Those Who Beat The Flames (IC) (Closed)

Xenia took a long hard look behind the girl, admiring the way the sun crashed against leaves and set beautiful shadows and rays of light onto a clean forest floor. It may have been littered with tall grasses and withering flowers, but that side of nature was the beauty that people once flocked too, the peace that soothed even the wildest of criminals. Then she pivoted, tossing a more casual glance over her own shoulder where the sun became fleeting. The thickness of what lay not a few hundred yards ahead made her skin prickle in defensiveness.

"Well, I guess you've been picking the perfect days to pop in for a visit." There was a harshness in her voice she didn't intend to let out. She climbed high into the mountains to not be forced to see the facade these new trees put out. This wasn't the same peaceful forest that stood years ago and the fact that it was pretending to be was shameful, but what was worse was that people believed it.

With the heel of her boot, Xenia drew a deep line between the stranger and herself in the dirt. The questions shot at her were ignored entirely and she looked up to meet the girl's eyes.

"Come and find out." She said blandly, no malicious intent and yet no kindness either. "Just be prepared for so-"

The violent scream of a dying man echoed through the vegetation and Xenia couldn't help but cringe.

"Yeah. That."
 
Thaniel's frown deepened the more the human spoke to him. He absolutely hated being talked down to, and he was seconds from simply cutting his throat as he said, 'woodsman'. "Human," he said, his dark eyebrows pressed together, "your king burned my forest to the ground five years ago. Tell me why I should care if a human-killer escapes into my forest? Besides, if he attempts to remain in my forest, I will kill him."

The wood elf fixed his dark green eyes upon the human, and took a slow step forward. "This is your final chance, human. Leave, or die." The foliage moved closer menacingly, some of the branches of the trees shivering with an invisible wind.
 
Shena paled at the sound that cut through the tranquil air like a arrow. She wasn't weak. She had practiced this. As a child, one of the only friends she had (a pale boy that had since left the capital) loved doing nothing more than to play knights with her, and as she grew older, and the fears of the world grew potent, the people that had cared for her had taught her - really taught her - how to defend herself.

She'd nearly killed an armed forager last year, for goodness' sake! She'd shoved a sword into his arm and sent him crying about how a "girl" wasn't supposed to know how to fight.

It was just a scream; and it wasn't even that close (or she hoped it wasn't). Her hand moved to the blade, but then stopped. "I'm in too deep," she said, letting the mule beneath her take a few steps backwards. "The despicable one - is he still here? Is that what this is...?"

Her thoughts were reeling now at the thought of the infamous outlaw, and she struggled to hold onto them. She'd made friends in these woods! It was as if, between now and three days ago, when she'd last visited, that the forest seemed to have risen to object to her presence; to betray her. "Five years," she breathed. "I've been visiting for five years. Is it Ryfia? Does she not want me in this part of her wood?"
 
Vallus remains holding his sword tight in his hands, breathing coming from inside his metallic helmet. He looks around, his eyes sheltered by the cover of the helmet as many gears in his head whirled around, trying to think of a suitable battle tactic to win. This human was clearly ruthless, and was protective of his woodland. But if he continued to block the path, then the murderer would easily be able to get away and hide here - and that would not please Atmos at all.
"You care not for the death of an innocent woman? Little have I known of such a coldhearted man. Stand aside. I care not for your problems with my king, nor do I care for the king himself. I am the servant of Atmos herself, and her on my side will be all I need. Cur." He adds, slowly walking to the side. The foliage seemed to be moving closer and closer to him, almost as if it were alive. Vallus aimed to keep the talk going, and this was perfect for he could regain his stamina. Already, his breathing was slowing against the metallic rasp of his helm, and his stance was growing stronger.

Continuing to walk to the right, Vallus manages to stand in a spot where the sky was above him and the leaves above were few, and as he does so the blue sky reflects brilliantly off his sword, resulting in a light blue aura gently at the tip of his blade.
"You dishonour the Gods with your injustice. Step aside, unfaithful, or I warn you, I will show you her brilliance." Vallus says threateningly, and he stabs his glowing blue sword into the ground, and a small circle of blue, whispering flames surround him, driving away the creeping foliage. As he did so, the emblem of the two clouds and sun appeared to be also shining brightly, and the slits in his helmet visor were emitting a brilliant blue light. He points the sword at the elf, ready to serve justice if need be.
 
