|
Post by Shark a' Pult on Apr 23, 2014 3:29:27 GMT -5
After the little trick with the spindle, Alden had very little inclination to help Beauty or do what she said, so he just ignored her, and maintained focus on the approaching enemy.
"Very well then. I gave you all a chance to live another day. Your death is on your own hands."
"Pfft, whatever. We'll see how well you fly after this."
With the attacking hounds incoming, Alden didn't get much a chance to kick Eslot's teeth down his throat, so instead he wound up and in a spin let fly his sword straight at the fellow. With that out of the way, he aimed to grab ahold of the seemingly unconscious Qi and sling her over his shoulder, so that there wouldn't be a risk of her getting mauled by dogs while she was out. After all that, he didn't really have any opportunity to mount an offensive, and so with his shield aimed to stand his ground and rebuff any hound that went to attack him. In this way, he couldn't really take down any, nor would he be much help against the airship or Estlot beyond what he already provided but at least he could defend himself and Qi from a dogged demise.
|
|
|
Post by CJ on Apr 24, 2014 0:09:05 GMT -5
Briar leaned forward as the guards tugged against the thread that was carrying Asmoday toward him. He didn't seem to be affected when Eslot cut the thread wrapped around the unknown woman.
His eyes opened up half way as he sighed again. He cupped the magic spindle in his hands and began to rub it against his face, consoling it like it was a baby. Beauty audibly groaned.
She paused, watching the newly freed Asmoday and Qi debate about what to do with the attackers. She couldn't help but think of their counterparts back at Renascence. They were both strong in magic, but physically they seemed weak, especially Qi with her cane. How could another copy exist of them, yet be so different? And what were those two doing back on Earth anyway? Registering the guild officially? She wished she was with them now, rather than dealing with this horrible situation.
Gritting her teeth, she went to speak against Celeste as Groundhorn did, but was delighted to see her retaliate. For a moment, she wondered why Eslot and his men wanted Celeste. In the end, it didn't matter. They wouldn't get her, so long as Renascence could fight.
"That's right! We're not giving up anyone! Renascence Guild or Ehdolass!"
But Beauty let out a yelp when Edolas Qi and several of the Renascence members succumbed to the strange sword attack. She quickly retreated back to the safety of the broken wall and saw Briar step forward.
"Hey! Get back here, you idiot! You're going to get killed!"
The sleeping mage lurched forward and groaned. His legs shook as he seemed to fight some invisible force.
"No," he whispered.
The magic spindle shook violently as Briar gripped it and held it out toward the fallen Renascence members. If the spell worked, he would pull the members up to relative safety at the back of conflict.
"Briar," she muttered.
Was he was saving them unconsciously? Surely enough, he disobeyed her order to retreat, something she didn't know was possible for him under the influence of the magic spindle or that he could possibly have this sort of determination.
She didn't have much time to think about it when hounds began to charge at the mages. If only she had her beast magic. The dogs would be nothing. But helpless as she was, she succumbed to fear.
---
"Back away, cursed fiends!" Edolas Cinder shouted as he positioned himself in front of several hounds. "Glass Armor: Evolve!"
The glass gauntlets extended from his arms, creating large shovels that he swung this way and that, trying to fling the creatures off the edge to the world below.
"That is extraordinary, dear Cinder!" Earth Cinder exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "That is a technique I shall try on Earth if I ever do return there."
Edolas Cinder did not respond. After Qi had fallen to Eslot's blade, his whole demeanor changed. He couldn't help but glance at Alden as he carried her every so often. Perhaps it was because he was another version of her, but Earth Cinder actually was empathic for once.
"I am dreadfully sorry about your Xing Qi," she said with a hint of a frown.
"Thank you," he responded with a solemn smile. "But Xin Qi is alive. I know it. I can't think of her now, not while others are in danger. We have to keep fighting!"
"Will do!" Earth Cinder said! Though unlike her counterpart, she merely stood by and cheered.
|
|
|
Post by Hitotsumami on Apr 24, 2014 12:08:42 GMT -5
While hounds swarmed past Eslot to attack the mages of Renascence, Asmoday's bright golden sword clashed with Eslot's black blood sword. Sparks flew as the metal slid across metal and a shockwave erupted from the impact, sending some of the hounds actually soaring off into the empty sky.
The hounds, however, were merely a distraction, and it was obviously apparent at how easy they were blocked. Alden's shield was easily enough to send any hound back, and Edolas Cinder's glass magic did the same! Even Groundhorn and Felipe and Jackson, none who had magic, fought physically with the beasts with all their might, holding them back.
This, however, left few to actually try and disable Eslot or his ship. All but Celeste.
