Setting
Celestia is home to all kinds of mages, from elemental sorcerers to wand-wielding wizards and witches. Almost anything magic-based can be learned or studied here, when enrolled, and the libraries are partially open to the public.
The Headmistress, Scarlet Dae is an incredibly powerful mage with a lot of experience for her young years. She keeps a tight ship. The Academy has survived a lot through its involvement in the Orsa of Terminus wars, from sieges to possession by demonic mist, but still stands firm - if scarred.
The Academy is laid out with a ring of thick, sturdy outer walls that bound it on all sides, containing its grounds. A single road leads to a large solid metal gate providing the only access to it. The grounds consist of a large lightly wooded area around a miniature lake, dotted with buildings of varying size. These buildings include the library archives on the road just in front of the main building, the student halls of residence behind it, and the newly constructed barracks near the walls themselves.
The Academy's main building is an impressive edifice, beautiful architecture forming a massive structure with two towers that reach toward the sky proudly, despite having been destroyed twice. One of the towers is a clock-tower complete with a bell, the other merely a spire. It sits a five minute walk from the gate down a short cobbled road. The courtyard in front of the Academy serves as the break-area for students, whilst the combat training area is immediately behind the building.
And so, once the other students had finished approaching the man, Domakeo raised to his feet and wondered over to him. Of course, an expression of annoyance was spread across his face as he did so, growing even more sour once he had finally filed a request. "Since you're offering. I'd like to gain your assistance in gaining control over my node." He started off, giving a small Shaki'lyu bow (a nod of the head and a small tap on his chest). "But I'd mostly like to develop my own technique, as an irregular. I need to prove that I am one."
"Your asking me to provide assistance in such a way?" Bigsby crossed his arms and looked over the strange jewel that adorned the young man's outfit. "Strange that you would ask someone as lowly as myself." Bigsby began to chuckle as he looked the young man right in the eyes. "Even a starving dactyl would turn it's nose away from you.' I believe those are the words you used to describe how lowly this old man is."
Bigsby kept his crystal blue gaze locked upon the warrior before him only to shake his head slightly. "I would not spurn another who is seeking knowledge. However, I must know something, are you willing to take on such a grand task? Many before you have tried to meet my expectations only to fail and be lost." The old man was serious but this bit of information was more directed towards Aebbe than anything. He wanted all of the students to know that failure was a possibility in the realms they now stood and wished for this to be understood.
"I'm sure that with my understanding and expertise your skills will improve. But for right now lets see if the others have any questions of their own. The arcane is full of mystery and plenty of wrong notions due to years of falsehoods." Bigsby quickly took up his hat only to produce a single apple and lightly tossed it towards the young warrior.
"Now have a snack and let class continue." Bigsby chuckled once more as he placed his massive hat back atop his head only to then turn to the others. "So any questions?"
"All things within this universe, this multiverse, and within ourselves is not for one person to judge or act upon with any kind of haste. Your destiny is not written in stone, nor is it bare before the entire world to see and read, so how can I truly know what you are capable of?" Bigsby proposed his own question to the young girl whilst reaching for his staff so that he may not need stand without something to support himself.
"Aebbe, your talented, but it is not for me to say what you do with those talents when you are old enough to make your own decisions." Bigsby frowned a bit more and took a deep breath. "I took you in simply because I was asked to and that the progress your making being under my wing is astounding. Keeping up your s tudies and getting a real world feel is what most young people need anyway."
It was bad enough that one of his sons and Matu remained free. The two together knew all parts of the ritual and would be able to recruit powerful people to stop him. Matu had always been terribly charismatic. The mage strode through the shining gates of the golden school, and prowled down the main road and to the library, his power radiated from him and he smiled, pleased.
The late afternoon sun hung in the sky as he fond the library. It would be a shame to lose the information therein, but it was necessary. He looked the building over, and admired the glow of it in his mage sight. It was well warded, especially against fire. However the wards were old, in need of renewal.
A pleased smile on his face, he held out his hand, grasped the lines of the wards tightly in his fist, and pulled, shattering them neatly, in a flash of blinding light. Wards could be overpowered.
Alam Shalafi was powerful enough to pull down most wards.
"State your business, mage. Wards can be easily restored, the walls themselves less so, but the lives residing within cannot be replaced. Should you come at us with ill intent, I shall be forced to meet you on the fields of honor." The proud female voice, carrying the arrogant accent of the elves, came down from the fortification, her silhouette backlit by the late afternoon sun to further distract and hamper Alam.
"Dare you challenge one who calls the wind, the rain and the clouds her allies? If so, name a time and place for our duel. If not, repent and turn back. The choice is yours."
