I don't think I can BEAR this any longer.[Wei]

[rine]

It had been a regular day in Ilia... Rine was traversing across the snowy landscape in an attempt to find some kind of opportunity to get started on his journey. Just something that would get him some money or maybe a little bit of notoriety. Nothing too scary though, just a quick little neat job that wasn't large on any scale. With nothing but the leather tunic/pants ensemble on his body, and the axe on his back. Rine had set forth in search of adventure, or at-least "something". The young lad had wanted to finally go outside of his house and stop being such a sheltered young lad.

However, as the boy was traversing across the snowy plains of Ilia, he began to hear a strange growling noise from around him. Tensing up immediately, the boy would pull out his axe and wave it around. "Woah woah! Whatever's there I'm armed!!!". It was a threat that clearly had some hesitation in the voice declaring it, his soft voice would barely echo throughout the area outside of a few meters around him. Internally he was shaking, first he was going to get caught off guard and now something was probably going to kill the young lad. Keeping his Iron axe carefully in his right hand, the boy would hold it steady as he checked his surroundings.. Nothing to his left, and nothing to his right. The coast was pretty clear in fact. "I must be going crazy... Knew there was nothing there".

Sighing to himself, the boy would untense and continue to walk forward, his steps make slight depressions in the snow and giving off his trail. "Man, I knew there was nothing there...". Rine would repeat to himself, clearly trying to instill that there really was nothing there, alas that was not meant to be as a roar erupted from behind the boy causing him to jump up and almost drop his axe. "OH GEEZ!' Rine cried out, almost falling face first into the snow. "Oh no...Here we go". The boy readied his axe and turned around, only to see a large brown looking bear staring him down. It's large paws and menacing mouth giving off a killer vibe. It was quite a bit larger than the boy, but not impossible to take down if he had too. Nearly freezing in fear, Rine pondered just how to approach such an aggressive creature..He doubted that he could outrun it.

[Wei]

"Another day another job", spoke Wei to himself as he walked across the snowy landscape. The lad had come to Illia as a result of his last job. He usually did not come this far north. Wei hatted the cold, but business was business. Wei needed as many jobs as he could get. Now the axe for hifher was making his way back to lycia. It would be a long journey, but that did not bother Wei. He had been walking the roads since he first left home on his training journey. What was a few miles in the snow. Shoot at the very least there were no monsters. Lycia was filled to the brim with them.

As Wei walked through the snow he heard a cry. The young brigand had no idea of what was going on, but that growl that followed told him it was probably not nice. Picking up his pace Wei rushed over the hill to see a young Journetman confronted by a bear, a sight that would make your heart sink. If you ask Wei who he would bet his money on he would bet on the bear in a fight, That kid, who was probably the same age as he was, was going to get himself killed.

"HET BROWN AND UGLY", screamed Wei as he waved his axe around and charged down the hill. He needed to get the creatures aim at him instead of the other guy. Wei was sure he could take on the beast. He had his brave axe after all and his secret weapon. He was sure that he could slay the beast, though he was not sure about getting out of the fight unscathed. Bears were not easy prey. Not to mention Wei had a axe. If he had a spear it would be a different fight, not that Wei knew how to fight with one anyway.

[rine]

It appeared that by some miracle, someone was actually going to assist Rine and possibly prevent him from getting killed. The bear had been rather focused on him as this newcomer walked in, when the shout came out however. Rine would turn across the snow and cold climate to see another young boy with red hair standing not very far from them. It seemed that the other lad had opted to come to his aid and was even trying to distract the bear. Perhaps this would give Rine a chance to escape it and let the other boy take the brunt of it...However if he just ran away, perhaps the kid would die. If he helped him maybe Rine would get something out of it.

