Lugubrious — Roleplayer Guild

Ventus and Allure - Desert Storm

Was there nothing of which a beautiful power was not capable?  The same finger that had traced, with masterful precision, the peak off a mountain, the crown off a tree, huge letters into stone, and cracks into the earth, moved with painstaking slowness and deliberation to nick from its stem a juicy pear.  Obediently the fruit fell from the great height, and with a clap it landed in Allure's outstretched hand.  Taking it in both hands, as a sculptor might his clay, he tweaked the stem off before lifting the fruit to his lips.  Rather than eating, however, he took a moment to savor the subtle but exquisite smell.  Never would the gods, in all their holiness and greatness, be able to savor the simple pleasure of food.  To be certain, one might put up a show of tasting some morsel or another, but as with so much, such an act was merely a facade.  The true sensation of satisfaction would elude them, for they thought it lay in power, or order, or chaos, or change, or music, or magic, or death alone.  One could not live unless one could die.

Only after Allure ruminated upon these ideas, perhaps lulled into trance by the sweet aroma of the pear, did he ruminate on it more literally.  He did not waste a single drop of juice, just as he would not waste a single day of his life.  After finishing his meal, Allure rose to his feet and began on his way.  For some time now he, in parallel to a certain four-legged atrocity, had been skirting the edge of the Fractal Sea.  Now, the bleak sands of the Firewind Desert could clearly be seen.  The thought of bringing justice and redemption to the cause of so much misery and horror in the world excited him.  Would the Rottenbone prove to be a formidable foe?  Would she cower behind the lion of whom the hain whispered fearfully?  No matter.  Allure stalked along the shore at a steady pace, smiling wildly all the while, and resolved to spill every ounce of Slough's blood, be it red or black.

Yet he could not stomach any more walking.  It bored him completely.  Perhaps the trip would have been redeemable if the gods had seen fit to put a single thing of interest between the Gilt Savannah and the desert, but aside from the thin greenbelt near the water's edge, the land seemed empty.  Funnily enough, it didn't even appear to be desert--just devoid of attention.  Allure decided to put his abilities to good use.  He took a series of deep breaths, then sprang.  Bulletlike he sped through the air, floating high above the shoreline and its plants.  Groups of walruses watched him soar overhead in utter befuddlement.  Finally, he began to descend, and he stretched out his body like a plank with his arms held to the sides to catch as much air as he could.  When he landed, he tucked himself into a roll, and to his satisfaction estimated that in a single bound he had traveled a mile.  Eager but not so eager as to ignore his limits, he repeated his mantra of breaths before jumping again.

A half day of exhilerating jumps and refreshing rests later, a sudden wind stirred his luscious, honey-colored braid.  It arrived just as the handsome man landed upon a sandy rise and beheld before him a diminutive delta where a river met the sea.  Winded from his great journey, and curious about the unexpected zephyr that stirred his hair,  Allure seated himself on the dune to watch.  Before his eyes a storm approached from the north, but not a natural weather pattern as far as he could tell; this squall seemed both tiny and localized.  "Hmm.  How...unusual."  The storm grew closer and closer, resolving into a vaguely humanoid shape that descended gradually to earth, much to Allure's interest.  The hero of beauty sensed something of particular note wafting from that turbulent figure, and it made him want to retch just as much for its implications as its odor.  

While the bloodied artist might not have felt it, the storm itself had stared back with its interest equally piqued. After ensuring a ginger landing for Maize, Esau, and Slough, the Vizier of the Winds moved to investigate. With uncanny ease for a being of the air, the elemental simply glided toward Allure and in the blink of an eye the gap between the two was closed. With curiosity the djinni drew even closer, for he had yet to encounter a being such as this one. Something about Allure gave off an especially perfidious aura and the windlord was sensitive to such things, yet he wondered if the being before was even intelligent.

Even as Ventus halted himself inches away from Allure's face, the man only smiled.  He knew fear, but knew no reason to feel it when faced with this ephemeral construct.  Rather than concerning himself with what the elemental might want, if indeed it held an intellect capable of wanting, he tried to envision how unnatural magical essence could be fashioned into a form that mocked life.  In the end, he didn't truly care.  The feeling of power emanating from Ventus paled in comparison to the reeking divinity that lay senseless only a few hundred feet behind him.  Allure reached out with his arm experimentally to see if he could touch Ventus' face.

