Wind bit and whipped around her as she fell, the flames in her hair going out from the buffet. The concussive had left her more than just a little dazed, and a full blackout had engulfed her, however fleeting it was. When consciousness did return, it wasn't until the ground was creeping up on her, and what she got a view of was the earth rushing up to meet her. She raised her arms to cover her face with a yelp before he descent was slowed to a near halt and she was dropped almost gently onto grass that shifted into sand as she tried to stand up. She slipped as the sudden onset of dunes shifted beneath her feet. 

Keep it together, Scarlett. She swallowed hard as she got back to her feet, the sand receding to leave her standing on the ruined pillars of something as again the scenery changed again. This time, however, it seemed to stick. Fiery red hair fell messily around her face as amethyst hued eyes took stock of exactly where she was. 

"What the?!" she exclaimed out loud. The last thing she remembered was being blown of a rock ledge in the mines of Baltil. Now she was staring around at a serious of floating islands, and while they looked pleasant, she had already had showing of how… well changing  the islands really were. 

A million things were running through her head at that moment, but most of all, she was wondering how the hell she had managed to get from Baltil to where she was… which, based on the floating islands that were miles above the ocean… she had to guess was the realm of the Kitsune. She had been keeping up with the changes in the pantheons, so she knew at least something about the newest gods. 

Of course, the last thing she had ever planned was ending up on said realm. She was content to watch the Gods from a distance, though, considering the proximity of the Temple Library of Tar Eisalae to Baltil, she had actually considered visiting for the sake of study.  

These thoughts were interrupted by a ground shaking tremor, and she looked around. Two giant scorpions, easily the size of dragons were stomping up to her, pincers clacking. 

Perfect… 

Scarlett reached into her bag and pulled out two vials full of a bubbling orange liquid. "Well come on then, uglies," she said, as her eyes began to glow, and her hair went from fiery red to completely flaming. 

With a shout, she flung the vials as the giant scorpions before she turned on her booted heel and took off running as best as she could. The terrain went from sandy to hard rock as she ran, the resulting dual explosions giving her a bit of a head start, though it certainly didn't dent their hard armor. 

She reached the edge of the island she was on and took a running leap and felt the exhilarating rush of adrenaline at the sensation of falling before she landed and rolled onto the next island. She panted and looked back at the other island, feeling pretty confident that the scorpions would not be following her.

However, the scorpions had a different idea. Who would have thought that something that big could jump that far?

Scarlett swore in Primordial before she was up and running again, her hands delving into her pack again, and throwing vial after vial over her shoulder trying to slow down the persuing beasts. Nothing seemed to work. So she continued running, and still the giant arachnids pursued. She came to the edge of this island, and skidded to a stop. This island was too far away from the others to try and make  the jump. She swore again, but turned to face the challenge. 

"Think you can take me you oversized bugs?" she asked the beasts as fire flared up around her. "Come and get me then!" 

It was a rarity for Xunatar to come upon the islands of the Ring; he was more content with being on the Cradle or perhaps elsewhere in the realm. But today he wanted to test out the horrors or pleasures that they typically provided his would be guests prior to arriving to his home. So far he had visited three of the islands; the first seemed to be an endless field of tall green grass. Nothing out of the ordinary as he crossed it and made it to the next one. The second had left more of an impressive to him for he found a lovely skeletal dragon that immediately took to the cloaked man of white with black streaks. Beneath his hood, Xunatar smiled widely just as the beast was ready to sink its boney maw onto his form. One of the rings he wore glimmered just as he was about to meet with the dragon before it and his body immediately disappeared into another plane. The beast looked and searched for its meal before quickly moving away in search for better prey.

Once the coast was clear, the ring returned the demon back into the realm and he stroked its gems softly. He could feel the power that still radiated from it along with that of the other two rings as he peeked around the murky bog he was in. From the distance, he could see the undead creature having find a new quarry to chase after and he left it be. The Ring was capable of being anything and summoning nearly anything at its own will- even the God himself could be surprised at their whimsical state. As he walked on, his form faded from this reality and into the next island.

