Lords of Creation (Story Thread 2)

[Philote]

Atlas took advantage of the reach of his power while the Vandal was still some distance away. A sword grew out of his left hand as his right hand held up the defensive sword. The new blade stretched out to intercept the charging Vandal.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Gods leapt, and her wings fanned out as the sword stretched on beneath her. The force of her wings threw the cloak completely open, revealing the various weaponry strapped to her body by silk-like cords. Tied round her waist was a belt of three bolas, strapped to her thighs were a pair of crude swords. Likewise, her calves were occupied by slightly smaller blades. The inside of one of her legs looked to be occupied by another spear point.

She flew up at an angle then dived at one toward Atlas, spear forward and letting gravity do most of the work.

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

(27 motes +3 motes, Total: 30 motes)

Having finished with their altars, Lily, Kyouko, Magnas, and Suna separate to do their own things. Lily and Kyouko watching the Core Temple's building, Magnas to check up on the mythos at the easternmost point of Mina's land, and Suna goes over to the markets of the Free City of Bluebell to look at things for sale.

[Philote]

Atlas retracted the blade in his left hand and stood his ground, any chance to dodge would of left him too open. He held up his larger blade like a shield in front of him and pointed his shorter one straight at his opponent, hopefully she would receive a wound of her own as she fell onto him.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

To fast, she was going to fast. She couldn't reverse her fall if she tried at this point. The best she could do was....

She twisted in the air as she slammed into Atlases large blade as the other dug into her side, leaving a deep gash in her chitin. Vital fluid leaked from the wound, but she had narrowly avoided impaling herself. But pain could be worked through, because that crowd was going wild.

They cheered when things bled.

Her spear had avoided his block, and gone into the heroes thigh. She wrenched the spear, levering it up and down. Their was no sound of shattering, but when she wrenched it free and leapt back the point was gone, ragged shattered resin left in it's place. The rest was in the hero, shards and the green liquid.

She put her hand to the wound in her side and dropped the pole, drawing three of her sword in the process. It all came down to whether or not he was immune to poison.

[Zaleramancer]

"I must be having a nightmare. I figured this would have to be a dream anyway, with it being so pretty. But then you showed up." Sonia was rubbing her head as if fighting off a migraine. Her mind felt cloudy, disoriented. Memories danced on the edge of her awareness. Memories of past worlds..

Itself had retreated to the shade of a nearby tree, wrapping itself around it.

"Itself is confused. You should not be here with Itself."

"Yes, I know. And.. Wait... We are not the current iterations. Who is?" Sonia said, eyes widening. "We must find them."

Itself bobbed and weaved itself around the branches of the tree, considering.

"Ask frightened ones. They are of the world, children of the fair one." It hissed, voice raspy and echoing.

Sonia began to turn to ask the nearby fighters a question when Itself spoke again.

"You think Itself is bad. Imagine, yes, what others could come creeping. Others that make Itself seem kind by comparison."

The pale goddess froze, obviously imagining just that. Whatever she had seen galvanized her urge for haste.

"Warriors! I request your attention!"  

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

(30 motes previously +3 motes, Total: 33 motes)

Kyuuketsu got up from the chair she was sitting in and walked out of the Glass Dome. Kyuu wondered what her siblings were doing, it was probably best to check up on them.

---------------------------------------

Brynhildr slowly comes back to consciousness. Her mind was still a bit groggy, but her memories quickly came bck to her. That tree had hurt, and so had the strike from that THING that had been in the tree she'd been sitting in. If more of THAT was in this region, she'd better leave and head elsewhere to do as she pleased. Having come to a conclusion, Brynhildr attempts to sit up, but falls back gasping for breath. The pain was unbearable and it felt like one or more of her ribs had broken. Was she going to die stuck in a tree like this? No, she'd get out once she'd healed. She still had to get her revenge on the ones who'd exiled her...

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Almost as though by psychic compulsion, Sonia commanded the attention of both the combatants and the frightened Boquabian onlookers.

[Philote]

Atlas clutched at his thigh and eventually pulled back his hand to reveal the spear head as well as shards of armor that broken off and punctured into him during the attack. Gel oozed from the wound with an obvious green tint before seeming to come alive and crawl back into his body. Atlas lacked a circulatory system, but the poison still spread as it mixed with his liquid body, causing a green patch to spread from thigh.

Atlas had evolved with the soul purpose of becoming the ultimate fighter and he knew from his experience from training as one of Gilgamesh's heroes that he would have to fight quickly to take out his opponent before the poison slowly did its job.

Reforming the blades in his hands, he struck out. The first blade sliced through the ground, throwing up dust and shards of rock at the Vandal while the second stretched out to bash against the Vandal's hard exoskeleton. Finishing up the combination, a small dagger stretched out from the sole of the foot of his remaining good leg to strike once his first two swings had played out.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The rocks where a feign, an attempt to get her to lower her guard. They bounced off her harmlessly, and she brought up he blades to block the second strike. She bough all three blades up, layering them behind one another and steadying them with her 4th hand. The impact almost sent her reeling, but she held her ground.

She hadn't been expecting the foot spike and it dug into her side, creating another oozing hole in her frame, in her thigh. She gritted her teeth and leapt back, pain blossoming in the pit of her stomach. A feign within a feign, she was impressed. It was such a shame that the fight was already over.

