The Hare and The Marionette {Private}

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It had been a year since anyone had last seen Selah. The budding mage needed a break, to step away from all of the chaos and excitement. So she went home, to her birthplace. The great mansion her family owned, sprawling fields and fairgrounds. It was a wonder how Selah even managed to leave this place- she had everything she ever wanted! While she rested she continued her research into her families history that had been brought into light by an archaeologist- about how her ancestors were a part of a cult, how they worshiped dragons and pioneered an entire kind of magic.

But that was a year ago. Now in the blazing heat of summer Selah stepped onto Sabertooth grounds once more. She was a very different person then the last time she had come here. She wasn't more mature, but she had learned to take life more seriously. She had cut her hair, which now only hung down to her shoulders and she had taken a liking to living a gentler life back home. But she had that itch, that tiny itch in the back of her mind that compelled her to just go go go. The bustling Ace of Spades was a welcome sight to Selah, glad to be back in the valley town. She could see that guild hall in the distance, and the flying fortress that hung far above it where most of the guild met.

Selah had been keeping tabs on the guilds progress. Who joined who left, who the new guild master of the week was. She knew that there was a new rookie in the guild, who may not even know how to use his magic yet. Zenshin Hitsumo. Rumor was he used a potentially catastrophic form of magic, one that potentially let the user bend space at will. Selah would be sure to pick up on a few of those spells if she could. Now was not the time for giving and taking spell tips though, Selah was going to take him on a job. He was new to the guild, and Selah had a habit of taking the rookies under her wing.

After leaving a notice on the guilds job board saying to meet her at dock twelve outside her ship, Selah headed off. The Blind Dragon was a small ship but it was a sturdy one. Selah got in her ship and began to ready the engines. Lacrima powered gyro core, perfect for long runs and skilled movements. If you needed too you could overcharge the core, causing a spacial warp where the ship would 'blink' to another location. Once the ship was running, Selah climbed out and sat on the wing, relaxing in the sun. Her old cloak hadn't seen the sun since she took it off a  year ago, and now the black shroud shone once more ready for action.

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Not even a simple loaf of bread... he thought, sitting with his legs crossed on the pier of the harbor. Although he appeared to be very interested in the sea a couple feet in front of him as evidenced by his fixated gaze on the water, his mind was elsewhere. Ten times he had attempted to recreate a loaf of bread and ten times he had failed. He had a gut reaction as to why, though he did not yet have enough information to make a certain conclusion. All he really knew was that his magic, as he once knew it, was a shadow of its former self and would likely never be the same again. For three years he had been gone, though Sabertooth welcomed him back with open arms. I wonder if they have forgotten. I'm sure they haven't, it hasn't been that long. Only time would tell whether or not the member remembered him as one of the guild masters, or if they would even believe him if he told them, for his magical power would indicate that he was barely a fledgling mage.

Not only was magic gone, but Egia was silent. The being in the necklace had forsaken him, betrayed him, causing him to make a reciprocal gesture and cast the necklace off into sea. If she would abandon him in a time when he needed her most, he wouldn't hesitate to return the favor. All that remained of his former mentor was now the coat he donned, tattered and dirty as if to reflect the state of his magical energy. There were times he wondered if his past actions really happened, if he really started a family and if he really was the guild master of Sabertooth. The only real show for his actions were his right arm from the elbow down that he had lost to the Golden Dragon and, of course, the fact that he was blind in his left eye.

These scars of his past told him that he was indeed a recreationist and at some point, a powerful one. And of course, there was his ring. A tiny silver band around his left ring finger which held the memory of his loved one, the reason that he had to pursue his lost power.

Zenshin then looked around, at what had become of Sabertooth. Pride temporarily replaced his sadness as he thought of the great deeds the current guild master must've done to have acquired a much larger living space for the guild than he could ever have. The guild even had its own port! He figured it was about time to leave for his first mission in a while and decided that he would catch up with Ryo at a later time. Some member whose name he did not recognize had offered to assist him in a job, assistance that was quite welcome and perhaps even necessary, though only time would tell.

