Strike me down, I will not fall

by **Evalin** on April 2nd, 2014, 7:07 pm

9th of Spring, 514 AV
Location: Somewhere outside Zinrah

It didn't make any sense. It was beyond explanation. this and other thoughts pressed upon Evalin as she backed slowly against a large tree, her back pressing against the rough bark as her eyes looked up and around, trying to pierce the veil of leaves that hid the opponent she knew was there. Her teeth gritted as her fist clenched painfully at her side.

How irritable it is... cornered like a mouse by the cat that would make its dinner.

The mouse should run, not ponder unfairness of this world.

The words made Evlain flinch, and with a growl she spun around to the other side of the tree just as she heard the familiar CRACK as electric energy sparked the ground where she had just stood. Ignoring the ringing in her ears Evalin pressed off against the tree, using her arms to push aside limb and branch as she struggled to break free of this prison of green and take refuge in somewhere she could stand without hindrance. She felt him coming, somewhere behind and slightly overhead.

Hurried steps sent her over one long and under a limb, and when a small clearing she found she turned on her heel, hands clapping together as she pulled at her spirit and tore from it the gaseous res that spewed out between her fingers. She spun this clear substance around and around in a frenzy, and then spreading her hands wide sent the vortex out and hissed, "Hakin!" to change that substance to wind that ripped into the limbs and trees, freeing bits of green and brown so that they could fall to the ground and creating an opening through which she could, for a moment, view the sky above. What it did not do, however, was reveal the Familiar she knew was there, somewhere.

A waste of energy and time to strike where your opponent MAY be. Tsenrika chided as if he were speaking to a child, A clear mind and calm spirit sees through all deceptions. You have neither.

Be silent you fool of a creature. Know you not of what I am. Evalin could not hide the anger in her voice, to be talked down to in such a manner by a familiar. It was disgraceful. She quickly turned and continued her course, weaving through the trees with frequent glances behind her to check the position of her opponent.

Know I your inner self better than you might know yourself.

From the brush ahead, and slightly to the left a figure broke free of the shadow and green, raising its hand palm out toward Evalin. Eyes widening in surprise, planting her feet to slow her course Evalin felt the draw on their collected strength even before the gusting wind tossed her back to the ground, arms and legs splayed out as though she had been knocked over the head and rendered unconscious.

"I realize your potential better than you yourself." Evalin looked up at the figure as it stood over her, looking down with eyes the color of freshly spilled blood. Evalin gazed into her own eyes, her own face, and she could feel nothing for she had been beaten by herself.

by **Evalin** on April 2nd, 2014, 7:26 pm

Frustration built within Evailn as she lay staring up into her own eyes that made no expression at all. Tsenrika simply raised an eyebrow, his expression blank and the feeling through their bond radiated... Boredom. It infuriated the nuit, it lit the fires of her hate ever more, burning them brightly, calling her to do something, anything to change it. To change this... Fate.

Hissing between her teeth Evalin let burst res from every pour of her body, creating a cocoon around herself. In random places along the surfaces of this structure she set the res to spin in random directions, and the with a snap of her fingers the parts of the dome that did not spin were set aflame on their surface. Tsenrika was already peddling back, his arms raised up as he too began to call on their power but before he could draw any more than a thimble Evalin hissed again, and the swirling res burst to air, spinning in large whirlpools outward. As they spun the flames caught upon the wind, spilling into the whirling bundles to create an expanding, whirling, confused mass of spinning fire and heated air in all directions around the nuit. Evailn kept a thin layer of res close to her body, carefully turning away any fire that licked too close and guiding it to join the greater mass to save herself from injury as much as possible. The raging flames continued on for several ticks, but the nuit did not wait for them to subside before coming to her feet. The remaining res she wielded she tossed between her hands, sparks leaping two and fro as her eyes spied a glint of blue. Then she thrust her hands toward this target, letting the boom of the energy fill the raging storm, blasting a whole in the ripping flames to strike electric energy toward what she thought was the Familiar.

Power you have, yet no control to use it. You aim at what you believe to be there, not what you truly see.

She felt him before she saw him, from the side Tsenrika pushed aside the flames wearing her body still. In his right hand res distorted the world seen through it, sparks already beginning to fly as he closed the gap. Not to be outdone Evalin pulled further res from her body, yet she did not ignighted. Instead she raised it over her head, calling on the flames that still raged to converge over her palm. She sucked in all of the fire she had created with the firey storm, pulling it back to its master in wrapping tendrils that flowed around her body. As she did she shaped the res, giving the fire that coated it a form. The res flowed back over her forearm, flaring out at her shoulder while she created a makeshift head, serpentine in form with mouth gaping wide and fangs of fire exuding heat in all directions.

Raising her other hand Evalin pointed at Tsenrika, who had now slowed his place, his eyes not quite so sure as Evalin spoke, "Mock not the hand of the destroyer, lest the flames of this worlds hatred completely consume you."

It was her turn then to move, and she took but one step, throwing her right hand wrapped in fire toward the Familiar was was already wrapping the res about him, his actions hurried and almost desperate. The flaming serpents mouth opened wider as the fires hissed and crackled with heat. The spell then leaped from its master's grasp, clearing the distance and splashing over the Familiar as he disappeared in the twisting fires of his master's rage.

by **Evalin** on April 2nd, 2014, 8:53 pm

It felt like a victory. It should have been a victory. Evalin knew he would not be overcome by this, yet still she felt as though she should have won. That is how all things should be with Master and servant. The Master struck and the Servant always buckled and begged for the beatings to end. The Servant always acknowledged the Master's superiority, and once more assumed his role at her side, one step behind, always at the call of his superior. That is how it should be. Then why was it that despite all of this Evalin still did not see it, that moment of Victory that SHOULD have happened? She watched, both surprised and completely expecting what occurred. The fires she herself created spun about their target, encircling and swirling into a pillar of heat and radiance. It was a fabulous display, or so Evalin would have thought had she been the one to create it. She then blinked, and through the eyes of her opponent she saw what was occurring. Hands that were and were not hers raised and orchestrated the res that danced at the slightest command that the Irylid made, fingers waving, arms directing, mind calm and collected, cold as ice despite the raging heat. Evalin saw it all through the eyes of another, until again she blinked and was the spectator on the outside once again.

