Strings of Fate

[InactiveCoffee]

Tara sighed, rolling her eyes as Desire spoke with Vellari, often times finding herself irritated by the way some of the beings spoke to her closest friend. Though she bit her tongue, holding back the retorts and insults she wished to hurl at the beings, knowing this was Vellari's powers, and they would do as they pleased. No matter what Tara thought of their... eccentricities. She looked up at the warrior, and nodded, "Roger. I'll stay close." she said with a smile and together they dove into the vortex that would take them to a hopefully safe area.


She bit back the small giggle that bubbled in her chest as Vellari spit out a bit of grass, and followed suit by summoning a basic pair of daggers. They weren't anything for any specific creature, just for simple defense of the unknown until she could figure out what they were up against. The place was certainly familiar, but she couldn't recall why. Though she could tell there was only one, maybe two life forms that called this world home. "We aren't outnumbered at least." she commented wryly, and sighed as she followed closely after the warrior, keeping a keen eye on their backs as she took up the rear. She was better that way, keeping to her companion's shadow as they moved. It was the only small bit of darkness it would seem, and she preferred at least a minor chance at surprise rather than showing herself to their enemies first thing. "Who do you think lives here? That's a huge house for only a couple people." she said absently, gazing around the Lai'Ko at the huge house at the top of the hill.

 

[Snek]

"Then they must be two damn important people. Let's see if anyone's home."


They approached the south entrance, a door which loomed nearly twice Vellari's height. She pounded a fist on it twice, but nothing. She tried again. Nothing.


Nothing stirred in the house, and no sounds were heard. At least, not at first. After a few seconds, three small wisps hovered through the door and began circling the two Conduits, crying "Intruder!" as loud as they could in tiny, gentle voices. Which wasn't very loud, but regardless: they no longer had the element of surprise. The owner of this dimension no doubt had a telepathic connection to these little things, and would be barging over to lay the smackdown on the intruders.


"Well, no point in being subtle now," Vellari said with a scoff. "Hello? Is anyone here??" she called loudly, starting to circle around to the other side of the house. There was a large garden on the north side of the house, the view mostly obscured by foliage, but she was fairly certain she could make out the shapes of two people sitting by a fountain in the center.


