Lord of Azure Flame: Chapter 19: To catch a Priestess

[Phoenix]

What He Would Do For Her

Isotov and Irina were sitting together on a bench in one of the hallways very close to the entrance. Irina was running her fingers through the creases in her dress while Iso stared down at his hands leaning forward and deliberating. Irina finally leaned back and spoke up to try to kill the tension.

Irina: Are we really going to leave? I mean ... we've got friends here. You have Kelas, I have Aiya, and we both have Lev. Wouldn't you at least miss Kelas if she decided to stay?

Iso: Of course I would. She's my friend. One of the few still alive, and barely sometimes. Regardless I need to find Miranda before she disappears.

Irina: ... what was she like?

Thinking back on it, Iso couldn't really tell Irina exactly what she was like or how he felt about her. He could only voice what he would do as a result of how his time spent with her.

Iso: I haven't even had time to be excited that she's alive. There isn't much I wouldn't do for her if she asked. Kill Ixion for her, even if the group was asking him for help? Sure. No problem. Kill Ivanko? Yep, that too. No problem. Leave the group, travel with her and never come back? In a heartbeat.

Irina: Beat up your sister and Kelas and give Morgan a friendly hug and apology for being so cold before running away with Miranda? For the love of wyverns please tell me you'd at least ask her to reconsider before doing that.

Iso: ... heh.

Iso dropped his head and started laughing. Irina was asking a serious question though as odd as it sounded.

EDIT: Added some details for clarity.

EDIT2: Changed the title to fit the scene better.

Edited September 13, 2010 by Phoenix

[Script]

Luc Altair

Isotov? Were they planning on having him be the bait? Had he somehow recovered the tome without Luc's notice? Luc took a glance outside. Maybe, that was what the mess before the drivel with Geraro had been about? That was a remarkable leap in logic, Luc admitted to himself. Yes, far more likely to just be gathering those who needed their weapons back. But Kelas was here, and Isotov had been led around by her earlier on account of his blindness. Had he found a new walking partner? Or did he get his sight back with the tome as Luc had pieces together?

And what was this about other plans? Luc would have to keep a lookout for those. As well as Kelas' words indicated things weren't under control with the others--not really a surprise considering even what little Luc had seen.

[Psych]

Pary:

"Grrrrr! Get off of me!" Pary slipped his hands into his robes, pulling out his Divine tome. He cast a spell right in front of the man's eyes, before hopping up, and running inside.

-------------

Cess and Rita:

Returning inside, Cess went over to Morgan. "So we have a plan? Where should we start?"

Rita, on the other hand, walked over towards Eric and Charlotte. "Hey Eric! It's time I got you back for that fight in the capital! I wanna duel!"

Edited September 13, 2010 by Psych

[Script]

One Man, One Leg, One Mission

Cal hobbled valiantly as the lightning did nothing but hit the space in front of him. "You think a little shock like that will stop old Cal? I wasn't voted best kisser in my unit for nothing you know!" Cal began to beat on the door of the house with his crutch, oblivious to if the door was actually open or not.

OOC: Fun fact, trying to emulate Cal and hop around on one foot tends to end badly. Possibly worse if you try and hop over a jittery kitty.

[-Cynthia-]

"A small group should travel away for a bit, preferably to some wide open space, to lure out the demons. This group should contain at least one Crimson Weapon wielder, but probably no more than one. If you wished to leave with Isotov and Arrin that would be acceptable, I would also suggest taking Charlotte so that we avoid Jace's ire. Hopefully the demons see the smaller group as a sign of weakness, they attack, Stephanie teleports the rest of us to your location and we hopefully kill them or at least recover Daranau." Morgan told Kelas.

[Dark Sage]

"No, Reika just sees me as her employee for now I think. And I don't think I would've ended up with you instead. Esphyr, I love you, but not in that sort of way," he said, patting her back.

[Snowy_One]

"There is different kinds? I didn't know that." said Esphyr, a small smile on her face as Alf gently patted her back. It was soothing, relaxing, and calming to feel the gentle vibrations shudder through her body. "Thank you Alf. I mean it. I'm such a emotional wreck I'm shocked I can get up some mornings. I... I think I thought I was scaring Damian away."

