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Teenagers, fresh out of school, decide to go on a journey across the world of Eien. |
| [Introduction]
Two friends, fresh out of school, decide to go on a journey across the world of Eien to seek adventure, excitement, and new friends before settling down to their respective positions. A dark wizard of immense power threatens to shatter the peace of Eien through a summon of most powerful proportions, with which he will rule all, or destroy all. In the dark of a moonless night, a streak of brightness illuminates the sky for an instant, before flashing down to bury itself deep within the earth. Three events, one known by many in a town, two shrouded in secrecy veiled in mystery. Death awaits all in this epic journey, as does great glory and magic to be had. Embark upon it at your own peril . . . Ok, the dark and deadly stuff dealt with, let me explain a little bit about this. The two friends are mages just graduated from an academy in the town of Kimyou. They are at that certain age where one wants to leave home and explore the world, and so they do. Along the way they’ll meet other people from other towns (i.e. all you people who join), who will join with the two mages to, ultimately, defeat the aforementioned dark wizard. This is to be run in a vaguely RPG sort of fashion, meaning there’ll be classes and skills and the like. But, to make it more fun (not to mention easier on us so we don’t have to come up with a full system), it won’t be entirely RPG-like. Any race will do, and you can be one of the following classes, or you can propose one of your own, but please run it by us before using it. Classes: Mage: Magic users, but please focus on one type of magic, not a general magic-user that can cast any and all spells. Fighter: Mastery in one or two weapons, but please keep it specific. Weapons Master: Mastery of many weapons, it takes more time and levels to master multiple weapons. Please try a few specific ones. Cleric: Healing type people. Usually strong against undead/ghost type monsters. Usually not very offensive, so don’t pick unless you don’t want to fight much. Thief/Assassin: Steal things. Very good at hiding and usually good with poisons. Archer: Bows and arrows. Pretty basic. Good for range and the like, if you don’t like melee. Ninja: Martial arts, hand-to-hand combat type. Can use weapons, but uses more ninja type weapons like shirken and nunchucks and the like. Bard: vocal/singing magic. Often able to influence others through song, but needs an instrument to do magic. Suggest your own: Run it by us first, please. Each person starts out with three skills. Please choose skills that are not overly powerful and that fit with the class and with your character. As the story progresses, the number of skills each person has will rise and people can make more and more powerful skills. But keep them simple for now. In keeping with the RPG style of this campfire, you can "level up," sort of. After a certain amount of additions, you are able to gain more skills, and, eventually, can even add a second power to your main one (which we will go into later, when and if someone reaches that number). On your second addition, you can add one skill. On your fourth, you can add one more. On your 7th, you get another. As you can see, the number increases. After two additions, you get one skill. After two more, you get another, after three more, another, after four more (at the 11th addition), you get another, and so on. Please contact one of us if this is confusing. Please name your new skill at the top of the addition in which you get it, and give a brief description. You don't need to include how you learned the skill within the story part of the addition. In addition to that, there is another form of leveling up. Obviously, as you get stronger and fight stronger monsters, initial skills will become nearly useless because they are too weak. So, every other time you gain a skill, you can advance one of your present skills to make it stronger. In other words, on your fourth, 11th, 21st, etc. additions, you get one skill for reaching that number, and you can also make a skill you already have stronger. No, you may not choose to leave all your present skills as they are and gain two instead. Again, if you are confused, email us and we will try to sort it out for you. Towns: Kimyou: This is the starting town for the two mages in the beginning. You may say it is your hometown, but you will not be met there because it has already passed. Suggest your own: Just make a town name up. Try not to make everyone from a different town; we don’t want too many towns in this list. Weapons: Use your imagination. Conventional weapons are good, unconventional are good too. Just no swords enchanted to make the bearer invincible, or to kill opponents with one blow. PLEASE DO NOT ASK TO JOIN IF YOU ARE NOT POSITIVE YOU CAN WRITE CONSISTENTLY AND NOT LEAVE THE CAMPFIRE HANGING FOR WEEKS AT A TIME We are currently accepting 2 people to join our quest. Please send character profiles to me or Warm-blooded Winterdrake   . Profiles should include the following:-name -gender -age(stay within ages 15-23 please.) -race -what town you are from -class -*power and skills list(you are able to chose any type of power(ie: elemental: water or intangible like ability to control or stop time, ability to manipulate gravity, etc.) -weapon -brief description of personality, appearence,weapon etc. *please list and submit brief description of each of your three skills We will evaluate your character profile and send you a reply as soon as possible. Anything else you feel should be up here, please let us know Note: By "us" I mean both myself and my co-writer,Warm-blooded Winterdrake . If you have any questions, ask me or him.
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| Name: Mizuyo Tsukino Gender: female Age: 17 Race: half water sprite, half human Town: Kimyou Class: weapons master/mage. A weapons master has the ability to use and train with any weapon. Power: Water Skills: 1) Healing stream – Clean stream of water that flows around the injured person’s body and cures minor wounds and weak poisons. 2) Ice bolt – Moderately large shards of ice, which are very useful for long range attacking. The amount of distance increases as levels increase. 3) Bubble - A water shield that encircles the person or small group of people. It can only be used for a certain amount of time. The spell takes away stamina and leaves the caster weak if used for long periods of time. Weapon: Mizubuki, an enchanted item that is able to change into the desired weapon of the owner’s choice at any desired time. This does not just include normal types of weapons. Mizubuki is also able to change into random objects, large ones in which to strike people with, etc. (ie: mallet, frying pan, etc.) The only disadvantage to this useful tool is that the user is drained of some of their energy and stamina each time it is transformed. Appearance: Mizuyo has long, silverish, dark blue hair, which she wears down most of the time with two small braids that hang over her ears and two(one on each side) that are pulled back in a small ponytails. She also has indigo colored eyes that compliment her hair color. Even though she is half water sprite, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between her and any other human. Her only difference is that she has small but noticeable, transparent sprite wings and pointed ears. Although, she tries to hide her wings from the watchful eyes of strangers, she is often unable to and she wears clothing fit to reveal them when she is not wearing her cloak. She wears a head ornament that has the appearance of sea creature like wings, one on each side of her head. Around her neck she wears a diamond shaped crystal that was given to her by her mother. Most of the time, she wears long, form fitting mage robes with transparent sleeves and slits that go up to around her lower thigh, which show her pale legs. She usually tries to cover them with her long cloak. She doesn’t like the sun very much, but somehow manages to tan very easily. Most of her clothing is various shades of blue (her favorite color). She is quite small for her age, about 5’0 tall and skinny. Personality: Even though she seems quiet and shy at times, she can be just as outgoing and adventurous. Her temper can intimidate many, so it’s not a good idea to piss her off. Besides this, she is quite friendly, trustworthy and loyal to all her friends. She is always willing to help others in need. Much like Asakust, in the sense that she likes to stay in the background most of the time, she tends to stay close to those she knows. She is close friends with Asakust, but she tends not to take his joking and teasing very well sometimes and can be considered violent at times… but she never means much harm. *~*~* *ding dong* The enomous bell in the tower above Furinken Mage School rang loudly on the day of the senior graduation. "Yay!! We're finally out of school!" Mizuyo smiled happily through the school yard, surrounded by the large crowd of students. "Aren't you glad school is over, Asakust?" he nodded in agreement and continued to stay silent. "What are you going to do now that school is over?" he asked curiously. "I don't know... I guess I could get a job as a local mage in another town..." Walking slowly towards the entrance of the school, an awkward silence filled the air. The confusion and anxiety of starting a new lives, fresh out of school was amongst the young mages. The two yong mages made it to the front gate of the school and stood in silence. "So, where do we go from here?" |
| Name: Asakust Gender: Male Age: 17 Race: Human Home town: Kimyou Class: Mage Power: Electricity Skills: 1) Zap: Small electrical bolt that acts sort of like a low-power tazer. Will basically stun a human-sized animal momentarily. Does more damage to smaller creatures. 2) Electrical Repulsion: Repulses minor attacks by metal weapons (lasts for a few hours if left alone, less when attacked, or when it has to defend against a stronger blow). 3) Electric Boost: Doubles the strength of a skill for one use. Uses a lot of energy, so can only be used a few times a day. Weapon: Enchanted silver quarterstaff to channel energy. Enchantment makes it so it won't bend, and so that it is, in effect, only as massive as an ordinary wooden quarterstaff. Also won't tarnish or get slippery with sweat (these last two enchantments were paid for by Asakust's uncle because he wanted the weapon to be as convenient and comfortable as possible for his nephew). Can use the staff as an ordinary quarterstaff when needed, and is skilled with it, but primarily prefers magic. Appearance: Somewhere around five and a half feet tall, with long, dark green hair tied back in a ponytail, with slightly darker green eyes. Skin is faintly tanned, and he wears a long crimson hooded cloak that contrasts sharply with his hair. Uses his silver staff as either a walking stick or, when bored, twirls it around in the air as he walks. Under the cloak he wears brown leather hiking boots and similarly colored pants and top, so that if he takes the cloak off he is able to disguise himself relatively well in a forest surrounding. Personality: Not exceptionally outgoing, but he does like to joke around a bit and give people electric handshakes with a weakened Zap spell. Usually friendly enough, and loyal to friends, and people usually don't feel suspicious in his presence, which he likes. Mainly unobtrusive and keeps to the background, but when he wants to he can be more outgoing and will join in the fun. It's just that he usually prefers to watch people instead. -*-*-*- "Honestly? No clue." Asakust replied. Sure, it was great to be out of school finally, but what was there to do now? Go get a job and get bogged down by the requests of the non-magically inclined? How uninteresting. Then he shook his head and grinned; what did it matter now? School was out! They continued walking through the crowd of seniors, each heading their own ways to celebrate over lunch or to finalize plans for parties. Asakust and Mizuyo opted for the latter, stopping at a nearby coffee house that was often filled with students during and out of the school year. Ordering their usuals, the pair of mages sat at a table and discussed plans for the summer. Rather, their lack of plans as niether really had much they wished to do. "You know, you hear about people going on quests all the time while watching the news on the crystal ball. Just once I'd like to do something like that. Go on an adventure and explore the world, kill a few monsters, then come back and get a job of some sort. Wouldn't that be great?" Asakust leaned back in his chair and watched a spider crawl across the ceiling. His friend's next words jolted him back to reality. "Heh, sure why not? I don't plan to get a job until the end of summer, and niether of us has anything planned. And it's not like our parent's are likely to care. After all, we're full fleged adults now. Sort of." Asakust weighed the notion in his mind and, the more he thought about it, the better it sounded. And it would give him a chance to use that staff he had gotten from his uncle as a graduation present a few days ago. "You know, you're half bright sometimes." He said, and dodged to his right to avoid Mizuyo's oft-used right hook. |
| Skill Four: Bubble Wrap: A bubble that can be used to trap an opponent and stun them for approximately 5-6 minutes, each time used. The spell's weakness is fire. *~*~* "ow..." Asakust said quietly to himself as he rubbed his bruised arm from Mizuyo's second attempt at punishing him for his smart ass comments. "Serves you right too." She remarked as she folded her arms. "So, a quest, you say? Let's plan then." Mizuyo quickly changed the subject, bored with the quiet atmosphere of the little cafe they were in. "It's not really a quest, if we have no objective..." she said, looking disapointed. Looking down, there was something in the newspaper that caught her eye. "New material stolen!" Mizuyo's face lighted up. "Look look, Asakust!!" This caught his attention from staring at the young, attractive waitress behind the counter. Mizuyo glared at him. "What were you looking at?!" she said angerly. "Nothing..." he said looking nervouly at her, then the newspaper. "...New material stolen...?" he said as he skimmed the page for details. "wow, this could be our big adventure!" he exclaimed excitedly. "The authorities are looking for mages who can help them catch the thief of a new material found in the caves east of Kimyou." "Cool, what great luck for us! where should we go?" Asakust skimmed the newspaper again for more details. "It doesn't say... maybe we should head to the cave where it was discovered?" "Sounds like a good idea." Mizuyo agreed. The two mages paid their bill and headed home to prepare. About an hour later... "So, we'll leave tomorrow morning early, ne?" Mizuyo asked curiously, trying to adjust the phone receiver in a comfortable position. *beep* the phone beeped loudly. "ow... what was that?" Mizuyo asked as she rubbed her ears. "oops... accidently pushed a button... sorry." Mizuyo nodded. "suuuuure..." "Well, we should go to sleep. So we can wake up early tomorrow. Goodnight." Asakust said while trying not to yawn. "Yea, goodnight. sweet dreams." They both hung up and went to sleep. Tomorrow would be the day everything changed for the two mages. |
| Skill four: Nervous Disruption: Electrically disrupt the nervous system of an animal to make it go into spasms, thus providing either a safe shot, or an easy escape route. Must be constantly fueled, so only lasts as long as he can keep it up without getting too tired out. -*-*-*- "Off on your big adventure are you?" Asakust's mother asked as he wolfed down his breakfast and swung his cloak around his shoulders. "Yeah, this is gonna be great. I'll bring you a souvenir." He grabbed his staff from it's position against the wall and an apple from the bowl on the table. As an afterthought, he stuck an orange in his pocket for later. "Oh, thanks, how can I ever repay you," she rolled her eyes and gave Asakust a quick hug, "Just be careful." "I will, mom." He replied and was gone, running down the street, his staff held at his side. -*-*-*- The two young mages met at the exit of Kimyou and made a final check of their gear before heading off, Asakust snacking on his apple as they walked. The area immedietly around Kimyou had long since been cleared of dangerous creatures, and so the two felt relatively safe for the time being. Asakust amused himself by electrifying the water with a weak Zap spell to catch a fish, which he then tossed back, it being long before time to eat again. |
