Roleplay City
Halflight => HALFLIGHT: Hiding In The Half Light => Laboratories => Topic started by: deviliscious on October 26, 2008, 06:59:42 PM
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(Takes place directly after \'Of Missions and Gossips: The Scandalous Lives of Assassins\' (http://www.roleplaycity.com/forums/showthread.php?p=67198#post67198))
The half-djinn was fast as he easily tracked the High Apprentice in her berserker mode, not that it was hard to tail her considering the way she rammed through anything that got in her way. He was relieved however, that the students\' quarters remained unmolested as she had made her way towards the science laboratories. With the woodland backdrop, it was safe to say that no one (in their right mind anyway) would be up traipsing through in the dead of the night.
As exciting as this little impromptu adventure was, Kaid was not at all pleased, something that was obvious given the way he was grumbling under his breath with his step towards his quarry. Sounds of a scuffle broke out, echoing through the trees, and he rushed head on into the clearing. Worse still was the sudden flare of dark magick, very powerful magick. Had the female assassin succumbed to her wound? “Damnit! I have a class to teach in the bloody morning! This is not a fucking good time!” he roared in frustration as he skidded to a halt at the sight of Benson. But it wasn\'t the elf that had made his skin crawl. No, it was that thing with that huge weapon thing that looked solid enough to cut down a damn tree with one swing. Instantly, Kaid knew that this would not be an opponent he could take down by himself.
Shit! Where the hell is backup when you need it?!
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Benson could hardly keep up with Idrial’s violent aggression, for a woman she was swift and physically powerful for a woman her age. He tried talking to her as he fought with his friend but she wouldn’t answer, she was out for violence tonight. He werewolf side was clearly showing through, it scared Benson that if he didn’t somehow keep her in this area away from the Academy she might eradicate someone. He was determined not to let that happen even if it meant fighting to the death with Idrial.
Benson once again parried another immense blow from Idrial, the vibration from the assault travelled its way down his sword. He slashed at her several times, trying to break through her defenses, even if it was in the slightest way but he was failing miserably at the moment. After what seemed like hours Idrial left her defenses wide open and Benson took the advantage, spinning his body around her next blow he raised his sword and with infinite force his sword came in contact with her body. Slicing her arm deeply, he watched in horror as the blood bubbled from her arm with extreme speed.
Idrial took a step backwards and slowly looked at her arm, the cut was deep and she was sure she could see bone. None of that mattered; she didn’t care how badly she got wounded from this fight. She wanted to fight until she could fight no more; she gripped her daggers within her hands letting the blood rivulet down her arm. She came at Benson with incredible speed, there weapons locked together. Idrial could feel her arm growing weak but she was bound and determined, she wouldn’t give up the werewolf within her wouldn’t let it happen. Benson gave her a swift and powerful shove which knocked her backwards, he took advantage and jumped ready to land on her and maybe hold her down.
Idrial saw the attack coming and summoned a whip of air, picking him out the sky in mid jump. He crashed to the ground which knocked the wind out of his lungs; Idrial slowly arose with a wicked smile on her face. She summoned a circle of air around them this spell could not be detected until they were once inside the circle, by then it was already to late for them to escape. Anyone could enter but they could not leave unless the spell caster removed the spell or was knocked unconscious or dead. She summoned two large fireballs in her hands; she heard a strange voice that was surprisingly calm and yet it fed the werewolf inside her. She mentally nodded before aiming the fireballs at Benson. He literally had only a split second to react; the one scorched his shirt sleeve just a little.
Benson then got a look on his face that was giving the impression she had to be killed, a feeling that just suddenly washed over him. She had to be killed there was no other way; he swiftly got off his feet placing his sword in front of him. He quickly sent a blast of air her way, knocking her back oh her back. He leaped into the air with his sword placed downwards, plunging his sword into her shoulder. She howled with pain and while she remained on the ground, he stood over top of her with a smile on his face.
“Your kind Idrial do not belong in this world.” She raised his sword and plunged it into her stomach; he raised his sword again to put it straight through her heart. Idrial reacted with slicing his leg deeply. It caused him to yell in which she kicked Benson with her Powerful legs sending him once again into the dirt. She was livid now and she looked at Benson with glowing orange eyes. Her breathing was erratic as she stared at Benson, he hands curled into fists which cause her nails to draw blood in her hands. Her jaw clenched with extreme force which should have shattered her teeth into a million pieces. She raised her head and howled, she no longer had control the beast had truly taken over. Bones broke and shifted within her body to make room for the immense monster she was about to become, a machine that was breed for killing.
She was well built and quite lithe for a werewolf, in many clans that she had encountered over the years she was quite beautiful in her monster of a form or so she had been told. She locked eyes on Benson and howled with an intense rage. He quickly stood into his fighting stance; Idrial came at him with unnatural speed. He twisted to the outside slicing her side, he was then thrown once again. He looked up to see some creature with a sword and Kaid himself. Idrial once again came at him and this time he parried her attacks with his sword, slicing Idrial’s hands he yelled as loudly as he could towards the Master, “KAID …”
Before he could even react her jaws crunched down on his shoulder. He yelled in pain by the attack, Idrial shook her jaws shredding his shoulder like tissue paper. Before picking him up and throwing him clearly across the circle. He quickly summoned his healing magick and healed more of the wound before he was forced once again to make another split second decision as Idrial hurled herself at him. He rolled to the side, only one or two of her fingers came in contact with his back but damn they burned. He turned around instinct raised his sword, Idrial came inches away from his face, the sword went through her chest and she howled in pain. She quickly backed off of him before pulling the sword out of her chest and throwing it behind her, now he was without a weapon. He stood there as she once again charged at him; he quickly blew powder in her face which caused her to jump back.
He ran to retrieve his weapon but his arm was caught in her teeth, she pulled him to the ground and tore his arm open. Shredding his arm like it was nothing but wet paper. He screamed in pain as she chewed on him arm, he punched her several times in the face before she let go, he ran like the wind to retrieve his sword. He grasped his sword in his good hand and started to heal his arm before Idrial had him pinned, the only thing between him and Idrial from ripping his throat out was his sword. He didn’t know how long he would be pinned before his chewed up arm caved. What scared Benson even more was the blood lust in her eyes, he kept the sword firmly at her throat at she snapped her teeth. He yelled once again for Kaid at the top of his lungs, Idrial’s jaws just inches away from his throat and his strength beginning to diminish on him.
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Achrynoth watched the fight from a fairly good distance, staying out of the way, yet mentally goading Idrial onward. He was pleased that she was so easy to manipulate, and someone this easy to manipulate would be a valuable asset in his cause. She could be a very good assassin if he could drive her in the right directions.
The appearance of a third person was not all unexpected, they were making enough noise and commotion that he was actually surprised that half of the country side was not in audience... "Hell Djinn, glad you could join us."
Achrynoth moved forward, the robes rustling around his humanistic form as he approached the Djinn, "You are here to save Benson? Or to save Idrial from herself? I\'m sorry though, someone will be dying by the end of the night if she doesn\'t shape up. So be careful."
A sly smile crept across his face and a deep throaty laughed escaped his lips.
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Anytmur\'ssdrol Auvrylyl looked up from his book as he heard the a scream of pain. Quickly, standing up and after making sure he had all his weapons he headed out the door without so much as blink in surprise as he ran towards the sound, even though surprise was exactly how he felt.
Fights have always occurred in the Academy, after all, this was a school for assassins, but somehow; this felt different. He couldn\'t describe it, it was probably a lot of little things, where, if he were to sit down and think about, which he would probably do later, he would no doubt find out how, but he didn\'t have the time right now, he had to find out what was going on.
