Split Personalities (Lysis)

(OoC: The black color is her 'demon sister' talking/thinking. A little long.)

BiC: A couple of days after her training with Monroe Vossler in the Dome, Elea wandered through a forest. The forest floor was a dark brown, due to the decaying leaves and, fallen branches were haphazardly strewn about the overgrown and barely visible path. She walked along it still, looking for something.

The Union saw random tracks of animals leading further down the path, the sheath of her new sword kept tapping her left leg was she walked, it’s weight on her hip was a little unusual to the child.

It was basic in design, just a dark leather bound at the pointed tip in a steel circle of a cap. Where the sword’s hand guard rested was a straight band of steel, clamped into the leather. It did it’s job of keeping her hands from getting cut from the blade. There has to be a lake nearby, thankfully the animals must know where it is, since their tracks lead farther in.

Maybe we can practice with the water, see if we can do something more, or just see if you can last as long as I can.

I still can’t understand why you can hold water longer than I can. We’re the same person!

I can also fight a bit better than you can too, due to what Monroe said. Her ‘demon sister’ chuckled mentally.

You fight like an animal, your attacks are hard to predict, that’s the only reason why.

You are too predictable.

Th sound for lapping water filled the sword-girl’s ears. The trees thinned out as she came upon a large lake, “Reminds me of that man I met in the beginning.” The lake was lined by grayish brown sand and sparsely ringed with rocks, some were barely poking out above the water line. The child walked out onto a large boulder and looked into the rippling water. The white start of her hair hung down, just visible against her pale skin. She crouched down, and dipped her right hand into the water, but pulled it out quickly.

“Cold…” Elea tried again, and pulled out a wobbly orb of water. The sphere was the size of a quarter in her palm. It looked as if it was about to fall apart. The Union watched the orb in her hand, and changed into a focused stare. The water sphere began to rise up and change shape, almost forming a triangle…

It suddenly shot to the right of the child and vanished past the tree line. She looked back at her hand in shock, it twitched and her sister’s voice came out in a whisper, “That was... interesting.” The sibling caused her to stand up, the human side’s face was stuck in a confused stare. The swords-girl turned to the right, glancing at the trees, wondering what happened.

Kartaikian Syriax walked alone, along an overgrown path deep in a quiet forest. He wasn't headed anywhere in particular, and he wasn't in any sort of rush to get there. Despite the many dead leaves and dry twigs spread about the forest floor, Kartaikian managed to keep his footsteps nearly completely silent; a skill which he learned through much practice. He stopped walking and took a deep breath of the chill forest air, one of his favorite kinds of air, and assessed the various scents that he had detected. Nearby he was sure he could smell some berries; he looked around, and indeed found a large blackberry bush. He picked a few ripe berries and consumed them.

While he was eating his little snack, he took a moment to listen to the many various sounds of the forest. One sound that stood out was the sound of slowly moving water, and he determined the direction it was in. He started walking off in that direction, still keeping his steps muted. As he got nearer to the water, he had an odd feeling, that of an unfamiliar presence. He drew his blade slightly, and concentrated on its dim green glow. He closed his eyes for a look into the world around him. Nearby he saw something; a single sole soul. Interesting, Kartaikian thought. He wondered why they would be out here; but then, why was he? From this distance, he couldn't determine much more about the person, except that they were in the same direction as the water.

He quickly, yet quietly, hastened toward the water. When he got there, he stayed hidden among the trees, crouching behind a huckleberry bush. The water, he noticed, was a lake. However, it was hardly the water that drew his eyes, but rather the strange girl standing near it. The person appeared to be two people, attached back to back. How very unusual, Stormcloud noticed. One of the two figures had the appearance of one possessed by a demon; her skin black and eyes white, with thin black slits for pupils. The other of the two figures was playing with a ball of magically suspended water, novicely trying to form it into something. Suddenly, though, the water snapped out of her hand and right at Kartaikian.

