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Standing at her side, within her room, James looked upon Dar-Ma with great anxiety. She was indeed weak and unusually pallid from something. Her skin had turned pale, and she was barely able to breathe, shivering from something. Her lips were dry as a desert with her eyes somewhat reddened. "Dar-Ma, what's wrong?" "I...I don't know...hhhh...mother sent for a doctor but...I'm so weak...I can barely move." "I'll go get him, you stay here and try to rest." "Okay..." The raptor rushed out into the strangely dark-clouded morning, ignoring the weather as he headed for the doctor, but he was stopped by a shadow from an alleyway. "Psst!" "Huh?!" "Forgive me for saying," said the dark-cloaked figure. "But are you James Campbell-" "Look whatever problem you have with me, I don't have time, I need to find a doctor!" "Are you James Campbell-" "Yes! What is it?!" "I bring a message of warning, from one of our highest of Silencers." "Silencers, what are you a fucking gun club, what is it?!" "There will be an assault on Chorrol. They will come for Dar-Ma." "What?!" "The Silencer, she knows of you and the one called Dar-Ma. Your actions in Oblivion will not go unresolved." "God dammit! And now she's sick, what next!?" "She is ill?" "Yes, that's why I need a doctor!" "What are her symptoms?" "Are you a doctor?!" "I know one, please tell me." "Uh okay...she's weak, real fatigued, can't get out of bed, lips are really dry, eyes pretty red." "Alright, I will find one for you. Where shall we meet you?" "Northern Goods and Trade, hurry!" "Head back to her side and protect her." With the warning from the stranger, James ran swiftly back to the trading store, warning the guards as he passed them by, with Seed-Neeus looking rather panicked at the raptor's harrowed expression.

"What's going on James?!" "Someone told me there's gonna be an attack on Chorrol, they're gonna come for Dar-Ma!" "Who?!" "The bastards in Oblivion, they want her for some reason, I dunno why!" "Oh by Akatosh, no!" "I got someone to find a doctor for us, and I told the guards to be ready for an invasion, I just hope they believe me." "What is this world coming to???" "I dunno but shit is getting real and I wanna be ready for it!" "You can try and prepare yourself," said a familiar cool female voice from the other side of the door. "But without one who knows the ways of Dremora, you will last little a chance." "...you again?" "Yes." James opened the door, seeing the winged Argonian before him. Her figure was even more intimidating in contrast to the doorway, with Seed-Neeus gasping in shock as the creature stepped inside. "Where is your daughter?" The mother tried to summon her bravery. "You will NEVER have her, I won't allow it!" "Woah woah Seed-Neeus it's okay," said James trying to calm her down. "It's okay she's a friend, she helped us escape Oblivion." "Oh...v-very well...are you a doctor?" "I am well-versed in medicine yes." "Follow me..." The mother cautiously lead the dark stranger to her daughter's side, with Dar-Ma gasping in surprise at recognising the silver-hair. "You...you helped us escape?" "If you consider that helping, yes."

She looked over Dar-Ma's body with a professional eye, both of them different colours of fuchsia-red and purplish-blue, checking all of her before noticing puncture wounds upon the neck. "I hoped it wasn't this." was the dark Argonian's final estimate. James was panicking. "What's wrong with her!?!" "She has Porphyric Hemophilia." "Wh-what!?! What does that do!?" "If she doesn't get healed or purified soon...she'll become a vampire." Both the raptor and Seed-Neeus looked at each other with fear in their eyes. The mother was first to speak. "...n-no...y-you can't be serious." "You need to keep her awake and take her to an altar. There is a chapel in this town." "Yes, yes there is!" "You two, take her there and place her on the altar. How many times has she slept since Oblivion?" "Twice," said James. "Once at Skingrad and second time here." "We have little time then. After three nights of sleep, she will turn. You must keep her awake." "Oh jesus christ..." The sounds of an explosion came from outside, shuddering through all of them. Seed-Neeus was panicking even more. "Wh-what's happening!?!?" "The horde is coming." "N-no! No, this can't be happening! Why her!?!?" "They want her blood, her purity...her pendant too." "Her pendant?!" "It is part of a sigil stone. Whether they can power it once again I am unsure. But they will take the one you still possess." She turned to James. "They can have it, I don't care anymore, I just want Dar-Ma to be-" "They won't accept that. They will kill her either way." The explosions came closer, and guards started roaring outside. James felt he was about to enter a great war. The winged Argonian said calmly: "Take her to the chapel, both of you. I'll hold them off." "R-really?" "I have a vendetta against them. I never tire of spilling their blood." "Alright then...what's your name?" "Hmm?" "You said next time we met, you'd tell me your name." She turned to him with a small aggravated sigh. "...my name is Tah-Zer-Ah. Now go." The name struck a familiar chord within James, but nevertheless he set about the task of carrying Dar-Ma with Seed-Neeus' help towards the chapel, exiting the house and immediately running up the street. People were already fleeing into the chapel for safety. They cautiously navigated through the crowd of Chorrol citizens, claiming their wounded in tow and entering with little hassle. The chapel was resplendent with classical gothic-style architecture, but was smaller than James expected on the inside.

