A kitten is running around in circles in a tennis court, around the net.  The difference is that the kitten is wearing boxing gloves and running on two legs, also wearing boxing shorts.  A snake with a boxing glove on its tail enters, also wearing a 'boxing skirt'.  The two enter the tennis court and the kitten initiates with a right hook.

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

Then, you awaken.  You're in a wooded area.  The trees seem pretty dense, but in most parts, they aren't too dense to move through.  You look around and it is generously peaceful.  You see a squirell cocking its head at you from a tree branch.

Then, you hear footsteps to your left.  It looks like there might be a narrow clearing in the direction, but you can't see the floor of the area from where you are.

I get up and look around, making sure my swords are with me, then trying to sense for other versers, and my gear using the advice from pollux.

You have your weapons and armor with you, but not the elastic bag with everything else.

When you try to 'feel' your things, you get a pulling sensation from the direction of the footsteps.  You hear voices also coming from the direction of the footsteps and the vector.  You only feel one pull at the moment.

I head toward the footsteps carefully, cautiously.  Hoping to get my things peacefully.  Wondering what type of people reside in this world.

You make your way through the trees, and you see three men in green and brown cloaks around something on the ground.  One is bent over examining it closer.

Then, one looks over at you.  "Michael!  Runeless!"

The one on the ground quickly turns around towards you and pulls his sleeve up.  There are numerous symbols and shapes on it that you don't recognize to any degree.

"Hmm? what are you talking about? Runeless? Yep, haven't got any runes on me, provided the word Rune hasn't changed its meaning in this world.  Might I see what you are looking at?"

I head over there cautiously...

He snaps his wrist and suddenly there's a bow in it.  Then, he brings his other hand up to his forearm and touches a symbol.  By some means, an arrow is there now and he draws it back.  "Stay back, devil!"

A larger man in a brown cloak to his right grabs onto his shoulder.  "Michael, focus.  Think.  Why can you use rune?  He isn't a Runeless."

The man keeps his bow drawn.  "But he's covered in blood!  He's a savage!"  He draws the arrow back more.

"I'm covered in blood because I am a warrior.  I fight, and naturally, those I have killed bleed, and thus I get blood on me.  I fight because I need to.  I fight to survive, who I fight depends, but most of those I fight have wronged me in some way.  Either by attacking me and threatening my life, or killing my friends.  Surely you would do the same, if someone you cared for, such as one of your friends was killed, wouldn't you want to avenge their death against the ones that were the cause of it?  Just recently, my friend was killed because we were forced to be pawns by others.  Then he was killed forcing to defend a place that wasn't his to defend by choice.  So I avenged his death.  And now by other worldly events of which I would rather not describe I am here.  I mean no harm to you, so please lower your bow."

The man who seems to be named Michael moves to the left, releasing some of the tension on his arrow so that it is limp.  You see your bag.

The larger man in the brown cloak approaches you, holding one of its straps.  "Is this yours?  I've never seen anything like it.  I'm Dan.  What is your name?"

Dan's head is partially bald, but he has hair on the sides and back of his head.  You can see the same kinds of marks on his hands as were on the other man's arm.  The marks seem to lead up to his arms, but they're covered by his clothes.

"Nice to meet you Dan.  My name is Avahur.  Yes the Bag is mine..."

I take the bag and put it on the ground an open it.  I scavenge the bag and find my cloak, take it out, and put it on.  (I love cloaks)

"Well, so, what's with the runes?"

"What?  Don'tcha know?  You shoulda been gifted one back when you came of age."  He says with an odd expression on his face, confused mostly.

"Michael, we'll stop at the River on the way to Pior so this man can clean himself up some before sturrin' up trouble in town with his appearance."

Michael grudgingly nods and flicks his wrist, causing the bow to disappear again.  He then puts the arrow in his opposite hand and touches the same mark as before while pushing it into himself.  The arrow seems to vanish inside of his body.

Dan continues.  "What exactly do you want to know about Runes?  It's kind of basic knowledge."

"Well I know a little about runes from some reading back home...not like I really have a home anymore... so anyway, basically, from what I can tell, when you press your hand on the rune it activates and in your friend's case he can form a bow and  some arrows. Alright, but I am not of this world, so I wasn't given any runes at all.  I came... from another place... to put it easily.  A place without runes.  Definitely a different world than this one... So where is this river?"

"The River's right up ahead."  Dan says, and as you listen harder, you can actually hear water flowing close.  "Yes and no about the runes working by touch.  The runes that he was using were container runes.  He keeps the bow in the rune on his hand and the arrows on his wrist.  There are others that are constant for a certain amount of time.  Some runes are activated by thought."

Then, you continue walking and find a clearing.  "There's the River."  He points forward an you see a peaceful river ahead of you, flowing under a sturdy wooden bridge.  "Michael, go ahead to Pior and tell them that I might be a little late.  Go ahead and tell them that we found someone, but leave out the blood.  I'll tell Pior personally."

Michael starts walking off, but glares at you before continueing on.  Dan smiles and says, "Hurry up with the cleaning.  I'm sort of on a schedule."

"That reminds me, there is something I wish to try..."

I gather a bit of energy in my hands and snap my fingers saying the word Flamma.

If it works and fire appears, then I make the fire disappear, and go and take off my cloak, my armor, and I head over to the river.  I put my armor in the river and do what I can to get the blood off.

"Haha."  Dan seems to have an easier expression about him after you use your magic.

While you're heading down to the river, he laughs some and says, "Well, you had me scared there for a bit.  I really thought that you were Runeless.  Which one of the villages are you from, anyways?  And why would you try to trick us like that?"

"Lets put it this way, I have no visible runes, the runes I contain are within me, and can't be seen.  I can do a few things... like this also..."

I concentrate an create some dirt in my hand...

"Eh, oh well.."

I continue to get the blood out of my armor, and when it is out I  create some wind to blow it off, using hand motions and speaking the words to dry it as quickly as possible.  Then I see if it is still wet.  If so, then I create some dirt, put it on the ground, go quickly get some wood, place it on the dirt, and set the wood aflame, then hold my wet item near it to dry it off.  When its done, I create some water and douse the fire, put my armor back on, and go with him to the village.

Dan nods, still confused.  He and the third man stand there amazed as you perform all of these magics without seeming to use any runes at all.

They don't mind waiting for you to finish up, gaping at accomplishment after accomplishment of magic.

Once you put your armor and cloak back on, Dan speaks again, "There isn't any such thing as invisible runes.  I suggest that in front of anyone else that you don't use whatever abilities these are unless you say that you have a rune for each thing that you do."

You see a few people on the side of the River with pales to collect water, but not many on your way to Pior.  You follow the River and you finally see what seems to be an ocean that it runs out of.  Next to this ocean, there is a village made of primarily wood.  People look at you strangely, and parents direct their childrens' gaze away from you.

"Sure, lets continue shall we,  Don't worry, it doesn't bother me that people look at me strangely.  I've been through things worse than that, so whatever.  Oh and for the record, if there are no such things as runes that are invisible, then what should I use for an excuse to explain what I can do.  I could tell the truth but that wouldn't bode well probably... here, lemme show ya something."

I stop, and put my back towards the village.  I put my hand up my sleeve, then create fire with my other hand.

"There, does that look believable as if I had used a rune?"

Then I turn back around and continue to go with them.

OoC: Krillis, (And any others that read this) Avahur trains as much as these guys dance.. http://ninjaworksit.ytmnd.com/  ^_^ Really though, I'm liking this world, and feel its going to be enjoyable here.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:10, Mon 05 Feb 2007.

"You won't have to use any of your abilities here.  It's a ways from the Border Gate."

The two of you finally arrive at a large building.  It has a wooden tile roof, but the tile seems to be a slicker wood than the others.  Somehow, it seems sturdier.  Also, there are two columns at the front entrance that makes you feel that it is made of strong wood as well.  There seems to be only one floor, but there are doubled windows in the front of the building.

He takes you inside a pair of doors decorated by what seem like runes.  Inside, the place is void of runes except for on a large throne-looking chair in the center.  It has runes all over it, and there's a man sitting on it with a beard slanted to the right.  He has a peaceful complection with a bald head.  The man is wearing a cloak over some sort of robe.

"Interesting... so, I assume you are the leader here?"

I ask the guy in the chair.  Not really caring about respect, but treating him as an equal not above or below me.

"Yes, I am the head of this village.  My name is Pior, though I am suprised that you don't know of me.  There aren't many villages to know.  However, Michael has told me some troublesome things about you.  Is it true that you are runeless?  If so, why aren't you trying to kill anyone as of yet?"

You see the man's finger move to a symbol on the chair.  He looks expectantly at you.

"Eh, you probably could understand, but its...complicated.  If you'd like to hear my story, I could tell you.  But you need to supress your disbelief and just trust me.  If I really wanted to kill people, obviously I would've tried on Dan and Michael when I met them.  I mean no harm... so long as my life isn't threatened.  Naturally if you are threatened you are going to defend yourself.

So I can explain my story, and it should explain everything.  But I am going to need you to put your hand away from the rune you are going to be touching on your chair."

"It seems like you're honest about this.  I will allow you to tell your story."  The man on the throne keeps his finger on the rune and smiles some.

"Trust me, I don't need to touch this rune to destroy you if you pose as a threat.  I'll listen to you.  This rune is for seeing if your words are honest, so that you don't try to deceive me."

"Ok, well then, lets get started.

I am not from this world.  I was born in a different universe, with different laws of physics, and have become something called a verser. when I die me and my belongings travel to a nother world until I die, and so on and so forth.  I am not the only verser there are millions I'm sure, I don't know for a fact, but I've met 6 personally, and seen many others.  So I'm sure there are a bunch out there.  Perhaps one ahs been through here before.

Runeless in your meaning and Runeless in my meaning are slightly different.  From what I understand when you come of age you are given a rune or two? and I'm sure you can lose them by some process in which I'd rather not go into right now.  Since I wasn't born in this world, and since I had just died in a previous world I cam here.  And so, voila here I am, I ran into Dan and Michael when I woke up.. and after taking me to a river to wash my clothes, I came here.  I am sure if it can prove whether or not I am lying then I might as well tell you why we were at the river.

