Lk goes through the omniportal with Devlyn, and Kiba follows in the shape of a small gray bird.Lk likes Allura too, you know, and he hasn't seen her for a while.
LJ hugs JH as tightly as she can without letting go of Arielle, and he gets a few kisses as well. Happiness radiates from her and the Song emanating from her reflects that.
Lk goes through the omniportal with Devlyn, and Kiba follows in the shape of a small gray bird.Lk likes Allura too, you know, and he hasn't seen her for a while.
"I think they're expecting us back at the Eyrie soon," she said, as happy as it was possible to be to be reunited with her family.
"I think they're expecting us back at the Eyrie soon," she said, as happy as it was possible to be to be reunited with her family.
"Sounds good to me. We've been sleeping on this ground for quite some time. A real bed sounds wonderful. And..." he cuts himself off as he remembers young ears are near
"I think they're expecting us back at the Eyrie soon," she said, as happy as it was possible to be to be reunited with her family."Sounds good to me. We've been sleeping on this ground for quite some time. A real bed sounds wonderful. And..." he cuts himself off as he remembers young ears are near
She grins knowingly. "Yes, I'm sure Arielle would love to have some time to go and play with her friends."
The three of them head over to the Eyrie.
The trees rustle in the Grove as the little family leaves
The cycle turns, the old becomes new and the champions once again ready for battle
The leaves rustle gently in the immense forest, though no wind blows. Small woodland creatures run and play among the quiet boles
All is quiet, but dark clouds loom over water The Great Erl thinks as his spirit drifts amongst the currents of the Green
E7 strolls into the Grove in elf form, carrying a bundle. Reaching the pool in the center, he unwraps the bundle. A baby's cry startles the birds in the trees. E7 places the babe into the waters of the pool, speaking ancient words and anointing its forehead.
The waters of the pool seem to react to the words, or perhaps to the baby herself, roiling and hissing. Spouting streams of water and taking on a semblance of life, until the words end and the waters settle.
Amidst all of it, as soon as the babe touches the water, she calms and her cries are silenced. The water's reaction bothers her none.
The babe wriggles free of E7's hands and plunges underwater. Her form changes into a small golden serpent. She swims happily in the water.
After allowing the 'baby' to play for quite some time E7 tries to pull it from the water. It transforms into hideous creature and tries to bite his fingers off.
Lk steps through the omniportal and immediately shifts to his hybrid form. Even so, he just barely jumps out of the way in time to avoid a thrown axe. The man from earlier laughs as he steps out from behind a tree.
"Why are you here? Why choose to test me?"
"Because you need to be stronger if you are to avoid losing your arm. Take your human form, and attack."
"I'm a better fighter when I'm shifted."
"I know that. But you need to stop relying on it. And when you would need it most, you won't be able to use it. You need to be better while human. And I can force you to shift."
Lk reluctantly takes his human form and slips into his Raging Inferno style, launching viscious attacks. The man either blocks the attacks or dodges them.
"What's wrong? You are younger and have both arms, so why can't you hit me?"
Lk continues to get angrier, and he becomes even more reckless in his attacks. He only stops when he is knocked down and his axe is pulled away from him.
"You want to be stronger, yet you do not train. You only think you can get stronger when you beat strong opponents with force. That is not true. If it were, why do you know a Water Fighting Stlye? You need to practice your finesse styles just as much as your others. Use your imagination to make new styles. Use the magic you can't turn into spells to give your styles their true power. I can show you two styles to practice, but we need to get to a snow capped mountain.
Lk stares at the stranger for a moment then gets up.
"What's your name? If your teaching me, I should at least know that much."
"You may call me Canis Lupis." He leads Lk to the omniportal,and they step through to the top of what would one day be the Eyrie...
She stands before Yggdrassil for a moment, leaning against the world ash, listening to the sound of its sap flowing, gathering her courage. She steps inside. She finds herself as always gliding among the stars, near the place where her life-force is anchored. She listens to the Song as she dances among the stars, checking the borders to make sure that all was secure. Satisfied that no imminent invasions of reality were present she changed course. Not through the skies this time, but down, down, down, into the roots. Into history, specifically her own. It was time to find out the truth.
E7 strokes the Fury's head as it plays in the pool, only to have the branch bit off by the little creature. He watches as the One Tree accepts its latest visitor.
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She stands before Yggdrassil for a moment, leaning against the world ash, listening to the sound of its sap flowing, gathering her courage. She steps inside. She finds herself as always gliding among the stars, near the place where her life-force is anchored. She listens to the Song as she dances among the stars, checking the borders to make sure that all was secure. Satisfied that no imminent invasions of reality were present she changed course. Not through the skies this time, but down, down, down, into the roots. Into history, specifically her own. It was time to find out the truth.
