Newcomer's Game: THE ORB OF PYRITUS

[CheddarCheese]

All hell broke loose.

Atlas reeled back as the sudden, terrifying screeches echoed from the depths of the structure. The scene in front of him rolled out like a movie. Small groups of human-looking figures were bunched up near the center. Surrounding them was what seemed to be a swarm of oversized bugs. But before Atlas could figure out who exactly the people were, an array of gates opened up around them.

No sooner had that happened, large, inhuman figures emerged from behind the doors, and started to close in on the group. They were monsters, unlike any sort of creature Atlas had ever seen. The group immediately mobilized, and split up. Some of them wielded swords, and turned to face the colossal beasts that advanced on them.

If they were anything like the warriors Atlas had encountered before, they were very capable of fighting back. But did they stand a chance against the monsters? And even if they did win, were they friendlies?

Then Atlas noticed that one of the sword wielders was familiar. Upon closer inspection, he realised it was General Drake from earlier. Atlas headed towards the man with his rifle at the ready.

“Hey! Over here!” he tried to call out, but his voice was lost in the combined clamour of the monsters.

Atlas watched as the General passed off a humongous sword to another figure nearby. The creature was certainly not human; it had large wings protruding from its back. But before he could confirm what his eyes were seeing, a long shadow passed overhead. Atlas looked up to see that the snake-creature, which he had come across before, was twisting its way through the air. Atlas quickly ducked behind a large pillar.

“Goddamn great, it can fly now,” he muttered.

The snake landed directly in front of the General, and started to lash out at him. Atlas aimed his rifle from cover and released a few rounds into the side of the snake. The bullets bounced harmlessly off, and the creature didn’t even seem to notice. The snake recoiled from an attack by the General, but seemed unharmed. To his surprise, the man took the opportunity to leap onto the back of the snake.

Atlas tried running his bullets through the strange line of spines in the snake’s side, but they did nothing. His rifle was useless against the creature’s armour. He would have to use heavy weapons to stand a chance.

The General reared back with his flaming sword in his hand, preparing to plunge it into the snake’s back. But at that same instant, the snake flared its spines, which appeared to have webbing between them, and shot out from underneath the General.

Atlas barely had time to move out of the way, as the snake barrelled straight into the pillar. Then it swerved in midair, and took off into the sky, circling above them. Atlas rose to his feet and confronted the General.

“Have a plan?” He asked, eyeing the beast.

“We have to get it on the ground,” replied the General.

“I can do that,” said Atlas, holstering his rifle, and pulling the anti-tank Javelin from his back. “Then what?”

The General smiled, “Then I destroy it.”


Atlas loaded one of the tandem missiles into the Javelin, and aimed it at the black snake circling above.

[Areadrill]

As Faramar spread his wings open the phoenix let out another of it's deafening screeches. The peace keeper stood impassive, his face hard as stone. But as he leapt into the air above, he noticed Jor'Reda started to glow. It was not reflecting any light, it was the actual light source. It had never done that before... Had Eslana done something to it besides restoring to its original appearance?
He looked over to her and found Eslana looking at him, equally confused. He would have stopped to talk to her, were it not for the man-sized bird that was lunging at him with its beak aimed right at his head.
Faramar quickly swung Jor'reda in a downward arch, forcing it to stop in its tracks. Again, a screech. The phoenix tried to peck at the peace keeper again and again, and every time, the mighty sword blocked the blows with no great effort. With each unseuccessful attack, the bird grew angrier and more frustrated. Until finally, it stopped attacking and flew backwards, always screeching in desperation. It was furious now and Faramar knew it.
Now that the phoenix had given him a bit of room, he looked around him. Below him, everybody seemed to be engaged in battle. Suddenly, he heard the sound of flapping wings approaching and turned to face his opponent once more. Only this time, it spat out a fireball. Instinctively, Faramar raised Jor'Reda to cover his whole body with it, but the impact of the fireball was overwhelming and he shot backward and crashed into the ground. Although the fall had been considerably big, he did not waste any time getting back on his feet. His left arm had a big, gaping cut in it, probably the result of the landing, which had been anything but peaceful.
Despite the pain, Faramar had a grin on his face. He had been testing the bird, but now it was his turn. As he leapt into the air once more, everything around him became a blur, he had only time to point the tip of Jor'Reda toward the orange mass. A big clanking sound echoed throughout the whole arena. Faramar looked up to the bird to assess the success of his strike. He was quite baffled when he was the bird's talons blocking the blow. He quickly pulled the sword back and swung it above his head, this time aiming for his foe's neck. The bird flew back at an astonishing speed, leaving only air for Jor'Reda to hit. The counterattack came quickly as another fireball sped toward Faramar once again. Only this time he too flew to the side. It seemed like the phoenix was much more intelligent then he had assessed it to be.

[Morvane]

Dras-Morna

Dras was startled by her new surroundings. She fell midswing as the bettle she was slicing towards vanished and presented no target. Dras rolled out of it and stood back up, quickly analyzing her situation. Somehow, probally Lasstor's doing she thought, she was no longer in the jungle but an enormous arena. Grey stone walls rose around her and she couldn't help but feel caged as the gates she did see closed. Severalother hominid creatures stood around the arena, each sporting thier own weapons and demeanors, one of whom Dras recognized as Lasstor. She seemed to be confronting one of the creatures but Dras felt no inclination to invlove herself in another conflict. Tall pillars rose from the floor of the arena in certain spots and Dras decided they could be used for cover in case something ill should happen.

It didn't take long.

