ThatWhichShouldBe November Witch
“Ah, poor Shem… he has been like this since what happened to the old temple.” Toko said, her eyes darkening at the mention of what must be the Three-Rivers temple she had mentioned earlier.
She blinked back a look of astonishment at Han’s mention of visions, “You were granted the Sacred Sight by the Great Life Spirit? When a person is granted such things they are given the title of Seer and charged with the duty of interpreting the Life Spirit’s will. There is a seer who lives at this temple. Her name is Haavi. Perhaps she can help you interpret it?”
After Toko explained the process of visions and seers, she seemed to notice that she was still cradled in Han’s arms. Embarrassment flushed across her face as she quickly squirmed free and stood back on her own two feet.
She turned her back to Han and with the orb still held in her hands, she glanced up at the floating islands in renewed wonder. She didn’t respond to Han’s question for a moment, lost in her own thoughts and muttering things under her breath.
Finally, she caught ear of Han’s questions and turned around, a little surprised, “Shem and I have swum in the lake several times, yet we haven't met any spirit nor seen these islands. They must have been buried deep below the mud. I haven’t seen anything like this before.”
She looked at Han for a moment, her mind recalling another part of his question.
“The eye? Yes, it doesn’t belong here. It is the sacred treasure of Three-Rivers. The priests were charged with keeping it from harm…” she trailed off, eyes cast downward, “Forgive me. It is difficult to discuss.”
By now the watery vortex had slowed, fading slowly away to drop down in cascades from the suspended islands. As the veil of water thinned, the form of the blue wyvern could
The blue wyvern swooped low, circling around the cluster of islands. Due to its size, it could not safely fly to the island that Han and Toko were on, and thanks to the way the islands scattered, they would be safe from its deadly flames. As for the rider, that was a different story.
His sword fell first, wreathed in an azure flame that sliced through the water and struck down upon the island harboring Han and Toko. Then the knight landed, the weight of his armour clattered down on the stones.
He plucked his sword from the ground and pointed it towards Han and Toko, “Surrender the arcane keystone and you may yet keep your lives.”
While the knight confronted the two, his wyvern continued to circle the mass of floating islands. Autumn would be able to clearly see it circling above the lake, waiting like a carrion bird for any command from its master.
seasonedcat
The knight hardly noticed VVitch run off after the creature and its pack. Her focus was only on her wounded wyvern, and on Zareth whom she had placed her hopes on. She glanced at him through the visor of her helmet, eyes intense. Blue irises glowed faintly in the darkness of her helm, broken up by two serpentine pupils.
“Then check it quickly,” Ser Taenirah said sternly, her gauntlets soaked in her wyvern’s blood. While she tried to press the wound, it was clear that there was little she could do.
She anxiously waited for Zareth’s response, watching expectantly as Zareth flipped through his spell tomb. When he finally found some sort of solution, she was quick to cooperate and helped him to lift her wyvern’s wing up. Once the wound had been coated in ice, she breathed a sigh of relief.
“That should hold for now. He just needs time for his blood to clot.” The knight stated, backing off from the wyvern’s wound. She shook the blood from her gauntlets, then glanced down to notice that her own blood was leaking from under her armour.
Ser Taeirah stood up fully and shook her head at Zareth’s request to mend her wounds, “That won't be necessary. I’ve survived worse. Save your magics for Baelarys.”
She paused, listening.
“He is grateful for your help.” Taenirah said, referring to the wyvern, “As am I. For all your help. I’m not sure if we might have made it out if not for you and…”
Only now did the knight notice the absence of VVitch, “Where did your companion go?”
She turned back and looked to Zareth, watching as he struggled to seat himself on the ground let alone remain conscious. She placed a gauntlet on his shoulder, the reptilian eyes within the helm yet again locked onto his own.
“Did you overuse your mana in the fight? Listen, I need you to stay conscious. Those beasts could come back at any moment, not to mention we are deep within enemy territory. It won’t be long before their spirits come sniffing around to find us. We need to move soon, and I need you to stay conscious. Can you manage that?”
