The Calling

[makenziec123]

"Just Talibah is fine, thanks. And I ask because of that sign over there-" She explained, pointing towards the sign.

 

"If we can get in there and beat whoever the champion is, then we could get a ton of money all at once!" She exclaimed.

 

~~~~~

 

Roark pulled off his armored helmet and stepped down from wall duty for the time being.

 

He walked off down the busy streets of Horusia until he made it to his second job- helping drag the poor fellows that got knocked out in the local team-dueling arena.

 

He had tried to challenge the champion once himself with a friend of his from the training academy, but of course they were just teenagers back then and had their butts handed to them.

 

He didn't have any money at all back then, and still didn't have much now, but this was the only arrangement he was able to make with the barkeeper so that he didn't have to stay in perpetual debt with the place.

 

Soldiers don't make much of a salary in this time, after all... there were just too many people and too many jobs, no matter how many people were killed by Horrors each day.

[Narath]

"Oh. Alright then." Jacen replied. "I kinda need the money. I've been on the road for weeks and I could use it to rent a room at an inn."

As he stuck out his hand to make the deal, Jacen's mind had finally calmed down enough to examine the woman in front of him. And he was quite stunned. During his time crusading across the land, he had not seen one of equal or surpassing beauty. And her eyes... Her eyes were just captivating.

"I-I-I-I-I'm Jacen." He said. "It's nice to meet you."

[Fireside90]

Navir smiled as he looked down to his blade The sword was a 'gift' for when I left home. The arrows were made with 'light' magic and I can do quite a lot with that magic. I can heal people or create bows and arrows. many things which I don't have time to go into. I picked it up some magic as I traveled through Vornapal. We can head to the nearest city that has transport to the border, though unless you are heading to the border as well, we might end up parting ways." He said as he started to walk out of the shade of the now hovering blimp and kept going in the direction he was heading "Oh, and where I come from, we are usually this tall." he said with a light laugh.

[makenziec123]

(( Narath, I think Jacen just made my day ))

 

Talibah gave a semi-confused but still stunning smile at Jacen's sudden bought of stuttering, but decided to shrug it off.

 

"Then it's settled! Let's go win us a duel!" She laughed, grabbing his hand and dragging him through the thick crowd until she was able to push open the door to the bar.

 

Talibah took a grand total of five steps into the building when she instinctively ducked under a beer bottle that was thrown from somewhere off to her right.

 

"Stay close to me. This isn't a great place to get lost in." She warned him over her shoulder, elbowing her way through the crowd until she finally made it to the edge of the area.

 

Three men and one woman were fighting below- one man was obviously a fire magician and the woman was short -but obviously strong- as she wielded a rather heavy looking broad-sword with relative ease.

 

The match ended with the ding!ding!ding! of the bell and the deafening cheering of the crowd as the challengers were thrown into each other and apparently knocked out.

 

"WHO'S NEXT?!" The male Champion roared.

 

"You sure that you're ready for this, Jacen?" Talibah asked, confirming that he was in on this and had no intention of backing out.

 

((By the way, the female Champion is Hannalea

 

SOrry forgot to post for Amanda- one sec!))

 

~~~~~

 

"Where exactly are you from, if you don't mind my asking?" Amanda pried, as nosy as ever.

 

"I'm from that island off the coast of mainland Vornapal. I don't really know many people because of that, but apparently my dad thinks I'll be able to make plenty of friends in Horusia. I've never much enjoyed those silly parties he always sent me to though. I've always found combat training more entertaining."

 

"Stop boasting and ask if you can go into the Badlands with him. Maybe he's like us." The voice in her head prompted her.

 

"I'm getting hungry. Let's see if we can't find something to eat, then be on our way." She stated rather than listening to the voice in her head.

 

She peered into the brush, looking for some kind of animal or plant that she could eat.

 

She saw something silvery hiding there, and noticed a few dark feathers on the ground near it.

 

"I think I found something!" She whispered, slowly moving her hands and then pointing a finger in the general direction of what she thought was a large rabbit, sending a bolt of flame towards the creature like a bullet. ((She's not very worldly wise.))

 

((Computer dying sorry i'll finish this in a bit but go ahead and post if you want))

Edited April 22, 2014 by makenziec123

[Narath]

((I am glad we could help. *high fives Jacen*))

 

"AlriIIIIIIIGHT!" Jacen replied, the last syllable being extended from his shock of being yanked roughly.

