Caverns & Coffee [Pt. 2/?]

Caverns & Coffee Pt.2

Teresa just smiled, though careful to hide it a bit in the shade by turning her head slightly away from the fire. She had in fact not been sarcastic. From everything it was abundantly clear that Lyre was a great mage and had a lot of potential. She could simply not imagine her being able to do all this at his age. When she was fifteen there had been a serious doubt whether she could ever be a witch. She had some magic, but just barely enough for the most basic spells. Lighting a candle could drain her for hours. Not to mention the model part. Teresa knew she was considered pretty and had matured nicely for her age. She probably could still go for thirty five and keep up with most girls. Yet she had never been considered beautiful or perfect and she believed Lyre fell into that category. At least his face did. Of course for Teresa’s taste he could still grow a feet, get a gruffy beard and develop at least ten pounds of muscle… but she had a feeling time and nature would provide that anyway. Not bad at all. She thought to herself, nodding slightly to herself as she kept listening to Lyre.

Perhaps I could ask if he has an older brother. She thought as she softly bit her lower lip and pressed her knees a bit tighter together. Too obvious though…

“Well I think she might have been right.” Teresa said with a friendly smile as she turned towards Lyre. “You really are a real pretty boy after all.” She said genuine, though with a bit of a smirk on her face. “It sounds like you have a real nice family though. They seem nice and you seem to care a lot about them.” Teresa said warmly as she reached into her bag and dug up a final log from her bag. Just by hearing Lyre talk and the way he talked, she believed there was genuine love between him and his parents.

Which was refreshingly nice to hear from a fifteen year old boy. All her children had been quite rebellious at that age and it was hard to imagine any of them talking nice about her at that time.

Lyre’s question did pose a problem though. It was not that she minded talking about her family. Teresa had loved her family and even now kept tabs on some of them. The problem was… which family should she talk about. Her first marriage happened when she was eighteen and was arranged by her parents. Her husband had been a complete prick, still over the years she had grown to love him and the seven children they had together. Not true love, but a form of love anyway and when he died, she had been sad for a long time.

After that it had taken more then fifty year, but eventually she remarried. She had been happy for a while, but eventually he died as well and the cycle repeated itself. Teresa did not think of herself as overly clingy or in desperate need of companionship of the flesh. Yet roughly every fifty years or so, she would get the urge to share her entire being with someone else.

Of course several adventures in her youth made things even more complicated. When she was roughly three and a half centuries old she found herself as the second wife of a sultan who was famous for having quite a large harem. She had loved all the court intrigue and having so many friends around her. Of course the party ended after a decade or so as the sultan had found out she had slept with more of his wifes then he had. Ah to be youthful and careless again. She thought to herself with a chuckle as she stared motionless to Lyre, seemingly frozen after his question.

It was not that she did not want to tell, but she honestly never knew where to begin. She had found out that people did not tend to believe her when she said she had been married to Count Rojas the third or probably had enough grand children to fill an entire city. At least. She had tried to keep track, but after the tenth generation she number of relatives was becoming ridiculous an she could no longer even afford presents for the newly born babies.

So when she was three hundred years she had cut of ties with her family. Faked her death and moved to a new country. She now had a habit of doing that every hundred years or so. It just made life easier and saved a ton on gift money.

“Ah you see…” She finally spoke, as she grabbed her flask and took a big swig of whatever was in there, as she looked Lyre dead serious in the eyes. “Of course you may ask that. However before I answer that question you should probably know somet-

BWAAAAAMMMMMM

-thiwooaaahhh” She said, while being interrupted by a very loud bang.

For a moment she needed to orientate herself, but she noticed the big dent into the thick metal door. “CRAP! Something is there!” She said as she jumped on her feet and quickly began to craft the sigil to form a shield.

Whether she was too late or simply could not gather the energy fast enough she did not know. The shield had begun to form, however before it could be finished and solidify another loud wham echoed through the room and the door was knocked out of it’s hinges and flying through the room. Now of course trying to block a solid steel door with your own face was never a brilliant idea. Sometimes though a person did not have much more brilliant idea’s or in this case Teresa was caught completely of guard.

Luckily her skin tight shield softened the blow considerably and she would hopefully not suffer more then a bloody nose. Yet there was enough momentum that she was swept off her feet, flung through the room and crashed into wall at the other side of the room.

“Ugh… Lyre could you please go look who is at the door? Oh and tell them we don’t buy things or donate to charities.” She said as she began to slide down the wall.

WC: 1,049
TWC: 1,049
@Lyretich

For a few moments Teresa found it difficult to stay with the reality. The desire to just close her eyes for a few moments and relax was quite strong. Yet she could not stand the idea of leaving Lyre all by himself. It would set a bad example after all. As she was talking to herself, trying to stay conscious she slowly pushed the solid iron door off her. It weighed at least four hundred pounds and was seriously putting pressure on her. Luckily she had trained with her claymore and her practice sword weighed one hundred and fifty pounds. Still her muscles burned and were screaming at her as she extended her arms and right knee, tipping it slowly to the left.

