We Were Younger...

[Elincia Alanis]

In a small village where the Elves worked for another one's wealth in Tygara, being Elincia, was pretty tough. Being only 45 years old, which counted a young adult in elf years, she always had the want of being somewhere else, somewhere that would take the girl away from doing a basic job to heroic ones, where she would become the hero of her own destiny instead of denying it and watching it from afar. Yet, it was everyone's dream, right? So she wasn't someone special, probably will die doing farm job instead of being in the battlefield using her "gift", as her parents would call it. Yes, she never saw it as a gift, being always cold and not able to enjoy the sun, it pretty much was worse when she couldn't control it and hurt the people that she loved. According to her parents, there were people like her in the family, a lot of them actually, and they have been tattoo'd to make them "special." For her, it was just a little reminder for the people that's close to her that she has a curse. Hell, the family almost thought that she was dead when she was born since her skin color was like a corpse. Also, her family didn't want to show her to the world, always told her scary stories about Elves in armor coming to gather the gifted ones to punish them so she shouldn't use them. The thought of it was scary enough even for a rebellious girl like her.

Today was one of that days, her family already left the house to go to work, and she was left alone since she rebelled against them and over-slept. Well, she didn't oversleep actually, she just pretended. Elincia was an early bird, one of another reasons to hate herself. She sighed and escaped the prison she has been put, to get some groceries out of the way. Her village was not that familiar with the Force, since they always considered the girl as dangerous. So they mostly kept their distance and avoided eye contact with her. She didn't care, not at all. She was bothered by the close-minded people like them anyway. No fun, just work. She wasn't going to die here, for sure, she had to find a way to get out of here and start using this curse for good, if she had to live with it. Her village had hunters, she wanted to join them but rejected by the fearless hunter leader that she would be dangerous and would scare the animals away. Yep, she would. Cowards.

After returning home, she realized something was going wrong. Her parents were already at home and they had that serious faces that when they were usually angry with the girl. So, leaving the groceries to the kitchen, she slowly walked through the living room which the silence conquered. "What did I do now?" She asked, almost in a rebellious voice as she walked. Then the attention turned to her, her father spoke, his voice shaking a bit. "Not everything is about you, Elincia." Then added sighing, his voice was troubling.. "I am just.. .worried that scouts have noticed a big amount of Xioquo army coming towards the village. They have some cannons, trained soldiers, and a lot of numbers. We are a peaceful village, we have not much military experience." She listened to his words with a worried face. "The what?" She asked, since the term was not very familiar. Her village was far from all the wars and stuff. "Xioquo. The dark ones. The elves who were corrupted. They have gifts like you. And they have the numbers..." The subject was always her gift, right? "I am going to talk with the village elders to arrange a militia for us if they decide to do anything funny." The girl had a brilliant idea, her curse would actually come in handy this way. "Let me come with you. If they have the curse like me, maybe I can help you." As always, her father was dismissive. "Elincia, we have talked about this. Don't use the "curse" word here. It's not a curse." Then added. "I am sure our military can hold the perimeter. You don't need to worry." Elincia wasn't a person to be persuaded this easily. "You've just said they have the advantage!" But no, her father was just as stubborn as her. "Do not. leave. the house. It's an order. Are you coming, honey?" He asked to her mom.

Then, he left without dealing with Elincia's rebelliousness anymore. "Uggh... Stop acting like I am a child!" She shouted after her father. Her mother was not even speaking, she knew that there were something wrong going here and yes, very dangerous as well. The Xio... Xioq--- whatever that was, sounded especially dangerous if they had the curse like her. "Mother, I can help them, I know it." Yet her mother was not persuaded that easily too. So, she just took the worst qualities of her parents and mixed them together. "You have heard your father, Elincia. He and I are good hunters, and we will protect you. Stay here and be a good girl now, will you?" Elincia, didn't listen as always. She was an eternal fire not to be put down that easily. "You don't have the "gift", okay? You are clearly outnumber..." "You don't even know how to use that gift of yours Elincia, you will just hurt yourself. Stay." Her mother didn't let her finish the word as she went towards the exit like her dad. Yes, the following sentences that escaped her mouth were not that appropriate for kids, since she was pretty angry that still they saw her as a burden. Anger turned to ignorance then. Let them handle then, why not? If they didn't want her help then she wouldn't help. Stupid people! Leaving her with a curse and then not letting her use it.

Hours have passed, her family still didn't return home. Everything in her home was quiet yet from the window she could see the movement very much. This Xioquo army was directly coming towards her village, there was everything to be worried about, not like her parents said! Yet she couldn't do anything but to watch for now, since no matter how angry she was with her mothers words, they were right. She didn't know how to use it. Breathe in, breathe out. The rebellious spirit inside her was not yet in peace, she still wanted a chance to prove herself to the whole village that she wasn't just a cursed one but someone that could keep herself safe. As the minutes passed, the silence has filled the once action-full area of elves, this proved that something bad was about to happen. Then, BOOM! Came the voice from one of the cannons which immediately finished the silence, and then her people started to charge towards the dark ones, which made the aura of this place a bit.... disturbing. The silence was replaced by warcries and various arrow and clash of metal voices as the battle continued. She had no use in tihis fight, that put herself in so much anger, the feeling of powerlessness. No, if she didn't... If she didn't help they would... die. No matter how rebellious she was, she loved her parents. She wouldn't want them to die. So, not obeying their rules, she escaped the house, to her chance since one of the cannons destroyed her house the second she escaped it.

Then, she run towards the armory between the fires, not much weaponry since they had a peaceful reputation in the area but still have enough for them to save themselves. In there, she saw her father giving people blasters and rifles as they came one by one. Women, children... And she had to stay at home when children smaller than her were in the battleground. This proved that they didn't care about her, they just didn't want her to fail them. Like before times, where she couldn't control her powers and freeze that children... unwillingly. And that time when she got so excited that she froze her own father’s legs. Luckily, his father knew how to handle those things since he was a good hunter and he lived in those environments before coming to Tygara. Her whole thoughts has been cleared as she saw her father directly looking at her with angry, angry eyes. “Elincia! What the kark are you doing here? I told you not to leave the house!” She replied, no backing down since she was as stubborn as him. “In case you didn’t notice, dad. Our house is no more, they blown it up. If I didn’t escape there, I would be dead now! But you would prefer that wouldn’t you?” Her father’s expression changed immediately after hearing the news. “Elincia...” He came towards her and hugged her. “I only want to protect you, only want you to be safe.” Then she immediately pushed him back, being the rebel that she was. “You don’t give a kark about me. You want them to be safe from my karking curse.” Then her hand went towards one of the blaster pistols. “I am going to fight there, and if you are lucky I am going to fulfill your wish.” Her father was both sad to hear the words, yet proud for her to standing up for herself. No more words escaped his mouth as he simply nodded.