She lets recent history slide by quickly. Her memories are fresh enough and some of it is extremely unpleasant to relive. She doesn't slow her progress at all until well before the ceremony that bound the evil goddess inside her body.
She watches scenes from her childhood a little more carefully, looking for clues of anything out of the ordinary. She is surprised to realize how very isolated she was. Had they known even then what they meant to do to her? She lingered a little over a memory of her sister teaching her how to shoot a bow.
"Honestly, Lyn, I don't get it," the young Ash said, pleased but exasperated. "You're completely hopeless with a sword. I've been trying to teach you for weeks and you can't even pick it up properly. But I hand you a bow and it's like you already know how to do it. Even for a little sister, you're weird."
This quickly dissolved into the usual 'no, you're weird' argument/game that ended with them both running after each other and giggling.
A tear slipped down her cheek as she watched. She still missed her older sister. Even after everything that Ash had done. She missed who her sister had been before she turned to evil. She was tempted to divert her course a bit, to try to find out what had happened to Ash to twist her so badly, but decided instead to leave it for another time.
She continued her journey into the past.
She watched her life rewinding before her eyes. And then she got to the point before her birth. It was more difficult to follow this root now. She didn't have memory to guide her onwards. But she had to know. She watched as time went backwards and her mother's stomach got flatter. She stopped cold as she watched a handsome but cold-eyed angel standing over her sleeping mother. He placed something glowing over her mother and stepped back.
"I doubt you'd thank me for this if you knew, Mina. I won't say that I was entirely uninfluenced by your leaving me. I know this will cause you pain. Perhaps I have been spending too long as the liason between our group and our less savory allies. But what's done is done. Luckily for me, you won't remember any of this."
With that he walked away.
She followed the strange man, determined to find out what it was he had done to her mother. She stopped again when she saw him walking into the house. A very small Ash came out of one of the rooms looking sleepy. "Daddy, up?" she said, holding up her arms. The man smiled, but did not pause. "Not this time. I just have to go talk to your mother right now. Perhaps next time, Ashaundra. Now, be a good girl and go back to bed."
So, now she knew who this man was. She'd never actually met Ash's father. He disappeared mysteriously. She thought she had a better idea now of just what had happened to him. And probably what had happened to Ash, too. She followed the path backwards just a little more, still trying to find out what he had done to her mother.
She watched as the stern looking angel, Ash's father, stood in the shadows outside her mother's house. A lantern archon hovered near his shoulder.
"I am not at all certain that this course of action is advisable," the archon said.
"You would rather let the goddess continue her rampage until she manages to succeed in her quest to destroy the multiverse? I will conceded that this course of action is not ideal, but it is necessary nonetheless," the angel said coldly.
"But why choose Izkemina for this? We all know that you took it hard when she left you. It looks...suspicious."
"I chose Mina because I know her well enough to know that we can count on her to do the right thing when the time comes. It's not like we have that long of a list of candidates to choose from that we can afford to be picky. I can't rule Mina out simply because she and I were once involved."
The archon sighed. "What you say makes sense, but I stil do not like this. She should know what we are doing."
"We can't take the risk of her refusing. There is still a strong possibility that it will mean the destruction of her child, and she wouldn't be willing to take that risk. If we present things to her after the fact, she will make sure that everything is done as we need it to be in order to minimize the risk to the child. A pure soul is a difficult thing to find. I've spent centuries searching already. I'm not about to risk the first opportunity we've had, especially with the goddess growing ever more powerful. There is nothing more you can say that will influence me."
Ch'ack Hammer arrives at the Grove, pausing as his takes in the scent of the place. The sights, the sounds, and the fragrance are so much more vibrant than he remembers. He looks at Yggdrasil for a long moment.
"Greetings, Jack. Or should I call you Ch'ack now? Don't be surprised. Your journeys are no secret to the Green. Even to the Lands of the Dead."
"Your love has entered the One. Do you wish to seek her out there?"
"Greetings, Jack. Or should I call you Ch'ack now? Don't be surprised. Your journeys are no secret to the Green. Even to the Lands of the Dead."
"Your love has entered the One. Do you wish to seek her out there?"
"No, Emperor. I have urgent need for some ingredients. Natural ingredients. I need to make the Spirit Woad."
"No, Emperor. I have urgent need for some ingredients. Natural ingredients. I need to make the Spirit Woad.""Greetings, Jack. Or should I call you Ch'ack now? Don't be surprised. Your journeys are no secret to the Green. Even to the Lands of the Dead."
"Your love has entered the One. Do you wish to seek her out there?"
