Fight Type: Battle Prize: 50 signos per character from Official Day Court Account upon completion of the thread Contact Made: Yes
Character #1: @Orestes Bonded: Sun Lion Magic: Solar Transformation Armor: No Weapons: No Current Health: 12 Current Attack: 8 Current Experience: 19
Character #2: @Tenebrae Bonded: No Magic: Shadow Forging Armor: No Weapons: No Current Health: 17 Current Attack: 23 Current Experience: 31
The sand seems thirsty.
It is the only way to describe them, baked as they are by the morning sun. Orestes does not know how many other combatants have gone thus far; only that from where he peers outside the iron gate leading into the Colosseum, the sands are newly raked. The heat wafts off them in nearly imperceptible waves. Already, a small bead of sweat works it way down his neck.
It is strange, to think, the Sovereign is about to battle for the mere friendly competition of it. He had not intended to enter the tournament—which he largely organised, in an effort to raise solitary among Solterrans and create an aura of competition within the Court—but when all was said and done the tournament was left at an odd number. Why not, he had said to himself. It will be good for the Court to see their Sovereign on the sands.
Now he is not so certain. A swarm of butterflies has worked its way into his stomach, and throat, and chest; he feels full to bursting with the sudden onslaught of anxiety. In a far-off life, one before this one, he had never been asked to fight true battles. And on the rare occasion he was, Orestes could become a sea dragon, or shark, or great and terrible serpent.
Today, he is only a man. There is an announcer out above the sands, inciting the crowd gathered in the Colosseum. And next… his voice booms, the one and only Sovereign of Solterra!
Orestes walks into the bright morning light, blinking it away. Ariel pads out alongside him, quiet and attentive to their surroundings. With the way the sun crests above the distant horizon, the Colosseum sands are almost perfectly divided into shadow and sun. It just so happens Orestes has emerged into the light, and his opponent into the relative shadow.
The crowd is jarringly loud. And who will our Sovereign fight, if not a monk from Denocte? There is a sort of astonished--perhaps even exaggerated--gasp from the audience. The other contestant enters the arena and Orestes recognises him, briefly, from the mountain. Yet that exchange had been brief and... no less violent, he supposes. Orestes tries not to think more deeply on that, however. Instead he smiles in a comradely sort of way from across the arena, and takes strength in the way the sun has thoroughly warmed his skin. With Solis rising behind him, Orestes feels the light pool and shift in his arcane tattoos. With, the Sovereign ducks his head in a respectful greeting, and takes strength from the vivacious life of the crowd. His people
Summary: Orestes waits to be called in. When called, he enters the Arena, looks around, and steels his nerves. He gives a respectful nod of his head to Tenebrae.
The colosseum is rumbling with the cries of the crowd. The air is filled with an energy Tenebrae is not used to. Always his fights, his training has been a private affair. Yet here, here it has become a spectacle for the glory of Solterra. Around the arena wreathes of bronze leaves, plucked at their turning, glow like glittering rust.
If he thought the crowd was loud to begin with, it is nothing compared to the clamour, the supportive roar that deafens him when his adversary steps out upon the sand. He gleams, oh he shines beneath his sunlight. Tenebrae watches from the shadows in the tunnel opposite. Darkness seeps in cool and sweet across his body.
Then his name is called and the Disciple moves, out into the crowd that does not roar so loudly for him. Yet the clamour is deafening, the stands rumble the stone groaning like a great beast is rousing from its mountain of steps. Where all of Orestes is gleaming gold, a perfect messenger of the sun high above him. Tenebrae is the black, the endless swallowing pitch of a dark abyss. He brings night breathing, smothering reaching out into the glowing Colosseum.
Orestes is just how he remembered from the brief moment they passed atop Veneror. The sand is littered with droplets of blood from previous fights and the crowd is ready for another. Yet they do not concern him as his shadow magic seethes across the sand blotting out sunlight and the pattern of the sand below his feet.
The monk stops, his skull dipping in time with Orestes. He smiles, wicked and ready, his nerves thrum with the anticipation of battle. The dark of shadows reaches out beyond them, gathering like ebony mist about them. “Thank you for hosting so generously, your Highness.” Tenebrae murmurs as darkness strengthens. Then suddenly peeling out of the black at Orestes’ left flank, a shadow forged tiger lunges for the Day king. Tenebrae aimed for it to emerge from the king’s blind spot as he keeps their gaze locked. Anything to gain an additional moment of delay in his opponent’s parry. The black lion leaps in a fluid motion aiming for the king’s left shoulder with outstretched, slashing claws as sharp as an eagle’s talon.