He held up his own hand, and with a whisper stopped the water in midair. He separated it from any contaminants it might have, purifying it, and drank the water. Well... he thought, there's two of them...

"I guess it's a good thing I have them outnumbered then," he whispered with a smirk. He stood up and drew his blade, and with a bright explosion of green, he divided himself into three. His gray form strung his bow and remained hidden in the forest, while the black and white forms revealed themselves and approached the figure, swords drawn and ready.

Her sister caught sight of a large green flash, then saw two people come out of the forest. One wore all black clothing and armor, the other one had the same, but in white. The child turned around and immediately looked frightened, but only for a moment. She one spoke once to her sister, “Fall back.”

“Right.” With that, the sibling vanished into Elea’s back, leaving her appearing normal now. At least normal, not counting her hair colors and her gray eyes. The white clothed man was on her left, the black one was on her right.

They both held a sword, in opposite hands. The armored white man held the sword in his left, while the black one held it in his right. The ebony warrior approached her first, the other stayed put for a moment. The swords-girl placed her right hand on her own sword and drew it out of its sheath.

It was one and a half feet long, three inches wide at the base and tapered to a point. There were two halves to this blade, one was dull edged and grayish-black, while the other half was a whitish-silver and sharp. She held it with the sharp edge downwards in her right hand only.

The Union kept her eyes on the two opponents, the black one was still edging closer to her. Elea mentally prepared herself for this fight, Okay, two against one, they have the advantage on that, plus their surprise.

She continued to look at the two people in front of her, and noticed something. They look exactly alike! Why though…? Her thoughts were stopped by the ebony warrior darting towards her. He came in with a side swipe, and the child countered with her own in the opposite direction. She barely nudged the sword away, when the man tried it again. This time the Union jumped off of the rock she was on, then hopped backwards, part of her gray jacket now had a small cut in it.

Elea stepped forwards and pulled her sword in an angled upwards swing, but the man just side stepped it.

The mysterious demonic half of the girl had disappeared, and the other half had drawn her sword. Kartaikian Gray had a straight and clear shot at her with his bow, but didn't fire just yet. He wasn't sure of the girl's motives, or even if she was a threat yet; but he kept his arrow ready and aimed nonetheless. Kartaikian Black was engaged in direct combat with the strange split girl, and Kartaikian White stood by, readying his magic in case it was needed.

Kartaikian Black slashed his half of Psychizo at the young girl, and she blocked it with her short sword. He held out his hand and attacked with force magic, bright green shards of light crashing into the girl and knocking her to the ground. Though surprised by the magical attack, she quickly recovered and got back to her feet in time enough to dodge another magical attack; a green fireball.

The girl leapt forward, attacking with a thrust of her sword, and Kartaikian Black narrowly managed to avoid it by dodging to the left. He followed her attack with a slash of his own sword, which she managed to duck under, and stab several times at Black's feet. One of her attacks landed, and Kartaikian Black jumped back away from the girl, his ankle bleeding. Somewhat angered by the painful laceration, Black grabbed the girl by the shoulders and threw her into the lake.

Kartaikian White ran over to Kartaikian Black, healing his wound with a bit of magic, and then ran out onto one of the many rocks extending into the water. "Might I ask who you are, stranger?" he called out to the girl, keeping his sword defensively at his side.

(OoC: Elea's sword can not stab. Also, I might have made an error on Black Stormcloud's responses. First use of one of her water spells: Block.)

Elea was easily flung into the lake. As she surfaced, she heard the white colored man say something, “Might I ask who you are, stranger?" She swam to a shallow area where she could stand, her sword was kind of dragging her down from where she was in the beginning.

“My name is Elea, who are you two?”

The man in white chuckled, “You can call me Stormcloud, same as my ‘friend’ here.” He glanced over to his ebony counterpart, who nodded. “What is the demon’s name, Elea?”

“Demon?” The child sighed, “She is no demon, that’s my sister, her name is my name.”

The black Stormcloud responded, “I don’t believe you.”