He walked all the way to the teleporting lacrima from the pier and made his way down to the part of the guild hall which served to house ships: the rendezvous point with the mysterious mage. A hangar for ships... so much changes in what feels like so little time. His eye was immediately caught by the stunning ship that looked as though it was built in Bosco: a true marvel of technology - stylish and sleek. On its wing lied a girl with short purple hair in the exact location as outlined by the job notice left behind. Upon closer inspection he had a thought, Huh, she sure is tall soon followed by an introduction: "Hello mystery mage, I'm Zenshin Hitsumo. Nice to meet you."

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Selah had almost dozed off in the heat of the day, but she picked up a voice before she could. It sounded older, more refined. The mage groaned as she sat up, looking down at the man that stood at the base up the ship. Heh, shortstack. She listened as he introduced himself, finding that he was the rookie in the guild. "Yo. Names Selah, Selah Bell. Nice to meet you." Selah said, hopping off the wing and extending her hand for a hand shake. After the hand shake, Selah opened the door to the ship and said "Come on, lets go. Help yourself to the bar if you want." She said, flicking a switch on the way in- causing a panel in the wall to open ad reveal an array drinks. Selah almost considered grabbing it herself, but decided against it. She was going to go flying- and this ship was costly, and destroying it was not on her list of things to do.

Once they were both seated in the cockpit, Selah punched in a few commands and the ships door shut, and the cover of the cockpit retracted- letting light flood in through the stained blue window. Beeping sounds filled the cock pit as the electronics flipped to life, and the sound of the engine spinning up began to emanate through the whole ship. "Now, I know the note I left for you said that I was going to help you with a job. That was a lie, sort of. I heard you have been having trouble with your magic so Im gonna help you. I use Memory Make magic, so I should be one of the best candidates to help you." Selah said with a smile as the ship took off. "Describe your magic to me. How was it cast, what did it do, what did it feel like to use."

As the ship climbed elevation, the clouds below parted and revealed the stunning Fiore landscape. Rolling green hills and pale deserts sped by as the ship rocketed towards its destination. After a bit, Selah asked Zen a question. "So, why did you join sabertooth?" As she asked this, she was fiddling with a few of the ships controls. She allowed the ships lacrima engine turn off, the ship gliding now. With the ship now essentially on auto pilot, Selah stood up and headed into the kitchen to grab a plate of food. This ship was made to serve as a mobile home, and it damn well could. A fully stocked kitchen, complete with that bar Selah had given Zenshin access to earlier, a crew's quarters, and Selahs own bedroom.

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Selah Bell he thought, climbing into her ship and allowing for her to perform the maneuvers needed to take off. His eyes fell upon a fully stocked bar, a sight he had not seen for three years. Zenshin always meant to have one installed in his home though never got around to it for one reason or another, so of course he would gladly help himself when she offered him. "Thank you for the offer. Don't mind if I do" he said, going to grab the Kahlúa, Vodka, and an old fashioned glass. Let's see if I don't remember how to mix a Black Russian. he though as he poured some ice into the glass, then the Vodka, the Kahlúa, and then stirred. While he didn't measure how much of what he put into the glass, his experience as the Eclipse Soul bartender as well as Sabertooth's on occasion gave him an inkling as to how much of each drink to put into the glass for a half-way decent drink.

As he brought it up to his lips he turned around to face Selah Bell to respond to her question and statements. "A Memory Make mage, huh?" he repeated, a smile making its way across his face as he remembered a time since passed. "Not a sight you see too often. I'd do well not to fight you, for certain abilities I possess are weak to mages with good mental faculties" he began, taking a sip of his drink before continuing. "While I appreciate the offer, I don't think your assistance would help too much. I'm a recreation mage, which ties into why I joined, actually. I was once an Ice Make mage, but I sought knowledge. Recreation allows me to ascertain this knowledge, from anything inanimate actually. All I have to do is focus on an object with this eye-" he gestured towards his white, blind eye, "and I could tell you the history of an object, why it was made, what it is used for, things like that." He took another sip.

