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Amador Damiano III

"You just need to be patient. The perfect shot will inevitably show itself."

0 · 595 views · located in Reimrand

a character in “Lord of Elements”, as played by Eddy V. Sovorov

Description

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27 || Heterosexual || Protector, previously an officer of the Archer Corps





A young man with lean muscle, brought on from plenty of running and shooting a bow, he stands five feet, eleven inches in height. He has brown hair comes straight down, ending close to his neck. He is always very relaxed, in posture and tone, and even his hazel eyes give off a constant look of content as he's a difficult man to bother. He's often seen wearing his uniform, which has little in the way of armor but that's mostly because he uses his own magical abilities to make up for it. He has a few scars on his body from his years in the military, as being an archer doesn't always keep him safe from those with more close quarter fighting capabilities.



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Damiano is a skilled hunter, adept at tracking, camouflage, sneaking, stalking, and hiding. His greatest strength, and his greatest pride, is his skill in archery. Damiano almost never misses a shot, can fire off several arrows rapidly, and perform other various trick shots with his bow. Even under immense pressure he can make his shots rapidly and accurately.

Alongside his archery skills is his use of earth magic. He mostly uses it as a defensive tool, either to create cover in which to hide behind, form a shield, or even form a suit of rock armor as needed. Sometimes he also uses to to trap or trip up his opponents, or to keep them away from him by erecting obstacles or opening pit traps. He often uses his earth magic to cover his tracks by preventing the formation of foot prints, or by removing scuffs on the ground. Sometimes, if he wants to add more punch to his arrows, he'll reinforce them with stone, possibly blunt them for less lethal shots, or if out of arrows will form some out of the earth. He keeps a pouch filled with metal spheres on his belt to be sacrificed to power his magic.

Beyond his combat skills, Damiano is also very skilled at wood carving. It is something he usually does on his off time, where he'll find himself a quiet place to relax, draw his knife, and start carving whatever comes to his mind. He is also bilingual, having been born in a country with a different language than Iveir.


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Damiano is not very adept at handling nobility and maintaining proper behavior among them. To try and avoid upsetting the wrong people, he tries to stay out of sight when forced into a situation in which he might have to interact with them less he cause a scene of some kind or upset the wrong person.

Another issue of his is that, as one might expect from an archer, he much prefers to stay out of close-quarters fighting. While he is not helpless as he can fight semi-well with his hands and using his bow as a club (almost always reinforcing it with stone to keep it from being damaged), he is nowhere near a master of fighting up close and personal. He also usually survives battles up close and personal by abusing his powers over earth to protect himself from the attacks, and to try and create the space needed to properly use his bow.





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Damiano is by far one of, if not, the best archer in his unit and maybe the Archer Corps. It's the reason he's an officer and why he's been recruited to help train the newer recruits, as well as to oversee training and practice in general.

Another thing pretty well known about Damiano is that he is the son of a noble from outside of Iveir; most of his fellow soldiers know about this and it's not something he's really tried to keep hidden. He doesn't talk much about why he left though, but for many it would not be hard to guess why if they knew of what his family was like.


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Damiano likes to keep it under wraps, but the reason he left was because of the trouble he was finding himself in back home. While he would have much preferred to live a life of luxury, he could never see eye-to-eye with his families ruthless ways of ruling their land; he choose to run away rather than be a part of that business. His hands are not clean though as he is guilty of plenty terrible things that he has done for his family, and it's the one thing he does not ever like talking about.

Also he prefers going by his last name rather than his first name of Amador, as it is the name of his father and grandfather before him. His full name is actually Amador Damiano III, but as said he prefers to stick to Damiano instead.




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Damiano can best be described as relaxed and calm. If it's not a combat situation or a hunting mission, then it is rare to ever see him in a state beyond relaxed. Even at the target range, he still seems calm and focused. He would much rather do nothing if he does not need too, but he's one of the hardest workers when he needs to be or has been ordered too.

He also quite the conservationist at heart, striking up a conversation when bored and not working. As said, he tends to avoid the nobility or members of the upper class though as he's pretty crude despite his lineage. If you aren't part of that group though, he will happily start chatting with you about almost anything you or he can think of.

Underneath the calmness and friendliness is someone raised and trained to kill, something Damiano can do at the drop of a hat and with no remorse. He may not enjoy the fact he can kill without so much as batting an eyelash, but that does not mean he ever regrets the action. In all honesty, the only thing that he regrets is being born into the family that he had been.


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Amador III was born to Amador II and Duneliy Damiano, heads of the Damiano estate in the country next to Iveir. He is the third youngest child out of 4 other brothers and 3 sisters. He was born into luxury, with just about anything he could want always at his finger tips. For the first few years of his life, it was all rest and relaxation for the young boy. However at the age of seven was when he began to train to go on hunting trips with his family, and here Damiano began to take a liking to his bow.

The hunting trips were just a prelude to his training that he began only a year later, in which he was now forced into combat training by his parents. While he was trained in the use of most weapons, he still had a particular fondness for the bow and it would become his primary weapon. He was always told by his family that the reason for this was so the children could defend themselves if attacked, as being the children of nobles meant they were at a great risk for being targets from groups looking for a healthy ransom.

Age fifteen was when Amador III was shown that the training was not just for protection of the children's own well being, but also for the sake of the family and it's holdings. He first learned that the training was actually to make the children the officers in charge of the Damiano family's secret police when his older brother's dragged him along on a mission. This same mission was the first time that Damiano made a widow and a child fatherless by punishing a poacher. The fifteen year old never even learned why the father had been caught poaching on land he was not suppose to be hunting on, he was simply told to make an example and that is what Damiano did. The young son had finally been introduced into to the darker side of the Damiano family as he was officially welcomed to Los Segadores, The Reapers.

All the training he had received, from his hunting trips with his family to the combat training he was forced to continue, was used in his six years as an officer among The Reapers. He performed the dirty work of his family, eliminating those who had broken the laws or threatened their power. All of it meant nothing to Damiano though, as this was not power that he'd ever get a taste of and in the end he was certain that too his parents he really was nothing but a disposable tool that existed only to make sure the next family member in line would still have their seat of power. It would be his oldest brother who would inherit the position of head of the family and would thus take control of all Damiano land and possessions. He knew that he would only continue to see nothing but more dead innocents until his own death in The Reapers, and so Amador finally choose to leave this life and used those very skills he had been taught to escape the iron fist of his family.

He had taken the lives of a few reapers to make that escape, and he knew very well that he could not hope to live a life of freedom if he remained in country. Amador choose to flee to the neighboring country of Iveir, though he kept going until he was far from the border and eventually made a stop within the Fire Kingdom. Here, far from the border and far from his family, Amador choose to finally make his home. He began going by Damiano and began his life within the new kingdom simply doing odd jobs until he could find an actual job to settle on. It was not as simple as he had hoped it would be however, as no matter what job he took up, he always felt out of place. Part of this was simply because he had grown up never needing to work for a living, as though his family may have been cruel to their subjects they were anything but too those related through blood. What work he did have to do had always been as a reaper, aiming down the shaft of an arrow at whatever unfortunate soul had decided to make an enemy of the Damianos.

Damiano finally gave up in trying to find a civilian job and decided to join the army of the Fire Kingdom, as he knew here is where he would more so fit in. He joined the Archer Corps where he quickly found his place in the world. To him, finally using the skills he had been taught to actually help defend people was a goal he could get behind wholeheartedly. It would be a few years before he'd finally earn himself a place as an officer within the Corps, being in charge of one of the scouting divisions as well as being one of the instructors and trainers.

A year ago, not even a week into his service as protector of the Fire King, Damiano found himself battling a powerful mage of Reimrand, the brother of the current Prince of Reimrand, Valrien. Damiano's skills proved to be a great boon to the his allies, and he helped to end the reign of terror of the deranged brother. After that incident, Damiano returned to the Fire Kingdom to resume his job as protector, though now he had been left as the sole protector after the death of his fellow protector, Reynard. It was around this time that he began going by the name Asier Robeldo, in an attempt to further distance himself from his past and his family.






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So begins...

Amador Damiano III's Story

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Amador Damiano III Character Portrait: Amon Ad-Raza Character Portrait: Harlan Pendrake Character Portrait: Valrien Yustri Character Portrait: Kanan Thiyer Character Portrait: Siya Ukomo
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#, as written by Siryn
[size=100]Music, people dancing, the smell of food filled the enourmous hall. The year had been good for Reimrand. The orbs had returned most of the lands to what it once was. Valrien's gaze shifted from the people at the fore front of his table to those that were singing and dancing in the hall. Most of his people were happy, some were still trying to recuperate. Though he was certainly happy that his Kingdom had slowly started to become what it used to be, he just couldn't settle.

Staring off into space, his lips pulled into a frown as he swirled the cup in his hands, sending the red liquid in a spiral in the depths of the silver goblet. Though it was supposed to be the first celebration since regaining the orbs and restoring Reimrand, there was still much to do. First of all, Valrien's coronation as King couldn't be done yet seeing as any who had been a part of the royal family during that time had died. Not to mention that he wasn't too sure himself if he was ready to be called 'King'.

"Valrien?"

Looking over, the young Prince was met by a pair of fiery eyes. They belonged to the young King Siya Ukomo who was seated just to his left. With him was his protector Damiano, the air King Amon and his protector Kanan. Old memories rose up and Valrien quickly disregarded them. They were too horrifying to recount and he wished them to be gone from his memory entirely.

Swirling the cup, he finally lifted it to his lips and took a very small drink of it, after tasting it, he set the cup down again with a bit of a grimace before he answered Siya's unasked question, "I'm fine."

The Fire King frowned, "You haven't eaten."

"Neither have you."

A blush coursed over his face as Siya glanced down at his uneaten food. Looking away, he leaned back in the chair and didn't say anything further. Valrien sighed heavily knowing where the Kings mind went. Looking across the table, Valrien took a deep breath and almost went to say what was on his mind before cursing himself silently, shaking his head, and looking away again to stare out into the crowd of commoners who were so lost in their dancing that they had no idea of the mood their young Prince was in, nor the reasons for his tension.

"Well, dear, I'll come find you once this is all wrapping up, how's that sound?" Harlan cooed, pulling the woman up against him, his arm around her waist, a goblet of wine in his other hand as he grinned at her. She chuckled, swatting him on the chest while looing at him.

"Sounds good to me, mister Pendrake." she purred back, running a hand up behind his head to pull him into a kiss before stepping away from him, winking then walking off. Harlan grinned as she walked off, watching as she purposefully added a bit more "pop" to her strut. Chuckling to himself, he chugged down the last of the wine in his goblet, seemingly not phased in the slightest as the liquid burnned his throat the whole way down. He then looked into the cup before he began heading towards the table to pour himself some more.

It'd been such a long time since he'd seen, not only this place, but just about any place in Reimrand so cheery. It felt good to see it, especially now that Valrien could start improving this world as a whole. For as long as he'd been alive, Harlan had seen nothing but a dreary land, dead and nearly lifeless. Hell, it was why Harlan did what he did. Alcohol just had a way of making things so much less stressful, and in this world stress was something that there was plenty of. Any possible way to be rid of it was a chance to jump at.

Harlan walked up next to the table, bumping into the chair of the young Fire King Valrien had brought along. Harlan held up a finger to the man, giving him a grin. "Whoopsie, my bad there." he said, though whether he actually understood how to be polite was something to question as he leaned over the fire king to snatch one of the silver pitchers that held more wine. "It feels great to see this many grins, let me tell you!" Harlan said to Siya, still leaning over the king as he filled up his goblet once more. Once finished, Harlan set it back down and finally stood up straight before looking over to Valrien.

He leaned up against the back of Siya's chair, pointing at Valrien with the hand that held the goblet. "Hey! Valerie you need to be one of those grinnin' people! So smile, would you?!" Harlan said, speaking up to be heard over the din of the party going on. He took a drink from his goblet before looking down at Siya. "You too, cutey." Harlan said, grinning and taking another sip from his cup.

Damiano glanced over to the Prince's...possibly drunk friend as he moved up next to Siya. The protector didn't move or anything, as he knew the man didn't intend to hurt Siya. He smiled a bit at the man's prodding towards Valrien before the Nevarren turned his head to look over the rest of the party. He too had a goblet in his hand, filled up with wine as he slowly sipped away at it. The smile faded a bit as the protector looked around the room. It almost felt like he was back home, sitting at some ball that his brother may have set up or some other noble house may have. The fact that nobody here was armed and ready to stab someone else in the back at a moments notice was really the big difference between there and here though.

"I-I..." Siya's voice cracked as he struggled to get words after being addressed as 'cutey'. His blush never faded, but it wasn't one out of flattery. He wasn't all too happy either. Like Valrien, there was far too much on his mind.

Across from Siya was Kanan who had lifted his good eye to watch the drunken idiot carefully. He wasn't too keen on the man's proximity to Siya though Kanan was well aware that Damiano wouldn't allow anything to happen to him so long as he was right there within striking distance.

Valrien, on the other hand, sighed heavily and rolled his eyes as he leaned back and rubbed at his face, "Harlan. You're annoying. You're also drunk. Put the cup down and go sober up or something," he said as he shook his head though he knew very well the man wouldn't sober up and probably wouldn't put the cup down either.

"There's something you wish to say, Sire?" Kanan asked softly, deciding to direct the conversation elsewhere as it looked like Valrien was already at his patience limit.

