Death walks with thee (Ralzari) [private]

[Gauls]

Brightening 2 Cycle 1 in the Month of Imperos, in the Season of Autumn,
Era II of the Celestine Mandate,
Era XIV Post Fractum

It was evening and the suns of Aelyria were sinking in the sky. The light of day was fading into dusk and the darkness beginning to creep up. This was so within the Orckon Forest, the remainder of a once great forest that now surrounds the great fortress city of Orckon. It is only the most hardy trees that still stand in this forest though many of their branches remain bear all year due to the putrid inhabitants of the nearby neighbors. Some of the great trees look like skeletal reminders of the beasts that currently lurk in the countryside and forests of the Sheria.

One such beast now stalked its prey. Eyes watched every movement of the victim, measuring and gaining an idea of the power that will be needed to bring down the prey. Looking around the area to see when and where to spring into the action that will be the last thing one life will ever see. A cool wind blew down from the mountains nearby and swept across the forest floor stirring up leaves and making a howl through the trees that seemed to be warning the hapless victim to be on alert. They were dire warnings to be sure.

"Oooo... Chilly!" the vysstichi said wrapping his arms around himself and rubbing the sides of his arms. "Almost there!"

He sounded almost cheery. So much different than what Ralzari had seen in the Beer Tent. Still staggering, the vystichi had at least managed to walk a little ways now on his own two feet and not have to lean on Ral's shoulder anymore. This was no doubt a relief to Ral as well as it would not be as easy a task if Ral actually began to get friendly with his victim.

They tromped through the woods and the shadows were beginning to get longer and longer. Ral may have even wondered if this idiot even remembered where he buried his friend. It was a few minutes more when finally...

"Ahhh haaa...! That's it!" the vysstichi said pointing to a little mound on the ground with a single stick jutting up from it. The vysstichi scurried over to the mound then dropped to his knees next to the mound. Upon the stick hung two leather necklaces with a single metal emblem dangling from each. It obviously had some sentimental meaning to the vysstichi. As he reached for one of the necklaces, he began to weep.

[Ralzari Malian]

Brightening 2, Cycle1 of Imperos, Autumn, EraII of the Celestine Mandate, EraXIV Post Fractum

The staggering elf had led Ral into the Orckon Forest and none too soon, for Ral was growing more and more irritated by the drunken elf whom Ral had to pretty much carry half way here. Hearing the elf say the words,"Almost there," had to be some of the best words that Ral had heard all day. If Ral had to put up with the man much longer he would have to kill him before they even got to the grave that the elf spoke of. "Maybe dere some valuables buried wid da man," Ral thought to himself.

The closer the two got the more the elf had changed. He was no longer the staggering depression, now Ral could hear a cheerful tone in the mans voice and he noticed that the elf was just in a better mood in general. Ral tried to ignore everything that the elf spoke of, because he did'nt want to make friends with the man he was about to kill. Ral was beginning to wonder if this drunken idiot even actually knew where he was going, for they had been walking for quite some time. And then Ral finally heard the words he had been waiting for since they'd left Orckon, "Ahh haa, that's it!" the elf said as they approached a mound with a stick jetting out of it. Placed upon the stick were two leather necklaces with an emblom on them.

The elf scurried over to the mound and dropped to his knees. Then he reached out for one of the necklaces and he began to cry. Ral thought nothing of the elf's sorrows though, all he thought about was the mission. And this would be the perfect time to attack, because the man had his back turned to Ral and he was on his knees. Although he still stood no chance even if he was on his feet facing Ral. The vysstichi was simply too drunk to put up any kind of fight. As the elf continued to weep, Ral pulled his axe off his back. He used the blade to slash both of his hands and once he finished Ral placed the axe onto his back. With his hand dripping blood Ral put his hands on his cheeks and rubbed the blood onto his face. The mission was commencing, for Ral begun to feel that great burning hatred inside of him starting to brew.

[Gauls]

The wind kicked up and rustled the leaves upon the ground. The whimpering vysstichi hadn't even noticed Ral's ritualistic smearing of blood upon his face. Still sobbing like a baby and not paying attention to the predicament that he had willingly gotten himself into for it was death that was walking with the dark elf all along. Perhaps it would come as a ending point to his suffering or maybe not. Ral was going to make sure he suffered before the blackness took him.

Just like in the Jorel temple, the burning sensation began to tingle within Ral. This time instead of just flying into rage and not having any control over it, Ral was trying to learn to at least keep conscious thought of what he was doing. Letting the rage take him as before and waking up not knowing where he was would be an occupational hazard upon the battlefield.

