The strong sun beat down hard upon him as he spent the hottest part of the day fishing in the river. Upon meeting the young spiritualist female Emily, he had found himself not wanting to stray too far for the time being. The thought of knowing another with his ‘gift’ brought him comfort, and she did seem to bring a lighter side to his plight. Manning a fishing net with the girl’s father, the two of them pull in quite a large harvest of fish. Just it time, the village was expecting a ferry to arrive shortly bringing supplies and money to exchange for fish, wheat, and other goods the farming city exported to the rest of the nearby cities.

A quick chuckle escaped his lips as Emily falls into the river and starts to be carried toward them. Reaching to his scythe he extends the non bladed end towards her. With a pout on her face she grabs hold of the harvest tool with her left and fills the need to splash back at him with her right. As she reaches the edge and begins to crawl out before him he feels the sudden urge to push her back into the river.

“Get out of there.” Her father calls from the cart where he and some other fisherman were waiting. “The ferry should be here any minuet.” It’s then when the first signs of destruction came floating down the river. Planks came washing down along with closed crates and barrels and various other things.

Dashing to the cart he throws his black robe back on over his black slacks and single sleeved black shirt. The family knew of his condition, but he still preferred to hide his skeletal arm, especially if a ferry was to arrive.

Mounting one of the horses to pull the carriage he rides along the river side in search of any who may need assistance. As he rides he notices a familiar object flowing down the river. Fishing it out with his Scythe he quickly puts it in the pockets of his robe as the other comes flowing down shortly after.

As he road on false memories from his others life, a tiny skeleton with the most beautiful voice. She was a kind soul, one who Randal had treated with such harsh words actions. The fact that only the arms came rushing down the river gave hope that her body was still in tact.

As the river widened and he entered the more dangerous parts of the river he knew he had to be careful. Bones would not drawn carnivores but his fleshy body would. A tremendous blast of sound rang out across the river bank as he neared them. The horse jumped in terror and started to run, but as the note had finished he would come around and again be controllable.

He could see them now, the small skeleton and a larger fleshier opponent. He was walking toward her with her bible in hand, cuts across his leg. ‘Had this man attacked the ferry?’ he thought. There was no time for thinking, without her arms there was little the girl could do to defend herself and any sensible man would assume she was in need of assistance.

A flash moved across the former battle field as the sun glinted across his scythe as it sails across the air. Throwing it in between the too he attempts to buy enough time to reach her side. Miraculously the weapons plants its blade into the ground between them as he comes riding from the river and moves the hours between them.

“Stranger, you have little time to explain to me the condition of both the boat and this woman.”

Musalis was ready to use her instrumental voice again if Darious thought of coming any closer. Much to her surprise, her opponents face softened, if only by a fraction. Somehow she knew that the battle was over. Unable to believe that he would give up, Musalis was sceptical, and hold on to her instrumental voice.

But when Darious started to speak, it became clear that he no longer had any intention of fighting. But he hadn't surrendered either. Maybe... maybe nobody needed to surrender. The though stood in her mind for a second, while she tried to grasp it. She had thought the whole time that her only possibility of putting an end to this battle had been to get Darious surrender. Now she saw that she had been blinded by that option, loosing other options out of sight, becoming almost fanatically opsessed by the idea of getting him to surrender at any cost.

That clearly wasn't nessesary. Musalis relaxed, and changed her voice back to normal. Darious had shown that he was peacefull, now it was her turn to show that she no longer hold any grudge against him.

Musalis smiled. Well, not the best option, as he could not see it.

Musalis started to talk, hoping that he would still listen to her after the long speeches she had hold in the battle.

"I take it the battle is over?", were her first word. Not the most intelligent thing to say, but she had to confirm that she was right, "If you can carry the bible for me until I retrieve my arms, I would be quite gratefull. As for the ferry... "
Musalis took a look at the remaining planks and sighted. "I had a fight on it. Actually with another martial artist, but one that intended to kill me. I called upon my God... but not good enough. Ochre was displeased. He gave me this flute..."

