Why Am I Here? [OPEN]

[glee]

Pain. Despair. What other word could be used for a place such as this? This place that is littered with those that fought and gave their lives for some stupid cause, their very existence blowing out like the candle on a little kids birthday cake. Their once lively bodies, full of warmth and love, left to rot and decompose upon the cold hard ground, left to feed the birds of prey that just so happened to inhabit this cold and desolate land. The bright blades of grass, once dancing in the wind as it blew across the ground, was now coated in the dried up droplets of blood that had dripped down in rivers from the brave souls that had defended the land. Even the wind, natures breath, blew in these parts no more. It truly was an empty void of suffering, telling the tale of past struggle and sacrifice.

Toffee brown eyes looked upon the grounds, usually shinning and full of life, now looked upon the scene in sadness and heartache as she could feel the pain that filled the empty void. She could practically feel every stab from the sword, every painful piercing jab from an arrow, every unbearable burning sensation as another vampire bit into her once human flesh. In all her travels, the young woman had never come across a place such as this. And trust me when I say that Vanessa Allyson Murphy had seen very many desolate and cold places in her immortal life time. One question ran through the young girls mind as she walked into the place full of pain and sorrow; why the hell am I here?

It was a very reasonable question, one that she asked herself as she proceeded to enter the bloody and empty grounds. Why was she walking into this place that was so full of grief? It wasn't the scent of blood. Even though she was a vampire, one that was still considerably quite young, the long dried up blood did not affect her, even though its pungent and coppery scent permeated from the very soil. The scent of the humans precious rubies had long since become part of this areas very smell. As a matter of fact, the places own distinctive scent was that of blood, despair, fear, and one other key ingredient that haunted the place and mixed in with those that were also depressing. Death. Both sickeningly sweet and impossibly bitter at the same time, it was an extremely distinct oder, one that the young vampire had experienced quite often, as she was usually the bringer and cause of it.

Walking several more steps into the grim area, the silence was deafening, its very nothingness beating hard against her eardrums. How much she wanted to hear the whisper of the wind as it played its musical notes, using the leaves of both trees and bushes, as well as the blades of green grass, as its instruments. How much she wanted to hear the scuffle of animals as they went about their short lives, moving through what little underbrush that filled the place. But nothing besides the pathetic vultures dared to live here. She wished she could even hear the soft thud of her foot steps as she traversed deeper into the ground, but even that was lost in the void of nothingness. What exactly was the reason she had come here? Something was driving her here, pulling at her very core, telling her to enter the grounds of the bloody fight. And so she listened.

[Calmay]

Silence surrounded Elric as he made it through the battle grounds. However the silence did not bother him. It was the silence of death and that was something he had grown accustomed to and much preferred. The dead did not talk or judge and yet it he still wished that he could converse with them. To him these people were used like tools for their country much like he was being a tool. Though he hated that they were so weak that they had to die. It was only a reminder of what would happen to him if he became too weak to win when he fought. He looked down at one corpse and then continued to make his way forward. He did not want to linger too long here again. He wanted to find what he was looking for and leave.

This was not the first time that here. Last time he was here he was chasing a person down and he had ran here to get away from his perusers. It was a hard job since he was able to match speed but not catch up. Eventually a fight had broken out and that was where the problem happened. The fight itself had not been hard. The target was more speed oriented than combat oriented. The problem was found when he returned back home. He had lost his bracelet when he was fighting. That was not something that he could replace. It was too risky to wear only one seal. He had only one option but to return and find it. Luckily he remembered where they fought in this battle ground. The only issue was to get to it.

When he found the location he found he showed a rare smile. The only reason he knew the location of this place was because there was a small pile of weapons that was not found anywhere else. He started to whistle as he started his search for his bracelet. It was not a fast tune it was more appropriate to the area that he was in. He was not going to let the silence distract him. He needed to find the bracelet soon. He did not like having one seal keeping him and his real form apart. Though losing the seal would not be that bad here since there were no humans around to harm, but if it was going to happen in a city then there would be too much trouble and more death on his hands. He did not want that to happen.

He pushed a corpse aside and looked around. He was looking for a needle in a haystack and he was going to have to be patient. He just hoped that his patience would last long enough to find it. The last thing he needed was to loose his cool and start burning corpses. He stood up and walked to another areas and continued to search there without stopping his song.

