Divine Inheritance: Chaos

Oryx was impressed a full tree and a larger one at that, to compete with that he would need at least two more of the logs he had set aside for them. He quickly slung the two over his shoulders and laid them on top of the and tied the ends together to make sure they would not go rolling off each other. He proceeded to get underneath the large bundle of logs and placed both hands under them and gave a few breaths then lifted them up and brought them down to his chest. Though bringing them to his chest was a bad way of wording it, they came crashing down more so than being slowly lowered. The weight of the logs was no doubt able to crush even the strongest of men. Oryx held his breath though even as they came smashing against his ribs and lungs. "LOGS FEAR ME AND MY MIGHT!" He bellowed with the release of his breath as the logs slowly, but surely began to move up. Lilith had made it look somewhat easier, but even a blind man could tell Oryx was struggling extremely with the logs. Just when it seemed like he was about to do it, he could push no higher, his arms stopped just mere inches from him fully extending, but he did not give him. He tried and tried to his face turned as red as could be.

Kable by this point had made his way over and was seeing if they were enjoying their time. "Having.... a swell... ol' time.... lassie..." Oryx squeaked out refusing to give up and lower the logs. He could go no higher, but his strength would not give out completely just yet, he could probably hold where he was for a minute or so lower before reaching muscle failure or passing out, the latter was the more likely one to come first followed by muscle failure and him dropping a bunch of logs on himself.

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Ilda had already began moving the bulk of her forces toward the mountain range in hopes of crossing it to reach Carmilla Sar. However she had left a trusted and fear warrior of her clan to protect Barisor, he had know name, he was simply known as a Berserker, fiercely loyal to the gods and a mad man as well. The defenses had been finished, but construction continued to make the city look unprepared for a fight. The man knew that the enemy army had been advancing towards their position and he was more than ready for them. Reinforcements had arrived a week earlier, not as much as he would have liked, but the others had diverted off course for some odd reason unknown to him.

 

"As long as you two insist on continuing this competition, I've got plenty of more logs for you." Voltair spoke as he approached the group. Resting on his shoulders were two bundles of logs, totaling more logs than either Lilith or Oryx were lifting up. From the way Voltair carried the logs, one would swear they were weightless. He had kept silent about any tricks he may have up his sleeves, instead opting for secretly screwing with the group in various small ways. Voltair dropped his arms and let the logs fall to the ground. They hit with a very light 'thud,' furthering the implication that these logs might be much lighter than they looked. This was, of course, a trick to deceive the others. Once the logs stopped on the ground their weight returned to them and were just as heavy as they looked. Nobody in the group would know that without actually trying to lift one though.

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"Gerik, could you resume teaching me your language?" Claire asked as she tugged on Gerik's clothes while the man was deep in thought.

There were some things on his mind, to say the least. He hadn't found the right opportunity to talk to Jaxx about Claire's village or what the general population of Aezureth thought of Titan worshipers. There was something he had been meaning to bring up to Raven, though he wasn't sure how he would go about it. And of course there was Claire herself. Gerik knew just how bad it was for her to be traveling with them. Getting her to a safe place to live and grow up was still his top priority. And yet...

A few more tugs brought her to his attention. "Oh, you want to continue? Well I suppose I could. Let's see, where did we leave off?" Since Gerik was fluent in the main language spoken in Aezureth he never spoke in his native language around Jaxx or anybody else. During the month before meeting her though, he did decide to start teaching Claire how to speak it in order to pass the time. The girl quickly gained interest in the language. Gerik was curious as to why she wanted to learn so badly. He set that curiosity aside though; anything that could keep Claire away from thinking of the past was probably a good thing.

"We were finishing up going over how to introduce me."

"Ah. Right. Well, in that case..." Gerik thought about how he would teach her. As he quickly found out, teaching someone an entire language was difficult. On top of that, Gerik figured he wasn't that good of a teacher to begin with. "Greetings stranger. Who might you be?" Gerik spoke in his native language to Claire.

"Hello... My n.. name is Claire." She replied, struggling over some of the words she was saying.

