This old building always gave him chills. There's was nothing about the catacombs, the dead or the haunted labyrinth that would make a half elf jump for joy. The sounds of wailing and and the claws of rats attacked his senses maliciously as he clambered down the steps leading to the basement with nothing but candle light decorating the dark halls. He agreed to attempt a quest with a veteran member of the guild, this one they assumed was above his pay grade alone but with assistance hopefully he would be fine.

Nathaniel held his katana close as he came down the steps, although his demeanor did entirely appear relaxed. He got to the bottom of the steps, dusting his shoulders off, confident he had walked through a cobweb or two on his way down. However as his foot entered the light, he could see a spider crawling off his body and into the shadows. They clearly weren't cobwebs.

rummaging through a green bag, Nat managed to wrap his hand around the top of a broken still he formed into a bootleg torch for the journey. Somewhere in his orange cargos he had a book of matches, and it took him longer than he'd like to admit to discover them. Striking one against the wall, lighting the torch and creating a well of light around himself, the elven boy could feel much of the tension leave his body as he breathed a refreshing sigh.

Now, he just had to locate his guildmate. His eyes were still adjusting, even if she were next to him it would have taken him a moment or two to gather it.

[WC 279]

Nathaniel turned his head to the sound of his name, he was unsure if the presence as malicious. The voice was sweet, yet he could not discount the possibility that it was a spirit calling him in an attempt to drop his guard. The boy flicked the blade out just a hair so he could draw if he needed to, however he could see the gentle features of an elven woman approaching. She was a beauty. Nathaniel was accustomed to certain features of the elven race, he was raised by them, but something about her seemed almost too perfect. To put it plainly it felt oxymoronic. She seemed soft and confident, soft yet powerful there were almost more words that could be used to describe her than existed in both his native tongues combined which made holding it that much easier. Nathaniel instead simply nodded, face slightly reddened by his thoughts.

"Aye, what's yours? I was only told to meet a senior member." He managed, eyes studying her features as she approached and became more illuminated by flickering flame. "Oh, also do you prefer Elvarin or Fioran?" He questioned, ensuring he spoke to his superior in whichever method made her the most comfortable, he was after all here to learn and connect. He was sure she wouldn't mind either but he was at a loss for words otherwise. He felt trumped in every sense of the word and her presence, be it intentional or not, had him unsure of what to do next.

He was frankly afraid to make a fool of himself, but that was his entire gimmick.

[WC 272]

"Pleasure is mine, Atani, I'm sure." he said with a mild bow both hands at his hand as his torso dipped. He wasn't sure how to even address her correctly, but he figured go formal and work your way down at least he wouldn't disrespect her in the process.

Nathaniel raised a brow momentarily at her response, Val'elvarin? what that heck was that. He was almost completely baffled by her response and he wasn't sure if he should even question it, maybe he could bring it up later on down the line? He brushed it off for now, but for some reason that response brought up a number of questions for him. He snapped back in as she completed her response, his eyes rising to meet hers as opposed to the cathedral ground, as beautiful as the stone work may be. He assumed Fiorian was the answer, maintaining the native tongue he replied switly, "Aye." He raised his hand casually, a warm smile crossing his lips, "That would be me."

He placed his hands casually into his pockets, his eyes focusing on the path ahead as he continued to unravel his answer. "Half Elf born in Enca. My father was human, born in Joya." He kept his eyes locked ahead before asking another question, "Do you have any idea what we're looking for?"



[WC 246]

Nathaniel listened well to Atani as she spoke, his eyes meeting her once during her speech before returning their hollow gaze ahead of himself. Though he was a wind mage, he was unsure if his ability to sense the vibrations in the air would be useful against a ghost of all things. He knew very little about ghosts and felt as though it might be worth a shot, however he debated whether or not expending the mana would be a reasonable venture given the circumstance. He already knew he was a bit in over his head. Despite his equipment lending him speed and protection he knew he really couldn't take too many hits without becoming pretty worn out. Did he save his mana for something a little more beneficial like evasion and distractions or could possibly detecting the ghostly being prior too be a worthwhile gain?

Shoving his thoughts aside he lifted his sword wielding hand over his eye, a white magic seal appearing before him for a moment. "Slipstream..." he whispered before he swiped his hand, the air suddenly feeling incredibly calm around him. "Kasa." His eyes slowly opened around him as he felt a sixth sense activate. Firstly he aimed to locate Atani, however he could not, he forgot elves were invisible to his enhanced sight.

Turning slowly back to Atani, "Nothing but mice." He was still hopefully to gain some information, but it was looking like he was not going to be so lucky this time. "I don't even know if my sword can cut him, but I guess that's why we have magic, huh?" knowing full well it was not his area of expertise he couldn't help but feel a larger expanse open between the two. While she was clearly much more powerful, he felt like he could offer little else than a torch light given the scenario. "I guess we'll hope he's friendly."


