Lord of Azure Flame Chapter 22: The Hunt

[Snike]

Targets

"... Petros will be pretty easy to identify, just like his old friends," Jace said, before his face grew grim. "... Ruby is a fire demon with memory manipulation abilities and a wicked blade. Probably one of the strongest remaining demons, excluding Helenos. My late wife and I encountered her a few times... Before she massacred my wife, my son, and my youngest daughter over two decades ago.... You might want to relay the first bit about her abilities to your superiors. As for Shanice and Eric, I suppose I will ask around. Excellent work." The hero saluted, before returning just in time to catch the druidess's comment about instigating major conflicts. "In a way, you could say that. I took over Jerdon, and now Septimus. However, I never actually provoked a war between two members of the Big 3. That was all Halton. I simply took the capital from within, and then we suddenly have a continent-wide power struggle. Which reminds me, General Jackson, I requested aid from Elyisima. You and your soldiers may want to return, at some point, to preserve your ranks."

[Phoenix]

Angel

Angel: Oh don't worry about it. As long as you're okay, that's good enough for me. Surprisingly there isn't too much to do today. Despite those earthquakes hardly anyone got hurt, and ever since then people have been kind of scared that they'll be happening more frequently. I heard nearly a hundred people just pleaded to not have to work just in case something major happened. Mostly construction workers. Them I can't blame really. I know every single construction worker in Irvinheim by name and I've only worked here for a couple of years.

[Ether]

"I can see that. Well, Angel, I'm just glad that was all cleared up. Take care of yourself, okay? This city needs you, Angel." Damian said, moving to exit the clinic.

[Mercakete]

As the conversation progressed without his involvment, Beau worked on his task as a staff-wielder. Pacing himself was proving to enable him to heal more people with less strain on himself. He was just finishing healing Alferis, but stopped there. The man would undoubtedly have moderate pain still, but he had to conserve his strength for the next patient. Then the next.

Finally, he'd come to the last one lined up against the wall. He didn't know this one, but she seemed nearly dead. Beau himself was quite tired and beginning to get a headache, but this was important. Repairing this much damage was taxing to say the least. It was all he could do to get everything back where it should be. The job wasn't nearly complete, but the 13-year-old found himself putting his weight on his staff and leaning on it as he healed the woman. "Tessa? Princess Charlotte? This is too much for me... I'll hand this task off to one of you," Beau breathily called over his shoulder.

(I've gone and done it again: tiring myself out. How many have I tended to? This morning, Isotov. Durring the battle, Kelas, Isotov and a wyvern rider... After the fight, Isotov, Kelas' horse, Alferis, General Jackson and three or four other people including this woman. Oh, and that archer. Yes, I am...quite due for a rest. Also, Isotov needs to learn to take better care of himself if he's going to be needing healing in three different times of one day.) Not wanting to move himself, Beau sat himself next to the partially-healed woman, also leaning against the wall. He didn't have the energy to scheme or even to listen in on the conversation near him. All he wanted to do was sleep and sleep he did.

[Phoenix]

Goodbye

Angel: You be careful too, Damian. Don't push yourself too hard. Farewell.

She waved goodbye to him as he left the clinic.

[Ether]

"Thanks Angel, and the same to you." Damian replied, leaving the clinic, and heading back towards the fortress.

Navigating his way to the location they had decided on the night before, Damian saw Ixion, Miranda, and the Headmaster seemingly having an argument of some sort.

"Should I just come back later?"

**************

Landing now that the turmoil had died down, Aiya moved towards Krinkov, seeing as most of the party seemed to have gathered there. Spotting Irina, Aiya walked over to the other Wyvern Lord.

"Geez Irina, you just keep getting better and better... I can't keep up anymore..." Aiya sighed, resting her hand on Irina's shoulder. Looking the other Wyvern Lord in the eye, Aiya paused.

"Hey Irina... did you get... taller recently?" Aiya questioned, the other girl only about an inch shorter than her, much less than she had recalled.

