Raine's concentration broke. She could hear that some kind of commotion was going on, but she couldn't tell what it was, since she was indoors.

"Miss cleric? I something wrong?" asked a small boy, tugging at Raine's clothes.

"No, child, it's nothing." replied Raine. "I'm sorry for interrupting your healing session."

Returning her focus to the child, Raine placed her right hand on the boy's forehead. Closing her eyes, Raine concentrated. In a matter of seconds, a heavenly glow began radiating from her hand. Shortly afterwards, she withdrew her hand.

"There, do you feel better?" inquired Raine.

"Yes, thank you ma'am!" cheerfully responded the boy, now hugging Raine's leg, which was as tall as he was.

"Go home to your mother now, child." instructed Raine. "Tell her not to worry about your illness anymore."

With that, the boy sped off to exit the small chapel, turning around once to wave goodbye. Smiling, Raine grabbed hold of her cross.

"Please watch over that child, and all the sick and unfortunate of this town, St. Elimine..." chanted Raine.

"Thank you. Not to be rude but will this glass be able to withstand any damage?."

Blaze looked straight into the Shadowlings face searching for a lie. "If I am to loose this gem because the case broke then all hope of my kind will be lost forever and the punishment for you is something far worse than your deepest nightmare."

Blaze took the case and began to examine it. He finally understood that this case was not glass but steel encrusted diamond. "It turns out that you are a very loyal companion and I thank you for all that you have done."

"You!" He pointed his sword at the Shadowling. "What's your game? You know it's quite unwise to trick a dragon."

Blaze swiftly moved between the Pheonyx and the Shadowling, curling his tail around the Shadowling so that its spiked end is poised to strike if necessary.

Blaze growled,"Speak your business Pheonyx! You are both of the magic existence so why do you intend to hurt your own kin?"

A tall dark man entered Teht, the powerful crystal of Greed within his hand and grasp. He walked quietly through the streets and the many crowds, all of them were human expect the few robots that did their bidding. Truely sickening. It was places like this that gave humans a bad name.

He stopped and stood above a gutter. He sensed a remarkable presence under him, a vampire possibly. He spoke, "One such as yourself shouldn't be hiding in such a dark place. Don't be afraid, and do what you will." And with that he was off again.

It was to his fortune that he encountered a Dragon and a Pheonyx by a small hut in the distance, all that he could see. It looked like they were fighting about something in particular. Like the vampire, they also seemed to be powerful beings indeed. He did sense another presences however, but it seemed as if it was hiding in the shadows somewhere.

He turned around with a grunt, accidently bumping into one of the humans, knocking them over.

The woman wore holy-like clothing. She was nothing like any other human he came across before. He sensed the same power flowing within her as the others.

"I'm...sorry," he apologised, giving out his hand to help her up.

"Oh dear me!" cried Raine, accepting the hand gesture of the tall man who had bumped into her. "My apologies, sir... I wasn't watching where I was going..."

After being helped up, Raine patted off some dust from her clothes. She examined the man before her. Nothing appeared to be damaged from the encounter.

"Ah, I am glad to see I did not accidentally cause any harm from that bump." said Raine, bowing her head to the stranger.

"No, it's fine. I was the one who is to blame... Always a costly mistake in the battlefield."

He closed his eyes, wondering. He had never really talked to a human before, let alone foolishly bump into one. Maybe he could at least once try to interact.

"My name's...Blake. Do you have one of these stones?" he introduced, then quickly gathering the information he needed, holding up his Greed crystal with accordance to the question.

"Sir Blake, is it? Such a handsome name." smiled Raine. "Ah, that stone...yes...no mistaking it..."

Raine reached inside her shirt and pulled out a rather large pendant that was chained around her neck. She opened it, revealing the crystal of Wrath.

"Yes, I am bearing the burden of the crystal as well." spoke Raine, quietly. "It is my trial to carry this crystal and to become a kind, just, and morally upright figure."

Closing and putting away her pendant, Raine stared at Blake.

"My name is Raine... I am a cleric, if you couldn't tell." softly laughed Raine. "Perhaps it is St. Elimine's will that we two crystal-bearers have met here."

Blake listened. Her reasons were right and true. Perhaps it wasn't just coincidence they met, although, Black didn't believe in any god.

"The crystal of Wrath. That is a heavy burden..." he said, sighing at the thought of what he would say next, "I want to help you. I'll fight for your cause, and... Help you the best I can to overcome your trial."

Raine blushed and a suprised expression ran over her face.

"You wish... to help me?" whispered Raine, still shocked. She quickly got ahold of herself and smiled. "It would be rude of me to decline. Thank you......oh so much..."

Raine couldn't think of what else to say.

This is all so sudden... oh, my heart... it's not felt this way before...

