Not like any other hunter. (Thalia.)

In the middle of a very hot desert, a single portal opened up. Plain, simple, black and red with a ring of fire. Seconds later, a man could be seen flying out of it into the sand face first, a red skinned woman in a black suit peeking out soon after. "Ashy. Try not to die huh? I got some things to figure out and I'm sure you'll find yourself rather busy with... Whatever it is you do." The man in question, Ashford, would lift himself from the sand and turn to the red skinned woman, only to see that she has vanished, along with the portal that brought him here.

"Bloody Lucian and her stupid games." The mutters of a man carried in the wind of the lonely desert somewhere in Egypt. The hot sun bore on him as he made his way forward, his metal right arm carefully plucking specks of sand from his hair and the bandages of his left arm, the glove that normally adorned the bandaged fingers taken from to get rid of any sand that had been trapped there. Not that he felt the sand, but he didn't feel right about leaving the sand in it anyway. "Leave me in a bloody beach the size of a dark forest, but with no bloody water in sight. Oh right, BECAUSE YOU LEFT ME IN A DESERT!"

After a while longer of him yelling and cursing into the sky, the ground and everything in between, Ashford found he needed to stop. His right arm remained cool to the touch, the strange magic that was his coat doing that, but the temperature of nature was very basic to what could be heating it, and while his arm wasn't bothered too greatly, he knew he was, and if he didn't find shelter and water soon enough, then Lucian was going to end up finding a very near dead chosen.

Just the idea of being unable to escape whatever it was she was planning annoyed Ashford, and he was about to continue a rant he had ended shortly out of boredom, his eye glanced something in the distance. A figure atop a dune of sand. He couldn't grasp what they looked like, but he knew they were there. "Hey!" He began to run towards them, watching as the figure seemed to notice him and fled, vanishing behind the dune. Not letting that stop him, Ashford crawled his way over the hot sand till he himself standing where the figure was, his singular eye resting on something he had not yet expected to see. A building, albeit, a building that was buried in the sand.

Deciding that he didn't have much of a choice, and that the figure now had taken a hold of his curiosity, Ashford made his way down the dune and towards the building, finding a entrance almost too easily, almost as if it was used often for a house that shouldn't be so. Rising his right hand into a ready position for combat, Ashford entered the building, a building with an interior that was too dark for his liking. Forcing him to write a quick ice rune with his left hand, he used the soft glow that now emitted from his bandaged hand and scouted the building, quickly finding a staircase that led down. "In the words of Steven. The plot thickens." The man whispered to himself as he took his first step down the stairs, intrigued in just what mystery he had found himself in despite the situation of how he got here.

The rhythmic sound of metal clashing against metal filled the halls of Madeline’s grand castle. The drumming echoes from the very depths where Thalia was hard at work fashioning a new weapon, one she’d use to help her hunt. Thalia felt at home in her workshop, her own little personal haven, where she could be alone. Madeline had offered a spot on the main floor of the castle so that the little demon could be closer to everyone, but Thalia refused. Aside from the seclusion of the workshop, the other reason Thalia chose to toil so far beneath the surface was simply the access it gave her to building materials.

Thalia chose to craft her weapons out of the metals and materials found deep within the bedrock of Arcadia because they were the only ones she could use. Not being granted the luxury of brimming with magic, Thalia was forced to use much more archaic metals for her weapons instead of Arcadium.

A single bead of sweat fell from the small demon’s brow and let out a small hiss as it landed on the piece of metal she was currently trying to taper. Thalia took in a breath as she straightened herself out. She had been slaving over the anvil for several hours now. With the pounding of the hammer now completely gone, Thalia’s ears were able to pick up on the feint sound of footsteps coming her way. The timing of the steps, the way they echoes through the halls, it was clear to the little hunter just who was coming to visit.

Brushing some soot off her apron and then wiping the sweat from her brow, Thalia attempted to make herself seem presentable as her queen quickly came into view with Diamond close behind.

“Well, well, well, looks like you’ve been busy.” Madeline said, as she looked around the cluttered workshop. Crude unfinished weapons hung from various spots on the ceiling, a workbench sat off to one corner with Thalia’s gun hammer resting on top. An unfinished blade sat resting on the anvil beside the young demon. “Working on something new?” she asked, after taking note of several open books that laid close to the anvil.

