Unexpected Dangers [Closed]

[Callan]

The smooth stone stairs leading to the grand entrance of the Citadel were no strangers to the light thud of Callan Blacksnake’s footsteps. His leather soles lingered a moment on every step, their soft caress neglecting none. The swordsman never made a rapid approach to the Citadel; he used the time he spent walking (and especially the minute or two spent ascending the wide stairs) to meditate on the coming battle. A light wind blew across his cheek and through his short brown hair on most of his morning walks, and today he found the breeze particularly refreshing. The chirping birds and other calming sounds of the city preparing for the day played as chorus to his ascent. As he neared the entry archway he looked up as he always did, taking in the massive stone building towering before him. If the grand architecture wasn’t enough to spark awe in a man, learning the nature of the Citadel certainly would; although the building was plenty big itself, it housed an infinity of infinitely large (or sometimes small) arenas within it, each suited to the needs and wants of the combatants within it.

The inner workings of the magic which allowed for this transgression against the laws of reality were of little interest to Callan. There were some things that just weren’t meant to be understood by those not initiated into the occult; being a little awestruck every time one approached the Citadel was part of the experience. Furthermore, he had his own mysteries to attend to. For years he had sought something or someone that could reveal more to him about his gift, and for years he had found nothing and no one. He supposed that the nature of why some people were magically gifted and others were not was also something few or perhaps none should understand, but he could not resist wishing he had someone to show him how to harness his power further. The steel sword strapped to his hip seemed to almost pulse with energy, and he seemed more aware of its presence than simply feeling its weight drag on his belt. His gift allowed him to move his metal weapons through the air with nothing more than a thought and a wish, allowing him to fight without physical effort or movement, to take a life by merely wanting to. But he seemed restricted to just his sword and dagger; imagine the power he might wield if he were able to affect any object with only his mind!

Reigning in his train of thought, he decided, as he always did, that perhaps it was better that he faced limitations. After all there would be no challenge in a fight if such strength were his, and without challenge there was no improvement. Challenge was why he had come to the Citadel. He passed through the archway forming the entrance and approached one of the many monks populating the mystical building. He had a suspicion that there was no real need for combatants to tell the monks what they desired. After all, if the monks were able to create the majestic arenas within which he had previously fought, knowing another’s thoughts seemed trivial. Nonetheless his icy grey eyes made contact with the softer browns of the monk he had approached, and he smiled before making his request.

“Something challenging, please,” he said softly but clearly. “Something where I must pay attention to more than just my opponents.”

The monk’s hood covered most of his face but Callan could see a friendly grin form before the man nodded and lead him down a hallway to his left. He followed, a tingle of anticipation running down his spine just as it had each time he had come previously. Shrugging his shoulders a couple times, he made sure his leather jerkin was seated comfortably around his chest before checking that his sword and dagger were securely attached to his belt. Instinctively he loosened his weapons in their sheathes by using his mind to pull them a short hair’s length out and then letting them slide back in.

The door was difficult to describe. Despite not appearing to reflect much light, it changed in color and seemingly even in texture when viewed from a slightly different angle. It shifted primarily between hues of grey and black, but at one moment it would seem perfectly smooth and metallic then the next it would look rough and hewn from stone. Even trying to keep his head perfectly still the door seemed to change in appearance, but always subtly enough that it was difficult to point out exactly what was different. He thanked the monk as the robed figure turned to leave, and laid his hand on the cold dark knob. Though his hand did not move, it felt as though the knob were changing shapes beneath it. With a quick twist and push he opened the door.

He walked out onto hot sand, stretching as far as he could see. A bright blue sky stood above as watcher to the coming fray, and as he shut the door behind him all signs of life vanished. There was no sound. No wind raked the sands, leaving the flat surface pristine. It was hot but not agonizingly so to one who had grown up in Fallien as Callan had. Although he was more used to dry, hard-packed earth and dusty winds than pure sandy desert, he could not help but welcome the intense desert sun’s caress on his cheek. No danger had yet presented itself, and if he had not come to the Citadel many times before to train he might have started to doubt in the monk’s choice of arena. He had a suspicion that this battle would turn out just as he wanted, however, and keep his focus at all times.

Suddenly wind began to swirl all around him, and within seconds it was strong enough to pick up some of the sand in flurries and gusts. Hearing the thud of another door closing near him, he turned to face his combatant with a grin on his face.

