Holy-ish Wrath(Icicle x Tristeel)

The girl's expression evoked an intense feeling of wrongness within him. His expression narrowed into a focused stare as she explained her situation. As she said the word, "please," he shot to his feet.

"Say no more, child. Be at peace." He waved his hand in a cross-shape and a dim aura of light blurred into existence around her. "I shall return your brother to you. Wait in the safety of your house until our return."

With this, he was off. The wellspring of adrenaline started to overflow within himself. He easily identified the path of the several creatures which went through the crops, and followed that. He was happy to find that Tsukamane was just as eager to help as he was, but didn't give her much more than a brief nod of acknowledgement - after all, he was already used to her company, and she seemed to get along just fine.

He got a strange feeling before even arriving at the edge of the crop fields. Tsukamane arrived at the edge shortly after him. She spoke. "Agreed. Time is of the essence. On me!" He led the way into the woods.

Only a minute's walk from the edge of the forest, however, Armen smelled blood. "This way - I smell something." He followed the scent and sure enough, he spotted a bunch of corpses. He analyzed them as he approached. Low ranking rebels. Probably a wandering knight's handiwork. He shuddered at the thought - they were an unreasonable lot.

Armen also saw the kid and his dog crouched in the crook of a tree's roots, seemingly hiding from something. Armen looked around, and his eye caught the glimpse of a metallic reflection. As Tsukamane was walking up, he raised his arm to stop her. He stared over at the tree he saw the metal reflection coming from, searching for something. Before long, it was all too easy to see the culprit - a wandering knight. Curse my intuition.

Armen left his sword sheathed as the knight readied himself. As the knight spoke, Armen motioned for Tsukamane to stay back and walked out toward the knight a few steps, so that he was away from the trees and bushes. He kept his hands at his hips as the knight spoke, his expression stolid. Once the knight had expressed his intent, it was Armen's turn. "You ask me how?...Then I will tell you: the lady before you is named Tsukamane - she is the one who single-handedly slayed the evil king Vrork. It is my solemn duty as the Child of Light to deliver her to King Edyl to announce the completion of my holy quest and of the sheer might and valor of this lady whom you dare to call unholy."

He pointed a finger at the knight and furled his brows. "How dare you even posit a threat of battle against me? Can you not see the sigil of King Edyl that I bear?" He gestured to it. "I know of your kind - you reject the tenants of King Edyl in favor of your own justice. But the result is nothing more than the weight of your ego - you have no holiness about you, and I will not stand to be threatened by a filthy traitor such as yourself. You have no place claiming to distinguish that which is holy from that which is not, nor do you have any claim on bearing the holiness due to King Edyl."

He drew his sword, and immediately, a bright, blinding, almost physical light filled the area around them. Armen's wrath bled out through his glare at the knight, his relentless expression bearing down on his foe. His voice echoed with the force of a gale, his armor glowing bright with power, and his hair and the dust around him flying around in the force of power exuding from his being. "I shall warn you only once, sir knight - if you oppose me, you oppose all things holy." With this, he held his blindingly bright sword at the ready. But all the while, his thoughts consisted of, I dearly hope that this will not become a recurring trend on our travels - perhaps there is a way to purify that magic rock of hers, or even to disguise it.
 
There was a brief silence after Armen words. The air flew through the trees and even through the light, making strange and mystical waves and sounds through the reduced battlefield. "Yeah! You show him, Armen!" Finally, it was Tsukamane the one breaking the silence. Still 'hidden' behind Armen, she tried not to show her powers too much. But Tsukamane was a bit tense and worried the civilian or even they could take any injury, so there was a mild vibe of dark powers floating around her.

"No! Holy law is inflexible!" The knight was starting to doubt, no longer posing such a great threat as before. "What you claim... That can't be!" Still, he refused to believe Armen's words. In his mind, Tsukamane's impure force was unable to slay any evil. In any event, such force should be under evil command! It was impossible for him to attach the idea of freedom to such power.

Yet again, that knight truly was the Child of Light, most holy being on all realms, his armour is told to be unbreakable, the same is told about his will. "No... This must be a ruse! You evil shaman! I won't fall for your feints!" The Law-bringer was struggling with himself, trying to come to some sort of peace with his perception of what was happening.

"Armen... Don't hurt him." Tsukamane spoke softly, looking at the Law-bringer from behind Armen's shoulder. That particular Law-bringer was so intense and vigorous that even a struggle with his own beliefs was a curious sight to see. He shook his head constantly and muttered things to himself all the while looking towards Tsukamane.