A man dressed in robes began speaking and though Dras understood little of his speech she got from his demeanor that he was the one responsible for the arena. His voice held a contemptuous edge that unpleasently reminded Dras of the Preistess and she instantly fell into her years of training and held her body ready. Then the man in the robes started summoning creatures of terrible ferocity. Dras locked her fear behind a mask of indifference and just continued observe her surroundings. Dras heard something whistle through the air towards her and quickly dodged out of the way. She turned about, avoiding another attack, to face her opponent.

A black hominid creature faced her, he resmebled a man but was bent over and looked more like a grotesque panther. He used his long forearms to swing at her with deadly precision, forcing Dras to back away. Her heel stopped at something and as Dras ducked beneath one of the creatures deadly arms she noticed that it was one of the pillars she seen earlier. A plan began to formalate in her mind. She could not fight the creature fairly because it was to fast and precise, dodgeing alone took most of her concentration. But she didn't have to fight fair.

[naturemage]

Eslana dodged to the left as the vines came at her with all their might. After dodging one vine, another came at her from the front. She quickly sliced the end off, forcing it back. She jumped backwards in surprise as the vine she had just cut off regrew as though it had never been damaged.

"This thing is a little stronger than I had hoped," Eslana said, glancing over towards Faramar, who was busy with a phoenix. It was a shame, on her world, the phoenix was a helpful bird; she'd been saved by it more than once in her life. As Faramar fought the bird, Jor'Reda began glowing, as did her own sword.

They're connected... Eslana saw Faramar look to her, confused about what was going on. She honestly didn't know what she'd done, but she did know that the spell she'd cast had intertwined the swords, somehow. What effects the connection had on the swords, she still couldn't be sure. However, she did feel a strange tug of power, something her sword had never done before. Was Jor'Reda giving her additional power? She could only find out one way.

Eslana turned her attention back to the vine creature, and just in time to dodge another attack. She spun to the side, avoiding two or three vines that tried to catch her. However, she tripped over something, falling to the ground and landing with a thud. Never, when fighting an opponent, had she been so careless. What was it she'd missed?

Looking at her shoulder, she saw what it was that had tripped her. It was no wonder she'd missed it; the vine hadn't been there before. This monster, whatever it was, was sprouting underneath her too. It wasn't stupid, that was a definite.

Jumping back to her feet, Eslana decided to end the fight. "Enflamas!"

The gem on her sword glowed bright red, and Eslana swung her sword at the mass of vines that she hoped was the body of the creature. Fire spurted out in an arc from the blade, carving through the monster with ease, and burning it. There was a high pitched screech as the monster burned, so bad that Eslana had to cover her ears. She watched as the vines finished burning, and the screeching stopped.

"Phew. Now, to help Faramar," she said, turning and running towards the phoenix. Behind her, the vine that she had tripped over disappeared into the ground.

[Morvane]

Dras's veins ran with adrenaline as she tried to put her plan into action. The creature continued it's barage and it was almost all she could do to avoid it's deadly arms. Sadly, it reminded her of the Drow that the Preistess would change into grotesque spider drow for punishment. Her father for one, for not bowing in her presence. Dras did him a mercy by killing him.

One of the arms slashed acros her torso, managing to rip the fine cloth across her abdobmen. Though for some miracle it did not reach her skin, she cursed her mind for it's wandering. Turing her attention back to the creature she watched it's movements more closly to try and discrern a pattern. Mostly it was random but every few slashes it would lift it's face in a enraged grimace, a weakness perhaps. Dras waited for the next opening then quickly summoned a orb of darkness around the creatures head.

The creature paused in it's attack on her and tried to remove the blackness. Not waiting for the the creature to succeed or the darkness to dissapate Dras dove around the pillar. She spoke the words of a spell to hide her scent, muffel the sounds of her movement, and reflect any eyes that looked upon her. With that in place she was practiclly invisible. The creature let out the most inhuman cry and Dras risked a glance around the piller to see it. It's head was still encased in the darkness but it still seemed very much aware of it's surroundings. Dras quickly pulled back behind the pillar, and pulled out her special scaling claws from her bag. As the creature let out another cry she quickly began climbing up the pillar, lodging the spikes on her scaling claws into the cracks and crevices in the stone.

[Areadrill]

While in battle Faramar was not aware of the other battles going on around him. This was already taking up all of his concentration. The bird seemed to be intelligent. Its attacks came quickly and methodically. It knew to attack with fireballs when he was out of melee range, and peck at him with its beak when he wasn't. The phoenix also used its talons to defend against the peace keeper's own strikes.
Faramar started a barrage of blows. Jor'Reda swung from left to right, up and down in perfectly executed blows. Faramar twisted and pivoted his body in order to put full force into the attacks, and he could do this without compromising the speed. The bird, intelligent or not, was managing to block all the attacks. It dodged and parried, seemingly even "breaking a sweat". After some time of ongoing attacks, however, the phoenix backed away. Faramar didn't go after it, this was exactly what he wanted. The bird could be very ferocius and athletic but it couldn't keep it up forever. He could see how it slowed down the flapping of its wings as it gasped for air. He too was a bit tired, but he was used to this kind of feeling and he knew that if one of them was coming down due to exhaustion it would not be him. The seemingly endless days of training with his sword back in Gharr'tash had paid off.
The phoenix adapted its strategy. It realized that fighting its opponent head on would probably lead to its demise. So now, it just spat fireballs at Faramar. But this time, it wasn't just one or two at a time. Towards came a massive rain of fire as the bird screeched in fury. In order to dodge them, he was forced to land back on the ground. However, the phoenix followed him, and so did the never ending torrent of fire.
Now that he was on the ground. He saw how everyone was engaged in battle with the beasts he had seen coming from those gates. He thought he caught a glance of something burning from afar, but he didn't have time to look closer. If he stayed inside the arena, the collateral damage would be colossal, so the best way to fight this foe was away from this arena.
Faramar started to run toward the phoenix. It looked confused, probably never thought someone would be runing towards it when dodging attacks. The peace keeper ran and ran, until he went below and then past the bird. He then spread his wings and jumped up in the air behind his foe.

