shylarah

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

A ways from the campsite

"Really?" Hearing first Nymira and then Ethan say they were okay with her magic cheered Amuné considerably. She gave the woman a shy smile, and went to give Ethan a hug. "Thank you, Nymira, I'm sorry I tried to lie. Ethan..." She pulled back, frowning at the man, and put a hand to his forehead. "You've got a fever." The girl bit her lip, her expression turning pale and frightened. "This is bad, Ethan! Those things...they can make you really, really sick." She fussed with buttons on the front of her nightgown, brow furrowed in thought as she tried to remember what to do for a fever and an infected wound. "You need rest and fluids...and...and...." Her shoulders slumped. Anything that might have helped the injury, or drawn out whatever was making Ethan sick, that was all back at their camp. "I wish I knew more about healing people," Amuné lamented, sitting down hard.

She gave Wyth a pat as the huge feline tried to sooth his distressed girl, but her mood didn't improve. The child felt small and useless. With how fast Ethan's symptoms were manifesting, she thought it was going to be bad. The vision she'd seen earlier, of Ethan weak and dying, seemed like it might really happen after all and that terrified her.

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

A ways from the campsite

Ethan brushed off the girl's concern, ruffling her hair, but he was rapidly progressing into signs of fever. She frowned at him. She'd thought he would be okay, but it looked like she was wrong, and there wasn't anything she could do at the moment to help.

Cecil didn't seem to understand why they were worried about him. "It's because we care about you," Amuné told the Machina, going over and patting his shoulder. She would have given him a hug, but he was lying down. But now Nymira was pulling her aside. The girl looked up at the Dimuran, confused. And then....

And then the woman asked the question Amuné dreaded. She tried to keep her fear from showing, but Nymira could likely see it all too clearly, and how she scrambled for a good answer. "They smelled like rot and disease. That sort of thing makes you sick -- it's bad." She hoped Nymira would accept that, but the woman wasn't blind, nor was she as accepting as Ethan. Amuné flinched when the Dimuran made it clear she saw through the girl's lie.

"I don't want you guys to not like me," the child whispered, starting to shake. Her daddy hadn't exactly said that other Magi might dislike her for her gift, but she'd put a few different things together and drawn that conclusion for herself. "Please, don't tell them?" She glanced at Nymira again before looking down to her bare feet. "I...I'm a Magi too -- like you and Ethan and Cecil. But...but Daddy says my gift is rare and often misunderstood." Amuné hesitated, taking an uneven breath. "I see...things. Things that happened...or things that might happen."

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

A ways from the campsite

Nymira wasn't the only one who found Magi using their gifts for fighting upsetting. Amuné didn't understand why a Magi would use a gift from a Saint to harm others. That was just wrong. Her daddy had always said that magic was a blessing, and must only be used to help people. And why did they want Ethan and the rest of the group dead anyhow?

Amuné let Ethan set her down, but before he wrapped up his injury she grabbed his hand and turned it so she could see the damage. "We need to go back when those bad Magi are gone," she said quietly. "It looks infected -- and the stuff I need to treat it is back at the camp." She grimaced and looked away. If she had her mommy's gift she could just use magic to kill the infection, but all she had was her Sight, and it wasn't very helpful. The girl frowned. "You're lucky that thing only got you a little," she added, remembering what she'd Seen. "It could have made you sick -- very, very sick." Perhaps saying that was a little incautious, but she was glad Ethan seemed to be okay.

Next she went over to Cecil. He seemed to be doing okay, but she didn't know much about Machina. He'd seemed to be fine last time until he just started talking funny and all but keeled over. "You feeling alright, Cecil?" she asked him, looking him over but not really knowing what she should be looking for. "That was really amazing, the way you got those monsters, but you don't feel low on energy or anything, do you?"

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Campsite

Amuné watched in awe as Cecil managed to do serious damage to the monster, following it up with a blast of lightning that finished the job, leaving the thing's gel body sloughing off and the skeleton breaking under the strain. But the Varuna in the water was still active, and he could just summon more. He'd showed that to be the case after the defeat of the smaller monsters -- and sure enough, the Magi started summoning /two/ of the giants. "We can't beat him by just fighting the monsters!" Amuné called, slinging another stone at the bad Magi. She was going to grab another rock, but a sound made her pause.

It was a roaring noise, and was soon followed by a massive wave of water. The girl gasped. It took out the Varuna's monsters, so it wasn't cast by him. But who then? Wyth turned, ears pricked, and Amuné followed the direction of his gaze. Was that...? It was the Magi from the bridge! "Stay away from him, he's bad -- and powerful!" she called to Nymira. Ethan and Cecil already knew this, but the Dimuran had never encountered this man before.

And Ethan was being sensible, thank the Saints, saying they should run. She had no objection when he picked her up and kept going. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shirt. She didn't understand why bad Magi kept finding them and wanting to hurt them. Magic wasn't supposed to be used for things like this.

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Campsite

Amuné was already reaching for another stone to send at the bad Magi as the others' attacks lit up the night. But they didn't seem to be doing much damage to the behemoth before them. So much magic, they had to be exhausted. And still they kept trying. The girl loosed her projectile and grabbed another, setting it to spinning. "If you can't hurt the monster, go for what's controlling it!" she called. Surely the others could neutralize the Magi attacking them, and that would make the icky monster go away.