When Wei shouted at the bear, the animal would turn towards him in slight confusion. Rearing its big brown head and body towards the child that was charging towards it. Releasing a noticeably loud roar as a intimidation tactic, the brown bear would begin to move torwards the easier prey which was coming directly at it.It did not start running, but it was coming torwards Wei at a decent pace. Being a good distance of about say 12 meters give or take away from him. If Wei went within range of the bears grasp, it would attempt to claw directly at him with its large paw, a blow that would certainly wound a bit the non armored.

With the animal distracted, Rine himself would seize the chance and leap directly at the large grizzly. Hoisting his axe up, he would clumsily try to bring it down hard on the back of the bear. If two attacked one big creature, it would make it easier to kill right? Because the Bear was distracted, it would not be able to dodge this attack. However Rine had failed to account for it's thick hide and large frame, which caused the attack to barely impact it, but it did leave a noticeable wound on it's back however. Prompting a large ROAR once more from the animal.

[Wei]

It worked, thought Wei as the bear turned its attention toward him. Now Wei was in this fight as the bear switched its target from the other lad to Wei himself. The brigand was going to have to be careful. If he had better armor he would be fine, well better off, but Wei had only a coat of plates. A leather jacket wiyh overlaying mrtal plates inside. It was far from protective as a breast plate and probably do little against the beast claws, but it was something at least.

As wei moved to engage the beast in combat the other guy did something Wei did not expect, he attacked the bear. What fool logic did this guy have, thought Wei to himself, forgetting the fact that he was charging the bear himself. As the boy hit the beast with his small axe, which did minimal damage, the bear let out a loud roar and turned his body toward the lad. Wei could already see the mauling now, it was not going to be pretty. Wei picked up his pace and crossed the gap. The bear raised his paw to strike when the bite of Wei's brave axe struck the back of it's back legs. Taking full advantage of his axe speed Wei struck again. With two well placed and deep cuts the bears focus was no longer on squashing the sneaky kid, but on the bold crimson haired lad.

The Bears claw came down fasr, despite it having to turn om the wounded leg. Wei jumped back attempting to avoid, but it's claw grazed him. Mother natures greatest blades smashed through Wei's leather coat of arms like it was wet paper. The claws ripped the plates away and slashed into the top portion of Wei's flesh. Lucky for him the attack was but scratches, but his armor was no more.

[rine]

It appeared the Bear was now starting to take some hits alright. Rine would have to play it rather carefully now that he was not able to damage the bear with a head on attack. To make matters worse, he had just nearly gotten himself killed if the boy had not intervened and executed a quick strike on the bear. What impressed him was he landed two quick strikes on the animal, indicating he had some clear experience with that axe of his. The bear itself had managed to attack Wei and dealt a hardy blow to him already.The bear would prepare to continue its assault on the redhead. If Wei was not careful now, he would find the Bear nearly attempting to pin him down with his paws and maul him directly.

Rine was nearly frozen, was attacking this bear a foolish choice of his? It was now or never, Bringing his axe to his side. The lad swung it as hard as he possibly could into the back left leg of the bear. If he could not strike it from behind effectively, perhaps the boy would be able to take it down by swinging at it's leg yes? With his sudden strike, the bear would be impeded in it's assault on Wei. Causing it to roar even louder in pain now that it was actually bleeding out further from both it's back and front. With rapid fury the grizzly would start to turn around, and swing at Rine with its left paw. The lad had tried to escape the sudden strike, but would find himself clawed at in his chest. The leather tunic he wore certainly helped to protect him from the blow, but it did not stop the claws from raking a bit at his flesh. One more blow like that and he'd suffer some serious damage.

[Wei]

It was clear to wei that this was not going to be a simple fight. The bear was now enrage. Before it was simply looking for easy food. That was why it chose to attack humans instead of much bigger prey like deer. That however had went south when Wei had injured its back leg. This was no longer a fight for food it was a fight for its life. The creature had realized that its prey were stronger than it thought. Looking to minimize the damage it took the bear moved to attack the fearsome read head. Its claws swiped at Wei who moved toward its left side, the spot with the injured leg. The move did not stop the bears assault, but the injury slowed it down when moving to that side giving wei enough time to dodge.

