When the Pattern is Obscured...

[Tiroth]

OoC: This is a battle between myself, Zorolo, Ti-Link, and CourageWielder. Anyone else is free to read along, but please refrain from posting.

BiC: A shriek echoing through the ether shattered the Dark's concentration. The complex spell he had been weaving flew apart, the incredible energies bound within it's depths erupting into a spectacular display of destructive power. The effects broke through the boundaries of the Heavens and spilled into the mortal world, scouring the slopes of a mountain of all life.

Snarling, the Dark willed himself away, to the side of the Light, his friend, partner, sister. Her own powers were at full, questing and probing at the tapestry that showed the path of the Races; she was concentrating so hard on her task that she barely noticed the Dark's arrival. The ancient being took an eternal moment to gather his scattered thoughts.

The Light spared her brother a fraction of her attention. We have a crisis, beloved. The Pattern will not settle!

Will not or can not, sister? Show me where.

Everywhere, brother! Something has gone wrong, and nothing is certain!

The Dark spat out a word older than time itself, a phrase that existed when the Creators were young. His sister's light dimmed for a moment as the Great Pattern was frozen in place, it's fluctuations halted while the spell was in place.

Shuddering, the Dark's sister turned away from their work. You should not have done that, she whispered.

I am the Dark, he replied. It is my task, my right, and my power. Now - where is the disturbance?

The Light studied the frozen fate of their world - of all worlds they had seen, and some they hadn't - and jabbed her head towards a small, seemingly insignificant knot far outside their own realm. Here. That is where we must send him.

Without another word, the Dark sped from the Heavens, to contact the champion of Balance.

* * *

CAESAR!

The bellow startled Chetarren out of his slumber. The aging centaur jerked to his feet and whirled around, his spear instantly appearing in his hand. He froze in place at the sight of the god that stood before him for a moment before lowering his body in a respectful bow.

No time for that, Caesar. The fate of Creation hangs in the balance, and the solution lies outside our realm.

The centaur straightened. "Tell me where, my Lord, and I will go."

A portal appeared beside the Dark, growing up out of the floor of the great Dome. Fierce winds blew out of it and sent the leaves of the garden flying past the Moon-Gods' champion, bringing a chill that had little to do with the temperature.

It is here, Caesar, and it is in the realm of another. My sister and I can only offer the most basic help in this battle, so you must take care. Do not fail us!

Chetarren gave his god a tight grin. "Despite what humans may say, Lord, there is no first time for some things. I shall not rest until the task is done." The warrior snatched his hammer from where it lay on the ground and leapt towards the portal the Dark had opened for him, letting it transport him to another place, another realm.

It was a cold realm, but not the coldness of winter. A bleakness settled upon Chetarren's soul before he was even consciously aware he had arrived, attempting to crush the old warrior's spirit. There was power here, but it was not the benign forces of a god; neither was it the wholly evil, malevolent presence of undead or demonic beings. It was...disquieting.

His tracker's instincts coming into play, Chetarren quickly took stock of his surroundings. Tall, human-stlye buildings of stone ringed him on every side, almost entirely enclosing the space the centaur stood in. Alleys and streets almost too narrow for him to pass through led away, into what was evidently a town of some kind, while the warrior's hooves clattered on uneven cobblestones.

This was obviously a town of some kind, yet there appeared to be no inhabitants of any kind - no humans, no elves, not even the usual vermin that followed so-called civilisation.

Then, he walked into the square.

The human youth had a sword that seemed too big for his body resting on one shoulder, but his movements warned the centaur that this newcomer was neither too weak in stature to use it or unskilled in melee combat. Perhaps he would not be at Chetarren's level of expertise, but this was a veteran of many battles.

Already put on edge by the unnatural atmosphere of the deserted town, Chetarren wasted no time on words or questions - he spun towards the human and leapt, hammer raised for a crushing blow.

OoC: Okay, there's the opening. This is going to be me and CourageWielder against Ti-Link and Zorolo. Ti, you can see that i've already got your entrance, but feel free to backtrack and explain what the heck Vitros is doing here, and feel free to clear up where here is as well. Zorolo and CW, I'm afraid you'll have to make your own entrances. Try not to be too flashy.

