The Forbidden Art

Azirak's face lit up with joy, and kissed Marnelia passionately on the lips, and hugged her tight, never wanting to let her go...

The sounds of blades clashing outside reminded him that they were still in a warzone. Azirak sighed and looked into her eyes.
"Marnelia...i dont want to leave you...but i have to help the others. Please...stay safe..."

The spikes took their toll on the Mana Spirit as they blindsided her. She barely had enough time to react to the sword strike, Frozen Light shatterinmg into crystalline ice and light that made it up from the parry. Just as the sword was about to strike the Plane faded from view and both were deposited back into the violliage, Ret being dumped facefirst. She groaned as she got up, "You heartless monster... You'd wound one who was pregnant? You are undeserving of love if you do that..." She took a step back and nearly fell.

"Mark my words, O half-sister-in-law, The Chosen will be back should we lose here today. And when we return. no-one who fought today will be able to stop the coming rage. The world has been warned. Magic will return!" She declared before letting her magic hold her body and have her float backwards. She spotted Asinoir and her eyes widened, "Asi!" She caled in fear, floating to his side, "Asinoir... Are you alright?" her arms and legs were bleeding from the earthen spikes. but she was somehow managing to stand, albeit shakily.

Marneila nodded slowly, "I... I'll rest, Azirak..." She said, "C-come back.. alive... please~"

Azirak kissed her.
"I will. I promise." and he was gone, making for the mana sprit that had attacked Marnelia.
The cloud that had so nearly felled tellas slowly moved, and settled over her head.
"Freeze this you chosen bitch!" he screamed, and a powerful bolt shot down at her.

"Hmm?"

Teaisha freaked out as a bolt of lightning came out of nowhere! She treid to roll out of the way, dodging most of the blast, but was sent spinning off the roof. Hitting the ground hurt more than she thought it would. The impact tore open her leg wound, shattering the ice keept it closed. Thankfully, the cold had stopped the bleeding.

The Mana Spirit niticed a break in the clouds off in the distance. Vexoz! That was one of his newer magical skills at work. She got up and felt a jolt run across her body from the lightning blast. The man from before was really close by somewhere. Teaisha cautiously backed up against the side of the building.

"That's a pretty bad way to get a ladies attention, you know!" She announced, trying to detect where he was.

Azirak turned into his energy form, and moved a few metres behind her.
"You almost murdered the woman i love. Now im going to flay you alive!"
He took aim, and fired several bolts, letting his rage take over.

The Rain Spirits had brought the two of them food a water, as vonton had asked. Though she seemed so peaceful and Vonton hated to wake her, he nudged her a little bit, while holding out a thing of water. "Here, drink."

Bloodied and bruised, Kailyn nearly kissed the ground when they were put back on Earth. She was dazed by the fact that Ret could be pregnant... and the fact that she hurt Ret. It went against everything she believed, yet still, Ret had struck her as well.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Asinoir felt a wave of relief upon seeing Ret. Rage unlike he had ever felt before filled him when he noticed her bleeding wounds. He struggled to stand and forced himself not to show any pain.

"I'm fine, love," He said, licking his fingers and sizzling out a piece of hair that caught on fire, "Are you okay?" He asked, hobbling over to her and gently touching her cheek.

-=-=-=-=-=-

"TELLAS!" Vera screamed, reaching out to him. There were very few things that went through Vera's mind as Tellas fell. The first was to catch him and settle him gently against the ground.

She put her hand against his cheek as her eyes filled with liquid. All sounds were drowned out, her only focus on the one person who stayed by her side. The only one who was loyal to her... who believed in her.

"Tellas," She said, her voice breaking and the dam around her heart shattering, "Wake up. Wake up," She repeated, "Who's going to take care of me if you..." Vera stopped and swallowed the lump in her throat, "Who's going to protect me?" Her breath came in short, hyperventilating pants. A wind started to form, cloaking the two of them in its embrace. She gave him a small, sad smile, "C'mon, Drappy. You're the best teddy bear," She said, "You're so warm and fuzzy and..." When there was no reply, Vera broke down in heart broken sobs. Her tears streaked down her flawless face.

A strong gale gathered around her, whipping her hair wildly as her internal turmoil grew. She wasn't sure if he was dead or alive and was too scared to check. If he was dead...

Everything had been taken away from her by force. For the longest time, she had been helpless or too uncaring to stop it.

Not anymore.

Vera's eyes flashed a strange hue, a mixture of gold and emerald. The wind became stronger, more furious in its rampage. She was vaguely reminded of an image of Cee and could almost feel his hand on her shoulder. She figured this, once again, was a reminder of the lives that had fallen around her.

Asinoir felt the flux in the magical barrier and snapped his head up in its direction. What he saw sent piercing, true fear straight into his heart. Coated by winds so strong they were visible, Vera hovered over the unconscious Tellas. Asinoir called out to her, begging her to stop, but his voice was lost before it met her.