[Solar Haven]

Adonis had spent the previous evening contemplating his own abilities. He had entered the cell in the hopes to gain combat experience, which he had. However it did not feel like it was enough. He had overheard many patrons talking about their recent exploits in the 'Citadel'. A mystical construct that was run by a bunch of monks that were skilled in illusion and healing magic; no matter how badly damaged you got in your fight, you always came out better than when you went in. Thus, he found himself walking the citadel steps hoping he could learn something new.

He pushed open the heavy wooden doors and saw many warriors scattered about the room. Some looked like grizzled veterans, others like the average bar patron, and then there was some that looked like they just didn’t belong at all. Adonis was of the later group, he wore nothing but clean crisp clothes.

“umm, Excuse me” Adonis stammered as he approached what looked like a monk behind a desk. “there wouldn't happen to be an arena that uses a lot of elements would there? I want to improve my magic by manipulating the different elements in nature.”

The Monk behind the desk pushed back his cowl just enough to see Adonis' eyes, Adonis became a little uneasy and took a step back as the Monk gave him an inquisitive look. After pining through a large book of what appeared to be registered arenas he stopped, fingered one, and motioned for Adonis to follow him as he headed down a hall. At the end of the hall was a door that seemed to phase in and out of existence, each time it manifested it was a different element. Water, Soil, Fire, Magma, Ice.

Adonis merely tapped the handle and the door swung open. He looked behind him to see that the monk was no longer there and so he slowly entered the arena as the door closed behind him. He was in he middle of a sandstorm. The raging heat, dry wind, and hot sand all pointed to the fact he was in a desert.

“I thought I asked for multiple elements, but I guess two is multiple” He sighed as he got a glimpse of someone else not too far away from him.

”Remember, we need this combat experience to prove to father that you can be strong while still being soft”

[BlackGhostofSeaside]

Julius walked into the Citadel with a very proud look on his face. He was feeling so happy that he had finely earned Ashla's trust again! Well, "happy" is just too weak of a word now, is it? A better word would be "joyful" or even "blissful". Julius could not sustain the overdose of love flowing inside him like the strongest of fires. Julius proudly walked into the large building and went strait up to a monk. He needed to improve himself for the next time she needed him! ... Well... Ashla could very well take care of herself, Julius knew that! But he still had to be sure she had a strong ally to look towards.

Julius talked to the monk, "Someplace where I need to use a lot of mind as well as power please?" I need to learn to do two things at once.

The monk nodded and motioned him to follow. They soon got to a heavy, black door in a hallway. Julius shrugged and after thanking the man, pushed open the door. Julius had the average strength of an average man, so opening it proved difficult. After a couple moments though he was able to open the door enough to squeeze into. At this rate, he complained, All the fight I have inside me left would have been wasted on opening this stupid door!

When he was able to pull himself through, the first thing that he noticed was the sand that just flew in his face. Julius was now all the way in and the door had already closed again. As he tried to get the sand out of his eyes, he groaned, "Great..." Then he opened his eyes to see himself inside a vast sandstorm. Julius chuckled, he was so used to the desert, he knew how to survive in it like he knew his collie! Julius noticed between the mighty sand gusts, that two other people had already entered.

Two opponents, eh? Clever, monks, clever... His smirk stayed where it was as he tried an old trick of trying to sneak attack the closest person to him, who's identity was not notable at all in the red, heavy sand that swirled around them. He pulled his bow and an arrow out and tried to find a way to aim without the wind throwing his arrow away.

[Callan]

As Callan turned to face his opponent, he had to bring up his hand to shield his eyes from increasing intensity of the swirling sand. Even in the rockiest parts of Fallien sand storms were not unheard of, but the swordsman had never seen one start so suddenly or with such ferocity. Clouds had rolled in overhead in mere seconds, darkening the vast arena slightly, but through the sandy haze Callan could still make out his foe.

The man, about twenty paces away, was close in height but looked a fair amount heavier. Callan's grin widened when he saw the sword hanging from the man's belt; if it came down to a sword fight the Fallien was confident of his victory. Especially against an opponent slower than himself, Callan's agile fighting style would prove devastating even if the man was far stronger than him. If his muscular opponent turned out to be surprisingly adept with his blade, Callan had another weapon to employ: his mind. If the fight took a turn for the worse Callan would simply send his dagger flying from its sheathe into the man's throat. A quick end to the fight. Perhaps not as enjoyable as a drawn out battle, but a battle nonetheless.

“Well, then,” he called out. “Let's get on with it!”