Not long after his departure did he see someone else running in the same direction as he, though he stayed in his shadow until he heard a loud yell, screaming the name "Kaid".
Quickly going through his memory as he ran, he recalled that Kaid was a Master at the school. If this man he was following was indeed Kaid than something serious was happening.
Lost in his thought, he hadn\'t noticed that Kaid had stopped, nearly running into him, he no doubt had been spotted from that. He privately scolded himself for being so careless as he looked where the excitement was coming from.
This time he did blink in surprise.
What in Hell is going on? He thought to himself as he watched as, what looked like, a werewolf biting the arm of an elf, though, from his point of few, he couldn\'t see his face.
Making sure that no one else but Kaid, who was close enough, could see him, he turned from the fight for a quick glance at him. "What is going on here?" He asked as he looked back at the fight.
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At the sound of his name being yelled out frenetically, Kaid knew without a doubt that the situation had gone straight to hell. There were so many problems to address such as the one where they had a werewolf gone berserk, a werewolf who had a wound infected by dark magick, an elf about to be cut down by said werewolf and an intruder. The intruder was the one that posed the most problem because the half-djinn could tell that this was someone whom you would not want to mess with even on the bastard\'s good day.
“No need to yell! I can hear you perfectly fine!” he snapped out a reply to Benson, his eye darting back and forth from the duo engaged in combat to the man with the fucking huge weapon. His eye narrowed as he warily watched the approching form of the intruder, subtly tensing when he knew that he was in hot soup given that he didn\'t even have his scimitar along for the ride. But he was still an assassin and the rule of thumb is to never be caught without a weapon of some sort which was why his hand was reaching into the folds of his robe to grab at the poisoned senbon needles he had concealed. “I\'m here to kick the shit out of you, that\'s what I\'m here for,” he snarled and widened his stance just in case. However, it seemed that the other was only watching, and that unnerved Kaid even more.
The appearance of another behind him made him glance quickly over his shoulder before his attention back to one before him. “A dance performance," was his succint reply with a bit of a snort. "What does it look like? We have a dumb werewolf stricken with some dark magick-infested wound on a rampage and an intruder. Are you the backup? I sure hope that you know a thing or two about dark magick, like how to beat it the fuck out of the lovely lady over there,” he added in a mutter, telling him without being direct that he should haul his ass over to the duelling couple and rescue the poor elf before he was torn apart and be eaten or something to that effect. He had no idea who the newcomer was, but he had seen him around the school before.
The whole time he kept his gaze fixed upon the more dangerous foe as he spoke to the man behind him. “Or if you\'d rather gave a go with Sir Bastard over here, you can go right ahead.” Somehow, the master had a feeling that this particular foe was not here to engage himself in battle, more like an observer of sorts. Whatever the case, he had to get rid of him.
During their little chit-chat session, Kaid only hoped that Benson could hold out just a little bit longer.
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Achrynoth looked over the newcomer, nothing worth his time to be honest, but this half-djinn might be someone he could have some fun with. Maybe he would prove some what of a challenge. Reaching up over his shoulder, Achrynoth grabbed the hilt of Soul Eater and pulled it from its straps and held it before him like it weighed nothing, before thrusting the end of the blade into the ground and leaning on it, "Hello, Master Kaid. I\'ve been wanting to meet someone of your... experience for some time. People like our dear Idrial are just not up to the challenge these days."
The lich looked over to the fight. No one was getting in or out of that shield that Idrial had errected, alive or dead...save himself and the only reason he suspected he could make it out again would be because he was incapable of death for the most part. Turning back to Master Kaid, he smiled, releasing a slight portion of the spell that gave him skin around his face, letting the decayed flesh around his smile show, "How long it is I have waited...But patience comes with many years of practice."
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Benson knew that help wouldn’t come any time soon and he had no choice that to pull his dagger and stab it in between Idrial’s ribs. He twisted the blade with such force that he cracked one of her ribs. Idrial immediately let the hold she had on Benson loosen, he quickly got to his feet holding his blade out in front of him waiting for Idrial to make her next move. He couldn’t afford to look at Kaid or the intruder with Idrial in the stage of rage that she was showing.
Idrial once again lunged at Benson, her teeth coming within inches of his throat. He once again sliced her chest with his only weapon. She howled in pain as she obtained another wound from Benson, she was breathing hard from all the movement that she was doing in trying to attack Benson. Blood was streaming from her nose and trickled down her muzzle, Benson on the other hand had very few wounds due to his talent in healing with magick. Idrial watched his wary as she began to circle him slowly on all fours; Benson remained in a tense pose waiting for her to strike. She endlessly circled him, switching in between clock-wise and counter clock wise circles. Watching Benson with intense and blood lust eyes.
She was overwhelmed with a feeling that she had to kill someone or something tonight and it didn’t matter what just as long it was something she could tear apart. She finally lunged at him with extreme speed, knocking him to the ground. He placed his sword once again between him and her lethal jaws, “Idrial listen to me this isn’t you … Think of Jaq for fucks sake. Think of Jaq!” Her teeth almost clamped down on his neck when she heard the word Jaq. She slowly pulled back only to howl in pain, she shook her head back and forth.
What was wrong with her, this wasn’t her at all, her hand like paws clenched the ground that was beneath them. She looked at him as if he was telling him not to come near as she was still very unstable, she then caught of whiff of something and lightly sniffed the air. She whipped her head towards the intruder and growled towards the man. It was a Lich; she shrieked with intensity that she thought she would have burst a lung. She ran like the wind towards the Lich not wanting to stop, his kind had killed a tribe of shape shifters and werewolves long ago. She wanted all of them all dead.
She was far away from the Lich when she jumped from where she was running, landing a good 20 feet away from the Lich. She growled at the Lich and paced back and forth showing her intent that she wanted him dead, she then began to change without knowing. Blue flames licked her body with intensity, till there was nothing let but blue and black flames. She lowered her head letting her bones and muscle tissue shift once again, her body became more agile and slim rather than muscular but the strength was still there within her in massive amounts.
She took a few steps forward leaving blue flaming paw prints on the ground, her eyes were glowing red. One of her ears twitched as she heard Benson yelling at Idrial to back off before she killed herself, she already knew she was in the stage where backing off wasn’t an option. She jumped in the air aiming her paws for the Lich, something inside her knew this was her fault and she wouldn’t let another die let alone another Master die for her mistakes. This was her fault and hers alone and if she had to die for it then so be it. She opened her Jaws wide as she came closer to the Lich meaning to grab his throat and tear it right out.
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"I know how to defend it, and how to remove most Dark Spells, but to best a Lich?" Antmur\'ss responded, sounding more cocky than he should, but under the circumstances, he doubted Master Kaid would mind. If the truth were ever told, Antmur\'ss wasn\'t sure what he was going to, he just knew he had act and fast.
Watching the fight for a few seconds, he knew that unless the Lich was extremely distracted, he wouldn\'t be able to remove the spell, and even then not without help. "Not by myself, I can\'t. I need help and fort he Lich to be distracted."
But before he could act, the werewolf saw the Lich and ran towards it. He heard the Master call out to someone named "Idrail", and figured that to be the werewolf.
We\'re running out of time. He thought, growing angry. He wanted to rush in there and beat the every-living crap out of both the werewolf and the Lich, but he knew that this would be the most, and last, stupid mistake he\'d ever make, so instead he held still for a precious moment, a moment that he couldn\'t waste.
