Dreadlords War Games

[Zael Castomir]

Force someone like Vance to blow up his teammates. That was just the kind of move Zael loved. Sometimes it wasn't just about winning, but about winning with style. And, well, with the amount of times he and Vance had squared off in the sparring arena, that's what it came down to nowadays. A win was a win, but if it tasted like ground grains instead of seasoned steak, it wasn't much of one.

Probably every Initiate in the upper classes had to feel this way in some measure.

As they sprinted across the bridge and the canal (whatever that was down there, it sure as hell wasn't water), Zael said, "Close-range is my specialty." His accent made the word "my" sound more like "mah."

Hell, if it was Vance who was the red team's foremost vanguard, hounding after the orb-carrier, Zael wouldn't mind at all staying back, holding the line, forcing an aether explosion to keep the orb-carrier in the clear. If it was someone else, well, one of the other blue team members could handle it. Maybe if Bull came limping out of the wreckage he'd caused, Zael would fling him at the red team: blow yourself up again, but this time be useful with it.

Zael ran down the wide avenue their path had opened up into since crossing the bridge. Nice. The wideness probably meant they were getting close to the city center.

Everleigh still had the lead. Could Zael take it? Sure. But now that they were so close, he needed to save his magic. They'd catch sight of the red team any minute now.

He couldn't hide his excitement. "Here we go!"

Everleigh Ebersol

 

[Eleanor]

Vance said duck and Eleanor crouched without question. The arc of lightning lit up the area and hit the golems. They went down but like the first one, they were still twitching. Eleanor looked around the immediate area and used her magic to pick up large chunks of building to drop on the metal men. It took a minute to make sure they were all down but she did it.

She looked at Vance and her other teammates before she took off running the direction of the orb. All she needed to do was see the orb. See the orb and pull the orb to her. Easy.

"Vance, when we see the orb, can you cover me with your lightning if the blue team is close. It will take me a second to get it to me and I don't need them taking the opening."

Of course, none of them knew that their magic wouldn't work on the orb. This was about to get really insane.

Vance Calgrave

 

[Tarkas Verik]

"They do not teach ballroom dancing nor proper dinner manners. You learn as you go, and it pays to be versed in polite society in service of the King." It was an interesting choice of words for a Guardsmen- not a house, but to the King himself. Then again- Tarkas' reputation was built on the bodies of Dreadlords and Guardsmen that were after the King himself.

He took a sip of his tea.

"I like Bull. As much as he is an idiot, from what I gathered." He cooled it for a moment, one hand politely tucked behind his back.

"I suppose now they're getting closer to the orb, then." He said, somewhat with a smirk. As if he knew something she didn't, or at least, the Dreadlords.

"Let's hope they remember not to try and kill each other. Would be a waste of resources if one of them died down there."

 

[Vance Calgrave]

The air sizzled with static as the golems absorbed the excess electricity. Whatever drove their metal limbs seemed reactive to it, at least until Ella crushed them all beneath stone and brick. Not one to gloat, apparently, as she hurried off to the center of the city. The other red teammates had caught up to them, Aliana was rubbing her head but upright, and Vance had no intentions of babysitting. He barked a vague order to follow and then took off after Ella.

They had to be close now. Here and there golems leapt to the road, but so long as they kept up their speed they could be outrun. As they ran the air started to smell... different. Vance had not encountered raw aether before, but it prickled his nose all the same. The smoke from the previous explosion was lofting higher in the winds, and every now and then a faint blue spark shimmered from within it.

They came to a courtyard. Flat tile and brick that had remained somehow intact was set before a building that looked almost like a cathedral. The windows had been blown out, the towers blackened with char, but the doors had been thrust wide open. This had to be where they were going, Vance thought, as a small cluster of moths flitted past him and up to the building's highest windows.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. They had not been the first to arrive.

 

[Elouise Libelle]

Elouise smiled. The image of a man as imposing as Tarkas ballroom dancing was not easy to conjure. She took another sip of her tea while a small white moth alighted on the cup's lip. She could taste and smell just fine on her own, but it did so amplify the experience to place her sentries close.

