Sins of a father...passed to an unknowing son.

~The once dark palace of the Kingdom of Thiasus finally stood in the light. It has been a few years past since the old tyrant king fell to his own men and the once black walls of his home now shone a polished white. It would be impossible to tell that a monster lay beneath the palace still. The floors were filthy in his forgotten keep in the lower level of the massive dungeon where only red light bled down from the torches above. His breathing was heavy, almost a deep chilling growl as he began to stir once more since his last master fell. His chest was bare and slick with sweat, his mouth hidden behind a filthy muzzle, his long black hair left damp with sweat and stringy in his face. His arms were bound behind his back, bolted about ten times to the wall and around his neck rested a thick collar that was chained to the floor in front of him. All around him were the rusted and crushed remains of his once feared black onyx armor and just around where he sat on his knees was a white circle etched into the grime and stone, pulsing dangerously each time he took a breath, keeping him prisoner where he sat, leaving him immobile.

-Jorou ran down the stairs into the ancient part of the keep to evade the guards that he had angered, once again. This time though they weren't letting up. He ran down the passageway unaware that such danger lay ahead while he concentrated on the danger at his back. The guards though weren't fallowing him down the passage way for some reason, almost like they could sense something that he could not. He ran into the room that the demon was held and closed the door behind him watching it instead of looking around the red lit room. "Please go away, please go away." He chanted softly as he watched the door shaking with fear.

~The demon's eyes snapped open, revealing their chilling steal color as he looked at the boy with a deep swelling growl the circle illuminating as it fought to hold it's prisoner where he sat.

- Jorou spun around and nearly screamed before he clamped his hand over his mouth and was able to get a hold of himself. He took a few deep breaths then actually looked around. "I don't remember anyone being imprisoned down here." His voice shook a bit as his eyes landed on the demon again. He had the same pale green eyes as his father and the same lily white skin as his mother.

~ His growling subsided slowly until he fell silent again, his eyes focus on the boy as the recognition of the boy's smell sank in through his muzzle.

-He shifted a bit feeling uncomfortable in the silence...it was better then the growling but not by much. "Booooy. Come out come out where ever you are." Jorou spun around and made a soft whimper stepping away from the door. The guards where back on his trail. "Come on out boy and take your beating like a man. Don't worry we wont be too hard on ya." The guards had fanned out in the hall looking in ever corner for him. Jorou backed himself into a corner and sank to his knees barring his face in his arms. He jumped a little as each door was slammed open getting closer and closer. It was only two more doors before they would throw open his own. "Please go away," he whimpered softly into his arms.

~ "Break the circle." The demon growl softly. "I can't move." He breathed, his muscles flexing but he remained still as the circle illuminated again.

- He looked up then down at the circle. He crawled closer on all fours. "I don't have anything to do that with, it's etched into the stone."

~ "Take a stone and grind it over the line, it only needs to be disturbed enough for me to move." He said, his voice deep and rumbling.

- The boy scrambled over to one of the corners and pried a stone loss from the wall. He scurried back and ground the stone over the line hurting his hand with the sharp edges as he did so.

~ He growled softly and as the line began to get eroded away and began struggling. With in a few moments he'd ripped the bolts out of the wall that bound his arms and then grabbed the chain around his neck to rip that out of the floor as well. Finally, he stood and the circle broke, the white vanishing just as he pulled the muzzle off his mouth to reveal his fangs in a snarl when he heard the door next to them be forced open.

- He stared in shook as the bolts were ripped out of the wall but he decided that he should ask later. The door to their cell was next and Jorou couldn't help the whimper that left his throat. "We have you now boy." The guards got together and kicked open the door.

~ The demon stood tall in the light and gave the guard an evil grin as he entered before releasing a furious roar that echoed the walls before he grabbed the guard by the front and dragged him closer. He forced the neck to the side and bit furiously into his neck, his fangs ripping at the flesh. He swallowed mouth fulls of blood and chucks of skin and muscle with a starved sort of hunger.

- Jorou jumped back and whimpered even more. he had his back to the wall as he watched in a morbid fascination to what was being done to the guard.

