Syrasza

Anzo's relief at being reunited with the capt outweighed any amount of deck scrubbing. Wroth rubbed his chin and raised an eyebrow at the lack of Eiso. ​"And might I ask where your faithful companion is? It's not like you to leave her behind." Anzo winced slightly at that. "I sent her to get backup, I wasn't eager to solo a horde of pirates that had been able to take The Seadrake so easily."Then with a wry grin admitted," Even I know I need backup sometimes."

Looking at the crew, free if under armed, Anzo had an idea. "We are out numbed but i can at least give us the element of surprise." Motioning for every one to gather close began a quietly spoken spell. All of the crew would fade from sight and their footfalls would be muted. "Lets go, this will only last a minute." Most of the crew had been with the Seadrake when Anzo had tried something similar hiding the crew so that when they had been boarded by a particularly nasty pirate they had been able to take them by surprise. "Lets hope this works" He said as he led the way up on deck.
 
Upon the deck, most of the pirates were busy swabbing or performing duties to notice the first couple Sea Drake crew members emerge from below deck. It didn't take long, however, for them to notice thirty eight crewmen storming them.

"We're under attack!" One pirate yelled as Wroth snapped his neck and took his blade.

"We need weapon, grab anything ya can!" Wroth yelled with his stolen cutlass stretched outward towards the pirate crew. "We're takin' our ship back, boys!" And with that, the battle began.

Wroth had no problem cutting down twelve surprised and bumbling pirates in a matter of minutes. The element of surprise was on the Sea Drake's side. All around Anzo he could hear the clanging of swords against buckets, planks, chains, and other improvised weapons all arounf him. The warning bell had been rung as well, signaling the other six pirate ships in this fleet that the Sea Drake was in distress. The crew had to act quickly if they wanted to survive and not be blown to bits by six fully armed pirate vessels.

In the midst of his fighting, Anzo would spot a mage casting magic bolts down on his crew members from the crow's nest. He had already killed three, as their bodies lie charred on the ground, still smoking from the impact.
 
As the crew broke over the scattered pirates Anzo, he intended to keep the deck from getting the wrong kind of blood on it. Every time a pirate looked like he was about to land a killing blow he would be hit with a gust of wind knocking him off balance and creating an opening that veteran crew of the Seadrake couldn't possibly miss. Paying special attention to Capt Wroth, Anzo cast spells, making the pirates just slow enough that they couldn't get out of the way of the capt's cutlass. When a pirate tried to parry Wroth's blade there would be no contact, for the blade was already buried in his chest a full 10 inches from where he'd seen it. Two more charged the captain from the left and seemed to trip over air just before the engaged, easy kills for Wroth. As the bells rang out Anzo grimaced. He should have thought about silencing those, but it was too late now. A wild thought hit Anzo and he fell into his casting. A few seconds later Distress bells started ringing out on all of the pirate vessels, the confusion should buy some time.


A mage rained lighting down on the crew from the Crows nest. Killing three and leaving nothing but smoking chard remains. Damn it! Azno should have seen that coming, should have noticed the mage building that much energy. Those lives were on his hands. Cursing himself he would summon a large globe of howling wind and icy sea spray around the mage. All it would do is impede the mage's vision and soak him with freezing water. Anzo knew that any mage worth his salt should be able to figure out how to dispel it given time, and that is what he was counting on, time. He was already sprinting unnaturally fast towards the mast. Focusing his power in his feet and seemingly ignoring gravity ran up the mast. Knowing he didn't have much time he drew his blade with his right hand and muttered a spell running his left hand over the blade as weaves of dispelling covered it, he wanted to end this quickly. Nothing ended a mage faster than a blade through the heart.
 
The mage in the crow's nest stopped the icy torrent with a power word and a wave of his staff. He smiled, as he hadn't noticed Anzo's movements, and went back to gathering enough energy to zap a few more unfortunate Seadrake crew members, and possibly the mage that conjured the freezing globe. Before he could cast, however, Anzo appeared in front of him, swiftly and silently.

"Force!" The mage yelled instinctively, blasting a wave of force from his body in all directions, blowing the crow's nest walls down and possibly Anzo with them. Immediately after casting, the made vanished, teleporting to the deck and shooting balls of non elemental energy at the Seadrake's mage.
 
He followed without giving too much thought as to what he was doing. It was dark, but he figured afterwards he could follow the map and keep going. There was no need to make camp tonight, and he wanted to avoid it if he could.


