• Closed • [Storm's Edge] Light it up

[Elisabeth Black]

67 Vhalar, 720.

Loosening up in the courtyard, Elisabeth considered the events of the night before. The unexpected visit middle of the night visit had been…interesting. Pushing those thoughts away for the time being, now was the time to concentrate on what needed to be done. She was painfully aware that while her sword training was going well, she was behind in things like strength, endurance, running, and jumping – the more agility-oriented skills that would complement her weapons training. Luckily, the answer had presented itself a few trials earlier. Praetoreum…or Prae, had been training people at Storm’s Edge using various skills related to Defiance...or with Defiance. Elisabeth had a very, very loose understanding of the discipline due to her association with other mages that wielded the same power. She didn’t know much…but enough.

In this case, he was going to help her train up some of those pesky skills she had been neglecting using Defiance.

Elisabeth could admit to herself that Defiance was fascinating. The only element she had witnessed being used thus far was fire but was aware that one could use water, air, and earth too. She wanted to do further research into the subject, but time had been limited and there was much to be done.

As she waited for him, Elisabeth continued to stretch, wanting to make sure she was as prepared as possible to meet whatever challenges he had in store for her.

[Praetorum]

Something about an immortal given deadline had lit a fire—no pun intended—under the population of Storm's Edge. Knights, wardens, volunteers and mercenaries alike had all started frantically training after Ilaren's announcement last trial, preparing for the final battle against the nickels at the end of next cycle. 



A few had approached Praetorum for help, and he had, with very few exceptions, agreed. He'd hit something of a rocky point in his own training where he wasn't sure where to go next—there were always basics to be polished, of course, but it was slowly becoming apparent that his core combat skills couldn't improve without a challenge, and those were harder to find than they used to be. His hope was that helping others train might give him some ideas; and even if not, nothing but good could come of making sure the others were battle ready. 



With everyone in a frenzy of training, there were plenty of sparring partners to go around, so Prae had elected instead to take inspiration from a rharnian staple: the gauntlet. He hadn't run it—honestly, he had a feeling that an obstacle course designed to train the agility of humans would not physically be able to fit him in places—but he'd watched more than a few squires go through, and thought he had a decent grasp on the idea. It was designed to test and hone the most fundamental physical skills, which would serve them well no matter what, and somewhat reminded Prae of his own time as a fresh recruit in the legion. 



Well, he couldn't replicate either the gauntlet, or his own legionnaire training—flow despised being static, and refused to hold on to anything unmoving for more than a few moments—but he'd come up with what seemed to be a fairly useful course all the same. 



Prae padded out into the courtyard, three empty buckets in one hand, and three outdoor torches—each about five foot long with a spike that could be set into the ground— in the other. Seeing the Elisa had already arrived, he made his way over to her with a smile. "Good to see you again." He said, gesturing for her to follow him. "Everything been going well for you?" 



He began to make a lap around part of the courtyard, alternating between placing down the buckets and the torches at even intervals. "Relieved to know we won't have to deal with the nickels for almost two cycles?" When he put down a bucket, water would appear and grew between his claws, flowing into the buckets until they were full; when he placed a torch, a flame would flicker to life at the brush of his claws.  


"So, what sort of training are you looking for, exactly? Or are you just trying to improve everything you can?"

[Elisabeth Black]

67 Vhalar, 720.

Her warmup was cut short by Prae’s arrival, turning just in time to see him stride into the courtyard. He was known to be a tough instructor, but she welcomed the challenge. On that particular trial, Elisabeth was feeling a bit different. It was hard to explain but recent events played a part. Her evolution from what she had been to what she was becoming was rapid and the learning curve steep. There had been many along the way that had gone out of their way to help her and she was immensely grateful to them. She was beginning to feel more confident in her abilities but with that came the responsibility to recognize which areas she needed improvement in. That was where Prae came in.

Striding over to follow him, she replied to his question with a smile. “Things are going well. Thank you for asking. I had a surprise visit last night by a dreamwalker I know so the trial is starting off on a good note. It’s always good to see him.” Elisabeth didn’t feel the need to elaborate further beyond the fact that she was in a good mood. ”I’ve noticed a lot of people madly training in the past few trials. I do appreciate you taking time out of your schedule for this. Truly.”

It was then she realized she’d failed to ask him how he was doing.

“And you? I hope things have been well for you?”

They didn’t have the relationship she and Varlum did – not yet. There were no witty or sarcastic remarks flying about. He was there to help her with something, and she respected that. Elisabeth felt a certain closeness to Ithecals like Varlum and Prae. She’d be hard-pressed to explain it if asked and wasn’t entirely sure where it had come from, but it was what it was.

His mention of the nickles caused a soft laugh to slip free. “Relieved but determined. We have time to get ready now and it seems everyone is taking advantage of that fact…which is good.”

