The streets run red (Durzo and Faylinn)

Durzo had never seen so much death in his life and he had lived more lives than anyone in the entire world could boast, he thought. He was immortal after all and had lived through the lifespans of many men. But he had never seen a disease that killed so quick.

But he had to work.

So he had left his young apprentice in one of his safe-houses, working on his aim with the crossbow. Sure the kid was only ten summers at most but he needed to learn this shit.

His target had been in the countryside and Durzo was taking the chance to enjoy some of the scenery as he wandered back towards one of the outlying villages just outside of the city itself. It was mostly woodland but there was a good hundred or so strong population here.

Or there was.

Right now he couldn't see a single person just... just a lone corpse in the middle of the road. Eyes narrowing, Durzo spread his talent to his eyes to better see living things. Finding only one, in the forest, he decided to investigate,

"Hello?" He called out to the forest, "I know you're there... what happened here?"

Faylinn was a wood sprite, residing in the cherry trees in the nearby forest.

The town around her home was small but it was plenty busy enough for her to live peacefully and enjoy herself at the same time.

There was a perversion though, spreading throughout nature and she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was or how in fact it had come to be so instead of residing in her tree form as many of her other friends were doing, she was about in the world attempting to find out what was happening and how she might stop it if she could.

It was clear to her now though, there was no stopping this. The town had been killed in mere minutes, and that was only with a small population this new virus would spread so swiftly amongst the bigger towns and cities nobody would have a chance.

Hearing someone nearby she stalked out from behind her tree, in bare feet, her slender white limbs were barely covered by her floating pink and white dress. It was light and easy to move in, not much protection from those monsters out there.

"Everybody is dead." she murmured "The virus, has consumed them all! You had better leave, and quickly too, before they find you." Faylinn whispered as she hopped over sharp twigs and rocks to reach the man "They have become, the undead and make others they infect too that way!"

Durzo's hands moved ever so slightly and to most people it would seem that he had just been a bit surprised. But what he had actually been doing was sliding two small poisoned knives in the palms of his hands, ready to throw at a moment's notice. But it seemed that the young woman was unarmed and she freely came out to speak to him.

He clipped the knives back into place inside his sleeves.

He frowned a little bit and looked around the town. One disease had managed to wipe out the population of a small town in the time it had taken him to kill one count? That said something. Either about how badly his skills were degrading or how fast the disease acted. And considering he was still the best, it said a lot about the disease,

"They all died from the disease? What about you? Why aren't you affected by it?" He asked her before frowning deeper, "Undead? Like those monster made up of people that the North-men use?"

Nyos he hoped not! Those things were hard to kill that was for damn sure. He shook his head,

"What about the city? I need to get back into the city."

Faylinn blinked a little bit and she looked at the man that had come to speak to her, she didn't get a very good vibe from her however she thought she might just be a little bit on edge about what had happened before. What she had heard and what she had witnessed.

The man did not seem to know an awful lot about the disease and she was all too happy to tell him about it, she didn't want to see more death in her lifetime, seeing her home village die was quite enough for her. There were many things she didn't know about the virus but being in touch with nature, she could sense the disturbances from it.

"You have to be bitten, or ingest some of an infected person's substances like blood or saliva." she whispered "I stayed within my forest while the attacks were happening...I couldn't do anything to help them."

Gasping softly, Faylinn gently began to step closer to the man, holding her hand out; "Be very quiet, and very still." she whispered "They are behind you, we should hide."

Even thinking about what happened to the small town she nodded her head, it would be for the best to actually go and warn them about what was happening, to seal them off before these things could get there and cause this much havoc;

"We need to warn the cities, I don't believe its travelled much farther but it will do...we must travel faster than those things."

Durzo had never heard of a disease like this one but then again a lot of people had never heard of magical balls of liquid metal that gave the possessor amazing powers. Much less knowing that one such liquid metal ball gave true immortality and mastery over all forms of magic and Talent. He chuckled a little bit,

"This is... a tad surreal." He told her with a small frown, "I mean... how can this even work? Surely it has to..."

He trailed off when he heard footsteps behind him.

