Solo Head-First Into the Madness

[Kaie]

Same petching thing. Short sword versus my spear. This one is timid, too, but she's probably more confident with a win under her belt, Kaie coached herself as the spear fell into both her hands. The girl stood across from her with her sword ahead of her. She's seen me. I'll have to make sure to test her differently somehow than Red Head. Change the pattern. I bet I coul---is she trying to petching intimidate me? The Myrian fighter arched a patronizing brow in the direction of the girl, who had apparently resorted to a poor attempt at a stare-down. Kaie blinked. Then she curled her lip and bared her teeth with a primitive snarl. The girl's expression wavered a bit and Kaie hoped along with it was her self-esteem.

"Commence!" Kaie moved in at the sound of Iztel's verbal lash. She tried to feign a familiarity the girl might recognize from her spar with Red Head. The wooden tip of the spear wavered back and forth before her. The girl focused on it, but the look on her face seemed to warn she already knew what to expect. At least that was what she had thought. Something new, something new. Kaie faked a forward thrust with her spear before pulling it back up and high. The girl, already reacting the the thrust, only had time to turn her body when the downward slash came from above. The wood beat down against her unoccupied arm. "Continue!" Iztel barked. The girl seemed to have woken up in light of the impact.

The spear settled back before the Myrian. The end of it wavered tauntingly once more. The girl's eyes settled on it with a new, frustrated glow. Rather than wait for deception, the girl attempted to be anything but a reactive entity. She moved in and slapped at the spear head with her wooden sword. The spear swayed out to the right. Kaie's brow raised. Uncomfortable alarm filled her amber eyes. How the petch did I not sense she was going to do that? The girl rushed in and raised her sword. Panicked, the Myrian knew not what to do but back pedal like crazy and pull her spear back in before her. The girl's advance came to a halt when the spear head was firmly back between her and her target. From over her opponent's shoulder, Kaie could see a bewilderment cross Jeida's expression. Clear questioning laid in her sister's eyes. Kaie briefly shook her head, evidently rattled, before she focused on the girl's next attempt coming at her.

At the very least Kaie could take comfort in knowing this girl didn't have the wits to know lightning rarely struck twice. Again, and without any warning from her ability, the spearhead was swiftly swept away by the novice short sword wielder. The girl tried once again, and quite predictably, to rush her. Rather than back up this time Kaie merely adjusted. She pivoted off center, lifted the spear high, and swung it down into the side of the girl's head. The girl stumbled to the side with the Myrian hot behind her. She tried to swing to deter the advance, but with range on Kaie's side and her opponent daze and unbalanced, it was easy to make contact with the girl's chest in one swift thrust. "Victor, again!" Iztel praised. The girl clutched her head and glared at Kaie before taking her place among the losers. The winning Myrian found her place back among victors.

"The Bull! Jumpy!" Iztel called out both names, the latter being the victor of the final preliminary match. He was ironically a stocky, short man with a thick black beard and bushy hair. Breaking the streak of short swords like Kaie, he toted a long ax he wielded with swollen arms. The Bull followed the status quo with his weapon, but his build and ruthlessness was far from average. It was a solid match-up nonetheless. With both of the other victors in the arena, Jeida wandered beside Kaie. "What the petch happened?" She murmured in their nature tongue, arms crossed and eyes locked on the warriors preparing to engage. "I don't petching know," Kaie replied tightly. Jeida glanced sideways at her.

"When you petching finally told me about your ability I laughed. Then I saw it. I've seen attackers swing at you from behind in the middle of chaos and fail to surprise you. I've seen a petching archer hiding in the brush fail to stick you because you stepped just as they were loosing their arrow." Kaie remained silent. Her amber eyes hardened upon the warriors in the arena as Iztel signaled the beginning of their spar. "Kaie, I don't know how you petching do it, but I've never seen you caught off guard by an attack before."
"I told you already. I don't petching know. All I know was I was waiting for the sensation and it never came," Kaie attempted to clarify, voice strained by frustration in the phenomena she failed to comprehend. "Magic?"
"I don't know. I don't think so." The pair of sisters fell back into uncomfortable silence, both still stuck on the apparent handicapping of Kaie's ability.

