Crystalline Undeath [Closed to Rehtul and Crystal]

[Flamebird]

Her eyes fluttered open.

Her face was pretty much glued to the pages of a book. The chair she in felt stiff and rigid. She reached and gently peeled the pool pages off her face. She hazily sat up, looking down on a book detailing the intricities of Post Shattered Tap magic. The words were blurred to her as she struggled to wake up. She closed her eyes, shaking her head a few times, she reached back. She smoothed her hair down and opened her eyes.

This library was ginormous. Elven architecture swirled in golden beams and dainty walls. The redwood bookshelves were carved as if meant to be seen as living wood. The halls between isles were expansive and roomy, and the reading area in the front of the room was even more massive. She looked up, the ceiling curved up in a towering dome, stain glass allowing light to filter down from the outside world. This library was indeed fantastic. Felicity had spent her first hour here gawking at the gorgeous library.

Then, of course, the bad part. Sitting.

Felicity was here because she wanted to learn a style of magic from her friend Rehtul Orlouge. He had agreed to train her, after much pestering on the young woman's part, and had brought her here to... read.

Ugh.

Felicity loathed being forced to stay in one spot.

She looked down again, piles of books were stacked before her, waiting to be read. Her eyes crossed. Why. So. Many? She groaned, like a toddler being forced to eat greens. Reluctantly, she bent down to read another page.

At least these books were so boring, she could fall asleep without having nightmares.

With a sigh, she pressed her elbow against the table and plopped her chin in her palm. She flipped another page, reading over its contents. Felicity wanted to learn ice magic, and Rehtul was an expert in the art. She felt goosebumps on her back just thinking about ice magic. She made it look like to Rehtul that it just seemed cool, she wanted to learn ice magic out of curiosity. She did, in fact, hide her real reasons for wanting to learn.

Exposure therapy. Felicity was deathly scared of ice magic, due to past traumas from her first mentor. Felicity was hoping that if she could learn ice magic, she could overcome this fear. She also could one up on her lover's collection of elemental powers. That was definitely a plus. She blinked sadly, she missed him already.

No time to think on that, however. Or, there was all the time in this boring book nook, but Rehtul wanted her to gorge her mind in useless knowledge instead of training. Either way, she had reading to do. So read she did.

[Sugarp1e1]

Above the mortal girl, on lepidopteran wings, a Faerie flitted about from shelf to shelf. She skimmed through each title, looking for something, anything, to silence these thoughts.

"We need science."
"We need magic."
"We need to relax."
"We need to move."
"We need release."

The Faerie was only sure of one thing: this needed to end.

One half of her wanted to continue searching, the other just wanted to accept her fate. She knew this was no way to live, but couldn't help but admit to herself that she was in over her head.

After all, who exactly has a cure for having five extra souls?

An exorcism wasn't an option. The Faerie didn't want these souls gone; just separated from her body.

She knew how she got herself into this mess, so she had an idea of how to get out. But the concept of creating empty bodies isn't exactly something she's had any luck in finding, especially bodies that resemble the one you may have lost.

Years of searching. Nothing to show for it.

The Faerie shook her head, her clawed hands covering her eyes and scratching her forehead. The ground directly below her slowly began to freeze and frost began to form on the surrounding bookshelves.

Not wanting to pay for any damages to the books, the Faerie withdrew from the shelves. She briskly swooped over the tables below her, looking for an empty table to calm herself at.

The Faerie's wings kicked up a slight breeze, strong enough to ruffle some papers, but she felt it better than the alternative of freezing some poor sap's reading material.

Fortunately, she found a table to sit, away from the readers. Her head still in her hands, she took deep shaken breaths.

"You need to stop."
"You have to find a way."
"You reap what you sow."
"You aren't helping."
"You've cursed us all."

Ice and frost continued to form around the Faerie, her frozen tears falling onto the table with tiny clinks. The sound of tinkling bells.

[Celandine]

Vast. Glorious. Magnificent. The rafters stretched high above her, huge and arching that spoke of skill in architecture which belonged to ancient masters. Shelves upon shelves, row upon row, spread out underneath them like a blanket of knowledge merely waiting to be plucked. It was a fresh buffet for any starving and eager mind, open for all but limited to only those who knew the languages and understood the deeper meanings.

It was advantageous, then, that she was who she was. Celandine, born of Philomel Van Der Aart, the famous Matriarch, and blessed by the tree goddess Drys. The young half faun had not only grown up several times faster than was natural but also could take in, comprehend and use any knowledge within a quarter of the time of an average being. Learning weaponry had become instinctual. Picking up a new language had become simple. Reading - well, despite technically not even being a decade old yet she could easily breeze her way through a full dictionary in little more than an hour.

There were currently four to her side. Each one a dictionary of various themes. One of phrases and quotations. One of mythological creatures and their symbology. One of literary names and meanings. And the last ...

Currently she was going through something similar - a basic dictionary of common augury symbols and their meanings. For too long now had she been suffering under her prophetic dreams, with often little knowledge of what they actually were trying to tell her. Yes, in basics they showed an image of the day to come, an insight into a danger she might face or a person she might meet. However, more and more there was strange and wondrous other sightings in her dreams. A deer with a mighty crown, for instance, in the middle of a very urban town before she had narrowly avoided a bar brawl. A giant, whose hair tickled the sky when she had actually ended up being in a field of poppies with nobody in sight. A bird that seemed to be on fire before the day she had witnessed a crime of forestry arson. That was why she had come to this library, to better understand herself and her abilities. Because phoenixes rarely flew where she was bound. And giants were infrequently that tall.

She sighed a little but kept reading, oblivious to the faerie who broke down weeping, the nuclear lass becoming frustrated, and the blue-haired mage who was somewhere hidden amongst the shelves.

[Rehtul Orlouge]

Treatise on the Creation of Artificial Life, by Darnaeus Goldweather, lay open on the table in front of the mage Rehtul Orlouge as he adjusted his glasses. He had come to Raiaera partially to get some books on elemental magical practice to help his friend Felicity in their training, but he had an ulterior motive. Creating homunculi seemed to be a very involved process that required vast sums of resources and no small amount of skill. It was fortunate, then, that the man had both in spades.

That would have to be put to the side for the moment, it would seem. Even in the gilded halls of the Raiaeran libraries, the fidgeting of the uncultured could still get under one's skin. Hadn't she ever been required to sit and read reports from her underlings in that military organization she was a part of, or was she more of a bully sergeant type that always required some level of action to be able to function at all.

The young man snapped his notebook closed with a sigh and turned to face the redhead next to him with a look that practically screamed, "If you don't stop fidgeting I'm going to drop a hundred kilos of ice directly on your head." After a few moments of finding his better nature, however, he merely rubbed the bridge of his nose and slid his notebook into one of the voluminous pockets hidden in his jacket.

"You know, you asked me to train you. I told you I learned everything I know from books and built on it through trial and error from there."

Indeed, the girl had incessantly called on him, and only a week or so after the young Hanuh had left his personal care for her trip to Berevar. It had gotten lonely, after he'd finally catalogued everything in the old man's lab. Of course, he'd also found some notes labeled with Felicity's last name, though he wasn't particularly keen to discuss that information with her until he was certain she'd be okay talking about whatever this man had done to her.

The sound of tinkling bells caught the young man's ear. He turned to a desk about halfway across the room from him and saw little out of the ordinary besides a small droplet of water. He shrugged internally and turned his attention back to Felicity, under the impression that he had simply caused the air's temperature to fall in his irritation over the girl's inability to sit still for even five seconds.

"What did you expect when I agreed to teach you magecraft?!" he whispered to her harshly.

Then, softer, he said, "Look... to master a craft that has a crystalline structure, one must be able to still their mind and emotions and hone them into sharpened edges. The first step is to learn the fundamentals of what kind of magical forces you're working with and how to apply them. Until you know how to use the magic safely, I'm not teaching you a single practical thing. You know what happens if you accidentally cut yourself."

[Flamebird]

In her own little world, she really could see nothing outside the table, a cross Rehtul, and her own fears. Felicity was hot headed and stubborn. If challenged to a fight, she was going to fight. She had met Rehtul in the Citadel after all. Still, she knew he was right. Even down to calming one's mind. Yet how on earth was she supposed to do that? It frightened her, as she was unable to even stay still without thinking, and thinking often times lead to thoughts surrounding her past. Leoric had a history of literally dragging her to bed and knocking her out to get her to sleep at all. She was too busy doing something, anything to avoid her internal terror.

She sighed, looking away from Rehtul with a frustrated frown and furrowed forehead. She gritted her teeth. How on earth was she supposed to do this? Everything from Rehtul's teaching style to how the magic worked was against everything Felicity was. She was always emotional, always feeling. Yet, she knew perfectly well that unresearched, experimental powers could lead to ruin, mistakes, and terrible side effects and damage. Her nuclear powers, which activated every time she bled, were a testimony to this. No wonder she wore heavy clothes, including gloves, boots, and an outfit that covered everything from the neck down. She nodded slowly, her heart pounding inside her chest. She clenched her fist, the fabric of her glove making a rubbing sound.

