Two Tickets, Please...

[Elijah_Morendale]

I <3 fluid time!!! :D Also, closed to thorn aldsmith.

"Refresh my memory. Why am I here again?" Elijah cocked an eyebrow at the towering spikes of marble in front of him, oblivious to the fact that nearby people could hear him talking to himself.

"Because," the voice said with an exaggerated sigh, "You need the practice. Remember that brawl you got yourself into last week?"

"You mean the one you caused because you wanted me to hit on that girl sitting in the stool next to me?" The denim-clad adventurer could feel his feet walk themselves up the staircase, through the giant oak door, and down the hallowed halls of the Citadel once more. He wasn't thoroughly happy with his first visit to the famed battle arena, and yet here he was again.

His imaginary friend phased in beside him--messy, crimson "sex-hair", questionable fashion sense, toothy grin and all--and joined him in his walking. "And how was I supposed to know that she was married to one of the Corone Rangers?"

Elijah turned to his left, revealing his face to his "friend". His right eye still slightly bruised after suffering one hell of a punch to the face from the ranger. A multitude of angry words, insults, and derogatory phrases were piling up on the tip of his tounge, but to let them rip at what was really nobody in particular would only solidify his status as crazy. Instead, he settled on letting the rage travel through his shaking fists and an upset grumble.

His footsteps quicker and heavier than normal, he made his way over to the closest monk. "Hey, can you throw me in a battle?" It was a crude way to ask the monk, but effective. The man in the robe led Elijah to a door that looked exactly like the one he had been thrown into several months before. The monk effortlessly opened the portal, and Elijah stepped inside.


***

Elijah has seen some strange stuff over the past few years of his blip of an existence, but nothing had prepared him for what he saw. He was standing in what appeared to be a carnival. The boundaries of the arena were decided by an old, rickety, wooden roller coaster. He was standing in the middle of the midway; rows of concession stands and games on either side of him. Dead in front of him was a house of mirrors. He turned around slowly, and behind him was both a merry-go-round and a ferris wheel, complete with kids screaming with glee.

Kids. Of course, any carnival would be jam-packed with people. Under normal circumstances, Elijah would never be caught dead around crowds of this magnitutde. However, there was something about this lot that struck him as odd. They were dressed in clothing centuries old, and they were translucent. These people were nothing more than apparations that made noise; and thus would have no clue about the isolated carnage that was bound to happen today.

Elijah glanced upward at the cloudy sky. Looks like it might rain soon. His thoughts were interrupted by the redhead, who had in her own hand a real stick with cotton candy on it. As she shoveled chunk after pink, fluffy chunk into her mouth, Elijah couldn't help but wonder out loud. "I see that everything but the people here is real, but... How is it that you, a figment of my fractured mind, can consume real food?"

The redhead paused for a second, seemingly in deep thought. "Some questions are better left unanswered, Elijah-san."

Faced with the monumental problems his inquiry had created revolving around the way the universe worked, he had no choice but to agree. There were other things to worry about at the moment--like his opponent, who could drop in behind him at any given moment. "So, how am I supposed to find my opponent in this place?"

In between bites of sugary goodness, the voice managed to say, "Hell if I know. They'll probably be the only thing you can actually hit."

Elijah nodded in silent agreement and began to mentally prepare himself for his upcoming battle.

"Is that a carousel? Aww, fuck yeah! I am so there! I wanna' ride the white pony!" His imaginary friend handed him her cotton candy and raced off towards the ride.

[thorn aldsmith]

Having just come out of a fight and feeling fine, although slightly flustered, he asked the monk who had healed him. “What happens for fun around here?”

The monk looked at him quizzically. “We can create anything, what would you like for fun?”

Thorn thought for a minute, a beach would be good, or maybe a swimming pool. No I know a fun fair! “Could you make a fun fair for me?”

“You know a client has just started a carnival if you’d like.” The monk asks knowingly

“That would be great.” Thorn replies innocently. The monk leads Thorn a little way down the corridor and gestures to a door. He pushes open the door and steps though.

Stepping from the dark corridors of the citadel into the carnival he blinks for a second, a multitude of flashing lights greets him. A sickly sweet smell is in the air, along with the screams of the kids on the rides. Jugglers were throwing bright coloured balls to each other and clowns were falling over. Men on stilts towered over everybody, letting people walk under them, taking one guys wig off. Stall vender shouting for attention. This was going to be fun!

