Because I Miss Mah Characters ;-;

It was a dark and dreary day in the Land of the Dead as Korari took a deep breath and strolled underneath the branches of the trees heavy with dense foliage that seemed to block out what little light reached the floor. Everything had been silent for quite some time, but the vampire had gotten quite used to that. As he had peered into the real world a couple of times-- of course, he wasn't actually allowed in it-- he was able to see that only about 10 years had passed since his death which still burned fresh in his mind... and on his skin.. and still even in the threads of his clothes. But, even though it had only been such a short time in the living world, time seemed to stretch on forever for him, each minute being more torturous than the last. These 10 years felt like 100 years; no, 1,000. Not that it mattered. He was stuck here for eternity anyway. Finally, after all of his pacing and thinking, Korari stopped and pressed his back against a tree only to slide down the trunk until he was sitting down, running his cold fingers through his hair. Everything sat perfectly still... until he heard a noise not too far from where he was sitting.

Over the years after his death, Osi had wandered through the forest, searching for a place he longed for, the wide open spaces of the plains. But there was nothing in the world of the dead like that. It was all dark, gloomy, old trees. In life, Osi had once thought that the afterlife was a peaceful place that had everything you wanted. Either that wasn't true, or Osi had done too much wrong in his life to make it to the peaceful place. Either way, he was stuck her for what would probably be eternity, and he had no friends to talk to.
He was thinking about all that when he stumbled across Korari. Of all the people, why him? Osi thought. It seemed like the only person he was ever meant to see was Korari.

The vampire looked up to see Osi standing there with an unpleasant look on his face. It was quite a surprise to see him, but at the same time, the caster was the only person Korari ever seemed to find. It was like Osi was following him or something. With a small smirk, Korari waved slightly at Osi. "Why such an annoyed expression? Surely you cant dislike me that much."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Korari," Osi said, "actually, I was hoping there'd be other people around here. It seems I always manage to find you, no one else."

Being the smart butt he is, Korari simply smiled and gave a small laugh. "Maybe it's destiny!" He called out as he stood up once again. "Maybe I'm supposed to be here to torment you forever. And ever. And ever." The vampire then shook his head. "Or.. Maybe we're the only ones in this wretched forest. You ever thought of that?"

"Well, whoever assigns eternal punishments has got their stuff together," Osi muttered, "I know we aren't the only ones here, I've seen other people, but they're always too far away to talk to."

Korari let out a hmph as he crossed his arms in front of him. "Maybe that's the point. We aren't supposed to find other people. Because everyone knows that you've done just as much to be put in this hell as I have. And as our punishment, we walk alone. You know, until you end up finding someone you really don't want to see."

"Like you? Well, I guess that makes sense. What worse punishment could there possibly be?," Osi said. Does this mean I'll never be able to apologize to Cai? He thought. There wasn't a moment in his afterlife that Osi wasn't thinking about what he caused between himself and his brother.

"Ouch, that was harsh," Korari responded with the roll of his eyes. Sarcasm coated every word he said, although it did kind of moved him slightly that the caster really despised him. It wasn't very uncommon that he was hated, but he had guessed that his times of wandering were finally taking a toll on his confidence and his pride. But, after a moment of thought, he continued the conversation anyway. He was curious and he wanted some answers. Now whether Osi was willing to talk was a completely different story. "Come on, now. You can't hate me that much."

Osi shrugged. "Actually, I think it's quite possible." he said. He thought about leaving then, but if Korari was right, he would probably never get to talk to anyone in quite a long time, and even talking with someone you hate is better than no one at all.

"Alright..." He muttered. The only problem with this situation is that Korari couldn't figure out what he had done to make Osi hate him like he did. But then again, when he thought back on his past, he couldn't remember much at all. Only his death, his sister, and the occasional memory stuck in his head. A lot of the passing thoughts were only temporary, though, and the more he thought about it, the less and less he realized had happened in his 22 years of life. It's interesting how that worked... "Tell me. What did I do? What did I do to make gain all this hatred of yours, huh?"

"You're a reminder," Osi said, "you're a reminder to me of what I did, of who I became. And now I'm cursed to only see you in this hell."

Oh so that was the reason. He didn't actually do anything. It was all in Osi's head. Of course, this thought made Korari laugh. "So I'm just a reminder? That's all?" After recomposing hismelf, he unfolded his arms again and leaned back against the tree he was originally sitting against. It wasn't very comfortable, but it beat standing there the whole time. "All I have done is remind you about what you did? What you chose to do? Well isn't that interesting! I think I might hang around for a while, then!"

Osi was about to respond, but a voice high in the trees began to laugh manically. "What could you two have possibly done? Murdered an old woman?" it laughed at its own joke. "You have no Idea what punishment is." Osi looked up, trying to see who was speaking, but it was too dark in the canopy. He shot a fireball into the branches, knowing by now that the trees wouldn't catch fire. The fire dissolved almost immediately. "A little fire can't do anything to show me," the voice said and laughed again.

