[Episode 2] Two Minds, One Body

The story unfolds around Osaka, Japan, with the unlocking of one girl's hidden potential, and a gathering of Young mages whom are destined to change the fate of the Earth.
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Mr. Blackbird Lore
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Re: [Episode 2] Two Minds, One Body

Post by Mr. Blackbird Lore »

Johann grimaced, but otherwise ignored Manon's jibes. He took the bottle, then frowned as he realized there was no cork. Without hesitation he snatched Manon's bulbous red one and checked to see that it would cover the mouth of the bottle. It did, and to that he smiled. It didn't have to be a tight seal, just enough to cover the opening.

He flopped onto the ground a second time and riffled through his book again, seeking a specific spell. "Chuffy!" he called without looking up. "Grrr!"

Johann's best friend leaped up at the spectral figure above Drysi and gnashed his teeth, paws outstretched.
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Kai
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Re: [Episode 2] Two Minds, One Body

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As everything began happening much more quickly than she anticipated, Katerina felt a pang of anxiety in her chest. Eryk had been seng flying, Willow was unconscious, Manon and Johann seemed busy, and Vrey swiftly came under attack. Thoughts, worries, and fears flashed through her mind, to the point she even worried aloud "Ohhh! What should I do?" She asked, to herself, to no one. Trying to think, she remembered they had gone over Wights in one of their classes but she couldn't remember how to deal with one.

The blonde wracked her brain, remembering that Wights could drain the life of someone, as evidenced by what was happening to Willow. Stumped a moment longer, the proverbial light bulb went off in head, giving her an idea and a plan. Wights d I didn't do well in Sunlight or brights lights, so she went about creating the closest thing she could think of to sunlight, by chanting a spell rather quickly to summon a globe of bright, hot fire and concentrating on holding it above the wight in the clearing.
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Kokuten
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Re: [Episode 2] Two Minds, One Body

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The Bog of the Dead
Willow, Drysi, and the Old Woman

The old woman was more like a beast now, a low quadraped, slapping palms and feet into the surfaces of the water as Willow brought forth her assault. Pillars of water struck her like sentries delivering blows to an intruder. It didn't stop the allomancer, her vicious stride cutting through bruise after bruise. Willow's opponent snarled, her mouth widening to reveal a jagged fence of teeth and forlorn set of gums. What little beauty remaining in her face waned into stretched parchment as the crone reached deep into what seemed to be a draining well of magic.

Hissing water was audible, but the resonant heat of Willow's broken arm was almost enough to cut her stride. Another line of water faded in the wake of the charging girl, her left arm bent the other way in the wake of a terrible blow. With a sharp intake of break, the allomancer sank her boot into the face of the hag with eldritch strength.

The old woman's head snapped back, nearly careening off of her shoulders at the force of the blow. When it fell forward, it tumbled off the neck and into the water. Shuddering, the mass of limbs looked as if they were going to crumple, but this proved to be a feint, as a long-fingered hand took Willow by the leg and tossed her over the shoulder, slamming the girl into the bogfilth.

A faerie fire erupted from the neck of the hag, and her dislodged head began to cackle. The old woman drew her wand-blade to skewer the girl, and as she drove the edge down, the notebook that Mr. Casson had given Willow exploded upward into a torrent of paper, sending the hag on her back.

Drysi's hands curled in manipulation of papersophy, her fanged mouth grit against a mixture of pain, exhaustion and anger.

"You touch my fool again, and I'll murder you."

----

The Sacrificial Tree
Johann, Vrey, Katerina, Manon, Eryk, and the Wight

Crick. A sound of shifting bone rippled in the cacophony battle. Those who had the attention could see that Willow's left arm, bent around Drysi, now bent the other way.

The light that overtook the glade was blinding, the wight howled like a banshee, reeling from the sudden exposure. She stopped short of Vrey, her body beginning to mist under the force of light. Chuffy managed to catch her as she tried to recover, necromantic teeth catching into the spectral form of the monster. In a counter, the ghost's hand curled into a hooking blade and ran under the dog's neck. Right as the undead pup was to be separated from its head, it exploded into a cloud of balloons, some of which popped in the swipe of the bladed arm.

"I suppose this is what they call keeping ahead, non?" droned a droll french voice.

