Panting, Karjan clawed his way up the last bit of ground onto the mesa top and floated in place, staring up at the massive tower that rose far into the clouds above. He absently rubbed at his chest where that other contestant's spear had pierced through - though it was fully healed and had been so since he woke, he could still recall the piercing agony that had effectively killed him yet again.
A snarl crossed his face, the glowing green of his eyes flaring up into a brilliant, acid green hue. If he ever saw that warrior again, he would slaughter him. He would rend the other limb from limb, until nothing remained but fragments smaller than his fists!
Forcefully, he shook himself out of daydreams of the warrior torn to pieces, before the image of the warrior had a chance to change into images of his father likewise shredded. Now was neither the time nor the place. And besides, such a death was far too swift and good for his father.
NO! He drove one claw deep into his opposite arm, using the pain to shatter the daydreams for good (rend-slaughter-tear the unworthy to shreds...) and returned his attention to the tower before him. There were a number of doors around the base, but no sign as to which - if any - was the best option to enter through. Karjan shrugged and floated forward, picking a door at random and slipping through the darkened tunnel, so different from the brutal land outside.
A tingle rippled through his body, driving away the phantom pain from the spear and the very real pain of the self-inflicted wound on his arm, but appeared to do nothing else. Perhaps it was a method to ensure that the participants were still capable of fighting in whatever new arena they were being dumped into? When he finally came out of the tunnel...
Karjan stared upwards in astonishment, glowing green eyes fading in intensity as he took in the sheer breathtaking environment he was now faced with. Stairs, wending upwards, and sideways, and upside down... stairs, flickering in and out of existance like fireflies, shifting about like restless herdbeasts, connecting and separating and mingling like they had minds of their own and fury take those who said otherwise. And the sheer number of variants... as he watched, a spiral staircase drifted by and momentarily lined up with a rickety wooden staircase that looked one good breath of air away from collapse. There, several individual stair steps darted around like children playing some mysterious game, forming and breaking away and reforming with neither rhyme nor reason.
It took a moment, but he finally spotted a set of stairs that seemed stable enough. Standing at the base and staring up, Karjan had one moment of overwhelming relief that he still had no legs - the tower stretched far beyond his ability to see, and everywhere he looked the stairs continued unending - before he huffed a sigh and started wending his way upwards.
On and on, upwards without end, dodging shifting staircases and occasionally floating from one to the next, using small gusts of Driving Wind to carry him over gaps he could not otherwise cross. Occasionally, he caught sight of other competitors out of the corner of his eyes, but whenever he turned to look they were gone, carried away by the shifting stairs and the sheer dizzying insanity of the tower. The fragmented paths were little trouble; so long as the steps were within a certain distance, he could propel himself forward with a gust of wind that lent power to the whirlwind that made up his lower half.
But even he had to rest sometime.
A large landing at the top of a tiny staircase tempted him, and so he paused in his upwards trek, head tilted upwards as he gazed slightlessly at the endless tower above him.
Utgard entry
Moderators: Mystic Dragon, Xalia, Shard, Dray
Re: Utgard entry
It reads pretty darn well, SF. I like that you spent so long describing the stairs, as I don't think anyone else has gone out of their way to do that (and I just draw really lazy stairs, though I'd have -loved- to be able to draw pretty much what you described here).
More. Do it. Now. *POINT*
More. Do it. Now. *POINT*
Re: Utgard entry
These two so close together could warrant some small change in wording, possibly the former. 'the opponent' or even 'his opponent' so that you have a 'his' 'the' 'his' trio set up in this sentence.Forcefully, he shook himself out of daydreams of the warrior torn to pieces, before the image of the warrior had a chance to change into images of his father likewise shredded.
Might have more force if you added some form of punctuation between the former and the latter. Right now it reads in the same tone as the rest of the paragraph, which might be okay, but it feels as though it wants more emphasis!mingling like they had minds of their own and fury take those who said otherwise.
By the time I'd reached the end I got sucked in. I'd read more if you posted more!
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StarFyre
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Re: Utgard entry
The final entry! Please tell me if I wrote strange words in places I didn't mean to. On a reread, I already caught one case of "0_o;; brain, wtf yo?" (specifically, where Vinnie shouts "Semantics!" ... I had originally written "Schematics!" >_>;; yes, brain, because those two words TOTALLY mean the same thing.) Also, Karjan briefly slips into very, very bad english -- this is on purpose. He's remembering a lesson Captain Aera beat into his head, which means he's thinking more like the ne'er-do-well treasure hunter/pirate rather than the well-to-do merchant he was raised as.
Panting, Karjan clawed his way up the last bit of ground onto the mesa top and floated in place, staring up at the massive tower that rose far into the clouds above. He absently rubbed at his chest where that other contestant's spear had pierced through - though it was fully healed and had been so since he woke, he could still recall the piercing agony that had effectively killed him yet again.
