Fantasy The Covenant

[LeSoraAmari]

Vytalas smiled "Me and my familiars have taken shelter in a cave hidden behind the waterfall on stream. So far it hasn't been found by any demons or hostile mages.. I would say it is also five minutes walking distance from here... Yet a part of me says we should all live closer together for an increase in our safety... After all.. Safety is important.. We could find a place together and see if we like it.. Build three places for each of us and live like that.. What do you guys think?"

 

[FaithEvergreen]

Faith smiled listening to Halk sharing her vision. It was amazing, it being a chance for them to really make this place safe for magic-users while they were going though their transitions. "We can one day have training sessions, really help one another master their abilities." Her face lit up for a moment, the thought of being able to train other healers to master their skills, really making a difference in the eyes of the Covenant. It amazed her, and she deeply looked forward to the experience, "Halk even with your talents, you might be able to set up a workshop here!"

 

[Alstromeria]

Halk frowned a bit, waving his hands. "No no, I'm content where I am now, I should be able to move the majority of my work, some of the long term projects will remain there, but I'll probably end up just digging myself a basement and working down there." His friendly expression returned when he saw Faith's attractive, kind face light up. "Don't worry about me though. I assume we want to start somewhere by where you currently live by the stream? Maybe make some improvements to your house, build on a bit for starters? You do need room to stretch."

 

[FaithEvergreen]

Faith blinked before looking at Vytalas, "We should try to get a settlement for Vytalas first, at least so he has a roof over his head to sleep in," she spoke kindly, though it seemed she slightly carried disappointment in her tone. Part of her had actually hoped Halk would be able to move a bit closer... "Vytalas, you and Mileena are more than welcome to stay with me until we can get you a place of your own to call home."

 

[Israfeli]

Maegor started shooting more fire into the sky to make fireworks. Then, he started to see if he could make words out of fire in the sky. "God, I am so bored." He then made five streams of fire fall from the sky. The fire started to fly around him, until each sphere was only a meter from him. As he made the fire go faster, it turned into a ring of flame.

 

[LeSoraAmari]

Vytalas smiled to Faith "That would be wonderful. If that is the plan. I shallgo to my cave and grab my important and worthwhile belongings them make my way to your home." Vytalas said kindly and then his eyes began to fill themselves with concern "Halk. Where exactly is this underground home of yours?"

 

[Alstromeria]

Halk gestured in the general direction of where he lived. "It's upstream a bit from where Faith lives, it's set in the side of a hill. More of a bump in the ground really." Halk's sphere made a gurgling noise. "I enchanted a shovel and dug it out myself. The shovel weighs nothing, and the edge has some sharpening charms as well as heat charms. Very useful for melting rocks and such." Halk nodded at Faith. "When we get started, I assume we'll need carpentry tools? I don't see us making his home out of rock." The sphere hummed again, and Halk glanced at the group apologeticly. "I thought I'd turned it off. Looks like it's becoming self aware. Which is great, but now I have to figure out how to get it to have a vocabulary... right now it seems to be limited to just noises and copying."


Halk smiled and swung his arms. "I'll actually be heading there now, there's some things I need to grab. I might need some help carrying some stuff, so you guys are welcome to come along."

 

[FaithEvergreen]

Faith started to smile, "We will need healthy and thick trees, ones that will hold up to weather and keep the rain from coming in," she cheered, knowing verywell that with the help of her comrades they could really make a comfortable home for one another. She started to make a sketch in the ground illustrating how to lay the wood out onto the base of the house. "We should dig a hole around the bottom of the platform so when it rains the ground won't get wet inside and outside the home. Then we can reinforce it with more wood before laying out a wooden floor on top of it...oh Halk this is going to be so much comfortable than my place, we are really going to make this happen!"