This one seemed to be a withering wasteland, barren of nearly any sort of life. Or at least it seemed to be that way. The lord looked down to see enormous footprints among the cracked earth and he could feel the scorching heat beat down upon him. But Xunatar merely shrugged it off and went to search out whatever had just been here. He would not have to wait too long before he felt the land shake with great force. Pausing, his head shifted towards the direction it came from and he could hear what sounded like explosions. Apparently someone came prepared, or at least had some fire power before coming to these parts. In an instant, he teleported and came to see a rather entertaining scene; a young woman was about fight fend off two giant scorpions. However when his eyes set upon her, something felt…wrong. The lord didn’t know why at first but something about her struck something within him. Looking to the Arachnids with this feeling still immersed with him, Xunatar felt that the odds weren’t really fair now. Normally he would not interfere with this sort of business, believing that a person must prove their worth should they hope of ever acquiring his audience but he would make an exception.     

His hand stretched out as he drew himself closer to the fight, each step of his bare feet feeling the warmth from the ground below. He held it towards the closest scorpion to him and waved at it. With the motion, black streams of fire ignited a few feet from him and towards it, ensnaring the beast into a circle of inferno.  There would be no escape for it, and she would be left with the other one. He simply wanted to make the fight fairer, he wasn’t going to be completely easy on her. His pacing came to a halt when he reached her, his hood head lifted to reveal pale blue eyes that stared as though contemplating something. Something about her was familiar, too familiar that it plagued him a little. “Go on”, he urged her softly, his head gestured to her opponent that scurried over towards them. “Truly like a bug to the flame…”

The presence of another being was not lost on her, but it was little matter compared to the bigger menaces in front of her. Her flames licked at and scorched the nearest one, but it seemed to have little effect. Little effect, that was until the scorching hot yellow-orange flames turned an alarming shade of black and the scorpion shrieked and screamed as it reared back, the intense heat of the black completely burning though the hard shell. The flames around her died down suddenly as she looked at her hands, unsure where the black flames had come from. Then she felt him, close behind her, close enough to whisper in her ear. She didn't look back. She felt his power radiating, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to look back or not. So she didn't. 

However, she heeded his words of encouragement, and the flames started up again. Her mind raced as the remaining scorpion charged her and a thought occurred to her. She shoved her hands into her bag again and pulled out two more of her blasting potions before she took a running start forward. As the scorpion lunged at her, she jumped and used a flame strike to propel her up and over the pincers to land on the back carapace. In response, the scorpion began striking out with its tail, and Scarlett had to roll and dodge while trying to remain upon the beast's back. 

"I'm educated and well-bred I am NOT a fucking warrior!" Scarlett roared as the stinger came down again. She dodged narrowly to the side and for a brief second the stinger lodge into the thick armor and was stuck just long enough for the Fire Genasi to lodge the concussive bottle into a gap in the stinger's plates before it was freed. As the scorpion wrenched its tail free, the tip of the stinger ripped past her face, grazing her shoulder as it whipped past. She felt the burn of the venom and yelped out in pain before she shoved the second concussive bottle into the wedge in the armor that the stinger had made and jumped clear, flinging herself backwards and sideways off of the scorpion. As she did so, two fireballs flew from her hands, aimed at the bottles she had left behind. 

The blasts of pyromantic energy ignited the bottles and a dual explosion blasted her back and away again, and tore through the stinger and the body of the scorpion, sending a spray of orange goo across the arid landscape, splattering across the ground as it fell motionless. 

From where she had skidded across the ground, Scarlett lay on her back, panting, but lifted her head to see if her ruse had worked. When she saw the scorpion effectively splattered, she raised her hands in triumph from her place on the ground and whooped in triumph, the flames from around her extinguishing. 

"Hell yeah!" she yelled, and then hissed as she was reminded that she hadn't come out quite unscathed. She put a hand to her chest and it came back red with blood from where the stinger had torn across her clavicle and shoulder. From the burn she could feel that she had definitely been infected by venom. She felt the world going fuzzy, the effects of her previous injuries finally catching up to her. Just before she passed out, she saw his face. She… she knew him, somehow. 
"You…" she said, trailing off as she lost consciousness completely and lay at the mercy of the God of Deceit and Chaos. 