Thalia nodded with excitement. “Oh yes! I’ve come across something quite interesting that I’m very eager to try. Though I’ll admit it’s a bit of a pipe dream at this point.”

Madeline’s arched brow showed that she was interested in hearing more, but the look on Diamond’s face showed they were here for something else. “Oh but you’re obviously not here to hear me ramble on about such trivial things. Is there something you need of me my queen?”

Madeline let out a sigh as she massaged the bridge of her nose. “Thalia, how many times have I told you to address me by name and not title?”

Thalia immediately put her head down as if she was being scolded and was ashamed of the mistake she made. Her gaze only lifted when Madeline approached her and wrapped her arms around the small demon. “We’ll keep working on it ok?” Taking a step back from Thalia, Madeline put a hand on her shoulder. “I’ve got a mission for you.”

“Oh?”

“A hunt of sorts. Something or someone has roused Akhenaten from his sleep again. As you know this cant be allowed. I want you to go to Egypt and find out the cause of this disturbance and make sure it doesn't live to bother the old king again. And when that’s done, I’ll need you to make sure Akhenaten goes back to sleep.”

Thalia hoped up and down with excitement, finally another hunt. “You can count on me!”

Madeline flashed the little demon a smile and then left the work shop. With the queen gone, Thalia quickly scrambled to gather her hunting gear, though in her excitement she forgot to change into her full gear and just teleported out of Arcadia with the things she could carry with her. The fiery ring appeared within the cavern beneath the sand and Thalia stepped out onto the rooftop of one of the dilapidated buildings. The small demon was decked out in her Arcadian garb which was very Egyptian esque as it was, and quite revealing as well.

Thalia barely had enough clothing to hand a few pouches from her waist and carry one weapon in hand. The pouches contained a few of her hunting tools, and some consumables. The lone weapon was what she called the Merciless Jowls, a thick club-like weapon with a hidden surprise.

Thalia took a moment to take in the scenery around her. Before her sat a large sprawling city that had been consumed by the sands many millenia ago. Several large towers rose from the depths to pierce the sands above, but for the most part, the rest of the maze like city sat far below her. Thalia took in a deep breath and nearly choked on the sand and dust in the air. She had a arduous task a head of her, and only the sunlight trickling in through several scattered cracks above to guide her.

The stairs eventually led the man to an opening, said opening, showed him something he had seen once before in some ways. A city hidden under the ground. Where the one from his home was lit with magic and a cave without all this blasted dust and sand. Still, it was rather beautiful to look at, with natural lighting and an old feeling to it that just attracted the eyes. Many towers seemed to pass the roof of this cavern to places unknown. Maybe the surface, maybe more caverns.

But one thing was for certain. This place was odd feeling, while also drawing Ashford in further. Maybe it was his old feelings as a treasure hunter, but he couldn't ignore it. Burrow would never forgive him for such an atrocity such as leaving a underground city unchecked. With that in mind, Ashford took a step forward before his brain clicked and he rose his right hand defensively. He had forgotten that he saw some being. That same being could easily be down here with him.

Putting his glove back on his left hand, Ashford pulled up the sleeves of his coat and started walking forwards. "Okay Ash, you got a cavern. Unknown beings, an old city and no clue what your going to do. So lets just make sure they know we're here at the very least. Don't want to be rude." With his voice as quiet as a whisper, he looked to the towering buildings, and with a second of waiting, started to whistle.

With the amount of lacking noise there was in this hidden city and with the buildings that surrounded him. His whistle would echo throughout the cavern, not giving his location exactly away, but alerting every single being here that there was someone, and that someone didn't care to hide. And if they were lucky, they'd find a single, coated man with an metal arm matched only by the gloved bandaged arm on his left, a single open eye scanning around. And that was exactly what Ashford was hoping for to be found, but whether you could count whatever or whoever found him as the lucky one... Well, only the future could tell.

As Thalia began her descent from the building she had appeared atop, she couldn’t help but hear something very faint echoing out from the empty city below. It was nearly unidentifiable over the loud howling of the wind as it moved through the massive cavern, but there was something there, and it caused Thalia to pause her climb as she tried to focus on the sound. Thalia’s focused expression turned to one of surprise as she was able to figure out what the strange noise was.

