Claiming the night (open)

[Winters-Feather]

OOC: sorry it took me a while!
IC:

Shioko puffed out a breath of hot air as Athran pulled out the arrows.
Thank you, Rider Athran, he told Athran.


Meanwhile, Taiyou jumped when the kittens collapsed.
"Oh, gods," she squeaked. What the hell?
Hungry, Shioko rumbled.
"Oh, right," Taiyou muttered. She toreoff small pieces of her bread and gently tossed them at the cats, wondering if they'd respond.

"No missions?" Taiyou asked Athran, amazed at his response.
He was a free elf. He was so strong and kind, it was hard to imagine that he wasn't being put to work! Still, Taiyou eyed his scars and did not doubt he had seen his time in battle. She looked down at her staff. Of course she had responsibilities to the realm, and she gladly served, yet part of her ached for that sort of freedom. Then, she could go wherever she wanted and do whatever she wanted, without survailence!

At Athran's question, she blanched.
The stone!
"N-no," Taiyou responded, trying not to freak. "Please, leave it alone."
Be still, Shioko told her, though the dragon was also tense. He rose his head, his dark eyes searching the foerst, alert.
Taiyou grabbed her cursed arm. It throbbed, the vine patterns starting to movee. She closed her eyes as she took deep breaths.
Focus. Don't lose yourself. Shioko growled as the winds howled.
There's a spirit in these woods, he said.  Stay here, child.
"I am here," Taiyou protested. She pouted at the cats.
"I don't think it's them," she muttered.

[Tak]

As soon as the bread was thrown, the cats looked at it, then each other, then the bread and that changed every few seconds before they started fighting over the bread... and not like normal cats.

An Inferno of fire and light spurted and fought with a Glacier Golem of Darkness.
Then Several miniature suns started fighting several moons of the same size.
Then Fire Elementals came from the ground to fight Ice Elementals.
Light vs Dark.
Fire vs Cold.

By now, the bred was half- frozen, half-incinerated. I guess you could say they where hungry.

[Wicked Basket]

It had gotten dark sooner than expected. Lucian wandered through the wilderness, as he often did, searching. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he was looking nonetheless. He soon spotted a campfire in the distance. Perhaps he could ask them owners of the small camp for directions. As he made his way toward the camp, he came across a small group of five armed men mumbling something about a girl and a dragon. Maybe the camp belonged to them. Lucian approached the men and asked them. It was a big mistake. The men drew their weapons and advanced upon him, hurling insults and battle cries in order to make themselves feel a little more confident in taking on someone of Lucian's size. Lucian was in the fight of his life with no way to defend himself. Maybe the people at the camp would here and come help him, but he doubted it.

[Anadwen]

"No missions at all. I do what I want - nobody commands me. After all, I only obey the laws and commands I like." Athran winged off. There was never really anyone to tell him what to do - nobody dared to do so.

He made a step towards the fire, when Maigrod stopped him. There is someone else in the forest. I hear battle.
"Battle?" Athran raised a brow.
If you would put that pointed ears of yours to a good use, you'd hear it, too. It is close... the dragon replied.
"If that's it... Keep guard over Taiyou and Shioko. I'll be back in a short while."

Athran's hands gripped the hilt of the Black Sword and drew half of its dark blade from the sheath. It was dark, but he could see the forest around them, and soon heard the sounds of battle, coming from afar. Screaming and cries. Sound of metal upon metal.

His own sword was immediately drawn as he made one step away from the camp, and started running in the direction from which he thought the sounds were coming from.

He wasn't mistaken.

[Winters-Feather]

"Battle?" Taiyou said, shaken.
Alarmed, she looked over at Shioko.
How'd they get so close?! she asked.
You don't know if it's members of the cult, he tried to assure her, but even the dragon doubted himself.
It could be bandits.
You know as well as I it's not bandits, Taiyou responded, but they were interrupted by the fury of magic from the cats.

Shioko growled at their celestrial dance, percieving the display of magic as a threat. The suns were hotter than dragon fire, but the dragon all the same growled at the kittens and swooped his tail at them. He didn't care if htey were ancient or not- but they could only be a threat to his rider!

Taiyou watched the display, a bit frightened. She had never seen anything as such in her life, and it was a bad time for displays.
Come, she told Shioko as the vines on her arm contrasted. Taiyou screamed as the fires crackled louder than usual and shot in a spiral into the night. Emerging from it a threatening figure of dark coal and hellfire, an  ifrit with burning blue-white eyes.
"Give us the stone, rider," it boomed.

[Anadwen]

Maigrod roared and shifted his great black body to protect Taiyou and Shioko from the ifrit.
Leave that thing. Don't move and don't attack it. We will see what it wants... Until Athran returns, I won't act first. I don't know what it is, but don't go close to it! he growled, slashing his tail and showing the long, sharp fangs that filled his mouth like daggers.

