Fantasy Don't Open The Damned Box

[DemonRider404]

Alice finished affixing the collar of her cloak and looked up at him, fidgeting with the bandage around her eye. "Very well," she murmured, though she couldn't stop herself from smirking slightly. She opened the curtain and motioned for the knight to follow her. Hell, how was she going to explain this...? Frost knight was definitely a bit of an anomaly, but not nearly to, well, her level.


She looked around somewhat as she made her way to the door, examining the variety of injuries and mild hysteria in the building--everything from scrapes and bruises to the occasional broken or dislocated limbs (evidently some people were as unlucky in their placement as she had been). It was a somber reminder that she--we? she thought as she glanced back at the strangely determined frost knight--had to figure out what the hell had happened. She didn't know what had caused that shockwave, but given its sheer magnitude, she had a feeling it wasn't good.


Upon exiting the building, Alice made her way to Astra, who looked somewhat agitated but otherwise no worse for wear. Petting her companion's russet-colored neck, she looked back to make sure the knight had continued to follow her. "So," she said, lifting her hood to ward off the stares she was starting to get, "what say we go investigate whatever the hell caused this, and maybe we can get to know each other along the way?" She had no idea why she was going along with this; this was already far more open than she'd been with anyone, but, she thought, what the hell?

 

[Cakepan]

Vallarian followed her out of the building, tossing his helmet in between his hands. "Find out what caused this? You? No offense girly but you're.." He gestured to her body, she was beautiful for sure but, he had no clue if she could fight. He let out a deep sigh, not finishing what he was going to say. "Whatever caused this oughta be dangerous right? I don't want to risk you gettin' hurt." 


"Besides." He motioned his way over to where his barracks were, though they couldn't see. "Commander says it's not really my job to go snoopin' around it. It's left to the rogues quarter." He raised a brow, still confused. "And wait, why would you want to go travellin' with me? I'm just a stranger." In deep truth he wanted to go and explore, but he had to keep his ego up. Tch. 


"I don't even know your name and you want to go on an exploration with me? C'mon now. I ain't that easily taken." He snickered quietly to himself, poking a bit of fun at the girl.

 

[DemonRider404]

Alice's eyes darkened. "I'm what, now?" She placed the potions in Astra's saddlebag, then stood straight and came within a foot of the knight, staring daggers into his eyes, her uncovered eye starting to give off a bit of a magical glow. She wouldn't call herself sensitive, but her pride took a small hit from his insinuation. She mulled over showing him just what she could do, but ultimately decided it wouldn't be smart to do so with this many witnesses. Taking a breath, swallowing her pride, she turned away, untied, and mounted her horse.


She looked at the knight, noting that with his height, she didn't really have to look down. "Very well," she said casually, "suit yourself. I just thought since you seemed so insistent on finding out what I am, I'd offer." She couldn't help it; she smirked. She could poke fun, too. She turned the horse and started toward the city gates, then stopped and turned back to the knight.


"Oh. I almost forgot...I'm Alice."

 

[Cakepan]

Vallarian let out yet another deep sigh. "I don't think it's safe for you and you alone to go off into the woods, find out what that.. THING was. As I said, no offense but are you sure you can handle those dangers? Whatever the hell they are?" He took his sword in his hand now, tossing it up and down in his right hand, catching it each time by its hilt. "And I'd still like to know what you are, regardless of if I go or not." He grunted, he liked a challenge but it was easy to note he was a hot head. 


"Vallarian. Vall for short. Vyhaen's the last name." He stated clearly, he was a proud wearer of his name and it showed. 

 

[DemonRider404]

Alice lifted her chin slightly. Tough one, this one..."Well, Vallarian," she said, "trust me, you may be more than twice my size, but I could even take you down if I truly wanted to. I'm not afraid of anything in those woods." Leading her mare closer to him once more, she looked around to make sure nobody was within earshot, then leaned down and looked him in the eyes.


"Do you know what a Siren is, Vall?" she asked, dropping her voice a little to further prevent eavesdroppers. "Scourge of humanity, feed on the souls of men?"

 

[Cakepan]

Vallarian growled lowly at the girl, he wasn't being so easily taken down. "I dunno about that one girly. I'm one tough cookie, inside and out." He would flash a sly wink at her, testing his limits. He wasn't always one to back down, though at times he should have, not the smartest one.


"Course I know what they are. You're on of 'em?" He sighed deeply, waving his hand off to the side. "That don't scare me. You're a creature that many fear, take that how you will. You wield powerful magic and that's why people yield from you. True?" He held a smirk up onto his face. "I too, wield magic of.. Devastating power. Not so much mind control like yours but aaaaah, you've seen."  He flicked his wrist, a little frost shard hovering in his hands before he crushed it with his fist, and blowing the ice shards in her direction, just blowing past her and some even landing on her body. "You're one to be feared, Alice. But not by me."

