Curiosity can be a dangerous thing!
A collab between Gerontis and Sketching.
Summary :
With the smoke rising up from the palace, it is clear that something is amiss. Due his curiosity and having heard rumours earlier that day, Fang decided to investigate what had happened. Only for a rather unexpected event to happen.
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Strapping the scabbard to his back, Fang looked around for a moment. It was dead silent as he just stood in the room. There was no sound coming from the outside, which didn't surprise the man. Walking to the exit of his home, Fang didn't had notice anything out of the ordinary. Like always, he had tried to pay attention to any rumour that would be somewhat interesting. And of course interacting with the commoners he had managed to gain a bond with. Only to later to hear whispers that weren't much to his liking. Having caught up with the rumours of the rebellion, Fang had sent a message to his superiors. Hopefully he could try to stall or fix the situation and then others from his order would be able to really do something regarding it.
Getting on the street, Fang furrowed his brow. There was literally nobody on the streets. While he saw clear smoke rising up from the palace, there was no guard or who so ever to keep the peace. Nobody that had thought to look at the possible ruckus. Sighing, Fang already was getting a bad feeling about this.
The metalbender in the palace was drowning in sweat. Not that she was tired or anything, but the molten lava surrounding her was heating the room up quite a bit. The banners hanging from the wrecked roof were ablaze, slowly getting put out by the quiet wind. The king sat on the throne, lifeless, with blood pouring from his face. She took her stance and made a quick motion. The lava quickly turned to earth as she spread her arms out to her sides. With the heat lowering, an evil grin crept up Alicia's lips as she looked at the dead lord.
Jogging, Fang kept his eyes out for anybody. Yet the streets were still empty. Had ever guard been taken care off? Bribed? Murdered? Where were those who had helped with that? There was a certain ominous feeling rising in Fang's stomach. Though confident he was a capable fighter, what if he was going to face just one person? That wasn't really a comfortable thought. Yet as he kept closing in the distance, the feeling started to rise.
Alicia walked up to the throne slowly, feeling that there's no reason to hurry. She reached the man and dug her hand down her cloak, pulling out what appeared to be a pendant with a strange symbol on it that was only revealed to the moonlight for a split second. She quickly pocketed it and pulled the body off its seat, muttering a curse at the dead man before spitting.
Slowing down as he started to feel he was getting winded, Fang noticed that he hadn't encountered one living soul. But as Fang walked furthermore, he started to notice the destruction. Walking in a normal pace, it was pretty clear that there had been some struggle. Placing his right hand on the handle of his blade, Fang started to approach the broken doors of the palace. Keeping an eye out, Fang's bad feeling was reaching it's climax. The atmosphere was warm and almost smothering, which wasn't a nice combination with the tension that hang in the air.
The woman turned around as she felt the tremors of the footsteps in her radius. She glared daggers at the young warrior who was coming through the door.
"A civillian. What are you doing in the palace?" she demanded, sounding neither too stern, nor too soft. Alicia was only a silhouette to any who'd see her at that time with the lighting the way it was, but it was easy to see that she was hovering over the bloody throne with the dead king on the ground.
Frowning, Fang threw a glance around before throwing a look back at the direction of the voice. The interior of the place was quite messed up, to put it lightly. Lowering his right hand, Fang smiled. There was no joy in his smile, nor in his polite sounding voice.
"Simply being a bit too curious, I guess." Fang replied. He came to a halt, staring at the silhouette.
"Or like what I told a familiar face this morning, I have this bad habit of looking for trouble." Seeing by the scene it seemed that the king was dead. Not a real personal loss, but Fang wasn't sure if his order would view it the same as he did.
"What if we go outside and talk in the fresh air? Perhaps with some lemon tea?"
The woman didn't dawdle. She didn't intend to speak before making the room secure. She raised her foot high and stomped it forward. As it went down, the earth under the door rose and blocked the path.
"Snappy brat," she muttered as she took another step out of the shadow.
"I'd suggest you go home but I wouldn't want to take any chances." Her tone didn't change except for an added hint of annoyance at the swordsman's comments.
Throwing a glance over his shoulder, Fang noticed the change made.
"I see." Looking back, his facial expression was somewhat disappointed.
"Judging by the scene, I figured you aren't much of the talker. Shame, really." Sighing out loud, Fang stepped with his left foot, one step back.
"I thought some lemon tea after a murder would be a nice gesture."
The woman took a small leap forward, landing on lower ground than the throne, the stones around her feet cracking. She spun her arms upwards and two pieces of rock thrust themselves at Fang, flying with impressive velocity. Alicia didn't feel too much like talking, seeing how it wouldn't have much of a point. She had to deal with this as soon as possible, before anyone else got wind of the way the king had died.
Lowering himself a bit, Fang would jump to the right to evade one of the rocks that would be heading his way. Landing on his feet, he would push himself to the left, to avoid the other rock. Skidding to a halt, he was tempted to throw fire back at his opponent. But seeing the damage that had already been created, he knew that every surprise would be a crucial advantage. Not to win, but to get out and away. Now he had seen who had comitted the crime, Fang knew better than to think he would be capable of winning this.
Alicia lowered herself as well, stretching her foot. She quickly flicked her hands in and forward a few times, the earth below her formed a circle, creating a smooth crack between it and the land around it. She spun and as she did, the earth in the near proximity that her stretched foot pointed at thrust itself at the fighter in form of small rapidfire. The attacks were quite light and above average at ferocity at best for now, though the surrounding area was a testimony to her witheld strength.
