Kingdom of Aire: Book 2, The Book of Draining Nocturnal Activities
 

"Well then, if you've had such a long day, perhaps you should unwind with a little something to drink. My treat," Theran said as the look of thoughtful concentration removed itself from Theran's face in much the same way one might throw away a piece of unwanted laundry, quickly replaced with a roguish grin, which was much more fitting of his character. He seemed far more natural with it than he had since Liana had first seen him. It wasn't that he seemed unnatural or awkward before, but however comfortable and 'real' he seemed before, he was now ten times so. A fact that didn't go unnoticed by the attractive alchemist, but one that she decided to let go, for now at least, as that he was offering to buy her drinks. Free drinks wasn't something to be scoffed at, and besides, he had been honorable enough so far, at least outwardly, and she didn't think that much harm could come of it.

And so, after a second of consideration she nodded, and smiled a bit in response. "Alright... I'll just have a little bit of red wine."

Theran waved a waitress over, as Laina got comfortable in her chair, and, as the waitress left with the order, and a few coins, the faerie's attention turned back to Laina, dropping a question that would forever alter the course of their lives. Or at least alter the course of the next few hours of their lives. Either way, it altered something, and that something was, at least, sort of important.

"So, Laina, tell me about yourself. How did a girl like you ever become a wandering alchemist, it seems a bit dangerous?" was the question he asked.

And it was a question that Laina answered in a relatively verbose fashion, explaining her motives and her reasons, while Theran interjected comments here and therd, and, eventually, out of that simple question an entire conversation began about their life stories; Theran's being mostly, if not all, complete lies.

The wine arrived within moments, and they drank and laughed while they talked. Time passed and the bar slowly began to empty as Theran became openly flirtations, and Laina, under the effects of inhibition inhibiting beverages began to, in turn, flirt back. 'After all, the man IS attractive, and charming, and attractive, and god-I-want-to-get-his-pants-off,' a combination of the alcohol, Theran's practiced charms, and his fae-beauty echoed in her mind, nearly drowning out her more sane thoughts, which were desperately shouting, trying to be heard over the roar of hormones and alcohol, that she had only known him for hours.

It wasn't until nearly one AM that the two finally got up, and decided to head for a room. It had been decided amongst the two of them, Laina being somewhat tipsy, that sharing a room would be FAR more economical, and there was nothing wrong with a pair of full grown adults deciding to spend time together. Of course, that was all just random justification for the actions they both had planned. Or, more correctly it was all just Liana's random justification for the actions she knew she would acquiesce to in her current state, while Theran was mostly singing the words, "I'm gonna get me some," over and over again in his head.

Outside the inn, however, a small group of creatures, who appeared human in most ways, stood outside the Swallow Inn. Their vision mimiced that of the Icy Lens, and they could see multiple bright lights within the building. The brightest of which was Theran, himself. As they stared, they discussed amongst themselves, to decide how to divvy up the multiple lights hovering throughout the inn.

"I shall take the bright one. The one which nearly stings my eyes and is walking up the stairs," the largest of the creatures stated with a tone of complete authority in his voice.

"Aww, but Arik, you always take the brightest ones... allow one of us to eat him. We need the strength more than y..."

"Silence yourself, Kaol. I take the strongest because I AM the strongest of this talon, and you will do well to remember that, lest I am forced to demonstrate my strength again."

The smaller cloaked figure, known as Kaol shirked down, terrified of his leader, although he inwardly knew that Arik was only the strongest because he took the strongest. It was a self fulfilling circle of power. He devoured the strongest because he was capable of it and thus he continued to be the strongest. Kaol hated him for it, but he knew that without Arik's strength the talon would eventually be defeated by a group of warriors who did not rely upon magic.

Arik looked at his group and pointed out other lights, starting with the next brightest (Bismuth), "Kaol, you may take that one. It is only slightly less magically potent than my meal. Does that please you?"

Kaol nodded his hooded head. "Thank you Arik... I will feast upon the serpents energies, and gain prestige and power for our lord."

Arik then continued pointing out lights, going down them in descending order, assigning them to the magic eaters most capable of handling a power of that level, before they entered the inn.

Theran and Liana arrived at the door to their joint room, Theran having walked her there with an arm about her waist when Arik arrived and drew a weapon, levelling it at Theran, while his other hand reached toward him outstretched.

The faerie clutched his chest, and doubled over, gasping, as, immediately, his power began to drain. A human wouldn't have noticed, not even many mages. At least not until they attempted to draw upon their powers, but Theran's magic was his life force, and having it stolen from him like this caused him immense pain on every level. It felt as though someone had reached into his chest and was crushing his heart, while pulling his soul out.