"Who did this?!" Vera demanded, her voice booming across the entire village. It was hers, yet laced with woe and a supernatural echo. "I'll kill every single one of you fuckers just to be sure!"

Wave upon wave of thick, impenetrable air came from her, springing forth like a whip and slicing any in its path in two. Vera's eyes changed from the emerald/gold mixture to just pure gold, her body rising higher and higher above the ground.

Asinoir grabbed Ret, "Get everyone out. Now. Get as many as you can and then go into the spirit plane. I'll be right behind you," He ordered, his panic showing in his usually cold eyes.

Trees began to be uprooted and the entire earth shook in fear. Above, a storm of unnatural causes, one of neither man nor weather, brewed. Blue lightning flashed from cloud to cloud, the sound shattering ear drums. The sky darkened until the sun and moon were invisible.

Darkness fell over the village.

"GET OUT!" Yelled Charlie, his small wolf form tredding over to Kailyn, "Get out right now! She'll destroy us all!"

Debri, shingles, rocks, even whole trees circled around Vera in a tornado. She continuously sent whips of the deadly air strikes off, spreading them in all directions and not letting them stop until they hit flesh.

Ret just silently nodded, "Uncle! we need your help now!" She called. portals appeared all over the villiage pulling the Chosen left alive into the Mana Spirit Plane, Ret and Asi being the last two to be sent through. once that was done Ret shivered, "Vera... I didn't know she was that unstable..."

Teaisha tried to run away when Azirak appeared. Then, instantly, she felt the pain in her leg and fell over. The only thing she could do to protect herself from his magic was make a wall of ice. It shattered from the sheer force of the attack, but protected her.

"Your woman tried to shoot me and I stopped her wounds with ice!" She shouted, furiously. "She wouldn't be so bad off if you didn't try to shock the ice off of her.... What was I suppost to do, let her kill me!?!?"

Teaisha squirmed a little to try and get back up. What's taking Vexoz so long to get here? Then, the sky turned dark. She had a horrible feeling about this. Teaisha noticed a portal to the Mana Spirit Plaine opening somewhere in the village, but had trouble getting up. It was much worse off then it looked at first! Finally, she found herself inside the Mana Spirit Plaine.

Azirak listened to what vera said.
"...oh come on...how was i supposed to know she would react like that?!?!" he said, unsure what else to say. He was tempted to attack, but there was still someone else to take care of...
He ran back to the building, and helped Marnelia up.
"We have to go!" he said.

Marneila just nodded, "Hurry. Stop for nothing..." She urged, "Lest those winds rend us,"

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

Tellas' body twitched. So many winds around him... awareness floated back into him, "V-vera..." He breathed, "I..." the haze in front of his eyes would not clear, but he could make out... destruction...

His voice too hoarse to bee loud enough he tried again, "Vera!" He closed his eyes for a moment before they shot open, "Luna... denies the reaper my soul!" he tried to shout, it only coming out at talking volume.

Drake let out a gasp... He heard a loud booming voice, and it threatened to kill them all... He couldn't let it happen... and then... He saw Kailyn... Bloody and battered.

He ran over, scooping her up in his arms, and ran, shouting at Vexoz to come with him. All he could do was continue on... the winds battering him as he ran.

His side was in severe pain, and every time he made to move his body in any way, it sent a sharp pain. It took all of his effort to grit his teeth, and keep heading from the Village now... Kailyn, and his child... They were going to survive if he had to die protecting them.

Drake continued to run, soon reaching the edge of the village, and entering into the forest. Finally... after what had seemed life forever of running, he found a cave, and ducked inside of it as a whip of solid air was about to hit him. He walked to the very back of it, and slumped against the wall. He let his body cover Kailyn's completely, protecting her from anything else that could happen.

Cee watched as Vera went berserk. With a sadness in his heart, he sighed as the winds whipped him away to nothing. "Good bye."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

The trees around him were disintegrated as Falks crashed into the forest. He sat uo and rubbed his head, which had a large gash. "Fuck!" He tired to stand but quickly fell down again. "Some.... help."

Mira looked at the battle from the edge of the mountain. She had took down many of the Chosen soldiers, but she was also heavily wounded. She tried to heal herself. But while battling it became a hundred times harder. Now that she was away she couldn't locate anyone. Suddenly the winds got stronger and she heard someone shouting "I just hope they survive..." She said as she looked at the center of the storm "Vera..."

Her eyes turned silver for a moment as she tried to find the others once again "The manaflayers..." She mumbled "Where?"

Mira's eyes reverted back to their usual blue as she shifted form and flew away from the village. The storm now too strong for her to stay. She flew directionless for a few minutes before landing on the forest, on a clearing.

When she landed she noticed Falks there. She shifted back to human form and ran towards him "F-Falks" She mumbled, noticing that he was wounded, ignoring her own wounds for a moment "w-what h-happened t-to y-you?"

