"Humph!" Diana groaned as she came to a clearing, Callista quietly tailing her. "Since we're now are alone, can you now explain to me as to why "it's so complicated" between you and that bastard?" Diana snarled as she cleared the path ahead. Callista hesitated and Diana knew it. "Don't tell me that you've fallen for him." She further added.
"It's not falling for him ...at least not yet that is. Loving him is still a process that he's intentionally making it hard for me to do."Diana's face contorted into that of disgust. "I can't believe what I'm hearing! The so called aloof flower of Caelbridge academy now swoon with such a scoundrel." Diana's teeth gnashed as she stretched out her hand, shooting out a blinding beam instantly clearing the path ahead.
"Well you know what they said about love, it occurs at the most odd places with the people you would at the very least expect." She tried to laugh it off but her coldness let it come out as awkward.
"I know you better than anyone so come clean already." Diana asked, her gaze skeptical as it landed on Callista who reciprocated a look of impartiality. "I'm his slave or should I say his cat, toying with strings of obsidian that can cut through the marrows of gods."
Diana looked puzzled and rightfully so. "What do you mean his cat?" She quizzed before her pink eyes landed on the black-water obsidian bells. "Take that thing off. You're not his slave but Callista Vaewlyn, the heiress of the Vaewlyn family so drop that slave theatrics already!"
The two walked through the clearing however a bear blindly rampaged through. Before Diana could react, an obsidian shard shot through the beast's eye before blooming into a flowery bud exposing the beast's guts.
Bones and flesh exposed as they jutted unnaturally towards the sky. The sight hard for the eyes and yet the one merely brushed it off. "The Callista Vaewlyn that you once knew is long dead and this is what you have left. This world will come to pass, be it in my hands or his. As for you, your death will be that of agony and pain." And with that she fell silent.
Diana was shocked with what she heard. The weight Callista's words had were much heavier than Diana could comprehend. However still under the ruse that Callista was merely playing, she shot her hand to remove her collar only to be met with a glance much colder than ice itself.
Callista's dead gray eyes came to life not with a familial vigour but with hostility so foreign that it left Diana shivering. "Don't test your limits or you'll meet your end sooner than it should." She slapped Diana"s hand away and took the lead.
Diana was left staring at Callista's back, her chest heaving as a thin drip of sweat trickled down her forehead. 'Is this the same person who had recently comforted me a few minutes ago?' The more she thought about it, the less feasible it seemed.
She glanced back at the bear, a tinge of pity gnawing in her heart. 'You didn't have to face such a painful fate.' She sighed in her heart as she snapped out of her trance.
…
"We're the first here!" Kaelin smiled as she looked around only to be met with an empty field. Behind them were the dense foliage of the forest as from afar they heard the groans of other students. Jarren merely folded his hands behind his back as a notification filled his vision.
(CONGRATULATIONS ON MAKING IT TO THE BOTTOM OF THE MOUNTAIN!)
(NOW MAKE IT ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP)
Jarren looked up, the sun on the verge of setting before the scene was flooded with other students who seemed spent. "We're finally here!" A party wheezed as they collapsed to the earthy ground, their pitiful acts a mere ridicule to those who watched in the shadows.
It wasn't long before the rest made their appearance. "Should we rest here or make our way back?" Kaelin asked, her tone filled with curiosity as she admired Jarren's coolness. "It's best that we leave now. After all we would waste too much time if we camped here." His tone flat but enough to persuade Kaelin.
"Wait! Wouldn't it better to wait to leave when the sun rises? After all who knows what kind of creatures would be lurking at this hour?" One of the students commented, battered and bruised however Jarren merely brushed it off.
"Let's leave." And with that he started to make his way back to the dense foliage of the forest. However his path was blocked with a certain individual, his stature equivalent to that of a brawler. Someone who knew how to toy with their opponent when it came to close quarters.
"So your're Jarren Velros, huh?!" His voice instantly drawing the eyes of those present. Jarren merely watched the man poke his chest as if a taunt. He looked over him to see Brose who instantly dodged his gaze. Jarren looked at the man who towered over him.
'Cockroaches really do have a lot of networking!' A conclusion he had come to as he would hunt gods and horrors like game. "Let's just say that I'm related to someone you messed with." Grazilla's tone playful as his eyes bore into Jarren's. "Don't you think that such a proposal would be more effective for all of us?"
It was clear what Grazilla wanted Jarren to stick around for the night, for ally or something much darker was between the two. "Someone I know? When you meet so many cowards they usually blend together so can you be more specific with 'someone I know?'" Jarren's words light yet lethal.
Callista didn't bother wasting any more time as she left the scene, her absence noticed by Diana who gave chase. "Your hubris truly does need some trimming. I'm sure that you know Serrant Grellion. A distant cousin and close friend of mine."
Jarren remained unfazed. "Oh, that cockroach. And here I thought that I would be bothered with the question of which pest it would be." He chuckled as he walked past Grazilla only to be halted with Grazilla who placed on his hand on his shoulder.
