[Training] [se] then we picked up the pieces

I carried my own ashes to the mountains

The Tundra was a wilderness easily understood by rapacious fiends like them. A chase for freedom and liberation, for power, prowess, and prestige, for the primordial antics slung and woven deep into the cracks of their bones or the twist and turn of their veins. Each step into the snow, without gates, walls, or Citadels rising alongside, was a breath of a different mode of deliverance; a providential atmosphere to unleash and unfurl, to uncoil; a release from roles or phantoms.

Deimos considered the ivory landscape before them, portions flattened, and then some rising in neat little foothills or mounds, the scattered brambles of trees and brush further out, the restless edges of luxere a fair distance away. The quick study allowed him a moment to smirk and grin towards the Valkyrie, a way to loosen everything else away from his shoulders. “What shall it be today – magic, weapons, or shifts?” He could pretend, perhaps, that the latter didn’t propose an intriguing notion, given the new one contorted and waiting for an opportunity.

DEIMOS

we are just bodies of the faithful stacked dozens by the roadside

Liberated from the curious gazes of citizens and old friends alike, she ventures out onto the tundra with Deimos at her side, tilting her face to the biting wind as one might the cascade of a warm shower. For all her cold and cruelty, Hotaru has loved no other land like she does Halo. The Basin, of course, but Halo was as close as anything could come to the home they’d both lost.

When he speaks she turns her head to him, and then tilts it consideringly. They are both adept and well-stocked in all three, which means they have both plentiful options and few restraints. “It has been some time since we’ve utilized all of them at once. What do you think?” With war so close, perhaps it’s the best choice. They would not be able to hold back at all in those battles.

HOTARU

Time has stopped before us The sky cannot ignore us The proposition caused a rapid and massive grin – something menacing, minatory, and mischievous all at once. They hadn’t employed the breadth of their abilities in collaboration for a long while, and the notions of another game began to claw at his machinations – a constant, reeling motion. “Change abilities on each hit?” Which would amplify the game of skill and repertoire – forced to weave their capabilities in and out based on strikes, sieges, and assaults, with the unknown potentials rising and falling with each smack. Presuming agreement, the snicker altered once he’d done the same; human form shifting into massive bird intentions – wings unfurling, sparks simmering on the ends of plumage, a satisfactory clap of thunder bolstering from his rise into the air. From there, she’d see the familiar whims of lightning beginning its streak, but from his eyes, careening towards the Valkyrie. the Resurrected Sword No one can separate us For we are all that is left

but now it is a competition of whichever is heavier:
my will, or the pull of gravity into the grave

It’s an enticing prospect, one they haven’t employed before, but with more structure befitting a training round than an all-out display of power. “You’re on,” she agrees with a predatory grin, already feeling warmth sliding down into her limbs with the anticipation of sparring to heat her blood.

She is already preparing as he begins to shift, though she spares a moment to marvel at the new shift - allowing him, quite graciously, to feel it through the bond. Except this creature is comprised entirely of lightning, and as it is directed at her Ru exerts her mastery over the element to command the bolts to strike the earth to her sides, scorching wherever they touch. Her own change overtakes her immediately, falcon swallowing her human form as she spirals in a swift streak upward into the sky, employing evasion for her turn to make it harder for when he must shift back in turn. Intending to try and disappear in both the storm clouds Deimos had created and the grey of the sky behind.

DEIMOS

If thunderbirds could roll their eyes he would’ve done so as the lightning swept to the side – indulging her a moment of awe – before they were off again. Never creatures settled into their sedition – but rather branching and adhering to the brinks of revolution, it came as no surprise that neither would falter immediately.

Her lighter form in the falcon ensured his was soon to follow – siphoning from the massiveness of the mythical creature to the familiar and honed reaches of the eagle. Capable of quicker, swifter turns, of diving headlong and ascending nearly as quickly, he gave chase into the residual clouds, narrowing and honing his gaze amidst the throngs of mist and fog until he could briefly spot her ivory stature.

