Not like any other hunter. (Thalia.)

Ashford gave a curious glance to the girl. He could tell he was going to like her... Helped her small size and spunk reminded him of... Someone. Shaking his head, he watched the small lady turn away from him towards the sight of a group of undead, no, groups of undead, fighting each other. Two sides to this battle and he didn't know who were the masters, typical.

"Hrmm?" Ashford would look, then follow the small lady as she made her way to the group, just wondering what the bloody hell she was thinking. But noticing how she seemed to be fiddling with her pockets quite a bit, pulling trinkets or.. Artifacts out to use. The first was an eye like thing, which then proceeded to shoot out a bolt of ice far stronger then anything he could hope to produce, freezing over the entire warring sides.

Next, she pulled out a... Whistle.. Of some kind. Ashford found himself rather intrigued by this lady. She used trinkets like he did... Just what did she do for a living? Upon the rather light note of the whistle being unleashed upon his ears, Ashford saw something that made his eyes widen. A rune.. She had created a rune with just... A object. Not even ironwood could do something like that. Interesting.

Coming up to the small lady's side, Ashford would place his hands on his hips, waiting and guessing as to what such a rune would entail. Was it like his wall runes? A blast of fire to be summoned? Or was it something far more dangerous... Or.. Better yet.. Was it like Jessica.

Glancing to red head, who was literally using her hair like a seat... She could control her hair. That was a new thing for him. "Oh, right. I do apologize. Names Ashford. Ashford Narric. Yours?" He asked. So far the girl had proven to not be a threat... And he felt like he could get along with her. Maybe it was that overly trusting feeling he had with new people, but he couldn't just shake it away.

So, he waited, hoping to get a name to put to the red hair, and for the end result of this... Rune, a smile lit upon his face in anticipation. He was going to enjoy this. No matter the end result.

Thalia reclined in her hair, her metal fingers anxiously tapped against her club which lay across her legs. “Any minute now!” she mumbled with impatience. No sooner did the words leave her lips, did a low rumbling overtake the howling wind. The ground beneath them began to quake and shiver. With a loud bang a massive serpent like demon erupted from the ground, consuming the group of frozen creatures as it had surfaced. The titanic serpent loomed over the sunken city like some sort of forgotten god. Off in the distance, on the other side of the city, the figure cloaked in shadows froze. He and his entourage of wraiths all stared high into the sky, their gazes fixated on the massive monster.

Thalia leapt onto her feet, her hair catching the club in mid air as it flew off her lap. She clapped her hands together as the massive serpent lowered its self back into the hole it had burrowed. Even with as much as it had retreated the massive serpent still loomed over the city. It lowered its head down to meet Thalia in the street. Walking up to the great demon, Thalia placed her metal arm on Lohbek’s snout. “Hope you enjoyed the frozen treats big guy!” Thalia said with a large smile on her face.

Lohbek let out a low growl of approval before his glance shifted in Ash’s direction. The tiny demon gave the leviathan several taps on the snout. “Whoa there big guy. Not him. At least not yet.” She said in a playful tone. She had no intention of feeding the man to Lohbek, she was too nice for that, but she still wasn’t sure where he stood in all this mess. Even if he hadn’t really given her cause for suspicion. She didn’t want to rule out anything, not when this mission was so important. Lohbek let out one more growl before slinking back into his hole.

With her large companion dipping back down below the surface and slinking back to Arcadia, Thalia approached Ash. With her hand held out to her side, a strand of hair placed the club firmly back in her grasp. “Thalia. You can call me Thalia.” she said with a great amount of pride. “Come Ashford! We shall press onward!” she said puffing out her chest and pointing her club ahead of her. Thalia then began to march joyously down the street bashing any creature that came remotely close to her.

Oh. So a Jessica.. Interesting. Very interesting. Those were Ashfords thoughts as the giant worm like thing sprung from the earth. It was the kind of sight that should have terrified just about anyone. If she could summon such a creature as that. It was surely a terrifying force, yet Ashford couldn't help but smile at it.

When it seemed to come to ground level, Ashford realized he had been wrong. It wasn't a worm, but a serpent. That set some alarms off, but he didn't let it show. Instead, smiling to the creature that seemed to have it's gaze on him, his hand on the black rapier's hilt. But, the little lady was not going to let her pet eat him, and soon enough the serpent left them, going back to where it came.