“Is that whistling?” she mumbled to herself. Perhaps whoever was responsible for waking up Akhenaten was the one whistling. As a hunter of those who betrayed Madeline, picking up any little clue that could lead to her prey was essential, and for now, the whistling was all she had to go on. After reaching the base of the tall building she was once perched on, Thalia turned to face the deserted city street before her. While the view above offered a much more majestic sight of the city, the sight of this desolate street was more surreal and foreboding.

Thalia’s grip tightened around the handle of her weapon as she used her hair to suspend her body slightly off the ground. She then proceeded through the quiet streets on her hair. It was a technique she developed for sneaking, and it worked quite well as her hair better absorbed sound.

As the tiny demon slithered through the streets, closing in on her prey, a long figure cloaked in shadow stood atop a tall tower that over looked the city. From their perch they could see their two playthings aimlessly wandering through the streets of the once grand city. To the figure, the two were nothing more than rats trapped in a maze. The figure reached into their cloak and produced a small wooden flute. Raising the instrument to their lips, they began to play a tune that mimicked the monstrous wind’s howl.

Whatever tune it was the figure played, it awoke something within the city, that wasn’t awake already.

A stirring in the darkness of one of the abandoned homes caught Thalia’s eyes as she zipped past. The tiny demon hunter came to a skidding stop as she back tracked to the broken door of the abandoned home. It was very difficult to see within the building, but Thalia could see something moving about. Suddenly a pair of glowing white eyes fell upon her, followed by a blood curdling scream. The creature made a lunge for the door and Thalia. The little demon would leap backwards and fling her club like weapon down upon the creature as it stepped out into the light.

What Thalia then saw was an emaciated humanoid looking corpse. It was abnormally dark in tone and its flesh almost seemed as though it was writhing around. This thing wasn’t made of shadow, it was made of something else. As Thalia crouched down to get a better look at the abomination, its neck snapped upward in her direction. Slightly startled, the tiny demon leapt up and slammed her weapon into its head repeatedly till she was sure it wasn’t going to move again. “What the hell are you?” she thought to herself before being distracted by the sound of shuffling feet through the sand dusted streets.

Back over where the man with the metal arm was, a similar occurrence would happen. Although, instead of being ambushed from something lurking in a house, these strange grotesque creatures would begin to pull themselves up out of the sand and emerge from some of the still intact pottery that lay strung about the empty streets.

Time seemed to pass by rather silently, besides his whistle of course. Not that Ashford minded the silence. It gave him a sense of peace and quiet, something he wouldn't have often enough these days. But, as he expected, the sense of quiet would never  last for long and as the sounds of a distant scream.

He paused in place and looked, unable to tell the exact location of it from here, but knowing the general area. He wanted to ask the question of what just made that sound and why, but it was soon answered with the shuffle of sand and screams much, much closer. His eye would dart from black, withering flesh to the next, coming to the conclusion that he was surrounded by these creatures, some standing, others still coming from pots or under the sand. "No time for introductions then?" Ashford attempted some sort of peace talk, their response was loud, and not very thrilling.

Making some quick thoughts and knowing the decision he'd have to make, Ash looked back in the general direction he heard the first scream. If his luck was strong, then there was someone that way, and he'd find them. The only problem. He had strange skinned things in his way that he'd have to get past and he'd have to move fast if he didn't want to be surrounded.

And just like that, he ran forward, the creatures seemed to awaken with a lust for his death at the sudden movement, several of them making a lunge for him. Unsure on how they worked or if he could touch them without something bad happening, Ashford decided he'd rather not find out at all and jumped out of the way of one, aiming his left hand at a closing in second one and fired a bolt of ice at it's head, the ice forming a block over its head and causing it to fall backwards from the force and sudden weight, creating an opening with one more in his way.

Running right at it, it in turn would lunge at him causing Ashford to duck under it and thrust his fingers into it's chest, the metal dagger like drills cutting down it's chest with ease. Till he passed by the creature and his claws left the things body. Not taking a moment to waste time and check what his claws did to it or if his hand was now melting somehow, Ashford picked himself up and began running as fast as he could, hoping to avoid any more of those creatures and hopefully find whoever it was that attracted the blood curl of a scream he was just surrounded by. Cause the coated man wasn't sure if he could survive this alone, not when he didn't have any information with what is happening or what those bloody things were.

