Lord of Azure Flame: Chapter 17: I got nothing.

[riariadne]

Chase stumbled around on Ava behind the group, exhausted from the trek through the canyon and confused. "So now what are we doing now? I don't know my way around Septimus well enough to know where we should be going... ugh," he complained.

Conrad galloped even further behind Chase, and dismounting Thunderbolt, he approached Luc. "So you're Count Altair! That was a surprise to me. I suppose I might as well confirm my own identity. As you might have guessed, I'm Conrad Jackson, General of Eliyisma," he introduced himself, extending his right arm.

Edited August 18, 2010 by Lightning

[Snowy_One]

Response to prior bit

"I'm sorry." said Esphyr, rubbing her eight coins together. "I have this thing about betraying employers trust. It tends to be bad for business. Sides, I'm afraid I don't like you enough to consider accepting the job."

[Inactive Account]

"We're moving?" Kelas said, hearing the announcement from the other room. "Ah, I have to find my brother... Stay here a minute, I'll be right back," she told Isotov, getting up and heading to look for Arrin.

He wasn't too hard to find; snoring was issuing from a room with an open door. "Arrin, wake up," Kelas said quietly, then again, a little bit louder. She tugged on his shoulder, beginning to worry.

"'samatter?" Arrin mumbled, finally waking up a bit.

"We're staying somewhere else. Come on, let's go."

[Dark Sage]

"Huh? We're moving?" said Alferis, "And discounts? Excellent," he said beaming and running off to get Reika from her bed.

"Hey Reika, we're moving into the manse,"

"Good," she said curtly, dragging herself out of bed.

[Snike]

Derek, Dani, then Eric

"... Very well, let us be off," Derek said, letting Luc lead the way. After about twenty minutes of walking, an elegant mansion came into sight. The Directus captain led the group to the stables, then left, presumably to stable his own stallion. Inside the stables, servants were directing members of the group into the mansion, and rooms, while others were storing the mounts. Derek waved his attendant off, and went to stable Ann himself.

Dani let a stable boy take her horse away, then immediately ran up into the house, and, upon finding a free room, shut herself inside it, feeling depressed.

Eric, on the other hand, waited until everyone had entered the building, then, slipped out, troubled.

[Inactive Account]

Kelas quickly returned, dropping some food into Arrin's hands, and leading Isotov back out of the inn. She had Amari and Francis brought up, and they set off with the rest of the group, Arrin halfheartedly eating a roll as they rode.

OOC: Lame timeskip post is lame. I'm guessing Phoenix is doing a thing, so I'll wait to do less-lame stuff til I see what he does.

[Phoenix]

OOC: @ Kiryn

Yeah it was a pretty big thing too. See below for details.

What Is Love?

Ixion was still wary of what was happening, but he decided to put his trust in Miranda. Shanice was in tears and biting his lip over on the platform.

Shanice: (This isn't fair. He brings back the psycho bitch and now they're gonna do it right in front of me? It's like everything bad that could ever happen just happening all at once. It's a nightmare! Why can't I wake up?!)

After a moment he sounded out, still crying a bit!

Shanice: You assholes!! That's not fair!! Getting all intimate right in front of me like this?!! What's your problem?!! Are you trying to torture me you sick twisted freaks?!!

Miranda: Awww, Shanice want some too? You horny little devil, you.

Shanice: Argh!! Untie me so I can kill the both of you!! Now!!

Ixion turned to Miranda with a confused look on his face.

Ixion: Here?

Miranda: Ixion, today you just may learn that where intimacy starts doesn't matter. It can end up ANYWHERE.

A single drop of sweat ran down his face, and she quickly moved in placing her arms around his neck and shoulders before pulling herself very close to him.

Ixion: This still feels a little ... ... strange.

Miranda: That's called inexperience. It'll fade away once you start getting used to being woman handled.

He raised his eyebrow not sure what to make of her explanation, and then she moved in for the kiss. Their lips touched lightly, but Ixion didn't begin returning her kiss right away. He wanted to but was still uncertain. She decided to comfort him one last time, all the while her lips were still lightly pressing against his.

Miranda: It'll be alright ...

Ixion let out a concerned groan before finally kissing her back. She tightly hugged him as he placed his hands down around her waists and his eyes closed right along with hers.