"Bull does tend to blur the line between bravery and stupidity," she intoned in her signature polite voice. "But yes, they are quite close now and should see each other any moment, if they are paying attention."

Truth be told they should have seen each other sooner. Why had the spirit conjurer Aliana not sent forward a scout? Why had Zana's protege not propelled herself to the rooftops? Zael could likely scout ahead for the other team, and she wondered why the toxic girl had not been laying traps on their return route. It was much easier to think of these things from outside the battle, she knew, but it was so important for their survival that the initiates begin to think.

"Let's hope they remember not to try and kill each other. Would be a waste of resources if one of them died down there."

"Weeding out the weak would not be considered a waste," she said almost as if she were discussing the weather. "But I do hope it does not come to that."

She sounded thoroughly unconcerned.

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

It wasn’t long until Everleigh had found her way to the city’s center, where a grand and imposing building stood tall in a courtyard. Gimlet gaze darted around yet saw no one, however Everleigh was prepared to throw her tomahawk. She slowed down in case someone was inside the building. The orb had to be in there.

A pang of worry rippled through her— had the red team arrived first?

She didn’t say anything to Zael as she knew he would be in his element. It was just as likely that Everleigh also believed she could hold her own against the entire red team with or without Zael’s help.

Everleigh dashed straight for the orb the moment she saw it. She picked it up, placing it onto her left shoulder, left arm sideways and bent at a thirty degree angle so her hand could keep the heavy metal orb in place on her shoulder. She could feel herself wanting to lean towards the left but forced her posture straight.

She had to run as fast as she could while weighed down. She winced at the first step, the orb pressing hard into her collarbone. Everleigh may have been a sucker for pain— no pain, no gain obviously— but it didn’t make her immune. Despite the discomfort, she sprinted out of the building.

If she was going to hurt from carrying the orb then she wanted something to show for it. Like winning. Out of the corner of Everleigh’s peripheral vision, she saw it— that flash of red, so vibrant against the dilapidated city.

“Zael how many reds?!” Everleigh shouted, a rather impressively thunderous voice coming from her svelte frame.

Zael Castomir Vance Calgrave Eleanor

 

[Zael Castomir]

Looks like Everleigh claimed the honor of being the first inside. Well, that just freed up both hands for when Zael spotted Vance. See, with the right outlook, you could always get what you want, and never stumble into what you want to avoid.

Everleigh went straight into the church, and Zael went up. A jet of flame sent him sailing to perch on the stone sill of what was once a large, circular window above the front doors. Only a few jagged shards of stained glass remained jutting from the stone, like errant stalactites and stalagmites.

Everleigh got her hands on the orb. And it was funny, because from here Zael could see Sieglilly down there, straining her ass off to try and TK the orb from Ever and back toward her. It wasn't working. Sieg must've huffed too much aether or gotten into Chasmine's stash of goodies before all this--looked like she couldn't concentrate so good. Like, how heavy could the orb be, Sieg? Ever was carrying it just fine.

Zael swatted at a moth that flew by him, then noticed the spots of red tunics through the broken windows and haphazard holes in the wall of the cathedral.

And excitement flowed through him.

"Plenty of em!" he called back down.

Then Zael jumped down from his perch, gouts of flame slowing his descent to the ground. He landed in Everleigh's wake, backpedaling after her, intent on being the vanguard covering her retreat with the orb.

"Boys and girls!" Zael shouted to the rest of the blue team. He thumped his chest with a hand, and the once blue veins beneath his skin ignited into an orange glow. His Explosive Retaliation was ready.

"Game on!"

Vance Calgrave Eleanor Liza Newcastle Everleigh Ebersol Tarkas Verik

 

[Vance Calgrave]

"Got it," called back to Ella, "Just make sure you- shit!"

