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Post by Lord Ainvar Hrothgarsson on Aug 9, 2014 17:09:24 GMT
*This is a continuation of the Plague quest, tying up lose ends from the most recent battle*
Storm clouds began rolling in as the members of the Host hastened back towards the city to raise alarm. Ainvar demanded them so, he knew the hour was late, the warrior had to keep this abomination at bay for a little longer. Blood and sweat stung his eyes, no matter, he had to continue. Ainvar rushed the Dreadknight again, throwing his spear to the ground, and unsheathed his short sword. He crashed all of his weight into the man, pushing behind his shield as he went to stab any area left vulnerable.
The melee ensued for what seemed to be eternity, heavy rains, wind gusts, crashing thunder, and bright flashes of lightning had moved in over the combatants. Exhausted, Ainvar mistook his opponent, earning a sword deep within his chest, busting open his chainmaille. Simultaneously lightning cracked the grey sky, the chieftain collapsed to his knees, shallow breaths escaping his lips. He looked up at the towering figure, in desperation he thrust his sword forward. The Dreadknight grabbed Ainvar's forearm, a snarling grimace of satisfaction upon his face, and slowly pushed his own sword into the right breast, popping the chain links as it passed through Ainvar's maille and into his lung.
The warrior stared up at his opponent without fear in his eyes, but defeat. The Dreadknight put his boot upon the fallen warrior's shoulder, and kicked him off his blade, and onto the saturated earth. Ainvar lay, unable to move his body, staring into the storm-ridden sky, muttering in his native tongue, until blood filled his throat, and he moved onto the Otherworld.
Moments after the life left his flesh, a tremendous bolt of lightning shot from the clouds and struck his dead body.
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Post by Lady Freya Mercades on Aug 17, 2014 4:39:55 GMT
Freya, having not been present for the commotion, only heard cries from the people of the Locks and orders barked from the officers. She had caught wind of the fight ensuing with Ainvar. A cold wave of fear washed over her. Her sunkissed skin, pale at the idea.
She ran as fast as her legs would take her towards the forest blade in hand, racing against the angry wind billowing from the dark clouds above.
Upon entering the forest, her golden eyes dart between the trees. A sign. Any sign of him.
An vengeful and evil energy floated in the air. Freya's ears perked to the sky in hopes of hearing a rustle. A groan.
There. At the center of the forest she found him. A pool of blood surrounding him, staining his tunic. Blade loosely grasped in his worn and battered hand. There was no sense of panic that could be found like the one that overcame Freya.
There was no air to be heard from his lips. No heat from his bones. All the flickering energy faded.
"WAKE UP!" She shouted angrily, bearing her teeth, eyes slowly welling.
"WAKE UP YOU FUCKING BRUTE."
She lifts his head into her hands and looks to the sky. Clouds grey and swarming above her on the treeline.
"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO REPAY YOU IF YOU ARENT EVEN HERE!" she screamed.
All patience, grace, and sovereignty had left her mind and she pressed her forehead against his. Her fists full of his knotted hair.
All Freya knew now was that the man who had taken her and her people into his land, into his keep...had protected them...was dead. And she would never thank him.
She laid him back down onto the wet earth, her hands shaking, drenched in his blood.
"This cant happen. Not yet" she said. Flames licking in her eyes. A fire of determination...of gratefulness..of love, burning deep in her.
She rose from her knees. Neck craned upwards, breathing in the hot air and rain.
"THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT?!" she screamed to the sky, her voice howling into the wind.
"YOU WOULD TAKE THIS MAN. THIS WARRIOR. AS HE TAKES HIS LAST BREATH ON THIS EARTH FROM A FORCE OF EVIL?!"
Her reaches her hands towards the rain, her eyes squinted, bellowing her words.
"YOU MAY NOT BE MY GODS, BUT I KNOW OF YOU! I KNOW THIS IS NOT HIS TIME AND YOU KNOW IT TOO!"
The thunder heightens closer and closer to her.
Freya looks at Ainvar lying still on the ground.
"...I suppose if Im to pay you back..." and reaches against her thigh, unsheathing the dagger strapped there.
Her eyes focus on the swirling clouds as she drags her dagger slowly across the palm of her hand. A long, deep red line forms and her blood begins to pool in her hand..
"Whatever gods you may be, I give you my blood for his. I spill this to the ground in your names and ask that you take what I have to offer. I give my magic. My history. My love. My very breath. Just bring him back...we need him...I need him...I ask of you, foreign gods, just dont take him now!"
