Name That Rune!

[MiaKane]

(CLOSED except to Witchblade)


The rain poured from the skies above, running down the smooth golden leave of the fall season. Her head sounded like a bass drum as she slammed deep into the muddy forest floor. Her mind screamed at her as she slid around in the wet soil, her body burning from the pounding she was taking from the figure that stood before her. She had only touched him once, with her first strike, and possibly her last.

He viciously grinned as Mia stood, her body slumping and her heart pounding, her chest felt ready to explode. She wanted to run, but her body was paralyzed; she could feel tears welling in her eyes and her body tense with his every movement. She gasped as she felt consciousness finally begin to slip from her as her sight hazed and her body trembled in weakness.

Her body tensed as the figure extended his hand and chanted, a number of searing runes forming in a pattern in front of his hand as she felt the sudden press of the rain against her and then an unbelievable blast of force throwing her against a large tree behind her. Her back sounded with a number of pops and cracks as she contorted in ways unnatural before sliding down to the roots below her.


Her eyes closed as she felt blood pool in her mouth and overflow down her chin before falling into a short fit of coughing. Her right hand felt for her swords, finding the cool metal of one of the blades within seconds as she slowly slid her fingers up the blade. She tried to grip the flat of it when she found the only the tip, but her hand just wouldn’t work, she opened her eyes for a moment to look at her hand, a couple of the fingers were bent off in awkward directions. She left her hand there for a moment as she rolled her body towards the blade, gripping the handle with her left hand.

She coughed again as she moved into a rather poor attempt to defend herself. She lay on her side and held the sword vertically, the tip driving into the ground as she tried to keep conscious.

He laughed again with his deep voice.

“So a little girl thought she could mess with a master of runes,” the figure said as he approached, pushing her sword away with his foot as he squatted and grabbed her by the hair, lightning cracked above as her eyes widened for a moment as she saw his face, his twisted smile and sharp Elven features.

He hadn’t even drawn his own weapons; he probably hadn’t even broken a sweat. Why had he attacked her? He looked like someone she had seen before, but where or when escaped her.

Not that it mattered now as she watched him lift his fist; she closed her eyes just before she felt a set of gloved knuckles smash into her chin followed only by the black uncertainty of unconsciousness.

~~~

“wha?”

A thought crept into her mind followed by a dulled confusion.

Then there was a solid thought that she was alive and awake.

She could feel her body was sore but beyond that, she couldn’t feel anything missing or wrong and other than that, she felt rather comfortable. She lay for a moment trying to go through her thoughts; who she was, what was her fathers name, what color the sky is before she hit the perplexing question, where was she?

She opened her eyes a little the wooden roof that greeted her was blurry, but at least it was better than some of the places she had woken up to. She turned her head to look at the room. A number of wind chimes and other ceiling hangings hung above her and the walls were simple, having mostly simple paintings and such.

She could see her stuff near the door, and her glasses on a night stand next to her. She tried to reach for them with her far hand, but stopped mid way as her chest burst into pain.

“Bloody cockn’ great…broken ribs…” she said with a mild cry as she tried to relax again and closed her eyes.

“My my, such language from a young girl,” an aged voice said with a mild chuckle.

“Huh?” Mia said as she half groaned while opening her eyes to see an older Elven lady.

“It’s not becoming of young ladies to use such language.” the old elf said with a smile.

Mia sighed as she felt like she could relax for a little while. The old elf sat down in a chair next to the bed and began slowly feeding Mia warm rice and chicken soup.

[Witchblade]

Another day.

Witch sighed as she continued her trek through Concordia forest. It was all beginning to look the same again. The beauty that had once captivated her within these very woods was now fading and becoming nothing more than a blend of colours dulling before her very eyes. Even the chirping of those damned birds was starting to get on her nerves. But where was she to go this time? To Radasanth, or perhaps back to Salvar? Perhaps somewhere new, but what was new? Everything was same, the same day, the same events, the same things all blending into one conglomeration or something that was leading to nothing.

She didn’t know where to go anymore and she didn’t know what to do with herself half the time. She was either off on some adventure with some people she’d probably never meet again or she was mercilessly killing a bunch of random humans she came upon. This halfling was beginning to grow just a little bored with her never-ending life. She needed to learn something new. As odd as it sounded, perhaps she should pick up some kind of trade. It would keep her busy and she had enough money to buy supplies for herself and if she ever ran out she could always steal from some fat aristocrat. Actually, the more she thought about it the better it sounded. There were tons of trades that she could pick up in Althanas, miner, brewer, blacksmith, the list really went on and on and she had a lifetime to learn as many of them as she wanted.

A slight smirk slowly began to form over her sewn lips. It was a good idea. Learning something new would keep her busy and perhaps keep her out of trouble for a little while. She might have to interact with humans though, but as long a she did it minimally and they never touched her she should be able to get through it.

With these new thoughts bubbling throughout her mind, the halfling continued her walk through Concordia. The sun was filtering through the clouds in the sky and then spilling down through the canopy of leaves and onto the forest floor, a typical day after a storm. The ground was still wet, soaking in some places and the fresh smell of rain was all over the forest. It wasn’t very hot; in fact the rain had brought with it a nice cool temperature that swept against her pale skin every time the wind gave a gentle blow. Even her little white dragon, Daegun was enjoying himself. He was trying to keep up with his master by jumping through the tree branches. It was working for the most part, except when he lost his balance and tumbled to the ground below. Sometimes he was able to catch himself with either a claw or by using his wings, but for the most part he usually landed with a bit of a thud. Witch wasn’t too worried, he was a tough little guy and if he fell from a serious height she’d catch him.

Now, with these new thoughts of learning in her mind Witch began to wonder where to start first. There were quite literally hundreds of trades she could find herself learning in but she knew for now she should just pick one then move on to others when she’d mastered that. Problem was she didn’t know which one interested her the most. Perhaps she should just start travelling around and seeing some of the trades in action and then learn whatever peeked her interest. Well, she’d have to get out of Concordia to do that first and she was judging from by how deep in she was that it would take her probably two days to travel out of here.

So, with all that in mind, Witch stopped for a moment to get her bearings. Natural instincts told her which was North and South so she began heading South West in the direction that should take her outside of Concordia and eventually to human civilization, as they called it.