The young man was able to regain his balance just as they entered the bar, only to see a bottle go sailing inches above Talibah's head, which incidentally was inches in front of his face. He let out a startled yelp, and nodded his head furiously in agreement when Talibah told him to stick close. Jacen had never been in a bar before and since she seemed experienced here, it seemed best to not leave her side.

"Y-yea, I'm ready." He answered, eyeing the two rather dangerous looking people they were about to face.

[Pyrowings]

((Accck, sorry, I just didn't have time for a nice post!))

 

If there was only one thing she can say about Horusia, that would be that its cities seem much more busy then any in Vornapal or Aresia, unless it was around some kind of festivities, and even then, she had only been in two cities here, with no upcoming festival of any sort anytime soon, so she can't be a judge on that. There was steam whistling through the... Whatever the metal tubes were called again-pipes, the everyday sounds of converstion through the streets, from the 'Good Day!'s to angry shouting over haggling for prices. There was also the squeals of children racing through the cobblestone streets of... Alright, Firi would have her hide for not noticing the name of the town.

Would being the key word there, Selye noted with a smile. Not only that, it's not like anyone would actually ask her and get an answer for a question. I wonder.... I did have to memorize the map. She was in a town near the Border, the realization of which made her suddenly worry for all those children, surronded by a smaller wall mounted with giant pipe-like weapons that she vaguely recalled being not unlike catapults, to the southwest of the Lonely Mountain in the middle of some plains that have grasses that shimmer with a beautiful gold when the sun hits them just right when setting.

Ah! Yes, this city is the "Golden Valley", one of three that serves as the "guard" for the gates to the Badlands. And if this is Golden Valley, then the headquarters of the Border Guard would be here, and-! Selye started, stopping in the middle of the street. Her smile grew wider as she observed the life of the people and started walking again. Now, her only problem was finding wherever the headquarters were...

[Fireside90]

Navir stopped walking as he looked to her his eyes narrowing a bit as he didn't believe her "I am from that island too, though I didn't travel from here from there by blimp. I walked across vornapal. All because of some nagging from someone I can't see." he said as he went after her 'kill' his stomach growling a bit "I got it, don't worry!" he said, taking large strides as he covered ground quickly by walking while a normal man would just be left in his dust Hey maybe she's like you since she's from that island "yeah maybe. that's what I was thinking. though she could be lieing" he said to him self as the female voice in his head spoke.

Edited April 23, 2014 by Fireside90

[makenziec123]

((It's okay bien I'm not sure how much I'll be able to post this week after tomorrow actually. I'm going farther south for an art competition! ))

 

Talibah offered Jacen a reassuring smile, but not much else as she jumped down into the area. She quickly wove her hair into a tight braid- to keep the long strands out of her face, and waited for Jacen to land behind her in the pit.

 

"We challenge you!" The tanned warrior exclaimed.

 

The crowd grew deathly quiet. Most of the people who lived on Xpaurel had pale skin. And Talibah still had tan lines on her wrists from the shackles she had worn as a young slave girl on this island...

 

That was when the crowd burst out laughing.

 

"BAHHAHAHAHAH!" One man cried; "Look doll, we know yer someone's run away slave. And we all know that slaves can't fight!" He guffawed.

 

"Well, then I guess you know who to put your money on then." She smirked easily in reply, then turned back to the duo she was to fight.

 

"Now then, are we going to stand here and talk, or are we going to fight?" She asked with a cocky grin on her face as she cracked her knuckles.

 

((For a better mental image, Talibah bears some resemblance to Korra physically. But she usually keeps her hair down.

 

Shoot, I keep hitting submit too early. Hang on...

 

And Fire, I probably should have said this but the "rabbit" was actually Azera. I couldn't really think of another way fo them to meet that would create less drama. Just saying "hi" is too normal ))

 

Roark couldn't believe his eyes when he saw his old friend enter the area.

 

"What? Talibah is there? I thought she left for the Mountain years ago!" The voice in Roark's head exclaimed.

 

"So did I. But hey, at least I know who to put my money on tonight." He smirked, making his way over to the bet tracker and putting what coins he had on him on the table.

Edited April 23, 2014 by makenziec123

[Fireside90]

Navir brought over what ever it is she hunted back to Amanda. the wind starting to pick up as his coat flourishes in the breeze. Navir smiled as he held the hood in place making sure that it didn't get taken down in the wind "You've got a catch it seems. Pretty great fire darts you got there." He said with a smile as he examined what ever it is she hunted

 

(Since you shot it, you describe it )

[Narath]

As Talibah smiled at him, Jacen couldn't help but smile back. Her grin seemed warm and comforting, and helped him to calm his nerves. And so, the young man leapt down into the arena right behind her. He began to focus on the two warriors across from them, but his concentration was broken when someone called her 'doll", and 'slave'. Jacen's hand immediately went to his sword, and in the blink of an eye it was unsheathed and pointed at the man's throat.

