[The Stone Garden] A Friendly Fight (Open)

by **Etrius** on February 10th, 2012, 9:28 pm

14th of Winter 511AV

Though the sun was now rising high in the air, there was a thin mist settling over the garden. Etrius stood in the middle of the small area, eyes closed. The crisp winter air felt good on his body. He liked it, the cold feeling of the air, it sharpened his mind. He opened his eyes and saw before him, an opponent, standing ready for battle. He crouched and drew back his gauntleted arm. He pounced and threw a punch at his target, shouting as he moved forward. After the punch he stopped his momentum and swung his arm, trying to cut his opponent with the blade on his forearm. He stopped. Both strikes simply cut through his opponent, of course, hitting nothing but empty air. His opponent wasn't real, just a figment of Etrius' imagination. It helped him train when he was alone, but imagining an opponent just didn't feel right. He felt that he wasn't getting any better, fighting something that wasn't there.

He sighed. This is what he was limited to at the moment, so it would have to do. He put himself in a fighting stance once more. He began striking again, punching, slashing, kicking, and clawing at the mist surrounding him.

by **Demlin** on February 15th, 2012, 3:32 am

Demlin was on break today, he had time to wander thinking of what he could do for fun today. Even though he had a days break from training the addiction of a good fight was too hard to pass up. The squire always felt a thrill in his body as adrenaline rushed through him in a fight, there was never a time when everything happened so fast yet at the same time so clear and sense full. Making his way into the stone garden, he had thought of maybe going to the training grounds there were also people willing to fight there after all. Demlin fought these people all the time though, even though he wanted the feeling of a fight he wanted it to be new, every person he fought gave him a different aspect of this feel. As he reached the middle of the garden he saw as a man who was older and much bigger then him was training by himself. Finally a new challenge.

"Hello sir, I am squire Demlin of the sylirian knights I request the honor to spar with you, if of course you would like to accept my challenge"

Demlin was confident, from what he had just witnessed the man's style was not common he fought with gauntlets meaning his range would be far less then the longsword Demlin wielded, yet on the flip side if he let this man get too close in combat it would be much harder to fight him. These thoughts ran through his head before he had even heard the response of the man, this was a fun test of demlins, come up with every major advantage and disadvantage you had as quickly as possible, he figured it may introduce efficient ways to put yourself ahead of them and it was just a good way to go over what was smart. Now Demlin stood anxious in hopes that this strangers response would be yes.

by **Andresciel** on February 15th, 2012, 4:14 pm

Andresciel spotted the young squire upon hearing his words before moving along, to watch the new spar. His arms were covered in his gauntlets, his body covered in the full armor of a Knight of Syliras. Still, the rune markings on his gauntlet would give him away as a Mage Knight. He moved into the Stone Garden more, chuckling as he felt Velenor float along with him, staring at the combatants. "Well, well. A Squire is going to spar. Longsword against gauntlet no less. Seems like a fun match to watch." The Reimancer said softly to Velenor, knowing the others were quite able to hear him.

Andresciel's blue eyes studied the squire and his opponent as he found a bench to sit upon, resting his hands upon the cold stone. His eyes awaited the beginning of the challenge, "Come on Squire, lets get this started." The Knight laughed.

by **Etrius** on February 15th, 2012, 10:43 pm

Etrius turned to see someone standing before him, asking him to spar. He looked much younger than Etrius, but had the dress of a Squire for the Syliran Knights. The boy stood not as someone who was expecting a fight should, but still had an almost radiant confidence about him. Etrius grinned wolfishly. He was itching for a real target, instead of just swiping at the air. He stood up in an nonthreatening stance, placing his right foot behind him. He leaned, putting most of his weight on his back foot, but still trying to give the appearance that he was standing up straight. Barely noticing another man, who had decided to sit on a bench near him and his challenger, he spoke. "Sure, Demlin. Taking on a Squire is a new experience for me. Let's see what you can do with that sword of yours."