The somehow suddenly unarmed Bull sent a foot into Jump's chest to bring him to the ground. A short battle of strength ended with Jumpy's own wooden ax edge pressed upon his throat. "The Bull wins!" All cheered at the spectacle and The Bull rose in a gladiator fashion to literally beat upon his chest. Jumpy begrudgingly relinquished his ax from The Bull and wandered back among the losers.

[Kaie]

For now Kaie could do nothing but try to compartmentalize her frustrations. The unsavory phenomena of a malfunctioning ability needed to be stowed away and left unopened until training was through. Besides, she'd need her head on her shoulders if she were to fight The Bull.

"Jeida!" The Marshall bellowed. Jeida's face turned stone-cold as she stepped forward. It was to be expected, Kaie supposed, that the Marshall would like to see a Myrian sister show-down. After their pissing contest earlier it would've been the obvious choice for entertainment value alone. Kaie's advance paused in confusion when she heard a name other than her own call out. "Bull! Let's see that stamina!"

The shock Jeida was guaranteed to be feeling in that moment evidently never reached her expression. Instead the younger Myrian sister planted herself across from the previous victor with sword in hand. The giant of a man hardly seemed winded from his last round. He gave a snort at the savage in his sights and dragged at the ground with one of his feet as though he were truly the animal of his namesake. "Mother, I shall bring this one to your alter, too," Jeida said aloud in Myrian, words especially brutalized when spoken for effect. Kaie couldn't help the twitch that came to the corners of her lips.

"Fight!" The Myrian fighter rushed in predictably with her war whoop that made her side-lined sister wince. The Bull had already proven himself above the other quarry in their midst. In his last match alone he was formidable and resourceful without a weapon, and skilled enough to steal that of his opponent's for the win. Kaie's nervous fidget twisted the butt of her spear into the dust.

You're relying on your strength as a Myrian alone, Jeida. As always. He's already anticipated you.

The Bull broke Jeida's ambush in the same way a large man of his size would be expected to break a tackle. Her sword rose high before she reached him, and he moved in to quite literally throw her behind him using his barreling body. Kaie shook her head. Jeida slammed down on the other side of her opponent with a sharp exhale just before impact with the ground. The Bull pivoted back around while Jeida rolled to her feet, feigning in a Myrian fashion complete absence of pain from his counter. More Myrian curses flitted from Jeida's lips and her face contorted with the anger that drove her now. Kaie pressed her lips into a hard line and glanced toward the focused Marshall. Her sister had failed to learn.

For petch's sake, Jeida! He's bigger and slower than you! Use your agility and your sword to get on his outside and capitalize on his flank, then get the petch out of his range! Rinse and petching repeat!

If only she could've voiced her tactics aloud. For soon after the pair engaged in sword play before The Bull did what he did best: out-muscle. His free hand caught Jeida's sword arm like he'd frozen it in place before delivering a devastating head-butt that spilled blood. Momentarily dazed, he merely forced her down and stuck her with the end of his dulled practice to claim his victory.

"And it's The Bull again!" Iztel clapped her hands together while The Bull pounded his chest to the cheers of the losing crowd. Jeida blinked up at the sky before she managed to sit up. One of her copper-toned hands reached up to find a cut above her eyebrow the culprit of the red trailing down her skin. Part of Kaie felt compelled to come to her aid where she sat there grasping defeat. In a moment Jeida shakily found her feet and trudged toward the end of the losing line, spitting blood into the dust.

"Final fight! Kaie versus The Bull!"

[Kaie]

The Bull chuckled as he paced away from the group. He caught his breath briefly while he mocked his opponent, basking in his undefeated streak, while Kaie wandered into the center with her spear. Her eyes glanced toward her sister. Jeida refused to meet her gaze. Instead it seemed her frustrated stare could not be torn from the dust below her feet. "Ready?" the Marshall looked to either combatant, neither of which bothered to abandon sizing up one another despite the commanding sound of her voice.