A snarl crossed his face, the glowing green of his eyes flaring up into a brilliant, acid green hue. If he ever saw that warrior again, he would slaughter him. He would rend the other limb from limb, until nothing remained but fragments smaller than his fists!
Forcefully, he shook himself out of daydreams of his opponent torn to pieces, before the image of the warrior had a chance to change into images of his father likewise shredded. Now was neither the time nor the place. And besides, such a death was far too swift and good for his father.
NO! He drove one claw deep into his opposite arm, using the pain to shatter the daydreams for good (rend-slaughter-tear the unworthy to shreds...) and returned his attention to the tower before him. There were a number of doors around the base, but no sign as to which - if any - was the best option to enter through. Karjan shrugged and floated forward, picking a door at random and slipping through the darkened tunnel, so different from the brutal land outside.
A tingle rippled through his body, driving away the phantom pain from the spear and the very real pain of the self-inflicted wound on his arm, but appeared to do nothing else. Perhaps it was a method to ensure that the participants were still capable of fighting in whatever new arena they were being dumped into? When he finally came out of the tunnel...
Karjan stared upwards in astonishment, glowing green eyes fading in intensity as he took in the sheer breathtaking environment he was now faced with. Stairs, wending upwards, and sideways, and upside down... stairs, flickering in and out of existence like fireflies, shifting about like restless herdbeasts, connecting and separating and mingling like they had minds of their own, and fury take those who said otherwise. And the sheer number of variants... as he watched, a spiral staircase drifted by and momentarily lined up with a rickety wooden staircase that looked one good breath of air away from collapse. There, several individual stair steps darted around like children playing some mysterious game, forming and breaking away and reforming with neither rhyme nor reason.
It took a moment, but he finally spotted a set of stairs that seemed stable enough. Standing at the base and staring up, Karjan had one moment of overwhelming relief that he still had no legs - the tower stretched far beyond his ability to see, and everywhere he looked the stairs continued unending - before he huffed a sigh and started wending his way upwards.
On and on, upwards without end, dodging shifting staircases and occasionally floating from one to the next, using small gusts of Driving Wind to carry him over gaps he could not otherwise cross. Occasionally, he caught sight of other competitors out of the corner of his eyes, but whenever he turned to look they were gone, carried away by the shifting stairs and the sheer dizzying insanity of the tower. The fragmented paths were little trouble; so long as the steps were within a certain distance, he could propel himself forward with a gust of wind that lent power to the whirlwind that made up his lower half.
But even he had to rest sometime.
A large landing at the top of a tiny staircase tempted him, and so he paused in his upwards trek, head tilted upwards as he gazed sightlessly at the endless tower above him. How far had he come, how far had he yet to travel? If he turned back now, would he end up back at the entrance after only a few steps? Or was he trapped, unable to leave unless he found the exit at the top?
A flash of metal caught his eye, and he tilted his head towards the flash, expecting nothing more than an empty expanse of shifting stairs.
There, standing on another flight of stairs stood another contestant, frozen in mid-motion as if just as surprised to see him as he was it. Slowly, the being finished taking its next step and turned to fully face him, silver eyes narrowed and bird-like beak opened slightly in threat. Silver knives (were those replacing the other's hands?) rose to settle into a slightly awkward fighting stance, as if the other was still unaccustomed to this form. A strange pinkish flame burned atop the bird-creature's (woman? man? It felt female, but did he dare trust that feeling?) head, casting strange light across it's (her, he'd call it a her. The most dangerous people in his life were female, after all.) ebony-blue skin. She had three silver feathers for a tail, though he suspected the 'feathers' were just as sharp as those knives she had for hands.
Karjan eyed the distance between their two staircases, judged it too far to bother with, and turned to stare back up at the unending space above him.
"Hey! Pay attention to me, brat!"
Acid green eyes flared brighter as he turned back to the bird-woman and glared. "Who're you calling a brat?!"
That got a sharp, brittle laugh from the other. "Why, the stairs, of course!"
Karjan snarled and thrust one dark hand forward, chanting quickly, "O' spirits of ice, pierce mine enemy's flesh - Frost Lance!"
Except... nothing happened. His magic shifted listlessly, like a drunkard trying to rise, and sputtered out before it even reached his palm.
Across the way, the bird-woman crowed with laughter, the sound bouncing around the vast labyrinth until it sounded like the entire place was laughing at him. "What's the matter, brat? Having performance issues?"
Karjan flushed, his dark violet skin turning maroon with fury and embarrassment while his acid green eyes flared brightly enough to spill sickly green light across his skin. He eyed the distance between them -- still too far to leap, but perhaps...
