You Sunk My Battleship! (Closed)

[Rehtul Orlouge]

“Still a little wet behind the ears.”

That horrible pun haunted Rehtul’s memories as he paced across the deck of the giant ship, waiting for his opponent to show up. How could anyone on the face of the planet find these puns funny in even the most remote way? A scowl crossed his face as he considered ways to freeze the annoying monk’s blood and impale him with the frozen fluid.

A deep breath escaped through his lips as he considered the arena he had found himself in. The ship that he stood upon was leaning at an odd angle, having run up some large rocks that were jutting out in the middle of the ocean. It was solid, and didn’t appear that it would be going anywhere until the wood had significantly rotted.

“Knowing the monks here at the Citadel, that’ll never happen,” he muttered under his breath. Around the ship were pillars of rock jutting up from the waves below, each of varying heights. The young man looked them up and down. They were solid, but hard to access without some method of reaching them. He considered the options, but couldn’t really think of any reason to go that far into the sky unless he was really looking to have the long range advantage on a short range opponent.

Sounds like it wouldn’t be a lot of fun, though... more like shooting fish in a barrel, he thought. His eyes scanned the horizon for any other built in traps or natural hazards. He narrowed his eyes at the darkness on the horizon.

A storm?

The clouds billowing on the horizon were as black as night, and were steadily growing closer. It became apparent the more he looked around that this was a hazard arena, one that was designed to test people on how they handled the environment and each other. A sigh escaped his lips as he propped himself up against one of the rigging nets.

A black look crossed his face as he looked up at the flag above the crow’s nest. It was the Raiaeran flag, though a really old version that the young man had only ever seen in history books. He could only theorize that it was based upon a design that had been out of favor with the government of the country a few hundred, perhaps even thousand, years ago.

“This is troublesome. I’m sitting here on a derelict ship that’s leaning at an angle with a storm coming in. I need to prepare for this,” he said. He rolled up his sleeves and pulled on the belts halfway up his arm, locking them in place around his elbows, where the long, flowing garment wouldn’t be able to obstruct any intricate hand movements he would have to make.

He reached deep into the pockets of his newest snow white robe and produced a pair of white leather gloves that he had recently acquired from the Bazaar and slipped them on.

“Let’s see if these things resist the elements as easily as I was told by that shop keeper.”

He extended his left hand out to his side and drew the water from around the ship into a long shape before grasping the water and watching out of the corner of his eye as it instantly solidified into a long bladed spear in his hand. He gave it a couple of trial swings before smiling.

“Excellent. Not even the smallest discomfort from handling the weapon,” he said triumphantly.

[Flamebird]

Ashla was clearly the type of person to teach someone to swim... by pushing them into the water. Well, that was the way she learned herself. "The best way to learn is through experience. Why not take a spin around Corone's Citadel and see what it's like?"

Felicity was happy to follow orders.

So now, the redhead was just stepping onto the docks of an uneven ship. Felicity took a look around, the ship seemed... old... and archaic... and boring... and old.

Felicity found the waters the ship dangled across a lot more interesting. She peered over the edge, her ponytail dangling, as she watched the waters shake. For a moment, she looked at her reflection; green eyes, fair skin, stupid forehead... even if it wasn't nearly as pushed out as her neanderthal kin, Felicity noticed her slightly narrowed brow. Felicity focused her attention on the growing waves, then to the sky above. It looked like some form of bad weather was approaching.

Felicity briefly made a check on her equipment. Flamberge, check. Arming swords, check. Heater shield, check. Confidence, recklessness, and sense of humor... totally check.

The girl turned to the steps below and jumped down, her sandals making quite the sound against the moaning, oak boards. The halfing tightened the wrappings on her arms and legs before continuing across the ship's deck to find... her opponent.

He stuck out against the bland, brown ship like the coolest thing ever. His white hair, tipped with blue, caught Felicity's interest instantly. He looked like a fit opponent. Felicity smirked, completely ready for the adrenaline bursts he provided.

She lifted her hand in a wave, "Yo!" Felicity called. She started to walk up to him, "Fewicity Knopsnida's my name! You?" She stopped several yards away from the man, taking her mentor's training into mind. "Keep your distance until you know what they're capable of. Maintain enough of a posture they'll take you seriously."

The apprentice stiffened her posture into something more formal, but still kept her smirk up. She was clearly excited about the fight, but tried to juggle her training into play as she observed her opponent's every word and action.

