Impetus (Peregrine x Ragamoofin)

"As you like," Amaris replied, somewhat blandly. She had absolutely no problems with the idea of Ansell helping, but she wasn't the kind of person who would argue another's decisions, especially if it didn't really have much impact on her. Either way, she'd be fine, and the monsters would end up dead. For that reason, there was no reason for her to waste time or energy disagreeing with the young man.

Their conversation petered off at that point, Amaris' statement giving little for Ansell to respond to, and the silence of the night seemed to press in on them, interrupted only by the occasional growls of the storm that circled over their heads. Amaris moved quickly to the edge of the city, away from the river, one eye occasionally glancing up towards the heavens to make sure the boy wasn't about to completely lose his grip on the storm and cause rampant mayhem. Other than that, though, she unconsciously counted her footsteps, imagining the edge of the town growing closer and closer.

The people of Ilsworth had cleared a ring around their town, and it was easy to see why. The forest was not appealing. Branches hung low, trunks grew close together, and even if it wasn't for night and there wasn't a storm overhead Amaris had no doubt the forest would still look as though it was consumed by shadow. In some respects, Amaris was amazed at the chutzpah of the people who had originally decided to build a town here. Nothing about this valley favored habitation, and there were many out there who wouldn't be lured into living in an area that looked so plagued by evil spirits, no matter the money they might earn.

Despite her acknowledgement of the potential dangers of the forest, Amaris didn't so much as break step as she strode out of the city, crossed over the narrow band of yellow grass, and broke into the trees. She wouldn't have even slowed, if it wasn't for the fact that she suddenly had to keep a careful eye on where she was placing her feet, to avoid tripping herself up over roots or shrubs.

One hand slipped into her pocket, closing on one of the blood tokens that lingered there. When she pulled her hand back out, light spilled through the forest, deepening the shadows on the other side of the trees. The light was warm in color, a hot orange that was only a few shades shy of red, and if it wasn't for the fact that the flesh of her hand was protecting the source of light, looking straight at it would have undoubtedly been blinding. She kept walking.

Amaris didn't pause until she found a gap in the mass of trees, and the branches finally spread far enough apart to allow them to see the sky. Chain lightning darted through the clouds, almost as though excited to see Ansell again. Amaris' eyes drifted towards the young man.
 
The sky told the story Ansell himself refused to speak, lightning striking in tandem with his wild heart, beating visibly in his chest as Amaris lead him into the forest. His personal ozone stretched further around him, air feeling and tasting electrified, even by his own strange senses. Ansell couldn't help being scared, he knew what was out in the forest, and what he didn't know was even scarier. Amaris was capable of protecting herself and him, she even said she wanted to fight the beasts, if she had to. Her bloodlust was frightening Ansell more than the beasts.

And then, she starting glowing. Well, her hand did, at least. To be honest, he wasn't sure how Amaris was even doing such a thing. From what he'd seen, her powers went over that of blood, not of strange red lights. Although, now that he thought about it, Ansell had seen her reach into her pocket and grip it before the light began to shine. Then again, shine was quite the understatement to whatever it was Amaris was doing - projecting? Ansell couldn't find the right word for it.

Almost on cue, as Ansell followed Amaris through the break in the trees, lightning branched across the sky. Ansell didn't need to look up to know that, not when he felt every movement of the storm within him, the thunder up above echoing in his bones. Ansell shuddered, grabbing his collar as some small comfort, seeing the muscles in his hand flexing over blackened bone. This was horrible, he couldn't dare return to his family as some sparkling, not one with no control over itself. He was a beast in his own right, unnatural and dangerous.

Ansell released his scorched shirt when he felt the air start to sizzle around him, leaves curling up and beginning to burn from the heat he was exuding. Ansell winced, not from pain, only shame in his features. "Stop it, stop it, stop it," He muttered, hopefully under the ear of Amaris. "Get ahold of yourself, damnit." Ansell froze when he could feel Amaris' stare on him, heart racing in time with the lightning in the sky.

"I'm-" What, stable? Hardly, lightning or no; his emotion often ruled when most inconvenient for him. In control was also a far-fetched answer, not when he had the death of someone on his hands, no matter how impermanent it was. In the end, Ansell settled with not finishing his sentence at all, going as quiet as his body would allow.
 
If Amaris heard Ansell's muttered comments, she didn't make any indication of it. Instead, once she was satisfied with the fact that Ansell had kept up with her, she moved into the center of the clearing. There she scraped away the detritus with one foot, making a space for her to sit down without dirtying her clothes quite so much. She sat down casually, before returning her gaze to Ansell. There was nothing impatient in the look, and after several long moments she invited him to sit down next to her with a pat to the ground.

If Amaris was feeling honest, she didn't really have much of a plan at this point. All she knew was that Ansell was now safe to do whatever he needed to get back in control, and no harm would come from his actions.

Of course, none of that would do any good if the boy was getting himself more out of control by freaking out.

"Relax, kid." All the bite was gone from Amaris' tone, and she seemed to have picked up an almost melodic quality. "You are in a safe place where it doesn't matter if something goes wrong. So there's nothing you need to worry about. Unwind that stress that has you pulled tighter than a bowstring, and everything will feel a little bit better."
 
Ansell remained at the edge of the clearing, falling behind Amaris as she walked further in the open space, moving some brush off the ground to sit. Ansell was static, unmoving and staring out to Amaris. His heart, or whatever was left of it gave him a great sense of unease when she patted the ground next to her, obviously beckoning him over. The metallic ozone Ansell released into the air got stronger, fear running wild in his mind.

It wasn't Amaris he was afraid of, it was the forest. He couldn't - move, he just couldn't. The clearing, it was just like the one he got lost in, and the fog didn't help end the similarities. It was eeriely alike the frightening time in his youth, a crying and pitiful boy trying to find his way back home. Ansell's back ran cold with a shiver, wind blowing through the trees over his head, a roll of thunder up in the clouds.