"Tara, let's go. Keep the daggers out, just in case."


~~~~


Royce stood, again quietly so as not to wake Lyra. With all the care of a parent who desperately hopes that their child doesn't wake up after so much effort to get them to sleep, he made his way over to the entrance to the garden. There they were: a Lai'Ko and a Drow, both armed with blades and walking in his direction. Conduits attacking one another did not happen often, but it was not unheard of. Occasionally the fate of a certain people hinged on the winner of such a battle. Sometimes the more brutal ones just got bored and went around looking for a fight. Well, they certainly wouldn't find one here. As easy as it would be, even two on one, Royce was fed up with distractions at the moment. He readied a spell to get rid of them, letting it charge in his hand and waiting for them to get closer.


Summon + Enigmas = Banish


When the Lai'Ko was about ten feet away, he stepped out to face them, but instead of casting the spell, it fizzled and died in his hand.


"Dervish?" he managed to utter, taken by surprise.


"General Ringbearer!" said the Lai'Ko, equally incredulous. Her weapons vanished, and she knelt to the ground, bowing her head in respect and muttering a harsh demand to her Drow companion to do the same. "I apologize for the intrusion," apologized Vellari, "but we were looking for backup. The front is getting difficult to defend, and we set out to look for reinforcements. We had to start looking in the more isolated places when we weren't finding anyone."


Royce nodded. "I see. Who is this?" he asked, gesturing to the Drow. "This is my Destiny-Bound, Predator. Tara, this is General Ringbearer, he led the counterattacks against the Nightmare hordes when they first began," she said, first to Royce and then to her companion. "Speaking of which, sir, why did you disappear?"


He scratched the back of his head. "I left to find the Conduit of legend. The one who would learn to channel the spirits. The time will soon come for her to drive back the Nightmares and restore balance. She is here with me, but she has only just realized her Conduit destiny. She still will require much more training, perhaps a year, maybe more to learn the basics. After that, she will pick up the rest on her own like everyone else does."


Vellari leaned to the side to get a look at her.


"She doesn't look all that special to me. Her meditation technique appears flawed as well. Maybe if she-"


"Given time, Dervish, she will show her potential. As for her meditation, I think perhaps a short break is in order."

 

[InactiveCoffee]

Tara kept silent as they made their way around the large house, her daggers in her hands, ready to strike. Of course, she didn't like the circling wisps, but that was to be expected from one that survived on the surprise factor. She tensed when the other Conduit appeared before them, and blinked in honest surprise as Vellari's blades disappeared and she knelt, addressing the man as General Ringbearer. It was clear these two knew each other, so Tara quickly followed suit and knelt just like her partner had.


Once they had the introductions and other things out of the way, Tara popped back up to her feet and grinned. "General Ringer... er, Ringberer, Bearer... Ringbearer!" She said, stumbling over her words for a moment. She laughed, and scratched the back of her head, "Sorry." she said sheepishly. She looked around at the other they had spoken of, "So she's the one of legend, huh?" she asked, studying the girl that sat there in meditation. Her eyes never seemed to leave her for quite a moment, "Human. Nothing to special. Seems like humans, no matter what part of the multiverse, seem to be pretty well the same." she sighed, almost disappointedly. She looked to Royce, giving him the same close study, and nodded. "Yup. Basically all the same." she sighed, "And here I was thinking I might be able to make new blades." she muttered, and spun to look at Vellari, when a thought occurred to her, she turned back to Royce.


"Does she even know how to fight?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. She paused a moment when something colorful caught her attention, and off she went. She headed into the gardens, pausing near a particular set of flowers. "Oh! I haven't seen these in ages! I didn't know they were all the way on this end of the multiverse!" she said in awe, her finger tracing over the soft petals.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Lyra twitched, her mind blank, her surroundings white. They had been that way since she started this meditation, seemingly caught between reality and the spirit world as her mind couldn't make up whether it wanted to think about the spirits, or about Royce. Why she couldn't get her mind off him, she wasn't exactly sure, but something told her it had to do with the kiss they had shared in the cavern the previous night. Or maybe it was the cuddle session on the couch? She sighed, and her mind finally floated back to reality, a faint murmuring of voices somewhere behind her having brought her back. She blinked her eyes open, and saw that Royce was no longer sitting where he had been. She made a small noise of confusion just as a dark figure entered her peripheral vision, startling her. "Holy shit!":she cried, jumping slightly as she turned to look at the smaller female figure, the start causing her to tumble from the rock where she was sitting into the fountain.


Splash! Lyra blinked, soaking wet from where she had landed in the fountain, staring wide eyed at the girl who turned to look at her.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Hi there! I'm Predator!" Tara chirped, smiling widely. "Sorry I startled you." she laughed, moving over and extending a hand to help Lyra out of the fountain.

 

[Snek]

Vellari raised an eyebrow and looked at Royce. "Impressive."


Royce just shrugged.


"No, she doesn't know combat, at least, I haven't taught her any yet. Better for her to get a handle on her powers first. They will help her in a fight more than any amount of martial arts skills will, especially because her abilities are driven more by instinct than anything else."


Vellari was about to make a comment, but sighed and fell silent. She couldn't argue with that. She and Royce walked over to where Lyra stood, dripping wet. A wisp hovered over to her, carrying a towel from the house by the corner of the fabric with its little wisp hands.


"Lyra, I'm sorry for the interruption, but this here is Dervish, and I see you've met her Destiny-Bound, Predator. They've come here seeking help in the battle, and I've explained the situation to them. I'm letting them stay here until you are finished with your training," explained Royce, wrapping the towel around her and helping her dry off.


He thought for a moment, and glanced at Predator. "Perhaps a combat lesson would be an ample change of scenery from meditation and breathing exercises. It certainly couldn't hurt...well, not in a figurative sense, anyways."

 

[InactiveCoffee]