[WC: 342]
[Mana: 525/550]

Nathaniel nodded, heeding her advice as he pressed further into the dark tunnel, senses sharp and eyes wary of any potential hints of their target. Knowing but a single offensive spell he kept his mouth shut, he wasn't sure how she would receive that information given the boy was a mage first and foremost in the eyes of a mage guild. Without his blade he was a little sunk, but nevertheless he would show not an ounce of fear, things always worked out and with Atani here he was confident nothing could stop them should it come to it.

Moments went by in silence as the two sank into the void slowly and surely coming into the spirit's realm. Nat could feel the hair on his arms begin to rise as a slender finger rose up in front of him, brining him to a halt. Metal of stone, a long drag of a blade reminding him of a steel on ice, he knew that sound all too well. He held his blade firmly but, remembering her words, he let go of it slightly knowing there wasn't much he could do to harm it.

His eyes narrowed as from around the corner appeared a grey mass of muscle decorated with strips of hanging flesh. Leather straps sat across it's body, remnants of a torture device and holes in it's arms, remainders of some form of impalement. It's lower half was thin, disproportionally so, giving him a cartoonish figure, but the large two handed blade he carried single handedly hinted towards outlandish physical strength.

The monster's head was wrapped in bandages, one eye covered and the other glowing a yellowish like that sniped the duo through the void, pinning it's violent intentions to their body. Nat felt gross under it's gaze, the man was so much larger than he was, but that was fairly often the case, he was more concerned about how he would even fight it.

Without much more than the moments glance the creatures legs became a plume of smoke, it's figure became ethereal and it moved at a rapid pace towards the two, nothing but a groan giving it away as Nathaniel followed the sound of the blade to predict it's diagonal path from their right shoulder to the left. Scraping it's way from the ground to the wall and for a split second, the ceiling it marked it's path and narrowly missed the boy. Ducking under the upcoming attack, Nathaniel grabbed his blade as if to slash, but again found himself reminiscing on Atani's advice, and rolling to his right hand side instead. He didn't demonstrate his frustration, instead he pointed a finger at the spirit's chest pointing his thumb straight up to use it as a reticle dropping the torch in order to do so.

Creating a white light and a small magic seal Nathaniel slashed the creature, summoning a quick wind projectile that sank into the creature, prompting another groan.

Reflexively, the ghost swung it's hand, pinning the boy against the wall for a moment before landing a giant right hand straight into the boy's face, the wall rumbling for a moment as Nathaniel collided with the bricks not once but twice. A small crack in the wall appeared convincing enough to believe those upstairs could hear the ruckus.

Nathaniel fell to his knees, blood sprawling down the his face from the gash created by the knuckle colliding with his forehead. A pain existed on his chest with the back of the blade had held him against the stone but he seemed pretty unphased despite it all. His ring glowing as if it were activating under his duress. Peering into the chest of the giant he saw another hand coming, this time managing to get a leg up to perform a lunge towards Atani's direction. He swiped the ground, holding his blade as the creature punched the wall before screaming at it's frustrating lack of accuracy.

"Wonder how many of those I can take." He asked, his chest rising and lowering as she stood up to his full height. The darkness felt deeper without the flame, but Nathaniel aimed to maintain the fight around the torch.

"I can grab the torch if you'd like, but i know I can sense that steel with my vibration sense. But it's risky, because I can't sense you." He added quickly, hoping to get it out before the ghost came for them again. "But I don't mind brawling. If you want to hang back." He shot her a confident smile as he looked towards her to reassure her he was fine.

Word Count: 724

Mana 510 / 550

Code:

[b]Name:[/b] Slipstream Slash
[b]Rank:[/b] D
[b]Mana Cost:[/b] 25 ( -10 for Holder and Intelligence discount)
[b]Requirements:[/b] Slipstream Samurai
[b]Type:[/b] Offensive
[b]Element:[/b] Wind
[b]Range:[/b] 5m
[b]Cooldown:[/b] 1 Post
[b]Duration:[/b] Instant
[b]Effect:[/b] The user points before a white magic seal forms 0.25m in diameter. They then move it in a target direction as if lining up their shot and slashing it with their blade. This creates a wind-based projectile that is 0.25m in length and does D-rank damage travelling at 20m/s.

The battle raged on for what felt like a long time for the young halfling. His body didn't feel stiff, not did his muscles ache thanks t his elven companion. While his mind was racing, focused on the battle, he could feel his own weakness against the creature, the moments where he faltered and the time it took for him to respond to the creatures advances were way too slow for his liking. Maybe his days of isolation in Enca had made him dull, maybe he wasn't all he felt he was cracked up to be.

In the end it didn't matter, the boy had taken his victory over the creature with the victory owed entirely to Atani, with little else from Nathaniel's effort but the feeling of becoming a complete pawn in front of her. She had maintained a happy demeanor in front of his comrade but internally, he was rocked and he knew he needed to do something to recover.

-exit-

Code:

[Word Count Math


166 + 724 + 342 + 246 + 272 + 279

=

2029]