Closed Fire Fox

[Caelum]

Fire Fox

Summer 15 115​

This wasn't the first time Caelum had ventured off to the edges of the forest, over by where the fertile soil slowly gave way to sand. He'd gone there multiple times to test out the full might of his fire breath without having to worry about destroying the forest in the process. He didn't mind coming out this way, but the travel time was still a pain even if he did have the help of an exodus mage to get him part-way to his destination.

He wasn't exactly heading to the desert this time, however. He was on his way to the firelands. Supposedly it was a good place to test one's mettle and it'd been a while since the last time he'd really let loose. He thought back to the last time he'd really felt the adrenaline of battle… it couldn't have been less than 20 years ago when he'd still had wings and had to hunt for food.

Sweat dripped down his chin as he rested his back at the edge of the firelands. He stared out at the scenery before him and was unsurprised that it lived up to its name. It looked as though a forest fire had swept the area and there were odd figures in the distance that Caelum assumed would be hostile.

He took a swig of his flask, wondering what exactly he wanted to do… when the decision was made for him. There was some motion behind a large chunk of charred wood and out leapt a giant fox. It was easily the size of Caelum and it looked nothing like any other fox he'd seen. Its eyes were crazed and fire licked its tail. Not that the dragon had much time to take in these details properly. He'd held out his hands instinctively and formed a square shield of wood that the fox slammed against.

Caelum was sandwiched between the tree and the shield he'd made all while having the wind knocked out of him since his elbows got jammed into his abdomen. He could see claws inches from his face where they'd penetrated his defenses and the tip of the anima's snout protruding over the top of his shield.

Now what? he wondered to himself.

 

[Vicissitude]

summer 15, year 115 of the third age​

Nyyrikki, though he refused to swear fealty to anything but Ælheim and Ædrassil Himself, was often one to work alongside the forces of the military or coordinate directly with the Reznikær, Freyre. The latter always found him the best targets, and be didn't care whose blood he spilled as long as there was fun to be had in the hunt itself. And today was one such endeavor– Freyre had sent him off to investigate rumors of a ritual reportedly being conducted by the Vokhai on the eastern border of Veiðrbrand. And like a jackal following the scent of blood, Nyyrikki set out on the back of his partner, Slátra, the dragon to whom he was bound.

As the two soared through the sky overhead, they kept their senses open to the goings on down below. And with his Lifesight, Nyyrikki in particular could keep an eye on the living as the pair flew past. The huntsman spotted a strange scuffle; a man was in a fight with one of the Luxium-infused beasts, but the man didn't read like a typical person, even for an Æld'Norai. The figure had the Saol density of what he came to expect of dragons– wait.

Nyyrikki recalled that there was at least one dragon who took the shape of a man, an odd cross of ælven, fælnir, and dragon features all woven into one. Could that be him? What was he doing out here alone? Young and foolish, perhaps…the large fox was causing the man-shaped dragon to struggle, and so Nyyrikki figured that he, at least, should help.

"Keep looking for the ritual, Slátra– I'm taking a bit of a detour," the huntsman yelled over the wind to the dragon he was perched atop before taking an elegant leap down.

They were hundreds of feet in the air, but through the bind the ælf and dragon shared as well as Nyyrikki's Zephyr, he dove through the air with his own preternatural speed and deadly grace. And as he fell, he conjured an Ætumetal spear from his forearm and then threw it at the fox just before he landed with a billowing gust of air and ash. The spear had impaled the fox, pinning it to the wasted trunk of a nearby tree. And if Cælum looked, Nyyrikki's accuracy was something to behold– the fox was slain from a perfect shot to the heart.

Ælheim's current Jegær was an interesting man; a tall, well built ælf with the antlers of a stag, gilded with gold, and skin the color of Ælfiríki's emerald boughs– he never wore much in terms of clothing, either, and it was no different now. This time, all he had on were sturdy, well constructed leather and hide pants to hold some choice possessions and not much else.

"What brings you all the way out here? I've heard you tend to keep to the basin, generally– or am I mistaken?" his questions and overall tone were asked lightly; the huntsman sounded more curious than anything else. "...and answer quickly, there's likely more where that animal came from. I'm not here without purpose, myself."

