Fantasy For my Family

[HilgenHoffer]

"Begin!" The judge's hand cut the air like a knife, and he quickly stepped back to the edge of the ring. The weight on the end of Odom's chain was spinning swiftly now. With the way it blurred into a cohesive circle, it looked almost like a shield. Or a rotating saw.


He shifted his feet, setting into a neutral stance, and stood still. In card games or sports, it was typically perceived as best to move first. When Odom fought, however, the natural order of things went quickly to the wayside. This battle, he decided, would be better fought with reactions than actions.


He stared down his feline foe with a calm smile, and an air of quiet confidence. Beyond this, he was entirely impossible to read. 
Rudd leaned onto one heel as he stretched his thighs. It had been three days since his fight with the Trevastos boy--three days since he'd fought anyone at all. He thought back on the lightning, the way it had coursed through his veins, and felt his skin burning anew just at the memory. Would this fight be as difficult, he wondered?


There was no point in stressing over it. Tension was the enemy of victory. It was the same on the farm as it was on the fiddle, and the same also in the ring. He stood, slinging his arms back and forth before stepping towards the arena gate. He inhaled deeply and let out a long, gentle breath. His tunic stretched over his sculpted chest as it rose and slowly fell. He shifted his heels in the dirt; his boots were laced and steady. He sank into his knees; his stance was solid. Standing erect and relaxing entirely, he walked towards the ring.


Within the ring, on the far side, his opponent stood rigid. Even from such a distance, Rudd could see the perspiration on his rippling shoulders and large brow. He looked nervous. Why? Until the last few days, everyone had looked upon him--or, more correctly, his humble blood--with contempt.


Voices began to rise out of the crowd. "Don't be afraid of him! He may be tough, but he's just a farmer's son!"


"Valk was cocky, you can do this!"


"He can't even finish his own fights! Get our honor back!"


"Kill the hick!"


But then he heard something else; something he had not expected to hear. "You go, Farm Boy!"


A raucous cheer rose from behind him, and Rudd turned to see hundreds of watchers, wearing colors from all kinds of families, standing and hollering. "Fight! Win!"


"Earn your honor, kid!"


"We love yoooooou!" That voice definitely came from one of the young Vejta ladies. Or three. It was hard to tell.


"Show us how country boys win!"


"You can do it, Country Boy!"


Something in his heart swelled. His shoulders grew a bit broader, and he wondered why his eyes were watering. He blinked it away in a hurry, and walked up to meet his opponent. When they both arrived at the center of the ring, he extended his hand. "Rudd Vejta Danesson, Vejta house. Let's have a good fight."


The other man looked surprised, but a nervous smile crept across his otherwise gritty face. "Dirk DeWesteros. Trevastos. You do me honor by even acknowledging me." He bowed slightly. "May our fists do the talking, and may the best man win! I'll show you how a true Trevastos fights, if you show me how they fight where you come from."


Rudd smiled back, brimming with joy. He could have almost forgotten that the two were about to fight. "My plow sits in Maasmechelen, and I will gladly show you how we do it in my neck." He added, with a bit of a chuckle, "Try to follow."


The two stepped back from each other, and the judge stepped into the ring. "This fight will follow the standard 'neutral zone' rules. No interference, no death. The victor will be decided by either incapacitation or concession. Are the contestants ready?"


The two bristling men, armed with only fist and grit, looked each other in the eye, settled into their battle stances, and nodded.


The judge nodded as well. "Ready . . . begin!"

 

[Cyrionessa]

Cerys narrowed her eyes; he wasn't trying to make the first move. This, at least, she had predicted. This man had seemed like a contradiction, so it seemed logical enough that he would not follow the normal rules of a fight. Seemed like everyone wanted the first blow and all the glory and adrenaline that came with it. But Cerys knew that it really didn't matter who landed the first blow; all that mattered was who was going to land the last. She circled a bit to the left, keeping her stare on him.


It was time to test his reactionary skills. No reason to blow all of her cards too quickly since the man had probably never seen her fight. She darted in from the side at half of her normal running speed. Even half of this speed was far faster than most and she flew like the wind towards him. She had no intention of landing a blow, just testing to see how fast he could react with that weapon.

