Fate Blocker

Tears of anguish and rage flicked away into the sharp wind whipping at Humayra's face. her fists clenched as she ran, the fingers of one draped in quickly drying blood. It wasn't the Fanalis girl's blood. It'd belonged to a child no older than six years of age. Discarded by a master who'd grown tired of the need to care for his slave child.

Humayra sought to rescue the child, bring her back to Abd Al-Qadir's camp. There she would feed the child, clothe her, perhaps even give the little girl a fighting chance against those who would seek to harm her. But the bandits in this city had other plans it seemed and before Humayra could console the child and move her to safety, the bandits were upon them. Foul ruffians with cracked teeth and wicked blades. At first Humayra pulled the child along. There were too many of them to fight out in the open, and with the girl in tow she couldn't risk going wild.

The child struggled to keep up with the Fanalis girl's pace so in one swift motion Humayra swooped the girl into her arms and kept running, and running. Until she was certain she'd lost the bandits. Until she found an alley, out of the way from prying eyes. Humayra set the girl down only to find herself begat with horror.

"Thank you... for trying..." the girl smiled. A weak, fading smile. Blood slowly pooled around the girl. From where it came, Humayra couldn't even begin to guess...

"No! nonono! Why? How!?" Humayra struggled to understand what had happened. She'd been fast, the bandits hadn't even touched them so how had- ...The Fanalis girl's features grew dark with a grim realization. The bandits chasing them hadn't been the only problem this child was forced to contend with...

"I'm glad... fate was kind to me..." The child's final words, that beaten and worn face, smiling, at her...! the voice, her expression, it echoed in Humayra's head forcing her to curse out loud. The bloodied fist slammed into a nearby wall, the Fanalis girl didn't even care that her own blood now mingled together with that of the one she'd tried to rescue. "Screw fate! It doesn't save you from people like that! It never will!" Humayra cursed to herself. She'd failed to save the girl... But she would not fail to avenge her death...

"Woo you're fast girlie! Took long enough to catch up but now you're going to pay for taking away all our fun!" The first of several bandits arrived. Humayra offered a vicious glare toward the one who spoke. He was agile, muscular even, and the first of many to arrive now that she'd stopped running. "Looks like you're trapped. There's no where else to run."

He was right in one regard. The Fanalis girl stood in a dead-end alley with a wall to her back and bandits blocking the only way out. "I'm not afraid of you." Humayra squared herself to face against the bandits. The lead bandit must have found something funny about her response because he turned to his comrades and laughed. Enough time to grant Humayra a great breath of air...

"W-what the h-ngh!?" The bandit leader and several of his comrades who'd come to join him reflexively dropped their weapons in order to cover their ears. None of them had expected the Fanalis girl to let loose with a roar and now all of their ears rang with vibrating pain.

The distraction provided Humayra with enough time to act and she would do so with the vicious tenacity that only an enraged tiger could muster. These men, and the one who'd hurt the girl she'd failed to save... Humayra would give neither of them any quarter.

Humayra cut off the beast at its head. Kicked up and spinning, the bandit leader's own blade pierced clean through his throat as the Fanalis girl caught it mid flip and forced the change in its movement with all the strength in her body. Humayra removed the curved blade from the ringleader's neck, whipping it into a wide arc that caught two more men both by surprise, and they too were cut down.

By now panic and fear had swelled among the remaining bandits at the sight of their fallen leader and his two best men. They made to flee but the Fanalis girl moved to bar their way. One would normally be in awe were their lives not the immediate target of death.

"S-she moves like a b-beast!" One of the men stuttered, falling back on his legs after witnessing the acrobatics performed by the Fanalis. "P-please! Spare us!"

"Spare you...?" Humayra's eyes grew grim at the bandit's plea.

"Y-yes! We won't do it anymore. B-besides, that girl was already injured wasn't she! We beg of you! Please spare us!" Nods rippled through the remainder of the bandit group.

"... Like hell I will!" And then Humayra's eyes went feral as she lunged back into the fray of men, nothing short of a whirl of blades and carnage.

