The Forbidden Art

"From what I know, I think a rude asshole means you have a hard time pooping," Kailyn replied thoughtfully, starting her trek towards the end of the barrier. She didn't catch the joke as it went right over her hermit head.

"I don't think a bear is that fuzzy, do you? Plus they do that saliva lip thing that isn't very attractive," Kailyn looked up at the sky, "Fuzzy... fuzzy.. fuzzy.." she repeated thoughtfully.

"Do you dynari have some fancy animal you want to lend me?" She asked.

"From what I know, I think a rude asshole means you have a hard time pooping,"
Azirak took a step back. That was what the wind mage meant? But he didnt have any problem with...
"I don't think a bear is that fuzzy, do you? Plus they do that saliva lip thing that isn't very attractive,"
He didnt know how to react to this. Was this human actually that stupid, or was she teasing him? He decided to get straight to the point when the human asked another question.
"Do you dynari have some fancy animal you want to lend me?"
Azirak looked at her for a moment.
"...no. Do you know where everyone else has gone? There was a big group here not long ago..."

Tellas silently ate the food, his grin proof that he liked to food. her question however hit him hard, "I... Don't know. What I do know was that he was wrong to call you genocidal. Give him a day to cool off then go and get him. It'll give him time to, hopefully, calm down and actually think through why the Chosen do what they have to."

He looked up a little, "Given your current PR among the magicless we can't just go into the villiages and spur them to our defense can we?"

"They went to find a fuzzy thing as well," Kailyn grumbled, obviously unhappy about the situation. She stepped out of the barrier and took in a deep breath. She felt a weight lift off her shoulders. Her body tingled like it was coming alive again. She smiled a little. The burst of energy it took to make the plant was barely anything. In fact, her whole body buzzed with the excess that built up while within the barrier. She had this innate need to release it. It was like suddenly getting a caffeine rush.

She outstretched her hand to an area about ten meters away. All of a sudden, the earth erupted into a geyser like burst, sending bits of grass and vegetation flying. The dirt fell around harmlessly, as if encased in an invisible circle. Kailyn rolled her shoulders back and the unease settled.

"Sorry," Kailyn offered, "Felt like I had to," She wondered if any of the other mages felt the same side effect as she did. She peered ahead and recognized the back of someone's head. He seemed to have... vines?

"Hey!" Kailyn called out, "Where's the crazy one and her friend?" She looked around, seemingly suspecting some of them to pop out of nowhere.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Vera bit at her empty fork thoughtfully. Her green eyes looked like they were in another world. She blinked a few times and came back to reality, where she went, no one knows. No one should ever have to bear witness to the recess of her mind.

"You're right, Drappy," Vera admitted, leaning back in her chair. She chewed on the fork still and rubbed her tummy with her spare hand. "I'll wait till tomorrow. And if he's not back by then..." Vera slammed down her fork, "I'll drag his ass back to me!" She finished with a grin.

Tellas chuckled, "Mind if I tag along? Just in case he won't come quietly."

The human walked away. To be honest, Azirak felt glad. She had been a little...strange. she walked a distance away, and surprised Azirak by blowing a large section of the ground nearby away. Could that mean...
He ran in her direction, and suddenly felt better, the nausea that had plagued him vanished, and he felt a hundred times better. He aimed his hand at a nearby tree, and a bolt of lightning blew it into hundreds of shards of bark and wood. The top part fell to the floor, as the trunk was completely shredded.

So...did that mean there was some sort of barrier blocking his magic? Interesting...
He walked over to the human.
"What is going on? Why couldnt we use our magic over there?"

Vexoz had started walking off when he heard a loud thud.

"Hey! Where's the crazy one and her friend?"

He just tried to ignore her and keep moving, but couldn't bring himself to leave her completely in the dark. It felt like he knew her personally after all that had happened. He was there when she almost broke up with Drake at the hot spring, when they seemed to get back together in the town, and then she told him about the Chosen's plan when Vera didn't. "Us Chosen aren't all bad. I guess I should thank you for telling me what they were up to...."

The whole thing just felt kind-of odd. Vexoz didn't really know if he should trust the anti-Chosen or not. They didn't seem that evil, at least, most of them didn't. "I'm going to stop this plan." He said, slightly void of emotion. "The right way." By this point, he had used the vines to completely tie his sword to his arm. Sensing there might be some confusion, he raised his arm to show the woman what he did with his weapon.

"I don't suppose you've got a better way to scale a mountain without losing your weapon?" He almost joked before starting to walk off. It wouldn't matter. Even if they did use that obscure piece of information to find the Chosen village, he would be there to defend it.

