Through the Trees

[Septima Severa]

She'd crossed the Athenaeum borders a while ago, and she knew it, but Severa just didn't care. In fact, it had been a bit of her plan to do this. She just needed somewhere to be alone, was all. "Sure, just keep telling yourself that," she muttered.

Truth was, she wasn't feeling right at all, and she needed to clear her mind. And no one would dare follow her into the woods, right? Right? Yes, it was a foolish thing to do, many a dangerous creature resided here, but she had her gladius with her as well as her dagger, so she would be fine. Right? Severa stubbornly trodded on, not caring that it was an extremely foolish thing to do, go into a dangerous forest on her own, and especially in such a hot-headed state. Severa briefly wondered if she was being suicidal, but crossed that thought away instantly. If she were suicidal, she'd know it. And besides, she'd come to far to fall apart now.

She calmed her pace, the sunlight barely reached through the leaves in this part of the forest, and only now was the realization that she had indeed done something completely stupid dawn on her. Not only were there terrible creatures that lived in the woods, but also now she was over the Athenaeum border the Gods were not held back from doing anything to her. Any God that might wish to thwart Mars' chances in the tournament could sent any deadly creature her way and get away with it. Still, she walked on, on a much slower pace this time, aware of every single ruffle of leaves in the forest.

[Guest]

Noster walked slowly.The forest was his favourite place in the whole Athenaeum.Usally he weren't meet any people there.He sat down and and closed his eyes to enjoy the birds song.Suddenly he heard something strange.He looked around and saw a dark figure among the trees.He totally scred because he knowed that he is close to the border,so he as fast he can climbed to the closest tree.

[Guest]

Like Noster, Ainia enjoyed the beauty and peace of the forest as she sat on the branches of a great tree. It reminded her of the jungles at home, of which she had mixed feelings about. But even after what happened to her, she remained close to the Amazon culture and continued to view her tribe with pride, so she had mainly positive thoughts about the forest.

Peering through her masks and past the leaves that hid her from view, she saw Noster walk by. He seemed cheerful, but he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. He looked scared for a brief moment before scuttling up a tree.

Ainia directed her attention to see what Noster had seen, spotting a figure going past the Athenaeum borders. She narrowed her eyes when she realized that she seemed to recognize the figure.

'Wasn't that... Saturnina? What's she thinking going past the borders?!'

Ainia stood up, readying Sanguine in her grip.

'She's my rival. And no one gets to kill her before I beat her!'

Ainia jumped to the next tree skilfully, following the Human girl. Even though rivalry existed between them, the Amazon felt somewhat protective over her as she was also a woman. She had to convince her to return at all cost, making sure that she's safe.

[Guest]

Augustin slowly looked up. He was in the forest a while ago, he wanted to clear his head, and the forest with a good book seemed to be the best place for this. But not today. He heard coming steps.

"Gosh..." he whispered, and put down his book.
He stood up, to move his wings, it wasn't to confortable to sit with two big pegasus wings, but that was better than stay in a pegasi form.
That thing just made him thought; he didn't took up his other form there's years ago. It was long before he came to the Athenaeum.

From his thoughts a crack of branch woke him up. Someone was near him. He turned.

[Guest]

Ainia shot out through the leaves and bumped into the Pegasus. Luckily, the branch was strong enough to prevent them from falling. The Amazon made a quick recovery.

'Gah! Why do I have to meet a Pegasus at such a terrible time?!'

Focusing her thoughts on Severa, she forced away her Amazon instincts. She's well out of the borders and could meet dangerous beasts. Ainia was going to need all the help she can get.

"Did you see that figure over there? I'm almost sure that it's Saturnina. I'll need your help to get her back here safely."

[Guest]

Augustin looked up to the trees. No, that just can't be... he thought.

"Ainia...?" he whispered. He turned his head to the direction where he heard the steps from.

"Severa...?" he asked then. It was really like her to come angrily to the forest, while she thought that she don't need any help, but that was quite a big lie.

He made the first move toward the noise, hoping that Ainia will wait him.
And he totally forgot about his book. Again.

