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!
The second that the group arrived at Frey' Breath, Pad raced ahead and leapt into the water. Lilly was soon to chase her little brother and soon both wolves were splashing and nipping at each other. Snickering, Sah took off his shoes and sat at the rim of one of the springs, letting feet soak.
Glancing back at Tal he grinned, "This was worth the wait." Closing his eyes to relax a bit, Sah suddenly paused. They had a moment of down time, so why not attempt what he'd been putting off. Drawing his sword, he let the blade rest across his lap. Running a finger over the length of the weapon, he let out a contemplative hum.
"If this explodes, blame my death on a dragon or something, ok?" With that request given to the courier, Sah placed one hand on the sword and took a deep breath. Channeling his magic, he called upon every element he knew. Fire, water, earth, air, and lightning. Pairing them with his creation magic, he willed the energy to sink into the blade and spread to every corner of it. The blade glowed blue-white for a moment before returning to normal.
Opening his eyes, Sah cackled and turned wide, triumphant eyes on Tal, "Holy fuck, I think that worked."
~
Sah has upgraded his electric sword form Upgraded to Mastered!
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Electrical Sword | Using Sah's own elemental magic, this sword has the power to electrify those it hits. (Made by Deimos and Sah)
Boreal padded along at the back of the group, casting about for scents that underlay the fresh spoor of wolves and humans. She found several interesting ones, but nothing recent enough to be a cause for alarm, and once they entered the hot spring caverns she abandoned the hunt in order to belly flop into the warm waters, splashing both wolves with cheerful mischief as she joined in the fun.
Tal flicked a few stray drops off his face and stuck his tongue out at his companion before turning back to Sah with a wry grin. "It always is. Only reason t'come t'this heat-blasted region, if y'ask me." He joined in the de-shoe-ening and rolled up the legs of his pants before settling his legs into the springs with a contented sigh as the heat immediately went to work soothing his feet and calves. He glanced over at the sound of metal clearing a scabbard, brows raised in silent question as the hunter started playing with his sword in the public bath, but at the request he let out a snort. "Sure. But what're you...?"
Oh. Oh. His brows stayed up as Sah's magic coalesced into the blade, making it look somehow even fancier than it had been before. "Well, that's new," he grudgingly admitted, leaning over to admire the upgraded blade. "Guess you're not doin' so badly at th'Cadamy after all." And with an impish grin he scooted a little further away and kicked a splash of water towards his friend. "What about your defense though?"
Perhaps it was an odd time to work on his sword, but Sah needed to channel his restless magic somewhere. This seemed like the perfect opportunity. If things went horribly wrong, there was water readily available to put out any stray sparks.
Still reeling from his success, Sah held out the blade for Tal to inspect with a feral grin. "I told you that I intended to learn how to craft magical weapons this year." He hadn't been sure if he'd be able to do so, but here he was. It was even more satisfying than he had anticipated.
Tal scooted back to splash him and Sah snickered before sheathing his blade. Wiping the water off of his face, he raised a brow, "They could use some work." Mischief reached his eyes and he added, "But so could yours!" With that as his only warning, Sah reached down and swiftly splashed water at the courier.
"Always waitin' til the last minute, huh?" Tal teased back, but he was grinning at Sah's success. He knew how hard the hunter had been working to improve his magical abilities and this was a reason to celebrate!
...With a reminder that he still had a long ways to go, of course.
A fancy lightning sword was all well and good against another sword, but what about something a little harder to pin down? The courier's attack worked and made his point, but Sah's rebuttal was just as hard to dodge. Tal raised an arm to protect his face, but warm water splashed over his Vest and bare arms and he wrinkled his nose at his rival. "Oh, is that how it's gonna be?" He quickly tugged his Goggles back into position to protect his eyes and hopped up, reaching down to scoop up a double handful of the healing waters and fling them at Sah's chest in a gleeful wave. "Maybe this'll help douse that fire o' yours so y'can relax better!"
Yeah, he was totally just doing this to help out his frenemy!
