Chaya frowns at Kalisani.
Kalisani chuckles, "Well, well, I figured life and death would come together before too long. We are not opposites, Chaya. We both rely heavily on the earth to support our elements. I am eager to see how life can cause a threat."
Chaya sighs, "We are not alike either. Shall we begin, or do you plan on talking me to death?"
Kalisani grins, "Ah, so she does have a sense of humor." With that, the drow prepares for her first attack.
Kalisani stands silently, her steel coloured hair flowing around her despite the still air. Closing her eyes in concentration, she brings her long slender fingers together in front of her chest. "Can you heal time, Chaya dearest? For time is the most common cause of death." As the words escape her lips, Kalisani slowly moves her hands away from each other. A shpere, visible only by a slight distortion appears as the drow's fingertips disconnect. It continues to grow at an alarming rate as Kalisani draws her arms apart. As soon as her arms are spread fully open, she pushes her left index finger into the bubble. The skin on her finger begins to wrinkle and starts to sag around the bones. The bones bend with arthritis. With a wink to Chaya, Kalisani pulls her hand back, revealing a perfectly healthy finger. Somehow you doubt yours would return to normal after a such an exposure, and an image of decomposing flesh flashes through your mind as to what might happen should a digit be left in the time bubble much longer. Kalisani thrusts her hands forward sending the huge sphere racing toward Chaya.
Chaya's eyes narrow as she watchews her opponent. Having no particular need to overextend herself unnecessarily, she tries to simply step out of the way of her opponent's attack. As she expected, and hoped, Kalisani directed her attack magically and the sphere follows its target without hesitation. Out of curiousity, Chaya wastes a few precious moments to throw a small metal throwing star into the sphere. The star slides right through the distortion, embedding itself in a tree on the other side. The metal looks old and rusted, as though hundreds of years flew by on its short path to the tree. Knowing she cannot avoid the time distortion, Chaya turns and runs straight into the center of the distortion. Swirls of color flicker throughout the sphere and begin to get stronger. Within a few moments, the wall of the sphere is an opaque collage of colors. A strong clear voice breaks through the sphere, "Time kills individuals, not life. Time is a gift to life; it is a means for evolution." The colors swirl faster and faster until the surface of the sphere looks almost white. As white begins to show, the sohere explodes, sprinkling brightly colored confetti around the grove. Chaya is laying in a heap on the ground. She slowly stretches out, revealing the deep cuts that are scattered throughout her skin; the only evidence of the struggle it took her to triumph over time. Chaya's green eyes seem to glow as she gets to her feet. With a grin, she pulls out a handful of shuriken. Holding the pile of weapons in her right hand, she picks up the top one with her left. She catches Kalisani's gaze, "Is it standard for you to strengthen your opponents in an attack? Perhaps I'll have to spar with you more often." With lightning quick reflexes, Chaya sends the seven shuriken streaking toward her opponent at an unbelievable speed. Guiding the little stars with her hands, Chaya follows Kalisani's every move.
Kalisani watches Chaya carefully and matches the speed of her opponent's weapons with her own hands. The sound of metal clashing meets your ears as the drow's speed blurs her movements out of your vision. Moving her hands about to protect her body, she catches four of the small stars in her right hand, and two in her left. The remaining star sinks into her thigh. A snarl curls up her lips as she stops moving and begins to pull the sharpened blades out of her hands. Blood flows from her palms, but you think you see a glint of metal underneath. With a barely noticeable wince, she pulls the last star out of her thigh, grumbling about the damaged leather of her pants. Cupping her hands, Kalisani lets the blood pool in her palms. Staring at the crimson liquid, her rare, steel coloured eyes reflect the typical red of a drow. Murmuring softly to herself she shapes a thin steel cage around the blood. Opening her hands, Kalisani releases her creation. It hovers for a moment before shooting toward Chaya. Just before reaching the young druid, the steel explodes. Thousands of tiny steel needles seek out Chaya, each one glinting crimson with a drop of diseased blood.