Onto the battlefield, there were blood and suffering everywhere, Xioquo being faster and more advanced against her people, they were in great advantage, since in close range, tanks weren’t that useful as they stood in the background and bombard everything they’ve managed to build over the years, yet the ground forces weren’t effected by them that much. But the disadvantage of the tank was not important since the ground forces of Xioquo were doing fine already, and she felt the smell of burnt flesh, and she could see ice particle around the battleground and on the corpses. Yes, as her father said those things were indeed cursed like her powers, and yes, they were obviously more experienced by her and would probably kick her butt in a close battle between super powers, and she didn’t know how to kickstart her powers too, since all of her experiences went completely coincidentially. So she remained in the background using her blaster as the melee team continued keeping them safe from harm. She could see her mom fighting melee as well, being the leader of her own group of melee fighters she looked so cool doing what she did when she was on the battleground. Both her parents needed to learn how to speak with a rebellious girl though.

As the melee group got owned one by one by the flying ice and fire, she moved in between lines and found her father again with her laser minigun as he continued killing the enemies one, two, three. They indeed had the curse yet they were vulnerable to the blasters, that was for sure. But there was something else, something wrong. One of the Xioquo soldiers were coming directly towards him from the back and sent an electric shock, which was very, very purple-ish which meant it was strong in power, and there was no way that he would react to it in its speed. “Dad watch out!” She shouted, which caused him to look directly towards the coming danger and being completely unable to move. She had no way to shoot it from here since her ranger skills weren’t that good. Her dad closed his eyes and waited the Goddess of Death to come, but nothing happened. Elincia, using her curse for the good this time, has created an ice shield between him and the shock just before it could touch him. Thus, the shock crashed to the ice and changed it’s direction, and killed another Xioquo soldier coming towards him as well. That’s it, her kickstart. Yet... everything was not sunshine and rainbows. “Elincia, no!” The dad shouted as sharp ice particles started to appear from thin air, the aura suddenly got cold. “I can do it! I can do it!” She said, yet who was she lying, she didn’t know how to stop it. As the ice particles left her hand and went fastly towards both allies and enemies and killing them one by one, Xioquo attacking and... killing faster understanding there was someone else that could use the curse. “No no no come on stop! Not now! Not now!”

“Everyone get away from her!” The dad shouted, “Stay away from Elincia.” What a jerk, just a second ago she just saved his skin from dying and now he was talking like that. Well... to think about it, yes, it was awful that she was killing her own men accidentally. “I am sorry!” She said, yet couldn’t stop it. Her dad was coming towards her, she saw that and it was the last thing she wanted to do. “Stay away, dad. Don’t want to... I don’t want to kill you!” The ice particles continued to grow up as she freaked out, it started to go in every direction now, like ice rain. It both rained towards the enemies and allies from above. She didn’t have control of it, she couldn’t stop it. That was why they were calling it a curse, right? Her father, being as stubborn and courageous as always, continued, his eyes were full of determination, and it didn’t look good at all. Not good at all. Then, cutting the last particle of ice coming towards him, he reached the girl and pulled her towards himself with violence, breaking the concentration and hurting the girl’s arm in the process, the ice rain stopped immediately as the space elf shook the girl with anger: “Elincia, I told you not to use that... karking curse! Enough of sweet talking, you don’t even know what you are doing with this!” The girl, instead of rebelling, this time she looked blankly towards the man, her eyes going gray as she slowly lost consciousness from all that sudden power bomb. She could still hear her father talkingAnd when she opened her eyes to reality, she found herself in one of the shelters that has been built by the surviving elves from the fight. And luckily... or in this case... unluckily, both of her parents were alive and looking directly at her.

“How long... was I gone?” She asked with weak voice. “3 days.” The mother replied. “We told you to be careful with your powers, Eli.” Then she replied. “I know. I just saved... him....” She said, her voice was still weak but she made them know that she was talking about her father. “... from a potential death. He watched the electric shock as it was coming towards him when I acted and created an actual ice shield. Ice shield, mom. With my curse.” She didn’t address her father since he wasn’t even there to check her. “He doesn’t love me. He just... He hates me for my curse.” Her mom started to gently caress her hair. “Don’t speak like that. He loves you. He’s just worried.” But then her father came towards the aura and just destroyed it with his stares. “The Elves that I talked about when you were a child. Remember them, Elincia?” He said, staring blankly. “They are asking about a girl that has created that ice rain... I told them. They are coming for you. It’s probably for the best. You’ve proven that you are dangerous.” Her mom protested of course, but persuaded by her father after a... maybe 30 minutes. The worst minutes of her life. “Don’t give me to them, please! I will not use my powers anymore, I promise. I won’t!” She would cry if tears actually could came from her eyes, yet she didn’t make the situation worse with ice cubes coming from her eye sockets. “Too late.” The father said, and some foreign elves that she didn’t see in village before entered the shelter. “They are already here.” Being weak from using her power to the limit, she wasn’t much of a force to prevent them from taking her. “Is this the girl?” One of the soldiers asked, the father just nodded. “Mom! Don’t give me to them please. I promise I won’t use it anymore!” Her mom, being sweet but also authoritive, just closed her eyes and smiled. “Be strong, my daughter. Be strong.” In the remaining minutes, she just cried out some curse words, screamed and shouted. In her own imagination, they were giving her to the death itself.

