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The Story of Palis A continuing story of worlds trapped in war, where their only hope are Heroes from other worlds.

 
 
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Old 08-09-2005, 11:44 AM   #33
 
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Zerlina
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Canada
Age: 35
Posts: 293
Re: Chapter 3: In The Clouds

The creaks of the ship, together with the sound of the propellers formed what was now a familiar lullaby. Throughout of the ghostly passages, shadow and darkness spread, leaving only a few hallways illuminated by the spilling moonlight.
On the rim of conciousness, Titania lay in her bed, burrowed comfortably in the moth-eaten sheets. From the ceiling, there swung an old oil lamp, whose rusty handle creaked along with the rhythm of the ship. Peacefully, she turned, and as she did so, the sound of tiny bells swayed gently into the air.
Confused, Titania, sat up and waited, listening carefully for the sound once more. For a while there was nothing, but as she lay back down, it came again.

“Hello?” she called out, her eyes darting to every corner of the lonely room “Is someone there?”

Silence.

“I know you’re here…” she continued, her voice falling dry over the creaky ship “Show yourself!!”

The only answer was her own echo.

Deciding she could not sleep, knowing some speechless being was wandering around, she got out of bed and walked cautiously to the door.
Jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle the bells’ delicate ring returned, as she made her way out into the hallway. There, outside her room, a pool of moonlight spilled gently onto the floor. She stared at it for a while, and as the bells returned, she followed its path outside; the light beneath her feet rippled like water and she did not cast a shadow through it.
As she emerged on the deck, she did not speak, because the silence of the night seemed to forbid it. With every step she took, her fear dissipated, and when finally she reached the deck it was gone. The moon and something else seemed to be calling to her, and she did not want to let it go. Slowly, raindrops began to gather until they fell in succession. But even as they did so, they did not stay and did not leave behind any evidence of their existence; everything was dry.
The chime of bells returned, but now they seemed more a part of her than anything else; when she walked, they sounded, and when she stopped, they were silent. Something now, a gentle noise, pulled her forward. It was beautiful, familiar, and yet mute.

“Where are you?” came a voice of the same tone.
“Out in the rain.” Titania answered.
“Come, and we will finish this now.”
“Indeed.” She said, and turned the corner; there was Syne, caught up in the same sort of trance.
“No rules.” Said Syne, as she drew her sword.
“And whoever wins…”
“…will decide what happens.”
Syne smirked, taking her stance and preparing for the fight “We will start ten paces away.”
“Fine.” Titania answered, holding out her hands, fingers apart. A blue light appeared and illuminated her face. From the magic came a smoke, which wound itself into an unearthly javelin, twisting in a serpentine manner.

The two walked their five paces and then smirked like friends in the rain as they prepared for the start in their heads. A ghostly lightning struck, and in an instant, the two ran at each other.
With a suddenly new strength, Syne pulled her thick sword backward before pushing it down at Titania. The mage dodged it, jumping back and landing with a strange lightness.

“You’ve gotten better.” The taller girl said, bringing her sword back up as if it were thin wood.

“So have you.” Titania answered, swinging her javelin low into Syne’s ankles.

The thick object hit her with a painful force, but she did not falter, and instead hurled her sword sideways to knock Titania over; the edge of the blade cut her arm.

“That almost hurt.” The mage laughed, thrusting her own weapon at Syne, who parried it and then drove the handle of her sword into her opponent’s shoulder.

Titania cried out, but did not take long to recover. She threw up her hand, and soon formed a blue flame around it. In an attempt to control it, Syne grabbed the mage’s wrist, but the fire only grew and caught painfully onto her arm.
She stepped back for a moment, and as another strike of ghostly lightning appeared, she seemed to take another form- like the light of the sky illuminated her true self. When the night flashed, she was no longer Syne, but a tall and shadowy figure. However, when the darkness returned, so did the form of the Zabasu.
Within moments, Syne pulled her own dark magic into her hands, striking the ground hard with it and causing the ship to shake. Titania struggled for a moment, but soon jumped onto a railing. Bringing back another blue flame, she leapt once more and set the flame to her javelin, which she thrust at her opponent.
With reflexes as fast as sky fire, Syne caught the object, now seeming unharmed by the magic on it. She swung it sideways and as she did so, threw a wave of Titania’s own magic back at her, before abandoning the weapon completely.
The mage jumped once more, leaving the railing which burst behind her as the enchantment hit it. Agilely, she crossed the deck and took back her javelin.
Eyes dark and fierce with the passion of battle, the two circled each other, weapons drawn and ready to use at any moment. The rain fell heavily now and as the peace of the night gave way to a storm, lightning flashed once more. Titania faltered, the brightness catching her eye. Syne took the moment and in a second, was before her. She made a series of strikes, which Titania blocked, but could not aggress against. With nowhere else to go, the mage moved backward, until her heel hit the edge of the ship where the railing had been destroyed. She lowered her weapon and stared at Syne, both of them knowing that with one strike she would be dead. Lightning flashed once more, and so, over Syne’s form appeared the image of Kani, who stared down at the smaller girl with an unreadable expression, which she returned.

