Roleplay

Julius wedged himself into a crook between branches, still within sight of the chaos but hopefully far enough away that this tree wasn’t in danger of being uprooted. The beast had torn down a lot of the surrounding foliage in its thrashing rage, and as such he had a better view.

It had been a while since he’d needed to do anything like this. He closed his eyes and took a breath. The world became less frantic, more focused. He drew on his power—like unwinding string, it was slow at first as he familiarised himself, trying not to act hastily—and then the floodgates opened, and raw magic was at his clawtips.

Julius’ eyes flew open. He'd forgotten how intoxicating this part was. How easy it was to forget any limitations when he felt like this. The rot and ruin of his homeland infested him, sick and sour and humming with power, and he harnessed as much as he could manage and hurled it towards the beast attacking his teammates.

The boar had already been bleeding, injured by Aspen and Lathair’s attacks, and his aim was true. Julius saw that much before he blacked out. He regained consciousness a few moments later, to shouts and snarls—and then, a crashing thump as their enemy staggered forwards. He'd done what he could. The others would make quick work of it.

He waited and listened and tried to breathe, glad he hadn’t attempted that while still flying. When he could, he made his unsteady way out of his hiding place.

On her way to the beast, she saw it stumble and almost loose footing. This excited her, and adrenaline pumped through her veins. Her pain almost forgotten, she lunged forward to finish off the beast. Lathair helped, and soon the beast uttered one last shallow breath.

Aspen stood back from it, covered in its blood as well as her own. Oh how her side ached, she had landed on it when the boar tossed her like a ragdoll. Letting out a deep, shuttering sigh, she turned to see where the team was. "The beast is dead! We're safe!" she called out, hoping desperately there wasn't another one on its way. She stepped forward, favoring her right front. It helped alleviate the strain on her muscles.

*

To say Spinner was livid was an understatement. He had seen the fae dragon use magic on the beast. Damn. Aspen lived, which was not good at all. Walking forward, he tried not to look angry, and instead worried. To be truthful with himself he was worried, worried that Aspen or maybe Julius had seen the rubble over there. Looking over Aspen, he noted that she had sustained some type of injury, but of course all that blood couldn't be hers. Perhaps she would die of her wounds, he thought optimistically. "Are you okay?" he asked, trying sound genuine.

Julius landed heavily on a low-hanging branch close to the others, struggling to keep his balance. He felt a little giddy, almost drunk, but he pushed it aside. He needed to assess the situation.

The beast was dead. That much was for certain. It slumped nearby, covered in wounds that had already started to attract curious flies, hot animal stink rolling off it in waves. He could taste iron. Aspen was covered in blood, too—but she was speaking, and moving, and while that maybe wasn’t the most sensible course of action at least she could move. It could have been a lot worse.

“Don’t crowd,” he said as he passed Spinner. “Find out where Elian’s gone and take him back the way we came, but don’t get too far ahead. Plaguebringer willing he’s not been attacked by something else. Is anyone too hurt to walk?” As he spoke he rummaged through his bags, pulling out what might be needed—bandages, splints, various containers filled with strange medicinal compounds.

Julius could work here if necessary, sure, but getting back to the camp was paramount. They didn’t know what the beast was, where it had come from, or how it had found them—but its actions had a certain deliberate purpose to them that made him more than uneasy. Getting out of here as soon as possible needed to be their priority.

Spinner stepped aside so Julius could work, debating for a moment before heading off in the direction he saw Elian leave. He didn't want to be around the retched smell of blood anyways. Huffing, he looked around for the student. "Elian? It's safe now!" Spinner called, but not too loud. He walked farther back towards the way they came, thinking maybe the pearlcatcher had gone towards camp. As he looked around, his mind wandered. Perhaps he should blow the whistle again, and call more beasts.. but at this point they might take out the whole team, leaving Spinner to try and survive that on his own. Grimacing at the thought, he continued looking.

*

Aspen looked around, thinking maybe they should leave and treat wounds later. Of course she could move, it just hurt. Looking at Lathair, he had faired better with the injuries. On his side was a shallow gash from a near miss of the full talon. His body had taken a bit of a beating, and would probably be sore. Being his age, however, Aspen wasn't sure how mobile he could be tomorrow. "I think we're both alright enough to go back to camp." she rasped, then rolled her eyes inwardly. Her voice wasn't strong because of the pressure and pain still felt in her ribs. Damn.

Lathair nodded, looking at his side. "It may be best for us to go back to camp as soon as possible. We can be treated there," he said, looking down at Julius. His head was still spinning with the events that just transpired, and the sudden way the beast went down. Had it simply lost to much blood? He was sure he felt magic do it, was it the fae? "There could be more out there." he added.