As she stood amongst the chaos, it was quite clear that none of the hounds aimed at her, as if knowing that she was to be kept safe. It was not of her own choice that she'd stay out of the fray, but she took the opportunity to try and destroy Eslot's airship, for that is all she could do. She whipped out another wand, this one a bright blue, and shot an icy flurry from it, aiming for another of the balloons holding up Eslot's ship.
However, before the icy blast could even touch the balloon, one of the hounds jumped into the air and took the blast himself. The hound then turned completely black before dissolving into thin air. Other hounds as well, like the ones both Alden and Edolas Cinder attacked, would also fade into nothing after becoming disabled.
Celeste cringed in pain as her wand hand turned blue, all the heat sucked out of it from the attack. She still was not fully able to control the magic of the five wands, and with the hounds protecting the airship, she wasn't sure how many more attacks she could throw.
"I can't give up," said Celeste, pulling out another wand, this one a bright yellow. "No one else is quitting. I can't either!"
All around her the mages of Renascence, and even the guards under Asmoday's command, fought the hounds.
Meanwhile, Asmoday continued to trade blows with Eslot. Every attack Asmoday threw, Eslot blocked with seemingly ease. Of course, being the leader of a great rebellion which collected magical items, Asmoday's sword was a magical item itself. Upon every impact with another magical item, it would steal some of the magical items energy, thus Asmoday's sword always grew stronger and stronger. However, in this case, with every blow Asmoday felt her sword actually growing weaker.
She knew it had something to do with Eslot's black and red blade, but she couldn't pinpoint why. Nevertheless, she decided if she couldn't beat him with her magical sword, she'd beat him solely with swordplay.
"You seem quite determined to put me down," said Eslot, jabbing forward with his rapier.
Asmoday dodged and swung her sword. "I will not allow anyone who knows the location of this base back into the Capitol!"
Eslot blocked the attack and smiled. "What a foolish girl." He pushed back with his sword, causing Asmoday to stumble away. "Enough games! That girl will be mine!" He dashed for Celeste. Asmoday tried to swing her sword to block, but Eslot simply pushed her back again with his.
"No!" shouted the chained woman, sitting on her knees on the deck. "Don't touch her!"
Upon her exclamations, one of the guards kicked her to the ground and held her down with a heavy boot on her back.
"Leave her alone!" cried the woman, trying to struggle free in vain. "Please! Please!"
Both Groundhorn and Felipe saw Eslot approaching Celeste and blocked the way, but neither, without their magic, stood a chance against the man and both succumbed to his blade. With Celeste now in sight, Eslot reached for the girl.
Suddenly, a blade came flying through the air, Alden's sword! Eslot saw it too late, and though he lifted up his rapier to block, the blade left a clean mark across forehead, blood dripping down his face. Angered, Eslot looked up to see who had attacked him, but just in time, Celeste's magical wand shot off a blinding white light, pulling his attention back to Celeste.
The sword landed on the deck, just inches away from the woman in chains, and as she reached out for it one of the guards stepped on her hand. "No..."
"What do you want!" Celeste shouted, raising her yellow wand. She pointed it at Eslot and that caused him to temporarily stop, but when no magic emerged from the wand, a wicked smile appeared on his face.
"NO!" shouted the woman in chains. "Please, no! Run, Celeste, run!"
"Out of magic, my dear girl?" asked Eslot.
"Who is she?" asked Celeste, taking a step back.
"No, please! Eslot, please!"
"Oh, you don't remember? But I guess you wouldn't. Do not worry, you'll learn soon enough." He reached down to grab the girl.
"NO!" Suddenly, the woman in chains began to glow a vibrant, blinding white. The guard holding her down was thrown off the airship. The woman rose into the air, hovering, and the chains holding her disintegrated.
Eslot spun around, shielding his eyes from the blinding light. "What is this!?" he yelled out. "What are you doing? Stop it!"
Any emotional expression on the woman was discernible due to the light that covered her body. She looked like a white silhouette of a woman and nothing more. Suddenly, the light began to glow brighter and brighter, and all of the mages of Renascence would find that they too were covered in this glow.
"You will not touch her," said the woman, her voice like a distant echo. "You will never touch her."
The light around the mages grew brighter with every second.
"Go home, my young one. Go home, and be safe."
"NO!" shouted Eslot. He dashed for the woman, his sword raised, but it was too late.
And in that instant all of the Renascence mages vision would completely fade to white, and in an instant later they would drop from about a foot in the air down to the ground. As their vision returned, they'd find themselves upon a cliff overlooking the wide expanse of the ocean. On their backs they'd see an empty plot of land, and down a long dirt pathway they'd see the small town of Elm.
