• Closed • [Global Event] Crossed Swords [Side Challenge]

[Doran]

Vhalar 14, Arc 716

The Mortalborn had been wondering about the purpose of their journey since his father had come to visit him in the middle of the night, said strange words to him and left a message that had been stranger still. Since he had boarded the ship that was as old as he was or perhaps even older, he had been wondering what kind of task would require such a motley group of people that included a house slave and a tutor. Was it all some sort of macabre joke? Had Ziell decided that his time on Idalos was over after all?

He looked at the blind man that steered the ship through the ocean, hoping for an answer, but of course no answer came, and in the end he abruptly turned around again. He picked up the small bag he had brought with him and deposited it in an empty cabin before he went on deck once more. A few of his fellow adventurers would likely spend the time at sea idly, chat, sleep, eat, but he had lived too long and seen too much to be as foolish. He thought it more prudent to prepare for what awaited them at Death’s Door.

He found a spot where he was unlikely to be in anybody’s way, pulled his old longsword out of its sheath and thoughtfully let a gloved hand run across the blade. An eternity had passed since he had last used it, but it was still as sharp as it had ever been. He had been a very different man back then, not a teacher and not yet an alchemist, a more violent and perhaps slightly simpler man, but as he began to go through a couple of different moves to warm up he found that the memories quickly came back again.

After a while he took his hooded cloak off as he had begun to feel slightly hot and allowed himself a short pause. The blind man still stood where he had always been, safely steering the ship towards their destination, as if he never felt the need to eat or drink or rest.

Somewhere else he spotted the scarred man that had already caught his attention when he had first boarded the ship with his cloak that bore a dragon. Some would likely question the usefulness of a man that lacked a hand and an eye, but to him it was a sign that he had come face to face with death and survived. He, perhaps more than most, would not underestimate the dangers that they would encounter on their mission.

He inclined his head respectfully, odd perhaps, if one considered who he was and what kind of powers he wielded before he raised his blade and inquired, “Would you be interested in joining me?”

[Aeon]

It had been some time since the boat had set sail, with several dozen men and women on board. Some were fighters, soldiers, some were artists, some craftsmen, and there was even a slave on the ship. For what reason was Velma summoned was truly a mystery to the young skyrider, but he tried not to bother his mind with that too much. There were more pressing concerns, like what was going to happen once they reached Ne'haer.

Aeon's mind was filled with ideas, and most of them were about the Immortals using the poor souls as cover from the shadows, while they do their thing, or just using the mortals as scapegoats. It was horrendous, what they just might do with all of the men and women on the ship, and yet the skyrider needed to believe that it wasn't going to be like that. He needed to believe that even the Immortals had some honor in them, and that they wouldn't raise an ancient ship form the depths of the ocean only to kill so many people that boarded it. He could not let his hope be destroyed, and yet it was, slowly but surely, getting demolished by seeing the people around him. They weren't trained soldiers, they weren't fit for this, and neither was he. He was a cripple, what could he do against a threat that the Immortals needed help with?

Then, all of a sudden, as Aeon was leaning towards the water, letting his pure black cloak rub the wet wood, a man spoke to him from one of his sides, holding a sword. The Sun affected Aeon very little, as he grew more and more accustomed to training out in the Hot Cycle's Suns throughout his days a squire. Those days were not that long ago, now that he considered it, and he still hadn't gotten used to wearing the silver wings he was awarded, even though they were the only thing that made his status visible to the public. They rested within his deep right pocket, only to be played with every now and then.

Nodding at the man's question, Aeon had not drew his sword yet, unlike the man walking alongside him. Not until they found a clearing in which they could not harm any other person on the ship that is. Then, when the dust was settled, and both of them stood still ready for it to begin, Aeon smiled a deep and honest smile, thinking that, if they were all going to die pointless deaths, he should at least be remembered as a happy person by the Immortals.

