The Flame casts a Shadow [closed]

[Hysteria]

Vengeful Fist! I choose you!

A faded dream, a sullen voice and a land of ice and smoke. It has been two months since the war and things were far from back to normal. Although the knights had been victorious there had been casualties on both sides. Like all things a gap is rushed to be filled and the Knights had gone on a recruiting spree. One that Talen had been dragged kicking and screaming into one of the tester roles for potential recruits by Sei. Talen had finally relented under one condition, that he could conduct the tests in the Citadel where he didn't have to control his powers for fear of killing the potential recruit.

The whole thing left a bad taste in the youths mouth. He carried an aggression within his heart that burned with the sort of rage that left a sick feeling in one's stomach. This was not the carefree youth of a few months ago. This was a creature that was struggling to manage the tormented emotions within itself. Talen looked human, he carried himself like a human and he slept in and refused to start the day without a coffee like a human, but there was something distinctly not human amount him.

I was that state of mind the coloured the youth's eyes as he stood in the warehouse. The citadel monks were artists when it came to sourcing the ideas and putting together the rooms that combatants fought in. This one looked like a deserted storage warehouse of some kind. It stretched for hundreds of metres in every direction, with rows and rows of shelves. Each of these held dozens of large boxes staked high into the air. Even higher still was the roof, lined with support struts that looked like some spiders fevered dream. If was one such aisles that Talen was standing in. If he was in another mood he would have wondered what was in the boxes. If he was in another mood he might have marvelled at the maze like quality such a setting offered. If he was thinking straight he would have been formulating a plan.

Instead the brat was stewing in anger. Talen held his arms across his chest. His tall lean figure was cut with a tight black shirt tucked into black pants and belt. He had taken an adult form today, and his cloths were oddly formal for one with such an attitude. His outfit contrasted against his pale skin of his bare arms poking out of rolled sleeves and his face. The cut did however mirrored his sharp jawline and serious face. His hair was still the same messy shock of unruly black strands sitting atop his head. It had missed the suave memo.

He was waiting for a particular person. Karuka, someone that Sei had spoken highly of. He had also told the youth about the woman in great detail, but Talen's sullen mood had led him to ignore his leader's words for fanciful thoughts of escaping and hiding in the red forest for a few weeks. There was something about Seth and how strong she was, but Talen didn't remember. His blue eyes slowly scanned the surrounds for her to arrive. Once he killed her he could get onto the next 'recruit'.

[Karuka]

He formally Phoenix Wright challenged me. I didn't even get an Objection!

The Citadel. An imposing ziggurat that towered over Radasanth with the twin promises of pain and glory, it was a place where many notable figures on Althanas got their first taste of combat. Some found their calling here, to take up arms for the good of people who couldn't defend themselves, people who might never know their names or feel gratitude toward them. These people, the sung and unsung, were called heroes.

Others came because they heard the blood of others screaming to be spilt, and in the monolithic building they could exercise that bloodlust with impunity. Some came and found they enjoyed the idea rather than the act. Some found their skills lacking and the pain of defeat too much to bear. These went back to their lives, lessons learned. Others found both talent and taste for bloodshed, and the walls of the Citadel couldn't hold them long. Those were called villains.

Karuka's first venture into the Citadel had been born of a teenager's curiosity. She and her first opponent had met, liked each other, and requested a creature to fight against. The second time had come at the start of a different chapter of her life, a blind chapter when her runes no longer spoke to her and her magic no longer answered her call. She had come to learn how to fight with a new weapon. Of course, one day in Fiorair under Seth Dahlios's tutelage had taught her more about the workings of her daggers than two deaths could.

Now she was staring at the blank pages of a new chapter in her life, a chapter in which she had yet to decide where to go, which route to follow. Some destinies were too complex to trust to the simple swing of a pendulum. She had been invited to join the Ixian Knights by none other than Sei Orlouge, but she had yet to decide if that was the right path to walk. She had a few compelling reasons to stay - Seth Dahlios among them - but she was also accustomed to walking to her own whims. Could she relinquish that freedom?