The djinni would feel entirely real to Allure's touch, though his form was simply smoke and mirrors. Air and magical smoke congealed together along with the energy of his Flicker, there would be an odd, almost dream-like sensation upon coming into contact with his form. Then again, that might have simply been the air around the Vizier humming with power. "Too close for comfort, I should think!" he now laughed aloud to himself, half expecting some sort of response from the creature before him. The djinni's entire form sublimated into a vapor before reforming a short distance away.

A unique and unprecedented tactile sensation did not at all assuage Allure's condescending disappointment.  "Oh, it is sentient.  I suppose that makes it a touch less hideous than the last miserable contortion of unnatural life I happened upon.  Still, what a magnificent waste of potential.  I'll have to redeem it after my task is complete," he thought aloud.

Making up his mind, he stood to his feet, and without any reason to give Ventus further attention, began walking at a brusque pace toward Slough.  Wherever possible he traversed the dune by digging in his heels and sliding, and in only a few seconds the lightfooted looker stood near its bottom.

A waste of potential? Hideous? Vizier Ventus could not believe this one's words, and the indignity of it all! The air elemental rushed to intercept Allure. Standing right before the murderous one's advance, Ventus conjured a horizontal wind so powerful as to essentially be a wall. With that barrier in place, Ventus called out to Allure on the other side and confronted him, "Effendi, I like not this vile temperament; take back your words! I judge you unworthy of approaching the life-goddess."

The torrent of air caused the sash and fauld of Allure to whip around, and he nearly lost his footing on the loose sand.  Particles whipped up by the wall scoured the man's bare chest like sandpaper.  Without experimentation he determined that he could not pass through physically, but fortunately his disdainful sneer penetrated the Vizier's barrier.  "Ugly, overinflated windbag.  I judge you unworthy of living, unnatural or not.  Scatter."  He threw his hand forward, fingers curled like talons, and raked it through the air. The semisolid airspace tore like tissue paper, but even then the miniature tempest managed to absorb much of the power of Allure's cuts.  In fact, it protected Ventus so well the sensation of invisible razors slicing into his body registered a split second later, he did not instantly perish.

The djinni howled with pain. The physical damage to his illusory body that might have rended flesh did little harm, but the peculiar magic that this one wielded had a way of biting into his spirit itself. Even in his previous encounter with the ashlings, Ventus had never suffered true injury or the agony that was its companion, yet now he became acquainted with such things. Magic was the only thing that would kill or wound an elemental, and Allure's power had just succeeded in the latter.

Wordlessly, for once, the Vizier retaliated. He billowed backwards while that wall of wind began to rapidly bend. Perchance before Allure would even realize the danger, the barrier would have twisted around and then back upon itself to create an inescapable ring. The nascent tornado in an instant leapt to life, and if Allure had not escaped its clutch he would flind himself blinded and scraped by the sand sent whistling through the air. Flailing helplessly as the storm lifted him high into the air, he would be an easy target for Ventus to finish.

In the instant it took for Ventus to react to the pain, Allure registered with tangible surprise that he hadn't cut down the obstacle in one strike.  For the first time, he considered his opponent a possible threat, and prepared himself to move.  When the Vizier's attack came, the man immediately decided to evade rather than block the attack, and after steeling himself he shot straight upward.  Only a split second later the whirlwind ring rushed in, its crushing force missing its target narrowly.  High into the air Allure flew, pivoting around until he faced toward the earth.  With narrowed eyes he held his arms out to the side, hands positioned like knifeblades.

A taunting voice cried out from below, "How long can you outrun the wind?" The tornado rapidly grew in size and voracity as Ventus fed it with more winds and used his magic to churn the vortex ever faster. All the while, the raged straight torward the Vizier's assailant as if it had a mind of its own.

The needling of Ventus did not necessitate a response.  Only the weak needed to supplement their battles with quips and taunts.  An incoming storm did not shake Allure's confidence in the least.  In fact, he waited until the vortex was nearly upon him before he powerfully drew his arms across his chest, slicing out with both hands at once.

Beneath him, the Vizier's storm parted like butter to a knife.  A cacophonous cracking noise signalled an enormous gash carved into the land itself, splitting a vast wound into the earth.  Only the visual disturbance provided by Ventus' attack prior to its obliteration prevented the precision necessary to cut him in half as well.  Sand flew into the air and the earth shuddered for hundreds of feet.  Far, far above, Allure's sported a too-wide smile.  It begged Ventus to consider whether or not he could possible come close to challenging this man when he came so incredibly close to annihilation.