"Aeon." He said, not really being up for shaking hands, as his only one was already holding the replica of the first blazer's blade. No matter if a reply came from the bearded man or not, Aeon would still draw his sword and stay still in the Fool guard stance. It was the one he got closest and most personal to, and with only one hand, that stance was rather comfortable for him. Of course, his, one-handed, rebalanced Fool guard was in some ways different than what most thought it to be, but not enough to be the determining factor in a battle to the death. Aeon even considered his stance to be a better variation of the actual Fool guard.

"Go first." The skyrider said to the man in front of him. It is always better to await your opponent's move than to go first, and Aeon learned that only a bit too late. "You don't look like the soldier type to me. What is your cause for being here, risking your life for a possibly pointless cause?" The young man would have been intrigued by Doran's answer, no matter what it was, seeing how he needed to know why the others did what they did and followed the voice of the woman from the dream. He wouldn't judge them, or tell them they were wrong, he just needed to know, to have hope. And besides that, this wasn't a true duel, a true battle, and some conversation wouldn't hurt.

[Doran]

"Doran", the Mortalborn replied as Aeon introduced himself. He did not smile, finding such behaviour when they were on a journey from which some of them would likely not return, inappropriate. The expression on his face was polite enough though, albeit a hint cool. The one eyed man, he noted, was several arcs younger than he appeared to be and of slightly below average height. Before he had been wounded, he must have been good looking and received a fair amount of female attention. Even the scars could not hide that.

The Mortalborn allowed himself to watch how he moved for a few moments and took note of how he settled into his stance and held his blade point down, seemingly leaving himself open to attack. It seemed as if his opponent wanted him to make the first move. It was a fact that he was not particularly fond of as he would have no way of telling how experienced Aeon was. There was nothing that he could do about it though without labelling himself a coward and losing his face, and thus he decided to move forward, settling in the Roof Guard as he did so.

Since Aeon’s blade was pointing down, he decided to strike from above, extending his arms and holding his sword above his head before he moved it downward diagonally from upper right to lower left in what was commonly called an Oberhau. If his attack was successful, he would finish in the Fool’s Guards, mimicking Aeon to some extent. His movements were somewhat slow and not without flaws due to a relative lack of recent combat experience apart from one fight against a horde of shadow creatures, but he was not ashamed of it. He simply recognized the fact - and that one could only improve through practice.

"Ziell came to my house shortly before dawn", he replied as Aeon asked him why he was there, deciding that there could be no harm in revealing that fact, although he would refrain from telling him about his more personal connection to the Immortal, for now as that always carried a certain risk with it. "He gave me a message before he abruptly left again. I would not call this cause pointless or even possibly pointless though. The Immortals never do anything without a good reason, although I have yet to find out what kind of reason they could have had to gather such a diverse group."

The barest hint of a frown was visible on his face as he said that. He paused for a moment before he continued, "You are right of course. I’m not a soldier although I learned the basics of sword fighting once upon a time. I am a professor at Rynmere University, a chemist and an alchemist first and foremost and occasionally something of a healer. And what about you? You seem to have seen more fights than most of us. Did Ziell approach you and tell you to board this ship as well?"

He had been wondering about that since his father had come to visit him that morning. Had Ziell spoken to all of them or had they all been sent by different Immortals – and why?

[Aeon]

There was chill in the air around the man's words, as the introduction came. Could he have been sore because of this sudden journey, or was this Doran person always cold and serious? As close as Aeon got to the world of the adults, and the world of seriousness, he still could not believe that there were people that didn't smile. A smile was the one thing to heat someone up during a cold Cylus day, or to bring hope to someone who believed all was lost.

As Doran raised his sword and made his way towards the skyrider, Aeon considered a counter, but thought it would be better to just take his time and dodge the man's attack. And so he did, by clashing his blade on the man's briefly, while turning for three hundred and sixty degrees only to walk away from Doran facing the opposite way. The man could have stumbled from the sudden reaction of Aeon's, or he could have done it the cooler, and slower way, like the skyrider, but in any case, the two would've basically switched spots on the training field they chose on the wooden floor.

Ziell.. the young one just couldn't hold a gasp, considering Ziell was one of the more renowned Immortals in Warrick, or at least to Aeon's father. "I think that we are all just scapegoats to them, but you seem to be fond of the Immortals, is there a reason?" The scarred sergeant asked, while spinning his blade several times in his hand, readying for an attack, it was his turn to strike anyways.

