[/)eathKiller]

we stood atop a hillside, a large windmill turned peacefully in the distance, we could hear a marching army behind us but pretended not to as we passed into the town, the babling brooks were of silver refletion and the rich feilds seemed to be endlessly teeming with rice and wheat...

-Chapter 2... Willow Creek

Kimagure yawned and started to feel around her... she became suprised to find Death wasn't sitting beside her... she started looking around quickly... she then turned to look at the lone tree in the feild... he was there... with one arm pressed against the tree... he seemed to be leaning against it... the sun was brightly lighting up the blue sky... the leaves blew past him as he stared off into what appeared to be nothingness from behind... in reality he was meditating... she got up and decided to start walking toward him...

"Death? Are you allright?"

Death's eyes shot open and he turned to look at her while slyly sweeping his foot across the ground and sliding a horned helmet behind the tree...

"yup... nothing happened at all last knight! But I did find something I think Flare could use!"

"Oh yeah? What is it?"

"Some type of big battle axe.." death lifted a heavy battle axe from out of the grass... "i figured that It might come in handy, just as a disposable weapon..."

"I dont know if he can lug that huge thing around..."

"well we'll see what he thinks of it..."

---

"SWEET JESUS! THIS IS A BARBARIAN'S AXE! OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY STEEL! AND IT'S EVEN GOT A HERO'S EMBLEM ON THE SIDE! THIS WEAPON HAS SLAYED... 10.. 20... 30 THOUSAND!!"

Everyone cringed looking at the blade...

"and it still looks good as new... this must be the holy blade that cannot rust..."

"wowie zowie..."

"well I think it's about time that we climb down the geoge onto that tiny bridge and cross the canyon!"

"I'M UP FOR IT!" said alice in an enthusiastic tone...

"well then what are we waiting here for!"

Reaching t he cliff edge, the warriors began slowly descending the cliffside which, luckily, was at an angle that was easy to climb down...

"Someone aught to resurect some stairs here!"

"THAT GIVES ME AN IDEA!"

"What're you gonna do kima..."

"umm OH i know that Geromancy Step spell it can be done twice a day! SO you can help us go UP with it too!"

"It's BRILLIANT!"

"Yadavari Tetsu no VAYA!"

The ground began to cruble away, and quickly stairs shot outward... the four slowly descended the small yet steep steps and then started to walk along the land bridge...

"well this wasn't so hard afterall!"

on the other side an animal head stuck up from a bush and quickly dove back down...

Suddenly there was a howling sound...

"What was that?"

Death quickly formed his energy bow...
"Creatures which you've never encountered..."

"What are they?"

"Hounds... that's what they're called.... they only exist at the bottom of the cloudspine's crack..."

"Well if that is the case then why should we be woried..?"

"they're excelent climbers though they don't like staying in the light for long, if you have any sun spells, I recomend you start charging them..."

A slew of three-eyed tentacle beasts slithered up around the center of the land bridge and stood there, more started coming up the sides and they formed a wall...

"ah, this is one of their strategies..."

Suddenly more formed a wall behind them...

"they think they have us trapped... they thought wrong..."

Death quickly flashed his hands... an arrow flew from his longbow and struck the first creature which wailed in pain...

"ZONDE!!!" A small, dark cloud formed above the gorge, lightening left the cloud and struck the hound... this made it retreat further back... the others started scattering too but then regrouped... further back...

"we're pushing forward! Kima watch our back, Alice, Flare, Rush the front gate, ill cover you!"

"why are we following his orders?"

"He knows what we're dealing with GO!"

"YEAAARRG!" Alice leapt forward and began stabbing at the first slimey beast... she flung it off of the cliff side, then gripping a dagger in her jaws she used both hands with one dagger and rammed it had through the next monster... Flare ran up beside her and rammed his steel axe hard into one of the hounds, litterally slicing it in half... an arrow shot past him and shot a hound back that was just about to jump on him... Flare looked back at death who was smiling at him...

"I guess I should say thanks..."

He saw death let another arrow fly STRAIGHT TOWARD HIM! he ducked his head and the arrow struck another hound that was about to leap on him...

"you knew i'd do that... didn't you..."

"You should be more trusting [img]smile.gif[/img] "

Alice grabbed a hound and then suddenly leapt off of the land bridge she hurled it downward toward the ground and then did a 180 degree turn mid-air, she caught he side of the land bridge and pulled herself back up, with both daggers in her mouth....