The young Prince glanced over to the one-eyed protector and heaved yet another sigh before he leaned forward and rested his arms on the table, "Yes. First, I'll apologize. I didn't ask you all to come just to celebrate. Though, I will say that I am very grateful for everything that was done to get this far. Unfortunately there is a problem."

He paused slightly. Siya watched him, hands clasped in his lap, a bit of a dark frown on his lips. Kanan didn't move either, simply waiting for what the Prince was going to say. Valrien took a breath, held it, then let it out slowly as he glanced at each of them before continuing, "It was a very long time ago, but.... things were created and unfortunately my family never had the chance to deal with them.

"They're the problem right now. They're still roaming around and they're dangerous, nasty bastards that need to be put out of their misery. I've already heard of killings in some of the newly rebuilt towns. If I don't snuff out this damned... Wretched past...." Valrien's gaze narrowed as he ground his teeth, fingers intertwining tightly as he rested his elbows on the table, "I will lose everything again and this time by creatures who should not even exist."

He left it at that as he took a moment to regain his composure and not sound so pissed off -which was hard since he sounded like it most all the time. After a while, he finally spoke again, his gaze trained on Siya most especially, "I know a lot has happened. You probably do not even wish to be here anymore. I understand. But... I would like to ask for your help again. If you refuse, I will not push. I will find a way to fix this myself... I just..." his gaze flicked over to Harlan for a moment before he stopped talking and waited.

Harlan watched Valrien tell him to put the goblet down. Harlan rolled his eyes, doing the opposite and taking a drink from the goblet before he moved his way over to Valrien's chair, resting his arm on the chair as he leaned against it. "I am not drunk, not yet. I can promise you that, Valrien." he said, taking another sip from his cup as he then looked to the others. Harlan sighed though heavily as Valrien decided to spoil the fun going on here by bringing up some current issues. "You just can't ever let a party be a party, can you Vally?" Harlan mumbled to himself.

Amon, who had been munching on the delicious food set in front of him, looked over to the prince as he spoke. An eyebrow was arched in confusion, Amon making sure to swallow his food before speaking. "Well, firstly, we are plenty happy to have helped you. As for helping you again, well I don't see why not." Amon sat up in his seat, resting the ankle of one leg on the knee of his other as he did so. His staff currently was resting in the room that had been provided for them by Valrien. Amon had no reason to carry it around here, as he certainly had no plans to breakout in chin-ups or anything anytime soon. "But uh....perhaps you can clarify a bit more, on the whole 'things were created', part?"

Damiano leaned forwards onto the table, so that he could look past Siya who he was sitting next to. His own interest had been piqued at this development, "I second that, su majestad. That is an odd piece of information to be attached to a problem regarding, well something living." He took his own sip from his goblet, keeping hold of the cup as he set it down.

Harlan let out an annoyed huff of air, sighing before he chugged down the remaining wine in his goblet. Valrien could be such a buzzkill at parties, sometimes.

Valrien clicked his tongue in annoyance as he shot his friend a haughty glare, "God... Why the hell am I friends with you," he uttered to himself as he shook his head a little and sighed yet again. He was doing that a lot lately it seemed.

Leaning back from where he'd been resting his arms on the table, he looked off to the right as he pulled his thoughts together to answer the question given to him. Even he wasn't sure on all the details. After all he hadn't been born during that time and it was only by word of mouth that he knew anything about the things anyway.

"They're called Durak's. It was many... many years ago. Before I was even born, when my parents were probably children. I don't know. In any case, the Durak's were created. No... That's putting it lightly," Valrien sighed again, an angry sound because he just couldn't seem to get the words right. His fingers pulled into fists as the other hand tapped the arm of his chair in annoyance. Glaring out into the ground with a look of pure rage on his face, he tried again, "Experimented on. Put together by foul magic, or so I was told. Beasts. Creatures that shouldn't even exist. A mixture of man and boar. It's foul, disgusting, and utterly horrifying.

"They were created when Reimrand was in war with some fanatical. As I'm told he had a way with the magic of the land that no one would even dare to attempt and it put him in the eyes of the Yustri family as a threat to Reimrand. So, the third King declared war on him and though it took a few years. He managed to kill the fanatical and stopped his experiments. However, turmoil was already brewing here in the castle and... Well you know the story to that.

"Due to the betrayal, the inner fighting, the killing of family members... We just weren't ever thinking of the beasts that were created and never taken care of. Until now. Now, I have to do something about them and there's really not much I can do. I have no army, I only have a handful of loyal fighters that I dare to trust with my life," he glanced at Harlan for that, "But, if you wish not to, I will figure a way to deal with the problem."

He took a deep breath before he added, "You should also know that... according to the stories I heard as a child and growing up, the Durak's are... Very volatile. Very dangerous. I'm not even sure what they're capable of."

Harlan grinned at Valrien, "Because I'm just so charming, of course." he said before looking out to the others.

Amon cocked his head to the side, sitting back and looking off ahead. "Wow, the magic you guys have here in Reimrand never ceases to shock me. I thought our elemental tricks were cool, but here you have the magic to create whole new...things." he said, slouching some in his chair so that he could rest his chin in his hand, the elbow braced on the arm of the chair.

Damiano watched Valrien, listening intently the whole time while taking small sips of his goblet. "That is something. And I thought dealing with normal wild hogs was a problem, gotta deal with them in human form? Is there a reason they haven't been an issue before hand? Or was news just a bit hard to spread considering the fractured state of things here?" he asked.

Amon looked at Damiano for a moment before looking back to Valrien. "Also, how many are we talking about here? Because if you are only going to have a few people, such as us...well we aren't exactly an army ourselves in power or capability."

Harlan took his chance to pipe up, talking while he reached forwards to snatch the goblet that sat in front of the one-eyed fella. He didn't seem to set on drinking it, so why let good wine go to waste, Harlan figured. "Well, that is kinda the issue. From how the words sound, it may be a bit of a buggle out there when it comes to those numbers." the man said, not exactly sure what he had just said himself. He stood back up, sipping from the goblet for a moment before pointing out at them with the same hand. "What I meant, is that people say there's a number of the mean critters out there. Nothing too exact though, so won't know 'til we scoots ourselves to there!" Harlan exclaimed, grinning for no reason as he leaned against Valrien's chair again.

Valrien made a strange sound as Harlan snatched up Kanan's cup. Finally he just resigned himself to another sigh and leaned off to the side with his arm up to pillow his head against his fist. He listened to the young man with a frown on his lips. Even so, Harlan's words were very true, "Yes. Despite coming from a drunken bastard-,"

"Not drunk yet." Harlan said

"-he's right. We don't know exactly how many there are. From the latest report, the village was attacked by ten, possibly more," Valrien rolled his eyes at Harlan and continued.

"As for the reasons why it hasn't been an issue," Valrien turned to look at Damiano, "Asier, is because the lands as you said have been so fractured that getting news was near impossible. It's always been an issue, just not a large one like the fact that Reimrand was dying and very close to being a destructive waste land. My priorities were on other things at the time. Now, this is my priority. Freeing my lands of these damned creatures before they destroy everything again."

Valrien rolled his eyes as he leaned back in the chair and rubbed at his face again, "Look. I realize we are no army," he let out a huff of air as he stared up at the ceiling, "I will figure this out. I have always been able to, I can do it again. Please, forget I asked-"

"We'll do it," Siya cut in. He'd been silent up to that point so when he spoke he startled Valrien who shot a quick look over to him in surprise, "We'll help you. It's not like we can't. If we do it right, we can deal with this problem easily. There would be no need for an army. Destroy them bit by bit and the problem is solved."

"Siya..."

"We'll help," the Fire King looked over to Amon, "I'll help."

Valrien's gaze narrowed, "Are you certain you're not doing this to find a way out?"

Siya froze slightly, his gaze wavering a bit at Valrien's choice of words. When he didn't answer for a while, the Prince made a slight growling sound as he leaned in close to Siya, catching his gaze, and slamming his hand on the table, "Rethink your reasons. Then you can come back to me and tell me what you want to do."

Damiano glanced at Siya, listening to his solution to their lack of forces. He couldn't help but smile a bit. The young man was learning quick; it made the protector happy to know that the lessons were going well. Siya could pick up on things quickly, that much was something Damiano had learned over the past year of working for Siya.

He glanced to Valrien when the prince slammed his hand on the table in front of him, causing the protector's eyes to narrow. "Perhaps mi rey simply wants to make sure all that we've worked towards, helping to fix your kingdom, isn't a wasted effort by a bunch of pigmen running rampant?" Damiano kept his own gaze levelled at Valrien. Granted, the man was probably right regarding Siya's reasons. Maybe it was why Siya was picking up on the lessons Damiano was giving him so quickly, because Siya was trying to keep himself distracted and burying himself in work was one of the most effective ways he'd probably discovered. Still, Damiano figured that was not the sole reason Siya wanted to help Valrien.

Amon watched them, clearing his throat loudly to try and get everyone's attention. He sat up in his seat as he spoke, "We will help you, Valrien. We are not exactly ones to leave friends hanging out on an edge after-all! And beyond helping a friend, it still does benefit us. Best we stop the problem before it spreads, right?" he said. "And, I will not sit on my hands if I can do something to stop people from getting killed off by some...abominations. So yes, you are going to get our help." the Air King finished, taking a chance to pluck up a piece of meat from his plate and popping it into his mouth.

Valrien turned his heated gaze to Damiano, a sharp reply on the tip of his tongue before Amon cut in. He only glanced over to the Air King briefly before back to the archer. Grinding his teeth, he looked over to Siya who was avoiding all eye contact. Leaning back in the chair, he took a moment to cool off before he spoke again.

"Fine. I appreciate the help," he muttered. He was never one to be good at 'thank yous' and things like that. Even so, his gaze grew dark as he looked over to Damiano, "I suggest you keep an eye on your King. You may think that he is fine. But he is not," pushing up off the chair, Valrien stood up, "Don't let him kill himself, because that's what he's after," he finished, his voice sharper than before. Turning away from the table he left and headed for the back door to the huge hall.

Once he was through it, he stood in the dark corridor for a long while. Maybe that was too harsh of me... Even so... Siya looks like death already. Stupid... Of course Damiano knows. How could he not? Such an idiot... he chided himself as he started down the hallway in frustration.

Harlan just watched the exchange of glares and words quietly, knowing now more than ever to just keep quiet. He simply sipped away at his wine, shaking his head a bit at Valrien's comments. As Valrien stood up from the chair and stormed off for the back doorway, Harlan looked to the others, tipping his cup to them. "Alrighty, well I'll let you figure out your plans then. I'm gonna stop him from hitting his head to hard on a wall." he went to turn, stopped while he looked at his goblet, before chugging it down, then setting the cup down and then snatching the Air King's drink. "Not without some help though." Harlan said with a grin before turning and walking off to follow after Valrien.

"Hey! I wasn't done with that!" Amon protested, but the man was gone by this point, causing the Air King to pout. "Well damn..." he said before turning to look at Siya. He watched the Fire King for a moment, remaining quiet before he stood up from his place, and heading around the table and over to Siya. He stopped next to the younger king's chair, reaching down and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Siya, if and when you need to talk, just find me ok? I know exactly how you feel right now, so just find me when you are ready, ok?" With that, Amon squeezed the Fire King's shoulder before he looked over to Kanan. "Now, we need to find what else there is around here to look at and do! That, and I want to see you dance!" Amon said with a bit of a wicked grin before he turned and walked off into the crowd. He knew Kanan would follow, the man was like a puppy sometimes, or at least that is how Amon likened it.

Damiano looked up at the Air King, glad the man had said something. Truthfully, Damiano's only thought or response to Valrien's words had been to slug the man across the face and knock him unconcious. However, that would hardly help much in the end. Sadly, Damiano really had no idea what to say to Siya. He didn't really know what the man was feeling, as Damiano hadn't had much in the way of relationships or even that much for friendships back home, so when he had left it behind he hadn't really lost all that much other than luxury. He just looked at Siya, remaining quiet for a few moments before attempting something. "Maybe, mi rey, it's best if we try to enjoy the party? I'm sure Valrien will simmer down, and then we can get to helping him with his Durak problem, ok?"

Siya sat without moving. He closed his eyes as Amon reached out to take his shoulder. After the Air King spoke, he only nodded slowly before reopening his eyes and managing to keep his emotions under a very tight lock and key. When Amon walked away, he resigned himself to silence before Damiano spoke to him.

"Alright," he answered mostly as an automatic answer. He chanced a glance over to his protector and gave a very small, very forced smile, "He'll be fine," Siya answered in return, "We'll figure this out."

Kanan, on the other hand, was dealing with his King and trying his best not to blush at the thought of having to dance, "Sire..." he said, his voice slightly off put at being embarassed in such a way. Even so, he stood up and followed after his King just like he always did. He was always by Amon's side so long as nothing kept him from his King.

As he caught up to Amon, he glanced over to his King with his good eye, a bit of a frown lacing his lips, "Sire... About Lord Siya... Do you think it's a good idea to let him stay? Perhaps he should return home..."

Amon was chuckling at Kanan's response, enjoying putting the man in odd spots such as this. It was always entertaining to see how the stoic protector would try to work his way through the akward situations. It was a little mean of Amon, possibly, but that was hardly going to stop the Air King if it wasn't causing much harm.

Amon had moved to a more crowded section of the area, mingling amongst the people and greeting people here and there. He stopped though when Kanan once more grabbed his attention, causing Amon to turn to face him. It wasn't a frown that found it's way on the king's face, rather he simply nibbled on his bottom lip, crossing his arms. "I...really have no idea, Kanan. I mean, if I were in his spot I would be choosing to stay here as well to try and keep my mind off of it." He moved close enough to Kanan so he didn't have to shout over the crowd. "I mean, when I lost the rest of my family and also lost Allia, I didn't have much to distract me so I was kinda forced to face it."