The mages who had supposedly been hurt by Eslot would feel their energy restored and would find no wounds on their body.
Celeste was dumbstruck. She wasn't sure what had exactly happend as she stood up, but she knew somehow that the woman in chains had saved her life. No, not only her life, but the life of all the Renascence mages. After the shock had passed, she quickly tended to the other mages, making sure they were okay.
After she did, she went over to Alden, Beauty and Cinder. "I.. I don't know what just happened... But I think that woman sent us back here, to Earth Land. She saved us..."
"MY MAGIC!" Celeste spun when she heard Felip's voice. He was up in the air, soaring circles around the other mages. "IT HAS RETURNED! I FLY ONCE MORE LIKE MAJESTIC EAGLE!"
Indeed, all of the mages had their magic returned and would feel at full strength. Not only that, but Groundhorn, with that small fragment of what once had been the Guild, saw it growing in his hand. he quickly sat it back down in the empty plot of land and within minutes, through a beautiful display only familiar to the original members of Renascence, the Guild grew fully formed and repaired in every way, as if it had never been damaged before.
Groundhorn had tears streaming down his face. He felt at least in some way, he had kept his promise and he had protected his Guild, his home.
Everything seemed well, at least on Earth Land.
"I don't know what was going on there," said Celeste, referring to Edolas, "but I think I'll be doing some research from now on. I don't know why but... I feel like we have to go back." Her frown then changed into a smile, and she looked at the rest of her mages, her friends. "But not now. For now, we celebrate our life."
She looked up at the Guild and gave a little sigh. "I'm glad Elrond isn't back! He wouldn't be happy with us if he came back and the Guild wasn't here! He told us to keep it safe, after all."
She laughed, but her eyes were wet.
---
In the dimension of Edolas, Eslot had retreated, leaving Asmoday and a large group of wounded guards in his wake. Asmoday, breathless, sat on the edge of the ramparts, watching as Eslot's damaged airship escaped.
"Should we go after him?" asked one of the guards. "Commander?"
"No," answered Asmoday. "We couldn't stop him even if we wanted. We should be thankful for that woman, whoever she was, for saving us."
"Then what should we do, commander?"
Asmoday looked over at Captain Qi. Her face was white, but she was still breathing. She stayed still a moment, thinking about everything that had happened. So many emotions and thoughts were going through her head. She then quickly stood up.
"First, we tend to the wounded, immediately! Second, pack your bags. This base is no longer safe. We're relocating."
The guard nodded and rushed off to spread the command. As Qi was taken away on a stretched, Asmoday turned to see the final glimpse of Eslot's ship vanish into white clouds. She knew it wouldn't be the last she'd see of the man.
She then looked up at the sky. The sun was at its peak. She felt, just as Eslot, that it would also not be the only time she'd see the mages of Renascence.
"Earth Land is real," she muttered quietly.
"Ma'am?" asked one of the guards, stopping behind her.
"Oh, nothing, please continue," said Asmoday, and the guard did so. She then looked back up at the sky. For now, she'd keep that secret, that fact she'd always knew, to herself.
For now.
OOC: Feel free to post once more if you wish, but for the most part, this thread is now finished!
|
|
|
Post by Shark a' Pult on Apr 25, 2014 1:32:10 GMT -5
Even blocking as he was, with Qi in tow, one of the hounds managed to get a clear shot at him. Along with snapping at his face and drawing some blood, the beast also knocked Alden's helmet off and sent it tumbling across the ground. He would have gone to get it, but the current situation didn't allow for that.
By the time the distracting dogs were banished, Alden went to recall his sword first, and set Qi down to do so. As he caught it though, he caught sight of some stranger from the ship glowing like a star. Before he knew what was going on or do anything, the light enveloped him and the others, cutting short his time in Edolas
All that remained behind of the mage hunter, was his helmet.
---
A burst of water emanated from the diving suited figure as the lot of mages touched down in Earth Land once again, and Fathom was more than happy to return the fish to their natural home. Stanley helped too, emptying the buckets into the ever-expanding cube of water. Once he had emptied said buckets, Fathom seemed to emanate a cry of victory from within the water, meanwhile Stanley managed to construct something of a crude bike out of the buckets and was leisurely riding it around.
"I can Drive again."
"Wow, that was really... something else."
Maisie didn't bother to test out her powers with the others, and figured she'd see for herself later. For now, she watched as the others exercised theirs and waited for the guild building to magically reform.
"What'll we do now, just wait till Elrond and the others get back and let them know what happened?"
"No need, I'll go tell 'em right now."