Humayra's bringing withs:

Such a beautify of a beautiful sunset. That was setting down over the small settlement of his soon to be kingdom. This territory was under the protection of the Lost Conqueror. Ghost the man lost to history. Although this place is small soon it will be a large force all on it's own. As he was playing with his Tarrot Cards He would be sitting on a roof top and boy was he able to watch the magic happens. As he looked on he would pull out a card. He would smile as it was a fairy card. But that was odd to him indeed. The fairy card meant he was too meet someone that would be of great help to him and him to them. But the day was nearly done he was going to lay it down soon. As he looked on he would hear a certain noise.

Ghost would sit up as he was laying on the roof top. He would hearing he would hear war cries. He would soon jump up as he was sure his small settlement was being under attacked. But why so soon and who would do such a thing. Ghost would soon look over the roof top. There he would see a warrior locked in combat with a group of bandits. She was all too cruel in her fighting ways. As with every punch there was in fact no mercy to be found. As he looked on he would slowly see the little girl laying behind her. Ghost would soon race down to the ground. As he would towards the small battlefield. He would stop as he was in the shadowy part of the alley. He would soon say out to the young warrior at hand. "With in rage a warrior tends to go berserk. I could only imagine what caused you to do such a thing." As he said that he would walk towards the young girl body laying on the ground. As he could see her rukh. It was faint but true it was still there.

Bringing

Spoiler:

Humayra huffed. No more resistance met with her fury and the Fanalis girl's emotion began to calm itself. All of the bandit's who'd opposed her were now either dead or dying and no longer possessed any ability to put up a physical fight. Wiping the blood from her blades, Humayra sheathed the pair of daggers, replacing them at her side.

Hearing a voice from behind her within the shadows of the alley, Humayra froze. There shouldn't have been anyone there, and yet someone was there. How had she not noticed him right up until he'd actually spoken. Turning to face the newcomer, mostly to avoid the possibility of being stabbed in the back by a potential enemy, but also to take in the knowledge of just who it was.

Though she wouldn't be fool enough to assume otherwise just yet, the man's appearance did seem to suggest he happened to be unaffiliated with the bandits. Tall... he probably stood six feet at least, and long red hair. A confident demeanor... The girl...!

"Don't touch her!" Humayra shouted. Fear for the girl's life, confusion about the man's motives, and even anger built up on her features as the Fanalis went against her better judgement, assuming this man to be the one who'd originally harmed and discarded the child for his own pleasures.

Once again Humayra's blades were out in the open. Battle ready and prepared to pounce at the man should he fail to explain his intentions toward the child.

She remained wary however. He dared to approach the one Humayra wanted to protect, yet drew no weapons himself... Mages didn't need weapons though. Keen, almost beastial-like senses watched for any sign that might reveal the man to be a caster...

Ghost would look on as a smile came upon his face. He was almost in shock. She was a raging warrior indeed. He could see the ruhk coming from her. It was all sort of bad. As within his hand he held a tarrot card. It was indeed the fairy card. Ghost would slowly but surely show this to her. Yet he still had his hands up. As he looked around he could see she made quick work of those who dared to try her. As she yelled out for him to stop. He would look on as he did. Ghost would then lick his lips as he cleared his throat. "My oh my ain't you something. True you just might be able to kill me. After all I am no fighter. But I am the War Chief of this village Eden. I was walking by and simply saw everything. This little girl seem hurt. But see is not dead. As I can still see hee ruhk. Act now I shall and I will be able to save her. But im afraid she is running out of time literally. Within ten minutes give or take. Her life shall disappear. How I could save her right here right now."

He would say that with a smile on his face. As he then slowly flipped the fairy card towards the ground. Not to attack but to show her it. As it would around no more then a meter away from her. "Could you be the fairy in that picture or is this what they call a mishap?"

Humayra remained deathly calm, blades held steady in case the man before her made any attempt to approach any further. He looked around holding up his hands and seeming to be taking in the results of the Fanalis girl's own handiwork.

