The Spiral of Swords and Flame (TingleMauler)

OoC: Sorry for the long wait... ^^;; Anyway, here's that battle you wanted. I'll be using my newest character Quintana, link in my sig.

BiC:

Calmly walking down a plain dirt road, Quintana was serenely happy. He didn't have anywhere to go, or anything to do, so he decided to just site see and maybe find some interesting things on the way. Turning to get off the road, he found a separate path, completely shrouded in bushes. What he came across was definitely interesting.

"Woah... These ruins seemed to almost come out of nowhere," The fire elf stood in front of two towering pillars. Behind them was a decrepit remain of what probably used to be some sort of church or chapel. To its side there were rows of tomb stones each with faded, ornate writing. "Well, now that I'm here, I might as well explore a little."

The whole chapel was hidden within an incredibly small forest, only slightly larger than the church itself. "Hm... I sense a strong magic is surrounding this place... I don't think it is mere chance that I have encountered it."

Quintana approached the ruble of the chapel. It's previous splendor was obvious. It had pieces of multicolored stain glass windows scattered everywhere and crumbled, dull bricks that had once made the religious place look gorgeous and sleek.

"The state of these ruins truly saddens me... But still, I can't shake the feeling that there is an odd presence here... Not dangerous per say, but mysterious. Anyone with more than half a brain would know not to let down their guard." Quintana's eyes shifted for inch to inch, inspecting the dust infested site for the slightest abnormality. "Maybe it's just my imagination. I must remember, my true goal! Which is... To relax I suppose."

He turned to face the graves and saw that each was identical to the other. Though he couldn't read the names, they all seemed as though they had the same thing inscribed on them. "This is weird... Definitely weird... Only one thing can explain something like this. Magic..." Quintana whipped out his staff, there was definitely something up. "I couldn't have fallen into such an obvious trap... Could I?"

He ran to exit the place, staff still held tight in his hand. As he burst through the trees, he expected to escape from the odd place, and be right back on the same boring dirt road he'd been traveling minutes before. Such was not the case. He emerged to find the same chapel. "What the-"

Suddenly an enigmatic voice boomed over head, "Come one, come all! Be prepared to see a battle like you've never seen! We've taken two complete strangers and trapped them in this enchanted area only to fight each other, just for YOUR entertainment!"

"What's going on!?" Quintana grew angry hearing the announcement.

"Congratulations! You've been one of the select few that gets to put their life on the line for the joy of all the people watching! Your opponent will arrive shortly! Just you wait!" The voice replied, obviously trying to sound optimistic about the whole ordeal.

"You've got to be kidding me..." The fire pixie rolled his eyes.

OoC: As you probably figured out, Kami is his opponent... So, just take it from there. :]

OoC: All right… this is my first battle so I hope I don’t screw it up. Kami’s in my sig if you haven’t looked already.

BiC: Kami steadily walked along the weathered path taking in all his surroundings and looking for anything that might be a clue to his parents’ mystery. His trained eyes caught a lane that could have been missed by many others. “It’s always more interesting on the wild side,” he thought. With this thought in his head he took off down the new path.

It didn’t take long for him to find something unordinary. In front of Kami lay an enormous church. Barely bigger than the forest that enveloped it. “This looks… out of place,” Wary of the danger that could be standing before him Kami strung an arrow on his bow. He crept along what remained of the sides of the church until he found an entrance that didn’t seem likely to crumble and break.

The inside was much the same as the outside, falling apart with the colours fading. He ran outside to take another look at the grounds. Nothing was out of the ordinary, “except for a church in the middle of nowhere,” he thought. He took his bow down and walked away. As he walked through the trees he noticed something familiar, all of a sudden he was on the church grounds again!
“I don’t like this. Magic is at work, and it isn’t pixies causing mischief.” Several times Kami tried to escape from the enchanted place but he was continually brought back. “Oh enough toying,” he heard a distant voice say. “Welcome to the Battle Grounds of Swords and Flame! And congratulations sir, for YOU get to fight a total randomer for our entertainment!” “You people are sick!” Kami cried. “Oh, no! We’re just avid battle spectators!” Kami could taste the insanity in this man’s voice.
“Time to bring out our second contestant! Quintana! Your opponent has arrived!” There was a massive cheer as an orangey person with wings was pushed onto the grounds from the trees.
“LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!”
OoC: I hope that’s ok, and that it makes sense. So just start the fight then I’ll fight back!