"In there! go into that hole!"


"Oh, yeah, sure." Lynden said with hesitation, though his body didn't show it. He climbed into the hole and went descended down.

And descended he did. As he crept further down, he thought to turn around and go make, if only to make a torch from some of the cloth and a branch. Valia seemed to heed his thoughts, or could tell his eyes were straining more, as she spoke.


"Summon me, I will light the path. I know you can't see and we won't make it to my sister without your vision."

"Oh, right. Forgot I could do that..." He said, putting down the child. He put the map in the pack and turned away from the child, hand on the weapon, Fyrebrand.

"Remember, you will be left here if you kill me or the child." Lynden said, then drew the dagger out. He wasn't exactly sure how extactly to summon her, and figured it required him to draw the dagger.

"Come, Valia. Light the path ahead."
 
Upon speaking Valia's name, the hilt and sheath started to glow brightly, so bright that it lit the tunnel like daylight. The weapon disappeared from Lynden's hands, sheath and all, reappearing on the hip of a glowing female figure made of dark, warm orange and red colors. She had long burning locks that danced about her waist and covered her shoulders and chest. She looked very humanoid in shape, but her skin was that of fire and molten rock. Her eyes were but burning flames and she wore a skirt of fire to cover her legs.

"Gods it feels wonderful to be out of that rock!" She exclaimed, stretching her arms above her head. She turned to Lynden and the still unconscious child. "Thanks for bringing me here, but I have things to do...it 's time for you to die!"

The elemental paused for a moment with a sly grin on her face and then laughed aloud. "Ahh, not really...I'm not going to murder you...yet..." She turned back to look down the now well lit tunnel.

Lynden would notice all sorts of claw markings on the walls and even large boot prints, all seemingly from one large being.
 
The mage was dispelled his globe faster than Anzo expected. still trying to salvage his plan he summoned a spell of magic absorption in his left hand before he mounted the crows nest. The mages shout caught him by surprise, anzo had thought he was about to cast a lightning bolt. His spell absorbed the part of the blast that was going to hit him, but not the part of the blast that destroyed the rest of the crows nest that he was on. The mage was on the deck instantly. He was good. He was good and Anzo was falling shards of wood all around.


Bolts of energy where flying toward him and he was in free fall. Anzo smiled. As the bolts hit him they seemed to blast him apart into a billion pieces that rained down to the deck. Not blood and gore, but actual rain, The deck was covered in him. Out of the largest puddle the water rose up in the form of a naked unarmed boy with short hair and opalescent eyes. The water changed from translucent to anzo's natural light blue skin, and every bit of his skin was showing. The mage would be barely ten feet away, Anzo moved, seeming to phase right, then left , then right saying a word each time that would be hard to make out.Till the last phase which should have put him in front of the mage. He didn't reappear, but the mage might hear the muffled chanting behind him moments before the water on the deck under him would be filled with electricity, and the mage was still wet from the Sea spray globe and the rain.
 
Acting quickly when Anzo dispersed, the mage held his staff outward, chanting something under his breath. When the puddles formed on the ground, he systematically began freezing them. The mage had never seen someone shape shift into a liquid before, but he knew that liquids could freeze and he hopped that this would stop the blue elf. Before the mage could freeze all of the puddles, however, Anzo had already already reformed. Anzo quickly approached the mage, phase stepping all the way. As soon as the Mage saw this happening, he slammed his staff on the deck and caused waves half as tall as the masts to crash upon the deck, staggering everyone mid-fight but also drenching the whole deck.

After the waves crashed, the mage could be seen levitating, surrounded by an invisible orb, dripping water. He looked at Anzo and pointed his staff at him, causing the air around him to grow to sub zero temperatures almost instantly. Anzo would have to act extremely quickly.
 
As Anzo phased forward the mage slammed his staff into the deck. Massive amounts of magic coursed through the ship, was he trying to use the whole ship as an implement? Massive 100 foot waves rose on both sides, poised to crash on the deck. This was not Anzoi's day. He quickly creating a force bubble to hold air around him protecting him from the crashing waves . As the water receded the mage, in a sphere of some sort was levitating pointing his staff at Anzo. Anzo was quicker casting a three part dispel on the floating mage. Folowing up with a spell flinging a swirling cloud of ice shards at the bastard.
 
At her threat Lynden crouched low. He knew he wouldn't have time to turn and climb back to the surface, so he stood with knees bent, waiting for her to make the first move....

