The Sober Drunk (Open RP)

"Fruit juice!" Ralalta blurted out immediately. "Well, if you have any. That would be nice."

She was already quite thirsty again, even after that keg of water she had drunk. This was the way it always was, especially if she remained out of water for long periods. She got thirsty very quickly, and she had fruit juice cravings.

She watched the young boy who had brought them their drinks (which she stared at disdainfully as Baltazar guzzled his down) return to the counter. She silently prayed he was fetching fruit juice.

She turned back to Baltazar. "How long have you been in this town?" she asked him.

Baltazar put down his drink, wiping his mouth with a satisfied smile. "Me? Oh I've been here for a while..." he said. "Let's see... six, seven months, maybe? I usually don't stay in towns for that long, but this is a special place afterall."

He grinned at her, before noticing that she kept glancing over at the bar and the bartender, who was busy making her fruit juice.

"It's gonna take a little longer than usual," he explained. "Y'see, he doesn't usually make fruit juice. But it'll be alright, it's his job afterall."

He gave her a reassuring smile.

"Say, Zoras are usually located around water, right? How come you're wandering around here then?"

Huh? What's happened to me? Zarek thought to himself. He was sure he had just died, but why could he still see the world around him? Why was he able to see his own dead body on the floor of the room? Unable to answer his questions, Zarek simply watched as a very upset Lily was crying her heart out on his chest, her arms wrapped around his body. He wanted to be there to comfort her and he wanted to show he meant it when he told her he loved her just before his death. The only question was how.

"NO! NOOOO! Why did this have to happen?! Why?!" Zarek heard Lily sob. Wishing he could talk to her, Zarek decided it was best to try looking for some answers. Just who were these creeps that killed him and who are the friends they said they had at the bar? Wanting to desperately find out, Zarek attempted to travel back to the bar. As he began to move, he found himself hovering about in the air, able to pass through walls and anything solid. That's when he realized what had happened.

"I'm...a spirit?" he said to himself. "Well, if that's the case, then no one should be able to see me finding out what I want to know."

Finding he could move at a good speed through the air in his spirit form, Zarek made his way back to the very same bar he had first arrived at in town while alive. Upon passing right through the front door, Zarek looked around for the criminals he sought. The blue girl with the fish tail head was still there and chatting with Baltazar. Just a few tables down from the two sat three intimidating looking men. They had pirate-like tattoos and ragged clothes.

"Ah, they must be who I'm looking for," Zarek said aloud by mistake. He quickly covered his mouth, but no one made any reaction. Apparently no one could hear him either. Relieved as ever, he floated up to the three men. Upon closer inspection, Zarek spotted daggers sheathed at their sides, just like the two at the inn had. Knowing he had to have hit the jackpot now, Zarek listened in on some of their conversation.

"Blimey, I'm gittin' bored 'ere," one with black hair and a black beard replied. "Wanna play a game o' cards or somethin'?

"Sure, I'm bored too," another replied. "Lemme git the cards out." He began digging around in his pockets.

"Say, where're them other two blokes at? I'd have thought they'd be back 'ere by now," the third said

"Yeah, now that I think about it, they are takin' awhile in 'aire," the first said. "I reckon they might be havin' more trouble than we thought they would with such a robbery." Bingo, Zarek thought upon hearing the word 'robbery.' He had his culprits. The only thing to do now was to figure out how to give this information to Lily. While he brainstormed, he quickly flew away back towards the inn to keep her company at the least.

Reassured about her fruit juice, Ralalta relaxed and turned to Baltazar. His question surprised her a little, but she didn't really know why.

She laughed a little. "I know, it's kind of strange for a Zora to be so far away from any large body of water. I myself am hoping that there is a lake or river somewhere around here close by. I'm due for another swim soon."

She thought for another moment.