Unable to persuade her to make an immediate decision, Sei had asked her to test out the Ixian might and see if their strength, at least, was adequate. That she had accepted, if only to be polite. She knew Sei's strength by reputation, she knew Seth's first hand, and she had met and fought Josh Cronen before he was known as Breaker. He had killed her, here in the Citadel, pinning her to a green turf floor with a knife through her throat.

All she knew of her current opponent was his name, Talen. She didn't know what he could do or what he looked like, and she had purposefully not searched for him in her visions. There were no lives at stake in this contest; she could leave the fight as even as possible.

Upon asking a monk for her arena, she was delivered into a little field on which sat a huge bland building. Heavy clouds spat frigid rain, and Karuka stepped into a side entrance before her phoenix could get too unhappy with the weather. The scents of sawed wood and cheap metal greeted her, as did the soft tattoo of raindrops on corrugated tin. Her opponent did not appear to be lingering on this side of the dimly-lit warehouse, so Karuka looked for his aura, bright blue eyes turning pale as frost.

He was almost directly in front of her through a few stacks of boxes, a black light that shone darkly. His posture was stiffly slouched, sullen. Though he had the height of a man, he had the demeanor of a petulant child who was only participating because he was being forced.

What is he? Humanoid auras were intensely bright, not brightly dark. Was he some sort of demon? A different order of being entirely? Either way, he was going to attend to this fight or be demolished. He knew her name and her purpose; they could shake hands after the battle.

Pale blue eyes glowed gold. An amber hand raised, carving a stylized R, then interlocked with the other to create a pair of chevrons. The air around her sighed when called on, then screamed its fury, spinning around the woman as she twirled her spear above her head. Boxes and shelves flew from their places, twirling in the tumultuous storm, vicious projectiles scattering across the warehouse. Metal groaned overhead, first fighting the bombarding winds, then quitting with a defeated shriek, shearing halfway off the building and opening it to the rain.

The runecater planted the dull end of her weapon on the ground and the wind died suddenly. Gold and white flickered through her eyes, watching for movement in present and future, preparing to unleash more magic on her adversary.

Karuka O'Sheean had announced her presence.

[Hysteria]

A whisper at first, it rose to whistle, then a roar. Talen jerked his head towards the cause of the sound; Karuka. The woman was on the other side of the shelves, but Talen felt that was not going to be for much longer. The youth's blue eyes scanned up the large rows of boxes above him and he sighed.

Urg... he thought; he knew what was about to happen.

The next second was a flash. The area that Talen had been standing in was engulfed by wayward boxes and shelving. Talen bent low as his arms became wrapped in a burst of shadows, hardening into thick metal gauntlets rising up from finger tips to his shoulders. The dark metal glimmered in the light as the youth smashed his forearm through a small box that was the first to be effected by the indiscriminate wind magic. The shards of the wooden box exploded around the Talen, framing his stern face with their debris. The boy bent his legs, blasting off the ground and arching into the air. His legs kicked of a box, then another and another as he darted upwards.. It was equal parts a mixture of his acrobatic skill and the limited effect gravity had on him that allowed him to do such a feat.

Just as the maelstrom started, it ended as Talen rose above the chaos. The boxes and shelves smashed against the ground far below him. Though Talen wasn't especially fond of things being neat and ordered, the thought of the warehouse being destroyed so carelessly sparked anger. It did not take much given the youth's current disposition to annoy him. Indeed if Karuka had not destroyed the ordered warehouse Talen surely would have.

While everything else fell straight down, Talen floated towards the wrecked warehouse floor. His arms crossed once more, he stopped still hovering a few metres above the ground in front of Karuka.

“That was somewhat rude.” Said Talen, more a statement than accusation.

The warrior lifted left arm towards Karuka, his right grasping his forearm. The metal gauntlet warped and shifted and a crossbow piece lifted out of the metal. It was a merger of two of Talen's weapons. Indeed once the youth had spend enough time with something it ceased to be an item of its own accord and became as much Talen as the rest of the youth. The bold shot from the crossbow through the air towards its target. The attack was simple, but that wasn't Talen's style. As it cut the air it split, three identical copies arching out from the original and turning through the air back towards Karuka. The first bolt was real, solid wood and iron. The other three were not. They were shadow magic, set to home in on their target until they either hit or were destroyed.