She watched as he set up what she assumed would be some sort of obstacle course. Sapphire eyes followed the placement of the torches and buckets, mind curious as to how it would all fit together but she said nothing. When asked about the training, she replied quickly. “Agility mostly. I’ve been working hard on my sword skills, but strength and agility need some focus. I think I got too far ahead of myself wanting to be good at wielding the sword but forgot that it takes more than that. I’ve trained against Varlum a few times, but one doesn’t need a lot of agility around something his size. When I fought you, it was better, but I’d really like to put some time in on it.”

[Balthazar Black]

67 Vhalar 720

Storm's Edge... it was actually the second time that Balthazar had been there. The first time was when he'd crossed through the dream of a different, younger woman who dreamed of being a bard. He had not stayed long. But now he was back and there to help. Help... again. He'd found another cause but this time at least he'd found something to make it all a little more pleasant. A new friend and an old one. Elisabeth and Praetorum. He'd been sharing a room with the former for the night and in the morning Balthazar went to the Lightning Knights to present his mage papers and offer his assistance. In the downtime, Balthazar decided to go look at the training area and that was where he found his two friends. He wore his grave gold vambraces on his arms and greaves on his shins but he'd left his breastplate in Elisabeth's room. His katana hung at his side and the mage walked with his left hand resting on the handle of the blade.

He overheard the second half of their conversation, missing Elisabeth's mention of a dreamwalker and instead hearing her mention that she wanted to work on her agility. He thought to make a taunting remark to Elisabeth but he decided not to because he did not want to make Praetorum uncomfortable. Agility had always served him well, fighting against Prae. He noticed the torch and the buckets which elicited a small grin from the Defier who recognized the practice. It was always easier to begin a sparring session with some source of the element for them to draw on rather than to focus entirely on manifesting the elements themselves. Balthazar approached the duo slowly and spoke so they'd both hear him. "I thought all you needed to know when you had a sword was how to stab something with the pointy end?" Balthazar said in a jesting way as he approached.. "Sorry to intrude. Do you mind a spectator?" He did not want to interrupt the training Praetorum had planned but he was interested in seeing how his friends fought.

[Praetorum]

Prae chuckled, somewhat embarrassed as Elisabeth thanked him. "I'm always happy to help." He said, rubbing his muzzle. "Things have been well enough for me; busy, but I prefer to keep it that way." 



The pleasantries were cut off with the arrival of a mutual friend, and Prae grinned to see Balthazar around. "If that's how you use that blade" — Prae gestured to the katana at Balthazar's hip — "perhaps you should stick to Ustrina." It surprised him slightly that the two seemed to know each other, based on the familiar way Balth had teased her, but Storm's Edge was a small enough place that he wasn't particularly shocked. "If Elisabeth's alright with it, I have no problem with you sticking around to watch."




Turning back to Elisa, Prae nodded thoughtfully as she explained what she wanted out of this exercise. It was good to work with someone who knew what they wanted. "What I'm thinking right now, is for you to run a lap around this course. " Prae waved his hand, and a pathway of dirt flattened out, making a loop inside the circle formed by water and fire. There was a short, but distinct gap between the track and the torches, about three feet, which would give Elisabeth plenty of time to react. 



Prae gestured again, and one quarter of the track shifted as rocks of varying sizes emerged from the ground, some coming up to Elisa's hip while others were barely larger than nels. "On this section of the course, you can practice footwork, keeping up speed and dodging while on uneven terrain. If you decide afterwards you want more of a challenge, we could also add water to make it muddy and slippery." Prae made a face, remembering his own legionnaire training, but then continued. 



"On this quarter of the course, you'll train upper body strength." At a stomp from Prae, three mounds of earth grew, each coming up to approximately a human's ribs. "Balthazar, can you help me make sure they're sturdy? My spark has been demanding recently, and won't control still shapes." Something like a mound was simple enough for Prae's spark not to object too much, but still better safe than sorry. "Climb over those any way you can." He grinned slightly. "I'm assuming here you can't jump that high. If you can, I can make them higher so you have to use your arms. " 



"The next section will be the opposite." Six ditches, each approximately five feet wide, appeared on the next quarter of track in a zigzag pattern. "I'll expand the ditches once I get a better idea of how far you can jump. The idea is to get used to jumping about and changing directions quickly."


Prae pointed to the last quarter of the track, which stayed flat. "And here you'll just run. If you want to make it harder, I can have you running into the wind. Finally, all throughout the course, I'll send balls of fire and water flying towards you—not enough to do any damage, but just so you have something to practice dodging. Depending on what you want to practice, you could also choose to block them with your sword or shield, as long as you keep moving. We'll start slow, and speed up until we find something that is challenging but not impossible. Does that sound like it covers what you're looking to train?"

