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Koragnier [OPEN]

Each year, every firstborn child is sent to the Armasseum to train for Koragnier, the battle between gods and demons, and each year only a fraction survive the process. Life is idyllic in Valaheim, home of the gods, but for the Firstborn, only blood and tears await. That is their fate and this is their story.......

Tags: action, apocalypse, battle, dark, drama, epic, fantasy, war

Character Approval: Yes

Player Level: Intermediate

New Players: Open

Creator: enkerzed

Created: 04-28-2015, 02:03 PM

 

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Game Log in Episode Two: The Black Knight

The training of the Firstborn has begun and their first obstacle is Ilia Strong; demigod, Ascendant and veteran of Koragnier.



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  1. Characters in this post:
    When the Firstborn were all gathered on the battlefield, Ilia's voice rang out in a clear clarion call, "My name is Ilia Strong. Your objective is to defeat me in battle."

    Shining wings materialized from her back and spread out in a dazzling display of light. "And though you stand a thousand to one, my strength is beyond all of yours. Do not think of me as a human opponent."

    Ilia paused a moment to survey the army of young warriors, wondering just how Grigor expected them to perform in battle without any training. This is beyond throwing them into the deep end, Ilia thought, mentally shaking her head.

    At the threshold of the gate, Grigor stood with the other instructors, his hands clasped behind his back. As Ilia's gaze swept the field, their eyes met and though they were a large distance apart, they both felt as though they knew what the other was thinking.

    If you want me to teach them to run before they can walk, then so be it, Ilia thought as she met Grigor's impassive stare. But I'll do it my way.

    Taking up her sword in both hands, Ilia began slowly walking forwards as she called out, "Firstborn, your training begins now! Attack when ready."


  2. Characters in this post:
    Lathen was some hat offended by her remark seeing as how Lathen could not have been the only one. She had assumed that others here had parents that had taught them some kind of fighting skills. Lathen walked up to her pulling the sword from behind her back and pointed it out at her and stopped right at the point where the tips of there blades could touch.

    She waited a second before leaning in and taking a swing at her and a quick as she took her first step towards her she took it right back just so she would not have any advantages over her seeing as how she did want to prove herself.

  3. Characters in this post:
    Kai stood to the back of the group, listening intently to the woman's large voice. The training started right now. The fact that the large woman had red hair allowed her to get a good visual on how tall the woman actually was, and that she would be a challenge to beat.

    For this reason, she chose to hang back to see what the woman's fighting style was. She slowly pulled out the sword she carried, and quickly used some of the red paint that she snuck in to put dots, outlining the sword so she could better see it, since it was not her own sword that was taken at the beginning. She hoped this would be a good enough replacement for now.

    As she looked around a little, she noticed that a certain red blob was not far away from her. It was the cloth she had given that man she bumped into. She was surprised and also glad that he still had it on. At the very least she could look out for him, since he was easy to spot.

    Now she just stood there, watching closely as to what the large woman, and the group would do. Hopefully for their sake they were at least skilled enough to know when to back off if they were in trouble, or maybe she would have to intervine and help. She was good at protecting things that were weaker than herself, as well as those that just simply needed help.

    She let out a slight, even sigh as she watched and waited in the darkness, watching the large red spot of hair where the tall woman was standing. Waiting for the right moment to step in.

  4. Characters in this post:
    Lathen was not the only one to engage Ilia in melee combat. Ingrid was furious to see that she had not been the first into the fray as she charged towards the Ascendant, but the closer she got, the more daunting it seemed to actually cross blades.

    Though deceptively elegant in her hands, Ilia's sword must have been as long as Ingrid's height, if not more so, and Ilia herself towered over everyone else like a colossus. Along with her black armour, she would have seemed like some kind of invincible monster were it not for her decidedly human face, calm but focused and set like a master craftsman at work.

    "You've already made your first mistake," Ilia said as she deflected Lathen's attack with ease. "You fight as though facing a human, but when a demon walks... the earth TREMBLES."

    Crouching down slightly, Ilia launched herself into the sky with a single powerful beat of her wings.

    Ingrid halted her charge, utterly perplexed as to how she was supposed to fight when her opponent was in the air, but when the Ascendant stopped rising, Ingrid felt all of a sudden that she did not want to be nearby.

    "What's wrong?" Nikia asked as Ingrid came running.

    "GET BAAAAAACK!" Ingrid shouted before the Ascendant crashed to the ground like a meteor, sending a shockwave so powerful that anyone nearby was knocked off their feet.

    Rising from the swirling cloud of dust, Ilia hovered through the air and touched down on solid ground again as those nearby struggled to pick themselves up. All the others far away enough to not be floored by the impact were now paralyzed with hesitation.

    "The question now is," Ilia said. "How will you stop me?"

    Not a problem, Kieran thought with a smirk, readying an ice spell as he walked past the Firstborn in the rear who could only stop and stare at what had just happened. Once I get close enough, you won't be trying that again.

  5. Characters in this post:
    Rael stood back and watched. He was truly alert now but yet he stayed still. He didn't know the way of combat. Not even a clue. While the others sure looked like they knew exactly what they wanted to do. So, he watched them.

    There was a boy beside him holding a bow and arrow. Rael recognized it from his studies, but he himself had never actually shoot one before. Rael kept a close watch as the boy took a breath and fixed his posture. Back straight, shoulders relax, he noted dutifully as the boy stretched the bow until his elbow was at the level of his shoulder before narrowing his eyes, he let the arrow fly.

    Huh, doesn't seem so hard. The arrow missed but it was close. Okay, next.

    A girl with an axe was running towards the Ascendant. Rael took note of the way she handled the weapon and the way she positioned her feet for the run. Short, strong steps. Quick and quiet. He nodded to himself, gripping the dagger harder until he felt his calloused-free skin beginning to tear at the unfamiliar pressure.

