He's being really reckless.
Is it because of the beacon?
Is it because of the beacon?
The Sparks of War
- Thread starter Hiver
- Start date
IvanDead
My bones are made of schadenfreude.
- Location
- Brasil
He is a mentally exhausted teenage dragon, who is now in mourning and at something-is-broken level of pain. There are enough reasons for why he is being reckless even before we started speculating on magical ones.
19
I looked down at the map, wishing that I still had Library. I needed to make a new ring like that. The Ogre had given me a map and some supplies before showing me to a side door and pointing me in the right direction.
Aishia.
There had been nothing I could have done to save her, but I still felt horrible about it. She had deserved better.
I rolled up the map and stuck it back into my satchel. I had enough mana to turn back now, but... if all they needed to do was hang on to me, that didn't seem like a good idea. Sure, I'd be a lot more powerful and my armour might protect me... but if it didn't it painted an even bigger target on my head.
So I stayed in mortal form, running along back alleys like some kind of rat. The healing potions had started to kick in a bit which was good.
I'm going to find whoever did this and I'll-
I skidded to a halt as I suddenly found myself face to... actually more like knee to face with a small grey humanoid whose head seemed to be about 90% eye. The little thing did a panicked motion, cringed away and then darted to the side, ducking behind a pile of trash. I blinked and then walked over to peer in behind the pile just in time to see it wiggle its way in through a hole in a building.
What the fuck.
A commotion from further away drew my attention as a pair of Eternals went almost flying backwards out of a crossing alley. The two blue undead crashed to the ground on their backs, rolled onto their feet and spotted me, completely forgetting about whomever they had been fighting, and charged.
Pulling my weapon, I swept it towards them and it shifted, a long burning whip lashing straight through them at chest high, sending each of the undead monsters into four parts as the whip lashed a deep cut in the side of the building, before returning to being a dagger.
"Wow, that's sick, man, sick!"
I blinked at the man standing by the wall where the alley crossing this one emerged, where the Eternals had flown back from. He was tall, taller than I was actually by at least a hand width, and thin. He was wearing what looked like a black and red bodysuit with a matching red mask covering the top part of his face, his lips seemingly tattooed in the shapes of sharp black teeth. He was holding a... candy cane striped quarter staff. Out of the entire getup, that might have been the strangest thing about it.
"...Thanks," I said and nodded to him, "I'm trying to get to the Azorious Senate building. That's this way?"
"Sure is, my man!" he said and pushed off the wall, shouldering his quarterstaff and sauntered over, "A lot of these blue things out tonight, ain't it? They're no fun."
"Yeah. Trying to put a stop to that."
"Ah..." he said and nodded before he smirked, showing teeth that shone like silver and also seemed sharpened, "Well then. Let's get you to the party then!"
I nodded, "And you are?"
He whirled his staff and dropped into a deep bow, "Karden, Blood Acrobat of the Cult of Rakdos. And yours?"
"Atreus."
"Well then," he said and stood up, turning around and starting down the alley, "This way. If you can keep up, let's see if we can put on a bit of a show today after all."
I followed him a bit cautiously, but quite frankly I was in no position to refuse help, even if it was a bit... strange. Those people that tried to rob us had been Raktos too, but this guy seemed like he was more into the Cult than they had been.
A quartet of Eternals rounded the corner, entering the alley and charging. They were carrying spears and shields and... yep, ignored him to charge straight towards me.
Life just isn't fair.
Pulling a pair of blasters, I started firing. One then the other, alternating aimed shots. They weren't recharging fast enough that I could just blast away like an extra in some action movie.
Karden watched them come, glanced back towards me and then stepped smoothly out of the way as they charged past him. One fell when I shot it in the head.
Then he moved in a sweeping and whirling motion, the ends of his staff bursting into brilliant flame as he flowed like water, running up onto his own staff and then jumping, spinning and grabbing the staff into a sweep into the middle of what remained of their formation.
The Eternals went down with an explosion of blue flames, flames the shape of the Eternals themselves continuing towards me for a second before spreading their arms and fading away in puffs of smoke mid-fall to reveal Karden on one knee in the middle of the bodies, staff extended to the side, one hand raised with a flame flickering in it.
I slowly holstered my blasters, "...A bit more than an acrobat, aren't you?" I asked, "Pyromancer too."
"Everything for the show, my dear," he said with a sharp-toothed grin while standing up, whirling his staff around as the flames faded away, "It should be flashy!"
"Well, hope you can keep it up," I said and quickly pulled my blasters again as another group rounded the corner and charged us, possibly attracted by the death of their fellows, "Because I think this will be a long one."
"Oh, don't worry, I can def-"
An blue angel Eternal with a halberd clove him in two from above, blood splattering across half of the alley.
I startled in surprise and started to shoot, blasting the angel's head off before shifting my aim to the charging eternals.
"Shit!"
One down. Two down. Three down. Out!
I dropped my blasters, grabbed my weapon and brought it up and around into a cut as it shifted to a long straight sword. A blue arm reached for my face and I cut it off before taking the head off it's owner. Stab. Stab.
I kicked the next Eternal in the chest, only for a whip of... blood to wrap around its neck and pull it back.
Karden was still standing, blood shifting and pulling his missing arm back into place, seemingly pulling the cut deep into his chest back together, as the blood whip taking the place of his whole arm pulled the Eternal back to him. He wrapped it in one hand and then casually ripped its throat out, causing the undead thing to drop.
I stared at him.
Karden grinned his wide smile and bowed, his blood whirling around his damaged arm as his shoulder visibly joined together, "The show must go on, my dear Atreus. Even if these things are rude enough not to provide their own blood for it."
"...Yeah. Sure."
Karden giggled and swept down to pick up his fallen staff.
Ok, Necromancy was one thing but that was just fucking creepy.
Aishia.
There had been nothing I could have done to save her, but I still felt horrible about it. She had deserved better.
I rolled up the map and stuck it back into my satchel. I had enough mana to turn back now, but... if all they needed to do was hang on to me, that didn't seem like a good idea. Sure, I'd be a lot more powerful and my armour might protect me... but if it didn't it painted an even bigger target on my head.
So I stayed in mortal form, running along back alleys like some kind of rat. The healing potions had started to kick in a bit which was good.
I'm going to find whoever did this and I'll-
I skidded to a halt as I suddenly found myself face to... actually more like knee to face with a small grey humanoid whose head seemed to be about 90% eye. The little thing did a panicked motion, cringed away and then darted to the side, ducking behind a pile of trash. I blinked and then walked over to peer in behind the pile just in time to see it wiggle its way in through a hole in a building.
What the fuck.
A commotion from further away drew my attention as a pair of Eternals went almost flying backwards out of a crossing alley. The two blue undead crashed to the ground on their backs, rolled onto their feet and spotted me, completely forgetting about whomever they had been fighting, and charged.
Pulling my weapon, I swept it towards them and it shifted, a long burning whip lashing straight through them at chest high, sending each of the undead monsters into four parts as the whip lashed a deep cut in the side of the building, before returning to being a dagger.
"Wow, that's sick, man, sick!"
I blinked at the man standing by the wall where the alley crossing this one emerged, where the Eternals had flown back from. He was tall, taller than I was actually by at least a hand width, and thin. He was wearing what looked like a black and red bodysuit with a matching red mask covering the top part of his face, his lips seemingly tattooed in the shapes of sharp black teeth. He was holding a... candy cane striped quarter staff. Out of the entire getup, that might have been the strangest thing about it.
"...Thanks," I said and nodded to him, "I'm trying to get to the Azorious Senate building. That's this way?"
"Sure is, my man!" he said and pushed off the wall, shouldering his quarterstaff and sauntered over, "A lot of these blue things out tonight, ain't it? They're no fun."
"Yeah. Trying to put a stop to that."
"Ah..." he said and nodded before he smirked, showing teeth that shone like silver and also seemed sharpened, "Well then. Let's get you to the party then!"
I nodded, "And you are?"
He whirled his staff and dropped into a deep bow, "Karden, Blood Acrobat of the Cult of Rakdos. And yours?"
"Atreus."
"Well then," he said and stood up, turning around and starting down the alley, "This way. If you can keep up, let's see if we can put on a bit of a show today after all."
I followed him a bit cautiously, but quite frankly I was in no position to refuse help, even if it was a bit... strange. Those people that tried to rob us had been Raktos too, but this guy seemed like he was more into the Cult than they had been.
A quartet of Eternals rounded the corner, entering the alley and charging. They were carrying spears and shields and... yep, ignored him to charge straight towards me.
Life just isn't fair.
Pulling a pair of blasters, I started firing. One then the other, alternating aimed shots. They weren't recharging fast enough that I could just blast away like an extra in some action movie.
Karden watched them come, glanced back towards me and then stepped smoothly out of the way as they charged past him. One fell when I shot it in the head.
Then he moved in a sweeping and whirling motion, the ends of his staff bursting into brilliant flame as he flowed like water, running up onto his own staff and then jumping, spinning and grabbing the staff into a sweep into the middle of what remained of their formation.
The Eternals went down with an explosion of blue flames, flames the shape of the Eternals themselves continuing towards me for a second before spreading their arms and fading away in puffs of smoke mid-fall to reveal Karden on one knee in the middle of the bodies, staff extended to the side, one hand raised with a flame flickering in it.
I slowly holstered my blasters, "...A bit more than an acrobat, aren't you?" I asked, "Pyromancer too."
"Everything for the show, my dear," he said with a sharp-toothed grin while standing up, whirling his staff around as the flames faded away, "It should be flashy!"
"Well, hope you can keep it up," I said and quickly pulled my blasters again as another group rounded the corner and charged us, possibly attracted by the death of their fellows, "Because I think this will be a long one."
"Oh, don't worry, I can def-"
An blue angel Eternal with a halberd clove him in two from above, blood splattering across half of the alley.
I startled in surprise and started to shoot, blasting the angel's head off before shifting my aim to the charging eternals.
"Shit!"
One down. Two down. Three down. Out!
I dropped my blasters, grabbed my weapon and brought it up and around into a cut as it shifted to a long straight sword. A blue arm reached for my face and I cut it off before taking the head off it's owner. Stab. Stab.
I kicked the next Eternal in the chest, only for a whip of... blood to wrap around its neck and pull it back.
Karden was still standing, blood shifting and pulling his missing arm back into place, seemingly pulling the cut deep into his chest back together, as the blood whip taking the place of his whole arm pulled the Eternal back to him. He wrapped it in one hand and then casually ripped its throat out, causing the undead thing to drop.
I stared at him.