"You see... I've spent my whole life in Zora's Domain, only occasionally going to other places in Hyrule. This is my first time traveling away from home. I'm just hoping I can do and see as much as possible all over the world, and get some excitement. I'm tired of staying in one place, and I want to go everywhere! So I'm just wandering around, sort of going with the flow and seeing where the roads will take me. I suppose I'll stay in this town for a little while, though. It seems interesting enough to look around a bit. Maybe I'll--"

All of a sudden, Ralalta felt a strange presence in the bar. It was some sort of cold, invisible mass floating nearby, hovering over the tables like a ghost. She could just barely sense it, but it was enough to widen her eyes and make her look around the bar with a creeping feeling.

A moment later, the cold presence left the bar and disappeared, leaving Ralalta thoroughly spooked.

She looked at Baltazar again. "Umm... don't think me weird, but... did you feel some sort of cold... ghost-like thing in the bar just now?"

"Huh? Ghost?"

Baltazar glanced over his shoulder, before shaking his head. "Didn't feel anythin' like that, m'dear."

As he saw the concern in her facial expression, he gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, it's probably just the wind from outside. Some fella probably left the door open for a sec."

He took a swig from his bottle, before looking at his pocket watch. He made a small, surprised grunt before looking at Ralalta. "It's gettin' late now. If ye want, I can walk ye back to where yer stayin'. Ye shouldn't be walkin' around in the darkness alone, especially with such company..."

He glanced over at the three men. One of them glanced back, before bumping his mate's shoulder, and all three of them stared at Baltazar and the Zora.

"Yup, time to go," Baltazar said, offering a hand to Ralalta as he got up. "Now."

"Oh... okay." Ralalta said, taking Baltazar's hand and getting up as well. She tried to ignore the looks from the three men in the corner. They were definitely making her feel nervous.

"Hmm... I don't actually have a room anywhere yet... do you have any recommendations for a nice inn around here?" she asked him.

She glanced one more time at the counter, and saw the boy put the finishing touches on her glass of fruit juice. It looked beautiful. It looked delicious. Ralalta just wanted to run over a guzzle it down, but the table the three intimidating men sat at was on the way.

She sighed and headed out the door, the darkness and cold of the night enveloping her once again.

Zarek sat in Lily's room once again and found her still sobbing over his dead body. She would definitely not be getting over his death for a long time, that much could be said. As Zarek slouched on the bed nearest to Lily and his body, he thought and thought as hard as he could to find a way to tell Lily what he'd found out in the bar. Nearly without thinking, he let out a rather loud sigh of frustration, thinking there might be no way at all. Suddenly, Lily jumped just instantly after Zarek's sigh and looked around. Zarek froze where he sat, wondering...did she just hear him?

"Z-Z-Zarek?!" Lily had shrieked with surprise. Zarek soon realized she was facing him and had spoken directly to him. His eyes opened wide with great surprise.

"Lily, you...you can see me?" Zarek said, hardly able to finish his sentence.

"I can! You're all see-through and ghostly!" Lily cried, wondering why she could see and talk to the ghost of her dead lover.

"I know, but the strange part is that you're the only person who can see and hear me," Zarek told her. "I was just in the bar and even spoke aloud. No one budged."

"Wow...strange," Lily agreed. "But, but Zarek...did you really mean what you said before you died? That you...you love me?"

"Yes. Yes, Lily! A hundred times, yes!" Zarek replied with relief in his heart and dropped to his knees at the floor. "I love you more than anything in the world. In fact, I loved you during the war and during the years we've been separated. You were the only girl, no the only person in the army who warmed up to me so much while everyone else seemed to look down on me as a loser and a rookie compared to them just because I'd joined a little late and then they teased me because of you. Your calmness, kindness, and optimism were so amazing, even during the hardest times. And then your beauty...which I realized recently...had grown so striking. I'm an idiot not to have realized all of this and to have kept you waiting so long. Please forgive me..."

"Oh...Zarek..." Lily said, hardly able to believe what she'd just heard as tears of joy formed in her eyes. "Of course I forgive you..."

"...Really? After you've had to wait these long years for me to say this?"

"Yes! I mean it fully! I never let my love for you go and wanted to apologize for the behavior I had back then all this time," Lily admitted. "It was I who wanted you to forgive me..."