With a loud crash it landed to the side, throwing up a small cloud of dust and debris. “Goddamnit. It is broken.” She cursed softly as she wriggled her nose and felt the pain shoot through it. Luckily at that time Lyre was busy flame throwing the Yeti, so she hoped he was a bit distracted. Gritting her teeth she took her nose between her two fingers and gave it a good twitch. She could hear the tiny bones snap back and feel a bit of blood squirt out of her nose. In response to the pain she let out a loud yelp and smashed her foot into the ground, causing it indent and crack all the way around it.

“No this is not normal.” Teresa said confirming as she slowly pushed herself back onto her feet and looked at the Yeti through the haze of pain. There was nothing natural about this Yeti. Now of course she had fought aggressive yeti’s in the far North, but those were territorial and quite a bit bigger then this. Plus they had horns if she remembered correctly.

“However it might just be that we released the door of a prison.” She said as she looked back at the solid metal door. She could still feel the remnants of magic on it. Probably some silence and draining spells, perhaps a lightning spell. That left however the question what could have happened to it. It seems to have been there for a long period, so why did it escape n-Oh crap… did I drain the magic by accident, trying to heal myself? LYRE MUST NEVER KNOW! She immediately thought as she gritted her teeth. “As to why this monster behaves like this… I honestly can’t tell you.” She said as she shrugged her shoulder and drew her claymore.

“Even from the top of my head I know several dozen reasons why a monster might react abnormally. This looks like it though as if it has influenced by more natural or at least long term exposure.” She said as sh walked past Lyre and gathered a bit more energy. “I don’t detect any strong magical effects on it, so I doubt something is controlling it directly.” She said as black lines began to form around the edges of the sword.

“Lyre could you push it back through the door?” The silver eyed witch asked as she placed her second hand on the claymore as well and began pouring in more magic, causing the blackness to spread quicker.

WC: 534
TWC: 1,479 + 534 = 2,013
@Lyretich

Teresa did not have so much as a direct plan. She just had a basic strategy, as she doubted the two of them could defeat the yeti directly. Neither of them had the raw power to defeat it quickly. Maybe if the two of them ganged up and it turned into a slug fest, they might win in the end. She doubted whether her claymore could pierce the thick, heavy skin of a yeti. At least not in their normal state and not from any angle the yeti could detect. “The crosian creature guide XII, rates the yeti as an A class creature. Top notch defenses, incredibly sturdy and they pack quite a wallop.” She said as she recited the entry she could remember. If it was somewhere described in the guide how to defeat it though, she was oblivious to it.

“Ah ok, thank you. That is good to know.” She said calmly upon the news of a hole behind the yeti. Now that was most unfortunate. Her plan had simply been to push the yeti back through the door and then bringing down the ceiling. Hoping at the very least to lock it up again or perhaps even kill it if the destruction was massive enough.

However the news that there was a hole behind the yeti was intriguing. Perhaps there were finally some answers here. “Okay new plan. Just keep pushing it back, you are doing great.” She said with a smile as she poured her remaining power into the claymore.

From the corner of her eyes she watched Lyre and the dragon fighting together. She puckered her lips together and let out a silent whistle, as she noticed how well these two fought together. It was obvious the two had already formed quite a bond and their team work was top notch. Not to mention she could sense the power behinds Lyre’s attacks. She cringed at the thought of that attack hitting her, it would at the very least shatter her solar plexus an several ribs. “That is it Lyre!” She said as she saw the yeti stumble back under the strain of the attacks of the two. She even saw a bit of blood were Lyre had connected directly to the yeti.

Impressive… not a death blow, but still to overwhelm the armor of a Yeti in a direct attack… She thought to herself as she whistled again.

Just before the yeti stumbled through the door her right arm tensed, veins appearing all across it and then she threw the sword with as much force as she could muster towards the yeti. Covered in her black Haki the claymore was much sharper and almost indestructible. Originally developed as a way to cut through heavy armor and opposing swords, it had quickly turned out to be a trump card.

If it hit… which it did not.

At the last moment the yeti heard the claymore soaring towards it and somehow managed to move it’s massive body out of the way by thrusting it’s pelvis forward, leaning a bit back and thus creating a hollow back through which the sword soared. A few droplets of blood flew through the air as the sword left a small cut in the yeti’s back.

“Ehhh… you want to keep it busy?” Teresa said rather loudly, but with a faint smile as she visibly gritted her teeth.

[b]“Hah! You missed! Sucks to be you. Now for you! You hurt me! Now me hurt you!” The yeti suddenly spoke in a deep bass voice as it turned it’s eyes upon the young boy and began growling deeply. A purple mist began to rise from it’s thick fur and then it went onto the offensive, throwing a thrashing continues series of furious punches towards Lyre. Quick and powerful, they were poorly aimed though and one could argue the yeti was just wildly punching in front of it, hoping to hit something.

Just as that moment Teresa gave Lyre a nod, before snapping her fingers and vanishing. So far, so good!