When Johann had pulled Manon's nose from her face, it looked as though he was snatching off the rest of her features with it, stealing her colorful demeanor as well. Standing in place of the radiant clown was a stark, white figure dressed in foppish finery. She wore a pointed hat with a little bob at the tip and a masquerade mask concealing her eyes and nose. Burdening her arms was Chuffy, swapped with the sacrificial balloons. "I hate conflict, but, you could say, I have a dog in this fight."

While Manon still seemed to still be capable of spell-casting, albeit without much spirit, the nose in Johann's hand sparked, and honked, with great power.

The wight recovered, turning her gaze of death onto Katerina. "Little bitch, I will carve your soul from your body!"

With a flashing swipe, the ghostly apparition came upon the corporate magnate turned spell-slinger, and arced the bladed hand with a terrible swipe. A silver blade fired up from the dark, and caught the swipe before it could commit fully. Eryk had charge out of the brush, covered in dirt and twigs, his sword in hand, tying up the witch's attack.

"Johann! Whatever you're trying to do, you need to do it now!" warned the hexer as he spun off the locking block, and spun his sword into another rapid swing to get the ghost off of Kat.
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Straken
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Re: [Episode 2] Two Minds, One Body

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"Oh, you're screwed now," Willow called out, practically laughing with a cocky smile on her face; buried beneath that smile were the hints of strain. For what it was worth, this broken arm hurt a significant amount less than the last time she'd broken her arm, so that was a good bench mark of how well the pewter worked. That said, it was still an unsecured broken bone, and her body was objecting to the rough treatment. Effectively down an arm Willow's combat effectiveness would take a hit, and she was already the one at a disadvantage. Drysi waking up was a great boon to help even the odds, but they would still need more. The young girl's eyes settled onto the wand blade.

As things were Willow's inexperience and restriction to melee was hampering; it was to predictable. Trying to bring Iron and Steel into the mix would make reading her attacks more difficult, but she had only practiced with those metals in regards to movement; or simply playing around with coins while procrastinating with work. She was reminded of her discovery of her powers. A fork flying at her chest, and avoiding getting stuck by Ms. Caoranach catching the utensil. This sword would be coming at her point first if she pulled it to try and catch it. She flared Iron and Steel, and focused on the blue line leading to the metal of the blade. She had an idea.

"Two on one, now we can't lose," Willow spat at the wretched form in front of her. With a flared Steel push, Willow's first step was to disarm the hag. Push the blade out into the gloom. Pull the blade with the hag in between. Reposition with Pewter sprints. Push the blade. Keep circling. Rush in to strike. Pull. Reposition. Push. Reposition. Strike. Pull. Like the Spiritual Weapon spell. Willow would be attacking, all the while the blade would be whirling around trying to impale the hag, and hopefully not Willow.
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Re: [Episode 2] Two Minds, One Body

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" Johann, whatever you're doing, you need to do it now!"

The necromancer rose so quickly he nearly hopped. A darkness radiated from him, highlighting Manon's stark form with evanescent shadow. The effect was one the human mind struggled to comprehend, darkness giving light. The unbridled Mana held Johann's book aloft while he himself held the bottle and nose. He pointed the open end of the bottle aggressively toward the wight and began to chant.

"Ich forderne dich, Geist. Zu deiner Natur sei wahr. Das, was dich jetzt bindet, löst sich auf. Beachten Sie meine Beschwörung.

At the final word, that dark light burst forward, casting a line from the bottle to the wight. It's presence was unsettling as it tried to worm its way into the spectre. It wanted to break her down and drag her away. It wanted to crush her until she would fit inside that bottle. She could see the mouth of it, suddenly like the mouth of a cave, ready to swallow her whole.

Johann continued to chant, bottle hand outstretched, horn-nose hand cocked and ready to seal the bottle. As if to calm himself, he gave the nose a squeeze. HONK! confetti burst from the nose like a small bomb, and he could feel a small exchange of Mana. It was alien, so different from the wavelengths of his own, but definitely Mana all the same.

For this tug-of-war he would need every ounce.
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Kokuten
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Re: [Episode 2] Two Minds, One Body

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The Bog of the Dead
Willow, Drysi, and the Old Woman

Recovering now, the crone turned over, her whitening form more corpselike as time went on.

