Destroyer of Mountains (Decayuss/Aiyana)

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

"Peculiar." Deniel muttered to himself, glancing down at the received letter, from atop a building. An awkward place to be, the Nephalem was all about being at awkward places. Having received the letter not too long ago, and by courier rather than male due to the fact that he had no home, he had decided to open it up and attempt to read it in peace and quiet. He was within the city of Rose Garden, one of Fiore's most northern cities in all of the lands. The place was indeed a lively one, famous for its parties and luxurious life styles, so on top of a building was perhaps the most quiet place that he could find. With one leg dangling over the edge and the other one placed firmly on the roof, he held the letter with one hand as his eyes scanned it and interpreted it. It was one directly from the Magic Council, informing him of a job that they would like him to take on, with the request sheet attached to the letter. The letter from the council was not only informing him that their request was to him, but also to a certain other individual. A Sabertooth mage, to be exact. The memory that Sabertooth brought up was quite a bitter one, remembrance of their Guild Master Raven and how she seemingly---Shut up! It probably wasn't that way. He shook his head swiftly and brushed the thought out of his mind. He couldn't think about that right now, especially not with the way that he perceived it.

He only received the name of the person that he would be working with: Aiyana. "Uh-huh..." He said aloud to himself as he looked down at it. Just three days after proclaiming his alliance to the Magic Council and they're already asking him favors? "Ridiculous." He said to himself as he closed the letter up. Ripping the job sheet off of it, he took a glance at that before anything else. Gaining the location, client name, and the job's description, he closed each of his eyes and almost drew a map of Fiore inside of his head. "Mysterious canyon. Southeast from here. Several kilometers..."

Dropping straight down from the building, at a dangerous height, Deniel landed firmly on his two feet, without a crack of a bone or a stumble, and looked to the southeast section. Navigation was something he learned to be keen at, as wandering around Fiore could easily prove dangerous without any sense of knowing where he may be going. And with his jet black and ragged cloak concealing most of his body, his hidden companion at his shoulders, and the job sheet in his hand, he set off for the Mysterious Canyon and to meet up with this "Aiyana'.

Notes

Job Description:

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

A title that Deniel would perhaps dub himself would be "Fiore's Fastest Walker". Ever since coming to the land of Fiore, Deniel had walked to the location of almost every single job that he had done, even the one that required him to go to an entirely separate country: Iceberg. There were, of course, a few exceptions, such as traveling to an island or all the way to the land of Sin, but every where that he was capable of doing so, he walked to. And in spite of walking perhaps being the slowest way of getting to the location, he still managed to do it all in just a couple of hours. He never measured what his walking speed was--in fact sometimes he had no idea if he was walking or not--all he knew is that he got there and that's all that mattered. Shortly after leaving the city of Rose Garden, the Nephalem threw on his ragged black cloak and set off for his journey to the Mysterious Canyon, remembering that he had once been there before. He had been to almost everywhere, because he loved to do jobs so much... or did he? He could never tell, at this point. He only did them.

The path to the Mysterious Canyon was a short one, at least in his eyes. There was a point where the lustrous and grassy fields of Fiore transitioned themselves into a sandy and and desert-like beaten path, since the Forgotten Desert was not far. And along with it was Desert Village. He knew the terrain of Fiore very well...a skill that had yet to prove useful aside from traveling to job locations without looking them up somewhere.

Hood over his head, and the heat of the midday sun beating just over his head, he continued on his venturing journey to the Mysterious Canyon, which was not far from there. Although he would have to stop by the village first to inform them that he had arrived...and hopefully his partner would be there, too. Or perhaps be coming. It mattered not to him. The grim memory of Sabertooth's Guild Master was still fresh in his memory, in spite of his desire to push it away, and certainly would hinder his ability to cope with the person who was at his side.

