What the fresh hell was she doing here? Nymeria wandered the desert lost and stung by whipping sand that shredded her clothes and cut her flesh leaving her to look like a flayed slave that had been left to die. Silver hair matted in large clumps, ivory skin cracked and bleeding, eyes dry…she looked as if she were one of the beasts summoned from this hellscape. The sun had set an hour ago, the heat bleeding from the environment leaving a blistering cold that threatened to steal the air from her lungs and leave her a frigid mummy to return to this earth as yet another incarnation. 

Not today Death, No, this day would not be the day that Dalanesca laid claim to her soul, did familiars have souls? Was she a familiar anymore at all? There was so much to ask the goddesses of life and death to leave this world in this way. 

Too much left unknown. 

Nymeria laid in tattered clothes on the biting sand, heat being pulled from her into the earth as she waited, calmly waited for the end of the sandstorm. It had turned her around, disoriented her from the goal of finding the source of this power. Already she had sensed the beasts, defeated two in the chaos of the storm, barely escaping with body and soul intact. She had whispered a prayer to the long gone deities of the world, knowing no others, finding her heart swell with the hope of a future. The promise of more. She pawed the sand, pulling herself forward as the will to go on filled her essence and drove her to stand. What was there, what was doing this? She called to the winds “What the hell is your problem!?” She cried out, using her innate air skills to push a bubble of protection out and around her token the beating sands from lashing her further. Rhylana had not been a healer, she had not been a woman of giving- but she had been of passion and that lived on in the spirit of her familiar. 

The passion to live, and to let others live in that. Whatever, whoever, was doing this was hurting the fragile world of mortals, the delicate world of men that demanded love. She could not let it stand, could not let it go forth that this person, this thing would drive such a painful wedge into this realm. No. They had to answer. As a beasts shadow came forth from the dust devils, a wall of flame pulsed out from Nymeria’s outstretched hands, willing her will to live into that fire and out into the realm of men, into that beast that dared trod here. 

There was a call for justice, a call for honor and what was right. Nymeria had found her calling; she had seen that passion within her heart: To hunt those that must be hunted, to drive them out and into the clutches of the damned.

The desert was vicious tonight… the winds howled and tore through the area with a vengeance. This place was unforgiving, as if it was alive and trying to stop all those who wished to pass through to stop the end of the world. Had the desert itself been infused with the dirty magic being used to bring about the end? Who knows… Crossing the desert headed to the cursed city walked a cloaked figure. The once white cloak has been battered and dirtied enough by the merciless desert to look to be a dirty tan as it was held tightly against the body of this lone wanderer as protection against the stinging winds and bitter cold. Clear blue eyes were just barely open to protect themselves from the unforgiving sands ripping through the air under the hood of the cloak which, somehow, hadn't been torn off of the wanderer' s head in the winds. Strands of white hair were visible as they danced in front of the eyes that looked across the seemingly endless desert, glancing every now and then up at the stars to confirm the direction. The beasts had seemed restless tonight as Kyoya pressed forward in the direction of the city. The high winds had really slowed him down, the progress he had made wasn't what he had hoped, and he knew by morning he would be tired but with the weather as it was, a rest was pretty much out of the question. Moving forward was slow, but it could be worse! He could be losing distance. He tried to keep his hopes up that he would make it to the city, or at least the outpost eventually. He would grab a quick rest when he got there before going to help clear out the undead and prevent the end from coming…. or die, either way he was going to make it past this desert nothingness. Glancing once more at the stars something not far off caught his eye, fire. Not normal fire either, but fire used as a combat measure. Something was happening over there, and he was going to find out. He started running, letting the hood of the cloak fly back and the front fly open as he no longer held it closed from the winds. Soon he came upon a tattered looking woman fighting off some of the night beasts. She looked to have been through hell, had she not prepared properly to cross a desert? Either way she was in a fight and as he watched he noticed a creature attempting so sneak up from behind her. This is such a cliche move. He thought as he withdrew a spear from inside his cloak…. don't ask how it fit without being noticed…. she stopped running and quickly calculated for the wind speed and the force he would need before letting his spear fly, cutting through the wind like a knife as it approached in an arc from the left. He misses his mark but still managed to hit the beast ….where the sun doesn't shine….causing it to call out in pain, at least notifying the homeless looking woman that something was behind her as he rushed to her aid. He didn't really need to rush seeing as she had burnt the pack of beasts to a crisp but he did anyways, it had been a while since he had seen a living person and the thought of meeting one out here seemed like a gift from the gods. The wind didn't seem to be having an effect on the woman and for a moment that alone held his thoughts as he just stared at her curiously in silence. He removed his spear from the beast and tucked it away under his cloak some how… and smiled even as the winds threatened to tear his face off. It was then that he finally managed to notice the state of her attire. Basically none existent as it was torn to shreds. A look of panicked embarrassment crossed his face as his cheeks reddened and he looked away. He look off his cloak quickly and held it out inches in front of her face. "By the gods you're basically naked, put this on please!" He said loudly to be heard over the wind. The moment he had taken off the cloak his personal of weaponry seemed to appear upon him. Not only was a spear attached to his back but an Arriese glaive and hunting bow. At his hip on the left was an unremarkable sword and to his right a dagger. How he had held all those unnoticed under a cloak was unknown… maybe magic…. anyways! He kept his eyes looking off into the distance, his face red as a tomato as he asked, "What are you doing out here alone? Are you headed to Aysut or Aestas?" He then also grabbed his canteen off his belt and held it out, she seemed to have been unprepared for the desert so he had just assumed she might be thirsty….