He quickly pulled himself upright, however, and drew a sword. "The... h... hell are you?" he asked through clenched teeth as Arik smirked at him and redoubled his efforts. The faerie's bright light wasn't even beginning to diminish yet, and Arik had already drained so much magic that he could feel it flowing through his veins, empowering him past a mortal's abilities. This man would make an excellent meal.

Theran, however, had no intention of losing his powers of his life to this creature, and so, after letting out another gasp as the energy began to draw faster, he charged the magic eater with his broad sword drawn.

Arik's body left trailers as he moved too quickly to be traced by the human eye, and Theran brushed past him without connecting. Theran was an expert swordsman, however, and so he pivoted, bringing the blade toward Arik again, this time barely being blocked by the creature's blade.

The ring of steel on steel quickly echoed throughout the inn, as Arik's raw power, growing by the minute, combatted Theran's skill, even as the faerie weakened quickly.

Thrust, deflect, parry, slash, parry, riposte, dodge, spin, whirl, slice. The two danced at speeds that Liana could barely follow, Theran trusting skill and a haste enchantment, which he was having trouble keeping applied, while Arik merely trusted the fact that he became faster as Theran became slower.

Eventually, as Theran's glamour began to become difficult to maintain, and his light began to dim, he realized that he had no chance and, so, he hollared backward to Liana, "Do something! Distract him! I'll get us out of he...UGH!"

A backhand knocked the distracted fae into the wall next to Liana and left him with a bloody lip.

"But, how will y..."

"Just... do it... I'll han... handle escaping..." Theran said weakly, his broadsword hanging limply at his side, as his free hand clutched at his chest.

"But..."

"...Please... trust me..."

Liana nodded. She had no idea how she was going to stop something that moved that quickly, but she knew she had to buy Theran time for whatever he had planned, and so she reached into one of her pockets, pulling out a simple transmutation circle, and slammed it on the ground.

The floor boards and walls started to shimmer magically around Arik, and the inn itself grew outward forming a thick casing of wood completely around the magic devouring creature, taking him by surprise and trapping him within.

In the meantime, Theran frantically pulled a piece of charcoal out of his vest and began to draw intricate designs on the floor boards, hoping to all that was right and good in the world that Liana's prison would keep the creature at bay long enough for him to complete the circle and imbue it with the necessary energy.

It was an unfounded hope, however, as a mighty fist burst through the wood as easily as paper, and sending shards of ex-inn scattering into the room, forcing Liana to cover her face as the rest of Arik burst through and charged her.

Perhaps if she hadn't been drinking she could have reacted quickly enough to avoid the next blow, but that was doubtful and she had been, and so Arik's fist hammered into her chest, sending her backwards into the wall with a sickening crunch, hard enough to leave thin cracks running through the hard wood around her.

"You dare to interefere with my feeding?!" the magic eater shouted as he charged again, with his fist cocked back to smash her face, undoubtably doing what would be a fatal blow, if it had landed.

Instead, Liana had thrust another predrawn circle onto the wall behind her before rolling out of the way, causing the wall to transmute itself into long spears, which tore into, and through, Arik's flesh. Liana breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the creature was dead, but as its arm reached up and shattered the spikes holding it to the wall, her relief was shattered.

It drew the wood from its flesh and tossed it aside, the wounds healing immediately as each sharpend beam was removed, and then Arik grinned. "Ahh... so you use some form of magic too... I hadn't noticed your light with his so brightly shining next to you... but I suppose I may as well feast on your powers as well..."

Liana blinked. 'Alchemy is... magic?'

She knew it worked somewhat like magic, but it worked on rules of equivalent exchange. It was surprising for her to learn that it was fueled on the same energy, and that, furthermore, this creature was going to devour that energy. In her moment of hesitation, however, she lost her energies, and Arik charged her again. This time she managed to move slightly, but not enough, and the magic eater adjusted his attack, grappling onto her face and lifting her off the ground.

She hung like a limp rag doll, as Arik's hand crushed into her beautiful features, before smashing the back of her head into another wall.

She had distracted him long enough, however, and Theran had finished his circle. It was useless if they weren't both within it, though, and, by this time, after having imbued it with the energy to transport them both a mile or two away, his light was weaker than hers ever was, and his strength was waning.

It was only through sheer will that he was even remaining conscious, and it was a miracle of determination that he managed to stand and focus what little energy he had left into increasing his speed.

Theran moved like the wind, and attacked Arik from the side with his broadsword, the heavy blade cleaving downward through flesh and bone, slicing the hand that held Liana cleanly off. The fae's arm reached out and caught her as she fell, and his body turned quickly, just in time to absorb the coming blow from Arik, batting them both away in pain induced rage.