꧁══════════• ༺༉ { Nyyrikki } ༉༻•══════════꧂​

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[Caelum]

Caelum pushed against the fox as it kept digging its front claws deeper into his shield. The claws were nearly touching his face at this point. The dragon wasn't exactly scared of his life, given his breath weapon was still available, but he didn't want to blow his most powerful attack when he'd only just gotten there.

He was momentarily distracted by a flicker in the air. "Is that an aelf?" he wondered, then moments later, the fox was yanked off of him like a rag doll. Caelum was pulled with it as the fox had dug into his shield but he managed to let go and stabilize himself in mid-air with a strange flailing motion before awkwardly dropping to the ground with a loud "OOMPH". He glanced at the fox who was now pinned to a tree and was motionless.

He twisted his head to see a very strong and appealing looking aelf standing before him. He had a figure worthy of envy, especially to someone like Caelum who had a humanoid body, but had not yet learned how to properly train said body. He was weak, very much evidenced by how difficult it'd been to keep the fox at bay.

Caelum had to shake his head to clear his thoughts and focus on what the aelf had said. "I'm… I'm uh…" he stuttered before taking a deep breath, "I came here to try fighting some beasts and to test out my magical abilities. I didn't mean to distract you from your task." He bowed his head ashamedly. He could tell that he was speaking to someone who was likely fairly important and it wasn't in Caelum's nature to get on an aelve's bad side.

"Should I leave? I thought myself ready to fight some of these creatures but perhaps my skills with floramancy aren't quite good enough. I am more than competent with my fire breathing, however."

 

[Vicissitude]

summer 15, year 115 of the third age​

As Cælum answered, Nyyrikki lifted one arm off in the direction the fox had landed, recalling the spear to his palm. Slowly, the material almost appeared to melt back into his skin. Then, the huntsman crossed his arms over his chest and smiled alongside a breath of a laugh.

"Out here to get stronger, are you? How noble." His sincerity might be hard to parse.

"Nevertheless, you did hear correctly; these fields hold within them many perils." He paused for a second, briefly appearing contemplative. "Tell ya what: there's no need for you to leave yet– you can join up with me for a bit. Surely then you'll get the training you seek without the risk of traveling alone, no?"

After only a brief pause, he continued; "But even with my own powers I can't guarantee your safety; we will be seeking the Vokhai, and though primitive, their Shamans can be…potent.

"...I can't tell you the specifics precisely– Freyre always gets mad when I run my mouth– but what's the harm in you helping out?" The emerald ælf shrugged; clearly he was fine with it.

"So what say you then, ah…" he paused, perhaps being dramatic, perhaps genuinely searching for the answer. "Cælum…was it? Hardly any dragons take a shape quite like your own. I'm Nyyrikki fyn'Bergvist Amyas– Ælheim's illustrious Jegær." He introduced himself with something of a flourish– a bit of a flair for the dramatic.

A large dragon, elegant and serpentine in shape, circled back overhead. Nyyrikki looked up at it, almost as if communicating for a moment, before returning his gaze to Cælum.

꧁══════════• ༺༉ { Nyyrikki } ༉༻•══════════꧂​

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[Caelum]

Caelum's disheartened gaze turned to one of eager excitement at the aelf' suggestion. "It would be an honor to accompany you," he replied sincerely. "Nothing would please me more than to incinerate those who pose a threat to our great forest."

"Yes, I'm Caelum, one of a kind, as I'm told," he let out a chuckle as his composure fully returned. "Well met." He was impressed with how seamlessly the metallic looking wood had melded with the aelve's flesh.

Caelum allowed his body to hover above the ground as he scanned their surroundings. For the first time he spotted the dragon flying up above. "So that's how you got here, I was wondering why you dropped out of the sky. Shall I fly us up to your companion? I can fly… not as fast as a dragon in its proper form, but well enough."

He noticed some more rustling beneath the charred remains of the forest and he didn't intend on getting eaten by a fox or put his savior in any more unnecessary danger. Instead of leaping out at them, another creature darted to the dead fox's body and started digging into it viciously. This was certainly not the best place to be hanging around.