The woman had struck a chord in him; her appearance had him think of times long ago. Another life before this one where he was an aspiring terror among the masses. He couldn’t help but to think of such times when he glanced onto her, but now wasn’t the time for a stroll down memory lane. Whoever she was, he wanted to see if she would be able to thrive in these wild lands of his or would she end up like many before her. He paced backwards away from her as she renewed her focus upon the scorpion. The lord’s eyes anchored onto the potions she withdrew before running towards her pursuer. Meanwhile he was content with watching from afar as he fell back into the air as if he was sitting upon a throne observing everything. The second scorpion was succumbing to the injuries made by the wicked flames he set out and before long boredom took upon him quickly and drew him back to the fight at hand.

Despite her words, she seemed rather talented in the art of combat, at least enough to deal with deadly creature. Once more Xunatar couldn’t help but to continue ponder about her, though he had become so submersed into it that he had been surprised when her heard her yell from getting struck by its tail. Even then he didn’t interfere any more than what he already had. She fought through the pain, likely due to the adrenaline pulling in her and her scheme had delivered her victory. Some of the remains of the bug had flew over to him, coating his cloak a bit and he leisure looked upon the stains and wiped off the excess. Ceasing his hovering, he fell back onto the ground and approached the woman. Though the victor, she had received some injuries, particularly the poison that was coursing through her. Removing his hood, he let the thicket of white locks to escape and he peeked over her with those icy blue orbs and was taken back by her reaction before she faded.

While he wished to learn more about her, such a thing wouldn’t come to pass if she was left in the condition she was. So he carefully picked her up and soon they both were in the citadel. Not only that, but they were in one of the rooms that were reserved for those in his flock. Since she wasn’t conscious to make the room into her own, he had made it rather plain simple for now with a large bed in the center. The rest would be worried about later when she awoken enough to answer the questions that were swimming in his head.

For now, he brought his hand up towards the wound she had received- first he brought forth some of his power to remove the toxic from her blood and then he begun to seal the wound and prevent any further blood lost. While he wasn’t used to using treating his guest as such a rarity- Xunatar preferred to keep his company alive. Strangely, he had found them far more entertaining than he did with corpses. The process took merely moments for him and with that she was repaired.

His hand brushed away from her and his eyes lingered upon her form. The Cradle, seemingly alive and having a mind of its own, felt its master’s curiosity and confusion and sought to react in tandem with the woman. Before his eyes, he started to see a ghost in her, one that he hadn’t seen since the conclave. He saw her in his guest, he saw Scarlett. He stumbled back slightly, annoyed that once more he was reminded of his past life. Why of all things was she coming back into his memory? They hadn’t seen one another in so long, and when he went to look at her again, the image was gone and his guest came back to his eyes. He stood by her for the rest of the time and once he felt her start to awaken, he sighed and sought to get to the bottom of this.


“Who are you and where did you come from?”   

It was his face that had always lurked in the back of her mind, those same ice blue orbs, the white hair. Never had she met him, never had she truly believed he really existed. Why she would question it, it was a surprise even to her. Her mind had not been quite right since the rifts had opened up. She couldn't be sure what she remembered anymore. She had always thought him just a dream. But he had been there with the scorpions, the one who egged her on to finish out the fight. 

Even in her unconscious state she was struggling to understand it, as blips and visions of old forgotten dreams resurfaced again, dreams that might have in fact been memories. Things became even more jumbled as she felt the burning sensation that had spread through her arm and chest  intensified for a moment and then fled again from the same wound. The pounding in her head dissipated as well, and the cuts, bruises and abrasions she had received in the fight and in the blast that had first knock her clean out of Baltil melted away. 

Consciousness returned to her,  her mind still fuzzy and confused as she came to. She was coherent enough to know that she was in unfamiliar territory as she slowly pushed herself up on her elbows, a hand coming up to rub her face. Her amethyst eyes focused, and there he was again, that same handsome face, the eerily blue eyes, the white hair. She recoiled back on the bed away from him, not out of fear, but uncertainty, her red hair falling about her face and shoulders messily. 

His tone suggested that he was just as perplexed, if not more so than she was, and her brow furrowed as he demanded to know who she was and how she had gotten there. God or not, she had enough dignity to be affronted by how he spoke to her. She did, however, deign to answer his questions, simply because he might be courteous to do the same for her. 

"Last I knew, I was in Baltil, working on an excavation site," she answered flatly. "Next thing after that, I'm falling through the air after an explosion and being chased by giant scorpions on floating islands miles above the ocean. Your turn, how the hell did I get here in the first place?"