 

[HilgenHoffer]

The ground welcomed Odom with open arms, and he let gravity do the work for him as his feline competitor soared right over his head. He sprung up with an unnatural flexibility, swiveled on his heels, and was now standing relaxedly behind her, still spinning the weight beside him. He blew some of his errant hair out of his face, and his chummy expression suggested that what had just transpired was no feat. In fact, he looked like he might yawn.

 

[Cyrionessa]

Cerys' sixth sense alerted her to the movement before she could hear it. She flipped in mid-air so that she was facing him before landing again on the ground, barely making a sound when her feet lightly touched the ground. His reflexes were much better than she was figured and his flexibility was going to be an issue. Her eyes closed for a second as she breathed in deeply, letting the inner cat senses take over a bit more. There was no way that she was going to beat him with half power, probably not even normal amounts of power.


Her eyes flashed open and suddenly she was moving much faster than before. This was her normal speed and it was still barely viewable by the human eye. All she was at this point was a blur. Time to break through those defenses. She was circling, searching for an opportunity. When she saw one, she struck from behind.

 

[HilgenHoffer]

Odom knew from plenty of experience that his eyes would be useless against an opponent so quick. Rather, he used his ears. When he heard the sound of feet pushing off of the ground, he pivoted on the balls of his feet, and Cerys was greeted by a whirling chain. The weight on the end dug into the arena, the mana charged around it digging a shallow trench and flinging bits of stone into the air and across the ground.

 

[Cyrionessa]

Cerys changed her course immediately when she felt the chain moving towards her. The trench was going to make her have to think a bit more when she moved. Now, she understood that he had good enough ears to hear her movements, which added another complication. She circled in the reverse direction, this time focusing on her steps. When she appeared behind him again, she quietened her foot steps but continued to circle. Perhaps she could throw off that hearing. Keeping her steps as quiet as possible, she dashed forward to strike from the right side.

 

[HilgenHoffer]

Odom had moved downward first, and then stayed in place for the second strike. It made good sense to keep her guessing, so this time, he figured he'd move upwards. No one expects anyone to go upwards.


He listened to the wind, and heard it running from his right. And so, at that moment, he threw his anchor wildly at the ground, and used the force of it to aid his flight as he sprung lithely upwards, pushing off of his toes into a soaring backflip. As he faced the ground below, he withdrew the weight and tossed it at his foe. It was too slow, of course, falling behind her fleeing tail. It dug into the ground, this time causing a heel-sized indent, and tossing aimlessly a piece of stone of a similar size. He landed on the balls of his feet, crouching easily and swaying his finger to and fro tauntingly as he straightened again.


He could tell that this was going to be fun.

 

[Cyrionessa]

Cerys hissed with a bit of frustration at that taunting finger. Okay, maybe she'd have an easier time fighting him in a forest where she could use her stealthy moves to throw him off a bit. But she was in the open and the environment around her wasn't going to be easy to work with. Speaking of the environment....she took off again, slowing a bit out of his vision range to the left. Her claws made it easy to use the momentum that she had had to scale up the wall, vaulting backwards into a flip towards him. Attacking from above seemed like a logical course of action and she did so with claws coated in mana, ready to sink into her target.

 

[Twizinator]

Ryrax's eyes followed Cerys around the arena, though with some difficulty because of her speed. He honestly was not sure who would win this fight. Not because he thought it was even, but more because he really hadn't ever seen either of them fight before. He knew Cerys was fast. Hell, he was seeing that speed in action. She was a powerful opponent. Odom, though, was...different. Ryrax didn't know much about him but his reputation for unconventional tactics and combat preceded him. Ryrax smirked to himself as he thought that regardless of the victor this would be an entertaining fight.


-----


The door to Gerza's room opened quietly, and Mythia stepped into the room. She closed the door behind her as quietly as possible and strode over to Gerza's bedside. He was resting soundly as Mythia took a seat next to his bed. She placed a hand gently upon his chest and closed her eyes, reaching out to his mind.