He knew from experience that saving his kinetic powers for a surprise attack was nearly always better than leading with them, so he unsheathed his sword with only his hand and made a nonchalant salute. In his arrogance he nearly began to charge the man, but was momentarily distracted by his earlier thoughts. The monks seemed always to know what was needed. He had asked for a challenge, and a lone swordsman would likely not provide him with one. Even with the storm still increasing in intensity a mere sword fight seemed uncharacteristic of the monks, especially given his request for a dangerous arena.

His moment of hesitation likely saved him from an embarrassingly early defeat; as he stood there, more and more sand began to be sucked up from the ground and into the air. Had he charged his opponent, the shifting sands would have likely caused him to lose his balance - even as agile as he was - and skid to halt on the ground in front of his foe. Instead he advanced a little more slowly, arms open as if preparing to embrace the man, sword pointed towards the sand. His arms helped him keep balance without making it clear how unsteady he was, and he hoped the leering grin he had adopted might cause some hesitation or confusion.

As he walked quickly towards his opponent, the sand continued to be drained up into the air from beneath his feet. Around him he could see small patches of dark black rock appearing. Another change in scenery. Hoping the other challenger would be distracted by the change, he risked his footing to close the rest of the distance at a run, bringing his sword up with both hands in preparation for a diagonal swing at the man's neck.

[Solar Haven]

Adonis could barely make out that the figure in front of him was moving. He widened his stance, to prepare for an attack, but as he did he felt the sand underneath his right foot give way. He stumbled slightly and looked back up at his opponent as he started to plan his next move.

”Wall? Nah too predictable, besides in this wind would a sand wall even work? What about an unwall? It would launch them past me and probably trip them up in the process.”

”What? That's it? Why not try going on the offensive with your magic?” A dark voice suggested from within Adonis' head.

”And how pray tell am I suppose to do that? My Magic is defense and support based” Adonis said as he kept his eyes on his opponent who was inching ever so closely to him.

”Here, Let me show you something” The oni requested as the man in front of Adonis shifted his weight and started sprinting towards him.

”Fine, but if I die again we are getting you removed from my body!”

Adonis' body reacted on it's own, clearly under the influence of the Oni within him, he clasped his left fist. As magic began to light up around the fusion of hand and fist he quickly dropped to a knee and arced his right arm in a semi circle in front of him as he shoved his left fist into the soft sand beneath him.

Instead of the sand erupting from the ground, or earth creating a stone wall. The sand that was being blown around in the air stopped moving and solidified itself into a wall in front of him. However, Adonis was more interested by the fact the oni had just created a semi circle in front of them, he had always though he was forced to boring rectangular walls.

[BlackGhostofSeaside]

OOC: Oh boy, a perfect scenario to work on my description; I may have to edit this a lot...

Julius noticed how the landscape began to change from the desert to something else. Even as the environment around him began to transform, he realized that the other opponent, the one in darker clothes, would be the better pick. Julius wished that something around here would have been caught on fire so he could catch the arrow on fire and have some real fun... But no fire was visible around here at all.

Julius took one last glance at the man and let go of the string. As the arrow went flying, Julius's attention turned to the first man. He had created a stone wall around him which would make it very hard to get to him. The wall was growing higher and higher, and Julius had a plan already. Julius has a swift mind, despite his first-hand appearance of him having a slightly dumber personality, he was actually working a lot inside his brain. The one thing that kept him back was that he was cautious with his actions, very cautious. Poor judgement had gotten him into too much trouble before, so Julius went forth with much more caution than recklessness. He was still very reckless in heart though, as he was still very young, and he happened to overlook something about the wall...

Julius put his bow away and took out his steel sword and another arrow instead. He stuck the arrow into some sand as it just turned to solid stone. He had made sure the arrow was low enough, and he stepped onto it, jumping up. He barely got his arm over the wall and attempted to climb up, however, more sand just kept coming and Julius was knocked off immediately. He shook his head and got up again, looking around to see if any changes had happened. The barren desert had turned into a group of hills. They stretched out as far as the eye could see into the bright and blue. There was fresh, short grass over the uneven ground below them, and there were short, stumpy tress growing here and there. Julius smirked, Perfect...

He put his sword away and ran to one of the trees, he tore two branches off and lightly asked the question, "How much wood would a wood chuck catch on fire is a wood chuck could catch wood on fire?" Not clever at all, Julius, dang it!

