Everything was quiet until a gentle but loud crack echoed in my mind. She could feel the cracking in the pit of her stomach, the same way you felt the sound of the shattering of your parent’s finest glass plates. That was if your parents were into that sort of thing. Rose’s parents were not into it, they could barely afford that sort of thing, but that was why she joined the magical defense force. To defend her home and to provide her family with sustenance. Her eyes were still closed inside the cocoon, but with each passing second, life was returning to her, or at least whatever was left of her life, but that’s skipping too far ahead, she still hasn’t even woken up yet. It took her about five minutes from the moment the crystal cracked to the point when she opened her eyes. As they opened, she felt warmth in her skin, her arms, the tip of her fingers, her legs, but she also felt sore. Her head felt sore, as if her hair was alive, each strand of hair grasping around her, feeling the warm crystal around her as if she was stuck in a dream-like zone where everything was fanciful but you were aware of the sheer whimsy of it all, your mind torn between what your eyes were seeing and the reality your brain told you was real. Torn, between blissful sleep and reality.
When she opened her eyes a part of the crystal crumbled. Heat and light spilled into her protective egg and she winced away from the light as if it burned even when it did not. I remembered it being cold. Was the first coherent thought that came to her mind. It had in fact been cold when she closed her eyes and curled her body against a tree in the heart of a winter storm in perhaps the one time in years she tried to take time for herself. The last thing her conscious mind remembered was the bitter, killer cold. And now her senses were being shocked by this incessant heat. The light woke her up, and the feeling of being suck in a numb, dream-like daze faded. She tried to stand, but her head soon made contact with the top of the crystal cocoon, though the more she moved inside, the more the crystal crumbled until it was nothing but chunks on the ground.
When she emerged from the crystal, there was nothing, but shards of the crystal left on the ground. She bent down and collected about five shards of the crystals and put them in her backpack. Around her, were trees and a lush forest. Dangerous, she knew this. Though the forest sounded dead, which although not unnatural, was at times sign of something stalking the woods looking for its next meal. She looked up at the sky. Rose happened to be in one of the rare clearings in a forest and she could see from the color of the sky that the light wouldn’t last much longer. At least that was what she judged. Maybe another two hours or so if she got lucky. In reality it was closer to forty five minutes, but that would become abundantly clear as she began to walk and saw the darkness creep ever closer. For now though, she had a choice to make. She could venture into the trees and move about and brave whatever was out there, maybe find her way on top of tree. Behind her, she noticed, were rock formations. She moved to look at the rocks and she saw that they led to a pathway that extended in opposite directions. Within the path, rocks rose from the ground. As she moved to look closer, she heard something step on a branch, followed by a low growl.
Mana: 150 l 150 Stamina: 50 l 50 EXP: 0 l 500 Pathfinder: 1 l 15
Passives
Detection Avoidance [Tier 1] Item Identification [Tier 0] Survival [Tier 0] Pathfinder: Every 15 posts, Roll a 10 sided dice to find map. Mana Font: +15 mana per post
She looked up from where she stood among the rocks, following the sound of the low growling. On top of the rock formation, about twenty feet above her, stood a creature, bearing its fangs at her, though she could not make out what it was because the light of the sun was strong and to its back, leaving only a silhouette of the creature. Rose gulped as the growling got louder. This was not a good place to be, and she knew it, though this creature, even when backlit, was too small to be the reason why the forest was silent. The newly awakened women took a step back from the rock formations until eventually she was back at the clearing. Even though the creature stopped growling, she was afraid. Before long the palms of her hand started swearing. The animal looked straight at her, it made neither a move toward her, nor away from her, sizing her up. Calculating the effort that it would take to bring her down on its own, whether the energy from the chase would compensate the meal (it would) and whether the risk of injury to it outweighed its hunger. Rose, the creature likely believed, did not pose any real danger. She was not particularly muscular; not did she have any identifiable weapons on her.
The creature leaped from the rock, removing its shadowy backlit façade, revealing a canine-like creature. It was a wolfwith a white face and golden eyes. Its fur was green, though as it hesitantly approached Rose, with the rays of the sun she could see it wasn’t fur that covered the green areas, but moss, and over the moss were leaves, short yet flowing as if it were hair, and some of its locks of ‘hair’ were made of wood, almost branch-like protrusions, going from the creature’s neck, all the way to its back and creating the base of a tail that was also covered in moss and leaves. The creature growled at Rose once again, this time louder. So loud she felt the vibrations in her bones. And then the fear. She didn’t know who started first, the wolf of her, but all she knew was that in a blink of an eye, she was running, and the creature was barking and yipping at her as it gave chase.
She had turned back, away from the rock formation and into the thick trees as the gentle grass clearing gave way to thick wood and shadows overcast with drops of light that peered through the mantel of leaves that shrouded the forest. The wolf jumped from behind her, clearing the space over her and landed in front of her and bared its fangs and released a hissing growl, deep and threatening. Rose tried to muster a spell, any spell, to defend herself, but none came to mind. Instead of standing her ground and flinging a spell to the creature, she cursed, “****” at the inability of her own mind to come up with a spell, anything to protect her at this time. Maybe the fear was paralyzing her, but at the same time, when she tried to recall a command or a circle, or anything, to channel her magic, her body felt numb, almost as if it was on autopilot and she was not all quite there, which worried her, but there were bigger problems presently.
