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It's a strange building, one that started small and grew piecemeal, and in odd directions. Likewise the interior, when you venture in, is a hodge-podge of styles. No two pieces of furniture match, right down the bar-stools with their varying sizes, heights, and colors. The occupants are equally eclectic. Whoever you are -- whatever you are -- you'll probably fit in here.

The forces of hell have been defeated -- largely by the forces of a different hell. Calm has returned to the tavern, though there is still a note of anxiety and dread in the atmosphere. Somehow, everyone has the feeling that this isn't over yet...

OOC: This is the continuation of Between the Worlds V. To try to keep things manageable, I'll be starting a new thread fairly often. Feel free to wrap things up over there, and jump in here when you're ready.

The tavern stands, says Amriel, once again speaking in that strange tongue you couldn't hope to pronounce, but understand in your very bones. And my debt to you is discharged.

"And... that's it? You did notice that those are the forces of hell out there, right?" Lady Gray glares at the angel.

This... place... he shakes his head, then continues, "This place you call the Between, it is not Heaven's jurisdiction." He shrugs, ruffling his wings. He is still heart-breakingly beautiful. What will be, will be.

And then he is gone, and the tavern is cold and drab, full of flawed mortals with their petty concerns.

The bartender rubs his forehead. "Well. That's done with, then."

(OOC: This was posted at the end of Between the Worlds V as well.)

Lithea collapses on the couch, utterly exhausted. She sets her knife down on the table and looks at Colinda. “You get it?”

The other girl nods and hands the blonde a bottle filled with blue liquid. Lithea downs it quickly and sighs in content, energy refilling. “Thank you.”

“When was the last time you slept?” the healer demands.

“I don’t know . . . about a week before I came here?”

“You can’t keep living off of potions!”

“I never have time to sleep. It’s always something.”

“Well get a nap or something now. Or I won’t make you any more Maxi potions.”

The blonde sighs, but lies down lengthwise on the couch and closes her eyes. “Fine. But wake me up at the first sign of trouble.” She closes her eyes and goes still.

Colinda smiles and sits down in another chair, also exhausted.

All of a sudden, Lithea’s knife shined a bright, dark violet and started vibrating and shaking on the table violently, creating a loud commotion. The healer flinched and Lithea’s eyes flicked open.

“See?” the blonde muttered. “I go to sleep and demons come.”

A boy with blonde hair similar to Lithea’s, but dark red eyes, walks into the tavern. His skin is dreadfully pale, but otherwise he looks fine. His face is slack and emotionless and he keeps glancing at the patrons hungrily.

Lithea’s eyes widen and she stares at the boy in almost disbelief, though her face still shows no clear emotion. Colinda looks at her friend and back at the boy and whispers, “Is that . . .?”

“Ritardando, the General of Eternal Demons? Yes. That’s him.”

(OOC: Sorry for the somewhat long post, but hey, I like the climax here :) )

Jack still shocked after the battle notices the daemon and takes out his sword. 

"Master! Daemon!" JAck says as he lunges at the daemon with his blade. Kinoeth raises his sword, but does nothing else. 

Lithea jumps off of the couch, grabs her knife, and steps between Ritardando and Jack, blocking his sword with her knife. "You won't touch him," she growls.

West comes back into the tavern and seeing the commotion says, "Alright, not only have I fought a wizard today but I've also fought demons, a dragon, and the Devil to top it off. Can't I have a break for once? What's wrong now?"

"Nothing," Lithea mumbles.

Ritardando swipes at her, but she spins and knocks him down, holding him by his neck with her foot. His arms flail around but can't hit her.

Sanchez and the rest of the team all ready their weapons. West is the one to speak however, "Alright, someone tell me what's going on!"

"It's . . . complicated," she whispered.

The General swiped at her leg, giving her a decent sized cut through her calf.

"Do you need any help?" West asks before he wants to continue the conversation.

"No . . ."

The demon squirms and tries to get out of her foothold. He stared up at her and glared, his eyes shining brightly. "I hate you!" he seethes.

Lithea squeaks and jumps back like she was just burned.

"Alright, now how do you two know each other?" West asks while watching the fight in front of him.

Ritardando stands and grins evilly, his eyes glowing. "Oh, how don't we know each other? Hmm, Lithea? Why couldn't you save your brother? Why did you let his soul get devoured?"

Lithea grits her teeth but her eyes are full of pain. "Shut up."

"Ah a plot twist. How nice," Sanchez says while taking a drink.

"Were you always this much of a dick?" West asks looking back.

"Yup." Sanchez says looking prouder than ever.

"Alright," West says and then looks back towards Lithea, "Why did you let his soul get devoured?"

"It's not devoured!" she spat, not looking away from the demon. "It's just trapped in hell. It was stolen." Her eyes narrowed.

"And how did that happen?"

She bites her lip. "I was stupid. He was stupid. We were careless. He was an idiot being heroic."

Ritardando grins and steps a little closer. "Now Lithea, that's not all that happened." His voice changes to a little younger and says, "Please, don't do this! Don't take her! Take me instead!"

Lithea bites her lip hard enough to draw blood. "Don't use his voice. It's hard enough to see a demon inhabiting my brother's body."

But the demon continues. "I love my sister! She doesn't deserve to die! She's too young!"

"Stop it," Lithea whispers.

"Just take me instead!" He grins and starts shrieking shrill.

Lithea squeezes her eyes shut and drops her knife, which clatters to the ground. She covers her ears and screams, "STOP IT! STOP IT!!" her voice distressed and frightened.

A man in Sanchez's team starts to unsheathe his sword. "Stop!" Sanchez yells at the man as West does nothing but stare at the screaming girl.

The demon stops screaming and gets closer to Lithea. He strokes her cheek and whispers, "Oh, did I make you cry?"

Lithea looks up, her eyes angry but brimmed with tears. "You're . . . you're a jerk. A horrible, demon."

"What?" His voice is still her brother's. "You think I am?"

Lithea squeaks.

