Solo Faster and Faster

[Evalin]

33rd of Fall, 514 AV
Location: Drylands of Falyndar

"My my, to think a place such as THIS existed here..." Evalin whispered, pushing the hood of her cloak back to look out at the site before her.

"It is very... flat." Tsenrika added, drifting now over her shoulder to hover there.

"It isss called the Drylandsss." Gresshal chimed in, slithering to join his master and her familiar to look at the site. He rested the large chest he carried on the ground, coiling his tail around him for a quick rest, "I have never been here mysself, but I have heard ssstories. it isss rare for the Dhani of Zinrah to travel ssso far."

"Is that so?" Evalin replied curiously, glancing at her servant, "That seems quite odd to me. Did your race not care at all for spreading your claim across all of this land?"

"For what purposse?" the Dhani shrugged, "We Dhani have bigger concernsss, sssuch asss ssseeing to the prossperity of our own race."

The Familiar floated around to the Dhani's side then and Evailn watched him as he went, red eyes tracking his motions, "Why would a race have need to spread when there are not enough of their kind to fill the area?"

"Ah... perhaps you are right." Evalin shrugged as well, turning again to look out at the near empty space before her, "The drylands... its seems they are true to their name."

It was large, wide, expansive... and obstacle free as far as the Immortal could see. This place was so strikingly in contrast to the jungles that it almost baffled the minds reasoning to accept that it actually existed. The ground was dried and cracked, a sign of little moisture falling in this area when behind Evailn she knew the rains fell at the whims of Makutsi herself, so why here was it different? There were no large trees, only little shrubs and patches of grass dotted here and there about the landscape to even indicate that life could exist. And above? The sun beat down upon the world hot and glaring.

"It is truly like another world." The Immortal whispered.

"And one in which we are not alone."

Blinking Evalin squinted into the landscape, "My dear Tsenrika, what is it you see?"

"I am not certain... It is obscured from my vision, but it is growing closer."

Just as Evalin opened her mouth to question further the world became engulfed in a cloud of dust as a body streaked by them, so fast that Evailn could not even make out its shape. Debris flew from its wake, and just as quickly as it had been upon them it was gone.

"Isss that a Zyker?" Gresshal uncoiled himself, raising higher to try and get a look at the quickly moving cloud of dust that was moving now farther and farther away.

Spitting out a bit of dirt that had managed to find its way into her Mouth Evailn coughed and asked, "What is that damnable beast?"

"A Zyker. I have only heard of them in ssstories told to nesstlingsss. It isss sssaid they are ssso fasst that they can run from one day ssstraight into the next, running on the tail of time itsself."

"Curious..." Evlain smiled. She began to remove her clothing, tossing the them aside as Tsenrika came closer.

"What is it you plan to do?"

"Know you not?" Evalin asked with a growing smile, "I shall acquire its power for myself. However, first we must catch the untouchable."

[Evalin]

Removing her robes Evalin tossed them to Gresshal who was quickly collecting the articles of clothing as they hit the ground, his expression not one of amusement.

"Follow you in the air my Dear Tsenrika." Evalin said, running a hand over her bare shoulder as she prepared herself for what was to come. To the side she could see the floating orb shimmering, and then changing and growing until what replaced it was an exact mirror image of Evailn herself.

"What will you do?" Tsenrika asked, but even as he did Evalin could feel him drawing upon their collective power as from his back a pair of appendages began to sprout.

Evalin merely smiled, and as she did her own body began to change, "We will drive it into the ground." Her body felt as though hot coals were shoved beneath her skin, and she shivered as her bones cracked and she began to grow. It took only a few ticks after she accessed the power of her mark, and from deep deep within the Other rose to the surface. It was like becoming overwhelmed by a rush of power and energy... as well as a terrible terrible hunger. Taller and taller, her muscles bulged as her skin darkened do a sickly purple color and her skin became etched why symbols of magical origin. All of this occurred until, finally, Evalin stood in the body gifted to her by Uldr himself, and as always she was filled with equal parts disgust and joy.

