Z&B: Fire in Nazo | Job

Nazo. Quite an impressive planet, with very quirky characteristics. Beira was sure she would have been rather taken with the planet, if she wasn't having serious misgivings about meeting the fourth phoenix. On the flip side, it seemed the whole bird hunting thing would soon be rounded up. Still, the idea of having to fight a fiery bird, with its element being more or less an antithesis of the Utgardian's, was not a thought which Beira took delight in mulling over. Still, that which had to be done had to be done, and as Beira had decided to begin this mission, she was minded to see it to the end, bitter or no.

"To say the least," Beira echoed her partner's words, looking at the scene before her. Maybe it was just her being too traditional, but she had the feeling that eating fruit from a tree with blue leaves was probably going to be a lot more poisonous than it would be nutritious. Fortunately, the mages had not come here to eat, and as at the moment, Beira had not yet seen any fruits. Hopefully, there would be no need to seek sustenance on this strange, though beautiful, planet; there was nothing calming nor comforting in the thought of drinking orange colored water, even if it tasted and, aside the color, behaved, for all intents and purposes, like water. Beira walked beneath a huge chunk of rock floating overhead, hoping that whatever gravity was holding it up would not suddenly decide, when she was beneath the rock, to give up and release the rock from its grasp. Her worries were unfounded, and soon she had forgotten the threat of the rock, and was now looking at another potential threat: jumping cats.

Okay, they looked like cats, but cats did not have neon glowing streaks and spots running along their bodies. And they were black, so they were very difficult to see in the darkness, unless their streaks and spots glowed, and it seemed these creatures were capable of regulating when and how their markings shone. Beira was sure she wouldn't have an issue with the cats trying to ambush her; she had her reliable sixth sense to depend on. However, the ability to see was very welcoming, and Zach had that covered. The chunk of floating land on which the two mages walked suddenly ended, almost sending the light bearer off the edge of the island and down into the depths of a surging orange ocean which Beira was sure remained unplumbed. She reached out and grabbed his arm, though he seemed to have managed to successfully regain his balance without her help. All the same, one couldn't be too careful.

The floating islands were a good degree of space from one another. While Beira was sure her ability to skate on air would help her to traverse the islands with relative ease, leaving her partner to fend for himself was selfish. Besides, teamwork often served to conserve energy for both parties, while offering mutual advantages. "If it won't be a drain on you, I think the Starlight Surfer would be a very good idea," the Utgardian replied. "It's quite stable, you seem to be in total control of it, and while you're steering it, I can, as you Fioreans say, ride shotgun."


WC: 554 wrds
Total: 1127/7500

"I think it's safe to say that I can manage heights," the Utgardian replied in answer to Zach's statement about fear of heights. While she was incapable of flight, Beira's control over nether rime allowed her to be able to break a fall, or even step on air to gradually ascend, so she wasn't worried about falling, though she certainly felt it would be quite troublesome to find one's self falling through an endless eternity of nothingness. Did Nazo have any terra firma, any continental landmass? The flying chunks of earth did not count. One of these days, maybe she would explore the planet to see. But today was not the day.

She took the hand of the light mage, and the journey through the void of Nazo's sky began. It was weird how, as Beira looked around, she noticed that some, not all, of the floating islands had their own idiosyncratic gravities, pulling whatever came near them towards their own centers. She watched with keen interest as objects caught between two or more proximate islands with personal gravities were subjected to the strain of being tugged from multiple directions at once. What she found a bit unsettling was that, just by looking, it was almost impossible to tell which islands had normal gravity and which ones had eccentric gravity.

"Whoa," the blonde mage said, as an island passed overhead, and her hair rose and fell with its passing. The feel of experiencing gravity from two different sources was a little disorienting, but Beira was sure it would not be that much of a disturbance. The island to which Zach steered his Starlight Speeder seemed to be tracing a haphazard pattern away from the shining vehicle, but the Sabertooth mage's board was faster, and the distance was closing between the mages and the chunk of earth from which emanated what was most likely the resting place of the final phoenix. Very soon, the mages would get there, and there would be battle to be done, and they would walk away with the phoenix's stone. Beira was sure of it. The battle was probably not going to be a walk in the park, but she was confident.

