarter than her. Why in the world would she risk turning into such a vulnerable and weak form this close? Did she not realize that dhani are more powerful than humans even when they share the same appearance? Oh wait. Maybe she doesn't. Svan began to wonder. Perhaps she thinks she can escape the net better in this form, or maybe shes trying to prove that she doesn't need her tiger form to beat me. From what she was saying Svan could tell that he had definitely gotten under her skin. At least the shyke's ears are working. Even if nothing between them is. The dhani almost had a bored expression on his face. Well, if someone makes a mistake, the best thing to do is correct them. In his head he smiled to himself. Actually, I think I can knock out two birds with one stone right now.

By the time the woman was half done speaking, Svan was already preparing his next move. Inside his mouth his canine teeth grew long and sabered. Along his jaw line he tore and bent bits of flesh slowly. It was tedious work to make the changes, some of which he had never done before, but at the same time it felt almost natural. Like many of his morphs, he was basing it on his own natural transformations, and so he needed no great focus to do it. Focus was taken however, to keep each movement of muscle hidden entirely within his mouth. He could leave not a single clue to what he plotted.

On the outside, Svan half listened to the tiger. He wasn't giving the appearance of one who's focus was elsewhere, but rather that of a person who was being mesmerized by something. If she was watching him she might even be lead to believe that he had fallen for her in some way, he was after all still blushing. As she shifted her speech to be more threatening Svan lightly chuckled. Lose an eye? Lady, you would lose your mind if I dug that talon into your skull. Literally! Svan didn't bother to correct her. In part because he knew that she wouldn't care, and partly because he could not with all certainty say that she HAD a brain to skewer in the first place.

Eventually the tigress finished talking and Svan figured it was his turn. In his mouth the morph was all but finished. However, Svan was enjoying this moment of peace and wasn't quite ready to see it go. He spoke in a soft voice, neither rude nor kind, "Something to remember you by? Do you refer to the scar or you nudity?" He jested. Svan took a moment to stuff down his gag reflex and look over the woman's body. There were several scars that ran over it, "Is that what these are? Memories?" He let a talon glide lightly over one. Svan let his smile fall to a frown and he spoke with a strange hint of melancholy, "Do they hurt? The memories I mean. Are they painful to you?" He didn't care for an answer. He believed he already knew it. If she was leaving a scar on him to remember the pain she had caused him he had little doubt that her own scars bore a similar meaning to her. "Bloody rotten bits of the past aren't they. Each one a record of our failures. Each a link to something we wish to forget. Svan's expression had shrunk to one who had seen suffered far too long with no reward in sight. "But-" Life returned to his gaze and his voice grew stronger. "I don't give a petch about any painful memories linked to my scars. All I know is that I made a mistake, and payed the price. Now I see two options with my scars. Either I bury my face in my arms and runaway in fear of my past just because its hurt, or I suck it up and learn from my mistakes. Now I don't know what you choose, but I prefer to learn from them. So in truth I should really thank you for this sc-", Svan decided to cut his word short, and kicked his legs out to catch the net and draw it tight to pin her instead. People always expect other to finish what they were saying, and Svan found that he enjoyed the element of surprise he got when he struck mid sentence. His talons formed rings around her arms and slid to catch her forearms in iron grips. Smiling widely, Svan's head preformed a move he had done nearly his entire life. A swift snake bite just below the chin. Aimed ever so carefully so that he could hold control of the head's movements so that a predator foe could not bite him in return. In this case however it served a slightly different purpose. With four inch fangs held carefully on each side of her neck, Svan's own unhinged mouth was forming a murderous collar to keep her from shifting. He only planned on biting hard enough to hold her, but if she changed now then she would take her own life. Added to her troubles, Svan had taken care to follow his own advice and restrain her hands, and to some degree her legs. Even now cold and tired, Svan had little doubt that he was stronger that her in every way. At the very least he could best her human form. While he couldn't see many ways a she could hope to beat him now, Svan refused to allow himself to win this way. After all he was a hypocrite, but only when it benefited him to be so. If she could not find an escape, he would forfeit his current position and climb onto her back so that the fight could resume fairly.

