The Dead Forest (Increased Orc activity due to skirmish)

[Sunstrike]

ragingtofu

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players...

It was an odd sort of moment. Rage never was one for subtlety; then again, thinking smart was an even weaker point of his. Always rushing into things without the slightest hint of foresight, and usually paying the consequences because of it. It was how he ended up with a hole in his chest, a busted shoulder, broken bones, lacerations, and no small number of other injuries over these last few weeks. You could call it poor decision making. Recklessness was the rule of each and every day.

And today was no exception.

As he began his free fall, the wind caught his jacket, ballooning outwards to slow his descent ever slightly, while his eyes, covered by his old aviator goggles, were immune to the wisps of wind that tried to grab at his eyes. Eyes that were privy to an entirely different form of pain altogether.

Flame and fury.

Meet the Flame of Duality.

For just a fraction of a second, the world came to a stop. Rage's nose was less than an inch away from a plate of armor, what little of his hair not stuffed into his wool cap flying wildly in a wind that did not blow. His jacket had just begun another ripple from the rising heat that came up below him, while the fibers on his outer shirt showed signs that they might begin to melt and fray from the intense heat. Even the gum stuck to the sole of his left shoe had begun to bubble slightly.

And on his face? His scarred, bruised face?

A sickly sort of smile.

As if this was exactly what he wanted to happen.

CRACK~~

The old wound re-opened once again as blood poured from the bridge of his nose. Things felt like they were moving slowly for a moment, as if time itself had been so shocked by the blow it was now playing catch-up. It was how his first clash with Frozen Flame had begun. His battle with Teira, starting with a simple head butt, ending with the buzzer of a clock.

There would be no clock this time. Nobody to tell him where to begin and where to end.

And as the fireworks exploded below him, as leaves burned and vines sizzled, as the pain finally registered in the back of his mind coinciding with just how stupid this thing he had just done was, he managed to summon the strength to speak.

"... nice to see you too, sweet cheeks."

He didn't budge from the impact, even as blood gushed from his wound. Instead, he grabbed whatever part of the salamander he could. There was no way he was going to take the long drop down by himself. He would take on anyone who got in his way.

Anyone.

... they have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.

Free falling.

Firey eyes met red up close and personal. There was a huff of what might have been amusement on the part of the creature, soft flames drifting out from behind the grill work of her face, though it was obvious Rage had made a serious impact.

Where his head had met hers, was a crack that went from the area that would normally be her nose up to the fire that served as her mane. It turned black first, before oozing magma, much to match Rage's wound. But like the stubborn man, she would not be budged and they stayed connected in that standstill of time, man and beast. Though, calling Rage a man after coming up head first against such an impossible creature was purely conjecture.

The very red human blood would spatter and sizzle against her skin, though his resistance to fire in general was noted, she would not let it deter her from stopping him.

When Rage's hands grabbed for the ridges of armour behind her ears, her tail would wrap around his torso, and suddenly the trees came a lot faster then expected. It'd have to be a corkscrew of a manoeuvre to make sure they didn't hit the talking party down below.

And hit they did, head first, once again sending a diameter of trees skywards in a ball of flame and singed birds. If she couldn't break him head on head, she'd bury him in the soft wretched earth. The party would get some of the hot aftershock, and maybe a small amount of debris, but Sali knew her job well, and would keep to it.  

[Rain Yupa]

Sometime after the spar with Nemesis, which would have ended in a draw due to time constraints and the men parting ways...

"Well, now what. Where do I go from here?" he muttered, sitting upon a fallen log, upon a map of the Gaian lands that he had acquired back in Latent. Except it had soaked through in a river since he had forgotten to take it out of his pocket, and it was still soggy and hard to make out things clearly.

"I... should have asked for directions before Nemesis left." he would mutter, the vein in his head popping out stressfully.

Salamander

FWOOSH!

"... the hell? What was that?" he would exclaim, looking off in one direction. He couldn't see what was happening from here, but whatever it was, it was noisy.

Dropping the soggy map where it was, Rain suddenly leapt up to the tree he was sitting under, pulling himself up the branches and to the top. His head poking out through the top of the canopy, he would raise one hand to shield his eyes from the sunlight.

Salamander

I do say, old chap, FWOOSH again!

A fireball burst out through the woods not too terribly far from his position. A mile and a half, maybe two. Unfortunately, considering the terrain, Rain couldn't superspeed over there, so he'd have to go investigate the old fashioned way.

Yes, it was probably none of his business. But being a wanderer, he was partial to nature, and someone was threatening to burn down the forest he was currently travelling in. Inconvenient, to say the least!

