Volcanoes, Althanas' Oven

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Closed to Sei

Jensen looked upon the wall of matches in the citadel registration room, his body still a little sore from the bed rest he had to put up with from his last fight with the Revenant. He had been stuck with a pointed ear bastard elf maiden and a growing desire to stab something in the near future. So when he was cleared to fight again he checked to see if he had any missions sent to him by the knight’s of Apocalypse, the order he was a senior member of. With a green light from them to continue his military leave he re-entered the citadel.

He was sorely disappointed with all the choices.

Nobody seemed to have a panache for violence, or a well entertained hunch of carnage. He would not go from fighting in a slaughter house, getting his body ground into several pieces and then fight in…a desert area with multiple dunes? A peaceful grassland with several grassy knolls? On an island with, you guessed it, several trees.

“By the horsemen! All these places are absolute shit!” Jensen ran a hand through his unkempt hair looking at the boards as a new arena was set up. He took a look at it and groaned. A fighter was looking for a chance battle atop a, Jensen just couldn’t believe it, a Rainbow. “Doesn’t anybody have an ounce of destruction in them? Doesn’t anybody want to even attempt to test their limits?”

The immortal scratched his chin feeling a nice wave of resistance as his fuzzy beard was taking place. He shook his head and moved forward towards the monk sitting behind the oaken desk. The monk looked up to Jensen with a soft smile before grabbing an unique shaped quill and a piece of parchment.

“You have an idea for an arena, or do you wish to join one of the already many we have?” he dipped the tip of the quill in his ink pot, a soft drip sound along with the clank of a lid being dropped on a pot.

“All those arena’s are pieces of garbage!” Jensen shouted, unable to control his rage. “A rainbow? Are you kidding me? I want a fight that has the arena breathing down your neck, someplace that makes my opponent not just think about me but think about the destruction looming in around them! Sand dunes and grassy knolls don’t really wet my appetite for an unhealthy desire for chaos.”

The monk feigned a shrug as he scribbled some notes on his parchment, the scratching sound grating on Jensen’s nerves. He began to ponder as the monk waited for him to come up with something. The immortal tapped a finger on his chin lightly before he snapped them at once looking towards the monks brown eyes with a devilish grin.

“I want us to be placed on a large floating rock. An igneous like rock that has lots of jagged parts to it to increase pain when somebody lands upon it. I want this rock floating in lava as an active volcano erupts around them showering them in fire. Also, I want it to be noted that my opponent and I have only a limited time to finish the other off, because if we don’t than we will both fall over the edge of the cliff into the molten pits from below.”

The monk nodded to each request as he wrote with a fever to match Jensen’s rapid speaking and when he was done he tossed in a few words about the temperature matching the conditions with ash flying in the air as well. This would decrease stamina and hamper the ability to breath, a little twist the monk was rather proud of. He tossed the paper to Jensen.

“Just place it on the pre-marked door,” he ordered. Jensen smiled as he gripped the page in his hand, looking over every detail.

“Good,” he whispered crunching it up in one fist. “One last thing.” The immortal turned towards his arena as he glanced back at the monk. “Make sure I fight someone who is strong.”

Jensen walked towards the door and slammed the paper on it as he waited for a few seconds to let the magic in the ancient portal do its thing. “This would do me no good if my opponent just died before all the fun could be had.” he muttered as he tossed the door open and walked into his own personal hell.

((Feel free to bunny Jensen, and have fun. Make any changes you wish. And I can alter anything you want as well.))

[Silence Sei]

It was a necessary step.

Not every warrior on Althanas lived for the adventure. There were too many fighting venues to explore in order to think that. Some people just lived for the blood sport of ripping another man to shred physically. Sei Orlouge took no joy in such things. In fact, he did not even want to be in the citadel. This place made the telepath sick to his stomach with a mere thought. Radasanth had to be saved though, and Sei Orlouge had to keep an open mind.

I might find one of my Warriors Nine here

The mute had come here due to the large tablet that resided in one of his rooms. While Sei could not understand the text, his daughter could. Anita explained that the tablet was a prophecy of things to come. Corone would be destroyed if Sei Orlouge did not find eight other warriors to follow him into battle to save the island nation. Out of eight warriors, Sei had found three. If things continued at this pace, then the winged warrior would not be able to save Corone.

