GWT III: Uncharted Territories

GWT Round Three

Uncharted Territories: Istas vs. Makalle

The sun had only recently risen on the small inn on the Great Plains, casting a bloody, unsettling glow across the cumulous clouds off in the distance, and already Istas was ready to hit the dusty trail. The evening before, she and her two companions witnessed something in the northern sky, something that didn’t sit right with any of them and even made Kerias twist in her ethereal prison. Soon after, they had decided that there was only one course of action remaining and that was to trek across this generated world and investigate it, even with the tournament going on still. If the cause was what they had expected, another result of the Anomaly incursion into the computer system, then Istas knew their lives were definitely at stake, even though she still didn’t really understand anything about the program.

“If you two are ready, I’d like to head out as soon as possible. It’s going to be quite a long journey on foot, and I don’t have any other means of transportation…” Istas got up from her seat on the bed and paced over to the door, her companions Xia and Rain following suit with all of their supplies in hand. When she reached the hallway, a familiar rush of energy flooded over her and she stumbled into a wall, gripping it and bracing for what she knew was coming. In a vibrant flash of light, just as her companions stepped out from the room after her, a portal shredded through the oak panels, beckoning her to step into in and be flung across the world again. “Well, save one…”

Dropping into a deep focus, Istas tried to visualize her destination and her passengers, the glowing hole flashing in response and engulfing the others, much to their dismay. After a few short moments, the maiden took one more deep breath and let the overwhelming feeling pulse through her entire being as she, Xia, and Rain were ripped from the fabric of reality and catapulted across a vast section of Grey World. In what felt like more than the instant jump it had been, the trio tumbled from the sky, dropping a few feet in the foggy and murky air before crashing into the marsh waters below.

Momentarily shaken from the force at which they were launched from the gateway, Istas lay floating in the water before recovering. When she stood up and began to look around, she saw nothing an environment nothing like she had imagined, or even seen, of that far off region. All around her was a wasteland of a marsh, full of decaying plants and desecrated ruins coated in a murky fog unlike any she’d witnessed before. With a grunt, Xia regained his composure and clambered to his feet, out of the muddy, stagnant waters, glancing over at the girl. “Might I ask, just what the hell was that?”

Istas responded with only an uneasy grin and a swift turn away, trying to avoid the question. “Where exactly are we?” Rain murmured, sitting up in the damp terrain and scanning it for her own experience. As she got up off of her feet, Istas was already moving around, trying to explore the area and get a feel for the completely foreign environment. The closest that she had ever come to a place like this was a short while before, when her party had traveled carefully through sections of partially submerged cavern, but with wide open spaces here, fighting would be a different experience.

“I’m not sure Rain, but let’s check out the ruins… if we’re stuck here for now, then it would be a good idea to know what were getting into. If you two can check out those ones, I’ll investigate this one. Meet back here if anyone finds anything.” Xia and Rain nodded, taking off towards a set of crumbling buildings a short ways off in the distance. As the pair began their own exploration, Istas delved into the nearby one, treading carefully down the moss-laden stone hallways. The interior of the ruins were only dimly lit through the cracked walls and muck covered windows, preventing her from fully seeing the twisting chambers.

Istas pushed on into the depths, searching room for room and finding nothing of interest, or anything dangerous. At the end of the passage, she began to breathe easier, glad that there was nothing apparently deadly in here. The last door led to a round antechamber, in the center of which was a short mound of dirt, bathed in light from a hole in the ceiling. Upon it lay a beautiful and lush flower, its bright teal petals in full bloom and exposing its magenta interior in the heavenly beam. ‘There’s no way…  it can’t truly be one of these, not in this fabricated place…’ As she approached the flower, its petals spread out wider and turned as if to face her, acknowledging her presence in a rather ominous fashion.

“Istas… isn’t that a Mirage Flower?” Kerias’s raspy voice resonated in the rather compact room, seemingly hesitant about asking the question. “That means…” At that, the demon’s voice completely dropped off, leaving her in completely silence in the thick darkness. Istas crouched over the flower, brushing its vivid petals in an almost awestruck and fascinated manner. With a swift motion, she ran her hand down the stalk and gripped it tightly, taking a solid tug and plucking the flora from the mossy surface. “Are you alright, Istas?”