    I have to learn. Learn. No one's gonna save you now, Rael.

    He swallowed as the scene unfolded with Ilia rising from the ground. "What in the world... Oh, shit!" He was saved by a measly two seconds in realizing what was happening as he instinctively ran to the back of the crowd at Ingrid's loud warning. Still, it didn't save him from the powerful force to the ground. He crashed face-first after his legs failed to keep him standing. He could taste the blood in his mouth as he forced his scraped knee to quickly get back up. It was painful as hell but it was better than just lying defenseless on the ground.

    Think, dammit. Think!

    Just then, the words the warrior had stated before rang in his throbbing head.

    Do not think of me as a human opponent.

    An idea popped into his head as he muttered a question rhetorically, speaking to no one. "How do you kill a non-human opponent?" He ran towards the girls he had talked to earlier. Looking at them urgently, he looked around to see if there was anyone else willing to join in. "Hey, I have an idea. But, I need help."

  6. Characters in this post:
    Lathen got up off the floor as the meter looking think had knocked her down. She got p picking up her sword and pulling out her other one from her back in the process. She looked watching as others got up and started to then how thy where going to take down the red head. She listened as Rael walked over to another girl ad said he had a idea, but needed help. Lathen had good hearing and even though she knew he wasn't talking to her she still listened to see If he would say anything that would help Lathen in any way.

    She stood there thinking of what her next move would be. She waited for someone else to strike first and when Ilia was distracted from defending her self against someone else she was going to strike and catch her off guard. She still needed someone else to do something first.

    As she waited she thought how she was to defeat a opponent that could fly when no one else could. She figured the only way to let someone to get a fair shot was for someone to sacrifice them selves to try and get her to come down to the ground. Seeing as how she was on the ground Lathen tried to take advantage of this hoping someone would catch on and come in behind her. Lathen advanced towards Ilia.

  7. Characters in this post:
    The echos from the collision that the large woman made sent quick enough echos for Kai to brace herself in time, planting her feet more firmly to the ground. So the woman could fly? Did she have wings? Kai thought to herself, there was no way...

    The woman must have some weakness..because everyone did. Some kink in their armor...Kai walked a little closer, still staying close to the back. She only wanted to get a closer look at the large woman.

    "Clearly we need to work together and form a plan, otherwise.."

    She stepped forward, gripping onto the base of her sword more sternly before rushing forward in a swift motion, bringing her sword down on the woman but it seemed that she was faster.

    Their weapons collided though Kai pressed against the other's to get a good feel of her strength before quickly backing off into the group.

    She wasn't mying about being stronger. There was no way Kai would be able to defeat the woman in strength. But maybe it would be possible with speed.

    Kai evaluated this and waited to see what the others would do. She heard what seemed to be a man talking about how he needed help with a certain idea he had. Maybe whatever it was would work, she decided to move closer to him, struggling just a tad to find him as his voice echo died off.

    When Kai managed to find him she touched the man's shoulder (Rael's), still looking towards the large woman.

    "What is your Idea? I will assist you with whatever you need."

  8. Characters in this post:
    "Yeah, what do you got in mind pretty boy?" Ingrid asked, huffing from her frantic retreat.

    Nikia rolled her eyes as she nocked an arrow to her bow and aimed at Ilia's unarmoured head. However, just as she was about to let her arrow fly, Nikia's line of sight was interrupted by a ginger haired girl wielding two swords.

    Didn't she see what just happened? Nikia thought as she called out, "Hey wait, that's dangerous!"

    Just then, everything began to happen at once. Kieran stepped out from behind with his hand outstretched, ice formed on the Ascendant's feet and the girl with two swords was attacking.

    For a moment, to all the Firstborn watching, it seemed like a breakthrough. Victory was possible after all... but then the Ascendant smiled.

    "Good," she said. "But not good enough!"

    Lifting her sword up high, Ilia slammed its point down and cracked a fissure through the ground, spraying grass, dirt and rock shrapnel into the air as it tore along the earth.

    Ingrid raised her oversized arm guard to protect her head from the lethal shower and Nikia ducked as a solid chunk of stone nearly caved her face in. Some others were not so lucky and Nikia immediately went to revive those who had fallen, Kieran being one of them.

    "How the heck are we supposed to fight that?" one of the Firstborn complained.

    Hearing the remark, Ilia broke free from the ice on her feet as though it were cobwebs and boomed in a forceful tone, "Do not falter! There are still many more of you than me, so use your numbers, work together and press the attack!"

    I hope that helped, she thought as she held up her sword again, trying to ignore that many of the Firstborn were not even attempting to fight.

  9. Characters in this post:
    Everything happened fast. Wide eyed, Rael gaped at the second attempt to do a head-on assault on the Ascendant. Elementalist, he recalled the term.

    "THAT GUY," he exclaimed excitedly. "We need that guy!"

    Just then, the earth crumbled beneath his feet and before he could save himself, a huge boulder smacked him straight in the face.

    -

    "WOAH!"

    He was trembling. Alive, he breathed. Still alive. Rael felt like crying then. That was... that was his first death. It felt like nothing he ever felt before. But, he came back. He refocused on the first face he saw - the revivalist.

    "I think I'm in love with you."

    After taking a hold of himself, Rael gathered around the crowd he had formed earlier. He took notice of the girl in red that had offered to help before. "Glad you're in, little Red," he winked.

    "Right, so here's the plan," he whispered, urging them to gather closer in a circle. Adrenaline was rushing in his veins. His first encounter with death had not truly left his mind yet. "Our advantage is definitely in numbers. Hers is in strength." He looked around to see some people taking interest in what he was saying, so he urged them to come closer. The more people he gathered, the better. "But, she'd be expecting that."