She withdrew from Zareth and climbed up to her wyvern’s saddle to rummage in a pouch. From it she produced a strip of what appeared to be dried meat, or some sort of jerky. With it in hand, she clamored down from her wyvern and landed in front of Zarth.
“Eat this,” She held out the scrap of dried flesh, offering it to Zareth, “It tastes like filth but it will help you recover.”
Her tone became strict in anticipation of objection, “and if you don’t eat it all I'm leaving you here for the wolves.”
jmann
The staff responded to Autumn’s request, granting her access to its stored power. The spell washed over the pack of wolves in a golden wave. In a matter of seconds, the smaller wolves slowed in their chase, afflicted by the unnatural drowsiness that had been cast by the spell. As for their leader, the enormous wolf at their heels, it had not even the hint of an effect.
“To think that I, a spirit of winter, should bow before it?” the great wolf growled. Its fur glistened in sharp ridges formed from the frozen rain that had fallen onto its pelt.
While the wolf was enraged, the white mage seemed more than relieved.
“Excellent work,” she said, her voice betraying the exhaustion she felt. Needless to say, Autumn’s offering of mana was more than a pleasant surprise. The mage’s eyes widened as she nodded, “You have my gratitude.”
The mage took the staff, baffled by Autumn’s words. She watched as Autumn leapt from the steed and took off. Perhaps she would have objected, or perhaps said a farewell of her own, had she not been left in a chase between life and death.
With renewed mana, she conjured yet another barrier to triumph over Gammariah’s initial spear throw. The ice spear reacted strangely to her mana, forming a blast of ice shards where it crashed against her barrier. Realizing this as well, she opted to deflect the second spear throw, but just as Gammariah had guessed, she did not have enough time to both notice and react to the second spear aimed not at her, but the line of her steed’s path. Her shield had accounted for herself and her steed, but did little to stop the spear in its flight to Gamma’s true target.
The unicorn’s leg caught on the spear, and with a whinny of surprise it stumbled forward and fell onto the sodden soil. Mud sprayed everywhere, staining its pristine hide. Its rider was flung down to the earth, her own garments stained in black and brown. She rolled to a stop and struggled to get up. Her staff had been tossed some distance away from her, out of her reach.
The great wolf dropped Gamma, charging ahead to pounce on the unicorn as it faltered in its escape. With black talons, it gripped onto the beast’s side and pinned it down. Fangs lashed for the unicorn’s neck, clamping down around its throat, only to be buffeted back by a blast of radiance. It made the wolf dislodge its teeth, but did little to free the beast. The unicorn flailed its head back, sharp horn narrowly puncturing the great wolf’s own throat.
Spells were still being flung across the battlefield, but the distance between the flank’s lines and the mage was growing. As the Astellian troops retreated, both rider and steed were at risk of being left behind.
AriAriAbabwa
In another world, or perhaps spoken to another man, Doi’s words might have hit more of the natural weaknesses in a soldier’s allegiance. She spoke of brainwashing and rotten crowns, but such eloquence only seemed to deepen the man’s anger. His eyes were two baleful pits that glimmered with more and more malice the longer Doi spoke.
“Truth? You call that the truth?” the man growled, “There are no kings or queens here, girl. We are not like you.”
Even while injured, the enraged man moved with vicious intent. His lantern staff was coated in ice, fed by the rainwater. Slowly it had become less of a staff and more of a lance made out of faintly glowing ice.
Despite the wolf at the door, Doi initiated a prayer in the midst of battle. She uttered the name of the goddess Astell, guardian deity of the elvish and patron of their all-consuming empire. Her offering consisted of a flower and a hymn, quite suitable for prayer.
In the rage of battle, Doi’s humming was little more than a single note in a symphony of chaos. She felt the breeze brush against her hair, damp with rain and rich with blood. Cold water dripped from the petals of her flower.