"My magic allows me to do two things, mainly. The first is to infuse my own magical energy into the... let's call it fabric of the world. I can use my magic to slightly alter the fabric, disrupt and bend it to cause certain kinds of physical affects, something you might be able to see later. Second, I could perfectly replicate objects so long as the original object was destroyed and provided the 'recreation' was perfect, wherein lies the problem, I believe. You see, I found this in my search for knowledge. A book which I now carry with me" he continued, reaching into his coat and pulling out a book with a purple cover and strangely textured surface. "The book was meant to contain... certain knowledge-" he left out of the "forbidden" part, for he didn't want to give her the wrong idea, "But instead took my power from me." With one more sip from his drink, his Black Russian was gone and put it back onto the counter without turning around.

"My ability to recreate is directly a result from my mentor's theory of objects. It is his idea that recreations must be perfect and the caster must know about the aforementioned parameters in order to perform a completely perfect recreation. However, I'm beginning to doubt him. Have you ever thought something was absolutely true, Selah? Something that you have seen proven time and time again only to slowly come to the realization that if that it is impossible for that thing to be true and for you to live in the real world? I'm beginning to think that his theory is not true, for I shouldn't be able to create imperfect recreations. It's impossible. So I'm thinking what I need to adjust is not my crafting of objects, but rather the theory of objects."

He sighed, aware that he was probably talking this poor girl's ear off though he needed to get this off his chest to someone, anyone. Zenshin needed to say this out loud, to hear his thoughts in the open - as crazy as they sounded. "So, I joined Sabertooth for two reasons. Knowledge, and power. I gained both, though now I'm left with neither. What about you Selah, why did you join Sabertooth and what kinda of creations do you focus on?"

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Selah listened carefully to how he used his magic. Due to it being tied to his eye, Selah doubted she would be able to perfectly copy it. A cheap, knock off version yeah. He asked many questions that Selah herself rarely had to answer if at all. She thought it over as she at, the humming of the ship dulling as it began to slow and approach its destination. "Why did I join Sabertooth..." She said, pausing for a moment. "Well before I was in Sabertooth I was a part of another guild. Its not around anymore, nobody pulled in the work and they couldnt afford to stay afloat. It was an old mercs guild that I joined on a whim, but it didn't fit me. I left and went solo for a while, doing odd jobs here and there. Then I heard about Sabertooth. I didn't know much about the guilds till I started working solo, my parents didn't exactly like the idea of magic so its pretty obvious why. When I heard about sabertooth, its beliefs and what it stood for. I guess I thought it was perfect for me."

The ship landed soon after she finished speaking, the spooky forest remained outside. "Well rookie, lets go." Selah said, standing up and pushing open the door. Crows, toads and ghosts- everything typical of the spooky forest. Selah placed her hand on the ground, drawing a magic circle there. As her fingers inscribed the runes into the dirt, blue hardlight followed. What was left was a sparkling, icy magic circle that pulsed with magic power. Selah grinned as an explosion of blue smoke arose from the circle, and a single target dummy, shaped and sized like a dragon (Even moving like one two, Selah knew her stuff) was left after the smoke dispersed. "Okay, we both hit this with our best shot. Got it?" She said before raising her fingers to her temples to prepare to cast spells. The dragon had multiple targets- One on each wing, one on its back, one on its stomach and one on its head.

