[Bronze Woods] A Song Of Flame And Ashes (Aoren)

by **Soshakuakamamushi** on March 6th, 2014, 2:52 pm

The euphoric feeling that came with casting urged the Viper to push herself further and further, she delightfully smiled as Aoren seemed to be having a hard time due to her firebolts, he could roll away from her assault though, she admired him for that, for a tall and bulky looking human, he was fast. "..." Her slitted eyes narrowed in annoyance when a wall of air blew from his mouth, pushing away her flaming bolts. The forest around them started to catch fire due to Aka's fiery deeds, but she didn't care, she had this mage to defeat, she could take care of those later... probably.

As she launched her flamethrower, Aka expected Aoren to reel back in fear and admitted defeat, but no, he created a cyclone or something, "Hsss!!" Some puny air couldn't defeat her flames, with a wide grin, she watched as her flames clashed with Aoren's wind, "K-kuuuh!" She could feel it, the wind's force pushing her backward, fanning away at her fire, the Viper gritted her teeth as she planted herself firmly on the ground, wincing in pain, her long raven hair whipping in the wind. The clash brought calamity to the clearing, grasses catching fire everywhere, but those paled in comparison on what was to come, an explosion due to the clashing elements.

*BOOM!*

"Aaaaagh!" The Viper's small frame was thrown backwards once more, she desperately tried to reposition her body, but alas, she fell unceremoniously on the ground, her form tumbling twice before finally skidding to a stop, she violently coughed as she put her right hand to her mouth, when she removed it, blood splotches. Damn it... Her body screamed at her to stop, but her mind urged her further, the sweet whispers trying to destroy herself, Aka tried to prop herself up with one elbow, but her muscles gave in, her below-average physical strength meant she couldn't take much blows, for all their perks, Viper Dhani still had weaknesses, especially in terms of brawn.

She couldn't do it, her vision was blurred, watching the fire around her, even if Aka wanted to cast more, her body just simply froze in utter exhaustion and pain, "I..." A trickle of blood flowed from the corner of her lips, "It'sss done..." She muttered, a prideful Dhani she was, but obviously there was no need to kill herself here. The male human mage wasn't her enemy after all, but a sparring partner, an explosive spar to be exact.

by **Aoren** on March 8th, 2014, 10:43 pm

As the Dhani sorceress struggled to pick herself up from the ground, Aoren realized in that moment that their duel was finished. Stepping forward he took a deep breath. The young man raised both hands in front of him conjuring a sphere of gaseous Res in his left hand and a sphere of liquid Res in his right. He willed the liquid Res to levitate a few inches in front of him then commanded the ball to attract the element of fire.

He focused a great deal willing the ball of liquid Res to pull the fires that had been thrown haphazardly around the clearing into its core. With the gaseous Res he willed it to become a spinning vortex that created a vacuum around the liquid ball.

Slowly Aoren began walking around the clearing extinguishing the fires as he neared them. Little by little the patches of flame were pulled into the vortex that he’d created between his outstretched hands. As each layer of the liquid ball of Res was ignited it grew smaller.

The fires were extinguished almost immediately as the oxygen was pulled from them. After a minute or two of walking around the clearing he had managed to smother a majority of the fires that were threatening to burn the forest down. When the strain of maintaining the technique began to take its toll he made an effort to release his hold on the magic. Aoren’s hands were shaking. His head was spinning and he felt terribly nauseous. He swayed slightly before dropping to his knees in a patch of grass and struggled to gain his bearings once again. He felt a tightness in the back of his throat and then he was emptying the contents of his stomach onto the ground.

When he was able to compose himself after retching onto the ground a few times Aoren struggled to pick himself up. The bitter, acidic tang of bile lingered on his tongue and he frowned making a mental note to thoroughly wash his mouth if he managed to get home that day. Taking a few deep breaths to steady himself he rose to his feet making his way over to Aka. His movements were shaky but he knelt down next to her offering a hand in support.

“Th-that’s probably the most intense duel I’ve had. You pack one heck of a whollop.” He gave the Dhani a small smile. Truthfully it was one of the very few magic duels that Aoren had ever participated in. He didn’t often use his magic on such a level. His teacher had always favored moderation and a life of careful study as opposed to overwhelming displays of power. It was a lesson that Aoren had learned early on. The dangers of the heightened levels of overgiving were severe and they were not something he wanted to experience in his life time. Aoren typically practiced temperance but he also realized that without pushing his limits every now and then he could gain no progress.

“Are you injured? Do you need to see a healer?”

by **Soshakuakamamushi** on March 25th, 2014, 4:11 am

The whole world seemed to slow down as Aka's body screamed in pain, reprimanding her for pushing herself too hard, for letting her pride went over her head. "Petc-" A cough interrupted her curse, but she wouldn't give up for just one annoying cough "PETCH!!" She screamed at the sky, pounding her right fist hard onto the ground, then her slitted eyes watched as her sparring partner began cleaning up after their, no, her mess as he was only using air and wind during their spar.

"..." Aka watched in awe at Aoren's expertise in controlling the elements, his skill rivaled - or even surpassed - her own, through her blurring vision, she could see how the flaming tongues heeded his command, gathering to the res spheres on his hands like ants to sugar. The Viper gritted her teeth as she struggled into a sitting position, groaning in pain, she wanted to help him, but her reasons was rather selfish, she wanted to show him more of her power, her mind urged her on. Her body though, completely disagreed, she couldn't even cast a single spell with her broken and battered like this.

