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Post by Fury on Oct 9, 2009 13:03:11 GMT -5
"I'm beaten down again I belong to them Beaten down again I've failed you" ~ lyrics from Truth by Seether ---
Aleiko was dropped rather roughly to the ground. He let out a small 'oof' noise as the wind was knocked out of him. The brown eastern looked confused as Neraika landed beside him and folded her wings in a quick snap so the membranes of one all but slapped him across the face. Why was she so much less friendly now? He knew she'd been sent by his 'friend' Kre to get him... but Kre had never been cruel to him. Why then was his servant? "Excuse me, Miss...?" He began. Neraika cut him off with a growl and a sharp glare. The tigerstripes flashed menacingly across her hide as she grabbed on to his neck with a taloned hand in danger of crushing his wind pipe. "Listen up pipsqueak, you come with me. No objections. Got it?" "Y-Y-Yes!" He stammered. It was met with a smirk and a 'good'. --- Neraika arrived in Rafael's chamber, bowing low to the raven feathered dark-hided Lord. She sent another icy glare at Aleiko and forced him to bow as well. He would learn swiftly to respect Rafael as well as those higher than him. She would be sure of it. Aleiko rose out of the bow and looked around. "...Kre?" He asked in confusion, looking up at Rafael's imposing figure. This didn't seem like the same Dragon yet he could sense spirit energy radiating throughout the room.
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Post by Venus on Oct 9, 2009 13:16:02 GMT -5
Rafael was leaning against the far wall, eyes tracing precise lines across the surface of one of the smaller wooden tables in the corner of the room. It glowed with dark magic, a representation of the island reacreated and held steady beneath his gaze. The surrounding sea and lands pivoted slowly. It wasn't long before the dragon stepped back, turning to face Neraika and the bowing Lei with a triumphant smirk and a shift of aura and feathers.
"Welcome, Aleiko. I feel inclined to say enjoy your stay, but that would be a lie." The smirk turned twisted, the fractured glitter of violet eyes glimmering in the half-light. "I trust your capture progressed unhitched, Neraika?"
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Post by Fury on Oct 14, 2009 15:56:10 GMT -5
Aleiko's eyes lit up with betrayal. Tears filled his eyes and he snarled. "Capture? Is that was this was? Why? Why take me from my friends, Kre? What have I done to provoke this madness?" What a horrible mistake I have made... Tiamat and Aisling will be worried sick. he thought as he swallowed hard to keep his suddenly unsettled stomach from emptying its contents on the floor.
Slap! That was the noise that echoed in the chamber as Neraika's tail slammed across Lei's shoulder. He cried out and collapsed onto his stomach in a heap and just laid there. Raik hissed.
"You will learn to respect Rafael. Learn your place. I already tried to teach you once before we came here and I do not intend to become lenient with you if you repeat the action!" Again she was showing her madness, her anger, her need for bloodshed, and her power. Still she settled herself down and looked to Rafael with a bow of her head. "It went well indeed. I left a raven feather as a calling card for our dear Venus. The others are beside themselves with loss, particularly Aleiko's friend."
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Post by Venus on Oct 14, 2009 16:18:56 GMT -5
Rafael's smile curved, cold and cruel and gleaming like the steel of a finely honed blade. His answer was deceptively simple - half-lazy and drawling, reminiscent of Thanthero at his most contrary.
"Why not?"
His eyes flicked beyond the pitiful bundle to the bow of his lieutenant. They glittered with malice and madness.
"Good... good. You seem to have fulfilled your brief perfectly, Neraika. As a reward, I have someone I would like to introduce you to, hm?" His tail tip darted through the darkness, left to right in a mesmerising rhythm.
"Akachi."
The exotic dragoness unfolded from the shadows, her burgundy hide gleaming even in the half-light. Grey eyes glowed with inner fire, head tilted up and spine straight. Her steps to Rafael's side were graceful and measured. Regal.
"Yes, my lord."
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Post by Fury on Oct 14, 2009 17:04:55 GMT -5
The 'why not' stung him more than he liked to admit. After all... He didn't know Kre to be so cruel. He was confused. Why had Neraika continually called Kre 'Rafael'? He didn't know this name. It was completely foreign. Still he was snapped out of his thoughts by another snarl from Neraika.
"Akachi...?" Neraika asked. Her eyes slid over to the burgundy dragoness. As if Lich isn't bad enough now her too? And Aleiko? ...I doubt the squirt could take my place but who is she and why don't I know who she is? This was going to end badly.
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Post by Serrion on Oct 14, 2009 17:14:50 GMT -5
As if hearing Neraika's thoughts Direnalich entered the room. He was skeletal still, yet he seemed partway to returning to his more dragonlike form. That was to say a constant blood seemed to be dripping from the bones. "I have come to announce, happily, lord Rafael that my travels have not been entirely fruitless. I visited several human graveyards and we now have a small army of their dead. Searching for draconic grave sites... Was harder, but we have say twenty new servants."
