Sorry, gotta bury you again

The cemetery deep in Cursed Lands. Well, Leila certainly did not think she would end up here at any point in her life, even after her death. She definitely waned to be buried somewhere more sunny, that much she knew. But here she was, standing and staring at the front gate with both hands behind her head, making her look somewhat curios as she just kinda stood there with very little motion to her body. Many different thoughts were running across her mind, but in the end, she could only sigh and look around. There was someone she was actually waiting for. Someone who would be helping her today. It wasn't exactly a contract per say, but the old man was sitting right there by the gate. And he was the one who was willing to pay for few broken bones, as this place was littered with the undead. It wasn't exactly every day you would get to be on an adventure like this, so the girl didn't exactly mind either. It would be something new and possibly exciting too. And as far as she heard, these chumps weren't exactly the strongest either.

So maybe this could also serve as some neat training for her and the man that was coming. She had only met him recently, but he did seem like a nice guy who could use some training himself. And while she wouldn't consider herself newbie in experience, her powers were far from perfect in her current state. For that reason, she had her trusty silver bow strapped to her back, adding to the midnight blue colored cloth armor she was wearing and the golden bell secured inside of one of her pockets. With these three pieces of equipment, she was more than capable taking care of herself even with her currently limited magic. Not that this little distraction would be too much of a problem as far as she knew. Now to just wait for Arete to arrive.

A pale moon showed the world’s closeness to dusk. And despite the gray, barren landscape, the landscape lit up with the noises of toads and bugs singing their hearts right out of their chests. A job required Arete to be at an out of the way cemetary and the job’s strict deadline loomed closely in the future. The contract was simple and detailed the location and that you had to be there before dusk, otherwise probably fail the job altogether. So, he walked, keeping a good pace, considering jogging, admiring the twisted, ugly branches of the dead trees around him. His eyes moved from side to side, like a child focusing on a moving object outside their car. Soon, to his dismay, the somewhat cobbled road turned into packed dirt, and later it turned to bare stretches of where the dull grass was kicked off.

Soon enough, he reached the old cemetery, gated by a droopy stone arch and a old stone wall, drunkenly broken and fallen over in most places. He took a breath in of cool air, tasting the moss spores on his tongue. Arete looked around, and at the opposite corner of the cemetery stood his fast friend, Leila. He gave her a welcoming look and a quick wave of the hand, sludging over in the muddy ground. He gave her a quick glance, she seemed well prepared. He wore a tight but warm sweater with what was probably leggings from a far glance. His feet were tucked into a pair of knee high wellies and a small leather backpack was a casually slung around a shoulder. Traveling supplies and a small first aid kit inside, of course. He approached Leila, “Sorry I was late,” he looked at the setting sun, “the taxi was touchy about his car on dirt roads -- had to walk.” He scratched his ear, accidentally hitting the arm of his sunglasses, which he pushed the bridge up to readjust them. Speak of, the sun just barely peaked over the horizon, catching him over the top of his eyewear. It slowly crept away, leaving the eerie dark blue to lay over the heroes. Quickly, the swamp crescendoed, becoming way too silent.

Arete looked around, and behind him, a sweet-looking old man (he could’ve swore was wearing a dark robe appeared, almost out of thin air). “You, must be…” he said before looking at the both of them and scowled, “My clients.” He seemed to know that the both of them had mostly cheated death. (420)

The waiting wasn't too long, even though she actually managed to get here quite a bit sooner than she should have. It was a habit of hers you could say, always making sure she had time to spare. It was better that way rather than having to worry you were late somewhere, late for something very important. Especially now, as the poor girl was late for many very important things in her life, life changing events that she failed because of poor timing. Universe was sometimes cruel like that, depriving her of something she craved even now. But it was no time to be thinking about negativity like that, she was here on a job and she wanted to also enjoy herself. So instead, she would wear a welcoming smile on her face as well. And soon, she spotted her newly acquired partner in the distance. He sure was a casual one with that outfit, at least compared to the complicated attire she herself was wearing. All the frills were probably not helping all that much, but in the end, it was actually cloth armor designed for magical warrior with her magic. So despite it's styling, there was no way she could complain about how it felt during fights.