Blue uniforms, multiple figures, and... he grit his teeth recognizing the orange flares instantly, though a predatory excitement welled. That excitement merged with battle fervor as he saw the metallic glint of Everleigh's shoulder, and he shouted "They've got it! Rip it from her!"

Cover Ella with his lightning, that he could do. He'd cover the whole damned field with it. Metal hummed and crackled with energy as he stood tall, turned side-on, and took a deep breath. Focus now, long range accuracy was still a challenge, but he had a clear line to Zael. So long as he got close enough to keep the firecracker busy, Ella could get close enough to squash them with her mind.

He exhaled sharply, leaned forwards, and pointed two fingers with a deafening CRACK as a bolt lit up the broken cobblestone between him and the blue team.

 

[Tarkas Verik]

"All pieces on a chess board have their place. War is the place to lose troops, not an exercise."

He folded his hands behind his back still, tightening his grip on the opposite in what seemed to be mild annoyance.


"We will need the Dreadlords at strength, to recover what the city lost in the conflict amongst ourselves. We've much to fear from the western Empire, Gerra and his mighty horde will surely set their sights on our great city. It would be an ultimate triumph of his- to subjugate the greatest Human city known."

He tapped his foot.

"Remind me of what happens to the losing team, ma'am."

Tarkas was an excellent dancer, gentle and yet maneuverable, despite his size. He was a force to be reckoned with in combat, and one to be reckoned with on the dance floor. Besides good tea being made, he could dance, play music, and occasionally sang bass in a choir.

Elouise Libelle

 

[Eleanor]

Eleanor saw Everleigh making her escape with the orb as the redhead jumped over a piece of fallen stone. She landed on the ground easily and took off running again. As she gained on Everleigh, she threw a hand out and tried to grab the orb with her power. It didn't move. Eleanor scrunched her brows together in confusion. She could throw a grown man quite a distance but she couldn't call a metal orb to herself?

Strange.

Of course, there were other ways to stop Everleigh. Eleanor lifted a medium size chunk of stone and sent it flying towards her enemies head. If she couldn't bring the orb to her, she would knock Everleigh out and take it that way.

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

Everleigh tsked, almost certain that by ‘lots of em’ Zael meant the entire red team was there. They had lost Bull— which was a positive in some ways— but he could’ve been used as a distraction. Like maybe Sieglilly could have TK thrown him at an annoying red-head.

The crack of lightening resonating in the small area caused Evie to grin wildly. Everyone here knew the basis of everyone’s personal magic. This exercise was the perfect opportunity for Everleigh to show off that despite her label, she would overcome anything. She would show flashy magic was overrated.

Everleigh knew Ella didn’t need to rely on accuracy, agility, and a myriad of other things. Why? Because TeLeKiNeSiS. To Everleigh, it made her lazy. And what would a lazy person do in this instance? A boring, obvious solution: use TK powers to get the orb.

Much like how Sieglilly had tried and failed to do earlier. Just like how now the orb was still safely on Evie’s shoulder despite being in Ella’s range. Just like how as she turned her head, she could see Ella focusing elsewhere. It didn’t take Everleigh long to deduce the orb repelled magic.

“ZAEL GET VANCE.” She shouted, throwing down her tomahawk as she pivoted around. With both hands grasping on the orb she used it to swing at the block of stone careening towards her head. Everleigh then brought the orb behind her head in a mighty overhead throw and threw the orb straight at Ella’s face. “Since you want the orb so bad.” She quipped, swiftly bending down to pick up her tomahawk before dashing forward with glowing violet eyes.

Zael Castomir Vance Calgrave Elouise Libelle Tarkas Verik Eleanor

 

[Zael Castomir]

By the time Zael saw Vance, the lightning bolt flashed in the space between them. It struck him head-on, and Zael disappeared behind a curtain of orange flame and violent gray smoke. A wall of secondary explosions lit up the air, almost like a dividing line between the blue team and the oncoming red team. The fiery orange faded from the air and left just the haze of lingering smoke.

From which the blue team eagerly leaped forth, wisps of smoke curling and roiling from their arms and legs, and engaged the red team. Zael, too, sprang from the smoke, his wild thrill encapsulated in a grin.