"Of course I do, Lily. In fact, I didn't care that much about you embarrassing me," Zarek replied. "The teasing I hated, but that wasn't your fault. And right now, I'm only glad I was able to save you here."

"But Zarek..." Lily tried to protest.

"I want you to be alive and happy, even if it means giving up my own life," Zarek continued. "I bet teaching the thugs who were in league with my killers a lesson would make you happy, right?"

"Oh, would it ever!" Lily replied, standing up and clenching her fists in fury.

"Well, it just so happens that I found out some information you'll need. They are at the bar and sent those guys here."

"Seriously?!"

"Seriously."

"Then come along and watch me kick their butts!"

"It'd be my pleasure!"

With that, the two exited the room immediately and bolted down to the front door. Zarek's ghostly form flew beside Lily the whole time and stayed at her pace, even though he knew he could probably move much faster in this form. As they traveled, Zarek still aimlessly wondered why only Lily could see and hear him. It was very puzzling and there seemed to be no logical answer. Zarek's thoughts were broken when he and Lily noticed Baltazar and the fish girl exiting the bar. Before Zarek could say anything, Lily immediately spoke.

"Hey you two! If you're heading to that inn over there, be careful!" she warned. "There's been a murder and I'm going to teach three of the bastards responsible a lesson!"

"Huh? What're you sayin' lass?" Baltazar replied. "Are you serious?"

"I most certainly am. And I believe you may know the victim of the murder," Lily replied.

"Eh? Who?"

"Zarek!"

"Zarek? What? Who? Where?"

Baltazar looked from one to the other. This certainly was the woman who Zarek had left with, but that had only been about one or two hours ago. What on earth was going on?

"Okay, okay, okay," he said as he held up his hands. "So what're yeh sayin'? Zarek's dead?"

When he got a nod, Baltazar felt a sting in his gut. He had not known the man at all, but he always felt sad when someone died. Especially the young. It was as much a shame as it was a tragedy.

"But yeh said that there're some people responsible," he continued. "What d'yeh mean? No-one in there has killed anybody?"

"They're not the killers, but they are responsible for his death!" the woman said, throwing an angry glance at the entrance to the inn. Baltazar looked back as well, thinking over what she said. Three bad guys? It couldn't be a coincidence. However...

"How do yeh know that there're three of 'em in there?" he asked as he turned back to face her. "And how do yeh know that they're responsible for Zarek dyin'? Where did he die?"

Ralalta stood a few feet away in the cold, feeling a little excluded from the conversation. She had no idea what they were talking about, but she did feel a pang of sadness anyway. It sounded like the three men in the bar had something to do with whoever was killed.

There was another thing, as well. Ralalta could feel the strange, cold presence again. The ghostly form was floating near them, hovering right next to the lavender-haired girl. She shivered as she listened to the talk of murder and sensed the cold mass among them. It all seemed to fit together.

She thought for a moment. Hmm... lavender-haired girl... wasn't she the one with the green-haired man? Was that Zarek? And that ghostly mass...what is it? Why is it here? Could it be....?

She entered the conversation suddenly, blurting out her thoughts. "Zarek is right next to you..." she said softly, but bluntly, to the lavender-haired girl, as if it were an obvious fact.

And then she immediately felt stupid, and a little embarrassed. Why did I just say that!? she thought. That doesn't make any sense. I could very well be having delusions or something, and now I've probably offended her... I don't know what connection she had to this Zarek person, but she must be upset about his death! That really wasn't smart....

"Lily, did the fish girl just say what I thought she said?" Zarek pointed out, watching as Lily put another look of shock on her face.

"She...she did!" Lily replied. "How is it that you know he's there, miss?"

"I...can feel it," the fish girl replied.

"I see..." Lily commented. Zarek could tell that the way she'd said it practically screamed that she wasn't sure how a fish girl could feel a ghost, but didn't worry about it.

"Lily, Baltazar asked you about what happened," Zarek reminded her. "I don't mind if you go telling them about what I've said and stuff, but please don't overdo it...seriously..."

"Ah yes, my apologies. You see, I'm the only one who can communicate with Zarek's spirit," Lily began. "I was asleep for the night when all of a sudden my window shattered. Two robbers attempted to rob the room, but for what I don't know. Zarek must have awoke to my scream or something and had burst through the door."

