Aspect of Strength

There was an awkward silence in the Sabertooth's main guild hall, a moment where all the mages stopped going about their daily business. Only so that they could direct their eyes towards the two mages that might have caused this moment. Hoping to catch every glimpse of it.

This awkwardness was created by Frederick, a former dark mage who ruled over Savage Skull. Yet this was unknown by most of the guild members. A mage who mostly was the biggest lone wolf of Saberthooth. Someone who always avoided the busy main hall, and mostly slipped through it by sticking to the walls. So it maybe wasn't so strange that everyone was surprised as the dark hooded man walked through the middle of the hall, only to stop right behind Aayla. Who was a main member of this guild.

'You.. dragon slayer. I am in need of your assistance..' he boldly said with an ice cold voice.

She could almost feel a shiver creep up her spine, an ominous feeling in the air as the guild hall went quiet. She couldn't smell anything too different, even the smell of Frederik didn't strike her as strange as she had seen him before in passing whenever he had first picked up Kiersa from the desert. She looked over her shoulder and looked over the surprised faces of her guild mates to lock her eyes onto the form of the dark clad wizard. He was walking towards her, but she fully expected him to keep going towards the exit of the hall.

When he stopped behind her she froze up slightly, her face turning red whenever the man addressed her strictly as dragon slayer instead of her name.

“Uh… uhm me? I’m n… not sure exactly what I could h… help you with…”
She stated nervously, tuning in her seat so that she could see all of them man before her. She didn’t understand what he could possibly want, but she wouldn’t turn him down… in fact anyone in the guild could ask her for her help and she would do it. He was just a little more intimidating than most.

“Oh but… of course I will… I mean”
She finished, hoping he didn’t assume she was refusing to help him.

'Good,' replied Frederick with the cold voice, that didn't showed any sign of being pleased or acknowledgment at all. ' Then meet me at the teleportation platform when you're ready'

Ending with that Frederick immediately walked passed her as if he expected her to follow his exact words. This was a bad trait of him, something that still remained from his days as guild master. Throwing out any order and expecting others to do immediately what he said. Unaware of their own personal feelings or what situation they might be in.
This disregard also showed through the fact that Frederick hadn't shared any information with her. Like why he needed her, and why he choose her.

The truth was that there was not really much to it, it was just that out of all the mages in the guild that she seemed the most capable to him. At least that was the vibe he got from her, someone strong enough to hold her own. And not someone he had to look after.

"O...oh. Yeah sure..."
She looked around to the others within the guild hall who were staring obviously at the pair. Her face went bright red as she picked up her glass and downed her water before pushing away from the table and getting up to her feet. She had no idea what he wanted from her... but he was a member of the guild after-all, she felt she couldn't deny his request if she had the time to do it. She had hoped for a day off, but if she was needed for something, she would be sure to help.

She brought her hand up to her lips once she stepped outside, whistling loudly and looking to the sky as the heavy beating of wings could be heard descending from the top of the guild hall. She smiled over to Zinnath, and pointed downwards with her finger. The large Serpent circled once above her friend before soaring down passed the platform, flying down towards the desert. Aayla on the other hand, stared at her feet as she walked across to the teleportation lacrima, refusing to let herself look down and grow sick with how high in the sky they where. When she reached the lacrima, she glanced up to the darkly dressed man.

"What is it you need help with? I...if you don't mind me asking..."
She said softly, a little nervous that she had no idea who he was other than recognizing his face.

Aayla eventually followed Frederick towards the teleportation lacrima, and once there she finally inquired him about why it was that she was needed for.
Yet Frederick started to answer that question with a sigh, as if he was even bothered by the fact that she dared to ask him that.