[Zorolo]

The flipping of pages sounded through the large, empty library of the Dome. The Ice Elemental, Zachary Leos, found himself idly scanning through shelf after shelf, book after book, for some answers to something that had been plaguing him for quite some time. Since Zachary had gained his new powers and Mobius, he had felt something was missing in terms of his powers, but couldn't answer just what exactly he was missing. It bugged the daylights out of the young ice innate as he slammed another book shut.

The ice mage had spent hours in training, trying to master and control all of the power he had, yet even during these training cessions, the red haired warrior had learned he could only reach about seventy percent of his total strength before he found his powers wouldn't give him any more. The complete inability to reach his full power bothered the ice warrior, since he knew he'd never be able to fight someone like Zorlo or Cadenza on par if he couldn't use everything he had.

However, through all of the books Zachary had read, he had found two or three useful facts. The first is that Mobius, like all swords that had a soul forged into them, had a sentient power that could hold humans back from using their powers fully. The only thing about this the avenger didn't like was the fact that he wasn't just human, he was a quarter Ice Elemental, but it seemed the sword didn't care. The second thing that Zachary had found was that the full power of the weapon could give would make him monumentally more powerful. These two things combined had kept the ice innate in the library far longer then he had expected to be there.

As the red haired youth scanned through shelf upon shelf of book, he finally found something of interest. Zachary pulled the book from the shelf and opened it. After scanning through the table of contents of the book called, The Story of Mobius: The Fall of the Snow King, Zachary found an interesting chapter and quickly flipped through the pages and began reading. After searching through, he found something interesting in the opening paragraphs of the chapter.

Chapter 19: The Power of the Snow King

During the times of Mobius, the Snow King, many Elemental Lords reigned in countless lands. Of them all, the four major Elemental Lords stood higher then the others under one ruler. The Goddess of the Elements stood high over the King of Snow, the King of Rock, the King of Lightning, and the King of the Inferno. Even so, each lord had a palace in a realm separate from the material realm where they used their powers.

For each king, their power was greatest in their palace apart from the material world. For Mobius, this was most noticeable, since aside from winter, he refused to emerge from his grand palace in the realm of ice except during the deep of winter to give testament to his powers. Even so, Mobius refused to use all of his powers in the mortal world, as all of the Elemental Lords save for Rock, did.

For Mobius though, his full powers could never fully be realized alone in the material world even if he would try. When Mobius was slain and his power fed into a weapon, he was said to have the same restrictions...

With that small piece of the book, Zachary shut the book and now realized what he needed to find. He had to find a way into the Realm of Ice and reach Mobius' palace. Only then would the ice innate be able to reach his full power. Only then would the red haired youth have any chance of ever hoping to fight on par with Zorlo or Cadenza.

o=)--------Several Hours Later---------(=o

Zachary had no idea where to start his search, but figured that his best bet would be to head into the deep wilds of the tundra and search for his goal. He had read something about a settlement, he recalled from one of the books he had skimmed, where the people worshipped Mobius more then any of the other Elemental Lords, due to the endless state of winter. This place had some merit, but the ice innate wasn't sure if there would truly be any gateway to the Realm of Ice. Even so, it was worth investigating.

The Ice Elemental had opened a door from the Dome that lead to a place very closely associated to where he headed, and started to head towards the town. The cold of winter didn't effect Zachary at all as he trudged forwards, the ground no covered in too much snow, but a light flurry of the small flakes seemed to pour from the sky down onto the landscape. Even so, the ice mage felt a bit more at home.

It didn't seem to be all that long of heading through the massive tundra until the ice warrior came upon the abandoned settlement. The large buildings were carved of stone, but for the most part, the city was barren. The red haired boy entered further, but saw and heard nothing at the moment. Finally, the ice innate ceased movement. A figure obscured by snow was approaching. Maybe this person knew something, and if not, well, this place did give the Ice Elemental an edge in combat so he could at least test out his powers.

[Ti-Link]

Any clue. Any hint as to where they could be would be the greatest thing that could happen to him. He had no vital information that he could use to get any closer to his goal.

The sound of his shoes skimming the white, frozen ground of rock and dirt made an almost churning noise that didn't effect the warrior's train of thought in the least as his head continued to face the ground. Slowly lifting his head to face forward down across the flat lands of snow-covered tundra, he opened his eyes to reveal he deeply embedded 'X' the slept inside his left eye. His sight scanned the area ahead slowly, but very accurately as it showed that there was a tall span of supposedly stone buildings about a two mile distance away from him.

