In Tune;

A bard? Lyon almost scoffed. And he seemed scared of Lyon’s dark magic on top of that. Did he have any idea the amount of knowledge Lyon carried because of his tomes? 

Still, Lyon couldn’t help but watch how his battle partner seemed to dance with the wind magic he cast, the Wights being pushed back while Lyon recovered from his spell. Finally, the monsters get knocked to the ground and Lyon finds enough energy to finish them off.

He waits a moment, carefully eyeing the forest’s edge for reinforcements, before accepting their victory. He lets out a long sigh and relaxes his shoulders. “That seems to be the last of them,” he says to the bard. “I thank you for your help fighting those beasts.”

Levin pants for a moment after the battle, feeling just a little bit winded (ha) from that burst of magical aptitude. Perhaps he was just gaining aptitude for it. “Not a problem,” he tells the man, trying to flash him a shaky smile - but Levin can’t even quite manage that, and it falters after a moment as his eyes fall upon the other man’s dark book.

“Woah!” Kanna yelped, nearly being ejected from the stranger’s arms with his erupt stillness. She only managed to remain in his arms through gripping his shoulder firmly, only weakening her hold once they had arrived at a complete stop. The verdant-haired man’s initial astonishment tickled her, as she was incredibly proud of her heritage. At her young, inexperienced age, there was nothing more incredible than being dragon. Her enthusiasm was so far extended she often shifted as a way of demonstrating her “talent” to others, as any child seeking validation would.

“Uh huh! I’m a dragon just like Papa! Isn’t that really neat?” She confirmed, momentarily forgetting her fleeting terror as her attention had been expertly redirected. Upon hearing the man’s explanation, her face contorted into one of confusion, “but what about the big yellow eyes? I swear I saw them, I did!” Though Kanna was naive as any child her age would be, she was certainly intelligent. The reason she had entered the woods once again in the first place is that she had suspected her father’s story to be false–but hearing that a dragon-eating monster doesn’t exist for certain caused her to worry as to what exactly had chased her. I don’t think it was a pig. I didn’t know the woods could be so scary… In processing the information the stranger had given her, she failed to hear the man subtly admit that he too, was a dragon.

“I do!” Kanna replied, her expression shifting at the mention of her most precious possession. She wriggled a bit before retrieving a bluish, purple glimmering stone. It was large in her small hands, warm and glimmering like sunlight upon the ocean’s waves. “Doesn’t it sparkle so neat–” She paused, realizing she did not know his name.

“Um, mister? What’s your name?”

There’s dragons around here, and clearly more than one - and they’re sentient, and they were clearly still fertile. A wave of relief crashes over him, one he wasn’t even aware he was holding back. “It certainly is very, as you say, neat, little one. You are very lucky, and very special indeed.” Probably even more than this child could know.

However, the distraction was only very brief, as she remembered her fears. Forseti shook his head. “Many creatures of the forest have yellow eyes, or eyes that might reflect yellow light,” he explained, simply. “Even if it wasn’t a pig, it probably was no monster - just a creature with yellow eyes, and a loud screech, who felt that their home was being intruded on.”

Slowly, he glanced behind himself, warily, trying to stay alert for any indication of the creature still chasing, or getting closer. “...Now, that doesn’t mean the woods aren’t dangerous,” he said, after a moment, “because wild animals are perfectly capable of being dangerous - it just doesn’t make this one a monster.”

But then that’s forgotten as she pulled out her stone, and he beamed widely and was about to tell her yes, it sparkles so pretty, now why don’t you use it? when she interrupted with a question of her own. For a moment, he fell silent, almost shocked, and it’s a marvel that he’s able to keep his face relatively impassive. And then, while he had no need to lie here, certainly not to this child - surely Naga would not search this far or this hard to hear his name from one person - the name he’d been using for almost twenty years now slipped off his tongue oh so easily anyway. “Levin.”

She nodded when he asked if she needed water, and carefully stood up, making sure not to strain herself again. Keeping her voice at a whisper, she responded. “I..I had no idea who I was or what I was supposed to be without guidance. You gave that to me.” Julia was a giant ball of emotions right now, but- no, now’s not to the time to think about it.

