(As of June 13, 2012, I have graduated high school. Sorry for my absence, but it was a pretty hectic school year. Now to have fun. ;3 )

“I remember, so long ago... We said we’d grow our own forest... Make our own houses... Protect ourselves, and keep ourselves close to the powers above us... I remember how we lived so simply, yet so purposefully... so enthusiastically.. I remember we used to always play... at a place where night met day...”

=====

Tyzrk had been at this for a long time. Fighting strangers, enemies, and even friends throughout the past few years had been a part of her lifestyle, as well as a basic law of the land of Darkness Incarnate. She had accomplished much in her time: she had gained power past her original limits more than several times, she had survived on nothing more than journeying and fighting for random gold to spawn in her pockets, and had even obtained the (rather unimpressive) title of the “Queen” of Darkness.

But sometimes, she tried to reflect upon her own life. She couldn’t understand herself on the level she wished she did. She knew that she was an adrenaline seeker and acknowledged the several near-death experiences that resulted. But she knew in the next situation of a fight, she wouldn’t hold herself back. What a confusing creature she was! Even to herself, her motives were mysterious. At times like these, which were far and few between for a person who didn’t spend much time thinking, she turned to faith.

Today, Tyzrk was set for a forest that had peculiar rumors relative to her interests. A little west of the current deadbeat, human, rural village that she had traveled through holds a forest that used to be home to a heavily religious elven tribe - a social experiment of sorts. They had beliefs and views different than that of other traditional elven societies, or of any society for that matter. They made their own rules, but worshipped the same gods, just in different ways. Their social ethics were generally very good: work very harding, using a person’s living time very efficiently, spending very little and always saving, no sex... Obviously, they had problems down the road, and their society was soon no more. But rumors brought her thither for her to confirm.

Xhercfa, a forest sprite that follows Tyzrk around for several resentful reasons, instantly felt something different about the forest. Before being able to alert Tyzrk, the elf had already seen the end of the path she was walking on, leading a turn into the entrance of the woods. The trees at first glance were very noticeably curved and twisted in so many directions that it seemed like creatures made of wood struggling with its brethren for precious sunlight. The trees were all still and, to Tyzrk, the image was more believable to be a painting created by a deranged artist whose life consisted of back problems and sleeping on pine cones. But when the wind blew even the slightest, these slim trees moved quite violently, bumping with each other and causing leaves to scatter everywhere. It brought them to life, and they were clearly fighting with each other. Intimidated as she was, Tyzrk cautiously rubbed against one tree as she tried to step her way in.

The forest itself was quite dense, but trees seemed to be more spaced apart the further inside she explored. The path she took was the antithesis of a path, as no such clear direction was eminent to her. She had to take circles and great detours to avoid pockets of swamp or bark, and pay particular attention to the positioning of the sun to eventually go the direction she wanted. Since the trees were getting less thick the deeper she crawled through, she knew a civilization, or something close to it, was nearby. She started to see things that resembled buildings. She saw piles of wood and forest matter that long ago may have been an organized piece of shelter. They were distanced pretty far apart, but they began to be seen closer and closer to each other, until she was in what she believed to be the heart of an ancient, discontinued society.

It was not easy to access, being so far from contemporary cities and so consumed in the ever-twisting trees. But she could see why this place was not popular to “historians” - a crude euphemism for treasure hunters, grave robbers, and the sort. There was nothing much of value to be found if someone were to bother digging up through all of these collapsed and rotted huts and log houses. It took a long time to arrive there as well - the sun was seen setting through the canopies. The absence of thick vegetation around the “city” helped her see the coming of the night sky as well. Walking a bit past the ruins of the city, Tyzrk found what she had originally came searching for.

Tyzrk arrived at what seemed to be a large shrine, with a small slab of stone in the center. The area particularly around the shrine was spacious and empty, suggesting that crowds of people would gather here for religious activities. The trees around the shrine had not regrown after being chopped and left to rot for however long the society had disbanded or otherwise. Maybe these old elves knew a secret to keep the soil in an area from growing, seemingly forever. The stone was what interested her the most, however. Upon closer inspection, it was a statue. It was small, given that the forest wouldn’t have that many large rocks, but it was very nicely carved. It was preserved pretty well too - there wasn’t any moss or signs of rotting like all of the old houses did.

“...Charmelia..?” Tyzrk asked under her breath. “Is that you? Is that really you..?” She backed away from the statue, and kneeled on the soft soil. Xhercfa absorbed the situation, focused more about the forever-poisoned soil. “Charmelia... I always wanted to ask... How can a God die..?”

The wind caused the unsettling rattle of twisted trees. Tyzrk complemented the noise with a sad melody played on her metallic shinguards.

With the Sacred Grove taken over by the sickness already, and no signs of Hubris to be found, Nuncia began to worry. And as familiar as she was with anger, distrust, hate, worry was a rather new feeling. It left her feeling restless, aggravated paranoid; so the night it got to the peak of its restlessness, she decided to go out into the world.

She knew that dotted all over Darkness Incarnate, there where sister shrines to the Great Grove, and though the gods that watched over these places and that looked over them were long gone, maybe Hubris knew of a way to summon them back. Maybe he was at one of these shrines, seeking answers to the troubles that have no doubt plagued them both. Or maybe she could find answers for herself here.