Lyra smiled at the dark skinned girl that had startled her, and blinked when Royce began explaining and introducing them. She nodded to each, smiling. "Nice to meet you, Dervish. And you, Predator." She said toweling herself off as best she could, taking her long hair out of its messy bun and wringing the water out of it. "Combat? What?" She asked, looking between Royce and Predator.


Tara was, at the moment, engrossed in the small creature that had brought the towel to Lyra. A grin spread across her face, "Yes! I can make a new blade now!!" She cheered, laughing as continued to peer at the wisp. She blinked, freezing in place when she realized she was being spoken to, and looked at Royce. "What about combat?" She asked innocently, having not paid a lick of attention the past few minutes. She looked to Vellari, and smiled in a way that said she was a little embarrassed, her dark skin not exactly capable of showing a blush. "I did it again, didn't I?" She asked with a laugh, rubbing the back of her head.

 

[Snek]

Vellari donned her infamous "you done f*cked up, kid" face, crossing her arms and saying nothing.


Royce coughed. "Combat training. I'm going to try some with Lyra, I think it's time she learned to defend herself anyways. She won't be able to rely on the spirits to hold her hand through every fight, so it'd be prudent to at least teach some defensive moves. Here isn't the best place, though, there's a much better place for that in the basement. Follow me."


He led the group into the house, through a few rooms, and down a long staircase into a dark, musty chamber. He snapped his fingers, and a light flicked on.

Stone pillars and walls filled the gigantic...not even a chamber, it was basically a cavern. Protruding from the ground in various assorted locations were several leather cylinders with targets on them: practice dummies, some of which even hovered several feet in the air near walls or hidden around corners. As they walked to the middle of the cavern, they drew closer to a large pillar that stood alone in an open area in the center of the "maze" of walls and targets. Royce walked up to it and pressed his hand against a stone, which flipped over to reveal a control panel.


"Let's start with something simple, perhaps..."


He pressed a few buttons and turned a few dials, and the room began to shake and rumble as the walls receded into the floor, and a small circular platform, like a sumo ring, lifted up near the control pillar.


"All right. Lyra, on the platform now. I'm going to show you some basic defensive techniques, starting with a defensive stance. Keep your feet about shoulder length apart, with your hands up like this..." As he demonstrated the blocks, parries, dodges, and counterattacks, Vellari draped a muscled arm across both of Tara's shoulders.


"What do you think? Should we stay here? We could probably find other Conduits if we kept looking, but if we stay here, we can help the 'legend' with her training. I'd prefer to rest for awhile, either way," she sighed.

 

[InactiveCoffee]

Tara laughed at the look Vellari gave her, "My bad. You know how I can get distracted." She said with a grin. She looked to Royce nodding, and followed after him and Lyra, alongside Vellari as they headed for the basement. It was certainly humongous, and Tara just knew she'd get lost if she dared try to look around.


Lyra stared at the cavern with wide eyes, clearly having never seen a room so large. She and Tara both seemed to stare in awe as the walls slid into the floor and the sumo-ring rose. Lyra swallowed, and sighed as she was instructed to enter the ring. "You didn't mention physically fighting before." She complained slightly, sighing as she attempted to follow Royce's instructions. Obviously, this part wasn't as easy for her as when she was able to enter the spirit world or even contact the eagle or bear.


Tara tilted her head to look up at Vellari, and smiled warmly. "Yeah, we can stick around and get some rest. You deserve it for putting up with me." She laughed, poking her tongue out at her Destiny-Bound in a rather chidish way. "Ringbearer could probably use a little help with her training anyway." She said with a slight shrug, folding her arms over her chest. "And at least here, if I get lost, I shouldn't get into trouble." She laughed. She leaned against the warrior and watched the other two for a while, eventually getting bored of just watching and finding a spot to sit and meditate on a new blade. A blade for wisps. Why she needed to be able to kill wisps, she couldn't tell, but it was a creature she didn't have a blade for and she was going to fix that.

 

[Snek]

Vellari nodded and smirked at the Drow, giving her a little noogie before releasing her. "Love ya, you little scamp. Go have fun making the Wispbane Blade or whatever you plan to call it."


Royce, in the meantime, was engaged in a spar with Lyra. She seemed to have absorbed his lesson well, so he decided to try something dicey and unique to see how she'd react. Maybe she'd surprise him. Or maybe she'd get a foot to the gut. There was only one way to find out. She had moved from the defensive and was now attempting an offense, but it wasn't as weak of an attempt as Royce had anticipated. She obviously knew how to throw a punch, and seemed to understand how to avoid leaving herself vulnerable. He swatted her fist aside, derailing it from its graceful path towards his face. "You'll have to try harder than that," he chuckled as he feinted a kick to her open side. Before his shin landed, Royce pulled his foot back and instead lanced a kick straight at her abdomen.


Vellari's attention focused back to the fight, watching intently. So maybe she wasn't a complete newbie, but she was still far from holding her own against more than one enemy. Half the enemies Vellari fought on a regular basis couldn't even handle fighting her because she had an entire extra limb to keep track of.

 

[InactiveCoffee]

Tara laughed, "Love ya too, Vel." She said, rolling her eyes at the noogie. She sat a little distance away, keeping her front facing the others and sat cross legged. Her hands outstretched and her eyes closed as she began the tedious process of forging a new blade. The one task that she seemed capable of completing without growing bored that lasted more than a few moments.


Lyra had started to get the hang of fighting, attempting to land blows where she could. She boosted her knowledge with her previous experience from bullies in school, though they were nothing compared to fighters like Royce and possibly the other two she had only just met. She blinked as her punch was swatted away and Royce feinted a blow to her side that quickly changed to her abdomen. She grunted as it connected, the force knocking her backward to the floor, the wind knocked from chest. It probably wouldn't have connected as hard had she not been moving into the strike from her attempted punch, or something. Her mind blanked on whatever she had been thinking as she attempted to regain her breath.

 

[Snek]