She turns her hand, letting blood spill into the mud, draining into the widening pool surrounding Ainvar...
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Post by Lord Ainvar Hrothgarsson on Aug 17, 2014 5:17:23 GMT
The skies around the forest darkened further, each drop of Freya's blood that hit the earth, an arc of electricity reached out and touched it. Small arcs continued to dance along Ainvar's motionless body. The winds began to swirl around them, whispers in a tongue foreign to the Elf could be heard within the trees.
Lightning crashed down across the land, followed by deafening thunder. As Freya's words and blood spilled from her, arcs of energy danced across her and Ainvar's bodies. With a sudden gust of wind, a great bolt of lightning came careening down upon them, striking the two with full force, shredding the surrounding Oak trees of their bark.
Immediately, the rain slowed from a downpour to a light misting, the though dark clouds remained, the thunder moved off to the distance, the wind died, yet the whispers remained. Ainvar's chest expanded rapidly as a gasp of breath shown him alive. Arcs of lightning still zig-tagging across his flesh, they soon began to flicker and fade. Ainvar's eyes opened in a great pain. His insides felt as though they were on fire. A bellowing scream escaped his lips as he jerked his torso forward, allowing him to sit up.
He grabbed at the wounds upon his chest, looking down at them. The heat of the blast cauterized them shut. In Ainvar's peripheral, he noticed a figure lying next to him, slowly turning his gaze in that direction, he found Lady Freya face down in the blood and earth...
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Post by Lady Freya Mercades on Aug 17, 2014 5:39:11 GMT
Slits of vision return to Freya as her eyes open slowly.
There is a pain, not only in her body but deep down inside of her as she shifts to look around, feeling the damp dirt under her.
She sits up slowly, bracing her weight on her arms...no longer golden and tanned, but a porcelain white. Her mind flits as she scrambles to her feet. Her hands pat her body in a frenzy. Same shapes. Same curves. Same feel. Her face still sharp angles and pointed lines.
Her fingers reach her ears, expecting to travel skyward to the tall pointed tips she had known her entire life, but are met with a rounded curve. Freyas eyes widen and her mouth slowly drops. Terror seeping into her. In her side vision she sees Ainvar, standing between the trees, still covered in blood. She looks to meet his gaze, hands still tracing the curve of her ears, grasping at what should be there.
She tries to find her words to scream out but is met with a cold silence from her throat.
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Post by Lord Ainvar Hrothgarsson on Aug 17, 2014 5:59:39 GMT
Ainvar stares in shock at the woman, it was Freya,bit it didn't look like her. Those eyes were the same. Ainvar's mouth dropped, "My Lady?"
He slowly walked towards her, reaching his hand out to Freya. Unexpectedly, a thin bolt of lightning burst from his fingertips, shooting past her and into an Oak behind her, stripping the last remnants of bark from the trunk. In shock and surprise, Ainvar jumped back and shouted a curse in his native tongue.
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Post by Lady Freya Mercades on Aug 17, 2014 6:18:15 GMT
Hands still fixed to her ears, her eyes refill with tears as she watched the warrior approach her.
Like a wolf to a wounded doe, she thought to herself.
As he reached for her and lighting burst past her, she jumped to the side, looking back at the blackened trunk of the oak tree. She turned back to Ainvar as her hands drop back to her sides slowly. She falls to her knees into the dirt with a look of exhaustion and melancholy.
A small smirk traces on her face, she glances at Ainvar...and with everything her soul can muster, a small, powerful voice escapes her..
"My blood for yours..." as she begins sobbing.
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Post by Lord Ainvar Hrothgarsson on Aug 17, 2014 6:29:18 GMT
Still in disbelief, Ainvar tried to make sense, but to no avail, "blood? Your skin, your ears.. you're human, my lady!". He walked a circle around Freya, examining her closely, "how can this be??".
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Post by Adoven Leoros Bloodwynd on Aug 19, 2014 4:05:39 GMT
After hastily directing a few citizens towards the keep to be cared for by the appropriate forces, Adoven's saw from the sky the single lightning bolt, though none else rang through the darkened sky.
"Odd..." He thought to himself.
Just then his keen ears picked up on the cries of a familiar voice... Though it seemed distressed and pleading.
He mounted his horse after turning over the proceedings to a nearby sergeant.
He rode onwards towards the source, ready to confront whatever it may be.
As he approached, the elf ducked behind a tree, seeing two figures.
He listened on to the exchange.
For the Song of the World!