"This is an awful place," Caelum would comment, whenever they got going "Thank you, by the way, for your help. I can see now that I was foolish to think I was ready to come here alone. Do you spend a lot of your time in these parts dealing with the Vokhai?"

 

[Vicissitude]

summer 15, year 115 of the third age​

The huntsman's own eye was drawn off, though briefly, to the feasting scavenger as Cælum spoke– standard fare for these parts.

"Well met, indeed! And aye, these lands are quite…feral," he said with a laugh. "But no need for thanks– dragon and Æld'Norai have long looked out for one another; it is nae bother."

"I scrap with the Vokhai when they usurp on our territory, which isn't exceptionally often, but not rare, either. They've been a bit more bold, of late…" he tutted at that, shaking his head disapprovingly.

Nyyrikki had wondered how a dragon's Natare might function on Cælum, given that he took the form of a man. It was interesting to hear– and see– that the other must utilize the ability the same way he borrowed from Slátra.

"So your flight is unhindered in that shape, huh? I can do something sorta similar," The ælf spoke somewhat loudly despite his own warnings regarding their surroundings.

Arrogance? Or maybe something else gave him the ability to feel so assured.

Nevertheless, he continued. "Glad to know I won't have to tote you around, but I can fly myself up, too–"

And to demonstrate that fact, Nyyrikki levitated in turn.

"Slátra– the dragon– and I are bound, see, and through that, I may borrow a bit of his power– one of which being Natare. I've also Zephyr to modulate speed and the like," he'd clarify.

"...but follow me– Slátra saw something." And with those words, the huntsman would rise up into the sky– though only just above where the treetops would have been. The dragon didn't alter his elevation, still flying substantially overhead.

Nyyrikki didn't wait, rather, he assumed Cælum would follow; he also didn't use much of his Zephyr, unsure if the other would be able to keep up were he to do so. It was not a long flight before they'd arrive in the vicinity of the nearby mountains, and while Slátra stayed airborne far above, the huntsman would land amongst the rubble of a few destroyed trees and a small, rocky outcrop.

In the distance, where land met mountain, was the entrance to a cave– and if one looked, there stood a few Trow at the entrance, appearing to be guardsmen of a sort. From this vantage point, Nyyrikki would wait for Cælum.

꧁══════════• ༺༉ { Nyyrikki } ༉༻•══════════꧂​

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[Caelum]

Caelum was unsettled by the idea of Vokhai taking over the aelve's territory. It seemed like a pointless endeavor given how powerful the aelves were on their home turf. The more powerful druids among them could use a seemingly endless amount of saol and accomplish feats that made Caelum shiver when he thought about it. Who would be crazy enough to go up against that?

"Any reason for their boldness?" Caelum inquired. "And yes, it always feels unnatural to fly in this form, but I can manage."

"Interesting to hear that binding with a dragon grants flight," Caelum added. He'd never even considered the possibility, mostly because there weren't any aelves that he'd formed a bond that close with. Lost in his thoughts on the matter, Caelum blinked and saw the aelf was already rising up into the sky. He followed suit, speeding along as fast as he could, occasionally touching the tree tops with his feet to help stabilize himself as needed. He wasn't quite as fast as the aelf, assumedly because of his zephyr magic, so he trailed behind a little.

Caelum ultimately came to a stop several yards behind Nyyrikki and stumbled to the ground. He recovered then went to take cover behind a rock. He peeked out from behind the boulder to see a cave that had Trow standing in front of it.

"So what's the plan?" Caelum asked in an unnecessarily hushed voice. "Want me to incinerate them?" His adrenaline had started flowing, giving his eyes a hungry, violent look. He was eager to prove himself – perhaps a bit too eager.

 

[Vicissitude]

summer 15, year 115 of the third age​

At this point, Nyyrikki did speak with an appropriately quiet voice.

"I like your gusto– but follow my lead. The cave systems in this region can be unpredictably deep, especially so because Vokhai Terrari could've easily crafted a labyrinth in there. Let's try and kill silently until we no longer can," the huntsman answered.

