Second of Nine

“Well alright; watch this…” Taking a deep breath, some snow came out of Elise’s mouth as she sighed, before she moved her hand and arm from the right to the left and as she did ice formed along the ground.

The ice was a little thin and would easily crack if someone stood on it but still better than nothing. “How do you thicken ice exactly?”

“Now, with what you’re asking of me lies the main problem: I myself am not an expert of cryokinesis, I can only give you basic advice that comes with most magical abilities or powers, the specifics are also varied and depend much upon the person, the source of their powers and many other factors.”

“For example in my own case, the more damage I sustain in a fight makes me even stronger, while for some it might be the other way around. I can help you with the basics of unlocking the barriers that are keeping you from accessing your full powers but the rest is up to you and experimenting with your powers to see what you can do and how you can do it.”

infinite-xerath

Xerath looked down at the mortal, the hollow eyes of his helm seeming to cast an unrelenting gaze over the newcomer. The Magus saw a man, yet standing in the same place was a wolf, overlapped on the same plane of reality. He’d never quite seen anything like it before.

“I beg to differ…” The Ascendant began floating closer to the ground, stopping once he was more-or-less at eye level with the strange man. “I have felt the aura of your power resonating throughout the desert, and I can tell that you, in turn, felt mine. Your trek to find the source of this power lead you to me, and I, in-turn, found you.”

Xerath floated slightly closer. “So I will ask again: who are you, and why have you come to Shurima?”

So the northern man wasn’t the only one who could feel shifts in the energy field here, interesting. Also, the anatomy of this being intrigued him to no end. This, man’s(?) body was pure energy yet it wasn’t seeping out into every corner of the desert, nor could Fenmore feel any excess energy floating near the Magus. Something was holding all this energy together, just be deduction alone the warlord’s best bet was that the stone and chains as well as that golden talisman were responsible for that.

Staring down the floating and intriguing figure, the Marzgraf didn’t even flinch, even if the other came closer and closer. Was he supposed to be frightened or put off? Ready to confess and surrender all the info about himself? It would take more than a floating blue energy shaped into a human-like shape speaking all high and mighty to have much of an impact on him.

“So this place is called Shurima? And I suppose you are some form of leader here?”

#infinite-xerath

“I rarely get scared, if that helps at all…” Elise muttered a reply and stared at her deformed looking weapon.

With a small sigh, she smashed it towards the tree and let it fall to pieces whilst turning to the man. “So what should I make that would be easier besides my shield…?”

Fenmore stayed in thought for a bit. He wasn’t an expert in elemental magic, far from it, all of his own magic came from his Spirit. A shield was actually a decently advanced form of cryokinesis, the fact that it didn’t look like a jumbled mess of frost was already a good sign.

“By basic abilities, I do not necessarily mean you creating any objects from ice. By basic I mean more in the lines of freezing things, like you said, through contact, as you do. Increasing the speed of the process, area effected and perhaps even removing the limitation of touch from the equation all together.”

Listening, Elise began to make mental notes and already knew that this guy was going to be very different to Avion’s teaching of the ice mana.

“Cutting off fear then…? Okay I’ll try…”

Turning away slightly, in case something would go wrong; Elise tried to create a solid piece of ice in the shape of a sword or long-dagger of sorts. Taking her time, she tried but the shape was just a deformed looking piece of what she expected.

“Well, fear is just one of the easiest primal emotions to cut off, trying to get rid of hunger or any other distracting factors will require more rigorous training.” At least in his opinion. After all, he had stared death down many times during his military career, even during his current, more secretive days. He always managed to keep a cool head in what others might call times of crisis.

“I suppose you were trying to shape some sort of weapon right now. I’m afraid that certain forms will prove more difficult then others. I’d personally suggest sticking to honing your basic abilities of cryokinesis to their peak before attempting more, advanced techniques.”

infinite-xerath

Rare was it for the Magus to travel so far north, but even he had felt the ripples in reality far across the desert. Daring to journey so far away from the ruins he’d claimed as his own, Xerath would spend about four days heading towards the border near Noxus, where mountains separated Shurima from the rest of Valoran.

The otherworldly presence got stronger the farther he traveled. Oddly, as he drew closer, it, too, seemed to move toward him. On the night of the fifth day, Xerath would find the source of the presence; a man with an aura the Ascendant had never-before seen. “…Who are you?”

#infinite-xerath #//hope this is fine

It was a grueling journey, especially for a northern man such as himself. Packing lightly could have ended his campaign right then and there. But the Marzgraf was resourceful as always, no matter what limited sources of nutrition he could salvage, he would only use them should he be on death’s door. And it was worth it. Every second of this journey brought him closer and closer to this source of energy, like a moth to a flame.

