Round Three: (3) Sore from Sodomy v (11) Grander's Order

[Max Dirks]

Round three will begin Thursday at 12 AM EST. Good luck!

[Raelyse]

It had been another long, arduous journey from one of the numerous arenas surrounding Lornius to the town of Lyridia for Raelyse Salidan after his team’s battle against his ‘racially challenged’ opponents. It had been a relatively easy win, thanks in no part to the prince of Myrusia’s flawless battle skills once again. He was just thankful that there was no knocked out partner to carry all the way to be healed. Still, despite Falcon’s new found after battle consciousness, it was still Raelyse that had dealt the finishing blow and finished off their adversaries, as well as softening them up. He could not help that feel that in the past two rounds, he had carried this team to victory on both occasions. The prince did not blame it on his subordinate of course, because after all, he was his subordinate and could not be expected to contribute to their cause as much as him.

They went their separate ways in Lyridia, the prince opting for a more ‘exciting’ break in between rounds. The local females accepted him with the same goodwill that he had received the last time he had come here. Unfortunately, the prince was the type of person who never liked to swim in the same pool twice and as a result, his stay in Lyridia this time was considerably shorter. He left, spending less than half the time he had spent here last time, deciding to take a carriage and explore Lornius and spy for the arena which would give his team the biggest advantage. He had gone North so this time, he decided to go East, the large mountains there intriguing him.

Unfortunately, Raelyse did not have the knowledge that he had in the past two rounds, that was: his next opponents. The first time he had to (paid someone to) study extensively the geography in search of the arena which would present the greatest unfair advantage to his team. The second round, he had asked Falcon to choose the battleground while the prince ‘liaised’ with the locals. This time though, Raelyse could not stand to be in Lyridia for any longer than he could, due to the declarations of love he would soon receive from the smitten females within. As the gears within his scheming mind began to turn and the mountains grew closer and closer, it soon became apparent that this time, the prince would not need Falcon, he would not need research and for the love of the Thayne, he would not need any of the numerous females that populated Lyridia.

As soon as the chariot braked and stopped at the foot of the massive Shingo mountain range, the prince could feel his next trip to Lyridia in his mind. The second his feet touched down on the snowy ground below, the familiar arctic wind akin to his Myrusian home blowing his elegant clothing, he knew that this, regardless of who he would be fighting, would represent the greatest advantage to him. Grabbing his cane and beginning to walk out, he could only smirk as the familiar arctic cold did little more than tickle him.

“Sir, don’t you need a jacket or food or anything,” came the carriage driver’s voice, annoying and shrill in the prince’s mind. He did nothing more than raise his right hand and dismiss him.

It was a perfect place where Raelyse felt his crippled leg was hardly a disadvantage. Every step he took, every time his cane touched the snow, he could feel them sink into it. He was no mathematician, but he estimated that it was about one foot deep and only his relatively quick steps and knowledge of arctic areas managed to ensure that he did not sink into the cold snow. Still, his pace was considerably slower but again, his familiarity with the cold made sure that this little hike was relatively easy for him. He knew that unless he was extremely unlucky, his opponents would not have the same expertise in this kind of arena. Even if Falcon passed out like he did in the second round, the excess of snow not only on the ground but also raining from the sky, meant that the prince of Myrusia had a surplus of medium to use for his ice magick.

He walked for about twenty minutes before he began to notice a difference. The snow was starting to fall a bit more here compared to the foot of the mountain and he speculated that there was a growing snowstorm here. Good, this would play into his hands even more. Raelyse spied a small cave to his left and quickly entered it, glad to be out of the snow which was really more annoying than painful to him. He walked through it, noticing that his assumptions were wrong, this wasn’t a cave, it was a tunnel. It took about twenty seconds to get to the other side but when he did, the prince allowed himself a smirk, suddenly achieving the euphoria at finding his perfect arena.

The tunnel opened to reveal a large bowl like structure which was covered by mountains on all sides. At the other end of the arena, about two hundred meters ahead of him, Raelyse saw a similar tunnel opening to the one he had used to get here. Smirking, the prince did not even take the opportunity to study the arena in more detail, knowing that it was nothing short of perfect. Turning around, he raised his right hand and invoked the magical energy that always flowed through his body. Lightning bolts flew from his finger tips a split second later, crashing into the rock which supported the small tunnel. As every single rock in the area combined with snow caused the entire path to cave in, Raelyse felt his smirk widen by itself.

Here, the snowstorm buffeted him, but he acknowledged it as nothing more than an annoyance. The arena he had chosen was perfect. No one could surprise him anymore, he had sealed off his entrance so the others had to come from the other one, the one that was directly opposite from him, seeing as the tall mountains on all sides effectively barred entrance from the sides. The entrance to this soon to be christened battlefield led to a small platform that was about ten square meters and was elevated about half a meter from the bowl shaped area in the centre. To the best of his knowledge, Raelyse could see that the entrance to the opposite of him was the same design. The centre of the arena was what he really thought was perfect. What was in the middle was rather uniform, a large circular snowy plain which only had a few outstanding large rocks; the prince assumed that no seeds could get this far and even if they did, this was hardly the environment for them to grow. It was roughly circular and had a approximate radius of about one hundred meters.

The prince of Myrusia felt the dimples in his cheek as his smirk expanded to form itself from ear to ear. His cane and feet sank into the ground, but he did not seem to care. The cold was nothing to him when he could feel victory on the ends of his fingers.

[Storm Veritas]

If there was one pleasant element to the otherwise horrendous cold, it was the quiet. The soft whisper which swept above the snowline was barely discernable, and the frequent, rhythmic footfalls of the Clydesdale horses which led his sleigh were dampened by the ankle-deep white. The ride was smooth, too, as the soft rails of his wintry chariot glided with ease through the soft snow, not touching earth and never heaving or bucking. With only his quiet Lornius representative sitting mute at his side, Storm was able to focus his thoughts on what would be another difficult day ahead. Naturally, his thoughts were distracted by the biting cold. Such is the way for whiny types.

