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Post by Shara Tiinedra on Jan 23, 2017 20:19:50 GMT -6
Shara could feel the fatigue of the group, on top of her own, as they made their way through the forest. How many hours had it been since they had left? By the time they had arrived at Ragnis' house it had been the late afternoon. It was well into the night once they had found the Doogs. Given the position of the moon, it wouldn't be long until the sun began to rise. The group would have pulled an all-nighter.
Yet the faint throb of pain in Shara's leg prevented her from feeling TOO tired. Physically fatigued, yes, but not “ready for bed” tired. Besides she was still filled with good vibes overall. The mission had been a success, even though most of them had sustained SOME manner of injury. The three dragons, at that, but better them than Morrigan anyway. It was for the best: the dragons could take it, but Morrigan was significantly more fragile. A skilled sorceress, sure, but she lacked the physical prowess and er...scales...that dragons were granted.
“Hmm...Ragnis.” Morrigan spoke up after trying and failing to stifle a quiet yawn. Despite his earlier gratitude and joy, Ragnis had more or less fallen back into his “usual self”, and merely let out a grunt of acknowledgement to show that he had indeed heard Morrigan. “Tomorrow, when we all wake up, would you mind telling me about this village of yours?”
“Mmh? Don't see why not.”
“I appreciate it.” Morrigan said, lightly brushing a stray hair from her face. “I haven't had the chance to experience it for myself, of course, but it looks...quite lovely.”
As far as Shara was concerned, Morrigan wasn't wrong. Of course she hadn't really set foot in the village proper either, but if she could judge it based off what she knew, and based off of Ragnis and his family, well...she liked it significantly more than most places on Elibe. Hah, and where was the old Shara, who detested small hamlets in favor of large cities? Etruria had truly left her disillusioned when it came to that, with those ravaged archives and silenced populace.
Shara's gaze fell to Nayru, though, as Ragnis decided to humor Morrigan with a few descriptions of the village. Not that she wasn't interested, of course, but that she was...curious, about a few things.
“I meant to address this earlier, Nayru...” Shara spoke quietly, not certain if Nayru would prefer to have this conversation openly or as privately as possible. “But you did more than enough for us, during the battle. You handled the Gwyllgi by yourself.”
Nayru had stated that she wished she could have done more. The longer Shara thought on it, the more she felt a bit bothered by that mindset. If it hadn't been for Nayru there could have been genuine casualties during this battle. In fact there was a solid chance both she AND Ragnis would have had to fully shift in order to combat the threat of the Gwyllgi, and even then there was a chance both of them could have been killed, along with Morrigan.
It was...she couldn't quite understand this curiosity, but she wanted to know why Nayru felt that way. Perhaps, more importantly, was that she didn't want Nayru to feel that way at all.
As Shara waited for a response from Nayru she failed to notice that, as they began to approach the break in the tree-line, smoke could be seen rising to the sky...
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 23, 2017 23:28:23 GMT -6
Heh, when they woke up. The lazy teenage douchebag side of Nayru actually did kinda just want to take a nap, but she'd stayed awake for longer before, much longer, and she was still pretty serious about wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. Still, it was... nice to hear Morrigan and Ragnis just... talking, like two friends. Dragon and human, man and woman, but with none of the unfortunate and awkward meanings those two contrasts could have. They were just companions of a sort after being tested in battle together, working together. Like she and Veigue, or she and Remus. Or hell, even Aeos and that... one human he seemed so fond of, Euphemism or something?
Granted, Morrigan wasn't all of Elibe, but Nayru had enough experience with the subject to believe that it was bonds like these that would be key to bringing Elibe's warriors together, both human and dragon. Because when you fought alongside someone, watched them bleed, it sure got a lot harder to hate them just for the color of their skin or what happened to grow over that skin. While the word was a bit ironic - you could see their humanity, their existence as intelligent, thinking beings. People in their own right, not just monsters or minions. It was a different mindset that many could not grasp until they had experienced it, herself included - mere years ago Nayru would never have thought she'd actually be traveling, adventuring with humans. Vandolf was the only one she had ever really been ready to fight alongside. And now...
Shara's comments grabbed the distracted dragon's attention quite effectively, for better or for worse; she hadn't been paying all that much attention to her surroundings or the group as a whole. What reason was there to? They had fought and won. They had removed the threat. Nayru knew that was dangerous thinking, but... it was easy. It was not, however, easy to ignore Shara's comments as she had been mostly allowing others to flow through her. It appeared that the other dragon disagreed with her level of contribution. On a purely objective level, she actually didn't disagree with Shara too much. She had helped them out, allowed them to grow on their own, while still supporting them.
But what she didn't, couldn't, say to Shara was that she would never really be happy with what she could do to help others, because there was only one of her and a great many problems in Elibe. What she had done here was good, but meant she wasn't a country away in Bern fighting off the gargoyle attack that could be tearing apart a village right now. Yes, Remus and Erim and even Kenshin had helped her tame that obsession to some degree, but it still raised its ugly head on a regular basis.
That, and she was just trash at actually responding to people saying 'thanks.' Nayru decided not to share that with Shara, either. "Just... glad to help," she said, honestly albeit not in a way that suggested she had said everything she had wanted to. She made her best effort at a reassuring smile and ended up with something a bit lopsided instead, but at least it was a smile, and not say, a strangled scream. That would have just been awkward. She truly did appreciate the other dragon's words though, it was just - well - Nayru was not quite delusional to enough to think that she was actually good at letting people inside the crusty outer shell. The Nayru inside was too soft and weak to handle it.
Though a pillar of smoke in the distance drew her attention and provided an easy out for the dragon, pointing to it with one upraised hand as if it was actually all that hard to f**k**g see in the sky when one was looking for it. "Hey, uh, is there supposed to be that much smoke over there?"
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on Jan 24, 2017 0:15:33 GMT -6
After Nayru, the first to notice the smoke was Shara. She followed Nayru's hand and cocked her head to the side. Had she not been so tired she likely would have put two and two together. She would have recognized EXACTLY what a pillar of smoke meant, and then realized exactly where that smoke was rose from.
Yet it wasn't until Ragnis saw it and immediately took off ahead of the group that her eyes widened with realization. Without another word Shara sprinted after the larger dragon, her pupils narrowing to slits as she pumped magic into her wounded leg for reinforcement. It was the only way she'd be able to keep up with him, and even then the ache still throbbed through her.
But she didn't care. The pain was nothing against the pit that had formed in her stomach. Mounting dread and worry gradually filled her being as she struggled to catch up to Ragnis' stride. Morrigan, likely having seen the smoke, had jogged behind them in silence.
It wasn't long before they broke the tree-line. The village was...fine. There was no fire nor signs of one to be seen as they approached it. However the smoke had not been rising from the village...
“TESS!” Ragnis roared before he pounded the pavement even harder, no doubt reinforcing his legs to clear the distance faster. Shara attempted to do the same, but her wounded leg still kept her slowed down. She could race ahead of Morrigan, but she couldn't catch up to Ragnis. Even as Tess' house began to come into view...
...or rather, what remained of the house.
“No...” Shara thought to herself as she slowed her run down to a jog. Her chest heaved as her jog slowed to a walk. Morrigan let out a gasp as she eventually caught up, a hand cupped over her mouth and her eyes widen with horror.
There Ragnis stood, in front of her blackened and cracked wood. Beams that had once supported the house had collapsed, their foundation burned away by a fire. The roof was in tatters, likely breaking as it had fallen through the second floor of the house. The west-most wall stood tall, though brown wood had since been blackened by flame and smoke. The other three walls, though...they had been burned away too severely.
Even the door had fallen forward, devastated by what must have been a massive fire. One that had raged and blazed on until there was naught left to burn and sustain it.
“KARA! TESS!!” There was desperation in Ragnis' voice as he stepped into the ruin that was his home. Ashes were kicked up by his boots, fluttering in the wind like thick, sticky grey snow. Some ashes clung to him as he dropped down to his knees in the middle of the house' ruin and began to rifle through it. With a cry of...raw emotion, he gripped a section of wall and hurled it aside, hopeful to find anything in the ashes and wood.
“Ragnis...” Shara didn't know what else to say as she took a shaky step forward. Just...just hours ago the house had been fine. Tess and Kara had seen them off, waving and smiling. Maybe...maybe there was a chance they had gotten out. That they had made it out of the fire and went straight to the village.
“M-maybe we should check the village...” Shara's suggestion should have come with greater confidence. With more reassurance. But how was she supposed to believe in that possibility whilst Ragnis continued to throw himself in the ashes, screaming for Tess and Kara. He stood up and gripped a section of what was once the house's roof and, with another pained roar, he pulled it aside. More ashes...but something was among them. Two things. They were burned completely black, covered in ash and soot, and unrecognizable.
But even Shara could tell. She wanted to believe otherwise, but she just knew.