"Come with me, bird, if you want to settle this!"

The phoenix screeched. It almost seemed like it was agreeing with Faramar's words.

[Morvane]

Dras-Morna

Perched on top of the pillar, Dras resembled a black gargoyle. Her concealing spells had worn off and Dras couldn't help but feel slightly exposed to everything around her. Nothing back home had been so wide and open, and frankly it frighted her to be noticeable. While keeping a careful eye on the creature below her she took the time to watch a couple of the battles. All the people she had seen in the arena before the creatures came were now fighting against them with an energy and purpose she had not seen since she had participated in the raids. She watched as the fiery bird fought against the winged-tailed hominid, the human and what appeared to be a draconian fight against the large snake, Lasstor engage the stone golem, and the last woman strike down the plant creature. She saw no immediate threat to herself besides the black creature, and felt no inclination to help any of the others. In her book, unless they provided a benefit to her she saw no reason to help anyone.

She glanced down at the creature below her, the Black Globe and worn off and it was now searching for her in earnest. It walked on all four limbs, kind of using it's front arms to propel itself forward. It walked around and around the pillar sniffing and feeling along the ground. Dras watched with an amused interest, assimilating all the information she could about the creature and it's movements. As it walked she noticed that the blades it had used to attack her had been retracted like claws on a feline. Other then it's movement it almost resembled a hominid. Dras removed her bow from her back and removed three arrows from her quiver. She notched one black fetched arrow and held the other two at the ready.

Slowly she drew back the string, aiming carefully she waited till the creature paused for a moment. With a musical twang and whistle the arrow went flying towards the creatures underarm, Dras allowed herself a small smile as it pierced the creatures skin. It was short lived because the arrow stopped a mere fingernail width inside the skin. The creature jerked in surprise but yanked the arrow out with ease, it turned it's head upwards and grinned savagely at her. The slight wound the arrow gave it healed instantly. Dras scrambled back from the ledge of the pillar but it was already to late, the creature unsheathed it's blades and begun scaling the stone. Dras's mind reeled, how can she defeat such an armored hominid? She frantically thought for an answer as the creature kept up it's ascent.

Something nudged her in the ribs. Dras glanced down and noticed one of her sais pressing against her side from it's hidden pocket. She looked back at the creature and saw the bloodrage in it's eyes, then back at her sai. Dras pulled free the sai and it's twin from another pocket. She held both sais in front of her and looked at the creature once more. It had scaled two thirds of the pillar and then some as she watched. Dras smiled,

"Ka Usstan el yallt, dos orn el xuil uns'aa!" she yelled at the creature. She leaped from the pillar and dived towards the creature, sais leading. The creature paused in it's ascent just long enough to provide an even better target. Dras smiled fiendishly as her sais plunged into the one unprotected spot on the creature, it's eyes. The creature let out a howl of pain and anguish as it tried to slice her with one of it's blades. But Dras had already dislodge it from the pillar and both were now in a free fall towards the ground. Dras twisted her sais in it's eye sockets seeking out the fleshy brain tissue. A couple times the flailing blades on the creature's arms bit into the skin on her back but Dras hardly noticed as she continued twisting her blades in the creature's skull.

Dras saw the ground in it's final approach and placed both feet firmly on the chest of the creature, of whom had stopped it's flailing. Bracing herself for impact she launched herself off the creature pulling out her sais and pressed the creature into a faster descent. She did a flip in the air and landed facing the creature, her back towards the other combatants. The creature had broken the stone in the arena floor with it's mass, but it lay unmoving. She turned back to the arena and found the robed man looking out over the rest of the combatants.

"Dosst phindar hojjau!" she screamed at him defiantly. She didn't notice the mass of little bots racing to repair the damage she had done.

[GaleSkies]

The large rock creature shuddered at about 20 meters. Drawing up to it's full height it launched itself towards Pyree. She watched patiently, isolating the tenuous strands amid the heap of stone. The momentum alone made her quake with anticipation and fear. She spotted a web-like tangle of the fluid strands, but she couldn't hold her ground a second more. She dove to the right of the oncoming landslide.

She kept her eyes open ignoring the disorientation of her roll. If she could just catch a glimpse of where the central nervous system rested. From upside down she watched the parts, ligaments jerked on their heavy loads, the fibers pulsed rapidly, and the core... slid straight to the top. How could she strike the creature from above? Impossible, she decided. The creature was far too tall for her. She dashed in to make a cut at one of the thin ligaments, her cutting to went straight through, leaving a deep gouge into the boulder beneath. The golem merely paused for a moment while new sinuous threads took purchase onto the stone. And then the arms were swinging again, forcing Pyree to dodge back. If she she could somehow attack it while it was low to the ground in its landslide then maybe she reach her target.

