Fate - First Reply Nobody Lives Forever

[N'aschi Kona]

For the first time ever, N'aschi Kona was fearful for his life.

He couldn't see, not clearly enough to be aware of his surroundings; his vision was blurred as though he stared through the ocean, dotted with fickle white spots and sporadically flickering stars. The iron-like taste of blood filled his mouth with every staggered breath he took, and all that his pointed ears could hear was the sound of his struggling lungs working to keep him conscious. N'aschi's back, the clothing ripped from it and left bare, burned as it was slowly dragged along the ground, the rocks and roots in the dirt grinding against his flesh. What had happened to leave him in such a state? His memory was foggy, he could hardly remember...

He'd been waylaid on the edge of Allir Reach, a flurry of claws and flame ripping and tearing at the young elven warrior. Rumors had been circulating all the way into his homeland of a twisted monstrosity, born of dark creatures left unchecked in the great wilds of Epressa. Kona had been halfway through a crisp mug of ale when he'd seen the bruised and frightened merchant stumble into the hole-in-the-wall tavern mumbling about devils and the end times. Of course, being an establishment meant for drunken fools, few had listened to him. He hadn't been the first to make those claims though, and if this unfortunate soul was here now, in such a disheveled state? That meant whatever had attacked him was still close.

N'aschi had declared his intent to slay the fiend with all the bravado and heroism one would expect from a warrior who would one day be written into history, secured his blade and spear hurriedly, and rushed from the small outskirt village he'd been staying at with blood boiling and skin tingling with excitement. The calm before a great battle, the moments before two lives clashed with intent to end the other, it was always a rush that brought him to heights no drink ever could, performing such grandiose feats. The hunt was not what he craved, however-- it was the sound of his name on the lips of others, spreading his name far and wide as the victor that was his reward above all else.

This time had been different.

The beast that N'aschi encountered, prowling just over the hills north of the village along the tree lines, was a horrific monstrosity: It walked on all fours, with black matted fur akin to that of a wolf. Whatever evil had created it seemed to ooze from every pore, causing its massive body to feel almost wet to the touch. Its head was scaled, its scalp lined with spiked horns, and a face resembling that of a reptile. Sharp, birdlike talons dug into the dirt with every step it took, and in its jagged, maw it now dragged Kona by a bloodied arm across the ground.

The young, overeager elf had underestimated his foe, and now he was being dragged off to be devoured as an afternoon snack. His weapons lay several feet away, torn away and discarded by the beast, and the heat emanating from that gnarled orifice that held him so tightly burned at his skin. If it was to be his end, then he could at least claim to have died the way he desired to; free and in charge of his own fate.

On this day, perhaps... That fate had other plans for him.

 

[Josai]

A crackle. A hiss. The warmth from the air seemed to be pulled away.

The baleful creature raised its horrid head, and found shards of ice come from the treeline, smash and punch into its sides. Arrows flit fast after, hemming it in its hind quarters.

With a thrash, it fell to the ground and let loose the elf from its maws. Snarling and growling, it made back up to its legs as ice crept over it from where the shards had punched in. Spreading, slowly across its strangely mottled fur.

Another pair of arrows struck out. One, two. It lurched itself out of the way, snapping and breaking branches and shrubs with its violent movement. It belched fire out toward where the arrows had come from, and the wash of flame crashed against something spherical.

From the bushes came a shake. Appeared a woman with blue robes and a wide brimmed hat. A winged spear gripped tightly in her hands. She bent low to the fallen elf. Stirred him. "Hey, hey wake up," she prodded. "Damn it, did it claim your life too?"

The beast let out a horrid howl that shook the air.

 

[N'aschi Kona]

N'aschi's state of being could only be described as 'in flux'. He was alive, but the shock of the injuries that had been inflicted upon him had left him rather stunned; The elf was barely aware of the commotion that began to surround him and the monstrosity that sought to make a meal of him.

The only thing that kept his eyes open in the jaws of the creature was the searing pain seeping into every pore of his body through the foul thing's acidic saliva.

Then, something happened. He felt a jostling of his captor, and a thunderous roar nearly deafened him, leaving his pointed ears ringing as he fell from the jaws of death to the soft grass below with an unsavory thud. The impact knocked what oxygen he had left out of his lungs, and he lay gasping by the time his impromptu savior came to check on him.