Now, I had to wash the blood that was on my armor off.  Yep 100% Human blood.  Eh,  my last world I was forced to be a high ranking military official's pawn.  That is something I really don't like, so I was forced to risk my life, not that it really matters since when i die i am healed and end up in a new world..  But I still don't like it.  So in my last world the place where we were at was under attack.  My friend died... not something you want to see.  A friend of yours being killed.  Not a fun sight.  So I got angry and started killing those that made me their pawn.  And so yep I got blood on me and washed it off when I reached the river.

I'll tell you what I told Dan and Michael.. I'm a fighter, a warrior.  I fight, and I kill its what I do to survive.  When you've already been to 14 other worlds excluding this one, you need to kill to survive.  So I fight.  Sometimes willingly, sometimes because I am forced to.  So i've learned a good amount of skills, and can do a lot.

Yep, no runes on me, so by definition I suppose I am runeless, but since I never had any runes to begin with, I am not, since runeless implies you had runes and they were taken from you.  So since I've never had any, I'm not really runeless.

I can do things that most people can't do, I can make fire, water, wind, and dirt when I feel like doing, as Dan saw me do earlier..  So yeah thats the basic story. next time you want to hear more of my life feel free to ask, wanna see what I can do, just ask.."

The man calmly listens to what you have to say, but then he replies with a stern look.  "I don't enjoy being fed foolishness.  You may stay with us, but only if you can get the approval of another village to stay there.  I refuse to house you in my village.  Dan can escort you to another."

He looks at Dan.  "Make sure he has no choice of fleeing to the Runeless just to fight against us.  Take him to Dekon or even Thanato if you feel like it is needed."

Then, you see a rune light up on his chair and a thin needle flies out of it towards you.  You attempt to move out of the way, but it ends up hitting you in your left shoulder.  You lose consciousness.

The next thing you know, you're with Dan and you're laying on your bag.  The two of you are by the river a short ways from the village.  Dan is washing his hands and doesn't notice that you've woken.

You feel groggy, but you can move.

I lean up looking around then start to speak...

"So, what is so bad about the runeless anyway?

That leader of yours... he should pray...

Where are the runeless? What can they do? What are they capable of doing? How did they become Runeless? And what can you tell me about the other places that was mentioned?"

Dan looks at you with a frown.  "I'd imagine that if you were from here, you'd know who the runeless are.  The runeless are the people outside of Oadia, living in the barren Runeless Lands.  They number in the billions probably, but their total force is unknown.  They constantly try to break through the gates at Thanato."

He slams his fist down onto the ground.  This is the first time you've seen him without a calm face.  He's full of angry passion.  "They are hethans that only want to spread pain and dispair.  Their only goal is to hurt us and steal our precious lands!"

He calms down some to answer your other question, wiping his brow.  "The places that I can take you to are either Dekon or Thanato.  Thanato possesses the gate of Oadia, which is the only entrance into our peaceful lands.  Every able man has to serve in fighting.  Sometimes Pior and Dekon are called upon to assist, but mostly Thanato can handle the runeless.  Dekon, however, is a peaceful place.  They have fighters, but mostly they irrigate.  Either way, you need to get a rune as soon as possible, so that you can be more identifyable as one of us.  I'll leave it up to you which place you want to go."

"How would I get a rune? And what would happen if I joined the Runeless? I'm not saying I am, but hypothetically speaking, if I were to.  What would you/Pior do?  Nothing? Or would you be in trouble for me going off to the Runeless as you were instructed to make sure I don't.."

"There's no way that you would get to the runeless peacefully.  If you threaten to leave Oadia, you will be put to death instantly, or exiled with Blighted Rav.  Since there's only one gate to go through to get to the runeless, it would be quite easily for our men to attain you and kill you.  Trust me, you don't want to go to those savages."  Dan looks serious throughout the entire time he speaks.

His expression relaxes some as he moves to your rune question.  "I will purchase your first rune as long as it's one of the cheapest they have, like a minor capacity rune or maybe an equip rune.  Tell me when you've decided on a place to go, but the Runeless is not an option."

"I'll go to Thanato.  I'm not a fan of dying, so I won't try to join the runeless.  I've died enough times to know its not fun.  Besides, I'm enjoying this world, and I see that I can learn much here.."

"Oh, and in case you were wondering... I'm more of a mercenary, than anything... Keep that in mind, it may be useful to you in the future.  You never know what the future holds.  But enough of this, lets go to Thanato."

You and Dan continue along a thin dirt path towards the direction where you versed in.  You see some bloodied leaves from where you passed by, but the two of you continue on.

After about half a day's walk, you arrive at another 'village'.  Dan calls it a village, but it looks more like a barracks.  All of the homes are uniformly built near eachother in neat rows.  You have to crane your neck at a very large wooden gate that is between what seems to be two mountains.  You feel that if the gate were to fall down, it would crush the village from its size.

Dan nudges your arm to gather your attention and he takes you to what is a larger hut in the front of all of the living quarters.  Inside is a clean wooden floored home.  Dan knocks, and you hear a voice in the back of the home call, "Come on in.  I'm in my study!"

The two of you head to the back of the house and enter a room.  Inside, papers of runes and maps are all around.  There's a man at a wooden desk seeming to write frantically.  Dan touches his shoulder and the man jerks around.  He's wearing short sleeves and has scars on his arm, which are covered by runes.  You also see a large scar on his neck that leads down further, past his clothes.  He shakes Dan's hand, and then yours, looking you up in down with suprise, but still a smile.  "I'm Thanato.  That sure is an interesting outfit that you're wearing."

"Eh, When you travel as much as I have, you pick up armor and abilities often, so I'm not surprised that you don't know it.  I'm a mercenary, so naturally I fight.  I've heard that theres often fighting here, and I figured I might be able to lend my services here.

I'm a warrior, I fight, its what I do.  And I am good at it, since I've heard this place is often fighting with the Runeless, then I might as well lend my services to those that would be willing to accept them.  Of course more details can be talked about later..."

I give a slight gentlemenly bow and continue standing as I was.

Thanato smiles and replies, "Well, we can use everyone we can get when it comes to fighting the runeless.  You seem pretty seasoned, so I can put you in one of my major blocking squads."

Dan coughs to get Thanato's attention and says, "I apologize, Cheif, but I must object.  Avahur is without a rune at the moment, though it doesn't seem like he is a Runeless.  He needs training before he can join fighting so soon.  I doubt that he'd be able to activate a simple capacity rune if he tried right now."

Thanato looks at Dan and nods his head.  "I see, well strike that.  You can be part of our newest unit, currently full of recent recruits.  They know how to work runes for the most part, but they still need some work."  A smile creeps on Thanato's face.  "We can equip you with a rune right now, if you'd like.  Before I became a Chief, I was a runesmith.  It's still a hobby of mine, if you look about the room."

You see that there are a great number of papers with runes drawn on them.

"Well, just because I don't have a rune, you assume I can't do anything.  Now, while I may not have a rune, I can fight, I can do a lot of things... as you saw earlier, Dan...  While I only used them for conventional means they also help when I fight.  Earth, Fire, Wind, Water..  Earth not really, same things with wind, but water and Fire I can use offensively.  I can levitate other objects and myself a bit.. I am very skilled with these swords that I wear, and I've been in a few wars with different military positions in each.  Before deciding where to put me, perhaps you could tell me what exactly runes are good for, and what some of them can do..."

I look around the room and the different runes and such.

Thanato pulls up his sleeve.  "Well, you seem to be skilled in many fields, but I'd rather you get used to runes before you start fighting.  Runes can help you out a lot, unless you get to close to them."

Then, he points at his runeful arm.  "There are simple runes, like container runes."  He touches one, which glows, and he pulls a knife out of it.  "Then, there are modification runes."

On his other arm, he touches a symbol.  The rune glows brighter than the first.  Then, he brings the knife down on it, but the skin doesn't break.  "The mod runes have to be deactivated, unlike simple capacity runes.  There are others, but you can divide many runes into these two classes."

"That one you did there where your skin didn't break... that seems like it'd be extremely helpfull... how much can it withstand?"

"Well, the strength of the runes depends on how much was put into the runes.  Mine is extremely powerful compared to others.  Mine can stand numerous hits from arrows without breaking and can infinately stop almost all bludgeoning attacks."

Then, he leads you outside.  "Now, you have some options here to choose from.  You can either join the fighting force right away by proving that you can compete with five pre-chosen soldiers, or you can go into rune training until you can beat the five soldiers or after at least 2 months.  I suggest that you take the rune training."

"Can I compete with 5 pre chosen soldiers, then go into rune training? and fight the soldiers when I finish or two months?  I'd like to see how well I can do at my current state."

"That's fine."  Thanato nods to you.  "If you'd like, you may rest for a day before competing.  They won't be easy fights.  I can arrange for you to be placed in a training tent for the night.  What's your choice?"

"I haven't done anything currently, so I'm ready right now.  A training tent for later would be appreciated.  Also, against these soldiers, we will all be healed afterwards? So I don't need to hold back my attacks?

Holding back...wouldn't allow me to use my full potential, and that is not what we want.  We want to see how well we can do so...when will I be able to meet them? And when can this get started?"

He smiles again, seeming to be a habbit of his.  "Fine, we'll start immediately.  The team's already assembled for such odd occurances."

You're rushed to a makeshift arena.  It's an area in the middle of the camp covered in sand surrounded by 2 foot 'fences' of wood holding the sand inside.  It is much like a large sandbox.

You stand on one side, and there is one man on the opposite end.  Thanato explains that one at a time the opponents will be brought out to face you.

