Premonition

[Canen Darkflight]

(Closed to Kai)

As the sun began its slow climb from the east, slipping silently over the magically manifested peaks in the distance of the Citadel arena and pouring its warmth over the shimmering, crystal blue lake beneath, Syrion cast his pale blue eyes upwards beyond the drooping bangs of his brown hair and sighed. It may not have been real, this place that the monks had skilfully crafted for him from imagination alone, but it held a beauty that he had rarely seen in any of the real places he had travelled to in his time alone on Althanas. He idly kicked his legs back and forth, the Khaian sat perched on the edge of a giant, cracked boulder, isolated on a solitary island that rested in the centre of the lake, with no one but himself for company.

These days, Syrion spent most of his time in the Citadel. As the Khaian brushed his hair back, watching the soft ripples of the lake lap upon the sands of the small island he inhabited in this arena, he started to think about his situation. More than a decade of fighting for everybody else’s causes had made a good living for the Khaian. He had fought for bandits and rogues, fought for any bastard who would pay him enough gold to do their dirty work. But the main attractions of doing this were twofold. Firstly, he had earned enough money to make a proper life for himself, live a quiet life away from the greater conflicts in the world. Secondly, he did this in peace, and could fight for who he wanted, when he wanted, if he wanted.

To be allowed to settle on your own terms was a luxury most people in his line of work didn't have. All in all, life wasn't too bad.

Syrion sighed, and pulled on the last part of his battle gi, which he wore instead of the usual wolf hide clothing he mucked around in. He was proud of the overalls with their lightweight, shimmering material, lightweight and very comfortable to wear. In them, Syrion felt as agile as a young panther, and as aggressive. He knew no home other than battle, no family, and no belongings except what fitted into his pouches. He bore at his side the long, straight pole of Heaven's Final Cry; a brute of a weapon, balanced but crude, and Syrion liked the idea that soon the feel of a savage halberd blow could beat down the slim blades of feeble swordsmen and crush aside anyone who dared to challenge him.

The island he was on had a flat surface, probably a hundred foot across and eighty in bredth, very much a nondescript oval shaped piece of land dusted with a thin layer of shale and gravel. A fine crust of sand defined the coastal regions, which a clear freshwater lake lapped at with a serene calm, only a few loose pebbles scattered across the silt. There were a few small creatures nearby, but nothing of real note, perhaps only a crab scuttling into the shallows to catch some prey for food. The most noteworthy feature of the island was a cluster of giant boulders, worn by the winds of ages and eroded into a series of smooth curvatures, centred in the middle of the island. In the middle of the boulders, a strange marine blue flame, almost like a naked flame on a log fire, erupted occasionally, and everything the blue spurt touched appeared to gloss over with an icy frost.

Syrion would wait here until his opponent showed up, admire the beauty of this place and take in the aroma of this faux paradise, even if just for a few more minutes. Then, he would do what he did best. He would fight.

[Kai]

((Didn't expect to see this character up again, meh lets see how this goes falcy))

The tavern was as dark as it was quiet, old wooden and held a distinct smell of old beer and aged wood, well that would have been the smell if there wasn’t such a thick cloud as smoke lazily drifting through the air.

It was just the way Kai Nightwind enjoyed his taverns

It was very late out, and many of the taverns customers had left some time ago, peace and quiet, that was an irony in and of it self, there was nothing associated with Kai that was peace and quiet.

In his youth Kai could be very easily be called eccentric, full of childish energy to light up a sun, effectively pissing off people left and right faster than he could introduce himself. Since having a kid and retiring from his adventuring days, Kai had calmed down a lot, only a sharp wit and humour for life still remained.

Not that he wasn’t given random bouts of his inner child these days; it was mostly random as it was

Still Kai had to think, he was now effectively a bouncer for a delivery company headed by a sadistic neko bitch and a war weary 8ft behemoth of a man, and that’s not even getting him started on there resident, poster girl.

The beer was sour to him, honestly tasting like donkey piss, a fact which kai was be reluctant to admit how he knew such a taste but still, the monkey like warrior had done a lot in his past.

His hair had grown out, to the point where it was getting stupidly long, he stated that he wanted to simply grow it, but how long could he want it when it was just shy in brushing against the floor, the magic brown dye had not yet worn off but his natural silver hair was starting to show through, making it looked like it was actually greying with age, reluctantly it was pulled into a red ribbon half way down his back.

“Thought I would find you here”

Kai scoffed, almost instantly and turned his steely gaze from his beer to the neko placing herself down in the stool next to him, Sera could track him anywhere it would seem, this time it was a bar two towns away from his usual place of residency these days and still the neko could always find him.

“Suppose I should be surprised huh?” he asked the young woman, but he evidently lacked the surprise, no these days he seemed sour and bitter about something. She placed a hand to her chin and thought long and hard but ultimately she grinned and handed him a note, no a letter.

“Nah not really, though you may want to look at this”

Nah, it could not be, surely it wasn’t

“Is that?” he asked and she nodded anyway

It was indeed, an official letter of challenge straight from the citadel monks themselves, what an oddity, they usually don’t send this type of letter of challenge to just anyone more specifically…

There out of free fighters and want some retired old veteran to come and give one of the young whipper snappers and good beating.

“… nd you have been doing nothing lately” he heard Sera finish one of her usual rants, kai however had long developed an immunity to the girls mouth, “Sure whatever, could be fun, bout time I get the kinks out of my style”

She scoffed “Yeah and your weekly bouts with maverick were for fun” kai blinked and looked at the young woman “They are”

“… Off with you!” she barked and kai was all but gone from the tavern


Oh now this just plain sucked

No other way of describing the amount of suck that he was in right now, because this sucked beyond all suck that could ever possibly suck out of the suckiest situation ever

And yes this did indeed suck

Why did this situation suck?