A croak of pain and grief escaped Ragnis' throat as he fell to his knees before his find. Sobs began to wrack his body as, with shaking hands, he carefully pulled the burned corpses towards him. He tried to speak, to say something, but the words came out blubbered and thick. Instead he gently embraced what was once his family, rocking them back and forth as gently as he could.
“Sh-should we...I...” Morrigan had tried to speak, but tears had begun to flow down her face. The words kept catching in her mouth as she tore her eyes from Ragnis and looked to Shara, almost desperately. Shara didn't know what to do either. She...she didn't cry, no tears formed in her eyes, but she was still left stunned and...filled with grief.
Tess and Kara were dead. Neither of them had deserved this. Both of them were...they were too good to die like this. Yet they were gone. That fact left her brain stalled, no other thought able to surmount it, as she simply stared, wide-eyed, at Ragnis' back.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 24, 2017 19:59:39 GMT -6
Ah... hell. Loping into vision of the unfolding tragedy, Nayru's jaw took on grim lines as she internalized the destruction and implications that came sailing to mind in its wake. Given the sharply limited scale of the devastation and the timing, it was clear to her that this was not just an arbitrary incident. It was an attack, targeted - whether out of true hatred or an emotional misstep or even a drunken stupor. Heh... 'misstep.' What a nice way to describe a cold blooded murder. Almost took the sting right out of it. Kraft was just a little overboard in his enforcement, Tess was - had been - just a little friendly.
It was interesting that rather than grief, the dragon couldn't help but think, her mind turned to a mix of logic and anger. Her companions were all clearly grief stricken, and a part of her could feel that pain too. But rather than dwell on it, her unnatural mind simply moved on, because that was what it did, what it always did. At least now, after Arcadia, she understood some facet of why, and in understanding came a level of acceptance - but that didn't fix the problem. It made her feel an extra level of inhuman, as though she truly shouldn't be standing here with them at all. Watching as Ragnis's hopes and dreams and emotion burned around him. Shara hadn't told her the old dragon's full story, but it hadn't been hard to pick up some of the ticks. How hard it was for him to open up. Old wounds of some sort... possibly a loved one, or a family, lost in the Scouring. She'd heard many a story akin to that about that, if he was indeed that old. But one didn't need to have lived through that to know just how harsh Elibe could be to dragons. Aerious had suffered for it, and it had warped him into what he was today.
She suspected it had been Bran, almost said so, but kept her mouth shut. Nayru remembered what Aerious had told her of his story, what had befallen the villagers, even the innocent ones, as they died in thunder and flame. Loss so great could make a man... or woman... do horrible things. Nayru wasn't sure what she would do if Veigue or Remus were killed before her, but she had a feeling it would... not end well, for anyone involved. Because that was the danger of being a dragon after all, the true threat she so often tried to downplay - but a crucial concern that had only grown alongside her power. It only took one fuckup, one... lapse in judgement or control, to make a terrible mistake.
And in the end, she had no proof it was Bran. Naming him would only crystallize Ragnis's anger into hatred, launch him towards the village - walking the same steps as Aerious had almost a thousand years before. Would she have to... stop him, too, despite what they had been there together? They weren't friends, but they were more than just acquaintances. Nayru was pretty sure she could stop him if she really had to, but... she also wasn't entirely sure what she WOULD do.
So for now, the dragon just stood back, acutely aware of the distance between them on more than one level, mouthing a quiet "I'm sorry." It wasn't much of a reaction or much of a statement, but it was all she had to offer right now.
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on Jan 24, 2017 22:11:22 GMT -6
It was when Nayru offered a quiet, but sincere condolence that Shara was brought out of her near-catatonic state. Her chest felt constricted and tight, as if something inside of her was ready to burst free. Yet if she felt this twisted up inside then she could only imagine the pain Ragnis was suffering. Carefully Shara walked through the ashes, her mind focused once again.
What had happened here was...terrible. But there was now a new task: to find out what happened. A blaze such as this couldn't have been an accident. Shara doubted that if the fire had started within the home from, say, a candle, that Tess and Kara would have wound up trapped inside. It had to come from outside, which meant that it couldn't have been an accident.
Someone was responsible and...well, it didn't take long for Shara to make a connection. Aside from Kara, Tess, and Ragnis, Shara had only seen one other villager. And he hadn't seemed all that fond of the family, suspicious even.
Shara had the tact not to state her hypothesis, though. It wasn't what mattered in that moment. What mattered was that...Ragnis needed to know that the world hadn't ended. He was still alive. That same thought that had driven him onward, even as he had woken up in a brand new world...he'd have to recall it then and there. He'd have to remember that he could rebuild, he could move on. Even if it would be painful.
“Ragnis. We'll...” Shara didn't even get to finish the thought. Ragnis' sobbing had ceased, his face no longer buried in the remains of his family. Instead his eyes, bloodshot with tears, had fixed themselves on something just beyond the ashes. Shara followed the dragon's gaze and...her eyes widened.
It was an empty bottle.
Gently the dragon began to set the charred corpses down onto the ashes before he stood up. His pants were caked in soot and ash, and as he began to stride over towards the bottle Shara followed him. “Ragnis, wait. Let's not do an-”
“Quiet.” It was a low rasp with which he spoke, different from his usual stoic gruffness. Shara couldn't even be certain what emotion was dominant in the tone, only that the sobbing had taken its toll on Ragnis' throat. He bent over and picked up the bottle, staring at it in silence for a moment. Shara...couldn't think of what to say. Ragnis wasn't stupid. His mind had already put the pieces together. The questions was if...or rather how he would handle it.
When his dark brown eyes began to glow golden, Shara was given her answer. The bottle practically exploded in his grip, shards of glass sent scattering among the ashes. Shara's first thought was that Ragnis had just destroyed the evidence, which made it a fair bit more difficult to try to approach the village about this.
But when he began to storm away from the ruins of the house Shara was hit with another realization: Ragnis didn't care.
“Wait! Ragnis!” Just as Shara began to run, Ragnis had broken into a full sprint. He was, without a doubt, using reinforcement to strengthen his legs. Shara only had enough time to look back at Nayru and Morrigan before calling to them. “Come on!”
Maybe...just maybe Shara could stop Ragnis from doing something rash. Maybe she could talk him down. But Shara still didn't know what it was Ragnis was going to do. She didn't know if he was just going to break through the village gate and hunt Bran down, or what. Ah...Shara didn't even know what she knew at that moment, beyond one fact: she had to follow Ragnis.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 24, 2017 22:58:01 GMT -6
-Aaaand there was the catch. The bottle didn't... absolutely implicate Bran, it was perfectly possible that Tess had stocked some liquor or villagers had come over friendly-like or even just another drunkard had been inspired by Bran's actions. There were a million and one possible explanations.
...And none of them mattered.
Ragnis had latched onto that as the most likely cause, and in his current state, the tendency to look for alternatives simply didn't exist. He didn't care anymore - he needed an outlet for his raging emotion, he needed something to burn it away with, and Bran, and it really was liable to be Bran, had just offered the bereaved dragon exactly what he needed... likely to be at the cost of Bran's own life if Ragnis didn't manage to rest control of himself in time. Nayru couldn't shake the thought that if she were in his position, if she found the blades of someone she didn't trust over Veigue's broken body or a crushed Thyrrus over Remus's corpse... as much as the dragon wanted to think she could rise above, do better than him?
She would probably have the same thoughts.
And Nayru knew very well just what happened when she really, truly lost control... and that had been an eon ago, when her true form did not shatter the skies and savage the earth with its fury.
But before she could decide what to do to try to mitigate the situation despite the hypocrisy, Ragnis had already taken off, with Shara in tow and Morrigan beginning to do that magey running thing that made Nayru almost consider just picking up the daft girl and showing her what speed was all about, and the dragon had to follow suit or be left behind in their wake. And while she grieved Tess, Kara - it was not her way to simply stand at their funeral pyre and weep. She had to do SOMETHING before this really got ugly. Nayru wasn't sure what she'd do or how, but as she followed the group towards the village, towards impending tragedy no matter who ended up dead first, she could only hope that Ragnis managed to control his emotions or be subdued by she and Shara before he could do any real damage.
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on Jan 25, 2017 0:05:39 GMT -6
“BRAN!” When Ragnis had called out before, to his family, the emotion in his voice had been one of sorrow. One of fear, and grief, and desperation. It had been the voice of a man who had silently prayed, to any and every god he could think of, for his family to answer back. Yet as he slowed his sprint down to a jog, approaching the tall wooden gates to the village, his voice shook with but one emotion: rage.
Shara slowed her run down as well, Nayru and Morrigan not too far behind her. She opened her mouth to call to Ragnis, to try and calm him down before he did something he'd regret. Regardless of the anger that burned within Ragnis, right then and there, Shara KNEW he would regret it. Tess had loved the village. Kara had friends there, other young children that she played with. She knew if Ragnis marched into that village and...did what he was thinking of doing, he'd only come out of it feeling worse.