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Xenia cool expression shattered and a gut aching laugh ripped through her, one she couldn't contain no matter how much she tried. This girl was far too naive for her own good. How had she made it so far into the forest without getting attacked by one of those disgusting highway men? Despite the stranger mentioning two of her most touchiest subjects, the smile on her face remained, neither kind nor cruel, but belittling and amused.

"If the despicable one still wanders these forests, I can assure you he is not having a fun time." Her smile turned into a crooked smirk at the manhunt that the king may have called off, but the criminals continued. Her eyes fell on the mule that shifted backwards and she couldn't help but admire the intelligence of the beast of burden. You see danger, hear danger, feel danger and you run from it. Not towards it.

"Maybe you should take a page from your friend's book." She couldn't help the comment, her shoulder's shaking in an inaudible chuckle. "Or maybe if you want to question this forest so much, you should search for the wood elves that claim the above territory as their own."

Xenia shifted away, moving herself out of the clear path that would lead the girl into the thick brush.

"I'm sure they will be pleased to see you, lady... what was your name again?" She wasn't sure why she asked such a question; she didn't care for the answer, but she knew that once that girl slid towards the mountains she would be lost forever. As cold as her heart may be, Xenia would never deny someone a prayer for the after life.
 
"Shena," she said, too stunned to formulate a witty reply to anything else the stranger said, or even ask her name. "Just Shena."

Her eyes moved from the darkness looming, to the sneering stranger, then down at the ground, to look at the shadows. If there was one thing she had, it was patience not to be goaded into things. She'd spent enough time around drunks for that. And the shadows were saying that it was close to high noon.

She glanced one last time to the dark, leafy mess of the deep forest, then let the mule take a few more steps back. "They told me his name is Ned," she said, reaching forward to pet the beast's forehead. "And you're right. I'm taking his advice. I'm not enough of a hero to try... that," she said, gesturing to the path. "I'm going home."

She turned Ned around. He seemed relieved to be heading away.

"Are you coming this way too?" she asked the stranger.
 
Xenia allowed her surprise to show faintly, her eye brows rose as she nodded in apparent approval of the girl's decision. Her eyes shifted towards the darkness again and she couldn't help but be curious as to the scream that occurred. Even if the land wasn't her land anymore, she didn't like the idea of blood shed in it and silently she hoped that the noise they had heard was simply a man that wasn't watching where he was going. Hopeful thinking, yes she knew, but hope was all she had to hunger.

Even though she heard her, she didn't acknowledge the name presented to her, not until she heard the mule's name. The animal's relief was apparent and that did draw the smallest of smiles from her face, one that faded away immediately at Shena's voice.

"Yes." she answered simply, slipping the arrow into her sleeve again and walking ahead of her and Ned. It would look less suspicious if she walked back into town with someone else, especially a young girl. Xenia cocked her head upward, eyeing the place of the sun as she paced forward. "It looks to be high noon."

It wasn't hard to traverse the dirt roads back toward town, but she felt uneasy as she saw other disturbed paths that she could only assume Shena hadn't been the cause of due to the lack of hoof prints. Despite her promise to herself, Xenia felt the need to engage the girl and ask.

"Did you see anything or anyone on your way out?"
 
Shena followed behind, comforted by the simple presence of another person - though she didn't seem quite as friendly as some of the other people she encountered in the woods. She was glad when she initiated a conversation. Anything but the heavy silence between two people that were close enough to speak.

"Not today, but I see hunters frequently," Shena replied. "And there are also a lot of men that band up and hunt the despicable. I always thought they were just looking for an outlet for their anger, but..." She let her voice trail away, then shifted the topic. "They're always tense when they're out here in the woods, but there's usually at least one person in the groups that knows me. The men that lead it meet in a tavern not far from my home."
 
"Hihihi yay! This is fun!" The little girl beamed as she was controlling the murderer in chains as if he was dancing. There was a cloth in his mouth. Becoming bored she put the man to sleep. "Geez this guy is no fun.". Looking around the girl left the murderer traped in dark glowing chains as she explored more in the forest. Funny how the once peaceful world turned to chaos.

Sighing the girl stoped on a waterfall, looking at her reflection, she saw vivid blue eyes as her black hair flowed while her black hat jingle softly.
Looking around again she shifted into a black cat as she venture out more in the forest.

Walking she saw people talking...'Didn't look like they were on good terms..' she tought , sitting on a boulder across them she watched them with her bright blue eyes as her tail moved backand forth.
 