But she didn't. Instead, she turned and continued. Lynden let out the breath he was holding and followed her. A bead of sweat racing down his brow.

He made note of the wall and boot prints. Who would make boots that size?

"Be wary."
Lynden said to Valia cautiously.
 
Feather falling to the ground, the mage smirked as a barrage of ice shards came rushing towards him. This bright elf seemed clueless. With a wave of his staff and a mumbled "Ice Armor," the flying shards all conformed to the mage's will, forming pieces of magical armor all over his body. The Mage had successfully used Anzo's spell to his advantage. Now it was the mage's turn.

Spinning his staff around him wildly yet with every intention of being wild, the mage conjured a blizzard of hail and blinding snow. The whole ship would be covered in the blizzard and those left on board would freeze to death in the sub zero temperatures lest they jumped into the warmer waters. Luckily the waves had washe almost everyone overboard, along with the nude Anzo's gear.
 
Nothing pissed Anzo off more than being looked down on. With one word Anzo became wraped himself in a weave that gave him immunity to cold. Anzo was ending this right here right now, my life or his. Anzo fell into casting, the danger of the magic he was about to use went both ways. It was a tug of war, and they would wrestle for their lives, or more specifically their water.

Anzo knew he would have the element of surprise since know one in their right mind would expect someone to try something this risky. His body became transparent and seemed to grow as it absorbed the water on the deck he had counted on the cohesion property of water. Anzo met the eye of that smirking bastard.

He fully engaged the magical weaves around both of them, he would draw all the moisture from his body. Throwing all of his being into this life and death struggle. It was all simple again, he was holding a ball as all the other students tried to take it. They would be denied. He would lash yet another weave binding them. In this form in this moment he could sense all the energy and water around him, and more specifically in the mage. He would not be denied.
 
The rain was light on the evening in the northern forest of Alnos. Vrael and his companions would refuse to call the forest by it's proper name, Brushwood, and instead simply refer to it by its cardinal location on the continent. They were near the westernmost border of Lumina, near the river of Nevil.

"Are we prepared to strike against those wretched beasts?" The sword wielding Elsyne asked his brothers.

"In due time, dear brother. We must wait for Vrael to make the decision."
Alvran, the wise druid of the family spoke.

"Bah! Do you realize how long we have been waiting to destroy these fiends!?"
The hot headed brawler, Lynok, angrily asked his druid brother.

"Brothers, please, can we focus on the task at hand?"
A bow wielding voice of reason, Kalum, came from the shadows.

The group was out hunting for their dinner. They all hoped that Vrael would decide to strike this night, after their meal with their strength fully restored and their bellies full. The rain was excellent cover for the wild elves. All of them were adept at moving through difficult terrain, and the small human camp of four Benevolus squires, teenagers, and three armed trainers. They were staking out a new spot for an intermediate resting post for travelers, possibly leading to a village being built...the bane of Vrael's existence.

The group of wild elves have been spying on these humans for three days as they ventured and camped in the wilderness, acting like it was some sort of game to live off of the land rather than appreciating what the land had to offer. It sickened this family of warriors, despite Kalum's and Alvran's calm demeanor. Night was fast approaching and the rain was not letting up in the least, and it was getting worse by the hour. The sky was filled with lightning and the forest was rumbling with the sound of thunder.

Vrael led this hunt, and the hunters would not act on any prey until instructed to. No matter if they could see it or not, Vrael's word was law in this clan, he was the alpha.
 
Valia cut her eyes at the cautious Lynden. "Are you kidding? I'm a powerful fire elemental! No creature on this plane can stand against me and hope to prevail!" As Valia spoke, Lynden would see movement in the distance, slight at first, but then it became clear, a huge boulder, five feet in diameter, was flying through the air towards the group. All the while, Valia was being smart towards Lynden, not even paying attention. The source of the boulder was not in sight, it seemed to come from the darkness.
 
A battle of superior magics. Only the two mages were left on the deck. Everyone else was swimming in the warm water and killing each other trying to stay afloat. The mage controlling the blizzard focused all of his attention on Anzo, trying to maintain his level of moisture and steal Anzo's at the same time. The mage grinned again, that smug smile. Anzo could feel the pull of this rival mage, it was strong.

After a moment of pulling and fighting, that smile began to contort. The rival mage was struggling now, and Anzo could take full advantage. It seems that this other mage had expended so much energy in trying to kill Anzo, so much energy that he was nearly sapped. Anzo would find little struggle left in the man and before he died, he would pass out on the floor, nearly dehydrated. It would be up to Anzo whether he was to live or die...