Vitros' head once again fell to stare at the snow-covered ground with his eyes closed in thought once more. This would be the 105th area he has checked in. The only information he had to finding his family is to find some place that his father would go in a situation like what seperated them in the first place. It almost seemed useless even attempting to wander without any indication of where your target is. One rule the warrior encoded in his mind was to examine and plan before making an action of any kind. What he has been doing for the past 3 years is the exact opposer of that rule. It wasn't like he had much a choice as it is.

A long sigh escaped the ice mage's lips as the snowflakes that glided near his breath froze over to more weight and fell to the ground faster then the thousands of others that smothered the air around him. The depression in his mind started to become strong as his blade at his side started to shake. Without warning, his blade turned to it's Arch-blade form and teleported to his back.

What the hell...? His head lifted once again and his eyes opened as he heard the voice of his blade echo his head. ...You're right...I need to stop doubting. I will find them. Vitros slowly watched the front of his view as the buildings started to become to more clear to his view, but the closer he came, the more uncomfortable he became to the area.

To the warrior, nothing else mattered. He would not rest until he found what he forever searched for.

*** 30 minutes later ***

Wind howled and bounced off the stone walls of the buildings that now surrounded Vitros. Flakes continued their assault on the cold stone ground as he made his way through the seemingly completely deserted town of buildings, having not seen a single person since he arrived. "So, this is Msuti?" The warrior looked high to the buildings as he took in how unbelieveably abandoned everything was. "...expected a little more then this."

It was rumored by what little info he had on the place that Msuti was unpopulated due to the lack of sun, as well as a small war. The warrior didn't know whether to believe such facts, as when he finds he does, it only leads him to trouble.

But it's still worth a search.

His feet echoed through a very tight squeeze between two buildings as he made his way through the town, now not exactly focused on anything but at least finding another living person in this rather large section of structures.

Suddenly, the warrior's eye beat a glimpse of the future seconds approaching as a figure leaped with rather quick speed. As quickly as he could manage with what little time he had, his hand wrapped around the handle of his blade as he brought it off his back and over his head, causing an explosion of sparks and the sound of metal-to-metal to feel the air as he used the force of the attacker's blow to roll out and away from the figure before sliding around on the snow to face his welcoming host.

The figure slowly made it's way forward through the thick air, but it was a shape that Vitros had not expected. It was in fact not a human as he had guessed, but a Centaur.

He warrior eyed the advancing half-horse human with a somewhat facination, as he had never seen one in person except for when he saw detailed pictures in the many books he read. That did not, however, make Vitros forget that he was still being attacked. Spreading his legs and placing his Arch-blade over his shoulder, he prepared for anything that might happen. "Who's there? Why must you attack? I mean no harm!"



OoC: Usually his blade is not in that huge form unless he's stressed, so I had to come up with a reason it would be in that form at the beginning of the fight. XD Oh well, no harm done. ^_^

[CourageWielder]

OoC: I guess it's my turn. Laugh once I'm done. I'm bad at RPing.

BiC:

Looking up at the snow flecked sky, the girl began to walk again. After leaving Hyrule Castle Town, she had planned on exploring some of the snowy terrain just north of the country. Reaching the border between the two countries, the teen decided to trek to the abandoned town before sunset.

Man, it's colder than I thought, Anna shivered. Good thing it's only a couple of more miles till the town. The sorceress crossed her arms and stopped. The snow had started falling more heavily now, and covered her ankles. She looked down and began to walk again.

***1 hour later***

"This is it?" the sorceress stopped to look at the building in the distance. "Wow, Msuti sure looks different from last time I trekked up here." Using the heat generated by her excessive shivering, the sorceress kept going.

Moments later, just around 200 yards from the nearest building, Anna froze. A figure was standing in the distance, surveying the buildings. Walking closer, she saw it was a human-like person, just looking around. Hmmm, maybe I can get a good spar up here, she thought, and began walking towards the human.

OoC: SO? How is it???

[Zorolo]

OoC: *Steps in* Posting order blah, blah, blah, right? Hell no! everyone should post when they can, just keeping it one post per round? Anyone else agree? O_o? It'd work better, methinks. (So I post, but I don't post again until you three post, is what I'm saying. Just keeps the posting fluid, I think.)