An aisle with two rows of pews leading up towards an altar, resembling a baptismal font. A stairway downwards, facing the altar, separated the hall entrance into two rows leading up to towards the seats. Dar-Ma was carefully placed upon the altar, at the behest of the priest, priestess and healer. The chapel's inhabitants, locals as well as monks, began gathering people inside as quickly as possible, a sizeable crowd filling out into the lower quarters, down the stone steps into the rooms below. "What happened to her?" asked a male dark-skinned elf. "She has uh...porphy...porphyrsomething-" "By the Nine, Porphyric Hemophilia?!" "That one yeah." "Oh...this is terrible." "Can you heal her?!" "If the Nine are merciful and her heart is pure, then yes." "What do you mean IF?! Aren't you a doctor!?" "He can only do so much," said a female orc in priest clothes. "I can be able to assist her healing, but it will take some time, and I have other immediate wounded to tend to." "Dammit...okay, take care of the emergency cases, I'll try and keep her awake." "Good. She cannot sleep at least until we begin the healing. We will return shortly after assessing the casualties." "Can I help?" asked Seed-Neeus. They nodded and left to tend to the wounded downstairs, leaving James and Dar-Ma alone to themselves. With one lasting somewhat shameful look left at Dar-Ma, she quickly headed downstairs. The chapel windows glinted in the darkened morning light, depicting many different godly beings.

He started to realise just now who the Nine were. He particularly recognised the man with a dragon's head coming out of his head. The chaos was muted outside as war was being wreaked unto Chorrol. James contemplated how much of this was his fault, before Dar-Ma softly moaned. "Mmmhhh..." "Dar-Ma?" "James...?" "D-dar-Ma." He held her hand tightly and kneeled beside her. "Are you okay?" "I'm...I feel so weak...t-tired." "Okay, that's fine but...I need to ask you something." "What is it?" "Don't fall asleep. Please." "Wh...what..." "If you fall asleep, something bad will happen." "B-but wha-" "Don't ask, please. Just...believe me. Stay awake with me...don't leave me." "A-ah...am I...dying?" "NO, no no no no no, you're not dying, n-no, not at all, but you NEED to stay awake, please do that for me." "I haven't slept in so long...I just want to rest my eyes a bi-" "NO! Please Dar-Ma!" He shook her to keep her awake, his snout barely touching hers as he panted heavily upon her scaled cheeks. "Please stay awake! If you sleep I'll be alone here, your mum'll be alone here, please don't leave me alone, I NEED you!" "Do...do you love me?" "Wh-what?" "Do...hhhh...do you love me?" "I..." He wished she never asked him that. He was afraid to be asked such a thing. But he wanted to tell her the truth. "I adore you." "What?" "I adore you. I want to love you, even if we've barely known each other...but I...I..." "What's wrong?" "I'm scared...and this isn't helping. I don't want to lose you like I lost Daisy." "D-daisy?" "My lover...the one who died." "Oh...are you afraid to love me, because..." "I-i don't know! I...I just want you to be okay, you're such a sweet wonderful innocent girl and I don't want anything to happen to you!" "You...shouldn't be afraid...to love." "I-I'm...I'm not." "Then what's...stopping you?" "Because I'll be gone soon. I can't find what I need here. I need to get home. But I won't leave you, until you get better. I promise that." "You...promise?" "I swear on...on...on my mother's grave." He wanted to say Daisy's, but something forced it back in him. The maiden shuddered and began to turn cold. "Hhhhh...Akatosh, I'm so tired." "I know, I know you are but please, stay awake for me Dar-Ma, just hold on, give me an hour at least." "I can't...stay awake that long...so weak..." "I'll keep you awake. We can talk about things, tell me all the things you were telling me when we first met, can you remember?" "N-no...s-some rumour....rumours about a room..." "That's good, please tell me!" "N-no...maybe tomorrow." "NO, THERE WON'T BE A TOMORROW, PLEASE DAR-MA!" He was starting to break into tears, watching her eyes redden with each weakening of her will, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her as he struggled not to cry. "P-please don't sleep...please..." "I...can't stay...awake..." "J-just try!" "I can't..." "Fine...then I'll make you stay awake."

