Island of Misadventure

Jas

Exceptionally Common
Forum Moderator: Arena
In an opulent room, a group of men, women, and other transdimensional beings sat in chairs around a giant monitor.

"As Amaimon and Miles duke it out on screen one, we'll announce our second fight on screen two!" All but Lady Carman and Jinn Abgal turned to view the second screen, on the opposite wall of the room. The familiar silhouette of the announcer filled this screen.

"Please direct your attention to the wheels of destiny. Tonight's matchup will be chosen in the typical slot-roulette fashion."

The silhouette was replaced on screen with a simulated slot machine, the three reels of which each suddenly began to spin rapidly. Despite being obscured by the slots, the modulated voice continued.

"First, the battle location!" The first reel slowed to a stop, settling on an image volcano rising from a beach in a field of blue. "Ooh, the volcanic island! We have not had a fight here in a decade!"

The image of the slot with spinning reels minimized to the upper-left corner of the screen, and a live feed of the battle location was brought into the main view, with a rotating camera view as though from an aerial drone. A ticker across the bottom gave basic stats of the area. Realm: Pacifica, Temperature: 87F | 31C. In the image, a lush tropical forest grew from the base of a large, smoking volcanic mountain. The full moon could be seen reflected off the calm water surrounding the island, and the entire area was lit with an eerie glow. A handful of light, puffy clouds dotted the sky, but the area directly over the island was clear, allowing the maximum impact of the moonlight. The first purples of the sunrise were beginning to tinge the eastern sky.

Oohs and ahhs erupted from the crowd, noting the stark contrast between the first fight's desert location and this lush island.

"First combatant!" The slot view returned to the center of the monitor, and the reel began to slow. A lightning bolt flashed into view. "A lightning elemental bound to a human soul! This promises to be an electrifying match! Zane Lightfoot, champion of Zeus himself!" A sagely bearded man in a toga nodded his head, his blue eyes glued to the teenager on the screen. "This boy excels in two styles of martial arts, and has the ability to manipulate not only his own ki, but to harness the might of the bound elemental! He's even been seen to transform into an elemental himself!"

The reel once again minimized, and Zane appeared in a shadow cast by the moonlight upon a palm frond. His piercing blue eyes looked around, a near match to his benefactor. A few furtive glances were made between the man in the room and the man on the island, wondering if there was any relation.

"And now for his opponent!" The slot view maximized on screen again, and the final reel came to a stop. A vial of red liquid pulsated gently in the center. "A blood mage! Specifically, the blood elf Asher, not to be confused with Jinn Abgal's brother, Ashar! And yet another coincidence, Asher's sponsor is another Grecian, Talos!" A winged man in the corner with a nail in his back frowned, apparently displeased with being compared to Zeus, to being called Grecian, or both. "This young man is just coming into his powers, but he can make a mortal's blood boil in their veins! Truly a terrifying foe!"

The reel finally faded out, once again revealing the live view of the island. The shot zoomed away from Zane and refocused about 2/3s up the volcano, where palm trees were replaced by craggy rocks. A blood elf materialized behind one of these, about 100 feet away from a gentle lava flow.

"With no further ado, let us begin the match!" the announcer went on, and then the audio live from the desert battlefield was patched through the image. The gamblers knew the drill; the previous introduction was meant solely for them, but all future commentary would be audible to the champions, as well.



The announcer's voice rang out across the sky, echoing as though from inside the volcano itself.

"Gentlemen! Welcome to your personal battlefield! We have hand-chosen you from your respective realms and now you will make battle for the enjoyment of our patrons. We will not force you, of course, but after one hour the battle will be over. If there is no clear victor by then, you will both be removed from existence! However, at the end of that hour, the winner will be rewarded with a trip back home!"

The announcer's voice paused for effect, then proceeded. "Let the battle begin!"

@Treasure
 
Asher took a shaky breath as he tried to settle his rattled nerves as the announcer's voice boomed above him. His first time in battle! Official battle. He doubted anyone would label the skirmishes he'd been involved in before as "battle." He eyed his spiky-haired opponent, assessing who he was up against. Someone almost as pale as he and equipped with lightning bolts. Asher didn't think it could get much more terrifying than that.

"Let the battle begin!"

The Blood Mage reacted before the words finished reverberating through the sky. He flicked his hand - an unnecessary motion - sending droplets of his own blood scattering around his opponent in a rain of acidic fire. He hoped to open a few wounds on the elemental. His hand shook a little. He didn't even know if lightning elementals like this one had blood to boil! Otherwise, this could be finished in seconds. If he could Focus!
 
