Megalovania

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

Closed to Illara.

Dana na nah, na nah naaaa nananah... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2jVbSI9H4o)

I can't see shit.

Seriously. I can barely make out the blades of grass peeking out of the ground ten feet in front of me.

I asked the Ai'brone for something different, something challenging. Whoever designed this arena must have been in a rush to go on break or something, because all they did was throw a bunch of rocks on top of a mountain and cover everything in a thick, soupy fog.

Lazy, lazy, lazy. Did they not want to take the time to craft the beautiful visage of a mountain range in the distance? Y'know, to give me something wonderful to look at before I took two minutes to annihilate some poor sap?

The illusion I usually keep up in public, the one that makes me look human, was down. There was no need for it here. The gnarled mass of plant matter that was my body was exposed to the world. The mist was cool on my skin, making me wish I had at least thought to wear clothes this time. I was sat on one of the boulders at the summit, legs crossed, eyes closed, vines dug into the rocky earth below. I was tapped into the fabricated world deep within the halls of the Citadel, getting a feel for the false world around me.

I could sense the general layout of my surroundings. The summit was relatively flat, save for all the rocks thrown around the place that would no doubt cause problems for anyone looking to traverse them. About one hundred feet away, the ground started to drop away in a steep slope that I would have to be incredibly careful not to accidentally roll down. I could sense hundreds upon thousands of trees growing out of the incline, the clumps of moss and lichen that grew on the rocky earth, the smattering of alpine flowers that could stand the cold climes and harsh winds.

But, these vines of mine served an additional purpose: I was tapped in so I could actually see my opponent whenever he or she decided to show up. Considering the shitty visibility and the fact that I was probably going to bang my knee against something if I tried to rush them, I would have to play this very carefully.

And so, I sat there, cross-legged on my little perch, patiently waiting to taste the heartbeat of my next victim.

[The Mongrel]

"Freebird's next fight. I want it." When I'd spoken to the Ai'Brone ten days before, they looked at me like I was crazy. Only the suicidal or insane would desire the sort of thrashing Madison, Slayer of Pode, Scourge of Eiskalt, Breath of Toxin, was able to casually dish out. Of course, many had tried. But these monks knew my face from decades of bringing in unruly kids who needed attitude adjustments. They hadn't pegged me for an elf with a death wish.

Of course they didn't. They didn't know. To them, I was just a green-eyed stray dog from the city streets, filth to be swept aside at the whims and wills of the elite. I preferred their ignorance. It was refreshing.

Something told me that Freebird would know who I was, even before she saw my face. Even before she heard my voice. We'd both been marked by that red hell. We'd both been changed by it. Even if we were as different as noon was from midnight, even if we were as different as life was from death, we had that in common. Whispers of pending glory had percolated down, and if I played my cards right, I could shove a big, rude gesture in the face of every Bard that demanded my compliance.

But first there was the testing, mine of her, and hers of me.

Lightning bathed the world in stark whites and shadows the instant the heavy stone door slammed behind me. I was in a world that smelled of moss and damp. A thick, pervading mist shrouded a craggy alpine mountain, so dense that even my keen vision faded out just over halfway to the top of the steep cliff I found myself standing beneath. But even though I couldn't see her in detail, I could see the heat of her body at the very top of the precipice, where of course she'd be. I was still smugly pleased to see her broadcasting her warmth like a lighthouse in a storm. She was only two hundred feet away, almost straight up.

Very well, then.

I reached for a little pouch on my belt, pulling the thin green lenses out of my eyes and putting them safely away. I didn't need to hide the Star-chosen silver here; I did need to preserve my sight.

Thunder cracked impatiently above while I pulled on my climbing gloves, as if the environment had been made to wait for the inevitable bloodbath and was ready to deliver punishment of its own. Wind started screaming through cracks in the rocks and the sweet-smelling pine needles like the souls of the damned. It tugged at every crack in my dark leather armor and whipped every stray lock of raven-black hair into my face. But it did nothing to move the mist, which clung persistently to the ground.