When she shouted at the man ordering him not to touch the girl he did in fact stop. This came much to Humayra's surprise as she hadn't expected him to act the part of obedience after what had just happened to the people she'd been forced to kill just moments ago. Stranger still, she noticed the man held a card in one of his raised hands...

He made no sudden movements. Perhaps it was a good thing as his calm and confident demeanor given the situation she'd put him in allowed the girl to focus on him, and hear him. Humayra's features flushed. The child was still alive? A wary eye dared to look for just an instant, but it was enough to see he wasn't bluffing about the little one's chances. Her attention once again drew back to the man with the strange word he spoke. "You can see her... Ruhk...?" The word itself baffled Humayra. Perhaps it happened to be due to a life sheltered in slavery, but not once had anyone uttered such a word around her before. It sounded foreign to her. Perhaps even fantastical in a way...

Humayra couldn't deny that the child had little time left if she didn't receive the needed help. Humayra felt ashamed at failing to notice just how dire the child's situation was, and to have assumed her already lost for dead too...

Oddly, the card thrown down into the ground near Humayra did not startle the Fanalis. Instead she stared at it for a brief moment. The card perplexed her, and his words didn't make any sense. Her? A fairy? Hardly... She was anything but a fairy, yet still... Humayra found herself letting out a tensed sigh before once again returning her weapons into their sheaths.

Crimson eyes drew up to meet with the man's own. The girl's eyes seemed to give off a faint glimmer as she asked "Can you help her? ...Please."

As the red hair beauty looked st him and he would look at her. A smile would come over his face. Ghost would then answer her question. "Yes why as a matter of fact yes I can." The moment he said that. He would walk right back to the girl and give a smile at the wounded child. The very one thing he could nit stand was a child being harmed. That was just something that rubbed him the wrong way. As he looked on as he start to cast his spell. Recovery Room as the white holy light came to be. If the red hair girl would look on. She would see that the younger girl wounds would fade away. As if they were not there. As Ghost looked on the young girl would most likely start to cry out with confusion. As he looker up and said to her. The moment the holy light faded away. "Well well well looky here. Looks like we have a winner or should I say cheater since she just cheated death."

Spoiler:

Remarkably, the man’s confidence forced aside any hostility Humayra might’ve otherwise been holding onto towards him, causing her to step out of the way when he approached. If he could help the child then she would allow it, though she remained momentarily wary until his recovery process began to show results.

She watched, seeing the recovery in action. The child’s wounds quickly healing and vanishing. It left the Fanalis girl in a state of awe as she’d never witnessed such an unbelievable feat performed by anyone before. As the man began the process to heal, the child let out cries which worried Humayra, but they died off when the girl’s wounds were no longer visible to the eye. She calmed down and the Fanalis released a sigh of relief. Sleep overtook the child. A long overdue and restful sleep judging by how quickly her consciousness seemed to embrace the much needed slumber.

”I’m glad she’s alright now. Thank you… um…?” Humayra grew blank, looking to the man with both appreciation and a question which hung unspoken in the air. She didn’t know the man’s name…

As he stood up he would simply watch as the two was together again. Ghost knew there was more to be done. As he looked at the girl. He could tell she been to hell and back just as he has. But one thing was for sure. He did not see a ouch if regret in her eyes about killing those men. But she was indeed happy about the girl being able to live. As he looked to her he would say in a tone of seriousness. A tone in which he would take pride in all on his own."I see you must have been fleeing. But how long can you run? How before enough is enough? My offer is a offer I give to you. As I am seeking strong allies in my fight against this darkness. My name is Ghost and I am a being on a mission. Tell me what is your name and why I should not kill yiu where you stand?"