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Olina jumped as the trees around her began to move forward. She moved forward as well, still listening into the conversation. Then, Olina gasped as the human stabbed his sword into the ground, creating a blue light. She pressed a hand onto the trunk of the tree and was deciding whether she should climb it or not. The wood elf seemed to have had it with the human, and Olina could see why. The human had called him a woodsman and a cur. They, as elves, had the right to their land. This human was being forceful and rude to the wood elf. Olina shook her head at the ignorance this human had. Sheathing her daggers, Olina gripped the tree gently, careful not to do anything to the bark, and started climbing and silently and quickly. When she finally reached a sturdy enough branch, Olina looked down at the human and wood elf, unsheathing her daggers once again. She knew that it was only going to get worse the more the human kept conversing with the wood elf.
 
Xenia couldn't shake the obnoxious feeling that they were being watched; it wasn't malevolence she felt, just curious observations as if they were simply rats to be watched and not played with. She tensed at the mentioning of the despicable one, her jaw clenching as she scolded herself inwardly for the reaction. No matter how genuine the anger was, she told herself it was not her place to question when it came to the infamous murder attempt. The soft wind blew, rustling the leaves high in the tree and tussling her hair around.

"I see." she responded curtly, lifted a hand to brush the hair that was swinging too close to her eyes. Xenia focused on the dirt road once more, a sinking feeling in her stomach as she watched it began to show stronger and stronger imprints. A chase?

She stopped, glancing backwards at the dirt road and it's fading signs of life.

"And are any of them considerable large? Or fans of heavy armor?"

There was something that irked her about this, the light foot steps of groups of women and men occasionally littered the dirt paths. But that was only in early morning light and they would never delve even this far in out of fear. Xenia didn't wait for an answer as she took a few steps off the dirt road and saw smears of blood on a few trees. Someone had been running for their life, with fresh blood on their hands.
 
"I wouldn't know," Shena replied, narrowing her eyes. "It's different every time. Why?"

She answered herself when they caught up. The way the stranger had been looking at the path; the way she was looking at a reddened tree trunk now. At first, it didn't look like blood. Perhaps a bit of dirt, or a strange red moss. It could have been anything. It was the intensity of inspection her companion was giving it that gave it away more than anything else. Shena shuddered at the thought of more darkness lurking in such a familiar place. It was as if one's backyard had suddenly grown lush with carnivorous plants overnight. She didn't understand.

There must have been something else. Something that happened, between this day, and days past. She couldn't believe that she had simply picked the better days; nobody had such luck, and if anyone deserved it, it wasn't her.

Perhaps it was Ryfia. Perhaps something had awoken her today, and she was rearing her head in defense. But when the forest had been full and lush and unburnt, it had been at peace. Was there someone new? Some new deity that had risen from the ashes, sometime between today and three days ago, that had marked this forest as their home?

"Do you intend to track that?" she asked after a period of silence. "After that little lecture you gave me?"
 
Being a cat she was, her tail swished back and forth as the two men conversed with each other. 'A human and a wood elf? .. how interesting.' The girl tought as she looked around until she noticed another presence ... a woman , looking up she saw the woman unsheathing her daggers , curiously she stared at the woman with her glowing blue eyes a symbol of spade flashed on her left eye.
 
Thaniel refused to show any fear as the human gave a show of what he assumed to be bravado. "You will desecrate my forest no longer!" he growled before he ran forward, his elven movements graceful and quick. While he ran at the human, his brown hair flying behind him, the trees nearest the human swung their low-hanging branches at him, hoping to throw him onto Thaniel's dagger.
 
Olina gasped as the trees started moving to hit the human. Eventually, the tree she was sitting on started doing the same. Olina straddled the branch and felt the branch start swinging around violently. She tried her best not keep her mouth closed and quiet, glad the branch she was on wasn't swooping down to hit the human as badly as the others. Olina clenched her eyes shut and pressed her head against the branch, trying to keep the dizziness from affecting her. So far, she was doing a good job.
 
Her eyes widend as the trees started moving around the wood elf as he charged at the armored human. Dodging an incoming branch from her side she jumped to a safe place where she could watch the fight without being hit.

Looking at the armored man from behind the tree she made a small magic circle under her paw as she enchanced the Armored man's steel boots with little speed seeing it glow a little. That way he wont be slow having a disadvantage and that she could watch the fight in intrest.
 
Vallus continued to point his sword ready at the man as he approached, the circle of blue flames steadily waving around him. Readying a spell for the elf's charge, Vallus stands firm until he hears the creaking of wood, and he turns around in awe to see the splintered branches moving towards him. A whip of the woods, as the humans in his town called it, Vallus was aware of the power of this spell. But he wouldn't go down here. Not whilst not bathing in the glory of the sky.

