Completed [Jungle Wilds] Acroreimancy Part 1

[Soshakuakamamushi]

Just Outside Zinrah Western Tunnel, Jungle Wilds, 7th of Bell, 55th of Summer 513 A.V

"Huff... okay..." Aka, the wayward Viper living in a nest full of Constrictors, could be seen just outside the western tunnel leading to Zinrah. After her recent screw-ups that punished her with various wounds and bruises, Aka was determined to sharpen her abilities today, even if she would have to break every bone in her body... well, maybe just one or two unimportant bones.

Aka learned from the her duel against the hostile Myrian and against Mamuro that in her human form, she was still slow and sluggish, unfitting of the Viper sub-race reputation as agile creatures. Sure, she was much faster in her Dhani and Viper form, but that form just screamed "monster!" or "abomination!" to most civilized city she visited when travelling with Galbern, her dead Nuit mentor... well, re-dead Nuit mentor. Aka hoped he's content in some Nuit heaven somewhere and his spirit do not come back to haunt her... she technically murdered him after all even though it was purely because of her clumsiness and stupidity.

Shaking her thought to get rid of that thought, Aka flexed her lithe muscles and limbs, preparing herself for the intense training session she would do this morning. After some warm-ups, Aka dashed off to run in circles, skidding to turn, her barefooted feet softly thumping against the warm jungle floor. some calisthenics and light jogging were always a good start.

[Soshakuakamamushi]

After ten chimes of running around and warming up her muscles, Aka stopped to catch her breath and get herself together. Ha... okay, first... I need to set up some stepping stones... Aka meant literal stepping stones as in creating multiple stone pillars from short to tall for her to practice her balance and movements. Aka put her hands to her sides and flexed her fingers, emitting her res in the form of slimy reddish substance.

Alright... Finding a good clearing, Aka began creating the her first training stone pillar by first picking a good spot then 'sculpted' her slimy res into a rough shape of a pillar by turning them solid kind alike a clay sculptor, only it was res, not clay. After the 'res' pillar was done Aka flicked her fingers and began attracting dirt, pebbles, and stone to the res, filling and covering the res until a rough stone pillar replaced it. Aka then approached the pillar and began smoothing the edges and clearing out sharp edges and cracks. The root of the pillar was fused to the ground beneath it so it was rather firm and strong, at least enough to hold Aka's light weight.

The first pillar was done, it was roughly one-fourth Aka's height. She needed at least five more pillars, two more taller pillars, before creating two more shorter ones so if viewed from the side, her row of pillars would project the image of a triangle. She would use it by quickly stepping into the first pillar, then the next, and so on, practicing her body balance and agility.

Aka then began creating the second pillar, this one would be slightly taller than the previous one, she just hope nothing would disturb her... then again, she was very close to Zinrah, no suicidal Myrians would actually attack her there, right?

After thirty chimes of building, her row of smooth stone pillars were finally completed. Aka puffed her chest and admired her work, they looked plain... but she was never the one to bother with aesthetics. What mattered to her was that this pillar was strong, firm, and could hold her weight. She gave each of them a tap and nodded, assuring herself that they were stable enough. Let's just hope she was right.

"Alright! Now I can begin my training!" She badly needed it, this foreign merciless jungle expected no less if she wanted to survive.

[Soshakuakamamushi]

"Huff..." Taking her position beside the shortest pillar, she flexed her leg muscles, gave a short prayer to Siku, and took the first step with her right foot stepping onto the stone pillar. The first step was always easy, like how when she first casted her Reimancy spell by emitting her res, it was easy, shaping the res, directing, and transmuting was an entirely different matter. Like this exercise she was doing, taking the first step from an even ground to a narrow pillar was easy... taking the next step to a higher pillar with only one of her foot contacting the pillar was, again, an entirely different matter.

"H...ha!" Aka quickly took another step and planted her left foot onto the taller pillar, almost falling in the process, she frantically flapped her hands to balance herself and thankfully... she succeeded "Huff... ha... huff..." She gasped for breath to steady herself and prepared to jump onto the highest pillar "Alright... on the count of... one... two... thr-"

"AKA!"

