14 Ashan 719 | Balthazar Black | Outside Yaralon
"You are of like me. Tainted blood flows through you. Spark-fested blood. I will cleanse you." The man said as his hand tightened around the handle of his hammer. There was a certain madness behind the man's eyes that Balthazar could see clear as day. Balthazar recognized the madness. He'd seen it one other time in his life and that was when Morgan flayed his master Xanax. Balthazar recognized the thirst in the man's eyes and it frightened him. Balthazar hadn't been really frightened in a long time. He didn't know how to classify this enemy so he decided to bulk the man in with every other mage hunter. So what if this one happened to also want to flay him?
Balthazar lifted his hands in a peaceful gesture. "Don't do this. I don't want to-" Balthazar began to plead but the man angrily hefted his war hammer off the ground and thrust it in Balthazar's direction. Balthazar's eyes darted around, quickly trying to chart a path back up the Crags. The mage hunter stood between Balthazar and the path up the Crags that Balthazar had forged a few bits ago. Getting around him wouldn't be nearly as difficult a task as getting away from him would be. Balthazar had no desire to test himself against the mage hunter but he wasn't sure he could flee up the slope fast enough. Unfortunately, he didn't get any more time to think it over.
"Enough! Give me your spark!" And with that the man ran at Balthazar. Balthazar's hands- which he'd lifted in surrender- quickly snapped into his open palm stance and by the time the assailant reached Balthazar, Balthazar was waiting for him. The hunter swung his hammer wildly at Balthazar who- thought his fighting style was about attacking attacks- knew better than to try his fist or his foot against the blunt of the hammer. Balthazar bounced backwards on his heels to keep out of the hammer's reach but quickly found himself backpedaling as the hunter continued his offensive. The hunter had a way of swinging his hammer and turning his body so that the hammer was almost always in motion. If it was always in motion, Balthazar couldn't do anything to stop the hunter. So Balthazar decided he needed to stop the hammer.
It was a task that was easier said than done. Balthazar was kept on his heels by the constantly swinging war hammer and so most of his attention was being spent on trying not to trip. It was times like these that Balthazar was truly appreciative of the gift Morgan had given him. The Rupture spark. It allowed him to spend his time looking at the floor and his feet to ensure he did not trip because he did not need to see the hammer coming for him. He could feel the motion in the air and knew exactly where it was. That didn't lessen the threat that it would crack into his head and spill its contents onto the beach. Balthazar watched his feet until suddenly his back hit a stationary shale rock jutting from the beach like a tooth. Stationary, so Balthazar had not seen it coming.
There was a moment, a single moment, after Balthazar's back pressed against the wall in which Balthazar and the mage hunter made eye contact. In that moment they both seemed to realize that Balthazar wasn't ready. The hunter brought his hammer down at Balthazar's head- a mistake on the hunter's part. Balthazar would not have been able to get his body out of the way of the hammer, but his head was much smaller. Balthazar jerked his head to the right and narrowly out of the hammer's reach. The hammer caught a handful of Balthazar's hair as it shattered the beach's shale tooth. It ripped the hair from the left side of Balthazar's head above his ear. Balthazar let out a cry and turned his body, quickly sweeping his leg above the sand. As he did a small arch of fire flared out towards the hunter. The fire collided with the hunter but it had been too weak to do any real damage.
Balthazar stumbled away holding the space that his hair had just been ripped from. He quickly checked and found blood on his hand. Any doubts he had that he'd lost some flesh with the hair were dissolved when he felt the blood trickling down around his ear. He wanted to bend it but before he could he sensed the hunter running at him from behind. This time Balthazar dropped low to the ground as he spun and lashed out with his leg. He caught the hunter in the ankles and tripped the man. As Balthazar came up onto his feet he felt a sudden heat overtake his body. The heat came from within but Balthazar couldn't tell where until suddenly he felt his ether raging within him. Balthazar let out a groan and doubled over as his blood warmed.
The hunter stood and adjusted his grip on his hammer. He gave a taunting laugh and hoisted his hammer into the air but before he could bring it down Balthazar lunged forward and drove his shoulder into the hunter's stomach. The hunter grunted but seemed as if he was going to recover but then Balthazar slammed his foot into the side of the hunter's head. That sent the hunter toppling over and then Balthazar was on the run. His body felt like it was on fire and he could hardly make sense of what was happening anymore. His sparks were at war as one grew in power and the other protested. As Balthazar stumbled up the smooth slope he'd made on his way down. The hunter was not far behind but he was a little slower due to his hammer.
Balthazar made it to the top of the cliff without anything to impede him beyond the climb itself and when he got to the top he quickly turned to the cliff side. He stomped his foot and tried to bring down a portion of the cliff on the hunter but the elements didn't obey. He didn't stop to try again because the burning sensation was becoming too much of a distraction. He couldn't defy under this strain, nor could he fight the mage hunter.
So he ran.
Balthazar would have sprinted if his body allowed it but anything more than a gentle run became too taxing on his breathing. The burning was beginning to fade into a more lasting warmth but at the moment it still burned and Balthazar could hear the mage hunter screaming insults from behind. He needed to get farther away. As Balthazar ran he tried to focus on the distance he wanted to travel. He looked as far as he knew he'd be able to get and imagined a door forming between where he was now and the place he wanted to be. Nothing happened, but then he channeled his ether into forming that door. Balthazar dove forward, felt the crackle of energy around his body, and then found himself thirty feet further than he'd been before.
When he emerged out of the other end of the blink the burning feeling had subsided a great deal more and a different sort of jittery energy had filled Balthazar. It had been a long time since he'd blinked anywhere. The novelty of it almost caused him to forget why he was running but the constant war cry of the oncoming hunter. As time dragged on that man seemed like less of a threat and more of a buffoon but he was a dangerous buffoon when he was close up. Then again... he wasn't so close now and Balthazar felt a lot stronger than he had on the beach. Balthazar turned to face the charging mage hunter. He turned his palms out towards the man and took a deep breath. Now it began.