West breaks his state of confusion and speaks up, "Alright, I can't sit back and watch anymore. Someone tell me what happened from the beginning or someone's getting their head chopped off!"

Keith looks annoyed and sympathetic, as he walks over to Lithea and pulls her away from the daemon. "Lithea, it's just a daemon, I understand sacrifice tends to bring nightmares but there is only one thing that can be done for this body." Keith says, as he starts to cry as well. 

Jack, understanding the situation. Takes out a chain from a white sphere that resembles Keith's black sphere. He then wraps it around the daemon. "This should hold it down for a while" Jack says seemingly cooled off. 

The chain seems to vibrate with holy energies and seems to hold on to Ritardando's body.

(OOC: Explanation about her past and Ritardando is lower down. I wanted to stop nesting here)

Jack looks at Lithea, Shocked at being told to not touch a daemon. Jack, stops for a second, but then responds "Girl, I don't know who you are, but I am a daemon hunter, o can understand your wish to kill a daemon, but please stay out of my way."  

Jack then attacks the daemon with another strike. Kieith notices lithea's reaction, and says "Lithea? What's gotten into you girl? It's a daemon and you should not interfer with Jack's work." keith looks concerned and looks into Lithea's eyes. "Unbelivable. She sincerely wishes to protect the daemon... Why?" Keith mutters.

Ritardando stumbles back slightly at Jack's strike. Lithea kicks Jack's sword out of his hand. "Don't." Her voice seems deeper and almost . . . evil?

Jack looks surprised to see his sword kicked away from him, more so that someone would dare to do so. He picks up the sword and turns to Lithea. "Like I said, I do not know who you are, and I doubt anyone here knows that as well, but I am Jack Ferris the eldest of Master Keith's Dojo, and also the head of the holy knights. Do not mess with me if you value your life." Jack says as he walks towards Lithea sword in hand. 

Keith looks alarmed, like he is seeing two of his children promising to rip out the lungs of the other. "Hey, calm down Jack, Lithea you too. This is not a good thing to do, I realize that Jack can get annoying, but he has good intentions. I understand that this daemon is your brother, but he is a daemon know, and must be killed." Keith says looking sad.

"Master, who is this nobody that you treat with kindness? She deserves to die for defending a daemon!" Jack says still flustered. 

"Jack, how would you feel if your eldest son called for the death of the youngst?" Keith says calmly.

"Can't be.... She is my sister now?" jack says and then turns his sword away from lithea and towards ritardando. 

OOC: Keith's students refer to each other as brother and sister since they tend to all live togheter and since they tend to be orphans and live with Keith.

OOC: Ignore this deleted.

Malix enters the tavern. He is a middle-aged man with dark facial hair covering his face. His hair is messy and unmanaged. He moves for the stools, ignoring any form of commotion that may be coming on inside the tavern. He takes a seat on a high rising stool and places his arms on the bar's counter. His eyes swing over to the bartender not too far from where he sits. 

"Give me the strongest thing you've got," Malix says ready to forget whatever may trouble him with a glass.

OOC: Not sure if I'm allowed to control the bartender.

(OOC: Typically Morgan_R controls him, but you can just assume you get your drink.)

"Are you mortal?" asks the bartender coolly. "If so, the strongest thing I've got would likely kill you. Perhaps a shot of triple-distilled vodka would suffice?"

"Sure, fill me a glass," says Malix. His eyes were locked on the bartender, he could feel a strangeness to him. "I'm assuming people don't ask you too many questions?" Malix asks, ready to receive the drink.

The bartender pours a generous shot and slides it across the bar. "Questions? Sure, I get some questions. 'Where the hell am I?' is a popular one around here." He winks.

"Although more often I'm the one asking the questions... comes with the job description. Speaking of which... what's driving you to the strongest stuff I'm willing to serve?" Somehow the bartender manages to ask this in a casual tone, yet with an air of seriousness that implies that he really does care about the answer... and not just because it's his job.

"Oh, curious I see?" Malix replies. He takes the shot, feeling the heavy burn slide down his throat. "Just what drives most men to the drink I suppose," Malix answers. He gave the bartender a look. A look that something was buried deep in this man. Something that would take more than just slide of a drink and a wink.

"Guilt?" says the bartender, in a mild tone. He pours another shot, then hesitates, and pours a third -- and drinks it himself.

"I suppose it's guilt," Malix says. He drinks the next shot before slipping his hand into his pocket and pulling out an open pack of cigarettes. He pulls one out, puts the pack away and lights it. "I've made more wrong than right, I'll give you that much."

The bartender has a distant look. "Sometimes it's easier to count the wrongs..." he sounds like he's trying to convince himself as much as Malix. He doesn't sound like he's succeeding.

Malix sighs, "you really want to know, don't you?" He takes another drag of the cigarette and blows the smoke into the distance. "It doesn't have an end, and I don't think it ever really had a beginning." Malix sighs once more, breaking his calm stance. "I guess it all started when I forgot who I was, or better yet what I believed in. At one point I thought I was invincible, I stole, I cheated, I lied, I drank, I-" Malix stops himself. He looks down at the counter, hiding his face from the bartender. "I killed, but I'm sure you've heard worse. I'm sure you just see me as another washed up man, drinking his sorrows away and spilling them to the first guy who asks him how he's doing."

The bartender shakes his head. "It's the ones that won't talk that worry me... and I'm no judge, to weigh one man's sins against another's. Or to assume I can tell whether the weight of those sins has crippled the man in question... or not."

"No, I don't suppose you are. " Malix continues to stare into the counter, he takes another drag and then raises his head. "I'm a broken man, I won't lie. I've lied enough. Don't think the alcohol will get me talking though, I'm usual more quiet when it's in my system." Malix straightened his shoulders, readjusting himself back to a calmer state. "It's not always easy, opening up to people. That's another wrong I've made, one I don't intend to make again."

"Broken like a glass, or broken like a bone?" The bartender holds up a hand. "No, don't answer that. You don't know yet. Just something to think about." He nods to Malix, before going to serve another customer, further down the bar.