Chaya dives backwards, pulling out her remaining five shuriken and sending them twirling in front of her. Managing to deflect about half of the needles this way, she buys herself a little bit of time. Chaya runs off to the Northwest, the spinning stars following in her defense. Diving into the deep, fast moving water just above the waterfall, Chaya hopes to wash the rest of the needles away. Knowing that they could not possibly stay true to their course in such a current, she swims down into the depths of the pool and calms herself. Thanking her previous training for the ability to survive for extended period of time in the water, Chaya remains in the protective cloak of the river. Pressing her hands against the rocks, she focuses on her mental image of Kalisani's surroundings. Starting with the small wild rose that Kalisani was standing near, she concentrates all her energy on her magic and healing. The plant suddenly goes into bloom, despite the season. The beautiful flowers just as suddenly wither and die. As you watch its leaves seem to dissolve as the cells begin to attack themselves, trying to rid itself of the good cells, which it now deems as a threatening disease. Knowing that her demonstration is complete, Chaya pictures Kalisani's form, focusing all her energy on the drow in an attempt to bring an end to death's advocate.
Kalisani growls as she begins to feel Chaya's focus turn to her. Following the young druid's path to the water, she presses her still bleeding hands into the cold pool. Her blood spreads quickly, adding a crimson metalic tint to the water. Knowing that she will not be able to survive a full on attack, she tries to break Chaya's concentration. The water in the pool slowly gets thicker, turning into a silverish-red gel. As the water continues to thicken into what would eventually become a solid steel lake, Kalisani drops to the ground, feeling the beginning effects of Chaya's cancer. Turning her concentration to her own cells, Kalisani one by one begins to kill off the cells that Chaya managed to effect. Her sense of humor intact, even in such a dire situation, the drow laughs out, "First rule of assassination: Kill the assassins. But Chaya, dearest, you can not kill death. You are attacking me with a spell that I myself could perform." Focusing her energy, Kalisani finishes killing off the infected cells, and weakly looks back to the river to see what has become of her tainted water and her opponent.
Chaya gasps for breath as her water begins to thicken. Scrambling upward she crawls out of the water and on to the river bank. Rolling over, she pushes herself to her feet and turns to her opponent. Walking away from the river bank, she sits down underneath the lagre tree. She picks up a leaf that has a torn edge. Placing the leaf in the palm of her hand, she takes a small vial of water out of her bag. Dripping the water onto the leaf, Chaya blows softly, watching ripples form and spread on the surface of the water. Whispering softly, Chaya breathes life and energy into the water. Smiling, she watcdhes as the leaf begins to mend its torn edges. Within a few moments the leaf looks as good as new. Grinning, Chaya lets the leaf float away in the gentle breeze. Holding up her hand, she lets the water spread over her palm. As the breeze blows on the water you notice Chaya's skin rushing through a healing process. The small cuts from climbing out of the river quickly shed their scabs and close to reveal soft, smooth skin. Chaya chuckles softly as her hand continues to heal itself. Skin cells duplicate at an incredible rate and the skin begins to cover the young woman's fingers. Within a minute or two, Chaya's hand has formed a sort of web between her fingers. The effect continues until her whole hand is like a mitten of skin. Wiping her digitless limb across her mouth, Chaya smiles as skin grows over her lips and spreads up toward her eyes. Lifting both hands, Chaya calls down the rain. As her added skin is washed away, she turns to her opponent. With a grin on her face, she summons the wind to breathe an over-abundance of life and healing into Kalisani.
Kalisani shudders as she watches Chaya's hand deform itself. A frown forms on her lips as the rain beats down on her. "Death can not be healed Chaya dearest. Embracing the wind, Kalisani stretches her own hand outwards to greet the breath of the wind. As her skin begins to grow over her fingers the drow lets out a loud, shrill shriek. Her soft ivory skin takes on a dull grey appearance. Dead skin cells fall readily from her hand. When the quickening death of her protective cover matches the speed of Chaya's healing, the wind and rain subside, leaving Kalisani's hand in the same form it has always taken. With a slight snarl curling around her lips, Kalisani looks over to her opponent, "That was disgusting Chaya!"