Fantasy For my Family

[Cyrionessa]

"That's the assumption." Estelle really wished that she had her abilities back right now. She was not going to show that she was intimidated by Ryrax. In her normal form, she could probably handle him. But in her current state, she was unable to do anything if he were to lose his temper at her prying questions. "What else can anyone assume?"

 

[Twizinator]

Ryrax growled again. "You know that some forms of death do not leave corpses," he said through gritted teeth. "For example...there is nothing left of the Fell Ones I eat." He leaned in and whispered, "Not even bone."


Estelle, this...this is... Mythia sent to Estelle. Even in her psychic projection Estelle would be able to sense that Mythia was extremely uneasy. I just found logs about his sister, Lily. Ryrax is mentioned in the same file, which makes sense considering they are siblings. But what really bothers me is what these records say about their combat talents...


Mythia paused before reading off the records to Estelle. 'Ryrax: psychokinesis; bare-handed fighting with no forms or styles, brutally efficient; one-handed short sword with free hand for versatility, speed, and maneuverability.'


'Lily: ice artes.'

 

[MControl]

Jyterra strode through a market, set up nearby the arenas to cater to the families needs, looking for odds and ends, something to inspire him. Perhaps also to satiate his hunger. Seeing nothing particularly unique or inspired, he made his way back to the arenas, taking bites out of an apple. Hearing a rather loud commotion around one of the arenas, he made his way over, to hear of a rather heated fight between a Maverett and a Xevren. These names meant absolutely nothing to him, so endeavored to find the ring they were fighting in, and see what all the fuss was about. Finishing his apple, he flipped the apple core in his hands once, twice, a third time, before flipping it back over his head. Due to the strength and speed enchantments on the bracers he currently wore, and a bit of technique, the core flew up into the sky, far past where most could intentionally throw it, to fall where it may.

 

[Ixidor92]

(I'd like everyone to check the poll at the top of the thread and vote please. It closes in a week, and I will take a lack of interest in the poll as a lack of interest in the thread)

 

[Ixidor92]

Just as Cerys's claws dug into Odom, an official quickly entered the arena and ran strait to the referee. There was a brief conversation before the man walked calmly onto the cement


"Stop the fight!"


The combatants were given time to collect themselves before the messenger spoke


"Odom, my apologies for interrupting, but the Maveret head has need of you immediately. We'll stop by the infirmary first."

 

[HilgenHoffer]

Odom's face turned sour as the fight was interrupted. The scenario that was about to unfold still played through his head.


He looks down at his chest. He cannot see the catlike fingers for how deep they've penetrated beneath his skin. Red flows freely. He feels the sticky blood on her wrist as he pins it to his breast with his left hand, tossing his weapon towards it with his right. The audience gasps as it appears to fly high of its mark, but it instead wraps around her wrist, tying her arm to her opposite ankle. His right hand fingers move to the wrist now as well. Blood. He flicks at it, and his mana makes it not sharp or hard, but more viscous, and easier to toss. It flies towards her eyes, and her superior reflexes arch her back and neck away from the incoming red bullets, putting her spine parallel to the ground. He takes advantage. Twisting the chain, he now has her right arm and left leg awkwardly tied behind her back, her front facing a concrete floor scattered with menacing weaponized stones. He puts his shoulder into her back, and his weight puts them into a plummet towards a messy finish . . .





Reality set back in as the messenger said his name again. He shook his head. It was a beautiful dream, but it would never happen now. He eyed the cat hairs on the ground, now flaccid and soft as they once were. Picking them up, he tied them together into a thread, willed one end sharp, and began sewing up his chest as he exited the arena. He stopped briefly to bow to Cerys on his way. He hoped that they would be able to finish this some day; not everyone was agile enough to make him think as hard as he had been.


His face was grim as he exited the arena. The old man had better have a decent reason for interrupting his fun, he decided. This was the only time of the year when he got to play with anyone intelligent.


-----


The lumberjack (that was what Rudd had decided to call him) tapped the concrete hard, three times. Rudd let go of his arm and extended his hand to help the bushy man to his feet. "You're strong, friend, but you need to cultivate some skill before you're going to make it here. Trees that are only strong break before the wind; it's the flexible ones, the ones what bend, which survive the storms blowin' from the coast." He patted him on the back. "Still, good match."