~ Once he had his fill he dropped the dead body to the floor and wiped his mouth clean before breaking the chains off his wrists and neck; then turning back to look at the boy calmly for a moment, his silver eyes piercing and empty. "I sense that your father is dead then?" He said finally

- The boy nodded. He didn't know that he father was the old king but he did know that his father died in that fight. "He died trying to get rid of the old dark king that once ruled...but, how did you know that?"

~ He stared at him for a while as if sizing him up. "Your father was the king, boy. He was my master." He turned to face him now, still watching him suspiciously.

- The boy shook his head. "He never had a kid. Who ever told you that was drugged or ill. And you're drugged if you think that I'm his son. I've never done any thing malicious in my life."

~ "He did have a son, with one of his concubines. Although he denied it, it is still true. I am not mistaken, I can't be, the magic that bound my will to him, also binds my will to you. With your father dead, you are my new master."

- Jorou laughed softly. "Master?! You're joking right? I must be insane just for listening to you. You just killed one of the palace guard and ate him. No wonder you were chained down here..." He stayed huddled against the wall like a little kitten lashing out at a threat when cornered. The only difference is that he is in no way able to defend himself. So he went the denial route.

~ He raised an eyebrow. "If you're so sure, give me a command, anything. If you are truly my master then I must obey." He crossed his arms now and watched the boy with a calm expression.

- "And how do I know that you aren't just messing with me?" He narrowed his eyes on the demon. "Not that you look like the kind of guy to mess around but still..."
~"And you think I want a master?" He half snarled. "If you are truly my master then I am still imprisoned, but if you're not, I'm finally free." He pointed out with an irritated tone now.

- "I should have taken the beating," he muttered softly then shuttered. "Fine...try to touch you tongue to your nose and jump on one foot till I say sparrow cookies together."

~The demon groaned in irrational over the humiliating act as he found that he began to perform the request and even though he was jumping on one foot he was fully well balanced.

- He grinned then fell over out cold from the shear shock of not only being the master of this demon that had just killer and eaten a guard but also being the only living child of the evil king from before. He came around a few minutes later. He sat up and looked around confused for a few minutes.

~ The demon was looking very irritated at this point as he was left continuing the command.

- "This can't be possible. How is this possible." He rubbed the back of his head. He cradled his head in his hands. He then looked up and gave a bit of a sweat drop look. "Oops...I kind of... forgot the command word."

~ He groaned and did his best to mutter 'sparrow cookies' past his tongue as he continued trying to touch his nose with it.

- "Oh yeah now I remember....sparrow cookie." He seemed so proud of himself till he realized that he was trapped in a room with a very irritated demon blocking the way out.

~ He groaned and finally stopped with a heavy sigh. "About time." He grumbled irritably.

- "Sorry...I must have hit my head really hard when I...shit....I actually blacked out." He frowned heavily. "Does this mean that you're going to kill me?" He looked up at him with large, sad, innocent eyes.

~"I can't kill you. I can't harm you in anyway unless you give me a direct command otherwise." He said simply and glanced around the room now.

-"Really? Why is that? What exactly bound you to...the dark king?" He frowned up at him. "And what exactly are you?"

~ "I'm a demon. Your father ripped me from my realm with an ancient spell of calling and bound me through his blood to be his slave. I can not harm you because you're blood is the same as your father's in the eyes of the spell and the spell will not allow me to harm him, or you."

- "Is there some way to break it then...because, no offence but, I don't want you. My father may have had a use for you but I don't. I'm a servant in the palace."

~ "A servant?" He half hissed. "Human's have no respect for blood lines." He grumbled. "And yes, there is a way, your father knew it, I do not. It's another ancient spell that counters the one that summoned me."

- His shoulders slumped a bit. "Then we'll have to find it. If the elders found out that I was down here let alone let you out of the spells that they cast on you then they could....no not could, will do horrible things to me and put you back down here to riot." He frowned. "In the mean while I have to find a place to stash you...if that's possible." He swallowed hard then looked down at the guard's dead body. "And a way to get rid of his body." He looked away feeling a little sick.

