(Last 2 pages of Erath
[will likely reorganize into individual posts, before putting them into the RP])
Manannan continued to sing, the winds about his companions growing ever-hotter.
It was at no point uncomfortable; indeed, they would feel their movements flowing in accordance with it.
Better yet, they found they were moving with certain sureness to them.
He himself did not stop.
Storm continued to pierce the dragon's hide with successive thrusts and jabs beneath the scales.
With Manannan's strikes distracting him, Kara made a war-cry, and slammed Tsion's sword into the Dragon's skull, before he had time to switch targets.
"Well done.." He said, throwing them both off, and backing away. His eyes, and all of his cuts, instantly healed. "..You are strong.. For Divines.." A purple speck fell from the ceiling, and hit the ground with a 'pling'.
"My Kunai!" Kara yelled, throwing Tsion's sword aside, and grabbing the weapon..
Tsion, weakly, got up, and received his sword. If Manannan listened, close enough, he would hear Tsion's struggle to breath. (This guy basically had his sword hilt pierce his stomach! ..I just realized, I'm making Tsion get hurt, a lot..)
"Proceed." The Dragon said. "There is one left." A door opened up, behind him.. Manannan would feel a sudden coldness on his arm, which quickly faded away.. If he looked, he would see a gray Dragon, similar to Tsion's mark.
(I'll assume Manasa just followed)
Upon entering the next room, it was a tunnel. At the end of the tunnel was a dark room, with several specs of light, floating about.
"..Wow.. These things are sorta pretty.. What are they?" Kara asked..
Tsion examined one of them. "..It's not a Focal Point, I can say that.."
“...The frig?"
He paid a passing glance to his own mark, before moving over to Tsion.
Lir helped him walk, indicating the hole in his abdomen.
"You gonna be alright for now, man?
I'm not so good a healer that I can fix that."
Still, he begun the Eastern verse once more.
When they got through the door, Manannan quieted his song.
There was power to both of the verses he'd sung so far, more than he'd ever really noticed.
Maybe it's 'cuz I'm a Divine, now?
In whatever case, he was getting tired.
Divine of Storms or no, moving all this still wind was hard work.
He wasn't down for the count just yet, but he might sit this one out if it weren't a trial of wit.
"..I'll be fine.." Tsion said.. "That was power, and we already had speed, so whatever this next one is, it shouldn't be too difficult.."
Kara tried to catch one of the lights, and did so easily, cupping her hands, and slamming them together.. She opened her hands to look at it.. "..They're just balls of light.." She put her hands, together, again. "..And other than leaving an after-image, it didn't seem to do much.." She said, blinking her eyes, a few times..
"Loyalty, maybe?
Memory?"
He had a hunch that it wouldn't be as straightforward as the others.
Just my luck.
He poked one, to see what it would do.
Lir's new dragon-tattoo flashed, and all of the light suddenly shot out into one large ball.
"..What the..?" Kara began..
"..This is your final trial. Are you prepared?" A female voice asked.
Manannan looked around, instinctively seeking the source of the voice.
It occurred to him that it was coming from the ball itself.
"Ready? No."
He rubbed his eyes, getting used to the light, and struck a pose.
No, not a combat stance; a pose.
It was needlessly dramatic, but it felt right.
"Let's do it anyway. We got an injured guy here."
"You have bested both speed, and power, yet you do not have the confidence to feel you can succeed your final trial?" The voice asked.
"Can we skip the speech?" Kara asked.
"..I do not believe I am giving a speech. Simply having a conversation."
Manannan listened to the interplay, waiting for a spot.
Manners were important.
...At least with large creatures that could eat you in two bites.
Immortal or not, being in a dragon's stomach would not be fun.
"I didn't say that.
I'm just sayin' you're kind of springing these on us.
That's probably the point, I know, but..."
He shrugged.
"I've been finding myself outclassed a lot, lately.
It wouldn't really surprise me."
"Of course you are outmatched, should your opponent be weaker, it would not be much of a trial, would it?" Another serpentine Dragon began to slither out of the ball, this one a bright silver. "Why are you undertaking these trials?"
Manannan just stared at it.
At this point, he wasn't all that easy to surprise, nor to impress.
"Meet Justice.
Maybe try talking her into helping us."
He looked around, trying to puzzle out the challenge.
"So what's this trial, anyhow?"
"What cause do you fight, that you think she will help?
Strength, Speed, and Strategy are the three main parts of combat. I'm sure you can rule out the two you've already done."
Manannan continued to look the dragon in the eye.
This was probably not wise, but he found he couldn't really look away just yet.
"The system of kings and successive rulers is contrary to the function of her Divinity; it's unjust. (by utilitarian ideology: the greatest good for the greatest number of people)
We want to overhaul the structure of the plane, I guess.
Apparently, the king-ship's tied into it, so we want to change it to better-suit everyone who lives here."
He backed up a little once she'd mentioned 'strategy'.
"What kind of strategy are we talkin', right now?"
"Overhaul the system.. Well, that's a new one.." The Dragon said.
"I feel as though your efforts are in vein, however.. This system has been ingrained into the minds of all..
Even those who do not realize this." She paused, for a second.
"..How about we play a game of chess?"
"What?" Kara asked. "..You aren't serious, aren't you?"
"..And what is chess, exactly?" Tsion asked.
"An earth game."
"Yeah, it just might be.
Like I said to the last guy, tho', all we'd really be doing is setting the groundwork for folks to come up with another system after this one's gone.
...And persuading 'em otherwise if they decide that monarchy like this one's the way to go."
The offer of a game didn't quite throw him off balance, but Lir still didn't respond all that intelligently.
"Bwuh?
Earth games, huh...
...What's an Earth, again?"
I knew I should've payed more attention to Sher'yn when she tried teaching me history...
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