"Heh..." It seemed the toll of Reimancy got to him as well, the short-lived human dropped down to his knees, she looked away when he stained the ground with his ejected breakfast. Him approaching her looked like a foe about to finish her off, but the gentle look on his face said otherwise. Still, she refused to be pitied by a human, the one who just beat to boot, Aka didn't answer him when he offered his hand, looking away in a form of childish pride instead "Go away..." She muttered under her breath. Her lips might deny him, but her heart said otherwise, she wanted him to help her, to take him into his arms and carried her back to the Stone Coffin of a city. A tug of war between pride and true feelings raged intensely in her mind, for the moment, the pride was winning.

"I sssaid..." Aka closed her eyes, then suddenly snapped them open as she turned her head to snarl viciously at Aoren, "GO AWA- Mpph!" She couldn't even finish her sentence as jolts of pain shuddered throughout her body, then if Aoren didn't hold her, she would fall unceremoniously onto the ground, "Damn it, damn it, j-jusst, go away".

by **Aoren** on April 10th, 2014, 2:13 pm

Aoren was at first taken aback by the hostile way in which Aka opposed his help. The vehement rebuke she threw his way made him frown. He opened his mouth to offer a swift retort but as her body was wracked by coughs his expression softened. He could see the small spittle of blood trickling out of her mouth. It was then that he noticed her posture.

The Dhani woman was hunched over. She was obviously in pain but her refusal to look at him and the manner in which she urged him to leave her alone told him something else. Her's was the look of a proud creature bitter with their supposed defeat.

Aoren dropped his hand. He sighed dropping onto the ground unceremoniously. He propped himself up on his elbows staring into the sky. There was a cold sweat on his brow. He still felt horribly nauseous. His head ached. He wanted to just lay down and sleep for the rest of the day. With a groan he let his head loll to the side. Cobalt blue irises met scarlet. He gave Aka a smile before speaking.

"You know, when I first started learning Reimancy I nearly set myself on fire. I lost control of my Res and set my pants alight. I panicked and ran in a circle trying to put out the fire. I ended up making things worse and discarded my pants. It was then that my teacher and a close friend at the time drenched me with two buckets of water." He chuckled lightly as he recalled the memory.

"To this day I still avoid using the element of Fire. The experience made me cautious with how I use my magic. It taught me to be as creative with the less violent elements but it also taught me how to counter them."

Aoren managed to sit straight up. He ran both hands through his hair taking a deep breath. He was concerned for the Dhani woman. They were both a little worse for wear but at least he had his staff to lean on as he walked. He knew she would need help getting back to the safety of Syliras.

"Look, if you're angry because I supposedly won, I didn't. Did I not get blown back by my own spell? Am I not just as worse for wear as you are? I certainly feel like shyke. If anything you had me fighting for my life." He gave her a smirk. "Let's just call this one a tie? Sound fair?"

He extended a hand to her in a gesture of good sportsmanship.

"If you won't see a healer then at the very least come with me to the shop where I work and let me patch us both up."

by **Soshakuakamamushi** on April 24th, 2014, 4:57 pm

The Viper looked away when the man had the gall to drop on the ground beside her, was he mocking her? Mimicking her pathetic state just so he could stomp on her pride further? She thought wrong about this man, he was just an arrogant shyke. Of course, the Viper didn't really mean all that, it was just her childish arrogance clouding her mind and refusing to accept defeat when it was due. A part of her mind sighed in realization though, not that her body had enough energy to fight back anyway, Aka simply looked away as he spoke.

His words went over her head, she wasn't interested in hearing his history, no, she was interested on how he could defeat her in the first place. Then he answered on his own, so he had experiences with flames as well and knew ways to counter them, his second element being air surely helped. The Viper coughed again, putting her right hand to her mouth as she groaned in pain, "S-ssshut up..." He was obviously trying to make her feel better, "Jussst... ssshut up..." The Viper appreciated it, but she wouldn't admit it obviously. Aka refused to answer him, she wanted nothing to do with him, she knew he defeated her fair and square and that very fact made her hate herself.

Her body protested against her pride though, she needed help, badly. With a huff, Aka simply closed her eyes, then whispered, "Fine... If I die, I will haunt you... remember that." Before she felt exhaustion gripped her body and mind, falling into a light sleep.

OOCAoren, do you think we should close it here? You can go ahead and make your last post or post it for grading right away.

Thank you for threading with me! It has been awesome!

by **Nightmare** on April 25th, 2014, 12:28 pm

Soshakuakamamushi :

Aoren :

Additional Comments:This thread was incredible fun to read. I thoroughly enjoyed the inventive use of magic and the effects that were played out after the...spar. Good job and enjoy your grades!

Please PM me if you have any questions or concerns.

Credit Lenz

[/quote]

Skills	Amount
Endurance	+2
Reimancy	+3
Intimidation	+1
Leadership	+1
Acrobatics	+1
Tactics	+1

Skills	Amount
Reimancy	+4
Observation	+2
Rhetoric	+1
Tactics	+2
Endurance	+1

Completed [Bronze Woods] A Song Of Flame And Ashes (Aoren)