I'm tired of these mf'n Snakes

Aurelia

and my hands aren't clean
maybe they never will be

Isolated from the bustling port, Aurelia practiced her sword forms. The dance of combat was a familiar rhythm etched into her muscle memory.

But as she spun, executing a graceful pirouette, a sinister ripple disturbed the serenity of the sand. A low hiss, like the whisper of a dying ember, slithered through the air, sending a chill down her spine. From the depths of the trees, two serpentine shadows emerged, their once vibrant scales now tainted with an eerie, purplish hue.

Aurelia's heart pounded in her chest. She tightened her grip on the sword. With a fierce battle cry, she lunged forward and met the first serpent head-on.

The creature, its movements sinuous and unpredictable, coiled and struck with startling speed. Aurelia parried its attack, the air crackling with the clash of steel and shadow. But even as she fought, the second serpent slithered closer.

With a swift maneuver, Aurelia leaped back, creating a distance between herself and the snakes. Their eyes glowed with an eerie purple light as they hissed and lunged, their bodies weaving through the sand.

but they can still carry you home
when you're ready to sleep

The Void was not the only threat to Torchline's shores, but it was the one that hung over them with the most imminence thanks to Starfall's proximity. Remi had taken up patrolling the Arclight for pirates, freeing Hadama to focus on their last unprotected stretch of beaches and islands. Sometimes it felt like the childhood festival game of whack-a-moray; whenever he thought he'd stamped out one incursion, a new one would pop up at the other end of the coast.

Today would be no different, it seemed. He heard the battlecry on the other side of a large dune, and the clash of steel and stone. He rarely moved with anything other than slow deliberation - his legs were long enough that he doing otherwise risked losing any companions he had at the time - but the sounds of combat lent his feet a sense of urgency to propel him over the top of the dune to the tableaux unfolding below.

The woman he had recently met was locked in combat with a corrupted rock serpent, but a second had slithered out from the forest to flank her. Even as he watched she managed to escape the pincer, but the fight was not one that Hadama felt compelled to hold back from. He was more cautious in descending the dune, using his trident to steady himself on the shifting sand, but that did not mean that he was not a threat in his own right.

The air wavered briefly above one of the serpents, light bending as space suddenly compressed in three small spheres that elongated as they dropped downwards with crushingly destructive force to pierce through stone and scale.

---

Magic: Gravity Spike: the user borrows a sliver of the moon's power to summon up to three gravity lances that appear above a target within 60ft. Control is excellent.
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered

Aurelia

and my hands aren't clean
maybe they never will be

Aurelia's eyes widened in astonishment as the shimmering spheres descended upon the serpent. The creature recoiled, its momentum momentarily halted, leaving a gaping wound in its shadowy hide. Relief mingled with a surge of adrenaline as she realized the source of this unexpected intervention - Hadama, the Mer-King, his presence reassuring amidst the chaos.

What kind of magic was that? she marveled, her mind reeling. The sheer precision and destructive force of the attack were unlike anything she had witnessed before. But there was no time for idle contemplation. The second serpent lunged towards her with renewed ferocity.

A guttural hiss, a chilling sound that grated against her ears, heralded its attack. Aurelia raised her sword in a defiant counterpoint. The serpent's strike met her blade with a resounding clang, the impact sending shockwaves through her arms. She gritted her teeth, her muscles straining as she pushed back against the creature's onslaught.

With a mighty heave, she flung the serpent aside, its attack disrupted. In a swift, fluid motion, she pivoted, her sword arcing through the air in a flash. The blade pierced the serpent's flank, a hiss of pain echoing through the air as the creature recoiled, its shadowy form almost seeming to warp.

but they can still carry you home
when you're ready to sleep

The sand shifted beneath his feet, forcing care even in the face of ongoing battle, and Hadama could not move as quickly as he would have liked. Luckily it seemed as though Aurelia had true skill with her weapon and did not need assistance when facing only one of the corrupted serpents. He caught her defensive shove and cutting follow-up out of the corner of his eye and allowed himself to relax a little as Aurelia struck true.

His own target was similarly wounded but not yet dead, and it writhed in pain and fury from its wound as Hadama found flat ground and was finally able to brace himself properly in the sand. It tried to lunge at him and he shifted to the side, stepping into the rushing wavelets of the Arclight's surf with a sense of solemn satisfaction gleaming in his emerald gaze.

