Tale of Exzalia, well of darkness

Tess in battle

I have you now! Tess cast manaburn just as Lebry tried to cast a dark spell. Tess then followed up by attempting to hit Lebry with frost beam! He fired it right after the mana burn, ice cold energy focused into a beam of power.

"You're going to be in a world of pain!" Tess said triumphantly! he had had it with this bloke, he would show him if it was the last thing he did and secretly he wanted to show of to River.

 

Heavy strike

Nox flowed from Lebry's body, in an attempt to cover all the battle with a merciless night.... however....
The body of Tess expelled Charon. Lebry didn't worry, the darkness of the night will protect him from said spell, and this darkness was already beginning to take shape over the battlefield.... Yet something unexpected happened, the very darkness was being burned, or at least that's what Lebry interpreted it like. In truth the Charon turned Lebry's Nox eather unstable to the point it felt like a burning on him; and then the Nox spell exploded pushing him away several meters.... Yet the attack hadn't ended.

An arrow of ice, or at least that seemed to be in Lebry's eyes came directly at him; the explosion of his own spell took him for surprise, so he wasn't fast enough to avoid the hit. At difference of the explosion, Lebry wasn't pushed several meters, in fact..... he wasn't pushed at all.... His body, felt numb, and then he understood. This spell was slowly frozing his very body.
However the freezing had a positive side on it, at least the pain of teh explosion wasn't burning him. But he had to do something quick, otherwise he would fall.

A light of Althea started to emanate from Lebry's eyes. It was his healing spell, the one not only recovered his wound, but also dissipated the freezing on his body.

"Hoh? So you can play at this level?" said Lebry, "But you're still way outta my league if that's the best you can do".

Lebry, striked with Manaburn and Frost beam---->40% + freezing effect
Lebry, using healing gift----->90%, freezing effect dissipated

 

Tess

"Damn healing...Fine I'll just but on the pressure!" Tess weaved disrupting gyser and he weaved water drop. Both spells increased the chance of misweaves. But with such powerful healing could he really beat Lebry?

Kind of wish I knew that deny life spell. Tess muttered, I'll just try and force him to miss weave. Tess had no choice but to play it defensively. His attcks were weak and he relied on overwhelming his foes with disruption. It annoyed him that he always had to be on the defensive.

He held his weaves waiting for Lebry to strike,. "I'll make you miss weave so bad you'll turn into a goat!" Tess yelled.

 

River Hoya

A wide cirlce had formed around Lebry and Tess. Several students started forward to try and stop the fight but River held out a hand. "Don't. They must settle their differences and come to respect eachother. We must not interfere unless one of them is about to die. Those of you who are healers prepare to help when this duel is over."

 

William (Expertise: 0|Health: 100%)

William was accustomed to getting up early, although being shaken awake is still startling to him. River wanted him to hunt; well, William couldn't, and he was too hungry and stressed to do so anyhow. That Kithri girl stepped up in his place, fortunately, and everyone seemed to be getting organized by now. William watched lazily; he considered eating some of the grass by him, like he sometimes did back at the academy, but he didn't want to take chances in a Nox-filled place like this. A peculiar conversation caught his ears, and it seemed to involve Vashal.

"Nows not the time to be building huts! our teacher is probably dead! DEAD! don't you guys get it?" Tess said.

"Hoh? our teacher is dead??, so what??, why are we worrying about someone who was planning to sold us??. Quality students??? now that's a new joke. You heard their conversation, they were planning to use it, and Vashal also was plotting to do something with us. She never revealed her obscure intentions to us, she just filled our minds with comfortable lie. And we??..... we were foolish enough to eat those poisonous lies. Is her fault that we're lost in the middle of nothing now." Lebry replid.

You speak the truth, shadow-weaver, but I know everything you left out. Yes, I caught onto your plan; you Nox-users and Vashal were in on this the whole time! But now Vashal has betrayed the betrayer; even filth like her won't work with your kind! You deserve this! William laughed softly to himself. He was too clever for those shadow-weavers!

Still, Tess seemed to disagree, and after throwing a particularly magnificent punch at Lebry, Lebry stalked off. The group proceeded with getting organized, apparently led by River. Tess was continuing to act awkward around her.

Maybe he doesn't hate her after all; he's actually scared of her. Silly Tess! Everyone knows elves can't use Nox, so you have nothing to fear.

William gazed off into the sky for a bit, watching a few of those floating cloths fly by, allowing his thoughts to wander a bit, until he was interrupted by a sharp pain on his arm.

"Ow!" Near the arm was an ant, standing upright on its back legs. "The life and death struggle is over there, dummy!" it said. The voice was remarkably similar to Tess's. The ant then got back down on its other four legs and burrowed into the ground; when William blinked, the little hole it left was gone. It was then he noticed a ring of students, and when he walked over he saw the duel between Lebry and Tess.

