Within the Darkness of the Heart

[Ryan - Loki]

The land of Metapha, a couple of miles off the edge of Western Parmecia, had been untouched by the current troubles of the planet, those being the invading Saiyan army. Small rolling hills and tall grassy plains covered this beautiful land, a strong breeze blowing through the fields of flowers causing petals of all colours to be dragged into a graceful, and elegant, dance with the wind. Off toward the mountains along the edge of the island, the Hell’s Gate , an eerie fog slowly rolled along the mountains frame and across the land, accompanied by a cold that resembled death’s chill.

An abnormal darkness filled the sky on this night. Whether this was because of the distant smoke clouds left in the wake of the Saiyan forces, because something terrible was about to happen to these lands or even some other reason, was unknown, either way the clouds of smoke drifted aimlessly through the air of the world, carried on the wind from distant lands, seemingly emphasising the sheer darkness that the night had to offer. Despite the darkness of the night the entire island had, almost, turned completely silver under the moonlight, but the shadows seemed relentless in consuming the land.

Being that Metapha is a land of peace and religion it is widely believed, already, that these were the main reasons why the Saiyan’s had decided that invading this particular country wasn’t quite necessary just yet, although those who lived within Metapha mainly placed this down to their religious beliefs and life’s. In all truth it really didn’t matter who was right and who was wrong, or even if they were both right or both wrong, the only thing that mattered was that evil was yet to step foot on their beautiful shores once again; but evil comes in many shapes, and forms.



Within the darkness, and the shadow, of the night across the land a minuscule flame suddenly broke through the fog and lit up the surrounding area, causing the nearby flowers to instantly catch alight. This singular flame continued to burn, standing defiantly against the cold breeze, and after a few minutes it finally flickered, the only noise within the entire area being the gusts of the wind and the crackling of this single flame. The infinitesimal flame then suddenly exploded upward in a rage opposite to its previous behaviour. The burning flames now roughly stood 5’9/10” in height as it continued to burn furiously, lighting up the surrounding area. It was then that it changed again, taking a more defined shape.

As the flames once again changed they indeed took a more defined shape, a humanoid shape, a man of flames. The figure slowly looked to his left and then to his right, ostensibly surveying the immediate area. Whatever it was looking for, or trying to establish, it seemed to have accomplished its task as soon enough the flames burst into life around him once more, in a violent show of power, before slowly fading away and dieing down to reveal more and more of an actual figure; it was a man.

As more and more of the flames began to die down more and more of the figure came into view, but at the same time the figure quickly became somewhat shrouded in darkness due to the shadows now overpowering the ever fading flames of light. The figure adorned black leather trousers, black boots, and a full-length, black leather coat with nothing underneath; a thin layer of flames apparent upon them all still. His body clear of scars, marks or blemishes of any shape or size. His hair dark silver, it blowing ferociously in the wind behind him, and his eyes a blood crimson, them glowing violently within the shadow.

Loki, a person used to many different forms of darkness, was not at all put off by the abnormal darkness that this area held, in fact he quite liked the changed from what he knew about this country. “Bloody religion…” he spat, quite literally at the ground. “…This place reeks of it.” taking a deep breath Loki closed his eyes and tilted his head backwards so his face was looking up toward the sky. The smoke, carried upon the wind from distant lands, filled his lungs; it reminded him of the atmosphere that he and Ryan’s group had witnessed back in Guardinia.

Opening his eyes once more he slowly dragged his right hand back through his long, flowing hair. He had left the group to investigate a life force that belonged to someone he hadn’t heard of, or felt, in a incredibly long time, but not even half way toward it the signal had faded away, causing him to stop momentarily here. He’d never stepped foot on the soil of Metapha, always avoiding it for a reason unknown to even himself, but it seemed that perhaps tonight fate had decided a change was in order.

“…Where did you go?” Loki muttered to himself as he looked off in a westerly direction, in the direction of Lavertia and Bedoe. Even with his sadistic and godly powers, despite them being self-proclaimed, he still could not pinpoint a location on the life force he had been following. Suddenly, while trying to somewhat focus his abilities, he felt it. He didn’t know exactly what it was; perhaps a presence of some sort, but something was most certainly amiss here. Perhaps fate was playing a hand in tonight’s occurrences… he thought. “Whatever you are…make yourself known. Now.”