Of course, that didn't stop Svan from rubbing it in while he still held the position. Through muffled lips he spoke, "But if you think putting your pretty little teeth in my skin is going to try and teach me a lesson you're wrong. I think it will just put into over-drive my crave to bite clean through your spinal cord and then eat you. I'm vibrating mostly out of anger sweets."

[Samantha Grenth]

Samantha payed close attention to his movements and face with the one eye she could look out of. His had blushed and that led to a cocky smirk from her part. Though his insults on her body were annoying. "I didn't know you played for the other team." She flashed a smile.

But Samantha was cautious of his moments. Most of her scars she was proud of. She had seen some of the bad and survived. But some she hated... she loathed them. They showed just how weak she could be. Samantha listened to the man but her eye's narrowed as he spoke on. His body was tensing and little but she was too late to catch it.

He caught the net with his legs and pinned her with it. The force of it snapped her head back exposing her neck. Before she knew it his mouth was just under her chin and talons hooked around her arms. Samantha let out a loud hiss and made a move to move back but stopped when she felt a prick at her neck. 'Snake's got a bite.'she grumbled in her head.

When he mocked her with her own words a very loud and angry growl ripped through her. Her now released eyes snapped to the part of his face she could see. A low growl continued in her throat that she could feel vibrate back. She needed to get loose and get loose now.

Samantha could feel her hands were restrained, her legs weren't as much, and he had her by her neck. She didn't see many ways out of this predicament. But what she did see was he was lacking heat and his movements were getting slower. She couldn't shift with-out the possibility of killing herself.

Samantha knew that if she could get her knee up just a little more she should be able to hit him where it counted. She didn't think she would be able to get it there fully so she would have to use her arms a bit. Samantha let out an annoyed growl and began to talk, "So, what race are you exactly? I've never seen any other Kelvics that weren't mammals." She was careful on how much she moved her mouth as she could feel the prick of fangs and feel small rivlets of blood swelling up. "I've never heard of or seen a snake race."

Just before she pulled her leg up to meet his crotch and possibly caused a little harm to her neck Samantha sneered, "Must be because they are not worthy of this world." Samantha brought her right let up as fact as she could connecting where she wanted to. This caused her waist to pull back a little as her hips moved together. It hurt a little as she was confined but it was worth it.

Samantha twisted her left arm, slicing it on his talon, and grabbed hold with her inhuman nails. She wanted to cry out in pain as she continued to claw her hands there. As if digging for something. The talons dug into her arm but she ignored it.

There was a lot of blood involved and the people around quickly made on their way. No one wanted to interfere with the wild Tigress and the wide mouthed man.

[Licearsvansan]

Playing on another team? Ha, I'm playing for a different league. Part of the reason of his disgust with her was simply that he found her personality disagreeable. However, it was also because Svan had always found the snake form preferable to the human one, and it never ceased to amaze him how many people assumed that he was gay simply because he didn't chase skirts like some men. While he was tempted to speak Svan had let the comment slide.

Unfortunately, when she began to insult his race, Svan snapped. Oh wait! No, that was something else snapping. Beneath her chin, Svan winced as the pain shot up his body, and only barely managed to keep his jaw from shutting on her neck. He had seen that move coming a mile away but that did nothing to ease the pain. His only solace was that she would be unable to see the tears on the ridges of his eyes at this angle. Not worthy? I'm not the petcher, kicking below the belt! Svan's troubles didn't end there however, no sooner had she kick his sweet spot, than she start squirming her left hand. At first the dhani thought she might be reaching something, but unless she was literally planning on pulling a trick out of her arse there wasn't much on her she could use. He wondered if she was trying to grab something on him, and begun to consider the circumstances so that he could predict her movements. Lets see. Shes wet, naked, lying on me, and has one leg grinding against my groin-Good Gods shes going to try and grab my butt! Bad touch, BAD touch! The feeling of claws digging into his skin, woke the snake from his thoughts. Oh, she just wants to claw my hands off. Thank goodness. He adjusted his hands a little to make the awkward angle of her scratches even more harder for her. Aside from a potential bleeding in an area he would rather not discuss and a light raking of his hands, Svan felt like his position was rather favorable. Despite this, the snake let out a dissatisfied sigh. While the position was good, it was only one by Svan's naturally superior strength. While he wasn't afraid to use his strength to his favor, it was not the way he wanted to win this duel. Svan held the position for a few more moments until he was sure they both knew who held the clear advantage, and then with regretful sluggishness began his plan to abandon it.