"Hm." Malix rubs his chin, feeling the hairs of his beard. He finishes his cigarette and steps off the stool. "Nice talking to you, I'm sure I'll be back..." He began to depart the bar, turning back once to look at the bartender. Malix feels a slight chill run down his spine, then halt as he turns away. 

"Broken like a glass, or broken like a bone?" Hm, clever.

OOC: Seeing how Alvin is also trapped in hell and all, I'll be updating you guys on the happenings in heaven, hell and the worlds currently in apocalypse. Oh and the mysterious crack in the sky. I am assuming that the crystallize angels is not yet dead despite seeing how everyone is so relaxed.

Heaven

The angels was in turmoil. The betrayal of their own had come as a shock to them. Millions of years ago, when Lucifer first rebelled against God and was defeated. It has been thought that all of his followers had been rooted out and removed. Michael grit his teeth as the thought of being unable to kill Lucifer looms in his mind. He has been assign to a special task force assembled to deal with the aftermath of the apocalypse that Lucifer had nearly caused although many worlds is still under attack.

Hell

The Devil's body has been damaged way too severely than he thought. Regeneration is taking way too slowly but he had succeeded in making a temporary body out of the sacrifice he gotten in that weird dimension that he accidentally went into. He has now assume full control of hell and are preparing the entire force for an all-out war in heaven. It was fortunate that the body he now assume has a huge affinity towards magic as he is able to use most of his dark, ancient spells and curses.

The Worlds

Multiple world have already fallen but several are still holding, trying to survive the apocalypse. The angels are trying their best but demons are being produce on different world at an alarming speed and heroes are killed at a rate of 2 per hour. Worse still, the demons have somehow managed to find a way to other worlds and they are spreading. Heaven is attempting to breach into the Between but progression is still slow. They only managed to make a crack at the barrier that is preventing anyone from going in or out.

OOC: I'm still a little confused as to how the demons are spreading to different worlds if there's a barrier up? Also, I'm assuming this thread takes place after people deal with the angels -- basically this is somewhere to go for folks who are tired of RPing fighting for the moment, or don't have characters of sufficient power level to be involved. (Don't tell anyone, but Lady Gray really is just a bouncer, not a superhero. ;) But fighting the angels can still happen on the other thread.

OOC: I think the angels blocked passage for only the humans in the between and not daemons or something like that. Also I agree with morgan, since we had a whole couple of threads dedicated to fighting already, i feel like we need a small break. Just assume a big battle went on and everyone entered the tavern to tired to actually remember what the hell went on during the fight

OOC: Agreed but can everyone pm me more about their world so that I can get an understanding of how their character are what they are? Like how Alvin is from a world of post-nuclear warfare and the entire world is covered by radiation and humans have to stay underground and its pretty much destroyed.

Nick wakes up and groan." Two transformations in less then 2 days this is killing my body." then standing up his "mostly" human form he looks at the barrier still up and his allies trapped. Good thing that demon's authority was portals or they would have been at a lost. Instead he ripped open a place for the demonic hoard to leave nodding his thanks as they passed. Once all of the still living allies had left he looked upon the battle field looking for a fallen lord so he could steal more power because he knew he would need it.

That is when he saw the fallen angles and one of them was rushing towards him with full fury.

"How dare you get by our barrier!" said the angle swinging his sword to separate my head from my shoulders. Knowing this I dodged then dissolved into shadows wondering what his next move would be.

The Demon swipe the air as Nick dissolve into the shadows. Suddenly, a sniper shot came from somewhere and pierce the Demon's head killing it instantly. Jimmy, the lone survivor of the blue apes and leader of the group had just woke up from unconsciousness and was obviously dismisses as one of the corpses lying around.

He aims for each Demons and shot them down one by one and then he took a jet-pack from one of his dead brethren, puts it on and flies to each of the crystal to place a bomb and detonate it, removing the barrier immediately. The crack in the sky disappeared and a portal appeared. Angels then begin to descend.

Lithea pushes Ritardando onto the couch, glaring. "Speak one word and I will seriously kill you." To make her point clear, she parks Jack right next to him. "Not. A. Word."

She goes back to the bar and takes a big gulp of water from her glass. She takes a big breath and starts her story.

“I come from the Monstial universe. It’s an earth-like universe that takes place in a rustic portion of setting. It’s mostly ranches and rolling hills.” She takes out a picture of a large ranch with a two floor estate, stables, and rows of wheat, corn, and other crops. “This used to be my family’s house.

“My parents loved us. Mom named me Lithea as a royal name or a name for a goddess. Though, I don’t know why. My brother’s name is Ritardando, like the musical term.” She takes a deep breath like she’s a little uncomfortable. “Our extended family was our horses. There was Tempest, Allegretto, Presto, and Lady Grey,”—she glances at the woman in gray leather—“but, they’re all gone now.

“The reason why we left the Monstial universe was because one of the Fire Demons was, for some reason . . . targeting us. The demon . . . he set fire to our estate and stables. So, the horses were killed . . . and my parents.” She pauses and takes a big gulp of water.

“Ritz—Ritardando—was the one who wanted to start hunting demons. I went along with it because I was worried about him and I didn’t want him to get hurt. After a while, we were still looking for a teacher. Ritz was using a knife and he insisted I use swords since they gave me more room to fight. We asked for directions from some traveler and he warned that we should take a long way around a valley to avoid demons. But, I was so . . . so stupid! I had insisted that we go straight through the valley, that we could take them. Then, we ran into the Eternal Demons.

“Eternal Demons are the toughest demons there are. It’s nearly impossible to kill them, which is why they got the name ‘eternal’. Well, we didn’t have very much training—basically nothing at all. So of course, the demons defeated us easily.

“The Demon Lord had stared at me and told me that he had been required to retrieve one soul and that he wanted mine. Ritz argued and said that I didn’t deserve to die at my age. We had fought for a minute, but the Demon Lord decided to take his soul because he was willing to give it up and it made the process easier.”

