|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 5:47 pm
"Rhys!" Sue slung her bow over her shoulder, at last releasing at least the concern she felt... the emotions she had held back for so long finally being released. The nomad honestly tried to think that this instinct of concern was a burden. The true burden was trying to hold it back.
Getting off her horse, she placed her hands upon the bishop's shoulders. "Hang in there, Milord. You really shouldn't have come out to this battlefield, not when you're ill like this... for your sake, I'll wait, and when they fall.. I'll catch them. I'll do that much. For now..." she stayed alert. "I'll protect you."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 5:57 pm
"N-no, I just... overdid it, is all," Rhys said, still shaking a bit. He'd feel worse later, he realized, but for now, he had to stay. He wasn't going to leave anyone's side now. He'd remain a soldier 'til the battle was won. "But I'm thankful for your concern," he added, a small smile on his face. "And I'm glad you're here with us."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 6:01 pm
"How... could you be? This is just like what happened with my tribe." Sue muttered, regretfully. She was only a young novice at the bow when the Kutolah tribe fell to Bern's Wyverns, but that was beside the point. It still felt the same. She was powerless. "I haven't really... been much of help to anyone. I can't possibly be Chief... a Crewmember. Not when I'm so... useless."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 6:29 pm
Sue sounded... not confident in herself. Rhys felt sympathy; a lack of confidence in oneself sounded like a problem he also had. "Heh... well... look at us now. We've got..."
He pointed at himself, being sick. Then Ninian, being asleep. Then Kishuna, being battered. Then Ed, being equally battered.
Then he pointed at Sue.
"Sue, you're the only one of us still standing. If someone should ambush us out here, or whenever the battle between Rei and Amelia ends... regardless of the outcome, what happens after that is up to you. You feel useless now? You won't feel that way for long."
He paused, and took a deep breath. He was speaking a bit too much, but, well, that was the kind of guy he was. Sure, he could give in to sickness, just not say anything, and relax, but he'd always been one to kick reason to the curb.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 7:30 pm
Rei chuckled as he had successfully parried the girl's attack, slightly loosening the grip on the staff. As the butt of the spear flew towards his chest, Rei's eyes widened in shock at the incoming blow, his fingers fumbling to get a grip on the staff. As the thrust connected, Rei was flung back multiple feet, barely keeping his balance.
The staff had flown from his hands, landing harshly on the ground. The gem had cracked, and slowly began to split, rendering the item useless. As Rei regained his posture, the gem had been consumed by the void, the staff following soon after. ...what a loss. Oh well. Rei had pulled out a tome again, not waiting for a reprieve.
As the tome began to glow, it left the boy's hands, hovering in the air. With a few fleeting hand gestures, Rei looked up at the General, smiling. It's all over.
An orb rose from the ground, slowly pulsating like the beating of a heart. As the orb rose fully from the ground, it took visible form: an eye. As the eye began to blink, darkness began to drip from it, forming into tentacles. The pulsating continues, each dull thump making the aberration's pupils dilate more and more.
It was a Mogall.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 7:42 pm
Amelia smiled, huffing out a breath. She was tired, exhausted from all the damage she'd weathered and distance she'd covered, battles fought. She was fully prepared to put up a "Do Not Disturb" sign in front of her door and sleep for hours. Days, maybe. That'd feel nice, sleep in bed for a nice, long time, no interruptions...
She froze as Rei got up. She had thought he wouldn't have recovered from that. Mages were fragile, and a blow to the chest... his tome was floating before his hands now, though, and before Amelia could wonder what spell he was about to use, it began to materialize.
Amelia stared, eyes widening in abject horror. The lance slipped out of her hands, terror slipping down her form, sending a violent tremor down her spine. The tentacles thrashing below the huge, floating eye, pupil focused directly on her. Those things had wicked magic power, and one of that size, fueled by the energy Rei had from this elder magic prison... Amelia's throat seized up. This was bad. She wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go; trapped. She froze in place, lance at her feet, starting to dissolve away into the spell, visibly terrified.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 7:50 pm
Rei cackled, shaking his head at Amelia's horror. "Oh, come on, little girl! You can't handle a little eyeball?" Rei took the floating tome back into his hands, slowly closing it. But, the aberration remained, staring intently at the General. "The great Amelia, feared Mistress of the Spear, adored member of the Host Club, afraid of an eye? Pathetic." Rei stretched a hand towards the creature, closing the hand into a fist. As the hand closed, the thumping of the monster's life increased, like a stressed heartbeat. Each thump caused the creature to become brighter and brighter, it's translucent visage become more and more tumultuous, more chaotic, brimming with dark energy.