~ "They won't be able to do that to me again. They were only able to catch me right after your father's death, you must not have been born yet so I fell into a sleep to wait. But you are right, we must leave, I might go insane if I stay down here much longer."

- He gave him a bit of a guilty look. "Well the only other option is...my room...and it's much smaller then this cell." He gave him a weak smile. "I don't really have any other place to go....my mother died a few years ago and I've only ever known this palace."

~ "Fine, I suppose I don't have much of a choice. Lead the way master." He half grumbled and sighed.

- "Please don't call me that it's kind of creepy. My name is Jorou. What should I call you?" He slipped past the demon and walked to the stairs looking up to be sure that no one was waiting at the top. "Come on and what ever you do don't let anyone see you. With eyes like yours I'm sure it wont be hard to tell who you are. Oh and I don't think that armor will do you any good any more. It's really rusty."

~ "I noticed, but they'll have my sword locked up somewhere I'm sure. My name is Alcaeus." He said keeping his eyes down as he followed the boy.

- "Sword...what would you need that for?" He frowned a bit. "I don't think you need a sword, your bad enough without one." He moved quietly through all of the halls till they got to his room that looked more like a storage closet then a room. He opened the door and scurried in before he motioned for Alcaeus to fallow him. The room was very small with only one flimsy bed, no window along with no other furniture. "My home." he sat down on the floor since it was better then the flimsy and clumpy bed.

~ He blinked. "Because it's my sword." He answered simply.

- "Well it's not of use now so you can worry about it later. We have to do something about that body though. Unless they some by chance think that you got out by yourself his death will only lead to me. It's known that the guards hate me and beat me with every transgression...I'm not saying that I don't earn most of those beatings but the one that you killed is even worse then the rest."

~ He raised an eyebrow. "I could just kill them all." He pointed out in a very calm, casual tone as he went to sit on the bed.

- He frowned. "No you can't. If they have already put one and one together then they would know to kill who commands you instead of attacking you." He frowned a little bit. "If I die does that mean that you're free...I don't have kids so there wouldn't be any others to carry on being your master."

~ He nodded. "If that is the case, then yes, and they would be fools to kill you because then there's nothing stopping me from flattening this entire area."

-"But they don't know that I exist...well as the next in line. We have to get you out of here before they find that out though. They found one of the dark king's cousins and...made a public example of him. It was horrible...and he wasn't even that bad of a guy. I met him before they did all those things to him." He pulled his knees up to his chest with a haunted look in his eyes.

~ "1 tyrant replaced with a monster, it's how it always works. You simply need to inform them of the consequences."

-"They will more then likely know the spell that we need and after that...nothing can stop them. That isn't your problem though." He rested his chin on his knees and wrapped his arms around his legs. "You would be free...maybe that's the best course of action.

~ "Is that my cue to argue and tell you that 'there must be another way'?" He asked sarcastically as he picked up a sheet by the corner to sniff it and wrinkle his nose before dropping it.

- "No...I was just thinking aloud." He winced a bit. "Sorry...those are the cleanest sheets that I'm aloud."

~"They smell like old sex." He grumbled and looked around the room again.

- He looked over to one of the bare corners not saying anything just holding his legs tightly.

~ He blinked a bit and looked over to him before sighing and walking over swiftly before half pinning Jorou to the wall by his shoulder to begin sniffing at his neck as he got closer.

- He yelped a little bit in surprise. "What are you doing?" He smelled of freshly healing wounds and the faint smell of sex still clung to his skin.

~ He huffed a bit and stood up again. "And you let them?" He asked simply as if he were continuing some other conversation.

- "Let them what?" He tensed a bit. He had thought that he had gotten all of their filth off of him but with the way Alcaeus was acting maybe not.

~ "Use you, like a common bed slave." he snapped and crossed his arms with a scowl.

-"I did not let them. It was only one and only a blow just so that he would stop hurting me. Unlike you I can't fight back. I'm a servant, barely a step above a slave. That's all I have ever been and all that I will ever be." He hugged his knees tightly and buried his face in them.

~ "You should have been born as royalty." He snapped. "You were the only heir to the true king the instant you were born. So you were born something and you are still something." He growled irritably and sat on the floor on the other side of the room.

