Open Chronicles Dead Elves Walking

[Fraeya]

Many things happened at once.

The other surviving elf grabbed her shoulder and she found herself lifted to her feet from her knees and pushed off the edge of the already crumbling platform.

The temperature felt colder. One of the murderous humans was running at her with a...hammer? And Talus. Running at her with a sword. To think she'd faced down many-a-monster in the wood with this boy. How they'd saved each other's lives only to be so firmly on opposite sides now.

Lavender eyes narrowed on his familiar blue for just a moment before her gaze was blocked by the massive shadow. No. A man with a disconnected smile. Someone or something her magic had a hard time sensing.

Panicked people jostled her as they swarmed away from the platform. Away from the chaos of the re-born forest and broken stone. She didn't think running with hands bound behind a back would come easily but she wasn't waiting to find out. Giving one short nod to the other elf, she began running into the dispersing crowd.

She wasn't waiting for the boy with the hammer to kill her. Or Talus. Or anyone else.

 

[Enthund]

Slim chance.
But what else was there to do? Sit and wait to get slaughtered?
She grimaced at the odd grinny stranger that presented himself before them. There wasn't much time to process and if this bloke was all in to cause further commotion. May it so be then!

A last glance was exchanged with the surviving elf lass, whomever else still had a head on their shoulder, better they had the same instinct to flee.
Enthund lept across and slalomed between the uncontrolled growth.

 

[Harry]

When the thing came down between Hal and his targets, frustration and annoyance overwhelmed Hal. His head pounded. They had carried out many executions in the past, so why had this one gone so wrong? It felt as if the closer graduation became, the more difficult things were. Hal gripped the shaft of his warhammer so tightly, it felt as if the metal would bend under his fingers. He did not possess the strength to actually do that, though.

His head whipped back at Talus, "Go! Follow the elves. I will catch up."

He ignored the thing's courteous greeting. He had no time to waste on talk, and instead stomped down on the wooden platform. A ring of ice and snow swirled around his body, and suddenly a trail of large, icy spikes shot from where his foot came down and lashed out at the figure.

Ahztoshan Aszdolus

 

[Talus]

Talus didn't need a second word.

He moved quickly to the side of the creature, his blade slicing through the overgrowth in an instant. Almost as soon as his sword cut through them the plants seemed to whither and die, an odd afterimage as they fell to the ground.

His step was quickened, pressing into what remained of the wooden planks as he dashed after the two elves in quick pursuit.

One of the vines shot down in front of him, heavy branches pulled and tugged towards the ground as if they barred him on purpose. His form suddenly shifted, an ethereal version of Talus dashing through the growth and passing by the newcommer as he phase-walked through the overgrowth.

Talus returned to reality at the edge of the platform, just a few steps behind the elves.

 

[Fraeya]

Nimble and light strides carried her on top of shifting roots and under growing and twisting branches. Vines, as if sensing their kick-starter, parted for the elven girl. That didn't stop the men; those in the crowd. A shoulder bumped against her. A fleeing woman cut off her path.

Fraeya teetered on uneven ground.

A screaming child knocked into her knees, causing her to hit the ground. Shoulder ground into the dirt. "Oomph," left her lips, unable to catch herself as she fell with those bound hands behind her back. Fingers felt something behind her. A piece of sharp, broken cobblestone. Maneuvering it into her palms, she began sliding it up and down along the ropes that bound her wrist.

Eyes widened as she saw the gleam of a sword through twisting vines.

Heart hammered against her rib-cage.

Come on.

 

[Ahztoshan Aszdolus]

The cloak person choked out an almost pained sigh, in disappointment.
"Oh dear, it looks like you people have no form of manners."
The smile on their face didn't dissapear or change though their voice spoke otherwise. The figure would leap upward back onto a tree in a single bound standing on a branch specifically. The movement used to dodge the incoming attack, and be used to reposition himself onto a vantage point. He moved swiftly and silently his cloak was naturally the only trackable part of him almost moving like a liquid mass, though it was just a cloth
During his brief leap, the figure revealed their right hand. It was pitch black and shadowy, a white vapor rolled off it's form. Three enlargened snow flake like objects crystalized between four of his fingers the resembled shuriken, made of ice, though one was significantly white while the others translucent.
He took note of the male who slipt past him. He wasn't going to be ignored, in fact he whipped his right hand from right to left in one swoop, they would dissapear from his hands in the motion though only two appeared to have been thrown the quick spin of the objects made it impossible to detect which ones were thrown and at who. If anyone even played attention to their differences.
One whipped directly towards Talus, the aetherial man, who had just emerged from the another plane would have the projectile targeted towards him first, though it would fall in front of him from between his legs and relatively between him and the female elves.
The other snowflake shuriken would be of course thrown at Half. Which would be directly at him though horizontal unlike the previous which was verticle. It had an odd angle to it during flight dipping lower and lower briefly before rising. Should Half dodge the projectile it wouldn't even hit the ground it would instead fly upward and away. An amateurs fling if graded by a professional.
If either projectile hit their target they'd explode into a large mound of ice flash freezing the air and whatever they touched in a brief 2 foot radius with ice formations as large as 5feet. These would trap those caught or inflicted inside thick prisms of ice making movement difficult and could pose negative health issues if exposure was kept.