Before he just as rapidly rose, concealing himself as well – intending to give himself room for an eventual rush of movement and motion, and camouflage, all at the same time.

gatekeeper of an endless war

where lines between right and wrong

don't exist anymore

we are just bodies of the faithful stacked dozens by the roadside

He pursues her, and she’s glad for it. The plan she has in mind is incredibly harebrained and dangerous, but Ru is confident enough in her abilities to be reckless. She knows she can’t outmaneuver him in these flighted forms, so she waits until he is as close as she feels she can aptly presume between mental timing and the far-reaching field of vision her bird eyes have -

And then she shifts.

She hangs for a brief moment in the air, suspended in her human form, before gravity pulls at her. As it does, she wraps herself in her lightning like a cloak, calling it to her with all her might so that the storm clouds might gather and the lightning itself extends around her in a giant ball as she plummets. Hoping to catch Deimos in the melee of chaos as she does.

HOTARU

Time has stopped before us The sky cannot ignore us Tricky, tricky – it wouldn’t surprise him at all to visualize Ru striving to electrocute him. But he was swift and efficient in the skies, above the hovering clouds he’d created, watching as the storm built and prospered, electricity flying and flickering through the murk and haze. A light smirk turned inward, since the eagle couldn’t bear it on his beak, contemplating the edges of his own machinations. So he turned back into the thunderbird, exchanging size differentials and potency, barreling straight into the forefront of the elements, chasing after the Valkyrie. Sparks sizzled and snapped from his gaze, intending to sweep across vantage points, to see who had more control in the elemental game. Or – what she’d do next. the Resurrected Sword No one can separate us For we are all that is left

we are just bodies of the faithful stacked dozens by the roadside

Even when it does not garner the result she wants, the Valkyrie laughs, nearly mad with adrenaline and joy as she free-falls like a sparking comet. She transforms next, back to her falcon form; continuing her dive recklessly, back to the snow and ice. They’d never defined whether changing between forms counted as an alteration between abilities, so she hits the ice on golden paws and streaks away from the clouds that coalesce above them, taking on a form of their own now that they’d been called into existence.

Her joy is a formless, wordless thing between them. Challenging, taunting, inviting him to chase. Seeking her next plan only in vague outlines as she runs, always one to fight with intuition over planning, despite what one might expect from her.

HOTARU

this is the reckoning

He rolled his eyes as the lightning whipped and contorted to no avail; irritated, perhaps, but not at her – simply that some manifested abilities had yet to come to potent and powerful fruition. Nonetheless, the beast dived headlong, massive and powerful, a looming shadow until he simply wasn’t.

Drifting downward, shifting entirely once more, granting and giving her chase on hellhound paws rather than formidable wings. Swift, quick, rapacious, and minatory, the efforts of his mercenary pursuits intermingled with savage and feral amusement, allowed to unleash and unfurl with little repercussion. From there, he aimed to catch up with her, and flick a massive paw into her hindlegs, intending to cause an off balanced stride, a fall upon ice and snow.

DEIMOS

wolf image credit

Her voice is a fearless proclamation of protection
She lives what's within her out loud

They are beasts upon the ice now, formidable figures of gold and obsidian as claws dig into ice and snow, hauling bodies along at the highest speeds they can reach. Were he a true wolf instead of a hellhound, she would undoubtedly outpace him in terms of speed, but he is far larger and longer of limb than the wolves of the area - and as such is right on her heels.

She feels him breathing close, ears pinned back to better hear him, but when he hits out at her she lets it happen. Falling onto her side, she greets him with all four paws - and their accompanying claws, though half-sheathed - like a cat thrown onto its back, ready to try and intercept his body in a flurry of connection while her more limber form can be of use. Forelegs reaching for his shoulders, and back legs hoping to get further under, to his belly and hips.

this is the reckoning

Oh, he was well aware of her claws – sidestepping quickly, efficiently, swift evasions before she could snag at his fur. From his vantage, the possibility of endangering her with the fire stored in his paws collided with the inherent nature of destruction – but he safeguarded allies and friends and family before unfurling into complete chaos, so he snorted, circling around the big cat.

And then ensued another challenge. That should be enough for today, with a purposeful head start as his long limbs uncoiled again, massive and eager, fervent and wild. Bet I can beat you home, where the Citadel loomed in the distance, beneath mountains and memories of yesteryears – with some juvenile goading lodged within.

{FIN}

DEIMOS

wolf image credit