Well as soon as he entered the islands most beloved Citadel, the place where fighters come to test there metal, he had found that even after his rather long absence of retirement, the good monks had done almost nothing to correct the little teleportation there arena sent people thought was a little sensitive to Silvet Biology.

But that was really nothing to complain about

The next was that the Arena was a fairly small island, with a rather breathtaking view and a dulling sky with calm waters easily reflecting the equally breathtaking hills and trees. Yes it was quite a sight and one of those rare moments, Totally inappropriate the beat down he was about to give and the blood about to be spilled but none the less.

It was nice but inappropriate, could be worse but this was also not what he found sucky

His arrival was quick and annoying, and he quickly located his opponent, currently looking out into the horizon deep in thought possibly conflicting with his own inner demons. The guy was Angsting, and that really riled Kai up

Damn young punk adventurers, they have something bad happen to them and they bloody dwell on it, there last of a civilisation, big deal, go breed start it off again. Oh no I just lost my one true love, hard luck but hey he didn’t meet his one true love until the fifth, even then she still died after giving birth to his little spawn of hell.

And on top of that, the punk had the nerve to confuse him, When Kai had entered the arena he had struggled hard not to give out his usual greeting to his rather dist6ant, brother in all but blood friend, the one who had not came for a visit in nearly over 20 odd years.

Kai had reigned himself in hard to stop himself from making an ass of himself, a bad case of Deja-vu in the wrong place and time, possibly because this arena greatly reminded him of the old Karak plains.

For a brief Second he could have swore Canen Darkflight was his opponent ‘ he wouldn’t put it past him’

Ok, ok enough of the melodrama, what kind of punk do we have here.

‘Brown hair, Wielding a pole arm … ok not too much of a problem, less blade area than a sword and more swing time too. Watch out for the stabs and pokes and keep an eye and any potential Projectile magic… everyone but me has one of those’

“Ok Kid, here is the deal, Your not going to walk away, and I sure as hell ain’t even considering it. I don’t even care who the heck you are and I am not going to bore you with my name either, You have one shot, after that I am gonna pound ya silly, ok?”

Kai’s art of fighting rule 4: never attack first
And
Kai’s Art of Fighting rule 7: and enraged enemy is a sloppy one

[Canen Darkflight]

Syrion, his hands gently wandering over the gleaming scarlet shaft of his treasured weapon, his anti-infantry halberd, pretended not to hear the remarks from his counterpart, who had now finally arrived. His free left arm and silk sash trailing his form, Syrion marched with a long easy stride to within a few feet of his foe, happy to feel the solid ground beneath his feet, happy that he at least had somewhere to smash his aggressor's face into should his pole arm fail him for the first time.

"It's not the first time I've faced a gobby little prick..." He started, his eyes flaring up, the tense feeling that comes before a rumble building up inside him, the black blood running through his veins coursing with an almost tangible fury. "...but it might be the first time I've ever come across one quite as stupid looking as you. Look at you..." Syrion gestured an open palm to his opponents shabby attire. "You look a damn mess."

The Khaian stood beside a gnarled tree trunk to the side of the boulder for a moment, his pole arm held across his chest, and stared into the heat haze. A lizard darted across the ground, paused, looked at him, then ran up the tree trunk and froze as if he would lose sight of it because of its stillness. A speck of movement in the sky made him look up, and high in the hazy streaks of red and purple a shape slipped past him, its wings beating furiously, its head poised as if searching the ground for prey. There were many people who would have known instantly what it was but to Syrion the creature, most likely a dragon, was just another hunter. Like him.

"But we both know appearances can be deceiving. After all, who gets dressed up to come to the Citadel? Only faggots and show-offs. As for you, what kind of fucking idiot doesn't bring a weapon with him to a fight? You're a bloody disgrace...!"

Syrion's eyes suddenly darted back towards his foe, his hands readying a swift strike from the counterweight, a big metal ball opposite the business end of his halberd. The underarm and upwards motion from a few feet away was lightning quick as the Khaian aimed what he hoped would be a telling blow into the ribs of the Silvet, preparing to use the momentum of the swing to bring the bladed head down on his man from the other direction if necessary.

Yeah, make sure he knows he's been hit, make him regret opening his fucking mouth.

Syrion knew how to fight like this, with a potent mixture of passion, fury and skill, and he would make this fool pay with his faux life for his insult.

[Kai]

Kai watched as the man stood up and proudly marched over towards him closing the gap, which in kai’s point of view the mans first mistake. The second mistake was that even when the young man was making a comment about the silvets attire he was already telegraphing his intention.

Approach, make a comment, feign ignorance then sucker punch the bloody idiot, Kaiser Only knew this because that had happened to him too many times in a bar room brawl, plus it was something that he would have done himself. Kai did nothing to show that he noticed, save stepping back almost casually with his right foot bringing his body mostly side long to the young man.

“You’re a damn mess” the young man said before looking off to some random spot upon this rather derelict island. Kai grinned; the Boy’s taunts while they may have upset another he was honestly dealing with Kai, he who claimed to had invented that game.

“You should have seen the other guy” Kai added his own two cents worth in under his breath, his grin becoming sly

His tail stopped twitching and paused in what anyone would think would be a random place, but in reality, if one could read a silvets tail, they could read the silvets actions, he was prepared to evade, either backwards or too the side, depending how the young man would attack, something Kai had not worked out how yet.

“-A bloody Disgrace…” Ahh the punch line Kai resolved then watched the Young Man’s eyes dart towards his, and that would be the part that said he was going to strike, fast and hard.

The attack came in quick and fast as advertised, a surprise attack more than anything, but it was hardly a surprise and more of a quick a strong upward swing with the reverse end of his Halberd.

“Who- “

Kai evaded the strike all together, by throwing his body to the left, or the right in Syrions point of view. His Right arm snapped forwards seizing the shaft of the halberd above the Iron ball and his left went for the same shaft to a point higher than Syrions lowest hand that handled his spear.