She was saying they were behind him? That was impossible! He was still using his talent to search for anything living in the area and it was only coming back with him and Faylinn. Turning, he saw that the corpse that had been in the middle of the road was now staggering every so slowly towards them... with one arm completely missing,

"Nyos..." He muttered quietly before nodding to her, "In a minute... I have to check something."

Throwing a poisoned knife at the corpse, he frowned when nothing happened. Getting a bigger knife, he threw it and hit the heart... no response. He swallowed a little bit before pulling out another knife and pausing before throwing it at the thing's head. As soon as the knife went into the skull the creature slumped loudly to the ground, dead again,

"Okay I'm believing the undead part now." He told her honestly before nodding in agreement, "I need to get back to the city as soon as possible... my apprentice is in there."

He cared about Kylar but he stuffed the emotion down and instead added,

"And it would take years to train someone to the same standard."

Faylinn nodded her head and she thought that it too was a tad surreal she didn't want to know how the mechanics of the disease worked she just wanted to stop it and stop it fast. Gritting her teeth when she saw the one on the road beginning to stagger to life, she thought she was going to have to act fast before it drew the attention of others in the area with its growls.

"No no..." she whispered "We need to leave now it's going to draw more..."

As he continued regardless, Faylinn frowned and crossed her arms over her chest she didn't want to actually have to drag the man away but there was nothing else that she could do if he decided to make more noise than he was right now.

The sounds of the weapons, followed by the sound of the body hitting the floor was enough, and dozens more of the undead shuffled out of the town towards the source of the noise. They approached the forest, they were going to be becoming a problem but Faylinn focused her magic, lifted her hand up swiftly, and the roots of the nearby trees impaled the undead upon them not killing them but rendering them unable to advance further.

"Alright, I will travel with you to the city." she murmured "We must travel swiftly, there is no time to waste, you know the way better than I but I suggest that we stick to the wooded areas, the main paths will be too overrun with these undead for us to continue unhindered."

He chuckled a little bit sheepishly when she was proven to be right. Killing the one had made enough noise for more to appear. Of course it helped him realise that they still had a sense of hearing it seemed. If they had any others... well he wasn't too sure about that to be honest. But for now, knowing that they had to be quiet would be useful enough.

They were... okay they were quite fast if he was honest.

Thankfully though they still seemed to be rather confused about where abouts they were,

"Okay they're looking like they're pretty fast for sick people..." He muttered in annoyance, "Why does this kind of shit always happen to me?"

When they fell back into the forest he was already thinking about potential hiding spots and ambush points... when he heard the groan of moving wood and suddenly the footsteps stopped. He turned and saw them all impaled on wood. He turned to Faylinn, staring at her suspiciously,

"You never told me you were a mage..." He told her with a small frown, "What the hell was that? You can control plants?"

He had to admit that she had a point. The main roads would be clogged up with the dead, the dying and the living. And all of them trying to make it to the city if he was honest with himself. And the city was a prime example of over-crowding at it's worst. If they got in there... there would be thousands of them within hours,

"Alright, we need to put some distance between us and any others around us." He told her before kneeling down, "Climb onto my back."

Faylinn shook her head, her heart racing as she looked at the people she had impaled she was trying to ignore the way that they were still trying to come at her, they were still snarling and clawing at the wood around them trying to reach both her and the man that she was travelling with. Biting her lip she turned away and she wandered further into the woods, drawing energy from the trees.

"And I as well." she sighed "Sometimes I wish that I could just stay in my forest and ignore all of these problems for as long as I can. You humans really can be troublesome sometimes."

When he looked at her with such suspicion in his eyes she couldn't help but be a little bit upset at that fact, she had helped him all she could since they had met a mere few minutes ago and he was berating her because she hadn't told him that she was a mage straight away. She wasn't even a mage! God how ignorant.

"I am not a mage." she fumed "Even if I was I don't even know your name nor do you know mine, randomly proclaiming that I am a mage would have seemed rather odd do you not think?" Faylinn asked with a small pout.