Looking back to the red head, she finally gave him a name, Thalia. It was nice. He liked it. Suited her. "A pleasure, Thalia." Ashford would respond, before her almost adorable display as she pressed onwards, offset by her ability to swing away at any ghoul that came close. Finding the pockets of his pants, Ashford would fit his hands into them and follow after her, letting Thalia do most of the work.

"Well. Now that I know your name. I followed someone down here. Judging by the battle raging between two forces. And none of them our allies. I suspect this land belongs to someone, and that person I saw is intruding. We, simply are just thorns, not meant to be here, yet here we are..." Ashford would glance a hollow shambling towards his right, and in a flash, would swing his right hand in an arc, the claws of his fingers taking the things head off. His metal hand returned to his pocket, the motion taking a second at best.

"So tell me, young Thalia. Why are you here exactly? You seem like a hunter, a user of exotic equipment, much like myself. My, you even have your own Thomson." Ashford would chuckle to himself. Sadly, that gem had stopped working upon his arrival to this here world, thus, he could not rely on the powers of Thomason. Or anyone for that matter... All those poor heroes.

Thalia’s face twisted and contorted in confusion as Ash explained himself and tried to make sense of their situation. *Maybe YOU aren’t meant to be here, but I sure as hell am!* she thought to herself as the man tried to throw her in with his company. Unlike him, Thalia hadn’t foolishly ventured where she shouldn’t have. As a matter of fact, she was here because of him, and whoever it was he was trying to pass the blame on. The tiny demon still had her suspicions of Ashford even if he still hadn’t given her cause to have such thoughts.

Thalia’s marching and senseless beating of the frail creatures continued without pause until Ash opened his mouth to speak again. She spun around quickly, pouting and pointing a finger at Ash. “Young! Young! I’ll have you know Mr. Ash that I am well over a few hundred years old! It’s not my fault we Arcadian’s age slow, nor is it my fault that I’m imperfect!” Thalia would spin back around almost as fast as she had to face the man and would continue to march onward. “What is this Thomson you speak of? I don’t know anyone named Thomson. My queen ordered me here because some FOOLISH HUMAN couldn’t mind their own business and now a long dormant evil is awake. I’m here to put it back to sleep. Are you done with the questions? You’re distracting me!”

Just as Thalia had finished speaking she rounded a corner and froze dead in her tracks. “Oh come on!” she shouted as her mismatched eyes fell upon another trio of wraiths. The pack of wraiths were not along however. This time they were accompanied by a new sight. Standing not to far behind the wraiths was another, only this one wore plain charred armor. No bones adorned it. Instead the head was covered in a long tattered hooded cloak. In one hand it wielded a large scythe and had a claymore resting on its back. A pair of glowing red eyes flared to life as the scythe wielding being let out a bone chilling screech and pointed its free hand in the small demons direction.

The three Wraiths ceased their shambling and snapped to attention. Their skeletal visages turned their attention on Thalia and began to slowly advance. Thalia immediately began to reach into the pouches around her waist until she pulled out another square of charred paper. She swiped it across her club to cloak it in flames and prepared for another fight. She knew the wraiths were manageable, but this new foe was going to be something else, she could already tell. Whoever this other intruder was that Ash spoke of, it was obvious they didn’t want the two getting in their way.

Ashford was actually a little surprised by the small outburst from the small lady. She seemed to have some issues by the sound of it, some of those issues, something he wasn't a stranger too. That however, was related to her commit of not being perfect. She was meant to be perfect yet she was not. That spoke volumes. Was she trained to be perfect? Shaped and molded yet a failure? Made to be... Yet failed to be.

He narrowed his eye at Thalia. Everyone had a story, he should not do what he normally does and intrude this time however. This world was not like his, and she was not like anything he had encountered. He also had his own story, one that was often not a secret to those he met, so upon her asking about Thomason, and then giving away to the fact as to why she was here, he couldn't blame her for being confused. He was talking about people so important everyone knew about them, yet here, they were nothing... There was something sad about that.

However, rather then being able to continue to talk despite her wishes and wanting to think over this 'Queen' and Thalia's reason to be here, he found himself staring down three more wraiths, and something else, something that looked far more dangerous then the wraiths themselves.