There. Another staircase leading up, curving towards the staircase the bird-woman was on. He leaped the gap, landing soundlessly on the bottom step of the next staircase, and turned to bare his teeth at the bird-woman in challenge.
"Oh, you're on, brat!" the bird-woman called back to him, as she began to race upwards once more.
They ran. Up and up, endlessly up, till Karjan thought their paths would never cross close enough. That they would remain, running side-by-side for eternity.
But... no. He skidded to a stop just barely in time to save himself from tumbling into the abyss, as the center of the staircase he was on disappeared between one heartbeat and the next, leaving a great gap he couldn't cross.
The bird-woman crowed her success, as she continued up and finally managed to leap the gap, landing on the staircase he would have eventually traveled to. "Looks like I'm going to win, brat!"
Snarling with fury, Karjan thrust both hands forward and chanted, "O' sylphs of air, knock mine enemies aside - Driving Wind!"
This time the magic flooded through his body, responding to his call like a restive mount eager for freedom. The formerly still air about him swirled with building energy, then lashed out at the bird-woman perched above him. He wanted to knock her aside, cast her down from her high ground, send her tumbling to her death...
Well. She went tumbling, that was true. Unfortunately for his plan, she managed to kick off the final step and send herself sailing through the air straight at him!
He tried to dodge, shifting towards one edge of the staircase to avoid the bird-woman, but it was no use. The staircase was too narrow, his options too limited, and she collided with him before he could find an escape. Her right knife-arm drove deep into his chest, just inches from the arrow that protruded from his torso. Karjan howled -- not only did the newly inflicted wound burn in agony, but the bird-woman had slammed into the arrow as well!
Disoriented and in pain, Karjan staggered backwards, clawing at the bird-woman's face in an attempt to drive her back. Her beak (teeth! What sort of bird had teeth!) snapped at his hands, even as her left arm came up and tried to provide leverage to free her stuck arm from his chest. Their struggle was short-lived, as Karjan finally lost the battle to stay upright and his whirlwind faltered; with a mutual shriek of fright, they went tumbling back down the stairs Karjan had climbed not moments before. What felt like every sharp edge available slammed into them as they bounced down the stairs; the bird-woman's tail blades just added injury to insult, slicing wounds into both of them as they fell.
Another mutual shriek of fright echoed through the tower as they tumbled out into open space!
"The hell you waiting for, brat?! Do your mumbo-jumbo again and get us over there!" The bird-woman screamed as she pointed with her free knife at a platform off to his right and below them.
"It's a spell!"
"Semantics!" She whacked him across his head with the flat of her free blade. "Do it!"
He snarled at her, but obediently held one arm out and rushed through the chant, "O' sylphs, guide me - Driving Wind!"
For one heart stopping moment, he thought the spell had failed; his magic rippled and wavered, as if unsure of its purpose. Then, in a great burst of power, it ripped through his body and a nearly tangible wall of air slammed into them, driving them through the abyss. Still tangled together, they crashed into the platform the bird-woman had spotted and tumbled partway across its surface before coming to rest not far from the opposite edge.
With a tired grunt, Karjan reached up, grabbed the bird-woman's upper right arm, and yanked; he bit back a cry of pain as the blade slid reluctantly out of his body with a wet shhhk. Once free, the bird-woman flopped onto her back not far from him; her murderously sharp tail-blades, flecked with both of their blood from the chaotic tumble, fanned out around her body so she could lay comfortably.
"Well that got us far," she bit out, her silver eyes glaring up at the abyss they had fallen through.
Karjan turned his attention upwards and heaved a sigh; the steps they had fallen from were barely visible from here. What felt like hours of progress, undone in a few terror-filled moments.
"So, what's your name?" the bird-woman eventually asked, breaking the silence that had fallen as they tried to regain their strength and recover from their fright. "I'm Vinnie."
He blinked, ran her words through his mind again just to be sure he had heard her right, then reluctantly answered, "... Karjan."
She turned her head enough to fix him with a curious look. "Not much for talking, are you, brat?"
"... You confuse me." And she did; what sort of person went from taunting him, to trying to kill him, to demanding he save them, to asking his name?! "And why are you still calling me brat?"
"Because you're a brat, brat." Vinnie gave him a dangerous grin. "So, are we continuing our fight?"
"Do we have to?" He wasn't proud of the fact that his voice had a hint of whine to it, but he really didn't want to continue the fight on such dangerous terrain. "And I'm sixteen, not a kid, so I'm not a brat!"
That provoked another brittle chuckle from Vinnie, followed by what he was pretty sure was a broken sob. "Oh, to be so young..."