"Lily, the daggers..." Zarek reminded her again.

"Oh yeah, thanks. The men had daggers too and were trying to attack me with them. I fought back with my wind magic," Lily went on. "Zarek was hit over the head when he got inside, but was back on his feet minutes later. After I cast my Tornado spell, one of the guys grabbed me by my throat, but missed my neck and stabbed my arm instead. He threw me to the floor afterwards. My arm hurt too much to fight anymore and then the same guy threw his daggers at me...then..." Lily sniffled before finishing her sentence. Zarek watched as a tear trickled down her face.

"Lily..." Zarek said with comfort. He watched her sniffle again and pull herself together.

"Right, sorry, Zarek. It's just that this was where you bravely ran in front of me and let those daggers kill you..." Lily shakily replied. "Honest, if it weren't for him, I'd be the one dead right now. He gave his life to save me..."

"Wow. That is mighty brave of 'im, I gotta admit," Baltazar replied. "Ye both must be pretty close to one another then, aye?"

"Yes, but it's more than that," Lily replied. "I've known Zarek for a long time. We met during a war that plagued our homeland. He left to explore and train, and he inspired me to do the same. We only reunited for the first time since then here. And then...Zarek's last words before dying were...Lily...I love you."

Baltazar just listened to Lily's story. When she was done, he moved over to her side, gently taking her arm.

"Yer arm's hurt," he muttered when she gave him a questioning look.

"Oh," she said. "Yeah, I did say it was stabbed..."

"Yer gonna need to treat that," he went on. "Otherwise it'll get infected."

When she was about to respond, Baltazar cut her off. "I know yeh want ter go beat up some of them baddies, but these guys aren't people yeh want t'get involved with, and yer arm needs to be looked at. I'll walk yeh back to that inn."

He gently led this woman - Lily - and Ralalta along with him. If Lily was talking about who he suspected she was talking about, there was a good chance that the three men at the bar would -

Baltazar suddenly realized something. He turned to face Lily, with raised eyebrows: "Say, weren't yeh attacked? What happened to the one who killed Zarek?"

Zarek chose to stick with Lily as Baltazar began to lead her back to the inn. He listened carefully as she continued with their story, floating by Lily's side.

"Oh yes, that's right. There were two robbers in the inn and with the last of his strength, Zarek used one of his axes to strike both dead in one shot," Lily explained. "It was an electric hand axe called a Bolt Axe, which is not a common weapon. Somehow, Zarek was able to use one he randomly found with great efficiency and is probably still the best Bolt Axe warrior in our homeland. Once he tossed it with what strength he had left, both robbers went plunging right back outside over the balcony wall to their deaths."

"Ah, so ye say he managed to kill those guys before dyin'?"

"That's right. Zarek told me that just before we found out I could communicate with his spirit, he was in the bar and overheard a conversation between three intimidating men who also held daggers," Lily went on. "They were saying they sent those other two to the inn. I didn't care if my arm was hurt at all, I just wanted to make them pay for taking the man I love away from me."

"Lily, don't get carried away now...please..." Zarek said, biting his lip and slightly blushing.

"Haha, don't worry, I was finished anyway," Lily replied with a smile. "Say, your body is still in my room. We'd better go put it somewhere. We don't want to scare the daylights out of Dory."

"Yeah, we definitely don't. I'd say you should put me in my room, so it looks like I'm sleeping for now," Zarek suggested.

"Ah, good idea."

"Eh? What did Zarek's ghost tell ye?" Baltazar wondered.

"Oh, he said it's best if we put his body in his room for right now. We'll probably decide something else in the morning," Lily replied.

Lily and Zarek's story gave Ralalta the chills. So....Zarek had been killed. It was strange to see Lily talk to the air like she was having a normal conversation. Ralalta wondered why she could only sense Zarek's ghost. It seemed Baltazar couldn't feel it at all.

Then she thought about the men at the bar. She remembered how threateningly they had stared at her.