“I’m not sure… I think I’ve told you before, but this plant, the Mirage Flower, is the sacred plant of my matron goddess.” Her eyes seemed lost in the radiant glow of the plant, indicating her near complete zone-out from the area. “But, it makes no sense why it should be here, in this place, and certainly not responding to me. They only react to those in favor of her and, well, I was exiled…” Carefully, she folded up the delicate plant and opened her vest, placing it in a pocket over her left breast inside the jacket. “I’ll have to look into this later though; I think Grey World’s trying to tell me who my next battle is against…”

As she retrieved the vibrating gem and lifted it up, a ghastly image of a militant man began to fade into appearance above its faceted surface. As she gazed at the target, a name slipped slowly into her mind, prodding at her until she spoke it. “Makalle…” Suddenly, the image flickered, a fiendish shadow with menacing fangs replacing it for a flash before returning to Makalle’s image. “What in the spirits!” The shout echoed within the small chamber, resonating out through the entire ruins and out into the marsh. While Istas stood there, frozen momentarily in shock, a buzzing sound began to grow in the hollows above her as large black wasp-like creatures began to swarm out of the dark.

“Istas! Get out of here now! Those are all Anomalies!” Kerias’s image was darting left and right almost as if she were trying to tugging Istas along herself. In a moment, though, the maiden had taken off down the escape hall of the ruins, leaping out into the swamp and seeing Rain and Xia most of the way back from their search. “You’ve got to find shelter fast… if those things are even near as strong as the last Anomaly we fought, I can’t even take on two, let alone a battalion of them…”

Istas rushed off through the slushy waters towards her returning companions, waving frantically to try and signal them to run. “Get back! We’re under attack!” Xia and Rain paused, the former shrugging and lifting his hand to his ear, as if he couldn’t hear her. Taking a deep breath, she shouted with all of the strength in her lungs to make sure they heard her this time. “Anomalies, RUN!” At that, the pair’s faces seemed to drain of color and they reversed course, dashing off towards the ruins they had just come from.

Only a few seconds after they scrambled back into the ruins, Istas followed suit and tumbled through the opening as a black cloud of Anomalies burst from the swamplands. A deafening buzz filled the air as the cloud floated past their hiding spot and rose into the sky, in flight towards the northeast horizon. “Are we safe yet? Have the Anomalies left or are we stuck here for a while?” Rain glanced over at Istas who was pressed close against the wall opposite her, keeping an eye on the situation outside. After a few moments, she nodded, stepping out of the entryway and coming face-to-face, eye-to-eye with a rather gruff looking man. Letting out a shout of surprise, the maiden fell over on her rear, glancing up to see whatever was barring her path a bit better.

The man’s skin was rather pale and his hair was shaved, characteristics that matched his military garb quite well, and his dashing grin momentarily distracted her from who the man was. He seemed a little shocked at the encounter as well though, so it was likely he hadn’t recognized her yet either. When he recovered, the man knelt down, offering a hand to her as most uniformed men would to a lady who had just fallen flat on the ground. “Sorry ‘bout that. Just trekking through these damned marshes and saw the swarm, figured I’d checking in on nature’s victims… Let me help you up though.”

As Istas reached for his hand, she suddenly realized his identity and a feeling of overwhelming violence shot through her body. With one motion, she hopped to her feet, sending a quick right hook right for his chest. Makalle’s facial emotion shifted only a split second before the assault, his body barely bending away fast enough to avoid contact. “What the hell!” With a quick snap, the officer had pulled one of his re-stocked pistols and was holding it up to the girl’s head. “Look! I’m just trying to help you out!” He held his arm adamant, staring at her and focusing hard in case she had another attack ready for him.