Clambering back down, Rain would pack up his map, his compass, his boss key, his bottle filled with fresh spring water, before hurrying in the direction of recklessness!  

[Dragosani Kain]

"Soooonuvaaaa BETCH!"

TWHUMP!!

"You-DIRTY--!"

PACK!!

"GREEN p***k--!"

CRACK!!

Left gasping and now more dirtied than before, Kain pulled back his fist from the sunken face of one of the orcs that had waylayed him. Bruised, scraped, and splashed with orc blood he tried his best to 'dust' himself off.

Fawk sakes...what's that damned elf gotten herself into now. Probably prancing about in her treetops with her little elf buddies singing tales of trees and lilies. Was it really so much to just know what the hell was going on, like, who the hell was this Teira chick and why everyone had given him glances when he tried to speak with her?

He really had nothing else to do and nowhere else to go why not find out what his former employer, who still owed him money, was up to?...but why'd it have to be this way?

Whatever the case he had to get moving again, no doubt more of the inhabitants in this place heard the scuffling. Kain shook his keys, that he used as brass knuckles, ridding them of gooey blood and made his way to his crashed 'cycle.

He cleared his throat and hefted it upright...it looked pretty bad. Sitting himself down and with a little hesitation inserted the key, twisting it to engage the ignition..........nothing.

"FAWKIN'-SONUVABETCH-b*****d!"

Reeling off the seat he spun and gave the machine a heavy boot to it. Nothing like attacking bulky machinery that lead to a hyper extended kneecap. No curses spouted from the Devil's mouth this time, just frustrated grunts. That kept on as he limped his way further into the forest, he only hoped that he wasn't just being led on a wild goose chase, no doubt somebody was upset Bloodfire didn't make it into the top three and gave him false information on the elf's whereabouts. Apparently she was last seen heading into this place. Whatever he supposed, goose chase or not his curiosity needed to be sated.

Kain stopped for a second and shuffled his way to one of the downed orcs to snag one of its cruel looking hand axes. Never know when he may need that.  

[ragingtofu]

As the twirling, twisting ball of flesh, scales, and fire twisted towards the ground, Rage could feel the tail slipping around his body. He did nothing to stop it, though - instead, he let the tail constrict him, which freed up his arms to deliver blow after blow to the Salamander.

He didn't want to hurt her.

He wanted to break her.

This entire time he had simply been a pawn in someone else's game, and he was sick of it. He swore he'd get through anyone or anything to get to the bottom of this and achieve his goals. It was too bad for Sali that she was the one standing in his way.

He'd slam his hand into the Salamander's face until his knuckles bled through his wraps if he had the chance. That was, until just before they hit the ground. If time chanced to stop again, she would see that Rage still had that twisted smile on his face, the one that he wore all through the tournament and the one that he wore even now. The field of battle was his home.

And he was happy here.

THWUMP--  

[Sunstrike]

It felt like the whole world was ringing in pain for every blow Rage got on the way to the floor of the forest. She tucked in and withstood it, but the damage aggravated the split in her armour, causing streams of the hot stuff to roll down the rest of her face, and into the trenches that served as the mouthpiece. It left a trail of gold in the wake of each hit.

Bang! Bang! BANG!!

When they landed the forest actually waved outwards from the singular point. Scattering trees and a few layers of top soil, and leaving a massive crater at it's point.

BANG!!! Thump!

For her it was a vertical hand...or blade stand, the great scythes of bone embedded in the ground, and if the sudden stop didn't rip Rage off her body, the tail would tighten and she'd yank her legs up to knock Rage loose, and then rip him off, crashing the tail to the ground with a SNAP and rolling him off like opening a carpet violently with someone still inside.  

[ragingtofu]

The earth came crashing down into the sky. Rage's entire focus had been on slamming fist after fist into Sali's face, and as a result he had lost sense of time and location to a lesser extent. For a moment, the entire world was reversed as his blood mixed with the Salamander's.

Then everything went red, then black for a moment, as the blood coursing through his veins all went to his head with a sudden and violent stop as the earth exploded outwards. Sali could feel Rage's body go limp at first, though it seemed he was holding onto the tail with one of his hands. That was, until she shook him of forcibly.

His hands loose of the tail, he skidded along the ground as he was thrown off, continuing to roll until he slammed against the trunk of a fallen tree that had been watching too closely. The impact was hard enough that it threw him over the trunk, and as he twisted through the air, he managed to take notice of two figures. One was all too familiar to him, but the other, though he had never seen before, could that be....