"How fitting to kill you with such a weak creature. Shows you just how helpless you really are." The Mogall slowly inched towards Amelia, becoming brighter and brighter, until the energy seemed almost ready to burst.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 7:54 pm
Amelia stumbled one step back, scowling weakly. Her lance was too far gone now for her to grab it again; already half had dissolved away, and the magic was still eating at it. To grab it now would be useless; she suspected it wasn't even physical anymore, just an image until it all vanished. "I am not pathetic!" she shouted, her voice taking a slight hoarse tone at her voice being raised. "Or helpless! I--! ...I-I..." Amelia trailed off, nearly falling over as the Mogall swelled even more.
A heartbeat, steady and thumping, pulsing into her brain, bright light. Amelia winced, covered her face with her arm. Pulsing heart, bright light, dark energy swirling around him. Amelia tasted copper. She wanted to scream, but no sound came. She just took another shaky step back, staring at the Mogall, afraid of the tentacles, of the energy to burst out, the deep pupil staring right at her, ready to burst.
Rei, stop...! Before it's too late!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 8:25 pm
Checkmate. The girl could do nothing but stand and gawk, struggling to muster up a response. Meanwhile, the ticking time bomb got closer and closer, the battle that much closer to ending. "Not helpless? Then help yourself out of this. Come on, show me what you-"
The Mogall began bubbling, energy continuing to flow into it, light getting stronger and stronger. "Oh, look at that! Time's up!" Rei clapped his hands together, taking a few steps back. "It's been nice playing with you, kid, it really has, but now it's time to say goodbye, so I can destroy the rest of your little friends." Rei rose his hand, preparing to detonate the being with a simple snap of the fingers.
Enough!
Rei flinched, quickly shaking his head. The pale crimson haze in his pupils has disappeared, if only for a moment, as Rei removed a tome. Putting all of his effort into the spell, Rei pulled a large construct from the abyssal floor. All that could be seen was a large, barbed tail, similar to the tendrils he had created so many times before. But, the tail ended in a large ball with a stinger on the end, which also contained dark energy. But, the energy in the tail was... brighter than the Mogall's. It held a warmth, a compassion for humanity, as opposed to the over destructive nature of Mogall. With a quick attack, the tail shoved the Mogall towards Rei.
"I'm... sorry."
As the force exploded, the tail instantly dissipated, the shockwave causing the realm to violently shake as everything appeared to collapse in on itself. The shaking became worse with each second, to the point where everything seemed blurred.
Silence.
In an instant, the dark orb in the sky had vanished, a thin purple fog covering the ground around Rhys and company, as faint blue runes covered the ground. The group had been healed, at least to walking condition, if not more so, as the fog disappeared. In the middle of it all was Rei's body, sprawled out across the ground.
Learn to defend your mind from those that wish to assail it, so your control over your own body is absolute. Rei wearily smiled. I did it. I defended... myself.... His eyes closed as everything went black.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 8:39 pm
Amelia nearly fell over, mouth slightly open, as she stared at the magic encroaching on her. "R-Rei, stop...!" she managed. She couldn't see anything but that inky darkness coming forwards, flailing tentacles and focused pupils, hear thudding heartbeats, mind going to a father left to bleed on the ground while a mother was dragged away by strange men, men with dripping axes and darkness in their eyes as a village was left to burn and orphans were left to starve and cry.
Amelia nearly screamed, and had it not been for the sudden introduction of a new being in their Apocalyptic space, she would have done so. She stared at the tail, the glowing tip and then, as if realizing what he meant to do, her eyes widened.
"R...Rei...?"