Though grinning, Fang wasn't really feeling lucky or postive about the situation. Flexing his fingers, he lowered himself as he focused on countering the rapidfire. Waiting for the right time, Fang's hands formed fists and slammed together. Fire was created, like the connection of the fists sparked the ignition, creating a blazing wall of fire that would have enough force to keep most of the rapidfire from him. Feeling however something at his right shoulder, Fang started to think of a plan to exit and flee the scene.
With the small pebbles and dirt incinerated, the look in the woman's eyes changed. She hopped up and flicked her hands, the earth beneath her crudely raising and surfing over the tiles, crushing or separating them with ease. She moved straight for Fang with the low, moving pillar she was on. And the fire wall would vanish, revealing that Fang wasn't on the same spot anymore.
Holding his breath, Fang felt how sweat from his brow rolled down. He had managed to use the wall of fire to hide him from her view and hide behind a rock. Staying silent, he hadn't figured a way out yet. His eyes glanced around, but every possible exit wouldn't work. It wasn't like that woman would just let him escape. Half closing his eyes, Fang had one crazy idea in mind, but he had already suffered a hit. The slight pain at his shoulder, a where a sharp stone had grazed him, reminded him politely that she wasn't trying to roll around with him.
Alicia hopped off as the pillar passed through the fire, once she was able to realize that the fighter was gone.
"Think you're smart, eh?" she yelled, sounding more annoyed than before. In the path of destruction she'd created, there was one thing that stood out. An amulet: something that the king was seen with whenever he was in public, now for the first time far away from its owner. The woman groaned.
"I'll get you yet..." She flicked her hands in and separated her legs, her knees bent perfectly into a strong and classical earthbender stance. She swung her arms out and up, causing a rather strong, yet not too powerful tremor, followed by a small wave that would pass through the ground like a bump, moving away from her in all directions, flicking up rocks that it hit.
Smart? Me? No, not really. He thought to himself. He tried to peek at the woman, hoping to catch a glance of what she was doing, but by the time he saw what she was doing, it was too late. Though he managed to stay behind the rock, Fang muttered a curse or two as he lost his balance. Falling on his back, he was forced to quickly roll to the right. At the place where his head had been a second ago, a rock shattered, slamming some debris against Fang. Coughing, the man managed to rise up, shaking his head.
"You could've asked me, you know?" He mumbled, trying to focus and ignoring the pain.
The amulet had flown over to the smashed rock where the young man was not too long ago. The woman turned to see the swordsman on his feet. She raised a wall from the ground as if lifting it with her own hands and leaned her hands on it and pushing, making it move steadily towards him and though it was much slower than the other attacks, there was little time to dawdle.
As if his motivation wasn't already that low, due knowing well that he was outmatched, Fang noticed the odd thing about her attack. Frowning, he quickly started to run and managed to evade the wall. Lowering himself, he would skid to a halt, his left hand moving to the ground before he straightened his back. She was toying with him, which was both something good as something bad.
"I suppose a deal is off the table?" Fang asked in a rather friendly manner.
The woman stopped for a moment, baffled by the question. She laughed heartily before turning to the source of the sound and moving her arms in a rising circle motion as the earth around the young man would start to rise slowly to create a dome. Perhaps she was acting a bit too sluggish, but she didn't feel like exerting herself after the long night that she'd just had.
Grabbing the handle of his blade, Fang inhaled some breath before he would pull out the weapon. With a quick slash, he would swing forth an arc of fire. The arc of fire slammed against the earth, disrupting the creation of the dome. Out of the smoke and dust, Fang would appear, jumping out. Landing on his feet, he coughed and clenched his right eye closed. He turned to the woman, hoping his chance to escape would present itself soon.
The woman groaned, angrier than she was annoyed. She let out a large grunt as the last pieces of windows shattered and the wall behind the swordsman fell towards him, closing in from the sides. The open spots were immediately highlighted by the shattered glass falling from them. Which made Fang glance over his shoulder. He could propel himself towards the place if he would use his firebending. However, that meant he would leave himself somewhat open for an attack from his foe. Taking a step back, the glass cracked underneath his boot.
"The hour is growing late, madame. I guess.... Or rather suppose that we should part ways. People will talk, you know?" He said, winking at her as he took another step back.
Alicia's eyes opened wide with rage.
"You brat!" For the first time that night, she was desperate. As a last moment's attempt, she thrust both arms up. Pillars and spikes flew forward, debalancing the structure of the building with the great movement of the huge masses with speed. They were all aimed for where Fang was. She wasn't thinking tactically; the act was simply a reflex, a last effort to capture or kill the swordsman.
The attack was rather intimidating. Even after he had noticed she was growing tired, Fang hadn't predicted she was capable of creating such a devastating attack on her own. Sheathing his sword, he turned around, running as fast as his legs could carry him. After a few moments, he would jump forward. With no glass holding him back and with the attack not being properly aimed, he hoped he would make it out. Focusing, Fang would start using his fire bending to propel himself, trying to go faster in order to stay out of range of the last attack.
The woman rushed over to the ledge, seeing the smoke as the only trace of the young swordsman. She cursed under her breath. As she exhaled and stomped her foot, the rocks blocking the door sunk. She quickly dug her hand into her pocket and cursed. She looked around, tried to sense it through the ground, but the amulet was gone. She turned quickly and ran towards some of the other rebels. She gave them a quick description of the assailant.
"I found the brat over the king's body! He killed him and bolted after a brief fight. Bring him back here!"
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