Zane was equally terrified and excited as he heard the announcement. Finally, a chance to test my skills! he rejoiced. Grandpa smothers me too much. From his vantage point at the base of the volcano, it took him a moment to locate his foe a couple of hundred feet above him. In the time it took him to do that, the mage had already launched an attack which Zane couldn't quite make out in the moonlight. It was better safe than sorry.

The boy immediately hardened his aura, generating a wall of pure ki around him. Red droplets splashed against the shield, generating small immolating bursts. After the volley subsided, Zane relaxed his aura.

"I see you're not to be underestimated!" Zane called up to his anemic-looking foe. "I'd better not hold back!"

As he spoke, Zane held his left hand up, and brought his right hand to firmly grasp the other's wrist. With an emphatic grunt, he unleashed a dozen light balls of force toward the mountain, in sort of a shotgun-spread arrangement. As the light of the blasts reached his foe, Zane was able to get a much better look at him. "Not much older than me, looks like," he told himself. "This couldn't be more perfect."

Zane grinned, eager to see how this would develop as he started charging up the mountain.
 
Lightening! In ball form? That was possible? Asher didn't take the time to muse farther as he lifted his hands and spread his fingers. Blood seeped from the corners of his eyes like tears as a thin blood barrier rose up around him, gleaming like rubies in the sunlight. The electricity struck the blood with a harsh sizzle, most of it dispersing in the liquid harmlessly, frying plasma as it went. Some made it through the barrier and licked Asher's skin. The pale elf flinched as tiny fractal burns blistered the skin of both arms, barely missing his face.

Ignoring the burns, he dispersed the barrier, holding it back in a tiny red ball. He could not absorb it back into his body, but it would be highly useful for the next attack. Speaking of attacks, his eyes narrowed as he spotted his opponent several feet closer than he had been before. His hand lashed out again, guiding his focus as his power latched onto the other's calves. The blood in his muscles surged then restricted, triggering the muscles in both calves to seize up in severe cramps, causing the elemental to fall flat.

At least, that was the goal... He still wasn't positive the other had blood, but if he was part human, he must, right?
 
Zane continued his rapid ascent of the mountain, convinced that if he could close the gap, he could win the fight. Zane looked slight, but his physical prowess was pretty high. Granted, if looks dictated reality, Zane would be pretty weak, but still he could not avoid making similar assumptions about his foe.

As the smoke cleared from his attack, Zane swore he saw the boy on the mountain covered in blood, and then saw the blood flow up to his hand and rest in a ball. Just as he paused his mental focus for a moment to ponder this oddity, his foe lashed out with the same blood. Zane braced for a physical impact and was surprised when none came. Instead, he felt his calves lock and seize up, forcing him to stumble to the ground.

His own naivety had gotten the best of him. Zane was not a person who took failure well, and often it built up as rage. And as Zane's rage built up, his composure broke down. "Oh, you're fucking dead!" he called out to his foe. His aura began to crackle with electricity as Zane regained his feet, now forcibly controlling his leg muscles with raw electricity instead of the standard electrical impulses from his brain. An increase in wattage allowed him to overcome the limitation that Asher had placed on him, but at a high cost of exertion and physical damage.

Since his body wasn't working the way it was intended, Zane's movement was slower than normal, and as such his rate of ascent was lessened. His initial plan was to scale the mountain as quickly as possible and then strike down the mage in melee, but that was no longer an option. He still continued to close the gap, but as he did, he again lifted his left hand and gripped it firmly with his right hand. A ball of lightning formed against Zane's palm and continued to grow as he fed potential into it.

"AHHH!" Zane screamed as he forced the ball of lightning at his foe, singular this time but with far more energy in it. If it landed, it was likely to do a whole lot of damage. And even if it missed, it would probably rend everything within a meter of the impact to ionized plasma.
 
He was overriding the control! Painfully and by sheer force, from the looks of things, and Asher could already sense the massive bruising forming along the elemental's calves. That was going to hurt tomorrow, that was for certain. The Elemental didn't seem phased by it in the least as he stormed up the mountain with frightening determination, his pale face twisted with rage.

The scream tore through the air, preceding the sparking ball of blue-white energy flying right for Asher. It was massive! Asher's breath caught briefly in fear, but he was no stranger to fear. His body began reacting before his mind processed what to do.

His hold on the elemental's legs released. The ball of already singed blood flattened and flowed out into a wide shield as Asher flung himself bodily to the side, rolling as he tried to put as much distance between himself and the electric ball of death. The explosion as it met the ground rattled him to the bone as he skidded and rolled sideways across the earth, his shoulders and back catching on stones as he went.