[Elisabeth Black]

67 Vhalar, 720.

The moment she heard the voice coming from behind her, a grin slipped free. Of course, he found where she was. She hadn’t known exactly how Balthazar was going to spend his morning, but it made sense that the moment she was getting ready to train, he would show up. Letting Praetorum handle the sassy retort, Elisabeth simply turned around with a quick smile. When Prae said it was up to her whether or Balthazar stayed or not, she arched her eyebrow gently and replied with a teasing tone. “Only if he promises to behave…”

She watched in awe as he transformed the courtyard into a specialized obstacle course. She had watched Varlum and he use their abilities in minor ways previously, but this was something different. Walking over to the first section of the course, she slipped her hand out, feeling the rocks he had coaxed out of the ground. They were very, very, very real. Turning to regard the rest of the course, she considered what it would like to have that kind of power: to wield fire, earth, water, and air on command. Elisabeth wanted to consider the matter further, but she had work to do.

Jogging back to the pair with a wide smile on her face, Elisabeth set her sword down and gave Prae her assessment while tying her hair up into a high ponytail to keep stray strands out of the way. “It’s perfect. Exactly what I was hoping for. I think for the first lap, I’ll try it without the sword, just to get the hang of it. I trust both of you to adjust the course as you see fit. If it seems too easy, do what you need to do.”

Making her way back to a spot that she deemed appropriate to begin at, she leveled her gaze on the course. Closing her eyes, she found her way to center quickly, just as she had been trained to do with her sword work. Blocking out everything that could distract was the key to being able to focus. There was no time to think about anything other than the course. A few deep breaths later, she was ready.

As she took off, she considered how she was going to approach the first section. ‘Jagged rock alley’ had rocks of every size blocking her way and underfoot. It reminded her a bit of mountainside terrain, although they didn’t ascend consistently and simply made movement difficult for her. Some were meant to throw her stride off while others she would have to climb over to get past them. Entering the zone, she quickly scrambled over the first rock with relative ease. Elisabeth had warmed up ahead of time and it was early in the trial, so she was fresh. Groaning just a bit, her hand caught the edge of one of the larger rocks but slipped back down quickly. Frustrated, she tried again, taking a bit of a run at it, using the momentum to propel herself over it, landing on a small grouping of pebbles that tilted her foot a bit, causing a stumble. Dodging around the next few rocks successfully, she kept her eyes open for anything one of them might have tossed at her. She mounted the next rock with a quick jump but slipped a bit on the uneven surface but managed to stay upright and get back down to the ground.

[Balthazar Black]

67 Vhalar 720

"Well now, I'm sure I'd surprise you with this." Balthazar said with a light tap on the handle of his katana when Prae said that he should stick to Ustrina. Practically speaking, yes he was much more effective with that in a fight but he could do some fast damage with the sword. Then again he was getting strong enough that he could do a lot of damage with his hands quickly as well. Regardless, when Elisabeth approved of him watching, Balthazar gave her a slight nod and made a place for himself to sit. He lifted a small section of earth from the ground with a simple stomp and then sat on it to watch the training. An obstacle course was not the first thing Balthazar would have considered but he was not a great teacher. All he did these trials was spar and make comments as he noticed flaws. He did not have many routines to show. He had learned that while trying to educate Woe.

An obstacle course made sense, the more Balthazar thought about it. It gave Elisabeth a way to practice more than one skill. Agility, speed, reflexes, the course could test all of those while forcing her to improve her own physical strength and endurance... but Balthazar would argue sparing did the same and was much more practically applicable. Then again, what good was sparring when you were fighting a little devil like the magnim or a great beast like the the mountain king? Magic had been the saving grace there and Elisabeth did not have their magic, so every other skill mattered more.

He was not expecting to be called on to help but when Praetorum asked for a little assistance maintaining immobile shapes, Balthazar rose to his feet and the occasion. He walked over to the mounds of earth that Praetorum had conjured and placed his hands on them. He tried to reach out with his youngest spark to strengthen the earth. Victor had told him of the ability to bolster structures and materials but Balthazar had no practice and not experience doing it himself. He did not really know where to begin and so after a few trills he shifted to his oldest spark and strengthened the earth for Elisabeth's training. Then he retreated silently back to his chair and sat down. As described, Praetorum's track sounded brutal. It was mostly the part about balls of fire and water being thrown at her that Balthazar thought was a bit excessive but he said nothing. It was the training he would have wanted.

When Elisabeth began running the course, Balthazar found himself constantly drawn to the thought of suddenly altering it in some way. He did not know why his mind went to messing with Elisabeth, but it did. In the end he did not use his magic for such a mischievous purpose, but he thought about it. Balthazar did not throw any fire, but he had reached out to his second kin (the wind) and encouraged it to blow a little more aggressively. A small push.