[lara]

Lara-Leigh stood in the distance, completely obscured from sight of the naked eye; she did not want to be seen. She looked on in amazement at the figure stood before her. The power, it intrigued her in such a way she had never felt before. Such passion it overwhelmed her - she knew she could not reveal herself but this feeling...it was intoxicating.

A breeze brushed up against her face and sent a chill down her spine. An instant attraction was something she rarely felt, and for it to be someone she'd never even met was uncalled for completely. She took a step forward, in disbelief at what she was about to do....

Leaves crunched under her feet. She froze.

[Ryan - Loki]

A thin layer of flames still licked over Loki’s body, illuminating his body somewhat as he stood there, motionless, in the wind while merely awaiting a reply from whomever, or whatever, he had come in contact with. Loki wasn’t one to be modest about himself or his abilities, in fact he was quite the opposite, and it almost amazed him that there was a being in existence that could mask themselves so well from his senses, even if these thoughts were mainly brought about due to his cocky and somewhat arrogant nature.

Silence was all that followed Loki’s voice however, silence and the blowing of the wind. Crunch. Loki span to his right, the noise having come from not too far in that direction, peering off into the darkness that surrounded him. This darkness, the shadows, they seemed to consume even the light that his flames were giving off, drawing ever closer in toward him as if in an attempt to consume him as well. You cannot consume that which is already consumed. he thought to himself, while still attempting to spot what in fact had made the noise just moments ago.

“Great…” he muttered. His thoughts drifted back to his first, and only, encounter with Sin. She had played games with him while he was still weakened, hiding in the shadows, but at least she spoke. “I said whatever you are, make yourself known. Now…” Loki repeated, a slight hint of aggravation clear within his tone. He was more curious than aggravated in truth but he hated being toyed with, it caused him to feel inferior in a sense and there was nothing he hated more than being inferior. After all, he was a great and powerful Lord of Hell. “…Don’t make me ask again.”

[lara]

Frozen. What should she do? It was clear she hadn’t been seen, but that was not to say he didn’t know she was there. No, this was too important, too hard to resist…

Another step forward; in clear view of the mysterious figure, so dominant in her sight that he was all she could look at, especially since nothing else could come close to the interest she had in him. Had he seen her? She looked down at her feet before taking another step. Crunch. There was no way he could not have heard that…was he looking at her? Would he simply see her and look away, return from wherever he came from and never take interest in her again?

Of course not…he had demanded she show herself, clearly intrigued. And who would blame him, for if he could grasp even slightly of the power within her, who would turn away?.. she thought to herself

One final step. As she laid her foot on the ground, another breeze picked up – she looked up as the breeze brushed her hair off of her face, exposed for the world to see. Her eyes looked up to finally confront the man she neither feared nor admired, but entrancing in a way she couldn’t describe…

[Ryan - Loki]

It seemed no matter how hard he tried to focus his vision, or how hard he squinted his eyes off into the darkness, Loki could just not make out a single image within this infernal darkness; it seemed the very thing that was his essence had also become his downfall, in this situation. He was at the mercy of whomever was out there, standing in front of him somewhere out in the darkness, just out of view. He hated this feeling; he felt weak, pathetic. All he could do now was wait…

And wait he did, but still there was no reply. The thought had crossed his mind just to ignite the entire area in flames allowing him to see clearly through this shadow and fog, but then again he knew slightly better than to let his emotions get the better of him and a fire would most likely result in the death or escape of whomever was in front of him, and that just defied the whole point of feeding his curiosity. Slowly but surely, however, a figure emerged from within the darkness. Crunch.

It was a woman; that much was certain. The shadows seemed to surround her, clung to her even, as she stopped, only her silhouette visible. She stood at a height not that much smaller than his own, obviously weighing less than him also, yet she looked slightly younger too. The situation continued getting more and more peculiar with each second, causing Loki’s curiosity to continue to rise along with it.

Crunch. another footstep followed, and once more the woman’s actual figure became clearer; he could now see her perfectly, give or take a bit of detail here and there. In the slight light of the flames a small glint of light reflected off of a stone that seemed attached around her neck, a necklace of sorts. Her attire was dark, as dark as the atmosphere around them, and her hair seemingly matched, although it was near impossible to tell considering how dark it actually was. But all of these details came second best when it came down to her most dominant feature, her eyes. Here eyes shone a sapphire blue, the reflection of the flames flickering within them.