Shockingly - even to himself - he found his feet before he stopped moving. He didn't think, only acted. His hand came up as if to tell the elemental to stop. A shot of pure, focused energy leaped an invisible line across the gap between him and the elemental, wrapping itself around his right arm. The blood in the elemental's right arm sizzled as if it was fire, frying his system from the inside. It was only Asher's terrified focus on trying to stop the hand causing the electricity that kept him from setting the elemental's entire circulatory system on fire.

It was only then that Asher began to feel the burns his own body suffered, particularly across his back and left side. His focus wavered as the pain spiked through his body.
 
He used the blood... As a shield?!

Zane smirked. This mage looked frail and pathetic, but he was proving to be more capable than Zane ever imagined. And as his legs came back under his own control, the elemental couldn't stifle a laugh. He relaxed the forcible override to his limbs and limped toward the mage, now only meters from him.

For a moment (or maybe even less), as the blood shield turned to plasma and as Zane felt relief in his legs, he felt sure of victory. He'd closed the gap, and now the mage couldn't possibly hold up in melee. Even if Zane's body was on the cusp of collapse itself, this fight would surely favor him.

But then, the man on the ground made a gesture. A mere gesture. And again the elemental's body was not his own. He buckled to his knees as searing hot pain engulfed his right arm, a bestial roar erupting from the boy's throat.

Then, the pain ebbed ever so slightly. To the tortured body, any reduction in pain can feel like relief. The mage appeared to wince from his own injuries, and the pain subsided. It wasn't gone, but this was Zane's only chance.

His right arm was still aflame, and it wouldn't be long until the pain drove him out of consciousness. From the kneeling position, Zane pulled with his soul, and the air ionized around him. The negative charges were pulled into Zane, and the positive ones repelled outward as a wave of electrical chaos. All he needed was to aggravate the wounds, to break his focus.
 
Asher let out a squeak of pain as raw energy flowed over his broken skin. It felt like sandpaper! No, not quite, too soft for sandpaper, like someone was rubbing a starfish over his wounds! He staggered back a couple of steps, his focus almost entirely broken. He felt his grip on the elemental's arm wavering. In a moment, he would be at the other's complete mercy.

No! He could not lose this fight!

Abruptly, Asher turned and threw himself down the volcano's side. He rolled, flipping end over end several times until he could get himself rolling sideways. Pain ripped through his body as the earth tore at the open wounds, but it was better than the constant aggravation of the electric elemental's power. He skidded to a stop on his knees and took a second to catch his breath. He now knelt several feet down away from the elemental, almost back where the elemental had started. Their positions were reversed. Blood seeped through his shirt as well as his arm and side. He needed that blood! Asher took a deep breath and concentrated. The blood that had been heedlessly dripping away congealed, coating the wounds, pushing away the dirt and mud, soothing the pain and healing the worst of the wounds at least enough to allow him to function.

Still on his knees, still in the process of healing, Asher looked up the mountainside to the elemental. This was his last chance. He did not have much energy or blood left for this attack. If he did not get this right, he was done. His eyes narrowed. His focus shot laser straight right to the elemental's chest, seeking the heart. The blood in the elemental's chest responded to his call, clotting instantly to create a heart attack. Survivable provided he got help soon, but debilitating and distracting. If Asher had wanted to kill, he would have aimed for the brain and caused a stroke. He'd done it once by accident. He never wanted to do it again.

Asher's focus on the chest held strong for a brief time, just enough to get the process started, then it wavered once more.
 
This mage refused to die. He launched himself down the side of the cliff, tumbling gracelessly to the base. Zane looked on, incredulous at the bold action. Thankfully, at some point the pain in his right arm subsided, but the limb refused to function for Zane. He could probably override it, like his legs, but that would only cause more damage. Instead, he decided to finish this with his left arm only.

Or so he thought. As the blood elf began to heal himself, the half-elemental's chest tightened. His left arm went numb. Lightheaded, he fell prone on his back. What the hell is this?! he wondered as his consciousness began to wane. A heart attack? I'm sixteen years old! This should not be possible! The boy's eyes darted to the ledge, where he could no longer see the mage from his new position. That... prick...

As Zane lost consciousness, something with him awoke. From Asher's position at the base of the volcano, he could no longer see Zane's prone body. However, at this moment he would be able to see a bright corona emanating from where Zane's body rested just out of sight. Lightning bolts issued from ground to cloudless sky, a phenomenon that one does not see often.