The moment she was coming back into consciousness, Xunatar asked her, perhaps a little too strongly. But in his mind, he had to make sense of why he saw that vision. Why did it come back to him after so long? She reminded him too much like her, though there were features that were missing up until he saw Scarlett through her. He could see the confusion arising in her as well, before it fell back and she answered his questions, though with bluntness oozing behind her tongue. Such did not bother him as he was piecing together her reason for being in the Ring when she had stumbled onto it accidentally.

“It may have been something in your thoughts that summoned a portal to my abode.” It made sense to him, but then again, chaos was indeed senseless. For all he knew, she could have been malicious enough for one to simply come to her. He knew nothing about her other than her face and form reminding him of another. His fingers slowly stroke his chin in thought, “It is not quite common for my portals to reach out to those that have no intention of coming to this domain.“

Staring into those eyes of hers, he needed to tear himself away from them and he did so. He couldn’t allow for distractions to come, not when he needed answers to the list of question that only grew with each moment. “Do you know of who I am? You had spoken of me as if you did know after the fight.” His tone was serious as it could muster. “I am Xunatar, the lord over this place.” Soon his demeanor changed like the tides of the sea, becoming much calmer than he had at the start.

He had to remind himself to be like honey rather than vinegar in this instance. He had to know more about her or else his constant wondering would bother him like a terrible itch that wouldn’t cease. “I brought you back here after you fainted from your injuries and saved you. You have yet to tell me your name, miss. Would you be so kind to state it?”

She raised an eyebrow at his explanation at what might have happened to summon his portal to her. 
"I highly doubt that I summoned it on my own," she said. "Half conscious after an explosion knocks me off of a rocky ledge and sending me hurtling towards a river of magma half a league below me? Yeah, last thing I was think was that I needed to drop in unannounced on the Lord of Lies," she said sharply. "Yes, I know who you are. I know of you… but to say that I personally have met you would be a stretch," she replied. She wasn't about to come out and explain anything to a man who could use such knowledge against her. 

Him asking for her name was one such thing she was not in the mood to share. Sure it would have been polite, but even she knew that there was great power in one's name. But he was expectant, and frankly, she wasn't in much of a position to be unforthcoming. She sighed grumpily and turned her gaze towards the window, away from the hauntingly familiar face of the god.
"Scarlett," she said and pursed her lips. "My name is Scarlett. I'm an Alchemic Artificer and Demolitions Expert from the Artisan Guilds of Baltil," she said formally introducing herself without giving out her last name. "People call me Fireheart."

She glanced back at him, brow still furrowed. "Why did you bring me here? Last I heard is that someone had to successfully reach your domain for you to take interest in them. What made you come out to help little ol' me?" she asked, confused. Frankly, he was chaos, which would have made sense. She rubbed the spot where the scorpion stinger had torn her skin, feeling the pale white line that had been left behind after the healing. "Not that I'm not grateful… but I didn't exactly come here with the intent of seeking you out…"

Her attitude had left much to be desired, and though he had great patience, at this time he didn’t feel like being tested. He hungered for knowledge of her and didn’t want to have to diddy dawdle around to get what he wanted. Still he had to refrain from stirring her even more, else it was going to take more effort and time than he wished. Xunatar shook his head, “I know of nothing else as to why you were summoned to my islands. Perhaps it was a whim after all, but considering you were in Baltil, my power is weakened overall in Parvpora.” He didn’t mind revealing the knowledge since most already knew the divines weren’t as powerful there, and he hardly believe the Cradle was able to draw out its energy on its own accord. But she didn’t seem to be lying to him, that much he could see.

It didn’t take much for him to see that she was reluctant in giving him her name. He had other ways of prying it out, but he was trying to be subtle about it. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t do anything against her, not as long as he was haunted by seeing that of Scarlett in her. The Voice had been wise to pick such a person to mirror when he had first saw it for that very reason. Perhaps it was yet another trick to test him.