“This is all too sudden… There must be more structure to such a random occurrence…” Daniel thought to himself. He saw his opponent and could immediately tell he was of elf origin. “Can he make it any more obvious…”

The man’s pointy ears were extending out of his well kept brown hair. His prominent green eyes shone brightly in the fair structure that was his face. He stood with a confident air about himself. Quintana could tell that this guy was going to be a stubborn one. “All the better to make fun of…” was all that came to his mind along with a sly grin.

“What are you two waiting for? Start fighting! Kami versus Quintana! The fight of the ages! Well, at least for today!”

“I see their game… They get some random people to just fight each other, only to discard them… Well, this is one pixie that won’t be taken advantage of. As soon as I kick this guy’s ass, I’m going after the demented person behind this,” Daniel’s hazel eyes radiated an angered look and he felt his magical abilities react. The flame shaped crystal in his staff glowed, and that was the pixie’s cue.

He began to form a rapidly growing flame on the edge of his wooden staff, “Kami was your name, right? Well, Kami, I think we can both agree we didn’t plan on being here, but let’s make the most of this.”

The fire seemed to grow out of control, but Quintana knew exactly what he was doing. The flames gingerly sprung from the staff and landed on his palm. The heat was welcoming and in the brief moment before he flung the fire at Kami, there was odd warmth inside of him. But alas, he let go of that comforting feeling as the spiral of heat left his hand swerved toward Kami.

OoC: Sorry for taking so long and it being so short... =\

OoC: Who is Daniel? I would have had my next post done but I deleted it by accident and I'm depressed

OoC: Um... Daniel is Quintana's first name... And don't worry, you can take your time. ^_^ I do hope you feel better though...

There was no time for Kami to dodge the inferno of heat swirling towards him. Just as he braced himself for the worst an explosion of pain surrounded him. Luckily, it was short and he soon regained the ability to think. He shot an arrow at Quintana hoping to catch him off guard. But it failed Quintana easily pulled the arrow out of his shoulder. "This isn't someone to mess with." Kami thought.
"Come on! was that an arrow or a bit of butter!" Daniel shouted. He was trying to annoy Kami, but he was determined not to let it get to him.

"The battle has begun!" Kami was going to deal with that announcer once he took care of the problem at hand. Heunsheathed his sword like lightning and startedslashing at Daniel, but every one was parried by his remarkably strong staff.

He tried arrows again but this time aimed for the overgrown bird's wings. With the help of an accuracy spell it hits its target. This one quite clearly affected Quintana. Kami's head was screaming to attack, but something was stopping him.
"You can't win that easily!"

OoC: Do you know how to take over ride off? It's really bugging me

"You can't win that easily!" boomed in Quintana's ears as he was struck by the arrow. "Oh, shut the hell up!" It could easily be said that the announcer was getting on Daniel's last nerve. The pain from the arrow was searing, but he has virtually no reaction time as he saw one of the wicked twists this fight would have. "What the?"

Suddenly, in flew in wave after wave of wasps, or possibly humble bees. Either way, Quintana didn't want to stick around to find out. Yet, as he turned to run, the pixie was struck by the realization: he was trapped in the magical prison with possibly deadly opponent, and, now, a swarm of angry insects. His sarcasm seemed to have switched on in this moment of peril, "Great! Just perfect."

Of course, on the thought of all that was going wrong, Quintana was reminded of his enemy. "What do I think of him... Well, it's not hard to think that he is a pompous idiot... But other than that, I think this will be fun. His skill with his arrows is commendable. His strategic methods leave a bit to be desired, but we all have to start somewhere. His mind is a bit simplistic... But one thing is for sure, he seems like he can take a blow... I wonder how he'll deal with a sting..."

The masses of buzzing bugs approached them, almost intimidating looking. "Well, bugs burn, don't they?"

"Yeah, but wouldn't that be helping me?" Kami asked, looking like he was not used to such a thing.

"Meh, maybe. But I don't care. I just don't want them to have their pleasure," Quintana shrugged, "You know?"

He created another spiral of flame, aimed directly at the wasps. "Burn, baby burn..." They began to smoke, and scatter, obviously quite fazed by the flames. "That showed them..."

"Oh, did it? You ain't seen nothing yet. Time for our next surprise... Come on out penguins!" the voice rang as about ten flamethrower wielding penguins marched out, all in complete unison.

"Ah... Penguins after my own heart..." the pixie said full of gloom concerning the impending flames.

