Re: Mages of the Tricore

[AmberSerpentofGlory]

Emirayha undertook arduous training everyday since the last time she had spoken with Kleis. She may not have known if it made a large impact on her power, but she felt fortified to at least ten times her strength. She would have loved to tell Kleis and she how she was doing, but everywhere she usually went, Emirayha saw no sign of Kleis. Emirayha and Von kept monsters under control, and the insects that guided benevolent visitors through the forest still remained, functioning well and peaceful as ever. But no sign of Kleis. One night during the regular patrol, Emirayha witnessed a young woman with a teardrop-shaped diadem on her forehead, hidden by her bangs. The fireflies didn't hesitate to illuminate the path for her after scrutinizing her for a brief minute. It looked like Reyna. "Reyna? Is that you? What could you be doing here.....?" Emirayha muttered to herself, but it was just loud enough so that those around her could still make out her words. She wondered if the girl had heard her. She honestly wasn't that great of a whisperer.

[Shadoe Mayari]

"Is Kleis here?" Reyna asked. Her tone was dead serious, but her face was completely stoic. "I would like to have a word with her." Despite her small stature and young age, one could feel the power radiating off of her.

[AmberSerpentofGlory]

As she ambled up the pathway gradually, Emirayha could make oout that it was indeed Reyna. She was looking for Kleis, and by her tone she seemed to be worried. "You haven't seen her either? Von and I haven't seen her around here. As a matter of fact, I haven't seen her since that day at the hospital. I have no idea where she could be." Emirayha said, calmly but with a slight discomfort at what she couldn't help but sense. Something was wrong. And whatever it was, they would know soon.

[Shadoe Mayari]

"Hm. I see." Reyna turned on her heel and strode out of the forest. Despite having a healing power, she really seemed to be quite a brat.

[AmberSerpentofGlory]

In a rather anti climatic way, Reyna turned on her heels and left the forest shortly after the brief word with Emirayha. Things seemed to be normal and serene after that, but Emirayha could sense a malevolent storm approaching. She didn't know the duration or the intensity of it, but she knew that it had the potential for massive destruction. With no knowledge of how to prepare, she just carried on like normal seeing that it was inevitable and fretting about it wouldn't help.

[Shadoe Mayari]

As soon as Reyna left, murky brown clouds formed over the forest and it began to rain. The insects of the forest became restless and the trees began to shrivel. As drops hit human flesh, it began to burn and sting, leaving deep burns and large marks. Acid rain...?

She'll show herself if her home is in danger. Reyna watched the forest wither from the top of the factory, but still found no sign of Kleis.

[AmberSerpentofGlory]

Emirayha's intuition was correct. Acidic rain plummeted from the dim skies and penetrated the meager shields of human and animal flesh. All life in the vicinity became overcome with anxiety and restlessness. Regardless, there was still not a sign of Kleis, and things weren't beginning to look up. Emirayha considered changing into mage form, and in a split second as another drop made contact with her skin through her sheer sleeves, she did. The transformation was quick and easy, and she remained alert for anymore odd happenings that were to follow the mysterious toxic showers.

[Shadoe Mayari]

There was a loud bang as lightning struck one of the trees, setting it ablaze. This alerted Von, who was napping in the factory nearby. He grabbed his paintbrush and transformed. A pair of ink arms burst out of his back and out the window, pulling him towards Emirayha's location. Acidic rain drops splashed his face and temporarily blinded him. He blinked and rubbed his eyes. "What happened...?"

Von: 55 mins until knockout. 96% health.
Reyna: 1 hour 55 mins until knockout. 100% health.
Acid rain is in effect. 4%-8% damage per turn.

OOC: Stats for Reyna and Von are in the OOC thread.

[AmberSerpentofGlory]

In an instant, a tree was set ablaze, and Von rushed over to Emirayha to discover what happened. " I haven't the slightest idea. But there's much more to come. Be prepared."




Emirayha: 1 hour before knockout. 100% health

[Shadoe Mayari]

“The forest is gonna be destroyed at this rate…” Von muttered as his sight slowly came back to him. The sounds of sirens filled the air and red flashing lights blinded those who were closer to the boundaries of the forest. Of course, the Normals could not ignore the destruction that was going on. Families had gathered outside with their umbrellas, watching in horror as the forest began to decay. Luckily for them, the rain was only acidic for the forest.

The sound of the cottage door being kicked down echoed through the remaining trees, alerting the wasps of the forest. They gathered into a large swarm and left to protect their master, but with no effect. After all, Reyna’s Mage form was made completely out of water. Poison had no effect on her.

Speaking of which, instead of being the pure, brilliant blue color she was at the hospital, her water was a dull, murky brown, as if it was polluted.

