Fantasy The Adept

[Shog]

Thomas's thoughts were interrupted by movements in the shadows just outside the castle walls. It was barely noticeable to most people, but Thomas had to be supremely aware of how to spot sneaks in order to know how to be one. Nothing good could come from someone sneaking around the castle at this hour. Especially not at the verge of war.


Thomas slipped his knife into it's sheath and dropped from the balcony. He had been in an upper level balcony and landed on another not far below him. He then moved off to the side and made a running jump towards the adjacent roof. He landed with almost complete silence and kept moving to where he saw the movement earlier. When he found the spot, he crouched down and watched. Sure enough, his target had moved. It was only natural, but Thomas could still see him. No, wait... her. As much as Thomas would like to say she wouldn't be a problem, he lived on the same floor as the best archer in the world who also happened to be a girl. With some careful observation, he saw a knife strapped to her thigh. So she was armed, but not necessarily dangerous. Still, he had to be careful.


He climbed down the castle wall since it was too high to jump down. He made sure to keep to the shadows. He crept up behind her, making almost no noise whatsoever. When he reached her, he quickly reached out and took her dagger from its sheath. As he did so, he grabbed one of his own daggers with his other hand and held them both at the ready. "A bit late to be wandering out by yourself, don't you think? Mind telling me what you're doing out here? Say something important and they may still find you breathing."


@VioletDancer

 

[PurpleTurtle]

Amori's face went pale, her gradual mental preparation shattering as she turned, listening to the male's words. Her face was revealed and the bright violet of her one eye and the brown of the other stared at him, trying to outline his appearance. At this angle she could barely make out his height. Stay calm, she thought to herself. It was hard to use her Adept in the dark but from his wording she knew he was confident, probably very skilled in battle, or stealth? She noted her dagger was gone and looked him in the eye, "Do you mind not scraping that please? It's a bit sentimental." She said then took a deep breath.


"My name is Amorine Castien, I was recently appointed advisor/courtier of Deva." She started, trying her best not to sound threatening. She was an official from a country they'd be going to war with. If she were in his shoes, she would probably be pouncing by now, "Before you try and knock me out, I went through old and new documents to find ways to try and form and alliance with another country. Well reading I learnt so many sickening things I kind of... lost it...?" She said, the last part coming out sounding like a question seeing as she wasn't sure how to describe it, "The country is horrible and I refuse to serve it." She stated then took of her bag and held it out in front of the male, "It has many important documents about Deva, and what it has done in the past, as well as some rough battle plans." She explained, then crossed her arms, "Could I have my dagger now? Or could you sheath it please?" She asked.


From what she could tell he was a bit taller then her, more lean then muscular, and most likely quick on his feet. Possibly Adept.


@Shog

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Harley realised very quickly that Thomas (@Shog) was avoiding her, she was unsure of why he would but let him be. She wasnt one to pry into someone's business even if she wanted to know what she had done wrong.


"Perhaps it is best that I just carry on with training" she said getting dressed into her clothing that she practiced in. It was late she knew but she couldnt sleep and it would be best if she did something constructive.


She along with Aurora and Ethan had been training the new recruits, it was painful to say the least. most of then couldn't touch their toes much less bend over backwards so she has them stretching out their muscles to get to that point, the worst part was when her male students would make derogatory comments about her when she showed them what to do, she was thankful that she had been learning combat as one her students recieved a black eye after thinking that it was alright to grab her butt.


She thought her training had been going well and she has really learnt a lot.


@Shog @Ch3rryBlossom28 @Ch3rryBlossom28

 

[Ronin Ezekiel]

[Ethan]


I found myself unable to sleep. Unusual, considering the time of night. I decided that I would find something constructive to do with my restlessness, so I took a few minutes to straighten up my chambers. Cleaning usually helps to set my mind at ease, and I rather enjoy it.


After attempting to go back to sleep, I was met with failure. I just wasn't tired. So instead of futilely trying to get some rest, I decided to go to the training yard in the hopes that maybe I'd tire myself out. I got dressed in my training wear and set off.


When I arrived at the training yard, I was somewhat surprised to find Harley in the middle of a session. After watching her for a few seconds, I decided to announce my presence. "I see that I'm not the only restless one. Couldn't get to sleep either?" I asked.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Harley whirled around the the sound of a voice, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw it was only Ethan and not some intruder.