Karden grinned his wide smile and bowed, his blood whirling around his damaged arm as his shoulder visibly joined together, "The show must go on, my dear Atreus. Even if these things are rude enough not to provide their own blood for it."
"...Yeah. Sure."
Karden giggled and swept down to pick up his fallen staff.
Ok, Necromancy was one thing but that was just fucking creepy.
Hestia&theCourt
Turns out we're plural too.
- Location
- In transition
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Fblthp! I love seeing him cameo. This was a nice Christmas present.
IvanDead
My bones are made of schadenfreude.
- Location
- Brasil
asdx
Superior Sword Fairy
- Location
- Texas.
Who, and what?
Delusionist
Seeker of Truth
- Location
- Land of the Fruits and Nuts
Fblthb, a homunculus from MTG.
Hestia&theCourt
Turns out we're plural too.
- Location
- In transition
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Basically, Fblthp is a homonculus and a very low-level Azorius Senate paper-pusher, who's best known in the fandom for getting in way over his head, getting totally lost, and popping up where you'd least expect to see him.
20
The heavy axe swept towards my chest. I stepped forward and slashed with my clawed gauntlet, taking the throat out of the undead Eternal, sending it sprawling onto the ground.
They were the worst undead I had ever seen. Seriously, what was even the point if they died as easily as something living?
Karden laughed ahead, dodging a halberd strike once more, giving the handle a small push and then stepping back, avoiding the followup like some kind of demented game of tag.
"Just kill the thing," I resignedly told him.
"Ah, no sense of showmanship. Oh well, what can you expect," he sighed and stepped forward, his hand igniting and causing the jackal-headed blue eternal to burst into flames as it fell.
I suppressed a growl and continued towards the end of the street, stopping to peer around the corner at a plaza of white marble next to a building of even more white marble, constructed with high towers and quite frankly a lot more columns than necessary. There were a few of the eternals around, but around the building there was a palisade of heavy stone and iron, guards in white and blue standing guard with spears, bows, shields, and swords.
That had to be the right place.
"Come on," I said and glanced back at the likely somewhat crazy blood mage, "That's the place."
"Indeed it is," he said and then bowed slightly, "But I'm afraid this is the curtain call for my show here. The Azorious and I have a somewhat strained relationship. They can be such bores."
Translation: If I go there, they will try to arrest or kill me because I did something horrible.
"Ah," I said and nodded, "Well, thank you for your assistance."
"It was nothing, dear. Do try to catch my next show," he said, and then ran, using his staff and actually vaulting up onto the roof of a two story building, and then was gone.
I looked after him for a long moment.
Did... did that actually happen or did I hit my head harder than I thought in the crash. I was still feeling a bit woozy even after the healing potion. And my side hurt.
And tired. So, so tired.
I started across the square towards the barricades. A Eternal noticed me quickly and came charging, sword and shield in hand.
I shot it in the face before it even got close as I approached the makeshift gate, "I'm looking for Jace Belaren. I have been summoned."
The woman... an actual angel with pure white wings, a silvery helmet and equally shiny plate armour, wearing a blue cloak and tabard nodded and motioned for a pair of her soldiers to pull the gate open, "You can find him in our Guildhall, traveler. May I have your name?"
"Atregos," I answered before I could think about it. The hell?
She smiled beneath her half helmet, "I am Tabatha. Jorgen?"
"My lady?" a human in similar armour, if slightly less shiny, asked as he stepped up to her.
"Would you be so kind as to show master Atregos to his destination?"
He saluted, his armored fist hitting his breastplate, "Of course, my lady," he said before he turned to me, "If you would come with me?"
I nodded, giving the angel a bow before I followed him towards the massive gates of the marble building. They were tall, almost big enough to allow a full Wyrm inside, but opened smoothly and silently, the smooth bronze gates swinging open to allow us inside.
Normally I would have wanted to investigate those doors and how they opened like that, and at what signal, but right now I just wanted to get to where I was going. So maybe I could sit down for a couple of minutes.
The guard led the way through white marble corridors lined with statues and plaques to a second set of doors, not quite as big, but just as bronze. A pair of guards stood outside with spears and shields.
One of them touched the door when we got close and it swung open to allow us inside.
To my slight surprise, the room was busy. In the center was what looked to be a statue of a large sphinx with a raised dais next to it. The room had large columns around the edges, and the room was filled with people of literally all kinds.
I could see humans, elves, some sort of blue beings, centaurs, even merfolk and what looked like a naga of some sort. Others I couldn't even identify. A few looked towards the door when I entered but then looked away again, returning to their quiet conversations.
Jace was standing on the dias with a small group of people, among them Chandra and some guy in a blue tabard and a breastplate. I saw him before at the Gatewatch meeting but couldn't remember his name. Chandra looked over when the door opened. I gave her a nod.
She nodded back and then turned back to her conversation.
I looked around for somebody else I recognized. Nobody stood out. Considering one of the people I looked for was Ajani, I'd think I'd spot him if he was there. That man stands out in any crowd, even this one. No sign of Alexis either, but maybe she didn't come here or managed to resist coming to this Plane at all.
Then again, maybe I just couldn't see her, she was kinda short.
I suddenly felt unbelievably tired; my adrenaline must finally be starting to wear off and my gauntlets and armour felt like they weighed about a gazillion kilos, and I wanted nothing more than to lay down and sleep for a week. That would do me all kinds of good and let my magic and stamina recover a bit. Because no matter what happened here, I suspected I would be in short supply of both soon enough.
The door opened behind me again and I glanced back as a woman was allowed into the hall. She was short and wearing what looked like a set of leather and chain armour, carrying a short spear and a round shield, her hair shaven other than a braided ponytail. I nodded to her and then walked over to the side next to one of the pillars.
Allowing myself to sink down with my back against the wall on the most comfortable patch of stone I ever felt, I leaned my head against the wall. Maybe I could just rest for a second before the meeting started.
I closed my ey-
They were the worst undead I had ever seen. Seriously, what was even the point if they died as easily as something living?
Karden laughed ahead, dodging a halberd strike once more, giving the handle a small push and then stepping back, avoiding the followup like some kind of demented game of tag.
"Just kill the thing," I resignedly told him.
"Ah, no sense of showmanship. Oh well, what can you expect," he sighed and stepped forward, his hand igniting and causing the jackal-headed blue eternal to burst into flames as it fell.
I suppressed a growl and continued towards the end of the street, stopping to peer around the corner at a plaza of white marble next to a building of even more white marble, constructed with high towers and quite frankly a lot more columns than necessary. There were a few of the eternals around, but around the building there was a palisade of heavy stone and iron, guards in white and blue standing guard with spears, bows, shields, and swords.
That had to be the right place.
"Come on," I said and glanced back at the likely somewhat crazy blood mage, "That's the place."
"Indeed it is," he said and then bowed slightly, "But I'm afraid this is the curtain call for my show here. The Azorious and I have a somewhat strained relationship. They can be such bores."
Translation: If I go there, they will try to arrest or kill me because I did something horrible.
"Ah," I said and nodded, "Well, thank you for your assistance."
"It was nothing, dear. Do try to catch my next show," he said, and then ran, using his staff and actually vaulting up onto the roof of a two story building, and then was gone.
I looked after him for a long moment.
Did... did that actually happen or did I hit my head harder than I thought in the crash. I was still feeling a bit woozy even after the healing potion. And my side hurt.
And tired. So, so tired.
I started across the square towards the barricades. A Eternal noticed me quickly and came charging, sword and shield in hand.
I shot it in the face before it even got close as I approached the makeshift gate, "I'm looking for Jace Belaren. I have been summoned."
The woman... an actual angel with pure white wings, a silvery helmet and equally shiny plate armour, wearing a blue cloak and tabard nodded and motioned for a pair of her soldiers to pull the gate open, "You can find him in our Guildhall, traveler. May I have your name?"
"Atregos," I answered before I could think about it. The hell?
She smiled beneath her half helmet, "I am Tabatha. Jorgen?"
"My lady?" a human in similar armour, if slightly less shiny, asked as he stepped up to her.
"Would you be so kind as to show master Atregos to his destination?"
He saluted, his armored fist hitting his breastplate, "Of course, my lady," he said before he turned to me, "If you would come with me?"
I nodded, giving the angel a bow before I followed him towards the massive gates of the marble building. They were tall, almost big enough to allow a full Wyrm inside, but opened smoothly and silently, the smooth bronze gates swinging open to allow us inside.
Normally I would have wanted to investigate those doors and how they opened like that, and at what signal, but right now I just wanted to get to where I was going. So maybe I could sit down for a couple of minutes.
The guard led the way through white marble corridors lined with statues and plaques to a second set of doors, not quite as big, but just as bronze. A pair of guards stood outside with spears and shields.
One of them touched the door when we got close and it swung open to allow us inside.
To my slight surprise, the room was busy. In the center was what looked to be a statue of a large sphinx with a raised dais next to it. The room had large columns around the edges, and the room was filled with people of literally all kinds.
I could see humans, elves, some sort of blue beings, centaurs, even merfolk and what looked like a naga of some sort. Others I couldn't even identify. A few looked towards the door when I entered but then looked away again, returning to their quiet conversations.
Jace was standing on the dias with a small group of people, among them Chandra and some guy in a blue tabard and a breastplate. I saw him before at the Gatewatch meeting but couldn't remember his name. Chandra looked over when the door opened. I gave her a nod.
She nodded back and then turned back to her conversation.
I looked around for somebody else I recognized. Nobody stood out. Considering one of the people I looked for was Ajani, I'd think I'd spot him if he was there. That man stands out in any crowd, even this one. No sign of Alexis either, but maybe she didn't come here or managed to resist coming to this Plane at all.
Then again, maybe I just couldn't see her, she was kinda short.
I suddenly felt unbelievably tired; my adrenaline must finally be starting to wear off and my gauntlets and armour felt like they weighed about a gazillion kilos, and I wanted nothing more than to lay down and sleep for a week. That would do me all kinds of good and let my magic and stamina recover a bit. Because no matter what happened here, I suspected I would be in short supply of both soon enough.
The door opened behind me again and I glanced back as a woman was allowed into the hall. She was short and wearing what looked like a set of leather and chain armour, carrying a short spear and a round shield, her hair shaven other than a braided ponytail. I nodded to her and then walked over to the side next to one of the pillars.
Allowing myself to sink down with my back against the wall on the most comfortable patch of stone I ever felt, I leaned my head against the wall. Maybe I could just rest for a second before the meeting started.
