A choice to be made
"Harder!"
"Harder!"
"A little bit more sweetie it's almost there."
"Ahhh! perfect."
A womens sweet voice resounds through out the southern part of the land of fangs. She sounded excited as she directed Dusk's movements on how to please her.
(Hiss) The sound of hot steam being created followed moments later as Dusk quenched the sword she has just made in water. Wiping the sweat from her face Dusk lifted the sword out of the water and looked at the pristine white blade that reflected her face. Phi stood beside with a gentle smile on her face as she watched Dusk admire the blade she had put so much effort into making.
Soon Dusk finished looking at the blade and decided to store it away. She projected her magic outwards and created a black magic circle. She put the blade inside the storage magic circle and dismissed it. Leaving Phi's workshop Dusk sits outside and creates a block of ice in order to cool herself down.
Outside of the workshop was a flat grass land that had few trees. The trees gradually disappeared as you moved to the West, or East but increased in amount as you traveled North. The sun was constantly beaming down on the land giving the area a hot climate.
As the girl unwinds outside Phi begins to put away the equipment they had finished using. As she lets the fire in the forge die out she begins to question her protege.
"Is there something wrong?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"You're a good liar."
In response to the phoenix's words the girl opens one of her eyes and looks inside of the workshop. The Phoenix continues to work as she talks. Her movements are graceful as she lines up the blade that Dusk had finished making with her other creations.
"You've been going into the forest at night. When you forge you waver before you finish your work. And when you do finish you have a look of resolve. I don't know what you are planning but please don't do anything stupid."
"You're not going to try and stop me?" The girl doesn't even bother to deny Phi's statement as she continues to relax.
"No I know that if you do something it's usually for a good reason. Just please don't forget that if something were to happen to you Twilight and Dawn would be upset."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Phi smiles as she just continues to clean up her workshop. She was worried about Dusk but chose to let her do what she was planning. If she failed in whatever she was doing oh well. You learn from your failure's not your successes.
-------------------
In the center of the land of fangs the figure of a little girl sat on a tree branch looking at the moon. Her black hair was tied in a bun and her face was expressionless as she stared at the celestial body.
"Are you here to try and talk me out of this again?"
The girl spoke to seemingly no one as she continued to stare at the moon. As if in response to her question a figure suddenly materialized from the darkness.
It was talk and slender with a cloak made of dark feathers hiding it's body from view. It looked feminine with flowing black and porcelain skin. On it's face was a blank white mask that his it's face from view. The presence it gave off was otherworldly and uncomfortable made the few birds perched on the tree beside Dusk fly away to escape the women.
"Would you listen?" She asks her words soft and quiet but filled with authority.
"No I wouldn't. My mind is made up."
"If that were so you wouldn't have allowed me to make the connection to you."
"I simply wanted to confirm that when this is done you will take care of her."
The women moves to the front of Dusk and looks her in the eyes. For a time either of the the two speak. The simply let silence dominate the surrounding for a time before breaking it's hold.
"It's strange to make such a request for someone you claim to hate." The women notes her voice giving away none of her thoughts on the matter.
"Do I have your word?"
"Very well." The women states as she stands up to her full height and speaks. " I swear upon my name as the Matron of Ravens should you kill your target tonight I will make sure to treat her with the utmost care as I help her pass on."
As she finishes speaking Dusk closes her eyes and sighs in relief. "That's good." She says with a gentle smile. "Now I don't have to feel bad."
When she once again open her eyes they now are blank with no emotion in them. Learning forward Dusk let's herself fall off of the branch. As she descends she grabs a different branch of the tree and uses her momentum to flip and stand on top of it.
Summoning a bow into her hands she makes an arrow out of black ice and nocks it. She draws back the bow string and takes aim at her target who obliviously continues her stroll through the forest.
See the girls actions the Matron of Ravens says nothing. She looks at Dusk one last time before disappearing form where she once stood leaving the girl to carry out her personal mission.
As her target continues her walk through the forest Dusk continues to watch her. Her eyes were like that of a predator watching it's prey. Once her target is in position the girl let's out a breath and fires her arrow.
"(9.)" She thinks internally as her arrow makes contact with her targets shoulder. The women's surprised grunt is heard as the arrow pierces flesh. Her look of surprise quickly turns to anger as she rips the arrow out of shoulder and immediately looks for her attacker.
She spots Dusk's figure quickly and growls as particles of light begin to come off her. Before she can complete her spell however a magic circle appears bellow her. It shine illuminates the darkness as it cancels out her spell and stops her from closing in on the young girl. Before she can even comprehend her situation she if forced to duck in order to avoid another arrow the Dusk fires twords her.