His second volley of gravity spikes impacted the serpent's head, reducing it to purple jelly and shards of stony obsidian scales. The rest of the snake twisted and twitched for a few moments longer, but it was obvious that there would be no further danger from that quarter. Once he was certain that his opponent was neutralized he looked over to check on Aurelia to see how her own battle fared, but he didn't speak yet to avoid distracting her at a critical moment.

Aurelia

and my hands aren't clean
maybe they never will be

Aurelia fared well enough. There was another round of dodging the snake's constricting lunges, where it slithered through the white sands beneath her feet and tried to encircle her ankle. If she was any slower it might've caught her.

With a surge of adrenaline, she twisted free, her blade finding its mark.

The snake's body split in two, its severed halves twitching and writhing. Even in death, its malevolent essence lingered, a dark stain on the pristine white sands. 

Finally, its struggles ceased, and it lay motionless on the sand, a twisted, lifeless husk. 

Aurelia knelt beside the creature, her eyes filled with disgust. "Look what the Void has done to it," she muttered.

She turned her head to look over at Hadama, where the other creature lay before him in a pool of its own shadowy blood. She frowned and turned over the snake she'd killed with the tip of her blade, examining how its essence had been changed. "Whatever this is, it's evil," she declared, her conviction in that belief ringing clear in her voice.

"Hadama. Are you alright?" She asked as she stood up from the sand, her eyes scanning Hadama for any signs of injury, "Seemed like you didn't have too much trouble with that one... What sort of magic was that, anyway?" She raised her brows, quite curious indeed.

but they can still carry you home
when you're ready to sleep

Black blood seeped onto the white sand around the second snake and Hadama watched the final twitches of life from the serpent with expressionless implacability. His own opponent was less spectacularly spread across the landscape, so he used his trident to lift it carefully and shift it over to join Aurelia's kill. He waited until she had finished her examination of the remains before he used the starlight tines of his weapon to nudge them into a tidy heap. He inclined his head in agreement as she made her declaration, but her clear concern a moment later was met with his first words since he had arrived.

"I am unhurt," he assured her in his deep, quiet voice. "Safrin has given me several gifts. The gravity spikes were among the first." His emerald gaze sharpened as he inspected her in turn, seeking signs of blood or bruises. "Were you injured?" He had missed the initial assault and did not know if they had managed to land a strike from ambush before Aurelia had turned the tide on them. "Your swordwork is impressive." And hopefully had been enough to protect her from any bites from the venomous creatures.

Aurelia

and my hands aren't clean
maybe they never will be

Aurelia looked him over and nodded, satisfied that he was indeed unharmed. With that, and the snakes dead and gone, she visibly relaxed her posture; a set jaw unhinged, taut muscles slackened, and the conscious placement of her feet fell away as she lifted her weapon.

"This was a gift from Safrin as well," she pointed out casually, before promptly putting the sword away in its sheath, "I was just practicing my form when those things came out of the treeline, but it wasn't much longer until you arrived." She smiled, eyeing him curiously, before she gave herself a once over. 

"It was a close call but, I think I'm fine. I'm not sure I would've come out of it unscathed if I'd had to face both of them myself, though."

She looked back at the serpents' carcasses and then up the coast. "I should probably get going... Got a shift at the Hanged Man. Say, why don't you come along? I'll pour you a drink, as thanks. Unless you're not up for that sort of thing," she shrugged, not one to judge another's drinking habits or lack thereof.

but they can still carry you home
when you're ready to sleep

Her sword drew a look of alert interest from the Tidebreaker, and a slow nod of appreciation for both the weapon and its provenance. He was even more glad to hear that she had not needed to fight alone for long and her smile was met with a quiet exhalation of relief as the tension eased from his shoulders.

"I am glad we did not need to find out," he rumbled, quiet but frank in his opinion. Aurelia had been both swift and skilled, but the bites of the Shadow Serpents were nothing to take lightly. Even a graze from a fang could have allowed enough Void corruption to enter her veins that she would have become distracted and delirious... and much easier prey for the infected predators.

A steely grey brow rose at the mention of the Hanged Man but he certainly did not look offended at her offer. "Thank you. I am, indeed, up for it. Once we burn the carcasses so they do not cause further taint," he added.

With Aurelia's magic it would be a simple matter to incinerate the snakes and the bloody sand, though Hadama was careful to make sure they stayed upwind of the smoke. Once no trace remained he joined the Fireheart at the bar, where the new bartender would discover that the current King of Torchline enjoyed drinks that were bright, colorful, and well-sugared.

~Fin~