He makes his way to the fun house and smiles as the vender lets him go past, walking over the crazy steps and through the punch bags he looks over the top railing, he can see the whole area from here. That’s odd. He think. There are only humans, no elves or dwarves, angels or demons. Nothing

[Elijah_Morendale]

Elijah lost sight of his imaginary friend as she swiftly ran right through the crowd towards the carousel. While she's away, I might as well enjoy some solitude before my opponent shows up... He began eating what was left of the pink cotton candy as he took a stroll down the midway, passing through the ghosts of former carnival attendees. His walk was originally to try and find whoever it was that he was supposed to be fighting, but as the minutes wore on, the denim-clad adventurer started to care less an less, giving into the whimsical atmosphere of the arena.

Finishing the cotton candy and tossing the paper cone into a nearby trashcan, Elijah's eyes fell upon a special game. In the back of a booth, he saw six glass bottles forming a pyramid, and a list of rules on the nearby wall that stated the following:

--Bottleknockers: A Game Of Precision And Strength--
Five gold for three balls. Knock down all the bottles to win a prize. If you need further explanation of this concept, then you should get your brain checked.

That last part had been scribbled on the sign in a rush, presumably by the carnie who ran the game. Simple enough, Elijah thought to himself as he opened his wallet, throwing five gold coins on the table and reaching for his ammunition. He lightly tossed one of the balls in the air--it was actually a lightly stuffed beanbag. He took his time, acquiring his target--dead center of the glass pyramid. With a grunt, he whipped the beanbag at the glasses. With a slight rustle, the beanbag fell in a weak mass onto the table as the glasses shook lightly. Elijah furrowed his brow, throwing a second beanbag at the pyramid. Same effect. To hell with this, he thought as he grabbed the remaining bag. However, he encased it in a thin layer of ice. He pitched the ball at full speed, which shattered against its target--decimating four of the bottles as well.

"Yes! I won!" Elijah jumped for joy, squealing like a school boy. "Hey, what's my prize?" Elijah looked at the carnie, but was ignored. "Oh, that's right. They can't see or hear me. My bad." The adventurer picked up his gold--hoping nobody would notice--and continued down the path. In the distance, he saw a particular figure enter the fun house. Normally, this wouldn't have caught his attention, but he made it a point of noticing that he couldn't see through this individual.

Then it struck him: His opponent was already here in the carnival, he was looking for him, and he wasn't human. The green skin and tail gave that much away.

[thorn aldsmith]

Coming out of the fun house, he made his way over to a pair of entertainers that were spinning staves. Watching with interest he saw them light the ends of each of the staves on fire. He stands back from the crowd and takes his staff out and tries to copy what the two guys were doing, but without the fire, till one of them throws his staff in the air, then his friend catches it and is now spinning both of them, one with each hand. Thorn tries throwing his staff in the air and fails to catch it.

Looking around to see if anyone noticed he sees someone clearer than anyone else here, making everyone else look transparent. He was nothing special looking, jeans with a little mud at the bottom, a plain black shirt, and a denim jacket too. He seamed more real than anyone else. Like they weren’t real and he was.

With his hand on his staff, but not having picked it up yet Thorn just watched this guy to see what happened.

[Elijah_Morendale]

There was a brief moment where both contestants in the battle stood there, looking at each other. To Elijah, it seemed that the giant lizard knew he was real, but was unaware that he was his opponent. And for that, he was glad. The last thing he wanted to experience that day was the pain of having his face bitten off by an overgrown iguana. However, the lizard had appeared to take the cautious approach by having his staff at the ready.

Elijah sure as hell didn't want to make the first blow, so he decided to fire off a greeting spiked with a two-fingered wave instead. "Hey there. I guess that you're my opponent today. I'm Elijah. You are?" While he waited for a response, he could hear his imaginary friend off in the distance, her high-pitched squeals and screams signaling that she was thoroughly enjoying her carousel ride.

[thorn aldsmith]

The noise of the carnival continued but louder than the screams of the kids on the rides came his voice. "Hey there. I guess that you're my opponent today. I'm Elijah. You are?" Startled by his voice and hesitantly Thorn rose up to standing and replied.

“Er hi there... I’m Thorn. So erm I’m your opponent am I?” Oh shit! I didn’t sign up for this. “Er I guess we fight then.” Thorn noticed that his voice also seamed louder that the crowd as well. Looking around, no-one seamed to have noticed that the two of us were about to fight. Then with a flash of realisation Thorn figured out that the two of them were the only two people here. No one else existed. Readying himself he started walking forward to Elijah. He was prepared to fight, he just had no idea what he was about to fight.