Pushing himself to his feet, Alden shook himself off and went to readjust his helmet but instead patted his own head out of habit before he realized it was gone. With a sigh, he returned the weapons he had retained to their rightful places on his person, and instead drew forth his telescope.
"You guys just stay here and keep guard if you can, but make sure not every single person goes inside, in case that whole fiasco happens again and the building is taken back to Edolas. I'll be back with Elrond and the others in no time, so hold down the fort till then."
With that, raising his telescope to his eye, in a blur of color he was off in the direction of Era.
|
|
|
Post by CJ on Apr 27, 2014 15:15:48 GMT -5
Beauty was surprised to hear Celeste's name come out of the woman's mouth. So, she really was this person's daughter then. She really did come from this place. So that's why she used those wands, because she didn't have any magic of her own.
Before she could think of it further, the woman used a spell that covered her entire vision with bright light. She was so distracted in her fear that she would only realize days later the woman used a spell with her own abilities in Edolas.
She fell to the ground and laughed out of gratitude, feeling the grass beneath her. They were back and so was their strange and mysterious guild.
As the others tried their magic, Beauty felt her horns emerge from her forehead, pushing through her skin and parting her tattered hair to the side. She let them retreat, satisfied that her magic was back and she was no longer weak and helpless.
---
Meanwhile Cinder sighed with a sad smile. She folded her arms together and nodded to Celeste emphatically.
"I want to return as well," she said with strange sincerity. "I'll never meet another person more perfect than Edolas's version of Cinder, even if he is a man!"
The glass mage had a long way to go before she could start thinking for the feelings of others, but she was getting there.
---
Beauty waved goodbye to Alden and hoped that the news Elrond and the others would hear wouldn't be too unbelievable. At the very least, everyone was safe and accounted for. That should have been enough to be happy for. She cringed for a moment, remembering she was supposed to go on a mission that day in the city. Any money lost from it could be replaced she figured. As Celeste said, they had to be grateful now.
Seeing all the mages celebrate, she noticed there was one who was not. Briar was standing close by, completely still. She wondered what was wrong until she remembered that she never took him out of his trance under the magic spindle.
"Briar," she said to him. "Wake up."
His eyes flew open in a dramatic jolt. Now, back on Earth, his "curse" took effect, preventing him from sleeping. His face fell as he looked about the joyous scene in despair. It wasn't the reaction Beauty expected of him.
"Oh, come on," she said in frustration. "Stop being upset. You have no idea what we went through in the past few hours. You slept through the whole ordeal. Don't be bitter."
"When you... we went to wherever you say we did, did anyone stay behind?" he asked with a deep frown. "Was anyone here watching the guild?"
"No, we were all whisked away. Why? What's wrong?"
Briar held the one side of his face and felt for his ear. He glanced this way and that at the smooth grass and clear sky. He turned to the others and nearly whimpered.
"Can't you see it? There is a curse upon this place."
Suddenly, a dark mist filled the air. It rose from the ground and floated upwards, clouding the vision of all those engulfed within. It pooled and rose upward, hovering above them until it formed the foggy and abstract image of a man in long robes.
"Achlees here, the Eternal Night!" the vision said with the outline of a smile. "Leaving a message for my son, Endeemeeyon. Yoou thought it'd be cute to leave this diemension when yoour papa was going to soorprise visit yoou? Shame on yoou! What do yoou have to say for yoourself?"
"L-lord Achyls," Briar spoke up, bowing deeply as he shook terribly. "I'm sorry! I didn't know! I mean, I've never even met you before. I... I..."
"Yoou will be punished!" the message continued without acknowledging him. "In tree days time at noon, I will come back to this place to visit yoou and yoour hooman friends. Then, yoou will make a very. imporetant. decision.
"I will destroy yoou or yoour yield. One or the other. If yoou don't decide, I will kill yoou all! Haha! Same yoes for if yoour yield tries to kill yoou or make the choice for yoou. Happy day! See yoou soon!"
The mist spiraled higher and higher until it faded away. Suddenly, a loud bang sounded from the grass below. A cloud of confetti sprung and exploded through the crowd of mages. A table with a pink sparkling table cloth and full pink dining with a glorious, huge chocolate cake with multiple tiers. It had bright neon green words decorated on it.
HAVE A GREAT DEATH, ENDYMION AND FRIENDS
"Endymion," Beauty read aloud with stern eyes. "Is that you, Briar?"
"Yeah, and I'm also lactose intolerant," he responded, holding his head low in sadness and shame as he peered at the cake.
Renascence was out of the fire and into the frying pan. In three days time, they would face yet another desperate challenge. Would they all be sacrificed for the sake of one of their friends? Only time would tell. The clock was ticking.
|
|