It was a relief to hear that. They were both covered in blood, but it was the odd, foul-smelling blood of the boar rather than from their own wounds. Lathair had sustained a minor injury that would need to be washed and dressed, and Aspen was favouring one side. Julius suspected bruised ribs, at the very least, but they were all in agreement on one thing: that they needed to get out of here as soon as possible.

“Good. Hold that to your side,” he said, handing Lathair a cloth soaked in an antibacterial. He also gave them each a small vial. “Drink these to help with the pain, and we’ll move out.”

Julius hesitated, and then produced another sample vial from his bag and—ignoring his disgust—quickly took a sample of the beast’s blood. He didn’t know what he expected to find, but this was something none of them had ever seen before. It was similar to a number of creatures that lived on Sornieth, but its blood might provide clues as to how exactly the animals here were different. Elian would be grateful for it, besides, and it meant the trip hadn’t entirely been a waste.

Julius didn’t know what the reaction would be when they reported back, he mused as he followed the others. Unquestionably, their first venture out was a disaster, and proved how dangerous this place could be, but he couldn’t help but feel worried that the Academy might demand they cease their research at once and return. To have to do so without getting any answers would be intolerable.

Aspen drank the vile quickly, wanting the pain to cease soon. She did give Julius a questioning look when he took a sample of the beasts blood. The monster seemed giant, but not to abnormal in her opinion. It was more the way the beast arrived, as if already angry at them. Perhaps they had tresspassed on its territory.

"Julius, Lathair. I saw something when the beast tossed me," Aspen said suddenly, stopping. "It was stone like rubble, as if a building had once been where I fell," she added, her eye wide with realization that they might have found something the boar was protecting. It was her best guess. The jungle was still more quiet than she would have liked, and the mirror looked around using her regular eyes as well as the infrared. At the very least, they should be able to feel another beast coming.

Aspen’s words chilled Julius. He twisted to look behind them—he could see nothing, and he wished she’d mentioned something earlier. Going back now would be a very stupid move, as tempting as it was. They had to get to the camp and make a report as soon as possible.

“Are you sure?” he asked. He didn’t want to insult her, but she’d been fighting. The area had been destroyed by the beast, and she’d been full of adrenaline, and so it wasn’t beyond the realms of the imagination that she might have thought she’d seen something that wasn’t really there.

“If you’re right, then that’s—well, it changes the entire mission. What exactly did you see?” He paused, and stilled. “If there was—or is—something there, it rather makes the fact we were attacked just before we reached it feel like more than a coincidence. You’d better make the report to the Academy when we get back.”

Aspen smiled wiley. "I didn't hit my head, I am very sure," she told the fae, shifting her feet in an attempt to get comfortable. The pain had eased off though, it must be due to the vile Julius had her drink. She wondered if he had any more...powerful stuff.

His next question drew her out of her own thoughts. "Rubble, stone. At least half of a wall and the foundation of a building." Aspen answered honestly. "Um. Well the beast might have been protecting it?" She offered, before adding, "I don't want to tell them, can you or Lathair just do it?" Aspen groaned. The last thing she wanted was to be peppered with questions from the team back home. Or worst, get them all sent home.

Progress was slow due to injury and exhaustion. Julius hadn’t been injured himself, but his reserves of magic were far from vast and it had taken a lot out of him. Flying in a straight line was a little difficult at times. He flitted around Aspen and Lathair as they walked, making sure everyone was okay.

It was a task and a half to stop himself looking behind them every five minutes—if another of the animals were to be on its way, it would hardly be creeping up on them, and Aspen would sense it long before he was able to see anything. Exhaustion only amplified his irritation at himself.

“It might have been,” he said in response to her observation. “The question is, what did we do to trigger its response? It travelled some distance to reach us.”

“So our options are beasts with supernatural senses, or uncanny coincidences surrounding ruins we weren’t expecting to find,” Lathair rumbled.

Both were equally likely, Julius supposed—that was, a little mad-sounding impossible to prove. But this building intrigued him. He was quiet, a moment, and when he spoke he kept his voice low even though they were the only ones around.

“I’m inclined to push for us going back out that way and focusing our research on this building, but…the Academy sent us here with students, not an army. What if we tell them about the two events and they decide it’s not a coincidence at all and pull us out of here? Maybe it would be better to investigate a little further before we say too much.”

Aspen was trying to speed up her pace, so she didn't look so slow and incapable. It wasn't working, of course, and she was very much in her own head about the injuries she had. It was only their first outing and here she had injured her ribs, almost died even. Her expression was starting to turn a tad sour at the job she had done.

She had simply been listening to him and Lathair nodding, when Julius had a good idea. "I think we should keep them in the dark about it to. We need to stay here for longer," Morwen said, looking up at Julius. Her voice still didn't sound quite the same, and now she was thinking she had breathed in some dirt. This was a bad day, but it could get better.