Crimson eyes glared at the man in response to his accusation. ”I wasn’t fleeing anyone. I wanted to get this girl to a safe place before confronting… Those men!” But ultimately she’d failed to locate a safe place to deposit the child before being forced to deal with the threats befalling the child. Still, Humayra couldn’t wrap her head around this man’s motive. He’d saved the girl due to her request, or at least that’s what she’d believed… But now he stood bold and forward with Humayra, giving his name, asking hers, and demanding to know why he shouldn’t kill her!? It didn’t help the Fanalis girl’s confusion when he combined it by mentioning an interest in seeking allies. If he was offering to take her on as an ally to his cause then why threaten her life?

Unable to properly gauge the man’s intentions, Humayra stepped between him and the child. If she had to fight and kill him in order to preserve her own life then so be it. ”My name is Humayra and I’m grateful for what you did just now to heal the girl I rescued but… I won’t to allow you to kill me. Not now. Not when I’ve only just recently gained the chance to actually live!” Humayra assumed a menacing stance, drawing and raising both daggers. She was ready to react the moment the man made any hostile move towards her and she proceeded to solidify her stance by firmly planting her feet, which caused the broken chain-links that were still attached to the metal cuffs on her ankles to clank against the ground. At her current strength, the bindings were still too tough to be removed by force. They now served as a reminder of the fate she’d forcibly and brutally left behind. She wasn’t opposed to continuing such brutalities if it meant maintaining her life and her newfound freedom.

As he looked on a smile would indeed be upon him. He had so much so wanted to see her actions. He wanted to know how she would react in certain situations. Ghost would let out a shy grin as he would go on to to say to her. "I saved her not by luck nor by chance but by choice. Because in this world that is all we have. But understand one thing and one thing only. The weak have no say in thier fate. Speaking of such a thing. Yours is well a bit on the dark side of the light. Tell me something...HUMAYRA...Why did you curse your fate? What happened to you so bad that you changed for the better or worse?" As he looked on Ghost would indeed be ready to hear what this person had to say.

As not just anyone could best a group of attackers like she did. Clearly it was more to this person then she let on. As he looked on he would noticed that she was in a defensive stance. This was perfect. As he pulled out his Tarrot cards and started to shuffle them.

Humayra’s features grew dark. Choice? What the hell did this man named Ghost think he knew about people’s freedom to choose!? In her mind the Fanalis saw herself spitting at his words. Where had her choice been when she’d been born into slavery. Taught and made to know that she could never amount to anything more than that. It hadn’t bothered her before now… but that was because she’d never been given the chance to know anything else. In that life, choices didn’t exist. You served, did as you were told, or suffered the consequences. Sure maybe she’d been weak but could you blame a child who’d known nothing else for not being able to learn the mental courage required to resist such a predetermined fate?

Ruby eyes flared, staring intense as flames toward Ghost. ”You want to know why? I’ll tell you why. Because I saw the hand I was dealt. It laughed at me on that day when countless slaves were released, able to kiss freedom for the first time in their lives. I didn’t get a choice then. I was taught throughout my whole life to find complacency in the position I held. There was never any choice for me in the first place. I was denied!” Humayra tensed, straightening her knives at at the shuffling of Tarrot cards. If he used spells, then the cards were probably some sort of fuel for the effect… She couldn’t let her guard down.

”Why wouldn’t I curse my own fate after I was suddenly brought to realize there’s more to life than just being born, living miserably, and dying as nothing more than a slave to other people’s whims?”

Ghost would be looking at his tarot cards as the girl spoke to him. But the moment she stopped talking with such a fire of a question. He would smile as he pulled one out. It was then that he realized that he pulled the fair maiden card. As he looked at it his eyes would grow bigger. As he turned it to her. He would then reply to her. "You know it's funny you would say that. As this card well it's a card which means to go against one's fate. Or better yet to challenge it. Tell me why do you plan on doing that again? No do no answer for I already know the answer. But if I may say this to you. For you are a warrior of injustice. Allow for me to help you help me help us. As a great man once said. Justice without a great cause begets nothing more than slaughter. That same slaughter in a great cause…Is Justice.... Join me and I shall tell you a tell of a mountain. So great no evil could ever climb it."

As he looks on he would give a smile as he pulled another card. He would look on as he was shocked to see this card as well.