"Yeah, yeah, I know... but sitting still has always been hard for me." Even more so, since her PTSD formed.

She looked down at the documents and books, feeling overwhelmed. It clearly showed with her wide eyes and daunted expression. She bit her lip, though not hard enough to make it bleed. She felt her jittery anxiety lightning striking inside every nerve in her body. She closed her eyes, practicing some deep breaths. After a moment, she opened her eyes and turned to Rehtul.

"I'll admit, this is different than how anyone else has taught me. Teaching me to swim by pushing me into the water and stuff." She smiled a bit, "But caution and safety is a breath of fresh air. I do appreciate this, Rehtul.. I really do." She looked back down to the book opened in front of her, "I am trying to read this..."

[Sugarp1e1]

With a sniffle and a sigh, the Faerie's hands finally left her face, her fingers and claws dragging down her cheeks and exposing the gray underside of her lower eyelids as they did. She quickly wiped her tears off the table, making more of that bell sound as they shatter onto the floor.

The ice and frost began to melt, leaving shallow puddles and a damp wall behind her.

"I better leave before someone notices." she thought.

No longer having the motivation to fly, she stood up from her chair and stretched, clasping her fingers together, pointing them inward and pushing out her arms into the air. Her second and third pairs, though Glamoured to be invisible to everyone around her, were also stretching. The Faerie could feel her muscles flexing as she leaned backward and lifted her four extra arms.

Her fingers abruptly released and her arms fell back to the side of her being, almost limp. She stayed in this awkward leaning position for a bit before straightening herself.

"I wonder if there's any creative fiction around here."

Hoping to decompress and continue her research later, the Faerie furled her wings and wandered aimlessly between the shelves wondering what to read, not even acknowledging the two mortals who were bickering at the desk.

"At least they've gone quiet again. Maybe now I can hold myself together."

But she could still feel them.

Their frustration.

Their sadness.

Their confusion.

Their fear.

Their hatred.

[Celandine]

Once finished the current dictionary Celandine stood, her mind having taken in some of the words directly and significantly, the others remaining as distant understandings to be plucked at at a later time. Pursing her lips she thoughts about how she knew now that a deer could be associated with the ability to overcome obstacles, or express a connection to an ability to be resolute but also kind. Did that mean that very soon she was to come across some obstacle? Certainly she had been seeing a few different species of the cervid ungulates in her dreams. Although last night she could have sworn that she had seen a winged insectoid like creature with multiple arms.

Stretching, groaning, she picked up the dictionaries and began to reshelve them. That research would do for now. At this moment she was tired and was beginning to feel somewhat hungry. Food. Food would be good. Perhaps some dried fruit and nuts, and she was sure she had some foccaica bread somewhere rolled up in a wax cloth at the bottom of her bag.

Sliding the tomes home beside their comrades on the bookshelves Celandine padded her hooves a couple of times before looking left and right. She could hear distant voices now, ones that seemed to be arguing. But all she could see was book shelf after shelf. Grunting softly she nodded and picked a random direction, the clunk of her goat legs making a quiet rhythm on the rugs of the floor.

But she must have been very quiet. Too quiet. Because no sooner had she turned her first corner than she came face to face, crashing into a small and young-faced woman.

"Sorry!" She felt her miniature horns butt lightly on the girl's skull. Lifting up her hands she stumbled back with the impact, but was already apologetic and appalled. "Sorry!"

[Rehtul Orlouge]

Rehtul sighed and tapped his finger against his chin, wondering how such a very reckless individual had come to ask him, one of the most careful of the Orlouge family, to help her learn how to use magic.It was quite the intriguing series of events, he had to admit, but it was clear that she wasn't really cut out for reading books that required an intense amount of concentration. He stood up and stretched and adjusted his glasses once more to settle more correctly on the bridge of his nose.

"Honestly, I don't think you're getting much out of that book by sitting there staring at one page for twenty minutes at a time," he said as he brought crossed an arm over his chest and stretched before doing the same with the other one.

"Maybe we should try something a little different. I'll be right back, I'm going to see if I can find a book with some exercises we can do to help you get the hang of ice magic in a way more natural to your way of doing things," Rehtul said. He slipped out from in front of his chair, slid it under the table.

He wandered through the myriad shelves with a half smile on his face, amused that he had found a student who was so far his opposite in learning style. As he turned a corner, he came close to running into the hindquarters of a faun.

The chestnut hair of the faun looked vaguely familiar to the young man, and without thinking about it too hard he blurted out, "Philomel?"

He hadn't seen the woman since the time they had "technically" faced off in the Citadel, though he recalled it ended up more him keeping her pet elemental occupied for a few minutes, like playing with a dog. They hadn't talked for long afterward, other than thanking each other for the battle and leaving, though the experience was still memorable enough to the young man to warrant remembering her name.

There was also the fact that his network of assassins and informants kept tabs on her as a high priority person of interest, but he'd never willingly divulge that particular fact.

[Flamebird]

Felicity stood up when Rehtul left. Finally! An agreement of some kind! She took a step back from the desk, placing her foot against the seat and stretching her toned leg. As she switched to the other leg, she muttered to herself. She missed New Brookshaven, her home in Corone. She was hoping she could learn these powers quickly, then return home. Unfortunately, despite her affinity for magic, it seemed like this would take longer than she thought. She stretched her upper body, sighing, as she worried more about the whole calming your mind thing.

Did she really have to?

She looked around after stretching. Rehtul still had not returned. With an irritated groan, she turned and walked towards the direction he left in. Wandering the halls, she adjusted her heavy clothes a bit. Wondering if Leoric was right in this training being a stupid move, she turned a corner to see Rehtul caught up in conversation with others.

The first individual she noticed was someone she knew. Philomel's daughter, Celandine, whom she had met during her time in the Brotherhood of Castigars. The other individual was a fae, at least from what she could tell. The strange fae had the look of a more insectoid creature than most, with wings like a butterfly. They were quite gorgeous, actually. Felicity shook her hands, placing her one hand on a hip. She hung back, waiting for Rehtul to finish.

"Thaynes," She muttered to herself, "This is turning into those bland blabbermouth Brotherhood meetings I always was forced to sit through."

[Sugarp1e1]

The collision with the goat-legged mortal expelled a puff of snow from the Faerie's body as she reflexively unfurled her wings. The impact briefly dispelled the Glamour, revealing the Faerie's true form, before she regained her composure and the Glamour took hold once more.

The Faerie wasn't sure of how much this mortal had seen, but she had a feeling her arms, having been lifted on impulse, would've been the first to be noticed. Or maybe this mortal hadn't seen anything at all, what with her evident focus being on apologizing profusely for bumping into the Faerie.

"Who is this?"

Unsure of what to make of this...goat thing she hadn't seen before, the Faerie kept her wings erect and slowly flapping, not enough to induce flight but just enough to get moving in a pinch should things turn sour. Or maybe dissipating would be a better alternative.

"It's just a mortal, you cur."
"I think this may be faun."
"Yeah, nothing to worry about."
"Mortals can have goat legs and horns?!"
"Just try not to kill her."

This "faun", as they put it, didn't seem to be a member of the Sway. It would be rather reckless of these hunters to make another attempt at her life in a public area like this, wouldn't it? Plus, she didn't appear to have any armor or weapons with which to..."safely" dispatch the Faerie.

As she was thinking this, another mortal appeared behind the faun, this one a blue-haired fellow with a strong magical aura about him. Now this mortal definitely looked more the part of somebody who would want the Faerie's head, the sight of him causing her heartbeat to quicken.

But not out of fear.

No.

Out of elation.

But she had to contain herself. This was no place to deliver punishment.

An icy mist forming around her being, and keeping her fanged smiles to herself, the Faerie finally spoke to the faun.

"It's fine. I'm okay."

[Celandine]

"I'm okay."

The reply was good. Positive. It meant well things and that Celandine hadn't caused too much of an issue. And briefly she was sure she saw the being shift and two other pairs of arms appeared. As she adjusted herself, taking a couple of steps back in surprise she smiled awkwardly, brushing down her heavy woollen jumper.

"Sorry again though! I didn't mean -" and she paused, frowning a little as she thought about the extra arms vanishing, making the young looking woman go back to her previous form. Six arms ... That had been her vision last night. Yet, intriguingly, that was only part of this creature's identity. It seemed she had some form of disguise magic.

How interesting ...

"Philomel?"

There was a voice behind her. Celandine turned to see someone else - a very confused looking blue-haired man oddly gazing her at. He seemed confused, and even more confused as she turned to face him and he could see her full profile. Awkwardly she smiled, lifting her hands and patting her shorter horns.

"No, no. Although I do get that fairly often. Philomel is my mother. Weirdly." She looked uncertain. The connection to the infamous faun of fauns was not exactly beneficial in every society. Everyone had an opinion of her mother, whether they hated the fact she was leader of the feminist guild of the world or she had slept with their mother's brother's cousin.

Just then though someone else strode up.

"Goodness, this is a busier library than I expected!" Celandine said with surprise. "Flameo!" She nodded politely to the red-haired mage behind this confused man, but did not forget the beautiful creature she had initially bumped into.