Blushing when he asked her to climb onto his back, Faylinn did so, wrapping her legs around his hips like a little monkey would do and resting her head on his shoulder;

"I'm Faylinn, nice to meet you." she introduced herself with a little laugh "Let's make it to that city and save your apprentice while we still have time."

So Durzo was currently travelling with someone who had the same kind of luck he did when it came to this kind of thing? That was just a recipe for disaster and he didn't care he knew about it. He chuckled instead of moaning in despair though. He had to keep his head up, otherwise he would be blindsided by their combined bad luck,

"Then we are perhaps terrible travelling companions." He joked a little bit before he hummed slightly, "A nice little thought isn't it? To be completely away from people and the rest of the world... it's possible. But it's no way to live, trust me."

So she could use the Talent but she wasn't a mage.

Well that actually made her a heck of a lot more dangerous to him to be honest. If she was a wetboy then that was bad but if it turned out she was something else then that was even worse. Anything created by his old friend would know about the little secret he kept after all,

"Sorry but when a person uses strong magic it tends to be the first conclusion you jump to." He told her before shaking his head slightly, "I'd ask what you are if not a mage... but we're burning daylight here and I don't want to risk running in the dark."

Making sure that she was secure, he gritted his teeth as he pooled his Talent in his legs,

"Nice to meet you... I'm Durzo Blint." He told her with a grin, "Now hold on or you're going to go flying off my back at a rate of knots."

With a surge of his Talent they were off, running at speeds that made the surrounding countryside blur around them. Arriving at the edge of the road, he noticed that it was swamped with those things. And they needed to cross... grinning, he jumped right onto one of their heads before jumping to another, using them as stepping stones and crossing to the other side of the road in less than five seconds and six jumps.

Arriving in a clearing, he set her down with a grin,

"You okay?"

Faylinn smiled happily when he seemed to be a lot nicer than she had thought when she first met him, it appeared as if both of them had been through a lot in the last hour or so and they were more than a little frazzled by the revelation that this disease was real and it was spreading faster than either of them would have liked.

"Strong magic?" she asked with a blush "Why sir that was nothing." Faylinn smirked wolfishly "But I am a sprite, a magical woodland spirit, I live in that forest we just left. I simply don't correct people normally when they assume I am a mage, explaining what a sprite is is too time consuming to be bothered with."

Gripping around his neck stronger so she wouldn't fall off, Faylinn nodded her head; "Go ahead, I'm ready." she whispered.

She did not really want to see the undead again but she knew that she would have to, she knew that she would have to. She needed to be strong to fight and help the others defend the cities, which was the first city? Faylinn had spent too long in the forests and not interacting with society.

"Yes yes I'm fine." Faylinn murmured, hopping down and smoothing her dress back down with a happy grin "Let's get to your city. Lead the way for I do not know it."

Durzo skidded to a stop in front of the tunnel entrance, annoyed that it had taken the two bashers as long as it had to actually notice him. He waved the two of them off when they went for their swords and instead helped Faylinn to step off of him carefully. He grinned at her,

"So... not a bad way to travel?" He barked a laugh before waving for her to follow him, "Follow me then Faylinn... we have to talk to the most important people in this city. The ones who can get things done."

When the bashers went to stop her from joining him he threw two poisoned needles and both of them slumped, unconscious, against the walls within seconds. Humming, he guided her through the tunnel. Thanking it best to warn her, he glanced back at her,

"Just be aware... you're about to meet the sa'kage." he told her simply, "They are a council who run all manner of crime in this city. They are the real power in the city and in the country."

He paused before turning to her just as they reached a door,

"With that in mind..." He smirked, "Try not to offend them."

Opening the door, he noticed that the shinga and the rest of the council looked rather, understandably, stressed. The shinga growled,

"Speak Blint."

Durzo raised an eyebrow before nodding to Faylinn,

"This is Faylinn, from an outlying village... and she has to tell you about the nature of the disease in our streets."

Faylinn was getting rather attached to Durzo it must be said, it was hard not to get attached to the guy because she was riding on his back having to talk to him all the way while they rode back to the city that he needed to get to. It was quite a long way from where she was from and she enjoyed seeing the sights fly by her on the way.