As one we are, and thus what you may create I can just as simply take ahold of and dismantle. As if to demonstrate this fact the column of fire began to widen, breaking apart in waves as fires shot out in every direction, until nothing at all was left except for spinning air and leaves in their place, "So simple it is, it is almost amusing."

"Do not be so arrogant to think it means you are my equal."

"No?" Tsenrika folded his arms over his chest, an eyebrow raising, "Then what might make me your 'equal' then oh humble sorceress?"

One hand went down to clutch her knee that was beginning to shake, growing numb as it struggled to hold up the weight that moments before had been nothing at all for it. Evalin scowled at the Familiar, her body quickly losing its strength while his seemed well enough for the time. Perhaps it was because he could not access all of her power just yet, and so he could resist the fall much easier than she herself. The nuit did not have an answer... It was not quite that simple, not for her. She could not say, not truly, or rather she did not wish to think of it.

"I am but a step away, so close to staining at your side with all the power you now hold. Sense it do you not? Our bond grows, and with it so does my strength. Our strength grows." Evalin did not miss that last addition. 'Our strength' he said, yet what she heard spoke nothing of shared might. Her body did not want to respond any longer, it struggled beneath her and, finally, it gave out and her legs crumbled beneath her. Sinking to the ground Evalin refused to let this body fall flat before the Familiar. It was disgraceful, it was unthinkable to fall and bow before HIM.

Looking up at the Familiar Evalin's lips turned downward, "Matter it not what would make you equal, for never shall you BE my equal. You are my familiar. You are to advice me, and follow me through eternity. Never were you meant to be anything more than a passing amusement to ease the tragic boredom of this existence." She did not completely mean what she said, and he knew it, but Evalin would never admit it openly. She could never allow Tsenrika the satisfaction.

"Perhaps that is your intent, but that is not how the path has twisted for you and I." Tsenrika stepped forward, hands on his hips as he tilted his head, "It was never meant to be any other way."

It stung deep, scorching through her soul a burning denial of the words... She hated words like that, those that made it sound as though things were inevitable. She refused to believe such things as this, for if she did it would lessen all that she had done up until now. Somewhere she had to find it, that last bit of strength, that last push...

Her legs ceased their shaking, and her body felt light. Or rather, she could not feel her body at all. She saw it, as if from a distance. She saw herself stand from the ground, hands clapping together as she glared at Tsenrika, "Deny I all that you speak, for I am she who defies her fate. Such rules need not apply to me."

Sparks leaped from her fingers as she started forward, hands still together, clearing the distance in a matter of ticks. Her res was already spilling out in two sheets from her shoulders, untransformed while that which circled her hand sparked and crackled with energy. Tsenrika raised his own hand, sparks flying from the res he summoned to his palms, but with a final push Evailn was there, inches away, kneeling just below his hand while the Familiar looked wide eyed down at his Master. His MASTER. The sparks around her hands stopped and instead Evailn reached up, grabbing hold of the Familiar's wrist as she twisted his body over her shoulder, using her back as leverage to toss him as he had done to here not too long ago. The sheets of res she pulled around her then, a cloak of fire and lightning draping around there master as she stood over the now fallen Tsenrika, aiming her own hand down at him, "Never shall we be equals, for always will I be you Master."

Tsenrika rolled to the side as the fire struck in a wave where he lay, finding his feet once more and lighting his fingers with lightning, "All of this world changes. this you cannot deny." He struck out, lightning flying toward Evalin who raised an eyebrow.

With a casual wave of her hand the res that cloaked her swirled before her, pulling on the bond and summoning it to the collective spell that was growing, a grand spear shaped bolt of electric energy that floated over Evalin's raised left hand, "Not all things, for I am she who stands apart from time. She who shall sever the chains of this world. She who shall not be swayed by the flow of existence. Foolish Tsenrika, forget you not to whom you speak." The world exploded in white, the boom of the spell shook leaves from the surrounding trees and with that all came to a close. Darkness engulfing the white as quickly as it had come.

by **Evalin** on April 2nd, 2014, 9:00 pm

Evalin lay upon her back, her eyes opened as she looked up at the canopy above. Her body wouldn't move. She had pushed herself too far, and now this was the price. She could not even bring herself to turn her head to look where Tsenrika had gone...

"So it is that we have come here Tsenrika... How is it that we should continue...?"

"A single step at a time." The voice was somewhat welcome then. Evalin could not help the slight relief that welled within her to hear that the Familiar was yet alive, though if she were living she knew he must as well. In her vision to the right Tsenrika shuffled into view, still wearing her skin as he knelled down beside her. His eyes were soft, though his expression showed nothing, "One step to another, along a different course than the river of time does follow. Toward a future that my Master decides." He reached up and gently brushed aside a stray hair from Evalin's vision, "And so will I be there as well, as is my place at my Master's side."

Evalin could not help but smile, and chuckle softly as she turned her eyes slightly to look beyond the Familiar at the sky, "Indeed... Never could I have it any other way... Let us return... though not just yet. The peace as the world passes us by is relaxing."

"As you wish."

by **Catastrophe** on April 3rd, 2014, 10:57 pm

e

Evalin :

Notes :

Solo Strike me down, I will not fall