[Karuka]

Four.

She could see the bolt splitting before it was fired, could see the copies veering to come for her even before she hopped atop one stack of shattered wooden boxes, balancing comfortably despite the precarious position. Consequence spun behind her in calloused hands, its prevalida tip crackling with stored energy as it caught and kicked up a board. The remnant of wood danced and twirled in the play of the polearm, positioning itself between the woman's back and the bolts' wrath.

A dull thud resounded on the concrete behind her, followed by a trio of staccato tlocks on her makeshift shield. A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth; this strike was little more than a test of her defenses - Talen wanted to see what he was dealing with. That spoke of his combat experience; of course she wouldn't have been invited to test the Ixian strength against a rank amateur. At least Sei had enough respect for her to give her a challenge, even if the challenger projected like he'd rather be anywhere else.

"Tao," she commanded softly, and her phoenix flung himself from her shoulder at the same instant she sent the board flying, grabbing it with his talons and setting himself gloriously ablaze.

Smirking sky blue eyes met stolid sea blue eyes through the light rain that now had free rein in the warehouse. An amber hand rose lazily, making a motion that was almost a wave of dismissal. Almost.

"A wee bit," she agreed, tossing her head in an attempt to move a dark red lock out of her face. "But I've ay got your attention now."

The sky crackled, then spat, sending crackling energy down at Talen at nearly the speed of light. The bird, finished incinerating the wood and shadows his master had first sent him after, wheeled on a wingtip and charged toward their flying opponent in the wake of the thunder.

Somethin's not right. Of course the way his light shone black bothered the seer, but the petulance in response to his duty, the careless disregard for the forces that kept her pinned to the ground...

Karuka felt a chill go up her spine. Talen's description sounded eerily familiar to her, in a horrible way. What is he?

[Hysteria]

This woman... The attacks were as effective as Talen had expected. In truth he would have been a little disappointed if he had landed such a hit so early in their battle. The youth was not one to shy away from hypocrisy, and he both wanted to end the battle quickly and violently, and was happy when it didn't.

The time for Talen to think about his own actions was not now. The gentle caress of rain inside the warehouse, and his opponent sending her phoenix towards him were some cause for action. It seemed to Talen that destroying the shelves and boxes was not enough, now she wanted to wet everything. In truth though, the light rain was unlikely to wet much of anything.

Talen's eyes left Karuka's and glanced at both the bird and cloud. He knew he had to do something. He dropped from the air to the ground in an instant, his feet smashed into the wood strewn warehouse floor. His head lifted back and his teeth gnashed at the air. The animalistic action a by product of the sudden surge of power that emanated from within him. From his back burst forth four long tentacles of darkness. The shadowy appendages lashed and whipped out around him, grasping at any sizable debris they felt. Talen's timing was precise, the appendages flicked what they had gathered into the air and the blast of lighting shot towards him. The wood was vaporised by the hit, ash mixing with the rain that fell across Talen's face leaving streaks of cloudy black water.

The arrogant youth kicked off the ground, his body rocketing forwards in another display of his impressive speed. The phoenix homed in, but Talen didn't move to intercept. His body lurched to the side and the shadowy appendages trailed behind him looking like some sort of black squid descending on its prey. In Talen's mind the bird was little more than a distraction, Talen was going for the figurative head of the snake. Bounding and pushing himself forwards he darted around the larger piles of broken wood till he reached the crates Karuka was on. His fists lifted up, bur rather than jumping up towards the woman he impacted with the crates she was standing on. His gauntlets exploded in balls of fire, blasting through the wood like a hot knife through butter.

His attacks didn't stop, the tentacles whipped up from his back, thrashing through the crates over his shoulder. The two blasts of fire from his gauntlets, repeated strikes from his armoured firsts and the thrashing tentacles would destroy everything in a matter of moments. Talen just enjoyed the destruction as flaming shards of wood exploded around him. If Karuka fell into the torrent of destruction all the better, but he doubted it just yet.