"I was visited by a woman, in a dream." He smiled, slowly shifting his gaze towards the Sun before continuing the monologue. "Iron hand." Aeon mumbled, while letting his eyes fall down back to the man's feet. It was truly hard to look at the dark features of Doran's after being burned by the striking Sun like that. "And yes, I have seen some battles, and I presumed that is why I was called upon this ship by the Immortals, but now that I'm looking around towards all of the different people here, I am not sure what to believe in. There are many who outclass me in a fight, and there are even more that outclass most of the men and women on board too, and yet I can't see them here."

The man's fighting style was rusty, and not so perfected, so Aeon wondered how long had passed since once upon a time. Sure, he knew how to wield a blade, but Doran didn't appear to know how to do more advanced things like adjusting to the opponent's moves. The young skyrider was planning on utilizing that, as he moved slowly towards him, and turning the slow paced thudding sound into a quicker, lighter sound by running.

Moving from the plough guard Aeon ended up in after the displacement of the man's slash, straight into the strike from underneath. It was truly a messed up move many would consider foul in a fair duel, considering it was dealt with a single hand on the blade, and yet the skyrider cared little about the rules at this point in time. The shadows surely weren't going to be fighting by the rules, and so why would they? They would just be giving those monsters an advantage if they did it that way.

The slash would've come from Aeon's left side, and ended up somewhere above his right shoulder, though the young man would not stop there. If his slash was unsuccessful, which it most likely would've been, seeing how the man was in a guard that could easily displace it, the young one would proceed into "mutating", as it was called, his failed slash into a straight thrust towards the University teacher's heart. Of course, if this one was to somehow land, Aeon would stop before piercing the man, as it was just a sparring match, and nothing more. Still, the skyrider had his doubts about his plan working. The man he was dueling looked smart, so the chances of him just letting the younger man fool around and get everything his way was low.

[Doran]

He had expected Aeon to try and parry his attack and was already devising a possible counter-attack, but to his surprise the man just dodged, and he suddenly found himself standing where his opponent had been just a trill before. The move caught him rather off-guard, although he managed to keep himself from stumbling. As they stood there, facing each other once more, he nodded, signaling the man that he was impressed before he replied somewhat vaguely,

“I have made the acquaintance of certain Immortals, especially the Lord of Winter. We are not their scapegoats, at least not all of us and not all the time. They need us just like we need them.” The tone of his voice was confident and firm, and he looked directly into Aeon’s eyes as he spoke, hoping to, perhaps, change his mind a little. It did not make sense to him that somebody would have such a low opinion of his father’s people, although he had occasionally experienced their irrationality and cruelty firsthand.

As Aeon spoke of the woman that had visited him in a dream, he raised an eyebrow in surprise. Apparently there was more than one Immortal involved in this strange mission. “Do you know her name?” he wanted to know. He wondered if she had been somebody that he worshipped, but then again he didn’t seem to be a particularly religious man, judging by what he had said which made the entire issue even more mysterious.

“Perhaps”, he guessed as Aeon noted the absence of people that were more skilled in combat than he was. He had been wondering about that as well. “The Immortals have need of more than just warriors. Perhaps there is more than just a battle waiting for us at Death’s Door.” Having said that, he readied his sword again, still in the Fool’s Guard, with the tip of his sword pointing forward and down towards the wooden floor.

As Aeon executed his slash, the Mortalborn moved to intercept it, only to realize that his opponent’s sword changed its course in mid-attack, and he turned a slash into a thrust that would have pierced his chest and killed him or caused serious injury had this been a real fight. He had half expected the man to use such tricks. Whatever dark creatures awaited them on the other side of the ocean would not adhere to any rules either, but be out for their blood and their souls and do whatever they could to kill them.

Rather than pedaling backwards – as such a move would likely only result in Aeon following him and eventually pushing him against the ship’s walls and keeping him from moving – he stepped slightly to the side and then moved to set aside his opponent’s blade, using the strong his sword so that it would not be pushed away as easily.

