Hammer to Fall

[Riamah]

She walked through the dusty lands and felt at home. As if she had returned to Kro Var. Taking out her flute, Aevan started to play one of her people's tunes and a spring was in her step. The shadow of a feeling that hung in her mind was pushed away as she swayed and danced a little as she played.

Having been forced to give up one life she wanted to go back to, she had left by her own choice another that had been set before her. Once she thought she was a hunter. Now even though she didn't know it, she was the prey. A figure stalked her. Being oblivious since she thought she was alone, she had no idea what was in store for her this day.

The darkness started on the horizon and moved quickly. Dusk fell and she was in darkness within minutes. Days and night passed quickly on this planet, but the atmosphere and gravity were normal. Needing to find shelter, Aevan called up a small flame to light her path and floated it just behind her. This way she could still use the light, but not have it bother her vision as much.

Aevan look for what she thought could be used as a shelter and saw a small, lone hill. Turning in its direction, she approached it openly. On the other side was something that appeared to be an already prepared shelter. A howl was heard in the distance and she hurried her steps to this shelter.

@Morhun

 

[Mornhun of House Marr]

[member="Aevan Kitaki"]

He could sense her already. The small being that he had stalked. As darkness fell he began to move more quickly, his boots whispered against the ground as he prowled along at a safe distance. He watched her with his eyeless gaze as he moved. His black cloak hissed along just above the ground as he moved, his cold black armor drinking the light as he clung to the shadows.

He didn't understand why he wanted her, not on an intellectual level, but he felt it. There was an undeniable 'need' to hunt this one, just like the others before her. It was not something he wanted. It was like a hunger, an addiction that could only be resisted for so long before the will to resist broke completely. There would be regret later, he already knew, and he would have to live with the pain, but now in the moment he could think of nothing but the hunt.

He shadowed her steps and slipped his with sword from it's scabbed as she needed a hill. She would find no shelter this night, not from the darkness that had made him this thing that he had become. He whispered closer, the force bushing his steps as he drew near. He wanted her to flee, somewhere deep inside the man he was wanted to weep for her while the monster smiled his delight. Pale lips peeled back in anticipation as he drew near the halo of light about her. It was almost time.

 

[Riamah]

Being more worried about that howl she had heard, Aevan was practically unaware of him following her. Some piece of her felt him though, but she didn't know what she felt. There was danger here now, but no way to escape.

Hoping to reach that shelter, the young woman quickened her pace and dimmed her flame. Of course, since he could see through the Force that didn't slow him down at all. She didn't know he was Miralukan or that he was there personally. Just her intuition that there was something.

Nearing the shelter, she turned to look behind. Nothing was there that she saw in the darkness beyond her small flame. No reflection off any beast's eyes, armor or weapons. Just the pitch black of a moonless night.

Hoping nobody was in the shelter, Aevan reached out for the door and pulled it open. Ducking inside, she let go of the flame and pure dark surrounded her.

[member="Mornhun"]

 

[Mornhun of House Marr]

[member="Aevan Kitaki"]

He watched and waited for now. A part of him, a deep part wanted to leave and let the poor woman go about her night without incident. That part raged against the walls of his mind and cried to be heard but the instinct the pure animal motivation of the thing that he was was not listening. He watched the fire go out and basked silently in the cold darkness as the woman went inside. He would not extract her easily. Not without difficulty.


He stalked closer his feet quiet on the cold ground, as he slowly moved to listen. He could smell the force on her. It was like a candle in the darkness and he could not help but draw near. His cloak hissed along the tips of the grass as he moved and he approached the door. He would have to be quick. But whether to burst in or lure her out was knawing at his mind. The romantic in him wanted her to be saved by either her own cunning or some turn of luck but such was not the way of the galaxy.

He moved forward his glands emiting an aura of fear and apprehension as he neared the door. He had decided to avoid subtlety. He would rely on surprise. She was cornered, but he would have to be quick. No time to savor and draw out the kill, not when his mind was so torn on this one. He lifted his sword with both hands and threw himself against the door. He hissed through his teeth as the door burst open and he lifted his weapon to strike at the woman-thing.

 

[Riamah]

It took her eyes a few seconds to adjust to the darkness within the hut. Backing away from the door as far as she could, she knew her stalker was coming. Aevan felt the waves of fear and apprehension coming off him and mixing in with her own. Which was hers and his, she couldn't tell the difference as they fed off each other and fueled it within her.

She could not head the whisper of his cloak on the grass through the thin walls, but heard the movement of his body. As he lunged at the door and it crashed inward with him following, Aevan released a blast of a fireball she called up in a heartbeat. However, it failed to hit him and instead landed on one of the fragile, timber walls.

Within moments the fire had spread and started consuming the building. While it started at the far end as the timbers and walls started to crumble, the weight tugging at her end brought the wall she was cowering against down on top of her. With the collapse of the backend, in theory he would be forced to leave and flee from the building himself or face his own demise.

While the fire had yet to reach her, it wouldn't take long and she needed to get out before that happened. A fire shaper she might be, but she didn't feel she had the skill yet to keep it away from her if it got too close.

[member="Mornhun"]

 

[Mornhun of House Marr]

His advance halted abruptly as fire burst from the woman and sailed by him so close that he reeled away from the heat. The floor came up to meet him. He rolled away by instinct and fear of the flames. His aura poured fear into the force in torents but he could not abide the flames enough to attack the female.

He hissed at her as he regained his feet and leapt through the near window, his cloak trailing smoke behind him. He hit the soft ground and onve again rolled to his feet and did the most reasonable thing. He ran for the trees. Dawn was too close and his prey was lost. He would not catch her through the flames.

A part of him was glad. Somewhere deep inside the man he had once been cried out in relief of not having to watch another being die as he watched helpless to control his own body. His mouth twitched up briefly as he ran to the trees to disappear and hide from the dawn. He would hunt another day.

[member="Aevan Kitaki"]