[Zorolo] Azura's Training Thread

(OoC: You did say it was ok for me to do this.)

After a week of thinking, Azura approached her father and spoke in a worried, yet serious tone. “Dad, I want… to leave Iron Leaf.” Her father, who was kneeling over a furnace, calmly removed the red piece of metal and put it into the water beside it. Turning around he just looked at the teen and actually smiled, which startled her.

“This has something to due with the sparring match you had with that kid, isn’t it?” His voice came out calmly.

The blue-clad female nodded, “Kind of, it made me realize I won’t get better unless I get away from here…” her face shifted towards worry as she looked at her father, “What I mean is…”

Her father chuckled, “I know what you mean, you don’t want to upset me by leaving me here.” He sighed for a moment, “There’s something you should know, and I was saving this for when something like this happened. You see, your mother had an odd attack like the one you used on my attacker. I don‘t know what it is however, but maybe someone else does.” Azura gawked at what he had said about her mother but listened as he continued, “Even though you want to leave, I think you should wait for a while until you do. Maybe you can figure out where to go, eh, Fairy?”

She nodded, “You’re right. I might find out where to go from here.”

------ Three days later

Azura had wandered through the town for a while, and caught pieces of visitors conversations, a few of them mentioned something called the Dome. According to them, it was hard to find, it appeared at random, and others thought of it as a rumor or a myth. When asked by curious warriors, the person that talked about it usually did not know much else about it. The Dome? Hm… maybe I should see if I could find it…?

As the blue-clad female walked back home, she seemed to zone out in thought, I couldn’t find out what the Dome was… I guess I could look for it. What if it doesn’t… she sighed for a minute, No, I’ll go and see if I can find it. I hate doubting myself… Azura came into her father’s workshop, her father was working on another blade. The teen headed down the hallway and into her room, placing a leather knapsack on her bed, then rummaged around her room, placing some stuff into it. After a while, it was half filled, Azura set it onto her wooden desk then walked back to the workshop.

She leaned against the left wall, as her father looked up from his handiwork. “Well, did you find some place to head of to, Fairy?”

Azura nodded, “I heard about someplace called the Dome, no one knew a lot about it though,” she hung her head for a moment.

Her father spoke up again, “Don’t look so down, Azura. I’m sure you’ll find it. Heading out tomorrow, I guess? I heard you walk by.”

“I’m surprised you heard me, Dad. I guess so,” she reached into her right pocket and pulled out her sheathed knife, “ Do you want this back?”

He laughed, “No, Fairy. That’s yours to keep, I made it for you anyway.”

The teen smiled and put her knife back into her right pocket, she looked up at her father, “Are you going to be alright…?”

He cut her off by answering, “I’ll be fine. I’m not upset that you’ll be leaving. I’m actually proud of you leaving.” He smiled at his daughter, his eyes vanished during it.

The blue-clad female nodded, and walked back into the hallway, entering her room. She sat on the edge of her bed and looked around at her room. The floor was made out of oak, just like the walls, it was a six feet long by five feet wide floor and ceiling, while the walls were seven feet long by five feet wide. The distance between floor and ceiling was eight and a half feet.

Her bed sat in a right corner, diagonally to the door. There was a wooden desk about four feet against the opposite wall of her bed, while a small closet took up the whole wall next to the door, that the end of her bed faced. Minus some shelves on the other walls, nothing else was in her room. Azura looked at her knapsack on the desk, then laid on top of her bed, falling asleep.

--------

The teen woke up early that morning, the sun just was starting to lift into the sky. Grabbing her bag, she still wore what she had on yesterday, and walked out to the workshop. Her father was up already and was working on another sword, but he stopped and looked up at her. “Leaving now, Fairy?”

Azura nodded, “I am… It feels weird though.”

Her father chuckled, “Leaving home always does.”

The blue-clad female lowered her head for a moment, then looked at her father, “I’ll make sure to come back, ok?”

He nodded in reply, “That’s fine with me, Fairy.”

With those words, Azura left the workshop and headed into the forest. The Elders could tell that she was leaving and said their farewells to her as she bounded through the woods by tree branch to tree branch. She came to the river in a short time, and landed on the ground. The teen looked to her left and saw and heard the waterfall roaring nearby. The falling water was slowly being over taken by a large tree growing in the cliff’s side, the Waterfall Elder. It never spoke to her, even if the wind moved through it. She nodded and then continued on her trek, to try and find something called ‘the Dome’.

------------

After bounding from tree to tree, she stopped and looked around her. Far off to her left, Azura saw a large black patch in the forest, a wildfire had swept through the area. She smiled though, as she could see dots of green in some areas. The forest is coming back, even though it was destroyed at first. The teen also spotted dark gray clouds rolling in, but they were far from her. She realized that she had come a long way, since she did not recognize this area of the forest. To her right of her perch, she saw a meadow, but that‘s not what caused her to gawk at it.

It wasn’t like the meadows she had seen before, a building stood there. It looked like a massive silver sphere was imbedded into the ground, but there was no dirt around the edges, just a dome-like shape. “Hold on, a… dome?” The Elders around her were strangely silent, as if they could not speak to the blue-clad female any more. That’s odd…

She leapt down, and walked into the meadow. The grass didn’t make any noise as she moved through the green ocean. Standing closer to the building, she saw carvings etched into the wall, some depicted a sort of war with people on horseback and lances. Another carving consisted of dragons and some winged people fighting among the clouds.