There was something about this woman, something that Loki couldn’t quite place. He could sense some dark about her, yet deeply clouded at the same time; she was definitely mysterious, that was for certain. Loki’s crimson eyes stared on at her, them seemingly glowing at all times. He wanted to speak to her, to find out a little more about her, but he wasn’t sure if he’d be wasting his breath of not considering her knack for ignoring him. He decided. “Who are you?” Loki said sternly. His voice was almost completely emotionless, except for a small glint of curiosity.

[lara]

They stood there, fixated with each other for what seemed like an eternity. Lara-Leigh gave nothing away; her expressions revealing no sign of emotion. She smiled. “And why do you ask? Or more importantly, why do you feel that I should answer such a question?” Her eyes momentarily looked away from his. She looked the figure up and down…black leather trousers, black boots, black coat; he definitely dressed to make an impression. But still there was nothing to fear, Lara-Leigh didn’t do scared.

“No… I don’t think you have the right to demand such a thing of me.” She chuckled, “A mysterious man appears before me and demands my name – do you think I’m afraid?” She took more steps forward, this time more certain than before – she now could be no more than 100 or so yards away. “I, however, have the right to demand such a thing of you. So tell me…who are you?” She stopped and stood still. Running her hands through her hair, Lara-Leigh certainly didn’t look threatened, but gave the impression she was someone to be threatened by.

Then suddenly, she took a step to her left so she became completely concealed in the darkness once more. The figure was left alone, alone in the darkness of this eerie and mysterious land…

“I’m waiting for an answer.”

Lara-Leigh appeared behind the figure, emerging from the shadows just a few steps behind him.

[Ryan - Loki]

The two stared off toward each other, the distance between them both an obstacle easily overcome, but those eyes; there was most certainly something with those eyes. As he looked into them they seemed to pierce into his soul, or at least attempt to. Perhaps it was just the overpowering sapphire colour and Loki was overreacting somewhat, but ether way one thing was certain, and that was that he had never seen a set of eyes quite like hers before.

Despite the eyes being the window to a person soul Loki could find no sign of emotion within them, or even upon her face for that matter. Either she was dead of all feeling or she was extremely good at hiding them from the world, a hard task to accomplish when faced with a samurai. After all that’s what Loki was, wasn’t he? A samurai, a rather lax one I’ll give you that, but a samurai nevertheless. She spoke.

Loki listened conscientiously as the mysterious woman spoke to him, finally replying to his questions. Her reply wasn’t exactly what he had expected, in truth he had expected obedience to a certain extent, but there was a chance that she had never even heard of him, after all he wasn’t exactly well established within the universe as a malevolence entity just yet.

She was summing him up, doing exactly to him as he was to her. In retrospect to each other they were quite similar. Both dressed in dark clothes, although Loki’s seemed to be somewhat more revealing as his chest was bared, both gave off a somewhat evil presence, although that could have simply been all Loki, and both had vibrant, and unusual, eyes. It wasn’t a particularly strong connection, but a connection nevertheless.

She continued to speak; her tone of voice never changing, not even in the slightest. It seemed she wasn’t frightened or intimidated by him, not even in the least amount. It seemed lately at lot of people that Loki came in contact with were more defiant that in fear, it was somewhat amusing. She wasn’t leaving much of a space in-between her sentences for Loki to reply, so he purely decided to wait for her to finish before he would comment. Then suddenly, and without warning or hesitation, she took a step to her left and vanished completely within the darkness once more.

It was almost incomprehensible to the mind that a person could just suddenly step to the side and vanishes within darkness, almost as if the darkness itself wasn’t simply caused by a lack of light but something more unnatural; it had thickness to it, depth. To say the least this fairly surprised Loki, his expression would have shown this to an extent. Interesting… Loki was left alone once again, or was he? Just then her voice echoed out through the surrounding area, he was not alone. No more than a second later he felt a strong presence just off behind him; he turned around, his eyes falling upon her once again. So this presence…its her.

She had appeared, seemingly out of the darkness, a few steps behind him. She had finished speaking at this point, or at least that’s how it seemed. Loki lowered his head and laughed to himself, this was quite the amusing situation. “Who am I to demand that of you?” Muttered Loki, somewhat to himself, as he looked back up at her again. “I’m Loki,” the flames that licked across his body surged quite unexpectedly with the mention of his name. “Your quite lucky you amuse me…I’ve killed for a lot less than this.” he commented, running his left hand back through his hair. “Now you tell me young lady, who the hell are you?”