BiC: As the Ice Elemental watched the figure approach, he noted that it was a young woman who had wandered into this barren wasteland. An unfortunate thing indeed, but the red haired warrior didn't make any move for his sword as he looked at her. Zachary tilted his head upwards and smiled. If she was looking for a fight here, she'd get one, mostly since he wasn't the kind of person to back down. However, for now, the ice innate just stood there.

The figure took a form and color, instead of the black silhouette that she had been moments before. Her brown hair with spots of blonde and her long elf ears told the ice mage this woman wasn't human, which meant she could be some kind of magic inclined race. That'd be an interesting thing to fight, actually, he noted, recalling the fact he wasn't too physically inclined, but when it came to magic, he had found few stronger.

Zachary next took into account the fact the woman wore armor, a very sturdy chest plate and some vambraces on her forearms and light grieves over her shins. All in all, she had armor pretty well down, including what seemed to be a shield, but the red haired warrior couldn't yet tell. Aside from that, he knew she had a sword at her side, meaning she had to be some kind of a skilled warrior, if not a mage.

Zachary adjusted his stance, resting his left hand on the handle of his sword and looking at the woman, silent in his thoughts. Mage or warrior, she looks pretty strong. Not like Zorlo strong, but more like a human strong. She seems just like me. Aside from my high level of magical capacity, I'm not much better then a human aside from being slightly faster and stronger then the human body's normal limits. Maybe a test run of some of my powers would be helpful.

The ice innate stepped forwards and released ice magic from the tips of his fingers and ran it over his hand, creating a pair of gauntlets over his hands. As the magic hardened into ice, the gauntlets dark blue glow faded, and Zachary rushed forwards, leaping into the air and slamming his fist into the ground where the woman had once stood. Zachary stood up and dusted himself off, smiling.

"Well, miss. What say you to a bit of a spar? I need some practice with my powers, and you seem like an equal footing type of person. So, how about a bit of training?" the Ice Elemental asked as he hopped from foot to foot, feeling his blood pumping. Something about battle was always exciting.

OoC: Oh, and CW, your post was good. ^_^

[Tiroth]

The impact between the two weapons jarred Chetarren's arm, but he ignored the sudden lance of pain and swivelled to face his foe as soon as his hooves were on firm ground again. The old warrior didn't know how the human had anticipated the attack, but it only served to confirm in his mind that the human was involved in the incident here.

Approaching him more slowly this time, Chetarren stayed alert and let himself take in more of their surroundings, searching for something he could use to his advantage in this battle. Much to his disgust, the centaur stallion noticed a few flakes of snow begin to drift into the square, bringing physical cold to match the chill he had noticed upon his arrival in the seemingly deserted town.

It was only a few moments before the human broke into Chetarren's thoughts. "Who's there? Why must you attack? I mean no harm!"

"I do not have time to answer questions," the centaur snapped. "Tell me why you are here! Tell me what you have done!"

Confusion flitted across his enemy's face, and Chetarren used the momentary hesitation as his cue to attack. The centaur hurled his spear towards the human and dashed in with his hammer, aiming the strike for the human's sword-arm.

OoC: Yeah, it's short, but I'm trying to avoid major power-play here. Who wants to be next?

[CourageWielder]

OoC: I told Ti-Link that I'd post today whether he posted or not because, well, I need to before my good thought for the post dies! Here I go!

BiC:

The sorceress had just stopped to look at her surroundings. "Man, this place has seen better days," she mumbled to herself. One more step led her into the towns outskirts, when a small explosion of snow erupted behind her.

"Well, miss. What say you to a bit of a spar? I need some practice with my powers, and you seem like an equal footing type of person. So, how about a bit of training?"

So, this person wants to battle me? This will be good, Anna thought to herself. Nodding at the newcomer, she spoke aloud.

"I'm Anna. Didn't I just see you over there," she motioned, seeing him hop from foot to foot, eager to battle. "If you don't mind me asking, who are you?"

OoC: Sorry for the shortness, I'm just about to switch computers with my sister.

[Ti-Link]

The warriors eyes shifted their eyebrows in confusion. The question the Centaur asked struck the ice mage with surprise.

