Violent flashes of dark, puplish rays burst forth from the woods in the growing dawn light. In the middle of them were a dark, power embued warlock, having the dark waves of energy ripple from her entire being. Her form was hunched over, hands curled in a clawed fasion, breath heavy and ladden with rage, as her eyes burned like the hottest embers of the forge. She growled and roared out as she stood tall, another huge wave of destructive dark energies errupted from where she stood, obliterating the vegitation which stood around her.
She paused finally, taking deep, labored breaths. Her head fell to her palm where she nursed her forhead, and rubbed where horns once pierced her flesh.
Lia adjusted the strap of her pack slung over her shoulder. She could still feel the warmth of the stone tingle on her hands, though it now was pressing against her back. With a sigh, the Ixifar pushed herself down the path. She knew she should probably be seeking the library, but after a brief conversation Miss Nivarian the previous day, there was a lot on her mind. So, Lia hoped a short walk would let her work out her thoughts.
A ways down the trail, the Ixifar paused. Even before she heard the loud crack of a nearby explosion, the irritating burn flared up on her back. A wince took her eyes for a moment before she forced hereself to ignore it and search for the origin of the sound. Lia--wishing she could jog--made her way slowly over towards the scorched clearing which held Akon, and an elven man she'd never seen before. She decided to lay low within the cover of the trees some feet away until she knew if this elf was friend or foe. Miss Nivarian was more than capible to protect herself, and Lia couldn't risk jump out there while being unable to protect herself.
Akon took several moments before she answered, her shoulders rising and falling heavily as her fingers rubbed at her forhead. She finally answered in a low tone towards the elf. "That's a relative question....." She stated, her tone hindered and restrained. She certainly didn't seem well by the looks of it, the ground around her and the trees about her marred with scorches of black magic.
"All you blasted warlocks just keep tryig to detroy the forest for some reason," Galdor sighed. "You need to come sit down and rest. You aren't looking to good. Here, there's a nice patch of moss against this elm here that you've somehow manged not to burn up." Glador cautiously helped the Uordeq over to the tree. "Now, would you be kind enough to tell me why it is you look to be at the brink of death and trying to burn down the forest? It couldn't have been anything good."
Solas steps out from beyond the treeline, with a blue and silver book tucked under one arm. His blindfold is fastened tightly around his eyes, strands of white hair hang over it, in front of his face. His lips are contorted into a smile that lions often wear when they're about to pounce upon their prey. It's a smile that almost screams 'I know something you don't know.'
"Tsk Tsk Tsk." Solas mocks. "Whats wrong, Akon, remembering days gone by?"
Akon leans back against the tree, still nursing her forhead as her smouldering eyes begin to slowly cool. "Better the trees and fauna which can regrow than those which cannot..." She said, her voice still low. Her eyes flicker up towards the voice that addressed her, seeing Solas, yet she does not reply to his mocking, choosing only to look onward at him with her burning red gaze.
Galdor sighed. He didn't bother asking a second time about what had transpired. The elf leaned against another elm across from the Uordeq. Where worry once flooded his face, relief settled. "You know, you gave me quite the fright. I was in the middle of this excellent na... I mean training session when that strange light poured out of the woods! Then the bang. But, I guess you're right. Better a fern thats easily planted then in the middle of town. It's a shame though. Those were some very pretty ferns." The elf chuckled to himself. "But seriously, you are al right, right? I don't feel like having to dig a grave this early in the morning."
Solas's smile shifts into something much friendlier. He throws his arms up in a gesture of surrender. The Empyrean lets out a soft chuckle, mostly to himself. "Oh, come on now Akon." He says, "You know I was just trying to have a little fun with you." He shakes his head. "Those were indecent times, and although I don't agree with your practices, I won't chastize you for the descisions you had to make..." His voice trails off. He silently moves toward the pair and takes a seat beside them. He goes silent for a bit.
"Whatever this light show was," He finally says a look of concern and worry dance across his Empyrean features, "Do I want to know?"
Akon's eyes softened a bit then dropped from Solas more relaxed, the warlock's shoulders finally seeming to begin to loose their tension.
"If you are asking me whether or not I am about to die in this moment, Galdor, then the answer is no. I am not. Though your concern is appreciated."