Finally, rain began to fall in great, pelting sheets, freezing every inch of exposed flesh and coating the cliff in icy slickness that my boots would easily bite through. I doubted that the room's designer had ever experienced a mountain rainstorm, because while the droplets pattered their little staccato beats, they lacked the pitch and timbre of real rain. I'd be able to hear through the storm better than I ought to, and for some reason, that felt insulting.

Fuck you, weather.

I took a running start and bounced my nimble way up the cliff. Where a human would have found only sheer wall and certain death, I very nearly found a stair case. What would have been a dangerous, arduous climb for almost anyone else was simply a thirty-second exercise to get my blood moving for combat.

I saw her clearly when I reached the top, all writhing thorns and glowing amber eyes. The swords at my side, the bow at my back, all of them cried for her blood. Or... her sap? Was this freak really Madison Freebird? Had she lost so much...? Or had she become so much?

Only one way to find out, isn't there?

"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" I walked away from the cliff and toward the treacherous ground beyond my opponent, still giving her a wide berth.

"The wind is howling, the rain is pounding." I pulled my bow from my back and reached for my arrows, feeling delicately to see which one had the straightest fletching. The Stars hated abominations of nature, so if I hit her dead on, agony would be a polite term to describe what she felt.

"On days like these, things like you... should fear the Starlight." In an instant, I drew, nocked, aimed and let fly, sending a bright silver shaft flying for my opponent and moving quickly from my spot.

Here we go.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

The first rumble of thunder brought a deep, sharp scowl to my face. My blood began boiling as the first drops of rain fell and grew into a torrential downpour that soaked me to my core. Through the vines I had planted in the dirt below me, I could feel the movements of insects and creatures of the mountain

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" I could barely hear myself over the howling of the winds that wove between the boulders on the summit and the pounding of water against earth and vine-woven flesh.

It was bad enough that I couldn't see ten feet in front of me, but now with the skies opened up above me, everything was going to be slick once my opponent finally showed up and engaged--

--Wait a second. In my vines, I could sense a presence that was all too familiar, and at the same time, like nothing I had ever encountered before. Down the craggy slope some couple hundred of feet, a new life force had made itself known. It was... dark. Evil. Not of this realm. But it was being drowned out by something... pure? No, that can't be the best word to describe this odd sensation.

I grit my teeth and tried to focus on the darkness within this being, whose speed and pulse told me was a female elf half-breed of some sort. It was swirling inside her very soul, trying to fight this bright, piercing energy that swam through her. It was strong, and it was familiar. It tasted of blood, sacrifice, death, and pure malice.

And that's when it hit me.

I recognized this power. I knew all it, because it was the very same that flowed through my veins.

Pode. This Halfling was touched by the Forgotten One who had given me so much and took even more from me in return. But... what the hell was that energy that fought the sorceress's corruption?

I began wracking my brain for possible names. I had to have known who this person was... In my service to Pode, I looked at the registry forms of every person who was conscripted into the high elves' campaign against the witch. I only remember seeing only a handful of half-elves or mixed-bloods within their ranks. Seven of them were not deemed worthy of succession by Pode, and they had died during the campaign. Of the other two, I murdered one and absorbed the shard of her soul she gifted him, and--

...Oh.

Oh, fuck.

This was the one who survived. This is the one of the five who killed the Red Witch deep within her own realm, but the only one whose deeds were truly recognized and celebrated by the Raiaerans, due to her heritage.

The one that the High Bard Council, in their many speeches after the fact, called "the heroine blessed by the stars themselves".

Illara, she was called.

And she's right here. With me.