As the two sailed through the air, Theran dropped his glamour, his wings and ears showing his true nature, and he beat his wings, sending them both crashing into the circle he had drawn, and, as their bodies pounded into the wood, a bright light blasted forward and Liana found herself just outside of the city next to an unconcious faerie who greatly resembled the human she had spent the night with.

(OOC: Yes, I know, the title sucks. Bite me. If you can think of something better, I'll fix it.

Also, if one of you plans on fighting these things, remember, they're, right now, just above human level as far as stats go, but if you're a purely magical creature (looking at you fire mana spirit), you'll get weakened quickly as they get stronger, same goes if you're just mostly magical (Bismuth), and humans will just lose the potency of any supernatural abilities... all while they become stronger.

IHMN has ruled we aren't supposed to win. At best we're can fight to a standstill and then flee.

Also, Arik will, at this point, completely slaughter the fuck out of all of you at once. He's about 10 times a human's speed and strength having drained Theran mostly dry.

And... post what you did up until 1 am as well, as that we're skipping quite a few hours.)

OOC: The Book of Draining Nocturnal Activities

IC:

HAKAESHAR.

Ssuma snapped bolt upright, nostrils flaring as he took the hot air in, filling his lungs with the scents that surrounded him. The smell of others, especially that of Bismuth, filled his mind, but now there was something else.

Magic.

He sniffed deeper, drawing the scent deep into him. This scent was not that of an ordinary magic-user. This belonged to a thaumavore, a class of creatures whose bodies fed on the mystical essence of others. These were on the level of hakaeshar, and those were potent essence-drainers. He had only fought them once, and it had been a chilling experience to watch his comrades' magic siphoned from them.

And from the proximity of the scent, one was outside his door right now.

For a moment, Ssuma thought to use his crystal chain on them, but he realized that they would simply drain his strength through it if he tried. Instead, he curled his hand into a fist, then channelled his power into it. A thick, clear fluid began seeping from between the scales, and when it touched the ground, it sizzled through.

The door was beginning to open.

Ssuma's feet lifted off the floor, and he covered the distance to the door in absolute silence, walking on air. He threw the door open, overbalancing the being behind it. Without pausing to ask questions, he slapped it once, twice, three times with his tail, from between his legs, and as the figure staggered back, he seized it by the lapels and lifted it off the ground, its feet struggling uselessly.

"Die, magg-"

Wait.

This was a human. In fact, it was the boy who had shown him his room-

Ssuma cast the teenager against the opposite wall and glided back with lightning speed, just as the spear passed through the space where his neck would have been. In seeming defiance of gravity, the lizardman had skittered up the vertical wall, and was now crouched perpendicular to the ground, slit eyes narrowing as they focused on the attacker.

The spear came around again, and Ssuma seized it with his unpowered hand, then with a quick flick of the wrist, ripped it out of the man's grasp. Almost immediately, the figure spat a needle directly at the beastman's eye.

Only quick thinking and even quicker reflexes let Ssuma bring the bony ridge over his eye down into the path into the needle, deflecting it harmlessly to one side even as he sprang off the wall, his slick right hand reaching for the /hakaeshar's flank. Ssuma called the man that for want of a better name, for while he was dissimilar to the incorporeal hakaeshar, he seemed to eat magic as they did.

As expected, the hakaeshar's hands closed around Ssuma's wrist, and the lizardman immediately felt his power draining out of his body where its clammy hands were closed around his wrist. Ssuma's feet touched the floor again as he released the motive manifestation that allowed him to walk on air.

'I have you now, lizardman... your magic, your life... all will be mine!"

"If you want it so badly... then you can HAVE it!"

With sheer force of will, Ssuma cut the flow of power to his hand, and as the hakaeshar looked at its hands in shock and confusion, the lizardman seized its neck with his free hand, then powered his grappled claw into the hakaeshar's face. However, the magic-eater's strength was incredible - at the last moment, it deflected the lizardman's claw down to its arm, and reflexively released its grip as the acid coating the hand bit into its flesh.

The two of them sprang away, and the magic-eater grinned, calling the spear to its hand, the wound on its arm healing rapidly. Ssuma grunted and gestured behind him for his chain, but instead of coiling itself around his arm like he expected, it simply flew past him, and his beleaguered reflexes barely managed to catch it in time. The magic eater smirked.

"You can't win."

And Ssuma knew he was right. Even so, he had to try, if not to kill the magic-eater, at least to escape.

'We'll see about that."

The lizardman whipped his arm at the magic-eater, and the man simply brought his spear up, letting the tip of the crystal chain deflect harmlessly off it.