 

[Alstromeria]

Halk smiled and turned on his heels. "I see what you're thinking. That also gives me an idea..." He spun on his heels, jerking his head at his two companions for them to follow. "Let's get started." He led them to his little home in the ground. The corpse of the demon was still there, so he picked it up and dragged it to the side. "Don't mind that." Grinning, Halk uncovered the trap door. He knocked twice in the middle, then ran his hand along the edges, disabling the protective charms. The runes squirmed and fled to the corners of the trapdoor. He picked it up by it's brass knocker and pushed it open.


Halk descended into his workspace. It was lit by enchanted pieces of wood. The walls and floor were smooth and grey, something Halk had done first, transmuting the minerals in the soil to stone that was. The walls still felt a bit grainy if you reached out to touch them. Some objects were strewn about the floor, other tools and hunks of nonesuch hung from the walls. The areas of the walls that were clear from tools were covered in notes, scribbles, and strange markings. "Welcome to my home in a hole!" he said cheerily, breathing in the musty, oily, magic infused air. It wasn't a bad smell, just unique. He grabbed a few things off a cluttered table, one that looked like a draw knife, a saw with a glowing handle, and a hammer with a rune grooved into the head. "Ahh, Faith, there is some round stones in a bucket under the workbench over there. Grab it for me please, don't touch the shock rune." Halk skirted about the room, grabbing a toolbelt with many loops and pouches. He hustled about, picking up this or that, strange shaped objects, maybe a bottle of fluid or two. Lastly, he placed the sphere on top of a pedastool with a round indentation at the top and multiple enchantments on the side. The sphere's light formed a bit of a whirlpool pattern, flowing into the pedastool and was gone. "Allright, let's go build some stuff," he grinned, a childlike gleam in his eye. "Just tell me where."

 

[FaithEvergreen]

Faith eagerly followed looking forward to actually seeing where her Charmer friend lived. Walking beside him happily up until seeing the hole opening from a distance. Part of her was disappointed at first, only because she envisioned there being a building on top of it. It was a sudden realization at the sight of the dead demon that this place must of had a grand reason to protect it if the rules on the entrance were that powerful. Being led inside, her disappointment quickly was flushed away as she gazed around the location with awe glimmering in her gaze, "This is amazing, Halk you've done so well, I can see why you wouldn't want to leave," she told him cheerfully before his instructions came to grab the rune bucket on the floor, "Got it, so what exactly are we planning on using these for?"

 

[Alstromeria]

Halk smiled. "You'll see. A little invention I made by combining the properties of water and... I'm getting ahead of myself." He waved the idea away. "I assume we should start close to your house yea? One hundred meters is a good distance, you'll be able to see over the stream to where I am, also your old house." Climbing out the trap door, he helped Faith and Vytalas out, pointing at the specified area. "Unless you have other Ideas?"

 

[FaithEvergreen]

"Well we want to be close to the river, but we need to provide the river space because it does have a habit of flooding during heavy rains. Don't have any of the houses much closer than my little shack over there, otherwise we will risk having someone's home washed away," she warned worriedly as her mind wandered with thought. "

 

[Alstromeria]

Halk grinned and pulled out his shovel. "I have a solution. The house will be almost right up close to the river bank. Crazy you say? Noooo..." Halk picked up one of the round rocks in the bucket Faith had and walked about ten steps away from the stream. He used his shovel to make a small hole, the edge glowing slightly warm, and half buried the rock with the shock rune facing up. He rubbed it, then ran away, pulling Faith, Vytalas, and the remaining rocks to a safe distance. "Like I said before, those rocks have a bit of water tightly packed into their centers. The water is enchanted to freeze when shocked. The shock rune on the outside has a delay time of thirty seconds, and when..." A loud bang was heard, the rock had exploded, bits of shrapnel and ice flying in all directions. A circular groove about five feet deep was where the rock once was. "... It freezes, expanding rapidly and breaking out of the rock!" He clapped his hands excitedly. "That you see, is the foundation. Faith, all we need to do is plant a few trees in the foundation, and warp them to form the structure of the house!" Halk was virtually shivering with excitement now. "We can build around them, but this will make the house extremely sturdy, but flexible. Also, the root system of the trees will absorb any excess water that comes your way."