...Gerza? Can you hear me? It's Mythia, we met shortly before you and Estelle wrought havoc. I do not wish to disturb the rest of your body but I would like to request your help investigating a few things.

 

[Ninja_Onions]

Wha...? What's going...Mythia?


Gerza's heart beat a bit faster at the sudden mental intervention. How...Why...Wait, investigate? Investigate what?


Gerza thought back to the research he had been going through. Is this about the research in my book?

 

[Twizinator]

Mythia giggled lightly. Calm down, Gerza. I ask for your aid investigating fell ones, the extinct Omeraan clan...and Ryrax's right eye. I feel they may all be connected, but even if they aren't, this field of knowledge is sorely lacking, wouldn't you say?


She paused for a moment. What of this research of yours? What book of yours are you referring to?

 

[Cyrionessa]

The attendant who stood checking Estelle's vitals jumped backwards when he felt a rush of searing mana flood back in a feedback loop through his hands. It burned in his veins for a few moments then it stopped.


"Doc!" The attendant ran towards Coran's office like a lightning bolt. "When I tried to examine Estelle, her mana came surging back through my hands."


"Then she's waking up." Coran jumped out of his seat and strode to her bedside. "Even when she wakes up, I doubt she will be able to move hardly at all...." He gently took her hand, squeezing it just barely. "Estelle?"


Estelle moved her head slightly and her eyes fluttered open. "....Coran....how....long....?"


"Days, Estelle." Coran immediately started checking the balances of her mana. He closed his eyes, turned away, and cursed in his head at what he found.


"....what....is it....Coran....?" Estelle could barely talk, the words coming out in gasps.


"You tore open your mana conduit even further. The flow of your mana is massive and it's unstable. You're going to have to train again before you can return to your duties. And furthermore, as I'm sure you well know, your little stunt may have shaved 10 or more years off of her life." Coran turned back to her, anger in his voice. "Was it really worth it?"


".....justice....worth....any....price...." Estelle weakly smiled up at him.


"....why do you have to right every wrong in this world?" Coran sat down on the bed next to her. "I wanted you to outlive me and be an amazing house head. I don't know what Father will do....." He looked over to the attendant. "You. Go find someone else to help you. One of you goes to find that country boy; he said he wanted to know when she woke up. The other one goes to the head and tells him. Clear?"


The attendant gulped and nodded, rushing out. After he found another free attendant, they played rock-paper-scissors on who would go tell who what had just happened.


----


The first attendant smiled with glee as he approached the arena where Rudd was fighting. He settled himself into the stands so that he could finish watching this fight. Afterwards, he would tell the guy the news. For now, he was going to bask in the glory of not being the one to deliver the news to the Head.


----


The second attendant cursed under his breath while he entered the family house. He had lost and now he had to deliver the news. After a few questions, he discerned that the Head was in his personal study. Taking a deep breath in, he opened the door and stood in the doorway.


"Estelle has just awakened."

 

[Ninja_Onions]

It's an old book on the first recorded history of the fell ones, probably in my pack. I think I remember leaving it somewhere in the infirmary before I...


Gerza paused mentality while he tried to piece everything back together.


What...what did I do?

 

[Twizinator]

As soon as Gerza mentioned leaving his book in the infirmary Mythia sent a message to one of her subjects to retrieve it. You...well, you and Estelle attacked Valk, Mythia said a bit sternly. I understand it was to make him pay for what he did to Evynne but you nearly killed the boy. I recommend you take more care as to who and what you aim your aggression at, and leave domestic matters to those above you, both in rank and experience.


Mythia took a deep breath to calm herself before continuing their mental conversation just as her subject returned. Unfortunately, he came with news that he could not find the item described. I did not come to lecture you. Regrettably I have thus far been unsuccessful at locating your notebook. Please, can you give me whatever information you have by memory?