Who to root for? One's a Nox-user, and the other supports that traitor Vashal. Deciding to stay neutral, William looked upon the fight with interest.

 

An unexpected target

Tess prepared two new spells to strike Lebry.
Lebry himself was bathed by pure light, and wings took shape on his back.
Tess fired the spells, he waited for Lebry to prepare his spell.
However.....
Tess efforts were useless, His fist spell was fired at Lebry, who now was flying on the sky due to the wings, this was such an advantage, as it was completely easy for him to move aside from the attack.
The second one was also easily avoided by Lebry, however his spell worked as a trap, and exploded; the burst of water seemed weak, still it wounded Lebry, however it wasn't enough

Tess started to blush uncontrollably. Oh my god...she has made physical contact, with my body. He thought and then went starry eyed for a moment day dreaming. Wait I can't be thinking about that right now.
"I completely agree with you River. We'll rest for a bit. Hey Lebry!" Tess called to him as he was walking away. "Lebry, You're an ass but I don't want you dead. If you leave you won't last long alone out there. So come back here before you get eaten."

That was the moment went River touched Tess, although Lebry was walking aside in that moment, he did a quick glance, and casually caught that scene.... he didn't gave importance to it, however, is ironic that such scene would serve useful.

Lebry descended to the floor, and then the feathers started its bullet formation, ready to fire at Lebry's opponent... however... the aim wasn't Tess...
The bullets were aiming at River, ready to blow her into the barrage.

Just to assure, Lebry raised his hand, normally no one would notice an abstract spell like The End, so it's hard to guess why he was raising his hand. However this time Lebry informed it.

"Tess, I have just cast The End, the outcome chosen was this. The light feathers attack that are aiming at River won't fail.....
But.... Although it existed, I didn't grab and end that says that River will effectively hit, just the one that says that the attack won't fail.
Do you know what does this mean??, I'll tell you.... it means that as long as it hit something it won't fail.... of course as River is on the trajectory it will be her..... however you still have that body of yours to serve as a shield and be the target, thus fulfilling the end that was chosen. It's your desicion"

Although Lebry could had just aimed at Tess and assured an end, he didn't..... for some unknown reason he decided to strike River instead, assuring the attack with The End, why did he do that?? perhaps just amusement??, he wanted to see Tess striked by his own feelings.

An smile crossed the face of Lebry. Of course he knew that this attack wouldn't be enough to defeat Tess, however for him this move was a checkmate

 

Tess

Tess did not hesitate. "He dashed forward in front of River then weaved counter surge a spell that redirects damage. But could he redirect Lebrys attack? He was weaving in a panic what if he messed up the spell? it didn't matter He had to try!

Lebry strikes, Tess casts counter surge, but he messed up the weave! The attack smashes through the swirling waters and into him and he slides across the floor his face twisted with pian. Nice going idiot, you just lost in front of the girl of your dreams he thinks, then blacks out.

 

Feelings and lies are lethal weapons

Mmmph, idiot thought Lebry.

In real, Lebry was on a big trouble, the interruptions were gonna defeat him, his moves wasn't enough.
So he thought on a two steps strategy.

First one, strike the feelings. He aimed his attack to River on purpose, forcing Tess to use his own body to block the attack.
Second one, strike the mind. Lebry.... lied; he raised his hand, and explained how The End was working, however as previously stated it was a luck that it was an invisible skill. In real, he had never casted The End; he just said he did it to trick Tess and made him receive the full impact on a defenseless situation. He was so blind, whenever Lebry cast the end, blood came from his mouth due to the strain, however this didn't happened this time.

He was a fool to think that Lebry would risk himself to this point on a child's play

Lebry; Health: 70%, Experience: 110%

 

River Hoya

The coward Lebry attacked her just to get to Tess. Tess jumped in front of her taking the blow and blacked out on the grass. A righteous anger swirled in River and she turned towards him weaving furiously. "You are a dishonorable coward. May you be forever shunned and called "coward" for your inability to fight honorably!"
She felt an underground river right underneath the coward. She weaved quickly, bringing the water closer and closer to the surface. With a dull thud it came out of the ground, directly under Lebry.

 

Honor is useless

Huh?

Lebry wasn't quick enough to notice it. He heard River's words and then turned to her, only to be hitted by an stream of water coming directly under him.
Do you know that feeling when someone sent a direct punch right under your chin??. Well..... What Lebry felt was similar to a greater scale.... his whole body.
He was pushed by the water and then he flied several meters until he crashed against the floor.

Was he.... unconsious???,.... no... he is more resistant than he look like.

With a quick move, Lebry raised from the floor, and then he grab the unconscious body of Tess.

