I Can Go The Distance

[Scrotus]

"Archibald Butler," called a narrow-eyed Ai'Brone monk from a dimly lit citadel hallway. "Follow me to your arena."

The young aeromancer nearly missed his summon over the voice of a dwarf that he had become acquainted with during his wait in the Citadel.

"Alright guy, wish me luck." He said while rising and starting towards his Ai'Brone usher.

"Only the best, young Butler." The dwarf replied kindly, extending his right arm to the young aeromancer.

It was strange that the first acquaintance Archibald had met since departing from Salvar, was a dwarf. He had never personally met a dwarf before, but they definitely filled the stereotypes. Foul mouths accompanied by burly beards. The heart of a lion combined with pitted skin that was rougher than leather.

Archibald gave a final handshake before looking towards the patient monk.

The monk reminded the young wizard of his elders in the Oakenbrim Order, warm and withdrawn. However, there was something on the monk's mind as he looked into Archibald's youthful eyes. Somehow the young wizard had sparked something within the mind of the old monk. For the next few seconds awkward eye-to-eye tension ensued, before Archibald very bluntly broke the ice.

"What do you see?" Archibald asked the monk.

"That, young man, is a secret." Was the monk's reply, his lips making an expression that was almost passable as a smile.

"Well, what about my arena. Can you tell me anything about that?"