Struggling to keep herself away from them, she just...she was powerless. And she was taken away from her home towards somewhere she didn’t know, all that struggling and exhaustion from before just got to her and she fainted out again. As she opened her eyes, she was about to freak out, it was a so different place then she knew, everything was shiny, lively. Armored elves running around, she was kind of in a waiting room, one of the soldiers she’s met... or.... has been dragged by, was standing right next to her. “When the Grand Seraph calls you, you will go there and be respectful. We are not going to share the details with them how we brought you here.” She simply nodded and started to wait, maybe for her own death, or maybe all of the dad’s stories were just lies. She was about to find out about that. Tick, tock, tick, tock. Daddy didn’t care, mommy wasn’t there. She waited, waited and waited. Saving him was the worst decision in her life, if only she let him die, she wouldn’t be here today. Well, partly he was right. It was her fault, she brought all this towards herself. If only... if only.... Couldn’t prevent anything. Talking about if onlies never helped.

[member="Valiens Nantaris"] [member="Kaida Taldir"]

((I will make the necessary edits later. Right now I am sleepy and mind-blown for how many words I have written for a starting post ))

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Elincia Alanis"], [member="Aeda Shaytari"], [member="Valiens Nantaris"]


The facts. Kaeshana had been thrashed by a massive asteroid. Though it had been dramatically reduced in size, the impact had still been apocalyptic. Santaissa lay in ruins, many outlying towns had been flooded and earthquakes had shaken the land. It was too early to make a final toll of the casualties suffered, but they had been staggering. Those left behind resented those who had gotten away. All had had their faith shaken. Now the exodites found themselves in an unfamiliar land, forced to build up a new civilisation from the scratch. Even with all the aid from the Coalition and Firemane, housing, food and such were still limited. Throw in the fact that the Eldorai were a classist and sexist society, and unrest was not a rare occurence.


But order woud've to be maintained. The Eldorai would have to endure. Fortunately their main enemy on Tygara, their new home, the Xioquo, had so far not proved much of a challenge. Their legions had been routed since it seemed they had not progressed beyond using archaic musquets. It was broadly expected that one big push would finish them off with little difficulty. So the theory went at least.


Anyhow, after having received a call to head to the Grand Seraph's office, Kaida headed there, having just returned to the main base after helping provide security during the distribution of supplies to one of the more distant settlements. So now she was back aboard the Tirathana Skyport. Through a transparisteel window she could look down upon the orb that was Tygara. Of course it was not that visible at this distance, but she could make out a tiny spec that was New Santaissa on the northern continent. The unoriginally named city had a long way to go before it lived up to its namesake. Right now it resembled an armed encampment for a population of refugees, though it was probably progress that they were no longer all living in makeshift tents with little protection against the elements. Crime, riots and shortages were common.


Of course, the richest and most powerful Eldorai did not dwell down there, but in the sky cities that floated through the atmosphere. After all, it would be a most terrible thing if a duchess' gown got dirt on it! The apocalypse had unsurprisingly not eradicated the strongly classist and feudalist nature of Eldorai society. The army maintained a base in the city, but since the Angelii's main task was protecting the Queen, their Grand Seraph's main offices were on the Skyport. Having shown her identification to two guards, she was let into the section the Angelii had requisitioned for themselves. The message had been, unsurprisingly, laconic. Something about a new recruit.

 

[Aeda Shaytari]

[member="Kaida Taldir"] [member="Elincia Alanis"]

The Grand Seraph lacked a grand reception area or throne to lord her power over others. What she did have though was a serviceable office where a pair of neatly prepared tables. It would take a moment of careful study to determine which was actually Aeda Shaytari’s as opposed to her secretary.

When Kaida was shown in the Grand Seraph was working at her desk. She wore a loose robe and hood combined with her ubiquitous mask to hide her face.
“Seraph, enter. The exodus has brought to our attention many Sciians who had previously lived in rural obscurity. This one is the most prominent so far and the closest to your skill set. You will find and conscript her.”
She handed Kaida a dossier with Elincia’s name on it, together with a report of a recent incident and descriptions of her family.

“We lost many Angelii during the Exodus, we need new recruits. I have seven other Angelii securing recruits in the new settlements. You will bring her in and we will train her.”

And that was pretty much that. Aeda didn’t bother with small talk or make her orders sound like polite suggestions. She was the leader, and she gave orders.

 

[Elincia Alanis]

As the disturbing silence continued, she looked around to even get more confused about what's happening around here, avoiding eye contact with the others as she continued waiting in the waiting room. In her imagination according to her father's nightmare stories, this place should have been crawling with killer bugs and very ugly and evil creatures ready to kill the ones with the gift in very, very grim ways, but seeing this place with her own eyes, it almost looked beautiful. Colorful, lively, and some pale skinned elves just like her, it looked like a place that Elincia would like to hang out. But... maybe that was the plan. To catch the poor souls when they were most unguarded. No matter what, she continued to just sit and examine the scene before something else happened with careful eyes, before her time has come. She saw soldiers, or they seemed like soldiers, running around, they were talking about a meteor hitting Kaeshana, and a rebellion... Wait a minute... One of her relatives was there, wasn't she?... She hoped everything was okay for her, yet now she had no chance to contact to her before meeting whatever waited behind that door.

As she continued to look, she didn't realize a guard coming towards her, which caught her by surprise and she jumped from the scare. The guard didn't smile, neither she was angry. Instead, there was an emotionless stance on her face. "You are new here, aren't you?" With almost a monotone voice. Yes, from the emotion part it was just what she expected from this place, but if they wanted to kill her they would have done it already, wouldn't they? She simply nodded with no expression as well, still trying to avoid all the eye contact as possible. To think about it, it wasn't Elincia at all, she was a rebellious type, not shy to tell her opinion about things. But fear... Fear always changed people. She wasn't being shy, she was being careful and trying not to die. "Why are you here?" She took a small breath and talked, still not looking directly to her.

"I karked up... it's the punishment. I have some... curse." The guard was unamused with the answer and let out a sigh, then held up the girl's head not so violently but it still was in that category. She came eye to eye with the guard and freaked out. "It's disrespectful when you don't look at people in the eye while you are speaking with them. If you are going to be here, you are going to be respectful. Especially to the authorities. And well, stop looking people like you are examining them. They are not comfortable with extra eyes watching them." Then let go of the girl's head as their little conversation was over. She was glad that it didn't cause her another accident, since the last time was because she freaked out. "It doesn't make you very respectful to violently try making eye contact with someone else." She said... voice was low enough, it looked like she was talking to herself. "Did you say something?" The guard said, and Elincia answered, with a higher voice. "I said...you should..." Not now, not here. "... I understand." She just accepted the loss as the guard had that smile as she moved away. The rebel inside her was burning with anger. But there was nothing she could do... for now.