Deciding already what he was going to do, while the little huntress prepared her weapon, Ashford started walking in front of her to the wraiths, his left hand drawing a fire bolt rune while his metal hand remained in his pocket. He'd glance back to Thalia once his rune was complete. "I'll handle the three wraith like beings. You handle the new one... Oh. And Thalia. He'd smirk, before looking back to the three wraiths, mentally preparing himself for this. "I'm technically one thousand and twenty five years old. While that is not old compared to some of the beings I know. I feel it is older then a few hundred years."

Feeling like he had said enough to spite the girl, Ashford would start running towards the three wraiths, his left hand giving off a faint glow and his claws feeling hungry for the armor he was about to cut, but despite the incoming battle, he hoped the girl was far more then he was, because that being with the scythe looked far more then he was.

The little demon hunter stomped her foot in protest as the ends of her hair rolled into little balls just like her fists and she pouted. “Don’t tell me what to do!” Despite saying this, she proceeded to let Ash advance at the three wraiths, while she stared down the hooded on. Her grip tightened around the handle of her club. Thalia took a moment to compose herself before engaging the hooded wraith leader. She’d zip out of sight and reappear in the air above the three wraiths before zipping one more time and appearing even further into the sky.

By this point Thalia was directly above the scythe wielding wraith and allowed gravity to do its work. She’d enter a free fall and would allow herself to descend several feet before rotating her body by spinning forward. As she did, Thalia squeezed the lever on her club. The massive thick segments separated as her arm swung forward. The small demon would use the speed of her fall coupled with the momentum of her spin to add some extra force behind the swing of her weapon. The hooded figure had been tracking Thalia’s movements the whole way and as the club extended into a whip, it raised its scythe to the sky, holding it sideways so the shaft would block the attack.

As the two weapons collided, the force managed to kick up a thick plume of sand. Both Thalia and the hooded wraith disappeared into the cloud of sand. Before the sand had settled, Thalia emerged from the cloud in what seemed to be her leaping backwards. The massive cloud of sand would suddenly and unnaturally split in two as the hooded being swung it’s scythe downward with incredible force.

Thalia’s eyes widened at the wraith’s display of power, but the surprise would only last for a moment. She had faced tougher than this, she trained daily with Madeline and Club, there was no way she’d be bested by some low tier creature. Her grip would tighten on her weapon once more and she’d swinging it with all her might in a downward swing. The hooded figure would respond to this by holing it’s scythe out sideways, which caused the whip to wrap around the shaft of the scythe. The little demon would let out a small squeak of surprise as the hooded being would yank the club-whip from her hands.

The figure proceeded to grip the club in its free hand. It examined the weapon for several seconds before its red eyes fell back on Thalia. “Don’t you dare!” she shouted in response to the way the beast inspected the weapon. Thalia’s suspicions would come to fruition as the hooded being proceeded to grip it’s scythe near the blade to allow it to sort of off hand it, while it then darted at the small redhead and attempted to hit her with her own club.

Thalia would let out another squeak before vanishing and reappearing off to the side of the figure. She had to think of a way to get her weapon back. This being was skilled and more mindful than the other wraiths. Her face turned to a scowl and her fists clenched in anger as she could just imagine Spade and Diamond laughing at her in the back of her mind. Madeline and Club would be disappointed if they saw the situation she had managed to find herself in.

She couldn’t allow this thing to show her up, she had to get her weapon back and she had to find a way to bring it down. She had to do this herself, otherwise she wouldn’t be satisfied. She was far to prideful to let something like this happen to her. She wasn’t going to let the hooded being get away with making a fool of her.

While Thalia dealt with the bigger foe, something Ash felt he had an educated guess on, he found that he was regretting taking on three of these things even before he got to them. He hadn't fought in a while. And his foes normally attacked him by the ones. But this wasn't normal, and he had to adapt now or risk becoming an annoyance.

When he finally reached the three, he threw his fist at the lead one, and they rose there left hand in response, the red shield causing him to bounce back. Right. They had that. Cursing his ignorance, Ashford saw all three swing at him. He didn't have time to dodge, not that he couldn't, he needed to end them quickly. Lunging into the first one, Ashford used his metal hand to catch the sword coming to his hand, he then twisted himself to the right to avoid the downward slash of the lead one, whose sword clashed with the one to the left that swung, causing the lead sword to crash into Ashes coat, right above his ribs.

