[The Anthonius Fighter's Pit] Working the Grounds

by **Lorden Ladis** on February 15th, 2015, 3:26 am

10th of Winter, 514 AV

Lorden reached his right arm behind his head, pushing the thin appendage behind his cranium at a ninety-degree angle, his bare skin becoming flush with the cloth shirt covering his back. Breathing into his diaphragm, the knight also willed his left arm up and behind his skull, moving his hand till it's palm came to a stop on top of his other raised elbow.

Lorden Ladis wrapped his fingers around his elbow, before he pushed the joint down and to the side slightly, sliding his right hand further down the length of his cloth-covered spine. As Lorden exerted pressure down on his right arm, an almost pleasurable ache-like feeling began to radiate down from where he pushed, and into the rest of his arm. Lorden relaxed his features as the tingling burn, took the place of the stiffness that had occupied his muscles, only but moments before.

Satisfied that the stretch had done it's job, and feeling much looser on one half of his body, Lorden filled his diaphragm again. The knight then exhaled audibly, allowing both arms to unfurl and fall back down to his side, as the air escaped his rounded, puckered, lips. Lorden meticulously repeated the stretch in reverse, flexing the muscle in his left arm this time, and feeling much the same releasing feelings as he had felt with his right. Taking a three count of his breath as he held the position, Lorden dropped his arms to his hips for the second time.

Smiling Lorden rolled his shoulders back, surprised at just how sore his arm had felt, without him even noticing. Almost subconsciously, the knight crossed both his arms across his chest, rubbing his loosened biceps for a moment.

Me and Sarorus stayed up far too late last night, Lorden noted; as he bent his right knee down into an angle, and stretched his left leg back, lowering himself in the process. For a moment, Lorden allowed his azure eyes to glance over to the white hound, that lay sunbathing in the corner of the courtyard, obviously anything but awake. The knight smiled before returning his attentions to his stretch.

But at least I woke up, and stayed up, this morning, Lorden mused further to himself; mirroring the same leg stretch as before, this time in reverse.

Lorden straightened his knees, his back once more becoming in line with his feet. The knight looked out over the edges of the courtyard trepidatiously, before placing his hands on his hip. Lorden reached his back out over his waist, holding his skull and shoulders tilted back into the air, for a tick or two, before realigning himself with the ground, and taking a short breath.

The knight brought his knees up over and over again, exhaling, and swinging his arms at a right angle, in unison with his leg's movements. Sweating, the human did this quite a few times, before as his right knee fell for the nth repetition, he kicked against the ground; sending himself forward with the force, and kicking dust behind him as he shot through the air. Lorden's other leg repeated the movement, and before he knew it, he was setting off around the courtyard at a brisk enough pace.

by **Lorden Ladis** on February 16th, 2015, 6:50 am

10th of Winter, 514 AV

Lorden listened to the sounds of his exertion, as he rounded the right-hand corner of the courtyard, for what he counted as the sixth time. The knight's breath had become somewhat labored by this point, and his leather soles pounded less than gingerly, into the sand flooring underfoot. Lorden could feel every shock, and every reverberation, as his legs touched the ground, extended, pushed, and pulled themselves back up to his waist. There was simply no way to block out the pain, Lorden noted; as the sweat coalesced from his sun-baked hair, into his slightly squinting azure eyes.

What am I supposed to do? Ignore it? Lorden questioned himself; laboring with his thoughts as he ran.

Still, as sore, and as burning as his calfs might be, and as tight as his chest now felt, Lorden kept putting one foot in front of himself, one leg at a time. A quarter of a lap passed by, then three, then two. Before Lorden knew it, he was on his tenth lap, and his pain hadn't really grown any greater. Lorden noted the plateau in his exertion, and figured on why it might be so.

It can't be that I've slowed down, Lorden thought, increasing his pace. But as the knight's legs pushed forward, the burn in them only spiked a small bit; actually, if anything Lorden's calves began to numb. Truly, it was only his heart that really strained to beat, and his lungs that ached for air.

Okay, I can handle this, I'm halfway done, Lorden thought, hitting the halfway point in his lap. The knight took ten more steps.