| "All you brought was your staff and some fruit?" Mizuyo asked shocked that Asakust carried very little supplies. "No, I brought a pocket knife too." He took the small, shiney, red pocket knife out for Mizuyo to see. He grinned, looking proud of the knife. "wow... a pocket knife... yay..." Mizuyo replied sarcastically. Asakust ignored her comment and put the knife in his pocket. "So,what did you bring?" he asked. Mizuyo opened up her pack, which was apparently filled to the brim with a wide range of items. "I wasn't sure how long we'd be gone... So, I packed various things for a long journey." She smiled as she sorted through her bag. Asakust moved closer to see the contents of the bag. "Sheesh, everything but the kitchen sink!" he said jokingly. "Oh be quiet..." Mizuyo tried to ignore his comment. "Should we head to the nearest town to the caves? or should we go straight there?" They seemed to be walking aimlessly, with no existing plan of where to go first. "Caves, I guess. Then we can ask people in the town to get more information." Mizuyo took a map out of her pack. "Okay. Hmmm... We should head that way." She pointed straight ahead. "Um... We are going that way..."Asakust replied. Mizuyo stayed silent. The two mages wandered eastward. They had found themselves in a forest. "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" they had heard the scream of a young man come from some shrubs to the right of them. "What the hell was that?" Asakust asked, acting cautious of their surroundings. "I don't know... let's go check that bush over there." Mizuyo said, slowly moving towards the bush. Suddenly, the man, who screamed, jumped out of the bushes. He had a bloody gash over his left eye and he was limping on his right leg. "Help me!!" He shouted in fear. "What happened to you?" Mizuyo asked. The man explained his situation. "There was a horrible beast, it attacked me." "No shit sherlock..." Asakust said under his breath, making sure no one heard his comment. "Asakust, what should we do? Should we go after the beast or head towards the caves?" Mizuyo looked worried and nervous. |
| Beaneath his sarcasm, Asakust was shocked. There were supposed to be NO dangerous creatures anywhere near a town; the protective spells made sure of that. So what was one doing this close? He took a stronger grip on his staff and tried to get the man to calm down enough to explain what specifically had happened. This proved near impossible until Mizuyo finally remembered her healing spell and used it to staunch the bleeding from his forehead and to close the wound. The leg appeared to be fractured from what little Asakust knew of medicine, and the pair directed him to the nearest healing wizard in town who could properly fix it. Before he went, he described the animal as "big, ugly, and damn fast too" before hobbling off. Asakust looked at his friend, "As much as I'd like to follow up on the robbery, we really ought to check this first." She nodded and they set off after the creature, following the easy trail of broken branches and smashed undergrowth. "Doesn't look like it's from around here," Mizuyo muttered, "Anything that leaves a trail this big can't have from the forest." Asakust nodded and nearly tripped over a young boy curled in the fetal position. Fearing the worst, he knelt and checked the boy's pulse, and was relieved to feel it still beating strong. "You all right, kid?" He asked, kneeling. The boy stayed motionless for a few moments, then uncurled slightly and looked up. "Is it gone? I didn't mean to do it! I swear! Please don't tell on me!" He cried. "What? Yes, it's gone, and didn't mean to do what?" Asakust started to ask, then saw the spent summoning stick lying next to the boy. "Oh, no, you didn't . . ." "I'm sorry!" The kid wailed, looking genuinely downcast. "You released a summoning stick without the proper training!?! Are you suicidal or just plain stupid?" Asakust stood, disgusted. "Get back to town, we gotta get that thing before it hurts someone else. Come one." This last was directed at Mizuyo. She nodded and they left the crying boy behind. Asakust felt a little sorry for the kid, but also anger that anyone would pull such a blatantly idiotic stunt. The monster proved easy to find because it had stopped and was waiting for them at the end of the path of destruction. Asakust hesitated, about to use his Zap spell, then realized that against a monster this large, it would likely feel like a tickle. That left his Nervous Disruption spell which he quickly employed. Holding his staff up, he muttered the words of the spell and brought it down in an arc through the still air. A flash of light flew from the end of the silver staff and struck the monster in the chest. At first nothing happened, and Asakust was afraid that the spell had failed, but then the creature's tree trunk like legs suddenly spasmed all at once and it fell over, twitching as the excess electricity from the spell overloaded its nervous system. "Quick, do something! Before I get drained!" He shouted at his partner. |
| Skill Five: Tsunami: A moderately large wave of water that can can cause quite a lot of damage to one monster. The effect gets weaker when used on multiple enemies. Advanced Skill: Holy waterfall: Advanced version of "Healing Stream". Heals more serious wounds and cures strong poisons and medium paralyze. *~*~* "un" Mizuyo made a sound of agreement. She chanted a few words to activate her Ice Bolt spell. While the beast was still stunned and laying on the ground, large shards of ice came from a tranparent aura around her hands. The beast quickly froze and became a large chunk of ice. "Yatta." She said happily, turning her head towards Asakust. "Hurry, use your Zap spell to break the ice." He muttered the words he had used before. *CRASH* The huge chunk of ice shattered into icicles and scattered all over the ground. "Well, that wasn't too hard." Asakust said, feeling accomplished. His mood changed quickly as he scowled. "Damn kids... so irresponsible..." He muttered. "I know... but remember when we were kids? We did something quite similar..." She went silent as she reminised about the days of their childhood. "Eh? We did?" Asakust asked, suprised that they had done something so foolish. "You don't remember?!" Mizuyo had a shocked expression on her face. "Sheesh... can't you remember anything?" She frowned. "No, not really." He grinned. "Yea, I remember what you're talking about... just not very well... remind me." He told her, as she went silent again. "Hmm... I think it happened in this very forest, about 10 years ago..." She went silent again, trying to remember. "At school, we had just learned simple summoning techniques. We had learned how to summon small animals. I had summoned a baby rabbit and you summoned a baby hedgehog." She paused again. "And?" He asked curiously. Mizuyo remained silent. "Ah! Now I remember. Afterschool, that day, we had walked to this forest. You dared me to try and summon one of the larger animals, that we had seen in the textbook, earlier that day. I was scared at first, but I agreed to your dare and tried to summon a dog. Something went wrong with the spell and the dog came out much larger than any normal dog..." Mizuyo frowned again. "Oh yeah! I remember now. That thing was the size of a bear!" Asakust said, not noticing the expression on Mizuyo's face. "But... we could've been killed..." she said, her voice trembling. "Yea... luckily, we weren't..." Asakust replied. "If it weren't for that mage, who saved us..." Mizuyo was once again silent. "What ever happened to that mage?" Asakust asked. "I don't know...but we owe him our lives..." Again more silence fill the air. "Let's go to the caves now." Asakust broke the awkward silence, by changing the subject. Mizuyo nodded. |
| Skill five: Charged Attraction: Can electrically charge two objects to attract each other. Static electricity on a large scale. Also can repel objects. Advance: Zap --> Bolt: A larger electrical blast that can severely injure a human and easily kill a smaller creature. -*-*-*- The incident with the beast faded away into the back of their minds as the pair walked, Asakust enjoying himself enormously by causing branches and leaves to attract each other, then repel, leaving a clear path to walk on. After a while he grew tired from the constant spellcasting and stopped, saving his energy for whatever they might confront in the cave. The cave itself was something of an anticlimax after the summoned monster they had fought. It was simply a hole in the ground, dug long ago by a giant worm, if the legends were to be believed. Inside, however it was more impressive as a result of the giant cave in that had accompanied the meteor strike some time ago. Asakust assumed that this "new material" had come from the meteor, although he was uncertain as to how someone could easily have stolen something large enough to make a hole like that. There were several investigators still at the site, trying to determine just how someone had gotten past their protective screens and stolen the meteor without setting off a single alarm. The two young mages walked up the the nearest, and were directed to the back of the cave where the director was stationed. "You two look pretty young. Sure you're up to this? We are probably dealing with a major magician here, one with a lot of experience, and I don't want you kids getting hurt." The director was a balding, pot-bellied man who specialized in magic dealing with communications, making him and ideal person for questioning the rocks of the cave for descriptions of the thief. Unfortunately, rocks run on a different time frame, and to them the thief had been moving extremely fast, thus making a definite description difficult to get. "Of course we're sure!" Mizuyo replied, annoyed at the implication that they were not skilled enough to catch a simple thief. Asakust remained silent, but he agreed; how hard can it be to just shock the daylights out of the thief and haul him in? Of course, he had never done anything like this before, but still . . . "Well, the directive says to not turn anyone down, so I guess I can't stop you, but please be careful. Follow Jack and he'll give you more information." He waved the minotaur in and had the two youths follow him out. |
| The two young mages followed the minotaur through the remainder of the cave, which wasn't very much. Now, they were towards the middle of a small passage they had failed to see when they entered the cave. There were many strange ancient markings on the wall. "So, you kids are on an adventure, eh?" Jack tried to make conversation with the young mages. "Yes, we come from the town of Kimyou, we just started our journey today." Asakust replied enthusiatically. "Ah, I see. Are you sure this is the wisest choice for your first adventure?" he asked. His face grew very serious. You could tell because his eyes narrowed. His tone of voice became low and he remained very silent. "What do you mean?" Mizuyo asked, puzzled by Jack's serious expression. Asakust also looked confused. "The thief who stole the new material is not an ordinary thief..." Jack paused. "Well, what kind of thief is he?" Asakust started to get annoyed at all the silence and no answers. "It's just a rumor... but they say an evil socceror stole the material..." He hesitated to go on, looking pale and nervous at the mention of the crime. "I don't know much about him... but if he could do something like this with such a massive object, he must be very powerful..." Another moment of silence... Mizuyo looked towards Asakust with a worried expression on her face. Asakust pondered the situation in silence. "Should we ask around in town? Maybe there are people who can help us." Mizuyo broke the silence. Asakust was brought back to reality by the voice of his friend. "I suppose so... We've got no other leads thus far..." "Unless there is something better you can suggest, Jack?" Asakust continued speaking. Jack, now looked very nervous and beads of sweat ran down his cheek. "I still think you two are not ready for this quest. But since you seem to have ignored my warning, I wish you the best of luck on your quest and please be careful." Jack said, as he wiped his wet forehead with the back of his hand. "Thank you for the information, Jack." Mizuyo politely bowed and started to walk near the exit of the cave. Asakust followed. "Let's head for the town. I'm getting sort of hungry and we should check into an inn for the night." Mizuyo suggested. "I still have that orange, if you want any." Asakust took the orange from his pocket and offered it to Mizuyo. "umm... how long has that been in your pocket?" Mizuyo looked hesitant to take the orange. "Not long, I had it since this morning, sheesh." Asakust started to peel the orange. "Well, if you don't want any, all you had to do was say so...sheesh, you act like there's something wrong with this orange..." He started to take a bite out of the top of the orange. Mizuyo's eyes narrowed. There was something strange about the orange, which made her suspicious. She raised her hand and began to quickly chant words, about to cast her her Ice Bolt spell to destroy the orange. But it was too late. Asakust was now chewing the piece of orange he had bit off. He swallowed and a second later, he fell to his knees, choking on the remenants of the orange. Mizuyo kneeled at his side, not knowing how to help him. "What's wrong??" Minutes of choking later, Asakust finally spit out the piece of orange. The remenants of the orange were covered in a black substance. "What the hell is that??" Asakust exclaimed, shocked at what had happened. "Are you okay?" Mizuyo's face became concerned and serious. "Yea... I think so..." Asakust made weird faces from the bad taste in his mouth. "Where did you get that orange?" Mizuyo asked, her face completely serious now. "It was in my kitchen. Must've been rotten or something..." Mizuyo was silent. "...There's more to this... that wasn't a rotten orange..." She paused. "It was poisoned!" Mizuyo looked very angry. She clutched Mizubuki and it changed into a spear with long blade on the end. The loss of energy from tranforming her weapon had no effect on her because of her tempermant. "Who would do such a thing?" Asakust asked. "I don't know... but something weird is going on..." Mizuyo ran out of the exit of the cave and Asakust followed behind her. "Where are you going?" Asakust asked. "We're going to town... maybe this mystery will be solved there." |
| Asakust started to follow Mizuyo in the direction of the town, then stopped suddenly and turned. He had drained himself of energy earlier in subduing the monster, and in playing around, but he had enough to cast Charged Attraction on the orange, casuing it to fly up and stick to the end of his staff. He didn't want to touch it unless absolutely necessary. Holding his staff out in front of him to put the deadly fruit as far away as possible, he followed his friend the several miles over to the neighboring town. Once at the town they split up, Mizuyo to go find information about the robbery and Asakust to find an apothecary to analyze the poison in the fruit. Agreeing the meet back in an hour or so, they went their separate ways. As he walked, Asakust was thinking hard about the events of the day. He had made few enemies at the school, and none of them hated him enough to poison him. Enchant his clothes the smell like urine, yes, but not poison him. His expression darkened at the memory before he banished it from his mind, intent on more important matters. Asking around, he learned that the local apothecary was a few blocks away, and he headed in that direction. Three steps after thanking the helpful citizen, Asakust collapsed on the cobblestones, his staff stretched out in front of him, the viscous blackness of the orange glistening in the sun. |