She turned to dash away from the golem, increasing the distance from her opponent for another opportunity to study it. In front of her she recognized a figure down on one knee. Atlas! A projectile streaked through the sky to fast for her to follow. She craned her neck backward to follow the trail of smoke high over her head. A thunderous explosion vibrated through her. She watched the a bright flower of flame curl and roll in the sky above. She searched for the monster he must have struck but couldn't find it. Then she realized it was no mere monster he was aiming at. The head of it was right at the explosion, and the body followed curling through the sky. An enormous snake was was up in the air, bigger than any creature she'd ever seen. Black, jagged and sinuous, its girth would easily encompass the golem she'd been battling to her wits end. Was this Atlas' opponent? She looked back to Atals, he was standing near another man waving her away hurriedly.

She looked up and noticed the snake falling rapidly. Pyree ran without thinking. Her tired limbs juiced with pain as she sprinted toward the two not daring to look back.

[naturemage]

Eslana Forcanus

Eslana ran towards Faramar, where he was fighting the phoenix.

"Come with me, bird, if you want to settle this!

Eslana had to admire Faramar's spirit. She'd do what she could to help him, so as he flew up to leave the stadium, she prepared to follow when something grabbed her ankle. Turning around, she was quite surprised to find the vine-creature coming out of the ground again.

"You have got to be kidding." She hacked off the vine holding her ankle and turned to look up at the top of the stadium, glaring at the robed man holding the bright orb. "Is this all you've got? Regenerating monsters to do your dirty work for you?"

The man in the robe smiled. "You are right my dear. Perhaps I should do some work of my own." He waved his hand, and the orb glowed. She turned back, expecting another monster to appear, or some random spell to fire off right in front of her. However, there was a flash to her left, and she turned to find...

"Kitza!"

The poor, unconscious creature vanished in front of her eyes. Eslana's shout set off the vine-creature, and it attacked more relentlessly than ever. She hacked off vine after vine, having little time to even take a breath between the flurry of swings that still couldn't satisfy the creature. Activating the gem on her sword, she engulfed the blade in fire, hoping it would frighten the monster off. Though it burned the vines when she slashed at them, the creature buried each into the ground, and it came back out seconds later fully reformed.

"Just fantastic," Eslana said, continuing to slash at the vines, and now having the dodge them as well. She was growing tired, something she hadn't felt in some time.

It was at this moment, in anger at the man above the stadium, and tired of fighting what should have been an easy opponent, that she had an idea. However, at the same time, she recognized that the man across the stadium who was fighting a large snake was also the man who had been in her head not long ago, begging her to not use the spell she was now contemplating to use for the second time.

A vine came up from behind her, wrapping around her waist and hoisting her into the air. She swung her sword behind her, hacking it, but not before another vine came flying up to catch her wrists. A second vine replaced the one holding her by the waist, and now more were climbing into the air to begin wrapping her up. Within seconds, since she couldn't swing her sword, the vines had surrounded her and were lifting her up higher into the air.

"I just wanted you to see that I could do things for myself," the man in the robe said when Eslana had been lifted high enough to see that he was standing over Kitza.



Kitza

Kitza's lookers opened, and it felt faster beating in body, seeing Master again, standing over it.

"I just wanted you to see that I could do things for myself," Master spoke to a non-Kitza.

Kitza turned eye-lookers, and saw Woman, wrapped in plant-creature's arms. Then Kitza turned eye-lookers back to Master.

"Master..."

[The Magnan]

He hadn't expected this, he was thrown of balance, the warning came too late as the creature's spines rose and it shot upwards, forcing him to stumble off. He landed painfully on the heels of his feet, and looked at Atlas.

“Have a plan?” asked Atlas his gaze focused on the Nasgar.

“We have to get it on the ground,” replied Drake. It's armor is now reinforced, and that makes it more confident, we can use that as a lure. The Magnan considered his swords thoughts, it made sense but it was risky.

Atlas was preparing some form of propellant device, as he said “I can do that." The man looked back at the Magnan and asked, "Then what?”


The General smiled, “Then I destroy it.” Blade Edge ignited once again.

Even now, we stride side by side, in the whims of dark and light. We are bound to one another.

The Magnan ignored the comment by Erif and watched as Atlas loaded something into the large bulky weapon.

"I am glad, you are not my enemy," said Magnafire.

He looked across the stadium, and could see a girl trapped in vines, he knew it wasn't his fight but still she needed help, he then felt a sense of familarity in her head. It was you I contacted earleir. He knew he had to make a decision sacrifice his dragon's breath on the Nasgar or use it to save the girl. In that moment his conscience decided, in one moment a vast fiery dragon raged over Magnafire, it was in many ways like Blade Edge but it was a spirit with one single purpose. Usually it would be destroyed upon impact but the Magnan had been clear in its thoughts it would survive, and be free of its torments. A gift in retrospect if it can save her, and as it glided past over enemies towards the girl, it's flames began to burn the vines but the heat and deadly flames would never hurt the girl. Hopefully if all went well she would drop safely onto the back of dragon. He once again felt the stabbing in his head and the nagging of Erif he shook it off and hope the dragon could save the girl from her possible demise. He was now without the one single power he could have used to destroy the Nasgar. The dragon had also taken a lot of his strength away. He felt like buckling but he refused to show weakness. He tightened his grip on the hilt of Blade Edge. If I can, when that dragon hits the ground, I will destroy it in one hit with you.

He watched as the missile stuck the Nasgar, and with a single smile, he watched it plummet.

[CheddarCheese]

“Hey! Get out of there!” called Atlas, realising that the snake would fall on top of the woman if she didn’t move.