Amon glanced back in the direction of where Siya was, rubbing the back of his head while frowning some. "I really don't know what to do for him, Kanan. Just gotta hope eventually he decides to face it at some point or another, I guess." he said with a sigh.

Kanan turned to look back at Siya as well. The young king looked so... lifeless. Kanan felt bitterness at the back of his throat. He felt useless. Even though he wasn't Siya's protector, he still knew the young man very well. His eye shifted over to Damiano. Perhaps the archer could do more for Siya than anyone else. Kanan took a moment before he nodded in agreement to Amon's words, "I see, Sire," he answered softly.

"I hope that he will find peace."
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Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Amador Damiano III Character Portrait: Amon Ad-Raza Character Portrait: Harlan Pendrake Character Portrait: Lutchka Zatari Character Portrait: Valrien Yustri Character Portrait: Renardine 'Minnow' Lunvari
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Harlan had quickly followed after Valrien, of course not before grabbing the drink as he had. It wasn't hard to find the Prince, mostly because Harlan knew these hallways about as well as Valrien did and there weren't many places he could have gone having left the way he did. When he saw Valrien down at the end of the hallway, a frown settled over his face as he spoke. "You call me the idiot and the bastard, Valrien?" Harlan's tone had become far mroe serious, as he was beyond jokes at the moment. "What the hell was that back there? Was a bit harsh don't you think?"

He picked up his pace so that he could reach the prince quickly, walking alongside him while taking a sip from the cup of wine. He looked to Valrien as he walked. "He offers to help with the problem, and you throw that at him?"

Valrien sighed heavily as he heard the mans voice behind him. Harlan was probably the closest person to Valrien that the Prince ever allowed. He trusted the man with his life amongst other things. Reaching up, he ran a hand through his hair, frustration piling up quickly.

"Yes, I know that was harsh. I'll... Apologize later," the Prince uttered softly, his gaze glaring out into the dim hall he was slowly walking down.

"I know he's offering help, but I also know he's looking for a way to end what he's feeling. Siya isn't himself and he hasn't been since my brother killed Reynard. I don't know what to do for him and I don't know how to deal with him. All I know is that the look in his eyes just now was not one of a man wanting to live for much longer."

Harlan took another sip of his wine, well technically the Air King's, watching Valrien before looking forwards. "Yeah, I know what you mean, Valrien." he said. His other hand had settled into his pocket, "I can see it in his eyes myself, though I'm sure if we see it so can the others."

He looked over to Valrien again, "All I can think of is giving him the time to process it, and make sure he doesn't get himself killed. I'm certain that he'll pull through this eventually, or at the very least find a way to cope with it." He looked to the red liquid sitting in his cup, swirling it around as he watched it. "Hopefully soon, though I can say, yelling at me at this point may not be the best way of helping him."

Valrien glanced over to his best friend and grimaced, "Yeah... You're right. I'll... Talk to him tomorrow. And apologize to Asier," he turned down the hallway, going left and stopped, leaning against the pillar that opened up to the courtyard. Silver light from the moon shed it's light all across the huge yard, filtering through the trees with their silver leaves. The vegitation seemed to glow in that light. It had been quite a while since Valrien had seen that sight before.

Crossing his arms he sighed a bit, "I'm sure that archer would like nothing more than to put my ass in the ground right now... Maybe I'll let him."

Harlan stopped next to Valrien, looking out into the courtyard alongside his friend. His eyes slowly scanned the area before him, a smile forming on his lips as he looked over the growing vegitation in the moonlight. "Good thinking, but I wouldn't worry. He's just an archer." Harlan said before taking a sip again.

He remained silent for a few moments, simply enjoying the silence and beauty of the scene before him and his friend next to him. "Would oyu have ever thought, growing up, you'd be the one to fix this? To bring something like this back to Reimrand, Valrien?" Harlan asked while looking over to him.

"Yeah- an archer with a hell of a punch..." he answered with a roll of his eyes. He remained in silence after that, enjoying the feel of the cool air, the moonlight on the courtyard. It wasn't until Harlan said something else that Valrien shifted and glanced over to him.

He shrugged, "No. I never would have thought it I guess. Then again," he took a deep breath, a kind of sighing sound on his voice, "No one really expects their family to murder each other either."

Harlan rolled his eyes, lightly pushing Valrien some while looking over to him with a smirk. "Could you try and not be a buzzkill sometime, Valrien?" he shook his head, looking out back to the courtyard, a smile still on his face though. "So it wasn't a perfect family, you fixed that mistake though by bringing the orbs back and giving the people of Reimrand a chance to actually enjoy the beauty of the world they live on." he said.

He looked back at Valrien, chugging down the rest of his drink before speaking again. "How about you be happy of the fact you are the one to redeem the family mistake rather than lamenting that the mistake even occurred?" Harlan sighed a bit dramatically, "This is why I keep telling you, just sleep with that Lutchka already! Perhaps she'd be able to put some cheer in you, gods know you need it." he said with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah," Valrien uttered softly as he too rolled his eyes. As the young Prince was about to say something else, his gaze grew wide with Harlan's continued speech. Turning, a fierce blush on his face, he lashed out at Harlan, "You! Shut up with that! And here I was about to be nice to you!"

The Prince turned and sent a punch headed straight for Harlan's chest. It wasn't meant to hurt the man -too much anyway- only meant to send him backwards and get a clear idea of how Valrien felt about that topic.

Harlan couldn't help but laugh now, even when it became a choked laugh as Valrien slugged him in the chest. It caused the man to stumble back slightly, Harlan catching himself easily though before he went sprawling. He continued to laugh, especially when he got a look of Valrien's face. "Come on, Vally! That blush only says how you want to! Just relax some and go for it, I'm telling you, buddy. You won't regret it!"

Harlan finaly settled himself, rubbing where Valrien had hit him. "And besides, this wasn't the right time to be all nice and mooshy to me. Nahh, we gotta save that until some heart wrentching dramatic moment. Like my death bed! Think about how great of a moment that'll be?" Harlan leaned up against a pillar himself, looking off into the courtyard. "There I am, my beautiful, lush, smooth hair, now greyed and mangey. My wonderfully taunt and lushious skin, wrinkled and marked. Slowly I'm fading away, only to finally see my best friend be nice to me." he sighed again, bringing a hand to his forehead as if swooning. "Oh, so romantic."

Valrien's blush only increased as he ground his teeth at Harlan's speech, "You ass... Like she's even interested, or would let me without tearing my throat out, and I definitely don't want to!"

Pulling back to lean against the wall again, the Prince continued to glower out of the corner of his eye at his friend. It was further deepened as the man proceeded to go through a dramatic monologue of how Valrien was never nice to him and never would be until he died. Heaving a sigh, the Prince's head fell back against the pillar he was leaning on and he rolled his eyes yet again, "Oh please. If I were nice to you, you wouldn't know what the hell to do. Besides, you know I'm not good at... stuff," he muttered, that blush filling his face again as he shifted uncomfortably.

It was true. He was never good at talking, or being sensitive about things, or anything related to be nice and caring. Valrien just wasn't sure how to handle those things, or how to act and he ended up a bumbling fool if he tried. So, he stayed with what he knew. Being angry and having sharp words come off his tongue.

Harlan snickered, turning against the pillar so he could face Valrien more. "Oh no, Valrien. She's not interested at all~" he made his sarcasm very clear and apparent. This was the best part about being friends with Valrien, or at least one of them. He sighed in contentment as he got his laughing under control, pushing off of the pillar and walking over to Valrien. He patted his friends back, still holding onto his grin.

"And you are right. If you were nice to me, I'd probably be lost and confused. And give it time, I'm sure you'll eventually figure out your own way to be nice and all." he lowered his hand from Valrien's back, crossing them over his chest. "Though not yelling at people about how silly their reasons are would be a good start, my friend."

"Oh shut up," Valrien responded. Even so, he was grateful for the man's presence and the talk. It helped to settle him even if he didn't show it very well. Turning a little, he looked up at the pitch black sky, the little white dots littering it were so familiar to him, yet at the same time not.

"I'm going to bed. I'm too tired for much more of this. I'll speak with Siya and Ayier tomorrow morning. We'll get plans underway as well and most likely leave tomorrow afternoon in search of those abominations. The sooner I'm rid of them, the better," he said as he shoved off the pillar. Patting Harlan's shoulder, he squeezed it and then left the man in the dark hall to head off to his quarters.

~~~

Minnow paid as close attention as he could to what the Reimrandian healer was saying, but to be honest he couldn’t help but have his mind wander a few times. The other-worlder was explaining a few roots and what they did, but the blonde healer kept zoning out. Much to his chagrin, he had to have the man repeat it a few times. Luckily, the other was understanding, and didn’t mind talking about something he took an interest in. For the most part, he had made a few piles of similar ingredients and what they did.
Lord Amon and the others were up in the castle celebrating the success of retaking the throne with a huge party. Big crowds weren’t his thing
 neither were parties. He felt so awkward and almost never knew what to do with himself. He hated being self-conscious, but he honestly still couldn’t help it sometimes. Besides, even if it had been a year, it was apparent that the battle had taken its toll- the land was recuperating, its citizens struggling under a lack of clear rule. It didn’t really feel like a time to be celebrating, though it had to happen sometime. And that wasn’t to say that Minnow wasn’t glad, gods no. He was thankful that the destruction was mostly over, that everyone was relatively safe, that a celebration could be had.
So while everyone was off supposedly having a good time and relaxing, Minnow was working his butt off down in the city, learning all he could about the local flora of Reimrand and its many uses. That was another sort of bittersweet thing. While he loved plants and learning about them, he also knew that he was doing this to get a better grasp of everything in case they were needed again. Maybe if he had known more a year ago, he could have been of so much more use. The celebration also marked the sacrifices of those who gave their everything during the struggle against Valrien’s brother.
That was a sore subject for everyone though, so Minnow did his best to steer those thoughts away from the front of his mind. Instead he refocused into what the other healer was saying. But even that didn’t last long. Soon his thoughts were sliding over to what Kanan might be up to. He was probably uncomfortable as well in such crowds, especially with so many strangers
.
“Ivei- Minnow, this one’s important, you might want to pay close attention.” The man’s voice recalled his focus, and Minnow blushed slightly before nodding his understanding, focusing his mind on his work.

~~~

Harlan was whistling to himself as he began his walk back to the castle, working to get his hair back up into the ponytail he usually had it sitting in. He had been out in the city last night, having spent a wondrous night with a young city lady, and considering the risk of being stabbed by large hair pins was not all that wonderful while fornicating, he usually let his hair down. Not to mention, it was also rather irritating, and painful at times, to deal with while simply sleeping. He approached the gates, putting the clasp around the base of the pony tail before slipping the pin through it, then resting his hands within the pockets of his pants, thumbs hanging out as he did so.

As he did, he glanced over to a group of guards who were currently working to open up a crate that was sitting in front of the main gates. Harlan looked over to them, stopping next to the officer in charge as he did. ”What have you got here?” Harlan asked, looking at the guards at work.

The officer looked over to him before back to the crate, “Some gift that had been dropped off last night, one of many really. The message on it said they are swords from a craftsman a few cities north of here, a fella named Reller. He’s actually well known in those parts for the work he does, so we’ll see if these things match his fame.”

Harlan nodded his head, looking to the guards for a moment before back to the head guard. “Alright then, well I gotta go check up on The Prince. Make sure he hasn’t gotten into anymore trouble or anything since last night. Who knows what he might of done while I was enjoying the town.” He said with a grin, the officer nodding his head while looking over to him.

“Alright then, good luck with that. And I think it wasn’t exactly the town you were enjoying, based on who I saw you leaving with last night” the man said with a chuckle, drawing one from Harlan as well as the Royal Guardsman turned and made his way towards the throne room where he hoped Valrien would be. If not, then he’d aim for Valrien’s room and if The Prince wasn’t there, well then Harlan would just give up and go to his room to nap some more.

Valrien sat on his throne in the huge hall. One hand drummed along the arm of the chair, the other rubbing absently along his temple. Before him, he’d called Siya and Damiano to speak to him. He had to apologize for his awful behavior the night before. Yet, he sat there in silence, trying to figure out what to say and how to say it. He was never good at apologizing. Or expressing anything other than anger and irritation for that matter.

Siya stood before the young Prince, watching him carefully. He was curious as to why the man had called him and his protector. So he waited. And waited. Finally after a while of watching the young Prince seemingly have a war with himself, Siya let out a soft sigh and gained his attention.

“Valrien,” he called out and got the man’s attention, “Just say it.”

The Prince stiffened in the chair visibly before he attempted to speak, “I-...” his voice cracked slightly so he stopped and gave a bit of an annoyed growl before starting again, “I apologize for my behavior last night. It was rude of me. I’m sure Asier would have liked nothing more than to punch me too. Which I won’t deny,” he said, giving Damiano a pointed look.

Damiano stood there quietly, thumbs hooked onto his belt as he stood there and watched The Prince. He wasn’t exactly sure why Siya and the protector had been called into the throne room. Something was on Valrien’s mind, and it wasn’t until Siya prodded the Reimrand that he finally spoke. The archer only blinked, caught off guard by the fact that Valrien was apologizing to them about last night. Honestly, Damiano had forgotten about what The Prince had said.