His clothes had been ripped apart, now hanging from his body in large ribbons, and wounds of both claw and teeth burned an angry blood-red upon his skin. His arm especially looked to be in bad shape. Nevertheless, even breathless he looked up at Josai, responding to her call with a weak smile.

"Nn... Never better..." He choked out, careful not to laugh and cause himself more pain.

The beast roared again, and Kona winced at the sound.

"He's... stronger than he looks. And he looks pretty tough."

 

[Josai]

She smiled down at mangled mess of a man, couched her spear in the crook of her arm.

"Confident," she said, her hands already cutting signs as her mind saw the seals and symbols she had learned. "Either that's a good sign, or you are really good at faking it," she closed her eyes, and set her hands forward.

When her eyes came open again, they glowed a misty blue. She could see clearly the pathways of his blood. The rivers of life that flowed through him. Saw where they rushed and spilled out from the wounds. Another series of gestures. A slow push of her hands, his blood lose would slow, come to a stop.

Her breathing was steady. She pulled in a breath of air. A whispered cant came quick.

The wounds slowly began to stitch together. Josai let out a long breath, took in a new one. "It will take time for these to close, can you move?"

Another pained roar. Another crash in the distance. A rustle of leaves coming towards them. Too small to be the beast. She grabbed up her spear all the same and turned to meet it.

"Squire Lemock," she said with a hint of tension still in her voice.

The squire, a young human man with sandy brown hair and freckles, looked to the wounded man, and back to Josai. "S-syr" a round shield strapped to his arm, and a short spear in the other hand. "It's taken the bait, the others are leading the beast into the trap now,"

Josai nod, looked back to the wounded elf as she straightened herself up. "Well, swain in distress," she smirked. "Care to see how tough we are?"

 

[N'aschi Kona]

Another strained cough was the response to her appraisal of his confidence. It was comforting, to have somebody talking you through an ordeal like being nearly mauled to death. He supposed that was the point of the conversation.

"I'm not smart enough to fake it." N'aschi choked out a bitter laugh. "So I guess I'm not dying just yet." He'd no idea who this woman was, or why she'd risked her own life to save his, but he wasn't about to complain. Hell, if he made it out of here he might just make a song about her.

She used strange magic that the young elf had never seen before. It was so fascinating to watch her work that he forgot the pain coursing through his body for a moment. Well, it was fascination and the slow process of healing that she'd set in motion, though even the now stitching gashes in his flesh still felt like hell.

When she was finished, he attempted to roll onto his back. Squinting and shifting his weight on the ground, fiery bolts of pain punished his attempts. It was too much, and while he lay on his stomach, he shook his head gently. "Mhh... Maybe if you give me a bit longer. It's still too painful for that, but... It's bearable now. Thank you, Miss."

Again he heard the thunder of the beast who'd nearly had him for dinner, it's roars echoing from somewhere beyond his sight. Swallowing the brief strike of panic, he looked at the second person, another human from the looks of it. So she wasn't alone?

They spoke of a trap, and even in his wounded state, N'aschi's eyes glimmered. Yes! Trapping a great and terrible beast! It was what legends were made of!

"If you can get me on my feet, I think I can stay there. I just need some leverage."

 

[Josai]

Josai smiled at his response. "You'd only just said you needed more rest," she reminded the wounded wanderer. Her eyes cut to Lemock, and she jerked her head towards the young elf. "Help me get him up,"

Lemock, nod and hurried over to help. Together, they helped up the young man.

"What's your name, stranger?" the big hatted witch asked. "I'm Josai,"

The forest before them trembled and shook, the earth beneath their feet buzzed with the tremors of distant action.

The witch beneath the big blue hat seemed no less stirred to action for the sounds of chaos that grew louder and louder as they approached the brush line. .

The squire, Lemock, looked wide eyed and worried. Though his face was tense, as if put on to hide his fear.

 

[N'aschi Kona]

N'aschi grinned, a rather cheeky ear-to-ear smile that betrayed the fact he'd just nearly been mauled to death as he steadied himself with Lemock and the pretty lady's assistance. "Well, not if it means missing out on the fun!"