I closed my ey-
- Location
- 5029,113,4888
with his luck and future showed by particular bronze gnom he is going to wake up to a beauty of his future wife guarding him in his sleep with first words something along the lines of *we dragons needs to stand with each other, cant trast mortal races*
btw even as tired as he is he didnt activate any of his shields or wards, very sloppy, probably going to be enslaved or robbed in a room of strangers.
btw even as tired as he is he didnt activate any of his shields or wards, very sloppy, probably going to be enslaved or robbed in a room of strangers.
- Location
- zwolle
wel sleeping though those boring meetings is the best use of once's time so im calling it being efficient
- Location
- Seattle, Washington
Im expecting Alexis to arrive and wake him up. Possibly with a joke about sleeping dragons.
21
Something touched me and I snapped out a gauntleted hand reflexively, before I froze as it grabbed something soft.
"That would have been really awkward if I had been kneeling a bit higher," Alexis said calmly as I opened my eyes.
"...Sorry," I said, and released her neck.
She hmmed and touched the side of my head, a slight soft white light bleeding into the side of my vision as I shifted. Alexis grabbed my chin more than a bit roughly and kept my head still, "Don't move!"
"I'm fine."
"You have a cut in your head the length of my finger!"
I sighed softly and closed my eyes, "There was a plane crash," I admitted, "I had a healing potion that handled most of it or I'd be covered with bruises right now," I admitted but tried not to move, "So you ended up here too, huh?"
"Yep," she agreed and frowned, her hand slowly moving, "The lights told me to come," she said before she sighed, "It was such an obvious trap but..."
"Yeah," I said, "Same. You tell anyone before you leave?"
Alexis nodded and tilted her head slightly, poking my skull a couple of times before she nodded again, "There. And yes, I was with Sheila when I got the summon."
"Ah."
That's good, at least she knew some of what was going on.
Alexis sank back to sit on her heels as she frowned at me, "How soon after arriving did you Walk here?"
I shrugged and sat up a bit straighter, feeling the side of my head, the ache almost gone, "Something like eighteen hours."
"...Shit, no wonder you're exhausted."
"The running battle across half the city didn't exactly help," I admitted with a small smile, "You get into any trouble on the way here?"
"Only those Eternals," Alexis said and looked around, scooting around to put her back against the wall next to me, "At least the new sword worked great."
"Of course it did."
That got a small eyeroll and something muttered beneath her breath.
I smirked, "So, has anything happened since I started my nap?" I asked, "Have you been here a while?"
Alexis shook her head, brushing a strand of her hair back before she frowned and started to redo her braid as it had gotten into a bit of disarray, "Made my way here after Belaren's call. Arrived a little while ago, Master Goldmane pointed you out to me when I did. I thought it might be best that I was the one to wake you."
"...Yeah, might be for the best," I admitted, regretting my reaction to waking, "I might be a bit tense right now."
"No, you don't say."
I growled softly at her, drawing a small smile from her, "Come on, we should talk to whomever is in charge."
Alexis nodded and got up, offering me her hand. I took it, allowing her to pull me onto my feet. Something she did with a lot more ease than could be expected at first glance; she was stronger than she looked.
Suppressing a small groan of pain, I let go of her hand.
She frowned at me thoughtfully for a second before she reached out and slugged me gently in the side with her fist.
My vision went white for half a second. I definitely didn't whimper.
"That's what I thought," she said and frowned, "You have a broken rib."
"Well, I do now," I choked out slightly, "I think it was just cracked before."
"None of that, off with your armor, I need to deal with that."
"I'll be fine when I can turn back."
Alexis put one hand on her hip as she glared up at me, "One, what would you say to me about that? Second, I know your wives."
I walked over to a nearby table and did as I was told. Gauntlets went first, followed by vambraces and the rest of my chest armour, along with the undershirt.
She moved up to poked at my side, "...You might be right though, I think this is just cracked."
I kept my arm out of the way, "Using my Consorts like that is playing dirty."
"Keeping you in top condition makes it much more likely we both get out of this with our hides intact," Alexis answered distractedly as she poked along my rib with a glowing hand, "You're damn right I'll play dirty."
I growled slightly and crossed my arms, letting her work, "So... sword works?"
"Yep. Cut through the blue fucks like a lightsaber."
"You're awake," a voice said and I looked over, giving the large cat-man a nod,
"Master Goldmane," I said in greeting, "It's good to see you again. I'd get up to greet you, but I think your apprentice would hurt me if I tried."
He was just as massive as I remembered him, towering over me by at least two heads and proportionally more muscular. He was wearing shoulder plates, vambraces and a half-robe kind of thing to go with his white cloak.
"And you as well, young dragon," he said softly with a small smile, "I thought it would be best to allow you your rest until my apprentice arrived. You seemed to need it."
"Yeah," I admitted and then frowned, "What's going on here?"
"Jace will explain it to everybody shortly," he said, and put a massive hand on my shoulder, "Get what rest and food you can before then. You will need it."
I nodded, and he moved away again as Alexis pulled her hand away,
"There," she said and then looked around, "And I think Master Goldmane has the right idea. Get dressed, I'll see if I can scare us up something to eat before the meeting starts."
My stomach quickly agreed with that idea.
"That would have been really awkward if I had been kneeling a bit higher," Alexis said calmly as I opened my eyes.
"...Sorry," I said, and released her neck.
She hmmed and touched the side of my head, a slight soft white light bleeding into the side of my vision as I shifted. Alexis grabbed my chin more than a bit roughly and kept my head still, "Don't move!"
"I'm fine."
"You have a cut in your head the length of my finger!"
I sighed softly and closed my eyes, "There was a plane crash," I admitted, "I had a healing potion that handled most of it or I'd be covered with bruises right now," I admitted but tried not to move, "So you ended up here too, huh?"
"Yep," she agreed and frowned, her hand slowly moving, "The lights told me to come," she said before she sighed, "It was such an obvious trap but..."
"Yeah," I said, "Same. You tell anyone before you leave?"
Alexis nodded and tilted her head slightly, poking my skull a couple of times before she nodded again, "There. And yes, I was with Sheila when I got the summon."
"Ah."
That's good, at least she knew some of what was going on.
Alexis sank back to sit on her heels as she frowned at me, "How soon after arriving did you Walk here?"
I shrugged and sat up a bit straighter, feeling the side of my head, the ache almost gone, "Something like eighteen hours."
"...Shit, no wonder you're exhausted."
"The running battle across half the city didn't exactly help," I admitted with a small smile, "You get into any trouble on the way here?"
"Only those Eternals," Alexis said and looked around, scooting around to put her back against the wall next to me, "At least the new sword worked great."
"Of course it did."
That got a small eyeroll and something muttered beneath her breath.
I smirked, "So, has anything happened since I started my nap?" I asked, "Have you been here a while?"
Alexis shook her head, brushing a strand of her hair back before she frowned and started to redo her braid as it had gotten into a bit of disarray, "Made my way here after Belaren's call. Arrived a little while ago, Master Goldmane pointed you out to me when I did. I thought it might be best that I was the one to wake you."
"...Yeah, might be for the best," I admitted, regretting my reaction to waking, "I might be a bit tense right now."
"No, you don't say."
I growled softly at her, drawing a small smile from her, "Come on, we should talk to whomever is in charge."
Alexis nodded and got up, offering me her hand. I took it, allowing her to pull me onto my feet. Something she did with a lot more ease than could be expected at first glance; she was stronger than she looked.
Suppressing a small groan of pain, I let go of her hand.
She frowned at me thoughtfully for a second before she reached out and slugged me gently in the side with her fist.
My vision went white for half a second. I definitely didn't whimper.
"That's what I thought," she said and frowned, "You have a broken rib."
"Well, I do now," I choked out slightly, "I think it was just cracked before."
"None of that, off with your armor, I need to deal with that."
"I'll be fine when I can turn back."
Alexis put one hand on her hip as she glared up at me, "One, what would you say to me about that? Second, I know your wives."
I walked over to a nearby table and did as I was told. Gauntlets went first, followed by vambraces and the rest of my chest armour, along with the undershirt.
She moved up to poked at my side, "...You might be right though, I think this is just cracked."
I kept my arm out of the way, "Using my Consorts like that is playing dirty."
"Keeping you in top condition makes it much more likely we both get out of this with our hides intact," Alexis answered distractedly as she poked along my rib with a glowing hand, "You're damn right I'll play dirty."
I growled slightly and crossed my arms, letting her work, "So... sword works?"
"Yep. Cut through the blue fucks like a lightsaber."
"You're awake," a voice said and I looked over, giving the large cat-man a nod,
"Master Goldmane," I said in greeting, "It's good to see you again. I'd get up to greet you, but I think your apprentice would hurt me if I tried."
He was just as massive as I remembered him, towering over me by at least two heads and proportionally more muscular. He was wearing shoulder plates, vambraces and a half-robe kind of thing to go with his white cloak.
"And you as well, young dragon," he said softly with a small smile, "I thought it would be best to allow you your rest until my apprentice arrived. You seemed to need it."
"Yeah," I admitted and then frowned, "What's going on here?"
"Jace will explain it to everybody shortly," he said, and put a massive hand on my shoulder, "Get what rest and food you can before then. You will need it."
I nodded, and he moved away again as Alexis pulled her hand away,
"There," she said and then looked around, "And I think Master Goldmane has the right idea. Get dressed, I'll see if I can scare us up something to eat before the meeting starts."
My stomach quickly agreed with that idea.
22
I crossed my arms as Jace took the stage and started talking,
"Let's bring this to order, please. We need a plan," he said as he looked out over us.
"And you two strategic geniuses think you can come up with one?" a voice rang out and I looked over to the speaker. He was large, one of the largest in the room, at least while I was in mortal form. He was a demon of some sort, wings, horns, red skin, the entire thing.
I suppressed the urge to growl again. I did not like demons.
The guy I still couldn't remember the name of, long dark hair, breastplate, blue cloak… what the fuck is his name! Stepped up, "There'll be time for everyone to have their say. But standing around muttering to each other isn't getting us anywhere. So how about we stow the inside comments for the time being and listen?"
Well. He had a point there.
Jace spoke up again, "We face a number of problems. Five to be exact. Some of you are aware of them all, but many have only just arrived and haven't had the time or opportunity to get your heads around the whole picture. So let me offer some clarity now," he said before he looked at some dude that could only be Izzet affiliated.
Tall and grey haired, he was wearing blue and red clothes with a big fuckoff mechanism on like a backpack.
He spoke up, "One, The Izzet Beacon is luring more and more unsuspecting Planeswalkers to Ravnica, where they run the risk of becoming more fuel for Bolas power."