So with the swiftness the wilds had granted her with, she made her way to new woods, seeking out the shrines. This wood was so unlike many of the others she had been to, that she wasnt sure if a shrine would be here at all; the trees seemed young, even in their age, spry with thin trunks and waving arms. The winds made the trees thrash each other, causing leaves to fall, and unholy sounds of sad mourning emanating from the hearts of the trees. They grew thick, close knit at the beginning, and though the Sylvaan was used to traversing woods, she had never set foot in one so like this. So with a leap into the swinging tree, she let her smaller hands grab the branches easily, her mane of fur billowing as her prehensile tail aided in her movements as she made her way into the heart of the wood [Howler Monkey].

Swinging fast through the trees, winds whipping past her furs, she felt the ease and elation of her howler form grow as she picked up the pace, throwing herself into new trees with ease, swinging from her tail to grab the next branch with a hand, a foot.

It wasnt long before the trees began to clear a bit, new sounds on the winds adding a metallic twang to the mourning song of the trees. With a leap, the howler made its way out of the forest, keeping to the fringes of trees, as it came up closer to the figure knelt at the alter.

Elven, blonde hair, armours, weapons, this was no worshipper of old. No. This was an intruder. With speed well past what one would think capable of the smaller monkey, jumping to land on the alter stone, and with a great howl, let out a sound at the woman that would no doubt have her ears ringing, mane flared out and tail straightened. The howl itself was a short blast of sound, yet it echoed through the woods, no doubt being heard for miles as the sound itself was meant to carry far.

A warning, if any she could give in this form, that it would be best if this woman left, before she had to attack. It was her duty to protect the groves, and as she had failed once, twice, she would not let herself fail this third time. First Sutera had beaten her, then the Sacred Grove was taken by disease, there was no way she was going to let this woman take this grove, no matter what.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Transformations:
-Howler Monkey [weak] (ongoing)

Tyzrk gazed at the stone of Charmelia's image in helplessness and sympathy. The elf didn't fully appreciate the goddess until shortly after Her "death", as signified to her by a feeling of spiritual disconnect with the world. These relics of Her were the only memories she had left and, lost when in deeper thought, were the only things she were able to turn to. "To ask a fallen Goddess such as yourself... It may seem silly... But what am I supposed to do..?" Her ears were barely able to hear something out of the pattern of the twisted twigs and trees wrestling with each other, hearing an approaching pressure against the woods. She hadn't given it a second thought, however, and remained still until it was far too late.

In her vision, what seemed to be some form of monkey landed on the stone. It had appeared so quickly and out of Tyzrk's attention span that she was unable to recall tracing its appearance. In a split second she thought two things at once: "It's sitting on the statue of Charmelia! Charmelia!" and "Run." Before she could secure a second of eye contact with the creature, it opened it's mouth. In that same instant Tyzrk's right foot lifted and pushed against the ground, sending her backwards in the air as an excruciatingly loud, deafening howl hit her ears. She firstly heard an encompassing, ubiquitous scream, then secondly, nothing at all, save for the ringing and pounding of her eardrums. In mid air her heart began to race, and her pores set initial sweat - of fear or aggression, she did not know.

She landed a couple feet behind her initial kneeling spot. Before she even knew it, her bladed bow was tightly gripped in one hand with an arrow in the other, most reasonably instinctively grabbed during her backwards dash. While it was conveniently in her hands, she took the liberty to nock the arrow, lifting the bow threateningly, as if taking aim. Xhercfa flew to her left side, glancing at the monkey. "Careful, that creature is definitely not native to a forest such as this" she warned, though to no avail it seemed, as Tyzrk was not going to be able to hear her for a while anyways. Tyzrk thought to yell in her deafness back at the monkey to express her resent at its decision that the stone of Charmelia was suddenly its territory, but she was painfully deaf, assumed the monkey would never understand her, and quite pissed off, so she kept to herself, keeping the monkey well in her vision.

The howl worked just as it was intended, Nuncia smiling within herself as the monkey let out another whooping howl, this time aimed at the sky, fists thumping the stone beneath it in what would be understood as a territorial display-- as well as one of aggression. For as the monkey levelled its eyes on the leather clad elf now wielding her bladed bow, the once amber eyes of the Howlers stare turned now to crimson red; the monkey moved with much faster than normal speed [Speed of the Wilds] in a zigzag from its position on the stone, leaping down to head for the elven woman, teeth bared as its dash closed the mall distance between them.

With the speed and the non linear path the creature took, Nuncia hoped it would be enough to avoid the arrow for the small distance they were apart, and with the woman on the ground, there was little stopping her from taking the extra couple of steps to flank to the left, leaping with that same unnatural speed to latch onto her. With her prehensile tail, Nuncia gripped the woman's arm, her hind feet wrapped around that same left arm as her upper limbs latched onto her shoulder and back of her armour. In the split second it took for the monkey to make it to her, it also took that same amount of time to jump and latch itself to her, and in the next instant, the howler was moving fast in for the attack, yellowed canines of an omnivorous creature poised to strike at the exposed side of Tyzrk's neck.

If the bite manages to inflict even the lightest of wounds, Nuncia would then know that this battle was as god as hers, given that the poisonous disease within her bites now were enough to weaken even the strongest of warriors, and cripple the lesser of them. And with this elves thin and frail body, it would be nothing for her larger forms to crush her for sure.

This will teach all those that seek out the Sacred Grove to abandon their quests; none shall desecrate that which I protect, and by finding a sister shrine, you are only steps closer to finding the true gem of this world. I will not allow you to live to pass on this threat to others, no matter your intentions!

