Tessera 13, 81383

How long had he been there? How long had he been trapped with just his thoughts? Time, it seemed had begun to move at such an excruciatingly odd pace that minutes seemed like seconds, while days like years. Each day that passed was counted, though the hours were simply left to drag by.

Three years. He had been trapped for more than three years, of this he was certain. In the coldest reaches of the north, it was hard to keep track of the days, as the sun didn't always move the same way.

Three years. The prison of ice, pressing his body into such a tight mold and restricting movement, mocked him every day. He couldn't move, couldn't act and couldn't free himself. Presumed dead by the very Graders he attempted to kill, Daemon was now wishing that they might have had the mercy to actually take his head, rather than freeze him.

--

"My god, would it have killed them to g-give us sl-l-lightly war-r-rmer clothes-s-s? I'm-m-m freezin' me tail off!" The scratchy, young voice of an apprentice Pendragon echoed out between the icy mountains of northern Dhruv. His thin body, not having much fur and rather cheaply made winter gear, seemed to be having trouble adjusting to the cold. Then again, the burly beast of a furry 'dragon walking beside him didn't seem to be too phased by the cold.

"Wedge, you just can't stand a little chill is all." The bigger of the two 'dragons voice echoed like booming thunder across the icy hills, and the clap he gave the smaller one did quite the same.

"I r-r-really wish we h-had a f-f-f-f... f-f... Damn this cold!" Wedge kicked the ground a little bit, then snapped his fingers once. A spark of flame erupted from between thumb and forefinger, and the entire surrounding area was suddenly ignited in flame, burning snow and ice alike. "... Much better.." He wrapped his arms around himself, enjoying the temporary blast of warmth the now bubbling water was providing.

"I just we had a few more more details than just 'he looks like a dragon' to go off of - I mean, do they really expect us to find him Biggs? ... Biggs?" Wedge turned around a few times, before he caught sight of the same thing Biggs had - Daemon.

The sudden explosion of fire had melted the snow that had collected, revealing a sheen wall of ice - within it was Daemon, face glaring and talons ready to tear. Only, he wasn't moving. He was frozen, stiff as a rock.

"... Wedge, I think..." Biggs shifted his glance toward Wedge slowly, a broad smile twisting across his massive head. "... you just hit jackpot kid!" Biggs then ran up, wrapping his arms around the boy.

--

About a day later, the two explorers were sitting across from one another in front of a fire, along with a small camp set up. Not far off to one side was a massive cube of ice, ten feet in any direction, holding Daemon within it. Wedge and Biggs were laughing and joking, talking about what they were going to do with all the riches they would have, or how big of heroes they'd be. It wasn't until far later into the day, when Wedge snapped his fingers to produce a fire for the camp, that the two men would be surprised.

"... What's wrong Wedge? Gettin' a little out of practice?" Biggs bellowed a deep laugh as Wedge was snapping his fingers repeatedly, producing only the faintest cloud of smoke.

"This isn't funny Biggs, it's like someone switched off the power to my fire!" The two 'dragons would continue this back-and-forth conversation for quite some time, completely oblivious to some of the bigger facts.

Like Daemon.

This pain... It's so intense. The very Fronima in my blood boils.. My body... such pain...

Within the confines of the ice, one of Daemon's mighty talons began to move a little, pushing against the icy barrier.

I can't... can't control it... It's.. Such pain... Burning pain... Burning... BURNING...

His draconian eyes flared red and, moments later, in a great burst of flame, the ice prison was shattered. Biggs was thrown back, a shard of ice impaling him to the wall of ice not far. He gasped a bloody cough, clawing with one hand at the shard of ice that now pinned him to the wall, before soon growing cold and motionless.

Wedge screamed in anger and, without a second thought, blindly charged Daemon. However, to make such a move on such a man was foolish at the best of times, but with Fronima so far out of balance, it was just a poorly conceived notion. Within moments, the very ice around Wedge's feet would jump up, removing the legs with which he moved so freely on.

He fell crippled to the icy ground, inches from Daemon's feet. And, though he struggled to move, he was losing too much blood too fast. However, such an end wouldn't be granted by the tyrant he stood beneath. The last sounds that would break through to Wedge was a cackling laughter of raw insanity, then a brilliant flash of fire.

--

Daemon stood, on top of one of the frigid mountains, basking in the glow of light as the moons shifted around, the Fronima in his body burning so brightly that the cracks and spaces between his scales looked alive with blue fire. An insane grin, twisting from one side of his scaled mouth to the other, revealed all the sharpened teeth his mouth held.

"Now my blind eyes see... Now I feel the power... My strength... Not a being in this world can stand against me! I will destroy it all... I will destroy EVERYTHING! AHAHA~!" His maniacal laughter cackled with the insanity of a man who had lost any hope of sanity that he may have once had.

Apparently, absolute Fronima corrupts absolutely.

---------------------------------------------------------

Aurius, one of the wonders of the world, floating atop the lofty waves of the vast ocean, was quite the happening place today. After all, it wasn't every day that a city rose from the bottom of the ocean. Then again, it wasn't every day that the very water that held the city up froze.