 

[Harry]

Ahztoshan Aszdolus​

His half-hearted effort in order to test the enigmatic being had proved to thoroughly startle the apprentice Dreadlord. He felt a rush of adrenaline as his instincts screamed at him of the potential danger of this mysterious figure. The way it had moved to avoid his opening strike was unnatural.

No more half measures, Talus had once said.

Indeed.

The black figure threw something. With his foot already planet and his magic built up, he did not need to make another preparatory movement now. A wall of ice shot up between Hal and the projectile. While the ice blocked his view of the other side, he heard the burst of magic. He quickly rounded the corner of the wall and saw that ice formations had erected from where there the projectile landed.

He opened his left hand, where ice and snow began to swirl in a furious inundation of magic. It shaped into an orb, and through the gaps of swirling ice and snow, a faint blue glow could be seen.

The apprentice extended his arm, and from his palm, a stream of magic shot out. Shards of ice the size of small daggers traveled through the stream towards the black-clad stranger.

 

[Ahztoshan Aszdolus]

The ice spikes would encase the third snowflake projectile it had been stopped and put in a frozen status do to being thrown with the other. The other snow flake had detonated prior to the white one reaching it's intended destination. With the projectile encases in clear thick ice horizontally and attached to the ice wall it was now seemingly useless.

The cloaked figure turned, reeled back upon seeing the wall form to block his projectile. "Eee, no need to give me the cold shoulder." The eccentric voice bellowed. Upon seeing the energy building in apprentices hand, his own smile grew much larger almost taking up half his face. He'd watch for the first signs as to what type of spell this could be in order to react accordingly. Having already deduced that the apprentices favored the Cryomantic arts they predicted an ice spell, and with the casters hands moving outward and aimed towards him he assumed a projectile. With the first stream of ice the cloaked figure leaped from his branch to another deeper into the mini forest of trees taking for the foliage not only for visual cover but to hide his own presence, presumably chased by the stream until eye sight was broken. The canopy's leafage provided a fairly good covering for the cloaked males already mute color scheme. If the cloaked body could make it into the canopy and break line of sight only silence would insure hinting that they'd taken to hiding out of sight. The figure proved to extrodinarily agile and fast. Fast enough to dodge the projectile stream and agile enough to traverse the canopy without collapsing a branch or disturbing the trees at all, and apparently skilled enough to hide their presence amongst natural development.

 

[Talus]

The foliage of the new jungle was thick enough that the odd stars of ice never touched him.

It was the wood that he'd phase-walked through that saved him, Talus turning around briefly to see the odd throwing weapons embed themselves into the very vines that had prevented him from stepping forward. They exploded into ice, freezing almost instantly.

A chill set over him, and briefly he considered heading back to help Hal.

Then suddenly his head shook.

His blade slashed forward, cutting another set of vines as he stepped off the edge and moved behind where the Elves had gone. Through the foliage he caught a flash of purple hair, sounding out in the screaming crowd ahead.

Talus swore, then bounded forward.

In three steps he stood behind Fraeya. "Run."

His voice was an odd whisper, loud enough for her to hear, but too quiet for anyone in the panic to make out from anything else.

"Run." Talus urged her as he grabbed her and pushed her forward, not caring if she cut her bindings or not. "To the wall."

The words were said with a push.

 

[Enthund]

Up ahead, the new woodland growths seemed to thin enough to allow some vision into what might lie ahead. People running towards and around the growth, seemingly awestruck. Nowhere near as dense as the crowd.
But not everyone was a mere civilian; women and children. At least three were soldiers.
Too good to be true to have them all entangled in the thicket.

If the timing were right...one could pass unseen.
Enthund gazed back to see if the unaffiliated elf had kept pace.
Her eyes however narrowed as armour glistened in what little sunlight passed through the canopies.

 

[Fraeya]

Sharp rock bit into shimmering skin as Talus jerked her to her feet. But it also snapped free the last of the rope around her wrists. She stumbled forward. What was he going to do? Execute her at the wall? Why was he telling her to run?

Probably to make a more public display.

A flash of hatred and fear echoed deeply in her orbs as she looked at Talus.