"You dare insult her once more, and you will be the one unable to fight." He said in a very cold and serious voice.

Not bothering to wait for the man's reaction, he turned to face the warriors they were about to battle, not bothering to resheath the blade. Now that he'd revealed how fast he was, the element of charging them with the sword away would do him no good.

[makenziec123]

"Wow, he's fast!" Talibah thought to herself briefly when Jacen defended her to that rude man in the crowd.

 

"Whatever you say, girlie." The male warrior said. He had let the girl do most of the fighting last round, so he was most likely a healer or ranged helper.

 

That would work to their advantage...

 

"ding!ding!"

 

Talibah moved as quickly as she could- drawing the steam from the pipes of the very building they were in and condensing it back into the boiling hot water it was previously.

 

Pulling it around her in a ring so that she had more than enough at her disposal, she began her attack- striking out at the female warrior with her water magic (again shocking the crowd as slaves weren't supposed to be able to learn magic) which easily glided around her sword and still managed to hit her.

 

This girl didn't seem too thrilled with that, and started to charge toward Talibah, who used the water around her like a spring and shot up into the sky, then turned in the air and froze the warrior's leg to the ground so that she couldn't go after Jacen.

 

"A slave that's a mage, huh?" The male warrior asked as he lazily pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on.

 

"This'll be interesting."

 

Then he struck out so quickly that Talibah couldn't get out of the way and whatever his magic was grazed her side.

 

It wasn't a deep wound, but it stung more badly than it should have. She backed away slightly and noticed the small, thin, sharp dagger sticking out of the wall behind her, and her eyes widened along with her grin.

 

"Jacen! Neither one of them use magic! He's a ninja!" She called over, using her water to block a second dagger and hurl it back at her opponent.

 

As she dodged and attacked this way and that, she noticed that she was moving slower than normal.

 

"Talibah, finish this quickly. Those darts are tipped with a sedative it seems. You'll pass out soon if you're not careful." The voice in her head warned her.

 

"Are you kidding me?! I was just starting to have fun!" She groaned mentally, taking another hit from one of her opponent's Kunai knives.

 

((Fire, it's not actually a rabbit. It's a way for our characters to meet Azera.))

[Dracovicus]

Azera watch as the girl pointed in his direction and than it was brief. The impact of the fire energy hitting him in the right shoulder, which also sent him falling to the ground. Blood started to seep from the new wound he just receive. 'Dame you.' Azera thought though his own pain as he press his hand against his right shoulder, as the thick red blood seep though his figures. Azera turn on his side when he heard someone coming.

'Well, what you going to do now?' The deep male voice that was from earlier was heard. He grab some black feather and scatter them around, as if her kill was blow to nothing but feathers. He ran behind a tree and grab one of the sharp talons from his bag and held it as a knife, as the blood slowly flowed down his arm.

'You already know what I'm going to do.' Azera thought back with a snap. He grip tighter on the talon, turning his knuckles white. His hood have fell off his mid length silver hair as it kind of flowed around him and the tree.

[makenziec123]

Amanda grinned triumphantly and pushed aside the brush to where her "rabbit" had been, surprised to find a few black feathers scattered about and no prey in sight.

 

Thinking that there might have been a Harpy nearby that had somehow taken the rabbit, she opened her hand and then closed around the familiar shaft of her beloved weapon as she summoned it.

 

She surveyed the area slowly, taking in every detail that she could. She saw a trail of blood where she shot the rabbit -which was strange, considering her fire should have cauterized the wound so that it wouldn't bleed very much just like any ordinary fire- leading over behind a tree.

 

She circled wide around the thick trunk to the left, taking great care not to make a sound as she slowly peeked around the tree.

 

Imagine her surprise when she found not a rabbit, not a Harpy or even any other feathered Horror, but a man.

 

"...Are you alright?" She asked, keeping her guard up when she noticed the Harpy talon clenched in his fist like a weapon.

[Narath]

As Talibah froze the female warrior's leg, Jacen took the opportunity to dash in and fight. He momentarily took her off guard, but the woman soon recovered and was able to fend off his flurry of attacks.

"Jacen, Talibah needs help!" Said the voice in his head.

Risking a glance past his current opponent, he saw his new companion struck by the second knife thrown by the man.