Tears were now pricked in her eyes and she blinked them away furiously and continued, “They didn’t want to kill him. He needed his soul for something. I don’t know what. But while they were stealing his soul, he had gotten enveloped in hell fire. His screams, they were . . . horrendous. I had reached out to him, begging him to stop, but as soon as I touched his skin, something . . . happened.

“It was like I blacked out. When I came to, Ritz’s body was gone and most of the demons. Only Ritz’s knife, the one he always used, was on the ground and one of the Eternal Demons was staring at me with shocked curiosity. He had said that the touch should’ve killed me on contact. He was screaming at me, demanding how I had gotten the ‘ability’ from some person. I don’t even remember the name clearly. It sounded familiar, though, but I was so confused and dazed I don’t recall it.

“Finally my anger boiled and my vision sharpened. I saw the weak spot of the demon. As if I had done it for years, I took Ritz’s knife which seemed ice cold and boiling hot at the same time, like I shouldn’t be handling it, but I still threw it with such precision. It hit the weak spot and the demon disappeared.

She took a deep, shaky breath and closed her eyes. “It’s my fault my brother’s soul was stolen. I have no idea why we were targeted, but it doesn’t matter. If I hadn’t been so cocky, if I had just taken the traveler’s advice instead of being lazy, then none of it would’ve happened.”

Lithea grips her glass of water so hard with her right hand that it shattered into shards of glass across the bar’s counter. Instead of trying to pick it up, she just pressed her palm into the shards, drawing blood. She used her left hand to bury her face in. “I was such an idiot. I . . . turned my brother into that!” She gestured to the demon that now sat on the couch, hissing and growling.

"I can't just have him die. If his body gets destroyed, I won't have anything to put his soul in. I know his soul is still in hell . . . I would know if he was dead. He's not."

She bites her lip hard and grips the glass still in her hand. Her gaze glances at Colinda's flask, but she quickly looks away.

(OOC: Sorry about the super long post)

After Lithea put Jack near Ritardando, Jack's blood started to boil. He always hated daemons, and once he heard about Ritardando's sacrifice he had enough. "No daemon should have control over a good person" jack muttered as he drew West's sword, still enveloped in light. 

Jack then started to strike ritardando, obviously intending to kill him at some point.

Lady Gray moves in a sudden blur of speed, interposing herself between Jack and Ritardando -- and trusting Jack's reflexes not to strike her down. She glares at him. "Were you not listening? That's Lithea's brother's body."

Jack glare at Lady Gray, angered at how anyone could defend a daemon. Surprisingly, however he does stop his blow from landing on Gray.

"Yes, I understand that this is his body?,not his soul." Jack says, "And such a thing should never exist!" and jack skids past Gray to slash at the daemon a second time. 

Lady Gray snarls something that might be a word, and then somehow winds up in grappling range, gripping Jack's sword-arm with more-than-human strength. "Not your call. Mine. Leave him be."

Jack looks at Grey, amazed that someone has the strength to hold on to his sword arm. "You don't understand" Jack says with abnormal hatred in his voice. However, he does back off, putting his sword down into his sheath.

"It is a daemon and should be destroyed, even if it's a body of someone you know Lithea. You can't rescue a soul from a daemon lord, especially the eternal types. It's best to destroy the body, it gives the soul a rest." Jack says, obviously dealing with experience with this kind of situation.

"However, why do daemons hunt you? You aren't as dangerous as the knights and we don't get attacked in our sleep... Do you have something special, a family heirloom, weapon or something?" Jack asks Lithea   

Lady Gray makes a small releasing gesture with one hand, and then staggers slightly. She looks utterly drained. "Listen. 'Can't be done' is always relative to the person doing it. I've already seen this kid do things that I would've said 'can't be done'... if I didn't already know better. If she's trying to get her brother's soul back, I say give her a chance."

With a nod to Lithea, Lady Gray walks carefully to a nearby couch, and collapses onto it. "Wake me if there's another apocalypse," she mumbles, before falling dead asleep.

OOC: Gray cheats. ;)  But she can't keep it up indefinitely.

After Lady Gray fell asleep, Jack shakes his head. "I have seen others more powerful then her follow this path to ruin. My own vice-captain, whose strength rivaled mine, pursued this dream and died against normal daemons, not even eternal daemons like the one Lithea is facing! If she goes to hell she will die, the daemons are stronger and more numerous then the ones we encountered today. I can not allow her to pursue this path. I can not allow her to die in vain, even after her brother protected her." Jack says solomley. 

Jack draws out his sword, ready to strike the daemon. "I am sorry, Lithea for the pain I, your brother, has given you. But I mst save your life, even if I will be hated for it." Jack says as he drives his sword into the daemon.

(Keith, however has been tending to Lithea and hasn't noticed the commotion)

OOC: Jack fakes losing ;) 

OOC: Heh, well played. But I'm sure Lithea has been paying attention to this, and she's likely to object... violently. With Jack making a speech about it before he does any stabbing, I'd say she has time to intervene, if that's how Fergie wants to play it.

(OOC: Thank you ;) My reply is lower, again, to stop nesting.)

The bartender reaches out and takes the girl's hand, gently but firmly -- and if the girl lets him, begins to remove the shards of glass. "You didn't turn your brother into a demon. Let that blame rests where it belongs."

She just stares at her hand as he picks the shards out.

Nick walking into the bar waves the bartender over and asks, "How much for a room." clearly drained from the battle.

The bartender waves his hand dismissively -- dismissing the question, not Nick. "Don't worry about it." He selects an old-fashioned key from a pegboard behind the bar, and tosses it to Nick. There's a numbered tag attached to the key.

Nodding his thanks he makes his way up to the room to open the door. He then locks it behind him and promptly collaspes on the bed.

Malix returns to the tavern, his eyes are hollow, he breathes lightly. He sits again in the same seat that he had sat in before. "Same thing as last time," he says. His typical calm state is gone, Malix appears nervous, he taps the counter as he awaits his drink.

The bartender pours it promptly, but raises his eyebrow in a silent question.

