Strange Vulcans [Job/Merlin]

we've lost it all

& i am just a silhouette, a lifeless face you'll soon forget

Elegant fingers, like that of a pianists tugged at the orange scarf wrapped tightly about her neck. The air was brisk and not because of the season. The Spooky Forest, even when on the outskirts of it happened to have a certain air about, a chill that was there all year along. Within those tree's was countless creatures, and even farther within was a darkness that made a shiver run down Kuro's spine. "Ugh where is that idiot?" Icy blue eyes glanced about in question, she hadn't heard any footsteps approaching but she made sure to keep visually checking. It was always rather awkward when someone was calling her name from a distance and Kuro didn't so much as notice it, to avoid that happening she made sure to keep checking.

Her condition was a rather well kept secret of hers, one that she liked to think she hid well. A complex curse that had been placed on her after a rather complex situation caused the dark haired woman to become deaf to voices. She could hear a plethora of other things from footsteps, to clapping, to even the pitter patter of the rain. Yet her world lacked the liveliness created by human voices. After so many years of essentially partial deafness she had managed to learn the art of reading lips, not a very common skill. She of course had trained herself to make sure she appeared perfect, her communication was flawed so more times than not she was silent, and had become a master at the game of charades. So masterful at keeping up her elaborate illusion of prim, proper, perfection Kuro had managed to swindle another mage into helping her out in what should be a simple vulcan extermination job. Truth be told the Rune Knight probably could have handled it herself if not for how uncomfortable the Spooky Forest made her, not that she would ever voice that aloud, or was capable of voicing it.

308 Words

we've lost it all

& i am just a silhouette, a lifeless face you'll soon forget

At first glance she had nearly missed the approaching figure, his attire only helping him blend into the woods. It was only when she saw slight movement that she was finally able to pick out the man from the tree's. Instinctively, she had tensed, body going rigid. In these woods it was hard to pick friend from foe. Despite the hood she had at least managed to spot his lips moving. His words made her brows furrow, icy blue eyes falling into a glare with well practiced ease. She turned to face him, anger overshadowing caution. "Girl?" She inwardly scoffed which was accompanied by an audible huff of air. Did she look that young and helpless? Rather arrogant her immediate answer was no, but in reality Kuro looked like nothing more than a pretty, proper young woman as she was raised to be and worked very hard to upkeep that image.

Her hands crossed over her chest that glare seemed to be almost set in stone. At the least one of her hands stood out against the red fabric of her coat, her pale skin showing clear against it. Upon that said hand, lay a single blemish, a crimson mark indicating her affiliation to the Rune Knights. Not wanting to leave his question unanswered she merely shook her head, chin slightly raised. It was clear that she would not be moving and returning to her "village" as he had requested.

240 Words

we've lost it all

& i am just a silhouette, a lifeless face you'll soon forget

Her expression relaxed slightly when the man raised his arms showing a sign of peace, and no ill intentions. His words she also took comfort in, this was her temporary partner for the job. Still, when he approached she was relaxed until her fingers were pulled at and rather reluctantly she gave in. Just as a musician had his instrument, Kuro had her hands. Without them she could not craft a single spell so it was only natural she was protective over them. However, no harm came to her delicate in appearance palms. In fact, the Rune Knight was fine save for the crimson that dusted her pale cheeks at the chaste kiss placed upon her fingers.

Sheboulled her hand back, blue eyes averting his gaze. It had been a long time since anyone had paid her that sort of etiquette. In turn to Robin's introduction the Rune Knight gave a small curtsy, and a tiny voice, one that had not been used in ages managed to croak out a response, "Kuro." Her name or at least the alias she had given herself, not a single soul knew of her true name.

A ball of what appeared to be nothing more than white fluff had appeared from the grasses. Judging by the appearance and the nature the creature, it was clearly not an inhibitant of the forest. "How cute." Her thoughts were plainly written across her face, one hand holding out to the small crrature called cotton. She attempted to give the ball of fluff a few gentle strokes upon its head before her hand pulled away and her gaze shifted to the ever looming forest. All Robin got in return was a simple nod of the head saying that she was ready to go. Already, Kuro appeared to be a woman of very little words.

240 Words

we've lost it all

& i am just a silhouette, a lifeless face you'll soon forget

The pair had made their way into the Spooky Forest, the furry white creature having disappeared into thickets of tall grasses. A portion of the journey was made in an unnerving, and uncomfortable silence. A sort of silence that Kuro was all too familiar with seeing as she lived it on a daily basis. The only sounds that broke through the quiet was the soft steps of their feet upon the ground, and the occasional rustling of the grasses. Out of the corner of her eye Kuro realized that Robins lips were moving setting her into a panic; was he speaking to her? She did her best to decipher what she could, it was rather difficult to read one's lips from their side profile.