The djinni's form evaporated back into a mist and his essence spread itself thin. If Allure was sensitive enough to magic to still feel the presence of his foe, he would find Ventus flitting back and forth in a sort of dance, ever cautious lest he find himself caught by a second magical strike. Two more storms were conjured in quick succession and they too flew toward Allure, but they lacked the raw power of the one that preceded them. The intent behind those two paltry disturbances was merely diversion.

Coming from above and behind Allure, Vizier Ventus moved to impale the wild attacker upon a spear of lightning. The strike would come the moment that Allure tried to handle the oncoming tornados. In the meantime, Ventus bided his time out of sight and constantly in motion.

In midair, Allure touched a finger to his chin, even as the torpedo gusts approached.  "Odd for a sentient creature with a sense of self-work to try something again that just failed."  He drew a casual, tentative line across the storms, destroying them both in one cut.  Though expecting some ploy, he did not anticipate Ventus to have teleported behind him, and barely managed to turn around when the smell of ozone hit him before the thunderbolt followed.  "Ahh!" he cried, twitching as he fell back to the earth.  Long before he hit the sand, however, he recovered from the nasty shock and looked skyward with malice in his eyes.  Nothing could be seen however, and in rage Allure screamed, "Eeeeeeeeeeyaaaaaaaaaaaah!"  Only a bone-shattering impact with the ground ceased his harrowing cry.

A moment later, Allure stood up.  His bones healed themselves quickly, but the pain remained.  Quietly he wiped blood from his mouth on the back of his hand.  "Agony is such sweet sorrow.  I would have rather heard it from you."  His eyes rested upon the figure of Slough, not far away.  He grinned and held out a grasping hand, like a man seeking to crush a fruit between his fingers.  "Heh!  Perhaps the beast will be more obliging."

His quarry remained alive and well? The Vizier had given himself over to passion and allowed anger to consume himself, yet as the man's singed body had cascaded to the sands below it would have been a lie to say that Ventus had felt no pity. All such remorse was banished, however, when he felt Allure's attempt to lash out at Slough. A cloud black as soot appeared alone in the vast, empty sky, and from it rained down lightning like a volley of arrows. Ventus mercilessly directed each strike towards the miniscule figure below.

This time, Allure knew what was coming, and from where.  He sighed and took off running, leaving the lightning to surge into the earth at his previous position.  Ventus' anger failed to protect the goddess of life.  Allure leaped upward as he zeroed in on Slough's position, shouting, "Disgusting fiend!  Time to die!"  His declaration trailed off into a wincing growl as a spike of blood shot out of his chest, though the roar of Esau drowned out the noise.  Distracted by the pain, he could not change his course to avoid the Custodian pouncing to catch him in midair.  Scything claws hurled him to earth, but this time Allure landed on his feet.  While the bloody spike splattered against the sand, the man lashed out with his hand at the incoming creature, and Esau's mask split apart.  Blood flew from the wound and the lion faltered midair to tumble, unconscious, into the sand.  Only a moment remained before Slough would suffer a far more egregious fate.

Allure's swiftness was admirable in how he flitted so quick as to dodge lightning bolts as quick as Ventus could hurl them, but even dexterity had its limits. Ventus shot through the sky at unimaginable speed, abandoning his storm cloud and becoming a concussive blast of compressed air. Allure would hear nothing, for it came faster than sound. Without warning, the unstoppable gale barreled to cast him flying like a mere pebble upon the wind.

Forward came the rushing wind, indefatigable, unobservable, indomitable.  It surpassed the realm of mortal comprehension, and left in its dust the authority of physics' laws.  One could easily be forgiven for assuming that nothing could triumph over this wind of devastation.  Certainly, Allure could not defeat it, nor even defend himself.  Yet, if one were to stop time, they would have observed in the most infantesimal shard of a second that supersonic Ventus, approaching the hero from behind, had met the gaze of Allure as he looked, against all odds, over his shoulder at the coming storm.

Then came the deafening explosion of the sound barrier's destruction, and everything went black for Allure.