*E7 sighs*
"Is that to be part of your new life? Could not someone else bear the burden?
"No, Emperor. I have urgent need for some ingredients. Natural ingredients. I need to make the Spirit Woad.""Greetings, Jack. Or should I call you Ch'ack now? Don't be surprised. Your journeys are no secret to the Green. Even to the Lands of the Dead."
"Your love has entered the One. Do you wish to seek her out there?"
*E7 sighs*
"Is that to be part of your new life? Could not someone else bear the burden?
"Perhaps, but for now no one seems to recall the ancient ways of spirit battle. The ancient ways of warding oneself."
"Perhaps, but for now no one seems to recall the ancient ways of spirit battle. The ancient ways of warding oneself.""No, Emperor. I have urgent need for some ingredients. Natural ingredients. I need to make the Spirit Woad.""Greetings, Jack. Or should I call you Ch'ack now? Don't be surprised. Your journeys are no secret to the Green. Even to the Lands of the Dead."
"Your love has entered the One. Do you wish to seek her out there?"
*E7 sighs*
"Is that to be part of your new life? Could not someone else bear the burden?
"And you do?"
"I am not sure...but I have to try."
"I am not sure...but I have to try."
"Then go, Earth Child. Perhaps the spark of the Earth's power that rests in you shall be enough to help you succeed this time. May the Mother bless you."
"I am not sure...but I have to try.""Then go, Earth Child. Perhaps the spark of the Earth's power that rests in you shall be enough to help you succeed this time. May the Mother bless you."
"Someday we will have to speak of some of the things you know. For now my need is urgent and I must search the Grove and its lands. Thank you for your blessings."
He bows to E7, then for a long moment to the One Tree. He turns and heads off into the woods.
She followed this root just a little farther back. She had wanted to know the truth, but that didn't make it pleasant knowledge. She saw Ash's father meeting with some sort of devil.
"Yes, I have what you've been looking for," the devil said, smiling. "And good riddance too. It was part of a batch of souls we were traded a long time ago. There didn't seem to be anything special about it at the time, but the more we worked on tormenting and breaking it, the less success we had." He pulled out a sack and using a pair of iron tongs withdrew a glowing white orb and handed it over to the angel. "It hurts to touch it now. As you can see it's actually started glowing with holy energy. Don't know what makes this soul so special, but it should serve our purpose. It's withstood the worst Hell can throw at it. It should be able to contain the goddess. Just in case, we've placed powerful enchantments on it, preventing it from ever setting foot in Hell again."
The angel held up the orb, examining it carefully. "Yes, you're right. This is exactly what I've been waiting for. And now it's time to set our plans into motion. It is, as always, a pleasure doing business with you," he added with an ironic bow.
The devil chuckled and vanished in a puff of brimstone.
She tried to follow this root further back, to find out when and where and from who this devil had gotten her soul. But when she tried she hit a solid barrier. It felt like flying into a wall. She tried again, but the result was the same. She fought back tears of frustration as she realized that she would never be able to find the answers she needed. She couldn't trace the path of her soul back any further.
She drifted up and up and up and out of the World Ash altogether. She sat dejectedly leaning against the tree.
"There has to be a way," she muttered to herself. "There has to be. I just don't know what it is."
She leaned her head back against the tree, eyes closed, listening to the Song. She sighed.
Ch'ack wanders the Grove, gathering various items. Roots, bark, mulch, and clay. He finishes by gathering some soil from the base of Yggdrasil and daring to attempt taking some water from the pool, barely dodging an attack from the Fury. Bidding his farewells to all he heads off.
Stopping just short of the Grove, Aidan surveys the damage he caused. His eyes water as he sees dead trees and burnt animals. He turns to Kaelar and Rio.
"We need to help. Can you handle the fires from the air while I work on healing animals?"
"Yes, but be careful. There is no telling how many servents are here."
The pair flies off in their own ways, putting out fire... and forgetting that Aidan swore of magic.
Despite his vow to never use magic, Aidan uses poultices and herb to help the animals that don't attack him. He makes his way deeper into the Grove, searching for E7.
A storm forms over the Grove and heavy rains begin to fall, extinguishing most of the fires. The lightning flashing across the sky never seems to strike down to the earth. The flashes seem to always be reflected in E7's eyes. At the center of the storm is an elf/half bear, E7 in a hybrid form. Animals huddle around him as if he were one of the trees, unafraid of the storm or the beast.
Across the extended forest beyond the druid's circle sentient trees are seen clearing trees that have caught fire, the flames from them never burning the handlers. Fire breaks are formed. Magic is summoned to deal with the unnatural elements of the flames. Little by little the flames are contained.