OoC Firstly, bravo for your wonderful post
Secondly... PENGUINS + FLAMETHROWERS?! This will be the most fun thing EVER
P.S You are one heck of a deku scrub
P.P.S are you not Riku's Girl anymore? Have you reaised that Roxas rocks the boat?

BiC: They were coming from everywhere, the demented flamethrower-wielding penguins. The bees had been burned to a crisp by Daniel's extreme fire abilities but now it was time for Kami to cut down animal numbers. Then he could continue fighting Quintana. "It looks like Kami's ready to take on our crrazy penguins!" the nnouncer shouted. It was true. Kami had loaded perhaps fifteen arrows onto the string and pulled. He muttered a few words under his breath and a tiny hurricane stormed into the room. He released the arrows and the flew about the room everywhere annihilating penguins.

As the whirlwind subsided corpses disappeared from the arena but one particularly strong or agile penguin had missed the arrows. It didn't live longer than the others though because it was reduced to ash when an inferno engulfed it. Luckily the flamethrower survived and Kami reached out to grab it. Warm, but not burning.

Kami aimed it at Quintana and strode closer to him. When it seemed the horrendous flames would lick Daniel's body Kami pressed and held the trigger . But something was wrong, Quintana seemed to be takin pleasure from the inferno erupting from the weapon. He decided to sneak his sword into the flames so unsheathed it from his waist and lunged it into the flames.

"Hurts! Doesn't it! Not all flames are welcoming." There was malice in Kami's voice. Quintana struggled to find words,
" Your death is going to be a lot more painful now."

OoC: Sorry for the wait... I kind of forgot to check if you'd edited your post. ^^;; ... And Riku can beat Roxas any day. :3

OoC:

"Ugh... Cheap trick, eh?" the mage staggered back, feeling blood trickling from his hand, which he'd placed in front of his body while Kami had been unsheathing his sword. "Wow... You're SO intelligent, aren't you?"

"What?"

"Blind too, huh?" Quintana held out his bleeding, right hand, "You stabbed my hand! The one I write with too..." Quickly trying to solve the problem, before the elf would attack once more, he tore a small strip of his tunic off, wrapping it around his hand.

The crimson liquid seeped through the makeshift band-aid. "I guess that's good enough... Though if SOME people were smarter, I wouldn't have to be doing this..."

"It seems that Kami has finally dealt some damage! The fight is heating up, pun somewhat intended!" Came the voice again. "What will be the retaliation?"

"Normally, I would go at it with all I've got... But since these demented people are making me do this... I just don't want to. Also, you're making this SO much fun..." Daniel rolled his eyes, after brushing some of his shaggy hair from his face. "My hand hurts... But I think I can deal wit the pain long enough to hurt you."

So as to avoid straining his injured hand, he swapped his staff to his left. "I'm sorry to tell you that those flamethrowers can't match the heat of my flames."

"Oh! Look at that verbal assault of words this is starting to become vicious! What will-"

"SHUT UP!" Quintana yelled at the unseen force, "Where was I? Ah, yes... Something about fire... Whatever."

Not waiting for any other interruptions, he started another accumulation of flames. They engulfed his entire staff and left arm. His power over the red heat wasn't as it normally was, as he was much more skilled with his, injured, right hand. Still, the control over the flames mattered not. In fact, it only made them expand to a size the pixie had never reached before.

His legs got to work, running at the elf. Daniel's face cringed with pain, his right hand throbbing. Wanting to rid himself of the pain, he thrust the flames at the pointy-eared man, not caring for his own safety.

Before he could see what his handy work had done, the now ominous voice came again, "That's a nice display and all, but remember, a fight isn't a fight without vicious fruit!"

"Fruit?" He asked, incredulously.

As though magic, for that was most likely what it was, dozens of multicolored objects rained down on them, baring sharp little teeth.

"Fruit!" Quintana now had wide eyes, the approaching array of recommended dosages were somehow growling at the two warriors.

OoC: You really are quite insane. I'll PM you this time when I edit my post and I think you stole my word! Anyhoo...

BiC: The ferocious blast that Daniel had dealt Kami just before the carnivourous fruit rained down on them forced him into a nearby wall. He got up slowly checking if anything was broken, luckily just bruises. Now he had to focus on the task at hand, demonic fruit. Kami unsheathed his sword swiftly and lunged towards the nearest vitamin-carrying monster. His sword cut the fruit clean in half, but instead of staying dead two fruits popped out of each side of the original. It was like some kind of funky horror movie. "Has Kami found out why these fruit are so special? Don't go away or you'll miss a pile of fruit eating an elf and some fiery dude!
"Will you please just shut up? Maybe then we won't kill you!"
"I'm afraid you'll pay for that young man, oh fruities!" Just as he expected nearly all of the fruit came jumping at him save a couple that stayed behind to peeve Quintana.