When he awoke, slowly and in great pain, the sky appeared to be on fire.  Gingerly the man sat up, his hair completely undone and his sash and fauld nowhere to be seen.  Craning his aching neck, Allure looked around.  He appeared to be on a little island somewhere in the Fractal Sea, not much more than a sandbar with a rock and some traces of migratory Gilt Savannah grass, whose seeds had surely been carried by the wind.  Wind...  Minutes passed before his brain served him properly again.  Putting a hand to his face, Allure discovered dried blood, but no scars, and his terrified heart could be at peace once more.  With this serenity relieving him, he attempted to piece together what had happened.   "I...was defeated?"  His gaze fell on his hands, and he flexed his fingers experimentally.   "No," he decided, clenching them into fists.  His nails dug into his palms, but did not break the perfect skin.   "Defeat is death and ugliness.  Neither has been visited upon me.  I have not been beaten, merely delayed.  How bothersome."

He carefully picked himself up, and stretched his aching muscles as he stood on the soft sand.   "My mistake," he mused aloud,  "Was assuming that the others might not value this life-deer more than I.  Surely, none of them think her any more than an accursed, repulsive thing, but for their own sakes they favor her creations.  It should not be a surprise that she might have guardians."  He set to the task of retying his hair with a scornful face.   "Still, my own weakness enrages me.  I am apalled that I could not overcome a simple elemental in one stroke, let alone a complete fight.  I must...become more beautiful."

Minutes passed while he breathed, standing still.  He could not deny that he felt fear doing this, but he knew no other way.  With painstaking slowness, he raised the index finger of his left hand up and rested it, as one might with rice paper, against his forehead.  Allure's heart beat, harder than ever before, and it wasn't the cool ocean wind that made him tremble.  He grit his teeth, squeezed closed his eyes, and drew the line.

A scream echoed across the sea.  The screamer screamed and screamed until his lungs were empty and his throat sore, and then he drew another line to the left.  No more visceral pain, perhaps, existed on Galbar; it was a descent to the deepest pit of hell and a trek across the most titanic of mountains.  After that, he shrieked until his consciousness faded from the world.

-=-=-

Allure gasped as he woke up from the nightmare.  The gorgeous sunset had turned to night while he dreamed, but all the same he could see and smell the fluids that stained the sand.  Furthermore, he could easily see the damage done to the island; it had been savaged by an invisible, gargantuan claw.  He gasped again, and rested his head in his hands.   Allure did not need a mirror to know that his wounds could no longer be seen, but he felt them.  By Fate, he felt them.  "I...beautiful...oh, it hurts."

-Allure traverses Firewind Desert, following the shore, in his quest to destroy Slough
-He finds them and engages Ventus in combat, wounding him greatly but ultimately failing to beat him, and Allure is blown far away
-He comes to on a lonely island in the Fractal Sea.  Disgusted by his failure, Allure uses his discerning hand in tandem with his healing factor to carve new creases into his brain, increasing its size and surface area.  Each mark represents one level.

11 khookies used to level up 3 times, to 4

<Snipped quote by Cyclone>

I met Trump, once, when he did a meet and greet business seminar in NY several years back. My family was one of the first in line, and I was in High School at the time. He actually seemed rather impressed that all of my siblings, myself included, wanted to play an active part in my parents business. He took one look at me "You're the one the kids pick on, aintcha?"

At the time, I was actually being bullied horribly by my fellow classmates for a variety of different reasons, and I guessed it showed through my demeanor.

"That's cause you aren't hungry enough. They see you have something going on, but you ain't hungry enough. They want to keep you down. They have nothing. You want that to change, you need to to want it so bad you're starving. You go back, hold your head high, and punch them in the goddamn throat in anything you do in life. Because I know when someone can be hungry."

I was 15/16ish. I'm 23, going on 24, with my own business separate from my parents, a college degree under my belt, and a happy loving family to stand behind me. The people who bullied me in school are either dead, in jail, became teenage parents, or wound up with dead-end menial jobs. So to any of you, I will say this:

My vote for President of the United States of America is going to go to the man who pulled me to the side and made me hunger for success with a three minute conversation.@Dawnscroll

That's pretty cool.  I've been asking some people I know if any of them have actually met Trump and gotten an idea of what he's like in person.  I stand by what I said about him being rude and so forth, but don't let that convince you that I can't see the good parts of a person as well as the bad.  Thank you for sharing, particularly in an internet environment that's so frothingly anti-Trump.

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