"-eee?! W-wha-wha-" The sudden unknown shouting voice broke her concentration and her next jump utterly failed her, she flailed like a newborn child and fell to the ground "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" She let out a rather cowardly scream. At this height, she wasn't skilled enough to land safely and the wounds she received just five days ago would just make it worse. Oh... Siku why? She looked to the every distant sky slightly covered by the jungle growth... I even prayed to you before so... why?

[Soshakuakamamushi]

*THUD!*

Aka winced, dead, she was dead for sure, no person could survive that height without breaking every bone in their body and not be claimed by Dira. Well... it was a pretty exaggerating statement, but that was what in Aka's mind at the time.

Strangely enough, the "ground" felt... rather soft and... scaly. Also, she felt that only her back and her legs touched the ground, the rest of her body seemed to be "floating" above it. It was not until she managed to overcome her initial shock, opened her eyes, and found... Senka's ugly Dhani mug staring at her from above, Aka soon realized she was being bridal-carried by the giant Constrictor.

"Sssso, Aka! Good thing, I am here, yesss? If not, you would fall.. and die! Sssahahahahaha!" The Dhani hissed and laughed in amusement, Aka sheepishly turned away, embarrassed that she had to be saved by this abusive Dhani. However, Aka realized something was not right, definitely not right. When she was about to jump to the highest pillar... a loud voice suddenly shouted her name and that voice sounded like...

"Hm? What'sss the matter, Aka? Sssahahaha!" Senka looked down to the tiny Viper, not a trace of guilt on her face, merely delight and sick pleasure watching the poor Viper flailed, fell, and humiliated.

"Ssssenka!! Aaaaargh!" Aka flailed and rolled to the side, falling off from Senka's carry and air-rolled, landing on the ground with a soft thud. Her seething form stood tal-... short, obviously trying to look intimidating to the much much bigger Constrictor in Dhani form. A Viper in human form intimidating a Constrictor in Dhani form... that sounded like a perfect plan, but Aka, of course, didn't realize it.

"Sssehehehehe~" Senka slithered around the angry Viper, circling her like a predator and taunting her, she was itching for another fight with the Viper, has she improved from her last match? Senka was curious "Come on, are you angry, Aka? Do you want to throw fireballsss at me? Come on, come on~ Sssehehehehe~"

"K-ku... kuh... ha..." Aka gritted her teeth and instinctively flexed her fingers, some reddish slimy substance began coming out from her eye-shaped scar on both of her palms. She was still doubting on whether or not to give in to her rage and attack Senka, but attacking meant giving Senka exactly what she wanted.

Come on... burn that arrogant snake to a crisp! Burn her! Burn her! BURN!

"Ah... what...?" Aka held her head as some kind of whisper echoed inside her mind, she experienced this before when she fought with Mamuro. At first, Aka thought it was Mamuro's hypnotism attempts but... he was not here right now and Aka was sure Senka couldn't do magic at all, she was all brawn and no brain. So, what was it? Aka's scarlet eyes suddenly shot upwards as she remembered what Galbern told her about the dangers of Reimancy, one of them called... "The Sweet Whisper". No, she would not give in to it, she's better than that.

"No... go away, Senka... I'm not interesssted..." Aka gritted her teeth, her lisp more pronounced and pronounced with each single day she spent with her fellow Dhani. She turned around and head back to climb on the first pillar when suddenly...

*CRACK!*

The stone pillar was uprooted from the ground in two as Senka pulled it with her immense strength, obviously goading the Viper further to "spar" with her "Come on! Sssahahaha! Play with me! It'sss more fun that way..." Senka made a mocking look as she threw Aka's pillar and it landed near Aka's feet.

Burn her... burn her... BURN HER!!

That's it, Aka has had enough. She extended her hands, flexed her fingers, and emitted her res. She concentrated and the pillar beneath her feet shook and slowly float to her res, Aka's brows furrowed in anger and her reptilian pupils narrowed as she roared and prepared for battle. Her anger clouding her judgement and the whisper inside her head was not urging her to calm down.

