And on Day Five... (Celeste)

[Mirage]

Just in time the bone plate molded into place, just a fraction of a tick before Riyanna's bony spike stroke point first at its center. The end scraped, bone against bone, creating a horrific sound like nails on a chalk board and sending a pulse of pain like when one feels two of their own bones grinding together.

Riyanna's other hand moved forward then, making as if to pierce Celeste's eye with the thorn's point, but the extra appendage shrank back into her skin once more. Instead the Warden grabbed the wrist of the arm Celeste tried to defend with, jerking back on it while sliding her left food between her apprentices leg. Her left forearm pressed against Celeste's chest, and with an effortless heave she pulled and lifted at the same time, bring Celeste off her feat to tumble backwards behind her.

"Everyone knows instinctually how to fight." The Warden said, flowing gracefully to face Celeste once more, "It's in our base nature, that instinct to survive no matter what. I don't need to teach you how to use your fists. I don't need to instruct you to not be hit. I don't have to tell you how to use your claws and fangs. You already know. I just have to bring it out of you. Push you to that point where you truly fear for your life, and you fall to your baser instincts." Her body shifted as she spoke, her back hunching as she fell to all fours. Her finger's elongated, becoming bony with large hooked claws on the end. Her shoulders widened, muscles stretched and bulged as a thin trail of pony spines erupted from her vertebrae. Her face was hidden by her hair as she continued, her voice raspy and deepening, "I showed you the forms, but you have to learn how to use them. Pair them with your instinct to survive, become a predator while you fight to not become prey... My prey." She groaned as her knees dislocated, reversing as more muscles packed on her hind quarters. Her skin was a sickly gray color, a thin coat of gray fur covering her body. Muscles were large and deformed, creating a hump of sorts at her shoulders then flowing down to a thinner wast and thick hind legs. Her hands were large, with five fingers with hooked claws. Her hair on her head grew longer, lankier and turned the color of pitch. Then she looked up, and gone then was the face of the Warden. What replaced it was the mug of a beast. Large, snarling snout more teeth than head, her gums receded to create a permanent snarl. Beady eyes, large sloping brow and ears that were little more than holes on either side of her head. Her back feet looked more like cow hooves, where as her hands were humanoid but much much larger than was proportionate. She growled, the voice of the Warden barely understandable as she grunted through large, sharp teeth, "Fight..."

A gurgling sound came from the Warden as her throat expanded in a clear sack, a sickly green fluid building in there. Then between her teeth the substance spewed, where it touched smoke arose as the substance ate through anything it touched. The Warden had taken on the shape of some failbeast, something terrible and monstrous, and now Celeste had to defend herself. To find the inner beast, the instinct to survive. Riyanna was already building for another spray of acid, stalking forward slowly as she did, eyes intent on Celeste. Hungry eyes.

OOCWoo! Lets have fun with this shall we! Lol after a battle with Riyanna, some silly reimancer wont seem that bad at all

[Celeste Arumen]

Relief was fleeting; as she managed to block the hit, the thorn shrank into nothing, replaced by Riyanna’s own hand as it closed around her wrist. She remembered pain, stabbing pain, as bone met bone, and then freefall as the woman neatly flipped her backward. Celeste admired her feet for half a tick before her body slammed to the earth, lip split clean open. As she struggled to her feet, blood poured between her lips and down the front of her face. The apprentice reached to wipe it and froze.

The child listened in horror as Riyanna changed and frantic, she attempted to do the same. Celeste shot a phantom hand inward to pull at the threads, setting herself aside in favor of the beast, the tiger within, pushing her body downward into a crouch. The shift was quick, but not too much so – as soon fur forced its way up through her reddened flesh, she began stacking the layered defense.