Eventually, he stepped back.

"I choose to believe your words, Child of light!" And then the knight picked the head of the enemy platoon leader again and walked away, oddly in peace with his decision. Law-bringers were a... Odd bunch, and while their means were a bit extremist and short-sighted, their intention was lawful.

Tsukamane rose a brow and scratched the back of her head. "Soooo... This guy tries to attack us, you almost make his head explode and then... He just walks away?" Whistling! A pretty cheerful song, as he returned to his order with the head of a powerful enemy in his hands! Tsukamane chuckled and shrugged. "Hmmm.... Help? please?" Said the mild voice of the hiding brother. "Right! We're on our way!" And so, Tsukamane made his way to the tree and helped both the brother and the pup.
 
Armen remained at the ready, his companion's comment flying past unnoticed as he stared down the knight. The sparkling energy which glowed around him continued to steadily increase until Armen saw the knight's eyes soften. He steadily decreased the output of the light and power around him as the knight mumbled to himself - not enough to notice, but enough that Armen could deescalate the situation a little. In response to the knight's accusations, Armen's expression softened. "He who seeks an explanation for all that he sees can never see the truth. Mind yourself, wanderer."

The knight continued to quarrel with himself, completely unashamed to display his inner thoughts and emotions. Tsukamane's words finally got to Armen. "Fear not, Tsukamane. Traitorous as they may be, they still work in the best interest of my liege."

Once the knight was done quarreling, and announced his decision, the light from Armen's sword was little more than sparkles. He shook it off of his sword, sheathed it, and nodded. "Wise decision. On your way then." He continued to watch the knight walking away, noting that the commoner boy was still curled up in the roots of the tree. He would note it, but Tsukamane started talking, so he turned to her. The knight started whistling the tune of, Age of the Wanderer, so Armen had to tune it out as he listened. "Those who work in chaos are always that way...heed them not. As whimsical as they seem, the unpredictable nature of their minds makes them dangerous even to the most upright of creatures."

As the boy called to them, Armen made his way over. He let Tsukamane tend to the boy first, since he was fairly sure that the boy wouldn't be as accepting of his help initially. Once the boy was on his feet, Armen pulled out a fresh apple and offered it to the boy. "I am the Child of Light, you need not harbor fear any longer. Are you hurt?" At first, the only injuries the boy seemed to have were scrapes and bruises from running. But as Armen looked over the boy, he saw that his head was caved in in the back.

"What happened that this depression formed in your skull?" Once the boy responded, he nodded. It was a strike from a weapon. He drew his blade and urged Tsukamane to stand back. "I shall mend what I can of your body, but that which your mind has lost, I cannot restore. Brace yourself, young one - healing is wrought through pain." Suddenly, his sword flashed with bright light and he brought the sword down straight at the kid's head, right where the injury was.

His sword stopped suddenly with the sound of a bell chime as it hit the boy's skull, and the light poured onto his head like a fountain. The boy screamed in pain for another twenty or so seconds as Armen sheathed his sword and threw a little aura of light around the boy. After that, the boy suddenly stopped, and his injuries were sewn shut and righted. After the boy responded a bit, Armen nodded. He did a little healing for the dog as well, but its healing only evoked a shrill whine from it. "Tsukamane, please escort him back to his house. I will ensure that these bodies never rise again."

After that, he drew his sword, rained holy fire upon the corpses until not even a speck of blood remained, then ran to catch up with Tsukamane and the boy.
 
"Huh..." They may bee unpredictable and dangerous, but Tsukamane saw a liberating aura to them. Some sort of freedom through ignorance that couldn't be matched by anything she had seen so far. Granted she had seen very little, but still, that Law-bringer guy would be someone she would remember from now on. "That's a shame... He seemed quite contempt with his beliefs." Noted her.


Even if the knight's words were comforting, the boy was still fearful and so his story was full of stutter and sobbing. It looked like just when he had found the dog, a bunch of evil creatures ran into him. A club to the head, that was the why of his injuries. "You're lucky that knight was wandering this area. You should be more careful in the future." Tsukamane was still a bit short on speech-like words, but she was learning from the best!

Healing looked painful, and the boy did resisted at first. But in the end everything turned out to be all right. There was no memory loss or anything, so this small story did had a happy ending after all. "Yes! I'll escort him." Tsukamane nodded eagerly, minded to make Armen feel proud of her. It was her first 'solo' assignment after all!