| Mizuyo wandered aimlessly through the town, wondering where she might find people who could tell her about the robbery. She decided to go to the local pub and scout around for gossip between the townspeople. She walked casually through the front door of the pub and made her way to the nearest stool. "What can I get you, sweetie?" The bartender asked, as he polished the mug that he was holding. "Cream soda, please... and don't call me sweetie..." Mizuyo glared. She had never liked it when people gave her strange pet names. She thought they seemed childish and hated being treated like a child. The bartender raised an eybrow, but decided to stay silent and back off. Mizuyo was not in a good mood. Who would be, at a time like this? Her best friend was almost killed by poisoned fruit and there were so many questions buzzing in her head. Who was responsible for this? Where was the culprit now? and how were they going to catch a thief and assassin at the same time? Mizuyo remained silent and spoke to no one. She decided that she would wait for someone to bring it up into their conversation and she would just simply eavesdrop from a safe distance and get the information she needed. "Did you hear the rumor that a great mage is responsible for the robber that happened a couple days ago?" a young man, whispered to a few of the people sitting next to him. Mizuyo was several feet away from the table the young man was at, but could hear everything perfectly from where she was because of her pointed sprite ears. She had always had a good sense of hearing because of them and she would reap the benefits now. "Yeah, but who is this mage?" A man at that same table asked. "I'm not sure exactly..." the other man replied. The group look puzzled, but soon after shruged it off and continued to drink their ale. Mizuyo sighed. "I'll never find any information this way... everyone here is probably too drunk to have any accurate information..." She finished her cream soda, paided and left the pub. Again walking aimlessly, an idea struck her. "I know, I'll go find a security guard! There's two at every exit! She ended up wandering in circles. "Damnit... I think I need a map..." Fustrated and lacking money, she decided to ask a stranger, even though she hated doing such things. She walked up to a guy who was sitting on a bench reading a rather thick book, entitled "Magic for Dummies". "Excuse me, can you tell me where the nearest guard post is?" She asked nervously. The guy looked up from his book. He was young, around Mizuyo and Asakust's age. He wore large, thick rimmed glasses, that were fogged and hid his eyes from plain view. "eh? Oh, I'm new to this town. But, I think the nearest guard post is that way." He pointed right in front of him. "I think it's all the way across town." He answered and went back to reading the enormous book in his lap. Mizuyo frowned and sighed. "Damnit... I just came from that direction..." She thanks him and turned around, walking back to where she had come from. She wandered till she made it halfway across town. She saw a large crowd of people gathered on a street corner. She wondered what was going on and quickly walked over to the scene. She parted her way through the crowd and found that they surrounded an unconscious Asakust on the ground. "Asakust?!" Mizuyo's face quickly changed to an expression of concern. She kneeled by his stretched out body and quickly felt for a pulse, fearing that the worst might've happened and he had suffered some type of delayed reaction to the poison and it had killed him. "Thank god..." she sighed in relief that he had a pulse, but it was slowly getting weaker. She panicked alittle and shouted for someone to get a doctor. A couple of townspeople rushed from the crowd to get the town physician and came back about five minutes later with an elderly man of around 60 or 70. He kneeled by Asakust's unconcious body and examined him. "We need to get him to my house." He suggested. "Get me a stretcher, quick." He commanded a couple of young men to carry Asakust to his house, which was only a block away from where they were. When they got to the doctor's house, they immediately put Asakust to bed. He breathed hard. Mizuyo wet a cloth and wiped his forehead with it. "What's wrong with him?" Mizuyo asked, looking very serious and worried. "I'm not sure... Has anything happened to him today? Anything unusual?" The doctor asked Mizuyo. She fell silent and had a troubled expression on her face. "Earlier... He had eaten a poisoned orange... He was going to the apothecary to have him examine the contents of the poison..." She fell silent once again. "I thought he had spit all the poison out..." Mizuyo voice was now reduced to a whisper. She remained silent. She had secretly blamed herself for not being quick enough to cast her Ice Bolt to destroy the orange. She had tried to cast Holy Waterfall earlier, but found out it didn't work for some reason. She figured it was because she had used too much energy. The doctor patted her shoulder sympathetically. "He'll be alright. He just needs to rest." He reassured her. "I'll give you some time alone with him. I'll be in the other room, if you need me." He said and left the room. Mizuyo wet the cloth again and wiped Asakust's forehead. "Please be okay..." She whispered. Realizing that tears were forming in her eyes, she wiped them away with a hankerchief. She continued to watch over him through the night and fell asleep in the chair by his bedside till the next morning. |
| Asakust was floundering in a sea of darkness that threatened to swallow him whole before he could get to the distant strip of land he could just make out through the ever shifting fog. He was tired, so tired. It would be simple to just relax and let the sea claim him for good. "Who needs land anyway?" A voice seemed to whisper, "Just relax, let all your concerns flow away in the current, be at peace within your self . . ." The voice was soothing, reminisicent of his mother when she read him stories as a little kid. It would be so easy . . . Please be okay . . . It was a merest whisper, a faint breath of thought. But it was enough. With a start, Asakust realized that the sea surrounded him on all sides, and the soothing voice that had nearly convinced him so soon before had changed to a harsh, rasping laughter as he stuggled to the surface, to life. But it was too late. The sea had closed around him and the water had suddenly become as quicksand, impossible to claw his way out. The darkness closed over his head, and Asakust slowly sank down into the sea of darkness. . . -*-*-*- Mizuyo awoke with a start as a bird outside the window began its morning tribute to the sun. Instinctively, she glanced down at Asakust, and the last vestiges of sleep fled as her mouth opened in shock. His skin was clammy and gray, and his pulse, when she checked it, was weak and irregular, struggling to make an impression on her fingers. Stumbling to her feet, she ran for the doctor, heedless of the cramps caused by sleeping upright all night. |
| Skill Six: Glacier Wall: A thick shield of ice that shield a group of people from an attack. Also repels enemies. But in it's earlier stages it can be penetrated with not too much difficulty. It's weaknesses are fire and lightening bolts. *~*~* "Help!! Please help him!!!" Mizuyo's voice was panicked with urgency. She ran to the doctor's bedroom. "What's wrong, child?" The elderly man asked as Mizuyo stumbled through the door and fell onto the floor. "His... Asakust's condition has worsened!" She said, tears streaming from her eyes. "You must help him, please!" She exclaimed. The doctor tried to calm her down and putting his hand gently on top of her head. Patting her head as though he were comforting a small child. "I'll do my best to help him. Please don't cry." He said in a calm, comforting voice. Mizuyo was shaking. Normally, at the act of treating her like a child, she would have taken offense, but all she did was become silent. She had never gotten so emotional before this and she trembled with fear of what might happen if she couldn't control her emotions. She remained silent and led the doctor to Asakust, who was still lying motionless on the bed in the next room. When they had entered the room, Mizuyo walked over to Asakust's bedside and touched his face, gently. He was cold as ice and sweating profusely. She reached for the cloth on the night stand and dabbed his forehead once more. She had a look of extreme worry, as she looked down on his pale, sickly face. "uhh... uhhh" Asakust made sounds, as if he were having a nightmare of some sort. He shook his head several times, but did not awaken. "There's something about the poison he took in when he ate that orange..." The doctor's facial expression changed as he examined the orange stuck to the end of Asakust's staff. "We should get this to the apothecary right away." He left the room to get something to wrap the black reminants of the orange. A few minutes later, the doctor came back with a small glass jar in his hands, he walked over to the staff positioned against the wall and took a pocket knife and scraped the remains of the orange into the jar. "Is there anything we can do for him?" Mizuyo's voice was whisper. She continued to wipe Asakust's forehead. "No, not until we know what kind of poison we are dealing with." He turned his head in Mizuyo's direction and gave her a reassuring smile. "Let's go to the apothecary's shop." The doctor led Mizuyo to the apothecary's shop which was about a block away. They walked in silence down the unusually empty street. Minutes later, Mizuyo had come to a halt. She was standing on the street corner, the same spot she had been standing when she found Asakust laying unconscious on the ground. She frozen in her position and feared to move as though if she moved something horrible would happen. The events of the previous day cycled through her head a poked at her guilty conscious and she continued to stare blankly at the ground. "Are you alright?" The doctor asked curiously. She was brought back to reality, when she heard is slighty worried voice of the doctor. "Oh... I'm fine... it's nothing..." She replied, still staring blanky ahead. They continued to walk. They reached the apothecary's shop and walked through the door. A bell rang, indicating to the clerk that a customer had come. The clerk was a young woman with bright, shoulder length, red hair. "Welcome! What may I help you with today?" she greeted Mizuyo and the doctor with a friendly smile. Mizuyo just stared blankly and the doctor started to speak. "We would like to have this poison examined. He lifted the jar in the young woman's direction. "Sure, I'll be back in a minute." she said and nodded as she took the jar and walked behind the counter to the door of the back room. Mizuyo walked slowly towards a soft arm chair near the entrance to the shop. She sat down and adjusted the hood of her cloak to cover the visable portions of her face and sat quietly thinking to herself. How could this have happened? Why? Who could've done this? These questions cycled through her head. She scowled and no one saw because her hood was covering her angry expression. "I will get whoever is responsible for this..." she said silently to herself. She gripped Mizubuki, which was in it's untransformed state and remained a translucent bar, about the length of the handle of a sword. The minutes passed like hours as they waited for the young woman to come back from behind the closed back room door. |
| Summon Storm: Summons a mild thunderstorm to the area. Little or no rain. May or may not strike an enemy or ally. _*_*_*_ When she did, Mizuyo jumped to her feet in anticipation. "Well?" The storekeeper laughed lightly, "This, my friends, is simple seedless blackberry jam. I have no idea what you two are so worked up about. It's not poison at all. Unless," and she lost her smile here, "The one who ate this is allergic somehow?" Time seemed to stand still. Mizubuki clattered to the floor and it's owner exlaimed in surprise. "Of course!" The two raced back to the doctor's house to find Asakust in much the same condition as before. The doctor found a simple anti-allergy spell and, after a quick check of Asakust's vital signs to make sure he wouldn't react violently to the spell, he laid the spell orb on the table next to the bed and activated it. The greenish glow within drained slowly and it's patients color grew steadily more stable and proper. With a start, he awoke, staring into the anxious faces of the two watchers. Then, exhausted and weakened, he fell asleep again, a healthy healing sleep this time, muttering something about the sea thinning and growing lighter. Mizuyo squealed in happiness, then her expression turned serious. "So, why in Eien would anyone wish to cast a blackberry jam spell on an orange?" "Does he have any enemies who know of his allergy?" The doctor asked. "I don't think so . . ." She replied, confused. "Well, here, I'll give you a few more spell orbs in case of reoccurence. Now, let's just wait until he wakes up." |
| A few hours passed and Asakust still lay in a peaceful slumber. Mizuyo continued to sit by his side and watch him sleep, making sure nothing else would happen to him. Mizuyo thought to herself. Who could do something like this? Only I knew about his allergy to blackberries... Unless the culprit had some type of psychic abilities. She continued to think to herself. "Would you like some tea?" The doctor came from the kitchen, carrying a steaming kettle and three clay mugs on a serving tray. He sat down in a chair, next to Mizuyo and began to pour the hot liquid from the kettle. Mizuyo nodded, accepting one of the mugs. "Thank you..." She smiled weakly and took a sip of the tea. "So, what brings you two to Taiyou?" He asked curiously. "Well..." Mizuyo began to say, as Asakust shuffled in the bed next to them. He blinked a couple times and rubbed his eyes. He sat upright and stared blanky at Mizuyo and the doctor, as if in a trance. "Asakust!!" Mizuyo exclaimed and jumped from her seat. She had clobbered his half aware body in a tight hug. The force from the hug woke him up and he jumped when he realized what was happening. "Uh... calm down, I'm fine..."Asakust face turned bright pink as he turned his head away, hiding his face from Mizuyo's sight. Asakust felt awkward at being hugged by a girl, even though it was just Mizuyo. He gently pushed her away a little bit, without seeming rude or heartless. Mizuyo looked up at Asakust, then immediatly looked down, ashamed that she couldn't control her actions. "Gomen ne..." She continued looking down and moved away from Asakust. Her face was now flushed red and she tried to hide her face behind the hood of her cloak. Silence had filled the room after the awkward scene. "Anyways, I was asking, why did you two come to Taiyou?" The doctor broke the silence with his previous question. "Oh, We came here to solve the mysteries behind the robbery that happened in the caves, just outside of town." Asakust replied. He turned to Mizuyo. "Did you find any information?" He asked curiously. MIzuyo was silent. "I wasn't able to find anything...Gomen..." She looked downward. Asakust shaked his head. "It's okay..." He sighed. "I heard about that robbery..." The doctor began to say. "I used to go out to that cave once in week. One of my hobbies is achaeology. I used to love to go and explore the ruins of thoses caves." The doctor reminised. "I'm not sure about the mysteries behind the robbery, but I do know someone you can go to for help." The doctor picked up a picture frame that was sitting on a desk in one corner of the room. In the photo a young girl in a pretty flowered dress stood by an enomous oak tree. "My grandaughter, she can help you. She was born with an incredible psychic ability. She works as a clairvoyant. She lives south of Taiyou." He explained, as he put the picture down with a nostalgic look on his face. "Ah. We'll go see her now, if Asakust is up to it." Mizuyo replied, looking over at Asakust. "Yeah, I'm fine! Let's go." He said getting up out of the bed and stumbling as he barely touched his right foot to the wooden floor. "Be careful." The doctor warned, grabbing Asakust's shoulder to prevent him from falling to the floor. "Thanks." Asakust regained his balance. Mizuyo looked worried again. "Are you okay? We can wait..." "No, let's go now, I'll be fine." Asakust replied, sounding annoyed. Asakust grabbed his staff from the wall, put his cloak around him and walked to the front door to put on his boots. "I guess we'll be leaving now... Hontou ni arigatou gozaimasu, Ojiichan." Mizuyo stood up straight, bowed to the doctor and followed Asakust to the front door of the house. The two young mages bowed politely and thanked the doctor again for all he had done to help. Then walked out the front door without another word. The two mages left the doctor's house and headed to the southern exit of the town. Once outside the town, the two slowly began to talk again. They walked through the forest outside the town, quickly, anxious to get to the clairvoyant's house to ask questions. Suddenly, Asakust stopped. As he came to a halt, so did Mizuyo. "What's wrong?" Mizuyo asked. "I just wanted to say thanks for worrying about me back there..." He said quietly, looking away from her. "Uun, ii yo. Sure you would've done the same for me..." She said, smiling. "What exactly happened anyway?" He asked. "Was it poison?" He turned towards Mizuyo. "No... it was blackberry jam." Asakust's mouth fell wide open. "Blackberry jam???" He seemed shocked, expecting something a little more serious than a fruity condiment for toast to have almost killed him. "Yeah... Who else knows about your allergies?" Mizuyo asked. Asakust thought hard on about the question. "Only you... I haven't told anyone else..." He had a puzzled expression on his face. "Should we look for the person? or go after the thief?" Mizuyo asked Asakust. Asakust shook his head. "We should go after the thief. It was our first intention, let's finish this before solving the other mystery." "Okay...But what if they try something else?" Mizuyo asked, her voice trembled. "It'll be okay, I'll be more cautious." Asakust grinned at Mizuyo, trying to reassure her. The two mages continued to walk through the forest. Mizuyo stopped abruptly. "There's something wrong here..." Asakust looked over at her. "What is it?" He asked. "I just got a bad feeling... a chill down my spine...Something has happened in this forest and we're very near to it." She lifted Mizubuki and tranformed it into spear, as she had done the previous day. It was one of her favorite weapons and she was very skilled at wielding it. She twirled it and ran forward through the greenery. Asakust followed his friend, trying to keep up. They soon came upon the body of a girl lying by a moderately large pond. It looked as though the girl had been lying there for several hours. There was a sharp blade sticking out of her shoulder. A puddle of deep crimson blood was oozing from her limp body. Mizuyo kneeled by the girl's motionless body and felt for a pulse. "Yokatta..." She said, feeling the weak sensation of the girl's pulse with her fingers. Mizuyo pulled the blade from the girl's shoulder and stood up. She chanted words and cast Holy Waterfall. A translucent blue aura surrounded the girls body and the blood disappeared and the bloody gash on the girl's shoulder was gone. Mizuyo took off her cloak and wrapped it around the unconscious girl. Underneath her cloak, she wore a loose mage's gown over her form fitting robes. "What should we do now?" Asakust asked. "Let's take her to the clairvoyant's house." Mizuyo suggested and gestured for Asakust to carry the girl. The girl was small and appeared to be about Mizuyo and Asakust's age, maybe younger. Asakust made weird faces, as he carried the girl. Mizuyo looked over at him. "Stop feeling her up... the poor girl was stabbed... sheesh..." She glared at him. "What?!? I am not!!" He looked back at her with an angry expression. They remained silent till they approached a rustic, age worn, cabin on the other side of the pond. "We found it!" Mizuyo exclaimed. "Finally... This girl isn't as light as she seems..." Asakust stumbled a bit when they came closer to the cabin. |