What I have done?

Suddenly, his eye flashed with a sight of the future; a spear stabbing through his chest, as well as the Centaur making a dash to his left.

With lightning-fast reflexes, the warrior ducked below the flying spear before bringing his Arch-blade above his head to smack the spear into the air as it enters the area above his hair.

Seeing the Centaur coming at him with his hammer held back, he could tell the weapon could easily break his arm in one powerful blow. Vitros could not let that happen, he had more important things to attend to.

Shooting off the ground at a low angle from the duck before, the warrior launched himself at the Centaurs legs, seeing as he was higher off the ground, and it would make a harder target to hit. Kicking at the half-horse's legs, it easily jumps a foot over the sweep-kick as it brings the hammer back around and smashes the ground where the warrior was just a moment ago before rolling in a different direction.

Getting to his feet as the Centaur made his way back around, the warrior spoke. "I have not done anything wrong here. If you'll excuse me, I have more important things to attend to then you."

Turning away from the centaur before he got close, he bent his knees toward a low, four-story building. "Vitros...is the name of the warrior who you missed twice."

With that, the warrior smiled, and launched himself onto an edge of rock on the building and stealthfully climbed the scale to the top before examining more of the area, keeping an eye out for the half-horse; Arch-blade at the ready.

[Zorolo]

"Zachary Leos, the Avenger," the ice innate stated as he crossed his arms over his chest. "And I'm here looking for a gate to something, but that can wait. I figure that while I'm out here, I could always use a good chance to test out my skills and powers, ya know?" he asked her with a smile as he drew his sword from his sheathe. The Ice Elemental spun his sword above his head and stabbed the blade into the ground, releasing magic energy into the ground around the blade.

Ice formed around where Mobius had been stabbed over the stone ground as snow began to move around in a circle around the ice innate and his magical sword. The ice mage stretched out his fingers and then curled them into fists, looking at his ice gauntlets again. The ice slowly formed over the middle of his forearm, providing excellent defense from most weapons, but the red haired warrior hoped that the weapons could withstand a strong series of hits. If the armor couldn't take more then a few hits, it'd shatter and he'd miss a few fingers or a hand. Either way, that was bad.

The ice warrior balled up his fist and brought his right arm back as he rushed forwards, throwing the second punch of the fight. This punch was a bit faster than his last one, and less of a test than a statement. He needed to see just how tough this girl really was.

[CourageWielder]

"Well, hello, Zachary Leos," the sorceress taunted. Seeing the fist coming at her midsection, Anna quickly put a hand up. "Now, didn't anyone ever teach you not to hit a girl," she laughed. Quickly twisting the ice innate's hand around with enough force to break a normal human's hand in two, she dropped it.

"You know, I was thinking the exact same thing when I saw you. I've been wanting a fight for a while. You ready," she chirped.

Drawing her sword and shield off of her back, the fire mage readied herself. "You know, I haven't battled many ice mages in a while. You'll put up a good challenge."

Running at the ice innate, Anna jumped over his head and threw her sword to his neck.

[Tiroth]

Growling, Chetarren let his foe climb the building for a moment before moving into the human's blind spot. This Vitros had stung the centaur's pride with his parting comment, making him even more determined to bring the human down and recitfy whatever he had doen to upset the Balance. Or, if he himself had not been the culprit, then to wring the information out of him so that he could fulfill the Moon-God's wishes.

Leaning close against the wall beneath where Vtiros had begun to climb, the aging tracker slowed his breath and ignored the beat of his heart. Soon, all he could hear was the silent whisper of the softly falling snow...and the scrape of boot and hand on stone as his enemy climbed higher and moved across the roof. Chetarren grinned for a moment as he worked out where the human would be when he stopped moving, then leapt out of hiding and hurled his spear up at the building. The weapon sailed straight past Vitros and lodged in the roof several paces behind him...exactly as the centaur had planned.

Summoning the magic, Chetarren channeled a little thorugh his spear and blasted the roof of the building. The force of the explosion sent small pieces of masonry flying away from the building...and sent Vitros sliding towards the edge and the centaur that waited below.

[Ti-Link]

OoC: Sorry for the long delay. ^_^;

BiC:

The warrior's feet flew in their running pattern as he made his way across the stone surfaced roof. As he ran, many topics started to fill his mind. Why would this strange Centaur attack with such clueless views? Whatever his foe concluded, he had no evidence that the ice mage had done anything wrong since he arrived.

