Eye of the Storm

Page 43, 1067

Welcome to Pandaria

Perhaps travel by sea after his latest meeting with Koryu was not the best idea as Indra had sought to sail back. It would of been easy enough. Since his now rogue status among Fiore, he had to act now with caution and travel by sea was a fast way to reach the area where the jungles of Fiore where. However, an odd storm had easily overtaken his boat. Lightning, wind and water became chaos as they sailed. He tried to fly out with Tailong, but the winds were too tough for the mouthy dragon transformed. As a result, they were thrown into the waters and tossed about till everything went dark.

They should have died, but fate had other plans for them. For the storm was not a natural occurrence, and neither was their arrival upon these strange shores. And the worst thing... they were not alone...

***

The gulls called out into the morning as an odd little creature, a black and white bear-like creature walked with a fishing bucket and pole to his back. He had just finished his morning fishing and had now begun to make his way back to the hills that led to the Valley of the Four Winds. A piece of twig was in his mouth as he hummed an eastern hymn to himself. Though storm clouds rumbled out at sea and in the sky above the far Kunai mountains, he kept a pleasant attitude. He was near the end of the beach which led to the river ... but as he did he soon saw something.

Out in the sand, wrapped up in sea weed and sand, was a body-- Indra to be exact. Out cold, he laid on the sand, oblivious to anything. Beside him, was Kage, half buried in the sand and Tailong, sprawled out on the sandy beach like a sleeping snake.

It took the bear a moment to realize what he saw but he quickly then dropped his fish sack and ran over to them.

"Hello? Hello! Can you hear me?" the bear asked. He nudged Indra with his paw, trying to coax a response. The best he got was an exhale from Indra-- showing he was still alive, but unable to answer.

Seeing they were alive, the bear quickly rose up and put his fingers together in his mouth. He let out a sharp and loud whistle that echoed into the valley ahead-- calling for help to his fellow villagers. Seeing as there were a few survivors, the panda used the fish pack to carry Tailong and Kage, as if they were infants in the bucket-- and tried to tug Indra. The man was large and heavy due to the difference in size, but the Panda pulled and dragged him along the beach.

As he was able to get him to the edge of the tall grass, when he heard the voices of his fellow farmers come to his aid.

"Help! I found shipwrecked survivors! Please, help me get them to safety!" the bear cried out.

All the while, Indra and his friends were oblivious as help arrived to care for them.

WC: 541

A fan of the mind-blowingly dangerous, the silver-haired mage, once upon a time a mage of guild Aurora but now a Rune Knight, was steering a small lacrima-powered boat on choppy seas. His eyes were fixed on the larger vessel ten feet away from him, its build allowing it to break through the waves more easily while Shane was bobbing up and down over the waves.

The large boat in front of him, disguised as a fishing boat, was actually a scouting boat from the Four Finger Pirates, another long-standing enemy of Shane’s. They had never actually attempted to locate each other to settle the score, but whenever they met, it would always be by chance through jobs. Of all the jobs that involved pirates, whenever Shane picked one, he would always find himself facing off against someone from the Four Finger Pirates. It was a wonder that they hadn’t put a bounty on his head.

Having discovered the chance at Lavantir when he noticed their pirate mark on their arms, Shane had followed them out to sea in hopes of taking down another of their divisions. However, what he didn’t expect was for the weather to worsen so quickly the moment they left the shallow waters. He regretted picking this smaller boat, as the huge waves sent water splashing against his face every few seconds in combination with the pouring rain. It took great idiocy to commit to this with the disadvantageous odds but Shane was too determined.

For some reason the pirate scouting ship began to slow down, the distance between them narrowing very quickly. Shane slowed down as he approached as well, and began to hear the shouts from the skeleton crew aboard the ship, panicking. He could see them pointing wildly to the front, and he heard very clearly from one of the pirates, instructing the one steering the ship to turn back. Puzzled, Shane turned to look as well and he froze. It was truly a “you reap what you sow” situation as he stared, mouth open, at the incoming wave. It towered above them, and within seconds, crashed against the two boats.

Shane’s small boat never stood a chance as he was sent plunging into the ocean, unable to discern top or bottom. The mage struggled in the turbulent waters, until finally, battered all over, his head broke the water surface. He looked all around him, pieces of the ships scattered all over the surface of the water as they slowly sunk to the bottom. None of the pirates could be seen.

Ignoring them, Shane climbed on one of the floating pieces, balancing himself as he tried to stand. Without much thought, Shane lifted one his left foot as if was walking. And when his left foot stepped down, it stepped down on air, one inch above the water. His right foot followed, and soon Shane was walking on air. It was a recently discovered ability associated with his Sky Demon Slayer magic, and he sighed heavily as he questioned himself. Why didn’t he thought of using this from the beginning, instead of charging out into open seas with a small boat?

