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For three days he had been riding, resting only for short periods of time, stopping only to sleep and eat until he had reached these gods forsaken mountains. The effects of the road didn't both Damion, not at all, but the solitude. He didn't realise just how important the sound of life was to him until he had listened to the roaring of the dead engine for 3 days, never realised the sheer aloneness one could feel. But he was feeling it now, and it was going to drive him mad before much longer.

He had left on his journey immediately after Dante had told him what was required, intent on getting the job done. He had even gone so far as to sell most of the clothes Rae had gotten him, save for some of the more comfortable garments. As it was, his pack was very light, and the only thing inside of it now were the bag of his shield shards, the few other clothes and an odd seed he had found during his last stop, finding it significant in some manner he couldn't describe.

But Now he was at the end of the road, his bike simply rolling now as the engine gave one last sputter before it cut out entirely, having no more fuel to run it at all. Damion carefully steered the machine off to the side, though this far out the road he was traveling was rather indestinct and seemed to be just a clear spot on the rocks. As such he just kind of hopped off when it finally slowed down enough, walking it to a stop and sighing." Son of a whore...." the voice muffled behind his helmet, he let the giant bike fall onto its' side away from him, giving it a kick. Unreliable.

Guess he was hoofing it the rest of the way....or maybe not much farther, he could feel something odd in the ground not far off...up over this west ridge if he wasn't mistaken. Feeling things in the ground was still an odd experience for him, but it was getting to where he could distinguish things better. He gave the bike one last kick on his way by, showing his disappointment in what had been a reliable mode of transportation. Oh well, up he would scramble, having to contend with the earth giving out from under him intermitently, boots digging into dirt and rock until he stood on the top of the mound of earth, looking down into a small valley, maybe 100 feet down a slope, caught between part of the mountain range and the ridge on which he stood. He could see little caves dotting the side of the mountain across from him, and it was from there that he felt this alien rock's pulsing beat reaching him.

" Bingo beeyotch..." He said with a smirk, looking around for a quick way down before shrugging. " ******** the rules, I'm making my own path." Damion said, twisting his feet alittle into the ground, only to have them rise up again, situated ontop of what looked like a snowboard, his boots even encased in stone to hold them in place. " Booshaka..." He murmured, giving a short hop like a snowboarder. Forget those damn wooden skateboards, b***h he was Mountain boarding! And down he went, the earth making like water before his board of stone, rising in a wake behind him, the sound of gravel issuing from below his feet. " Kick.....Asss!!!!" He screamed into the wind, laughing like a maniac as he cut back and fourth down the ridge. Too bad no one was here to see this......would have made a great bet.

Well.....this presented a new problem entirely! He could feel that alien pulse from what he could only assume was the ore he sought, but at the same time there was this giant, obviously subterranean beastie was blocking his way, and he didn't just want to kill it. But....the thing was STILL just standing there!

" Um....shoo....go on...move out of here..." Damion muttered softly, edging towards it and flipping his hands in a shooing motion. " Come on...go back to sleep." He told the beastie, which only elicited another blinking response before a mouth utterly devoid of fangs spread wide in a yawn. Now that he was closer to it, he could see that it was covered in peach fuzz like fur.

" GRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH...? Is that even a response?" Ok, so now he was talking to animals. Damion was slowly losing his mind apparently, but that didn't stop the giant moley thing from turning from him slowly, lumbering like a bear off towards the greater Mythril Mountains, eventually beginning to tunnel under ground, just like Damion himself intended to." Such interesting beasties running around out here..." the islander said, peering down into the hole that the giant creature had been hiding in. Well, turns out he didn't have to dig after all!

It was right there....laying right out in the open like it was nothing to no one. And it likely was nothing to anyone else, but to this particular man it meant the world. Roughly 3 feet in diameter and shaped almost oblongly, it caught the sun's light and reflected it in rainbows, the outer, visible portions having long gone mirror like from entry into the atmosphere and the pressure of the earth. He didn't know what 3 kilos was, but he figure that this was probably just that, if not more.

" Perfect!" His plan, as nonexistant as it had been a second ago, was almost complete! all he had left to do was pick the thing up and he could be on his way. Starting the action was easy, Damion dropped into a crouch and bent over his knees alittle to put his hands on the stone, but something else had it's eyes...er...teeth on that stone.

several rows of blunt teeth slowly closed around the stone, seeming to appear from the dirt itself until the front teeth clicked against the stone, the mole creature from before once again blinking bleerily at him, as if it wasn't sure what was going on.

