Shadows and Earth [Closed]

[Harbinger]

Raksha was a creature from a race of beings known as Seekers. The Seekers were a subterranean race that lived deep underground in groups referred to as tribes. The only tribe that didn't do this was Rak's. His tribe had been living on the surface for four generations after a catastrophe destroyed their homes and forced them to the surface. Their leader at the time was Rak's grandfather, of whom the Seeker had been named after. Upon Rak's coming of age, he had been given his grandfather's sword and embarked on his quest to find the truth of his own existence.

The ten year old Rak had set off from his mountainous home and travelled down into greater Althanas. He had made his way across the land, at first searching for greater truth to life, then basic truth and finally food. He had finally come to Radsanath and with it the mighty Citadel. As soon as Rak realised that the giant building could be a source of money he had entered a match.

The monks had been amused by the proud, and slightly smelly traveller that had entered a match with all his travelling provisions. The story of Raksha the Seeker starts with the warrior sitting patiently on a large stone in the middle of a shallow river. Either side of the water was encased with stone in two mighty cliff faces. The fight would be limited to the large flat stones that dotted the river like stepping stones across a lawn.

Rak had his sword across his lap and his hands rested easily on top. Strapped to his back was the giant steel shield and on his shoulder the similar metal guard. The sun shining directly down illuminated Rak's pale skin, but his relaxed face and slight smile showed he enjoyed its warming rays. On another stone a few metres behind him was his bag and the few provisions he owned.

[Hysteria]

Darkness personified grunted in annoyance as water seeped into it's shoes. Talen, the boy shadowmancer, had just stepped down from the magical door the monks used to transfer the fighters to their places of battle. The youth let the door close behind him and in an instant it shimmered and disappeared. With an annoyed looked painted across his pale face he stepped up onto one of the large flat stone and shook the water off his shoes. The youth of shadows lifted his eyes to the man who he was to fight. The stern look plastered across his face slowly broke into a smile as he reach up and unbuttoned his cloak. The boy let it fall to the stone beneath his feet and lifted his gauntlet up towards the white warrior.


“The piper plays his tune to the kids.
They skip down the road with glee.
Faces painted with harlequin smiles,
Tears hidden behind rosy cheeks.”

Talen's voice was deeper than it should have been, and his face slightly confused as the words came out different to what he had expected. The youth's mind refused to examine the strange verse that had pushed itself out of his mouth. His mind focused on the man in front of him, and the disaster that could befall him should he let his mind wander to unimportant things.

The shadow warrior was much smaller than his opponent, and carried with him two swords in his belt. The full arm gauntlet that encased his left arm shone brightly as the twisted claws at the end over Talen's finger's twitched excitedly. The youth only wore simple cloths to complement his armour, a black vest and black pants. Talen's bare right arm moved to rest on one of his swords for a second before drawing it.

The young trickster had come to the Citadel to test himself and grow stronger, as he had done many times before after his depressing defeat in the Cell to Sei Orlouge. Despite his growth, the youth was still no match for the mute, at least not yet.

“Well Mr Bald White Guy, shall we get started?”

[Harbinger]

Raksha's open blue eyes watch the youth with slight confusion. He was far younger than the Seeker had expected to be fighting, but caution niggled at the back of his mind. The tall warrior’s face broke into a smile as his opponent sloshed into the stream. The smile moved into a laugh as the boy tried to kick away the water in his shoes.

A thought nudged the warrior. This was the first time for the warrior in the Citadel, and he was pretty sure that anyone that entered the field of battle had at least a few surprises up their sleeves. The last thing the warrior wanted was to be shown as a fool in is first fight. For Rak the way of the warrior was of strength of mind and body. The warrior’s stoic face slid back into place and he looked at the boy as he wondered what to do.

“Should we? Are you sure you don't want to crawl back to kindergarten kid? Maybe go play some stick ball with the fellas, or whatever it is you people do?”

“Underestimating me already?” Replied the youth.