“Go ahead.” Titania answered, her voice sounding different now. She dropped her weapon “I’m waiting.”

He stared down at her with his sword drawn, as if calculating what best to do “You’ve always expected the worst in me, Llideah. I’m not going to push you over.”

“Why not?” she asked, still bold “So that you can embarrass me forever with stories of how you’ve defeated me in a duel.”

“Everyone expected me to win. They already know.” He answered, arrogantly “Even before you came, they knew.”

“What good is it then to let me live? Let me die now with honour rather than live with the shame of knowing you had to spare me.”

“The first of those things –dying at my hand- is more common than the other. Why do you wish for it?”

“Because unlike you, I am not scared.”

He laughed “You are trying to make me angry now. Don’t start- I know you too well! Go!” He stepped back so that she could walk away “Go home and I will speak of this to no one.”

She stared at him quietly, unsure of whether it was a trick or not “Are you lying?”

“If I was, would I tell you?”

She smirked and took a cautious step forward, before picking up her javelin “So now who will decide? Who will be the keeper of fate?”

“I will.” Kani answered, and Llideah faltered, “I’ve won. I will speak of it to no one, but you must acknowledge that I’ve won.”

She smiled, bitterly “Very well, then.” She drew a stone from her apron “I believe that this is what you want.”

He smirked and looked at the object hungrily before taking it.

“All is fair in-”

Don’t say it.” She muttered, clearly not in the mood for any joke or reasoning he could think of. Sternly she stepped forward and looked straight at Kani “If I thought for a second that you would abuse this object, I would not give it to you. This stone is tied to me, and even if you bear its physical presence, it will always hold its true form in my soul. Take care in what you do with the object, and know that at any moment, I can put the spiritual form into another object which you do not posess.”

They looked at each other seriously for a moment, the bitterness of a failed duel and a loss hanging over Llideah, while that same hungry look that had possessed Brian took over Kani’s face. His eyes affixed on the stone, he smirked at the defeated “I will use the object as I wish. It is mine.” He said “And if you have any honour you will always acknowledge that. Do not threaten me now with tales of how you will take back my prize- accept your loss and let me be.”

She felt her hands tighten as she let her weapon disappear into the smoke it came from “Fine.” She said “I will ‘let you be.’ But I’m not going home.”

She began to walk away, but he threw his sword and it embedded itself in the ground before her.

“Where are you going?” he clenched his new stone, protectively, as he watched the white figure in the rain.

“I’m visiting a friend.” She said, continuing on “A friend of Noah’s.”

“Noah!” he laughed, but his heart sank at the mention of his old friend “He’s a fool, and he is dead to me! ”

“I know.” She answered, as she disappeared into the darkness “And you are dead to him.”

*

Below the deck, Belial and Osirus continued through a game of poker, while Magus, Glenn and Malice sat in the corner, sharing what few bottles of liquor the demons had not consumed.

“That table looks a little uneven, doesn’t it?” Magus remarked, staring at the piles of money and goods, which lay on Belial’s side of the game.
“Quite.” Answered Glenn as he took a small sip from an unlabelled bottle.
“Aw, hell!” came a cry from Osirus as Belial pulled more objects onto his side of the table.
“You’d think by now he’d figure out that Belial always wins…” Malice smirked as he drank.
“Some people are just slow, I guess.” Magus laughed.
“I can hear you.” Muttered Osirus.

Titania walked along the halls, and when she saw the others she peered in through the doorway.

"Am I interrupting any male bonding?" she asked, as she looked about the room.
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Last edited by Zerlina; 08-09-2005 at 01:45 PM.
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