Job: The Nightmare Incarnate; The Beginning (Iziel and IzzyxD)

Victoria was putting her small house in order that day. From all the mission doing and the fact that she seemed to spend a lot of time in the guild as well, she had completely ignored her house. She put her clothes for washing and her clothes and cleaning with a broom around, singing like there was no tomorrow, then laughing because of how silly she must look. But she never really thought that her day could go really bad just with the arrival of tha mailman.
''There is a box here for Miss Victoria Hunter!'' After she heard that, she let her broom down and went to the door. She greeted the mailman and took the box from his hand, thanking him. He told her goodbye and walked away.
Victoria walked to her squeaky clean living room and sat on the sofa, taking a knife. She looked at the cursive letters on the box that said her name and then, the initials SM. No subject, no nothing. She arched her brow in curiosity and opened the box quickly, but cautiously. Inside, she was really surprised to find the personal diary of somebody called Samuel Martin and a Voice recorder lacrima. She twitched her head, trying to remember someone she knew whose's name was Samuel Martin, but she knew nobody with that name. A storm of questions appeared in her head, starting from who is Samuel Martin and ending in Why does she recieve this box. But what most bothered her and scared every bit of her is the fact that the recorder and the diary were covered in a big amount of blood. She held the knife closer, her breaths getting faster with each second. She opened the book, despite the bad feeling she had and began reading, her hands shaky.
12 February, Day 647.
Today was a fun day. Me and Mary went on a picnic near the forest and spent the whole day talking about meaningless things. It really was a blissful experience and since she didn't have any problems today we were able to forget about reality, even if for just a day.
So far so good, she thought. But, why did Samuel mention that Mary had problems? What problems did she have? Mental? Normal? She turned the page, calming down a bit.
19 February, Day 654.
It happened again. Mary collapsed again today and started mumbling about magical gates and how everything is going to be a nightmare. This is happening more and more often and I am getting really concerned now. No doctor knows what's wrong with her...
Decided, she has mental problems. But they didn't seem like paranoia or something like that, they seemed much more severe, as if something was possesing her or something like that.Victoria turned the page again, her eyes racing through the lines.
25 February, Day 660.
This is really getting out-of-hand! With each passing day Mary becomes more and more delirious. I don't know what to do any more. I've contacted every doctor and every mage I could find, but no one knows what's wrong with her. There has to be someone that can help...
1 March, Day 664.
This is my last hope. I contacted an exorcist who is said to be able to cure cases like Mary's. He's going to come tomorrow night. Maybe the end of this nightmare would finally come. Definetly. Mary had posession problems. This case was starting to scare Victoria even more. Why did she recieve this? How did Samuel know her name or location?
2 March, Day 665.
It's a little before midnight now. The priest is going to come any minute and put Mary's troubled mind to peace once again.
3 March, Day 666.
I... don't believe it. I remember last night... the purification ceremony... then something happened and I was sent flying, and Mary ran away towards the Spooky Forest. When I came to, the priest was lying on the ground with his heart gourged out. What on Earth happened last night? There's no time to waste, I know she's somewhere in the forest so I have to find her. I'll contact a couple friends from the Rune Knights and we'll set off to search for her. Please be okay, my love...
Victoria's breaths became faster and faster. She tried to calm down, but she was unable to. She turned the page, still thinking about the poor priest and the death he faced, and, without a doubth, the same death Samuel had faced as well. But there was no more written. Just ripped pages. She took the recorder and turned it on.
Date- 4 March. Time- 1:43 PM.
This is Lieutenant Jacob Lars, recording an audio log to document the investigation and search. I am assigned due to my expertise in the field of demonology. It seems that a woman has been possessed by an unknown type of entity, presumably a type of demon, and has escaped in the Spooky Forest. We are currently within the said forest ourselves, having a local guide us through. For some reason when we entered it a thick, almost unnatural, fog descended upon us but we were capable of navigating through the dense vegetation regardless. Currently we are standing in a forest clearing about 2 klicks north of the entrance. So far there's no sight of of neither hostiles nor the woman. It's unnaturally quiet. A bad omen."

"Date- 4 March. Time- 2:30 PM.
This is Lieutenant Jacob Lars documenting the investigation and search for the possessed woman in the Spooky Forest. This is log number two. It's been nearly an hour since the previous log and we've spent the time delving further north into the forest. It's crazy here. Everywhere you look there are huge trees and if you look up there is nothing but branches and leaves. The vegetation on the higher levels of the forest is incredibly dense, so there barely is any light down on ground level. It almost feels like we're alone in another world with no way out, and that damn fog isn't helping either. All this is taking it's toll on the minds of the others.
We're nearing another clearing. I guess we'll rest there for a while."