Without waiting for the boy to reach for his weapon Etrius pushed off his right foot and leapt forward, raising his gauntlet arm to throw a punch at his opponent, trying to catch him off-guard. Whether the punch landed or not, he would then take another step forward and swing his arm at Demlin, except instead of trying to cut him with the blade, he would flatten his hand and send a wide chop towards his face. It was a bit brutal for a first couple of attacks and if he screwed up Demlin would probably retaliate quickly, but extra risk always made things interesting.

by **Demlin** on February 16th, 2012, 2:51 am

There was no time between the mercenary's response and attack time, Demlin had a fist coming at him faster then he could grab his sword, no less raise his arm. Etrius was a fast person and it was inevitable that he would hit Demlin. The squire instead of doing an upper body reflex, spread his stance to put less weight in one spot so that when the punch hit him he would not topple over. There was a big thud as the clawed gauntlets smashed into his chest causing a large scratching noise. The plate pressing against his body with such force stung but it was only the first strike in the battle, all it did was suprise and bring Demlin's awareness up very quickly. While taking the hit Demlin grabbed the punching arm inwards at his body so that the man would be forced to use his off hand if he were to pursue his goal on keeping the squire under attack. Hoping this would give him time to get his blade out Demlin reached at the hilt and began to unsheathe his sword in doing so attempting to horizontally cut at his opponent to force him back some.

Demlin knew he needed to get out of this mans arm range, he was not only fast but his punches were hard. The guantlets he wore had alot of weight behind them and more then one punch to his chest, he would have empty lungs for sure. This was something he could not afford in a fight, air was needed to stay calm once you lost air you lost focus. The squire began to pull on Etrius's arm harder, the last thing he needed was letting his opponent form combos on him. This would be a fun fight, Demlin was already excited by the skill his opponent showed with his preferred weapon.

by **Andresciel** on February 16th, 2012, 6:26 pm

Andresciel looked at the combat, watching the unarmed fighter use a speed based style. Surprise worked well for gauntlet wielders, and saved them the trouble, Andresciel thought. Still, he followed the movement, watching as the squire caught it with the longsword. He shook his head at the counter, sighing. He did not say anything, this was Demlin's fight, and he would let the squire fight his way. The Knight's sapphire eyes sparkled as he chuckled, knowing this fight was a melee version of him against a friend, who he would not name. Steel would fight steel instead of Reimancy against Reimancy. "Go for it Squire, don't be showed up!" Andresciel called, urging the young squire on.

by **Etrius** on February 16th, 2012, 11:18 pm

Etrius' punch landed with satisfying force. His grin widened. His mined was becoming more focused with each passing instant. His concentration was broken when Demlin grabbed his arm, stopping him from preforming his second attack. Smart kid. He had not only subdued Etrius' only weapon, but he had done it without cutting himself on the blade and was holding the blade inward towards his armor, preventing himself from being harmed by it. Then, Etrius noticed that the squire was in the process of drawing his sword. Etrius gasped and slammed the palm of his free hand into Demlin's chest in an attempt to push himself away. He brought his now free gauntlet up to meet the sword. There was a clash of steel against steel as the blade of Demlin's sword struck the blade on Etrius' gauntlet.

Etrius spun with the force of Demlin's blow, stepping back as he did so. He looked at Demlin, rubbing the forearm of his gauntlet. Demlin had unsheathed his sword and attacked Etrius in one smooth motion. It appeared that, while Etrius could beat Demlin in a match of sheer strength and speed, Demlin clearly surpassed him in skill. Damn. Etrius was out of range now and getting past Demlin's longsword in order to attack him again would be difficult at best. He decided that he would try one more surprise attack before playing fair.