She didn't need him to tell her to run. She already was. Lavender purple hair with bright pink highlights whipped behind her. She didn't even look back to see if Talus was still behind her, sword gripped tightly in his hand. Fraeya was used to running from monsters. She just never thought one of them would be someone she'd known.

 

[Talus]

In that moment Talus didn't particularly care what Fraeya felt like.

What he was doing made him a traitor. What he was doing made him a dead man if anyone saw him.

He should have put his sword through her throat. He should have taken her soul. He should have done any number of things that would see her dead. Instead he pushed her forward, grabbing people in the crowd and fighting them as though they were preventing him from reaching her.

In the chaos of the crowd he lost track of the other Elf, his fingers tightening on his blade.

The thought of the punishment he would receive for this failure did not escape his mind, but in that moment something else mattered more; principals.

Even murderers like him had them.

 

[Harry]

Hal let out a tired sigh as the figure slipped away into the canopy. Even Hal couldn’t follow its movements. He wished Luther was here, maybe the lad could’ve lit the grove ablaze.

He didn’t have time to question what it was. He was rather occupied anticipating whatever would come next.

His brows furrowed, and instead of stepping towards his adversary, the apprentice instead turned and followed the path that Talus carved for himself.

He remained wary of the black-clad figure, constantly glancing behind and above in the canopy for its next move.

 

[Ahztoshan Aszdolus]

Left unattended the whitesnowflake incased in ice attached to ice wall would glow dimly. Left unattended and unwatched.

The figure found themselves quickly traversing the co desed grove of trees, slipping between the creases of the tree and branches without disturbing them. What's more each tree he passed he'd briefly flick though no one could see him anyway a red runic symbol would be pressed into the trunk of the trees. Each tree would have a leaf plucked from it and on those leaves taken a brand would be burned simply by the touch of a thumb pressing on them. This brand was in the shape of a strange symbol though each one was different.

They didn't seem to be chasing no instead they were circling. They were much faster of course then the armor clad individuals and would continue silently moving through the thicket of woods in a pure circle. Small ice stars flung through the forest though not directly at anyone sticking exactly 6 leaves around the grove. In an imperfect hexigonal formation though still enough to portray the shape With their high positioning in the canopy, quick and silent movements the lightly cloaked entity was much more equipped and far more capable of traversing the entire canopy before the party inside could even reach 3/4ths the way to the other side. They were like a spider, bounding effortlessly around a web, although spun by someone else.

This took place just as the clearing became evident for both the elves. The cloak figure would leap out of the thicket high before slowly descended towards the ground right infront of the area where the elves should in fact be exiting having kept close tabs on them, they weren't exactly keeping themselves hidden and being some of the only people in the wooded vegetation catching them on the way out was a matter of patients. And as soon as they'd leave it's range, they would most definitely be able to see the figure standing menacingly. With a smile painted at them for them. A blackened leaf in the entities blackened hand and their left hand unrevealed still behind its back.

"Oh it appears you both have managed to survive. Such remarkable talent for running. Fear not, I have a temporary or permanent solution to your problem. Should you be so kind."

He'd say if they managed to acknowledge him. And should they do before their persuers made their way through the small forest of trees. The cloaked figure would rub the black leaf which would crumble to the ground at his feat. This would cause a chain reaction of high pitched shrieks as if banshees had gathered together and had a wailing contest. The outer lining of the forest would darken and blacken. A spell. 6 beacons within the forest would cast a barrier around the the forest, this would not allow the living or the souls of such to pass through. Trapping those inside in and keeping those outside out. The forest would also be riddled in darkness, as if the sun had been blotted out within it, trees would look the same, and all sense of direction would be lost within the forest barriers boundaries. And further more no one within the forest would be capable of meeting the edges of the barrier while the spell was up. Teleportation, portal and other navigation abilities would be limited to the forest while inside. This event woulf only occur upon completion of the previously stated condition, being acknowledge by the female elves.

 

[Enthund]

Some other elf, a remainder of the warband met up with the escapees. His eyes shifted to Fraeya. She was not of his troop, nor did she look like acommon meadow elf, northern or southern. But the forest magic came from her? He sliced his bindings open upon the spiked gates that decoratthe houses.

"Enthund, here. Who's that girl"

The lasd gazed bak at Fraeya again. "What's your name?"

 

[Fraeya]

She was terrified. Terrified of the strange shadowy creature. Of the apprentices following behind. Of Talus with a sword. Of his hesitation to kill her.

She'd been betrayed by her own kind and humans before so she didn't stop with Enthund.

She kept running as she saw the wall up ahead. Summoning some magic with a twitch of her fingers, a large tree bent down, its branch allow Fraeya to hop on as it carried her over the wall and into freedom. The girl with the purple hair was gone and on her own again.