“-needs”

Kai would not let go as an instant later his right leg struck out, abandoning all reason than too brutally kick the Young mans feet from under him when, Kai hoped, his attention was on the fact that Kai had seized part of the control of his own weapon.

“- A weapon?”

[Canen Darkflight]

Syrion's opponent was painfully quick. The rising heat from the loose shale surface of the small island distorted the image of the Silvet's arms as if they were moving through a prism, his powerful hands clearly each at different angles as he caught the shaft of the pole arm on the upswing, a very clever and skillful counter. Syrion was shocked, having very little time to take in just how quickly the warrior had reacted to his movements, startled from the sudden counterattack. The Khaian felt his feet give way underneath him and as he crumpled to the floor felt the hot grains of stone rub against the back of his neck and spine, opening his burning eyes to see nothing but sky, and feel nothing but a numbing pain down his left leg, a thumping, nagging ache.

That kick had bite! Syrion's mind barked at him He doesn't need a weapon with strength like that, so he can't be as stupid as he looks, either. Still, I can keep him at arms length for a while...

To his amazement, Syrion could still feel the cold steel of Heaven's Final Cry locked between his fingers tightly. As he had fallen the momentum had followed him down, yanking the halberd out of the Silvet's strong grip and bringing it back into the Khaian's possession. Silvery beads of perspiration trickled in firm torrents down Syrion's face as the pain from his leg started to creep up his body and created an itchy and uncomfortable mixture of gravel and sweat, but he willed himself to move, if just to salvage a little dignity.

Kaiser's evasion and striking movements, despite being quite effective, had given Syrion a small yet useful opening, with the Silvet stood to his left, on the offside where his balance would most likely fail him, at least for just that one small moment. He used it to his advantage. Sweeping his right leg outwards, the persistant Nocturn quickly jutted his heel into the back of Kaiser's left knee, the foot connecting harshly with the joint, and sent him crashing to the floor, belly down. This moment provided Syrion enough time to command his right arm, grasping the halberd, to move and attempt to deliver a crushing blow on his grounded opponent, swinging the halberd around him to bring the spiked, jagged steel of the blade down on the now exposed spine of his enemy.

I won't be underestimated.

[Kai]

Kai was startled to find a kick hit him in the back of his knee; he didn’t think his opponent would have had the foresight to use a kick instead of swinging his spear around like a mad man any more. Kai’s own mind never actually registered the blow, strong as it was and as surprising, Kai’s body hardly took note either, both curious and dangerous if his body wasn’t feeling whatever damage had been inflicted.

It was also a good thing too, it allowed for Kai to react with a clear mind, and saved himself from falling harshly into the stony floor with just his front, his hands shot forward and he was thankful to feel the harsh floor had not ignored his gloves altogether, and with his falling momentum rolled himself forwards, away from the crushing blow of the halberd.

His face contorted into a frown seconds before his cocky grin became plastered on his face

“Blindsiding me? Oh wow you must really be a cunning warrior, to think I was dealing with a hot headed idiot, actually, no wait, that hasn’t changed either”

Battle banter at its best, Kai had put no true effort into it, but if it worked then kudos to him, Syrion would be quickly on the linier thought to simply smash his face in the ground, failing to plan ahead and become sloppy.

Then again he also sacrificed his time in bantering with the boy when he could have quickly used that built up momentum to launch him back into close range, which he now found himself just short…

Kai leapt forward and away from his opponent gaining even more distance, as he spun around in mid air to face his opponent once more who should now be stood up in a more serious stance.

‘that’s gonna make a blind charge stupid, unlike swords I ain’t used to dealing with spears. On that note that’s the only thing this kid seems to have with him, unless there is a concealed dagger about, but I doubt it, this one seems impulsive rather than strategic.’

“I gotta admit though, You’re an ugly one, I come to these citadel fights every blue moon, seen some interesting people, but your one of the highlights” The grin never faded, even when he adopted a relaxed and calm stance, his left arm being hidden by his body slowly snaking under the back of his short where his trusty grapple hook was located.

Odd as it would seem, being hit around the head with it hurt, and given its length of rope he technically had more reach than the boy, but he wasn’t about to use it yet, maybe if the boy charged, if not he would have to feint an attack then throw the damn thing between his eyes.

[Canen Darkflight]

He had brought his halberd down hard to meet nothing but tough stone, and Syrion dropped his eyes to his right arm as the sickly recoil of metal smashing into rock shot through him. He was trembling with the impact, and for a moment his grip failed him, but he persevered and staggered to his feet, ignoring the numbing, throbbing pain in his forearm and wrists.

That bastard was just too damn quick for words. And as the Khaian looked about for his strong opponent, he saw nothing but a trail of upturned sand and broken stone, before finally raising his head to meet Kai's gaze in front of a glaring sun.

How?

Grimacing again, he picked up his tresured weapon and dusted off a fine film of dirt from his clothing, wondering how much even his Khaian body could go through before giving out on him if the Silvet could hit him as hard or outpace him as much as he had done already. Syrion could only hope long enough to teach him a lesson... and perhaps find out a bit more about this strange adversary. Already the Nocturnian had to admit his respect and admiration for this...creature...was starting to mount, but could the Silvet mount a serious challenge against him when Syrion brought his best game?

"Strength and pace. That's they key, they say..." The Khaian said, spitting from the corner of his mouth. "But at the moment, I've been testing the water. If you want to see how deep it goes-"

Then, suddenly, for a second there was a sound, almost like a pane of glass shattering into a million shards, and Syrion, startled, spun his head around in panic. Then, there were some muffled noises, like footsteps echoing throughtout the whole arena, but nothing the Khaian could make out clearly.

What is this?! He panicked, as any living being would when confronted by the unknown. Magic? Is this an attack on my mind or something? What do I do? I've got to-

It was as he was about to move, everything went from calm to hectic in the blink of an eye.