Malix downs the shot, "keep 'em coming, when I leave here I wanna be so shit faced someone needs to carry me out." Malix lights a cigarette, "what do you got other than alcohol to get a man's mind off of things? I don't think it'll cut it tonight."

The bartender pours another. "Water of Lethe, if you want it. You'll forget all the bad memories... for a time. I can't in good conscience give it to you without a warning, though -- drink it tonight and you'll be wanting more tomorrow."

Malix finishes the glass, "what do I have to lose? I'll try it, I'm sure I'd get addicted to anything that made me forget -- forget all this pain..." Malix blinks a few times, "Broken like a glass, or broken like a bone?"  He looks at the glass, then to his right hand. "I'm ready for it."

His face expressionless, the bartender nods and pours a glass of... something. Something clear, from which a soft mist rises.

Colinda glances at it and she looks at the man. "Be careful with that," she warns, very serious. "That stuff can be dangerous. More dangerous than you think. It's not worth forgetting your troubles, no matter how bad they are." She takes a seat next to him.

OOC: Just for future reference what exactly does the drink do?

"If it's just like any other addiction than I don't got much to worry about," Malix says, "by the way I'm Malix." He looks to the bartender as well to show that he's introducing himself to him as well. Malix looks down at the glass, his eyes fixate on the clear... something. Mist rises from it, bizarrely it doesn't faze Malix. "Dangerous... hmm."   

OOC: Suppresses unhappy memories, and stirs up some good ones while it's at it. Psychologically addictive in the short term. But repeated use leads to the bad memories becoming more distant and vague, so it's often a self-extinguishing addiction. Now, this is the true Water of Lethe... there are some cheap knock-offs that tend to leave random holes in your memory, and will eventually leave you an empty shell, if you keep at it.

The healer still looks at the man uncertainly, but doesn't press further. She glances at the bartender. "Where did you get your hands on Lethe anyway?"

"Malix shrugs, "guess it can't be that bad then." Malix then lifts the glass, he sniffs it, then swallows it. "So how long does it take for this to kick in?" He asks, placing the glass back down onto the counter.

Colinda glances at him and thinks, 3...2...1...Gone.

"I have my sources," says the bartender smoothly. "And I wouldn't say it's as dangerous as all that."

Malix taps the counter, waiting for the effects to kick in. "Got anything else in this tavern worthwhile?" Malix suddenly smiles, he touches his lips. "I haven't thought of this in a long time, they're -- they're nice." 

Colinda looks at the bartender. "It's more dangerous than people give it credit for." Muttering under her breath, "Just ask my father."

The bartender watches Malix with a slight, almost wistful smile. He looks at Colinda, and blinks. "I don't believe I've met your father...?" It's not impossible, of course. But he doesn't serve Lethe to just anyone.

"I have no idea where he got his hands on it. He might've come here, he might've gone to the River Lethe himself. I don't know." She looks annoyed as if remembering her father is a chore.

"I remember my father... and my mother now..." Malix's smile grows as he remembers the days he was kid. Suddenly then Malix begins to smash his face against the counter, tears begin to form in his eyes. "I can't do this! I can't do this... my mind won't allow this, I've done too much wrong to deserve happy thoughts!" He feels his forehead, he's bleeding. "I'm sorry..."

Colinda wipes off his blood carefully. "It's all right . . ."

Lithea, fast as a bullet--or, Jack's blade, if not faster--appears between them. Her knife's blade smacks against Jack's blade, sending it skidding across the floor, narrowly missing the feet of some of the patrons. She stares at Jack with infuriated eyes. "That. Is. IT!"

Colinda looks and gulps, knowing what coming. She turns away, trying to hide her eyes.

Lithea takes a small step forward, her teeth gritted and eyes glaring. "I told you no. Lady Gray told you no. You just don't get it!" Her voice is steadily getting deeper and her eyes are filling with hatred. "I will not let my brother's body be destroyed. I swear, you're really making me angry."

When Jack opens his mouth to protest further, she lifts her knife in a flash and points it straight at his face, barely grazing his nose. The blade turns into a red as bright as hell fire.

"No," she growls, her voice deep and evil-sounding. "I'm sick of you. Nobody hurts my brother. NOBODY."

Suddenly her eyes start glowing bright, a blinding white and Jack gets pushed back, stumbling until he hits a wall. The ground starts to rumble, causing glasses to shake and fall and shatter. Lithea's grip tightens on her knife even more and words of an unknown, but obviously hellish language, starts pouring from her mouth.

With every step, her eyes seem to brighten. The ground seems to rumble more. The lights seem to dim.

Soon the tavern is almost completely dark with the exception of her eyes and knife. She's staring at Jack with complete and utter hatred and she keeps screaming words at him that nobody understands.

Colinda suddenly recalls something Lithea had said before: “The curse of a demon’s burden has bestowed upon my being.”

Her punishment worse than hell. A demon's burden. Why does it seem like there's something she's missing here?

"Who can stop this?" the healer whispers, staring at her friend. "What did she say . . .?"

Unfortunately, she can't recall.

Jack, amazed at the speed of Lithea and confused by her demonic speech, pick up his blade and points it at Lithea. "Hell, it can't shouldn't be possible to so that to me, to be able to go that far before my blade hit..." Jack mutters, "but, I warn you, turn that knife and let me do what I must or I will retaliate." jack says his blade shining holy light. He does not seem to be happy about getting disarmed twice today.

keith, finally, notices what is happening and looks on with intrigue. "hmm, I wonder what's going to happen now..." he says as he walks closer to the fight to make sure no one is killed. "good thing to see, someone fighting I. Fury, some are stronger like this some are weaker..." he mutters seeming to be unconcerned with the fight.

OOC: I'm giving Lithea the ability to Hirt jack as long as you don't maim him permanently. Give him a good beating ;) 

(OOC: Can do :))

Lithea lunges straight at Jack as he raises his sword to stab her like a shish kabob. She disappears like magic and appears behind him. She kicks him down to the ground and slices him with her knife. It creates a decent sized gash on his back and it starts to burn like acid is eating at him.