With one desperate move he bent down to kiss her hungrily, gasping as he breathed into her lips, her eyes widening with weakened surprise as she kissed him in return. He wanted to keep her warm, keep her excited, keep her energised, his tongue sliding within the maiden's mouth and suckling upon hers, moaning as he threw every ounce of passion into his embrace. Holding her close, almost climbing onto her, lying down onto the altar itself, he broke the kiss only to pant: "Don't sleep...oh god, don't sleep, please don't close your eyes." He didn't even let her reply when he pounced her for another kiss, deep with love and adoration for her. Lust did not even come to his mind for once as he held her tightly, claws almost digging into her as she returned the kiss with blushing cheeks, moaning shakily back to him, begging for more. She was taken by his amour, she wanted to feel more of it, gazing into his emerald eyes as he stared back at her, widening and exhausted. "Hhhhh...J-james..." "Please...oh god Dar-Ma...please...just give me an hour. One hour to gaze into your eyes. Just one hour." "B-but...I-" "ONE HOUR! PLEASE! THAT'S ALL I ASK DAR-MA! P-PLEASE!" His lip quivered, tears running down his cheeks as he tightly held her, rocking her gently. He already killed those who afflicted her, he had nowhere else to run and scream his vengeance to.

All he had now was one weakening Argonian maiden, the most wonderful pure-hearted maiden he had ever known that wasn't Daisy, and he felt her slipping away. She started to turn quieter in her replies, her eyes softly closing inch by inch. "D...Dar-Ma? Dar-Ma! DAR-MA! D-DON'T SLEEP, DAMMIT! DAR-MA! STAY AWAKE FOR ME! OH GOD, PLEASE STAY AWAKE!" He screamed to her lilting face. She was still breathing but not replying, his voice broken up with bubbling whimpers of sorrow, weeping into her bosom before roaring at each window. "DO SOMETHING! PLEASE, ANY OF YOU NINE WHATEVER, FUCKING DO SOMETHING TO SAVE HER! She doesn't deserve this! She's the sweetest person in this world! Don't you DARE let her die or I swear on Daisy's grave I will kill EVERY ONE OF YOU!" His vengeful oaths summoned the priest back upstairs, the orc returning with Seed-Neeus, looking upon the scene of a raptor clutching an Argonian tightly against him. The mother ran hastily to her side. "Dar-Ma!" "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, she's trying!" "Let me help!" The orc priest made them stand aside before she began an incantation, summoning both a healing spell and a prayer to the gods, willing all the power she could to undo the curse. Dar-Ma's breaths turned weaker, she was clinging on but not for long. "There's not much time I can do this," said the orc. "Oh my daughter, please hold on...please!" "I will do my best miss Seed-Neeus. But we must-" A horrendous blast occurred near the chapel door, causing them to turn. The horde was coming closer and banging on the doors to try and enter. They could even see it start to shudder with each slam of a weapon. The priest continued her healing process. "Wh-what do we do?!" beseeched Seed-Neeus. "Just give me time, I need to complete this." "I'll hold them off!"