Bolas. Nicol Bolas. That was who was behind this entire thing, some sort of plan to lure Planeswalkers here to kill us and absorb our Sparks.
What's worse, he was some sort of dragon. Not the best look on the PR side of things for me, I have to admit.
Likely a good thing that I followed my instincts about sticking to mortal form on the way here.
There was a flash of light and a Planeswalker appeared in the middle of the crowd, an older man with a carefully trimmed white beard.
Jace looked at him for a second before looking out over the crowd again, "We need to disable the Beacon which is under Izzet and Azorious guard at the aptly named Beacon tower. Getting there may be difficult but the real problem is the machine itself, which was built with safeguards to prevent Bolas from shutting it off."
...Not seeing the problem here. Just destroy the thing. Hell, if that can't be done, wreck the entire tower. I have yet to meet something I couldn't destroy if I put my mind to it.
"Problem number two," Jace continued, interrupting form chatter, "The Immortal Sun. Once the beacon summons the Planeswalkers to Ravnica, the Sun keeps them trapped here. So like the Beacon, we need the Su-"
I leaned down to Alexis, "Did you know that?" I whispered.
Alexis nodded, "I tired Walking back," she whispered back, holding a sandwich in her hands, "I arrived back in the forest not far from the Tower, but I was almost instantly snatched back here."
Hmmm.
I wonder if that effect could be reversed?
"Three!" Jace said, cutting through the chatter, "The Planar Bridge from Amonkhet allows a seemingly endless army of Eternals to enter Ravnica and slay the Planeswalkers lured by the Beacon and held by the Sun. We have to shut it down, and we can only do that from the Amonkhet side."
"But how?" a dark skinned woman in what looked like bronze armour asked, "I tried to Planeswalk back to Amonkhet, but the Immortal Sun-"
Jace held a hand up, "I know. And we can't wait for Problem Two to be solved. So we'll utilize the portal itself...to travel to Amonkhet."
An old woman in red robes, leaning against a staff spoke up, "While the Eternals march out of it? That sounds like a great plan for committing suicide."
Point to the old woman.
"We are exploring an alternate plan," Jace said and then looked towards me, "Atreus. Chandra said you had a way to close Planar portals. Is that something you can do with this one?"
I looked at Jace and said the first thing that came to mind, "Fuck you."
That seemed to actually startle him slightly as the entire room looked at me, "Excuse me?"
"Why would I assist you? You, the one who voted for the entire population of my plane to be to-" I broke off as Alexis elbowed me hard in the ribs.
I took a deep breath and then shook my head, "Maybe if I had two weeks to build the device from memory," I finally said, "I don't think we have that."
He nodded once and looked back to the old woman, "There are ways we can mitigate the risk," he said, before he looked out over the crowd again, "Problem Four. Liliana Vess. She's clearly controlling the Eternals for Bolas, we need to mak-"
"What the fuck was that?" Alexis hissed up at me, "Are you trying to get us killed!?"
"...Sorry," I said and gave her shoulder a small squeeze, "I… I lost my temper there for a bit."
"Now is so not the time!"
"I know, I know," I sighed again and then I took half a leg of lamb from a passing servant that was circulating with food and refreshment for those gathered. I like lamb, but they are such a pain to get normally. It was just rude to sweep down and grab one as they are always owned by somebody else, and going through the motions and turning to mortal form to buy one when they are barely the size of a snack…
Usually not worth it.
"Five," Jace continued, "Bolas, himself. Though if we can't deal with the first four problems, the fifth is pretty damn hopeless."
The guy I couldn't remember stepped forward, "There is a sixth problem. We have a responsibility to protect the ordinary Ravnicans. Since none would be in danger if not for Bolas' hunger for Planeswalker Sparks."
Jace nodded, "That's right. Six. Six problems."
"Seven," The Izzet guy with the small powerplant on his back said, "We need to reconstitute the Guildpact by uniting all ten guilds. Without the Guild-"
I turned him out and took a bite from my snack with a frown. Six problems. The big bad, the elements of his plan.
Three devices, one Necromancer, the big guy himself. Devices could be broken or redirected. That beacon reached out through the Blind Eternities, the Sun locked us into this Plane and the bridge… It opened a hole between Planes.
Liliana Vess. She helped me, helped us. She and Chandra are why Azeroth still lives. She was a Necromancer which automatically made her insanely suspect and likely just outright insane, but…
She still helped. More than most of them did. What could have caused her to turn on the rest like this? Likely because it gave her power, she was that type. Or because she was forced to, she wasn't the sort to just join a cause to give somebody else power.
Did she plan to redirect it somehow to her instead of Bolas?
Well, it didn't really matter why she did it, if it was for power or self preservation. She had killed so many, caused so much damage.
If I get the chance, I'll kill her.
A voice rang through the general discussion, "Now that you all know of our existence, you could be forgiven for believing our ability to traverse worlds is an excuse for a Planeswalker to always run from a fight."
It was the guy in armour again. What the fuck was his name!?
"But we of the Gatewatch took an Oath to always stay. It was a choice we had the luxury to make, and somehow we thought that choice made us superior. Now we stand among you with that choice taken from uys. Now the choice is whether or not to fight."
I remember how you voted, armoured man. Hypocrite.
He unsheathed his sword with a dramatic effect, rising it high into the air, "This is Blackblade! It has already slain one Elder Dragon, and it can destroy Bolas, as well! With it, I hereby vow to take back this world! Who's with me!?"
I'd give him that, that's a good speech, and the crowd apparently agreed as they started to gather around him.
Ajani put a hand on his shoulder and more people started to reach out in turn. I reached up and pulled my goggles down, studying the sword and its magic flux before crossing my arms.
I'd really like to have a better look at that thing.
A different voice rang out through the room, and I looked up at a door on a small balcony overlooking the chamber to see a goblin, "Masters, one of a' them God-Eternals approaches, at the head of a small army of those undead creepies! You got about eleven and a half minutes 'fore they're here!"
"Six challenges!" Jace called out, "Six missions! We need volunteers! Now!"
God-Eternals.
I did not like the sound of that.
AN// Happy new year!
"Let's bring this to order, please. We need a plan," he said as he looked out over us.
"And you two strategic geniuses think you can come up with one?" a voice rang out and I looked over to the speaker. He was large, one of the largest in the room, at least while I was in mortal form. He was a demon of some sort, wings, horns, red skin, the entire thing.
I suppressed the urge to growl again. I did not like demons.
The guy I still couldn't remember the name of, long dark hair, breastplate, blue cloak… what the fuck is his name! Stepped up, "There'll be time for everyone to have their say. But standing around muttering to each other isn't getting us anywhere. So how about we stow the inside comments for the time being and listen?"
Well. He had a point there.
Jace spoke up again, "We face a number of problems. Five to be exact. Some of you are aware of them all, but many have only just arrived and haven't had the time or opportunity to get your heads around the whole picture. So let me offer some clarity now," he said before he looked at some dude that could only be Izzet affiliated.
Tall and grey haired, he was wearing blue and red clothes with a big fuckoff mechanism on like a backpack.
He spoke up, "One, The Izzet Beacon is luring more and more unsuspecting Planeswalkers to Ravnica, where they run the risk of becoming more fuel for Bolas power."
Bolas. Nicol Bolas. That was who was behind this entire thing, some sort of plan to lure Planeswalkers here to kill us and absorb our Sparks.
What's worse, he was some sort of dragon. Not the best look on the PR side of things for me, I have to admit.
Likely a good thing that I followed my instincts about sticking to mortal form on the way here.
There was a flash of light and a Planeswalker appeared in the middle of the crowd, an older man with a carefully trimmed white beard.
Jace looked at him for a second before looking out over the crowd again, "We need to disable the Beacon which is under Izzet and Azorious guard at the aptly named Beacon tower. Getting there may be difficult but the real problem is the machine itself, which was built with safeguards to prevent Bolas from shutting it off."
...Not seeing the problem here. Just destroy the thing. Hell, if that can't be done, wreck the entire tower. I have yet to meet something I couldn't destroy if I put my mind to it.
"Problem number two," Jace continued, interrupting form chatter, "The Immortal Sun. Once the beacon summons the Planeswalkers to Ravnica, the Sun keeps them trapped here. So like the Beacon, we need the Su-"
I leaned down to Alexis, "Did you know that?" I whispered.
Alexis nodded, "I tired Walking back," she whispered back, holding a sandwich in her hands, "I arrived back in the forest not far from the Tower, but I was almost instantly snatched back here."
Hmmm.
I wonder if that effect could be reversed?
"Three!" Jace said, cutting through the chatter, "The Planar Bridge from Amonkhet allows a seemingly endless army of Eternals to enter Ravnica and slay the Planeswalkers lured by the Beacon and held by the Sun. We have to shut it down, and we can only do that from the Amonkhet side."
"But how?" a dark skinned woman in what looked like bronze armour asked, "I tried to Planeswalk back to Amonkhet, but the Immortal Sun-"
Jace held a hand up, "I know. And we can't wait for Problem Two to be solved. So we'll utilize the portal itself...to travel to Amonkhet."
An old woman in red robes, leaning against a staff spoke up, "While the Eternals march out of it? That sounds like a great plan for committing suicide."
Point to the old woman.
"We are exploring an alternate plan," Jace said and then looked towards me, "Atreus. Chandra said you had a way to close Planar portals. Is that something you can do with this one?"
I looked at Jace and said the first thing that came to mind, "Fuck you."
That seemed to actually startle him slightly as the entire room looked at me, "Excuse me?"
"Why would I assist you? You, the one who voted for the entire population of my plane to be to-" I broke off as Alexis elbowed me hard in the ribs.
I took a deep breath and then shook my head, "Maybe if I had two weeks to build the device from memory," I finally said, "I don't think we have that."
He nodded once and looked back to the old woman, "There are ways we can mitigate the risk," he said, before he looked out over the crowd again, "Problem Four. Liliana Vess. She's clearly controlling the Eternals for Bolas, we need to mak-"
"What the fuck was that?" Alexis hissed up at me, "Are you trying to get us killed!?"
"...Sorry," I said and gave her shoulder a small squeeze, "I… I lost my temper there for a bit."
"Now is so not the time!"
"I know, I know," I sighed again and then I took half a leg of lamb from a passing servant that was circulating with food and refreshment for those gathered. I like lamb, but they are such a pain to get normally. It was just rude to sweep down and grab one as they are always owned by somebody else, and going through the motions and turning to mortal form to buy one when they are barely the size of a snack…
Usually not worth it.
"Five," Jace continued, "Bolas, himself. Though if we can't deal with the first four problems, the fifth is pretty damn hopeless."
