The Search For Mana

[Srgntcuddles]

Alistair didn't enjoy sleeping in the open, but it couldn't be helped this time. He had to give into his human needs...And his scythe. As he slipped into his deep sleep the scythe did stir slightly as the two dark mages crept closer. When they got close they froze in place a yard or so from him. "His eyes are open, boss. I thought he was asleep!" Alistair was indeed asleep but with his eyes open, the panther soon realized it and crept closer to him. As he was about to reach into Alistair's satchel he noticed something shocking; Alistair had reached for his scythe and in a swinging motion stood up as he attacked the panther who barely dodged. "Definitely not asleep! Let's get'em, boss!" Something was strange about Alistair's movements though, they seemed kinda fluid like. He didn't stand up with the help of his arms, he kinda floated up with his feet planted. He leaned a lot on his scythe and used it as a walking stick. "This is for my Reyna! DIE!" The panther put his hand to the ground and manipulated the shadows that were being given off by him due to the bright moon over head. The shadow spread out into spikes and shot towards Alistair who dashed to the side and began a hunched sprint towards the panther. As he was running the masked figure with the panther brought out two gloves with long claws for finger tips. The panther saw this and jumped back towards his boss and removed the cloak; revealing the masked individual was a woman. She still wore the mask, but also wore skimpy looking clothing. There was much skin revealed. As she slipped her hands out of the sleeves she darted at Alistair in a similar style as his, hunched over. Both weapons met with a violent clank, then twice more within a second. Alistair rebounded with a back flip, but the woman kept on him giving barely the time to defend. The panther smirked and put his hands together. "I can't let you take all the fun, I know he killed your love too, but I'm hurt as well!" With that he pulled his hands apart, giving himself three pronged claws of his own.

He followed up behind his boss but before he could close the distance between them Alistair jumped over the woman and met the panther’s shadow claws. The woman quickly turned to attack but Alistair blocked while stepping away. With both of them in front the continued to swipe at Alistair ferociously but he was blocking everything. He was backed into a boulder in which he used to leap over the two and take a few swings which were blocked still. The panther ran around to flank Alistair and attack him from behind but to no avail, he was able to deflect all the attacks even from opposite sides, stepping away again. Alistair dashed for the boulder he had kicked off of and jumped up on top and kinda perched there and looked at his attackers. He suddenly opened his mouth and hissed, almost sounding like words. It was words, but they were inaudible. “This guy gives me the creeps boss…Let’s finish this!” With that the panther used the shadow that was given off by the boulder to create a large hand that grabbed for Alistair but he moved like a beast and lunged at the panther who was caught up in his attack too busy to block. Alistair was behind the panther, his scythe at his gut and pulled hard splitting the panther in two.

Blood streamed from both the body parts and rained blood through the air; but Alistair made the hissing noise he made earlier. As some of the blood got on his face he looked at the masked woman who was just glaring. They both walked in the same direction until the corpse of the panther wasn’t between them and dashed at each other once more, weapons meeting with a clash. He leapt over her and took a swing, but she spun around and blocked it with her left and swiped at his midsection with her right. He stepped back still in a weapon lock when they both took a step back. The woman going farther than him. She put her hands to the ground as Alistair rushed towards her. Her shadows quickly enveloped him as he blindly charged freezing him in his place. But she couldn’t move either, cause if she did she would be killed by the scythe inches from her head. They were at a stalemate, or so it seemed…The top half of the panther was crawling towards his former boss, she noticed this too and knew she was soon to be dead, helpless to do anything.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos watched the spectacle in wonder. So it would seem that my theory on the Cursed Weapons was right. Even if their users are unconscious, they can still move their hosts' bodies to protect their "investment". There had been lore about many attempts to assassinate Cursed Hosts, and that none of the hired ever lived. It seems that this one is more dangerous than I thought. Lazaryos continued to watch as the woman and Alistair fought into a stalemate. He pointed his staff towards the ground between the two. But I guess it still has a limit to its user's abilities. A large, lightning bullet shot from the topaz and landed between the two, generating a bright light, destroying and nullifying the woman's shadow magic.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember just stared up at the moon while the fight went on. She had no idea that Alistair was fighting while asleep but if she had known she still wouldn't have cared. She had heard of the Cursed Weapons as well so it wouldn't have been shocking. As she stared up at the moon, she could, in fact, she what was happening though using echolocation. That was one of the perks of being part bat. Angling her head towards the fight and sending out the signals, they bounced off the figures and came back to her. She could see the stalemate and the upper body of the panther crawling at its old leader. Just then the area was lit up for a few seconds as Lazaryos fired a lightning bullet that canceled out the leader's magic. Turning her face back towards the sky, she closed her eyes. She just wanted their stupid fight to be over so she could go to sleep.