    "So, we use the element of surprise - a distraction." He looked around the group. There were 12 of them now. And, more people were coming over curiously. Good. "We will charge towards her all at once. But, at the last moment - deviate. Go to anywhere - anywhere - but her." He turned to Ingrid. "That's when you come in." Then, his eyes searched for the elementalist. "And, him."

  10. Characters in this post:
    Lathen stood a safe distance from Ilia and was able to doge most of the flying objects by simply moving from there line of path, but she was hit by a few smaller pieces in the process. She walked close enough to the boy speaking to hear what he was saying, but not close enough to where he could catch on that she was listening to him. She admitted that his idea was clever, but she knew that Ilia would see it coming seeing as how it is a old trick.

    She knew though if they could keep her from being able to move for a good 5 to 6 seconds by freezing just her arms and legs that someone could shot her in her head or behind her arms where there was a gap in the armor she was wearing so that she could move. She knew that not many if any had noticed I, but she knew that going for the head would be to obvious and they would need to attack else where. Some where she would not expect and some where that would be hard to reach.

    Lathen decided she would go for behind her arm where there was a tiny gap in the armor, but she needed to wait for the boy and his helpers to keep her busy so that she could sneak behind her and do what was needed. She waited for them to attack. Her timing had to be perfect because she would not get another chance like this again.

  11. Characters in this post:
    Kieran had quickly bled to death from a shard of stone piercing his heart, but when Nikia brought him back, he merely sat up as though waking from a brief nap.

    Wiping the blood from his mouth, he looked with a frown as he realized that his attempt to immobilize the Ascendant had failed. "What a brute," he muttered as he stood up.

    Nikia heard the remark but said nothing as she revived the other casualties. She had wanted to say something in Ilia's defence, but bit down her tongue on the matter as this was no time for arguments.

    She is testing us, the revivalist thought as she laid her hands on the dark haired boy, Rael. I must not fail her expectations.

    "I think I'm in love with you," Rael said as he awoke, breaking Nikia out of her train of thought.

    "That's, uh... don't mention it," she replied before moving onto the next casualty.
    "Seriously, don't."

    Though even as she was mentally shaking her head at the boy's shamelessness, Nikia had to admit that his plan was a sound idea when he finished laying it out.

    Ingrid couldn't help baring her teeth in an enthusiastic grin after listening to the idea. "Cute and smart," she said with vigorous approval. "All right, let's do this."

    "No offence, but why should we listen to you?" Kieran said as he stepped to the front of the small crowd.

    "Do you have any better ideas?" Nikia asked in response.

    "As a matter of fact, I do." Raising his hands, Kieran summoned lightning, fire and ice all at once; the elements orbiting around his body as he turned towards the Ascendant. "You stand aside!"

    For a moment, there was only stunned silence as Kieran marched off. Ingrid could not believe what she had just witnessed. Not even she would be so foolhardy enough to tackle the Ascendant alone. Finally, she managed to utter, "Oh gods, he just went in."

    "Save him!" Nikia shouted as she took up her bow and chased after the elementalist.

    ~~~

    Ilia was facing off against a circle of attackers when Kieran stepped to the fore, ablaze with elemental power. The other Firstborn backed away, not wanting to be singed, frozen or electrocuted from merely standing in his presence.

    "You think to challenge me alone?" Ilia said as she looked down on the mage. "Foolish."

    "How about you just shut up and die," Kieran said as he flung out his hand, sending a barrage of all three elements.

    Ilia sidestepped so fast and so suddenly that she left afterimages in her wake, dodging the lethal onslaught of magic.

    "A demon would not have been able to do what I just did, but that attack would have left little more than a scorch mark on its skin," she said. "No single mage is powerful enough to bring down such a foe."

    "What about us?" someone called out as a group of Firstborn suddenly came rushing forward.

    Leading the charge, Ingrid said to Kieran whilst dashing past, "You are just stupid as hell."

    "Stick to the plan guys, stick to the plan!" Nikia shouted as she nocked and loosed an arrow.

    Chopping the projectile out of the air, Ilia returned to a guard position and stood her ground. Another head on attack? she wondered... and then the Firstborn split apart.

    "Yes, yes! That is how you fight demons," Ilia said approvingly when they all swarmed around her. "But once you commit, you must prepare to face casualties."

    With a single step, she blocked the path of the nearest Firstborn and started cutting them down, moving from one sword stroke to the next like a dancing whirlwind. Everyone tried to keep their distance, but it was no use. She was simply too big and too fast to avoid.

  12. Characters in this post:
    Rael squealed.

    Yes, squealed.

    "Yikees!" It wasn't that he didn't expect the Ascendant to retaliate, of course he did. He just didn't think she'd be able to block off so many in such a short time.

    Still, he thought, this was good.

    He brought his group to the left side of Ilia and instructed another group to go around the other side. And, getting the point, there were others who were joining from the north side and from the south.

    "Good, distractions fulfilled!" he hissed to himself excitedly. "Now, attackers." He searched around and saw a girl with the hair of flames - he recognized her as the one who started the first attack. He tried to catch her eyes and nodded once, hoping she would understand his signal.

    Then, searching again, he repeated the subtle nod to Ingrid. They have to be quick and deadly. The diversion created an opening - a small one, admittedly - but an opening nonetheless.

  13. Characters in this post:
    (yay, the rp's still alive)

    With her legs pumping, lungs heaving and heart beating like a battle drum, Ingrid was all caught up in the rush. The Firstborn spilled past the Ascendant like a school of fish and even as they were picked off one by one, they did not stop, not for a moment. It was a perfect pandemonium.