Wyth paced back and forth making disgruntled noises. Now more than ever his girl needed to get away, get somewhere safe, and yet here she was even closer to the fighting than before. The scent from the huge bad creature was awful, like poisoned rotting meat, and he didn't want her anywhere near it. But his girl wouldn't budge. "No, Wyth," she scolded. He snarled softly, his fur standing on end, making him look even bigger than he already was.

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Campsite

The girl didn't need her Sight to know whatever the Magi in the water was doing was bad news. And while Cecil seemed to be doing okay, the other two looked worn out. She had to find a way to help. None of them seemed to be able to get at the one that was orchestrating the attack. She scuffed her bare feet on the ground, and winced as a rock dug into the sole of her foot.

Amuné's eyes widened. A rock? That gave her an idea. Heedless of the uneven footing, she pelted back to the tent and dove into one of the bags. A strip of bandage, swiftly sliced off with her knife, and she had a sling. There wasn't a child in her village that didn't have at least a little skill with a sling. She dashed back to the edge of the water, ignoring Wyth's noises of protest. The Magi was still casting. Good, maybe he wouldn't notice her.

She whirled the strip of fabric with one of the smooth stones from the ground nestled inside. It thrummed in her hand as she twirled it faster before releasing one side to send the stone arching toward the Magi in the river -- only to have it fall considerably short. In her rush, she'd flubbed the shot. She'd be no help if she didn't do it right! Taking a breath as she grabbed another stone from the riverbank, Amuné tried to calm herself. She spun her sling again, doing her best to focus on only her makeshift weapon and her target. When she released this time, the stone hurtled toward the bad Magi.

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

@Mogtaki I was going to not post, but I ended up posting after all. ^.^;;

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Campsite

Amuné only half followed directions. She didn't stay in the tent, though she stayed by it, her shaking fingers curling in Wyth's thick fur. "Stay," she whispered to him. The moorcat stopped trying to get her to leave, but still he hissed and spat in the direction of the fight. The girl watched Nymira charge to the river, only to have a green cloud spew in the woman's direction. She covered her mouth to stifle a shriek.

But the Dimuran surfaced again, and hurled a fireball at something Amuné couldn't really make out in the dark. The child gasped. Nymira, she was a Magi? And she seemed to be a strong one, too. Amuné wrinkled her nose as a breeze blew the stench of the creatures to where she was standing. The smell made her gag.

But it also stirred something in her mind. The child could tell it was her magic, and she wavered before letting the vision wash over her. She kept seeing awful things, things she didn't want to see, but they were important things. Things that could help. She couldn't do much, but she wanted to help how she could.

Amuné's heart quailed at what she saw. The blobby things ripping Nymira apart, as the woman tried weakly to fend them off but was overwhelmed. Ethan, tripping and going under in the water, and unable to rise. Them beating the disgusting creatures and the one controlling them, but collapsing on the shore, sick. The sickness getting worse and worse...and it was all tied to the putrid creatures.

Wyth looked at his girl as she leaned on him suddenly. She'd been murmuring things softly, and had seemed distracted, but now she was paying attention again. As she started towards the water, he tried to get in her way, and he didn't entirely obey when she told him No. Still, she stopped before getting too close.

Amuné felt tired, and Wyth was being uncooperative, but she made it close enough to call to those who were fighting. "Don't touch them!" she cried. "Ethan, don't touch them! They're bad!"

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Campsite

Amuné sorted out where she was as Nymira hugged her and offered reassurances. But once she was reoriented, the girl only let Nymira hold her a few moments before she squirmed away and went for Ethan as the man touched her shoulder. She didn't want the Dimuran -- she wasn't sure she liked the woman. Ethan was a friend; Ethan was safe. She wanted him. "I h-had a bad dream," she sniffled, her heartbeat still elevated from the scare. Amuné nodded at Ethan's words. They'd find her daddy soon, and her mommy too, and everything would be okay.

She took a deep breath and gathered her tattered composure. "I'm okay now. ...Did I wake everyone up?" The girl looked around at the others who, with the exception of Cecil, had clearly been sleeping until just a bit ago and her face fell. "Sorry. I'm sorry. Let's go back to sleep." She gave Wyth a pat, but instead of crawling back into her bedroll she nibbled her lip for a moment before speaking. "Um...Ethan? Can...can I sleep with you? Please?"

Wyth's attention was now wandering as the feline sniffed the air. Something smelled off. He made a soft snarl, and his ears perked. Moments after, an unearthly scream split the night, and the cat bounded towards the water. But what he encountered there was not something he recognized, and it smelled like death and rotting meat and sickness. The moorcat didn't want to get to close to the things that smelled like disease. He danced backwards a few steps before darting back to the camp, with bristled fur and a thin yowl of consternation on his lips.

Amuné gasped as the moorcat slowed mere paces from her and started shoving her, trying to get her to run. "Wyth? What's out there, what..." Her voice faltered as she saw the horrifying creatures that approached. "Ethan?! Ethan, what do we do? Can you...can you make them go away?!"

Over

My family is also in the United States, but came from Russia originally.