Secret Places {Private Hyper and Accalia}

[Accalia]

Aleila felt the absence of Xoren by her side. She stayed there, frozen for a moment, her thoughts circling her head. Xorens question stirred her from her thoughts though and she got up, slowly, her eyes deep and placid, but if you were trained to see it, you would be able to see the small hints of hurt and fear still lingering behind her flat face. "Yea,... Let's go" Aleila whispered as she neared where Xoren stood. She lowered her head, the image of the dead lion, laying in its own blood, and the sudden image of her standing upon him flashed through Xorens memories and she winced, before lifting her head and smiling softly, trying to mask her true feelings, but deep down knowing Xoren knew how she really felt. "So.... Where are we going to go?" She asked, looking behind her as she left her special haven.

[Hypercube]

(OOC: Happy second page =D)

Xoren saw the pain on the lioness's face, it was obvious that while she attempted to hide her emotions they still scratched at her like nails on a chalk-board. "Where ever we end up!" Xoren responded playfully. He smiled back to her, holding onto the wish that he could somehow make her feel better. After staring into her single uncovered eye for a bit, he turned and sprang up the small ledge that lead into the woods from which he came.

[Accalia]

(OOC: YAY :3 *flails*)

Aleila giggled "Let's get swept away by the ever changing road." She said in reply, changing her outside mood to mirror his playful, light one. She followed Xoren gracefully, smiling as she goes, the temporary joy causing her to forget her pain. She walked side by side with him, her green paws springing slightly with every step. *Why am I so temperamental?* She asked herself momentarily confusion passing her face. She sped up, starting to run, she whooped with joy as she ran faster and faster the wind zipping past her face.

[Hypercube]

Xoren watched as the chuckling spirit fluttered around the forest like a fairy, shouting in happiness as she became freed with every leaping bound. The attitude was contagious and Xoren soon found himself running along side her, his fer equally pushed back against the resistance of the air that they bolted through. He looked to the feline and saw her perfectly white eye that was once hidden by the portion of her mane that was now waving behind her as she shot around the trees. It was almost as if the eye did not belong to her, but was rather there as a part of a completely different entity. Xoren was curious, but decided to wait until Aleila opened up enough to explain it herself. For now, he continued to dash across the moss and roots that coated the ground, enjoying the thrill of dodging the obstacles that swiftly approached the pair.

[Accalia]

Aleila watched as the Xoren too ran by her side and she sent a sideways smile in his direction, not really caring about her unnatural eye being exposed to the world, simply enjoying the fierce pleasure of her burning limbs as she glided over the never ending obstacles. Her fur waved with the movements of the wind, both her eyes open wide, taking in the beautiful world she has yet to discover. She looked towards Xoren, watching as his features flew with the wind and a part within her sighed, half whishing for his warmth and comfort once more, part craving his freeness, but she did not let any of her true feelings leak onto her face.

She felt a warm, thick liquid encase her green paw and yelped, she was not frightened as much as startled. She moved her glance down, examining the brown goop, "Yuck.. What is this, I've never seen it before..." Aleila had grown up on the savannah, where water was collected in pools, never in small puddles, she had know nothing but that and her small glad where the goop had never occurred before. She shook it off and stood back, it didn't disgust her as much as it confused her.

[Hypercube]

Xoren laughed, amused by the confusion of such a common substance to him. "It's just mud," he said under broken giggles, "It's essentially water and dirt together." He moved to the small pool of water that create the sticky substance and took Aleila's paw, splashing it with water so that the mud further liquified and eventually slid back into the water, leaving her green fur clean once again. Now that they had slowed down, Xoren began to scan the area, figuring out where they should actually head. He saw his marks in the trunks of the trees that he utilized to navigate the forest, curious as to which way the forest's edge was. Knowing where to head, he asked Aleila, "The exit of the forest is this way, do you want to keep moving?"

[Accalia]

Aleilas eyes glinted as she relished in how she had learnt about a new thing in the world "Mud?!" She exclaimed, trying to fit the two together. She felt his firm paw upon hers, moving it to the water, taking full control of it, she wondered how it was possible to be so firm, yet gentle and kind.