He smiled some, bringing his arms up and crossing them over his chest as he looked up at Valrien. ”Well, I appreciate the apology. I’ll hold off on the punch though, I’ve gotten revenge enough for one lifetime, so I’ll pass on this one. Less you really want me to, su majestad.” He then looked over to the sound of a door opening up, looking over to see Valrien’s brown haired friend walking into the room

“Don’t mind me.” Harlan said as he came walking over to the throne, sitting down next to it and leaning against it. “Seriously, don’t mind me.” he said while closing his eyes.

Valrien was about to say something, but the doors to the throne room opened and Harlan walked into the room. The Prince watched his friend as he made his way up to the throne. As he sat down, Valrien leaned over the side of the chair and eyed the man. Reaching down, he flicked Harlan’s head as he asked, “The hell is wrong with you? Too much to drink?” though he didn’t grin or laugh, he did enjoy the little tease. Harlan could, every now and then, drink far too much. It was those times that Valrien was sure not to miss making the man’s life hell.
Harlan looked up at Valrien, smiling some. “Oh no, not at all. Just a little tired from enjoying a wonderful night with someone from the city. Not to mention, You’d have thrown a wittle hissy-fit if I had come strolling in here singing the songs of our forefathers, so I figured I’d behave this time around.” he then turned to look on ahead towards Siya and Damiano, still smiling. “It might surprise you folks, but I am capable of behaving every now and then, despite what Vally here might say.”

“I also got caught up talking with the guards a bit, they were moving some gifts you received last night. Some swords, as a thank you, I guess. Why they’d thank you though, I haven’t a clue.” He said while stretching out his arms and legs, turning himself again so that he was now leaning with his back against the chair.

A heated blush coursed along Valrien’s face as Harlan mentioned singing songs of their forefathers. Turning around in the seat, he slowly curled his fingers into a fist. He counted a full five seconds before slamming his fist into the man’s unsuspecting head, “Ignore him,” the Prince said as he ground his knuckles into Harlan’s head for good measure.

When he was done, Valrien stood and straightened the silvery clothes that he was wearing. Honestly he hated the cloth that adorned him right then. The embroidery, the fine silk, he wanted his worn leather, the vest, white shirt, pants and boots. A sword at his side. Maybe he would just start wearing that stuff anyway.

Siya didn’t say anything as he watched the exchange. As Valrien stood, the Fire King only moved a little to accommodate his movement towards the doors.

“Alright. Lets go see these
 ‘gifts’. Then it’ll be planning for the extraction of those damned creatures. The sooner we get that over with, the sooner you all can go home and recuperate,” Valrien said, giving a bit of a stare toward Siya who didn’t notice. If he did, the young King said nothing.

Harlan’s grinning vanished fairly quickly when he felt a fist slam onto the top of his head, “Ow, ow, ow~! Ok I get it!!” he exclaimed, having recoiled downwards when the blow had landed. “Stop, stop!! You win!” Harlan said, rubbing his head when Valrien stood up and began making his way towards the doorway. Grumbling, Harlan stood up to follow after him.

Damiano just chuckled softly at the display, moving to the side to allow Valrien to pass by. He moved his hands back to his belt, hooking his thumbs there as he followed after The Prince, Harlan not far behind. The protector made sure to stay next to Siya, speaking up to make sure he could be heard by Valrien ahead of them. “Valrien, if possible, you could give me some maps of the areas and I can move on ahead and scout out the area. Get an idea of what we might have to contend with out there. It’d be much better than running into those things blindly, after all.”

Valrien glanced over to Damiano as he headed for the doors that led out into the hall, “That
 Is a good idea,” the Prince mused as he walked into the hall, “Yes. I’ll be sure to give you a map when we finish up later today. Just
 Be careful. There are many places that are not fully healed yet and those creatures are very hostile, very volatile, dangerous.”

Siya looked over to Valrien as he seemed to finally catch up to the converstaion, “He’ll be alright,” he said, his voice soft though the tone and slight edge to it made Valrien worry. Even as he said that, though, the young King looked up to his protector, “Right?”
Valrien grimaced as he eyed the Fire King. When was he going to be back to the way he used to be? Would he ever go back? The Prince kept his thoughts to himself though as he continued on down the hall to where the guards had the weapons. He was a little surprised by the gift. Yet, at the same time, he supposed it was a good thing seeing as he was slowly rebuilding everything, including his army. Which meant that he would need weapons for his men.

As they approached the hallway, the guards still unpacking the swords, Valrien eyed the finely crafted weaponry, “Well
 They’re certainly well made,” he offered as he leaned down to pick one up, eyeing the leather handle and sheath. It was well balanced too, very appealing.

Damiano nodded his head to Valrien, “Thank you, but I’ll be very careful. I have no intention of engaging anything unless I absolutely need to. I’ve done this plenty of times before.” he then looked over to Siya, smiling at the king, “Yes, mi rey, I will be alright; I promise.” he then looked back ahead as the group made their way into the front hallway where the guards were removing the swords from the crate.

Harlan walked up alongside Valrien as The Prince moved forwards, stopping to look down at one of the swords before reaching to pick one up. He felt the weight of it in his hand, tossing it very slightly up-and-down in his hand to test the feel of it before looking it over. The pommel and handguard were both polished to a bright sheen, and each sword had ornate etchings marked into them. “You know, I ain’t one for using swords but damn, these suckers almost make me want to use one.” he said as he drew the weapon from it’s sheath to get a look at the blade itself.

Damiano watched the royal guard pull the blade from it’s finely made sheath, looking up at the sword as the torch light gleamed off the similarly polished blade. It did not have the etching like the handle or pommel did, though considering the blade would be the part receiving most of the abuse, the craftsman probably figured it’d be pointless to put so much work into something that would be ruined rather quickly. Though as Damiano looked over the blade, he could feel himself getting somewhat light headed and dizzy.

His eyes were drawn to the other swords that were within the crate, and he couldn’t pull his eyes away from the weaponry. As he stared, he swayed slightly as his vision slowly began to go black on him. “Prince, watch out!” a voice shouted to the side, bringing Damiano from his haze. He blinked, noticing that he had moved forwards and was reaching out for the sword. when had he moved? He didn’t have time to think of it as he turned it head to see what the noise was, and his eyes widened as he watched Harlan in mid-swing, swinging downwards at Valrien.

Valrien’s gaze stared at the blade. The way it gleamed and distorted the light along it’s shiny surface. He was feeling slightly entranced by it. A shout took his attention, snapping his thoughts forward. The yell had come from another guard who had just entered the hallway. Valrien looked up to the man before he turned to see what he was yelling at him for. As he looked back over his shoulder, a surprised gasp filled his throat as he watched Harlan descending on him with one of the blades. Turning around completely, he backstepped to try to get out of the way. Even so, he was a bit too slow in moving. The blade caught his shoulder, dragging down and leaving Valrien with a nasty gash nearly from shoulder to hip. The burn of the wound caused him to drop the sword he’d been holding.

Stumbling back further, he choked on a cry of pain. Giving a growl instead, he glared at Harlan, confused as to why his friend was attacking him suddenly, “Harlan!” he shouted, trying to get the man’s attention. “The hell is wrong with you!” Reaching down at his hip, Valrien made to grab his sword. It wasn’t until he felt nothing but air that he remembered he’d left the blade in his quarters. With an irritated click of his tongue, he looked back up to Harlan and did his best to keep his distance.

As he backed up away from his personal guard, he noted a flicker of fire from the corner of his eye. Taking a quick chance, he glanced over to where he saw it and his gaze grew wide. Siya’s hands were on fire, his eyes squeezed shut though he peeled them open every so often as if fighting the urge to look somewhere. A sword was at his feet and Valrien watched as the blade disappeared into blue sparkles of energy, soaking into the King’s body.

“Siya! Don’t do that!” he shouted. He wasn’t sure why it was a bad idea, but he just knew it was. Something was wrong.

The young King ground his teeth as he looked over to Valrien who had shouted to him. The fires curled along his hands as he took short breaths of air, “I
 Can’t help it
 Have to do
 Something,” he answered, his voice strained. Squeezing his fiery gaze shut again, he concentrated, struggling to make the fires reduce as they flickered and raged along his hands and forearms.

“Asier! Get him out of here, I’ll deal with Harlan!” Valrien ordered as he turned his attention back to his royal guard.

As Harlan lunged in on The Prince, Damiano moved to assist him. However, the sound of someone running towards him caused him to turn as he watched another guard come charging towards him with one of the swords raised above their heads. Quickly Damiano removed his bow from around him and brought it up to block and deflect the sword strike. Before the sword made contact with the wooden weapon though, Damiano sacrificed some of the metal marbles that he carried in a pouch on his belt, using the magic to quickly cover his bow in a casing of stone.

As he deflected the attack, he then delivered a hard push kick to the guards hip, causing the man to stumble back slightly from the blow. The archer cursed under his breath, as the hit should have knocked the man over. Regardless it gave him a chance to quickly grab two arrows and draw them back, firing on the guard. Fortunately, at this distance aiming was very easy and one of the arrows struck the intended target, which was the right shoulder of the guard, in the arm where he held the sword. the other struck in his lower ribs.

The protector was shocked though when the guard was not deterred in the slightest by the arrows, lunging forwards once more to slash down at Damiano. Once again, he parried the sword strike to the side, pulling an arrow from his quiver as he did so. As the guard was turned to the side, Damiano quickly stabbed the arrow into the back of the guard’s shoulder. The guard simply spun back around though, delivering a hard elbow strike to the side of Damiano’s face and sending the protector sprawling to the ground, some of his arrows scattering across the floor as he fell.

Harlan lunged forwards once more, wildly swinging at Valrien as he let out a loud, feral howl, his eyes wide and blood shot while his face was contorted in a look of unfathomable rage as he slashed down at Valrien with everything he had.

Valrien ground his teeth together as Harlan came at him, swinging the weapon in wild arcs that came utterly close to him. Continually backing up, Valrien finally measured Harlan’s strikes and when he came back again, he snatched the man’s sword arm and lifted it up over his head. Latching onto his shoulder, Valrien stumbled backward with Harlan in tow, the forward momentum slamming him into the wall behind him. With a slight grunt, he winced as he struggled to keep Harlan’s arm up over his head. Shaking the man, he shouted at him again, “Harlan! You God damned idiot! Snap out of it!”

Siya winced as Damiano went sprawling across the floor. His gaze was wide and he gave a shout of worry. Looking around in panic, his heart lodged in his throat, he found his eyes drawn to those damned swords again. They wanted to be picked up. Even worse was the feeling to just sacrifice them all. Cringing, the Fire King closed his eyes and struggled to keep from doing just that despite the overwhelming urges to do so.

Standing stock still in the hall, he didn’t pay any attention to the commotion around him. Not even moving when one of the possessed guards lunged for him, sword ready to thrust down into his chest.

“Siya!”

He snapped open his gaze to see the guard just as Kanan came into the fight. The Air protector jumped in front of the King and slammed his heavy blade into the one that the guard carried. Knocking it to the side, Kanan sent a heavy blast of air magic into the man’s chest, flinging him backwards and down the hall a ways. Kanan reached back and pushed Siya backwards into the wall and stood in front of him with his blade leveled, ready to take on anyone else that came by. His wind wrapped all around his body, swirling like a snake ready to snap at anything that was stupid enough to come too close.

As he stood there, his gaze was kept forward forcefully. He could feel the power in the room from his ruined eye. It made it hard to concentrate and keep from thinking too much on the discomfort of his cursed eye.

Harlan snarled at Valrien, trying to wrestle free the weapon as Valrien kept it held to the side. An audible pop could be heard from Harlan’s shoulder as he yanked with the arm, trying to wrench the limb free before the guard brought his head forwards to bite down on Valrien’s nose. He his head snapped to the side though as a fist contacted the side of his jaw, pushing the man’s head to the side. The forward momentum of his own movement caused Harlan’s head to smash into the wall behind Valrien, further causing him to recoil back. As he did, his foot stepped on a blood puddle, his foot slipping out from under him as it met the now slippery, rocky surface. Falling backwards, Harlan’s head slammed into the ground and instantly the royal guard was out cold, his body going limp as the sword slipped from his grip.

Amon stepped up in front of Valrien, retracting his fist as he looked down at the unconscious Harlan before he stepped on the blade and slid it away from the others. He grimaced some as he looked around the room, watching as guards hacked and slashed at one another, those with swords were doing so with completely reckless abandon. He watched as two possessed guards hacked away at one another until one finally collapse in a bloody mess of flesh, the other possessed man just turning to attack the next nearest target.

“Get Siya out of here, Valrien. Now.” Amon’s voice was completely neutral in tone, with no hint of any emotion to it as he moved to assist Kanan in the melee.

Damiano rolled onto his back, bringing his bow up to block a downward swing from a guard. He kept the bow raised between them, teeth clenched together as he struggled to hold the madman back. Then a block of rock shot up from next to him, shooting off at an angle to that it slammed into the man’s side and sent him rolling to the side and off of the archer. Quickly, Damiano then pushed off another block that rose up near his feet, rolling back up over his shoulder and then onto his knees. There, he reached back and grabbed an arrow, though he noticed that he was now missing a number of arrows, quickly drawing it back and firing at the guard who was already running towards him. The arrow struck the man right between the eyes, and instantly the man fell to the ground, lifeless as the sword fell from his grip.