    Ingrid was turning around for another pass when she spotted Rael in the press and in that instantaneous moment where their eyes met, she recognized the signal to attack.

    "All right, let's do this!" she shouted as she made a sudden beeline for Ilia with axe raised in both hands. "CHAAAAAAARGE!"

    Seeing the Firstborn attacking from all directions at once, Ilia lifted her wings and prepared to fly, but as soon as she tried to take off, she noticed that her feet were stuck to the ground.

    "You're not going anywhere," Kieran said with his hand raised, a frosty mist emanating from his palm.

    With her strength, it would have taken little more than a strong pull for Ilia to break free from the ice, but there was no time. The first of the Firstborn, Ingrid, had closed in and their weapons met in a ringing clash of steel upon steel.

    "Impressive," Ilia remarked.

    Ingrid answered with a wolfish grin as she ducked down, just as Nikia let loose an arrow from directly behind. At such a close range, it was all Ilia could do to move her head aside to dodge it, but in that time, the other Firstborn were now practically on top of her.

    Immobilized and set upon from every angle, Ilia felt a strange sense of deja vu as though she had experienced such an attack before. It's happening again, she thought as her vision blurred and the world took on a hazy edge.

    Throughout the obscurity, Ilia could have sworn that the faces of the Firstborn around her were different. Even her sword and gauntlets seemed unfamiliar, yet not.

    "Students, this is the crucial moment," she heard herself saying, as though from a distance. "Now you will either overwhelm with numbers or be crushed under your own weight."

    With a sweeping horizontal swing, Ilia caught Ingrid and several others with the flat of her blade, knocking them back into the people behind and bowling them down like pegs, including Nikia.

    "It all depends on the first one to land a strike," Ilia continued as she whipped around for a second swing, coming face to face with one of the Firstborn.

    Is that... me? Ilia thought with astonishment, seeing a girl with red hair.

  14. Characters in this post:
    Lathen waited for the others to charge at her and once they did and she waited for Illa to talk she ran up behind her and raised her sword and struck the small gap in her armor that was in the back hoping it would make Illa move and the other would strike as well.

    She fell down to the ground because of her jump, but she thought to her self she had to roll when hitting the ground so that she would not break anything. Once hitting the ground she rolled forward so that she was a safe distance away in case Illa was going to strike at her.

    "Don't stand there attack her." She yelled to the few that where doing nothing at all.

    She stuck her blade in the ground and pulled it out quickly to clean all the blood off and then charged at Illa again when the others did and had hoped her move helped in some way.

    She looked over at Illa and waited for another perfect spot to attack which she assumed would be on her leg above where the ice stopped so thats what she did. She attacked right above where the ice stopped.

  15. Characters in this post:
    In Ilia's perspective, she had knocked away the red haired girl and successfully defended herself against the attack, even as the blood poured out of the wound in her back.

    Her mind didn't even register the pain, or the fact that the girl had escaped unharmed to land a second strike, as it did not happen in the vision or hallucination or whatever it was that currently possessed Ilia's senses.

    In the Ascendant's distracted state, Ingrid had enough time to scramble back to her feet and make a second charge, swinging her axe with full strength, but the blood froze in her veins when Ilia said, "That was a good effort, but you have all failed."

    Ingrid braced herself for a counterattack as she had no time to check her strike, but when the blade of her axe bit into the Ascendant's shoulder without eliciting so much as a reaction, she began to suspect that something was amiss.

    Noticing this as well, Nikia called out, "Everyone, wait! Just stop for a moment!"

    Ignoring her, one of the Firstborn continued charging ahead and was about to strike the Ascendant with his warhammer when Ingrid smashed her arm guard into his face.

    "She said stop you fool, are you deaf or something?" she said.

    At last, Ilia came to her senses and the pain of her wounds came flooding in all at once. With a grunt, she staggered to the ground, using her sword as a cane for support.

    "What... what just happened?" she whispered before looking around and remembering where she was.

    "Miss Ilia, are you all right?" Nikia asked, rushing forward to help.

    Waving the girl away, Ilia rose up to her feet and tried to play off the utter strangeness of what had just happened. So I wasn't fighting myself after all, she thought as she looked at Lathen before saying, "I'm fine, it's just my wounds. That was well executed, all of you."

    Closing her eyes, Ilia dismissed the pain in her leg as she broke free from the ice with a single tug.

    "But the battle is not over until your opponent lies dead."

    "No, that will be quite enough for now," Grigor said as he approached, stepping through the crowd and standing beside Ilia to address everyone. "I would say you all performed admirably for your first attempt were it not for Miss Strong's lenience throughout the entire battle."

    "Excuse me?" Ilia replied, looking down at the head instructor with indignation.

    "Bear with me please," he whispered before continuing. "For now, you may all retire to the mess hall for lunch and then return here for training with the other instructors. Remember to turn in your equipment at the armory, including damaged ones."

    I don't have to worry about that, Kieran thought as he walked away smiling, satisfied with his efforts throughout the battle. They wouldn't have even gotten close to landing a single strike without me.

    "Sir, what about the casualties?" Nikia asked.

    "Let Rexmar handle it, now go and eat. Your meals will be served by the time you're all assembled at the tables."

    With that, the Firstborn departed from the field and brief as the battle was, many of them felt a sense of triumph, despite contributing nothing or very little at all. Only those in the thick of the fighting saw what had happened towards the end.

    As Nikia walked towards the gate, Ingrid caught up with her and said, "Hey, did you see what happened?"

    Nikia nodded her head. "Yeah, it was like she was somewhere else altogether. I wonder what's up with that."

    ~~~

    "I was NOT being lenient," Ilia said when the Firstborn had left.