[lara]

Loki…where had she heard that name before? She knew nothing about this man yet that name…

“I’d be careful who you go round calling ‘young lady’ if I were you, give respect where respect is due. I’m not going to lie, I’ve heard of you before, but mind you sunshine, I’m not scared of you. Infact…” She took another couple of steps forward to him, leaving only a few inches between the two of them. With a half smile on her face, she looked him up and down before making eye contact with him once more. “Do your worst.”

[Ryan - Loki]

She quickly replied, obviously the ‘young lady’ comment hadn’t gone down too well with her, her voice slightly angered yet very calm and collected. She spoke with confidence he wouldn’t expect from a person in her situation, then again it was her who caused him to be in this situation so technically it was him who was at the disadvantage; he knew absolutely nothing about her, where she knew his name. She was tremendously powerful or extremely stupid but either way he didn’t much care, he was becoming more and more interested in her with each passing second.

Pausing half way through her sentence she stepped toward him, closing the gap between them considerable, until they were almost face-to-face with each other, Loki looking down at her slightly. Something instantly ignited deep within Loki at this moment. He couldn’t explain what it was exactly but as she spoke, finishing her sentence, it surged more so. She was standing up to him, so defiantly too; to say the least, it sort of turned him on.

Realising this he laughed to himself. Trust you to be turned on like this. he said to himself inside his head, shaking his head somewhat in disbelief. “My worst?” he said through laughter. “Not even Lucifer could handle my worst,” he boldly stated. Bending down he leant in closer to her, their noses almost touching. “You couldn’t handle what I got darlin’.” he knew she had quite cleverly avoided his question, but he wasn’t about to ask her ‘who she was’ again only to have her ignore the question once more, he had some pride.

[lara]

Lara-Leigh laughed out loud. What was he trying to pull, I mean, how could someone be so arrogant?She leant in further and whispered in his ear.. “Did no one ever tell you? It’s not what you got sweetheart, it’s how you use it.” She pulled back to look him in the face. “I could handle what you’ve got to give me, and then some. I’ll be seeing you around, I’m sure.” With a flirtatious wink she took a couple of steps backwards before turning around and heading towards the shadows once more…

[What am I doing? I want to find out more, why am I leaving? He’s so cocky… so sure of himself. That’s not something you see everyday… Ah I’m being stupid, of course I’m doing the right thing – if I stay he’ll find out more about me, and no one has ever done that before…

She stopped walking a few steps before reaching the shadows. Should she go back? No… going back would show he’s getting to her, and for someone like Lara-Leigh, it could never happen. No, she must leave…

[Ryan - Loki]

(OOC: Sorry about a slight auto-hit in this post, if it’s a problem just let me know.)

Finished speaking she turned away from him, he could only assume that she was about to leave; So soon? That won’t do, he thought. She walked a few steps in the opposite direction, moving away from him. Was he just about to let her vanish again without even knowing a single thing about her? Was he about to let her vanish without her answering his questions? Was he about to let her vanish period? What had been the point of all this simply to leave so soon? It made very little sense, the only feasible explanation being that she didn’t want to get too close to anyone; Loki wasn’t just anyone however, and the answer was no.

Quickly taking a step toward her he leaned forward and grabbed onto her arm, stopping her from moving any further. “Heh…you truly can’t know who I am if you believe the words your speaking.” he somewhat boasted in his usual egotistical manor. Slowly he released his grip on her arm, figuring she would have understood he wished her to stay. He took in a deep breath. “Who are you anyway? It’s a bit late for a girl such as yourself to be out in this type of darkness,” he began, quite the evil smirk slowly crawling across his face. “…You never knew what kind of people will be lurking in the shadows.”

[lara]

Didn’t know who he was? Either he must have a high opinion of himself, or others do of him. The breeze fell, all was still. Lara-Leigh turned her head to the right and looked back at Loki. Her gaze remained fixed for a moment, before looking back in front of her.

“My name is Lara-Leigh. And it is not I who should fear creatures of the night such as yourself, but more you should beware of me lurking in the shadows. Don’t underestimate me, for that shall be your first and last mistake you will make.” She once again turned her head to look at Loki, to be sure she had his attention, before turning fully to face him once more. Slowly for effect, she walked around him, looking him up and down as she did so.