Taking advantage of her weakened balance, Svan twisted and turned himself until she no longer sat on him. Then with a single movement Svan focus his strength, pushed her right arm up, and made moves to shove his body around the gap between her arm and leg. As he began to reach around with his left arm, he abandoned his right arm to her claws so that he could pull it along with his as he tried to get around her. His last move was to release his bite and let her head free. As far as he counted, it took nearly half a second for her to transform. And in that half second, Svan planned to use every ounce of his strength and speed to make sure that he was wrapped firmly on her back. This was a dangerous strategy of course. Not only did it mean that Svan would allow her to reclaim her more powerful form, it also demanded that he burn up nearly all of his thinning energy.

As he began to pass, Svan's mind tasked itself solely on reminding himself just how grave the consequences might be should he fail. Well, there might have been a small part of his subconscious that sent a knee towards her stomach as he tried to pass.

[Samantha Grenth]

Samantha sneered when he moved his arm so it was hard to continuing gauging his arm. And she growled when he let out a small sigh. It royally pissed her off. Svan kept hold of her and then when she expected him to call it he moved.

She watched as he used her bad balance and moved behind her. Dragging her right arm with him. Pain ensnared when he kneed her stomach. She let out a few wheezing breathes before she gained the ability to breathe regularly before growling. Her neck was released and she was pleased about that. What she was not pleased about was the fact that he had given up his chance of winning.

So, being the lovely tigress she is. Samantha had, had enough. If he wasn't going to take the win. She was. Samantha took in stock of what was bleeding and what had stopped. Her eye was bruised and sore, her arm had several bleeding gashes, her skull had stopped bleeding, her neck had small rivets that hadn't stopped, and her front half was red and agitated. Dried blood flaked off her back and neck but some still drifted down but was watery.

Her body temperature was slowly going down and her breathing was becoming ragged. Samantha tried to control herself but wasn't doing all too well. Visions of the primate that had once held her captive floated in her head as well as the large feline that had attacked her. Samantha was loosing the 'human' that had grown in the four years she lived as one and fast.

Samantha eventually lost the battle and her vision turned red. Not caring of the pain that may be inflicted with Svan attached to her back Samantha sent her skull back, hitting him in the face. At the moment of 'surprise' Samantha ripped her hands away. Samantha sent her elbow's back. Using the leverage from making contact Samantha surged forward.

She landed with a small cry of pain on her chest and torn arms. She couldn't shift without hurting herself in the net. Too much of a chance. So she did the only thing she could do. Samantha grabbed the frayed part of the net and began to snap through enough of them to get over her shoulders.

Ignoring the pain she crawled her naked self out of the net and sat. Panting and hissing as the dirt set into her wounds. Those were going to get infected and she knew it. That's if they didn't get looked at. Samantha ignored Svan for now. She needed to calm down or else she was going to kill him. All her instincts were screaming at her to take out the threat.

Samantha was breathing heavily and clawing into her thigh to keep from shifting, ramming forward, grasping hold of his neck, and then just twisting her head quickly to snap it. Svan needed to watch what he did or else he was going to die.

[Licearsvansan]

Svan had worked for a good part of the fight to grab hold of her back, and now that he had it he was far from pleased. This could be due to the time it took for him to get it, or it could be the that he was concerned at the amount of energy he had burned in this act. Or it could be caused by the indent now in his skull. Svan clutched his face with his hand, and abandoned his attempts to keep hold of her. If she dares to say a WORD about me fighting dirty... Once she began to claw her way out of the net, Svan backed away and let his morph relax. With his head still swimming, Svan would have trouble keeping his morphs strong which meant that the morphs would be more brittle. The dhani let a silent curse slip through his lips. Unlike a morphed claw, Svan's talons drew mass from his fingers for strength and size. If they broke, Svan would have serious trouble counting to ten on his hands ever again.