"Ah sorry!" She tried to move back to let everyone into the conversation. "I - I'm Celandine." She tucked a stray hair behind her ear and looked as adorable as she could accidentally muster.

[Rehtul Orlouge]

"Her daughter, huh? I had heard something about her having one," Rehtul mentioned as he beheld the young faun. It wasn't every day that he could come across someone of that race, much less one who defaulted to acting cute and shy when in what one could consider a tough situation.

"Eh, it doesn't really matter. I am an acquaintance of hers. I was simply surprised to see who I thought to be her here in Raiaera when as I understand it she doesn't leave her home much these days," he said as he scratched the back of his head.

Noticing the woman she was speaking to for the first time, he nodded to the both of them.

"You and Felicity know each other, though? That is intriguing. I'd not know the world was so small."

He then blanched slightly before saying, "Pardon my lack of manners. My name is Rehtul Orlouge."

[Flamebird]

Felicity felt a but dumbfounded at everything going on. She blinked, hanging back a bit more. A lifetime of mistreatment, even by her loved ones, had caused her to develop strong trust issues and a sense of wariness that had worsened this past year. She still stood aloof from the rest of the group, nodding to Rehtul and Celandine, but ignoring the fae. The young woman sighed, looking over to the bookshelves and starting to run her fingers over the books on the shelf closest to her.

"Yeah. We met before." She mumbled absently.

When Rehtul introduced himself, Felicity reluctantly threw her name to the fold, "I'm Felicity Rhyolite."

After leaving the Brotherhood and its fancy titles behind, her introductions simply felt too short. Felicity looked over to Rehtul and continued to follow his lead... from a distance. She looked to the bookshelves again and found herself skimming through the titles. Meenlocks - Embodiment of Fear, The Terrors of the Mind, Mind Control and The Usefulness of Harnessing the Victim's Fear. Were all these books about topics related to fear? She frowned. She came here to face her fears, yes, but right now she was standing apart from the rest of the group and flinching from the prospect of... people.

She sighed, wondering how Leoric would regard this behavior?

Felicity pulled a brave face, as if doing something huge, and walked over to stand next to Rehtul. She was short and stocky, muscular, compared to the ice mage. Her red hair reached down to her waistline, let down and a but tangled. Despite all the clothes meant to prevent being cut, it was obvious this girl was fit and powerful. She repeatedly reached back and pulled some hair behind her ear, a nervous twitch. The usually bubbly and outgoing girl looked to Rehtul with a look that said I'm wary, you take charge.

[Sugarp1e1]

"Seriously, just who are these mortals?"

There was an air of magic in all of them, if the Faerie was being honest with herself. There was no chance that the Sway would hire mages, would they? They hate magic. But she couldn't ignore the power she felt from them, the blue-haired one in particular, and they most certainly weren't fae.

They looked too...boorish. And their magic felt...unnatural.

The blue-hair and the faun seemed to have their magical energy stagnate around them from previous use, rather than emanate innately from within. As for the red-hair, her magic seemed to be intrinsic to her being just as a faerie's is, but it also seemed to have been tainted by something. Whatever that "something" was, the Faerie didn't know, but it was all the same to the her; these three carried a borderline bastardization of something that came so naturally to the Fae. Raw power notwithstanding, these creatures were definitely nothing more than mere mortals.

"Why would they come here? To me? The faun seems harmless enough, but for two more to arrive immediately after? Even if they've nothing to do with the Sway, surely they're after something from me."

Believing the Sway to have connections outside of Salvar, the Faerie made it a point to never interact with anybody of any race. Not even fellow fae, but that's for a much more personal reason. So when she wasn't being hunted down by magic-hating brutes, the Faerie often became a target of others with their own agendas in mind. Some merely knew a hunter the Faerie had punished and sought revenge, others wanted her blood for potions or some other experiment.

More still believed her to be a perfect victim for the most disgusting of evils. Even more just wanted to pick a fight for any valuables she might have or for no reason at all.

The Faerie had punished them all. Every last one.

If she was to survive, this was to be. And if she was to stay sane, she had to love it.

Mist still emerged from the Faerie's being as she stared at the faun, the puddle of sleet forming beneath her betraying her sense of disgust.

"Just what is this goat thing playing at? Is she trying to let my guard down?"

"These mortals are all the same."
"But she's not doing anything wrong."
"Being cute is a crime now?"
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
"You're not seriously going to kill her, are you?"

No. No, she wasn't.

The Faerie knew exactly what to do with the faun. And she wasn't going to lay a finger on her to do it.

Then again, she wasn't going to lay a finger on the one who concerned her the most either. The red-hair, however, can wait.

Trying her best not to bare her fangs, the Faerie began to scratch at her right cheek in anticipation. Her claws, not visible to the mortals but still very much sharp, made a hiss-like sound across her skin.

"I'm Crystal." she said.

Her claws dug deeper into her own flesh.

"Crystal..."

They dug yet deeper.

"...Platinumsound."

Finally, her cheek was open. Her thick black blood oozed from the wounds like tar.

The ground shook for but a moment, before several icicles the size of large stalagmites shot up from the earth, each one set to put the blue-hair on a pike.

[Celandine]

Whatever the hell was going on, however the hells it was happening, Celandine had no idea. It was sudden, the change of atmosphere - from a peaceful library meeting to this violent escapade. She had been enjoying this greeting of people, of those who were a part of her past, becoming one of her present and likely her future.

She frowned a little at the icey environment, admidst all the wonder of masses of books and knowledge. Poisonous emotions clung to the air like a mist, and she felt the ground chill before the icicles exploded. One shriek - "watch out!" - she cried.

Did this Crystal person know Rehtul? It was odd, uncertain but the way they had greeted one another suggested not. But now she was attacking him! Celandine pressed herself right back against the shelves, turning her head to keep herself from any mergance of future harm.

This was a fight she did not want to be a part of. In a place entirely inappropriate.

"Watch the books!" She cried.

[Rehtul Orlouge]

The air hung heavily with the animosity of the small woman that Celandine had been talking with before Rehtul had rudely interrupted. As the woman began to introduce herself, the evidence of magical energy infusing the area became incontrivertable. As the blood dripped from her fingers, Rehtul could feel a crescendo of magical power in the ground beneath him.

With little more than a wave of his hand, he summoned an inch thick sheet of ice in front of his body and felt the spikes of ice that erupted from the ground bounce harmlessly into it. His eyes creased as his mouth bent downward in a scowl. He hadn't done anything to deserve this treatment, yet this woman had attacked him?

"Unforgiveable," he said softly as he brought the sheet of ice up to his right hand and shaped it into a large spear. "You would attack a person completely unprovoked?!"

His left hand raised up next to his head and he snapped. In less than a second, eleven more spears of ice appear behind him, floating in the air and all pointed directly at the smaller creature. Their crystalline structures bent the light and cast small rainbows upon the books and the assembled group. The other visitors in the library had begun clearing out of the area, and the librarians were panickedly trying to collect the books left out on the floor without getting involved.

"Watch the books!" echoed through the shelves, a plea from the young faun woman. A sigh escaped Rehtul's lips as he turned toward the nearest door.

"You want this? I'll be waiting outside."

With that he summoned a small disc of ice under his feet and glided toward the exit to the courtyard outside of the library. He'd be damned if he was going to allow some random person attacking him to destroy the knowledge contained within that building, at least not until he'd had copies of every book in there added to his personal collection.

[Flamebird]

Felicity winced, holding her aching side as she looked up to her mentor. She was unable to clearly see her surroundings, her memory was so blurred and jagged. Forms and shapes slithered and mingled behind her abuser. A thin, cloaked woman held her sword by the blade, having just murderstroked Felicity for the slightest wrong actions. As she took the hilt of her sword, she spat, "I told you not to interrupt me!"

Felicity blinked the tears back, looking next to her, at the dead brigand she had tried to prevent her from killing. Felicity heard footsteps and turned her head, seeing the remaining two brigands dashing in front of their protected black market cargo, which she was unable to identify in her haze.

"Just who do you think you are!" The first one spat.

The other one choked a cry, "How dare you kill Mike!"

The woman chuckled, casually standing there with a smirk beneath her hood, "You are criminals. Nothing more than cattle deserving of slaughter." She stepped forward, brandishing her sword.

One of the guards took a step back, the other foolishly holding his own sword up, "Stand back! I'm warning you!"

Felicity knew what was coming. Their doom. Tears fell from her eyes as she watched her mentor's next culling.

"I am Ayleth," the woman declared in a bold, cold tone, "The Executioner of the Wicked. It is time for you to pay for all you have done."

Without warning, two ice spiked exploded from the ground, impaling both. One was left alive, the meek one. As he hung defenseless on the pike from his shoulder, Ayleth lightly laughed, like a child on a playground, "Oops, I didn't kill that one. I suppose I can have fun before finishing you off..."