After all this time, he would be confronted with the thing that gave off such a strong aura. The wave of energy that washed over his senses almost overwhelmed the warlord. Just almost. Fenmore squinted his eyes to see through the light of the burning orb in the sky, spotting a strange figure: seemingly made of pure energy, surrounded by only a few fragments of some stone structure and chains. But unmistakably, this was the source of the energy that he felt.

“My identity is of no concern to you.”

#infinite-xerath

@infinite-xerath

Power is an integral part of plans of this caliber. Taking an entire world under your protective wing is not an easy task, not in the slightest. The amount of power that this man desired and required reached into astronomical heights, just waiting for the Gate to open every now and again just wouldn’t cut it. He needed more exotic sources of energy as well, if not for the power itself then just to add some variety. Gathering all the necessary resources for his schemes was a monotonous task, if he could spice it up, even if just by a little, the warlord could stay sane, from his point of view at least.

Ripping holes into the Spiritstream had already become an easy task for the Marzgraf, yet still wasteful, too much energy was lost in the process. Fenmore really needed to find a way to make this technique less wasteful, though it wasn’t on the top of his list of priorities. Waking up in a foreign place once again, all he could see was sand, sand as far as the eye could see. More energy wasted, it seemed. Yet, there was something supremely powerful in this vast empty pit of sand. And this man would find it.

katanamasako

Closed with dawngate-alpha

katanamasako

Kat entered another cavern branching from the main cavern they were in, to get the food supplies he would need. Ryu growled lightly then grunted at the warlord “the weapons are arranged by era. the ones you would probably want are closest to this side.” he was still watching him with great concern. Ryu, though nearly blind, knew when someone was not everything they appeared to be. He rumbled uncomfortably, “why are you in the desert? you dress as one from the North.”

Fenmore cast a side-eye towards the grumbling beast. Although his comments were useful in determining where the weapons he was most familiar with were, other then that, this source of distrust wasn’t going to bode well, should this woman prove to be an useful ally or asset. The abundance of free supplies would be crucial if the warlord decided to amass an army, relying too much on the Nine would make him weak, too dependent on one source for his own liking.

“I find segregation based on just a person’s clothing alone rather distasteful. By your supposed logic everyone should just sit still in one place for their entire life, not exploring the world or chasing their dreams. At least, that’s the kind of vibe that I got from your comment.”

#katanamasako

Nodding, it seemed this guy lie athority and wanted respect, to which shewas fine with but Elise had a harder time bonding with people like this.

“Okay, well, as you saw I can freeze things through contact, then…” She suddenly froze the ground below them, but it wasn’t very vast; only several meters. Then she sumoned a shield made purely of harened snow and ice around the edges.

And that was it. She was still in the early stages.

So that was it so far. The northerner really had his work cut out for him. Although all this magic related business was quite new to him as well, studying up on unknown or new topics was a necessity in his field of work anyways so reading every tome, book and scroll available was child’s play.

“While the specifics of how your powers work are still alien to me, I know of a lot of the base skills and abilities that you will need in order to successfully command your powers to the greatest possible extent. One thing that you need to be able to do to fully concentrate on shaping your, let’s say, energy into ice is shut off every unnecessary function. Throughout history certain functions have become obsolete, yet our bodies still waste energy performing such archaic tasks.”

“One thing that you have to lose is any fear of failure, cut off that primal fight or flight instinct, fear or any similar emotion can hinder the process of shaping energy, at least in my case, not every person’s powers work the same way. But I suggest you try it.”

“Well…I’m free for the next hour or so…I was suppose to be on a job but I decided to practice with my ice…” She simply shrugged and messed around with her hat for a second. “Should I show you what I can do so far so we’re not repeating anything?”

She didn’t want to waste his time nor her own. “Oh and my name is Elise.”

“I suppose if you demonstrate the current extent of your powers I can better gauge how much work you still have ahead of you.” His first look at her powers was rather, uninformative. The Marzgraf was only able to see an incomplete picture, only the result, not the process behind it.

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance and help you hone your potential. My name is Harkund Fenmore. But you may address me as just Fenmore, most people do.”

Grim fired off his own poisonous energy to rid of the orbs flying at him. He could not aim at all of them. A couple hit his chest, pushing him with his feet still on the ground. He fires and shot of acid at Fenmore once he regain his bearings.