"I couldnt sleep, too many thoughts running through my head" she blushed scratching her head, she was embarrassed that she was caugbt unaware and if it had been someone else that was from the other kingdoms that they were not allied to she would have been dead.


Realizing this would be the perfect opportunity to practice her sparring she turned to Ethan and grinned. "Friendly spar?" She asked hopefully, if she could get that much better at fighting she would be happy, she was trained to use her flexibility in a figbt to avoid people and she was alright so far but she needed a lot of practice. In the beginning it was very hard, though slowly but surely she was getting the hang of it.


@Ronin Ezekiel

 

[Ronin Ezekiel]

[Ethan]


I cracked a cocky smirk in response to her challenge. I wasn't about to decline, it'd be a good chance to stretch my muscles. But I wasn't about to hold back either. "Alright, I'd be up for that. Just remember that you asked for this," I warned as I stepped into the ring.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Harley grinned a bit nervously, his smile unnerved her, she had a feeling she was going to be very sore by the end of this.


"It's only friendly" she reminded him although she knew that if she wanted to learn anything then he would have to go all out "don't go easy but please also dont kill me" she grinned cheekily and climbed into the ring and got into her stance.

 

[Ronin Ezekiel]

[Ethan]


"Of course. Don't worry, you won't walk away from this with too many broken bones," I joked as I took up a stance. "Of course, I wouldn't even consider going easy on you, so it's your funeral. Now... at your ready," I finished with a smirk. I took note of her stance, examining the vulnerabilities she had and awaiting her first move patiently.


((For the sake of convenience, @SheWhoMustNotBeNamed and I will be determining the outcome in PMs.


Correction: We already have.))


Three seconds.


Three seconds later, she made her first move. She threw a quick punch and grazed my jaw, and I retaliated with a kick in the ribs. That was definitely going to sting, but she was still standing. Reading her movements, I blocked a high kick, grabbed her ankle and threw her to the ground.


The second after she stood up, I closed the distance and swung my arm into her neck, stopping a couple inches from actually hitting her. She looked down my arm and swallowed slowly as I backed off. "Had I proceeded, you would have been flat on the ground, at best. More likely, I would have knocked you out cold and you'd have been recovering from it for the next few days. I think it's safe to say I win this one," I informed her.

 

[Ch3rryBlossom28]

Aurora sat in her room cleaning her bow. Normally she would be asleep by now since she was always up early in the morning to feed Echo and do some early morning practice but as of late she hadn't even had time for that. These training sessions were taking up almost all of her time and she still had to squeeze in her own practice. The first few days were a pain. The men didn't think a woman should be teaching them. After all how could a woman be better at archery than they? Aurora made sure to fix their train of thought real quick for she had no time to play with them.


Aurora put her bow down in the corner with her quiver full of arrows. She then walked over to the door that led to the balcony. A nice cool breeze (not sure what time of the year we are in) came through. Aurora enjoed it for a moment before she heard small voices. The wind must have carried it. She walked out onto the balcony and looked around. She spotted two figures close to where she believed Thomas' room was. She couldn't exactly hear what they were saying since they were so far away, but she believed one of them had to be Thomas. There is no way that he wouldn't notice someone that close to his room. The only reason she even knew there were people down there was because of the wind. Aurora's hand instinctively reached down to one of the daggers strapped to her thigh. She may not use them much but her adept didn't just help her with shooting arrows. Despite how she acted around him, if he needed help she would give it. With the war coming she was trying not to be as...rude to him as she was before.


@VioletDancer

 

[Shog]

Thomas took the bag, but did not open it. He also decided to keep the dagger at least for the moment. He did, however, sheath it in his won sheath. It didn't fit quite right, but it worked. "I'm going to need to verify that what you have said is true. I will guide you inside and to a records keeper that can help. Only then will we decide what to do with you." He worked his way behind her to guide her inside. In the process, he had to let some moonlight hit part of his face. It revealed his grey eye, which shined brilliantly in the light. He then began marching her through the gates and inside the castle.


A carrier bird flew overhead and landed inside a high tower. The person posted there at the moment read the note, but wasn't sure what to think 0f it. He placed the note off to the side where it would be shown to the king, but not deemed of high importance. In another few minutes, however (when Thomas and Amori were inside the castle), another carrier bird landed. This one had a note detailing the event involving the gunslinger (@VioletDancer @Ch3rryBlossom28

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

"yes I deffinatly think it is safe to say you won" Harley winced clutching her ribs, she could feel a bruise forming underneath her hand. It was a good thing though as she needed the practice. Yes she would be covered in bruises and would be in pain but it was proof that she was trying and learning.