No one will ever know the glory she had seen, nor the beauty hidden within that Grove-- not until it was safe from harm so that it could spread wild through the lands, purging his dying heap of destruction into the paradise it was meant to be. It was for this that she willingly flung herself at danger, and for this that she would die, or kill to save. With the heart beating fast of her now rabid form, adrenaline coursing through her at the pure bliss of being in her wilder forms, she was more than pumped for this, and not in the least frightened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Transformations:
-Howler Monkey [weak] (Rabid)

Specials:
-Rabid Transformation 1/8 posts

Tyzrk was more mad at the monkey for its unnecessary aggression towards the statue than for it totally blowing her ears of. As she raised her bow, the monkey howled again, only upwards. Slowly her sense of hearing was recovering, but there was still an annoying ring in the form of a high pitched howl repeating in her head. She just had to not let it affect her focus. Since it was taking its time expelling the contents of its lungs - as well as beating once more onto the statue, Tyzrk took her chance to try to shoot the monkey.

As soon as her aim was aligned with the creature, however, it seemed to have noticed her, and started to dart to the side. Then to the other, and the other, all while approaching uncomfortably close. At the speed it was moving darting, along with the fact that it was already so close to her, she decided that her arrow would not be able to hit its target, and adjusted accordingly.

She moved the arrow out of the bowstring and dropped it onto the soft, dead soil below. She was about to grip her right hand along the bladed bow as her left one was when she noticed that the monkey had made a great leap towards her. The distance it covered was far more than she had expected, and she tried to move out of the way. She almost thought that she was safe for this attack, if it weren't for that dreaded tail of the creature, leeching out and barely securing her right arm in its clutches.

In the instant that she felt pressure seize her arm, she leaned to her left, raising her right arm so as to isolate the monkey. She swung her bladed bow so that the blade closer to her arced around her right shoulder all the way to her neck. The blade on the further end would extend all the way past her right hand due to the height of the bow, hopefully throwing off - or, even better, damaging - the aggressive monkey.

The statue stayed still in its place, the eyes of the image of the goddess shredded a small light of purple that barely showed in the setting sun. Xhercfa was busy watching these two in their conflict, but she couldn't help but notice a definite, sudden change in the atmosphere of the forest. The statue began to collect energy that derived from the forest it self - both physically, in terms of the energy from the agonizing trees, and spiritually, through the deceased of the village.

(This post ignores her biting my neck attack unless your next post evades the bow and continues the attack - I hope you don't mind. PM for any issues.)

(Not a problem at all, and same goes for you; PM for any issues ^w^)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The elf had quick reflexes, dropping the arrow as Nuncia made her dash; though her reflexes werent as quick as the monkey's. Secured on her arm, now raised up from the womans body, the quick Sylvaan caught the glimpse of her left hand moving to strike with that bladed part of her bow. If she stayed where she was, she would be sliced and rather painfully, as the blade was arcing to strike her between the shoulders. Not good.

With that grin within her turning more feral as the animals souls within her all hungered for the same effect, her form shrank, the prehensile tail that had been gripping her arm transforming smoothly into the thin pink tail of a rather large rat, balanced neatly on her raised arm. Claws dug into the leather armour of the womans apparel, the rat moved with even greater speed than the howler to scale across the back of her shoulders to cling to the back of her armour, tiny rat teeth biting into her exposed neck as the tiny claws dug into the flesh beneath the edge of her neckline. In the position the rat was in now, clung along the left side of her spine, it was more than easy for the tiny teeth to find purchase at th base of her neck, pinching and tearing small puncture wounds into the soft flesh; each of those tiny attacks held a venom in them though, and while the attack would seem harmless to most, it wasnt long before they realized the true trouble.

Never before had Nuncia ever used such a lowly form in battle, yet now she knew the true extent of such a small nimble and rather aggressive little creature. It would be hard to strike for its size, it was quite fast and nimble, and not to mention now positioned on her back, it would take a great force to shake the rat off with the grip it held. And even if drastic measures were taken, Nuncia had tricks yet to use, with her natural gifts. For as tiny a form as this was, she had much larger forms in store, with more devastating attacks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Transformations:
-Howler [weak] 1/1 (rabid)
-Rat [weak] (rabid)

Specials:
-Rabid Transformation 2/8 posts

The bladed bow missed, and caught only air on her path of attack. She almost felt relief, believing that the weapon had scared the monkey off, only to have a different feeling climbing up her back. The moment she felt small, hard feet moving along the back of her armor, she let go of her bow, dropping it to the side while trying to figure out how to get the animal off of her back. It was definitely another animal, and had probably planted itself onto her while she was distracted by the monkey. She sincerely hoped that there wasn't some monster tamer out there ambushing her with their confusing, ganging, expensive tactics. They spend so much time getting good that she can't really complain about how broken they are. Forgetting about everything else right now, she was worried about the animal attacking her equipment while she couldn't see. In a rush, she tugged her Bowmerang, the extremely curved, sharp bow hanged almost horizontally on her back, in a way that it would fall out of its fasten on her back with her left hand and fall by gravity, her right hand reaching for the ground. As she felt the creature move up higher on her back, she had feared it was already too late to save herself from a direct attack. She dove her body down, her right hand reaching for the arrow dropped just seconds earlier.