Vladimir noticed a woman throwing around dangerously condensed wind around, destroying the place. He cancelled the Basan summon and summoned his centipede. He sighed, mounting the beast as it burrowed underground. Azrael looked around and decided the rest of the soldiers would die regardless and ran out of the village, quickly shifting to 80% for the needed speed boost. He appeared in the forest clearing a few seconds after, shifting to his standard 20%. Vladimir jumped from the ground, sighing. His soul broke off from the vampire body, stretching.

"Are you alright Azrael?" The Crusnik slowly nodded, his body hidden by his closed wings.

"I'm ok." The two sat down in the field, exhausted.

Robin flew off with a incredible amount of speed. She saw Azreal leave, and she followed him, to no result. She finally saw him stop, and flew directly to him.

She dived at him, stopping moments before she wrapped her arms around her Husband. "Azreal!" She yelled, now in her normal happy tone.

Azrael embraced his wife lovingly in his embrace, not wanting to let go. Vladimir, who couldn't be seen by Robin, looked down and smiled. Azrael hugged her in and wrapped his wings around her, happy to see Robin alive.

Vexoz gasped for breath. He was at least able to conserve a little bit of mana from his attack. He quickly found his way to Teaisha.

"Vexoz!" She shouted, taken back by his arm. "Are you all-right? Your arm...." The flesh looked horrible. It looked like it was molding with his shirt as the red mass of gore seemed ready to fall apart.

"I'm fine..." he responded as he crouched down next to her. "Although I think I would've died if I didn't draw power from the sun. Mana Flayers are not to be screwed with...." The warrior brushed back some of her hair with his right arm and looked at the bruised mark on her face. Then the wound on her leg that seemed pretty deep. "You good?"

"It hurts to put alot of weight on it, but I'll live." The Mana Spirit looked around as Vexoz sat down next to her. "This is my home, you know. I promised I wouldn't return until I made a Spirit Pact and... well... I did it just in time." Suddenly, she went back to noticing his arm. "But really, that looks horrible."

"It's just a scratch...."

Teaisha reached forward and pulled Vexoz's arm, hearing him groan trying to hold back the pain. "Just a scratch, right?" She smiled then made as clean of an ice blade as she could. "I know a thing or two about this. Hold still for a minute." She could tell he was in pain as she raised his arm and cut his sleeve off so it wouldn't touch the wound. Then, she carefully formed an ice patch over the bloode mess that was Vexoz's shoulder.

The Mana Spirit wanted to try and help him more, but couldn't shake the feeling of a familiar presence. Another Mana Spirit... the one known as Ret. Teaisha always wanted to talk to her, it just felt like a good thing to do. "Do you think you can help me over there?"

Vexoz nodded and lifted her to her feet with his right arm. Bracing her weight. Then, the Mana Spirit started slowly hobbling twords Ret.

A presence approaching made Ret shiver slightly... why was it so familiar yet so unknown, "Excuse me for a moment please honey," She told Asinoir before kissing him on the cheeki, "I won't be long... I promise."

She then turned to the approaching pair and intercepted them. She took one look at Taeisha and felt... a kinshoip with ehr buit didn't udnerstand, "Hello there," She said to the two, before her gaze locked on the Mana Spirit, "You... remind me... of myself."

Teaisha put her hand on Vexoz's arm. "A little extra mana. You need it more than me...."

"You can do that?"

"It's a Spirit Pact thing." She patted his arm a few times to tell Vexoz to let her down. Unfortunately, it took a while for him to get the hint. By the time she began banging her arm at him wildly, the warrior finally realized what she ment.

"You could've just said so...." He mumbled as he walked away.

Finally, the Mana Spirit turned her attention to Ret. "Sorry about that...." Now that she mentioned it, she did feel especially comftrable around Ret. Usually she was a little hesitant around strangers. "I just felt like I needed to meet you face to face for some reason." She sat down, to keep her leg from getting any more strained. "That's normal, right?"

Ret seated herself as well, "I... guess so. I'm Retasouhdal Adonis. I used to bear the surname Spiriterra."

"That's odd.... That name seems so familiar to me." Teaisha tried to think of where she heard it before. Maybe someone mentioned Ret's last name in the village? No, she heard about it before then... it just escaped her. She could've heard of Ret before going to the village. Why must the last hundred years of memory clump together so easilly?

"I'm Teaisha Luvineus, nice to meet you."

"The pleasure's mine... forgive me for asking but... do you know your mother's maiden name?" Ret asked. Something compelled her to do so but she didn't know what.

She tried hard to think of it. For some reason, she just felt like she HAD to remember it. "It's been a while, but I think it was...." Suddenly, Teaisha stopped and looked up at Ret.

"I- I can't believe it but... I must be wrong, but I think it was...." She looked away a little, but turned back to try and figure it out. "You wouldn't happen to have siblings, would you?"