11-24-2009, 03:12 AM
The furious snows pounding at them had died down a short time ago. The wind still had a cold bite to it, but most of the snow in the area had been lifted already, leaving the couple to stride across a thick lair of ice. To help take their mind off the cold, Kaden and Ashe had held close to each other for warmth, despite the effects of the unknown sensations from before having subsided.
"Look," the cream haired girl whispered to Kaden, withdrawing her cold hand from the safety of her jacket. The courier smiled as he realized that it was glowing once more. "I'm not going to try this time," she explained, looking at it like fireflies in a jar. "I'm just going to watch and observe."
The dance of the energy within her palm was similar to that of a luminescent wisp leaping from fingertip to fingertip, surging around in her palm and tracing tiny lines across her flesh in different symbols and shapes. "I wonder what it means," she asked quietly.
Her companion just shrugged. "I doubt it means anything, really. What, do you think its like some alien language talking to you?" he joked, not actually serious.
Her face, however, agreed. "Possibly," she laughed, not sure how to explain it to him.
"You have a wild imagination, Ashe," he announced.
"Yeah, well, there's a lot of things you don't know about me. A lot of things even I don't know about me," she mused, reflecting on the Star's Tear within her mind. Was it some kind of way for the Tear to communicate through her, or was she just pattern seeking, hoping to find comfort and familiarity in things that she didn't quite understand? She finally took a breath and decided that it had to be the latter, as the Star's Tear had been a bit more direct when communicating to her in the past.
Unless it was communicating through her, she considered.
"Here, try this again."
She looked over at him and saw that he had summoned another orb of energy himself, displaying it out for her to look at once more. "Catch!" he suddenly called, tossing it gently to her from a few inches away. She squeeled and cupped both of her glowing hands out without thinking, forgetting for a moment what it was that he was tossing to her.
The ball of energy landed into her hands, harmlessly sitting directly on her glowing palms as she looked at it, her eyes widening as she took it all in. "I'm gonna drop it..." she whispered in worry.
Kaden shook his head in protest and watched her for a moment, deep in thought. "You know," she heard him say. "I think you do best when you aren't realizing what you are doing," he pointed out.
She hadn't even heard him, however. Her hands began to play with the sphere and pushed into it, attempting to mold it into different shapes, laughing gleefully as the sphere always reverted back into an orb as soon as she withdrew her hands from it. Her eyes had inadvertantly begun glowing again, allowing her to see the dance and crackle of power arcing between her hands into Kaden's energy sphere before a trickle of energy would glide through the air to lace around the couriers own hands, even if he moved them.
"I wonder why it still seems connected to you," she breathed. "I mean, I am the one holding it. Aren't I?"
He didn't say anything, unsure of how to answer her.
After a moment, she spoke up once more. "Maybe its because I'm holding a part of you right here. Your essence. A fragment of your soul," she added, repeating herself with new descriptive terms.
Her companion laughed softly. "That either makes it sound hopelessly romantic or... creepy. Anyway, it might have lingering effects since I was the one that gathered it, but its a mixture of your personal energy and that of the nature around it," he explained.
"Is that why there are energy trails lifting off of it and fading into the sky and ground?" she asked.
"Probably."
"Cool," she noted.
The energy suddenly dispersed as she ran forward a few feet and threw herself to the cold icy ground, leaving Kaden to run forward after her. "What's wrong-" he began, noticing that her hands had lost their glow as well, as had her eyes. "Whoa." He had skidded to a stop directly over her as her hands wiped at the ice beneath them, rubbing away the snow directly over it.
"What is this?" she called out louder. "There's something under here," she added, pointing to a spot further down from her. "Help me clear this away. Whatever it is, I saw the energy of mine flowing down and then through it before I lost my sight."
He knelt down nearby, unsure if this was a good idea or a terrible one. Doing as she asked, he rubbed his hands across the ice, shoveling snow to the side to help clear up the mystery of what was lost beneath the frozen sculpture. "I think there's... It looks like some kind of leathery tarp or something. Are you sure your energy was moving through it? Because then it would have to be alive..." he trailed off, looking at the spot that Ashe had wiped clean.
The ice had covered a large bone structured skull, extending out in a reptillian fashion before curving around to large sharpened teeth. The scaled carapace faded into the snowy ice behind them, betraying something enormous beneath it. "So... let's move," Ashe suggested, pushing herself to her feet and warily grabbing him by his jacket. "Yeah, we should really move. If its alive, my - or your - energy might have awo-"
The ice cracked like an earthquake directly beneath her feet. "Not good," she had time to gasp, noticing that the eyelid beneath the frozen ground was now open and staring up at her. As she turned to run, the ground beneath her gave way as a violent eruption of ice exploded in every direction around her, causing her to lose her footing and drop suddenly as the enormous creature occupying the space beneath the ice was no longer present in its location.