“BRAAAAAAAAAAAN! SHOW YOURSELF!” Yet what was her voice to the roar of a dragon?
“Ragnis? Is that you?” A man's head began to appear above the fence that surrounded the city gate. It wasn't Bran, but the face of a man who'd just woken up. “What in blazes are you scr-”
“Where is he?!” Ragnis' hands were balled into fists, shaking at his sides, as he stared up at the man. “He's on guard shift with you, right? So where's Bran?”
“B-Bran? Why I uh...” The other man just looked confused. As his head rose higher and higher Shara realized that he must be climbing a platform on the other side of the fence. He gazed directly across from him, likely to a second platform opposite his own. After a slight pause her turned back to look at Ragnis. “He was here a minute ago...why, Ragnis? Did something happen wi-”
“BRAAAAAAN!” Ragnis ignored the other man completely. That was...a good sign, yes? Even if Ragnis looked and sounded ready to level the entire village, his rage was at least restricted to the one he thought responsible. “I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!”
“Th-the whole damn village can hear you!” The guardsman retorted, his eyes wide with shock. “Just talk to...” He glanced over his shoulder and blinked. “O-oh...here comes Bran now.”
Shara watched as dark brown scales began to form along Ragnis' arms. He...he didn't even care if he shifted in plain view? The darkness of the night was waning, already the sun beginning to peek over the horizon, but Shara hoped it was still too dark for the either Bran or this other human to see.
“...Now what the hell do you want?” Bran practically spat from behind the gate. Even before his head rose into view, Shara could recognize the voice. And already something in his tone made her bristle, her teeth beginning to grind in her mouth. He gazed down at Ragnis with...unrepentant hate and disdain.
“You know damn well!” Ragnis snarled up at him, eyes burning golden by this point. There was no way the humans didn't notice...and judging by the shocked expression on the other guard, he certainly had. Even Bran's eyes widened a bit, but he didn't look nearly as bewildered as the other man. “You killed them! You burned them in their own home!”
“...Yeah, that's right.” He didn't even deny it. Sharp, dark claws began to forge themselves over Ragnis' hand as Bran just glared right back down at him. “And I hoped to burn you with 'em! Look at him, Harold! I told you! My boy tried to tell us all! Ragnis ain't no man, he's a damned freak!”
“Y-you...oh by Nature...” Harold had turned his gaze to the horizon. Everything about the situation had drained the blood from his face, leaving him pale, yet even as Ragnis half-shifted before his very eyes, Harold focused not on the dragon but on the horizon. As the sun had begun to rise, its light was cast across the area...and Harold could see the ruins of Tess' house, and the faint smoke that still wafted into the air. “Oh gods...Tess a-and little...Bran, what did you do?!”
“I tried to protect us! I tried to avenge my boy!” Bran spat back at Harold. Ragnis just seethed on the ground, his fury practically swelling before Shara's eyes. She was silent throughout it all. What could she even say? What...what was she supposed to do?!
“Oh gods Ragnis I'm...I only fell asleep for a few winks and...gods I'm so sorry...” Harold, if nothing else, seemed genuine. If he was offering condolences to a being that his colleague had deemed a monster, then he was either very honest or very foolish. Ragnis didn't seem to respond to the man's sympathy, however, and instead pointed a claw over to Bran.
“If you're sorry...” The rage did not dominate Ragnis' tone now. Instead it sat beneath the words, rumbling and ready to explode at any given moment. Ragnis' entire arm shook as he pointed at his target. “Then leave him with me. Let me make him pay for what he's done.”
“I ain't getting turned over to you, mons-”
“I DIDN'T KILL YOUR BOY, BRAN!” There it was. A final snap. If Shara had been in front of Ragnis she could see that his canines had began to expand slightly, growing into proper fangs as he drew on more and more of his stone's power. “...But don't you worry. I'll send you to him now.”
“No, Ragnis!” Shara took a step forward. Maybe she didn't know what she was supposed to do, but she did know what she couldn't allow to happen. Yet Ragnis didn't hear her voice. His entire world, in that moment, was Bran. His last attachment to Kara and Tess, in his mind, was their killer. And the only way to make their loss right. The only way to make any sense of their deaths...was through vengeance. Violence.
“R-Ragnis...it don't work like that.” Harold gulped before he spoke. “We have to get the village chieftain, and the others and...l-look, Ragnis. Bran has some explaining to do, and we want to make sure he gets whatever justice he has coming fo-”
“Hah! You're gonna preach to me about justice!?” Bran's eyes were wide and wild as he stared down Harold. He pointed at the other guard accusingly before he continued. “I'm the only one dealing justice around out here! If that whore and her little bitch wanted to keep protecting a monster from us, the monster that killed my boy, then they deserved what they had coming.”
Shara didn't even get to register the rage Bran's words sparked in her. Instead her eyes went only to Ragnis, who let loose a roar far more feral than even the howls of the Gwyllgi. The scales on Ragnis' right arm expanded, spreading and growing over his claws to resemble something far more akin to a club than an arm.
“BRAAAAN!” Spikes jutted from the end of this proto-limb, taking the same shape that Ragnis had used throughout the fight with the Doogs.
Time itself seemed to slow down. Ragnis dragged his heavy right arm back, his face twisted with fury as he began to step to the village gates. He was going to break them down, splinter and shatter them to get to Bran. Where would it stop there? What if Bran ran, and hid behind other villagers? Shara wanted to believe that Ragnis wouldn't kill them, that he'd spare them in his hunt for vengeance. She wanted to believe it more than anything...and she almost wanted to let him go.
If she could realize just what it was she was doing, she'd be surprised at herself. Yet her body seemed to move separate from her mind. Her dragonstone, nearly exposed thanks to the poor condition of her clothing, began to glow as white flecks of magic began to coalesce around her right arm. They clustered and spread, from her hands straight up to her elbows, before darkening to a jet black.
As Ragnis moved to swing his massive arm into the town gate, Shara had closed the gap between them. From behind she looped her arm up around Ragnis' bicep and flexed, tightening her muscles as hard as she could. The impact of these two, scale covered limbs, was intense enough to release a small shock-wave, pressurized air bursting out from around the two dragons.
“Ragnis! Stop this! Think about what you're doing!” Shara pleaded to the dragon now, voice strained as her arm struggled to stop his. Ragnis was larger, his power greater than hers, but damn it she had to try. It had to be HER to do it. Nayru and Morrigan didn't know his story. They didn't know exactly how deep Ragnis' pain ran, from how deep his rage had erupted. If any of them could make them listen, it was her.
But Ragnis didn't listen. He didn't even respond. Giving up on slamming his club-like arm into the door, he shifted his footing and proceeded to drag Shara. She tried to do the same, to dig her heels into the dirt to prevent being dragged, but she just wasn't strong enough. With a roar Ragnis threw his arm to the side, hurling Shara over his shoulder and across the grassy earth about ten feet. The dragoness landed hard, bouncing off the ground and rolling an extra few feet, pain firing through her entire body.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 25, 2017 21:26:37 GMT -6
Well... good news and bad news, huh? On the bright side, Ragnis hadn't fullshifted and started killing people, though neither did it seem that he was too far away from it. His interest was mostly aimed at Bran. The bad news was, uh, basically everything else. Nayru could do little but stand there and watch as the enraged Ragnis ensured that at least everyone in the village knew what an angry halfshifted dragon looked like. Not... not the best idea ever, but as she'd accepted. She could understand his feelings. All too much. Far, far too much, to the point that she wasn't sure it was her place to do anything at all.
But - neither did the Arcadian dragon particularly want to be party to a massacre. If Ragnis turned his attention towards the others, she would have to... seriously consider her response, contemplate the weight of taking another dragon's life to protect others. Humans, yes, but it wasn't so much the racial divide as the idea of killing a dragon that she disliked; she would work to protect a village of dragons for him just as easily. Or, er, not easily.
Shara, her bonds to Ragnis and Tess far stronger than Nayru's own, was clearly trying her best to quell the coming storm, with what could at best be described as limited success. That fool Bran kept on opening his mouth and ensuring he was headed for the underworld to follow his son. The thought crossed Nayru's mind that perhaps it would be wisest to just take the cretin out with an aimed breath attack and draw Ragnis's attention towards her - she could take a few hits - and Bran HAD admitted to it - but at this point the last thing Nayru particularly wanted to do was make the situation even worse. Ragnis and Shara were doing that quite well on their own. Or... badly. When Shara came crashing back, Nayru hesitated for a moment before taking a few steps closer to the fallen dragon, kneeling at her side, recognizing Shara's link to the issue and trying to gauge her role in it.
