#;adventures

Embrace Chaos. It never looked the same twice. Something remain as a thread, an indication of what he's tapping in to, but it's as ever shifting as the pace of his swings or the weight behind them. Flickering energy at his wrists, at his feet, along his shoulders. Sometimes sickly and acidic, glacial blue, searing red, something just a flickering image of resounding sound. As bright as a flash of lightning, or honey hued like it was no threat as all. The same shade that his weapons flared when tapping in to a Turmoil Burst. Something unpredictable.

But it was when he launched in to something tried and true that he felt a difference. Sure, Dissonant Strikes was just as prone to variation, but the energy coating each swing at a target was practically visceral this time. Each slash hued in strife, crimson and violet blended together in to something close to magenta. Each strike seemed to flare, and he felt different feedback. A flare of energy he hadn't called on, a sudden splitting headache for but a moment, a flickering mark burned in to the dummy, and then a resounding crash of lightning as a burst struck true. He didn't hide the grin. Oh, that was different.

That was exciting.

Something had changed within him, and he needed to see what else he could pull on now. Steep himself further in that discordant energy he'd been reaching in his dreams. Embrace dropped, to instead focus his gaze on his targets. Strife. Discord. One became Julian, one became a cloaked mage, the other a hooded assassin, in his head at least. A breath, a second, and searing chains flared to life. Reaching, coiling, like those that had tried to restrain him. Striking (dummy) flesh and leaving a scar in it's wake. Like an actual slash of his weapon, embedded in each dummy.

"Suffer for your transgressions and cowardice." It felt like something badass to murmur, the fact he mouthed bitches afterward probably lost him points. Each scar seemed to shift, until they were linked in turn once more. Covenant Of Contempt. Sworn to return suffering upon them. More swings, more attacks, pushing a limit for a few moments longer, before once again feeling something welling beneath the surface.

And then the swing brings with it a wave. Crashing forward, surging out in an explosion of energy from where he connected the greatsword with the front most dummy. Streaming from his hands, like an outburst of the latent within himself. And he'd have been impressed, if the size of the blow hadn't caught... Way more dummies in it than he'd anticipated. Maelstrike. A heavy blow, and with it?

The darkness cleared, replaced with blinding light. David had spent his, admittedly still pretty short life, seeking out the highest highs to escape the lowest lows. Hit rock bottom, and then the only way wa-

"Boring, boring, boring. Come on, you're a Greek Demigod, we all know there's tragedy in your blood and life will always find a way to make it worse. That's beginner, that's entry level. What really sets you apart from everybody else, Son of Mine?"

The voice cuts through, again, but it at least gets him back in his feet. Literally on the edge, staring out over the sprawling horizon at the top of a mountain. He could remember climbing them, because it seemed like it would be something to give him a real rush. A challenge to overcome, and a way of feeling like he'd done something. Or, well, that was what he put on his university applications, sold it like some way of growing and overcoming a challenge, to prove that he could.

Really? He'd seen it on a poster and just decided he had to do it. Knew well enough not to go completely unprepared, he wasn't out to kill himself. Just… Maybe teeter on the edge of it, really feel a thrill.

"You're still boring me. Where's the enter-"

"Maybe if you stopped cutting me off we could get to that?"

He was still on that edge, still staring, but yelling at the voice echoing in the back of his head. A few feet between him and a plummeting fall. Barefoot on sun baked rock, high enough that the air felt light enough to make his head just the perfect level of fuzzy. Alive.

"Strife, and discord, that's your whole schtick, right? I really don't know what that has to do with me, but it seems we definitely share a similar outlook on something. Things have been boring, haven't they?"

He was aware, enough, that this was a trip. A divine trip, sure, but it wasn't real. There were meant to be gods out there keeping him safe, so why not see what happened in here? Eyes lifting upward, toward the sun hanging in the sky, and taking another step toward the edge. The fuzzy edge to his vision sharpening at that initial spike of adrenaline, the shifting sensation in his stomach that always came before doing something just bordering on a bad idea.

And another. Eyes tracing down, and down. Sharper, and sharper focus. Each step had his attention zeroing in on how close he was. Three, two, one.

Staring off the edge, and then turning his back before dropping. He wanted to watch the sky racing further and further away as he fell. That'd be a thrill, right? Not knowing when the collision would arrive.

"You give me some real fun, and I'll do whatever it takes to keep from being boring, for both our sakes. You're expecting me to fight, to kill, to maybe die to sort out whatever mess the worlds coming to, right? It better be worth it. The power, the glory, you start wars by encouraging men to seek them out, and you're doing the same with your Son. Sons? Whatever."

He couldn't even really hear himself anymore, wind rushing past his ears, the roar of divine blood in his veins as it realized he was in free fall.

Hands reaching upward to mimic grasping in to the air. Was he set to be using a sword? Bigger? Maybe an axe, or some kind of hammer? Like pulling a weapon from his back, he mimicked the first heavy slamming motion. Spinning with a swing of something far larger than himself, watching the mountain and ground and sky swirl around him in a messy panoramic.

Or would he use something daintier? A thrusting motion. No, no, too subtle and shy for his liking. It may have only taken an apple to start the Trojan war, but he'd need something a little more intimidating to truly get things moving. Or maybe he just felt like he wanted the thrill of something that left him a little exposed, but would hurt so much more if it connected.

"I'll sow strife and discord in enemy ranks as I fight. Turn enemy against enemy. I'll seek out something that'll be worth more than the same track trodden over and over again. Where's the glory in playing it safe, when just a little risk makes it feel like such a more vivid reward?" David figured he'd probably have collided by now, but the process of falling never really seemed to be leading anywhere.

"Keep me entertained." Her voice, in his ears, or maybe just some way of talking himself in to taking what was undoubtedly his most dumb risk so far. Signing up for a war for the gods, drinking some goblet full of potential insanity, all because life was far too boring to not jump on an opportunity to truly spice it up.