Selah grinned quickly before starting to cast her spells. "Memory Make: Dragons Wings!" She commanded. Almost instantly, two dragons wings sprouted from her back and she took flight. The leather that covered the back of the wings was a dark black, and the membrane on the inside was a dark purple- the same color as her hair infact. Selah animated the dragon from up here, watching as it focused on her and moved to take flight. "Dovah Lu: Zolkot Rein!" Selah roared (Roaring in quite the literal sense, ears unused to a dragons speech usually only pick up the roar that accompanies the spell). As the draconic magic activated, a burst of golden energy shot from Selah's mouth and struck the dragon-dummy in the back before it could take flight. Selah wouldn't be shocked if Zen mistook that spell for a Dragon Slayers roar, but they were truly two different spells. While Dragon Slayers simply mimic a dragons magic, their roar for example not being a true dragons roar, Selah's dragon magic was pure. It used the same incantations as dragons, used their own magic power. The spell knocked the dragon on its side, the target on its stomach exposed. "Nows your chance, hit it!"

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After Zen's attempt at using his magic and a bit of practice between the two of them Selah made the training dummy vanish with a snap of her fingers. "Well..." She said, the wings on her back folding and then fading away. Before she could finished her sentence she noticed an abnormally high magical signature. She never noticed exactly when it showed up, for all she knew it could have been there while they were practicing and she just never noticed. "Hold on, theres something there." Selah said, looking out to the edge of the Spooky Woods. A rabbit burst forth from the thickly woven network of roots, trunks, and branches that made the Spooky Woods so hard to navigate. As it rapidly got closer, the magic signature grew stronger.

"P-please help me!" Came the rabbits nasally and ambiguous voice. "T-Theres something i-in the woods! Its k-kicking all of- of us out! I ran aw-way as fast as I could but there are s-still others back there!"

Selah looked over to Zen. "Change of plans, looks like we're not leaving just yet." She said before kneeling down to look the rabbit in the eyes. "Tell me everything you know about this invader, what should we be expecting?"

"Its big, r-really big! And it m-makes these awful noises as it moves. Im sorry b-but thats all i can t-tell you really!" The rabbit stuttered out before continuing to run past Selah and Zenshin.

"Okay, let's go. There's something in there that we need to take down." Selah said before starting to run into the spooky woods, looking behind her to make sure that Zen was following.

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The member 'Aceflux' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

Selah created a dummy for them to practice on as she made a respectable effort to help out her guild mate, truly exemplifying the Sabertooth virtue of selflessness. One would be hard pressed to find anything wrong with this situation, but after a point, Zenshin's blood ran cold and his heart rate spiked. Selah nor he could've have known how he would react when she opened her mouth to speak that wicked tongue. To imitate the techniques of those repugnant beasts is one thing, but to know their own tongue? he thought, looking upon her with an empty stare. That energy was... too familiar. he thought again, trying to remember exactly what she said and how her spell looked like rather than follow through with the initial plan of finding a way to strike the dummy with his magic. That... language. That spell. Where did you learn it? While he would have liked to keep a friendly demeanor towards Bell for the act of kindness she offered to do for him, her spells brought up very bad memories. There were exactly five times Zenshin thought he was going to die throughout his life, and the actually language of a dragon brought up memories of the worst of those five.

"I've never even heard a dragon slayer use the native tongue of those monsters they emulate, so forgive me if I'm a bit curious as to where you learned such a spell." he said, his tone returning to a more friendly state and his blood getting warmer as he internally calmed himself down. "And your spell. It was... surprisingly accurate to the real thing. In fact, I would go as far as to say it was a real dragon's roar, something I didn't think possible of anything other than their ilk." His curiosity triggered a flood of thoughts which drowned out Bell's command to strike at the dummy. Is she human or is she a dragon taken human form? Could a memory mage really perfectly replicate an original dragon's roar? How could she know their language? A book? Directly from the source? If the latter, how is she alive?

At this point he had almost forgotten about his own inability and had a very sharp, borderline obsessive curiosity with regards to what his eye had just witnessed. However, before he could get his curiosity indulged in any meaningful way, Selah sensed something. Before long, a rabbit burst from the brush closest to them and pleaded to the the two Sabertooth mages. Something "big" and "awful sounded" was scaring the forest creatures out of their home, so naturally he and Selah were obligated to help them. Not forgetting about Selah's magic, but also knowing that he could ask all the question he wanted after this threat was dealt with or even as they were dealing the threat, he started into the forest with her until his eyes saw a two Vulcans and a pack of four wolves. Not the best time to be fighting, but it sure will give me a good warm up for my physical combat. They're fear has kicked in their survival instincts and we are currently blocking their flight, so they will certainly fight he thought. "Well Selah, the quicker we deal with this the quicker we can work on getting my magic into working order, so let's make quick work of these creatures."