Before the Bowmerang hit the floor, her hand touched the arrow, and she immediately gripped it so that her thumb and index finger wrapped neatly around the head of the arrow. In but a desperate moment, the head caught on fire in the instant she felt some sharp, piercing pain hit the back of her neck. Blood was definitely drawn. But before any more damage would be taken, she rashly stabbed for the creature behind her with the flaming arrow. Holding the arrow longer than a few seconds was usually very dangerous, but right now Tyzrk was terrified to be taking damage by a thing she couldn't even see. Hopefully hitting it would kill it spot on.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a small, but bright light flash for a short instant, from the direction of the statue. Fearing another attack, she quickly focused to see the statue of Charmelia, absorbing what seemed to be magical energy from the air. An aura of different shades of purple, all broken and disconnected, started to mist around the statue. Keeping half a mind on the creature, she observed the statue's activity with caution as to where the animals have went. Obviously, her hand was cosmically disconnected from her world, and was getting increasingly hot.

(Fire Arrow: 4 more uses)

Success... and now to wait for the disease to take root and spread, and then, little elf woman, you will know not to come to my Shrines. Pity you seem to have less fight in you than the others... then again, that seem to be a good thing for--- OH MY GOD FIRE!

The Sylvaan had been chewing quite happily at the base of the womans neck, mind drifting off to contemplate lazily what he next move should be, so it was more than surprise that had the rat squeak and jump free from the womans back. The smell of singed whiskers filled the rats nose as Nuncia honestly was in a full blown panic.

Fire! The woman was using fire! Magic fire! Not good! Fire not good! I may have thought to let her go, but now I know she is more a threat then any other I have faced! Fire!

It was an all encompassing fear that had the rat moving to the left of the woman, nearly a blur with how fast it moved towards cover, yet one could feel the beady eyes watching from the line of trees. Of all the things to bring fear to Nuncia, it was this; fire, wild, untamed, or wielded by another. It was dangerous, burning flesh and scarring the body until marks were clearly seen no matter how well you hid them. Within her soul-mind, she lightly touched her brand mark, eyes still wide in panic.

The woman was staring at the statue, though her gaze kept track of Nuncia as best she could. Very well then. This woman wanted to fight with fire, then this Sylvaan will fight with her own fire. The burning arrow, though magic fire it was, it ate the wood just as any other fire would. Wait a moment, for the fire to eat more of the arrow, so that she is forced to drop it. With that distraction and the one afforded by the statue, Nuncia would strike quickly.

As trivial as the damage to the rat seemed to be, being as it was only burnt whiskers, Nuncia knew it would transfer into something quite less trivial. Just as a broken horn on the ram transferred to a broken skull on her true form, this damage would have consequences. No doubt she would have a burn scar across her cheek, thin bands of fire licking at her flesh, she could feel the searing pain in the rats nose as it was, where the whiskers were burnt down to their roots. Half a mind to run, flee from this fire wielding demon, and half a mind to rip her a part for daring to use magic at a shrine, for daring to use fire in a forest shrine; it was the latter of the minds that overpowered the former.

They would attack, if only because one less fire user in the world meant one less person who held her weakness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Hiding in the ring of trees surrounding the shrine, to the left of your character. Within the trees, and being so small and quick, I doubt you will know exactly where I am, but I am holding an action for this round. You scared the crap out of her and made her very angry at the same time XD)

Transformations:
-Howler [weak] 1/1 (Rabies)
-Rat [weak] (Rabies)

Specials:
-Rabid Transformation 3/8 posts

Tyzrk was happy to feel the attack had stopped, and that the other animal had left her. She didn’t feel the arrow make any direct contact, but just scaring it off was fine with her. For now, however, the statue had gotten her full attention. It was conducting some sort of magic, and the power of the ancients was nothing to mess around with. She had to act cautiously alongside fighting this force right next to her, though she feared they were already in its trap.

Should it have been a monster tamer, a third animal definitely should have attacked her while she was frantically countering what was on her back or while she was standing there soullessly staring at the stone slab. Maybe the fire had scared them into rethinking their plans. Maybe the monster tamer was poor and could not afford a third pet, or one had a random case of dysentery on the two-thousand mile (thirty-two hundred kilometers) journey down a trial. Either way, she was look curiously at Charmelia’s statue, only to have her attention broken by a very heated signal - her hair was on fire!

In the instant she felt a brush of flame against her hair and skin, she tossed the arrow onto the ground. By this time, the flames had almost completely blanketed the length of the wood of the arrow. Hitting empty dirt, however, prevented the fire from spreading dangerously. The arrow turned to ashes, and the fire was no more. It was incredible that there wasn’t any dead, dry material available to feed the fire. Whoever wanted to keep these floors pristine for centuries did quite a good job. Tyzrk, on the other hand, instantly threw her Ring of Framma onto the ground, and her back the second later.

After one or two rolls in the dusty dirt, the fire had stopped, but the pain of her burns were already well noted. Her hair on the ends were quite crisp, and her neck was pretty badly burned. If there were any cuts there previously, they had burnt shut. For her, however, all there was was momentarily unignorable pain. Her neck could not move that much without the pain signals juicing her brain. Her right hand had also been slightly burned, having had been holding the arrow until it caught aflame. Her leather glove on her right hand protected her from just a little bit of the heat, but now it was practically useless.

She got up and tried to think about where her enemy, or, to her, ‘enemies’ were. Even Xhercfa, who had been observing the spectacle, had seen the howler monkey climb the elf, only to have disappeared. Not seeing her back, the rat climbing on Tyzrk was almost unseen by the forest sprite until the fire arrow had scared it off. Xhercfa had realized what was going on with her opponent now, but before she was able to warn Tyzrk, the statue had flashed a bright, blinding light. Tyzrk shielded her eyes with her arms, and in the next instant, the light had stopped. Tyzrk’s eyes readjusted to the scene, but noticed something vastly different with the area.