[Karuka]

Bolts of fabric littered the pile of smashed crates Karuka had picked as a perch, and she reached out with Consequence to grab a large bundle of green linen as Talen touched down. She didn't have time to focus on the disappointment that he'd dodged her lightning strike. He was a mass of writhing tentacles and exploding flames that streaked for her with lethal intent, smashing and burning everything in his way: fury incarnate, destruction embodied.

Long legs kicked off of the barely balanced pile a fraction of a second before it could be ripped forcibly from under her. In her peripheral vision, Taodoine turned off his flames, stretching his talons for his airborne master. She flew high for a moment - red, gold and glorious, and then for an instant she fell. Her spear danced and whirled in her hands, taking the captured fabric and playing it out, sending the heavy bolt tumbling haphazardly through the air, end over end, wrapping and winding the freed fabric to hopefully fall around Talen like triumphant springtime.

Strong claws grabbed her by the shoulders, grasping with a force hard enough to bruise, but not break flesh or bones. For a moment, she was an angel of fire, then the bird flapped his wings, carrying her toward a bare patch of floor. With a final shake, Consequence released the fabric. Even if it worked and entrapped Talen, even if his own flaming fists ensnared him in a burning shroud, Karuka doubted that would spell the end of him. No; she was hardly that naive. The tentacles that lashed around his body, extra extremities formed with casual wantonness, gave her a final frame of reference to recognize him.

An inhuman aura. Blase denial of gravity. Shapeshifting abilities.

"It's a damned pookha!" She snarled to Taodoine, who squawked with surprise at his master's sudden vehemence. A type of trickster spirit from her native Ireland, pookhas were known to be vicious... and dangerous. And here was one right in front of her.

[Hysteria]

Everything Talen had done so far had been counted. Be it through resourcefulness, or magic, Karuka was proving to be just as flighty and hard to hit as her avian companion. Talen lowered his hands to his sides, ash, embers and wood falling around him from the destroyed tower of boxes and shelving. Two piercing sapphire eyes ignored the sight of destruction, instead they followed the woman as her pet carried her over the youth. Her choice to release the fabric was somewhat confusing, but Talen didn't dwell on it. A dull fire burned behind those eyes as he watched her. The fact that he had yet to land a hit irked him more than he cared to admit, although in his current state there was little that didn't draw up some sort of ire.

Talen was not quite the pookha that his opponent thought, but he was certainly similar. His body was filled with energy that slowly filled him up like a glass being filled with water. His abilities emptied the cup, but when he didn't have an opportunity to mediate, or he hadn't managed to kill himself during some foolhardy adventure, the energy built up too much. Just like a cup being constantly filled, eventually it would spill over. As well as causing him to enter a 'grumpy' state, this resulted in some interesting physiological changes.

Talen stood still as the fabric wound lazy around him. The dark claws of his gauntlets opened and closed and it was a concious effort not to slice through the unravelling cord. The woman was too resourceful for a half-baked attacked, too powerful for drawn out ranged combat. So far Talen had been doing most of the work, and he didn't intend to engage her in a battle of attrition. Talen's blue eyes remained fixed on the woman as the final roll of fabric covered him. A moment later the cord fell through Talen and it and the wound fabric fell to the ground. However, there was no Talen under it.

The youth appeared below Karuka. His body was glowing, burning white lines etching their way across the young man's already pale skin. His eyes were no longer blue, no colour remained from the glowing orbs set within his head. There was just light, it emanated a pure white energy. The youth's cloths were a dark contrast to his skin. They too gave way, the tentacles on his back, his gauntlets and his cloths all disappeared. Only the youth, his body lost all detail except a rough outline, remained. Then, moments after he had teleported underneath Karuka, Talen exploded. His form was vaporised in an instant. From his core radiated a expanding orb of fire. The ground Talen had been just above cracked and darkened with the intense head. The orb licked across the floor as everything within a hundred metres was licked by its fiery form. The bolt of fabric that Karuka had sent at Talen cracked and burned, the piles of wood were engulfed and charred. It was unadulterated rage unleashed. This was one of Talen's trump cards.