He ran towards the Vulcan who were towering above him and had monstrous strength. Zenshin held out his hand "Recreation, The Reaper!" he said, and blue energy materialized in his hands, only to grow a dark purple and shattering before the spell could succeed. Oh well, it was worth a shot he thought as the one to his right brought up both its arms in an attempt to slam down on him. While Vulcans were physically superior to humans, they definitely didn't have the same mental abilities and thus allowed for Zenshin to slide underneath it. Its large hands hit the forest floor a moment after his head was safely out of the way of its blow. Quickly getting to his feet, Zenshin scanned the creature's back for a specific spot. As soon as he found it, he let out two blows one aimed at the creature's lower spine and another into its back where its kidneys would be situated.

With his current strength nothing to what it once was, he had to fight as smart as possible which was easier for one who spent most of their time acquiring at least a cursory understanding of everything he could, like the anatomy of creatures, as an example. While some damage was noticeable, it seemed as though the Vulcan's survival instinct made it more resilient and thus it spun around with a fist aimed a Zenshin's body. He ducked what could only be described as a reverse hay-maker, shot up with an uppercut to its pointy jaw and then shot another punch right into its solar plexus. As panicked as it was, even the Vulcan could not ignore a temporary failure of its lungs, though before Zenshin could continue, he felt something tighten around his stomach and chest.

He looked down to see big fingers. I should've paid a bit more attention. Normally that Vulcan would have been out after the first blow. I lost more of my power than I thought were his final thought before the Vulcan squeezed him and threw up high into the air.

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Selah watched as Zen rushed in. He put up a decent fight before getting flung into the air like a ragdoll. Selah reacted quickly, raising her fingers up an silently casting spectral hand. Her body locked up, going completely stiff, and all she could move was her eyes. Zen would find himself suddenly suspended in the air, and it would feel like he was being held in a hand similar to the Vulcan's. He was put back on the ground gently before Selah began her offensive. 'Okay big guy, lets see how you like it.' Selah thought as she grabbed the Vulcan with her magic. She quickly flung it up into the air, before grabbing the other one that had appeared. She flung that Vulcan up aswell, before knocking the two into eachother mid air. The Vulcans fell to the ground, and Selah quickly dropped her spell before casting two more.

Finger still at her temple, Selah began to get some assistance for Zen. She placed one hand flat against the ground. "Illustrious king of the Jaegon People, lend me a member of your guard to aid me in battle!" She recited. It wasn't long until the smell of burning flesh would be noticed, probably raising up suspicion. The hand Selah held on the ground was now thoroughly sunken into black ash as the ground around it spread out and turned into black rock, ash, and lava. Selah removed her hand, which was now darkened from soot and minor burns. A man, whos body glowed bright from the lava he kept inside the layer of black crystal that formed his skin, rose from the charred ground Selah had created. "Knight, Aid that man in battle." Selah commanded the molten knight, who quickly moved over to Zen to help.

The second spell Selah cast was for herself. "Memory Make: Moonlight Greatsword!" In her spare, soot covered hand, a massive sword formed. It was a sword that many would struggle to use without two hands, but with technique it could be used nimbly and elegantly without any strain on the user- even if they used only one hand! 'Okay Selah, don't hurt them. They were just running and you got in their way' Selah thought to herself as she watched the small pack of wolves approach her. Selah looked from wolf to wolf, sizing them up. They looked tough, but they were weak. Underfed. Was this intruder in the forest stealing food from the wildlife?