Without any navigation tools or the knowledge to do it even if he had those, Shane decided to ascend higher into the skies until he finally had a bird eye’s view of the area. For miles and miles, there was only water. He decided to go up higher until he finally found an island. Deciding that he would stop here to refresh himself, Shane dashed towards the island. Unknowing of the magical storm that surrounded the island, until it was too late.

For Indra, he now was in blissful sleep till he felt the warmth, and heard voices around him. He slowly begna to regain consciousness as he heard several voices. The warmth of fire was nearby, a soft bedding under him and a strange smell in the air. Food, a kind of stew maybe? Either he was hallucinating, or someone had found him after the storm had tossed him into the island. He saw blurrs of people, that appeared black and white.

"He is coming to, I think?"

"Tao, you said that last time. But it is true, I have yet to see a creature as large and heavy as he. He takes up two beds".

"Now, now Yun. He comes beyond our shores. There may be bigger ones than he."

"The other two not so much-- one looks like a sky serpent. The other... what was it called. A neko?"

Indra groaned as his eyes adjusted to see who was above him... to find odd faces. Furry, black and white faces that closely resembled bears with round ears and snouts that loomed near him.

Electricity jolted around his body as he shot up in alarm, concerned where he was. As he raised a hand, the creature held up his paws. "Calm yourself stranger! You're safe! Please, we mean you no harm!" the first bear said, his voice deep.

Indra blinked, his senses having gone into overdrive for a moment as he soon looked around. He was in a kind of hut, or house of straw and wood. The smell was from a nearby stove, with a large pot cooking a stew. He was sitting upright in their beds, pressed together to make room for his size. Bandages had wound around his head, arm and side-- injures from his crash. He paused as he looked at the two.

Indeed, they were pandas. Unusual animals that not only stood on their hindquarters but also wore clothing -- no different than any other magical sentient being. He blinked, making sure he was indeed awake. Either way talking bears were never something he would imagine he would meet, even by magic. "Um..." Indra paused, rubbing his head as he narrowed his gaze at them. "Am I still dreaming... or are you two really talking bears?" Indra asked.

The bear gave a soft tilt of his head and blinked. "We are Pandaren. We could ask the same for you. What are you suppose to be? Some kind of Ape?" the bear asked.

"Hey I am no ape!" Indra grunted, to the surprise of the bears, but soon composed himself and looked nearby.

In a basket not too far, was Tailong. The tiny dragon was out and still snoring, while Kage was in a smaller bed, flat on his back in a stupor as well.

"We found you three on the shores of our land. One of our fellow fishermen brought you here and we choose to mend you. You have been out for three days," the panda explained, causing Indra to be more level headed.

After a pause, Indra gave a mild bow of his head. "I see. Pardon me... and thank you." he said, his voice still a bit skeptical.

The bear smiled while his partner kept to the back, wary of the stranger that Indra was. "You're most welcome. I am Tao, and this is my wife Yun. Please, make yourselves at home. " Tao said as he held his paws together.

The vibe Indra had was almost akin to the traditions of Midi, but still, this place was forgin to him. Never in his travels did he hear of a species like this.

WHile Kage began to stir, his paws softly kneading the bedding, Indra sat up and rested his back against the wall the beds rested against. "Where exactly am I? It this close to Fiore or Midi? " he asked.

For a moment, both pandas looked at one another in a puzzled expression, as if not to know what Indra was talking about...

WC: 684

As he neared the mysterious island, Shane was shocked to see how displaced the weather of the island was. Dark storm clouds, spitting lances of lightning and reverberating with ominous thunder, were pouring down heavily on the ocean. Strong winds blew across the surface, creating large waves that crashed back down with a titanic sound. And the oddest thing was that, this was all happening in a ring around the island that Shane had spotted. Taking a large gulp, knowing that the island was temporarily his best shot before he fell out of the sky from exhaustion, Shane accelerated towards the ring of storms.

The moment he was near to the storm, with the strong gusts of wind already buffeting his entire body, Shane concentrated his magical power around his entire body, allowing it to exit his body and intertwine with the powerful wind around him, slowly but surely gaining control of them. It took him five minutes to wrestle for the control of the wind from the storm, which seemed to have a sentience to it, a combat of will that eventually bent in Shane’s favour. The moment he got control, Shane stretched his arms out to his sides and did quick spin, churning the wind in a clockwise position to get them started, controlling the wind to completely engulf him within multiple streams of wind. It was his Revolving Heaven spell, a defensive wind barrier.

When the spell was finally initiated, Shane was completely protected within a large sphere of moving wind as he continued to walk on the air itself, heading towards the island. Every now and then, lightning would strike in his direction, causing a momentary hole in his wind barrier which would quickly reform. From within the sphere, Shane’s expression was grim. Every lightning strike was equivalent to taking C-rank spell damage and there was only so many strikes the wind barrier could take.