[Rehtul Orlouge]

Rehtul couldn’t help but smile as he watched his opponent give the ship a look over with a bored expression on her face. She had just shown up through the same magic that he had, transported to this alternate reality where warriors came to fight and die. Rehtul had almost grasped what made this such an addictive experience in the world of Althanas, though he was still unsure what the final goal was of people who came here.

There were betting areas, battles where people could be ranked according their number of victories and who they won against, ranked battles. He could tell that people enjoyed being able to fight and conquer in this place, where death was little more than a figment that could easily be wiped away by a monk who asked for nothing in return except for further patronage to the Citadel, or in Rehtul’s case, to continue listening to barely there inane humor that even people who love puns would groan over.

“Perhaps this is their way of extracting the aggression necessary to win here in the Citadel,” he muttered under his breath as the woman finally approached him and introduced herself.

Did... she just say “Fewicity”? he thought to himself. He mentally shrugged off the woman’s odd way of speaking and bowed, his eyes never leaving hers.

“A pleasure, Miss Knopsnider,” he said, ignoring the pronunciation of her first name. A friendly looked passed over his face as he drove the head of his spear into the planks of wood between them, sending a hand full of splinters into the air. He looked the woman over from head to toe for a moment, unsure quite what to think of her. Her red hair, if you believe that hair color could determine a person’s personality, marked her as being a fiery, passionate individual. Sadly, Rehtul was unused to such things.

Her green eyes showed a hint of intelligence, but still just enough naivety to mark her as a child. She looked barely older than fifteen, maybe a late blooming sixteen tops.

What the hell are the monks thinking, letting someone this young into the Citadel? he thought bitterly. There was, apparently, a downside to the “all are welcome” philosophy of the Order of Ai’bron. It looked like even children were allowed to play at being warriors here.

Sighing, Rehtul finally spoke up to introduce himself.

“My name is Rehtul Orlouge, of the Orlouge Clan of Mystics. I’m... well, as you can see,” he said as he pulled his spear from the ground and held it up to the light. As the light glinted off of the bright blue ice that he held in his hands, he continued, “I’m an Elemental Mage specializing in ice magic.”

He walked up to the small young woman and tried his best to put his word in a non-patronizing way, “If you want to back out, now’s the time to do it. You came in here knowing what could possibly happen to you. If you didn’t, you can be inflicted with a lot of pain and even experience death here. It’s not pleasant.” He shuddered. “Trust me, I’d know.”

He looked down the bridge of his nose directly into the emerald eyes of the young woman and asked, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

[Flamebird]

Felicity, at first, was a bit hurt. Clearly this man underestimated her. Yes, she was a rookie in the field, but pain was nothing to someone who got get stronger by each bleeding hit. The waves of the ocean started to grow stronger; seemingly signifying the storm this "Mr. Orlouge" was coming up against. Felicity directly stared him down his blue eyes, unafraid. Pain, abuse, hate... she dealt with it as a toddler. She was unbreakable, as this man would unfortunately find out.

"I'm positive."

The apprentice took several steps back, giving him a slight bow, before drawing her twin swords. She joined them together, forging a swordstaff, and marched up to him, smile fading. She had people treat her like that, like some useless little girl, before. Don't judge someone before you know them!

The planks slightly creeked under her sturdy steps. A single rain drop fell between them before Felicity barred her weapon in front of her. She began swiping the linked swords at him, one blade at a time. She utilized her training; light footed, ready to dodge, keeping one side of the weapon available for defense if needed. Determined not to only prove herself to this guy, but to make her mentor proud, Felicity began her series of strikes.

More rain steadily began to fall. It was now apparent that a storm was coming. Felicity focused on the task at hand, wielding her weapon with two hands, as a drizzle of rain fell upon the two. The atmosphere of this setting seemed to even smell wet at this rate, although the rain kept itself as a sprinkle. Felicity kept herself focused on one goal though: hitting Orlouge.

The halfling activated another feature on her weapon. The two blades began to spin. Spin like a fan. The young girl smirked as the weapon produced a spinning sound. She aimed an upper cut at his face now, leaving her body defended by nothing but her brigandine and mirror armor. She pulled her weapon down, hoping to score even a small point.

[Rehtul Orlouge]

Seemed the woman was indeed serious after all, and a serious contender. As she responded to him, he could feel years of pain and suffering hidden behind her voice, a dark past that few her age would have ever experienced.