And it really was a good match, he reasoned. It wasn't a challenge, sure, but no one had really gotten hurt, he'd made a good name for the Vejta, and he'd managed to put out some advice while he was at it. There were even people in the crowd who were cheering for him.


As he exited the arena, wiping sweat from his brow, he wondered if his father would have been proud of him.

 

[Cyrionessa]

The first messenger dashed into his friend, who was about to go talk to Rudd. "Look, I'm giving you just a few minutes to get Rudd over there to talk to Estelle. If you don't hurry it up, I'll be forced to take her back to the estate. Who knows how long she'll be confined?"


"Got it." The second messenger decided that running was his best option. He caught up to the young man and grabbed a hold of his arm. "Estelle is awake. You want to talk to her, make it fast, because the Naejor Head has called for her return. You've got a few minutes before she's gone back into the estate, possibly for a really long time."


----


"You consumed them. Like the Fell Ones." Estelle didn't actually show the normal mortification that one would expect. Her eyes were actually thoughtful, considering the information that she had just been granted. Things were lining up now. And it scared her a bit how alike Cerys and Ryrax were turning out to be.


----


Cerys was shaking. The fight had been stopped. She was still in her Demon Cat form. And that wasn't going to change as long as there wasn't an opponent badly hurt at her feet. She continued shaking as she began trying to just make her way out of the arena and far away from people. As far as she could get from society. There were a few mountains in the distance. The mountains should be far enough.

 

[Ixidor92]

Jaeger could feel--no, he could smell the agitation of mana. There was a brief rush of air and a red blur in the arena. Those who turned around noticed Cerys was missing.


"Brother?"


----------------


Jaeger was in the air, holding Cerys underneath her arms. The takeoff had been rather sudden, so he had not time to gain significant altitude before crashing into the canopy of the nearby forest.


"Shi--"


The two mana risers tumbled over the ground as a result of the impact

 

[Twizinator]

"Shit!" Mythia cursed under her breath, as she stormed out of her house. Something had happened to awaken Oliver, which severed her aural piggyback she had from him. She hoped she would get there before anything bad happened to Estelle.


-----


A loud cracking noise rang out in the otherwise silent room they occupied as Ryrax buried his fist into the wall not far from Estelle's head. "You...know nothing..." he growled, snarling at Estelle barely an inch from her face. "Do not...DARE...equate Lily with a fell one...even though..." he grit his teeth at what he had almost said in his anger. He closed his eye as flashbacks assaulted his mind.


Blood was everywhere...a massive black beast, not unlike a dog or wolf bore over him...tears poured out of the wide, terrified eyes of thirteen-year-old Ryrax...it growled as it advanced on him, torn scraps of clothing stuck in its teeth...her clothing...


Then he snapped.


Rryax's eye snapped open and he snarled in the same way the beast from his past had done. His fist was wrenched out of the wall and he brought he arm back, fingers hooked like claws, preparing to lash out at Estelle...but something stayed his arm. Behind him, Oliver stood, having been awoke when he punched the wall, and had his right hand wrapped around Ryrax's forearm, holding him back. "Mind keeping it down?" he said, a smile on his face that was opposing the glare in his eyes, "Some of us are trying to rest. It's rude to be so loud in a sick bay, you know."


Ryrax met Oliver's glare with his own, but took several deep breaths as he calmed himself. He huffed irritably but a tinge of guilt found its way into his eye, and he stormed out of the building. He would make for the wilds to cool his head.


"Are you alright, Estelle?" Oliver asked. If he noticed his wounds, he didn't show it. In order to hold Ryrax back he'd had to use enough force that opened his lacerations on his arm, and patches of red bloomed slowly on the white bandages that covered his right arm.

 

[HilgenHoffer]

"Naejor head . . . ?"


Rudd had no time to ask questions as the messenger melted back into the crowd. "I guess I'd better hurry, then." Not that hurrying was an easy task, considering the alarming number of people occupying the Neutral Grounds. He wove his way between them as quickly as he could, until he once again found the doors of the infirmary.


He didn't need to ask to find his way this time. He'd been in the room a couple of times already. As he opened the doors, he opened his mouth to speak. "Estelle, I . . . um. Hi?" He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but there was a hole in the wall and an injured man standing in front of the young lady he had intended to visit.

 

[Cyrionessa]

"I'm okay, Oliver." Estelle took a deep breath in. "I upset Ryrax. It is my fault." Her head turned slightly to see who had entered then realized an instant later that she could just identify the voice. "Rudd. What a surprise. What are you doing here? I thought that you'd be taking care of Evynne."