[glee]

As Vanessa walked farther and farther into the bloody battle grounds, the strange pulling feeling still coming from deep inside her core, she began to become a bit unnerved by the resounding silence. It was strange that not a single sound could be made out. Sure, not a single animal inhabited the area to make their presence known as they hopped and pranced through the field, nor did the wind whisper its beautiful and haunting melody through the field. These were understandable, especially for this desolate place full of sorrow. But, what was really strange was that she herself made not a single sound as she traipsed her way through the area. Not a single sound as her feet hit the hard and dark red ground, the only evidence of her being there being the soft indents that her feet left in the crisp blades of grass. Yet, this could still be reasoned. She was, after all, a vampire. She knew that she was a silent walker, her feet not making a sound as she set foot against earth.

The strange thing was that her clothes made nary a sound, even as the soft cloth rubbed against each other. Her clothes, consisting of a dark green tunic that reached her mid-thigh, accompanied by a pair of brown leggings underneath and a pair of brown flats, was not the quietest of clothing choices either. Her tunics long sleeves were embellished with a leaf-like design that usually made a slight scratching sound as the beads rubbed against the cloth at her side. But today, in this field that held a powerful struggle long ago, they were silent. It was as if all sound that was made was sucked up into the void of nothingness that surrounded her. It began to frighten the vampire. After becoming immortal, she had become accustomed to the much more powerful hearing that she gained. Not being able to hear a single thing made her feel vulnerable, weak even.

Scared of the silence that surrounded her like a thick cotton ball, stuffing her ears as to not allow her to hear what was going on around her, she made a decision. If no sound could be heard, she would have to make sound. She began to hum a little tune, sad and forlorn to match the place she was currently occupying. Soon though, satisfied that she could at least hear herself as she produced sound, she began to sing the lyrics to the sad sounding song. The song itself tells the tale of one that runs away from their mistakes, tells of being just a misguided ghost. It really was a soft song. She continued to walk as she sang, heading deeper and deeper into the land, not really noticing anything around her as she tried to focus on the sound that she was producing, trying to escape the fear of the heavy silence.

However, as she walked along the pathless ground, something caught her eye. Thankfully, the area was still affected by the sun, letting it cast its warm rays into the clearing. They didn't do much, though, as the death that surrounded the place caused it to keep an unnatural chill that seeped into ones very bones and couldn't be stopped by some measly jacket. Caramel colored eyes flickered down immediately to see what it was that had glinted so. And there, peaking out from underneath a pile of interesting, assorted weapons, was a shiny object of silver that was far to new to have been there for such a long period of time that it was from the time of the battle. Bending down and pushing aside the useless and rusted metal weaponry, she scooped up the object, gazing at it curiously as she ended her song.

Upon inspection, she concluded that it was a bracelet, made out of some simple and inexpensive metal that was the color of silver. It was mostly just a plain silver band, nothing much special about it. However, set into the metal of the bracelet was a shinning jewel, the color of a clear pool of water as a cloudless sky reflected upon it. That, along with the way the bracelet shone in the light of the suns rays, made the piece truly beautiful in its simplistic way. I wonder how this got out here, Vanessa voiced to herself as she continued to look at the tiny bracelet, wondering how something so new looking had gotten all the way out here.

[Calmay]

Elric sighed as he turned over another corpse. He knew that it would be hard to find something in such place, but he did not expect that there would be so many places to look. He looked around. He did not even noticed how far they had battled. Maybe fighting others in a graveyard was not the smartest thing it one was worried about losing something. He had cleared this area. He moved a little further away and started on that area. He knelt down and continued to search. He could not believe how many corpses there where here. So many lives were lost and yet no one was there to care for these bodies. He looked away hoping that his body would not end up like the bodies here. Rotting alone with no one to mourn for him. He got up and pushed the corpses away from him. He did not want to see another dead person.

He made his way back to the small pile of weapons. He as going to have to try another direction. He could not leave without it. He cursed to himself as he wondered where it could be. He could spend days looking for it, but he did not have that much time. He was expected to return back to Obscur soon and the last thing he wanted to do was not make it back on time. He picked a random direction and started his search again. However this time he was not trying to respect the corpses, but trying to look as fast as possible. He pushed aside the corpses looking for it. His patience was already starting to thin and he did not know how much longer he could look.

When he found nothing again something snapped in him. That something was his patience. He summoned a blue flame into his hand and made it grow larger. He was going to burn the corpse until he found the bracelet. He was pretty sure that the metal would be protected by the seal. He held the flame in his hand read to set the area ablaze. "If you are not going cooperate with me I will burn you to the ground." He was about to release it when he saw a person nearby. He was pretty sure that no one had been here, but it looked like he was wrong. He put out the flame not wanting to put any person in danger.