Royce knelt down. "You're pretty good for a beginner. Sorry about that, but I had to see how you would react. Remember, one blow can change the tide of a battle completely. Watching your opponent's body can help, but watching their eyes will reveal all. Your foes eyes reveal their inner thoughts, their fears, the tricks up their sleeve, everything they don't want you to know. "


He helped her up, and took a look at her stomach. "Will you be all right? I can dull the pain a bit, if you like. Do you want to try another round?"


Vellari stepped forwards, uncrossing her arms. "I want to see what she's got. Let her spar with me."


Royce blinked. "Dervish, what she needs is more practice, not a lesson in endurance."


"I'll go easy on her," she replied, with a look on her face that seemed like a smirk, but it was hard to tell. The face of a Lai'Ko does not betray emotion often. Royce shook his head. "Lyra, I suppose you can if you want to. It's your decision."


The Dervish cracked her knuckles.

 

[InactiveCoffee]

Lyra coughed slightly as her breathing came back to her, and she smiled at Royce. "Nah. It'll stop after a bit." she said lightly, taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly. She looked over at Dervish, and grimaced, "I guess so... might as well." she sighed, shrugging. She looked at Royce, "Wish me luck." she laughed nervously, and took her place in the ring once more. She settled into a defensive stance, though it wasn't perfect, and began running through what Royce had already explained to her. Thankfully her memory was good, even if it was hard to translate the learnings into actions. She frowned, "Easy on me? And yet you're cracking your knuckles. Who cracks their knuckles when they're going to go easy?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "I've seen enough action movies to know that much." she laughed, readying herself.

 

[Snek]

Vellari stepped onto the platform and put her hands together, her body glowing for a bit and then dying down to reveal her outfit had changed. Where before there was plated armor and sword scabbards, there was instead a simple cloth outfit. A single wide wrap of grey cloth covered her chest, and a few more wraps covered her hips. Her forearms were wrapped to the knuckles with white martial arts wrappings, and her feet were wrapped as well.


"You talk far too much."


She began circling the ring opposite Lyra, performing a customary analysis of her opponent. Shorter than Vellari, but most were. Decent muscle tone, for a human female, more so in her legs than her arms. Probably only around 120 pounds, 130 tops. Vellari wouldn't even need Indulgence for this. She stopped circling, and turned her back to Lyra, her tail swishing slowly across the floor.


"I'll be sporting, if you like. You can strike the first blow, with my back turned. Ought to give you a good start," Vellari said over her shoulder, closing her eyes and focusing her mind. Royce sighed. This was going to be difficult to watch.

 

[InactiveCoffee]

Lyra watched as Vellari circled the ring, using what little knowledge she had to keep her distance from the other being. Towering over her in height, and clearly outweighing, the Lai'Ko was a sight to behold. And Lyra knew she was about to regret agreeing to this. She blinked when the woman turned her back, the tail moving slowly. Nu-uh. That's bait. If I've learned anything from movies, you never accept a handicap from your opponent. She thought, her eyes falling to the tail. Especially when one has a tail. Something tells me that thing isn't purely aesthetic. The girl laughed nervously, "I'm not exactly sure if that's a compliment or not." she said, shaking her head. "I'll pass on the free hit." she said, keeping herself in as best of a defensive stance as she could. The only part that sucked was that she couldn't see Dervish's eyes, and Royce had said something about an enemy's eyes telling all she would need to know. So this was going to prove worse than she had thought. She groaned mentally, "Why did I agree to this again?" she muttered, mostly to herself.

 

[Snek]

"Suit yourself."


The Lai'Ko swiftly spun and lunged, rotating midair to sweep her tail at Lyra's ankle to throw off her stance. As her tail lashed out, she pressed her wrists together, ready to perform a double-palm blow to capitalize on her opponent's momentary loss of balance and knock her over. She glanced into Lyra's eyes for a split-second, seeing a twinge of fear, mixed with reluctant perseverance. She would likely play on the defensive, waiting for an opening. Vellari would just have to make sure not to try anything dicey.

 

[InactiveCoffee]

Lyra gasped as Dervish moved on the offensive, lunging forward, and diving herself below the attack, tucking to roll as she landed. She scrambled to stand again, spinning to look at Dervish. "Damn it, you're fast!" she laughed, shaking her head. "Not to mention... if that was easy, I'm rather terrified to find out what hard would be." she groaned, and glanced at Royce before letting her eyes cast back to Dervish. A twinge of fear caused her to hesitate, but that same perseverance that had helped her survive after her mother had died, and continued after she had been kicked out of her home pressed her to keep going. She looked at Dervish, her eyes darting from her feet to the tail, to her chest and arms, and finally to her head. An image passing through her thoughts, a big cat that had made appearances in her dreams when she was little. She mentally shook herself, "No. This is a physical fight." she told herself softly. She blinked again, and things seemed to freeze in place, and again the image of a large cat prowled at the edges of her field of vision. "Hello?" she asked aloud, confused by whatever was currently happening.


Watch her movements. She fights with her tail, and her fists. Use your smaller size for the advantage. Drifted the soft, purring voice and things drifted back to normal. Lyra blinked, and looked at Dervish again. "My smaller size for an advantage?" She murmured, and gasped as yet another impending strike was making its way to her. She dropped into a crouch almost instinctively and went sideways, rolling away from the strike, but had forgotten the tail. She found herself on her backside, staring up at Dervish. She smiled impishly, "Well, shit." she laughed.

 

[Snek]

Vellari's eyes narrowed, standing over the defeated opponent. "Fine time to be communing with the voices in your head." She offered a hand and helped her up. "Again."


"No, Dervish, I have a better idea. Why don't we try a simulation? Perhaps that would be a better way for Lyra to apply all that she has learned today," said Royce, stepping up onto the platform. "That way Predator over there can participate as well. What's she doing, by the way?"


The Lai'Ko crossed her arms. "It's her power. She has tons of different blades, all specifically designed to kill different creatures. When she meets a foe she hasn't seen before, she studies it and forges a new one from the void. But it takes time and focus, so she meditates to help the process along. She's currently designing a blade for killing wisps like the ones you summon."


"I see," Royce replied, walking to the control panel and adjusting some of the controls.

 