Still, Svan thought to himself as he looked at the enraged tigress -perhaps this is for the best. It was over for him. She was at the breaking point of sanity, and any attempt to further this fight would only serve to end one of their lives. Most likely his. It was time to throw in the towel, shake hands, and return home like respectable and sane adults. Unfortunately, Svan was neither respectable nor sane and it was with little surprise that he found himself not backing away, but instead he was charging towards the woman. Seeing that she was distracted, Svan lifted his foot high and slammed his heel against her back. He sunk low into his step and as he rose he made sure to put extra effort to drive her body into the mud and propel him further forward. Once passed her Svan turned only once to give her a cocky smile before running as fast as his protesting body could carry him. Stomping the ground with the last waning essence of his strength, he moved as if- as if a tiger was chasing him. He knew full well what he had done the moment he had kicked her, but as his chest began to tighten and his steps grew shorter, he realized that he may have overestimated his abilities. This was quickly confirmed by his heart which had suddenly stopped beating. Svan fell to his knees hard, and his hands shot to his chest. Why now?! Come on! just a little more! Svan struck his chest with his hands in an attempt to restore its beat Please, I just need a bit more time. The cold was taking its toll on Svan. Just as humans need air to live, he needed heat to do the same. To die in the cold for him was in many ways comparable to drowning slowly. In truth, Svan wasn't exactly tired so much as suffocating his muscles, but this fact was far from helpful to him at the moment. Slowly his faint heart beat returned, and he breathed a strained sigh of relief. If he kept this up he would skip right past hibernation and drop dead on the spot. Rising carefully, Svan took his cloak and hid his hands under it for a moment. The ever so slight bit of warmth almost brought a tear of joy to his eye. He wanted to hold onto the warmth just a moment more, but now was neither the time nor place for resting.

Breathing slow painful breaths Svan turned to face Samantha. Two hands, balled into fists, drew themselves from the cloak and stood at attention to his sides. Leaves crunched beneath his feet as he took a stance, and Svan looked upon the tigress with a weary but defiant gaze. There was no turning back for him now. What had begun as a fight to forfeit had now become one where his very life was in jeopardy. The dhani was not ignorant of the danger he faced, and he knew that he had no strength left other than for a single move more. Things however, where not entirely against Svan's favor. The tiger, while not as tired as he, still seemed exhausted. The damage Svan's claws had done had also loosened a fair deal of her blood, and he wondered if the blood loss was enough to weaken the clarity of her mind. As he looked at her Svan chuckled softly to himself. Step three, complete

Beneath his now tattered clothes Svan's muscles tightened. He held enough strength for one final clash, but one question remained. Just how was he planning to defeat the tigress? A punch? A kick? A throw? Perhaps none, or perhaps a combination of them all. As he braced himself for the tiger only one sole clue was given. His gaze remained trained on a single thing the entire time. Her jaw.

[Samantha Grenth]

She was doing fine. She had started to gain back her false humanity... And then he had kicked her. In an instant Samantha's body shifted and took off after his running form. Just before she reached his legs he stopped and fell to the ground. Samantha had to steer to the left in order not to run into ,possibly hurt herself in the process, of his crouching form. Samantha's body quickly turned it's self to face him again. Drool and blood dripped from her open mouth. Decay and death formed clouds in the cold air as she breathed. A snarl ripped from her throat as he got back up. Samantha was too far gone to understand what was going on by sound but she could see his skin had gone a scary pale, his blood flow was slow, and his breathing shallow. And that's when it hit her. She had seen his kind before. A woman had asked to share her campfire up a little north. The woman almost ran into it if it wasn't for Samantha. Slowly the red rage crept back from her. While she was hungry and ready for any movements he made she realized one thing. If he did anything much more he would surely kill himself. Samantha had not bought the fur jacket or else she would shift and throw it at him. Samantha weighed her options. Either continue the fight and risk either's death or more risky injuries, or 'submit' and.... 'help' the snake. She didn't like either but Samantha wasn't facing too well. Her vision blanked every now and then and her right arm was painful to put much pressure on. So Samantha submitted. She knew she had lost this time and had paid the price. Her ego hurt hurt more than her body did as she lowered her body, slowly, to the ground and laid her head in the paws. Her calculating eye's watching him. If he tried anything to push his luck she would go straight for the kill and not think twice. She admitted she was playing with fire here and had to except the consequences. Samantha tried to stay in her natural from but it was too much pressure on her wounds. So Samantha let herself shift for the last time and slowly sat up, "You know, if you have anymore water I would surely like it." Her voice was strained and riddled with pain but still held her pride behind it. Samantha kept her eyes on the ground but spared glances at Svan. Samantha was too tired and hurt too much to try and force her dominance to him. Gods almighty she felt like a kitten again.... No she felt like she was in the presence of her mother. Trying to be more... 'human' like she always wanted. But she didn't feel 'human' she felt like a broken cat who's mother refused to help get back up. She was left to fend for herself and was doing horrible and Samantha knew it. But of course the stubborn pussycat would never fess up to such things in voice. Her thoughts were her own, her memories shared with few, but her battle stretched too far. Even over a course of three years Samantha had aged herself too much.