...The problem was that she wasn't sure she could subdue Ragnis without killing him, and if he transformed... well, she definitely couldn't handle it in human form. Visiting the fury of the storm upon this village could turn the unfolding tragedy into small scale genocide. Her voice was quiet, almost small, but firm, not betraying her own internal struggle... much. "Shara. If you want help..." Nayru didn't finish the sentence. Shara had never seen her transform, but she knew enough to make her own judgement. She'd seen Nayru fight in human form, and as a dragon she too would know the exponential scaling between forms. But - it was a decision that, unless things truly took a turn for the worst, only Shara could make. Nayru couldn't make it for her, not unless Ragnis turned out to be far stronger than she anticipated and Shara could handle, and it truly became a matter of standing in lest death for all became absolute.
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on Jan 26, 2017 13:44:01 GMT -6
Power continued to flow through Shara's whole being, holding the pain at bay. Not only the pain of having been flung by Ragnis, but the pain that those Doogs had caused her just hours ago. It was only thanks to the power of her stone that Shara was even able to push herself up to her knees, eyes fixed on Ragnis. His face was so...contorted. With fury and sorrow. With hatred and...despair, as he turned his gaze towards Harold and Bran.
Nayru whispered down to her. A quiet offer of aid, to help her handle Ragnis. It was extremely tempting. Though Shara couldn't be as certain just what the difference in strength between Nayru and Ragnis was, she knew that both were stronger her. Particularly Nayru. One way or another the other dragoness would claim victory over Ragnis...but was that the victory she wanted here? Was that the victory they needed? Violence to suppress Ragnis' anger?
Shara's gaze briefly flicked over her shoulder, towards Morrigan. The sorceress had no words, not even a quiet whisper like Nayru, but her offer remained present as well, in the form of nether energy swirling around her hands. She was willing to help as well, a worried expression clear on her face.
...But there was too much at stake here. If Nayru and Morrigan joined in this battle, how widespread could the resulting destruction be? Shara had already seen what had happened to the clearing that the four had battled in earlier. That damage that now ravaged it had been caused by THEM, not the Doogs or even the Gwyllgi. If they fought now, against Ragnis...who was to say the damage wouldn't be even more extensive?
And...beyond the village...who was to say Ragnis would live?
“No...” Shara forced herself to her feet as she gave her response. She appreciated the offer, she really did. But as the dragoness stared ahead at Ragnis, dragging his heavy proto-limb behind as he approached the gate, driven on by his hatred...she knew. Shara knew it had to be her. The one who understood just where their rage came from. The only one among them who had any chance of breaking through it peacefully. “Please. No matter what happens, I ask you both to stay your hands.”
With that Shara began to step towards Ragnis. Words had failed her the first time, but...but maybe she could try again. And she knew just how to go about it.
“Ragnis!” No matter how many years passed since she last used it, her mother tongue still flowed so naturally. Ragnis' response was instantaneous, his dread march towards the village gate coming to a complete halt, and his gaze turned to Shara immediately. “You need to stop this.”
“He killed them!” Ragnis didn't miss a beat. He fired back in the ancient tongue, throwing his unshifted arm out towards Bran. To his credit the human still stood atop his post, but he was visibly trembling on the spot. Fear may have had him paralyzed, or perhaps it was his blasted stubbornness. “He murdered them in cold blood, Shara...”
“And you think killing him will undo that?” Shara walked closer as she attempted to drill logic into Ragnis' mind. Sympathy at this point would...just enable him. That much she was certain of. To be sympathetic would be to approve of Bran's murder. And while a part of her...undeniably wanted that, Shara knew she couldn't fall prey to that line of thought. “You think his death will bring them back? Ragnis that's-”
“DON'T YOU LECTURE ME!” He'd turned his entire body towards her now. As much as it hurt to face his rage head on, Shara was glad: his aim was no longer fixed on the village gate. Ragnis seethed as he took a single step towards and, for an instant, his features seemed to almost soften. “I know damn well...that what is gone can never again return.” The fire behind his voice had, if only briefly, flickered down to a warm flare when he spoke. Doused by grief rather than tempered by it.
But Ragnis wasn't done. “I...I was given a second chance, Shara. I was given a second chance, and I failed them, just like I did in the war.” For the moment that rage was cast aside. No, not cast aside. Simply pushed down, as Ragnis attempted to reach out to Shara. Both through his words and even literally, his unshifted arm slowly extrending out towards her. “But there is still one thing I can do. Just one chance I have left. One I never had in the war. I can bring them justice. I can...I can make it right.”
Shara's heart burned, and she already knew what would come next from the dragon. “Please...help me do right by my family.”
Shara wanted to. More than she'd ever wanted anything in her life, she wanted to help Ragnis. She wanted justice for Tess and Kara, cruelly taken before their time for unjust reasons. Taken by a man wracked with grief and anger over the loss of his own family...
But there it was. There it was right there. If Bran had a son, he surely had a spouse. A wife. A woman to mother his child. So if Ragnis, lost in his own emotion, took Bran's life as justice for his family...where was the difference between the two? Bran may have admitted his crime, and Bran's motivation may have been wrong...but was that enough to tell them apart?
“Mhm...I wish you didn't have to go. I don't like fighting or violence...”
...And besides...
“I know. But sometimes, Tess...it's necessary.”
She couldn't live with herself here, knowing she'd help Ragnis break Tess' heart. If all that remained of her was her memory then...then it was their duty to honour it. Violence wasn't necessary to bring her justice, but if it was necessary to stop Ragnis then she...she would use it. She owed Tess that much. Owed Kara.
Owed Ragnis.
Shara knew what she was doing was cruel. Crueler than cruel. Ragnis had pleaded to her for aid, for acceptance. Yet as she slight into a combat stance, her answer was powerful in its silence. He was being denied, not just by a fellow member of his own species, but by a friend. By someone who ought to know, better than anyone, just how much pain he was in.
“If words won't stop you, Ragnis...” She didn't finish the thought. The dragon had already lifted his massive proto-limb, hatred igniting in his golden eyes once more. Rather than dodge outward and continue to be zoned by the limb, Shara instead stepped into Ragnis and to the side. She felt the air rush past her cheek as Ragnis brought his arm down, to slow to strike where she had moved.
Shara's muscles flexed and tightened as she drove her fist into Ragnis' stomach. His reinforced body gave her resistance, the large dragon just doubling over a bit despite the sheer force Shara had pumped into the strike. Not wanting to let up the offensive she moved her clawed hands up and gripped the back of the dragon's head. As she pulled his head down she brought a knee up, magic flowing through her leg just in time for the impact.
Shara's knee drilled Ragnis square in the face, the impact enough to force him out of her grip and stumbling back. He growled in pain and rage, His unshifted hand brought to grip his face, as if to ease the pain. That blow had done a number on him, Shara could tell, but it would take more than that to bring the mighty dragon low. So she charged straight at his back, ready to press her offensive further, but Ragnis spun around fast. His heavy proto-limb sailed through the air as he gave it a mighty swing.
Too slow to duck, Shara pumped extra power into her arms, reinforcing the hard ebon scales that covered them further as she brought them up in front of her torso and face. The dragoness planted her feet and braced herself to take the strike as best she could, yet when the scaly limb collided with her arms she was still hurled off of her feet. The dragoness flew back a good fifteen, tumbling and rolling as she went along...
And then a sharp pain assailed her, forcing her to scream out. The reinforcement around her leg! In order to take that blow she had drawn magic up from there, leaving it as exposed as a human limb despite the injury she had sustained to it. The teeth marks that Doog had left her opened up, aggravated from her rolling, and blood began to pour from the wound.
Shara grit her teeth and hastily poured more magic back into the leg, strengthening it and dulling the pain as best she could. Having landed on her back Shara began to prop herself up with her elbows, squinting as she tried to gather her bearings. The force of the blow and the tumble, along with the pain had disoriented her greatly. By the time her eyes adjusted properly they opened wide in shock.
“RAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Ragnis had thrown his entire body into the air, likely pushing his half-shifting to its absolute maximum. He brought his heavy proto-limb back once he had hit the peak of his jump, swinging down towards Shara as he began to descend. The dragoness scrambled to her footing, fully aware that no amount of reinforcement would help her block such a blow, and barely managed to hurl herself aside when Ragnis came down.
The massive limb cracked the earth beneath it, chunks of dirt and debris sent up into the air by the sheer force behind the impact. Shara landed on her side, rolling again as the earth beneath her trembled from Ragnis' might. Once again she was left dazed and disoriented, and she tried to force her eyes to focus as she pushed herself onto her hands and knees-
When suddenly the wind was forced from her lungs, and the contents of her stomach nearly forced up as well. She'd been too slow to stand and Ragnis had closed the distance between them, driving his boot into her stomach. Most of his power had still been pumped into his massive arm, or Shara's internal organs would have ruptured from the strike: she barely had any reinforcement outside of her limbs.
The force behind the kick lifted Shara up into the air, and she let out a pained scream as she felt Ragnis' arm slam into her back. Again, she was lucky it hadn't been his shifted arm, but the impact of slamming down into the earth still left her entire body shaken. Pain flared in every corner of her being, leaving her practically paralyzed before the large drake.