He didn’t think she heard him, but she had noticed the snake as well. Atlas beckoned her over, hoping she would run faster. When the woman turned to face him, he found that he recognised her from earlier. She was the one he had first encountered in this world.

The snake rapidly plummeted from the sky, twisting and screeching in pain as it went. Atlas’ missile had hit it in the side, removing some of its webbed spines, and leaving a large wound in its armour. It would be grounded now.

Pyree was sprinting towards them, but she probably wouldn’t clear the blast range in time. If the snake landed on that pile of boulders, things would go flying. Atlas threw his Javelin to the ground, broke out of cover, and raced forwards. He managed to grab her arm and half-pull, half-drag her away.

A second later, the giant snake smashed right into the mass of rocks, and slid across the ground, downing multiple pillars as it went. The boulders immediately shattered into smaller chunks of rock and the collision caused all the pieces to burst outwards.

“Get down!” said Atlas, pulling Pyree to the ground. He went prone himself, and gripped his helmet tightly with one hand.

The General seemed to be indulging in something else, but he was far enough away to avoid the shower of rocks from the crash landing.

Atlas turned to Pyree as rocks started to scatter around him. She was also on her stomach, with her hands behind her head.
“So, Lasstor huh? Where the hell have you been?” he asked, over the sound of the rocks flying through the air.

“Hah,” she gave a short laugh, “Where haven't I been? I've seen more land formations on this planet than I care to. I didn't notice you earlier.”
She paused for a moment and groaned in pain.
“Did you see the man in charge? And that sphere of light? It's the source of the distortions. I know it,” she continued.

Atlas shook his head. “First thing I saw was that goddamn snake. Should’ve killed it when it was nice and small.”

Once the rocks had stopped falling, Atlas rose to his feet, swatting a stray bug that had flown in front of him.
“Good to have you back,” he said, helping Pyree up. “Try not to vanish this time.”

Then he turned and headed towards the General. For some odd reason, the man seemed weaker. Tired. But he still had determination left in his eyes.

“If you’re going to do something, now’s the time to do it. I punched a hole through the bastard’s armour, aim for that area,” said Atlas, indicating the space where the snake had landed. “Go! I’ll cover you.”


Atlas reloaded his M-4, and watched for movement through the scope.

[losthawken]

Greywind lay Riley Burstion genlty on the ground, propping his head against the side of the massive Coliseum. “Rest well warrior. I pray that you wake in time fulfill your destiny in this realm.”

He had been forced to rethink his plan to bring Burstion into the battle to vanquish Magnalian's serpent when the warrior lapsed into a inexplicable coma. Now time was growing terribly short. He had wasted much of it trying to awaken Riley, and likely roused the suspicion off the Summoner by his failure to come to the Coloseum when it appeared. The shrieking sound of a missile drew Greywind's attention to the sky where he witnessed the flying Nasgar when it was hit.

“By the Hoi-Hala,” he cursed. “Raef, the time has come!”

With a mighty caw the horse sized raptor spread its wings and leapt to the skies. In a blink Greywind evaporated into vapor and re-appeared on the creatures back. Rising above the high walls of the stone arena the scene before him stole his breath. Half a dozen warriors battled against the fury of Magnalian's most deadly monsters. The Nasgar had fallen to the ground but he knew it wouldn't stay there for long.

Magnalian himself stood on his ledge towering over some poor creature. His eyes were filled with the lust of power and pride.

Raef swooped over the balcony and Greywind jumped from his back. Entering the etherverse he streamed toward Magnalian and appeared directly in front of him, straddling the helpless creature and gripping the arm with which Magnalian held the Orb. In his free hand Greywind held a dagger to Magnalian's throat.

“Curse you WRAITH!” growled Magnalian. Greywind would have carried the villian with him to the heights of the atmosphere and let him plummet to his doom. But the power of the Orb anchored Magnalian in place.

With a sudden burst of terrific strength Magnalian wrenched his arm liftng Greywind from his feet and hurling him toward the stone railing of the balcony. Greywind passed through the barrier like a ghost but landed with a thud on the ground on top of a mangled black creature that lay beside a woman with short ebony hair.

[naturemage]

Eslana Forcanus

So many things happened at once. It was almost too much for her senses. The Wisp-man from before, the one who she'd suspected was helping their enemy, had appeared and begun trying to kill the man in the robe. This saved Kitza, since Eslana couldn't do much to help it at the moment. At the same time, a dragon sort of thing, made completely of fire, had appeared near her, flying directly at her. She would have thought it was the man in the robe, trying to finish her, but she felt some sort of... energy. Something had passed through her, an indication that whatever the dragon was, be it spell, ability, or something else, had come from below her, a midst the combat still in the stadium. The dragon-spirit hit her square, but she felt nothing: not heat, fire, or even physical contact. However, the vine monster felt it.

Burning the vines more thoroughly than she could have ever done, she watched as it began to wither from the top down. It let out a horrible screeching noise, worse than before, as it burned. As she watched it burn, the dragon became somewhat material, and she found herself riding on its back. She laughed at the irony. Looking over the dragon's neck, she saw the fire on the vine monster burn into the ground, and she knew that it was finally dead. The fire had gone to its roots.

The dragon headed towards two of the warriors, one of which she didn't know. The unfamiliar one had just fired a large projectile at the snake that was, or had been, flying in the air. The other, he had been next to her on the floor of the stadium before the mass battle had started. But there was something more familiar than that. She... could feel him. Something about their minds... Then it hit her, he'd contacted her when she'd used her sword's true power before. And there was more, he had summoned the dragon spirit and he was connected to dragons in some way.