[Guest]

Noster looked down.At tis moment he knowed that he can't get down,because he sawed two people.What a ridicoulos sitiation will it be:
"Hey you what are you doing on the tree?.."I thought that you're a dangerous creature"No,Npster did't want that.He decided to stay on the tree.

[Septima Severa]

Severa tensed up as she heard a rustle of leaves somewhere behind her, she turned quickly and waited, but nothing came out, so she continued walking. She thought she heard voices somewhere behind her as well, but since she'd also 'thought' something rustled behind her, she dismissed it as her mind just trying to find things.

After a few steps, however, the rustling increased and she took out her sword, stopping in her tracks, every muscle ready to jump. She was about to turn around again when it jumped out.

It was the most horrific monster Severa had every seen. It had long snake-like necks, two of them to be precise, with dark green scales all over its body. The body was that of a scaly lion, with a tail that instead of a tuft of fur had the head of a tiny green adder, small but deadly. Its heads were that of lizards with a wide circle of skin in a 3/4-circle around the head that stood up when the creature was excited, which it clearly was. Its eyes were a bright yellow and slitted like a snake, and it hissed like a snake, but its movements were feline and deadly.

"Mars help me now," Severa muttered, annoyed that she had to send a prayer for help to her mentor, but she brandished her sword. This puppy needed taking out, and preferably before it ate her.

((I'm trying to use the Greek principle of combining creatures to create a new one >.> ))

[Guest]

((Well, you had just managed to successfully create an awesome chimera XDDD))

Augustin and Ainia were close, close enough to jump out and call Severa. However, what they had hoped wouldn't happen had happened first. Ainia narrowed her eyes at the fearsome creature that had just jumped out of the thickets.

"We're really in trouble now. Come Augustin, we shall help her!"

With Sanguine in her grip, Ainia jumped down from the trees and landed a few meters behind Severa.

[Guest]

Augustin stepped near Ainia.

"I hope you won't mind, Severa." he addresed to the girl. He didn't wanted trouble about that later. "A little help will never be a hurtful, right?" he asked mainly from Ainia.

He looked to the beast, and then to the environment, then clenched his fists.

[Septima Severa]

((You got the reference, bonus points for Ainia 8D ))

"How about I'll get to minding after we manage to not get killed?" Severa told Augustin, simply thankful that she wasn't alone against the monster. She was especially grateful to Ainia, of whom she knew was a great warrior. No matter that they were rivals for the same title, the girl had earned Severa's respect.

"It's scaled, which means we'll have to penetrate to the skin before we can harm it. I've not seen anything like this, so I'm not sure what it can do. What's your assesment Ainia?"

[Guest]

((>XDDD))

"Definitely, Augustin," she smirked as she studied the creature.

"Excellent tactics, Severa. Hmm, that Adder at the tail will give us a lot of trouble. You're the only one with a slashing weapon," she said, looking at Severa's dagger, "Augustin and I will distract the the two heads, go behind it and cut it off. Then we can penetrate the scales without any disturbance."

[Guest]

"It seems to be a good plan..."he murmutted "But are you sure, that it didn't have the same attributes as the Hydra?" Augustin asked. "You know, with his heads." he said slowly, trying not to excite the creature. He looked to the two girls, he hoped, that he wasn't late with his question.

[Septima Severa]

"No, I'm not, but the Hydra never regrew its tail, so it's worth a shot. If it does, we run, simple as pi." she took out her gladius and passed the dagger to Augustin.

"Here, I know you're main fighting style is hand-to-hand, but that will be next to useless against our foe, so you might have to do with this." She smiled at him for a moment. "I have to keep tabs on my enemy."

She took a leap forward, dodging one of the heads that snapped in her direction, hoping that by now Ainia and Augustin would be distracting them. the tail hissed at her, it's eyeless sockets turned in her direction, forked tongue slipping in and out of its mouth.

[Guest]

"Thank you"Augustin restricted the dagger in his palm, and smiled back to the warrior. Then he looked to the strange creature. He studied it's first move. When Severa started the attack, he moved too. He knew what he has to do.

While Severa tried to take off one of the creature's head, he tried to call up it's attention. He stabbed into the creature's left side. He heard it's roar.

[Guest]

Ainia went opposite to Augustin, attacking the third head on the right side. She gave the jaw a hard hit before dodging its snapping teeth.