Musalis intended to pull out her flute to show it, but remembered than that she had no arms.
"Anyway, he gave me the flute I used in this battle, the one you knocked into my skull. It was capable of plying one note that would scare my enemy. In addition, it scared everything else in a large area. Including the driver, who jumped over bord, so the ferry got uncontrolled and smashed into the riverside here. I managed to get out, and survived the rivermonsters because they were scared away too."

Quietly she added:
"My opponent was not lucky enough to get of the ferry."

Into the silence that followed, a new voice cut, one that seemed familiar to Musalis, but not quite. She turned, and purned even paler than she was, if possible.

"Randal.", she muttered, preparing to pray all that she could to her God. Musalis was sure that she could not overpower him in her current state, actually she had little chances in her best state, with arms to. But something made her stop. There was something she did not get, something small but important.

He threatened Darious.... because of her?! And he had... her arms! What was going on? Musalis was so taken aback that it took sometime for her to see what had made her stop. His face. Unde the anger on her behalf, she saw aomething that should not belong in Randals face, something gentle. RANDAL and GENTLE? Something was really weird here...

But before she found out, Musalis had to stop the two men from fighting, else she would get no answers.

"Randal, let me explain. He uhm... he just callenged me to a ... fair.... battle. So in course of that my arms just happened to... fall of. The ferry is a completely different history."

Ok time to turn Darious around.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Darious was thinking hard as he walked along side the armless skeleton, Musalis. He had just finished a battle with this very tricky foe where he had systematically removed his opponent’s weapons and arms, and he had technically defeated his foe. However it did not feel like a victory to Darious, in fact Darious was almost ashamed of his action.

Musalis had unluckily been the first person that Darious had come across since starting his long journey to seek out the different fighters of this strange and dangerous land, and as such he had straight away challenge Musalis to a battle. No, Darious corrected himself as he remembered their meeting, not challenge but more like forced battle onto this peaceful skeleton. Little did he know that she was actually a priest when he challenged her, and still he continued to fight on once this fact was revealed. He had fought savagely not out of any honour or justice, but rather out of a strange battle lust that had enveloped him as soon as he had caught sight of his foe.

Now that he had time to think back over his actions Darious released that he really was ashamed, and he realised that he had truly lost his honour. It was almost like a gapping wound, far more painful then that small scratch he had on his right leg that stretched from knee to foot and was covered in dry blood. Somehow, Darious had to make amends, but right now their seemed little he could do at all. They were coming into sight of a small ferry dock when Darious decided that an apology was in order, but before it left his lips an outraged man charged forward and flung his scythe in between the two old foes.

Darious didn’t even flinch as the scythe flew towards him, reasoning that any wounds would hardly be lethal and he deserved some sort of punishment after that battle. However the man’s aim was true and the scythe landed without touching flesh of any kind in between Musalis and Darious. As the man practically charged down on the pair Darious starred at him with a kind of gloomy silence. The fact that this stranger had one arm completely rid of flesh didn’t even bother Darious, because he was still deeply ashamed about his actions and was indifferent to his surroundings as he attempted to figure out how he had acted how he did and what he could do to resolve it.

Words exchanged between the skeleton and the new comer, proving that they were well known to each other. Well, Darious thought on second notice as he listened to the comments, it was more like Musalis remembered this strange human but the human had forgotten her. It wasn’t surprising, because perhaps the rest of his body, including his mind, was slowly decaying like the flesh on his bone arm did. Darious decided to just watch this situation unfold at first, keeping his mouth shut, not trusting himself to say anything. The lost of his honour had caused Darious’ confidence to be blown, and he didn’t know how to approach situations anymore.