Nodding softly, Faylinn gulped, she was a sprite who hadn't been in the presence of people for years and years and here she was being told to mind her tongue against some of the most powerful people in the biggest city she had ever seen.

No doubt they would strike her down without question if she offended them.

"I will ah...try my best." she murmured, pushing her pale hair away from her face, so as to show proper respect by showing all of her features "I'd like to think I have a sweet tongue between my lips but we shall see about that."

Nodding her head when she was introduced she stepped forwards, bowed, and then spoke in a quiet and measured voice so that she wouldn't be thought of as rude.

"This disease, is of an unnatural source. It has been created by the hands of man that I know and can attest to. It spreads with bites, with bodily fluids with someone who has been infected and in the poor parts of the city it will spread like wildfire. My whole town was decimated within minutes, all of them turned into the undead. The city needs to shut its walls, if a few of these things enter, the disease will spread so quickly it will fall."

Durzo chuckled a little bit. To be honest, as long as she didn't do anything massively offensive he would be able to defend her against any retribution so she didn't really have to worry all that much. He had not just run through legions of the undead and over almost a dozen miles, just to be told that he had to kill her or something equally as stupid,

"Don't worry, you'll do fine." He assured her with a grin before smirking a little bit and patting her on the back slightly, "I don't think I should comment on that one."

He watched as the sa'kage seemed to consider her for a moment before Momma K nodded and the rest of the sa'kage fell in line after the Mistress of Pleasures. Of course they didn't much like the idea that this was man-made. One of the members growled,

"Damn mages! I bet it was they who made this damned plague!" He hissed angrily, "I demand retribution against those bastards!"

The shinga growled louder,

"SILENCE." He roared. When everyone was quiet he turned back to Faylinn and Durzo, "I would think that prudent."

Durzo stiffened when the shinga continued,

"How do we kill these undead?"

Faylinn found strength in the encouragement from Durzo, she liked that she had someone with her to back her up despite being centuries old she wasn't used to being in a room full of important people she was used to being in a forest full of lovely animals and the occasional hunter or child. Never in a room full of people capable of such violence against her.

But his words reassured her and she was happy to continue her advice based on what she had seen when her town had become overrun with the undead.

When the leader, or who she assumed was the leader, obviously said that her advice was going to be best, she preened a little bit, happy that they had taken what she had said to heart despite the fact that they did not like what they were hearing. Knowing nature, being able to commune with it, Faylinn was certain that this was no natural disease, it had been created.

"We can only kill them by assaulting the head, removing it, or causing it severe trauma is the only thing that can kill them. They can be incapacitated by spearing to the ground or severing limbs but they will keep attempting to attack even after this." Faylinn informed, her tone was soft and light, like the breeze wafting through trees.

Bowing her head Faylinn murmured; "I do not know more about the disease than that I am afraid other than the fact these undead are swift, as swift as humans if not faster, and they are fuelled by a most powerful anger, a rage. They are attracted to loud noises especially, and often one will attract a bigger number."

Durzo could see that Faylinn had done a very good job of making sure that all of the sa'kage knew about what this disease was capable of. She was doing wonderfully, which was very strange considering her rural background and lack of interaction with people either this powerful or this evil. He was suitably impressed that was for damn sure!

The sa'kage muttered amongst themselves about the information and the shinga nodded,

"Thank you for your information Faylinn, you have assisted us greatly." He told her before humming slightly, "Now we have some information for the two of you."

One of the members, the Master of Coin, scowled darkly as he looked down at the two of them with distain,

"You're too late." He hissed, "The disease has already entered the warrens... we're taking steps to destroy the bridges from the warrens to the rest of the city. But from now onwards the warrens are lost to us."

Durzo's throat ran dry.

Kylar was in the warrens!

The warrens was the poorest district and it was massively over-crowded. There were literally thousands of people crammed into a small part of the city. The disease was likely rushing through it like wildfire! The shinga looked down at the two of them,

"You two will remain in our custody. You are experienced with the undead." He explained, signalling some bashers to come, "Take them away."

Four massive men came to take Durzo and Faylinn away. Durzo turned to Faylinn,

"Do you want to go with them?" He asked before whispering, "Because I'm not..."