[Escape the MuskWolf 1/3] Mana: 150 l 150 Stamina: 50 l 50 EXP: 0 l 500 Pathfinder: 2 l 15
Passives
Detection Avoidance [Tier 1] Item Identification [Tier 0] Survival [Tier 0] Pathfinder: Every 15 posts, Roll a 10 sided dice to find map. Mana Font: +15 mana per post
She stopped running for a second and turned to face the leafy creature head on. Rose wasn’t looking to fight it, not really. Physical combat was never her area of expertise, she was a sorceress through and through. It was her powerful magic that made her alluring to her small village’s defenses in the first place; they didn’t get many magic users in her neck of the woods. Speaking of which, where was she? That was a question she would have to answer when she wasn’t staring down a tree-wolf hybrid. She tried to focus her mana to control her shadow and strangle it, but her shadow remained at her feet, unmoving. An exhasperated sigh escaped her before the creature barked at her and took a hesitant step toward her.
She moved her index finger slowly in a circular motion, and then squiggled a quick set of unbroken lines, tracing an hourglass-like figure in the air. Rose opened her hand afterward and a light humming sound followed, and then a smile on her face. The circle materialized on the air made of pure mana and then she closed her fist around it, searing the mana onto the palm of her hand. “This is your one and only warning. Leave me alone.” She said, but if the animal understood her, it was not obvious. Instead, the wolf seemed to react to her use of magic, growing wearier of her, yet also visibly more angered, bearing its fangs at her as she crushed the spell circle in the palm of her hand. She didn’t know what was going to come out of her hand when she released the spell, but she hoped it would be something useful, something that would let her defend herself.
The girl opened her hand and a blast of wind flew from it. The creature responded almost instantly, jumping to the side to avoid the blast of air from her hand. It ran toward her, but she was frozen in place, trying to discern what spell that was. She stood there just long enough for the wolf to get within striking distance before she realized what was happening, and took a step back to begin to make some distance between the wolf and herself. The wolf lunged at her and a loud cracking sound echoed through the woods. A tree, which had been hit by her wind spell, collapsed between the creature and her, stopping its attack in its track. The animal stared at the fallen tree and barked at her. She took this as an opportunity to run, and the creature gave chase to her once again, giving no hint of halting its pursuit.
[Escape the MuskWolf 2/3] Mana: 140 l 150 Stamina: 50 l 50 EXP: 0 l 500 Pathfinder: 3 l 15
Passives
Detection Avoidance [Tier 1] Item Identification [Tier 0] Survival [Tier 0] Pathfinder: Every 15 posts, Roll a 10 sided dice to find map. Mana Font: +15 mana per post
The wolf followed her for another five minutes or so before she tripped on a root and planted her face in the dirt. The creature, not expecting this, jumped over her and turned quickly to face her. While her face was in the dirt, the index finger of both of her hands made circles and then made a small hour glass inside of them. Rose rolled on her back and looked at the canopy, the sea of leaves that covered the sky. She saw how the spots between the trees looked like stars, dotting the leafy sky. Suddenly, they disappeared behind the creature’s figure as it jumped to her. The girl responded quickly, closing her left hand around the magic circle she drew in the air and releasing a powerful stream of air that only partially caught the creature on its side, sending it rolling to the side, away from her. When it was hit, it yelped, and while she could not see where it landed because she was still laying on her back on the forest floor, she could hear a thud of when it hit the ground and the scraping sound of its paws when it got back up.
Matching the sound of the wolf getting up, she too got up. She could see blood trickling down its right side, a wound caused by the stream of air. It was only a few drops, since it seemed to have missed it almost entirely, but a section of the creature’s leaf fur was blown away as if it had been burned by a rug. The animal hesitated and she took this as an opportunity to run once again. Turning away from the creature, she released the spell she had primed on her right arm, releasing the stream of air as an arch that cut down several trees in her way. Rose ran toward one of these trees and jumped on it, running over it, using it to get on another tree. She reached overhead, pulling herself up the tree, safely away from the forest floor.
When the girl looked down she found the wolf trying to climb up the log she had knocked down with her wind spell, but it came to no avail. The animal locked eyes with her, and after a brief stare down, the creature howled. Its howling was deep and loud, echoing through the forest floor. Once the echoing subsided, the forest came alive with more howls, coming from seemingly every direction. She looked around, feeling as if these animals were all around her; behind her, in front of her, below her as well as above, but when she looked, she saw nothing but leaves. Her eyes then moved to the base of the tree, and found that the wolf that had been chasing her was gone. She was safe, perhaps for the first time since she woke up. At least, that was what she hoped.
[Escape the MuskWolf 3/3] Mana: 120 l 150 Stamina: 50 l 50 EXP: 0 l 500 Pathfinder: 4 l 15
Passives
Detection Avoidance [Tier 1] Item Identification [Tier 0] Survival [Tier 0] Pathfinder: Every 15 posts, Roll a 10 sided dice to find map. Mana Font: +15 mana per post
Now safe, her attention turned to what kind of spell was it she was using. She was not sure what it was, but she could feel the swelling of her wind element within her whenever she was drawing the spells magical circle, so that would be enough for her to know what spell it was. She could pull out her notebook and pen and draw it out to figure it out, but first she would have to find a more suitable place to stop and do that. Holding on to the branches that were in front and above her while shifting her weight between her feet to ensure that the branches beneath her would not shatter did not seem like the safest place to stop and take notes. Rose shifted her eyes all around her, studying the trees and judged that all nearby trees were too far for her to make it jumping, but the branches at this middle range of the tree were thick enough for them to balance her weight. With a bit of hesitation girl released one of the branches and felt her body shake with fear as he mind went to what would happen if she were to slip. A look down was all it took for her stomach to turn to water and for the arm she was using to hold on to shake. Slipping or losing her grip at this height might be fatal. And if the fall itself didn’t kill her, the animals attracted to any cut and subsequent injury from the fall definitely would.