"Let's go! Stay close!" Said Tsukamane. "Woof!" Replied the dog.


She was about to enter the crop fields again when she saw Armen closing on them. "We're here!" Tsukamane rose a hand so Armen could see her better. "Nothing to report! The mission has been a success so far!" She looked very serious about this whole escort thing.

The reunion was as hearty as you could imagine. There were tears, hugs and barks of joy. "Thank you hero!" Said the little girl, hugging Armen with all her tiny might. Once the feelings had settled, the boy spoke again. "Thank you, for healing me and returning me back home safe." He nodded. "Also.. We don't have much. Our parents died a couple of seasons ago and the harvest has been regular... But I have one more thing to ask of you." The boy looked at Armen. "If you ever see that knight again, the one who defeated all those evil creatures... I never had the chance to thank him properly."
 
With all the bodies destroyed, Armen surveyed the area. He had thought to use a bit more magic to revert the damage caused to the trees and the ground, but he ultimately decided to leave it as it was - those who would pass by would deserve a reminder that this was the land patrolled by the wandering knights.

Armen turned and wandered back over to the house which the two children lived in to find that Tsukamane had accomplished her task. Part of him had worried that the knight would try ambushing her on the way back, but in hindsight, he could only attribute it to baseless fear. He grinned as his companion waved over at him and yelled about the success of her mission. "I see! Good work!" He grinned a bit more as he walked over to the house, shaking some of the husks and grasses out of the joints of his armor. Hope I didn't trample many of those plants...

Unexpectedly, the hero found the little girl from before affixing herself to his waist in a teary embrace. His emotions immediately started to conflict with one another due to her positioning, but he patted her head and grinned warmly "it was my honor and duty - think nothing of it." Once he managed to get the girl pried off of his waist, he felt less awkward and set his hands at his hips as he listened to the boy's words. His eyebrow rose a bit as the boy asked for a favor - and the content of his favor cause his other eyebrow to rise as well. He felt his chin for a second, deep in thought.

If I see that knight again, I'll certainly be able to tell him. But anywhere the knight goes, those around him weigh their lives on his whims. I fear that he may view the boy less favorably when next they meet. So how should I retort?

His eyes shifted over to the field of plants for a few seconds, then back over to the boy. He wore a stern expression and returned his hand to his waist. "I am not entirely sure our paths shall ever cross again, given that I never received his name nor saw his face..." he bit his lower lip, thinking again for a few seconds. After a bit more thought, however, his expression softened. "But fear not. On my honor as a knight, I promise that you shall eventually get your chance to thank him."

He spoke with the chlldren about their parents and their harvest awhile longer, refusing their attempts to reward him for his efforts and subtly encouraging Tsukamane to do the same. Once the time to say goodbye had arrived, the Child of Light bid them farewell and returned to the road with Tsukamane at his side. They continued to walk along for awhile, then Armen smirked and commented "I bet you could've easily handled that knight on your own, couldn't you?"

....

That night, after a long journey filled with little more than easily scared wild animals and reluctant predators, the two companions found themselves on the pinnacle of a hill in a wide field, with two tents and a small campfire. Above the fire was a spit, with several vegetables and meats slowly roasting away. The camp was silent, since both persons were tired from their efforts - Armen especially so, due to his various uses of magic. The atmosphere was still around the campfire, and Armen was deep in thought, wondering about the days events - the wandering knights in particular.
 
And how could have Tsukamane asked of anything from them! The little they had they needed it! it would have been wrong to accept anything those two orphans could have offered them! So, needless to say Tsukamane firmly refused any offer they... Well, offered them. With the exception of the ones coming from the pup. The little dog was minded to repay them with slobber. Like tons of it. The small thing had so much joy in him it almost seemed like it was about to implode or something. "AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!! WHY ARE YOU SO CUTE!"

And, yeah, Tsukamane was taking all of it. And would have been playing with the dog all day long if it wasn't because her Holy partner and their duty were calling for them. "Ayyyy! I hope we see them again!" Said her, still waving her hands goodbye as they walked away from the village.


Then she let out a sigh. "Maybe. I don't know." Said her with a mild shrug. You bet she could have handled that knight. No 'super-secret-craft' armour could have saved him of the small ball of fury Tsukamane could turn into. But it seemed like the issue the girl had wasn't in her capabilities but in her morals. For now she just shrugged, again, and looked at the scenery, trying not to think about it too much.