Felicity had to look away then. She curled up, hugging herself as echoes of the man's agony from torture screamed in her ears.


~~~

Felicity stood, frigid with terror. She was frozen in place, eyes wide. She did not see the library. She did not see the books. She did not see the people, or the fighting, or her friend. She only saw the ice. Ice. Terrible, magical ice. Spikes rising from the ground, javelins flying high, and a round disk of pure, cold, frightening magical ice. Her heart pounded, sweat bursting from her skin. Her fingers twitched, she felt phantoms pains. She heard echoing screams. She saw ghosts of terror. She staggered back, knocking over some books as fell to the floor and let out an ear splitting scream.

"No! Stop! Ayleth! I won't-please stop! Don't hurt- no! Please!"

She curled up in the fetal position, bawling as her screams echoed across the entire library.

[Sugarp1e1]

"What?!"

Crystal watched in disbelief as her icicles landed with pathetic clinks against the blue-hair's ice only to shatter across the ground. The icy mist that had hung around her dissipated in an instant.

"What the fuck just happened?!"
"This isn't good..."
"Should've left well enough alone."
"Are you kidding? That was awesome!"
"That mortal is no runt."

"No kidding, Forrest." Crystal responded. "That's why I came after him first but..."

"Unforgiveable," the blue-hair said. "You would attack a person completely unprovoked?!"

Almost in an instant, the blue-hair had twelve spears aimed at Crystal.

No mortal had ever truly frightened Crystal in...she didn't even remember when, but it was almost refreshing to feel a barrage of hail shoot out of her being again. The hail was far too small, dull and slow-moving to damage anything, but it seemed to add to the red-hair's sudden anguish somehow from what Crystal saw in the corner of her eyes, still fixed on the blue-hair.

"'Unprovoked?' He's kidding, right? Nobody told him and his protégés to ever approach me!"

Crystal stood her ground as her anger froze the ground underneath her yet again while her disgust formed sleet overtop. She clenched her hands into fists and, much like a match, quickly struck her fingers against her palms and thumbs, encasing and elongating her claws with ice.

"Watch the books!"

Crystal didn't know who said that but she was in agreement.

"I'd prefer we don't fight here. These other mortals have nothing to do with us and I don't have any gold to pay for these books."

Almost as if he read her mind, the blue-hair sighed and spoke again.

"You want this? I'll be waiting outside."

An ice disk appeared from under the blue-hair and he glided to the exit.

Crystal could only stand there, completely stunned that this mortal had formally challenged her. The ice around her began to melt, her ice claws falling off.

"He didn't attack me?"

Before long, the icy mist returned. A smile creeped across Crystal's face, still dripping with her own blood. Her fanged teeth had finally shown themselves.

"This will be very interesting..."

Disappearing into a swirl of snowy wind, Crystal followed the mortal outside. He had been waiting for her, as he promised. How noble of him. Very confidant indeed.

Still one with the wind, Crystal blew her amorphous form through the mortal's hair and brought herself to the other side of the courtyard across from him. She swirled around in that spot for a bit before materializing again, her wings emerging last with a burst of shimmering icy scales.

Having nothing else to clean her hands with, Crystal began to lick the blood off her fingers. It didn't have the distinctive metallic taste the blood of most races had; in fact, iron reacts rather violently to a faerie's blood. Instead, the taste of salt filled Crystal's mouth.

"I won't lie to you, mortal." Crystal called from across the yard. "You scared me a bit. You actually made me hail."

Crystal sucked on her index finger to clean the last traces of blood before moving on to the next finger.

"I'd like to ask you a question, if I may. Do you believe in equivalent exchange? That in order to gain something, something else must be lost? Most apply that to magic, but I tend to see that in the lives we lead."

She had finished cleaning her middle finger and began to lick her ring finger.

"After all, you had chosen to come to this library today, haven't you? You had chosen to approach me, and now you have chosen to challenge me. You wish to gain something, surely you must. But what, exactly, were you willing to lose to get it? Whatever it is, rest assured, the debt will be paid."

[Celandine]

She did the first best thing she could think of and ran over to Felicity. Quickly, getting down onto her knees Celandine brushed back a stroke of the flaming red hair away from the face of the girl and tried to think of how best to be kind. Gently, she whispered to her, calmly in a comforting voice.

"Fel-Felicity?" She asked, "It's - you're okay."

Behind her and around her the two ice mages strode from the library. At least that was good. Destruction to books was never good and knowledge was ultimate in Celandine's mind. Her mother wanted her to be a warrior, a priestess. But at heart the faun-girl was really a scholar. She loved to research, the passion born from the very fact that she could learn so fast. So therefore all these books were her concern and they had needed defending. Thus, she had cried out.

She remembered a time when her life had been combat training and she had had the protection of a tera'k - a huge bovine beast that was the traditional mount of fauns which she shared at least half her genetics with. He had died, sacrificing himself when she had been beset by a medusa gorgon - a terryfing creature who had turned him to stone. Celandine herself had also been petrificated, but with better timing. Her mother had managed to find a magician in just the right time and reversed the gorgon's foul play.

Ever since then Celandine had become far more interested in knowledge as a power rather than the blade. Or rather, the books were her weapons.

And the knitting needles she kept on her person at all times. She tenderly fingered on currently coiled into her hair, nervous in case she would need to use it to defend herself.

Turning her attention to Felicity again she gently touched the flesh of her face. The girl after all seemed to be going through some bad memory. A trauma or two. Born from the ice?

Maybe.

[Rehtul Orlouge]

The creature before him was still bleeding, oozing a black liquid that scarcely resembled the blood of mortal animals. That settled it, this thing was far from human. Though, Rehtul supposed, neither was one such as himself who bled blue. With a sigh he turned his full attention to the creature as she attempted to engage him in pre-combat conversation.

She talked of equivalent exchange, a common philosophy in magic, especially in the alchemical sciences. Rehtul raised a single brow in question as she attempted to equate it with life outside of the magical. Then, she said something absolutely outlandish after she essentially accused him of outright coming to face her on purpose the entire time.

"I assure you, the debt will be paid."

The mage couldn't help but chuckle as he fanned the bladed spears back out behind himself, pommels meeting just a foot away from the center of his back. The more he thought about it, the funnier it was, actually. He started laughing, gripping the shaft of the spear he held with both hands as he doubled over from the exertion on his body.

"Oh, thank you. Honestly I needed a good laugh," he said as he waved the spears to either side of his body.

"Equivalent exhange, you say? Now that is interesting. The very idea that something can be taken at a cost as long as the cost is sufficient is absolutely ludicrous. There are hundreds, thousands of people who've taken everything from others without giving a single whit back, and there are those who've given everything of themselves, possessions, time, passion, only to end up in the gutter. We take what we can get, take care of who we can..."

Three of the spears arrayed themselves in front of Rehtul with points facing the diminutive being before him.

"It's not fair, but it's the way life is sometimes. We just make due with what we can and ease each other's suffering along the way. After all, it's all we mere mortals can do."

With those words, Rehtul shot the three spears toward the woman. Once they were within about three feet of where she was standing, he snapped his fingers and had them all shatter into a spray of jagged, sharpened shrapnel.

"FELICITY! GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF! I WANT YOU OUT HERE, WATCHING THIS! YOU NEED TO SEE THE POWER I EXPECT YOU TO COMMAND WHEN WE'RE THROUGH HERE!"

[Flamebird]

Cold.

Everything was so cold.

She felt cold.

Felicity shivered, goosebumps coating her body as her heart pounded violently and swiftly. Cold sweat drenched her as she hazily looked up from the fetal position to see a very concerned little faun trying to figure out what was going on. Beyond her immediate vision of that, she saw nothing.

You innocent, sweet girl. You've just starting your adventure... Don't become me.

She shuddered, hugging herself as she writhed on the floor. How long was this terror going to grip her like this? She left her home, left her lover, for a short time to truly conquer this fear. Yet, here she was, lying on the floor like she was defeated.

As Rehtul's shouts echoed in her ears, she winced her eyes shut. Oh no, no she could not do that...

"Are you weak or strong?"

Felicity's eyes shot open, remembering the words she and Leoric shared when he saw how fear controlled her life.

"I'm strong!"

"That's my girl! And what do the strong do when they're afraid!"

Felicity cried, remembering the answer bright as day, "They face it! Fight it and endure!"

Felicity's hand twitched.

The girl reached out and slapped a hand against the floor. Struggling to maintain balance and coordination in her condition, Felicity's shaking did not relent as she stood... only to collapse to her knees again.

Felicity blinked the fright from her eyes. She needed to see that fight. She looked up to the faun with a smile aged and worn far beyond her true age.

"Celandine," Felicity breathed uneven, shaky breaths, "Can you take me out there?"

[Sugarp1e1]

Crystal had just finished cleaning her thumb as the blue-hair finally stopped laughing. The laughter didn't bother her too much, although it got two of the souls begging for Crystal to just bury her claws into his ribs already.

Fortunately, they quieted down for the blue-hair's answer. Mortals were never ones to understand the minds of the Fae, so his denial of equivalent exchange was nothing to be shocked at. Such a perspective was a product of Crystal's individual mind, after all; unique even by faerie standards.

But there was something else the blue-hair said.

"We take what we can get, take care of who we can..."

Ah, yes. Crystal remembered such a feeling quite fondly, in fact.

"We just make due with what we can and ease each other's suffering along the way."