[Soshakuakamamushi]

"Sssssssssssenkaaaaaaaaaaa!!" Aka shouted in anger and injected her res into the short stone pillar, she manipulated it, and one of its ends chipped itself until the thing resembled a large stake more than a pillar. Aka also opened her right hand and created her familiar ball-shaped res, she shaped her most basic, but still extremely effective spell, plain ol' fireball. Aka made three layers to the res ball, she ignited the first layer and then the second, mesmerizing red and orange flame tongue licked at the air, she kept the third layer in its res form for her to maintain control of the burning magical ball.

Senka hissed in delight, her taunt worked, it always has, Aka was so easy to manipulate, it's no wonder the trickster Mamuro managed to control the Viper to his whim. But still, she still have to be careful in facing the tiny one, Aka may be a lot smaller compared to herself, but she was naturally fast... and could throw around stones, fireballs, and molten rock like they were toys. It only excited Senka, facing an opponent who didn't provide a decent fight was a waste of time, but Aka could always satisfy her battlelust.

The Viper roared and aimed her floating stake to Senka, its sharp end then detached itself from the rest of its round body and launched to the Constrictor, Senka slithered to the side to dodge the sharp stone, but she found herself being pummeled with a hail of small sharp and blunt rocks as Aka used her injected res to fragment what was left of the pillar from the inside and sent its pieces to Senka.

The huge constrictor just hissed and ignored the minor disturbance, she charged forward to slam Aka and send her flying to the nearby jungle tree. "Ssssssa-?!" Her battlecry was cut short when Aka dropped the fireball into the ground and back-flipped backwards, Senka was too fast to stop herself from changing her direction to avoid the fireball of a land mine.

Aka's plan worked, the previous stone attacks were just to taunt Senka into charging to her with a seemingly shoddy methods, Aka's lips curled into a grin and she snapped her fingers, igniting the res at the core of the fireball and cause it to violently erupt, sending shockwave, heat, and flames everywhere.

"Sssssssssssah!!! Damn you, Aka!" Senka got hit by most of the explosion and her lower serpentine body singed and caught on fire. She quickly rolled around on the ground to put out the flames, using the damp forest floor as the extinguisher. After the fire died down, Senka ignored the searing sensation out of sheer willpower, pride, and endurance. "Clever, Viper, very clever..." A tinge of admiration could be heard form the giant Dhani's hissing voice, Aka had definitely got some of the quirks in facing a much larger opponent, well all the better for her since she seemed to be the smallest and shortest sentient being around here.

Senka cackled in delight and ripped apart another pillar that Aka made, this time it's the tallest one, Senka then wield it like a quarterstaff and charged at the Viper again "Take thisss, Akaaaaaaaaa!!" Using her already long reach combined with the length of the stone quarterstaff, Senka swung hard sideways, aiming to slam the viper by her torso and send her sprawling on the ground.

[Soshakuakamamushi]

"!?" Aka suddenly dived to the ground just in time when the pillar swung over to her, it was aiming for her torso but now that her short form was laying on the ground, it whizzed pass her body. Aka needed a plan, badly, one strike from that oversized quarterstaff could end her, how ironic that the pillar she created to improve herself was now being used to crush herself. Aka held her breath and began forming res inside her mouth, she needed to get that pillar out of Senka's hands.

Senka was expecting that the Viper would evade by ducking, using her slight form to her advantage, so the Constrictor lifted the pillar high and slammed it down to the ground... only to the find the Viper rolling away, barely evading the strike and spitting some kind of gooey reddish substance to the pillar... which seeped in into the pillar and seemed to have vanished completely. Senka just shrugged and lifted the pillar for another strike, but... "Huh?!" the constrictor heard some sizzling sound like something was happening inside the pillar and she looked upwards to find the pillar glowing molten red with intense heat.