The arm that was still holding on began to ache as she held on. With her free hand, she drew a small magical circle, the same one as before with the hourglass inside of it. The circle materialized and began spinning in front of her open palm. Her hand closed around the circle with great strength, crushing the circle and activating the magic, which she released soon after, aiming her closed palm at the study branch. With one quick opening of the palm of her hand, a stream of wind jettisoned out of her hand and crashed onto the base of the branch. The sturdy branch snapped like a twig and the stream of air died down. Rose held back on to the nearby branches and slowly made her way to the downed branch. There in the tree there was a small flat base that she could stand on safely. Once there, she went into her backpack and pulled out some rope. She tied the rope onto the tree and the base of the broken branch, which was angled at about a fourty-five degree angle, leading higher up another tree. She secured the base of the broken branch to the tree, and then onto the palm of her hand, security just in case she fell.
Rose made her way onto the fallen branch and walked over it slowly. Every once in a while when she took a step she could feel the splintering of the wood beneath her. This made her anxious, but she knew she couldn’t stop. The most important thing was that she could not look down, nor did she. When she got to the other tree she breathed a sign of relief. With a quick motion, she pulled on the rope upwards, dislodging it from the tree she had just been on and pulling it back to her. She repeated this process a few times, getting higher up every time until she found herself in the center of a massive tree presumably at the center of the canyon. The flat area where she was now standing on was several times as wide as she was tall. Perfect for her to stop and rest for the night. She was getting hungry, but with night being close to falling it was for the best for her to stay and rest where it was safe until morning came. She took the last bit of light there was to pull out her notebook and pen, where she drew the circle with an hourglass in its center. She squibbled on the notebook names of different spells, next to them wrote down a description as she remembered it, but crossed them out when she realized it wasn’t quite right, until she finally wrote the words decapitating air waves, followed by a brief description of the spell, which was a ‘powerful blast or stream of wind that, while slow, packed a punch’. That felt right. She tore out that squibbled page on her notebook and rewrote it fresh. This time writing the name of the spell, her magic circle, the same words, and this time added the feeling of powerful winds locked inside her fist, the shifting winds in her mind and spirit and how they stirred once the circle was complete but before it was crushed in her hand. In the back of the notebook she wrote something else: ‘where am I?’ and followed up by underlining it. “Where the hell am I?” She wondered out loud as the canyon forest came alive once again with the sound of birds, insects, and all sorts of harmless critters. Whatever had been stalking these woods had its fill, and thankfully, it wasn’t her.
Mana: 125 l 150 Stamina: 50 l 50 EXP: 100 l 500 Ryo: 200 Pathfinder: 5 l 15
Passives
Detection Avoidance [Tier 1] Item Identification [Tier 0] Survival [Tier 0] Pathfinder: Every 15 posts, Roll a 10 sided dice to find map. Mana Font: +15 mana per post
The fact of the matter was she didn’t know where she was. The sky was obstructed by leaves so, at least for the time being, looking at the stars was out of the question. ‘Maybe I can climb up higher as the sun goes down and see where I am by looking at the stars.’ A good idea, but the fact of the matter was she knew next to nothing of stars. What she knew about was about magic, the aethereal and the mystic. Even with the knowledge of magic she once had, she unfortunately didn’t have any magic that allowed her to know her location. In fact, she had never heard of such a spell. A snap of her fingers and a rummage through her backpack later and she had her notebook at hand, this time at the back, and wrote down a feeling, something she would spend time to develop later. A feeling of helplessness, a weariness of trying to find one’s way back home. She left a space blank in her notebook for the name of the spell, she would worry about that later. What she did do now, however, was craft the spell circle she would use for this spell: a circle with a five pointed star created by taking a line down at the top of the circle at about a onehundred degree angle, then a line from the bottom to the left side, followed by a line straight across, then another line downward, and finally going back on top to close off the star.
She quickly closed the notebook and decided to go through her belongings now that it was safe and she had the room. Her hands held onto the backback by the bottom and she spilled the contents in front of her. Before inspecting the contents, she noticed that slung on the back of her backpack was a crossbow, loaded with a single bolt, and nine other bolts in a plastic bag glued onto the stock. She would keep that slung on the back of the backpack; firing that type of thing wasn’t really her style, but she figured it would be useful. Rose couldn’t figure out just what she was thinking when she ventured out of her little town with that but she decided not the dwell too much on it. Her attention turned to the spilled contents in front of her. There was a bedroll in there, which would be good for tonight, she could try to get a fire going, but she didn’t trust herself to, first of all, be able to build a good fire, and second, keep it from running out of control. What she didn’t know there was that for a fire to run out of control the vegetation would have to be dry. The tree she found herself in was alive and well, the odds of it burning down and starting a forest fire were slim, but still, she worried. The next thing she noticed was a hatchet. It was small, with the blade guarded to ensure it wouldn’t cut the backpack as she traveled; it was about half the size of a normal woodcutting axe, perfect for her to sling on her right thigh for her use in case something managed to sneak up on her and for some reason she wouldn’t be able to prime and cast a spell to defend herself. Just like the crossbow, this also was not her style, but much more useful than the crossbow.