"It's so typical of a young wizard to be inquisitive." The monk replied, his facial muscles being used to their full extent as he exhaled a sincere chuckle. "I think I'll keep your arena a secret, you'll see it soon enough after all."

~~~~

Fifteen minutes later Archibald found himself face-down in a patch of bloodstained grass. While the aeromancer rose, he took a mental snapshot of the sun-painted hills that flowed endlessly around him. Upon further investigation Archibald concluded that there wasn't a tree or natural landmark for miles around, to which he decided was probably a good thing.

[Silence Sei]

The grass had been unkempt for years. At least, that was the way Sei had requested it to be. Just the feeling of tall grass brushing against the unguarded parts of his skin made him feel a bit more at ease. While Sei hated fighting in the citadel, he had to admit that the magics of the temple held great resources. For example, it was the perfect place to relax when life started to become a bit stressful for the telepath. He could easily whisk himself away to a beach paradise, or some sporting event that could make him smile. Most used the citadel as a blood sport; Sei used it as a convenient vacation spot.

The setting sun began to settle into his eyes, causing the Mystic to shade his pupils with his hands shadow. He yawned as he thought about this and that, his mind only briefly thinking about his army. Right now, all Sei Orlouge wished to do was relax in a room he created to get away from it all.

Yet, the sudden rustle in the grass aroused the mute's suspicions. He had not requested any wildlife in this scene, and he had told the monks to specifically not allow another combatant into the room. That meant one of three things; either the monks paid the Mystic's warning no mind, and sent in a challenger to the area Sei was resting in, the mute had imagined the sound, or something far more sinister was going on.

Being a prominent figure in the eyes of Althanas as a whole, Sei assumed it was the latter. The smell of blood wafted through the air, filling Sei's nostrils. The mute stood from his position, grabbing at the dual chakrams at each of his hips. If this was an assassination attempt on his life, it would be a very shoddy one. Sei turned towards the direction of the sound, and found himself standing twenty feet way from the man people called Archibald Butler...

[Scrotus]

A wrenching tug in his skull pulled the wizard's eyes to the figure of a man standing not far from him in the grass. The man was nothing to write home about. Average size and build, complete with red hair that was tied off in a black bun. Despite being around similar sizes Archibald could feel the raw energy pulsing off his opponent like blood pumping from a heart. Within a matter of moments, and with the help of his wizardly intuition, Archibald concluded that there was no way he was going to defeat his foe.

"My thought, I'll be experiencing the monks revival abilities first hand after this encounter." Archibald sighed softly to himself as he trudged through the grass towards his red-haired opponent.

The grass itself provided brief tranquility for the novice wizard. The tingling feeling it gave as it brushed across his pale skin made him shiver, momentarily pulling his mind away from the task at hand. His thoughts drifted to Oakenbrim, his homeland, and why he had come to Radasanth in the first place. For experience.

"I don't even give a damn if I lose. I'm going to cut this fire-crotch, deep." He whispered to no one in particular as his thoughts returned to his opponent.

As Archibald got within ten feet of the mystic he stopped, and like his opponent, withdrew his weapon, which was a steel sword decorated by strange symbols. He pointed his blade to the sky breifly and then brought it downward to a low-ready. In the palm of his free hand a sky-blue aura began to form. It was air, harvested by the novice wizard to create a projectile. The larger the sphere of energy grew, the wider Archibald's grin spread.

"Ready to die?" The wizard asked in a confident tone, although the outcome of this match was already clear to him.

[Silence Sei]

In Sei's experience, men who carried such an air of arrogance about them were either one of two types of people; complete fools or tough warriors. The mute's eyes focused on the sphere in the man's hand, rather than his drawn sword. The mute bit his lower lip, trying to decipher the properties of the magic. If it was a light based spell, Sei could easily take a hit from that thing and keep going. Any other element might knock the telepath back for a minute, and there was no telling the damage output on such an ability.

This man was trying to intimidate the mute, make him cower in fear at the might of his magic and sword use. The Mystic smiled, removing the chakrams from his hips. If this man was going to play the intimidation game, he would have to bring more than just an energy ball and a sword. Sei walked to the east of his position, slowly circling his opponent. Each step temporarily pressing the long blades of grass down before they rose back up.

"I'd like to be... under the sea..." Sei spoke into the man's mind, raising his right hand up as he did so. Up until now, 'Silence' Sei Orlouge had lived up to his nickname. Using his telepathy as an opening distraction was always a nice first move in the mute's strategical mind. Sei looked down, noticing two particular blades of grass starting to grow a bit larger on each side of Archibald Butler.

"In an Octopus' Garden, in the shade!" The mute proclaimed loudly as two long seaweeds sprung out from their camouflage among the grass. Their target was the wrists of this strange newcomer. Though the telepath never had to speak words to use Octopus' Garden, he felt that using some sort of silly line involving the namesake had a tendency to make the spell work quicker.

Sei's intention was to hopefully catch Archibald off guard, so the two strands of seaweed would wrap around his wrists. If this were to happen, then the follow-up portion to the spell would start to commence. Medium sized boulders would start raining down towards the slim space between the two seaweed. The space Archibald Butler was currently filling.

"They should have sent ten of you if your goal was to kill me." Sei said, finally returning his opponent's arrogance.

[Scrotus]

Sei didn't respond to Archibald's taunt. At least not directly. Instead the mute decided to showcase some of his own magic, which included the art of telepathy. Although Archibald had met less than a handful of telepaths during his short lifetime, he still had knowledge of the art. He admired the mute for wielding such a gift, because to his recollection the art of telepathy was a very hard skill to master. What the mute was saying, on the other hand, seemed like mindless rabble. At least that's what Archibald thought until noticing that the mute had his hand raised.

That son of a bit... The aeromancer's thoughts were cut off by a aura of magic that dug it's way from the loose dirt underneath him.

What seemed to be vines of dense seaweed shot up from the ground towards Archibald's wrists before he could react. The novice mage's first instinct was to slash at the one of the seaweed vines with his sword, while trying to counter the other with the ball of illuminating blue air that hovered in his other palm. To his surprise the sword proved useless against the seaweed, whereas his magic seemed to repel the other vine.

"Your little tricks don't work so well against my mag..." The aeromancer was cut short, once again, by a foreign aura of magic. This time the magic seemed a lot more powerful than the mystic's first spell.

"What now telepath?" Archibald questioned anxiously while conjuring a second orb of air to repel the other vine, that was wrapping itself around Archibald's sword-arm. Archibald didn't have a chance to destroy the second vine, however, because in a matter of moments the sky above began to spit out stones that were roughly the size of an average mans head. "Oh, alright."

The first stone that made contact with the young wizard's body wasn't accompanied with the feeling of pain. It just caught him more off guard than anything else, but as the stone's continued to pour from the sky like rain the wizard couldn't help but to feel helpless. Archibald calculated that the downpour continued for a total of eight seconds after it had begun. In that time he also estimated being hit by close to seven boulders, five of which caused him unbearable pain, and one of which dropped him to the ground. He concluded that he would've been hit by more boulders if he hadn't of freed one of his hands, so in that aspect he still had luck working for him in this outclassed duel.

Broken and near death the wizard tried to pick himself up. The grass around him was now also broken and compacted to the ground, giving the wizard vision of his opponent. When he finally got to his feet he noted that he no longer had his sword, where it had been thrown he didn't have the slightest idea.

"You didn't happen to notice where my sword went?" He questioned, his words running out as half-coherent slurs. "I'll probably be needing that before I can continue kicking your ass..."

Broken and bruised, but never humbled.

[Silence Sei]

This man was without a doubt, the worst assassin ever.

Not only did he get pelted by the barrage of miniature boulders Sei had sent his way, but the fool lost his sword during the attack. Wasn't one of the first rules of assassination something along the lines of being one with your weapon, and to lose it is to lose ones self? Yet, the man's arrogant nature and tenacity after his beating was something to be admired, if only slightly.

Sei pointed towards the man's weapon, lying in the grass just a few feet away from the combatants. The wind blew several strands of grass over the blade from time to time before returning to their original position.

"It's over there....in the shade." Sei said plainly while pointing to the location, his features not letting on any hint of trickery. The Mystic had actually -wanted- Archibald to attempt to retrieve his weapon. How was his foe to know that the telepath was once again casting Octopus' Garden? This time, however, the seaweed would not strike until Archibald's hand approached his sword, one of the strands would attempt to grab him by his reaching hand, and the other would grab the blade itself.

The man had learned that Octopus' Garden was easily remedied by magic, but hopefully the time in summoning another orb of air would take Sei's opponent just long enough to get assaulted by the rocks once again. If Archibald did manage to take his weapon and go after Sei, however. Well, then this man had not done his research on his target, had he?