    "You were, whether you realize it or not, but that's not the issue," Grigor replied. "Rexmar, you missed one."

    The revivalist heaved a sigh as he spread his arms expansively towards the bodies littering the field and replied, "I'm sorry, but is there some reason why I'm doing all this ALONE? Is this punishment for something?"

    "Yes, now stay quiet and get back to work."

    As Rexmar continued moving from one corpse to another, grumbling all the while, Ilia cleared her throat loudly and said, "So what is the issue?"

    "Do not play dumb with me, Ilia, you know of what I speak."

    "I... that's the thing, I don't know what happened. It scared me to be honest."

    Grigor hummed thoughtfully as he stroked his beard, contemplating how much to reveal of what he knew. "Whatever it is," he said. "You should know that you are not the only one."

    "What...? Is this from the blood?" Ilia asked.

    "I can't say, you should rest now and get those wounds looked at."

    Ilia seized Grigor's shoulder, taking care to not accidentally crush his bones into powder, but still strong enough to convey her urgency. "Tell me, please."

    "Let. Go," the head instructor replied tersely.

    Relinquishing her hold, Ilia stepped back and was about to apologize, but Grigor abruptly turned around and walked away without another word, leaving Ilia troubled and confused.

    "He's an asshole, right?" Rexmar remarked.

    "Yeah... he hasn't changed one bit."

  16. Characters in this post:
    Everyone were beaming and congratulating each other, slapping backs and excitedly reliving their so called "victory". Some were recounting on the event that happened added with what Rael noticed was, not-so-mild exaggerations to the ones who were just revived and had missed the whole show. There were some who had came out to him and punched him on the shoulder in congratulations and cheers. And true to his form, Rael punched back good naturedly and cheered in return.

    "Good one, man!"

    "Brilliant! Simply brilliant!"

    "See you at lunch, eh?"

    He had given empty promises of meeting them all for lunch and said his goodbyes with an airy wave. But, the moment he was out of the crowd, Rael was seething.

    Truth was, he was absolutely pissed.

    Stopping only to random greetings thrown his way, Rael returned to his room. Closing the door behind him, he let himself fall to the floor as he leaned against the door. He closed his eyes, the fresh memory of the battle playing in his mind. His mind froze at the scene of the guerrilla assault executed by the attackers.

    He remembered how he felt looking up at them in awe with every swing of their respective weapon. His blood boiled at the sight, his feelings overwhelmed. He had never felt that way before. And yet, standing there, unable to join them, he felt completely - powerless.

    Stronger.
    I need to be stronger.




  17. Characters in this post:
    Sitting at one of the tables in the mess hall, Ingrid tore into her meal like a ravenous beast, hardly chewing the grilled steak and boiled vegetables at all, and washed it down by draining her whole tankard of water in a single draught.

    Nikia's eyes went wide with disbelief as she had just finished cutting off a bite sized piece of her steak. Both their meals had arrived at the same time, how was this possible?

    Belching happily, Ingrid patted her stomach, then looked down when she felt a slight dampness on her shirt.

    "Oh yeah, I forgot about that," she said, stretching out the bottom of her shirt to see how much blood it had absorbed from when her throat had been slit open. "I ought to go change before asking out mister cute and smart."

    "You are not serious," Nikia replied.

    "I am. Where I come from, you like somebody, you go for them, no dawdling. So that boy is mine, you hear me?"

    "I..." Nikia sighed with exasperation. "I hear you."

    Ingrid gave a dirty laugh as she clapped Nikia on the back. "Thanks, friend!"

    How did we become friends anyway? the revivalist thought as she grunted, nearly spitting out a half-chewed piece of steak.

    "Say, where is he anyway?"

    Where was he indeed? Nikia had seen Rael being mobbed by admirers earlier, congratulating him on the genius of his tactics. She had expected to see the boy with a crowd around his table, but there was no such scenario in the mess hall.

    Truth be told, Nikia could also respect his quick thinking. He had singlehandedly turned an undisciplined rabble into an effective unit and helped to win the battle, however dubious its conclusion was. If he wasn't such an obvious philanderer, Nikia felt that she might even be able to admire him too.

    "Ah well, I'm sure he'll turn up later," Ingrid said, then pointing at Lathen. "But hey, there's that girl who got to the Ascendant before me. I'm going to go talk to her, enjoy your lunch."

    "All r-"

    Ingrid clapped Nikia on the back again before leaving, making her cough out chunks of potatoes this time.

    Approaching Lathen, Ingrid waved her hand as she said, "Hey sister, you were pretty fierce back there. Almost as much as myself I must say. My name is Ingrid, what's yours?"

  18. Characters in this post:
    Lathen watched as everyone left and watched as a few people left the mess hall to go whatever they pleased. She looked up when she heard a familiar voice which she wasn't excpecting seeing as how she was sitting away from everyone in hope that no one would bother her. She looked up at Ingrid and gave a polite smile.

    "The name is Lathen, and thanks I think." She said

    She picked at her food before taking a bite of her steak. she motioned her head towards the chair across from hers so that Ingrid would sit down.

    "So I here you are looking for your special boy to ask out."

    She laughed never understanding why people ever wanted to been together, even with her parents she never understood it. she did however assume that one day she would try the whole relationship think she was just not sure when.

    "I just wanted to say good luck with him, I am pretty sure more then half the girls want him already and not just for his looks, but they think with him they will be able to survive longer and make it to the finle rounds.

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    Nikia put her hand to her chest trying to ease the pain of coughing up so many chunks of food. First her bite of steak, then the potatoes. That girl was going to kill her eventually. And what did she mean by friend. This whole time she had been with the girl there was no way they had become friends.