She screamed now, as the echoing shockwaves rippled out and threw her back, power pulsing and ripping through her body, pain threading into her voice, weaving itself there tightly. Her vision went dim, hands shaking, chest heaving, and then... suddenly it all just...
...Stopped.
When Amelia opened her eyes, she expected to see the Elysian Fields, or maybe the River Styx, something. Instead of seeing some form of the afterlife, though, she found herself at the forest's edge again, some of her wounds healed over, body strong enough to hold itself up, and there on the grass...
"Rei!" Amelia shrieked, instinctively rushing to him. She collapsed to her knees next to the Druid, one shaking hand touching his hair before she lapsed into watery sobs, arms wrapping around the Druid. She hugged him tight, not caring that she still had on her armor or he, for all intents and purposes, looked dead. She took in a shaking breath, fear in her voice when she spoke up. "P-Please be all right, Rei, please... you can't die, what'll Nino say? Oh goddess, no, please..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 8:54 pm
Rhys felt the strange fog come over him, the eerie purple fog... but oddly enough, he felt better. He still felt a little sick, and knew he'd stay that way for a while, but he felt better.
Is it over? It's healing energy. Did they... land? How? Did we win?
"Rei!"
Rhys sat up, knowing that voice. Amelia was alive! She'd won! And she'd even brought Rei back alive! Happy day, they'd won after all! And Amelia was happy, too! She was just sobbing those tears of joy!
...Wait. What did she just say? "You can't die?"
...Oh, dear....
Rhys crawled over to Rei and Amelia, saying nothing. Reaching out a hand, he grasped Rei's wrist, feeling for a pulse.
Nothing.
Maybe he was doing it wrong? But even if Rei was a magician (and magicians didn't need to move as much), he should've exerted considerable energy doing all that he had done. There ought to be a pulse...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:48 am
"Rei!" Sue too shouted, commanding Andre to dash at his fastest pace towards the fallen Druid. When she saw Rhys and Amelia's expressions of anguish... she knew exactly what it meant. However, the nomad was still in denial. This couldn't have happened... no.
Dismounting, the Trooper placed her hand not on Rei's wrist... but his heart.
Ba-bump. Ba-bump.
However faint, it was a heartbeat. Very feeble, as if it wanted to stop any second because it was so fatigued.
Mother Earth, Father Sky... spare him. He's done nothing wrong of his own free will...
"Rhys, he's alive! He's alive!" The nomad said frantically. "You have to hold him up... let me get this elixir down his throat!"
She'd been carrying one since she left Fefga's, prepared to use it whenever it was needed. Thanks to her speed, she'd dodged enough for the medicine to still have a full bottle. Good thing too, because Rei looked like he needed all three shots of it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 12:11 pm
". . . Ugh." A voice sounded nearby, as Kishuna limped nearer; he didn't seem too badly off, but one leg was pretty numb and he wasn't able to move it. Goddamn ice. "Stupid. . . kid. Everyone around here has to be the hero, huh? Jeez, can't you just control yourselves?" He glanced over the group, then shook his head at Sue's little bottle. "Don't you think that's a bit strong right now?" he asked. "Elixirs can't fix everything. He has to be stabilized first." Above one of the Morph's hands grew a small ball of a soft purple, the insides swirling with a faint liquid movement. "Just wait for a moment." With a flick of a finger, the ball floated over to Rei, sliding gently into his body. At the same time, Kishuna winced, then sank to his knees. "Guh, damn, that's not pleasant. . ."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 1:25 pm
"Was that..." Sue almost freaked out upon seeing what Kishuna had done, and she openly cringed. "We... really do have souls... don't we?"
To think, Rei was only 'alive' just barely because his soul was about to leave? Even the most stoic of minds would taste fear.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Overlord of Night- Shadow
|
Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 1:28 pm
Kishuna frowned, then shook his head at the girl, albeit a bit weakly. "Silly girl, it's nothing so trite as that," he told her. "He was on the verge of death. All I did was donate a bit of my own quintessence to him to bring him back into this world. Pure life force, to keep him from Death's grasp." He closed his eyes for a moment. "But it's exhausting, to give of yourself. . . now, are you going to give him that Elixir or not? It shouldn't be such a shock to his system now."
(Pft, change accounts? Nah.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