The guy I couldn't remember stepped forward, "There is a sixth problem. We have a responsibility to protect the ordinary Ravnicans. Since none would be in danger if not for Bolas' hunger for Planeswalker Sparks."
Jace nodded, "That's right. Six. Six problems."
"Seven," The Izzet guy with the small powerplant on his back said, "We need to reconstitute the Guildpact by uniting all ten guilds. Without the Guild-"
I turned him out and took a bite from my snack with a frown. Six problems. The big bad, the elements of his plan.
Three devices, one Necromancer, the big guy himself. Devices could be broken or redirected. That beacon reached out through the Blind Eternities, the Sun locked us into this Plane and the bridge… It opened a hole between Planes.
Liliana Vess. She helped me, helped us. She and Chandra are why Azeroth still lives. She was a Necromancer which automatically made her insanely suspect and likely just outright insane, but…
She still helped. More than most of them did. What could have caused her to turn on the rest like this? Likely because it gave her power, she was that type. Or because she was forced to, she wasn't the sort to just join a cause to give somebody else power.
Did she plan to redirect it somehow to her instead of Bolas?
Well, it didn't really matter why she did it, if it was for power or self preservation. She had killed so many, caused so much damage.
If I get the chance, I'll kill her.
A voice rang through the general discussion, "Now that you all know of our existence, you could be forgiven for believing our ability to traverse worlds is an excuse for a Planeswalker to always run from a fight."
It was the guy in armour again. What the fuck was his name!?
"But we of the Gatewatch took an Oath to always stay. It was a choice we had the luxury to make, and somehow we thought that choice made us superior. Now we stand among you with that choice taken from uys. Now the choice is whether or not to fight."
I remember how you voted, armoured man. Hypocrite.
He unsheathed his sword with a dramatic effect, rising it high into the air, "This is Blackblade! It has already slain one Elder Dragon, and it can destroy Bolas, as well! With it, I hereby vow to take back this world! Who's with me!?"
I'd give him that, that's a good speech, and the crowd apparently agreed as they started to gather around him.
Ajani put a hand on his shoulder and more people started to reach out in turn. I reached up and pulled my goggles down, studying the sword and its magic flux before crossing my arms.
I'd really like to have a better look at that thing.
A different voice rang out through the room, and I looked up at a door on a small balcony overlooking the chamber to see a goblin, "Masters, one of a' them God-Eternals approaches, at the head of a small army of those undead creepies! You got about eleven and a half minutes 'fore they're here!"
"Six challenges!" Jace called out, "Six missions! We need volunteers! Now!"
God-Eternals.
I did not like the sound of that.
AN// Happy new year!
23
"I don't like the look of that," Alexis said quietly.
We could see an approaching group of flying Eternals in the distance, circling above a large shape approaching, snake-like head sticking up above most buildings.
The fliers were angels, large birds, and small winged reptiles. All seemingly made from the same blue material with golden symbols on them. But what really drew everybody's attention was the thing they were circling above.
It was massive, larger than a Titan, shaped more or less like a human, but with a head like a cobra.
An undead god.
"Well..." I said equally quietly, "I killed a god before, and he was alive at the time. How hard could it be?"
Alexis glanced at me, forcing a small smile, "We just have to do it without anything grabbing us. Piece of cake."
"Yeah, no problem."
"Luckily, you aren't alone," Ajani's voice rumbled behind us as he stepped up to look into the distance, "We should get ready."
I nodded and looked at Alexis.
She looked back and then nodded, "Teamup?"
"Yep," I agreed, before I sighed and looked to Ajani, "Please make sure nobody tries to shank me for this, because I don't think my kind is especially welcome right now."
The large lion man nodded gravely, but seemed a bit amused as he stepped back to give me room. I channeled a bit of magic and returned to my real form in a cloud of spell smoke, the group around us letting out sounds of surprise, followed by more sounds of even more surprise as the smoke dissipated and I spread my wings into a stretch.
All the while my silvery armour was deploying, flowing across my body, along my neck and legs, along my tail and wings. The helmet covered my head and the HUD came to life before my eyes.
"He's one of us!" Ajani's loud voice boomed as weapons started to track my way, "He's against Bolas!"
Alexis waited for the armour to finish forming over my back before she swung herself up, the armour forming a saddle beneath her, straps of metal going over her thighs and around her lower legs to keep her in place. Her fist klanged against the armour on my back, "You could have done that a lot less flashy!"
I turned my head to look at her with one eye, "If the mortals have a problem with it, that's their problem, not mine. As long as they don't try to attack us, it's fine."
Alexis rolled her eyes and reached to pull a magi blaster from a holster behind her waist with her left hand, the right gripping and taking the hilt of her manablade from her waist, igniting the blade with a crackle, the bright white light shining brightly in the gloom of the spell-darkened sky.
I shifted slightly, stretching my wings as I checked my own weaponry. Two manalasers on my back close to the base of my wings, one on my chest.
Looking toward the incoming army, I designated anything that was undead as a target. Then with an afterthought, I added the condition that it should also be blue, just in case any of the mortals along with us were less moral than they seemed. I wouldn't cry from one less fully-dead undead, but right now we had bigger problems.
With three running steps, I spread my wings wide and climbed into the air, rising above the barricades as I circled higher above the Senate building. We weren't alone either. There were already a group of fliers in the air. Angels, soldiers on pegasi, and even a handful of bird people. I was the biggest thing we had in the sky, however, which I did not like, it meant I would have a target on my tail.
I turned my head enough to spot that Alexis had a big grin on her face.
"What?" I asked.
She shook her head, "Sorry, can't help it!" she answered over the wind, "I just realized that no matter what happens, my life is awesome. I'm about to ride a power armoured dragon into battle against an undead god while holding a lightsaber!"
I couldn't help it. I laughed as I banked again before spotting what we were up against. One good touch...
Considering what they did, I didn't feel like testing a soulstone against them either.
My laughter died away.
I glanced down to see the armored guy climb onto a pegasus, "Hey, what's the name of that dude again? The one with the fancy sword?"
Alexis leaned over to look down, "Oh, that's Gideon. Jira? Jura? Something like that."
"Thanks, that bothered me all meeting. Seriously, how difficult is it to introduce yourself," I said as I continued circling.
"He did. You were asleep."
"...Okay, fair..." I admitted. Suddenly my left mana laser fired, a bolt of blue light lashed through the air and blew a wing of a large blue roc-like bird that had strayed too close to the group, "Oh, cool, those works like they should."
"Shit, I didn't even see that one!" Alexis yelled and started scanning the sky.
Yep, time to pay attention.
I did the same, looking over towards what was coming for us. Hundreds of fliers, an undead snake-god, and what looked like thousands of forces marching on the ground around its feet.
Gideon's pegasus climbed to altitude and he lifted his sword, pointing towards the oncoming fliers, "Fliers first!" he yelled, "We need to clear them out! For Ravnica!"
A cheer went up in the group of fliers and we started moving.
"Lexi, if they get close, duck close to me," I instructed her.
"Your armor is shielded, I remember," she answered, and patted my back with the hand holding her blaster, "Let's do this."
My lasers started firing rapidly, and then we were among them.
The dying started.
We could see an approaching group of flying Eternals in the distance, circling above a large shape approaching, snake-like head sticking up above most buildings.
The fliers were angels, large birds, and small winged reptiles. All seemingly made from the same blue material with golden symbols on them. But what really drew everybody's attention was the thing they were circling above.
It was massive, larger than a Titan, shaped more or less like a human, but with a head like a cobra.
An undead god.
"Well..." I said equally quietly, "I killed a god before, and he was alive at the time. How hard could it be?"
Alexis glanced at me, forcing a small smile, "We just have to do it without anything grabbing us. Piece of cake."
"Yeah, no problem."
"Luckily, you aren't alone," Ajani's voice rumbled behind us as he stepped up to look into the distance, "We should get ready."
I nodded and looked at Alexis.
She looked back and then nodded, "Teamup?"
"Yep," I agreed, before I sighed and looked to Ajani, "Please make sure nobody tries to shank me for this, because I don't think my kind is especially welcome right now."
The large lion man nodded gravely, but seemed a bit amused as he stepped back to give me room. I channeled a bit of magic and returned to my real form in a cloud of spell smoke, the group around us letting out sounds of surprise, followed by more sounds of even more surprise as the smoke dissipated and I spread my wings into a stretch.
All the while my silvery armour was deploying, flowing across my body, along my neck and legs, along my tail and wings. The helmet covered my head and the HUD came to life before my eyes.
"He's one of us!" Ajani's loud voice boomed as weapons started to track my way, "He's against Bolas!"
Alexis waited for the armour to finish forming over my back before she swung herself up, the armour forming a saddle beneath her, straps of metal going over her thighs and around her lower legs to keep her in place. Her fist klanged against the armour on my back, "You could have done that a lot less flashy!"
I turned my head to look at her with one eye, "If the mortals have a problem with it, that's their problem, not mine. As long as they don't try to attack us, it's fine."
Alexis rolled her eyes and reached to pull a magi blaster from a holster behind her waist with her left hand, the right gripping and taking the hilt of her manablade from her waist, igniting the blade with a crackle, the bright white light shining brightly in the gloom of the spell-darkened sky.
I shifted slightly, stretching my wings as I checked my own weaponry. Two manalasers on my back close to the base of my wings, one on my chest.
Looking toward the incoming army, I designated anything that was undead as a target. Then with an afterthought, I added the condition that it should also be blue, just in case any of the mortals along with us were less moral than they seemed. I wouldn't cry from one less fully-dead undead, but right now we had bigger problems.
With three running steps, I spread my wings wide and climbed into the air, rising above the barricades as I circled higher above the Senate building. We weren't alone either. There were already a group of fliers in the air. Angels, soldiers on pegasi, and even a handful of bird people. I was the biggest thing we had in the sky, however, which I did not like, it meant I would have a target on my tail.
I turned my head enough to spot that Alexis had a big grin on her face.
"What?" I asked.
She shook her head, "Sorry, can't help it!" she answered over the wind, "I just realized that no matter what happens, my life is awesome. I'm about to ride a power armoured dragon into battle against an undead god while holding a lightsaber!"
I couldn't help it. I laughed as I banked again before spotting what we were up against. One good touch...
Considering what they did, I didn't feel like testing a soulstone against them either.
My laughter died away.
I glanced down to see the armored guy climb onto a pegasus, "Hey, what's the name of that dude again? The one with the fancy sword?"
Alexis leaned over to look down, "Oh, that's Gideon. Jira? Jura? Something like that."