He made his way towards the person wondering if he could get the person to leave so he could set the place on fire. As he made his way closer he noticed that the person was a female. It would be only moments later that she would notice that she was hold what he was looking for. His bracelet was in the hands of another. If he was in a busy city he would have stolen it from her and and disappeared into the crowd. However, there was no one here to hide and no way to get away. He pushed himself forward and wondered if she would return it to him. "Excuse me miss. I believe you have something of mine." He looked at her trying to be as polite as he could. He really did not want to give off a bad impression. He needed her to trust him so that he could get back his second seal.

[glee]

As the young vampire girl continued to examine the bracelet that was held in the palm of her left hand, a voice that was not her own came from behind her. Turning around, she located a boy that looked older than her just behind her and slightly to the left. Thinking a string of profanities in her head, she cursed the fact that her vampire senses couldn't pick up a single thing in this world of silence and sorrow. She hadn't even been able to smell the blood that raced through his veins because of the long spilt blood that coated every blade of grass and every surface of earth in this field. Even her general sense of not being alone had seemed to dim in the quiet world that was currently placed into. One thing was for sure, she didn't like this place even more. Aside from all the death that surrounded her in the endless grassy plain of red and brown, her senses were dulled by the very pressure that clung to every thing that entered the field. No, she didn't like it one bit.

Shaking off her dislike of the place, Vanessa set a smile upon her face in greeting to the boy that looked around her age, even though the very thought was impossible, seeing as she was almost 400 years old. Unless he himself was another vampire, which she quickly ruled out from the fact that his blood pulsed powerfully through his veins. It was almost enough to make her thirsty. Quickly reigning in the very inclination of a thought of being thirsty for the young man's life source, she listened to what he had to say, surprise flitting across her face at the mention that the beautiful piece of jewelry belonged to him. Why would a boy his age being wearing something like this? She didn't dare voice her thought about it, though. Something about the way he looked at the moment, almost like he was about to snap, made her stay quiet as she looked at him in general surprise.

This is yours? I was wondering how something that looked so new made it's way so far out here, in this desolate land, she said, smiling at the boy. He must have dropped it when he was out here once. Why he would be out here, though, was a mystery. Though, she herself didn't know why she was out here, so she didn't ask that question either. Here you go, Vanessa said cheerfully, walking ever closer to the boy, holding her hand out to hand him the bracelet. As she did so, she observed him discreetly, noticing how his gray hair and steely eyes fit his handsome face. He looked like the kind that didn't smile to often. My name is Vanessa, by the way, she said with an even wider grin as she introduced herself. Why she had done that, she didn't know. She just felt like she should. She was doing a lot of stuff she didn't understand today.

[Calmay]

Elric took he bracelet and was relieved. He did not have to burn the place down to find it. Though now that he looked back on it, he was just over reacting to the anger of not being able to find it. It looked very foolish now that he thought about. There was no way that he could burn everything that was here to a crisp. He was glad that he had not gone though with it. "Thank you," he said. He was surprised that she had given it to him so willingly. Those he knew would want something from him. He was not used to such kindness from someone he did not know. He really did not know how to react to something like this. Seeing that she had told him her name he should give her his name as well. "It's Elric."

He then turned his attention to the bracelet in his hand. He had yet to put it on. He had left it here in this place for some time. A place filled with death and darkness could have had an effect on it without him even knowing. He was not going to put it on without checking if there was something wrong with the seal. He reached into his shirt and pulled out the necklace. If they were both working fine then they would try to repel each other. The necklace was made of the same metal however it was a chain in this case. The jewel itself is was a dark crimson red and seemed like it took in the light of the surrounding area. He moved the bracelet towards the jewel and saw that they were not repelling each other. There was something wrong. It looked like his problem was not yet solved.

He sighed and slipped the bracelet into his pocket and the necklace back under his shirt.He bit his lip thinking that he would have to wait until he felt comfortable walking around others again. He was going to get it fixed when he got back. For now he had to be extra careful not to mess something up. It looked like his emotions were surfacing to quickly and they were emotions that he had to keep under control. He felt calm right now and that was good, however he was not sure how long that was going to last. He looked up at Vanessa and wondered what to say. "I was not careful enough. I will not make that mistake again. I can not lose something so important." He was still thinking about his bracelet even though he as trying to focus on the person in front of him. It was better than thinking about losing control of himself.