Ansell peered over his shoulder, staring into the dark path Amaris had made through the forest, seeing nothing but brambles and shadows. Lightning flashed, briefly shining into the smallest of splits in the damp canopy. Fog, kept in by the trees, and nothing more.

Ansell's heart pounded in his chest. "Nothing's there, nothing but nothing," Ansell's spoke quietly, turning his eyes back to Amaris. In a flash, he was at her side, crouched with his legs folded beneath him. The woman might've been a stranger still, but stranger or not, Ansell would admit to himself that he felt safer in her company. He couldn't imagine making the trip into the forest alone, Ansell couldn't trust himself to not panic if that were the case.

For his sake, and perhaps for the sake of Ilsworth, Amaris was there to guide him.

"I don't want to hurt the forest," Ansell spoke after a long stretch of silence, head down as he gazed at the ground. "This place is...sensitive, home to the beasts and-" Ansell sucked in a hasty breath, shaking his head at the thought of disturbing them on their own territory. "I'll be careful," Ansell said solemnly, raising his head to look at Amaris. "No one should get hurt because of me."

Eyes closing, Ansell sat as straight as a rod, hands going flat in his lap as he focused - on what, he wasn't sure yet, but he felt like it would come to him eventually. Like this, all Ansell could feel was the storm and that was distracting. He figured the whole point of this was to distance himself from the storm, releasing it from whatever strange bond he had forged with it, letting it disperse and returning him to normal. Ansell furrowed his brow, imagining himself drifting away from the clouds, leaving the lightning and wind behind, heading back down to the earth.

It wasn't working, the storm felt stubborn, somehow. He had to keep trying, he wasn't going to give up just yet.

Electricity crackled in Ansell's hair, that odd metallic smell filling the air.
 
Amaris would have responded to Ansell's words, whether consolation or condemnation she wasn't quite sure yet, but before she could speak his eyes fluttered closed, a deep breath escaped from between his lips, and Amaris let the words die unspoken in her mouth. It seemed that the comments had been more for his own benefit than hers, really, despite the fact that he had undoubtedly told them to her.

At this point, Amaris couldn't really care less whether or not he was careful. He was safe from the storm, and no little gathering of electricity was going to hurt her. As for the beasts and monsters that had chosen to make this place home, she'd promised to hunt them anyways, however unintentional and delivered in the heat of the moment that promise might have been. If a little bit of damage got them riled up, it would only serve to make her job easier.

But this wasn't about her, and she was neither that impatient nor that self-centered. This was about Ansell, and the storm his power had grabbed. They would do this his way, even if that meant sitting in the woods all night.

Amaris allowed her eyes to close as well, dropping almost instantly into a trance-like state that would allow the time to pass unnoticed. She had once sat in this state for years at a time. One night of waiting would mean nothing to her. On her far side in relation to Ansell, the blood rune carved into her forearm pulsed, and crimson threads of blood slipped out from her wrist, dropping into the soil and creating a net just a couple inches under the soil. Beyond the edges of the clearing, the blood climbed up trees, and spun red gossamer nets in between the trunks. If anything stirred within the area, she would notice.
 
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In his mind, Ansell likened his connection to the storm as nothing more than threads; they were alive with the power in the clouds, vibrant and perhaps even dangerous if he went about undoing them the wrong way. It was all perception, and Ansell knew there was a chance that the threads he saw were merely his mind attempting to comprehend the forces he tapped into. Regardless of whatever the truth was, it was working for him. One by one, Ansell unraveled the threads, snapping back with a quake of thunder.

Ansell was awoken from his meditative state by the thunder, rolling one after another. He looked up to the sky, glad to see the lightning had finally stopped. Now, if only he could get rid of the thunder. Suddenly aware of Amaris' presence still by his side, Ansell felt the knot of unease in his stomach correct itself. The woman might've terrified him, but at least she was with him. That was more than he could've asked for, or even deserved with how he did before.

"No, no. There's no time for that," Ansell chastised himself. "Just...relax." Eyes closing, Ansell sunk deep into his mind and once more found his bond with the storm.

The imagined threads had evolved, changed from glowing strings leading back to him into a mess of coils that ensnared Ansell's very being. With his imaginary hand, Ansell hooked his fingers into the coils, feeling the thrum of electricity flow right through him. Ansell glowed, a bolt of lightning captures in flesh and bone. The power was intoxicating, difficult to loose when it was in his hands. Ansell didn't want power, as much as a part of him yearned for it, he simply wanted to be free of the storm.

Ansell gazed upon the mess of coils, evolving once more until they resembled the countless inward curls of cotton. It was frustrating, and at the place he was going, fruitless. He just couldn't through it, couldn't let go. There had to be another way, something that would work. Ansell's mind was quickly becoming a storm of it's own; thoughts swirling about on winds of rage and strife building within the clouds. Ansell wanted out of the storm, wanted it out of him. He wanted to be free, to break free.

All at once, his bond was broken, snapped as every thread, coil and curl that tied him to the force receded back from where it came. The release was dizzying and nearly painful, everything leaving him in a rush that left his limbs tingling with the remaining static.

Ansell's eyes flew open, breath leaving him in a single gasp, lungs aching and stomach feeling about to heave. Looking around, Ansell saw only darkness. For a moment, Ansell thought he'd gone blind, but that was not the case. He couldn't see as well as he had because he no longer produced light from his body. His flesh was flesh again, warm by the blood pumped by his heart.

Ansell could've cried. Was he? There was some wetness on his face, although that could've been rain.

Ansell turned to Amaris, hand reaching out to her shoulder - hesitating. He laid his hands in his lap. "Amaris, I-I did it!" Ansell said, voice slowly gaining volume as the realization of his feat sunk in. "I-" Ansell's words dropped off, a hand up to his ear, covering it from the incessant buzz that filled his head. It was low, getting louder and stronger. It sounded like -

"Lightning." Ansell whispered, horror pulling over his face. Upon his revelation, the sky ignited in a burst of lightning and thunder, rain pouring down anew, freezing and soaking through the trees. It was coming, Ansell could feel it in his bones.