"Damn woman..."

"FLARE! mind your mouth! KAISHIEEN! DAN! "

Rays of light burst over the rear flank of attacking hounds and it forced them to retreat back further...

"Am I buying you guys enough time?"

"you're doing great!"

"thanks!"

"YAAAARGGGGHAABLE!!!"

Alice had the last hound pinned up against the wall...

"NO WAIT SAVE THAT ONE FOR ME!!"

Death started runnning toward her... alice suddenly fell to her knees with the hound still shifting in her tightened fist...

"wow your anger is only controlling one limb!" death said as he caugh up, dematerializing his bow.... he scooped up the squirming beast and sunk his sharp teeth into it... he then suckled the wound for it's sweet nectar...

"MMMMYEAAAAAAH!!" he cried out, he then threw the dead beast off of the edge of the cliff...

Alice and Flare started at him horrified...

Kimagure finally caught up and asked "What are you guys looking at like that?"

Death turned toward her with his lips still dripping with purple ooze....

"What... did you just do? is that hound BLOOD?"

"ehe... back in the day we called it the spice, though i prefered the name Ambrosia..."

"you mean the mythical stuff of the gods?"

"not quite... but it refills your mana so fast you'd swear it had never happened..."

"but wait... you haven't used magic all day!"

"what do you think my bow runs on? Batteries?"

Everyone cringed at the thought...

"let's get us a flight of stairs!!"

"GOING UP!" Kima shouted and the wall split into a more elegant stairway up... it didn't take long to reach the top... there were bushes all over the plains on this plateou... and it connected through a thin peice of land to the mainland... from there the hill sweeped downward... the sound of a flowing river wasn't too far off...

"hmm interesting place we're at..."

"What's the matter? why aren't you moving death?"

"dont... move... a muscle..."

"why?"

There was a twock sound.. like that of a bow releasing an arrow... death slashed at the air and caught a poison tipped dart...

"In the bushes..."

the bushes began to move... and small pipes extended form them..

"Theives?"

Death looked around.. "i dont know but they're not human..."

The bushes began to circle the four knights...

"HAAT AAAH MAAAH!!! "

Kima created a light which blew the bush-people backward and surrounded the party of four with a circle of light...

"I SUMMON A MIRROR IMAGE OF OUR FOES!"

Suddenly a group of orks appeared aroud them with poisoned dart pea-shooters...

"What the HECK!"

"What? Ain't you never seen Orcs before?"

"they're... green..."

"Some say it was because of the magics which rained out of the sky after a huge explosion spell was cast... but noone really knows..."

The image of the Nuclear mushroom cloud on the warning seal on his own tomb flashed through death's head...

"hmm... not my doing... must've been ... gah... HIS...."

The orks began shouting at eachother and those wearing bushes on their backs started attacking their mirror images which matched their attacks blow for blow..

"lets just get out of here!"

"agreed"

The four warriors left their occupied guests behind and started running for the mainland... they crossed the thin land bridge and were on the mainland again...

"WE DID IT! WE CROSSED THE CLOUDSPINE!"

"YAY!"

"On To WILLOW CREEK!"

"YES WILLOW CREEK... whatever that is..."

The three looked at Deaht... "you know not of willow creek?"

"well I assumed it was a little town with windmills and a nearby creek with a tallow or a tavern and an outhouse on the edge of town which is JUST near the MAYORS GRAND OFFICE whih is really a log shack... oh and I bet there will be PIGS out in the open too!... am I right?"

"oh NO no... Its a wondrouse villaige completley void of all dark influence and it's so FERTILE and teeming with business and life!"

"yeah sure..."

Death stepping off of the land bridge with his hands in his pockets decided it would be nice to put the energy from his right boot of jumping to use.. he pressed it as hard as he could agains the ground and the tiny bridge gave way...

On the other side of the plateou, kima's stairway dematerialized into a staight drop down and the stress on the landbridge caused by gathering hounds caused it to fall over and plummit to the bottom of the cloudspine cracks... The ocupied orcs opponents finally dematerialized as well since kima was out of range... they ked around puzzled and soon realized that there was NO way off of the plateu!!!

Death came to the edge of willow creek... and gues what he saw? A windmill... a creek... a tallow... an a tavern... a small barn with some pigs in front of it... and an outhouse on the edge of town.... just outside of the mayors office which resembled a wooden shack...

"-_- ... oh yeah... life is *so* good..."