He says with a loud voice, "The rules are as follows, Avahur.  If you're knocked out of the arena, you lose.  You get a short break between every fight to catch your breathe.  Other than that, you will have to fight them all in a row.  If you're knocked unconscious, you lose.  We'd rather there be no bloodshed, but if there is a death involved, the winner is obvious.  Normally, you would not be allowed to use any runes other than capacity and one ability per round, but you don't have any runes.  Whenever you're ready, step into the arena.  The fight starts as soon as you touch the sand and only ends when you lose by one of the means priorly mentioned or if you give up."

The man opposite you steps into the arena.  He's in a green shirt with brown pants and unfamiliar shoes.  His pants are hiked up slightly so that you can see his thighs.  He has his right arm covered with runes, and a medium sized one on his left arm.  He looks fairly young, and a medium build.

"Alright, that means I can use things that aren't runes.  I'm not going to hold back, but I will try not to kill them."

I walk towards the center opposite of my opponent. When I hit the sand I know that if he charges, I will use my swords and fight, if he comes cautiously then I will attack from a distance with fire and water spells.

I move forward towards him.

He immediately starts running at you, but as he's running, he is tracing the room on his left arm.  When it finishes, he has a buckler of light explode from his right arm and it stays there.  He, still running at you, then traces a rune on his other arm and pulls a sword out of it.

He's almost at you now, a couple seconds until he's within range.

I grab my shortsword with my left hand, and get ready to fight with it, when he gets within range I'll use a fire spell with my right.  If he blocks then I grab my ninja-to and pullit out into him and fight with both weapons working independently, yet in harmony with eachother.

If he comes straight in, then as I unleash the fire I use my left hand attack, him on the left side, if he goes to block that leaving an opening then I use my foot and kick him in the chest, then unleash another small fire spell at him directly.

If he backs off or dodges, then as the spell continues I'll take that brief moment to put away the shortsword, and get ready to pull out the ninja-to, then I'll fight as I always do from then on.

If it starts to go on for a bit, then I'll back off and switch blades to my darker blade, and go for a slice at an angle from the bottom left to the top right.  Then follow up with my sheathe if I think I could get a hit off and it will aid the battle for me.

You pull out your shortsword and raise your right hand to release a fireball.  You see a medium-sized fireball appear in your hand and shoot out at the warrior.  He raises his 'buckler' arm and it fizzes, but still holds.  You think you see it vanish for a moment.

He seems shocked by the fireball, but continues.  He brings his sword down at you as you block with your shortsword.  During the block, you draw your ninja-to and cut him accross the chest.  It's a deep cut, but you know that with treatment that he'll live through it.

He falls to the ground, but fumbles backwards to make distance between the two of you.  He doesn't seem through with fighting.

"Not through yet? Well, this will definitely be an interesting battle..."

I put the shortsword away and grab onto the sheathe of my ninja-to.

Well, I figure I should do fine fighting as I always do, I'll put my sword back into the sheathe, then use all my training and skills with Battoujutsu, and quickly draw it and attack as I have always done.  I will fight from then on, and if he parries the first attack I will follow if with the sheathe and attack in the same follow up motion.  Then from there I will put the sheathe back into its spot, and throw a small fireball his way again.

However, if he finds a way to counter any of that, then I will have to improvise and attack as I see fit.  Perhaps, draw my shortsword out and fight with both weapons, if something goes wrong.  Also, if something else prevents me from doing that, then I suppose I'll have to just rely on my training and do what I can to win.  Since I won't be killing them, I won't use my shadow blade.

He smirks when you sheathe your shortsword and charges you with his own weapon.  He doesn't seem to realize the threat of your ninja-to that is sheathed when he gets into distance.

You strike him again in his already bloodied chest and he falls to the ground.  The buckler vanishes and the man's eyes closed.  He's still breathing, and people rush out to help him.  Thanato also comes and speaks to you.  "That's an interesting sword technique there, but it won't work on the others as well.  This man was one of our less experienced soldiers.  He could fight, but his mind isn't as quick as the others."

"Well, even some of the quciker minded ones may not be able to keep up, I've gotten through plenty of wars doing my own thing, this will definitely be interesting..."

I take a break in the time that I am given and relax, gain back a little bit of spent energy...what little was used for the fireballs, and then when the next soldier comes out, I get ready with my sword in its sheathe ready to attack as I was going to do to the previous soldier.  If he pulls out a bow of some sort, I charge, and as I close in I shoot some fire his way.  I also get ready to hit an arrow or dodge by way of rolling to the side or jumping or slashing the arrow as I see fit at that moment.

The next opponent comes out into the arena.  He has the same kind of sword as the first opponent, but a real buckler.  His armor is around his chest and down to his knees.  The rest of his legs are bare aside from sandals strapped to his legs.  He also has the same type of helmet as the original fighter.

The main difference is the runes on his forearms.  There are also two large ones on his shins.

Before the fight begins, he puts the sword accross his chest and bows his head to you.

After the bow, he bends over and touches the runes on his legs.  The runes glow and he runs at you.

His movements are very quick, and you estimate that he'll be on you in only a moment.

When he gets in range, I quickly draw my sword, and slice across his body, if it gets deflected, or he accepts the hit to counter with his own slice, then I hit him or his sword with my sheathe, depending on what happens.  From there, if he backs up, I put my sheathe away and and summon water on the ground in front of me, between us.

(The ground is Sand, right?)

I intend to turn it into mud, making it hard to move on and keep some distance between us.

If there is distance between us and the above condition can't be met at that time then I will attack his feet with water, then aim for his hands.

Should neither be able to be met, then I conjure some dirt and throw it at him, aiming for his face. He should close his eyes and that will leave me with an oppourtunity to strike, or if he doesn't and sand gets in his eyes, then I can strike, so either way seems favorable.

I keep ready to not take my guard down regardless of what happens.

He comes at you quickly and you when you draw your blade accross to meet his speed.

You feel it deflected off of his chest armor and he's knocked back, hard.  Your wrist hurts a little, but it's functioning.  The force needed to knock him back was quite a bit.

You then follow up with shooting water at the ground between the two of you.  It spreads wide and the floor gets damp.  It turns into mud almost instantly right before he starts to move again.  He moves to your right and foreward.  The mud catches his foot and his foot is stuck in that spot, and stunned by being caught, he trips face first into the sand.

He's trying to pick himself up.

I go over, still ready to shoot fire at him if he tries anything, and I kick him in the face.  I follow it up with getting my sword tip within an inch of his throat..

"Give up, if they didn't want me to kill you, you'd have a sword through your throat."

If something happens before or after I kick him, so that I can't ask him to surrender, I proceed to shoot fire right at him.

You head over to him and kick him in the face.  He falls to the ground again and you put your sword to his throat.

He looks down for a moment, deliberating.  Then, he raises his face and nods to you.  "Fine.  You've gotten the best of me.  But you should be careful.  These people around you aren't all that they appear.  There's something deeper with them."

He gets up and shrugs as the others approach.  His attitude suddenly changes again.  "The others won't be as easy.  Good luck."  He then walks off quickly into the cluster of tents.

They offer you a place to sit again and some water.

"No worries then, I've got more to show, remember, I'm not from around here, theres more to see, and I'm enjoying this."


I walk over and take a seat and drink some water. I then think about sensei for a moment...

*Flashback*

Sensei: "Avahur, quit slacking, you'll never be able to reach the point where I can teach you the ancient style of Hien Ken, with your current attitude.  You and I both know that unless you train every day, your skill won't be high enough with battoujutsu to learn it.."

Avahur: "I know sense--"

Sensei: "I'm not done yet Avahur, listen..  Don't you forget, Hien Ken, is an abandoned technique because it was said to be impossible to master.  I have mastered it, only first by training every day and learning new styles of techniques.  You need motivation, you need determination, and you need above all else, focus.  If you can't focus expertly at the highest levels, you won't be able to improve.  That is why we go through focus exercises every day, and why I've told you to train by yourself, to keep up and  improve your focusing ability.  YOU MUST FOCUS AND DON'T FORGET IT! ........  Now I'm done."

*End Flashback*

Yeah, thats what I need to learn, if I can learn the Hien ken, then I will be able to finally master Battoujutsu.  I wonder if any of the worlds I will visit will have anyone that has mastered it and can teach it to me... ahh well, I guess I'll have to ask a bit now.

When I am back and ready with my energy level back somewhat to normal, I head into the ring and take an offensive battoujutsu stance.

You step into the ring and the next fighter comes out.  He's dressed in the exact same type of armor as the man before, but his shield has a rune in the center and his sword has one going up the blade.

He nods to you and charges, drawn sword in hand.  He's traveling at a normal pace, so you have time to think of a reaction.

I turn the ground in front of me to mud, and then from there, I get ready to strike. I also get ready to shoot fire at him if he jumps, or if he tries something strange.

He charges you and jumps over the mud.

In response, you shoot a fireball at him.  The fireball is large and he brings his shield up in response.  He puts the shield defending his entire body, but gets knocked back.

He jumps up quickly and starts circling around you, never turning his body from your direction.

I create some sand in my hand, with some nice dandlike dirt if possible.  Then As he is circling around me, I create wind with the hand that has the dirt in it and let it fly at my opponent.  I follow this up with a few slashed at exposed areas.  Should he counter, I back up and create a bunch of wind and shoot it towards to ground around is feet, trying to either trip him, or if possible some other effect. Anything would be good right now... besides its a nice test to see what I can do with these elements.

The warrior is circling you still when you cast the sand in your hand (which isn't much) and blast it at him with wind.

In response, he raises his shield to the thrown sand and moves quickly in response.  For a moment, you can't track his counter until his blade is in your shoulder.  Looking at him, you realize that he didn't use any runes and that his reaction was completely his speed.

It's a sharp pain in your shoulder and he looks down at you in the eyes, you having dropped onto your knees.  He asks, "Is the fight over?"

"Not a chance..."

I take my hand and put it up to him as I say a medium level fire spell at point blank range.  I get some distance between us, and do a little fire spell on my shoulder to stop the bleeding. then I get ready to counter..