[InactiveCoffee]

Lyra looked up at Dervish, and frowned. "I wasn't communing with voices in my head." she said indignantly. "It was a cat. A big one. Tiger, perhaps?" she mused, crossing her arms over her chest, and huffing softly. She looked over at Royce as he spoke with the Lai'Ko about the smaller, dark skinned girl, Predator, or Tara, whatever her name was, following their gaze to the girl in question. A small ball of light had begun to form between her outstretched hands, and if she had heard Dervish correctly, it was something about creating a blade from the void. That was certainly interesting sounding. She sighed, and turned, pacing a short distance away as Royce started messing with the controls again. She flopped onto the floor, and closed her eyes.


This time, the trip was quick, and she was standing in the usual field that she remembered from her many dreams and the single trip she had made with Royce consciously. She was in the spirit world. She glanced around, and the colors melded, and she was transported to a thick forest. Sweat easily beaded onto her brow as the humidity around her seemed to skyrocket. "Hello?" she called, hesitantly. Movement caught her eye, and out of the trees wove a large cat, orange and white with black stripes. The tiger looked at Lyra, a smirk within it's expression and the same fluid, purring voice sounded around her. Hello, Lyra. I am the Tiger spirit. I have been watching you, just as all the spirits have. said the voice, the tiger looming closer, its breath hot and heavy against Lyra's skin as it sniffed at her. "Are you trying to help me?" she asked curiously. The tiger looked up with knowing eyes, and nodded it great head. Yes. I give you my strength to use in battle, as well as my agility and senses. Merely call on me, and my strength is yours. The tiger turned then, and bound into the forest, Lyra's vision blurring and melding and she was opening her eyes again. "That was weird..." she muttered softly.

 

[Snek]

Royce turned a final dial and closed the panel, rubbing his hands together.

"Very well, shall we begin? The simulation will run as follows: you'll all be transported into a large three-dimensional and multi-layered maze, with each of you three starting at a different corner. I'll spawn a large amount of vicious sword-wielding minions of mine to keep you company while you make your way to the center of the maze, where I'll be standing. First person who manages to grab this coin..." he said, snapping his fingers and summoning a shining gold token into his palm, "...wins the game. You are allowed to use any weapons, powers, and skills to which you have access. Remember, it is a simulation, so your life is never in danger. If you are dealt a killing blow, you will wake up upstairs in the den to wait for the conclusion. Is that clear?"


Vellari gave a grunt of approval, summoning her three blades and catching them. "One question. What happens if we kill you?"


Royce smirked. "Then I'll wake up upstairs, and the coin will drop to the ground."


She narrowed her eyes. "I'm ready."

 

[InactiveCoffee]

Lyra stared at Royce, and her eyes darted to Dervish, and then over to Predator who had finally stood, two new blades of a shining, almost glowing, blue color in her hands. "Oh great." she muttered, sighing as she rolled her eyes. She paused a moment, remembering her recent encounter, and a smirk flitted across her lips. Royce hadn't been paying attention there. She had an advantage. Not to mention, she could attempt to talk to the Eagle again. So maybe this whole thing wasn't useless to her after all. She nodded, "Get to the center, get the coin. Simple enough." she shrugged, and a laugh escaped her. "Makes me think of Pac Man... Only rather than getting from the center to the outer edges, it's in reverse." she grinned, and shook her head again. "What the heck. It'll be fun, I guess." she shrugged, smiling.


Tara walked back over to the other three, her new blades twirling between her fingers. "What's this about a game?" she asked with a smile. "Lookie, Vel!! I got Wispbane!" she laughed, holding them up triumphantly. She then let them drop from her hands, the blades disappearing inches below where she had released them. She took in the situation before her, and grinned, "Oh, we're all getting to fight? Yes!" she cheered, her two normal blades appearing in her palms as she took up a stance near Vellari, "l love games." she grinned.

 

[Snek]

Vellari couldn't help but chuckle, ruffling Tara's hair. "Congratulations. Now you may slay any murderous, bloodcrazed sprites, spirits, and wisps that dare cross your path," she said cynically, resting a claw on her shoulder.


Royce looked around. "Everyone ready? Awesome. Into the gauntlet you go." He held a hand up in the air, rings glowing, and gave Lyra one last sly wink before closing the hand into a fist. Everything went black, as if every star in the universe had suddenly and simultaneously burned out.


(Imagine the design of the maze like this, with layers all the way down to the core where Royce is.)

Vellari awoke to find herself in a small, empty, brick room, the ceiling replaced with a grate through which the light of an artificial sun shined. One of the slats was busted, so she vaulted off the wall and kicked it free, pulling herself through the gap and crouching on the roof of the maze and looking around. The maze was huge, and like Royce said, three dimensional, like a giant cube. Beyond the limits of the maze, there was only blue, as if the whole labyrinth hovered several thousand feet in the air. Above her head, a huge white circle illuminated the outer layer. It looked like a sun, but its light was obviously not natural and was probably only there for aesthetic effect.


She thought for a moment, putting together a strategy before she ran in recklessly. Royce had said there were multiple layers, so her destination was probably deeper into the cube, not a location on the outside. She briefly considering making a deal with Desire for some shortcuts, but then quickly dismissed the idea. Desire would waste as much of her time as possible, and this particular endeavor required decisiveness.


Leaping down back into the corridors, Vellari started off in whatever direction she was facing. From above, this tunnel seemed to lead deeper, so it was worth a try. As she ran, she heard Royce's voice echo in her mind.


"Level One: Commence."


She turned a corner, and readied her blades. The first foe had shown its face.

It donned steel armor, and brandished its shortsword like it really knew how to use it. The Lai'Ko dove close, her tail's blade parrying the knight's strike before plunging her swords between the armor's plates. It let out a screech and evaporated, leaving only the armor and sword which clanged to the floor unceremoniously. She continued on, taking countless turns and trying every path systematically. It was common knowledge that following one wall would eventually lead her to the next level, but there was no time for that. She slid down the rusty railing of a staircase and hopped off at the bottom, continuing onwards.