"Stop!!!" He exclaimed.
"I'm not so cruel as to kill an unconsious body, in real I have fear of killing"
"However.... it will be different if is your spell the one who kill Tess"

What a cowardice, he grab Tess's body and was now using it as a shield.... however on Lebry's eyes this wasn't cowardice

"Honor??, what is this??. You're all trapped into a land filled with the worst scum, do you think that fighting with honor will save you??, the people here won't doubt before slicing a knife on your throat from your back. Don't be foolish, this isn't time for worrying about your honor. Only the strong survives, however the smart can surpass the strong ones, and is much better when you're strong and smart"

 

Will

Tess went down on the grass. Then River was shouting.

"You are a dishonorable coward. May you be forever shunned and called "coward" for your inability to fight honorably!" And started weaving. Will was stunned for a second at seeing Tess. It was Tess, c'mon! And without even his consent, a Nox spell started weaving around him. Falling dark. He cast it at Lebry before he knew what he was doing. Something about this land seemed to bring out the worst in people, even him. Then he was Imbuneing River, giving her a subtle boost to casting speed, damage and defense. And lastly, out came the sword. that cold, calculating side of him was taking over. This was not a fight they were going to lose.

But even then there was a part of him saying, this is a bad idea, stop! He ignored it.

 

River Hoya

River turned and walked away. Everyone thought she was abondoning the duel but moments later they relized they were wrong. She returned, her bow and arrow in hand. Pulling it back to it's farthest reach she calmly spoke again. "My arrow never misses. No matter how you try to hide behind Tess, some part of you will be exposed. If you do not release him immediately and swear upon the Star of Hun that you will never again fight dis-honorably against a fellow student, then you will find yourself in great pain."
Swearing upon the Star of Hun was a tradition most often used by elves. But if it was used even by humans and other species to show their sincerity in a vow. Should one break a vow that was sworn on the Star, that person would be looked upon with a disdane more severe than even uncastables received.

 

Strong vs Unavoidable

"Hum, I see that you're dirty enough to even damage your own friend. Ok you win!!!"
Lebry threw aside the body of Tess, it landed softly without any injury.
But now Lebry tensed his own bow and aimed, not at River, but at the tip of her arrow.
So I'll take your word, your aim never miss, however.... The arrows of my bows are pretty strong and resistant, I'm sure that my arrow can pierce your arrow completely unscathed and then reach your body.

The fingers of Lebry were ready to fire

Wanna try your luck? River????

 

William (Expertise: 0|Health: 100%)

No...

There was only one person William could trust...

No...

And it looked like Lebry was about to kill her with an arrow...

Die, bastard.

There was no emotion behind that thought, yet much at the same time. A flaming sword of light appeared in William's hand; he strode over to behind Lebry and put the sword to the front of his neck. William's eyes burned with complete hatred.

"I'll kill you where you stand if you release that arrow at Ms. River, shadow-weaver.

 

Druid's Tranquility

Overhead of the fight, a dark figure flew, circling around those who were fighting. Nobody seemed to notice or pay any attention to it. The dark figure appeared to be some sort of eagle with an inscription on one talon.

"I'll kill you where you stand if you release that arrow at Ms. River, shadow-weaver." I can't let this happen. There aren't enough of us to begin with fighting off the evil-doers. If they fight like berserkers, there won't be anybody left except for me.

Suddenly, the eagle dove towards the ground. This is when heads turned, watching to see what happened next. When they saw it, it shocked all of them. The eagle seemed to target William in its dive. Flying straight towards him talons outstretched. Suddenly it stopped, inches away from William's face.

"This fighting needs to stop, if you will all calm down, I can heal you. If you want to fight like children, you can die helpless like children. If you want to respect each other, then when all of this ends, fight. Please do. For now, just accept my healing. Consider it a miracle that I haven't killed any of you yet. I am trying to stay level-headed so that I can figure this out, but you are making this a living Hell!" The eagle shapes into a Half-Elf. The fight reaches a momentary dead-lock.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we have a war to fight." Wymur is a lot more calm now. "We have slim chances as is. We sure as Hell aren't going to win this if you keep up." The Half-Elf solidifies into a tree, sprouting from the ground. Green essences fly from it into the wounded.

 

Emery Rose

Even after Will had shook Emery awake, she had been much too tired and fallen back asleep. Only when shouts rang out and the air felt of eather did she wake up from her needed beauty sleep.

"You stupid people! Be quiet, some are trying to sleep!" she had shouted, but only then did she notice the battle that had ensued. And, everything was happening so quickly. Lebry had gone mad and everyone was tossing eather around like crazy people. Lebry threaten River, William threatened Lebry. It was madness, yet highly entertaining. Some of them actually knew more than she had predicted.

Emery walked from her place she had watched the epic scene, beginning to weave. Although, it wasn't one of charon, but of merc. She casted whipped water, and let the stream of water hang in the air keeping her grip tight. She went to stand by William who had his sword at Lebry's neck. Lebry had his arrow aimed at River.