Shanice: Eeeg ... (FFFFFF**************-)

Half way through their kissing embrace, a single spark of crimson lightning ran up Miranda's side. She placed her hands over the back of Ixion's head and pulled him just a bit closer before several more sparks appeared and ran over the surface of her form! Suddenly, a storm of red lightning erupted in her mouth and flew straight down Ixion's throat, shocking the Dark Druid with a lethal amount of power! She held him in place as his body lit up, and never let the kiss end throughout the assault! The lightning storm that engulfed them lasted an astounding twelve seconds, and when it was over, she released him! He quickly dropped down and slumped up against the wall while smoke rose up from his body! She took a few steps back while feeling her lips with her fingertips, and Shanice's face was that of sheer and utter shock!

Shanice: What ... did you ... just ... DO?!

Miranda: You know, Shanice, it's a real shame that I do your job even better than you do.

Shanice: You're using part of my body, you bitch! Now seriously! What the f*ck did you just do?! A Druid's resistance to magic is too high for you to be able to do that!

Miranda: Silly demon. He let his guard down. Magical resistance is strongest on the outside of the body. I merely sent a full lightning spell directly to his heart threw his mouth. I pretty much bypassed his resistance in that regard.

Shanice: ... what is this-I don't even ...

Miranda: Right. Okay where's Proxima?

Shanice: Why would I tell you?

Miranda: You probably wouldn't. I just wanted to be sure that the tome I'm sensing is actually the crimson fire tome.

Shanice: You can sense it?!

Miranda: I'm using part of your body. Blame yourself. If I really didn't know where Proxima was, I would have pressed Ixion on the issue. I just wanted to be sure. Okay then, I'll be back. I'm heading down to the library to grab the tome, then I'll come back and tidy up a bit.

Shanice: Tidy up a bit?

Miranda: You know, killing you ... making it look as if Ixion's experiments got out of hand ... burning this project of his to the ground ... etctera.

Shanice: ... *sigh* ... I tried to warn'em ... I tried to warn'em and now look what happens.

Miranda quickly put a jolly smile on her face and left the chamber, making sure to shut the door behind her. Shanice lifted his head as high as he could and saw Ixion lying in up against the wall, still giving off a small cloud of smoke.

Shanice: ... idiot. Looks like I'm next on her to kill list. I've gotta get outta here before she comes back! Urgh! Oh thanks a lot, Ixion! You made the spell so strong that I can't muscle my way out, and now I'm gonna die too! ... ... ... why am I yelling at a corpse?

Suddenly he heard a cough and flinched! He looked over to where Ixion was and saw the man move just a little!

Shanice: OH MY LORD, HE YET LIVES! Ixion! Ixion!! ... IXION!!! Wake up, you dumbass!!

Ixion: *cough* ... c-caaaan't ... move.

Shanice: You stupid ... stupid ... STUPID HEAD!!! ... ... ... look I'm out of insults, okay?

Ixion: Where ... did she ... go?

Shanice: To steal Proxima from the library. Look that doesn't matter right now! I'm chained down, and you're obviously being molested by the angel of death right now! Unbind the spell so I can kill her before she kills both of us!

Ixion: I'm not ... letting you run free. Not while I'm *cough* ... in this condition.

Shanice: Look, asshole! I tried to warn you! What did I tell you?! What did I f*cking tell you over and over again?! Crazy psycho bitch! Now do something useful and let me out of these chains, before she comes back and fries us!

Ixion: I won't ... let it end like this ... ... nos ... n-nosf ...

Ixion gagged slightly and then let out a series of heavy coughs before looking up to the ceiling and calling out!

Ixion: NOSFERATU!!!

His body was suddenly surrounded by a violet aura! Two strands of mana that led off into the distance became so overpowered with energy that they became visible for but a moment! Their bright purple glow faded quickly, and Ixion's wounds were healed, though only enough to allow him to stand on his feet. He was still in no condition to fight.

Shanice: There's no one here! Where did you get that energy from?

Ixion: That was a back up plan ... I didn't expect to ever have to use it, but I suppose it pays to have strong connections.

Shanice: ... ohhhhh. I see what you did there. Not bad. Now release me!!