“Wow…” Azura gasped at the sight, “Is this… the Dome?” The teen was easily dwarfed by the building in front of her. The was a slightly smaller door staring at her, which looked like a drawbridge from a castle, but it had a golden-bronze ring handle at arm’s reach.

OoC: Good as always. Just a few mistakes, like all people, but I don't see any big problems. Let's continue on:

Assignment Time:

Time to head into the Dome and explore a bit. Have Azura go on a little adventure in one specific room. Be detailed with that room and have her experience something interesting: like something that's different for her. Anyway, be creative. Also, I want you to use three other ways to describe Azura aside from the "Blue-clad female" since you tend to favor that one. Explore other things about her. ^_^ 600 word minimum.

(OoC: She had a run in with one of her nightmares at the end. I hope it's ok.)

Azura took hold of the ring handle and tugged on it. The door responded with a low groan, as it slowly opened, showing a small room beyond its threshold. She stepped through continued into the rectangular room. After the teen had walked five steps, the door behind her shut with an audible creak. She turned to look back and the door she had passed through had vanished. What the…?

The female warrior turned her focus back to the room again. The floor was made out of a black stone tile, like a black marble. It spanned the entire room, stopping at the walls and continued down a hallway, which was partially obscured from her view right now. The reason why was because of the amount of light in the room, which was minimal, the only source was two tabletop candles. The walls appeared dark gray, and had the look of solid stone, minus deep carvings of an animal on the three walls in front of her, lion carving was above the hall’s entrance. The other two seemed to be that of a block version of a bear, and a bat showing its fangs. Underneath the carvings was the outlines of two medium length tables, the blue haired girl couldn’t identify them any further. The ceiling was just as black as the floor, she couldn’t see any detail in it due to the low lighting.

She shuddered, as the room gave off a feeling of coldness and unease, as she slowly made her way into the hall. The corridor appeared to be modeled after an alley way in a city, with gray brick walls and what appeared to be windows past the ceiling level. The ground was a worn concrete, slopping in the center. The hallway had six old wooden doors in it, but one caught her eye. The door had a carving of a bat, just like the one the aura adept saw earlier. The other doors had signs on then, one said ‘Infirmary’ and another that was labeled ‘Fountain Room’.

The door with the bat carving strangely creaked open on its own, as the teen walked closer to it. It didn’t show what was beyond the now fully open door, it was just black. I don’t think I should go in there… Her curiosity thought different and made her enter the room anyway.

A bright flash of light and a heat wave greeted her as she walked past the doorway. When she regained her sight, a seemingly endless desert stood in front of her, two cliff walls were on either side of her, spanning six feet apart from each other. In the center of the desert stood white buildings. The buildings were three stories high, minus the fact that most had holes in the walls, it looked like a small war had gone on there. One structure was just in ruins, pieces of what looked like stone scattered the standing walls and the area around it. The desert sand was a normal brown, which turned to a sort of clay-like color in the shadow of one of the cliffs that Azura was standing near.

She slowly made her way towards the buildings, the heat pounded down on her. The teen was walking downhill, but more often was sliding down. Now the teen could see that the buildings were closer than she expected, a piece of one of them was sitting right next to her, but it was still a bit of a ways to walk. The sand slowed down the female warrior’s pace somewhat, since her feet sunk into it with each step. As she reached the structures the blue haired girl noticed something out of the corner of her eyes, but when she looked, nothing was there. It looked like a town, but there was no one around. A shriek sound seemed to echo out of nowhere, causing her head to twist around for a moment. Where is that coming from…? The sounds of flapping came next, and the aura adept looked up to see a black figure of a large bird fly away. She followed it with her eyes as it flew into another building, and perched on a window ledge. The creature’s eyes looked back at her, a blood red color, before its entire form shifted.

The creature looked like a writhing mass of black ooze, before it settled down. It leapt to the floor and landed on two legs, and took the shape of a human. The teen stepped back, a look of terror on her face. Not that… No! The creature had turned into something she had seen in one of her nightmares, a person that had killed someone. There were no features, but the only thing that she recognized was the silver weapon it was holding, a single sai. It suddenly charged at Azura, who tried to move away, but she couldn’t. She snapped her eyes shut, but didn’t feel anything. When she opened her eyes, there was nothing there. The female warrior forced herself to move again, but stopped and slumped onto a wall, shuddering. I still don’t know why I have that nightmare… I don’t even know who was killed…

A brief image of the nightmare appeared in her head for a moment as she closed her eyes, the three pronged weapon blurs then vanishes into a shadow person. She opened them and vision was gone. The heat throws itself back onto her, as she began to walk back through the abandoned town again.

All in all I like this post. The only problem I have is that the last paragraph is in present tense. I'm just wondering why there is that sudden tense change. Aside from that, good post.