It's been years since she's really thought about those pleasant days. The days she so desperately wanted back.

Meeting with the others. Singing with them. Training with them. Teasing each other. All of them working towards a shared dream.

Those days...

"After all, it's all we mere mortals can do."

...

What?

"What?!"

"WHAT?!?!"

Before Crystal could truly process what was just said to her, three of the blue-hair's spears came speeding towards her. A crazed wide-eyed grin appeared on Crystal's face as the spears exploded into shards. Instinctively, she became one with the wind again, as the shards whizzed by where her solid form once stood.

"You know nothing, mortal! You hear?! Nothing!"

The souls within Crystal all hollered and screeched as one. The maddening chorus of voices resonated in her skull.

"How dare you! How DARE you!"

The betrayal, the loss, her own sins, every horrible memory she had attempted to bury resurfaced once more. Did this mortal really have the audacity to suggest that only mortals know true strife?! True companionship?!

In the wake of this fury, Crystal had realized something. In spite of her rage, the ground below her had not frozen. Not only that, but the souls seemed to have gone silent again.

No. Even more than that.

They seemed to not even be a presence separate from Crystal herself at all anymore. A twisted sense of calm overcame her.

Unity. True unity.

For the first time in millennia, Crystal and her friends had come to an agreement:

"This mortal must be punished."

Crystal began to materialize once more as they spoke to the blue-hair, their voice a cold monotone.

"Your words touch our heart. Really, they do."

Her skin had changed from a cool pale to a warm tan.

"They remind us of a simpler time. A time before our fight for survival."

Six arms now lined her torso, each one ending in pointed black claws.

"But we advise that you don't speak as if you know the rules of this world more than we do."

Her white hair had been muddied brown.

"Because we guarantee that our life has continued, and will continue, far longer than yours."

Her purple eyes were now blue with an orange center as three more eyes, green with a red center and purple with a yellow center, appeared on her forehead.

"We will gain more days, with the loss of your life."

Her translucent moth-like wings were now membraned, with veins flowing with more of her thick black blood within the cyan and black, and black and white down adorning the edges.

"All we want is to live."

With the flick of her wrists, an ice dagger appeared in each of her six hands.

"Doesn't everyone?"

They had dropped Crystal's Glamour, for there was no more any need to hide. She was a monster, and that was her debt to pay.

Their broken yet radiant smile was painted onto their six souls. Crystal's eyes were wide and bloodshot as they felt a lump forming in her throat.

They couldn’t tell what it was anymore. They only knew they wanted one thing: the mortal's blood on their hands.

[Celandine]

Can you take me out there?

It was an invitation. An extension of a hand to greet and hold and establish a new era of acquaintanceship.

She wanted her to take her there. She was trusting her, asking her.

Celandine's heart fluttered. A breath escaped from her lips, and not one that was just willing, but one that was excited. Here I go, mother, she said to herself and the spectre of Philomel she always felt was peering over her shoulder. Here I go. Building a world of friends and trust as you did. But one born of kindness and never vengeance. My kingdom will be more benevolent than yours.

Softly, the young half-faun, so small and drowning in her homemade jumper, nodded and took Felicity's hand. They could both hear the shouting and fighting, somewhere outside on cobblestones and away from the books. But the chill even of that strange battle could be felt here, the ice mages testing one another's abilities. It was strange that Felicity wanted to go out there - indeed, Celandine would rather have thought that Felicity wanted to leave altogether - but the young faun had had a closeted, privalged life until now. There were few trials and threats that she had faced, brought up in the safety of a fortress for the last few years.

Raising herself to her full short height she looked Felicity directly in the eyes. "If that is what you need, then yes. Come. We should go cautiously though, as it sounds like they are ... Violent."

She squeezed the flame-haired lady's hand tightly and began to turn to walk the way the ice mages had gone, determined to be a pillar of sanity in this chaos.

[Rehtul Orlouge]

The shards of ice went through the fairy as though she wasn't even standing there. It could have been an illusion, but Rehtul didn't sense her using any magic to conceal herself in another area.

So she can go incorporeal, he mused as he raised a hand. The ice that had passed through her gathered back to float on either side of his body. It seemed like this fight could go on for awhile, and he was quite glad that they were doing this at one of the magic academies in Raiaera. There were safeguards in place for this sort of thing, and the location he had picked was designed to trap any magic within a fairly large square area from damaging the surrounding area.

As the sun passed slowly to the west, the creature spoke again, talking about its very many years lived and experienced in the world. The mage couldn't help but roll his eyes at the statement, particularly the part about taking his life. Slowly, the facade of her appearance faded into what she must have really been, some kind of mutated Fae creature from the looks of it.

"Oh, far be it from me to lecture someone so long lived on the way this world acts," he said, sarcasm dripping from every word like icy venom.

"I'm sure someone who probably spent the majority of their life in a forest in Dheathain ignoring the various mortal races of Althanas, knows all too much about the realities of the mortal world and how it operates."

He was sure the condescension in his voice was quite easily apparent to anyone who heard him, but at the moment he didn't care. He'd had enough of being attacked for simply giving his name to someone, then lectured like he was a student fresh off the boat. This... thing didn't know the first thing about mortal affairs.

The spears around his body spun around his body as his indignation slowly bubbled up into absolute rage. With a decisive sweep of his palm toward the ground, the ice buried itself beneath the earth. This thing might be able to avoid an attack she saw coming, but could she escape his magic if it erupted forth from the ground beneath her with no warning at all?

"Come at me, then, if you truly intend to take my life to extend your own," he said, eyes sharp and cold as steel as they held her gaze unflinchingly.

[Flamebird]

Felicity was lead by the young faun towards the fight. All the while, the half-neanderthal was bombarded with harsh memories. Ice. Terrible ice. Aylet had used ice to create vile saw blades to butcher foes. She has frozen people's blood and stopped their hearts with the snap of a finger. She had chained people, including Felicity herself, to a single point using brutally heavy ice. Bound to that location with frigid binds, Ayleth could do whatever she pleased. She could torture prisoners of her war against criminals. She could keep Felicity bound so she would stay out of the way, watching the next massacre. She could... hold Felicity down while beating her for daring to disagree with her tactics.

Felicity shivered, feeling the phantoms of being held down while Celandine gently took her to where two ice mages were fighting.

Watching the fight, Felicity was unable to process their words or even precise actions. - Yet. At the steps of the library, she stopped with a sluggish movement. She whispered simply, "Stop."

She then silently sat to the ground and blinked slowly, looking up to the stage play of ice magic before her. She stared wide eyed, and with a thundering pounding heart. Good, Rehtul was okay. And so was the ice fae. Question was, Felicity could barely look at the magic she was terrified of and wanted to learn all at once. She squinted, strained, and forced herself to watch. All the while, with Celandine still beside her, she squeezed her hand for desperate support. Poor faun, Felicity's strength was weakened due to her shaking, but it was still powerful. How would Felicity react if someone got hurt with this magic? If Rehtul got hurt with ice magic? She winced and forced her eyes onto the battle before her.

Now, she was going to face her fear. One small step at a time.

[Sugarp1e1]

The brain. The neck. The heart. The lung. The entrails. The leg. They decided to plunge one of Crystal's daggers into each of these parts of the blue-hair's body.

During his annoyingly scornful tangent, they furled Crystal's wings tightly against her back. If push came to shove, they would really be in trouble if her wings were damaged.

They watched as his spears spun around him faster and faster before he buried them underground. Dodging or guarding from this next attack will definitely be harder, but if a mortal can anticipate and block a similar attack from a faerie as if it were nothing, they were confidant they could do the same.

The blue-hair was no-less confidant. "Come at me, then, if you truly intend to take my life to extend your own," he said.

With the lump still in Crystal's throat, they stifled a laugh. The puff of breath that expelled from Crystal's mouth and nose was visible from the chill of her own body.

"You claim us to be the one who knows nothing yet you would take us for one of our Eastern cousins? How...imperceptive of you."

No longer seeing a reason to continue this conversation, they transformed Crystal's body into a snowy wind once more and swirled themselves towards the blue-hair. He was able to defend an attack coming from the front, but what about behind?

They blew Crystal's windy form past the blue-hair, brought themselves up to his eye level and became solid again. In an instant, Crystal's six daggers were being stabbed towards their planned targets.

[Celandine]

They seemed determined to kill each other. All forms of mortality, of sanity, seemed to have been discarded amongst these fighters who had barely even met one another.

Rehtul - the ice mage with the vivid blue hair - knew Felicity. That Celandine could tell from the first sight. And of course Celandine herself had met Felicity away back in Salvar, during that strange night at the Winter Festival when the lord of the manor had been murdered without well-known conclusion to the culprit. Yet, Celandine was sure that this faerie kind of girl was a stranger to them all. By the way she had looked at them all, the way she had reacted, the way her body language had suggested immediate, reactionary defence. Unless they did lnownone another and this wasn't a terrible misunderstanding but instead some old futile vendetta ...