~~~~


Royce sat, eyes closed and cross-legged, in the heart of the maze. It was cool and quiet, and he was enjoying the opportunity to relax before any of them made it near the end. He clutched the coin in his left palm, letting his mind wander as he waited.

 

[InactiveCoffee]

Tara blinked her eyes open, looking around herself quickly as she realized she was no where near Vellari. Panic struck her for a mere moment before she took a deep breath and sat up. "Well... Looks like I've lost this one, if I don't run into Vellari...." she muttered, and sighed. She stood, dusting herself off and looked around. Nothing remarkable about the room, and light shown through the slats over her head. She took several long minutes to look around before she ventured down the hall, confusion swimming through her mind. I believe I failed to inform Ringbearer of my lack of directional sense... She mused silently, pressing onward through the maze. Turning here and there, and regularly locating dead ends. She sighed in frustration, and stood at an intersection. She needed to find Vellari. That was the only way she was going to get through this. She closed her eyes, and forced her breathing to steady, shallow, and calm. She was connected to her Destiny-Bound, and that was often how she found her way when she wasn't in Vellari's immediate vicinity. If she could just pinpoint where she was in this gods-forsaken labyrinth.

A noise caught her attention before she could locate the warrior Lai'Ko, and Tara's eyes snapped back open, dropping into a defensive crouch. Before her stood a tall being, clad in white and armed who two long swords. It had a reach advantage, that was certain. She growled softly, glaring at the minion. "Really?" she muttered, her displeasure in her small stature surfacing as she studied the creature. She dropped the blades from her hands, exchanging them in mere seconds with the newly created wispbane blades. She gritted her teeth and darted forward, moving nearly like a flash, blades at the ready. She planted her feet in front of the minion, the swords raising in an arc toward her. She lunged upward, following the arc pattern ahead of the minion's blades until she was above the being. She threw the daggers, landing one on each shoulder, and twisted, grabbing the handles and ripping them through the minions body as her weight returned to the floor below her, now crouched behind the minion as it twitched and dissipated. "Not hard. For this level." she shrugged, and pressed on, though if Royce was watching, he'd have realized she headed in the direction she had already come from.