When he finally passed through three quarters of the storm ring, another blast of lightning shook the wind barrier, causing Shane to shudder for a bit before the barrier dispersed. Having expected this, Shane immediately casted his spells in rapid succession. His left hand gathered the dispersing wind, focusing them into three spheres of wind to hover around him, while his right hand exerted a sudden chill, creating three stars out of ice that hovered on his right side. The moment he had done that, Shane used his instant movement spell, Burst, creating sudden thrust from a jet of wind behind him, propelling the silver-haired mage straight through the stormy weather.

When he finally exited the storm, the wind spheres and ice stars that he had created had been completely obliterated, destroyed by successive strikes of lightning the moment he had accelerated himself. Shane took a deep breath to calm himself, knowing how close he was to dying if he had been careless. On the other side of the storm, Shane was greeted by paradise. The first thing he saw was a beautiful white beach, with clear blue water softly lapping at the shore.

That was three days ago. On this fateful day, Shane was returning from a fishing trip, holding his fishing pole with his right arm and propped on his shoulder with a large blue pail in his right hand. The pail would slosh around every so often, and if someone were to look into it, they would see four large fish with deep-red scales with occasional spots of silver. The creature beside him, towering over him, was a Pandaren. Magical creatures that were native to the island of Pandaria, the Pandaren were deeply steeped in oriental culture similar to the ones of Midi. They were a warrior race, alcohol-loving with a high tolerance before ever getting drunk and were the friendliest beings ever that Shane had met.

The Pandaren walking with Shane was called Shin, and they had hit it off when Shane had arrived at their village three days ago. By chance, there had also been another human in the village but beaten and tossed around by the storm, the human had yet to wake up from his coma. They had brought Shane over to the tent, taken care of by a Pandaren couple called Tao and Yun. The first thing Shane noticed were the pets, dragon-like creatures. And when he had looked at the large, blonde male, Shane had said nothing else except thanking Tao and Yun for picking him up.

Although he hadn’t been in the Rune Knights for long, Shane knew who he was looking at. He was looking at one of the most prominent Dragon Slayers in Fiore, Indra Tenzoku the Storm Dragon Slayer. Or better known as Raijin. Once a member of Sabertooth and now the leader of a new dark guild, Rakshasa.

As usual, Shane had headed to Tao and Yun’s house after handing over the pail of fresh fish to Shin’s wife. He had checked in on Indra regularly over the past three days he had been here. Not knowing where he was in relation to Fiore, Shane had guessed that his best bet was to wait for Indra to awake and discuss their next course of action.

He heard conversation when he neared their hut, and with a thin smile on his face, Shane opened the door silently and entered. The Storm Dragon Slayer was conscious. Shane entered just in time to hear Indra’s final question, to which the Pandaren couple had no response to.

“Neither,” Shane spoke up as he walked in deeper into the hut. He smiled reassuringly at Tao and Yun. Then he turned his gaze at Indra. “We are close to neither one of them. And I’ve yet to figure out where we are exactly, save for the name of this island.”

The Rune Knight walked up to Indra and offered his right hand.

“Welcome back, Raijin. I’m Shane Stern, or Scarecrow if you like. Rune Knight,” the silver-haired mage said nonchalantly, wanting to see what sort of reaction he could garner from his introduction. Once the introductions were over, Shane exhaled deeply before speaking.

“I think you should get dressed. The village chief wants to see us for something urgent,” Shane continued. “I will be waiting outside.”

[1042 words]
[Total WC: 2877 / 7000]

Just as he expected the nice panda couple to answer his question, the silver-haired stranger showed up and not appearing to be just some friendly random stranger. While Kage and Tailong snoozed, Indra looked to find the person was human, like him. He seemed better than him, probably having been on the island a touch longer than Indra had. His smell, was definitely that of a Fiorain and one with a good upbringing despite being here.

Tao turned to the young man. "Ah, hello there sir Shane," Tao spoke and bowed his head.

However, the moment he said his name, and declared he was a rune knight, Indra's eyes glared-- and turned a scary glow of yellow as he jumped out of bed. Electricity sparked from his limbs as he formed a Lightning Dragon Claw around his hand, sparking lightning around them. The two pandas looked frightened as they backed away, seeing the wild-appearing man furious at the site of the calmer, more friendlier stranger. "I should of known. The council send you dogs to catch a tiger? I like to see you try, cause it will be a cold day in hell before I let the likes of you drag me back to your masters!" he roared, prepared to fight.

As his lightning flickered, Tailong was having a pleasant dream of snuggling with a pretty girl/dragon, judging by the happy sounds he made. However, taht dream ended when a stray bit of lightning flickered off and struck him in the tail-- causing him to yelp and jump skyward. The little dragon clung to the ceiling, unsure what was going on. "What the?! Hey-- oh a dream and... what is with the black-and-white cookie people?" Tailong asked, a semi way to say he was hungry.

Tailong slowly rolled out of his blankets to see, the little Exceed tiger-cat now startled by the crackle of lightning. "Huh? What's going on... purrr..."