Ansell locked his fingers in his hair as his breath hiked up, a fierce panic gripping his chest. "Oh no, oh no. What am I going to do, what am I going to do..." Over and over, Ansell muttered to himself.

A crackle broke in the sky, and in the split second of light, Ansell saw the clearing's air littered with floating stones. The next second was marked by an explosion of light and sound, Ansell's scream wordless.

The light didn't die down, it only got stronger. Ears ringing and eyes burning from the flash, Ansell stared ahead vision blurry and unreliable, but he didn't need sight to tell that it had finally came down.

Wings, dark and tipped with talons, stretched around the clearing, featherless and shining bright. It's body was massive and dark, plumage undulating like a cloud. A beak of gritty metal pulled together on it's face, opening into a thunderous maw, arcs of electricity playing along the sharp beak.

Ansell cowered, hand gripping Amaris' arm for dear life. "Juk-Jukh-" A hiss silenced Ansell, wincing and swallowing hard.

The bird tilted it's head, turning completely upside down. "In the flesh, whelp."
 
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Amaris' eyes would briefly flicker open to check on Ansell whenever the young man stirred or spoke, but other than those occasional moments she rested, listening to the sound of her heartbeat and the deep echo of her breath. However, those checkups meant that Amaris knew the moment the young man broke his connection with the storm. The red glow that filled her vision behind closed eyes faded away abruptly, leaving her floating in darkness.

Her eyes flicked open, pupils dilating in the near perfect darkness. A moment later she moved her gaze in the direction Ansell had been when they had sat down together, picking out his darker black from within the shadows. A small smile crossed unnoticed across her face. "Good job, kid," she praised lightly, working her way carefully to her feet to avoid breaking the blood veins that spread from her wrist and covered the nearby forest.

However, a moment later she tensed, a strange vibration filling both her body and ears. She recognized the sensation just a few moments before Ansell spoke it. Lightning.

After the darkness the flash of lighting nearly blinded Amaris, but she didn't flinch at the sudden flash, or turn her gaze away from the storm. The spots that appeared in her vision vanished almost as quickly as they appeared, and the crack of thunder that followed a split second later, or the sudden increase in the rain, didn't earn any greater reaction.

This was unnatural, and while Amaris knew full well the power a conjured storm could yield, that power should have begun to dissipate after its connection to Ansell was severed, not grow. It seemed that the young man's inability to release his connection with the storm wasn't his fault, but the fault of something else. Something that was now taking full advantage of the latent power that should have been returning to the atmosphere.

Amaris stepped forward, her gaze sharp. One of her arms lifted unconsciously, coming to rest protectively in front of Ansell's chest. She didn't know whether the young man knew about this thing, and had purposefully kept it hidden from her, or if its arrival and interference was just as much a surprise to him as it was to her. Either way, she knew that anything that behaved like this would be far from amicable when it finally appeared. If she could do anything about it, she'd rather turn its attention towards her.

The latent power swelled, and Amaris allowed her eyes to close against the corresponding flare of light, the glow casting the veins in her eyelids into stark relief.

The light faded somewhat, consumed by the creature appearing before them. Amaris' eyes flicked open again to the sound of wingbeats. The massive bird landed heavily in the clearing, wings flaring wide with another crack of lightning. A slight frown crossed Amaris' lips. It was showing off.

The normal reaction would probably have been something similar to Ansell's current behavior. It was almost certainly what the thunderbird would be expecting, but Amaris certainly wasn't following that trend. If anything, she looked frankly unimpressed.

"Well, the thing that's been causing this young man so much trouble has finally decided to grace us with its magnificent presence." Despite the fact that her words could have been flattering, they were clearly nothing but mocking. "I can't decide whether the fact that it took you so long makes you incompetent, or just an ass."
 
The clearing shook with a thunderous squawk, sky turning white with a web of lightning, the avian entity's laughter a dangerous and raucous thing. It's head swiveled once more, returning to it's original position as it gave Amaris a bright glare. It's eyes were sockets in the metal of it's head, and within them was nothing but electric arcs and mist, glowing bright with a tangible fury. A heat grew in the clearing, Ansell immediately breaking into a sweat under his clothes, staring straight at the angered entity.

"What a mouth on this one," the entity rumbled, maw cracking open not out of necessity, but to show the gleaming tongue of plasma inside it. It's stormy eyes darted to Ansell, neck twirling and lowering, so close to Ansell that the heat it emitted was uncomfortably hot on his front. "Ansell, don't tell me you were trying to hide her from me." At Ansell's terrified silence, the entity's face readjusted, metal sliding back to show a luminous grin. "How wounding, you greedy thing, you. You can't expect to keep a new plaything all to yourself, I have to have my time with her, too!" Wind sharp as a shear as the entity looked away from Ansell, looming close to Amaris, it's grin still on it's face. "And what a plaything she is, fierce and powerful." Eyes going dark as it glanced over Amaris, looking far deeper than her flesh. "I've been looking forward to meeting you."

Dirt flying up as he scrambled to get between the entity, Ansell all but threw himself in front of Amaris, arms out and face frozen in a horrified expression. "Jukheyrhileth, please, don't - d-don't hurt her! She's not to blame for this, it was all me! I was the one who stopped the storm, she had nothing to do with it!" With trembling hands, Ansell brought them together in a plead, voice hiccuping with fright. "Please, please, Jukheyrhileth, I'm begging you, just punish me."

For a moment, it looked as though Jukheyrhileth might've been considering it, facial plates sliding to form an impassive expression, cocking it's head to stare at Ansell's groveling. A light filled the clearing, an earthshaking thunder rolling over. Jukheyrhileth had laughed. As the light sunk back into the wings of the entity, it stared at Ansell with an expression that was both pleased and disgusted. "I know exactly what you did, whelp. Your pitiful attempts at controlling a storm of my creation was entertaining," a darkness came to Jukheyrhileth's face, "I have grown tired of your antics. Something as pathetic as you does not deserve the honor of containing any measure of my power."