On the cliff, Zane's body began to dematerialize, and in its place was an unbridled collection of electrical potential. As the body faded, the energy radiated even more. Lightning bolts began to fly not only from ground to sky, but to the volcano and surrounding walls, vaporizing bits of rock where it struck. Tendrils of snakelike lightning spiderwebbed across the landscape, centered on Zane's body.

Zane was asleep, and the elemental spirit had taken his place. Bound to its host, it would do anything to save him. Immortal spirit or not, the moment Zane had snatched and bound the spirit, he'd also sealed its fate. If Zane died, the elemental would simply cease to be--a fate that it had not yet come to terms with--and it was prepared to go down swinging.

The vaguely-humanoid bundle of energy launched from the side of the cliff and dove directly toward Asher.

EDIT: Fixed a weird past-present-tense error; no content change.
 
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Asher stared at the bright, glowing... thing streaking toward him. To his blurred vision, it looked like another ball of electricity, a really big and angry one. He sat back on his heels as he watched it fly toward him. So. This was what it was like to face imminent death. It was kind of nice the way everything went quiet and motion slowed. Almost peaceful. He hoped that no one told his adoptive parents how he really died. They wouldn't like knowing he'd ended up in some sort of "Mortal Kombat" arena, but he hoped someone told them something.

He had one trick left. He watched the blurry orb of light racing toward him and tensed. At the last second, he called forth every bit of strength left in him and used his own blood and flung himself out of the way, moving himself four times faster than he could have forced his body in the natural way. With any luck, the energy would slam into the ground and not him. He fell to the left, bone deep bruises exploding along his right side, coloring his skin purple from head to foot. He curled down in a tight ball and allowed every ounce of blood he could spare to flee from his body, creating a protective shield around him as thick as he could make it to try to absorb the shock of either a direct or indirect hit.
 
The elemental crashed down, missing its mark. It had, of course, intended to possess the mage. Typically, this paired with death for the host, and it was the spirit's favorite way of dispatching corporeal foes.

Having missed, the sentient lightning bolt had buried itself in the ground, finding itself in a dire circumstance. It struggled to ascend back to the surface, where ground could no longer leech its energy at an alarming rate. Finally, it emerged, significantly dimmer than before. It struggled to stand and, knowing it was beaten, it had only one move left.

Zane rematerialized from the energy mass, still struggling against his heart attack. Zane was still unconscious, and the elemental was still in control. Zane's left arm crossed his chest and placed his right against his side. Then his left arm came to rest over his heart. Zane's power was mostly drained, but he could still muster a strong shock. The elemental pulsed electricity through Zane's chest, and checked for response. The elemental continued defibrillating until Zane's heart started beating on its own. The boy was in no state to fight, but he was alive.

Both arms came to his sides, and he was immobile. Zane had lost the fight.
 
Asher allowed the blood field the dissipate before it collapsed and reabsorbed what he could. His whole body ached as he sat up, groaning softly as muscles protested. He was still alive? He was alive! A short, shaky laugh escaped his lips. Then he looked up at the elemental. He was alive, too, but he did not look so good. In fact... was he unconscious while standing?

Asher forced himself up to his feet and limped over to take the elemental's arm, easing him down to sit leaning against a rock. There. No need for such a noble fighter to die by hitting his head on a rock when he fell. Then Asher relaxed and closed his eyes, allowing his body to heal itself. Chinese... he really wanted Chinese food right now...
 
The announcer's modulated voice echoed through the sky once more, beginning with an eerie cackle. "Asher wins! Congratulations! I'll admit I lost the pool on that one!" Another cackle, then he continued. "As promised, I'll now return you to your home!"



Asher felt himself slip away from the island. Not something physical so much as... astral. It felt like waking from a dream. When he came to, he found himself in his own bed, in his own house, and nothing appeared to have changed. Could it have been just a dream? But it felt so real! Still, none of the injuries he'd incurred were present on his body, and his blood was as plentiful as ever. It must have been a dream. Right? After a few hours, the dream had faded completely and Asher couldn't even remember having had it, save for a craving for Chinese food.



Zane, too, awoke in a cold sweat. He tried to hold onto the dream as long as he could. There was a... mage? He hadn't seemed like much, but he'd bested Zane, that much he remembered. That, and for some reason he remembered an old man in a toga with some of the angriest eyes Zane had ever seen. The boy sat up and winced, scorch marks marring his skin, all spiderwebbing out from a central burn near his heart and concentrating in another burn on his right side. His calves ached and his right arm felt as though it had been set aflame. It felt like a dream, but... how was he injured?

As the dream faded from his memory, Zane couldn't help but wonder what the hell had happened. And he'd likely never know.

~fin~
 
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