Glancing from the Flamebird to the two ice sorcerers Celandine ground her jaw. Quickly, she squeezed her new friend's hand tighter, huffing out a breath as she drew herself up to her full height. Her wild chestnut hair was caught up in the breeze as she struck out, leaving Felicity and running right into the middle of this war.

The arena was frigid and strewn with damage and half-melted ice shards. Celandine's mother would scream and curse her for putting herself in such reckless danger. But the little half-faun with her human ears was no lover of violence. She was a wordsmith, a warrior of books and knowledge, a bard by any other name. Grinding herself, dressed in an oversized jumper the young girl determined to play diplomat stepped directly between them.

They were like two lovers, meeting for a most dangerous embrace. Celandine saw icey blades, maybe half a dozen of them, being stabbed with excellent skill towards targets, but she spread out her hands, waving them hectically.

Hoping that her outlandish and foolish actions would make them pause the girl yelled as loud as she could.

"Stop! Please! Stop! What is this for?! Do you even know each other?!"

[Rehtul Orlouge]

Talking was getting the two of them nowhere, Rehtul realized. He'd just have to stop when the Fae was finally unconscious. The sun was starting to fall behind the roof of the library. Soon the enchanted lamps of the campus would light the entire field. The shadows grew longer as the fairy before him turned once again into that translucent mist and rushed toward him. As he felt the chill of her incorporeal body slide past him, he didn't even hesitate. He jumped forward and bounded off a single hand into the air.

As his body remained airborne, he twisted with a violent wrench of his waist and flipped onto his knees. It was at that moment that he heard the young faun, daughter of Philomel, call out to the two of them to stop.

He stood up to his full height as the knives in the small creature's hands barely grazed the small girl. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly as his frown became stony and immovable.

"Do you think this is some kind of game, girl?! You could have died if one of those daggers had hit you wrong!" he said, voice nearly rising to a nasally scream.

"I chose this spot because there's no way for our magic to escape the barrier at the edges of the white rectangles drawn in the earth here! I did this specifically so bystanders couldn't get hurt!"

He then looked to the fairy and held up a single hand. Beneath the woman, the ice that he had spread throughout the ground erupted forth, not as the spears they had one been, but instead as magical chains made entirely of his steel-like ice. They flew up over the fairy in arcs and then dived back into the ground with a speed far outpacing the spears he had thrown at her earlier.

"Now I've no choice, if you're to remain safe. I must subdue her," he said as he curled his hand into a fist, drawing the chains into a tighter pattern around the body of the Fae, hoping that this once he had caught her off guard enough that she wouldn't be able to use that mist form to dodge hima gain. There had to be a limit on how much she could use that ability, after all. Though, he admitted to himself, there was a substantial likelihood that he had not exhausted that ability entirely.

I was only just beginning to see the extent of her power, as well... meddling girl. Now my research and more importantly the lessons I sought to drill into Felicity will have to wait, he thought. It was irritating, having someone interrupt the battle that he had intended to use as a practical lesson, but the way it looked to an outsider, as well as his visible anger at having been attacked earlier, would not make that particular part of his plan all that clear.

Still, though, it did mean he'd just wasted a decent chunk of time only barely tasting the primordial powers of the fairy. Sooner or later they'd face each other again, and he'd get to study her abilities in earnest. Until then...

[Flamebird]

Kneeling with tears in her eyes, Felicity gazed out at all that was happening. Tears slipping down her face, she felt frozen in place as she watched, helpless. Why could she not move? Celandine had stood in between, provoked anger in Rehtul Felicity had not seen before. Chains of ice warped the land around them. Why? Why this? Why all this madness? Why all this frost? Shivering as if she was physically surrounded by the winter elements, Felicity looked down to her barely movable hands. Holding them in front of her, she was trembling. Why was she so weak when faced with this? She closed her eyes as Rehtul and Celandine shouted. She could see eyes of solid ice glaring down at her, and victim surrounding in the darkness with a bloodbath of solid red. She cried, screamed, begged.

"Don't do this! Please don't do this!"

Instead, icy chains emerged from the ground and coiled around her frame, holding her down. As she struggled to stay kneeling instead of falling to her face, she grimaced up at the cold eyes of ice. "How dare you defy me?" A female voice spat.

Felicity pulled hard on the chains, trying desperately to break free. She panted, hoarsely spatting, "I dare, because..." She yanked upwards, shaking as she tried to stand, "... Because, I'm not going to be your pet anymore!"

Unfortunately, the chains pulled her down. "You fool! You can never escape me! Escape what I have done to you!"

The redhead snarled, pulling up again as she trembled in the energy exerted, "I may not be able to escape you, but I can face you! And with a smile!"

She she stood, she opened her eyes. Once again, Rehtul's chains, Celandine's intervention, and the frost fae stood in front of her. Staggering, she placed one foot in front of the other. She had no idea what she was supposed to do, except face her fear at last.

[Sugarp1e1]

It was all so sudden. The blue-hair dodging and the faun getting in the way. Luckily, Crystal's daggers barely missed the faun. Still keeping Crystal's wings tightly furled, they instinctively leaped away from her.

"Is this mortal insane?!"

Maybe "insane" wasn't the right word. Perhaps "brave" or even "stupid" was more appropriate.

Just like the blue-hair, Crystal wanted this faun alive, but for one thing only; to be the sole survivor. The one for Crystal to break down into a empty shell and leave as a warning to those who wish to pursue her. It's a good thing the daggers missed for once. No way Crystal would want to waste a perfectly good survivor; helpless and weak.

As if reading their mind once again, the blue-hair spoke to the faun.

"Now I've no choice, if you're to remain safe. I must subdue her."

"Here it comes..."

They readied Crystal's ice daggers again.

"There were about eleven or so spears. We'll deflect the first half and dodge the rest."

Ideally, they would dissipate again to avoid the spears, but they didn't want to expend more energy than necessary. Crystal's body had already transformed thrice in a short period of time.

The cobblestone began to crack beneath their feet. When the spears exploded from the ground, they wasted no time and charged at it, but instead of a spear, they found themselves hacking away at a chain.

"What?!"

Not even a second later, another chain emerged from the earth, nicking Crystal's left cheek. They screeched in pain and placed a hand over the wound, staggering backwards from the impact.

The sudden jolt of pain caused Crystal's wings to unfurl once again as they continued to stumble. More pain shot through Crystal's body as even more chains continued to jet into the air, leaving a large gash up the center of her left wing and boring a large hole into the right.

They could feel more of Crystal's blood spilling out from the stinging wounds, the veins in the membrane either cut or completely severed. Their chance for escape had vanished into thin air.

"Bastard!"

Delirious with agony and rage, they continued to charge and hack at the emerging chains that completely surrounded them. Before long, the chains had completed their ascent and arched over the enraged faerie, seemingly having a mind of their own as they wrapped themselves around Crystal's torso and wrists before running into the ground once again.

They struggled and writhed against the chains but they only seemed to tighten their grip. They couldn't tell if it was the chains' own work or Crystal's body finally giving out, but they found themselves on their knees with their six arms spread out wide by the shoulders, forming a kind of fan shape.

This awkward position forced Crystal to lean forward, but they were still able to lift her head. They bared their fangs like a rabid animal ready to strike.

"You filthy disgusting mortals!", they spat.

They continued to fight the chains, but to no avail. The lump in Crystal's throat seemed to grow.

"Our wings!" they cried, "Let us go, you sick fucks! You broke our goddamn wings!"

They were slobbering now. Crystal's ice breath expelled from her mouth and nose as they growled, hollered and shrieked.

Finally, the futility of their struggle had set in and Crystal's head began to hang. There was only one thing they could possibly do now, as much as it pained all of them, but could they really bring themselves to do it?

"You...will all...be punished..." they growled. "We...will punish...you all..."

Crystal's face contorted and scowled. The lump inside Crystal's throat finally dissolved as her frozen tears hit the cobblestone with tiny clinks. The sound of tinkling bells.

[Celandine]

She could not help but feel pity for her.

The being. The one with the wings. Whom Celandine had assumed was female due to their appearance, yet more used plural first person to refer to themselves. "We." "Us." As if this ice mage was created of more than one person. As if she - they - had a personality disorder. As if in their head there was a thousand voices screaming for dominance ...

"Drys," Celandine whispered, thinking of just how terrible that would be. Never be able to be yourself. Never able to think alone. Always with someone's opinion, someone's eyes looking over your shoulder. No wonder she had acted so rashly. No wonder this anger, this fury, this frustration and deceleration that they would all be punished.

Celandine did not see Felicity approach from behind the party. Indeed, she imagined the girl still just watching, dealing with this in her own way, granting her own therapy. Instead the faun made her way over to the chained young-looking fae and bent down to come face to face with her.

A sound. Cold, frozen drops that landed upon the frigid and frost-touched ground. Tears, from a desperately suffering - and likely in some significant physical pain - victim.

"Are you okay?" Celandine whispered, her own grey eyes soft and patient, now full of concern. "I'm sorry he broke your wings, but he was only trying to defend himself and keep myself and Flamebird safe." A little, she smiled, but it was a sad smile.

"I'm sorry. For whatever you are going through. Perhaps, though, I can help. I'm a scholar, you see and I ... I have a lot of knowledge." And perhaps she could knit her six cosy gloves. A handkerchief. Wing warmers.