Because something that had been bothering her lately was the fact that she could think about right and wrong now. Not only that, but also... Kind of sense it on others. It wasn't like she could see if others' intentions were 'good' or 'bad', it was more like instinct, as if her guts told her. Weird.

"I..." She, although dubious, interrupted Armen train of thought. "Things aren't good or bad, aren't they?" Wondered the girl, who was slowly falling victim of that mesmerising 'something' the fire had. "I mean, there isn't like... A correct and wrong answer to everything. Always." She let out a short sight. "Sometimes things just... Aren't either good or bad?" Finally Tsukamane looked at Armen.

"That night, the one from earlier today. If it wasn't because of him, the boy and his dog would be dead, right? One would think that would make the knight good, even if his intention wasn't to save them. I mean, he didn't meant no harm to the boy... and he fought evil. That makes someone good... But on the other end... He did tried to attack us, well, me to be precise. But... For his actions, we've already established he should be good so... Either things are not always good or bad... Or I'm... Evil?"
 
The Child of Light wiped another helping of sweat from his brow, sitting on a rock next to the fire and slowly turning the spit about to keep the food cooking evenly. The sun had not yet fallen beneath the horizon, but it would have if they had gone to the bottom of the hill. In fact, Armen surmised that it might be possible to witness the sunset twice if they sat at the bottom until it went out of view, then walked to the top of the hill and watched from there. But such thoughts were quickly pushed from his mind, as more pressing matters came to the forefront of his mind.

...and if I attempted to talk him down without a display of power, and he initiated, he would be forced into a fight to the death as per his hubris. But what then was his initial reasoning? Surely he saw something in her...

He jumped as he suddenly recognized Tsukamane's voice, self-consciousness flooding over him. He quickly corrected his stern expression and continued to turn the spit, realizing that he had stopped moving it moments prior. He then looked over at her, and perceived that she, too, was thinking hard about something. As she spoke, he was surprised to find that she was not too far from the thoughts that he had been sifting through as well.

"Good and bad, huh?...Is that all?..." His slight playfulness trailed off toward the end of this statement, then he paused, formulating an explanation in his head that wouldn't reveal his own suspicions.

Once he got it, he looked over at her, still turning the spit, and started to speak. "According to the laws of logic, you're right - sometimes there is no right answer to a situation, since we never have all of the details available to us. In example, it is neither good nor bad for me to sharpen my sword on a daily basis, with no outlying context. If I have been told not to sharpen my sword by a superior, it would be evil to do so, whereas if I have been told to do so by a superior, it would be good to do so. But even then, without any other context, sharpening my blade also has repercussions in terms of its use." He draws his sword as an illustration. "What I do with a sharpened sword results in different repercussions than what I do with a dull one." He then swings the sword and makes a single, sharp stabbing motion. "A sharpened sword can kill my enemies, whereas," he sheathes it, "a dulled one can kill me. If I were to disregard my duty and leave my sword dulled, such an act of laziness would be evil since it would prove to be an obstacle to the good goals I am responsible to achieve."

He eyes Tsukamane to see if she understands the analogy, but her response seemed to align with his expectations. "The point of that explanation is that even an action which seems to have no 'goodness' or 'evil' to it has repercussions." He looks up at the sky, observing the stars for a few seconds before looking back to her. "It is my belief that, as a result, there is no neutrality, only the prior-imperceptible goodness or evil of the result from actions, the likes of which occur despite your best or worst intentions." He then points over at Tsukamane momentarily, allowing his hand to fall as he speaks. "Those who deserve to be called 'good' will take action to cause good repercussions, and those who desere to be called 'evil' will do the opposite. Anyone who does both deserves neither of those titles."

He continues to turn the spit in silence for a few seconds to allow his words to sink in a little, then, just to be sure that he got his point across, he continues slightly further: "Tsukamane, that knight lacked regard for the repercussions of his actions, instead relying on his prior experience to guide him towards good results. While his intentions were for good, he lacked the awareness necessary to recognize you separately from those he had seen prior. His hubris clouded him from seeing your actions as anything but a ruse. It mattered not what the content of your character was - the nature of your power was enough evidence for him to consider you evil."

With this, his expression softened a little and he stood up, still turning the spit, and checked on the food. "Alas, you need not fear about your own morality, for it cannot hide from you or show up unexpectedly. All creatures are just as capable of both good and evil as any other." He frowns after saying this, and pauses, his mind filling with glimpses of those whom he has felled over the years. His voice trails off in the next few words. "But no matter how capable they are, it is always regrettably easier for them to choose and to remain evil."