'Not far from here, where the dessert ends.. is the River Village. A small place that normally doesn't have any major problems. However it has come to my attention that the was actually attacked a while back, yet instead of what normally happens where they raid a town. And steal everything from it, the band of dark mages and thugs who did it decided to take up residence there. Taking over the town, and terrorizing the daily lives of it's inhabitants.
Because normally we don't hear anything from the Rive Village, so no guild has ever suspected that something like this was happening right under their nose. Until we received the information from some underground broker'
While Frederick talked he started to put in the coordinates on the lacrima device, making sure that once they would activate it. It would bring them as close to the village as possible.
'So now we are tasked with the objective to rid that town of any evildoer, and mostly I would take this up alone. Yet even I have to admit that charging such a place without someone to watch your back is a foolish move... hope your ready'

The moment he was done, he activated the lacrima. That started to surround the two of them with a light blue glow, so much that the scenery of the Sabertooth guild hall disappeared.

Aayla's eyes narrowed as he mentioned the dark wizards having taken over river village. She could feel her blood begin to boil, and could feel her heart pounding louder in her chest. Sh couldn't believe that they would still try to take over small towns such as this... What was the point in causing these people pain and misery? Did they enjoy that simple fact? Knowing that others suffered because of their actions? She clenched her hand tightly into a fist, gritting her teeth before taking in a deep breath and glancing up to Frederick.

"Of course I am ready... those people need help..."
She stated just as he activated the transportation Lacrima. She felt the familiar sensation that it gave off, almost like a constant tug and pull as their bodies were transported from one place to another.

When the scene around them cleared up, Aayla had to blink several times before getting her bearings, looking around them and biting her lower lip gently. They weren't in the desert at all... in fact, if she had to guess, the lacrima had taken them much closer to their destination. She grew nervous, wondering just how Zinnath would be able to find her... there was no distinc trail for the serpent to follow, no way that she would hear Aayla from this far away, no matter how good her hearing was.

She then hoped that River village took after it's name, and had an ample supply of nearby water...

"I... is there a plan to take them out? Do they have a leader we need to target?"
She asked suddenly as she took a step forward as if it would help her get a better look around.

'I assume there is' replied Frederick 'There has to be, and a smart one at that. I mean think about it what this group has accomplished. Not only were they extorting villagers for several months, they also managed to keep their presence in the village a secret. And that all right under the noses of the guilds and the Magic Council.'

This group was no ordinary group of ragtag bandits, no they way how they operated, how they managed to keep themselves hidden. And Frederick knew this, he knew that whoever was in charge had to be someone was was quite a tactician. Maybe some ex military perhaps, or a professional merc group that had gone rogue.

'But targeting their leader is a good idea, and I might have just the way to do it'

What Frederick had in mind was not something he was fond off, not at all. Because it required him to trust in the other person, and their capabilities. And that just wasn't how Frederick rolled, he'd rather level the entire place with the ground, but the fact that there were innocent people in there made the matter a tad more difficult for his liking. Especially since Zenshin had him on a short leash.

'We don't know how many there are.. So I suggest that one of us, preferably me.. is going the majority of their troops to the front gate... While you will sneak up through the river, and into the village. Trying to see if you can locate their leader, if I am right he'll be somewhere out of sight from the battle. But still close so that he can control what is going on.. am I clear?'

“yes sir, very clear”
Aayla stated gently as she listened to the man’s plan. She took a deep breath, attempting to steel her thoughts and prepare herself for what was going to happen… He would be the one to serve as a distraction, and hopefully that would distract enough of the bandits to give her a clear path to their leader… which she still had to find.
 
Whenever he took off to do his part of the mission, Aayla took off as well, wasting no time as she bolted towards the river, allowing herself to sink down into depths and let her bod fade from view as her water body seemed to merge with the water of the river to a degree.
 
The water dragon slayer took a couple of sniffs into the water, taking in the nearby scents and hoping that her nose along with instinct would take her to the one in charge… She swam forward into the water, always careful not to create any disturbance to the waters surface to avoid detection, however, as she turned around the first bend in the river, she was forced to stop. The river was littered with dormant lightning lacrimas, the small orbs scattered in a mess to make it impossible for anyone to get though.
 