"I only want you to be okay."

She only wanted them all to be okay.

And there was the invitation. There was the opening. It was down to Crystal as to how to react.

[Rehtul Orlouge]

The sound of tinkling bells again, as tears poured from the creature's eyes. The mage of frost turned upon her and the young faun with a frown and stooped over to come eye level with the both of them. He could feel the blood in his face receding as he beheld the both of them. One, dissheveled, broken, in tears, the other innocently trying to console a being who had moments before almost killed her with a forlorn smile upon her lips. He turned away from the saccharin scene and held up a hand to Felicity.

"You didn't run... I'm proud of you for that, at least. I had intended to show you more about what ice could do, since... I'm sure you've already seen something like this in the past," he said, his voice hoarse from his little show with the fae creature. He turned back to the others and stood up.

"Celandine, and you, small..." he stopped.

"Crystal, I believe you said your name was. I've no intention of killing you, but I could not have you attack me, my associate, nor this young girl... who happens to be the daughter of an acquaintance of mine who'd probably have me killed if she knew I was involved in her daughter getting hurt."

He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers, then adjusted his glasses. He could still hear the tinkling of the fae's tears hitting the ground as he kept his eyes closed and drew the chains out of the ground with his will. He had them all merge together into a single length and gripped the end with his hand. He offered the chains to Celandine, not daring to hand them to Felicity quite yet, and smiled at her before he turned to the Fae.

"I know a healer near here. We can get your wings looked at if you desire. On the condition, of course, that you don't attack us again. After that, what you do with yourself is your own business. If you can make that promise, the chains disappear. Otherwise..." He let the threat hang in the air. Otherwise... well, the sun wouldn't be back out for a long while.

[Flamebird]

Felicity looked up, to the coiling chains of ice that were so cruelly hung on display. She shivered, hugging herself. As she watched the negotiations, the redhead still felt cold and frostbitten. She felt like heavy ice was pulling her limbs down in chunks. She could see her breath even, and goosebumps coated her sweat glazed skin. She took one step forward. Then another. She had... no idea what was going on. Yet, she walked up to Celandine, who was standing over the attacker. Her heart was tight and pounding, her arms were shaky. She felt drained, as if slowed down by the ice emotionally. Dull as her unusually dim green eyes were, wrinkled and deadpan as her facial features were, she reached and took Celandine's shoulder.

If she says no, you are in harm's way. But I can sense your innocence. You deserve none of what I have felt.

She attempted to pull Celandine away, feeling strangely protective of this stranger. Whether or not her sore muscles, previously cramping and spazzing from her breakdown, were working again or not she did not know. She did, however, look to the brutally bound fae.

She opened her mouth.

At first, only cracking resounded from her chapped lips. Her throat was so tight. She felt like her throat was closing in on itself and constricting. A slow rasp escaped her at first, before she finally was able to speak. Her voice was exhausted and worn, like someone far older than she actually was. She sounded monotone and dazed, yet she was still very much present here now. The worst of the effect had, indeed, passed.

"I... don't ... want to... hurt you. Or anyone... I-..." She stammered from stress as she struggled to speak on, "I can... forgive... No matter how much this scared me."

She was unaware of if her hand was even still on Celandine's shoulder. Her feeling drifted in and out of numbness. Her eye twitched as she struggled to focus, "Just..."

A cracking resounded. She gasped and looked up to see the chains of ice imprisoning the fae. She winced, absolutely petrified, yet still standing there.

"I... don't care... how scared I am." She heaved, looking back down to the fae, "I will... protect... them... I lost too much to lose... what little I still have... But I don't want to fight today. Please, say you won't..."

The hint of a plea could be heard in her drained, monotone voice. She was still sweating, panting, and unable to feel properly.

[Sugarp1e1]

"We don't need your pity!
"They're not hurting us anymore..."
"Well, this is awkward."
"So we're not gonna do the song thing?"
"Looks like we overstepped."

The unity had broken. Crystal could hear them again.

For a brief moment, Crystal considered Anemo's suggestion, but immediately decided against it. She figured that, even if she could bring herself to use her Entropic Song, there's no guarantee that it would release her from her bonds. She would have to assume too much of the blue-hair's will; that it would break in the face of her Song and that he was consciously controlling the binding as opposed to the chains being what could essentially be described as a separate entity. Knowing she had run out of options, Crystal retracted her daggers and answered the blue-hair.

"I don't know...what you wish to gain from me..." she told him, not even bothering to lift her head. "But right now, I just want my wings back. So in exchange, none of us will attack any of you again. I just...I just don't know what I would do if I could never fly again."

Even in their altered state, Crystal's wings were very important to her. Compared to the rest of her body, they remained more-or-less the same as they had always been since her metamorphosis. But now they have down and a membrane. It was the only difference and all she had left of her former self.

"Ugh, when did it get dark out?"
"A campfire would be nice."
"The lamps are good enough for me."
"Yeah, but they can't cook us anything."
"What are you all even talking about?"

Crystal looked all around her. Solga was right; it was dark. The sun must've set a while ago during all the confusion. This is when ice and water reign supreme, while earth, fire, air and wood can only hope to stand out if they work together.

Every sunrise, light takes back the world from dark so that fire and wood may thrive, in spite of ice and water's original forms. All the while, regardless of light or dark, air flows through and earth stands by. Everything is give and take in this world, no matter what this "Rehtul" may think. But we still have a choice; we can go with the flow or we can remain in place.

Crystal had made her choice long ago and she would be damned if she stood still once more. So go with the flow she would.

[Celandine]

Caught off guard.

That was precisely the phrase that came to the young half-faun's mind as her gaze moved from one being to the other. First, Rehtul who held out those chains to her. Chains. She shivered, and not just because of the cold. Then there was the fiery headed and hearted Felicity. Whispering, stuttering, clutching at Celandine's arm with a gentle but brutal amount of strength. It made her cringe slightly. And then there was Crystal. The Fae with (sometimes) six arms. Bound and with broken wings, all pain and sorrow and a tragic past. Heavy guilt clung to Celandine's heart as she thought of what Rehtul had implied, what they had all said - how she had just run in with no regard for her own safety and interrupted a mighty battle of spectacular proportions.

But I couldn't see them hurt each other anymore, Celandine thought. They were fighting for ... Nothing really. They barely knew each other. Know each other! This is madness!

"This isn't right," the young diplomat said, shaking her head and placing a flat palm towards the offered chain ends. "I don't take prisoners. If you give me them I will release her because I am not a jailer."

Her eyes moved back to Crystal.

"Are you okay? Are you calm? This man," she gestured to Rehtul, "will not harm you and neither will I or anyone else, if you promise to not react like how you did again. He chained you - I think - because you were unnecessarily violent." She took in a breath, pulling herself up to her full height, feeling the strain of the very strong young woman beside her.

Softly, she patted Felicity's hand, squeezing it almost to tell her she was okay. That all would be okay. Then she kept that hand there.

"It is getting dark," she noted the aforementioned dimming sky overhead. "Why don't we calmly all go to the closest town and get you healed and - and have a nice cup of tea?"

[Rehtul Orlouge]

Rehtul smiled at Celandine. The girl had a tender heart. Unfortunate that the world would likely seek to beat that out of her by any means necessary, as it had with Rehtul and many of the other "great" people who walked across Althanas. However, taking the chains was no longer necessary for the girl. As the shadows of the four beings extneded across the lush green grass, Rehtul merely shrugged his shoulders and snapped his fingers.

Without any preamble, the chains of ice cracked and fell apart around the fairy creature, and the sound of crystal chimes echoed through the early evening as they hit the ground.

"I had no intention to remain as her jailer, either. I just needed to ensure she would not attack us again," Rehtul said through thin lips. He turned his attention back to the library. His steel blue eyes surveyed the rough brown of the bulding's exterior for a moment before he locked eyes on the door they had exited through.

"As it stands, I've lost quite a lot of daylight dealing with this situation. I still have research to do." He looked over to Felicity, still visibly shaken from the fight before. He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head before pointing an accusatory finger at the young woman.

"You, however, need some time off. The healer is in the next town over. They're a bit... eccentric, but they've healed all manner of wounds from all manner of creatures, including damage done by my own ice magic. I'd say mention me, but that might backfire."

The night's chill began settling in and Rehtul watched his breath issue forth like a small cloud with amusement.

"Take her to get healed. You can meet me back here tomorrow or the day after. I'll still be here even if I find the information I'm looking for before you return. We can continue your training then. Sound fair?"

Knowing the answer already, Rehtul turned to Celandine and Crystal.

"Young faun, Celandine I believe you said your name was? While reckless, you have shown yourself to have a good heart. I simply hope that doesn't end up being more of a burden than a blessing as you grow older. And you, Crystal. My apologies about your wings. I pray they will recover swiftly." Rehtul bowed to the two of them before turning on his heel. His coat billowed out around his waist as he made his way back toward the library and his precious books.