He couldn't find any way to kill the hordes of fruit that swarmed towards him, and more were falling from nowhere with each passing minute. Unless... was it possible for man-eating fruit to devour each other? It was his only plan so Kami quickly pushed them roughly into two groups with himself standing in the middle. A hard clunk on the head brought him to his knees, he swivveled around and saw Quintana leaning over him with staff in hand. "Can't we just take care of the fruit first"?
"We could if you hadn't stabbed my hand, but it would be SO much more fun to kick you." Quintana did just that, he walked back a few steps with Kami clearly tooo dazed to move and ran forward. When he got to Kami he stretched out his strongest leg and aimed for the gut. But instead of that he found hands on his leg and then he hit the ground hard.
"Now to take care of these fruits..."

OoC: Sorry for the wait. Holidays and what not. :\

BiC:

Quintana recoiled, the fruit surrounded him in his occupying of the floor. In the split second he had of surveying his sides, his face became contorted, “Oh, shi-”

Before he could finish his cursing, several dozen fruit lept onto him. He squirmed, trying to pry their minuscule pincers off of him. It seemed with each attempt, their teeth would only dig in deeper. The booming came again, with another of its usual, growingly morbid announcements, “Genetically engineered fruit is always the best. Instead of US having to it IT, IT eats US! Brilliant, no?”

“Oh, so you want to play hard? Fine then!” the pixie exclaimed, angrily. “I'm sick and tired of fruit. I don't even eat the stuff!”

A thought struck him in his moment of hatred toward the vibrant healthy goods trying to eat him. A thought that could very well save him some limbs. He looked at the fruit chewing on his arm maniacally, “You're first, Mr. Apple!”

His mouth opened wide, and his head dove forward, biting into the sweet red skin of the fruit. “Best... apple I've had... in a while...” Quintana managed to say through mouthfuls. The other fruit continued to come, despite this horrific site. the mage looked at the amount of fruit left, not pleased with how this was going, “I've never been much of a cook, but I'm sure they would taste better that way...”

He formed fire, scorching the fruit in his immediate area. It spiraled out, as usual, burning each fruit to a tender crisp. To his disappointment, none were gone, but rather tenderized. Yet, the look on each of their faces told the pixie that this was still a good thing.

Each fruit looked at the other's caramelized state, surely wondering how delectable it would be. Quintana smiled, happy with this. He yelled out to Kami, almost forgetting they were fighting, “Prepare them like a meal, and they'll begin to see this as a feast!”

OoC: Excuse the mehness. ^^

Heeding Daniel's call Kami desperately thought of a way to make the fruit scrumptious. He had always preferred normal, untouched fruit but that was not the best time to argue about how fruit was best prepared. These fruits had teeth and attitude, a deadly combination.

Having thought of nothing while the carnivorous fruit grew ever-closer Kami took to kicking them, at least it would buy him some time. But what could he do to get rid of the fruit? Quintana could marshmellowify them but Kami didn’t seem to have any special talents.

That's when it hit him. He did have a special talent. And he had been using it throughout the match. Quickly taking an arrow from the quiver that hung loosely on his back, Kami muttered a spell and his feeble arrow become considerably larger. He strung it on his strong bow and aimed towards some fruits that were roughly in a line. Sensing the impending danger, the demonic edibles tried to dodge the speeding arrow, they were too late however and each was fastened on securely.

The now-redundant fruits were still alive but losing energy fast. Kami had to devour them. That was easy, an apple, melon, pear and lemon weren't exactly dung beetles. He gobbled them up quickly and let out a large burp to signal to Quintana that they were winning. Daniel seemed to be getting on fine too, having a great time melting fruit.

"Is it getting too easy?" shouted the satanic announcer. "Will I have to add some more surprises? "

"Or you could give up!" replied Kami, "Nothing you sent at us is any good!"

"I'll counter that with one work Kami, poison."

OoC: Only mild however, just use the poison as a disadvantage.

OoC: Sorry for the wait. :3

BiC:

With a wince, Quintana turned around to see Kami boasting at the booming voice. And, to his disappointment, Daniel clearly heard the word, “[b]poison[/i].

“You idiot!” the pixie yelled, charging at the elf angrily, “Why the hell did you thinking that bragging was a good idea? Isn't obvious that WE have no say in what goes on? It's obvious that they can do anything they want to us.”