Besides...what did he mean by his words? I thought this place was given up on by it's people, but it would seem that the Centaur thinks something has happened other then the such.

Before his thoughts could be throughly finished, the warrior heard the crush, and the ring of heavy metal behind his back. As his left eye flashed with light, he could see clearly without looking that it was the Centaur's lance that had striked the wall to his left, now a few meters behind him. With little warning from his future sight, the concentrated explosion of magic energy erupted the area around the lance and pushed rock and warrior across the stone floor and off the side of the structure's top; where the foe Centaur had thought Vitros would be aiming toward after the explosion.

The ice mage was impressed. From his eyes main sight, he could see that other then his weapons, the Centaur did not have any other means or abilities to be able to tell where he was going to be, yet he was there to meet him.

...this might be fun after all, but I still don't have time for it. The warrior quickly withdraw his staff and clashed the twin pieces together as they increased their reach. Sliding down the wall of the building as the distance between the warrior and the Centaur started to close; he quickly stuck the staff into the ground in front of him and used the momentum of his speed to soar over the half-horse as the beast's hammer swung the ground just inches from the warrior's side as he used his hand to flip away from the hammer's head.

Rolling across the ground and regaining his stance, the warrior took out X Blade from his side, and held his staff out to guard his front.

"You seem determined. What gives you this drive to take me down when I have done nothing wrong?"

The warrior then pointed at the Centaur with his staff hand. "Oh...and make that three times," he said with a cheerful smile.

[Zorolo]

Zachary massaged his hand mindlessly as the woman readied herself for combat. His hand didn't really hurt after a few seconds, but he knew that this Anna person had a bit of physical strength. Well, more than a normal human. Well, the Ice Elemental was far from a normal human. In fact, normal humans didn't have a chance if they ever had the misfortune of fighting the ice mage. Still, that didn't mean anything here, since this girl was strong enough to defend herself.

Oh, she was on the move. Zachary smirked as his hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword as her blade moved towards his neck. His hand raised his weapon and blocked her blade with the flat of his sword and he smiled. "You're quicker than a normal human, aren't ya?" he asked pushing her blade away by pushing the blade of his sword up with his other hand and spinning around, tossing an ice spear at her. The woman quickly deflected the spear with her shield and leapt back, looking at the scrape along her shield and casting her glance at the ice mage.

The red haired youth raised his sword and held it in front of himself and slid one leg back. "So, you think you can keep up with me? We'll see," Zachary stated as he rushed forwards, his sword dragging along in the ground behind him, as he swung his sword quickly, bringing it down towards the girl's head.

[CourageWielder]

Watching the innate massage his hand, the warrior chuckled to herself. "Normally, that would have destroyed a normal person's hand, but you seem to have just a numb spot." Keeping a close eye on Zachary, Anna blinked.

A sword was at her balde, pushing it upward. "You're quicker than a normal human, aren't ya?" he taunted. A few seconds later, a small ice spear was being blocked by the shield, leaving a scratch.

Glancing down at first to the mark, then at the ice mage, Anna frowned. He was strong, no doubt about it.

The next second, Anna was on her guard again, while Zachary's sword was just millimeters from her scalp. The fire mage quickly performed a tuck-roll, and slid under the innate's legs. Getting up to dust the powder off, she laughed, "You really think I'm that slow?"

Drawing her arrow back on the unsheathed bow, the sorceress let it fly. "Block these, if you want a hole in your arm," she smirked.

OoC: Sorry for the shortness, I wasn't really thinking.

[Tiroth]

OoC: This is an attempt to get things moving again. I apologise for how long it took me.

BiC: "Oh...and make that three times."

Snarling, Chetarren held out his free hand and summoned his spear from where it still lay on the roof. The centaur's muscles clenched as the smooth wood slapped into his palm, it's steel blade pointing at the taunting human. He had been sent here by the Gods of Balance, ancient beings charged with maintaining the status quo between light and dark and the myriad other forces that vied for control of Creation. He had been entrusted with a mission vital to that task, that would mean the end of everything if he failed - and this accursed human, the only being here besides Chetarren himself - he dared to deny his involvement