[Npc](Open ) A tale of the would be hero ( M )

[Ebony]

With her enhanced sensory abilities, Leiko had already picked them up, whispering into everyone's ears, "I think in this case, the best bet is to simply charge as quickly as possible, and try to take them down before they can call for help. And anyway, if it was the empire, it would not be anything so technologically inferior anyway, it would be laser, plasma, or some other sort of energy weapon", Leiko said as she readied herself for combat, knowing her speed would be a large boon in this upcoming fight. "Shall we go", she said with a smile to Mia.

[Eda]

He seemed to find annoyance in the situation but agreed it was the best approach , using the storm to cover his approach on them . However all hopes of a stealthy approach were blown by the spitfire who charged and slammed two of them together as if they were made of paper . The other two turning around with a confused sound to them .

[Eda]

He prayed his aim was not off taking shots at both of the remaining bandits , dropping them both thankfully to the ground . He seemed rather annoyed that the young girl had been so loud in her approach , knowing it was likely that she drew even more attention onto them . Hoping he was wrong in that line of thinking , pulling her back by her hand . Much to her protests , no less then five more were cresting over one of the dunes now . Thankfully they still had the sandstorm as a cover , instructing her and the others to keep it down .

[Centurion]

Forward. He had to concentrate on forward. It didn't matter how heavy his armor was or how numb his right arm was becoming. It didn't matter that he was trailing the distinct crimson liquid that flows in all mankind's veins. It didn't matter that he was dying. What mattered was moving forward. The sand felt like lead weights on his feet as he limped through the storm. The gritty sand dug into his open wounds and stung his eyes, forcing him to drop his visor. Then, hope! Shadows, shifting in the storm! Allies? Or more damned bandits? Fumbling with his rifle, the man aimed in on the figures. He tried to call out, but all he could manage was a mangled choking sound.

Collapsing to one knee and barely gripping the rifle with one limp hand, the man was just about to allow the darkness to take him. It would have been easy to just let the sands carry him back home. But her face... it was burned in his mind. He would not rest until she was avenged, until justice was done. With every last ounce of strength remaining, the man bellowed out a savage war-cry, garbled by the storm and by his injuries, but denoting a strength hidden beneath his grievous wounds. Then his eyes closed. The rifle hit the dunes only a split second before he did.

[Ebony]

Hana saw the man stumbling towards them, obviously not a threat, and apparently needing a lot of help as well. She ran forward, not paying much attention to the fact a battle was going on, though her friend Leiko did not stray more than a few feet from her friend and lover. "Stay still, and I will heal you", she said quietly, not knowing if the man could hear her or not.

She dropped down beside him in the sands, not touching his rifle, simply laying hands on him, attempting to keep him from death's door, a feat which was forcing her to fight for his life. She waved to Leiko to fetch bandages from her pack, bandaging and dressing the wound first, so he did not continue to bleed out, then worked on fixing the wound with her skills at healing. After she had fixed the damage, she waited for him to awake, sitting on the sand beside him.

[Centurion]

He could smell the smoke. He could feel the heat of the fire creeping around him, turning what was once an innocent camp to ashes. Worst of all, he could see their faces. He could see the fear and hopelessness as he was overwhelmed by countless bandits. Then the smoke lifted, albeit slowly, and a different face faded into view. Weakly, yet with confidence, the man sat up and removed his helm. His light brown hair contrasted strongly with his iridescent blue-green eyes. His face would normally be taken as handsome, were it not for the faded scars and caked blood and dirt marring his tanned skin.

He glanced around, his eyes cloudy, but his intentions clear. He grabbed his rifle from the sand and stood shakily to his feet.

"Stand back, Ma'am. A lady such as you should not have to see such barbarism as this."

Despite his weakened state, he managed to take a ready stance and fired calculated bursts of fire towards the approaching bandits, felling two of them with his volley. he continued to pull the trigger, but the hollow click warned him of an empty magazine. Tossing the weapon into the sand, he drew a lengthy knife from a sheath on his chest. he began to march towards the oncoming assailants.