[Karuka]

Talen's lack of a sense of place only further confirmed to Karuka that he was a pookha. People didn't just blink into and out of existence. The raw fury on the pale face underneath her pushed her anger over what he was into concern about what he was about to do. She gasped at the impending inferno. "Faigh sior!" She shouted to her phoenix.

Obediently, Taodoine folded his wings, dropping them from the air to the litter-strewn floor below.

As Talen's white rage reached its breaking point, golden hands came up, cradling Consequence upright in her thumbs with her fingers held together and pointing for the walls. Blue eyes glowed gold, the air around the woman rippled, then shimmered. Red-orange wings wrapped tightly around her, then hell itself broke loose. Flames roiled around the shield she'd hastily cast, blasting harmlessly past it, but the wave of pressure pushed her back a step, then two. Eohl's magical barrier wavered under it, then cracked and finally shattered, letting the fire rush at Karuka and Taodoine. The phoenix absorbed most of the fire harmlessly, leaving only Karuka's palms to suffer burns, but the brutality of the shock wave and the flying embers pulled an agonized shriek from him.

Less than a second after the shield broke, Karuka cast it again, providing them relief from the wrathful flames and the force that drove them forward. "Hang on, Taodoine! Hang on!" Her arms shook from the magic battering her shield, her bird hung limply from her back, and she surrendered another step. "Hang on!"

Eohl failed once more, and with a scream that shook the heavens, Taodoine burst into ash. The last of the fire washed over Karuka, lightly roasting the first layer of exposed flesh before finally it died down, consumed by its own fury. The charred warehouse roared as fresh air rushed in to replace what had been burned away, and then the only sounds were the crackling embers of debris and the hiss of steam that rose when cold rain droplets impacted the coals.

Karuka straightened up, letting Taodoine's remains cascade to the floor around her. The pookha was nowhere to be seen, though the warrior had no delusions that he was gone. She stepped forward, flexing her hands. Pain rippled through them, but it was no more than a murmur. She would be fine to fight. Anger burned in her now, deep within her belly, igniting in her blood. That monster had killed her phoenix, and now he would know the meaning of hell.

Her right hand twirled her spear as she stalked forward, her left hand came up and hooked sharply down, then she threw Consequence over her shoulder to interlock her hands in chevrons. The rain hushed for a moment, then poured harder, almost humming with eagerness as it heard her call. However powerful Talen might be, he was too young, too impatient. Such outbursts rarely came without a cost to the caster, and with him having already made that sacrifice...

"C'mon, y' devil," she snarled, red lips pulling back from white teeth.

Her eyes glowed white-blue and bright gold in her burned and soot-smeared face, looking into the future and weaving magic. It was her turn.

[Hysteria]

C'mon, y' devil....

The sound was soft, but Talen could hear it. It was joined by another sensation, one of floating. Perhaps that was not the right word; weightlessness, or formless. His thoughts were slow, but he pushed his mind and eventually coherent thoughts started to flow. He needed a body, that fact was first and foremost. A few metres from Karuka in a mostly empty bit of floor a dull black spot appeared in the air, barely the size of a water droplet. Around it more formed, a mass of black seeping into existence from somewhere it had no right coming from. The form started to turn pale, twisting appendages turning into arms and legs. A shock of black unruly hair burst from a head that was rapidly gaining detail. Long pale limbs finished, skin stretched over his slim form. Cold blue eyes flicked open, swirling around in his sockets for a moment before aligning together.

Talen lifted a hand to his head and let out a sigh. He could have just woken up and crawled out of bed. He looked sleepy; in fact that was partially true. The release of energy was tiring, but the burden was gone. His face twisted into a smile as his eyes settled on Karuka. The youth's naked body stood proudly amid the twisting flames and rising smoke. The bottom of his bare feet was already etched with soot, and more fell from the air and sprinkled across the boy's skin.

High above the dark clouds seemed to mirror the smoke, ineffectively sprinkling water in hissing drips across the smouldering piles of wood. Talen's body started to be painted by the rain, cold spikes of water mixing with ash in rivers of grey. The smoke left an acrid taste in the air as it climbed up and out of the torn roof. The water and fire, each one seemed to be flighting uselessly against the other.