The girl’s mind was overcome by dark and violent images, flashes from some distant battlefield she didn’t know. ’Istas! He’s in your head! I don’t know how or why, but I can feel another presence in here, some incredible powerful force I’ve never felt…’ Istas stared down the barrel of the pistol, hoping that if she loosened up a bit, perhaps it wouldn’t meet its mark right here. As she let her fighting stance down and backed off, Makalle lowered his own weapon and raised an eyebrow at her, curious as to why she suddenly jumped to violence. A wave of realization came over him as the image from his Shatter Stone appeared in his mind’s eye, solving his personal inquiry.

Xia and Rain tried to move from their spot on the other side of the hall, but were quickly stopped with an open palm from Istas. “Stay back you two… I’ll handle this on my own.” Xia started to step forward and protest, but Rain promptly grabbed his sleeve and pulled him to the side, out of the battlefield. With a light sigh of relief, she focused all of her attention on her opponent before her. He didn’t seem the kind to want to start a fight, he even was kind when he first arrived, but something about him was causing Kerias to go haywire and made hot flashes of anger surge through her entire being. “So… Makalle, is it? Are you ready to get this battle on, or are you just going to hand over your Shatter Stone? I wouldn’t mind avoid a fight for once, you know…”

A cocky grin crossed the man’s face as he shoved the pistol back in its holster and looked her up and down, as if he was sizing her up for impending conflict. “Well, I wouldn’t mind skipping out on a battle either, but I’m not about to drop this tournament just for that. If I did, I wouldn’t be here right now… So, if you don’t have anything apocalypse-preventing to do, I suggest you pass off your stone to me.” He once again extended his hand, this time not as a gentlemanly gesture but as that out a ruffian looking for his prize.

Istas felt her stone weighing heavily in her pocket, and began to consider his offer until that voice in her head decided to chime in again. ‘Istas, don’t do it… I know what you’re thinking, that you’re just trying to get out of here, but that’s not true…’ At the mysterious comment, Istas furrowed her brow in curiosity, wondering if this was just another demonic ply for blood to be spilt. In her mind, she felt another violent fluster and, with a swift motion, swatted Makalle’s hand away and held her clawed glove up in a menacing stance. ‘Good luck, you need to win this one…’ Istas let out a labored and infuriated grunt at the mental comment before dropping into a fighting stance and lunging at her opponent.

“Fine, be that-” Makalle cut his witty comment short as the girl’s attack came at him much faster than expected, faster than what a normal human could do. Luckily, he also was a bit swifter than the average person, and rolled off to the side of the blow, bringing his elbow flat into Istas’s spine as she passed by. The maiden winced in pain and, as she stumbled forward, planted a hand on the stone in attempts to kick her boot in his direction. Once more, he dodged, shoving her foot past him hard and sending her spinning out of the ruins into the murky swamp waters. With a splash, she hit the shallow water and rolled across some of it, coming to a stop a short distance off from her sloppy landing. “Be that way then…”

As the officer descended into the swamp waters, Istas saw a moment to strike without much a chance for him to evade. “You seem unnaturally wrathful for a woman of such appearance… why is that?” Once paced up close to her, pistol drawn and ready in an attempt to force surrender, she saw her opening catch him by surprise. “You should relax and just give up, we really don’t need violence…” Twisting her body in the muddy water, she let a burst of demonic energy out of a thrusting hand, creating a small undertow current as she propelled herself away from his crosshairs.

Makalle sensed the attack, but the current was too fast and swept his feet out from under him as he tried to move, dropping him into the pool of water. As he fell, he took a potshot at the girl, the bullet striking the Focus Crystal on her arm and shattering it with a loud crack. Istas swiftly regained her footing as the remainder of the band fell off, and charged the prone man with her fists at the ready. When she rushed him, Istas had expected him to at least be disoriented by the concealed attack and didn’t take precautions against counter attack. As she stepped up to strike, the face-down man kicked his leg to the side, knocking her flat on her own back. ‘Kerias, It’s almost like he knows exactly what I’m going to do before I do it! Any ideas because I may not be able to fight this for long…’

‘I’ve seen creatures with power like this before… There are few ways to bypass such a complete defense, but I have an idea. Charge him now!’ Istas was hesitant to make an assault on him, since he seemed nearly impossible to hit, but Kerias urged her on and reassured her. ‘Trust me! Go for a solid hit, I’ll distract him!’ Sliding into a low stance, she took off with a splash, running towards the officer who was prepared to parry with his sword. She skidded to a stop right in front of him, throwing a solid punch at his chest, which was deftly parried with a sword strike to her armband. As the collision occurred, she was spun off balance, nearly crashing to the ground beside him.