You shoot a small fireball at him point blank, and it pierces the side of his armor to burn his upper left leg.  The pain causes him to step back, pulling his sword out of you

After cauterising (spelling) your own wound, he's on you again.  His sword is coming in a high stabbing motion.

I back up while concentrating severly on the weapon to levitate it up and away from me, and out of his hand if possible, if not, then away from me at the least.

OOC: The dice love you, lol.

You use your levitation spell to knock back his sword.  Unexpected, his grip is loosened and it flies out of his hand behind him.

The other warrior is also stunned for a moment from the use of your magic and the suprise of losing his weapon.  He's stunned, his shield not protecting his right side for a moment.

I seize the oppourtunity, and quickly attack him several times in his opening.  First I slice with my sword towards his exposed area going > way, then I reverse the blade and swing it back < way.  If he goes to the ground, I put my hand in his face, and ask him to surrender, I also say that should he refuse, he will be severely burned.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:04, Thu 22 Mar 2007.

You slash his arm outwards, but as he's falling to the ground, he pushes his shield to block the second attack.

When you put your hand on his face, he doesn't respond at first and moves his shield so that he's leaning on it.  "Congratulations, I honestly didn't think that I'd have to use this against you."  You look down at his hand on his shield and see that it's touching the rune.

Before you can react, a blue light pushes outwards from his shield and you fly backwards, landing on your back.  For a moment, you black out, but you sit up to find that he's just picked up his sword and he's waiting for you to get up.  His shield's rune is still glowing a powerful blue.

"Not bad.."

I get up and put my weapon in its sheathe, with my hand on it ready to draw it...

"One moment, I've got an idea... lets see how well you can fight me after this.."

I concentrate a moment, and I change my gear and my equipment to match the colors of my surroundings...(Or I change it to a clear color if possible, but clear isn't really a color, so if that not possible, then to the colors of my surroundings...)

Then I change his armor and equipment to different colors, violet, pink, blue, orange, yellow, anything really.

Once that is all done and if we are still at a stand still, I get ready and then say...

"Shall we...?"

OOC: Botch...

You change the color of your gear with ease.  The limit that you can change it is that you change your legs the color of the sand and your upper body a shade of green, like the trees behind your half of the arena.  The other side has mountains.  There are tan tents that are different from the color arranged around the arena as well, to disrupt your camoflauge.

Then, you attempt to change the other warrior's armor colors.  They start changing, but then you lose your focus in the process and fall to a knee from exhaustion from the attempt.  The exhaustion and failure hit you when you started to try and change his shield's color.

Impatient, the other warrior holds his sword out, "Enough, prepare for defeat, stranger."  And he charges at you.  He'll be on you in seconds.

I get up and look at him as he comes towards me...

I attempt to push his sword to the side, with levitation, using verbal components, and then draw my sword to attack him, or parry if the levitation fails.  While drawing my sword to parry I follow up with my sheathe to hit him.  If my sword connects then I bring up the sheathe to hit his sword weilding hand.  If his shield blocks my sword, and the levitation works, then I hit him with the sheathe, if it fails, then after the parry, I use my leg and kick him in his kneecap area.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:10, Sat 24 Mar 2007.

You rise, but the warrior is already in front of you with his sword coming down at you.

You can barely stop his sword with the levitation spell, but it isn't hit to the side.  Still, you're bought enough time to draw your sword.

He's stunned and you bring your sword up to parry his sword and you bring your sheathe up, hitting him in the gut.  He doubles over and falls on his knee.

"If you intend to beat me, I hope you have better tricks up your sleeve...  I haven't had to use this against a new soldier ever before, but you're different."

You feel yourself pushed back by the same force of the shield as before.  After he does the repulsive move and you raise to see him, he is wiping his forehead of sweat.  You can tell that the technique takes energy out of him.

He touches the side of his sword with runes on it, and the sword glows green in the center and red on the edges of the blade.  "Come at me."

"Alright.."

I take a few moment to cath my breath and prepare myself, then I pull out a shuriken, and use Shurikenjutsu to throw it and have it come around to hit him in the face.

Then while the shuriken is in the air, I charge at him.  When I get close I draw my sword and attack him, ready to parry and counter as needed.  If we get some distance between us, I use a fire spell to attack him.

You take a moment to catch your breathe and throw the shuriken.

You charge him and the shuriken flies past his head, beside his face.  It doesn't even touch him.  Then, you draw your sword when you get within striking distance.  He pushes his shield towards the attack, and you put a long scratch on it, as well as knock the shield sideways with the force.

He kicks you back and brings his sword down, even though it doesn't have enough length to hit you.  Then, it glows redder when it comes to your level and a line of the red light shoots out towards you, putting a hole in your right shoulder.

The pain is devastating and you fall to a knee.

"GAhh.... eh, that hurt a lot... bloody 'ell"

I back up slowly putting distance between us, if I get a decent distance away, and he doesn't attack, I concentrate and get ready to attack, I teleport to the side of him, and when i get there I turn and attack him.  If he attacks at any point I parry and counter-attack.

You try to concentrate, but the pain is overwhelming and you can't focus clearly.

Still, you find some focus and manage to teleport right next to him and turn to his flank to attack again.  He's caught off guard, but your aim is low when you feel more pain from drawing your blade again into him.  He gets a light wound up his right arm from the attack.

After he's hit, he starts a spinning motion with his shield on course to collide with your face if you don't move.

I get out of the way and  shoot a small water spell at him.

You roll backwards to avoid the shield, and shoot a water spell at him.

Before it reaches him, he points his blade out towards it and it evaporates in thin air when the power from his sword hits the spell.

You start feeling a litle light-headed from the wound in your arm, and the warrior speaks again, not continueing his attack.  "If you don't accept defeat now, I won't hold back anymore.  I'll aim to kill."

"I surrender."

I get up and go over to shake his hand.

"You area a skilled fighter, I'd like to ask you a bit about some of the runes you used.. after I take care of this shoulder wound... hold on."

I go over to my bag, retrieve my artifact, and use it to heal me and my shoulder back to normal.  Then I put it away and head back over to the fighter...

"So, what put the hole that was in my shoulder? That seems like a rather useful rune..."

He shakes your hand and nods at you.

While you go over to use your artifact, he sits down and you see him touch his runes.  They deactivate at the touch.  In his seat, he is surrounded by some other soldiers, but they quickly disperse.

You head over to him, after the artifact completely heals your wounds.  You're still a little tired, but not very.  The other warrior seems more tired now than while he was fighting.

When you ask him about his sword's rune, he tells you, "This rune is a flame rune with the extension rune coupled with it.  However, I've had it modified so that the flame stays constant and condenses more for the release.  I use more energy over time, but it works quicker than having to touch the rune every time.  That's the same with my shield.  So, how did you disappear and reappear next to me like that?  Do you have a special speed rune or invisible rune on you somewhere?  It seemed like you had numerous runes to use those powers, but I never saw you activate them."

"Honestly, I came here to aquire a rune or two, since I haven't got any right now.  I'm from a place where runes don't exist, so as I grew up, I never recieved any... But I got training in other means through my travels.  I was able to disappear and reappear like that, due to some training a friend of mine gave me.  Here, this is something I teach a lot of my allies through my travels.  We are both a bit exhausted right now, so later try this out.  Concentrate some of your energy into your hands, cup them, and say the word, 'aqua'.  Something might happen, something might not... if done correctly it should do something like this..."

I cup my hands and say water and when water fills up in my hands I show him then splash some on my face.  I also make sure my armor and such is returned to its regular color.

The warrior's eyes widen when you create water in your hands.  "That's amazing!  I've never seen anyone actually do anything amazing without a rune somewhere.  Well,"  He zones out for a moment, recalling something.  "At least, I haven't seen anything like that in Oadia."

Sweat forms on his face and he grows pale a little, but snaps out of it in about half a minute.  "Well, we should get you some runes, then.  If you want, I can talk to a runesmith to see if I can get you one right now.  I'll buy one for you, as payment for the skill you've just taught me."

"Ok then. Out of curiosity, whats your name?"

I go with him towards a runesmith.

He smiles some, but still looks suprised at the fact that you don't know his name.  "I'm Dolor, son of Eumus."

The two of you talk more as the two of you walk towards the runesmith and you discover that Eumus used to be the chief of the northern village, now named Thanato.  Eumus was chief back when it was called Eumus.  It seems that the villages are named after the current chiefs.  You get the feeling that he despises Thanato and is in a deep rivalry of Thanato's son.

Dolor seems to be in his mid-twenties.

When you reach the runesmith, he introduces you, "Tarn, this is...  What is your name again?"  He asks you.

"My name is Avahur, pleasure to meet you."

I give a slight bow after I say my name, and I let Dolor continue talking.

The two of them talk a bit more and then Dolor touches a rune on his calf and pulls a small bag out.  He puts it on the table, and the smith gives him a curious look.  "You're not planning on paying in THAT are you?  Take that to the collector, and pay me afterwards."

Dolor rolls his eyes, "C'mon.  You know the market these days.  It's just after the battle times and it's too crowded.  We can be fair, right?"

Tarn shifts some, but then nods, gesturing at one of the many scrolls on his wall.  They all have runes on them.  The only part of the wall that they don't cover is a door into a room behind him.

Dolor looks at you, "So, what kind of rune do you want?  I'm willing to buy you a few capacity runes or even a minor ability rune.  What're you interested in?"

"A minor ability rune would be nice, I get into battle quite often, so any abilities that can aid me, during or before, no matter how small, they would be quite helpful.

What type of abilities are there?"

"Tarn, why don't you give us a list of what you can do for minor abilities today?"

Tarn looks around the room for a moment, then pulls out two lists from underneath the table.  Dolor turns the lists around and puts them on the table for the two of you to see.

The ability list is a rather short, and is as follows:
Speed Burst
Force Increase
Sharp Hearing

The other list is about body effecting runes.  They range from changing the color of various parts of the body to growing and even changing the material that one is made of.  It has reckomended prerequisites for some, like one called the Stone Skin, which reckomends that you become light-weight and have a strength increase during.