The sound of the ominous shuffling grew louder and louder till its source made itself know to Thalia. A large bulbous obese body shambled around the corner. At a first glance it’s body seemed to be made up of twigs, roots and branches, but when the hulking beast entered a patch of sunlight, it was clear Thalia had mistaken the creatures make up. The monsters body was actually a mix of snake skeletons and bones of the deceased. It possessed no head, instead where a skull would have rested, there was a ball of some sort of strange energy. It burned with the intensity of fire and was pitch black at the center with golden colored edges.

An arm slowly moved forward, and with it, the sound of metal scrapping against stone. The large creature had produced a thick blade and then rushed Thalia with a burst of speed she was not expecting. The massive blade came crashing down upon the small demon who was only able to respond by raising her club in time to block the blow. The little ball of hair was sent flying through the air and into a nearby building where she was immediately greeted by several more of the smaller emaciated creatures.

While the little demon hunter was left to fight her way out of the building she was forcibly thrown into, things were escalating across the abandoned city. As the man rushed through the once empty city streets, the frail creatures attempted to reach out and apprehend him as he passed. Their movements were slow and weak, matching their hollowed husk like bodies. As chaos spread throughout the sunken city the growling and hissing of the strange creatures was overtaken by a deep roar from deep beneath the city.

One of the large obese creatures would appear to block the man’s path and as it reared its sword for an attack it seemingly blew up. The bones composing it’s body shot out in all directions and as it fell, the creature gave way to a new threat. Standing before the man was what appeared to be a mummy. Bones showed through loose bandages and sand poured from its gaping mouth. This wasn’t the only one of its kind. All around the city these mummy like creatures began to appear. Soon there was an all out battle taking place across the city. The mummy’s however fought indiscriminately. While the withered and bulbous creatures seemed keen on attacking Thalia and Ash, the mummies went after the creatures and the two intruders.

The tiny demon managed to fight her way out of the building and back out onto the street where the large beast had been making short work of the mummy-like beings that attacked it. Thalia’s fingers slowly extended and wrapped around a leaver that was attached to the handle of her club. She brought her arm back and as she swung it forward, she applied pressured to the lever which disengaged the weapon. Each of the pieces that made up the segmented jawbone loosened and as the weapon swung through the air it extended into a large blunt and serrated whip. The teeth part of the whip cleaved clean through the large creature and caused it to collapse on the spot.

As the large behemoth crumpled to the ground the mummies surrounding it turned their gaze to Thalia. Something about her caused an immediate startle within them. Despite their initial reaction, the mummies soon began to shamble towards Thalia. For someone usually quite chipper, Thalia was growing a bit frustrated. The appearance of the creatures had caused her to deviate from her hunt, and now the whistling she had been using to track down the intruder had stopped as well. Normally the little demon would be eager to put her training and skills to the test, but not now, not when this was a job Madeline herself had given her. Thalia was eager to prove herself and for that reason she opted out of fighting….for now.

She reached into one of the pouches that hung from her waist and pulled out a charred bone fragment and clutched it tightly in her left hand. She took one quick breath and then darted forward. With the bone in her hand, the little ball of hair began zipping around the streets of the city as she used the unique properties of the bone to teleport about and close in on where she last heard the whistling.

Side stepping and jumping out of the way had become routine in the short time he was here it seems. The never ending horde of oil like creatures keeping him on the move, for despite there frail looking forms, he knew better then to judge something simply by the look of it. Not that they would prove to be the biggest danger, not when the sounds of roars in the distant signified something more to come.

Eventually, he'd discover that more resulted in an large, obese looking creature starring him down, in his way and he couldn't turn back without the oil creatures having a greater chance of touching more then his metal arm. Which left him facing this larger creature with a large metal blade protruding from it and coming at him right now. Looking ready to dodge the blade, he was stopped when the creature suddenly blew, he would turn to the side and use his metal arm and the coat to cover his body from the resulting shower of bone.

When it died down, he looked to find a mummy replaced the large creature, sand and bone visible. "Guess you don't talk eth- Ow." Ashford would stumble forward for a moment, a fist had clashed with the back of his coat and he'd turn to see the oil like creatures had closed in while he was busy staring. Moving backwards, Ashford would look to see the Mummy making it's way towards him.

