| Pain coursed up and down his body as he made contact with the ground. He rolled away, barely escaping the tempered steel that struck into the hard-packed earth and urged his body upward. The man snickered as he drew his sword out of the ground. "You're faster than the lot of them," said the attacker. He had no idea. Blue fire was licking around both their bodies, both excited in the heat of battle. The victim stood there, silent and motionless except from the heavy breathing from the battle. His eyes were locked with the attacker. He didn't know where this man came from, but he was good. His black hair waved in the wind as they stood there, the forest ground illuminated with their aruaes. He flicked his wrist, and the battle commenced again. The attacker lunged instantly, the sword already on it's path downward. He ducked down and kicked the attacker in the shins. He whirled around, ready to parry another blow. They kicked, punched, and slashed in a dance sped up by their speed. The flicked wrist had actually been a dagger, which danced around, blocking the large sword and landing it's own blows. It struck the attacker, and he yelled in fury - his flames bursting outwards. His muscles buldged, his features - sharper, and his anger multiplied. 'He's not using his aruae like the BHD, I wonder where he comes from,' thought the victim as he dodged the now hulking brute slashing wildly. In exchange for his muscle and mass, his aruae was now flickering, significantly smaller now. The victim would use this to his advantage. He threw the brute off of him and stood there, fire dangerously resonating around him. "Stand down, or fall down," he said, completely serious. In reply, the man let forth a furious yell and plunged forward yet again. The victim tapped into his aruae, and brought forth his strategy he had come up with long ago. As his senses sharpened and his brain sped up 10-fold, time around him slowed down until even his vision was jerky because his eye's frame-rate was too slow for his brain. He looked over towards his attacker. Who was this rouge? Why are his tactics, even though sloppy, are not from any type that he knew of? Oh well. He brought his fist up and slammed it into the face of his slow-motion assailant. He then took his dagger, as fast as his muscles would allow him (he noted to remember to tap into his aruae to help them respond faster next time), and stabbed his stomach and slashed his neck. He didn't want to induce instant death, he would have him suffer for a few minutes before he died. By the time he had sheathed his dagger, the suprise on the attacker's face from his first fisted blow had just started to register. He never knew what hit him. He eased out of his enhanced state, thanked his aruae, and watched as time sped up to normal. A large red line formed on the man's neck and his eyes registered the pain as he suddenly felt what the victim seemed to have done a minute ago. It was really milliseconds in length. The man fell to the ground, and the victim walked away. -- He watched silently in the darkness as they fought, his aurae burning slowly, hypnotically. He was good. His skills had increased dramatically since he had seen him last, that being a mere 3 days ago. Nilus took a sip of his flask and waved as his aurae stopped projecting the scene that had once been playing in front of him. He now sat alone in complete darkness as even his aurae was not casting light. A black fire it burned. -- A scream rattled the air, shaking everything in the room. It lasted for minutes, dragging the noise much past any bareable rate. As it stopped and died for a few seconds, new air would be taken in and another scream would scramble it's way through the empty space. She collapsed onto the ground, twitching. Her aurae, small as whispers, finally winked out. Her twitching stopped, her muscles relaxed. She lied there, her glazed eyes now staring at nothing, focused on nothing. Her chest rose and fell at measured intervals, almost comatose she seemed. Spit hit the ground in front of her eyes, she didn't blink, didn't move her eyes. She was a shell. A living body without a soul, an aurae. The man looked at her, and shook his head. He used his senses one more time to make sure she really was eliminated, stepped through the door, and silently closed it. -- The victim ran. He heard shouting behind him, and urged his aurae to increase his stride. Feet were chasing him now, two small sharp stars buzzed over his head. If he could keep his distance, he should only have to deal with their material weapons. The dirt path banked left, heading back towards Ralw, away from the BHD fortress. The foliage was too thick to go too well off the path, for these woods were known for their taking in people and not returning them, but he could hide just off the road. He rounded the curve, and quickly dove into the shrub. He willed his aurae down, down, to where it didn't show at all in the night sky. He calmed himself and pushed his aurae down further, making him almost impossible to track. Footsteps and haggard breathing now passed him, hidden just feet away from them. "Nasty twerp," one said as they jogged by, breathing quite heavily now. "How does Krafnid expect us to catch him? He's buggard fast, he is." "No, you're just too slow," the other replied, a number of krues, the small, sharp throwing-stars jangling on his belt, "Too many tankards for you these past weeks. Gettin' a bit round in the stomach!" "Bug off," he said, "I could catch him if I wanted.. It's just.. Didn't you see what he did to Yama? One in the belly and another right across the throat! I mean, if he can beat a special-class, just think of what that twerp'll do to me!" "Well naturally, I still shudder to think of what my younger sis' would do to you!" responded the second, as he laughed. "You dont know who you're dealing with!" said the first as their voices trailed off into the distance. The victim scanned the area with his aurae, and the emerged from the foliage. His aurae burst to life again as he rose, not content on being pushed down into it's non-physical form. "Scriptae," he muttered as he started his walk down the forest path, keeping a good distance behind the Scriptae, the aurae-less folk. He didn't even need to hide from these buffoons. He could easily kill them, for they have no magical abilities. The aurae chooses the human it wants to twine to at birth, becoming it's soul, it's entity, it's friend. The gift usually spans from mother to child, although quite often, an Aurean would emerge from Scriptae parents. The two men laughed loudly again and turned around, heading back towards the BHD fortress. How little they took him seriously, maybe he SHOULD kill them. He urged his speed upward using his aurae, and ran quickly forward. They barely had time to react as he rounded another corner where they were and ran right past them. They shouted, and started running again. He didn't care, they'd never catch him and would probably give up soon enough anyways. Might as well have them alive if it'll bring the BHD down with their ignorance. He increased his speed in a burst of blue flame, and headed towards Ralw. |
| Stones |