“Hey, we WERE winning!” Kami retorted.

As they bickered, the sky seemed to part and a green mist fell ever so lightly on the entire arena. Quintana caught this corner of his eye and quickly clasped his hand over the elf's mouth to shut him up. “Let's try to find shelter as the mist falls... I think it is poisonous.”

Kemi rolled his eyes, “Well, duh. Why else would a green mist fall over us unless it was poisonous?”

“Well, I'd like to remind you that you probably wouldn't have seen the mist if you'd gone on with your pointless boasting,” Quintana spat out, “let's just get under something before we get poisoned or kill each other. Whichever comes first...”

The pair of warriors practically shoved each under the shade of a tree. Yet, even if they had a false sense of security, it was shattered within the few seconds. “Oh, don't think that shall save you...”

On cue, furious wind entered the small battle ground, spinning the mist, and spreading it to all the corners. Though, even with it's job accomplished, the wind continued. Sending various different fruits flying past them.

Daniel tried his hardest not to inhale, for he knew that the poison was to be inhaled to function. But, no matter how hard he tried to hold his breath, the wind wouldn't subdue. And, when a fruit was rammed into his stomach, all the air was knocked out of him, leaving but one choice: take in contaminated air.

Though, Kami had already inhaled plenty of it and seemed fine. Quintana gave in, taking in as much of the green air as his lungs would hold. Maybe it takes a while to take full effect... which gives us time to-

Mid-thought, the pixie's body froze, a searing pain rising up in his chest. He turned to the elf, who was experiencing the same symptoms. The voice came again, “Don't worry, you won't die. Well, one of you won't. I'll give you more incentive to fight. The first to knock the other out, gets the antidote. The other... well, let's just say, they won't have to worry about feeling the pain of death in their knocked out state. Hop to it.”

OoC: Thar we go. X3

OoC: January, was it, when I last posted? Shocking.

IC:

Kami desperately clutched his heart as the poison slowly drifted through him. It wad finally come to this: a fight to the death. He had hoped a milder approach might have arisen but there was no use complaining now; only fighting would solve his problems. He unsheathed his sword with a groan and raised it up to about the middle of his torso. “Will we fight then?” he said morosely. “It is the only way to deal with this.” Daniel didn’t seem so sure, but nodded his head nonetheless.

So the battle began; with the two of them fighting achingly for their lives. Both showed signs of struggle further on through the match, obviously because of poison. Kami sliced more clumsily, but Quintana’s disadvantage meant that he dealt extensive damage. Quintana’s fire power did similar damage, leaving the two even more tired than before. Kami endeavoured to struggle on though, knowing that only death awaited the loser.

He took his bow down from its position on his back and knocked an arrow on to the string. He never stopped moving as he pulled back and prepared to fire: he couldn’t tolerate another blast of flames. The arrow flew from the string swiftly, with a much sharper tip than normal due to one of his strengthening spells. It struck Daniel on the thigh, glancing away from the pixie. Quintana began bleeding almost instantly, but Kami’s inspection showed it was less than serious injury.

There was still the poison to worry about however, and the wound was taking its toll on Quintana. His movements were even slower; his flames: pathetic. Now was Kami’s chance to kill him and gain the antidote. But the site of such a pitiful, wounded creature was heart-breaking. Could he do this to an animal? He doubted it, and endeavoured to keep the pixie alive. By this time, Quintana was writhing in pain on the ground. “Take my hand,” Kami said sympathetically. Daniel did not question motives, simply grasped the man’s welcoming palm.

“We’ll beat him together,” Kami whispered climactically. “What more can he do to us?”

”Lots more, Kami. Lot’s more…”

OoC: Meh, we both post rarely. ;D

BiC:

An unbearable pain coursed through the entirety of the pixie's body and his thigh throbbed relentlessly. Sure, now we're teaming up, but right now I'm really hating that arrow he shot at me... His forehead was coated with a pained sweat and fatigue plagued his every move. Still, he was determined to get out. “What do you propose we do, Kami?”

“Well, we've tried getting out, right? Why don't we try to get them in?” He asked, looking at Daniel with a look of brilliance mixed with insanity plastered across his face.

Rolling his eyes, his sarcastic nature couldn't help but get the better of him, “Oh, that's so brilliant.” He took a moment to clutch his convulsing arm and looked back up, eyes slightly wider than before, “Fine, what do we do to get them in here?”