 

Tess arrived back in camp and saw that Jaxx was working on the fire pit. She moved beside her and put down the armful of firewood and kindling. The two worked together in silence to dig a small pit and surround it with stones. They worked efficiently together and soon the two had a small fire burning. Once the work was finished the awkwardness of the silence between the two got to Jaxx, “Where is Merrick?” She asked sounding angrier than she had intended. When Tess didn’t respond she sighed, stood herself up and brushed herself clean of dirt. “I’ll go find him” She said as she disappeared in the direction Merrick had headed in. Tess sat beside the fire, adding more and more wood gradually building it up. She looked over to where Gerik was teaching Claire. She found herself wondering about the young girl, it was clear that she was native to the Empire, while Gerik wasn’t. She was curious about the circumstances that brought the two of them together. She would have asked except even Gerik had treated the assassins with caution. I wonder are assassins common from where he’s from, she thought to herself.

“How…”

She was cut off when she heard a furious rustling quickly approaching the camp. She was then greeted with the sight of a furious Merrick storming into the camp with two full buckets in his hands wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. He made his way towards the fire pit and put the buckets down such that one toppled over and nearly extinguished the fire. Merrick looked at Tess and she had to restrain herself from simply bursting out in laughter.

“Don’t” Merrick said to her warningly. Before Tess could respond another rustle could be heard coming towards the camp. Tess looked over to see Jaxx making her way back, and….was she blushing?

Tess couldn’t help herself anymore, a loud happy laugh escaped from her. Merrick simply stood and watched as Tess laughed long and hard. She was holding her stomach now and wiped a tear from her eye. She regained herself and took a few deep breaths to try and settle herself down. Tess turned back to look at Merrick and seeing the deep scowl on his face set her off once again, she waved herself away and moved towards her tent, her laughter following her.

Merrick stood there in his towel, hair dripping wet, indignant. His scowl deepened and he turned around to face Jaxx. She wouldn’t meet his eye. “I demand an apology” he stated.

 

"No no no... I think my math is good...." Oryx squeezed out as he watched Lilith try and launch another log onto his pile, thankfully she missed. Not so thankfully she just picked up another one and placed it on top of his pile. The pile started inching closer to him as he struggled and squirmed to push the logs up "Oh..... boy......" The pile came crashing down onto him as his arms gave out. He had tried valiantly, but had loss their competition. She had beaten him at the log squats and bench, he had only managed to beat her at the log hurling, but only because that was more of technique than strength. He squirmed he way out of the pile of logs and let out a large breath. His nose was bleeding, but he didn't notice nor did it bother him. The orange blood was getting all over his beard though and made it look funny. "Aye missy a great competition! Looks like I have more training of my own to do now, but that can wait, I need mead." He said breathing heavily.

Voltair seemed amused by their little competition. The man was still a mystery to Oryx, well to all of them actually. Though Oryx liked him, but then Oryx liked everybody it seemed so far. When Lilith asked what they were doing for training Oryx decided to chime in. "Not that I don't mind training with Kable, love the fellow! But perhaps you could do some training with me today in the sense of knowledge?" He said raising an eyebrow at the two. "I am new to these lands, and know little of the situation or who we are going up against for that matter. You speak often of this Jaxx, perhaps you can share more details with the not so enlightened about this shield maiden?"

 

Merrick was admittedly taken aback by Jaxx’s anger. He didn’t let this show however. “Apologise for what? Why don’t you apologise for blatantly interrupting me!” Merrick began pacing. “You think that because your daughter to the Emperor you don’t have to own up to your mistakes! You think you’re above basic common decency!? Considering who your father is it wouldn’t surprise me!”

Tess had come back out from her tent when she heard Merrick begin to yell. She trusted him not to do anything stupid, but saying something was a different story all together. She was wary of how close he was standing to Jaxx. It would be very easy for him to start something he’d regret. “Merrick” she called out to him tentatively.

“Don’t!” he barked turning to face her. Tess let out a sigh and stood in silence. “And you” Merrick said turning his attention back to Jaxx. “Don’t you dare believe that I’m ‘under your command’” he said the last few words with such venom in his voice. “We were paid to assist you in your mission, you need me to fight, and I’ll fight. You need me to kill, you better believe me when I say I’ll kill. You want me to sit on the sideline or babysit by all means I’ll do it. But don’t for one second think that I answer to you or the Empire.”