"Nice one." he said, the wide, toothy grin returning to his face. "Ya almost had me there. Name's Etrius, by the way." He did two things as he spoke. One was slowly walking in a circle around his opponent, keeping the distance between himself and the tip of Demlin's sword. The other, was push res out of his palm, forming a liquid ball in his hand while trying to keep it concealed from Demlin. "You can react pretty fast," he continued "and you know how to avoid being knocked down. But you should be careful." As he spoke that last word he suddenly spun his body once more, igniting the res in his hand to form a ball of fire. He brought his hand high above his head, making it clear that he was going to throw the flame at Demlin. "Your enemy could have any number of tricks up his sleeve!" Instead of throwing it at the squire, however, he instead flung the fire towards the ground in front of Demlin's feet. Hopefully this would distract the squire enough to where Etrius could launch himself forward for another punch, this one more powerful than the last.

by **Demlin** on February 17th, 2012, 1:44 am

Etrius had slammed him in the chest with his off hand, a move Demlin expected but had hoped his opponent would not utilize but oh well, I guess you got to deal with the cards dealt and a smart opponent is where he would learn the most. The zone had been entered, Demlin now felt completely at home he was in the middle of a fight. To the squires surprise Etrius introduced himself, as he began circling Demlin followed his movement as quick as he could, it was hard in this armor but still possible to just keep facing him.

What the......fire?!"

Demlin had just noticed fire coming towards his feet. Magic would get rid of the range advantage he had believed to have, in fact it put him at a disadvantage at range now for he could be effected while the fire would not even come near his opponent. This was something that Demlin was uncomfortable with, there were no squires that were mage's in his age group so it was an untouched experience. Quickly scanning for a new weakness that could keep him in the upperhand close, he noticed his opponent wore light armor and the reason he needed to be fast was to avoid being struck by a sharp edge, but he knew he could not directly strike with his sword, the guantlets could easily stop it. The fire would hit him regardless, even though the surprise bought Etrius a free punch, if his opponent would fight dirty so would he. To Demlin honor was something of speech, in battle there were no rules, live or die and if you were not fighting to death still treat loss as a death, because if they wanted to kill you they could.

Demlin focused, being pushed back by this punch he knew he had to act quick, with no way to get a sword blow he pushed his entire body forward, Etrius was in full motion towards Demlin, there was no way he could evade a tackle in time. Demlin pivoted his foot back and pushed off, lowering his shoulder to the opponents chest leven and launched himself at the man. To Demlin this was the only good move, besides the only concern of Demlins was not letting this man focus on magic. Battle is a lot like music, sometimes the best way to get something done is to improvise it.

by **Andresciel** on February 17th, 2012, 4:31 am

Andresciel only watched quietly, before standing up, allowing a gust of his own res to gather. His fingers danced a bit as he spoke to Velenor, "Keep an eye on them." The Air-headed familiar was distracted though, by a small butterfly, until his master spoke, turning back to the fight. Andre's hand swept up, unleashing a swirl of wind to put out the fire, making sure that it did not spread, but also drew in a heated res, to call the flames into the vortex. The wind would die down as Andre watched Demlin's counter, a sigh on his lips. From the skill of the fire spell, he knew that the opponent could not be a expert mage, but the boy seemed to think that getting close could stop a magic user. "Think Demlin. Do not simply rush in. Rushing gets you killed, squire."

by **Etrius** on February 17th, 2012, 7:30 pm

As Etrius pushed Demlin back with his punch he felt a gust of wind rustle his hair. Funny, it had not been particularly windy that day. He decided to ignore it and took another running step towards Demlin, raising his fist for another punch. To his surprise, his fist sailed over Demlin's head as the squire charged him. He had expected Demlin to keep moving back, not forward and he was moving with to much momentum to be able to stop himself. Demlin's shoulder slammed into his gut, knocking the wind out of him. As he fell back, he clawed at Demlin's back, desperately trying to grab him. His claws made a grinding noise as they slid uselessly accross the squire's armor.

Etrius hit the ground with a dull thud, unable to breathe for a small instant. Not only that, but he felt that he had quickly become weaker. Probably a product of using Reimancy in combat, which he had never actually done before. Demlin may have been a little off balance from his counter, but Etrius was on the ground, which gave Demlin a distinct advantage. Acting quickly, he rolled to the side twice and grabbed at the ground. Finding something that felt like a handle, he proformed an awkward backward summersault to his feet. He held whatever he had grabbed - a stick, a little more than half the size of Demlin's sword - and pointed it toward Demlin, waiting for the squire to attack him while giving himself a chance to catch his breath.

He wondered to himself, annoyed at his improvized decision of a new weapon. How the petch is this thing supposed to help me?