However, more worried-- was the Pandaren couple's concern about the use of Lightning magic indoors and a possible fight about to break out. "P-please stop!" Miss Yun pleaded softly, " Do not fight here-- this man, he worked to help tend to your wounds as well!"

"Sure... heal me up to drag me back to the council. Grave mistake," Indra said, more than willing to let loose a Lightning Dragon Roar at this guy if needed.

However, once more the woman panda pleaded. "Please... I... I beg of you. We aided you in need, so please do not destroy our home with your fighting..."

Indra paused, his Dragon Slayer claws still crackling lightning. However, he allowed his rage to calm as he took a long, deep breath. With it, his claws dissipated back into energy and flickered away. "Very well. I am grateful for your hospitality-- still I have no reason to show this fool of a knight any mercy if you intend to 'bring me in for justice' or some crap like that." Indra replied coldly.

Now all awake, Kage hopped down to the floor and walked over to look over Shane and the two Pandas who rescued them. "Hi. I'm Kage. That is my Master, Raijin Sensei. And the toothpick of a dragon up on your ceiling is Tailong. Don't mind him. He is all hot air and no fire-breath." the cat teased.

"Hey!!"

The pandas seemed to like Kage as they smiled at him and bowed to him in return. Still, Indra kept his guard up as he glared at Shane. There was no doubt a fight would ensue between them. When that occured, that would be up to him and the situation they were in.

"So where are we now? " Indra asked again.

WC: 653

Before he could even take the step outside the small hut, Shane’s entire body was prickled by the sudden charge of lightning. He knew that the newly-minted guild leader of Rakshasa was strong, a dragon slayer of lightning powers, but he could honestly say he had never been so close to such magnitudes of lightning before. He turned around to look at the Lightning Dragon Slayer with a raised eyebrow, a very small gesture despite the large amount of power leaking from Indra. He wasn’t called Raijin for no reason.

Shane was sure he would never be able to best the Lightning Dragon Slayer in direct combat temporarily, but if the latter wanted a fight, he sure as hell wasn’t just going to keel over on the ground. Wind began to swirl around Shane’s right arm as he stood there, watching the Lightning Dragon Slayer and hearing the anger in his voice whenever he spoke about the Rune Knights, slowly forming six streams that circled around his forearm. Just in case.

“Oh great guild leader, I feel your anger for the Rune Knights,” Shane paused a little. And in his most sarcastic voice resumed, “But I really couldn’t care less how you feel.”

“I currently do not have any orders to take you in, nor am I interested to do that now,” Shane said with a sigh before sitting down on a chair by the door. His right arm was still bearing the six arrows of wind, running in a spiraling circuit around it.

“If you still haven’t grasp the situation, both of us…,” Shane pointed to himself and Indra with his left hand, “…are stranded somewhere unknown. Our obligations to our organizations don’t mean anything here.”

It pained Shane to see the Pandaren couple pleading with the Lightning Dragon Slayer to calm down, pleading for mercy that they shouldn’t even had to ask for in the first place. The silver-haired mage watched with a steely gaze as the Dragon Slayer finally released the pent-up lightning, to which he responded quietly by releasing the wind around his arm. A weird cat-like creature that could speak and walk on its hind legs spoke up all of a sudden, oblivious to the tense atmosphere that had pervaded the small hut just a few seconds ago. Shane ignored it.

“No idea. I was waiting for you to wake so we can speak to the village chief. All I know is that this place is isolated from our civilization, a protected haven from the greed of humans. Kindly get changed. I will be waiting for you at the village chief’s place,” was Shane’s reply to Indra’s last question before he stood up and walked out of the hut.

[454 words]
[Total WC: 3984 / 7000 words]

Indra, reluctantly let his pride go for the time being and bowed his head to the two Pandaren couple. "Please pardon my outburst and thank you for giving us shelter. " he said in Midian custom of respect. The worried looks on the two bears lifted as they nodded, understanding the situation between the two humans were... complicated at best.

Reluctantly, Indra followed the Rune Knight to see who this village elder was. "Hey! Wait for us!" Kage said-- but paused as he saw Tailong drop from the ceiling, landing in a washing dish not too far with a loud splash.

"Brrr. Would someone catch me up on what I miss?" Tailong growled-- but was paused as Kage didn't hesitate to grab a hold of Tailong in his miniature form and took him with him. With a hasty goodbye, the Exceed bowed to the pandas and ran off to join his master.

As Indra stepped out into the daylight-- the sky was pleasantly clear and blue, unlike the storm that had knocked them all flat on their asses. As he walked down the steps onto the rural ground, he saw no trace of 'civilization' as he saw in Fiore. It was a small farming village, nestled in this quiet valley with tall grass growing as far as the eye could see-- a large series of mountains to the north and a river that ran through the town. He saw more of the strange round panda creatures and they looked back at them-- curious to see such odd strangers among their midsts.

"So how did you end up here?" Indra asked, curious why a Rune Knight was there.