No matter the decision Anzo made, he would soon hear the yelling of his Captain, hollering to his men to climb back on board the drake.
"We've won the battle, now we take it to the rest of'em to win the war!" Thirty swimming men yelled and cheered at the captain's speech. A loud commotion sounded from below deck and in the captain's quarters.

"Get those scurvy dogs men! Commodore's orders!" A voice rang out from the Captain's quarters and ninety men rushed on to the deck, ten of them wearing mages robes and wielding powerful ornate impliments.

"Yaahhhh!! Get them!...wait...where are the pirates?" One man wearing a captain's uniform asked as he lowered his sword.


"We killed them...the rest are on their way...prolly gonna blow us to bits! Good to see ya again, Malin! Oh, Cap't Malin, now isn't it?" Wroth slapped the other captain on the back and laughed heartily.

"Aye, cap'n now! Hey, get the portals ready! We've got a battle ahead of us!" Malin yelled to the ten mages. They all spread out across the ship and began chanting. "No one talk, this requires concentration..." Silence befell the crew at the order.

Only a few moments later, ten large purple discs formed strategically around the Seadrake. A white flash of light blasted from each portal and then the amazing sight of nine of the commodore's warships and the commodore's very own flagship sailed right through the portals, appearing to defend their family against pirate scum. Esio was quick to fly to her master, off of the flagship.


"Yahaha! Here to save the day again, Commodore-Colonel Svenistisi Malurnifis, at your service!" A magically amplified voice from the flagship sounded over the fleet.
 
He rolled his eyes to her as she began verbal assualt. Then something caught his eye. He looked past her, which was hard, considering she blocked the darkness well with her flames, but he saw something move. Then it was apparent.

"LOOK OUT!"
Lynden said, and dove forward and tackled the flame temptress forward a meter, hopefully the boulder would soar overhead and crash behind them. He did it impulsively, but he knew he couldn't escape by running backwards. So it was less to save Valia, if she even needed saving, and more to save himself and the boy.

Instantly the flames scorched him, and likely burned the child's arms too. He rolled off of her, patting the child quickly to remove any fire, and himself so the damage could be reduced. He was only touching her for a few seconds, so hopefully he would be more or less fine.

He left the child on the ground, away from Valia, and stood.

"There's something here, and I can't fight it alone. I need your help."
He was ignoring any pain he had at the moment, and was standing with his knees bent, ready to face anything in the darkness.
 
Valia turned around as soon as Lynden yelled for her to look out. She saw the boulder coming towards them right as Lynden tackled her to the ground. She was actually thankful, but she would never show it.

"I did NOT give you permission to touch me!" She said, picking herself up quickly. She noticed Lynden slightly burned and snickered as Lynden placed the child safely on the ground, making sure everything was okay.

Now the child was laying on the ground and Lynden was standing with his elemental, asking for her help. She shrugged.
"I might if it's worth..." She was cut short by a loud roar as a ten foot tall ogre came charging out of the darkness, headed right at Valia.

Valia grinned and attempted a very powerful fire spell against the Ogre, but only a small flame appeared on the ogre's arm, burning him enough to make him pat the seemingly diminutive flame out but not enough to slow the monster's charge.

"Wha...my...uh...I..."

The elemental was stunned. Her power did nothing. She stood there, wide eyed with her mouth hung slightly open. She had never tried using her powers on this plane before and she had no idea that the mana in this world would be different from the elemental plane. She had no practice manipulating mana here, rendering her powerful spells useless...

Should Lynden not save her, the ogre would hit her, hard.
 
Lynden grit his teeth when her flames did nothing against the beast, and she just stood there, mouth open, gaping at the ogre. He had no idea what was wrong. Perhaps ogres were resistant to fire? Maybe being underground affected her powers? Either way, they were in serious trouble now.

At the last second, Lynden tackled the flame elemental again, burning himself further. Though she was primary made of fire, it was impulse to not want to see her get hit. He grimaced and rolled off of her again, his arms hurt worse than he ever could remember, and he could smell his own flesh.
"If you're not going to use that dagger, then I sure could use it." He would wait a split second for the dagger, but if she resisted, he wouldn't reply and would dart off anyways.