It must be mad at August for having stabbed it. So she could do well to divert it's attention from the Pegasus.

Wait, did Augustin just stab through the scales? Perhaps that spot was the creature's weak point...

[Guest]

Augustin stepped back. The creature seemed to be really mad. What he just did?

After Ainia's attack, he tried to stab is again, but he missed it. He had no better choices, he throw the dagger into it's face, and fastly dragged out from it, before anything could happen with. It didn't seemed to be happy.

[Septima Severa]

The snake twitched in pain as the beast roared. It lashed out, biting Severa in the right shoulder. It had trouble unhooking its fangs from her skin and Severa, battle-trained as she was, used the opportunity to slash the thing in half.

The cut part of the snake was still hooked in her skin and Severa quickly grabbed the head and ripped it from her skin, hot bursts of pain shooting from the wound. She flung the thing away, quickly finding that her right arm was having difficulty moving.

I sure hope that thing wasn't venomous, she thought, though she knew that odds were not in her favor. She searched for eye contact with Ainia, the amazon would understand what had happened, while ripped a large chunk of her skirt. She did a quick and dirty job of bandaging the wound before joining the other two.

"I can't use my right hand properly," she said matter-of-factly. "I can fight with my left but my coordination will be off."

[Guest]

'This is not good!' Ainia thought to herself as she bit her lower lip. It seemed the snake had managed to bite her. They have to finish this battle quickly at all costs!

"Alright! Augustin! Keep attacking that head from the left! Severa, use Gladius and help me stab it from the right!" she commanded.

Ainia charged at the creature and swung Sanguine roughly along its right flank. The sharp part of her weapon managed to peel off some of the beast's scales.

[Guest]

"Right!" Augustin answered, and jumped to the ceatures left head.

He throw the dagger, into his right eye, and then moved it to the left. He made it's left head blind.

His hand was covered with blood. "Attention! He's gonna be really angry now!" he yelled.

[Septima Severa]

Severa nodded and moved to the creature's left, her feet still nimble. She forced her mind away from her wounds, something that she was in expert in doing now, and concentrated on the task ahead.

She found the opportunity when Ainia's club removed scales from the beast, providing an opening of the softer skin. Severa quickly moved in, dodging the creature's strong teeth and stabbed her sword into the thing's neck as hard as she could with her left hand.

Her accuracy was off, but the blade caught the skin and part of the scales anyway, and the beast roared, in combination with the dagger now latched into its eye.

"Very angry," Severa agreed, pulling the sword from the wound as strange blue blood spurted from it. "Ainia, go to Augustin and do what you did here, when you remove the scales Augustin can finish it. I'll be fine with this one, it's already partly gone."

[Guest]

"Alright!"

The Amazon closed in, once again dragging the hooked parts of her club against the creature's left neck to remove the scales.

"Augustin! Now!"

[Guest]

Augustin stepped ahead, and cut it's neck. But he was too slow. The creatures teeth rapt into his hand.

He slowly set his arm free, and looked to the gash. It wasn't critical, but it needed remedy. "Are you both alright?" he looked up. "I got to need some plant to heal."

[Septima Severa]

The creature was writhing in pain now, it was pulling at Severa's heartstring, to see a beast so... sad and defeated. But everyone knew dead snakes could still bite, and near-dead beasts were possibly more dangerous than dead ones.

Severa took her sword in both hands, cringing at the almost foreign feel of her hand, the muscles not being entirely under her command. She winced as she lifted the sword and with a scream brought it down over the creature's neck, severing its neck.

With a bit of writhing and twitching the beast turned limb, it was almost as if all colour drained from it. "Hades bless it's soul," Severa muttered, and looked over at Augustin.

"I'm less than stellar, how is your hand, is it deep?"

[Guest]

"I won't die" Augustin murmured, looking at the creature, which slowly lost it's color "But it would be better to fint some plant to heal it. Only Gods, what kind of poison it had." he explained himself.

He looked around. He remembered to see it somewhere there, around. With it's little yellow flowers. Near the strain of a tree he found it.

Augustin crushed it's flower it his hand, and placed a part from it to his hand and without voice he said a fast charm.

"Let me see your scar." he turned to Severa.

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