| Before they could knock, the door swung open to allow Asakust to carry his burden inside. The pretty girl on the otherside of the door smiled kindly and directed him to lay the girl on the bed in another room. Then, before the two could explain their problem, the girl started to talk. "I know why you're here, of course, but first rest up a little and let that girl wake up. I'll let her tell you what happened by herself while I make tea. She should be awake by now, that healing spell helped a lot." She went into a third room and soon the sounds of clinking ceramics and pouring water could be heard. Asakust looked at Mizuyo, shrugged, and went to check on the girl. She was awake and confused, checking her shoulder for signs of the knife wound. Asakust coughed to get her attention and she snapped her head around. "Hi, my name is Asakust. My friend and I found you in the forest and brought you here. Our host is making tea." He concluded lamely, not sure what to say to this strange girl. |
| Asakust strained to free his wrist from the stranger's grasp, but failed to do so. He muttered words and cast Nervous Disruption on the hooded stranger. The spell seemed to have no effect and he pulled Asakust's wrist and threw him to the hard wooden floor. "aaahhhh!!" Asakust let out a painful cry as the force of the throw snapped his wrist. "Asakust!!" Mizuyo cried, still holding Asuka firmly. She gently put Asuka in the nearest chair and stepped up to fight the hooded stranger. A blue aura surrounded her as she cast Bubble Wrap on the stranger. A large blue bubble surrounded him and suffocated him for a couple minutes. The stranger struggled to free himself and after a minute raised his fists. A red flame like aura encircled his body and bubble burst from the heat of the flames surrounding him. "It can't be..." Mizuyo's face was frozen in horror. Asuka watched as Mizuyo was motionless. Asuka closed her eyes and without a word the ground began to shake. "What the hell is going on??" The stranger sounded shocked. The windows shattered and ground shifted. The floor boards began to separate and the stranger floated up towards the ceiling and gave an evil laugh that filled the otherwise silent room. I don't have time for these foolish games! Namida, take care of them!" Namida's face grinned evily at the command as she moved forward, like an obedient puppet. A purple aura surrounded her and many objects began to float. Some of the object crashed to the floor as they were being thrown about. "What the hell is she doing?" Asakust asked, staring up at the various floating objects and covering his head from the falling ones. "She can use telekinesis!" Mizuyo exclaimed. Still on the ground Asakust hesitated to use Bolt on Namida, knowing that she was the doctor's granddaughter. His hand trembled. "Don't hit her! I think that guy is controlling her mind and using it against us!" Mizuyo shouted in Asakust's direction. Asakust used his Bolt spell to destroy the floating objects. Glass flew in every direction. The ground had stopped shaking and Asuka was now standing by Mizuyo. "Who are you?" She shouted angrily at the floating cloaked stranger. But all he did was laugh some more. Mizuyo impusively cast Tsunami, seeing as most of the cabin was basically destroyed anyways. A large wave of water appeared and clobbered the floating mass in the air. He fell to the floor with a thud. Soaked and appearently unconscious, Mizuyo cautiously moved towards the fallen body. She held Mizubuki, transformed into a spear, at her side. She poked the motionless corspe. At the very touch, a red zap of energy occured and she was thrown back across the room. The impact left her unconscious. "Mizuyo!!" Asuka yelled. Asakust looked over towards Mizuyo's battered body, then turned towards the stranger's corspe. "You bastard!" he yelled and cast Bolt on the stranger's unconscious body. The spell did not hit the stranger's body, but was instead was deflected from him and came back at Asakust. The impact from the blast left Asakust unconscious. Asuka panicked. She now had no allies and she feared what would happen to the three of them. |
| Asuka glanced around the destroyed room and took in the destruction and, more importantly, the evil gleam in Namida's eyes. There was no help for her for her newfound friends had been all too easily knocked out, and she knew somehow that her powers would be useless against these much stronger foes. So she used the only spell that might have any effect on the situation. She opened her mouth and the Voice rang forth, echoing eerily in the cabin and shattering the one intact window. Namida clamped her hands over her ears and, encouraged, Asuka continued to scream. Asakust stirred, rolling onto his broken wrist and waking up with a start. "Damnit, that hurts! What the hell is that sound?" He looked around to see Asuka standing perfectly still, the strain from the continued spell starting to show on her face. Asakust scooped up Mizuyo in his uninjured arm and hooked his other through Asuka's, who still stood solid as a rock. "Come on! We have to get out of here!" She looked at him and nodded, the scream cutting off abruptly. They made it outside before a fireball soared over their heads, blasting a harmless fir tree into charred splinters. Asakust shoved Mizuyo at Asuka and raised his staff, chanting the words to one of his more potent spells. Clouds gathered suddenly to block out the sun and birds took flight at the sudden eerie calm. Then with a flash of lightning and an enormous clap of thunder, the storm let loose, strong winds blowing up dust and lightning striking randomly all around. "Hopefully this will give us some cover!" Asakust yelled and led the way into the bushes. Asuka caught up with him and took the lead, for she knew the forest much better than Asakust did, despite his having lived near it most of his life. The two sped into the gathering gloom, the one in the scarlet cloak once again carrying the burden of the water mage. |
| "Look out!" Asakust shouted, as he moved in front of Mizuyo and Asuka, to somehow protect them against the bright red blast. Mizuyo started to glow, which indicated she was about to cast a spell. Ice started to form from the ground up, as a large wall of ice glittered from the light outside. Flames had broken through the glowing barrier that had once stood outside the dome and soon began to melt the ice of Glacier Wall. "My spell is weakening..." Mizuyo looked concerned. "I'll help." Asakust replied and cast Electric Boost. The ice wall began to glow instead of melt and last much longer than it would have. "It'll only hold for so long..." Asuka whispered, not knowing what to do to protect her home. "Could it be that wizard outside?" Mizuyo eyes narrowed as she recongnized the red burst of energy that had knocked her into the wall of the cabin. "What should we do, Asakust?" Mizuyo asked. "Our powers were useless back at the cabin..." The three young magic users pondered the situation, that seemed utterly hopeless. |
| As Asakust quickly ran through the available options, the storm overhead slowly seemed to seep its life away, the spell having spent its energy and vanished. "Well, there goes that failed strategy." He muttered, all the while leading the trio back away from the slowly thinning wall of ice. He considered his shielding spell, but discarded the idea just as quickly, for it was only good against metal. His previous spells had done nothing to help, and that left him with few choicees. "I'd say run like hell. Any dissension?" There was none. As they ran, Asuka turned and cast Jimen Division to help stall their attackers, and Mizuyo shot random Ice Bolts in the hope that they would deter their enemy, who was apparently associated with Fire. Asakust's offensive and defensive spells being useless at the moment, he helped as best he could with his Electric Boost spell, but even with the extra power from that strange red seed, the spell still sapped him of power all to quickly. When they stopped, out of breath, they could still hear the sounds of pursuit far behind. "This is no good, we have to stand and fight!" Mizuyo said. Asakust was forced to agree. Turning, each readied his or her most powerfull offensive spell. Mizuyo readied Tsunami, remembering how it had helped back at the cabin, Asuka started to cast Growth, and Asakust set up Charged Attraction. And they waited. The sounds behind them cut off suddenly, as if someone had cast a sound-opaque wall in front of them. With a whoosh of outrushing air, a mage appeared in the clearing. He was dressed all in bright glowing greens, and held a wand that looked as if it had just been taken from a living tree. No, it looked as if it were still a part of a living tree, the way its aura glowed and gave off life. Asakust and Mizuyo gasped. "It's that mage! The one from ten years ago who saved us from that monster you summoned!" Asakust shouted in amazment. Mizuyo hit him. "You dared me to, so it's your fault too." Asakust ignored her. The mage—now aged and sporting a long white beard and wrinkles—smiled at them, laugh lines crinkling in his face. Wordlessly, he turned and raised the wand, and started to chant. The sounds flowed from his mouth like a liquid rainbow, forming into a dozen complicated shapes that the three could just make out with their magely senses. With a final word of power, the green mage released the spell. Afterwards, none of the three could accurately recall what happened next, but all agreed that the designs seemed to vanish in a nova-like blast of light that left them stunned for several seconds. When the light cleared, no sounds could be heard for miles, least of all those of an irate fire mage and his unwitting accomplice. The green mage was nowhere to be seen. |
| Skill Seven: Hailstorm: A shower of medium sized chunks of ice. Causes slightly colder weather when cast. Can do a lot of damage depending on the enemy being attacked. Advance skill: Ice Bolt --> Glacier shard: A larger shard of ice that cause more damage than regular Ice Bolt. *~*~* "Well..." Mizuyo hesitated to continue speaking. Asakust looked over at her and noticed her discomfort about talking about the events from the few previous days. "We started our journey about two days ago and we intended to find more information about the robbery that happened in the caves outside of Taiyou, but... on the way, an incident happened, that made it appear as though I had been poisoned, but it was really just a very dangerous allergic reaction to blackberries..." Asakust did not look at Asuka or Mizuyo. Speaking of the past few days seemed rather uncomfortable for the both of them and they had been further discouraged by the events at the cabin with the hooded mage. Asuka nodded and remained silent. "Maybe we should solve one mystery at a time... should we go after the one who tried to kill you?" Mizuyo asked, with a blank expression on her face. I guess we could... but on the way, we should definately see about finding a place to train... because no offense, but our skills are pretty weak..." Asakust replied. Mizuyo and Asuka nodded and they began to walk north of Taiyou. "Let's head to the next town and find some information. I know where it is from here." Asuka suggested and led the two mages to the next town. |
| Skill Seven: Electrifry: Create an invisible electric cube around the caster that electrocutes any living thing that walks into it. Caster alone is unaffected, unless the shield spell is cast first around those the caster wants to keep safe. While potent against creatures, it does nothing against inanimate objects, and the cube does not move even if the caster does. A very draining spell. Lasts for ten to twenty minutes when cast, depending on the state of the caster. Advance: Electrical Repulsion --> Electron Repulsion: Similar to Electrical Repulsion, but lasts longer and deflects anything, not just metal. -*-*-*- Asakust was perfectly willing to follow Asuka, as he was too absorbed in his thoughts to feel any form of male chauvinisim at the moment. Just who had tried to kill him anyway? And why? He had a suspicion that the pair they had just escaped from might have had something to do with it, but couldn't prove it and he didn't want to voice his worries lest they become real. So the three walked in silence until the sun finally set and they had to camp for the night, Asuka ferreting out a safe clearing and Asakust taking first watch. The fire burned low, but Asakust didn't bother reliting it, preferring the absence of light so he could gaze at the stars. Recalling his astronomy lessons, he carefully named each constellation and as many of their constituent stars as he could remember before great batlike wings blocked them all from view . . . Batlike wings? Asakust sat up with a start. |
| Mizuyo was awoke with a shock as she heard a high pitched scream. She looked over to see Asuka's unconscious body on the ground next to her and Asakust frantically trying to wake her. Mizuyo crawled over urgently to examine her friend. "What happened?" Mizuyo looked up at Asakust who looked just as confused as she was. "I don't know... she just screamed and fainted..." He replied looking concerned at the situation. "We can't leave her in this condition... We must go to the next town for help..." Mizuyo had a grim look on her face. "But Asuka was our guide, how will we get to the next town?" Asakust asked. "One of us will have to go back to Taiyou and ask the doctor for help." She replied. Seconds later, Mizuyo spoke again. "I'll go, I know my way from here, it's not very far, it'll probably take me a day or less, I'll be fast. You stay here with Asuka and I'll return soon." She said quietly and stood up. "No, I'll go, you stay with Asuka." He said as she began to pack a bag of supplies. She turned her head and looked back at him. "Why? I can do it. I'll return soon. Do you doubt my speed?" She asked him, looking slightly annoyed that he would doubt her. "I'm lightfooted and able to get there faster than you. I'll go." She said stubbornly. "And what am I supposed to do here?" Asakust also sounding annoyed. "Watch over Asuka. Don't worry, I'll return soon." She got up, putting her bag over her shoulder and without another word, began to leave in the direction they had come. The water mage faded in the distance and Asakust watched until she was out of sight. From lack of sleep and annoyance, Asakust almost forgot about the guy in the tree. He turned around and looked to where he had seen him earlier. He was gone. There was no trace of where he had gone. Asakust panicked, looking around frantically trying to find the missing man. He lifted his staff cautiously. He didn't see any signs of the guy. Behind him a bush russled and something leaped out of it and gripped him by the shoulders. Asakust struggled to free himself but failed. The force of whatever took hold of his upper body forced him to the ground. |
| Asakust knew he was drained and that casting another spell would be a very bad idea, assuming he could manage one at all. Fortunately, the spells only weakened him mentally; physically he was still feeling pretty good. SHoving against the ground, he rolled over, grabbing his staff from against the tree it had been leaning on. His attacker's hands crept around his throat and began to tighten, but one quick upward jab in the nether regions caused him to let go. Asakust stumbled backwards, gasping, while the man doubled over, his strange wings drooping in the firelight. Then, with a roar, he leapt forward, claws exending from his fingertips. But Asakust was ready with his staff and sidestepped, bringing it down with a crack on the man's left wing. He let out a scream of pain before turning on the ground and leaping again. Asakust held the staff high, hoping to protect his face, but the man struck his stomach, shoving him to the ground, the air whooshing out of his lungs. The man extended his claws to the fullest and slashed Asakust across the face. He screamed, and Asuka rolled over, but did not awaken. But his screams were not idle sounds, as the air around Asakust crackled to life. He was so drained from the day that the Electrifry's distance from his skin was only a few inches, but it was enough to cause the man to leap off with a howl, stumbling back into the embers of the fire, stirring them to life. |