Armen remained quiet several minutes thereafter, finding that the food was still undercooked, and sat back down, his expression darkened by thought once more.

...........
 
Tsukamane looked at Armen intently, trying real hard to listen and understand the reply to her question. She could have never imagined her doubts could have such a long and detailed explanation! It even had analogies and examples! The girl was elated by such detail and interest. Of course, she wasn't getting half of what he was trying to explain, but the she understood to other half... Which she hoped it was the important half!

The girl would slightly tip her head to a side when she had a rough time understanding something, and would nod heartily when she understood it. "Good repercussions and remain lawful. Got it!" Said her cheerfully. And because of her nature, something inside of her was pushing her to speak more. But there was something that wasn't shining as brightly as usual in Armen. Tsukamane noticed that and decided not to go chatting around like a bored brat.

In any event, Tsukamane knew she wouldn't be able to help him as much as he was able to help her, and breaking his train of thought wouldn't help him at all. So for the time being she decided to just remain silent and look at the skies. Skies on this part of the wall were really, really pretty, and Tsukamane often found herself mesmerised by such beauty.

So mesmerised the only thing that could take her out of her self induced hypnosis was the toasty smell of food about to be well cocked and ready to eat. She had been so hungry as of lately... Trukamane was convinced is was because of the stone and all the power she had running through her body now. Still, seeing how much food a girl her size could eat was impressive! "Ahhh... That smells delicious. I can't wait! How longer until its done?"
 
....

Once again, the child of light found that his thoughts were interrupted by his companion's curiosity. He rubbed his eyes briefly and looked over to her to focus on what she was saying. Food...right. he looked over at the spit, the likes of which his arm and hand were still turning absent-mindedly. He got up and inspected the food pretty close, holding his breath and keeping his head out of the smoke, but close enough that he could see the texture of the meats. There were 6x 3lb cubic chunks of gamey meat on the spit, each of which Armen magically shaped using several odd pieces from the corpses of the creatures that they got through a good hunt. Each chunk was sizzling as the occasional tiny droplet of fat rolled over it, soaking in the smoke and caramelizing the surface.

After a few seconds of observation, once Armen was more sure about the state of the meat, he tore his head away, took a deep breath, and sat back down. "I'd say...two or three minutes. Maybe five. The outside is good, but those're pretty thick slabs of meat, so the inside's probably only just now getting hot." He reached over, lifted up a stick, and stoked the fire with it a bit to keep it nice and hot, then sat back down and continued moving the spit. However, not willing to let her question slip, he turned to her and playfully asked, "you think you can hold out until then? I've got plenty of salted meats, veggies, and breads from town if you can't."

...

Five minutes later, Armen got up from the flat rock he was sitting on, pulled out his sword, and channeled some energy through it. He tapped the rock with the sword, bathing it in light, then placed the sword down on it and picked up the spit from the center-point. "Alright now, help me get it off the spit if you would be so kind..." He grunted as he lifted it, doing so from a rather awkward angle so as to not burn his clothes in the fire, then set it vertically up on the rock, with the turning-side high and the pointed end against the rock. Once she approached, he continued, "...just push them down or cut them off the spit and put them on the rock. We don't want to attract animals with the oils tonight."

...

After all the meat was served up, Armen broke up the makeshift spit and tossed it into the fire along with the two forked sticks set up to hold it in place. He then turned over to the rock and, using his sword, sliced the chunks which Tsukamane hadn't already claimed into thin, perfect slices. With that, he commented, "Eat all you can. I'll salt whatever isn't used." Then he started carefully attempting to eat the meat without getting his hands or face messy. It was a trying task, to be sure, but by the time he had eaten several pounds of the meat, his shirt and sleeves only had three or four oil stains in them. He looked over himself to be sure that was it, then placed an oily finger against the sword and caused all the oil, suit and meat to burn away in bright light.

With his hands clean, he grabbed the sword more securely, caused it to start glowing dimly, and cut into the air with it, opening the portal to the area where the supplies were. He reached in, pulled out a handfull of salt, and sprinkled it over both sides of the remaining strips of meat, although there were only a few, and then tossed them into the supplies and closed the portal with another odd swipe of his sword. Much like with his hands, he placed the sword against the rock next, causing bright light to burn away the rest of the oils and meats, leaving no trace nor smell behind. Thereafter, he found a more comfortable seat in the grass near the fire and sat there. It wasn't dark enough for them to sleep yet, and he was on first watch anyway, so he got comfortable and looked over to Tsukamane, to see what she was doing.
 