Assignment Time:

While Azura looks around the abandoned town, she'll be followed by some bandits looking for a quick bit of money. Have them engage her and have a short battle. Have fun with this. No word limit. ^_^

Azura stopped in what appeared to be a ruin of a town square, tile scattered the area, but the ground was mostly sand. Some sand crunched nearby, and she knew it wasn’t from her own footsteps, since she wasn‘t moving anymore. A clink of metal on metal followed, but it was coming from an entirely different direction, behind her. Are there other people out here…? Another clink sounded off to her left, and a gruff laugh echoed on her right. I guess so then.

As the female warrior started to walk again, she stopped, as a person was looking at her. The person was mostly covered in white cloth, only the eyes could be seen, they appeared black against the dark brown skin around them. His voice came out gruff, “Those charms look nice on yah. They wuld be better in mah pocket, eh miss?”

“No they wouldn’t.” Laughter echoed around her, and she turned to see three more people around her as well. Great… surrounded. Metallic scrapping sounded as they pulled out weapons similar to a scimitar.

“Really? Tha’s a shame…” the left man stated as the man behind her charged, not caring about making sounds. The aura adept responded with pulling out her knife, only to cause an uproar of laughter, and sidestepped his downward slash. She noticed that this man was missing an eye, which an old scar was placed around it. That’s when two others stepped towards her as well. The man on her left grinned, or at least his eyes vanished because of his grin, she saw a bird‘s feather tied onto his left shoulder.

One Eye, due to his missing eye, lead the attack, followed by the other two closing in on her. I can’t dodge with them moving in on me… One Eye’s scimitar was halted by her knife, but she struggled to keep the blade at bay. According to her hearing, the other two quickened their pace, nearly running at her. I have to do something!

At that moment, words came into her head. The teen didn’t bother to think about why, but spoke them anyway. Her voice came out solid, in a serious tone, “Elder Wall!” The second that the words drifted away, she saw a blue ring surround her, and then a blue tree entered her vision. The three attackers flew skyward by some force, landing on the ground with a thud. One Eye landed on a broken tile, his left arm bent in a strange position. The other two struggled to get up again, both gasping for breath. Well, I’m not surrounded anymore…

Feather, with a bird’s plumage on his shoulder, gawked at her. He then shook himself and charged, his face twisted in rage, his scimitar raised up high. “The charms don’t matta any more! I’ll take yah life!”

Azura’s eyes shifted into a glare, and blocked his slash with her left gauntlet. The blade dug in, then slid back, as Feather ‘grinned’ and slashed at her again. She ducked, then sidestepped a downward stab, actually countering with her own slash to his stomach. Her knife easily cut into the fabric, there was a faint red line on the left edge of her blade. The female warrior had cut him, but not by much.

The other bandits got up, but One Eye stayed on the ground, holding his left arm. Feather came in to slash at her again, this time the aura adept lashed out with a left punch to his left side. He doubled over, which she took advantage of, by kicking him with the side of her right leg. Feather fell to the floor, but stood back up shortly and charged again.

The two other bandits decided to join the fight and charged as well. The blue haired girl blocked Feather’s slash with her gauntlet again, another gash forming in the leather. She spun on her right leg, and swiped at him with her left, sending him in the direction of the other two bandits. One caught Feather, while the other continued forwards.

“Leaf Dagger!” she said as she swiped the air in the charging bandit’s direction. This time she saw four leaves, before they vanished. The bandit stopped as he checked his arms, there were five cuts that went through the fabric, which began to turn red. There was a roaring of wind nearby, as she looked and saw a brown cloud advancing towards the ruined town. The bandits mumbled something and looked at the approaching sandstorm, then at Azura.

“Keep yah charms! The storm comin’ can deal with yah!” Feather shouted as One Eye and the others retreated somewhere in the ruined town. The female warrior sheathed her knife and put it back into her right pocket before glancing at the oncoming sand cloud, and ducked into an abandoned building. She looked to her right as she sat against a wall, and saw the two cliffs where she had entered this desert, and prepared to wait out the sandstorm.

The sandstorm drew nearer and the blue haired girl looked fearful, crossing her arms over herself as if to shield herself. The next thing Azura knew, someone stood before her. In a moment, she had been whisked off to somewhere else. The man holding her held onto her tightly, running quickly. "Come on, we don't have much time. It's dangerous here," a man's voice reached out to her as the wind rushed past the two quickly.

Before Azura could tell what was going on next, everything became very bright.

Assignment Time:

Azura will open here eyes to find herself in a plush, cushy chair in the library. She'll have a man sitting across from her, writing something. Have Azura have a discussion with Zorlo about where she is and what's going on. he won't discuss her Auraness yet, nor anything about what happened.

The roar of the wind gave way to silence, except for a small scratching sound. The brownish red leather chair she sat in made her look small, due to its size. Azura opened her eyes to see bookshelves all over, then her sight focused on a person sitting across from her.

The pale skinned man wore green all over; his shirt, darker shade for his jacket and light hue on his pants, even his hair was a shade of green. He seemed to be writing something, but she ignored that and looked around again. The books seemed to never end, stretching into the horizon of the library. The female warrior felt for the charms on the right side of her head, out of a sudden worry. They clinked together and the man’s head looked up at her, the aura adept noticed that his eyes were green, except they had an emerald hue to them. She lowered her head down, “I’m sorry if I interrupted you…”

He laughed, “It’s no big deal. I’m Zorlo, Aura Master and Fencer of Tasogare.”