| Mizuyo sped quickly through the darkness. Everything was a blur to her in her urgent stride to get back to Taiyou and awaken the doctor, who could help Asuka. As she had said, her speed was quite different from a normal humans. She was light footed like a sprite and was able to run for long distances without stopping. She didn't do this often and only as a child when playing games with friends. Mizuyo was tempted to free her sprite wings from the weight of her cloak, but hesitated. She hadn't used her wings for fear that she was too heavy to fly properly. She stopped for a minute and took off her cloak and spread her tranparent wings. She began to run again and slowly, she began to float in midair. With each minute, she became faster and she flew through the treetops. Flying had set her mind a ease and for a minute she didn't think of the burden she carried. A bright flash of red surprised her and she stopped in midair. "What the hell?" she exclaimed outloud. She looked around cautiously and transformed Mizubuki. The tranparent bar split into two long daggers. She saw nothing. She began to fly again, still holding Mizubuki in her hands. Her eyes opened wide as she suddenly felt a sharp burning pain in her right wing and shoulder. She had been looked back, a glowing red arrow protruded out of her shoulder. She looked from her shoulder to a shadowy black figure that stood before her. The dark mass laughed maniacally. It seemed as though the laughing was causing Mizuyo pain as she fell forward, not able to control her wings. She struggled to stay in the air. The black figure moved closer and Mizuyo with all her strength dashed forward, tightly gripping the blades in her hands, intending to stab the dark stranger. But just before she reached him, blades shot out of the stranger's wrists and deflected Mizuyo's attempt to strike him. Mizuyo eagerly continued hand-to-hand combat in midair, knowing that if she cast a spell, it would make her more vulnerable to the stranger's attacks. She planned to try and weaken the stranger physically, then cast a Tsunami to knock him out. With her quick movements, she managed to stab the stranger several times in the shoulder and upper body, but the stranger continued to attack as though he'd never been wounded. She continued to advance on the stranger, getting close enough to grab his shoulders and kneed him in the head. But the impact had done nothing and he threw her off of him. Mizuyo flew backwards several feet. "Damnit!!" Mizuyo cursed in fustration. She realized that hand-to-hand combat wasn't working and that she would have to use magic against the stranger. She dodged as the stranger's hand went for her neck and she chanted and cast Tsunami. The blue aura surrounded her and a giant wave clobbered the stranger, knocking him into a nearby tree. "Finally..." Mizuyo floated slowly to the treetop the stranger had fallen in. She struggled to keep in the air, drained from all the energy she used to attack the stranger. She flew closer to the appearently unconscious mass in the trees. Before she could get any closer a hand had grabbed her throat and began to squeeze firmly. Mizuyo struggled to free herself and stabbed the stranger in the stomach. Unaffected, the stranger lifted Mizuyo up in the air. Mizuyo kicked and tried to break free, but failed. The dark mass continued to hold her in the air, laughing evily in the treetops. Meanwhile... Asuka peered forward as she ran furiously through the forest, worrying about Asakust who was breathing hard on her back, bleeding profusely and about Mizuyo who was alone and vunerable. She gasped at the sound of evil laughing in the distance and a chill ran down her spine. She feared the worst as she looked upwards and saw the shadows of two figures, both vaguely familiar, but she couldn't tell from such a distance. "It can't be..." she whispered. "What is it?" Asakust grunted in pain as Asuka leaped over a tree stump and landed roughly on the ground. "I don't know, but I fear the worst might've happened... we must hurry. Mizuyo is in danger." Still held in the air, Mizuyo continued to struggle to free herself. The dark stranger stopped laughing and began to speak in a deep voice. "You foolish children... hahahaha... you thought you could stop me?" He laughed once again. Mizuyo squinted, looking down at the evil stranger. "Who are you?" she managed to say, ignoring the pain in her throat. "I am the one who will destroy you!" He shouted, his arm moved in a flash of red light as flames surrounded his fist and Mizuyo screamed at the burning feeling that had surrounded her body. "I know your weakness, water mage!!" The stranger shouted as he threw Mizuyo downward towards the forest floor. The force of the throw left Mizuyo powerless to stop herself with her wings, one of which was injured. She fell to the forest floor below with a rough thud. She laid on the ground, breathing hard and badly burned. She winced in pain. "Asa...kust...Asu...Asuka..." She whispered before she closed her eyes and laid there motionless. |
| Asakust leapt off Asuka's back brandishing his staff and running through his spells in his head. He already knew that Electrifry could work, but he was too weak to work it properly. If only I had one of those seeds . . . he thought, unaware that that was the very reason why Asuka was suffering. Finally, Asakust settled on the only spell that had any chance of working. As the stranger raised his hands to cast a death spell, Asakust quickly muttered the words to Nervous Disruption, aiming his staff at the attacker's back. The man seemed to realize what was happening and turned to leap just as the spell left the tip of Asakust's staff. Fueled by anxiety for his childhood friend, the spell lit up the stranger like a small nova, his arms slashing randomly, claws severing a foot-thick tree trunk. "Asuka—take—Mizuyo—get—away—from—here." Asakust gasped, almost at the collapsing point and knowing he would pay for his reckless spell casting earlier in the day. Asuka's head dipped in answer and she nudged Mizuyo's prone form onto her back. Then she turned expectantly to Asakust. "GO!" He shouted, the spell leaking away, the man starting to gain control of his limbs once again. Asuka backed away, then charged at the back of Asakust's legs, knocking him backwards onto her. Then she was gone, the stranger howling in frustration into the night. |
| Mizuyo woke up with a weird warm sensation on her skin. Before she fell unconscious, she remembered having many horrible burns on her body. She wondered why she wasn't in pain. Her eyes opened and she could see a blury figure kneeling over her. She could feel someone touching her wounds and rubbing something on them. She blinked, trying to focus. It was Asakust who was kneeling by her rubbing some type to plant on her upper leg. She screamed in surprise. "AAAHHHHHH!!!!!~ what are you doing to me?!?" She screamed and pushed him away. Her face had turned completely red as she moved away from Asakust. "I was trying to heal your burns! sheesh... how un grateful..." Asakust scowled, his face was also quite flushed. Mizuyo had almost forgotten her pain as she was distracted by the awkward moment. Her body ached and burned as she tried to lay back down on the soft grass. She would've tried to heal herself with Holy Waterfall, but was too drained from her previous battle with the dark mage. She squirmed as she tried to get into a comfortable position on the grass. Asakust walked towards her. "Stop moving! You'll open up your wounds!" Asakust sounded very concerned about the water mage. "I'm fine..." She said as she moved to sit up a little. She winced in pain. Her body hurt all over and she couldn't escape the burning pain. "I want to heal myself..." She whispered and tried to raise her hand to cast a spell. But just as she began to lift it, Asakust gently grabbed her hand in midair. He gently moved her hand back to the ground, preventing her from further injuring herself. "Just rest for now..." He whispered in her ear as he slowly moved her encouraging her to lay back down and rest. "Arigatou..." Mizuyo smiled at her concerned friend, trying to reassure him that she was fine. "Where is Asuka?" Mizuyo asked, trying to relax her tired body. "She went to go take a bath. She should be back in awhile." Asakust sat by Mizuyo's side, almost like he was guarding her from further harm. "It's all my fault... I made you guys worry about me..." Mizuyo began to say, feeling guilty for making her friends suffer. "It's not you fault... it's mine, I should've gone... not you. I should've been the one to fight that bastard." Asakust looked off in the distance, trying to hide his fustration. Mizuyo remained silent. The two stopped talking. An awkward silence filled the air. |
| "So . . ." Mizuyo said after a while. Snores answered her; apparently Asakust had fallen asleep. Mizuyo glared at him, then, realizing it was useless, slumped back to sleep herself. She needed it after all. -*-*-*- Asakust waited a few minutes before cracking an eye open. Good, she was sound asleep. He stretched and silently stood, watching her carefully to make sure she didn't wake. Then he waited, pacing around to keep himself awake. Soon enough, Asuka emerged from the trees, her skin still damp from the bath. Asakust stopped pacing and turned to her. "Where exactly would this bathing place be?" He asked, wanting to cleanse the blood from his face and to wash his wounds. "Just back there." She pointed, and started to add more, but Asakust had already pushed past. Seconds later he was back, his face beet red. Asuka laughed. "Well, I told you it was sacred to water nymphs, didn't I? Don't worry, you can take a bath when they leave." |
| Mizuyo awoke to a sharp pain in her shoulder and right wing. She winced and blinked several times, trying to move into a different position to relieve her pain. "Asakust, does Asuka have anything for pain relief?" She groaned as she rolled on her left side. But no one answered her. She blinked and looked to where Asakust had been seating next to her before she fell asleep. He was gone. She panicked. Where could he be? She tried to get up, but her wounds made it extremely hard to move around. She fell down and winced, her wounds burned and she knew she wasn't able to move around yet. She found Mizubuki laying on the ground next to her and she knew transforming it would be dangerous, but she was determined to find out where Asakust was. She transformed it into a wooden staff, she used as a walking stick to hold up her wounded body. She limped her way through some bushes and trees. "Asakust!! Asuka!!" She shouted outloud, expecting someone to answer her. But no one replied to her calls. She walked a little further, stopping every few minutes to rest. She stopped and kneeled down, keeping a cautious look out for anything that moved. She was much more cautious than before, she didn't want to take anymore chances and wanted to make sure that nothing would harm her and her firends again, if she could possibly prevent it. A russle in the bushes and the snap of a twig brought Mizuyo's attention to the bush directly in front of her and she gasped as she saw a stranger dressed in robes, a hood covered the stranger's face. The figure was also kneeling, he stared at Mizuyo for several seconds and all was still. A look of shock and fear swept over Mizuyo's face as she worried that this was the stranger who had attacked her before. She was frozen on the ground, not knowing what she could do, now that she was injured and weak. The stranger suddenly sprinted off, without a word, as though he was scared away by something or someone. As he ran, his hood fell to his shoulders and revealed a young and quite handsome man around Mizuyo's age. Mizuyo gasped at the sight of him, her face grew light pink as she wondered who the stranger was. |
| The next day dawned clear and bright. Having no need to go back to Taiyou anymore, the three set out on their original path, obstructed only by a small pack of wolves that were easily taken care of after a long nights sleep. The day passed uneventfully, and there were no further problems until dusk, when they started scouting for a good camping site. They had just settled down to sleep, with Asuka standing first watch, when the ground suddenly gave way beneath the fire and it plummeted into a deep, seemingly bottomless shaft. The campsite followed. *Sorry, too tired to think of an actually good addition* |
| Frozen Aura: When enemies touch the caster, they are temporarily frozen. The spell laster for several minutes.It is weak against heat and fire attacks. *~*~*~ "My name is Blade. I come from the town of Taiyou, but I was born and raised in the city of Yaminoami." He began to explain himself. He found it easy to introduce himself to these strangers and felt somewhat comfortable with their presence. Having been alone for a lot of his life, he found it hard to open up to people. But somehow these people were different and he felt drawn to tell them his life story. "I'm Mizuyo, this is Asakust, we came from the town of Kimyou." Mizuyo smiled warmly at Blade. "This is Asuka, we met her outside of Taiyou." Asuka smiled, as Mizuyo introduced her. Blade moved towards Asakust attempting to shake his hand. But Asakust did not return the friendly gesture. He looked at him with a cold stare, he was suspicious of this man's intentions, not knowing whether he could truly call him friend or foe. "Asakust, be nice!" Mizuyo glared at him, disapproving of his unfriendliness towards Blade. "It's alright... He has every right to question my intentions...Trustworthy people are hard to come by these days..." Blade's eyes narrowed. He became silent as his memories of his past came back to haunt him. "Are you alright?" Mizuyo looked at him with a concerned expression. "I'm fine..." Blade was brought back to reality. "Where are you three headed?" He asked curiously. "Actually... not sure anymore, where are we headed?" Asuka replied, looking at Mizuyo and Asakust. "Well, if Mizuyo isn't feeling well enough..." Asakust began to say, looking at Mizuyo, who still was wounded from her battle with the dark stranger. "I'm fine..." She said, looking down at her wounds, realizing that she still had burns on her body. A blue aura surrounded her and her wounds disappeared. Her skin had appeared as though she had never been touched. "What about you?" She looked over at Asakust and raised her hand in his direction. His body glowed as she healed his wounds as well. "Thanks." He replied, as the blue glow faded. Silence filled the air, as the conversation died down. One by one, each of them fell asleep, Mizuyo took the first watch, letting Asakust and Asuka sleep, since they had watched over her before. She quietly thought to herself as she watched over her sleeping companions. What were they going to do now? There were so many things to stress over. The list grew longer and longer each and day and it seemed as though their journey would be endless. Was that a good or a bad thing? She pondered all of this in the silence of the night. "You can sleep... I'll stay up and take the next watch." Blade sat up and looked at Mizuyo. "That's alright... I can handle it, I'm not tired." She replied, looking a little surprised to see that Blade was awake. "You look like you have something on your mind..." Blade moved towards Mizuyo and looked at her intending to find out what was bothering her. "Is there something wrong?" "No... nothing really..." Mizuyo replied quietly, feeling a bit uncomfortable. She didn't like to share her feelings very often, especially to someone she hardly knew, no matter how nice the person seemed. Asakust stirred, but didn't appear to awaken from his slumber. Unknown to Mizuyo and Blade, he was awake, but he didn't open his eyes. He decided he might listen in on their conversation a little. The two began to speak again. "I just have a lot on my mind lately... I worry about things... I feel like there's something out there watching our every move, waiting for me... waiting for confrontation..." Mizuyo began, no longer feeling nervous. She liked having someone to listen to her. Asakust continued to listen to the two talk. He had covered his head in his cloak, hiding his face from sight, so that he could keep a watchful eye on Blade. |
| Skill eight: Spark Summon: Summons a Spark, a creature of electricity that thrives in storms and can unleash enormous power. Will fight for the caster when summoned until either destroyed, or the caster gets too weak to control it, in which case it might turn and attack the caster. If Summon Storm is cast before the Spark is called or while it is in existence, it will gain strength. However, it is exceptionally weak against Earth magic and non-metallic weapons such as clubs and staffs (metal weapons do average damage). Should only be cast when the caster is near or at full strength, because otherwise the caster might grow too weak to control the Spark. -*-*-*- Asakust watched warily, disliking the look of this Blade person, yet their conversation consisted of mainly boring topics, and soon he was truly asleep. He awoke with a start, startled to see Blade leaning over him, shaking him to wake him up. Asakust stood suddenly, and looked around, keeping an eye on Blade, but also seeing if anyone had lit a fire for breakfast. No one had. Piling tinder under the wood, he aimed his staff at the from the previous night and shot a Bolt at it, igniting the fire and startling a bird out of the trees around them. Asakust kept a careful watch over Blade during the day, wanting to accept a friendly presence, but too wary after days of fighting to be truly open and accepting. Trying to sound casual, he quizzed Blade on his background and history, and every time the stories added up and never seemed to conflict on major issues. By nightfall, Asakust was willing to grudgingly accept Blade as part of their little party, and had even engaged in casual conversation with him at several points. Then, that night, something happened that would either cause Asakust to fully trust Blade, or to name him a complete enemy. As he was sitting watch, the fire suddenly went out, as if covered by shadow, and rustlings could be heard in the darkness, and Blade was gone. |
| "What is that?" Mizuyo broke the silence, but her voice was as quiet as a whisper, as she stared at the mangled carcus laying on ground. The body of the beast was still trembling, holding on to life by a thread and breathing heavily. "You were right... We were being watched." Blade looked directly at Mizuyo, who was frozen in place, looking horrified at the bloody mass on the ground before her. "This is a minion of a greater evil. He was sent here to destroy us..." Blade's face was completely serious as he spoke. "How do you know this?!" Asakust shouted at Blade angrily. He still found it hard to completely trust Blade. "Because... it wasn't sent here to to kill you three... You just happened to be here at the wrong time. So, it found more than one target. I'm it's original target." Blade's eyes narrowed on the beast. The three stared at him with confusion, all had become quiet once more. |