“Great…”
She grumbled softly as her yes scanned each lacrima, scanned the space between each of them and how she could best get around it safely. She closed her eyes for a moment, taking another deep breath before taking in another sniff of the surrounding waters, opening her eyes only to look up at the sky and what scenery she could make out around her. She was still no where near the opposite end of the village, if she got out of the water now, she didn’t doubt that she would be detected. Finally gathering up her courage, she let herself sink to the bottom of the lake, her feet touching the ground as she began to walk towards the lacrima. She took her time slipping between each lacrima, contorting herself in ways she never thought she would need too. She would crawl against the bottom of the lake, then rise up to slither passed another set of lacrima that were extremely close together. She knew that no adult would have been able to get passed these… for once she was lucky to have such a small size.
 
She finally began to reach an area where the lacrima seemed to thin out, however she could feel a light current of power passing through the water, as if an electric eel had gone by, or as if one of the lacrima had been set off a long time ago. Suddenly, her nose was greeted with a putrid smell… the smell of death, of a decaying corpse. She scrunched up her nose, and finally found the source of the danger, and the smell.  There was a pile of what looked like four bodies piled one on top of the other, each body had a rope tied around their waists with a heavy stone that kept them at the bottom of the river. Above them, the lightning lacrima had thinned out drastically, no doubt having been set off when these people were thrown into the river. Aayla couldn’t help but ball her hand into a fist, gritting her teeth tightly as she looked at the corpses, then back up to the river bend with a furious look crossing her features. How could they do this to those poor villagers? What did they have to defend themselves? What warranted such a painful death! If tears could be visible underwater, then they would be quickly falling from her eyes.
 
To her surprise, she could see two people make their way over to the river bed just a little way up, where the lightning lacrima were a little more concentrated. One of the people standing at the river’s bend was crying, their hands tied behind their backs and a rope around their waist. She could smell the woman’s tears, and hear her pleading with  the man who was no doubt her captor. She watched and listened at the exchange of words, frowning heavily as she walked passed the corpses of the villagers, slowly and quietly making her way up to a safe spot just beneath the river’s surface. Apparently, this man was accusing her of making contact with a legal guild, begging for help, and of course, this would ruin whatever grand plan they had. She had hoped to hear more of the story, but the man stopped speaking, and shoved the woman down into the river.
 
Aayla was quick to act, easily dodging the few lacrima that stood between her and the falling villager. She took a deep breath and once the woman broke the waters surface into the river, Aayla cast her water lock on the woman, holding her in place, just inches above the lacrima she was about to touch. She swam closer to the lock, her hands always ahead of her to maintain it. When she got close enough to the other woman, she slipped her hands into the waterlock and gripped the rope around her waist. She manipulated the water around them to her hands, creating water claws as she cut through the rope. The rock and the rope fell to the bottom of her water lock, threatening to crash into the lacrima below them the instant the water lock was released.

“Stay calm… listen. As soon as I break this spell, that rock is going to hit the lightning lacrima… You’ll never make it to the surface in time… I can launch a spell that will throw you out of the water and back on land… it’s going to hurt but you won’t die… trust me… okay?”
She asked of the woman who seemed absolutely panic stricken. She didn’t understand how she could hear the girl underwater, or what was really happening, however when she looked down at the rock, her eyes widened and she could easily see what the young girl meant. She was going to die without her help…
 
Aayla look another deep breath, readying her water dragon’s roar. She let go of the water lock and released her spell on the woman. The force of the spell knocking the girl straight back out of the water where she was roughly flung back on land. Aayla on the other hand, wouldn’t have enough time to et away from the lightning lacrima as the rock crashed down into it, shattering the lacrima one at a time until it reached the bottom of the river. The young dragon slayer barely had time to make it to the rivers surface before the current of electricity began to course through the river, and in turn her body. She screamed and writhed in pain and agony as the lightning stuck her. She could barely move an inch as her body was tortured by her opposing element. She cried and cried, screamed and shout as the current surged through her. She truly didn’t think she would make it out  until she felt a hand close around her wrist and pull her up and out from under the water. The woman she had just rescued… she had come back for her, pulling her to safety though not without suffering the pain the lightning inflicted while being carried by the water. The woman’s arm was red and swollen from the affliction, however, Ayala now lie on her back, still writhing in agony until the electrical current within her body would die down.
 