Eslana shook her head, smiling as the dragon landed and let her jump off. Then it flew away, over the stadium wall and vanished from sight. Eslana watched the snake get up in front of her, and she saw that the man with two minds and the heavily armed man readied themselves.

"You there," Eslana said to the man with the sword. "You speak with dragons, correct?"

The snake got up and hissed at them.

"Get on!"

Eslana transformed, eager for some real combat. The man with two minds watched, the heavily armed man turned and stared, and even the snake paused and watched as her body morphed.

The first thing that changed was her face, which grew outward to a longer snout, and she felt her teeth become sharper. Her hair stiffed and became two long horns, curved backwards towards a bony crest that protected her long neck from attacks from above. Her body grew to be much larger, and her clothing melded into her. Her sword fell, but she snapped it out of the air in her jaws, holding it gently. Her long tail formed from her spine, and the blade at the end of it shined anew, since she had been hiding in her human form for so long. Her arms became her front legs, and she fell forward as the weight of her body became too much to stand on two legs. The last thing to form were her large wings, four of them, from her mother's side of the family. The blade on her tail had come from her father. She had been told that her body would still continue to change, and eventually, she would be able to become a dragon of her own envisioning. But for now, she made do with the form she'd been born to.

Get on, she said in her mind, directing the thought to the man connected with dragons. Can you wield two swords, she asked, tossing her own blade to him. It will work for you.

[losthawken]

“You will rue the day you crossed me wraith,” muttered Magnalian.

The hideous creature at his feet wriggled for freedom. In that moment the Summoner finally recognized the strange three legged creature.

“You! You are one of the those wretched failures from so long ago. How my might has grown since the day I brought your feeble kind into existence. Now you shall feel that power as I wipe the last trace of that failure from existence,” Magnalian raised his glowing Orb to release a fatal blast of energy into the creature. Just then a tremendous roar erupted from the arena, distracting the wizard.

A fiery dragon flew out of the stadium, where a second dragon now stood. This one had four wings and a dangerous looking tail. As he took in the scene a new idea came to his mind. He turned to the terrified goo creature before him.

“Instead of destroying my mistake, by the power of the Orb, I will amend it! You will serve me once again and take your rightful place among the legion of Magnalian, Summoner of the ORB!”

A brilliant green wisp extended from the Orb and wrapped around Kitza. Mangalian quickly recited a few incantations, but they were hardly necessary. With the power of the Orb he had to little more than think the spells and his will was accomplished.

With a pulse of green electricity that swept over the creatures body, Kitza began to change...

[The Magnan]

"Get on!"

Eslana transformed, eager for some real combat. The man with two minds watched, the heavily armed man turned and stared, and even the snake paused and watched as her body morphed.

The first thing that changed was her face, which grew outward to a longer snout, and she felt her teeth become sharper. Her hair stiffed and became two long horns, curved backwards towards a bony crest that protected her long neck from attacks from above. Her body grew to be much larger, and her clothing melded into her. Her sword fell, but she snapped it out of the air in her jaws, holding it gently. Her long tail formed from her spine, and the blade at the end of it shined anew, since she had been hiding in her human form for so long. Her arms became her front legs, and she fell forward as the weight of her body became too much to stand on two legs. The last thing to form were her large wings, four of them, from her mother's side of the family. The blade on her tail had come from her father. She had been told that her body would still continue to change, and eventually, she would be able to become a dragon of her own envisioning. But for now, she made do with the form she'd been born to.

Get on, she said in her mind, directing the thought to the man connected with dragons. Can you wield two swords, she asked, tossing her own blade to him. It will work for you.
---

In a few moments, the General was nearly dumbstruck. More so, for the fact that she reached to him and transformed into a dragon! Her mind, so graceful as the wind and still so strong that it buffeted his thoughts, he was surprised to say the least. Blade Edge had nothing to say, other than that he never expected this, but then since when had anything so far been expected. She gave him the second sword, the one that had drawn power from the dragons, it felt slightly off balance, he wasn't used to dual wielding in combat, but he had trained in that area. The dragon before him made him miss home, made him realize how far away his god was. Even so he felt reassured having this female dragon here. Did I even need to rescue her...

He gathered his thoughts. Time to end this, once and for all. He had never flown on a dragon before, but as he climbed onto her back, he found it surprisingly comfy.

There are times I wish was flesh and blood, not a sword.

Well that is just the way things work.

Yes it is, whispered the dark voice of Erif Angam.

[JPGriffin]

The cry from beyond came again. This time, it came with a voice, a hushed whispering, but still incredibly potent. “… by the power of the Orb, I will amend it! You will serve me once again and take your rightful place among the legion of Magnalian, Summoner of the ORB...” Sydrian could see an image now, a wisp of green smoke, potent in magic. He began to feel it touch another life form, even more alien than the creature he had just fought was. The image faded fast, and soon he was left lying on his side in the ruined crater of the woods.

He struggled to get up, pulling himself up on dead branches. He rose to a split in a tree, and leaned into the makeshift seat. His joints ached, but they’d heal up soon enough. He felt around his ribs, arms, and legs, but could feel no breaks anywhere. The exhaustion must be from the magic use, he thought. Lucky. Had he been able to control his powers, he’d never think to shield himself. He chuckled. Dumb luck again. He rose, dizzy from the effort, and took in his surroundings again.

The bird had destroyed, eradicated rather, a clean circle yards in diameter. Rocks were shattered, trees burnt or burning, and the ground caved in around... an egg?