Valrien cursed as he struggled with Harlan. Trying to keep his footing and keep the blade from coming down on him again. As Harlan lunged forward, intent on biting him, Valrien reeled back only to have his guard’s head go crashing into the wall. The Prince looked to see who had struck the man. Amon stood there, having shoved his fist into Harlan’s face and knocking him into the wall. As Harlan tried to reorient himself, the man slipped, dragging Valrien with him. Unfortunately for the royal guard, he seemed to hit his head fairly hard against the floor.

With him unconscious, Harlan finally released the blade in his hand. As Valrien removed himself from his friend, Amon kicked the sword away and ordered him to retrieve Siya and leave. Getting to his feet, Valrien stumbled slightly, panting as he reached up to curl his fingers across his wound. He felt hot, sticky liquid seep between his fingers, coating the silver cloth he wore. With a quick nod to Amon, Valrien turned to locate the Fire King.

However, as he turned to look, the young King was frantically looking around. His gaze was watching the men with the swords, a horrified look on his face as Kanan and Damiano fought to keep the men away from him. Valrien started toward him just as Siya shut his eyes and seemed to concentrate again, arms out stretched on either side of his small frame. Valrien was a little late in registering what was going on. A massive amount of swords disappeared both from the hands of the men wielding them and from the floor. The blue sparkles shot straight at Siya, sinking into his skin.

Siya trembled at the massive influx of energy. Valrien’s heart lodged into his throat as he watched, “Stop!” he shouted. The swords were still disappearing though, so Valrien did the next best thing. White energy flooded his hand. Sending the ball right at Siya, he watched as Kanan froze at the feel of power that just barely brushed his shoulder. It shot past the air Protector and took Siya straight in his chest. The young King was thrown back and slammed into the wall. His body instantly crumpled to the floor and whatever hadn’t finished sacrificing reformed itself back into those awful blades.

Valrien winced, cursing to himself slightly as he watched the young King’s body sprawl upon the floor. Damiano is going to have my head over that
 he thought to himself as he slouched against the wall for a moment, feeling the toll of his wound.

Damiano had moved back closer to Siya, keeping his eyes open for any guards that might lunge in on them. He had attempted to disarm another one, and had come close to doing so. The arrow had struck the man in the back of his hand, causing the hand to go limp and loose it’s hold of the sword. As it fell, the guard suddenly began screaming in pain and grabbed hold of the wounded limb. However as his eyes came down and settled on the sword, all attention went back to the blade as he knelt and picked up up the blade with his good hand.

Scowling, Damiano then noticed as blue energy began to float past him and to a source behind him. Following them, his eyes settled on Siya who was absorbing the energy, but clearly struggling to contain the energy. Though just as the protector was about to grab hold of him when he felt a surge of power go by him and then slam into the Fire King. Siya slammed up against the wall and immediately fell to the ground. Damiano wanted to check on him, but as he watched the energy that hadn’t been absorbed seep back into the solid material that was the swords Siya had been absorbing, he chose instead to slide back into a position in which he stood over the unconscious king.

He watched as a guard went for one of the swords that had rematerialized, intending to pick up the cursed blade. Quickly, Damiano stomped on the ground, several slabs of rock shooting up from the gorund to cover the blade and hide it from sight. As it was blocked from his sight, the guard stopped and looked around, seemingly confused as to what he was doing.

Quickly, Damiano looked around for any of the other weapons, and began doing what he could to cover the swords he could see in earth and hide them all from sight. It seemed to be having an affect, as the guards near the weapons slowly came out of there insanity, of course there were at least three guards going berserk as they still held the swords.

One was running straight towards Amon, who calmly deflected the strike to the side by shifting his body slightly out of the way and batting the man’s hand to the side, using a burst of air to assist. As he did so, he then stepped in, grabbing the arm and pulling on it while thrusting his hips up and under them guards. The combined movements brought the guard up and over Amon’s body, where he then slammed into the ground rather hard. With a hold still on the hand, Amon kneeled down and pressed his knee onto the guard’s shoulder to hold him in place before quickly grabbing the pommel of the blade and yanking up on it and pulling it away from the guard’s hand.

The sword easily slipped from the man’s hand and fell to the ground, where Amon then shot a burst of air into it to knock it away from another guard who attempted to grab the weapon. As it slid across the ground, several slabs shot up from the ground to form a small tri-angular container which was then closed off as the blade slid into it.

Valrien shoved off the wall and made his way over to where Siya had crumpled. He watched as well as Damiano sent up pieces of earth to cover the wretched swords. He swallowed dryly as he approached. He half expected the archer to send an arrow through him for what he’d done. That would probably come later though.

Kanan let his air magic swipe aside another guard, knocking from his grip the sword that he held. Bands of red curled around the man’s hands as the protector had used his wind blades to get the weapon free from the soldier’s grip. Once he finished doing that, he swept the blade aside, far from the man’s reach. Using his own weapon, he slashed outward at the man, the air vibrating as it swept the guard off his feet and sent him crashing to the floor so that he couldn’t immediately go after the blade that bounced along the floor.

It was about then that the protector grimaced and let his weapon fall. The tip hit the floor as he knelt down, his free hand pressing hard against his eyepatch. The headache was starting, the painful pull of power burning in his eye. There was so much of it around him that it was hard to ignore. The desire to let loose his own magic had steadily grown and he wasn’t sure he could hold it back any longer. Valrien’s seal was breaking in the presence of so much Reimrandian magic.

The Prince moved and made his way to Kanan instead, kneeling down in front of the man as he’d watched Kanan drop down to one knee. Reaching out, he eased the man’s hand aside and pulled at the patch. Kanan winced slightly and pulled back a little as he squeezed his eye shut. It was a natural response seeing as how much power there was in that eye. Valrien pressed his hand over the ruined eye that looked like it had been carved with symbols and started redoing his seal. All the while he couldn’t help but to grimace as he looked over at Siya and noted the crimson color staining his pure white hair. Damiano is going to kill me
 he thought to himself as his magic wrapped around Kanan’s eye. He hadn’t meant to throw so much strength into his power when he’d let it loose upon Siya. He’d only wanted to get him to stop what he was doing. However, it had scared him so much that he hadn’t paid any attention to how strong he’d gathered up his own power until after he’d launched it.

When he finished with Kanan, the man visibly looking more at ease, he handed him his patch back, “See me again tomorrow. We’ll have to keep up the seal as often as possible. Try to remember to remind me as well
” Kanan simply nodded and got up, sheathing his sword as he went.

As things settled, Damiano lowered his bow then looked down to Siya. Quickly slinging the bow on his back, he then knelt down to check over the young king. He didn’t move him more than was needed, as he didn’t know what other injuries Siya may have and whether or not they may be exacerbated by movement. That and he really didn’t feel like getting yelled at by Amon’s protector, Minnow. Noting the crimson in the king’s hair, Damiano scowled before he drew the knife he kept on his belt for utility purposes. He reached down, grabbing one of the extra pieces of cloth on Siya’s shirt and cut it free with the knife. He then pressed the cloth to the wound on the king’s head before glancing up and around.

A scowl crossed his features as he looked over the carnage of the hallway. Scattered amongst the mounds of rock that hid the swords were sprays and puddles of blood alongside the bodies that once contained the life fluid. Some of bodies were so mangled that Damiano couldn’t even tell what part was what. If he hadn’t seen such things before, he was sure he’d have thrown up.

As Kanan stood, Valrien looked over to Siya. Once again he grimaced as he laid eyes on the young king sprawled out upon the floor. The black cloth that he always wore was also splayed upon the ground around his lithe form. Slowly, he eased his way over to the King, weary of the archer as well. He was going to have to do something about that energy that Siya had taken though.

“Asier
” Valrien started, getting the man’s attention before he dared to get any closer, “I need to withdraw his energy,” he said, his voice slightly on edge.

Damiano looked over at Valrien as he spoke, a small scowl crossing over his face. As much as he didn’t want to let him near Siya at the moment, The Prince knew a lot more about magic of this kind than Damiano did. Looking at Siya and how the king looked wracked with pain, he then looked back up at Valrien.

“This doesn’t require you to slam his head against the floor, now does it?” he said, keeping the cloth pressed to Siya’s head wound. “Do you need me to move at all?” he then asked.

Valrien frowned at Damiano, “No,” he answered sharply, “I didn’t mean to throw him like that. I only meant to stop him,” he snapped in return though he quickly reigned in his temper and sighed a little, “You don’t have to move him. Just
 Don’t punch me if he moves or anything. It’s not going to be
 Pleasant, but if I don’t do it
 We’ll be dealing with a lot of fire.”

Valrien leaned forward slightly, letting his hand hover over the King’s body as he twitched every so often on the floor. Though he was unconscious, the overwhelming amounts of energy flooding him was most likely the reason to his seemingly being in pain. Taking a deep breath, the Prince let it out as he gathered up his power and sent the white light flickering all around Siya’s body. He pulled at the energy, dragging it out of the young King and letting it flood through him and into the ground via his other hand. It would mingle with the natural energy there and eventually return to how it is supposed to be. As he pulled, Siya’s frame jolted, his fingers curling into fists as he gave a soft sound of discomfort.

Valrien continued for a while longer. He wasn’t sure exactly how much Siya had taken, and he didn’t want to drain the young King of all of his energy as that would most certainly put him in an even more difficult situation. It wasn’t until Siya let out a sharp cry, his frame shaking that Valrien stopped and let the last bit of what he’d grabbed pass through his own body and sink into the ground. When he finished, he fell back, bracing himself on his good arm and panting once again as he struggled to get air into his lungs. Opening an eye, he looked down at Siya who had relaxed across the floor, “There
” he managed.

Damiano watched as Valrien worked on dispersing the energy within the Fire King, tensing a bit as Siya showed signs of discomfort. However, the protector had to let Valrien work, as there was nothing that the Nevarren could do to help Siya. He watched Valrien drain the last bit of energy into the floor, looking at The Prince as he kept the cloth against Siya’s head.

“Alright, well I’ll limit it to un ponche. Uno a su estómago.” he said, before looking back down at Siya.

Amon had relaxed once the swords and such had been covered, grimacing himself as he looked over the violence. To him, it was almost like he was back in that village he’d been born in, after a vicious bandit attack. His fists curled into tight fists as his eyes slowly scanned over everything. He closed his eyes, shaking his head to clear his mind before he opened them. He looked to Valrien and Kanan, seeing The Prince work on the cursed eye of the protector.

With that handled, Amon decided to go grab his own healer, turning on the spot and quickly sprinting down the hallway. The last of his magical energy was used to eliminate the drag of the air on his form as he moved quickly through the hallways, weaving around turns as he went. He also took a page from Kanan’s book and extended out his sense to locate Minnow, quickly finding the young blonde sleeping within his room. It was going to be a rude awakening, that was for sure.

Sliding to a stop outside the door, Amon had to catch himself on the wall as his blood slicked shoes caused him to slide on the rocky floor. As he stopped, he quickly brought his hand up and began banging his fist against the door. “Minnow! We have injured in the front hallway and we need you there now!”

Minnow had been sleeping rather peacefully- or at least as peacefully as one could after pulling an all-nighter with intense focus, he was pretty much conked out at this point- when a terrible banging pierced through his sleeping mind. Minnow’s eyes scrunched together a bit at the sound, groggy from sleep and unwilling to face whatever it was that was apparently trying to break his door down. However, his mind registered that it might be something that required his presence, and he suddenly lurched from his sleeping position with a groan, propping himself up on his palms. He had to blink a few times in order to prod himself to further get up.

However, at the sound of Amon’s voice, he snapped his head up to stare towards the door. The words soon followed and registered to his sleep-groggy mind, and he struggled to roll out of his sheets. He had curled himself up rather nicely, but unfortunately it was a bit of a tangled mess. Eventually he just gave up and rolled over the side of the mattress, thumping to the floor where he could actually navigate the sheets off of his body with the help of a different material beneath him. He slipped out of it, stumbling a bit as he rose to his feet.

The little blonde haired protector staggered towards the door, still fighting off the sleep that clung jealously to his mind. He abruptly opened the door, looking very much the part of a troubled sleeper- hair was in a mess, clothes were wrinkled and frumpy, and very light hints of that tiredness clung to his eyes. ”What?” It was a simple word, not really meant as a question- he had heard the Air King perfectly well. Minnow was pretty much ready to bound outside and hurry down the halls to assist before he realized he needed his supplies.

He disappeared behind the door for a moment or two, soon reappearing with a leather bag slung over a shoulder. He didn’t say a word to Amon as he quickly passed him, heading down the halls. He had been in the castle long enough to know his way back to the front door, and a minute or two later he and Lord Amon arrived on the scene.

For a moment Minnow was stunned. He had not been expecting the horrendous scene that met his gaze. Blood was splattered against the walls, pooling a bit in some places on the floor. There were a few mangled bodies, almost unrecognizable, and many of the people in the room were injured and groaning in pain, a couple of them even had some arrows sticking out of their flesh. It seemed everyone was injured, actually, except for Amon, really. Everyone else seemed like they had gone through a battle, which obviously was what happened. Siya was sprawled on the floor, blood clearly showing through his white hair. But Valrien and Damiano seemed to be taking perfectly good care of him, and he seemed to be unconscious.

His pause was over in an instant as his focus took over and his knowledge of healing kicked in. He went to the closest person who could use some help. In all honesty, Minnow was at a disadvantage here. While he had spent almost all of last night learning of herbs and plants and such, the local healers knew more of the local flora than he did. Plus they knew how the magic worked here and how people would react. But that didn’t mean that Minnow couldn’t do some of the simpler things. Besides, in his own pack he had a few of Iveir’s herbs, and those he knew how to use.