“I wish you'd have just let me be.” Ragnis spoke. Shara felt his fingers, notably not claws, grip onto the back of her hair firmly. Still shaken and wracked with raw agony, Shara was unable to stop Ragnis from holding her up by her hair, forcing the two to look at each other face to face. Stars still blinked and flared in Shara's vision, but she could make out Ragnis' expression all the same. It was no longer twisted in rage alone. ALL of his emotions were written throughout. His grief, his guilt, his sorrow...
“You're not stopping me, Shara.” Even as she spoke Shara's mind was pumped into overdrive. What was her way out of this? She already decided to fight. She had already affirmed her stance in this matter, so giving up just...maybe the old Shara would have given up. Maybe just a month or two ago, she wouldn't have even tried to fight. Or maybe she would have...
None of that mattered. What did matter was the memory of Tess and Kara. What mattered was that she couldn't allow Ragnis to stain that memory, to become the monster that Bran had accused him of being.
“I'm sorry.” Ragnis' proto-limb began to shrink, but it retained it's shape. In place of the massive size it once held it instead sprouted another spike at the end, one that was longer and sharper that the others. It didn't take Shara long to realize his plan, and so her mind raced no longer. Instinct took over, her eyes flitting across his body for a weakness.
The hand that gripped her hair was still human.
Shara lifted a hand up to Ragnis' wrist and gripped it tightly. He gave a startled grunt, wincing as her grip began to crush down on his wrist. Shara could feel the bone start to crack as she tested how much magic he currently held within the arm.
It wasn't enough.
“GRAH!” With a loud cry Shara poured as much magic into her claws as she could, sharpening and extending them as she drove them up into the Ragnis' forearm. The older dragon let out a cry of agony as Shara's claws burst clean through, forcing their way through the flesh and bone of his forearm. Instantly his grip on Shara's hair weakened, blood pouring down Shara's armas her claws remained within his arm.
This was her opportunity. Shara pulled her claws free from Ragnis' arm and stepped into him. Even as her body protested with flares of agony she brought a fist into Ragnis' lower jaw. There was a crack, his jawbone chipping beneath the force. The older dragon took a shaky step back, still stunned by the pain that assailed him, as Shara drove her other fist into his ribs. No crack this time, no permanent damage. Ragnis had begun to reinforce his entire body properly again, rather than just his proto-limb.
Shara punched Ragnis' chest again, as hard as she could. She felt the force of the impact reverberate throughout her entire arm as Ragnis' reinforcement strengthened, and saw the large dragon pull his proto-limb back. Shara was too close to dodge, and lacked the physical might required to block the in-coming strike. So rather than attempt to do either she instead shifted her body to the side. All magic left her arms and legs save for one, tattoos of fire scorching down her right arm as she brought it back. What remained poured throughout her body in preparation of the oncoming strike.
Both dragons roared as they traded blows, Shara's empowered fist breaking Ragnis' ribs beneath it, whil one of the spikes from Ragnis' proto-limb tore a bloody path through Shara's side. The force behind each impact was enough to send a burst of air rushing outward from the two, the shock wave such that both dragons were hurled back.
Shara's vision became strained as she landed on the ground once again, but she didn't tumble this time. The spike...hadn't torn anything vital, but it had cut deep all the same. Immediately her blood began to pool beneath her, gushing from this fresh wound, as Shara struggled to sit up. Her elbows were planted onto the ground as she slowly forced herself up, gaze fixed upon Ragnis.
At first the other dragon didn't move and...Shara had feared the worst. But in a few moments he steadily began to rise...blood pouring from the sides of his mouth, just as it leaked from his wounded arm.
Neither of them were in any position to fight anymore. Both had suffered wounds far too great to continue the battle. For a fleeting moment Shara had thought that she had won. That Ragnis could no longer have the strength to continue this battle...
The thought didn't last long.
“No...Ragnis no...” She whispered, eyes wide, as Ragnis steadily began to force himself to his feet. Even as he continued to lose blood he stood, spurred on not by his will. Not by his rage or grief or sorrow.
But by his dragonstone, which now glowed so brightly that Shara could see it clearly from beneath his shirt.
And she knew what would come next.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 26, 2017 20:13:36 GMT -6
Would she?
Could she?
Nayru regarded the other dragon with concern writ on her face for a moment in the wake of her refusal. Shara knew what was at stake. She knew now, after being thrown back, that Ragnis was stronger than her, physically and very likely overall. If she continued here, she'd be doing so despite all that, not simply out of immature overconfidence. And yet Shara was willing to do it, to try, without relying on others to help her. For all she'd said about not letting Shara get killed in the fight, so too was it necessary for Shara to overcome challenges under her own power, propelled solely by her own will and constrained by her own limits, for the blonde dragon to truly grow into her own person. Not just into what Nayru wanted out of her. Not what Morrigan or Tess or Kara or even Ragnis wanted her to be, nor her tribe. Nayru could offer all the advice she wanted, but in the end Shara had to decide for herself, find her own path.
So the older dragon just nodded, stepping back silently as Shara hurled herself into the fray again, a brutal battle of steel and sinew that ripped both asunder as the two combatants clashed into each other over and over, propelled by forces greater than them. It was striking to see the change that had overtaken Shara, the girl who not so long ago had said that she didn't know what she was fighting for or even how to figure it out. It seemed, Nayru thought to herself, that even if the other dragon hadn't realized it yet, maybe she already knew the answer. Not necessarily Nayru's answer, or Morrigan's, or Ragnis's - but HER answer, the answer that would make her into the new her, the Shara of the future.
It took a certain level of effort not to step in as the fight got bloodier, one that only grew as Nayru struggled against her own instincts. She was used to... helping people. Doing whatever she could to aid them. She didn't really do that thing where she just stood there and watched her friends and even acquaintances die; at most she'd let Veigue tag in against Zarius. So it was somewhat of a new experience to her, and not one she particularly cared for.
Especially when Ragnis started to prepare to transform fully.
"...Stay behind me," she said simply to the raven magus as Nayru took several steps towards her, not intending to obscure her view of the event but unsure of exactly what his transformation would entail. Nayru knew quite well from experience that the transformations of stronger dragons were bathed in the elements, the scale heavily dependent on their power and their element. Her own scathed the earth around her for some distance, and if Ragnis turned out to be stronger than she realized, especially if he were Earth elemental, there could well be physical projectiles - and it only took one good sized rock to the head to kill someone. She'd be fine, but Morrigan, despite her skills, might need a meatshield.