She moved on from the hatchet once it was safely holstered on her thigh and next examined a small blade with a knuckle guard. Examining the blade, he noticed the initials B.A. etched on the blade. Bernard Axne. This knife belonged to grandfather, who had given it to her father when he turned ten, and then her father had given it to her when she turned ten. It would be useful to skin game and make stuff out of wood, she guessed. How was her family doing, she wondered as the thought crept into her mind without her desire. ‘They’re home.’ She assured herself. Though where home was, was an open question. ‘Just how far did I wander last night?’ She couldn’t say. But it had to be fairly far. More than fairly far if she was being honest. This heat, this forest, those rocks, they were all far away from her small Lightning Countryside Town. That much she knew, but she did not want to accept. A shake of her head was all it took to make these thoughts go away and instead focus on the task at hand: her backpack. Next were the journal and pen she has been using earlier, she knew that was in there of course, she had used it twice now, it served as her sort of grimoire and spell workshop for now. Once she had access to a town she would need to buy another journal, if not a complete leather bound book, to serve as her new grimoires. She put the notebook and pen away safely in her backpack and her eyes shifted from there to a piece of flint and a slab of steel. These were the perfect tools to start a fire; it would make the process much easier than having to trust her own survival abilities, thankfully, or else it would be a disaster, or so she thought.
Rolled in a sort of small blanket was a mess kit. Nothing too elaborate, just a rather large pot, a single pan and some cutlery. It wouldn’t make a gourmet meal, but good thing she was about as good as cooking as she was at reading the starts. She put the mess kit back in her backpack, and reached for the waterskin. She groped it and felt that it was full. ‘Good,’ she thought as she suddenly realized how parched she was. Rose pushed the waterskin against her lips and squeezed it lightly, letting a bit of water into her mouth. She knew not to get greedy with the drinking, she didn’t know where exactly she was, so rationing was probably the best move. Then, there was the rope, which she had already used. She would be using that again tomorrow morning to get down as low as she could. What she would most likely do was reach over to the neighboring tree with her little branch bridge she made, although she could also make more of those and get something useful and more long term working, but that was a problem for tomorrow morning. She left the rope outside of the backpack and lastly spied a spyglass. That would likely help her look at the stars and generally find her bearings, though that may be asking just a bit too much. She put the spyglass back on her backpack and pressed her back against a thick branch and closed her eyes to rest off the pursuit that occurred not long before. She didn’t realize how tired she had gotten from that until this very moment, so the rest was very well received.
Mana: 140 l 150 Stamina: 50 l 50 EXP: 100 l 500 Ryo: 200 Pathfinder: 6 l 15
Passives
Detection Avoidance [Tier 1] Item Identification [Tier 0] Survival [Tier 0] Pathfinder: Every 15 posts, Roll a 10 sided dice to find map. Mana Font: +15 mana per post
It was like a dream in more ways than one. The first was the fact that she would not remember every part of the beginning, the middle nor the end, especially not the beginning or the end. She had maybe been awake for fifteen minutes by the time she regained consciousness. It was the moments where the twilight and dusk danced in the sky, getting darker by the moment, rapidly so. The songs of the birds filled the sky and her head felt as numb as it did when she was inside of the crystals. Actually, her entire body felt numb. It felt different. She pushed her body from the wood that she rested against, she looked down at her hands and saw that they were black. At that point, she thought she might be dreaming, but the realization was not enough to wake her up so she must have been very deeply asleep so she shrugged it off. Her eyes locked onto her hands saw how animal-like they were. My fingers were slender and yet sharp at the very edge. Razor-sharp and hard, enough to cause some damage. My teeth were sharp as well, sharp enough to give that wolf from earlier today a run for its money.
If this was a dream, she wasn’t going to waste her time; she intended to explore it until she woke up. With a running start, she jumped from the tree she was in and slammed into the tree next to hers. She was fully expecting to phase through the tree, or even fly. However, that didn’t happen. Instead, she started to fall. With some quick thinking, and her newfound sharp fingers and toes, she gripped onto the tree and slid down, clawing her way to a full stop, maybe some thirty feet up the tree. Rose looked around to find the tree that was closest. She pushed against the tree she was holding onto and turned her body while in midair so she would be facing the new tree. Her shoulder slammed against the tree, but her other arm gripped tightly, digging her claws onto the tree’s bark, sliding down some five feet before stabilizing herself.
The girl did the same process maybe twice, before she was in the forest floor.
[Explore the Canyon Forest 1/4] Mana: 150 l 150 Stamina: 50 l 50 EXP: 100 l 500 Ryo: 200 Pathfinder: 7 l 15
Passives
Detection Avoidance [Tier 1] Item Identification [Tier 0] Survival [Tier 0] Pathfinder: Every 15 posts, Roll a 10 sided dice to find map. Mana Font: +15 mana per post
Shadebound l Shadowmancer l E - Rank l Greed Form/Human Form
You could really appreciate the sounds of nature better when you were at the floor. The sounds of insects and birds overtook you like a blanket, overloading the senses in a way that was exhilarating and confusing all at once. Rose walked along the forest floor on two legs but felt a pain in her upper back after walking about for maybe five minutes. Her body yearned to be on all fours, to walk like an animal. Fitting, given that she was in a jungle, but it also made her be without a vantage point. When her body dropped, she felt clumps hit the back of her head and her cheeks. It took a shake of her head for her to see that what grew out of her head was not hair, but instead it was hands. Strange dream… She thought to herself as she shifted between the trees. The ground felt damp against her hands and feet; they sank deep into the ground, leaving clear prints as she made her way west, away from the tree she had just dreamed into, and further away from that place where she came out of the crystal. Even though she passed trees that all looked relatively the same one to the other, she did spot differences in the environment. The differences were subtle, frustratingly so, but they were there. Some of the trees had mushrooms growing along their bark, others had flowers along their branches. The sound of birds died down, but the insects continued their serenade.