- "A new line has taken over that. The high king owns all of this. I'm lucky to be alive is what I am." He shook his head. "They say that before my...sire took over the man that rules now was part of the original kings that forged this empire. They say that the dark king was just a pretended on the thrown."

~ He snarled. "Your father was the rightful king here, his line was ancient, rooted all the way to when this kingdom was just being planned out, a false king could not have summoned me. That is what they fear so much." He growled.

- "Why does it matter to you? You were a slave to him...or is it just your pride that is hurting."

~ "It's not so much a pride matter as it is the conditions of the spell. It can only be preformed by a true, ancient blooded king. The summon was originally meant to be used to bring forth a guard for the royalty in times of need. It was never meant to span generations, but it does, and commanding the demon around like a retarded puppet on strings is just a 'perk' for the human." He grumbled and crossed his arms irritably.

- He shook his head as a thought came into his head. "Do you do anything but grumble and kill things?" Jorou looked the demon over and frown. "What ever I was meant to be does not matter. I am a servant now...and for the rest of my life. Nothing can change that fact. For now though I need to get the room across the way ready for the high king's guest while you stay here out of sight." He got up from his crouched position gracefully. "Don't let any one in unless I say so or unless it's me. Do you eat anything besides live human flesh?"

~ "I can be sustained on blood, any kind. Other then that I can eat human food for short periods of time. I won't need to feed for a while though, about a week, maybe two. And to answer your first question: Yes, I do, but it'd give you night mares, you're far too skittish." He said, mumbling the last part mostly to himself.

- "Skittish?! If you had been beaten since you were old enough to stand then you would be just as skittish." He snorted softly then left slamming the door behind him only to regret it. He lowered his head and hurried to do his job as others watched him suspiciously. He finished relatively quick but he didn't go back right away. The demon unnerved him in more ways then one and he wasn't overly anxious to go back. He went down to the kitchen to grab a small bit of food for himself before he headed back to his room. The sound of running feet though made him stop. He hid himself well before he fallowed the fleeing man. Slipping into the thrown room he had a relatively good view of what was going on. He listened to what they were saying in shock and horror.
"The demon...he's not where he is supposed to be. There is also a dead guard down there."
"What do you mean he isn't there. He must be." An elder stood from his seat just a little lower then the high king's chair.
"I mean that he is not longer imprisoned." The young messenger was panting.
"This can not be. The only one that could command that thing is an heir to the dark king and all of his concubines have been killed and his seed erased from this world. If that thing was really free then we would know because it would cause more havoc then any one here can imagine." Another elder stood with an angry look.
"They say that one of his seed got free. Not all of the concubines where accounted for after all." This time it was the king that spoke stunning them all. "Search the castle and find this demon, where you find him you will find the heir. Kill them both."
"Sire we can not kill the boy if he holds the demon at bay. We must capture him and find a way to control the demon ourselves."
This was all that Jorou could stand hearing from them. He got up from his hiding place and scurried out not letting them know that he was there. He ran as fast as he could back to his room and slipped in. "We have to go," he muttered softly before he pulled the sheet off his bed and started to put his few pairs of clothes on top of it along with some money that he had been saving. He went into a few of the other rooms and got things of value that could be sold off for more money and put them on the sheet before he tied the edges up like a back. "This sword of yours...what does it look like exactly? I may have seen it around. Other wise we're leaving it."

~"It's an onyx blade, the hilt is a depiction of a raven head and it's feathers, it's hard to mistake." He said, standing now and finding a spare bit of cloth, sniffing it momentarily then wrinkling his nose in disgust before ripping a long strip off it and held onto it while he straightened out his hair, braiding it and tying it with an old bit of string before wrapping the clothe around his eyes to hide that they were noticeably unnatural. "I don't suppose you have some big shirt I could wear, being half naked might bring attention to us."

-"Oh shit...no I don't but, I might know where we can find one that might just fit you." He looked down at the bag. "You can carry that...your stronger then I am. I know where your sword is too." He tapped his lip with his pointer finger. "If I remember correctly it's in the high king's trophy room."