[Elijah_Morendale]

As the lizardman readied his weapon--one mean-looking metal staff--and began walking in his direction, Elijah took a defensive stance, immediately pulling out the dagger he kept inside his denim jacket. As he stood at the ready, Nadia, his imaginary friend, phased in beside him. "I thought you were on the carousel?"

"Yeah, well... It was too tame for my tastes. I need a ride with some power, chief. Oh, by the way, your opponent is here." Her sadistic grin was half concealed by the crimson bangs that fell down her face.

Elijah's eyes remained on his opponent, who was still making his advance towards the adventurer. "Yeah, no shit."

"Nice rod," Nadia proclaimed with a fake swoon as she pointed at Thorn's weapon. "Overcompensating for something, buddy?" She let a high pitched giggle escape from her lips as Elijah shook his head in shame.

"You know, sometimes I worry about you."

"I'd be more worried about making sure he doesn't hit you with that stick. That shit looks like it would hurt." Nadia slowly faded from Elijah's sight.

Elijah felt his hand grow cold, a small, sharp piece of ice forming in his left hand. "I'm already on it." Elijah figured that if he could weaken or disable one of his opponent's arms, then he wouldn't be able to use that staff as well as he normally would've. The small chunk of ice grew and sharpened until it resembled a kunai. Elijah broke out into a run, immediately throwing the icy dagger at one of the green, scaled hands that were wrapped around the pole; hoping to sever a finger or pierce a palm. After the icicle left his hand, he readied his dagger, leaping through the air to slash at the lizardman.

[thorn aldsmith]

Elijah pulled a dagger out from his jacket and stood there for a moment, possibly distracted. Then with quickness Thorn was ready for, threw something, and then lunged forwards in an attack. Dodging to the left Thorn had a split second to either, watch the projectile or plan his attack.

Watching the blade pass his body, it seemed to be more of an icicle than a blade. Aimed at where his hand was moments ago he considered himself lucky to still have both hands. It was then he remembered the other attack. Crouching slightly he brings the left side of the staff up to meet the dagger, before it met his face. Knowing he has a better balance at this point, he brings the right end of the staff down, swinging the left end over his head in an attempt to knock Elijah off balance.

[Elijah_Morendale]

Elijah ran through the apparitions of carnival-goers from years past, each one separating and reforming, like a well-dressed cloud of fog. He was within paces when he made his jump at the lizardman, but he wasn't counting on his opponent responding with a counterattack so quickly. The adventurer figured that he had two options: The high probability of letting his dagger slice Thorn's throat at the cost of a multitude of scrambled and damage brain cells that a collision with the steel pole would cause, or take a hit to the arm and still be able to fight.

Before he could review his options again, he raised his left arm, bending it to protect his head. The force of the impact immediately dropped him to the ground mere inches from Thorn, kicking up a small cloud of dust. Elijah howled in pain as his nerves lit on fire. The crowd went about their leisurely business, completely unaware that there was a fight going on around them.

Elijah painfully growled between clenched teeth, "Pole versus dagger! So not fair!" He lay on the dirt, clutching his left arm, which by now had lost most of its feeling. He wasn't quite sure that it was broken, but he could hardly move it. He decided it was time to even out the odds a little bit. The denim-clad adventurer quickly slammed his right foot against the ground, causing the hidden shoeblade to swing out with a satisfying click. He quickly spun himself on the dirt, making a big sweeping kick with the shoeblade at the back of his opponent's left knee.

[thorn aldsmith]

With a satisfying “THUNK” the staff connected with his arm. Thorn felt the staff vibrate slightly in his hand as it did. The crowd were still completely oblivious, we didn’t even exist to them, or them to us. Elijah was lying on the ground holding his arm “Pole versus dagger! So not fair!”

Just as Thorn was about to reply Elijah swung his leg around in a kick. Trying to jump over his kick, Thorn fumbled, the kick caught him on the inside of his right thigh. “AARGH!” thorn exclaimed dropping to the floor. Clutching his leg he notices the blade, covered in Thorns blood, sticking out of his right shoe. “Not fair would suggest that you only have one dagger, it seems that’s not the case.” Thorn, holding his leg with his left hand reaches for his staff with his right hand. “Oh and it’s a staff not a pole” he says swinging with as much strength as he can muster!