"A-are you hungry, Sir Blake?" fumbled Raine, stumbling for words. "Perhaps I am misjudging, but you look famished... my abode is not far from here, and I was wondering if you...um...uh...would like to..."

Blake thought weird of how Raine was now acting, but he was like that to all the other humans.

To tell the truth, Blake was pretty hungry, although, he could go without food for days on end. The last meal he had to kill was about two days ago, not many wild animals in civilisation.

"Uh, I guess so..." he agreed, although looking back at the creatures by the hut, "They also have what we do... I can feel it. I doubt they'll be kind to us. We should probably leave them be, but I'm worried about them getting in our way in the future..."

"Oh my! You are gifted with power, Sir Blake?" said Raine in response to what Blake just said. "If you speak the truth about yourself, then there must be something beyond us happening right now. If more crystal-bearers are here... this may be some sort of sign."

Raine took a look at the direction Blake was looking in, seeing the figures he spoke of.

"You doubt they would be kind?" asked Raine. "If you're worried about them getting in our way, then I shall speak with them. It would be my duty as a cleric of St. Elimine to ease your suspicions and to make things peaceful."

Peaceful? Between a Dragon, Phoenyx and a Human? Blake was very doubtful of that, but he was sure that they would meet up because of the crystals anyway. Might as well get things over and done with, he thought.

"Okay, you try to talk to them. As you could probably tell, I'm not the best at conversation..." he said, a bit dishearten. "Not doubting your power, but if anything happens, don't be afraid. I'll be at your guard."

"Thank you, Sir Blake." said Raine, putting her hand on Blake's shoulder. "I place my faith in you."

Raine smiled at Blake, then began walking towards the group ahead of them.

St. Elimine... grant me the wisdom and courage to be a channel of your peace...

"My kin?" Rumetz spat. "Shadowlings and the Pheonyx's are the farthest thing from kin. And I have no intention of harming him, if he cooperates." He willed his flames to intensify, more as a intimidation technique than anything else. He had fought Shadowlings before, and always walked away severely injured, and this one was significantly stronger than the others. but then again, he wasn't your average pheonyx.

Blake stopped Raine as he placed a hand on her shoulder and looked across at the newest threat, "As I thought, a Shadowling... But how... How is he using that power?"

Blake ran over and showed himself to the powerful Shadowling, keeping his distance. "Hey...calm down, alright? I want to talk to you."

Blaze looked at the human in the corner of his while watching the pheonyx, making sure no one was to harm this Shadowling while he still breathed.

"Pheonyx! If you do not stand down I will have no choice but to destroy you." Blaze stood his ground, attempting to block the two from the Shadowling. Blaze's main focus was on the Pheonyx but he did occasionally glance at the human.

He hasn't made any harmful gesture towards the Shadowling. My people told me that the humans out-casted Shadowlings from their societies but this human seems to be different.

"Pheonyx! If you do not stand down I will have no choice but to destroy you." Called the dragon. Rumetz ignored him. He would probably use fire to attack, which Pheonyx could absorb. It was only when the human appeared that he stopped. He felt no kindness towards it, but the humans were quite picky about killing and would probably attempt a war. The blame would fall onto his solders and he be stripped of his fire. "Fine dragon, I'll stop." He turned around to return "home" but stopped. Just before the Shadowlings burst of energy, he had pulled a crystal out of a box, and he had given the dragon a container for that crystal. A glance around told him the humans had crystals as well. "Tweeters! Could you fetch the crystal from my room." (chirp! flies away)

TWEETERS-

Oh my... so much tension and misunderstanding...

Raine wanted to say something, but she didn't want to interrupt what was going on between Blake, the shadowling, and all the others. She grabbed hold of her cross and began praying instead.

St. Elimine, please grace all of us here with warm hearts to understand one another...

Blake quickly looked around, casting suspicion on the Pheonyx as it laid eyes on him. He growled lightly as he hid the crystal into his pocket.

Now turning his complete attention to the Shadowling, Blake tried best he could to be friendly. "...I'm Blake, but I'm no human. Anyhow, I can tell you're suffering. People always suspect bad things from your kind, and given the experiences, they may not seem to understand. But I think good can come from anywhere, even the unexpected. I understand where you are coming from. I had a friend once who was a monster by most standards... He was hunted and murdered before my very eyes. That's why I never draw my blade unless I know that that something has evil intensions."

Blake closed his eyes for a moment and then continued, "Anyway, by the aura of everyone here, you all have crystals. I won't lie, I also have one," he said, taking it out, "Originally, I wanted to ask how you were able to use the power within, but instead, I want to ask you something else."

Blake turned to Raine for some kind of reassurance, and then proceeded to ask the Shadowling, "Would you like to join us, to use that crystal for good, and for the right reasons..." he asked sincerely.