In a flurry of light and noise, another man leapt up onto the stones a few yards from Syrion's vantage point, walking along them and then smashing into a million flying fragments of streaked colour. At the same moment, with almost eerie timing, another man leapt up onto the stones as well, before perishing in exactly the same fashion, bursting into an ark of strange, almost psychadellic hues. Standing farther back from Syrion, behind the fragments first man, the scenery started to melt away, like butter on a hot stove. The ground underneath him simply slipped into darkness, as if carpet had been yanked from under his feet, and before long, the Khaian and his opponent were alone, in total darkness.

Shit! The Khaian wanted to scream, but nothing left his mouth, no words, not even a breath of air. It was like the Citadel had sealed his mouth. He felt trapped, alone, isolated. All of his worst fears melded into one horrible, sudden moment, and he was being forced to live it.

Let me out! Let me out of here! Syrion scrambled for anything, a hidden wall or an exit. Was there a portal? Was there anything at all? In his panic, he couldn't focus on trying to locate one. He pounded his fists against what suddenly felt like stone. The Citadel is trying to fucking kill me!

Syrion cursed silently, dropping behind the only solid object in this nightmare, this wall, and planted his back against it. His grip was tight now, his knuckles white as they gripped his weapon firmly in hand, out of fright. Over the course of a couple battles, and in his dealing with the monks of the Citadel, Syrion had become quite disturbed by the sheer number of people who seemed to have otherworldly abilities amongst their combat arsenal. If this was his opponents magic, he knew, there and then, Syrion was out of his league.

[Kai]

Things went straight to hell and fast, While Kai would be the first to admit that the Citadel never actually agreed with Silvet anatomy, never had the bloody thing ever glitched on him.

That was about the only thing he could describe right now, Glitchy. The arena, the citadel, the magic and everything about it just eternally screwed up.

Kai became worried for a brief moment When two other figures seemed to appear from nowhere, possibly in a duel of there own, of cause the chances of the citadel overlapping with another citadel fight wasn’t something Kai wanted to even begin to delve into.

Then of cause was the slight feeling that if he had caught a batter glimpse at those strangers he would have recognised at least one of them?

Nah

Kai was sure about one thing and one thing only, this Glitch as it was, was not of his doing, after the two strangers seemed to Dissipate into the air, the arena followed quickly after, leaving nothing, not the scenery that had been quite pleasant, not the small lake and defiantly note there small arena.

It was a completely black void

Although he could still see his opponent like there was still a sun looking down on him it really wasn’t. Kai briefly entertained that this was his opponents doing but dismissed it entirely; his opponent wasn’t the type, usually the mind fuckers wore elaborate clothing, spoke with Scottish accents or something just as distinctive, and were so completely insane you had to keep a few feet away from them.

Not that kai had any personal experience with such … actually no, Jesty, the little Demon Jester from hell was a prime example of this, and unless she seized total control of the citadel …

“… dammit, has my ability to be god damn surprised by this sort of crap been that jaded?” he muttered under his breath, it was such a dismal thought at best.

He turned his attention back to his ‘opponent,’ who was looking less like a victim and more like a scared child.

Oh great, now he really was Angsting and going through a warp tunnel of emotions. Kai repressed the urge to drop his guard and simply knock the kid out, thus possibly ending this glitch, win the fight, go home in time for dinner.

Yeah, and he was really going to approach what now accounted as a cornered possibly confused and ‘Ego’ wounded animal … Well a human is an animal at the end of the day.

“Oh snap out of it you bloody pansy, the Citadel Monks love puling this sort of crap on me” a blatant lie, but he really didn’t want to be dealing with a scared child, those were the worst kind.

He would rather have a good fight and wait out whatever the heck was going on

“For a grown human, your sure are acting pathetic, you’re the worst bloody example of your whole species ya know.” Actually the honest truth, Kai was beginning to feel a little disgusted at watching his opponent

[Canen Darkflight]

Syrion had been watching the Silvet as he had spoke, but his vision, hearing, and indeed all of his senses were distorted and broken. He barely understood a fragmented sentence hailing him as a 'human' in commonspeak that had been twisted by the Citadel's warped magic, and the Khaian's frightened, sapphire eyes momentarily thinned of colour and regained some focus.

Drawing upon every energy his body could muster to fight the fear, Syrion would have to try as best he could to overcome this sudden and dangerous collapse of reality. As he tried to 'stand', putting a knee down into the black void beneath him, his senses failed him again. There was no sensation of feeling, no way to gauge whether or not he was stood in space, or on a solid floor, or any sort of object at all. Just an enveloping sense of floating endlessly through space, the lips of his enemy moving with only garbled squeaks and muffled, broken words ever reaching his ears.

I don't understand...any...of this... Syrion struggled to think, feeling his very soul plunge into oblivion. Soon it would be over, he determined. He was probably trapped in here forever.

There was a momentary pause, and then there was a loud thump. The Khaian's eyes rolled into the back of his head, and with a heavy sigh, he slumped onto the floor. Blood flowed from his nose in lurid, black forks, trickling over his lips and causing him to splutter helplessly.

Cold...floor. Wait...floor?

He was only momentairly aware of his nameless enemy floating in ahead of him as Syrion's senses were sucked back into real time by the Citadel, and aware of the darkness receeding from the innards of this strange, new compound only as his blurred eyes opened to a strange light. His soles lightly pressed against the firm granite floor. Granite. Real floor. Reality. Where...am I?

His eyes scoured the limited light available, and found the Silvet only a couple of feet in front of him, observing the strange room they had fallen into also. From the second he had landed in the room, an enigmatic chill coursed through the Khaian's body. He was not typically afraid of darkness, nor did he fear anything that would lie beyond. Instead, it felt like someone, perhaps a spirit, had grasped a cold hand around his soul.