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on Jan 26, 2017 22:37:43 GMT -6
Two songs in this post. The links are embedded where the song would ideally begin to play. Be it dialogue, or lines. Ordinarily I just do this and don't draw attention to it but...these MEAN something lol. Almost a year of build up. So please, I insist. “Ragnis!” Shara's voice was strained, held down by pain yet pushed forth by desperation. The transformation wasn't the same for every dragon. Small details were always different, but she could still recognize the sign. The first stage was no different than her own: Ragnis' dragonstone, glimmering with the light of a thousand stars. It was so bright it illuminated the man completely, more so than the sun that had begun to rise at his back. ...He couldn't. If he went through with this change there was no telling how much damage he would cause. There wouldn't be a way for him to simply kill Bran, and spare everyone else. If...if he transformed...then Shara knew he no longer cared. She would know that he was lost. “Please! Please don't do this!” So she begged him. Despite the pain that threatened to tear her mind asunder she forced herself to stand. To stand that she may stare back at Ragnis' eyes. ANYTHING to convince him from crossing the point of no return. “Do you really think this is what they would have wanted? What Tess and Kara would have wanted?!”No reprimanding came. As magic continued to shine out from Ragnis' dragonstone, he didn't yell for her not to speak their names. He didn't scream for her to shut up. For a moment he was completely silent in the wake of Shara's plea, simply staring at his own dragonstone. ...It was too late. The gates had been broken. The dragon's fair skin steadily became duskier, the whites of his eyes darkening to black in turn. Cracks began to spread across his skin as his entire body seemed to pulsate. Not from mass, but from pure power. The earth itself had begun to respond, trembling more and more in the wake of the coming change. But before it came Ragnis turned his gaze to Shara...and she saw them. Tears, flowing freely from his golden eyes. "We'll never know. Will we?"Debris from beneath him erupted. Shards of rock and earth jutted out in hard spikes, several boulder-sized clumps of earth sent soaring high about Ragnis' head. The dragonstone's light grew and grew until it emcompassed the dragon completely. It was so bright that Shara could only make out the outline of Ragnis' body, between the spikes of earth that had burst out beneath him. She could see his silhouette rupture. First were his arms, bursting out and flaring wide. Each arm was larger than Ragnis' entire human body, and the weight of them forced him to hunch forward on all fours. Next were his legs, twisting and stretching that they may propel him higher, beyond even the glare given off by his stone as the two became one. The top half of his body could be seen as horns, more reminiscent of sharp rock than anything, began to jut forth all down his back. Hair was burned away by the light, scale and rock taking its place as Ragnis' true face pushed itself into existence. A snout blew away any lingering remnants of humanity, pale indigo scales covering what were once cheeks of human flesh. All the while Ragnis just...grew. His legs were taller than the spikes of earth he himself had created, and his arms were just a long. Perhaps even longer, with wings sharper than blades attached to them. Last...came the tail. What Shara had only seen as a meaty proto-limb burst free, extending with thick, rock-like scales covering its topside. The underside...not just of his tail, but of his indire body, was that same pale indigo. Softer scales, whereas the brown-beige scales above were far thicker. Heavier. Yet when his tail finally birthed those lethal spikes from its tip, they were a dark reddish-purple, stained by his own blood and accompanied by it. At last the light faded...and Ragnis' true body could be seen. With a fierce roar he spun, his massive tail cleaving through the earth that had risen to protect him like a hot knife through butter. The sound was deafening, wave after wave of heavy rubble scattered to the air, each hitting the ground with heavy thuds, making it tremble beneath them. Ragnis' eyes, pupils no longer visible, appeared like golden moons. There was little light to them, the black of his sclera consuming it before it could emanate. ...and all Shara could do was stand there, and stare, as time began to slow. Rock and earth that had been sent flying seemed to slow, twisting and flowing in the air like leaves on the wind. ...Ragnis...he had said they would never know what Tess would have wanted. What Kara would have wanted. He was so lost without them, so blinded with loathing, of Bran and of himself, that he'd forgotten the answer. But Shara hadn't.Tess had only allowed her into her home for a couple days. They'd only exchanged so many words with each other. In that short time Tess had been completely open. She had been a loving wife, a doting mother, a curious village girl, and a wise woman. She'd been a hard worker, a good listener, and a pacifist who detested violence. Tess had been all of who she was to Shara, and it was all Shara could do to try and be a stranger to her in return. The dragoness could never claim to have the bond with Tess that Ragnis did. She could never claim to have watched Kara grow as he had. But she knew who they were at their core...and from there she could find the answer. The truth. If Ragnis went through with his most feral desires, he would bury that truth in cracked earth and bones. He would drown the memories of his family in a sea of blood. Shara couldn't do anything for Tess and Kara now. They were gone, and they would never return. But she could do...something...she had to do SOMETHING. Anything. And for the first time in her life, she knew exactly what it was. She could protect their memory. She could defend all that they had stood for. What they symbolized. And with that purpose clear...Shara's heart was set ablaze. Just as it had with Ragnis, light began to shine from her chest. Her dragonstone, flashing with amber light, responded to her magic. To her heart's desire...and it burned. It burned against her flesh, and that burn flared across her entire body. It burned away the scales her half-shift had forged along her arms, and left deep tattoos in its wake. Like water through rivers, fire began to spread through these tattoos. Through these patterns. Orange and yellow light filled the crevices Shara's stone had carved out in her flesh, each symbol radiating with heat. Her fair flesh began to flake away from the heat, much like her scales have. Piece by piece her human body flaked, like thick ashes from firewood, to be scattered to the air before dissolving to nothing. With each layer her core was revealed. Rather than be obscured in the light, Shara visibly became something far beyond human. More and more flesh peeled off to reveal...fire. Flames that burned in the shape of a human. A flickering blaze that had arms and legs, and a head. And as the last strands of hair and skin were burned away, that blaze finally consumed the stone that had hung from her neck. And it erupted into a roaring inferno. The blaze stood tall, crackling and twisting as its shape began to change. Protrusions of fire spouted from its back, like flares of the sun itself. Strands of flame fell from the now massive inferno, sprawling along behind it like a serpent...or a tail. Having taken it's new shape, the edges of the inferno began to darken. They darkened and darkened until, at last, they began to burst out from the flames, wrapping themselves around them in segments as they took on a solid form. Ebon scales clasped themselves around the fire like armour to a knight. First her arms, claws extending from her digits once they were fully formed. Her wings were next, and the scales to encase the entirety of her blazing core. The last to form was her head. Scales stretching to display a narrow snout, large horns that adorned her head like a jagged crown, and a long, proud neck. Yet the fire that burned within could not be entirely sealed by her scales. The rivers of orange and yellow light continued to glow, tattoos spanning her arms, outlining her muscular body, and extending down either end of her tail. The glowed like a hearth, but it was a deception. For all had seen the hell-fire that she truly was. Perhaps if one was uniquely familiar with the anatomy of a dragon, they would take a noted interest in Shara's body. Powerful albeit sleek, yes, a few things stood out, almost quite literally. The horns atop her head and shoulders were too tall. Her wings, though functional and mighty, were too small. Her tail as well seemed to stretch far too long, and yet did not seem to serve a purpose. It bore no spikes to act as a weapon, like Ragnis', nor did it have a meaningful thickness or mass. Yet between the two dragons, Shara's tail was undoubtedly longer. She was no infant dragon...but certain aspects of her body were incomplete. Juvenile. Even that tattoos that betrayed her inner fire seemed to signify power that she could not yet reach. Power that had to be restrained and contained. Yet despite this Shara's eyes continued to burn. If Ragnis' were silent moons, then hers were midday suns. Already she felt Elibe's hollow air reject her presence. It pressured down on her might frame and attempted to suffocate her out of existence. Ragnis no doubt felt this painful drain as well, this heavy burden on his otherwise powerful body. They only had so long to settle the score. So long before the damage done to their human bodies would need to be taken account for. Perhaps, before she found her resolve in the fire, Shara would have simply attempted to stall Ragnis out. But she now knew that would not be enough and...thanks in large part to positioning: she was literally the only thing that stood between Ragnis and the village. So she needed to move first. Towards Ragnis and away from the village. She needed to minimize as much collateral damage as possible and...and she needed to defeat Ragnis, as soon as possible. Ragnis' thick tail slammed down onto the ground, absolutely breaking the earth beneath it. Powerful tremors spread out through the earth, strong enough that poor Morrigan fell to her knees behind Nayru. Yet Shara's was not fazed. Her wings stretched out and gave a single flap, and only the claws of her webbed feet scraped along the earth. His tactic a failure, Ragnis lurched his head towards Shara. A high pitched shriek was emitted from him as he bore his thick fangs as he aimed at her throat. Just like those Doogs in the woods. Just like a monster. But the human mind that sometimes inhibited Shara was ablaze, much like the rest of her. A more powerful instinct took control, and those instincts had her raise a forearm in the path of Ragnis' jaws. Rather than her throat the Earth Dragon instead clamped his fangs down on the strongest scales Shara bore on her body. The scales around her claws and up her forearm were nearly as thick and durable as the heavy slab-like scales that adorned Ragnis' back. Which also gave Shara her key to victory: if she could turn Ragnis onto his back...that was how she would win. That's how she would protect their memory. That's how she would protect hope.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 28, 2017 0:38:26 GMT -6
Fan-fuckin-tastic. A full on dragon on dragon fight. Gas the dragons race war now, huh? Part of Nayru, the machine-mind that never stopped working, could only think of how negatively this was likely to effect Lycia; how it would effect Shara negatively to be known as a dragon; how it might interfere with her own efforts and how selfish that sounded; how nice it would be to have Remus to shield the villagers as she could not.
Another part was fairly impressed by both parties' transformations; Ragnis's own was simple and brutal, earthen might meeting draconic fury in one unending jagged design that pushed and pulled and tore itself together. Shara's was more refined, fire given form; more deliberate and controlled though not tamed. Darkness born of light, in contrast to her own light born of darkness, a small part of her helpfully noted in a tone singed by sarcasm. It was especially interesting to watch dragons transform because of how rarely it happened in Arcadia - mostly simply stayed in one form or the other permanently, dependent on their preferences, and outside of it few transformed at all; this she observed as a researcher or librarian might.
Another part of her noted that a friend and someone she could have called friend were about to try to kill each other.
Nayru could only watch in silent sorrow as all attempts at diplomacy broke down, as both parties accepted that there would be no winners, only losers. There was no longer anything she could do even if she wanted to, at least not without the realm of practicality; it was up to Shara to try to minimize the damages and... subdue Ragnis, whatever that meant, though from her perspective Nayru had a sinking feeling that "subdue" was likely to be an understatement compared to what Shara might have to actually do to end the threat. For now though, she was alive, unscathed save by some rubble in the wake of the transformations and Ragnis's tail crash, and in the wake of anything better to do, observed the village rapidly and then cocked her head towards Morrigan, hoping that in turn the smaller mage was unharmed. "You alright?"