A damn shame that none of the red team had been closer! His Explosive Retaliation even got a nice boost from the power of Vance's bolt, and all it amounted to was a bunch of flare and noise. Well that was alright. The blues and the reds were all fighting one another around the cathedral and about the square now, a lot of them more concerned with winning their individual bouts than with winning the game.

And goddamn if Zael wasn't one of them!

Zael, get Vance!

See, that's why Zael liked Ever. She didn't dick around. She knew exactly what to say to get his blood pumping.

"VAAAAAAANCE!"

Zael took off into the air with a Fire Jump. He knew the score: he couldn't get scorched from Vance's lightning, but he sure as fuck could still get electrocuted--too much of that and this one would be in the bag for the red-headed V-man himself.

Another burst of flame from Zael's back, and he went soaring like an arrow down toward Vance, sword primed to clash with him. This is what Zael lived for!

"LET'S GO!"

Vance Calgrave Everleigh Ebersol Eleanor Tarkas Verik

 

[Vance Calgrave]

Like a meteor, Zael flew towards Vance. Predictable, but then again predicting an impact didn’t make it safe. Vance loosed another bolt in Zael’s direction and blue sparks gathered in his off-hand. He could feel the heat, and it rapidly grew more intense as the burning man flew closer.

"VAAAAAAANCE!"

He smiled a wry, sneering grin, with eyes that grew wide and wild. In the seconds before Zael touched the ground Vance’s hair wafted upwards with static charge, and the metal rods along his legs began to send quick, popping charges between themselves and the stone courtyard.

Engaging Zael in close quarters was dangerous. Even without his literally explosive defenses the kid was crazy strong and carried a tenacity to match Vance’s own. Vance’s eyebrows had taken weeks to regrow after their last bout.

Unfortunately he couldn’t do much until the firecracker hit the rocks. Airborne, and therefore ungrounded targets could be burned by his lightning’s heat or disoriented by the thunderclap but that was about it. Zael’s unique gifts made him all but impervious to such things.

"LET'S GO!"

Vance grabbed his metal sheath with his left hand, transferring the charge to the blade within. With his right, he took the hilt. He crouched low, his legs coiled like springs. He made every appearance of being ready to meet Zael blade to blade.

He didn’t.

The moment Zael touched ground he would spring backwards, roll back to his feet, and draw his sword with a fan of blue arcing pain.

 

[Elouise Libelle]

Elouise‘s composure did not waver during her conversation with Tarkas. The mindset of the guard was certainly different from the academy, but this made sense when all the variables were considered. The guard was full of, as he put it, “pawns.” Ordinary men, brave and exemplary of course, but ordinary men built up their strength with numbers and discipline. They were the front line, the cavalry, and the reinforcements. They moved as a collection of parts to a whole, no one man being greater than their sum. Of course they would not risk losing a single soldier. Even a weak man could use a spyglass and chart movements. Even an imbecile could swing an axe.

But Dreadlords... they were different. If chess was the analogy Tarkas preferred, then each dreadlord was a Queen. Their strength was not in numbers, but in the power of the individual. They were the last, last defense of Vel Anir, and its greatest weapon. If the weak had to die so that the strongest grew stronger, then that is what would help the great city prosper.

Of course, she considered, a chess game would be easier with ten queens than one. Ah, but analogies were never perfect, were they? Regardless, she did not argue the point with Tarkas.

”Gerra covets power... but he is not a fool,” her eyes were thinner in Amol Kalit, and the vast distance between her and her children there made their messages significantly delayed and shadowed, but she had seen more than most Anirians of the great cities of the sand.

”He would not risk war with Vel Anir, not unless he were certain of victory... and certain it. Is. Not.”

She punctuated her last words with unusual firmness. Elouise had a gentle demeanor, but it dissolved past skin level. She held a fierce loyalty to her city, a strong confidence in its power, and she had done unspeakable things in its defense.