[Phoenix]

Irina

Irina: Well ... I certainly don't feel all too good about it. I know it seems silly to agree with Morgan even half the time but we can't keep letting our enemies walk all over us. I mean we had another casualty today ... and those hostages ... ugh. Maybe I'm trying too hard to make up for how vulnerable our group is. I don't know.

Then the other bit dawned on her.

Irina: Taller? I don't remember being any shorter. You'd think I would have stopped growing by now. I don't even eat that much. Speaking of food, we really need to get out of here and find a place safer to rest so I can feed the wyverns.

Ixion and Miranda

Ixion: I suppose you need the short version of this, Damian. Well for reasons for which I await an explanation Mana wants us to cease this endeavor to cure your condition.

Miranda: That wasn't the short version. Here's the short version. She's having wild dreams about either one or both of you.

Ixion: ....

Edited December 31, 2010 by Phoenix

[Ether]

"You're doing good, Irina. I don't know what's up with me lately, but I just can't... I haven't been able to do anything lately..." Aiya sighed, leaning on Irina slightly.

"Oh, right. What happened last night, Irina? The last thing I remembered was talking to you,m and then I woke up in a tent this morning..."

*********************

Hearing Ixion's explanation, followed by Miranda's, Damian sighed.

'It is far too early for this...'

"Yeah, I should definitely just come back later." Damian said, turning to leave the room.

[Snowy_One]

"Here's the version that makes sense. Spirits don't dream. Ever. Their minds are so tightly wrapped up in natural mana that the prospect of sleep as anything other than a means to pass the time doesn't even occur to them, and when they do sleep, their mind enters a cognitive state of passive awareness. Like in the tales where a hero enters the cave of some sleeping earth spirit and the spirit summons guardians to protect the body even though it isn't conscious of it and may even apologize to the hero profusely upon awakening. As I am part spirit, I share in the mana-wrapping aspect of my mind. I cannot dream usually. However, when there is a large enough upheaval of mana threads, it can affect my mind, causing the more human aspect which can dream to come forth. Spiritleaf aside, it usually takes the equivalent unfraying of at least a B-class ranged spell to even render my mind capable of dreaming. Last night, I had a dream. Something in this place has caused such an effect as to make it possible. Myself aside, the single most powerful source of magic in this castle" she pointed squarely at Damian. "Is you. Rather, the Crimson lance held within your soul, and that other weapon your father made. I didn't think Ixion could even get this far in this amount of time, so I wasn't planning on doing anything until last night. Now, however, it is clear that Ixion needs to stop his efforts to help you with the weapons. You have reached the limit of what I can safely allow someone beyond the reaches of TISME to achieve."

---

"Erm... My horse? Is not a warhorse? And I'm lucky he didn't throw me up? Is that what you said?" asked Altion, unable to decipher what the child had just said through the thick accent.

[Phoenix]

Achievement

Ixion: The reaches of TISME? As if you snooping around isn't supervision enough. This is childish and I'm not interested in whatever false sense of security you take in this. Convince Damian. Otherwise, I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request.

Miranda: Use his logic against him! That works wonders!

Ixion: ....

[Inactive Account]

"I did say the healers should come here," Tanair sighed, turning and walking over to Beau. She knelt down in front of him and put a hand on the tiny human's shoulder, letting what seemed to her to be a tiny spark of power flow into him, re-energizing him.

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

"Yeh. He isn't trained for fighting, so you can't blame 'im if he wants to run away from fighting, especially summat like monsters," Tobe confirmed. "Sensible really, 'e's only tryin' to not get eaten."

[the_whistler]

General Jackson sighed. "It is possible for me to summon a force larger than just myself, Captain Viveka, and Lieutenant Jasmine, yes, but I can only do that for so long before my superiors and others complain about why I am diverting a large portion of Elyisima's resources to this quest. A major problem of bureaucracy is often that the higher-ups need tangible benefits before they choose to support any major efforts, even something as important as defeating the Lord of Azure Flame." She's quite optimistic for what she plans to accomplish.