"...but to answer your earlier question: I don't know what's kindled the Vokhai's ire of late. I wish I knew. Our people might, but, ah…some things are classified beyond me." He, for the first time thus far, sounded somewhat sheepish.

Nyyrikki was a bold, loud man with few boundaries; he wasn't always trusted with delicate information, much to his own chagrin.

Still, without further explanation, he'd crafted a fine, flexible longbow out of what appeared to be a mixture of plant matter, each carefully chosen for efficiency in its purpose. His arrow, too, grew from the palm of his hand as he readied his shot.

"Be ready to take out any reinforcements that may arrive; it's hard to see exactly how many are there." Nyyrikki instructed with a brief glance toward Cælum.

And with his gaze set back on his target, he let the arrow fly after voicing a short, almost inaudible incantation under his breath– the arrow shot with both the force of a longbow's heavy draw and a wind tunnel created by Zephyr. One after the other, the heads of both guards were shattered to a bloody mess as the arrow slew them both.

This action, however, did not go unnoticed. It was swiftly followed by shouts of alarm from within the cavern. A large orc and two further Trow appeared at the cave's mouth, looking around in the direction from which the arrow flew. They would be noticed shortly– likely before Nyyrikki would be able to reload.

꧁══════════• ༺༉ { Nyyrikki } ༉༻•══════════꧂​

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[Caelum]

Caelum winced at the suggestion that they would aim to kill quietly. Being quiet wasn't exactly his forte. Swooping down from up high and sinking his unnaturally sharp teeth into a boar, listening to squeals as it slowly died… that was how his hunting typically went when he was too cautious to use fire.

It didn't make him feel any better to hear that the aelf didn't exactly know what was going on. Now it seemed like they were potentially walking to their dooms by poking a hornet's nest. It was exciting, in a way - one did not get stronger by avoiding risks.

Caelum watched as the aelf formed a full bowman's arsenal out of nothing at all. It was an impressive show of druidism since it meant the alef likely had bound himself to a wide variety of plants. Caelum could have likely formed the body of the bow, but something like the string or the arrows… he doubted he could feasibly make those.

"I'll be ready," Caelum said, deciding not to try imitating the aelf. Even if he could make a bow, it wasn't like he knew how to fire one worth a damn.

It wasn't long before sounds came from inside the cave and others started spewing out. As soon as the arrows were seen in their dead comrades, shield were equipped and a squad started fanning out from the entrance. They'd realized where the arrows had come from, but had still not ascertained what kind of threat they were facing.

Sensing his opportunity to shine, Calum threw himself into the air. Smoke billowing out of his mouth as he raised himself up ten yards into the sky. He breathed in until his lungs could hold no more air, then let loose a stream of fire at the leftmost enemy then slowly turned his head to the right, scorching them each one by one. They screamed and ran, some of them even back towards the cave entrance but even that was set ablaze.

Things were going great until something knocked him out of the sky. He wasn't sure what it was, but it slammed into his shoulder and sent him spinning into a tree, crashing through branches until he finally managed to turn his body away from the blunt object and stabilize himself. He hissed through the pain once he landed, channeling saol into the wound to mend the injury that would no doubt have formed a nasty bruise. He was glad that whatever it was hadn't been a spear.

"I think they chucked a rock at me" he said as he approached Nyyrikki. He'd glanced at the thing that hit him and there was no other way to describe it. There was likely a terra mage among the enemies, perhaps hidden from view or within the caves themselves.

 

[Vicissitude]

꧁══════════• ༺༉ { Slátra } ༉༻•══════════꧂​

summer 15, year 115 of the third age​

Nyyrikki swore under his breath as more of the Vokhai arrived at the cavern entrance; it had been a gamble whether or not their deaths would've attracted attention. After all, neither he nor Cælum were able to see that far into the cave's murky depths from where they stood. Still, he wasn't too worried– worst case scenario, Slátra would bail him out; the dragon had saved his hide countless times before.