| Asakust was about to say something snappish, when he caught himself. What was he doing? This Blade character had given him no reason to dislike him yet, and had in fact been useful to the group, especially now. Asakust was sure that the monster would likely have killed the rest of them even if Blade was its target. And if Blade really was untrustworthy, why would he have helped? Asakust smiled and stuck his hand out to Blade. "I owe you an apology for my actions today." Blade looked at the hand for a moment, then grabbed it briefly and turned back to the monster. So did Asakust. It resembled a giant snake, covered in spines like a porcupine. It's fangs were easily three inches long and probably poisonous, although Asakust had no inclination to try and find out. "Come on," he said after a moment, "We might as well geta move on." No one argued as they were all wide awake now and in no mood to sleep. As soon as they were packed up, Mizuyo doused the flames and they hiked away into the darkness. |
| "Mizuyo!!" Asuka screamed, as Mizuyo's scream was silenced. The darkness hid whatever had made the scraping sound and the three searched for a trace of Mizuyo's whereabouts. "bwhahahaha" a familiar evil laugh had filled the air. Asakust and Asuka gasped as they recongnized the horrible laughter. "It couldn't be..." Asakust said outloud. Revealed by the moonlight, a shadowy figure appeared before them. Asakust and Asuka gasped in horror, it was the same mage, the one from the cabin, the one who had tried stabbed Asuka in the forest and tried to kill Mizuyo. "I think I have what you're looking for..." He raised his arm and revealed that he was holding Mizuyo, who struggled under his hold. His hand was over her mouth, preventing her from speaking. Suddenly, she began to glow and the mage's arm started to crystalize instantly. "Damn you, water mage!" Mizuyo's body stopped glowing blue and a flame like red aura surrounded her. She screamed, as though she were being severely burned. Blade drew his sword a dashed towards the shadowy figure. But was thrown back by a red bolt of energy and with a thud hit the ground. "Your friends are brave... but that won't save them..." The cloaked figure grinned and with the movment of his arm a great blast of energy was thrust at her companions. "Noooo!!!" Mizuyo watched in horror as her friends were thrown to the ground by the impact of the blast. Mizuyo quickly tried to cast a spell. She began to chant and cast Bubble. A blue aura surrounded Asakust, Asuka and Blade, who were struggling to move. "You have potential, water mage. I could give you great powers. If you come with me, without putting up a fight, I'll let them live." He grinned evily. Mizuyo froze, not knowing what to do. She couldn't be sure if he was lying or not. "No!! Don't listen to him! It's a trick!" Asakust shouted. Mizuyo glared at the mage and gripping Mizubuki, tried to stab the mage, trying to free herself from his hold over her. She failed and once again felt the burning pain of his wrath. "I have to..." Mizuyo whispered reluctantly. "If you leave them alone, I'll go with you..." She gave in, in a weak voice, that seemed like barely a whisper. "So, be it... I'll give you my word." He kept on grinning. "Say goodbye..." Suddenly Mizuyo disappeared into thin air. The dark mage laughed evily once more and the ground began to shake. The earth ripped open and flames came out of the ground. "You said you wouldn't hurt us!!" Asuka shouted angrily. "meh..." He said, ignoring Asuka's words. He too, disappeared as Mizuyo had and left them to struggle in the destruction he had caused. |
| Asakust tried to run forward as the mage vanished, but Blade pulled him back. "She's gone, you fool, and we'll be too if we stay here longer!" Asakust struggled a bit, then, realizing the sense of the words (not to mention the burning heat), followed Blade and Asuka as they raced away into the forest. Asakust was in shock as he ran; his best friend for years was gone, just gone. He couldn't relaly comprehend it, and so moved it to the back of his mind and concentrated on running. And then suddenly his legs refused to work and he fell over, rolling down the slight incline. Looking back, he saw a thick fog obscuring the trees. A thick black fog. Too late he realized that the fog was his vision clouding as his consciousness left him. Ahead of him, Blade and Asuka ran on, semingly unaware of what had happened. In a nearby tree, an owl hooted triumphantly and launched itself into the sky. |
| Mizuyo stirred, her eyes blinked as she had regained consciousness. "What happened..." She moved to get up, realizing that her wounds were gone. But she was not the one who had cured them. She looked around, wherever she was looked to her as a dark cave, much like the one from the beginning of the mage's adventure. She had been laying on a stone platform, appearently alone, not a sound could be heard in the darkness that surrounded her. She decided not to disturb the silence and try to find a way out of the cave and back to her friends. Stepping quietly off the platform, she made her way down a passage of the cave. She was suspicious that the mage would leave her alone and unguarded. She had no idea what he planned to do with her and didn't want to find out. She realized how slow she had been going and quickly used her lightfooted speed to get to the entrance of the cave, she used her incredible sense of hearing to detect anything that might be moving towards her. Nothing. The errie silence bothered her. Whay was there no sounds? Was there nothing living in this cave? Whay was it so unnaturally silent? The walls were a blur to her as she ran, not looking around her surroundings, only caring about getting out. Finally, she had seen an opening in the wall at the end of her path, revealing glittering moonlight above. As she sped closer to her goal, her suspiscions grew. She stopped in from of the entrance. There must've been a catch to all this... The entrance to the cave appeared normal, nothing blocking it, no invisable forcefields or anything. But Mizuyo had feared that if she were to make the wrong move and leave the cave, something horrible would happen. But she was determined to get back to her friends, they were what was important to her, their safety was more important to her than her own life. She dared to walk through the threshold of the cave. As she moved towards it, glowing red light consumed her body. But the light caused no pain. In fact, she felt much stronger. The warm strong feeling soon disappeared, it didn't turn to pain, but she felt overflowing strength come over her body, it was an awkward feeling. The overwhelming feeling knocked her to her knees and she was unable to get up. "What's happeneing to me?!" She shouted as though someone would tell her what was happening. But only silence remained. Suddenly, minutes later, an evil chuckle filled Mizuyo's pointed ears. The familiar voice of the dark mage ringed through Mizuyo's mind and it gave her a splitting headache. Although he was nowhere to be seen, his presence was real, his voice came from the darkness within the cave. "Where are you?! What are you doing to me?!" Mizuyo pleaded angrily, insisting that he give her an answer. The voice continued to laugh. "You walked into my trap. I've just given you an incredible amount of power and you have no idea..." The voice laughed some more, as though he were laughing at some hilarious joke. "Power?... but why? Why would you give me power? What would that accomplish?" Mizuyo glared in the direction of the origin of the voice. "Can't you see what I'm trying to do?" His laughter died and a serious voice came from the darkness. "I can control anyone I choose, just like her..." A figure walked towards her. It was Namida, the doctor's granddaughter. She appeared to be in a trance, her eyes gave a glassy, cold stare as she looked at Mizuyo, who was still glowing from the amount of energy that she had been given. "Namida san..." Mizuyo whispered, unbelieving what was happening. "Why are you doing this!? Why do you want me?! You already have a pawn... let me go!!!" Mizuyo couldn't move from her position on the ground as though she were being restrained in some way. The dark mage remained silent for several moments. "Answer me!!!" Mizuyo shouted in annoyance. "You have much more potential than this mere psychic... I can only use her mind... but with you, I can use your mind, your powers, you talent for magic. I can give you powers you never even dreamed of. I can make you much better than you are now." The dark mage came out of the darkness and the moonlight revealed a cloaked figure. "But first... you must forget about your foolish companions..." His hand moved towards Mizuyo's head and he place his large hand over her forehead. It was as though he were burning her forehead, but the effect left no mark. Mizuyo struggled to move but the action had left her frozen in place. Her face slowely changed to blank expression, her eyes stared back at the dark mage, cold and motionless. Mizuyo's eyes closed and she fell forward onto the ground as though she had passed out from exhaustion. "Namida, Take her to the back of the cave... We'll see how she reacts when she wakes up..." The young girl did as she was told and lifted and carried Mizuyo's unconscious form down the passage she had come from. |
| Asakust sat, waiting for Blade and Asuka to return. As he waited, he tried several times, all unsuccessfully, to remove whatever it was that had been shot into his leg, but the pain was too much and he gave up and simply waited. A little while after his last attempt, he felt a sudden sharp pain in the wound. He grabbed his leg, his eyes watering in pain. Then he felt it again and had to punch the tree he was leaning against to keep himself from crying out. A few seconds later, a small insect crawled out of the wound, it's tiny legs leaving spots of pain. Asakust reached out to smash it, but it leapt into the air and flew out of reach, spitting a hair-thin stream of clear liquid at his wound. The skin began to bubble up and Asakust doubled over in pain. Satisfied, the bug began to fly away, but Asakust gritted his teeth, straightened, and cast the Electrifry spell at maximum strength. Still within the boundaries of the cube, the insect jerked once and fell to the ground, smoking slightly. Asakust let the spell drop and sat back, hoping that he wasn't poisoned. Without Mizuyo to heal them, they would all have to be extremely careful to avoid injury. |
| Mizuyo… Mizuyo… A gentle voice seemed to call to Mizuyo as though she were in a dream. She saw nothing, only darkness where she was. She opened her eyes and fount herself in familiar surroundings. It was her room, back in Kimyou. But something was strangely different… She looked around and saw bright colors all over the walls, childish wall hangings and furniture and toys all over the room. Why was the room decorated the way it had been when I was a child? Mizuyo thought to herself, then realized the reason why when she looked down at herself. She was in the body of a 6 year old version of herself. She looked at her hands, which were much smaller now, unbelieving what was happening. She moved her fingers in amazement as though this were the very first time she moved. A boy about the same age as Mizuyo ran into the room. His hair was also dark blue, like Mizuyo’s, but messy and unkept. “Aniki…” Mizuyo whispered. “What are you still doing in bed?! We’ll be late to school!” The boy shouted. Suddenly, a woman walked into the room looking slightly annoyed. Her hair was slightly different from Mizuyo’s and the boy’s. Sea foam green and and about shoulder length, but just a little bit longer. The woman had a small bun in her hair with the rest hanging over her shoulders. She wore a bright sky blue dress with a white apron covering her front. The same wings Mizuyo had inherited protruding from her back side. “Mizuyo, you’ll be late, get up and get dressed, breakfast is on the table.” The woman told Mizuyo and walked towards the door. “Leave your sister to get dressed, go eat your breakfast.” The woman pulled the boy’s arm and dragged him out of the room. Mizuyo got up and got dressed, then walked out of the room and to the kitchen. The smell of baked bread filled her nose as she walked towards the table and sat down. She ate the bread quietly without a word. Then went to the door, put her shoes on and picked up her school bag. She waved to her mother gesturing that she was leaving and ran out the door. “Come on, sleepy head!” The boy looked rather annoyed. The two ran down the road and towards the school building. The were many children in the yard playing and minutes later a bell rang. Children started to walk towards the double doors of the entrance of the school. As Mizuyo ran into the yard, she saw a quick glimpse of a small boy behind a tree. His hair was green and tied in a small ponytail, the end only reaching the middle of his neck. The boy looked lonely and shy. He began to stumble near the entrance, quietly. The day went on and the normal lessons of the day occurred. For some strange reason, Mizuyo was able to tell exactly everything that was going to happen next, as though this were déjà vu and she was just follow what had already happened. All day long, the young green haired boy never even so much as looked at Mizuyo. She knew this was Asakust. But she did not know why he never even spoke to her. Could it be? Was this the day they had first met? She pondered the situation in silence. After school that day, Mizuyo walked towards the front gate of the school. The boy from earlier, her brother, Kohaku, had left with his friends and left Mizuyo to walk home alone. Mizuyo didn’t mind, she liked the peaceful time to herself. As she walked closer to the front, the young Asakust appeared again. Hiding behind a tree, he watched her as she left the school yard. Mizuyo arrived at her house, put her school bag in her room, then told her mother she was going outside to play. She always liked to explore the woods on the edge of town. She made it to a secluded area and sat with a book in her hands. A bush behind her russled and she ignored it, thinking that it was just a small animal. She continued to read. Suddenly, something quite large jumped out of the bush and threw Mizuyo towards a nearby tree. She hit the tree with a painful thud and rubbed her backside. She looked up and saw a large dog like creature, snarling and drooling before her. Her face was horrified. The creature began to charge at her and she screamed. Out of nowhere a small zap a energy struck the dog and he flew backwards on the ground. The creature appeared to be unconscious and Mizuyo backed away, cautiously. She felt someone’s hand on her shoulder and she screamed turning around to see that it was the young Asakust, wielding a smaller version of his staff, thin and wooden, like a toy. “Are you okay?” He asked, looking half annoyed. “Yea… arigatou…” She whispered. “I’m Asakust, what’s your name?” He asked. “Mizuyo.” She replied, not knowing what to say. Asakust gave her a warm smile. All of a sudden the scene faded away, as though it had all been a weird dream. Mizuyo blinked and she was in a darkness again. All that surrounded her was black, as she found herself on a cold stone floor. She realized that she had experienced a flashback to the day she had met her best friend. This made her realize how much he meant to her. She realized, before she had met Asakust, she had been quite shy around others, especially when she was younger, always being quiet and keeping to herself. She was always teased a bit by the other kids, being the only sprite in town, she was very different from the other kids. Not everyone mocked her, but she just felt better when she was alone. Mizuyo…Mizuyo… The same whisper echoed in her head… but where did it come from and who was it whispering? She looked around, trying to find something in the darkness. Nothing. The voice stopped all was silent. Silence. Such silence always made Mizuyo feel lonely. Loniliness was her worst fear, he worst enemy. It was almost unbearable, something she hated more than anything. “Mizuyo…” Mizuyo turned around when she heard a gentle voice. She gasped. It was Asakust standing behind her. Her eyes welled with tears of joy and she got up and ran towards him. Not being able to control her emotions, she flew towards him. She stumbled and fell into him. Asakust caught her trying to keep her balanced while trying to keep his own balance. She fell silent and just cried, letting her emotions flow. She didn’t care anymore, it had felt like they had been separated for years, instead of only hours. Asakust remained silent and hugged Mizuyo. “Mizuyo…” Asakust said silently. Mizuyo moved her head and looked up to see Asakust’s warm smile, like the warm smile he had given her in the dream of childhood. Something about this smile made Mizuyo’s become completely flushed as she stared at him. “I have something to tell you…” She stared up at him curiously. “I care about you…a lot…” He started to say, his face was now just as flushed as Mizuyo’s. Mizuyo smiled. “I do too…” She blushed and looked down at