A Soldier Trains

[Matthias]

Matthias had guessed there was something not human about the girl and as she sank into the water, his suspicions were confirmed. He looked at the stone in his hands again and sighed deeply. His family was gone and he had no hopes of them coming back and as much as he would love for them to, he couldn't help but believe the price would be too high.

"The gods lost a follower that day," he declared. "None of them shall ever see me at their alters." He hoped each and everyone of them had heard him. Turning towards the forest again, he set out to go back to town.

[Eris]

Eris narrowed her icy eyes, not only had he not come in...at least not yet...but he had the nerve to strike her temple. 'we'll see how he feels after spending time in the darkest part of the forest...' she outstreached her hand and called the darkness forth, spinning the forest around and changing all the landmarks that matthias may have seen on his way in. yeah it wasnt as evil as she could do but she wanted to see what he would do

she then looked to her guards that stood at the entrence "take a small group, well say five men and hunt him. lets see how good he really is" the men bowed thier heads and took off tword eris' armys location to fetch the men.

As they disapeared into the night a smirk crossed her lips once more then she called to all the dark creatures within to hunt him as well "run if you can " her voice was sudutive but cold, it carried through the forest and hoped to reach his ears

[Matthias]

Matthias had entered the forest and after a few moments in the forest, he found himself in a particularly dark area. He stopped for a moment to let his eyes adjust some before he carried on again. Walking past the trees, he had come back to a random arrangement of stones he had seen on the way in, but they were about ten feet off from where he was walking. Matthias had been certain he was on the right path, but must have miscalculated in his tirade of emotions.

He walked over to the stone and then began walking again in the direction he was sure he had come in. It wasn't until he had come across a thorn bush that he started to really question if he was going the right way. Trying to go around it was also proving a little difficult as he tried to hack of some of the branches and pass through, sustaining a few scratches in the process. He stopped to inspect the wounds and found himself bleeding a little, cursing to himself.

Stopping to look around, he realized nothing was familiar. Frowning, he tried to look up and see if he could see any hint of the sun, but the canopy of the forest was too thick. He had only one option now, pick a direction and walk. Going up to a tree, he examined the bark for moss and then decided to head south. He walked several paces before he stopped in his tracks to listen. He thought he might have heard something or someone following him.

[Eris]

**story teller mode**
As Matthias wandered around in the darkness, the creature stalked him as it was commanded, crackling sticks under its scaly feet and the shuffle of leaves could be heard. it peered at the man with four eyes, two for each head

a low growl came from the creatures lips then, matthias had cut himself and while he only bleed a little the smell of it filled the air fueling the beasts hunger so it crept closer to him trying to find his back and the perfect time to strike

[Matthias]

Matthias kept going, but that was until he heard a growl nearby. Drawing his sword in a quick and swift motion, he turned in the direction of the growl. He strained his vision to see what he was up against and saw two sets of eyes peering back at him. It was then he dropped down into a fighting stance and tried to assess his situation. He had his sword, his axe and was facing down a dragon. Not exactly favorable.

He began to pace slowly to the side, his eyes never leaving the hydra. The most practical and safe idea was to see if he could get out of the situation at hand, and decided to attempt that. He kept stepping to the side, slower and slower, trying to evade the animal. He made no sudden moves and dared not takes his eyes off of it. Before long he started to increase the distance between him and the creature, hoping it would not decide to charge.

[Eris]

Eris would smirk as she watched the events unfold, she laughed to herself when matthias tryed to back away from the beast as if that would work. "attack him" she commanded the hydra, it growled again and steped closer so much so that it could be seen clearly. it stood about seven foot tall, had two heads each with rows of sharp sharp teeth.

Growling low it circled around matthias snapping here and there, before the right head lunged forward attempting to bite the mans arm

[Matthias]

Matthias spun in a circle as the hydra encircled him, he sword drawn, waiting. As the two heads looked down intently, he looked back up, his face a visage of concentration. When the one head darted down to bit him, he dodged in another direction, combat rolling away, as far as he could anyway. This put him rather close to the beast, and instinctively he sliced at the hide, hoping to put a mark on it at least.

He then took a chance, hoping to catch the creature off guard, and rolled to no doubt duck from more bites and would try to end up right in front of the dragon. Taking his sword, he would try and plunge it into the creature's chest, hoping the old saying was true; a dragon's front is soft. If he managed, he would try and avoid the blood, as it is said the hydra has poisonous blood.

Matthias drew his axe with his other hand and would aim to throw it at the animal's right front foot, hoping to do significant damage and maybe distract the creature enough that he could pull away and make a break for it. It was too bad he didn't have some sort of fire. If he had, he could attempt to kill the bastard.

[Eris]

Growled loudly ducking the first attempt to strick across its hide but let out a roar as the blade was stabbed into its chest, the beast swung its heads flinging blood as it did. the beast wanted to flee as any beast would when wounded but he was commanded forth and so it tryed to swing its large clawed paw at the man attempting to cut across his midsection.

the beast roared again as matthias managed to get it in hits foot, the pain combined with the other injuries sent it running into the night

[Matthias]

Matthias held up his arm to shield his face when the creature flung blood everywhere, getting some on his arm, which he quickly wiped on his clothing. The spots where the blood landed tingled, but he was not worried yet. When the claws swiped at him, he did not move fast enough to dodge them completely, but had moved fast enough to keep it from being a fatal wound. Four gashes appeared on his chest and a moment or so later, he felt the hot and wet warmth of blood begin to saturate his clothing. He let out a scream of agony as the skin ripped and took a step back.