In that moment, Athran rushed back in, the Black Sword kindling with small flames. He couldn't run for some fight, far from the camp, when something strange was happening in there... "What is this?" he shouted. What was the strange thing supposed to be?

He gripped the sword even tighter and made a step forth. "What do you want?" he growled at the ifrit, watching every move its trembling form made.

I don't know what is it... Keep it entertained till it leaves or dies, or whatever you wish, but I'll protect those two. Maigrod informed him. Athran nodded. Whatever this thing might attempt to do, his reply will be quick.

[Wicked Basket]

Lucian was not much of a fighter. He didn't even carry any weapons, but he was aware of his size and strength advantage. The first to attack him charged at him with a spear. Lucian caught the spear with both hands and used it to fling the man holding it. The next man had an axe. Lucian, again, caught his weapon before it connected and landed a bone-shattering punch on the man's jaw. Two down, but he wasn't out of the woods yet.

[Winters-Feather]

Too weak to move on her own, Taiyou grabbed hold of Shioko's tail. The dragon dragged her back to safety, away from the fire. She panted, half in a trance. Her magic wanted to respond to it, but Taiyou focused on not giving into the creature.

The ifrit chuckled, his laugh awful and the sound of moaning wood and cracking stones.
"Another rider? How quaint," the demon sneered.
"Step aside, fool. The cursed child has what I seek. Such power shouldn't be in the hands of the wimpy knights of Adela!"
Taiyou whimpered as she felt the ifrit reaching for her mind.
"Get out of my head!" she growled, pushing it away.

[Anadwen]

"If you had any idea who are you speaking to, you'd be rushing out of here!" Athran glowered. The blade of the Black Sword suddenly blazed with great fires, white like the stars on the sky, and illuminated Athran's tall figure with light. "I'm not any knight you would meet on a stroll through the countryside."

He leaped forth and smote the ifrit with the flaming sword. Maigrod shielded Sioko and Taiyou from the fire and light with his wide wings. The dark figure bent under Athran's blow, hardly avoiding the rain of lightning-fast strikes that followed after.

Maigrod was fully focusing on trying to protect the two. He knows what he's doing...

"I am death of the immortals..." Athran's own body started burning with fire, slowly changing the color of flames from white to even hotter azure. "I am death in fire. I am the Deathstorm. You made a mistake to come near!"

[Wicked Basket]

Lucian was victorious with only a few cuts to show for it. The wounds weren't too serious, though. He looked back to the camp and it seemed that the fire had gotten bigger. Lucian began making his way toward the camp. He didn't know what else to do.

[Tak]

After several dozens of seconds later, The Kittens where still going at it. One was attacked with a tail, but the tail surely got burnt. Still, Ginger fell down a bit of the mountain, whereupon Sophie took the now-inedible frozen ash-bread. Happy with her winnings, She went along with her brother, now ignoring the ruined bread.

[Winters-Feather]

Shioko pulled his tail back, irritably. The suns frayed  the edges of a few scales, but he thankfully wasn't hurt.

The ifrit chuckled at Athran's bravado.
"And I am your bane," he boomed as he stepped out of the fire. He stepped out of the fire and screeched as he spewed a blast of hell fire.

Taiyou laid on the ground as she pinned her cursed arm to the ground, sparks of lightning at her finger tips.
She gasped for breath as she tried to control it, but found she couldn't pull it back in, only contain it.
"Shioko, Maigrod!" she commanded with a new found strength in her voice. Her green eyes dangerously glowing orange.
"Get out of my way, now!"

[Anadwen]

Athran threw his head back in laughter. "This is a mere beginning. You know nothing!" he cried out, circling around the ifrit in a lightning-fast dance of blazing blows. The Black Sword, moving in all directions, was only a distorted light, so fast were Athran's moves. His goal wasn't to smite the ifrit immediately, but rather weaken it and then bring down with a single blow.

The hellish flames may have been a tad surprising, but they couldn't possibly harm the knight. They just passed by, disappearing in the darkness. Athran's eyes glinted with his own fire...

Maigrod stepped aside at Taiyou's cry, watching her with his crimson eyes. Something was going on and he didn't want to get into the middle of that something...

A sudden blast if incredible light and fire exploded from the figures of Athran and the ifrit. It was like a star, brought onto the surface of Earth, so bright and shining. All the dragon could assume was that the elf finally skewed his sword into the ifrit - and he was right. The Black Sword was amid the light, streaming from the ifrit, cut into two...