[Eda]

Typhone sighed out locking and loading on the approaching group looking over at the man 

" Bro you are hurt let them patch you up , I can handle this many at least " 

[Centurion]

"Perhaps... You are right."

The man took a knee, sheathing the knife and breathing heavily.

"Once we are through this ordeal, I eternally in your debt. All of you"

[Ebony]

Hana sighed, readying her other ability, one she had not shown yet, just in case this guy decided not to be smart and let those that were unhurt finish the fight. Leiko ghosted silently beside her, then, like a shot, dashed of, felling two more of the enemies with a quick and efficient knife-hand thrust to the neck, before quickly moving back beside Hana. "I would say that between the two of us, we have seen every bit as much destruction of life as you have, not to mention my body count almost certainly rivals yours", she said to the man her lover had just healed.

"I am Leiko, ,and this is my friend and lover, Hana, the one who healed you", ,she said. "Over there. the one with the guns is Typhone, and the loudmouth, run headlong at everything little girl is Mia. Could I ask your name"?

[Eda]

At the mention of her name the child like looking girl grabbed the last bandit punching them into the ground so hard the sand shifted under them . Making The male with the guns jump slightly and shudder 

" She is stupid strong , the hell they feed her to make her punch holes in sand " 

" I can handle myself thanks muchly " 

[Centurion]

"But... You are both wom... It doesn't matter. I am Callium. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance and I am deeply grateful for your assistance."

Callium glances sideways at the rest of the party.

"I would offer my services, but it seems you are well armed against any threats."

Despite his every intention to carry onward, Callium reconsidered his plan just as the final words exited his mouth.

"However, you may facilitate my mission. I need help, even more than the death-defying type you were so kind to gift me. You may be the engine of retribution that I hunt for."

[Ebony]

"Yes, ,we are both women, and yes, we can both kill, though Hana here is very much hampered compared to where we were summoned from. There, Hana was a master medic, able to either restore health, or take it away, if the need arose, even to the point of full resurrection. I was the personal hitwoman of the being we both worked for, the one who was sent if someone needed to go away. To be honest, I really miss my plasma powers I had back home too, but such is life around here".

"As far as being a woman goes, it might surprise you, Callium, to know that the being with the highest death count in known history is a woman, and the second highest count is also held by a woman, one an ancient dragoness, and the other an even more ancient vampire.

"And as for strength, Typhone, all I can say is be glad she is not as strong as one we worked with for a while, as that girl could kill a normal human with a simple tuch, if she was not holding back her strength", she said with a shrug. "It may be incredible and scary now, but trust me, you will get used to it".

[Eda]

He heard them loud and clear but seemed more focused on picking the weapons and anything he could make use of off the bandits , finding nothing besides some ammunition and a few guns he could pawn later on if he wanted . Keeping his voice low , but looking back at the other male keeping his cool . 

" And what is it you need done then , if its dangerous and you dont care that I am going to loot every single guy we drop for their weapons . Because out here in the dunes the guy with the best gun typically wins , just how it is "

" Tch greedy and a pervert , just what have I gotten myself into "

" I am not a pervert , seriously name one perverted thing I have done since we met "

[Centurion]

"I have no issue with scavenging, its the only reason I made it this far. As long is it doesn't stand in the way of..."

His voice trailed off as his eyes locked onto Mia.

"You... You look just like her. You..."

Shaking his head free of the bloody memories, Callium continues his original thought.

"My village. My friends. My family. They were murdered by a roving band of vagrants. I intend to avenge my wife's slaughter. I intend to ensure that my village was not burned in vain. I intend to give back every slash that those bastards inflicted on my little girl."

[Ebony]

"Well, not to cut the fact that loudmouth, I mean Mia, here, looks like someone you know short, but we really do need to be off", Leiko said with a shrug. "These guys don't have anything Hana and myself need, unless there are medical supplies in there, in which case I recommend giving them to our medic. "You boys can have the toys laying around here, so have fun".

