Though he could imagine neither the complexity nor the variety, nor that essential glamour that lay within, of the world that now stretched before him like a scrumptious smorgasbord upon the banquet table, Allure knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that it contained much magnificence for him to savor, and the knowledge made him giddy.  With a spring in his step he left the Deepwood behind, his heart soaring with possibility.  He marched through the trees, and with his questing eyes scoured the bark of every tree and the surface of every stone.  Knotted wood did not excite him, but neither did it incite him to action.  He did not, after all, seek to coax the beauty for which he longed from the stage and backdrop where it promised to appear.  Nevertheless, he could find an esoteric artistic statement in the rhythmic swish of leaves and the nurturing golden sunlight which filtered through it.  Its warmth dotted his face.  How divine, he mused, could this luminous treasure be if personified in human form!  

From the underbrush a noise caught his attention, and Allure held his breath.  The moment of discovery thrilled him: would the living thing soon to cross his way embody the beauty of nature, or its unsightly flaws?  He dropped to his knees and stilled himself nearly enough to stop his heart, less by his movement he frighten the approaching creature away.  When the beast finally emerged from the billowing leaves, the handsome man could not contain a gasp.

Patterned from muzzle to toe it was, clad in an ostentatious coat of tawny yellow and ebon black.  Like the brilliance of the sun between the mask of the canopy, it flaunted its spots, yet paradoxically the harmony of spotted cat and spotty light hid the former from view.  Slowly, curiously, the leopard stalked forward.  Its every movement belied sinews beneath the gorgeous fur; it moved with a predatory grace and confidence.  Allure stretched out his hand, bending his fingers downward like claws.  After a moment, the beast began to move in.  [color=E62020]”Yes…that’s it,”[/color] the man whispered.  A gleeful smile played across his lips.  [color=E62020]”Come and let me…[i]touch[/i] you.”[/color]  It stopped short a few inched from his fingertips, but Allure did not wait.  He reached out, predator to predator, and nestled his hand in the thistle-soft fur on its head.

A quiet, peaceful moment passed.  The leopard made a sound of pleasure; the man’s lay apparent on his face.  [color=E62020]”You are a beautiful creature,”[/color] he crooned.  [color=E62020]”Proud, colorful, deadly.  Were that you were a woman.  I could lose myself to a wild, gorgeous girl with that quiet tenacity and supple grace.”[/color]  The moment of serenity and unity among two of the most gorgeous things alive persisted a short time longer.  Allure gave its ears one final stroke.  Then, rising to his full height, he turned away, and the cat departed unchanged.

Scarcely had it gone when a new noise bade Allure twist around.  This newcomer, he could tell, shared none of the subtlety of the tawny hunter whose beauty he admired.  With a startling abruptness a mass of bluish hair, amorphous and odorous, burst through the foliage.  Allure fought fiercely to suppress a violent gag, and failed.  It landed next to him in an ungainly pile and tumbled through the long grass for a couple of seconds, forcing the man to press a hand to his face in horror.  With his other hand he reached out dramatically, and cried at Navy as it bunched itself up to leap away, [color=E62020]”Vile, disgusting blob!  In my most fevered nightmare I could not have imagined that hair, a canvas for fascinating art, could be so sullied!  You must allow me to give you a trim!”[/color]

So saying, he articulated his fingers into a rigid, flat formation and swiped horizontally.  Instantly, Navy flew apart, two wretched blue hairballs rather than one, split perfectly through the middle.  Filled with manic drive, Allure began to dance.  He span and swung his arms, his balance suitably flawless, and with every turn of his gorgeous body threw another slashing motion Navy’s way.  In less than ten seconds, only noisome shreds of the thing remained, and Allure ceased his dance of death with an extravagant poise.  [color=E62020]“Aha!  You are not now so contemptible.  You have sacrificed your very life so that I could make my beauty shine; perhaps you were not the basest form of ugliness I’ve encountered thus far.”[/color]  Gathering himself, he leapt forward to the epicenter of carnage.  In a rough circle, about fifteen feet across, the grass –which lay flat, as it, too, had been cut- bore a garish blue stain.

Ahead lay the open savannah, where the land itself assumed myriad forms beneath an endless blanket of grass.  Rather daintily, Allure navigated out of the blue splatter, only to hear yet another noise coming from behind.  Spinning around in a single hop, he gazed back the way he came and beheld a colossal orange ant.  A quizzical look crossed his features as it approached.  [color=E62020]”What’s this?  An oversized grub thunders toward me…does it seek to strike me down?  There is nothing beautiful about idiocy—except its demise.”[/color]  He raised a finger as if stricken by a profound thought.  Patiently waiting, he watched the ant draw closer, but to his confusion it began to slow down.  It slid to a colossal stop a few feet away to regard him with black eyes.  After a brief pause, Allure curled up his finger and placed it beneath his chin, musing upon the odd behavior as he examined the gleam of brilliant sunlight on its carapace.  He smirked.  [color=E62020]”Oh-ho!  I know why it is you have changed your tune.  Though you are grossly engorged, you are attuned to natural life, yes?  And you have discovered that I, most perfect Allure, am most perfectly natural, as all beauty is.  Perhaps it astounds you, too, that the world is so full of hideousness when beauty is so ingrained in the idea of life.”[/color]

Allure performed a backflip, sailed through the air, and landed smoothly upon a large branch on the last Acacia tree before the proper savannah began.  The eyes of the giant ant followed him.  Shaking his head, Allure lamented, [color=E62020]”Though you’ve perhaps a smidgen of wisdom with you, and intellect bears an ethereal beauty most admirable, I can see no way to redeem your ghastly form…save, of course, one.”[/color]  He traced a fingertip along the body of the One By Gods Altered, severing in a single stroke the bottom half of all six of its legs.  With a thump the huge insect collapsed to flounder among the grass.  Its attacker appeared oddly intrigued for a moment before he tilted his head back and laughed, [color=E62020]”Ah, hah hah!  Your suffering is exquisite.  The smell of your blood seduces me…and yet, makes me hesitate.  You’ve been touched by divinity.  To redeem you with my cutting charms could embroil me in the rancor of a god.  Though I care not for reproach, I must admit I am not yet powerful enough to dash to pieces the cosmic horror of a god.”[/color]  He slipped backward off his branch and fell to earth, knees bending to absorb the impact.  Placing one foot in front of the other and holding his hand out to the side, he bowed, saying, [color=E62020]”And so, you are spared.  See that you become more beautiful for when next we meet, insect.”[/color]  Laughing, he turned around and sped away, dashing through the grass with the predatory grace and speed of a spotted cat.

[hider=Allure, Hero of Beauty]
-Allure encounters a leopard, is enchanted by its loveliness, and praises it
-When Navy appears, Allure is horrified, and he dispatches it quickly—better than such a vile thing deserved
-Confronted by the giant ant, Allure prepares to defend himself, but the ant halts its attack, since it only targets unnatural life.  Ultimately unimpressed, our handsome hero wounds it, but senses the power of Vowzra.  He chooses to spare the ant and then flees.[/hider]