[Winters-Feather]

The ifrit howled.
"I am not of this world!" he boomed.
A fiery ball emerged from its body and raced towards Taiyou. Shioko roared and tried to bite the creature but it slipped past him.
"Child you're mine!" it hissed.
Tell Athran stone! Taiyou told her dragon through their bond. Shioko relied the mesage to Maigrod.
Tai cried out as she struck the demon spirit with bolts of lightning. A stray one struck a yard  from the kitten with bread and two others dangerously close to the elf. Taiyou gritted her  teeth. The deomon was trying to enter her body!
Shioko lend me your strength, she asked her dragon as she pulled lightning from her staff. But She wasted too much energy. Darkness beckoned her again.
Not yet, Taiyou thought as the demon started to slip into her, but not entirely yet....

[Wicked Basket]

Lucian was having a hard time comprehending what was going on. There was all kinds of lightning, and fire, and whatever else. He wasn't sure if he should get involved, so he just watched.

[Anadwen]

Athran smote the ifrit again, this time into its back. It didn't go too well... Maigrod shifted aside from Taiyou, but tried to send a message to her mind. Don't let him in. Keep awake... Take my strength. he offered her, and his long tail slashed towards the ifrit.

Athran immediately knew what's going on. Maigrod has joined the battle. The dragon hit the ifrit, making it collapse onto the ground, and entirely bathed him in the auburn fire, streaming from beneath his sharp fangs. The elf sprang from the air and landed on the ifrit's body, determined to rip it apart with his bare hands. The fire couldn't harm him - only singed his clothes a little.

His hands gripped the creature's neck. "From this world or not... Death comes even for you." Its body cracked under his hands. "And I am death!"

[Winters-Feather]

Be the hunter, Shioko growled affectionately.
Taiyou mouthed a silent thank you to both dragons as they lended her their power. Her mind felt less fuzzy, her body less in pain. She almost threw her head back and laughed. The dragon's energy tickled in her blood and bones, filling her with an overwhelming rush of power and joy. The girl rose to her feet as if her wounds had mended and reached into Shioko's saddle bag.

The stone throbbed in her arms, and Taiyou could hear the voices of the demons and djinn that called for her.
I won't be your vessel, she silenced them.
She reached out the stone and began to recite words in an old and elegant tongue, full of elegance and authority. It was Old Elvish, though Taiyou did not know.  What she did was it was a spell of purification, and one that would draw the demon back through the portal. It hissed as it felt its soul being dragged away, clawing at her mind. As he disappeared, the orange light left her eyes. The ifrit's body crumbled to ash.
That wasn't its real body, Taiyou wanted to point out.

Before she knew it, she collapsed and passed out. Shioko growled and licked her face, his posture only relaxing when he could hear her faint, but steady, breathing. She would be asleep for a long while. His tail wrapped around the stone as he looked up. The dragon growled aggressively. Blood. He smelt blood coming off of Lucian. Blood of the men that hunted them.
Who are you? he asked, projecting his mind towards the man. Speak!
Shioko snarled, revealing rows of pointed teeth.
The dragon was itching for an excuse to fight.

[Wicked Basket]

Lucian cautiously stepped out of the bushes and didn't know what to make of what he saw.

"Uh....."

What was he to say? A giant lizard thing was talking to him. The other things that had ever spoken to him were people, or at least had the same basic shape as a human. Lucian looked the dragon up and down, drinking in every detail. He had never seen anything like it before.

[Anadwen]

Athran collapsed to his knees. He heard Taiyou's voice reciting in the beautiful language of his youth, and then the ifrit just... Disappeared. Fell to ash beneath his very hands. He didn't understand... His mind was spinning in confusion. What, gods be damned, just happened?

Maigrod stepped forwards to him, and let him lean against the tip of his tail. He seemed content, almost happy - Athran was sure he knew far more about this than himself. The dragon growled silently as the knight clutched the spikes, lining his tail, and helped him up. Half of his clothes were burned, and he was standing there in his red-hot chainmail shirt and remains of leather armour. Only now it was visible how many weapons he carried on his body, as their sheaths were exposed when his clothes burned away. There were daggers and knives all around him...

He would have simply taken his rider to the campfire, that mysteriously still remained unchanged, if not for Shioko's growl. He immediately turned around, accidentally knocking Athran over with his tail, and rushed towards the younger dragon. The presence of another human was clear.

"Hey!" Athran groaned, standing back up. "Go take care of Taiyou. Both of you. I'll deal with the newcomer..." he cried out, stumbling to Lucian. Maigrod bowed his head down a little, but refused to obey. Instead, he covered Athran's back with his wings, and took a defensive pose as the elf crossed his arms on his chest. "Who are you, and what do you want here?" he asked roughly. His eyes glinted in the dim light beneath the strands of his dark hair, and he looked down at the man.

[Wicked Basket]

"I..uh..I was lost," Lucian stammered, still in awe of the dragons. "I'm still lost actually. I saw a campfire and thought that, maybe, the owners would help me, but I was attacked on the way here."
Lucian could tell that this man was different. He didn't know what it was, but something was, well, just different. He also had pointed ears, which in and of themselves were unusual.