Gripping the sword in his hand tight till he dug his claws into it, Ashford would let out a hiss of pain and tweak his fingers, the sword snapping in two, grabbing the end of the blade before it fell, Ashford would be kicked back, causing him to roll to a stand to face a lunge, the sword about to cut his face open. Or it would have if Ashford didn't have the speed to avoid such, his head tilting to the right so that it just caught his cheek.

Dashing to the right, Ashford would duck under a swing from the right one and then shove the broken sword he took from that wraith into it's neck, punching the blade in further before he felt a sword connect with his ribs again and he was sent rolling along the floor. Blinking his eye, Ashford would look up to see the two wraiths remaining coming at him, but he risked a glance to Thalia, only to see that she was faring worse then he was.

Getting into a crouched position, Ash would aim his left hand at the scythe wielding being, firing a bolt of red hot fire at it. It wouldn't do much, but he hoped it helped to distract him. Turning back to the left, the lead wraith was on top of him, aiming to kick at him again, Ashford would catch the foot with his metal hand, but rather then catch with the palm, he stuck his claws though the armored foot, lifting it up to throw the wraith back and off balance.

With them on the ground, Ashford lunged and tackled the second wraith left, finding that his tackle didn't do much to move it back but it did leave him extremely open to the wraith. Feeling a elbow strike his shoulder, Ashford allowed the force to push him to his knees, where he used his new position to grip the wraith by it's thighs and dig his claws into it, lifting it upwards before quickly slamming it down on top of the lead wraith.

With the two struggling to get back up, Ashford quickly lunge atop the first one, feeling it react with a wild swing of it's sword, he'd stab his claws into it's chest over and over again while it attempted to bash his ribs with the sword that couldn't make it past his coat. Eventually, the wraith on top would stop moving, leaving Ashford to attempt to get past the newly dead one to the one under it, only to feel himself lose his balance as he lost his footing. Seeing the cavern roof and then feeling the ground on his back, Ashford would also have the weight of the dead wraith on top of him, the lead and final wraith staring down at him.

With his left hand, he kept pushing against the dead wraith atop of him, trying to push it off while the living one aimed its sword for his head, thrusting it down. His metal hand would move to intercept with incredible speed, catching the blade between his fingers. But with no force or his claws to snap the blade with, Ashford was left struggling to push the blade back so it didn't cut into his head and also trying to push the wraith atop him off, all the while hoping that Thalia was in a better position then he was.

Thalia was to focused on the scythe wielding being to take note of how Ash was fairing against the three wraiths. He had seemed confident enough in his ability but these things seemed to be no joke. Still, despite her focus being on the hooded figure, she could help but overhear the grunts and struggle going on just a few feet from her. The hooded wraith attempted to lunge at the tiny demon, but she was took quick. There was no way he was going to hit her, not so long as she had that bone shard hidden in her massive hair.

Keeping that in mind, Thalia would continue to zip all around the hooded being, refusing to sit still. While Thalia thought this tactic would confuse and irritate her opponent, the hooded figure seemed quite content with simply waiting things out. The hooded being remained perfectly still as Thalia zipped about in a red blur. It’s glowing red eyes fell to the weapon it had stolen from the small demon hunter and inspected it with a silent curiosity. It didn’t even so much as flinch when a fireball came raging out of no where and slammed into its shoulder.

Upon seeing the being completely unfazed by the fire ball or her sporadic teleporting, Thalia came to a halt. She let out a small growl of frustration at the way the thing inspected and fiddled with her weapon. It drove her nuts to think she allowed herself to be disarmed. In all her time dodging around the being she had yet to come up with a solid enough plan to get in and grab her weapon. She had the speed to get in and make a grab at it, but she knew she lacked the strength necessary to pry the weapon from its hands. She thought about using the eye to freeze it solid, but after seeing the way it shrugged off the fire ball, she doubted it would care much for the icy blast either. Not only that, but they were too clumped together. She’d risk freezing herself and Ash along with the wraiths.