 

[Ahztoshan Aszdolus]

Well, having been acknowledged the events would take fold.
The outer lining of the forest would darken blackening. A spell. 6 beacons within the forest would cast a barrier around it, this would not allow the living or the souls of such to pass through even if formless, binding them to the location. Trapping those inside in and keeping those outside out. The forest would also be vieled in moving shadows and cryptic darkness, as if the sun had been blotted out within it, trees would look the same, and all sense of direction would be lost within the forest barriers boundaries. Ominous wailing filled the miniature forest in multiple directions, their intensity coming from a distance rather than close, creating a perception of increased depth within the small forest, light from any source would be decreased, cut by 8/10 of it's original intensity. The forest would seem endless, further more no one within the forest would be capable of meeting the edges of the barrier or the forest end while the spell was up. Teleportation, portal and other navigation abilities would be limited to the forest while inside, and no perception of the outside could be achieved, in the likes of ocular abilities, like clairvoyance would not be able to pass the barriers range.

Ominous howling would break what could've been a seemingly haunting setting, though no signs of life had proved to be in the forest. Especially since it had grown so suddenly in the middle of a public execution in the city. The trees would speak whisper cryptic messages of death, though their voice came from no mouth. The ground previously dirt ground would feel softer if not wet and damp.

The cloaked "creature" would notice the females retreating into the distance and follow them. He had an erie presence to his form. And the choatic smile on his face gave no help to his appearance. His horns made him look like a devil, an entity of horric background and I'll intent. Though his previous actions dictated otherwise.

It was completely reasonable to be afraid of the shade. And even more reasonable to run away. They didn't know who or what he was, and his simple acts of good surely didn't clear up the misconstrued idea of him having I'll intentions towards the female elves. Especially with the display of dark magic. To which magic branch had yet to be revealed.

Meanwhile on the frozen wall of ice, the large ice crystal would be radiated with a mystifying blue energy and white vapor. The snow flake projectile inside had been lost in the brilliant gleam and would begin to once again spin despite having been frozen in place within it's icy containment only this time it would expand and a blue cast of cold energy spinning much at the speed of a whirring saw blade continuing its course sliding through the ice wall with violent screetches of abrasive sharp friction and arching upward into the sky. Though no one close enough would have the capacity to stop it course. It would rise continuous, spinning, until it was out of sight lost within the lower portion of the upper atmosphere. Dissapearung with a faint blink of light, "ting."

 

[Ahztoshan Aszdolus]

Well, having been acknowledged the events would take fold.
The outer lining of the forest would darken blackening. A spell. 6 beacons within the forest would cast a barrier around it, this would not allow the living or the souls of such to pass through even if formless, binding them to the location. Trapping those inside in and keeping those outside out. The forest would also be vieled in moving shadows and cryptic darkness, as if the sun had been blotted out within it, trees would look the same, and all sense of direction would be lost within the forest barriers boundaries. Ominous wailing filled the miniature forest in multiple directions, their intensity coming from a distance rather than close, creating a perception of increased depth within the small forest, light from any source would be decreased, cut by 8/10 of it's original intensity. The forest would seem endless, further more no one within the forest would be capable of meeting the edges of the barrier or the forest end while the spell was up. Teleportation, portal and other navigation abilities would be limited to the forest while inside, and no perception of the outside could be achieved, in the likes of ocular abilities, like clairvoyance would not be able to pass the barriers range.

Ominous howling would break what could've been a seemingly haunting setting, though no signs of life had proved to be in the forest. Especially since it had grown so suddenly in the middle of a public execution in the city. The trees would speak whisper cryptic messages of death, though their voice came from no mouth. The ground previously dirt ground would feel softer if not wet and damp.

The cloaked "creature" would notice the females retreating into the distance and follow them. He had an erie presence to his form. And the choatic smile on his face gave no help to his appearance. His horns made him look like a devil, an entity of horric background and I'll intent. Though his previous actions dictated otherwise.

It was completely reasonable to be afraid of the shade. And even more reasonable to run away. They didn't know who or what he was, and his simple acts of good surely didn't clear up the misconstrued idea of him having I'll intentions towards the female elves. Especially with the display of dark magic. To which magic branch had yet to be revealed.

Meanwhile on the frozen wall of ice, the large ice crystal would be radiated with a mystifying blue energy and white vapor. The snow flake projectile inside had been lost in the brilliant gleam and would begin to once again spin despite having been frozen in place within it's icy containment only this time it would expand and a blue cast of cold energy spinning much at the speed of a whirring saw blade continuing its course sliding through the ice wall with violent screetches of abrasive sharp friction and arching upward into the sky. Though no one close enough would have the capacity to stop it course. It would rise continuous, spinning, until it was out of sight lost within the lower portion of the upper atmosphere. Dissapearung with a faint blink of light, "ting."

Pew