Waving back, she would turn towards him and then redirect her gaze to the moon that was slowly starting to show it's visage in the darkened skies, along with the many shining stars slowly forming their constellations as seconds went by. "It's fine. We have still some time before the dead start rising it seems. And once they do, they won't go away until the dawn, so there's plenty of time for us to enjoy ourselves! Hope your ready~" Her tone was playful, yet filled with small teasing towards the man in front of her. She had no idea how good he was of a fighter, so this would put him to a test. The elder man disappeared from his chair by the cemetery gate at some point, now looming behind the two youths. Though his words did not scare the lady one bit. She was somewhat used to dealing with weirdos like that after everything she went through in the past. "Yes! You want us to collect soul sparks from the souls that roam this place at night, right? Leave it to us!" She was excited to say the least. It has been a while since she had the option of just going all out and enjoying herself without having to worry about harming the enemy in front of them. She was a fighter, yes... but she was no murderer and she had absolutely no desire to kill those she faced, even if they were horrid criminals.

The old man’s silhouette was outlined by the increasing intensity of the moonlight, and Arete could swear he was slightly translucent. “Yes, that is what is asked,” the old man said, then continuing, “I bid you good luck.” The elderly man then passed two ornate silk pouches to Arete, “Store any of the souls you come upon here. I will be here to receive them at dawn’s twilight.” Arete turned around to hand Leila the other pouch, and the old man had either walked away very quickly or had disappeared altogether.

Twilight had ended and the blackness of night took over, leaving everything an eerie black, only lit by a couple of post-hung lanterns. Which was no problem to Arete, being gifted with the convenience of night vision. Arete pulled off his heavy sunglasses and hid them away in his backpack and set it down next to the entrance of the graveyard. He then quickly pulled off his sweater, revealing a form-fitting athletic shirt to match his leggings. He kept the boots on because who doesn’t hate mud. He felt slightly awkward, his first actual (combat!) job with someone else. He laughed and said, “I hope you’re ready,” trying to relieve himself. He reached to his back for his lance. ‘Damn it’ he muttered as he realized he forgot it at home. Well, whatever. He hoped he wouldn't get too hurt. He sighed and literally shook out his extra street and basked in his increased magic power. “Alright, I’m going to cast a buffing spell on us -- lasts one turn but it’ll help. And I’m not too great at offensive magic. If you do the bulk of the fighting, I’ll make sure you won’t get too hurt and be able to take down enemies easy, yeah?”

He raised his hand to the sky, pointed to the moon probably and drew a slow breath in. A magic circle appeared under his feet. He twisted his arms and ribbons of light followed them, then waving his arm in Leila’s direction, sending a lazy cloud of bluish mist towards her. The mist should then surround her figure and apply a dim glow.

NAME: Luna (Unnamed)
RANK: D
TYPE: Supportive: Buff
DURATION: 1 post (current post if it is self-inflicted or the target’s next post if not)
COOLDOWN: 5 posts
DESCRIPTION: Arete, by channeling his basic understanding of the supportive properties of his magic, Arete can increase one target’s (can include himself) spell effectiveness by 20%. Can effect someone of his choosing in a 26 feet radius but is ineffective in a 6 feet counter-radius around the caster. He does this by releasing a pulse of light that engulfs the target and covers them in blue aura.
STRENGTHS:
~ Powerful buff for D rank.
~ Can be self-inflicted.
~ Does not have an incantation.
WEAKNESS:
~ Does not work in close quarters.
~ Only has a single target.
~ Long cooldown proportionate to its effects.
~ Target has to be visible for him to properly cast the spell.

Word Count: 779/3600
Roll Number: 1/10
Post Number: 2/12

Old people. Sometimes they were just plain old boring, other times they managed to be incredibly cool! Thankfully this old man was more of the latter as his figure disappeared once more after handing the man the two pouches. Honestly, Leila wasn't bothered by that at all. She was kinda already used to all this weirdness, as Earthland had plenty of it to offer. Taking the pouch with a smile, she made sure to properly secure it in one of her own pockets and make sure it wouldn't get lost in the process of eliminating those undead. She also then had the pleasure of watching Arete get ready for the combat that was ahead. It was nice that he took this seriously. While it was good to relax from time to time, at least one of them should make sure that things actually don't spiral out of control. "Be always ready and expect the unexpected. That is pretty much the motto of us travelers!"

Her father thought her well before his departure into the world of the dead. And while her magic was still not quite ready for a task like this one, her bow and armor certainly were. And so were her fists as well! Due to the nature of her magic, she managed to learn quite a bit about close quarters combat during her trip to the top of the magical world. And now that she was back at the bottom, she could utilize all of it from the very start! As his supportive spell took effect, the girl quickly felt it's effect and rolled up her sleeves a bit, even if they were to fall back down because of the way her clothes were. "Okay! Let's see what damage I can do after all this time!" As soon as she could, she would sprint into the graveyard right through the open gate, not waiting for anything or anyone. Thankfully for her, there was the occasional lantern giving off a spooky blue light to make sure she could actually see what was around.