Faylinn gasped when she heard that the disease had already entered the smaller, poorer part of the city and she didn't know what to do about that at all! There was nothing to be done but try and get the most people out as they could and kill as many of those things as possible, prevent them from infecting more people.

They were suggesting that it was their fault because they didn't get here fast enough! It was not their fault at all they should have been more adept at protecting their city!

When they said that they were going to remain with them, like they weren't going to be given a choice, Faylinn backed away slowly, she didn't like the sound of that at all. Her eyes widened and glistened with fear because she was trapped in this unknown city environment, all the way from her forest and she was going to be kept here against her will?

Seeing the four massive men coming for them, Faylinn's mouth popped open and she hid behind Durzo. She didn't want them touching her and hauling her away;

"No I don't." she squeaked "Not one bit!"

Durzo wanted to get the fuck out of this room right now.

Of all the people on the sa'kage, the one person he expected to always be on his side was Momma K but here she was against him. She was the real shinga and the fake wouldn't dare say anything that she didn't approve of. So right now one of his only friends was deeming it both necessary and wise for him and his new friend to be detained.

Fuck that.

When the bashers came closer he placed a hand on the handle of Retribution, feeling it burning with pure intent as he touched it. His sword was an instrument of judgement and of justice and right now it demanded their deaths. When she squeaked the she didn't want to go with the bashers he nodded and pulled her gently to stand behind her,

"Alright then." He declared before pausing and asking, "Please don't look."

The basher charged at him... and without moving from his spot, Durzo dismembered them before decapitating them. Wiping his sword clean as the sa'kage fled, he smirked a little bit and turned back to her, commanding her whole attention so as to keep he from looking at the bodies,

"There we go..." He grinned, "No jails for us eh?"

Picking her up bridal style, he channelled Talent to his legs and took off, racing through the tunnels to find the tunnel entrance to the warrens. With a super-enhanced kick, he broke the door down and it flew through the air. Jumping onto a roof, he set her down and watched as thousands of people surged through the streets in seemingly random directions. He whistled,

"Fuck... any ideas on how to get into an alleyway without being eaten or trampled?"

Faylinn happily complied with her new friend Durzo when he asked her to stand behind him and she did so, closing her eyes as he asked her not to look. She didn't know what he had planned but it couldn't be anything worse than she had seen when the town had been taken over or...could it? She didn't know much about her new friend but she knew his heart, and his heart was good.

"I wont, I promise." she whispered softly and kept her eyes closed until he next spoke to her, allowing them to flutter open so her purple glittering eyes could lock onto Durzo's "Jail isn't good for sprites, no trees you see." she smiled softly.

Wrapping her arms around his neck Faylinn blushed softly as he carried her, she didn't need to be carried but she was barefoot it was quite nice to have someone look after her like this. She wanted to be able to pay him back at some point however. It wouldn't do to have her in his debt for too long.

As her eyes looked at the people below. The sheer amount of them running fleeing from the infected made her heart hurt. If only they had gotten here earlier they might have prevented all of these deaths.

"Yes." she grinned, allowing her fingers to twist in the air, Faylinn concentrated on her magic, manipulating the seed within the gutters of various small houses to create vines, vines that they would be able to swing on to get to where they needed to go.

"Here, grab a vine, and take the lead, I'll make new ones wherever you need to swing to." she explained with a soft smile, before waiting for Durzo to swing away, creating vines for the both of them from gutters when needed as both of them travelled through the skies to where they needed to be.

Durzo could imagine that jail wouldn't be good for sprites for a number of reasons. A sa'kage prison even less so! What with it's frequent rapes and beatings as well as a distinct lack of anything green. No chance in hell of seeing a tree around there,

"Yeah I can tell you now it would have broken you." He admitted with a small shrug, "I've had it done to me a few times... jail and all that. Not too bad for me but then again, I'm not a fragile little sprite like you my dear."

She had an idea as to how to get through that throng of people down there? Well now that was something he was going to have to remember.

Vines.