"Alright." He thought. "This is probably not one of my best ideas."

The young man flourished his sword in a mouliner, one that was slower than normal for him to make the woman he was dueling think he was slowing down. It worked, and she lunged at him with her blade at what looked like an opening. Grinning, Jacen spun to the side, grabbing her arm and pulling forwards, hitting the pommel of his sword against her head to stun her. Continuing his movement forwards, he ran towards Talibah and her opponent.

"Talibah, switch!" He shouted, vaulting over her back and deflecting an incoming knife with the flat of his blade.

[Fireside90]

Navir followed along with her as she stalked along the blood trail. harpy feathers were shown but he doesn't know what a harpy would be doing in the middle of the kingdom. Upon turning around the large tree trunk with Amanda, he got an answer. It was a man who... apparently liked to stalk people in the bushes "I can heal that wound if you wish but perhaps next time you don't stalk people in bushes?"

[Dracovicus]

Azera look at Amanda and notices the weapon of her, and it was only brief. He jump back from her, still keeping his blue eyes on her, as his silver hair flowed in front of his tan hard face. Fire started to swirl around his feet, making a ring only feet from him. He simple flick his wrist and throw the talon at her with extreme speed. It caught on fire suddenly as it flow at her, as he head in another direction. He pulled out both his swords, but keep on running. 'Dame her huge weapon, I can't get anywhere near her with that thing.' Azera thought as he try to put as much distances from him and her.

[Fireside90]

Navir quickly drew his blade and moved between the flaming talon and Amanda. And he raised his blade to direct the flaming talon past the two. but due to him dashing so suddenly and raising his blade caused his hood to fall backward. revealing some pointy ears and the rest of his black hair. "Guess he doesn't want to be healed." Navir then turned to look to Amanda behind him "It's best to put some distance between him and us, seems he would want to kill us." he said as he sheathed his blade.

[Dracovicus]

Azera stop a good amount of distances from Navir and Amanda, about 100 feet from them, as he turn and watch them with his blue eyes. "Really you think I want to kill you. I could say the same about you." Azera said under his breath at the two. He sheath both his swords and press his hand against his shoulder, where Amanda shot him at with a small, yet fast energy of fire. "And your right, I don't want your help. All I need is to get to the badlands and get done with what ever I need to do, but I need new weapons, clothing, and armor, before I try." Azera snared at them though the grip of his teeth, for his arm was so much in pain.

[Fireside90]

Navir nodded as he reached into one of the satchels to his side and took out a vial with pink liquid in it "Here, this can heal you. We'll see you in town then." he said as he tossed the vial to him. he put back up the hood and started to walk a bit back towards the direction of the town "Shall we go Amanda? We will eventually see him in town since the town has transport to the cities near the borders. so we will run into him eventually." he said as he stopped to look to Amanda. a smile back on his face. as he waited for her to come or to make a decision

[Dracovicus]

Azera caught the vial and look at it. "If you are heading to town than, I might as well tag along. And how the hell do you use this?" Azera asked Navir as he simple stared at the vial. He simple shook his head. "But no more trying to shot each other with magic, because that hurt like hell." Azera said.

[makenziec123]

"Talibah, Switch!" Said heroine heard Jacen yell from behind her, jumping back without hesitation so that she now faced a semi-dazed sword wielder.

 

She quickly went to work, moving her hands almost as if she were dancing while the water moved with her motions- pummeling the woman left and right until she was completely drenched, panting like a dog from the ferocity and frequency of the water attacks, and leaning on her sword like it was a crutch- probably because she was light headed.

 

Her vision was starting to get blurry.

 

"Time to wrap this up." She thought to herself.

 

She pulled all the water at her disposal into a blunt spear-like object and hurled it at her opponent like a javelin.

 

She missed the other warrior entirely.

 

Instead, the other woman had somehow managed to dodge Talibah's attack and was moving towards her at an incredible rate of speed with her sword raised.

 

Talibah couldn't call her water back fast enough, but thankfully at the last second the woman must have taken pity on the poor former slave girl and rather than hitting her in the head with the flat of her blade, moved her weapon aside at the last moment and instead sucker punched the former slave girl in the stomach with enough force to send her to her knees.

 

Coughing and sputtering, vision blurring to the point that she could barely see from the sedatives, Talibah did the last thing she could to help Jacen and pulled all the water back towards her, dumping it on all but the female warrior's head and neck and then freezing her to the spot- completely immobilized.

 

"Dammit..." She growled under whatever breath she managed to force back into her lungs.