With a booming crackle following behind, Jukheyrhileth flapped it's wings, a wind blowing through the trees to raise it up. The sky was a dark background, devoid of lightning, only the clouds to hide every last star up there. Ansell stood, dirt beneath his fingernails from gripping the ground, reaching up to the entity. Tears ran down his face, breath coming in painful hitches. "Jukheyrhileth, please! I'm-" Lightning flashed, an arc of electricity running in a jagged path at Ansell's feet, the heat alone nearly scorching him.

Jukheyrhileth's face was lost in the darkness it conjured, clouds hiding moonlight, the only light coming from the lightning it wore. "You are foolish!" It bellowed, casting down a wind that almost toppled Ansell, the shout that came from Ansell satisfying it somewhat. "Do you believe yourself to be strong? Did you think that you could hold down a god?"
 
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Amaris remained silent throughout the thunderbird's mocking rant, but anyone who had been paying attention to her would have noticed her building rage in the expression that slowly appeared on her face. Her eyes narrowed into little more than slits, her teeth clenching together until it was almost possible to see her jaw muscles standing out in relief. The occasional tremor ran down her arms, causing her fingers to twitch.

If she was being fully honest, Amaris had no reason to care about Ansell, or the abuse that was now being hurled upon him. Most likely, if anyone asked her, she would say that she had not acted out of a desire to protect the quivering young man, but instead for her own self interest. After all, she did want to knock down this bloated bird a peg or two, who dared to think of her as nothing more than a plaything.

But Ansell had treated Amaris well. He had trusted her, tried to protect her, worried for her health. Only moments ago he had cast himself to the ground in an attempt to spare her the attention of this malevolent spirit.

What less could she do than repay the favor?

As the clearing trembled under the rage of the self-proclaimed god, all of the tension abruptly left Amaris' shoulders. Her face was as cold as ice. With quiet, gentle steps she moved around the downed Ansell, her fingers brushing lightly, almost reassuringly, against his shoulder as she passed.

The eyes that were locked on Jukheyrhileth showed no such mercy.

"Both incompetent and an ass, then," Amaris continued, as though the rage of the bird and Ansell's pleas had never happened. "I've had dealings with gods before, and while your bloated ego may be enough to terrify this young man, it isn't enough to fool me. If you truly possessed the power of a god, you would not be on this plane."

Amaris took another step forward, her arms starting to spread wide. The runes at her wrist glowed for an instant, and a moment later blood began to race out of her, growing up and around her until it framed her body like the wings of an archangel. "Let me remind you why it doesn't pay to be so imperious."

And with those words, the blood behind Amaris' back roiled for half a second, swelling even larger, before it flew at Jukheyr.
 
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"No!" Ansell shouted back, his voice losing it's strength before he could get the word out. Another powerful wind struck at him, Ansell finding it hard to breathe, let alone pled to Jukheyrhileth now that it began to to with him. The wind was constant and gushing, stripping a few trees bare of their leaves before it finally died down. The sky broke open in a ripple of lightning, rain pouring down a moment later, soaking through the thin layer of Ansell's shirt. The rain hid his tears, Ansell at the paralyzing cross between fear and uncertainty. Jukheyrhileth was furious, Ansell didn't have a thought against it calling down another bolt of lightning, only this time it would strike him directly. Would it kill him, or just fry him until he couldn't stand the pain anymore? There was no telling.

On his hands and knees, Ansell shook, his sobbing kept quiet as if Jukheyrhileth would punish him for even that. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please, please forgive me!" Ansell flinched against the crackle of thunder breaking open the sky - Jukheyrhileth's laughter once again filling the air.

"Your punishment will be delivered in due time, whelp. In the meantime, I believe I shall take the pleasure of dealing with the plaything you brought me."

Ansell suddenly looked up, to Amaris, to Jukheyrhileth, shaking his head as fresh tears spilled down his cheeks. "No, no no no, please!" Ansell, fear of the woman forgotten in place of his terror concerning Jukheyrhileth, latched onto Amaris' leg. He stared up at her with wild eyes, shaking his head and silently urging her to go. She instead, moved. Ansell's grip in her leg wasn't at all strong, but still she walked on, and as she did, she touched his shoulder. "Please, no." This was his fault, he did this.

Jukheyrhileth peered down at Amaris as she spoke, it's face plates moving in a mockery of a grimace, then a smile. It spread it's wings wide, the magnetic force surrounding the shifting the metal in the ground. "Ah, so you know of gods, do you?" The entity's voice came as believing, yet condescending. "Be sure to give them my regards, then." Jukheyrhileth watched, enraptured, as Amaris bled herself out, the ludicrous amount of blood pooling from her body getting a grotesque rise out of the entity. "Magnificent," it spoke, voice low enough to tremble the earth. "The gods will just have to wait their turn, I will have take my time unraveling you!"

As Amaris released the blood she gathered at the entity, the heat in the air increased dramatically, sparks and electric bolts running through the superheated air as Jukheyrhileth let the energy continue to grow. It's face cracked open, plates shoved back until they resembled an opening flower, a surging sphere of plasma licked by a similar tongue. As the mass of blood neared, the sphere fired, sizzling the rain into evaporation as it soared down to meet Amaris' own projectile.
 
Amaris knew, without a shred of doubt, that her mass of blood would not be able to stand against the blast of plasma coming from Jukheyrhileth. She had never really expected it would. Compared to humans and normal beasts Amaris' strength was beyond compare, but next to the might of this thunderbird her direct combat power was worth little more than a passing glance.

That wasn't what made her dangerous.

The blood witch didn't even flinch as the plasma tore through her blood, nor did she look concerned at the fact that its momentum had hardly slowed from its brief conflict, nor had its size shrunk. Instead, a faint, almost crazed smile flickered across her lips as Jukheyr's projectile crashed into her, dissolving as it struck against her body.