“Merrick!” Tess shouted before he could continue. Merrick stood anger seething through him. He opened his mouth to say more when Tess cut him off shouting his name again. Merrick let out a shout of frustration. He went and grabbed the bucket that had fallen and then made his way back to the stream.

Tess let him get a head start. She grabbed one of his clean shirts and followed him.

She arrived at a small clearing and saw the bucket which had been filled sitting beside the stream. Merrick was nowhere to be seen. “Come Merrick, show yourself” she said standing beside the stream. “What is it?” Merrick called appearing at the base of a tree. “You alright?” she asked throwing him his shirt. He put it on and then moved to the side as to make room for Tess who was moving to sit beside him.

“So, your first real interaction with the daughter of the emperor and you’ve already managed to scar her for life” she teased. Merrick shoved her with his shoulder and she laughed. “That spoilt snot nosed brat thinks she knows everything. Living a life of privilege and she has the gall to…” “Calm yourself Merrick. This isn’t like you, what has you so worked up?”

Merrick sighed and then began breathing deeply. “We shouldn’t have taken this contract” He said after awhile. “We should be hunting the Black Guild”. “We should have left” Tess replied.

“Mhm..” he replied.

“Still, that was pretty amazing to see” Tess said laughing again.

Merrick simply smiled.

 

Oryx was intrigued by this woman that Lilith was talking about, the description she gave reminded her of the girl who they encountered earlier that was in the other war band that was chasing after them. She did seem strong as well as an incredible fighter from what he had observed while practically glued to the ground because of stupid gravity. "Is this the woman that you fought against and bested you weeks ago? She definitely had caught my eye that's for sure!" Oryx said as he climbed out of the stack of logs on him. "She was quite the fighter if I remember, strong and tactful with her attacks, my kind of woman!" He said with a chuckle and a grin. Though Oryx was attracted to any woman who could prove her mettle in battle. "I'd like to cross battle axes with her one day if you know what I mean haha!" Oryx exclaimed cheerfully, he had a love for battle and would never miss a chance to fight a pretty lady if she had the strength to beat him or better yet best him. "Perhaps one day I could give her a jab or two with the old sword!" Oryx said happily at the idea of fighting her, but his words could definitely be interpreted the wrong way. He was for sure a gentleman, but he was no poet or word slinger when it came to getting his point clearly across sometimes.

 

Kable looked over at Oryx, his eyes widened in surprise. That was not something Kable had expected to hear. It did cause him to laugh until he fell to the ground. "Oryx, you giant oaf! That was probably not the best thing to say!"

Then Lilith smacked him, hard. Kable ducked as Oryx flew over him. Lilith smacked her hammer into the ground and scattered tons of animals. Kable walked between her and Oryx, seperating him.

"Now Lilith," Kable said sternly. "Oryx is from another country, another land. One with its own customs. Oryx, while vulgar, is only doing what he was raised with. What he said is probably a regular thing. And also, it might not be wise to hit someone who may not only be offended, but has offered to help you with your fight."

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Lucius sat on the tree stump, his armor laid on the ground beside him and his weapon laid out before him. A sharpening stone gripped in his hand, he began to sharpen his sword. It helped focus Lucius to center himself, prepare his body for a fight. Plus it never hurt to keep his broadsword in prestine condition.

"General Lucius, sir!" Lucius looked up to find a messenger standing before him.

"Proceed." He simply said, continuing to sharpen.

"Yes sir. Our spy has managed to determine that the chieftain herself is currently away. She elected one of the chiefs to hold the city in her stead while she travels to Carmilla Star to seize that as well."

Lucius stopped in mid motion. He stood up off of the stump and set the stone down on the ground. The messenger noticed the scars across his arms and chest. He had heard the stories of the General, how he had never been brought down by an enemy solider.

"Instruct the men to continue setting up for the main seige. But grab me a few soilders and tell them to report to me swiftly."

"Yes sir! Shall I tell them anything else?" the messenger asked.

Lucius faced towards the direction of Carmilla Sar. "Tell them we're going hunting."

The messenger nodded and ran off. Lucius began gathering his armor. Specialty crafted armor that could take more than it's fair share of abuse. He then grabbed onto his broadsword and put it over his shoulder. This was sure to be a grand battle, he knew that much. Lucius marched down the hill, where men had already gathered. He marched up to them.

