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[Lord Akkarus]

A lone mounted warrior clad in armor darker than the night of the forest that surrounded him rode slowly and quietly down the thin deer trail. Only the sound of the nightmare mount's flame-sheathed hooves thumping against the dirt, the clinking of his greatsword against spiked armor as the nightmare strode, and inaudible murmuring from the knight's helmet intruded on the silence of the Forest of Dagariad. The pungent stench of death that followed the knight where he rode seemed to linger in the forest. It was the sort of smell that no one could ever forget. Most would prefer to avoid that smell, with exception of some of the unspeakable evils that dwelled within the forest.

As the night passed on, the armored figure continued to trot along on his dark steed, and continued to randomly murmer from beneath his helm. The once proud knight rode in the saddle slumped foreward as if he were dazed or drunk. Alas, he was niether. Lost in the tormented thoughts of his curse, Lord Manius Akkarus rode with no purpose or destination in mind. His purpose seemed lost at this point. His destination only where he was at the moment, which was this deer trail which he would travel until...well...he did not know or care. His mind, or what he had left of it, wondered. He tried to keep his mind in the past, on the life he once had, for those were the only memories that kept him sane.

The present seemed to matter very little to the knight. He did not care about where he was going, nor did he care about or realize what was going on around him. The loud snap of a branch in the forest to his right did not catch his attention. The rustling in the thick brush ahead did not even get him to raise his head. A low demonic suddenly emerged from behind the knight. A growl that would be unnerving to most people, or at the very least get them to respond in some way; but still, the knight did not. The hiddeous creature behind him slowly approached, but did not strike. It was waiting for it's companions to take positions. One by one the creatures appeared from the darkness of the forest, illuminated only by the moon and the blaze from the hooves, tail, and main, of the nightmare. It was clear now, the knight had walked right into an ekoy ambush...and still, he did not seem to care. He still did not even bother to raise his head, he simply rode on just as he had before.

[Leon]

Darkness didn't seem to bother him anymore. When Leon was a kid it did,the darkness held so many things to fear for him. Death seemed to loom around every corner. It seemed like there was no escape from the black that consumed everything, even the light at times. But ever since that unfaithful meeting with a certain friend, the darkness brightened up for him, and death was never more than a blink away.

Why was he wandering the cursed woods at night? Any sane person would turn tail and make for it. But for Leon the danger of being killed was highly improbable, being half dead had that effect. The ekoy's didn't bother him either, it probably had something to with Kulu's uncanny knack for killing them on sight. He hated the damn things, but Leon didn't care either way.

It wouldn't be light out for quite some time, but that was preferred in this forest anyway. The day had a habit of bringing out bandits, and people, mostly children who were dared to wander the forest yet smart enough not to do it at night. It mattered not what time he walked around, for the feeling of being watched closed in on him either way.

Leon kept his head up high looking at the tree tops above him. It was almost impossible to see the moon, but spots let the light shine through, leaving little patches of light scattered before him. Every so often he would see little red eyes peer in his direction, blink and then disappear only to be seen later on in the night.

He had been walking for quit some time, and decided that it was time to take a small break, It wasn't that he was tired, he was just tired of the rhythmatic motions of taking step after step. It got boring after a while. He looked up smelling death, it was so intoxicating, that it made Leon glance up. He smiled at the figure trotting in his direction, It looked to be a horseman, but things weren't all normal with this one. For one his horse emitted a light at its feet, which looked to be like small fires from a distance. His armor did not glimmer, but seemed to be as dark as the darkest coals. He looked to be in a little danger, but he cared not, He had a feeling like he could handle the masses of Ekoys that seemed to be converging on him.

The man was and his epically cool horse were closing the gap, but Leon just stood there waiting for some kind of events to take place. He hoped the man stopped cause he didn't feel like being passed through today, or if kulu was lazy stomped on, knowing kulu he'd let that man walk all over him.

[Lord Akkarus]

While the knight still appeared to be unconscious, the nightmare seemed to understand that his master was in danger. The steed neighed loudly as he used his front hoves to clobber the ekoy in front of him away. As if his rider had given him the command to, the steed immediately began to bolt straight foreward at an alarmiing speed. Trying to get the knight to snap out of his current state. The nightmare's hoves rumbled loudly against the ground like thunder, catching leaves and twigs aflame as it ran.

Ahead, the steed caught eye of a single stranger. The nightmare began to bolt directly toward him as if it indended to plow over him. Could the steed make the knight come to his senses perhaps if he were to almost run someone down? It was worth a try it seemed. The nightmare was approaching the stranger at a very high speed, unsure if the man would have the quickness to move out of the way.

[Leon]

yeah he was going to get trampled, he thought to himself. the horse bolted towards him, after a quick impressive move taking down one of the Ekoy's. He noticed that the rider seemed to be just looking off in the distance, not really paying much attention. But never the less Leon held his ground, there was that pride issue, and he wanted to see if Kulu even cared. He knew the answer of that one inside his head, it was that little voice saying that horse is going to hurt you a good one.