~ "That sounds like the right place, of course it'd only be a trophy to a human." He grumbled, grabbing the bag and hauling it over his shoulder.

-"The high king hasn't lifted a sword since the day my sire was killed. We have been at peace...well for the most part. There where those people that attacked but the king hid behind the wall and sent his men out." He shook his head. "Shirt first, sword last." he took a deep breath before opening the door. "And here we go." He led the way down the hall and into another room where he went though some bags. He tossed the demon a black shirt that was just about his size. Then he led him down that same hall toward the trophy room. "Put that down by the door...you are going to have to knock out a few guards." He stood with his hand to the door shaking a little bit. Adrenaline was making him unsteady.

~ Alcaeus set the bag down casually and unwrapped his eyes to then tie the wrap around his arm and wait for the door to be open like this was the simplest thing in the world for him. "Stay out of sight, they don't know it's you yet."

- "Okay. Just try not to be too violent. If they scream then the whole building will come tumbling down on top of us. We aren't that far from the high king himself." He pulled open the door keeping out of sight. The two guards that were stationed there at all times turned and immediately drew their weapons.

~ In an instant he was gone, like an illusion or an hallucination and before either of the guards could blink there was a sick pop followed by another one and both guards fell to the floor with broken necks before Alcaeus became visible again.

- Jorou looked around the door. "Well that was fast. Now grab the thing and move your ass. Someone is bound to come around these halls again soon." He looked around. "The elders have some designs for you to."

~ He nodded a little and walked to the far wall and grabbed the black blade from the wall, still in it's sheath and tied it to his hip. "Lead the way." He said, tieing his eyes again before going to follow him.

- "Okay." He lead him around to the front where they slipped out of the palace for the most part unseen. "We should go to Wiseman's peak. That would be a safe place to sort of set up base to look for a spell to get you out of here and back to your plane." Once they got to the forest around the palace. "There is a town just down the way from here where we can stop. Unlike you I need food at least once a day. You'll stay hidden and I'll get the food. You kind of stand out." He lead the way to the little town then took the money and valuables to sell them leaving the demon in peace for a bit.

~ He sighed a bit and untied his eyes finally before settling up in a tree where he could stay hidden and wait, glancing down at the town below. His stomach twisted with the guilt of the memories that were left there, all the people he killed, tormented, and drove insane with fright and grief. It was not a place he wished to revisit, he didn't want to see the aftermath of his regular 'visits' while the Dark King was alive.

- It took a while for him to manage to pawn off all of the stuff since it was of such good craftsmanship and he looked like he was nothing more then a servant. He was paid though. He took the money to then get some food that wasn't really of the best quality. Jorou made his way back with a smile on his face. "Alcaeus, where are you?" He looked around not really thinking to look up. "I got food...but I didn't know what else we would need for that...so I saved some money."

~ "Save it. I am capable of hunting and killing things for you to eat." He said from up in the tree where he was using a twig to clean under his nails with a bored look.

- He looked up at him innocently. "Why are you in a tree? Are you a cat demon?"

~ He blinked and raised an eyebrow. "Noooo. Because when I'm in a tree I'm not easily seen." He said simply before hoping down.

- "Oh....I didn't think of that." He shrugged. "What kind of demon are you anyways?"

~ "The kind that got stuck in the human world and unfortunately continued breathing." He grumbled with a heavy sigh.

-"Okay....if you wont answer that then maybe you can tell me about this bound thing. What are it's limits?" He seemed completely unfazed by the retort.

~ "I am you're guard, if you are in danger I must act to save you. If you give me a command, I must obey unless the command put you in some kind of danger." He said absently.

- "So then I can't order you to kill me? What about to kill yourself?" He set the greens and cheese down that he had gathered from the village.

~ "If I choose to, I would be able to ignore that command, when it comes to that it's a kind of optional thing." He shrugged lightly.

-"Which one? Killing me or you?" He frowned at one of the things of cheese. "This is riddled with mold...that guy is mean." He tossed the small thing of cheese over his shoulder.