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on Jan 28, 2017 2:47:15 GMT -6
“O-oh...I'm...I'm fine.” The sorceress spoke as firmly as she could, though it would be clear to anyone that she was trying to convince herself more than Nayru. She pushed herself onto her feet, unharmed just...deeply shaken. To say it was a great deal for her to process was the understatement of the millennia. Morrigan, in the span of about a day, had gone from; believing dragons to be extinct, finding out this was false and that she'd already met one dragon in human form, met two more dragons, and now found two of the three dragons she had met fighting one another. And likely to the death, at that. There was nothing she could do but stand by. If Shara needed her help she would...she would try, against Ragnis. But until that time came, and hopefully for all of them it did not, she would stand behind Nayru. “I'll be okay. I just...hope Shara will be, too.” Tears of the DragonRagnis' heavy tail thrashed, the jagged spikes tearing their way through the ground behind him as he pressed his weight forward. His fangs continued to pressure down on Shara's arm, grinding against her thick scales like a blade against armor. As the seconds ticked down Shara could begin to feel the pain of that pressure. The fangs, if allowed to keep digging, would eventually crack her scales and sink into the softer scales and flesh beneath them. No longer hovering Shara planted her feet firmly onto the ground, the claws of her toes digging into the earth for extra support. Her body leaned forward slightly as she began to push her arm back against Ragnis' jaws. Forward and then up, she lifted her arm steadily, her raw power winning out against Ragnis' for the time being. Slowly his head was tilted further and further back, his soft neck and under-scales exposed to her. If...if she truly believed he was lost, she had the chance to end it right there. His rage had blinded him into such an early error, and Shara's claws could tear the meat out of his throat. Crush his windpipe and render him a corpse. Her instincts, the primal dragon she did her best to ignore or lock away every single day, screamed for her to do just that. She did not obey. Shara drove a scaled fist into Ragnis throat all the same, but her claws did not puncture his flesh. The sudden lack of air flow forced Ragnis' jaws and eyes wide, her arm now freed from his mighty maw. The offensive was hers to seize, and she claimed it in full force. Shara's eyes burned red as she hammered another first into the side of Ragnis' mouth. The impact rang throughout the clearing around the village, a heavy smack one would associate with two boulders colliding with each other rather than a simple punch. The ebon drake's foot slid forward, tearing up layer after layer of dirt beneath it, as she drove another fist into Ragnis' chest. His breathing had returned but he was at a disadvantage: face to face he lacked Shara's reach. His body wasn't built for it. All he could do was snap his jaws, hoping to clamp down on a limb or digit, as Shara continued to beat him back with her punches. And that was truly the end goal, as she drove another fist into the earth dragon's snout: to push him back. Away from the village. Away from Morrigan and even Nayru. As Shara pushed forward again, another fist poised to strike at Ragnis, the earth dragon rammed his head into her chest. A pained grunt was forced from Shara, her large body forced to take a single step back. That headbutt could have impacted a mountain, punched a whole through solid stone. Yet to Shara it was only so different from a human delivering a headbutt to another human. Shara had found her footing fast, but not fast enough to seize the offensive again. Ragnis' spun his body in a 180 pivot. As he turned his massive tail soared through the air, wind whistling against the tips of his tail spikes. Once again she was too close to evade the incoming blow. She could only try to brace herself. Shara raised her arms to prepare for the worst, but the effort was in vain. The pain was such that it blotted out every other sense Shara had. Her vision went entirely black as purest agony pounded through the whole of her massive frame. She couldn't hear the sick “crunch” of her scales being impacted by the stone-like spikes. All she could feel was her blood, hot like liquid fire, pour from her chest and down her side. She could feel the earth beneath her feet slide away, the momentum of Ragnis' swing enough to move her whole body a few feet. Darkness was replaced with blinding light as her vision slowly returned, black marks popping all throughout what she saw, like dark stars in a white sky. Steadily her other senses clawed their way back into existence. Ancestors she could SMELL her own blood in the air, she'd lost that much. Between the damage she had sustained, to both forms, and the air of Elibe sucking her power away as if it were a gate to the Nether itself, Shara felt her form begin to fade. Just slightly. If...if she was to stop Ragnis... If she was to protect everyone. Protect the memory of Kara and Tess...then she had to end this battle quickly. She couldn't afford to push the limits of just how long she could maintain her full-shift. Ragnis attempted to wrench his tail free from Shara's torso but...it was to no avail. He glared at the ebon dragoness over his shoulder and saw that Shara had gripped two of the spikes on his tail. Even though agony continued to assail her body. Even though her mind nearly fractured from the strain of maintaining her shift. Shara seemed intent on holding onto Ragnis' tail, even as she felt his spikes push deeper into her body. The muscle along Ragnis' tail tensed and flexed as he struggled to pull it from Shara's grasp, but all he succeeded in doing was withdrawing his spikes from Shara's side. Another massive wave of suffering incarnate pulsed through her being, and she had to fight not to lose her vision to the pain once more. She HAD to endure. Though the spikes were freed Shara's grip on the tail remained firm. As dark, hot blood leaked from her would she raised Ragnis' tail up high, using her claws to push the tip of the tail over her head. Ragnis' golden eyes widened, catching onto what her plan was. In desperation he dropped his jaw, and whitish-brown energy began to swirl within the depths of his maw. Pure magic gathered and intensified as Ragnis channeled his might into a breath attack. As the light in Ragnis' maw grew brighter and brighter, Shara stepped beneath his lifted tail. Her grip shifted down, away from the spikes and onto the tail proper. Earth began to crack away beneath Ragnis', the sheer pressure of his growing magic enough to influx...no, it didn't impact gravity. Rather the magic drew the earth two it. Clumps of earth and rock gathering in the sphere of magical light, the magic transforming them into something beyond basic matter. Shara felt the weight of Ragnis' magic tear her down even more than the weight of his tail. The earth beneath her feet cracked, a sign of this pressure, yet she stood tall all the same. Shara tightened her grip on Ragnis' tail and stretched her wings out to their full span. With a might flap they pushed the air out beneath them, the gust enough to blow about smaller chunks of debris across the ravaged clearing. Shara's feet left the ground as her wings continued to bring her to her ascent. Yet with every flap her upper body leaned forward more...and more... The muscles in her chest tensed and strained at the massive weight Shara was now forced to pull. Her wings were far more powerful than they appeared, yet they felt that same strain all the same. Ragnis let out a somewhat panicked roar as his tail was lifted higher and higher, his feet eventually leaving the ground as well. “GRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Shara rolled her body forward, swinging the massive frame of Ragnis over her head. With his magic already channeled and primed, Ragnis was forced to unleash the attack all the same. White light burned through the clearing as a massive sphere launched straight up into the air, as Ragnis was mid-swing. The light surrounding the sphere grew brighter and brighter until the sphere itself erupted, detonating with a shock wave that shook the nearby trees. Countless smaller projectiles fell back to the earth from the sphere. As the light that surrounded them faded they were revealed to be jagged, stone-like projectiles. That rocketed to the ground, dissolving steadily as they fell. Though the attack could not have been stopped, it had not been completed upon launch. By the time most of the rocks landed on the ground they were hardly larger than a pebble. As Ragnis hit the ground, however, one would have thought he was a meteorite. The earth didn't just crack beneath his back as he impacted, but it even caved in from the force. Pain no doubt throbbed through Ragnis' entire body, for he let out a strained roar and flailed wildly on the ground. Her objective accomplished, Shara descended fast upon Ragnis. Her clawed toes pierced the softer scales of his thighs and pinned his legs down. She leaned forward, claws ready to tear at his throat, but Ragnis' head lurched forward. In desperation he snapped his jaws up at Shara, attempting to catch her throat between his fangs. Shara's heightened instincts brought her claws to Ragnis' jaws and, just as she had with the Doog from the night before, she found herself holding Ragnis' head back. The dragoness' biceps tightened as she slowly forced Ragnis' head back down to the ground. As his fangs scraped along the scales of her arm, her claws dug themselves into the meat of his mouth, the gums just behind his fangs. A low, long hiss escaped from Ragnis' mouth as Shara's ivory claws drew more and more blood. As a last ditch effort to force Shara off of him Ragnis stretched out one of his bladed wings and drove the spikes right into the wound on Shara's side. A shrill roar of agony echoed out from Shara as, for the third time, her vision began to falter. Through sheer force of will and primal draconic instinct she locked her gaze onto Ragnis' eyes. Blood red met stained gold as Ragnis' head was pressed back onto the ground, Shara's claws still firmly hooked into his mouth. “...One last chance...Ragnis.” Shara's voice was far deeper in this form, and further strained by all that she had suffered. Externally and internally. If she drew her claws from Ragnis' mouth then he would not waste a single second to tear her throat out. It truly seemed as though the two were in a deadlock, a deadly embrace that could not end lest either or both lose their lives for it... But it was not the case. Shara knew...and she could see it in Ragnis' eyes. The resignation, the stubborness that refused to burn away. She knew he knew as well. And his silence only sealed it. The air in the clearing began to shimmer, temperature rising steadily. The runes, tattoos, and patterns all throughout Shara began to radiate, the fire that ran through them awoken again. Her red eyes glowed as reddish-yellow flares began to build in the back of Shara's mouth. Her arms struggled and strained against Ragnis' jaws but, with no small effort, she had begun to force them wider. As fire continued to build and build within Shara, her scales began to flake away. The roaring inferno steadily became visible as, between the magic Shara currently pumped into her attack, and the dead zone that was Elibean air, her form could no longer be sustained. The flares in her mouth had gathered to form a massive sphere, forcing her maw open wide to sustain it. Even though he may as well have been looking into the depths of hell itself, Ragnis did not tear his gaze away from Shara. His wings continued to beat at her form, even as it was burned away by her own fire. Shara's eyes did not leave Ragnis' either, the crackle and roar of the fire all that she could hear as it continued to build and build... “...I'm sorry...”Dragon fire erupted from Shara's jaws, shimmering in their intensity. The flames gushed into Ragnis' mouth with so much force that the earth beneath them cracked, steadily beginning to scorch. The fire ripped through Ragnis' body slowly, spreading throughout his body as Shara maintained the stream. Eventually the flames began to peak through his softer scales, his massive frame steadily engulfed. As Shara held the stream her physical form collapsed completely. All shape that it once had was lost, and instead of the growing inferno that had been her transformation, the flames that lingered diminished, shrinking beneath the smoke that had begun to rise. Indeed, where the base of the inferno that was Shara had burned, there was now only smoke. Thick and black, it hung over the area, shrouding all that lay within. No motion could be seen...and not a single sound could be heard. “S-Shara...?” Morrigan spoke up, worry clear on her expression as she took a small step closer to the area. Her wide eyes turned to Nayru, uncertainty clear in her expression.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jan 29, 2017 22:46:47 GMT -6
It occurred to Nayru that she was likely the least affected party here, even compared to Morrigan; the sorceress had traveled as a duo with Ragnis, likely spoken with him, and they ended up fighting together directly while she faffed around with the Gwyllgi... who, now that she thought about it, actually HADN'T assaulted her with fire at all. Huh. Well, they were usually more interested in eating things. Maybe she'd damaged the firebreathing head early in the fight? Did they even have dedicated firebreathing heads? Or maybe it just hadn't had the time to charge up a proper breath attack. She HAD been riding it pretty hard for the duration of the fight after all.