"What the hell is this place..?" Syrion whispered to himself, pressing against the wall that had been his only friend in the void.

The first thing that he noticed was the decrepit timber beams which looked even older than the wooden benches that this great hall housed. Each looked big enough to house about five people and there were about five rows of two columns. As a matter of fact, it was almost glaringly obvious that they were very neatly arranged and perfectly aligned in a rectangular shape, very ceremonial. From the edge of the benches to the wall of the building, there was about ten feet on the sides and approximately the same length between the last pew and the entrance of the hall. From the front pew, there was about another ten feet before a small staircase which led to a five foot tall podium, with a three foot tall crest in the centre.

The crest of the Red Dragons. His father's inherited clan.

Why here? What is this all about?

When he reached his feet, Syrion stood behind the furthest pew, wiping the sweat from his forehead that his panic had caused. He eyed the walls of the hall, where a glass painting of a black winged angel cradling a child was hung at either end. Behind the podium, there was a larger version of the ones on the walls and in front of that painting, there was the six foot tall crest decorated by the remnants of flowers. To the right and left of the raised platform, there were entrances to small rooms.

But, now, here, there was no more time for analysis, Syrion finally concluded. They were back on solid ground, the arena had changed, granted, and the fight would go on, regardless.

Kai was still wandering around, pondering this new reality for himself. Syrion grinned, now fully standing, and thrust his open palm forwards, letting a charged Dark Matter orb slam away from his palm with a violent recoil that blustered his hair as it did, and watched with a certain mixture of determination and anger as the orb skimmed down between the pews towards its target, Kai, who was stood on the furthest side. A cloud of sharp electrical particles trailed the spell as it tore towards the Silvet.

[Kai]

Kai almost celebrated when the black void disappeared and they were dropped into a new arena so to speak, it was then and there kai took a quick glance around eyes falling on the crest of the Red Dragon. Kai was at a very dangerous situation, for a citadel battle he was not expecting to have to restrain any part of him.

But the need to fall on the ground laughing him self to death was almost too great

The red Dragon Headquarters, or at least a church part of it, it was quite clearly in the Falcon’s era of leadership, the bloody vain bastard had put up memorials to himself in the form of Black winged Nocturnians cradling a baby.

That was a laugh, Canen and a baby was a rather bad combination, why he could just imagine the guy holding the baby in front of him with a look of contempt, after of cause the baby had just poked on his favourite black shirt.

Kai wished in his past he had at least paid attention to that little detail, if only to pester Canen about it, and he would have, darn now he had a regret in life, and it was all thanks to the mono colourd bastard, damn him.

Kai shook his head, turning a green eye back to his opponent

Who had just launched, if he wasn’t mistaken, Canen’s Trademark Dark matter orb on a direct path to his face.

“k?”

Kai would have laughed it the danger wasn’t so serious, still he had one advantage here, the distance that this new arena seemed to have put them at, in short it was both insulting and a complete and utter joke to the Silvet.

Who ducked and stepped to the side of the rather imploding looking dark matter orb and watched it slam into the closest wall, which admittantly a little too close than kai thought. The implosion of the blast and the debris showered Kai with dirt and dust, and he was sure was going to leave a lump hidden in his hair, thanks to some kind of decorative appliance comically bouncing off his head.

That and the Implosion had threatened to knock him off his feet, but his tails extra sense of balance corrected that.

“Oh now this, is a little beyond Fucking Surreal now”

Kai said swiping his head towards Canen laced with a rather cruel looking grin, absently he activated his Psion blade, which as usual seemed to create a visual aura whenever he forced its creation. Hair and clothes floated upwards in an unseen wind and kai held the Psion blade forward in his palm directed at Syrion.

“You call that an attack? I have seen old grannies with a better pitch than that, THIS IS AN ATTACK!”

The Aura seemed to grow wilder as Kai forced what little of his magical energy he could squeeze out, wasteful but this had to be just right, anything else just wouldn’t do. “Absolution!” he cried and the aura faded all together.

Kai then proceeded too turn around, cancelling his Psion blade all together in favour of pulling down his own pants, bending over and slapping his wonderfully colourd and plump round cheeks to both show that yes his tail was indeed real.

And yes he had one sexy ass but that’s a different story.

“Nyahh, Can’t touch this!”

This call was then followed by kai looking back to Syrion, Blowing his tongue like a raspberry and pulling his right eyelid down to make a rather comical face, the art of taking the piss out of opponents, never in the history of the citadel ‘to kai’s knowledge’ had anyone performed such a mocking act

[Canen Darkflight]

That was what he got for trying to bring a serious fight to an utter moron. This pathetic, scruffy, childish monkey like creature seemed to respond to Syrion's attacks not with any sort of competitive intentions, but instead with a view to making a total mockery out of the whole event, and Syrion himself.

Clear as it was that there wasn't another male present other than himself that wanted to be the alpha combatant of this Citadel match, Syrion would be having none of it. The Khaian would soon impose pain on this man that had done nothing but flap his gums, trying to make himself more important then he really was and succeeding only in making a larger cunt out of himself than even Syrion thought possible, having met a few in his line of work to gauge that by. Fools and their speeches bored him, and god forbid if anybody understood what the hell this fool was talking about anyway. He sounded as if he had the intelligence quotient of a baked squirrel turd.

To hell with this..., Syrion thought. No reason to play it the nice way anymore, no reason to play it any other way but the one I know. I don't know what's up with the Citadel, or this loser, but i'm going to end this and get out of here. No reason to fear anything else that may happen. This place is just an illusion.

Syrion put away his halberd, tucking it into a shaft strapped to his back before his hands produced a pair of shining orbs of light, glistening menacingly against every reflective surface in this hall. He knew what was coming next, and thanks to his improving powers, he didn’t have a reason to be unconfident.

He would show that bastard what real combat was all about.