"We are indeed in the middle of a full out continental war, and I can acquire additional support perhaps only for the final push to defeat the Lord, nothing more," he stated. "Invading Septimus and taking over made your country look vulnerable to attack. Halton is naturally a militaristic nation, I fail to see how you couldn't have predicted this result," Conrad said to the Brute.

"As for returning to Elyisima, I have already made arrangements to take care of that, you need not worry."

[Dark Sage]

Awakening with a groan and a large pain in his head and throughout his body, Alf barely opened his eyes and all around him everything was hell.

It looked like he was still in Altenau and nearby was an unfamiliar lady, Beau, Morgan and a man he could not make out. Rolling his eyes to the side, he saw to his horror Reika with her ribs sticking out, pretty much near death while others were lined up next to her and weren't moving.

Panicking, Alf looked closer at the man nearby and gasped in shock.

"Aggh! Jace! What's he doing here? Aggh! Look out, he's going to kill us! Aggh!"

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

The monk didn't seem to be moving and curious, the bard moved forward to see him very pale and slumped by his horse.

"Father?" she said concerned, kneeling by him and moved him from the horse to check what was wrong. She took off his tunic to inspect further and what she saw was his chest covered in bandages, bandages soaked red with blood.

"Omigosh! Hold on!" she said panicking, quickly grabbing a vulnerary and took off the man's bandages, rubbing the wounds with all of the vulnerary before rewrapping the bandages.

"Puncture wounds? What happened?" she murmured to herself, waiting for him to wake up.

Edited December 31, 2010 by Dark Sage

[Mercakete]

A sort of calm energy began to fill Beau. His aches faded quickly, his mind was calmed and he felt very well-rested. His body told his mind that he'd aquired the rest the boy needed and so Beau began to return to wakefulness. The first sensation was sound. People were talking. Next he felt the ground below him, the wall behind him and a hand on his shoulder. When his vision came to him, it was blurry at first, but he found that he was looking downward. Lifting his head, what he saw was unmistakable: the dragon in human form was kneeling there, her hand on his shoulder. Then he realized that the calm restoration he was feeling was coming from her. Though he was a little dumbfounded and felt like if he spoke the tranquility would be shattered, Beau found his voice, "Thank you, Dragon-Lady. Your kindness is greatly appreciated."

The energy-transfer was like a sigh; the strain from earlier was gone and everything felt easier. Looking to the woman next to him, Beau lifted his heal staff and easily let the energy flow, finishing his earlier job. In fact, the raven-haired woman was in better condition than the others that were lined up along the wall. It was odd, but this time he didn't feel quite so fatigued as he normally did. The difference was slight, but definately there. Perplexed, he looked back to the dragon. Then it suddenly made sense. With a nod, he thanked her again, "You've given me more energy than I had before. Thank you very much."

That was when it really hit. It was as though some barrier had been shattered. He could feel his magic potential much more easily. (This is an earth dragon. Of course she'd be able to assist those who heal in this way. She must be close to Tani in that way.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lantos was becoming more nervous. This girl was obviously frightened and it was no wonder, what with how injurred his rider was! What to do? What to do?

Raemond remained unconcious and the vulnerary healed the wounds on his back slightly. However, the fact that the wounds remained showed just how deep they really were and though the flow of blood lessened, they were still bleeding a fair ammount. The vulnerary had done it's work: they wounds weren't as deep as they had been.

Edited December 31, 2010 by Mercakete

[Dark Sage]

"Oh no! A vulnerary's not working?! Maybe another to tide him over? Hold on..." said Sadie, applying another vulneary to Raemond. She then struggled to lift him upright and tried her hardest to pull him onto the horse but unfortunately, the two fell over in a heap.

-----------

Seeing the priest go near Reika, Alf gazed sharply at them, taking his focus off of Jace as he observed Reika's very severe wounds get better. In fact, she was mostly fine now, the bones repairing themselves and none were sticking out of her chest anymore, though her tunic was still stained with blood.

"Reika...thank the goddess you're alive," he said soflty, offering a silent prayer that the others were alright.

"Ow...it hurts..."