All the water around the city, for quite the expansive stretch, had quite unexpectedly frozen overnight - the very day after the city had lifted up from the ocean. And, to make matters even more interesting, it was snowing inside of the domes! Each and every one! It was like nothing anyone had seen before. Within a few hours, children were in the streets of the downtown area, making snow angels on the streets and throwing snowballs at each other. There was laughing, happiness and good times. Well, except for anyone who was trying to figure out what was going on - they were probably pulling the hairs out of their head. Atmospheric control systems were trying their best to warm up the domes, but everything was failing - overpowered by the sudden shift in weather conditions.

It was 1:33pm the day that it happened. With the snow falling and the ice not moving, the sudden rumbling of the ground of one of the domes caused fear and panic to rush through the Pendragons who were there. However, the rumbling would only last for a moment, and no longer.

In that instant, in those moments, tens of thousands of screaming voices were silenced. A jagged pillar of ice spikes had struck up from below the very ground. So massive in size that they almost dwarfed the dome they had broken through, and so powerful in assault were they that the plastic dome was shattered as they rose upward.

Moments later, the explosion that came forth sent shockwaves - both real and emotional - through the other domes. And, standing atop one of these massive pillars of ice was Daemon, holding one hand high above his head.

"Heheh... Well, that was far too easy! They just don't make 'em like they used to! AHAHA!!" His body burned blue as a ball of fire began to form above his hand, growing so huge and massive that the icy pillar below Daemon's feet began to melt. This flaming sphere of destruction - this horrible ball of burning death - it was far beyond what any master of Elemental Kinesis could produce. It contained such destructive force, that the very air around Daemon began to crackle and burn.

And with a cackling laughter of pure insanity, he tossed the ball like a child with some great toy, sending it soaring toward another one of the attached plastic domes.

OOC: YAY. ACTION TIME. I hope post is ok.

Pendzez had been sitting on a seat in a cafe in Aurius. He looked up as the snow fell. Due to the recent events that have been happening lately, this has happened on the day that Aurius rose up on. Ever since the eclipse and the crimson sky, things had been acting strange. The Fronima has been in a state of flux, The Council chose to raise the underwater city to the surface. What has been happening?

Pendzeez had been in Aurius on some busy. He can't leave because the teleportation devices are currently offline until it's deemed safe to use, who knows when it's gonna come back online. It seems so peaceful with the snow falling. I was like a snowfield.


Koexar was covered with a hood, standing in the streets, acroos the road from the cafe, where he was observing a young nioti that was sitting on one of the stools. He knew who the boy was, but he chose not to come forward to the boy. The boy was Koexar son, but the older male was suppose to be dead. How would he explain is death was false. He chose to stand there, watching him and also as the snow fell, holding his great blade.


Taberah was sitting in the cafe, not far from a young nioti. He was enjoying his hot beverage as the snow fell from above. It was interesting that the whole city of Aurius was on the surface during this time of distress. Ajita almost plummeted from the sky, since there some failures with the magicka machines. Many died, but the behemoth flying island was still up in the air. Also, the sea was frozen. Was this because of the Fronima flux?


It was then that the heard screams from south western part of Aurius as there was runbling in the ground. It was then that the screams stop as large pillars of ice rised up, breaking the dome. A shock wave was felt, followed by another. People gathered outside, seeing the pillars rising high.


Pendzez, Taberah, and Koexar were quick to there feet, seeing that there was a large ball of fire forming on top of the pillars. Pendzez began to run towards the pillars instead of away.

Koexar and Taberah watched as the boy ran off towards the icy pillars. "BOY!" They began to follow after him. If the boy was gonna sort this out, he would need help.

Pendzez kept on running, he didn't even care that there were two more people following him towards the pillars. The ball of fire seems to be getting bigger. Who would be casting magic that strong? Not even a normal master could summon that much power. Coming to the pillars, he took flight through the opening in the dome, Koexar also taking flight, and Taberah lept the pillar. The ball of fire was hurling towards them.

It was coincidental that they both knew pyrokinesis. They tried, by combining the pyrokinetic energies together, to throw the ball off course to another direction. Eventually, the ball went upwards away from the domes.

Pendzez felt exhausted from concentrating his energy to move the ball away from the domes. He felt weak, panting and breathing for air. Koexar felt a slight weakness, but he didn't show any. Taberah was the same.

OOC: mind if I join?

Shiden had been in Aurius on business, looking around the depths of the city when it happened. He had seen the sky turn crimson, almost taunting him. After the apparent death of his mate, everything had gone downhill. He did not know if she was alive, but the sight of her body in that back alley had broken him. Months later, he reviewed his memories and found small things wrong, that perhaps it was a setup meant only to break him. The small gang he had built up in Bhim had drawn too much attention from the authorities after a few slum gunfights that had left several pendragons injured or dead. The police, or whatever one called them in Bhim, had raided several of the slums soon after. Three safe-houses had been raided, leaving his band without weapons or cash. Several members had been arrested, but none of them key. They had merely been recruited as guards, not privy to any information that would lead to him. Despite the minimal risk, Shiden decided to lay low for a while, keeping his band out of the news. They had melted into the shadows, licking their wounds and biding their time, while Shiden went to Aurius to see about supplies.