[Licearsvansan]

Svan backed away cautiously from the snarling tiger. His body tightened as he prepared himself to make his final move. Death stood before him cloaked in striped orange fur, and the snake knew all too well that these moments could quite easily be his last. Still, he stood tall and defiant against the threat, daring it to strike him down. He was prepared for the worst, and because of this he nearly fell over in shock when bloody fanged death decided to turn back into a human girl. For a moment Svan stood amongst the leaves dumbfounded. At first he wasn't quite sure of what to think, but once she spoke to him in an almost pleasant manner he began to laugh. It was a laugh that was soft and humble in the beginning, but slowly it grew deeper and stranger. Svan swung side to side and stumbled backwards as he sung out his half mad laugh. His balled fists fell to grip his gut, and his tired throat rang out with a sick howls of madness that echoed through the empty clearing. Svan turned from the tigress and doubled over, but no sooner had he done so then the laughter begin to cease. An empty silence filled the air, as if the wind itself was unsure of what came next. Slowly and painfully the black figure rose back up. Svan turned his head slightly to the tiger and gazed at her with a sullen expression. "So it is mercy then?" The words hung in the dead air, and Svan glared at the tigress, "Did I ask for mercy?" The dhani's face grew grim and hateful as his voice grew louder, "Was it mercy when I let you free from my fangs? No! It was cruelty! Wasss it not!? The question hissed out through his teeth towards the woman. "You think I'm weak! Powerlessss! You think that I will die if I go any further! You ssstupid cat! Do you not think I would yield before ssuch a fate?! Do you think I'm so dumb to waste my two hundred years of life on some petching tiger with a life ssso tiny a sssnakeling would laugh?! Do you think your sssso clever that you know the plotss of a dhani?!" The dhani pulled his cloak before himself in as dramatic a fashion that his energy could afford and he continued with a deadly tone clung to his voice, "If sso then I suggest that you look below and tell me what liesss at your feet." With his head Svan prompted her to look at what covered the ground before her.

Leaves.

Dry crunchy leaves.

His movements hidden beneath his fluttering cloak, Svan uncurled his fists. Resting on one hand lie a flint, and on the other a steel. Wasting not a single moment Svan struck the two together, and a stream off white hot sparks rained out towards the underbelly of his own cloak. For a moment it seemed that his plan had failed, but then in the next instant the cloth caught aflame in a blinding blaze. Searing pain shot though Svan as the fires climbed swiftly up the cloak, but instead of screaming in anguish, he smiled. Alongside the pain was something else that Svan had craved this entire battle. Warmth. The fires freed the snake from the deathly cold in a flash, and he could feel his muscles loosening like melted ice. Taking full advantage of his renewed strength, Svan clutched the collar of his cloak and drew it from his neck. He swung the burning cloth against the ground, and as he did so the dry leave beneath there feet caught fire. As he swung the cloth back up to the sky, a hurricane of wind chased it and burning leaves were tossed to the sky. Whipping again and again like a crazed beast Svan painted the entire ground around them with fire, and set the sky ablaze with madly dancing leaves.

In a matter of moments, Svan had turned the desolate and cold clearing into a raging inferno. Satisfied with the results he took the still burning cloak and threw it behind the tiger to fortify the illusion that she could not escape the flames. While one in combat might not see it clearly, every thing Svan had done in the battle had built up to this single point. He had fled just moments earlier not to escape death, but to lure her towards the patch of dried leaves he had raked together. The net of vines was designed to tire the tiger, and perhaps would have caught aflame as well had she not escaped it. Even the the frost water he had splashed her with served the purpose of keeping the flames from properly burning her, and saved her hair from catching alight. It was after all the job of Caiyha's follower to protect animals from serious harm. However, Svan, who had managed to hold his own with only a portion of his strength now stood nearly at full power against his weaken foe, and his initial intention of beating her harmlessly seemed far from his mind.