the ground. Not because it was awkward, but she felt embarrassed. She’d never really thought about it for very long before. But she knew deep down, that even if she couldn’t find the words to say it out loud, she knew she did care for Asakust very much. But she didn’t know if it was because he was her best friend or possibly she considered him much more than that. Many moments of silence passed and the two just stood there, both still hugging, not saying anything. Probably because they didn’t know what else to say. Both of them being incredibly shy people, always keeping to themselves and if they did share, it was with each other. She looked up at Asakust again, he looked down at her, but this time his face was slowly moving towards hers. She panicked a little. What was he doing? Her face turned beet red. Was he going to… His mouth reached a centimeter away from hers. But his face wasn’t in the slightest way embarrassed, in fact his warm smile had completely vanished, all that was left was a cold expression, cruel and emotionless. “Asakust…?” Mizuyo stared closely at him as he stared blankly at her. Suddenly, an evil grin spread over his mouth and a sharp pain came from Mizuyo’s left shoulder. She stared back at Asakust in horror, not believing what was happening at the moment. She turned to look at her shoulder, hoping that had been a throwing knive that was protruding from her back and it had been thrown from a great distance. She turned and found a dagger sticking out of her shoulder. Tears streamed down her face when she saw that Asakust hand was around the handle of the blade. “Why…?” She looked back at him. The malicious grin still on his face and his eyes were still deep and cold. This couldn’t be real… Why was this happening… an accident… it was an accident… but that didn’t explain the malicious smirk on Asakust’s face. Did he really want to hurt her? The pain had become unbearable and she stumbled forward. She fell into him, just barely missing his mouth when she stumbled. She leaned on him, not able to move or look up at him. “Mizuyo… I’m sorry…” She looked up and his face changed from cold to concerned, as though he had just realized what he had done. She looked up and the cold stare returned as he grabbed the blade that was in her back and drove it further into the wound. She screamed in pain. Suddenly, Asakust muttered words and a cube like barrier surrounded the two of them. Electricity flowed through he body, increasing the pain in the wound on her back. She screamed, unable to do much else. The barrier slowly disappeared, leaving Mizuyo shaking in pain and disbelief. Why did he attack her… She couldn’t keep her balance and she leaned into Asakust’s body. She looked up at him again. “Why?!” She screamed, tears were streaming out of her eyes. He stared down at her and let her go, taking the dagger out of her wound and walking away in silence, leaving Mizuyo bleeding profusely on the stone cold ground. |
| Asakust, utterly unaware that his double had just been used to betray his friend, and at the moment he might not have cared very much, more focused on staying alive as the ten-foot bug lumbered gracefully forward, it's madibles glistening in the moonlight, poison dripping and sizzling on the forest floor. Grabbing his staff from where it had dropped to the ground a few feet away, he raised his hands to cast a Bolt spell . . . and nothing happened. His mind drew a total blank. He had forgotten the spell! Casting around for a different spell, any spell, he realized that he could not remember a single spell even though he had used almost all of them at least once recently. However, while searching his head (and running like hell to keep those mandibles out of him) he came across something he had never seen before, and without thinking, he cast a new spell. At that moment, he stumbled and the insect caught up to him, it's poisoned fangs singing into his flesh and . . . Passing right through him as if it were made simply of shadow. Which, Asakust found out as he turned, it was. Somehow, impossibly, he had cast Blade's Shadower spell and rendered the monster insect useless. He heard Blade shout to his left and roots and vines sprang from all around to imprison the great beast, and in Asuka's startled voice, he heard the words of his own Spark Summon spell being shouted into the suddenly still air. A great spherical, golden, gas-like being of light sprang into existence with a crack like thunder, it's core as bright as the sun as bolts of lightning lanced from within to strike the insect. When the bolts vanished, Asakust could see a faintly lizardlike humanoid shape within the golden cloud about the Spark, the bolts lancing from its hands as the stink of charred bug filled the forest. It's job fulfilled, the Spark vanished, and all three mages collapsed from the shock of the powers switch and exhaustion from the powerful spells each had used. "Just what the hell is going on here?" Asakust asked into the silence. |
| The three magic users turned their heads towards the direction from which the scream came from. Asakust raced urgently towards the clearing. The voice had sounded vaguely similar to Mizuyo's voice and he could only hope that she was there waiting, safe and sound. "Mizuyo!!" Asakust screamed as he reached the end of the trees and entered the clearing. But no one was there. He looked around frantically for any sign of Mizuyo. It was dark and the moonlight was his only source of light. Nothing. He fell to his knees, staring into the trees. A brief image of Mizuyo flashed in his mind. "Damnit..." He cursed, pounding his right fist into the soft, green earth. "Where are you, Mizuyo?" He whispered softly. "Asakust?" Asuka was standing behind him with a concerned look on her face. "What happened?" Blade walked slowly towards Asuka, also looking concerned about Asakust. The two of them knew that Askust was very stressed and worried about Mizuyo, even though he didn't always show it. "It's nothing... just thought I heard something..." Asakust looked down at the ground, his bangs shielding his eyes from sight. He didn't want to show any emotion causing his two companions to worry about him. Maybe it was all in his head... a figment of his imagination... was he the only one who had heard the scream? Asuka and Blade gave him strange looks when he said he thought he had heard something in the clearing and seemed to always give him concerned looks, which always led to complete silence and awkwardness. It was beginning to irritate him. "Well... let's go." Asakust stood up and walked out of the clearing without another word. Asuka and Blade exchanged another worried glance and followed Asakust's lead. *~~*~~*~~* Mizuyo awoke with a sharp pain in her back. Blinking several times, she realized she was in the cave she had woken in previously. She moved to get off the platform, but fell backwards caused by the pain in her shoulder. She looked towards the source of her pain and found a larger bandage wrapped around her shoulder. Mizuyo gasped. Could it be... was it all real? Had she really been betrayed by her best friend? Tears streamed down her face as she realized what had just happened. She had no choice but to believe that everything she had seen wasn't just a figment of her imagination. "Ah... you're awake..." A cloaked figure came out of the shadows and floated towards Mizuyo, who was still sitting on the stone platform, wincing in pain. Mizuyo glared at him. "Well, I see you're a bit cranky..." He grinned at her. His hand moved closer as though he were going to pat her head, just as he would a small child. Mizuyo quickly moved her arm and grabbed his wrist, preventing him from touching her. She looked up at him fiercely, her face still soaked with tears. "Well... I suppose you like me no more than you did earlier... perhaps your will is stronger than I thought..." He backed away from Mizuyo, who had released his arm from her tight grip. He left the room, leaving Mizuyo sitting alone, tormented by pain. She raised her arm to cast Holy Waterfall, but when she tried, the spell had no effect. Minutes of silence passed and then she heard footsteps coming from the doorway of the room. The door was made completely from heavy stone and looked utterly impossible to move, leaving no way to escape. Suddenly, the stone door opened and Namida appeared in the doorway. Her eyes were no longer cold and blank, but warm and friendly as they had been when they had first met. She was carrying a tray with a mug of hot tea and a plate of cookies. She moved towards the stone platform and sat on the edge, a few inches from Mizuyo. "How are you feeling?" She asked, placing the tray on a small table beside the platform. She looked concerned as her eyes moved to Mizuyo's bandaged shoulder. "It hurts... but I'll live..." Mizuyo whispered. She didn't know whether she could trust Namida, knowing that she was controlled by the dark mage. Mizuyo's eyes narrowed as she stared at the contents of the tray. She had been very cautious about food and beverages since the incident with Asakust's allergy. She didn't seem to trust anything anyone gave her but items from her traveling companions when it came to anything edible. "I know what you must be thinking... but I'm here to help you... please, eat something..." Namida said offering the mug of hot tea to Mizuyo. Mizuyo examined the mug, not knowing whether to drink it or to throw it at the girl and make a run for it out the open doorway. But then another thought came to her. This girl was the doctor from Taiyou's granddaughter and she wanted to bring the girl back home safe as a debt of graditude for saving Asakust's life. She also knew that Namida was completely innocent and had no control over her actions back at the cabin, she was being controlled like a puppet. But there was something different now, her eyes weren't as cold as they were before and she looked sincere, as though she couldn't be lying to Mizuyo. With these thoughts, Mizuyo took a sip of the tea, showing Namida that she had begun to trust her. Deciding not to question anything about her surroundings, Mizuyo began to talk casually, ignoring the pain in her shoulder. But soon began to blink constatly through the conversation. "I must be getting sleepy... I must've used too much energy..." Mizuyo fell forward, unable to control her sleepiness. "It's alright... you should rest." Namida replied, a malicious grin on her face, hidden from Mizuyo's sight. Mizuyo lost consciousness and Namida left the room, carrying the tray. The stone door slammed shut behind her. Mizuyo... Mizuyo... Again, a gentle voice called her name. She blinked and found herself in a forest, much like the one she had been in with her friends. She walked through the trees and walked towards what appeared to be firelight coming from a small clearing. She came closer towards the light and heard familiar voices coming from the same clearing. She kneeled by a bush on the edge of the clearing a peered through the leaves. The voices had come from Asuka and Blade who were sitting on the ground next to the fire. The two were in a deep conversation and Asakust was not with them. Mizuyo listened carefully. They had to be planning a way to find her. "What should we do, Blade?" Asuka asked. "There's nothing we can do now... We'll just have to leave..." Blade replied, there was a grim expression on his face. "What do you mean?? We can't just leave them!! We have to save them!!" Asuka's face quickly changed from worried to angry. "We have no choice... How can we win against that bastard? Nothing works and now it's just the two of us..." Blade turned away from Asuka. Mizuyo could see the depressed look on his face. Something had happened to Asakust and she was determined to find out what. She jumped out of the bushes and in front of Asuka and Blade, who seemed not to have noticed Mizuyo's sudden entrance. In fact, it seemed as though Mizuyo wasn't even there at all... "We have to leave them... There's nothing we can do... besides... we've never quite fit in with those two anyways..." Blade continued to talk. "...what makes you say that?" Asuka whispered quietly. It was as though Blade could read her like book, she had had these feelings deep down, feeling that she didn't quite belong and that she was still somewhat an outsider to Mizuyo and Asakust, no matter how friendly they were to her. In ways she might've been jealous of what Mizuyo and Asakust had.Perhaps she even had feelings towards Asakust, but she always shrugged them off, believing it was just act od friendship. She was new to many things, never really interacting with people very much. She had been alone for so long, not having many friends during her childhood, since she always kept her distance from towns and all humans. "Mizuyo and Asakust have known each other all their lives and we just happened to walk into their lives... They never really needed us... We've just tagged along... just just never wanted to tell us that.... they didn't want to be rude..." Blade's face was still hidden as he spoke. "No... that's not true!" Mizuyo shouted, shaking her head. But they didn't seem to hear her at all. "But... that can't be true..." Asuka said silently. "It can't be..." She jumped up and ran into the woods, barely running into Mizuyo as she passed by. Mizuyo watched her until she disappeared into the darkness. Blade still sitting on the ground, his face still staring into the fire. "It's over..." He whispered. A strong gust of wind blew out the fire and the clearing was engulfed by darkness. |
| The day passed without incident, which was fortunate because weird things still seemed to be happening with each of their powers. Asakust had given up on magic entirely, not wishing to accidentally do something he would regret. So when they were followed by a strange catlike creature, he used his staff as just that: a staff. The creature fled before the three armed and frustrated wanderers. They didn't talk much that night as they sat around the crackling fire, each lost in their own thoughts, Asakust wondering just how far Mugenshi was and what they would find when they got there. Asuka was on first watch, but Asakust was unable to sleep so he stayed up with her, watching the fire burn lower as she watched the woods around them. A gust of wind blew out the last flickering flames and left the coals, glowing softly in the darkness. A sudden crack sounded from behind him and he heard a sound of surprise from Asuka. Wondering if it was just another random forest beast, he turned and picked up his staff. |
| Asuka turned to see Asakust staring at the trees before him. He was pale and speechless, as though he had seen a ghost and perhaps he had. He was staring intently, focusing his eyes as though someone were in front of him. But there was no one in front of Asakust at all. "Asakust..." Asuka put her hand on Asakust's shoulder, trying to get his attention. Her touch snapped him back into reality. "Eh? What?" He turned his head towards her, looking disappointed. Asuka gave Blade a concerned expression and he returned her glance. "Did you see someone?" Blade asked curiously. Asakust remained silent, unsure of what exactly he thought he saw. Maybe it was really his head playing tricks on him, he felt rather tired often and the burden of his missing friend wore him down. Plus, he also didn't have his powers, but had Blade's shadow powers. "If we can't figure this problem out, maybe we can find help in Mugenshi... Finding that city is our priority..." Blade said grimly. "But what about Mizuyo!? We must find her!" Asuka protested. "One mystery at a time... I'm sure we'll find our answers in Mugenshi... about our powers and Mizuyo..." Blade began to walk forward, he had somewhat taken the role of leader of the group. The young wanders remained silent as they walked, each keeping their thoughts to themselves. Asakust seemed uneasy about their situation now more than ever. He could’ve sworn he had seen the figure of a girl in the woods and the girl looked very much like Mizuyo, she even had wings. But there was something very strange about what he saw, a bright aura surrounded her body and made her glow, then seconds later the aura faded, her body was covered by what looked like a dark field of energy and minutes later, she began some type of transformation. Asakust suddenly heard a piercing scream that made him jump. What resulted was a girl, who looked very different from the girl he saw before. Everything about the girl was much darker now, even her wings had changed, they were now black and bat-like. When he looked at her face, she gave him a cold, malicious stare that made him shiver. This girl he saw seemed to disappear into thin air when Asuka tapped him on the shoulder. Asakust refused to tell his companions of any of this, for they would only tell him he was crazy and getting too worked up about their situation. He tried to keep this from his companions because they were already worried about him. If he had said he had seen Mizuyo, it would’ve made things worse. “Are we heading in the right direction?” Asuka asked. “Everything looks the same…” Asakust commented. Blade squinted and began to run towards a cluster of shrubs. He took out his sword and cut away the shrubbery away, searching for something hidden inside. As he cleared the plants away, a small wooden sign became visible. “Ah ha!” Blade exclaimed. He stepped to the side to reveal the words “Mugenshi – 15 miles”. There was also an arrow pointing to the right of them, there was a clear path leading to their destination. “Are you sure this isn’t a trap