"any pointers on how I can improve?" Harley asked Ethan (@Ronin Ezekiel), she knew she had a lot of room for improvement, she wasnt even going to try make herself seem better then she was because she wasnt. Ethan pretty much wiped the floor with her and it looked like he hadn't even broken out in a sweat.


She hoped after this spar, that she would finally be able to sleep but she doubted it greatly. She was still wound up from everything that was going on in the castle. She wasnt sure what she would do when the war broke out, the one thing that had occupied her mind for a while was what would she do if someone that she knew and was friends with ended up dying and while she was on the topic about people she knew and were friends, she was still wondering why Thomas (@Shog) avoided her, she kept replaying what she had said to him and wondered if she had offended him somehow. She also wondered how Aurora (@Ch3rryBlossom28) was doing, she hadnt had a lot of time to talk to her lately and she missed thier brief chats that they had had in the past.

 

[PurpleTurtle]

Amori was a bit shocked she wasn't dead, and happily went along with the male, she noticed the color of his eye and silently admired it wondering if his other eye was the same color. She walked forward, stepping cautiously into the castle, and looked around, it wasn't very well lit but it was rather large, "Where is the records keeper? His name is... Rorin right? Something along those lines." She'd heard of him before but didn't know much about him.


In the light of the castle she cold see he was an Adept, "You're an Adept?" She asked looking him up and down. She was utterly fascinated seeing Bandar and new people, just seeing something new. For seventeen years the only time she left the castle was to go to the music hall. It was amazing to meet new people. As her eyes skimmed the castle she turned on her foot, and walked backwards in front of him, "You don't show much emotion, other then silent confidence." She stated, "Aren't you slightly worried a girl from deva is here? Or annoyed? Or do you just don't have a care in the world?" She asked.


Amori looked down at her bag after, wondering if she'd get it back, "Also, there's a type of poison in there, Deva just loves using. I don't know what it is but I was thinking maybe a poisons master could? The archers coat there arrows in it."


@Shog

 

[northguy]

Axel finished piling the last body in the mix, letting out a heavy sigh as he put his hand on his knee, wiping his brow with his other. Piling the bodies was hard work, especially the bodies of fallen soldiers. His back teeth it hard on his cheek, looking at the destrucion he had caused before him. With a small shake of his head, he turned away from the bodies and lugged up the jar of black powder in his hand. He began to slowly wander aroumd the as he shok the powder over them, souless eyes staring at him as he emptied the jar. He dropped the glass to the floor as he went back within the tower door, making his an way up the spiraling staircase woth heavy steps. Once he reached the top, he grabbed his rifle from where he had leaned it, going to the edge of the tower and looking to the bodies before taking stance. He stood in silence for a long moment, loading the rifle at a slow speed, takig his time as his gaze remained on the corpses. "It won't be in vain.." Was all he said before quickly lifting the rifle and pulling hard on the trigger, the bodies immediately igniting as he collapsed back against his post, letting out a long sigh. It alrady felt lomg.

 

[Ronin Ezekiel]

[Ethan]


"If I had one piece of advice, it would be to make use of your Adept. Even in combat settings, yours is invaluable. You just have to make sure you're using it correctly. Other than that, just keep at it. You'll keep learning and getting better as time goes on," I assured her. "You're okay, right? I hit your ribs pretty hard, so I just wanted to make sure," I asked out of concern.

 

[Shog]

"Yes, an am an adept like yourself," Thomas commented. "Let me put it this way: if I was concerned about you, you'd be dead by now. You are a bit annoying, but I've dealt with worse. I'll take care of the poison myself."


Thomas had used poison several times before. He had been attempting to learn about poisons so he could try and make some I tight situations, but it was a slow process. As much as he like to say he could analyze the people is on himself, that was beyond him.


They reached the library where the cord keeper, Rorin, worked and slept. He moved off to a side room and woke him. "In this bag there are several documents supposedly from Deva. I need you to verify that they are real and at least some of them correlate to events we have on record. How long do you think it will take?"


"Half an hour at most if the documents are real. I take it you captured this girl?"