So this energy his opponent controlled could dissipate his own, seemingly without difficulty as well. If the fight picked up speed and lasted longer then the warlord hoped for, then this would definitely be a huge thorn in his side.

And now he would have to think on how to react to this attack. Although a more painful option, he could try taking the blow to study its effects and know exactly what he’s going up against. Not the best idea but the easiest way to gain knowledge on the former Caretaker. But was it a risk he was willing to take? No, not yet, just dodging was going to have to do it this time, he dashed quickly to the left, he wasn’t fast enough though, as some of the acid managed to scrape his calf.

She still wasn’t sure of this guy but if something did go wrong, she knew who to go to for help. Elise liked being independent but she knew she was a lot weaker to her friends as she’s new to this life.

“Sure. What first then?”

“You already wish to begin with the basics then I presume?” Fenmore queried. Sure, he already had something planned, what to say, what to teach. Keeping a conversation lively didn’t take much effort so he could think while he was giving her answers and offers. After all, if you dealt with nobility a lot, most conversational options were already on quick-dial so to speak, at least this type of conversing would take less time. He did have to change his typical speech pattern slightly here, each situation called for that anyways.

“But if you have to be somewhere else, then we can always reschedule for another time.”

Elise stood in thought. She didn’t know where Avion was and he was her teacher, but he just vanished. However she kept telling herself that he’ll come back soon; that he’s just busy saving worlds from Heartless. But it meant that she needed another teacher for backup. Hriob had his own life to live with his fiance, Sensei and Hanayo didn’t teach magic and Alum focused on hunting Evil Spirits.

So it couldn’t hurt to have backup.

“Okay…I could use some extra help…But not every day of the week; I do have other classes…”

“I see, it doesn’t hurt to gather general knowledge on the way to mastering one’s potential.” He was speaking from experience as well, his studies had been long, meticulous, all the treks to the great libraries of the north just so he could gather snippets of information to tie all his knowledge together. It did have a crucial part in bettering oneself. The process of trying to manipulate her to see the world his way would take longer, but it was a risk he was willing to take.

“When shall we begin then?”

MIcheal stood there as the attack was advancing at him, green seeping from his eyes. His poison could not hurt spiritual items. He jumps to the side at the last minute, the large wolf’s jaw barely scraping his black coat.

Such a large and slow attack was of course easy to dodge, perhaps too easy. The Marzgraf waited for the perfect moment before keeping up his barrage. He wasn’t willing to just waste all his energy just to even graze this foe. Instead he bombarded the area with a lot of purplish orbs, all of them carrying just enough energy to pack a punch.

“My friends are in somewhere else. And I doubt I would lose to the likes of you.”

Just as he said that, Grim tosses away the gun. He moved into a fighting position, in case the other wanted to strike first. His hand makes the ‘Come at Me Bro’ gesture.

Then so be it. The time for talk was over, it was time to prove oneself on the field of battle. Without hesitation, Fenmore’s eyes flared blue, energy swirling upwards from his palms.

The warlord then unleashed all the energy he’d been gathering in a huge burst, launching a large projectile that looked like an open wolf maw towards his opponent, a manifestation of his spirit.

“How about this. You leave the girl alone, and fight me instead. Just a regular fight, using spirit powers. What do you say?” He offered.

If the man refuses, Grim could just shoot his head off here and now. But he most likely would not deny. He wanted to know more about this stranger, besides his insults.

#spadekeeperwitch #//fight fight fight fight

“So no instruments, just pure spirit control? Throw your gun away first, then I know you won’t try to pull anything suspicious. And another thing, how will I know that you don’t have any allies at the ready, prepared to strike the moment you start to lose?”

He stressed the word lose, further poking at the other. He didn’t just mean to provoke the other though, he was stalling, distracting Grim, hopefully, while he channeled his energy into the necessary shape.

“Wouldn’t a coward be someone running from a fight while making others fight for them? I’m volunteering… Okay, I forgot what I was going to say next.”

His eyes flashed a hint of rage. Sure, he was not there much to raise Victoria, but that was because he was trapped in another realm. Most of his daughter’s childhood, she was raised by his friends and relatives. He was not going to let some stranger insult his family.

“Volunteering or not, letting someone fight one’s battles for them is not a great show of courage or skill.” Should he poke further and make him flinch or attack? It was a gutsy plan, one wrong step and boom, off with his head. But if that rifle only fired acid bullets, it wouldn’t be much better, it’d still scar him hideously.

The warlord shifted his stance around slightly, he wasn’t locked into his rigid battle stance but blue energy still swirled around him, he wasn’t going to just let himself get killed, a fighting chance was all that he needed.