It might have seemed as though she had died. It wouldn't be an unreasonable belief. Through the glow of the plasma, it might have been possible, for a split second, to have seen Amaris reduced to nothing but ash. But it would be wrong.

Between one blink and the next, Amaris was back, hair and clothes unruffled, bloodthirsty smile still plastered across her lips. And she certainly didn't give Jukhey enough time to react to this unexpected result.

In a split second, the blood that had crept its way unnoticed across the floor of the clearing reared up, wrapping around the legs of the mighty bird. It bit into his body, while more tendrils began to climb up his body.
 
It was extremely satisfying to see the gruesome blast of Amaris be destroyed by it's own counter, but nothing beat out the feeling of victory that burned alive in it's chest when Amaris was vaporized by the charged blast, Ansell scrambling out of the way with a cry on his lips. With her out of the way, it could get to Ansell's own punishment. What would it be today? Jukheyrhileth simply had to find out how many volts Ansell could take before he lost consciousness.

Before Jukheyrhileth could turn his attention away from the smoldering remains of Amaris, it was evident that she was never actually harmed. In fact, besides the smoking trees and grass behind her, it looked like nothing had happened. Jukheyrhileth's face broke apart, a detached grin taking form.

"Oh, you truly are something else, plaything." Just as Jukheyrhileth readied a bolt of lightning to crash down, it felt it's legs under attack, a climbing bunch of tendrils spreading upwards like veins under the skin.

Chuckling, Jukheyrhileth flapped it's wings, a vibration filling the clearing until it outright buzzed. The wings of the entity glowed, white and blinding, arcs of electricity seen against the white wings before the entity seemed to burst. The buzz only intensified to the point of inaudibility, a surge of light and electricity blasting from the body of the entity.

Hiding in the edge of the clearing, Ansell shielded himself behind a tree, not trusting himself to look to see how the fight was going. He could feel it, two powers battling against each other made a sour pit in his stomach. "Oh, god, what do I do?!" What was it that he could do?
 
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Beyond the fact that she was able to draw out far more blood than any other blood witch, Amaris was not notably more powerful than her brethren. In fact, she had met many of her clan who had been able to subdue her.

Albeit temporarily.

As time passed, Amaris had learned how to fight by using her other strength, essential invulnerability. Now her fighting style relied upon it completely. Long experience and some seemingly impossible situations had shown her that nothing that existed on this plane could harm her, or permanently trap her. And that meant that Jukheyrhileth, claims of godhood or not, would weary of the fight eventually.

Amaris was more than willing to wait for that moment. So she fought. She fought in part for Ansell, in hopes that she might be able to subdue or distract the thunderbird long enough to protect the young man from whatever "punishment" the entity thought he deserved, and Amaris knew he didn't. But mostly she fought for herself, because her pride did not allow Jukheyr's arrogance to go uncontested.

And so she fought, the waves of blood she continued to send after Jukheyr in a myriad of different forms and quantities probably nothing more than an irritant to the massive bird, but their quantity and persistence would make them impossible to ignore. And so she waited, for the "god" to run out of steam, instinct and experience telling her that something that needed to borrow the power of a storm to form a body wouldn't be able to fight forever.
 
Time and time again, the electric avian repelled the blood rushing towards it. Whether it be from a pulse of lightning, superheating the air to evaporate the blood in an instant, or simply maneuvering out of the way, the fight raged on. Amaris had gotten the entity's attention before with her unique branch of magic and peculiar physical state, but now, it was enraptured.

For all extents and purposes, Amaris' plan was unfolding without a hitch. As she kept up her flow of blood, her tactic had forced Jukheyrhileth to stay on the defensive. It had a rudimentary knowledge of just how skilled she was with it, but tact meant nothing if she could continue to keep up her relentless assault.

As the two powers clashed, lightning and blood, the clearing became a morbid sight from the result of their battle. A mist of crimson hung heavy in the air, settling down in rosy patches, bright red when lightning sparked. The smell was metallic and strong, stinging the nose of one huddling boy far from the fight.

Ansell, hand over his mouth to desperately try to rein in his breathing. It didn't work. Why would it? Depriving himself of air, no matter how much he thought he didn't need it, was a bad idea. He just couldn't think straight, the backlash of light and blood from the entity had thrown his thoughts into disarray. Whatever control he has before, as fleeting as it was, had completely left the realm of possibility.

Ansell lurched against the tree to his back, lightning crashing closer than he was comfortable with, the overpowering scent of blood only growing stronger. Tempting fate, and perhaps Jukheyr's own patience with him, Ansell peered from behind the tree to the lasting fight. It was a mess of light and crawing reds, somewhat sickening to behold, ultimately terrifying.

Ansell's voice had left him, even if he had something to say, his throat left closed shut. Silenced, fear gripping him tight.

Please, stop.

It was impossible to hear with the clash going on, but the sound of branches crushed to snapping came from the depths of the forest, Ansell oblivious to a shadowy figure emerging from the brush.

Fending off yet another reach of blood, Jukheyrhileth pulled on the storm churning above and...found it lacked quite a bit of power. Briefly stunned, the avian fought off a bloody mass with more effort than it expected. The storm had been weakened, and by relation, so had it. How long had it been fighting the woman to lose that much? The entity did not lack a shadp mind, despite appearances, it didn't take long for it to put together Amaris' plan.

Suddenly, Jukheyrhileth settled to the ground, casting a powerful field of electricity around it, in case Amaris tried anything.

"Clever, witch. Baiting me into expending more power than I should, weakening me. I have never been able to resist the call of my own intrigue, how perceptive of you." The voice that was once mocking was now...impressed. Genuinely so. It laughed, ruffling feathers grating like metal. "Thus brings our time together in combat to an end. An unexpected outcome." It raised it's beak, staring down at Amaris. "Are you always this surprising?"