James brought his scissors out and charged towards the door, waiting for it to break and await the horde. He didn't even care about anything else, keeping focused on wishing Dar-Ma to be safe. The sounds of slashing and demonic roars came closer. Splinters came off the doors and the hinges began to scream agonising creaks. Right when they were on the other side of the door, they turned silent after a resounding explosion was felt. The roars turned silent, and the sound of bodies falling across the streets could be heard in consecutive wet thuds. Soon a strong knock came at the door. "Who's there?!" "Tah-Zer-Ah." "Oh thank god...how's the situation out there?" "Numbers are decimated, but more will come. This door is about to collapse." "I know...Dar-Ma's been healed up." "Good. I will do my best to hold them off. But if I cannot, you must be prepared." "Already am...listen, I dunno what's gonna ha-" He was soon cut off by a resounding blow backwards, the door finally tearing itself off its hinges partly, slamming James backwards across the floor, as well as throwing Tah-Zer-Ah into the chapel. The door was now wrecked and forced inwards, a horde of Daedra outside ready to wreak vengeance. The dark Argonian lifted herself up, the little chainmail she had on clinking softly, her blackened longsword facing the horde. James got up despite the splinters all around them, bracing himself with scissors at the ready. Seed-Neeus and the priest looked with fear at their defences being broken. But Zer turned towards them with a nod. "We'll hold them off. When you're done with her, head below." They nodded without another word and continued their healing, while James stood close beside his new ally. He could tell she was quite wounded, or hurting from something. "You alright?" "Nnngh...holy places don't sit well with me...not anymore at least." "Ah huh...alright, let's do this." "I will keep them out of the chapel, if any get past me, you kill them." "Got it." With weapons ready, Tah-Zer-Ah charged into the horde, sending out a massive fireblast that acted like a bomb going off, obliterating a dozen Daedra in one swoop, demonic bloody remains raining down upon the town square. They were unfazed and merely charged towards her first.

As the battle to defend the chapel began, James was amazed at the sheer fighting prowess of his Argonian demon ally. Her sword tore through any unfortunate foe with ease, their armour like butter against her blade. The morning turned red with blood both in the sky and on the ground as James kept a watchful eye over any demon able to sneak through her barrage. Spells and blade filled the air around Tah-Zer-Ah, her wings closed against her as she fired off volleys of fireballs, weakening curses and shattering ice blasts. James tried to contribute with his own pseudo-magic, shooting out torrents of flame or daggers of ice at any weakened foe for the killing blow. Despite all she could do, she was still one creature, and as such there were still enemies sly or strong enough to pass by her to face against James. Thankfully they were weakened from trying to get past her, with crippled armour making them easier to handle. One Dremora knight had his armour badly battered and burned, but his endurance was still as strong as ever, fighting James on the steps of the chapel. The raptor shoved him back hard with a blast of flame to the face and a shouldercharge, combined with a thrust through the weakest point of armour, carving a hole in his gut straight through. Sending him back into the fray to die with his brothers, the raptor looked back towards Dar-Ma, seeing her still in the process of healing, which only fired him up more. Tah-Zer-Ah had some difficulty with an immense reptilian beast, a Daedroth, hulking muscles with the head of a crocodile, swinging powerful claws at her. She blocked with immense strength and cleaved through its heart, before swinging straight for the head, decapitating it.

Her wounds were growing, but she kept her stance strong as a giant spider with the face of a woman skittered towards her, shooting out a strange purple-clouded spell. Zer seemed to be afflicted, but unfazed as she slammed her sword straight through it, cleaving it in two, legs curling up to die. James was busy enough dealing with two Dremora who managed to pass through the Argonian, as well as a small infantry of Scamps, little demonic imps who clawed at him. The scamps were unarmed and no problem for him despite the numerous slashing wounds he got to his legs, but the Dremora tried to team up and cut him down together. He roared with a sudden spin attack, trying to make them back off as he opened his scissors up, sending out two blades parallel to each other to scrape and carve through their remaining armour, as well as cutting a few scamps' throats. The Dremora duo did not stop and managed to trip up the raptor, forcing him on his back, but he wasn't out for the count. Forcing them away with shots of icy water to their faces, he furiously slashed upwards with his scissors on one, before slamming the blades together in a mighty cut upon the other's throat. He soon found himself in trouble when a Clannfear, one of the dinosaur-looking things with a plated head, charged straight at his back, sending him hard against the stone bannister of the stairs. Struggling to get up, he slashed and bashed against the armoured head, doing little damage but trying all he could to force its head one way for a chance at the throat. The creature however was not a runt, and was far more clever than that. It kept a steady guard as it slammed hard into James' chest, its tipped sharp horn nose stabbing the raptor in his lower belly, making him cry out as he swung out his blades over the plated head and tried to awkwardly stab downwards. Managing to get some grip, he kicked himself off of the bannister and swing himself over the creature, shoving the blades straight into the back of its neck, severing the spine with a mighty shunking sound, before pulling the scissors free from its corpse.