“Why would you do that for me… you risked your life… for a stranger…”
The young woman stated as she knelt down next to Aayla, cradling her injured hand as she hoped the small girl would quickly recover. Her recovery was not quick, but soon you could see that the current hurt much less than it had while sub-merged.
 
“S…stranger o…or not… I couldn’t l…let you die…  won’t let a…anyone else d…die because of m…my weakness…”
Aayla began, sitting up finally and taking one deep breath after another to steady herself.
 
“Well… thank you miss… you saved me… thank you…”
The woman said with small tears of joy in her eyes as she quickly hugged Aayla as a thank you, then quickly letting the girl go as she heard the footsteps of someone approaching.
 
“Do you have a place to hide?”
Aayla asked the woman who nodded quickly.
 
“Then go, hurry… I’m going to find their leader and put an end to this.”
She stated, getting up to get going when the woman grabbed her arm again.

“Up on the cliff, there’s a small cabin. They built that not long ago… I’m sure that’s where he is… good luck.”
The woman instructed before darting away from Aayla. She opened up a dumpster and quickly jumped inside. The dragon slayer supposed that was as good a spot as any, not lingering to think on it before darting away from the scene and running down the river’s edge until she needed to hide behind a house. She peered around the corner, watching the man from earlier who was looking back down into the river as if admiring his handy work. The lacrima had indeed been struck, he had heard the familiar sound of the lightning and the struggle. A crooked smirk crossed his face as he stepped away from the spot, walking back into the vllage. She could hear cries and shouts suddenly being let out. A warning, someone was attacking the village and they needed all available mages to the front. Aayla smirked at this as she stepped out from behind the house and continued to run along the river bend as fast as her little legs could take her.
 
How was she supposed to get up on top of that cliff without Zinnath? There seemed to be absolutely no way up unless you could fly, or had a teleportation crystal… well she didn’t have time to go looking for one… it could be absolutely anywhere! What she could do though… was fly… at least she could try too… She looked up at the cliffs edge and followed along the shadow it cast, trying to judge the angle, and the power she would need to make it up.

“Okay Aayla… this is stupid… but you have to do this… you have to save these villagers…”
She told herself, riling herself up as she turned her back to the cliff, looking at the village it overlooked, before looking down at the shadows edge. She took a deep breath and brought her hands up to her lips. A magic circle appeared there as she cast a familiar spell.

“Water Dragon’s Roar!”
She channeled as much magical energy as she thought was needed into the spell, unleashing her breath attack against the ground. At such a close proximity to herself, the spell launched Aayla up into the air at such an angle, that the girl would be able to land on top of the cliff. However, as Aayla got a certain distance away from her initial target, the spell lost momentum and began to die down. She quickly twisted her body in the air, pushing against the last remnants of her water spell and just barely managing to grip the edge of the cliff, her body hanging dangerously from it’s edge as the earth slowly began to grumble away from under her hands.
 
She gulped loudly as she channeled her water dragon’s claws, digging them into the dirt, and bit by bit, dragging herself over the cliffs edge. Once she was on top, she crawled a safe distance away from the ledge, panting heavily as she lay flat against her back for a moment, looking up into the bright blue sky as she attempted to regain her breath.
 
Her rest was short lived however, as she could smell, and hear heavy boots walking towards her location. She quickly jumped up to her feet, bracing herself, shifting her steps into a fighting stance much like her many teachers had taught her. She brought up her arms, showing off her talons as the form of the booted person came into view. Aayla was surprised to find a woman… she was a tall, tanned skin adult with dark down hair tied back into a low ponytail. She wore what could have been a pirates hat on her head and a long jacket that was adorned with furr on it’s ends. The boots she had heard were magnificently crafted, with a celtic design adorning it’s leather.
 