She had called out to Astell…
…there was no response.
“You dare evoke that cursed goddess? This land is a gift from The Great Life Spirit, made of its own flesh and blood. We will no longer let your kind destroy it.”
The spear shattered a hole through Aaron’s weakened barrier and launched forward, its glow intense enough to turn the soggy soil to frost. Snowflakes drifted around in the wind and the ground was coated in white.
It was a stark colour against the red that fell. The spearstrike had found its mark in Aaron’s gut, the icey blue tainted a deep red.
The wolves bayed at the edges of Aaron’s fading barrier, spectral maws bared in anticipation of their kill.
Aaron has been grievously wounded and is in dire need of aid or is at risk of death!
Astrylan
One of the wolves responded to Aryia’s question with a growl, “You do not smell like elf-kin, or of the children. You are an unknown scent to us. Your scent is strange.”
The other wolf dipped its head, apparently in agreement to the statement about her smell. It trotted closer to her a tentative sniff with its tail held high. Content, its tail lowered and it turned to address the other wolf that had spoken.
“Strange-scent can fight. Mother Oshaka says that The Children have need of every tooth and fang,” the wolf growled, “Even the weak ones of human-things.”
The first wolf considered these words. Their ears flattened, “Strange-scent may go as they please. But if Strange-scent gets in way or helps elf-kin then they are meat.”
YsFanatic Solirus SirDerpingtonIV (checked sarah’s actions with YsFantatic)
If the commander noticed the demise of one of her swords, she did little to show it. Instead, all her attention was upon Natalie. The commander seemed unsure of how to handle Natalie’s mechanical suit, let alone what it was or was capable of. Her eyes were set on the approaching mech, studying it with her sharp gaze for any hint at how she could end it.
Ironically, Sarah’s warning served to give her a better understanding of what it was. Her eyes narrowed at the mention of her swords possibly damaging the ‘power armour’, her mind carefully judging the threat before her. All at once she knew two things; one, the thing before her was considered armour and not a golem, and secondly that there was a chance that her opponent believed that the magic within her attacks could be enough to injure it.
Ruby gemstones glowed once more, the floating blades angled in preparation. Both her hands were on the longsword, yet she will the remaining two swords to fly towards Nat and Sarah. One of them glowed in the familiar harsh red light that Sarah would recognize as the exploding magic, while the other seemed to be rather inconspicuous.
Based on her experience fighting with the commander’s swords, Sarah moved to attack the glowing sword in hopes of defending Natalie. Before her strike could hit the blade, there was the sound of a bell, and the two swords swapped places. Instead of the glowing blade, she ended up hitting the non-glowing one.
As soon as the blades collided, Sarah could feel a disembodied weight on the end of her sword. Something was pulling it. If she looked closely in the rain, she could see that something was blocking the raindrops that fell. It tugged at the sword, attempting to disarm her and keeping her away from the other sword flying towards Nat.
The glowing sword flew towards Nat, aimed at the center of the mech where the commander assumed a person's chest would be. Upon contact with anything, the sword would create an explosion of red-hued energy.
blankcanvas
The water rippled around Rena, disturbed by her movements, then grew still once more. It was the peace she had sought after so long, and for a while she was granted it. Compared to the chaos and death she had just witnessed, perhaps it was enough to gather her scattered thoughts and reflect.
Like a mirror below, she could see a perfect image of herself reflected on its silky surface. Then the image rippled. Something in the water had stirred.
In the expanse of silent stillness, the addition of one soft sound was loud enough to cross the entirety of the endless water.
“This way, my child.” spoke a voice as gentle and soft as the water she found herself in.
Rena could not recognize the voice from anywhere, and yet she felt a strange familiarity in it. Like a memory she could not quite place, or the feeling of a word just on the tip of her tongue.
The voice came from some distance behind her, though the fog obscured everything beyond her arms reach. Whatever it was, if she wished to find the source she would need to wander in the direction she had heard it.
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