“Heh, too predictable…” Makalle murmured under his breath, spinning his sword around for a follow-up attack. But, unlike his senses told him, Istas was no longer on the ground where she had fallen, so when he brought the weapon around, it cut only air. ‘What the…?’ Before he could finish his thought, a hard elbow shot slammed into his ribs, a crackling sound resonating from the attack before he stumbled to the side and brought his weapon up. Istas was firmly batted away by the side of his longsword, a bit shocked that the burst of demonic energy failed to slow him even for an instant. “What the hell are you, some soulless fiend?”

“Maybe it’s about time for you to find that out for yourself…” Istas smirked widely now that she knew she could feint him in combat, with the help of her symbiotic mind and its indomitable rage. ‘Kerias, it’s your turn. On this next run, I’ll open the locket and you hit him hard before he realizes it…’ The girl took off again, her hand closed tightly around the locket, and dove past Makalle who was now content on just avoiding contact. Istas sidestepped back and slammed into him, locking the man’s longsword against his body. “So let me give you a look…” With that, she began to open the locket, and Makalle’s mind was flooded with a rush of hostile energy.

His eyes opened wide at the sudden eruption of hatred, all focused on the golden locket the girl was opening up right before him. With a strong shove, he pushed off of her, knocking the girl slightly off balance but not preventing her from continuing. As quick as Istas snapped the locket open and began to be engulfed by a luminous glow, Makalle had whipped out another pistol and took a split-second shot.  Almost like glass, the orb of light shattered as the bullet collided with her locket, fracturing the exposed ring inside. Completely shocked by the sudden and unexpected attack, Istas froze for a moment, staring as her opponent stood, smoking gun still in hand. “What… have… you… done!”

The flashes of anger from earlier in the fight suddenly became more vivid, stringing into almost pure rage. She suddenly felt abandoned…  her only method for calling upon the demon inside of her lost after relying on the being for over a year. Makalle’s contented expression immediately faded as this new surge of hostility crashed into him and forced him to take precautions against another assault. Almost blind with fury, the maiden rushed carelessly at him, swiping furiously with her hands. Makalle was narrowly deflecting each shot, only able to keep up with dodging and biding his time until she was too exhausted to fight. As he parried yet another attack and prepared for retaliation, she saw her opening and took it without hesitation.

As she gripped onto his jacket, her body was flung to the side his arm’s momentum, sliding her around him in the muddy water. With a long stretch, Istas’s hand met metal as she clenched her hand around a pistol handle and yanked on it hard. As she tumbled away with the weapon, she knocked the hammer and pointed it back at him, met with a similar gesture from Makalle, who had dropped his sword and was now holding his last pistol. “You’re quite clever, you know that? Somehow, I can’t read you properly… Your attacks don’t match your feelings or thoughts… why is that?” He was met with only the cold hard stare of the girl from whom he had just taken a valued companion of over a year from. “Fine… let’s settle this without guns. I drop mine and you drop yours… if not, then we’ll both lose here.”

“Alright…” Istas agreed, not really trusting the man, but finding no choice on her side, since she didn’t really even know how to aim with this thing. Carefully, she followed his motion in holding the gun to the side and prepared to release it. “We drop on three then… One…” She hesitated, trying to come up with another plan to hit him, since, in a moment he would be without guns or sword. “Two…” The only plan she had was too risky, and involved exposing herself to attack once more. “Three…” She opened her hand, watching Makalle’s gun fall as her left her own hand to plunge to the watery depths.