Ansell held the tree like a lifeline, eyes wide and unbelieving at the sight of the entity conceding. It was - it was crazy! No, no way it was just standing down. It had to be a trap, a trick. Ansell was just about to yell and hope his voice had returned-- just until he heard something behind him.

"Who-" He whipped around before he could finish his question, eyes darting around at...nothing. Ansell shook his head, wiping the beads of sweat off his forehead. "You're just jumpy, you're scared. It's nothing." God, he hoped it was nothing.
 
After a certain length of time Amaris had been forced to hold her breath, lest she choke on the bloody mist that filled the air and break the rhythm into which the fight had settled, and allow Jukheyr to do something more drastic than defense and simple retaliation. And so it was that the momentary burning of her lungs, before it vanished as abruptly as all the wounds on her body, became a part of the rhythm. It kept time with the searing of her skin, the spasmodic jerking of her muscles, and every other wound that was inflicted upon her.

But as the air grew so dense with blood that Amaris found herself having to blink to keep it out of her eyes, and her hair hung in soppy, scarlet ribbons across her face and the back of her neck, another plan began to enter her mind. The blood might have been zapped by Jukheyr's plasma, but that didn't stop the majority of it from still being blood. And blood was her power. If it got only a bit denser, she would be able to turn the very air against the electric avian.

However, moments before her accidental plan become ready for use, something changed. Her next attack got close. She felt it strike against the thunderbird's wings, the current that cloaked his feathers evaporating the attack rather than some conscious action on his part. And then Jukheyr fell back, dropping down to the ground and cloaking himself in a barrier.

Despite the fact that she had been only moments away from being able to launch an attack against the avian that would have been stronger than any that had yet come, and delaying would cause the blood in the air to settle to the ground, Amaris did not hesitate in bringing the fight to a halt. And, unlike Ansell, Amaris did not doubt the integrity of the bird's words. There was an honesty in combat that words could never offer, and Amaris had felt how close that last attack was. By withdrawing, Jukheyr ended the fight on his terms, which was a victory of a sort, but Amaris also knew she had also proven her point.

Despite proclaiming himself a god, he hadn't been able to stand against her. He'd weakened first. He'd faltered first.

It was her victory.

A half-leer, half-smile of vindicated satisfaction crossed Amaris' face, before she collapsed into a seated position on the ground. Tremors raced through her body, muscles quivering at the half-remembered pain of the fight. Her head tilted backwards to allow her to make eye contact with Jukheyr once more, before she tipped her head forward into a slight nod of acknowledgement.

"Impressive you got that much out of a single storm." Yes, there was no denying that Junkeyr was strong. Perhaps as powerful as it was possible for him to get while still remaining on this plane. In many respects, Amaris acknowledged that he should have been a god. But he wouldn't have been here if he was. "Why are you here?"

The 'here' in her question not referring to the forest, but to this plane.
 
As Amaris succumbed to her injuries, no matter how fleeting they might've been to her, Jukheyr's barrier also fell. With a final crackle of lightning and the punishing scent of ozone frying the bloody air, it looked almost pleased that Amaris had forced it to withdraw from the fight lest it deplete it's source of power. A victory well earned, although it would never say as much. Metallic feathers ruffling over it's form, Jukheyr craned it's neck down at her, the stark ridges of it's beak cracking open at her question.

"Why don't you ask him? So willing to go so far for someone you barely know, and you don't even what he is." It's fearsome eyes landed on Ansell, who whimpered at the stare and scrambled back behind the line of trees.

It got a laugh out of the avian, turning it's head back to Amaris. Ansell was far too weak to stand in it's presence without cowering, coaxing an answer out of him would be about as fruitful as water from a rock. Besides, Amaris had won, she deserved a boon of knowledge.

"That whelp you see there contains my essence. Through him, I am tied to this plane, and to him." From it's tone of voice and the look on it's shifting face, it was obvious Jukheyr was not at all happy about the arrangement. Although, it would've been glaringly obvious to anyone, without knowing that fact, from the treatment it dealt out to Ansell. Even now, it gave the trees Ansell ducked behind a piercing glare, a smoulder in the air wilting the red and dripping leaves.

Attention fully on Amaris, it walked closer, talons leaving deep grooves in the ground. "Now, as for you, what is someone like you doing here? That power certainly doesn't compare to most regenerative talents, does it?" In all honesty, it was like nothing it'd seen someone on this plane wield. It was curious, immensely so.
 
Jukheyr wasn't the only one to glance at Ansell. Amaris, too, turned her head, breaking eye contact with the giant bird in favor of locating Ansell.

He was cowering behind one of the trees that surrounded the clearing, and other than the misty blood that clung to his hair and the look of panic on his face, he looked unharmed. It didn't honestly come as much of a surprise to Amaris. Her attacks had been carefully directed towards Jukheyr, and the giant bird was somehow tied to Ansell, and would doubtless never see him come to harm. If Amaris had truly been looking to win that fight, Ansell would likely have become one of her targets.

But that would have entirely defeated the purpose of the fight, even if the thunderbird was slightly mistaken in the reasoning behind it. Amaris hadn't really gone that far for him, but for her own principles. "He was kind," Amaris replied, despite the fact that she knew Jukheyr probably wasn't really looking for an answer as to why she had helped Ansell. He had been just as eager for the fight as she had been. "And tried to protect me, however unnecessary it might have been. I always repay what is given to me, be that kindness or insult."

Amaris listened to Jukheyr's explanation attentively, a faint furrow in her brows. It wasn't unheard of, or even uncommon, for a god to descend briefly to the mortal plane to interact with one of its worshipers. That was, in fact, the very phenomenon that had rendered Amaris to her current condition. What was unexpected, however, was the fact that he had remained. That was something gods didn't do. Couldn't do, as far as Amaris was aware, without suffering a seal on their powers that would render them to a level of power once more suitable for this plane, and no god would ever degrade themselves like that. ...Would they?