~"Me, I am totally unable to kill you or even touch you in a way you don't want me to, it hurts me." He grumbled.

- He tilted his head a bit. "Really? So if I didn't want you to touch me at all then you wouldn't be able to?" He messed with his hair a little bit. "What about the whole command thing...do you actually have to understand the command? Like it I started to speak in a language that you didn't know would you still have to do it?"

~ "I have to hear the command for it to be carried out. If I can't understand the language it's kinda like not being able to hear it." He said simply.

- He frowned a little bit. "What about the condition that the command is given under? Does that matter? Oh and what about if it was not meant as a command? Like if I said hop to it would you start hopping?"

~ "I'd have to ask you 'hop to what? And what do you mean by conditions the command is given under?" He gave him an odd look.

- "Like what if someone held me at knife point and made me command you to do what ever they wanted you to?" He settled down on the ground and peeled the wax off some of the cheese so that he could munch on it.

~ "If there was an opening to kill the threat at any point in time that would take priority over obeying the commands, because so long as you're in their hands you're in danger, and that over rides all other commands firstly."

- "That makes sense." He chewed on his cheese for a bit. "If I commanded you to be cheery for a whole hour would you have to even if I was just joking around?" He smiled looking up at him.

~He glowered at him with a defiantly 'don't you dare' sort of look. "I don't do cheery." He grumbled and crossed his arms stubbornly.

- "It would defiantly be a good way to hide you then." he chuckled a little bit. "So then mind set doesn't matter? I don't have to actually mean it for it to be command?"

~ "Yeah basically." He shrugged a little. "Your father never worried about mind set, he only spoke to me in commands. So, I don't know for sure."

- He giggled softly then calmed down. "What if I were in trouble and you weren't there, would you know that I was in trouble?"

~He nodded. "Yes, and I would have to come to you."

- "Even if I didn't want you to?" He fiddled a little bit before laying down on his side. His shirt lifted up a bit showing his bruise darkened side.

~"I suppose that depends on how in danger you are and whether I choose to obey. With a situation like that it comes down to those two factors."

-"So then if I would be in even more danger by you being there then you would have the choice not to? That's good." He then got up and paced a bit. "We should go. They will have noticed that I'm gone by now and might come looking. We should start off." Jorou looked up at the sky a little skeptical about how far they would be able to get before dark.

~ He sighed a bit and decided he'd rather not inform him that, that wasn't what he'd meant. He lazily put his hands behind his head and began walking now, at a steady pace.

- After walking a few hours he stopped blushing a bit. "Um...I think we went the wrong way." He spoke softly trying to be as unnoticeable as possible.

~ "Well, we really have no destination right? Just that you want a place to set up and stay at as a new home, right? Then why not go somewhere new? Not somewhere you know."

- "True but...I don't know the first thing about finding a spell. I was hoping for Wiseman's peak because there is a small passage way that leads into the palace...my mother showed it to me when I was little. I thought that we could use that to look in the palace. I don't know magic but the elders do." He frowned a little bit looking skyward. "Do you know magic?" He looked over at Alcaeus.

~"A little." He said casually. "But I don't know the spell to return me, I already told you that."

- "Maybe...the Tolicas know. They are known magic users and they hate the high king enough to help." he chewed the inside of his lip.

~ "Then I suppose we'll be seeing these... Tolicas?" He raised an eyebrow.

- "They are a tribe of magic users that live far from here...I should have bought a few horses is what I should have gotten." He chewed his lip again. "There is a town between here and there to get some. It would make things easier. In the mean while we should camp out here...I don't think I could walk much longer if I wanted to."
"I can carry you." He pointed out lightly, glancing around the area.

-"Okay..." He glanced around as well. "It's getting dark though, you don't have to. It'll take us months to get there maybe even a year so it really isn't any use getting worn out now."

~ He sighed a bit. "Alright then." he said and chose a spot on the ground to sit.

-"Shit." He scrambled into the woods driven by a sudden urge to pee. When he came back he was cursing softly with the sent of blood all over him. "I really hate that guy." He sat down and hugged his knees wincing a bit.

~ He blinked and raised an eyebrow. "Why do you smell like blood." He asked in a demanding tone.