Since simply standing in a guard and defending himself whenever Aeon moved against him would likely not deter his opponent sufficiently though, especially not in a real fight, he attempted to aim for Aeon’s upper body at the same time that he tried to deflect the thrust towards his chest. It was a rather straight-forward move in comparison to the one that the scarred man had made and not as perfectly executed, although the fact that he had two hands might give him a small advantage over the man who still had to adjust to fighting one-handed.

“Have you ever been to Ne’haer?” he asked Aeon once they had each made their moves, wondering if he was the only one that was at all familiar with their destination and that might have an idea where to turn, who to talk to – and where to go if everything went wrong. “I used to live there, a couple of arcs ago before I accepted the job offer in Andaris.”

[Aeon]

"How can you be sure? Firstly, why do we need them? It's not as if our lives depend on their happiness, or their well-being. And secondly, how can you know they need us? For all you know, your acquaintances might have tricked you. With all of their powers, it's hard for me to understand why would they need us, people with nothing to offer but our meat as shields. Perhaps it is their powers that drove them to using humanity for their own selfish goals? And if that's the case, they might have been using you the longest."

It was just a theory Aeon kept bouncing around his mind, and the words of the man opposing him simply served to fuel it. To fuel his feelings of frustration, perhaps even anger towards the divine beings. If it wasn't for all the mortals that believed the story of the Immortals, the young sergeant would not have even come on the boat. But they needed to be protected, in case the Immortals were in fact just using them as scapegoats, and Aeon would do as much as he could to protect them all. Nobody was going to die, no, only over his cold dead body.

"No, first time I saw her, and she wasn't very open for a two-sided conversation." Even though his words may have been serious, perhaps even cold, his expression, and the tone of the young one's voice was everything but that. All he needed was to fall into yet another stage of depression, considering these events were not striking him lightly. Only thinking about what could happen to all of those people that blindly followed a divine being's calling made him sick, but they were sparring, and sickness was not good for sparring.

Death's door.. he never heard Ne'haer being called that, and yet for this very situation, it could not have a more suitable name. They were, both literally and figuratively, going straight for death's door, and if they didn't all die there, it'd be a miracle. Still, that drove the boy to thinking, as he gazed upon the blue skies, miracles aren't just stories told to children, he saw a miracle, a horrifying one, but a miracle, and his recovery, it was also a miracle, he wasn't supposed to be able to walk yet, and he was already up and fighting.

The dodge Doran pulled was not as unexpected by the young soldier as his next move was, seeing how Aeon wasn't exactly prepared for such a quick counterattack. If he had two hands at his disposal, he would've most likely been able to keep going with the attacks, and fend off the longsword of his sparring partner while doing it, but not like this. It was impossible for him to change the thrust into a more appropriate move, considering he couldn't move the blade as accurately or as quickly as he once could, as so the only thing he could do was to attempt to get away.

His opponent's blade had successfully stopped his own, and just barely scratched alongside the left side of his cloak, before the Aeon pulled away and fell onto his side, managing to land with his right elbow. Not a trill had passed before the young sergeant was back on his feet, and sweat had started making its way down across his face. This man definitely knew his swords, even though he had no formal training in it, or so the boy presumed. Their match, if going to death, would've been done by now, and so Aeon relaxed his muscles just enough, just as the smile spread across his face once more. Those intense moments of fighting can often stop him from smiling.

"I've never actually left Rynmere, even though I've considered doing so multiple times." The young one said, with his mind stretching back to simpler times. This happened very often since the civil war began, and for some reason, Aeon found comfort in the simple and peaceful life he once led. Never did he imagine all of this happening when he signed up for the Iron Hand. What did he expect, on that note? "How is it like there, I've not heard much about Ne'haer."

After the man would reply, the young one finally decided to rest his sword away from the fool guard he was in up until that point. "You know, considering you don't have proper army training, this is impressive. I would've been dead now, if this was for real." Fighting simple thugs on the road was one thing Aeon could manage without any hands, but fighting seriously with serious fighters, he still needed to adjust to his new crippled state to be able to do that. In any case, their match was done, unless the man would propose a rematch, since being cut by an opponent, even so lightly like in their battle, and being forced onto the ground, was something Aeon considered a loss.