However, as he worked at bandaging a particularly nasty wound, he could hear Siya begin to stir and groan in pain. Curiosity won over and he paused a moment to allow his gaze to settle on what was happening between the Fire King and the Prince. What he saw, though, was not worth the innocent little urge he had felt to see what was going on. It had been a huge mistake.

As soon as he saw the magic that Valrien was wielding, Minnow was suddenly back in the throne-room of the Air Kingdom. It was the same exact type that the Prince’s brother used, and while Minnow never really thought about such things nor did they plague his mind nor his nightmares, it wasn’t to say those memories weren’t still lurking in the back of his mind.

The little healer could have sworn that he could feel that burning grip around his throat once again, searing his skin and attempting to strangle him. During the flashback, one hand had unconsciously lifted itself up to his throat, his fingers settling delicately around where the burn had been those two or so years ago. The marks had disappeared long ago, but that muscle memory was suddenly painfully aware of the abuse he had suffered.

Where his fingertips touched, he left bloody marks from the wound he had been tending to in the same exact location where the burns had been. However, Minnow snapped back into reality an instant later, quickly returning his hand to his side and ducking his head a bit to hide his eyes, hoping no one had seen that bout of weakness and distraction.

He quickly finished patching up the man’s wound, standing rather abruptly and scanning the room- pointedly avoiding the areas in which the people he knew were resting in- and his gaze settled on the form of Valrien’s unexpected and unorthodox friend, currently docked in a puddle of blood and not moving very much.

He quickly moved over to Harlan, kneeling down in another small splash of blood. He did a quick customary scan over his form for any really serious wounds.

The first thing Harlan noticed was the splitting headache he felt. It felt like someone had there hands dug into his skull and was trying to tear it apart. Groaning in pain, he went to lift his hands up to his head, to futilely try to stave off the pain he’d only felt a few times after some very hard drinking. However, as he went to move his right arm, a sharp pain shot through his shoulder as the limb also refused to move properly. He shouted in pain, bringing his left arm over to cradle the injured shoulder.

Groaning in pain again, he dared himself to open his eyes, and regretted it as the headache raged once more as the light hit his eyes. “Fu~ck
” was all he could think to say as he laid there and slowly glanced over, only to see his right arm limp at his side. That was when he noticed someone’s leg, and his eyes looked upwards to settle on the cutest little blonde above him. He noted how adorable the man’s face was, lost in the look of deep concentration. “Well, aren’t you just an adorable face to wake up to?” he muttered.

Closing his eyes as his head raged once more, Harlan just gave up moving and relaxed his body and head. “Hey, how about giving my head a kiss to make the pain go away, eh cutey?” he asked, somehow willing himself to smile some as he said it.

Minnow lurched backwards in surprise when Harlan suddenly came to life with a shout of pain. The guard tried to move, but the little healer was quick to place a gentle, though sturdy, hand to stop him. ”Don’t-” He attempted to say, but Harlan didn’t seem to hear him. Minnow sighed very slightly in concern, but then his gaze settled on the dislocated shoulder. Almost wincing in empathy, his fingers gently brushed over the injured area, extremely careful not to jar him to much as he figured where it needed to be set. The Prince’s friend said something or other that Minnow didn’t quite catch, but he did not tilt his gaze when he spoke, clearly concentrating on his current task.

”Sorry, what was that?” The young protector’s voice was soft as he worked tenderly. However, his fingers froze as he heard what came from the lecherous drunk’s lips next. A fierce blush heated his cheeks and he kinda just stared at Harlan helplessly. ”A-ah?” He stuttered, blinking in a flustered manner. He had been completely caught off guard, and the more his mind repeated what the man had just said to him, the more ruffled he became. A hand naturally sort of raised up to his chin to hide his lips as he averted his gaze to the ground.

He had absolutely no idea how to handle this situation- he had never been in this position before. He couldn’t just run off like he so desperately wanted to, because Harlan needed medical attention. He couldn’t really do anything to the guy for the same reason. He hazarded a glance back to the guy, which was an obvious mistake. His gaze was intense despite being injured, and he seemed to be smiling suggestively.

Kanan, at the sight of his beloved little healer, moved over to him but stayed just out of the way in case Minnow made any sharp moves in one direction or another. Kanan was fairly nimble to keep out of the boy’s way, so he wasn’t too worried about it. He kept close though in case the little blonde needed anything. Kanan wasn’t a healer himself, but he could help with bandages and things like that, it wouldn’t have been a first for him either.

He stepped out of the way nimbly as Minnow moved from one man and started searching for another to tend to as Valrien’s own healers came to the scene. Kanan shadowed the boy as he moved over to Harlan, Valrien’s royal guard. He watched for a while as Minnow worked before his gaze shifted to look out at the others. The groans and overall sounds of pain filled the hallway like a continuous orchestra, though not nearly as pleasing to listen to.

It wasn’t until he heard Harlan’s voice that he was pulled back to look at the man lying there. At first the only word spoken was a curse as he moaned in his reviving from unconsciousness. However, the words that came next once Harlan set his gaze upon Minnow had Kanan’s chest twisting tightly. His fingers twitched as they curled around the handle of his sword. His pale blue eye leveled down at Harlan as he stepped closer to Minnow, making his presence very apparent with both his air magic and his towering form.

“Wounded or not, I’ll break your hands if you touch him,” Kanan hissed, hardly keeping the hostility out of his voice, the blade pulled forward from it’s sheath just slightly for good measure, “Keep your lecherous words to yourself,” he snapped as he fought the overwhelming urge to grab Minnow and pull him away. He knew the little healer still had things to tend to and unfortunately one of those things was the wretch laying on the floor.

Harlan’s eyes moved so that they were looking up at the towering figure that was the Air King’s protector. Harlan nervously chuckled and smiled up at him, waving. “Noted
” he said, though as he settled he couldn’t help but mutter under his breath. “Just had to say, ‘that’s my boyfriend’, sheesh..” he said before closing his eyes and just settling down.

Recognizing Kanan’s presence settled the little healer quite a bit. But his partner’s words didn’t do much to help the blush on his face as it flushed again from Kanan’s words. Harlan seemed to get the idea though, which Minnow was immensely thankful for. Relaxing a bit himself, Kanan’s words had reminded him of the job he needed to do.

Turning a bit, he rummaged around in his pack before producing a small herb. He leaned forward a bit, tapping Harlan’s chin in request for him to open his mouth. It was to help a bit with the pain he was about to endure.

Once it had been successfully deposited, Minnow made a quick motion, hoping to catch the man off-guard as his fingers wrapped around his upper arm and rested against his shoulder, pulling the joint back into its socket where it belonged. An apologetic look filled his face for a moment as he watched Harlan’s reaction, but he didn’t spare much more thought, quickly going over the cuts and bruises with some other medicinal things in order to mend the guard. He’d like to move on as quickly as possible, because the tension that was radiating off of Kanan’s body was all too apparent to Minnow.

Kanan gave a bit of a warning glare before he let the blade slide back into its sheath. Crossing his arms over his chest, he watched Harlan and Minnow closely, uncomfortable with the man’s words from earlier. Even though he knew it was rather silly of him to be like that, he couldn’t help it. It wasn’t like Minnow couldn’t fend for himself. Kanan ground his teeth as he stood there, wishing for Minnow to be done with the man.

Across the room, Valrien leaned against the wall with one leg pulled up while the other was stretched out across the floor. One of his healers was kneeling next to him, fussing with the wound along his shoulder and chest. After a while, he grew annoyed with the man and told him to go tend to someone else as he shifted against the wall and leaned his head back. Valrien could heal himself. Not that he could right then considering how much power he’d already used. It would be a while before he even dared attempt to pull the wound together.

Even then, he wouldn’t be using his strength on himself as he felt he owed Siya much more. The poor man was lying sprawled on the floor, most likely with a concussion and bleeding from the back of his head. Once Valrien got his strength back the first person to be healed would be the young Fire King, as well as given energy so that he could wake up and be alert again. He chanced a quick glance over to the boy before leaning his head back and closing his eyes to hopefully will his energy back quicker.

”Damn, I’m gone for two days and I miss all the fun~” An unexpected voice parted the silence- well, silent asides from the moans coming from the injured- it was notably female, and the perpetrator stood with her arms crossed, a little smirk on her face despite the carnage around her- the healer’s were doing their job anyway, and while curious, she loved making an entrance. She wore a sleeveless oriental styled shirt that reached up to the start of her throat and ended above her stomach, though the cloth continued down her back and on the sides to her waist. She wore a skirt of the same type with two slits on either side of her legs that reached all the way to her upper thighs. She wore a pair of black shorts underneath, and the ensemble was stunningly embroidered with bright red and orange flames against a black base.

”Looks like a whirlwind of blades came through here,” The ex-protector mused lightly, placing a hand on her hip lightly as she looked over the room. She herself could do nothing, but it did seem as though she had returned at a good time- things were obviously riddled with excitement. Just the sort of mess she loved getting into to.

Harlan was still trying to get the taste of whatever the blonde fella had put in his mouth, though he did have to admit he was feeling better. Granted when the healer had reset his shoulder, Harlan had considered slugging the boy in the face. However, with the one-eyed fella looming over him, and not wanting to ruin the adorable face with a shiner, he had withheld such an action. Spitting to the side to try and get rid of the taste, he had pulled himself away from any blood puddles and rested himself against a wall as he looked out over everything.

He looked over to Valrien first, who was resting up against a wall being fussed over by a healer. Least he was being taken care of, though honestly Harlan was curious as to what in the fuck had happened here. He had noticed that none of the swords from before were in sight, but regardless he had no idea what had occurred.

Though his attempt to figure that out was halted as a voice he loved and yet taunted him so much cut through the groans of pain in the distance. His eyes turned, a smile forming on his face as they settled on the woman he knew and the pair of legs he loved so much. Managing a bit of a smile, he shifted a bit in his spot as he sat up some. “Hey! How about you come give my wounds a kiss? I could use something to make the pain go away, my dear, beautiful Lutchy~.” he said, wincing when pain shot through his still tender shoulder.

Kanan glowered at the man who moved and put himself up on the wall. As Lutchka made her appearance in the room, Kanan fought the urge to roll his good eye though he did sigh in annoyance as Harlan called out to her. At least his attention was off of Minnow, though his flirtatious manner switching to Lutchka still annoyed him. At least he didn’t have anything to worry about with that woman. She’d probably put her fist in his face before she did anything else with the man.

Valrien, on the other hand, jolted as he heard her voice. The sharp movement gave cause to a wince and a groan of pain. He struggled to stand, his body moving in awkward positions as he used the wall to push himself up. One of the healers caught his movement and rushed over to him, putting him back down on the floor, “My Lord! Don’t move! Not yet
 Your wounds-”

“Leave me,” Valrien snapped, making the man reel back. As the healer gave a short nod, Valrien ended up staying on the floor anyway. He glowered at Lutchka, not because he was angry with her or anything, mostly it was because she’d walked in at the most undesirable time. Wounded, unable to get up at all, he felt like a damned child forced to stay in one place. It was rather embarrassing.

“You have wonderful timing,” he said, his voice acidic and dripping with sarcasm as he gazed up at her with a scowl on his lips.

She seemed to get a warm welcome from her two boys, and she nodded her head slightly in greeting when Kanan’s one-eyed glance shifted over her. To Harlan’s comment, though, she responded with a wry ”Mm, you probably wouldn’t like the kisses I’d give, I tend to be rougher before I get gentler.” Her tone was amiable and teasing, though, but she had an overly innocent smile on her face, and that always boded the opposite of its accustomed effect.

Then Chromi’s voice was enrapturing her attention, and she turned towards the direction of his voice. She found him on the ground, supported by the wall behind him and looking pretty darn weak. It only made her more curious as to what had occurred in her absence. The biting, scathing tone he used towards her only made her smirk in that pretty little way of hers- cocky, but not entirely challenging. It slipped off her lips easily though, and a certain look filled her face as she walked over to him- it had a certain intensity to it matched with a passionate look.

Lutchka crouched down, leaning in towards him with that intent look, and she bit her lower lip in response before speaking. ”Nice to see you too, pup. But
 it looks like someone got to you before I could though. Such a shame
~” She practically purred in his ear before she was suddenly a few steps away from him, as if nothing in particular had happened, though a telling smirk was on her lips. However, all teasing dropped off of her form and she crossed her arms lightly. ”Anybody wanna fill me in on what exactly transpired here?” She let her gaze travel about the room for a moment or two before it stopped on Minnow. She blinked and tilted her head for a moment. He met her gaze with a startled sort of look, not entirely sure why she was looking at him. He had just dealt with one flirtatious devil, he didn’t want to be in the gaze of a wicked temptress in the same day, or any day for that matter.

Lutchka lifted her fingers to her own throat above the collar of her shirt, tapping the skin there before her gaze once more flittered away, waiting for an answer to her question.

Minnow was confused for a second until his own fingertips brushed his neck. He could feel blood crusted there, and he quickly rubbed his palm over the skin to brush it away. How much did Lutchka know about what had happened back then? 
 He was probably just looking into the action too much. She probably had just seen the blood there and wanted to mention it, even though his form had other blood stains.

Valrien rolled his eyes at her as she knelt down close to him, “As if I’d let you do something like this to me,” he retorted heavily. Though his gaze followed hers as she looked over to Minnow. The boy rubbed at his neck a little after and he arched an eyebrow at him before returning his gaze to her, dismissing the action altogether, “Some cursed swords came in. Unfortunately my idiot guard over there picked one up,” the Prince frowned then, not sure of how much he should really say. The poor man probably didn’t remember anything. He sighed a little and looked back to her, “It was my own fault I ended up with this,” he gestured to the wound, “I wasn’t fast enough,” he finished and left it at that.