Very shortly after traversing his way on the path, he could find himself following the main path that lead to the Mysterious Canyon--a larger one that was connected by several paths that lead from different nearby locations towards it. Upon his arrival, he would find a person on the road as well, looking as if she had not been there in a while. What immediately stood out for him was the nine large tails that she had coming out of her...back side...though that was not much to so much as scare him away or make himself ponder it. He was used to seeing weird creatures. Stopping right next to her, with his cowl still over his face so that it shadowed most of it--save for the glowing red eyes underneath, he turned to her. Opening his mouth as if to speak, what was released instead was a very loud belch that echoed a little bit through the empty air, and with it, the scent of strawberries drowning out the one of sand. Following the burp, he spoke:

"If you're Aiyana, feel free to lead the way to the Mysterious Canyon. If you're not, and think I'm crazy, go right ahead with your day." Not just his burp, but also every breath and word that was taken from his mouth had the scent of fresh, ripe strawberries combined with them.

Notes

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

She enjoyed the scent of his breath, and his burp. That was a good sign. Only recently had he figured out how to use a passive form of Magic to be capable of such accomplishments, including various other things involving strawberries, and it was wonderful to know that its intended effects were kicking in. His breath and burps smelled like strawberries. It turns out she was Aiyana, and that was fortunate, for it saved him a load of time. He looked behind her for a moment, seeing her tails fluff up upon meeting him, before looking back down at her. She seemed awfully eager to get going. Though not really sharing her eagerness, he did make his best attempt to be as friendly as possible. He learned that his past way of coldly introducing himself never really ended well. "Wonderful! Let's go!" He swiftly followed behind her, giving her a few seconds of a head start before tailing her. He was hoping that it would be enough so that his fast, unintentional walking speed wouldn't work to catch up on her and have him take the lead. Though, unfortunately, that was not the case. It was only a matter of time before his lack of attention and care to his walking not only caught him up, but also right ahead of her.

"I suspect it will be guarded, too," he first began, responding to her enthusiastic comment earlier that the way was likely to be guarded. "Though before we venture off into that location, I would like to take a look in the village first. I want to know what they can tell m--us--what the the job sheet cannot. It can only hold so much information, after all." It was actually fortunate now that he had taken the lead. That way he could veer them off their course a bit so that they could head in the direction of the village and gain information rather than blindly charge head-first into danger. Deniel had no doubt that he could overcome the danger--and he even had faith in his partner judging by his sensing of her Magical Power--but he figured that they should check it out at the very least. Responding to her question momentarily, he looked back at her as he walked, not getting far ahead unlike last time. "This is my first time on an S rank job as well. We'll see how it goes!" He wasn't lying, but he didn't tell her everything. It was true that he had never gone on an S rank job, but he did not inform her that he had done three 100Y jobs in a row and completed them all. He decided to keep that, and his power, a secret for now. Though his carefree nature for a job that could result in death might have given it away in some way or another. Might have.

In a few short minutes they arrived at the entrance of the village, which looked fairly old fashioned, and one could even call it "savage". There were tiki huts, pikes surrounding it for protection, and overall not that many people currently pleasant. Luckily for them, Deniel could spot an oasis in the not-far-off distance in the canyon, so that was probably why they had chosen this location. There were a few present outside of their huts, in the beating heat, though they did not seem to mind it. Deniel did not either. Glancing at Aiyana for a moment, he started to head inside of the village while removing the hood from off of his cloak. "Get as much information as you can and want. Then we'll head out."

Notes

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

He took few steps into the village and circled his body around, twirling very slowly to get a glimpse at everything all around him. From what I can remember...one of the village's elders, Arthur Fish? Odd... Regardless of how odd it was, Deniel needed to get himself into contact with that man. If he was the one who sent out the request for the Magic Council, he knew the most about it. Halting a pair of female villagers who passed him by and asking them where he might find such a man, they pointed him in the right direction to one of the largest huts in the village. Of course...one of the largest huts. How could he be so stupid? Thanking the both of them with a bow, Deniel made his way over to the large hut, entering the inside. Immediately the strong scent of smoke had hit him, causing him to gag for a brief moment before he adjusted. Sitting down in a meditative position just across from him, and having a small fire between the two in the large space that the hut covered, was one of the village's elders. One obvious thing that he suspected was his age, and he was right to believe so, having the title of "elder". His hair was white with age, and braided down on each side of his neck. He wore little clothing, which showed off his wrinkly skin and withered bones. Deniel was shocked by his age, and couldn't imagine the thought of him one day becoming old such as that.