The heat of the fires burned the air and inside his thick clothing Svan broiled. With the cold rapidly being chased from his body, he felt a new and incredible power taking its place. While still wounded and winded from the battle, Svan still couldn't help but feel as if he had never been more alive. Within his body energy surged through his muscles, and a once dieing heart now beat with vigor and life. The transformation of energy was even clearer to those who looked upon him. While he rarely had moments where he could be described as impressive, he now held the appearance of a man far stronger than the truth and far more dangerous. The erratic lights of the flames highlighted the bright copper strands on his head, and the wind kicked in such a way that his hair moved as if it was one and the same as the flames surrounding them. Svan let his remaining djed run to his fingers to form long grisly claws. In his mouth cruel fangs grew out, and thin snake-like scales melding with skin at the edges of his lips to reveal a haphazard morph to his jaw. When the rage had first swept over him, he had abandoned any attempts to hold his human guise. Now as he gazed out with glowing copper eyes shadowed by a scowl, he even seemed less like a dhani and more like some malevolent spirit of fire hellbent on sending the tigress to the grave.

Svan began to walk towards the tiger in a menacing fashion, "You gave me no mercy." Svan let his finger click together, and his tongue slid serpent-like against his fangs. "You gave me cruelty." The leaves crackled and the fires snapped. "You gave me no mercy!" The flames grew further outward, as if to engulf the entire forest. "You gave me cruelty!" Hatred warped the the snakes face, "You gave me no mercy, and you shall find none in return."


Step four, complete.

[Samantha Grenth]

Samantha was too weak to say anything in reply to his rant but what she wanted to say was, 'You're kidding me right. Do you want us to die? I'm blacking out from blood loss and here you are accusing me again!" A small tired snarl let loose from her mouth but it wasn't threatening. Samantha tipped to the side again as she lost more blood on the floor.

'Maybe this wasn't such a great idea.' But of course she wouldn't voice that. No her pride hurt her already as is. Just as Samantha almost lost to the blackness an overwhelming panic swept out from her. Before her was a large fire... all round her was a large fire. A strangled cry of terror rose from her lips. Samantha went to back peddle with a new found strength but warmth over came her back.

Samantha started to panic her tired body torn between the instincts to get out and to pass out. Samantha felt like she was in a cage and fire was all around her. Slowly Samantha's airways became very thin. Samantha's eyes darted back and forth but all she could see was fire. So much fire.

Samantha couldn't breathe. She tried to breathe but her lungs weren't working. Slowly Samantha eye sight started to darken. Her jerked panicked movements slowly became struggles to breathe. Tears ran freely from here eyes as Samantha's body finally gave up.

Samantha's body slowly fell to the ground in a heap of blood and panic. No longer in the will of herself Samantha's body slowly moved. While blacking out would help slow her heart rate and the blood flow she wouldn't be able to get out of the fire.

Tears, blood, mud, and soot covered her face and body as she lay in a broken heap. Svan had tamed the beast and probably didn't realize it. Samantha looked to him as a form of... superiority and while she would probably never say it she would consider him ,reluctantly, a Master.

The fire around her spread and drew closer to her unconscious form. Svan could leave the tigress to die or he could help her. If he let her die Samantha would haunt him for letting her die in fear and not in battle or even honorably. While Samantha didn't seem such she upheld honor above a lot of things.

Samantha's body started to shut itself down as she continued to bleed out, smoke filling her lungs and making it harder for them to sustain themselves with oxygen.

[Licearsvansan]

Samantha hit the ground, and the sound of crunched leaves was made. Svan, unaware of how close she was to death continued forward. "I will rip your arms off. I'll snap your legs! I'll tear out your throat! I'll-" The dhani noticed tears rolling down the woman's face. "A-are you crying?!" The morphs on Svan's body relaxed. "You can't cry, I was just about to-" Svan stopped his advance and began moving as back and forth in an awkward motion. "Oh come on, do you think a few tears will stop me from-" Svan reached ut as if trying to physically grab an excuse to retain his anger, But its not like you would stop if I was crying- oh no wait..." The snake's arm fell down as he realized that she had indeed stopped for his sake. After making a few for frustrated movements and unfinished excuses he finally gave up. With a heavy sigh Svan looked down upon the tigress with guilty eyes. He had hoped the fire would scare her a little, but he had no idea that it would have such a powerful effect on her. There was something else greater than the simple primal fear of a vicious flame going on with her. He had stirred memories and fears she would likely have preferred remain untouched, and while Svan had wanted her to feel weak he never wanted to do so in such a cruel way.