 

[DemonRider404]

Alice cocked her head and smirked. His fearlessness was impressive. "I'm half," she confessed. "But for a creature like that, half is more than enough." She straightened in the saddle, dusting the ice shards off her cloak. "Very well," she said, taking Astra's reins, "you know what I am now, you know my name, I know yours. Is that all you wanted?" Her instincts led her to attempt to distance herself again. She had already revealed too much. What was she thinking? In all her twenty-some years, she'd never told anyone.


"I'm sure your magic is formidable, Vall. But regardless of whether you fear it, so is mine. I'm finding out what caused this, whether you accompany me or not. I can, in fact, take care of myself. Besides," she added, rubbing the shoulder by her broken wing, "the damn thing took out one of my limbs."

 

[Cakepan]

Vallarian inhaled deeply, and exhaled slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. "So, let me get this straight. You just.. Broke your wing, now you want to go out and figure out what did it? Not even take the time to recover? Seems like risky business." He chuckled deeply. "I'm in."


He flashed a wink up at her. "Of course you'll need my brute strength to protect you after all." He was riding a bit too high on his ego, though his tone showed he was only playing around. "If I'm going to go with you, I don't have a horse, so we're either walking there ooooor you make room for this big lunk." He pounds his chest, it's true, he didn't think two people let alone him with another person could fit on a saddle. 

 

[DemonRider404]

Alice chuckled. "I suppose that's just my way. Knowing soldiers, I'm sure you've done the same."


She gave Vall a once-over and looked at Astra. He was right; they wouldn't both fit on the same horse (especially not Astra...she wasn't necessarily small, but she wasn't a warhorse either). But she didn't leave the mare alone often, if ever, these days. She was as close as Alice had to a friend these last couple of years. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Vall.


"Well, I'll tell you what," she sighed. "If you can't get a hold of your own horse, then find me a safe place to leave her and we'll walk." She would need to be taken care of; it could be a while if they had to walk there.

 

[Cakepan]

Vallarian scoffed up at the woman. "Yeah maybe." 


Valls ears twitched as he heard her speak, his pointy ears weren't something worth hiding. "I don't think I can get a horse, however, I know where you can leave it. There's a little stable outside the barracks, one of 'em has the commanders warhorse and the other one is empty. You can put her in there." He nodded, his tone was reassuring and a bit more soft when he spoke this time.

 

[DemonRider404]

Alice nodded slowly. She leaned down again, petting the mare, who was beginning to get agitated again. "Are you going to be alright?" she murmured. The mare nickered anxiously in response. Alice sighed, patted Astra's neck, and straightened up again. "Oh, I'm sure you'll be fine. I won't be gone horribly long."


The horse audibly huffed. Alice looked at Vall. "Well," she said, reluctantly gesturing in the direction of the barracks, "then by all means, lead the way."

 

[Cakepan]

Vallarian motions the two towards the barracks, there outside lies a wooden stable, not too big to crowd the quadrant but small enough to only fit two horses. There was a black horse, tall and proud to be a war stallion. Vall went up to Xavius and gave him a pet. "'Atta boy. You're gonna be makin' friends with a lady horse Xavius. She'll be right next to ya, so play nice now." The horse huffs hot air out his nose in understanding. 


Vall looks back to Alice. "Just lead her on in, Xavius don't bite." Vall snickered softly to himself as he watched Alice and her companion carefully.

 

[DemonRider404]

Alice dismounted, smiling slightly at the interaction. Astra cautiously approached the much larger horse, curious. Alice tugged her reins gently and led her into the adjoining stall. She removed a couple of potion bottles and her lyre out of the saddlebag, loosened and removed most of the riding equipment on her, and then patted her neck. Petting the mare's nose, she lowered her voice. "Now, you heard the man. You behave yourself. I'll try not to be gone long, but if I find out you maimed some poor stableboy in the meantime, or Gods forbid there is a foal when I get back, we're going to have words."


Astra nickered in a tone one could almost take for impatience. Alice shook her head, patted the mare, and let her be. Placing the potions and the lyre in some discreet pockets in her skirt, she turned back to Vall. "Well, shall we, then? This could be a long trip, I hope you know how to keep a conversation," she quipped, a subtle smirk betraying her playful sarcasm.

 

[Cakepan]

Vallarian would adjust his rather small bag on the side of his body, digging through it before chuckling softly up at the girl. "You new around her?" He motioned her to follow. "Everyone knows me around her for either talkin' too much, or havin' too big of an ego." He winked slyly at the girl, before he planted his helmet atop of his head.

They would begin to walk towards the gates of the city, the main entrance and the exit to most travelling merchants. To some, people had no reason to leave. To others, the outside World was a reason in itself to travel. In the back of Valls mind, he had no clue what was going to happen once they reached the cause of that huge inviso-wave. Was he scared? No. Was he excited? Yeah, just a little.

 

[DemonRider404]

Alice chuckled slightly and followed the knight toward the city gates. The sight of a hooded woman and unusually tall knight walking together garnered some second glances, but most turned back and went about their business. For once, Alice wasn't concerned about whatever looks she might be getting. Right now, they had a mission.