Karjan levered himself up and turned to stare at her, blinking in surprise as he saw the silver tears running down her face and wisping into steam upon touching the tongues of flame that covered her head. He wavered, unsure of what to do -- on one hand, the part of him that held his sister tight on the rare times she cried demanded he go and offer comfort; on the other hand, Vinnie had just tried to kill him. After he'd tried to kill her. Er...
He was confusing himself.
Carefully, ready to toss her aside the moment she made to injure him again, Karjan scooted closer and awkwardly shifted her partially into his arms. Not only did he not have a lower body, but he had to watch that he didn't cut himself on any of Vinnie's sharp blades, nor burn himself on the fire on her head. The flames were just as hot as they looked, he discovered, and he made sure not to directly touch them, though it was inevitable that he got pretty close to doing so while trying to hold her.
He froze when she twisted in his grip, muscles flexing in preparation to pitch her off, but she just wrapped her arms about his neck and pressed her forehead into his chest as she began sobbing harder. This was... not what he expected. Nor was it very comfortable -- he couldn't forget how sharp those knife-arms were, and her flame-hair was really close to his body like this.
Flicker
Lajira clutched his shirt so tightly her claws had begun to shred the fabric, sobbing into his shoulder. Blood ran down her shoulder from where their father had broken the skin with his claws -- his excuse? She shouldn't have defended her ne'er-do-well brother.
Karjan clenched his left hand, agony racing through his body from the new wound by his shoulder, even as his right rose to stroke soothingly down Vinnie's spine. The light in his eyes flickered and flared, rage struggling against care.
Flicker
"I'm just another failure in his eyes!" Lajira raged, tears streaming down her face as she pounded on his chest with one fist, her other arm wrapped tightly around his neck. "Just another dark scale to sully the family name!"
He found himself humming. A wordless tune he vaguely remembered his mother singing in his childhood; a tune he hummed whenever he needed to calm his sister down. They had no one but themselves.
Flicker
"Sentar was looking at me like that again," her voice was soft, broken in a way he never wanted to hear again. She huddled in his arms, like a young child seeking safety. "Swear to me you'll never let him take me. Swear to me, Karj-vai!"
(I swear, Ji-vai. I swear! I'll get out of this mess, and we'll leave everything behind. He'll be the first to die.)
The body in his arms shifted, pulling away slowly, and he snapped out of his memories.
Vinnie sat before him, not quite looking in his direction. "Thanks."
Karjan shrugged. How much should he say, how much should he not? He... didn't think this bird-woman would appreciate being compared to his sister (Cap'n says wimmen dun 'preciate that. Maishi sure dinnit.), so he settled for an awkwardly boyish, "N'probl'm."
This drew a soft laugh from Vinnie, as she gracefully got to her feet and smirked down at him, all signs of sadness dispelled in that single action. "You're cute, brat."
He settled for glowering at her, as he shifted around and slowly powered up his whirlwind until he was 'standing' at full height once more. "What now?"
"Hmmm." Vinnie spun in place, tail-blades fanning out almost like a dress and shedding still-wet blood upon the platform they were standing on. She stopped and pointed off to his left with one knife-arm. "There's a staircase leading upwards over there. Think you can boost us to it?"
Karjan drifted over to the edge and measured the distance. It was possible. Perhaps. But... "Aren't we s'pposed to be fightin?"
Vinnie shrugged and sauntered up to his side, flashing him a toothy grin, all blood-thirsty confidence and uncompromising challenge. "Temporary truce? We can play king of the mountain when we find the way out. Or are you not man enough to help a lady in need?"
His eyes narrowed. He was being played.
"I should just leave you here," he growled.
She smirked and sauntered closer, tracing the edge of his jaw with the flat of one knife in a parody of a caress. "But you won't, will you? I remind you of someone, don't I?"
(Not anymore.)
He growled and turned away from her, allowing his shoulders to droop slightly in defeat, even as he 'knelt' by decreasing the height of his whirlwind. "Fine. Get on. We'll go upwards together."
(Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.)
Vinnie clambered onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and hooking her legs over his arms. It was a bit awkward, since she had to cling more to his right side than his left due to the arrow protruding from his back, and his left shoulder was already protesting due to the clean-through stab she had given him (not to mention the multitude of cuts and bruises gained during their tumble), but he wasn't going to carry her far.
Once she was settled, he strengthened his whirlwind and rose back to his full height. Karjan backed up enough to give him a good 'running' start, then took off towards the edge.
"O' sylphs of air, guide me to my destination - Driving Wind!" He chanted as he rushed towards the edge, timing his chant such that the spell was cast the moment he 'pushed off'. With the aid of the spell, they traveled across the gap easily and landed safely at the base of the staircase. Without warning, Karjan dropped her legs and shifted away, forcing her to let go of him.