"Gotcha!" Kaden called out, catching her by her hand as she tried to catch the side of the ice while she fell.
She had time to thank him before he hoisted her up to her feet, pointing up at the sky. Her eyes followed, catching sight of what appeared to be a massive white dragon shaped creature gliding through the air above them, circling them but showing no signs of attacking. "Its beautiful," she said for the tenth time.
Her companion looked at her as if she was crazy. "Is everything beautiful to you?" he asked, pointing off in the distance to a cave. "We should get out of here before the beautiful snow dragon decides to eat us. Just a suggestion," he added, reaching out to grab her hand.
A large blast of energy suddenly erupted from the distance, striking the dragon in the sky. The majestic creature roared in fury before retreating to take care of its wounds. The pair of stragglers looked off at a windtorn hill top to see a man standing on top of the hill, staring back directly at him. He appeared to have no further interest in the dragon.
Kaden recognized him immediately. "Ashe, get out of here!" he warned, quickly stepping between her and the fighter.
"Huh?"
Before another word could be said, the combatant vanished from where he stood, his smirk lingering in their memory before he appeared next to Ashe, a black combat boot ripping through the air before striking her across the mouth.
"Ashe!" Kaden yelled, his energy entering into his palms in an attempt to protect her.
Vincent rose to his feet, his eyes moving from the girl that was laying on the ice, a trickle of blood creeping from her mouth, up to the fierce blond male before him. Without a word, he crossed his arms, smirking confidently. Kaden growled back, stepping foward immediately but a blue energy field suddenly appeared, seperating the two of them - leaving Ashe stranded on the side with the assassin.
"Kaden?" she groaned, climbing back to her feet.
Vincent quickly spun, leaping behind her to grab her by the throat and holding her up into the air. She looked helplessly at the barrier as Kaden slammed his fist against it, fading from sight as he was teleported to his own fight. Her own fighter said nothing, merely tossing her hard to the ground before holding out his palm to charge a blast of energy.
She leaped from her feet into a roll, narrowly avoiding the bast as her eyes locked onto the cave in the distance. She had two choices. She could either hope that the cave was enough to lose her assailant, or she could hope to somehow use her basic fighting skills to overcome his obvious training and preparation, possibly taking advantage of the ruptured ice terrain from where the dragon had emerged from its confines.
Either way, she had to live.
"Look," the cream haired girl whispered to Kaden, withdrawing her cold hand from the safety of her jacket. The courier smiled as he realized that it was glowing once more. "I'm not going to try this time," she explained, looking at it like fireflies in a jar. "I'm just going to watch and observe."
The dance of the energy within her palm was similar to that of a luminescent wisp leaping from fingertip to fingertip, surging around in her palm and tracing tiny lines across her flesh in different symbols and shapes. "I wonder what it means," she asked quietly.
Her companion just shrugged. "I doubt it means anything, really. What, do you think its like some alien language talking to you?" he joked, not actually serious.
Her face, however, agreed. "Possibly," she laughed, not sure how to explain it to him.
"You have a wild imagination, Ashe," he announced.
"Yeah, well, there's a lot of things you don't know about me. A lot of things even I don't know about me," she mused, reflecting on the Star's Tear within her mind. Was it some kind of way for the Tear to communicate through her, or was she just pattern seeking, hoping to find comfort and familiarity in things that she didn't quite understand? She finally took a breath and decided that it had to be the latter, as the Star's Tear had been a bit more direct when communicating to her in the past.
Unless it was communicating through her, she considered.
"Here, try this again."
She looked over at him and saw that he had summoned another orb of energy himself, displaying it out for her to look at once more. "Catch!" he suddenly called, tossing it gently to her from a few inches away. She squeeled and cupped both of her glowing hands out without thinking, forgetting for a moment what it was that he was tossing to her.
The ball of energy landed into her hands, harmlessly sitting directly on her glowing palms as she looked at it, her eyes widening as she took it all in. "I'm gonna drop it..." she whispered in worry.
Kaden shook his head in protest and watched her for a moment, deep in thought. "You know," she heard him say. "I think you do best when you aren't realizing what you are doing," he pointed out.
She hadn't even heard him, however. Her hands began to play with the sphere and pushed into it, attempting to mold it into different shapes, laughing gleefully as the sphere always reverted back into an orb as soon as she withdrew her hands from it. Her eyes had inadvertantly begun glowing again, allowing her to see the dance and crackle of power arcing between her hands into Kaden's energy sphere before a trickle of energy would glide through the air to lace around the couriers own hands, even if he moved them.
