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Aaron wasn't exactly sure what to do other than stand there. Suddenly, though, he got an idea. He inched closer to the shade and when he got close enough, his reptile teeth enlarged, and he snapped at the shadowy figure. Not much happened, though, unfortunately. "What, are you too scared you'll get hurt? Is that why you dissolve into thin air whenever we take a whack at ya?" He began to taunt the Shade himself.

Aaron fell to the ground with a hard thud. Geez, I just got knocked down by sand. Never thought that would happen. He got up quickly, brushing all the excess dust off his clothes. He was starting the shade down hard when all of a sudden he heard Lyllii say a simple "Ow". With that followed her throwing a few glass shards his way. He caught them, but one of them cut his skin a bit when it landed in his hand. "Ah, geez. Watch where you throw those things will ya?" He didn't get it at first, but all of a sudden he understood.

When the realization came, Aaron morphed into his dragon self. The color of his hair seemed to get darker and darker until it was the shade of gold. It then became smooth like scales, which spread all over his body. His face elongated, and he grew wings and a tail. His underbelly turned blue like the shirt he wore, and he hissed violently at the shade. "You scared now? Cause you should be!" All that could really be understood were reptilian snarls, but Aaron figured he got the message.

After that, he promptly proceeded to set the guy on fire. He waited until the heat traveled all the way from his belly into his throat. He opened his jaws and out came such a fury of flames that anyone would have stepped back at the sight. Except the flames were heading straight for the one who should have been running the most.

In less than ten minutes the guy was nothing but glass. Only a few specks of dust remained.

As Aaron finished burning the Shade into glass, he let a puff of smoke escape his nostrils before returning to his human form. When his appearance changed back, he laughed. "Intimidating, huh?" He looked at her with amusement flowing into his eyes, though, it wasn't the mocking kind. More of the 'I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you' kinda thing. "That's funny. I would've never in a million years used that word to describe myself." He laughed again before continuing. "I guess you learn new things everyday." His lips broke into a grin as he started to walk forward.

**Paused for Moki Hunter**

OOC: Think I've waited long enough, though I'll make my post so that she can jump in again.

BIC:
Lyllii shrugged. "Suit yourself." She turned to face Kasha. "Well, we almost did before. Anyone have a chunk of bread I can steal? I'm starving!"

Moderate footsteps sounded towards the rear of the small party, and an aqueous odor wafted briefly in the air. A chunk of slightly stale traveler's bread whizzed through the air; Lyllii caught it cleanly with no second thoughts, but before she crammed it into her mouth she realized it hadn't come from the same angles as her new commrades. She slowly turned around, sheepishly hiding the scrap of food behind her back. Her eyes rested on a young man about their age with dark hair and pale skin. "Sespyn? What are you doing here?"

"Is that the thanks I get? You never change, do you? By the way, you'd better not waste that," grumbled the male water nymph.

"Of course not!" Lyllii spat, already cramming the bread into her mouth. "And I'd wait to recover my energy until we're out of this blasted cave, but there's only diluted mineral water and no natural light," she grumbled between mouthfuls. "You were here the entire time, weren't you? So why didn't you help us out?"

Sespyn's face remained emotionless. "Why would I? It looked like you had it sorted. But I suggest that you keep in mind that the spector was only a long-distance clone of the original, and much weaker than the real thing."

"I don't need you to tell me that..." Lyllii seethed. "Oi! And what gives you the right to critique me?"

The newcomer ignored her as he surveyed the others, eyes resting on Aaron suspitiously for a moment longer than the rest. "I see. Elf, anthro, dragon... She dragged you all into this, didn't she?" he sighed. "Well, I suppose I might as well properly introduce myself. I call myself Sespyn, and I'm a nymph like Lyllii, only I'm water, not wood."

OOC: Lyllii and Sespyn know eachother from another story I'm working on.

OOC: I'm really sorry for not posting for a while. I've been having major writer's block and it doesn't seem to be going away. I'll try my best to keep posting.

Aaron swiftly grabbed the tree root torch that didn't really look much like a torch to begin with. Then again, what made a torch usually required fire. He shaped his lips to make an 'o' as if he were sounding out the vowel in a word. A small growling noise came from the bottom of his throat, and it was evident even from far away. Not too long after, a small flame slipped through the 'o' shape he was making. The root caught on fire easily and Aaron withdrew his breath and the flames. He was about to hand Maiya back the newly lit torch when all of a sudden a newcomer came.

For some reason he didn't like the looks of the guy, and his attitude wasn't helping much either. "Sespyn, huh?" His eyes took a glaring appearance on the male nymph. Anyone could tell from miles away he didn't like the guy.

Aaron was glad that Kasha hated Sespyn too. Or at least it seemed like it. He simply nodded at Sespyn's question but then decided he should take a bash at him too. Besides, he didn't even bother to learn Aaron's name. Lyllii had to let him know it. Not that Aaron would have cared if he knew it or not. "Well, can we get a move on then? You're making our pace slow." He gave him a glare and walked ahead of the others, not caring that no one was following. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, walking alone.