 

[FaithEvergreen]

Faith's expression glimmered with hope, seeing the eyes of her companions glimmer in excitement from the possibility of being comfortable here. In an immediately moment she found herself hugging Halk tightly a few tears of joy falling down her face, "I'll do it, thank you, thank you so very much," she cheered joyfully. For a moment she realized the closeness of this action and stepped back a bit, "Sorry I should have...I shouldn't have hugged you so tightly, are you alright?" she asked with reddened cheeks, embarrassed that she let her excitement get the better of her.

 

[Alstromeria]

Halk wasn't surprised by this affection, he did things like this for people all the time. He usually only got hugged by those he knew well and the older folks, not somebody he had only known a short period of time. "Yea, I'm good." He grinned. His smile only widened when he saw her blush. "It's allright. Very enjoyable actually, machines and gadgets can only keep one company for so long, heh heh." He was reddening a bit now. "Anyways." He handed her the draw knife, "You specialize in plant manipulation right? I saw you use it a bit in your garden. This is a draw knife." He turned the instrument over a few times. "Used to strip bark from trees. The trees that grow here should have their bark stripped regularly, so as to absorb the water more readily. I don't think it will hurt them too much, this area has lots of sun, as well as nutrients for them to survive off of." He rubbed his chin, noticing again that he needed to shave. "Plus, it'll look nice." He turned to Vytalas. "Get your things from your cave, we can start on your dwelling when you get back."

 

[FaithEvergreen]

After snapping out of her daze, she paid attention to the instructions he was providing her. "I do, a draw knife huh?" she watched him and listened intent as he gave him instruction on how to use the tool and when too use it. Faith even found herself giggling as he commented on his statement for needing to shave. "Yea that could work, or..." she wandered gingerly to a nearby oak tree, picking up several of its seeds and returning over to the foundation, "Each seed has genetic wiring for the tree telling it how to grow and how to settle itself. The problem with tearing the bark out at the roots is the wood will absorb the water alright, but the tree will risk absorbing too much resulting the foundation to fall apart. What I will do is create the instructions for the tree to have what I called wired bark, a bark that is segmented enough to allow more water absorption but still restrict the amount going in. I'll also relay so the canopies will act much like a roof wood, however we still will want to put on one as leaves do not ultimately keep all the water out."


She scanned the base before whispering some words to each seed before dropping it into the side of the hole, each one glowing as it fell into the earth. After each part of the foundation was seeded, she called upon her kitsune for help who arrived eagerly beside them. "Raine I need you too make sure all the nutrients necessary for the changes of the trees is are in their proper placement," she told the fox spirit. Raine chirped before hopping into the hole and gazing at each seed. Some of them she would provide them with more water, while others required further soil. Eventually she would hop out, chiming with excitement when she was done. Faith would slowly close her eyes, raising her hands in front of her. Her hair would slightly rise and her fingertips would glow before suddenly...


The trees would rapidly rise out of the ground, the groundfloor's branches morphing to a hardwood-like floor pattern that intertwined to allow the floor to be stable. Along them as well would be stairs to a sort of basement where the base of the trees would be whose roots also made a wooden floor-like pattern around. "We will need to make the proper roof and saw out a doorway and windows as desired, plus any other rooms that we..." Faith collapsed on the ground, having used a lot of her energy for this to have happened.

 

[Israfeli]

Maegor started walking along the side of a river. Hoping for food, he started exploring the area around the river. He found a tree and started hitting it with fire, then it fell over. Following this, Maegor approached the branches and started picking out fruit to eat. Once he'd gotten full, he started breaking off the branches. Once finished with this task, Maegor set a pile of branches near the river and started digging a hole.


Within a quarter hour, Maegor had finished the hole enough that he found it acceptable. He pushed the trunk of the fallen tree over to it and set the bottom of the trunk into the hole, then filled the remaining bits of the hole with dirt to keep the tree from tilting.


Seeing what looked like other people nearby, Maegor shouted out, "Hey! Anyone want some fruit?!"