There was another option she had considered, and that was to use her demon blood pellets, but if she did that, there was no telling how she’d react. The pellets turned her into a little blood thirsty ball of energy, but they would give her the strength necessary to get her weapon back. Again she ruled that option out knowing it would jeopardize her mission. Suddenly her eyes lit up as though she had a plan. The look of relief on her face caused the hooded being to shift its attention back to her.

She didn’t like to do what she was about to do, for it only made her seem week, but the situation called for it. Reaching into one of the pouches with her hair, Thalia soon drew a small beat up looking bell. The hooded figure was not willing to find out what the bell did, but it didn’t matter. As it lunged forward, Thalia zipped to the side of the hooded being. The motion caused the bell to ring, and as it did, Thalia spoke. “Oh yee who is duty bound to defend the queen. Hear my plea, and carry out your duty….CLUB!”

A sudden roll of thunder echoed throughout the vast cavern followed by the rumbling of the ground in the immediate vicinity around Thalia. A fiery portal would tear open next to the little demon, and a massive humanoid behemoth made of stone would stomp his way out. Club stood as tall as the houses and building that lined the streets around them. “There better be a good reason for calling me Thalia!” the stone behemoth said in a gravely tone. His gaze fell upon the little ball of hair who timidly pointed at the hooded figure. Upon seeing the figure and Thalia’s weapon in it’s hand, Club began to bellow with laughter. “Oh that is too rich. Imagine how mad Madeline would be if she knew you got disarmed by a punk like this.” As Club boasted, the hooded figure moved in to strike. Instead of using Thalia’s weapon, it swung it’s scythe. The force of which allowed it to slightly embed into Clubs thick hide.

The massive knight lowered its gaze to the wraith. “Ah so this wont be a waste of time after all.” Club growled before back handing the hooded figure with enough force to not only knock it off its feet, but to also send it flying several feet away. “Leave everything to me kid”

Thalia would nod in agreement before finding her weapon laying on the ground where the hooded wraith once stood. She’d quickly retrieve it and rush off to help Ash, while Club stomped forward towards the hooded being.

The blade was getting dangerously close to his face at this rate, his metal arm doing enough to slow the decent but he had no way to keep his hold steady from this position. Not that the sudden bell and thunder helped his concentration... Or maybe it did.

No, it didn't. The wraith seemed ever so intent on cutting his head open. Deciding some part of him was getting cut, Ashford pulled his arm to the right and allowed it to fall, turning his head as far away from it as he could. The result left cold steel cutting into his cheek, not deep enough to cause damage, but he could already tell it was going to be a bitch to talk.

Feeling some weight come off him, Ashford would quickly grip the sword with his metal arm and stick his thumbs claw into it, feeling it give under the drills. With a final kick of his legs, Ash would free himself from the wraith and pull himself up, a red shield already putting him back on the ground from the wraiths left. Pulling himself back, Ashford would look to the girl and find.... "Tommy?" He'd blink, as if the sight before him wasn't real, but the blink did clear his vision. Not Thomason. He wasn't wearing a bucket for a helmet.

Taking his eyes away from the stone giant, Ash would look to Thalia, who seemed to be making her way to them, most likely to help. But he didn't want it at that moment. His eye would just glance the wraith, swinging at him while he had paid attention to the stone giant and the small lady, and like a flash, Ashes metal fist would smash into the sword, shattering it from where he had dug his claw into it earlier.

Not giving it a chance to recover, he lunged into it with his claws first. Sending them both to the ground as he kept plunging his claws into the creature, from its chest to its head. It had already stopped moments earlier but he kept cutting into it before stopping to suddenly look at Thalia, his good eye wide as he looked past her to the stone giant. "What is he? Nevermind. Should I kill them?" He'd state as he pulled the black rapier out, looking at it for a second before chucking it hilt wise to the red headed woman.

"Don't try to kill him with that, unless you feel like dying in the worst way possible. Just aim for the knees. I'll distract... Wait.. Do we kill him? What happened?" He'd stop, the wild look he had adorned a moment earlier dying down as he himself calmed down and took the situation in. She just left the site, coming to him to help with one wraith. He didn't know what she could do, but she didn't seem like the one to run away from such things... Did he just threaten a friend a hers?