- "The last beating that I got they went for my kidney really bad. I'm still pissing blood and that was a few days ago. It's thicker then yesterday too." He sighed softly in a way that made it seem like this was normal for him.

~ "You realize that that's not a good thing?"

-He shrugged a bit. "There really isn't much that I can do about it. The healers at the palace didn't really care if I was pissing blood just so long as I wasn't blacking out from blood loss or raped they didn't give a damn." He shrugged. "It happens every time I'm not able to cover my kidney actually. It gets really bad then I start to get better."

~ He sighed. "If you're sure." He said and leaned back against a tree with his eyes closed lightly to rest.

- He nodded. "Relatively sure...if it gets to the point that blood is all that is coming out then I might get a little worried." He leg go of his legs and laid down with a small shiver to get some sleep.

~ He opened an eye once the boy was asleep and then sighed softly; crossing his arms and watching the area quietly. Like hell he was going to sleep after sleeping for how ever many years.

-Jorou sat up once early morning came and he looked around shivering again. "Have you been up this whole time?"

~ "I woke up just a little bit ago." He lied easily and rubbed his eyes a little before standing again.

- "Oh..." he murmured softly laying back down. He wasn't that much of a morning person. He smiled a little bit thinking of food. After a while though he got up rubbing his arms. "It'll be winter soon. Will you be needing other clothes for that? I don't know how demons work." He dug in the bag for a bit to eat before he went to answer the call of nature coming back smelling even more of blood. "One of these days I might actually know the color of my torso." He pulled off his shirt showing near solid black and blue marks all over his torso, chest and back. The only place that looked like it had been avoided was a star shaped scar on his lower belly. He pulled on a new cleaner shirt then started to stretch a little bit.

~ He watched him for a while with a blank look before he spoke again. "Where's the scar from?"

- He shrugged. "I don't know. I was born with it. They aren't aloud to touch it. The skin is really weak there. Observe." He lifted his shirt and showed his dull nails before running them over the small bit of flesh and breaking it with very little work.

~ The next moment Alcaeus was holding his hand out away from his body. "Don't do that." He grumbled with a sigh.

-"It doesn't hurt and it heals quickly." The trickle of blood that had leaked out slowly stopped till there was only a line of dried blood on his skin and pants. "See no harm done..."

~"Still, don't do that." He grumbled and let go of him again, falling silent as he pondered the odd scar.

-He nodded. "Okay." He lightly touched it before he started to scrub the blood off with his finger. "No one is supposed to touch it except the healers and myself. They think that something happened when I was in my mom's belly but she wasn't hurt and it doesn't look like anything that they have ever seen." He smiled. "I kind of like it...them...I have one on my back that parallels this one." He turned and pointed to the identical one on his back.

~ "Like you were stab." He said lightly, glancing at the second one before looking away again. "We should keep moving.

- "Okay." he sighed softly rubbing the blood on his pants. "The next village shouldn't be that far away...but I could be completely wrong. To be honest...I've never really left the palace." He started walking focusing on his pants and trying to get the blood out instead of the road.

~ He glanced back at him lightly, one hand rested on the hilt of his sword.

- Once he gave up and finally looked up was when he hit the found face first. He scrambled up with a bewildered look. "The tree is trying to take me hostage." He dusted himself off giving the tree a pouty glare.

~He stopped glancing back at him now, blinking a little and just watching him silently for a moment. "You're just a moving accident waiting to happen aren't you?"

-He pouted even more. "No the tree was trying to take me hostage like I said."

~ "Well...if that's the case-" He drew his blade quickly and walked to the tree before taking a swipe at it with the black sword. He'd sheathed it by the time that the tree slit and fell over, well away from Jorou.

- He paled a little bit. "I hope you don't do that to everything that's a bother..." His voice was a little squeaky as he spoke.

~ "No, just the ones that hurt you or attempt to 'take you hostage'." He said lightly and turned to continue walking.

-"Ooooh....I'll be sure to warn everyone of that." he stayed back a bit till he thought better of it and scurried to keep up with him.