The more the dark elf sobbed, the more it seemed to irritate the orc more and more. The blood was the trigger that Jorel gave him to focus this hatred that was growing within him. Little annoying things, little hateful memories, they were all amplified suddenly as the color vision in Ral's eyes began to turn red. Still able to see in just this one color, it was still obvious that the orc was starting to loose his chain of thought. Ral had only had the rage once and failed miserably at controlling it. This day of practice had to be better or else he would never be able to wield his gift from Jorel in battle... well, not safely enough for Ral at least.

[Ralzari Malian]

Burning deep inside of Ralzari was that non-forgetable rage and hatred that he'd felt inside the Jorel Temple. But there was one main difference between then and now. When Ral had went into the bloodlust at the temple, once the anger grew to strong Ral simply blacked out. This time he was focusing on staying alert and knowing what was going on around him. And at the same time he was trying to channel his anger and hatred into the drunken, sobbing elf that knelt before him. Ral's eyes turned red as he begun to think of the many little things that annoyed him and all of those painful memories from his past. All of these thoughts speeding through his head was causing him to loose control, he knew this because it was the same thing that had happened last time before he blacked out. Luckily enough for Ral this time he was able to see what was happening to him. So instead of focusing on things that annoyed him and his past memories, he focused all of his rage on the weeping elf before him.

For a moment Ral just stood there trying to practice control over the bloodlust. He was trying to get used to having to focus the rage onto one certain thing or person, while at the same time knowing what was happening in his immediate surrondings. While he was focused upon the sobbing elf, Ral looked around to scan the area to make sure it was just the two of them. This gave him great practice controlling the rage, but Ral could'nt look away from the elf for too long or he would start to loose focus and the rage would try to take him over.

Once Ral thought that he'd had enough practice controlling the rage enough to know what was going on around him, he decided it was time to practice controlling the great rage enough to have control over deciding how to attack the elf and for how long to attack him. So without hesistation Ral lunged forward and wraped his large hands around the throat of the elf. Instantly the elf grabbed Ral's hands, but he was no match for Ral's strength. Ral squeezed tighter and tighter on the man's throat, still trying to stay concious of what he was doing. They Ral proceeded to slam the elf's head down upon ground a few times. Once he grew bored of this, Ral (still squeezing the elfs neck) brought the elf in front of a tree. He released the elfs throat and instantly grabbed the back of his head, then slammed his face into the tree repeatedly until he could see nothing but blood on the man's face.

Still unable to see any other color then red, this brewed the anger even more. It became apparent to Ral that the anger was greatly trying to take him over. So Ral threw the man onto the ground and paused for a moment so he could regain control of the hatred inside. He was still consious enough to know that he did'nt have to worry about the elf while he regained control. He still knew that the elf was hammered and that he most likely broke his nose and probably multiple more bones in his face, so he was'nt too worried. After a few moments of focus and deep thought Ral was pretty sure that he'd regained control of the bloodlust. So Ral walked over to the elf, whom was now laying on his back, and stomped on his chest. Once his foot met the mans chest, Ral heard many cracks and snaps. Then, with his foot still firmly on the elf's chest, Ral grabbed the man's left arm with both hands and yanked as hard as he could. Once he did this the elf's arm ripped right off his body and the elf let out a massive scream of agony. Once Ral heard the scream sometyhing clicked, he stoped because he knew that the scream would attract others, so he quickily thought of a solution to the problem. Ral took the elf's arm and shoved it into his mouth in order to silence him. It was a good sign that Ral was able to recognize that the elf's scream would attract others and that he was able to quickily think of a solution. This meant that he was indeed beginning to learn control of his new gift of bloodlust.

[Gauls]

The screaming. It rattled Ral just enough to make him stop to think and when he did that, Ral lost control of the rage. Shoving the severed arm into the bloody pulp of a face left on the vysstichi was more of a rage response than a well calculated plan to silence the screams. After Ral lost control, so did any memory or recognizances of what he was actually doing. While Ral's brain was registering absolutely nothing, in fact, the orc had begun clubbing the now dead corpse of the vysstichi with the severed arm as if he was beating upon some elaborate drum set that only Ral could see.

After about 20 minutes of pounding the corpse with the arm, Ral began to gnaw upon the arm ripping off flesh and swallowing it. Before it was all over, Ral was drenched in blood. Luckily there were no others around or surely the orc would have attacked them too. This was the power of the bloodlust rage. Once it took Ral, all that could be done is wait, wait for the rage to wear itself out.

Though Ral was not aware of the time, a good 4 candlemarks had passed. When Ral finally began to wake, he was drenched in red lying upon the ground about 20 feet from the mangled body of the vysstichi. He woke with an awful headache and a terrible taste in his mouth.