"Allomancy, Paper Magic, do you think parlor tricks will save you," howled the banshee, fingers and tows digging into the sludge to lunge at Willow. A ramp of paper formed ahead of hag, giving the girl time to move. Drysi spat, her lips lined with two large fangs.

"We'll destroy you with these parlor tricks!" the scribe howled bringing the paper back to her before it could become weighed by the water of the bog. "I don't need you, or your dark arts! I have Willow! I have my friends!"

The melee became wild, stripes of water, lines of bogsmoke, flashes of metal and paper. Pain in the broken arm was becoming more and more severe as Willow danced about. Pulling the blade from her opponent had proved easy, the rage was a suitable distraction, but concentration was proving difficult. The first shot almost sent the blade too far, sending her off balance almost. When it came back, the point almost flew into her eye, but a deft, unbroken arm was able to redirect it back out.

Screaming curses, sloshing water, ripping flesh and fabric.

The headless hag spun, swinging, and reaching; desperate. "My power. My power! WHERE IS MY POWER!?"

The two girls lead her about, breaking her down until the fae fire erupting from her open wounds exploded into a bright light.

All she saw was white, and then suddenly, blackness.

----

The Sacrificial Tree

Willow awoke again, staring up at a night sky of calm stars. In the right side of her field of vision was a fluffy mop of golden blonde hair. On the right of her neck, she could feel the warmth of lips, and a pair of fangs sunk into her flesh. At the bottom left edge of her vision, she could see her arm, broke just as it had in the bog. A small wave of exhaustion wore over her as she realized she had been bleeding for all the time she was out.

The triclop's hands dug themselves as fists into her shirt as she began to stir, but a ghostly wail peeled through the air, crushing the tranquility.

"No. No, you're... too young! How can you know this!?" A greater awareness came over the features of the wight as she was accosted by Johann's dark magics. As the incantation had begun, her spectral outline shuddered, as did the leaves of the trees that surrounded the glade. What wildlife that was disturbed by the fighting had silenced, and the group's enemy was sent into a panic.

She threw a long-fingered hand up, the whole of her body glowing to casting open a rift to escape, but the menacing light took her. "No! No! I cannot! I will not!"

Johann could feel the energies in the nose crackle with a life that urged on his necromantic noose. The more he channeled Manon's wild energy, the more potent his chain of deathly power became. The possessing spirit pulled, but the effort merely caused her head to detach. It floated free of the body, as the damage of the fight in the bog joined her form in the middle realm. With no other options the head seemed to turn to the open rift as if it would save her.

As the bottom half of the wight entered to the bottle it made one last frantic swipe with the hooked blade arm at the boy. It was an axe-hand meant to bring death to he who tried to command it. The edge sparked against a barrier inches from the young man's face, and with that their enemy hissed into the bottle, the head screaming curses and hatred until it too was sucked away.
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Mr. Blackbird Lore
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Re: [Episode 2] Two Minds, One Body

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Conflict had forged a different person from Johann's mettle. There was a fierceness in his singular visible eye, a grim determination. The Mana coursing around him rippled his clothes and exaggerated his thin silhouette. It also revealed a hidden strength in that lanky form: a resolve that kept his feet planted firm; a focus that kept his voice crystal clear and free of stutters.

As the wight sank into the bottle, her final strike startled Johann enough to throw him on his ass. In the same movement, the necromancer corked the bottle with Manon's nose and a weak honk.

The ensuing silence was unsettling, but Johann couldn't remember how to move. He was transfixed by the swirling darkness within the bottle in his hand. Chuffy's mucky nose nudging his cheek finally broke the spell. He flinched and shivered, but was smiling.

Boy and dog hugged with a laugh from the former. It was filled with disbelief. "I... I did it! I sealed it! I..." He stood up, looking at his peers. "That... It worked? Right?" Elation and amazement warred on his face; Johann simply couldn't believe it!
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Straken
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Re: [Episode 2] Two Minds, One Body

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Coming too as though she had just been having a fitful dream, Willow processed the situation around her. Were it not for her pewter reserve she would be having a much harder time with it, but her reserves were running low. She had been burning while out cold, as it turned out. There was enough to dull the pain, but even burning low there would probably only be ten minutes left. Soon she would need to either down the back up vial she had, or sack up as the lads back on the rugby field would say. So long as the pain wasn't to bad, Willow figured she'd probably just tough it out until she got to some medical help; save on metal, and she wouldn't need to burn through the boosted reserves before bed. At that point she'd may as well stay awake and train.