Lyra's eyes opened to a simple hall, much like those that Tara and Vellari woke to, and she sighed. "Joy." she muttered, standing and peering down each end of the halls that surrounded her. "Puzzles. Yay." she laughed sarcastically, and stuck a hand to the wall next to her. "Easy enough. Follow a wall until you either find the center or find an exit." she said with a smile and started walking, her hand trailing along the wall as she went. It was classic, and she could only hope that it would work, as she wasn't sure if the walls would change, or remain stationary. It was certainly going to take her a while before she would reach the center. Never having been good with puzzles. She frowned slightly as she walked along, empty hall after empty hall, turns here and there, always following the same wall, even if that lead her in a short circle around a dead end. Eventually, she located an enemy. A small, black thing that crawled and moved in awkward ways.

She groaned softly, and shook her head, "Really? Why me?" she muttered. She pursed her lips together, and silently called out to the Tiger spirit that had spoken to her previously. She felt an odd sensation as parts of her body shifted, fur erupting over her arms, shoulders, legs, and hips. Orange, with black stripes. Claws erupted from her fingertips, as well as her feet, which now resembled the back paws of a tiger. A tail swished behind her, and her ears seemed to be located on top of her head rather than on the sides. Smells that she hadn't noticed before assaulted her senses, her eyes keen and her vision more detailed. She glanced down at herself, seeing that much of her torso was free of the fur, but still had the black markings of a tiger. "Whoa..." she whispered, and her head snapped up as she caught the faintest sound of movement ahead of her. She snarled softly, and rushed at the enemy, claws outstretched. After a long battle, one that was sure to have been short had it been anyone but her, Lyra stood, breathing slowly as the fur dissipated, the tail and claws disappearing, and her feet and ears returning to normalcy. She looked down at her hands, and laughed, cheering for herself. "Yes! I did it!" she grinned, slapping her hand back to the wall she had been following, and jogging onward, her morale boosted.

 

[Snek]

After a few turns and a plethora of defeated knights, Vellari came upon an open space in the floor, like a manhole, with an arrow carved into the nearby wall pointing into the darkness. "Level Two, then. What more can this maze throw at me?" muttered Vellari, dropping into the blackness.


"I wonder how Tara is doing..."


As soon as she landed, nearby torches flared to life and illuminated the corridor. It was much like the outer level, except more polished and less...abandoned-looking. Plus, it smelled nicer down here. Royce's voice filled Vellari's head once more.


"Level Two: Commence. Impressive progress, Dervish. The other two are close behind, better take advantage of your headstart while you've got it."


He didn't have to tell her twice. She only had a short time before the others caught up, and she decided she wasn't going to leave anything up to chance. One of them could catch up, get lucky, and find the path to the next level right away. There was only one way Vellari was certain could cement her lead ahead of the others.


Her palm face up and held out, the runemarks crept down her arm towards her fingers like before, only this time, they were a lively green color instead of crimson, and instead of weaving back and forth, the runes seemed to jitter and vibrate, as if they could barely stand being bound to her arm. The marks gathered in her hand, and before her appeared her second-least favorite of the Vices.


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"Hey, what's happening hot stu-"


"Can it. Powers, now," interrupted Vellari, impatient. It didn't matter if this one wasted her time, though. She would get it back anyways. "All right, relax," cooed Imprudence, "don't gotta make this a federal f*ckin' issue every time ya need me." He put a demonic claw on her heart, and her chest briefly glowed with green light, as if he had just nuked her heart with a dose of radiation. Her pulse skyrocketed, and Imprudence chuckled as he started to vanish. "Go nuts," he sneered before evaporating.


Vellari loved this feeling. Not having to worry. Not having to fear. It didn't matter, nothing mattered, she would get there in time. Her leg muscles tensing, she rocketed down the hallway at nearly three times her normal running speed, screeching around corners and probing the level for the exit. This level appeared to have various traps, such as axes that swung from the ceiling or barrages of needles that ejected from holes in the wall. A sane person would wait for the trap to deactivate, and creep through after it had shut off, but Vellari just sped right through, catching a couple needles in her thigh. She felt the pain, but the sense of urgency and danger didn't follow. Needles? Who cares? She plucked them out of her leg and continued on her joyride.

 

[InactiveCoffee]

Tara twisted and turned through the maze, her growing dread ever increasing the longer she was there, alone. Her panic slowly was rising, and she became tense, and sensitively alert. A series of enemies later, and several backtracks, she finally found a hole in the floor. She glanced over her shoulder, and groaned, "Down the rabbit hole I go." she groaned, and dropped into the darkness that waited to seemingly swallow her. Torches flickered to life, and as soon as she hit the ground, she recognized the feeling immediately. Vellari had been through her. She didn't know how long ago, or which direction her Destiny-Bound had gone, but it was slightly comforting to know she wasn't far behind. Tara looked around, whimpering softly as she tried to take a guess as to where the warrior had gone. Her chest heaved, as if fighting the urge to hyperventilate.