Running towards the werewolf and the Lich, Antmur\'ss was still unsure what he was going to do, he just had to do something. Hey, at least if I make it through this I might High Apprentice. He thought in a detached moment. But didn\'t spend long on the thought, instead he drew in all the powers he could muster and tried to think of a way to defend the werewolf, and himself, against the Lich.
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"Oh... This is just great," Achrynoth stated blatantly with a sigh as the werewolf charged at him. The thing was in such a blood lust that he hardly felt threatened by it, chances are it\'d just attempt to hammer him to death which likely would do very little if the thing could even get close to him.
As the werewolf closed in, he released the spell that disguised him as a human, his body twisting grotesquely to reform into his natural state. As he did so he hefted Soul Eater and swung it with such a force the the very ground beneath the swing erupted, surging forward forming a jagged wall of stone and wind capable of decimating anything in front of it.
He immediatly turned towards everyone else, knowing that the werewolf would have to find another way to get to him, which would easily buy him some time to deal with these...other pests.
Reaching out mentally with such a force that would shatter nearly any imcompetant mortal\'s mental barriers, he invaded the mind of the elf that was rushing half-heartedly towards him, "If you want to survive this day, turn around and leave. I will not kill you if I do not have to."
Basically at the same time he glared at Master Kaid, "You had best pull your little pets back Master Kaid, they are in way over their head\'s. I did not come here to kill them, only to - collect - something that is mine... I hope you don\'t mind, I did not intend for such a thing to happen, in truth... it was not my fault at all."
With a twist of his wrist and a flick of two fingers in a specific pattern, Achrynoth moved instantly from where he stood to stand about seven feet behind Master Kaid, "I hope you\'ll make the wisest choice... I\'d hate to have to hurt someone."
He then raised Soul Eater, pointing the dual-pointed blade at the back of the Master\'s neck, "One can only hope though..." He laughed ominously as it reverberated about the clearing.
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Things were progressing quickly, too quickly for Kaid\'s liking because for one thing, the lot that he was rolling with were all of lower rank than he was, meaning that he was appointed the unofficial commander. And being that would also mean he would have to be in charge, and not just charge like Idrial and and the newcomer – what was his name? Doesn\'t matter.
What does matter was the startling revelation thrown at him by the apprentice regarding their foe – that they were dealing with a Lich. Lovely tidbit, that. One that caused him to swear out loud in a menacing growl. Armed with nothing but his poisoned needles, he knew for a fact that he would not stand a chance against it. Nor will the others if they didn\'t somehow band together and come up with a good plan. And Kaid was shitty when it comes to conjuring up good plans. Just wonderful.
A sudden thought came to him then, something about what he had learnt of Liches. As powerful as they were, they had one colossal weakness, had they not? Something along the lines of destroying that which was the source of their power... or something like that. And knowing what had been taught to him all those years ago about such creatures, he knew for a fact that they keep their power source close to them.
All they had to do was to find it.
Just then, the Lich decided to perform a nifty trick, one that had the half-djinn making a disgusted face. “Oh for the love of... please, keep your human form. This one is just shit ugly,” he snorted out as though he cared more for aesthetics rather than the impending battle as he firmly stood his ground despite the cracking earth and the burst of sinister, dark magic. Hah! Like he would be intimidated. As if he was going to listen to someone who had infiltrated the school grounds. “I hate people telling me what to do, you sick, ugly bastard. Whatever the fuck happened to asking politely for something that you wish to regain?” he spat out. As if he was going to do as bid.
He realised then that the Lich was extremely fast and before he could even register it, the creature was behind him. Kaid immediately tensed up – at least he had drawn the attention away from the others, and he hoped that they remembered their lessons and would take the opportunity to find out what was the Lich\'s phylacerty – and with a speed that wasn\'t nearly as fast as his opponent but still fast enough, he had dropped to a crouch and forced the air beneath his feet to propel him forward to close the gap, angling his body to one side just ducking the sword. His hand that was tightly wound around a pair of his senbon shot out in an attempt to stab through the other, hoping against all hope that the thing wasn\'t immune to poison.
It was a risky move, but Kaid did it for a purpose – to distract – because just behind the Lich was his good friend Airis who had snuck up undetected and at the right moment when the half-djinn\'s free hand stretched out, the other master tossed with accuracy his scimitar which Kaid easily caught and swung in an arc right down the enemy\'s unguarded flank.
In the meantime, Airis had moved himself out of the danger zone, knowing that he wasn\'t in any form to fight. He decided that it was best he tend to Benson who looked to be seriously injured. As he passed by Idrial and... well, he knew of the apprentice from Cruori but he could never recall the man\'s name for it was ridiculously long and hard to pronounce, he shot them a severe look which one hardly ever see when he was acting as the Head of Missions Room. “Find the phylacerty and destroy it,” he sternly advised, shooting a look at Idrial that, for a sickly man, was sure intimidating as hell, silently telling her to curb her rage. Otherwise all will be lost.
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Idrial could not believe how stupid she had become in her form of blood lust; she had forgotten everything she had been taught by the academy. She was thrown to the side with a mighty gust of wind that hurled her through the air, only for her to come back down with such force that she had torn her skin. Some places had been worn right to the muscle and bone. She was inactivate for now, she looked at her wounds and shook her head with disgust. She should have known better than to charge at a lich who was giving off a high aura of Magick, the only thing she could do was forcefully and painfully shift back into her human form and fight Magick with Magick. She lifted her head slightly just to catch a glimpse of Arius giving her a cold a stern glare; she flashed her teeth at him not out of anger but out of understanding. She knew she had to shift back in order for her to perform properly with her magick.
She slowly let the blue flames that circled her body die, she stood on all fours grimacing through the pain of her bones and muscles shifting back creating even more damage to her body. She lifted her head and howled in more than a shriek, her body slowly turning back into a human. When the final stages were complete she looked like something that had came from the depths of hell, bruised, beaten and bloody she found the strength to stand when she should have just fallen to the ground. She looked directly at the Lich while grabbing her daggers that were now glowing with shades of blue, red and green. She let the magick of the daggers seep into her wounds filling her with a new strength and calm washed over her body; everything seemed to slow down immensely. A sign she took she was ready for anything now.
She took one step towards the Lich, “You are strong Kaisharga, Yes I now of your name. You do not like being called Lich since it is degrading to your kind. But you have not faced an Elemental Shape shifter; I have the power to control the 5 elements of the world. Earth, Wind, Air, Fire and Water; and I can also control Spirit to a certain degree.” She gave a small laugh, before pointing her daggers at the Lich hoping she give the others enough time to figure out how to destroy the Lich. At least this would show him he was not dealing with an ordinary being but it would also drain her for this she was certain.
She spoke in old and new Latin, the earth underneath rumbled before them before a large crack appeared heading straight for the lich and circled him. The earth crumbled leaving the Lich nothing but a small space to stand on, swirling molten lava lay below the lich. It swirled up the column he was left standing on and swirled around the Lich. As it encased the Lich a spout of water came forth cooling down the lava forming a hardened shell around the Lich. She let the earth rise again no longer leaving a gapping hole in the ground; she wove a case of air around the cocoon of lava from her hands. She pulled back on it since she could already see cracks appearing in the lava. She pulled so that the Lich was somewhat away from the other when the Lich did break through.
She yelled at them with strain, “You guys better start thinking here quickly, a Lich had to have it’s phylacerty near them so start thinking what the hell it could be! It’s got to be something he has with him!” She produced droplets of water from the air, then the air turned cold making the droplets form into sharp icicles so that when the lich broke through this would pierce his so called skeletal body creating more damage. She would distract the Lich as long as she could and try to weaken him as much as she could. She knew she had out herself in a dangerous position that could have put her life on the line, but it was a sacrifice she was willing to make to save others
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Anturm\'ss watched the fight in an almost distached state of mind, forcing calm into his being in order to think clearly. He thought nothing of the danger, except of course, in a logical view, and refused to let the ever-so-slight sense of panic to grow. Then again, he was fairly inexperienced with powers as those of a Lich.