Then there was the matter of Drysi macking on her neck. A distinct sting suggested a bad form use of teeth, but she was relieved to feel the other girl's breath. With a wince, she lowered the burn on her pewter. The fatigue set in, as did the pain in her arm, but she held any complaint. Drysi seemed to be coming too, but since she hadn't been sleeping well recently the Brit was going to let her rest as long as she needed.
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Re: [Episode 2] Two Minds, One Body

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Kat Blinked at the suddenness of everything. One moment her flare was working perfectly, then the next she was attacked, and then, Eryk came from nowhere to protect her, followed by Johann sealing the Wight in a bottle with what was obviously a powerful spell. as soon as the wight was gone, Kat let up with the flare, feeling a sudden great fatigue as the relief washed over her, her own mana expended just as Johann's was, though she still had enough left to keep herself from passing out. The blonde dropped to her knees, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, leaning back with her hands holding her from flopping backwards as she had done the last time she had exhausted a large amount of mana at once.

"Is- Is it all over?" she asked, taking a few heavy breaths to try and bring her mind back into focus.
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Re: [Episode 2] Two Minds, One Body

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The Glade of the Sacrificial Tree became quiet. Just the sounds of lungs drinking in precious air in the wake of terrible tension, a swirling rift, and the distant, yet near, cries of the damned in a wine bottle.

Atop Willow, Drysi stirred fully, withdrawing her fangs from the girl's neck. Her face was tired, long, and dripping with blood; but despite her mutation, it was her own. The allomancer could see the green eyes of her friend like never before. Triclops eyes were naturally very radiant in color, the radii like raw gemstones, but now they were even brighter, as if they had been polished to a new shine. That is, until they began to flood with tears, cheeks twitching to restrain them.

"Willow," Drysi's voice cracked, looking down at Willow's form, seeing the broken arm, the blood, the dirt caked over her face, and the bruises. "Willow... I'm... I... You..."

She leaned her head down burying her bloodied, tear-drenched face into Willow's chest, "You came for me... You all came for me..."

Johann felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Eryk, shaking him in the joy of victory.

"Johann, that was impressive," said the Hexer with rare emotion, his own high-spirits registering just above a flat drone, "I've never seen magic like that before, to bind a spirit so forcefully."

The bottle in his hands shook, as if the spirit within was threatening to unleash itself. At the mouth of the bottle, the honking nose melted over the top, sputtering confetti and the sounds of an audience's laughter. What magic was left in the powerful nose was suffused over a powerful seal. Venomous words whispered from the container, things not worth repeating, but things not worth fearing either, as Drysi's possessing ghost was fully restrained.

Manon, filled with no elation at all, simply leaned on her cane, tilting her head one way.

"Isn't that just the way of things, old warhorses put out of a job by the younger generation," observed the blanc clown, putting a foppish hand to her chin, "It doesn't help the warhorse was trying to kill people, but still, a sign of things. Yes, I think things are very well solved, non? Now we have to sneak our way past Mr. Caxton. How many stairways do you think he will think plausible to accept Willow's condition? One of the stairways will need to be vampiric in some notion."

As if to answer her, the rift hissed, pulsing with the etheric energy that maintained its power. With their attention drawn, the students could see a hand extend from the center. That hand was followed by the form of a towering man, dressed in a ragged set of robes, draped over wide shoulders. It was the garb of someone who had not stepped out the bounds of wilderness for many years. A tattered hood shaded his square face, but an unnatural reflection of light made his eyes glow, having the appearance of a wolf in the dark.

He exhaled, a steady, careful breath. As if it were a cue, a raven flew in from the rift. The bird made a wide circle over the glade, before perching on the man's shoulder.

Those unnerving eyes turned, with a face of wild countenance framed by long, untamed hair. Johann felt the pressure of the man's gaze on him, an unbridled presence of being targeted. A discomforting knowledge entered the boy's mind; the man already knew how to kill him, just from the guiding lines of the stare and the curl of his calloused hands.

When the stranger finally opened his mouth to speak, the words came out short and terse; resonant of a command, with a hand outstretched.

"The bottle."

The fury of the sealed spirit ceased instantly, and cursing whispers shifted to hissed begging.
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