Bowing with respect, he took a few steps within the hut, circling around the fire and making his way over to the elder. "Good afternoon, sir." Some of the smoke had come from the fire, but most of it came from the village elder smoking a very enormous amount for himself. Inhaling once again, he exhaled it after a few moments, letting the smoke travel up, barely brushing past Deniel's face. "You...I take it you're the one whom was sent for the request." Deniel nodded. "Yes. My name is Deniel Thormun. I'm here with a woman of Sabertooth who calls herself Aiyana." Opening his weak eyes and glancing at Deniel with a squint, he sighed and inhaled even more smoke. "The Council are sending young ones, now? Have they no veterans?"

Tossing aside the insult to his age, Deniel crossed his arms and put his weight on one of his legs, causing his hip to go to its side. "Say what you wish about my age. This will be no trouble for a God of Isvhal. Now tell me anything you know."

"Very well then."


After the several minutes Deniel spent inside of the hut, he thanked the elder and exited it, almost joyous that he was able to get outside and breath fresh-ish air once more. Feeling as if he had garnered enough information from the elder, he pulled his hood right back over his head and went to the outer portion of the village, waiting for Aiyana. The information he received that wasn't in the job description included some of the girls that were taken away, a possible motive, physical descriptions of some of the members the elder saw, and their exact location. He even gave Deniel some advice on how to avoid the guards and sneak in. Of course using that would be up to the two. And Deniel would rather ask Aiyana about it first. "We can sneak around and be stealthy. Or we can go blasting in with all of our strength. It's your choice. I don't mind either way."

Notes

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

"Stealth it is...oh well." In truth Deniel was yearning for the more go in and go crazy tactic, as he had no doubt of his ability to wipe out these Mages, their entire Guild, and whatever monster that they were attempting to conjure into this world. After all he had been through, and after all of the foes he had faced, it was unusual for him to feel even slightly challenged in most scenarios. It was just his way of life. Still, he gave her the decision, and maybe after they broke the stealth he could go crazy...maybe. Crossing his arms, the Nephalem glanced out at the desert-like environment that the Mysterious Canyon had developed, and evaluated their surroundings. Any forms to assist their stealthy approach were no where to be found, it seemed. It was unsurprising, seeing as this place was quite a discrete environment. "Hmmmm..." He gave it all one last swift thought, and concluded that there was only one way for them to make the stealth approach work. "We'll have to wait until the sun goes away; we need to strike at night if we're going to be more stealthy about it." It seemed to be a little past midday at this point, which meant that they would have to wait several hours until the sun had actually gone down, and a little bit more until the moon was the only dominant source of light in the night.

It was a bit of a bother, and for a moment he was reconsidering actually going with her plan of action. Though at the same time it would give him a chance to maybe get to know her; merely going on a job with someone and then never seeing them again was not the way he should go about his business if he ever wanted to become more tied into Fiore's Legal Mages than he was already. Since he was no longer in a Guild, nor did he have plans to join one once more, it was the least he could do. Several hours of bonding time....sounded a bit weird to him, but he didn't really have much of a choice. He just hoped that she wasn't entirely insane like some other mages that he had met before--aside from himself of course. Standing there awkward for a few moments after his suggestion to waiting for night, he really didn't know what to do from there. It was obvious what he was going to ask her about--at least to himself--but he really didn't think doing it out here in the entrance of the village was the best spot. He scratched behind his head, staring around at his surroundings and burping once more just to pass even a few seconds of time. "We...should probably find a shady spot. And...I'm curious: what are things like in Sabertooth for you? And what's your position in the Guild?"

Notes