Harlan probably didn’t need to know that he’d been the one who had almost killed him, or rather, attempted to anyway. Valrien offered a shrug to Lutchka but immediately regretted it as he winced in pain, his good hand straying to the wound, “I’ll have enough energy soon to heal it myself. First is Siya though
 I
 Accidentally
 May have injured him,” he said with a grimace and a quick look to the unconscious King as well as up to Damiano.

“I’ll be surprised if I survive the rest of the night though,” he muttered, mostly in regards to getting payback from Damiano. Gods
 He was not looking forward to that.

Kanan let out a sigh as he listened to Lutchka. Finally he uncrossed his arms as Minnow finished with Harlan. It took all he had not to wrap the little healer up in his grip. Even so, he couldn’t help but to reach out and brush his fingers through the boy’s blonde hair, untangling it some from it’s messy do. As he watched Minnow, he noted his wiping away the blood on his throat and for a moment, he nearly had a heart attack. Was he injured? What happened!

Kanan calmed a moment later when he saw it all come free without any notion there was any wounds. How could he have been wounded anyway? He hadn’t been in the fight. So he sighed in a bit of relief and stepped closer to him, running his fingers along the back of Minnow’s neck and rubbing gently to ease him.

Feeling Kanan lightly tug at his hair with his fingers, a little shiver wracked Minnow’s body. He shifted his head slightly to the side to indicate his appreciation, but mainly he had been listening to what Valrien had been saying about the cursed swords. However, he didn’t elaborate very much, and it didn’t explain the mauling of the other guards.

Once the little healer had finished with Harlan he had moved away from him, looking over the others who were still wounded. Most of them had been bandaged up and cared for by the Reimrandian healers, so he settled himself where he was then.

Had he not been aware of Kanan’s presence, he would have startled and jumped away from the fingers that slid along his neck. He instead eased back into Kanan’s touch with another little shiver, a content look on his face.

Valrien leaned his head back against the wall and let out a long sigh. He let his mind go blank for a moment before pulling it all together again. There was too much to do. One step at a time he thought to himself as he rested for a moment longer. Finally, when he had his thoughts together, he looked around to the rest of the group and shifted a little on the wall, “Rest. Everyone. Once I get my energy back, I’ll
 Heal Siya,” he said, his gaze slipping to the young King. Guilt pulled at his stomach, he still felt horrible for having launched the poor man into the wall like that. At the time, he couldn’t think of anything else though, “After that, after he’s better and everyone else as well
 We’ll meet and discuss those damned weapons,” Valrien finished, the tone of his voice leaving little to contend with.

Only then did he allow his healers to help him up to his feet as well as everyone else that needed it. For the moment, he wanted nothing more than to sleep for a while before he expanded any more power. Nor did he particularly want to think either, the strange weapons were his limit of patience for the day.

As things were cleaned up and people were attended too, Amon had simply stood back to watch. There wasn’t anything he could do, as he had no medical knowledge. It didn’t matter how many times Minnow tended to his injuries or wounds, Amon never paid attention to what it was to mend them that Minnow was performing.

As he watched Valrien be taken away by the healers, along with his guardsman Harlan, and Siya was carefully collected by Damiano and taken off to have the Fire King’s injuries tended to, all while pushing aside healers that wanted to examine the cut on his own head, Amon simply walked on over to his own protectors. He stopped near them, looking at them both as he crossed his arms.

“Good job, both of you. And sorry to wake you up like that, Minnow.” Amon’s voice had returned to its normal tone, now that the situation had resolved itself. He sighed as he looked around the room, not envying whoever it was that was going to have to clean up this mess. “I’ve dealt with stuff like this for almost two decades, and I still am not use to it
” he muttered. This was just a whole other kind of carnage too that had just witnessed; they needed to figure out who sent these weapons soon, to avoid this ever happening again.

As Amon walked over to he and Kanan, Minnow dipped his head in respect before a light smile of greeting donned his lips for a moment- solely there for the point of showing his being pleased at being in Amon’s presence. With the Air King’s apology, Minnow’s eyes widened just slightly. ”Oh, no Lord Amon. I always wish to serve in any way I can, and I should not like to think you would spare me at the expense of others health. I apologize for sleeping in so late....” He added in the last part as a sort of afterthought, though he knew Amon would not be concerned too much about it, he still felt bad. It always seemed that he was missing when serious things went down, and that actually bothered him greatly, though he never really displayed such feelings.

With his king’s next comment, though, Minnow looked at him before speaking, ”I should hope not. It displays a sense of humanity.” He gave a light nod before turning to look at Kanan. A very gentle smile eased against his lips, a tender though fragile look. The little healer sought out his hand and intertwined their fingers before giving a little squeeze.

Although Valrien had suggested they all get some rest, Minnow was far from tired by now, especially after having been awakened so abruptly. ”Dunno how anyone could really rest after that
 other than those who were wounded.” He sighed lightly. It was a true shame that this had occurred- it seemed that Valrien had few men as it was, though Minnow was sure that he could find others to fill in those places easily.

Releasing Kanan’s hand, he gave the both of them a little bow. ”Regardless, I should probably get back to work with learning more of the local flora.” With another reserved smile- still mindful of the tragedy that lay around them- he turned and headed out the doors, stepping out into the air once more.

As to Chromi’s previous statement on his current physique, she simply smirked pleasantly to herself. ”We’ll see.” He then began to explain just what had happened, though she got the feeling he was being rather frank about it and leaving some details out. However, when he motioned towards his wound, her eyes narrowed fractionally. It seemed for a moment that she became rather serious, but it was quickly covered up as the Prince seemed to just shrug it off and play it thus.

Then he spoke of Siya, and she crossed her arms in disbelief. ”May have? Jeez, the poor kid isn’t even up to his former self and you decide to play rough?” Her tone was lite and a wee bit sarcastic- she couldn’t help but prey on him when he set himself up so easily. Perhaps it had been a tactical error to do so, because the fellow did seem pretty sincere about it. ”He’s tough, I wouldn’t worry about him so much. You seem to underestimate him, in my opinion.”

The ex-protector then left Chromi alone, turning her attention to Harlan as the Prince mentioned resting. ”No booze for you either if you wanna get back to your normal self quickly~” She teased, but a serious look also played on her face. When everyone started heading off on their own ways, she disappeared down a hallway to see about some business or other that had been on her mind. That was mainly the reason that she had been away those two days prior.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Amador Damiano III Character Portrait: Filinian Rethimara Character Portrait: Amon Ad-Raza Character Portrait: Deio Killik Character Portrait: Harlan Pendrake Character Portrait: Valrien Yustri
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#, as written by Siryn
The young man’s eyes were closed, though his face was wrinkled due to his intense concentration. He sat cross legged on a cushion, a book lying open in front of him and the room was lit by four braziers that hung from the ceilings, burning with a fire that did not feed off of any visible fuel. The fire seemed to burn off of the metal beneath it, yet the metal showed no scorch marks of any kind on it, no soot building up where the flames licked it. The light the four provided showed a decently sized room, where one wall was covered in bookshelves and tables, the tables covered in various alchemical tools and ingredients. Another wall had a circular table with one leg beneath its center, and the top of the table was carved with runes and symbols.

The man’s body was covered in long, loose robes, so much that they hid his legs from view entirely as the loose cloth came down over them. Even his torso and arms were difficult to tell apart as his arms rested calmly along his side and his hands in his lap. Just behind the book, a metal bowl had incense burning within it, giving off a very pleasant aroma throughout the room as the smoke slowly filtered throughout, swirling about the air when it floated by the braziers above and were dragged along by the current of the heated air.

Finally, the man seemed to relax, his eyes opening as he looked out from beneath his black hair, looking through the locks that also had a slight tint of purple to them as he stared down at the book. His mouth curled into a scowl as he sat there, hands curling into fists as he then slammed them against his legs. “Dammit! He’s still alive!” he said, growling through gritted teeth as he eyed the book in front of him. “The damned things didn’t work.”

A voice behind him made him jump, though he only turned his head slightly as he already knew who it was. “This was not about killing him, Filinian. I had already told you that, didn’t I?” the firm voice spoke, though it did not sound condescending in its words.

The young man, Filinian, turned his head to look as the man walked by in front of him before he looked back down to the book. “No, but it was still a chance that failed. How can I
not be upset by that?”
He asked, looking up at the man in front of him. The man stopped, turning to face Filinian and looking down at him. His outfit was more protective than Filinian’s was, as the man wore a mix between leather, dyed red, and plate armor over his form. Up to his shins and his entire arms were covered in metal, and a cuirass covered his torso. Around his neck hung a red scarf, and between his legs hung a red sash trimmed in silver. His hair too was short and black in color, most of his brow exposed as his bangs were cut far back.

The man smiled down at Filinian, bending at the knees and resting on the balls of his feet, his arms coming to rest on his thighs as he looked at the younger man in front of him. “Filinian, this was to see if you had taken the next step in your studies. Do not be upset that The Prince was not slain, instead cherish the fact that you were able to successfully enchant those items and have them function exactly as you intended.” The man reached out, resting a gauntleted hand on the mage’s shoulder, “You are at an age where you should still be flinging nothing but fire-balls and making lights, and yet here you are, performing magic that people twice your age are learning to do. You are an adept and fast learner, and you should cherish the fact you were able to accomplish such an act.”

Filinian watched the man before him, before looking back down, this time to the burning incense that sat before him. The material was almost used up by this point, but now that he was done it was hardly an issue. He really only had it because it helped him to concentrate, and the spell he had been using just a moment ago to look into the Reimrand palace and see his work firsthand was not an easy one to accomplish. It was also why he had chosen his workshop to do it within, as that way he could lock the door and prevent possible interruptions. Sadly the spell he had used only allowed him to see, and not hear, what had occurred. It was also a bit slow to move to a new location, as it took a few moments of concentration to move the view point.

He looked back up to the man before him, managing a smile as he did so. “You are right, Master Tharak. I guess I should be happy I was able to enchant them as such.”

Tharak smiled, squeezing the young man’s shoulder before patting it as he stood up. “Good, good. Now then you should go eat and drink some water. That spell can be a bit taxing the first few times you use it so you need to recover from it. You’ll get used to it soon enough, but not this time around. Now go.” He said before standing to the side, watching as Filinian stood up, then bowed his head to the senior mage before turning and heading out of the room. Tharak simply gave him a smile as he left, Filinian shutting the door behind himself as he walked out.




Deio’s huge weapon swung in arcs. The ax head sharply clanging with several of the heavy training obstacles in the yard. The blade recoiled, pulling back just as he turned into another half circle to strike a second dummy, then a third, and so he continued. Pivoting on his foot and making half circles in the dirt as he lashed out to each metal training post. He was doing it not only as a way to keep his skills honed, but also to pass the time. The cursed weapons had been sent already, in fact they should have reached their destination by now. He was trying to keep his excitement at hearing the news of the Prince’s horrid death to a minimum.

Also in the field with him, but not training, was a woman. Seated far enough away from him so that he couldn’t reach her with his weapon, she had her sword across her lap with a cloth rubbing up and down it’s length as she cleaned it. Her long pale blonde locks were pulled back from her face with a simple tie as she bent over the blade. For the most part she’d ignored the man entirely, like she did most every day.

Despite his attempts to get her to speak more than a few words to him, she was pretty good at ignoring him and getting around him without having to say more than what was necessary. She, of course, knew that he was looking for a good time with her and in all honesty, she’d much rather put her blade through his eye than end up in bed with the brute. It was thoughts like those that made her scowl. She had a hard time remembering why she was even in Reimrand to begin with.

Whatever led her there, though, landed her in with the group she was currently employed with. Tharak’s reasons sounded well enough to her. He wanted to save a dying land. She could see why. It was his home. If her’s was dying as his was
 She might be inclined to do the same. In fact
 She was pretty sure she would. Her cloth paused for a moment along the edge of the sword. Memories of fire, smoke, screams and blood took over for a moment before she pushed it all aside.

Who was she kidding? Her home had already been destroyed. Which was why she was out to destroy those that had done it. And she would stop at nothing to get it done. Perhaps this was just her first step in that direction. Maybe she would get lucky and find one of them. She shook her head. No. She wouldn’t find them here. What she would find, however, was the strength and ability to defeat them when the time came. As it stood right then, they would kill her in a heartbeat should she lift a blade against them.

“Are you going to sit there all day rubbing one spot, or do you plan to actually do something with that weapon, Lukina?”

In her trance of thought, Lukina hadn’t noticed Deio stopping in his training and making his way over to her. He stood a good two feet away from her then, leaning on his heavy weapon, his upper body glistening with sweat from his training session. He gave her a grin as his one eye gazed at her with that same disgusting look of lust as he’d always given her.

Standing, Lukina sheathed the weapon with a scowl on her lips, “Don’t you have something you wish to know about?” she shot back as she nimbly stepped around him and headed towards the building where Tharak resided.

Deio laughed as he trailed after her, lifting the ax and letting it hang off the top of his shoulder, “I do, but Filinian will let me know when he’s ready. After all, that kind of magic takes time.”

Lukina continued walking toward the building at a rapid pace, her scowl still in place, “I find it hard to hear you of all people have patience,” she muttered to herself as she shoved the door open and strode inside.