As a result, Sei told Anita to stay behind this time. He hated taking her to the citadel. The girl had been much too sensitive to death after Taka's 'fall'. Sei could not subject her to any more destruction yet. He told her to rest, go on a date, and do something to take her mind off of the evils of men. When he was certain that his daughter disappeared for the night, Sei Orlouge went to the citadel.

The monks greeted him with shocked but welcome arms. "Lord Orlouge, it is so good to see you again! When was the last time you were here?" Sei looked to the monk sternly. The man before him took a deep gulp as he remembered Sei's distaste for this place. "Forgive me Lord Orlouge. Can I help you find a battle?"

"I want to face somebody with a military background," Sei spoke with his mind, "I don't care how strong they are, but that's my one request." The monk nodded to Sei's condition and scrambled off down the halls of the building. Sei stepped out of the doorway of the citadel and leaned upon the wall in wait. It was not long before the monk returned to him.

"Right this way, sir."

Sei followed the man without question. He led the telepath past a man writing parchment upon a desk. Sei eyes the monk suspiciously before his guide made an obviously fake cough. They had arrived at the door. Sei did not need any instructions to know how the magic worked, he had been an adventurer for Althanas long enough to know. The mute let the magics overtake him the second he had stepped through the portal.

The smell of sulfur penetrated his senses. The mute looked around and felt intense heat all around him. Sei looked down to see that he was on a rock used as a makeshift boat. He was traveling down a set path of magma flow, but to where he did not know. Sei swiped the sweat from his brow as he looked around for his opponent. The prophecy had stated that there would be a member of the Nine with some training in the art of war. What better setting than a citadel fight to give Sei exactly what he wanted.

If he could stand the smell and heat long enough, that is.

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Jensen’s first impressions of his foe was at best, an utter failure of a man. He had orange hair that seemed to glow in the magma light and he was robed up in a garb that was a little outdated. Yet the cool blue eyes of this warrior did hold an ancient wisdom that the Immortal had to respect. It would be folly to underestimate a foe this early and waste his battle in mere moments. Unlike with the Revenant he had fought earlier he would think before he acted.

How his instructors back home would be proud of him.

“Hey!” Jensen waved to Sei, seeing his eyes immediately pick up to the immortal as he made himself known. The conditions for the battle were just perfect to the appetite of Jensen and the heat was like permanently being next to a blacksmith’s oven. Sweat beaded down his arms and face as the front of his black shirt turned a deeper black from the sweat accumulating between his chest and neck.

“Welcome to the oven!” he opened his arms wide spinning on the floating igneous rock at the marvel of the citadel’s magic powers. “It’s not a bad piece of work is it?” he asked with his back turned to the warrior in a show of disrespect. He towed the edge, feeling the heat pass through his boot as he hovered his left leg over the magma. He turned back and grinned wildly. Formalities was never his thing, and without much thought he began to pace forward. He relaxed his shoulders as he rolled them in one fluid motion, letting his leather trench coat fall to the ground behind him.

The rock they shared was about twenty feet by ten feet, a large enough dueling space for the two men, but not enough room to make too many errors. He also noted that the weight of the rock shifted as the two men did, and if either one spent to long on one of the edges it would begin to tip into the molten river. This was going to be a truly fun fight if they could get past the agony they were about to suffer through.

“I got to ask,” Jensen’s hand lowered to his belt quickly as he pulled out a glaive with his left hand and a throwing knife with right. “What made you want to come to this arena? I can see in your eyes a hesitation.”

Jensen meant it, something in the man’s eyes were just screaming at him. A confusion of some kind washed over the immortal like the heat of the volcano. He shook his head as he lifted his glaive up. “Whatever is on your mind better get lost, because hesitation is just going to get you killed faster!” he shouted tossing the glaive forward in one fluid motion as he charged forward screaming in laughter. “Don’t die too quickly on me, now! I want to have fun!”

[Silence Sei]

The oven? So that was what this place was called. It was an apt name, considering that Sei felt like he was being boiled alive. As his opponent talked, Sei stood in the background. It figured that the mute would fight another over-the-top flamboyant fighter. He questioned why the mute wanted to fight here before going on the offensive.

Sei reached to his side and withdrew one of his prevalida battle fans. He quickly knocked the glaive away as if the man had just tossed a stick towards him. The mute watched as his opponent followed suit behind his projectile. The youth seemed to be trying to rush the telepath into making a mistake. Sei stepped to his left, moving his left arm below his legs and his right to just above his chest.