The flying disc of rock that bisected the Starlight Surfer had been sensed by Beira, but she had not paid enough notice to it to attempt to prevent the rock from striking their vehicle. A short, involuntary scream escaped her lungs as the firm board beneath her gave way to empty air. Before she could manage herself and do something about her plummeting problem, Zach had summoned another board of light beneath her. She grimaced, not because she did not appreciate her colleague coming to her aid, but because a part of her felt like her behavior demonstrated a need for her to be saved. Zach was doing a good job of manipulating the separate boards on which he and Beira perched, and the God Slayer was beginning to feel she was not doing anything. The light mage asked if she could track whatever was tossing the rocks at them, and Beira perked up. That would not be difficult to do... or so she thought. As Zach guided the boards closer together, he had to begin performing series of acrobatics, both with his board and Beira's, to ensure that they didn't get smashed out of the sky. While the Utgardian did not get sick or anything, the sudden changes of orientation were enough to scramble her sixth sense, and she could not determine anything for the time being.

With the approach of an island, Zach suggested that they get onto it, and was quick to leap onto it. Beira followed suit, jumping into Zach's arms. Feeling uncomfortable at the position she was in, she quickly let herself to the ground, though she nodded at him gratefully. "Thanks." The rock attacks seemed to have ceased, which probably meant a number of things, but Beira felt that the two major ones which made the most sense to her, based on the situation were these: either their assailant simply wanted them out of the air, or their transition to the island on which they currently stood had somehow moved them out of its vision or range. Beira preferred to believe the latter scenario. For a moment, Beira stretched her senses, probing, but sensing nothing out of the ordinary. Then she felt a motion beneath the two mages, and, expecting trouble, pushed Zach as hard as she could, while moving herself away. From where the two mages had stood only until a second ago, a sharp, jagged spike of earth protruded vertically from the ground. Then the spike disintegrated for a brief moment before reforming as a golem of earth, which fired a slab of rock at the God Slayer, something identical to what had smashed the Starlight Surfer.

"There's our culprit," Beira announced, dodging the projectile, while creating what looked like a drill made of nether rime on one arm and thrusting it at the creature. It blasted a hole through the golem, and the stones that made up the construct's body fell away, revealing some airy form, which suddenly merged with the drill-like weapon of Beira's. She quickly pulled away, as the being reconstructed itself from the nether rime which she had used to attack it.

"By the sweltering hells..." she muttered, as she gazed on a golem made of nether rime.


WC: 906 words
Total: 2793/7500

As Beira studied the hulking form, she felt she was beginning to gain some insights concerning the strange and massive monster. Initially, the being was made of earth, but when she had attacked it, it had transformed into nether rime. It seemed that such a creature as this was naturally made of something more ethereal, but it was capable of gaining a more corporeal form when it came in contact with solid matter. Now, something had to be done before it ripped off the head of her mission partner.

"Zach!" she yelled, cupping her hands to her mouth to gain the light mage's attention. He however didn't seem to hear her. It was almost definitely because the golem was rather noisy, with all its joints grinding against one another, although lubricated by the strange magic that permeated this weird planet, making the normally impossible motions of this strange animated creature somehow doable. Zach had attacked the monster with his light magic, but all to no avail; it was as though the monster was not even fazed by his attacks. Nonetheless, Zach seemed to be the target of the golem. It didn't even seem to take into consideration the fact that Beira was physically present there.

Not knowing whether to be offended by the disregard with which the golem treated her, or whether to be delighted that it paid no attention to her, Beira decided that whatever attacks would be counted successful against the monster would have to be attacks of no physical type. The Spectral Drills were apparently more effective than the Morning Stars, though Beira had to admit that the level to which they were effective was quite questionable. Still, the light projectiles could punch holes in the body of the golem, and Beira was sure that this observation would have to be enough to handle the monster. In a stroke of good fortune, Zach was able to get back to Beira, after his short stint of cat and mouse with the creature of dark ice.

"As long as the warm ups don't involve you being beaten into a bloody smear on a gravity-confused planet, probably thousands of miles away from wherever you can call home, sure, there's nothing like one," the Utgardian maiden replied in response to the joke her companion made. "In any case, there are two things I have discovered about this beast, and those should be enough to deal with it. Firstly, it seems to be able to use any solid it comes in contact with to construct a body for itself, which is why it is currently touting my ice as its form. Secondly, your light drill things can make holes in the golem. We can use both tidbits of knowledge to our advantage." She took a step forward then stopped. "There's a third thing. It cannot fly... or at least, I hope it can't. Anyhow, let's be rid of that thing. Aim its face and wait for my signal."

