Lame Lamias and Missing People (Zhu's Exam)

The heat of the desert would have been unbearable, had the nine tailed fox actually worn clothes. That was the beauty of being made purely of magic, you could form clothes of your own volition! The woman was very little clothing, almost as if some kind of exotic dancer, that consisted of mostly cloth. Most was to keep sand out from certain areas, and the rest just to be fanciful.

Her reason for being out in the desert, instead of back in the guild hall of Pharaoh's Call, was due to a rash of theft, destruction, and a kidnapping that was supposedly done by a Lamia that seemed to have come into the territory. She was currently on the search for them, the guild master spreading out her magical senses to see if she could sense the creature, but had gone for miles so far with no luck on the matter. Once she found it she had to see what had happened to the villager that had been kidnapped, and then figure out what to do from there. If the Lamia was highly aggressive she'd have no choice but to end it's life; though that would be hard for her to do with her thoughts about the lives of others.

"This would be a lot easier if I had brought someone else along with me..."

Zhu sighed as she walked through the desert, she hated this god forsaken place and she would rather it not exist at all, but the scorekeeper had sent her a vision of something she would need to find. It was a lamia, a lamia that was fierce and powerful. A perfect challenge for her to see if Zhu really was worthy of being her herald. Zhu never backed down from a fight, and would never have turned down this challenge. So here she walks through the desert following the path that she thought would be the best path. It was due to the fact that this was the way the majority of her reports told her she should go. She couldn’t understand why a Lamia would be out here in the god forsaken desert, but it didn’t matter. Zhu would follow this Lamia to the ends of the earth if she had to. The reason was simple the scorekeeper had told her to go find it, and so find it she would.

On this day she was dressed in her usual get up which left her pretty naked all things considered, but she didn’t mind. Her skin was dark enough that the intense sun didn’t do all that much to cause her discomfort, and on her hip as always was her family blade. It was her most prized possession, and she would make sure to use it to cut down the Lamia. However, she became distracted by a figure that was in the desert. She tilted her head in confusion and saw that this person was not human, or rather it looked kinda human, but had a lot of tails. She neared it cautiously her hand on her family’s sword nearing the figure. After a bit she realized that the figure was a woman and she frowned shaking her head lightly as she relaxed only just “Ho there!” she called out “What are you doing way out here?!” She asked now within a few feet of the tailed woman.

Just when it seemed that things were hopeless, and Aiyana ready to give up for the day, would words come out and reach her ears. Turning to face the speaker, the guild master of Pharaoh's Call would find herself looking at someone as close to naked as she was; which was something that was rare to see from her experiences. The mage would cheerfully wave at the other as the distance between the two of them closed, Aiyana waiting until the gap was only a meter or so of distance before actually answering.

"A Lamia is causing trouble with a village under my guild's protection, and has kidnapped one of the villagers. I'm looking for the creature now and, if they're still alive, bring back the kidnapped villager. May I ask the same of you? I know you're not from Pharaoh's Call, as I've never seen you in the guild or the town before." The woman was quite curious as to why a stranger would be this far out with the town and guild so close by. It would have been much easier to just go to them to get what they needed out here.

Zhu looked at the woman in question as she tilted her head and tried to actually understand who and or what this person was. She seemed friendly enough, and it seemed as if she was very happy to actually see her. It was then that she chose to ask her various questions and told Zhu why she was here.

With her being so straight forward Zhu decided that she would follow that example and be just as straightforward and honest as this woman was being. She cleared her throat and spoke “Well, I am following a vision of the Scorekeeper. She told me that she would bless me with another form of a mighty beast that I may become, but only if I was able to face it. The beast in question was a Lamia in honor of my former guild, Lamia Scale. The Scorekeeper has shown me where this foul creature is residing and I must indeed go there. I am of no guild currently, and I do not choose to come to this forsaken land unless the need is most dire, which fulfilling this dream is to me. I am afraid I know not of your guild, nor its location. I am merely hunting the Lamia for my own reasons. If you wished to accompany me I would not stop you in that endeavor, but I am afraid I must make all haste.”

With that Zhu started to walk past Aiyana without another moment of wasted words. She knew where she was heading as the Scorekeeper had given her such a direction, but she did not know how long it would take her to arrive at the location in mind.

So they were following a vision that was gifted upon them, interesting. AND she was originally from Lamia Scale? If was too bad she had never seen this woman before, they may have been guild mates at one point in time and not realized it. "Well, it is very nice to meet you. I will join you in your mission, as it is almost the same as mine and shares similar goals. I'll keep up to speed with you, so have no worries about me slowing you down." Aiyana's last words were no lie. She had no need to even breathe, let alone tiring out. She was a celestial spirit, and a being of magic need not worry about physical needs.

It seemed that neither had given their name and, surprised that she had forgotten, the nine tailed fox decided to be the first to do so. "My name is Aiyana Shuer. It is a pleasure to meet you, even under the current circumstances." It seemed the other woman knew where she was heading, so Aiyana made sure to keep pace while also waiting to see if the other would attempt some kind of conversation as they travelled together.