And the enemies were not waiting either. Several skeletons started forming around the place, their bodies adorned with rusted and mangled iron plates, clearly indicating that they may have been warriors at some point in their mortal lives. Unfortunately, they deserved no respect at all now as the Eden's mage jumped into the air and kicked off one of the skeleton's head as if it was nothing more than a ball for games! That alone wasn't quite enough to stop it though, so another few strikes into the chest area were necessary. The bones fell to the ground shattered, along with the armor. Though there was still some magic inside of them, so it would be best to stay careful. Taking her bow into the fight, she shot several blue magical arrows into another and ending him just as well. Three more were present and the girl was eager to see what skills Arete would have in combat.

The quiet droning sound of the reanimated dead seemed louder than it should be. Compared to the silence it was loud and would allow someone to pick up on their locations. The sounds of bones scraping against each other and the quiet, deathly moaning of their painful woes and sorrows they accumulated throughout their lives. Perhaps these fallen soldier's bloodlust is just a way to relieve stress, like many mages spar with each other. The mentioned sound was particularly loud behind Arete, bothering enough to make Arete’s ears prick up with the long-lost evolutionary instinct. He turned around, gagged a little bit, looking at the Skeleton’s form, covered in moss and dead flesh. It smelled pretty bad, too. He took a couple of steps back and waved his arm over his head, catching the moonlight on this skin, then collecting it in his palm, before lashing it out like a flail, raging and falling over itself before slamming into the skeleton. On impact, its tarnished armor shattered, leaving caltrop like pieces on the ground. Arete shuffled around then and delivered a heavy slam to the skeleton with the back of his forearm. The skeleton toppled on impact and lay limp on the ground, bones splayed in a weird pile.

He turned around and looked over at Leila, who seemed to be faring well, he came over, and several of the skeletons she recently decapitated seemed to be surprising alive for an dead undead. He felt the mud under her boots, and sprung forward, using the heel of his shoe to knock the zombie back down again with a swift sidekick. “They get back up,” he said amiably and with a laugh, only interrupted by his breathing. Running over, silently screaming and with its arms (and weapons) on display in the arm, the last of the skeleton knights stumbled over to the two. Arete reached toward the sky, pointing towards the high moon, whose light spun into a shield fit with a crescent motif in front of him. The skeleton bounced off of it when it came into contact, the shield flashing with the might of the skeleton ricocheting off of it. Arete then stomped on the poor guy, once, twice, three times, and another when he tried to get up again.

Word Count: 1160/3600
Roll Number: 2
Post Number: 3/12

Even though she was dealing with her own enemies, she did notice Arete's fighting methods. She was quite good at multitasking after all, so this much was no problem at all as they slowly got into the situation where all of the skeletons laid shattered into pieces on the muddy floor. "Hey, you're actually pretty good. If things go like this, we'll clear this place out before the sun raises." That said, there was another part to this job that they had to tend to if they actually wanted to get paid. Small crystal-like fragments were shining in the dirt as the moonlight reflected on their uneven and unrefined surface. One would think that parts of a soul would be like a small flaming balls or something, as that appeared to be the common representation of such concept. But in reality, souls were completely different from person to person and you would never see two exactly same looking ones, no matter how hard you would try to search this world or even beyond it. That was the proof that all living creatures were actually unique, had their own mind and will that was their own. Though certain people loved to feed on that, trying to bend that will to their own desires.

Not that they would encounter anyone like that here, as the silver haired maiden slowly filled her special satchel with the pieces, promptly hiding it back in her attire right afterwards. And as their luck would have it, they didn't even need to wait once they collected them all either, as the ground around them started shaking once more, skeletal hands rising from it as the fragile frames crawled up onto the surface. "These ones seems weaker, but they have the numbers. Stay vigilant!" She would shout out as her smile grew even larger, the grip on her bow tightening every second. At least fifteen of them, ready to be crushed. She liked that as she swiftly started firing one arrow after another, taking few of them down before deciding to sprint towards them and utilize her close quarters combat skills that she already showed off a little moment ago. Simply going out like this and not holding back when you just punch and kick something, it felt incredibly refreshing and unrestricted.

He lamented on the fact that he had to bend over every single time to pick up the small sharps, which some even slipped from his fingers. The grand image of him looking like a tall chicken that gives out quiet grunts of exertion every time he bent over was embarrassing to say the least. He looked like a Disneyland employee.

Anyway.