Ixion: And let you wreck the place? I think not.

Shanice: Come on! Temporary truce until she's dead! She's going to steal the tome and neither of us will get it.

Ixion: You think I cannot track her down? You think that wherever she goes I won't find her?

Shanice: I think she'll get inside your head again and totally dominate you! That's what I think, you stupid horny bastard! ... this is all you fault.

Suddenly a rumbling overtook the entire tower! It was like unto an earthquake, and the both of them were completely caught off guard!

Ixion: Another quake?

Shanice: That's not the Lord ... what the hell is going on here?!!

Outside the tower, Miranda held Proxima in her hands, and over three dozen Ivanko Mercenaries lied unconscious across the ground over a wide area. The base of the tower had been covered in strange drawings.

Miranda: And to think, if Ixion wasn't so power obsessed I might have actually gone along with the whole let's be lovers thing. Trouble is, it only works with men like Iso who aren't coddlephobic. Okay enough prattling to myself. It's demolition time.

The symbols that were drawn quickly lit up, and she fired off a plethora of lightning attacks striking each symbol dead at its' center while running around the tower! Once she'd struck enough of them, the tower began to collapse! Meanwhile, inside the tower ...

Ixion: It's her!

Shanice: AHHHHHHHHHH!!! Release me before I get crushed!

Ixion: Urgh! As if you actually matter!

Shanice: Ixion!! Don't leave me here!!

Ixion: Grrr ...

Shanice: ... p-please? ;_;

Ixion: ... ... ... dammit it all.

Isotov

When Iso and Kelas entered the mansion, Iso suddenly felt a terrible pain overtake his entire body! He quickly fell to his knees as a violet aura drained him of his energy and reforged some of his battle wounds! His open cuts bled profusely and he immediately vomited up a frightening amount of blood!

Iso: Urrrrrrg!- ... it's a ... dark magic ... spell ...

Iso quickly collapsed and lost consciousness!

Viveka

Having to change locations wasn't easy on her, but Jasmine helped her as best she could. Suddenly Jasmine was repelled back from Viveka by a violet aura! The spell brought Viveka to her knees and she felt horrible pain overtake her entire body! All she could do was cry out in pain before keeling over and curling up in a ball on the floor!

Viveka: ... help ... I can't ... breathe! H-help!

Jasmine: What's going on here?! Viv!!

As the aura faded, she blacked out on the floor, and Jasmine tried her best to figure out what was wrong! Unable to even figure out what had happened, she called out for help!

Jasmine: Someone help!! Viv is down!! Someone, anyone heeeelp!!

OOC: Decided to do one more installment after this which will pretty much wrap up the IxionxMirandaxShanice subplot

EDIT:

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Human!Miranda. Here's hoping that Demon!Miranda can screw up life for the baddies just as much as the old one did.

Edited August 18, 2010 by Phoenix

[Inactive Account]

Arrin had wandered off in search of the kitchens, not of his own accord but on Kelas' orders. As Kelas led Isotov through the door he collapsed, coughing blood.

"What the-- HEALERS!" Kelas shouted, dropping to her knees and grabbing some spare bandages, bunching them up and applying pressure in an attempt to stop Isotov's reopened wounds from bleeding. "What kind of a trap is this, anyway?!"

[Snike]

Derek

"... We need a healer here, too!" Derek yelled, as he heard Viveka going down and Jasmine's shouting. Stepping over to the fallen pegasus rider, he noticed that wounds had spontaneously opened up, as if they were never healed. "... Black magic?" he wondered, before taking a vulnerary found a few days ago, and applying it to the wounds.

[Ansem]

"...... I'll send Pary out then." He responded to the headmaster. "We have nothing to lose if he dies." He soon overheard that they were leaving over the commotion. "Looks like we werent gonna stay here for long. Thats awesome." The site of Iso collapsing didnt shock him as much as it did to Kelas. "Is it me or does the world revolve around this dude?" He asked. "We need a healer here!" Thats when he realized. "Dark magic..... and you..." He said pointing at the Headmaster. "Are you alright?"