As they would get an answer, they would reach a larger hut with a good view of the river. As they would enter the hut, it was an open space with windows too-- as the village chief was there dressed in modest but bright colored robes. "Welcome, strangers. Ah, sir Shane. Thank you for your aid these past few days and I am glad your friend has recovered. "

"We are not friends..." Indra corrected, casting a glare at Shane with his arms folded.

Kage looked between them his tail twitching lightly while Tailong once more found his perch upon INdra's shoulder.

The panda chieftain let out a hum at the two, but still proceeded to explain. "Well, be that as it may, I am grateful you choose NOT to fight each other here. We have enough violence in this land as it is. But alas, you came here wounded. We are more than welcome to help you here. "

Trying to keep his temper, Indra rolled his eyes as he stepped forward. "Can you start by telling me where we are? " he asked.

The panda wrinkled his nose in question. "Why, you are on Pandaria. We are an island nation long since isolated since hundreds of years. We have lived in peace.. at least we tried to..." he paused in thought. "Either way, we found you on our shores, and sir Shane came around the same time. He was kind enough to provide us aid to our village, while we tended to you, Mr..."

"He's Master Raijin! The most awesome Shinobi in the world!" Kage spoke on Indra's behalf, inflating his status a bit. Tailong just rolled his eyes noticably upon Indra's head, knowing how much Indra loved to have his ego billowed.

The panda seemed a bit worried for a moment. "Raijin... Um... why are you called that?" the bear asked.

"Oh, I don't know... Maybe for his little impulse control problems as he likes to Zap anyone who--"

ZAAP!

Indra gave a small shock to Tailong without even moving a finger-- not enough to harm but enough to give him a small tingle. "Will you stop that!!" Tailong shouted, but only made Kage giggle to have the mouthy dragon get his.

WC: 682

Shane maintained his pace despite Indra’s pet cat calling out for him to wait for them. The village elder’s hut was on the other end of the village, giving Indra ample time to catch up to him. The two of them walked side by side, with the Lightning Dragon Slayer asking him an essential question, that would serve no purpose whatsoever. From his tone, Shane thought that the mage beside him had done quite a good job of quelling his anger.

“I was pursuing some pirates at sea and met with the storm. I managed to make it through it unharmed and stumbled on this village. They were originally quite surprised to see me, but then they settled down quite quickly, seeing as they had already seen you,” Shane replied, putting on a more casual tone.

With the tension between them gone temporarily, he had no use keeping his previous icy demeanor and risk the fragile balance between the two of them. Shane’s eyes wandered to the right as he tried to recall something. “I think I arrived a few hours after you washed up ashore.”

When they finally arrived at the elder’s hut, Shane took a seat without asking while the village chief conversed with Indra. Shane merely shrugged when Indra took offense at the village chief’s assumption that the two of them were friends. The cat finally got his attention when it piped out of nowhere, proclaiming its master’s greatness and the Rune Knight caught a tiny indication of a blossoming smugness. The man loved to be praised. Shane mentally jotted that down in some part of his mind.

Shane could see the look of horror on the old Pandaren’s face on how the large mage opposite him had easily and unhesitatingly gave his own pet a shock just for being sarcastic. The Rune Knight was mildly surprised too.

[311 words]
[Total WC: 4977/7000 words]

The panda seemed worried by the exchange and the show of lightning magic that Indra possessed. "Are you... with the Thunder King?" he asked.

It was at that point that Raijin, Kage and Tailong looked to the fuzzy bear with a clueless expression. "Thunder King? Never heard of him..." Indra replied, his brow raised.

A sigh of relief escaped the panda, looking like he had just narrowly escaped some grim accident. "I-I see. Forgive me, he is the sovereign who rules this land... He is most dominant of monarchs. But that doesn't matter right now..." The bear coughed and cleared his throat, to pass off the topic that he confirmed the guests here had no relation to the 'thunder king', or who ever they were.

"Since you are castaways, i wanted to let you know you both are welcomed here, provided two can get along peacefully," the bear said with a sage-like bow of his head.

"Hah! " Tailong quipped, causing Indra to glare at him, but the dragon quickly tried to muffle up his laughter-- and poorly with how bits of his breath would wheeze through his claws.

Indra had no idea how things would progress with Shane. IN his eyes, he still was an enemy, and because of that a fight might very well take place. However, he was among these odd villagers, so he would behave for now. Of all the places he could have wound up-- this wasn't as bad as one would think being castaway.

"Um, just curious... but why do you sound like we cannot leave? You kind of make it sound like there is no way off. Surely your people have wanted to see the outside world right?" Kage asked.

A soft chuckle escaped the panda. "Indeed some of us do, but we are peaceful people. We are content with our simple way of life... but beside that, there is no true way off this island. The island is constantly surrounded by raging seas, storms and winds. Even if you could venture through, you would be tossed asunder. No one has been able to leave the island alive, at best they are shipwrecked on the coast afterward. " he explained.