'Useless-"

His speech cut off halfway as the window beside him exploded outward, and as he turned to look out of it he saw Ssuma landing in a spray of glass, loping with uneven strides into the welcoming darkness of the forest. For a moment, he considered pursuing, but changed his mind.

"Better eating here."

He turned back towards Bismuth's room.

******

Meanwhile, Ssuma was still running through the woods.

Well, whatever they are, they're troublesome as hell. And I don't think there was just one of them either.

Then he stumbled upon Shael, Theran and Liana, and he slowed his steps, simpy watching them. He'd seen them earlier, but he didn't know if they could be trusted.

OOC: Dante, no.

Says right there, you do not win. Killing is winning. The only reason I'm not counting this a warning (From being kicked out of the RP) is because that could have been taken as the group of PCs can't win.

Delete or heavily edit the post.

Edit - Now you're warned. All you did was throw in some injuries. THe magic eaters win, the PCs lose, I stated killing is winning, you kept the killing.

Again, delete or heavily edit the post.

(OOC: No sleep for the wearied [cause they're being made weary], Flight from emptyness, Teh Suxxor Menace)

<Hah? So you're going to bed with the women with no appreciation for a man's vitals, eh?> Kings thought as he looked in at Theran from atop a market building.

"Wonder how his "technique" compares to my own in the sack?" Suddenly a cloaked figure rushed up towards Theran, and at his mere precense Theran writhed in pain.

"Huh?"

Suddenly Kings became aware of another cloaked individual to his right. It leapt from the floor onto the blacksmith's building. <What? A magic leech? Here? In NoWhereville? And it's fresh?>

Apparentally what was before him was a Magic eater, or as his kind called them, Magic Leeches. They were vile, filthy, wicked, gluttonous, and downright mean individuals who sought to gain power by devouring magic users's mana into themselves.

"Hmm, What's this? A widdle Fire spirit all by his widdle lonesome?" The cloaked figure said with a lustful grin, the same way Asheth looked at a gallon of Icecream.

"What? How can you call me little? You're so short you're standing, sitting, and lying down at the same time!" Kings spat.

"Well, let's see if I can cut you down to size!" The Figure uncloaked and revealed what appeared to be a young woman armed with tiny razor sharp blades attached to her robe, and she quickly snatched two of them and dashed toward the Fire Mana Spirit.

Kings anticipated her coming and backflipped away, while drawing his sword. His sword dropped to the roof and King's feet flew above the Leech's knives. Then his feet landed upon his blade and his hair flew up smashed into the girl, sending her reeling in midair. He grinded down the slope of the roof as her spinning body followed, and at edge of the roof he leapt up again, took his sword in hand, and batted her midair into the Blacksmith's shop, demolishing it.

"Ha! It'll take much more than that to get at this spicy dish, Parasite." He glared, Flametongue ready.

The magic eater emerged from the ruins of the shed, with a bunch of fishhooks cutting into her arm. She removes them without flinching, and throws them aside.

"Big words, especially from a little flame sprite." She cackled.

Kings was indignant. "DO I LOOK LIKE A FLAME SPRITE?" He roared.

"Hey, come to think of it..." The Magic Eater closely examined her prey and her eyes came to rest upon his blade. There could only be one race that could wield THAT. "A Fire God in disguise? Arik will be so jealous! I'll enjoy you, yes, yes I will, you buffet of a meal!"

"Bring it on!" Faze challenged. <F**k!> His flametongue wasn't igniting. Which meant Task, one of his forefathers who's redhair made up the blade didn't want him to fight. But he couldn't just run away from this filth, it went against his pride.

Before he could argue with himself further, the woman attacked. He sidestepped her, but she sucked deeply of his mana, which for Kings was almost like a vaccum pulling him in. She lashed with one of her blades and Kings caught it with his sword. he held it back an inch from himself, but found his strength leaving him as she gulped it down greedily.

He felt his strength dissipate, and his mind unfocus, his life withering away, and worst of all, He was getting shorter!

Kings gathered his strength and shoved her back, and as she came forward again he gave her several good smacks to the head. But it was to no avail, as he couldn't keep it up in his weakened state. She came forward, like a wolf to a wounded sheep.

Worst of all, in his weakened state he found his 300 pound armor weighing ever more heavily upon him... <Wait! I've got an idea!> At that point, King's usually dim bulb glowed unusually bright, in one of his greater moments mentally.

In one swift movement he rips his shirt, unchains the K'ching weighted chest pad and swings it off of him in a powerful arc at his opponent. Before she can do anything the heavy pad slams down upon her head, squishing her in the same way a a finger crushes cheese. The dirt of the ground spread in all directions upon impact with the ground and hastily Kings grabs his armor and leaps away in the midst of the blinding cloud of dirt.