It was a defensive mechanism for the village. While the statue served as an object of prayer, when agitated by the feelings of tension and aggression, it also served as protection against invaders. After the large flash, the skies had split cleanly in two. On one half, it had turned an even blacker night than the previous sunset. That half contained the village, shrouded with its darkness. On the other half, however, bright sunlight akin to that of a cloudless afternoon shone down that half of the forest. With invaders being clearly visible and the elves in their forte - the darkness of the forest, it would be very hard for any opposing force to overtake this society. Right at the midpoint of the temple was where the “Boarder of Life and Death” was. To have this scism right in the open, free space of the temple optimized this effect.

Starting to feel a bit dazed, not only from the pain, but some sort of mental strain affecting her physical strength. It was some sort of liquid filling her body where whatever it touched produced a numbing sensation. Her hearing was coming back - albeit not so pleasantly. She was only able to hear herself scream from the previous little fire accident internally, but now she would be able to at least hear coherent speech, as long as it was loud. Tyzrk was in the comfort of the night shade, but ventured about half of her body into the sun and shouted:

“Hey, whoever’s out there! This whole thing is all your fault! How dare you deface the image of a fallen goddess?!”

Even exerting the force to shout at the top of her lungs left her a bit dazed. She hoped she was okay, and thought it was only from the energy used to deal with the whole fire crisis. She sighed, and looked at her equipment that was scattered all about the floor. It was within reasonable distance of each other at least, but she suspected she wouldn’t have breathing time to collect them all at once. For now, she reached over for the weapon to probably best deal with the situation given the location - the Bladed Bow.

(Poison: ⅛ posts left)

The Sylvaan couldnt help but snicker as she saw the elf flail, finally realizing the harm her own magic could do to her. The scream made it even more amusing, as she rolled on the ground, attempting to douse the flames that ate at her hair along her back. Maybe that will teach you not to play with fire... she thought, as the rat continued to squeak in amusement. The arrow was gone, along with another of her weapons, and probably a good bit of skin on the back of her neck. Nuncia couldnt help but feel the god of Karma blessing her on that one; maybe the old gods of her world were here after all?

The one thing Nuncia had failed to observe throughout most of this battle was the statue she stood on, though she had wondered why the elf woman stared at it so intently, it was too late when she found out. The rat cringed at the base of the tree as the light blasted forth, her sight blinded for longer than she would have liked by such a simple happening. The fur on her nape rose a little as she realised just what this was, feeling the power of a god once more.

Stories had been told of villages protected so purposefully by gods so that the people who worshipped them had every advantage given to defend themselves-- yet never had she seen it ever happen. Stories, myths, legends, they all told of strange and wondrous things as this, but to see it come true, even though the civilisation here was long gone... it was something else entirely. Awe inspiring. Frightening.

Nuncia was dazed for a good few moments, the blindingly bright sun on the half she occupied startling her, the clean break in the sky even more unsettling. The tiny rat stepped out hesitantly from the tree line where it hid, its form growing between one step and the next; silver white fur dotted with grey spots, tail whipping back and forth in the agitation of the Sylvaan, it was the snow leopard that stepped forth from the trees, as if from nowhere. With its gaze on the skyline though, she failed to notice much of the elf woman. Some things were just bigger than her anger at that point in time, and being shown the power of an ancient god was one of them.

What snapped her out of her gazing was the elf woman shouting, the leopards head snapping to her, crimson eyes locked on her as the cats ears rolled back, tail stilled in its flicking movements. Across the right side of the cats nose and muzzle were burn marks, whiskers singed down to the roots in places along the trail of burnt flesh. As soon as the Sylvaan saw that the woman had the bladed bow back in her hands, the leopard lowered its front end, paws splayed, as the cat gave a hissing snarl, the fur raising on its neck and rump; pain splayed across he now raised hackles, but there was no way to avoid that pain, such as it was on her face.

With a flick of its tail, the leopard was off, a mirror of the howlers movements when it had first charged at her, the animals speed much faster than what would be considered normal, its form nearly blurring as it dashed from side to side, closing the distance. There was more distance to cover though, between them, and it would take another short while for the cat to close that distance completely, with its path so back and forth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Transformations:
-Howler [weak] 1/1 (rabies)
-Rat [weak] 1/1 (rabies)
-Snow Leopard [medium] (rabies)

Specials:
-Rabid Transformation 4/8 posts

Tyzrk shouted into the daylight, where she had predicted the animals - or, at least, the person responsible for them - to be hiding in. As long as she used the night to her advantage, she thought she would have the upper hand. Without great coordination, the gang of animals simply could not do a combo as the one performed on her anymore. And with her fire arrows, the animals would fear the any light made on the night side. For now, however, she was more worried if she had guessed wrong; if indeed the animals had been on the dark half of the boarder. She would be in trouble if she was denied spacing where it was preferred. Standing from either side, looking past the boarders wasn't unlike looking into or out of the darkest shadows.