”The losing team,” she roused from her dark thoughts. “...New policy is not to punish the losers, but to reward the winners. Though I expect some extra drills will be in order for the failing team. I have already noted a dozen strategic errors on either side, and at least six instances of certain death had they been facing true dreadlords.”

 

[Eleanor]

Ella saw the orb flying at her and her first instinct was to stop it with her power. That did not work though. The orb was still coming straight towards her face. "Fuck you, Evie!" Ella said as she she ducked and rolled. She was on her feet a moment later as the large orb hit the ground behind her and roll a few feet before stopping.

Ella flipped her pouch open and grabbed out a throwing dagger. She sent it flying towards Evie more as a distration than anything else. The Dreadlord Apprentice took off towards the orb. She only slowed down to pick it up with a grunt and take off running. Slower than before with the added weight.

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

“Sorry, you’re outta luck, I don’t do charity work!” the virgin chimed. This was roughly a fourth of the fun initiates could have when fighting against one another— the banter. If anything, this sort of familiarity made exercises like these seem less extreme, less dire. But not in Everleigh’s case, she was going full throttle and the only thing holding her back was the fact that she shouldn’t kill anyone.

Ella threw a dagger, which Everleigh side stepped albeit a little late and to protect her face used her right forearm, which the dagger lodged into rather precariously. It hurt. Of course it hurt. Everleigh wasn’t immune to pain and even learning to move through pain didn’t make her feel it less. She had to focus. And what better way than to focus on Ella who had picked up the orb and was running away.

Time to thank her for the extra weapon.

With a grunt she pulled the dagger out of her forearm with her mouth, clenching her teeth on the hilt to keep her from crying out. Evie only grunted, grabbing the dagger with her right hand and was then running off at full speed. She gained on Ella swiftly, unburdened by the orb. She was only three feet away when she threw the dagger to the left of Ella as she sprinted to the right side swinging her tomahawk.

Two things happened at that moment. The first was that the blood of the dagger evaporated into the air, a red haze enveloping the left side of Ella’s face and body. It was a mixture of a paralysis and knock-out gas, but it wasn’t like the poison eater had blew it right into the other initiate’s nostrils. Which was why Everleigh enacted the second thing: bending low when she swung her tomahawk, aiming for Ella’s hip.

Eleanor Zael Castomir Vance Calgrave Elouise Libelle Tarkas Verik

 

[Zael Castomir]

SWING AND A MISS!

That was why Vance was so fucking awesome--things were never easy with him. Easy fights weren't good fights, not good for the winner and definitely not good for the loser. That's why everybody needed to be at their best, and why Zael wanted them to be their best.

And Vance was bringing his A game. Zael, Vance, Edric, Kalix, shoot, chuck in Sable too, this was where they shined, where they all got their highest marks to raise up the average from their uniformly less than stellar classroom marks.

Zael's boots rumbled on the broken ground as he slid briefly to a stop. His blood morphed into fire, flames running hot through his veins and the trails of them glowing faintly beneath his flesh, the whites of his eyes brilliant like hot coals; this helped to some extent against lightning, but his flesh and muscles could still be electrocuted something fierce if Vance got a good hit on him.

Vaguely he was aware of the struggle between Everleigh and Ella. In the back of his mind, he had to keep tabs on the orb. Taking out the red team's most valuable player was a priority, of course, but it didn't mean squat if said MVP held him off long enough for the orb to get stolen all the way for a red tunic victory.

Zael, with the enhanced speed of his fiery blood, charged at Vance. Arced his sword in preparation for a swing--

--but shifted his offhand forward, belching out a blast of fire from his palm that was tenfold as much smoke as it was flame. Keep him in the dark!

Vance Calgrave Eleanor Everleigh Ebersol Tarkas Verik

 

[Vance Calgrave]

The distance between him and Zael didn't last long, and within seconds Vance had to lift his blade for the inevitable contact of red-hot steel. That heat was oppressive, like a thick blanket thrown over the air itself. His brow would have been dripping with sweat, had the flames not vaporized every bit of moisture from his skin in an instant.