One of the wolves lunged at Selah, who quickly knocked it away with the broad side of the sword. She heaved and swung at it once it hit the ground, hitting it with a non-lethal blow to its side. The wolf yelped before fleeing with its tail between its legs. Now with three wolves left, Selah tried a different plan. Sliding the Moonlight Greatsword into a holster-strap on the back of her vest, Selah placed her finger against her temple once more. "Memory Make- Thirteen Stars!" She said. On a rough estimate, based around the strength of her sword and how many hits it took to frighten the first wolf into fleeing, Selah guess that it would take four strikes each on the wolves. The sky darkened momentarily before flashes of light appeared all over. Streams of blinding celestial light rained down from the sky, striking seemingly at random. Selah tried her best to control as many bolts as she could, but she could only manage to hit one of the wolves with four bolts- causing the wolf to run after realizing what had happened. The other two wolves got hit with two bolts each, and the remaining five bolts of celestial magic struck at random. Before the wolves recovered, Selah looked over to Zenshin and the Molten Knight to see how they were doing. Her breathing was a little ragged and heavy- she had spent quite alot of magic doing that, clearly she was out of practice from that year long break.

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There are worse ways to die than by gravity. Actually, no there's not. This is terrible he thought, almost accepting his fate as he fell from the apex of his jump fifteen meters above the forest floor. A dragon couldn't kill me though it seems the strongest foe was all around me this whole time. A foe that cannot be slain he continued, falling before feeling as though he got grabbed by the Vulcan again. It seemed as though his partner had a spell perfectly designed for a situation such as this, a thought that grew stronger as he was gently placed on the ground. "Thank you Selah. I owe you one" he said, happy that all of his bones were relatively intact.

His partner didn't waste any time as she cast a spell which altered the terrain, causing the grass to sink and become replaced with ash and heat. Apparently she also had dynamic spells, not just static ones. "Perfect!" he said, glad to have a magical entity assisting him. Before he could see what another nifty spells that Bell had in her arsenal, he hears a loud cracking sound coming from behind them. Is that a tree? It can't be. It's moving he thought, observing what once was a tree slightly levitated off of the ground and moving sporadically. "Selah. I think I found what has been scaring the forest creatures. When you're done I would ask that you help me" he said, running at the creature with his fire-y knight companion following suit.

When the creature set its hollow eyes upon him, it let out a scream- though Zenshin did not hesitate nor did his companion. This creature was made out of wood, so they already had the advantage, though this knight was still just a spell so the fight had to end quick. "I'll distract it. You do the heavy hitting" he said to the molten man, hoping that he understood what was just said. With those final words, Zenshin ran a little faster and jumped. The creature's head was now inches form his own and he sent a knee into its wooden jaw. Ouch was his first thought, as his knee had actually collided with a piece of thick wood from the Spooky Forest trees. A wooden arm jerked forward and swatted Zenshin away into the ground like he was some kind of insect.

Despite being dazed for a couple of moments, he stood up and hoped his body was all in working order before seeing that the knight was driving blows into the chest of the marionette. It screamed again, though this time in pain rather than to intimidate as the bark which made up its body was being burned through with ease. Before it could retaliate against the molten summon of Bell's, Zenshin grabbed one of the arms of the monster, holding onto it with as much force as he could. It tried swinging him away, but when that failed it simply brought up the closest foot and kicked him in the head, sending him flying back towards another tree. I sure hope I don't have a concussion he thought, standing up again before making his way to the marionette a third time. Its body was almost completely gone as it had been scorched and the fireman was now working on its legs. "You wouldn't happen to have another fire spell would you Selah? We're fighting a tree!" he said aloud, catching the unwanted attention of the marionette one last time.

HP: 60/100

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The vulcans had disappeared after Selah had knocked them together, leaving Zen to fight with the tree. Selah looked back to the hounds, gripping her sword and striking at both of them. "Alright you mutts, beat it!" She commanded. These ones were stubborn, they couldn't be forced away with violence as easily as the others. But maybe if she played dirty, she just might scare them away. Selah raised her sword up high before swinging it like a bat, the end of it digging into the ground before popping out and spraying dirt everywhere- including into the eyes of the wolves. They yelped pushing their noses into the dirt and trying to rub the dirt out with their paws before quickly running away.

