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What are you waiting for?
Zasch stood observantly at the mouth of the cave some time later, Alais hovering around him curiously. He had followed the trail here after it had doubled back, and now he stood not far from his quarry. He spared a glance to Alais, and her sweet whisper came again.
"I can travel the plains and ask for Kallista or Muriel to aid you."
Shaking his head slightly, and went about setting up a quick ritual that would allow him to see in the darkness of the cave. In less than a minute an opaque black ball had formed in his hands, and floated just over his right shoulder. Zasch drew out his blade, and motioned for Alais to follow him.
As he entered the cave, the dark ball did it's job, shedding everything within thirty or so feet in dim light, though in varying shades of gray. Zasch was still for a moment, allowing himself time to adjust to the change in coloration, and started forth.
Alais hovered somewhere above him, blinking between the stalagtites that clung to the ceiling, the Wisp keeping herself from view. Zasch halted immediately and crouched low to the ground, noting the bones of some creature nearby the entry to one of the cave's chambers. Caustiously, Zasch crept towards the remains, and softly shuffled them around. Despite several moments of examination, there was no way for him to tell how recently the beast had been slain.
Continuing forward, Zasch fell into a more cautious approach, allowing his mind to wander slightly, wondering if perhaps he would have been better off to have requested intructor Muriel's accompanyment on this trek. Brief glances at the floor suggested that there were more than one creature calling this place home, and his intructor's aid would have been welcome. It would have been another blade in case things didn't work out as well as he hoped.
His mental connection to Alais flaired to life suddenly, I sense something ahead... something alive.
Zasch came to an immediate halt, and drew his khopesh, and activated his wards. He quietly pressed against a wall, and crept forward a step at a time, letting patience take him over, he had plenty of time to spare. Leaning just slightly, Zasch peaked his head into the next of the cave's chambers, and found a hunched over human and thre wolves fighting over a recent kill. The wolves were distracted, gnawing at some recent recent meal.
Quietly Zasch leaned back in his cover, and gritted his teeth. It wouldn't be an easy fight with so many opponents against him, but at the same time, the lycanthrope wasn't in its form. Zasch looked up for Alais, and caught her blinking around near the opening of the chamber beyond. She halted when she sensed his gaze, and opened her mind to him.
"What is it?" she asked into his mind, her mental voice very much like that of the one in which she spoke.
Zasch responded calmly, "We need to wait. I want to make certain we have the complete advantage of surprise."
"And what shall we do in the mean time?" she asked, blinking occasionally, moving mere inches from one spot to another.
"We wait."
Zasch half-closed his eyes, trusting Alais to warn him of any activity from the wolves or their lycanthrope pack leader. His mind wandered to the White Lotus Academy, and he allowed his thoughts to settle on his training with Instructor Muriel. He allowed a smile as the memory of his first encounter with the Eladrin woman came hauntingly back.
She challenged all of the first year student body at once to a duel. With her bare hands and magic she had subdued everyone but him. Even to his own shock, Zasch had taken her beating, and was still standing to face her. Every year, a new student was tricked into asking her about the scar on her temple, the only mar against her Eladrin beauty. As she stared down the only student still standing, she touched her scar as if in some deep memory, and it was in that instant that Zasch learned the secret of her scar.
That same moment, when she struck at him, she gained a new scar, one that only she and Zasch knew about. It flooded quickly throughout the Academy from student to instructor that a new student had kept their footing against Instructor Muriel. Many had become wary of Zasch, and Instructor Muriel had quickly become Zasch's first friend, and most trusted.
Then there were those students that had become ever more curious and intrigued about Zasch DeCarden, students like Kallista. He physically winced as his mind wandered to the strange girl that had taken a keen interest in him. Some how she had known from the beginning that he was a dhampyr, a mortal with the blood of a vampire in their ancestry. It was late one night when she confronted him that she had confided in him her own demonic blood.
"Zasch, the lycanthrope has taken form, and the wolves have run out of the chamber," Alais' voice echoed sharply in his mind, drawing Zasch to immediate awareness.
Khopesh in hand, Zasch carefully rose to his feet, just as the lycanthrope began to leave the chamber. It was large, with corded muscles, razor sharp teeth in its snout, and covered dark, thick fur. It's claws looked as sharp as Zasch's sword, and gleamed in the nearly invisible light of Zasch's dark orb.
As the werewolf stepped past Zasch's hiding space, Zasch stepped out behind it, glaring down at the creature's back. The lycanthrope halted, sensing Zasch's presence behind it, and it whirled, glaring at him hatefully with glowing red eyes. It snarled in Zasch's face. Zasch was an unwelcome visitor.
Zasch held the beast's vile glare, and took his stance, "I've slain demons of the Abyss, still wish to match my blade?"