Still gripping his fan tightly, Sei pushed forward with his left. The action was made to force his opponent to fly upwards due to his own kinetic energy pushing him forward. Sei would follow up the attack with his right arm, pushing Jensen towards the lava. The rock began to tilt with both men standing on one side of the ride.

Sei did not wait to see if his aikido throw had worked. He dashed to the opposite side of the rock to balance out the weight. The mute then turned to see the result of his attack, opening the fan to hide his face. Sei let out a small grin as the golden dragon now blocked his foe's view of the mute's mouth.

"Sloppy..." Sei said while maintaining his grin. He was trying to goad his antagonist into a rage, where his moves would become even less concentrated. As more beads of sweat poured from his forehead, the mute began to think that this job would be easier than he imagined.

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Jensen’s charge wasn’t just thwarted, it was turned upon him and flipped upside down. Well, that could be remedied. He felt his body rise upwards and rotate in the air, and with trained grace he tucked into a roll. He planned to lunge out at the apex of his tumble, throwing knife whistling in the air at the opponent, but he forgot a crucial flaw in his plan. A point the over looked and remembered the second his shoulder and neck met the ground.

It wasn’t a smooth floor but a jagged rock surface, the same exact one he asked for to hurt the foe as they landed upon it.

He let out a grunt of pain as the unsmooth surface grated into him, his roll coming up short as he landed upon his knees and hands grimacing in pain. Sweat dropped down into a small puddle and the heat made his breaths more ragged as he tried to regain himself. His eyes looked up towards Sei, seeing that his guess was wrong. This warrior wasn’t hesitating, it was just confusion he had senses before like a master chess player wondering how a small child would make such a stupid opening move.

His eyes narrowed as he looked to the dragon fan, seeing the sharp edges and face behind them. Though his intent was to mask his mouth and show a calm demeanor the slight curls in his skin above his eyebrows and the bridge in his nose denoted a hint of mirth. Jensen’s blood boiled. His opponent was laughing at him. He felt every nerve in his body grate against the skin as a primeval force built up within him.

He softly got to his feet and let the energy within him bubble out into a cruel chuckle, the kind that was forced from one who didn’t get a joke but laughed anyway, full of malicious intent. He rolled his dagger around his fingers as he bent low dusting his free hand across his pants and picking up the Glaive he had dropped in his short flight.

“Alright, so maybe the rush recklessly approach won’t work on you.” Jensen’s grin widened as he looked over the silent mystic. “You catch on quick though, far faster than the last idiot I fought. You learned how the rock ebbs and flows.” He proved his point jumping in place, making the igneous boat jostle softly in the magma. He rolled one foot out in front of him as he let his body loosen, feeling a beat pick up in his mind. With that rhythm in place he began his Caeiporia style of hand to hand combat as he softly moved forward towards the mystic.

He would be methodical this time. He wouldn’t rush forward like before. Instead he would follow him around, trying to tip his end of the rock into the lava and push him in. His smile grew wider as he thought about how the man’s screams would echo in the lava.

[Silence Sei]

Sei watched his opponent tumble as if he were a child who tripped on a rock. The mute could sense Jensen's frustration as he let out the forced laughter. He complimented the protector on being better than his last foe because of the way Sei shifted himself around the rock. It was a simple first rule of strategy to completely take in one's surroundings before your opponent had a chance to fight. If this man did indeed have the military back Sei requested, Jensen would have known that.

Then Jensen began to do something rather odd. The man began to dance. Sei watched his opponent's feet and arms as he moved around fluidly. This was a rather odd style that Sei had not recalled encountering before. For some reason, Sei felt as though he were about to be served. Served a healthy kick to the face or chop to the chest, that is. The mystic planted his feet onto the moving rock as Jensen began to advance.

As Jensen moved towards Sei, the mute began to realize that his opponent had no intention of attacking. He was simply moving around the mute. Sei moved his head to the side and shifted his eyes down below. The rock was slowly starting to tip with the combined weight of the two fighters upon it. Focusing back on his foe, Sei smiled behind the fan once more. Jensen was trying to match wits with Sei Orlouge, former Chief Strategist of Alerar Special Forces, third place winner of the Gisela Open, and master thinker. This would be fun.

Reaching behind him with his right hand and withdrew a small sword. The s-shape of the blade gave it a rather strange appearance once the almost rusty color was factored in as well. Sei looked at his weapon as it began to glow a faint blue. Shifting his eyes behind Jensen, Sei watched as several lines began to form on the other end of the rock. The lines would take color once completed in certain areas, forming hair, arms, clothes, and other various parts.

