Shouting. All he hears, as vivid as the day his parents died, is shouting. It was a warm, spring, Tuesday evening when Asher returned to his parents' farm. However, things quickly ruined that day. Asher was returning home from the local village in south Raedalf when he saw the smoke rising into the clouds. He was sprinting back to the house, as fast as he could; however, he was too late. The house was completely ablaze. Stupidly enough, he ran inside after his parents. Bobbing and weaving, dodging, jumping, anything he can do to get to his parents. " AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he can hear screams come from the basement. After smashing through the basement door, Ash fell as he started down the stairs. With a loud "crack," they gave out under his weight and he smashed down next to his parents' armor chest. "Hmmm? Now, who's here?" says a strange and unfamiliar voice. "Oh lookie lookie. We have a guest,' says another voice. Shaking off his confusion, Ash rises to the face of the strange humanoid figure. This figure is tall and slender, as if he were like a skeleton. He was wearing tattered, dark purple robes, and his face appeared to be rotting. A dark, ominously red glow was occupying where his eyes would've been. He appears as if he's dead. As he stands there, Ash begins to sense something horribly cold, and dark. Just the presence of this 'man' is absolutely terrifying. The other person is far shorter, even shorter than Ash. He appears to be relatively alive, and Ash is able to tell that he is a Gnome. He, too, is wearing dark purple robes, less tattered than the other. his face has the rounded features a gnome would normally have, however with a jagged scar across his left eye. In a small flash of bravery, ash shouts, "Wh-What? Who are you?! Why are you here?!" and in that instant, his mother shouts from the feet of the strangers. "MOM!" "Ash! *grunt* The sword, Ash! Take i--" "Silence, you!" shouts the 'dead' man. In that instant, with a flash of black energy, a beam erupts from his fingertips and rips straight through his mother. "NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoOoooooooooooooooooooooOOoOOOOOOoO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" With speed, faster than any living man, Ash grabs Yamakaji - his mother's Nodachi, from the wall behind him, and brings the reddish-orange blade down onto the dead man. While flying through the air, the sword almost connects with Asher, and ignites with a brilliant blue flame. With his eyes closed, and tears streaming down his face, Ash strikes the man with the sword. "Heh heh heh heh... How cute. He thought he could kill me," Ash looks up to find the sword has cut clean through the Man's collar; however, is stuck in the man's chest. "By the gods, how? HO-" "This should teach you a lesson, boy!" he says as the man raises his hand towards Ash. Black energy shoots out of his hand, immobilizing Ash, and with his right hand, the man shoots out a scorching ray, hitting Ash straight in the face. The blast sent Ash, with Yamakaji still in his grip, flying into the wall behind him, screaming with pain. "Why you little puny -" "Feyorn! Enough! We should go before we get caught!" says the gnome. With a scowl, Feyorn the Dead Man replies "As you wish."