or something?” Asakust raised an eyebrow. It was suspicious that there was a road sign all this time they had been searching for this mysterious city. Blade chuckled at Asakust’s expression. “You worry too much… Come on, at least it’s a break… it’s better than wandering aimlessly” Blade walked to the right and began to follow the path. Asuka didn’t argue and followed Blade onto the path. But Asakust remained, being quite stubborn, refused to move and glared at the sign. “I have a bad feeling about this…” “Are you coming or not?” Blade shouted to Asakust. As much as he disliked it, this was the only lead they had and therefore he was forced to follow. He tried to focus on the thought of finding Mizuyo on the trail, if it really did lead to the mysterious city of Mugenshi. ***** A cold gust of wind accompanied the darkness and Mizuyo shivered as she felt a chill down her spine. How could this be? Her best friend had betrayed her, now he was missing and her friends were slowly losing hope, even considering abandoning the chance of finding her. She never thought that they would doubt her loyalty as a friend. She was drowned in depression, knowing now that she had no one who wanted to find her and learning the truth that her companions had kept from her. She didn’t know what to do. She laid down and closed her eyes, she felt tired and she drifted off into a deep sleep. Flashes of red tormented her dreams, or what she thought were dreams. She woke up with a start, breathing hard and sweating profusely. She found herself in the cave she had previously woken in. The room was empty, she was alone. “Was it all a nightmare?” she said outloud. “No…” A deep voice answered. It was the dark cloaked mage in the doorway. All she could see was his evil smirk, the rest of his face was hidden by his hood. “What do you want?...” Mizuyo whispered coldly to the dark figure. The dark mage moved closer to the platform on which Mizuyo was sitting. He seemed to glide towards her, his feet were hidden by the length of his cloak. “I only want to comfort you…You look so sad…” He said in a sympathetically. Mizuyo realized that tears were streaming down her face. The content of her dreams had fueled her emotions. She quickly wiped her face with her cloak, which was wrapped around her. “Don’t touch me!!” She shouted, as his hand raised to touch her shoulder. She backed away from him, cautiously. “You have nothing to fear… I won’t hurt you…” He smiled at her. Mizuyo’s face was filled with hatred she stared back at the cloaked mage. “Perhaps a friend is what you need to comfort you…” As he said those words, a figure moved from out of the darkness and into the fire light of the torch on the wall near the doorway of the room. Mizuyo gasped. It was Asuka, standing several feet away from the platform. Mizuyo could hardly believe what she was seeing. Asuka moved towards the platform and sat down next to Mizuyo and smiled at her. “I finally found you…” Asuka said quietly. Mizuyo couldn’t speak, she was still in shock. “I’ll leave you two alone…” The dark mage left the room, without another word. |
| The road to Mugenshi widened as they walked, now easily visible on the forest floor. The packed earth scarred by wagon ruts wound through the distance as the forest vanished around them, to be replaced by a windy plain of tall grass. And sharp grass, Asakust mused, sucking on a cut on the back of his hand. After that, he stayed well to the center of the road. Soon the dirt changed to cobblestones as buildings came into view at the top of a small hill. This was much larger than Kimyou, where he had grown up. "Looks like a nice place." he commented as they started down the hill. Seconds later he had to leap aside as a mountless horse came thundering toward them, chased in the distance by a fat man in rich silk robes. "Stop, you vile creature! Come back here!" He shouted, wheezing to a halt beside the trio. He whirled on them, "Why didn't you stop my horse! Rudeness! That's what this world is coming to, rudeness!" With that, he plopped down on the dusty stone, breathing hard. "Excuse me?" Said Asuka, annoyed at his own display of rudeness. He waved a hand tiredly at her, willing her to calm down. "Oh forget it. Damn horse just leapt out from under me a ways back. Had him for more'n four years, never seen anything like it. Was a bit upset, you understand." Asuka wasn't sure she did, a bit confused by this sudden change in attitude, but she held her tongue. "So, what brings you to this god-forsaken hell hole?" The man asked them, clambering to his feet. |
| Edit: New skill: Teleportation - Caster is able to teleport through any source of water to any desired location that they have previously been to. Under certain conditions, such as when the caster becomes dizzy, incapacitated, confused or drunk, portal may lead to random places, known or unknown to the caster. Advanced skill: Hailstorm --> Blizzard - great blast of snow and frost generated at a group of enemies. Weak against heat and snow attacks, strong against plant and ground attacks. ~*~*~*~ An awkward silence filled the room, as the two female mages sat next to each other, trying to find words to say to each to other. Finally, Mizuyo broke the silence, "How did you find me?" Asuka stared, looking shocked at the question. "I was determined to find you... Asakust is gone... and Blade has lost all hope of finding either of you..." Asuka looked down at the ground, feeling ashamed of the depressing news she gave. Mizuyo gave Asuka a weak smile. "It'll be alright. We'll go back and find Asakust and Blade together." "You're injured!" Asuka saw the bloody bandage wrapped around Mizuyo's shoulder. "What have they done to you?? "... This wasn't caused by the black mage..." Mizuyo's voice trembled when she spoke. "Who did this to you then?" Asuka raised her voice. Mizuyo couldn't speak. She didn't know if she should or how to say that Asakust had betrayed her. It was still too painful. "Forget about it... it's in the past... We should think about leaving this place." Mizuyo's voice was reduced to a whisper. Asuka didn't answer. Mizuyo gasped. Asuka's face had changed from angry to malicious grin. Asuka moved closer to Mizuyo, looking as though she might attack her at the first sign of her letting her guard down. Mizuyo was frozen with fear. Was she about to be betrayed by another friend? Asuka wrapped her arms around Mizuyo in a tight hug. Her left hand slowly began to grab Mizuyo's neck. Mizuyo screamed as she felt something sharp stab the back of her neck, not knowing if it was Asuka's finger or a needle. Seconds later, the sharp piercing pain had disappeared and was replaced with a great boost in energy. Mizuyo slowly moved her head upwards to catch a glance of Asuka's face. But the girl in front of her wasn't Asuka anymore. It was Namida. All along, it had been her disguised as Asuka to do whatever she had just done to her neck. A vast amount of energy consumed Mizuyo's body, forming a capsule around her. She didn't know what was happening to her body. It was like some sort of transformation, but she didn't know what the result would be. Namida stood in front of the capsule of energy and watched, she was now accompanied by the dark mage. The aura around the capsule slowly darkened. Mizuyo screamed as her sprite wings seemed to be transforming along with the rest of her body. The pain was immense, as though her wings were being ripped out of her back, while she was still conscious. The painful screams did not seem to bother Namida at all, she had no human emotions when controlled by the black mage. The black mage broke into evil laughter, as if Mizuyo's pain were some kind of accomplishment. Mizuyo despite the pain, tried desperately to move her body, but remained helpless. She cursed herself for being so trusting and not being able to see that she was being tricked. Mizuyo began to blink in and out of consciousness, she slowly realized what was being done to her, she was fighting a losing battle, her consciousness was being taken away from her, and soon she would be a mindless drone like Namida. This must've been the same process Namida had been subjected to weeks ago. Within minutes Mizuyo's pained expression changed to a trance-like state. She didn't struggle and remained motionless. The capsule of energy shattered and Mizuyo's new form stood before Namida and the black mage. Everything about her was much darker than before, but only minor changes. Her and eyes were a deep, dark shade of blue and her skin had changed from pale to tanned. The most significant change was her wings, which were now nothing like the sprite wings she once had, but were now bat-like and stiff. She no longer wore her light mage robes, she wore a black leather armor under a long black transparent robe, with high cut slits at the sides, showing her tanned legs. A black diamond shaped mark appeared on her forehead. The black mage laughed maniacally. "As my new apprentice, you will destroy those mages you once called friends." Mizuyo nodded obediently and disappeared into thin air. ~*~*~*~ "Asakust!" Asakust awoke to a warm splash of water in the face. Asakust blinked several times. He saw Blade glaring at him. He had fallen asleep in the hot spring. Asakust retaliated and attempted to shove Blade into the nearby waterfall. These were the beginning of what seemed like a miniature water war. "You guys are so immature.." A voice came from the other side of an enormous bamboo wall that separated the guy's hot springs from girl’s. But Asakust and Blade were too busy soaking each other to hear Asuka's comment. This had been the most fun they had in quite awhile. It was a good way to take their minds off of their lost companion. Asuka sat by herself on the other side of the wall, trying to ignore all the noise coming from the guy's side. For some reason, she felt safe in this hot spring. It had been very long time since she felt safe. Before she had met Mizuyo, Asakust and Blade, she had never felt safe around humans. But now things were much different. Even though they had not known each for very long, she felt she could trust them with her life and they would do the same. ~*~*~*~ Later that evening, Asuka walked into her room to change for dinner. All was normal till she heard a strange noise coming from her window sill. It was a sort of rustling, possibly the wind blowing the leaves of the tree outside. She ignored it at first, but something else seemed wrong. The lights in the room began to dim and the wind grew stronger than before. Asuka walked slowly from the closet to the window and closed the glass panel and shutters. The wind was gone, but that did not explain the dim lights. She shrugged off her suspicion and quickly walked towards the dresser near the window. She gazed into the mirror and lost herself in the reflection. Suddenly, the whole room became dark. Asuka looked around urgently, trying to find a reason for the darkness. Se couldn’t see anything, even with the lights from the city outside the window dimly illuminating the room. Then she realized she still had Asakust’s electricity powers. But then she also recalled what happened the last time she tried to use his powers, she had set Blade’s cloak on fire. She closed her eyes, not knowing exactly what was going to happen, tried to focus her energy into producing some source of light. But it didn’t work. The only sign of progress she saw was the flicker of a lamp on the dresser. “hmph….I’ll just use a match… “she said out loud, annoyed at her lack of skill with her friend’s powers. She blindly moved her hand over the surface of the dresser and placed her hand on a small wooden stick. She grabbed and quickly flicked it on the dresser. The small flicker of light glowed around her, like a shield keeping her safe from the darkness of the rest of the room. Something about the darkness made Asuka shiver. Something wasn’t right about her situation and she decided to find her way towards the door and go downstairs to tell Asakust and Blade about the strange occurrence. She lit a candle on the dresser and carried it as she moved towards the door and a loud crashing sound startled her. She quickly turned around to see that the window had been broken and many shards of glass covered the floor beneath the window sill. Asuka made her way towards the window once again, in attempt to find the cause of the incident. She stood completely still as a hand slowly moved over her throat and another grasping her shoulder. She then quickly looked to the mirror across the room. In the reflection, a dark mass stood behind her, she couldn’t see anything but the hands over her throat and shoulder. She lifted the candle and saw the face of the intruder. She gasped in disbelief. “Mizuyo?!” she exclaimed. The intruder put a hand over Asuka’s mouth, struggling to keep the girl silent. Finally after minutes of struggling to get free, Asuka’s eyes began to feel heavy and the last thing she saw was an evil grin on Mizuyo’s face and the shadow of bat-like wings in the candle light. |
| Edit: New Skill: Distant Shock - A spell similar to Bolt except that it is stronger the further away the target is (must be within line-of-sight though). Avanced Skill: Nervous Disruption to Overload (shorts out the nervous system) _*_*_*_ "Asuka is a bit late for dinner, isn't she?" Blade mentioned as he and Asakust sat down at at of the dingy round tables in the main room. They waited for some time, but no one approached to take their order, and Asuka remained mysteriously absent. Blade was just about to go demand some service when a strangled shriek came from the other side of the closed kitchen door, accompanied by a loud crash. The two friends were on their feet in an instant, and running toward the door, certain that a thief had gotten into the kitchen. Just as they got to the door, it opened of its own accord and a waitress came out, dressed in an oddly thick jacket and baggy pants, her face slathered with thick make-up. "Please, go back to your seats. The cook dropped a dish, and we're cleaning up now. I'll be with you in a moment." Her voice was very high, grating on the nerves of the already worried Asakust. He winced imperceptibly as she spoke, and clenched his fists at her back as she turned away. The two returned to their seats and waited. And still there was no sign of Asuka. "That's it, I'm checking on her." Blade said and made as if to stand up again. The girl from before backed out of the kitchen, carrying a tray holding two glasses of ale and a pair of stained menus. The stains were either of dark beer or some form of meat sauce, and Asakust decided not to think too much on it, instead grasping the menu by its corners and wishing he had control of his own powers, with which he could fry it into ash. Instead, he glanced down at it and attempted to read the smudged handwriting, half covered in stains. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the waitress fiddling with a carving knife, presumably with which to cut steaks or some such. And now she was tossing the knife up into the air and catching it, the blade dripping onto the table as it melted . . . Asakust dove to his right as the ice blade flashed down, streaking through the space where his neck should have been. Blade was on his feet in an instant, as the waitress whirled with startling speed, meeting Blade's sword with her knife. Rather than shatter against the metal as it should have, the ice blade passed through the sword as if it was air and, carried by her spin, again stabbed for Asakust. Wishing fervently for his powers and not Blade's useless shadow tricks, Asakust dove again, upsetting tables and chairs in his haste to escape the mad waitress. He grasped the knob of the door to the kitchen, and hissed as an icy cold swept through his arm, freezing his hand to the metal knob. Gritting his teeth, he tore away from the door, leaving skin attached to the metal, and kicked the wooden door open. The scene beyond was a nightmare. The cook lay half in and half out of the oven, his head boiling in a pot on the stove, the smell of baking flesh assaulting Asakust's senses and making him gag. Blood was pooled everywhere, spreading from the open oven door, a knife similar to the one the he had just been attacked with lying in the center of it all. He would have stopped to be horrified by it all, but the waitress who was not a waitress was almost at the door. Slamming the door behind him, and hoping fervently that Blade would be all right, Asakust leapt forward into the room, slipping on the blood and landing collasped on the disembowled stomach of the dead cook. He vomited then, adding the contents of his stomach to that of the cook's, and got unsteadily to his feet, continuing carefully but quickly across the sticky floor of the room of carnage. He found the real waitress in the next room, where dry foods were stored. She been boiled alive in oil, then flayed open on the floor, each and every organ carefully laid out according to a macabre aesthetic that would please no one. Asakust's face hardened at the sight, and he turned. Who was he, running away from this nightmare? So what if he was bereft of his powers? He would fight, and die if need be, but this monstrosity would not leave the building alive. Grasping the longest carving knife he could find, he charged back into the dining room and stood at ready, casting off his cloak for better movement. And then he gasped, his knees weak in horror. "Mizuyo?" he asked in an anguished whisper, hoping to all the gods it was not so. |
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