The Gamble of a Djinni

[Avalon Silvasti]

Avalon looked at him as he spoke. "I'm soprry if i brought up anything painful. Its just I thought I seen something like that when I returned home." She looked over to Rajat whom she shared her story with already. "The land I used to live in is now corrupted and nothing is how it was. The palace I used to live in was run down and creatures roamed the halls, but not just any creatures... Some I recognized from my kingdom. They were merchants, fisherman, bar maids... They were no longer like us if you will. They were different. They also produced a vile purple glow." She placed her hand to her chin and started to think again. "There was one time when I ran into a group of the soldiers that helped invade my kingdom... They didn't have that purple glow every where just their eyes. I don't know if you have a link to them but it would be helpful to know anything about them if you know anything..." She leaned back into the soft grass and stretched as she laid there.

[Omio]

Buren shrugged, uncertain. Eyes also reflected a clear image, and that was one thing he wanted to avoid. As Avalon spoke, he procured a blindfold from inside his robe - one of his two "essential" items - and he blindfolded himself, listening. After she had finished, he spoke in return. "While it doesn't sound exactly the same, I wouldn't be surprised if there indeed was a link... ...and while I'm a bit obligated to stay out of it... ...I can't help but worry that worse things like the plague..." He shuddered slightly just from mentioning that. "...can end up taking hold of that town... ...But, it's abyssal, and demonic in nature... ...so it's as good of a reason as any to intervene..."

[Summerchika]

When they reached the forested area, Rajat felt a distinct reluctance to find himself once again on the ground. While Buren and Avalon made themselves at home on the soft grass, Rajat seated himself in midair. A couple seconds into the discussion, Rajat found himself reclining in the air, hands clasped behind his head, still hovering well above the ground.

He watched the interactions play out, Buren with a blindfold, and both of them speculating about what exactly destroyed Avalon's home.

"Hmm," he finally mused aloud, stretching out his legs in front of him. He was a bit unsure what to make of all this. Abysmal and demonic were somewhat familiar to Raj, more than Nin anyway, so what would happen if they knew about his dabbling in his father's demonic magic? Not that they would have a chance to find out.

"Well, necromancy and demonic plagues are all well and good from afar. Am I correct in assuming that we are to go intervene ourselves?" he asked, looking to Avalon out of the corner of his eye with a mercenary smile on his face. "And are we up for it?" Raj knew he was, but what of Buren? If this purple glow was normalcy, would he be up for this trip? Avalon and he could certainly use Buren's expertise, of this Rajat was sure.

[Avalon Silvasti]

Avalon looked over at Buren with a puzzled look. "I have ran into a man that appeared to be my personal guard, Iori and his eyes glowed purple and he wasn't himself like some sort spell or something. He didn't act like the man I knew at all." She said as she exhaled harshly, allowed herself to relax and fold her arms behind her head as she thought about the encounter. "He was taken along with my sister... I heard the Draklore army performed experiments on him...." She stopped and closed her eyes as she thought about what had happened.

[Omio]

Buren nodded. "That doesn't sound too far from how possibilities would go... ...and yes, Rajat, I'll be fine... ...you guys just caught me at an inopportune moment, then the guards proved to be just even worse of an opportunist. ...though, Rajat, a word of advice... ...could you please try to be less conspicuous about your talents? I get that I'm strange, but spells of gravity and mages aren't anything too new. Fizzling into an aerial form? That's something a little more tall on the order of strange."

The purple glow, surely enough, had faded ever-so-slightly.

[Summerchika]

Rajat couldn't help the gleeful grin that spread across his face at Buren's words. Buren couldn't see Rajat now, but he wagered Buren would have something to say for his floating act as well.

"Ah, but my dear mage," Rajat said, a deep chuckle rumbling through the words, "where would be the fun in that?" Rajat swept his arms wide to accent his words, though the gesture was lost on the blindfolded Buren. "I am Djinni. Your wish is my, well, opportunity to work some bit of Djinni magic fun." Though it would cost me dearly, he added silently, having only half of the blood needed to make wishes come true.

And at that, Rajat rolled over, slithering into a black and gold snake as he went. Mischievously and as silently as he could, Rajat draped himself right around Buren's neck softly, hoping he would not scare him too badly as he did so. It was a good thing Buren was blindfolded. The sight of a floating snake would no doubt rub him the wrong way.

"However, my twin agrees with you. I will endeavor to be only on the short order of strange," he added reluctantly. Rajat's voice hovered around his snake form so that the other two would be able to hear his reply.