As the words were spoken the cloud formation began to build up its middle, within a heartbeat feet were spotted which were attatched to a robed pair of legs of pale blue and dark white and a few heartbeats later the clouds were gone and a woman with long white hair and apparently blind eyes was blinking staring at..... well what had to be a stopsign behind Alam.
It was a bad habit Kiriko had picked up as a child and never could break, because she was born with diamond white clearly blind eyes but able to see perfectly clear people gave her added respect ontop of other things. The only other perspon who knew she wasnt really blind was her adopted mother who was long dead.
"The least of my business is the destruction of this library. Then, perhaps, the destruction or take over of this school." He glanced around and then motioned to the area around them, and smiled. "You're students have already fled. Your headmistress has not been seen in months. Stand down, and I won't hurt either of you." It was a generous offer. It was also the only offer they were going to get.
"If you don't stand down, well. Rain and clouds are well and good, but a clever man can stand against the forces of nature with ease." He drew a circle in the air with his hand and a mandala made of white hot fire three feet in diameter appeared. Like a discus, he threw the mandala, an intricate lion on the discus of fire to the library, interested more in their reaction to his magic than in actually succeeding.
She flicked her sword at Alam, the fire flung off the blade leaving a untarnished weapon in her hands as a rod made of fire and water flew at the guy followed by a grinding noise underfoot as the ground started to shake as one of her hands were held towards the ground. Waterpipes broke underfoot and mud began to make itself known under Alams feet
She wasnt the master of the Five Rings for nothing!
"Swordmistress! Together we will be more than a match for this madman! Allow me to lend you my aid!" Coordination was necessary in any successful boss fight, after all.
His face lit be the lava, he took half a second to admire the dangerously beautiful lava fall on the library as it burned and melted the bricks, only adding to it's bulk.
Mud and groundshaking. All cute tactics he had seen many times before, and given his low stance, one he was well equipped to handle.
She smiled however hearing the words of the other defender, Raising her sword towards Alam in a ready stance she spoke, her words carried on the wind for Nikki to hear clearly "Agreed, devide and conquor ?" With Nikki being a wind mage, their words could only be heard by each other
With that she shifted, slightly, what had to at once point been beautiful armor of strange make but over the ages become rusted yet amazingly still usible and workable. It started with her skin, shifting to metal, then her clothing fading away to reveal the rusted armor underneath, but with each movement of her body it flowed as if it were her.
The liquid fire sprang along her sword blade a second time as she advanced on Alam. As she moved a helmet in all its rusted out glory formed on her face as she stepped towards Alam through the lava. Licks of magical flame biting at her clothing, bathing her rusted out armor in a unearthly light, sword at the ready
"Dammit, it's not working." Alam's spells were too powerful for her to unravel, plus as a conjuration effect the lava was already here...dispelling wouldn't do her any good here. But there was one thing she could do. Commanding the water from the burst pipe and mixing it with the nearby topsoil from the gardens, Nikki was able to make a sort of clay to cover the massive conflagration and hopefully even move Alam into stabby range through the power of moving the earth under his feet. Either he would be forced to take to the sky and be subject to the winds of the cyclone, or he'd be drawn into a range too close for comfort.
Use your sword, mistress. I will do what I can to mitigate the damage his spells do, but he cannot hope to stand against you in close quarters.
The clay mixture was inconvenient, but it was the work of a thought and magic to be standing on top of it, anchored to the more solid ground underneath. Bored of these two defenders, he ended it. Unfortunately, Matu was sure to be disappointed with him for this one, but they had attacked him, after all, and that certainly changed the rules of engagement.
He held up his hand to his lip, formed a loose βoβ with his fingers and breathed. A billowing yellow-brown cloud flowed from his hand, heavy in his magic, held down by his will, unmoving in the wind. It smelled of mustard, perhaps with a hint of horseradish, and it flowed over the battlefield, forming a dense cloud easily seven feet high, and 40 feet wide. Those exposed to it would find it hard to breath as blisters would rapidly form in their lungs, the beginnings of them on their skin making movement painful within minutes. The blisters in the lungs though would take all of thirty seconds to take effect.
It was a deadly attack, that lingered, causing chemical burns hours after itβs victims assumed they had washed it away. He had heard of a modern version of his attack, or more modern at least. They called it Mustard Gas, a cute term for an ancient, yet once forgotten attack.
No.
This couldn't be. Nikki had to risk shouting it out loud.
"Get out of there! It's poison!"