She sighed again, Just like my family. The Union felt her arm twitch, her sister had come out again. The swords-girl could feel that her sister did not like these two men.

Her voice rang out, “If you don’t believe her, why not talk to me instead?” The human half now held her sword with both hands, her left was actually the ‘demon’ half’s right hand. After she grabbed it, Elea turned around quickly, her sister now held their sword in her dominant hand.

The Union’s arms were not in any pain from the switch in control, even though they did bend in the exact opposite of a normal person’s elbows. “Sister, stay out, I’ll need you to help me.” The snake-eyed half looked at the two men, “You both are like me. We were born like this, together, my mother is able to tell a demon from a normal person. She said I’m no demon, it’s just my appearance that makes people think that.”

The black-skinned half exhaled, and looked back up to see the ebony warrior coming towards ’them’. The white half decided to talk, “I’m not like you, even though you have the same name as the child.”

She felt annoyed at this, ’They’ don’t believe what I say. He swept his sword at her, then launched another fireball at the ‘demon’ half, she could only jump to the side to evade the fireball. The snake-eyed half swiped at the ebony Stormcloud with her Tidal Serpent skill, the sharp side coming at him. The water the two fighters were standing in sloshed about as Elea stepped forwards with her dull sided counter slash, only to see the man throw another fireball at her.

The child’s left hand still was at her side somehow responded with a small orb of water forming in her black skinned hand, which she showed as she lifted her arm up quickly. A flat square of water formed against her hand as the fireball hit the outside left edge, as she jumped to the side. What was that? Block…?

The Union was stopped, her glance caught the black man’s sword streaking towards her. She blocked it the best she could with her own sword, but it failed, her sword was forced from her hand and landed on the rock the white Stormcloud was standing on.

The ebony warrior finally decided to talk, “How can you defend yourself now, demon?”

OoC: Huh? Any sword can stab, it's a rather basic attack... Even if the blade isn't, as you say, designed to stab, it still has a tapered point and can still be thrust in a stabbing motion. Also, even if the tip isn't sharp, the edges can still do damage in a thrusting attack.

"How can you defend yourself now, demon?" Kartaikian Black said, eyeing the snake-eyed girl. "Aha, but, it would appear that you are in fact right. You are no demon, that cannot be. I know demons." As he said this, one could almost see the shadows behind him darken, and the air seemed to grow slightly colder.

Kartaikian White picked up the unified girl's sword, which had landed at his feet, and examined it closely. "Seems of well enough design. Here; fighting you unarmed would be unfair." He tossed the blade back to the girl, who caught it in her black hand. Kartaikian White remained standing on the rock, while Kartaikian Black stood in the water to continue his faceoff against the twins.

The dark side of the girl attacked with an upward slash with her sword, which Kartaikian blocked with his iron plated shield, now out and held on his left arm. He then attacked with the side of his shield, knocking the girl back down into the water. From under the water she slashed at Stormcloud's feet. Unable to jump well while standing in water, the slash landed firmly on his legs. Hissing a bit as he bled into the water, he quickly backed up onto dry ground, summoning up another force attack as he did.

Kartaikian Gray found that where the other two were fighting, he didn't have a very clear shot at the girl. He got up from behind the bush and, while still among the trees, attempted to find a better vantage point; probably making a bit more noise than he'd intended too.

(OoC: I understand. I was probably caught up in the fact it wasn't designed for it. Sorry. First flashback of her training with Monroe Vossler. [It's not in any Rp, by the way.])

BiC: Elea heard a faint rustle from the tree line, but she ignored it. The black Stormcloud threw another volley of green shards at her, which she side stepped to the right. As the child walked out of the lake’s shallows, the ebony warrior came at her again.

The swords-girl was now in-between the two Stormclouds. As he tried to slash at her again, his sword met her blade’s dull side. Ebony Stormcloud’s weapon was pushing from the left, they now were in a sword lock, and he was winning. The Union remembered something like this during her training with Monroe.