-----


If Estelle would care to look to her left, she would see that the next bed over contained the powerful body of the last and best Layfaire. his arms and torso were wrapped tightly in bandages, contouring to his muscles. Patches of red betrayed the locations of his wounds, yet he was resting soundly. Oliver was only quiet when he was doing three things: meditating, reading, and resting. This was the third case, and being in the same room as Oliver without having to cover your ears was a feat to be sure.

 

[Ninja_Onions]

The most I can recall from it involved how the authors theorized fell ones came into existence, which involved a significant energy being recorded, though unknown in it's strength or where it came from, but after that eruption, monstrosities started to show up, both large and powerful, and started to cause chaos and destruction wherever they went. After that, people started to show up who could not only fight the monsters, but seemed to exhibit their ferocious and monstrous demeanor. They theorize that the primal fell ones slowly evolved to the similar states they are in as their numbers grew, and were balanced out when the first Mana users power ramped up and made a counter-push against them. After that, the Mana users started vying for power, and many clans and tribes were wiped out entirely. Aside from that, there isn't much that outlines the time that was. Gerza felt like he was thinking a mile a minute trying to keep up with all the information that was going through his head.

 

[Twizinator]

Mythia slowly processed all that Gerza had just told her. In truth not all of what he said was new knowledge to her, but the theories he stated did fill some gaps in her own interpretations. As far as links to the Omeraan or Ryrax, though, there wasn't much to go off of.


Specifically, I need information on linguistics. Do you know anything about the ancient runic languages?

 

[Ninja_Onions]

I learned what I could from a few broken ciphers in the text, and by reasoning where some runes would turn into letters, but it's very much so all foreign to me still. I think I could piece stuff together if I really tried though. Gerza thought, slightly embarrassed that he admitted to not knowing all about something he studied constantly.

 

[Twizinator]

Mythia couldn't help but smile a bit. That feeling she was getting from Gerza, the feeling of not knowing as much as you'd like, she knew it all too well. No matter how long you pore over dusty tomes, there are and always will be mysteries unknown to you. This is why she was consulting him. Where she did not know, perhaps he did, and they could fill in each other's blanks. May I ask your interpretation on something? she asked. I have here two sets of runes. The first - she mentally projected an image of a few runic sentences - are of the ancient language humans used. This second set - she submitted some runes she had encountered when working with Ryrax's right eye and the Omeraan clan - seem similar but have some fundamental differences that make translation...aggravating. What do you make of all this?

 

[Ninja_Onions]

Hmm...Gerza looked closely. These two languages definitely have a great deal of similarities, almost like one was written from the other? Gerza tilted his proverbial head. Or maybe... He moved the runes closer, then spread them apart, keeping the lines the same, but lifting the imprints off the second layer. Maybe on top of each other! His eye's widened. This would allow for someone or something to weave words and make spells even more condensed or flexible! This is incredible! Mythia, do you have a cipher or are these just the order of the letters alphabetically? I can decipher this! Gerza could hardly contain his excitement, learning a new language and helping someone as powerful as Mythia at the same time? Who could ask for more?!

 

[Twizinator]

If their conversation had been taking place physically, Mythia would have jumped on the spot out of happiness. Finally, a breakthrough! As it was, her body just cracked a small smile as she continued speaking telepathically. One moment, I should be able to.............there! she said with a note of pride as she reorganized the runes into 'alphabetical' order. Does that help? What do you make of the Omeraan's set of runes now?

 

[Ninja_Onions]

Well, for starters. the runes are superscribed, meaning that they have been written over each other. I'm not certain exactly what will happen, but I'm guessing that this would allow for much faster casting times, and even spells being combined together to form entirely new spells that only the creator of the spell would know! The runes are only using up the vertical space of casting, rather than the horizontal one, making two potentially large spells able to be cast simultaneously, or even to shorten a previous word to increase it's word efficiency. Though, with this kind of casting, an immense amount of power would have to be used, or else the runes would summon the power without the ability to control it, and it could potentially cause the spells to go haywire, and would almost certainly end in death. Gerza thought grimly as he studied further into the letters and how they were stacked. I'm guessing that the number of layers a series of runes have stacked correlate with their overall power, and as such, the power of the individual who created it. The more stacks you make, the stronger and harder to cast it. Gerza was beaming internally. Such a groundbreaking discovery! And from such an old time too! There has to be more. Mythia, why did you bring this to me exactly?