The pale hands of the Khaian rifled the two orbs of light in rapid succession, sending them towards the stone floor in front of him. They sailed through the air, spinning with a high-pitched humming sound, before impacting the concrete paving. Instead of shattering into a million pieces, the stone simply absorbed them, each orb soaking through to the earth beneath the stone foundations.

Syrion smirked rather cynically, knowing what was coming.

The element of earth was his greatest ally. It had taken only moments for the orbs of light to recede into the dirt below and take form, binding pieces of hard earth, rock and stone to create a summoning that would serve to expose the vulnerable enemy.

Syrion spotted the approach of his assistant rapidly, a single hairline crack in the stone fissuring out before eventually a hole almost a metre across appeared. And then, as if commanded by the force of pure will, the earth and stone bound creature appeared from underneath. It was humanoid in form, a lurid concoction of the earth's materials, and seemed to mimic Syrion's own appearance, with long, stone bangs of "hair" that fell down its rough dirt face, its static, motionless expression locked in a frown. Both of it's hands appeared to be made from a hard clay, and formed in strange club like postures.

We'll work together. Rush him, and i'll leap off your back and hack him down from above. Go! Syrion mentally but silently commanded his minion.

The earth summoning suddenly sprinted forward towards the Silvet, Syrion trailing right behind his partner so that it would be difficult for Kaiser to track his exact movements whilst sliding out his halberd from his back. Knowing time was going to be short for this to work, Syrion took a deep breath just as the summon almost reached Kai's postition at the end of the hall, and ran up the earth creature's back, leaping into the air with the blade of his halberd aimed straight down, where Kaiser's skull would be. At the same time, the earth summon's large, club like hands swung for Kaiser with all of its might.

Maybe you're quick, and maybe you're stronger than most I've met, but you can't dodge two of us.

[Kai]

((Not that I mean to keep evading stuff but, stop trying to hit me and HIT ME!))

Kai pulled his pants back up with a sense of pride and a bigger sense of achievement, acting with his inner prankster had never reaped such rewards, and the face of his opponent, which was set into a fair scowl and, was that a tick kai detected in the mans left brow.

Kai could now happily loose the fight after that

But on another note, Kai pondered as he turned back around in his now relaxed fighting stance. The strange issue that the arena had shifted into a memory of his past, which he wasn’t exactly sure having never even seen this room in this great detail. That and the shifting of the arena had affected his opponent more than him, connection?

Kai had not lived his long life by those childish acts alone

Like for instance, His opponent had thrown an attack that was a trademark of a dear good friend of his, a morbid somewhat lacking in colour friend, but one none the less. So he had been initially ticked off that someone had ripped said friend off, until he started to assess what exactly was going on.

Canen, to Kai’s knowledge, would never be able to have kids, due to being of a somewhat icky and very poisonous bloodline. That and the Dark Matter Orb was a Trademark, no a Blood ability at least.

Was Kai fighting the Son of his friend, or some random Nocturnian?

Given the former kai wanted to do nothing but give out the biggest noogie to the kid

That and kick Canen’s ass for not telling him he had a son

But there was still a fight to be fought a his opponent was now doing something interesting

Kai stood and watched in mild awe and confusion when Syrion decided to bring another of his abilities to the playing field, which Kai had to admit, was fairly unique. After all sculpting a rather large rock? Marble? Golem of yourself made from the ground was a rather impressive feat.

To be able to carve it into such a likeness, which required a high degree of artistic flare and skill, then to actually move it to his free will, possibly it had a mind of it’s own, kai wasn’t sure but the element it represented, had a flaw, it was rock solid and most likely didn’t have a sense of touch.

Big whoop meant the thing wouldn’t flinch to his attacks, and Kai Could not punch through stone, it would be fun to try, but his knuckles were darn sensitive things and were already screaming protests and even considering to even trying.

Then they charged, with Syrion hiding behind it and blocking him from sight, Kai fell into a fighting stance and watched the huge thing slowly charge its way, slow ha! The thing had a faster land speed then he through, knocking over tables and everything else that was in the way.

Syrion seemed to have a mistake, True Kai could not see his opponent, but unless that golem had it’s eyes connected to him, he could not see him too, nah can’t have, the golem looked life like and accurate, but it’s ‘Eyes’ were immobile, most likely it relied on his Opponent’s vision.

“Oh dear” Kai scoffed while the thing charged, he hastily but almost casually made his way to one of the Building support columns, God Canen Always loved to over do it with the support columns and the marble, especially when the first collapsed so easily in the Castagar war.

Kai made his way around it leaving nothing but air for Syrion and the golem to attack, but he did get a glimpse of the attack and was surprised when Syrions spear did not collide with the giant marble version of him club like hands. That and jumping over the things back was flashy but really wasn’t needed, still this was a prime time.

Canen should just by now be landing that meant he should be confused as hell to why there is no monkey on the floor with a head split like a melon

Kai swung out from the column his Grapple hook already in hand and in an upwards throw launched it like a missile, the iron gook in it’s current position would not cut into flesh, but nothing said ‘I love you’ like a speeding blunt iron object attached to a length or rope sailing towards your Chest area does it?

[Canen Darkflight]

Ordinarily, Syrion's thin hair and eyebrows gave his oval face a paternal, even jovial look. But now his bright blue eyes were afire, his small mouth tight and trembling. The iron tool had struck him hard in the chest as his muscles had relaxed from his landing, and because Syrion had not been expecting it, it had hurt twice as much. The curvature of the hooks meant that luckily only the broad sides of the tool had struck him, but even so, the impact coupled with the force of the throw from this strong opponent had been enough to take him clean off his feet, causing him to slide across the floor and crack the back of his head on the sharp edge of a nearby wooden bench.