The second she saw he had kept his word, Istas took off for this last ditch attempt at taking the man down, since she had lost her trump card. Makalle looked only slightly surprised as she charged, dropping down onto one knee and shoving his hand down his boot. As she was upon him and began to leap into a tackle, Makalle leaned back with a flash of sliver near his hand, and was pinned by Istas’s body. She felt a sharp pain in her chest, one unlike any she had felt before, and her chest began to grow warm and wet. As she glanced down, she saw a slivery hilt sticking out of her chest, above her heart, the tail end of a concealed weapon.

The world spiraled around her as she felt her warm life force leaving her body and streaming onto hers and Makalle’s clothes. Her hands and arms trembled as she tried to keep her balance in her pinning position, a stance that the officer let her keep, since he knew a blade through the heart was more than any human could take. After only a few moments, she coughed, blood starting to drip down the corner of her mouth as her limbs went cold. “I guess…” she stammered, collapsing onto him, her head hitting the Shatter Stone in his breast pocket, “you win…” With that, her grip on his uniform loosened and her body became almost entirely limp.

Makalle carefully stood up and removed the dagger from the girl, lifting her cold body with him before walking towards the ruins to lay the poor girl there for when the stone triggered. She felt that she was about to pass on, her body shivering in cold and pain even though she knew soon she would be brought back by her Shatter Stone. As her mind began to fade, the world slowly faded out of focus with her closing eyes, but a sudden warmth in her chest brought her mind back to the present. As she was being carried across the swamp waters back to the ruin where Xia and Rain watched with shock and horror in their eyes, the open wound began to glow a soft blue.

Rain and Xia had already taken off from the ruins towards the two, eager to see Istas’s condition after the battle, but slowed when they saw teal light. Makalle glanced down, seeing the blood-stained petals of the Mirage Flower glowing vibrantly in the pierced vest pocket. Suddenly, the wound sizzled, the shredded flower petals evaporating as the hole almost instantly sealed back up. Istas’s eyes snapped open and, as I’m not even by her own will, she clenched her hand over the chest pocket in which she felt the stone only moments before.  “Maybe I was wrong…” she said with a weak but still cocky grin crossing her face.

A surge of demonic energy burst forth from her body, one more like a complete release of every ounce left in her than her usual concentrated attack. Violently, Makalle and Istas were blown away from each other, the former’s body crackling with the dark power. As Makalle hit ground, the officer mustered all of his strength to muscle past the paralyzing effect of the demonic force, barely able to pull the Shatter Stone from his pocket. Slowly, the stone began to shift colors, from its bluish tint to a putrid purple color, cracking only moments later and disintegrating into a pile of shards. With a labored breath, Makalle’s head dropped to the ground, Rain stepping up next to him to check his condition within a few seconds. “Are you alright?” she asked, glancing at the glistening pile of dust on his chest.

Xia arrived at Istas about the same time, seeing the girl laying there, barely conscious in the soggy marsh. He reached for her, but was stopped barely short as if held back by some otherworldly force. The water around her body began to darken and swirl, her body sinking even though it was too shallow for her to go any deeper. Istas turned her head just barely, looking at the overlooking man with an almost non-existent smirk. “Guess… I won… eh?” As she sunk almost entirely into the waters, she squeezed out on last thing to her companion. “Go to… Shifters’ Plane…” With a sudden slurping sound, her body was sucked below, the waters returning back to normal only seconds later. Xia plunged his hands into the waters where she once was, his hands only meeting the muddy bottom.

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Shadows surround her as her eyes struggled to open, the darkness almost seeming to caress her severely damaged body. Around her, in the blackness, she could barely make out the fuzzy images of creatures gathered around her form, their beady red eyes floating in the void. ‘Rest… you’re going to need it…’ a familiar voice cooed to her, filling her mind and body with a soothing relief.  The crimson orbs around her began to fade as her eyelids grew heavy and she felt sleep overcoming her. Gently, she closed her eyes once more, slipping back into her deep sleep.