Akon then looked to Solas a moment, before closing her eyes, and returning to nurse her forhead, wincing a bit, and gritting her teeth. "You know full well I am not fond of having my soul toyed with....damnable dwarven piece of shit." She then clenched her fist and pounded the ground next to her, as she cocked her head back with yet another wince and a short groan between clenched teeth, her whole body tensing again as her back arched against the trunk which she was leaning against sucking in a quick, pained breath.
Galdor looked sternly at the Uordeq woman. "You need to calm down, you're just gonna hurt yourself more." The elf looked to the blind-folded emperyean. He thought of asking about why he was wearing it, but Galdor's confusion at the moment let the notion slip his mind. "Would somebody PLEASE tell me what this is all about!" Galdor said with a little irritation in his voice. His curiosity seeming to get the best of him.
Akon waited for the current tension and pain to subside before she finally relaxed once more, releasing her breath, then opening her eyes, still burning like embers, but less heated than before. "We fought Grimhelm....an old, old dwarf....dead..and he still should have been. Yet at times, spirits can be stubborn, and he still walked amongts the living as undead. He had a task, and that task is one which I am not ashamed to share. Seems he wishes Scorch destoryed. Yet, the dwarf was sending his masses against town. He had to be addressed. So we went to the mines, to negotiate, and he seemed less than cooperative. So, we fought against his forces, and eventually....him." She then clenched her teeth again, closing her eyes as her fists balled tight. She took a deep breat and continued. "During the final encounter with his spirit, he weld a weapon which, in his hand, could consume the souls of those which he struck. I took one of the hits....and my soul was ripped from my flesh." She grit her teeth at that, pausing.
A look of confusion and worry crossed the elf's face once again. "He ripped your soul out? Is he still in possesion!? If so, i think you need to sit back and relax a little more and use less of your strength on the forest." The sound of a raven in one of the branches above reverberated through the newly formed clearing. Glador usually fed the bird, but he would have to wait today.
Akon let her breath escape as she opened her eyes once more, seeming slolwy but surely to be relaxing each time a bit more. "No. It was returned to me. But with my history, the experience was far from pleasant..." She noted, eyes squinting to focus on the raven overhead for a moment....
Galdor saw the ever so slight inkling of pain in the warlocks eyes. Not from her head, but from the past she's traveling back into. Galdor sighed in sympathy for the Uordeq. He knows what its like to be stuck in a bad memory. "She's sort of a friend of mine," Galdor said, referring to the raven. The elf whistled a soft tune and watched as the raven flew ever so softly to his out stretched hand. "She helps me clear my mind when I get caught up in thought." The raven cocked her head as she waited on her usual treat of berries. He offers Madam Akon a berry from his pouch. "Here, you feed her a little."
Akon's eyes widened a bit as the raven drew near, drawing in yet another breath as the bird pearched on the elf's outstretched hand. Her fist clenched her cloak by her thigh which draped under her from her shoulders where she sat, as she looked away from the raven, closing her eyes again, whispering just the simple word. "She...." She sallowed hard, brows furrowing a bit, but she didn't tense up quite so badly this time.
From somewhere through the trees comes Blisdon trodding into the small crowd, the sound of his footsteps eerily lacking the typical cracking of dead branches and leaves underfoot for such an aggressive march.
Silently blisdon stood when he arrived there for several seconds as the Shaman's intense scowl slowly rotated to each and every person around Blisdon with the exception of the Empyrean seer.
Soon enough his burning scowl led to the large patch where once lush and healthy vegetation now calls home to crumbling ash and scorched earth.
A small twitch jerk beneath The uordeq Shaman's shadowy orb for a right eye as he extended out his spiritual senses. Blisdon crouched low to the earth, taking a handful of the scorched soil and slowly letting it slip through his fingers with a heartfelt sigh. He couldn't help Feeling the suffering of all the life that had peacefully resided there until moments ago. Soon Blisdon began to cough and gag from the thick stench of taint and corruption that blew past him with a change in the wind.
Blisdon had to unwrap his headwrap with a few frustrasted jerking and pulling motions before it finally comes free, which the Shaman quickly presses against his mouth and nose like a hankerchief as his burning eyes turned slowly to Akon.
"oh I'm sorry." Called out the Shaman to the Warlock- His voice oozing with scorn
"Was Jastrey suffering from a BUNNY INVASION that you singlehandedly REPELLED or did not being able to find an un-suckled honeysuckle in midsummer upset you FAR TOO MUCH THAN IT SHOULD HAVE?"
