[Jamie]

A grimace came across Necronic as he stared into the eyes of William Timmis; a young and once good looking man who now showed signs of absolute fear, while Necronics reflected with utter disgust.

The two hooded men sat in a large cathedral, light rica shading in every direction as it filtered through the ceiling windows; the shadow trying desperately to hide. Necronic, sat directly in the centre of this epic scene, the light casting a grave shadow over most of his face leaving only light on his crooked mouth. The seat with which he had acquired was a large golden throne, its steep backbone curling up and fashioning itself into a beautiful angel.

Timmis was shaking so much so the smell of fear could be literally smelt from a mile away, Necronic had obviously picked up on this as his face twisted into an expressionless smile, the wings purtruding from his back lifting slightly.

“You realise that I do not see this as good news, her death is of course exciting and unexpected however if she has made contact with the girl then the plans could be thwarted.” Necronics voice echoed around the room with a glee chill, two personalities combined, that of a man compelled by hysteria and that of a man who enjoys hysteria.

“My lord, even if she had made contact what would it matter, she is to young to know of her gifts or her heritage, she unlike you hasn’t had time to develop and adapt those skills and nor does she even know of your existence let alone your plans.”

“Maybe so, however unlike your worthless self, our kind are able to tune our abilities and make full use of them. On other matters, inform his liege that he will make haste in his attack of the ‘Great Woods’ if he is to make the dramatic effect he hopes. Once we have control of the 4th Kingdom we will be in a much better strategic position while also proving our..His enthusiasm towards this war.” The last words ringed with a patronising tone.

They had been walking for what seemed hours and still they were no where nearer where they wanted to be then when they left off, mainly because they didn’t know exactly where they were heading. Captain Artois had decided they would head as far north as they could before it started getting dark. Then they would set up camp and rest until morning as to avoid the misting, where they would then carry on north towards the great city of Astinbar.

Astinbar was the city of knowledge and the first floating city of the planet. Floating 240ft high on top of the large Astanbar mist lake, this elegant city was known for its prosperous fuel for those seeking grand knowledge. Captain Artois had visited this place on a few occasions also with the King, mainly on business meetings or conferences. However, before they reached this marvellous city and were to explore all it had to offer, Captain Artois needed to know exactly what the queen had left him in writing and to figure out what was going on.

They had come to some sort of crevice which would be fine to mull over the first attack of mist over the lands. Captain Artois hated the mistings, they were cold, gave the feeling of being soaked in depression and Captain Artois hated seeing the foggy figures of the Mistmen fading in and out of sight; plus he couldn’t yet read the queens letter during a misting, for fear it would be ruined. This of course was an added degenerate. They would rest here until the first misting had presented itself, then they would head north more until reaching a ranch inn that were usually dotted around the plains.

Peering over at the girl he could see her marvelling at the beautiful sky. They were directly below a mist stream which allowed the light to flicker through and sparkle on there faces, as if dancing on the mist, all the way to their eyes. However this was short lived as a huge fearful shadow, brought upon by a passing ship on a near by mist river, caused the stream and themselves to be engulfed with a fearful darkness. Could that be the lords searching for them? They would worry about this later, the ship seemed to be following the river without hesitation in an obvious attempt to escape the advancing misting.

The misting had come quick, Captain Artois had felt the heat disappear and within seconds the mist river and stream had faded into one large fog, almost merging into one huge sea. As soon as the cold and depression had come it had gone and the sunlight and red sky with it. They had now been left with darkness, the mist rivers and streams above them barely visible.

Stumbling back up the way they had come, they without word carried on northwards; both seeming determined that converse could wait until shelter had come about.

Just as the light was vacuumed away by the nights sky, they had reached there destination of sleep; a small ranch inn. Before entering through its arched doorway they turned back to stare across the mass plain of baron land they had just walked across; the burning could still be seen flickering in the distance like a shooting star.

As soon as they had opened the door a strong smell of alcohol and nearly knocked them off their feet. The inn was low roofed and covered in a thick smoke that masked the faces of many of its occupants. It would of seemed at first quite strange so many people could occupy a ranch inn that was positioned in the middle of no where; however many of these people were probably travellers like themselves in need of a place to stay.

After paying for their room and with out a last look at the silhouettes drowning their sorrows, they walked upstairs with out hesitation. Pushing the door forwards they admired the beds, the beautiful and glamorous beds that seemed to sparkle with an aura of well being. It seemed strange to think only hours ago he had been in the Ares cabins that was soaked in the smell of vomit.

Still clenching the letter hard in his grasp, Captain Artois pulled off his armour and fell into a heap on his bed, awaiting the answers that would explain all the confusion and thoughts that had been racing his mind for the last two hours. Turning to his side he stared at the young girl who was now under her blanket and closing her eyes ready for a peaceful sleep.

With what seemed like a strange twist in events, Captain Artois felt a sudden rush of understanding for the young girl and decided the letter filled with his queens answers could come tomorrow and he would follow suit and go to sleep.

As his eyes closed and the thoughts swarmed back into his head of the hijacking of the Ares and the burning of the slum city, Captain Artois pulled tighter on his embracing blanket and turned to face the wall. A faint whisper being the last noise he transmitted before drifting into a deep slumber.

“Goodnight.”