Aleila watched as he looked around the area, taking it all in, as he asked his question Aleila was already up and by his side, not touching his fur, but not too far either, Her eyes were ravenous as she took in every last bit of the forest, keeping it locked in her memory"Yes, I guess we are loosing daylight,huh." She sighed slightly, but kept a slightly playful air around her words."Which way to new adventures?!" She said slightly giggling, her peculiar colourings stood out amongst the natural foliage of the forest, the parts of her pelt that are neon green look as if she was not a part of nature, simply pretending to be, but she appeared like this anywhere she goes and so Aleila slowly learnt not to let it trouble her.

[Hypercube]

Xoren looked at his markings once again, all of which pointed to a small, clear path to their right. "After all the time I have spent in this forest, it seems that my treading has made a trail for us to follow." he told Aleila, his paw pointing to the trodden ground. He stepped carefully over the bramble bushes that stood between him and his objective, his pads eventually meeting with the soft, dirt ground. "Be careful of those bushes, they have a pretty painful sting if you happen to get pricked," Xoren warned Aleila.

[Accalia]

Aleila followed Xorens paw and nodded, seeing a path of slightly withered plants and smooth dirt. She stepped towards the bush, jumps over it, but snags her paw on one of the sharp points in the proses. Xorens warning came too late, Aleilas eyes scrunch up momentarily, but she then hears a small voice in her head, not directed towards her, but there all the same *Why am I destined to remain as an obstacle, never beautiful, just a pest* She soon realises that it was the bush and she sends a comforting reply back towards it, whipping the crimson blood dripping from her paw on a nearby trunk, trying not to wince. Aleila then turned to Xoren "Oops! I guess I wasn't quite careful enough!" She says, giggling, not wishing to show her hurt. She feels the dirt ground beneath her paws and a smile spreads across her face *Ahhh, finally something familiar!* she says, listening to the rustle of the trees and the small padding noise of her paws on the soft dirt. Her eyes sparkle in the filtered sunlight, her paws moving her forward.

[Hypercube]

Xoren moved along side her, slowly walking along the familiar ground. He too was engrossed in the sounds and movements of the forest against the wind, those which made him feel as if he was in a world all his own. He saw that his marks were become less and less prominent in the slowly fading trees that surrounded the path. He looked to Aleila and told her "we're almost out-" His voice cut out suddenly and obviously; he thought he felt something looming in the nearby threshold.

The noises of the forest, had ceased, the wind had calmed, and the birds that once fluttered around the speckled sunlight had disappeared. "Wait here Aleila," Xoren told the feline, "something isn't right here..." Without looking back to the cat, Xoren started silently shifting along the forest floor, headed towards a tall tree near the entrance to the surrounding plains.

[Accalia]

Aleila remained beside him, just taking in the ever moving paths of others lives "Allright" she half sighed, unknowing as to what she should think. She felt his wariness and developed it herself. She listens as the signs of life fade, her eye began to burn and the grass beneath her feet swayed and screamed at her, telling her to turn around, but she had a knack for not doing as told.

She didn't stay put, she remained just behind Xoren, but not too far from where he told her to stay "STOP!" she screamed, as a black figure loomed up behind her, she wasn't sure if it was her imagination or it was actually there, but it stung her leg where it's long claws had dug into her. "Xoren... Be careful, don't come near me.." she said her teeth gritted as she stood frozen for a moment, then turned, pouncing on the beast, but it was gone. She heard eerie whispers echo around her head and she froze, utterly terrified.

[Hypercube]

Xoren was moving closely to the ground when he heard Aleila's warning to him. He felt the air tense as she did, his body following both of them. He listened to Aleila's pounce into seemingly empty air and the complete terror she showed when there was nothing to strike. "Aleila," Xoren said concerned, "was there something there?" Xoren was not sure what to think of the situation, but observed as she listened to nonexistent voices that seemed to torment her from the inside.