Zhu looked to the woman in question and tilted her head in confusion as she shrugged her shoulders from the explanation that she had just been given. It seemed this fox lady was planning to come with her and while Zhu didn’t necessarily mind the company she really didn’t have any clue why anyone would want to help her hunt and kill a Lamia. She wasn’t stupid however, she would not turn down any help as she well knew how dangerous Lamia’s were, and there was nothing that she wanted to do that would be foolish or stupid. She was a warrior and knew that she was powerful, but there was no reason she had to be foolish. She decided that she would allow this to happen and so she nodded her head lightly and continued to move past the fox-lady “Very well, do as you will.”

As she moved she inhaled slowly and followed the vision that she had been granted by the great Scorekeeper. As she heard the woman introduce herself Zhu committed the details to memory and nodded her head again “A pleasure. I am Zhu Feng, the Herald of the Scorekeeper. I thank you for your aid.” She said as she continued to walk through the desert heading in one direction. It was almost two hours of walking before they began to see a strange series of a trail. It looked like a sidewinder, but it was clear that this was the serpentine trail of something much bigger. This was the trail that she was looking for and she smirked gripping her family’s blade a little more tightly “I see…That’s very good to see. It seems we are on the right path. The Scorekeeper has blessed our mission and she has shown her favor for me once again. I am truly honored by such confidence in me.” She said as she picked up her pace and began to almost jog after the trail.

It lead towards a series of ruins that began to appear just over the horizon and this was where Zhu knew she could find her quarry. This would be the greatest success to date for her.

Zhu Feng. That name was an interesting one, very exotic too. And she was the 'Herald of the Scorekeeper,' whoever that may be. While she was interested in finding out, Aiyana would not ask just now. It was rude to ask too much of a stranger that was on a mission, and the nine tailed fox felt like being polite with one that was a mission that had the same end goal for both of them; taking care of the Lamia. "With blessings we're sure to succeed. Let's make haste and find this Lamia!"

The girl would jog and keep up with the other woman until they came across some ruins that seemed to be where there quarry may be. It did not seem to have sturdy constructs, many having been horribly decayed and ready to fall apart at the simplest of breezes or bumps. "Let's try not to run into anything or cause something to make noise. There's no telling what other monsters may be here other than just a single Lamia."

Goal:

Zhu didn’t look back at Aiyana as she replied to the fox woman “Alright. I only need you for support however. This battle is mine, and mine alone. I have to be the one to kill it Otherwise the Scorekeeper will not grant me the lamia’s power.” She explained very easily to her companion. It took a bit of time to arrive at the ruins and what they arrived at was the great courtyard at the base of a ruined temple. The stones were sandstone construction, they were broken, rotting, and cracked in several places. The courtyard was also decorated with cracked, broken, and sometimes toppled columns, that seemed to be in some kind of image, or design, but there was no way to be certain of it anymore.

This seemed to intrigue Zhu and she moved towards one of the following columns that were toppled over. She knelt down and ran a finger along a rather large slash. It was from a weapon of course in fact, it was a rather large bladed weapon. She frowned as she sank a finger almost up to the base of the appendage, it was not a good sight to see it meant that this lamia was not just using its claws. She sighed as she spoke “This Lamia is wielding a weapon. I’d say it has some kind of heavy blade and large blade. Do be careful.” She warned before she slowly stood back up looking around to the temple “The foe is in there, but I am not going to fight on its terms. If we were to go in there, we would be at a great disadvantage. I am not about to go into that temple however.”

She pressed her hands together in front of herself. Slowly as she pulled them away and between her hands formed the shaft of her favorite spell weapon. It was the Kwan Dao known as Green Dragon. She tossed it up into the air and let it spin in the air before she deftly caught it in the air calling out as loudly as she could. “Come out here you pathetic worm! Come out with your ugly skin, and your hideous features to face your death!” Her voice echoed around the courtyard and into the ruins. It didn’t take long before the deafening hiss came from inside of the ruins. It was the clear sign of a Lamia and much to Zhu’s surprise her little plan had actually worked. She had never expected it to, but apparently Lamia were not the smartest creatures ever, or maybe this one was just hungry and wouldn’t pass up easy food.

So the one known as Zhu wished for the dealing of the Lamia to be on her own. "So be it. I'll support if it is really needed, but until then I'll watch from above." The woman would speak softly before she allowed the other woman to have a greater distance between them. The nine tailed fox would still be able to converse if needed, but would be able to avoid a fight if it boiled down to one. The Herald spoke about the creature having a weapon, and that they couldn't allow the beast to have an advantage by going inside the temple, before giving Aiyana a surprise; yelling out insults to bring the creature to them.

Even though it was not what Aiyana would have done, the tactic seemed to have somehow worked. The monster's angry noise could be heard as it made it's way to them.

more notes:

The Lamia slid from within the ruins and hissed in great rage at Zhu. Exactly to Zhu’s thought the Lamia was wielding a great pole arm. On one side it had a strange curved blade that almost looked like a giant axe blade, the other side was a slab of solid steel in a rectangle shape which would indeed be incredibly hard to be struck with. She hissed at Zhu “How dare you! You foolish mortal wench! I am going to squeeze your body until your eyes pop out of your head, and your head shoots off when your insides are forced through your neck! You will die here today!”