----
… Monroe easily managed to get away from her slash, but Elea tried again, with him blocking her counter slash in a sword lock. He was a lot stronger than she was, but she still was trying. “There is a way to get past this, you just have to think.”

They both had the same weapon, a steel short sword, he still was pressing his weapon from the left, hers from the right. “There isn’t any way,” she said. The black-clothed man sighed and easily shoved her to the ground.

“There is, try again.” The child stood up, and they both went into the same sword lock as earlier. That’s when she thought of something, she let him move her sword to the left, but she stepped with it. When her sword’s tip was forced back, she slashed at him again, but she was on his left side now.

“That’s one way.” They continued to train, the clashing of swords fading away…
----

Elea’s sister was watching the white Stormcloud now, as she helped her sister step to the left and back, as his slash only connected with the front of her jacket. The Union then swiped at the black warrior’s left side, only to see him jump away from it. He swung his shield at her, her sister finally spoke “Fall back.” The human half actually fell backwards and faded away.

How the child looked now was odd. Wherever her sister was attached to her, those areas were flat in every sense of the word. This was easily visible on the back of her head, normally there was a curve, but not now.

Her sister now bent underneath the on-coming shield, she stepped in and took a swipe again, with Tidal Serpent. Missing, she went with Depth Wail, an upward slash with the dull half of her blade. The black Stormcloud just backed up again, and sent out another fireball.

Just as she was going to sidestep it, he swung his shield into her shoulder, knocking her to the ground. As the ebony warrior’s sword came down, she rolled out of the way and stood back up, stepping forwards with another slash, Tidal Serpent.

The slash from the demon child glanced off of Kartaikian Black's shield, creating a flash of sparks. He pushed forward with the shield to knock her over, making sure the sharp spike in the center of the shield didn't hit her. He released a small charge of electricity from his sword down at the girl on the ground, but she managed to roll out of the way in time.

Kartaikian Gray had settled in a new part of the forest, where he had a clearer view of the lake and the three (sometimes four) figures. At this point he knew the fight wasn't a match to the death; after all, he easily could have shot the girl in the neck by now. It was more of a sparring match; and Kartaikian was going easy on her, rather than simply overpowering her or subduing her like he could have. Either way, he kept his arrows ready.

White continued to stand by, on the rock, allowing for a fairer match between Black and the darkly colored girl. Kartaikian Black now slashed at the girl, the flat side of his half-blade barely coming in contact with her arm, doing no damage. She slashed with her sword, and Stormcloud ducked out of the way, throwing more crystalline magic force at her as he did, which knocked her backwards onto the ground.

(OoC: First use of another of her magic skills, Snake.)

BiC: Getting up off of the sandy ground, the ‘demon’ half of Elea charged the black Stormcloud, who put up his shield to block her on-coming attack. She instead jumped to the left at the last minute and slashed, which was stopped by the shield.

The ebony warrior threw more green shards at the child, who just ducked and side-stepped them. Staying low, she slashed at his legs with the dull edge of her sword, but he jumped back.

Green shards of light forced her to the ground, once again. She only was able to sit up before his sword came at her, the child managed to stand up to guard with her own blade, and she was pushed into the shallows of the lake. As the Union stood up, a cylinder of water had formed in her free hand.

She looked down at it in curiosity, then turned her attention to the now charging black Stormcloud. The ’demon’ half threw it at him, and noticed the cylinder moved like a snake in the air. It never touched him, the shards destroyed it and kept coming, Elea side-stepped them.

The two fighter’s swords met in a clang, which caused the child to skid back, but she managed to hold her ground. He tried to push her over, she just grabbed the edge of his shield and pulled it to the left, then let go of it. The dull side of her sword rose up, she was using Depth Wail now, but it was stopped by his counter slash.

He shoved her back again, but something stopped her from falling backwards. The human half had come out, and made her walk forwards, ‘their’ knees now bent backwards. This was due to the human half was in control for the moment, but they could switch at any time.

