These were the Phoenix Mountains. Clouded peaks extended far into the sky while jagged rocks pierced the heavens' blue veil.
Ilya huffed in an exasperated manner, taking step after step while using a large stick which she had fashioned as a walking aid of sorts.
The gravel sifted around the cane as she dug it into the ground once more, resolving within herself that she would take one more step before collapsing on her butt with an exhausted breath signifying that she would finally take a moment of respite.
"This is a better spot than any..."
Her walking stick wavered as it thudded against the ground beside her whilst she sat. Her legs crossed over themselves and her arms rested neatly against her thighs while she watched with narrowed eyes down the winding mountain path from whence she came.
"I could have sworn Eden was right behind me..."
There was a sliver of worry in her voice but she dismissed it with a secondary sigh. Her sister would need to start conquering small things like this herself if she was going to get anywhere as a wizard; especially one in their line of work.
Ilya arched her back against a jagged stone that blocked half the path ahead. Her eyes of a similar colour to the sky that she observed above tightened to a close. She thought it couldn't hurt to take a brief rest while she waited for her companions.
The stone peaks rising high overhead sit stoically unflinching, but simultaneously threatening to crush trespassers with a barrage of heat and snaking maze-like paths.
One such trespasser had arrived to throw himself against these forces. The gravel at his feet rhythmically crunched with each step as he finally reached the apex of the natural ramp, providing a brief respite as the ground leveled out.
The girl that had blown past him earlier on was here waiting at his side. Her exhaustion was plain to see, along with the branch she had used up till now.
"Hey, why don't you take this."
Bechor's hand began to glow a soft white light. It elongated to several feet and faded away to reveal a simple but sturdy wooden staff, it's weight pristinely balanced. Reaching its recipient with a simple toss, he added,
"It's better for all of us if you're not too winded before we get going."
The pitiful, honestly tragic grunts from a young, white haired woman echoed through the dead space surrounding the Phoenix mountains. Eden wasn’t one for fighting, and she most certainly was not one for hiking. Why her sister had decided to take her on this job was beyond her, but there was no use in complaining. If she was ever going to get stronger, these were some of the things she would have to face.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.THUD
She couldn’t take another step. As soon as she had taken that final step towards the flattened land at the end of the treacherous slope, her body gave out, finding peace amongst the gravel that was once beneath her feet. A boisterous sigh flowed from her lips, and her eyelids fluttered shut. Never in her life had she thought the hard ground could be so comfortable.
“Are… Are we there yet…?” Eden grumbled, a fiery red orb peeking out from behind its eyelid to lazily observe her surroundings. Ilya and their companion, Bechor, seemed almost unphased after their arduous trek. Maybe she just needed to do more cardio.
Ilya watched the long, cascading, rocky path intently with her arms folded neatly in her lap. The visage of a slim built, white-haired man emerged from the steep path and approached her.
"It's better for all of us if you're not too winded before we get going."
She placed a hand over her mouth and scoffed at the remark before rising to her feet; flicking one of her arms to one side as she rose.
With a feigned smile, she reached for and gently accepted the walking stick that the man had seemingly plucked out of mid-air.
"For the record... I'm not winded." she added coldly before her eyes narrowed on something of interest just over Bechor's shoulder.
Ceramic white, long locks of hair appeared at the top of the path first; followed by an extremely exhausted individual that she knew all too well.
"Oh come on, Eden, it wasn't that bad."
She chuckled under her breath before gripping her sister by the shoulder and hoisting her to her feet. She took a moment to brush the dust and pebbles from her clothes before spinning on one foot and focused her attention on the small cave that marked the end of the long winding mountain path.
A single, ocean-blue eye darted to one side at the unfamiliar man.
"The Guild didn't say much about who would be joining us but considering you have the time to give me a stick... I assume you're ready to get this over with too?
Without giving him much of a window of response, Ilya took a step forward and strode towards the mouth of the cave, expecting both Eden and Bechor to follow suit.
Bechor offered no real reaction to the girl's retort beyond a quick eye roll.
A few moments later a solid thud drew his attention as the white haired mess had finally joined them. Eden, she was called. His mind was let loose with memories, not all of which were particularly pleasant, but his expression and movements gave no hint to this.
Seeing her sorry state, much worse than her counterpart, he unfastened a yet untouched water flask at his hip. Once the girl had once again risen to her feet, he wordlessly handed it to her while resuming his walk towards their objective. Stick girl, however, had something to say.
"When I take a job, It's to do it and get paid. No more, no less."