After perhaps walking for five or so minutes due west, Rose reached a clearing. She stood on her hind legs and looked around her, taking in the forest clearing and the light of the moon shining down on her. That was when she noticed that it was well into the night, and even though the moon acted as a beacon overhead, she could see just as well as if the sun was out. Dreams were a strange thing. As she let her body fall forward, the weight shift felt different. Instead of having her legs fall perfectly on the ground, it was her knees that contacted the soft dirt, her thin human hands feeling the moist dirt in a way her hardened purple hands could not a second ago. “I hope I remember this when I wake up.” She mumbled to herself in amazement and frustration. Rose got up from the ground and shook her hands to wipe the dirt off them and then her knees. She remained looking at the starts and saw a single shooting star fly through the sky and made a wish. The girl wished only to know where she was, but at least for the time being, her wish would not be granted.
[Explore the Canyon Forest 2/4] Mana: 150 l 150 Stamina: 50 l 50 EXP: 100 l 500 Ryo: 200 Pathfinder: 8 l 15
Passives
Detection Avoidance [Tier 1] Item Identification [Tier 0] Survival [Tier 0] Pathfinder: Every 15 posts, Roll a 10 sided dice to find map. Mana Font: +15 mana per post
Once she moved away from the light of the moon she was back on all fours in her purple hide and her sharp claws. She stalked the forest for some time, passing more moss and more mushrooms. Small critters moved about as she made her way through, but they looked at her as she went by, unsure if she was a threat to them or not. She wasn’t a threat to them right now. Oddly enough she wasn’t hungry and in this form, she would never feel hunger for meat, what she would feel hunger for, at some point or another, was Mana, though her natural regeneration of mana transcended even in death. Though she didn’t know that either. And she wouldn’t for some time.
As she moved, she could see fruits up in the trees. As she walked, she stepped on a line and heard the faint sound of bells, which instantly got her on guard. She heard shifting and footsteps nearby. Rose responded by bolting for the trees. A powerful jump is all it took to get her about fifteen feet up a tree, and with her powerful claws she dug deep into the tree’s wood and with a bit of climbing, she was up where it was safe. People moved about beneath her, but she couldn’t tell exactly how many of them there were. She could, however, hear them talking amongst themselves. It didn’t take them long to quiet down. It was an animal, they probably thought. They would not be far from the truth, but they also wouldn’t be exactly right. She turned her back on them and jumped to a nearby tree. Her claws once again dug into the wood and drifted downward slightly before stopping, and then she leaped up once again, reaching high branches. From there, she moved away once again, continuing her night time stroll.
[Explore the Canyon Forest 3/4] Mana: 150 l 150 Stamina: 50 l 50 EXP: 100 l 500 Ryo: 200 Pathfinder: 9 l 15
Passives
Detection Avoidance [Tier 1] Item Identification [Tier 0] Survival [Tier 0] Pathfinder: Every 15 posts, Roll a 10 sided dice to find map. Mana Font: +15 mana per post
❀Takira had for the most part remained silent since leaving the base behind them. She had placed her headphone like control rod over her ears blocking out the world as she listened to the beating of her own pulses. The air around her was off to say the least normally she wouldn't dare waste a minute silence. Not even as Jackal had started to take the campaign to a grinding halt inspecting each stepping spot with the highest of scrutiny. She let him do as he wanted. Even if he had missed a potential sinkhole it couldn't have stopped the girls progress. The bandit leader was more than capable of defying gravity with her blessing of metal that carried her through life. Yet she let this ever cautious Pillar of the tribe do it his way. Not only that she wasn't grinding the Badger shaped mechanized with her metal boot for all the mouthing off it was doing in her presence. Badger had been getting bolder and bolder with its complaining as they neared the destination. Jackal had been shooting the cretin looks occasionally and spying back to their leader herself. It was obvious that her silence was weighing on the party. For what reason had the ever bombastic bombshell of a beauty been so tight lipped? Math.
She was using the hike as a way of jump starting her otherwise stalled calculations. Math was everywhere in nature, ratios and patterns repeating through genetic makeup. Tweaked for each generation of evolution. She had stagnated being sealed away in her village. She was no where near closer to a breakthrough on her children's shells in the past week than when she started. As she had mentioned the morning of her departure it had been eating away at her. Her children were never going to be combat ready at this rate, only a select few of the Pillars even had the capability for actual combat with a humanoid. They needed the upgrades more than she needed her Magnesium. Fire had been raging behind her crimson eyes each step of the journey. While Takira was plenty smart she felt very stupid for being stuck on a single line of coding for a month.
The ground gave way from beneath her but she continued walking on the empty space until her feet had connected with terrafirma once again the surge of her chakra the only clue that she was even conscious to the existence of the world around her. This drew her mind from the struggle of math and coding. 'As to be expected. I doubted the world was kind to the mines while humans slept in the crystals...' After that spike in her presence the Jackal shaped mechanoid had taken even greater care in looking for weak soil. Her chakra and by its very nature her Conquer's Presence was a cruse for their would be recon mission minimizing it was the wisest course of action... or perhaps child merely disliked the sickly feeling the grip of her unnatural fear caused. The ground became more and more unstable as the neared the mine. Untold years of neglect to the maze of man made caverns had made the earth above it brittle as glass. Something that would need to be addressed when they had an iron grip over the mine, new supporting beams were a must. Even as is Takira was likely to cause cave ins if she needed to fight.