So, she continued to wait whatever voice was going to call her name before causing any more accidents, this day was going to be... very different, wasn't it?

[member="Aeda Shaytari"] [member="Kaida Taldir"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Aeda Shaytari"], [member="Elincia Alanis"]


Both Kaida and Aeda were such a nice pair! Neither of them had any time for frivolity or small talk. So the Grand Seraph's stoicism suited Kaida just fine. She acknowledged her order, saluted appropriately and then departed. A time skip later she was back on Tygara and had arrived at the settlement where Elincia was presently being held. Time skips were convenient because it meant they would finally get to interact!


The door to the room where Elincia was in would open with a hiss, and Kaida entered. She was clad in armour, as usual, though she had foregone the helmet, a lightsabre was tied to her belt and a bolt pistol strapped to her hip. The guards inside threw in salutes, which she returned, though her attention was not on them. Elincia was not the only potential recruit in the room, a few other elves were sitting there as well, since it was something like a waiting room.


Her critical eye missed none of them. Force-users - or Sciians - had always been honoured in Eldorai society. Their powers were considered a gift from the Goddess, but only a fraction of them got to join the Angelii, who at their height had been ten thousand strong. It was mandatory that all Sciians received training to control their powers, but after that the majority of them went on to live normal lives, though they were lightly monitored.


The exodus had changed so many things. Every Angelii had received a ticket to depart the planet, but the civil war had pit battle sister against battle sister, thinning their ranks. Everything was now in flux, they were starting from scratch while trying to cling to a semblance of order. Some even talked about giving manlings more rights. Looking up the Sciians, Kaida wondered how many of them would last during training. Many of them would not have been considered for recruitment if the situation was not so dire. "Elincia Alanis," she spoke in a clipped, authoritative tone as her eyes fell upon the girl.


"I am Seraph Kaida Taldir of the Angelii. Come over here. It has come to our attention that you possess Sciiac potential." Sciia was the Eldorai word for the Force. "You've been conscripted into the Angelii. I shall be your trainer." There, that was that. She was not the type for pep talks. Kaida's blue eyes had a piercing quality to them and her gaze never wavered. As for the Angelii, they were the elite guard charged with protecting the Queen and acting as shock troops in the Eldorai's wars. Officially they were the Heavenly and Wrathful Angels of the Great Goddess Ashira. But Kaida had stopped believing in her a long time before the apocalypse, back when she had been a mere corporal cast out of her homeland.

 

[Elincia Alanis]

Tick, tock, tick, tock... She waited, waited and waited to hear her name, each second passing like a year. She felt like a guilty person waiting her name for execution. As she continued to look around, finally, a cold, authoritive voice called her name. It was the first time she felt like her heart stopped there, time was slowed down and she was a bit more pale from her ordinary pale skin. She gulped, and turned towards the voice, also as a reflex she stood up from the chair, it felt like she was sitting there for hours. Maybe it had been hours, she didn't count from thinking a lot. She examined the woman, pale skin, white hair, a cold expression, and a voice that froze the scene. It was just like what her father told her in that childhood "stories", don't use your powers, or monsters who looked like common Eldorai folk will get you. Her father was kind of a jerk, it was true. But... she just hoped that he was lying. Being at home mostly, she didn't know about the other Sciians or even they existed or not, she has been always told it was a gift, but they had done everything to make sure to remind her that was a curse, since her family for some reason didn't want her to be a part of something big. She didn't understand why.

As the woman continued to talk, confusion continued to grow up, and hit the fan. What? Angelii, Sciians, army.... trainer?... Too many things were happening at once, and she didn't have a clue. The woman probably saw the girl very much pale than she needed to be. "What the kark? " She said, her voice shouted confusion and still a bit fear. Did it sound not respecting? She didn't think that it was, but she was a rebel still in her young age, and she knew she didn't respect authority so much. Her parents included, she loved them, but she didn't think the same as them always, often causing problems and little fights between the family. She was going to act more carefully this time, since she didn't want to make the woman angry, which seemed already angry. And she remembered that guard's words, no disrespect to the authorities. "I... I am sorry, uhh... well... uhh.... that's not what I expected... So that's why." Well, she was expecting them to kill her, so that was a relief. Or... was it all a part of the act? She was so confused, but so calm at the same time, from her cold nature. The title, Seraph, was a well respected one by the Eldorai, even in her home when they talked about Seraph they would be respectful. She never had the chance to join the conversation since her parents would send her to her room whenever they talked about her. This always created some kind of mystery around the titles of Eldorai. She didn't know anything about this place, Angelii, Sciians, armies... This all was happening so fast.

She started to move towards her reluctantly, as she gulped again since she didn't know what to expect. "You don't punish the cursed ones? The Sci... uhh... Sciiacs? I thought..." The childlike confusion returned as her father's words came to her thoughts yet again. She wasn't shy, she was carefully crafting the words before saying them not to piss off the lady. That jerk was going to pay some day for creating a full imaginary world in Elincia's brain far from reality that she hadn't yet discovered. The woman didn't look like she liked chatting, yet Elincia had many questions to ask.

[member="Kaida Taldir"] [member="Aeda Shaytari"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Elincia Alanis"]


Kaida was, to put it plainly, rather perplexed by the girl's reaction. There, Elincia had managed to surprise her! Hopefully the little elf was feeling proud of herself. Did you grow up in a hillibillie village? The Seraph thought to herself, though fortunately she did not voice that rather tactless thought.


Tact was not something Kaida was good at. Still, she would make an effort to be...patient! The first step to solving a problem is...trying to! "No, we do not. Not unless they commit crimes. To have that sort of power is not a curse. Sciians are a vital part of Eldorai society. The Queen herself is one," she replied in an as nice a tone as as possible. Ironically, Eldorai society was strongly dominated by Sciians, which was actually something Kaids disliked since so often those who were without the gift found themselves disadvantaged, though change was coming. A process that was being sped up by the exodus given how many elves had died. "Whoever told you the contrary was either lying or extremely delusional."