Despite her curiosity, and the fact that Jukheyr hadn't entirely answered the question to her satisfaction, Amaris allowed the matter to rest for the moment. This time, the question was turned to her. She didn't flinch or retreat as Jukheyr approached. He'd answered her question, now it was time for her to repay the favor.

It wasn't as though she had any particular reason to keep it secret, after all. It didn't matter if people knew, there was nothing they could do about it.

"That's because it isn't regeneration. It is closer to... regression. I am static. Any change to my being will not be tolerated, and will be reverted." Amaris frowned slightly. "So I shall always be here. I cannot weaken, cannot degrade, but I cannot grow either."
 
Ansell hadn't expected the two of them to start talking. If anything, he thought what was quickly becoming a moment of ceasefire to evolve into an all-out assault. No, for the sake of everyone involved, it didn't seem to be getting any more tense, but it also wasn't winding down.

Fingers wearing on the bark, Ansell stuck out his ear to try to make out just what they were talking about. Ansell couldn't imagine Jukheyrhileth was being anything but it's always aggravating self, and he could handle that, had been for years, but how would Amaris take it? Not well, from the looks of the clearing, all bloody and smelling of lightning strikes.

A twig snapped behind Ansell, and he froze round, a frightened gasp making it out of his throat. So there was something watching him. He knew it. He knew it, he knew it, he knew it!

He stayed still, every muscle in his body screaming to stay completely grounded, not even breathing. Ansell called to the lightning, and for the first time, he regretted not having it at his fingertips.

Slowly, he turned, a shuddering breath taken as he did. Out the corner of his eye, he saw it. The forest was dark, but it had a silhouette, but most importantly it had a feeling to it. One he recognized, if only in passing.

The dark thing neared, and Ansell gasped. "It's you."

As Jukheyr listened closely to Amaris' explanation of her strange and wonderous ability, it's eyes focused solely on the peculiar witch. Her frown wasn't missed, not when Jukheyr looked as determined to narrow in like a vulture over a carcass. A shiver ran over it's feathers, metallic clicking from the buzz of electricity, the smell of ozone bursting into the bloody air. "My, my, what a way with words you have. Perhaps there's some use to that tongue than spouting insolence." The words were said without any of the bite before, stated as a simple fact according to the avian.

It's eyes roamed over Amaris, as if checking if she told the truth. As aggressive as the presumed god was, it was not without observational might. Amaris was free of anything that would imply pain, or even the slightest discomfort. It had not held back during their clash, and yet the witch remained, alive and well for it.

"How long will this place remain, I wonder," the avian mused, head raising to the sky, a dark expanse of rolling clouds and thunder. "Until all is but dust, and then, scattered throughout the spaces between. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for a bloody spot." Head cocking at an odd angle, it's gaze fell on the trees, and behind them, Ansell. A cruel grimace came to it's face.

"Ansell, since we're all acquainted, why don't you introduce me properly to your friend?" A crackle of lightning gathering under it's wing, stretching towards the trees, a tug of magnetic power extending from it's body towards the edge of the clearing.

Under the ground, coming to the surface in a burst of dirt and roots, the trees toppled under the pull of raw metals. A cloud of dust rose up, pebbles falling onto the clearing, the magnetic force dispating as suddenly as it was made. As the dust settled, Jukheyr wore a pleased smirk. How Ansell would tremble, so scared for not his own well being, but for what it might so to his precious witch.

If only he were actually there, because as it turned out, he wasn't.

Jukheyr stared on, a bizarre flash of fury and honest confusion coming to it's shifting face. It's eyes searched the edge of trees, slow and measured, not looking exactly worried, so far.

"Run off, again? Don't be so dramatic, Ansell, it doesn't suit you." Silence came from the forest, nothing but the drag of wind through the canopies. Jukheyr's expression didn't waver, it only shut it's eyes, growing still. It delve into the bond, the one that was often strained and blurry, but strong regardless. It traveled through it, and what it found was -

"Nothing." It spoke, voice monotone. It's eyes moved to Amaris, narrowing and glowing bright. "Where's the boy, witch?"
 
Amaris frowned slightly at Jukheyr's behavior, but did not intervene on Ansell's behalf on this instance. All the same, the crackle of electricity that raced towards the tree wasn't the only force building in the clearing. As casually as she had set it aside when the fight had ended, Amaris now re-gathered the tension in the air, and her willingness to resume the fight. Jukheyr's arrogance was not going to change in a split-second, but Amaris was nothing if not dogged when she set her mind to something. She knew from their previous entanglement that she was far more willing to engage at any moment than the thunderbird was, and persist as long as she had to. The threat of a fight between them would always be looming in the air, and she would step in whenever she felt it was necessary, in order to protect Ansell's honor. Even if he was unwilling to do it himself.

So instead of watching the tree topple, Amaris' gaze was locked onto Jukheyr, waiting for the moment when he crossed some invisible line that even she wouldn't have been able to articulate, but which she knew she would feel in her gut when it happened.

What happened instead was entirely unexpected. She saw the smallest traces of concern in the thunderbird's eye. All through their fight, she had never seen anything but self-assurance, even when the creature had brought their fight to an end.

Now her gaze turned towards the toppled tree, her own gaze sharp, looking for any trace of Ansell, any clue about where he could have disappeared to. As Jukheyr continued to speak, prompting Ansell to come out, Amaris began to walk over to the spot she had seen the young man only a minute ago, a sense of anxiety prickling the back of her own neck.

There was nothing nearby to mark his passage, and that made Amaris all the more concerned. Ansell might be relatively familiar with the forest, but he was no woodsman. She would have been able to follow the traces of his passage through the forest with her eyes shut. But now, it was as though he had simply disappeared, swallowed into the earth or scooped up into the sky. Neither of which were impossibilities, but whatever had happened also hadn't disturbed her net of blood, and that meant it was dangerous. Immensely so.