Curse these sands, the gods that made them and the gods that maintained them. Curse them all to the seven hells. Nymeria was growling, eyes alight with power as she panted, the battle had died down, the beasts that the sands had summoned gone as fast as they had come. Before her, the sands cleared, the storm ebbing as she doubled over in a coughing fit, spitting sand from her mouth as bile rose up. She had not been intended for this life; she had not been meant to be a weak humanoid that fought with lungs that were too small and limbs that offered little more than dexterity. 

Something moved off to the left. Her heart racing once again as the threat drew near. A weapon…something flew past her face and struck home in the corpse of a ghoul that fell where it stood leaving only a young man before her. “What…”

She met the eyes of the boy, young and imposing who seemed to blush as he swore over her nudity. “I…had not intended to be caught by the storm,” she said, dropping the winds that swirled around her scarcely clad body. Accepting the cloak, Nymeria merely nodded her gratitude, noting that the enchantment seemed to fade from the other’s weapons. “I…did not intend to be caught by the storm,” she said again, as if ashamed she had been caught unawares, hell, she could have shifted through it…to have ridden the currents and survived.
But she had forgotten.
“I came seeking the power out here, seeking to know what was driving the world mad. What brings you out here, aside from rescuing damsels in distress.” She asked incredulously, her eyes burning a hole into the others. Who was this man to spear a target behind her, to presume to know her so well as to demand she cover her body…to eye her so? 

Thankfully she accepted his cloak and covered herself. He let out his breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding and looked away from the roaring sands to her. He nodded in understanding and said, "If you plan on traveling through a desert, always be prepared for the worst even if it's not likely to happen. It's the same principle as a weapon. It's better to have one and not need it than to need it and not have one." He let out an awkward laugh before continuing, "Sorry for seeming all preachy, I don't really mean to it's just… well you're the first person I've seen in quite a while so I guess I'm a bit out of practice being social and all that." 

He watched her carefully as she explained her purpose, nodding every now and then as he searched her face for any hint of lies, for all he knew she cpuld be aligned with that lich priest that he had heard rumors about being the one behind all of this.

When it was his turn to answer some questions he couldn't hold her gaze as she was staring so intensely that it made him uncomfortable. Even when not looking into her eyes he could feel the intensity and shifted from one foot to the other as if trying to shake himself free from the feeling. He distracted himself by answering, "I'm doing pretty much the same thing.  I'm headed to the Aestas outpost first for a short rest then headed into the cursed city of Aysut to do what I can in defeating the horde of undead I've heard are there guarding something that a lich priest is using to try and summon, I think they said it was like an ancient god or something. Anyways I hear he's supposed to bring about the end if the world if summoned or something so I figured hey why not help out. I mean it's not like I'm out to be the hero or anything. I highly doubt I'll be much help in the end game but, it'd be nice to…. you know….. do something…" he finished, rambling on a bit at the end there, still feeling quite awkward around this stranger. 

Hoping it might help ease the strangeness he held out his hand and said, "I'm Kyoya, even though it's not under the best of circumstances, it's a pleasure to meet you.  Anyways, seeing as we are going to the same place, want to go together? I could watch your back for you so no more of those dark spawn could try sneaking up from behind."  Whether she would accept his offer or not he looked up at the stars. They were a little hard to see with all the sand being blown about in this wind storm but he could still make them out. Finding the star he was looking for he looked down from the heavens and pointed off slightly to the right and said, "It's that way." He started off in that direction, hoping his clothes would fair better than hers had in this storm. He wouldn't ever be able to show his face in public again if he ended up prancing about in the desert half naked like this woman had been.