[Callan]

Just before Callan began his sword stroke his target stumbled a bit on the shifting sand, bringing a small grin to the Fallien's lips. Perhaps I was wrong to be cautious, he thought, and his assumption seemed proven when the man in front of him didn't react immediately, seemingly debating the proper course of action in his mind. But before he could finish his strike, his foe reacted with unexpected speed and thrust his fist into the ground. For a moment the swordsman was nonplussed and simply changed the angle of his attack, but suddenly the sand in front of him solidified into a wall, catching half of his blade and stopping its motion.

Surprised, Callan grimaced in slight pain from the impact that shot up his arm. Before he could assault the wall further or circle around, he saw another figure emerge from the now fading sand storm, rushing forward in an attempt to scale the wall. As he fell back from his failed climbing attempt, Callan thought the man looked rather young, almost a boy, but decided not to take another chance with a simple attack. With both a strong physical pull and some mental psychokinetic exertion he retracted his blade from the sandy wall, and was pleased to note it seemed to have sustained no damage. In the periphery of his vision he saw a grand shape form up out of the ground. He stepped towards it and turned to discover it was a rather large tree, elm from the looks of it.

With a graceful movement he dodged around behind it, placing it between both of his opponents. He thought that the man he had tried to attack would likely not have seen his escape due to the sand wall he'd erected between them, and hoped the younger lad might have overlooked him while he lay on the ground. A quick sigh escaped his lips as the green grass grew up around his feet. Hills now rose up around them, and the sky, while still blue high above, was now mostly covered in dark gray clouds that gifted the arena with an ominous ambiance. Small spires of glossy black stone that had sprung up through the sands remained, further adding to the bleak atmosphere.

To his right he heard the cracking sounds of branches being forcefully parted from a tree, but otherwise the arena was mostly quiet and all traces of the sand and vigorous winds had vanished. He hesitated to show his face, as he was almost certain he had seen a bow on the youth that had attempted to mount the wall and knew not whether he had successfully escaped the archer's detection when hiding behind the tree. Looking up he saw sturdy branches sprouting out of the thick trunk, some low enough to grab, but was decided the higher ground gained from climbing would not be worth the additional exposure and limited movement. The light in the new forest was fading quickly as some of the trees rapidly grew more massive and sported dense foliage high above the comparatively small Fallien below.

Callan had scarcely finished making his decision not to climb the tree when the branches of the elm screening him suddenly turned black with a dismaying crackle of burning wood. The arena had changed from sand storm to forest in perhaps half a minute; he was positive that it was not much longer than that even when considering the time-slowing effects of the adrenaline produced from battle. Seemingly only seconds before noting the growth of the gargantuan trees around him the splintering sounds of charring filled the swordsman's ears from all directions, and a sinister vibration began to take hold of the trees and the ground under Callan's boots at nearly the same time.

His brow furrowed when he noted that the quaking rumble accompanying the vibration seemed to be coming directly from the elm in front of him and the other trees around him. A sudden intuition - more instinct than logical thought - made his mouth drop slightly as he quickly jumped back from the elm and sprinted a few yards away, trying to put as much distance between himself and the surrounding trees. With both a thundering roar and a gut-wrenching snap the shaking trees burst outwards, showering wooden splinters in all directions as magma abruptly exploded from the ground the trees had stood on moments before. He suffered two gashes to his face from flying bark before ducking down into a defensive huddle, his cloak and jerkin protecting his back and his arms shielding him in front.

As he descended to the crouch he whisked his dagger out of its sheath on his right hip with his mind, and shot it off in the direction of the tree he had heard losing its branches before the arena had turned so deadly, hoping that it had been one of his two foes making the sound and not just an early start to the apocalyptic events that had just taken place.

[Solar Haven]

Adonis knew he had asked for multiple elements, but this was crazy! He couldn't react in time and had a piece of splintered wood fly through his left arm. The sand wall had crumbled and blown away into the wind just as fast as it had appeared. the landscape that flooded his mind was nothing short of spectacular. rolling hills of green, a warm summers breeze, tree's sprouting up all around them. it was truly a sight to behold, specially that of his opponents trying to use the tree's to their advantage. the man that had tried the full frontal assault moments earlier had begun to quickly run away from a tree. not mere seconds later, the tree was replaced with a column of magma erupting several feet into the air.

"Perfect, another trick to show you with your own magic" The Oni hissed as Adonis' only working arm began to mold some more magic. within seconds a dozen or so eruptions had taken place all around Adonis. Instead of shooting straight up, the Oni forced his hand forward and used the magic in a rather peculiar way, The magma eruptions were now pointed at his Opponent, one at a time they shot forward aimed for the Adventurers face. " Remember this is the citadel, no one will actually die. go have some fun!"