“Levin..or are you Forseti? Either way, you provided me with so much, but I don’t know how to repay you.” The green-haired male had really provided her with everything, from basic care to learning how to use magic, and Julia had always felt a need to give back whatever it was she had gained.

Forseti listened in silence, barely responding to her words – only the keenest of eyes could have told when his face started turning away from her, when the usually neutral expression on his face began to turn downward.

Eventually, he stopped behind her, and for a moment he’s completely silent. When he finally does speak, it’s neither an answer to her question, nor a response to anything she just said. “…You said you wanted some water before, right? Why don’t we go get that?” he asked, smiling at her. The smile doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Wuahh!” Kanna squeaked in almost a daze as the stranger scooped her up in his arms effortlessly as if she weighed nothing at all. Though most certainly wouldn’t take kindly to being carried by a stranger, the little dragon was a child, and naturally trusting towards of adults, especially ones that promised her protection from monsters. Without a single ounce of hesitation, Kanna wrapped her short limbs around the verdant-haired stranger, holding on as his sprint naturally jostled her. She didn’t dare to peek over his shoulder, fearing she would witness the piercing eyes of the monster she had seen once more.

“It’s a monster! A dragon-eating monster!” The dragon declared, a sense of urgency in her voice, “it has big yellow eyes! And sounds like an angry pig!” She explained, her lips quivering at her own description. She grasped a small section of one of the stranger’s clothing, hoping it would comfort her like a security blanket, even if only for a moment.

“Papa told me that a dragon-eating monster was in the forest, so I shouldn’t play in here anymore. But I didn’t listen! But now I know it’s real and it’s really scary! I think it wants to eat me, but I don’t want to be eaten! I don’t taste good, honest!” She sputtered in a panic.

At first, it didn’t quite sink in what the child was implying. Where he’s from, dragons had had fertility problems for centuries; he could think of only one who’s younger than him, and this child definitely wasn’t that dragon.

And then it hit him, and in his shock, Forseti skidded to a brief halt. “You’re a dragon?” he asked, eyes wide. He remained frozen for a moment, staring at - at this child, this very young dragon, with at least one still alive (and presumably sentient) parent -  before he remembered himself, and where he was.

“...Look, I know you’re inclined to believe your papa over random strangers, but... nothing eats dragons,” he explained, gently, as he started walking again. “We’re too big, too powerful - it’s so hard to kill us, even when we’re little, that nothing really wants to.”

Forseti smiled at the young dragon, sympathetically. “I suspect that your papa made up that story to scare you. While it’s true that the woods can be dangerous - it’s an easy place to get lost in, and there are a lot of wild animals - dragon eating monsters aren’t one of them. What you disturbed is, very probably, some large wild pig, who wasn’t too happy about a little trespasser in its home. Terrifying and dangerous for a human child, of course, but less so for a dragon.”

She hadn’t noticed Levin until he started walking behind her, but the words he spoke helped cement her thoughts. 

“It was my destiny to kill him. It was written into fate from the moment my brand and his appeared.” Sighing a bit, she waited a couple of seconds and walked with Levin rather than having him behind her. “Do you…do you remember anything from before this all started?” 

Julia was debating speaking more, but her throat was sore from not using her voice for a couple days now. Coughing into her hand, she pushed a bit of hair out of her face before looking at Levin. 

“When you took me in, I was scared. Scared, and alone, and- and worried about what would happen to me. But you…you let a little girl with no memory into your house and let her stay. I can’t say enough how grateful I am, but now…” Julia didn’t finish speaking as she went into another coughing fit, almost doubled over.

When she doubles over coughing, he doesn’t hesitate; his hand jumps to her back almost reflexively, rubbing slow, small circles in an effort to calm her coughing. “Easy, easy now,” he murmurs, unable to keep the concern from his voice. “I’d imagine you haven’t spoken in a while. Don’t strain yourself just to talk to me. Do you need some water?”

Perhaps it’s half-concern, half an effort to delay answering her - but he can’t delay forever. He sighs, heavily.

“Of course I remember. How far back do you mean? Before the war, before I took you in?” He shakes his head, still gently rubbing her back. “Of course I helped you. I couldn’t just leave a young, amnesiac child stay alone in the cold.”