Thank the Thayne, Rehtul thought as he considered that more young people could have gone through what she had in her life. No one that young should be that fearless in the face of battle. It was frightening to think of what she had to go through at her age to make her so hardened and fearless in the face of a challenge like the Citadel.

That or she’s way more naïve than I thought. Oh well, we’ll have to see.

The young Mystic watched as the girl stepped back from him and drew a pair of twin swords. In watching Knights under his uncle’s command training with the weapons, he knew them to be extremely tricky to wield without proper experience and training, which is why the young man tended toward solid weapons that could only be used in a single direction. He knew he would never master anything too terribly complex, at least not without having to cut back his research into the magics of the world.

It was a tough truth, but his own weapons of ice made sure he wasn’t entirely unable to defend himself in close quarters, which the young lady seemed to excel at, based on her gear. As if the double blades weren’t bad enough, thunder began to crackle overhead and rain began to slowly drip from the sky, picking up in tempo ever so slightly with each passing second. The young ice mage could feel each individual drop reducing his options for mobility. His heavy cotton robes weighed him down and the wooden deck beneath them would be slick.

“Damn,” he said under his breath as the girl brought her two weapons together, creating a swordstaff, something the young man had never once encountered in his entire life.

A pair of blades extending on either side, fused together at the hilts... That’s ingenious. Looks dangerous to learn, though. I imagine it caused her quite a lot of pain before she became proficient with this thing, he thought as she took a pair of swipes at him with it. He backed up slowly and dodged to either side with the first two swipes.

As she continued to press the attack, he brought his own weapon in between her own blades and his body, blocking to either side and using his weapon as a shield. As the assault continued, she finally slipped through a hole in his defenses, opening up a gash in his left side, right over his ribs.

A sharp breath was the only satisfaction the young girl would be able to get from this, as Rehtul had finally had enough. With a grimace, he tossed the spear aside, not bothering to pay attention as the magic holding it together faded and allowed it to return to mere water, falling onto the deck with the rest of the rain as it picked up into a torrent of epic proportions.

Through the soles of his shoes, the young Mystic focused the energy of his ice magic. Mist began forming around the man as his magic worked itself upon the water surrounding the two combatants. As the woman’s final upswing with the spinning blade came at him, he jumped back and clenched his fist tightly.

A wall of ice, about an inch thick, sprouted up between the two combatants, repelling the final assault of the woman’s combo. As Rehtul’s feet touched the ground a couple of feet back from the ice wall, he lost his footing and slipped on the now wet algae that had built up on the deck during the years of sitting out at sea.

“Oh shit!” he screamed as he slid down the deck and hit the wall of ice with his side. Grumbling to himself as his blood slowly mixed with the rain and soaked into the wooden deck, he motioned with his hand at the wall between the two of them, causing it to shatter and throw dozens of small, razor sharp shards of ice at the young woman.

With great effort, he finally managed to stand once more, gripping his side with a glowing hand. The wound slowly closed just enough to stop the bleeding, and he smiled.

“That was... interesting,” he said.

[Flamebird]

Felicity was surprised when a wall of ice separated her from Orlouge. Further more, her weapon had been caught in the frozen water. Felicity switched off the spinning mechanism, hoping the weapon wasn't ruined. Another thing she didn't expect: the ice wall to form spikes. The rain drops meshed with the ice as it shot towards her.

Felicity blinked out, seemingly going out of complete existence for a short time. In the blink, she was allowing the ice to fly through nothing... most of it anyways. She couldn't hold after three seconds, and was unable to dodge a final one that sharply cut her cheek. For a brief moment, the girl felt pain. However, the pain was replaced by... strength.

She was completely able to ignore the blood running down her face, dripping from her chin. The girl tightened her fists. Now empty handed, the girl pulled one hand up to the hilt of her two handed sword, hanging on her back. She walked down the deck, stepping between the ugly algae as rain continuously fell. The halfling's curiosity had been pricked at the ice user. Her mentor, Ashla, had the ability to use ice within her blood. How someone else could use it, if not through the Icebreaker bloodline, the kid wanted to know.

She walked up to man in about fifteen seconds. Her eyes were bright in questioning. As the Orlouge rubbed his head, the apprentice pondered, "My mentow uses ice... how do you?"

