• Solo • II. Camp (Graded)

[Kasoria]

4th trial, Saun 719
Four trials North of Rhakros
22nd break

Continued from here


It was more than hunger. More than that aching rumbling in your guts. More even than the cramps and pains that stabbed at you in the night. This gnawed and clawed at his very bones while he slept. This whispered in his ear and pulled at his soul while he marched and talked and cast and, yes, ate. Because no sustenance was enough for him; mere corporeal matter crudely digested was nothing but grey, formless mush. Trials ground on and Dravar became more feverish, more twitchy, irritable, angry. Prone to... incidents.

Still another trial before "rations" would be provided. He didn't know if he could last that long.

There was a buzzing by his ear. He swatted at it, seeking to chase away another annoying insect-

-only to see his Highmark standing there instead. Stepping quickly away from the hunched over mage, face a mask of granite but his eyes... he could hide the fear in his eyes.

They were all afraid of him. All because they didn't know, didn't understand, what this hunger felt like. What it could make a man do to slake it, just for a few trials. They were monkey, apes, primitives compared to him. He, of a moneyed and prosperous house, reduced to slogging through the dust and dirt with backwards gutter scum like this. But his city demanded it of him; her and the countless dead.

Dravar was many unpleasant things, but he loved his city. Any insult to her was one to him and his kin. So he marched. He swallowed the indignity. He managed his hunger as best he could.

But he felt no need to be nice about it.

"What is it?"

"S-Someone t'see you, trooper," the man said, nodding stiffly to the short, slight figure standing at the edge of their part of the clearing. "He said he had an... offer for you."

The scowling young man swept back his dark hair and rose unsteadily. As he wobbled, a titter erupted. His head swung about like an enraged hawk, trying to pinpoint the noise. No eyes met his. The noise vanished. Everyone was eating, gaming, talking, drinking, cleaning clothes and bodies... but no laughter. Dravar cursed and turned his gaze back to his (supposed) superior.

"Fine."

He stalked over and got his visitor's measure in the space it took to close the distance. Small and ragged. Hairy and dirty. Stooped in posture and barely able to meet his gaze when he stopped. Dravar looked the plebian up and down and growled, "Yes? What is it?"

"Wondered if yeh might aid a fellow mage, ser. Lookin' t', y'know, practice, 'fore the siege."

Dravar blinked slowly. The pangs of hunger actually subsided for a moment. Then he threw back his head and laughed. Long and loud and rabid, like a demented jackal. "You? Why would I waste my time, helping you? Wasting my precious ether on you?"

"I-I can pay, ser-"

"I don't care for your coin, man. I have my own and don't need dirty coppers cluttering up my gold. Off with you. Tell-"

"W-Well, ser, if yer afraid-"

"What was that?"

The air got frigid, then slid to arctic when Dravar turned back around to face his visitor. He'd been turning away when he last spoke, but now thoughts of leaving had vanished. Hissing, spitting fury was writ large across his features now. Spewing from his eyes and contorting all the rest of him. The visitor seemed to quail under the look, looking this way and that.

"I, I mean, um, I have, well, I've hurt people, an' if yer afraid of my magic-"

"I fear no magic!" The roar woke sleeping birds and drowsy men alike. The little man seemed to shudder as Dravar towered over him. "You hear me?! None! I am Dravar of House Feore! I am master of magic!"

He bore his teeth as he raised both hands. At once, fire bloomed from above his palms, growing from sparks to flickers to balls of shimmering flame. At unspoken commands, the two joined together before him, held but not held by his hands on either side. As he stared down at the little man, his features looked almost demonic; gaunt and stretched and pallid and hungry, so hungry!

"I-I'm sorry, ser, I'll leave yeh be-"

"No! No... I think not." His hands closed and the fire vanished. Dravar flexed his fingers and felt the drain on his Spark yet more acutely. But he had enough in him. Just enough to teach this trash his place. And, if by some tragedy he shoulder... accidentally wound the man in a mortal fashion? Well... shame to let good Spark go to waste. "Step over this way. Apart from these... gawkers. I shall test you, gutter runner. I will educate you."

Kasoria of Etzos managed a shaky smile, and fought quite hard to stop it becoming a grin.

"V-Very kind a' youse, ser..."

[Kasoria]

He'd heard about the High Flayer. That's what they were calling him. Because he was not just a mage, and one that devoured the essence of others, but he was high-born. Even in Etzos, nobility existed, defined by wealth and commercial influence rather than by bloodline or heritage. Dravar's family had... other notions, apparently. Called themselves a "house", like the nobs from across the Orm'del Sea. Kasoria heard that and frowned, perplexed. Fuck was so noble about a house? He lived in a house, for fuck's sake!

He shrugged off the question, but noted the mind that would embrace such pretension. Arrogant. Moneyed. Used to the fine things and commands being obeyed. All to easy, really. To push and prod the ego of a man like that. Especially one already frayed and mentally unraveling from repeated flaying.

Fell pretty far, I have, Kasoria had thought when he'd started on his walk. But I never ate peoples' fucking souls.

He kept up the pretense while they made their way to the clearing. A rough space of jungle, gouged out of the jungle along with the rest of the camp by the mages and engineers. Trees leveled, land flattened, overgrown nature made to obey the will of men for a single night. Large enough for an army to encamp, recoup, relax, make ready for another long march in the morning. A cluster of solders watched at a safe distance, knowing the look of a duel well enough. Then an additional coo of approval went up when Dravar's hands started to glow, and they knew it would be that sort of duel.

"Ready yourself, rabble!"