Lady Gray grumbles incomprehensibly as she wakes up, and scowls as she assesses the situation. Seemingly heedless of the risk, she grabs the girls shoulder. "Lithea," she says firmly, trying to bring the girl back to herself.

OOC: Lady Gray is fair game... that wasn't enough sleep to count. ;)

Lithea's skin was the temperature equivalent of molten rock. She swipes at Jack again and his skin riddles and hisses with burns.

Some of her language seems to turn into semi-English. "Becintra quintor en la Luzhin quotient olte wri DeGavrila!" Her voice seems to go up half an octave. "Go to the West. Umpor de cal quince."

Her eyes are still growing bright and her body starts to vibrate.

Jack rolls away from lithea, his body burning from the acid knife. He grabs his sword, and it's up a defensive stance. "Damm, master she could be stronger then you!" Jack shouts looking truly scared for his life. He grabs a poition , and pours it on his back, and he seems to calm down, slightly. He is still backing away.

Keith watches with intrigue, and is not doing anything to stop Lithea yet. "Heh, at this point, yeah she could beat me I suppose. But this is only if you get her angry... If only she could learn to control this power... You know what? jack I think it would be amusing for you to use that?" Keith says chuckling. Jack looks at Keith and shakes his head yes. He then stars at lithea and starts to turn white. Jack throws his sword towards lithea. His body moves in a blur and he strikes behind lithea with his fist, as his sword goes towards lithea's front

Lady Gray hisses in pain as she snatches her hand back. "Lithea! Don't hurt him! Ritz wouldn't want you to do this!"

At the mention of her brother's name, she goes still for a moment. Jack's sword impales her and she sinks to the ground for a moment, her glowing dimming slightly. Her blood drips on the ground and she bites her lip. "R-Ritz . . ."

Suddenly her knife glows to a bright green and she hisses, dropping it. Her glowing eyes suddenly stop glowing and is replaced by her regular brown. The ground stops rumbling and light reappears to the tavern. For a moment, she's still, like she's not sure what just happened.

Then she looks down at the sword stabbing her, whispers, "Oh . . ." and collapses.

"Colinda!" Lady Gray shouts, grabbing Lithea as she falls.

Keith jumps over to Gray, making sure lithea is okay. He takes out a herb and squashes it in his hands. He then pours the liquid on to lithea's wound having it healed imdiatley. "Intresting..." is all keith says as he looks over lithea. 

Jack goes over to lithea, obviously concerned for her health. "You sue she's going to be all right master? I hit her pretty hard..." jack says as he stands up.

"This is not going to go well with her and I, I suppose she is strong though... Well, I leave you guys to it. If she wants to try saving her brother why not? She has the potential." Jack says as he walks towards the entrance to a different world. "See ya master! Remember to get the dojo back before the reunion, or your students won't be happy..." He days to Keith as he leaves. The sword he borrowed from west lies on the counter, no longer shining.

Colinda and Carrie give Jack semi-glares as he leaves.

The healer rushes over to Lithea and is impressed by Keith's choice of herbs. "Nice instincts," she murmurs as she lays her down on the ground. After murmuring a couple words, her wound closes up completely.

After a moment, Lithea's eyesight returns and she sits up. "What the hell happened . . .?"

Colinda's eyebrows rise. "Punishment worse than hell?"

The blonde sighs. "Oh . . ." She looks around and doesn't see Jack. "I didn't kill him, did I?"

"Ha! Jack wouldn't be killed by a enraged fighter, no matter how powerful." Keith says obviously amused by lithea's reaction. "Though it is good to have a rival as a fighter, picking Jack is a Intresting turn of events. So that was your true strength... Very Intresting..." Keith says as he chuckles. He seems to be very amused by what happened. 

"Jack has grown past my expectations, as well as you haved. Though you definitely could of gotten him if he wasn't prepared for a fight. So consider it a win for you, seeing how he got wounded." Keith says, "And you'll see him at the reunion, in a week or so, which means I need to rescue the dojo... Maybe tomorrow, we need to wait for heaven to join us for a chat and then get Alvin revived."

She nods, still a little dazed. "Yes . . . and I'd like to find out about where my brother's soul is being stored." She suddenly turns to the demon inhabiting Ritz's body. She stands up and storms over. She grabs him by his shirt's collar and brings him close. "His soul is in hell, right?" Her voice is still dangerously deep.

The demon laughs. "Yes, it is. But of course, you'll never find it." He grins evilly as his voice changes back to her brothers, "Save me, Lithea!"

She throws him back on the couch and and gives him a strong roundhouse kick to the jaw. "That isn't going to work again, stupid demon."

The General hisses but doesn't continue talking.

Lithea sighs. "I wish I knew why all these demons were targeting me."

Carrie stares at the girl. Lithea Prodigy . . . why the hell is that name familiar?

Suddenly the woman's face lights up. She jumps from her seat and looks at Keith. "Hey, Dojo Master! I need to use your module."

Keith looks at Carrie surprised that she would need his module but obliges it. He opens up a container in his left arm and takes the module out. "Don't break it." Keith says grinning. "But what do you need it for?" Keith hands the module to Carrie.

She takes it and looks it over she almost looks surprised. "Hmm . . ." She looks up at him. "Mind if I borrow you?" She reaches over and connects the module to his arm and starts going through several sequences, some that Keith didn't even know existed. After a moment, she flips a switch and a screen pops out of his chest. "There we go . . ."

The screen showed what she was doing. At a fast pace, she went from page to page on the Internet and other places throughout the cyber world until she came to a website entitled 'World History: the TRUE Truth'. A little window popped up saying: PLEASE INSERT TWO CYBER CHARGES TO CONTINUE.

Carrie sighs and fishes into her pocket until she takes out a memory stick. She glances up at Keith. "How many bytes does your body hold? I don't want to overload your circuits."

Keith looks at Carrie with a surprised eye, and says "Wait, you're from cyber world? When did you leave? Oh, and I have an endless storage space as far as I know. Don't worry about storage space, if I do run out I'll erase some random garbage that I have knowledge of." 