His sword went up, both hands on the hilt to parry Zael's obnoxious strength. Yet the blow was delayed by a moment, and in that moment a flash of movement caught Vance's eye. He saw the flare before he felt it, and felt the sting of acrid smoke in his eyes and nose. He held down the cough that wanted to sputter out from reflex and spun away from where he had remembered Zael's sword being.

Half a moment of blindness was too long. Vance wasn't big on the whole "defense" thing, and hunkering down until the smoke cleared was not an option. If he couldn't see Zael, he would just have to strike everywhere.

He gathered charge within himself. A lot of it. He growled loudly from the effort of forcing that much electricity to build so quickly, and within a moment his already wild hair was standing on end. The heat didn't help, but the dry air seared by Zael's fire was a haven for the static field expanding around them.

It was an effort to contain the energy, and forceful cracks of lightning snapped from his body to the ground, to his sword, and, he hoped, to the metal armor Zael was wearing.

 

[Tarkas Verik]

"You forget miss- our walls, manned by my men and Dreadlords alike... present a symbol of strength. Our city can be seen from Mountains away."

He breathed deeply, hands folded behind his back, his back facing the mage.

"Conquering Vel Anir would put Gerra's empire above all others in history- the Empire that broke humanity." He turned his head, shrapnel side facing her.

"Where all others failed, he would succeed- not to mention the strategically important position we have. He'd succeed every economy in history if he conquered Vel Anir." He turned his head back.

"The King, the Houses- all could fall away and our petty infighting would mean nothing to that wretch from the sands."

He had an air of respect about Gerra- after all, he had no personal qualms with the man. In fact, based on reports and accounts he had managed to read or be privy to, Gerra was somewhat... agreeable, even generous in some cases. But not merciful to his enemies.

 

[Eleanor]

Ella heard Evie behind her but she couldn't move any faster with the damned orb. Where was Vance?! Not that it mattered where he was, she didn't have time to wait for him or look for him.

The Initiate turned her head to the right as the red dust exploded to her left. It still hit her but not as bad as if she would've turned to the right. The tomahawk was coming towards her waist and she couldn't do shit about it with the orb in her hands.

She had the decision right there to throw the orb and hope someone on the red team would get it. The red dust took hold of her body as she staggered forward and caught herself with her hands on the hard ground. The tomahawk sailed overhead.

"Fucking bitch, Evie! I am going to kill you when I get up!" She yelled at Evie before she managed to flip on her back and tried to kick up but she couldn't move.

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

Well, Everleigh had to admit, she had thought up a couple of scenarios with what could happen with Eleanor and really, she didn’t expect her to fall. The purple haired initiate couldn’t believe her good luck when Eleanor threw the ball and and then fell down to only flip onto her back like a turtle. She easily caught the weak kick between her arms, hugging Ella’s leg to her chest. She took a step back as one foot raised up.

“We’re only two moves in and you already want me dead? You’re getting all worked up over nothing,” Everleigh couldn’t help the chuckle, the bloodlust evident in her violet gaze as she viciously stomped her foot right onto Ella’s face. The sound was satisfying, the wolfish grin only growing wider. “You’ve changed, Ella. You’re getting weak. How. fucking. lame.”

The poison eater said with a grin before leaning down and cutting Ella’s bloodied neck with her tomahawk. It was stronger than the poison she had used on Ella’s throwing knife. It was extremely fast acting, but more importantly, while causing hallucinations and paralysis, it set one’s nerves on high alert. She was sure that curbstomping the telekinetic’s face was going to feel like she had delivered a thousand-ton punch from Kalix.

She then took grabbed the belt of throwing knives from Ella, wrapping it around her own hips. She stood up and picked up the knife she had thrown earlier, attaching it back to the belt.