"How fast does one move with the speed burst, and could you explain force increase?"

Tarn answers, pointing at them as he speaks.  "The speed burst will make you move quickly for a very short amount of time.  It's arguably a body effect rune, but I am short on minor abilities, so it's with them on the list.

The force increase is much like the speed burst.  It's usually located on the upper arm to increase the force of a sword stab or even hand to hand combat.  I'd reckomend that you don't couple the two in the same rune or part of the body."

"Interesting... Curiosity... while I don't have any currency of this world, might I be able to teach an ability of my own in exchange for a rune?

Here, allow me to demonstrate what I mean..."

I concentrate a small amount of energy into my hands and snap my fingers to produce a small flame, while thinking the word flamma...

Then after a couple seconds, I disperse it.

"Something like that perhaps?"

Tarn looks at you with an awkward expression.  "Well, if you can prove to me that it doesn't involve a rune, I'll take that deal.  That's what we smiths deal with-the buying and selling of power."

Dolor takes some small objects out of his bag.  They're black, and it has a round bottom with two sharp parts on the top.  You can clearly tell that they are teeth.  He puts two handfuls on the table.  "That's how much I'll put towards what you want, Avahur.  Feel free to deal how you like with Tarn.  I won't get involved unless I hear some foul play going on."

"well, how would you like me to prove that I am doing it without a rune?  Dolor could you try what I told you earlier?  It is something similar to what I just did, but involving water.."

If Dolor can't do it, then I create water in my hands..

"See?  Its rather nifty.  Would you like me to take off my upper armor and show you I have no runes to prove that I am not using any?"

Dolor is unable to summon any water from his hands like you could, but you can fill your hands easily, which splashes onto the floor.

"It won't be needed for you to show me that ability shirtless.  We can work out a way to prove yourself easily after we come up with an agreement on your purchase.  Now, what are you interested in?"

"Well, what can you tell me about the placements of runes on the body?"

OoC: Krillis, what type of body runes are on the other scroll?

Among the runes, there are some that change the composition of parts of your body (the skin changing to stone).  Other runes change your physical abilities, like an increase in strength or speed.

The runes that most stick out to you individually are: flying, invisibility, and a rune that makes you able to phase (walk through objects).  Those three are marked differently, at higher prices.

"How long to runes typically last, once activated, and what can you tell me about the Flying, Invisibility, and Phasing ones on here?"

"Those runes require special craftsmanship that take a long time to complete, usually hours to re-check and take up a large amount of space on the body.  The runes are designed to last as long as possible.

Almost every rune, unless specifically modified, have a limit on how long they can remain active to not cause damage to the body.  Once runes are activated, they aren't deactivated until the user deactivates them or the user is completely exhausted of power by them.  This loss of power has a 100% mortality if the user is drained of power.  That is why we have the limits on the runes."

"I would like one that could make my skin formidable, so if it were hit by a blade it would do little or none, or atleast do quite a bit less damage than it otherwise would have.  I'd also like one of those 3, atleast 1."

"Well, those are quite expensive.  It'll take more than a little fire or even that water to buy these off, even with the teeth.  I'll give you the Stone Skin rune, but it'll also have to be mixed with the feather weight rune.  The fee increases because of combining them as well.  I'm not sure you'll even be able to afford that."

"Perhaps, a little fire or water... is nothing really.  Dolor and I just had a small skirmish, trust me, I can do quite a bit more than just some fire or water...

How about... levitation? Dolor... the surprise on his face when his sword didn't come in, that was pretty funny.  Here, might we step outside and I do a small sample of what I can teach, and from there we can bargain and such."

Tarn nods at you and Dolor looks interested.  His eyes wander for a moment, as he realizes what you acatually did.  Then, he smiles.

The two of them follow you outside and wait for you to impress them.

"Well here are a few small things for an example.."

I create several flowers in my hand, change them to white with a red center, and then levitate each of them in the air.  From there I produce several more and levitate them into the shape of a door.  Then I open the door, and close it.

I use my right hand while doing this.  Then I keep them levitating, and create fire and burn the flowers, then shote water on them to douse the flames.  I produce some sand in my hand and then create wind and blow it over the smoldering flowers, then I create and dump dirt on top of that.

After that I close my eyes for a little bit and teleport about 15 feet away. then turn around and walk back..

"Well?"

You complete all of the tricks, but get caught up on levitating the flowers, generating the sand and wind, and it takes you a few attempts to teleport.

After you show them everything, they stand in awe of your accomplishments.  By the end, some people have thrown round, delicately carved blocks of different colored wood on the ground at you.  A crowd is also gathered around.  You count eleven blocks total at the end: two blue, four red, and five white.

Tarn is still in awe, and he says, "I believe that we can work something out."

I pick up the blocks and walk inside with Tarn, after politely bowing to the bystanders.

"Soo.."

More of them try to come inside, but Dolor stops them at the door so that you and Tarn can do business.

When you are inside, he offers you a deal.  "If you exclusively teach me those techniques, which means that you teach me and only me, and for the teeth, I will give you one of the major runes and the combination of stone skin that you need.  Do we have a deal?"

"Sounds good, before that though, what are some of the major runes?"

OOC:  He was referring to the three-flying, phasing, and invisibility.  Also, I am on AIM again.  Woot...  (I apologize for using such a term.)

OoC: Oh, in which case...

"In detail, would you be able to inform me a little more about the Flying, Invisibility, and Phasing runes?  I know by name what they would allow me to do, but to what extent?  How far and for how long would I be able to fly?  How long would I be able to go invisible, and is it completely invisible?  What would I be able to phase through? Everything? Sword slashes and the like?"

"Flying is in the extent of your stamina.  Your invisibility is the same, and yes it causes complete invisibility of you.  With training, you can cause it to make other objects on you invisible.  To do that would require more energy.  Finally, phasing...  If the objects are still, it takes less energy to do than if they are moving.  For example, it is harder to phase so that an arrow doesn't kill you than it is to phase through a wall.  The same principle for other things phasing applies as it does with invisibility."

"How much would the stoneskin fortify my skin?"

"That all depends on a combination of the runesmith's skill and the user.  It can range from rubble to solid as a mountain.  I can guarantee that it will be hard enough to put up a fight against an arrow, though.  And you won't bleed nearly as easy."

"Ok, I'd like Phasing then.  So, phasing and Stoneskin then.

Also, if I also, in addition to what I've shown you, if I also exclusively teach you some advanced fire and water attacks, would I be able to get one of the other minor ones?"

"We can discuss the extra runes after you teach me those, agreed?  If you want me to do the runes now, follow me into the back room."

He grabs a key and three books from under the desk.  Then, he unlocks the room, signaling for you to follow him.

I follow him into the backroom.

You and he walk into the back room togeather.  Inside is even more pictures of runes on the walls, but they're poster-sized and in much more detail, even about the measurements and degrees of them compared to the human body.

He takes out a piece of rope with hashmarks on it and says, "If you would, I need you to take your shirt off and tell me where you want the runes."  He goes through a drawer inside of the wall and takes two poster-sized drawings out.  One would take up a half of one side of your torso and the other would take up 1/4 of an arm or leg.

"Would I be able to activate it through my clothing?

I'd like the other on my upper arm." (Beneath shoulder, above elbow area.)

He nods.  "The activation of the rune is the feeling of it in your skin.  If you can picture the rune on your chest, without seeing it, and feel the shape, then the rune will activate.  It usually has to be completely traced by beginners, but eventually one touch or even no touch will activate a rune.  Take your shirt off if you're ready.  Also, I need to know where you'd like the phasing rune."

"Do you deactivate it the same way that you would activate it?"

I take my shirt off..

"I'd like it on my upper front torso."

"To deactivate a rune, you must stop feeling it.  Now, you've never had a rune done on you before, correct?  Well, I need you to remain absolutely still during this."

He takes out a red hot knife out and shows it to you.  Also, he has a piece of black chalk and a piece of wood covered in cloth.  He puts the cloth-covered wood in front of your mouth.  "Would you like me to tie you down for this?  It will hurt more than you might be able to bear and you need to remain still."

"I've felt a lot of pain before, but you might as well just in case.."

I let him tie me down for this.

He straps you down to the table by your neck, arms, upper arms, legs, stomache, and upper legs.  He tests the movement and you can't even move anything but your hands, feet, and head.

Then, the process begins first on your chest.

He does a process of cutting flesh with the searing hot blade and then putting the chalk in afterwards.  The pain is more excrutiating than you've ever experienced, but you bite down hard and are able to barely move at all.

OOC:  You receive a Resist Torture/Pain of 1@1.

It takes half the time for him to finish your arm, but you can't help to scream out in pain during it, even though you're biting down on the bit.

After it's finished, it still stings horribly, but the wounds are filled and deep black.  They still burn from the black chalk.  The man says, "Don't use the runes, but try to remember where it burns specifically.  It might be hard to sleep tonight.  Good luck."  He lets you up.

"... I've been through worse... trust me... ever have limbs severed, and get really close to death? Bah this is nothing..."

I grab my gear and get up..

"Can I put my shirt and armor back on now? Or should that wait a bit?"

He says that it will increase the pain, but that it won't effect the runes at all.  They're almost permanently embedded into your body now.

You're fine to move around, but he still doesn't recommend rigorous physical activity or it will multiply in pain.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:32, Mon 26 Mar 2007.

I Put on my shirt and hold my armor and continue out despite the increased pain, and I clench my teach as needed, and grip my armor tightly as well if needed...

You're in constant pain as you walk out.  The crowd that had been watching is gone now, only with Dolor at the door.  Dolor looks at you and nods slightly.  "I can hardly imagine how bad it was to have runes that large as your first two."

He offers to carry your things for you, and on your way out the door, Tarn calls out, "Come back here in a few days when the pain stops.  I want to check on those runes and get the rest of my payment."  He sweeps the teeth into his own pouch and you see that Dolor's bag is gone back into his body.

I turn back and nod, then continue with Dolor carrying my armor...