"I can try holding out.... But I don't know... I'm so hungry I'm starting to look at the rocks with gluttony!" While no one in his sane mind would think anyone would actually be so hungry as to eat rocks, it somehow sounded feasible coming out of Tsukamane's mouth. In any event, she could wait for three minutes for sure. After having waited weeks for some food in the past, three puny minutes felt like mere seconds to her.

"Cutting? Yes!" Maybe it was because she was a bit too afraid of hurting Armen, but damn was the girl sloppy. She managed to cut loose some of the bits, but the other half she had to push it off the stick with her own hands. "Ew... It's sticky." Said her with a smile, playing a bit with the oils on her fingers. Not like she cared that much... In fact, seeing how she ate her food stated pretty clearly how little she cared about getting stained.

It was... A spectacle. She teared and clawed through the meat, often using tinybits of her powers to help her ravage the meat with her teeth. Needless to say by the end of the meal she had spots of oil almost all over her. Even a couple on her back... How was that even possible!?

"Ahhhh! That was so goooooood!" Said her with a sated smile. "I never thought something cooked on a camp-fire could be so tasty. Last time I tried something like this... Pffff.... That rat I roasted wasn't anywhere near as good as this." Tsukamane nodded.

The girl had been paying attention during the meal, mostly to the part in which Armen used his super-awesome magic to clean himself! She was minded to learn how to do that trick. Maybe it would have been better to ask him first... But Tsukamane wanted to figure out this one herself. "Huh..." Nope. At fist only destructive magic came out of her will. "Ugh..." She tried it again, this time with similar results. She was making a mess of her immediate surroundings, carving small crevices on the ground around her.

At least she wasn't breaking anything. "Hmmm..." Third time's the charm? Not this time. In fact it took her well past the dozen attempts to get somewhat near to what she had seen Armen do. But 'somewhere near' was so much for her that it made her cheer in joy. "Aaaayyyy! I made it!" Said her, more lie a whisper to herself. With such unskilled hands, she would take the next couple of hours to clean herself, probably more since she seemed unaware of the fact her hands were greasy too, and anything she touched ended up oily and dirty.
 
As he was cleaning himself off, he was happy to hear a compliment from her. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm well-practiced at cooking oily meats like wolf, pig and cow. Rat meat and other lean meats are harder to cook over a fire." By the time he had finished cleaning up his hands and the rock that the meat was sliced on, and after he finally got comfortable, he recognized that Tsukamane was attempting to do something with her magic. At first, he watched her, perplexed and entirely unaware of her goal. From what he could tell, she was focusing on her own skin and clothes, but all she managed to do was slash a bunch of things around her. He was about to ask her to stop when she suddenly cried out with joy.

Armen raised an eyebrow. "Made what?" Her response drew his eyes to her front, which was spattered with blotches of oil and other grime. "You seem unfamiliar with transforming your energy. You're going about that entirely wrong." After her brief retort, he sighed and rose to his feet. "Your magic manifests as blades of air, right?" He held out his hand, his palm facing up, and a little mote of bright yellow flame sparked into existence. "Mine manifests as bright flames. Just like your blades of air cut everything, my flames burn everything - that is, unless I transform them." The flame in his hand then suddenly exploded into steam and quickly collected into a ball of water. Thereafter, the water started violently convulsing, then exploded and turned into a miniature whirlwind from which small blades flew out and vanished a few inches away, swirling around on his palm. The whirlwind then settled down, dissipating and revealing that within it was the yellow flame from before.

"While you cannot change the way your magic manifests, once it's out, you can transform it into another form." He then waved his hand, and the fire vanished. He reached across his hip and drew out his sword. "You've seen me use this many times now, haven't you? It's name is Adamant - it is an unbreaking sword which I crafted using resources given to me by the good King Edyl once I received my title. Because it cannot break, I release vast amounts of my energy into it, then transform that energy to do something useful." By way of example, the sword then filled with bright light with a million tiny flickering flames extending shortly from the blade's edge and flat, then he swiped it through the air and a wave of wind whooshed up into the air above him.

After a few seconds, he sheathed it and looked over to her. "Now, my sword works well for me because it cannot break no matter how much magic I set into it - after all, flames cannot burn that which they cannot consume. But your magic is a little different - you might need to find some other way to manifest your energy before you can easily transform it." He continued to watch her for several seconds, offering a few tips when she seemed to be getting frustrated. As time passed, he found that he had a smile across his face once again. Perhaps I don't need to explain as much as I'm used to. It seems that she learns better by doing than she does by listening.