“Well well… what do we have hear… a kid? You don’t look like any of the kids from the village… in fact I don’t think I’ve seen any adults who could have a child like you. Tell me brat, who are you? “
She asked, her accent was heavy, and almost difficult to understand. Aayla’s eyes narrowed on the womans form, though she didn’t budge.

“All you need to know is that I’m here to free these villagers from your tyranny. It’s over, you lost. I’ll give you  one chance to surrender.”

The woman broke out into laughter, reaching into her coat she retrieved a whip which she unravelled and snapped against the ground. Lightning began to dance around the weapon in a terrifying display. Aayla wanted nothing more than to run from this woman… she was able to use lightning… something she was utterly terrified of… something she just didn’t want to face… the only thing that stopped her however… was the thought of letting the villagers down. If she left, no doubt they would die… these bandits had been found out, therefore she didn’t doubt they would kill all of those in the village and try again somewhere else. She had to take the girl down.  Aayla took in another deep breath before dropping her water dragons claws.

She brought her hands to either side of her, next to each open hand, a magic circle appeared causing water to gather in large amounts around her hands, forming two bubbles of water that seemed to be constantly moving, like a quickly flowing rapid. The water moved and shook with a great power and force, and as Aayla brought both bubbles up above her head, they connected, expanding and creating a large spiral of water, which Aayla then flung forward towards her enemy.
 
The water sped forward, crashing into the bandit leader with such force it knocked her right off of her feet. When the water touched the whip, it also carried the electrified current into the leaders body, shocking her as well as knocking her with the force of the water dragon’s roar, and cutting into her with the force of the water dragon’s claws. This spell was meant to be devastating to the enemy, though not without taking it’s toll on the caster.  As the spell did it’s damage, Aayla dropped down onto her hands and knees, panting heavily from the use of so much magic. She looked up from her spot as the water died down, noting the woman flat on her back in the watery field. She couldn’t help but laugh at the woman before her laugh was cut short by the sound of her whip, and the sudden coursing of electricity through her body.
 
Aayla let out another cry as the lightning passed through her water body. She clenched her fists tightly and grit her teeth once more to try and bear the pain, but as drained of magical energy as she was, it was extremely difficult.
 
The woman stood up from the ground, an angry, deranged look on her dishevelled face. Her beautiful attire was shredded, and blood stained what was left of her outfit. Her hat was gone and her hair was dishevelled.
 
“So… you like to play in water hunh!?”
The leader cried out at her, walking over to the girl who was still writhin in pain as the leader stuck her once more with the electrical whip. The leader stopped just in front of Aayla, raising a torn boot and kicking Aayla in the ribs, again and again, klicking her and pushing her back over until the reached the end of the cliff. She didn’t stop there however, with a final kick, she tossed Aayla off of the cliffs edge, smirking as she watched the girl plummet.
 
Aayla gasped as she began to fall, instinctively reaching for anything she could but had nothing to hold onto. As the ground grew closer, she took another deep breath and extended her arms to either side of her body.

“WATER LOCK”
She cried out in a panic, surrounding herself with the spell just before she hit the ground. The spell stopped her from crashing hard against the group but didn’t maintain as it broke and dropped the girl much more softly than if she had landed without it. The leader growled from her spot and kicked down the rope she used to get down from the cliff in a hurry. She slid down the rope (with her gloves, she didn’t get burned) and landed on the ground next to where Aayla was attempting to stand up again. The leader whipped at the young water dragon slayer once more, this time drawing blood as she split the back of her jacket and shirt. Aayla cried out and the leader grabbed her by the scruff, dragging the girl back over to the river where she promptly knocked Aayla over and shoved her face into the water, meanwhile, digging the end of the electric wip into the wounds she had created on Aayla’s back.
 