[Mercakete]

"It's just a few scratches and bruises. They're pretty bad but they're nothing a vulnerary won't fix. I'm not about to take this gift for granted. We're all going to have to learn to be a little more responsible and stop being so rash," Beau informed Alferis. (This will make things much easier.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bleeding lessened even more this time as the wounds grew shallower and shallower. It was becoming obvious that he'd been shot by two arrows and that the fletching had pierced deeply into his back. However, thanks to Sadie, he would live...if he was tended to properly. Bloodloss was never something healthy but he could be brought to someone who knew how to tend someone with his condition if he could be set on his horse and taken there.

Noticing the girl trying to set his rider on his back, Lantos lowered his head to try to help her accomplish the task. It was the only guidance he'd had since his rider has passed out.

[Dark Sage]

"Look...I just...I just wanted to draw fire away from you all and her and I failed," Alf scowled at the boy, too tired to get up.

"Is she going to be in good shape?" Alf asked the boy.

[Mercakete]

"She's in very good condition. As always, her body will be essentially wondering why she isn't wounded for a little while so the aches will remain but not for too long. Other than that, she's in pristine condition," Beau answered, taking a moment to rest himself, "Also, you do not need to be so angry and besides that, drawing the fire doesn't help us healers after the battle. If you can draw enemy fire and escape without much damage then you should do that. If not, rely on others who can."

[Snowy_One]

"I suppose I can relate to that as well." replied Altion, patting the horse lightly on the neck. "I have run away from this group already in the past. I don't think that running away from a slew of monsters is a bad idea either. Just not one that I should consider with Kelas..." He stopped short, cutting his sentence off. The nomad had made it clear her opinion of him. At best, he was stuck in the limbo of the 'friend zone' and at worst she had told him to get away from her and just had not been polite enough to be upfront about it. Either way, no need to bring in a small child into such a dealing.

---

"HENRY!" The small child cringed in fear as the voice of his mother reached his ear. "Oh no." he muttered, contemplating diving back under the horse for protection. "Henry are you... Are..." a noticeable warble entered into the voice of the yet-to-be-seen priestess as she entered the town herself. This was the place she had wanted to take her son to. She had friends whom had come here. Friends whom she could trust... and friends whom she could sense she no longer had. "Oh my... Helenos." Kaileen rounded the corner, her face ashen white as she looked at the destroyed town. Striding past her son, she did not even turn to look him in the eye or chide him for running away as the effects of the draconic woman surrounded her. "Helenos... What have you done?"

---

"Damian. Ixion is a man obsessed with power and knowledge. Worse yet, using that knowledge just because he can. I know you see his efforts to free you of your weapon as needed, but with every moment that passes, he learns more and more. I would have interceded earlier, but I did not realize just how far he had gotten. If he learns enough about your weapon, he will make another just because he can. He even sits beside a demon right now. You cannot trust this man any further. Even if you receive every thing you desired, the risk that he could make another weapon is simply too great for him to be left to aid you unsupervised."

[Ether]

"Headmaster... do you not think your concerns are somewhat... selfish?" Damian asked, turning back towards the conversation.

"You wish to stop Ixion because you do not want him to go unsupervised, because you do not have authority over him. There is no indication that Ixion holds anywhere near the smithing skills required to recreate a Crimson Weapon. Magical prowess is only one half of the formula, and Ixion would need a blacksmith of my own Father's aptitude to create his own Crimson Weapon. Besides, without the hellfire base, he cannot hope to make one successfully. Is our whole endeavor not the pursuit of stopping the Lord from rising again, so that his hellfire may not taint the world again?" Damian said, drawing Gungnir and looking the Divine weapon over.

"You simply wish to put a cap on what others know, Headmaster. You fear the spread of knowledge that you cannot stem on a whim. If I do not bring this lance under control, and cannot use it against the demonic hordes of the Lord, than there very well may not be a world within that knowledge can flow at all. You may have the best interest of TISME at heart, but I have the best interest of the entire world at heart, Headmaster. And I could not forgive myself if I dropped out now over the desire of a closed world... how ironic a spirit of the wind, a Harbinger of freedom... would wish such a thing." Damian ran his hand along the Gungnir as he spoke, a slight stinging assaulting his hand, but nothing unbearable. Looking to the Headmaster again, Damian continued to speak.