[Dark Sage]

"Nah. At this point, I'd say he alienated you," he said, a forced chuckle coming out. "Is there anything I can do to help you out? I don't want you to be depressed all the time. Perhaps....perhaps there's a way to remove the sword from you without getting severed from a demon. Maybe if we defeat the Lord of Azure Flames, we can get rid of the weapons. Maybe. Please don't try to get severed. I don't want to see you waste away."

[Snowy_One]

"Alf. I... I want to live a normal life once again. You don't know what its like, not being able to hug someone for fear you will stab them, other people looking at you like you killed their sister, cursing, being smashed against walls, and all before I was even nine years old. I want to leave this life behind. Mage Knight, mother, servant, hobo. It's all better than what I have now. You may be right and there is another way, but I don't know it."

[Dark Sage]

"But if you're severed by a demon, you're going to die. And you're just going to waste away, not finding any happiness. And you're right, I don't know what it's like to have a Crimson Weapon, but don't give up hope. We'll find a different way to get rid of the sword. I promise. Please just have a little faith and a little more patience. And if there is no other way to get rid of the weapon, then we can find a way to control it. I don't want you to die on me Esphyr."

[riariadne]

"Morgan! There you are," Conrad said. "Someone mentioned a plan. Before we do anything else, I think we should have a back up in case that shapeshifter gets into the group... again," he suggested. "Everything would go wrong if it got involved. Also, Eric mentioned he killed two of the demons. Something can't be right. I know one of them was weakened, so that sounds fair, but what about the other? Is it possible that we... overestimated them?"

Chase grimaced. "Eric killed two demons? What the hell? Doesn't he usually get the worst of things... like a certain tree falling on him... and now he killed two demons? That sounds weird."

OOC: Conrad doesn't know that Shanice already died.

Edited September 13, 2010 by Lightning

[Snowy_One]

"... ... Thank Alf." said Esphyr after a moment. The tone of her voice was weak, and with good reason. As she buried her head back into his arm, a faint dampness started to trickle down his muscle. Esphyr didn't say anything at all though.

[Dark Sage]

"Don't cry. Don't...cry..." he said, hugging her tighter, a knot in his throat. He stroked her hair and patted her back gently. He couldn't think of much words to say to soothe her, but right now, just staying with her seemed to be good medicine for her.

[Script]

Luc Altair

Arrin hm? So he was possibly the Thunder Mage and Daranaru the Crimson Thunder Tome. It was still possible for that to be Isotov's weapon, but Luc was holding out for the best case scenario. And what was that about Charlotte having Jace's ire? It was a given of course, but the way Mogan actually, cared--mentioned it really--made Luc reason it was a bigger concern.

The heavy sound of armor reverberated down to Luc's position. It looks like General Conrad had arrived. His words were another complete opener. The group had faced the demons yes, but Luc had no idea what type of demon they had faced. Now he knew. A shapeshifter? Well, Morgan did mention a mole in what felt so long ago. And Eric had managed to kill him and another demon? Luc agreed with Conrad's line of reasoning. Something was wrong with it all. It was possible that Luc and the others were underestimating them, but even though the group was careless at times, they had lost a third of the weapons to the demons. No, those "deaths" were likely part of some greater ploy.

[Snowy_One]

"Goddess I miss him! He's not even gone yet and I miss him!" exclaimed Esphyr, taking a sharp inhale, laden with sobs of pain and loneliness. "And... And sometimes I just want to die? You know that? I've wanted to die Alf! And... And... *gasp* And it just means a lot to have someone say what you just said and mean it!"

[Dark Sage]

"I know how you feel Esphyr. I know," he said quietly, remembering the days when he himself found himself staring at a knife, pointing it towards his heart.

"Esphyr, I know exactly how you feel. I wanted to die to before. I wanted someone to punish me for my sins. I wanted someone to kill me for what I did to other people, for stealing and in a few cases, murder. I felt so awful. Don't worry. I'm here for you. I don't have anything to live for, but I'll keep going for you. And I want you to keep going too ok?" he choked, ruffling her hair a bit.