Here, she pulled out her flamberge, putting it into front of her using both her arms. She waited for him to get up as the rain pounded against the wooden beams. Lightning cracked above them, but it only caught the kid's attention for a moment before looking at her opponent again. By now, Felicity was soaked. With her berserk rage amplifying her pain tolerance though, it was the most uncomfortable thing she had to deal with at that moment.

[Rehtul Orlouge]

Rehtul watched in silence as the woman stood before him, her blade stuck in the remainder of the ice wall that he had summoned forth. Surprisingly, she let the weapon go and fished out her secondary, a giant sword that was strapped to her back. Surprisingly, she seemed undeterred by the damage his magic had done to her body. If anything, it appeared to invigorate her, to make her stronger.

I’ve heard of magic like this, but I detected no bending of the world’s natural energies when this happened. There’s usually something, a faint humming, a glow to the air, but this... this is something different.

His eyebrows raised as the woman ignored her injuries, and a slight scowl crossed his face. To think that a young woman, a girl of such slight size would be able to shrug off so many blows as though they were little more than mosquito bites. She then proceeded to question him, in her slightly lilting and mispronouncing way.

“I... Your mentor... uses ice magic?” he finally managed to spit out as the woman’s eyes looked him over, not an ounce of pain to be found. He held a single hand up and pinched the bridge of his nose, bringing in a deep breath and finally releasing it in a cloud of mist.

“How do I explain? Though, perhaps...”

White gloved hands rose into the air, the conductor of the realm of winter preparing for his most elegant symphony yet. White mist coalesced around his hands as the temperature around his body dropped. His arms went limp and fell to his sides. The mist surrounding him flew out in all directions, enveloping the two combatants before surrounding them.

“I doubt you’ve ever seen anything quite like this,” he whispered. Around the two of them, the water on the ground and in the air seemed to stand still for a few precious seconds. The sounds around the two of them all but ceased save for the breath of the two combatants.

A smile crossed the young man’s hand as he endeavored to show the true depth of everything he had learned over the course of his studies, the intricacies involved in controlling the beautiful, misunderstood element known as ice. The element he had been drawn to, the one that his father had first deigned to teach him after he passed his Trials, the Mystic rite of passage into adulthood.

Tendrils of liquid shot up around them, weaving themselves into intricate patterns. Pentagrams, hexagrams, flowers, suns, moons, and stars surrounded the two of them on all sides, connected by thin, beautiful stems that looked more reminiscent of the waves of the violent ocean. Finally, the Mystic clenched his hands into fists and the entire construct froze over around them, creating a gilded cage of ice eight feet tall and twenty feet wide.

“I use ice magic, like I said earlier. I am a mage of ice. I use skills I developed by learning from teachers, trainers, and books to perfect my art. It took a few years, but as you can see I have quite a bit of agency with the skill,” he said simply as he waited for the woman to respond.

[Flamebird]

Felicity watched in childlike awe as Orlouge created ice like he was painting a portrait. His style of ice was not like her mentor's. Ashla used her ice as a full scale weapon, making it in sturdy walls, poles, and weapons that signified pure strength and a refusal to loss. Orlouge though, he had style. He made beautiful images of snowflakes and delicate beams. He certainly had skill!

Felicity's awe steadily turned into fear though. The ice went on to develop a cage. Just as her unusual panic started to boil, the pain in her cheek returned, her boosted strength subdued. In shook, the tip of her now shaking sword fell to the ground. Felicity immediately saw and pulled the weapon up again in a tight defense. Her eyes portrayed a fear that drew way back into her childhood: confinement.

~~~

"You! Neanderthal scum!"

A toddler, still struggling to walk steadily, had been sought out and was being dragged off by some stranger. The grown man, hooded and cloaked, struck such fear into the redhead he yanked across the snowy and muddy ground.

The child cried out, "Wet me go!"

The man, surprisingly, threw her onto the ground. The young girl was half freezing, her orange dress doing little to protect her in the white snow. Below them was the solid rock of the chunk of mountain they lived on. The man's voice, heartless and stern, caused her the cry out, "Get up!"

With the best of her abilities, the little girl pulled herself to her vibrating feet. She looked up at the dark man with green eyes full of terror and fear, what did he want with her?

The man cast her a dirty look before walking over to something she hadn't even seen before, a underground storage tank. He scowled back at the girl, who was now crying clean tears, shedding a mucky face.

He didn't seem like he could care less, "Neanderthal scum like you don't deserve to live. You only are alive right now cause you're a stupid half breed!"

The girl took a step back, pulling her messy hands into her mouth.

"So if I can't kill ya," the man cruelly spoke, "I'll just lock your burdensome existence away 'til ya rot!"

The girl screamed as the man walked up to her and grabbed her arm. In the next several seconds that passed, he tossed the child into the storage unit and closed the door.

It was so dark, she couldn't see her hands in front of her face.

She felt the ground. It was covered in hay. It smelled moldy and dirty. Who knew what was kept in here. The child remained silent, tears falling for several seconds, before she screamed in terror and bawled like never before.