"Men! We make for the mountain route to Carmilla Sar! Our prey..." Some of the men chuckled. "Has decided to take the route to secure Carmilla Sar. Obviously, we cannot have that! So we will stop her. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir!" they saluted. Lucius nodded and began marching away, the men immediately following him. They would follow their general into the very gates of hell if he told them too. And that's exactly where Lucius planned to take them.

 

Oryx went flying back, hitting a large tree and snapping it in half as he continued a bit further and landed on the ground in a bit of a daze. That was some punch! He thought to himself as he collected himself together and stood up shaking his head back and forth. "My gosh missy! That was one hell of a punch! Now I definitely know I'm in love with you, or maybe its the fact my innards in my noggin just turned to mush!" Oryx stumbled a bit forward before getting his footing right. "But why did you have to go and say that! If this other missy can punch or hurt my just as bad now I'm locked in a love triangle! Now I'm forced to fight each of you and see who is the better fighter so I can shower them in my eternal love and serenade them with my beard!" The man was completely oblivious to the fact he had upset Lilith or that he was crossing a line he shouldn't strength and power only wooed him more, Oryx was a king fellow, but he had not proven to be too smart yet.

Kable quickly moved in-between him and Lilith standing up for him, which Oryx appreciated, but if Lilith wanted to fight he was all for it. "I appreciate it lassie, but if the missy wants to take a couple or a lot of punches at me, more power to the gurl! I love fighting, and I love being punched!" He said excitedly as he drew his sword Svellbane, it had an orange glow to it as he gripped it tight in his hand. It would be an interesting fight, because until then Oryx had showed very little of his power or his fighting skills to the others. Kable had seen the most of them, but it had only been sword fighting, powers were about to come head to head. "Ohhh I am so excited!!! Please don't hold back, maybe I'll get knocked out this time!"

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Ilda and her forces had barely reached the bottom of the mountain range pass. However she had decided it best to set up camp further away from the base incase of enemy archers perched along the slopes of the mountains. It had been a longer journey only because the path she took avoided running directly into the enemy army as the approached Barisor. Her Beserker would hold the city without a doubt while she marched onto Carmilla Sar, but if the enemy army caught wind they would be able to catch up on her faster from their position than any possible reinforcements from Barisor. Her men had made quick work to establish a spiked wall barrier around their camp using trees from the mountains. She would continue after her men were well rested and prepared for the rough mountain march,

 

Voltair had to resist the urge to interfere with Lilith and Oryx. On the one hand, he figured that he would need to whip all three of his companions into shape and he figured them fighting against him would be the best way to do it. On the other hand there were several comments of Lilith's that Voltair had a burning desire to comment on. One thing he figured he'd attempt would be to knock Lilith down a peg or two. Perhaps break her of her one-track mind she seemed to show more often than not. She still had plenty of growing up to do. Her maturity was still closer to that of when she was younger. Not that Voltair could fault her for that, of course. The five years she spent locked up did little to help her mature. From what he could tell it instead seemed to damage certain aspects of her mind. Damage that wasn't easy to heal, even for one such as himself.

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"What... What is goi..." Claire tried to ask while still speaking Gerik's language. "What's going on?" She asked, being unable to complete the question in Gerik's language.

"Ybdw 'annaha hasalat bialharaj." Gerik casually answered in his own language, speaking too fast for Claire to understand. "Lm yueraf 'ann 'amiratan hatta naqi"

"What?" She asked, immediately lost by what he said.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I said it looks like she got embarrassed. Anyways, don't worry about it." Gerik replied, trying to get Claire's attention back to him. He did leave out the second part of his comment about Jaxx to Claire, saying that he never knew Jaxx was so pure. "Let's focus on the lessons." He thought of something simple to say again. "How are you feeling today?"

"I... I am fee... feel... feeling a bit... tired." She replied, talking slowly as she tried to remember what to say.

 

After marching for a few hours, Lucius caught wind of a campfire. He signaled his men to halt and crouched down, slowly inching himself forward. They were just on top of the hill with thr mountain pass off to the right. A single column of smoke rose from a small clearing down the hill. Lucius noticed that they had set up spikewalls made from various trees.