"Well? Come on, let's find the way out."
Behind him, he heard her huff, clearly put out by his sudden coldness. Regardless, she began to follow him upwards, staying a few steps below him.
That wouldn't do. He slowed his pace enough that she had to nearly stop moving completely unless she wanted to overtake him and pass him up, allowing him at her back. They drew even and stopped, staring challengingly at one another.
"You're cute, brat," Vinnie said with a smirk. "Truce?"
"Truce."
They started off again, keeping pace with one another so that they remained on the same stair, able to keep one another in their peripheral vision at all times. They traveled in near silence, except for the moments when Karjan had to carry her across gaps, constantly heading upwards. Stone to wood to brick to stone to dirt to stone... on and on, forever and ever without end.
He had no idea how long they traveled, how many quips about his manhood he had to suffer, how many times she called him "brat" even though she knew his name (Or did she? Perhaps she couldn't remember...), how many times he stared up at the unending abyss above him and prayed he would see the exit.
But finally, just when he thought the entire place was playing a trick on him and there was no escape...
"There! That looks like the exit!" Vinnie exclaimed, pointing upwards at the top of a staircase that was a simple jump away.
Karjan turned to look. Relief poured through his very being as he saw what Vinnie had seen; a doorway was perched atop the staircase next to their current one, the only doorway he had seen in the entire place save for those leading into the tower.
"Gotcha!" She suddenly crowed, lunging towards him the minute he had looked away from her, ready to body-check him off the staircase and down into the abyss below.
But he had expected that, had prepared himself even as he had turned to look. He allowed his whirlwind to dissipate, sending his upper body falling to the stair he had been 'standing' on; his arms reached out to catch himself on the staircase. And, as he fell, he turned his head towards her and smirked.
"Driving Wind," he spoke, just loud enough for her to hear.
Her eyes widened in fear. Unable to stop her momentum, she tripped over his now prone torso and tumbled towards the edge. A gust of wind pushed against her, just strong enough to give that final, fatal shove.
Her scream took a lifetime to fade away.
The silence that fell afterwards was nearly as terrifying.
Karjan closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and pushed himself back up as he summoned his whirlwind back into existence. Determined, he turned towards the staircase that led out and leapt the small gap.
If only one could succeed, then he would do whatever it took to win. He had to. Lajira was waiting for him.
Panting, Karjan clawed his way up the last bit of ground onto the mesa top and floated in place, staring up at the massive tower that rose far into the clouds above. He absently rubbed at his chest where that other contestant's spear had pierced through - though it was fully healed and had been so since he woke, he could still recall the piercing agony that had effectively killed him yet again.
A snarl crossed his face, the glowing green of his eyes flaring up into a brilliant, acid green hue. If he ever saw that warrior again, he would slaughter him. He would rend the other limb from limb, until nothing remained but fragments smaller than his fists!
Forcefully, he shook himself out of daydreams of his opponent torn to pieces, before the image of the warrior had a chance to change into images of his father likewise shredded. Now was neither the time nor the place. And besides, such a death was far too swift and good for his father.
NO! He drove one claw deep into his opposite arm, using the pain to shatter the daydreams for good (rend-slaughter-tear the unworthy to shreds...) and returned his attention to the tower before him. There were a number of doors around the base, but no sign as to which - if any - was the best option to enter through. Karjan shrugged and floated forward, picking a door at random and slipping through the darkened tunnel, so different from the brutal land outside.
A tingle rippled through his body, driving away the phantom pain from the spear and the very real pain of the self-inflicted wound on his arm, but appeared to do nothing else. Perhaps it was a method to ensure that the participants were still capable of fighting in whatever new arena they were being dumped into? When he finally came out of the tunnel...
Karjan stared upwards in astonishment, glowing green eyes fading in intensity as he took in the sheer breathtaking environment he was now faced with. Stairs, wending upwards, and sideways, and upside down... stairs, flickering in and out of existence like fireflies, shifting about like restless herdbeasts, connecting and separating and mingling like they had minds of their own, and fury take those who said otherwise. And the sheer number of variants... as he watched, a spiral staircase drifted by and momentarily lined up with a rickety wooden staircase that looked one good breath of air away from collapse. There, several individual stair steps darted around like children playing some mysterious game, forming and breaking away and reforming with neither rhyme nor reason.
It took a moment, but he finally spotted a set of stairs that seemed stable enough. Standing at the base and staring up, Karjan had one moment of overwhelming relief that he still had no legs - the tower stretched far beyond his ability to see, and everywhere he looked the stairs continued unending - before he huffed a sigh and started wending his way upwards.