Scott dismounted the horse as Musalis explained the situation. A sharp annoyance peaked within him. Challenging Musalis to a quote unquote ‘Fair Challenge.’ It was clear that she was bending the truth with her words. How often do arms accidentally fall off and land in a river with seeming no damage. The word challenge also stuck a poor note to his ears. Musalis did not fight; she was a pacifist by nature and only even agreed to fight Randal because she was given no choice, something that he had a feeling was much like this battle.

“Do not call me that.” He said to Musalis who was no to his left and behind him slightly.
“And as for you.” He said now aiming his attention to the man. “You needed a fair fight to test yourself against her?” Scott knew enough about this world to know how its combatants fought and why they did so. “Would you like more of a challenge? I see you’ve already fought a child and a priest, there are plenty of farmers and fishermen up ahead, I suppose those would be the next step up.” His words, salt in an already opened wound. The man was already in a state of despair and it wasn’t hard to guess why, this man had already learned his lesson.

Looking down he noticed the man was injured, nothing serious but out here any wound could turn fatal if not properly treated. Throwing the reins to the man he speaks again. “But everyone makes mistake, and seeing as how I have these no harm done.” Taking Musalis’s arms from his robe, he lowers hers and begins to jam them back into their sockets.

“And please, call me Scott.”

Musalis tried to keep track of the events, but had to give up pretty soon.

Darious seemed to be unhappy, maybe because the fight was over? Randal did not want to be called Randal, but instead... Scott? And he gave back her arms. Not at all like the Randal she knew.

Confused by the events, and exhausted by the battle, Musalis got a little irritable. Before any of the two could do more to burden her mind, she interrupted.

"OK, hold it! I don't know what's going on right now, but I'd like to. Just answer me some easy questions. Darious, what is it with you? Technically I have to agree that you won our battle, disarming me and all, taking everything into account, but yet you seem unhappy.

And you, Ra... Scott. What has happened to you since last time? You seem completely different. And..."

While looking hard at... Scott while she spoke, Musalis suddenly noticed his arm. Or rather, his lack of arm. All her irritation vanished and was replaced by concern.

"Ochre me merciful, your arm! Does it hurt? Are you okay? Can I do something to help you? And I also forgot to thank you for giving me back my arms, that was very nice of you, thank you very much. But, I was speaking about your arm. What happened?"

Darious flinched inwardly as he came under the verbal assault of this stranger, each burning word striking a painful blow to Darious’ crumbling honour. He knew every word that came out of the man’s mouth was as true as can be, and he didn’t attempt to dodge a single one of the verbal arrows that the stranger shot at him. Darious opened his mouth in a meagre attempt to say something, but his vocal cords remained guiltily silent.

It was then that the man slowed down his assault of words and drew in a lung full of air, spotting the large slash on Darious’ leg. His expression softened from an outraged glare to natural expression and he drop the topic, saying ‘no harm done’ and introducing himself as Scott. Darious could only nod to the introduction, knowing that deep down serious damage had been dealt out during the battle. The damage had almost destroyed Darious’ once proud honour and it felt like a very important part of him was now missing.

Musalis appeared to notice that something was wrong with Darious, and she asked about it in a confused voice. From her point of view Darious had walked away as the victory in their conflict, and he should be happy or gloating over the win. She did not know that Darious had lost himself during the battle and had betrayed his honour, betrayed the teachings of his master, the teachings that he had lived by for almost 10 years now. Once again Darious opened his mouth but no words came out, his mind struggling to put any of his feelings into words that might be understood by someone else. Luckily Musalis was distracted by the strange dead arm Scott had attached to his shoulder and Darious was saved from having to answer the difficult question put before him.

Still Darious knew that he would have to answer the questions put before him sooner or later, and he did wish to get some sort of bandage on his gaping wound. Blood had once again started seeking from the slash and oozing down his already blood encrusted shin. So he decided to speak up finally, his words jumping in before Scott had a chance to reply to Musalis’ concerned questions.