    Looking back on all the events though, reviving her two or three times, the fact that they were almost inseparable since and then there was the battle. Ingrid may be a crazy brutish girl, but she had to admit they did work really well as a team together.

    She watched as her friend walked over to the red head abrasive as usual with her speech. Rolling her eyes, she finished her food quickly before Ingrid could come back and make her choke on it again. Thats all she needed was to die and be revived by someone else.

    Just then her mind wandered back to the battle, her dish halfway finished as she got up, no longer hungry for the food. She started to walk down the hallway towards her room, outside the mess hall so that she could think. What happened back there? Why did Miss Ilia look so distant when she was fighting. There was no way that she was well enough to fight during that fight. It was almost as if she were fighting something or someone else.... She started to worry about her instructor. The battle seemed to have taken its toll though there was no way that it had simulated anything close to a battle against demons. And although they had won the battle because of the tactics of that love sick tactician, they really shouldn't have won. The battle had seemed in some way a bit of a set back as if unintentionally Miss Ilia had held back her strength. Though many had fallen, it was still not as many as would have fallen in the actual battle. Nor was it the amount of people that Miss Ilia could have killed had she been trying to battle at full strength. If only she could help the woman somehow.

    As she looked around, Nikia noticed that she had stopped just before one of the doors and slid down the wall to sit on the floor while she was trapped in thought. Her body started to ache from the use of all that magic during the battle. She would have to get stronger if she were going to fight the way that she needed to against real demons in a real battle.

    A sigh of relief came to her as she looked up. A thought popped into her head. If I fight the way i fought today and get stronger for the actual battles, I will be able to dodge and revive people during actual battles too. I didn't do half bad for my first fight. So why am I so worried? Theres nothing to be worried about.

    With that, Nikia got up and walked back towards the mess hall to join Ingrid and the red head she would no doubt be hounding about how she was able to fight "on par" with her.

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    Hunger finally got the better of him as he could hear the sound of his stomach rumbling. Food definitely sounded good at that time. He checked the time and decided he could probably manage a quick bite before the start of their second training.

    Stepping into the mess hall, Rael could hear whispers erupting at his arrival. Eyes twinkling in recognition and hands waving him over. Raising a hand in an apologetic salute, he scanned the room for a specific pair of blue eyes.

    Catching sight of Nikia, he strode towards her with a loopsided grin on his face. "Hello there, ma vie," he whispered, looking straight into her eyes. "You didn't think I've forgotten about you, have you?"

    Noticing the others sitting at the table, his grin grew wider. "Ah, my warriors!" And without waiting for an invitation, he sat on the chair beside Ingrid and helped himself to the serving of cold porridge with the grace of a farmer. He recited his prayers before his meal and spooned the porridge with careful care. "Mama always said never to spill and waste for it might be these very grains that will pull you from your deciding step towards paradise." There was a wistful tone in his voice which he covered with an easygoing laugh a moment later. "She's an old blood who clings to traditions and spouts the sayings of our ancestors before Valaheim. Lovely woman, really."

    A thought struck him a moment later as he eyed the redhead and the blonde. "Hey, do either of you lovely ladies care to spar with me for today's training?"

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    Lathen was never one to have attention drawn to her or even around her so to have 3 people around her actully talking and or listening to her was not her favorite thing. She looked over as Nikia came over and then as Rael.

    "Sure I will spare with you today seeing as how Ingrid is to busy trying to get the boy of her dreams, what time?" She questioned and then looked over at Nikia who she had not really been introduced to yet.

    "Nikia, good job out there today." Lathen could tell by how Nikia was acting she was insecure about her fighting so she figured that if people wanted her to be nice she might as well start with compliments.

    She finished her food and looked around at the three at the table wandering why any of them now had a sudden interest in her and how many of them were actually planning on just using her. She had to admit attention did kind of feel nice seeing as how she was not use to it. growing up in a large town you were not really known unless you were famous which Lathen was not and she did not have any friends so she did not really getting what having attention ment, but figured it was something like what was going on right now.

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    Nikia almost flinched as the male walked up to her. She wasn't expecting him to come around them. Not with all his fans around trying to get him to sit with them. So when the man walked over and got close to her face, looking her dead in the eyes and whispering a sweet sultry greeting to her, her breath paused for a second.

    Her eyes looked over to Ingrid as if trying to say that she doesn't know why he was saying what he said. Luckily, he looked over the other two at the table and sat down, putting on a good show about how everyone was his warriors.

    She let out a sigh and shook her head as he started to pray before he ate his food. He turned his attention to the other two sitting at the table and asked them to spar with him. As if on cue another sigh came creeping out of her. If they were going to spar, she was going to have to be there just in case Ingrid got a little out of hand and killed the poor guy. He really didn't know what he was getting himself in to.

    Nokia must have been lost in her thoughts because the red head had just spoken to her and it almost didn't register what she had said.

    "Oh uh... Thank you. It was nothing. You really are an amazing fighter yourself and you pick up on the key attack points pretty quickly, like where to strike the armor. I'm very impressed." Nikia moved her hair out from in front of her face as a stray strand decided it wanted to move there. Then she sat down next to the girl. "I guess you already know my name and yours is Lathen right? Its nice to meet you. I look forward to fighting by your side during this."

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    Laughing heartily, Ingrid hooked an arm around Rael's neck and pulled him close as she said, "Oh, I was thinking we could spar in another way, if you know what I mean."

    Looking at Nikia, Ingrid waggled her eyebrows then pressed her lips to Rael's cheek in a smacking kiss. It's you he's interested in, silly girl, Ingrid thought. But I'll be the one to claim him.