Aayla cried out at the pain and ‘struggled’ against her captor. However… the leader had unknowingly just given Aayla the upper hand… with her face now in the water, she began to quietly eat at her element, while always reacting to the pain the woman was inflicting upon her. The leader would bring up Aaylas head long enough only to strike at her again and again in a rage before dunking her face back underwater as if attempting to drown her. However, Aayla just continued to eat, and eat, and eat the water every time she was forced back into the river.
 
This went on for several minutes, and all of a sudden, Aayla could feel a sudden, strange power coursing through her. It was incredible, something she had never felt before! Her eyes sprang open and when the leader pulled her out of the water once more to strike her, Aayla only laughed at her, bringing her arm around and suddenly clawing into the woman’s face with her water dragon’s claws.
 
“I suppose… it’s a good thing I didn’t tell you I wasn’t just a water mage… My name is Aayla, and I’m Sabertooth’s Water Dragon Slayer!”
She stated as she proceeded to kick the woman away from her, giving her just enough space to pick herself up.
 
“I don’t care who the hell you are! You're dead! No one just comes in here and ruins everything we worked for! You ruined everything!”
The leader yelled, extending her left hand in front of her, a magic circle appearing there as an orb of lightning was created and darted off towards Aayla in every direction.
 
To the young dragon slayer however, the lightning seemed to be suddenly moving in slow motion. She easily darted and dodged each bolt, getting closer and closer to the Leader every time. Once face to face with her, she clawed and kicked at the leader in a  fury of physical assault, leaping away from her only to cast yet another Water dragon’s Typhoon at the woman, creating one torrent after another with ease. It almost felt as if her body didn’t need any magical energy at all! It was incredible!
 

She had almost completely lost herself to the power of Dragon force, when she found herself standing over the woman’s unconscious frame, another spell ready to hit her. She bit her lower lip however, as she forced herself to stop. She had all this power… she did… and this woman no doubt deserved to die for what she did for those villagers… but she… she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t kill another person… it would be better to just hand her over to the magic council… and let them deal with things….

Just as she let the spell drop from her hand however, she suddenly felt exhausted… much more exhausted than she had ever felt in her life. Aayla stumbed backwards before landing on her butt, and letting herself fall back onto her back, her eyes feeling so heavy, she thought she might pass out.

“Well… that was fun…”
She joked with herself lightly. From the corner of her eye, she saw a shadowy figure that seemed to be running away from the scene. She wanted to cry out and tell them to stop… but frankly, she just didn’t have the strength too… Maybe she could just stay here… until Frederick got back…

'You've down well'

A cold an familiar voice suddenly appeared near Aayla, and if she would turn her head for a bit she would see the silhouette of Frederick. Who had been fighting at the front gate until the bandits noticed that they were being attacked from both outside as inside. Realizing that, and the fact that there was no commanding officer anymore for them to listen to, their numbers quickly dwindled. Especially when the villagers started to take their town back as well, capturing every thug that they could lay their hands on.

Frederick eventually decided to extend his hand towards Aayla so that she good grab it and pull herself up. 'Anyway you shouldn't lay around like that, it's quite... unbecoming'

There he was again! The shadowy figure that had run off, maybe he'd come back to finish her off instead of leaving her alive. However, when the figure stopped and spoke, she couldn't help but smile brightly and chuckle. She wanted to thank him, but first took his offer of help an forced herself up to her feet. Her knees trembled and wobbled but she placed her hands on her thighs for a moment to catch her breath and steady herself.

"T...Thank you...I can't believe... I did it... I mean we... we protected them..."
She said softly, her smile never leaving her lips however as a tremendous amount of pride and joy coursed through her. When she was finally able to look up at Frederick, she continued to show off her toothy smile.

"I'm sorry for l...looking so defeated... that was... hard! but I... wanted to thank you for... taking me with you... it helped me..."
She offered as thanks... This mission had truly helped her self esteem a lot... not only had she been able to save that one woman from a deadly fate, but because of her the rest of the village had also taken up arms against their oppressors... and she even defeated theie leader! she had saved a whole village with Fredericks help...  unlike last time...

She had grown a lot since then...

Approved