He finished picking up the scattered shards and then crouched low to the ground and huffed out, releasing his warm breath and breathing in the refreshing cool (but stagnant) air. His left hand pulled into a fist and resting slightly behind his torso and his right hand just above the ground -- close enough to be able to feel the coldness seeping out of the mud. He suddenly got the weird urge to grab a fistful of mud and squeeze it in his hands and force it into his mouth like a toddler who just discovered brownies. Maybe it was a sign of his waned mental state of just that he wants (should) be asleep right now. The thought passed, but came back like the urge to throw something out of the car window that you sometimes get but can’t explain why.

He could not help but gawk when Leila ran off into battle like that. He decided not to say anything though, years of life and death backed up her strength in battle, after all. He looked over to her, squinting in the dark light, focusing his eyes to see where she was heading. Stood in his position, drawing in and out his breath with the moon in his mind’s eye, focusing his wits. He opened them to see a skeleton looking curiously at him, and almost get startled enough for him to flinch and step back. Arete blinked it off and roundhouse kicked him in his side, bones flying but otherwise still intact. The skeleton looked sad and betrayed, but now was not the time for sympathy. Arete charged up a font of light in his right hand and blasted it at what remained of the skeleton then came after the others that were encircling him.

Two more skeletons and a couple of minor scratches later, Arete gritted his teeth. He wondered how long he would have to keep doing this. Bed-starved and mental exhaustion would soon beat the caffeine in his bloodstream in the race between the neural sensors in his brain. He looked over at their general direction where he placed his bag, lusting for the energy drink and sandwich inside. Later, he told himself… Later. Arete continued onto a fourth skeleton and then a fifth, all kicking them down and re-kicking them down again where they tried to get up. They had a lot of fight in them for something that’s dead. There was still four skeletons left and it looked like even more would be coming to attack them soon.

Word Count: 1647/3600
Roll Number: 3/10
Enemies Killed: 8/6
OOC: I was in a comedic mood while writing this lol.

Leila just had to chuckle when she saw the display that Arete put on. It was far too entertaining to watch a young lad grunting like a century old wise beast trying to pick up a book dropped to the ground. She had no idea just how old the boy really was, but surely he could not be all that much over her own age. Well, the Earthland age anyway. Her true age was still several thousand of years higher than age of any mortal here, but she never really counted all that time as real, for she was nothing more than an entity in a void, content with simply existing and feeling nothing at all for most of it. With a sigh, she would place her hands on her sides and give the man an encouraging smile.

"You okay old man? I sure hope you are, there is still plenty more to deal with here! So try to not break your own bones while trying to keep up with me~"

Her tone danced in a teasing manner as she joked with her partner before running off to deal with the newly spawned enemies. Honestly, this job was nothing more than fun. For her at least, the skeletons were probably feeling nothing more than a brutal pain in their souls as their newly acquired hateful physical forms were shattered by the two mages. They were quite weak, even for this grade of a contract, making it easy to defeat them without much effort. And that was good. It was what the girl needed, to have some fun and unwind, forget the sorrow that she had to go through otherwise. Shattering a rib cage of another and making him fall apart, she quickly grasped it's skull in her head and examined it for a moment before smiling towards Arete again and shouting out.

"Hey, doesn't it look like these skeletons are smiling too? I guess they must be having some fun as well, finally getting some physical exercise to get those lazy bones of theirs moving again!"

A childish comment performed in a childish matter while throwing the skull away so that the enemy could reform once more. Well, that was the Eden's mage. When she started taking things overly seriously, everything around her started collapsing and eventually lead to her demise. Life was meant to be enjoyed. And these poor skeletons were forced to smile simply because of the way one's skull looked, oh well. As the bones started gathering into one form again, the girl would chuckle and throw her fist into the air.

"You can do it skeleton!"

One had to question just how she managed to become a Rising Star in the past. And in all honesty, she was going for that position again, despite enjoying the fact that she was somewhat less known in certain parts of the world. It was just the way she lived, the small wish of becoming a hero still present in the depths of her soul. And as the flurry of blows continued, she too obtained few cuts and bruises, but emerged victorious over the enemy horde. Stretching out, she would let out a satisfied sigh, winking at Arete and examining just how many did he manage to get. He was pretty good to say the least.

"Good job."

He bent upwards suddenly, “Hey!” Only then thinking that he -was- in fact old enough to be a grandfather but no one needed to know that. Ever. He proceeded to continue picking them up with the familiar noise. Jovially scooping up the bits and pieces, with whispers of screams seeping out of them as he picked them up. He probably missed some fragments of the more shattered ones, but he’ll pick those up later he told himself. Later, he didn’t pick them up. False promises. He shoved the bag back into the elastic of his leggings, soon regretting that, taking it out and putting it in the zip-pocket on the back leg.  It now chafed a bit more than before, but he ignored that and kept up his pace, more skeletons were rounding the corner. He backed towards Leila. He mumbled something about how many there were and bounced on the heels of his feet.