Kasoria nodded shakily, still playing the coward for as long as it was plausible. Which, considering his opponent, would be for quite a while. He raised his own hands and summoned his Spark into them. They glowed white blue where Dravar's were already red-orange. He nodded again, squaring his feet, and with a smirk-

-Dravar launched a blast of fire at him, throwing out his hand, fingers splayed, summoned flame roaring from the palm like a massive flaming crossbow bolt-

-only for Kasoria to throw out his own arm in a tighter, stricter gesture. One hand at his side, as if ready to strike a counter blow, while his other hand struck out, fingers together, mentally barking-

Now!

FMOOM

The onlookers gasped as the fireball slammed into the cone of energy Kasoria threw in its path. Close enough that he could feel the heat of the missile as it smashed into his Barrier, buffeting against it like a hurricane wind against a shield. But this shield did not break, or buckle. Yet he could feel through it, though it was feet away from him. He managed to smile in the light cast by that dying missile. Yes... this was the same power he'd felt before, when he'd been training with Legonne seasons before.

Legonne. The memory of the man made Kasoria pause for a moment. A good man. A man who sacrificed himself for him, for the whole of the Lucky Lady. The opposite of the addict, the junkie, the sickening trash in fine silks across from him. A hundred Dravar's wouldn't make a single Legonne. Even scum like Kasoria knew that. His smile died and his expression seemed to mirror the twisted grimace on Dravar's face.

Not surprise. Not even shock. Anger. Rage. At the perceived insult and embarrassment. Dravar raised both hands this time, whirling them around and seeming to summon the flames around him like a bolt of raging, spitting silk. When it was thick and strong he hurled it with a wild cry-

-and Kasoria's hands snapped out, pouring ether, forming a fresh Barrier, stronger and larger than before-

FMOOOOOOM

The blast was so big the crowd shuffled back a few paces. The jungle was lit and clear as mid-trial for a moment, causing drowsy soldiers a hundred yards away to snap around their heads in alarm. Kasoria felt the muscles in his arms tingle and jar, but... he held it. He smiled. This was his Nemesis, after all, and he'd made a wise choice in making it Defiance. Flashy bastards like Dravar seemed to love it, and no matter the element, he could stop it, now. Not only that, but only require half the effort to do so... and unlike Dravar, he wasn't eating himself over his next "meal".

He supped instead on the obvious strain writ large over the younger man's face. His pallid looks now appeared gaunt, stretched, as if his body were wasting before his eyes. So much magic, so much power expended... his Spark could only take so much, and all the while the Thirst was calling to him. He was ignorant of Kasoria's true abilities, his training, his Nemesis. He saw a gutter-dwelling commoner and assumed he was skilled as such. But now he was being proven wrong. And weak.

Dravar looked up into a smile that was not weak, or whimpering, or cowardly anymore. That silent beat of understanding passed between them.

Aye. Got conned, didn't you? Thick cunt.

With a bellow, Dravar rammed his hands into the dirt at his feet. A bulge like something huge was trying to resurrect itself from the grave suddenly appeared, then shot away from the Defier, rippling across the ground towards Kasoria-

-who slammed both his hands together, breathing deep as he summoned the ether up and into them, orb of power blooming between them-

-as the tidal wave of earth rocket forwards, ripping up dead roots as it went-

-until he crashed down to one knee, fists slamming into the ground on either side of him. A short, warlike bark escaped his lips as a perfect circle of glowing white erupted from the dirt between his hands-

-half of it vanishing into the ground beneath him-

BOOM

Dravar screamed and flew off his feet as if struck by a hurricane gust. He pinwheeled through the air and into a tent, collapsing it at once. More gasps. More jabbering. As the dust quite literally settled, all eyes turned to where the little man had been standing... and Kasoria slowly got to his feet. Quite the Backlash he'd attempted. That and the power he'd had to put into that Barrier... now he was feeling it. Nemesis or not, this was starting to test him. He rolled his shoulders and walked forwards. At least he was still standing. Unlike...

The scion of House Dravar was spitting and cursing and hurling around tent flaps and poles in a fury. His anger binding him up in yet more of them until he half-fell out of the mess his landing had created. He found the little man still standing, and now sneering. Back straight, hands folded in front of himself. Everything about his face was... wrong. Well, wrong to a man like Dravar. "Different" would have been more accurate, but to Dravar? Here was a cur that had tricked his better. That could not be forgiven, for such a thing was an aberration. Especially when the cur cocked a mocking eyebrow and said-

"Had enough, mate?"

Dravar's eyes blazed. Quite literally. Ether spitting out of corners like burning tears that hissed on his cheeks.

"Not even close."

Concluded here

[Doran]

Kasoria:

Knowledge:
Skill Knowledge:
Abrogation - Barrier: Effective Against Defiance Spells
Abrogation - Barrier: Reactive Cast, Quick but Effective
Abrogation - Barrier: Deploying a Globe-Shaped Barrier to Defend from Above AND Below
Abrogation - Backlash: Infusing a Barrier to Hurl an Enemy's Spell Back at Him
Acting: Playing the Humble Pleb
Persuasion: A Bloated Ego is Easier to Manipulate

Non-Skill Knowledge:
PC Dravar: Spoiled, Arrogant, Flay-addicted Defier
NPC Dravar: Ego and Frayed Nerves Make for an Unstable Mage

Loot: -
Wealth: -
Injuries: -
Renown: -
Magic XP: Yes, for Abrogation.

Points: 10

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Comments: This thread was a pleasure to read. I especially enjoyed your writing about the hunger and your descriptions of magic. The dialogue was well done and felt completely natural. In the beginning I was a bit confused about the change in perspective, but after a while I found that I didn’t mind. Great job, and enjoy your rewards!