This isn\'t my fight. He thought once as his calm started to fade. But it involved two masters a High Apprentice, of course it was his fight, or at least now that he was involved it was. But these thoughts faded as quickly as they had come as he tried to think of what his phylacerty might be.
The horror that overcame the Lich as it changed into its true form did not shock him in his state of mind, but instead he looked over it quickly going through every item he could see. It could be a ring or a necklace or something, but what would the most logical thing be? It would help if he knew a little more about the Lich itself.
He knew that his powers weren\'t enough to even slow it down, even though he had successfully guarded against the mind attack, he just tried to remember everything he knew about Liches. He couldn\'t help but to wonder how in the Hell he had been so in control as he was, very few Liches could control their Auras. Indeed, many didn\'t dare to enter the Academy, knowing that the powers vested in here could destroy them. He must be powerful indeed. Known even.
"It\'d be easier if I knew who the hell he was." He grumbled as everyone from Kaid, to Airis to Idrail told them that they needed to find out what his phylacerty was. Of course they did, not everyone needed to say so, though. But he didn\'t spare any thought on this, instead tried to remember all he knew about Liches.
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((I pretty much had to summarize all the actions I would have been taking. D: So many of your posts to reply to with just one. Q.Q *Sigh* Wow... I love it!))
Achrynoth felt the needles penetrate through his robes and ricochet off his hard bones. Any mortal being, or that with a natural body for that matter likely would have perished, Achrynoth though did not have a body and poison was not the way to deal with him, and as the Djinn received a sword from the other who had snuck up, not unnoticed, for Achrynoth’s life sight was extremely potent and he had detected him long before he could have considered him a threat.
When the Djinn received the scimitar, Achrynoth knew there was an attack coming, it was likely a brash move, the Djinn was not really prepared and Achrynoth pivoted, plunging his massive blade towards the ground forcing the ground to ripple around him as a barrier of rock encased the swinging sword, likely stopping the swing, though he knew it would not disarm the Djinn completely, he could easily pull it free, just not swing it.
He was figuring on merely battering the Djinn into submission so he could get on with his business, he was not a bloodthirsty lich, but the second attempt by the annoying girl caught him slightly off guard, if Achrynoth could even consider being caught off guard.
As the elements surrounded him, he found one weakness in her spells, his mastery of the air element dwarfed hers a thousand fold, but at best he could cancel it out, though not what he wanted, she was a pest and he had enough of her. He held out his hands to either side of him as the rock encased him in a stony prison, forcing a shield to ward off the closure, and once she stopped, he felt out with tendrils of magic to give him an idea of where everyone was, and he felt the girl.
He turned towards Soul Eater. It’s about time you had yourself a good meal old firend. He held his hands out and the blade ripped from the ground and he closed bony fingers around the hilt. Today, one shall feel the bite of death’s finger. He released the blade and stepped back a pace. A moment later Soul Eater began spinning in all directions, pivoting on an axis in the center of the elemental prison, after a couple seconds the blade was nothing but a black whirl in the midst of his blue shield.
He flicked a wrist and with a boom of thunder the blade ripped through shield and prison in an instant, flying towards the sky and arcing back towards the girl. A propulsion of wind beneath him, circling through the stony prison forced Achrynoth through the top of the barrier and into the air, he came back down and clutched the rock with his massive talons, “This is foolish…” he whispered to himself.
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(Ack! Sorry for the long wait guys. >_< By the way, don\'t you think that at some point, there\'ll be backup arriving on the scene? It\'s a bit unrealistic that the battle is taking place in the academy itself yet no one else is coming lol)
It was very foolish indeed if Kaid thought that he could pull of the distraction manoeuvre. As he had suspected, his needles were no good. As if someone as ridiculously powerful as the Lich would be easily distracted because he sure as hell saw through the half-djinn\'s move for the next thing Kaid knew, his blade had scored a hit, but unfortunately not upon its intended target. The wall of rock crumbled upon the surface as it took the brunt of his attack but it did not yield and he had no choice but to pull back.
And pulled back fast, rejoining the other two yet keeping some distance away from them – being clustered together was never a good strategy. As he watched as magick took centre stage between the creature and Idrial, he glanced over at Cruori Apprentice. “Not joining in?” he grunted, keeping his eye on the two, knowing that this was the type of fight that he was useless in.
The force of power that was pulsating through the tense air suddenly doubled as the Lich\'s weapon did something wicked that had Kaid\'s eye widen marginally, his head whipping towards the direction where Idrial was just as the crack of thunder resounded. “Idrial! Move the fuck away!” he roared out in warning, eyeing the sword warily and could only hope the shifter managed to remove herself out of that weapon\'s trajectory.
“The sword! It has to be the sword!” Airis\' voice suddenly rang out from afar and Kaid, without taking his gaze off Idrial, yelled back out, “What\'s the sword?!” Kaid could have sworn he had heard the other master used a very foul word in relation to the half-Djinn but it might have been his imagination seeing as Airis had never allowed such vocabulary to leave his lips, unless he was drunk.
“The phylacerty! It\'s his sword!”
Well. That made sense. In a seriously unpleasant way. The source of his power was actually his weapon? Just how were they going to get to it? To enter a battle where magick was essential would be suicide. “Suicide it is!” the half-djinn chirped almost happily as he vaulted into the air, trying to reach for the sword before the sword reached Idrial. His latest plan was to have Idrial distract the Lich since she was doing a good job of it so far, whilst he tried to ram the sword with a hard shove of his shoulder to forcefully change its course so that it will head towards the apprentice instead. He just hoped that the apprentice was ready with a plan, or at least a clue, on how to destroy the damn thing.
As Airis worriedly watched all of it on the sideline whilst keeping a steady hand on the injured Benson, he couldn\'t help but mumble to himself, “Well... I think it\'s the sword.”
-
Antmur\'ss watched Master Kaid take action, fail and retreat with much disappointment. If a master couldn\'t beat this guy than what good would an apprentice do? But, this wasn\'t the first fight he\'d been in, and he was trained for this, so there wasn\'t much choice but to do something. I was trained to assassinate, not battle a Lich. He heard his mind argue, but paid no attention. It was his human side talking, anyways.
"Well, I would if any of my attacks would have any effect, Sir." He heard himself say, though there was still the correct amount of respect one had to hold for a Master in his voice, the sarcasm of the remark was bound to get through. He would deal with that later, he had to do something, anything, about this Lich.
But whatever trail of thoughts he had or might have had vanished as the Lich raised his sword towards the werewolf. He acted instinctively and shoved Idrail away from the line of the sword, though he wasn\'t sure it would help any. Even as he did his mind was screaming at him, yelling that the sword had to be the key. The phylacerty.
He heard Master Airis shout the same conclusions and ran after Master Kaid, concentrating to block off any attacks the Lich would use to attack the Master or himself. He made sure he wasn\'t directly following Kaid, instead heading off in a different direction. If nothing else, he might distract it a little. At least enough for Kaid to have a little bit of a better chance. He knew nothing he could do would be able to hold against the Lich and his powers, but it might help. Especially if Idrail kept at him with her own Magick. Hopefully.