The idea was to get the golem to fall off the stone island on which it combated the pair of mages. Beira charged forward, as she created a long sword of nether rime, which she used to attack the golem to no avail. But the idea was not to damage it. It seemed almost impervious to true damage. The golem, for its part, began following the ice mage, trying to smash her with its massive hands. Beira made sure it failed at every turn. But as the golem attempted to crush her, she gently and carefully guided it towards the edge of the island. Soon, she had nowhere to dodge to, the golem before her, and a gaping abyss behind. The God Slayer made a platform of nether rime to jut out from the island, upon which she now stood, to apparently avoid the arms of the swinging golem. Interested in barreling her off the island, the golem charged the mage.

One moment, she was there, about to be rammed into by the charging hulk. The next, she seemed to dissolve into smoke and runes, only to instantaneously appear behind the golem, on safe territory. The golem, aware that it was on unsafe ground, turned  and crouched slightly, ready to spring off the ice platform and back onto the island. "Now!" Beira called, dispelling the magic which she had used to create the nether rime platform. If Zach responded as she hoped, the Spectral Drill burning a hole through the head of the golem would most likely prevent it from making the leap it wanted to make, as the ice beneath it disappeared. There would be nowhere left to go but down.


WC: 779 words
Total: 4381/7500

The plan worked exactly as Beira had hoped, with the Sabertooth mage firing three projectiles of light that fused together to form a bigger spear of scintillating energy. The spike of light passed through the golem's head, causing the creature to comically reach for what had been its head, as though it was trying to process what had just happened to its unfortunate noggin. Then it fell to pieces, just as the structure on which it stood fell, along with its remains, down into the abyss below. Beira drew cautiously to the edge and looked over, seeing nothing as the falling objects had been obscured from view by one of the floating islands. Hopefully, gravity would not get reversed and return the dismembered golem to the rock on which the two mages stood. How long was it going to fall, anyway?

"I'm alright, thank you," Beira said, refusing Zach's aid but having the courtesy to do it with a grateful smile. "I am presently not injured, though I wager I might be glad for your help by the end of this ordeal." She then sought to find the island on which the shrine was located, which initially seemed to have vanished, until Zach spotted the thing, standing against the glare of the evening (or was it really evening?) sun. As she prepared herself for another ride across the depths of Nazo's heights, a fitting contrast for a planet like Nazo in her opinion, a rock rose from beneath to position itself before the mages, with another one doing the same just beyond it, and another as well. It seemed the planet had discovered the presence of the two mages, as well as their intentions, and was directing them to their goal. Or was it that by defeating the golem they had passed a sort of test? Whichever the case, the path forward was literally before them.

Zach stepped onto the rock, which stayed stable. Like him, Beira judged that the floating islands which made a path for the duo were stable enough, and gingerly paced after her companion, fearing the same thing as he: that the islands would suddenly forget that they were trying to help the mages reach a phoenix shrine, and begin carrying out the fickle will of whatever, or whoever, moved them. Or maybe these islands all had identities and minds of their own. For now, that could not be proved or disproved, so Beira left that line of thought hanging, and pranced after the light mage. As the duo progressed, however, the light gradually dimmed, until seeing became rather difficult. Her partner created illumination, then turned to face her, as he commented on the fact that they were nearing the end of their strange and long quest. "I'm not shedding any tears, but I'll be glad when this mission is over," she replied. "Let's just hope that there are no new twists to the story when we're done."

Beira sensed the predators even as they mounted the rocks on which the two mages walked. She formed a quarterstaff of ice and deflected one of the claws of the pantherine beast facing her, before swinging the butt of the staff into the cat's face. It didn't seem impressed, as it growled at her, preparing to pounce. "Eww!" the Utgardian exclaimed, taking a step backwards, as her nose caught a whiff of its breath. "Don't let these things bite you, . I fear to think of what diseases lie in their maws." As if governed by the same force, the two beasts crouched to spring. There was a slight clack on the stone, as the beasts leaped at the mages, claws extended. "Precept 91!" the God Slayer yelled, focusing her mind, "Pulsus Mentis!" A burst of green-white fire emanated from the young mage's head, flicking her blonde locks harmlessly, before devastating everything around the two mages and leaving them unharmed. For a moment, Beira hoped that her spell would not disrupt the rocks which held them up above the void. The rocks held. There was the sound of more claws on stone, even as Beira sensed more cats coming... or were those the same ones she had just blown off the rocks?