"Thanks, that bothered me all meeting. Seriously, how difficult is it to introduce yourself," I said as I continued circling.
"He did. You were asleep."
"...Okay, fair..." I admitted. Suddenly my left mana laser fired, a bolt of blue light lashed through the air and blew a wing of a large blue roc-like bird that had strayed too close to the group, "Oh, cool, those works like they should."
"Shit, I didn't even see that one!" Alexis yelled and started scanning the sky.
Yep, time to pay attention.
I did the same, looking over towards what was coming for us. Hundreds of fliers, an undead snake-god, and what looked like thousands of forces marching on the ground around its feet.
Gideon's pegasus climbed to altitude and he lifted his sword, pointing towards the oncoming fliers, "Fliers first!" he yelled, "We need to clear them out! For Ravnica!"
A cheer went up in the group of fliers and we started moving.
"Lexi, if they get close, duck close to me," I instructed her.
"Your armor is shielded, I remember," she answered, and patted my back with the hand holding her blaster, "Let's do this."
My lasers started firing rapidly, and then we were among them.
The dying started.
- Location
- New England
This right here? This about sums up the joy I get from reading this story.
24
I twisted and turned, one wing smacking a Roc from the air, the powerful armour and sharp wing edge cutting it in half in a spray of shrapnel as I banked around. My manalasers had not stopped firing since we got into range. The first thirty seconds I had spent tuning how much power they were drawing. Yes, my armour automatically pulled Mana from the environment to work, and yes Ravnica was a mana-heavy Plane, but I'm not sure anywhere would provide enough mana to handle continuous rapid fire unless I hooked them directly to a leyline or something.
So I tuned the power down to just enough to blow chunks out of whatever the Blue material was and then left them to their work. Blowing chunks out of something flying is most often just as effective as turning it into shrapnel.
I turned hard, rolling as an Angel dove towards me, hands grasping as I brought Alexis around.
Her sword flashed as we went past and the Angel fell in two pieces, "If you... held steady... OHFF... I could actually.... shoot!"
"I'm not holding steady with this many of the fuckers!" I protested, twisting around and snatching a Roc out of the air as it was about to dive onto a pegasus rider. I grabbed it by the wings and ripped it in two before dropping it.
Alexis fired another two shots, both missing, before she holstered her blaster and instead decided to focus on using her magic, and with a chop of her sword and a flash of white mana, her Angel summon appeared next to her.
She looked around and nodded firmly to Alexis before banking and going straight for one of the undead angels.
Whomever got in their heads that Angels were gentle creatures had not met that one... or any of the Ravnican breed either for that matter. They were some of the fiercest warriors on the battlefield.
"How many more fliers do you have?" I asked and felt for my own mana. Might not be able to do a lot of them, but I had enough for...
I finished my summon and a large red Azerothian proto-drake appeared in a flash of greenish light. It roared, it's big maw filled with shining teeth wide as it engaged quite happily into the fight, colliding in mid air with a Roc almost as big as it was.
The Roc, undead or not, didn't seem to enjoy the experience.
"Only her! Kinda!" Alexis yelled back and yelped, almost laying back flat against my back as she avoided another Angel, her sword lashing out and taking its leg off. It didn't slow the undead down, but did pull it off course. A second later one of my dorsal manalasers fired and blew its left wing off, sending it tumbling to the ground below.
Banking again, I scanned the ground below while I adjusted targeting parameters to focus on closer rather than bigger, excluding the big undead god that didn't even seem to notice us right now, just striding forward.
An arrow suddenly pinged off my shield, followed by a dozen more to equal lack of effect. I looked down. Archers. Undead archers, and somewhat skilled as well if they could hit me at this speed and altitude.
But if they could hit me...
I turned my head, quickly banking around as a pair of pegasi riders in red and white screamed as they fell towards the ground below, their mounts dead or drying with half a dozen hits each.
I folded my wings and dove. I quickly readied a pair of spells, took careful aim and then cast them both. One after another.
I couldn't afford to miss.
The slow fall spells hit the two soldiers and they quickly slowed down to glide downwards instead of falling to their deaths... or considering the eternals on the ground, at least not falling to their deaths quite as quickly.
Swooping past, I snatched the right one by his armour and banked slightly, grabbing the left one by his arm.
There was the sound of breaking bones as the whiplash of my velocity snapped his arm like a twig and I likely at least bruised the ribs on the first one and possibly gave him whiplash, but at least they didn't fall down on the streets below.
Pulling up, I changed direction and then let go, causing them to drift towards the roof of a building below.
Alexis held a hand up, a dozen arrows bouncing off her shield, "We need to do something about those!"
"Squid!"
Alexis blinked and then nodded firmly. I changed direction to cover her from fire and she holstered her sword and started to channel mana for a summon. Suddenly a kraken appeared in the air next to us. It trumpeted and fell towards the archers below.
It would squish them easily enough, but suddenly it glowed a bright white and grew to twice its original size, massive tree trunk tentacles arresting it's fall and it started lashing out, smashing and crushing the undead Eternals even as they went after it like ants on a gecko.
"That's new!" I yelled to Alexis and beat my wings to climb higher.
"Not me! That's Master Goldmane!"
I nodded and climbed higher again. No arrows this time, they were clearly either squished or too busy handling the kraken below. I looked down and this time, the undead god wasn't ignoring everything. It had turned and was approaching the Kraken. Even as I watched the Kraken noticed and attacked it, massive tentacles lashing and wrapping around the snake headed undead. The god barely even slowed down, it grabbed a massive tentacle, pulled the kraken close and then smashed its hand straight through the summon, causing it to disappear in a cloud of spell smoke.
Well, shit. I personally knew how strong that squid was, even when not buffed like that by somebody like Ajani. To just wade in like that and hit it once...
Fuck. Yep, staying way out of range of the big fucker.
"We need to do something about the big one!" Alexis yelled over the wind, leaning forward towards my back to get beneath my shield.
"Do you have something that can take that?" I answered and circled slightly, looking down towards the god-eternal. It had turned and was once more approaching the senate building. It was almost by the square.
"No. Do you?"
"...Sorry, left all my nukes at home," I said and frowned, "Maybe the gauntlet? But that would be close to the limit and it's not exactly a precise weapon. And that would wipe out half the block!"
Alexis nodded, "What if I made you stronger? You have that growth spell to make you big?"
"I'm not getting within grabbing range of that thing, forget it!" I protested, "But maybe we can slow it down some," I said and changed direction, circling lower across the houses and changed targeting priority on my mana lasers.
They started to fire after a second, shooting bolt after bolt after bolt towards the undead monstrosity at full power.
Hopefully from outside the range of getting attacked back. Maybe one of my larger summons could at least slow it down?
The bolts didn't seem to do much, smacking into the massive eternal in a steady rain, mostly focused on its head. It didn't seem to do much...
But what it did was draw the attention of the god-eternal, it's massive head turning to track towards us.
"Uhm... Atreus?" Alexis said, "It's distracted!"
I quickly banked away and swooped down beneath the line of sight along a street before it had the chance to surprise us with fucking eyebeams or something.
That's the kind of surprise I could live without.
Pulling up again, I resumed firing only to find that the god-eternal was already looking in my direction, heading our way and seemingly not caring that there were buildings in the way.
Nope.
I turned, beat my wings harder and rose up and away from it.
I looked back in time to see a glimpse of metal as somebody threw themselves off their pegasus mount, shining sword and armour to slam into the back of the god-eternal's head.
The god actually screamed before starting to glow, quickly dissolving into nothing.
It was him. Gideon.
Even as I watched him fall through what used to be a massive snake god, a pair of angels caught him, carrying him back towards friendly lines.
I banked to follow, retasking my manalasers to once more clearing the sky.
I so need to get a look at that sword.
AN// Tomorrows part posted early.
So I tuned the power down to just enough to blow chunks out of whatever the Blue material was and then left them to their work. Blowing chunks out of something flying is most often just as effective as turning it into shrapnel.
I turned hard, rolling as an Angel dove towards me, hands grasping as I brought Alexis around.
Her sword flashed as we went past and the Angel fell in two pieces, "If you... held steady... OHFF... I could actually.... shoot!"
"I'm not holding steady with this many of the fuckers!" I protested, twisting around and snatching a Roc out of the air as it was about to dive onto a pegasus rider. I grabbed it by the wings and ripped it in two before dropping it.
Alexis fired another two shots, both missing, before she holstered her blaster and instead decided to focus on using her magic, and with a chop of her sword and a flash of white mana, her Angel summon appeared next to her.
She looked around and nodded firmly to Alexis before banking and going straight for one of the undead angels.
Whomever got in their heads that Angels were gentle creatures had not met that one... or any of the Ravnican breed either for that matter. They were some of the fiercest warriors on the battlefield.
"How many more fliers do you have?" I asked and felt for my own mana. Might not be able to do a lot of them, but I had enough for...
I finished my summon and a large red Azerothian proto-drake appeared in a flash of greenish light. It roared, it's big maw filled with shining teeth wide as it engaged quite happily into the fight, colliding in mid air with a Roc almost as big as it was.
The Roc, undead or not, didn't seem to enjoy the experience.
"Only her! Kinda!" Alexis yelled back and yelped, almost laying back flat against my back as she avoided another Angel, her sword lashing out and taking its leg off. It didn't slow the undead down, but did pull it off course. A second later one of my dorsal manalasers fired and blew its left wing off, sending it tumbling to the ground below.
Banking again, I scanned the ground below while I adjusted targeting parameters to focus on closer rather than bigger, excluding the big undead god that didn't even seem to notice us right now, just striding forward.
An arrow suddenly pinged off my shield, followed by a dozen more to equal lack of effect. I looked down. Archers. Undead archers, and somewhat skilled as well if they could hit me at this speed and altitude.
But if they could hit me...
I turned my head, quickly banking around as a pair of pegasi riders in red and white screamed as they fell towards the ground below, their mounts dead or drying with half a dozen hits each.
I folded my wings and dove. I quickly readied a pair of spells, took careful aim and then cast them both. One after another.
I couldn't afford to miss.
The slow fall spells hit the two soldiers and they quickly slowed down to glide downwards instead of falling to their deaths... or considering the eternals on the ground, at least not falling to their deaths quite as quickly.
Swooping past, I snatched the right one by his armour and banked slightly, grabbing the left one by his arm.
There was the sound of breaking bones as the whiplash of my velocity snapped his arm like a twig and I likely at least bruised the ribs on the first one and possibly gave him whiplash, but at least they didn't fall down on the streets below.
Pulling up, I changed direction and then let go, causing them to drift towards the roof of a building below.
