From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
He was in shock, this shouldn't have happened, he didn't hear what she said, around him it became silent. He heard nothing but the screams of his previous victims and you could tell he was shaking. He put the dagger back into the scabbard and started to say a little prayer, it took a moment for him to look at P. "I'm sorry, I understand if you don't forgive me, but I want to make it up to you. If you allow it." He said sincerely.
Darkeye let it wash over him it was time for a lesson. He didn't let go, he went for the armbar, but it wasn't executed cleanly. Darkeye was distracted, he saw the mist and wondered. Was this a trick from P or someone else interfering in their duel? The laughter seemed too real to be an illusion.
Simply continuing to scowl at Darkeye, Pihu shook her head and his words and his offer. Rubbing her bloodstained fingers together for a moment, she pressed her palm against the cut to try and stem the bleeding. It was shallow, at least, but she still felt dizzy.
Although the armbar might not have been executed cleanly, he was still able to catch her with it and it was enough to stop her from trying anything further. As the mist swirled around her and the laughter echoed she froze. Then going limp in his grip, she reached out with her free hand to try and pry his fingers off of her. "Is this the steam ye were trying to blow off?" she demanded, though her voice was muffled.
Like you're hanging by a thread But you gotta survive
Darkeye opened his backpack and offered her a bandage. He went too far, he knew, but that was not what he wanted. He had to learn to control himself. "Do you want me to get someone? Or do you want me to fool you? It wouldn't do to have you croak on me here, P. I can't keep my side of the bargain otherwise." He said frankly. She was rude but she didn't deserve that. If she still says nothing he will force her to let herself help.
Darkeye let go of her and stood up straight, getting nervous. "What the crap? P is this another one of your tricks I thought we were fighting here and not doing mage shit." He tried to stay calm and concentrated. Darkeye tried to hear every sound and positioned himself very defensively.
Shaking her head at Darkeye's words, she reached down and gripped the hem of her shirt. Ripping a piece off, she wound that around her neck instead of taking his bandage. "No. It's just a scratch, I'm not gonna bleed out an' frankly I think I've had more than enough of yer 'help' for one day." Eyes narrowing at him, she finished tying off the rag.
As he released her she scooted across the floor and sat up with a groan. "Me?! Ye just saw me shift, so ye know I'm an Attuned. We don't cast spells." Rolling her eyes, she pointed at him. "For all I know yer an Abandoned with illusion magic or an Accepted channeling a spirit right now though. So don't try to pin this on me."
Like you're hanging by a thread But you gotta survive
Only now did he realize that the wound wasn't bad enough to kill her, but that didn't excuse his actions. He would have to find a way to make it up to her. If she demanded his pleasure, he would have to do something extra for her. It was understandable that she was angry.
Darkeye looked around and turned away from her to look back. At the same time, he began to speak. "I don't need such tricks I prefer a fight with pure muscle power or finesse. I wouldn't be so quick to resort to such tricks. Yes, I am Accepted but I don't call spirits in a duel, to be honest, I didn't even know I could do that." He had heard about it but didn't believe it. Darkeye tried to understand what it meant. "I didn't do that P, should we put our fight forward, or do you want to follow up on that?" He said frankly.
Scooting yet father away from Darkeye, Pihu rolled to her feet. Rubbing at her neck, she made sure her makeshift bandage was secure. Then she stretched out the arm that he had grabbed. Groaning at the linger pain from the bruises and aches she'd accumulated even in a short time, she raised her eyebrows at him.
"It's up to ye. Yer the one that wanted to blow off steam." Dropping her arms to her side, she started moving in a circle around the edge of the sparring area. She kept her gaze trained on him as she did. "If ye do want to continue, I'm ready whenever ye are."
Like you're hanging by a thread But you gotta survive
Darkeye still felt the blow from the nose but was distracted by the appearance. He wondered what it was and was briefly distracted that P could recover. He was convinced that all this was no accident.
Darkeye smiled only briefly before his expression became. "I would never call off a fight without a reason P I just didn't know how to assign this appearance. If we were attacked, I would first fight our common fight and then I would finish our duel. Even if I had to do it with only one arm. Are you ready?"Darkeye indicated that he would lead the duel. He positioned himself in a defensive fighting stance.
Pihu pointed in the direction the mist had appeared. All traces of it were gone now. "I wouldn't call a spot of fog and some random laughs reason enough to stop fighting, would ye? Especially since it left as quickly as it came."