Xhercfa flew to Tyzrk in a bright ray of green. Her shining sprite body would be a big liability to their positions should they stick together, so she briefly flew off in another direction towards the forest of the sunny side. Most of their battles in the darkness were like this, but they preferred this strategy. Soon enough, Tyzrk's hearing would be as functional as it would be getting, although the pain still rang in her head. It was enough to allow her concentration, however. As soon as Xhercfa flew away, from the opposite direction in the sunny side's trees came the third animal, presumably the last one she'd have to worry about. Its form was completely not what Tyzrk was expecting. A big, fast, charging animal in the shape of a leopard. Totally not native to this area, even its fur gave that much away. But when an animal charges, adrenaline, not the reasoning mind, takes over the body. Tyzrk quickly reached behind her for another arrow when she noticed that the animal followed the same zig-zagging pattern as the monkey. This trainer had obviously perfected the animal's ability to act against a wielder of the bow. Had she been hunting them and hiding instead of being out in the open, this situation could have been avoided. It was drawing nearer.

Thankfully, however, the path it ran meant that they would run a longer path, thus taking longer to get to her. The zig-zags also weren't that far apart from each other - each turn was about two or three strides long. She hoped that she would be able to random it out. Grabbing two arrows instead and using three fingers to hold the arrows in, Tyzrk decided to not let aim, but intimidation, take care of the leopard. She tilted her bow almost sideways as she pulled back the arrows. The trajectory of these arrows would be two poorly aimed places between the two ending points of each path the animal took before turning. She hoped that it would make the leopard rethink its approach and back off, but a more favorable situation would be to hit it, of course. For now, they both seemed to have treated the boarder to the night side as a wall, though for now, her advantage was to keep both of them visually exposed.

As the leopard drew nearer, she couldn't help but notice something peculiar about its face, but the image of it just wasn't clear enough for her to realize what.

(Rabies: 2/8 posts left)

(Double Blow: 3 more uses)

The bane of any hunters existence is prey thats too smart for you; it was one of those times that the Sylvaan wished that crossbows, composite bows, really anything that can shoot at her was all destroyed in this world. It would have made her life a lot easier. Phantom pains of a bolt wound from long ago twinged in response to the leopard seeing the elf woman knock two arrows, and let hem fly. She took no tim eto aim save for the general direction, so as much as it had to do with luck, it could have also been skill that gave that left arrow the path to stick into her right shoulder, nearly exactly where the bolt wound had landed in the past.

The leopards dash became a tumble as its leg gave way, throwing its back end over its front as her face ground into the dirt, flipping and twisting a time or two in the span of a few seconds. A strangled snarling yelp had come from the creature, the arrow shaft broken of during the tumble to leave the beginnings of what would become a patch of crimson in the snowy fur. Already Nuncia could feel the burn of that wound, feel the slick of her fur as the blood ran past the broken shaft. It wasnt deep, thankfully, but the head of the arrow was embedded in her now, making movements with that arm painful. Not that the grinding of her already burnt face was lending anything to her pain tolerance right now.

As fast as the leopard tumbled, it righted itself with what could only be described as a twisting flail made by her body and tail, making the next rotation land her on her feet facing the elf woman, right paw suspended slightly above the ground. Yet with that right of balance, the leopard did not just stop to stand there-- it kept running towards the elf woman, closing the last of the distance a little slower than before, using three legs instead of four to dash, no longer zigzagging to close those last few feet.

The Sylvaan grit her teeth as the movements ground the arrow head into her shoulder more, yet there was no way she could stop it. Not unless she wished to retreat, which now there was no chance of-- an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Such was the way of the Wilds, and that was what had powered her through surviving this strange world. Though the leopard form relied too much on the movements of that shoulder, for everything right up to and including walking... so maybe it was time to change her game face, to make this easier on her.

At the last moments before the distance would be closed, the leopard bent its hind legs, shifting its balance to pounce at the elf, its lithe form keeping a low trajectory aimed for her chest, and yet.... one moment the snowy cat was headed her way, lunging with claws extended, and the next, its form seemed to pass through a veil, growing larger as it passed through-- great hands covered in grey course fur, thick arms bulging as they connected with great round shoulders, the face of the leopard growing and smashing as great yellowing canines appeared in its open maw, the rest of its body still airborne as the Gorilla transformed fulling in the blink of an eye, in the middle of the leopards leap. The Sylvaan/Gorilla gave a great roar as it transformed, the pain of her shoulder intensifying a moment as the muscles and bones shifted, moving the arrowhead around within her a bit, though still within the wound.

The elf may have thought to defend against a small wounded cat, though an airborne gorilla about to land its massive weight on you is another story. Blood seeped from the gorillas right shoulder, where the wound was easier seen through its thinner courser fur; along its face under its eye and along the side of its nose was bright angry red burn marks, transferred through each form, aggravated by the leopards tumble to a painful reminder of just how dangerous this woman was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(The gorilla is aimed for your chest, in such a way that if it were to connect, youd be crushed almost instantly, like a grape. So Im giving you the chance to mitigate that terrible grape-fate by leaving my gorilla airborne and on its way to you this post XD)


Transformations
-Howler [weak] 1/1 (rabies)
-Rat [weak] 1/1 (rabies)
-Snow Leopard [medium] 1/1 (rabies)
-Gorilla [strong] (rabies) 1/3posts

Specials
-Rabid transformation 5/8 posts

Tyzrk watched as her arrows flew at the leopard. At this point, it was moving way too fast to be able to declare anything. All Tyzrk could do was watch the animal intently as her arrows flew, slowly moving her arm back to grab more arrows. Through some stretch, whether the animal had tumbled its paws a split second, or the elf had actually correctly guessed the location, one of them had hit the leopard in a vital point. It fell over before it could pivot again, due to a critical joint or muscle being struck. For a moment, Tyzrk felt relief knowing that the most powerful monster that could be around was more or less defeated. At the very least, it was handicapped. With her paying all attention to it, she finally was able to look at its face, and in an instant, knew something was wrong.