"Date- 4 March. Time- 2:45 PM.
This is Lieutenant Jacob Lars documenting the investigation. This is audiolog number three. Things are not looking good. The others are getting seriously paranoid and I can't really blame them. This place plays with your mind in a very freaky way. A few minutes ago we continued moving deeper into the forest, following our course north. The guys are really getting worried now. They say that every now and then they see someone's silhouette in the distance, just beyond the fog, watching them. Observing their every move. I have yet to confirm the existence of this shadow, but if it is there then it might be the woman we were sent to find. Next time the silhouette makes an appearance we'll go after it."

"Date- 4 March. Time- 666:666 PM.
*The sound of someone's ragged breath mixed with their crazed running could be heard for several minutes. After that the barely audible thud, as if someone being hit against a tree, interrupts the running*
This is Leu*static*nt Jacob *pant* Lars. We *static*eed help! We...we got sep*static*ed and the *static* took us out *pant* one by one. It's b*static*n watching us all along! Tor*static*ring us while studying it's *pant* prey. It's close, *static* the only one left *static* coming f*static* me. *static* *static* *static* the time *static* thre *static* ourty-five
Victoria yelled as the record ended with a scream. She let the recorder down and remembered the last hour. 666:666. The number of the demon. This was sent to her and, nonchantly, it was going to haunt her. She quickly put the diary and recorder in the box and took them with her, along with the knife. She opened her house's door and closed it, really nervous. She needed help. Now. She ran to the house of the only person she knew that would help her without doubt, and, the only person's location that she knew. It was chilly outside, and she was only in shorts and a T-Shirt, but she didn't care. She only wished he was there. Iziel.
She knocked on his door nerviously, her hand shaky.
'' Iziel.... Please, open up.'' She said, her voice scared. She had the constant feeling something's watching her, and she wanted to go near someone right away-

The door opened to reveal a woman. Victoria immediately backed away, thinking she must have interrupted something, but then she noticed the maiden outfit.
'' [color=#ff9900]How can I help you, Miss?'' She asked. She had a sweet voice, but there was a obedient tone in it.
'' I'm sorry to come here with no previous advice. Can I see Iziel?'' She asked, putting her hands around her shoulders, suddenly feeling the cold much more severe. The maiden stepped away, letting her enter. Victoria took the box cautiously and entered in the mansion. Man, it was huge! She could easily get lost in it. The maiden told Victoria to follow her and led her to Iziel. His hair was wet, so she assumed he just got out of the bath. He dismissed the maiden and looked at the box. He told Victoria to calm down and led her to the sofa. She sat down and took a deep breath.
'' Sorry about this, Iziel. Coming here so suddenly... However, I need your help. This box arrived this morning at my house. As you can see, it has only my name written on it and the initials SM. I opened it and found this.'' She showed him the bloodcovered recorder and diary. '' It's someone called Samuel Martin's, but I do not know him. The problem is that, apart that both recorder and diary are disturbing, what is written and recorded is the double of disturbing. '' She handed Iziel the diary and recorder and let him listen and read them both. '' I'm in a serious problem here. Whoever or whtever send this to me, it knows who I am and where I live. It could begin haunting me.''
SHe finished the story with a sigh. She was scared. She didn't want to end up like those Rune Knights. Man, if the Rune Knights ended in such a horrible death, how would she end?! She is weaker than them. She took her hair and combed it silently with a grim look on the face, waiting for Iziel's reaction.

There was certainly something different in this forest this time. The last time Victoria came, the Forest seemed to rather just randomly throw monsters at you and try to kill you, but this time, the atmosphere was oddly calm, and there was this feeling as if something is watching you, waiting to get you. As even the slightes noise was heard, Victoria's hand would automatically shoot to get her scythe, hanging on her shoulder, or to Leo's Key, in her pocket. Iziel had taken her hand, making her feel a bit safer. She had managed to calm down and had adopted a neutral face, walthough that on the inside, she was trembling. It was still in the morning: The train ride hadn't taken Iziel and Victoria a lot of time. She sighed and looked around her. The trees had gotten more than before, but this wasn't the thing that troubled her. She knew that somewhere between the bushes, Mary was hidden, studying both hers and Iziel's attitude and fears so she could take control over them and kill them with ease. It was a game, a game like those in which one runs and tries to catch the others. If they touch you, you run. Well, it was the same. Mary was the one running, sneaking around, following every movement of the two new players. And Victoria and Iziel would lose their lifes if they were caught. This made Victoria shiver even more. The game she used to play as a child was getting to a darker meaning. She heard something in the distance and was pretty sure it wasn't the wind.