"Sort of. She claims to have come here of her own free will do better Deva." He reached into the bag and found a vial of poison before giving Rorin the bag. "We'll stay here while you work, if you don't mind."


He then led Amori to a table and sat down across from each other. "We m not going to quiz you on your life story, but there are some questions I need answered. First off, what's your adept? What job did you have? How'd you escape Deva?"

==================================================================

​

The king had been awoken so he could see the messages hurried down from the high tower. He was clearly worried, taking this as the first step Deva was taking in the war. He called for Thomas, Aurora, and Ethan. They were to meet in the library and discuss the possibilities they had to deal with the situation.


@VioletDancer @Ch3rryBlossom28 @Ronin Ezekiel @northguy

 

[PurpleTurtle]

Amori sat down without a fight, listening to his questions, "Well, my adept allows me to read people rather well, like for example; Rorin just so happens to be scared of you, don't ask me why but he is. He's confused over something and thinking deeply and I'm going to assume he hasn't slept for awhile." she said, getting all that from her eyes bouncing over the record keeper.


Her eyes then landed on thomas and she studied his posture, "You weren't raised as your typical adept? Nobility or something along those lines I'll assume. Silently confident, cocky at moments and I'll assume your a night owl considering you don't seem tired at all." he was rather hard to read, not really portraying much emotion, "I'm pretty good at telling when people are lying, or who they like. All the fun stuff really." she explained then effortlessly hopped to the next question.


"In deva I was in training to be a courtier, -Rorin should be able to find that in his records Somewhere. But I was made an official courtier after our advisor was killed. He was a prick." she had never liked him. He was stupid and guided the kingdom into ruin, "As for escaping Deva it was easy, I pretended to work late about a week ago then rode my horse down to the music hall to practice dance like I do everyday. I just rode past the the hall and left, it was pretty late so no one was really out." she thought for a second then looked at him, "I knew the guard rotations and left the actual city during there switch off."


@Shog

 

[Ch3rryBlossom28]

Aurora watched as the two figures moved. She noticed that one purposefully made sure his eye hit the moonlight. Seeing his grey eye, it confirmed that it was Thomas(@Shog ). Who he was with she had no idea but from the way they moved she could tell it was an intruder. Aurora shrugged and went back into her room closing the door. If Thomas had the girl then everything than everything is ok. He can handle it.


She started to get ready for bed. She had just finished taking off her armor when she heard a knock on the door. "Who is it?" She called out in an irritated voice. "Ma'am. The King has summed you to the library." Aurora sighed and started to put her gear back on. "I'll be down there soon!" She heard the man behind the door scurry away. Within a few minutes Aurora was ready. She walked out of her room towards the library. She knocked before opening the door. Seeing the King she bowed. Glancing up she could see Thomas and the girl he had before. She just raised an eyebrow and wondered why the room felt so tense. Was this chick really the reason why they were dragged out of their rooms?

 

[KhalZhavvorsa]

A week's time had passed; within this amount of time Axel had left her side to fight, she'd found an apprentice and gotten a letter from both kings..one asking that she help the kingdom of Deva and the other being a demand to fight against her home. Eleonra, being the peaceful person she was, burned both letters. She would not fight for either nor would she invent for either; that is not what her inventions were for. The woman now sat in a tavern in the capitol city of Bandar. Her business here had been finished but she was unable to leave due to war times and what she was. Adept.


Eleonora sat on a bar stool, her hands fiddling with something. This something was the same thing she'd of been fiddling with the day after her and Axel had split and she was left to tend to the man who owed her a payment. Funny enough, the whole payment ordeal went down 'fine'. Or at least in her book it did. The man had already been in trouble for being in dept to other, so the other people he was in dept to found him as well and beat him bloody, got their payment and she got her's. No violence on her end.


With a hake of her head Eleonora would put the trinket she was fiddling with away in her pocket and wonder just how long it might take the king of this land to find her and bring her in, demand to her she fight, and she reply with a rather calm answer that Axel most certainly would not like. Speaking of the poor idiot..she had no idea where he was right now or how he might be..surely he was okay? The man was foolish, yes but he was also a born fighter with a knack for her guns. The thought of their first meeting brought a small smile to her face as she remembered it rather vaguely. It's been eight long years since then..and she still can't help but picture Axel as he once was on their first meeting. Hell, she could still remember how he handled the situation he walked into. A very soft chuckle came from her as she shook her head. It was a shame that her tower would likely be raided then destroyed in this godforsaken war. She had lived a long time up there in isolation..and now that she was in a place she no longer needed to be..she wished to return home with her apprentice and begin passing down her skills to him. Idly, she day dreamed what that might be like..and when the young boy might arrive to meet her.