When we get back to Thanato I see if any conversation sparks...

When you and Dolor reach Thanato, he shakes both of your hands.  "You did well, Avahur, but you can't expect to beat one of our best."  He smiles at Dolor, who returns one half-heartedly.  You almost feel like there's a hidden glare behind it.

Dolor says, "I'm going to go back to my camp now.  Bye, Avahur, until we meet again."  Before you can answer, he slings his shield over his shoulder and heads off.

Thanato offers you a cup of water, and says, "It looks like you went to get a rune early.  That's good.  I have a training unit for you to start in.  Because you just got your runes, you can have a few days of recovery before you start.  Do you want to head over to the unit now?"

Gritting through the pain I know I'm feeling...

"Yes, I'd like to go see them now, but I will definitely need to recover a bit.  I als need to return to the runesmith, tarn in a couple days to finish the payment for this one rune I got...  So before I start, after I recover. Let's go see the unit.."

He helps you carry your things over to a tent personally.  He tells you along the way that this and the three other tents around a circular arena all belong to the specific trianing unit.  This new unit is just currently being instructed in rune use and basic combat, at least with a sword and shield.

He introduces you to the instructor of your unit, a man with many runes on his forearms, shield, armor, and sword.  The man is very old, retired from soldierhood.  He is known as Captain Guile and you are put in his charge by Thanato.  Thanato tells you that you have to get his permission before being allowed to rest.

"I have to get his permission? Dang, this is worse than the last 4 times I was in the military... Bah, the way I go up and down in rank is rediculous.  Thanato, the stories I have are quite interesting indeed, I can understand when I start to request permission, but for the enxt couple days, I need tor est and go do my own thing before I enter under his comman fully.

Honestly, I've been a general of a large army, captain in another army, I've been in stealth units, recon units, I've been in 3 or so wars before, and now I'm a grunt again... ahh well...  I'm going to go rest, in a couple days since I have a couple to recover first before I start I'll start taking orders under him.  For now, its been a pleasure.."

I bow and unless anyone says anything, I go off to the tent and try to get some sleep and some rest.

Thanato stops you, grabbing your painful arm.  It stops you in your tracks.  "I'm not interested in your preferences, but this is completely volunteer to be in this training.  I was only trying to save you from embarassing yourself in front of real soldiers, but if you don't want the runic training, then I can have you put in the front whenever you're up to the task."

He stops for a moment, "And when you're in the front fighting the runeless, I don't care if you get yourself killed disobeying orders, but you'd best not come back from such a battle with all of your companions dead.  Which path do you want to take?  Do you want to be a soldier in a few days or train first?"

"Bloody 'ell, fine I'll go through training first." When do we start?"

"That isn't my choice."  Thanato leaves you there with the other commander.  The older man directs you towards a tent.  You can hear laughing coming from inside, and you look around to see that it's turning night.  Fires are starting to be lit in the middle of the units.

I walk into the tent, "Why, hello there, who might you be?" I say to the people laughing in the tent when I enter.

When you enter the tent, you're greeted by three suddenly silent men.  They look at you, seeming to expect you to say something.

All of them seem younger, maybe 17 to 19 years old.  But still, even though they're young, they seem strong.  You can easily tell, and they all have the same rune on their forearms.  Other than that rune, they have a few other different ones on other parts of their bodies.

They continue to stare.

"What? Haven't seen anyone older than you in a while? Or do you find it odd that I'm suddenly here? Well, which is it? No reason to be silent and staring..."

The others shrug and after you speak, they make room for you to sit down.

Once inside, you find that the tent seems twice the size that it did outside.  There's an empty corner of the tent with a floor cussion and nothing else.

After another moment, one of them gets up to introduce himself to you.  "I'm Hezenora, people call me Hezy, though.  Who are you?"

"My name is Avahur, a pleasure to meet you."

Hezy seems to have just noticed your paleness and clear pain, and he gestures you over to the bed.  "I guess you're the new guy here.  Let me go through the list quick.  The guy with the brown hair with the runes on both of his forearms is Kiah, and the quiet one with the big one on the inside of his left hand is Nomen.  Do you want some help getting over to your bed?  I can only imagine what kind of runes you must've just gotten.  Are you rich?"  He puts his arm foreward, towards your back, as if ready for you to lean on him for support.

"Not really... yeah I could use some help getting over.."

When I do get over, I take my shirt off and such and give my body a break and lessen the pain without having my shirt on.  I then proceed to get some rest, which I doubt I will be able to get, so I'll talk and such while semi trying to rest.

You lay down and everyone in the room walks over to you except for Nomen.  He goes to his own bed and lays down.  They look at the runes on your chest and arm when you take the shirt off.

Kiah finally speaks up to you.  "Wow, I've never seen a rune so intricate.  It must be pretty valuable, but I'm just some kid from Dekon.  I wouldn't know about high-priced runes like that..."

The conversation continues like that for a while, them talking about your rune.  Apparently, Hezy knows a little bit about runes, but not enough to draw them.  He only really knows a few symbols on capacity runes or the symbol for power on weak strength runes.

After a short while, they head off over to their own beds to sleep.

I proceed to try and go to bed, if I can't get to sleep for half an hour, I burn some energy levitating myself to a hover slightly above the ground, then I head to sleep since I should be too exhuasted to do much else.

You find yourself asleep in only about fifteen minutes from when you start to try.

Then, a dream comes to you almost instantly.  A shadowy figure with messy hair down its face charges at you.  You can tell that it's human, but it disappears before impact.  This continues, until you're alone in the middle of dozens of them.  You feel like an army of these men are around you, and you hear a high-pitched screeching noise.  The others around you fall to their knees, holding their heads.

The noise persists for you too, and you wake.  It's still peircing your skull, and it's so bad that you don't feel the pain from your runes.

I grab my head (if I'm not already doing so) and I try to shake it off.  If I can't, then I will it away, and recall countless battles from my past and have the ring of metal on metal fill my head rather than the sound.

You try to contain yourself and get rid of the pain in your head.  After you focus on the clashing of metal, you find that the sound has left your mind and you're fine again, the pain from your runes coming back to you instead.  You feel sweat in contact with them, making the pain constant on them.

You're sweating all over from it, but you find that light is starting to rise outside.  The others are still asleep, but they're also sweating and shaking some.

"HEY GUYS! WAKE UP ALREADY!!!"

I yell, and shoot water at them all, and do whatever else is needed despite the pain I know I'm feeling, and such.  I then head outside as they start to stir and assess the situation out there.

Due to your loss of focus due to pain, you have to try the spell twice before you shoot a shot of water right over in Hezy's face.

He jerks awake and shouts, "Hey, what was that for?!"  The noise wakes the other two up and they look at you for an explaination.

"You're sweating and shaking in your sleep, so I figured I'd wake you all up, its not healthy, you all get a strange dream like I did, and suddenly hear a loud screeching noise?"

As I say this I turn and head outside.

Hezy replies to you, calming down some.  "Everyone gets that dream when they're this close to the front.  I don't know anything about that screeching, though.  I've never heard anything like that.  Are you sure that you heard it?  Did anyone else?"

He looks to Kiah then Nomen.  Both of them shake their heads 'no'.  "Maybe it's just that it's your first time here and everything.  The dreams take some getting used to, but I've still never heard any screeching in the weeks that I've been here."

"Thats not healthy, neither is shaking and sweating, you might want to consider preventing that or something, it could very well slowly be killing ya,  nice tactic they've got going on their, slowly killing their enemies through dreams, not bad of an idea.. well excus me reaction then, but I heard a piercing screech in mine, and everyone around me fell to thier knees grabbing their heads.  Well, if thats the norm for you guys, well... not a fun way to live around here..."

"Hrm..  I've never had any dreams like that before, but I've heard of some people with weird dreams before.  I still don't remember anyone ever saying that they've heard screeching, though.  Do you want me to introduce you to someone who's had different dreams than the rest of us here?"

Hezy is still the one speaking, but now he's getting up and putting on his clothes, then some light armor.  Nomen goes back to sleep, but Kiah gets up slowly to do the same as Hezy.

"Yes, that'd be great."

I go over and put my shirt on, again to feel the pain heighten some more, but only because I don't want to feel like showing off a major rune and such.

After the three of you get ready, Nomen still laying down, you head outside.  Hezy and Kiah put on their armor, but they recommend that you don't, due to the runes.

They lead you to a nearby tent.  It has four people in it too, all of them doing the same thing.  Hezy wispers to you, "Don't wake the others up.  They need their rest for training."

He goes over to a man and kicks him in the side softly.  He nudges the other man until he wakes up.  "Hey, Slank, wake up already.  I've got someone who wants to talk to you."

He wakes up and rubs his eyes, focusing on Hezy.  Then, Hezy and Kiah walk out of the tent.  Hezy looks back at you and wispers.  "Remember to be quiet.  Don't wake the others."

"Well, hello there, I've been told that you have had strange dreams different to the others around here... ever hear a persistant screeching noise?"

He rubs his eyes a little more and sits up in his bed.  He doesn't seem to have any special runes.  He has the normal capacity rune on his right forearm, but he has one on his left shoulder too.

"My dreams are a little different than the others.  They all say that they're being attacked constantly by one of the runeless, but in my dream, the a runeless seems guilty about something, but only chases me around.  I'm never attacked, but it still scares me.  It's almost like being on the front with the runeless, so I hear.  I don't know about any screeching, though.  I've heard rumors, but only about that Rav guy down in the Blight."

"The Blight? Who's Rav, I'm new here, so I'm not sure what you're talking about.."

"Rav used to be a soldier up in this village.  It turns out, though, that he was one of the Runeless' children snuck accross a river.  He's the furthest into our society a runeless has ever gotten.  He even almost went to the front, but we discovered that his mistalent with runes was more deep-seeded than just his lack of skill.  Now, I'm not sure how old he's gotten, but he's been banished out of the green into a blighted region south of the river, in the south-eastern part of Oadia."

"So, what type of Rumors have you heard?"