Ready to attack again, Kartaikian Black was suddenly knocked back by a cylinder of water, making him fall back into the shallows of the lake. He got up again, and walked out of the water. His half-sword lit up with green fire, and he used the heat to dry himself off. While he was doing this, he spoke to the girl.

"You seem to have some water magic skill in you, I see. I can do a bit of magic myself; but I'm not all that skilled with water..." He directed some of the water out of his hair and held it in an orb hovering in front of his open palm. As he concentrated on it, it froze solid and dropped to the ground, where it shattered. "You've got the potential in you to learn some powerful attacks with your water magic."

Finally dry, the fire on his sword flickered out, and he turned to face the girl, who was still standing in the water, listening. Kartaikian White walked up next to Black, and out of the forest walked a third figure (to Elea's surprise, no doubt) who walked up to stand in between Black and White; holding out his thin green sword. Kartaikian Black and White held their two halves of the same sword out to touch the tip of Gray's sword, and in a bright emerald flash, the swords fused together into one.

As did the swordsman. Now standing before Elea was a single figure, dressed in gray; Kartaikian Syriax Stormcloud. "You see, I'm somewhat like you. One person, one soul, one mind...more than one body," Stormcloud said. "Some call it a gift...others, a curse.

"Anyway, we could continue fighting, but I don't see any good purpose to that. I've nothing against you; you've nothing agaisnt me. I have a proposition though..." he walked up onto the rock that his White form had been standing on, and stabbed his sword into the ground under the water there; so that the sword was half submerged. He then whispered to the water, drawing up tendrils of it to his hand.

"How about we spar, with water. No weapons, and no other magics; just water. How does that sound to you?"

(OoC: I have no clue what Stormcloud can do with water, so this is kind of short.)

Elea was definitely shocked to see a third person, as well as the green flash again, which ended with just one person standing there. The Union heard what he had said about him being similar to her, but different. What Stormcloud said next was interesting.

"How about we spar, with water. No weapons, and no other magics; just water. How does that sound to you?"

The child turned around, as her ‘demon’ sister faded away. “Water is the only thing I know how to use, but I’m a bit worse than my sister. Guess I have to learn and see if I can do what she did…” Her voice trailed off into thought for a moment.

“Ok, it’ll help me learn,” the swords-girl sheathed her sword, and walked closer to shore. She let her right arm hang down and managed to pull up a small amount of water, which formed into another wobbly orb. Elea sighed, she was uncertain about how well her sister used the two water… things earlier. Hm, that last one was called Snake? Weird.

OoC: He's not that skilled with water, so he can do simple things; moving small amounts of it and such. His attacks would probably be about as powerful as a garden hose. He can also freeze water, but I'm not sure if you want to allow that in this fight since Elea can't.

With the tendrils of water still tangled around his right hand, Kartaikian dodged a snake like water attack from Elea, and landed in the cold lake. He formed a sort of water whip, which he lashed at the Union. She ducked under it and collected more water for another attack. She jabbed him with a pole of water, and he threw a liquid orb at her. Her attack caused Kartaikian to step back a bit, but his attack didn't do much beyond getting Elea wet.

Stormcloud raised up a bit of a wave from the water, which washed over Elea and breifly pulled her under the lake, but she got back up and threw a spear of water at him, knocking him over into the water. From under the surface, he formed long tentacles of water, which wrapped around Elea and tried to pull her down. He couldn't hold that attack for long, though, as she was struggling against it and winning; so he got back up for air.

Elea was staring down at her hand as the water she held took on an apparently unfamiliar shape; this time of a triangle. She closed her hand around it and slashed repeatedly at Kartaikian, one of her slashes causing a tear in his sleeve. Kartaikian dodged to the side and threw more orbs of water at the girl; which splashed when they hit her but didn't do much else. He formed another whip from the water, but she managed to block it with a square of water held in front of her.

Hmm...she definitely has better attacks when it comes to water...although, technically ice is water too... Deciding to cheat a little, Kartaikian raised a pole of ice out of the water, which he jabbed at the girl to knock her over.