Well, if she couldn't find traces of Ansell, she'd have to find traces of the thing that took... Her train of thought was abruptly interrupted by the sound of Jukheyr spitting out bitter words in her direction. Amaris didn't bother to turn around to meet his gaze. "Don't be dumb," she snapped back, equally fierce. "I did nothing, and if you considered that for half a second instead of spitting out the first thought to pop up in that birdbrain of yours, you would know that too."

Satisfied with her rebuke, Amaris turned her attention back to the forest, kneeling down to place her hand against the ground. A trickle of blood emerged from her wrist, before stretching down towards the forest floor Abruptly, the weave she had left behind began to emit faint traces of pulsing light, the same reddish glow as the orb she had carried in her hand before.

"There," Amaris abruptly proclaimed, her gaze turning towards a dark shadow on the ground. Nestled cleanly among the pine needles, almost as though left there on purpose, was an alien track. "What made that?"
 
After a tangible roll of frustration through the bloody ozone, a current traveled through the air to burst into form beside Amaris, Jukheyr's metal parts smashing together in a flash of sparks. For the most part, it appeared smaller; it's form had shrunken considerably, bulk of it's metal folded into internal structures, it's weight much greater at the benefit of being more anatomical and maneuverable. As it was, it stood just a few heads taller than Amaris herself.

It's feathers were fully ruffled, sticking up like quills along it's body, that near constant tremor of anger puffing up it's plumage under it's neck. Neck stretching out to stare down at the track Amaris had highlighted, Jukheyr let out a scoff at the single impression.

"Am I supposed to know?" Jukheyr gritted, beak sliding forward in the mockery of a jutted chin. "What does it matter what made it? Whatever did will suffer the same death as anything else in these woods." Despite it's impatient words, the importance of the track was not lost on the entity. Whatever had been there had been uncomfortably close to Ansell, and whatever it was had left a track Jukheyr couldn't recognize.

It was unlike the wide and elongated prints of the beasts that had roamed the woods and the town for so long, nor was it anything more natural. In all honesty, Jukheyr hoped it was nothing more than those horrid beasts. Ansell would have a better chance handling one of those in any case.

Fuming and producing an static quality to the air that smelt strongly of iron and ozone, Jukheyr spread it's wings, a collection of lightning pulled to flare out over its rigid feathers. "Hurry and return to your tracking, witch. The faster we find the whelp the better." In a streak, Jukheyr had soared upwards, the rumble of thunder carrying it away.

In the minutes after the electric wake Jukheyr left, the gust of wind it had created had cleared the air, so the speak. On the edge of the cleaning, where blood dripped from tree limbs and leaves alike, a brief respite from the odor of gore had come over the area. In the few moments, there drifted a strangely alluring scent. It was fresh, floral and sweet, almost bitterly so. The shade of the forest hid much of the plantlife, but for someone to the hunting skills of Amaris, seeking out such a smell would've been child's play.

The smell came from where Ansell would've stood, and had stood, according to where his footprints had settled into the fallen leaves and pine. In the pit of one of his shuffling footprints, there laid embedded in the muck, was a sliver of a pink flower. Daphne, a flower grown of both beauty and poison.
 
"We, he said," Amaris said, a scoff in her tone and a glare cast in the direction of the rapidly shrinking form of the metallic bird. "We." Someday, she'd have to make another attempt at teaching that birdbrain some manners, but now wasn't the moment for it. Under other circumstances her pride would have prompted her to abandon the search in punishment for Jukheyr's behavior, but none of this had ever been about the bird. No, her traipse into the forest, the battle with the thunderbird, and now this search, they were all for Ansell. Jukheyr was simply a side effect of everything else.

Amaris bent back down, examining the track closer. Something about it was bothering her. The clearing was a mess of blood after their battle, but most of it was covered in the detritus of pine duff. This one bare patch of earth was practically unique in the clearing, yet here there was, a footprint perfectly centered in it. The creature that left it was either completely senseless, in which case it was doubtful that it would have approached such a ferocious battle, or it was taunting her.

It was at that moment that a faint scent suddenly reached Amaris, causing her eyes to break away from the track and her nose to wrinkle slightly. She pivoted slightly on her feet, catching sight of a flower at the base of the uprooted tree.

In some respects, it was lucky that the tangled mass of roots that had accompanied the falling tree hadn't disturbed the flower. In other respects, Amaris wished it simply didn't exist. She stood up abruptly, marching over to the flower with stiff movements. There weren't many flowers that could release such a smell with only a single bloom, and even fewer that grew in this part of the world. She bent down, scooping up the bruised bulb in one hand, before lifting it towards her nose.

"Daphne," Amaris spat out, her hand curling into a ball over the flower. For a moment her hand jerked, as though she was tempted to cast the bloom from her, before she tucked it instead into one of her few undamaged pant pockets. Daphne was a rare flower, not one easily stumbled across, and the primary ingredient in many types of potent poisons. There was no telling when a flower like this would become useful.

But its rarity also meant that there was no chance this flower's position was coincidental, and it confirmed the suspicion Amaris had been feeling earlier. "Intelligent," she murmured. Her eyes turned back to the footprint. "And taunting me."

These two clues might not seem like much to go on, but for Amaris it was already providing ample information. Both the flower and the footprint had been placed with great care and consideration, one a taunt of just what way she would have to go to find Ansell, the other a promise of what would happen if she didn't take the risk and follow. But that wasn't actually the most significant clue Amaris had found. The most interesting piece of information was that whatever had taken Ansell had left these two things behind in the middle of a fight that had enough destructive power to level the average town. This meant that the creature, having witnessed this battle, still considered itself strong enough to toy with the two of them.

Well, it was no mystery how Amaris felt about that kind of arrogance. Something remarkably resembling a snarl crossed her face. "Very well then, master of this forest. I'll play your game." There was something weird happening to Amaris' face. Her pale skin was growing flushed, as the veins and arteries darkened to bruise like colors as the blood under her skin thickened. Her pale eyes grew bloodshot. "I hope you don't regret it."

And with that last, ominous phrase, she ducked under a branch and raced into the depths of the forest.
 
  • Nice Execution!
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