“Was that as good for you as it was for me?” Talen's head turned to the side, tongue clicking against the roof of his mouth as watched his opponent.

Now Talen was calm, he was even more dangerous. This time he would wait, and face whatever the woman threw at him. Although Talen believed that often a good defence was a great offence, he held just as true that the best attacks don't take physical form. So he watched with a smile on his face.

[Karuka]

Before the creature could finish speaking, Karuka's spear leveled. Hundreds of gallons of water rushed down on Talen with crushing force. It came from the dark sky above and the blackened floor below, from all sides in a vicious barrage. Consequence impacted forcefully with one of the streams that rushed under rune caster's command, discharging surging electricity mercilessly through the relentless tide.

"This will ay be good fer us both," she growled, words drowned out by the crashing waves she wrought.

Soot and detritus swirled in the water, caught up helplessly in its churn. What had been cool and clear turned dark and murky, but Karuka could still see that glowing black aura in her mind's eye. She wasn't done destroying it yet. She wasn't done making it pay for killing Taodoine. That this was the Citadel and that her familiar would rise again within hours on his own be damned; the pookha had killed her phoenix.

She had agreed to the contest out of courtesy. But now battle beat a pulsing, undeniable tattoo in her eardrums. Rage heated her blood. Talen was going to suffer, and then he was going to suffer more.

The redhead bit down painfully on her right thumb, ripping into the flesh and drawing blood, sacrificing of herself to power another spell. The bleeding hand raised up and came down hard. Golden eyes glowed ever more brightly. She could see where he was and where he would be, and this spell would form accordingly.

The water around Talen chilled sharply, then formed hard crystals, seeking to bind shadowy flesh with rock-hard water.

And just outside of the churning maelstrom, a redhead waited, as ready to pounce on her prey as a hungry tiger would be.

[Hysteria]

Monologue turned to soliloquy as the giant wave of water fell through the open roof. Talen's words were drowned, first figuratively, then literally. The youth's eyes widened; a deer in the shadow of a tsunami. His mouth slightly agape and his eyes were locked on the water. To suggest Talen was surprised by the attack would be an understatement. Darkness burst from behind Talen, wrapping the youth in its dark folds as the water broke against him.

The dark trails of water and soot were but a fevered dream, one that occurred before the wave. The dark swirling torrent, wrapping and churning, whipped Talen through its dark confines. Talen was in a foetal position, four dark Arms of N'Jal wrapped around the youth as wood, both large and small mashed against his form. The arm's thick, leathery flesh absorbed some of the force of the fiery woman's rage. Between the folds of the tentacles Talen could feel the electricity and stray strikes of wood. Never before had Talen fought someone quite as hot tempered, quite as resourceful as this 'Karuka'.

Talen felt the ice before it touched him. The water slowed, the cold hand of the ice caressing his naked body even through his goddess's protection. Talen knew he couldn't stay in the ice. The water hardened and moment his body stopped moving he worked quickly to drag his body out of the reality in which the ice existed into another. The next moment he was back, high above Karuka near the corner of the torn roof. His body was wearing cloths this time, although the shivering that wracked his body indicated that it did little to stave off the cold that Karuka had instilled in him. A few patches of skin bore what would become bruises, while more the burns from the lightning infused water. The Arms of N'Jal hung limply from his back, their battered form slowly dissolved away until they were gone. Talen's own arm held one of the roof's twisted support beams, rendered from the woman's first air magic attack.

Talen glanced at the sky. He was wary that more water would follow. The quick glance showed no giant wave waiting to descend, and Talen ripped his eyes back to the roof. His hands started to glow as he forced a condensation of magic within. This was something similar to Talen's Little Rose attack, but localised and not quite as deadly to Talen. He threw himself along the fold that marked where the roof had been twisted back against itself. As he flew his hand touched the twisted supports. The energy condensed in his hands erupted, sending three blasts along the fold and tearing it apart. Talen's arm latched onto the side of the huge section of roof and he edged back into the storage building. The wooden roof scrapped as it moved. The squeal of wood on wood doubled with Talen's own grunts as he struggled to move its giant weight.