 

[Shog]

Thomas decided to answer her bluntly. "My parents didn't want me and left me out to die. A guard found me and I was brought here to be raised. My adept is better used at night, so I often work the graveyard shift. As for Rorin... he is one of many people here who are not fond of my presence. Can't say I blame them."


Thomas hadn't stopped talking for even half a second when Aurora arrived. Thomas was still holding a grudge, so he looked the other way and hoped she wasn't going to be staying for long. Maybe if he had Amori's adept then he would be able to understand her better. He would also probably understand that holding grudges didn't get him anywhere and that what he was doing with her was stupid. But he didn't.


@VioletDancer @Ch3rryBlossom28 @Ronin Ezekiel

 

[PurpleTurtle]

Amori looked back and forth between the female across the room and her current interrogator then leaned forward "Wow, what did she do to get your panties in a wad?" She whispered quietly, then looked at the people who came in, "Is it like mutual anger or...?" She noted that a few people were coming in and she looked back at him"What's going on? Who are they?" She questioned then crossed her arms, "Could I get something to eat? I'm starving..." She whined. She then looked over to Rorin, "Are you done yet?" She asked curiously.

 

[Ch3rryBlossom28]

Aurora was a little aggravated that Thomas just flat out ignored her presence but didn't truly let it bother her. She raised an eyebrow at the girl who was whispering to Thomas while starting directly at her. She just wanted to yell at the girl that if she had a problem with her say it out loud but they were in the presence of the King and no matter how tired and easily aggravated she was Aurora wasn't going to snap on the girl. "I believe the better question is who are you? You are obviously important enough for us to get us dragged out of our chambers in the middle of the night." And an Adept. She thought as she saw her mismatched eyes. Her right hand subconsciously rested by the dagger on her thigh, ready to grab if need be.

 

[PurpleTurtle]

Amori felt a silent need to cover her violet eye from the aggrivated girl, she wondered what she was and wasn't allowed to say iñ front of them, "My name is Amorine Castien. Amori for short. I'm from Deva." She stated, she noted a head snap in her direction and she subconsciously sank lower in her seat. It probably didn't help that the death state she was getting from the king was nothing short of terrifying.


Deciding she didn't like the stares she gave a dumbes down version of her story, "I found some things out that were cruel about Deva and I left. I brought some important documents with me." She stated in her best confident voice, which was rather convincing.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

"My ribs are sore and I am sure that my side will bruise, but I'm alright" she smiled at Ethan, she was thankful that she had someone to spar with, he was also quite right she needed to use her adept more. Which meant she was going to stay out and train some more even if she was sore.


Harley was determined to be helpful no matter what. She saw a messenger running towards them and wondered what it could be, something important must have happened. She wringed her hands together and hoped that someone hadnt been hurt or taken.


@Ronin Ezekiel

 

[Ronin Ezekiel]

[Ethan]


I didn't even have time to respond before a messenger ran into the training yard. "His highness requests Ethan's presence in the library immediately," he said. I sighed and made my way out of the yard. "Keep training, Harley," I said as I walked off.


It didn't take long to arrive at the library, but it gave me time to wonder what happened. The king calling for us this late at night? That almost never happens. Upon my arrival, I swung open the large mahogany doors and walked inside.


As I expected, Thomas and Aurora were already here, as well as Rorin the record keeper and a young girl I had never even seen before. "So... what's going on?" I asked. While the question wasn't specifically directed at Thomas, I was looking in his general direction when I said it.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

After Ethan left I decided to follow his instructions and carry on training. Their were practice dummies I could use but they were not as good as fighting with another person.


Her ribs begane to hinder her movements when practicing, looking around to make sure no one could see her she lifted her too up to her ribs to assess them, her whole side was turning blue. It wasnt as bad as what she thought it would be, she had had worse when she was learning her acrobatics.


Pulling her shirt back down, she sat down with her back resting against the wall,


something very important must have happened and Harley was curious to what it could be. She hoped everything was alright and nothing too bad had happened