When she moved in this powerful body she felt powerful, invincible even... But it was only an illusion. She was not there yet, not yet... Looking to the side she saw Evalin there with his wings extended, awaiting the word from Evailn before taking off to gain altitude over them. Evalin watched him breifly before looking down at Gresshal who now held her bundled clothes and staff in his arms, "Watch after my possessions. We shall return shortly."

With that she was off, her hooves pounding against the dirt to kick up dust and rocks in her wake though not quite to the extremes that this creature could manage. There, far ahead, Evalin could see the cloud of dust getting farther and farther away. Even as Evalin pushed herself to her fastest speeds she could tell she was taking on no ground, and instead losing it even faster.

Be damn this beast is faster than even I suspected. Gritting her teeth Evalin pushed herself faster, and faster, but even at her top speeds she could not even come close to the Zyker's.

But this we knew already. Tsenrika said matter of factly. Evalin could feel him over head, circling around to the creature's flank. Briefly Evalin called upon her link with the Familiar, and through his eyes she could see the path that the creature forged for itself. It was fast, but more or less predictable. It seemed to travel often in straight lines, turning at slight curves...

It seems it is not quite as mobile as we first believed. Evalin thought, pulling upon her power to call res to her hands, Perhaps we can lead it into a trap.

A crackle of electricity laced the air as Evailn willed the res surrounding her hands to become lightning, swirling and building around her fingers as Evalin narrowed her eyes as the quickly fading cloud of dust. Through the eyes of Tsenrika Evalin watched the creature moved, and so when she thrust her hands forward she used both her own eyes and his to aim the bolt that streaked from her fingers. There was a boom as the bolt lept through the air, overcoming the beast and striking the ground just a few bounds in front of it. Its direction immediately changed, almost before the spell struck and it veered to the left.

There now, send it back. Evalin commanded, altering her course so that she began to charge at an angle directly at the beast as if she were about to intersect its path. Above she could feel as Tsenrika drew upon their power as well, sending res into the ground in the path of the Zyker. Through his eyes she saw a sudden spike of earth explode from the dusty ground, right in the path of the Zyker forcing it to veer left once more, kicking off of the rock itself to send it pelting nearly directly at Evalin herself.

The immortal smiled and leaned forward, pushing her legs faster and faster as the cloud of dust in the distance got bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Until she could see a shape within it. A large shape, nearly as big as she was. Summing as much of her power as she could Evalin readied herself as she turned slightly so that she and the beast would pass right by one another. Closer. Closer. Nearly aiming to collide Evalin directed herself to a steady path until she was nearly upon the beast. Just as it was about to pass she flung out her left arm, with all the lightning speed her Other form could muster, seeing to grab hold of the creature by whatever flesh or hair she could, or at the very least wound it. As she swung, however, her hand met nothing but air for in a mere fraction of a tick the Zyker was on her... and gone. Too fast to see, too fast to react. Even her hands which in this form moved in a blur of speed could not touch the Zyker itself.

Damn. Evalin cursed and slowed, turning so that she could head after it once more.

[Evalin]

It is faster than I, even in this form... What can be done now? Though she hated to admit it, the Immortal felt that she might have to leave this one be. How could she possibly capture something that had evaded her at such close quarters? It was beyond natural it bordered on absurd. It is impossible.

The creature slows.

What? But it was true. Through the eyes of her Familiar she could see it slowly, just slightly, but it was enough to make Evalin smile and redouble her effort to pick up her pace, Ah, but then it is only mortal. The living are so weak.

Evalin clapped her hands together, pulling upon her res to collect there in a knot about the size of her fist. More and more she drew, sparks beginning to fly as she concentrated on the being in front of her. Above she knew Tsenrika was doing the same, and even before she could command a bolt flew forth from the Familiar's fingers to strike before the slowing Zyker, forcing it to turn, and Evalin copied it's turn, trying to position herself to cut it off. Together she and the Familiar continued this, forcing again and again the beast to use more of its energy, turning it this way and that so that it could not still get away by keeping on a straight path. Even so it took several more chimes before the beast slowed enough that Evalin could gain ground on it, and when she did Evalin pulled upon her res to collect it in her right hand. She elongated it, thickened it until it was as thick as her waist, pointed on either end, and like this she held it as she came up along the creatures side.