[Elijah_Morendale]

A flash of steel traveled downwards towards the grounded adventurer. A one-armed swing with the staff would be less effective than a proper attack, but it was still pain that Elijah felt he could've done without in his life. He quickly rolled to his left, grimacing in pain as he rolled over his injured arm. He could feel the staff breeze by his head as it collided with the brown dirt with a thunk. As he swung himself around on the ground and pulled himself up on once knee, he shot out in rebuttal, "Staff, pole, same difference. They're both long shafts used to beat the hell out of someone."

Elijah began to recall the few battles he had in the past. His problem was that he gave his opponents plenty of time and space in which to mount an assault. It was high time to change that tactic.

Like a jack in the box, he sprung up from his position, his good arm tightly gripping his dagger and thrusting it at Thorn's throat. It's only the Citadel. It's not like he's really going to die, or anything. This thought had put his mind at ease over the notion of committing murder.

Off in the distance, he could hear Nadia laughing with ecstasy as she rode around in circles on a white wooden horse.

[thorn aldsmith]

Elijah rolled out of the way of the wild swing, Thorn wasn’t surprised. He did use the opportunity to pull himself back up to sitting. He was still holding his leg to try and contain the bleeding. He looks around for something to tie around his leg to stop the bleeding, a balloon string would be perfect.

As the thought of the wound circulated his head Elijah had launched himself at the prone Thorn. The only thing Thorn could think to do was to push off to the right, using his staff to get clear. Unfortunately it would mean leaving his staff! Nothing else came to mind in that instant, so he did. He rolled clear under the currently flying Elijah and onto his feet. About to start running, it was then Thorn remembered how painful it was standing on a wounded leg, and collapsed, face down onto the floor. Shit! That’s gone and blown it. He thought.

[Elijah_Morendale]

Bunny approved

Sweet Lady Luck smiled upon Elijah as Thorn, trying to make his quick getaway, buckled from the leg wound and fell to the hard packed ground. He smiled as he picked up Thorn's staff and threw it behind him, leaving the lizardman without any visible weapons. Elijah felt bad about giving himself the slight advantage, but this was a fight, dammit, and nothing's unfair--as he learned the hard way last time he was in the Citadel.

A brief image of Tyria's tail passing through his throat flashed in front of his eyes as he thought of his next move. Digging his heels into the ground, he crafted a foot-long icicle. He took off, running towards the fallen Thorn to deliver the final stab. He sprung into the air, but as he was coming down, Elijah saw his opponent roll over. Thorn thrust his right foot into the airborne adventurer. He felt a couple of his ribs break from the impact.

He howled as the force of the blow stopped his flight and sent him back a few feet. His body landed on the ground with a thud, and he immediately dropped the icicle and his dagger, clutching his chest with both arms. Elijah rolled around in pain, cussing and screaming up a storm. I should've known better, he told himself. That trick don't work.

Unclenching his eyes, he looked to see Nadia lying on the ground beside him. She had her head propped up on one hand, crimson hair falling all over her face. And yet... The smile she wore was different than the one he was used to seeing: This one was far more maniacal than usual.

"Face it, you can't fight worth a damn," she cooed while Elijah was still in a pain-induced fetal position. "Let me help. Just this once." She ran two of her thin fingers through his tasseled and dirty hair.

He looked into his imaginary friend's eyes for a brief second and weakly gave in to her request. "Fine. Whatever."

Nadia's face lit up as she squealed with glee. As she faded out of view, Elijah felt his own consciousness slip into oblivion.

A split second later, Elijah opened his eyes. His body ached like the dickens, but that was of no concern right now. He had to win at all costs. Grimacing as he tried to stand up, he felt a smile--Nadia's smile--creep across his face. As he glanced at his opponent, who was also trying regain his footing despite the bleeding hole in his leg, he crafted two daggers out of ice, one in each hand.

It was a whole new side of Elijah nobody had seen before. If no one saw him as crazy before, then he definitely looked the part right now. His eyes were filled with the fires of rage and determination, the sadistic grin cracking his face like fine china, and he was hunched over slightly.

He extended his arms outward as he locked eyes with Thorn. "It's go time, turkey!" Rushing forward with a scream that could pierce the heavens, the wind whipping through his hair and jacket as he advanced. Elijah slashed across with both weapons, aiming for the lizardman's throat as he got close enough.

[Taskmienster]

This thread has been waiting for over a year. If you would like to complete it, or work on it further, you can PM myself or another staff member and ask for it to be moved. However, till that time, it will be resting in the Citadel Archive forum.

Thanks,
~Task