Kailyn looked at Azirak, "Something to do with the eye-ee-shan, or manaflayer, or Charlie, as he likes to call himself. It... I don't know how it works but it..." Kailyn scratched at her head, "It feels like it ripped out a part of me and thrust it back into me with a shot of morphine. Maybe it blocks off our magical flow?" Kailyn shrugged, "I don't know but I don't like it."
Kailyn listened as Vexoz explained what he was doing. Kailyn gave him a small nod of respect, "Good luck," Was all she offered, as well as a small shake of her head and a tiny giggle at his weapon. He didn't seem all that much of a threat. In fact, Kailyn would go as far as to say he was a pretty new member. He wasn't a part of the genocide and he seemed like a genuinely nice guy, apart from the crazy lady and who he stood with. She hoped she wouldn't have to fight him.
She sighed and looked up at the darkening sky, "I guess we should make camp and look in the morning," She announced.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"Of course you can come, Drappy!" Vera chirped. She stretched in her chair. Then, she got up and collected their plates, putting them in the sink to wash them later. She was very tired.
"Drappy, do you take baths and stuff?" Vera asked, "I'm going to take mine and then you can take yours. I have the spare bedroom up these stairs and to the right," She pointed in the direction of the bedroom. She yawned as she wandered up the stairs.
She turned on the water and let it warm up as she undressed and grabbed a towel from the bathroom's closet. In the meantime, she was doing some thinking. She sat down on the toilet and looked at the gem she betrayed the Chosen for. She rubbed it with her thumb and frowned at it. She wondered what Vexoz would think of her if he found out…

She harrumphed and put the gem on the countertop and put herself in the water closet. She allowed the drops to fall down her skin as she lathered the soap across her body. Unlike other redheads, Vera was not covered in freckles. Instead, she had flawless, slightly pale skin. She ran her fingers across her engorged breasts, past her peaked pink buds, washing the mounds of flesh with her hands. She sighed as her digits traveled downwards, towards the tone plane of her stomach. She was alone with her thoughts. Her thoughts of Vexoz.

Why did he make her… feel?

He made her angry. Not once, but twice. She never got angry, not really. She felt guilt, shame, and worried when he found out about the Chosen’s plans. She didn’t want him to think less of her. But why?

The temperature of the water seemed to heat as her mind thought of the warrior. Her hands drifted a little bit farther down, now touching her thighs. She rubbed the bar of soap against them, the small white suds trying to wash away how she felt. She pictured his black hair and his brown eyes. She saw the gentleness in them and the hardness when he was being protective. His muscles, his scars, the taut body that held Vexoz in place, it all came rushing to her in a fell blow. A rare blush graced her cheeks. She pictured him shirtless, in the hot springs, rising out of the water like a warrior god. She saw the drops of water running down his chest as he stalked towards her. She licked her lips as her imagination let her gaze drift downwards, towards where the water was racing.

Spoiler:

“Why the hell did I just do that?” Vera asked herself, withdrawing from the closet a little while later. She got dressed and exited the bathroom.

“Um, maybe you should wait till tomorrow to shower,” Vera told Tellas before scurrying into her bedroom and shutting the door behind her. She wasn’t sure how good his nose was but she was pretty sure a squirrel could smell the pheromones coming off her.

Tellas just nodded at the redhead's words and let out a silent sigh. Already his life was finally looking up. He could feel something in him want to change and he closed his eyes, "I should be..." He looked down at his hands, "Was is the water? Or that pain I felt where Vera revealed the Chosen's plans?" he said sighing. A scent hit his nose and he sighed, shaking his head, "Just typical, She'll sleep easier than I thought." he said as he moved from the kitchen at last and began to head to the guest room. The moan he heard just made him smile, albeit sadly.

he took heed of her words and merely said, "I'll bathe when I need to, Vera. May Luna protect you in your slumber." He said before walking into the guest room, closing the door and just walking straight to the window. "Don't chase her Tellas... That was the scent of a taken woman," he told himself. He turned away from the window and simply curled up in the middle of the room laying his head on his hands much like a proper wolf. He wrapped his wings around his torso but didn't sleep.

He never slept. "Every woman you meet who shows the slightest interest has been taken by another, Tellas... It's your fate to be alone," He said, his facial fur slowly dampening. he moved a claw to his eye and just satred at the tear that now sat upon it. Sorrow in liquid form. His other arm shivered and he jsut closed his eyes a soft whine of sorrow escaping his normally stalwart maw, "Damn you fate... May Luna never shine upon you ever again." He growled under his breath.