And speaking of, Slátra took advantage of Cælum's assault to fly in nearby and breathe out a breath of his own through the flames. His was aimed broadly into the cavern entrance itself, manifesting as a chromatic cloud of kaleidoscopic color. It was a hypnotic sight to behold, but those lost within the fog were immediately inundated by violent, visceral hallucinations wreaking havoc and confusion within.

Still, a few had slunk outside and managed to avoid both breath attacks– one of which, a Terrari, had chosen Cælum as their target and knocked him out of the sky. Another, Fulguri or perhaps Zephyri, struck Slátra with a bolt of lightning. The dragon roared and the earth rumbled, but he managed to maintain hold of his Natare enough to not fall completely out of the sky.

"I got it," the huntsman replied to Cælum's words. "...coordinate your breath with your fellow dragon; the cave is enclosed, they'll struggle to run from it," he quickly advised.

Nyyrikki's first instinct was to defend his partner, but Slátra was old and far more combat hardened than Cælum– out of the two, it was the wiser choice to defend the younger dragon. Having reloaded, his eye had followed the trajectory of the rock that'd hit Cælum and landed on the Orkani mage that'd assaulted him. He loosed the arrow, piercing the man through the heart. The Zephyri appeared to be charging up another spell aimed again at the large, dazed dragon she'd just hit.

꧁══════════• ༺༉ { Nyyrikki } ༉༻•══════════꧂​

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[Caelum]

What started off with a few arrows had quickly turned into quite the commotion. Mages made themselves present on both sides of the conflict, showing just how important this cave actually was. Caelum hadn't expected them to put up this much of a fight. Hell, he'd never actually fought a mage before, outside of light sparring with other aelven youngsters. Seeing just how much damage they were capable of really put things in perspective.

The younger dragon massaged his aching arm as he tried to take it all in. He could have sworn he'd seen a flash of light which had prompted the dragon above to roar. But what he was really worried about was getting ended by another rock. If something like that hit his head… he didn't want to think about that possibility.

He saw something flying at him and he quickly leapt behind cover, catching a glimpse of a rock embed itself into a tree trunk. He poked his head out and finally saw the terrari with an arrow through the chest. "Damn you're a good shot," he said as he tried to position himself to follow the aelf's instructions.

Caelum put a hand on the tree and opened his mouth, simultaneously drawing saol from the tree and charging up a sparkling ball of energy in his throat. The tree wouldn't be able to provide a particularly large amount of energy on short notice, but it would have a non-zero effect on bolstering his spell. He waited for the Zephyri to start aiming at the dragon, then he allowed a blinding cylinder of light to encompass both the wind mage and the entrance to the cave.

The light did nothing but blind for a moment, but those within the cylinder would quickly notice that their skin was being seared by the intensity of the beam. It might not have been enough to kill, but it was likely that anyone who got caught would be fairly wounded. Caelum was wary of using all of his energy in one go, especially now that he was noticeably drained.

When the light faded, Caelum stepped back behind the tree and continued sucking energy from it. "I really need to learn how to use a bow," he jested, finally noticing how little saol his aelf companion had expended thus far.

 

[Vicissitude]

꧁══════════• ༺༉ { Slátra } ༉༻•══════════꧂​

summer 15, year 115 of the third age​

Slátra swooped down onto the Zephyri after Cælum's breath faded, having regained control of his faculties. The large, elder Drækr pinned the Trow woman with his claws before ripping her to pieces and then consuming her– and he wasn't exceedingly quick about it, either. The maddening effects of the elder's prismatic breath would last for a bit longer, buying the trio some time to regroup.

"Hah, thank you! Took quite some time for me to improve," Nyyrikki acknowledged with a nod.

"But yeah– definitely worth it. Archery's useful for a Draoidh. Either that or spear throwing; I'm a fan of both, personally," he continued as the bow began to deconstruct and absorb back into his skin. "...but going in there I'll probably need something of shorter range."

As he said the latter comment, the huntsman motioned for Cælum to follow him and began to approach the cave, barely reacting to Slátra's display of cruelty. The dragon had been like this for as long as Nyyrikki could remember, and when they were both much younger, he was arguably worse. Always enjoyed toying with his food, too– maybe a little too much.