Sydrian rose. Whatever that creature was, it certainly wasn’t from around here. Otherwise, the forest would be full of the craters. He stepped forward, ignoring the pain shooting up his legs. Bird, egg, or otherwise, he wasn’t going on empty-handed. Stumbling, and eventually sliding, he reached the bottom of the crater and the egg that lay within. It was a curious thing, as large as both talons, but very light otherwise. It was warm, and a tiny chirping within, mimicry of the older bird’s cry, came from within. Whatever it was, it was still living, and even worse, it was breathing new life. He cursed aloud, and was startled by the echoing of the forest. The blast must have scared off all life within a mile, at least.

Sydrian looked around anyways, both for caution and to find a place to go. His senses kept directing him to the colosseum, but he was soon distracted by the chirp of the creature. Friend or foe, a child was a child. He moved towards the colosseum, careful to look for any rodents hiding in the ruins of the forest. The bird was carnivorous, otherwise it wouldn’t have attacked, but Sydrian could worry about game later. For now, he needed to move. The voice of the orb, and that of Magnalian, as he had heard the voice say, were growing stronger. Sydrain walked, jogged, then eventually dashed towards the colosseum, egg held in his arm, each step bringing bolts of pain and excitement alike.

[GaleSkies]

Pyree brushed herself off rising amidst the cloud of dust. Atlas had saved her again. Still ready for action, he had jumped up to join the battle once more with his projectile weapon drawn and pointed. Faramar too had rescued her, more than once, as had the raven riding wisp that had given her dubious aide. Was that the way of this world, she wondered.

Pyree squashed a nearby twitching beetle. She was not helpless, she remembered defiantly, and neither was she weak in constant need of help. The giant snake reared its head above the pool of dust. Its eyes were locked onto airborne opponents. It shuddered as if to rise feebly kicking up another burst of dusty debris in an attempt to fly. Ignoring it she limped her way toward the rubble that was once a massive golem. She found her opponent helplessly low to the ground in a tangled mess. The fibrous tendons that had once intrigued her flicked back and forth along the earth looking for purchase. She lifted it up with the flat of her dagger, another tool of help she'd gotten along the way. Plant based, she mused twisting the blade to its sharpened edge. The tendon parted easily sloughing to the ground.

The central nervous system wasn't much farther. It pulsed irregularly in a mangled mess. She watched it drag bits and pieces of its former body back together. Her opponent was hardly a match anymore, in more ways than one. Clods of earth mixed with stone in a heap making it impossible for it to support its former size and weight. Her fists were clenched tight, she realized looking down at the heat based cutting tool. With a carnal thought she instead raised the daggered hand. The blade slid easily across the the golem's core. She took it apart with rapidly widening strokes until she couldn't tell whether it was twitching from pain or from her own frenzied force.

Pyree rose. The dust was gone and she had clear vision of the coliseum again. She fingered the dagger playfully as she swirled the last space-time thread tucked away in her mind. Without the bracelet and black hole for containment, it was rapidly decaying. If she waited much longer it would wink out of existence. Her distractions and negotiations had proven useless. On this planet it was force that won out. And if she was ever going to get back to her planet, back where things made sense again, it would be force that got her back.

[losthawken]

Amidst the chaos, Raef caught sight of the phoenix pursuing Faramar. The dark raven tucked in its wings and hooked tightly in the direction of the scarlet raptor. Catching the creature by surprise, Raef sunk his talons into the red feathers of its back and gripped its neck tightly in his onyx beak. The phoenix shrieked in pain and fury as the pair began to tumble downward. The phoenix shot flames in all directions but could not move its neck to reach the massive raven on its back.

Raef had no fear of falling, he could easily render himself immune by slipping into the ethereal. The phoenix was not so lucky however. Only meters from the ground Raef hurried their descent with a thrust of his large wings. There was a sickening crunch when the first bird hit, the other disappeared into a dense cloud of vapor that seemed to catch in the air. The bird shaped cloud drifted up and away from the crumpled phoenix.

A column of heat and flame burst into the sky with a sudden fury. Nearby, Greywind cried out in pain as the manifestation of his very soul took the full brunt of the attack. Unfortunately for Raef, magic has a more powerful presence in the etherverse and the raven could not escape. A tattered mass of black smoke and feathers fell to the ground.

Up from the earth rose an flaming avian effigy as large as a dragon. Its body was pure fire with a heart that could be seen as a gleaming golden star at the center of its body.

[naturemage]

Kitza

“Instead of destroying my mistake, by the power of the Orb, I will amend it! You will serve me once again and take your rightful place among the legion of Magnalian, Summoner of the ORB!”

With a bright green flash, Kitza's mind was scrambled. A smooth transition, powered by its Master's circular creation, coursed through Kitza, making it stronger, faster, more intelligent, and giving it unimaginable power.

"Now, you will be second only to myself and the Orb! Go my new creation, and destroy those pesky beings."

Stepping out of the wispy green smoke, Kitza now stood on four legs, each ninety degrees from the other. It had two strong arms, and stood a full eight feet tall. Kitza flexed the new muscles it had lacked in its old form, and blinked several times, gaining quick understanding to its new powers. It could see in several different visions now: heat, darkness, close distance, far distance, it could see true forms, the different minds in a body, as those from Magnafire Drake and Blade Edge. It could sense thoughts, as it had before, but much clearer now. Yes, it had a great understanding of thoughts. This was difficult to comprehend at the time, since there were so many minds thinking so many things...

Raef...

Just one thread left...

Must reach the stadium...

There are times I wish I was flesh and blood, and not a sword...