Svan bent down and counted softly under his breath. 17,18,19,20

As if on cue, the flames surrounding them began to die down. And there goes the last of it. The secret to Svan's sudden forest fire was not simply the dry leaves and flint. Coated thickly in the underside of his cloak had been a layer of flare paste he had bought from the Bizarre. The leaves too held traces of the the paste to help aid the speed of the spread of the flames, but not nearly as much as his cloak. With the fire lowered, Svan was able to move closer to the woman without burning his exposed face and hands. The dhani looked the tigress in the face, and nearly kicked himself with regret. He had gone too far. If he had only stuffed down his pride for a single moment he would have seen that she was faring almost as poorly as he was before. Svan tried to make his expression as warm as he could and spoke softly, "I'm going to get you out of here, you're going to be fine." the snake hesitated a moment, "I promise." Moving slowly, Svan slipped his fingers under her body and gingerly lifted her up into the air. It was awkward for him to carry someone larger, but he pushed any complaints from his mind and thanked Caiyha that she wasn't in her tiger form. He moved through the hungry flames towards the center of the clearing. While the fire seemed fit to spread out forever, Svan had taken care to isolate the patch of dry leaves so that only wet soggy ones would meet it if it sought to go any further.

Once at the edge of the fires, the dhani lowered the tigress to the ground. Freed of the tiger he began to pat down the patches of cloth that were beginning to burn. He took of his 'battle pack' and threw it to her side, but not before removing the water flask. HE then began to take off his old tunic, and once removed he wrapped it tightly around as much of her wounds as possible. Svan then took hold of the flask and lifted it to her mouth. Carefully, he did his best to guide to water through her lips, and hoped she would be able to drink it.

"I'm sorry." Svan spoke almost silently. "I just had to prove...no, that's no excuse." The snake felt weak now. The tigress was dying before him and he lacked the medical experience to aid her. If he did nothing then he feared that she may very well die. Defeated, he let his gaze fall to the ground. It was strange. On his side the ground was warm and bright, but on hers it was cool and wet. There was more to it than simple warmth however. The two of them were tied to different grounds, and when they had crossed to the other's side death had nearly taken them. But now she was on her side and still bleeding out, and Svan was trapped within his flames, powerless to help her. Unfortunately, he had already damaged his coldblooded body by heating it so quickly. If he left the fires too soon, his body could go into shock, and he would be in danger of both death as well.

Svan cleared some room to sit down and stared at the woman. He had caused worse before, but usually it was due to his chaotic nature taking hold. This however, was purely caused by his own stupidity and pride. He hated the idea that he could not only lack control over his subconscious mind, but also his conscious one. He had spent over 15 years of his life trying to control himself, but it seemed that he had only gotten worse with time. He felt defeated, and so with nothing left to do he buried his head in his hands to sulk. Slowly at first, the snake's mind began to drift.

Do you know what sickens me about you? You think that just because you were born with power, you have strength.

But you don't! You're petching miserable

I know because once upon a petching time, I was just like you

But-

I don't give a petch about any painful memories... All I know is that I made a mistake, and payed the price

Now I see two options

Either I bury my face in my arms

or I suck it up and learn from my mistakes.

Revived by the very words he had said to her, Svan began to rise to his feet again. He placed the flask onto her bosom and lifted her into his arms. "I'm sorry Samantha. I never meant for it to go this far. But I'm not just going to sit here and watch you die because of my mistakes. I'm going to make sure I learn from this, and I'm going to start by taking you to the Ionu's Mercy." Svan looked into her eyes with conviction. "Even if it kills me."

And so Svan began the long hike towards the gaping maw, and back into the city. Svan heard that Ionu's mercy appeared quickly to those who needed it. Right now, he hoped desperately that this rumor was true.