~~~

Felicity had been rescued after the course of two days from her uncle, but the happening had shook her to the core. Felicity watched as the entire ship was being locked inside the ice cage. In a sudden burst of emotion, the teenager shouted, raising her sword and racing towards her opponent. "Stop!"

[Rehtul Orlouge]

Awe, appreciation, dumb shock... fear. Rehtul watched with increasing interest, and then sorrow, as these emotions flew across his opponent’s face in rapid succession. He did not know what caused the young woman to feel this way.

Unless... the cage!

As the young woman rushed at him, yelling stop, he sidestepped her rush and frowned. He didn’t want to use psychological warfare, the tactic of weak minds. A sigh escaped his lips as he slid his foot on the slick wood beneath him and pressed both of his hands against the floor, willing the energy of the world through the nexus at the core of his soul and into the floor and up to the cage. Fine cracks appeared in the ice, except for one bar, which he reached out and easily gripped in one hand while leaning against another bar for support while he focused.

A sigh escaped his lips as he began to cause the cracks to grow wider and attempt to shatter it. As he closed his eyes to finish his spell work, he felt a force enter his body and break his concentration. His vision was shaken, white and stark, unable to see anything but an endless void. He opened his mouth to freak out, but couldn’t hear anything but his heart beating in his ears at what felt like one thousand beats per minute. He sunk to his knees and felt the ground beneath him with each gloved hand.

What the hell was that? Could she have access to spells that rob a person of their senses? he thought. Slowly his vision cleared and he looked up with a grimace. He looked at his hands, and all seemed well. He patted himself and suddenly realized he could feel the rain licking at his skin, above the spot he’d rolled his sleeves up. His eyes followed the sensation and his eyes opened wide in shock. A scorch mark about the size of a child’s fist had torn open his shirt.

The young man coughed hoarsely and took several ragged breaths before attempting to speak.

“Ah... aaaah. By the Thayne, what the hell just happened to me?” he asked. He reached for his chest and took a deep break of fresh air and salt water. His body shook from the force that robbed him of his sight and hearing. His eyes were hazy and unfocused, and he could feel every inch of his body screaming out in protest as he attempted to continue the battle.

As his thoughts began to focus, he looked around himself, and he saw nothing but water and more rain hitting the deck of the ship. His entire cage, including the part he had planned to keep for himself as a makeshift weapon, was nowhere to be found. He could see nothing but the water splashing on the sodden deck and the clouds floating in the sky above, with occasional flashes of lightning.

No... way... he thought as he looked up into the skies above.

“Did I just get struck by lightning?”

[Flamebird]

Felicity had been consumed with high tide fear. She was relieved when the ice shattered... her relief turned to horror though when she realized why.

Her opponent was on the floor, struck by lightning.

Felicity instantly tossed her sword aside, racing up to Orlouge. Yes, he had underestimated her. Yes, he has frightened her. However, he was still a living being with thoughts and emotions - like her. Felicity was deeply damaged from her abuse as a child, but she learned several things from it... one of them being to treat others as she wanted to be treated.

The redhead knelt down and felt his pulse, "Awe you gonna be okay?" She asked.

Her cheek was still bleeding, and the rain battering her did not help. Another thing was taking over her though. She felt numb. The ice was pulling her deeper and deeper into a freezing stillness. The apprentice shook her damp head and clearly asked again, "Awe you okay?"

Felicity didn't know what to do. Was it okay to move someone who was struck by lightning? Ashla always told her to proceed with caution. What could the kid do though? Her panic rose again as thunder crackled in the distance. She felt the waves shake the unstable ship. The rain made it harder and harder to see ahead. Felicity choked before looking down on the injured Orlouge again. "I'm going to stop the match..."