She took off down the hall, hoping she wasn't far behind. She twisted around corners, her feet carrying her as quickly as she could move. Down halls, and eventually had to skid to a halt just as an axe passed inches in front of her. She gulped, staring at the trap, "Fuck me... really?" she muttered, sighing as she looked to the ceiling. The daggers she held dropped, only to be replaced by two long, thin daggers that looked more like long toothpicks than blades. She waited a moment, and then jumped with all her strength, latching herself onto the mechanism that held the axe to the trap, scurrying to the ceiling. "Easy." she said with a shrug, and inserted the pick like blade into the trap, fiddling with it for a moment until she heard the tell tale clicking sound that said the trap was disabled. She dropped back to the floor, and pressed on. Again, dodging around corners, and down halls, not realizing the second trap she came up on until she had a needle in her shoulder and she tumbled out of the way before any others could cause her harm. She winced, "Shit." she muttered, and yanked the needle from her arm. "Dervish...." she muttered, looking around at her surroundings. "Vellari... where are you?" she called out, a small break entering her voice as she fought the urge to cry as her panic rose in her throat. "No, no... I'm okay. I don't need to cry over this. I defeated my nightmare centuries ago. This is nothing." she told herself, though her voice wavered. She took a deep breath, and pressed on. "Vellari!?" she called as she went, eventually finding herself yet again lost. "Vellari...?" she whimpered softly, unable to fight back the terror that had been slowly building in her chest as tears escaped down her cheek. "O-okay, R-ringbearer... this isn't fun anymore..." she whimpered, looking all the more like a claustrophobic that was put into a small box.




Lyra, on the other hand, was making rather slow going, her hand always pressed to the wall beside her as she made her way through. She wasn't sure how far behind she was, but she was pretty sure the other two were long ahead of her. She sighed, and continued on her way. With each enemy she came upon, each one increasingly more difficult that the last, she called upon the tiger spirit to lend her the strength she needed. She still wasn't the best fighter, by no means, but at least she was stronger and more able to dodge their blows. Eventually, she wound her way to an opening in the floor, still using the Tiger spirit for help since it had become tiresome to call on her each and every time she was needed. She took a deep breath, having found that she had heightened abilities to hearing and smell. No sign that anyone had been here, which made her think either the other two had found a different way to get to the next level, or she was miraculously in the lead. She took a deep breath and dropped through the hole.


Another hall, more polished than the previous level, and torches seemed to light now that she was present. "No. That isn't ominous." she muttered, laughing. She pressed onward, hand firm against the wall. It was because of this that she had been alerted to the first of the traps to be located, and she dodged them easily, waiting for them to complete and reset, dashing through the small area before the trap had a chance to retrigger. "Slow and steady wins the race." she smiled to herself, and continued on.

 

[Snek]

Vellari finished a whole side of the level and continued onto a different side, making incredible time but coming close to death here and there. Well, no risk no reward, eh? She dashed back and forth, checking each and every path for the exit before backtracking and trying a different one. Eventually, coming down one of the hallways she passed by Tara, who stood frozen in place with fear, looking absolutely miserable.


Screeching to a halt, Vellari shut off her powers and walked over to her Destiny-Bound. She said nothing, hugging her and wiping away her tears. "C'mon, Tara. We'll go get that coin together."

 

[InactiveCoffee]

Tara blinked when Vellari passed, frozen where she stood, wide eyed and tearful. She looked up at the tall warrior, relief seeming to melt through her limbs as if she had gone from an ice-storm to somewhere warm. She returned the embrace, smiling mutely as the Lai'Ko wiped the tears from her cheeks. "S-sorry, Vel..." she said softly, almost squeaking. She had always been ashamed of her fear of being lost, but then again, with no directional sense to her, she got lost a lot. She took a slow breath, the tightness in chest making the sound a shuddering one as she slowly calmed down. It was comforting to be with Vellari again, and glad that she didn't need to suffer the rather humiliating session where Royce would have to deactivate the maze just so Tara didn't hyperventilate. Or something. She took a hesitant step forward, her limbs still stiff from adrenaline and fear, and she took another shaking breath. "I defeated my nightmare, but I'm still paralyzed with terror if I get lost." she sighed, harping on herself, and shook her head. "Makes me wonder how I beat my nightmare in the first place." she grumped, rolling her eyes. She was finally returning to her normal self now that she was around Vellari, knowing with the Lai'Ko at her side, she wouldn't be lost anymore. She smiled fully at the warrior woman, "Amazing how you put up with me." she laughed.