“You’ll never kill me. You’re not hungry, not the way I am.” Everleigh added, before running and picking up the orb. Back in her hands, where it belonged, and hopefully no one else from red team understood it’s magic-blocking capabilities. Everleigh began sprinting back to blue team’s base, her long legs shooting out in front of her as she pumped her left arm as hard as she could, clenching tomahawk in a death grip while her right hand balanced the orb on her right shoulder.

Eleanor Vance Calgrave Zael Castomir Tarkas Verik Elouise Libelle

 

[Zael Castomir]

Fair play. Fair fucking play.

The smoke did at least keep Vance in the dark with whatever was going on with Ella, Ever, and the orb--Zael didn't quite know himself, hadn't looked that way yet. Vance was in that smoke and he needed to keep eyes pointed, yup, you guessed it, thatta way. He didn't even need to know exactly where Vance was in there, he just needed to saturate the area with an arc of flame. That'd get him.

Only.

Vance beat him to the punch on that whole "saturating the area" strategy.

Zael's only warning was a brief growl, and then bolts of lightning were flashing into being, focused outward from the nexus that was Vance in the center of the smoke. Lightning skipped along the ground and clawed at Zael's feet, even (perhaps especially) through his sabatons, racing up his legs. A bolt of lightning struck the tip of Zael's sword, and the shock ran up his arm and across his bare chest. Another struck the tip of Zael's other "sword" and if ever there was a complete inversion of the word "euphoric," the alarming, agonizing feel that resulted was it.

Zael went reeling back, stumbling like a man who tipped back ten tankards too many and quivering like he'd been caught naked out in a blizzard. By chance, because he most certainly couldn't see or hear shit clearly yet, he came to collapse close by Ella--she facing one way, Zael the other. He had no idea she was even there.

His muscles still twitching and trembling, Zael was on his ass, catching his breath and recovering. His lips quivered open into a wide, satisfied grin. Fucking hell, Vance, that's what Zael was talking about! Whoo! Man. Now get yourself together, Zael. We gotta bring it to him in round two.

* * * * *​

In the large, general melee between the red team and the blue team, a colossal figure came barreling onto the field.

Bull. His flesh had arcane scorch wounds all across it from the aether incident, but it didn't seem to slow him down. His torso and arms had swelled and grown into a freakishly large, bulky mass, disproportionate with his legs. One arm with the elasticity of a whip knocked aside both Sieglilly and Graham, the quiet, mousy boy on the red team that everybody (mistakenly) thought was an absolute psychopath.

Bull thundered toward Everleigh, toward her line of retreat.

And he said, holding out a swollen hand bigger than a bear's paw, "Give me the orb."

The way he'd said it: it wasn't a request. It was an order.

Everleigh Ebersol Vance Calgrave Eleanor Tarkas Verik

 

[Vance Calgrave]

Bolts fired off from his person at increasing frequency as his charges built. He still couldn't see, but he was feeling pretty confident that anyone within six feet had been suitably fried. His armor ran hot with siphoned energy, but Zael had already turned the temperature up so high that Vance hardly noticed.

It wasn't until the smoke cleared that he caught a glimpse of Zael: lying flat on his back. A vicious grin of victory split across Vance's face. He flicked his sword out with a shower of blue sparks and took one step forwards before his attention was taken away by Bull.

The grotesque monster of a man lumbered towards Evie to take... the orb!! Vance felt the heat in his chest rise again as he saw it. How had she gotten it? What had Ella done?? He quickly scanned the courtyard for the other redhead, and found her down.

She wasn't moving, and Vance felt fury. Strangely, he wasn't angry at Ella for losing the orb. Annoyed, certainly, but the rage was directed squarely at Evie and that... thing she was talking to. Vance wasn't a healer, so the best he could do for Ella was vaporize her attackers, but they were quite a distance.

Vance swore loudly and let his sword clatter to the ground. The stronger the bolt, the wilder the path, and he needed both hands if he wanted any sort of accuracy. He had already built up charge for that static field, and crackles ran between his fingers as he shouted "Zael! You better stay the fuck down!"

He lunged forwards with both arms and lit up the courtyard in stark white-blue monochrome for half a second. A bolt like a ballista splintered towards Evie, Bull, anyone and anything in that area.