“What is it you want with me? For I can assure you, I have nothing to offer to a man so clearly arrogant of himself - especially to such a person I appear to be a simple ‘girl’”. She continued to walk. “Why would you not allow me to leave? A man claiming to be greater than Lucifer himself has no need for me, for I help no one and expect others to return the favour”.

She completed her circle of him and stopped, directly in front of him. “What makes you not just a waste of my time? I do not take time wasters kindly.”

[Ryan - Loki]

So…she has a name. he thought; while he listened to her speak. Looking at him she paused before suddenly walking all around him, in a complete circle, as she spoke once more. Simply turning his head to his side Loki followed her until she moved behind him, which he then simply turned his head in the opposite direction to continue to follow her movements once again; he rarely left a stranger unwatched within his presence. As she completed her circle she stopped, once again, directly in front of him, as she looked up into his face and spoke again.

Hah…she doesn’t want to know much, does she? Having listened to her questions carefully Loki looked up, as if thinking. “Lara-Leigh…a delightful name” he commented, looking back down to her; he was still smirking. “A Lord of Hell has every right to know whatever he wants, when he wants.” he quickly retorted in reply to her many questions. He was proud of his position. “I don’t want you to leave for the EXACT same reason that you paused when attempting to leave…” said Loki, leaning forward toward her with his hands now placed behind his back. “Curiosity my dear, curiosity.”

Moving back again he turned to his right and took a few steps, his head always slightly turned toward her as to continue to look on at her all the while. “As for my arrogance,” he began. “Perfection is indeed a rare thing,” he continued. He stopped and turned to face Lara as he lifted his hands out to his sides, causing his jacket to fall open exposing his chest slightly more. “I would say it’s fairly placed, wouldn’t you?” it was more a rhetorical question than anything else, but he still was almost excited about hearing her reply.

[lara]

Perfection. Is that what he thought he was? Perfection? “Wow I really am impressed.” She paused to look at him, half smiling due to her disbelief at what he was saying to her. “Not only are you arrogant, you’re deluded too. Now I don’t know about you, but I say my curiosity is satisfied enough for one night, Lord of Hell. But still, I am finding it intriguing how unlike most you’re not threatened by me, but see me more as a game. Ever lost a game before? ”

Lara-Leigh smiled, and tilted her head to one side in a playful kind of way. “No, don’t answer that actually…I think I already know the answer. Doesn’t mean today isn’t the day though” She chuckled to herself, before spread her arms and flying off into the almost black sky. She remained around 20ft above where she was previously stood, looking down at Loki, the outline of his figure clear to see. What happened now? Even Lara didn’t know…she was going into the unknown, and she liked it.

[Ryan - Loki]

Loki couldn’t help but find her sarcasm amusing; after all, deluded happened to be one thing he was most certainly not. He was arrogant, he was egotistical and he was cocky, but within his own mind these traits were all extremely well placed, and had good reasons behind them. In a lack of better words he perceived himself as a living god, a self-proclaimed living god but one nevertheless. However it wasn’t long before Lara-Leigh asked him a question but before he could even open his mouth to answer it she had done so herself and had taken flight into the shadows above.

“Oh hell no.” he muttered to himself quickly; he wasn’t about to lose anything, or give up so easily either. Bending his legs he pounced up into the air in pursuit. It wasn’t long however before he reached her. It seemed that Lara-Leigh had only risen roughly twenty feet within the air before stopping and as Loki moved upward through the darkness and fog she soon came in to view, looking down toward him all the while.

He couldn’t explain it but there was something unnatural about this Lara-Leigh, unnatural in the sense that even though she seemed to be toying with him and dragging him into a game of sorts, and he was yet to loose his temper or become even the slightest bit frustrated. Perhaps she had greater powers than he had first thought, powers of magic, or maybe she was just a woman, with powers of seduction. A bit of harmless flirting never killed anyone, was the thoughts that justified everything within his mind.

Some to a somewhat abrupt halt just off in front of her, roughly a feet or so, Loki stopped, his arms crossed and smirk still apparent. “You expected me to follow, didn’t you?” he commented, already knowing the answer she would give him. He gave her enough time to answer, and then some, as he paused from conversation for a few moments. “Where are you from Lara-Leigh?” he asked. He was a curious one about mostly everything that he didn’t, or couldn’t understand, and even though she seemed to want to remain somewhat mysterious he didn’t care, he would continue to ask questions and follow her until his curiosity was satisfied; and there was no telling when that would be.