Kaie gave her spear a slow twirl before she settled the spearhead before her. The gnosis on her flesh began its burn and a concentration of malice started to flood from her opponent. The Bull ridiculously dragged at the earth again with sword in hand. "Begin!"The pair stalked forward, neglecting the rush of the previous slew of amateur fighters.

He's comfortable with his sword, but Jumpy easily took it from his hands. His battles have been won with strength, not skill.

Kaie let her spear waver before her like a hooded snake. The Bull attempted to rush past her long-ranged weapon, but each ended with a stutter-stop when the Myrian easily repositioned herself to counter the advance.

I'll beat him by being smarter.

Her tactic was simple, but just as it was based off her observing his style, The Bull had equal chance in the past to judge her as well.

The Myrian jerked her spear toward his middle. Predictably, he bashed it away with his sword and a condescending snort. She pressed her lips into a line and then let the spear sway before her again.

Not creative enough and we'll be here all day. Too creative and he'll rush past me the moment I make a mistake.

Kaie pulled the spearhead up and back, opening the option to use both spearhead and end. The Bull offered a sinister smile. Then he happily tried to take the space.

[Kaie]

The preliminary alarms sounded. He rushed in, and before her spearhead could come down to punish him, The Bull swiped it back with his sword. Kaie tried to compensate for the reversal of her momentum by swinging the butt-end of her spear forward, but halfway she could see defeat in the start of his transitioning sword position.

Petch!

The Myrian abandoned her counter to follow instinct. She pivoted out of his warpath, feet back-pedaling like mad as her opponent rushed past her at full speed. The Bull grunted and spun on his heels with a wicked sneer. A few bystanders chuckled, some whistling their mockery at the Myrian wielding her stick.

This would be so much petching easier with a gods damned gladius...

Another alarm bell sounded in her brain and The Bull rushed her full speed. Kaie's eyes went wide before she raised the spear high and hurled it forth at him. It sailed as low as her heart, skewering naught but the ground before his feet.

So much for fighting smart, Kaie. Petching petch!

She paused his slash with a forearm at his sword-wrist and another slamming into the side of his throat. She immobilized his sword-wrist with the nearest hand and wrapped it against her hip while she delivered knees to his middle. It was not enough. Fueled by pain and anger, his ill-will toward her surged to new heights along with his will power. Already doubled over, The Bull reached forth to catch her calf and wrenched her off balance while yanking back his sweaty arm.

The Bull's sword-arm slipped from her grip just before her back hit the dust. A plume erupted upon her impact, irritating eyes that she could not afford so much as a moment of blindness. A tick later the sword reappeared in an effort to swing down and bisect her. Kaie rolled to the side and kicked her shin into the back of The Bull's nearest knee. The behemoth dropped onto his stomach.

Now!

Kaie lunged forth just as he rolled onto his back. Her left hand grasped the sword-wrist to pin it to the ground while her right looped behind his neck. Already she could feel her strength losing quickly in spite of his. The right hand attempted to support her left by reaching further to wrap four fingers over her left forearm. Then, rather than completely fight his strength, she utilized it. While The Bull desperately tried to pull his sword up, Kaie allowed his elbow to rise while she drove his wrist into the ground and pulled toward her.

Before long the massive man was hollering with eyes tightly squinted shut. The Marshall crouched on the other side of him with a stony face. "Tap and reset with that arm gone or she'll tear it off. Your choice." Kaie kept applying pressure. "Better hurry up." A hard series of smacks hit The Myrian's back. Kaie released the man, who promptly shoved her from his figure. The Marshall smirked and backed away from the pair. The Myrian retrieved her spear while The Bull found his feet and rotated his sore shoulder.