As he asked if she was ready she nodded. "Tough guy, huh?" Snorting, she raised her eyebrows at him. Then she darted forward. Using the momentum from her charge, she swung an uppercut. Her goal was his gut, but she'd take basically any part of his body that she could reach. Her air puffed out of her, her limited endurance and strength already running out even after a short time.
Like you're hanging by a thread But you gotta survive
Darkeye looked behind again, wondering. He didn't understand why P could remain so calm about it. It could have been an attack after all, or was he mistaken, he was becoming paranoid. "I don't know this world very well, but this appearance is not natural, and I prefer to be careful about such things." He tried to explain himself.
Darkeye shook his head."No, A credo you wouldn't understand." He readied himself for defense. When he saw what she was about to do, he ran up to her and rammed his forehead against P's nose, trying to hit her. It was one more maneuver to demoralize her. He would hit her and break her nose at most. He tried to catch the blow from her, which he managed more badly than well.
Pihu shrugged at Darkeye's concern. Gesturing in the direction the mist had appeared and vanished, she raised her eyebrows. "That entirely depends on yer definition of natural. For Caido, random mists and mysterious laughter is pretty minor, as manifestations go." She shivered a bit. "Ye didn't have to suffer through the nightmares from that game with Ludo, I take it?"
Rolling her eyes at his response, she pursed her lips. "Not even gonna try me?" The good news was that her blow hit him. The bad news was that she was entirely unprepared for his counter. His head slammed into her nose with a crunch. Immediately, her vision went white and blood started pouting out of her nostrils.
"What the fuck?!" she shouted, stumbling backwards. She reached up to grip her nose, though doing so caused her to wince with pain. With her free hand she simply tried to shove him away.
Like you're hanging by a thread But you gotta survive
Darkeye didn't smile and stammered dryly. "I don't need Ludo for my nightmares. I have those myself. At least I think I'm wrong, but I don't like to find out, to be honest." He said frankly.
The punch to the pit of her stomach was well placed and hit Darkeye viciously. It must swallow once deeply otherwise a mishap would have happened to him. The stomach and intestines rebelled for a while and he was glad that his blow had hit P nose. He had time to catch his breath. He needed the moment.
"I thought we were going to let off some steam here," he had expected it to go the way the other fighter had looked before. Did he go too far, he just didn't know any better. "If you didn't expect it, we should have worked out the rules beforehand, P. I thought that such maneuvers would be okay. Do you think it's because you're a woman that I'm holding back? I take every opponent seriously," he said with a broad grin. He enjoyed fighting again.
"Cute. But don't worry, Ludo can always make them worse." Pihu grinned at Darkeye, though describing it as more like baring her teeth wasn't so far off the mark.
Staring at him, she continued to pinch her nose. The lower half of her face and part of her neck was a mask of blood, starting to soak the bandage she'd wrapped around the cut from earlier. "Ye broke my nose!" Her voice came out in a pained squeak. "No, ye were blowing off steam an' I was doing ye a favor. Remember? I told ye I didn't like fighting." Groaning, she let her head loll back a bit. "Ye good now? Or do you need to keep beatin' me up?"
Like you're hanging by a thread But you gotta survive
"Then I hope it doesn't happen so soon. I should be in a better mental state than I am now. You think you can intimidate me with that grin?" He said slightly irritated.
Darkeye was not pleased. "That's all that's not even close to enough I was expecting more resistance... What do you want me to do for you." He grabbed his stuff and walked out of the ring. It brought him no satisfaction to keep beating her up, it was too one-sided for him. "I can fix your nose, but that could be painful." He had stomach pains as well, but didn't want to show how much her punch had hit him. "Info on what you know about Torchline would help. Would you like something to drink or eat I can pay for that at least." He said frankly. Darkeye walked out of the ring and check his Backpack if something is missing.
Pihu raised her eyebrows at Darkeye's question about her teeth. Shaking her head, she just snorted at his claim that he'd be in a better mental state if he met a god. "Let me know how that goes for ye," she retorted. "Ludo ain't exactly known for being an easy god to deal with on the best of days."
Tugging on the bandage a bit with her free hand she scowled. "Fine. Ye want more resistance?" Drawing her leg back she aimed a kick for his shin though he was already walking away and way too far for any blow of hers to hit. Instead she just kicked at the ground like a petulant child.
"I warned ye," she grumbled. "I can fix my own nose. Just ask yer questions so I can go ahead and do that." She trailed after him as he retrieved his bag.
Like you're hanging by a thread But you gotta survive