By the time Thalia had reached Ash, the man had managed to somehow beat the odds and vanquish the three wraiths. As much as she wanted to congratulate him on a job well done, she was focused on shooting him a very confused look as she tried to decipher the gibberish he was speaking. Then she clumsily caught the rapier he had thrown at her. She allowed Ash to have a breather and for his rambling to die down before she attempted to explain the situation to him. “That there is Club. C-L-U-B, Club! Not this Tommy or whoever you speak of. He’s a knight like me.”

Thalia turned her gaze to Club and watched out with excitement as he engaged the hooded figure. She always enjoyed watching him fight, even if he lacked style. Her mismatched eyes would fall to the sword Ash had thrown at her and inspected it before handing it back to him. “That would be really cool if it had a gun attacked to it!” she said with a smile before continuing. “Also I’d say you’d best keep that thing sheathed. If you were to poke Club with it, he’d most likely pound you into a pile of jelly.”

By the time Club had reached the hooded being, it had already rose to it’s feet and readied itself for an attack. The massive rock demon would lift his fist high into the sky before bringing it down upon where the wraith stood. The collision of the sandstone street and Club’s fist set off a thunderous boom. The hooded figure would explode out of the cloud of debris completely unscathed. It seemed his speed was comparable to the massive brute’s strength.

Griping it’s scythe above it’s head, the hooded figure would begin to spin forward, turning himself into a flying saw blade. He’d cut through what appeared to be Club’s shoulder, but the massive demon wouldn’t even so much as grunt. He’d only show a look of minor irritation as he spun around to face the wraith as it landed. “Looks like you’ve got some moves. Real shame you have to die and all that.” He’d grumble as the nick in his shoulder would slowly begin to close up.

“Yeah! You tell ‘em Club!” the tiny redhead would shout, while pumping her fist in the air.

“Don’t you have a job you’re supposed to be doing kid?” Club would state, not even looking in Thalia’s direction. “You, little man. You take care of her and help her out. If she so much as get’s a scratch on her, I’m holding you accountable.” The massive mountain of a demon would bellow to Ash before rushing at the hooded wraith.

Thalia would smile like a gushing fan-girl before tugging on Ash’s metal arm. “Come on, you heard him. Lets go!”

"Sorry! Club! Whatever!" Ashford responded, watching the large man start his encounter with the being with a scythe. He was worried however. If the young lady couldn't handle the scythe guy, and they encountered more of him, stronger then him. Ash wasn't sure Club was going to be with them for every encounter.

He also looked back to the girl, who had been examining the black rapier, his eyebrows instantly creased with worry. "Yea, I'm pretty sure the black rapier would not like that.. And yea. Sure. Maybe." It was almost scary to have someone not know the legendary black rapier. If she knew she was carrying around the weapon that killed Void walkers, time lords and all..  Well, she wouldn't think it so cool or that a gun should be attached to it. Those things didn't even seem that useful anyway.

Taking it back and carefully sheathing it like she had said, he looked back to the fight between the big man and the smaller monster, starting to wonder just what these two were. He hadn't seen many beings with reddish skin. Besides Lucian of course. And she was a time lord of some sorts. But this woman, Thalia. She most certainly wasn't a time lord. Eventually, the big man would pay attention to the two, reminding the girl she had a job to do and then paying him some unneeded attention that came with some unneeded words and a unneeded threat.

"Yea okay buddy I go- Okay okay. Where are we going and what exactly is the plan?" Ashford would turn as the small lady tugged on him and he followed along, wincing for a moment upon starting to move. His ribs stung a bit, his cheek also stung. Thankfully he had the coat on right now.

Club was right, Thalia had a job to do, she couldn’t afford to sit around and “play” with all these new and fascinating creatures that were springing up all over the city. She needed to reach Akhenaten’s resting place and assure that no one was there to free him. With that in mind, Thalia began to avoid any unnecessary fights and did her best to navigate through the city without running into any more wraiths, let alone the hooded ones. As the little redhead and Ash approached the massive palace, they could still here Club thrashing about in the distance.

The tiny demon hunter shot a concerned glance back in the direction of the noise. She knew Club would be fine, but not being able to see him fight, or actually check his status first hand, was a bit nerve wracking for Thalia. “W-w-we need to h-head inside. I’ll explain a bit more as we go.” she said as she approached the massive opening of the grand palace. Everything looked as pristine as the day it was built, save for the centuries of sand that covered the floor. Everything else seemed to had only suffered a light dusting of desert sand.