"I wonder why it still seems connected to you," she breathed. "I mean, I am the one holding it. Aren't I?"
He didn't say anything, unsure of how to answer her.
After a moment, she spoke up once more. "Maybe its because I'm holding a part of you right here. Your essence. A fragment of your soul," she added, repeating herself with new descriptive terms.
Her companion laughed softly. "That either makes it sound hopelessly romantic or... creepy. Anyway, it might have lingering effects since I was the one that gathered it, but its a mixture of your personal energy and that of the nature around it," he explained.
"Is that why there are energy trails lifting off of it and fading into the sky and ground?" she asked.
"Probably."
"Cool," she noted.
The energy suddenly dispersed as she ran forward a few feet and threw herself to the cold icy ground, leaving Kaden to run forward after her. "What's wrong-" he began, noticing that her hands had lost their glow as well, as had her eyes. "Whoa." He had skidded to a stop directly over her as her hands wiped at the ice beneath them, rubbing away the snow directly over it.
"What is this?" she called out louder. "There's something under here," she added, pointing to a spot further down from her. "Help me clear this away. Whatever it is, I saw the energy of mine flowing down and then through it before I lost my sight."
He knelt down nearby, unsure if this was a good idea or a terrible one. Doing as she asked, he rubbed his hands across the ice, shoveling snow to the side to help clear up the mystery of what was lost beneath the frozen sculpture. "I think there's... It looks like some kind of leathery tarp or something. Are you sure your energy was moving through it? Because then it would have to be alive..." he trailed off, looking at the spot that Ashe had wiped clean.
The ice had covered a large bone structured skull, extending out in a reptillian fashion before curving around to large sharpened teeth. The scaled carapace faded into the snowy ice behind them, betraying something enormous beneath it. "So... let's move," Ashe suggested, pushing herself to her feet and warily grabbing him by his jacket. "Yeah, we should really move. If its alive, my - or your - energy might have awo-"
The ice cracked like an earthquake directly beneath her feet. "Not good," she had time to gasp, noticing that the eyelid beneath the frozen ground was now open and staring up at her. As she turned to run, the ground beneath her gave way as a violent eruption of ice exploded in every direction around her, causing her to lose her footing and drop suddenly as the enormous creature occupying the space beneath the ice was no longer present in its location.
"Gotcha!" Kaden called out, catching her by her hand as she tried to catch the side of the ice while she fell.
She had time to thank him before he hoisted her up to her feet, pointing up at the sky. Her eyes followed, catching sight of what appeared to be a massive white dragon shaped creature gliding through the air above them, circling them but showing no signs of attacking. "Its beautiful," she said for the tenth time.
Her companion looked at her as if she was crazy. "Is everything beautiful to you?" he asked, pointing off in the distance to a cave. "We should get out of here before the beautiful snow dragon decides to eat us. Just a suggestion," he added, reaching out to grab her hand.
A large blast of energy suddenly erupted from the distance, striking the dragon in the sky. The majestic creature roared in fury before retreating to take care of its wounds. The pair of stragglers looked off at a windtorn hill top to see a man standing on top of the hill, staring back directly at him. He appeared to have no further interest in the dragon.
Kaden recognized him immediately. "Ashe, get out of here!" he warned, quickly stepping between her and the fighter.
"Huh?"
Before another word could be said, the combatant vanished from where he stood, his smirk lingering in their memory before he appeared next to Ashe, a black combat boot ripping through the air before striking her across the mouth.
"Ashe!" Kaden yelled, his energy entering into his palms in an attempt to protect her.
Vincent rose to his feet, his eyes moving from the girl that was laying on the ice, a trickle of blood creeping from her mouth, up to the fierce blond male before him. Without a word, he crossed his arms, smirking confidently. Kaden growled back, stepping foward immediately but a blue energy field suddenly appeared, seperating the two of them - leaving Ashe stranded on the side with the assassin.
"Kaden?" she groaned, climbing back to her feet.
Vincent quickly spun, leaping behind her to grab her by the throat and holding her up into the air. She looked helplessly at the barrier as Kaden slammed his fist against it, fading from sight as he was teleported to his own fight. Her own fighter said nothing, merely tossing her hard to the ground before holding out his palm to charge a blast of energy.
She leaped from her feet into a roll, narrowly avoiding the bast as her eyes locked onto the cave in the distance. She had two choices. She could either hope that the cave was enough to lose her assailant, or she could hope to somehow use her basic fighting skills to overcome his obvious training and preparation, possibly taking advantage of the ruptured ice terrain from where the dragon had emerged from its confines.
Either way, she had to live.
![[Image: Ashe.jpg]](http://i1017.photobucket.com/albums/af298/symbiosychotic/Ashe.jpg)