This is f*cking ridiculous. Beautiful country, Lornius. Plenty of space, land, and arenas that sit in the sun. Never a long walk from a bar, and never scarce for women.

But that would apparently make too much sense. Instead, they drag us out to the middle of f*cking nowhere, and force us to fight without an audience. Don’t they know who the f*ck we are? We’re the headliners! We’re the f*cking stars! For a corporation, Lornius doesn’t know shit from a shine-box… how do they plan to sell tickets here? They marketing icecapades?

His profanity laced inner monologue aside, he was stricken by the beauty of it all. White serenity was clear and vast, without a sign of life for miles. The flawless horizon cut a distinct severance into clear blue, and the sun painted a perfect ivory over the earth so bright that it hurt his eyes to look upon it. A single massive mound of snow erupted from the earth ahead, and he craned his neck from the window of his coach to see it.

“Jesus, Stevens. Take a look at this shit! Unbelievable!”

He spoke with a childlike excitement to his sentry escort, a regal type agent dressed in dapper attire. The diplomat had an air of entitlement to him, speaking as though he were the Lord himself. Veritas sneered a bit, but for the most part remained distanced from the holier-than-thou aristocrat. Rubbing elbows with them had never worked as well as it seemed.

His vessel came to a sliding stop, and the door opened before him. A beaten path to a large door at the mouth of the mountain was pressed in the snow. It was firm now, less slippery, and allowed for a calm stroll to the bleak, dreary looking cavern. Dressed in simple blacks, with slicked hair and at-the-ready daggers, Veritas was geared for battle today. Knowing not what danger lurked within the mighty mountain, he stepped forward with an arrogant zeal and crooked smile. Zephyriah would be here soon, no doubt erupting from the earth itself or being dropped from the back of an eagle. His esteemed partner was ignorant to the proper intricacies of the subtle entry.

Here we f*cking go again.

[Zephyriah]

Words could not even begin to describe the level of agitation and frustration that was burning inside of me. These fools responsible for the organization of this entire tournament were the lowest kinds of life forms imaginable simply because only such fools would schedule a match with only one team participating! It was a most irritating experience to say the least for having to stand awkwardly next to Storm as we both waited for the arrival of our opponents was extremely torturous. He wasn't the most talkative person in the world and his appearance was nothing short of dreary. It wouldn't have been all bad though had the town where our second round fight was scheduled had been exciting. However, it was a podunk town with very few inhabitants to counter balance the gloomy Veritas. I would even go so far as to say that everything about him from his countenance, his mannerisms, and his attire, was casting a very dim shadow on me. Never did I like being within the presence of such commoners and weaklings, for quite simply they were beneath me. Father raised to uphold a certain standard when interacting with others, and that standard was to be surrounded by nothing but the best of individuals. Clearly, Storm greatly missed the mark. Yet, mother's life was still on the line and in this situation, I had no choice but to comply. That older fellow who headed security during the Serenti invitational had made it very apparent that I would be participating in the Lornius Corporate Challenge if I cared anything about my mother, and throughout all of these rounds, that'd been the leash buckled around my neck; she was much too precious to me and under no circumstances could I live with myself if I allowed the head of Serenti security, or any of his other accomplices to do her harm. But, the thought still ran through my mind that perhaps their blood stained fingers might've ended her life already.

"They would do well to keep their word....." I thought, while traveling up these steep mountains, forever being blanketed by fast falling snow. It was beyond my knowledge to conclude who was responsible for appointing this place as the area in which we would do battle with our next group of opponents. Nothing about this location was pleasant or fan friendly. No camera crews would journey to record the events that would transpire here, for the climate was much too frigid for one not accustomed to such weather. In fact, even I found myself chattering my teeth and shivering. Long ago, I'd spent time in Salvar amongst other drows of the gelid lands, battling the elements each and everyday until I built up a natural immunity to the cold. However, that ability had long been lost to where now I actually felt....vulnerable. Had it not been for the fur coat that I'd luckily found a perished traveler, there would've been on doubt in my mind that I would've failed to make it this far.

"Argh....the directions say to turn east once I come across the 'Jag's Way' immediately after I'd passed the third fork in the road," Looking around though, I saw no such sign that would lead me into the right direction. "Perhaps I made a wrong turn somewhere?" It was all too hard to determine though with all of this snow falling, the nightmarish whipping winds that persistently distorted my view. How anyone was supposed to find the arena under these conditions was beyond me. If I couldn't find it, how in the world was Storm going to do so?

"I'm not getting anywhere on foot!" I said as I frustratingly removed my coat and let my other half, the Dragon Drinker come forward. Flying would serve much better than trying to follow pathetic instructions on what turns to take and what trails to cross. Also, the heat that I now generated in this form allowed me to better deal with the climate.

Eventually, after much hard soaring, I came atop a mountain that looked down into an open snow field. It most interesting to see something like this so high up into the mountains, seeing how one would never expect viewing a sight like this. But, what dazzled me even more was how down below, two individuals stood far from each other as if ready to battle. "Could this be the place?" One of the men had a recognize stance, unique in all of Althanas. "Veritas, you cunning fool," I chuckled. "How'd you get here before me?"

It would've been all too easy to make myself known right now, but instead I hid myself so that in no way would I be seen. Only at the right moment would I spring forth to bring death and destruction to my opponents. Hopefully, Veritas would be smart enough to get out of my way when that time came.

[Max Dirks]

Sore from Sodomy advances to the semi-finals.