"Mutt," She said removing the headphones from her ears, allowing for the drums of war that was her pulse to subside, "Excellent job." Her voice was warm in a way Jackal had not heard before, rather than heat of rage it was soft. Lifting her prized cap off of her head she used her free hand to swipe her bands backwards out of her face before replacing the cap. "Ah only needed ta activate my field once this entire journey. Ya passed this test." The warm was slowly twisting as the words left her lips. Since when had this been a test? The moment Takria had heard of mine she wondered if her retainer would have had the foresight to realize the likely condition of the cavern system. Had she needed to waste significant chakra preventing them from falling to their deaths she would have sent the canine robot back to camp once they arrived. "You will be stayin' and gaining actual experience. As fer you... Badger." The twisting warmth had converted itself into its inverse at the mention of her smaller child's name. It was like the temperature around them had dropped with her mood not that the metal chassis could accurately read such changes. The crude excuse for a battleaxe that had been lazily floating around the party throughout the entire journey whipped itself into the somewhat stable ground next to Badger's head. Her natural born aura was gripping itself into Badger's core as her crimson eyes bore holes through is casing.
"Failure. Normally tha' axe woulda been two inches to the left, caving in yer core..." She started her aura digging its claws into whatever held Badger's emotions within the core's processes, "Redemption is yer mission. Sloth is an emotion y'all are nowhere near good enough ta be drownin' in. I'm telling ya this mine decides whether ya deserve the humanity ah unlocked for ya. Are you a Storm Bear or anotha' lousy waste of oxygen like that of Kumogakure?" She was no clown, she saw the many issues breathing emotions back into the clan of misfit robots had caused. For the most part the machines had taken it for the better returning to some semblance of normal, where as minority had clung to their singular emotion and wasted the chance. As mother of these emotions she bore the responsibility of course correcting those who fell short lest they become and shining beacon to whatever Jackal feared. "When we exit the mine ya shall either live on as one of my 53 children... or well..." She squatted down in front of the pitiful creature and placed a loose hand on her distorted weapon. In an instant the aura was reigned back into the bandits core. The forced emotions had lifted from the pair of machines as she rose with weapon in hand. As she had little control over oppressing individuals rather than a radius around her Jackal had taken the full brunt of everything directed at Badger as well. He would be able to understand quite clearly how she felt about the small machine at the time. Would he spite or pity the creature?
She strode past the pair as gained their selves back stopping just past Jackal to peer down abyss they would be venturing into. The smell of smoke filled her nostrils, the scent of twigs burning could only be a campfire. "Anzu eh? Ah don't see nothin' wrong with them feastin' on 'people,' humanity is laggin' behind in this world. The food chain is not the same Mutt. I remain the peak however." She announced that last bit without a single shred of shame. She believed it and everyone knew she did so as a matter of fact. She was tempted to forcefully expand her imperial territory like she had when she fell into the Wild Hunt. It would no doubt pull the attention of anything with a organic brain. Doing so would could be a boon or a bane. However without a grasp of what exactly a Anzu really was it would have been foolish. Takira was no fool. "Jackal if reports are accurate and these fifth gen's as ya call 'em are actually here... It's possible the Anzu or whatever are recognized owners. Else there would be active combat. This isn't the smell of a hard waged battle field. Ah doubt these machine have an ego... Perhaps the Anzu evolved genetic tracers that the Fifth used to determine ally from foe." The long handle of her weapon tapped against her shoulder as she mused her mind racing down sever tracks. It was dangerous as Jackal would likely pick up on... Takira was interested. She was taken by interest in what was going on in these mines. An intense flash of warmth flooded the bandits core, this raid would be a challenge for her if the creatures went hostile. Blush filled the girls cheeks as blood rushed through her body. Battle was likely. Blood would stain her iron. "This shall be quite interestin' Mutt." She said dangerously as she took a step past the slopes threshold towards the abyss. Chakra Pool:: [630 //630] Stamina Pool:: [320 //320] Reserve Stamina :: [200 //200]
Quote " You said you would become a martyr for your ideals. In life, you must have been a pure saint. A proud and noble figure, certainly. But who can truly admire the martyr’s thorny path? Who dreams of such an ending? A king… The king must be greedier than any other. He must laugh louder and rage harder. He must exemplify the extreme of all things, good and evil. That is why his retainers envy and adore him. And why the flames of aspiration, to be as the king is, can burn within his people. Proud king of chivalry… The righteousness and ideals you bore may indeed have saved your nation once. However, I’m certain you know what became of those who were saved, but left to themselves.” :: Iskandar Takira's ThemeDope - Die Mother ******** class="quote">
__________________The Jackal Wakens || tab Listening to Takira as she went about her business of threatening the Badger with well deserved punishment for his sniveling with one ear while the other kept focus on everything else, Jackal studiously kept track of the sounds of nature around them. The world had not gone silent at their passing, meaning either everything failed to recognize them as worthy predators or there were bigger threats to worry about. Given that their appearances were ones of the natural world it seemed to Jackal to be the latter of the two. That didn't bode well to him, not when they knew little of this place. tab His "mother's" sudden step past him, and the way she'd spoken, were not lost on him. It was clear that Takira wished for battle, some end to the boredom she felt on a near constant basis since she'd claimed the fallen city. Their progress with their personalities were, truly, frightening to the poor shard, but it was still astronomically less than the Bloodied Iron so desired. Keeping them all on a balance of emotional states to ward off the touch of the Butcher Maestro wasn't exactly easy, not with the raw Emotion that surged from their leader at nearly every breath, both positive and negative. It was this very emotion that he felt in her now, twanging at his soul as she searched for something, anything to warm the blood in her veins, to raise that pulse to a staccato to make a drummer blush. Yet he dare not stop her, voice his concerns, or try to derail her at any step, for once quick change could easily bring down the house of cards she'd built. tab And so he followed her over the edge, making sure to bow his head at her encouraging words even as he turned his ears to catch more sound, leaving the Badger to follow along behind them with its tail down in fear and despair. If it got worse he would need to silence the Shard himself, but for now Jackal left him alone. With any luck the natural dangers would take care of him. Turning his head he suddenly jerked to a stop and let out a grunt to get his master's attention even as his ears rotated slightly to catch the wind better. "There is...something..." he whispered, words quiet and tone neutral. "I believe it is the whirring of machines. From the North." Tucking his ears back he pressed forward up beside the young battle lord. "I can check onto it, to make sure it's not something pointless."