"Fun? i guess some people could have fun with this." Adonis smirked a half smile as the adrenaline filled thoughts peaked his interest before they quickly turned into regret. he would never go down that route, he would never become like his father.

Adonis grabbed his sword and began to run towards his opponent, he had planned to use an Un-wall at the last second to speed past his opponent and strike from the rear. How well this plan would play out depended on the skill of his opponent.

[BlackGhostofSeaside]

I may edit later with extra details and such. And the fire he controls in this post is the size of a hound dog.

Julius had been able to catch both sticks on fire! He smirked, this was perfect! However, seconds later, he noticed the landscape begin to change again Are you kidding me?!? The grass began to die, and the trees began to be replaced by something quite horrendous, lava!

Julius growled, this was pretty bad... unless...

Julius threw the weakest stick and and drew his steel long sword, attempting to cut down a very small and skinny tree behind him. He sliced it once, twice... It took five strong swipes to cut the skinny tree down, and as Julius had planned, it fell straight into a puddle of lava. With that a knife had flung straight into the tree while it fell in front of him, so Julius knew he hadn't been forgotten after the sand wall. He put the blade away again and drew the tree out, an excellent fire had started in it! Julius added the fire from the branch back into the larger one and just before the broken tree faded, Julius had consumed one fireball with as many flames as he could control.

He then looked past the growing pools of melted rock to see one of the two men, who was slightly larger than the rest of them, chasing after the third opponent who was desperately avoiding the lava that burst through the earth per second. Julius smirked and jumped over the stream of lava in front of him and ran across the bare, rocky landscape that had been created all around them. He charged towards the closest man. In one hand he had pulled out his sword again, with the second he kept his fireball at disposal. He had a plan: he would first, swing with his blade. If the man turned around and attacked Julius, he would still be bale to throw the fireball in his darn face!

At the thought of this he smirked, his criminal, exiled side of him taking over in this hot environment. Sweat trickled down Julius' face, his wet hair clinging against the sides of his head as he raced forwards. The only way this plan wouldn't work in his eyes was if this man somehow could control fire as well. Julius knew he could control sand, could he control anything else? He bit his lip, his smirk suddenly transformed into a scowl, if anyone here could control fire or any stronger element that that at all Julius' chances of winning this would be ruined. He could only hope that he could pull this off alright as he was now right behind the also charging man.


~~~~

The mouse was chased by a cat, the cat was chased by a dog.

[Callan]

Rising from his crouch, Callan spun to observe the new battlefield that had erupted around him. Most of the trees had burst in geysers of lava, and it seemed parts of the ground had simply sunk and been filled in with the molten rock. The earth under his feet was still covered in bright green grass, but around him parts were drying out and catching ablaze, though most of the fires died out before they could spread.

Glancing to his right he saw that his dagger had embedded itself in a tree that was sinking into a pool of lava. More accurate than I had imagined, he thought, but soon cursed his decision to launch his weapon blindly as it vanished from view. He was unsure how quickly the blade would melt, and if he would still be able to manipulate it with his mind if it did. In any case, it was too far for him to reach with psychokinesis.

Returning his focus to the man he had attacked earlier, he gripped his sword and assumed proper fighting stance. The man was charging towards him now, weapon drawn, and looked eager to bring the duel to a swift close. Amusingly enough, it seemed the younger foe had turned away from the burning tree and was now pursuing the first. Having more than one opponent was proving to be rather chaotic. Exactly what I wanted, Callan thought with a smirk.

But it seemed the Ai'brone were determined to bring about even more chaos; as Callan readied his sword to counter his larger foe's charge a wall of flame at least a dozen feet across shot up from the ground in front of him, twice as tall as either swordsman. He took a step back from the heat, only to find another wall close at hand behind him. The fire burned bright orange-red at first, but flickered to yellow then green, casting an odd hue on the ground around it. Stranger still, the sun was now nowhere to be seen and the sky had turned a dark black. Though he was sure the change had not been instantaneous, Callan had not noticed it taking place either.

Shrugging since he could no longer see the man who had been charging him, Callan ran to the side of the wall, readying his blade to attack the younger of his two foes who was still just in sight. It seemed his attack would complete a sort of triangle, but since the flames had stopped the first man's assault Callan stayed alert in case he emerged from just around the corner of the fire wall.