-
Idrial felt the thread of air snap with extreme force as the Lich escaped from his prison, her muscles in her arms felt weak but she ignored the pain. An assassin always ignored the pain and focused on there goal; nothing else and right now distracting the Lich was her goal as of now. She watched as the blade began to spin with intense speed, she tried to keep her eyes on the blade even with Kaid yelling at her to move out of the way. She watched the pattern the way the blade spun in the air, there was a pattern and it was complicated one. She let herself become loose and calm waiting for the next move from the Lich, as the sword arched her way she began to ready herself watching the blade spin in the same pattern over and over again. She took a deep breath putting herself in a state of clarity, as the blade spun closer and closer she knew she only had one shot.
As the blade hurled towards her, she hurled herself into the air her body spinning vertically. The sword only caught her right arm creating another huge gash in her arm. She let it bleed as she created a lightening and fireball type of magick, throwing it towards the Lich once again. She looked behind her too see where the sword had landed since it had missed its initial target. It had landed just beyond her reach, she slowly started to move backwards towards the cursed sword increasing her magical out put with every step she took. Anything to keep the Lich at bay, to show him that she wasn’t joking with the Lich and wasn’t an ordinary person. She was a warrior and fighting ran through her blood.
Benson now standing on his own two feet could see the toll the magick was taking on Idrial, her eyes were starting to become dull and she was straining just to take a simple step. Benson cupped his hands around his mouth to yell at Idrial, “Idrial you’re going to burn yourself out and possibly kill yourself if you don’t lay off your output of Magick.” It was then Idrial released a huge bolt of lightening that caused her to sub consciously grab her chest as her breathing was starting to become difficult. She shook her head keeping her eyes on the Lich, “No I will never back down, they killed what I called family. We are a dying breed and for a Lich to wipe out a whole tribe of Shape shifters and Werewolves that cannot be forgiven. All Lich’s deserve to succumb to death.” She once conjured a ball of ice and fire and hurled it at the Lich meaning to hit the man square in the chest.
Benson tried to run to Idrial but he just couldn’t move, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He then realized the sword had stopped spinning and was just laying on the ground. He then looked towards Idrial who now was severely succumbing to the affects of battling with so much magick for so long. He just hoped that it was giving the Masters time to devise a plan in destroying the sword and if not at least getting rid of the Lich before Idrial killed herself.
-
The stupid shapeshifter\'s blind arrogance proded at Achrynoth\'s patience like a poker fresh from the firepit, and he growled fiercly, "You think that we are bad? No, we are no worse than any other being on this planet. There are good and there are bad, unlike you we at least have control over ourselves. Look at you, you pathetic shapeshifting fool, you cannot even get a grip on your anger long enough to realize that you are dying. Hah! The world be rid of me? No, the world should be rid of those like you, the ones who put the blame on those of innocence, though I am not innocent of crime, I have never killed unjustly, and I do not intend to kill you or your friends here unless they continue to press things. I am not blood thirsty, and like you I seek revenge, nothing more! Now get out of my way!"
The anger wellled up inside him, and he could feel, and even to some extent, see the flows of magic coming from every being around him. As far as he could tell they all had at least some magical talent, and Achrynoth drew upon that power. The rage he felt at the discrimination of his kind was unlike any he had felt in centuries, his hands clenched and with a deafening roar he relesaed a blast of energy so powerful that the very ground beneath him shattered.
His hand stretched out and the massive blade flew to him in an instant and using the blades velocity he used it to slingshot himself towards Idrial, landing a few yards away, "I have grown tired of people like you. You think that your village is the only one murdered by power hungry fools? No, my entire homeland was destroyed and I still seek revenge, the pain doesn\'t go away, and neither does the enemy, no matter how many you kill. My death will not change what has happened and will not change very much in the long run. Fate\'s hand comes for those that it will, your people\'s time was at an end whether or not it was a lich that killed them, someone or something had."
With the duel points of the massive sword rested on the ground, he looked around at all of those gathered, "Do you think I wanted any of this? You attacked me blindly while I stood by, spectating the fight. I find the highly unfair, and yes, by nature most lich are evil, and I will not deny that I have my own faults, but you all do. Look at you genie, I can smell the arrogance from you. People don\'t usually find that an attractive trait. Elf over there in the corner, where you didnt think you\'d be seen, your cowardice is a thing that many people despise. They praise bravery. And you, Benson I beleive, you do not need me to tell you anything. Just think about this, what is the point of destroying evil, when inside you lies that very same trait that makes that person you are trying to destroy evil as well? Would you not have to end your own life then?"
He sighed, "If you want to continue this, then fine. I will kill more than one of you most likely before I am defeated, so... by all means. Continue."
-
Sarcasm from the unknown apprentice was not lost on Kaid and he shot the other a baleful glare as he retorted over the noise. “What are the chances that we\'re going to die a very painful death right here? Can you imagine the shock people are going to get, dying within the academy\'s walls?” Either Kaid was very confident that he was not going to get slaughtered so easily, or he might very well have a death wish because striking up a conversation in the midst of an ongoing battle was not something highly trained assassins\' were taught.
Well, it seemed that him and the Cruori kid weren\'t the only ones engaged in some sort of conversation, because hearing the Lich and the shifter emoting all over the battlefield just made him want to roll his eye, find the nearest tree and watch as the drama unfold. And so much for trying to do something to the sword, not when it seemed to have a life of its own, or rather the enemy could wield the damn thing without even being near it. There goes Plan A.
Moving on to Plan B... which he was still trying to come up with. By the way, had he just been insulted? Kaid, arrogant? Seriously? “Like hell I am, you bastard,” he scoffed, landing onto the floor on his feet without so much as a sound as though he were as light as a feather. “Are we starting a debate here?” he drawled out, relaxing his stance somewhat, but not by much, still gripping the handle of his weapon firmly. “I really don\'t give a damn about who did what wrong but as far as I\'m concerned, we\'re not being unfair as you put it,” he said, eyeing the Lich. “You coming into these walls uninvited gives us grounds to attack you. End of story. What, did you think we would have invited an intruder to tea or something?”
“A drinking session, that was what we were having before we were so rudely interrupted,” came the ever helpful comment from a smiling Airis.
“Right. Whatever. In any case, if you did not come here looking for a fight, you should not be here in the first place. Wait, did I not mention earlier something about politely asking people to regain what was lost?” the half-djinn shook his head, clearly bemused. “And Idrial, please pace yourself if you don\'t want to commit suicide with your own magick.”
Who knows, maybe a debate would buy them time before more backup came. After all, they were in the academy\'s territory.
-
Antmur\'ss grinned grimly at Kaid\' remark. The grin was known among the few people who knew him as his "death grin," it was most defiantly the bleakest thing he had do to his face, and would send shivers down the spines of lesser skilled, but would have no effect, other than being extremely cold and grim, the company around him. "What better place to die than the one least expected? And who wants to live forever, anyways?"
A small sense of dismay came through him as the sword darted first, towards Idrail, then back into the hands of the Lich. There would be practically no way to remove the weapon from its grasp, and not much more that they would be able to stop it, and even less, no matter what the Lich said, that they would survive it.
Even through the grim future, Anturm\'ss was disgusted by the Lich\'s words. Drow themselves her inherently evil, Anturm\'ss had long since excepted that, and he was no "good guy" himself. But they weren\'t nearly as evil as the Liches, and here was one trying make them sounds not quite as evil as they were. If he were a Lich, he would not be trying to redeem himself and making his opponents sound like the evil ones, nor would he offer them surrender, he would have simply killed them. He just hoped mind reading wasn\'t part of the Lich\'s talents, lest he get the idea and have killed everyone here.
He felt the Lich start to draw upon his Magick, and completely shut him out, building up an almost perfect wall, one that he had been working on her decades. It probably could not completely block out the Lich, but at least made sure he would have to at least concentrate to be able to draw from it.