Even as it slowed it was still keeping a pace of nearly 30 miles an hour, and now the Immortal could get her first good look at it. Large and long, limbs stretching out and when it made a stride its entire body seemed to fold in on itself before springing out once more. It was somehow elegant in its motions, but at the moment Evalin could not bother with taking in its natural beauty. As she came closer to its side the nuit changed the res to stone, harder as she could make it and pushed off with her hind legs as hard as she could to leap into the monster's path. The Zyker dug its paws into the dirt, trying to force a change in direction but in that moment Evalin slammed her hand down toward the ground, sending the spike of stone directly into its back. The force of the spell's momentum combined with that of the Zyker caused the spike to pierce all the way through its underbelly, and the beast fell and tumbled and rolled, legs wildly clawing as it kicked up dirt and dust until it came to a complete stop.

Evalin slowed her pace as she galloped in a circle, slowing to a stop as well just in time to see the creature breath its last breath and grow still. With a sigh Evalin pushed a hand through her hair, looking up just in time to see Tsenrika land on the other side of the beast and fold his wings.

"A thrilling chase... one I never wish to repeat."

This made Evalin smile.

[Evalin]

The creature was bigger than she expected. Several chimes had passed now and both Evalin and Tsenrika hovered over the slain beast, observing it and taking in its odd features. It was large, as big as any jungle cat Evalin had seen thus far. It's skin was leathery and stretched tight over its wiry frame. Oddly enough Evalin had expected to see its limbs bulbous muscled in order to obtain the speeds which it was capable of, however, it seemed that the opposite was true in this case. Compared with the creature's actual size the muscles of its limbs were diminished, more like thin hard cords of steel than bulging biceps like those found on the blue men of Riverfall.

Evalin ran her hand over the creatures taunt hide, black nails scraping along its surface as she examined it from head to tail. It was at least 4 times her height in length, and when it stood its shoulder's were even with her own. Thick neck and tiny eyes were built in such a way that they allowed as little wind resistance as possible while running, and it's paws had an unusual shape as well.

"Curious..." Evalin whispered. Overhead the sun was beginning to set, but the Immortal payed it no mind. For now she had something new to occupy her thoughts. Tsenrika floated around to Evalin's side, hovering close to her shoulder as she knelt down to get a better look at how the extra arms were attatched.

"Wish you to take on this beast's form?"

"Very much so." she replied without looking up, "But this one shall be unlike any I have done thus far."

[Evalin]

Her djed thrummed and shuddered as she plucked at the strings of her djed, and it was with interest Evalin noticed that the changes began to happen almost without her willing them to. In many ways the basic structure of what she was now going for was similar to the Akila hound, that of a four limb animal. Thus as her spine began to stretch the Immortal knelt down, placing her hands onto the ground as she gritted her teeth against the odd sensations as her joints turned on her rear legs and she began to expand her muscles and bones to accommodate walking on all fours instead of ontwo legs.

"This beast is larger than any you have attempted previously..." Evalin closed her eyes, looking at her shuddering form through the blue tented vision of the Irylid, "You will need to grow significantly if you wish for this form to be true."

"Hush." Evalin growled, "Of this I am already well aware."

She continued the change, using her Akila hound model to shape her basic form, but as she did Evalin struck a new cord with her djed that throbbed deep within her soul. It felt like she was expanding, bloated with too much liquid but not just in her gut but in her entire body as she began to press out, out out from where she was currently. It was different than when she changed to her child form, when everything felt constricted and contained. Now it was like she was cutting the restraints and she was widening at all sides. It was such an odd feeling that if the Nuit were not careful she was not sure how large she might grow... and if she became too big she worried she would never be able to return to her normal shape. Her teeth ground together as she grasped at the frayed edges of djed that threatened to expand beyond her will's command, but with a sudden iron force of determination she grasped it once more, slowed her expansion and used Tsenrika's eyes to see that her spurts of expansion did not grow out of control.