The sudden voice resonating through the trees had actually surprised Korari. He hadn't expected anyone else for a long time. A long time meaning decades... possibly centuries. But there was this voice. He quickly looked around through the trees only to wince and slightly take a step back when Osi decided to throw that fireball. The memories attached to fire were too painful. Well, there was that and the fact that fire was pretty much his natural enemy. But there were bigger things to worry about. Keeping his composure, Korari pushed off of the tree so that he was finally standing up again. He wore a smirk on his face as his arms crossed once again. "You know, your little game might be more effective if you weren't being so cowardly. Show yourself," He demanded through the actual nervousness he felt about the situation. It was a very strange feeling for him. He was so used to being in control; so used to being the one that was feared, but this thing-- whoever or whatever it was-- felt stronger, more powerful than Korari could ever be. It put him on edge.

"Well, I guess because you both are so eager, I might as well come down," the voice said. There was no sound of movement, but suddenly, a man was floating down from above, held slightly aloft by his angel wings, one white, the other black. At first glance, he seemed as normal as anyone in Skyshatter would be. But upon second glance, he was anything but. The top of his head was covered in vampire-white hair that had tiny streaks of all colors in it. His hair went down to his shoulders, turning from the white to brown. Only one of his eyes was visible, the other covered with his long on-sided bangs, and it was a bright orange-yellow. One ear, on the same side as his visible eye, was as long and pointed as an elf's, but it didn't show on the other side of his head. He had a single vampire fang hanging out one side of his mouth, the other side drawn up in a twisted smile.

Upon seeing the strange man basically come into being right in front of them with no movement of anything else around them, Korari gave him a look of disgust. Who was this guy? He looked like every creature in Skyshatter mixed into one. It.. It wasn't natural. It was gross; morbid; vile; revolting. It definitely caused Korari to be taken aback by such horrendous features. Of course, these were only opinions the vampire had running through his head. "Just who the hell do you think you are?" He asked with an angered growl.

"Well, If I had know you were going to be rude, I would have stayed in the tree," he said, then laughed again. "But I guess you must know, I am Aspen Alloway." he looked at the two, expecting to see shocked faces of recognition. Osi wasn't sure exactly wait to say, so he just looked at the guy with a creeped-out expression on his face.

"Good for you," Korari responded with a look of annoyance rather than a look of shock. Who did this guy think he was? Just because he looked funny didn't mean he suddenly ruled the forest. He then took a quick glance at Osi only to see that he wore practically the same expression.

Aspen frowned. "The Mourning Shadow?" he questioned, but Osi was already shaking his head. "What do they teach you kids these days?" he said, shaking his head in annoyance. "Well, I can't let you two fools go around uneducated! To make a long story short, I'm the one who killed off all the witches, warlocks, dwarfs,and werewolves, long before you were even born! After absorbing their power of course. But I couldn't quite manage to kill of everyone. There was, of course, only one of me, and millions of them, but they only managed to get me when they built themselves a magic cave, and even then, I took the 6 forevers that fought me down as well. They're around here somewhere, hiding from me I presume..." he drifted off into another maniacal laugh at the end.

That finally got some kind of reaction. As Korari listened to this guy's past, he gritted his teeth. This guy couldn't be serious. He couldn't wipe out entire races just like that. Letting out a growl, he wasn't sure if he really wanted to believe Aspen or not. "That's impossible. You cant just wipe out entire races. You've got to be bluffing."

Aspen was still laughing as Korari began to speak. "Oh, believe me, I don't bluff. That's the line of thinking that got those races destroyed!" then he continued his mad laughter until he noticed that Osi had slowly begun to back away. He immediately went silent and locked eyes with the fire caster. "Oh, no one's leaving now, I haven't finished yet!" he said. Osi tried to move, but found his body immobile, similar to the way Cai's paralysis worked.

As soon as Aspen's attention was tense to Osi, so was Korari's. He stared at the fire caster with a curious look as Osi was soon completely paralyzed. This guy, whoever he was, was really starting to unnerve him, but he couldn't let Aspen know how he felt. Putting on a brave face, he let out a humph. "Pathetic," he exclaimed as he shook his head at Osi. "You're actually scared of this guy?"

"And you aren't?" Osi growled through gritted teeth, still trying to free himself of the paralysis. Aspen broke his eye contact with Osi, but he stayed immobile. He then turned his head to face Korari. "Your friend here is wise to fear me," he said, meeting the vampire's eyes. From the ground upward around Korari, fire sprouted, soon trapping him in a cage of flames. "We can't have you two leaving on me, I haven't seen anyone in these parts for at least a hundred years."

At the sight of the fire, Korari's eyes widened as panic finally ran down his spine. He stumbled over his feet a minute, almost backing up into the flames that surrounded him before he caught himself and kept his balance. The heat from the flames was intense. That's what scared Korari the most. Unfortunately, the afterlife had not cured him of his natural hatred for the bright light. Instead, at this moment, the fear seemed to intensify, and it obviously showed on his face. After a few quick and panicked glances, the vampire stopped, took a deep breath, then cleared his throat. He was doing so well with keeping his cool. He couldn't lose it now-- even if it was already too late for that. "Why would I leave?" He managed to say with a somewhat weak voice. "This is one of my only chances of being social. It's already been so long since my last conversation. Any company is better than none..."