Trapped on both sides, Ashford shrugged his head and decided he'd have to make a small stand here. Writing a fire bolt rune, he turned and ran at the mummy. As soon as he was close enough, Ash would side step the mummy and get around so he was behind it, pushing it with his metal arm not a second later so that the mummy would have to deal with the oil creatures.  With that done, he'd aim his left hand in the sky and fire it off, a bolt of fire flying upwards and acting like a beacon to any who noticed it. Sure, it'd attract something, whether that something was good or bad for Ash, he'd have to let Jedadia decide.

Till whoever arrived however, he still had oil creatures not bothering with the mummy to deal with, and how he would deal with them, Ash wasn't sure. What he knew he could do however, was pull his dagger out, placing it in his right hand and letting it light ablaze with fire, his metal hand unaffected by the fire. With that in hand, he'd start making dashes to avoid the creatures while slicing at them with the dagger, making sure to keep an ear out to his left to account for his eye. Thank Mystic they hissed.

As the cloaked figure attempted to move about the city with his pursuers occupied, he let out a small scoff when he took note of the low howl that came from beneath the city. “someone doesn't take kindly to intruders it seems.” the figure mumbled as a small pack of frail mummies began to close in on him and block his path. The figure then reached into his shadowy coat and grabbed his flute and began to play another tone, slowly backing away from the mummies as he did. One mummy would grow impatient and charge at the figure only to be met by the blade of a thick sword as it erupted from the mans coat, followed by the beat that was wielding it.

Standing before the pack of mummies was a figure clad in pitch black armor adorned with ash colored bones. The helmet it wore resembled a skull hooded in pitch black cloth. A bit of steam escaped through the gaps in the skulls teeth before the being lunged forward and began wildly swinging its sword about. One by one the mummies fell, and the path was once again clear for the mysterious being to advance.

Back on the other side of the once abandoned city, now brimming with life, Thalia continued to zip about in hopes of finding her target. Each zip offered her a look at different parts of the city. It was overrun by those strange oily creatures, obese giants, and mummies all locked in battle with one another. Their moans and wailing would be interrupted by several high pitched screeches that seemed to echo out in unison from various parts of the city. While Thalia would have normally jumped at the opportunity to investigate the creature behind the noise, she had more pressing matters to attend to. Though at this point she was feeling a bit lost ever since the whistling had stopped.

By some sort of divine intervention a fireball shot up into the sky high into the air. A smile crept onto the small demons face as she corrected her course and headed straight for where the fireball was fired from. Within a matter of seconds Thalia and her massive mane of hair would appear before Ash, seemingly blocking his way. “I’ve got you know!” she shouted gleefully. The smile turned to slight panic as she noticed the man not slowing down, at this rate he’d crash into her.

If the impending crash was not enough to worry her, Several mummies began to shuffle into view from the nearby streets. They wouldn’t get very far however as a being Thalia had yet to see emerged from the same street and began to savagely lay waste to the mummies in its path. The figure was clad in pitch black armor adorned with ashen bones and a skull helmet. After cutting down the last mummy its skeletal gaze shifted to Thalia and Ash and it began a slow and daunting approach. Another two of these beings would emerge from an alley way opposite the first one and would join their comrade in stalking the small demon and man with the metal arm.

Once Ashford had started swinging, he learned one thing. These things were given far too much credit. With dagger in hand, he weaved though them, cutting off heads with relative ease, watching them catch ablaze and fall into stillness. He almost wanted to laugh at himself for how he let them instill a sense of fear for what they could do.

Seconds later, Ashford was still moving and cutting, turning to a new target, he lunged forward for them, only to find that a red skinned like woman suddenly appeared right in front of him. With only a second to decide, Ashford first thought Lucian, but the large tuft of red hair that adorned the woman's head the lack of proper clothing told him otherwise. Lucian always wore a suit.

Not able to stop his lunge now, Ashford flicked the dagger of fire around and pulled his metal arm back as he crashed head first into Thalia throwing the dagger of fire over her shoulder and past her hair as best he could as he came into contact with her, possibly knocking them both down. Whatever it was, Ashford would lean back to look at the girl, a frown creasing his eyes, but only one was open to look at her. She was small. "Hi.. One moment." He'd roll away from her and come to face a strange sight, three dark armored beings were coming towards them, cutting down any mummy that got in the way.