"Do not go beyond what you are able... For now it would be fine to accept a slightly smaller form with greater detail than a bulbous one." The Familiar floated around to hover in front of Evalin's face, and she could see the skin of her face stretching to accommodate the change in size.

Aid me... The skin threatens to tear. she called through their link. She could feel in several spots where she grew her skin protested the change, and the Immortal feared that it might indeed rip from the strain.

With the Irylid moving to see to these areas Evalin opened her own eyes to examine the next part of her transformation. The limbs. Both the hind and forelimbs posted at least 3 joints, not counting where the arm or leg inserted into the skeletal frame. It was these, then, that the Immortal needed to immolate. To do that however she needed to lengthen her limbs further. Make them longer, thinner, while at the same time building upon the muscles in them so that they did not wither to nothing. It was then that Evalin realized that these creatures were not simply weak in muscle, but they were stretched out.The more she looked the more she realized that they were like thick bands, stretched long and thin without losing any of their own tensile strength. This was what Evalin began to copy, taking her time on these as she did with Tsenrika's aid so that the body did not bend or rip at awkward angles.

Chimes past, then bells... then several bells as they worked upon this most delicate part of the transformation. It was complicated, infuriatingly so to the point that Tsenrika was forced to cut open one of the creature's limbs so taht Evalin could see clearly what it was they were supposed to look like. Still, more than 5 bells later the transformation was still not completely and Evalin's body shuddered and ached as she struggled to hold the form in place.

"I can't..." Evalin whispered. Her body shivered, her limbs now similar to that of the beasts, but she could not bring herself to stand upon those legs. Her body was too big, its weight more than she expected and without a tail to counter balance she knew she would only stumble and fall. Thus she released her hold upon the djed, but it was very slow to react. The joints themselves did not reverse or go back to normal, but her body did shrink down to its appropriate size... though she was slightly bigger than she was used to.

Shaking her head Evalin rolled to her back, opening her eyes to look up at the star lit sky, "Rest... I must rest for a time."

Morning was not far away and Evalin contented herself with resting her head back against the earth, arms and legs splayed out at awkward angles as that was all her weirdly jointed appendages would allow.

[Evalin]

The sun came and rose, higher and higher in the sky, but it was not until it once more began to set that Evalin began to stir, turning her head to look back over her body and testing the action of these appendages that were splayed in the must uncoordinated of ways. Shifting herself slowly, pulling the front paws beneath her so that she could raise herself up somewhat, Evalin glanced back at Tsenrika who hovered nearby, "Come... let us continue."

The limbs were almost complete, but for several chimes Evalin had Tsenrika hover up and down her form, examining what they hand done and adding a bit of mass here, extending a bone there and bulking up as much as they could the muscles of these most important of parts to this model. When it was as well as could be expected the Immortal shifted her back legs beneath her, and then slowly stood to her feet. Her body swayed, but the limbs held and Evalin tilted her head to look back at what she had created... and it was ugly.

There now, and for the rest... Closing her eyes once more Evalin gazed through the vision of the Familiar, watching closely as she began the next stage of the transformation. With a several slow and deliberate tugs upon her djed Evalin began the tedious effort of lengthening her spine, and extending her torso to match. She thought back to how the creature had run, and remembered the way it moved indicated that this part, the middle with the spine and torso was flexible yet strong, and so as she went she tried to add a bit of flexibility to the creation, imagining her bones and muscles would stretch and bow as she moved, similar to a cat... Indeed the Zyker was very much like a Feline, but its limbs and teeth were more reminiscent of a Akila hound, which made some parts of this morph easier than others. As she worked on the spine Evalin also began something she had not tried before... morphing a tail.

In theory it seemed simple. Extend the spine and muscles there in out past the buttocks, but as she began to do just that she realized the issue in that thinking. The tail would simply hang loosely from her backside unless she worked the muscles in such a way so as to give it free range, as she would need when moving as fast as the Zyker potentially could. It was odd, and from time to time she would test the tail as it was created to see if it COULD move about, freely on its axis. It took some time but, at last, Evalin was able to move the length of the tail in any direction, though that was not so impressive given it was not as long as some other predators.