His voice was far less shaky now, and while his legs wobbled, he was able to stay on his feet as Lemock and the witch introducing herself as Josai slowly let him go. "Or maybe you're just really good at what you do, Josai. Kona, by the way, N'aschi Kona."

Kona reached out to shake her hand, but the next bellow from the beast threatened to knock him off balance and he spread his arms out to keep steady. "Do you guys... have any idea what that thing is?"

 

[Josai]

A nod came from the witch. "Could be, N'aschi," she said with a smirk, and would have taken his hand had it not been for the blast of rage that came clear across the woods.

Lemock gave a little yelp.

Josai fixed him with a hard look, and the young man steadied his nerves. "Breathe, Lemock, panic will do none of us any good," her eyes turned to N'aschi. "May have once been a Horned Cainwulf," she motioned for him to follow, "Now... it seems to have been taken by the blight," and slunk forward through the brush. Careful, so that he could keep up. Her spear with its head low and forward, the silver wings caught and pushed tangles and branches that might snag and slow them.

She motioned to stop, and shift the branches. The beast was in a clearing ahead. Tongues of fire leapt and danced where its flame-breath had spat and splashed.

Blood and black ooze trailed behind it. Arrow fleches stuck out from its pelt, and in the joint of its legs.

The trap was just some paces before it, for she could see her fellow Knights hidden in the branches, arrows at the ready.

A bird call cut through the air. The golden eagle's cry of the spine. A sound that had no place in these woods. "Ready?" she called back.

Squire Lemok gulped. Grabbed ready the straps of his shield, and the mace at his belt.

The beast halted. Raised its scaled snout up into the air, just short of the runic trap some yards before it. Josai's eyes widened.

The creature's gaze fixed in her direction. It sprang toward them.

 

[N'aschi Kona]

N'aschi would swear that if he hadn't just been nearly eaten for lunch, he could have done more than just smile dumbly at the witch when she said his name. It's a good thing his face was red from being pressed against the ground, or else he might have even blushed.

Any shyness quickly... well... shied away once another piercing roar bellowed through the trees, much closer this time. Whatever had distracted Kona's new friend had been dealt with; it was coming back. Pangs of fear started to shoot through his gut, the still aching wounds burned at the presence of the monster who'd inflicted them.

N'aschi looked at Josai once, more, steadfast and confident. Then at Lemock, quivering and pale. The beginnings of his own terror began to subside; he had help now, and while one of his new companions seemed... unreliable at worst, the Witch who'd saved his life had a fire about her the likes of which made Kona burn in kind.

She was just like the kind of person he wished to be. Fearless in the face of something so hideous. If she was fine, so was he.

"Stubborn p'that, isn't he?" N'aschi smiled, as the monster neared the trap. Stubborn but foolish. At least, that was the thought he'd had before it stopped and turned its attention directly towards the three of them. The smile on N'aschi's face slowly melted away. "Oh... I think it's about to..."

N'aschi took off running towards the blight beast almost simultaneously to his charge, his muscles objecting harshly as he dropped into a slide to move between the creature's rotting legs. He'd plead temporary insanity later, but all that was really running through his mind was buying the others time.

"Let him have it! I'm gonna try and draw him back to the trap!"

Josai

 

[Josai]

The young man darted forward, and slide through the bile and muck that pooled and dripped beneath the blight beast's legs.

A grin crept across Josai's lips. "Help me up, he says," a shift of her grip saw her long weapon couched beneath one arm, her left hand, straight fingered, cut signs and traced seals into the air that hissed white mist behind the point of her her finger tips.

Where the elf went, so followed the beast. Its great maw, dagger toothed, snapped behind him. Its claws raked after him.

Arrows spat out from the treeline, whistling before they punched into the muscled flank of the creature. It whimpered and cried and staggered as its legs struggled to keep kinetic strength. It splayed its front legs, and drew back its head to suck air into its lungs, and it spay out a phlegm of fire that raced toward the brave elf.

Josai snapped her hand forward, forefinger and middle pointed straight at the earth, her spear traced forward, a glacier white line of magick traced upon the soil, and her spear thrust up, and a wall of ice burst forth from the ground with a sharp crack and a glittering mist.

The fire crashed against the wall, and a great cloud of steam plumed about the ground.

