Overdue return. (Akryns return to site, open rp)

The winds whipped and howled through the mountains, bringing with them a bitter cold from the peaks. Other than the howling winds it was quiet and lonely up here, with nothing more than Karakuri city and the old, forgotten ruins of the once proud and illustrious guild, Eclipse Soul. Few would have a reason to ever come up here, especially since all known members of the guild were assumed dead. And yet, as if to spite that logic, a faint song could be heard, carried on the wind and calling out to anyone who might be in the area, a strong, baritone voice echoing softly through the mountains.

"Yo ho ho ho, yo ho ho ho! Yo ho ho ho, yo ho ho ho! Making a delivery, bringing it across the sea, Binks sake in the hold, as we sail through the breeze! Far across the eye can see, the sun is shining merrily, as the birds fly in the sky as they sing out with glee!"

These words rang out across the mountains, echoing out from one source, a ridiculously tall, very broad man, wrapped in a red, hooded cloak, with a brilliant black and gold phoenix emblazoned on the back and a small pack slung over his shoulder. To many a familiar magic would come from the man, a magical signature that hadn't been felt in a long time indeed.

Akryn slowly looked up at what had once been his home, his first home and his first guild, the ruins of Eclipse Soul, and he couldn't help but smile. It had been a long time since he had looked upon its stone walls and rising spires. The last time he had been here was during the dispute over guild leadership, when he and Deniel had fought to see who would lead. In the end Akryn had lost and Deniel was chosen by the guild as their new leader. It had stung and forced the wind mage out to a new world and new adventures, adventures that hard been brutal and wonderful.

"Bid adieu to everyone, as we set out under the sun...." he muttered to himself, turning away from the guild and making his way towards the slope of the mountains. He had many things to do, and while he would love to sit there basking in nostalgia, the former assassin had a job to do.

Silence. Even though the winds were as violent and lively as ever up here it still felt silent compared to the world down below, at the foot of these giant mountains. Too cold, too rocky, too rough, the landscape up here was largely left alone by humanity and its allies. Which meant that up here you would only find snow, rock, wind and some trees. Well, that and those few animals who felt comfortable enough living up here that they stuck to their location rather than making their way further down the mountains. That or they were driven up here out of necessity... well, either way, anything which lived up here was resilient, from large rock lizards to the rabbits whose white fur allowed them to hide in the snow. Without humans or other intelligent creatures claiming this place as their own these animals still could move about freely here, living their own lives while being almost completely ignorant of anything that might happen outside of their own habitat.

That is, except for the eternal challenge between the hunter and the hunted. For the peaceful herbivores to escape the desperate predators, or use what weapons they had been given by nature to fight them off and defend their right to live. A game of hide and seek, and if the predator tagged the herbivore it was usually game over. Usually, but not always, which left each predator cautious. Not all herbivores were as weak as those tiny white rabbits... but then again, not ever predator was as strong as the other.

A mountain goat was making its way towards where it remembered there being a patch of grass amidst the rocks when suddenly it sensed something. It sensed that something was coming, even though it couldn't tell what or how. There wasn't any sound or scent, nothing that it could see... but it knew that something was coming. Its eyes widened as it turned around to flee, but before it could do more than tense something shot up from down below and went right through its neck, piercing its windpipe and allowing it to bleat once in fear before it began to choke on its own blood. Until two dark, clawed hands grabbed its head and twisted it sharply, cutting off its brain from the rest of its body and swiftly sending its soul to the next world.

Akeya crouched down next to the fresh corpse, keeping the shadow tendril inside the wound to prevent the beast bleeding onto the snow as she picked it up and relocated to a spot where there wasn't any snow, only cold rock. She skinned the beast and got to work systematically pulling the goat apart. Skin and fur could be sold, the flesh and a good part of its organs were good eating, she'd have to preserve the blood so it could be used for more specialized recipes afterwards. The bones were a bit trickier, but she knew some people who would pay good money for properly cleaned bones which they could use to make small trinkets. Its horns... well, there was some strange myth that a mountain goat's horns could be ground up into medicine which would grant one stamina and endurance. Akeya didn't believe it for one second, since she could inspect the magic in the corpse and judge that it didn't contain anything special, but money was money.

While she was still working on the corpse her finned ears spread a bit and she slowed down her hands. She was sensing a magic presence in the vicinity. More importantly, it was one which she was pretty sure had been lost forever. A very familiar one... Actually, instead of brightening Akeya's mood it was doing a good job getting on her nerves. Others may focus on the fact that someone who they thought had died may in fact still be alive and well. Akeya was more focusing on the fact that she was very certain that person should not have survived, and the fact that they did was bugging her. Of course she was happier with the idea of them still being alive, but if that came at the cost of her being wrong about what should have been a certainty...

He would have some explaining to do.

Still, Akeya first focused on finishing taking care of the mountain goat. At least the cold weather up here meant that she could take her time without having to worry about the corpse falling into decay. If left alone for too long it would begin to decompose, but the cold slowed down the process for long enough for the dragoness to finish her business. After she was done the only thing left of the goat was some blood on the ground, and Akeya got rid of that as well by covering the ground with some nearby snow, sweeping the area with her tail so it would look natural. Something with a sharp sense of smell that got too close may smell the blood, but beyond that the mountain goat might as well not have existed. In fact its carefully dissected remains were being kept safe inside Korikami's shadow dimension, where decay would not touch it due to there being a lack of anything other than a thick layer of snow. It was pretty convenient to have a pet who could act as a refrigerator.

With that done Akeya stepped into the nearest shadow, her entire form darkening and then dispersing as she rapidly approached that person who should be dead while hiding inside the many shadows that were littered throughout the area. Depending on what kind of explanation he gave for being here and alive she might either express happiness at seeing him alive (which would certainly surprise him) or she'd make sure he was aware of her strong disapproval.

Either way, she'd make sure that if he was still alive and had returned to this land, he wouldn't be allowed to just forget about her and ignore her. With the way that the two of them had separated ways she wouldn't just let him wander about as if merely sightseeing when he should be informing her of his survival.