Could they be murderers too? she thought, as they headed toward a nearby inn. She stopped walking.

"If those men are dangerous, maybe we should go back there and do something about them," she said to Lily and Baltazar-- and Zarek too, she guessed. "They could hurt other people..."

She turned around and looked back at the alley, where the bar's soft light shone through the dirty window. It seemed alright now, but....what if they decided to rob the bar?

The word murder rang in Ralalta's mind.

"Lily...you don't suppose there's some way to...revive me, do you?" Zarek asked they approached the inn.

"I'm not sure. If there is a way, then that would definitely be wonderful, but I wouldn't get my hopes up too high," Lily replied. "I mean, who do we know that's come back from the dead?

"Good point..." Zarek agreed. "But the fish girl is right. Something needs to be done about those three morons in the bar before someone else gets hurt."

"I know. I plan on figuring something out later, Zarek," Lily assured him. "Trust me."

"Well, if you say so."

"By the way, I'm sorry if this seems strange, me looking like I'm talking to myself," Lily said to Balt and the fish girl. "Neither Zarek's ghost nor I know exactly why we're able to communicate."

Zarek continued to wonder the same thing as he continued to float by Lily's side. Perhaps the love they shared had something to do with it? Then again, if that was so, could there actually be a way to revive the dead Reaver? Despite Lily's words, Zarek still hoped there was, as he did not want to stay a wandering spirit forever. He wasn't able to battle or talk to others besides Lily anymore. He couldn't do anything the way he was able to in life anymore. It wasn't very pleasant.

"Ye really believe that yer gonna revive 'im?" Baltazar said to Lily with a smile. When she looked back at him questioningly, he laughed a little. "I'm just sayin', yer very calm and casual, even if yer boyfriend's dead and floating beside yeh as a ghost."

He waved a little with his hand at where he guessed Zarek was, but Ralalta shook her head a little and nodded to Lily's right side.

"In any case," Baltazar went on, "it's just that ye seemed very lighthearted despite the situation, so I just guessed that yeh hadn't given up hope."

He gave her a friendly smile. It had always been in his nature to talk to people and make them feel better about themselves, often by telling them something they themselves hadn't noticed.

"Just the fact that yer talkin' to Zarek means that he's not gone. And if he's not gone, there's always a way of getting him back. Dead people don't linger in our world, see."

When he noticed the confused looks on Lily and Ralalta's faces, he scratched his head a little. "I mean, that's what I've heard. We have this spiritual guy livin' in the outskirts of town. Talked to him a few times, nice fella."

He thought about it a little.

"He might be able to help Zarek."

His words were immediately followed by a loud noise. The three of them spun around. The door had gone up, and there seemed to be trouble outside. A group of people had gathered together, all facing the scene that was unfolding.

The bartender was on the ground, trying to protect himself from two assailants. The third in the group stood with a sword in his hand, facing the crowd - probably to keep them at bay. Without a word, Baltazar started running back, leaving both Lily and Ralalta behind.

"Hey! Hey!" he yelled as he pulled out one of his guns. "Leave 'im alone!"

Zarek blushed when Baltazar called him Lily's boyfriend. While it was true that the two finally been able to realized both loved one another, Zarek just didn't feel used to it yet. After all, it hadn't even been half a day since he first told Lily he loved her. When Baltazar spoke of a spiritual man who could possibly help him, his mood was lifted. Could such a person revive him? Zarek had to get more information.

"Lily, this spiritual man Balt mentioned. We must go see him as soon as possible!" he told Lily.

"Oh yes, definitely. We'll go in the morning, since we don't want to be wandering around at night," Lily pointed out. Zarek simply nodded in agreement. Before anything more could be said, however, loud voices boomed from outside and the inn's front door opened. The bartender from the bar was lying on the ground with the three intimidating men from the same bar assaulting him with daggers and a sword.

"Hey, that's the trio!" Zarek shouted.