She thickened the djed around her throat, her belly, the flesh boiling up, forming the calloused first layer, followed by the brittle bone of the second, though the plates were thinner, denser than she’d intended. The strands of djed were exhausted from overuse. It would take time to truly shape them to perfection, precious time she did not have. She coated the third layer atop the front of each of her legs. Riyanna was done her transformation. The girl was nearly out of time.

Reflexively, she bounded to one side, away from the sickly burning acid. What sort of monstrosity had the Warden become? Her stomach was sick with fear as she watched it eat at the ground. Riyanna didn’t mean to beat her. She meant to murder her.

’Illia!’ She called out telepathically. ’Watch her carefully. I’m going to try and confuse her. When I tell you to, come forward. You’re going to do everything that I do.’ She tried her best to leave the channels open, without getting too distracted. The familiar would get the intent of what she planned to do, which moves she’d make, without her having to use her words.

Celeste stalked to the left, still manipulating her djed. Blood still leaked from the tiger’s mouth. The thin, flexible third layer was half complete. Tiny, interlocking plates continued to spring up on the backs of her legs, along her flank and around her face. She thickened the djed to make it dense in each place, before shaping it flat, crisp, turning the threads outward to grant a reflective sheen. The more luster, the better – Riyanna couldn’t fight with the sun in her beady little eyes.

She told Illia to crawl underneath her and the cat complied. ’When I say go, you jump to the right of me and try and mirror what I do.’ Using the purple triangle upon her neck, she turned to familiar into an exact replica of her current form. An illusion? Sure. But it was a clever tactic. Hopefully, it would appear as if two Celeste sprang from one.

As soon as she gave the word, one tiger bounded off to the left while the other, to the right. It was literally, as if she’d split in half. Celeste darted in, hoping to the Gods she’d chosen the right tactic, jaws slavering for the kill.

[Mirage]

Riyanna's beady eyes squinted at the glare and the sudden appearance of two Celestes. The gurgling liquid expelled from the creatures mouth, landing in the spot the two Celeste's had been must a tick before, eating at the ground in a plume of black smoke. The beast looked left, and then right, confused as to which was the real target.

"Cleaver... Looks like you kept more secrets from me than I thought." The deep gurgling voice came from the beast's throat, "But if you want to live you have to do better than that."

Shoving up with its large arms Riyanna sat on her short hind legs, sweeping her long arms out to either side, huge hands and long claws sweeping up up and out into each Celeste. The Warden's claws passed through the one that darted to her left, but the just barely scraped the shoulder of the one that ran to her right.

"Found you." Whipping around the Warden lunged after the real Celeste, her right hand sweeping out to cut the girl's legs out from under her. The movement threw her off balance though, and the beast rolled, shifting as she did. Her body shrank, thinned, and stretched until she sprang back to her four hoofed feet. She now wore the shape of some kind of deer. Blue fur was slicked back, three graceful horns flowed over pointed ears, the two on either side floated back over her shoulders before hooking back to end near her silver streaked jaws. The middle horn hooked forward, curving over her snout and extending into a long point that clearly was used to skewer her opponent.

As she found her footing Riyanna dug her hooves into the dirt, using her powerful back legs to send her shooting forward with incredible speed, easily overtaking Celeste in just a few bounds before turning in mid air to face her. Lowering her head she aimed the spear head at her apprentice, bounding forward in leaps that carried her several yards per second. This form was barely half the size of Celeste's current model, but with the speed she was traveling coupled with the spear-like horn it would be a devastating blow to take it head on.

OOCLol this is fun. What will Celeste do!

[Celeste Arumen]

She yelped at the claw grazed her shoulder, a spray of blood fanning out behind her. It slowed her momentum a bit, giving Riyanna enough time to right herself before shifting again, much to her dismay. ’Petch,’ she thought angrily, still running at full tilt. To try and stop would be suicide – it’d leave enough time for Riyanna to make the killing blow.

In this form, anyway.