Galdor gave the bird the berry it had been waiting ever so patiently for and watched as she happily swallowed the small treat. "I found her when she was just starting to fly. She seemed to have been pushed from the nest and left to die." Galdor sighed a little. "I knew I should have let nature run it's course, but I felt like I could relate with the small bird.So I brought it berries she was well enough to live on her own." The raven cocked it's head, as if asking for morebefore flying away into the branches above. "And now she's sure to check on me everyday. I can hardly get rid of the bird!" the elf chuckled. "She taught me a lesson, that little bird. Even the smartest creatures need help sometimes. Anyway, I should probably make an appearance in town some time. I have been sticking to the woods a bit too much lately." The elf rose from his spot. "You know where my oak is if you need me, Madam Akon." Galdor tipped his head towards the empyrean, unsure if he could see him or not, and left for the direction of town. The only thing left was a single blackberry, left in the spot where the elf had been sitting.
Akon merely took in a deep slow breath at the Shaman's rantings, letting it slowly exhale from her nostrils as she relaxed even more. Her palm reached up to rub at her closed eyes. "Be well, Solas." She said, and with that, the warlock quickly disentegrated into shadows, falling away into nothingness, leaving the two huntsman among themselves. (Teleport).
"Bitch I will Fornicate your Filthy uordeq face with me clans lucky hamm-" Blisdon stopped midsentence as the Uordeq she-Beast teleported away.
Blisdon looked upwards at his empyrean friend from his crouched position, Grumbling to himself as he looked at the scorched earth around him.
"You know what, I fix things All the time, Don't I? Broken limbs? I've got that. Broken weapons? You haven't got to ask me twice. Got yourself a paper cut that's causing your guts and gizzards to roll out of your mouth like a dogs tongue in the summertime? I'm your man."
With a devious grin that the uordeq Flashed to his Close friend and ally, His hands began to glow a bright, luminous green as energy trailed around his fingers. With a booming laugh the keeper of the Grove sunk his fingers deeper into the scorched earth and released the tendrils of healing energy deep into the earth.
"By the sacred Groves of Antasia and Loreyza, May my efforts cleanse away the unnatural and unclean, heal the broken and wash away the metaphorical pissings of mangy beasts claiming what wasn't theirs to take!"
Bellowed Blisdon into blazing orange light of dawn, his fingers still pressed inches into the scorched and corrupted soil soil as he willed forth more healing energy to cascade outwards from his body and around to the nature all around him.
The blackened and charred bark around the shaman begins to regain its former shape as the nearby trees begin to heal. Thick moss and small wild flowers take the place of burned leaves and pine needles and the chirping of small birds can be heard again from the tops of the trees. A rejuvinating breeze blows through the woods and the canopy of the forest opens slightly allowing the nurturing sunlight to shine down upon the forest floor.
A small hare emerges from a nearby bush stopping next to the grovekeeper. As it looks up, it twitches its nose and darts off appreciatively.
Blisdon pulled his fingers from the moist and loamy soil, Slowly pulling himself up with several painful cracks of his back and a long, weary groan.
"uurrghhhhooon...." Moaned out the Shaman as he turned his half open eyelids to his Empyrean friend. "That's how we do it, aintit?! Wild Hunt style....grrrggghh."
Blisdon weakly stumbled his way over to Solas and crashed his head against the Seers shoulder with a slight thump.
"Takes a lot of ya though, Doin' it Hunt style."
Solas relaxes against the tree as Blisdon sits beside Solas and leans his head against the Empyrean's Shoulder. Solas reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small wooden tabacco pipe. The two sit in near silence as he packs and strikes it. He sighs and smiles.
"That it does, my old friend." He speaks softly, "But nothing worth doing 'Hunt style' is meant to be easy." Solas brings the pipe to his mouth, "To whom much is given, much is required, Blisdon." He nods slightly as he leans his back against the tree and closes his eyes, all the while still slowly stoking on the pipe.
Galdor rushed from his normal spot by his favorite oak. "Kollista!! What have I told..." The elf stopped. The little gnome which he had scolded once before was no where to be found. Instead, he saw Madam Akon kneeling in a scorched patch of what used to be a beautiful bed of ferns. "Madam Akon! What in the name of the Immortals is going on here! You're not hurt, are you?" the elf asked in a frenzy. A deep look of worry and fear easily noticiable on his face. Not a sound could be heard in the forsest around them.