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Post by Lady Freya Mercades on Aug 22, 2014 0:59:29 GMT
Freyas head hangs, her face in her hands, tears soaking into the already wet dirt. She lifts her face to see Ainvar, thunder still rolling in her mind.
"And who am I to know what happened?" she says meekly.
"I didn't know this would happen. How was I supposed to? I didn't know it would make me like THIS. Where are my ears? Whose face do I have...it's certainly not my own..."
She stands slowly, wiping mud, blood, and tears from her newly paled cheeks.
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Post by Lord Ainvar Hrothgarsson on Aug 22, 2014 1:14:39 GMT
Ainvar stares at her, in complete disbelief. "Your face is yours, still. Where your ears have gone, I know not. What did you do? What happened? That...thing, it ran steel through my chest.. I began to shift to the Otherworld, but could not complete the journey. I heard voices, whispers keeping me in my flesh.. I heard screams, and awoke to you, as you are now..".
He slowly approached the woman, and extended his cut, and blood caked hand to her face. A small arc of electricity slipped from his palm and licked her cheek. Ainvar immediately shot his hand back, looking surprised, and peered down at his upturned palm.
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Post by Lady Freya Mercades on Aug 22, 2014 1:33:33 GMT
She flinches back as the bolt jolts across her cheek, patience growing thin with each happening.
"Im unsure what your dance with the inferno gods has done, but I advise you not touch me..." she says slowly, feeling the sting of electricity still on her cheek.
"I found you here...dead. Blood everywhere. Your wounds blackened. I..."
She trails off into a long pause, truly deciding what to say. What exactly was she willing for this man to know..
No. Certainly not that.
"I merely spoke my peace to whatever gods that took you." she said, "Be them yours or mine or whomever wanted your life...I had my words for them. I couldn't let you just die...I have my debts to repay first before that can happen."
She stares at his hands, flickering tails of light bouncing around them. Each word spoken helps her regain her composure in front of the warrior, but her mind racing and heavy with secret. Her heart beating rapidly, unfamiliar with new blood.
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Post by Lord Ainvar Hrothgarsson on Aug 22, 2014 2:19:31 GMT
Hearing her words, he looked up from his hands, whatever it was that Taranus lay upon him must wait, "I've heard of this sorcery from the druids, a form of blood magic that takes life to give life... but even after decades of study, practice, no one has accomplished such a feat. You, my spidse øre, never cease to amaze".
Ainvar feels the holes in his chain, and molested where his wounds once were, but we're now as if they had never been. Scanning the forest floor, he saw his sword, and what was left of his shield. Slowly, he walked over and grabbed the hilt, and sheathed it. No arc this time.
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Post by Adoven Leoros Bloodwynd on Aug 22, 2014 19:52:52 GMT
Overhearing the exchange and revelations of what had happened, Adoven pondered several thoughts, musing over the explanations possible.
As quickly as those thoughts rose to his mind, another one began to form.
*What wonders do you have for us now...?* he thought, his lips forming into a knowing smile at the night sky.
Chuckling to himself the elf swordsong quietly slipped away, leaving his horse nearby the trees for both
-yes both, though it hardly registered as sinking in yet- humans.
For the Song of the World!
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Post by Lady Freya Mercades on Aug 23, 2014 3:01:50 GMT
Watching his movements carefully, Freya gathers herself; straightening her torso, familiarizing herself with the feeling of impure blood pulsing through her. She takes a moment to glance at the sky, now clear all but for a few small dwindling clouds.
She whispers softly, "My blood sufficient...keep him safe. Give me the strength to know this new being..."
Her sword sheathed and head cleared, she waits for Ainvar as she may return to the keep and hope for the understanding of her true people.
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Post by Lord Ainvar Hrothgarsson on Aug 23, 2014 3:27:35 GMT
Ainvar nods to Freya, "we should return to the keep. We'd both do well with food, and some sleep. After adequate rest, we will seek to answers to both of our... apparent.. transformations, my lady". He gazed at her for a second, not anticipating a response, but merely entranced in the moment.
Shaking his wits back to him, Ainvar heard the soft nay of a horse. He followed the sound, and discovered the beast tied to a sapling. It must have been left by one of the men during the conflict. Untying the reins from the young tree, Ainvar patted the animal's neck, keeping his concentration to not exert electricity from his hand, and calmly mounted it. Bringing the horse in front of Freya, he reached down and extended his hand to her. "The beast was left in the wood, I am sure he'd like to get back to the stable for some feed, and water", Ainvar slipped a small smile, trying to cover the pain he still felt in his body from being brought back to this world.
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