    Despite knowing that her feelings were merely light-hearted infatuation, Ingrid still felt a flash of jealousy towards Nikia, though she was quick to laugh it off as she let go of the boy while saying, "Either way, I'll be happy to take you up on your offer. You really helped us out today."

    Laughing some more, Ingrid stood up as she grabbed someone else's mug and raised it in cheer.

    "A toast to our genius commander here!"

    The response from the crowd was loud and vigorous.

    When Ingrid sat back down, it was with a dumb expression on her face that she turned to the boy and asked, "Hey, what is your name anyway?"

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    Rael took notes of the names being thrown around between the group. So, the ginger was Lathen and his vie was Nikia? That's a nice name.

    "It's Rael Bartel, Miss Ingrid," he said smiling, his face bearing a tinge of red either from the toast she made for him or the smack on the cheek he received. Probably a bit of both. "That is your name, is it not? I'm pretty sure I overheard some guys sitting over there mentioning it a few times." He shrugged towards a group three tables away from them who was leering their was way. "They're actually a pretty nice bunch once you start talking to them."

    He was on his second dish - the steak which he devoured in less than a minute, and the green beans which he left untouched. Rael regarded his plate for a moment, thinking that his mother would definitely disapprove of his eating habits before forking one of the beans and forcing it down his throat. As he was about to take in a second one, a wave of inspiration hit him.

    "You know," he began, already pushing the beans with his fork. "Based on your individual strengths that I have seen so far..." he continued, now putting in some gravy into his plate which he smeared into a blot. "I could come up with at least 26 battle formations for you guys as a team."

    Don't play with your food, Rael! He could almost hear his mother's scorn as clearly as if she was next to him.

    His eyes were distracted, already entering his own mind. He started mumbling quietly in a language familiar only to him as he organized his beans on the plate. Almost abruptly, his hand halted in midair. He blinked twice, brows furrowing. "But, for any of this to work..." Blink. "We need the Elementalist."

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    Rael Bartel, Ingrid repeated in her mind over and over as she looked at the boy's face with naked attraction, becoming lost in his blue eyes. She barely listened to a single word he said as she drank in the sight of him, but as soon as he mentioned the elementalist, Ingrid's eyebrows knitted together in disapproval.

    "I don't like that one," she said. "He almost ruined our plan. Crazy bastard might have died before we got to him and then what would we have done? It's like he actually thought he could take on the Ascendant alone, or at least he really, really wanted to. I wonder why."

    ~~~

    Kieran ate his lunch in a hallway outside the mess hall, contemplating the battle earlier. As pleased as he was with his contributions to it, he could not fathom how he, an elementalist, was bested by a brutish ogre of a knight.

    Of course as an Ascendant, she had certain advantages over the common riffraff, but to overcome magic with sheer strength was nonsensical. All she did was smack the ground and swing her sword around like an ape.

    Magic can defeat anything. If it is met with failure, the fault lies with the user of it, Kieran thought, recalling the lessons from his master. As much as he hated that evil, old man, his words often held much truth.

    Concluding that his mistake had been underestimating the Ascendant, Kieran resolved to not repeat it. After all, he did not expect her to be able to dodge his most potent attack and he certainly was not using his full power from the start. It was simply something to be taken into account in the future.

    Much to his surprise, as he devised ways of defeating the Ascendant without giving her a chance to retaliate, Ilia came walking down the hallway with a curious expression when she saw Kieran sitting outside the mess hall.

    "Why aren't you in there?" the woman asked.

    Yet another loud cheer erupted from the mess hall and Kieran gestured towards the doorway in reply. "To get away from all that."

    "I see... well, carry on then."

    Walking past, Ilia entered the mess hall and greeted the Firstborn with a smile as she said, "Hello everyone. Are you all enjoying your meals?"

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    Lathen had some what zoned out due to everyone coming over. She looked over at her new sparing partner. "may you should spare with your new girlfriend." She smirked as she got up form the table saying good by e to everyone and finding her way out into the practice ring near the battle field. She walked up to the targets and pulled out the knives she had put in her belt and in her boots.

    She started throwing them at the targets. The first two she missed, but after that she didn't miss again. She flashed back to her childhood where she was practicing with her bow and arrow with one of her old so called friends named Aiden. Little did he know she had a crush on him and one day he made a bet that if she could make a bulls-eye he would kiss her. He meant it as a joke, but she took it very serious.

    One day while practicing she made a bulls-eye she ran to Aidne's house to tell him the news, but once she had gotten there he was gone. His house was completely empty. She ran home to tell her parents and she expected them to be surprised, but they were not because they knew they were leaving. From that day forward she always practiced hoping one day he would return and she would get a kiss from the one boy she liked.

    She came back to reality and realized she had started to think back to her childhood which was not good. She hated thinking about stuff like that. It made her mad that her mind would play something so mean so she threw her knife as hard as she could causing it to go half way through the target. She sighed walking up tp the target and grabbed the knife she had thrown earlier trying to dig out the other one.

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    Nikia pondered what her friend had said. Real really wanted the elementals to join them in the fight next time. He thought that this team could be the key to taking down the ascendant the next time they had to fight. He wasn't far off. Two fighters, a resurectionist, an elementalist and his brain could be the key but it was kind of dangerous and they would have to look at all the possible outcomes.

    The elementals was too focused on himself. She had resurrected him enough to know that he was reckless as if he could take on anyone with just his elements. He hadn't even come into the battle with a weapon. Was he that cocky that he thought he was invincible? Or did he just think he couldn't die because someone like her was there to bring him back to life if he did in fact die. Either way it sickened her.

    From the look of it her friend was completely absorbed in Rael's eyes as well. It was like a drug to her, intoxicating. She shook her head and sighed as she was about to say something about it, but Lathen got up as if she had zoned out from what everyone was saying.

