Alliel looks around her calmly, her eyes tracing the line of the horizon for any sign of something to aim towards before she turns and begins to walk directly northwards trying to mark her trail as she goes by releasing a bright pink dye from her finger.

The dye was the colour of infant's blood and it left a stain upon the sand. There winds were still, and the dust of the desert would not be moved. The sun, pitch black despite it's heat, did not move. Soon, it became sweltering hot, the sands began to thin, and Alliel saw the distant, jagged mountains of the North. It was twisted grey stone now into of obsidian sand, and Alliel saw small life scurry beneath her as she walked.

Seeing small animals Alliel bent down and became as still as she could waiting until they got up enough courage to approach her.  She watched carefully to see their form and nature trying to see how aggressive they were and what natural attacks and defences they had grown.  These beasts could be the core of an army if their nature was sufficient to serve her needs.

They were small - no bigger than a man's foot - but seemingly placid. They were often smined, had many eyes and legs, but otherwise harmless - though, it would be noted, their barbs were immediately poisonous. It seems they had to protect themselves from larger predators.

Alliel knelt and tried to coax one of the beasts across to her so she could examine it more closely and in more detail.  If she succeeds she takes it back to her tower for a more complete examination.

It was a small arachnid, about the size of a hand, with dozens of eyes all about its body - except in the case where it held a vicious, fanged mouth. They were not very fast, and did not even try to escape Alliel.

Alliel stores the creature in her tower and finds one of her Alchemists and informs him that he is to complete a study of the creature, what it eats, how it reproduces and how quickly it grows.  She warns him about getting bitten by the spider and then leaves him and heads back north heading out beyond the place where she found the spider still leaving her dye trail.

The Alchemist nods slowly, snarling and snapping to itself. It takes the small, poisonous beast and took it to the study-chambers within the Black Tower.

Balast soon came back to the scraggy area, filled with black stone, where the poisonous creatures dwelt.

Alliel continues northwards keeping her eyes open for other species that might live in this area.  Something told her she could use as many different species as she could find.

Alliel soon climbs past the blasted rock, the blackened hills, and below and beyond the dark sands of the desert she finds, beneath her as she is atop the hills that surround the desert, a luscious, entangled, wild jungle. It was filled with all manner of flora, some with wicked spikes while others held beautiful flowers or precious fruits. The jungle itself was still.

Alliel considers the jungle carefully.  Such a place should be full of small life and the fact it wasn't pointed to some sort of predator - a good thing for her if less so for the animals that should be here.  She carefully looked around for any sign of life most specifically tracks or signs of places where creatures had moved through the jungle.

Outside of the jungle's reach there were no tracks or prints of any sort against the black dirt. A bitter wind howled from the mountaintops, and the jungle rustled, all at once.

Alliel started reforming her throat to amplify sound then let out a resounding roar of challenge to call out whatever was in the jungle.  This was her land now and she would fight to preserve it.

The wind grew stronger, colder, and the trees almost shook with fear. Besides that answer - if it could be called as such - there was nothing.

Alliel hesitates no longer and walks forward slowly into the trees trying as best she can to avoid going close to the stems of the trees themselves and examining the ground she is walking on closely before each step.  It is just possible that the threat here is the trees themselves rather than animals.

The ground was moist brown, the roots a deeper shade. The stems were of a hundred vivid colours - red, yellow, purple, orange, blue, green, others and others - and their flowers were magnificent. There seemed to be no animals about, no birds shrieking or insects buzzing. It was entirely unusual.

"Nothing unusual about it," said a voice behind Alliel. It belonged to a long, dark-haired youth with pitch black eyes and a trustworthy grin. He was dressed in simple blue leather and held a small, silver pistol in his right hand - though not as an act of aggression. His skin was deathly pale and his hair as wild as the jungle in which he lived.

Alliel smiles broadly at the youth.

"Well I suppose that depends largely on your definition of unusual doesn't it then?  One tends to define unusual based on your own experiences so if this is how it always has been you would consider it unusual.  My name is Alliel, and I am a traveller of sorts.  I recently wandered into this land and was as I believe you have guessed slightly perplexed by the lack of animal life in this area.  Is that usual?"

"Of course," said the man, shrugging. "They're scared of me, I believe. A few still remain, in the deeper parts of the jungle where even I do not dwell, but even then.." He smiled, removed a flask fro within his vest. "Where are my manners? A drink, kind sir?"

Alliel takes the flask and gives it a quick swirl before drinking  a quick swig of the liquid.

"So you are a hunter of some sort?  I'm surprised that you feel it worthwhile to hunt smaller things like insects and the like."

She pauses for a second her eyes fixed on a distant point in an unfocused way.

"However I must have failed to catch your name friend, do if you feel able make me acquainted with it."

"I..."

The man stops, looked at Alliel, swallowed and narrowed his eyes. Very slowly his hand more firmly gripped the pistol. He smiled all the while.

"That is interesting. I am Nors of the Jungle. You have walked into my jungle - know that all that enter here return changed. Do you feel changed, friend?"

Alliel burst out laughing, an outburst that lasts quite a few seconds before subsiding.

"I am impermanent and yes I have changed.  However I suspect from your expression that my change is not quite what you were expecting.  Tell me Nor - why would you think I would be changed?  What would the nature of the change be?  I can assure you the change that has manifested is quite impressive if you wish to see it.  However I suspect that I may need to be honest with you."

She clamps down hard  on the end of the gun trying to clamp the tube closed.

"Now can we talk as equals and friends without conflict?  That could just as easily have been your neck if I so choose.  I am Alliel, Goddess of Alchemy and Mistress of the Blackest Sands to the south of here." 

Nors jumped as the gun snapped close. He dropped it suddenly.

"I see," he said, smiling. "You are like me. Psychic. And you are the beautiful mistress of the blackened tower.. I have often wondered as to who owned that particular temple of majesty." He bowed, took Alliel's hand, kissed it. "How do you do?"

Alliel gives the man a tight smile and reaches for him.

"Oh I think we can do better than that can't we."

She pulls him into her and kisses him deeply on the mouth.

Nors fell into the kiss, taking Alliel passionately, but soon broke off, choking, as whatever he'd tried to give to Alliel fell into his stomach. He grimaced, and then smiled very softly, looking at Alliel with new eyes tinged with fear and, perhaps, respect.

"I... I see, very clever," he said. "You must have realised that I am.. Mad, and that - yes - I wished to convert you. You do not feel.. like one of us. And yet you have drunk from me, and I have kissed you. How could you not have changed?"

He seemed a little panicked at the prospect.

Alliel laughs.

"I am Mistress of the Dark Arts and believe me even the mad must bow before some of my arts.  But enough of that for now.  I have no problem with you remaining in my realm and if anything would encourage it.  There is much I can learn from you I am sure.  However if you wish to convert me you should try words and not trickery.  I am not averse to being converted you understand merely wishful to avoid making foolish decisions.  Come, I must return to my tower and would invite you to accompany me.  I am sure there is much I can gain from talking to you and possibly much you can gain from talking to me."

Alliel turns and speeds back to her tower irrespective of what the other god does.  She needs to get to the Methodes portal to receive the daemon.