The blue haired girl nodded, “I’m Azura. Um… where am I?”

Zorlo smiled, “You are in the Dome, which spans dimensions and time. To be more exact, though, you are in the library right now.”

“It looks a lot smaller than the outside…” she said, thinking back to when she first saw the Dome.

“It’s not, there’s many hallways here, and a countless number of doors. Most of them move around though,” the fencer continued, “Some doors don’t move, like the Infirmary, the Gardens, and the Library.”

The teen looked back at the bookshelves for a moment, then looked back at the Aura Master, “Are there any other people here?”

He nodded, “Yes, there are. There are the Domerii, people of sorts that work for the Dome. There are teachers, like myself, in the Dome. Most people here are students though, like yourself, Azura.”

“Would it be safe to guess that you’re my teacher…?” She looked at Zorlo with some uncertainty.

“I am, Azura,” he said with a smile.

OoC: Good post. Keep this up. ^_^

Assignment Time:

Time for Zorlo to finally get some exorcise... NOT! Anyway, the library will shake suddenly. Unbothered by such and occurrence, Zorlo will ask Azura to head into the old part of the Dome to find out what is going on. From there, I leave it to you. Good luck. ^_^

The bookcases nearby rattled to the near verge of tipping over, but stayed upright. The blue haired girl noticed that Zorlo didn’t even react to the shaking, besides speaking, “Something’s going on in the old part of the library. Azura, can you take care of this? I’m a little busy at the moment.” He then continued to write something down.

She was startled by the sudden shuddering in the library, “Uh… Of course,” with that she got up from the chair she was in and began to walk away from Zorlo. The female warrior walked in between one of the rows of bookcases as another rattle shook them. She quickened her pace until they stopped shaking, What is causing this anyway? Eh… I‘ll find out, I hope.

The teen changed the row she walked along, and saw a door among the wall of books. The door had a ring of gray stones around it. As she got closer the bookcases threatened to topple onto her, she ran to the door before hearing the crash as two bookcases fell on top of each other. The door even shook open as another rumble made her fall to the floor with an inaudible thud. She could barely stand, so the aura adept waited until the shaking stopped, then went to the open door. There were stairs leading down, and a faint light at the end of them.

A large quake hit again, sending Azura toppling down the stairs, also locking the door behind her. She tried to find something to stop her fall, but saw nothing before she landed at the bottom in a heap. The blue-clad female only had a slight pain in her arms and legs, and thankfully she didn’t hit her head on the way down. After standing up, she noticed that the light was coming from candles, which lead down a hallway. Another tremor hit, but she managed to stay upright. What is causing this?!

Assignment Time:

Time to end this investigation. ^_^ Have Azura find whatever is causing the problem and stop it. I'd prefer this post relatively long, but not overly so, with a lot of description as to how Azura is trying to overcome this plight. Have fun. ^_^

Azura walked down the hallway, every now and then she clung to the wall, as the tremors were getting worse. The corridor opened into a large room, which had bookcases forming an open circle in the middle of the room. The entire thing was a gray stone and looked ancient, the wooden bookcases were gray with years of dust it looked like. She noticed a black stone, possibly marble, desk on her right of the entrance. A dark gray, stone box could be seen on the top of it with four leather straps hanging out of it and a thick stone lid leaning against one side. Another large quake hit, and she fell to the ground. Ok, whatever’s causing this has to be here then. There’s no other hallways… that I can see, she thought as the blue haired girl stood up.

She walked by one of the bookshelves and heard something rustle off to her left, when she looked though, nothing was there. The female warrior’s shoes lightly thudded on the floor, and her charms actually sounded like they chimed for once. She came into the open circle, but was forced to the ground, dust flying into the air. “What-!”

The aura adept coughed due to the dust, and looked up. There were books floating in midair, forming into a six foot tall gorilla in appearance. Two massive books formed its fists, which it slammed into ground, and caused two bookcases to fall with a crash. The quake it formed caused her to roll onto her back, stopping in front of a bookcase.

Another attack on the ground nearly caused it to fall on top of Azura. “Elder Wall!” The bookcase seemed to float in midair as the teen got up and managed to walk out from under it. She looked at the book creature as it charged her. She swiped the air, as she ran to the right of the creature, “Leaf Dagger.” Five blue leaves appeared in front of her, before vanishing and cutting into the books. The creature didn’t stop however, and smashed into the ground again, before lumbering towards her.

The female warrior jumped into the air, missing the effect of the quake it summoned. As she landed, the teen looked at the books that made the creature. All the books were open, with the leather backings forming a type of armor for it. Every now and then, though, they would spread apart, which a closed book could be seen inside it. The central book had a leather strap hanging off to one side. The aura adept blinked for a moment, and a color popped out to her. It was a glowing red color, but it was brighter than the surrounding red, but it vanished quickly. What is that?

She opened her eyes and saw the creature in front of her. The blue haired girl leapt back before it slammed its right book ‘hand’ into her head. Fighting isn’t working… then what can… The creature’s left book opened, and a torrent of papers flew out at her. Azura ducked, then jumped at the creature, trying to tackle it. The books just separated at the stomach area, allowing her to nearly land face first on the ground behind it.