Then, Tenebrae is moving, he retreats back, enough to watch how Orestes’ avoids the lion and what, if any, strike lands. The monk waits to see if an injury might slow his opponent down, if pain from a wound atop his shoulder might make him lame, or let his kingdom see how even kings can bleed upon the sand.
Summary: Tenebrae enters, thanks Orestes as king of Solterra for hosting the fight. His magic is reaching out as if to wrap around the duo and moments after the monk greets Orestes, a tiger leaps out from what ten hopes is Orestes' blind spot on his left side. It jumps to claw at the king's shoulder as Ten retreats ready to defend himself.
Thank you for hosting so generously, your Highness.
The formality of it is nearly strange, with the clamouring of the crowd and the way the sand smells not of earth but of blood. Nevertheless, Orestes dips his head, unaware he is preparing to battle a monk. What is apparent, however, is that they are complete opposites; where Tenebrae is dark and bears the sigil of the moon, Orestes’s is golden light, the sun seared into his brow.
The disparity, in a strange way, pleases him; the contrast is the same as black and white, night and day. He smiles at the romantic irony of it; but the monk is not so nuanced. A shadow-forged tiger leaps from the pooling darkness that has already seeped into Orestes’s side of the arena.
Yet, the tiger’s leaping attack is blocked by Ariel at Orestes’s side. The Sun Lion had been paying closer attention to Orestes’s opponent. Ariel leaps into the tiger’s jaws with his own widely spread, meeting the beast halfway. As he does so, he burns as brightly and as furiously as the sun. Even Orestes’s turns his eyes away, briefly; but the glaring light in and of itself is a distraction, and as Ariel tangles with the tiger Orestes lopes past, toward the monk.
Understanding his powers are only sustainable for a few seconds at most, Orestes’s lope transforms into a dead sprint, directly toward Tenebrae. Orestes’s tattoos begin to glow more fiercely than is typical; and then the light radiates not only from the tattoos, but his skin itself. He aims to collide directly with the stallion’s side, his skin burning hot, the light he emits bright enough to temporarily blind. The sand, too, in response to the gravity he creates begins to swirl around him and sting—
but Orestes knows his magic will not hold out for long, before nausea overtakes him and he is forced to return to normalcy. In that time, however, Orestes intends to hit Tenebrae forcefully with the brunt of his scalding shoulder.
Summary: Orestes nods graciously to Tenebrae's comment, and is taken by surprise with Tenebrae's first attack. Ariel, however, had been paying much closer attention and leaps from Orestes's side to tangle with the shadow-tiger mid-air, hoping to distract/maintain it's attention or dissolve it altogether with his light. Using that as a distraction, Orestes lopes forward and then quickly picks up speed. He utilises his magic to glow very brightly and radiate intense heat, but cannot sustain this for more than a few seconds. In hopes of causing the most damage in a short amount of time, Orestes aims to collide the burnt of his burning-hot body against Tenebrae's before his magic cuts out.
There is so much light. It blazes bright and startling.
First it emerges from the Sun Lion who has been watching Tenebrae carefully. The DIsciple has had two sets of eyes upon him (Orestes and his bonded), each one is able to see a clue of the monk’s attack that the other set may not have seen. Tenebrae knew it would be difficult to be unpredictable with both the Day King and his bonded watching.
So it is that as the Sun Lion watches Tenebrae’s shadows, Orestes watches him. When Tenebrae’s shadows form into a tiger, leaping swiftly, solidly and fiercely out of the darkness, the Sun King’s lion is ready, meeting it midair. The two great cats clash in light and darkness. Their coming together is a war of day and night. Twilight bleeds from their violent meeting in purples and pinks. Light runs like blood. The cats’ teeth pierce light and darkness as they meet open jaw to open jaw. Claws slash as they grapple like dawn and dusk. Then, swiftly as the gloaming, their fight is over. Tenebrae, distracted by Orestes’ sudden advance and blinding light, feels his magic slip and his solid shadow tiger dissolves back into darkness.
The second blaze of light has come from the Solterran king himself. Orestes thunders toward Tenebrae his skin igniting until he blazes as bright as a sun pressing down upon the Earth. The air grows hot and the sands swirl up, pulled by the energy of Orestes’ magic. The particles of dust rotate like planets around the sun of the Solterran’s magic. If the light was not bad enough, grains of the sand scatter into Tenebrae’s eyes. He grunts, surprised, and blinks the grit away, his eyes watering to rid themselves of light and dirt.