Thud.

A moment later, he came to a stop just on the other side of the tree trunk, just out of view... and for a moment, everything was still.

At least, until a hand could be seen gripping the trunk, bloodied and battered, followed shortly by the rest of Rage's body. He was covered in scratches, dead plants, dirt, and blood from the new lacerations that had formed, and he had probably crushed a trio of singing chipmunks somewhere along the line, too. He leaned against the tree trunk, his torn and burned shirts catching the residual wind from the impact, while his jacket, thrown off his body somewhere along the line but resting nearby, only showed signs of the dirt and leaves that were stuck to it from the forest floor.

He snapped his goggles up over his beanie, which was also singed and had more than a few holes in it as a result.

"Fireworks, rides, explosions... it's just like the time Elvi and I went to the carnival."

He looked down at his chest and arms in a mocking sort of way, as if to note all the blood that was on his figure.

"Yep. Definitely like the time Elvi and I went to the carnival."  

[Tei Kae]

(( Whee!!!))

The figure at Ra'kar's side continued to remain silent, cloaked to the point to where even her face couldn't be seen as she stood beside Ra'kar. Her height would be the only thing that could possibly give her away, and considering the costume hidden beneath the cloak, even that was no longer a certainty. But her green eyes watched all that went on around her, but she seemed to have no attention for anyone or anything except those who might be within her 'mistress' range.

In truth, only her hand was visible extended as it was from the cloak, seeming to hold onto something that was not visible to the eye. Or perhaps just as if she was used to holding something there beside her, like a staff.

She watched.

...She waited...

...although she did not know for what...  

[Uberwulf X]

Consider for a moment, the sound of a lone wolf beating the old path and veering off to create a new one.

He's been here before... something bad was going on. His gut tightened when he thought about it at length, and it made him force a breath. It was an indescribable wrongness that he felt, he knew. Though he had actual knowledge of the situation and players, the feeling continued to dip into that way when someone is unsure of the unknown.

To say things like "frozen in fear" would not only be for the sake of puns, but also absolutely wrong. He was frozen, but it was in the line his body took through the forest. Though his blood and muscles were hot from the travel, his breath, his eyes, his mind remained cool.

Just get there.

Ah, the sight of explosions in the. It was always the same, wasn't it? Someone was ready to mess up his day, and Lazenca had to go teach the person a thing or two about respect and not trying to launch diabolical plans and ruin others' lives on his watch. Apparently, Rage felt the same. The only other person ready to fight that he was aware of being both ahead of him and on his "team," Lazenca couldn't see or hear or smell him through the thick of the forest. Rage's path was high, and the scent was already lost on the wind.

Who needed such things, when he only had to follow the burning? Temperature changes were noted, as well as signature energies. From this far away and getting closer, he knew his ally. What of the enemy, the foreign foe that was the other half of the loud din?

Rage...

His stamina was nothing short of stellar. Single-minded about his destination, he needn't worry about anything else but getting there. As the wulf ran, the breeze he generated made crackle the trees and dead things underfoot as the slightest layer of frost settled on them.

...Teira...

The line of cold curved wide around the fight, as he initially wanted to simply get around that. But in moving, he could smell Teira near, so would keep the width to clear the entire party and emerge from the rear of Victor, Ra'kar, and the new stranger. His step was silent enough, but if the rumors of power and the like held any truth, then they'd know he was emerging. So, care for silence was soon to leave him.

...sorry I'm late.

After the thought, his eyes went forward to Rage and Sali, then settled finally on the trio. A quick second of observation, then he actually opened his mouth.

"Uh, what act and scene are we on?"  

[Sunstrike]

There was a sound from the pit. It started small, then developed into a full blown chortle of a creature that was deeply amused.

This little meat puppet had spunk! She would play with this one, he'd damaged her, and that took a lot of stuff that most humans didn't have.

She levered herself up from the ground and shook clods of crispy sod off herself. The blades that served as her first set of arms yanked themselves up from their embedded home and smashed together to scatter more debris into the smoking crater.

Free from the ground, Sali tensed, muscles rippling all the way from feet to tail, before leaping out to bear down on the green haired man, arms held out and to the sides, glinting wickedly.

Even if Rage managed to move in time the tree behind him was done for as she spun on herself, effectively becoming a walking blender for a few seconds in time. There was little regard for the area surrounding the man, just an instinct to fight.  

[Victor Fah]

"From myself, of course."