“My name is Darious,” he introduced himself for Scott’s sake before turning to the skeleton, “And I have to say to you Musalis that I am sorry. I got consumed by some sort of battle lust during what was actually my first real battle, and my honour was ruined. I hope you can forgive me.”

“Nothing in life worth achieving is easy, especially when it comes to being a man.” He said as an almost apologetic manner. Before a wound can heal it must be cleaned, this time it was cleaned by salt and now the healing could begin. Healing the living would be great practice for healing the dearly departed.

“Tell me Darious, I gather you have definitely learned a lesson from this battle. I would think that learning a lesson on how to maintain your honor is a far better gain than learning any special move. To walk a path both honorably and as passionately as possible is something that man seek to obtain but few can truly walk this thin line. If you like I know of twelve rules that are meant to help one seek this level of manliness.”
He then turns to his skeletal friend.

“As for my arm, do not worry about me. There is no pain and to be honest this is not MY arm anyways. A man named Hiro did this to me, though it wasn’t really me. It’s quite confusing to talk about now. The easiest way is to merely say I was possessed by an evil spirit and he is currently subdued.” As he spoke to these two he could tell that their intentions were great and the spirit was good.

“May I ask a favor of you two?” he asks. “I’m currently moving upon an organization called The Ministry of Silencing. A guild of assassins who kill for the highest price no matter who they are. As proof I can tell you Musalis, the same man who took my arm is also after you. I know because… One of the last actions Randal took before I regained myself was to hire Hiro to attack you. That’s how much they don’t care about who they kill, they don’t care who their clients are as well. And Darious, you will find that when one fights for another or an ideal, they reach a completely different level than just fighting for yourself. You can join me or not, regardless I will not let such murders continue to profit from the death of the innocent.”

Musalis finally got some answers. Darious had been sad because he for some obscure reason was certain that he had lost his honor. As a side note to herself Musalis remembered holding a speech about exactly that theme to him during the battle. But why this was this important to him was a mystery for her. He had made a mistake, alright. But no real harm was done, so why couldn't he just move on and make it better next time? She, for instance, did not care that much about honor to hurt her. She tried to be nice when she could, but that was it. No big deal. And there was no thing that would throw her that much off balance without any real harm done.

Except... Ochre. When she made something against Ochre, whatever it was, she would feel awful. Musalis realized that Darious was the same, only he had his honor in stead of a God.

Her deep thought were interrupted by Randal, or rather Scott. He talked about a lot of things, some enlightening, most confusing. The talk about honor was the confusing part, she had to remind her all the time that honor was as important for Darious as Ochre was for her, and that that talking about honor therefore was not amusing but a serious matter.

The confirmation that Scotts arm was alright made her feel at the same time relieved, and bad because she had forgotten about the arm when she got answers. The rest was still confusing.

"So... your body was possessed by Randal, and Hiro attacked Randal and did something to your arm, because he thought it was Randals arm, and then Randal hired the same Hiro that hurt him to kill me? And after that Randal vanished, and you got your body back, and now come to ask me for help against the group of assassins which Randal hired one of to kill me. Did I get this right? If I did, I am totally confused, but when I got my thought sorted out I think I might be willing to help you."

Musalis still struggled with understanding what he had said when she realized which Hiro they were talking about.

"As for Hiro... he... kind of... attacked me on the ferry, and in the battle the ferry got smashed, so I think he might be... dead."

Scott appeared to understand Darious despair, and he even offered some advice. There was a confidence to his words as he spoke of some kind of rules to help Darious that made him believe he was some kind of healer. Not a physical one but rather one of the soul. Darious was sorely temped to accept this offer of help but he knew deep down that only he could make amends and restore his honour.

Luckily Scott dropped the subject and went on to describe a war he was fighting against a clan of evil blood thirsty mercenaries and honourless cut throats, asking for the help of both Musalis and Darious to destroy this evil establishments. He even suggested that it could help start Darious off on his new quest to restore his honour, but Darious was hesitant about joining up.