He watched silently, his eyes glued to her as she went for a long time in refusing him the one thing he wanted to know now until it seemed too much for her. The moment she echoed the name that lurked in his mind, the god felt as though he would stumble onto the ground even with all his power around him. His eyes widened before he cast them away from her and looked to the ground. It couldn’t have been. Even with that and the image he saw before, it couldn’t have been her. Her appearance differed from that he remembered, but…there had been many things that occurred since his time from the other realm. He heard the rest of her words, yes, but they felt like they were miles away from him as he considered fate to be the cruelest game towards him.

For a long time Xunatar seemed as though he was in his own little world, away from the Cradle or Scarlett. It spoke in how his eyes dulled and he felt something he hadn’t in a long time- pain from inside him. The demon lifted his gaze up and recollected himself, “Usually yes…but you had proved yourself in slaying the creature. I do not like to entertain my guest if they are deceased after going through such trials. I am not a cruel deity, sometimes.” He held onto his head, contemplating his next move. She didn’t seem like she had remembered him, if she was the very Scarlett he adored.

“No, I am clearly aware of that, Scarlett.” It was even painful to him to speak her name, and it annoyed him greatly. “I think there had been some misunderstanding. You had reminded me of someone familiar from a life long ago. Perhaps I have been wrong or mislead by memories. Given your…reluctance in being here, I can show you a way off these grounds then.” Xunatar frowned as he summoned a portal nearby and turned away from her. This will bring you to Karith, the furthest I can extend my power from here before it weans.”

The god was clueless on knowing what to do or say rather than to try and push her away in case he wasn’t mistaken. Perhaps it was a kindness to them both, seeing how much different they seemed from what could have been an eternity. 

Xunatar claiming not to be a cruel deity all the time struck Scarlett almost as an ironic truth which she found herself voicing. 
"Sometimes lies are kinder than reality," she muttered softly. It struck a cord in her, almost as though she had said those very words to someone before. She found herself looking to the side, confused as he told her she reminded him of someone from his past. That couldn't have been a coincidence, and all things considered she doubted that it was just a chance thing that she had ended up there. Now, she, by all means, did not believe in fate, but rather that she was in control of her own destiny, but this was even enough to make her wonder if there was something more at work here. Slowly, she got up off the bed as the Lord of Lies was kind enough to create her a portal. Karith was a fair distance from Baltil, but she was grateful that he was willing to help her get that far. 

"Thank you…" she said slowly as she looked around for her bag. She found it sitting nearby and as she grabbed the satchel, the flap fell open and several of the contents spilled out. Among several crystal vials of potions of various colors, a couple different tools of the mining variety was a silver locket. Scarlett knelt down and hurriedly began stuffing the items back into her bag. 

She reached out to grab the locket, but her hand recoiled slightly.

The lord was still coming to terms with his darkened heart given some false hope that was for naught in the end. Whoever this Scarlett was, she wasn’t the one that he had known from the other world. Terrible feelings overcame him, wrenching him from the pits of his stomach. It was an awful long time since he had felt them. Regret, sorrow, pain. The demon, for all the power at his disposal, he could not regain the woman that was destined to be his queen. But it was something he had once buried so deep inside once, he would do so again whenever she would depart from here. There was no point in forcing her to stay even if she was the one he had lost. He did find some comfort in her words though, which made him chuckle softly if just for the moment.

Xunatar frowned deeply but he’d rather have this charade over with once and for all. She seemed to be in agreement as she started to prepare her things. He didn’t bother to watch her and hoped that when she crossed through the portal, he would be rid of these negative feelings that even gods were vulnerable to. Although he heard the spillage of her things from the bag, he refrained still from taking notice until something told him to see what the problem was. From the corner of his eye, he glanced upon several things before those blue orbs fell onto the locket. He was left speechless and he turned fully around to see it once more. “Where did you get that?”, he spoke in a much quieter voice. Kneeling down, he inspected it closely before confirming that it was the very one. “That was…a gift from long time ago. Long before I ascended, there was this woman I met. She carries both the very name and eyes you have, and I gave it to her because I fancied her greatly.”

His mind trailed off into a time that was very distant now. What would have became of them had things worked out differently? Again he chastised himself for worrying too much about the past instead of the present time. Drawing himself back on his feet, Xunatar looked to her, again he could see the demoness’ image alongside hers. It was simply torture for him to bare it like this.

“If I remember correctly, the locket contains that of my hair, or used to be. Scarlett…she had wanted to keep me close to her at all times, was her explanation.”