[Omio]

Buren looked terribly unamused, and spoke in a rather flat tone, which clearly conveyed how he felt about the matter. "I swear, if I have to walk by a graveyard to put you in line, your great grandmother will certainly be the least of your problems. Just because the Hellveil blinds me doesn't mean that I'm not willing to make use of it when push comes to shove. Also, snakes tend to react terribly to excessive amounts of movement, so... ...nice try."

So, he was a well-traveled, street-wise mage - a rare sight indeed.

[Summerchika]

"'Tis a good thing I am not really a snake, then," Rajat replied, very amused at the turn of things. "And my great grandmother is far beyond even the reach of a necromancer with a Hellveil, thank you very much." Now he finally understood the pleasure Nin got from playing with humans. They reacted so well to the teasings of Djinni.

Ah, finally you understand. But Raj, remember you are the one who must reel me in from my fun. Raj could hear the smile in her words, and knew she was having just as much fun as he. But she was right yet again.

The snake flicked out its tongue to tickle Buren's earlobe just before twisting into smoke once more. The smoke floated over to Avalon, then churned in on itself as Raj popped into a jet black panther with golden eyes, just to show he could. The great panther rested its head delicately on Avalon's knee, watching the mage with wide, amused eyes.

"Truly, I wish no harm," Raj whispered innocently into the air, though he could not quite keep the smile from his voice.

[Avalon Silvasti]

Avalon giggled a bit as she looked at Rajat that was now in the form of a panther. "Truly amazing!" She sat up a bit and pulled out her canteen. "So everyone here has a touch of magic to them?" Avalon giggled as she unscrewed the cap of her canteen and took a drink of the sparkling clear water. She then looked up at Buren then to Rajat as a panther and then with a playful smile tossed the contents of the canteen at the panther. Before the sparkling water hit the panther, she raised her hand halting the water, suspending it in the air. She twisted her wrist and it swirled together into a ball. She beckoned the ball of water to her and then moved her fingers, keeping the orb suspended in the air. She then put the water back in the canteen. "As i said before my sister is fire and I am water." She smiled as she watched their reactions. "I can bend water to my will."

A few seconds go by and Avalon quickly looked to her left into the wooded area. She could have sworn that she just heard something like a twig snap. "Shhh." She lowered her voice dramatically and pointed in the direction of where she heard the twig snap. "I thought I just heard something." Her hand shifted to her sword that was attached to the belt on her hip as she scanned the area.

[Omio]

Buren yanked his blindfold off at the perceived threat, his attention darting about to see Avalon looking in a direction, and taking the hint to look that way as well. His left hand rose, and came close to his right shoulder, as if readying to cast a spell. Whatever the threat was, he wasn't going to leave only Avalon to matters, and he didn't seem to care about Rajat at the moment. Necromancy would be impossible here; no corpses to animate. However, gravity, while not lethal, was still VERY debilitating, and every little bit helped.

[Summerchika]

The panther watched Avalon's show of water manipulation with fascinated eyes. He had seen it among the different tribes of his people before, but it did not lessen the beauty of it. If panthers could smile, Rajat would be grinning at his Elven friend. Before he could say as much, however, Avalon alerted them to possible danger.

Not bothering to shift forms again, Rajat stalked forward on silent paws, a deep rumble building in his chest. He bared his teeth in a vicious growl while putting himself between his two companions and the possible danger. Guilt made him want to protect Buren from further harming himself, and friendship made him want to fight side by side with Avalon.

Rajat peered in the darkness of the trees, but could only make out a dark form crouched low. Human? If so, the human had picked the wrong time to visit this particular forested area. Rajat readied a pounce for the next slightest movement from the shadow in the trees.

[Avalon Silvasti]