Von: 50 mins until knockout. 92% health.
Reyna: 1 hr 50 mins until knockout. 100% health.

[AmberSerpentofGlory]

“The forest is gonna be destroyed at this rate…” Von muttered as he imperceptibly regained his eyesight. Emirayha didn't want to believe him, but she knew it was true. What seemed to make it even more depressing was the fact that only the forest was affected by the toxic downpour. All life was helpless, the bugs that use to protect Kleis with ease failed to have any effect now, and even the shield around Kleis's small cottage seemed to be penetrated-it could be heard being kicked down even from Emirayha and Von's position. And what was occurring in Reyna's body? Her radiant cerulean color was now an unchaste, murky brown. There was no sense in standing there and getting burned while watching ignorant Normals try and make a difference, but what else was there left to do? Emirayha turned to Von. "What do you think is going on back at Kleis's old cottage? Wouldn't want any trespassers to get in. Didn't she say there was some sort of portal or something there protected by a spell that her sister taught her? We oughtta go check, that is if there's nothing left we can do here."



Emirayha: 55 mins before knockout. 94% health

[Shadoe Mayari]

“Reyna doesn’t know the spell, though,” Von said, glancing towards the direction of the cottage. “Only me, Kleis, and Lux…” He paced towards the little hut with a worried frown forming on his face. The door was indeed kicked down, however, the inside was old and filthy and certainly not Kleis’s dimension. Reyna was nowhere to be found, either.

An inky arm grew out of Von’s back and pulled the door back up. It then began to trace something on the old wood, the spell needed to activate the portal.

Von: 45 mins til knock out. 89% health.
Reyna: 1 hr 45 mins til knock out. 98% health.

[AmberSerpentofGlory]

Emirayha followed Von as he paced toward the dusty cottage. He used his ink arm extension to pick the door back up and trace the spell required to keep Kleis's dimension sealed. The acid rain continued pouring, and now Reyna was nowhere to be found either. Emirayha was wondering where Kleis was, perhaps she went to another dimension or something?


Emirayha: 55 mins before knockout. 89% health

[Shadoe Mayari]

The door opened to large, dark room. It was empty for the most part, except for a small desk, chair, and lamp in one of the corners. And lo and behold, look who was sleeping at the little desk.

Papers were scattered around Kleis’s feet. They appeared to be news articles written in German, with illegible notes scribbled in the margins. On the desk was cylindrical glass container, with what appeared to be a Tricore shard inside. Von silently approached Kleis and shook her lightly, trying to wake her. And of course, it didn’t work.

Von: 40 mins til knockout, 89% health
Reyna: 1 hr 40 mins til knockout, 98% health

[AmberSerpentofGlory]

Inside the small home, Kleis lay sprawled on a small desk, papers scattered messily around her feet. Emirayha gasped and covered her mouth and stood silently for a minute. What had she been doing? Was she okay?



Emirayha: 50 mins before knockout. 84% health

[Shadoe Mayari]

Reyna entered the room, soaking wet with acid rain. The drops of acidic water hit the floor and exploded into flames. The shard in the glass appeared to react to her presence, changing from a dull gray to pitch black. Kleis stirred a bit in her sleep, slightly lifting up her head.
Von span around, realizing that something was amiss. An ink shield appeared and separated them from the Teardrop Mage. He shook Kleis violently, causing her to hit her head on the table.
“Ow…What the fuck, Von?” she said, rubbing her head. She blinked for a bit and glanced at the shard. “…Oh. Did something go wrong…?”
“I don’t know, you tell me,” Von spat, creating a hole in the barrier, large enough for Kleis to look through, but small enough so that Reyna couldn’t use any magic to go through.
Kleis frowned, noticing the flames around the young Mage’s feet. “Something happened when she was healing with the shard…One of the spirits in the shard must have taken over.”

Von: 35 min til knock out. 89% health.
Reyna: 1hr 35 mins. 98% health.

[AmberSerpentofGlory]

Kleis was knocked out. Even after awaking, she had no idea of what was going on. When Reyna entered, she seemed possessed: She was nothing like the sweet little aqua girl they'd known before. Her very essence reeked of malevolence. As Von attempted to protect Emirayha and Kleis with an ink shield, Kleis shook off the drowsiness of her shut-eye, tried to identify the problem, and tried to conjure up a reasonable solution. Emirayha was a bit shocked but yet couldn't help but be a bit phlegmatic. Wasn't misfortune and corruption to be expected in life?




Emirayha: 45 mins before knockout. 84% health

[Shadoe Mayari]

“What do you mean?” Von asked, raising an eyebrow.
Kleis sighed, picking up papers and setting them neatly on the desk. “What do you Esse is made of? One Esse is the equivalent of one mortal soul. Giving her the shard was equal to having a hundred souls possess her. If you kill while the shard is in effect, one might take over…” She paused and stared at the black barrier, hearing the cracking of fire on the other side. “Right now, we have to either wait for her to turn back to her human form, or knock her back.” She looked between the two Mages, letting them make the call.