She leapt into the air, her body shifting. Now here came the complex part. Celeste had to keep her armor in tact while moving between models, lest she muck up and get impaled. Concentrating only on the djed that lay beneath the surface of her skin, she frantically morphed to her lynx model, only smaller, as small as she could go. It was easy enough to move from one feline body to the next. The real challenge would be keeping the three-layered defense in tact. Her body cracked and popped and she shrank in size and by the time she landed, she was as small as she could manage – so small she might even be able to fit between Riyanna’s legs.

The defense helped her slow down all right, because it was the same original mass it’d started as. Bone and plate covered her entire body. Cursing, she shrank the energy of each layer, eating up precious time.

Meanwhile, she dug in her paws, trying to skid to a halt, ducking down and praying that Riyanna would be unable to stop midstride, allowing her to pass under her without harm. And as the woman drew near, a thought occurred. Scrambling, she sent hands to the djed of her skull, already in the midst of shrinking the bone plates guarding her neck. She accessed the bone there, adding mass as quickly as she could. The flesh atop her head boiled and thickened into a grotesque point, the feeling akin to being stretched on a rack.

As she passed over (if she passed over) the girl tried her hand at tooth and thorn, a jagged cleave of white streaking upward from the top of her fur-lined skull, in the desperate attempt to do damage to Riyanna’s undercarriage. But regardless of success of failure, she would keep working to tailor the layered defense, feeling her skin tighten as she went, in the vain hope that she could become mobile again.

[Mirage]

Celeste's actions were wild, unpredictable, and they certainly caught Riyanna off guard. Her momentum was carrying her forward too fast to easily shift her trajectory, and before her eyes she saw her apprentice begin the first strange of tooth and thorn. The warden felt a bit of pride mix in with the momentary surprise. Celeste was improving quickly, much more quickly than any girl her age should be able to. Still... Riyanna was not without her tricks.

Just as Riyanna was about to pass over Celeste's shrunken form she dug in with her hooves, jumping high into the air to sail in a neat arch over Celeste and her impaling implement. As she flew through the air her body was already shifting, flipping over backwards as hands replaced hooves and she took on a humanoid appearance once more. When she landed it was on two human feet, crouching low to absorb the impact of the fall and sliding back a few feet before the dust settled around her. Riyanna now held the a human-like body, but it was covered with blue fur and from her back sprouted two large, bat like wings. Her hands were clawed, and her face was angled with hooked canines hanging over her lips, which she bared in a snarl and a glare of red eyes. Reaching over her back the Warden drew out her sword, pulling it from her skin and swinging it in an arch so that it was positioned before her. Wings flared open and clawed feet dug into the ground as she pushed off, half running half gliding toward Celeste, the sword held in both hands angled back so that it scraped along the ground as she fast approached. When she was within a couple yards of her target the wings folded in on themselves, shrinking back as the Warden grew in size, bone plates thickening over her body like armor as her pink hair flowed out from beneath a helmet of bone. The momentum of the earlier charge carried her half through the air as she swung her sword in an upward stroke, and the momentum combined with the sharpness of the blade and the new weight of the armor caused the ground where it cut through to shatter and burst apart, flinging rock and dirt at Celeste even as the blade came up from beneath, aiming to strike at the joint between the shoulder and the body where the armor the girl had would be weakest.

Riyanna's foot slammed down into the ground, cracking earth as she planted herself and pivoted, putting the full force of her charge and weight into the swing. It would be strong enough to cut through bone and sever limps completely if it connected.

[Celeste Arumen]

Celeste whimpered as the Warden sailed smoothly overhead. While the fight had not yet ended with her death, it was only a matter of time. Here she was, a mere child fighting blindly against that of a Master. How could she possibly hope to contend? But if she were to die, it wouldn’t be for lack of trying. Shooting a hand within, she frantically worked to shift back into her human form, casting aside the bone plates and the misshapen form of the lynx to start anew.

The earth shook. She looked on with wide eyes as Riyanna charged at her, impossibly fast, closing the distance in a matter of chimes. This was it. Rock splayed up from the ground at where her blade dug in.