Leaning in, Grazilla finally took off his guise. "Well with such a scary place and monsters lurking about, who knows what might happen out there." His words dripping with menace as he leaned in. "I couldn't agree more." Jarren added, his tone playful as his gaze never left Grazilla's.
"Let's go Kaelin, it's a waste of time to spend the night here." And with that he brushed Grazilla's hand off his shoulder leaving the scene. Some looked at each other, wondering whether to stick at the base of the mountain or push back into the mountain.
After some mindless bickering, some opted to staying at the base while a select few dove back in.
…
"Serrant Grellion? I've heard much about him. Weren't you a close friend of his?" Kaelin quizzed as Jarren took the lead. "A pest to help me pass time before I grew bored." His words brisk and cold.
'It would seem that he's not in the mood to talk.' Sensing his cold aura, she fell silent before the two came to a halt. "A pack of Needle-back Apes are heading this way." Jarren mused over his shoulder.
Kaelin fell silent as she immediately readied herself for the battle to come. "It would be better to have a ranged attacker for this as they are quite annoying to deal with." A flame sparked in his right hand, the other still pocketed.
"My water affinity should cover range and healing." She heard the cries of monkeys approaching the two.
*BOOM*
Jarren's flame filled the sky torching the bamboo foliage. With the moonlight barely lighting the field, the flame offered sufficient lighting for the battle to come. Kaelin covered her ears as the hollering of the apes filled the air.
One of the needle-back landed a few feet away from the two. It's body was constituted of overlapping bamboo and flesh, it's jade green eyes shimmering through the night. Behind it a pack emerged from the shadows.
'Dman it!' Kaelin cursed as she saw this. 'We should have stayed at the base of the mountain instead of facing this!?' She peered at Jarren, his calmness persistent as ever as he raised his finger aiming it at the pack.
*WHOOSH*
The path ahead was illuminated, drawing attention from those at the bottom of the mountain. Some snarled seeing the explosion of flames filling the starry night sky. "They should have have just stayed here instead of heading into the forest at a time like this!" Jasper couldn't help but retort, his face donning a smile of ridicule.
…
The needle back apes despite their massive size were surprisingly nimble, dodging most of Jarren's attacks but not unscathed with singes and mark. But for the most part they remained largely unfazed.
"It would be better if we retreat and head back to the base of the mountain!" Kaelin cried, her voice weary with exhaustion. One of the apes lunged at her, her reactions lacking in speed as the beast managed to pass through her water barrier ready to land a devastating blow.
Her vision was filled with fire before the beast lifelessly collapsed to the ground. Jarren never once had he complained about the pack that kept on attacking the pair. "Did you think that making it to the top would be easy?"
He chuckled before leaping into the air, sending a pillar of fire to a pack that bothered with an attack. "I.. well I wouldn't think that it would be this sudden. We've been walking for the entire day."
She groaned as a wall of fire covered the two. The barrage of spears launched by the apes instantly burnt to a crisp by Jarren's barrier. His glyph wasn't glamorous as Kaelin's but it's effectiveness was more than enough to hold his own.
The apes attacked from all sides, alternating in attacks as those injured wold take a seat back and those more capable taking up the front lines. 'If this keeps on going then I'll end up being nothing more than baggage for Jarren once more.' As much as she wanted to chip in, her body denied her the chance.
*BOOM*
She fell to the floor watching Jarren taking care of the rest. "Oh, I didn't think that you would meet your limit so soon." His words playful as his hand with a single swat brought an end to five of the apes.
'There should be an Needle-back Ape leader around here but it doesn't seem to be that incompetentwith it's tactic.' He couldn't help but praise the beast with it's effort to take him down.
'However it chose the wrong prey.' A malicious grin stretched across his face and finally bothered removing his hand oout of his pocket. "Don't dissapoint me." His words playful as a wall of fire surrounded Kaelin and him.
*Snap*
The glyph under his feet instantly doubled in size, its complexity shocking Kaelin who was left speechless before his attack forced her to shield her eyes.
*BOOOOOOM*
The shockwave was anything but subtle as the ground beneath Kalein's shook hRD. Anyone near the mountain base felt the magintude of the explosion as it filled the air. The waves of Needle-back Apes had no chance of retaliation as they were instantly wiped in an instant.
The leader left scorched and singed, its flesh showed before drawing it's final breathe. The barrier dropped revealing their surroundings. A complete fall out as the place was bathed lin inferno. A huge portion of the forest was set ablaze before the cries of beasts in other dwellings began to cry. Some caught in the blast radius or flustered by the sharp increase of heat.
The ground was scorched, the bamboo plain completely gone letting the simmer of flames and silence fill the air. It wasn't long before a light rain descended from the clouds slowly quenching the rage of the flames.
"Well we can't just stay here so get on your feet." Ushering a hand to Kaelin, Jarren wore his smile like armor. She was left speechless, stunned with Jarren's performance wondering what his limits were. The more she stayed around him, the more fearful she came to grow of him.