The bright red color came back for a split second, as she blinked at the center book within the book gorilla. Is that book the cause of this? Before the teen could react, the central book opened, the other books mimicked it. A massive wall of papers launched from the creature, the female warrior could only hold her arms out in a defensive X. A word surfaced in her mind once more, and she shouted it out, “Shroud!” At that instant a blue ring surrounded the creature, and vines shot out and wove around it, stopping most of the paper storm. The rest hit her, but they mostly cut into her clothes and gauntlets.

When the aura adept opened her eyes, she saw the vine net for a moment. The creature destroyed it though, the non-moving papers littered the ground around it. It charged again, both book fists raised, its steps alone thundered through the stone room. The blue haired girl ran behind one of the bookcases, her charms clinking together as she moved. The book gorilla pounded into the bookcase, causing chunks of wood and books to go flying, which hit the other bookcase behind it and part of the wall.

She wasn’t there anymore, since the female warrior had actually ran around it, and stopped behind the creature. It had no visible eyes, nor any other features, but it still looked around for Azura. “Shroud,” her voice echoed in the room as it turned around, but was stopped by something. The vine net appeared again, but it managed to wrap around the center book within the creature, due to a smaller circle at the creature’s feet. The center book rattled against the vines, before stopping. All the other books around it fell to the ground, lifeless. The teen walked up to the book floating in midair to her sight, and hooked the leather strap onto the book, holding it closed. The vine net fell, and she carefully caught the book out of the air as it fell. The teen remembered the box on the desk, and headed to it, since the hallway she entered was staring directly in front of her.

The book shuddered in her hands, as if trying to get away, but the blue haired girl held onto it. She stood in front of the desk, and placed the shaking book into the stone box. Strangely, the leather straps fastened themselves around the book, on their own. After securing the book, the lid floated up and then clamped down onto the box. Another quake shook the room, and the female warrior looked around the room. The books that the creature was made of and the fallen bookshelves, had moved back to where they originally were. “That’s strange…” Azura walked down the hallway again, and looked up the stairs. The wooden door that had locked behind her was partially open, she could see a bookcase made out of oak to the left, slightly.

Clapping. There was a sudden and large source of clapping entering the room. "Well done, well done," the fencer told her, impressed with how quickly she seemed to be learning her skills with her aura. "However, I'm sure you're quite tired," the fencer said with a smile as he took a step from within the shadows out into the open where she could see him. "So, how about we get going," the Aura Master said with a smile. She's not quite ready to know yet. Before long, she shall know what she truly is.

OoC: Time for Azura's room assignment. You know the drill! 600 word minimum, as always. ^_^

Azura looked at Zorlo for a moment, “Where are we going?”

To your room,” the fencer explained, “Both teachers and students have their own room here in the Dome.”

She nodded as the Aura Master left the Library through an oak door, with the female warrior following some distance behind. She felt something tug on her shoulder, and raised her right hand to it. It was a strap to her bag, I’m surprised that I forgot it was there…

The hallway they entered looked like a desert, with sand and stray tiles forming the floor, to some sand dunes in the distance. The ‘ceiling’ was nothing but clear blue sky. The blue haired girl noticed that Zorlo had turned left, past five doors. He walks fast, she thought as she broke into a slight jog to keep up, and came into a forest-styled hall.

The aura adept nearly gawked at that, since she didn’t expect the halls to change, but kept going. He was still in the same corridor as her, but five doors ahead of her, until the green haired fencer turned to the right. The teen jogged to the end, and wound up in a castle hall.

The Aura Master continued down the corridor, ahead of her by four doors before stopping, then turning to face her. “This is your room,” he said with a smile. As she got closer, the aura adept looked at the door.

The door to her room was a dark blue, stained wooden door. There was a rectangular metal plate in the center of the door, which was a foot and a half from the handle. It had a leaf like etching in the center of the foot long by seven inch wide plate. The door handle was just a rectangle sticking out, a dull gray of metal. The door pushed open with a slight nudge, beyond it was a rectangle of ground. The flat ground spanned ten feet long by five feet wide, it looked like a cliff of sorts.

She stepped in and immediately saw a giant tree. It had to be twenty feet tall, not counting that she was six feet off the ground some branches were strangely thicker than others, those had doors in the trunk. There was another door at the base of the tree, but it was wrapped in chains. Azura looked away from the center tree, and saw a huge forest around it, every tree’s leaves had a tinge of blue to them and the trunks were a brownish gray, and seemed to be modeled after oak trees. There were odd vines stretching from tree to tree at random, they were gray though. The ground below was impossible to see, except the area near her, since it was coated in fog. She was standing on a cliff, and she looked down, seeing trees growing in the cliff wall all around the door entrance. This doesn’t look like a room…

The female warrior actually leapt off the cliff and landed on a tree branch, only to continue her descent to the ground, but landed on one of the vines. It gave off a metallic groan, and she kept her balance to look at it. The ’vine’ was actually a metal chain, but doubled up, two links were laced together to stiffen it. The teen looked around again, and saw that some of the trees were smaller, but they stood on a plateau of earth. That’s strange. She looked up from the chain vine to barely see Zorlo on the cliff edge, and called up to him, “Is this odd for a room?”

(OoC: Reposting due to hackers. Assignment 7 is up next.)