---

N'aschi Kona

 

[N'aschi Kona]

It wasn't a question of whether or not Kona was a fool for acting so rashly in front of a monster that had nearly taken his life once already: It most certainly was, that much was evident from the disgusting muck that soaked his back as the elf slid underneath the creature. The sensation of it made him wince, but it wasn't any worse than being hanging out of the thing's mouth had been.

N'aschi had grown up in the bog. He wasn't afraid of a mess.

What the young runaway was afraid of, though, was the sudden burst of heat behind him. His attempts to lure his new friend into the trap Josai's group had set were succeeding, but he may have overlooked some of the beast's other talents. Kona's legs carried him towards the trap as fast as they were able, but even with his second wind, he was still wounded and far slower than he'd ordinarily be.

Reluctantly, N'aschi quickly turned his head to look behind him, only to see a jet of flame encroaching on him, tongues of flame licking at the bare skin of his back. Already his flesh stung against the fire, and Kona's best efforts would have been for naught, leaving him a charred crisp if it weren't for the intervention of an ice wall, erupting from the ground behind him and sending him tumbling forward over his own feet.

"Too... too close..." He breathed, remaining on his hands and knees for a moment as he recaptured his breath. No, he needed to keep moving. That wall wouldn't stop him. With a screaming ache from his legs, Naschi pulled himself up once more, and hurdled himself over the laid trap to the other side.

Josai

 

[Josai]

Where wall of ice once stood, glittering and defiant, now melted a half formed stub of glacial frost. Steam, spread in hissing cloud, at least blinding those behind its gaseous curtain.

Josai grit her teeth, and drew in short breath, her spear's head whipped and whirled and traced a shape across the clear air before her. A circle, whole and made of hissing mist. A white pulse of magick that had scarred he air behind lit spear's point. Runes aglow and burning with the pale blue of Loch's light. Josai felt her own fibers ache. Her muscles strain as they gave strength to the weave of spell and power.

N'aschi, the young and daring elf, might feel a sudden gust of wind. A vitalization, that spurred him forward, quick as a river's current.

The beast, scaled and beaked and nasty, trudged foward with snapping maw made to gnash and cut and whip about air above the trap's runes. Its body, still just before the runic boundaries. Though the seals, the lines made to mimic the ley, began to glow beneath the chomping head of that beast most dread. Slathering and slobbering as it was.

N'aschi Kona

 

[N'aschi Kona]

Even as Naschi scrambled back to his feet after tossing himself to safety, he had next to no idea what exactly it was he was looking at as he turned to look back at the beast, hopefully ensnared within the trap Josai and her team had set.

Magic was foreign to him; It wasn't uncommon for the Elves of his tribe to wield magical talents, but Kona himself had never seemed to have any aptitude for the arcane. Josai's ability to turn a weapon as ordinary as a spear into such a spectacular tool of power left the islander slack-jawed in awe. No attack he could have mustered had even phased the monster, but the combination of the trap and Josai's efforts were...

Well, he still had a lot to learn.

But he wouldn't be around to learn them if he didn't get clear-- The slow return of the throbbing ache in his body told him he'd probably pushed himself far enough, and his legs started backpedaling as he kept an eye on his new friend and their thrashing, snarling foe.

"Do you have him? Is he trapped?!"

Naschi hoped so-- He wasn't sure what else there was that he could do.

Josai

 

[Josai]

Josai grit her teeth, "Just about," she muttered neath her breath.

Lemock of all people, gave a blood curdling shout. Stomped a foot to the ground, and whirled his mace across the lateral plane of his body. Nowhere near the monster. But the earth beneath him rumbled. Shook. Sent a tremor forward that saw the earth behind the creature well up.

A mound of earth saw the creature washed forward, as if caught in a current.

It fell onto the seals.

Josai smiled bright beneath the shade of her wide brimmed hat. Let out a sharp and shrill whistle.

A series of six arrows flew from the canopy cover. Struck six sigils on six points about the seal array. The lines etched into the earth traced with a green power. A gold power. A red power.

Roots sprang forth. As if snakes from their dens. Their heads whipped across the monster. Snared and tangled about its limbs. Lashed it down to the ground with nature's wrath. The creature thrashed and roared, but soon, its mouth too was snared shut, and it was left without the means to move, as the roots grew about it, and anchored back into the earth to bind it.