The Seeker pushed himself to his feet and pointed his swords long blade towards Talen. The emerald sparkled in the light as Rak brought it back to his chest. The pause was all he gave to the youth as he pushed off an instant later and leapt from his stone to another in giant bounds. The win whipped passed his ears in a roaring haze and the rush of ecstasy filled his being as the battle began. He gave the last stone two small steps before leaping once again into the air and brining his green sword down towards the youth as hard as he could.

[Hysteria]

The white blur of Seeker caught the living shadow by surprise. The white warrior had first shown caution, then suddenly threw it aside in a front on attack. The little shadow warrior brought his sword up and braced the blade with his left hand. The green blade flashed through the air and smashed into Talen's with tremendous force as the entire weight of the Seeker pushed down. The pale youth struggled to keep his footing and finally failed and stumbled backwards into the water.

A cold sensation ran up Talen's spine as his foot slid into the water. The youth couldn't stop himself from falling backwards and for a second he was afraid of a follow up attack which he could not defend. Only one thought entered his mind, only one thing he could think of doing. His metal encased left hand shot out towards his opponent’s face and a blast of sticky black liquid shot out before the youth plunged backwards into the water.

The river erupted in a fury of splashing as Talen twisted around and scrambled back to his feet. The little warrior sloshed to one of the rocks and stepped up out of the river. His breath was fast with shock and exhaustion.


“Night comes to the lonely town.
Screams echo through the streets.
The parents run to the woods,
To see their kids hung from trees.”

Talen turned back his opponent looking all the world like a drowned cat. The little warrior readied his sword and inwardly groaned as he left his cloths hug and constrict his form, the icy water seeped down over Talen’s skin, soon shivers lifted up his body and he was shaking. The youth smiled, he could fix shaking. The air around Talen’s arms started to shimmer, then a trail of steam lifted off them. In seconds they exploded into flames, incinerating the youth’s sleeves and filling the air with heat. Talen’s smiled.

[Harbinger]

Sword hit sword as Rak landed easy on the stone. Already the Seeker felt the match was going well and he lifted his sword high into the air for another attack while his opponent fell backwards. Talen though had the last laugh as the projectile of sticky goo caught the Seeker completely by surprise and struck Rak in the face.

The Seeker dropped to his knees as his sword rattled against the stone and into the water. The proud warrior wiped the sticky goo from his face and brushed it off on his pants. His face was marked by long black streaks, but the warrior felt no anger. Instead the cool and calm of battle had settle on Rak and he stood back up and unclipped his shield and fastened it to his wrist.

The warrior paused in shock as his opponent’s arms burst into flame. He had never seen anything quite like it before, but his suspicions had been proven correct. There was defiantly more to the youth than met the eye. A plan, somewhat below the warriors normal tactic sprung to mind.

“You're a weird one...” Started Rak, “What’s with the wo-”

Rak opened his right hand and his sword leapt up from the stone into his palm. The warrior stopped in mid sentence to reeled back and then lurched forwards, throwing his sword like a dart towards Talen. Following on with his momentum he charged forwards. His foot landed with a splash between the stone platforms and pushed off again as soon as it touched the river bed. He propelled himself out of the water and into a charge straight towards Talen with his shield forwards as a battering ram.

[Hysteria]

“Cries of pain escape their little lips.
Summer murder and fun.
Stuck little pigs squealing from trees,
Blood flowing down brown bark.”

The word parted Talen's mouth as he watched the man throw his sword. The youth had suspected a spell of some sort was affecting him and causing the odd spout of dark poetry, but his opponent seemed none-the-wiser than he himself.

The Seeker's attack was easy enough to counter, the youth brought his armoured gauntlet around and smashed the green blade out of the air in a crack of metal on metal. The sword flicked to the side of the two combatants and splashed into the water. Talen's blue eyes stared forwards as a smile streaked across his face. Despite the fact that the attack was a diversion, Talen felt a sense of success.

The celebration was short lived as the Seeker already had moved into another attack. This time Talen was prepared and dove to the side past the Seeker into the water. There was a splash as fire met water and the air was filled with hiss of water on flame. A plume of steam lifted high into the air around the youth. Talen splashed as quickly as he could back around to face his opponent. Through the cold water Talen pushed himself up and launched after the Seeker. With all the might he could muster in the step he brought his sword in a horizontal swipe towards the Seeker’s back.