Soon the battle turned evermore violent, as more elite Dremora came up charging towards Tah-Zer-Ah, forcing her blade down and wounding her all over. The area protected by her chainmail only did good enough for so long despite her limbs open for wounding. Every demonic blade that swung down, 1 in 5 of them scored a hit upon her, slashing open wounds on her legs and arms, blackened blood slowly dripping out from her. James' eyes widened at the implications of such. Two of them rather as he ran down towards her during a lull in the battle, his own body scored with several fresh new wounds. "You alright?!" "Don't worry about me...just...hold the line." "You're bleeding...same as the Dremora." "And?" "Are you...one of them?" "What's important to you right now, is that I'm not your enemy, killing everything that comes near this church. You can ask me more after we win." "Alright." The next wave of enemies came, a vile mixture of hulking reptilian Daedroth, Spider Daedra, a few Atronachs and dinosaur-like Clannfears. There was even at least one humanoid-looking demon among them, robed in a loincloth with black horns on his head and skin the colour of ash. "Hmph...a Xivilai," said Zer. "Wh-what?" "So they really want us dead." "How bad is it?" "You won't stand a chance. So leave him to me. Just fight everything else that gets past me. I'll make sure he won't." "Gotcha." Bracing themselves for another round, Tah-Zer-Ah stood her ground with James behind her at the top of the chapel steps, blades dripping with demon blood. A small selfish part of James' mind wanted to go home, to leave this struggle behind, but he swallowed it immediately as he snarled to himself, tightening his grip. The dark Argonian roared as her blade cut through heads and limbs, spindly legs and hulking thighs, blocking spells and spilling rivers of blood. James could only stare at the carnage this demonic creature was acting upon her own kind. He wondered what caused her to rebel, if she was one of them, but he was not sure. His thoughts were broken when he saw another Dremora knight drag himself up the steps with a limping leg.

James grinned at the relatively easy prey and charged towards him, but much to his dismay, he found that the demon was only faking it. Suddenly dodging the raptor, he ran up and into the chapel towards Dar-Ma, followed closely by James who slashed straight into his back. With a roar echoing throughout the chapel, the raptor pulled him back and threw him across the floor, not very far due to the weight of the beast's armour. But the Dremora got up with little damage done and swung hard towards James. He dodged backwards, watching the blade scrape off stone, before charging forwards and thrusting through what he saw to be the most dented part of the armour. It worked well enough to skewer halfway inside the Dremora, but not enough to send him down dead for the count as he swung his blade hard upon the raptor, who twisted away from the blow. Luckily he remembered his shoulderguard which protected him somewhat, but not enough to prevent his arm being given a terrible shudder of pain, making him scream and pull his scissors out before thrusting once more, skewering the beast dead before the pain turned too great in his arm. Shuddering hard, he walked back out to the chapel steps, to watch the carnage and keep his guard. His arm throbbed powerfully hard now, stinging with not only exhausting, but also pain. Things weren't going to get better when he saw a most unfortunate sight. The Xivilai had caught up to Tah-Zer-Ah, and the two began to battle. The humanoid was as tall as her, intimidatingly so with a terrible longsword to match hers. They duelled amidst the bodies of dozens of demons, the remaining ones standing aside to allow them to fight.

The Xivilai was clearly an expert warrior, wielding a two-handed sword in one hand alone, matching up to Tah-Zer-Ah as they swung blade upon blade. The two snarled at each swing, untold history burning in their eyes. Zer twisted her blade against the Xivilai, but his strength was enough to stand against her might, forcing it back and trying to cut her arm. She guarded strong, sweeping the leg once to try and trip up the ash-skinned demon, but he stood firm like an oak. The winged Argonian slammed her blade against her foe's, trying to force it off of him with pure strength, occasionally trying to trick him with surprisingly risky feints, such as spinning halfway to cut down at the legs, which worked successfully in slicing the knees open. But he was just as clever, matching up her techniques with a faking block before sliding the blade off and along hers, skewering her straight through the stomach. James tried his utmost best not to cry out, as Tah-Zer-Ah howled in anguish. This only served to tap into her latent fury, before she forced the blade out of her, tore it from the Xivilai's grip, and cut his legs off in a double swing. With the final blow of using both blades to cut the beast's head, she turned towards the horde, twice as dangerous. A snarl of painful rage dwelling within her, before she roared with the force of a storm at sea. The Daedra charged toward her weakened state. James was given some relief in the fact that they were all now focused on killing Tah-Zer-Ah, but she held her own, swinging two blades out to cleave, cross-slash, decapitate, sever and rend entire bodies apart, sometimes two at the same time.