After a brief pause he made sure to dryly add,
"Oh and I was going to offer you a drink as well, but seeing as you're not winded I think I'll save it for myself."
Though nearly cutting himself off at the end of his snide remark, Bechor froze in place. He could hear movement and it was very close. He raised an arm at his side and quickly called out,
Eden huffed as her sister dragged her to her feet, the soft, comforting embrace of the gravel below her bidding farewell. Her body protested as she stood once more, the soreness and fatigue in her legs making itself very apparent.
“I’m sorry, sis! I’ll do better, I promise!” The white haired woman declared, her once sleepy red eyes burning with a new vigor. If she was to protect people, she couldn’t be lazy! Now was the time to show Ilya what she was made of! However, when the man who accompanied them handed her a flask full of clean, cold, crisp water, it would have been foolish of her to say no. Eden beamed in his direction as she accepted it, opening it with haste and guzzling as much water as her little tummy could hold.
When her two companions began to have a bit of a squabble, Eden watched intently, cringing slightly at her sister’s rather harsh attitude. Not that it was uncommon for her to act this way, but her polite, meek sister simply could not understand it. Perhaps she was just testing this gentleman to see if he could keep up with them! To make sure that he wouldn’t be an impediment to their mission! That had to be the reason! Nevertheless, Eden handed the flask back to him, a smile creeping across her lips once more.
“Thank you so much, sir! That made me feel so much better! A-Also, I apologize for my sister. She doesn’t mean to be rude!” She stated, giving the man a gentle, yet slightly robotic pat on the upper arm.
The pleasant atmosphere between the two of them would not last long, though, as the once sarcastic man turned serious. His next words would cause the young woman to turn around frantically, fiery red eyes searching desperately for her twin sister. Once she had made note of her location, Eden squinted in a desperate attempt to determine the location of the possible enemy.
And enemy they were.
“Ilya, look out!” Eden cried, a bright light consuming her frame. Soon after, the light faded, revealing the same white haired woman, but now with a long, jet black tail protruding from her hind end. It expanded, stretching forward so the heart shaped end stopped right in front of her twin sister. It may not have been evident why Eden did this, until the pain-filled cry had escaped from her lips.
“A-Ah…!” She exclaimed, the knife that was now plunged into her tail sending jolts of pain throughout its entirety. It may have been hard to see due to its velocity, but one of the many men who had begun to emerge from their hiding places surrounding the cave had thrown it in Ilya’s direction.
“I-It’s an ambush! They…” Eden paused for a moment, jolting her tail downwards in an attempt to remove the weapon from its flesh. “N-Ngh…! They must have known we were coming!” Along with the knife, droplets of blood had fallen to the gravel below, tainting the place where the young woman once found comfort.
Ilya opened her mouth to protest at the white-haired man's fairly blunt retort before her sister stepped in to apologise on her behalf. Whilst mildly annoyed, Ilya could tell Eden was pretty set on diffusing the situation and chose not to pursue it further.
She took a step forward but her blood ran cold as the wild exclamation from her guildmate set every one of her senses on immediate alert.
"Wait! Eyes up, someone's coming!"
That was just it, though. It didn't feel like someone was coming, but more a barrage of someones.
Ilya crouched to the ground whilst her eyes lit up; transitioning from their ocean blue shade to a deep golden hue that illuminated the dark cave before them.
"Raphel's Iris..."
She muttered under her breath before examining the scene that had begun to play slowly before her.
Two... three... four... five?
Ilya couldn't discern exactly how many bandits from this supposed Copycat Gang were on their way but she knew they were soon to be completely overwhelmed through sheer numbers alone.
Solely focused on the impending threat, Ilya didn't even have time to register Eden's warning before she heard the sound of metal sinking into flesh from behind her. Her heart shot into her throat as she spun on one foot to see a relatively skeletal man with his blade sunk deep into Eden's tail.
"Take that, you little demon, what does the blade of The Defiler feel like?!"
There was a moment of silence in the air. Ilya couldn't tell if it was caused by the slowed motion of her technique or the simple fact that she was too stunned to move.
After a few moments, however, Ilya snapped to her senses and an ear-piercing wail of rage could be heard reverberating through the hallowing depths of the cave. The angelic girl was out for blood.
Accompanied by the cry, black wings that almost merged into the shadows of the crevices sprouted from every joint on her body whilst golden veins pulsated on her skin. Her eyes continued to glow brightly as they stared daggers at the man who'd just stabbed her sister.