[Doran]

“We provide the Immortals with a purpose”, Doran spoke as Aeon wanted to know why the Immortals needed them, even though he did not really consider himself a part of the ‘we’. He was different from most of the people on the ship. He was more and could see things that they didn’t. As he looked at him, the mortal that stood before him, he could not help but wonder how he could be so unaware of the things that were going on around him. How could it be that he knew nothing of the history of the world that he lived in, of the history of his own people?

“And we came to be because of them. Our history is closely tied to theirs. If they were not here, interfering, Idalos itself might eventually cease to exist. There is a balance that needs to be upheld”, he continued. He said nothing to Aeon’s accusation that they might have used him the longest, although he had recently begun to wonder about it, almost against his will. Little did he knew that his faith in the Immortals would already be utterly shattered but a few breaks later, when shadow beasts would attack and most of the so called chosen would turn out to be weak and incompetent.

As Aeon spoke further of the woman that had visited him in his dream, he nodded. “That was what bothered me about Ziell’s visit as well”, he admitted. “I was informed that I needed to be here, but not why.” He had thought that his father would be more forthcoming with information, that he would reveal to his own Mortalborn what was really going on, but perhaps he did not really care about those half-blooded children that he had fathered. Or was he being unfair to the divine being that was responsible for his existence?

Perhaps it was because of those beginning doubts and that anger that lingered just below the surface that he tried so hard to win the upper hand in their fight. He realized that Aeon was surprised by his move, but he did not allow himself to be careless. It would not be over until one of them lost his weapon or was lying on the ground. As the other man fell, he hesitated for a moment before he extended his hand to help him up, but by then Aeon had already risen to his feet again on his own.

“You don’t need to be in the army to know how to use a weapon”, he let him know. He did not smile, but he was a little more relaxed now and lowered his sword before he finally sheathed it. As Aeon stated that he would be dead if this were a real fight, he nodded. “A second fight might end differently though”, he spoke. He did not say that to comfort him and make him feel better about his defeat – he found such behaviour to be counter-productive - but because it was a fact as far as he was concerned.

“As for Ne’haer”, he continued, remembering that the mortal had asked about it. “It’s a beautiful city made of white stone. Its citizens have religious freedom, and slavery does not exist. It is also named ‘Death’s Door’ though as I mentioned before.” His gaze darkened almost imperceptibly as he said that. “That could be considered a bad omen, if one believes in such things”, he remarked with a hint of contempt although he could not help but secretly wonder how many of the people on the ship would see Andaris again.

[Aeon]

A purpose? Aeon couldn't see what kind of purpose they gave the Immortals, unless it was meant to be a purpose for those selfish, sadistic Immortals that used them as chewtoys and guinea pigs. Did this man truly know more about the Immortals than the general public? There weren't many Ryns that thought this way of the divine beings, seeing how they were all mostly Rylists. As far as Aeon knew, of course, and he did not know much about the majority of people in Rynmere, nor about the Immortals, so his opinion was not exactly of much value.

Balance..if the Immortals are truly meant to uphold balance, then why throw the mortals at each other like children throw toys in the middle of their heated games. The more he talked with this Doran person, the more frustration the skyrider's face seemed to be expressing. Not against his sparring partner however, but against the Immortals. Everything the mortalborn said in defense of the divine beings just fueled Aeon's disliking of them.

"Perhaps we'll learn soon. Perhaps we'll all die before learning. Who knows?" The young one calmed himself once again, regaining his lost temper. This man didn't deserve to see the skyrider's frustrations towards the Immortals, and so, why would Aeon force him to see it? All this ship full of dead men and women needed was yet another pessimistic depressed person talking about how they'd all die sooner rather than later. They needed the morale which not even the boy had within himself, as his thoughts drifted farther and farther away from the happiness and joy he once had. The hope was still there, somewhere, but it wasn't the hope that was the main emotion Aeon felt at that moment, it was fear. And not fear for himself, or his life, since he was already a dead man walking, he had been ever since the battle. Escaping death's silent, and yet teasing, jaws was something that made men quite careless when they approached the door that led to the unpredictable mistress again. It was fear for his comrades, for the ones that went on the boat, and the ones that didn't, the people in Ne'haer too, since Aeon could only imagine what kind of horrors went on in that city, since not even the Immortals could solve it by themselves.