 

[Elincia Alanis]

"So you are basically saying that the 45 years I've lived with my family and that farm like wasteland was a waste. How great..." She said, one could say that she was pretty disappointed with this. And hell, she wasn't the respectful type who would bow her head to everyone, as could be seen by her behaviour and wording, yet she didn't care being a rebellious young adult she was. The whole, you are gifted, or cursed, you need to conceal your powers or they will take you away stuff was all a lie. Well, she always thought about this place every night after a day of depression and fear, that the monsters that would take away her always seemed like nightmare stories the parents told to their child if they didn't act as they wanted. Yet listening to the same stories over and over and over again for 45 years, one would start to believe in those stories, and that poor sould was Elincia. Well, she started to think that the monsters in that stories weren't in this place, but in her very home. Hell, which kind of parent would want their child to hurt like that? Was her powers really that much scary?

She felt like answering her statement with a small laugh. "My parents thought that you were monsters that would take me if I used my powers. I've been trying to conceal it for so long that I started to cause accidents when I panicked or I was scared of something. The whole village thought that I was a troublemaker because of my parents, yet I didn't want to cause that accidents. Maybe some of them, but that's not the point." Then she continued, in her tone that was still disappointment yet there was a bit regret also. "They didn't want me to have my moment, for whatever sick reason they had in their minds. But I don't care anymore, they are there, and I am here. Now I don't need to conceal anything just because I am scared of hurting someone. You said there are a lot of people that has this powers, right? If I have them too, that means I have a purpose to do something in my life than sitting at home and doing nothing." Then she took a confident stance, looking directly to her eyes. She knew that it was pretty brave talking to such a high authority like that, yet she loved being herself.

"I want to learn how to use my powers."

[member="Kaida Taldir"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Elincia Alanis"]


Essentially, yes, Kaida thought to herself. The frost elf was not that patient, but she let the girl say her piece. It seemed her new recruit was being very agreeable at this point, which was good and better than expected, though Kaida was quite certain she would have to be broken in at some point.


"Come with me. You have a gift called Sciia. It is also the word for soul and spirit. In laywoman's terms, it allows you to manipulate the world around you through your mind. Every living creature has a Sciiac presence, from trees to animals, to you and me. However, most people have no power, or put it down to 'good luck' and such. However, you and I, being Sciians, can consciously harness it to shape the world around us. It is our own inner fire which gives us this power. Some call it a gift from the Goddess Ashira," Kaida was an atheist, so she did not spend much time elaborating on theological questions.



She led Elincia out of the waiting room, leaving the other recruits behind them. "Your element seems to be ice and water. You will also be trained in hand-to-hand, use of the sarix and firearms. Angelii are palace guards, shock troopers. We fight for the Eldorai Matriarchy, and die for it if need be." They would be exiting the building as Kaida led Elincia away from the Eldorai settlement towards a nearby forest. In the light of her elemental powers, that seemed the best place to start training since the Seraph could not be bothered to waste time by taking her straight to the Angelii barracks.

 

[Elincia Alanis]

She always hated philosophical explanations, being a farm girl she always loved action more than talking, she has heard all kinds of explanation of who she was or how dangerous she was in the past 45 years and they didn't help at all. So as the woman continued speaking she pretended to listen to her as she was thinking "When will the cool stuff begin, when will I use my powers, what the kark am I doing here, will they kill me, I should stop thinking like this because she's about to stop talking" And yes she did. Well if she said something important, the young girl didn't hear, well, she heard something about a goddess. "Oh yeah, Goddesses." Goddesses? Really? Well, she couldn't have shown better that she didn't listen a word. Then with her signal, she understood that the time already has come to either see she was telling the truth or not and started to follow her to her destiny. They walked, and walked, and walked, leaving the other people behind until there were none she could see in the area. And they stopped, as they arrived to the forest, which contained a lot of very big trees and some much smaller plants, yet not much voice could be heard. It was like they were alone there. And it was cold. Very cold.

She listened as the woman continued to speak, yet she didn't realize that she was paying too much attention to the words more than actions right now, and it was a mistake. So she let her guard down, and talked back, curiously and didn't conceal the excitement that came over to the word of training. "I can fight for the Matriarchy. I don't plan on dying, though." She said, having that over self confidence that the youth brought. Well, this attitude of her would bring so much trouble in the near future, she was about to find out about things sooner or later. Right now, being the stranger to this place, she would talk freely for now. And one more question to the woman that seemed to be holding her patience to her attitude for now. "So... ummm... when will we start?" Probably a bad question to ask.

[member="Kaida Taldir"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Elincia Alanis"]


Kaida was a bit of a disciplinarian of the Drill Sergeant type. So Elincia's lack of attention and overconfident snark rubbed her the wrong way. However, she had too much self-control to lash out in anger or yell at her. Rather, her tone remained frigid, emotionlessl. The temperature in the forest might've dropped a bit.


"We will start when I say so. When you're in battle and a Sith is attacking you, he won't ask you whether you 'plan on dying'. If you don't pay attention, don't learn, your first battle will be your last," Kaida said coldly.


"You're not here for 'cool stuff' and 'fun'. Being an Angelii is sacrifice. If you don't learn, if your battle sisters cannot rely on you, you're not worth my time." Elincia might have detected a palpable shift in the Force through her Sciia, for the Mistress of Ice was exerting her power while she spoke. Kaida harnessed all the ambient moisture in the air as she worked her magic, then suddenly it started raining!


As a matter of fact, it was soon pouring down! Coincidentally, Kaida was also more of a doer than a talker. "Focus on your Sciia, manipulate the water drops and cool them until they're frozen into icicles. You have the power, now use it." Someone nicer than Kaida would've probably started with meditation and stuff, but that was not a very Angelii thing to do.


The Seraph was clad in armour, though she was not wearing her helmet. Cool rain drops splashed down her face, but she did not seem to mind. Indeed, the cold did not appear to affect her at all, despite the massive downpour. Rain sheeted down the trees, soon the ground around them was turning muddy and puddles formed.