I can do this, he reassured himself.

Lorden finished yet another lap, his calves tightening underneath his weight.

I'm running from wolves, Lorden falsely encouraged himself, before smirking at the stupidity his pounding head had cooked up. The knight's smirk quickly grew into a smile, as the image of Sarorus chasing after him pushed into his mind. Lorden glanced over his shoulder.

That dogs far too lazy to run with me, what was I thinking, Lorden assured himself, as his eyes caught nothing but air. The knight tucked his head for a moment, and squeezed his eyes open and shut. The raven-haired human began sprinting at full pace.

Twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Oh good Sylir. Fifteen... nineteen, Lorden counted away the laps, by the time he reached the second to the last of his sprint, he was heaving.

Twenty, Lorden practically fell against the wall of the courtyard, as he slowed the move of his legs. The knight propped his arms against the wall, and touched his brow to the stone.

Twenty, that was twenty, Lorden thought; a self-contented smile momentarily showing itself, through his rasped breaths.

by **Lorden Ladis** on February 16th, 2015, 9:19 am

10th of Winter, 514 AV

Lorden lifted his head from the wall, sweat dribbling down his visage, and dripping from his jaw line. The Knight pushed himself from off of the wall with his arms, restating his balance, before circling around one-eighty degrees. The fatigued human allowed his shoulders to slump backwards, before bending his knees and folding to the ground. Tired and ready for a 'quick' break, Lorden found himself slumped against the walls of the fighter's pit. Lorden noted just how comfortable the warm sand was. Perhaps a break was in order.

The knight leaned his head back, his Syna baked hair rubbing against the warm stone. Lorden closed his eyes, allowing himself to reflect on his sprint.

One day I might actually be running from wolves, but Shyke if it'll be easy, he thought; taking a devitalized breath, and relaxing his shoulders. Lorden began to drift with his thoughts, his eyes growing lethargic as he breathed in, and back out again.

One day, the knight mused tiredly to himself.

Lorden ran with all his might, the fire that passed for his hair glowing intensely black, with his fear. One foot fell in front of another, ruffling the sand beneath his feet, the knight felt like he could run forever, and yet he felt so slow.

A howl rung out behind from behind Lorden. Eyes growing wide, the flame-headed knight screamed out, as he ran headlong through the dessert.

"Leave me alone you damn dogs!" Lorden took a breath, as the words furled hesitantly from his mouth.

"Just leave me the petch alone!"

He didn't know how long he had been running for. Days? Hours? It was impossible to tell, Syna never seemed to set in this gods forsaken place. As Lorden ran, he found himself experiencing an odd feeling. Despite his feelings of endless strength but moments ago, the knight was suddenly growing tired.

Petch it all, Lorden thought, whirling around to face what he thought would be his attackers.

In the place of what he'd only logically assumed would have been lupine faces, instead stood the visage of a white-haired teenage girl.

"Willow?" Lorden inquired hopefully, the black fire on his head suddenly being framed by orange flames.

"There's no way that's you," the knight said; without thinking his leather boots dug into the sand, moving him towards the impossibility he now gazed upon.

As Lorden walked towards the pale girl, however, she began to laugh. The knight's brow furrowed in concern.

"Willow, are you all right?" Lorden took another step towards the teenager, his arms reaching towards her thin frame. Willow smiled, as black dots began to speckle her face. Lorden's brow raised in surprise, and his 'hair' began to tint towards gray.

The Knight was left speechless, as the girl's form became covered in black, and broke apart into sand, dissipating into the growing wind. Even though she was 'gone', Willow's laughter began to grow incessantly louder, before it surrounded Lorden completely. Before long, the invisible girl's laughter, all but beat at the knight's eardrums.

The pained knight, unable to hear anything but the manic cackling, easily missed the sound of paws shuffling in the sand behind him. And before he knew it, lupine teeth sank themselves eagerly into his calf.

One bite turned into two, three into four, and the teeth kept stabbing and nipping at him, they never stayed in one place for long. All but screaming, Lorden threw himself to the right, tumbling helplessly through the air. The knight continued his fall for but a moment, before crashing face first into the sand.