Leon let out a little sigh and put his head down, realying on his consentration to do the trick, The mare was moving on him with ever more speed. And the Ekoys that followed were trying to match...Ekoy's... that struck a nerve in him somwhere.

[Lord Akkarus]

The nightmare continued it's burst of speed toward the stranger, not appearing to let up in any way. Rapidly closing the gap, the nightmare quickly realized that it would probably drag this stranger into the fight if they passed him. It did not matter to the nightmare, however, for he was simply trying to get his master to wake and keep him from getting attacked. Rutilius knew that they had survived worse things than Ekoys, but not when Akkarus was defenseless.

Now, only a few feet away from the stranger, the nightmare quickly jerked to the right, hoping that the stranger would yell at them and hoping that the knight would finally snap out of it and fight. However, the horse seemed to misjudge the height of that low tree limb near the stranger. The branch slammed into the knight's chest as the nightmare swurved away from the stranger. The rider was thrown from his horse and landed on his backside right infront of the other man.

Another ekoy which had not been pursuing the knight with the others seemingly jumped out of nowhere and toward the knight who was still lying on his back, who seemed to be regaining his senses. Just as the knight was beginning to get up, the ekoy jumped on him. Suddenly, a strange disturbance was felt around him as a dark energy gathered around his right arm as he held the ekoy's snapping jaws back with his slightly more heavily armored left arm. The knight swung a punch directly toward the ekoy's skull. Just before his fist could make contact, The dark magic surged from his arm and blasted a clean hole through the skull of the ekoy, splattering some matter on the stranger's clothing.

The knight finally stood up, much more swiftly than he should have been able to, considering how heavily armored he was. The nightmare trotted back over to the knight so that he was able to retrieve his greatsword. He drew the dark blade from it's sheath. The ekoys werre dangerously close, and Lord Akkarus knew that he would not have the time to get back on his mount. The knight's helm turned toward the stranger and finally spoke. Strangely, he seemed to speak as though he recognized the man.

"Hold your ground, soldier!"

[Leon]

The mare continued its deadly charge in his direction. He could hear the sound of the hooves burning into the grounds they came ever so closer to him. If things didn't change Leon would end up either regreting his pride and eating the dirt, or thanking the way things turned out.

As luck would have it the Mare gave in to the weaker feelings, and surrendered by making a dodging manuver. But the careless thing apparently in his action's and quick thinking reflexes, forgot to notice the low drooping branch. And with a snap of the branch he watched the mighty man on the mare come crashing to his feet.

He looked down at him, kulu laughing up a storm in his head, making Leon almost smile at his misfortune. But that laughter was silence when he felt the power of an ekoy approaching from his left. His eyes averterd in that direction but his head never moved. He watched the dark creature find its target, and then saw as it found its bitter end.

He could see the masses of Ekoy's that were forming around them. Apparently Kulu would have his fun after all. The horseman knight turned towards him and spoke as if he thought he would listen. He looked blankly at the pair, the horseman and the mare.
" If you think im going to just... on forget it....the things smell like complete trash anyway!" Leon let his sword materialize, the hilt forming first, and the blade shimmering into veiw, waving all the way to the ground until it was completely visable.

" Now Im not sure what you did to piss of these here fellows but I can honestly say, congratulations." Leon dropped his head just a little bit letting his eyes level with the ekoy's. They still couldn't feel the demonic power that radiated from him, other wise they would have thought twice about what they were planning on doing. Leon stood his ground, he was but a pawn to the knight at the moment, but he would show himself to be a true rook in the upcoming chessmatch.

[Lord Akkarus]

Akkarus bent his knees and put himself into a seemingly unassuming stance. The left side of his body was angled toward the approaching enemies and his blade was angled downward with the tip slightly angled away from the enemies. Both hands tightly grasped the lower handle of his sword below the handguard. His right hand, however was not grasping the blade as tightly. He was anticipating the movement of his foes, ready to strike. Rutilius stood behind the knight, ready to pummel any on the knight's flanks with it's blazed hooves. The steed breathed out a puff of smoke from it's nose and neighed, ready to charge at the right time.

Akkarus turned his head to the other man and responded to his first comment in the voice of a commander; a rather annoyed commander. "Save your wind for the fight to come soldier! We must hold this flank to buy the general more time!" said the knight, his mind obviously still elsewhere, but at least he was not unconscious. "The cavalry will come; do not loose your courage!" said Akkarus as the other man drew his weapon.

An ekoy savagely charged toward Akkarus, howling with bloodlust. The knight's right hand left the lower handle of his sword and grasped the ring on the side of the handguard. Akkarus swung his sword in a low horizontal slash toward the ekoy's face. The creature seemingly anticipated the move and dashed backward to avoid being slashed. That was no matter, for the knight was a step ahead of the ekoy. The slashing strike ended with the sword on the left side of the knight's stance. With his left hand still gripping the hilt, and his right still gripping the ring, he was now in a perfect position to make a good thrust. Akkarus stepped foreward with his right foot and with this momentum quickly brought the blade foreward with a powerfull thrust. The blade found it's target through the ekoy's throat.