One of the skeletons, feeling particularly brave decided to come first. It swung its sword horizontally, and with Arete not really having any watch to block it (or dodge it for that matter) braced for impact…

It didn’t particularly hurt… The old, dull blade could only be described as having a feeling of the grooved end of a butter knife. Needless to say, it didn’t break skin nor the shirt we was wearing. He pulled his fist up and a mix or an uppercut and a quick jab, knocking the head clean off the poor sop. He smiled, and went down to pick ups he skeleton’s old sword. It’ll be nice to have a swingy-stick, and the skeletons don’t seem to well put together anyways, so it should do the job fine.

The blade and its handle were made completely out of either bronze or copper (he couldn’t tell) and was clearly old. It’s edge tarnished and rusty, the opposing opponent could easily dodge the heavy for its size blade. Well, if they weren’t a skeleton who didn’t really have the mental capacity or speed to. He lightly tossed the blade in the hand to get used to the weight. It was heavy. Ew. He then gripped it in the other hand and readjusted it so he could grip it backwards back in his right hand. He wasn’t too good with swords, preferring a lance or spear instead. He’ll find one later, he said to himself. Or try to learn swordsmanship too.

Another skeleton came up to Arete and oh of course the skeleton he just knocked down stood up too, headless. Audacious. Thinking for a quick second, he shot out his free arm to slam the oncoming skeleton to the side and bat the skeleton back to being actually dead. He picked up the shard, and stuck it into his pocket. Three more skeletons came up to him over the course of the next ten minutes he slain (and reslain) them, add to more two more that decided to rush up to Arete and Leila.

// 5 skeletons left I think.
Word Count: 2148/3600
Enemies Killed: 13/6

Many in this world thought that undead were naturally evil. But Leila knew much better than anyone it was not quite the truth. After all, she too was an undead to a certain degree. But these poor guys did lack any kind of self-control or proper intelligence. Perhaps that was what made watching them so sad. Driven purely by their instincts and carnal desire to destroy everything in their path. You could argue that was the true face of humanity,  feelings that were hiding beneath the mask that everyone was wearing. Even if that was the truth, then would it even matter? Things were working out so far, so perhaps that mask of kindness was to become humanity's true expression one day. But at this point, the girl's thoughts have trailed off way too far, she had to focus on the present a little bit more. It was a fact that she was amids a battle with skeletons. And even if she was easily winning right now, one should always stay vigilant.

As she finished off her opponent, she saw Arete in the corner of her eye. And least to say, in that one moment, her heart nearly stopped beating completely. The fact that he tried to block a sword with naught but his bare hands was, well... foolish to say the least. Thankfully the blade itself was not sharpened enough to actually bring any harm, but what if it was? Then the poor fellow would lack maybe not just one of his hands, but both! That was nothing of irresponsible. So once the chance presented itself, the girl would find her way towards him and pinch his cheek in a quick, somewhat childish motion. "And what do you think you're doing here, hm? Even if the enemy is weak, you can't be taking risks like that! Even I wouldn't be able to heal severed limbs. Not yet, anyway... Try to be more careful next time, will you?"

It was natural for the girl to worry about those she was fighting next to. Perhaps out of habit, or the fact that she was used to being a sole traveler by now. A company... was something of great value to her. Even if Arete wasn't a cute girl, he was still a nice person who accepted Leila for what she was. Or at least she hoped he did. Hopefully he also got the message she tried to convey. But just in case, she decided to deal with the remaining opponents as quickly as possible. The gleam in her eyes penetrating the dimness of this cemetary, she dashed towards the rattling skeletons, getting an idea from what her partner did just few moments ago. Quickly weaving between the swings of her enemies, she managed to get to one of the skeleton's sides and got a strong grip on his arm. Here was hoping that they didn't actually feel pain anymore, lest this would seem rather cruel.

With a singular strong motion, she would rip the arm from the rest of the bones, now using it as a pretty flexible mace of sorts. Mayhap more comical than serious looking, it was still rather effective against the fragile bones. Bone against bone, as they say! Do they say something like that...? Well, it did not matter any. For in only few moments, she managed to slay all of them! At least for the first time anyway. It was a good thing that the Eden's witch also had some training with weapons of this type. She still preffered her bow, but variety was the spice of life. Not to mention that her actions threw the skeletons out for a loop. Focusing the rest of her powers, she performed several more attacks in one big chain to properly dispose of their foes before dropping the arm to the ground and breathing out heavily. "Alright... a little break might be deserved after that..."