❀Takira turned her gaze to the mechanoid who she trusted enough to a third hand to the bandit and nodded. "Ah see no problem with it... however." She started, a mild fluctuation of her chakra would n** and pull at the metal beasts near her as her magnetic field ebbed and waved for another moment. The iron that had been trailing behind the party like an army of silent snakes began to lift into the air at Jackals advisement. The bandit merely twisted her right hand like she was directing musical before she placed the left against her left eye. A familiar sight for at least the canine of the group. A nearly insignificant clump of her iron was peeled from the tendrils swirling in the air at her right hand's command. The shape would fluctuate wildly the the various geometrical fabrications she was used to using widening in a moment before compressing into a small orb. As her left eye opened it was like it was without light, it ability to see dead. Instead the orb she had made took the shape of her eye. [1] "You will be takin' the Badger with ya. It'll only be in tha way if'in you ain't here. This construct will let me see for a fair bit of distance while ya look. Key word is see." She stressed this fact. She would not be able to come rescue them at simple request. This was a camera that lacked audio, if they needed her she would need to be physically shown. "Ah, I can keep it stable at a longer distance but It'll be uncontrollable. Badger will hold it, make 'im useful fer more than bitchin'." She swiped the ground quickly taking the metal rodent into her hand, her one eye that remained full of life bore a hole into its tiny little shard as if for his final warning before shoving the metal eye into his paws and dumping him on Jackal's head.
"I'll take it nice an slow down in tha mines," She mentioned before turning away from the pair and continuing into the darkness, "Ah won't even attack first." A dark chuckle escaped her lips making it clear beyond any shadow of a doubt any of the three had... she would retaliate if needed. The only reason she wasn't in full assault mode if because having to hold back a cave in from going wild would strain her current strength to the point she would likely be buried. She closed her left eye and resumed sight through the metal orb in Badgers possession. It was like staring one of the black and white Tv's she had stolen from a village towards the end of her life. The quality was s**t and Badger shaking didn't help. However thats what was needed to keep the connection stable for as long as possible. Hopefully Jackal wouldn't over extend. The remaining free iron would quickly form a half bubble behind Takira as a sort of minor defensive structure. It held no real strength without her focus on it but it would be enough to let her react to a back attack in the darkness. She kept the feed to her separated sight on in the background as she got deeper into the mines entrance and the pair got further away from it. 'Alone time... Hopefully I can get some Magnesium quickly. Fire could prove hugely useful for fighting down here. Whatever lives here can likely see a lot better than I... I should slow down let my eye adapt.' She slowed her pace considerably,she no longer needed to inspire anyone to action with the pair gone. She could take it as slowly and ruthlessly as she needed at the moment. Her and tightened its grip on BlunderHack as her visibility slowly and I mean slowly began to adapt to the darkness, the half bubble tightening it more of a shell.
[1][-10 Chakra, All Sight Rank D Jiton activated.] Chakra Pool:: [620 //630] Stamina Pool:: [320 //320] Reserve Stamina :: [200 //200]
Quote " You said you would become a martyr for your ideals. In life, you must have been a pure saint. A proud and noble figure, certainly. But who can truly admire the martyr’s thorny path? Who dreams of such an ending? A king… The king must be greedier than any other. He must laugh louder and rage harder. He must exemplify the extreme of all things, good and evil. That is why his retainers envy and adore him. And why the flames of aspiration, to be as the king is, can burn within his people. Proud king of chivalry… The righteousness and ideals you bore may indeed have saved your nation once. However, I’m certain you know what became of those who were saved, but left to themselves.” :: Iskandar Takira's ThemeDope - Die Mother ******** class="quote">
__________________The Jackal Wakens || tab The thud of the metal badger landing on his back made Jackal grunt, and not in the pleasurable way. Being saddled with this cretin could me on of a handful of messages, ranging from a simple trust to a test that would end with his innards on the floor, though why a "mother" would kill her "offspring" was anyone's guess. Still, if his death were to be at the hands of Takira it would be best to simply act as normal and wait for the end to come. Getting emotional about it wasn't going to solve any problems. This certainty of death only increased as they were entrusted with the sand-eye from the Bloodied Iron herself. tab Great. tab Still, it seemed they had a mission. As Badger quailed on the top of his head Jackal made his way deeper into the forest, his movements careful and precise as he maneuvered through the brush, leaving the others behind and allowing the calm silence of the forest move through him. tab To Takira, however, she would find something more interesting here. All around her sparkled metals within the walls, even here at the entrance. Yet, too, there was rubble and dust at the feet of the walls, showing that something had begun digging at it, and given its loose nature it hadn't been long since those piles were made. Still, the sparkling got dimmer the further in she moved, the only light coming from behind her. tab It wasn't that long at all before she would hear something in the distance. A servo whirring, a steady, rhythmic thwacking, and worse: the sound of moisture dropping into water somewhere ahead.