Emery cracked the whipped water around once, twice, three times, gaining momentum. If he attacked William, she would try to block it. "Lebry. Stop, please." Her tone had an edge sharper than William's swordtip, but the merc had calmed her despite the circumstances.

Suddenly, a voice reached her ears. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we have a war to fight. We have slim chances as is. We sure as Hell aren't going to win this if you keep up." It was a half-elf, that soon turned into a tree. Was she hallucinating? That couldn't be right.

Emery again turned to Lebry, her blood-red eyes shining, "I agree with the tree. Stop now Lebry, or you will drown at my hand." She flashed her deadly smile.

 

Will

Everything happened at once, Wymer and Emery arrived behind Lebry, trying to talk everyone down. Will shook his head, seeing William holding that sword to Lebry's neck snapped him out of something. This was about to get far to real if it didn't stop.

"They're right, Enough!" He shouted and put down his sword, stopping his Flashspear weave. "We need to work together here, not fight. No matter how much that..." He couldn't think of a word good enough for Lebry, so he finally settled on, "Bastard deserves it!"

He looked around at the other students, the ones not fighting. They looked scared. Here, they were some of the strongest and oldest, and they were fighting like children. It wasn't right.

"Can someone tie him up or something?" Will motioned to Lebry. "Then we can decide what to do with his crazy little self."

 

River Hoya

River and Lebry made eye contact down their arrrows. He wasn't going to put down his arrow. He wasn't going to let himself get tied up. Only one option remained. She released her arrow.

 

End of the battle

Lebry saw River releasing her fingers, thus he released his fingers too..... or at least he thought he did.
A sharp pain, and then blood started to flow from his left shoulder. It seems that he wasn't fast enough.... oh right... Will's spell, he thought.
This wasn't a big deal, yet all that add to his previous tiredness. So as natural, Lebry fainted. However he fainted with an smile, several people were required to beat him, this proved that he at least was a threat in a fight.

 

Will

Lebry went down, arrow in his shoulder. He looked like he just passed out.

"Ok, now we tie him up." Will said. Seriously, what were they going to do with this guy?

 

Emery Rose

Emery sighed, spinning around to throw her weave out in the opposite direction to hit a random target miles away. She never got her way, she seemed to never be in the thick of it. Despite her peace-making actions, that had only been on the account that the fight had not been hers. If it would have been her instead of River...Emery sighed again.

"Ok, now we tie him up." Will said, hovering over an unconscious Lebry.

"I'm surprised you all don't just kill him on the spot. Look at yourselves, you are a bunch of wanna-be murderers, no?" Emery crossed her arms, giving a humorous smirk.

 

William (Expertise: ?|Health: 100%)

"Ok, now we tie him up." Will said. Seriously, what were they going to do with this guy?

"Kill him," William spat, his sword disappearing. "He's a Nox-user. His kind is ruthless; I've seen it first-hand."

First-hand indeed. No parents, three years captured, tortured, driven mad... as if on cue, he looked down at Lebry's unconscious form and instead saw a dead River, a pool of Nox eather on her chest.

"You can't die," he murmured, "Not after what Vashal did to me."

 

River Hoya: (Expertise 90, Health: 90%)

River's face paled as she saw the amount of blood flowing from Lebry. Flashes of the night before filled her mind. The dead mages, Vashel, their situation. She suddenly felt sick.
"Excuse me." She said in weak voice. "I'm...I'm going to go...go get some food." She walked quickly into the forest wanting to get as far away from the others as she could. A 100 feet in she keeled over near a tree and dry heaved. When she was done she leaned against the tree and slid down its trunk. The rush of adrenline had faded away, leaving her feeling weak and shaky. Guilt wrenched her heart for what she had done. What if he died because of her.

She leaned her head back on the tree and closed her eyes, tears streaming down her cheek. She was an elf. A peace-maker. And yet she had let her anger get out of control. Her father would be so dissappointed. She could hear his lectures now. "You are a princess! You must remain calm at all times and not let your emotions take control of your actions. To do so is to bring on dire consequences."
What consequences were brought on by my actions this today?

River's head fell and she cried.

 

An elf leans against the tree. Wymur recalls her as River, she was fighting...

"Are you ready to behave?" The tree booms at this elf.

"If you are feeling guilt, know that this isn't your fault. Lebry is out of control, breaking the peace. They probably won't kill him, if they do, it's their own fault. This group needs to just meditate a little, mind telling them that?"
The inscribed branch glows green and attempts to heal River for whatever damage it can.

 

River Hoya

"Leave me be, Halfling. I need time to be alone. And think." River shrugged away from the "tree's" healing. His speech felt like salt on an open wound despite his intentions.