Sah scoffed but he sent Tal a grin, "You're not getting shit then." A blatant lie of course. If the courier needed help with an item, the hunter wouldn't hesitate to craft or upgrade something for him.
Talyson put on his goggles and Sah knew that the war had begun. Jumping up, he tried to dodge the next water attack. Some of the water just barely grazed his arm and the Wild Thunder shook his hand to dispel it. "Yes", he declared.
Instead of splashing the Messenger, he lunged and attempted to push the other man into the water. He took mind of the rocks however to make sure that if the courier did fall, he would only get wet, not hurt.
"Not even a magical pair o' earplugs t'tune you out?" Tal teased back wickedly. Even if Sah was willing to craft him something - and the courier didn't really doubt that he would - it still meant that he'd have to ask for it, first, and that wasn't going to come easy to the young man's pride.
He'd been expecting the water fight to continue, so Sah almost caught him with the surprise lunge. Tal twisted and sucked in his stomach as he turned so the hunter's push would miss, but the courier wasn't the same lanky twig he'd been when they'd met, inexperienced and untrained. This time his reflexes kicked in and he tried to grab Sah's outstretched arm and use the other man's momentum to pull him past the courier and down into the water on the other side - also being careful of the rocks. This was meant to be fun, not painful!
Sah cackled, "No. But that's a great idea. I might need to make myself a pair." What an easy way to ignore people. He'd just have to point to his ears. Maybe he could make Pad a pair. The dark wolf wasn't a fan of storms.
Tal managed to grab Sah's arm and pull but the Wild Thunder reacted quickly as well. He twisted to attempt to and drag Tal down into the water with him. There was no way that the Abandoned wasn't going to not land in the water but he sure as hell was going to do his best to make sure that the other man did too.
"Hey! It was my idea, so I should get the first pair!" Tal protested, trying to sound affronted but he was grinning as he said it.
But then they were dancing in the shallow water, with Sah reaching out and the courier side-stepping and attempting to lead the hunter down and the hunter trying to drag Tal down with him. It was the sort of dirty trick that the Messenger was fond of, and had used against Hotaru in the past (and probably Sah as well). Unfortunately, it worked just as well on him as it had on his previous opponents, much to his imminent chagrin. Sah managed to get a grip on his cuff and his momentum was enough to make Tal lose his balance. The courier started to slip, laughing, but attempted to use his greater strength and dexterity to twist himself on top so Sah hit the water first, submerging with the shorter man astride him - though if Tal succeeded, he'd sit back and help haul his frenemy up as soon as he had his own balance back.
Letting out a laugh as the duo went down, Sah attempted to twist out of the way of the falling courier. Unfortunately, the shorter man ended up on top, much to his chagrin. Playfully glowering up at his friend, the Abandoned bared his teeth. He was about to make a retort, but the sound of racing paws interrupted him. The culprit, Lilly, leaped onto Tal, wagging happily.
Sputtering out a laugh, Sah wiggled his way out from under the two before Boreal inevitably joined in. Taking Tal's offered help to get out of the water, Sah shook his head to dispel some of the water. Running a hand through his hair afterward, the Abandoned sat on the rim of the spring. Putting a palm out he called forth a small flame. "Here. We can dry off a bit."
Oh, Tal was practically glowing with smugness when his twist worked and he managed to end up on top. He remembered the last couple of times they'd done this and it had been Sah who'd used him as a landing pad, but there was something else about those encounters he needed to remember...
He laughed, bracing himself just in time to keep himself from going face-down into Sah's chest as Lilly bounded onto his back. He pushed himself up with a mighty whoof! as he stood up with the wolf balancing on him until he managed to straighten. Boreal skidded to a reluctant stop, too late to join in the dog-pile but she still sent a splashing wave over both young men as Tal helped his friend up and they retreated to the rim before the companions ganged up on them.
Sah looked a lot calmer and Tal was still chuckling as he plopped down beside his rival, reaching out his hands to warm and dry them over the cheerful little flame. "Looks like th'spring helped, yeah? We can head home after this. An'... y'know. Thanks or somethin," he added, awkward but grinning as he nudged Sah's shoulder with his own.