“Ahh…ouch! That hurt!” Kanna exclaimed, cringing from the immediate pain. Her expression began to soften as the aching from the collision began to fade and she recovered from the shock of smacking into someone. The small dragon’s eyes finally focused on the man that had knelt at her level, taking in his features though she could only maintain her attention briefly. She recognized that he was an unfamiliar face, but he couldn’t have held malicious intent if he was worried for her, could he? It was then she remembered the reason she had been sprinting at full speed in the first place–the monster. With a look of urgency, she opened her mouth to speak with a fearful expression,

“We gotta get out of here!!” She cried, dismissing his question as a result of the fright that overwhelmed her, “if I stop it’s gonna catch up to me!” Scrambling to her feet, Kanna took a hold of the stranger’s arm, attempting to lug him into a standing position. However, her efforts were fruitless, as her size and weight certainly couldn’t move that of an adult. Her bare feet began to fidget along the ground, red from pounding them against the earth with such intensity on such a jagged blanket of ground just moments before.

“If it gets to us, it’s gonna eat me!” She almost wailed, close to tears as any terrified child would be. As she tugged on the other man’s arm, the screech echoed throughout the woods once more, causing her to nearly leap from her skin. She practically dove behind him, clinging to his clothing as she peeked her head out.

“Aieeee! We have to run!”

The child is absolutely not calm, and he honestly doesn’t know what to do as she tries to sprint off again, this time taking him with her. “Woah, woah,” he soothes, gently moving his hands in what he’s learned to be a calm down gesture. “I promise you, I won’t let anyone - or anything - come to harm you. And I’ll run with you, if need be. But first, I would like to know: What is it, exactly, that you’re running fr-”

He doesn’t even get to finish his question when something in the woods screeches. Were he not combined to this miserable form, if he’d been smart enough to bring his dragonstone with him - well, this wouldn’t be an issue! Dragons were, after all, the largest and most powerful of creatures around, and he was a pretty powerful dragon! But, the fact is, in this form, he’s not quite so useful.

“Oh,” he says, as if that answers everything. “...You know what! Why don’t you tell me what that is on the way! I hope you know how to hang on tightly; it’ll just be faster if I carry you!”

//starter for @lordalmightywindsock

Julia had been rather… pitiful as of late. The effects of the final battle against Loptous had taken quite a toll on her, and she had asked to be left alone. Unfortunately, those in the army actually listened to her request and she had been left alone. Sighing, she rose from where she had been sitting and made her way to the throne room- where the fight had come to an end. 

And that’s how he’d come to stand in the throne room, watching from the shadows behind a pillar as Julia made her way to the throne. What a heavy burden it was he’d thrust upon her shoulders.

Deep down, he knew he shouldn’t be forming bonds with these humans. Julia didn’t know, couldn’t know, that her own patron would probably very gladly shred him if they ever found out he’d left to help humans in Jugdral. It was better to leave things mostly untouched, to pretend as though he’d never been; to connect only so loosely that when it came time to leave, no one would miss him more than in passing thoughts.

Obviously, he failed to do that. Both for others, and, well...

The face of neutral-with-slight-displeasure he’s learned to wear over the years gains a few creases as his frown deepens, and he silently melts from the shadows to join Julia, rather than just leaving.

The last thing Sonya had expected upon entering the training room of Askr was to see one of her new allies squatting down, weapon and belongings scattered on the floor around them.

“So…” she began, eyeing over the man on the floor. “What exactly are you doing?”

He craned his head back as far as it would go, until he could just kind of see the woman’s clearly disapproving stare.

“What’s it look like? You never seen someone wasted before?”

In truth, he hadn’t drunk anything today at all (yet), but drunkeness was probably easier to explain then beats me if I know anythin’ I’ve done today.