Did that Lich just call me a coward? He thought, not quite believing it. But the thought did not last long, and the meager amount of anger it aroused was immediately changed into mental strength he could use during the fight. He detached a small amount of thought, though kept all senses, awareness and most thought on what was going on around him, and started to try and remember how one destroyed a Lich\'s phylacerty, but he hadn\'t done much studying on Lich\'s, though now he wished he had, and found the thought kept slipping away from him, and dream almost remembered, but unable to completely remember.
If you wish this battle to cease, than you must leave. He thought, but Master Kaid was speaking, causing a meager distraction from the fight, he decided on concentrating on the only way he could think of that he could do to help; remember how to destroy that damned phylacerty!
-
Idrial now felt the affects of using her magick for so long, now she felt her magick draining faster than normal. She looked up to see the Lich was drawing power from her and just as suddenly she felt the ground shake. She shook her head as she could feel herself become weakened, but she would stand on her own two feet for as long as she possibly could; even into death. She watched as the Lich hurled itself towards Idrial, her magick increased ready to use if he tried to pull anything. As she listened to the Lich speak she looked around those that she had brought into this fight because of her stupidity. She once more looked at the Lich putting her rage aside for once to deal with the matter like a true master.
Her magick ceased to exist as she let it go, no longer letting it flow through her veins. She sighed heavily as she took a few steps towards the Lich called Achrynoth before she stopped, sheathing her weapons back into there sheaths on both sides of her hips. She was a bloody mess as she could still feel the warmth of fresh blood flowing down her skin and onto the ground as she crossed her arms. It was time for her to put her anger aside and resolve what was before them, one hell of a mess.
She took one more step closer to the lich now in harms ways if he was ever to use that sword against her, “So then you know what it is like to lose your own kind, to lose family, relatives and friends. Not only have you seen death, you have become apart of it as well being a Lich. I did not want this either Achrynoth, now this is between you and I leave them out of this. It was I who attacked you first not them and yes I am admitting that. I was in the wrong.” She her orange eyes that had now become warm and soft stare straight into the Lich’s cold eyes, she had seen the light of the situation the more she fought the Lich in this battle that would end in someone dying.
She slowly uncrossed her arms and stared at the Lich\'s sword, as she was captivated by such a weapon. She then studied the Lich to try and determine what he was when he was alive, he looked to be like some sort of dragon or demon. She then once again sighed as she spoke to the Lich ina soft tone, "Why did you appear from out of no where to this place, what is it you seek Achrynoth?" She stood there in a perfectly calm state.
-
"Yes, yes, I understand. I won\'t hold it against you. Anger often gets the best of us in the worst of times, and if you\'re honestly wondering why I\'m here, I\'m here to retrieve a book that an apprentice of mine has taken from me and refuses to return of her own free will. She\'s in a lot of trouble," Achrynoth relaxed and returned the massive sword to its place upon his back, strapped down real well.
He looked around at the others, wondering if they would continue to try and attack him, but figured since Idrial was their friend, and she had stopped, that they would also stop, if not to just tend to her wounds which were quite serious by the looks of it. Achrynoth could probably lend a bit of assistance in healing her, but most of it would do no good. He reached down to his right hand and activated a rune instead.
His bones melded and reformed a human composure, muscle, visceral organs, veins, and skin crawled over his body, reforming a human semblance. He groaned with pain as it occurred. No matter how many times he performed it, it would not remove all of the pain from the process, but at least now the others would not have to worry all to much about his appearance.
"I had hoped, that I could retrieve the book without any incident, and it was merely coincidence that I came across all of you on my way here. I probably should have avoided you better," Achrynoth looked at the one named Kaid. "And to you, master Kaid, it is a pleasure to meet you."
He bowed low, "Only if it had been under different circumstances, eh?"
-
(Hey guys! Sorry for the super long wait! Been very busy with my school assignments and stuff >_< )
“What? You don’t want to live forever?” he replied to the Cruori apprentice with a touch of mock aghast in his tone, not fazed in the slightest by the grim up curl of the other male’s lips. “I think that it would be fun to be immortal,” he began conversationally, though keeping his eye trained on their current foe, “and apparently, so does Sir Stick and Bones over there.” Not that he could really tell if the Lich was smiling because he was being his lovely, cheery self or because that’s generally how skulls seem to appear – ever smiling.
It was a bit disturbing to have the thought of Airis suddenly flash into his mind’s eye.
Sliding his gaze momentarily over at the shifter, he quickly took stock of her and was immensely relieved that she had taken his advice and had ceased her foolish, self-destructive methods. Really, it was a classic case of pot calling the kettle black because if Kaid weren’t appointed the leader of their ragtag band, he would surely have gone all out much likes Idrial. This was a perfectly good reason why he hated being mission commander so much. As can be seen, he obviously wasn’t any good at strategising.
This mission was going straight to hell.
But what was this? Not only was Idrial more calm than he could ever imagine her to be, the Lich was also following up on the shifter’s conversation thread? The intruder even went as far as to change back to his human self!
Not knowing whether this was a trap or not, the half-djinn narrowed his eye at the Lich even as he made his way carefully over to where Idrial was with intention to lend a healing hand. It was obvious that her injuries were serious, especially the one infected by dark magick. Kaid wouldn’t be able to do anything about that one, but the rest of them he could probably heal them a bit, at least so that the high apprentice wouldn’t pass out from blood loss.
Placing a palm that was faintly emitting a soft glow of green light onto the woman’s shoulder gently, he allowed his own miniscule healing magick to do the work. Idrial should feel a burst of warmth along the wounds she had gained and would probably feel a bit lightheaded. In the meantime, he bared his teeth in a sharky grin at the Lich.
“Forgive me if I sound rude,” he responded though not sounding at all apologetic in the slightest. “But for you to have ruined my night, I truly don’t see any pleasure in having met you. Although I must say you do look better now than the bony thing you were before.”
“Kaid, that is just rude!” Airis gave a reprimanding tut from afar, shaking his head at the half-djinn who merely grinned back. The frail-looking master then turned to the Lich and smiled pleasantly at him. Only Airis would do that, smiling at the one who almost slaughtered them all.
“This book of yours was taken by your apprentice you say... who happens to be a student of ours?” Of course, the master was intelligent enough to connect the dots together and had high suspicions on who it was.
-
Idrial listened with open ears as she heard Kaid advance; his footsteps were soft in the ground as if he was not sure whether to trust the Lich. Idrial did not generally trust with her life as he could strike in any moment and taker her soul. Although she did have faith, for as long as she remained tranquil and unthreatening towards the Lich things would go over exceedingly well in a professional manner. She didn’t want anyone to die because of her stupidity; if she was to die she would die alone with no one by her side. Certainly no one would give up the ghost for her mistakes in this life.
She felt a tender hand touch her shoulder; welcomed warmth filled her body with intensity. Although the healing itself was not a pleasant experience, as her wounds closed she gritted her teeth through the pain of her skin being forcefully being knitted back together. The wound on her back remained, and she feared that it was too late for the wound of dark magick to be healed. She looked behind her and nodded a small thanks to the Half Djinn.
She then took a small step back and conjured small storm cloud above her head. She let a torrent of water wash over her body letting the dried blood from her body and clothes wash away, leaving a dark stream of watered-down blood on the earth. She created a thick thread of hot air to twist itself around her body, drying her off in a matter of seconds. She pushed the hood of her cloak back letting her face become in full view of the Lich. She wavered a bit where she stood and conjured a pillar of earth for her to lean against. She could feel blood trickle down her back as she leaned against the conjured pillar of earth.