Josai stepped beside N'aschi, with spear in hand, and stood proudly as the roots slowed their growth, and the beast looked on at its captors, helpless.

'Now," she said. "It's trapped,"

Lemock stared wide eyed at their work. Lauhged nervously.

From the treeline, a birdcall.

Josai gave one back. A sharp, bright sound, like a song bird in the rush.

"Well, you did good there, Lemock," the old Knight, who looked more a well armed vagabond than a knight, nod to the squire. Then to Josai and N'aschi. "You too,"

Another young man had his bow knocked, and stared curiously at the beast. "Ugly fuckin thing, ain't it?"

A young lady with flaxen hair, and noble features stood nervously behind him, her bow slung over her shoulder. "Don't, don't get to close to it,"

N'aschi Kona

 

[N'aschi Kona]

When it was all said and done, the young bog-elf had little to no idea what it was he'd just witnessed. It had been a display of some of the most fantastical magic he'd ever bore witness to, beyond what he'd dreamed possible in his time spent hearing rumors of mages while cooped up in the muck of his homeland.

Josai was incredible. No, not just her, the entire company of men and women who'd fought alongside her to bring the beast he'd so foolishly thought himself capable of handling alone were all impeccable warriors. As amazed as he was, Naschi couldn't help feeling like the simpleton of the whole scenario; He was still so far from even grazing the kind of power that these people held...

Turning to Josai, he gave a small smile, a tad more meek than before. "You saved my hide there. I owe you, really."

A sudden sound rang out from the trees, a shrill chirping call. Kona furrowed his brows and searched for it as Josai responded with her own trill. A Knight emerged, older and more grizzled than Josai and Lemock. It wasn't hard to figure this one was a superior, but he offered congratulations to them on the effort.

N'ashci bowed his head a bit, one of his hands moving to clutch at his ribs, the pain returning slightly as his adrenaline faded.

"I wish I could have been more help than that. I was careless."

Kona would be beating himself up over the debacle for some time, it seemed. Now, though, he had something else on his mind. As the crowd of knights lingered around the trapped beast, conversing amongst themselves and taking care to keep their distance, N'aschi found the most pressing question on his tongue.

"Who are you people?"

Josai

 

[Josai]

Gratitude always felt nice, and Josai gave a half laugh at N'aschi's regrets. Her lips showed hints of a smile. "Think nothing of it," she said beneath the shade of her wide brimmed hat. "You were wounded, and just escaped death," she went on as she adjusted her hat, and fixed her spear against her shoulder.

The squires hurried about, feeding the rune anchors what mana they could to hold the roots in place.

The old knight looked to the young elf who seemed awestruck. Smirked. "The Knights of Anatheaum," tipped his wide brimmed hat, and set its flame colored feather to bob. "At your service,"

Josai gave a small huff of a laugh, then bowed in turn.

The young woman with flaxen hair approached, skittish to be so near a monster. The growls and snaps drew her eye back at moments, but her companions seemed to have it handled. "Um, excuse me ser, I can," she cleared her throat. "I can see to your wounds, if you would like,"

The old knight nod, and turned to look at the monster.

Josai turned to do the same, and rolled the spear on her shoulder. "The old one two to put it out?"

The old knight smirked. "You practiced with Lefelen?"

A raspberry from pursed lips. "Sando, please," she stepped up to the head of the changed beast, looked into its hate filled eyes. and the lines of ooze that ran down from from black crusted lids, through matted fur and onto the earth where it bubbled and oozed and turned to wriggling worms.

A breath, was all Josai let out before she lowered her spear again, point aimed between the changed creatures eyes. Its pointed head gleamed, and its silver wings glint with the day's light.

Sando nod, and drew a dagger from his hip, its blade etched with runes, its fuller, inlayed with fine silver.

---

N'aschi Kona

 

[N'aschi Kona]

"Knights of Anatheaum..." N'aschi repeated, under his breath. He couldn't claim to have heard of them before, but his time on the mainland was still young. Josai's reassurance was appreciated, but the sting of his defeat was still fresh in both his mind and flesh. He could feel the disappointed, taunting words of his father and siblings on his back, had they known he was so quickly done away with.