’Not yet!’

In the crazed hope to buy herself time, a deafening screech filled the air, unwavering and inhumanly loud. The inverted purple triangle glowed fiercely with a will to live as strong as the one who bore it. If she could, she would try and deafen Riyanna if only for a moment.

Meanwhile, her body ached terribly as it changed, cells moving sluggishly as they tried to reorient. She was already exhausted. Celeste wouldn’t be able to maintain this without starting to overgive. As soon as she could, she rolled horizontally, trying to clear the swing.

And if she did, she’d reach a hand toward the Warden in desperation, trying her best to emulate what she’d seen before. The girl would stretch the djed weave of her arm, stretch and harden the cells until they were shining white bone and with all her strength, she’d try to sweep the woman’s legs with this pillar of an arm, in the hopes that she’d be too committed to the attack to be able to resist her.

Of course, she couldn’t possibly hope to grapple with her on the ground. If Riyanna were to fall, she’d have to be on her and quick.

’Defenses,’ she thought weakly, trying to summon her three-layered defense. But how did it go again? First, callous…

She was petched.

[Mirage]

The sound was loud, deafeningly so, and of such surprise that Riyanna hesitated ever so slightly with her final upward swing. It was just a fraction of a tick, but it was just enough that it allowed Celeste to roll clear just in time, leaving just a nick on a sliver of her exposed flesh. The momentum of the swing was so great that despite Riyanna's eyes seeing what her apprentice was doing she could not react in time. As the sword was swung up over her head her feet were also being swept out from under her, and in a split second decision the Warden simply let go of her weapon, sending it arching in circles through the air as she tucked her knees to her chest and simply fell back with the motion instead of trying to right herself. As she fell the bone plates were being replaced by scales, sharp and needle like. Coming up on all fours Riyanna bared her teeth, a fearsome expression as they were all filed to points. If Celeste came at her Riyanna would gracefully grapple her apprentice, the needle like scales bitting deep into the girl's flesh if she were not properly protected, and toss her aside before regaining her feet.

Raising a hand Riyanna would toss out her hair, "Enough for now. You still have a long way to go from here, and today I was easy on you. From now on until the day of your journey to the Heartlands you will begin each morning with meditation in the pit, and then you will come to me to practice what you have learned. After that you will return to the pit to meditate on what you have learned. We will do this multiple times a day until the forms I have taught you are second nature... Or until you cannot move any longer." She rested her hands on her hips, her skin already smoothing out once more, "Do you have any questions?"

[Celeste Arumen]

There was a pause as the Warden grew reptilian, bearing rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth. Celeste was suddenly overtaken by fear, panic wild in her eyes as she began to flee, crawling backwards in desperation. But she knew it was too late; that’d been her last trick. Riyanna was going to kill her. Tears in her eyes, she begged Ionu for forgiveness. Better that she died here, than in the Heartlands. At least here, she would be amongst friends.

But, wait. What? Riyanna wasn’t going to kill her? Celeste let go of a breath she’d been holding, tears leaving streaks behind in the grime that coated her cheeks. Oh thank the gods. There would be time then. For a moment there, she’d imagined that this was Riyanna’s way of ending her life on her own terms. Pitting Celeste against her in a hopeless battle would be the perfect justifier for killing her. If she were to fail against her Master, she’d surely fail in the Heartlands.

”I do,” she replied, still breathing hard. With the back of her wrist, she wiped the tears away. This might be her only opportunity to ask. ”Tell me about Kierra. Why don’t you love one another anymore? What happened?”

She’d figured it out. Of course she had. Riyanna’s given her five days to meditate on it. The cryptic little hints here and there, the frilly underwear, the way she’d reacted to her wanting a familiar… It was a long shot, but she was willing to take the risk.