"And they're attacking that defenseless man!" Lily added. "HEY! YOU ROBBING SCUM WANT A FIGHT?! TAKE THIS!" With that, Zarek watched as Lily unleashed the most powerful Arcfire spell he'd seen from her. She even used her Adept skill spell, which allowed her to basically get two of the same spell for the price of one. Two Arcfires in a row had struck the group as Baltazar had begun shooting a strange weapon at the same targets.

"You...filthy...nasty...dirty...thieves!" Lily shouted as she used spell after spell on them. "You took the man I love away from me and now YOU ALL SHALL PAY!" Elfire, Elwind, Elthunder, Arcthunder and lastly a Tornado spell to blow them tens of feet away. As Lily had said her last lines, Zarek heard a rumbling noise from above. A flaming meteor twice as big as any human had come plunging down right on its target, the three criminals, and crushed them to a crisp. it was Meteor, Lily's most powerful spell. It wasn't extremely accurate, but the targets had not been moving, rendering it an easy shot. Lily simply stood there angrily panting when she was finally finished.

"Lily, geez! Did you have to go that far?" Zarek asked.

"I did, Zarek! But now my injured arm is painful again from all that casting..." Lily replied. "Still, I did what I wanted and needed to do!"

Ralalta gaped at the scene before her. She had immediately reached for the spear on her back as soon as she had noticed the scene with the the men and the bartender. But she hadn't even touched it yet before Baltazar and Lily had sprung into action.

She watched, standing frozen in her spot, as Baltazar whipped out his strange weapons (she had seen only very primitive forms of such weapons back in Hyrule) and shot at the thieves. She thought that would be more than enough to bring them down, but then there went Lily, firing a combination of powerful spells at the criminals. Ralalta had never seen such power before.

She then watched as a large flaming rock came hurtling out of the sky and incinerated the three thieves on contact. No one else in the area was harmed.

Ralalta's head spun. Her mind attempted to contemplate how all that had just happened, but came up blank. She just stood rooted to the spot, feeling as if she would never move again.

"Lily, I think you rather frightened the fish girl," Zarek said a few seconds later, having turned around to see the fish girl frozen on the spot with a spear in her hand.

"Hm?" Lily replied, looking back herself. "Oh, you're right. My apologies, miss. I did kind of get a little carried away with my magic, but I'm an experienced mage. I didn't mean to frighten you." The fish girl didn't respond. She stayed glued where she stood.

"Sigh...let's just go inside. I'm sure she'll be fine," Zarek suggested. "You should get some sleep anyway, Lily."

"Yeah. I'm too tired to move your body to your room. I'll just stash it under the bed until morning," Lily decided. With that, they both went upstairs for the night. Zarek watched Lily go back into her room and remembered how trashed it had gotten from the attack.

"Wait, Lily. Go to my room when you're finished with my body," Zarek rethought. "You don't want to sleep in that dump."

"...Yeah, I suppose you're right," Lily agreed. Shattered glass, torn sheets, broken chairs, and a smashed lamp were scattered throughout the room. She flicked on the only remaining lamp in the room for some light and grabbed hold of Zarek's dead body. As she'd begun to pull on it though, something strange had caught her eye. Was it just her, or did his body look the same as when he died?

"Zarek...come see this," Lily said a few seconds later. "Your body...it's been a couple hours or so, and it looks the same."

"...Seriously?" Zarek replied, floating inside to investigate. Lily was right. His body did not change at all. In fact, his skin hadn't even grown pale. Zarek just sat there in the air, wondering and wondering how it could be possible as Lily quickly finished getting the body under the nearest bed.

"Yeah. This can only mean one thing," Lily decided after she'd stood back up. "We can revive you!"

After a moment, Ralalta shook off her shock as best as she could and rather shakily retreated into the inn along with Lily. She looked around before she went in.

The spot where the meteor had hit was still a charred, smoking hole in the ground. There were at least fifty people gathered around it, looking and poking and whispering to each other. Although she hadn't noticed before, their eyes had all followed Lily as she had gone into the inn. They looked just as fearful as she felt. Would they consider Lily a witch? Nah, too old-fashioned, Ralalta decided.

Someone ran off to fetch the mayor. Clearly, this wasn't going to die down in a few days. It would be the talk of the town for the next few months. Ralalta heard a few nearby children already talking about forming a "Lavender Sorceress Fanclub." This gave her a laugh, despite everything.