Lucius signaled for his men to begin circling around the encampment. He knew there was a chance for them to get spotted this way, but the opportunity to gain the upperhand outweighted the risks. When his men were situatied, he began marching down the hill in plain sight.

"Ilda Ironside!" Lucius called, stopping short of the camp. Her soliders reacted as he expected, gathering their weapons. "As one warrior to another, I ask that you come forth!"

 

Ilda was in her war tent studying the mountain pass as best she could from her scouts and mappers. The enemy she doubted would leave such a vital route to their southern region unprotected when her forces were looking to expand further into the empire's lands. Though strangely enough the enemy had come to her for once, fortune smiled on her this time around it seemed. Her warriors were quick to their feet and took defense positions on the other side of the spiked barriers. They were crude defenses, but still gave her the upper hand and were better than nothing.

"Ilda Ironside! As one warrior to another, I ask that you come forth!"

Who did this person think he was calling himself a warrior? She would be the judge if he was worthy enough to hold such a title, because so far none of the meek soldiers of this land she had encountered could honorably carry such a title. She collected herself and stepped out of her tent and towards the movable spiked barrier to their encampment. The enemy had the surrounded, but a quick count put their numbers less than hers. She guessed that these were more hardier men than the one she had previously encountered, or she hoped. It would be a foolish move to chase after the enemies superior force in weaker numbers as well as weaker soldiers, but nonetheless there was something there to be admired by Ilda. Facing a greater threat was a bold and daring move, something that put a smile on her face as she looked into the dark and saw the clear figure of the man who she deemed was the one to call her out. "A bold statement to call yourself a warrior, so far what your people consider 'warriors' in these lands has failed to meet my standard of the meaning of a warrior. Though I shouldn't be too quick to judge, I'm sure there has to be someone worthy of staining my blade with their blood in these lands. Keep talking and perhaps I will consider you with that honor." She said with a smirk and a small chuckle. Her men joined in at the laughter and banged their battle axes against their shields. They made large grunting and hollering sounds as well, solidifying their barbaric and savage image to Lucius' men.

 

Oryx watched as the giant of a woman came barreling at him, but he did not flinch nor did he show worry. Oryx was about to demonstrate there was more to him than meets the eye. Her stretched back and looked to aim to hit Oryx, but he sensed otherwise. He slammed his feet into the ground and planted his blade firmly into it as well with both hands of the hilt mimicking a statue. He tensed up and flexed as the tremor of air came bursting against him, he slid even with his feet planted firm in the ground and grunted slightly as the attack hit him. If what more powerful than he had expected. "No matter how much the wind howls at the mountain... It shall not bow to it..." He said calmly and with a straight face, hiding the fact the attack had definitely hurt, but it wouldn't stop him. He quickly side stepped towards her, to avoid Lilith's foot possibly still coming down on him as well as close the distance between them. Well within her personal space he let one hand off the hilt of his blade and reeled it back and punched with all his might aiming for the woman's gut. The man was barely over half her size, but Oryx probably had the best chance out of most of delivering a punch that would at least hurt the giant possibly.

Oryx was born and raise in a harsh environment that many would not survive, as well as trained among the most brutal and barbaric of people in the world. He was built like a tank and could take the damage of one. He might not be able to match Lilith in strength or power, but endurance and stamina were something he was confident in that he had over her. Though truthfully surprises were no doubt about to arise in both warriors about what the other could do.

 

Lucius showed no fear as Ilda confronted him. His hand stayed gripping his sword as her soliders cheered with her. When they were finished, Lucius spoke up with a smile. "I couldn't agree with you more, Ironside. I too have not found a worthy enough opponent in these lands. But it is still my home, and I will not let it fall to barbarians such as yourselves."

Lucius began summoning forth his power. With one punch, he swung at a tree next to him. His power resonated forward and burst out, removing the whole tree from the ground. While it was still in the air, Lucius swung his sword and knocked the tree forward towards Ilda. He then charged behind it as well.

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Kable watched tensely as Oryx and Lilith fought. He knew he should do something about it, but it also served as decent practice for Lilith. Kable also noticed Voltair watching with interest as well. Just what was his angle? Kable had to dodge out of the way as their fight grew more intense. Damn demigods. Why did I bother to keep myself here?