She had to know what that shockwave was. Most times she was able to quell her curiosity, but never in all her adult life had she experienced something like this--this was no earthquake, no natural disaster...and while it didn't seem like it had caused much major damage, the fact that nobody knew what it was disturbed her. Even the military had no answers.


She couldn't explain how she knew--maybe it was just her being a magical creature, having a deeper connection to the universe and whatnot--but she felt it: this was something big.

 

[Cakepan]

As they reached the outside of the gates, it seemed like everything was normal. All was well with nature, the sun was still shining brightly, warming up the land as the grass and flowers only tilted slightly due to a light breeze. Everything, was normal. For now.

"So, Alice." He stopped walking to turn to her. "Where should we go, since you are the one that wanted to go up on this little adventure, hm?" He chuckled softly, just only poking more fun at her as he awaited an answer.

He was eager to see what she would do when they found trouble however, he knew there was going to be some, but, how would she handle it?

 

[DemonRider404]

Alice turned and looked at the elven soldier, then back out at the open fields. The calm breeze felt nice after the heat and chaos of the panicked city. Still, as always, she found herself longing for the cool and quiet nighttime. It had always been her favorite time of the day, now especially, since she's have to take this cloak off and let her wing breathe...she sighed.

"It originated somewhere in the forest. Most likely," she added, pointing in a somewhat northeasterly direction, "in that area. If we get into the forest and head that way, I'm sure we'll find something that'll lead us the right way. Flattened plant life, uprooted trees, maybe a demon or two," she added jokingly, smirking up at Vall.

Internally, however, she almost believed that it could be an actual possibility. She hadn't had to fight much before, being the solitary creature she was, but, while somewhat worried, she wasn't terrified. After all, some (including herself) would consider her a demon as well.

 

[Cakepan]

"Hmm. Alright, I guess we can go that way. If I find myself walkin' hours only to find a frog under a rock, I'm blaming you for it." He chuckled softly, walking ahead a short moment for her to follow. It was calm, things had gone back to the way they were out in the plains, nothing out of the usual, nothing weird going on just yet.

"On second thought, I should stop by my house and grab a few things. If this journey is longer than I want it to be, I might as well make secondary precautions eh?" He had to be sure, course he had his armor and sword, that's all that he needed to fight whatever the hell they were going to encounter. But, it wasn't all that he wanted to take with him.

"It's not far from here, couple minutes then we'll reach it. You're more than welcome to come inside when we get there, though of course it's small since I'm the only one living in it." He gave a small shrug, there was no point in rooming with someone or building a bigger house if he was the only one staying in it.

 

[DemonRider404]

Alice shrugged and smiled a bit, following the knight as he walked ahead. "Well, it'd have to be one hell of a frog. Either way, it would be interesting."

The grass rustled comfortingly under her feet, her cloak was pulled gently by the breeze. It was nice. Hopefully it was just something as a 'frog under a rock,' it would definitely be a lot of walking for very little, but it would be over with and they could get back to their normal lives.

She looked up at Vall and listened to his request. "Alright," she said, an edge of caution in her voice but otherwise characteristically calm. "Lead the way."

 

[Cakepan]

Vall walked right on, it was only a few minutes till they would reach the small wooden house. It was sort of hidden, behind some trees and bushes and right next to a small pond, it had a little bit of everything, perfect for living. "Here we are, it's not much but uh.. Keeps me cozy durin' the nights." He chuckled as he stepped next to the wooden doorway.

As he opened it, things were off the shelves and knocked down onto the ground, luckily no glass items broke but it was a mess. "Damned blast knocked everythin' down." He sighed, stepping into the home as he motioned for Alice to follow in. "Come on in, you can just sit on the bed, I didn't expect for all this to be a complete mess buuuuut.." He looked around, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "Guess I expected wrongly."

He began to pick things up off the ground and put them where they belonged, his floor was a mess, and he liked things tidy around him home. Even for a brute he likes his cleanliness.

 

[DemonRider404]

Alice chuckled once and followed Vall inside. She looked around a bit, slowly moving forward and taking in the knight's living space.

"No matter. It is kind of a small place," she commented, "especially for a man of...well...your stature. But..." Noticing what appeared to be some kind of semi-fragile object in the floor, she moved her hand subtly; the object began to levitate. "It's cozy."

She looked at Vall, and with very little concentration, passed her hand over the air to move the object toward him.

 

[Cakepan]

Vall was busy picking up things, putting them back, trying to find what he was looking for. He stood up and, looked over his shoulder. "Eugh! Scared me.." He snarled at Alice before swiping the object she flew over to him. "What do you call that?" He placed it up onto the shelf, still rummaging through his things.

Vall was confused and concerned if he had lost something, but he was certain it was here. "Where is that damned thing.." He sighed to himself, looking in one of his chests near the back of the room, across from where she was.

 

[DemonRider404]

Alice grinned, pulling her hood down as she made her way to the bed.

"The ability? Some call it telekinesis, some call it...well," she plopped down onto the bed, "most just call it witchcraft." She smirked.