" Hey....give it back!" Damion started, hopping alittle so that his feet were wider apart and he could strain better against the beasts strength. As it was, he was losing, sweat running down his face and arms, making his shirt stick to his back uncomfortably as he growled and grunted and strained. " C-come on!" Damion snarled as means of communication with the thing, muscles straining as he pulled upwards and the beast pulled down. Something had to give between the two of them.

It would not be Damion.

" This is mine!!" He snarled, and felt a pulse, like his brain had developed a tic.

" You're right, it is. So take it." a voice, rumbling like stone on stone, with all the power of an avalanche pouring down the mountain,(yeeeaaahh....). Although there was no real physical manifestation to it, in the instant it spoke Damion felt as if the world was shaking around him.

Fingers began to slip where once there had been a firm grip, little granules of dirt grinding against the skin of his fingers until only the tips remained gripping the stone and barely doing that. His fingers squirmed and wormed back onto the stones edges slightly as his patience ran out, " That....is....MINE!" And there was a pull, a pull not only from his body but from his very soul, as if he had been hooked to the ground and was trying to rip the hook out or the ground up. Damions breath caught in his chest from the sheer energy he was exerting into this effort, all feeling leaving him but for a hard ball at his solar plexus.

The earth below trembled and strained, bonds breaking as it strove to meet the demands of the man above, forcing and shaping before finally erupting up from beneath the mole creature, a blunted spire of earth and rock that yanked it from it's home and sent it airborne, it's meal forgotten as it yowled in pain. Though it's suprise was nothing compared to Damion's, who now stood inches away from a spire of rock as big as an ordinary truck, it's outer layer veined with dirt and bones and anything else that had been buried by time. Had HE done this? There was no way....but who else could have done it? There was no other force out here besides him currently, so if not he, then who?

" It was you....just beleive that....." that voice again, as unrelenting as the mountains. Yes there were many comparisons to what that voice that spoke to Damion was, but the calming effect it had was almost instantanious on the young man, who did believe. For did he not recognize that voice was his own? More confident, yes, but his own voice none the less, of the man he had the potential to become one day.

The wagon would slowly roll to a stop.

It had been traveling for the better part of the day at a steady pace, moving south from the city of Lament through the Mithril Mountainrange on its way towards the cities. Though it was not a particularly grand carriage, it did carry a precious treasure inside.

Jin climbed down from the seat and unhitched the horses. They needed to have their bits removed so that they could eat and water, and there was a stream nearby that would serve just that purpose. Though the mountains were rocky, there were still a few twisted specters of trees that would take root in the harsh soil, and one of these would serve as an adequate hitching post for the time being.

Placing a hand upon the back of the wagon, the bandit addressed his cargo.

"My Lady."

He stepped up onto the back of the wagon and brushed aside the canvas that separated the interior from the outside. Various bags and sacks of supplies for the journey had been stocked inside of the wagon. Not a heavy load, but there was quite a bit because of the length of the journey even if Jin intended to travel light.

With his right hand he pulled the cloth from her mouth under her chin.

She could bite if she wished.

The woman's snake fangs would be troubled to pierce through the wire artist's gloves that were made to protect against things such as sharp knives and barbs. The taste in her mouth would be of wool and metal, not of skin or blood.

The desert bandit would press two fingers down upon the flat of her tongue and squeeze it against the bottom of her mouth, and press his thumb up into the soft tissue underneath her chin. Pushing forwards, Jin would gently force Adrienne's head back against the side of the wagon and hold her there by the lower jaw.

"My Lady, I assumed you would be hungry after traveling for so long. I will prepare a meal before we are on our way again."

"Now then..."

He released the pressure on her jaw and allowed her to relax somewhat.

"I regret that this was necessary, Lady Adrienne, but you are far too precious a treasure to leave in the hands of those who cannot appreciate your value."

His hand would move to her calf and unbind the wire which had squeezed her legs together. With the amount that she had been struggling, it was likely that it had cut into the skin by now and drawn blood. Removing it was necessary both for the comfort of his passenger and so that he could treat the wound.

There were the proper supplies in one of these containers. A few bottles of liquor to one side and a piece of cloth that would serve well enough when doused in alcohol to disinfect the cuts. Though he had brought some bandages, there was hardly enough to wrap both legs and after it was done the supply was nearly gone.

"Was there anything else, my Lady?"

Jin turned to the bags along the far side of the wagon and removed a few things. Some vegetables, a loaf of bread, a skin of water that was hanging from a hook near the front.