The forest was lush, thick, and it was almost unbearably humid. The heat was easily in the 30's, and there was a lot of moisture in the air. Meaning the atmosphere was almost oppressive. Not that that would stop him. Not right now. He was on a mission, and he knew time was precious and limited. He didn't even know if he was too late already, but he had to keep going. He sighed to himself, as he pushed away a large leaf, and shook his head, his short red hair throwing droplets of water around. He then looked at the black and green jacket he'd thrown on to try and help him camouflage his otherwise noticeable red and while clothing, and saw that it was really starting to be waterlogged.

'...dampness really isn't my ally...' he thought. 'But damn it, I can't let this opportunity slide.' he added.

Earlier he had had a meeting with some others that had revealed that some people possibly connected with an individual he had a vendetta against had been seen around this area, headed deeper in, and he was going to seize that opportunity. He left immediately, and knew he would probably be in trouble for it later, but at the moment, he did not care. At all.

'I will find them. And MAKE them talk.' he finished, his already-solid determination becoming even more unwavering.

"I'm coming, Lindsay." he whispered to himself.

Meanwhile, in another part of that forest, a pair of individuals were making their own way through the forest, and had stepped into a minor clearing. One of them appeared to be elven, with noticeable pointed ears, but his skin was... unlike any elf anyone would have seen. It looked almost...grey. Ashen. His hair was a dirty silver, which matched the tee-shirt he wore under his black vest. He sighed heavily as he brushed some of the water off of his shoulders, and looked back at his companion.

"So." he muttered. "This seems to be the area" he commented. Unlike himself, who looked to be in his 30's, SHE looked to be in her mid-teens. She had long, gorgeous red hair... though it was clearly on the unkempt side, but two things stood out about her; the fact that she was wearing a blindfold, and how the right half of her body seemed to just be black. She, herself, seemed to be caucasian, but the right side of her face and her right hand (the only skin that was visible on her, currently), looked to have some weird blackness on it, that looked like it wanted to spread out to the rest of her body.

"I really don't like this miserable atmosphere, but we were sent here for a reason." he went on.

"Regardless, tell me what you see." he told her, in an extremely odd statement, given the blindfold she was wearing.

The one that had been examining the tree paused when she said what she did. He looked towards her, and then instinctively looked in the direction she was facing, just to pause and sigh loudly.

"WHY did I look in the direction you're facing...?" he asked himself rhetorically, with a grumble.

He then ceased his checking of the tree and made his way back to her.

"Where?" he asked. "From what direction?" he clarified.

"And how strong?" he asked further.

Just because someone with mana was here, and headed in their direction, didn't mean anything. Not necessarily, anyway. If they were strong, maybe they could attempt to hide. If they were on the weaker side... perhaps they could deal with them.

But for now, he wasn't sure.

He sighed and shook his head.

"Great." he said. "How rapidly are they approaching?" he asked.

"Quite." she responded.

The man then cursed, and looked around for a place to hide, only for the original traveler to emerge from the dense thicket. And be immensely shocked at what he saw.

"You!" he growled to the male, before looking at the female.

"A-2!?" he exclaimed, more surprised than anything.

The newcomer was VERY cautious at this new development. He'd come here searching for his brother, but he had found someone that he considered a friend... and someone he hated immensely.

He narrowed his eyes at the elven man, and gnashed his teeth.

"You!" he said to him. "Where is she!? And where is my brother!?" he demanded. The other male paused for a moment, seemingly stunned, before chuckling lowly and darkly.

"If I told you, it would do you no good." he stated.

The red-haired mana did NOT take that response nicely, and the next thing the 'elf' and woman knew, the newcomer had powerful, potent orbs of black fire forming in his palms.

"...admittedly, didn't expect things to be THIS strong..." the 'elf' admitted, taking a step back.

The two men paused and looked at the woman, seemingly stunned. The elven male was more momentarily shocked, while the red-headed male was actually outright stunned, and... borderline horrified.

"A-2...?" he said quietly. "What...? What did they...?" he started to ask further, before looking to the other male.

"What have you bastards DONE to her!?" he demanded, causing the elf-like one to flinch a bit.

"-I- haven't done ANYTHING to her." he insisted, taking a few more steps back. "Mistress has just made it so that this one is the perfect little tool." he added with a smirk.

This seemed to anger the other male even more.

"I'll KILL you!" he yelled, throwing one of the fireballs at him.

The one that had attacked froze in place when he saw this, and heard what she said.

"A-2..." he said quietly, as the elf just laughed.

"Seems as though she is willing to take any sort of attack to protect me." he told him. "...though, odds are she'll take any sort of attack that I may launch at you as well, if her statement is anything to go by." he went on.

"Does she not listen to you!?" the other male snapped.

"Yes and no?" the elf responded. "I have some command, but as you can see, that is limited. So if we try to fight each other, then all we'll end up doing is killing her." he explained.

The fire mage flinched at the thought of that, and couldn't help but extinguish the other orb in his hand. He looked at the two, before looking at the woman in specific, and biting his lip.

"A-2, is there anything of you left in there?" he asked. "If so, please... please let me save you. Let me take you away from them." he pleaded to her.

The fire mage didn't say anything, and the elven male just sighed.

"Yeah... yeah, she has a point." he said. "At this point, neither of us owns this, we're on land that neither of us can really lay claim to right now." he told him. "And her mana absolutely WILL destroy us if we try and go at each other." he went on.

"So what the hell do we do now!?" the other male exclaimed, clearly getting angry. "I refuse to just walk away from this! It's been so long!" he continued, as mana started to almost creep out of his feet.

"TOO long!" he then yelled, as a distinct rune started to emerge from his feet now.

"Woah, woah, woah!" the elf exclaimed, seeing this. "No need for that, no need for THAT!" he insisted, looking to the woman now.

"There's not much you can do to defend against the Fyrane rune, is there?" he asked her.

The man clenched his fists tightly, almost shaking.

"I... you're still with that bitch." he said. "At this point, whatever happens may very well be an IMPROVEMENT..." he said further, as the rune crept closer... and closer... before stopping.

It stopped about 5 feet from her and the elf, and he looked like he was trying to reign it in.

"Hey, hey, listen." the elven male said.

"There's no need for this to get TOO out of hand." he stated.

"We both don't want her mana to do anything crazy. Maybe just... take her with you, huh?" he offered.

Even the man that had showed up looked surprised.

"Wait, what?" he asked. "Just... like that?" he asked further. "Seriously, I know we're not in the best of a situation right now, but... even I have to admit, you went to that FAST." he went on.

"I am NOT dealing with the Fyrane rune!" the elf exclaimed. "And I am NOT dealing with whatever fallout happened from your two manas colliding with each other.!" he went on.

He then paused for a moment, and then thought about it.

"...though... Mistress' wrath vs the Fyrane rune... actually... the choice isn't so clear now." he admitted... mere seconds before a small blade slipped out of the wrist of his shirt, and he whipped it towards the red-haired male.

He moved fast, but the weapon grazed his cheek, causing blood to leak out from the cut, as the elf grinned.

"Excellent." he smirked, as the other male felt his own reflexes starting to slow down, the cut glowing with a strange red mana.

The newcomer slowly collapsed to his knees, as the elf male just looked at her.

"Hey!" he exclaimed.

"Listen! If HE is going to get in our way, then he deserves to be taken back to the Mistress!" he told her.

"I know I have EXTREMELY limited authority over you, but I STILL have authority, damn it!" he went on. "I'M the one in charge here, and Mistress will most certainly praise us if we bring him back!" he reasoned.

"Why are you sabotaging this!?" he asked.

"Just let me take him back with us."