Azura looked at Zorlo for a moment, “Where are we going?”

To your room,” the fencer explained, “Both teachers and students have their own room here in the Dome.”

She nodded as the Aura Master left the Library through an oak door, with the female warrior following some distance behind. She felt something tug on her shoulder, and raised her right hand to it. It was a strap to her bag, I’m surprised that I forgot it was there…

The hallway they entered looked like a desert, with sand and stray tiles forming the floor, to some sand dunes in the distance. The ‘ceiling’ was nothing but clear blue sky. The blue haired girl noticed that Zorlo had turned left, past five doors. He walks fast, she thought as she broke into a slight jog to keep up, and came into a forest-styled hall.

The aura adept nearly gawked at that, since she didn’t expect the halls to change, but kept going. He was still in the same corridor as her, but five doors ahead of her, until the green haired fencer turned to the right. The teen jogged to the end, and wound up in a castle hall.

The Aura Master continued down the corridor, ahead of her by four doors before stopping, then turning to face her. “This is your room,” he said with a smile. As she got closer, the aura adept looked at the door.

The door to her room was a dark blue, stained wooden door. There was a rectangular metal plate in the center of the door, which was a foot and a half from the handle. It had a leaf like etching in the center of the foot long by seven inch wide plate. The door handle was just a rectangle sticking out, a dull gray of metal. The door pushed open with a slight nudge, beyond it was a rectangle of ground. The flat ground spanned ten feet long by five feet wide, it looked like a cliff of sorts.

She stepped in and immediately saw a giant tree. It had to be twenty feet tall, not counting that she was six feet off the ground some branches were strangely thicker than others, those had doors in the trunk. There was another door at the base of the tree, but it was wrapped in chains. Azura looked away from the center tree, and saw a huge forest around it, every tree’s leaves had a tinge of blue to them and the trunks were a brownish gray, and seemed to be modeled after oak trees. There were odd vines stretching from tree to tree at random, they were gray though. The ground below was impossible to see, except the area near her, since it was coated in fog. She was standing on a cliff, and she looked down, seeing trees growing in the cliff wall all around the door entrance. This doesn’t look like a room…

The female warrior actually leapt off the cliff and landed on a tree branch, only to continue her descent to the ground, but landed on one of the vines. It gave off a metallic groan, and she kept her balance to look at it. The ’vine’ was actually a metal chain, but doubled up, two links were laced together to stiffen it. The teen looked around again, and saw that some of the trees were smaller, but they stood on a plateau of earth. That’s strange. She looked up from the chain vine to barely see Zorlo on the cliff edge, and called up to him, “Is this odd for a room?”

(OoC: Again, reposting, due to hackers.)

After hearing the door shut, she decided to check out her room, Azura called it a forest though. Most trees were Elders, but they didn’t speak, yet. Just like at the beginning, they don’t know me right now. The teen leapt from the chain vine to a nearby branch, then repeated her branch hopping.

After a while, she heard a rumbling sound nearby, and she headed towards it. The fog seemed to cling to the ground here, but was forced away by the rushing water of the waterfall. It wasn’t as big as the one the female warrior normally saw, it was about half the size at ten feet tall, but it was a waterfall anyway. The fog was sitting on the river that formed in front of the waterfall, which looked like a small, snake-like cloud.

From her branch perch, she turned and bounded back to the large tree in the center, but stopped when the Aura Adept landed on another spike chain. This one connected two trees together, by a metal band wrapped around the trunks at two different heights. The chain wasn’t even taught from her weight on it, it just lightly jingled. Why are these here…?

Wind blew through the trees, before wrapping around her, and continuing on. The blue haired girl grinned, and went on her way, bounding from branch to branch. She looked like an animal jumping through the trees on all fours, her hands were the first thing to grab the tree limbs, followed by her feet. The teen could also travel normally, by just using her legs, but mostly preferred the animal style of traveling. Both styles built up momentum, but the animal way caused more to come, and began to affect her slightly. Sometimes, Azura would nearly flip around a branch, and had to land on a lower tree limb.

The female warrior eventually made it to the central tree, and landed on a branch that grew below a door. It had a rectangular piece of glass set into the top of it, while a carving of a leaf sat below it, the rest of it was a pale blue/gray wooden door. She looked up into the canopy, and saw plenty of branches up there, before turned her attention back and opened the door slowly. It swung open to her left with a small creak, and a scent of oak came out. The room within mirrored her own, but it was different.

There were just two walls, the other door’s top could be seen partially from a pale blue clothed screen that was extended behind her bed. On the other wall was a dark stained wooden desk, and a chest of drawers next to it, on the right side. The room was a rectangle in shape, but rounded. This is odd, since I’m inside a tree. The Aura Adept looked past the desk and saw a door jam, she walked over to it, after setting her bag on the chest of drawers. It was a plain door, with a rectangular metal handle on it, and it pushed open. There was a simple bathroom inside it, which made the teen gawk for a second, before closing the door and looked back at the room. The walls were a pale white-ish gray color, and the floor and ceiling oddly held no rings, despite being carved out of the tree’s trunk.

The blue haired girl walked over to the open door in front of her, and pulled it closed. Yawning, she laid down on her bed, and quickly fell asleep on her stomach.