[Kaie]

"Lose the hand, Bull! Then begin!" The Marshall rang out her starting command for the remaining victors at odds. Kaie tossed the spear between her hands while she thought. The Bull obediently, albeit reluctantly, switched his sword to his left hand. This time it was Kaie's turn to smirk in his direction. He'd sacrificed his pride for a chance to win the battle at large, but in Kaie's eyes he merely set himself up for a most certain defeat.

No skill. Dominant hand's gone, which means half his strength is gone.

The Bull remained in place this time in the same way he had when faced with Jeida. Kaie happily made the approach with her spear looming before her. Though it felt like victory was certain, the Myrian still elected to gamble. She adjusted her spear so that the spearhead was commanded with her left hand and the butt end commanded with her right. Again, she held the spearhead up to create equal opportunity to use both its ends. The Bull's brow rose optimistically at the sight. Murmurs rose from the crowd.

The Bull jerked his sword at the Myrian to test her, only to indeed find she was not ambidextrous in the way she retreated rather than countered. He dared to smile. Kaie wiped it clean from his face again when she whipped the spearhead down to beat across his right arm faster than the sword could cross his body to block. The wood of her practice weapon lacerated the flesh. The Bull scowled and took a few paces back to inspect the shallow wound. Only then did both truly comprehend his stark weakness.

Kaie feigned to strike him the same way again. The Bull twisted his right shoulder back to swing at the spearhead that never committed, leaving his left flank wide open for the Myrian to sink her hypothetical killing blow. "The Myrian is the ultimate victor!" The Marshall announced with both pride and mockery in her bold voice. The Bull threw his wooden short sword upon the dust like an unruly child. In Taloba such a tournament win would've resulted in some sort of celebration. The losing fighters might've rushed in, punched her playfully, or perhaps lifted her up among them with cheers. Yet this was not Taloba and the losers, with the exception of Jeida, did not enjoy being shown up by a savage outsider.

Only a few bold claps rang out, but overall there was a sense of begrudging indifference to her supremacy. Not even Jeida let out a whoop for her benefit, though her apathy was for a different reason entirely. "Must I remind you even now I claim all my victories for you, Mother Myri?" Kaie murmured her prayer to the Goddess Queen with a brief look to the bright sun above. "Not so fast!" Eleuia strode forth with a broad grin. Kaie turned to spy the Dragoon Captain entering the Proving Grounds. "Have the stamina for one more? I've been craving a rematch." The Falyndar native shrugged and spat the taste of dust from her mouth. "Why the petch not."

[Kaie]

Kaie pursed her lips pensively as she strode toward the practice weapon's rack. Iztel The Swift folded her arms across her chest with raised brow. "I was wondering if I'd ever get to see this day," the Marshall of the Sun's Birth lamented with a broad grin and eyes alight. Kaie returned her spear dutifully to the rack and turned on her heel to face Eleuia with a crooked smile. "What are your terms?"

The Captain looked to her sister and then toward Kaie with a narrowed, playful stare. "Somehow you managed to best me hand-to-hand and with your sword..." Eleuia The Strong came to a pause beside the full-blooded Myrian at the weapon's rack. Her hand reached out to slowly caress the small collection that laid immediately before her. Even as they stood in peace Kaie could remember the sensation that came with fighting the woman.

Between the twin half-Myrians, Eleuia was the one Kaie truly respected. It was a rare thing for a half-breed to be marked by the Goddess Queen. Those they weren't pure were ridiculed and challenged mercilessly in Falyndar, scorned for their imperfect bloodline. No Myrian was truly a Myrian without Myri's mark, and the fact the half-breed born outside of Falyndar was given two was beyond her own comprehension.

To feel the electricity between their marks was hard to describe in words. It was even more unsettling for one that had never had a Blooding ceremony to be blessed to a level where her speed and accuracy was greater than Kaie's by default. To beat Eleuia last time was to break. Yet that too was before her time in Riverfall had bestowed upon Kaie her unique, unexplained ability to anticipate danger.

"There's only one way to make it interesting and even," Eleuia decided at once with a decisive tone, stepping back from the weapon rack. "This should be good," Iztel murmured nearby with a slow shake of her head. The rest of the bystanders seemed both captivated by the show to come and awkward all the same. It was as though they'd become so enslaved to Iztel's every demand the past few bells that they knew not what to do without her constant direction.