[Srgntcuddles]

Whilst swinging Alistair notices the lightning bullet and jumped back, causing him to barely miss decapitating the masked woman. The flash was bright enough to wake Alistair, who blinked, but wasn't visble due to the flash. Alistair, now fully awake looked around at what had happened. He looked at the masked woman before him and his half a minion crawling towards her. "I see...You tried to steal my book while I slept...Weaklings...You do not know who you are triffling with." The woman quickly turned tail and ran off into the night. He waved a hand, expeling his minion which quickly turned to a pile of bones. He then walked back to where he was sleeping, eyeing the three who were a short distance away. The bat woman seemed uninterested, which could not be said the same for the Tiger who gawked at him. And then there was the armored man, he was playing in the sand like an infant. Alistair sat back down and meditated quietly, eyes still open and looking at the three with his expressionless face.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos snorted as the masked woman ran away shortly after his bullet burst. Spineless dog. You attack and lose to a sleeping person, and you dare to run from that? Lazaryos raised his staff once more and closed his eyes, charging his Majicka into the topaz. The masked woman stopped in mid-stride as her hair rose and pointed straight up. She looked up just in time to watch a lightning bolt shoot through the air, and make a 90 degree drop and struck her dead, her body completely charred to a crisp, inside and out.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember's eyes were still closed when the leader ran off but she could hear them do so. She also heard the sound of feet against the ground stop shortly after and knew that the leader had been struck down. A smirk appeared on her face as she laid there in silence. "Well, at least I can sleep now. Although scythe guy is still creepy." She thought to herself as she could feel his eyes on her and the other two.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono stretched after finishing the first three events, which branched off into seventy-six possible outcomes. He finally looked around and saw one figure just standing there and looking up, and a pile of bones next to someone carrying a scythe. "How did I end up with you two again?!" he said in rather loud disbelief, before drawing his sword towards the one with the scythe.

[Srgntcuddles]

Alistair noticed the armored man point his sword at him, focusing his eyes to stare at him. "Do you wish to do something...Child? Your combat effectiveness will surely have been hindered due to losing one of your weapons, you havn't slept either opposed to me having just woke up. Your chances of survival if we...Were to fight would be very...Slim..." He continued to glare at him with his expressionless face and unblinking eyes speaking in his dark tone.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos growled at the noise and the ignorance of the dragon. He pointed his finger at Chrono and fired a low-powered lightning bullet that hit Chrono's armour with a tink! and dispersed into nothing. It just nudged the dragon, really. "Leave him alone, dragon boy. He's not worth the time, and you can fight him all you want at Blue Crimson. We have a temporary... ceasefire with that one. Don't fight him unless you wish to die now. He does have the upper hand, and not to mention quite a bit of magic that is unaffected by your armour. Necromancy is a very powerful magic. Just get back over here and sleep."

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember also growled, but just at the noise because she was trying to sleep. She controlled herself though and didn't snap at Chrono. Part of her really wished Lazaryos had just let Chrono have at the one with the scythe. She would like to have seen how Alistair held up without a dead minion to do his fighting for him and sometimes people who have gotten no sleep could fight pretty well. She sighed and rolled over on her side, slowly drifting off to sleep.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono just grumbled while putting his blade away, getting up and sitting closer to Ember than Lazaryos before lying down and going to sleep, only partially wondering what his new 'style' should be until he gets a replacement blade. He pictured himself in his dreams, wielding various weapons that had either the same or longer distances than his swords; then swinging them at the man with the scythe, trying to find a weapon in his mind that could best a scythe without needing to dual-wield.

No luck after fifteen different weapon sets...

[Srgntcuddles]

Alistair went back to staring at everyone in general, a bit taken back at Lazaryos actions. He gave it no further thought after hearing the words "Temporary ceasefire" and continued to meditate. After a great deal of time he pulled out his book and began to thumb through the pages. He continued doing this until he stopped, reading what was on the page infront of him. After awhile of reading he stood up, flung his cloak back and tucked his book away. He took his scythe from his back into his right hand an promptly began to walk off in their previous direction.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Lazaryos paid the necromancer no mind as he walked away, and drifted back into meditation and eventually managed to fall asleep. Such troublesome younglings I've decided to travel with. Bugger if I have to change his diapers too, before Blue Crimson. The next morning, Lazaryos awoke during twilight, unable to sleep with the ensuing heat of the desert continent already rushing towards them. It was truly thankful that his robes were thick enough to keep him warm at night, alongside with his thick fur. However, that's going to work against him during the day. Blasted heat. Bugger if I end up dying because of it.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Ember woke up to the desert heat pretty early the next morning but it still ended up being after Lazaryos had already woken up. She smiled as she stretched. Heat didn't bother her in the slightest. She pulled an orange out of her bag and began peeling the skin off of it. She ate the slices slowly one at a time as she looked around her. When she was done, she sucked on each of her fingers to get the sticky juices off then rolled up her sleeping mat and re-attached it to her bag.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Chrono simply stood up when Ember got up; having fallen asleep and awakened before both, but didn't move until she did. He saw Lazaryos partially struggling to move in the sand, and was split between grimacing and smirking. He would like to laugh at the mage for not being able to take the heat, but then again, he wouldn't have gotten off the boat alive if Lazaryos just walked away from the squid attack.

Then there was Ember and her two times of saving him when he didn't ask for her help. He slightly slumped as he walked between the two, realization and guilt coming in a tsunami of unpleasantness. How the heck am I going to get even with them for this?!