He jumped while waving his flayed arms.
"WOO! OVER HERE IDIOT!" Then he ran into the darkness towards where the ogre came. The goal was to draw him with noise away from the vulnerable child and inept elemental. He thought ogres hated fire like other dumb beasts, but this one obviously didn't care too much.
 
Shaking her head after Lynden tackled her again, Valia regained her senses. It pained her to feel useless, powerless even, but then Lynden mentioned the Fyrebrand. "No you many not!" The stubborn elemental had to recover from the vicious flurry of blows to her pride...she had been saved from harm by a human twice and she could not use her powers.

The Fyrebrand had revealed itself to lynden as a long sword with a red blade coated in flame. It was not very impressive when Lynden held it, but when Valia unsheathed the weapon it took a slightly different form. The blade turned a bright white, exuding enough heat to make Lynden sweat in this enclosed tunnel, despite the cool air below ground. The flames around the blade stretched outward almost thrice the width of the blade, and they were all colors of blue and white, constantly dancing and shifting. It was very apparent that the elemental was truly meant to wield this weapon.


"WOO! OVER HERE IDIOT!" Lynden had successfully drawn the ogre's attention with his voice. This gave Valia the perfect opportunity to strike as the rage filled ogre mindlessly charged the young human.

With an evil smirk, Valia dashed towards the ogre's back, sword held out to her side. With one quick thrust, Lynden could see the ogre's stomach glowing, then, before the ogre could even move, flames shot out of his eyes, noes, ears, and mouth as his torso turned to ash. The burnt smell of flesh filled the tunnel and a thin smokescreen covered the immediate area. The burnt smell was sickening but the smoke would only be a slight bother. Should Lynden check the mostly burnt corpse, he would find that the ogre held no treasures nor coin to pillage.

"I might not be able to use my abilities to protect you, weak human, but I still have my soul." The elemental berated Lynden any chance she could, if not to bring him down, then to put herself higher than him. She caressed the blade, causing the flames to swirl around her hand and die down until they were but orange wisps and the blade reverted back to red.

"Let's get moving. I'm eager to see my sister." Valia said in a demanding tone. Should Lynden pick the child back up and carry him, Valia would sigh..."I was hoping you'd forget about him..." and continue walking, lighting the path ahead.

The tunnel seemed to go on for at least one fourth a league. The Elemental would be silent as the group walked onward, until, eventually, the group reached a large room. This was undoubtedly the ogre's living area. This room didn't contain much except for a pile of rusted and broken armor and weapons.

"The big oaf was probably fascinated with these when they were polished and shining. I can sense my sister here, though...I think..." The elemental started grabbing at the armor and weapons, tossing them aside. She dug down to the bottom of the pile until she emerged holding a kite shield with a coat of arms beautifully painted across the front. in the dead center, a blue gem, similar to the gem in the pommel of the fyrebrand, rested patiently.

Valia shoved the shield at Lynden and demanded,
"Hold it, and say 'Lilia' to bring my sister her." Valia scowled at Lynden. When Lynden touched the shield, he would notice that it wasn't hot where Valia had been touching it, in fact it was cool to the touch, like metal that had been sitting in a chilly cave for ages.
 
I could hear my brethren speak of the attack we had been planning, and while I wanted to strike now, I knew it best to wait a bit longer. I allowed them to speak among themselves as we continued our hunt. As the day went on, and we ate our food while the night fell, I simply listened to the rain crashing down upon the ground. Tonight was definitely the night; we'd soon unleash another strike at those wretched creatures that searched for more land to build upon -- more trees to cut down, more soil to ruin, more wild to destroy. Once I finished eating, I gave a quick look to see the progress of my clan, and once they were all done, I'd stand.

"It's time now. Gather your things for he strike. I want them taken care of before the sun even nears it's rise. If you're seen, you better make sure that you're the last thing that they do see."


I know it took three days for me to prepare for the attack, but there was multiple factors that had impeded me. The first was that I didn't want to strike blinded by madness, and second was that I wanted to see how they acted in the wild. I began maneuvering through the terrain and weather provided to me this night by the wild, and I halted once I neared their camp. There was only seven of them to our five. From our days of watching, it had become obvious that the four younger humans were training, and the ones that were armed were the teachers; they'd have to go first. From our positions in the trees, we'd stalk our prey as they began their nightly duties. I wanted to make sure that they were all present before I began an attack, and if they were not all there, I was going to figure out where they were. There is no one else that I trusted in more than my clan; they are, after all, all I have, so I couldn't afford to lose any of them.