"Well, Rav woke up every night screaming crazily from the dreams.  He never claimed to have any dreams at all from the runeless.  He just heard a loud noise as if something was screeching inside of his head.  Some people think that it's because he's one of the runeless...  Something about them trying to use a psychic attack on someone with the same kind of thing exiting his own body.  I'm not really sure.  Something about the two conflicting to cause pain instead of just fearful dreams.  You haven't been hearing the screeching, have you?"

"I have...  thats probably not a good thing... well thanks for your time, I've got some stuff to take care of... later.."

Slank waves you off, but says, "Yeah, no problem.  I generally know things around here.  If you need any information, just come to me.  But be ready to pay next time."  Then, he lays down and goes back to sleep.

"I will..."

I head off and find a place to meditate for a while and just think about everything that has happened through my versing adventures and about what might happen, I think about the fun times at the academy and how much I enjoyed it there, and if there was one place I'd go back to it'd be there.  I think about the worlds I've spent a lot of time at, such as the Greek place, and I just generally meditate on nothing and everything for a long time...

Your meditaion brings the pain on you down greatly, and you begin to feel the more fine-tuned locations that the pain is at.  You can almost visualize the complex symbols through the feeling alone.

After a while, you see people start to come out of their tents and gather in the circle in the middle of your unit's tents.  You see the captain standing in the middle of the circle and remember that his name is Ourano.

I conecentrate a bit more on the rune and how it owuld look based on where the pain is, then after a bit and if I can feel what it might look like successfully, or not, I head over to see what the captain is talking about.

You feel like you can visualize the entire image.

When you head over to Captain Ourano, he looks you up and down and says, "You're already out of bed in one night?  I'd imagine that you'd still be resting from such runes, especially if they're your first.  Are you sure you want to train with us today?"  You see all of the others in a line in front of the captain.  There's a space on the right side for you to stand, between Nomen and Kiah.

"Hmm, yeah I'll pass today, I've got a few things I need to take care of..."

I head back over and meditate for a few hours.

You head over to the side and meditate for a few hours.  You notice when you're done that the others find it very strange to close your eyes and focus for periods of time without trying to activate a rune.  Once they're on a break, Hezy and Kiah head over to you and ask what you were doing.

"I was meditating, its very good for concentration, and it helps me relax. YOu might consider trying it sometime..."

I continue to meditate for a bit, then I tell them I've gotta go head over to the runesmith.

Once I'm there, I tell him I'm here to teach, and repay him for the runes.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:50, Sun 01 Apr 2007.

They are still confused about the concept of 'meditation', but they say that they'd like to know more, after the training is over.

They start again with the captain, and you leave the camp to visit the runesmith.  It's harder than you thought to navigate the forest of tents spread around, but you finally find the runesmith, who seems to be anxiously waiting for you.

When you arrive, he greets you with a wide smile.  "Come in, come in!  I cleared all possibilities of being busy today.  Please, let us begin!"  He has a thick piece of paper and what looks like black chalk.  The man is looking at you, waiting for something.

"Well, before I teach ya something, I'll explain it all first.  But before I start explaining come join me in a wallsit.."

I go over to a wall and proceed to wallsit... "Trust me on this.."

"First off, I'll go through some basicl easy things that shouldn't take long to teach you.  I'll start with conjuring flowers, and changing the colors of items, such as the flowers.  After that I'll go into levitation.  We'll work on that for a little bit, and then I'll proceed into Fire and Water.  Fire will be as I showed you, producing a small flame and water, will be creating some in your hands.. Quite useful.  The purpose of the wallsit is for me to see how much endurance you've got."

After I finish explaining the wallsit, I wait about half an hour more explaining meditation, and why it might be important, and some good things that can come from it.

If he falls down during my explanation, I tell him not to worry about it, and I continue explaining.

If he manages through the entire time, then I congratulate him on it, and proceed.

After all the explaing has been done.  I teach him how to create flowers, and change their color, then how to levitate them.  I have him work on this for a while and provide any tips possible to help him through it.

When you go over and offer a wallsit, he shakes his head.  "That is foolish.  Is such a thing needed for these magical skills?  If not, please just proceed on with the lessons."

He seems a little arrogant, but by his physique, you doubt that he'd be able to keep up a wallsit for very long anyways.

"You think it's foolish? Fine, be that way."

"Then here, I'll show you something that you should be able to do quite easily. Put a little energy into your hand, snap your fingers, and say flamma as you snap your fingers.  Then cup your hands, put some energy into them and say aqua.. Start with that."

He looks at you questioningly, but tries once.  Nothing happens.

As you talk to him, it seems that he doesn't understand what you mean by 'energy'.  He hasn't heard of the term used when it comes to magic or runes.  He says, "It's clear that you know how to do this, but I need to be able to do these skills before our deal is final.  How do you expect to pay if this doesn't work?"

"It'll work."

I take a deep breath..

"Here try this, it'll help.  Concentrate on your hands, forget all you know about runes for a while and take some of your own energy that you use to fuel your body.  You know how when you are out of breath you breathe in and out repeatedly, most likely you used up a lot of energy, and eating and sleeping, and time can help restore it.  Concentrate some of your own energy that you would normally use to bang a hammer, or punch with your arm, and keep it in your hands.  Just before you would punch, you store energy in your arm to bring it forward.  Its just about how well you can bring forth some of your own energy.  Don't get me wrong, it can tire you out very easily if you don't practice.  That's why I do such manevers as before, to keep my endurance up and allow me to expend a lot of energy before my body collapses in need of rest.  It helps.

So try to gather some energy into your hands, as if you are about to snap your fingers, but not quite yet, you can gather some enrgy in it, then snap them and say 'flamma' at the same time.

Try it."

After your extended lesson on energy manipulation, he puts his hand out and continues to try, being met by failure.

Finally, after ten minutes, he gets a small flame started in his hand, that blows out quickly.  You have a feeling that it was a fluke success, but his eyes are wide with suprise that it worked.

"Like I said, it will work, you just need to practice.  There is a saying, 'The more I practice, the luckier I get.'  It is somewhat interesting, everyone is skilled in what they do, but when it comes down to fighting, is it skill? or is it the more practiced you are in your trade, you are just luckier than the beginners...  I suppose that is where beginners luck comes from.  But no matter, you made a small flame.  With practice you will get better.

Now again gather some of your energy and concentrate it into your hands.  Do what you did with the flame, except cup your hands and pour some energy into them.  Emotions I've seen play a role, when you are angry you tend to not have much control of how much energy you put into it, but it proves that it can be done.  This one time I taught this water creating one, and it didn't stop for like 10 minutes.  That was interesting, but that was in a place no one will ever see again, so it doesn't matter.

Pour some of your emotions, like anger or frustration into your hands, keep them cupped and yell 'aqua'  it should work, practice it you'll eventually do it.  While you practice I'm going to be meditating, so practice and see what happens."

He still doesn't actually understand what you mean, but you can see him trying to get angrier as he cups his hands.

He closes his eyes to focus, and he shouts out the spell into the air.

His hand fills with water, but it doesn't overflow.  His eyes widen at his success, and after he throws it down on the ground outside, he picks up his notebook and writes some notes about the spells inside, nodding some to himself.  Then, he looks back to you.  "Okay, if you would, continue."  Just looking at him, he's starting to sweat and his breaths are heavier.  You can tell that he's getting tired.

"we should take a little break, you need to rest up a bit.  Trying to do it when you are exhausted isn't good, it decreases your chance of sucess, even when I'm tired I can't do it as well.  I can do it, sure, but not as well or as easily as I would have been able to do otherwise."

After a small break I go on to explain creating flowers and changing colors.

As the two of you are talking about the next two spells, he takes notes on what you say about them.

After a couple of hours, he seems to have enough energy and tries them out.  He's barely able to summon a common weed in his hand, and he can't change the colors of anything.  After only that, he says, "I'm sorry, but we have to continue this another time.  I'm exhausted."  He gives you the paper and pen.  "Can you write down the rest of the spells that you know, and we can do private lessons another time.  For now, I have to rest."

He gestures towards the door.

"Sure hold on, I'll write them down."

I go and write down how to do the other spells and some tips and such.  I also do a little note as a reminder...

~P.S. Meditate when you have some free time, you'd be surprised what it can do for ya.

I go in and explain a little about meditating.

I then hand him the paper and pen and proceed out the door to find a place near camp to meditate.

When you head over towards the camp, you find a nice tree that you can sit in the shade under.  Once you're there, you attempt to center yourself and meditate.

Slowly, you find yourself delving into your body, but you feel as if you hit a brick wall in the middle of your focus, and you open your eyes.  You hear a ringing noise again that reminds you of the time in the tent, but it isn't to the point of pain.

You see the camp and it looks as if the training time will end soon, but people are still training with their units.  You can see your unit.  They're all touching runes, tracing them fully.  It reminds you of your own runes, and you're in pain again.

I attempt to ignore the pain and focus on my runes and what they appear like and how they look on my body.  I continue to meditate so that I have the design memorized as well as I have my fighting styles memorized.  I just sit and meditate...

You delve into your meditation once again, but after a few moments, the ringing in your ears starts up again.

After only a second longer, the piercing pain from the night before is present and the ringing blocks out any senses that you have.  You are forced to close your eyes from the pain in your head.

I lay back and relax for a bit, perhaps take a nap, and after a while, or when I wake up, whichever comes first, then I continue to meditate fervently.

After a few moments of breathing and relaxing, the pain in your head is gone.

Then, you start meditating again.  This time, when the ringing starts, you notice the feeling of something reaching out to you.  You feel a pulling sensation and pain in your head.  Then, your head feels thick and like you're falling, until you feel as if the world just formed around your body.

You open your eyes and it appears to be night, but things don't feel real.  There are shouts down a path to your right, but everywhere else there's forest.  A small boy all of a sudden appears before you, but there's too large a shadow over him to see any features.  He points down the path but stays speechless.  In the same quickness that he appeared in, he vanishes.