" Maybe it blocks off our magical flow?" Kailyn shrugged, "I don't know but I don't like it."
Azirak thought for a moment. What would happen if a weapon like that came into contact with a Dynari? He didnt want to think about it.
"I guess we should make camp and look in the morning,"
He wasnt so sure about this, but he had little else to do.
"Sounds like an idea. What happened to all those other humans you were with?"

Cee calmly walked out of the tavern a few hours later, a scroll in his hand. He had a smile on his face and was quite pleased with how he handled the situation. "Now for phase two. You better get here soon you shocky bastard." He stopped by his house and layed the scroll down on a desk, then headed out the door again.

He slowly walked up to the front door of Vera's house, but out of sheer badassery decided to surprise here. He walked around to the back, using his nose to sniff out her scent. Discreetly he slid open the window. Her back was turned to him, her beautiful red hair falling down over her shoulders. He layed down on the bed and grinned. "Hey there hot stuff."

---

After a couple hours of moving supplies from the wagon, the group had finally set up camp and were sitting around a fire talking. Mira was sitting next him with Drake and Kailyn on the opposite side. The lightning man, who Falks had come to learn was named Azirack, was sitting across from Azirack and Robin. "So... who wants to hear my plan?"

Vera was laying on her bed with her eyes closed. She welcomed the wonderful darkness and bliss of the promise of sleep. And then...

"Hey there hot stuff."

She screamed, jumping up so she was on her knees and proceeded to rain down punches on her intruder. She still had her eyes closed and was still screaming until she finally sneaked a peek at the peeping Tom.

"Oh, Cee, it's just you," Vera said, suddenly relaxing. She acted as if she never went crazy on him and flailed just about ten punches on his chest, "What are you doing here?"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Kailyn huddled closer to her love. She looked up at Azrael, who was standing off from the group, and waved him over, "There's an empty seat over here, brother," She said, considering the man who looked after her for her whole life the only family she had.

"What's your plan, Falks?" She asked, rubbing her hands through Drake's hair.

Cee laughed a bit as the punches landed softly against his toughened chest. "Well hello to you to Vera. I just wanted to ask for a favor or two pertaining to that group of humans we ran into."

-=-=-=-=-

Falks took a small slip of paper out of his pocket. Instructions were scrawled on it in messy handwriting, but the words were still legible. "Well so far the person I've been working with in the village should be able to find us a way to get in. The only problem is, we'll be all alone once we get in. Any thoughts?"

Vera blinked, "What kind of questions?" She asked. She looked down and yipped embarrassingly, realizing she didn't put her bra on after her shower. She smacked Cee across the face, "Why didn't you tell me?!" And then blinked across the room. She grabbed a bra, ran out the bedroom door, ran into the bathroom, put on the bra, and then blinked back to her bedroom.

She brushed the hair out of her face and sat back down on the bed as if nothing happened.

Cee was a little hurt. "Tell you what?" He realized that she was now wearing a bra. "I hadn't noticed before. While your breasts are nice, your face is ten time as amazing." He said as he propped himself up a bit. He paused for a second and blinked, not knowing where that had come from. In the entire time he had been with the Chosen, he had been completely unable to express and sort of feelings. He shook it off and looked back up at her. "I need the best mages the best archers the village can muster. If all goes well, we'll never have to worry about those pesky people again."

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Falks watched as Kailyn nodded her head. "Well something I've been wondering is rec recruiting some of the local villagers around here to help with our cause. They would be sure to help out if we told them what the Chosen planned to do."

Tellas seemed to ignore the sounds around him... he waited for a few monites before rising off the floor and padding, on all fours, out of the guest room and outside the house. A quick glance around and he then backflipped into the air and landed silently on Vera's roof. shifting himself slightly, partly glad that for once he could leave his axe somewhere without theives stealing in then took in a breath.

He sat back, much like a canine would and pointed his lupine face skywards in a saddening howl filled with his life's lamentations. Each waver in pitch and volume conveyed more than just sound. Knowledge of a wolves howl would know that he howls the lamentations of his heart's failures to the pale full moon. He paued for a breath half way through the howl, ready for a new set of lamentations.

With his lupine song over he once more lowered his body to the stable floor beneath him but, unlike the time was was curled up in the guest room, here he let his tears flow unchecked. Letting his liquid sorrow saturate his fur. "Luna... Enlighten me... Why am I doomed to never find true happiness?" He asked, his eyes fixated on the celestial body he was addressing, "Am I... truely meant to be just a tool forever more? Or am I destined to die, having made no mark on anyone's heart?"