His left hand would start tapping his hip for his dagger, only to find the hilt of the rapier remained. Remembering that he just threw the dagger, he would look back to the impossibly long haired woman. Right, who the hell was she? Deciding he could find that out later, he turned away from the wraith looking beings and start to walk back up to her, talking as he went. "Okay, are we going to fight? Cause if so I'd recommend after we deal with those things, if not, then we should run because that way we can talk and walk and maybe fight later, make the choice now. Do I try to kill you or do I work with you, do hurry." He'd stop before he got too close hand raised in a defensive state, head turning back to the wraiths and her every few seconds, hoping she'd make the choice now so he could act, or be forced to act before she could.

The small demon would let out a small groan as she was knocked to the ground by Ash. There was a hint of frustration on her face. She couldn’t believe she allowed herself to be knocked down so easily. If Madeline were here she’d be giving the tiny hunter an earful about how disadvantages it was for one to be taken off their feet. She’d almost ignore the man completely as he moved past her to retrieve his dagger. Her long hair billowed in the wind and made it very difficult for her to look over her shoulder, even with her ability to manipulate the movement of it.

Not only was it difficult to look at him, but Thalia’s attention seemed to wander to the three approaching wraiths. She’d never seen anything like them before. She was suspicious of the man’s eagerness to get away from them. Either he was playing her for a fool and the wraiths where his doing, or he was not the one she was after. She decided to test her suspicions by turning to face the three incoming wraiths. Keeping her eyes on the beasts as they closed in, Thalia began to back peddle slowly as to keep the spacing between them.

With her two mismatched eyes locked on the skeleton armor glad warrior, she resorted to using her hair to retrieve an item from on of the various pouches hanging from her waist. She had already come to the conclusion that her paralyzing gaze wouldn’t work on these creatures as they possessed no eyes. For that reason, she opted to retrieve one of her “tools”. A tuft of hair raised to meet her left hand and would drop a small square of charcoal colored paper in her palm. “You better not be playing me for a sucker. If you try to back stab me, I’m going to be really upset.” she said to the man standing by her.

She’d move the small square of paper around in her metal hand before grabbing it in such a way that allowed her to swipe the paper across the side of her club like weapon. The massive jawbone burst into flames. Thalia would then grab the charred colored shin bone she had used to move about the city and would hold it behind her back. A strand of her hair would wrap around it and then roll it up so that it disappeared into her thick mane of fiery red hair. This way she’d be able to utilize the bones effects while also keeping her one hand free.

“Welp. Time to test out their resistances!” she said before rushing at the lead wraith with her weapon raised above her head. As Thalia drew close to the dark armor she swung her club downward. The wraith responded by raising its left hand. A small red aura enveloped it and when Thalia’s weapon collided with it, it bounced clean off. The glancing blow left the tiny demon exposed and the wraith went in for an attack. Swinging its thick bladed sword, it attempted to cut Thalia’s midsection open only it didn’t. Her skin was too tough.

Taking a quick leap back, Thalia immediately began to pat her stomach down with her metal hand to make sure she hadn’t been harmed. “Whew!” she said with a whistle before reading up for another go at the wraiths. “If you’d like to help, it would be greatly appreciated.” she said before vanishing in a buff of smoke. She’d use the bone tucked away in her hair to zip right up behind on of the wraiths and would swing her club with all her might. The blunt side of the weapon would slam into the lead wraiths back and cause it to stagger forward.

Well, it seems he got his answer from red head, sort of. She was worried about him betraying her, and that was enough to know that she wasn't his biggest problem. "Never, I prefer fighting face to face." Ashford would state to her as he held himself to her side, she seemed to be getting ready for a battle and that bold no good news.

What was interesting however, was the ways she prepared for battle, using a clothe to light ablaze her club like weapon, which in turn caused Ashford to take a step away from her for safety reasons. "Wait, what?" Was all he managed before she rushed forward to attack the wraith like beings.

His first thought was to rush along side her, but he stopped himself before he could and stood still to watch, already learning something from his choice. The wraith like beings had a ability similar to his gloved left hand, but instead of negating the effects, they bounced back the physical attack. Oh, and they resisted physical attacks. He also saw how the small looking lady had managed to suddenly appear in front of him. Not speed, but teleportation.