He answered her tartly, even as he lifted his hand-- a simple dandelion held between two fingers, each petal slowly coming off. "When I was still a young boy... I had my fortune read... by the very witch who had damned both me and my brother..."

It made for a strange sight, considering there was a heavy tussle going on nearly right atop them, and blood was being spilt on both ends.

Yet Victor remained as calmly detached as ever.

"All the world will be your enemy,
Prince with a Thousand Enemies,
and when they catch you, they will kill you...

But first they must catch you."

"Uh, what act and scene are we on?"

He half turned his head in the direction of the voice. With as much cold as the wolf was radiating, even someone without magical sense could have figured he was coming from at least a mile away.

"Time is growing short, Princess."  

[ragingtofu]

Ecks X

"Uh, what act and scene are we on?"

"I lost my place a couple pages back. I've just been making it up as I go."

And he was pretty sure that this wasn't part of the script.

If he was going to do any real damage, he was going to have to be a little more creative in the way he approached this. Unfortunately, creativity wasn't the first thing that came to mind as the Salamander tried to pounce on him like a cat playing with it's prey.

His brow furrowed slightly as a battered hand, covered in two kinds of blood, grasped the grip of the sword sheathed on his back before....

He turned and ran. But not out of the clearing, no, he ran towards the nearest tree that was in-line with Sali and himself, taking one, two, three steps up the trunk and kicking off. He didn't want to end up UNDER Sali, so he'd just have to go OVER her. As Sali set herself for "Purée," Rage stretched himself out in a sort of extended backflip before curling up again to land behind the Salamander.

As he dropped, he'd release his sword from it's cage, and attempt to drag it down Sali's back. Though the blade itself was charged with fire, it didn't show any of these properties. At the moment, it looked, felt, and acted just like a regular katana.

Unless she was still spinning, of course. If that was the case, he'd just back off, because he enjoyed living.  

[Lady Sierra]

Teira's eyes never looked way from Victor's. She met the honesty of his words and stood against it. She could see, she could feel the truth of his emotion and it might have swayed her, were she not strong in her own conviction.

In some ways... we're not so different, he and I.

"Prince with a thousand enemies huh? Pretty dramatic... what makes you think I'm not one of those enemies? I saw what you two--" She glanced between Victor and Ra'kar, "did to her."

Princess? I am no such.

She stood tall and smiled,

"What do you want from me? There is something... some ulterior motive, something you stand to gain. I would appreciate, your honesty in this matter."

As Lazenca broke through into the clearing behind Victor, Teira's smile grew and she nodded at him.

"We're in the midst of a revelation..."  

[Victor Fah]

"I mean you no harm." The words came out simply enough, even as he stuffed both his hands into the pockets of his white coat.

"You would be well cared for, and treated properly...as a guest." The emphasis was placed, as there really was no getting around the fact that she would be held captive.

"You have every right to decline of course..." He smiled softly, knowing Rakar was right next to them and provided a very good reason for avoiding them altogether to begin with. "But what exactly are you're alternatives?"  

[Lady Sierra]

"Do you dance m'lord? Because if you do it half as well as you dance around my questions, I'd be verily impressed."

Teira leveled a look at him that was not threatening or angry, but clearly said she had no time to deal with nonsense or these types of evasions.

"What do you want from me?"

She repeated it slowly, clearly, concisely.

She was very aware of the demoness to her back, even as she felt Ra'kar take a step closer.

"I can guess why she's interested in me. But you have her, why do you need me?"

Madryn Thosi was a reassuring and familiar weight at her hip. She let her hand caress the hilt lovingly as she spoke,

"Alternatives? I'm already resolved to fight anyone who stands in the way of my existence. I will be neither imprisoned by you, nor my destiny. A cage, even a gilded one... is still a cage.

I WILL sever the chains of fate that bind me."

 

[Dragosani Kain]

Regardless of the increasing tensions deeper within the forest, Kain was oblivious and kept on at a decent pace. Were it not for the downed bike he would probably be standing next to Lazenca right now.

:: ! ::

"Ra'Karr...?"

The Devil bit down on his cigarette and picked up his feet. That Demoness was pure to the title and certainly meant no good for Sierra's condition.

Kain hurdled over bushes and dashed on recently trodden paths, not long before he'd be coming up behind the wulf. In front he could see a cloaked figure and a bunch of familiar types, Sierra, Vahn and---wait, what?....Sierra AND Ra'Karr..

"..."

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Utter and deep confusion. A lot had happened within the year and the knowledge of Victor was long gone from his memory. His attention dwelt on the fact that now the demoness was free.