Tenebrae has trained for battle with the monks. He is not the most advanced yet neither is he the youngest and most inexperienced. Even with sand and light in his eyes, he has noted how the king’s breeding makes him finer of bone and smaller than Tenebrae. The monk thinks he stands a good chance of weathering the brunt of his opponent’s attack since it seems to come down to force of impact born of speed and body mass. He turns away from the light, spinning swiftly, his years of training making him agile and his feet more steadfast than Orestes’ are likely to be. The warrior monk angles himself away from Orestes, coming to rest at a diagonal to the king. In this position the light of the Solterran’s magic is less direct and Tenebrae’s haunches are closer to his attacker. His defense is strongest in this position: his haunches are able to take the most force, and he is able to propel himself away after - as long as he is not too injured.
Orestes reaches him: the advance, the blast of magic, Tenebrae’s split second judgement, for better or worse, it happens and is over so fast. Their bodies collide with a heavy thud. Orestes’ scolding sunbright shoulder crashes into cool, shadow-wreathed haunches. It is another tangle of day and night. Tenebrae staggers with the impact, side stepping, attempting to absorb the force of the impact - moving with it. His opponent’s shoulder hits the fleshy part of Tenebrae’s left haunch, where bigger stronger muscles cover his pelvis. Yet the force of two stallions colliding, despite the difference in size, is still enough to leave a bruise. The blaze from Orestes’ magic leaves a light burn upon the monk’s flesh. It could have been worse. Tenebrae twists, shifting the pain from his left haunch (where the collision occurred) to his right hindlimb. Though the damage is not severe, the bruising and burn are tender, the initial trauma causing inflammation.
Tenebrae debates in the short moments after the collision, whether to pivot on his haunches and launch another attack to Orestes’ side - but that would involve increased weight bearing through his hind limbs. His left hip is now sore and weight bearing through a pivot will may make it more tender and the movement slower, clumsier. His other option is to kick with his hind legs whilst Orestes is already close. The blow from the king’s attack was upon Tenebrae’s hip, it has made the lateral muscles about his flank sore, yet the ones used primarily to kick out behind him are mostly down the back of his pelvis and hindlegs and they are uninjured. He decides to attack without repositioning, seizing the moment whilst Orestes is still close from his attack. Tenebrae just needs to get enough distance between him and his opponent to extend his hind limbs in the kick. He knows the force of impact will be stronger further apart than if they are closer.
Decision made, knowing the action of kicking will be less painful than trying to turn around on his haunches, Tenebrae propels forward half a stride and kicks up, fast and hard with both hindlegs. He aims for the left side of the king’s golden throat and chest. It is the nearest, largest target as they are still close, still likely at diagonals to each other. Using both hind legs allows Tenebrae to make up for his injured left limb and its weaker strike.
His attack made, the monk moves forward, hoping the action may have pushed Orestes back and increased the space between them. With greater space between the opponents, Tenebrae has longer to prepare a parry and more time to work out how sore his hind limb is after his attack. He turns, his left leg sore, the hip and its muscles aching. He watches the king and readies himself for a second attack.
Summary: Orestes' Sun Lion leaps at Tenebrae's shadow tiger. they meet jaw to jaw and clash in shadow and light. Meanwhile, Orestes charges Tenebrae using his magic. The bright light and the gravity of his power stirring up the dirt around them distracts Tenebrae as it blinds him with light and detritus in his eyes. He is distracted, his shadow tiger dissolving. It is unclear in the melee of the cats' fight whether any injury was inflicted upon the Sun Lion by Tenebrae's shadow tiger. Thinking swiftly, based upon his earlier observations of Orestes and his current situation, Tenebrae turns from the bright light of Orestes' magic. He turns until he stands facing away from Orestes, his haunches at a diagonal to Orestes' left side. Tenebrae hopes by positioning his haunches to take the impact, and considering the Solterran's smaller stature and battle inexperience, the attack will be easier for him to absorb.
Orestes's shoulder does impact with fleshy side of Tenebrae's left haunch. The blow has left him sore and the heat from Orestes' skin has caused a burn over the skin of Tenebrae's hip. His left leg is sore to move and weight bear but the extensor muscles down the back of Tenebrae's pelvis are unharmed. Therefore he decides it is best to attack whilst Orestes is still close. He kicks out with both hind legs aiming for the left side of the Solterran King's neck and chest. Tenebrae hopes it will push Orestes back so that Ten has time to recover before Orestes' next attack. He turns to face him.
Due to @Orestes being moved to Inactive, @Orestes forfeits the fight and @Tenebrae wins!
This thread will be locked and moved to the Solterra Archives shortly.
This thread cannot be claimed as a "completed thread" for signos redemption.
TENEBRAE
Winning a battle by the opponent forfeiting: +1 EXP
Winning a battle: 25 Signos TOTAL: +1 EXP, 25 Signos
ORESTES TOTAL: +0 EXP
Tenebrae's official experience has been updated to reflect these changes (along with the +25 signos for winning the battle), so there's no need to post in the Experience Updates or Signos Redemption threads!