[Snike]

Another Explanation

"... I do not feel like injuring myself right now," Eric said, brushing off Rita's request for a duel, as he overheard Conrad and Chase discussing the slain demons.

"I actually have a theory on why they fell so easily," he began, joining the conversation. "You see, a while ago, I read something, regarding demons. It said that they were made from the dust from the earth. Now, something must be holding them together. I think that they have a 'core', of sorts. That's how I killed them. I hit the core hard enough to shatter it, turning them to dust."

Edited September 13, 2010 by Snike

[-Cynthia-]

"He killed two demons?" Morgan said, eyebrow raised. "It's true that demons have cores, but if they were so easily dispatched, you think we would have done so already. Still, this makes things easier in a sense. Hopefully the remaining demons will still take the bait, with tome in tow."

[Snowy_One]

"You have something to live for though. If Damian... If Damian comes back... I... I don't. I just have to put on the pants and keep fighting. It's painful. It hurts. I wish I didn't have to. I wish I could be just a staff chick again!"

[Dark Sage]

"A staff chick? Yeah I noticed you using a staff before. What's the story about that? If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. But it's good to get it off your chest," he said, loosening a little bit and brought one of his arms over to wipe her tears away.

[Snowy_One]

"No. I'm fine." she said, letting him wipe her tears away before she herself brought her own hand about to aid. Then, taking a deep breath, she tried to clear her head. "Perhaps it will help me feel a bit better. I was never that good with a sword as a kid. When the neighborhood children wanted to play hero, I always picked Kaileen. Afraid of spiders, weak, easy to push about, yet none of the children dared think of it. I'm sure you know the type. The child who gets pushed to join the church before they can count past twenty? Who bandages little birdies and mice that the boys wounded?"

[Dark Sage]

"I see. You liked to heal and care for people. So you played as a healer as a way of reflecting that. But how did you learn to use a staff? And a sword? I'm a little curious," he said, a little relieved that she was feeling a little better, still stroking her face gently.

[Psych]

Rita:

Rita hurried over and stomped on Eric's boot. "Well fine then idiot! I'll go look for someone who cares about training!" RIta stormed out of the castle, heading towards the stables. Derek would be around here. "Derek! Are you around?"

---------

Pary:

Pary headed towards the soldier barracks, lodging a formal complaint. He saw the captain standing, talking to someone, before waiting to speak. "Excuse me, some crazy man seems to be trying to get into the castle. He keeps shouting nonsense, and obscenities."

"Eh? Alright, we'll send someone out."

Pary walked back to the group, escorted by three armed soldiers. They headed outside to see to the matter.

[Snowy_One]

"I don't know." she said, letting him cradle her head, resting it in his arms. "I mean, I never officially learned. I was just, it was what I did. TISME found me when I was five years old. They took me in, paid for my family, and they had reason. I... I was to be a mage knight. Functionally the same as a troubadour, except TISME made. I didn't grasp what was going on. I was only a child after all. I was more eager for the fancy dresses and that my staff was smooth and somewhat official looking than to figure out how to use a sword. I, along with several other children, were raised together, slowly taught and nurtured into the staff, sword, and magic. I stunk at both the sword and magic, but not the staff. Good enough to stay, not good enough to progress. Then... I turned eight."

[Script]

Luc Altair

Yes, Luc had heard the story that demons were made from the earth from some of the veterans, but that theory didn't make much sense. They moved like any man, no dirt or dust about them. But a core? That was new, and quite bluntly random to Luc's knowledge. If such a thing existed in the demons, wouldn't it be so heavily protected that simple steel wouldn't work? Or were there some stigma involved with that? Bah, such pointless speculation could wait. Even though Morgan stated demons having cores as fact, something about it still didn't piece correctly. At least they were all suspicious of it as well.

One Man, One Leg, One Mission

Old Cal saw the reprehensible old codger coming towards him with three soldiers in tow. "Ah ha! About time someone dragged that thief off to jail! Hang him by his skivvies for old Cal will ya? Oh my poor Anna-Sleine, to be killed by such a fool!" Cal began to weep.