"Ssssssssah!! Hot hot hot hot!" Senka threw the pillar away as it was starting to burn her hands "Akaaaaaaaa! You naughty girl, you!!" She hissed in anger and charged forward to the Viper who had stood up and running to the location where the pillar Senka threw landed. "Come back here!!"

The stone pillar was in the process of turning into a pile of molten lava. Aka intended to make the best of it and threw three of her ball-shaped res to the pile, intending to weaponize it, the res seeped in to the lava, ready for her command. Sweat began to trickle at her forehead and her breathing became ragged and heaving, Aka was close to overgiving, anymore res production and she would find herself collapsing, this would be her final act of defiance against the Constrictor... but the voices inside her head thought otherwise.

What'sss wrong, Aka? You can ssstill do more! You are powerful! You are invincible! That bitch can't do shyke to you! Come on, Aka... unleasssh your powe-

"Sssshuuut uuuuuuuuuup!!!!" Aka shouted, both to herself and to the charging Senka. She held out her hands and controlled the pile of molten rock in front of her, then they a stream of lava launched from the pile to the direction of Senka.

"Ssssssah?!!" Senka hissed in alert and swiveled to the her side to dodge, she narrowly missed it, the ground where the lava stream landed turned black as the immense heat burned it. "Aka! Aka! Sssstop this! Ssttop! I'm seriousss!!" Senka now was regretting her actions earlier in goading the viper, she had narrowly missed that one stream, getting hit by that molten rock was an entirely different level than just flames, it could prove fatal and it would not end well... both for herself and Aka.

"Aka, alright, I'm sssorry! Pleasssse, ssstop!! SSSTOP NOOOW!!" Senka shouted with all her might, sending Aka staggering at the sheer volume of her voice.

"A...ah... S-senka..." Aka snapped herself out of her whisper-induced fury and blinked at the constrictor, her hands still held outwards, ready to launch more lava stream to the Constrictor, but she found herself paused.

"You will dessstroy both of usss thisss way... ssstop thisss now and end it..." Senka's voice sounded more calm and actually mature for once, even a wrestler like her had a line between sparring and "taking it too far".

"Ah... r-right!" Aka realized what she had done, she used the res seeped inside the lava pile to attract more dirt into it, overwhelming the heat, Senka also helped by scooping up damn dirt from the jungle floor and buried the pile with it. Slowly but surely, the lava pile turned into a crust of black volcanic rock.

Aka then limped herself forward and forced herself to create the last spurt of res to take care the lava stream, Senka doing the same by scooping up dirts and burying it, creating a thin line of black crust.

"It'sss done... I'm sssorry, Ak-?!" Senka's reptilian eyes went wide in surprise when Aka suddenly fell forward as if losing all energy to live, the Constrictor quickly slithered to the Viper and scooped her up, bridal carrying her "Aka? Aka?! Are you alright?"

"I..." Aka was about to answer but a thin line of crimson dropped from the corner of her mouth, she then slowly closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

".....you... ssshould not pussh yourssself to hard..." With a rare gentle sigh, Senka slithered back to Zinrah, carrying the unconscious Viper for some medical care.

[Traverse]

Aka

Experience:

• Acrobatics 2 XP
• Reimancy 3 XP
• Running 1 XP
• Tactics 2 XP

Lore:

• Training Your Frail Human Form
• Senka: Never Knows When to Quit
• Reimancy: Giving More Than You Should

Additional Notes :

Alright! So I really liked how you pulled in your renewed Reimancy knowledge into this! The ending was very nice with her collapsing, though I would urge you to look at Reimancy more as an addictive drug than an alternate personality. I think that it makes sense in a way, because all mages really become insane at some point or another, so this voice that Aka is hearing could be the way her whispers manifest themselves, but the idea that Aka sees the voice as a foreign entity is my only issue with the idea. The urge to continue casting is one that drives from one's own desires, whether this be for power, control, in this case Aka finally showing a Constrictor just what she's made of. So just things to muse on for next time.

The acrobatics were well played out too, so nicely done there, and I gave you some tactics for Aka's way of fighting the bigger threat.

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!