After answering Carrie's question, and asking many more, Keith seems to be quite intrigued. "Heh, I didn't know what you're doing was possible, you're going to need to explaine what you're doing so that I could watch tournaments on my stomach, Heh." Keith says, getting a kick out of this situation.

Carrie grins slightly at Keith's surprise. She doesn't get reactions out of people often, and she always gets a kick when she surprises someone. "Let's see . . . I guess I left a few years ago? I'm not really sure with the whole 'no time' thing here. I came across this tavern while researching on some old demon hunters and I got hooked. I soon just packed up and moved closer to the Tavern."

She sticks the memory stick into a small compartment in his palm and information fills Keith's brain, threatening to overload. "Sorry about all the information, but that's a first class database. Suck it in while you can, I'm going to have to delete a bunch of that from your memory."

She inserts a couple cyber charges and she's allowed into the website. "I knew the name 'Prodigy' was familiar . . . I feel like an idiot not realizing sooner!" The woman pulls up a picture of a man with bright blonde hair and astonishing brown eyes. "Luthersia Prodigy. He was an old demon hunter from a few decades ago. He died taking on the Devil." She reads a few paragraphs about his life. "'Before his death, he had settled in the Monstial universe and fallen in love, having a daughter who they named Fantasia.'"

Lithea gasps. "That's my mother's name!"

Carrie nods. "So you have ancient demon hunter blood in you. It says that theres a special ability he possessed that allowed him to easily kill demons, and also prevented his death by some hellish components." She looks through it a little more. "He was pretty mysterious, along with his ability. But I guess you got the ability, but it was in dormancy until you came in contact with hell fire."

Keith looks amused both at the screen coming out of his chest, and him having a disciple related to a famous daemon hunter. "You know, Lithea, if you do gain contro of your rage and use your ability, you could definitely switch with me in the council... Which would definitely help me, those people are annoying." Keith says thoughtfully. he then turns towards Carrie. "So, why did you leave? You're not a cyborg, as far as I can tell, and that place is a wonderland." Keith says intrigued.

She laughs. "Wonderland?" That seems to strike her for some reason and she keeps snickering. "If you saw the true underbelly of the cyber world, you'd leave too." She frowns for a moment and brings up a window that looks like an email. "Huh. I guess I have a reunion to get to." The woman ejects the memory stick and presses a button on Keith's neck. "Did you think I'd forget to erase this stuff? There's some secrets you don't want to be aware of."

And with that, she leaves the tavern, off  to the cyber world.

After seeing Lithea healed, Lady Gray stumbles over to the bar. "I don't trust this place not to implode or explode the minute I turn my back," she says to the bartender, her words thick and slurred with profound exhaustion. "It's been that kind of day. Let me take the Timeless Suite for a few hours."

The bartender nods, and fetches her a key. "Take all the time you need," he says with a wry smile.

Too tired to even respond to this witticism, Lady Gray takes the key -- tagged with a watch face with no hands -- and walks off.

Jimmy entered the tavern. He was carrying a ton of equipment looted off his dead comrades whom he had just finish burying. He heads toward the counter and ask out loud, "Anyone here interested in buying some equipment?" He grunts as he lay them all on the floor and sat down in the center of the tavern, feeling rather unhappy about the current circumstances.

The recently arrived angels had help clean up whatever forces of hell that remain and had not yet spoke about anything regarding what had happen before they came.

The other worlds

50 world has fallen and the demons is still spreading to other worlds. 29 is still under siege but seems to be falling anytime soon. The angels are trying their best but alas it was to little avail. Now it seems that they are instead station at worlds not yet hit by the demons to defend the world rather to reclaim those fallen or falling.

Lithea sits down, utterly exhausted. Her eyes blink sleepily so when her knife starts vibrating bright violet again, she just groans in annoyance. What now?

A young boy looking Lithea's age, if not younger, walks in with a bright grin. He has shaggy brown-blonde hair and full sepia colored eyes. He has a simple ragged T-shirt and scuffed up jeans on. At his feet is a black cat with large golden eyes. He takes a seat at the bar and glances around, but doesn't order anything.

Lithea stares at the boy and back at her knife. The vibrations indicates a demon, but this boy doesn't look or act anything like one.

(OOC: The boy is my last planned character, ha-ha, so if you guys are getting confused or whatever with my characters, I'm done for now . . . unless you'd like me to make more ;) )

"heh, that was amusing." Keith says as he manually closes the screen on his chest. "Battender, a beer!" he shouts as he takes a seat. He seems to be vary tired. 

As Keith sits down, the tavern door opens and a towering man of 8 feet, and also quite large, "Keith! What are you doing? You should be fighting in Martial World right now!" the man says clearly angry with Keith. 

"Calm your self, Bartholomew, I have just been fighting against hell and the daemons just outside. And anyways aren't the other council members much more powerful then me? You shouldn't need me for this." Keith says, obviously annoyed by the man's appearance. Bartholomew, however ignores Keith and looks around. "I heard you had the devil deafeated here, where is the body?" he asks. 

"Burnt to a crisp, man, you should know that, sn't there a war going on with him as the leader?" Keith asks amused.

"Keith, you are needed for the council discussion, so you must come with me." Bartholomew says. And Keith stands up and says "Heh, see yah guys later, and Lithea, don't forget to train yourself without me as well." Keith then grabs a token and presses it, sending Bartholomew and Keith to heaven.

Lithea nods but her gaze doesn't leave the boy. Her knife is still vibrating like crazy and she has to hold it to keep from making a commotion out of it, though the other patrons understand what the knife's vibration means.

The boy looks around at the patrons with a grin plastered on his face. He looks at the bartender. "So what can a minor have to drink here?"

The bartender smiles back. "Well, we've got an extensive selection of canned sodas, imported from Earth. For hot drinks, there's herbal teas or hot cocoa. With marshmallows!" the bartender adds cheerfully. "Oh, and I can make fresh-squeezed orange juice."