    This kind of disheartened Nikia since she had just been trying to make friendly conversation. As Lathen left, she felt as though she should follow and maybe practice herself since the girl was bound to be going that way, but thats when the Ascendant had entered the Food hall. She smiled and swiftly walked towards the woman.

    "How are you, Miss Ilia? You had me kind of worried." She said smiling at the woman as if she were her long lost sister or something since the two of them had seemed to connect before the battle.

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    "I'm fine, thank you, Nikia," Ilia replied as she placed a hand over her heart and bowed her head in acknowledgement. "I saw you during the battle. Your arrow would have taken out my eye had I not dodged in time."

    Ingrid grinned as she gave Nikia a thumbs up, recalling the moment they were both putting pressure on the Ascendant with their attacks.

    "And I am impressed with you all today," Ilia continued. "You demonstrated the ability to read your opponent and co-ordinate your attacks. I can see you all came prepared for... this day."

    Ilia saw Lathen leave the mess hall and briefly considered stopping her until she decided to press on instead. She did not want to be like the collectors, who were more than willing to rule with an iron fist. No, the Firstborn could have the run of the place if they liked.

    "But, you are far from ready to face a demon. Once you've finished eating, return to the field for training with the other instructors. In place of the collectors, who will only be guarding the gates from now on, I will be your supervisor as well as mentor. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me at anytime. My room is just over there, behind the podium."

    And with that, the Ascendant departed. Ingrid clapped Rael on the back and got up as she said, "Come on, let's go see what you're made of."

    ~~~

    Mikkel had not left the field since the battle ended. He was not hungry and he had no desire to talk to anyone else. When the revivalist instructor asked him why he was still outside, he did not respond and when those who were brought back to life passed by, they ignored him and he ignored them. All he could think about were his parents and what they were going to do now.

    His father lost a hand trying to rescue him and his mother had tried to bribe the collectors with everything she owned when they arrived, but they could not be bought.

    The simple fact of the matter was that Mikkel was entirely on his own now. No one was going to help or rescue him and the feeling of being alone was so crushingly heavy, he felt completely paralyzed. Even during the battle, he did little more than milling about in the rear.

    When the instructors arrived to setup some training equipment, Mikkel wandered off towards a copse of trees, sitting with his back against a wizened oak as he stared up at the dusky sky.

    I can almost forget what this place is, he thought as he closed his eyes.

    Not long afterwards, he heard a distant thock, like something being thrown into wood. Following the sound with his eyes, he saw a red haired girl throwing knives at a target and he stood up to watch.

    "Not so bad, eh," a voice from above said, startling Mikkel into a jolt as he looked up at a man sitting on an oak branch, roguish in his mail and brigandine, and looking for all the world like a hawk with his hooked nose and sharp eyes. "Not so bad looking either. Might wanna try getting a piece of that before I do."

    "W-when did you get up there?" Mikkel stammered nervously.

    "When you were taking your little nap of course. I was going to wake you up, but you looked like such a sleeping baby, I just couldn't."

    Jumping down and landing in a rattle of chain links, the collector straightened up and loosened his sword from its sheathe as he continued, "I was sent to get you back. Heard you were acting a bit strange, so... you wanna do this the easy way or the really easy way?"

    How did you know I was here? Mikkel wanted to ask, but thought better of it as he simply nodded in response. The last time he asked, the collectors who were taking him away from home only laughed at him. There were no answers then, so why should it be any different now?

    "Yeah, I don't know what that's supposed to mean," the collector said as he pushed his sword back into its scabbard. "But I'll assume you won't be dumb enough to cause any trouble."

    Leading Mikkel away from the trees, they passed by the red haired girl until the collector suddenly stopped and said, "Now riddle me this, why are there targets and weapons setup here for human sized opponents when you're meant to be fighting your first demon at the end of the month?"

    "I... I don't know," Mikkel replied, looking towards Lathen as she held her throwing knives.

    "What about you, red? You got to be aware that crap's not even going to tickle one of those big fuckers, so what's the game here?"

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    Lathen looked over at the collector with a glare on her fer face and over at the man guy standing next to him."I don't see how it is any of your business so why don't you go stick your nose in someone else business." She replied happy with her self seeing as how she didn't care what the collector thought."While your at it why don't you leave sleeping beauty alone... I think he was enjoying his free time alone away from everyone else which last time I checked wasn't against any rule anywhere."

    She waited knowing the collector would have something else to add. She never broke contact with him and threw her knife hitting spot on in the middle of the target without even looking."Your right I think theses are too easy for me." She smirked walking away from him and to the bigger targets and started throwing her knives.

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    For a moment, the collector's sword hand twitched with the urge to kill the defiant girl where she stood, but the man's flash of anger quickly turned to amusement and his mouth curved into a blade-like sneer.

    "I like that attitude of yours, girly," he said. "You'll make a fine recruit."

    Chuckling ominously, he shoved Mikkel forward and continued, "Now get sparring. Since you two decided to show up early, I'll tell the instructors to let you leave sooner than everyone else."

    "But collectors have no authority here," Mikkel replied without thinking.

    Drawing his sword, the collector whipped the boy on the back with the flat of his blade and kicked him in the rear, sending him sprawling with a yelp.

    "Did you feel that? That was authority, now shut up and get training... you'll need it."

    When the collector left, Mikkel picked himself off the ground and tried to ignore the stinging pain in his back. "I don't know why I said that," he muttered, leaning his hands on his knees. Looking up at Lathen, he added, "I actually don't know the first thing about fighting... I shouldn't even be here at all."

    But I couldn't escape my fate after all, he thought bitterly, wishing he had never been born a Firstborn.

    Tears began to well up in his eyes as he said, "I just want to go home."

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