“One of the many lessons I have learned from my first battle was not to rush into things. Your plea sounds honest and good but I am hesitant about acting on your words alone. I need to witness some of these horrors by myself, or at least hear many different sides of them. Also I hardly feel up to a battle now, not until I have finished some serious thinking and soul searching.”

Darious was honest with his reasons, for his mind was still in turmoil. He could hardly focus enough on the conversation around him, let alone fighting in a war against professionals. It would be a while before he might offer Scott his fists.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is not a rejection of your offer, but rather connecting to the beginning of my current battle against josh. However since I get attacked by a member of the guild I will join the battle, but in my characters time line it will be after my current battle.

His eyes quickly scanned the horizon as he heard what Musalis said to him. “Hiro has lived though worse things than an exploding boat, we should return to the village soon and pray his wounds are enough to keep him from chasing you down. Darious you may use the horse if you wish, there is no lost pride from accepting help when it is needed.” As they walk he continues his story of the ministry.

“You may have heard of the name Kate Darksmith, the self appointed world’s greatest assassin. She is the leader and possible founder of the clan. Though I expect she inherited it from daddy when he died and simply brought the clan into the open. Before they stayed low, took a very large amount of money for special targets that they saw fit and approved. Now they take nearly any job for a few gold coins. Hiro’s attack on you is proof enough of that, Randal didn’t really have that much or any gold. I can understand if you would rather not come with me, this is not your fight.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So you are in for the fight, but are you still intrested in joining the clan as well?

Musalis thought calmly through Scotts words. According to what he said, she had to agree that the ministry seemed not very nice. And Hiro had wanted to kill her, she only had to thank coincidence that she was alive. But could she really blame him if she was payed to fight her?

"Scott, please answer me some more questions she interrupted his tale of the ministry. First, how can you blame them for killing people when that is their job? Secondly, DI is crowded with evil and bad people. You can't possibly kill them all. Why choose these? And finally: If they are only nearly as good as the selfappointed name of their leader suggests, how on DI do you intend to have a chance fighting them?"

Scott kindly offered the use of his steed for when Darious parted way, but Darious just shook his head at that offer. A horse would just provide a distraction, and what he needed more then anything was focus and mediation. Plus he hadn’t the slightest clue on how one was meant to ride those beasts of burden.

While the offer was meant to be helpful it was obvious that Scott had other things on his mind then Darious well being, and the offer was almost instinctive. Someone who instinctively helped others was rare these days, so Darious decided to listen to the rest of Scott’s tale of the assassins. He also listened to Musalis reply, thinking about his reply before opening his lips.

“Musalis does have a good point here, why have you chosen this particular guild? There are dozens others like it out there, and if you are successful with wiping out this one, what next? Would you go on another crusade against the next branch of evil? Can you walk the path you are laying out for yourself?”

One person cannot make a difference... well, at least at that point Scott was wrong. Every person made a difference. But it was just too small to be seen. Only when many people joined, there was a visible effect. It was like... a melody. One tone was no melody, but each contributed. So she was about to become a hero, was she?

"Being a hero is the easiest way to end up dying.", Musalis muttered, "But fine, I think you have some points there. Just let me ask Ochre."

Musalis prayed for a long time, thanking her God for his help in battle and asking if he did approve of her helping Scott to track down these killers.

"...Halai.", she finally finished.

----

Ahhh.... that's so good, not having to write a whole prrayer like in the battles.

Darious listened to scott as he answered Darious' probing questions with much heat, arguing his cause with so much conviction that Darious was moved. Normally he would have signed up in a minute, but this time was different. This time Darious' own emotions where in tourmil, and he didn't trust himself to commit to anything. Not until he had straightened a few things out.

"You make me feel like i want to be beside you on your cursade, but i can't trust myself right now. I need time to straighten myself out, and space to think clearly. But i will be back." And with those last words Darious turned his back on his new friends, beginning a long journey of thought as he tried to cope with his guilt and work out his lost honour.