"Mm, I'll take one of those," says Lady Gray, as she strolls back to the bar. It's been about ten minutes, but she looks completely rested, with the just slight sleepiness of someone who's recently woken up. She stretches and looks around, noting Lithea's vibrating knife. She raises an eyebrow at the girl.

When Lithea catches Lady Gray's eye, she shifts her eyes toward the boy, indicating he's the reason her knife is acting up. She mouths, Demon?

The boy grins wider. "Lets see . . . I'm not in the mood for juice . . . and it's not too cold." He thinks for a moment. "I'll take a soda. Something . . . blue." He laughs, but seems serious about the blue drink.

The black cat sits on the counter and stares at the patrons and seems annoyed by Lithea's vibrating knife.

"Hm... I don't think any of the canned ones are blue... but let me see what I have." He vanishes briefly into the kitchen, and returns with a bottle of Jones soda -- 'blue bubble gum' flavor. He opens the bottle with a flourish, looking pleased with his success. "There you are."

Lady Gray looks from the Lithea to the boy and the cat, then back to Lithea. She shrugs slightly, and sits down at the bar. "Orange juice?" she prompts.

"Coming right up." The bartender winks and briefly juggles three oranges, before turning his attention to a large citrus press.

Lithea blinks and looks back at her knife. Maybe I'm just tired, she decides. She sets the knife on the table--under a pillow so it's heard, but not quite annoyingly loud--and goes to the barkeeper. "Can I get a room?"

The boy reaches over and grabs a small platter that holds beer nuts, but the nuts were all eaten. He pours a little of the drink into the platter and sets it in front of the cat, who starts lapping it up gratefully. The boy sips from the bottle.

After drinking half of the bottle, he sets it down and asks no one in particular, "Do you know my father, Mickey Walters?"

Lady Gray overhears. "Hey, Lithea!" She tosses her the key with the hand-less watch face linked to it. "It's on me. Take all the time you want, you'll be back before we know it." She grins.

OOC: If you want any of my characters (or a new one?) to know about Mickey Walters, just PM me with the details. :)

Lithea catches them and nods gratefully, too tired to even say 'thank you' as she goes to the timeless suite.

(OOC: Alright... thanks :))

"You're Mickey Walter's kid?" The bartender looks genuinely surprised... not an expression he commonly wears. "Why didn't he come with you?" He looks over the kid's shoulder, as if half expecting him to show up.

"That's the thing . . . He's missing. He had left a note he'd come here around this date." The kid stares at the bottle. "He said he had something to tell the barkeeper. I think he wrote down your name, but I can't recall."

"No, you wouldn't..." says the bartender, looking distracted. "But the Between was sealed just a short time ago, that could be why... but if you beat him here..." the bartender shakes his head. "Did you use the same route as he would have?"

"Not . . . Not exactly. I had to go around . . . something. It looked like hell had invaded several worlds so I had to take a detour. But more or less, yes, the same way."

The bartender seizes on this. "Well, he likely had to detour too... it could easily be that his choice detour took a bit longer than yours. He could show up any minute."

(OOC: I noticed this but I meant to say 'green' eyes for the boy. So the boy has green eyes, not brown, my bad.)

The boy nods slowly.

There's a sudden crash outside and a man stumbles in, his brown hair ruffled and streaked with blood. His clothes are disheveled and not neat, stained with more blood, especially towards the center. His bright emerald eyes are bloodshot and dull. He gets to the bar with some difficulty and leans against the wood tiredly.

"D-Dad?!" the boy cries.

The man looks at his son for a moment and whispers raggedly, "Demons in . . . your blood . . ."

"What are you talking about?!"

The man looks back at the bartender. "____," he gasps, saying the barkeep's name, which disappears in the air. "K-Keep this . . . safe . . ." He slips something metal and cold into the bartender's hand. As he does so, he coughs violently, splattering blood onto the counter.

The man barely has time to glance at Lady Gray and whisper an apology before collapsing onto the floor.

"Oh, don't you 'sorry' me!" Lady Gray grabs him. "Colinda! Get over here!"

"Mickey?" The bartender stares, then glances at the object in his hand. A key... his fingers close around it, and tighten. "Gray? Is he..."

"No!" shouts the woman in gray, before he can finish his sentence. "Colinda!"

OOC: I assumed I could come up with what it was... let me know if you had something else in mind, and I'll edit.

(OOC: Nope, a key is perfect :) good deduction.)

Colinda runs over and crouches next to the man. The boy stares wide eyed, his hand gripped around the bottle. The cat's head is tilted and watching with interest.

After a few moments, Colinda bites her lip and slowly shakes her head. "I . . . I can't. Th-There's some kind of anit-magic surrounding him . . ." She slowly stands, trying to blink back tears. "He's . . . dead."

(OOC: Oh yeah, and Lady Gray's reaction was golden. Exactly what I was going for :))

Lady Gray snarls an unintellible word, and then snaps "Tempus Fugit!" at the bartender. He stares at her, then seems to realize her intention, and takes a key down from high on the pegboard.

Meanwhile, Lady Gray has picked up the man's body. "Colinda, take the key." Her voice is flat. "Unlock the first room you come to, don't go inside. Move."

The key the bartender offers to her is tagged with a pair of brass wings.

OOC: Heh, thanks... and thanks for the setup. Of course, she wouldn't have given him the time of day if he'd just walked in... but she'll be damned if she's going to let him die on her. ;)

(OOC: Ha-ha, yeah, I see. ;) )

Colinda nods and does as she asks.

The boy is staring at the bar, his father's words echoing in his head. Demons in . . . your blood . . .

The cat rubs against his arm but for once, he doesn't pet him back.

The door opens on what seems like an ordinary room, smallish, with a bed and a bookshelf visible from the door. Lady Gray is very careful not to cross the threshold as she sets the body down inside, then closes the door.

She heaves a shuddering sigh, almost a sob... here in the hall, away from the main room of the tavern, away from witnesses. Then her face goes still and calm again, and she strides back into the tavern.

"Lithea. And you, boy, whatever your name is... we need to talk."

(OOC: Starting up a new thread. :)