She expected him to swing on vines? His reputation would be shot all to hell! But... to be fair it was going to be a quick method. And it wasn't like anyone was really going to be paying close attention to him. He held onto the first vine,

"So... this can take my weight right?" He joked a little bit before taking a deep breath, "Well then... follow me!"

Swinging through the warrens by vine was... weird for lack of a better word. But very soon they landed with a soft thud in an deserted alleyway. He gestured for her to kneel down,

"Keep quiet..." He urged her as he went about disarming his own traps, "After this we need to escape the city right?"

Faylinn could tell that Durzo did not particularily like the idea of swinging on vines to get away from the people on the ground however she hoped that he would just use the method that she had thought up for him because it was going to be the safest and quickest method of getting them to the place where they needed to be.

"Of course it can." she gasped softly "Don't worry about that these are the strongest vines that nature can make, I don't want you falling now."

When she was swinging through the air, Faylinn was happy, more than that she was happy because she was with nature for a little bit and she drew strength from it while she could. There was no knowing when she would come across another tree or something similar.

Landing with a soft thump, Faylinn looked around while Durzo fiddles with the door, she was keeping very quiet, very still and crouching low to the ground in order to avoid being detected, she wasn't moving and her calf muscles were strained with the tension of her keeping her legs bent.

"Yes we need to escape the city before they shut the bridges." she whispered "We need to get to the next city and warn them of what is going to happen, we can't let this spread any further. On the bright side this place doesn't look like the infected have been in, so your apprentice should be safe." Faylinn reassured with a soft smile.

Durzo had been sceptical but it appeared that the vines could indeed hold his weight. Good thing too seeing as by the time he had thought to test it he was already flying through the air holding tightly onto a vine before almost suicidally throwing himself from one to the next one, praying to every god out there that he would catch the next one.

He turned to her with a very serious face,

"I am never doing that again." He told her with a slight shudder, "That was... that was just mad! Next time we do something like that, we pick the less insane option okay?"

He nodded his head,

"If it comes to it we can leave the city even with the bridges burnt... knowing the sa'kage they'd be too stupid to sink the boats for starters." He admitted before humming, "Either that or he's been very stupid and left or something."

The door opened and Durzo immediately pushed Faylinn down as a crossbow bolt flew through the air. He growled a little bit,

"It's me you little shit!"

The crossbow clattered to the ground and Durzo stepped inside... only to pause,

"You might want to stay outside Faylinn." He warned her as he saw Kylar in the middle of the main room, dozens of little bodies laid all around him, each either no head or a crossbow bolt in the forehead. And Kylar was there, covered in blood and crying. He swore slightly, "His old guild... his old friends."

Kylar threw himself at Durzo, hugging his waist as he cried his eyes out. Even though it was Durzo, all the man could do was allow the boy the hug, resting a comforting hand on his head.

Faylinn pouted softly and flipped her hair;

"It was a perfectly viable option and I don't like the fact you keep referring to my magic ways as insane." she stated in an upset tone "It's saved our bacon twice now after all."

When a crossbow came flying towards her Faylinn couldn't help but make an 'oof' sound as she was shoved to the floor by Durzo, it wasn't a particularly gentle gesture but it was better than being dead or having a crossbow bolt in the middle of a limb or something like that so she didn't complain about them it at all.

The suggestion that she stayed outside was one she was going to heed before she heard shrieks and growls coming from the street just off the alley they were in and so she stepped inside to ask the boys to step on it when she saw why Durzo wanted her to stay outside.

"Oh my." she whispered, closing her eyes and covering them with her hands before opening her eyes and peeking through a gap in her fingers "Oh dear..."

Slowly she gave Kylar an embrace as well, humming softly to him to try and comfort him, sprites were quite good at comforting because they were very good singers, and could calm people with their songs. So that was why she decided to hum to him, the loudest sound she could care to make right now.

"Durzo, we need to go they're on the street outside." she murmured "Go, get what you need I'll stay with Kylar."

Gently she tilted the boys chin up to look into her twinkling purple eyes;

"Its going to be okay Kylar, we're going to get out of here in no time. I promise. I'm Faylinn by the way pleasure to meet you." she grinned.