Sei pointed his curved blade behind Jensen with a smile. There was now an exact copy of the mystic standing on the other side of the arena. While the mirror's weight did not compensate for two men on one end, it kept the scorching magma behind Sei from nipping at the telepath's heels. Sei began to lower his fan as he looked to Jensen. Taking a step forward, the mute decided that now would be a good time to introduce himself.

"Sei Orlouge. I hope you're having fun in this sauna. You keep prancing around like a Scara Brae ballerina and I'm going to die from laughter." Sei was once again trying to lull Jensen into another attack. Mocking his style and showing him that his little attempt at strategy would not work on the mute would hopefully be enough to coax the man into trying for another assault.

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Where there was once a single warrior, there were now two. He felt the sweat bead down the side of his face, but he couldn’t’ tell if that was his own uncomfortable feeling at the situation or the heat of the volcano so close in the distance. He continued his dance, feeling the warrior’s scrutinizing eyes look upon him with disinterest. He laughed again, said a few words. Jensen wasn’t really paying to much attention, his crazed smile faltering as he began to realize he had been outsmarted again.

The name he heard made him recall a single memory of once learning about this man. He was Sei Orlouge, some great warrior mystic who had done many wondrous deeds in the land of Althanas. Where or how, he didn’t know or really care. He continued to shuffle in place, feeling the weight of his limbs begin to take its toll on his body. The heat of the magma wasn’t exactly helping either.

“Is that supposed to intimidate me?” he asked to the mystic, sincere curiosity edging his tone as he kept a wary eye on the doppelganger behind him. “Ouu, my name is Sei Orlouge!” he mimicked. “I took a shit that smelled so good the people of the world respect me! True story, smelled like Fallien Desert Roses!” he built up some spit in his mouth, wetting his lips as he dropped himself into a sly grin.

“Like hell I give two shits about anything you could have done. It all means nothing to me!” he shouted as he felt his anger begin to boil in his blood. He took out his punch knife and cautiously approached the other man. “In the end all the heroes and the villains in the world scream the same! So show me how you scream, mystic! Show me how your blood looks just like everyone else’s!” he shouted, moving in on the attack.

His feet moved in a complex rhythm of cartwheels and sweeps as his hands balanced himself from each move as he moved into close range of the mystic. When he rolled himself up to his full height he let the spit he built up in his mouth fly out towards the face of his foe. He would show no respect to this man who thought he was better than he. No, he would take his ideals and his convictions and he would break them.

That was what Jensen did best anyway.

[Silence Sei]

"When your insults graduate grade school, let me know."

Sei had listened to his opponent's childish insults. This man may have had a military backing, but his maturity level was that of a child. Sei could recall a giant orb of goo with more tact than the man before him. Regardless, he was here to make this man an offer, and no matter what low-down tricks his foe tried, Sei would be stern. He had to recruit people of all types to hi cause, after all.

The man had welled up excess saliva in his mouth. Sei could predict his opponent's next course of action before Jensen could even do it. In a display that would make an Amazonian cheerleader blush, Jensen produced several cartwheels and...whatever the hell he was doing with his hands. Once Jensen got within range, he let his spit fly towards Sei.

The mute watched as the loogie slammed inches from his face. Sei raised his right hand and waved bye bye to his opponent. Though the action had no real force behind it, it did have malicious intent. That was all one needed in order for Sei to use his trademark move, Mystic Protection. the very air around Sei's form began to crack as if it were made of glass. The cracks covered the mute's entire body as Sei stepped a little closer to Jensen to avoid tipping over into the fiery death they were floating on.

Suddenly, the cracked air shattered into hundreds of small glass shards. Sei looked towards his doppelganger, who merely hit the floor as soon as he saw the shards appear. Without hesitation, the shards shot out in a fifty foot radius over the rock. Given the fact that the rock was not fifty feet long or wide, Jensen would have nowhere to hide. Of course, if his military backing had any information on Mystic's, he would know the two weaknesses to this 'perfect defense'.

"Now if you'll sit down and listen, I'd like to make you an offer."

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Jensen watched as the mystics body seemed to crack and years of dealing with magi had taught him that this was a defense spell of some kind. He tried to rack his brain for ideas as to what it was, but he just chuckled realizing how futile that would be. There were hundreds, no, thousands of defense spells and he wasn’t going to try and figure out if he guessed the correct one. All he had to him was his wits and own experience to try and figure out what to do.