Then the roof reached the halfway point. The weight shifted as the mass tipped down back onto the building. The roof under the separated section started to buckled as well, and suddenly the entire roof started to groan and twist. This was Talen's attempt at a final attack. The building started to twist, the roof bent inwards, and boy and cargo shot towards Karuka. Talen wasn't pulling any more, his body was pressed in position by the falling wood and metal. He knew that would happen. He intended to end the fight with both their lives. Talen wasn't original, the crude mimic of Karuka's water attack was just as deadly.

[Karuka]

This was Talen's second suicide in order to kill her even once. In the creature's desperate, ferocious struggle to demolish the building, all she could see was that he didn't want to lose so badly that he would die to take her with him. It was a tenacity that Karuka could admire; she had charged into impossible fights herself with the express intention to do or die. So far, still she stood. Even now, this childish act of destruction didn't have to prove fatal to her; in his struggles she had time to leave the building or find a clear spot. She could even call upon the waters again, or upon the skies, or upon the ice. But twice the abominable creature had welcomed the blackness of death. This was a victory for her, and his tantrums did not disguise his defeat.

"C'mon, y' devil!" she shouted, holding her arms out. "Let me show y' how a warrior meets death!" Standing straight and proud, defiant and unflinching. As the building collapsed upon her like doom descending, she let out a roar to the sky, daring death to take her if it was so bold.


~*~*~

Not so much later, the redhead finished dressing in the private, spartan cell where the monks brought back the daily dead. Taodoine stood on the headboard, just a little bit bigger and more magnificent than he had been when they climbed the black steps to the ziggurat's entrance. She was none the worse for wear - a few light burns were barely an inconvenience.

Still, her face was set into a deep scowl. Could Sei Orlouge be serious about having her among his Knights when he called a pookha among his own? Or could he not see what that dark aura meant? Perhaps he simply wished to keep an eye on the creature, and that was easier if it was kept close. It still didn't sit well with the clairvoyant Celt. Pookhas could be friendly and helpful, but also incredibly petty, easy to offend, and brutal when unhappy.

"What should we do, Taodoine?" Karuka sat on the hard pallet, meeting her familiar's glowing blue gaze. "If it were jus' us t' think about, I'd be walkin' out so far an' fast that..." she sighed. "Life was ay so much easier a decade ago." When she'd been raising a baby phoenix and getting dragged through one adventure than another, each messier than the last.

The phoenix crooned a musical trill at her, then looked at her bag. Maybe joining the Knights was a decision too complex to decide by pendulum swing, but she had yet to consult the runes. "Ay, yer right."

A tawny hand fished into a sturdy satchel, pulling out a battered and worn bag that fit into her palm. Slender fingers drew tiny clay tablets, one after another until no more wanted to come. The first two went down together, an upside down Eoh and a right side up Mann. It was time for the lone wanderer to join with others. The next three went down as a group: Rad, Tir, Geoff. Her dharma, her destiny, was still to travel, fight and help. The next was a single rune, Othel. While usually it meant 'possessions,' she was pretty sure that this time it meant a home base. Considering her current situation, that was more than a necessity. The final runes went down as a pair: Is and Ken. Ice and Fire. Karuka looked at them for a moment; what did that even mean?

Taodoine chuffed at her from the headboard, breaking her concentration. When she looked back down, the answer was clear. Is, Ken. I.K.

"Malchadan," she swore. "Looks like we're joinin' th' Knights, Taodoine. But they'd better keep us away from th' damned pookha."

[Hysteria]

A small hand pressed against the mop of black hair. Talen was sitting on the floor, his head pushing against his hand and his legs bent up in front of him. Talen looked so small in his child form next to the bed. His eyes were a thousand miles away, brought back by a polite cough. The youth's eyes swivelled towards the maker; one of Talen's underlings in the Ixian Knights. The man looked unconformable. He was standing stiffly at attention, but he looked as if he would make a run for it at the drop of the hat. Talen's mouth curled into a small smile, probably the first smile his men had seen him wear since the war.

“Sir, Sei is awaiting a response.”

Talen clawed at the smile, but it slipped off his face none the less.

“Ah.” Talen's eyes turned away from the man, staring at the coloured stained glass window of the healing room, “She's alright I suppose.”