Still, it was no surprise if Shane had questions of his own.

WC: 390

Shane took note of the name that the village elder had mentioned. The Thunder King. Similar to how the elder Pandaren had thought that Indra was related to the Thunder King, Shane was also filled with the same idea as he shifted his gaze to look at the one known as Raijin. Known for his ferocious power as a Lightning Dragon Slayer, Indra had quite the reputation among the Rune Knights as far as he knew, being listed among a list of dangerous mages.

However, what he also managed to discern from the Pandaren’s words was fear. And then the old master spoke about how they would never leave, courtesy of the raging weather around the island.

“I managed to break through the storm, but it wasn't easy. That was how I got in here safely,” Shane said as he waved his right hand and caused a light breeze to permeate the room. This time, Shane looked at the cat with a smile, “If your master and I combine our powers, we should be able to break out of here quite safely.”

It was the first time he had paid any regard to the cat, still not knowing what the hell it was. But there was another pressing matter on his mind, a long term solution that might or might not be beneficial to the Pandaren village and its island.

“This Thunder King… Is the storm around this island his doing? From where we come from, you don’t know just names like Thunder King for no reason at all. And to be the monarch of this place at the same time. What do you think, Raijin? You up for a little challenge?”

Shane grinned as he said those words, believing that the Lightning Dragon Slayer would never leave his taunt unchallenged. As much as the silver-haired mage wanted to check out this Thunder King guy himself, he knew his own limits. He had barely just tapped into his magic’s potential, putting him slightly above the average mage but still undoubtedly an eagle among dragons. But that was soon to change, he promised himself. The Pandaren chief, on the other hand, wore an expression of shock and horror on his face when he heard what Shane had said. He hoped he had heard wrongly.

However, before he could even try to clarify and warn Shane, they were interrupted by a sudden chaos from the rest of the village. There were shouts and shrieks and even children crying. Shane exchanged a look with Indra, his brows furrowed before charging out of the hut. The Pandaren master made to stop him, pulling onto his sleeves with a firm strength. Shane gave the Pandaren a look, a silent understanding between them as they exchanged a glance. But Shane’s ‘hero instincts’ were on full alert right now.

[469 words]
[Total WC: 5836 / 7000]

"Yes, " The pandaren said as he bowed a head to Shane. "The Thunder King is what caused the storms. He has ruled Pandaria for hundreds of years. It was said that he tore out the heart of the mogul god. And from that hateful act, he gained command over wind and storm. Through his power, he rose his people to greatness, and ours to shame, enslavement, and pain. We maintain some measure of peace, but still.. . we too are beneath his rule. To prevent any escape or invasion, he erected a powerful spell that creates storms all year around the island. None have escaped the island alive. Even by magic, it cannot be done."

The explanation was sound and Indra grew interested by the tale of this Thunder King. He was curious now, and Tailong and Kage could see that clearly as he was quiet in thought. It didn't help that Shane was quick to poke at Indra's obvious interest and taunt him with it. He glanced at Shane with irritation, tempted to just Zap him as if he was one of Tailong's annoying quips. "I might-- after i see him turn you into a crip that is..." he replied, not willing to give Shane the satisfaction of guessing what his answer would be.

Either way, it would seem that no one was leaving this island till the magic keeping them there was gone. The best way to do that, was to stop the caster. In this case, The Thunder King himself. Still, a part of Indra also felt remorse. Sympathy for this tribe of pandas who were forced to be this King's slaves...

... and then it happened. Shouts from outside. He thougth he heard them, but it came much quicker now that villagers were fleeing for their homes and footsteps thundered on the ground. "What the?" Indra growled as he glanced in the direction.

It was at that time that the elder grew a concerned look on his face. "Oh no-- they are here early."

"Who is, fuzzy?" Tailong asked, perched on Indra's shoulder.

"The Mogul-- solderis to the Thunder King. They are here for their monthly food payment." the elder said.

"Payment for what?" Kage growled, his own fur up on end to be like Indra. "YOu said they been harassing you all this time."

"Please," the elder begged as he rose up to go to the door. "Do NOT show yourselves. Stay indoors. If they find out we harbored outsiders, they will not be happy. Please just stay put for now..." the bear said as he hurriedly went outside to meet them.

Irritated and curious still, Indra took interest. His eyes glowed as he activated the Lightning Dragon's Heaven eye. Shane would notice the change in his eyes and the lightning-like etch in his irises. To him, he could easily see through the walls with X-ray vision, and easily saw as the elder approached three large warriors.

The warriors were almost stone-like in appearances as if their body were made of rock but sentient and aware as any other. They appeared to be large, humanoid dogs with sharp canines and carried spears and greatswords. The panda elder waddled up to them with his staff and spoke to them.

"It's time Old bear. Now bring us the supplies you owe," the head stoned soldier demanded.

However, the bear seemed hesitant. "We have fish but our crops would not yield as much as we hoped this month. Our skies had more rain and less sun. You must wait for the others."