Avalon stood slowly drawing her sword looking into the darkness. She edged towards the darkened treeline with her sword drawn at the ready as she passed Rajat in his panther form. As she reached the tree line she heard a low rumbling growl come from the darkness before her. She had heard that sound before, she knew she had but she couldn't place where at the moment. As her mind clicked into gear where she had heard it, she seen a set of yellowish green eyes snap open a good foot or two taller than her. "Werewolf...?" Her eyes widened as she spoke the word. She was too close to be able to maneuver away from the creature. With a snarl the creature's arm shot forward and caught her robe, lifting her from the ground as it stepped forward into the light. Avalon struggled to get out of it's grasp, thinking fast she moved her sword hand up and drove her sword into it's right shoulder. The creature snarled at her as it reached up with it's free hand yanking the sword out of it's shoulder and throwing it blade first at the panther, missing him only by a foot or so. Avalon remembered her last entanglement with a werewolf, she remembered one in particular that was not like the rest and wanted to help her. Then there was the others whom was morbidly intelligent. She remembered the village that she tried to help, they were taking the humans at night and stringing them up in the woods with their own innards. Avalon twisted harshly in it's grip as she kicked it square in the chest, as she retracted her heel there was a slit in it's chest with blood oozing out. The creature howled as it flung Avalon back wards. She landed hard on the ground, knocking the wind out of her lungs. She laid there stunned for a second trying to regain her ability to breathe. Fear gripped her slightly as she wondered why a werewolf would be here, they never traveled this far out of their territory. As she moved to stand and gather her sword she stifled a cry of agony, her right hand shot up to her left shoulder. The impact of her hitting the ground popped her left arm out of socket. She gritted her teeth and ignored the searing pain, stood pulling her sword out of the ground and preparing to fight alongside her new friends.

[Omio]

Buren was all too willing to incur a greater penalty of Hellveil; acquaintances as they might only be, they were still worth protecting, and watching the werewolf, he spotted a good chance as it paused after its flurry of attacks, his hand drawing a large zone around the werewolf. Soon, the beast would collapse, but that wasn't all that was to collapse. A few limbs from the trees above snapped under the pressure, and darted down, one bludgeoning the werewolf's upper thigh, and the other careening heftily into the werewolf's snout. Finishing the beast wouldn't be difficult for either one of the acquaintances to do.

[Summerchika]

In one smooth motion, Rajat stood on his hind legs and morphed back into his humanoid form. He glared down at the now collapsed and injured werewolf in disdain. Rajat spared a glance at Buren, noting his lack of blindfold, then quickly looked away.

“Put your blindfold back on, but don’t let go of the gravity,” he ordered with a growl as he stalked toward the werewolf. He would rather not be the cause of the mage’s death today. Nin would have a fit; she told him as much, but he tuned her out. Rajat crossed over into the gravity circle, unconcerned for his safety. The other two had sufficiently weakened it enough, so if the werewolf had even been a threat to him before, it was no longer.

When his knees gave way thanks to the immense power of the gravity circle, Rajat did not fight it. Perhaps it was his close relationship with the darker sides of the world, but he found himself loathe to finish off the werewolf. And he knew of one place that the creature could be of value to him. He put a hand on the werewolf’s head, willing it to remain still. And surprisingly, it did.

Ah, you sense it don’t you? Rajat mused in realization, speaking silently to the werewolf. My Ifriti power. At his clarification the werewolf stirred, and Rajat gave it a wry smile. With his free hand he began to remove the irons that adorned his ear. He would need some proximity from them if he was going to do this. Wish to be in a better place and I will put you there, he told the werewolf. The beast didn’t think in words, probably too drained to do so, but the wish did not have to be verbalized for his Djinni magic to work.

Flinging his irons as hard as he could so that they would have a chance of making it out of the gravity circle, he braced himself for the wave of weakness that was soon to follow. Rajat heard a satisfying crack of iron against wood in the background and he invoked the magic required. You’re going to have a guest, Nazanin. Treat him well. For now. Raj told his sister as the magic engulfed the werewolf and he ‘poofed’ out of the area.

The drain on his strength was significant and sudden, and Rajat found himself flat on the ground, too weak to fight the gravity anymore. “Hey, mister,” Raj protested weakly, his hand waving ridiculously in the air. “Wanna let go of the gravity magic now?”

[Avalon Silvasti]

Avalon watched the werewolf disappear from the area and breathed a sigh of relief. She felt the adrenaline drain from her body that was numbing the pain from her arm that was blown out of its socket. She bit her lip hard as she put her sword away. She looked to her friends trying to hide her pain. She ran her hand down her arm to her left wrist and jerked it hard. A sickening pop resounded through the clearing and she went to her knees, as she gave a quick cry of pain. Clamping her mouth shut she rubbed her shoulder then shoved her right hand into her traveling pouch and pulled out a small red vial. uncorking it with her teeth and spiting the cork out. She placed the vial to her lips and drank all the contents. She swore in her elven tongue and got to her feet. The potion started to take the edge off the pain in her shoulder as she started to speak through gritted teeth, "Is everyone ok?"