She knew what she should do, what every instinct in her body was telling her to do. It was just a matter of waiting now, it said, until the poison finishes the job. She'd already won, all she had to do was take off. Fly up above the arena and wait, where not even he could hit her. That was the smart thing to do.

But a different voice, one that sounded much more like hers, said only "wouldn't that be dull?"

She let her swords fall to the ground, the one that had taken the brunt of Atlases last attack shattering. Then she pulled off her cloak, and tossed it to the floor. With her foot she severed the lines binding her spare spearhead to the inside of her leg. She took the Bolas, and all at once tossed them at Atlas. Then she spread her wings, and lifted slightly off the ground, just enough so that her toes scraped the surface of the arena.

She watched him.

[Marvelous Miscreant]

Finally after their brief rest in the hole the group set out again, it was not long until the coast was in sight. Another brief journey and they would reach it.

[Philote]

The poison crept through Atlas' body. What was revealed by the hole in Atlas' armor had already taken on a deep green color, but was growing lighter as the concentration of poison spread out. Luckily for Atlas, the effects of the poison would not be wide spread, but concentrated on his leg, until the poison made the slow process of seeping through the rest of the Gel of his being.

Sword points grew out of Atlas' golden hands, reaching out to intercept the bolas and then drop them to the ground as the gel of the blades shrunk back inside Atlas' body.

Atlas knew that he was capable of puncturing her armored "skin" with his blades, but he needed to land a more decisive blow in order to finish the match. A sword stretched out from his left hand, whether it was blocked or dodged, it would coil back and attempt to strike between the exoskeleton in the space where the wings emerged.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

She saw the blow coming and twisted to the side, giggling madly. At least until she saw, out of the corner of her eye, that his blade wasn't coming back to him. It was still moving, like a snake. She wondered why?

"Feign" she thought, as she felt something pierce her back. It soft plate of her back, where the wings connected. She could feel him, there! In her gut! She fell to the ground, wings bent at unnatural angles.

Then she stood up, slowly, laboriously. She jerked with a gasp and pulled herself free from the blade in her back, panting. She looked up into the jell mans eyes, and wondered if, maybe, this was how he felt all the time. This adrenalin and pain. It was marvelous.

"I yield" she called across. "I'm out of tricks." she said, almost to herself.

One of her wings fell off, and tumbled to the ground. She followed it.

[Philote]

A blade arced through the air towards the Vandal and slowly stopped as her words registered with Atlas. The blade hanged in the air, pointing at the Vandal ominously, then retracted towards Atlas as he knelt down and waited for the Spirits of Healing to escort him out. The hero dared not move now that the fight was over, lest he spread the poison more.

"The match goes to Atlas" Gilgamesh called "The next match shall be between the heroes Lo-Kag and Drav."

[Zaleramancer]

"I need to know what other gods dwell in this world. There's one in particular I need to find quickly. Someone who likes to trick people, and is to damn smart for her own good."

Itself coiled around the trees, seemingly to lengthen as she did. She watched the Dragonborn and Elves with an expression of open hunger. Itself wondered what these new things would taste like.

[Zaleramancer]

This was going to be painful.

Drav held no illusions about how this battle would go. He may be a skill fighter, dressed in the best -which is to say Dwarf-Made- equipment available..

But this guy was one of the oldest heroes in the world.

The dwarf entered the arena, dressed in heavy looking armor, carrying an axe and shield.

Of course, if he lasted long enough, then that'd say something about the power of good old fashioned fighting.

[Philote]

"I see that you can not honor your own word Oathbreaker!" Balasar called in challenge to Sonia.

"Leave us to our own devices as we deal with these trespassers. We will be of no help to the likes of you!"

[Celadon's Penultimate]

The others thought to respond, but Sonia's desire to know such a goddess as she had described, seemed to call many (eight!) from the thin wisps of air, into various forms and poses that surrounded a tree next to the monster Itself.

At the bottom of the tree, black-and-red-tressed Khadai floated with her arms and legs crossed, like an insidious genie awaiting some greedy, corrupt wish. Her trademark Cheshire grin stretched across her face, her green eyes flashing like emeralds.

"Did someone, perhaps...call me?"

The elves, the Dragonborn and the Boquabians remained paralyzed with a mix of fear, wonder and amazement.

[Philote]

Lo-Kag strode out onto the field, the ground rumbling under his heavy step. The Goliath seemed to tower over to dwarf even as he stood away in his own starting zone. He was equipped with his own set of Divine Servitor made armor and in his hand was a large metal club. The club was not his artifact, the Storm Matrix, but a regular study model.

Lo-Kag was used to being much taller than his opponent, but even though it gave him confidence, the quick assaults of beings like Thorn and Emere had taught him to not let his guard down.

The Goliath's eyes stared into Drav's as the two warriors prepared for combat and the horns signaled the fight in the background.

Tier One: Stone Blessed

[Zaleramancer]

Itself watched eagerly. Sonia was growing angry. Memories were returning. Itself had allowed the memories to return.. Sonia was fighting them off.

Then, the pale goddess gasped, eyes seeing some event in a long-dead world.

Itself smiled. The Goddess had remembered the fate of her husband.

The Dragon-Born's words caught Sonia's attention. She looked up, grief-stricken by memories.

"You think me a mere Oath-Breaker?" Her voice was low, dangerous.. full of volatile emotions looking for any outlet. The goddess's eyes shone with faint light.