 

[Twizinator]

The satisfied happiness in Mythia's voice was replaced with seriousness. When it comes down to it, I am trying to understand Ryrax's right eye, and to get there I need to investigate his old clan - the Omeraan clan. You may have heard of them, but if you haven't it's not surprising. Not only were they a smaller clan to begin with, but they were extremely reclusive. The only times any from that clan were seen was when hordes of fell ones needed put down, or during the yearly tournament. None would ever say much about their clan or how it functioned. A note of smugness crept into her voice. Luckily for us, dead men cannot hide secrets, and since the day I found Ryrax at the frosted ruins of the Omeraan clan estate I've been delving into their logs.


Mythia paused. Before I go any further, I need your word that everything we have, and will, discuss stays between us; as you'll see when I fill you in on the intricacies of the Omeraans you'll see why I ask this of you. Do I have your word?

 

[Ninja_Onions]

Yes, of course. Information of this caliber is far too serious to let it fall into the wrong hands. My secrecy is yours. Gerza would have bowed given the chance, though he hoped that the gesture would be understood. Omerann clan...Nothing familiar comes to mind, but if they were anything as powerful as Ryrax is, then I can understand the reason and cause for diligent and swift response. What do you need me to do? Gerza found himself smiling, and wondered just how much of his emotions were actually making it out to the physical world.

 

[Twizinator]

Fortunately for Gerza, Mythia's ability to telepathically link with people was easily at the level that allowed emotions to be expressed fairly easily. First, I should explain what I've learned of the Omeraans to you, so you get the idea of what we're delving into here. That clan was led by a man named Tyron Omeraaan, and he was first in a council of six clan heads. All of them, Tyron especially, were obsessed with the pursuit of power as mana risers. They didn't just want to be acknowledged at the same level as the main families, like your Naejor clan; they wanted to be THE most powerful family. In order to see that desire come to fruition, they tried to train mana risers that would out-do the other clan's signature talents: the elemental and metaphysical talents of the Naejor, the martial prowess of the Maveret and Trevastos, and even the primal efficiency of the Xevren.


However, they were only making progress in two of three fields. Channeling mana through one's body is easy, and through a weapon is not much more difficult. From there, they worked on projecting the mana outwards, into gouts of flame, bolts of lightning, waves of psychic power to rend the very air with just thought, et cetera. The bestial nature of the Xevren clan eluded them, though. In Tyron's notes, I only found one person who had any semblance of promise in that field of artes: Ryrax.Why Tyron thought he had potential to be the first Omeraan to command such primal artes, I have no idea. Maybe someday I can just ask him myself.


Mythia paused. The Omeraan clan records held the names of everyone every member ever born into their house. When I found the ruins, I found ice-coated corpses all around. After identifying all of the bodies and cross-referencing them all with those members noted as still being alive in the clan records, there were only two people not on my 'dead list'...the clan head, Tyron, and Lily. Ryrax's younger sister. And before you say anything, Ryrax obviously was not on my 'dead list'. Strangely enough, though...he wasn't on the clan list, either. Mythia's confusion at the last statement was noticeable.

 

[Ninja_Onions]

That seems...very out of place. Almost like there is something more there that is just waiting to be found. I didn't even know Ryrax had any family, at any time really. Him not being on the clan list, and Tyron and Lily not being on the dead list, that has to correlate. Lists always correlate, even if you make them after the matter. Also, you spoke of a frozen temple? I don't know of anywhere near here that can reach freezing temperatures. Most of the mountains are far, far away from here, and even then they are almost completely inhabitable. No food, hardly any water, and the harsh conditions do not a training ground for the 'best that ever will be' make... Gerza remembered seeing the aftermath of Valk and Ryrax's fight, the ice that was everywhere, but also the presence of an unknown energy. Mythia, is it possible that Ryrax froze all of those people? Like if he was really, really angry or something?