Luckily his second weapon had caused enough damage to the hydra that it was no longer in the mood to proceed and he watched it take off. He then looked down at his chest to examine the wounds and pried at the stinging lacerations long enough to see that it was deep, but not as deep as it could be... thankfully. Still, he needed to bandage himself as quick as he could. Taking off his tunic, he ripped it into strips and tried to tie it around himself as best as he could to stop the blood. It would work for now until he could get better bandages. He would then try to keep going and find his way back to town.

[Eris]

Eris sneered at how the hydra ran away, she had no use for weak creatures so with a snap of her finger the beast fell into oblivion. she sighed for a moment then that eternal smirk returned to her lips as she saw the blood flowing from his chest, not as much as she would have liked but if she wanted him dead she would have done so herself. Playing with a few strangs of her dark hair she continued to watch him venture further into the forest, she raised her hand once more and a hush washed over the darkness so that no sound at all could be heard, for some total silence is worse then the noice of birds and various unknown beasts.

she watched her men draw closer and closer to now wounded Matthias "you should have just gone into the temple ...." the words flowed from her lips to his mind should they make it she would echo it

[Matthias]

Matthias held a hand to his bleeding chest on instinct. He felt his hand grow sticky with the coagulating blood, but did not care. He just wanted to get the hell out of the forest. This probably would be the last time he ever set foot in it at this rate. He kept going and at one point he took a step and heard nothing but silence. He stopped to try and listen, but he heard nothing in the dark and dense forest, nothing but his own breathing. What the hell was going on? He wasn't certain. He then heard the words in his head. You should have just gone into the temple...

"Heh... horseshit," he told himself. "I will not be so quick to trust the likes of Her." He figured Eris might possibly be behind it all somehow, but every time the idea came up, he brushed it aside. He wasn't about to give any of the gods power over him. At one point he stopped to get his bearings and try to find something familiar, but all he managed to spot was five soldiers coming his way.

[Eris]

Eris would still hold her smirk watching, truth be told she got a little excited at the sight of his blood, so red, with a wave of her hand she commanded the men to proceed even though they had been spoted. she whispered to her men to not speak her name to the man...she had a plan

The men laughed in that usual cocky way they do, their weapons in hand they would draw ever so closer to him knowing they had the numbers to take im out but she didnt want him dead for some reason....

the first man lunged at Matthias with his sword attempting to strike his arm

[Matthias]

Matthias went to draw his sword again and managed to unsheathe it, block the first soldier and try to uppercut him with the other arm. He made a few more swings at the soldiers until one of his swings managed to pull the sword out of his sticky and slightly slick blood-soaked hand by centrifugal force. Watching his sword fly out of his hands, he cursed. He went to a small dagger for a moment, until he realized his chances were on the slim side. Sighing heavily, he help up his hands and looked at the soldiers.

"You win," he said. "Just get it over with. If you plan to slay me, let's go." He looked at them daringly, trying to almost coerce them. He had lost everything important to him. He had nothing more to lose in his eyes. Death did not scare him. Let them send him to the Underworld.

[Eris]

A cruel smile caressed Eris' lips as she watched, 'how interesting' she said to herself as matthias gave up and so easily too, she thought a man like him would at least go out in battle. The men sort of looked at him a moment as if hesitating then two men charged Matthias

Suddenly a dark smokey cloud appeared around them and they reached for their shoulder as if something was burning them, they all fell to the ground not moving. The smoke circled around them then started to draw to one place forming a figure...of a woman

The figure grew more solid as her features could be seen, her long flowing dark hair was lose around her face but the rest was up in a ponytail, she was tall and slinder, pale and very beautiful, her eyes were an icy blue as she looked at Matthias "do you welcome death so easily? " her voice cold but very sedutive. she looked to the men that layed there then back to him "i think you could have taken them" she smiled cyly then glanced to his bleeding "i see you have not come out of this unharmed though" she said as if she didnt know what had happened

"you know i am not your enemy...i think i showed that now" she motioned to the men

[Matthias]

Matthias had readied himself for the charge, but the men had stopped first. Watching them as they fell to the ground, he looked at the smoke and watched the female entity form. At this rate he could not claim that he was surprised to see such a sight. A little taken aback, maybe, though he did not show it. He showed nothing but indifference on his face.

"It does not matter to me if I die or not," Matthias spoke firmly. "If it comes, then it comes. Until then, I wait." He looked at the men that she motioned to and then looked back. "And yes, normally I probably could, but being mortal, I am entitled to a few mistakes I suppose. Losing my grip being one of them." He lifted his hand and held it up, palm out, showing the last of his blood drying up.

He then laughed at her remark about not being his enemy. "I don't really care. I am not here to make allies. I just want my peace and to be left to do what I do. Everything else has been taken from me. Are you so cruel as to strip a man completely of his freedom?"