”I need to know, so if I do manage to survive all this, I’m not walking into anything blind. Please, Riyanna. You’ve kept it from me for a long time. But now if I don’t know, it could end up killing me.” Because clearly, they weren’t just going to the Heartlands to take a leisurely stroll. No, there had to be a reason Annalisa needed to go there, a reason she could only imagine was tied to Kierra Doma.

The apprentice leveled a meaningful gaze at her Master. ”Please.”

[Mirage]

e
Riyanna grimaced and looked away, "It doesn't matter... What is in the past is in the past." but it didn't sound like she believed her own words. After several ticks she would sigh, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at Celeste, "Kierra Doma wasn't always the Heartland's Warden. Before she went to the Heartlands she was an Initiate in the Prairie, just like you are."

She paused to let this sink it, and to collect her own thoughts, "She was the one who helped me when I was at my lowest. She is the person who gave me the chance to become an Initiate, and she was someone I idolized more than anyone else. She was always the best at whatever she did, and I..." She cleared her throat, shaking her head, "As you know the Heartlands can only have one apprentice at a time, and it is not unusual for the Initiate to be chosen from one of the other sectors of the Testing Grounds. Kierra was chosen to become the next Initiate of the Heartlands, and while I was saddened I was also so very proud."

Pausing once more Riyanna sighed, sitting where she was and pressing her palms to her forehead, "Celeste, the Heartlands is a dangerous place. It changes people, and over the seasons Kierra became someone... different. Someone I didn't know." SHe looked up and in her eyes there was such deep sadness and hurt, "She was no longer the kind and sweet girl I knew. She was cold and cruel, and deadly efficient. She found pleasure in needless killing of innocents, be they apprentices or even animals who had done her no wrong. All of this I could have forgiven, but when I became Warden she did something I could never forgive" Her brows furrowed as the feelings pressed upon her shoulders, "She stole from my lands one of my Initiates. She killed him, and strung up his lifeless body outside the Dendrik Ravine. I don't know why... I never understood what happened to her in that place, but she is no longer the girl I used to know."

Laying back Riyanna sighed, "I didn't want you to go Celeste... I think... I think she holds a grudge against me for some reason, and she takes out her feelings on those closest to me. If you go, you will be in the most danger Celeste..."
e

[Celeste Arumen]

Wait. Kierra had been an initiate in the Prairie? The vision of a flaxen-haired young woman flashed before her eyes. They weren’t so different, after all. Celeste merely sat in awe, considering this sickening turn of events. It wasn’t uncommon for initiates of the Heartlands to be chosen from other areas? And here was her Master, the woman she idolized, playing second fiddle to a traitor?

The mention of slaughter made her feel strangely cold. Another vision assaulted her senses, only this time it the image of her own body, strung up on some rocky outcropping as a meal for the Noktal. Kierra Doma had broken her heart. So that explained the anger and the inexplicable need for revenge. But in spite of the sudden sinking in her gut, she had to ask.

”I see,” she prefaced, building up to the inevitable stream of questions. ”Please answer me as honestly as you can. Did you love the initiate? I mean… You know.” She hedged, unwilling to say it out loud. ”More than what we have together. Do you think she was jealous? Or did he have other talents? She might have taken him in the hope of making him her new initiate… But if he refused her…” She trailed, trying to inflict as little pain as possible.

”I only ask because I don’t want to walk into this blind. I’m sorry, Riyanna.” And it was clear that she wasn’t just apologizing for her own behavior. No, she apologized for the heartbreak and the betrayal too. ”I didn’t realize what I’d done… To you.” How could she put the Warden through the same ordeal over again?

But still. There was a twisted woman in the depths of the Heartlands and by Ionu, she’d not stand to see an innocent cut down, animal or otherwise. She didn’t care for her own life. It was hers to do with as she pleased. The apprentice cared on the behalf of the dead initiate who didn’t stand a chance.

”Please tell me everything. Is it her? Or is there someone else involved in all of this?”