"Each of us will choose a weapon we've never battled with before."
"Never battled with a real edge of never ever?" Kaie searched for clarity, enthusiasm beginning to leak into her voice now that she was nearly recovered from the short previous fights. "Never ever. What do you say?"
"Good luck." Eleuia rolled her eyes and gestured to the weapon rack. Iztel, seeming to remember the other students for the first time, turned on her heel with a dark expression. "Why the petch are you all standing around?! Half of you are still shyke! If all of you survive the night I'll be shocked. Spar! Do petching something!" The roaches scattered to hurriedly pair up while Kaie and Eleuia exchanged banter.

"No longsword. No Shield--" Kaie chirped before the Captain quickly cut her off with a chuckle.
"A shield is a defensive prop."
"Not the way you use it." She could still remember how blood tasted when a solid shield-bash struck her face. "Spear." Eleuia took back the one Kaie had just returned with a smirk. The full-blooded Myrian chose a practice scimitar as her weapon of choice. "Shall we?"

[Kaie]

"Cease your sparring!" Iztel's voice was so sharp is split any focus her pupils held in the moment it rang out across the Proving Grounds. "Watch if you will. Maybe some of you will petching learn something." Kaie and Eleuia took their positions in the middle of the dust arena several paces from one another. The curved sword she'd chosen was still an absolute novelty to her despite Skyard's gift. While she'd held his scimitar in her hands, she'd been yet to draw blood with it. Eleuia maneuvered the spear between her hands.

My gladius was a straight edge. With this curved one, it'll be best for slashing. Foot work should stay the same.

"Ready?" Eleuia called out across the space between. Kaie nodded her head and glanced down at the hilt of the wooden weapon. Predictably, it lacked the engraved letters that apparently spelled out her beloved's name. Nonetheless, as he's asked her when giving her the real thing, it would be with him in mind that she'd wield it. "Never more." Eleuia settled her spear before her. "Go!"

Eleuia and Kaie stalked forth with equal caution. Considering their fellowship, it was refreshingly annoying not to be warned of her opponent's intentions due to a lingering malice directed toward her. Their marks flared to life, however, and Kaie could feel the potency of Myri's presence even before they clashed.

She will be stronger. Faster. More accurate. I need to be smart, listen to my instincts. Work for it.

Eleuia made the first move with all the audacity expected of a Captain marked twice by the Goddess Queen. Alarm bells sounded in Kaie's mind before the spearhead surged forth with surprising speed. The full-blooded Myrian swayed out of its path just in time, brow furrowing at the realization the novice had nearly perfectly guided her weapon to the upper left quadrant of her chest. With a real spearhead it would've been an instantaneous kill.

Petch that!

The Falyndar native attempted to take the space Eleuia involuntarily offered as she pulled the spear back, only to find herself dancing away from the weapon and out of range yet again. She ground her teeth and slipped to the Captain's flank immediately after, only to find the spearhead following her. It surged toward her again like the opened maw of a quick snake, and Kaie narrowly managed to beat it down with her scimitar even with the forewarning.

She swung the sword in at Eleuia, but a sore misjudgement and lack of familiarity with the weapon caused her to nearly hyper-extend her arm in the attempt. Instead she found herself temporarily yet fatally unbalanced. Rather than accept the defeat offered by the hunger spear that jerked out to seize the opportunity, Kaie allowed the dust to slip her down onto her back. Eleuia's eyes went wide with greed and she stabbed the spear down at her once, twice, to force her to roll from one side to another. Kaie sent her legs over her shoulder to execute a backward roll to her feet.

That was a little petching close. Time to force her to make the petch up.