[glee]

The young female vampire gave yet another smile as the boy accepted the piece of jewelry that lay in the palm of her outstretched hand. It seemed to very dear and important to him; maybe a family heirloom or something from a dear friend. Whatever it was, it was special to him and she was happy to return something like back to him. If it was her in the situation, she would want something that was important and held meaning back with no hassle. You're welcome, Vanessa said, taking her hand back and placing it by her side. It would look strange if she kept her hand out like that after he had already accepted the object of his seeking back. And its nice to meet you Elric, she said, the smile still held upon her features as she tilted her slightly to the side. Nice day to be out, isn't it, she asked, trying to make small talk. Of course, after she said this, she looked around to see that it wasn't exactly a picture perfect day. The sparkling sun was hidden behind dark rolling clouds, only peeking out from behind them every so often. That, coupled with the fact that they were standing in the middle of the legendary battle field of long ago, the bodies of those that once fought still littering the hillside. Umm...nevermind, she said, scratching the back her head with a sheepish smile on her face.

The smile on her face faded slightly, a look of polite curiosity forming upon her features as the boy in front of her took out yet another jeweled accessory from beneath his shirt. This one contrasted the other one nicely, a set of bracelet and necklace. It was made of the same material, but the jewel of the piece was a dazzling red that seemed to glow and dim the light around it. The familiar expression of awe filled Vanessa's caramel colored eyes as she observed it, the awe changing back to curiosity as Elric placed his newly regained bracelet before the necklace. It seemed like he was waiting for something to happen, only to have it not happen. This was shone by the look of disappointment that flashed on his handsome face. This sparked Vanessa's curiosity even more. What could be so important about the jewelry set? Again, though, she dare not ask. Out of sheer politeness and slight fear for it the boy would blow up, she did not voice her inquiries. After all, curiosity killed the poor little kitty that crossed the road...or something like that.

She was thrown back, however, surprise flashing in her eyes as the boy before her spoke. She had assumed him to be the silent type, not speaking unless spoken to and being very polite with what he said, not saying much. It seemed he was wrong as he told her that he wasn't careful enough and he wouldn't lose something so important again. She immediately connected this statement with bracelet, yet this only sparked her curiosity further. Why would he have made such a grave mistake upon losing the bracelet? What made it such an important? Unfortunately, the poor young vampire couldn't take her curiosity any more, finally blurting out the question she had been wanting to ask since she had met the strange Elric. Excuse me, but...what exactly is so important about that bracelet, Vanessa inquired, tilting her head to the side in confusion and in a gesture of how curious she was. Why would you be inadequate when it comes to watching it? What exactly does it do, she asked, hoping he wouldn't get mad at her obvious want to know about it. She prayed he wouldn't get mad at her. It was one of the things she absolutely hated, being yelled at. She had never liked it, even as a human.

[Calmay]

Elric was surprised at the question. Had he said the last thought out loud without knowing it. He could not believe that he had said something like that out loud. Vanessa was a stranger and yet he had said something so important without thinking about it. He just hoped that he would not regret it now that he had said it. There were very few people knew that the bracelet was important to him. They just thought he wore it because he wanted to wear it. He had made sure that it looked like it was worth nothing and therefore not worth stealing from him. He wondered on whether or not to reply to the question. It was his fault he had brought up the topic and now he was trying to think up a way to get out the situation.

He crossed his hands and looked into the distance. He hand no idea on how to explain what they were that would explain how he was so determined to protect it. A distraction would have been nice for Elric, but nothing happened as he thought about it. He knew that he had to tell a half truth in this situation. It was the only way he could think of getting out of it. He had even considered getting angry, but in this place it would be dangerous. He feared that the anger he released would only be amplified by the anger residing here. He took a deep breath and prepared his response. He looked at Vanessa ready to answer her questions. He could not think of another reason to delay answering the question.

"It's a magical bracelet and it contains a powerful spell that I need to have on me just in case something bad happens. It is one of a kind and the spell is made only to work on me so it has no worth to other people. It looks like it is not working, so I have to get it fixed when I get back to town." He had said just enough to answer the question, but in his opinion not enough to reveal any big secret about his bracelet and what it did to keep him human. He would like it if Vanessa thought he was a human and nothing more than that. After all to the normal person he looked human unless he did something that made him seem like that he was not human. He ran through what he said in his head one more time checking if he had covered all of his bases. Well it was to late, he had already said it.