Now Selah could focus on what they had come here for- the monster that was terrorizing the forest. She slide the sword on her back once more before running over to Zen. When she gazed upon the monstrous tree she began to study it. A short analysis showed Selah that this was something that had been controlled using marionette magic, but whoever cast the spell on it had clearly bit off more than they could chew. Fire spells is what what take this down, just like Zen had said. Selah had just the spell for this, the perfect spell to take down this out of control puppet.

Selah looked over to one of the nearer trees, then back to Zen. "Okay folks, things are about to get hot in here! Lets get you somewhere safer." She said, looking to Zen. "This forest may burn for what im about to do, and we wouldn't want you getting caught in the blaze now would we? Without you not having your magic and all." Selah raised her finger to her temple. Time to push her body to the limits. "Memory Make: Volo Orbis!"

At the sound of those words, a ring of light burst from the ground at Selah's feet. A white magic circle appeared over her chest, just above her heart. Spiraling patterns of magic circuitry worked their way down her legs. When those magic circuits reached her feet, the circle of light below her faded and Selah was ready. She picked up Zen and started running, her feet carrying her at an astonishing speed of twenty-six miles per hour. When she reached a considerable distance, Selah set Zen down and ran back for the tree- heading right for it.

Before she reached the marionette, she veered an hopped onto the trunk of a tree. Selah used her speed to climb the tree as high as she could before gravity would force her down, then hopped to a tree closer to her target. With one final leap Selah was over the Marionette. "Dovah Lu: Agnaar Rein!" She said, once more using dragons tongue. What followed after could only be described as stunning. From Selah's mouth came a pillar of dark black and red flame shot forth, the unholy spell striking the Marionette in the chest before it could react.

Before Selah could fall to the ground she took her sword out and spun with it. She landed a critical blow to the marionette's arm- almost cutting it clean off before she felt a hit land on her side and heard something crack. Selah found herself flying to the ground, landed with a heavy thud. She recoiled in pain, arm wrapping over her stomach to clutch her damaged side. "S-shit!" She cursed. She knew that every hit she took while under the effects of Volo Orbis would hurt. The extra speed meant extra damage she came to a stop to fast.

Selah dug her sword into the ground, propping herself up. Still clutching her side, Selah stood on unsteady legs and readied her sword. This wasn't over yet. Her body ached and begged for her to stop. The over exertion caused by Volo Orbis, the blow from the Marionette, the sting of her burnt hand from summoning the molten knight. As she looked back at Zen she saw the effects of the fire spells she had used. It wasn't too bad, only a small chunk was burning. Selah commanded the Molten Knight to handle the fire and absorb it, while she dealt with the Marionette.

"Okay, let's do this." Selah said as she raised her sword to fight. She dashed forward, planning to sweep with her sword and knock the giant tree of its feet- but it had other plans. As she approached it, its foot rose up and it delivered a swift kick to her mid-section. She couldn't have avoided it, she was moving to fast to stop or change course. Selah was sent into the air, right in front of the burnt section of its chest where both the molten knight had hit, and her roar had hit. Correcting her position in air, Selah moved to swing before she saw the marionettes arm start reel back and swing. That was the arm she hit before, and it was loose. As swung, Selah  struck with her sword and the arm fell clean off.

Now for the final blow. Pulling the sword back, Selah drove it tip first into the burnt section of the Marionette tip first. The sword pushed straight through to the other side. The Marionette howled in pain before falling to the ground with the sword still in its chest. Selah landed on her hands and knees, coughing hard. She stood up, wiped some blood off her face, and the sword vanished. All of her spells dissipated at once. The Molten Knight, having already stopped the forest fire, vanished and the magic circuitry of Volo Orbis faded. Selah carefully walked over to Zen, clutching her side once more, and said "Common. Let's go tell that rabbit that we scared away the intruder."