All but sure of his death, Lorden lifted his head up, and gazed on at his sprawling arms. As the knight glanced at his hands with azure eye's, the blue orbs grew wide, in a surprise that bordered on shocked terror.

The knight's fingers began to contort as he gazed on at them, the bones cracked and broke, and re-broke themselves at an astonishing speed, adding but more agony to Lorden's burden.

Lorden's fingers shrunk as he let out a pained cry, his nose began to grow longer, and fur started sprouting all over him. The fire on Lorden's scalp flickered brown, and broke from his head, before extinguishing into the air. Lorden kicked his legs, flipping himself over, as they too began to change.

Now on his back, Lorden saw the wolves beginning to circle him trepidatiously, each one of their steps signaling a fearful uncertainty. Going numb from the pain, Lorden gazed at the wolves with filmed over eyes, as the sky behind them turned from blue to grey, and the sand lost it's color.

What had once been Lorden, hardly noticed as the changes subsided, and the pain drifted away. All the 'knight' saw, was the first of the gray scale wolves, descending on him hungrily. With a vigor he was only moments ago sure had been stolen from him, Lorden flexed his hind legs, flipping him to his feet. The canine form the knight now possessed, dove almost on it's own accord, slipping under the wolf, Lorden opened it's maw.

The dog-knight shoved his open snout under the wolf's own head, clamping his mouth shut around it's neck like a pair of vice grips. Ruffling his nose into an enraged snarl, Lorden racked his teeth from his enemies neck, pulling arteries away as he dove to the next of the wolf pack.

With blood on his white fur, and sinew between his incisors, Lorden shot to the right like a bolt. The canine's movements were a blur, even in his own mind, he moved to the left, he moved to the right; he snapped a fur-covered leg with his mouth, he tore an eye from it's socket, and he severed yet more arteries. All Lorden knew in those moments, was the kill. All the knight knew, was his anger.

Spinning, the red-speckled hound looked for his next victim, and yet he found none. Lorden moved his head from one side to another, taking in the pile of twitching lupines, that he now stood upon. With content in it's eyes, the dog that had been Lorden, and which looked suspiciously like a deerstalker, cocked it's head back against it shoulders. Lorden howled, blood running down his snout to cover his nape, as he sounded his victory cry.

Lorden opened his eyes, squinting in disdain as a wet object ran itself across his face, over and over.

"Get off me boy," Lorden demanded of his dog, pushing Sarorus away with his groggy right hand. Yet, the white deerstalker pushed past his arm, before dragging his pink tongue across the area under Lorden's eyes once more.

"I said be off me," Lorden pushed the dog off of his chest once more, this time a bit more forcefully, as he was brought to annoyance by the headache that pounded against his temples.

The knight reached up his left-hand to his face, still keeping Sarorus at arms length with the opposite arm. Lorden wiped the dogs spit from off his cheek, but once he had cleaned his skin, he still felt the wetness on his visage.

"What? Have you been licking my eyes too?" Lorden said, squinting his blue orbs at his dog.

The knight went to wipe his eyelids, only to find that they were dry, and that the dampness could only come from within. Inquisitively, Lorden ran his pointer finger over the wet area, of his lower left eyelashes. The knight brought his damp finger to his mouth, tasting the bite of the salt that covered it. Tears?

But what could have possibly made him cry in his sleep, Lorden pondered, lifting himself from the wall. The knight patted Sarorus, apologetically, as he stood.

Lorden shook his head, it didn't matter why he had wept, he was tired, and it was his day off. It was time to go home and take a nap, the wall had left him sore, and Lorden had sand stuck in places sand should never be. Strangely enough, the knight still found himself tired enough to actually entertain the idea of sleep. Even more strangely, the thought that he shouldn't really be all that sleepy, didn't occur to his tired mind, as he walked stiffly from the fighter's pit.

The pale face gazing at him, from the corner of the pit, also escaped his conscious notice.

by **Archailist** on March 13th, 2015, 9:27 pm

Lorden :

Notes :

Was I a little too nuts in my grading?
If you've got concerns, just call me.

Solo [The Anthonius Fighter's Pit] Working the Grounds