"(8.)" Dusk thinks as she lets loose two more arrows at her target. To avoid them the older women is forced to take cover behind a tree. Even with her line of sight obscured Dusk continues to fire arrow after arrow forcing her blue haired opponent to rush out of her cover and begin weaving in between the trees in order to approach Dusk.
Unfortunately as she does another magic circle appears below her and explodes. Jumping up to avoid the explosion she has to tilt her head in order to doge the arrow that nearly found purchase in her face. This was seemingly expected as the arrow cuts a wire behind her and causes arrows to rain down on her from crossbows that were hidden in the trees.
Instead of panicking the women draws in a breath and let's out a roar. The shockwave pushes the arrows away causing them to land harmlessly on the ground. Before she can celebrate a follow up arrow from Dusk catches her in the left thigh. Landing on ground the women once again growls. She quickly tears out the arrow out and snaps it in half.
"(7,6,5,4.)" Dusk continues to count even as she shoots at the women trusting the noise cancelling barrier she had set up in advance to stop others from being attracted to the event. Even with an arrow in her thigh Dusk's adversary is stubborn. She continues to dodge or swat arrow out the air as she approaches Dusk. While she does this however Ice begins to creep up her body from both her shoulder and thigh slowing her down.
Reaching the branch where Dusk stood the women Lept upwards coming face to face with Dusk. At that moment moonlight shines through the branches revealing Lupa's face as she glared at Dusk. Letting out a cry the women performed an axe kick with her right leg aiming to hit Dusk in the head. She fails however as Dusk leaps backwards out of her range.
Her kick continues it's path regardless and lands on the branch breaking it in half. "(3)" Dusk thinks as magic circle appears on both half's of the branch and attempt to skewer Lupa with lances of ice. Unable to react the she-wolf let's out a cry of pain as the icicles pierce her only remaining good leg and arm.
Refusing to give up however she grits her teeth and lets out a burst of magic from feet. The shockwave both propelles her towards forward and shatters all of the ice that had begun to creep up on her body. Clenching her fist she sends out a punch at Dusk who hastily makes a shield of ice to defend herself. It does little however as Lupa's punch shatter the shield and makes contact with the girls stomach.
The force of the punch causes Dusk to spit blood out of her mouth and go rocketing through the forest. As she makes contact with the ground she skips like a rock on water a few times before coming to a stop. She catches her breath coughing out a few mouthfuls of blood before having to roll out of the way of Lupa's foot that aimed to crush her head.
Springing to her feet she summons a kunai to her hand and throws it at Lupa's face. The ruler of the forest easily catches the weapon and looks at the girl mockingly. "(2.)" Dusk in response closes her eyes activates the seal on the kunai causing it to erupt in a large explosion of light. Lupa is blinded and beings to flail around wildly. See her opportunity Dusk draws a knife from behind her waist and rushes at Lupa as fact as she can.
"(1.)" She thinks as she swings the blade at Lupa's neck intending to take it off. It was not ment to be unfortunately as Lupa catches her wrist and holds her in the air. Lupa snarls at the girl as the ears atop her head twitch using them to track the girl via sound. Twisting Dusk hand she forces her would be assassin to release the knife. As the knife begins to fall to the ground Dusk instead of losing hope smiles and catches the knife with her other hand. The weapon becomes covered in a black aura as Dusk with the rest of her energy stabs Lupa in the stomach."(0.)"
The she-wolfs mouth turns into an O as she releases Dusk and stumbles back. Removing the knife from her stomach she drops it an kneels as she looks at Dusk who shakily rises to her feet. Blood leaks from the girls mouth as she glared at Lupa with a venomous look that wishes for her death.
"I didn't teach you Hel." Lupa stated a confused look on her face as she wonders how Dusk learned the technique. Hel was the third of the Fenris clan spells and involved changing magic to necrotic energy. It was the most dangerous of the spells because if the cater failed to control it they would likely kill themselves.
Dusk simply glared at her and stated a simple sentence.
"You shouldn't have hurt Dawn."
Just like that it made sense to Lupa. In order to make sure Dawn remembered his failure to use slepnir she had used a weakened form of hel. It wasn't enough to kill it was just enough to inhibit Dawn's healing factor and leave a mark. She only used it for an instant and it had been subtle enough that no one should have been able to sense it if they didn't know what they were looking for.