One thing that would catch Thalia’s eyes as they entered the palace, was that several braziers were lit. The soft warm orange glow of the flames gave off a welcoming feeling. Her metal hand tightened into a fist, someone else was here. “Deep, deep down below this palace is a massive tomb meant to hold the king who once ruled here. The reason I’m here, is to make sure no one wakes that king up. But I fear we might be to late. Those mummies we saw earlier…..they’re most likely his doing.” she would say in a worried tone.

If the great and powerful king was awake, then Thalia had a huge challenge ahead of her. After all, one of the things Madeline wanted her to do was pacify the king and put him back to sleep, once she dealt with the intruder. As the two followed the trail of light, several moans would echo through the vast empty hallways. More mummies appeared or rather their pieces did. Thalia and Ash would find bits of brutalized mummies strung out all over the place and even pinned to the walls via black spikes as they moved deeper into the palace. The hooded man and his entourage had been busy, though these mummies seemed as though they were used to set an example.

“Be on your guard. There’s no telling what we’ll run into. Especially once we get past this part of the palace.”

Ashford was contempt to follow the girl, it wasn't the first nor the last time he had followed someone out of blind trust into what could be a very dangerous situation. Not that he worried too much about his health, even if the occasional ache in his ribs said otherwise, he was now more worried for the small girl leading him. Sure, she might be a few hundred years old apparently.. But she had spunk. And he couldn't blame himself if he liked her because of that. He always liked people a little too easily. But he still had a good feeling about her.

Looking to the large palace, Ashford would examine the well made construction of this place. Admiring the work. It wasn't as great as the castle of hope... But it was pretty good. As they entered, the girl gave him a clear view of what was happening. Some guy was asleep, and was meant to stay that way. Whoever was in control of the oil like creatures, the wraiths and more, wanted them to be awake. The strange part was did the king want to be asleep as well? Because why fight he who wanted to aid you... Unless the master of the wraiths had a motive far beyond just waking an ancient being. If not to become friends with, then what?  This situation was looking more and more like the abyss witches.

And whoever it was, they were here and ahead of them, if the dead mummies was any indication. He had already started on an ice bolt rune as the girl warned him to be careful, his metal hand opened into a relaxed position, ready to be used to cut down anything that got close. "Don't worry your pretty red hair when it comes to me kid. I've dealt with worse... Just had to get rid of a little rust back there. Kinda wish I had a sword however." Ashford would state. His claws were effective, but if he had a proper, strong sword... There was no telling how helpful he could be.

“A sword? I could help with that!” the little demon said as if she was having an epiphany. Without saying another word, the little ball of hair disappeared in a puff of smoke. She’d teleport back to her workshop in Arcadia where she quickly and frantically dashed about her shop. She’d take several minutes, but when she returned to Ash’s side, she’d be carrying what appeared to be a large claymore with an unusually wide blade. Thalia would hold both her arms out as she offered the unruly weapon to the man. “Here you can use this! It’s one of my designs. I like to call it THE SWORD IN A SWORD!” she said triumphantly.

Thalia was always prideful of her work, but holding out the weapon now, she was worried of the criticism Ash would offer. “Oh don’t worry, you don’t have to use it like this. Here, look!” she’d say before resting the blade of the weapon on the ground. Thalia would proceed to squeeze a lever that was attached to the guard of the sword. As she pulled on the handle of the weapon, it would appear as though she was removing the handle, but upon closer inspection Ash could see the “trick” behind this weapon.

With one final quick tug, Thalia would free a straight sword from the thick blade. “See! Sword in a sword. The bigger part acts like a sheath and a weapon, but if your arm gets tired of swinging it around, you can use the smaller one instead.” Thalia would say with a gleeful smile before sheathing the smaller sword. After Ash would take the weapon, he’d probably notice that the little demon wasn’t carrying her club any more. As a matter of fact, she had taken the opportunity when she went to her workshop to swap out the weapon.

A tendril formed by many strands of red hair would reveal itself from within the girls massive mane. Wrapped up neatly by the handle, was a what appeared to be a rather large hammer that had a firing hammer attached to it. Thalia would hold out her hand and gently place the weapon in her palm. She’d quickly hold it tight and kiss the head of the hammer. “Oh my sweet, sweet hammer. I should have brought you with me to begin with.”