But, even he could admit he couldn't watch forever, and the girls invite to the action was all he needed to lunge forward. Closing the distance between him and the staggered lead wraith, he would swing his fist upwards as if aiming to uppercut the wraith, but with his hand opened so his fingers were looking to connect rather then the fist. And when they did, he saw how the metal claws shoved themselves into the beings skulled helm, following the momentum, Ashford would twist and lift the wraith overhead, throwing them onto the ground a few feet away from where he was, his claws having slid out of the beings head as he threw them.

Now facing away from the two remaining wraiths and the red woman and not having enough time to see if his claws had finished the wraith off, Ashfords one good eye saw that one of the wraiths was bringing a heavy strike towards him from his peripheral vision, and he assumed the other was too, not that he had a chance of seeing without turning his head all the way.

So, moving on faith, Ashford felt his left hand gripping the hilt of the rapier, and with a spin, he pulled the rapier from it's sheath and brought it up as he came to face the red haired girl, the rapier itself seemed to have a white trail following the sharp end of it's blade, as if the tip was cutting something that closed just as quickly. Meanwhile, Ashford continued to fail to get a good look at the strange woman, her hair doing all sorts of things to keep him from ever getting a good look at her. He also rose his metal arm and arched it to take a downwards blow, the right choice as he felt two strong forces hit his arm and rapier at the same time, the sword being parried by his rapier slid down till it was stopped by the hilt guard, forcing his bandaged arm at a angle to keep the blade from coming closer, his arm shaking from the pressure, his metal arm seemed to be holding off the blade of the other wraith with relative ease, but he knew he couldn't keep it up forever.

"Your turn to help Red head." Ashford would jest to the woman, nodding his head to the left, his rapier no longer holding the weight of the sword as the wraith pulled back to swing at him under his rapier, a move he couldn't see with his closed left eye taking away the needed peripheral vision to see such a strike coming for him. Hoping he could trust the woman to handle the strike he knew was coming but couldn't see, although knowing if a strike was to connect, it would never make it past the coat, Ashford turned to face the wraith to his right directly.

It too, had pulled back and made a kick at his shin, Ashford quickly countered by poking at it's knee with the rapier, the blade easily going though its armor and causing it to fall to a knee as it's leg was pushed off course, to which Ashford would quickly remove the rapier from it and punch it hard across it's face, over and over again with his metal fist, hoping to bring the creature down while red head hopefully dealt with the other one.

Thalia was certain she was more than capable of taking on all three of the wraiths by herself, but she couldn’t help but smile when the man got involved. She still had her doubts about him, but for now her suspicion could rest. Surprisingly the wraiths seemed somewhat single minded or rather they chose to go after the man instead of her, which would have been the easier option since she was caught between the two of them. Still, the armor clad creatures proceeded to assault Ash. This let Thalia pretty much do whatever she wanted. With their backs to her they’d never seen her attacks coming.

As the man fended off the two dark beings, Thalia prepared to strike. Using the bone shard, she quickly vanished from where she was and appeared to the side of the one wraith as it readied its weapon. When the tiny demon reappeared, her hand was already in a downwards swing. Her grip tightened around the lever of her weapon and the pieces of the jawbone weapon separated. The massive blunt whip came crashing down into the shoulder of the wraith and forced it to the ground. Thalia would let out a small grunt as she swung her weapon on more time with all her might. With a deep thud the whip slammed into the back of the creature.

It would let out a roar before falling motionless after Thalia’s second strike. The little hunter let out a small sigh of relief as the three wraiths seemed to fall rather easily. Still this did not mean they were out of danger. The city was brimming with life after centuries. Thalia had deduced by this point that the frail looking pitch black corpses, the obese behemoths, and the wraiths were the doing of some unknown third party. Namely either this man she just helped, or some other figure that had yet to make their presence known. And the mummies were basically the city’s defense force of some kind. It was entirely possible with Akhenaten roused from his slumber that he was the one who summoned the mummies, and if that was the case it meant he could use his powers to influence the city from within his chamber.