(OoC: Based off of what you put above, Elea now knows Blade and Peg.)

Ok, the smaller cylinder is called Peg and the triangle is Blade. Elea came back out of the water after Stormcloud’s last attack. She kind of glared at him for a moment.

“That…was ice? You said you would just use water…” The child sighed, then threw Snake at him. Before it hit, she formed Peg again, but collapsed it and hid it in her hand.

He lashed out with another water whip and forced her back, but she ran towards him again, and jabbed her arm out with Peg. The gray warrior jumped back and countered with a wave, which sent her underwater.

The Union came back to the surface, only to get hit with another whip and stepped back due to the impact. This time she held two cylinders in her hands, throwing them in a Frisbee-like manner.

Stormcloud jumped to the right and threw a large water orb at her, which Elea ducked under.

"Bah, what is ice but frozen water?" Kartaikian said as he ducked under another water attack. "Alright, alright, I'll stick with liquid water then," he said, to be fair. He started to form another water whip, concentrating on compacting the water and making it firm, without freezing it. The powerful band of water lashed out at the girl, knocking her down.

She quickly jumped back up out of the water, jabbing him with two firm pegs of water to the shoulders, knocking him off his feet and into the lake. While he was under the water, he caused it to form waves to push the girl back. He got back to his feet and threw a couple more orbs of tightly packed water at her, which she blocked with a solid shield of water.

Elea threw a spear of water at Kartaikian's face, which he dodged, only to then be attacked by another sharp blade of water. He was about to retaliate, when suddenly he thought he heard a sound. He held up his hand and indicated to Elea to be quiet. He listened intently, and heard the noise again; a rustling in the nearby forest. Kartaikian's hand quickly fell to the hilt of his sword...

ooc: decided to add a bit of a plot twist to keep things interesting...

(OoC: Really short, but it moves things along. You changed your name, huh?)

Elea’s sister decided to become talkative at that moment, You’re using the water! I mean, before you just were able to hold a shaky orb, but now… Good job sister! The Union heard what her sister had thought, but was more focused on what was coming towards them.

The swords-girl pulled up a bit of water into her right hand as a precaution, in case whatever was coming wasn’t friendly.

OoC: Yah, I did. It's the original Greek form of the word "lysis."

IC:

Kartaikian walked out of the water, silently as possible, and drew his blade. As he listened, he heard another rustle, and saw movement in the nearby brush. Suddenly, a loud growl erupted from the forest, and a loud crash knocked aside several trees. Stormcloud leapt away from the forest, and prepared his shield.

Out of the forest stumbled a large hairy giant, carrying a club crudely formed from a tall fir tree. Upon seeing the two humans, the troll began to trudge its way towards them, licking his lips in the process.

Kartaikian glanced back at Elea, and warned her to stay back, but judging from what he could sense about her, she was eager to fight and would probably not heed his warning.

Nevertheless, Kartaikian began his own attack, slashing his blade at the troll's legs, hoping to drive it away.

(OoC: I've been stuck for quite a while, hope this makes up for the wait. >.> Sorry. Oh, her sister's in control during this anyway.)

Seeing the giant made her step back slightly, before her sister took over, causing Elea to turn around. She threw a sharpened Snake towards it, and managed to pierce one of it’s eyes.

The giant howled in pain, before swatting its club down towards Stormcloud, who jumped out of the way. It then began to walk towards her, before Stormcloud managed to stab the giant in its left leg, close to it’s ankle. Her sister threw another Snake at it’s head, keeping it’s attention on her as much as possible.

Kartaikian Syriax jumped out of the way of the troll's club, and rolled behind it. Kartaikian jumped up onto its back, and the beast began to flail about, trying to get him off. He climbed up to its head, driving his sword deep into the creature's skull. The troll bellowed loudly, causing the trees to shake and explode with birds, who were suddenly in the air and flying away. The creature finally silenced, and fell down onto its face, Kartaikian still on its back. He withdrew his sword, sheathing it and jumping down from the corpse.