His rhythm continued as he darted to the side and his eyes focused upon the doppelganger, noticing that it hit the deck and covered its head. He glanced back at Sei, his own face alight with amusement as Jensen swiftly learned what he needed to do.

To bad it came two seconds to late.

The air around the mystic seemed to fracture one last time before it shattered. Thousand pieces of reality were sent flying every which way. The immortals felt his body being pierced multiple times as shards of the mystics defense shield pierced his flesh and he looked like spikes had erupted from his body. He coughed up blood as he dropped to one knee, breathing heavily. The ash filled his lungs, making his breaths come short as a coughing fit would explode forth from his lips.

He had pondered just when the hell a weakness would show in his opponenent. Sei Orlouge was a strong opponent worthy of all the titles he had earned, but the enigmatic immortal would have none of it. He was supposed to be having fun in the hellish oven, not his foe. With one last wad of crimson spit hitting the rock he formulated a plan as Sei talked to him.

Woozily he picked himself up, his body aching as the ground began to rumble. His eyes quickly turned to the volcano and noticed the magma spewing from it was being drained faster and faster. This quake was nothing more than the herald of something that would add a new layer of challenge to these fighters as the molten liquid rained down from the heavens in a light shower. Where it hit singed even the rock as small holes started to form upon the blighted surface.

Jensen cracked a wild grin as he looked to his foe before he ran in again, this time with all caution to the wind in a deadly sprint. Sei looked tired after his last attack, something that must have drained him considerably to do. That didn’t mean he couldn’t do it again, but maybe with his slower state he cold press an advantage. Besides, he learned how to avoid that little defensive trap.

Two fingers locked upon his throwing knives in one hand as he held his punch knife low by his abdomen. This time he would strike the mystic, this time he would knock him down to the ground in a pool of his blood, make his body feel the impact of the jagged edges of their floating prison.

Rain fell upon his body and he screamed out in a joyful pain as the molten liquid singed and charred his flesh. He had dropped to a knee in pain before continuing his mad dash, now steps away from Sei Orlouge. His grin widened as he grew near his enemy.

“Just DIE!” he screamed.

[Silence Sei]

Sei's attack had worked, but his opponent had recovered from the magical shot. The mute looked onward as Jensen seemed to analyze his situation. The battleground first began to turn in his foe's favor when pieces of molten rock started erupting from the volcano around them. Sei raised his head upwards and took a step to the side as a small, flaming pebble shot straight through the ground.

Sei shifted his eyes back to Jensen, who was no charging straight at the mute. As Sei began to get ready for another attack, he realized his body was reacting far slower than normal. The side effect of Mystic Protection left Sei a bit drained momentarily, and it was just enough time for Jensen to strike. Sei attempted another side step from the blow but reacted a little too late.

The knife bit into his right side, just above the hip. The mute could feel the cold blade moving inside of his form. He winced a bit as he looked down at the weapon. The pain he felt from the knife was enormous. The look of surprised horror quickly changed from another sadistic grin. The knife was inside Sei, and Jensen was within arms reach of the mute. The battle was Sei's.

The telepath grabbed Jensen's wrist with his right hand, knocking the throwing knives out of Jensen's spare hand. He was careful not to hit any finger on his foe as he knocked the knives out. Sei leaned in to his opponent to the point where they were in direct eye contact. Now Jensen had no choice but to listen.

"I'm amassing an army. I don't care if you love me, hate me, or could care less either way. Fact is, I need people that know how to train common folk to fight. You're not my first choice, but given the strange dance-fight thing you do, you could be an asset."

Sei looked over to his doppelganger as it rose on the other side of the rock. If Jensen was not going to cooperate with the mystic's offer, the mirror image would find its Gemini Blades in the back of the man. Nothing that would kill him, as Sei knew where to hit to miss anything vital. It would put Jensen in a lot of pain, but maybe it would get Sei's point across. The soldier could swear vengeance all he liked, but at the end of the day Sei needed just that. A soldier.

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Jensen couldn’t believe it. This guy had a counter to everything he threw at him. Violence was thwarted with mystic shields, hatred casually fanned off to the side with a fan, and disrespect falling off him like a discarded shirt. He had in every essence soundly defeated the immortal.

His body screamed to protest, to fight out and continue onwards, but what the hell could he do? Nothing was working, and without even the ability to get into the man’s head he had no options. Sei was truly just the better man, which pissed Jensen off.