 

~~~~~

 

Amanda stood there for a moment, her scythe still drawn and ready as she tried to decide what she wanted to do. That and she was still surprised to see that Navir was an elf... But then again, lots of elves, trolls, and pixies lived on that island. He probably thought that she might be an elf too...

 

"As long as you don't try to attack us again, I have no reason as to why you shouldn't come with us." She reasoned.

 

"But if you try to hurt Navir or I in any way, I will personally make sure that you never bother anyone again. Understood?" She asked, dropping her weapon again so that is disappeared back into nothing.

[Narath]

He had to admit, his opponent was good. Jacen could not find an opening to get in close, and was barely managing to deflect or dodge the kunai being thrown his way. Luckily, he had not managed to get his scin cut by the blades, so far it was just scratching his leather armor, or tearing his clothing. Thank goodness that his master saw that it would be best to train him to be quick and nimble.

"Jacen, you must bring this to an end soon." Warned the voice in his head, full of concern. "The man is tiring you. Even if you manage to evade all his daggers, he'll still have more stamina to fight on than you."

"Any ideas?" Jacen asked as he narrowly deflected yet another dagger.

"Charge." She ordered.

Though he thought it was a very stupid idea, Jacen obliged, sending another two daggers spinning to the side, but getting caught by one on his arm.

"Down."

Jacen immediately fell to his knees, and stretched back, two knives just passing overhead.

"Leap!"

Again, Jacen obeyed and leaped up, this time missing daggers thrown right below him, and deflecting another a moment later. This landed him very close to his opponent, who pulled out a couple of daggers and began to jab and slash at Jacen, putting him on the defence. Eventually though, through the advice of the females voice and years of practice, he finally knocked the man out with a round house kick, only with a couple cuts on his body.

"Talibah..." Jacen panted in exhaustion. "You alright?"

[makenziec123]

"Wonderful. Those daggers were tip... tipped with... with.... um............ what wuz the question 'gain?" Talibah asked as her vision blurred further, and her eyelids grew heavier than weights.

 

She was still on her knees on the floor, but in the time it had taken Jacen to take out his own opponent, she had managed to get her breath back.

 

She tried to wobble to her feet, grinning in confused joy as she heard the collective groaning and praising of the crowd, along with the bell signifying that the match had ended.

 

"Thanks for helping me, Jacen. I owe you one." She slurred slowly as she somehow made her way over to stand next to her new partner.

 

She shook her head, trying to clear the overwhelming fog in her mind.

 

"We should find somewhere safe... drugs are going to hit you too pretty soon." She explained vaguely before basically collapsing in a barely conscious heap on the floor.

 

"I was trying to keep my heart rate down... to keep fighting... so it wouldn't spread... but you moved so fast... you'll probably pass out any minute now..."

 

((Sorry gotta go to bed!))

[Narath]

Talibah was right. Now that the adrenaline from the fight was wearing off, Jacen began to feel the effect from the drug. And it was hitting him hard.

"I... Is this what it's like to be drunk?" He wondered, his mind in a haze. "Anyways, w-we won right? H-how much is do w-we get? I only need money fo-for an inn roommm. Y-you can have th-the rrest."

He began to get very dizzy at that moment, and so he stumble over to the wall, dropping his sword as he did so. Sliding down the wall, Jacen stretched out to the sword, desperate to get it back before he was unable to. The weapon meant the world to him. However, someone picked it up before he could reach it.

 

---------------------------------------

 

"What an odd place." Copper thought as he entered what had been labled as a bar.

He had not yet been inside one, but he had observed that people did not always come out until the next day, so he assumed that it was a place one could rest. Now that he saw how rowdy it was in here, he realized that he had made a critical error in his assumption.

Making his way further into the establishment, the man was able to catch the last moments of a fight which people semmed to have been cheering on.

"How peculiar." He thought. "I had not known it was a popular thing to fight one another. I shall have to participate in such an activity sometime."

Seeing that the winners were having a difficult time after the fight however, he stepped down into the arena. He had observed after all, that it was proper etiquette to help those who required it.

"Do you two require assistance?" Copper asked in a monotone voice as he picked up the male's sword.

 

((I can kinda see Copper just walking up to a random person and fighting them for entertainment now ))

[Fireside90]

Navir went back to his smile as he walked at a slow pace so the others could catch up. "Awww, Threatening some guy for me. How sweet." He said with a light laugh as he walked out of the Blimp's shadow, still heading in the direction of the nearest town. He believed Amanda to be something similar to the island's inhabitants. Though sometimes a human was able to make a home there so he also believed her to be human and not elf.