“Why don't we act like friends? That would obviously anger them to no end...” the elf said, in a hushed tone, as though telling his team an intricate game plan, despite there only being two of them and their plan being very half-baked. “Unless you have something better?”

Trying to ignore the pain induced tears forming in his eyes, he nodded, “With my head in the state it's in right now, a better plan is not something I plan to think up. I don't know how long we can keep the charade up though... I can feel the pain's magnitude grow by the minute.” His muscles constricted violently and his face grimaced unconsciously.

“Trust me, I can tell...” While not appearing to be in the same state as Quintana, Kami seemed to be experiencing the same muscular issues and pain that coursed through his body. He stepped over to his opponent and wrapped an arm lazily around his shoulders, “What do you say buddy? Should we really go on a trip after we get out?” He'd made sure to accentuate the last part.

“Of course, pal, I wouldn't miss it for the world!” the pixie spoke unnecessarily loud and making wide motions despite the pain that struck him with each. “Only if you come visit me sometime.” He winked discretely, their plan in full effect.

OoC: 'Tis done! Gasp! The starry word is "sniger" (with an extra 'g') by the way. As in "to laugh maniacally."

IC:

“Only if you come visit me sometime!” the odd pixie exclaimed over-enthusiastically. Kami replied with an equally cheerful agreement.

“But you’ll have to come travelling with me, as well,” Kami forced out. “We would have so much fun!” the elf chanced a glance at the sick commentator. His eyes were flaring up with rage, and his face gave away the anger easily. Once again a sharp pang of pain bit into Kami’s muscles, but he tried to push it aside as he continued the façade. “And we’ll bake cookies!” he just about managed. “With butterscotch, raisins and all kinds of yummy things!” The word “yummy” must have set him off, for at that moment the unforgiving voice of the host rang out above the exhausted boos of the angered crowd.

”That is it!” he called almost painfully. ”Haven’t you guessed that my life is on the line here too?” He jumped down from his podium onto the harsh battlefield and resumed talking again. ”Perhaps the only form of battling you will partake in is defending yourselves!” Next, he produced a long, blunt sword from behind his back and took up a battle stance. Kami reacted to the move by retrieving his own sword and getting ready to dodge. Every movement was painful, but once the annoyance was dead he could find the antidote. Maybe then he would consider letting Daniel live.

The commentator charged suddenly at Kami, throwing him violently out of the reverie of foresight. The agile elf made a horizontal parry before attempting to roll around the foe and stab him in the back. Just then, the poison took effect in a way much more volatile than the previous symptoms. Sensing Kami’s distress, Kami offered a weak spiral of flame to the new and dangerous foe. When struck, the host reacted with a stricken cry of pain and buckled under the heat. I have to push myself, Kami thought painfully. To save my life and my honour. He managed to push himself off of the ground and half-stumbled over to the maniac assailant. “Couldn’t you just have left us alone?” The commentator let out a low s****** and jumped up athletically.

“Someone has to die," he whispered. ”It’s in the rules." The man’s face turned to one of evil victory to an expression of contorted pain and horror as a huge crack resounded from behind him. Quintana looked up at the ceiling victoriously as the host’s unconscious body sank to the ground.

“Someone has to die, eh?” Kami cried triumphantly. “Then why not you!” The vengeful elf plunged his sword into the frozen body of the commentator and gave it a twist. As a last horrific crack sounded, both competitors let out a sigh. “Don’t celebrate yet,” Kami said commandingly. “We still have to find that antidote.” As if in answer, a small green phial rolled out from beneath the haunting corpse.

“Is it safe?” Quintana asked enquiringly.

“I don’t know.” Kami replied. “But our only other option is death.” He pulled off the little cork of the phial and inhaled the sickly sweet smell deeply. He then put the little phial to his lips and drank just over half of the liquid inside. He offered the little phial to Quintana and whispered, “You deserve this as much as I do.” The fire pixie gave a word of thanks and took a sip from the bottle. He let out a harsh sigh as the bottle slipped from his finger tips. His body lurched forward slightly and is fingers went limp. “Daniel?” Kami asked, letting only a little of his worry escape. Quintana crackled his fingers once then looked up with a broad smile.

“Goodbye, Kami,” the pixie said once out of the abandoned building. “I can’t say I enjoyed our meeting though.”

“Nor I, Daniel. But it was memorable nonetheless.”

“Indeed it was. But now I think we’ll go our separate ways.” Kami responded with a polite nod then walked off along the beaten track from whence he came. All around him the setting sun cast a conclusive glow. Memorable indeed.