"Bah! We had a deal you stupid fool!" another of the soldiers demanded. "Be thankful our king gives you any sun at all. Now give what you have, or else we will take it ourselves. "

"Please, be reasonable," the bear pleaded kindly, "Without food for our people we won't be able to farm or harvest any. We cannot--"

"Silence!" the head warrior grunted. "You will comply or we will see it done this pitiful excuse of a village is fried, houses and all!"

The threats were pretty obvious-- the goons were extorting the farmers for supplies. This wouldn't go well, for either mage.

WC: 722

Shane took note of the peculiarity in Indra’s eyes from the corner of his sight, even while his head was cocked to one side, listening intently to the conversation outside. Not that he would need his enhanced hearing, as the people outside weren’t even bothering to keep their voices low. It was a heated exchange, mainly coming from the Mogul warriors that the elder had mentioned. From their voices, he deduced that there was three of them.

The pleading from the village elder continued until it finally struck the nerves of the three warriors and a final threat from them decided Shane’s very next action. Eyes determined, his red left eye shining with an eerie glow, Shane looked at Indra.

“You joining me?” the Rune Knight asked impatiently before he strode of the hut. As usual, his favorite spell, the Stingers, was already in preparation. Six arrows of wind spiraled around him arm in a never-ending circuit, eager to be unleashed on the next unsuspecting victim. A sphere of wind was in his left palm, waiting as well for a target. The moment his feet stepped out of the hut, Shane spared no time in approaching them as he utilized Burst, instantly pushing him high into the hair and landed in between the elder and the Mogul warriors, in a crouching position.

Their appearance surprised Shane, creatures of rock and yet resembling large dogs. Without hesitation, Shane thrust both arms forward to the left and right. Six arrows of wind, shot out towards the Mogul on the right while a blast of wind burst forth from his left palm at the one on the left. Caught off guard, both warriors were thrown off the ground a few feet. When he stood back up, a sword of ice was already in Shane’s right hand, the tip held up high to the hulking warrior’s neck.

“Get out of here,” Shane said, voice firm but inside, he realized how bad the situation was going to be if Indra was still not out here. The two other Moguls were already back on their feet, seemingly unscathed by the spells he had fired off earlier.

[360 words]
[Total WC: 6918 / 7000]

Shane didn't waste time as he jumped right out, his 'own' eyes changing with a new tone. This interested Raijin, that this kid wasn't just some goodie-two-shoes person but seemed to back really strong power of his own as he left the safety of the hut. It didn't even seem to bother the knight that he disobeyed the elders rules... not that Raijin was any more law-abiding than anyone else. He could care less... but Shane, that was a different story. Maybe he wasn't as big of a pansy as he guessed. He would make an interesting enemy in the future.

His attack hit the first of the guards successfully, knocking the beast flat on his back and making a small imprint on the ground where his stone body fell. The second on the right, however, bloked in time, the wind just making him skid back with slash-like crackes in his stone skin. Nothing near able to break his body yet.

Alarmed, the soliders saw SHane with his wind spell and growled in fury. "The hells?! Who are you? THis land belongs to the THunder King. Begore before we turn you into pulp under our feet." one of the soldiers grunted.

"So the fuzzballs got themselves a bodyguard huh?" another guard grunted.

THe pandaren elder looked shock to see shane and quickly raised up his paws. "N-no. We do not know this stranger. " the elder denied, terrified and also upset that he disobeyed his orders.

"Hate to tell you this, but outsiders, no matter who they are, are prohibited in Pandaria" the third soldier grunted as he began to step towards the knight. The other two were rising back up too.

However, it was then that thunder echoed in the air above them. The sky was starting to darken. Seeing this, the pandaren elder and any others nearby cringed at what it was. It was what happened when the Thunder King exercised his power, conjuring a violent storm that would swiftly deal with any resistance.

Seeing the storm, the Mogul soldiers laughed among themselves. "You see that? The Thunder King is coming for you. His power grants us more strength than you can imagine!" one of the soldier boasted, branishing his polearm . "Prepare to---"

CRACK-- BOOOM!!

The clouds soon broke to reveal a massive bolt of lightning that fired right down onto the battlefield, and struck the speaking soldier. The explosive lightning blast electrified what life was in his stone body and sent him flying. His skin was now covered in burns from the impact of the lightning bolt.

The storm clouds quickly faded, as if it was a one shot strike. With it, the sounds of footsteps echoed.

Tailong and Kage kept inside-- following Raijin's instructions. Slowly, he strolled out of the building with his hands in his pockets, like a street thug, especially with his lack of a shirt. His eyes glowed the same lightning yellow as he walked out. The three soldiers looked baffled at Indra-- even the pandaren was baffled to see the imposing presence of the mage.