Alexis held a hand up, a dozen arrows bouncing off her shield, "We need to do something about those!"
"Squid!"
Alexis blinked and then nodded firmly. I changed direction to cover her from fire and she holstered her sword and started to channel mana for a summon. Suddenly a kraken appeared in the air next to us. It trumpeted and fell towards the archers below.
It would squish them easily enough, but suddenly it glowed a bright white and grew to twice its original size, massive tree trunk tentacles arresting it's fall and it started lashing out, smashing and crushing the undead Eternals even as they went after it like ants on a gecko.
"That's new!" I yelled to Alexis and beat my wings to climb higher.
"Not me! That's Master Goldmane!"
I nodded and climbed higher again. No arrows this time, they were clearly either squished or too busy handling the kraken below. I looked down and this time, the undead god wasn't ignoring everything. It had turned and was approaching the Kraken. Even as I watched the Kraken noticed and attacked it, massive tentacles lashing and wrapping around the snake headed undead. The god barely even slowed down, it grabbed a massive tentacle, pulled the kraken close and then smashed its hand straight through the summon, causing it to disappear in a cloud of spell smoke.
Well, shit. I personally knew how strong that squid was, even when not buffed like that by somebody like Ajani. To just wade in like that and hit it once...
Fuck. Yep, staying way out of range of the big fucker.
"We need to do something about the big one!" Alexis yelled over the wind, leaning forward towards my back to get beneath my shield.
"Do you have something that can take that?" I answered and circled slightly, looking down towards the god-eternal. It had turned and was once more approaching the senate building. It was almost by the square.
"No. Do you?"
"...Sorry, left all my nukes at home," I said and frowned, "Maybe the gauntlet? But that would be close to the limit and it's not exactly a precise weapon. And that would wipe out half the block!"
Alexis nodded, "What if I made you stronger? You have that growth spell to make you big?"
"I'm not getting within grabbing range of that thing, forget it!" I protested, "But maybe we can slow it down some," I said and changed direction, circling lower across the houses and changed targeting priority on my mana lasers.
They started to fire after a second, shooting bolt after bolt after bolt towards the undead monstrosity at full power.
Hopefully from outside the range of getting attacked back. Maybe one of my larger summons could at least slow it down?
The bolts didn't seem to do much, smacking into the massive eternal in a steady rain, mostly focused on its head. It didn't seem to do much...
But what it did was draw the attention of the god-eternal, it's massive head turning to track towards us.
"Uhm... Atreus?" Alexis said, "It's distracted!"
I quickly banked away and swooped down beneath the line of sight along a street before it had the chance to surprise us with fucking eyebeams or something.
That's the kind of surprise I could live without.
Pulling up again, I resumed firing only to find that the god-eternal was already looking in my direction, heading our way and seemingly not caring that there were buildings in the way.
Nope.
I turned, beat my wings harder and rose up and away from it.
I looked back in time to see a glimpse of metal as somebody threw themselves off their pegasus mount, shining sword and armour to slam into the back of the god-eternal's head.
The god actually screamed before starting to glow, quickly dissolving into nothing.
It was him. Gideon.
Even as I watched him fall through what used to be a massive snake god, a pair of angels caught him, carrying him back towards friendly lines.
I banked to follow, retasking my manalasers to once more clearing the sky.
I so need to get a look at that sword.
AN// Tomorrows part posted early.
25
The ground forces were charging across the plaza below towards the barricades and waiting defenders as we banked out across them.
Alexis slapped her hand against my armoured back for attention, "Strafe them!"
That sounded like a great idea, and I shifted course, diving down along the line and exhaling, sending a stream of cold towards the charging undead, ice shimmering and cracking as it crawled along the ground where it touched, any of the Eternals touched freezing solid. I kept going all the way along the line.
Ever seen a deer on ice?
Turns out whatever mineral they were made out of did not have the best traction on slick ice.
The ones running past the frozen ones suddenly slipped, and before they could get back on their feet, the next one tripped over them, sending both Eternals flailing along the icy ground.
Meanwhile the rest of the defenders didn't stand idle. Arrows, magical and not, hit the horde hard, downing Eternal after Eternal, joined by spells and other ranged attacks.
Sadly, some ice wouldn't keep them away forever. There were thousands of them, and they charged across their own fallen.
"Again!"
I banked and went in for another pass.
It wouldn't stop them, there were too many. But the more we slow them down, the more time we have before they reach melee range.
Down, I let loose with my breath, freezing along a swath of ground and Eternals as Alexis fired her blaster into the group. At this range and with this many... moving fast or not, she couldn't really miss.
I snatched one of the jackal headed Eternals up as I beat my wings into a climb again, releasing after half a second to send it flying through the air. But delayed or not...
They reached the defenders.
There was a clash as Undead hit barricades and shield walls, the sound of yelling, of weapons against weapons, weapons against shields, spells flashing... the sound of battle filled the square as people fought for their lives. Planeswalker or not, at the moment it didn't matter. In fact, the normals had an advantage, they didn't die just from being grabbed. I banked again for another pass. A trio of arrows shattered against my shield and I shifted course for the archers instead as I retargeted the chest mounted mana laser to prioritize ground targets. It kept firing, picking Eternals at random as I went down lower again, releasing another cloud of absolute zero freezing the archers solid where they stood.
"Ah! Fuck!"
I glanced back, spotting Alexis holding her hand over her shoulder, the hand starting to quickly glow white as she channeled a healing spell, "We need to take out those archers! On the roof!"
"Armour. I'm telling you, it works!"
"Bite me, Lizard!" Alexis snarled and then spread her arms, mana channeling into a spell as I banked around towards the Eternal archers that had climbed on top of a building for an elevated firing position. I readied my breath, but Alexis was faster this time and with a flash of blue light a murder of large birds descended upon the archers, birds the size of small dogs with claws and breaks seemingly razor sharp.
I shifted course slightly to go for a set of Eternals still on a sidestreet.
That shift in course likely saved both of our lives.
I saw the blue shape out of the corner of my eye a split second before it swept up at full speed from a different street, having flown fast and hard along the street and below the level of the buildings.
I twisted into a wheeling turn, beating my wings hard as the shape passed us by with what felt like centimeters to spare. As I turned away, I could see it, the shape of an Eternal with a dragon-like form. Two wings, two legs, long whipping tail and a head that looked way too teethy. The entire being seemed made out of that strange blue material all Eternals were made of and it was fast. Very fast.
It twisted around and came at us again. This time I didn't give it such an easy time and cast a quick spell before pulling up hard, giving the dragon a face full of frost troll.
I don't care how tough or undead you are, getting smacked in the face with a flying frost troll is one hell of a distraction.
At least enough of one to make it miss us only for a beam of pure light to explode out from the barricades, seemingly spearing straight through the Eternal dragon, causing it to crash down towards the city below and straight through one of the buildings.
"Shit," I said and went into level flight for a second to look around, "Ajani?"
"Might have been," Alexis answered, sounding a bit out of breath, "Or... one of the others. That was way too fucking close."
"Think that was a deliberate trap?" I asked and circled a bit higher, away from the buildings and any possible hidden attack paths as I scanned the skies.
Alexis went back to healing her shoulder, "..I don't know," she admitted, "I didn't think they were that smart."
I growled softly, "As a rule, undead aren't. But their master can be."
Liliana Vess just tried to kill us. There went what little good will I had been willing to feel towards that particular Necromancer.
"Are you doing okay?" I asked, and glanced back at my rider.
Alexis nodded and rolled her shoulder, "I'm good, it wasn't poisoned or anything, the arrow just grazed me. Let's get back down there."
I nodded and twisted around for another dive.
Alexis slapped her hand against my armoured back for attention, "Strafe them!"
That sounded like a great idea, and I shifted course, diving down along the line and exhaling, sending a stream of cold towards the charging undead, ice shimmering and cracking as it crawled along the ground where it touched, any of the Eternals touched freezing solid. I kept going all the way along the line.
Ever seen a deer on ice?
Turns out whatever mineral they were made out of did not have the best traction on slick ice.
The ones running past the frozen ones suddenly slipped, and before they could get back on their feet, the next one tripped over them, sending both Eternals flailing along the icy ground.
Meanwhile the rest of the defenders didn't stand idle. Arrows, magical and not, hit the horde hard, downing Eternal after Eternal, joined by spells and other ranged attacks.
Sadly, some ice wouldn't keep them away forever. There were thousands of them, and they charged across their own fallen.
"Again!"
I banked and went in for another pass.
It wouldn't stop them, there were too many. But the more we slow them down, the more time we have before they reach melee range.
Down, I let loose with my breath, freezing along a swath of ground and Eternals as Alexis fired her blaster into the group. At this range and with this many... moving fast or not, she couldn't really miss.
I snatched one of the jackal headed Eternals up as I beat my wings into a climb again, releasing after half a second to send it flying through the air. But delayed or not...
They reached the defenders.
There was a clash as Undead hit barricades and shield walls, the sound of yelling, of weapons against weapons, weapons against shields, spells flashing... the sound of battle filled the square as people fought for their lives. Planeswalker or not, at the moment it didn't matter. In fact, the normals had an advantage, they didn't die just from being grabbed. I banked again for another pass. A trio of arrows shattered against my shield and I shifted course for the archers instead as I retargeted the chest mounted mana laser to prioritize ground targets. It kept firing, picking Eternals at random as I went down lower again, releasing another cloud of absolute zero freezing the archers solid where they stood.
"Ah! Fuck!"
I glanced back, spotting Alexis holding her hand over her shoulder, the hand starting to quickly glow white as she channeled a healing spell, "We need to take out those archers! On the roof!"
"Armour. I'm telling you, it works!"
"Bite me, Lizard!" Alexis snarled and then spread her arms, mana channeling into a spell as I banked around towards the Eternal archers that had climbed on top of a building for an elevated firing position. I readied my breath, but Alexis was faster this time and with a flash of blue light a murder of large birds descended upon the archers, birds the size of small dogs with claws and breaks seemingly razor sharp.
I shifted course slightly to go for a set of Eternals still on a sidestreet.
That shift in course likely saved both of our lives.
I saw the blue shape out of the corner of my eye a split second before it swept up at full speed from a different street, having flown fast and hard along the street and below the level of the buildings.
I twisted into a wheeling turn, beating my wings hard as the shape passed us by with what felt like centimeters to spare. As I turned away, I could see it, the shape of an Eternal with a dragon-like form. Two wings, two legs, long whipping tail and a head that looked way too teethy. The entire being seemed made out of that strange blue material all Eternals were made of and it was fast. Very fast.