❀Takira kept at a brisk but careful pace only going slow enough to not trip over any stray rubble during the increasingly dimming field of view. It wasn't long until even the light from behind her had tapered away leaving her along in the oppressively darkness. In her old life she would have just placed a hand on the cave wall and continued on since if she couldn't see her fellow humans were unlikely to take her on surprise either. However in this land of giant chimera plants and talking robots she knew she couldn't bank on night vision not being a thing for her opponents doubly so with their apparent lack of lighting in an area they clearly worked in. Luckily there was one technique she had learned when she was just a wee child adapting to her magnesis that would come in handy for getting some light.
There was very few techniques she had under her belt that weren't strictly based around her iron or magnesium. She hadn't and still doesn't see much merit in the fancy magic tricks, sorry ninjutsu, of the Kumogakure elite. Practical is practical however. [1] She let go of her ax she left it to float around her magnetic field, like a dotting child seeking attention, before squeezing her hand into a fist. The ax thunked mutely into the soil next to her as all of her iron sand clumped upon against her person. Her hands extended outwards in a spreading motion and her iron obeyed. In a moment she had walled off both sides of the tunnel blocking both sight and attempted sneak attacks. Not that it would stop anything per say, instead it was there to act as a motion detector. Happy with her adequate defense system she set to work.
Her began darting back and forth as if she was reading from a book in front of her. Instead she was 'reading' through her memory trying to pinpoint whatever deteriorated fragment of memory she might have regarding how she learned how to manipulate electricity. 'Ah right it was something like... almost like manipulating my metal. I don't have many memories since it came so naturally.' She thought idly her memory banks coming up empty this time.[2] Being half of what makes up her bloodlines technique electricity manipulation was rather easy to learn starting out but after spending so many years focused solely on her bloodline... Well to say it wasn't instant was an understatement.[3] It was like untraining her muscles. Every time she would move to create electricity it proved only to warp her magnetic field. Wiping the air she returned her wobbled walls back into clean curtains for the twentieth time. With a sigh she placed her hands an inch apart from each other once again, focusing on the chakra flowing through her arms.[4] After what felt like hours of attempts, which amounted to only 12 minutes, a crackle flickered across the stone walls around her. Thin lines of electricity arced from one hand to the other like violent silly string aching to be played with.[5]
Her eye stayed trained not on the electricity was was generating with her chakra but rather the tunnel around her. For the past few attempts she had been hearing a dripping noise that had been breaking her concentration. Turning around she spotted the source. A small puddle was forming around her Blunderhack as water dripped from the ceiling above. Takira's blood froze. She was aware of the condition of the soil above but she had neglected to factor in just how long she'd been gone. Of course new pockets of underground waterways would have formed in the crust. Her breathing had gotten rougher the more her minds eye began to create nightmarish situations. What if an underground lake had formed into the gaps created by plate technonics? Unconsciously her hands had listed her iron sand from blocking her front and back to supporting the ceiling above her. The axe glued to the space at her back acting as a sort of shield for her spine. She was not going to risk being drowned. The farther away she got from this potential watery grave the better. Her skin was covered in goose pimples as she made a brisk walk down the tunnel, her eye was laser focused whatever she would see between creating sparks of light from electricity. This focus however drowned (haaHAAAA) out the sound of gears and mechanical shifting. Her fear of water overriding her tactical thinking. She started having flashbacks to her first day in this new land, having almost drowned in a coffin of her own making while she was getting away from the walls of fire and water. Her muscles ached as the phantom pain of road rash radiated her flesh. 'Not again. ******** water, not going to force my hand into stupid decisions again.' She thought as she made a stupid decision of moving fast. [5/5][Lightning Manipulation, Rank X. GET!] Chakra Pool:: [620 //630] Stamina Pool:: [320 //320] Reserve Stamina :: [200 //200]
Quote " You said you would become a martyr for your ideals. In life, you must have been a pure saint. A proud and noble figure, certainly. But who can truly admire the martyr’s thorny path? Who dreams of such an ending? A king… The king must be greedier than any other. He must laugh louder and rage harder. He must exemplify the extreme of all things, good and evil. That is why his retainers envy and adore him. And why the flames of aspiration, to be as the king is, can burn within his people. Proud king of chivalry… The righteousness and ideals you bore may indeed have saved your nation once. However, I’m certain you know what became of those who were saved, but left to themselves.” :: Iskandar Takira's ThemeDope - Die Mother ******** class="quote">
__________________The Jackal Wakens || tab Each step took her further in, and each step echoed louder in her ears as she moved. The electricity passed from her into natural metal deposits in the walls, floors and ceiling, causing them to hum and glow with the energy that now charged them. They died slowly, releasing their energy into the surface around them, but it would take some time, with the surfaces still glowing enough to see by minutes later. It also highlighted the puddles of water, moisture from the damp lands above that threatened to come down upon her at any point- tab A low, rumbling cry resonated out from somewhere deeper within, a note that rattled per bones along with the environment around her. From somewhere deeper in a red light blared to cast the world in various shades of scarlet. tab And somewhere in that light, a figure. tab It was gone the next moment, but somewhere in that light stood something enormous, man-sized but massive in scale, something that tickled her memories trying to tease them free. But it was gone a moment later, along with the red light. tab And by then it had become entirely too quiet.