On and on, upwards without end, dodging shifting staircases and occasionally floating from one to the next, using small gusts of Driving Wind to carry him over gaps he could not otherwise cross. Occasionally, he caught sight of other competitors out of the corner of his eyes, but whenever he turned to look they were gone, carried away by the shifting stairs and the sheer dizzying insanity of the tower. The fragmented paths were little trouble; so long as the steps were within a certain distance, he could propel himself forward with a gust of wind that lent power to the whirlwind that made up his lower half.
But even he had to rest sometime.
A large landing at the top of a tiny staircase tempted him, and so he paused in his upwards trek, head tilted upwards as he gazed sightlessly at the endless tower above him. How far had he come, how far had he yet to travel? If he turned back now, would he end up back at the entrance after only a few steps? Or was he trapped, unable to leave unless he found the exit at the top?
A flash of metal caught his eye, and he tilted his head towards the flash, expecting nothing more than an empty expanse of shifting stairs.
There, standing on another flight of stairs stood another contestant, frozen in mid-motion as if just as surprised to see him as he was it. Slowly, the being finished taking its next step and turned to fully face him, silver eyes narrowed and bird-like beak opened slightly in threat. Silver knives (were those replacing the other's hands?) rose to settle into a slightly awkward fighting stance, as if the other was still unaccustomed to this form. A strange pinkish flame burned atop the bird-creature's (woman? man? It felt female, but did he dare trust that feeling?) head, casting strange light across it's (her, he'd call it a her. The most dangerous people in his life were female, after all.) ebony-blue skin. She had three silver feathers for a tail, though he suspected the 'feathers' were just as sharp as those knives she had for hands.
Karjan eyed the distance between their two staircases, judged it too far to bother with, and turned to stare back up at the unending space above him.
"Hey! Pay attention to me, brat!"
Acid green eyes flared brighter as he turned back to the bird-woman and glared. "Who're you calling a brat?!"
That got a sharp, brittle laugh from the other. "Why, the stairs, of course!"
Karjan snarled and thrust one dark hand forward, chanting quickly, "O' spirits of ice, pierce mine enemy's flesh - Frost Lance!"
Except... nothing happened. His magic shifted listlessly, like a drunkard trying to rise, and sputtered out before it even reached his palm.
Across the way, the bird-woman crowed with laughter, the sound bouncing around the vast labyrinth until it sounded like the entire place was laughing at him. "What's the matter, brat? Having performance issues?"
Karjan flushed, his dark violet skin turning maroon with fury and embarrassment while his acid green eyes flared brightly enough to spill sickly green light across his skin. He eyed the distance between them -- still too far to leap, but perhaps...
There. Another staircase leading up, curving towards the staircase the bird-woman was on. He leaped the gap, landing soundlessly on the bottom step of the next staircase, and turned to bare his teeth at the bird-woman in challenge.
"Oh, you're on, brat!" the bird-woman called back to him, as she began to race upwards once more.
They ran. Up and up, endlessly up, till Karjan thought their paths would never cross close enough. That they would remain, running side-by-side for eternity.
But... no. He skidded to a stop just barely in time to save himself from tumbling into the abyss, as the center of the staircase he was on disappeared between one heartbeat and the next, leaving a great gap he couldn't cross.
The bird-woman crowed her success, as she continued up and finally managed to leap the gap, landing on the staircase he would have eventually traveled to. "Looks like I'm going to win, brat!"
Snarling with fury, Karjan thrust both hands forward and chanted, "O' sylphs of air, knock mine enemies aside - Driving Wind!"
This time the magic flooded through his body, responding to his call like a restive mount eager for freedom. The formerly still air about him swirled with building energy, then lashed out at the bird-woman perched above him. He wanted to knock her aside, cast her down from her high ground, send her tumbling to her death...
Well. She went tumbling, that was true. Unfortunately for his plan, she managed to kick off the final step and send herself sailing through the air straight at him!
He tried to dodge, shifting towards one edge of the staircase to avoid the bird-woman, but it was no use. The staircase was too narrow, his options too limited, and she collided with him before he could find an escape. Her right knife-arm drove deep into his chest, just inches from the arrow that protruded from his torso. Karjan howled -- not only did the newly inflicted wound burn in agony, but the bird-woman had slammed into the arrow as well!
Disoriented and in pain, Karjan staggered backwards, clawing at the bird-woman's face in an attempt to drive her back. Her beak (teeth! What sort of bird had teeth!) snapped at his hands, even as her left arm came up and tried to provide leverage to free her stuck arm from his chest. Their struggle was short-lived, as Karjan finally lost the battle to stay upright and his whirlwind faltered; with a mutual shriek of fright, they went tumbling back down the stairs Karjan had climbed not moments before. What felt like every sharp edge available slammed into them as they bounced down the stairs; the bird-woman's tail blades just added injury to insult, slicing wounds into both of them as they fell.