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Post by Venus on Oct 18, 2009 10:55:23 GMT -5
"Ah, Lich." Rafael's tone is almost welcoming, arms spreading in an expansive greeting. "You bring good news - amalgamating them with our existing forces shouldn't be an issue. The restoration of the army only brings success one step closer." Midnight eyes blinked once, and there was no difference between them and the colour of his hide.
Akachi stirred to his right, gaze sliding from Neraika - with something resembling distate - to regard the Lich, cool and perceptive. Rafael followed the shift.
"I presume you met during the last awakening, hm? Akachi served me most loyally during the purge of the Shantari, and will continue to do so during this campaign." A quick glance to Neraika, gleaming with mockery and ready to assess her response. "As a lieutenant, alongside yourself."
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Post by Fury on Oct 18, 2009 11:16:49 GMT -5
Neraika narrowed her eyes. They flashed for a moment from dim to bright back to dim again. Their depths spoke of anger, seething and boiling. She didn't like the prospect of sharing her position with anyone let alone this 'Akachi'. The mockery did not go unnoticed but she instead responded with a silent growl. It was unspoken and didn't rumbled from her throat and chest but it was still there lurking just behind her words and actions.
Her tail lashed back and forth and her talons clenched the ground. "A lieutenant you say? Certainly a mistake? ...If she assisted so much where has she been hiding all this time? Why have I never met her?" Disapproval reigned with an iron fist in her tone.
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Post by Serrion on Oct 18, 2009 20:33:33 GMT -5
"Perhaps she is simply a late waker?" The Lich chuckled amused, his eyeless gaze shifted to Neraika. "Some simply have trouble getting up in the morning. Actually..." His laugh grew a little more malevolent. "I did some research, on those that we faced not too long ago. It seems that emerald dragoness, the one that dragged your beaten body all over those mountains, also has trouble getting up in the morning. So it seem natural to me that power and late sleepers are somehow related, naturally that would make Akachi more capable than yourself."
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Post by Venus on Oct 18, 2009 20:59:33 GMT -5
Some of the chill dissapated, leaving behind haughty boredom and a small smirk. Akachi tilted her head, the red of her crests bright against the dull darkness. Grey eyes focused back on Neriaka, cruelly mocking.
"I'm inclined to agree with your last comment, Sir Lich."
Rafael, meanwhile, figuratively sat back to watch the fireworks. He'd known since recruiting Neraika that she and Akachi would inevitably compete with each other. The process was fine with him - productive, even, if it made them work harder to earn approval.
Plus a little conflict was always... interesting to watch.
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Post by Fury on Oct 19, 2009 17:08:10 GMT -5
Neraika launched herself forward like the feline she shared traits with, causing Aleiko to stumble back so as not to be in her way. She held a clawed hand on Lich's throat. While it was a threatening position she didn't intend to kill him. Not yet.
"Gee Lich, you're forgetting something I do believe." Her words were razor sharp and dripping with venom and malice. "You were the one who was burned to death. At least I have survived. You have been killed several times over. Plus I could end your life again but Lord Rafael would prefer me not to so I will not." She shoved him backward with a powerful push to his windpipe and backed up herself once more. She was still in a tiger's pouncing position. Her tail lashed back and forth.
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Post by Serrion on Oct 20, 2009 6:24:18 GMT -5
The Lich only laughed longer. "I died fighting two opponents, the only reason you didn't die I guess is that the lady Sheakria didn't consider you worth the effort." He rolled his neck, the sounds of a few bones popping filled the air. "If I may, I'd like to inform you of another mistake on your part you made, not very long ago at that. I may not be half the mental combatant that you are Neraika, but I am good at keeping track of the flow of energy. That dragoness earlier, the one you struck out at but let got away. Ritorion is the daughter of Lord Gaulroach, one of the biggest shifters of events of this age. I think Ritorion would have been on much more value captured, or even dead. But you let her go without even bothering to find out anything about her."
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Post by Fury on Oct 20, 2009 15:04:49 GMT -5
Neraika snorted. A puff of smoke emitted from her nostrils, swirling much like the train of thought in her fragmented sanity as she spoke. "You're wrong Lich. I knew full well who she was. Ritorion changes nothing. Lord Rafael gave me instructions regarding her. I simply followed. As for not finding out about her, I was in her mind. While I caused her much damage I also managed to discover many things about her. She may not even know a few of them herself." A growl escaped her maw. "So before you go pointing fingers, consider the situation you piece of scum."
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Post by Serrion on Oct 20, 2009 17:45:47 GMT -5
"Perhaps, or you might end up giving another dragon the reason and chance to end your life." Lich shrugged. "We shall see when you finally leave the lands of the living, who exactly it is that kills you. I have seen your type for centuries Neraika, you don't have long life spans. And when you finally die." He chuckled. "I will make sure you have to hear my gloating for an eternity."
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Post by Fury on Oct 21, 2009 14:17:25 GMT -5
Neraika's sharp hearing caught a quiet snicker from Aleiko. However she spun and gave him a quick slash across the face with her talons. That of course left a mark... or rather several long gashes. He screamed in pain and tried to stop the blood.
"Agh!"
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