"The Thunder King, huh? I like the sound of it..." he said in an ominous, calm excitement tone to voice. A bit of a smirk showed on his face. Every step seemed like thunder echoed in the far distance. "It's almost funny... since I know the true Lightning Dragon King. So, let me show you mutts--" Indra's limbs began to give off bolts of lightning, showing he was the one who had slung the bolt of lightning down. "The Dragon Slayer who will knock that false king's crown off!"

Just as fast, if not faster than Shane's wind-- Indra took off, his limbs now cloaked in Lightning. The path of his jump literally tore the ground apart below him as he reached the closest of the Mogul-- and with a devious smile on his face, he delivered a powerful upper cut, sending him skyward with a cry. His lightning now cloaked his hands, forming what could only be seen as Dragon Claws. The smash he did to the enemy left a clear crack in his chin, which no doubt would hurt like hell.

(WC: 719 )

Shane hated the idea of having to rely on someone’s else strength to overcome their current predicament. Much less someone from the opposite camp if they were back in Fiore. But Shane knew he had no say in this as well. At his power level, he would only be able to push back the creatures of living stone, his Sky Demon Slayer powers almost neutralized by their organic structure. He had jumped the gun, leaping into action first to put the three enemies off their guard while he waited for Indra to bring the big guns.

And he wasn’t disappointed. Thunder rumbled overhead, pulling out a small grin of anticipation from Shane’s neutral expression, an expectant and exhilarated cockiness from the Mogul warriors and causing plenty of distress to the Pandaren villagers. Within seconds, only Shane kept his expression. The others were completely dumbfounded when the bolt of lightning struck one of the two Mogul warriors that Shane had knocked down, scorching his rock-like body and was tossed again to one side like a rag doll.

The other one was decimated as well, thrown skywards despite the bulk of his being with a single upwards swing of Indra’s hand. Lightning cloaked the man’s hand in the shape of claws. Shifting his gaze back to the Mogul in front of him, who was absolutely horrorstruck by the condition of his comrades and, Shane could see, the fear in his eyes when he looked at Indra. Or more specifically, at the lightning that the Dragon Slayer wielded.

“Come on, eyes here,” Shane said as he swung his ice sword to the right and built up more over it. Layers of ice added masss to the sword until it became a gigantic greatsword, as long as Shane was tall. With a two-handed grip, Shane heaved the sword over his head and dropped it down on the Mogul warrior’s head, smashing down into him. But it wasn’t the end. Using the momentum of the heavy greatsword’s descent, Shane flipped himself into the air with a somersault, bringing the greatsword with him before bringing it smashing down for a second slash.

The greatsword shattered at the impact of the second strike, the ground exploding from the force of it with grass, mud and ice shards splattering everywhere. The Mogul warrior was down on his back. A long crack ran across his chest, crusted with ice while a segment of his head was chipped off.

“Ice works better than wind, huh?” Shane asked aloud as he looked at the fallen warrior. The damage he had inflicted was far from enough to finish them off. Then he turned to Indra.

“Glad you could join us. I knew you would be interested in the Thunder King,” Shane grinned as he looked at the large man, the Lightning Dragon Slayer. Giving the fallen Mogul warrior a kick to wake him up, Shane crouched down to speak to the canine-like dog creature.

“Tell your boss this. We are coming, and we are knocking him off his throne. But let me give you a warning. Touch these villagers again and you won’t find yourself losing just a small piece like this,” Shane said as he pointed to the broken off part of the Mogul’s head. And then he stood back up.

[550 words]
[Total WC: 8187 / 7000]

Despite Shane's warning-- Indra was far from done-- and neither was the last of the guard who tried to raise a polearm to try and skewer Indra where he stood. Despite his claws, he couldn't stop a full swing of that at full movement. However, the man just grinned-- even ignoring the smugness of the Rune Knight at the moment. Just as the blade would go down-- Indra vanished in a flash of lightning. The Lightning dragon literally teleported in the flash-- jumping right behind the monster.

"Don't make me laugh..." Raijin growled, and his right claw vanished-- the charge forming a sphere in his palm . "Now get lost, BITCH!!"

He slammed the sphere of lightning into the back of the Mogul-- and it erupted with devastating force. The shockwave from the blast threw the rock creature forward, and crashed him with the other two, knocking them all into a pile of disgrace.

Indra teleported back near Shane, the flash happening so fast even Shane would be surprised.

Alarmed, the stone dog-creatures began to back away. Not only did they face far stronger mages than they ever hoped to see, but one actually turned the element they worshipped against them. "You... You idiots... You have no idea the hell that will rain down on you. Treasure these moments because the Thunder King will destroy you. You and this village!!" the lead Mogule cried out, his skin cracking up.

With that, the three quickly fled as fast as they could limping and scurrying back to the mountains where they came from.

Indra watched as they fled into the distance. While they were scared and didn't seem like much, he had an odd feeling this was just the beginning. They wouldn't be able to leave the island till the Thunder King was defeated...

... or perhaps, even, Raijin would take its place.

TO Be Continued...

WC: 322
TWC: 4713