----


"...Jaeger....." Cerys' words weren't more than a snarl. ".....take me.....farther.....I smell them....."

 

[HilgenHoffer]

"Oh. Um. Right. I, ah . . ." He'd had it all planned out, you know? It was going to be smooth as butter. In-and-out. Thank you for healing my friend goodbye. And then he had his rhythm thrown by the big man without the shirt.


"I, ah, just wanted to be thankin' you for taking care of Evynne is all. You saved her life. I couldnt've done that if I tried."

 

[Twizinator]

Oliver gingerly sat back down on his bed, holding back a wince. That man - Aatron - he had been an incredible opponent, and Oliver's body was reminding him of that fact. It was a fair feat that he was conscious at the moment.


Suddenly, Mythia burst into the room, breathing heavily from running all the way here. "Estelle!" she exclaimed. "Are you-"


"She's fine, Mythia," Oliver assured her. "Please, not so loud, if you could."


The irony of his request was recognized by Mythia but she didn't bother pointing it out. "Thank goodness. I...I can't believe he would do something like that...I refuse to believe it..." she blinked as she realized Ryrax was not here. "Where did Rryax go?" Oliver shrugged, and Mythia departed immediately, only taking a moment to apologize for intruding.


-----


Ryrax landed with a crash in the dense forest, rage still threatening to overflow. "She knows nothing," he growled. "How dare she even mention my sister...how dare she mention Lily..." A fair part of why he was so troubled was that he saw some of Lily in Estelle. He'd seen it the first time they met, that gentleness and kindness that she had. It reminded him of his sister, his only friend. "How dare she!" he roared, lashing his arm through the air and causing several trees to crack with the psychokinetic wave that ensued. Estelle had even had the gall to bring up his grandfather, Tyron. Oh, how he wished he HAD killed that old bastard...he didn't care where he was, but he hoped it was six feet under. Given that man's power, though, he doubted that was the case.

 

[Ixidor92]

Jaeger made a face and marched towards Cerys. A red sheen bled over into his limbs.


"Dammit woman, I am not--"


He threw himself at her, lifting both of them above the treetops for several hundred more feet before crashing


"--Your babysitter!"

 

[Cyrionessa]

Estelle smiled at Rudd. "Something needed to be done. It was no problem at all-"


"No problem at all?!?!" Coran looked extremely angry as he slung open the door of his office. "Every time you use that stupid mega attack with Gerza, you shave at least ten years off of your life span."


"Coran....he really had no need to know that...." Estelle gritted her teeth and desperately wished that she still had control of her light ribbons.


----


"I didn't ask for a damned babysitter!" Cerys snarled as they went through the air. When they hit the ground, she groaned. "....you're making the situation worse instead of better. I hope you know that...."

 

[Ixidor92]

Jaeger brushed himself off as he took a few steps back from Cerys. He was starting to get really annoyed with the young woman.


"Well maybe your father wouldn't have needed one if you just took control of your powers like everyone else in your family."

 

[Twizinator]

Ryrax's ear perked at the noise of the sound of something of decent mass hitting dirt rather hard. "Not in the mood, right now, damn monsters..." he snarled, assuming it was a random fell one. As it was, he flew into the trees, landed on a branch nearly thirty feet above the ground, and saw the sight of Jaeger smack-dab on top of Cerys. "...Hmph," he grunted. He had figured there was probably something between the two, considering how doggedly Jaeger followed her around. On any other day he would probably think over what he was looking at more, but he was in a horrible mood. Thus, he immediately assumed the worst for himself. "I see I'm interrupting something. Apologies," he growled out, the dull glaze of solitude returning to his eye. He turned and flew farther into the forest, leaving everyone else as far behind him as he could. He had been a lone wolf before, with good reason. He really shouldn't be surprised that it was his position in society.


-----


"Ten years is a long time, my dear," Oliver said, an odd look of surprise and respect in his gaze to Estelle. "Though I understand your passionate spirit, I ask that next time such a dire circumstance rears its head, you call upon me, the last and best Layfaire, to action. A beauteous woman such as yourself need not dirty her hands when she has someone willing to lay down his life if she wills it!" he said, his bravado clearly returning.

 

[HilgenHoffer]

Rudd's eyes darkened slightly. "I did not thank you for raining meteors. That is neither here nor there." His teeth ground unconsciously as he thought of the white-haired barbarian. "But," he countered, his visage relaxing again into a smile, "I *am* thanking you for healing a friend. I know you put a lot of sweat into it."