The pain rattled through his skull and sent a cold shiver down his spine, and as he tried to regain his focus, Syrion growled to himself. He'd been naive, predictable and had underestimated what the Silvet could do. He hadn't paid attention to his opponent's inventory, nor made any accurate estimates of what this strange creature was capable of. It has been a pretty weak performance up to now. The Khaian had barely suffered an attack, yet seemed to be on the back foot already. Perhaps it was inexperience, or bad luck, or just a lack of imagination, but whatever it might have been didn't change the situation as it stood.

From his limp position on the floor, Syrion looked out of the corner of his eye towards the rock golem, which was motionless. The Khaian's mental connection had been severed when the blow from the grappling hook had struck, and now the summon seemed more like a statuette than anything of an aggressive demenour.

"Get up." Syrion told himself, pushing his arms into the floor, attempting to right himself. "Get up and think."

Kaiser was still stood on the offside of the carved ridge marble column, one of many that existed as the support of this section of the grand hall, all holding up a particular part of the room. As that thought looped over in his mind, Syrion crafted an idea, and called forth his minion once more.

Maybe I can rip through that column and bring the roof down on top of us. This is probably my last chance, the summon won't last forever.

As he willed it, the golem started to move again, and stopped in front of the pillar. As it did, a light surrounded it, a sort of pale green glow that resonated from deep within its core, splintering out into gleaming rays of light through the cracks and gaps in its loose body. Soon, all of that green light was channeling into its fists, and with an earth shattering crack, and a deafening roar, the golem thrust his club like arms through the very heart of the support column, of which a large section simply exploded into a cloud of chalky dust, a thin coating of marble and paint veiling the summoning, which itself, having used all of its remaining strength, dissipated into nothing but mere fragments of stone and silt and scattered like fine ash across the floor.

Without the column to support the enormous weight of the ceiling above, the stone roof began to sag, creaking horribly as stone and timber knawed and ground against each other, and fissures quickly tore across the plaster. It began to rain small pieces of fractured mortar and wood, and before long, entire chunks of heavy rock began crashing down all around Kaiser's position, with Syrion still incapacitated twenty feet away at the foot of the aisle.

As chaos erupted in front of his eyes, Syrion's hand caressed his head wound. A thick and steady stream of blood was gushing from the back of his skull. Soon, if something didn't happen to get him out of a situation he had gotten himself into by being so naive, he would be faced with defeat.

[Kai]

Snapping back his grapple hook with a small amount of satisfaction Kai caught the tool firmly in his hand and returned it to a hook on his unseen belt. Truly it was one of his smarter decisions in life after deciding to forgo the sword. Syrion had been hit almost dead on and gained some considerable distance, now kai knew he was slightly stronger than most, but even he had to start wondering how strong he was for that too happen.

‘Would not be the first time my bloody body decided to do something without me’

He scoffed at the simple thought of it, during a time in the Scara Brae, his body had done something similar, his mind had been plotting one thing, only for his body to decide something else leaving him in a position he really had no idea about.

That’s when the corner of his eye found the Golem moving once again, as if powering up it’s energy for a powerful attack, and judging by the angle of the arm and the direction of the fist, it’s going to be a straight jab. So kai reflexively dropped into a stance, his balance ready to tip and gain momentum as fast as possible to move out of the bloody way.

Only to see and watch the fist come and impact the pillar he had moved behind during the Golems, and Syrions charge across the room. Quite spectacularly it turned the white and marble pillar into a fine white dust, spraying it nearly over kai who barley had the time to shield his own eyes.

Kai took stock of the new situation and was sad to find that the only good news was that the golem or whatever it was, had now expired.

The new problem was that the entire ceiling was coming down on them. The section of the room he was in collapse rather quick, the ceiling, and the content’s of the room above came in like a landslide. Kai was certainly not impressed, last time he was in the citadel, with a pryomancing freak who thought he could ambush him within the confines of his own ship, actually went on to pull a draw when he used the knowledge of the arena to blow himself and kai to kingdom come.

Damn, was the arena going to defeat him again?

Kai gripped his hook and launched it to whatever support beams were above, with the idea that he could pull himself away from the destruction

He didn’t get his chance to even try to pull himself away, a slab of what remained of the ceiling turned on an angle and struck kai across the back, quite painful was needless to say, considering it felt like his shoulder blade had been turned into something similar the pillar had become, that and he was sure his right arm was now dislocated.

Oh now that was no good considering the rest of the ceiling was coming down, spreading out to crush the entire arena with everything above. Kai fell to at the moment clear floor, landing on his back to see…

Was that a piano?

Kai rolled, despite the condition of his shoulder, despite the level of pain he was in, which to be honest was just a bruise in comparison to other wounds had received in his life, his instinct, his sense of pain, even his own body and mind made him roll over to avoid that Piano.

In another amusing thought, he found himself to have rolled under one of the pew’s that lined the room, good strong sturdy oak, Kai believed it may just save his ass from being crushed alive, which was pretty much what was happening all around him. Effectively and in short, Kai was buried alive under the Pew.

“Ahh shit … pinned, oww” Kai went straight back into nursing his now, crushed shoulder, mindful of the staccado of cracks and crashes that rained down on top of the pew and all around him, even at full strength kai doubted he could get himself free.

“This sucks!” he hissed from behind clenched teeth

[Canen Darkflight]

Syrion tried to pull himself forward, seeing a window of opportunity, perhaps his last. He could feel his body aching under the strain, and suddenly a new pain from his ribcage erupted from within, an injury caused by his initial flooring. He could feel at least one bone quiver, and then snap. The pain was shooting up through his spine and exploding in his head, causing him to double over as the last of the rubble buried his rival. A portion of rock from above him caved inwards under the strain the building was now placed under, and a fractured timber beam smashed into The Khaian's already injured head. Syrion crumpled to the floor, his legs folding instantly underneath him, and groaned as the bruise on his skull started to swell.