To make matters worse the guy had offered him a place in his army, some gathering of warriors or whatever. He insulted him as he did it, like Jensen was some bottom of the barrel piece of trash he just had to take. This infuriated the knight and he wanted nothing more than to just break this man.

As he glared at Sei and his offer he noticed that the edge of the lava flow was approaching. He began to chuckle before he wildly laughed, gripping Sei’s arm in a vice like hold as the mystics eyes narrowed upon him. Jensen just gripped him as tight as he could, laughing the whole time as he awaited for the death to come.

Drops of magma fell from the heavens, burning his flesh as one found purchase in the side of his skull searing his cheekbone as he hollered out in agony as his grip faltered. Sei pushed himself away from Jensen and he fell upon the ground at the doppelganger’s feet. The weapons in hand seemed to be ready to take out Jensen, but the immortal flashed a wild grin as he still laughed.

The creature seemed to realize the danger it was in as it looked at the fast approaching edge of the cliff. One look to it’s progenitor and with a silent nod the doppelganger had disappeared, vanishing from sight. Jensen rolled onto his back, looking towards the mystic who turned to the edge of the cliff with a disillusioned expression.

“Like hell I’ll join you and your queer friendship circle!” Jensen seethed as he got up. “Nothing in life is as annoying as camaraderie! What is the point of making friends when time will just end up killing them!” He shouted in hysterics, his body shaking violently. “Do you know what it feels like to wake up the sole survivor in a pile of dead bodies? Do you have any indication what voids in your soul are created as you carry back home the people you swore to protect? Don’t even fucking pretend you do! I can see in your eyes that you have no clue what I mean!”

Jensen stood up to his full height, lifting his arms out in supplication to the heavens as the fire rained down from the sky. “In moments we are both going to die, so why bother with this stupid conversation? Let’s just beat the crap out of each other like I wanted from the start, you mystic piece of shit!” Jensen yelled at the top of his lungs, pulling out every weapon and throwing it at Sei.

Annoyingly, the same sphere appeared and began to fracture as he protected himself from the attack, but this time Jensen was prepared as he ran and slid underneath the shards coming up in a tackle. Sei’s eyes widened as he saw the immortal come for him, but Jensen hadn’t learned. His rage to make Sei scream for him blinded him to the mystics counter already in motion as one hand pushed him aside as he dodged out of the way.

The rock they were on tipped over, Jensen’s body meeting the vertical base with a loud thump before he was pushed out into the air and he free fell towards the ground. He laughed wildly the entire time, happy that at least the mystic would die with him. He rotated in his flight and looked to see Sei’s face as he fell, but his body erupted as his laughter turned into a hideous scream of pent up frustration boiling into pure spite and hate.

Sei’s back had sprouted two very beautiful butterfly like wings that kept him afloat over the edge of the lava flow. Jensen couldn’t believe it. He was denied even killing the man. Disgusted with himself he turned towards the doom at the bottom of the cliff and closed his eyes. He didn’t care what fate awaited him, this fight hadn’t been what he searched for in the end. He just wanted to sleep.

His throat felt a sharp tug from his shirt as his body shifted in weight, his feet flipping in front of him as his body stopped it’s free fall. He opened his eyes in confusion and looked up to see Sei struggling to lift him towards a safe edge. Jensen’s eyes widened into two huge orbs of pure shock.

“Grrraghhh WHY!” He shouted, his words echoing within the chasm as he lost all self control. Sei Orlouge would even deny the immortal death. This was no longer a simple hatred towards the man, this was pure incomprehensible confusion. Sei had saved the man’s life despite all Jensen did to try and kill the man. It made no sense to him, none at all.

“Join us,” he said softly to him. “I’ll show you that I do indeed have a clue about what you speak of.” Sei didn’t look to Jensen as he fluttered over the edge of the cliff of a safe haven. He let Jensen go and the knight hit the ground landing into a crouch as Sei landed looking to the man with sad eyes. “I too was once immortal, a curse gifted to be by a woman I thought I loved. I know of this void you mention, for I feel it still to this day, but you cannot avoid the precious moments you have in life.”

Jensen listened to the man as the oaken doors appeared not a stone throw away from him. The words seemed to sink into his core and he felt something within him build up. He didn’t know what the feeling was, but he just let it happen without protesting. With a heavy sigh he got up walking towards the portal, stopping at the entrance before he turned and looked to the mystic with a straight face.