She looked at Typhone and Mia. "I am going to got out a bit and scout ahead", she said. "If there are more people or creatures out there, we would be best to know ahead of time so that we can figure out our best way either around or through them. Do try not to kill each other while I am gone though", she said with a sigh, looking directly at Mia, before getting a quick kiss from Hana before going to do as she had said.

[Eda]

" I know it sounds odd or morbid but I kind of just woke up in this body , I don't know where mine is in the slightest . I have a feeling though that whoever captured this girl made the switch and she is in mine , or whoever cast the spell to do the switch is in my body .. I really don't like that idea . Mortals using god levels of strength terrifies me to no end , whats worse is this body is deteriorating horribly . I need to be more careful exerting the power I am used to "

" Man kids these days sure do play some really strange games don't they ? " 

He waited patiently for a direction in which to go , seeming to brush her bizarre statements off , he believed in no god or magic . Such things were either so rare here he had never seen proof of their existence , or cheap parlor tricks that were used to make an easy payday . His trained eyes scanning once the sandstorm died out , wondering just what was going to happen next . Thankful to have the eyes ahead of him , he could cover her scouting from his position .

" I am not a kid , I keep telling you exactly what I am and you either are deaf or .. no of course you don't believe me . You are just useless meat that can shoot a gun , I mean I bet you aren't super strong or super fast or any of that " 

" Heroes only exist in fairy tales kid , out here it's kill or be killed . Live to see your next meal or get buried in a shallow grave , you wanna fuck with the bull . Anticipate the horns " 

[Centurion]

Callium shook his head in disagreement.

"Heroes are everywhere my friend. And a shallow grave is no shame, only a shallow life."

He clacked a freshly loaded mag into his rifle and slung it over his back.

"However, a more pragmatic approach to life is not too shabby either."

Callium spoke to Typhone, yet his gaze flicked consistently back towards Mia. Her face was not just eerily similar to his daughter's, It was identical. Were he not haunted by images of her corpse, he would swear that Mia was his beloved little girl. Down to the tiny scar over her left eyebrow...

"I believe I will watch our backs," He stated hastily. "I'll hang back ad ensure we are not followed. We will speak later."

With that, Callium fell behind. But so far as to not be able to see Mia's face.

[Ebony]

After a while, Leiko came back, a frown on her face. "Nothing out there except what seems to be a few carcases, ones who did not make it", she said. "Fortunately, I sense no other things, though that is the worrying thing. We need to get out of here, as when an area is completely silent like this, something is very, very wrong, and I don't want to stick around to find out. As soon as we are ready, let's go in the opposite direction from where we are now, as to me, the quiet means only one thing, that there is a hyper predator out there, ,and I really don't want to meet it, if no one else objects".

[Eda]

The self proclaimed goddess could sense it too , something was really wrong around here . Pulling one of her socks up she started to move in the mentioned direction , her usual deadpan tone showing some emotion .

" Something right underneath us if what little I can pick up , but its sleeping . Its not moving , yeah I agree lets ditch this place and go somewhere not angry , the new pervert here said he had some vengeance mission . Where at then ? I am down for gnawing some faces any day of the week " 

Typhone caught the looks the new arrival was giving the young girl who exclaimed herself a goddess , wondering only to himself if she looked familiar to him in some way 

[Centurion]

She looked too familiar. And it was tearing at Callium's remaining sanity. But there was nothing he could do except try his best to focus on something else. He twirled his knife absentmindedly until he heard Mia speak her piece. It was uncomfortable to hear such vile words coming from such an innocent little girl. He sheathed his knife and jogged back to the group.

"I could lead you towards the encampment. But beware, they are a terrible people. Not only do they steal from and accost travelers, but they are part of a demonic cult. They worship some sort of force or creature that they claim rules over these dunes. That means they are zealous in defending their secrets. That also means I am doubly confident that they must be eradicated. For the sake of my family and others who may fall under their oppression in the future."