A dull ache started to spread from the base of his neck to his spine as shards of smaller rock and timber began beating down on him from above. His head was splitting from the blow he had taken, his strength was slowly draining out of him. As Syrion's eyes looked up through a thin veil of dust, he could see the Silvet trapped underneath a pew, buried alive, probably seriously injured and almost probably unable to move.

There wouldn't have been much point trying to get up and attack now. The last offensive of the match had played out, and the Silvet had got the better of Syrion all of the way through. As he slowly closed his eyes, letting his body shut down to bear with the pain, he would await his resurrection at the hands of the monks.

With one last sigh, his mind and heart folded, and darkness took him.

[Raelyse]

Canen Darkflight

Story

Continuity – 3 – This was very lacking. I’ve said this in most of my judgings, but I want to see threads being written as though they are integral parts of a character’s life. You gave my hardly anything about Syrion’s past before this, except a few feelings and vague descriptions of what he did. I wanted more information on why he was in the Citadel, at the very least. You can do so much better.

Setting – 7 – This was good. You described the setting very well and used it to your advantage, ultimately to finish the battle off. There were a few parts where I felt lost and it was because of these that I gave you this score.

Pacing – 6 – You didn’t leave me hanging on every single one of your words, but you didn’t make me want to stop reading, either. I think you did okay here, but you were hurt by the overall story and action in the thread. I’ll expect better from you because I can see that you can do better.

Character

Dialogue – 7 – There were a few lines that were good and really fit with Syrion but these could have been more in number. I always feel that there is always time for your character to say or think something that can really represent their characters well. When you did talk or think with Syrion, it was effective but try to do it more.

Action – 6 – A bit better than average here. You didn’t overstretch your character’s abilities , you let yourself get hit a few times and you generally kept things realistic. Your abilities were interesting, but overall I felt you didn’t deserve a higher score because you didn’t really wow me. I felt that you could have done more with Syrion.

Persona – 6 – Syrion went through the whole range of emotions here. You described them well but I felt you were a bit too hasty with his emotions, shooting from one to another too quickly that it seemed a bit unrealistic.

Writing Style

Technique – 7 – This was very good. Especially at the beginning, I loved your descriptions and they continued, albeit in a lesser vein throughout the entire thread. You did very well here. However, sometimes your literary devices didn’t come off too well and it actually would have been better if you had written it simply. Additionally, sometimes your writing was a bit TOO extravagant which overcomplicated things. You need to strike a balance but you have the skills at present to succeed in this catergory.

Mechanics – 6 – A few grammatical mistakes here and there, but the main problem was sentence construction. The beginning was filled with good literary devices, but was also rampant with horribly long sentences. Read through it a few hours after you’ve initially written it and these problems will shoot to you instantly and you’ll be able to correct them.

Clarity - 5 – I was generally never confused with anything that you said which is a testament to your writing. However, the sudden shift to the Red Dragons thing and the senses distortion was very confusing and I couldn’t understand it. That blemish and a few problems with your sentence construction errors was what ruined you here .

Wild Card – 7 – You could have done well in this thread, your writing wasn’t horrible at all. I would have given you a 6, but I felt that you were ultimately hurt by the story and action in this thread. Something about potatoes and potato salad. Chin up, there will always be better threads and better ideas.

Total Score – 60

Kai

Story

Continuity – 4 –You told me what was happening before but the idea was a bit ridiculous and you never explained how he got into that situation. You referenced past battles and experiences a few times, but they were only briefly touched on and you would have gotten a better score if you had expanded a few times.

Setting – 2 – You hardly acknowledged the setting and hardly used it at all. The points that you did get were for the times that you very briefly touched on it or used it with your character.

Pacing – 1 – There are some serious problems here that I will touch on later but the main thing was that your posts were so badly structured and written that I did not want to read your posts at all. You never clearly described anything at all. You dodged every attack and only got hit once, at the very end of the thread. Correct those mistakes for next time.

Character

Dialogue – 3 – I suppose you did make an effort but none of the stuff was very interesting. Even Syrion’s stuff, which wasn’t that complicated was miles better than the corny stuff that you were saying. Think about your character, try to get into his mind and you’ll be able to write awesome dialogue.

Action – 2 – I think the mooning thing really just took the cake here. It was completely out of the blue and even though I guess it did represent Kai’s character, I just didn’t feel as if it was an IC decision as much as an OOC one. Throughout, you didn’t show enough consistency in what your character did to warrant a higher score here.

Persona – 4 – I got a feel for Kai, but it was so confusing that I couldn’t really form an accurate picture of him or his personality in this thread. He deviates from someone with fond memories of the Citadel to a disrespectful, cocky ass. Try to be consistent next time.

Writing Style

Technique – 2 – There were almost no literary devices to speak of. Try to add metaphors, similes, personification or other literary devices to spice up your writing and make it more exciting to read. I’m sure you’ve studied about them in English class. Trust me, they’re not such a chore in this situation.

Mechanics - 0 – Punctuation, grammar and spelling mistakes were present almost everywhere. I can’t stress enough how much you need to read through your posts or spellcheck. You break the laws of English so many times that I couldn’t even give you a 1.

Clarity – 1 – I could barely tell what you were trying to say in your posts. Try to group your sentences into paragraphs, which makes them easier to read. You constantly jump from topic to topic in your writing, which is very hard to follow. It actually got to a point where after multiple reads of your post, I still could not understand what you were trying to say and had to feed off Canen’s posts to try and see what was happening. If you have problems writing well, try reading some of the stuff in the JC forum. It will really help improve your writing.

Wild Card – 2 – I didn’t get the feel that you put in much effort and if you want to get a good score, you need to put in effort. You don’t have to follow the rubric down to the wire, but at least try to form a coherent post. Canen was frustrated and I was, but the worst thing was that you didn’t appear to try and improve over the thread.

Total Score – 21

Canen Darkflight wins 60 to 21!

Canen Darkflight gains 788 EXP and 144 GP
Kai gains 75 EXP and 45 GP