"Fare you well, and Felicity, don't smash the place up if the doctor pisses you off, okay?" with a wave of his hand he disappeared into the building and back to his one true passion, the study of magic.

[Flamebird]

The ice chains going away was such a massive relief. Felicity already felt a little warmer, a little less imprisoned. When Rehtul shook his finger at her and told her to take a break, she swallowed repeatedly to get over the tightness in her throat.

As Rehtul left and jabbed at her anger, Felicity rolled her eyes fondly. "Who, me get angry? Never!"

She chuckled as Rehtul ducked into the library. The night had fallen, and she was sure her orange hair stood out against the shadows. She turned to Celandine and smiled sadly. Rehtul had once also told Felicity about her kind heart and how the world could stomp it out as well. Felicity had faced it and indeed, her heart had gone cold on many occasions in attempts at self preservation.

Something inside of her stirred over this girl. She wanted to protect her, she wanted to make sure she never felt the agony she had.

Felicity sighed wordlessly and approached the little fae, "Do you need me to carry you? If it hurts too much to walk?" She had to bite back the snarky feeling of not being the shortest person for once. She had to admit, the ice magic simply fading away made her feel so much better. It discouraged her, the fact that she had a long way to go. She had hoped these lessons would be quick, then she could return home in the blink of an eye. Sadly, today had smacked her in the face with the cold truth. Her post traumatic stress disorder would stand in the way. Then again, her PTSD was why she was learning ice magic in the first place. It was her desire to overcome it that drove her her.

Her hands still shook. Could she even carry the fae in this state? She felt weaker in these moments, always. She tried her best to breathe steadily. At least she was talking normally now, and at least the feeling of being weighed down by non-existent ice was gone. She looked down to her fingers, which numbly were half recoiled half loosely hanging. She clenched her fists, the feeling finally returning to her limbs. She just had to keep trying.

She just had to keep trying.

She was strong.

Felicity sighed shakily, shifting between one leg and the other as she finally was feeling again. She spoke, "Please, for everyone's safety, avoid making me bleed. Foul magic activates whenever my skin breaks." Felicity motioned to her heavy clothes, neck to toes, with a small smile, "Incidents don't happen that often though. I make sure of it. Which way did Rehtul motion to again? I wasn't paying attention."

[Sugarp1e1]

Crystal had to bite her tongue at the faun's mention of "unnecessary violence". She wasn't attacking; she was defending.

"I'm fine." Crystal answered. "And…" she sighed before continuing. "Tea sounds nice."

As she finished answering "Celandine", Rehtul snapped his fingers again. With that, the chains binding Crystal's body crumbled away.

"…That's it? He's just letting us go?"

This new unity would last only a split second.

"This is a trick."
"I don't believe that."
"We're still alive."
"Yeah, but our wings broke."
"That's what a healer is for."

Crystal was still on her knees. The blood on her face and wings had already formed scabs against her icy skin.

Her wings fluttered back into place, repositioning themselves after their binding. Absentmindedly, Crystal attempted to lift herself up and stand again, but her wings didn’t even so much as budge her tiny frame.

"Do you need me to carry you?" the red-hair asked. "If it hurts too much to walk?"

"Our wings were hurt, not our legs."
"She really needn't trouble herself."
"I don’t like walking long distances."
"You don’t like doing anything!"
"I wouldn’t mind a piggyback ride."

A part of Crystal agreed with Luna that…"Felicity" she thinks, really didn’t need to carry her. They both could see just how much she was trembling.

At the same time, she was about as willing as Geo was to actually put in the literal legwork needed to travel. And something told her she wasn’t going to stay away from these two even if she could fly.

Felicity spoke again.

"Please, for everyone's safety, avoid making me bleed. Foul magic activates whenever my skin breaks. Incidents don't happen that often though. I make sure of it."

"So that's what I sensed before." Crystal mused. "That contamination."

"Which way did Rehtul motion to again?" Felicity continued. "I wasn't paying attention."

"Of course you weren’t."
"Solga."
"What? She can't hear us."
"Still kinda mean."
"Can we please focus?"

Crystal shook her head, clawed herself up using Felicity's clothes and stood on her two feet. She dusted herself off and restored her Glamour, her white hair, two purple eyes, pale skin, and single pair of arms retuning as she answered the question.

"He said the next town over, so to the East, maybe. I don't need to be carried. Maybe later."

Crystal attempted to fold her wings, but could feel the scabs breaking and her flesh tearing. With a wince and a yelp, she quickly unfurled her wings again, now bleeding once more, though the Glamour made it appear as though they were cleanly torn like paper.

Is this another debt she has to pay? One for attacking people who apparently never meant her any harm? And what will she gain in exchange for this humiliation and suffering? Crystal was eager to find out.

[Celandine]

With a gentle smile Celandine waved goodbye to Rehtul and set her sights on the two women, now her companions. She felt good. She had done it. Brought peace to a place of destruction and unnecessary turmoil and perhaps made some firm acquaintances for the future.

With the chains gone and Crystal able to stand she briefly, no more than a second on each, touched each female's elbow and moved to start away from the library built like a vast enterprise and down the path that descended to the local village. It was not a long journey, but rather one of quietness and peace that would lead them to some good rest and relaxation. It took time for Felicity and Crystal to gather and walk with her - especially in the injured state the fae was in - but eventually they got to the beginnings of the houses. They were simple brick structures that gave no demands of quality or maintenance, but were just homes of ordinary folk.

"I'm going to go ahead!" Celandine said back to them. "Catch me up at the inn!"

And without any further ado she marched them towards a larger building with a wooden and roughly painted sign swinging in the faint breeze. A large brazier uplit it, telling all who passed that this was the 'Starry-Eyed Tiger Inn.' It would do, she decided, and she headed in.

The door opened to a regular sized and presented tavern setting. A main bar, a few spare tables and a narrow stage for a minstrel. Walking up to the bar Celandine tossed her hair back, showing the tiny horns obviously and asked quickly for a table, for beds, for a healer and most importantly, tea. Without any fuss and ceremony she privately pulled out a very fat purse full of coin. It did not take long for the barkeep to gasp at her generousity and gather all she would require.

By the time Felicity and Crystal had caught up with her she was inside, a table to the back all reserved and with a steaming pot of tea waiting for them. Cups and sweetener and also a meagre feast of breads, cheeses and salted meats were laid out. There was a huff behind them as a portly dwarf with a knotted beard hurried in.

He took one look at Crystal, his tiny eyes behind large spectacles glancing at her up and down. Letting out a grunt he hefted a mighty leather bag and gestured for her to sit.

"Come on then," he said in a gruff voice. "Don't want to be sitting with them broken things all day, do we? I presume the mistress over there is the one that sent the boy running for me? Urgent, hmm?"

He gestured again, nodding once at Celandine who only happily waved at them all with a surprising amount of cheer.

"Over there," he nodded to the table the faun was at. "And we'll get you right as rain."

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Judgment

Pros


As a collaboration of some length, I thought the story, and the pacing of it, was a good effort overall. The story was easy to follow and the short but to-the-point posts meant I wasn't getting lost in heavy detail. I would argue that this is probably the best way to go about such a thread, as it can be very easy to drown a plot in text.
-
Overall technique by all of you, and particularly by Celandine and Rehtul, was good. I've always enjoyed the way you both write, because you bring a certain flair to your posts that stand out and really accent the writing. The posts were short enough that it was particularly noticeable with you two, but a special mention must also be given to Flamebird and Sugar as well, as I think Flamebird has improved a lot in this area and Sugar shows great promise.
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Setting. Flamebird HATES setting, but again this is an area I thought that she (in particular) had improved in (again relative to shorter posts). All of you managed to uphold pretty well throughout as a collective, but I can say that I think there is always room for improvement on the overall consistancy of it. There were a couple of times where Sugar would come in dialogue heavy, and I would need to rely on one of the other writer's next posts to determine where something was happening, but that will come with time.


Cons


I got the impression from the length of the posts and the thread that this was very much traditional "bang, bang, bang" with the posting strategy, because the overall editing wasn't in line with what I was expecting. Typos were prevelant throughout ("She reached and gently peeled the pool pages off her face."), although spelling and grammar weren't hugely a problem overall. Just something to watch going forward, but nothing groundbreaking.
-
Super nitpicky, but formatting. Sugar was probably trying for something unique or new, but there seemed to be a switch between underlining and italics, and I couldn't quite understand the context of why. It did make her posts more juddery to read from about halfway through. Flamebird, again I couldn't distinguish whether your use of italics were internal or external - it seemed to be a mixture of both, but then you would also have dialogue in regular non-italic "x". The best strategy is to pick one style and stick to it.


Star rating: ******* (7/10)

A middle of the road, fun to read thread which did no harm and felt like much more traditional roleplaying. I'd love to see more of these sorts of collaborations going forwards!

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Rewards added as follows:

Flamebird: 1025 EXP and 140 GP
Celandine: 950 EXP and 140 GP
Rehtul: 882 EXP and 126 GP
Sugar: 1397 EXP (includes a 50% referral bonus on experience) and 140 GP

All rewards added!

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Badges awarded:


Just the Beginning - Celandine, Rehtul Orlouge, Sugar
Writing the Future - Celandine, Rehtul Orlouge, Sugar
Level 5 - Rehtul Orlouge