 

[Elincia Alanis]

"Geez... 'Cool down', lady... I won't be no use to anyone if I am dead, right? Unless Angelii knows necromancy or something." It was slowly turning into a battle of words, which amused her very much. But she was pushing it so much, wasn't she? And the pun was intended, according to their powers of ice. "And don't..." try to boss me around, I am not scared of you. Probably very bad choice of words and would led her towards a bad path, so instead, she said something much more... not rebel. "...worry, I can pay attention very much." Well, there was a time to be rebel, and time to be not. It was one of the moments that she shouldn't be, especially when she was trying to rebel against a woman... who is as cold as ice. Jokes, jokes... She hated herself for a second for thinking this pun. Yet it was her teen side thinking and giggling inside like it was the best joke ever. Anyways...

The expression of the woman standing next to her and her words... Well it was amusing to watch how she was trying to stay patient to all her attempts to get a reaction. Elincia's one of the hobbies was doing absolutely the opposite of what her parents wanted from her, and then listen to their reaction and laugh inside, no matter how her parents were angry with her. Being in an exactly different territory, maybe this kind of behaviour would be a pain in the neck sooner or later, but it already became a force of habit for her and it was difficult to let go. Besides, it was one of the ways to calm herself down. No matter how her skin was used to the cold and she didn't mind the suddenly decreasing weather that much, it was a bit scary, to see someone manipulate the weather like that, but she thought it was a normal day for the woman. At the same time, it was exciting to see the small potential of power inside. And the little drops of rain slowly started to descend from the sky as the coldness of air hit the. Wow, this woman... was pretty strong, wasn't she? She couldn't conceal her excitement as her eyes had that fire when she was amazed by something.

"Wow, how did you do that?!? It's so awesome!!" Probably this whole stuff was normal to the woman and she would seem like overreacting, but it was very cool to a girl that has spent her entire life in a boring farm. But, there was another question, which is a more important one. "Uhh... umm... how do I do that?" If the woman explained her about using the powers before, well, it was the time that the girl confessed she wasn't paying attention., which, she just contradicted her previous words. She looked at the woman with curious eyes, and felt bad knowing nothing about things, which wasn't like her at all since she always loved to know more than people she was dealing with.

[member="Kaida Taldir"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Elincia Alanis"]


Kaida's expression remained impassive while Elincia spoke, as she focused her Sciia upon causing a massive downpour, though she was tempted to make a snarky comment about necromancy. She could tell that the girl would do everything to push her buttons and try to get a rise out of her. Time would tell when Kaida would snap. Clearly Elincia would need to be broken in.


She gave the girl a look. "Paying attention is a start," she spoke impassively, frostily. The temperature was getting frostier as well. Rain poured down in droves, the ground turned muddier, puddles formed.


"Act, if you don't want to get eaten. The power is inside you." A moment later, the meaning of her words became clear when, suddenly, a very large, hungry looking feral creature that resembled a sabre-tooth tiger with very sharp teeth and claws leapt from the bushes and ran towards them. Perhaps it had been woken up by the rain, either way it looked quite aggressive and was racing straight for Elincia! Now might've been the moment when Kaida was expected to intervene and chivalrously slay the predator, but she did no such thing. "This your element. Use your mind. freeze the rain. Envision spikes of ice piercing its flesh." Time would be short.

 

[Elincia Alanis]

No matter how she spoke to push the woman's buttons, the woman continued staying passive, if you don't consider the heavily pouring rain that continued to get heavier after each word the girl said, which was almost satisfying as much as hearing a reaction from the woman. For this, she respected her yet it didn't mean that she was going to stop teasing her. It became a habit for her after being treated like that for 45 years by her parents, and that's why she was doing this since she could feel like she was home, and stop worrying about this whole new world that has been shown to her. And speaking about the rain, apart from it being very fast and almost hurting as it touched her skin, she didn't feel the cold. If she listened to what she said before, she would understand why, but of course she was very bad at listening.... uhh... did she just say... Well, she probably wasn't listening the whole thing, it was probably about one of the lectures how the world is dangerous and stuff... right?

"Get... eaten? What do you mean get eaten? I am perfectly fi..." Then, a sound came from the bushes, which was not so far from where Elincia stood. And seconds later, a big cat thing which she didn't see before and had pretty sharp looking claws and teeth has appeared. It looked pretty hungry and oh... it was coming right towards her. So that's what she meant. "Oh kark..." She said, yet her tone wasn't showing fear, just a... a... well, it seemed like thinking what's that wasn't going to help her a bit so she looked at the woman, who wasn't doing anything but just observing the situation. Was this a punishment for her? Or did she get satisfaction watching a girl who doesn't know anything about her powers to face such a beast like this, she didn't know. She was still keeping calm though, and didn't want to look scared. "He... Hello?!?... Aren't you supposed to do something about this?!" Breathe in... breathe out... As each fast step the beast came towards her... her breaths came faster and faster, and the woman wasn't moving an inch. "Hello?!? I don't know my powers you know!" Well, asking for help wasn't helping either, she wanted to take a step backwards, yet her feet were stuck to the mud created by the rain by the woman's powers. Losing her balance she fell on her back, mud splashing everywhere and her clothes were a mess. "Oh kark it kark it kark it!" Panic starting to get the best of her, she tried to remember the last time that activated her powers. She was scared, she held her hand towards her father... and it happened... Why wasn't it happening now?!

Ice, ice, ice, ice.... Turn the water to ice... Come on brain... come on! And a growl...

The tiger was right there... No more time to react or think, it attacked her neck with such speed that if she wasn't fast enough she would be dead right now. Holding the tiger's neck and struggling to keep it just a little away from killing her, she was feeling the tiger's warm breath touching her neck, which sent a shiver to her spine. To be that close to death like this... Well it was a very bad situation right now. And her trainer wasn't even moving. That woman was something else... "No no no no! Get off!" She said, her voice was mixed with fear and anger and random shouting out of pain which was being caused by trying to keep the tiger away. Her strength was only little when compared to this beast, and she felt like she wasn't going to hold it at bay forever.

Turn the water to ice.... Turn the water to ice... Come on! WORK ALREADY! She felt something... Something... light and powerful.