Von: 30 min til knock out. 89% health.
Reyna: 1hr 30 mins. 98% health.

[AmberSerpentofGlory]

"Well," Emirayha began, "We know she'll turn back eventually and I guess that's reassuring..... but in how much time? She's already done this much destruction." Emirayha said, gesturing around. "Who knows what she could do if just set totally free? We're sort of weak to fight now, but we need to do something. Von, what do you say? Will fighting deter her from making more destruction, or cause more destruction itself?"



Emirayha: 45 mins before knockout. 84% health

[Shadoe Mayari]

“I think it would be best to knock her out,” Von said, taking a quick peek through the ink shield. “Reyna isn’t very strong physically, but she can stay in her transformed state two times longer than most Mages. We don’t have much time left, either.”

Kleis stood up abruptly, touching her dragonfly charm. “If that’s the case, then I’ll help.” She transformed in an instant and pointed her sword at the shield. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Von nodded and the ink shield melted, revealing the young, angry Reyna. A puddle of what appeared to be oil formed around her feet and ignited. Kleis thrusted into the young girl’s stomach, which didn’t affect her since she was made of some sort of liquid. However, the sword’s poison did kick in after a while.

Von: 25 min til knock out. 89% health.
Reyna: 1hr 25 mins. 92% health.
Kleis: 55 mins. 100% health.

[AmberSerpentofGlory]

Following the other two young mages lead, Emirayha too began thrusting balls of light Reyna's way. She couldn't be but so much a match for all three of them, and she had to be purified somehow, right?



Emirayha: 40 mins before knockout. 84% health

[Shadoe Mayari]

Reyna, realizing that she was being attacked and clearly outnumbered, stepped back and a wall of flames shot up, separating her from the the three Mages and burning them (10-14%). However, due to Kleis’s poison, which messed with her concentration, the would suddenly extinguish before quickly coming back up again.
Kleis frowned and peeked past Reyna, seeing that she left the door open. She raised her arm towards the door and her antennae began to vibrate. “Swarm.” A swarm of bees floated delicately through the door, before making a beeline towards Reyna. Although their stings did nothing to pierce her watery exterior, they did provide enough distraction for her, forcing the wall of fire down. Kleis continued to focus on controlling the Swarm.
Once the wall of fire went down, Von pulled a bottle of ink out of his sleeve and threw it at the floor around Reyna, who was still occupied with the bees. The resulting puddle was like quicksand; the girl continued to sink until it was up to her knees.

Von: 20 min til knock out. 79% health.
Reyna: 1hr 20 mins. 64% health, sinking.
Kleis: 50 mins. 88% health.

[AmberSerpentofGlory]

Kleis really distracted Reyna with her swarm of bees. There were benefits to leaving the door open after all. It looked like Reyna was about to be at their clemency when she began sinking into the puddle of ink conjured up by Von. But Emirayha, not too cocky yet, never once held back at firing her continuous spheres of light. She was going until it was over.


Emirayha: 40 mins before knockout. 71% health

[Shadoe Mayari]

With the combine efforts of the three Mages, they managed to knock Reyna back into her human form. Kleis immediately called off the Swarm, since Reyna was much more vulnerable in this state and susceptible to bee stings. Von un-transformed, but not before washing the ink off the younger girl. He had made quite a mess with his powers, but it was normal for the Ink Mage. He’ll have to clean up later.
Kleis picked up the small girl and the space around them began to change, from the dark and empty study room to the bright yellow cottage. She placed the girl on the bed and removed her diadem, studying it carefully. The gem was a dark, bloody red and appeared to fade a bit in the light. She quickly but carefully rushed towards the table (which had a new, fresh cheesecake on it for whatever reason) and placed down the diadem, shaking her hands as if she burnt them. “…It’s hot,” Kleis said when Von gave her a weird look. She showed them her hands, which now had red burns on her palms. It’ll take a while for these burns to heal, since she wasn’t transformed.

[AmberSerpentofGlory]

Just as expected, the three mages were able to overpower the spirit possessing young Reyna. Immediately they went from treating her like a monster to treating her like any other child. It was almost weird changing between differing attitudes so quickly.
Things immediately brightened up in the cottage afterwards, and Kleis studied Reyna's now darkened diadem. It must have been scorching, because Kleis's hands revealed deep burns not long after putting it down. Emirayha could feel the dark essence of sin and animosity just from being in the presence of that thing. It gave her an eerie, uncomfortable feeling that she couldn't comprehend or rationalize.

[Sponsored content]