A second ekoy charged the knight from his left and attempted to jump on him. Akkarus threw his left shoulder into the ekoy's side. With this, he drew his weapon from the throat his recently dispatched foe and in the same manuver, brought the pommel into the ekoy's lower body. The pommel of the weapon deffinately cracked something and the spikes on his armor pierced the ekoy's skin before it fell to the ground with a loud thud. The enemy was stunned, but not yet dead. Akkarus returned his right arm to the lower hand guard of the greatsword and brought the blade down in a swift chopping motion, burying itself in the ekoy's body.

[Leon]

Leon looked at the person like he was crazy, did he really think that he was one of his followers... it was unthinkable. He started thinking to himself, which was sometimes worse than talking aloud.

"What the hell is that man raving about kulu? Why does he keep carrying on like im one of his subortants. And he basicly called me long winded!! Can you beleive that.

" Um yeah kinda, and as for the mans actions, its clear that he is memory lost, bring the past into present, to him you proably remind him of a fallen comrade or something to that effect. Oh.. and you do know im taking over now."

" What no!.

Leon's body twitched for a sec, his eyes rolling back into the depths of his mind. One body shared by two souls, and kulu was proving just how easy it was to take control. He wanted to have his fun, plus something about this knight seemed a little fun to him. He wanted to see how far the memory crazed fool would go.

" But sir!, there are far to many of them!? Are you sure the cavalry will arive in time?"

He watched the man's stance with envy it took years to perfect a battle technique as that, It would flow nicely he was sure of it. Kulu watched the battle of the first Ekoy notice in every detail the fast reflexes of the man. But he was soon distracted by the Ekoy's who thought it would be a nice surprize to sneak up when one was in the heat of battle. Spotting the change in the spiritual pressure from behind the horse was no easy task, when ekoy's wanted not to be seen they generaly weren't.

Kulu lifted his sword and timed what he was about to do next to the letter. He watched the ekoy's movement, it had set eyes on the horse. It crawled in its direction moving without sound, without anyone to notice it. Well except for one rather cleaver foe. Kulu kept his eyes on the fight ahead watching yet another foe die by the hand of this knights sword. And thats when it happened. The Ekoy lept out of the shadow's its dark figure and unforgettable smell as Kulu put it, It was mid-air and closing the gap between it and its target. But by the time its feet left the ground, and had no chance of changing its position. Kulu had sent his sword flying to intercept the foolish creature. The blade proved the be the faster of the two and left the ekoy, and its blood curtling scream pinned to the tree only inches away.

The blade began to disolve the creature until nothing but a pool of black liquid was left. Kulu glanced back at the knight who was still caught up in battle. Kulu's blade already forming back into his right hand, angled towards the ground.

" Sir! we need to move out , by some time, if they over flank us there will be no hope for the calvary when they do arrive. We can't let them be ambushed as well!." His tone sounded alot more worried than he ever would be. A few ekoy's would be no problem, but he kinda liked he idea of being out ranked.

[Lord Akkarus]

Acknowledging that he had been adressed, the knight's helm jerked toward the other man before pulling his sword from the felled ekoy.
"Do not loose your nerve soldier, we are already in this fight and there's no point in backing down now!"
Another foe charged at the knight. His sword was still in a low position from removing it from the previous foe, sohe went with an upward swing. The blade bit, but it did not kill; it was merely a flesh wound. However, the creature staggered a good bit, looking weak as if it were already winded from a long fight. The unfortunate creature did not have time to recover from the blade came straight down, cleaving it's skull to the teeth.

Lord Akkarus spoke again to the soldier. "There is only one direction on this field and that direction is foreward!!! We will press on and punch a hole in the enemy's line for the cavalry!" He yelled loudly before turning again to engage another foe.

[Leon]

"What ever crazy fool." Kulu reformed his stance just intime to catch another ekoy in his sights. He was on its six in a matter of sheer moments. He smiled as the ekoy lashed at him. It took a simple duck to dodge the blow.

Kulu put his consentration into the next attack, and brought the sword from its resting point, upwards into the Ekoys skull. Splitting it with a purple aura. The creature fell to the ground before him. Twitching slightly. He had put to much thought into the attack and before he knew it another Ekoy was on him, and had him pinned to the ground. Lucky for Kulu the creature bite right through him.

"Damn little (instert word of choice here)" Kulu shoved the creature off, pushing it to the left of him. He had another coming on his position in a matter of seconds. He still hadn't dispatched the first foe that pissed him off. He gave a sigh and lifted his sword to eye level. The ekoy charging straight at the blade. It took its normal side manuever to dodge the oncoming attack, but Kulu had delt with there kinda often.

He dropped down, missing the claw and brought the sword up about mid level meeting the flesh of the creature. Its vital organs spilling out onto the ground. Kulu's eyes meet the ones that had attacked him and pinned him to the ground. He staired it down, Kulu's red eyes seeming to paralyze the foe. He walked upon the stunned creature and with a powerful strike brought the sword down upon the foe, takeing the head off with the powerful motion.

" How goes your fight sir?" He said a little mockingly, Kulu was getting rather bored with this. He wanted the man to get the hell out of dodge, blood was covering the entire area with the foes they were slaying. But all in all, it was rather fun.