”What?” Humayra stared at the card facing her, the ‘fair maiden’ stared out at her. The way Ghost seemed capable of pulling these cards and gave them meaning… was he some sort of fortuneteller? In her pause, the Fanalis girl found herself listening to the man’s words. She even glanced briefly over towards the bodies of the men she’d slain… ruthlessly… Had it really been unjust of her to kill them? But if she hadn’t done that then they would have-… to the child. Choices…? Could she have spared them? Maybe, but then again they might’ve just committed the same crimes against the next helpless girl they caught at another time when she wouldn’t be around to stop them.

So he really did want her to join him then, not kill her? She’d never considered a goal or a cause before. So far all she’d focused on was escape and self-preservation, and recently helping out ones like the child she’d rescued, whose circumstances were dire. What Ghost presented her with looked to be a chance to do something more. Something with far greater purpose than what she’d originally set out for.

Humayra swung her facing dagger out, pointing it at the corpses she’d left behind. ”What I’ve done here was no injustice. These men have been running rampant, committing such crimes, and would do so again if I’d let them live. They got the justice they deserved.” The Fanalis took a shot in the dark with this statement. She didn’t know these men, didn’t know what their history actually was, She’d just judged them based on the moment and decided it was her position to act as their executioner.

He drew another card. Didn’t reveal it just yet, though his change in expression didn’t go unnoticed. Those cards… they had to have some sort of premonition power or else he wouldn’t be using them like that… At the very least, the atmosphere between them felt calm? She didn’t need to fight him… Sheathing her daggers once more, Humayra took up the now sleeping child into her arms. ”I don’t want to make any hasty decisions right now, but if we could find a place for her to stay, I can at least hear you out."

She wouldn’t openly admit it to him yet, but joining the tarot reading stranger did sound appealing… At least then Humayra wouldn’t need to be completely alone…

Ghost would look on as she would explain herself. But to the point of why she would do such a thing was above him at least for now As he would look to her and respond to her claim of a better place to be at. He would give a smile as he looked on to her. "Very well this area would soon be in such an enforcement with the officers of the law and when they get here only more uneasy problems would come about. So let's go to a small hunt I know of not far from here." Soon he would look on as he would soon lead the way. If she was to follow him she would see him looking at more and more of his tarots cards. But with each one he looked at. He would look back at her and have a smiling grin on his face.

Ghost would smile as about twenty minutes would have passed. Before he and the duo would have made it to a small hunt. Ghost would then open the door to the small house. If she would go in. She would see a packed bag of clothes and a table with a small fire on it. There ot had a rabbit cooking with tea water boiling. As he would start to prepare the meal by chopping up some veggies he would say to her. "I too lead a life of being a slave did you know that?" He would look at her with a smile of hope on his face.


Exit

It was great he apparently had a place they could go to but Humayra couldn't help feel slightly creeped out as the man kept shooting glances back at her. It were as if he wanted to see if she still followed. Each time he would grin before going back to playing with his cards... Somehow the action didn't send any disturbing feelings crawling down the Fanalis girl's spine but all the same it felt... odd.

With the child in her arms, Humayra followed Ghost until they reached a small house. A better place by far than being back in the alleyway where guards were soon to gather. Hesitating only momentarily upon its presentation, Humayra steeled herself and broke through the hut's threshold.

Now inside, Humayra couldn't help but feel a sense of homeliness to the place as she entered. Locating a bed (In this moment she didn't care if it belonged to Ghost or not) Humayra placed the sleeping child onto it, covering her with a thin layer of the sheets.

"No, I didn't." Responding to Ghost's admittance to being a slave himself at one point, Humayra turned to address Ghost after securing the child in bed. "What happens now?" She asked, taking a closer look at the place she'd entered now that her arms were no longer burdened with carrying a sleeping body. Had someone else been here cooking the rabbit before they arrived or had this man named Ghost actually just come out for a moment in order to find her? "Were you looking for... me?" Humayra felt uneasy yet still equally curious about the situation revolving around this man and his peculiar interest in her.