Before long, the sun had set and the fire was starting to flilcker. "We have tomorrow to practice as well, so get some sleep - the more magic you use, the hungrier you'll get." With that, he took his sword and planted it into the ground, sending energy several yards away from the site in all directions, then sheathed it and, in his comfortable spot, lay down and went to sleep. He was confident that his magical alarm would keep them safe until he awoke for second shift, but he still sneaked in a peak over at her before going to sleep for real.

...
 
There were many 'whoa', several 'ahhhh...' and a few 'ohhh' too. The girl just couldn't stop being amazed by the amount of cool stuff the knight was able to pull off. And just when she thought he wouldn't be able to impress her any more, he goes and does his tricks with the sword. That granted him a 'whaaaaaat'. "No way!" Said Tsukamane, still agape at his display of wonder. "I want an indestructible sword too!" Said her with a smile, silently adding unbreakable sword to her mental grocery list.

And she was next. And her display of wonder was... Not wonderful at all. She had mastered the whole slicing blades of death, but transforming them into anything else was not as simple as Armen made it look. "Arrrgghhhh! Transform already!" And a bunch more of blades cut the air above her, making pitched sounds as it did. "Ugh..." She looked frustrated for sure, but with the reassuring help of the knight she continued through.

In the end... Well, she managed. Although it may have not been the result someone would have expected out of someone as powerful as her. After much trying, Tsukamane made it so the blades didn't disappeared, but remained in the air for a few seconds before they lost all their cutting edges and broke into tiny pieces, falling slowly before finally vanishing into nothingness. Basically, she had turned her deadly blades into shining confetti. And you can bet she was happy about it.

"Yay!" She cheered in a very soft manner, dancing alone under the siver-ish confetti she now knew how to make. May not be useful magic, but it was fun none the less.

But Armen was right! They better get some sleep! Resting sounded like a good idea, and if using too much magic made her hungry... If she kept doing so much confetti, tomorrow she would end up having an entire cow for breakfast. "Alright." Said her with a innocent smile in her face, heading to her sleeping spot. Yet again, the girl had no issues to find sleep. And snore like a pirate-demon. It was really baffling to see such a adorable and small person made such hellish noises.
 
...

Armen woke up in a panic twice that evening. The first time, a rabbit had wandered into the area he had set up the alarm over. He scared it off to try and get its friends from wandering over as well, then went back to sleep after modifying the spell to ignore small rodents. The second time, a wild dog had wandered into the perimeter and Armen punted it several hundred feet away to keep its pack from joining in. The rest of the night was peaceful, but there were plenty of bats, owls, and cicadas around to keep it from being quiet.

By the time the sun rose, Armen was armored up and ready to go, although he couldn't help but yawn a few times. He pulled out some veggies and meat from the storage space for the two of them to eat before heading off. The next two days passed by very quickly and uneventfully, as Tsukamane practiced her magic use, doing a bit of confetti here, a bit of weird random shapes and energies there, and a very rare bit of actual spellcasting. By the time the afternoon of the third day of travel rolled around, Armen was cautious, as he was sure that there were dangerous creatures wandering around in their area, but hadn't seen nor heard any yet.

As he clanked over a set of tree roots, his sword at the ready, he gestured over to Tsukamane to look off to the right. "Watch out in that direction for now. I'm getting the sense that something's stalking us." He kept a look out to the left, his eyes scanning tirelessly through bush after bush, canopy after canopy. But no matter how far he looked, nothing appeared to him. In his frustration, he drew his sword and sent magic energy into it. "Let's stop for a second. I'm going to try something."

He stopped in a suitable spot cleared of vegetation, then planted the sword into the ground. Short waves of energy started to shoot through the ground, as if in a shockwave, going further and further through the ground. However, the very first thing that he learned from the spell, he needed no magic to perceive - the ground below them was crumbling away. He quickly ripped the sword out of the ground, shouting, "Run!" But before he could get one solid step into the ground, he found it give out below him. He desperately reached out for a hold on a tree root, but his armor dragged him down faster than he could react.

Armen panicked and immediately shoved tons of energy into his sword, then swung it as hard as he could downwards, firing a bolt of bright light down, but he couldn't see where it ended, and all that it illuminated was the occasional irregular rock wall. He looked over to see Tsukamane falling not too far beside him, and, over the force of the wind, shouted, "Over here!" He then prepared another spell through his blade, coating it with bright, white flames, and wiped the flames off, onto his hand. He then sheathed his sword and reached over to Tsukamane with his other hand. After a few fumbled attempts, he grabbed her by the wrist and quickly clenched his other hand, as if grabbing hold of something in the shimmering white light.