Vexoz finally made his way to the Chosen mountain. It had taken him a while to recall which one was right, but it felt like this one was right. However, he couldn't exactly remember where the path down was. It took him a minute to examine the nearly-vertical climb upwords. Better get started.

There didn't seem to be a foothold nearby, so the warrior made one by stabbing his blade into the stone wall. It took a few minutes, but he seemed to get the pattern down. Hand, foot, pull blade off of the wall, foot, foot, stab sword into wall, repeat. Vexoz looked down at the treeline as it seemed to get fuzzier as he slowly kept going higher and higher.

Suddenly, he lost his grip and started falling down, trying to grab onto anything he could as his body left the mountain side! Only for him to quickly slam back into it. Rubbing his head, Vexoz slowly opened his eyes as he recognized he was hanging by his arm, no, by the vines he got earlier. The blade itself seemed to stay supprisingly sturdy. No time to screw around, just keep moving.

Several minutes later, Vexoz found himself growing weary. With a groan of effort, he charged his blade with magic and shoved it deep into the mountain. Then, he carefully managed to sit down on the blade. At first, slowly to make sure it would hold. Then he put his full weight on the weapon as he took a good look at the Moon and crossed his arms. Just a quick nap couldn't hurt.

Vexoz, almost reluctantly, began to drift off to sleep.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"............"

June gave a yawn as she woke up. What was going on out there? She fumbled around a little bit before finally finding her contacts. Nothing she could've thought about would prepare her for the sight that awaited outside the door.

The entire town seemed to be gathered around some sort of makeshift stage. As she rubber her eyes, it dawned on her that the stage had a person attatched as it took on a far more dispicable purpose. The town seemed to notice her presence and shifted in her general direction.

"Are you all right, June?" One of the more wealthy men said as he approached her. "Don't worry, we'll make this bastard pay for what he's done!"

What the heck did she miss? Slowly, June started to put the pieces together. "Umm.... What did he do?"

"He must've had you in a trance or something. Do you even remember coming home last night? We were concerned because you seemed pretty zombie-like and had sand on you... so we looked into things. This man has been... well.... Doing who-knows-what to you every night!"

By this point, the shock of it all made her more uncomftrable than what he was implying. "What? You think he... you know...." June's face turned red as she quickly glimpsed at the man. "No! That NEVER happened!"

"You don't have to defend him. We figured it out, this man is a mage! A practicer of dark magic!" Suprisingly, the man took out an official looking piece of paper. "He's already signed a confession."

No! She couldn't just sit back and let this happen! The next thing she knew, June had somehow gotten up on the stage in front of the accused mage.

"She's posessed!"

"No, he's obviously controlling her!"

"That monster... he's turned her into a witch as well!"

As soon as June cut him free, the two of them ran off into the forrest in seperate directions. The sound of her heavy breathing was only drownded out by the sounds of an angry mob's footsteps right on her tail. Why did it come to this!?!?

And that's was the end of her formal life in that particular town.

When Cee complimented her, Vera shrugged and replied, "I know," in the only way Vera could.

Vera looked at Cee, confused. She furrowed her brow, "Why are you here then? Go to the council tomorrow and we'll talk there," Vera said. A heart wrenching howl echoed from the rooftops. Vera perked her head up and tilted it.

"Wait here!" Vera said, then thought about it, "Or you could leave. Either way," She then opened up her window and flew out. She landed on top of the roof with a gentle tap.

"Drappy?" Vera asked, tiptoeing towards him, "You okay?"

Tellas looked at the Redhead after raising his head then nodded, "I'm... Fine. Those howls are always heard from me every night of the Full Moon. I often wonder why Luna listens to my lamentations..." He laid his head back down, not even making an effort to hide the tears soaking through his fur, "My life has been one of nothing but failure... Every time my heart find one suitable for me... another sweeps her away before I can make my move..."

Azrael yawned as he remembered the last time he fell asleep.

One.
Thousand.
Years.
Ago.

Even then he never slept, so why was he yawning? He looked over at the group when Kailyn referred to him as "brother". Then the memories of his own family came to mind. He shrugged and walked over, looming over the group and listened in on the conversation.