 

[Elouise Libelle]

Elouise’s face twitched, her composed expression creasing but a millimeter into agitation. Were there more moths in here than there had been a second ago?

“I ‘forget’ nothing.”

Elouise held a thousand secrets behind her milky eyes. She could, at this very moment, see the great sand seas and the writhing foamy oceans. She could hear the initiates fighting one another and the rats in the cellar below.

She especially heard the title “miss” escape from Tarkas’ lips. Perhaps he had meant nothing by it, but the young and petite woman had endured the condescension of too many men. She took another sip of tea to unclench her jaw before replying.

“He would of course find greatness in our defeat, for we are great. Yet he must do just that: defeat us. It is, as you say, where all others failed. He will fail, too.”

She paused then, her attention drawn to the side as she watched Evie smash Ella’s face in and cut into her neck. She’d have a hard time claiming “accident” if the girl died. Oh well, she thought, as her closest spies were momentarily blinded by Vance’s lightning.

“You’ll be glad to know that Bull appears to have survived.”

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

She had to win. Everleigh out of all the initiates had to win. She wasn’t weak, her magic’s limitations didn’t limit her. She needed to prove that, now more than ever. Not like she could get picked up a house that focused on subterfuge anymore.

She had taken down Ella but that was one piece of the puzzle. How long would Zael keep Vance occupied— how long before Vance realized that Ella was out and would attempt to grab the orb?

When it came to raw power and strength, Vance outclassed the poison eater completely. She’d have to play it smart with him, she’d needed to— what the fuck was that? Everleigh caught sight of some fleshy whip knocking Sieglilly and Graham off to the side, seemingly knocking them out. Behind her she could hear the sound of crackling and sparks, hearing a thump.

Everleigh looked behind her, seeing Zael down on the ground, next to Ella. “Shit,” she cursed. Did she go back? She could probably get Zael up and running again with mercury or ammonia gas. Did she run and hide, slowly making her way back to the blue team’s camp? That was when she heard the demand.

Her violet eyes narrowed at Bull. Since when did he think he could give her orders? Who the hell died and made him king? As far as Everleigh still knew she was still alive.

“Yeah, sure, Bull, you can have the orb,” Everleigh said, looking up at his towering form. “After you suck my fucking left nut!” She hissed. She heard the clattering of the sword. Could feel the shift in the air, her own hair was standing up on end, her braid poofy from the static.

There was no time left. She had to be selfish. She couldn’t afford to go into cardiac arrest. She couldn’t afford to be out of the game. She wasn’t just fighting for her life but for her livelihood, her future. She needed to—

Zael could bring the orb back. If she got rid of Vance then there would be no one to stop Zael from getting back to the finish line.

Everleigh dropped the orb, tossing her tomahawk high in the air as Vance shouted his warning to Zael.

She ran and leaped up high, turning her body sideways as she planted both feet onto Bull’s massive chest, her knees came all the way to her chest before she launched herself into a horizontal long jump. She grabbed Ella’s throwing daggers, three in each hand, each one cutting into the flesh of her arms as her eyes glowed gold. Three daggers were thrown to surround the orb, the other three were thrown towards the direction Vance was in although they wouldn’t reach him.

When the bolt of lightning struck, Everleigh felt it. A frisson coursed through her, fear and excitement and adrenaline mingling as one together. And then the intense pain came as she was thrown back even further than she had intended due to the awesome might of the electric ballista missile. Large static-like blue tendrils exploded all around, jumping to anything metallic, searching for anything that could be a possible conduit.

The scream that came from her was all at once human and animalistic, filled with agony and horror— a cry for help although Everleigh wouldn’t admit such a thing. There was only one sole reason why she didn’t want to face off against Vance. It wasn’t just about strength or magic, rather it was the outcome of his magic. Her piercings hindered her more than one could expect.

Zael Castomir Eleanor Vance Calgrave Elouise Libelle Tarkas Verik