It twisted around and came at us again. This time I didn't give it such an easy time and cast a quick spell before pulling up hard, giving the dragon a face full of frost troll.
I don't care how tough or undead you are, getting smacked in the face with a flying frost troll is one hell of a distraction.
At least enough of one to make it miss us only for a beam of pure light to explode out from the barricades, seemingly spearing straight through the Eternal dragon, causing it to crash down towards the city below and straight through one of the buildings.
"Shit," I said and went into level flight for a second to look around, "Ajani?"
"Might have been," Alexis answered, sounding a bit out of breath, "Or... one of the others. That was way too fucking close."
"Think that was a deliberate trap?" I asked and circled a bit higher, away from the buildings and any possible hidden attack paths as I scanned the skies.
Alexis went back to healing her shoulder, "..I don't know," she admitted, "I didn't think they were that smart."
I growled softly, "As a rule, undead aren't. But their master can be."
Liliana Vess just tried to kill us. There went what little good will I had been willing to feel towards that particular Necromancer.
"Are you doing okay?" I asked, and glanced back at my rider.
Alexis nodded and rolled her shoulder, "I'm good, it wasn't poisoned or anything, the arrow just grazed me. Let's get back down there."
I nodded and twisted around for another dive.
Hestia&theCourt
Turns out we're plural too.
- Location
- In transition
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I didn't realize there could be any humor in this particular storyline, but you've proved me wrong most pleasingly. Well-done, Hiver.
Just thought people would like to know that the next story will be a continuation of Links In The Chain (SW)
26
I beat my wings hard as I came in for a landing, my armoured claws scraping against the white marble rock and I stretched my wings for a second before folding them again.
Alexis slapped the spot of the armour that would release her from her saddle and she groaned as she slipped down off me, stumbling and grasping the edge of my wing for support as her legs almost folded.
I turned my head to look at her, "You okay?"
Sinking down to sit, she rubbed her thighs and lower legs, "I'm fine, just getting my blood flow back," she groaned, "Do those things have to be so tight? Seriously, I have massive bruises each time."
"Better tight than not tight enough," I said as I looked at her, shifting a bit, "I might be able to catch you if you were to slip off higher up, but not that close to the ground."
"...Yeah, fair," she admitted and cringed slightly as she massaged her leg, "But seriously, if we're doing this more often, I should invest in some padding."
I twitched my head and my armour retracted back towards the low profile mode that mostly followed my spine, tail and along the upper part of my limbs, "Don't you have that already?"
Alexis glared at me, "Excuse me!?"
I gave her a draconic grin, "The pants, I mean. They are leather, don't tell me it's the only layer?"
She glowered and reached up to twack me on the snout, "It's not, and that's not what you meant!"
There was a choking sound to the left and I looked to see a soldier staring at us before quickly retreating at our looks, "What's his problem?" Alexis asked with a frown and reached up, taking hold of my nosehorn, "Boost?"
"No idea," I answered and raised my head, pulling her onto her feet, "But yeah, I should be able to enchant something for it. Sadly, I'm not sure even I could squeeze anything else into those things you're wearing."
Twack!
"I didn't mean it like that, woman! Seriously, what's your problem! Enchantments! They are as enchanted as they can be!" I growled at her.
"...Sorry," Alexis admitted and frowned, "I'm just... wound up and angry about all of this. And I think I'm coming down from an adrenaline high."
I nodded slightly, "And your first big battle since..."
"That too," she said quietly and scratched idly behind my nosehorn, "I'll be okay. You?"
"I'm fine," I said and shifted my head slightly into her touch, "I'm worried about Sheila, Rengosa and Zrazta."
Alexis nodded, "I told Sheila what little I knew before I left. But... I didn't know it was affecting you too. But at least they know where I went. They should be able to figure the rest out if neither of us..."
"Yeah," I agreed before I raised my head a bit to growl at her, "But we will both return."
"Damn right we will," she agreed with a smile.
Further down a pegasus went in for a landing and Gideon vaulted off it. He spent a couple of seconds patting the mount before he looked around and walked over towards us.
"Good work out there," he said with a smile and a nod, "Likely saved a lot of people."
Alexis idly scratched my chin as she smiled back, "We did what we could. There is a lot left to do, but if we can help, we will."
Gideon nodded, "Glad to have you," he agreed and then looked at me, "Atregos, Jace wants to talk to you about having you join the mission to shut down the Immortal Sun."
I growled softly but nodded, "Very well. That seems fitting for my talents," I agreed, "I will discuss it with him."
"Excellent, thank you," Gideon agreed and then smiled at Alexis, "I'll talk to you later, Miss Castle," he said and then turned and walked over to the next group that gave us a wide berth.
Alexis sighed softly and turned back to me after a couple of moments of looking after him, "Well," she said, "We should likely get read-" she started before she broke off, "...What?"
I looked at her and shifted my wings, not saying a word before I glanced towards Gideon and then back to her again.
"Shut up!" she exclaimed and twacked the tip of my nose again.
"I didn't say anything," I chuckled, "I'm not the one that gets all gooey as soon as there is a pretty face."
Alexis gaped at me, "Lizard! You have three wives!"
"And?" I said and stretched my wings, "I know you well enough to know what you like. That one is just a bit old for you."
Sighing, she shook her head, "Just turn back already, just because you would fit inside like this doesn't mean everyone else would too."
Focusing my magic, I turned to my moral form and rolled my shoulders before rubbing the back of my neck for a second with a small yawn.
"I'm hungry," Alexis said and checked her blaster again and the hilt of her sword.
"...We just ate," I said and walked along with her back into the large building, "Seriously, I did the flying, how much energy could you have used?"
"You eat like three times a week, you don't get a say."
Fair enough.
"Besides," Alexis continued as we walked inside, "I think that we should take the chance whi-" she said before she broke off and froze.
"What?" I asked and looked at her.
"It's him..." she started as she started at a man at the side of the room. He was tall with short dark hair and a short neat beard, wearing what looked like most of a set of dark plate armour and carrying a sword by his belt.
"Who's that?"
"That's fucking him! Geraka!"
Alexis slapped the spot of the armour that would release her from her saddle and she groaned as she slipped down off me, stumbling and grasping the edge of my wing for support as her legs almost folded.
I turned my head to look at her, "You okay?"
Sinking down to sit, she rubbed her thighs and lower legs, "I'm fine, just getting my blood flow back," she groaned, "Do those things have to be so tight? Seriously, I have massive bruises each time."
"Better tight than not tight enough," I said as I looked at her, shifting a bit, "I might be able to catch you if you were to slip off higher up, but not that close to the ground."
"...Yeah, fair," she admitted and cringed slightly as she massaged her leg, "But seriously, if we're doing this more often, I should invest in some padding."
I twitched my head and my armour retracted back towards the low profile mode that mostly followed my spine, tail and along the upper part of my limbs, "Don't you have that already?"
Alexis glared at me, "Excuse me!?"
I gave her a draconic grin, "The pants, I mean. They are leather, don't tell me it's the only layer?"
She glowered and reached up to twack me on the snout, "It's not, and that's not what you meant!"
There was a choking sound to the left and I looked to see a soldier staring at us before quickly retreating at our looks, "What's his problem?" Alexis asked with a frown and reached up, taking hold of my nosehorn, "Boost?"
"No idea," I answered and raised my head, pulling her onto her feet, "But yeah, I should be able to enchant something for it. Sadly, I'm not sure even I could squeeze anything else into those things you're wearing."
Twack!
"I didn't mean it like that, woman! Seriously, what's your problem! Enchantments! They are as enchanted as they can be!" I growled at her.
"...Sorry," Alexis admitted and frowned, "I'm just... wound up and angry about all of this. And I think I'm coming down from an adrenaline high."
I nodded slightly, "And your first big battle since..."
"That too," she said quietly and scratched idly behind my nosehorn, "I'll be okay. You?"
"I'm fine," I said and shifted my head slightly into her touch, "I'm worried about Sheila, Rengosa and Zrazta."
Alexis nodded, "I told Sheila what little I knew before I left. But... I didn't know it was affecting you too. But at least they know where I went. They should be able to figure the rest out if neither of us..."
"Yeah," I agreed before I raised my head a bit to growl at her, "But we will both return."
"Damn right we will," she agreed with a smile.
Further down a pegasus went in for a landing and Gideon vaulted off it. He spent a couple of seconds patting the mount before he looked around and walked over towards us.
"Good work out there," he said with a smile and a nod, "Likely saved a lot of people."
Alexis idly scratched my chin as she smiled back, "We did what we could. There is a lot left to do, but if we can help, we will."
Gideon nodded, "Glad to have you," he agreed and then looked at me, "Atregos, Jace wants to talk to you about having you join the mission to shut down the Immortal Sun."
I growled softly but nodded, "Very well. That seems fitting for my talents," I agreed, "I will discuss it with him."
"Excellent, thank you," Gideon agreed and then smiled at Alexis, "I'll talk to you later, Miss Castle," he said and then turned and walked over to the next group that gave us a wide berth.
Alexis sighed softly and turned back to me after a couple of moments of looking after him, "Well," she said, "We should likely get read-" she started before she broke off, "...What?"
I looked at her and shifted my wings, not saying a word before I glanced towards Gideon and then back to her again.
"Shut up!" she exclaimed and twacked the tip of my nose again.
"I didn't say anything," I chuckled, "I'm not the one that gets all gooey as soon as there is a pretty face."
Alexis gaped at me, "Lizard! You have three wives!"
"And?" I said and stretched my wings, "I know you well enough to know what you like. That one is just a bit old for you."
Sighing, she shook her head, "Just turn back already, just because you would fit inside like this doesn't mean everyone else would too."
Focusing my magic, I turned to my moral form and rolled my shoulders before rubbing the back of my neck for a second with a small yawn.
"I'm hungry," Alexis said and checked her blaster again and the hilt of her sword.
"...We just ate," I said and walked along with her back into the large building, "Seriously, I did the flying, how much energy could you have used?"
"You eat like three times a week, you don't get a say."
Fair enough.
"Besides," Alexis continued as we walked inside, "I think that we should take the chance whi-" she said before she broke off and froze.
"What?" I asked and looked at her.
"It's him..." she started as she started at a man at the side of the room. He was tall with short dark hair and a short neat beard, wearing what looked like most of a set of dark plate armour and carrying a sword by his belt.
"Who's that?"
"That's fucking him! Geraka!"
- Location
- Finland
I think this is meant to be "mortal" but moral is also funny. Still waiting for him to blast Jace and Gatewatch for their hypocrisy in demanding aid when they sat on their thumbs when his world burned.
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