It seems that she had underestimated Dusk however. The reason that she was skulking around in the forest since that day was probably to lay this trap and in order to practice hel. At this realization a laugh bubbled out of Lupa's throat. The sound was horse and her lungs hurt because of it but she laughed regardless.
Her red eyes landed on the girl who had stuck a dagger in her and her face split into a large grin. It was disturbing. Her mouth looked like it was about to split in half and her eyes seemed to have a glint of madness in them. Placing a hand on her wound she opens her mouth and orders the world around her.
"My body never went through this battle."
To Dusk's horror she watches as Lupa's words become truth. Lupa's arms and leg that were once pale from her ice spreading across them once again become a healthy pink. The skin on Lupa's stomach that was beginning to crack and turn black now slowly healed until it was as if it was never damaged.
Lupa stands up and her smile is all teeth as she looks at Dusk who looked angrily at her.
"How?" She questioned grounding the question out through gritted teeth.
"Loki is the most powerful of the Fenris spells for a reason. Twilight uses it to change their form and genetic structure whenever they shift but that's only scratching the surface. If Loki can be used to change magic power into death energy and open holes to the astral plane why can't it change reality itself?."
Dusk eyes open wide as she realizes what Lupa's words imply. "Fuck."
"Indeed. As long as you have enough magic you can alter anything. Life, death, gravity, weight all moldable into any form you like. The only problem is that you can't make things from nothing and the more radical the change the more magic it cost. I can only do this type of thing once every 20 years. Even despite this once you master the technique even gods will fear you."
Lupa explains all of this to Dusk a triumphant looks at her face as she looks at the girls downcast expression. "Kill me." She states her tone inflection less. She knew the risk when she came to try and kill Lupa. She wouldn't run now that she lost.
"Why would I do that?"
"I tried to kill you."
"So? I always expect one of you three to try eventually. Though I am surprised it was you. It's always the quiet ones I suppose."
Dusk scowls at Lupa who tone is playful despite the situation they are in. There was none of the savage rage she had shown during their fight. The women was strangely happy as if she had been given a present. She walked to Dusk and sat down beside her as she began to speak.
"Centuries ago clan Fenris was slaughtered by an Lich turned god named Venca. I survived and trained so that I could take revenge. I dedicated my life to becoming strong enough to kill him but by the time I was The bastard had already been sealed away by the prime deities. I was angry at my prey being taken and attacked the gods."
Lupa looks up at the sky and continues her story. "I lost and was sealed here as a consequence."
Seeing Dusk look surprised at her words Lupa snorts. "What you think I stay here because I want to? It's so boring here." Shaking her head Lupa continues her tale.
"The gods put wardens here in order to make sure I didn't escape. They are the rulers Each of the rulers are devout followers of certain gods. Seriyu serves Bahamut god of dragons, Phi serves Pelor god of the sun, Kanshou serves The Matron of Ravens goddess of death, and Byakuyo serves Kord the god of combat.
I've tried to escape many times but I couldn't. Eventually I accepted my fate and began to believe that I would never have my revenge on Venca. I befriended the Rulers and they tried to make this place feel like a home instead of a prison. Despite their efforts however it didn't change the fact that my clan now had no chance to be avenged."
At this she looks into Dusk's eyes and smiles. " At least that's what I thought until you three. With you talent it's only matter of time until you become strong enough to kill the bastard should he ever poke his head out of his prison."
"So what you won't kill me because you think i'll kill Venca for you out of thankfulness?" Dusk questions snorting at Lupa's foolishness.
"No you'll kill him because Twilight and Dawn will try." Lupa grins as she responds to Dusk's question. She watches the girls blood run cold as she realizes what Lupa means.
"Dawn loves me and sees me as his own mother. He'd jump at the opportunity to help me. Twilight on the other hand while not as attached to me does feel like he owes me a favor and would definitely go along with it if I asked. And like the dependant child you are you'll follow. With all three of you together the bastard won't stand a chance."
"Damn you." Dusk states doing the only thing she can in her situation and cursing the she-wolf.
"Hate me all you want you know it's the truth. Even if you kill me Twilight and Dawn will simply be angry at you and kill Venca in my memory. No matter what happens to me Venca dies that is all I care about."
Lupa leans forward her face only inches apart apart from Dusk's. "Now you have a choice to make girl."
"Either continue trying to kill me and possibly succeed robbing your siblings of all the power they could have and send them off to kill a god unprepared. Or learn from me and become some of the strongest in the world, Stand beside your siblings and face down the lich with them."
"Now then vicious little bird. What will you choose?.