Another mutual shriek of fright echoed through the tower as they tumbled out into open space!
"The hell you waiting for, brat?! Do your mumbo-jumbo again and get us over there!" The bird-woman screamed as she pointed with her free knife at a platform off to his right and below them.
"It's a spell!"
"Semantics!" She whacked him across his head with the flat of her free blade. "Do it!"
He snarled at her, but obediently held one arm out and rushed through the chant, "O' sylphs, guide me - Driving Wind!"
For one heart stopping moment, he thought the spell had failed; his magic rippled and wavered, as if unsure of its purpose. Then, in a great burst of power, it ripped through his body and a nearly tangible wall of air slammed into them, driving them through the abyss. Still tangled together, they crashed into the platform the bird-woman had spotted and tumbled partway across its surface before coming to rest not far from the opposite edge.
With a tired grunt, Karjan reached up, grabbed the bird-woman's upper right arm, and yanked; he bit back a cry of pain as the blade slid reluctantly out of his body with a wet shhhk. Once free, the bird-woman flopped onto her back not far from him; her murderously sharp tail-blades, flecked with both of their blood from the chaotic tumble, fanned out around her body so she could lay comfortably.
"Well that got us far," she bit out, her silver eyes glaring up at the abyss they had fallen through.
Karjan turned his attention upwards and heaved a sigh; the steps they had fallen from were barely visible from here. What felt like hours of progress, undone in a few terror-filled moments.
"So, what's your name?" the bird-woman eventually asked, breaking the silence that had fallen as they tried to regain their strength and recover from their fright. "I'm Vinnie."
He blinked, ran her words through his mind again just to be sure he had heard her right, then reluctantly answered, "... Karjan."
She turned her head enough to fix him with a curious look. "Not much for talking, are you, brat?"
"... You confuse me." And she did; what sort of person went from taunting him, to trying to kill him, to demanding he save them, to asking his name?! "And why are you still calling me brat?"
"Because you're a brat, brat." Vinnie gave him a dangerous grin. "So, are we continuing our fight?"
"Do we have to?" He wasn't proud of the fact that his voice had a hint of whine to it, but he really didn't want to continue the fight on such dangerous terrain. "And I'm sixteen, not a kid, so I'm not a brat!"
That provoked another brittle chuckle from Vinnie, followed by what he was pretty sure was a broken sob. "Oh, to be so young..."
Karjan levered himself up and turned to stare at her, blinking in surprise as he saw the silver tears running down her face and wisping into steam upon touching the tongues of flame that covered her head. He wavered, unsure of what to do -- on one hand, the part of him that held his sister tight on the rare times she cried demanded he go and offer comfort; on the other hand, Vinnie had just tried to kill him. After he'd tried to kill her. Er...
He was confusing himself.
Carefully, ready to toss her aside the moment she made to injure him again, Karjan scooted closer and awkwardly shifted her partially into his arms. Not only did he not have a lower body, but he had to watch that he didn't cut himself on any of Vinnie's sharp blades, nor burn himself on the fire on her head. The flames were just as hot as they looked, he discovered, and he made sure not to directly touch them, though it was inevitable that he got pretty close to doing so while trying to hold her.
He froze when she twisted in his grip, muscles flexing in preparation to pitch her off, but she just wrapped her arms about his neck and pressed her forehead into his chest as she began sobbing harder. This was... not what he expected. Nor was it very comfortable -- he couldn't forget how sharp those knife-arms were, and her flame-hair was really close to his body like this.
Flicker
Lajira clutched his shirt so tightly her claws had begun to shred the fabric, sobbing into his shoulder. Blood ran down her shoulder from where their father had broken the skin with his claws -- his excuse? She shouldn't have defended her ne'er-do-well brother.
Karjan clenched his left hand, agony racing through his body from the new wound by his shoulder, even as his right rose to stroke soothingly down Vinnie's spine. The light in his eyes flickered and flared, rage struggling against care.
Flicker
"I'm just another failure in his eyes!" Lajira raged, tears streaming down her face as she pounded on his chest with one fist, her other arm wrapped tightly around his neck. "Just another dark scale to sully the family name!"
He found himself humming. A wordless tune he vaguely remembered his mother singing in his childhood; a tune he hummed whenever he needed to calm his sister down. They had no one but themselves.
Flicker
"Sentar was looking at me like that again," her voice was soft, broken in a way he never wanted to hear again. She huddled in his arms, like a young child seeking safety. "Swear to me you'll never let him take me. Swear to me, Karj-vai!"
(I swear, Ji-vai. I swear! I'll get out of this mess, and we'll leave everything behind. He'll be the first to die.)
The body in his arms shifted, pulling away slowly, and he snapped out of his memories.