Woozily the Magic Eater picked herself up. She looks in all directions, but the stinging dirt blinded her and when the cloud disperses, there are no tracks to be found. "Damn! he got away!" She cursed. A white piece of paper catches her eye. She walks toward the spot where the paper lay and picks it up.

"Watch your step, Faerieboy!" it read.

"Huh?" She ponders, confused.

"Demon Huntress! I'm so glad you and your clan managed to get here so fast! Did you manage to defeat the Demon?" The Blacksmith yells, running towards her. As soon as he steps within three feet of her, the ground beneath her cracks. The blacksmith steps back, and falls on his behind as the ground collapses beneath the Magic Eateress.

She fell into the pit and landed head first into a pile of mud. Quickly she stands up, but to her horror, the mud is warm and has an acidic smell to it.

"Demon Huntress!" The blacksmith calls down. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Fine. PEACHY KEEN."

***

A few miles away, a much smaller Kings hops through the forest, lugging a heavy chest pad of K'ching. "Damn, I really wanted to use that on Theran. Oh well, Se la ve." He thinks aloud. He stops. Kings pulls out a small mirror from his pocket. Upon closer reflection he discovers he has ironically shrank to the point of looking like a Flame Sprite. "Great! Now I look like a freaking 12 year old! This day could not get any worse!"

As if God was really a GM with a cruel sense of humor, suddenly a circle of light appeared above Kings and a pair of people burst from it, knocking out Kings like a light.

Orin had been pleasantly downing a few mugs of ale the entire night. He wasn't much of a drinker, so he drank them slowly to savor the flavor. Aurok had long gone off to a room while Orin had stayed down, trying to think of where to go the next morning. He'd already decided, but thinking about it was his excuse to be alone for a while. Right now was one of the moments where he couldn't help but think about what would happen next.

However, his thoughts were disrupted by a hooded figure running up to him and grabbing his right arm. It was muttering something about a tasty morsel before going off to get something bigger. Orin couldn't believe what this freak was doing, but he could feel his arm starting to weaken. Confused by what was going on, Orin quickly reacted, slowed down by the drinks he'd had earlier.

Getting up from his chair and unleashing all the strength he had in his right arm, Orin wa easily able to shake this thing off his arm, but found it latched on again before he could turn and run. Giving out an angry cry, Orin shook it off again, this time backhanding it after he had shook it off. The magic eater went sialing across the room and into a table. To Orin's surprise, it got right back up and started walking up to him again.

"What the hell...?" Orin asked himself. Normally he would have hit the thing through a wall, and possibly killed it. Instead, his arm was feeling weak, and this thing just got up from a hit that would put a man down for a week at least. Deciding not to find out the full extent of the magic eater's power, Orin nabbed his backpack off the ground and began to run. Turning around, he could see the figure follow him to the entrance of the inn, but gave up and turned back into the bar.

"What in the hell just happened?! That should have kept it down... But it got right back up!" Orin's thoughts were dwelling on that small situation. He was feeling a little weaker, but his right arm felt especially odd. It almost felt normal, strength-wise.

Shrugging it off, Orin ran off into the night, hoping those things wouldn't follow him. Through all this, Orin had forgot that he'd left Aurok behind in the inn. In all his travels, he never met the old man again.

********

Orin was maybe a mile away from town. All the running, plus the fact that he was carrying his backpack, was making him really tired. Not to mention he was slowed down a little by the drinking he'd done, but the adrenaline flowing through his body kept him going, despite the affect of a couple mugs of ale.

After a while, Orin began to see shapes in the distance. With what little light there was, Orin couldn't tell if they were harmful or harmless, so he made his way carefully toward them.

"Hello? Anyone there? Anyone not trying to kill me?" Orin asked them, still unable to clearly see them. Just in case they weren't friendly, Orin moved his hand closer to his new sword, which was jutting out of his backpack since he'd forgotten to tie it around his waist.

Liana's head was reeling. Not only was she still under the slowing effects of the alcohol, but her body was in pain from the beating it had taken by the magic eater.

She was kneeling next to Theran, who had, while saving her life, turned into something else.

"A... faerie?" She said outloud, not sure exactly what to think. Then her mind went to what one of the men had asked her a little earlier before stepping off to look for danger, "How do you heal a faerie?" She asked frantically. Theran had saved her life, somehow, she had to repay the favor.

(OOC: I'm wondering, can I make potions or something like that, like the alchemists do in FFX-2? Just out of curiousity.)