[Accalia]

She watched as Xoren stood there, unseeing of the terror. She felt blood seep down her back, only it wasn't blood, it was a thick, black liquid. Aleila felt something dark course around her body and she cringed, her face pained, her back arched. Aleila managed to groan a small "Yes" before dropping to the floor, writhing in pain, she didn't want to appear like this to Xren, she wanted to be strong and independent, but she could not stifle the endless groans and short breaths coming from her mouth.

[Hypercube]

Xoren rushed to the downed lioness, his heart racing from the immense anguish she suffered. It was then that he saw the lesion on her back that oozed a strange black substance. "Aleila, are you alright?" Xoren asked, his paw attempting to slow the slow the bleeding. Before the chance to answer was given, Xoren heard a shuffle amongst the dried leaves that surrounded them. His eyes closed as he continued to place pressure on Aleila's wound, searching with his senses for whatever was stalking them.

Around them danced an aura nothing like Xoren had seen before; in, fact, it was almost as if it was not visible at times. As it zipped around in a circular fashion around its prey, it continuously switched between two lurid forms. The first it took on as it was moving, something close to a black streak that plagued the forest. The second an equally evil black leopard shape that seemed to be it's true form. Opening his eyes, Xoren attempted to locate the beast with his own vision, but succeed only in fleeting glances that seemed to become continuously more scarce as his fear engulfed him.

[Accalia]

Aleila was unable to make an understandable reply to his question, she heard a shuffle and the whispering grew stronger, she went to her powers and used them to fight back, leaving her body silent on the floor, she sent searing thoughts to the beings mind, attempting to slow its attack. She half felt the pressure on her back, but was too immersed in the being mind to react. She saw his deep, evil thoughts and continued delving deeper into the being mind, her body still laying motionless on the ground. Suddenly she was dejected from the being and returned to possessing feeling, her back now searing with pain, her body filled with the liquid.

She looked up at Xoren and asked shakily "what is it?!" Aleila had never seen such a being posses such dark thoughts, it was almost as if it wasn't a being at all. She saw as Xoren looked around for the thing, fear seeping into his face. Seeing the fear and hearing the whispers spurred her to warily get to her paws. She leaned against Xoren slightly as she tried to gain a better sense of balance.

[Hypercube]

Xoren's frenzied state did not allow him to hear Aleila's question, but instead forced it to reach him as a series of disjunctive sounds floating in a sea of vitriolic words. His ears had now become bombarded with ceaseless whispers, all of which taunted him of his past, things he had not told to anyone. This torture finally shook him to the core, forcing him to remove his paw from Aleila's back and use both of them to grip his own head as he fell to the ground. The once silent forest was now saturated by his screams of terror as images of the night that ended his life reoccurred over and over, his dead Avanti's body continuously appearing like projections on his eyelids.

[Accalia]

Aleila watched helpless as Xoren crumpled to the floor, her eyes turned icy and her eye became closer to white, she silenced her thoughts and the echos to a dim whisper, listening to the regular running pattern of the monster. She waited for a while, not paying her pain any attention, until she leapt upon the what she now saw to be leopard, tearing at its back and neck, sending multiple thoughts of death to its mind, hoping it would collapse, but she saw that the only option was for her to kill it as she slipped away from her reasonable mind, but the demon was not as strong, as if it were unwilling to kill the beast, as if it were her own kind. She tore at it for a while, but was only able to keep it in its visible form, not actually cause any punctures in its black pelt. She slowly returned to her natural self, still upon the leopards back. She looks to Xoren, collapsed on the floor and fights back the tears, she felt his pain searing in her mind as she fell from the leopard, it returning to its invisible form once more.

[Hypercube]

In the momentary solace Xoren received as a result of Aleila's actions, he forced himself to focus on the hope he held for his daughter rather than the terror of the night he lost her. As he heightened his focus on these non-fearful memories, the shade slowly began to gain substance, allowing him to successfully track what was steadily revealing itself to be a physical being. "Aleila!" he shouted out, "don't be afraid of it! That's what gives it the power to change form!"