Speaking of fights that everyone involved was unhappy about, Ragnis and Shara were going at each other with a singular ferocity that quite frankly Nayru had never seen before. Her experiences with dragons had mostly been in Arcadia - no duels to the death there, thank you very much - or alongside others in group fights, never to the death against another. Least not that she remembered, anyways, not that she really remembered anything before the Nabatan desert. There was no special finesse or elemental witchery between the two dragons, only tail and fang against claw and body, a sort of unbecoming savagery that was difficult to watch. And yet she kept her eyes glued to it aside from regularly scanning the clearing in case something else came out, determined to remember it. So that... whichever of them lost, at least she could record their last moments, remember them both as who they had been and what they were defined by. The desperate tragedy of Ragnis, or the blossoming beauty of Shara's drive to become something more.
In the end, though, Shara's flame burned brighter than his hatred, and Ragnis met his end in fire even as Shara's exertions tore her power from her. Whether it was because the younger dragon had actually run out of power or simply lost control of it was of little concern; as Nayru knew well, Elibe was no longer a friendly place to her kind, and the blonde had been pushing herself well beyond her physical limits for some time. It was unlikely that Shara had... ACTUALLY been burned away by her fire, though at the same time Nayru knew from experience that dragons were not necessarily immune to their own power, but the pallid shadow rising in the wake of her final act lent an unpleasant sense of loss and finality to the entire proceeding.
"Shara!" Hoping that her voice might at least draw the other dragon's attention, Nayru spoke without reserve, not quite shouting but projecting her voice strongly through the intervening distance. She was no orator, but she at least knew how to be loud. "...You alright in there?"
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on Jan 30, 2017 20:14:03 GMT -6
There was no fire anymore. There were no tough scales to guard her away against all that assailed her. Words couldn't begin to describe the physical pain that wracked Shara's body. It was beyond the point even she believed that she could bare. As the smoke began to clear she became visible...an absolute mess. Practically covered from head to toe in bloody, fresh and dried alike, with soot and ash as well. The wound she had sustained as a dragon carried over to her human body, a bloody gash stretched across her side. Her leg's wound had re-opened as well, to top things off, and shook from the pressure of standing.
The dragoness' arms hung a bit, her left a bit more limp as she held her tricep with her right hand. Her muscles screamed and ached, likely pushed beyond their limit between throwing Ragnis and holding back his jaws. Physically, just the pain and agony, was already enough to make Shara lose her mind. It blocked out the rest of the world, including the smoke that rose before her face. She could hear concerned voices, those of Nayru and Morrigan, but she...she just couldn't answer them.
Shara could speak. That wasn't the problem. Instead the issue lay before her...as Ragnis' draconic body began to flake away. His softer scales had been scorched badly, the area around his mouth where Shara's flames had entered warped and melted from the intense heat. The dragon's magic was no more, his form unable to remain. So, much like his half-shifting, scales and flesh flaked off to the sky, floating harmlessly as they dissolved on the wind.
There were no flames to focus on as Ragnis' human body came into view. No scales to shield her as her gaze trailed over his charred body. Not burnt completely like...like poor Tess and Kara, nowhere near, but Shara knew the vast majority of the damage was internal. Blotches of Ragnis' skin had been burned black, but for the most part he was simply covered in dirt. His eyes were closed...fatigued from the battle and...
...
Shara didn't want to think about it. Right now, thinking just led to feeling. And already she felt too much. More than she ever had in her entire life. She felt all of this pain and agony across her body and yet it was preferable to what she felt INSIDE. How her heart felt as though it had been ripped asunder. How her mind was at an absolute loss, jarred and stuck on the same few thoughts. So her gaze down at Ragnis was impassive. She tried not to care. Truly, truly she didn't. She had accomplished her goal, she had survived, and she had done what was necessary to protect both herself AND the villagers alike...
She didn't want to think about why that fact failed to stitch her heart back together. Yet all the same she just couldn't take her gaze off of Ragnis. His chest rose and fell, but the movement was extremely faint and strained. Each rise of his chest came shorter than the last. It was ALL Shara could fixate on. Even as Morrigan took a few more shaky steps towards her. Even as the gates to the village were slowly pulled open, a small crowd of villagers peeking out, wrapped in a mix of fear and curiosity, as they gazed at the two dragons.
Shara could hear them, but she could not LISTEN. Even as the villagers steadily crept out from behind the gate, she could could not focus at all on their whispers.
...yet when Ragnis' eyes fluttered open, weakly and strained, the entire world locked itself away from Shara. Slowly the earth dragon reached up, his arm trembling and shaky, as his fingers slowly outstretched towards Shara. She leaned forward, the dragon's fingertips just coming short of her face. She listened as his ravaged lungs fought for a few last breaths of precious. Just enough air for him to utter one, quiet word.
“T...Tess...”
With that, Ragnis' last breath came. A soft, rattling hiss, as his hand fell to the ground. Limp and motionless...
And Shara felt everything.
Her knees buckled at last as she fell to the ground, and she brought both arms around her body, embracing herself tightly. Tears stung at her eyes as they began to flow freely, and she couldn't hold back the sobs any longer, her entire body soon wracked by them in spite of all the pain. No, BECAUSE of the pain.
...Why? Why was this how it all came to end? Why did Tess and Kara have to die? Why did Ragnis have to join them?
Why had she been the one to kill them?
...Why was she the one who got to come out of it alive? Why her and not Tess, who wanted to show the world naught but kindness, who had served as proof of human tolerance. A being of love.
Why her and not Ragnis, who had suffered so much in life yet still had the strength to rebuild. A dragon who had been able to put aside his hate for the people who took his family, and brought himself to move past that. A man dedicated to family, from birth straight to his death.
Why her and not Kara, whose life had just begun. An innocent little girl with more wisdom than even she knew, someone who could see the core of a person and know that to be their truth. A bright star snuffed out far too young, well before her time.
In a matter of hours Elibe had lost three people. A family who, to Shara, represented...love. Peace. Happiness. Tolerance...and hope. Yet they all had to die, burned away by one fire or another, while she lived on. She, who symbolized nothing. She, who had exhibited naught but cold disdain to the vast majority of Elibe. She, to whom indifference was the standard, not kindness.
“Why...”
To think on it all now. To FEEL it all now. It was...it was just too much more than she could take.
“R-Ragnis was...”
“A monster! Like I told you all! Like my boy told us! And she's one too!” Bran was with a few of the villagers who slowly stepped out from the gate. They were all tired, confused, and at least a little bit frightened as they carefully approached the scorched earth where Ragnis and Shara were.
“Didn't she stop him though?”
“Why was Ragnis going to attack us? I just...what about Tess and Kara?” Harold, Bran's opposite, looked to Nayru and Morrigan. At first his gaze had been on Shara but...he at least had the tact to know she was in no position to clear up anything. He gulped before asking the two women. “Please...I can barely believe what I just saw but...can you help clear this up? At all? What exactly happened just now?”
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