"Run!" Beira cried, grabbing Zach's hand involuntarily and sprinting towards the shrine. A giant cat clambered on the rock bridge just in front of them, only to receive a solid boot to its jaw. It yelped as it was flung off the floating rock bridge. Another came and got knocked off as well. The point seemed to keep knocking the cats off the bridge, as they ran towards the shrine. Where were those things even coming from anyway? After a while of running and dislodging cats, Beira saw the shrine up ahead. As she got into its vicinity, the cats stopped, growling as they slunk backwards into the darkness. "Well," the Utgardian said panting, grateful that the chase was over, "the only way is forward, I suppose."


WC: 831 words
Total: 5955/7500

As soon as the two mages got to the shrine, the skulking cats slunk back, until they were gone, leaving only their eyes visible in the gloom, till eventually, even their eyes vanished. There was no time to do any sightseeing though, as the phoenix materialized, this one being a being of fire. It proceeded to execute a preemptive strike against the two mages, firing shards of fiery matter at them. Beira did a bit of skipping here and there, in a bid to avoid the phoenix's attacks, but she couldn't dodge them all. She got a scrape on her left thigh, and narrowly missed another shard, though she saw a few strands of blonde hair flying in the wake of the near hit. "I didn't ask for a haircut, you overgrown turkey! Now you are so going to get it."

Zach's spell managed to weaken the other shards, which were avoided with little to no incident. At his activation of his Heimdallr spell and indication of his readiness to do battle, the God Slayer nodded. "First stop will be getting that bird to slow down, or if we're lucky, halt entirely. Luckily, I think I have just the thing. Let's go!" As if the winged menace heard her words, the bastard bird began flying among and between Nazo's crazy geography, frustrating the mages with its aerial agility. But Beira was not going to be easily dissuaded. If she could not get the bird to slow down by cutting its speed, she could give it a reason to slow down by affecting its sight. "Winter God Chaos!" As Beira created the storm of nether rime, the phoenix began experiencing visibility issues, and got blind the moment it entered the aura of stormy ice wind.

Seeing as the bird still had a decent amount of space to fly around safely without colliding with anything, Beira immediately summoned her Flagellum Orci, and using its Extensio and Laqueus abilities, was able to get hold of a small, yet sizeable, piece of floating rock, which she pulled into the way of the speeding bird. Without the use of its eyes, it went straight into the rock at breakneck speed, as the floating island exploded in a shower of fire, dust and stones, all accompanied with a very loud squawk, which Beira felt was very satisfactory to hear. All the same, until the bird was bowing to them and surrendering the stone, she was not going to stop and heave a sigh of relief. Immediately, she utilized the Winter God Barrage, as a statue of ice formed behind her and exploded into flying shards of nether rime, each shard homing in on the flying bird.

As the ice barraged the bird, it screeched, creating miniature forms of itself, which all, as though with one mind, swooped at the two mages. Beira immediately summoned the Winter God Shield, and retreated behind it, as the tiny phoenixes smashed against the ice wall. For a while, the wall held, but soon cracks began to form in the all. "I don't think my wall is going to--" Beira was interrupted by one of the last mini phoenixes tearing through the wall and smashing into her. She crossed her hands before her to defend against the bird, but as it struck her, the fiery bird exploded, the force of the detonation sending her off the edge of the island the mages were on. Quickly, Beira created a floating disc of nether rime and bounced on it, performing an elegant somersault to bring her back to the shrine island. But even before she landed on the floating island, she took in a deep breath while still flipping, and as she righted herself, exhaled a large vortex of nether rime at the phoenix, which was still suffering the effects of blindness.

"Winter God Bellow!"

The vortex of nether rime smashed into the bird, sending it careening into another floating island. "We're making progress," Beira called to Zach, "though I think this battle is far from over." Zach would notice that the phoenix was flying much slower than it had been before. Beira, for her part, decided to use the moment to catch her breath, and hope her partner would make good use of the opportunity of a much slower target presented to him.


WC: 721 words
Total: 7496/7500