Her body shuddered as Evalin felt the strain of holding this morph together, and secretly she was thankful she had not tried to make it bigger... not yet at least. Ever so slowly, bells later it was starting to come together. The excess mass was beginning to be trimmed down, spread and distributed across the body, filling in the spaces and easing the strain of the skin that tried to hold this overly large model. The last feature to change, then, was the head and face. Thankfully this was one of the features that were already very similar to the Akila hounds, with its large teeth and lipless mouth and hairless body. She took her time on this, expanding and lengthening the skull and smoothing the lips back until they were none existent. The teeth were not quite as big as in the Akila hound, but the canines were much longer and sharper, hooking over her jaw on the top and bottom much like tusks. They would surely come in handy.

Finally when all of this was completed the sun was already setting over the horizon and Evalin sent a pulse through her djed, thrumming power through her body to shift the color of her flesh to a slightly grey tone and eliminated all traces of hair on her body. She made to take a step, raising her right front paw, and placing it down once more, turning her head to look down at the appendage that responded, a little sluggishly, most likely due to the strain of the morphing process.

There now... What do you think?

Tsenrika was quiet for a tick, floating around the finished model, before stopping right in front of the Immorta's eyes, Well enough... but you forgot the little arms.

[Evalin]

The rest of the night was spend adding the additional, smaller appendages to the model, and slowly increasing the size overall. At first Evalin feared creating the extra smaller arms would be difficult, but quickly she found it was very similar to adding wings to her back, but in this case in the front. They required little detail, just enough joins and muscles to move this way and that, but Evalin could not quite understand what they were for. It was not until the sun began to rise on the 2nd day that it was complete and Evalin began to take her first few steps with her completed model.

She started with a walk, finding the control of this body was very similar to that of her previous Akila hound. One foot, then another until it became a patter. Then she began to pick up the pace, using powerful muscles to shove herself forward, and it was that first initial thrust that caught Evalin off guard and nearly caused her to fall. Her back legs were like loaded springs, driving her forward with more force than could be imagined. As she bounded forward the wind seemed to whip and glide over her, parting as if to make way so that she met very little resistance. In just ticks she was traveling fast, so blindingly fast that for a while Evalin could not tell what was going on around her. The surroundings became a blur, whipping past her that the nuit could not tell any details. Then as she made a turn Evalin discovered what the little arms were form. As it turned out the Zyker was adept at bounding tight turns as well, using its tail and little arms to balance and maneuver itself into a new direction while its larger main limbs powered the turn and quickly brought her back up to speed.

It is like flying but upon the ground! Evalin exclaimed, speeding past the Familiar where he stood, but only noticing him because of a quick flash of blue in her peripherals, I am a blur, a thought, I am the wind that cuts through world. I cannot be caught, or stopped, or slowed!

Surely that is what the Zyker thought as well. The familiar replied sarcastically, but Evalin was too engrossed in her enjoyment to care.

[Traverse]

Evalin

Experience:

• Endurance 4 XP
• Familiary 1 XP
• Morphing 5 XP
• Observation 2 XP
• Planning 2
• Reimancy 2 XP
• Running 3 XP
• Tactics 2

Lore:

• The Drylands of Falyndar
• Zyker: A blindingly Fast, but Not Limitless Creature
• Using a Known Morph to Aid in Learning a New One
• The Limitations of Morphing When having to Adjust Total Mass
• Morphing Technique: Feline Sleekness, Compared to More Canine Compacted Muscle
• Morphing Technique: Forming a Moveable Tail
• Taking On a Zyker's Form

Additional Notes :

This was a super fun thread to read! I gave you 5 in Morphing because she spent quite a lot of time and dedication to the form, and let me know if there were any other morphing lores or otherwise you were looking for!

If you have any questions, concerns, accolades, complaints, etc about your grade, drop me a PM and we can most certainly talk it out.

As always, Safe Travels!