WC: 676
TWC: 2,441 + 676 = 3,117
@Lyretich

Meanwhile Teresa was having a bit of a mean streak. The moment the Yeti had diverted it’s eyes, she had vanished into thin air, using her spatial magic. Well technically it was not spatial magic, more like a real hatred to let go of her sword. In any case Teresa’s magic allowed her to teleport to her sword, kind of like a reversed reequip magic. It was called warp and instantaneous. Yet somehow her aim was slightly off and by the time she appeared behind the yeti, claymore in her hand, she was actually several feet away from the beast.

Now if she was smart she would have simply lunged forward, aim for the beasts back and hope for the best. Yet she got distracted by Lyre’s hopeless ways trying to defend himself. It was as if she was watching a little kid pretending to be a fighter.

Granted the only thing she had done till now was hurt her arm and trying to stop a flying massive steel door with her nose. So perhaps she was not the one that should be judging.

Still for a few seconds she was frozen, wondering if she should really intervene or not. After all bit of training would probably be good for Lyre. By the time she decided against it and shook her head to clear her mind, she could hear the dragon complain and the young model putting his faith in her. Oh great… now I would really look evil if I let something happen to him. She thought as she drew her sword. It was a bit cramped in the cavern, but the had enough room to swing it sideways. Still she was too far away to hit any vital area’s.

“YO STINKY MONSTER WHO SAYS WHAT NOW?” She shouted loudly, hoping to draw the Yeti’s attention before it could corner Lyre any further.

The layer of ice that covered the rock floor cracked as she put all her weight onto her dominant foot and pushed off. Luckily the Yeti had stopped moving forward, even if only for a second, trying to figure out where that annoying noise came from. The moment it turned around to look a black shadow flew across it’s back. For a moment it made a very funny looking face as blue blood began to drip on the ground beneath it.

[b]“MISHH YOU SUPID COW!” It said as it turned around, lisping a bit as it’s dark yellow teeth were covered in blue blood, a few droplets running from the corners of it’s mouth. Shaking a bit it turned around, dropping a bit more blood with every movement.

Sadly it was not wrong. Albeit Teresa had struck directly in it’s back, the thick fur and the fact that she slashed through a feet of cave wall, had dampened the blow quite a bit. “Hey Lyre, did that thing just call me a cow?” Teresa said with a blank, confused look, uncertain if she understood the yeti correctly.

WC: 490
TWC: 3,592 + 490 = 4,082
@Lyretich

“Yeah that is what I thought…” Teresa said letting her voice go cold as a black aura seemed to swallow her. Her grip on the swords pummel tightened a bit and some of the darker magics began to spill out. As it spilled it mixed into the air, becoming almost greasy, tainting the walls where it touched. She stretched the claymore forward, her arms stretched tall and the tip pointed to the ground. A perfect ninety degree angle. Without hesitation and that dark look in her eyes she walked straight towards the yeti. “Don’t move!” She said as she looked for a moment passed the white monster and directed her attention back to Lyre. The tone of her voice dark and hollow, like a very old busted door swinging open.

Then she continued to close the gap towards the yeti as she snapped the fingers of her free left hand and a blood red dagger appeared in it. Without hesitation she swung it and rapidly, but decisively cut her right forearm. A splash of warm red blood spat out instantly and for a moment it looked as if her arm would buckle under the weight of the heavy claymore. “Senbonzakura Kageyoshi” She said with the screeching voice as she opened the palm of her hand.

Instantly the battle between gravity and muscles strength was decided in the favor of gravity and the claymore began falling to the floor. Slowly though and in a controlled way. Pure, ancient magic began to waft from the blade. A gust of wind blasted through the cave and clouds of breath where exiting Teresa’s mouth rapidly, as if it suddenly was way below the freezing point. “Senkei!” The word was almost spat out and droplets of blood spattered across the floor. Then the sharp tip of the claymore hit the floor and sank through it as if it was water. As it happened a black dome sprung up from the ground and increased rapidly in size, engulfing both the yeti and Teresa. It pushed outward almost till it reached the outer wall, leaving Lyre wit nothing more than a few feet of wiggle room. Impervious from the outside and bigger on the inside.

“Ok… now who did you call a cow?” She asked as she slightly tilted her head and bared her teeth at the yeti as four continues rows of swords formed in the outer edge of the dome around them. “Sorry but this is gonna hurt quite a bit. Been a while since I used blood magic and I am not sure whether I can still control it.” Teresa said with a devious grin as she cracked her neck and then held out both arms. Instantly two swords disappeared from the edge and formed in her hands.

For a few seconds the whole area they were in began to shake. Blue lightning arced around the dome and then it was over. With a sound like glass breaking a crack appeared in the dome and then another and then another, until it simply fell apart.

“Ugh-n-now I need a nap…” Teresa said with soft grunt as she was revealed to be left standing. Two hands resting upon he pummel of her claymore, stabbed in the ground, using it as a crutch. Her outfit was immaculate, but her face and her hair were covered in blood and other stuff. “W-wake me for b-b-breakf-” She said, trying to grin, before her grip on the pummel failed and she began to fall forward.


WC: 585
TWC: 4,462 + 585 = 5,047
@Lyretich