She turned away from it all and headed into the inn. It was fancier, more well-kept and decorative than any inn she had stayed at before. All the maids and staff were still oblivious to the fact that a murder had taken place in one of the rooms only a few hours before. Most of them were gathered around the windows, wanting to be part of the action outside, but not leaving the inn for fear of losing their jobs.

Ralalta found herself standing alone, in the lobby. She didn't know which room Lily and Zarek had gone off to. She also didn't know where Baltazar had gone. She hadn't seen him outside.

She decided to sit down on one of the inn's plush lobby couches and rest a bit, 'til things got sorted out.

After helping his friend the bartender inside, Baltazar went back to the inn where he knew Lily and Ralalta would be. Lily had gone to bed for some rest, and Ralalta sat in the lobby. Baltazar went over and sat beside her.

"How yeh feelin'?" he asked her as he leaned back, searching through his pockets. It didn't take long before he found what he was looking for; in his hand he held a few silver coins. He gave them to Ralalta.

"Get yerself some fruit juice from the lovely lady over there," he said to her with a nod at an elderly woman not too far away from them. "She'll get yeh what yeh want. I'm gonna be goin' out a little, need to do somethin', so yeh should have yer drink and then get some rest - in a bed, preferably."

He gave her a warm and friendly smile. "G'night. Don't let the bed bugs bite."

He stood up, bidding Ralalta goodbye for now before heading over to the door again. He smiled at her one more time, and then he went outside into the cold night.

People had begun to go to bed around town. More and more lights went out in the windows, curtains were closed and doors were locked. Here and there Balt would see small groups of drunkards who went from bar to bar.

"This takes too long," he muttered to himself as he came to a halt. He knelt down onto the ground, put a hand on it and focused his energy.

"Callus!"

He was met with a familiar sight. Green light erupted from the ground where he had put his hand, and a brutal roar echoed throughout the silence of the evening. As Baltazar stood up, there had appeared a huge bear before him. Its fur was light brown and its small eyes black, and its fangs were beared in a threatening snarl.

"Stop that, yeh silly oaf," Baltazar chuckled, poking the bear's nose. "There's no-one else around."

The bear stopped snarling at once, looking at him. "Then why did you call me, you idiot?" it said.

"I need yeh to take me to ol' Jesic. I need his assistance fer somethin'."

"Jesic? Why, you haven't been to see him in many weeks," the bear said as it lowered itself, allowing Baltazar to climb onto its back.

"I know. A shame really, especially since his wife always makes such lovely pies for me," Baltazar sighed, adjusting himself a little before the bear rose again.

"Are you hanging tight?" the bear said.

"Yeah, just yeh go ahead and run."

The bear shot off in great speed, and Baltazar had to hold on to his hat so to keep it from flying off his head. They zoomed by building after building, crossing corners and lamp posts and vomiting drunkards. The farther away from the town's center they got, the greater the distance grew between each house they passed by.

"You're sure that it's this way?" the bear inquired as they crossed a small stone bridge.

"Of course I'm sure," Baltazar said with a snort. "It's always easy to remember; yeh just need to look fer the mountain that looks like a treasure chest, and then yeh run towards it until yeh reach the - wait wait wait, yeh passed by it!"

The bear had gone at such high speed that it had already reached a fair amount of distance before it stopped, looking back. What Baltazar had referred to was a large, dead tree. The rotten wood was grey in color, and the branches looked like claws in the moonlight.

"Yeh go left over there," Baltazar said to the bear. "And then we'll be there soon."

"Well," the bear grunted as it changed directions, starting to move again, "I hope you have a good reason for waking up these two poor people at the middle of the night."

"Oh don't worry. I do."

OoC: Just so no-one will get very shocked/surprised, we're gonna be joined by Shetani and a friend of hers who will assume control of Jesic (in case anyone's wondering, that's the spiritual man previously mentioned) and his wife. These are NPCs, not actual created-and-approved characters - before anyone starts to search for their profiles. XP