Kona stepped away to let the Knights handle the disposal of the beast, slinking off to sit on a tree stump and examine his wounds. His clothes were ruined, the last set he'd brought from his home. Josai's magic had stitched the gaping hole in his side, but his flesh was still red and swollen, not to mention tender. Now that his adrenaline had worn off, walking straight was an ordeal, let alone running.

One of Josais' companions, the frightened-looking girl who'd emerged with the old man, broke away from the others to join him. She offered to look at his wounds, but N'aschi couldn't help but notice how eager she seemed to put the extra space between her and the restrained beast. Kona smiled, at her, nodding.

"Don't know if there's a hell of a lot you can do. Josai closed the wound, but it aches like nothing else..."

He pulled at his tattered clothing to expose his side to her nevertheless. The fact of the matter was that he had no money, and he was going to have to work regardless of the pain. If there was some chance this woman could ease his suffering, he'd be a fool to turn up his nose at it.

"Do you know what that thing was? I've never seen anything like that back home..."

Josai

 

[Josai]

Arietta nod at the young man's brusque speech. "The magic does seal the wounds, quickly, if all goes well," she agreed gently. Her blue eyes looked at the taught muscle, the hills and valleys of his flesh, and traced just above where the still red marks of the wounds could be seen, angry with blood just beneath the thinly silvered skin.

"But act too fast," she drew in a gentle breath, and put her hands forward, cupped toward the young elf, as if she sheltered a flame between the shield of her fingers. "Say, springing to action, and exerting yourself against a blight beast," she smirked. A gently golden light came to be there in the space between her digits. How it glowed, soft and warm. "And the healing is undone,"

Through the weave of the magick, she could feel N'aschi's wounds. How life's blood eked and flowed, in a swirl most unnatural, just beneath the skin. Her brow crinkled.

"Just a moment," she said, and closed her eyes. Her breath grew smoother. Steadier. Easier to draw in and out.

What discomforts N'aschi may have felt from his exertion would ease if the magick took hold. The healing of Josai, reinforced by Arietta, the magick laid there in, re-doubled. The healing renewed.

Another breath fell out from her lips, and she nod. "I, don't know what it was," she said, and turned her eye back toward the creature. Spied the black ooze that dripped and pooled about it. "But we've hunted creatures like it," her face pinched, lips down turned. "Blight beasts, cursed things, changed by foul magicks," she looked back to N'aschi. "What sort of magicks, well, that remains to be determined," she added.

In the near distance, there was a bright flash of white. A crystaline sound that snapped and cracked, and a rush of cold wind washed across the clearing. For a moment, the air seemed to glimmer, as particulates of ice drifted in mist-trailed dance.

Josai stood before the blighted beast. Spear held forward in strong thrust. A lance of glacial ice, run clean through the creature's skull. The last bits of its power eked out of its limbs. It fell dead to the earth. The roots bound tighter about it, and the ooze, putrid pitch, gushed all the faster from its wounds.

The team of squires would hurry themselves. Scattering an orange dust about the perimeter of the spell seal that imprisoned the creature, as Sando barked quick orders that called for supplies to be retrieved.

Calmly. Josai wrapped her scarf about her mouth, and, stared intently at the strange liquid that welled within the runic markings within the soil.

N'aschi Kona

 

[N'aschi Kona]

N'aschi looked down at the woman in wonder as shimmering light poured from her palms and soaked into his flesh. It was yet another display of incredible magick, the type he'd heard about in the stories of his homeland, magick that could heal just as efficiently as it could hurt. N'aschi let his eyes slide shut, his head tilting back as he focused on the tingling sensations that pulled away at the pain he was feeling, like thick layers of agony being lifted from his flesh.

"Ngh... well it did the trick, didn't it?" A smile peeked through his expression as Arietta offered a bit of sass, returning it back to her. One of his hands moved to rest on her arm as she grew quiet with focus. "Come on, you weren't even a little bit impressed?" The bog elf joked along, finally meeting her eyes again as she finished her work and pulled away. Her expression went rather terse when the discussion turned back to the beast, and N'ashci looked behind Arietta to that ugly fiend, imagining other things so corrupted and twisted.

He didn't like the idea of more of these running around.