The rain was getting faster and faster... And suddenly, it started to hit the ground faster and it didn't sound like the rain anymore, the water slowly taking a physical form and the weather seemed much colder than before. Trying to hold the tiger still but it was only a matter of time the tiger got her neck, she felt suddenly that the pressure put on her was slowly decreasing. Taking another look, she saw a big sharp ice spear stuck on the tiger's back. And sharp ice pieces continued falling from the sky, each hitting the tiger, which made it fall down on her. The weight was so difficult to endure but it saved the girl from being hit by her own powers, she used the tiger as a meat shield, and her skin got wet by the tiger's blood, which was pretty disgusting. But hey, she was alive. The power lasted only for seconds, afterwards it turned back to rain. She pushed the deadweight away from her body, putting so much effort and afterwards took a big breath as she finally got rid of the pressure and looked at the tiger which was filled with big,sharp ice pieces. Coughing and breathing very fast, she put the back of her hand to her forehead, still lying down on the muddy ground. Because of the struggle, she got some little scratch marks and wounds, yet she was alive.

"I made it..." She whispered to herself, sighing with relief. "I made it..."

[member="Kaida Taldir"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Elincia Alanis"]


It was safe to say that Kaida was a sink or swim mentor. This made it very ironic that her girlfriend was one of the kindest, gentlest souls imaginable. Unless you pissed her off, but if you did then you only had yourself to blame since she was a redhead. But fact was, Kaida did not see the point in coddling, though the frost elf's definition of it was extremely broad. The exercise was about teaching her recruit a lesson and at the same time forcing her to unleash her powers. In time, Elincia would learn control as well.


"Yes, you did," Kaida said. Her tone was a bit less frigid and was somewhat close to making her sound like a normal person. Only a little bit. "Good work." Praise from the Ice Queen? Yes, apparently. Someone nicer might have apologised about putting the girl in harm's way, but Kaida was the dour drill sergeant type.


"Always be aware of your environment. Don't doubt, act. The power is inside you, you just have to call on it." Walking over to Elincia across the mud and snow covered ground, she gave her a one-over, checking for any sign of injuries. Fortunately Kaida had minored in Force Healing. Retracting her gauntlet, she attached the palm of her hand to the girl's cheek, and focused. Her eyes turned a crystalline blue and Elincia would probably experience a very cold chill spread across her skin.


Of course, a cryomancer was not really bothered by the cold. Moisture would wash away the blood and as Kaida narrowed her focus down to a cellular level, the wound slowly closed and the Seraph withdrew her hand. "Your next lesson will be to freeze the carcass. Starting with the tiger's blood. I will elaborate, then you'll try." After all, the dead tiger had been thoroughly speared, so its body might as well continue to be of use.

 

[Elincia Alanis]

Lesson 1, don't make the ice lady angry else the consequences would be very bad. Lesson learned?... Maybe, for now. They were still out in the open, she still didn't have a clue how she called her powers the last time and there would be more hungry beasts that would be problematic for her life, and she didn't think that she would help her if she continued this path of trying to get a reaction from her. At least the rain helped her get rid of the gross stuff from her clothes, yet it was going to leave a stain. She sighed, as seeing the woman walking towards her and pushed herself up, now in a sitting position and looking at the dead body of the tiger-like creature that was trying to kill her once again. Did I do that? She thought to herself. It seemed like she did. And the woman spoke, she waited for something that would be a speech about how she shouldn't have done what she was doing before, yet... she wasn't waiting for a simple praise. "Uhh..." She said as she still didn't believe what she has heard just now. No "...Thanks..." to you. She would have said what she thought, but only the nice part escaped her lips. "I messed the guy up, huh?" She said while fixing up her messy hair. Yeah, several ice-spears were an evidence to that. It would be great though if she had a little idea about how she did that. Just like before, it was a coincidence that it worked. Then the woman spoke again.


“Well, I am trying to do that.” She said sighing, then continued. “It only worked on near death experiences so far. Can’t control it... it just... happens. That’s the problem.” The wounds started to hurt a little, combining with the rain. It was then she realized that she has been wounded badly by the tiger she was fighting seconds ago, adrenaline making the pain go away. But with no adrenaline, it came back. It was at that moment, she saw the woman coming towards her. What was her plan now? And she sat beside her, extending her hand towards the girl’s cheek. “Alright, that’s... unexpected?” Well, it was either that or the girl had a dirty mind. Probably the second option, since as she touched her cheek, she started to feel tingly, as if her blood suddenly got colder. “... I am officially creeped out.” The woman’s eyes glowing slightly, she started to feel much less pain, as the wounds placed here and there on her arms slowly closing themselves. Well, it seemed like nothing came to her mind was true, the woman was healing her... Getting to know her more, she started to think that she wasn’t that bad as she thought. Maybe she had a sharp tongue, but didn’t she too? "Thanks... for the healing." And sorry for the dirty things that came to my mind for a second.

Then, the ice lady, or Seraph, stood up again and talked, looking at the corpse. Her training continued with freezing the carcass? So they weren’t done with the tiger yet. Well, it deserved this, it was the one who attacked her, right? She wouldn't feel bad for a creature that tried to kill her seconds ago. So, pushing herself up from the ground, she finally managed to get up and walked towards the corpse. "I am listening.” She said, well last time she didn’t listen to her words was a failure. So, she wasn’t that stupid to make the same mistake twice. The lady would be proud of herself to win the war against the rebel.... for now.

[member="Kaida Taldir"]
[SIZE=10.5pt] [/SIZE]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Elincia Alanis"]


Coincidentally, Kaida did have a rather dirty mind. Maybe Elincia would be one of the privileged few to find out!


In any case, for the time being the Seraph was still in dour drill sergeant mode. "The brain needs blood to function. Blood vessels transport it: Arteries carry it away from the heart, capillaries enable exchange between water and chemicals between the blood and the tissues, veins carry blood from capillaries back towards the heart."


Needless to say this was a rather unpleasant way to die. She rolled the tiger around and put her hand on the arteries. "At your level, you may need physical contact. That'll change. Focus on your Sciia, and your inner cold, lower your temperature, then extend your power outwards towards the arteries. Envisage them being completely frozen in your mind, imagine the blood turn cold and freeze over, clogging them. Focus, imprint the image upon your mind, then will it." A palpable chill could be felt as the beast turned colder, though the blood was not frozen over yet, then Kaida stepped away, gesturing for Elincia to try.