Zhu smirked licking her lips as she took her stance brandishing the Green Dragon in front of her swiping it through the air “You’re welcome to try! The Scorekeeper has given me her blessing and I shall take your form for my own! I pray you are as strong as you look!” She then charged the Lamia first without a single drop of fear in her heart. She would live this day, and if she did die then it would be simple as that. She didn’t consider the fox woman a part of this battle no matter what happened. The Lamia was indeed caught off guard by the fact that this human didn’t show fear and was ready to fight. She brought up her own polearm as the blade of Green Dragon had tried to slice through a section of her tail.

The blow was strong and the Lamia hissed in annoyance as she fought to throw the warrior back. As she did her blade tried to sink into the flesh of Zhu’s exposed stomach and this was of course unsuccessful as Zhu backhanded the blade slapping it away with a powerful, but easy swing. She landed a few feet away smirking as she lifted her blade pointing it up to the sky. As she held it there a small arc of electricity began to build around the blade when it was a constant form around the blade she leveled the blade shooting it straight at the Lamia “Dragon Strike!” A bolt of Lightning shot from Green Dragon and sank right into the Lamia pulling a scream from her.

This didn’t stop the Lamia from her attack as she shot forward with her blade swinging it down in a large arch trying to cleave Zhu in twain. This forced Zhu to bring up the Green Dragon in a horizontal line in order to try and block it. While she did block the strike the force of the blow along with the superior weight of the weapon caused a great crack to appear on the shaft of Green Dragon. Zhu managed to throw the blade away back stepping as fast as she could before the weapon suddenly shattered in her hands vanishing entirely.

Zhu frowned deeply as her favorite spell weapon was destroyed. This was a battle between polearm wielders now and the honor that Zhu had wouldn’t allow her to take the easy way out. She began to rub her hands together as fast as she could which caused both of them to heat up to an incredible degree, now she took her right hand and pressed it against one of the fallen pillars. As she pulled her hand away the blade began to take shape coming out of the stone. The weapon was a double bladed vouge the blades looked like flames. She gripped the staff and slashed the blades along the ground around her causing sparks to happen which made the blades burst into blue flames.

The lamia was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of flames being that snakes and fire didn’t mix well. Still, she wouldn’t back down instead she surged forward her serpentine body snapping behind her as she moved. She brought down her weapon trying to cleave Zhu in half once more, but Zhu was quicker using the pillar as a shield letting the lamia smash it to pieces. While she tried to recover from her swing Zhu took full advantage of the opening moving in to spin around slashing both blades along that long thick reptilian body. The flames from the blades surged onto the Lamia burning her body in several places. She gave a great hiss of pain as she rolled and coiled around smothering the flames that continued to burn her. Of course, in her wild thrashing Zhu was given a great slap to her back with the tail of the lamia. This sent her sprawling over the ruins thankfully allowing her to land in sand rather than on the hard rough stones which would’ve ruined more of her body.

As Zhu rose she dropped her weapon letting it vanish her hand moving down to her family’s blade “I’ve had enough of this! I am going to end this fight once and for all!” she drew the blade focusing her magic through it causing it to enter its true state. She gripped in with both of her hands watching as the Lamia rose hissing wickedly “You are right! This is going to end right here and now!” She shot towards Zhu her weapon raised as if she was ready to strike, but as she closed the distance Zhu smirked as she swiped her great blade through the air in front of her. The moment she did this five great slashes of powerful magic shot from the blade and Zhu slashing through the Lamia rending her body with great slashes which left great bleeding gouts in her body.

The Lamia hissed as she was brought down into a heap bleeding her weapon falling from her grasp and it was clear that she was defeated. Zhu smiled holding her blade on her shoulder as she moved towards the downed Lamia. As she neared the head of the snake woman she knelt down pulling out the left eye from the socket completely as she did she spoke "Scorekeeper please bless me with the powers of this being. I now consume that which I have offered to you as a sign of my admiration and respect for this being and their power." With her prayer spoken she popped the eyeball into her mouth and swallowing it down.

After a few moments Zhu grabbed her throat dropping her family’s blade. She screamed as her body began to crack, pop, and warp. Her legs fused together and grew the bones cracking and stretching into their proper place. Her eyes grew slits as a reptile and her skin all over her body changed from regular skin into scales. Her hands grew long sharp claws which would be helpful in rending flesh from bone. It took several minutes, but she finally was in the shape of a Lamia the same size as the one she had just killed. She hissed out her joyous laugher as she felt her new body and got used to how it moved the action of moving looking very silly being that she wasn’t used to it “Oh I like this. This is a good body.”

Aiyana watched the fight with an interest in seeing what would happen, how this woman would fight, and how exactly the whole situation would boil down to. The fight was decently even until the end, and once Aiyana realized heard the talk to the Scorekeeper she would bow out quietly. The lamia was dead, and it was obvious that the person captured was no longer alive as she felt no one else inside of the place save the two of them.

Once Zhu's transformation was complete there would be no sign of Aiyana in the place.

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