It was in the middle of its assault that the boy struck at it again. Wei could not see were he struck it, but the creature felt that one. In a furry of rage it reacted and cleaved the lad. The strike seemed to have grazed the kid. The blow had not killed him, but the damage to his armor was complete. "Dang bear', shouted wei as he went into his own rage. He did not know the kid, nor did he have any connection to Ilia, but seeing him fly into the snow from the blow of the bear set a fire inside of him. Enraged Wei dug his axe into the bears side. The blow not only got a roar, but a sea of red as well. Taking advantage of his brave axe Wei was able to pull the axe out and strike again. The bear quickly turned its body ripping the axe out and throwing Wei into the snow. Quickly it pressed forward turning the snow read as it brought its paw down to finish Wei off. Rolled at the last moment evading the blow. Death was near, for both combatants.

[rine]

The battle was raging on, and things were not going so well right now for all combatants involved. On one hand, The duo had managed to inflict quite a bit of damage on the bear. As Rine began to recover his footing he would notice the Bear spilling out quite a bit of blood in fact from it's side and various wounds. Clearly in some form of a frenzy.It had managed to throw Wei off of it and across the snow as well. Clearly moving in an attempt to try to strike the young boy down. The bear was moving noticeably slower however now that its wounds were starting to weaken it and force it to bleed out. This was a battle of Attrition, one that clearly was only going to be won once one side gave in.

As the bear would try to make it's move, Rine felt a sudden surge of power and anger now. He wasn't scared and the adrenaline was beginning to take over. Rushing directly at the bear's head. Rine raised his axe and would bring it down hard on the bears left eye. Intent on blinding it outright and bringing out more blood. "Die already!" The boy shouted as he threw out that blow. The bear would howl out in the air, it's eye now letting out a fresh sea of blood, as it would paw in a frenzy Rine directly away from it. Sending the young man a few feet away. It was getting progressively weaker now, but the boy had managed to buy Wei some time. Rine was definitely taking some pain now, as his Left arm showed some blood. The paw claw certainly left quite the mark, but he was certainly still capable of fighting on.

[Wei]

"Worthy", that was all that Wei could hear as his weapon started to pulsate. Everything seemed to fade as a small blonde haired girl appeared in his vision. Everything was dark with the exception of her. She seemed to radiate light. Her blonde hair shined like the sun and from her back white wings emerged giving wei a feeling that she was divine.

"Am I", choked Wei. He wanted to finish the sentence, but he could not bare the answer.

"No", spoke the maiden as she appeared before him. It was all so fast. She was just infront of him, but now she was touching his face and staring into his eyes. "You are not dead Wei, but you are close to it. Your battle with the bear is coming to a close, but with in that fight you have proved you are worthy."

"What", spoke Wei? He did not understand. If he was not dead then where was he? Who was she? What happen to the bear and the boy?

"Phoenix Wing', spoke the maiden interrupting his chain of thought.

"What", questioned wei, but then everything was gone. wei looked up to see the beast looming over him with its blood dripping on his face. The boy had severed the creatures eye and had been tossed across the snow. For a moment the beast had let down its guard With all of his rage and furry Wei swung his axe up and struck the beast in the neck. The bear suddenly began to shake and scream and then it stopped, forever more.

[rine]

The battle was getting intense now...Rine was unsure if he could keep going on to take down this bear, the other boy had been knocked back by the bear as well, making things look rather bleak...Rine would attempt to get his footing now with his axe still in hand, his arm was now bleeding, but he wasn't going to die just yet. The sight before him however would start to shock the young boy, as the person who had come to his aid now struck the bear down in one final cleave. "Woah, that was pretty good."The boy commented as he regained his footing, his legs and body stung a bit due to how thrown around he had gotten during the fight. His injuries were not helping his case either and his armor was tattered slightly. "Thanks for helping me, I think I was going to die if you hadn't intervened. What is your name?" The boy's voice echoed out rather softly, it would be one of the most easily noticeable traits of Rine, the fact that he spoke softly and without much confidence or daring bravado in his voice like most fighters did."My name is Rine. I live around here actually....But I think we should get out of here before another one of these beasts come back. You don't look like you could take much more of this either". This was pretty true, both fighters had been hurt rather badly by this experience and certainly wounded by the bear clawing at them. If anything they were lucky it did not opt to bite and utterly tear apart one of them.