She listened as the Masters chattered with the Lich, Benson finally getting enough nerve ran up to Idrial and carefully lifted her shirt. A look of horror became evident on his face; the wound had spread immensely across her back. Idrial turned her head too look at him He shook his head for this was beyond his means, “I’m sorry Idrial this dark magick is beyond my healing capabilities. Your regeneration seems to be holding it back but for how long I do not know.” Idrial looked at Benson with a stern face, “Then I am dying.” Benson could only shake his head and whisper a few words, “I am sorry but no one here at the academy is trained to deal with magick like this. I’m sorry Idrial.” Idrial smiled and bowed her head, “Do not be sorry Benson, this is our life we must embrace death not fear for one day it will come for each one of us.” Benson rose to her side and only nodded his head for he knew she was right.
Idrial looked at the Lich with soft amber eyes, “You may have your book as it should not have left your hands in the first place. Such magick should not be in the hands of an apprentice at this academy that I assure you. It should be in the hands of someone who knows how to use it without it causing dire consequences to someone who has no clue as to what magick they are yielding.” She bowed her head slightly only for the emotion of pain to become unmistakable on her face. Her back was in extreme pain and no one could get rid of this dark magick in the academy and she was certain the Lich wouldn’t help her after all the trouble she had caused him.
-
((I apologize, too, for having not replied sooner. Life, it seems, has gotten the best of my time, and I know it\'s not really that much of a post but it\'s the best I could manage right now... And probably for awhile :/))
Antmur\'ss gave a small snort of a laugh at Kaid\'s remark about living forever, still watching the Lich without a hint of disgust at his dismembered body. "If it meant I had to look like that; hell no!" He allowed a small smirk to appear on his lips, and continued to listen silently as the conversation progressed.
Kaid had guts, that was for sure. Antmur\'ss wasn\'t sure if he would\'ve retorted a Lich\'s compliment like that, but then again, he wasn\'t a Master yet and still had much to learn, so, he might several years from now. Though, then again, maybe not.
He caught the conversation between the one named Benson and Idrail, though felt no pity. By all rights they should kill her now and save her soul from powering the Lich, but they should deal with that later.
Allow him to have the book. "I must protest!" He said, quietly at first. "If the book has powers than by all rights we should destroy it!" He turned to the Lich. And you along with it. Surely there is someone with the powers to best this evil being. But that was for the Master to decide, and right now he was trying to figure out... Well, Antmur\'ss wasn\'t sure what he was trying to figure out. It didn\'t really matter who had the book, the Lich wanted it bad enough to come here personally to retrieve it; the book itself was more important. But, Antmur\'ss knew that there were things he didn\'t understand, so he would let Master Kaid try and figure it out. Just as long as the didn\'t actually give him the book.
-
Achrynoth sighed, "Living forever isn\'t really all that great. It gets lonely, you can never really have anyone to rely on, because by the time you find someone you can, they are dead and you\'ve never even noticed. Time passes so swiftly that I rarely notice the days go by. The only thing that still drives me is my need for revenge."
He looked around at the others, the atmosphere had changed a bit, the levels of hostility had gone down significantly, except from the genie, but he wasn\'t surprised, he hadn\'t struck the lich as being a person who would settle down after being riled up like that, "I would greatly appreciate the book\'s return. Do any of you happen to know where it is? And don\'t listen to the elf, destroying it would be a bad idea, especially if done incorrectly. Its protected by a few nasty spells to stop people from doing just that."
While the doctor looked the werewolf over quickly, Achrynoth watched out of the corner of his eye. Most of the damage done to her wasn\'t directly from him, but from the others, so aside from just being present, he was unsure to the reason behind their hostility, but then he saw the mark one the girl\'s back, it didn\'t look good.
"Where did you get that wound...?" he asked ominously.
-
The moment Kaid deemed that the bout of healing he did for the shifter was adequate enough, he took a few steps away from her, acknowledging her non-verbal gratitude with a mirroring dip of his chin. Just as well that he decided that there should be ample distance between them because if not, he would surely have gotten wretchedly wet when Idrial did that rather convenient trick with the storm cloud.
Despite his flippant exchange with their foe, the half-djinn didn’t miss the pessimistic, gloomy forecast with regards to her life coming from the high apprentice so he shot her an appropriate scowl. “Don’t be so quick to predict your death, woman. Surely you can’t have met every single expert on the subject of dark afflictions,” he spat out, displeased that she was so quick to accept her fate, an outcome which was still all speculation at this point! Besides, why was the elf so damn sure that there was absolutely no one competent enough to even provide a second opinion?
Following that, the way Idrial all but threw the wanted book (thankfully said book wasn’t physically in her grasp) made not only Kaid but also Airis, to stiffen. The argument raised by the Cruori apprentice was valid to a certain extent. The book shouldn’t be returned (what on earth was Idrial thinking?) but it shouldn’t be destroyed either. Whoever knew what valuable titbits they could find?
No one had ever said that the assassin academy was all for the good.
“Hmph. If living forever isn’t that great, just drop dead already, why don’t ya?” the half-djinn muttered under his breath though not really making that much effort in hiding his retort. Kaid really had guts, that’s for sure. Again, Airis shook his head at his friend’s attitude, bemused and knowing that whatever he said wouldn’t change the poisons master. The only human amongst them cleared his throat to gain the attention of the Lich.
“I do have to agree with you, that the book is dangerous and any attempts at harming it would cause... unfortunate results,” Airis spoke out softly, as polite as ever as he rose to his feet and leaning a bit against a nearby tree, his pleasant smile in place as always. The man agreed with the Lich because of what had transpired earlier in his mission room. “If you had approached us by means of proper channel to request for your property to be returned to you, I am most certain that we could have come to a more peaceful solution. It is imperative that we protect our students here at the academy, and by extension, their personal belongings as well. If we had found that she was in fact in possession of something that does not belong to her, we would have taken the measures to rectify that issue. However, it first needs to become an issue, and only if you were to raise a formal complaint. Otherwise, we would only assume that your unsolicited visit would be to harm the student under our care because of her transgression. And as I have said before, we really look after our own. Given a worldly man such as yourself with, perhaps, followers of your own, surely you would understand our reasoning?”
The master’s delivery was smooth and he was not daunted in the least; his petit and frail form stood tall – albeit supported by the tree at his back – and he didn’t even cough once! It was such a miracle that his unfaltering smile actually widened further at the end.
-
Idrial looked intently back at Kaid with her amber eyes; her lips were drawn close together as she was irritated with the Djinns commentary in relation to accepting her fate so promptly. Idrial forced herself to stand tall despite the pain that shot down her back like a hot knife through butter, “Perhaps I should have worded my sentence more clearly Master Kaid. Your right I have not met every person who is an expert in dark magic but the question is can they arrive in time to save my life?” She glared at him for the longest time before she once again leaned against the earth pillar. Both Masters had stiffened at the suggestion of giving the Lich his book back. The only thing she could do was shake her head.
She took a deep breath, raising her hand towards the destruction around so that they may see what the main cause of this was; the bloody the book she had retrieved of dark magick. She sighed deeply as she once again spoke, “What is the cause of this all Kaid, it’s that bloody book I retrieved for you Masters. I should have burned that book when I had the chance and yet I did not. I regret not disobeying orders and not destroying that fucking book.” Idrial could feel her temper once again rising but this time she didn’t care she needed to get this out once and for all, to make some sort of a stand but what that stand was even she didn’t know.
