[CookingwiththeCobra]

There was a moment when everyone one in the room forgot there duties and stared at the dead man that lay at Maurices feet. Stunned Maurice felt a tug and he looked to see who he thought could be Doran pulling him out of the room. Doran skin though was pitch black. It seemed that all the light had been sucked out of him and a black smoke fogged around him. They were running now, out of the house. Maurice could hear the men shouting after them.

[CookingwiththeCobra]

Gunshot rang out behind them and Doran pulled Maurice in front of him. Making sure he channeled the blackness away from the parts of his skin that touched Maurice. The pink haired man stumbled in front of him and turned to watch in amazement as Doran spun around and took the bullets head on. Instead of the the bullets penetrating his skin though the darkness ate them. They dissolved into powder at Dorans feet. Doran looked over his shoulder at Maurice, “go run. I got this, we’ll met up where we left the mules.”

[CookingwiththeCobra]

Maurice knew better than to gawk when people tell you to run so without second guessing anything he took off through the wood back where they had come from. His adrenaline was too high for him to worry about getting lost. In these moment his mind was at peace. No anxiety, no past trauma coming back to haunt hi. Just the rush of excitement. He flew like lightning through the woods until he found himself with mules once more. He leaned against a tree to catch his breath and let his pulse slow.

[CookingwiththeCobra]

Doran stood over the heaps of bodies that now lay littered on the ground. Scratching his forehead displeased with the scene. He really wished he hadn’t killed anyone. He chastised himself for so ignorant. He should have know Maurice wouldn’t defend himself with gun pointed at him. He had forgotten that Maurice was used to being in situations such as these. He always relied on his partner to save so looking down a barrel of a gun didn’t ignite any subconscious survival skills of his.

[CookingwiththeCobra]

That's fine Doran thought. That just meant he had to dig a little deeper. He squatted and rummaged through all of the dead man's pockets in search for the crystals. After going through them all he still came up empty handed which meant that there were others at a different location with the stones and Doran groaned at the thought. He started walking towards the woods and back to the mules. This information just meant that these people were farther along than he thought. There was only one other place the crystals could be and thats the cave where the monster was locked away at.

[CookingwiththeCobra]

By the time Doran met up with Maurice again Maurice had calmed down and was leaning against a tree. When he saw Doran he asked, “are we done? Did we stop the monster from awaking again?”

Doran walked up to one of the mules and opened his bag. He took out his map and looked at it, “no. The only way to awaken the beast is with a set of 5 crystals. Until we find them the job isn't done.”

[CookingwiththeCobra]

“Are they back at their hideout?” Maurice ask. He wasn't excited to have to go back. He wasn't sure if the men were alive or not but he was sure more we probably going to arrive and he didn't want to be there when they did.

“No I already check. I believe they have taken them to where the monster is. I hope we're not too late. They could be in the process of awakening it as we speak.”

Maurice suddenly became very worried and pushed off the tree, “we aren't going there are we?” He had had enough adventure for one day.

[CookingwiththeCobra]

Doran turned to look at Maurice. He hadn't fully calmed down from the previous event and his eyes were still fully black barely containing the deadly black smoke that wanted to escape. Little red irises made contact with Maurice's scared eyes. “If we don't go innocent people will die and bad men will get away with it and that will be on us,” he seethed.

[CookingwiththeCobra]

“I thought you were a better man than that,” he let his statement sit with Maurice.
He watched as Maurice struggled with himself. He watched the man not wanting to look directly at him. Maybe that's why he had this curse to make people come to terms with the ugly truth that was there reality, that was there fate.

“Let's go,” Maurice finally resigned to saying. They both knew that he wouldn't have said no.

[CookingwiththeCobra]

Doran nodded pleased and turned back to studying the map. He located the cave and started to untie the mules. “Let's go it isn't far from here. I don't think the beast has been released yet so we might make it in time,” when he looked at Maurice again his eyes were back to normal.

“How would you know the beast hasn't been released,” Maurice asked.

“Because we are close enough we would have heard it,” Doran answered and Maurice shuddered at the thought.

[CookingwiththeCobra]

Maurice was terrified. Doran seemed to be a demon of some sort. Hellen used to possess demonic powers but it always connected to her sword. She never show outward signs of it. He chose to not ask what he had done to the men back at layer.

The longer they walked through the woods the more time Maurice had to process the recent events. Something just wasn't sitting right with Maurice. He hadn't pinpointed it just yet but he had a feeling Doran wasn't telling the whole truth about something.

[CookingwiththeCobra]

Doran guided them silently to the cave. Maurice hadn't spoken since they started there trek and it made him worry. He hoped he hadn't gone too far and scared the man. He knew Maurice's past, all of it. He had done a lot of research on him before he showed up at the guild. The man had quite the traumatizing childhood that explained a lot.

[CookingwiththeCobra]

He knew the man was prone to running from his problems and he also knew he had trust issues. All things they would work on when the moment came. He just had to make sure not to run the man off before he had a chance to explain. He had a plan to make Maurice agree so he chastised himself for letting his temper get the best of him.

[CookingwiththeCobra]

“I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier,” Doran apologized. He needed to give Maurice some personal truths about himself to gain his trust. “I was cursed by a witch a long time ago and now I have to live with this darkness inside me. When my heart beat increases it rushes to the forefront and it takes a lot of self control to contain it.”

[CookingwiththeCobra]

They walked in silence for long enough that Doran thought Maurice wasn’t going to respond. Had he already mucked everything up so soon. He didn’t want to have to come clean now. He needed Maurice to defeat this monster first. Get his confidence boosted up, give him a reason to go with Doran instead of back to the guild.

“Is the black stuff sentient?” Maurice finally asked putting Dorans mind back on track.