Thisss time I will kill them all...

Finally, some real fighting...

The last thought was from a familiar mind, one Kitza recalled but had a difficult time pinpointing. It was familiar though.

Kitza closed its eyes, and felt all of its powers flow at once. It smiled, feeling emotions it had never felt before. It wasn't a servant to Master now... It was a warrior, a fighting machine, a killer. It had power, power that Master had not given it before. No, in its old form, Kitza had simply been there to serve. Now, it was here to fight. Master had been gracious to give Kitza all the powers imaginable. Kitza could use them now. It could feel the power, it was almost too much. But, it was intelligent, it was fast, it was strong. And it was ready.

Kitza let out a vicious roar, echoing through the coliseum, something it had never been able to do before. It felt its form begin to ooze, something that Master obviously hadn't been able to fix. But it was of no matter, it would lose the slime when it transformed. Yes, it had true power now.

[Areadrill]

Faramar watched, awestruck, as the mysterious vanishing man and his mount took care of his opponent. The giant black beast the man rode on sunk its talons onto the phoenix's back and clutched his foe's neck with his beak, making it furious and screeching in agony. The two birds tumbled to the ground, but as they were just about to crash, the man and his mount vanished in a cloud of smoke which drifted up into the atmosphere.
Everything was calm for a few seconds and the peace keeper allowed himself a grin. However, his bliss was cut short as a pilar of flames bursted from the ground spreading fire in every direction. Faramar had to hold Jor'Reda's hilt over his head and point the blade down so it would shield him from his blazing demise.

Aside from a few scorches on his fingers, Faramar was perfectly unharmed. However, he had heard the unmistakeable scream of pain coming from a distance. He needed not look to know that his ally had been vanquished. The peace keeper tightened his grip on the giant sword.

"I shall avenge you" he whispered

Faramar let the anger flow through his body. He felt his muscles tensing. Veins protruded from everywhere on his body and the wound on his left arm started bleeding feebly. Almost blinded by rage, he looked around for the murderer of his mysterious friend. What he saw was a flame, floating in the air with the shape of his enemy. In the middle of this fire, something shined a very bright and vivid light. On other occasions he would have stopped to think what the best course of action would be, but not now, not there.

He pointed the edge of his sword toward the flaming mass in the sky and let out a scream. That scream had in it all the stress, all the tension he had built up since he had landed on this strange world. With a massive thrust of his wings, he rocketed toward his enemy. Never before had he flown so fast, but he did not notice that. As he reached striking range, Jor'Reda moved so fast that he almost couldn't control its movements. Arbitrarily, he spun around and hit the beast with his tail, never stopping to hit the phoenix with the sword. This went on and on until he was almost out of breath. Faramar finally flew back to catch his breath and see what damage he had done to the fiery beast. To his despair, the phoenix hadn't even moved from its place as he attacked it.

Now that he had realized this, the phoenix too bursted forth and attacked him with its beak and talons. The peace keeper tried to block the strikes with his sword. However, it seemed like the phoenix just went through the sword and hit him directly, leaving a burned and bloody gash through his torso. Faramar was in so much pain that he couldn't even scream. To finish him, the blazing bird released a firebeam, which brought him straight to the ground.

On the ground, Faramar lay in a smoldering crater with Jor'Reda on top of him. Had he not been able to shield himself from the blast, the heat alone would have probably carbonized his very bones which felt like they were all shattered, but the wound on his torso was so hot that it had cautherized itself automatically. He tried to move and found that, depite the pain, most of his body was working properly.

The phoenix in the air awaited him, silent and patient, like an immortal titan, like a God. Faramar went back up in the air. Between gasps he tried to work out his plan. It seemed like it was intangible when he attacked, but it was able to hit him. Also, from what he had gathered, his fireblast did not go through his sword. He looked at the flaming phoenix. Inside it there was a small yellow point. He had noticed it before, but only now did he realize what it was. The heart. The only tangible thing on the beast. How would he be able to get to it though? Whenever he tried to approach, the phoenix could just shoot fire at him and keep him at a safe distance. He looked around for something, anything at all that would help him defeat it.

And he saw it. Off in the distance, not even very far away, was a mass of water. Faramar did not think twice before dashing toward the water, ignoring his opponent in the hope that it would follow. His hopes were corresponded. The bird shrieked and went after the peace keeper. It spit a barrage of fireballs at him and Faramar had to dodge them all. The water was so close now, he could not fail. Not after all he went through! Finally reaching it he folded his wings as best he could and let himself fall to the middle of the lake in a "swan dive" of sorts. The bird went in pursuit and as he went into the waster with a big splash, it screeched af it were in pain and flew away, up in the air.

The peace keeper allowed himself to relax as his gills took over. At least there, on the bottom of that mass he would be safe, or so he hoped. His opponent tried to blast the water with fire, but it was to no avail. The most significant change was a large mass of steam and a sudden rise in the water's temperature. It screeched once again in despair. Almost as if inviting the peace keeper to surface, it descended to somewhat three meters above water level. Faramar smiled. It was now or never.

He swam around in the water for a few moments to gain momentum and then, with all the force and might he could muster, he jumped to the surface. The steam almost concealed him from his enemy, but as he reached the bird's altitude, the glow of its heart was evident. With a roar, Faramar pushed the tip of Jor'Reda clear through the bright point. At the same time the bird spat a fireball at him, at point blank range. Faramar was pushed down back into the water as the bird let out its last and loudest shriek. Before losing consciousness, Faramar could see the sky turn red.