Vallus coughs as the branches smash against his chestplate, his feet skidding back into the grass and leaving a trail of ripped dirt, but Vallus manages to hold his ground and push against the branch with his arm, barely managing to stay inside the fire circle, noticing the combat disadvantage he was in as he growls to fight against the branch pushing him. Losing strength, and slowly being pushed by the branch, Vallus could suddenly feel a sudden swiftness in his movement, as if his boots had been blessed. With newfound speed, Vallus sidesteps to the right with increased speed away from the incoming branches and points his shining sword skyward.
"You dare oppose the might of Atmos? Show him your strength, my fair goddes-" He begins, but the blue glow of his sword begins to fizzle out as does the glow of his visor - he'd been pushed out the way of the patch of sky through the leaves above, making the fire circle die away. Vallus growled and held the sword in both his hands, yelling as he slammed down the hilt of the blessed sword, driving the sword through another branch trying to knock him over and splitting through the bark, wood shavings spraying around him as he quickly turned to face the elf, putting a foot in front of him to show he was ready to attack as he carefully watches the elf's movements through his visor. The attack from the branches thankfully hadn't knocked Vallus clean off his feet, but they had positioned him away from the sky and left a small dent in his chestplate.

Panting, Vallus wields his sword as he readies to perform a left cleaving strike into the elf's hip, bringing the blade back behind with both arms and stepping forth to meet the elf's movements with his swiftness blessing, of which Vallus had no idea where the orgin of the speed was.
"So this is how you want it to be, you fiend? A mere hinderance to my actions, justice shall take the strings of your fate! I shall take the murderer's life within these woods... the murderer that took the life of my very own sister, and may Atmos damn me if you'll stop me! Feel the wrath of the skies!" He yells before trying to swing the large sword into the oncoming elf's torso, stepping forth and twisting his whole body left with a fast, professional swing of the sword. Little did he know of the other elf on one of the branches, or the girl that had blessed him with speed.
 
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While Xenia felt that she should be insulted by the girl's scolding, she simply smirked. It was only then that she realized that Shena thought she was probably just some strange, overconfident young woman traversing outside of the safety of their city. However, letting the girl know anything about her was out of the question so she merely tossed a glance over her shoulder.

"Aren't you curious?" she asked, cocking her head in the direction where the blood splatters were heading.

They didn't seem to be heading into the deep mountain region, the place of real danger, but off the beaten path. Xenia took a few more steps through the tall tree, watching as the blood splatters grew smaller and smaller in the distance. The arrow she slipped into hiding was suddenly drawn out once more, but not yet knocked into position. With a glance at the sky, she noted that there was plenty of time until night fall and looked towards Shena once more.

"Well, I guess you can head back to town if you are too worried about being here." She turned her back to the girl and walked forwards again. "Good luck not getting kidnapped by highway men!"

The girl's questions from before resonated with her. Was there something actually wrong with these forests? Once she began moving, the noises began and grew louder and louder.
 
"It was curiosity that brought me into these woods," Shena said, "and according to you, it's only good luck that's kept me alive. I've certainly never heard anything like that before."

By that, she meant the creaking, almost growling sounds that seemed to be emanating from the forest, like a great, deep, belch. Amidst it all, she thought she could just barely make out the sound of shouting. Against such a shrouded, mysterious, foe, she imagined her arrows to be like toothpicks, and her sword a flimsy needle.

"You go on ahead, and good luck with whatever that is. I don't think I want any part in it, and Ned here definitely does not either." Beneath her, the thing was fidgeting with increasing discomfort. "Before you go, though; I never got your name."
 
Olina gasped in shock as the human's speed increased. She watched as he moved to plunge the sword into the wood elf's heart. She quickly stood, keeping incredible balance on the wood, and pulled a midnight black pin from her hair. The silver lock of hair that was being held in place by it fell across one of her eyes. She took a deep breath, keeping her aim on the wood elf. With a fling of her wrist, Olina sent the pin straight at him. She sighed in relief as it stuck into the wood elf's leg closest to her. It was a special pin of course, so he wouldn't feel any pain whatsoever. Instead, she watched as the pin dissolved into the wood elf's leg, allowing his dodging and reflexes to become faster. Olina had created them herself, just in case she needed to use them in battle, and the wood elf seemed like he may have needed it. The pin had a spell that would disappear as soon as the fight was over. Olina held on tight to her diamond daggers, anxiously waiting to see if the wood elf would dodge it in time.
 
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