 

[Cyrionessa]

"You think I haven't tried?!" Cerys pushed him away. It was then that she saw Ryrax. "...dammit, Jaeger! Leave me alone for once in your life! I was leaving the area; I was going to be fine. But no, you had to do something stupid and make a scene that just looked completely wrong!" She stalked away out of sight before taking off at a run towards Ryrax. What Ryrax would feel was something hitting him from behind as the unstoppable force of Cerys hit the unmovable wall of Ryrax with arms that went around his chest from behind.


"That's not what it looked like."


----


"Once I'm back to normal, I can probably help her gain more feeling." Estelle sighed. "It could take years of therapy but with time-"


"Ahem." The two messengers were standing at the door. "You've been ordered back to the estate."


"I wondered how long it would be." Estelle sighed.


"You're wheeling her out of here if you're going to do anything." Coran crossed his arms.


"Fine, but the Head wants her. Now." The first messenger looked down at her sympathetically while the other raced to go grab a wheelchair. With some difficulties, they began to lift Estelle out of the bed and into the chair. When at last she was settled in, she turned to Rudd.


"Hate to ask this, but I probably won't be able to get out and about much for a while." Estelle's eyes were blank, as if resigned to her fate. "Keep an eye on Cerys, if you don't mind." The words faded a bit as she passed them all while being wheeled out the door.

 

[Ixidor92]

"It isn't a matter of trying woman. You need to do it."


As she stalked off, Jaeger felt the mana flush through his wings, tinging them red once more


"You think I'm going to let you go away that easily?"


He broke through the canopy, a man with the appearance of a devil


---------------------


The messenger lead Odom into the Maveret estate, up several halls, and finally in front of the head's residence.


"The head wished to speak to you personally, you may enter."

 

[Twizinator]

Ryrax, still about ten feet off the ground as he dashed through the trees, found himself tackled from behind. He crashed to the ground, faceplanting into the dirt. However, in moments Cerys would find the tables turned. In the blink of an eye, Ryrax flipped them over, and now had her pinned. He straddled her abdomen with a hand around her neck, holding her down, his other hand drawn back and ready to lash out like a claw. His lips were drawn back into a snarl, an if one looked closely, they could see blackness creeping into the right edge of his left eye, spilling over from his still-suppressed right. His mind was regressing to that traumatic night, sixteen years ago...

 

[Cyrionessa]

"....Ry-....rax...." Cerys choked out from beneat his hand. "It's me....stop....." Her eyes were filled with something that she had rarely felt in her life time: fear.


----


Estelle was wheeled in by the messengers quickly. The two made their exit was fast as possible, not wishing to be here no matter what outcome came of this.


"You wished to see me." Estelle could barely move but she found the figure of the Head and she fixated on him. "Father."

 

[Ixidor92]

A roar came from behind Ryrax, and the man bordering on madness flew through several trees as a foot collided with his back. The one responsible was Jaeger, who back-flipped and skidded along the ground from the force of the impact.


"You don't need a babysitter do you?"


The comment was thrown off-handedly at Cerys


-------------------------------


"Yes. You know why you are here Estelle."


The head's tone was even, not betraying any emotions currently.

 

[Twizinator]

Before Cerys could answer, an ear-splitting cry shook the forest. The temperature dipped immediately, breath being made visible as vapor. Ryrax charged with wild abandon, his eyepatch having been overridden once more. Though both eyes were an icy blue, his right bore that strange ring of runes that seemed to fuel his madness. Both were wide and glaring, focused intently on the one who'd attacked their owner: Jaeger.


"GraaaAAAAAAAWWWRRR!" Ryrax snarled as he lashed out with his claw-like fingers, a crust of frost covering his forearms and hands, and ended in icy claws at his fingertips. He didn't seem to even acknowledge the fact that he had a perfectly good sword strapped to his waist. At this point, it would only get in his way.

 

[Cyrionessa]

Cerys pulled her way behind a tree, far away from the two. This was bad. This was very, very bad. She was still coughing from nearly being choked by Ryrax; she had known that he was dangerous. Still, there was nothing that quite prepared you for someone that you thought was close to you trying to kill you.


----


"Of course I know." Estelle answered evenly, equally not showing any emotion. "What is it that you wish to say to me on the matter?"