Its face was burnt! Judging from the black marks on its fur, it was very, very recently. Judging from the size of the forest, the only possible time that could have happened was when Tyzrk had struck it with the fire arrow. But the leopard must have been heavier than she was, not an annoying land-gnat with tickly teeth. Either way, something that shouldn't have been there existed. It laid for about half a second before its thoughts drifted from the pain back to the desperation of survival, and before Tyzrk's mind came back to her, the leopard flinched, scaring Tyzrk eye-wide and making her step back in anticipation. It squirmed around a little more until it somehow gained the momentum to push it back onto its paws - three of them, by the way - and resume charging. Its pace, footing, and intent were clearly different. It was definitely not acting like any ordinary animal. Then again, she suspected rabies or something silly like that, but saying it was probably offensive.

A shallow, quick swing of the arm and she was almost ready to load another arrow. She mentally called for the presence of her 'imaginary' friend, her devil alignment Kyct. To anyone else, he was imaginary - nonexistent, but to her, he was a miniature version of her, sporting a funny red outfit. In what was an instant in real time, Kyct extended his arms towards the head of the arrow, his hands glowing a dark black as he chanted:

"When the power of the sinful constellations descends upon us...
All shall be condemned.
Evoke wrathful spirits within!"

In the time it took Tyzrk to aim the arrow, the head began to glow the same black. Being in the sun side, the arrow's absorption of light was clearly imminent to any eyes. "Do you really want to die?!" she shouted at the animal as she pulled the string back. It was clearly burdened by the arrow, the match was in her favor. With this next shot, extreme fear would be induced by evil energies to anything within a certain range of the incoming arrow. But before she was able to shoot, the leopard had made a leap towards Tyzrk. It was rather strange to her, the whole thing. Why she didn't shoot before it could jump at her, she did not know. Why it leaped for her with arrow properly nocked, she did not know, for she could simply release the arrow at its chest right now and kill it. Why its jump trajectory was suddenly changed due to a random transformation that, in mid-air, before her eyes, had changed the feline into a primate in the blink of an eye - not that she was blinking, of course - she did not know. But what she did know was that an animal of that size would undoubtedly crush that beefy orc Kronk like stepping on a grape with a skeleton, and much sooner have it happen to her too, especially considering that its shadow was becoming smaller as it got closer to the ground.

Tyzrk let out another yelp and dropped both the bow and the arrow. With her right foot, she stepped over her left and pressed down on the floor hard to try to propel her just far enough for that giant to not land on her. With great luck, she felt herself move to the side, away from the now fully-formed gorilla. However, something strange inside her body was dragging it down, and Tyzrk lost balance on her left foot, tripping over it and spraining it in the process. With the way the gorilla was falling, it would definitely crush her Bladed Bow - probably down the center shaft, where it will not really harm the animal much at all - but it would also be landing directly on the Fear Arrow, possibly stimulating fear in the strongest form her arrow could induce. Because it was an animal, or what Tyzrk had originally believed to be an animal, she thought the fear would cause the animal to run away and never bother her again. Upon a second thought about its transformation, she concluded that there was infinitely more to the situation than she had thought. It wasn't a monster tamer at all, rather, it was a monster shaper. Or Animal Changling, or what-have-you.

When Tyzrk landed on her face, a lot came to her mind, mainly in the form dust and dry dirt. Something was dragging her along, making her weak. Her hand and upper back twitched with pain signals forever left on the on switch with burns. And now, her left foot was going to be a problem to stand on for a while. Thankfully, the ringing in her ears had stopped being a bother to her concentration, and maybe she would be able to deploy plans to take down her target. The facts that she doesn't entirely understand what she's up against, as well as knowing that major damage was dealt at an important location were the only things that helped Tyzrk try to get up from off the floor. Half of her head was passed the boarder, her arms trying to push herself back up.

Xhercfa found a good hiding spot in the trees, and observed the animal change in an instant. She called for Jibou, Tyzrk's angelic alignment that she had the privilege of making an acquaintance with. The poor thing must have spent too much time with the crazy elf, and now the spirit's linked with Tyzrk's crazy imaginary friends. However, together they, after observing the situation, joined hands and began concentrating energy.

(Poison: 3/8 posts left)
(Fear Arrow: 2 more uses)

With glee, the Sylvaan watched the face of the elf, as if in slow motion, change from satisfaction to the best form of 'oh shi-' ever. It made the woodling elf cackle through the pain as her trajectory took her to crushing the little woman.... and yet she didnt stand still. Instead, she moved reflexively out of the way, though she abandoned the offensive bow and that strange arrow that glowed like the darkest nights... and fell over as well, with the help of the sickness no doubt already in her system thanks to her rat form. Excellent.

The gorilla landed with an earth shaking thud, all its mass hitting that dead earth with plenty of force, its right foot landing squarely on the center of that bladed bow-- and right on top of that dark arrow. First thing to hit her was the pain of having the apes great hands slam into the earth, sending those same shockwaves up into her shoulder, causing head spinning pain... Yet whatever glee and abandon, plans and coordination, pain and suffering, control the Sylvaan had within herself was just as instantly GONE. Fear rose up inside of her in the most intense ways, the crimson eyes of the Gorilla widening as it gave a sound rending roar, all thought gone.