------Nightmare; Death Memory

Black nothingness faded into dark hues of blue, in the form of a hallway and a single room beyond it. A lighter blue color took a shape of a child, three leaf charms hung from the chin length hair. This child was Azura, and she walked closer to the room, where dulled mutterings came from.

A black figure suddenly sprang up in front of the hall entrance, the child stood four feet from it. For a brief second, a silver, three pronged weapon was seen by the girl. It blurred and entered the black figure, which slumped to the ground in slow motion, a shadow of a person began to creep into the hall. The child’s mouth moved, but no words came out. The shadow approached closer and a muttering could be heard, “Come here, child…”

The female warrior awoke with a start, gasping, and turned over onto her back. The room was a darker gray, pulling her head up to see a blackish gray color, and the trees outside, it was late in the night now. The teen slowly sat up, coldness gripped her, as she held her head in her hands. “That’s always happened… I can’t seem to get rid of it. Who did I see that… died?” The Aura Adept let herself gently fall back onto the bed, as she stared at the ceiling, before she fell asleep again.

Azura opened her eyes slowly, before she bolted upright. She sighed, That memory always makes me do that… She moved to the side of the bed, and then got up, before checking for her knife in her right pocket. The teen then stretched, and heard her shoulders faintly pop. She looked at her bag for a moment, before heading out the door on her right.

As soon as she closed the door, the female warrior heard the Elders greet her, including the central one. She smiled and spoke one word in return, “Hello.” With that, she descended through the branches of the center tree to the ground below, and turned to her left to see a chained door. This door looked like the ones above, minus the glass window. There were five chains bound around it, the tree seemed to grow around the chains, preventing any kind of view as to what was behind the door. I guess I’ll figure that out over time…but why is there a chained door?

The wind blew around her again, and carried a rustling sound with it. Hm? The blue haired girl looked around for a moment, before glancing upwards. She spotted a pale brown sheet of paper hanging on the door to her room. What is that, she thought before she walked over to a chain and proceeded to leap upwards through the various branches and a chain or two, before landing on the cliff that formed under the blue door. Her right hand pinned the piece of paper flat against the door, and read it.

To Azura,

Could you meet me in the Library? The Dome should lead you to it.

From, Zorlo

She noticed two green swords in an X were in the center of the letter. The Aura Adept nodded, then plucked the paper off of her door and folded it twice, before putting it into her left pocket. She then pulled the door open, being careful not to fall off the cliff and walked out into a forest hallway, lined with pine trees and bushes. Azura headed to the left past six doors before turning left again into another castle styled hall.

After turning right, past eight doors, she turned right and immediately stopped as a gruff voice called out. “Well, look who show’d up? Yah aren’t going to be lucky here, miss.” The female warrior looked to her left, down a canyon hall, and noticed the bandits. They were the same four she met earlier, and they were in front of the Library door, past four doors though. She stepped onto the sand covered ground, the canyon walls were multiple shades of brown forming various sized bands.

Feather spoke again, “You got lucky wit the sand storm, miss. That won’t happen here, thoug’.” One Eye stood up on her right, along with another bandit, which mirrored Feather and his assistant on her left. The metal of their scimitars rang out as they drew them out in a single scraping sound. She backed up slightly, as Feather and One Eye approached first, followed by the other two.
Only Feather and One Eye charged, after going past two doors, the teen was still in the T intersection of the hall, when she pulled out her knife. It still had a red tinge on one side of the blade edge, she backed up slightly. Going to have to clean it, maybe after this.

The two bandits ‘grinned’ before coming at her with their scimitars raised. Feather was faster, and met her first, and swung his weapon down at her. She sidestepped it, but jumped back from One Eye’s stab, before she countered with her own into his arm. He hissed at her, before dropping his weapon, while Feather attempted to attack again.

“Elder Wall!” Blue trees momentarily popped up and threw the two attackers into the air again, before she noticed that the other two were coming at her. Azura ran at them, but jumped to her right as they passed her. They turned and slashed at her, slicing into her left gauntlet and clanging against her knife, before Feather came up behind her.

The Aura Adept ducked under the first slashes, before turning around and slashing at Feather. Her knife caught him in the stomach again, above the first area. The three surrounded her, while One Eye picked up his weapon. They’re forcing me to fight them… Fine, I’ll fight. Her eyes glinted for a second, before she ducked under a slash, and punched one of the bandits in the chest with her knife hand. She came up and lashed out with a kick to the other two, she knocked Feather down, and the other jumped back. The one she punched was still bent over, and dropped his weapon.

The blue haired girl kicked him in the head with the side of her right foot, after recovering from her last one, it knocked him to the ground. She switched her knife to her left hand, and picked up the scimitar with her right. Glaring at Feather as he stood up, she actually slashed him in the face, when he countered with a right handed punch. The teen stepped slightly to the side, before slashing his hand with the scimitar. The other bandit charged, but was stopped by her sudden stab with her new weapon. She had flipped it into a defensive grip, and the blade went into his left arm, which he screamed in response.