The weather witch had to end it now. And maybe, just maybe, she had a way to do it. The lava under her hastily made earth cap was still seething and bubbling under the earthen equivalent of thin ice. Gesturing powerfully upward, Nikki took advantage of the fact that she forgot to put a vent on top of the wet clay to create a massive steam eruption, blowing the cap off in the explosion. Up on the ramparts she was afforded a modest amount of protection, but Kiriko and Alam wouldn't be so lucky as the 60-foot pool of lava was exposed once more.
Perhaps the pressure wave would cause the mustard gas to spread farther than intended. But this bastard needed to die.
"Ack!!"
Now she was blinded for real. Her eyes burned, her lungs throbbed for air that continued to burn her throat and eyes. Blindly she stumbled, albiet briefly backwards, blinking rapidly as her eyes turned tpo m,ist, anything to kill the burning blinding fire of the poison she'd gotten full brunt into her face.
Kiriko stumbled backwards right into the gyser that Nikki had formed, Old Faithful indeed helped... a little bit.
Fire with fire eye ? OK, she Kiriko could do that indeed! Using the steam she redirected it directly at Alam with one hand while the other went to her mouth as she coughed madly to get the pison out of her lunges which burned as if on fire. Kirikoo blasted the steam at wave of poison gas. her eyes barely able to focus fro mthe burning feeling she saw six of Alam before her, and spread the arc of the steam wide to try and encompass the guy in her steam wave.
But now she really couldnt see a thing, her eyes burned as if on fire.
All seven Alam's took off, running out. The real Alam headed for the exit, of course, but the others mirrored his moves, seven prongs all identical as they moved as if around the center of a circle, each equidistant from the others as they moved out.
He considered this an excellent success, and no doubt the reports of the gas would only add to the fear others may have of him. He'd have to build that up again, it seemed. Even rumors of his existence had faded, and that wouldn't do.
She heard someone nearby. She forced her magic to contain the poison, forcing it to dispell or something as smoke filtered up from the ruins of the library as she sat against a broken tree. Her milky white eyes opened, still unable to see she spoke, recognising the scent almost instantly. "Anko ?... Is that you ?"
She heard someone nearby. She forced her magic to contain the poison, forcing it to dispell or something as smoke filtered up from the ruins of the library as she sat against a broken tree. Her milky white eyes opened, still unable to see she spoke, recognising the scent almost instantly. "Anko ?... Is that you ?"
"Yes, my old friend, I am here. I have been dreaming, all this time" Anko said softly, walking slowly toward Kiriko's misty form "I have seen terrible things. The Saiken, it would seem, does not wish to slumber anymore" She said taking Kiriko's hand "But my friend, what has happened here and who has made you so sick?" She asked in a worried tone.
This man had to be something akin to those they had faced over time. If the Saiken were back.... It was Ankos touch howeve that she either needed or her body required, Because all of a sudden she could see clearly. And the first thing she saw was Anko's concerned face.
"This news you tell me, this man...... It troubles me greatly" She said taking a sip from her tea "This was a place of learning was it not? It seems an awfully personal action" She pondered "Tell me my friend have you many enemies these days?"
Anko was sad, her years of slumber had forced her to miss many things. Many of her friends were now dead and her clan....... It was all but extinct. It was herself and three others and the Saiken. At least the sword had not fallen into ill hands while she slumbered. Still if she had been there, she may have been able to help.
She nodded "It was a library; I had help but I cannot find the other that aided me. She called me a swordmisteress" Now what the hell did THAT mean ? She smiled anew "The poison burns my lungs, it had burned my eyes until you came I thought I could never see. But your touch cleared my sight. But my lungs burn when I try to breathe"
She scowled at the ruined library and withered grounds. The strong voice of a warrior was something one could feel scowl when they were displeased, "I walk all this way and the power's a burnt out husk. What daemonkind have these mages unleashed. I suppose I'm in the the right place for learning then. I hope there's something left I can learn out of or at least something I can tear a new abyss into."
There was as square metal-clad book two palms wide swinging at her hip that she removed. It unlocked with a click of its own as she looked at the building slowly drawing her fingers across the page. The drawing taking place underneath of the building itself was something more elegant. As she worked the metal rose across her throat gleamed with soft light.
"Magic can be a dangerous thing when not properly handled." The robed figure piped up only to remain in the spot he stood upon her arrival. "Academia Celestia, a twin school if you would, housed some of the most acutest minds and willfully ignorant souls that thought they could master the fine arts and handle its lore."
The old wizard continued to look upon the newcomer only to raise his hand towards them. His staff began to glow slightly only to dissipate like ash being blown away from a doused fire. "I presume you had come here to learn? Those things you carry obviously are enchanted and work on a higher principle than most. Most students start from nothing more than a dream and the understanding of what is to come, yet I imagine you already know much of your own."