~ He glanced back at him once he got closer before looking ahead again.

-After about half and hour passed he sighed softly. "I never knew that traveling could be this boring. There has to be something to do besides pester you, watch the landscape and walk." He looked around with a mischievous look in his eyes like an A.D.D. kid that had just run out of productive things to do.

~ He blinked and gave him an odd look for a moment. "What would you want to do besides?"

- He shrugged. "I don't know. What is there to do?" He looked over at Alcaeus with mischief before he looked away as if deciding not to piss him off at that moment.

~He glanced at him now and raised an eyebrow. "What?" He watched him suspiciously.

-He tilted his head and gave him the most innocent look that he could muster. "What do you mean? I didn't say anything."

~ "You don't have to say anything." He pointed out. "What is it that passed your mind?"

- He grinned and waved him off. "Oh it was nothing just an old memory that I was reliving."

~ "I won't ask then." He said and looked forward again.

-"Hey there's a lake around here somewhere up ahead. We should stop there for lunch. I don't think it's that far ahead." He grinned.

~ He nodded. "Fine." He said and kept his senses sharp so he could find their way to the lake.

-He grinned but looked up to the trees to hide his glee. When they reached the lake he immediately started to strip. Once he was stark naked he climbed up a tree that leaned over the water and jumped in from up there. Jorou resurfaced laughing up a storm and jumping a little in the water. "I found fish." He giggled and swatted at something under the water.

~He blinked and raised an eyebrow at him, trying to figure out how this boy could be so...odd. He sighed and sat at the shore to watch over the area and keep an eye on his little master.

-He dove down into the water again this time coming up in the middle of the lake. "The water is really nice. You should come in."

~"Why?" He asked blankly though he kept to himself that cleaning some of the dungeon grim off would be a treat.

- "Because the water feels good and you probably haven't have anything like a bath in close to 15 years." he grinned knowing that the last part would get just about anyone to get into the water.

~ He sighed a bit and reluctantly set his blade down before carefully slipping his clothes off and then slipping into the water.

- Little sucker sharks started to attach themselves to his skin cleaning little parts the same way that they had to Jorou making him laugh so much. "Oh yeah I forgot to tell you about the suckers. They don't bite though. They clean better then most soaps actually. So don't hurt them. Just swat at them if your really annoyed. They're about as skittish as fish." He swam around in little circles going under every once in a while.

~He blinked a bit, frowning at the odd little fish and lightly tapped their sides to get them to swim away.

- He yelped. "Hey that's mine." He swatted at one of the fish then swam away as fast as he could. He yelped again before he went under the water not resurfacing.

~He frowned hard and swam over quickly to dive in and try and find the boy.

-The current there was extremely strong. It lead down into a network or caves before a mile long stretch of area where there was no air. Jorou had managed to pull himself out of the water in one of the last few caves. He was laying on the floor of the cave trying to think of a way to get out.

~ Alcaeus surfaced a moment to take a deep breath before diving into the current after Jorou, letting it carry him until he reached where he sensed the boy was at the last cave where he pulled himself out with a deep breath.

-He lifted his head to look at him then sighed softly. "That's not good. I don't think there is an exist. I was kind of hoping that you would find another way in." He let his head fall back to the stone.

~ He climbed out now and shook of a little. "I'll have to see if I can swim us out." He half panted.

-"Okay...but you might want to gain your breath back first." He sat up still a little bit in shock from nearly drowning.

~He sat back now and leaned on his elbows, breathing slowly.

- "I think there were a few other caves before the lake...each bit will be easier with breaks in between." He coughed a bit spitting out water.

~ "Are you alright then?"

-"Yeah I'm okay. My chest kind of aches but I'm okay." His voice was a little airy from his daze but he was physically okay.

~He sighed. "Well you might as well rest, there's no reason to go just yet."

- "okay." He slumped back laying on the stone sprawled out.

Author's notes: This is a roleplay that a friend and I were doing. I'm more of less putting this up as an experiment trying to see if people would like this. *shrug* any feed back would be nice. Thank you...I know what people read things and normally don't care to reply to requests such as this but it would be greatly appriciated. ^_^