Talen waved his hand at the man to leave without another glance. The door shut behind him, leaving the little warrior alone once more. The word 'pookha' echoed through his mind. Were there others? Was he truly no alone?

Talen vowed to find out. Karuka had made more than a little impression on the boy.

[Quentin Boone]

Thread Title: The Flame Casts a Shadow (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?27932)
Judgment Type: Full Rubric
Participants: Hysteria vs Karuka



Plot: 15 --- 14

Story- 5/10---5/10
The battle was well placed for both characters' overaching plotlines. Neither really trumped the other here in providing an average story to drive a recruitment into the Ixian Knights.

Setting- 6/10---5/10
The setting of a well-stocked warehouse was a fairly unique one that allowed for some interesting interaction. This interaction was played out well by both writers, but lacked an immersion that could have really brought it to life.

Hysteria wins out here due to consistent reference of the way setting affected his character, eg: smears on his face and skin.

Pacing- 4/10---4/10
Overall, the battle felt very rushed by both writers. Understandably, a battle needs to be fast-paced by its very nature, but the thread felt like a whirlwind that just dragged the reader along for the ride. This also affected the action and clarity sections and will be discussed there as well.



Character: 18 --- 15

Communication- 5/10---5/10
Both writers used communication effectively; both for interaction between their characters and internalisation. There was, however, nothing exceptional - either good or bad - so both writers get an average score here.

A higher score could have been achieved by using more subtle internalisations and giving the characters a chance to interact with more focus on why they were fighting.

Action-7/10---5/10
For the most part, action was used well throughout the battle. Hysteria won out here due to two main reasons: Firstly, he consistently allowed attacks to have an effect on him in a realistic manner while Karuka seemed able to dodge or significantly reduce the effects of nearly all the attacks. This came across as unrealistic and a little power-played. Secondly, the immediate ripping off of the warehouse's roof didn't really make much sense before Karuka knew what she was dealing with and felt like an overly forced way to start the battle.

Persona- 6/10---5/10
While Hysteria did a much better job of conveying his character's emotions, a higher score was missed due to them being forced on the reader. A higher score could have been achieved by showing rather than telling, or just showing rather than showing AND telling.

Karuka didn't really give the reader a lot of insight into her character, and left her feeling quite empty. A higher score could have been achieved by letting the reader see into Karuka's psyche a little, and would have also helped with pacing.



Prose: 15.5 --- 17

Mechanics- 4.5/10---7/10
Hyteria's writing had consistent grammatical and spelling errors that could have been fixed with a quick proof-read. Generally, however, sentence structure was perfectly fine and offered variety enough to prevent monotony.

Karuka's spelling and grammar was near-flawless, but there were occasions where sentences consistently followed the same structure of "She... She... She..." which detracted from the content at times. A higher score could have been achieved here by mixing up sentence structure a little.

Clarity- 6/10---5/10
The fight scene overall was pretty hard to keep track of. This was caused due to problems with pacing and also a lack of real description of what each character was doing. Taking a little more time to describe actions would have helped to improve both clarity and pacing.

Overall, however, Hysteria's writing felt a little clearer. This was due to a much simpler approach to his actions. Karuka's score could have been improved mostly by the points above, but as a specific example, it would have helped to explain exactly how spinning her spear created a shield.

Technique- 5/10---5/10
Both writers were pretty evenly matched here, but showed strengths and weaknesses in different areas.

Hysteria made good use of internalisation to portray his character's emotional and mental state, while Karuka's writing showed a little more flair. Each writer's strength was the other's weakness.

Working on these areas will improve both of your scores in this category, though you both are clearly comfortable with your own personal styles.



Wildcard: 6 --- 5
Hysteria gets the win here purely due to Karuka's lack of taking any real hits until the end; I don't like perma-dodgers, sorry.



Final Score: 54.5---51

Hysteria (http://www.althanas.com/world/member.php?2481) Wins!:


3000 EXP!
76 GP!

Congratulations!


Karuka (http://www.althanas.com/world/member.php?2215) Receives:


900 EXP!
62 GP!

[Lye]

EXP & GP Added.