She glared towards Arius for it was time to address him and to strike down his poor excuse, “Arius you talk about the safety of your students yet you keep a book of dark destruction within these walls. What if a student turns on the academy and gets there hands on that bloody book. You know it has happened before and then what student will be safe within these walls. No student will be safe and yet you talk about destroying Achrynoth’s book.” Idrial closed her eyes and looked towards the ground before looking back towards Arius and shook her head fiercely at him, her eyes no longer an amber color but towards a bright orange like color. Benson slowly backed away from Idrial, giving him some space between him and her rage.
Idrial once again took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down a little. She looked towards both Masters lowering her voice a little as she spoke, “I am weeks away from proper help for me to survive this dark magick that courses through my veins. You both know as of now I am the architect of my own destruction.” She lowered her head as she knew it was true beyond doubt she was the architect of her own destruction. She looked towards the elf as he had a look of disgust on his face, she stood up tall as if to confront the apprentice that stood in the shadows, “And you Antmur’ss I may be weakened but that does not mean I cannot defend myself so don’t get any funny idea’s about the matters of killing me in your own hands.” She flashed her canines towards Antmur’ss, to show she meant what she said to him.
At last she turned towards the Lich and sighed heavily, “This wound was made for the Dark Blade of Ba’al, a spell if left will kill the host in the end. As you can see it has festered and I am miles away from someone who can somehow release this dark magick that now has a hold on me.” She did not want to directly ask the Lich for his help but if he helped her with this dark magick and cleanse her from it. Perhaps she could help him retrieve his book, which in the end they would both benefit from each other.
-
Antmur\'ss felt a little tired of the Lich\'s self-pity, if he had had that kind of power would have killed them all and stole he book already. Luckily for them the Lich didn\'t think like Antmur\'ss and decided to try to ask for the book before killing them all.
Antmur\'ssdrol clenched his teeth in fustration as he was forced to agree with Kaid. He had been rash in his thinking, not only would destroying the be dangerous, but an awful waste. If a Lich wanted the book than obviously it had to be powerful, thus useful. Why the hell would be want to destroy it? He was beginning to think he should have this apprenticeship.
"I have made not attempt on your life." He responded to the other apprentice. "I have also said nothing of my thought on your condition. I merely stated that it would be better to destroy the book than return it to the Lich. It\'s easier to deal with a betrayal from a student than a Lich who intends to harm us." He continued calmly, making sure he didn\'t change his voice level, though he was seriously annoyed with her. She wanted to return the book and was arguing for the enemy, what next?
-
((Sorry for the short post, I think mostly my work here is done. Idrial, if you want him to look at it, PM me some info on the wound so I know what he\'s looking at. He probably can\'t do much for you, but it\'d be nice to know what I\'m dealing with. Thanks. ^.^))
"Hmm... I do not recognize the name... but I could take a look at if for you if you like. In... an attempt to give a little back after the damage I have caused here," Achrynoth stated with a slight nod of his head, watching her from the corner of his eye.
"I do really need to get that book back... It\'s been gone for a good while. If any of you could get it for me, I would greatly appreciate it. I\'m certain it shouldn\'t be hard to find, a couple of you seem to know what I\'m talking about already," He chuckled to himself.
"Regardless, the sooner I get it the sooner I can be off of your property and out of your... hair."
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Both Airis and Kaid looked incredulously at the wounded shifter. Well, Kaid was more expressive in a sense that he was looking at her with undisguised dislike. In fact, before all of this started, hadn’t the half-djinn had that sort of feeling towards the woman? Only Airis was the one that prevented him from shooting his mouth like he was wont to do.
“Idrial,” Airis started to speak, his tone very gentle, still smiling though there was something in his eyes. “I am thinking that you are mistaken about which book that is in question, here.”
“Hell yeah,” Kaid snorted and as predicted, Airis ignored him; his focus was now fixed onto the shifter.
“Besides, you understand that orders are orders. To disobey would come with a heavy price. You’re a high apprentice, you know that. I hope that what you are suggesting is not... mutiny?” Airis went on.
For a high apprentice to even consider such a thing was blasphemous. If anyone of them on this impromptu mission were to report this, the consequences would be extremely severe for her.
Despite Airis’ gentle tone, there was a slight inflection there that gave it a more authoritative quality in warning. This wasn’t Airis, the easy-going, often taken advantage of, ever-smiling man that was talking; this was Airis the highly experienced master. Without saying it out loud, his eyes spoke volume, seeming to say ‘Careful where you tread, high apprentice. Remember your limits’.
The human amongst them gave a nod in acknowledgement towards Antmur\'ssdrol, thinking that after this was over, he would be making good remarks in his report for the Cruori apprentice. “I have taken into consideration of the past history of students who have... revolted against the academy. But what he has said is correct, that it is much easier to deal with a student than with a Lich,” he continued, turning to give a polite nod to their night time trespasser, smiling indulgently. “No offense to you, good sir,” he added on almost cheekily. After all, in a roundabout way, he was praising the Lich.
Kaid was grumbling to himself about high apprentices who don’t know their place. It was obvious to the potions master that Idrial was ruining their unity with all her talk about disobedience. “Are your wounds affecting your ability to think, woman? We protect our students by preventing anyone from harming them under our noses. If everyone were to think your way and destroy every single artefact that might cause damage, then we won’t be an assassin academy, would we? The system would crumble because then, no one would hire us. Defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?” he spat out unkindly at the injured shifter. Dying or not, Kaid was never one to mince his words.
Airis sighed. “Forgive my friend’s harsh words but understand that we do have our students’ welfare in mind, Idrial. Before every mission, we take into consideration the possible drawbacks. Pertaining to yours, we have already engaged services with a highly skilled healer who has expertise in dark inflicted wounds.” He turned his gaze towards the Lich then and smiled apologetically. “Perhaps in the morning when you have lodged an official complaint, we would look into the matter.”
“Yeah, go back to whichever rock you crawled out from,” Kaid added with a growl, gnashing his teeth.
-
Idrial listened with amused ears, she lowered her head with a slight smile on her blood streaked face. "Do you really believe I am that stupid. To suggest I am thinking about mutiny is a pure insult Airis. This Academy is all I know since my parents were murdered why would I give that up ? I maybe hard headed at times but never am I pig headed." She spat on the ground showing her disgust towards such a statement. She slowly brought her head up and locked eyes with the Airis showing him that she knew her limits but sometimes you had to go beyond your limits to get things done.
As for dealing with students were easier to deal with than a lich that may be true but on the other hand a Lich would stick out like a sore thumb were as a student blended in with the crowd and had the advantage of surprise. A student was less experienced than a Lich but a student with that knowledge of Dark Spells they might as well be fighting an old and frail Lich. Idrial was lost in her mind, how to give to give the book back without it affecting the academy. But her thoughts were interrupted by a loud and rude Kaid. She lifted her head at Kaid with a look of strength and a bit on anger visible in her face.
She took one step forward towards Kaid not giving a damn about what he might say, "You protect your students, within these walls yes but out there there is none. We are alone out there and if we die you could give a shit. We can always be replaced that\'s the logic behind your thinking, we are nothing but toys that can be replaced by some other toy when one goes missing. You don\'t know the definition of caring Kaid, it was never hard wired into that thick skull of yours. So don\'t preach to me like you know the meaning of it." She snorted aggressively out of her nose ignoring Airis and his statement about the healers.
Idrial turned to Airis with a unbending look on her face, "Make it a mission to return the book to the Lich in his domain, away from the academy and the students." For some reason she wanted to go to this place, to see a place that she never knew existed. She turned to the Lich, " If I returned the book to your domain you can never return to the academy do you understand ?" Idrial knew this wouldn\'t sit well but the Masters might just go for it should the Lich agree never to return