As the final words left his lips, he felt the still ethereal enemy rush around him, leaving long, shallow slices along his legs. As he began to feel the pain of the sword-like claws, his mind once again began to become infested with fear, making the already blurry image seem nothing more than a cloud of black smoke surrounding him.

[Accalia]

Aleila wareily gets to her paws and starts to laugh, as a reply to this monsters mayhem and Xorens outcry, she laughs at it and sneers at it, making her eyes sting from withholding the crys and her throat tight as she holds the screams back. She watches helpless as he cuts Xoren letting out a gasp, rushing to his side, standing over him, protecting him. She stops sneering and growls instead, not frightened but angry. She roars at the moving shape, it's true form becoming more seen as her growl grows into a roar. She glances down at Xoren, sadness in her eyes, sadness at her unable ness to help him.

[Hypercube]

Xoren, still being torn by the swirling shadow, looked to Aleila, the somberness apparent in her face. As his cuts begin to bleed fresh blood, he forces himself to turn his pain and fear into pure rage, something inside of him snapping at the thought that this could very well be the end. In nearly an instant, his fear is lost, leaving the leopard open to attack. With all of his strength, Xoren's hind leg strikes the creature in the gut, sending it flying across the open path and smacking into one of the large trees just off the route.

With most of his energy lost to both the attack he had endured and the shear energy released with his anger, Xoren fell to the ground, unable to stand from complete exhaustion. "Aleila," he said with a near whisper, "it's up to you now." Looking into her furious eyes, he was aware that the next step to come was the creature's death, but he forced himself to use what little energy he had left to convey to her that that was not what he wanted; he wanted to know what this creature's intentions were.

[Accalia]

Aleila nodded gravely, now thankful she was under control, she sped after the leopard,pouncing upon the dark being, pinning and holding it to the ground, her blue eye twinkling and her mouth pressed into a thin line. She pressed on its throat and hissed "What do you want with us?!" her body was tense as she held the body in place.

The leopard simply replied coolly "Fun" his eyes were hard and intricate, his body deflated.

Aleila growled and repeated the question adding "That's not an excuse to almost kill us!" her claws delve deep into the leopards neck and he squirms slightly.

[Hypercube]

Xoren slowly inched up from his flattened state, doing the only thing he was capable of. With his eyes resting closed, he focused on the life energy of those around him, watching Aleila's brightness compose a dichotomy against the slate-black hue. Something else was close though, Xoren could feel the imbalance in the area. He turned slightly to his back, catching vision of a body slyly hiding in the nearby plants. Again he witnessed the blood red aura of the first cat he came in contact with, just standing, observing.

As Xoren's eyes opened, he was surprised by what he saw. There was no possible way that lion could see what was going on from his position, yet as Xoren checked his aura once again, he had not moved from his sedentary position. Unable to engage the enemy, Xoren remained motionless, watching via his mind's eye as the strange feline stood motionless behind the thick layer of concealing woods.

[Accalia]

Aleila began to choke the leopard, pushing hard on its black neck, it giving out a gurgled chuckle. Aleila felt the fur along her neck prickle up on edge, as another things thoughts pushed into her mind and she gave a moments hesitation loosening her grip slightly. Her eyes were hard, but beneath that were small and frightened, she couldn't help it.

The hole in her back was seeping black goo once more, and her face was a dull grey. There was a strange taste at the back of her throat and her eyes began to burn, it was begging to take effect and Aleila could no longer ignore the pain.

[Hypercube]

The shadow felt the change in pressure on his wind pipe, knowing that the opressor was again feeling the pain of his first attack. feeding of the little fear this provided him, the cat slipped from under Aleila's paws and rushed around her. With quick fluid motions, he skilfully dodged the structures of the forest, leaving Aleila's sight.

Xoren was not blind as she was though, for he could still track the creature by its aura. As he followed it, he watched both the blood red and pitch black meet and stand together, staticly staring to each other. To his surprise, Xoren witnessed the two merge into a single entity, the deep red resultant rushing away as it had when they first encountered it.