What was once a rather calm and docile Gorilla (besides the point it was aggressively trying to kill Tyrzk in all its other forms) became a flurry of jumping, stamping, great arms flailing, roaring, uncoordinated, complete confusion, loud noise and earth shaking with the apes stampede. The pain of her shoulder was amplified tenfold by the apes flailing, but she couldnt help it. Something was freaking her out like nothing ever had before, as if she were surrounded in fire and no way out, as if he world was nothing but flame and she was the only last dry twig in the cosmos, as if she were dying, burning alive, screaming in panic, the pain of her shoulder blazing as the burns on her face sent those embers deeper, only reinforcing that fearful idea of being burned alive. And yet because of the nature of her fear, she coldnt run away, she could barely control the form she was in, the gorillas fears so great along with her own that both of them were left defenceless in their own private hells, all her other souls likewise panicking, fearing every facet of the world...

...and yet the most dangerous animals are those that are the most afraid. Having not one animal, but several, as well as a Sylvaan soul, all trapped within on body, all fearing the same things at the same time-- it was a time bomb with no way of directing its explosion.

The massive creature, all flying limbs and stamping roars began to move in a direction, its weaker joint making it lean more to the right as it danced and screamed heading for the border of the night and day, the great ape unable to direct itself as it panicked. Gobs of spit flew from its great open maw, yellowed canines bared to the world, head rolling back and forth as it tried to find the source of this fear, its great thick arms slamming at the ground and the air as if to destroy anything in its wake, for making it so afraid, its legs stamping and jumping, dust flying up from its dance. With its lean, it was headed haphazardly towards Tyrzk, like an uncoordinated tornado of fear, wrath, spit, roars, and powerful limbs.

The arrow it had stepped on was definitely obliterated, the bladed bow stamped into the earth before being unceremoniously thrown in a flail at the trees of the dark side (along with a good gorilla-sized handful of dirt and rocks), the power behind the throw no doubt cleaving a couple of thin trees before sticking into another, blade stuck fast into the wood. All in the attempt to get rid of whatever was scaring it, in the attempt to do something but nothing, destroy everything just to survive whatever this was... She didnt even notice that her left hand was cut from grabbing the blades of that bow, gripping it with the power of the great ape as she did, it wasnt a shallow cut at all, dirt and grime filling it as she flailed, all the pain melding into one feeling now, with how intensely her arm hurt, the arrow head grinding and digging in the wound with the panicked movements.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Transformations
-Howler [weak] 1/1 (rabies)
-Rat [weak] 1/1 (rabies)
-Snow Leopard [medium] 1/1 (rabies)
-Gorilla [strong] 2/3 posts (rabies)

Specials
-Rabid Transformation 6/8 posts

Afflictions
-Fear (1/1 posts, since Im assuming after this post I can gather my heads agin XD)

((Also let me know if you have any issues with my post~))

Tyzrk tried to get up as soon as she realized that she was uncomfortably close to the panicking mass (the mass of which could change at the being’s will, apparently) of animal.
Her foot and rapidly decreasing focus made her movement like quicksand. When she felt that she just wouldn’t get up fast enough, she figured it’d be better to instead take a fall down. Halfway up, she lunged her body into a tumble away from the gorilla and deeper down into the night as the animal went into a blind frenzy. As she landed rather uncomfortably on her shoulder, she rolled over onto her back, and ended up sitting, facing the border of day. With her arms positioned backwards, elbows locked, to support her up, and her left leg extended to try to numb out the pain of her ankle, she watched the gorilla acting absolutely terrified. Poor thing. On second thought, she should have used a fire arrow instead of her fear one. That would have at least been better psychologically for the poor animal, not that she had any more pity than admiring from afar.

At the rate it was moving, however, it could be only a few seconds until she would be trampled by it, so she thought it best to push herself onto her feet, her right leg bending and lifting herself up first. Her vision almost became a blur for a moment, but in a few seconds, she found herself on, more or less, both feet. Tyzrk lifted her right arm so that her hand was about chest-level. Keeping her fingers straight and close together, she channeled energy into a small, specially made bracer that would soon shoot out a triangular shaped congregation of mana. She swiped her arm down to her side, now clenching a fist as the now-glowing katar formed parallel down her wrist. The small, blue blade gave off some light, signaling the danger coming ahead, should the animal have seen her. The light was not strong enough to show all of her body however, and her considerable shifting of weight onto her right leg was not entirely clear through the night’s shadows.

Xhercfa, still hiding in the cover of one of the day’s trees just surrounding the shrine area, found the best opportunity in charging as she watched from afar the animal going crazy. With the chaos brought by Kyct, the forest sprite now chanted in unison with Jibou, their hands joined together as they themselves gave off a small, bright glow:

"Salvation’s past, evil has amassed,
The dangers shown before us, away we want it cast!
Evoke! Framma’s true temperament!”

A comparably large orb of energy in the form of yellow light had gathered in front of the two. With a huff of effort and the pushing aside of branches and leaves, the orb was released as a ray of holy power launched curving into the back of the gorilla just as it seemed to be sort of calming down and facing the night’s side. Tyzrk saw the instance of the spell, and started to wag her right arm back and forth, hopefully distracting the gorilla with the glow of the mana as the ray was shot.

(Shining Ray: 1 more use)
(Poison: 4/8 posts)