“Aughhh!! Get away from me!!” Kanna cried, her shrill scream echoing throughout the vacant woods. She sprinted haphazardly in the opposite direction of the horror she had witnessed, nearly tripping as she slammed her bare feet into the earth in her desperate retreat. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, encouraging her to continue moving away from the danger as fast as she could possibly achieve. Though she had been warned of it time and time again, she didn’t truly believe it to exist. When a stone cliff side blocked her path, she scrambled to round the corner, gripping a nearby tree to assist in propelling in her in the adjacent direction. She began panting, even her breaths full of terror, as she dared to steal a glance back. She snapped her head forward once again when she nearly tripped over a tree root, tears beginning to brim in the corners of her eyes.

She had thought for sure that her Papa had spoke of a monster to merely discourage her from playing in the woods, but perhaps he had been truly warning her of a legitimate peril all along. Oh no! Oh no oh no oh no! I’ve never seen eyes so big! And so yellow! And the sound it made–so scary! It sounded like an angry pig! Was it a dragon-eating pig monster? She didn’t want to lag behind to learn for herself.

Maybe paranoia had gotten to him, just a little. Maybe he’d decided it would be a good idea to wander for a bit, throw Naga off his tracks if need be and give the Divine Dragon King’s head some time to cool.

The winds had eventually led him here, to a land neither he nor his host nor Naga (probably) had heard about. It seemed like a good place to settle and relax, somewhat, even if it was for just a little bit; he couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief.

And then something (someone?) barreled straight into him.

He’s off balance for only a second, but he’s certainly stunned, and he’s certainly not prepared to see a child when he looks down to see what happened, what exactly had bumped into him. It’s a child, and it’s a child who looks very distressed, at that.

Lyon scowled at the beast’s cry. It was low and it rumbled through the entire town. While his tome wasn’t Naglfar or Gleipnir, it was still one of the more powerful dark tomes available. He still cursed the fact that neither he nor this other mage wielded any light magic. It would certainly help them take the monster down a lot more easily. 

He did his best to keep his battle partner out of harm’s way, though; it was his fault that these things were roaming Magvel again, after all.

An idea suddenly popped into his head. He grabbed the mage by the back of his shirt and dragged him away from the cyclops to put some distance between them. Preparing a devastating spell would take a little time, but thankfully, these things moved slowly. “Stay back,” he ordered.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and focused all of his energy on his tome, the book lifting from his hands and floating in front of him. He muttered the ancient runes quickly as dark energy poured from the book into his palms, and once the spell was fully ready, Lyon blasted every ounce of the magic at the beast, completely obliterating it.

He was left panting and trying to gather himself, but unfortunately a brigade of Wights poured out of the woods behind the now-nonexistent cyclops. “Saints above,” he hissed as he prepared another spell. “I don’t think I have a second one of those in me,” he said to the other mage. “You got anything fancy up your sleeves?”

The creature moved so slowly that Levin couldn’t understand why his partner seemed so… almost protective, of him. He was quick enough to dodge, no need for extra protection-

And then suddenly, for a brief moment, he’s off his feet, dragged back by the other mage to a safe distance. Once there, his mouth opened and closed in shock, but he didn’t argue, and he didn’t move as the man prepared his spell. If the hair on the back of his neck was just tingling before, it’s completely on end now; the energy from the tome was undeniably dark, and it’s really – deeply – unsettling.

The blast of dark magic completely obliterated the beast, and his partner was left panting and Levin was left gaping in shock. “That’s – that’s dark-“ he managed to squeak out, but now wasn’t the time to get all worked up about dark magic, not when there were skeletons pouring out of the woods towards them. He could question that later, when they weren’t, you know, possibly about to die.

Besides, the Loptous cult probably didn’t call upon Saints, did they?

With a deep breath, he pulled himself together as much as possible, and stepped forward, flashing the other mage a broad grin that showed more confidence than he felt. “’Course I got somethin’ fancy up my sleeve. I’m a bard.”

In truth, he just had speed, an Elwind tome, and holy blood; not that the latter would help too much here. If he hadn’t run away from home, if he had the Divine Wind Tome, Forseti… Well, then, he probably wouldn’t be here either, and he wouldn’t have to fight these things.

He hastily began chanting spell after spell, moving with the wind – but what good that would do, with so many enemies, and a tome that could only be used so many times… His voice shifted, from a spellchant to a prayer, to Forseti, Lord of Winds, if mine enemy is truly deserving of judgment, then rain down your justice with the wind…