A chill crept down my spine, and I felt overcome by many things--excitement, apprehension, anger. I felt my gnarled face twisting into something that represented a childish grin. What do I do? A few months ago, I would have leapt right off the boulder, flayed the flesh from her bones, and rip the power of the Forgotten One that I craved so much right out of her. But I had given up those ideals a long time ago, and retreated into the frozen depths of the Salvar woods, where I would be left alone to continue my own research and experiments, away from the prying eyes and temptations of the every day world. But there was no way it could have been coincidence that the two of us were in the same place at the same time--

The faint twang of a bowstring snapping brought me out of my thoughts and back to reality. Before I could react, a thin glowing line whizzed through the air, splitting fog and cutting raindrops in half as it traveled towards my heart. A jagged, deep crimson crystal I kept buried deep inside me, the shard of the Red Witch's soul that I ripped from her dying body that fateful day, quickly grew hot. A wave of repulsive magic burst from within my chest, distorting the air around me as it pushed outwards. The arrow was deflected off to the side with a soft pop, and splintered into sparkly bits against a nearby boulder.

I managed to cry out a single expletive as I fell off the back of the boulder. My back hit the rocky turf hard, nearly knocking the wind out of me as I tried to get over the shock of the surprise attack. Rain continued to pelt every exposed inch of my vines, as the ones I had dug into the ground twisted and contorted with my awkward movements.

Even through the storm and thick fog, I could "see" her. A maelstrom of dark energy and... and whatever the hell that other stuff was. She was approaching faster than I would have liked. She was bounding over rocks and between shallow crevices, her agile footwork confident and unerring.

I had to stall for time.

Go, I sent a whisper of a command to two families of parasites that had taken shelter from the storm within the cracks of the gnarled vines of my biceps. They leaped off my body and landed on the ground, immediately going to work on absorbing the energies of the earth. It was several seconds before I could see thin tendrils of plant matter sprout from the dirt. It would be several longer, agonizing moments before they twisted together and formed into twin Briarbane.

"Hold up," I shouted over the cover of the huge stone that had been my perch until moments ago. "Just wait right there, alright? Let's talk this out, Illara!"

I bit my lower lip as I waited for a response from the halfling. Grow, you little fuckers. Grow quickly for mommy.

[The Mongrel]

I paused briefly, hunching against a gust of wind that pulled at my tightly-braided hair and threatened to tear me to the ground. Stinging drops of water pelted my face - another mark against whichever monk had made this mountain. It felt more like sleet than rain. "I thought you might know me," I called for her weak human ears to hear over the screaming storm. "You didn't disappoint."

As for her requests? Some of my favorite, never-uttered words of wisdom run: if a plant monster that could kill you in a multitude of horrible ways tells you to stop moving, keep fucking moving. Ever one to listen to sage advice, I let my feet beat swift, sloshing steps off toward Freebird's right as soon as the wind died down. I could see a massive heat spike to either side of her - something growing, doubtless - and like hell I was going to take what she had at full force.

"I actually came in hopes of speaking with you, but you understand why I wanted assurances that I'd be coming out alive."

A little closer, a little more time given for the whatever-it-was to grow, and I could see the makings of other plant monsters in Madison's image. She was hoping to distract, confuse, and outnumber me - and that was presuming that the things had none of their creator's devastating powers. Haide, no. I hope a well-placed arrow to the roots is enough...

I turned my back to the pelting rain, narrowing my eyes to focus on a target. There was a focal point just below the ground, as much an umbilical cord as something like it could have. The creature... construct? automaton? was already starting to show signs of awareness, moving its body and huddling a little from the ferocious weather, there was no way for it to know what was coming.

I nocked, pulled, and released. Another glowing arrow sang through the gloom, carefully aimed to account for the wind. I saw point, shaft, and fletching plunge into the earth, and the hot little vine monster slumped over, immediately starting to chill.

"There is something I'd like to propose," I continued, bringing another arrow to hand and moving more carefully as I entered a field of jagged rocks. "But I'll let you speak first."

The heat spike further from me leveled off in temperature and started shambling away from its anchor point, nothing to grown in just a matter of moments. So her powers worked quickly. No wonder she was one of the five... Now come on, bitch. What have you got for me?