James could barely make out half of the carnage that followed within the reddening mist, among the piling on of demons upon one beastly wounded Argonian. Black swords swung out from the chaos to cause another spurt of blood, the darkened form of Tah-Zer-Ah barely made out within and above the blood-streaked bodies, as she cut down one Daedra after another, amidst her own roars of pain and fury. Occasionally a demon was lucky to escape from the brutality of Zer, but only to end up falling at the hands of James, who made sure none survived the onslaught with a violent skewer through a crippled helmet. Soon, the horde stopped coming. The square was littered with infernal corpses, with only Zer left in the middle of it all, kneeling, blood dripping profusely from her belly. "Tah-Zer-Ah!" James ran down towards her but she pushed him back. "Get back. Go to her." "R-right, but-" "Do not worry about me! GO!" The raptor headed up the stairs towards the altar, where the orc priest turned towards him. Seed-Neeus kneeled beside the altar in prayer. James was clearly wounded with a limp, but he kept a brave face towards Dar-Ma's still form. "I-is she..." "She will be asleep for a good while." Replied the priest. "N-no..." "If the gods are merciful they shall cure her." "They better be. She doesn't deserve this." "The patrons of this church shall protect her," said Tah-Zer-Ah, slowly limping into the church. "They are obligated to do so." "W-what are you doing?" "It doesn't matter where I leave my body at this point." "Don't say that, you'll be okay!" "No I won't." From the look of her stomach cut open to the point of seeing the pulsating within, she was right. James shuddered as he tried to think what else to do. The battle was over, but had they won? He was nervous, and she sensed that. "We've won James. They will not return here." "But...what about Dar-Ma?" "Then we must wait, and see if the gods are merciful." "D-dammit...I...I can't think of her as...no I can't even, I WON'T even think of her like that!" "You must however prepare yourself for the possibility...and should she turn, you must be merciful upon her." "Wha-NO! I'd never kill her! NEVER!" "Then you will allow her to become a monster, roaming the lands of Cyrodiil, feasting upon mortals, her mother, you even?" "N-...no..." "Then you must ask yourself this James. What would she want? Would she want to live this way?" "I DON'T KNOW WHAT SHE WANTS! The only way I can ask her is to ask her when she wakes up, and by then she'll be something else!" "ENOUGH!" Seed-Neeus stood up with tears in her eyes. "This is my daughter you're talking about! If you want to debate about her future, you do so away from me." "...you're right." James nodded in apology. "I'm sorry...we're all praying for her." "Thank you." James moved away towards the chapel steps with a bleeding but still living Tah-Zer-Ah. She turned to him, clutching her stomach in one arm with a question in mind. "Tell me...you do not even know her that well, correct?" "N-no. I just met her like a few days ago." "Then...why are you risking your very life to save her?" "She reminds me of someone...someone I loved...someone very dear to me. I don't want to make the same mistake again. I don't care if I don't even know her, she doesn't deserve to die." "Do you love her?" "Why are you asking me this when you're bleeding to death?!" "Because that is not important. I do not fear death." "What?! You're some kinda suicidal warrior now?" "If I die, I will not be gone long. Where I come from, there are dark forces that have fuelled my blood for far longer than you may believe." "Huh...so...what now?"

She coughed hard with a bloody spittle forming in her lungs, heaving hard as the wounds caught up to her. "I...have a request." "What?" "I want you to...look after something...while you are here." "Look after what?" She merely pulled out her longsword, the terrible black blade from which no light ever glinted off its surface, handing it over to James. "But...I already have-" "I want you to look after it. For me. Until I return." "Why me?" "You...I can trust you with it until I return. Let us just say that." "But...you're dying." "Heh...I told you...I don't fear death. Dark forces keep me out of his reach." "So...you're not gonna die?" "I...think I'm abou-" She suddenly coughed another lungful, hacking a violent jet of blood onto the steps, shivering with each step closer to death. "Jesus...I can't do anything?" "You can only wait. Go to Dar-Ma...wait for her. If she recovers, I will see you soon. If she does not...I will see you sooner. But if she does not...then I hope you are prepared to do what is necessary." "I...I can't." "Then...pray for her..." Her eyes began to close, as her body began to hunch over, sitting upon the steps still as a gargoyle. Her hands turned limp, her wings closing behind her back as they turned stiff. Death had taken her at last. James merely held the sword in his hands, a cold aura about it sending chills down his spine. But with a promise intact, he kept it upon him as he walked back inside, placing a hand upon the shoulder of Tah-Zer-Ah's body.