With no previous advice, a tree fell in front of the two mages. Thanks god, both of them were quick enough to jump away before the tree hit them. A slight cloud of dust lifted, making Victoria cough. She got on her feet, cleaning the dust away from her clothes and arrnaging her things. She moved slowlt and cauteously to the place where the tree stood, examinating it. She waited for the dust to come off and gasped as she saw what was in frot of her. The tree was no older than ten years, and it seemed to be in a perfect state. Yet, it had fallen. It didn't have any cuts or anything by the kind. Victoria stretched out her hand to touch it. Really young. She averted her eyes towards the place where the tree used to be and caught her breath. It seemed as if someone had intentionally and forcefully knocked it down. Someone with a force uncompared to the human. There were no footprints around the tree, strange thing, because it was muddy and there should be some footprints around. Okay, this atleast left the possibility of a human causing this as impossible.

Victoria got up from her crouching position and sighed, tired. She tied her hair in a ponytail and turned around. '' Hey, Iziel, are y- Wait, what?'' He was not there anymore. It was like he had vanished in the fog that had misteriously appeared around the forest. The ice mage felt chills slowly going down her spine. She rose her hands slowly and took off her scythe from her back, holding it close, ready to attack. She looked around, focused. Her main objectives right now were to find her job partner and stay alive. She got away from the tree and began looking around. She heard a loud laughter behind her and turned around. Nobody was there. The forest was again playing her mind nasty tricks. She sighed and continued walking, determination in her eyes. Soon, without anyone across her, a rock was thrown at her. Victoria quickly made an ice shield that, surprisingly, was able to hold on the impact. Vicoria looked in front of her, again trying to find the figure that threw her the rock and, most possibly, knocked the tree down. But there was nobody. She walked in front of the shield and began her way, while calling Iziel's name out several times, hoping he was around. But he was nowhere to be seen. She was getting a bit nervous with all of this loneliness. But she was certainly frightenet. She could feel eyes on her all the time, and whenever she turned, she saw nobody. The feeling was awful, making her awfully desoriented, and making her steps clumsy. She was asking herself what in the name of hell was going on since, before exactly a minute, she was able to hold her sctyhe perfectly and now, all out of the blue, she was feeling uneasy and unable to fight. Was this produced by the eyes she felt on her back?

This was bad. Victoria had been looking for Iziel for hours, and she had walked around pretty much the whole perimeter of the forest, and still, no sight of him. She could hear the forest getting destructed a bit, and she had ran that way, but nobody was there. Overtaken by fear, she sat on the ground, never letting down her scythe, and began thinking of possible ways out. Or more rather, of possible ways to get to Iziel. It was clear that, whatever was following them, it was using the same tecnique with them like with the Rune Knights: Dividie and rule. Then it hit her. Leaving messages around. She looked around, searching for something like a stake, and found a sharp piece of wood. She took it and craved a message in the ground.
Iziel, if you read this, come to the nearest meadow.
That said, she tried to remember where the meadow was and began running towards the place where she thought it was. With just a little luck, she would find it. Just a little luck. And with just some more luck, Iziel would see the message and go towards the meadow as well. She hoped that, the feeling of uneasiness and being followed would wear off as soon as she reached the meadow.

Soon enough, Victoria saw Iziel's figure coming towards her. A smile of relief drew on her face, as he reached her and she was able to see him safe and still in one peace. Not that she'd expect less, of course. He pulled her in a tight hug and she smiled against his chest. Feeling a person's warmth near her was something certainly better than feeling the cold, scary air of the forest. He took her hand. The meadow was desert, and the only movement around was the flowers bending over the wind's force. It was beautiful, but also dreadful. It looked ghostly, and you had the feeling that because of the fog, a girl in a bloody dress, bloody hands and a psychopath smile would jump at you in any moment. Victoria took a deep breath and looked around. The feeling of being watched never went away, but she didn't feel like losing her mind anymore. She was still paranoid, but not as much as when she was alone. Her heartbeat ceased to a normal one and she looked at the forest once again with a spark in her eyes.
''Where are we heading off to?'' She asked, her eyes looking at every possible direction. '' We still have to find out what happened to the Rune Knights. I suggest we go over there.'' She pointed to the path behind them, some of the little paths she hadn't checked.