"I'd start saying your goodbyes now."
Ilya exclaimed in a cold, monotonous tone. The ground beneath her cracked with the force of her wings propelling her onwards. In nanoseconds, Ilya was floating beside the man with the blade, her cane that Bechor had given her already swinging from her side.
A loud crack could be heard as the wooden staff splintered against the man's head. He was on the floor in an instant, blood pooling from an open wound originating from his now now shattered skull.
"Eden, are you okay?"
The coldness of her tone had seemed to subside as she stepped forwards into the pool of blood and placed a hand gently on the knife that pinned her tail. She withdrew it quickly before stroking her sister's ceramic white hair.
Without much time for a response, more shouts reveberated from the cave as four more men with differing titles that Ilya had no time to register emerged from the darkness. They muttered collectively varying threats before charging as a group to the twins.
"Stay behind me."
Ilya beckoned, placing herself between her sister and her enemies. Her wings folded against her body before unleashing themselves all at once to generate a burst of wind that flooded against the thugs that approached. All of them fell to the ground but swiftly regained composure and returned to their feet; resuming their charge.
Ilya prepared for another assault before noticing something in slow motion out of the corner of one of her golden irises.
"White-hair, on your six!"
Two looming figures, similarly looking, shot out from the corner of the cave each equipped with nasty looking blades in one hand and balls of wind energy in the other.
Bechor's eyes darted around attempting to ascertain the location of the threat. His scan was cut short by the white haired girl's warning to her sister follow by a painful yell. Turning his head, the man could see a hooded figure burying a blade into the child. Bechor pivoted towards her, ready to rush in and blow the bastard away.
"Ede-!"
Before he could even express his concern, her dark haired counterpart had blitzed past him. Through her fury the figure dropped dead. All Bechor could see were those night black wings; their presence making even the mountaintops themselves feel insignificant. He had so much he wanted to say, but now wasn't the time.
While lost in thought, Bechor jolted into the moment again as he sensed a presence just behind him. Eyes wide, he instinctively rolled his head to one side only for a closed fist to rocket past it. The white haired man grabbed the free arm and threw the figure over his shoulder, smashing his spine into the ground.
Bechor grabbed his collar and pulled him limply off the ground, prompting a cry of pain from the attacker. The man opened his mouth, preparing to say something. Perhaps to beg for mercy or to curse his opponent; but before anyone was to find out, a closed fist smashed his jaw, splattering blood across the gravel below. Then came a second blow, and then a third. With each hit, the victim's expression became softer and softer as the life left his eyes. However, before the low-life's beating could be concluded, he heard Ilya's warning:
"White-hair, on your six!"
With that, a barrage of wind magic engulfed Bechor. The spell kicked up a mountain of dust and debris, obscuring all possible sightlines. Silence permeated the battlefield. only being broken by the shrillest of laughs.
"AHAHAHAHAHA!! YOU FOOLS THOUGHT THAT YOU'D GET THE DROP ON US? WE'VE HAD EYES ON YOU SINCE YOU ENTERED THESE MOUNTAINS. THOSE GUILDS ARE GONNA HAVE TO SEND SOMETHING BETTER THAN A COUPLE OF BRATS AND THEIR BABYSITTER!"
As the mage finished his triumphant speech, a bright white glow emanated at the epicenter of the dust, shining ever brighter until fading away again. With a single swing with the back of his blade, Bechor banished the dust around them, revealing an angelic set of full plate armor. The gold accents brilliantly reflecting the midday sun.
"I told you it wouldn't be that easy..."
The second of the pair, much less boisterous than his twin, sounded to almost be on the verge of tears as he stated that.
"All you've done is make our job that much easier."
Raising the tip of his blade against the duo, Bechor rushed in determined to take out the meeker of the two. Bringing his righteous blade down on the mage's head, he managed to block the sword with his own with relative ease. Contrary to first appearances, he was surely skilled. With both of their cross guards caught in the bind, Bechor shifted his feet to reposition and strike once again, but found himself blown off his feet by another gust of wind.
"Hey hey! Don't tell me you've already forgotten about me?"
Bechor cursed under his breath. They worked well together. Just with that one exchange he could sense that they had a deep bond. The strengths of one would shore up the weaknesses of the other. He rose back up to his feet, Kushiel crackling with magic power. He still had that ace up his sleeve, but he'd have to make a move soon.
![Senior [500]](https://i.imgur.com/Nmfn8cD.png)
![Novice [250]](https://i.imgur.com/lrYlde6.png)