Edited August 18, 2010 by Solf J. Kimblee

[Snowy_One]

"I'm fine for now." said the Headmaster. "If I was feeling off or sick, I would have flown away a long time ago. Aside from Morgan, this group simply lacks a powerful enough dark magic user to ambiently affect me."

[Ansem]

"That wasnt one of us. Morgan wouldnt want to kill a crimson weapon wielder. and she isnt around. Cess doesnt know Iso enough to kill him. He isnt around either." He replied.

[Inactive Account]

"You lot going to natter about it, or you going to help?!" Kelas demanded, now rummaging for a vulnerary, applying part to the wounds and tipping the rest into Isotov's mouth. His breathing grew a bit less ragged; he was stabilized, but he still needed healing.

[Snowy_One]

"That... Thing that Iso is undergoing is a concern... But can it really be? I mean, it's just pain and suffering. Not like it means much. If he were my student, I would have broken his bones before letting him collapse to the ground!" said the headmaster, a slightly gleeful tone in her voice. Already faint spikes of blood-red coloring were invading her eyes as her veins started to stand out, pulsing gently with the beginnings of her insanity.

[Script]

To Conrad

"That will just make our future partnership all the more interesting General," Luc said.

At the Mansion

How could someone penetrate Directus' security like this? Dammit. "Bragolande, get to the training grounds, get some healers!"

"Yes, sir," the middle-aged servant said and ran off.

"Holvon, is my family here?"

"No, sir! Your parents are out and Lady Jeanne hasn't returned from her training yet."

"Alright," Luc said. "Someone find Carter, he might be able to do something about this."

Two more servants ran off to look for the man.

Edited August 11, 2011 by Script

[Ansem]

"Your not okay. Control yourself, Headmaster." he said backing away, ready to attack if necessary.

Edited August 18, 2010 by Solf J. Kimblee

[Snowy_One]

"Control myself? Why? I feel positively invigorated! Like I could just... I don't know... Grab someone then fly up high before dropping them to earth, and rib their heart out of their chest on the way down."

[Ansem]

As long as she doesnt go around attacking others there is no need to attack. If only I can just stall her while Tessa or someone gets here........ A butler was walking around before Helios caught him by the shoulder. "Get a healer in here, now."

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan saw Esphyr talking to Damian and walked over, but was interrupted by the yells of Isotov and Viveka.

Dark magic...and at such a range? Flemeth? But she never even met these two as far as I recall, let alone have a desire to drain their lifeforce.

"Well, it isn't demons this time." Morgan said calmly in response to Kelas. "Someone is using elder magic, and they somehow have access to Isotov and Viveka's mana networks at range. I suppose they needed the extra life energy at this moment, we are lucky tey did not do this during a fight."

[Inactive Account]

"Y'mean to tell me this could be coming from anywhere?!" Kelas replied, agitated. She kept a close eye on the headmaster, not sure what the woman was going to do.

[-Cynthia-]

"That's correct." Morgan replied. "Now, I am not sure whether this was intentionally malicious or whether they simply used Isotov and Viveka's life force as a tool. Either way, this is quite powerful dark magic, I can transfer life force between beings in small amounts, but not over such a distance or in such volume. We should probably ask them once they're feeling better if they remember coming into contact with any powerful Druids...of course said Druid also would have enough power to wipe their memories, so that may prove fruitless as well. Still, there has to be some common link in between Isotov and Viveka here."

[Snowy_One]

"such a horribly inefficient way to gather life force. Gathering it from a distance requires so much work and effort. Much easier to simply rip their body open with a knife and drink their last gasps of blood as their heart pumps feebly away, trying to futilely maintain it's existence against it's inevitable death. Have I mentioned I'm feeling rather drained of later? Helios... Would you like that private lesson now? We need to go someplace free of prying eyes...

...

Kidding!" she said, a sudden smile breaking across her face. "I felt it for a few moments there, even probably muttered something while feeling the corruption, but it's gone now!"

[Ansem]

"Yeah dont do that again, that's not something to joke about." He muttered, his eyes twitching.

Edited August 18, 2010 by Solf J. Kimblee

[Snowy_One]

"If you want, I can look him over and see if I can find the source of that magical thing, but I guarentee nothing."

[Inactive Account]

"And we can be sure you're not about to snap... how exactly?" Kelas asked the headmaster cautiously.