With that, he groaned and they screeched to what seemed like a halt, slowing down immensely. He barely maintained his grip on her wrist through his gauntlet, and felt the strain on his shoulders getting greater as he continued focusing on his hand. A few seconds later, they slammed into a sloped, rocky surface and rolled down onto a platform of stone bricks. With that, Armen released Tsukamane's hand and, with restless breathing, clambered off of his chest and onto one knee, looking around as he held onto it with both hands. He soon realized that it was too dark to make out the finer details, so he drew his sword shakily and shone it around as he coated it with white flames once again. He gritted his teeth to take his mind away from the pain, and realized that the stone bricks they were resting on was hand-carved and that everything was slightly reddish, including them.

Once he caught his breath, he turned to Tsukamane and, as he looked her over, he asked, "are you hurt?"
 
One would think that someone with a trinket as powerful as the one Tsukamane had would know how to fly... How to float at the very least! But noooooo... All she used it for was to trow around glorified knives and make stupid confetti out of them. Tsukamane felt pissed about it! "Yes!" She replied, suddenly realising she was... Never mind. She shook her head, dusting it off of a bunch of that red-coloured powder that seemed to be sticking everywhere.

"Yes. And... Thanks. Are you good?" Said her, in a much more Tsukamane-style manner. She even beamed a smile at him! It was time for her to do her part and try to figure out where Armen had... Where they had gotten into. "You know this place?" Wondered her, eventually getting up and coughing very lightly. Curious of nature, she was soon sticking her tiny nose everywhere! Trying to decipher symbols that were just images and find a solution to a labyrinth that seemed to have just one path.

Captain obvious came back to the charge. "Seems like this path takes us deeper into the... Place." Said her with another shrug. The other way had been blocked by all the rubble and the way up... You could barely see the light coming from the hole on the ceiling. Going deeper into the rabbit-hole seemed the only way to find an exit.

"Brrr... biscuits! It is cold in here!" Said her, rubbing her arms with her hands. Honestly, it wasn't so cold. Sure, it was a bit chill down here, but nothing the clothes she was wearing didn't protected. She was just whining because that's what she did. Whine and be an annoyance all day... "Have you heard that... Shhhh!" Said her, suddenly stopping. "Shhh!" She insisted. "Quiet, Armen! Your armour makes so much nose!"

Truth is there was something in there with them. Something that ran around making puny 'click' 'click' noises. Like the small paws of rats running would but... Bigger and somewhat more civilised. In any event, that was no excuse for Tsukame to be so... Rude? Even at being rude she fell short.
 
Armen sighed in relief after hearing her response. "Of course. I'm glad you're alright." He reached out to help her to her feet, but realized that his shoulder was disconnected. "Actually..." He groaned and let his arm hang limp, his sword clattering to the ground. After the pain subsided, he quickly held his arm out and, using his other hand, popped it back into the socket. After doing so, he felt mild relief and went to pick his sword back up again, still breathing at an elevated rate. "This place?...No idea. I have never seen nor heard of it in my life."

It seemed that Tsukamane had already started to wander around, and was looking at stuff as he got himself back into working order. He quickly shambled over to her, still trying to recover from the fall, and nodded mindlessly as she indicated that there was a path that they could follow. After indicating for her to lead the way, he noted that she was starting to complain about the coldness. "Of course...now that I think about it, we should've bought more clothes in town. I wish you'd reminded me."

A few minutes later, once she started speaking again, he was surprised to find that she suddenly stopped. He readied his sword and looked around, wiping cold sweat from his forehead that hadn't evaporated yet. But he soon realized by her reaction that it wasn't danger that she stopped for - it was the noise from his armor. "It's not that loud, is it?" He stamped his feet a few times to indicate, but she quickly shushed him again. "I can't very well change how it's built now that it's unbreakable, now can I? What do you want from me?"

But once he stopped moving, he heard a slight sound, almost like a pin drop. He turned towards it, but there was nothing there but a wall. "I just heard something. We should get a move on." He paused. "After that wind anchor spell I used, I'm not willing to risk using my reserve of energy to silence it. It was just oiled last week!" After he started walking along again, he said, "how about this: why don't you make a spell that can quiet down my armor?"
 
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