Her mismatched eyes would shift up from the hammer to Ash, a wave of embarrassing rushing over her. Thalia would quickly clear her throat before turning her nose upward. “ahem. Onward!” she’d say before taking the lead once again.

"Huh?" Ashford would make a noise as he turned to look at the smaller girl to figure what she meant. Only to find she wasn't... There anymore. "Oh Mystical damn it." He'd sigh, looking around. He couldn't figure if he should go on without her, only it seemed she left for a reason. Once more, never a first time.

For the next few minutes, Ashford, left to his own devices began a routine of cutting the wall, letting his wounds slowly heal and talking to himself. He was good at that. Of course, he was mostly pondering about how all this was going to end. Would Lucian pick him up? He wasn't exactly looking forward to that. Would he end up some other place again? He wouldn't actually mind that. Sand sucked.

Finally, when she did return, she returned with a rather large weapon. Calling it a sword in a sword. The title was enough to make Ashford confused, and he showed it when looking at her, which she seemed to pick up on quickly enough. And with that, she explained the sword in a sword, showing that the larger sword hid a smaller one. He had to admit actually, that was smart. The sword had more weight when it was bigger, but need to move quickly, go for the smaller one. "Interesting." Was all he could state as he took the weapon into his metal hand, testing the weight.

After watching the girl, Ashford would chuckle to himself with how she treated her weapon. Only Dot ever treated a weapon like that before his sight, and he now had it. Actually, he almost got a good look at her eyes this time, now that the wind was not as strong, but she turned too quickly before he got a clear look. "Right..." He'd state, slinging the clay-more over his shoulder before following after her.

"Big weapons never been my thing. More the War gods thing. Man, you'd like his sword. Gold, till you anger him, then it becomes like molten magma." Ash would chuckle to himself, before frowning. Not one of his greatest moments that. Angering the war god.

"Anyway, did you make these? I think you'd like Cost. He makes rune weapons. Actually, a descendant of his made the black rapier. Terrible story that one is."

Thalia was happy to see Ash agree to use the weapon she offered him. It made her feel more confident in her work. As the two resumed their decent into the palace, Ash went on to say more confusing things. At the mention of this war god, Thalia halted in her tracks and spun around. Her brows narrowed in a tiny bit of anger. “His? Madeline is not a HE! And we don’t use molten weapons in Arcadia. We use Arcadium!” she said holding a finger up as she corrected the man. She let out a small hmph as she spun around, leaving Ash to stair at her massive plum of hair.

The scowl on her face remained for several seconds as she stewed over the insult Ash had just spoken. Then it donned on her. Perhaps he was actually referring to another god of war, but Thalia didn’t know of any others. She stopped once again in her tracks and spun back around, the angry look that was previously on her face was now swapped out for one of slight confusion and curiosity. “Y-you wouldn’t happen to be from another dimension would you?” She turned away for a moment and placed a hand on her chin. Her little head bobbed up and down as though she was conversion with herself.

She’d finally glance back and Ash with a large grin and bright eyes. “That must be it! It’s the only explanation as to why you don’t know who my queen is. Wow that clears up so much!” she said with a great big smile. She seemed much more happier now after coming to that conclusion, a feeling that would only get greater as Ash complimented her weapons. “Indeed I did. I make all my weapons. One must improvise when they are the weakest of their kind and must hunt things much stronger than themselves.” She continued to press on and began to fiddle with the head of her hammer. Her hair would reach into a pouch hanging from her wait and would withdraw two brass looking cylinders.

The little demon would load the canisters into two hollow ports on the back of the hammer head. “Unfortunately I don’t possess any innate magic like the rest of my kind either, so I cant make use of Arcadium. All my weapons are made with other materials found around my home.” She slowly come to a stand still as the two came to an extremely long hallway. The long walkway was open on either side and gave view to yet another cavern that lay beneath the grand palace. At the opposite end of the hallway were two hooded figures, both wielding scythes with great swords strapped to their backs.

A slight smirk crept onto Thalia’s face. She may have had a hard time with the being she faced earlier, but this time was different. This time she had her best weapon in hand, and a few other surprises tucked away in her hair. “We work together. There’s no way we’ll lose.”