Alstair had been on his rounds for most of the morning. His chrove was ready to head back to the stables and so was he. His body was not used to riding all across the city and the spear he had with him was not what he was used to. A Calvary lance really. Too long to be called a proper spear.

As he prowled along a street within the heart of the stacks he stopped. A face shined through the crowd.

"Deven!" He yelled. Halting the massive beast. "Deven Orta! It is I Alstair Murdoh!"

Deven gave a light smirk. His eyes swirled in the light. He stepped slowly closer to Al.
"Well well look at you all grown up."
Deven slapped the small book he had closed and slipped it inside his jacket pocket. He looked Al up and down. It had been a long while.
"I thought I would find you here. Turns out it is the other way around. How have you been."
There was something changed about his old friend. He seemed soft. His eyes where once so focused like a spear point all the time. Now they seemed alive and shifting. It was small but there was a crack in this man.

Alstair smiled.

"Good old friend. Tell me what has dragged you from the sands after all these years?" alstair said as he dismounted. "It would seem that Anaxas would be the last place a man such yourself would want to be."

He turned and faced his former ally. He couldn't help but smile at the fact some of his kindred monsters lived. There was still need for them it would seem.

Deven gave a light smile. He looked to the sky.
"Why am I here... well i would tell you but I do not think you would belief me."
He looked over to a pretty girl that walked by. He looked her up and down in a very brass way. The look made the girl blush and another woman give him a dirty look for doing such a lewd thing. He looked back to Al.
"Why don't we go some where else. This is not the best place for men like us to talk."

Alstair smiled amused.

"Old habits never change it seems." He said calmly. "Tell me. Here and now old friend. What did you think of my treachery?" There was no longer a friendly sound to his voice and his body was tensing up. One wrong answer and a battle between beasts may very well consume the small sqaure in which they stood.

Deven let out a loud laugh. He almost fell over with the force of it.
"Oh come now it has not been that long. You really think if i had a problem with you that I would let you find me."
His gaze turned cold and his eyes slowed there swirl. His smile stayed but even with his lips up turned he may as well have had a dagger out and at Al's neck.
"You know me better then that if something is in my way i break it down and end it peace by peace. I have no care for your actions what we where... it was never more then a means to an end. I have but one loyalty and it lies not with in anything made of man."
He brightened his face.

"Then let us perhaps have a little fun? It's been a great while since I've had a fight old friend." Alstair said letting his blood lust fill him."Just a light fight. We don't need to level the block after all!"

Alstair's body fell into old habits. he held the lance ready for an attack. He knew that the Azure was a manipulator. For them this would be a truly fun battle.

"Well? Old friend. Should we let our baser sides show once again?" He asked his voice growing stronger and drawing a few stares.

Deven gave a light smirk. Then it faded and his eyes grew cold. He looked over Al. He studied his stance. Deven turned his back on Al and took a few steps back.
"Very well lets say half our power no need to get any one else hurt."
Deven was not known for his fighting power. He was known for being crafty. His fists closed and he pulled off his jacket. He had gotten bigger sense all would have seen him last. He pulled of his glasses and rapped them in his jacket. He tossed the cloth aside. his body pulsed under the cloth. His muscles flexed as he arched his back. He turned and dropped into a low stance his hands out before him.
"Lets see if you have let yourself get soft... Alstair Murdoh."

Alstair was giddy as he tossed the lance to the ground. His body was mildly sore from the night before but he could feel the youth poor into him.

"Half strength it is then Deven." He replied calmly.

Standing slightly sideways with his body low Alstair made the first move. A litmus test really. see how fast his old comrade was. A single jab to the right side with his left nothing major yet. He wanted to savor this fight.

Deven leaned into the blow. He wanted to take the impact before Al could reach the turn point and put his back into the blow. He hardened his body and let his muscles take the force. He wanted to test the power Al had. As he took the blow he moved to slide his foot behind Al's.

The shot wracked his ribs. It knocked the wind out of him. He would have to take a moment to inhale, which would leave him vulnerable to further hits if he didn't react immediately.

Alstair had the advantage on the next shot by his stance and his hit. If he was paying attention to his opponent's stance he would notice Deven's foot behind his.

((boys will be boys, lets see whose is bigger shall we? lol))

((mine the lance is just overcopensation))

Alstair already could feel disappointment. Deven should have been able to do better...

With a frown Alstair cut upward with his right. It was a light enough hit. He would take it easy for now. He really didn't want this end so quickly.

"Come on Deven put up a real fight!" He hissed as the upswing cut through the air.

Deven took a deep breath and jumped back. He shifted to the balls of his feet to get more speed. Reaching back he held up one hand to block and with the other reached into a pouch of sand on his back.
"Me put up a fight I give you a free shot and all you do is wind me. You have gone soft when you attack it should be to kill."
He asked for mona to change the sand around his fist. To harden it into stone. He saw in his eye the simple gray of the plain rock.

The sand was chemically comparable to stone. The mona was willing to metamorphose it into rock. There was a buzz in his ears and the taste of wine on is tongue as the mona responded. It took a moment for the spell to take effect and for the sand to solidify.

Alstair knew this trick.

Two can play this game.

Even at this close range he could use his fire with little fear. He snapped his field to life and focused on Deven's pantleg. Burning that should be a big enough distraction...

Deven Pulled his fist from the sand. He pulled his body in tight and lashed out with a hard strike. His fist of stone striking hard at Al's center mass. He felt Al's field come to bare. Al's greatest power was also his weekness. Deven knew of one substance that would never burn. He focused his field and asked of mona. He begged mona to start changing the cloth on his body to carbon. He needed to be carefull not to change the joints.

Alstair wasn't quite fast enough. He had just warmed Devon's hem when the metamorphosis was complete and Devon could take a swing with his rock-encased fist.

Alstair had little time to move. With any luck he would walk away from the hit.

Time to play the distance game.

Even as the blow would land he would roll to the side. Even with a hit like that he should be able to fight...hopefully...

Deven reached back and took a hand full of sand. He lunged at Al. The stone fist striking for him. The only down side to stone was that it was heavy. Made his strikes slow. He griped the sand rubbing it in his hand. The sweat in his hand makeing it stick to his hand. He needed his hand coated in a thin layer of the sand.

The swing connected. Deven's rock coated fist bashed into Alstair's shoulder. It would bruise deeply, and swell, but for now it just hurt like hell. But Alstair wasn't the only one. The hit ground the stone coating into Deven's knuckles and the back of his hand, gouging the skin deeply and painfully.

Alstair rolled with blow hitting the ground and making space between him and Deven. His next trick would need all the air it could get. The blow felt like hell but, it was his good shoulder at least that was a plus...

He focused the best he could. An old trick he learned early on. Auditory assault. Poor Deven would be hurting after that with a smidgen of luck. He willed the mona to action focusing on raising Deven's hearing to superhuman levels.

Deven gave Al his space. He needed some as well. The sand in stuck to his hand he begged mona to change to silica. The stone incasing his fist he begged mona to change all but a thin shell of into water.
"So trying something new that is not like you Al. Lets see what you have."

As for Deven's spell, the mona was having a harder time. There was no natural moisture in the stone, and the chemical composition was so different, the change was slow in coming. The interior managed a very thin layer of water before stopping. It wasn't enough to cushion his blows.

Alstair's auditory assault was simple, quick, and deadly... so to speak. The mona reacted quickly to his request, striking Deven just after his banter. Suddenly he could hear the roar of the wind through the trees, the howls of the crickets in the grass, the screams of birds. The effect was debilitating. The moment he or Alstair said another word he would wish he were deaf.