"If you wish to see me supervised so badly, then why don't you simply remain? I have no qualms with you witnessing my treatment, or were you too busy trying to stop Ixion that you did not fulfill your own training? Can you still not control your rage? Would you attack me if I summoned Gae-Borg in your presence, Headmaster?"

Edited December 31, 2010 by Azusa Nakano

[Phoenix]

Knowledge

Starting to feel a bit annoyed, Miranda piped up a bit while still caressing her new pet chimera.

Miranda: If she keeps calling me a "demon" I'm going start using some harsh words of her own.

Ixion: I'm actually almost surprised that you two don't seem to get along. One of you is half as deceptive and misleading as an assassin, yet claims I'm the one who isn't trust worthy. The other has a habit of actually trying to end me.

Miranda: Mmm not really a habit so much as "on a whim". Seemed like a good idea at the time.

The Dark Druid continued.

Ixion: Well then. The risk is too great you say. Of what? Do you honestly suspect me to cause any more chaos around here than any of the other wielders? Anything and everything of interest I have in the crimson weapons already exists and won't cease to be any time soon. I don't plan to make any others. My interests are far more applicable here.

[Inactive Account]

"Kelas? What's she got to do with anything?" Tobe asked. He'd decided that Altion was someone that would probably put up with chatter, so he continued, "I mean, I guess she's kinna scary if'n you makes her mad, but that was only cos Owen had to laugh when she was about to--" he broke off, he couldn't say the word "kiss" without cracking up, and this wasn't really the sort of time for laughing all that much, "--was in the hall with that mage, and even then she only just told me an' Owen to shoo, she dint like throw things or anything--" He rambled on for a bit, eventually jumping to the topic of horses. "...An' your horse should be fine if we gets outta here soon. Can we leave soon? I don't want to get et by no monsters," he concluded, shivering a little. While he was talking about other things he could pretend he wasn't still scared by the dragon, but it had to show through at some point.

Edited December 31, 2010 by Kiryn

[riariadne]

Still lost in thought, Chase only snapped back into reality when he felt a renewed pain near his chest, and winced. Looking down, the severity of his injuries became much more apparent to him. "... That... hurts to look at, even though it's been healed. Ugh, I hope we can stop somewhere without incident soon and just rest for once... everyone else looks pretty hurt, too. I feel bad for that guy who I still don't even know. He must be exhausted."

Edited December 31, 2010 by Haruhi Suzumiya

[Snike]

Oh no.

"I didn't anticipate that because I honestly doubted the Empire would be so dense, as to invade Septimus. The fact is, Elyisima's hand is forced, as if Septimus falls, so will it, in a few years. Halton took a stupid risk, and they're going to get penalized for it," Jace said, turning his head for a moment as one of the newly healed yelled something about him killing them all. "...Apparently, I'm some sort of monster now. You may want to calm your man."

Before anyone else could speak, a familiar voice rang in the Brute's ears, one that he would have hoped to not hear from again. "Oh dear. Kaileen. Why don't we continue this fascinating discussion somewhere other than here. I really do not want to deal with that fanatic."

[-Cynthia-]

Charlotte looked over to the gathering mass of people around Jace. What could they possibly have to discuss with him I wonder? she thought to herself, occupying herself with healing Viveka who had not yet been tended to.

"Can't you make some sort of peace treaty or force them to stop through military might? Your conflicts will be meaningless in a short while. Once the Lord's seal breaks, the world will suffer as it has not suffered in twenty-five years. I do not care how you all resolve your petty squabbles, but you should do so quickly." Morgan said to Jace and Conrad. She surveryed the scene, the group had apparently not recovered from the fighting yet so it was not nyet time to get moving.

Edited January 1, 2011 by -Cynthia-