[Accalia]

Aleilas standing faultered as the being passed from beneath her and she growled, only to see it run past her until it once again became dissapeared from sight. She slowly stumbled to where Xoren had remained and once there collapsed close by, her body heaving with the pain and exhaustion. He asked with many breaths between each word "What was that?" he eyes were burning and the same with her lungs, she spluttered and groaned. She hoped they would make it, but she felt as if she was dying, her lungs gasping for air as her eyes dispeared upon the gloomy trees. Her heart thumped loundly against her as she attempted to survive her tragic wounds.

[Hypercube]

As Xoren himself to turn to Aleila against the great discomfort, he stared deep into her eyes. "I don't know," he spluttered, "but I do know something." He struggled to describe what he had saw to Aleila, but managed to at least describe the important parts of what he had witnessed throughout the encounter. "As whatever it was fled though, the two auras merged together and then fled. I can only assume that they were one to begin with." As he spoke, he breathed deeply, feeling the lesions along his body starting to sustain their bleeding.

After he had explained what he could to Aleila, Xoren watched in awe as the cut which had been spewing black sludge started to lessen in size, minimizing to that of a shallow slice. "Aleila," he said as his wounds too began to clear, "I think that thing was responsible for the severity of our injuries..." The more time passed, the less agonizing the open cuts pained Xoren, eventually reaching their end as the shallow lesions one would expect from a fight.

[Accalia]

Aleila listened as he described all that he knew of the creature, or was it two, Aleila was confused and she couldn't quite get her head around the idea of one fore having two separate beings that made it and were able to split whenever they wished. She watched as he described in pain though, her eyes filled with empathy as her body wrenched from the pain.

At his words though she is suddenly aware of the pain lessening as the puncture wound shallows and she sighs instead of groaning. "hmmm! you think?!" she says slowly, thinking about it as she does, her wound almost completely healed now she was able to move her shoulder without too much pain shooting around her body.

[Hypercube]

Xoren was relived not only from the alleviation of his own pain, but the mitigation of Aleila's. With the forest once again alive with the sounds of life, Xoren was able to stand and begin tending to his own wounds. As he licked at the open cuts, he also searched around the familiar plants for anything that might work as a healing agent. Soon he spotted the leaves of a fern he had used many times before that exact purpose and began to collect it's stem with his teeth.

With the collected plant in his mouth, he moved to Aleila, squirting the pale-white liquid that was kept inside with his mandible onto his open paws. "This will sting a bit," Xoren warned, "but it will aid immensely in the healing process." Slowly and carefully, Xoren began to coat both his and Aleila's wounds in the agent, using his mouth and paws to apply just the right amount to each wound.

[Accalia]

Aleila felt Xoren's relief as it flooded over him, over spilling onto her. She listened to the subtle sounds return, filling her with warm familiarity. She watched and was relieved to see he too could stand and watched curiously as he seemed to look for something and she asked curiously "What are you looking for?" . Her eyes went wide and she moved away from him slightly as he approached her with the white cream on his paws, she was worried about what he was going to do with the peculiar substance. Her fear was confirm as he warned her of the pain, she grimaced as the substance was spread across her back and her teeth were clenched together. She sat there for a moment until the stinging sensation wore away to leave... Nothing.., she smiled widely at Xoren and embraced him, thankful to have him there and his amazing knowledge.

[Hypercube]

Xoren returned the embrace, happy that he was able to help her with his wisdom. "We should probably get out of these woods," he said releasing himself from the hug after a few moments, "the savanna should be just outside of that foliage cover." Xoren strode to the threshold, pushing aside the emerald leaves and stepping beyond the barrier. As he exited the forest, he became blinded by the shining sun that stared directly into his eyes. Using his paw to shield them, Xoren lost his breath as he observed the change in environment. Rather, he was stunned at the fact that they, despite all of his markings leading out of it, had seemed to only trek deeper into the trees. Xoren spun around frenetically, confounded over the endless jungle they were now stuck within.