"They have to be coming from somewhere." Naschi pulls his arms away and carefully rises to his feet, steadying himself against Arietta briefly. "I don't know a hell of a lot about magick, but I don't think stuff that foul and powerful just happens on its own." Somebody was making these on purpose or was being so reckless that they made them without fully realizing it. Either way, they needed to be stopped.

Josai stepped back into view, once more wielding that glimmering spear of ice. Kona felt himself tense in brief worry as the Witch who'd saved his life once more approached the monster, but he kept his nerves at bay. If anybody could handle that thing, it'd be her. N'aschi watches, with a certain somberness to his eyes as Josai delivers a final blow to the beast's skull, the last vestiges of its blighted life seeping from its bloated corpse under the frigid might of the Witch's icy wrath.

"She's incredible..." He muttered, the light breeze in the air only seeming charged by the rush of magick that flowed from that devastating blow, wind whipping lightly at his wound. "Just like the stories, all of you..."

Josai

 

[Josai]

Arietta smiled, a small thing. "That you kept your head," a nod, as gentle as a fresh fallen leaf. "I am quite impressed," she joked along with him.

At the mention of the beasts and their origin, Arietta kept quiet.

"She is, A Knight Sworn," Nod in agreement to his summation of Syr Josai, "The stories," her smile was bittersweet. "Maybe some of us, yes,"

The knights gathered around the beast were busy at their work. Spreading the colored dust, atop the stains left in the earth by the beast, and Josai seemed to peer all the more at the skull, eyes fixed on how its flesh all but dissolved.

With a quick hand, she ripped up some green blades of grass, raised them to the plume, and let go the blades at such an angle that they caught in the vapors of the thing's death.

The blades turned brown, black, to dust.

"They are not so rare as one might think," Arietta said tepidly. Cleared her voice. "They, well, this one, this one we tracked all the way from the Valen," she lowered her eyes to the ground beneath them. "East and towards the spine," she frowned all the more. "Whole forest full of beasts like this," she grabbed and pulled and bunched at the hem of her gambeson. "The Balewood, we call it,"

N'aschi Kona

 

[N'aschi Kona]

N'aschi flashed his brightest grin towards Arietta's compliment, the best he could do to hide the wave of bashfulness that came to his cheeks at being praised. He hadn't realized how isolated he'd been in that Bayou until people actually started talking to him, and now he found himself rather unused to something so simple as a compliment, joking or not.

"Wait, so..." Something she'd said seemed to break him from his haze, and he stood back up on his feet. It seemed that N'aschi's eager spirit didn't need much encouragement to overcome his pain. Or perhaps that merely spoke of Arietta's ability. "You were already following him when I attacked?" The young elf wasn't familiar with the names of places on the mainland, but the mountains looming far on the horizon were hard to miss. "So that would mean I jumped the gun and made you guys act before you were ready."

A pang of guilt hit his gut as the realization hit him, and it was all he could do to quickly turn towards the woman and bow apologetically. "Forgive me. I'm new to this place, and... I've been having a difficult time adjusting, admittedly. I didn't mean to cause you any strife." How many times had his father told him that he needed to think before acting? More than he could recall, and evidently those reminders had fallen on deaf ears.

Still, those same pointed ears perked as she spoke of The Balewood, a whole nest of these monstrosities.

"It sounds like you all have your work cut out for you then! Is there... some way I could help? Make up for my intrusion?"

Josai

 

[Josai]

Arietta blinked, wide eyed at the young man who seemed so moved to the call. "Some way to help?" she asked.

Scanned her thoughts.

"You've nothing to make up for, really," she tried to assure.

"You could join our ranks," Josai said, cool as morning mist. A glint in her eye, and a smirk cut across her lips. "If you truly wished to help,"

Arietta's brow knit together, high with worry. "It's it's no small commitment,"

Josai laughed. "No, suppose it isn't," jabbed a thumb over her shoulder. "Or you can at least help us haul the parts back to the Monestary," she winked at the younger man, as some of the other knights worked to butcher the beast. "Not any good for eating," she explained. "But there is much to learn from such remains," she added.