"Sounds like a misfit of a name, if the city is as you speak of it." The young one smiled with brightness, as he tried, but failed, to think of why the city was given that nickname. Who knew? Perhaps it led to Immortality, and so the door was away from death, or perhaps it was built upon the unthinkable, or even something else. "Do you know why it's called that way? I mean, are we going to or from Death right now? The name is quite strange, in my opinion." Just as he finished the question, the boy sheathed his blade after having it dangle in his hand for almost a bit, and started making his thuddy was across the wooden deck back to his own little corner of the dancing seas, and the endless thoughts. Who knew if he'd ever get to see this, perhaps, older man again, and in what shape or form? It wouldn't be surprising for Aeon if the next time the two met was in the afterlife, or whatever came after the lady of Death took you completely for her.

[Doran]

“I do not intend to die before I have learned a few more things about this world“, the Mortalborn spoke, lying, as he often did to hide his true nature. In fact he did not intend to die at all, but live until Idalos itself ceased to exist, and the twin suns fell from the sky, even if it meant that he would have to use his abilities sparingly and rely on more conventional means to increase his power. Unlike Aeon he was not afraid, not for himself and certainly not for the men and women that surrounded them. What he mainly felt was frustration, that he was trapped in a situation that he seemed to be unable to change for now and that he had not been given any more information than the mortals he was travelling with. If his father had trusted him, he could accomplish so much more.

“It is rather ill fitting”, he agreed with Aeon. “Unfortunately I do not know why Ne’haer was given such an ominous nickname. I nearly died there once, a few arcs ago, but one man that is briefly on the brink of death matters little in the long run. Perhaps we will find out more though once we have reached our destination.” He had the feeling that they would and that they would not like what they saw. Everything about the mission gave him a bad feeling. But as he had already concluded before, there was little he could do about it until the journey was over, apart from practicing to make it harder for whatever dark creatures awaited them on the other side of the ocean.

As Aeon sheathed his blade and walked over to his own little corner of the deck, he bade him farewell and briefly watched him. Despite the fact that the human had lost their fight and was missing a hand and despite the fact that their attitudes differed greatly, he decided, he was one of the few he would want to have by his side during the final fight.

[Pegasus]

Doran

Points!:

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/ 5
Structure: 5/ 5

Knowledge:

Combat: Blades: Muscle Memory is a real thing.
Combat: Blades: Roof guard
Combat: Blades: Fools guard
Combat: Blades: Oberhau
Combat: Blades: Slight movements to avoid blows
Detection: Watching how someone moves before a fight
Aeon: Scarred
Aeon: Visited by a woman in a dream

Loot:

NA

Fame:

+4 (Victory in single combat)

Magic:

These points may NOT be used for arcana

Aeon

Points!:

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/ 5
Structure: 5/ 5

Knowledge:

Combat: Blades: Regaining balance after a stumble
Combat: Blades: 360 degree turn as defence
Combat: Blades: Feint
Combat: Blades: Mutating one blow into another
Discipline: Controlling your frustration
Doran: Doesn't smile
Doran: Visited by Ziell
Doran: Professor of Chemistry and Alchemy
Doran: Used to live in Ne'haer
Doran: Believes mortals give the immortals purpose
Ne'haer: Also called 'Death's Door'

Loot:

NA

Fame:

NA

Magic:

These points may NOT be used for arcana

Overview:

General comments. A fun, interesting, well written thread between two very different pcs. Great to see the interaction and the internal dialogue to back up the actual talking. Good thread, good pace.
Story A well written, cohesive and fun to read thread. Good story of two people meeting from polar opposite ends of a spectrum. Who knows where they'll end up.
Structure All good!

Please do PM me if you think I've missed anything or you have any questions!