Kaie feigned a rush before she felt the sensation warning her of just the strike she'd anticipated Eleuia answering it with. The Falyndar native danced to the left and struck down the spearhead sailing beyond her body. Then she leaped in to pause the edge of her dulled, curved blade at a very surprised Eleuia's throat. Immediately there rung out a serious of gasps among all bystanders but Jeida, whose smugness was nearly palpable. At first it was fury that crossed the Captain's expression as her eyes dipped down to the blade. Then an amused grin replaced it followed by a shove to Kaie's frame.

"Well I'll be petched! Bested again, sister!" Iztel mused with a slow clap from the sidelines and a rare look of awe. "Well done, Kaie. Your judgement was questionable and your scimitar skills poor, but you ability to anticipate your opponent is...singular." Kaie clenched her jaw. The half-Myrian twins were one of the very few barbarians Kaie felt she owed her respect towards. Nonetheless, she could not trust them.

She had an ability she didn't understand herself, and if another caught onto it in Sunberth of all places, the mob would be calling for her head whether she was truly a mage for possessing the gift or not. Eleuia, too, cocked her head at the notion. "Rare skill. Teach in Falyndar. Kaie learn better," Jeida piped up suddenly from the line of spectators in her best Common. The twins pursed their lips and nodded in a sense that conveyed their admiration for the existence of such a rare teaching. Kaie turned her gaze to Jeida's in hopes she might catch the gratitude in her stare.

[Kaie]

"I haven't been bested in years," Eleuia stated begrudgingly with an extension of her arm. Kaie seized it. "It's important in times like these to be kept on my toes. I'd thank you, but you already know I'll be demanding yet another go when you return"
"I wouldn't expect less. May Myri see you through," Kaie lamented before she released her grip. The pair went about returning their dulled weapons while Iztel address the group as a whole. "Syna sets! Get on home before curfew and lock yourselves in. You'll need more than a day's spar to survive what hunts us now in the dark."

Kaie moved to the Marshall when she was finished scaring the shyke out of the crowd to clasp her forearm as well. "We appreciate you letting us spar beneath you. Keep those gates locked down tight." Iztel the Swift grasped her forearm firmly. Her eyes glanced at the others, waiting briefly for them to disperse before she addressed Kaie again. "Where are you staying?"
"Sunset Quarters most likely."
"Alright. Close the door. Lock it up. Board the windows if you can. Don't leave that petching place until sun's up. Keep away from the docks if you have the choice. Understand?" Her voice was low but serious, eyes searching Kaie's earnestly. The Falyndar native nodded obediently. "Good. Stay alive, Myrian. Keep your sister close."

Kaie went about putting on her real weapon's belt while Jeida went about thanking the twin half-Myrians herself. Then the two quietly left the Proving Grounds, past suspicious Dragoons on edge, out the gates, and toward the Sunset Quarter in the fading light.

[Aladari Coolwater]

Your grades have been spotted!
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Kaie

■ Investigation + 1
■ Acrobatics + 1
■ Weapon: Spear + 2
■ Dual Wield + 1
■ Weapon: Scimitar + 1
■ Skill name & XP

Lores

Lore of Sunberth Location: No Man's Land Tavern
Lore of Intimidation: Mention Superiors
Lore of Acrobatics: Avoiding a Pattern of Attacks
Lore of Practice Technique: 'Last Standing' Sparring
Lore of Weapon (Spear): Distraction by Moving the Head like a Cobra
Lore of Tactics: Get The Enemy Pissed
Lore of Danger Intuition: Can it Fail?
Lore of Sunberth: Not So Accepting of Winners As Taloba
Lore of Weapon (Scimitar): Curved Blades are Better for Slashing

Additional Information

Injuries, loot, rewards, etc, etc, etc

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Comments:

A couple of times throughout this post, it felt like you got caught by autocorrect. There were a few instances of "duel" where you meant "dual" or vice versa. There were also a few things such as "it become clear" and here, where you contradict yourself with "For once they were boring holes into Kaie's skull. Instead, they were fixed hopefully upon Iztel". Spell check won't catch those things, so a good solid proofread is probably your only option.

Don't forget to delete your post in the grading queue, and if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to PM me about your grade!

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