I nod and start walking down the path with my sword in hand ready to draw, I get a good look around the area in which he is sending me too, and I also create some water and throw it on my face...

When you start walking down the path, the screaming stops, and as you look around, the movements of the world seem to be backwards.  Then, you finally come to a clearing that looks familiar.

It looks like the river that you saw when you came into this world and took a break at.  There are huts all along it, unlike what you saw.  It seems very populated with people at the river laughing and working: men, women, and children.  They all seem to have a tan skin tone.

You look around and there is no bridge.  Then, things start to go through time normally, foreward once more.  You see a light flash and soar into the sky on the other side of the river, and people in armor are running atop the water accross, swords drawn.  Everyone on your side of the river looks curiously at the coming attack.

I shoot forth flames at the oncoming soldiers then activate the stoneskin rune and charge in ready to kill, and I go crazy on them... just like after Pollux died...

You try to shoot the flames, but right when they reach the other soldiers, the world around you collapses.  Before it's gone, you already submerge into Fury and you awaken to someone shaking your shoulder.  He's in the same armor as those in the dream and your body moves with the fury.

You draw your sword and the unsuspecting man is slashed accross his throat.  He gurgles some, but holds his throat.  He can't make any noise, and his eyes are fixed on you.  You recognize him.

It's Hezy from earlier, the one who introduced you to the others in the tent.  You look around and you see that it's dark, and that you must've been out longer than it seemed.

I quickly reach over into my bag and grab my triangular device, and I place it in his hand and activate it for him.

The device activates normally and you see the wound on his neck heal.  He takes his hand off of it and looks at you more firmly, getting up quickly.  He touches his neck repeatedly, blood still all over his right hand and neck.  "Wh-Why did you just do that?  And how did you help me?"

Then, Hezy shakes his head.  "Anyways, the Captain was looking for you.  It was getting late and he was worried that you got lost or something happened."

"I reccommend not waking me up again, as you can tell, bad things may happen, and leave how I healed you to yourself.  Its a secret, consider yourself lucky, normally I wouldn't have helped ya, consider a thanks for showing me to the guy in the tent."

I put the device in my pocket and grab my equipment, then head over to find the captain.

The two of you head back to the camp area, and Hezy heads back inside your tent.  You hear laughter in there when he enters.

Captain Uran is in the middle of the training area for his unit.  When you approach, he's in his armor and he puts a hand on your shoulder.  "Avahur, I can tell that you're stronger than Thanato seems to be able to tell.  I'm thinking of training you personally on how to use your runes.  I am under the understanding that you might know the basics of using your runes.  If you can prove yourself worthy in combat, I'll train you personally at night.  That is, if the pain from the runes isn't too much for you."

He walks to the other side of the circle in the middle of the training area and puts his hand on his sword, ready to draw.  "If you accept, charge me now."

"See I'm not that familiar with using runes, but I fight as I do... don't expect this to be easy..."

I put my hand on my sword and I charge and draw my sword into a slahs and if it gets parried follow it up with the sheathe, then fight from there...  If distance is put between us, I attack him with fire.

When you charge him with your sword, you draw it towards him, and he pulls his sword out and knocks it to the side.  The force catches you off guard and your sword falls out of your hand to the right.

Before you can take your sheathe into your hand, he attempts to hit you with the blunt end of his sword; however, you're able to grab it before it makes contact.

You're currently holding the hilt of his sword, which is partially sheathed.

"Not bad...."

I put my free hand forward.

"We should probably back away from eachother, fire at close range, isn't wise for the person on the recieving end of it."

If he starts to back up, I also do, but keep my hand held out towards him, if he tries anything I cast Incendo, then when we are a decent distance away, while keeping my hand towards him, I use my other hand to levitate my sword towards me.

If while levitating, he attacks I cancel the levitation and attack him with fire.

Then I continue to levitate it over towards me.

When you try to convince him to back away, he attempts to backhand you with his right hand.

You instantly cast Incendo and send a shot of fire at him, which knocks him back two yards and on his back.  As he flies back, you keep his sword in your hand.  He now only has his sheathe and severely burnt armor.

"Didn't believe me? Never underestimate your opponent, you should know this, its what I taught my troops when I was in charge of lets see... a thousand? maybe more or so at once.  All of which a friend of mine and myself personally trained.  When you underestimate your opponent, you get careless and are prone to stupid mistakes, such as what you just did."

I take the sword and put it in my left hand (assuming its in my right hand)  and use my right hand to levitate my sword over to me.  While I do this I don't take my eyes off him, with the exception of a very quick momnet to locate my sword on the ground.

You easily levitate your sword over to yourself, and Uran smirks some.

"You've shown me a taste of your power, Avahur.  Don't think that the sword is my only weapon.  I'll show you the power that I have, that we have.  This is what a rune can do!"  Uran rolls up his sleeves.  You see two runes on the top of his forearms, and he crosses them.  Then, the runes glow, and he begins to charge at you.

I back up and shoot water at the ground in front of me, then get ready to parry and attack with my swords.

You jump backwards to shoot the water out in front of him, but Uran closes the distance between you faster than you anticipated.  You barely wet the ground in front of him, and you wet his legs.

He continues to run through it, and his runes finish, his forearms and hands becoming stone, an inch thicker than normal.  He balls his right hand into a fist and punches into you.  It takes both swords, his in front and yours behind, to stop his attack's momentum.

You slide back a couple feet from the force, but stay on your feet.

"Not bad, strengthening and stone..."

I get enraged and enter a fury and charge and attack him.

In the deadlock, he smirks at you.  However, when you start to enter your fury, he backs away.  His face becomes serious and he says, "That is no way to fight, boy.  I'll have to end this if you get out of control.  I apologize for having to knock you unconscious with these arms."  He hits his arms togeather, and you charge.

You attack him with a constant barrage with his sword and yours, while he blocks the attacks with his stone arms the entire time.  Finally, you manage to slash him in his upper arms, and he frowns.  He knocks both of your swords down with his right arm, and then his left arm comes up into your chin.

Then, you black out.

Hezy, Nomen, and Kiah are above you inside of your tent when you wake up.  There's a piece of cold cloth on the bottom of your head, where you were hit.  Your weapons are to your right, and you see Uran sitting down at the foot of your 'bed'.

"Hmm?  I assume you won then... hehe  I figured that wouldn't of worked, but it was good to try against a skilled opponent...  Atleast it ended, if I was woken up from a rage while I was asleep some bad things could've happened, eh Hezy?"

I look around..

"So why knock me out?  I enter a rage for like what 10 seconds- 20 tops and I wake up in my tent?  What up with this Captain?"

"I wasn't sure how long you'd be in that state.  Sometimes it can last quite a while, and sometimes the inexperienced can't pull themselves out."  He smiles and stands up.  You see that his sword is back in his sheathe.  "Besides, you'd proven yourself before then.  I'll start teaching you how to control those runes, as long as you promise not to go into a fury during the training."

"I won't, its a protective fury rather, only recently developed.  I often end up fighting wherever I go, and so more times than not I have to be able to fight strong opponents, or multiple opponents, and there is a lot of stress.  So entering a fury allows me to put the stress aside and just focus purely on my opponents, and not have to worry about the results... provided I win.  The way it was looking I was going to lose... I hate losing, more times than not, you lose, and you die.  And believe me, dying is not a fun experience.  When shall will we begin...?

I usually only enter it to protect myself and kill those who would seek to harm me.  Don't worry I won't use it during training."

Captain Uran starts heading outside.  "We can start tomorrow during the unit's break, or we can start tonight.  You won't have to train with everyone else, just show up in the break and at night.  The training, if you're as quick a learner as you look, should be pretty quick."

"Tonight it is then, I'll see you there."

I rest for a little bit, then get up and leave if the others don't say anything.  If they say something I tell them to follow me and speak to me on the way, as I head over to a place where I can train my magical abilities.  Starting with wind, then earth, then fire, and then water.

You feel renewed, even though your jaw is a little sore.

The others decide to stay behind and sleep, because they have to go to training the next day.  Uran meets you outside and he asks what you know about runes, before he starts teaching you.

"From what I've seen and heard, they can be activated by touch, or you don't have to touch them if you've got it perfectly memorized.  How true the latter is I'm not sure.  But I do know that I've got a rather large one that's going to be interesting to learn how to use..."

He nods.  "Runes activate by feeling.  It's what the chalk does inside of your flesh that's magical.  You have to feel every part of it exactly where it is on your body, which is why it hurts so much the first couple days.  Now, take your shirt off for easier access to your runes and try to activate the smaller one  by tracing the entire rune with your finger.  It may hurt, but you need to experience this."

I do as he says and remove my shirt and then try to activate the smaller rune.

You trace the rune with your hand over and over again, trying for an hour.

Finally, after another half an hour, you look down and the rune and see it start to glow.  Then, you notice that part of it isn't glowing.  You feel your skin hardening and you see it start.  At first, nothing's wrong, and then you feel the weight kick in.

You feel your rock-hard skin sliding against your bones and muscles, and drop to your knees from the weight.  You can even feel your face falling down, and your nose breaks.

"Well... this isn't... whatever..."

I, while on the ground concentrate a bit ignoring as much pain as possible, and move my hand over to my nose and put energy into my hand and attempt to heal it.

You are barely able to raise your hand up to your face.  You see that your skin, which is rock, drooping in your hand.  Your nose starts to feel fine from the healing, but you fall to the ground more, unable to move.

You can feel the skin on your head falling to the floor, and it feels like your skin is going to split open.  Uran is standing over you.  You can tell that he's making noise, but the rock skin covering your pained ears muffles any words he might be saying.

I try to relax and take my mind away from here to better days in an attempt to forget about the pain.  I reminisce on the Academy, and back in the greek place... and the fun times I had...

You try to focus on good times, but you're overtaken by the pain that you're feeling.

In a short time, the pain starts to numb and you feel weaker and weaker, and the last thing you see is your rock-hard flesh falling from your face.

OOC: You're dead.