At first the words didn't make sense to Kuro, singing was often times lost upon her as it looked to be nothing more than speaking. It was only the subtle rhythm to the words, the way that they so effortlessly slipped together that alerted Kuro to the fact that he was singing rather than speaking. She couldn't quite understand why one would sing in such a place, she had lost the value of song long ago. Still, the words brought a wistful smile to her lips; yet another reminder of the glass barrier between her and others.

The sudden rustling of the nearby shrubbery caught Kuro's attention, the noise sounding crisp and sharp to her ears. The first thing to emerge was Cotton, but the tiny creature ended up dashing behind both her and Robin. The next creatures to emerge from the depths of the forest were far more threatening. Three vulcans came forth, eyeing over the pair in what appeared to be anger. Cracking her fingers, a bad habit of sorts for her, Kuro took a few steps back putting as much distance between herself and the three vulcans. It didn't help that she didn't know her allies magic. All she could do was pray that they didn't happen to clash too badly with her own magic.

240 Words

we've lost it all

& i am just a silhouette, a lifeless face you'll soon forget

His words were completely lost upon her. With his back to her, Kuro was unable to discern that he was even speaking to her. Luckily, his words weren't of much importance, and most of them she had already been planning to do. The crossbrow was no surpise but the mage had some doubts as to how effective arrows would be against the thick skinned vulcans. As the strong vulcan swiped away the arrows as if they were norhing more than paper, it only proved her suspicions. "I hope he's got a trick or two up his sleeve." She cracked her knuckles, eyeing over the two vulcans that approached her.

The whistling of Robin caught both her and the vulcans attention for a moment. However, only one of them acted upon it. While, their attention was momentarily distracted though their bodies were already moving towards the Rune Knight, Kuro dashed forward. She slapped her palms together, a bright light flashing inbetween the her closed hands. When she pulled them apart two blades had materialized, seemingly made out of crystal, one was ruby in color while the other was sapphire. Despite their simple crystalline appearance, the daggers were anything but simple. She was a make mage but not just any make mage, Kuro had been trained under alchemists. Thus, she was taught how to produce two seperate types of crystals often used by alchemists. It was a delicate and very complex process forming these sorts of crystals especially, and it was only further testimony of her skill as a mage, and more specifically of her understanding of alchemy.

She clutched the red blade in her hand but threw the blue one at the approaching vulcans, the dagger digging into its flesh. The blade hardly phased the vulcan until it had exploded into countless, jagged crystal shards. Her craft was a delicate one, if there was even a slight error in her calculations it often lead to explosive consequences. Which lead to Kuro intentionally screwing up the formations of some of her spells, adding just a little too much mana to work in her favor. With a little smirk she gave a small wave of her hand to the other vulcan that was angrily picking away at the shards lodged into its forearms.

240 Words

we've lost it all

& i am just a silhouette, a lifeless face you'll soon forget

The other vulcan was approaching fast, swinging its large fist at the rather petite girl. She had managed to duck beneath the vulcans strike, one hand held out as she materialized another blue blade to her free hand. The vulcan swung once more but it was like an elphant trying to stomp on a mouse. With surprising agility she easily sunk bith of her blades into the vulcans midsrction. It let loose an angry roar swatting the Rune Knight aside into a tree like she was some sort of ragdoll. However, the damage was already done, the vulcans fate was sealed.


Both daggers exploded but the battle wasn't quite over yet. Her companion appeared to be struggling with his own vulcan. Letting loose a huff of air the Rune Knight clambered back up to her feet. She paused in a moment of thought before holding her hands together concentrating on what she was trying to create. Kuro gave a sharp, high pitched whistle in an attempt go gain both the strong vulcan and Robins attention. If she had managed to grasp Robins attention she would have tossed three objects at him, the objects catching the light just right as they flew through the air. Three red crystal arrows, perfectly formed and made with delicate care. Or at least delicate enough that they wouldn't explode just yet.

240 Words

we've lost it all

& i am just a silhouette, a lifeless face you'll soon forget

Kuro could only wince as she watched the vulcan practically crystallize. It made for a rather terrifyingly beautiful sight. To think that with her magic she could help in the crystallization of such a physically powerful being. "I'm sure the alchemists back home never would have thought that these crystals can cause such a strong reaction." The art of making alchemy crystals was never used on a large scale like Kuro's, most alchemists only made crystals the size of some pockets change yet Kuro created crystalline objects of various sizes, with quite a bit of practice of course. However, alchemy crystals were generally applied to inanimate objects or reactions in order to study various changes of matter, never was it used by alchemists on living beings as that would be considered unethical. Surely, though the alchemists who taught her had to have been wondering about what sorts of reactions might occur if the crystals were indeed used on living creatures...


Kuro winced once more, this time as the ball of white fur clambered up her rather sore back. She was sure that bruises would be decorating her alabaster skin after getting slammed none to gently into a tree. The Rune Knight couldn't muster up any sort of anger for the quaking ball of fur upon her shoulder. She offered her hand to it, petting the top of its head as gently as possible, fearing that she might hurt the thing. Her hands after all were her most deadly weapon....Glancing back to Robin she gave him a quick nod of her head, indicating for them to continue on.