Filinian walked through the hallways of the rather small building, munching quietly on some pieces of bread he had scrounged up from where they stored their food. He’d eaten mostly rations and such, which had consisted of bread, cheese, and some simple walnuts. It had been quick to finish, and his master had been right about the spell taking a bit of a toll. The young man hadn’t noticed at first, but when he had gotten up and began walking he began to feel the effects of fatigue on his body, though now it had been staved off by his small meal.

What would their next step be, he wondered. Tharak had given no details so far, and now the young apprentice was left to wander and wonder. It looked like he’d be left to study more of his art before they were given another set of directions to follow by Tharak.

He brought his eyes up when the doors in front of him were suddenly shoved open somewhat forcefully, Filinian stopping mid-stride, a piece of bread sticking out of his mouth as he watched the blonde locks of the Dhaemaran mercenary sway back and forth as she strode into the building. Recovering from his momentary confusion, he pushed the piece of bread into his mouth, nodding his head to her as she walked by. ”Hello, miss Aymidor.” he said, though his words were somewhat muffled by the bread in his mouth.

He moved to the side some to give her room to pass before his eyes then turned to settle on the much larger figure that was Deio, Filinian just watching him as he swallowed the food within in his mouth. He frowned a little as the man walked in, as honestly Filinian wasn’t too much a fan of the man. He was simply too violent for the young man’s taste; he was hardly the kind of person Tharak needed to try and help Reimrand. Still, Filinian wasn’t one to be rude to those who helped his and his master’s cause, “Deio.” he said, nodding his head in greeting before he turned his head to watch Lukina continue on down the hallway.

Lukina’s gaze shifted to Filinian as she strode past him. It was a brief look, but she met his gaze none the less. Out of most of the men she’d found herself surrounded by, Filinian was one of the few she liked, that and Tharak, though even he tended to give her chills every now and then. So, when he spoke to her in greeting, she gave him a very warm smile as she passed, “Hello, Filinian,” she answered and though she would have liked to talk and speak to him, the brute was still chasing after her, so she continued on her way. Lukina would have a chance to talk to the young mage at a later time, and preferably when she wasn’t fending off the horrid attempts of a desperate man.

Deio, on the other hand, stopped his forward momentum as he caught sight of the small mage. He gave Lukina’s fleeing form one last, longing look, before he turned to Filinian who addressed him with simply calling his name. Deio frowned just a little before he let his ax drop off to the side and lean against it. Even if Filinian didn’t really care for him, Deio wasn’t going to treat him with any disrespect. After all, the man served Tharak, whom Deio utterly respected and would do anything for. If the young mage was to be the man’s apprentice, then so be it.

“Tell me, did your wonderfully crafted swords kill the wretched man?” Deio asked, giving the young man due credit for the hard work as well as the perfectly executed spell crafted into those blades. He leaned forward, a wicked smile on his lips as he eagerly awaited the good news.

Filinian watched Lukina walk off before he turned his eyes to Deio’s large form, shifting away slightly when the man leaned in towards him. His frown deepened at the mention of the blades, the mage turning his eyes to look back down the hallway as he brought his arms together, sliding his arms into the opposite sleeve so that they were now hidden from view.

“Thank you, Deio, but I only enchanted the swords. It was Reller who crafted them. Which reminds me, we may have an angry craftsman to contend with soon if he learns what we did with his weapons.” he pursed his lips together for a moment before sighing, turning to look at the man next to him. “And no, they did not kill Valrien. Though he was injured, he managed to survive the attack.” again disappointment slid its way into his tone. Now things would only get more difficult, as The Yustri would be watching his back now.

“Hell, they failed to even kill off his royal guard. Instead we only have a few dead guards to make up for it. The Yustri also has visitors from Dhaemar as well. The kings he has made friends with. I can only wonder at this point where we intend to go next....”

“That
 Is a pity,” Deio said slowly. Though he was disappointed in the fact that Filinian had failed in killing the Prince, he couldn’t help but to feel a bit of excitement boiling through his blood. He could only hope that Tharak would let him do as he wanted next.

“Well then. That is rather interesting news. Kings are they? How
 Intriguing. Well, I think it’s my turn, now isn’t it,” Deio asked, his voice taking on a wicked sounding tone while his single eye seemed to dance with all of the vile thoughts that swarmed through his mind. The things that he could do, that he planned to do
 Deio was willing to bet his life that he could make that wretched, wimpy little Prince kneel and beg, even over his own life in return for a couple of Kings.

“Where is Tharak? I wish to discuss some
 Ideals with him. You say there are Kings here
 Let’s use them as they should be used. Bringing someone else to the brink of death is sure to have that little Prince offering his own head to us on a silver platter. Not to mention more than one” Deio said, his grin never slipping from his lips as he started down the hall in search of his beloved leader.

Filinian narrowed his eyes as Deio walked past him, the young mage walking after the man as he moved. “And how is it you hope to get close to the Yustri without being cut down first of all? Or to the kings without being cut down by any of them? They aren’t just...it is not as simple as them being royalty. One of those kings fought off the possessed soldiers easily, and bare handed too.” He quickened his pace to keep up with the larger man, lowering his arms as he had to jog slightly to catch up.

“Second, that particular king has his own one-eyed swordsman accompanying him, and frankly that fella worries me too. Then the white haired king has that...foreign fella following him around with a bow. You won’t be able to just nab them and do whatever you want with them, Deio.” He said, now walking next to the larger man.

“You have no imagination, Filinian,” Deio countered as he continued down the hall. His mind was already reeling with plan after plan, most of them ending in lots of death, none of them his own of course, “I don’t have to be right in front of one of them to kill them,” he stretched out his hand, allowing his dark magic to manifest there and wrap around his fingers.

With a grin, he glanced over to Filinian as he slowed his stride just a little, “I can take away their power, their energy bit by bit, kill them nice and slow for the idiot Prince to watch helplessly. Or I can overwhelm them with so much power they’d die simply from the pressure of it. Not quite as slow and pleasing, but effective none the less,” Deio continued as he let the power curl for a while longer before he snuffed it out by crushing his fingers into a tight fist.

“And who said I would just nab them? I can easily kill those two Kings from a distance, perhaps if I convince Tharak, I could just kill the Prince while I’m at it. Though it would be much more fun to watch him squirm instead,” Deio’s voice lowered to a sadistic growl as he turned back to look down the hall in search of his leader, “If they so happen to stray from that castle.. Well then, more luck for us. I’ll be in the area anyway. Only then will I
 ‘nab’ them, dear little Filinian.”

“Oh no, no imagination at all
” Filinian said sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he said it. He slipped his hands back into his sleeves, turning to look ahead as his face scrunched in thought. It was a fair point, though it just didn’t feel so simple. “And your plan for not being seen while you drain them? Perhaps you missed the part where I mentioned the archer and the fact he appears to be a rather good shot?”

Once again, Filinian couldn’t stop himself from jumping slightly when the voice of his master came from behind the two of them. It was just something he couldn’t help, as he’d always been prone to flinching from most things. “Yes, the one who shares similar blood with our dear miss Aymidor actually. Not family of course, but countrymen none-the-less.” Filinian turned around to see The Red Mage standing there, looking between the two of them.

Tharak turned his head to Deio, “So, what is your answer to the young apprentice’s question, Deio?”

Deio turned around to face the man who had spoken. Letting his weapon down off his shoulder, he gave Tharak a short bow to him, “Lord Tharak
” he addressed him first before listening to the question, or rather statement given to him. To that, he gave a grin, “My Lord, the palace is rather large, is it not? I doubt even an archer could shoot through solid marble. Even so, i do not have to target just the two Kings,” he said as he glanced over to Filinian.

“From what you’ve seen, is the idiot Prince close to those other two men? The one eyed one and the archer?” if the answer was yes, or even a maybe, then Deio would have his answer to any other questions. Killing the archer or the one eyed warriror -or both even- would be just as good as killing the pair of Kings. Hell, Deio would be happy to kill even just one of them. Perhaps he would start with the archer just to spite Filinian.

As Deio stood, waiting for the answer, his grin seemingly grew larger as his plans solidified on what he wanted to do. He could almost hear the archers screams already. The taste of blood wasn’t too far off either.

Filinian looked away a bit, muttering a quiet “No.” to the first question. From what he’d seen, the one-eyed fella clung strictly to either a blonde haired gentleman or to the fist-fighting king. As for the archer, he exclusively choose to stay near the white haired king. In fact, from what he’d seen it almost seemed as if the The Yustri was a bit apprehensive of the archer. “I suppose to you are correct in the archer being unable to fire through walls.”

A thought came to his mind though. Before he had cut off the spell, there had been a new arrival, one he had seen a couple times before. Yet based on how she, The Yustri, and even the royal guard had looked and expressed to one another, there was some kind of connection there. Whatever it might be.

“Say what it is you are thinking about, Filinian.” Tharak’s calm voice said, the man watching the young apprentice.

Filinian looked to Tharak, clearing his throat before glancing at Deio and speaking, “There was also a woman you could possibly target. White haired, seems to prefer rather...revealing clothing, she’d be hard to miss. What the relationship between her and Valrien are, I am not sure. Judging on how they reacted to one another, and even the royal guard seemed content to see her, well there is a possible angle to work from.” He then shrugged, glancing to Tharak before back to Deio, “It is something to consider, Deio.” Filinian said

Deio’s grin couldn’t have gotten any wider as he listened to Filinian. As he stood there, leaning against his weapon, he chanced a glance over to Tharak as he spoke, “Well then, it looks like I have quite the opportunities then don’t I? Quite a few to choose from. Perhaps more than one if I get lucky. It seems this woman though is very promising in the least. Now, what a pity, for the young idiot Prince to lose to something as simple as a woman.”

Deio kept the fact that he was averse to killing her himself. Oh, he would take her away from the Prince, that much was for certain. How badly would The Yustri want her back? Enough to offer his life in return for the chastity of his woman? Maybe. Deio crossed one arm over his chest as he rested against his huge weapon. He still desired to kill someone. Maybe he’d get that chance, he would just have to see.

All that he needed then was for Tharak to allow him to go through with it, “Well then. I’ll plan for the woman. If I get lucky, I’ll grab her and another, maybe kill one of them, and I promise by the time I’m through with it, the Prince will be on his knees before you, my Lord,” Deio said, finalizing the plans that ran rampant through his head in a brief description to his one and only King.

Tharak watched Deio for a few moments, glancing over to his apprentice who simply glanced between the two older men. After a period of silence, Tharak then looked back to Deio. “Well, if you have a plan then feel free to do so. Assuming of course you think that it’ll help.” He then stepped past Deio, placing a hand on Filinian’s shoulder to usher the young man along. “I will take Filinian and miss Aymidor with me, as I need to grab something for my apprentice.”

Filinian did not resist the pressure on his shoulder, moving along as his master moved him along. He looked back at Deio for a moment before he looked at Tharak, [color=007bff] “There is? What is it? Also, wouldn’t you want us to assist Deio in catching the Kings or this woman?”[/color]

Tharak lowered his hand as he began walking, looking over to Filinian with a smile. “Deio does not require assistance, Filinian. Besides, this will allow us to kill two birds with one stone, as we will be heading into the lion’s den to retrieve this item and Deio will provide a magnificent distraction for us.” he did not lower his voice to hide the words from Deio, mostly because he figured that it would not stop Deio from doing the task or enjoying it any less. If anything, it’d probably make him happy to know he was helping. “As for what it is, all you need to know young one is that it will help you and us, alright?”

Filinian watched him for a moment before nodding his head. “Alright then, Master Tharak. Do you want me to retrieve miss Aymidor then?” Tharak simply nodded to the young man, Filinian not waiting a moment before he began walking down the hallway in the direction Lukina had gone, Tharak stopping and watching him go. He then turned to glance back at Deio before he then turned and walked down another hallway.

“My Lord,” Deio all but purred the words. No, he did not need any help. Not that Filinian wasn’t capable or good at what he did, but Deio prefered doing some things on his own. To make it even more appealing, the fact that he would be providing a distraction gave Deio even more cause for his plans, and even adding to what he was going to do.

Oh he couldn’t wait to get his hands on those Kings, and their bodyguards. A cruel grin spread across his lips as he turned to watch Tharak lead Filinian away. As the young mage left the hall in search of Lukina, Tharak’s gaze met Deio’s. The large warrior simply gave him a short bow and turned on his heel.

The sooner he left, the sooner he would be able to hear those screams he was looking forward to.

~~~

Valrien sat at the head of his table, a map spread out across the length of it. It was an old map, one of which had just started to map out the regions of decay when it had started to happen. It was one of the few that Valrien could find that would be relatively close to what the land was like right then. All the others were before the decay thus he knew they would be of no help at all. Even so, it was going to be one hell of a guessing game.

However, what was at the forefront of his mind was not the Durak’s, but those wretched swords that had killed a good portion of his soldiers and left him wounded. His fingers traced down the bandages absently as he sat there. After sleeping for quite a few hours -unintentionally, he’d only meant to sleep for an hour at the least- he had woken with plenty of energy to use to heal Siya, which he did immediately just as he’d promised to do.

So, with a completely healed and lively looking Fire King to his right, Damiano next to him, Lutchka, Harlan, Amon as well as Kanan and Minnow to his left, Valrien planned what he wanted to say and what they needed to do silently for a while as he stared at that damned map.

“We’ll start with those swords. Then figure out what to do next. Where did they come from? Who made them?” he asked, fairly certain that Harlan had told him at one point, but he couldn’t remember for the life of him what the name was or if the young guard had even said so in the first place. Everything had been such a blur after all.