Vinnie sat before him, not quite looking in his direction. "Thanks."
Karjan shrugged. How much should he say, how much should he not? He... didn't think this bird-woman would appreciate being compared to his sister (Cap'n says wimmen dun 'preciate that. Maishi sure dinnit.), so he settled for an awkwardly boyish, "N'probl'm."
This drew a soft laugh from Vinnie, as she gracefully got to her feet and smirked down at him, all signs of sadness dispelled in that single action. "You're cute, brat."
He settled for glowering at her, as he shifted around and slowly powered up his whirlwind until he was 'standing' at full height once more. "What now?"
"Hmmm." Vinnie spun in place, tail-blades fanning out almost like a dress and shedding still-wet blood upon the platform they were standing on. She stopped and pointed off to his left with one knife-arm. "There's a staircase leading upwards over there. Think you can boost us to it?"
Karjan drifted over to the edge and measured the distance. It was possible. Perhaps. But... "Aren't we s'pposed to be fightin?"
Vinnie shrugged and sauntered up to his side, flashing him a toothy grin, all blood-thirsty confidence and uncompromising challenge. "Temporary truce? We can play king of the mountain when we find the way out. Or are you not man enough to help a lady in need?"
His eyes narrowed. He was being played.
"I should just leave you here," he growled.
She smirked and sauntered closer, tracing the edge of his jaw with the flat of one knife in a parody of a caress. "But you won't, will you? I remind you of someone, don't I?"
(Not anymore.)
He growled and turned away from her, allowing his shoulders to droop slightly in defeat, even as he 'knelt' by decreasing the height of his whirlwind. "Fine. Get on. We'll go upwards together."
(Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.)
Vinnie clambered onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and hooking her legs over his arms. It was a bit awkward, since she had to cling more to his right side than his left due to the arrow protruding from his back, and his left shoulder was already protesting due to the clean-through stab she had given him (not to mention the multitude of cuts and bruises gained during their tumble), but he wasn't going to carry her far.
Once she was settled, he strengthened his whirlwind and rose back to his full height. Karjan backed up enough to give him a good 'running' start, then took off towards the edge.
"O' sylphs of air, guide me to my destination - Driving Wind!" He chanted as he rushed towards the edge, timing his chant such that the spell was cast the moment he 'pushed off'. With the aid of the spell, they traveled across the gap easily and landed safely at the base of the staircase. Without warning, Karjan dropped her legs and shifted away, forcing her to let go of him.
"Well? Come on, let's find the way out."
Behind him, he heard her huff, clearly put out by his sudden coldness. Regardless, she began to follow him upwards, staying a few steps below him.
That wouldn't do. He slowed his pace enough that she had to nearly stop moving completely unless she wanted to overtake him and pass him up, allowing him at her back. They drew even and stopped, staring challengingly at one another.
"You're cute, brat," Vinnie said with a smirk. "Truce?"
"Truce."
They started off again, keeping pace with one another so that they remained on the same stair, able to keep one another in their peripheral vision at all times. They traveled in near silence, except for the moments when Karjan had to carry her across gaps, constantly heading upwards. Stone to wood to brick to stone to dirt to stone... on and on, forever and ever without end.
He had no idea how long they traveled, how many quips about his manhood he had to suffer, how many times she called him "brat" even though she knew his name (Or did she? Perhaps she couldn't remember...), how many times he stared up at the unending abyss above him and prayed he would see the exit.
But finally, just when he thought the entire place was playing a trick on him and there was no escape...
"There! That looks like the exit!" Vinnie exclaimed, pointing upwards at the top of a staircase that was a simple jump away.
Karjan turned to look. Relief poured through his very being as he saw what Vinnie had seen; a doorway was perched atop the staircase next to their current one, the only doorway he had seen in the entire place save for those leading into the tower.
"Gotcha!" She suddenly crowed, lunging towards him the minute he had looked away from her, ready to body-check him off the staircase and down into the abyss below.
But he had expected that, had prepared himself even as he had turned to look. He allowed his whirlwind to dissipate, sending his upper body falling to the stair he had been 'standing' on; his arms reached out to catch himself on the staircase. And, as he fell, he turned his head towards her and smirked.
"Driving Wind," he spoke, just loud enough for her to hear.
Her eyes widened in fear. Unable to stop her momentum, she tripped over his now prone torso and tumbled towards the edge. A gust of wind pushed against her, just strong enough to give that final, fatal shove.
Her scream took a lifetime to fade away.
The silence that fell afterwards was nearly as terrifying.
Karjan closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and pushed himself back up as he summoned his whirlwind back into existence. Determined, he turned towards the staircase that led out and leapt the small gap.
If only one could succeed, then he would do whatever it took to win. He had to. Lajira was waiting for him.