N'aschi Kona

 

[N'aschi Kona]

N'aschi may not have been particularly wise, and his unfamiliarity with the mainland and it's peoples had definitely harmed him in his efforts to break free of his homeland and ancestry thus far. Still, he hadn't lost his sense of right and wrong, and it seemed to him as though his unexpected presence had put these people in a spot more danger than they would have been in otherwise.

It only seemed right that he try to help. Arietta seemed to think otherwise, but the now-familiar voice of Josai cut back in as she made her way over to them. Kona's head snapped to attention, seeming somewhat taken aback by the candid proposal.

"Me? But... I don't know any magic, and I'm only just okay with weapons. I don't suppose the Knights of Anathaeum have any need for a musician, either."

Just as Arietta said, joining a group that looked to be as organized as these Knight folks was a pretty big decision. It wasn't a choice he could just renege on if he changed his mind, he figured. It would take hard work, and he'd fall under the command of others, the very thing he'd fled his home to escape from.

At the same time... what exactly did he have to lose? He was running on broke, his only armor was ruined and his weapons in disrepair...

And Josai... was very cute.

"But... I suppose..." The elf cleared his throat, looking away bashfully as the Witch winked to him. "I could help you haul the remains back, and take a look around. Maybe that'll help me decide, yeah?"

Josai

 

[Josai]

Josai nod along as the sounds of the others, busy at their work, hummed, rythmic, in the background of their conversation.

"A fiddle, or a flute." Josai wondered out loud. "The path to knighthood are many," she teased. Well aware that to many, a knight meant one thing above all else. A noble warrior. The image of a champion. Armored and mounted, with heraldry as bold as their deeds.

Yet here she was. A knight sworn, beneath the wide brim of steepled hat. Tall spear in hand. Yes. Maybe knights held such a weapon. But the billowing blue robes, the airy scarf loosely wound about her neck.

These were things more befitting a healer. Mayhaps, even a witch.

But the young man did not falter. Even opened the door to possibility, all the wider. If only by a margin.

Josai gave a nod. Smile still crooked about the corner of her lips. "Yeah," she added with some finality. "I'm sure it will,"

Arietta held a secret little look in her eye. A squire still, but her mind could see the sense to Josai's words. Methods that not so long ago, almost felt like mysteries, wrapped within enigmas.

The flaxen haired squire turned her eyes onto N'aschi, her hands worked over themselves. "Don't worry," she assured. "We, squires and prospectives are trained, and, well, it's never not dangerous but," she looked over her work. His wounds still fresh.

"No more dangerous than adventuring," Josai said with a wink, and moved back toward the team at work. "Rest for now though," she assured. "We've a long march ahead of us,"

N'aschi Kona

 

[N'aschi Kona]

To say that the next few days were a blur would be an understatement. N'aschi's solitary journey towards immortality had come to a sudden end within the jaws of that monster; Even if he had declined Josai's offer, his armor and weapons had been ruined, and he simply had no more money to sustain himself with. It was with a heavy heart that even the fiercely independent elf was forced to admit that his adventure had ended in failure.

But the end of one story was the beginning of another. Penniless and defenseless though he was, these people, these... Knights, had offered him a way to redeem himself. They seemed a decent bunch, having saved his life and all, and if they spent time hunting foes like that one? It was exactly the kind of thing he'd wished to do in the first place! Kona accepted their offer, before they'd even reached Astenvale.

Under the tutelage of these Knights, he could become stronger, and attain the status he'd sought after when abandoning his home in the Bayou. The room and board was a bonus, and admittedly his travels had gotten rather lonesome as of late, to the point where any company was a boon he wouldn't look past. Given his current circumstances, joining up with them was the obvious choice.

Now the elf no longer awoke under shoddy wooden roofing to the sound of an innkeeper shouting at him to get out or pay up, but in the dormitory building of the Astenvale Monestary, in a modest little room with a comfortable bed and what little belongings he had left around him. A potential squire, they'd dubbed him. That dubious title and a mountain of study and practical training to complete were all that he was given in the few short days he'd been here. It still felt to Kona as though his mind was trying to catch up to his body.

Rubbing at his eyes and donning the clothes they'd provided him with, N'aschi rose to his feet and stretched. He hoped to see Josai today, or at least one of the few Knights he'd returned with. With all the commotion, he hadn't spoken to them since their arrival, and to say he had questions was an understatement.

Josai