As he passed the feasting elder, "...keep watch of the cavern's mouth, would you, dear one? We'll handle the cave; would be a tight fit for you anyhow." Nyyrikki's tone lacked urgency despite the circumstance.

Slátra paused, and in a booming, serpentine voice, lifted his bloody head to respond. "Trick some of them into leaving…thinking you've let them live. I would appreciate something with which to entertain myself."

The huntsman chuckled. "I suppose I could try; the Vokhai are wont to fight to the death, though– can't promise ya."

And to that, the dragon sighed, returning to what was left of the Trow.

"Ready your defenses, then, Cælum– in we go," he said, turning his head briefly back to the humanoid dragon.

Taking his own advice, he'd appear to grow scales– though they weren't scales in a literal sense, rather, scale-like reinforcements to his flesh composed of Ætumetal. He opted to protect himself from the neck down with minimal coverage to his head as he wanted to avoid muffling his hearing or obscuring his line of sight.

When either man neared the scorched mouth of the cave, they'd be able to hear the sounds of chaos within– Slátra's breath was just beginning to fade. Burned bodies littered the cave mouth, but peering deeper, one would also see a smattering of corpses resulting from weapons or other magic; the dragon's hallucinations had caused some to attack each other, too, it would appear.

꧁══════════• ༺༉ { Nyyrikki } ༉༻•══════════꧂​

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[Caelum]

Caelum grinned at Nyyrikki's admission. 'Some time' was incredibly vague for an aelf. That could mean a couple months, or decades. The dragon amused himself at the thought, thinking of how convenient it must be to have all of time to get good at something. He supposed dragons had the same gift, but he never seriously thought that he'd live for thousands of years. Surely someone would best him for his life force, eventually.

A part of him wanted to be told to stay safe out by the elder dragon, who he nodded to respectfully and said, "hello, I'm Caelum, by the way. I haven't met a dragon as large as you yet… you must be powerful! It doesn't look like that lightning bolt even left a scratch on you."

"Eh, not going to lie," Caelum said hesitantly as they walked up to the cave. "I'm not all that competent up close. I've got sharp nails and teeth, like a dragon… but I foolishly neglected to grow my scales so I'm in a delicate state. I'm not proficient with any weaponry either. If you feel like I'd be holding you back… I won't feel bad if you tell me to stay behind."

He created some bark that ran along his skin as he spoke. It would take him a handful of minutes to make sure his vital areas were covered in bark from the aelheim sequoia. He finished it off by fashioning a shield in one hand and a longsword in the other. They were mishappen slightly, not because he was bad at carpentry, but because he was unfamiliar with how exactly they were supposed to look.

Assuming Caelum wouldn't be prevented from moving forward, he would walk cautiously into the cave. He'd get quickly frustrated at the low visibility and spit out a small glob of light that stuck to the ceiling and granted a soft illumination of the interior.

It was a rather large area, armed much like one might arm the main gates into a village. There were racks where some weaponry remained, tables with paperwork and supplies, some simple beds, etc. That was on top of a handful of dead and some who were not quite there yet who looked fearfully at the now illuminated faces of the dragon and aelf.

Caelum was not so worried about the dying compared to the sounds coming from deeper into the caves. They were merely in the mouth and his illumination didn't do much to show what was going on in the tunnels that branched off from the entrance.

"What in the world is so important about these caves that they're defending it this valiantly?" Caelum asked, somewhat rhetorically since he figured the aelf didn't know specifics.

"And what in the world did they do to that fox?" Caelum's face contorted at the sight of an inari in its natural form that was nailed to the cave's wall with a metal spike. It looked like it'd been there just... decaying for weeks. It was his first time ever seeing an inari in that state and his knowledge of them was clearly lacking.

Shortly after his question, more enemies came streaming from one of the openings, one even seeming to poke a head out from the stone before disappearing back into the rock.

 

[Vicissitude]

꧁══════════• ༺༉ { Reviewed/Canonized } ༉༻•══════════꧂​

Cælum

+26 XP

Vicissitude

+22 XP

Thread continues here.​

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