278 Words

we've lost it all

& i am just a silhouette, a lifeless face you'll soon forget

Cotton jumped off of her shoulder just as quickly as he had gotten on it. "More vulcans." She inwardly groaned but these seemed to be the last of the vulcans in the area, or at least as far as she could sense. Did they really think that an all out attack would work against the two of them? Robin had moved away by this time, snaking behind the vulcans whose attention seemed to be focused on the Rune Knight. Perhaps it was her bright red jacket or just because she was female? Vulcans after all, seemed to favor the female gender and their lecherous stares only proved to Kuro that she was correct in her assumption.


Not one to be ogled by a bunch of apes, Kuro slammed her fists together. When she brought her fists apart, crystal had decorated her knuckles looking similar to brass knuckles. By the time the crystals had formed Robin had poisoned the weaker of the vulcans. The poison didn't seem like it had harmed the vulcans much but their movements were sluggish giving Kuro even more of an edge. She snapped one of her fingers, crystals shards appearing about the vulcans scattered randomly, seeming to have no pattern or meaning to where they were placed. Kuro had moved to the first of the poisoned vulcans much faster than normal, a side effect of the catalyst crystals upon her knuckles, and slammed her fist into the vulcans abdomen. It swung at her but its fist met with nothing but air and a tiny crystal. However, her own small fist found its way to the vulcans back, sending him sprawling forward. It was a fairly simple trick of hers, a tiny spell of minimal energy that allowed her to switch places with one of the many crystals that she had scattered about the area.

309 Words

we've lost it all

& i am just a silhouette, a lifeless face you'll soon forget

Her boots had just touched the ground when the rustling of the bushes caught her attention. The bulky vulcan had popped out only to be shot down by an arrow from afar. "Thank you." She mouthed to him before turning her attention to the other vulcans. There were quite a few there, more so than she would have preferred to deal with. It didn't help that her comrade was limited to his bow and arrow. Kuro was always more of a team fighter, one who could handle her own but worked best in a group.

The vulcans were surprisingly light on their feet, and better at planning than Kuro would have initially given them credit for. However, Kuro was lighter and she'd like to think smarter than a group of overgrown apes. Once more, her fists had found their way into one of the vulcans abdomens before repeating her earlier action and teleporting away from another vulcan that had tried to attack her. This time she had landed near Robin, her feet firmly planted into the ground, crouched like cat ready to pounce. Snapping her fingers, she pointed up towards the sky hoping to catch the archer's attention. Freshly made, still in the air as gravity had yet to take effect, was an array of crystal arrows of varying colors and sizes. It wasn't much but it was the best Kuro could create in a matter of a few seconds.

240 Words

we've lost it all

& i am just a silhouette, a lifeless face you'll soon forget

Kuro let loose a huff of air as another vulcan fell to her crystal decorated fists. Robin had taken down a number of the vulcans with a flurry of excellent footwork and marksmanship alike. That still left quite a few vulcans to deal with but it was somewhat manageable. The crystal upon her knuckles could take down a few more of the creatures but it would not last her forever. She'd rather not waste anymore magic upon them but she also wanted to be out of the forest as quickly as possible. Letting out another sigh she raised her fists once more staring down the remaining vulcans. She'd have to put her all into her next few attacks then! Being a make wizard her mind was just as deadly as her hands, as long as she could think it up she could make it....


She stood panting, a circle of unconscious Vulcans around her. The crystals upon her fists had had long since shattered, and a myriad of crystal creations was scattered about her small battle field. "I'm a bit low on magic." She sucked in another deep breath of air, just how magic mana had she spent? Adrenaline having slowed down, the female alchemists vision was getting a blurry. Before long it had faded to black, her entire body going slack as it fell to the earth.

240 Words

we've lost it all

& i am just a silhouette, a lifeless face you'll soon forget

At Kuro's current level ability her magic only used up her mana, not yet finding a way to take a toll on her body itself. Of course, she had heard rumors, forbidden things from alchemists. Ways to trick parts of your body into acting like magic circuits. Blood, muscles, and bones all used to cast stronger and faster spells. The alchemists had taken great care to hide this forbidden magic from the world, and definitely from her. Regardless, Kuro had merely run out of her power source which out her in a comatose state. As her mind drifted in and out of consciousness her body did its best to retain and replenish what mana it had.


The first thing to escape her lips was groan of protest. Kuro wasn't a sleeping beauty, she never awoke well. Her feature contorts into a grimace as icy blue eyes opened groggily. Her vision was a bit blurry as it took a momrnt to adjust. Her body on the other hand still had a strange sort of numbness to it, the kind that one often felt after a long work out.

308 Words