“Fuck you.” he said bluntly turning around and leaving.

Monks rushed towards the immortal to tend to his wounds, and he followed them into the medical wing as several more ran inside to see Sei Orlouge. As his jaw was being healed he thought about what Sei had said to him and stewed over it. How dare the man think he knew of his pain? With a dissatisfied grunt he at least took pleasure in knowing he would never see the man again. Tape was applied to his jaw as a tingling sensation ran up his lower jaw and he tested his arm from where it was burned. Looking good and ready to go he stepped up and walked out of the Citadel.

As he walked down the sculpted stairs two heavily robed individuals moved behind him in a flanking position. He stopped and turned seeing one was a woman, and the other a man. One look to their eyes and he grinned as he recognized them easily as people he knew from his order.

“I heard you fought a celebrity today.” The woman said softly grinning to him as she lowered her hood. Her red hair came down and draped to the small of her back as she ran one arm up Jensen’s side. The male did likewise as he lowered his hood and lifted into his shirt for something,

“Stephanie,” Jensen said to the woman warmly. “Adolph. Pleasure to see you. Yes I did fight Sei Orlouge, and as I expected he was a narcissistic mouth piece with no drive in the world but to make friendhsip bracelets and fart roses. Now what the hell do you want?” he asked. Both of them smiled as Adolph took out a small folder containing what had to be orders from the Knights of Apocalypse counsel. Jensen swiped the folder and opened it, reading it slowly over and over.

Then he read it again, this time with shock filled eyes.

And again, but this time with his hands gripping his hair tightly.

One last time, just to be sure as his teeth clenched into each other.

“WHAT THE HELL!” Jensen shouted as he threw the folder into Adolph’s face, making both knights laugh at their comrade. “This is seriously got to be a joke!” Jensen whined as Stephanie linked her fingers into his dragging him back towards the citadel.

“Irony is Sei had petitioned the counsel for military aid. They sent us to find you and link up with him to help out!” She found great amusement in this as Jensen sighed heavily, whining the entire time.

“Yup, we get to help him out as much as possible until the counsel sees fit to call us back. Until then, he’s our new boss!” Adolph added finding sport in the immortals misery.

“I hate you guys so much…” Jensen said as he eyed Sei being looked over by a monk. The mystic waved the citadel attendant away and Jensen looked to the man with baleful eyes. He turned to Adolph and grabbed the folder, read it one last time, and sighed before he tossed it to Sei. Then without preamble the three Knights of Apocalypse dropped to their knees as they bowed to their new lord in show of their respect to his position.

“You’re quest has earned the attentions of the horsemen," they all said as one. "How may we be of service?”

((All bunnying was approved between both profiles.))

[Taskmienster]

Volcanoes, Althanas’ Oven :: As requested, I’m going to be putting light to no commentary. I’ll be splitting your scores right next to each category. Any questions, concerns, or comments can be sent to me via PM.



Continuity Enigmatic :: 5 | Sei :: 5.5

Setting Enigmatic :: 6 | Sei :: 5

Pacing Enigmatic :: 6 | Sei :: 7

Dialogue Enigmatic :: 4 | Sei :: 6

Action Enigmatic :: 5 | Sei :: 6

Persona Enigmatic :: 4 | Sei :: 6

Enigmatic :: I have a problem with not knowing nearly enough about your personality to understand the almost overpowering use of cussing or desire for destruction. I’d suggest you add a little more in the narrative to help with that, otherwise it’s just a lot of pointless cursing and foaming at the mouth with no reason for it.

Technique Enigmatic :: 6 | Sei :: 5.5

Mechanics Enigmatic :: 6 | Sei :: 8

Enigmatic :: In this thread like the last, you have small grammar errors here and there. Most of them are a comma error or a missing comma, missed capitalization, or the wrong spelling of a word used.

Clarity Enigmatic :: 7 | Sei :: 6

Sei :: The movements that you employ, such as the aikido attack at the very beginning, are rather technical and precise but hard to visualize or understand. There are a few other parts where the clarity of an attack is slightly off-set because of the way it’s explained.

Wild Card Enigmatic :: 6 | Sei :: 6


Score:

Enigmatic Immortal :: 55
Silence Sei :: 61

Rewards:

Enigmatic Immortal :: 680 exp | 100 gold
Silence Sei :: 2475 exp | 200 gold

[Taskmienster]

Exp and Gp added.