 

[Elincia Alanis]

Getting back to her training after a minute or two of breath time, as the seconds passed, Elincia realized this part of the training would become grosser than the first one, which was actually killing the tiger. "Oh no..." She could only say as she heard blood and brain, she had a guess where this conversation was going. As the ice lady continued talking about the heart, blood and arteries she felt like she was about to throw up. And then the most important part came into the play. She had to touch the arteries to do what the ice lady asked her to do. She almost gagged, trying not to think about the sounds that she will hear when she touched the insides of the tiger. But, it wasn't home, everything wasn't easy here, so she just needed to adapt. Taking a deep breathe, she walked near the corpse, and sat, trying not to look as she was trying to motivate herself everything was going to be okay. She took another breath as she looked at her hand, making it into a punch and then letting go again. "Okay, Elincia. Sunshine and rainbows. Think about sunshine and rainbows. Not. Organs..." She said it, didn't she? No way to back down now, else she would lose all the way, and she didn't want to look bad, even after she let the ice lady win one time.

So, she quickly extended her hand towards the big wound that the ice spear created, and dived her hand inside it, feeling the warmth that still continued to exist since it wasn't that long that the tiger died. And the gross voices didn't help either, she was holding her breath even though she didn't realize, and trying not to smell the corpse. Well, it seemed like her whole day was going to go for cleaning after these trainings, which she thought that there would be more gross stuff she would do later. Sunshine and rainbows, huh?... Putting her fingers to the arteries which she finally found after a couple of seconds searching the insides, she closed her eyes, and tried to imagine, frozen blood, which she was instructed by the ice lady but was the last thing she would want to imagine her hand being inside the dead tiger. "Frozen blood... Frozen blood... Frozen blood..." It didn't help that much, the blood felt cold but that was it. Well, she was going to do it now or never, she wouldn't have the courage to put her hand inside the corpse again.

1... 2... 3... 4...

Seconds passed and passed, there was a cold feeling, that flow through her body to her hand slowly, and she felt like the blood was getting colder and colder and slowly losing it's liquid form, which filled her heart with excitement. She was doing it. The blood was slowly freezing as she kept still and not do anything else because she could ruin it. But then, call it coincidence or bad luck, she had to sneeze. Slowly turning blood suddenly took a sharp shape, which pierced the arteries and remaining blood which didn't freeze gushed to her face with such speed that she didn't have the time to react. "Oh no no no! " Trying not to puke, she put her hand to the tear in the artery to stop all the blood from escaping the body, which would fail her training. After freezing up the last drip of the blood, she let go and drew her hand out of the tiger. "I am going to need a week of bath after this... Stupid power! Why can't I control this karking..." Breathe, breathe... She said, her voice was a bit high in a rebellious tone which clearly meant why are you making me do this to the woman, by far she understood that the ice lady didn't care that much. Training was training after all. "Kark it..." She whispered this time, cleaning herself, and also proud about the fact that she didn't puke for all those gross stuff. And yes, she loved to curse a lot.

[member="Kaida Taldir"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Elincia Alanis"]


"If you consider this gross, then get a thicker skin. This is the sort of thing enemy cryomancers can and will do to you," Kaida said flatly, blunt as ever. She did not mind the cursing much, but the girl would get over her sensibilities and learn.


"Dropping an enemy's blood to freezing levels is deadly, but takes time and focus. Ill-advised in close combat." She continued speaking as if she hadn't noticed how grossed out Elincia was. Well, actually she had, but she didn't care.


"Now you will proceed to freeze the entire body. Stretch out with your mind, feel the molecules in the air around the tiger. Then, lower their temperature. A lot. Harden and solidy the melting ice spikes on the cadavre. Create an encasement of ice layer upon layer. Visualise the beast being entirely frozen."

 

[Elincia Alanis]

"I feel better now, thanks..." She said sarcastically as she was trying to clean herself from the blood spilled all over her body, it was gross indeed, but the woman didn't care that much as she expected. The world was indeed a cruel one, so there would be truth in her words. Even though she knew her only little, she already understood that being herself around her would be problematic, so she chose a personality less rebel while talking to her, but still put a word or two here and there to make sure she was still there. Then, she listened to her words again, with every word, she started to miss more and more about her boring farm life, but at the same time she felt excited. The things that were serious for the Seraph, were just fun for her. Shiny armors, superpowers. A life every young Elf girl would want. She sighed as she heard that they weren't done with the body still, which was tormented like a million times by Elincia's not yet fully discovered powers. "I am starting to feel bad for the tiger, you know. Feel like I am tormenting him with my cool powers." She said, as a joke, with a terrible pun about her powers being related to ice again. Joking to drill sergeant wouldn't be that much of a good idea, but she thought she would get to know her reaction to her behaviour better, for future reference not to make her angry.

"Well, that's my only way out of this, I guess." The good thing was she wasn't supposed to put her hand into its internal organs again, the whole body wouldn't be that gross. And she has done it a couple of times already, this shouldn't be too hard. She was getting the hang of it slowly. She was still not experienced enough to use her powers without touching, so she extended her hand towards the dead body of the tiger, feeling how cold it had become. Then, tried to visualize what the woman was saying. Molecules, air, temperature, cadavre, layer... Ehh, there were too many words... She wasn't that good of a listener anyway, so she just tried to visualize a tiger which was frozen. Yeah, it sounded simple enough. As she continued to see the image in her mind, and tried to reach out to the cold feeling she has always felt whenever she wanted to freeze something, at first nothing happened, as always, but after several seconds of concentrating, she started to feel the piece of the body she put her hand on started to get colder and colder, the rain dropped on it started to get a solid shape, then from that point, it started to advance towards the rest of the body, the dead body slowly started to become an ice statue. She got excited of her "success", at least she considered it as a success since nothing blew up or the body wasn't tormented that much. It was the clearest job she has done. Yet, it wouldn't be that good for the drill sergeant, she was about to find out.

"I think I did it." She said, as she was visibly happy of what she has done. "How's it?" She expected a praise or something. One thing about Elincia was she liked to be praised, a lot. Also, hearing a praise from the ice lady would be a great honor and a big ego boost for her, since she didn't look the type to praise people a lot and that's why she wasn't that sure about the response she would get, but wasn't the fun in that? The life was full of surprises. Still, she continued looking excitedly to the statue she has created. Oh how she was like a little child who accomplished something good right now.

[member="Kaida Taldir"]