The bandit on the ground didn’t get up, Guess he’s unconscious… she thought as she dropped her knife, which Feather watched it fall. Azura took advantage of that, and swiftly kicked him in the head, which sent him to the ground and spun her to face the now armed One Eye and the remaining bandit. The bandit clutched his arm, a red blotch could be seen on the cloth around his arm, she knew the stab wasn’t deep though. One Eye charged at her, before knocking the other bandit over.

“You’ll pay for this,” he shouted angrily, before the female warrior turned her body to the side, and twisted the scimitar blade to face him. He came in with a slash, which she blocked with her left gauntlet, before twisting her arm around and grabbing his right wrist. Pushing back on it, which he resisted, she swatted him with the broad side of the scimitar she held. A dull clang rung out, as One Eye fell to the ground, she let go of his wrist. The blue haired girl placed the slightly bloody scimitar on the ground and picked up her knife, before turning to the Library door.

Sheathing her knife, she sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them again. I hate it when I become aggressive, the teen thought as she opened the door to the Library.

"Hmm..." Zorlo mused as he stood on the side of the wall, observing, "I'm very impressed. She didn't let herself go wild and maliciously slaughter them. Zachary probably would have seen that as weakness or cowardice. However, it is something much more important: compassion. She respects all living things. She is truly worthy of it. She is truly worthy to know," the Aura Master said as he walked off towards the library along the side of the wall. It was time she knew.

OoC: And now... more important things. ^_^

Assignment Time:

The time has come for Azura to learn what she really is. When she enters into the Library, she'll find no Zorlo, but a book sitting on a nearby table. The book is open to a page on Aura Adepts and talks about signs for them. Have Azura read it and ponder what she is reading. End your post with the Library door opening.

The door creaked again, as it closed behind her. Azura walked over near a table off to her left, while looking around. Zorlo’s letter said he would be here… I’ll wait then, maybe he’s looking for something. She noticed that a book was open on the table, but it faced away from her. She could read it anyway though, but ignored it at first, as she sat down in a wooden chair.

The book was directly opposite from her, and a design on the page caught her attention, as she looked at it. It was a square and outlined in dark blue, with ornate green leaves twisting around an A. The whole section title read ‘Aura Adepts and Masters.’ Hm? The female warrior decided to read a bit past that, at least the parts she could figure out upside down.

…Aura Adepts can either be born or are spiritually aware at a young age. They tend to have gemstone-like colored auras, such as amethyst, topaz, or emerald. The auras can also have a unique appearance, like a flame, lightning, or snowflakes. An Adept’s aura can have an elemental alignment attached to it, like fire, water or air. They also tend to be able to control their aura slightly…

The Aura Adept looked around again, but was somewhat confused now. How can someone control an aura? She turned back to the book again, and continued to read what she could.

… Aura Adepts have two seals which holds back a part of their aura. The first seal requires an Aura Master, or someone like a god/goddess to break it. The first seal breaking allows them to use more of their aura than previously, and enables them to manifest or show their aura. After the first seal is broken the Adept becomes an Aura Master. The second seal is only broken by the Aura Master him/herself and can destroy the Aura Master if broken improperly, by a negative emotion like anger. …

The blue haired girl leaned back, and closed her eyes for a moment, What is this book talking about? Auras… Aura Adepts… Aura Masters, hold on… She opened her eyes for a moment, Didn’t Zorlo say he was an Aura Master? He did… The teen got off of the chair and stood up. Maybe Zorlo’s waiting for me somewhere else in here. With that, she started to walk away from the table, still thinking about what the book said. She was confused on the subject, as she walked past a bookcase to the right of the table, before hearing the door creak open. Azura turned to look at whoever entered, quickly getting rid of her confused expression on her face.

"Do you understand now?" Zorlo asked as he appeared atop a book shelf and looked down at the girl. "You are an Aura Adept, and I am here to show you the path. For now, however, you must make a decision: Are you willing to, no matter what may happen, walk the path of righteousness? If so, then we can begin the ordeal," Zorlo stated with a smile as he stood before the blue haired girl.

Assignment Time:

The time has come for Azura to decide if she will truly walk the path of an Aura Master or not. If she chooses to accept, the "ordeal" will begin, where Zorlo will take her to a place called the "Chamber of Nightmares", where she will have to face her greatest enemy: Herself. IF she declines, Zorlo will vanish and Azura will have time to walk around and think. The choice is yours. ^_^

(OoC: First attempt with using first person tense.)

I looked up at him, balancing on the bookcase, as he talked. After Zorlo finished, I then let my head fall back and walked to the left, thinking. I’m an Aura Adept… that explains why I call those attacks up; Leaf Dagger, Elder Wall, and Shroud. Hm… if I had an ‘odd attack’ and I’m an Aura Adept, then isn’t my mother one too…? Dad did say that he saw her use an ‘odd attack’ as well… Stopping in my tracks, I looked up at rows of books before my mind wandered again. So, I didn’t know what I was and I found the Dome and Zorlo… I subconsciously moved my right hand back and forth, as if I was weighing my options. I’ve come this far, so why turn back… but a part of me wants to… No. I‘m not turning back, I made my mind up to leave my hometown on my own, despite thinking about it for a week. Also, I‘ve gone through two fights on my own. I‘m not turning back.

I turned around and looked back at him, “I want to keep going, sir.” I could feel my cautiousness creeping up, but I pushed most of it away.