 

[LeSoraAmari]

Vytalas smiled at the wonders before him "Your enchantments are very strong, charmer. I'm very impressed. Impressed indeed.." He looked at Mileena as she too had a calm and astonished expression. "Well, I guess I will go gather my things and return. Charmer if a dire situation should arise I want you to contact me with one of those wonderful contraptions of yours... Au'revoir.." Vytalas clicked his fingers as Mileenas vines banded together to form wings, as Mileena flew up, she wrapped multiple vines around Vytalas to secure him as they flew in the air. "I will see you in a minute!" He saluted to Faith and Halk as he flew towards his cave behind the waterfall.

 

[Alstromeria]

Halk waved, and then supported Faith when she fell, holding her up a bit. "You okay? That must've took alot out of you." He helped her over to one of the trees that had grown and leaned her against it. "Rest a bit, let me know how you want the door and windows to be like. I can probably use my tools better than most people, it's like trying to draw a cartoon that isn't originally yours." He sat next to her. Rubbing his chin once again, he pounded a fist on his leg and pulled out his dagger with a safety charm on it. This dagger could not draw blood, no matter how hard you pressed. He ran it over his face, getting rid of the long whiskers that had formed over the past few weeks. He used the blades reflection to check his work. "Much better, much better." He mused, wiping the hair off of his heavily runed jacket, "You forget to take care of yourself when you focus on advancing technology." He smiled at Faith charmingly.

 

[FaithEvergreen]

Faith smiled at him, her face reddening at his charming smile, "I suppose that is the catch to magic, you have to sacrifice part of yourself in order to make things happen right? I suppose that is why we are here, to practice our abilities so we may overcome this obstacle. I will say though it seems like you pretty much tackled it already."

 

[Israfeli]

Maegor walked up to the group of people. "I asked if any of you would like some fruit...." He sighed as he neared them. He then looked at the three and shrugged. "Anwho, what's up?"

 

[Alstromeria]

"Actually no," Halk said, "Most of the energy you need for charming is in the materials themselves, you just need to be knowlegable enough to spurr the reactions. For example, those shock runes had the least amount of energy possible put into them." He pulled out his saw, showing off the handle. "Now enchantments that enhance the object itself, those take more thought. You just need to learn the alleys and shortcuts around using your energy." He flipped the saw over a bit. "About that door, I'm thinking maybe a grand double entrance, nice ornate trim... Something that says 'hey, I was here first. I started this,' ya know?"

 

[LeSoraAmari]

After five minutes of flying, they eventually got to the waterfall, landing at the bottom of it, Mileena reverted back to her normal form as the vines went back to normal and she let go of Vytalas. "Good job!" Vytalas smiled to his partner as they walked up the secret passage and into the cave,rushing water could be heard constantly, it made the area feel tranquil.. Peaceful... "Mileena.. Keep an eye out for any unwanted guests." Mileena nodded in response and scouted the room as Vytalas gathered his things and put them in a knapsack. After that Mileena went back to her flying form and they flew out of the cave. Going back to Faith and Halk.. And seeing a stranger nearby. "Who on earth is that.." Vytalas sighed as Mileena shot a razor sharp blade in front of the stranger and they then landed. "My I ask what it is you are doing here?" He said, looking at the strange guy as Mileena reverted back to her original form.. "Oh.. And sorry for the sudden introduction... But.. Guys I'm back!.."

 

[Israfeli]

Maegor stuck a fruit on the end of the blade. "I'm just offering fruit. It's deliciously sweet, and I figured that the group of people I saw may enjoy it. Take a bite if you please, it's free, it's not poison, and it's on your weapon. Can't hurt, can it?" Maegor took a bite of one of his fruits.

 

[Alstromeria]

Halk was intimidated by this newcomer. "I... Naw, I have to work... I'll be moving around alot..." A pitiful excuse to not accept the food really, but Halk didn't eat much anyways, and he certainly didn't like accepting strange substances from burly people he didn't know anything about. He looked at Faith for a verdict on his door idea.