This revelation was worrying especially if the ancient champion was as strong as Madeline said. Slamming the tip of her club into the ground to reset the mechanism, Thalia turned to face the man. It was the first time she had actually had a solid minute to look him over. He didn’t seem all that troublesome, at least not to her. Something that did catch the small demon’s mismatches eyes however, was that the man had a metal arm. It looked nothing like hers, Madeline’s, or Johanna’s, but he had a metal arm nonetheless.

Thalia opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by the sound of distant groans and metal scraping sand against the stone streets. While that normally spelt a challenge for the pint sized demon, she wasn’t so sure how the man would fare and she didn’t want to let him out of her sight, especially if he was the cause of all this.   “We need to find higher ground. There’s too many spots to get ambushed from here on the streets.” She looked to the man then back to the direction where the scraping sound was coming from. “ooooh I really hope you make up your mind soon.” she mumbled worryingly under her breath. She was eager to get moving, whether that was head on into the swarm of creatures or upwards to safety entirely depended on the man.

Punching the wraith into submission, Ashford would glance to the woman to his left, seeing that she... Took care of her wraith with relative ease. Sheathing the black rapier with care, he'd look to the red skinned woman, finally getting some details about her, except for her face still, the hair doing all sorts of things to really get a good look at her eyes.

She had some features that made him think of Lucian, but there was enough differences that he was able to tell this indeed wasn't Lucian. To the hair, two fully intact horns and the.. "Ah, you got a metal arm too, awesome." He'd note, right before she got to talking, it had a human like design, like his, only hers was a golden color, compared to his sleek, black looking arm, that and she didn't have claws like he did. Not focusing on the arm for a moment to listen to her, he found that he had to agree with her, not that he was worried about being attacked, more so he could take a moment to get to know what the hell was happening, and maybe she could tell him.

"Well, while I agree with getting off the streets to higher, safer ground. Entering a building is just as dangerous as being out here... And I can't exactly climb these towering buildings so easily or quickly from the outside. So unless that teleport of yours works for two. I got nothing unless you want to risk a inside tower climb.." Ashford would state, looking around for his dagger, he knew he left it in something somewhere... eh, he could get it later. With a shrug, he'd tilt his head to the woman. Wondering what she'll do with that. Charge off into a building, charge off into a street. With the sounds of moans and shrill screams all around them, it was fight or flight, and he couldn't exactly fly.

Thalia found herself pouting in the man’s general direction, and stomped a barefoot against the sandstone street. Why did thing have to be so difficult? She thought to herself. The nearest tall building wasn’t even a building, it was a statue erected in Akhenaten’s honor. The next closest thing was the tower Thalia had appeared on when she first entered the city, and from what she could remember from climbing down it, there were no visible entrances. “Look there is no way I’m letting you out of my sight. Not even for a moment.” she said waving a metal finger at Ash.

Ironically she turned her back to the man as she began to think. She didn’t like being put on the spot like this. She was always a careful planner and spent a decent chunk of time stalking her prey. But this wasn’t a hunt, or at least it wasn’t a normal one. She had to improvise as she went along. She let out a sigh as she spun back around to face Ash. “I guess we’re doing this the heard way.” and with that, she shrugged, spun back around on the heel of her foot and began to walk down the street, right at a mob of monsters that were going at one another.

Upon seeing the group of undead creatures going at one another, Thalia began to fiddle around in one of her pouches till she felt a cold and slightly wet sensation grace her metal finger tips. Pulling her hand from the bag on could see she was holding some sort of strange orb that had a mist or snow like substance trailing off of it. Thalia would hold the orb up to her left eye and stare directly at the group of beasts. A large shard of ice would rocket from the center of the orb Thalia held and when it finally reached the group of creatures, the shard of ice would explode.

A massive plume of frost enveloped the surrounding area and flash froze all the beasts. Thalia was not finished however as she proceeded with putting the orb back in the pouch she pulled it from. When her hand exited the bag she was holding another item. A strange looking whistle. She’d bring the whistle to her lips and blow into it. The sound the whistle let off was not what one would expect. Instead of being loud and annoying, it was low, almost like a note one would play on a flute. A strange sigil would appear beneath the frozen monsters and with its appearance, Thalia would form a seat with her hair and recline back as she waited for something.

The tiny demon would shoot a glance over in the mans direction making sure he was still in sight. That, and she really wanted him to see what was coming.

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.