[Praetorum]

Prae watched Elisa center herself approvingly; a calm mind learned faster in his experience. "So how do you know her?" Prae asked absently as Elisabeth took off running over the rocky ground, clambering over the rocks quite competently. He gave it a few moments—partially to lull her into a false sense of security, but mostly so he could get a good grip on her speed—then turned his attention to the first projectile. 



Starting easy at first, Prae reached for a torch some distance away from Elisa, but still in her line of vision, and drew the topmost flames up into a wispy ball, before launching it at her feet—slightly slower than a throw at full strength. He was curious to see if she could keep her balance on this terrain while trying to get out of the line of fire—Balthazar had shown him the importance of footwork in combat, especially for humans and others of their size. 



Making a note of her reaction speed, Prae counted to three, and called silently to the water in a nearby bucket. Rising from the bucket like a snake, the water whipped towards Elisa's shoulder, before retracting. It was best to learn to dodge with both your upper and lower body, after all, and water was the safer option to shoot at her face.



Then the sound of the wind shifted ever so slightly, and Prae glanced down at Balthazar with a bemused grin. Was the other defier just antsy with nothing to do, or was he also trying to push Elisabeth? Well, Prae wasn't going to complain. In fact, that gave him an idea. 



This time, when Prae drew out a fireball from the torch, he sent it flying at a slightly different angle, letting Balthazar's wind give its trajectory a slight curve as it flew towards Elisa's midsection.

[Elisabeth Black]

67 Vhalar, 720.

Things were going fine. Everything was fine. Elisabeth was feeling Somewhat confident about her chances on the course…right up until the moment the boys decided it was time to play. She knew it was coming, of course – they had talked about it – but knowing and experiencing were two entirely different matters.

The first fireball came for her feet. She noted its speed, grateful that someone was going easy on her to start. Instead of swerving though, she simply vaulted over the fireball to keep her speed up. The heat from the projectile was briefly felt on her feet so she knew it had been close. Unfortunately, the ground was a bit uneven when she landed so there was a slight wobble, but it didn’t slow her down much. The water was a bit of a surprise but luckily, she had already landed and corrected before she needed to adjust her body to avoid the whip-like formation. She had moved quickly…but not quickly enough to avoid the very tail end. Jarring her shoulder the tiniest bit as she launched herself up a large rock.

As she struggled up the rock, arms burning, she noted that climbing rocks was much different than she thought. The wind gust hit as she topped the rock, pushing her back gently. Forcing herself forward, she fell jumped off the rock, jarring her feet for just a moment with a bit of a pained groan and moved on…only to see the newest fireball aiming for her. Twisting her body, she angled her run to mostly avoid the projectile. Elisabeth misjudged the flight slightly, having to speed up to clear the area before it found her and feeling it pass just behind her. “Boys,“ she muttered to herself. She knew Balthazar was responsible for at least one of the elements but she couldn’t tell which one. Her best guess? The wind. Prae had already planned to use fire and water so it made sense…but she’d have to ask later.

Clearing ‘Jagged rock alley’, Elisabeth moved on to the three mounds of earth that she needed to get over. Prae had been right – there was no way for her to jump over them. That meant she had to use the same skills employed in the last section for this one.

[Balthazar Black]

67 Vhalar 720

"I met her in a tavern." Balthazar replied to Praetorum in a similarly absent way was he watched Elisabeth take off down the course. There was much more to it than that but he didn't want Elisabeth to become distracted trying to overhear him talking about her. He waited until he was sure Elisabeth wouldn't hear him over her own efforts and then told Praetorum a little more while he watched their student work. "She supported me while I became The Copper Prince's Champion and has been helping me deal with..." Balthazar voice trailed off slightly and his eyes fell somewhat to the ground. "A friend's death." He paused again, knowing full well who had been there and who had not when it happened... but he didn't say anything. He didn't have anything good to say about it. So he said the good thing he did have to say. "We've grown close over the season." Close was a nice way of putting it but what else was Balthazar to say? He didn't know how to describe what they were and with everything going on... he didn't really want to take the time to define it. He just wanted to enjoy the time he spent with her for as long as he could.

He had learned, the hard way, that he couldn't waste any moment he had with anyone.

While Praetorum went to work, assailing Elisabeth with the elements, Balthazar watched and silently kept the wind going. Praetorum would know it was him but he could convincingly tell Elisabeth it was just a natural breeze. She had seen remarkably little of his mystical potential in all the time she'd known him. She avoided the obstacles rather well and Balthazar would have applauded slowly, but the trial was not done yet. As Elisabeth began climbing over the mounds of rocks, Balthazar looked to see what fresh trick Prae pulled.