[Wei]

OCC: sorry for late response had to take care of some stuff

IC:

"What in the world", spoke Wei as he pushed the bear aside. Wei's ribs violently disagreed with his actions. That toss he revived did more than he could wager. Everything hurt, but his ribs hurt the most. Wei was willing to bet that he broke a few. Though he was not sure when? It could have been when he was thrown or when the bear clawed at him. It was a rough fight. Wei regretted jumping in. He should have minded his own business and walked away. Then again the other guy would be dead.

As Wei got to his feet he was greeted by the other guy, who name was Rine. The young man apparently lived around the area, which was good. Wei was going to need a healer, no a doctor, even better a doctor healer. Magic was impressive, but sometimes you needed a person who knew the human body inside out to direct it.

"The .. name is Wei. I don't know about you, but I think it broke a few of .. my ribs. So forgive me f... for not being ... as chatty. So, where is this vi... village? I could really use a doctor, and a warm bed."

With Wei's armor ripped apart Wei was left with nothing more than his undershirt and pants. In this kind of weather that was pretty much a death sentience so Wei needed to move to the village immediately. Looking around Wei was trying to guess the direction himself. He figured he could see the smoke from the cooking fires.

[rine]

It seemed the other boy had managed to recover his own footing as well, which was nice. "Wei h uh? I really appreciate what you did back there....But we really need to make it to safety now. The village nearby isn't very far off. I can take you over to it.". Rine would then gesture for Wei to follow him, the arctic winds were pretty tough and would practically kill the duo if they remained in them. "I myself could use a doctor too...This weathers gonna kill both of us if we don't get out of it. These wounds won't do so well in this weather either... I can just feel things setting in, my armor didn't do so well from that fight. Damn bear was going to kill me if you didn't intervene". It was true however, Rine was practically about to die had he not been intervened by Wei himself, who appeared to be a much more experienced fighter. "What brings you around here Wei? You just happen to be travelling around?" The Journeyman would ask of Wei, as he continued to attempt to move on in order to get himself and wei to safety, provided that Wei was capable of standing on his own two feet however and did not require much assistance from the young man. He would shudder as the cold continued to attack him, Ilia was a rather deadly place if you were under-equipped to handle the weather after all. Many a fellow would freeze to death. Rine would allow haul his axe over on his back, in order to avoid carrying it.

[Wei]

It seemed that Wei had a guide, it was good that the other boy knew how to where the village was. That meant they could get to safty and rest up before they froze to death. Though the bleeding was light Wei still had some scars on his chest from the bears claws. The cold air constricted the blood vessels which made the bleeding less. The cold air also helped combat the swelling that was no doubt going to go down due to the attack. Over all the wind was still killing the duo, but it helped in some places.

"As I said before I am Wei. I am a traveling mercenary. I came here from Lycia." Wei paused in his speech to pull himself up a pile of snow. With his guide giving him directions Wei moved as fast as he could toward there goal. "I was on my way back to the city states when I pasted by. No offense, but you seemed green so I decided to give you a hand. Did not want to see you become bear food." Wei gave off a chuckle but his wounds from the battle began to hurt. Wei preyed that he did not break a rib.

"What brought you out here by yourself?" Asked Wei suddenly. He was sure that the guy had a good reason, but whatever it was it would probably look stupid to him. "I mean you do live in this area right. So you should have known about the bears, or is this not common in this region. Wei preyed that the latter was true. He did not want to run into another bear right now, especially not a big one. The two of them would be bear food for sure.