Drake smiled as Kailyn ran her fingers through his hair, enjoying the feeling of her touch. He watched silently, and observantly as things happened from there and motioned for Robin to sit beside him and Azreal. "I think it's a good plan, IF we can trust this person, and even if so. Do we have enough strength in this group alone to combat the whole group of the chosen? I dare not underestimate them, lest our overconfidence be our downfall. Tell me Falks, How confident in this person are you?" He said with his lesser known about calculating warrior side.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Robin walked over to Drake, and sat down next to him and Azreal. She nestled closer to him, letting his warmth warm her body. She felt safe around him, knowing that he wouldn't let anything happen to her. She leaned and whispered a few words into his ear, and returned to her normal position.

Vontion was sitting in his makeshift campsite roasting squirrel over a fire, with a big pointy stick. He had set up camp in a moon lit clearing in the woods. He had taken some stones and sticks, and made a simple campfire in the middle of it all like he did almost every night. He was sitting on a log he had rolled over near the fire, a little bit north of the fire was a tarp kept up by a few sticks, with a blanket underneath it. Propped up towards the moonlight were gemstones, tied to rocks by rope. He was in the area, looking for the entrance to the trading city of Smog. His uncle had, owned a shop there, and he knew the city would have plenty of supplies if they hadn`t turned useless with age by now.

The whole time he had been setting up camp, he`d been thinking bout the summers spent visiting his uncle, or walking through the busy streets of Smog, one of the biggest trade cities, under the Rune Elve`s control. When he was a kid it was surround by villages and the cave was easy to find, well taken care of, and even had a few performers in it but there was no telling what it would be like now. He sighed, soon after starting the fire his mind had turned to how he had failed his people, and he had fallen into a state of depression.

As he sat, wallowing in his failure, a rather pretty black haired woman, barged into his camp. He stood and was about to speak when he heard chanting. “WAIT! Come back! Stop the mage! STOP THE MAGE! SAVE JUNE! KILL THE VILE MAGE! KILL THE VILE MAGE!” He bit his lip, it was slander like that that got his people killed, he thought as his blood boiled. He didn`t have much time to be enraged though, the torch light seem to be heading this way, and the chanting was getting louder!

“FIND JUNE! KILL THE MAGE! FIND JUNE! KILL THE MAGE! KILL THE SINNER! FIND JUNE! KILL THE MAGE! BURN THE MAGE! KILL THE SINNER! FIND JUNE! STONE THE MAGE! HANG THE MAGE!” He glanced up the moon, and his eyes darted to the stones were the gemstones where tied. He had chosen this clearing for the moonlight; he raised his hands in a curved formation, the moonlight bounced off the gemstones just right to make it easier for him to bend the light. “Stay very still!” He whispered his lips, barley moving as he cast the illusion.

He made the fire look like nothing just grass like there was nothing there, the makeshift tarp tent look like a small pile of random twigs, and him and June to look like rabbits. The gemstones were hidden enough not to be seen, he held his breath as the villagers entered the camp.

Although Azirak tried his best to look like he was listening to the conversation, he found his mind drifting off, to other things.
That was odd enough in itself. He had always been an alright listener, but he couldnt manage it today. Why was that? Had the mana field scrambled his brain as well?
He was thinking about other things, and in one moment, a thought that he would dismiss as a moment of weakness, but would stay in his head for a long time, appeared.
"That mirror mage was...nice, wasnt she?"
Azirak shook his head to get rid of the treacherous thought, and tried to think about other things, completely dismissing what falks was talking about.

Azrael closed his eyes and bent his head a bit, trying to remember the family he had a thousand years ago. He and his brother were Crusniks, although Abraham was more stronger. He nurtured his parents until their own deaths, oddly enough and Abraham had joined a gang of vampires. Azrael buried his parents while Abraham fucked his best friend. He never did hear from Isabella after that. He snapped back into reality as Robin whispered in his ears. He hugged her in under his arm and kissed her forehead.

Azrael, I want to talk with you

"Vladimir..."

"Get out of here!"

"Begone monster!"

"How dare you defile the human form with this mockery!?"

"You're nothing but a monster!"

"Creatures like you should be destroyed!"

These and more shouts that Marneila Cumaltim had suffered from the human population repeated in her mind as she sait, awkwardly, in a tree. She sighed sadly to herself, two of her arms griupping the trunk of the tree the other two holding her unique bow. The tree she was sat in creaked and she shoved herself off the branch merem moments before her weight boke it, "Oh thanks tree(!)" She told the plantform, "Way to lightning me mood by calling me fat..."

The Naelashi harrumphed and turned in the air, beating her wings rhythmically before arching her body forward to move in the direction she chose, "Light... Flickering... Oh I hope there's no humans there,"