That had been five weeks ago. Shiden had managed to set up a few contacts and start funneling weapons and supplies back to the others, although not without difficulty. Now the teleporters were down, and he had no way to leave.

He had turned just in time to see the other dome shatter, gigantic shards of ice rippling up and smashing the barrier that had protected the city for so long.

"... Shit"

Was his only remark as he watched pieces of the dome fall to the ground and heard them break. A giant ball of fire had formed above the former dome, and hurtled in his direction, only being stopped by a trio of pendragons down the street. Unsheathing his spear for the first time in months, Shiden ran down the street to the others.

"You okay, it seems like you're gonna throw up"

He said to them, looking over their exhausted bodies. The fight had just begun, and they were already tired. This was no ordinary elemental master, but someone, or something, much more powerful.

"Do you have any idea what caused that?"

He asked, looking off at the ice pillars.

OOC: my turn!

Metarist Rlupa.
Wearing the same stuff but without his magic scrolls.
Extra stuff: equipment belt with: first aid kit, survival kit, two semi-automatic pistols, ten magazines.

IC:
After the weird Fronima flux thing, Metarist was peacefully training his giant heavy metal wings with his own sheer strength instead of the Fronima that he usually used.

Open, close, open, close; this is what he did with them for the first week after the flux and his arm being blown off. He now had his arm back on again and was training his most advanced moves he used with his wings.

Then what happened was the rumbling and the screams. Meta gave a disappointed look on his face. "Great, what is it this time?" with the fronima gone his ability to sense things had been reduced to a distance of 100 meters, that was enough to tell him that ice pillars where surfacing in one of the domes. *blizz* went his radio. "All units please go to your defensive positions surrounding the south-west zone of Aurius."

'Alright' Meta thought. 'Time to test these wings out now.' Then he began running towards his position.
-------------------------------------------


Just getting to his station, he saw a impossible fire ball just shot at Aurius (or so he thought impossible). It was diverted into the sky by three pendragons nearby him and was being helped by another dragon because of their exaustion. 'they don't need my help because they are just tired' He thought, but then he remembered that in his first aid kit he had some stuff that would get rid of some head-aches and regain energy in the body, so he ran over to help.

"Here some stuff you'll need." he chucked the kit of the floor nearby them.

Deflected. His mighty destructive ball of burning death was simply tossed aside like some child's ball. Oh, but that wouldn't do! That was, after all, not in the master plan.

Daemon casually extended a hand into the air, causing the mighty ball of inferno to stop a few hundred yards above the dome itself. It sat there, burning brightly and powerfully, like an artificial sun ready to revolve around its newly created world.

One of the gigantic pillars of ice began to crack and bend, causing the ice around Aurius to once more begin to shake. The screeching and tearing sound of ice on metal twisted through the cold streets as the tallest of the pillars curved forward like some dangerous hand, pointing its deadly tip toward the glass dome that had, only moments prior, had a ball of flame launched at itself.

Daemon came down slowly from the air to rest on the very edge of the pillar of ice. The waters, far from the edge of the ice, began to shift slowly as the winds around Aurius started moving faster. Within moments, a great focused cone of wind, mist and water struck behind the ice pillar, shooting the tip of it off with such intense force that it slammed into the mighty glass dome like a bullet striking a wall. This shard of ice - easily forty feet long and twenty feet around - was now sticking through the top of the dome.

For a few moments nothing would happen. The burning ball of fire would twist and turn as it had been, and the winds would soon die down. However, all eyes would probably be fixed upon the figure who was now slowly floating down from where the massive shard of ice had pierced the dome.

His body was covered in scales from head to toe, with blue fire burning between the cracks. Red wings, like that of a great Dragon, spread out from his back to catch the winds he twisted around himself. Where once there was eyes on his face were now two burning balls of blue fire, identical to the cracks between his scales.

The ground rumbled and twisted upward, forming some strange mockery of a stairway beneath his feet as he came down, his arms spread wide like some angelic being as his feet touched down. He waved a hand lightly as he did, and the gigantic ball of fire above the dome exploded like some great firework, creating splendor and awe in the air above the dome.

"... Hello Aurius, and welcome to my nightmare." His dragon-like face twisted into the most warped smile as his wings slowly folded over his shoulders. It'd be clear to anyone watching that this was the mastermind behind the damage.

OOC: This has seemed to slow down a bit; this post also doesn't seem to end well with the last post.

IC:

Metarist looked up at the blazing monster that had seemingly attacked the city, well to state fact, what kind of flying, fur-on-fire with massive elemental power monster wouldn't attack an underwater city? Well this wasn't one of the ones that wouldn't.

Thinking of what he could do, metarist had came to the conclusion that he could not fight the 'Monster in the sky', because his attacking range only covered in good accuracy of 10 meters with his pistols and his wings, but only could protect and assist civilians at this point.

"Ummmm, quick question", Metarist said to the dragons beside him. "What is that, 'Thing'?"